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Q u e e n ’ s U n i v e r s i t y — C a n a da ’ s O l d e s t S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r — S i n c e 1 8 7 3
Education
Construction
Ready to strike
Tunnel trouble
Queen’s takes next step towards lockout or strike
B y S avoula S tylianou Assistant News Editor
B y K atherine Fernandez -B lance News Editor Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) could soon be in a legal strike or lockout position after the administration applied for a No Board report on July 25. The union’s bargaining unit has been in negotiations with the University for the past six months. A No Board report calls an end to conciliation meetings and can be filed by either party if negotiations are found to be insufficient. QUFA represents approximately 1,100 tenured and adjunct faculty and librarians. “For an undergraduate student, [a strike or lockout] would effectively stop formal classroom work,” QUFA President Paul Young said. “All formal teaching stops and that inevitably closes down the institution.” The Ministry of Labour must now issue the No Board report to the University, a process that normally takes a week. Once the report is issued, a 17-day time period must elapse before a strike or lockout can legally occur. Conciliation meetings between the bargaining unit and the administration took place on July 21 and 22. Young said he was surprised that the administration ended conciliation. “There was some small opening with respect to the pension negotiations,” he said in reference to the administration’s plan to increase faculty contributions to the pension plan contributions. “We See Administration on page 7
Labour relations For updates on the potential faculty strike, see queensjournal.ca.
Photo by Corey Lablans
A 60-foot tunnel will connect the new Goodes Hall underground parking with the parking lot under Tindall Field. A section of Union Street between Frontenac and Alfred Streets will be closed until September.
A deteriorating water pipe found at the Goodes Hall excavation site will delay the $40 million construction project. A new wing on the west side of Goodes Hall is under construction and will include an underground parking lot with room for 89 cars. In order to link the lot with parking underneath Tindall Field, a 60-foot connecting tunnel is being built. Claude Bellerose, director of planning and construction at Physical Plant Services, said the project was supposed to be completed by Sept. 1. Due to the discovery of the pipe, the project’s deadline has been moved to Spring 2012. “The condition of the pipe is not as good as the city led us to believe,” he said. The City of Kingston gave Queen’s permission to close off Union Street between Frontenac and Alfred Streets on May 3. Construction started six days later. Currently, 75 per cent of the excavation is complete, with only See Spring on page 7
Residences
Cameras watch residence activity Four surveillance cameras installed in Victoria Hall monitor false fire alarms B y C atherine O wsik Assistant News Editor Following an assessment of residence buildings in the fall, it’s possible that Queen’s will install more security cameras on campus. VictoriaHall,thelargest residence building at Queen’s, is currently the only residence monitored with surveillance cameras. A Campus Security supervisor will be hired to investigate residences this fall and advise the administration on student safety. There is no timeline yet for when the assessment will be finished. Bruce Griffiths, director of housing and hospitality services,
said the installation of cameras exit and one on the E-Wing exit Signs on the Victoria Hall doors was a response to the number of near Albert St. inform students that surveillance malicious fire alarms reported in After an incident occurs, the cameras are in place. The monitor Victoria Hall last year. tapes from the video feed are showing the camera feed is visible In 2010 there were 70 fire reviewed by residence staff in from the main entrance. alarms falsely pulled on campus— order to identify possible suspects, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs the highest annual number Griffiths said. In addition to Arig Girgrah worked alongside recorded to date. this, staff will ask anyone with Griffiths on the installation project. “It was impacting students, their pertinent information to come She said the cameras are now a studies and so on,” Griffiths said. forward and dons will speak to any permanent fixture of the building “As the alarms continued and got identified individuals. and that there’s a possibility they’ll more severe so did our measures.” He said the cameras don’t pose be used to investigate other serious After the $1,200 installation of a privacy issue as they are currently yet rare offences, such as vandalism four surveillance cameras early last only in public areas. or abuse. semester there was a decrease in “There are schools that have “They provide us with another the number of alarms pulled. chosen to put them in hallways source of information, so if there Two of the cameras inside and so on,” Griffiths said. “It’s was a serious incident then we Victoria Hall focus on the main really about the public spaces at would look at the tape,” she said, entrance, one on the Lazy Scholar this point.” See Surveillance on page 5