Solidarity. Not Austerity.
Let’s start with the money. $20.4 million. 1. Queen’s University ended the 2023-24 fiscal year with an operating surplus of $20.4 million. The year-end consolidated financial statements are included in the agenda package for this weekend’s Board of Trustees meeting. QCAA has posted a commentary on the statement that draws our attention to the unusual … Continue reading Newsletter #18 (9/26/2024)
The Queen’s administration releases regular updates on projected budget deficits, but it's the end-of-year audited financial statements that provide the clearest picture of the university's financial health. With the Board of Trustees meeting this weekend, those figures have now been released. The 2023-24 financial statements are interesting for several reasons, but one figure stands out: … Continue reading Creative Accounting? QCAA’s Analysis of Queen’s’ Year-End Financial Statements
This is the venue to ask questions about modular degrees, entry pathways, the academic impact of staffing cuts, what FAS is doing to advocate for the retention of QGA funding for master’s students, and more. Please try to attend in person since the zoom link is livestream only. https://queensu.zoom.us/j/99758657092?pwd=TXB2S2F2aU8rM2pDeFBYT0cya1g2UT09 Meeting ID: 997 5865 7092 Passcode: … Continue reading FAS Faculty Board this Friday!
On Thursday, September 19, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students released a statement announcing that the Queen's Senior Leadership Team plans to eliminate the Queen's Graduate Award (QGA) for new master's students in September 2025. The news sent shockwaves through the community as people grappled with the implications of this measure for a university … Continue reading Queen’s to End QGA Funding for Master’s Students
On September 12, the Department of Biology sent an open letter to senior administrators outlining the effects of recent budget cuts and the perils of further cuts. The signatories write: We hope this letter will inspire other faculties/departments/schools to speak out and communicate widely on this issue, and ultimately that this letter will engender a … Continue reading Open Letter from the Department of Biology
In the aftermath of mass layoffs and ongoing budget cuts, the Faculty of Arts and Science has been running resiliency workshops for those employees who remain. Designed to show workers “how they can thrive under pressure,” the one-hour virtual sessions are led by certified mental health clinicians with Telus Health, the outfit with whom Queen’s contracts … Continue reading Smiling Our Way Through Austerity
Queen’s’ commitments to equity are once again under the spotlight as questions arise about the impact of June’s cuts on the university’s most marginalized members. When asked by QCAA for the equity profile of the 16 people laid off last month, Dean Barbara Crow provided the following statement: Queen’s does not discuss decisions regarding staff … Continue reading No Equity in Austerity
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
The mess that is the ideologically-motivated restructuring of the Faculty of Arts and Science continues apace. FAS teaches 70 percent of Queen’s students; it was long the source of the reputation for excellence that was seen to accrue to a Queen’s education. Disparaged by a populist provincial government that has refused to provide adequate funding, … Continue reading Newsletter #17 (6/26/2024)
Late Tuesday afternoon, employees in the Faculty of Arts and Science received a personalized email from Dean Barbara Crow titled “Update.” The vaguely worded message appears to have been written in a hurry, leading some panicked staff and faculty to believe they were receiving a layoff notice. That FAS was ill-prepared to communicate publicly about … Continue reading Seeking Clarity? What QCAA Knows about the June 25 Layoffs
Queen's Coalition Against Austerity 