Presidents of the AMS and Society of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) discussed the University’s governance structure and cuts to the Queen’s Graduate Award (QGA) at most recent town hall meeting.
AMS President Owen Rocchi and SGPS President, Emils Mattiss called for a town hall on Oct. 4 in the Biosciences Complex Auditorium. The meeting, free and open to all students, was held in effort to provide a Queen’s governance structure overview and debrief the recent Board of Trustees and Senate meetings held the previous week.
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The recent town hall saw a modest turnout of about 15 attendees, a significant drop from the previous event, which drew nearly twice as many participants. This decline occurred despite calls during the Sept. 24 meeting for greater student involvement in future town halls.
Rocchi and Matiss outlined the roles of their respective student societies, discussed their involvement in University governance, and shared their perspectives on the recent Board of Trustees and Senate meetings. Both meetings addressed cuts to the Queen’s Graduate Award (QGA), part of the University’s broader response to its operating budget deficit, which includes reducing $4,100 per student for research-based Master’s programs beginning next fall.
While Mattiss suggested alternative solutions to cutting the QGA during the Sept. 27 Board of Trustees meeting, he said it’s unclear if the University is considering implementing any of them or if they would be feasible.
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Both Matiss and Rocchi emphasized the importance of students having trust in the University’s governance, saying it’s sometimes best for the University to speak about potentially controversial topics behind closed doors.
Students in the audience expressed their hesitation to trust the istration after recent cuts had been announced. PSAC 901 President Jake Morrow explained changes don’t always happen through traditional channels.
“Something is holding the AMS back. Something is holding all of the other folks back from pushing forward. These structures that keep the decision making behind closed doors and the idea that students should trust representatives who are voted in on shockingly small percentages of the population and then it should just inherently be something that we should trust that behind closed doors that the advocacy is working. But, we’re seeing that it’s not,” Morrow said.
Claire Genest, MA ’21 and current PhD student, said in an interview with The Journal that she doesn’t believe the AMS is doing enough to inform undergraduate students about the cuts to the QGA, which could potentially affect incoming post-graduate students, and that undergraduate students would benefit significantly more from “more public-facing advocacy.”
Genest explained many of her friends had signed leases and secured research opportunities for next year at Queen’s but are now left uncertain following the announcement of the QGA cuts.
“For current undergraduate students in their final years looking to do a Master’s [degree], not just advocacy [for the incoming students], but also digging in a bit more to make sure that undergraduates are fully aware of the fact the QGA is being cut so they can make decisions accordingly, as right now, a lot of people still don’t even know this is potentially happening,” Genest said.
At the town hall, Rocchi emphasized his ive role to the SGPS and referenced a statement on the AMS website. He noted the productivity of the town hall and highlighted the importance of student , which will lead the AMS to reflect on and reevaluate their understanding of the impact of the QGA’s cut on the student body as a whole.
“Through questions and presented by attendees, we reflected that the AMS should reevaluate its understanding of who this issue affects while continuing to take a strong stance by advocating for their undergraduate hip,” the AMS said in its statement.
“We want to continue to encourage our students to attend events that attempt to foster and encourage transparency within our mostly bureaucratic systems at Queen’s.”
Matiss and Rocchi didn’t outline their next steps in detail but emphasized they’ve been working long hours addressing the cuts impacting the QGA, with a focus on serving students effectively.
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