The Queen's Journal, Issue 11

Page 1

Journal endorses mary rita holLand See page 6 for editorial

T u e s d ay , O c to b e r 4 , 2 0 11 — I s s u e 11

j the ournal Queen’s University — Since 1873

student life

Powwow points to problems B y K atherine Fernandez -B lance and D arienne L ancaster Journal Staff The fifth-annual educational powwow was celebrated on Saturday, focusing on promoting diversity amongst Aboriginal communities, although the theme isn’t one always seen at Queen’s, said Four Directions Aboriginal

Student Centre Director Janice Hill. “You would never know, by walking through the Queen’s campus that there are Aboriginal students here,” she said. Hill said just over 100 students at Queen’s have self-identified as Aboriginal. “We can find the status students through the Registrar’s office,” she said. “That’s only because they may be receiving some sort of funding.”

It’s much harder to find numbers your education is paid for on Aboriginal students who don’t automatically, and that’s not true,” identify as such, Hill said. she said. “A lot of people feel that there’s Queen’s administration has a stigma attached,” she said. “It developed a number of initiatives becomes a judgmental thing for to try and increase enrolment of students … There’s a lot of subtle Aboriginal students at Queen’s, racism at Queen’s.” including the Aboriginal Council Hill said there’s a stereotype and the Aboriginal Access to that all Aboriginal students receive Engineering Program — which is a free postsecondary education. still in development. “They think if you’re Aboriginal, See Attendance on page 5

Inside Planned pitfalls AMS services budget for controlled deficits during summer months. page 2

armed with education Features looks at students who balance military training with studies at Queen’s. page 3

towards a palestinian state Dialogue examines recent UN bid for Palestinian statehood. page 7

Kleenex Art CRYBABY exhibit explores the fragility of the human body with tissues. page 9 Participants at the fifth-annual Educational Powwow on Saturday at the Agnes Benidickson field celebrated diversity amongst Aboriginal communities.

photo by justin chin

Queen’s student advances to semifinals in Kick for a Million contest. page 11

Activism

Annual conference doubles in size Health and Human Rights Conference addresses HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa B y M eaghan Wray Assistant News Editor For the first time, Queen’s Health and Human Rights Conference offered free admittance to its delegates after $16,650 in sponsorship by Queen’s departments, Schools and organizations was provided to the conference. This marks an approximate $4,000 raise compared to last year. The weekend-long conference was in its 11th year and drew 320 delegates. On Friday and Saturday participants attended sessions relating to maternal health and gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Conference co-chair Harrison Banner said removing the attendance cost allowed more students to register.

“We’ve been very lucky with [sponsorship] and we just thought it would be much better to make the conference free, so that there was no financial barrier to anyone who was interested,” he said. In previous years, the conference would have cost $15 to $20 to attend, covering the costs for a keynote speaker and food. Capacity was capped at 320 delegates this year, up from 150, Banner said. “Just this past year we were awarded the Queen’s Human Rights Initiative Award which … was a big deal in terms of getting the name out there to the people of Queen’s,” he said. The Queen’s Human Rights Initiative Award is annually awarded an initiative that made contributions to advancing equality and human rights on campus.

Banner said medical students have traditionally run the conference, but more efforts were made to recruit students from

Could be rich

other faculties to help. An interdisciplinary conference, Banner said, means combining

Breaking down dance Postscript looks into Hip-Hop culture at Queen’s. page 15

See Additional on page 5

rector ELECTION

Rector election policy revised B y K atherine Fernandez -B lance News Editor When students elect a rector this month, the AMS and the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) will use separate ballots for the first time. “It will be one election, that each society will facilitate … for their society,” SGPS President Jillian Burford-Grinnell said. “The voting period will be the same.”

Traditionally the AMS has facilitated rector elections because of a 1981 contract between the AMS and the SGPS — then known as the Graduate Student Society. Burford-Grinnell, MA ’11 and JD ’14, said the new policy outlining the concurrent elections has been in the works for a few months. “The SGPS, myself and our speaker, we prepared several drafts and then forwarded it to the AMS to go through their various bodies,”

she said. AMS Assembly passed the policy on Sept. 29. The policy will be brought to SGPS Council for approval next week. Under the new policy, SGPS members will be able to vote for a rector on the SGPS website or with paper ballots. “It makes sense for our members to vote in a way that’s consistent with how we conduct our elections,” she said, adding that she hopes the See Change on page 4


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