Fire fears in Stauffer
A puff of white smoke coming from a divider in the wall between Stauffer Library’s basement and first floor prompted students to evacuate the building and call the fire department.
The fire department got the call at 2:29 p.m. Students and staff re-entered the building about 25 minutes later.
Amanda Bruhn and Sarah Schreiner, both Kin ’11, were studying for their health midterm on the library’s second floor when they smelled what seemed like burning plastic coming from the stairs.
“It smelled like crap,” Schreiner said.
Assistant Deputy Chief George Harris said someone saw a puff of smoke come up from behind the dividers in the wall between the basement and the first floor.
He said firefighters never determined the source of the smell.
“We’ve put it down to mice with matches,” he joked.
Queen’s Fire Safety Co-ordinator Bob Bell said the ballast, a power unit in the building’s light fixture, could have short-circuited and caused the smoke.
Bell said Physical Plant Services continued to investigate after the fire department left.
“They haven’t found the source yet but they’re still looking.”
As far as he is aware, Bell said, there was no damage to the building.
—Erin Flegg
Queen’s gets top marks from Globe and Mail survey
The Globe and Mail released its fifth annual “University Report Card” on Tuesday and Queen’s once again scored top marks.
The University placed first among medium-sized schools (between 12,000 and 22,000 students) in several categories, including school spirit, academic reputation, quality of teaching, libraries, diversity of extracurricular activities and satisfaction with university experience.
The results were based on a survey conducted among 43,000 undergraduate students in 53 universities across Canada.
Of the 78 categories, Queen’s received As in 39.
The rankings show little variation from last year’s, in which Queen’s also ranked first in the same categories.
Principal Karen Hitchcock was pleased with the results.
“As report cards go, it was very good,” Hithcock said at a Senate meeting yesterday.
She said the University will work to improve the areas when Queen’s received Cs—notably in value and quality of food available on campus.
—Gloria Er-Chua
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