The Queen's Journal, Issue 21

Page 1

Midsummer’s Modern Makeover

No fest out west

Sports Page 22

EXTRA page 16

A novel idea

A&E Page 13

Queen’s

University

the journal since

1873

F r i d ay, N O v e m b e r 1 2 , 2 0 1 0

Rector Reprimanded AMS Assembly censures Day By Jessica Fishbein and Labiba Haque Journal Staff During yesterday’s Remembrance Day ceremony at Grant Hall, Rector Nick Day gave a speech to listeners that divided student opinion. Day began his speech by introducing his position as rector in the university administration. He then shared his personal reflections on his grandfather’s service in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII before segueing into more current affairs. Day spoke about present day suffering, referencing Pinochet’s regime in Chile, aboriginal rights in Canada and the Rwandan Genocide. “In order to truly honour the sacrifices of those who fought for justice, we are now required to speak about new forms of injustice,” he said. Alicia Sgromo, ArtSci ’13, attended the ceremony in Grant Hall. She said the content of the speech offended quite a few people and Day should issue an apology. “Basically his comments at the Remembrance Day memorial were inappropriate for the setting. It wasn’t the time or place and no one was there to listen to his political views,” she said adding that Day took advantage of the privilege that he was given. Last night’s AMS Assembly passed a motion in response to Day’s speech. The motion was brought about by member-at-large Craig Draeger. The motion stated ‘that AMS Assembly, in order to preserve the political neutrality of Remembrance Day, formally censures Rector Nick Day for his disrespectful comment at the Remembrance Day ceremony in

INDEX

Volume 138, Issue 21 www.queensjournal.ca News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A&E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Literary Extra . . . . . . . 16

Editorials . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Op-Ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Postscript . . . . . . . . . . 28

Grant Hall on Nov. 11 2010.’ The motion brought up an array of different perspectives from student leaders and heated up when members of the gallery brought a Maclean’s blog post regarding Day’s speech to the Assembly’s attention. Members of the gallery were concerned that Day’s speech was bringing negative attention to the University and tarnishing its reputation. After debate, the motion was passed with a secret ballet with a vote of 14 in favour, 10 against. 11 people abstained. Draeger, ArtSci ’13 and a member of the Journal Editorial Board, said Day had a responsibility to act in response to the decorum of the situation. Draeger, speaking to the assembly, said Day failed, unnecessarily offending and alienating people in the student body. “Day isn’t taking responsibility where he should. We are not reprimanding him for his opinions but for his actions,” Draeger said. In censuring Day’s actions, Draeger said the AMS formally Please see Speech on page 7

photo by christine blais

Rector Nick Day speaks at the Remembrance Day ceremony at Grant Hall yesterday.

Fresh face changes the race

Kingston and the Islands a contentious riding for next federal election By Clare Clancy News Editor After 22 years in seat, the Liberal Party will fight hard to hold the riding in the next federal election. Following the Liberal nomination of Ted Hsu on Nov. 7, all four Kingston and the Island parties are preparing for the next federal election. Given the enthusiasm surrounding the nomination, Hsu said he’s confident Liberals can hold the riding. “I think it’s a very important election,” he said on the night of his nomination. “We feel that it will be very important to win our seat in Kingston [and the Islands].” Hsu said, based on numbers from the 2008 election, Conservatives are the biggest competition

for the Liberal Party. “[Conservative candidate Abrams] had a very strong finish so he would be the threat to win the riding,” he said. Sean Torrie, president of Queen’s University Liberal Association said the Liberals are likely to hold the riding because of the state of the Harper government. “I think the riding is likely to stay Liberal because Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has proven to be incompetent,” he told the Journal via email. “The closure of the prison farms in Kingston is an example of their incompetence and how this government puts ideology ahead of reality.” Torrie, ArtSci ’11, said the biggest obstacle for Kingston and the Islands Liberals in the next election will be name recognition.

“Our retiring candidate Peter Milliken is well known in Kingston [and the Islands] and the Conservative candidate has [run] before. For Ted, running as a brand new candidate against a Conservative candidate that has [run] before and has some name recognition will be difficult,” he said. “However, the nomination race has given Ted some exposure in the community.” According to President of Kingston and the Islands Liberal Association Ron Hartling, there’s a general consensus among members that the focus needs to be on defeating the Conservative candidate in the next election. “The Conservative candidate came uncomfortably close to winning the last election,” he said. “The margin was only 6.6 per

cent if I remember correctly. It’s the same Conservative candidate [Brian Abrams]. He’s wellestablished in the community and the Conservative Party has been funnelling money to the riding.” Hartling said focusing on defeating the Conservative candidate is natural because of the different values the parties advocate. “There’s a lot of common values between [the] Liberal, NDP and Green [Parties] … they’re essentially all progressive. The values of the Harper Conservatives are very different,” he said, adding that an example of this is the attitude the parties have towards correctional services. “The rest of us believe Please see Four on page 8


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