Dear Dean Lemieux (Bob), I attended the FAS Town Hall in Humphrey Auditorium yesterday, and left feeling grateful to be in the privileged position of being able to retire next year. I think the most depressing aspect of the Town Hall was the lack of any discussion of what we are doing as an institution … Continue reading “Empty and Hollow Inside”: One Reader’s Response to the FAS Dean’s Town Hall
Further Diminishing FAS? The Proposal to Allow FAS Students to take 12 External Credits
QCAA received the following commentary on the FAS proposal to raise the external credit allowance from 6.0-units to 12.0-units. (See “Motion Regarding Revisions to the Academic Program Regulation” in the FAS Faculty Board Agenda package for Friday, November 21). We are grateful to the readers who submit such analyses to us and invite others to … Continue reading Further Diminishing FAS? The Proposal to Allow FAS Students to take 12 External Credits
Newsletter #21 (03/13/2025)
Let’s call this the “University Admin Causes More Chaos with a Strike” edition If understaffing, over-filled classes, and digital surveillance weren’t enough of a challenge in our workdays, the university has now forced our grad student workers into a strike. This first-ever academic strike at Queen’s is one more thing to add to the legacy … Continue reading Newsletter #21 (03/13/2025)
An Indictment of Leadership
One day prior to the Principal’s staff appreciation BBQ on July 4, and just five days after mass layoffs in FAS, QCAA learned that all members of the Queen’s Management and Professional Group (Grades 10-14) had been granted a pay increase of between 4.25 and 4.75%. Effective July 1, 2024, the salary range for members … Continue reading An Indictment of Leadership
Layoff Week?
Four working days remain before the July 1 restructuring deadline that people in FAS have been hearing about for months. Yet, heads and department managers are still prohibited from giving staff any indication about whether they will have a job come July 1. The same injunction applies to communicating with workers who will remain at … Continue reading Layoff Week?
University finally releases budget model report
Two weeks ago the university quietly released Huron Consulting’s report on the Queen's Budget Model. When the report was completed in June 2022, senior administrators promised that it would be published online. However, despite numerous requests at Senate and elsewhere, it took the university almost two years to release the report publicly. That we now … Continue reading University finally releases budget model report
Cooking to Death?
At a “Strategy Session for Senior Leaders,” held on May 29 in a packed Ban Righ Dining Hall, Principal Patrick Deane likened Queen’s to a frog being slowly boiled alive. The Principal acknowledged that he had been caught by surprise by the depth of the university’s current budgetary problems. Previously, he had understood our challenges … Continue reading Cooking to Death?
Newsletter #16 (5/24/2024)
A long weekend means a short newsletter this week! It is almost the end of May, and we still do not know what’s up in ArtSci in terms of staff layoffs. We know they are coming. But when exactly? And how many? It’s a few weeks since the VEI program applications were due. Many (all?) … Continue reading Newsletter #16 (5/24/2024)
A critical read: Providing context for the University’s budget announcement
On May 15th, the Gazette published a statement about the 2023-24 fiscal year and the upcoming 2024-25 budget for the university. In this statement, administrators outlined arguments regarding the university’s fiscal planning. Here, we address some points that are worth further discussion. Using investment income: A middle ground and something the university is doing The … Continue reading A critical read: Providing context for the University’s budget announcement
Newsletter #14 (4/26/2024)
Thanks for reading and sharing these newsletters, with special appreciation to those who have been sharing with staff, faculty and students in your departments. If you just found us recently, you can see the 13 previous editions of this newsletter on this website. Here you will also find recordings of the three teach-ins we have … Continue reading Newsletter #14 (4/26/2024)
Queen's Coalition Against Austerity 