Inside: StudentS LACK AWARENESS of STI TRANSMISSION. THE WOMEN’S MARCH FIGHTS ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION. CANADA’S FOOD GUIDE AMPLIFIES STUDENT HEALTH CONCERNS. EREZ AND THE PEARLS DEBUT. JOURNAL SPORTS EDITORS RANK VARSITY TEAMS.
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J asnit P abla News Editor In online voting from Jan. 17 to 18, Queen’s students will have the opportunity to vote for the redevelopment of the JDUC—or to vote against it again. In an email released to Queen’s students on Jan. 9 by AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Munro Watters, the new model for the JDUC’s redevelopment was presented. “The JDUC is in desperate need of improvement,” Watters wrote. “It you’ve spent any time there, its deficiencies become self-evident: it’s inaccessible, unsustainable, and does not fulfill modern student needs.” Last February, the AMS attempted to push the JDUC’s redevelopment through with an $89 fee that passed with SGPS voters but narrowly missed the mark from undergraduate voters. As stated in the Feb. 13, 2018 AMS press release, 51.1 per cent of students voted against the redevelopment. Then-AMS President Jennifer Li released a statement recognizing the small margin and sought to continue consultation in
Vol. 146, Issue 18
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hopes of understanding the undergraduate voting pattern in that year’s referendum. Now, almost a year later, the fee structure and design of the JDUC have been reworked to allow for a more financially accessible project. “After last year’s referendum campaign failed to secure support by a narrow margin,
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First province-wide reduction to see OSAP restructure, loss of interest-free grace period J asnit P abla News Editor The province announced new changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) on Thursday that—while proposing cuts to tuition—could see out-of-pocket student fees increase. In a press release, the Ontario government announced their pledge to reduce the costs of publically-assisted college and university tuition by 10 per cent—but will simultaneously cut free tuition for low-income students with new changes to OSAP. The cuts will come into effect for the 2019-20 academic calendar. The expected losses in revenue, according to the CBC, have been calculated at $360 million for universities and $80 million for colleges. Institutions will be expected to absorb the losses in revenue themselves, according to minister of Ontario Training, Colleges and Universities, Merrliee Fullerton. During the live press conference, Fullerton said operating grants made available to post-secondary institutions will require compliance with the new tuition cuts proposed by the government. In a statement released the same day, Principal Daniel Woolf said, “The tuition fee reduction will have an impact on the University’s budget.”
He added because of Queen’s current fiscal situation, which includes a “significant deficit,” the University will have to work to off-set the fee reduction to ensure unhindered operation. The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Budget has been instructed to begin researching the options available to the University going forward. It will provide options within the next two months concerning how the budget will meet the reduction. The University will work alongside the government and partner institutions to assess the situation moving forward. “We will keep you informed of what is learned as we commence more planning to ensure our ongoing financial sustainability and the integrity of our teaching and research core missions,” Woolf wrote. Meanwhile, individual student savings have been estimated to approximate to $660 for the average university student and $340 for college. The proposed changes will apply only to domestic students. The Ontario PCs have cited the Liberals’ OSAP spending as their reason for restructuring grants and loans available to students in the province. “The previous government believed in handing out OSAP money to some of Ontario’s highest income earners with virtually no meaningful criteria for success,” said Fullerton in Thursday’s press release. In response, the province has announced a plan to cut the overall cost
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we went back to the drawing board and committed ourselves to listening,” AMS Director of Communications Rachael Heleniak told The Journal in a statement. “We have tried to improve the proposed JDUC Project by clarifying the core objectives, reducing the student fee, and incorporating the extensive
Province to cut tuition costs by 10 per cent, nix free enrollment
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student feedback we received into the conceptual design.” Instead of $89, the current AMS Executive has pushed for a fee schedule that will ultimately contribute $26 million to the project and 41.1 per cent of its total contribution, according to the JDUC redevelopment website. Student financial aid is
also available, according to Heleniak, who estimated that at least 500 students could receive aid annually over the life of the project. She added the AMS employed professional architects and “utilized the thousands of student engagements [they’ve] had to envision a bold, beautiful, and functional JDUC.” The rest of the funds will result from a $3.4 million contribution from graduate students through their SGPS fee, $11.8 million in cash contributions and $22 million of financing support from the University. The fee structure for student contribution won’t remain linear, however. The proposed schedule will have students pay $40 for the first two years of collection, increasing to $73.92 in the fee’s third year in 2021-22. The website indicates construction is scheduled to be finished by 2022. The website for the new JDUC Redevelopment Project includes proposed images for the construction and floor plans to map out the potential locations of AMS services such as QP and P&CC.
Reel Honey carves space for female and non-binary writers
How an alumni turned her pop culture passion into a burgeoning website A lly M astantuono Assistant Lifestyle Editor When Sydney Urbanek, ArtSci ’17, launched her online magazine Reel Honey in April of 2017, she never expected the extent of its current success. Over a year later, the crowdfunded film and pop culture site, which exclusively features the work of young women and
non-binary people, boasts over 100 paid contributors. Since its inception, Reel Honey has published weekly written pieces alongside one themed issue every three months. Each issue critiques films, television series, and cultural icons. Although the platform shines for its nuanced exploration of pop culture, what sets Urbanek’s website apart is its mission to help young, underserved writers hone their skills and gain experience for future careers. Urbanek discovered her passion for pop culture writing during her third year of Queen’s film and media program, when she began reviewing movies for The Journal. “I was shocked—in a good way—at how much easier it was to write about something that I already lived and breathed, not to mention studied,” Urbanek told The Journal in a phone interview. “That got me thinking about how I wanted to do more of that.” u
Sydney Urbanek.
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BY AMELIA RANKINE
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