The AMS prosecutor’s office received 105 complaints related to incidents that happened over Homecoming weekend.
AMS Director of Judicial Affairs Jeff Warshafsky said they’re able to pursue 93 of the cases. Of those, 57 are still pending and 36 have been ed through the Judicial Committee (JComm) through closed hearings.
Warshafsky said all complaints stemmed from events that occurred during Homecoming weekend between Oct. 12 and 13, but can’t be explicitly linked to Homecoming.
“They occurred on the weekend on Friday through Saturday,” he said. “However, they were not all on Aberdeen, and they weren’t part of the sanctioned event.”
The sanctions handed out in the 36 settled cases include 47 letters of apology addressed to Principal Hitchcock and the Kingston Police, 29 hours of community service to be completed off campus, and two reflective essays to be submitted to the prosecutor’s office.
Warshafsky said all 105 complaints were forwarded to the prosecutor’s office by Campus Security on behalf of Queen’s University.
“If the complaint is coming from Queen’s University, Campus Security is just handling it, as it falls within their area,” he said. “The argument is that these people are violating the laws of the province and the country and are diminishing Queen’s reputation, so Queen’s is interested in complaining to restore that reputation.”
Warshafsky said what constitutes hurting Queen’s reputation is decided on a case by case basis, and requires the prosecutor’s discretion.
“If someone was on the front of the National Post wearing a Queen’s shirt or jacket and breaking the law, that would diminish Queen’s reputation more,” he said. “However, we haven’t gotten reports on what people were wearing.”
Despite the influx of cases related to Homecoming weekend, Warshafsky said the caseload hasn’t slowed down the prosecutor’s office.
“These are relatively minor offences, so meetings and settlements don’t take that much time,” he said. “We had one week in November where the entire day of the entire week myself or my deputy was meeting with people. It was busy, but we were completely able to handle it.”
Warshafsky said cases may be settled directly between the respondent and the prosecutor’s office in a closed hearing.
Warshafsky said students are notified by e-mail that they have the option of meeting with the prosecutor’s office to reach a settlement in a closed hearing.
“Queen’s students are required to check their webmail, so if they’re not checking it, it’s their problem,” he said. “We send out at least three, and we usually space them around a week apart.”
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