Commerce students spoke up, so their faculty society delivered.
The Commerce Society (ComSoc) released their first ever student-body wide census last May which details demographics, academic data, economic backgrounds, and more information surrounding commerce students at Queen’s.
The data, which was gathered during the previous ComSoc executive team, has allowed the current executive team to better align their leadership approach with the needs of the student body, according to ComSoc President Sagaana Sivathason, Comm ’25. According to Sivathason, this is the first census conducted by ComSoc.
In an interview with The Journal, Sivathason explained the data was gathered through two forms: an initial survey on ComSoc Shop, a website used by ComSoc to conduct their hiring and promote events, which gathered qualitative data like student demographics. Students who opted in after the first survey received a second survey through their e-mail, which asked for more quantitative as a place for students to voice their specific concerns or praises.
Economic standing was also part of the census’ scope, showing that 55.4 per cent of commerce students don’t contribute at all to their tuition and 40.3 per cent don’t contribute at all to their rent and utilities. On the flip side, 10.4 per cent contribute over 80 per cent of their tuition cost and 21.9 per cent contribute over 80 per cent of the cost for their rent and utilities.
According to Sivathason, one of the benefits of the census is its ability to help inform the decisions they make as executives. She emphasized ComSoc’s commitment to using this data constructively.
“We do think transparency is a two-way relationship and so we really do appreciate all the students taking the time to complete the census and to share their ,” Sivathason said.
When students were asked how much they enjoy their social life at Queen’s, the survey showed an average response of 3.57 out of 5.0. Sivathason believes this statistic is likely due to the high number of third and fourth-year students whose social life was interrupted due to the pandemic, adding how she’d like to improve that statistic.
“We [this year’s executive team has been] keen on ensuring folks don’t feel like they’re coming to Smith [Commerce] just to get a degree, but they feel like that they’re ing the commerce family and getting that community experience that they were looking for,” Sivathason said.
Sivathason aims to make the census a yearly publication, hoping to release one by the end of the winter semester. However, delays may push its publication to the summer under next year’s ComSoc executive.
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