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The fruits of good health Queen’s
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F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 0
The play’s the thing
Academic plan raises new debate Discussion continues at town hall
“Everyone on the floor really loved him,” she said. “He was very outgoing.” She said the floor nicknamed him the ‘token Queen’s kid’ because of his excitement for the University. “He was so excited for his Eng Cut and was so excited to be here,” she said. Cameron’s father said his enthusiasm applied across the board and that as an active participant of the Westport community and Staples high school, Cameron brought the same attitude to Queen’s that he brought to all parts of his life. “He was very gregarious and very involved,” Bruce said. “He was a musician and a swimmer.” Cameron was part of his high school band, orchestra and a jazz ensemble, playing the trumpet and violin.
Lord said she is concerned that by devoting resources to technological pursuits, the University will neglect more basic aspects of the learning experience. “[Even] arts students’ aren’t receiving writing instruction until third year,” she said, adding that many can barely write communicable essays until that point. Jill Scott, member of the AWT and a professor in the German department, said the recommendations do focus on technology but they look at how it can aid traditional learning, not replace it. “You can’t substitute a lecture through virtualization,” she said “Media supplements learning.” She said that although it would be ideal to have also included recommendations about writing, the team only had so many pages and had to narrow their focus. “Resources are limited, and there is no magic turnaround.” Scott said. “We need to be smart. We need a plan, but a good plan.” Principal Woolf said he agreed that in reality it’s impossible for the academic plan to include everything. “We must make choices if we live in a world of constrained reality,” he said at the town hall meeting. Woolf said he is prepared to be ambitious and make real changes–even if he’s unsure exactly what they’ll be. “This is university, which is a place for stating bold ideas about where the institution should go,” Woolf said at the Sep. 15 meeting. “There is still going to have to be a lot more discussion, and it’s not going to be easy. The recommendations in the academic plan will require fundamental changes to how we do things,” he said, adding that he will have a much better idea of exactly what should be changed in 2011 when he writes his Academic Plan based off of the AWT recommendations and the feedback from them. Lord said she hopes financial constraints don’t play too large of a role in Woolf’s final plan and that the money should be found to suit the University’s academic needs. “We can’t say, ‘we’re not going to talk about this because we don’t
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By Jessica Fishbein Assistant News Editor
photo by christine blais
The King’s Town Players set out to cover the complete works of Shakespeare within one play.
Tensions were high at Duncan McArthur Hall on Wednesday as students, faculty, staff and community members discussed 41 pages of academic recommendations. The recommendations were written by the Academic Writing Team (AWT) in response to Principal Woolf’s ‘Where Next?’ document, which was released last January. While many recommendations were praised, some Queen’s faculty and staff had concerns over others. Susan Lord, professor of film and media and cultural studies, said she worries that virtual learning is being over-emphasized. “My criticism is that the plan’s examples of the way forward are based on technology, and this is a problem,” she said. Technology comes up continually in the plan. It is cited as a means to connect with other universities, keep track of alumni and take learning outside the classroom.
In memory of Cameron Bruce
Queen’s mourns loss of ‘happy’ and ‘outgoing’ first-year engineering student By Clare Clancy News Editor Cameron Bruce will be deeply missed by all who knew him. He will be remembered for his outgoing personality, commitment to his community and warm spirit. The first-year engineering student was found dead outside his residence early Monday morning. Kingston Police said foul play is not suspected in this tragic incident. His father, Iain Bruce, said that Cameron was thrilled to be
INDEX
Volume 138, Issue 6 www.queensjournal.ca News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A&E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Editorials . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Postscript . . . . . . . . . . 19
Op-Ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
accepted into the Queen’s Faculty of Engineering upon his graduation from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut earlier this year. Bruce said he still has the text message Cameron sent him when he found out he was accepted into Queen’s. “All upper-case and three exclamation marks,” he said. “It just said ‘I’M INTO QUEEN’S!!!’ I could feel his excitement through that text message.” Bruce, Comm ’81, said both he and his wife came with Cameron to Queen’s to help him move into residence. “I’ve never seen him get up willingly at four in the morning. He was so wired and so excited,” he said. “I have never seen him as excited about anything in his life.” Bruce said after dropping his son off at residence, he heard from Cameron that he was having an
amazing frosh week. “He was so excited and the goodbyes weren’t long and tearful. They were joyful,” he said. “He said he had the best week of his life.” Bruce said Cameron had bonded with his floor during the eight days he was at Queen’s. “He was so happy. The way orientation is done here is a special and powerful thing,” he said. “He talked about how great his floor was.” “He knew [Queen’s] was the right place for him,” he said. “He wanted to do everything, even before he got here. He wanted to be a FREC, do band, swimming. It was comforting that despite this, he had made the right choice for himself.” Meg King, ArtSci ’14 was a floormate of Cameron’s who said he would be remembered for his outgoing personality.