Solidarity. Not Austerity.
This will be a short issue today, but there is definitely more to talk about. Stay tuned. 1. As always, let’s start with the money. According to the university’s Investments Services website, the combined value of the institution’s short-term and Pooled Investment Funds (PIF) surpassed one billion dollars for the first time. This is an … Continue reading Newsletter #19 (11/21/2024)
Associate Dean (Academic) Jenn Stephenson has been on a public relations blitz in the run up to a major vote at this Friday's Faculty of Arts and Science Faculty Board meeting. Clearly nervous about resistance, Stephenson took to the pages of the Queen’s Journal to defend the controversial modular degree framework, which will reduce the … Continue reading Modular Degrees and FAS Faculty Board
MEDIA ADVISORY For immediate release: September 27, 2024 KINGSTON, ON 27 September 2024 – Graduate students at Queen’s University are joining together to protest the school’s elimination of widely-accessed funding support for Master’s level researchers. The protest is being advertised as an “All Out Walkout to Save Graduate Funding,” and is part of an increasingly … Continue reading Graduate Students Stage Walkout to Protest Queen’s Funding Cuts
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
Queen's Coalition Against Austerity 