An emergency AMS Assembly meeting was convened Tuesday night to discuss the events on Aberdeen street during Homecoming weekend. Unanimously, assembly voted in favour of maintaining the AMS Judicial Committee (JComm), a student-run, non-academic discipline system. It is a complaints-based system whereby any member of the community—police, Kingston residents or students—can file a complaint, which will then be reviewed by the AMS Prosecutor’s Office. If there is sufficient basis for the complaint, the office will either settle on a method of discipline with the offender, or bring the case before JComm so its can decide on what discipline is warranted. An important part of the AMS’s mandate is to protect the interests of the students whereas the University must consider many other issues and faces pressures that might interfere with its ability to protect the rights and interests of students. Students are better able to understand student issues and keep student rights in mind while making their decisions. Discipline by peers may also prove to be more effective than any discipline from the istration because it comes from peers and not from a distant figurehead.
The process of students disciplining other students may also show the Kingston community that the actions of a select group of students on Aberdeen last weekend are unacceptable to the rest of the student body. It is imperative that the Prosecutor’s Office thoroughly investigate the cases it receives. The community expects these individuals to be held able for their actions, and the Prosecutor’s Office and JComm must assess these actions and decide accordingly.
The actions of students on Aberdeen were shameful and are not representative of the students at Queen’s. We call upon our student-run judicial system to assess and consider the actions of these individuals and make fair and unbiased rulings. At the same time, we hope of the community see this not as merely a front for discipline but a genuine expression of disappointment in their peers on the part of the students at Queen’s.
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