Frosh on film
See queensjournal.ca for full video of Frosh Week 2011
T u e s d ay , S e p t e m b e r 1 3 , 2 0 11 — I s s u e 5
j the ournal Queen’s University — Since 1873
Nick Day
Rector resignation planned since April B y K atherine Fernandez -B lance News Editor Though Nick Day resigned from his post as rector on Sept. 1, the decision to resign was made with administrators in April. A few weeks after he sent a controversial letter to Michael Ignatieff in March, Day said he received an email from University administrators. He said Principal Daniel Woolf emailed him on behalf of Chancellor David Dodge and Chair of the Board of Trustees Bill Young. “[Woolf] said, ‘I’ve had a meeting with these two guys, and I speak on behalf of them all in saying you should resign,’” Day, MA ’12, said. Principal Woolf declined to comment to the Journal. Day said during the aftermath of sending the letter to Ignatieff, Woolf forwarded him several emails which made reference to
the situation. “University councilors and board members and wealthy alum, as [Woolf] put it, were emailing to demand what was being done about this ‘anti-Semite’ rector,” Day said. Despite the vocal group who called for his resignation, Day said he had a growing number of supporters. “There were [organizations] who had written and prepared all of these letters,” he said, adding that groups offered him their support to defend public discourse. Day said this growing movement posed difficulty for those in the administration who were eager for his removal. “These kind of actors don’t know what to do because they don’t work on principles, they work on the one principle of bureaucratic management,” Day said. “What you ended up with was the Principal, despite his earlier
bluster, became unwilling to take decisive action.” Day said Woolf was under pressure from University Council and the Board of Trustees to remove Day from office. In April, Day said he met with Woolf and University Secretary Georgina Moore. “Essentially, in the interest of not going to another round of national media back and forth, I said ‘You as an institution have no right to take
action on this,’” Day said. The position of rector is elected by both graduate and undergraduate students. Day said that in the meeting, Moore became flustered and told him he was in the wrong and would have to go. Because of the administration’s outcry, Day said he had little choice but to leave Queen’s. “[I said] I’m moving on from here anyways, spare the fucking
circus and don’t make the mistake of trying to organize an oust, and this will go away eventually,” he said. Day said Woolf accepted his offer to resign and set a mid-August deadline for Day’s resignation. “He said ‘Given that you intend for your own reasons that you’re done with the job … I will tell the Board of Trustees and University Council simply that it’s dealt with,” See Day on page 2
Frosh Week
Security a focus Grease Pole event concentrates on safety B y C atherine O wsik Assistant News Editor
alumni donations if we stopped running the pole,” Chaudhry said, adding that such a loss couldn’t Evolving safety concerns with the be quantified. A logistical change this year annual Grease Pole have meant changes in the logistics of the event. was that students did not have the “No specific safety concern option to drive themselves to the increased, our definition of safety off-campus site. “Giving out parking passes, has just changed,” said Ross Chaudhry, director of professional giving people instructions to the development for the Engineering pole site and organizing parking at the location was very difficult,” he Society (EngSoc). As of last year, the event is limited said. “We don’t have a parking lot to those in the Faculty of Engineering and the land itself is uneven.” The event has evolved since and Applied Science.UpperPhoto by Justin Chin year students must go through it first began in 1956 but has Upper-year Engineering students dive into the pit to splash the frosh surrounding the pole. mandatory training if they want remained an important part of the Engineering Frosh Week, to attend. “We were restricting the number Chaudhry said. of people that could come to the “[The Grease Pole] is one of the Grease Pole as a whole,” Chaudhry, things that the Engineering Society is fighting the hardest for,” he Sci ’12, said. Limiting attendance was said.“The unity of the Engineering a collective safety decision faculty as a whole is solidified at the made in meetings with Queen’s Grease Pole.” The last serious injury at the event administration and EngSoc. “If that means we can continue occurred in 2008 when a Sci ’12 having the Grease Pole next year student was treated in an ambulance Night in tackling The original then that’s a decision I support,” for dehydration. the life roller derby twilight “It inherently can be a dangerous he said. Despite size limitations, alumni event, but it’s been planned really Features gets a glimpse Postscript enters the world Review of The Mystery of continue to return to the event well,” Chaudhry said, adding that into Kingston taxi driving. of roller derby. Irma Vep. the most common injuries are each year. page 3 page 19 page 12 “I’m sure we would see less See EngSoc on page 4