With only a week’s notice given to the AMS and the rest of the student body, the university’s seven deans collectively created a motion to be presented at Senate to remove the 108-year-old system of non-academic discipline from the jurisdiction of students, and into the hands of the “Principal of Queen’s University and/or his delegate.” Although Arts and Science Dean Robert Silverman said that the timing of the motion was not calculated, it was thoughtless and showed poor judgment. A decision of this magnitude deserves a thorough examination and debate when the majority of students can be involved in the process. Even the AMS executive was only given one week’s notice.
The motion was vague, only calling to revoke non-academic discipline from students, without indicating any alternative system that would replace it, other than to consolidate all power in the principal’s office.
The events of Homecoming and of the more recent incident on Aberdeen don’t make up the majority of cases presented at the AMS Judicial Committee (JComm). Incoming chief prosecutor, Jennifer Mansell told Senate that only about 25 per cent of cases ing through JComm were Homecoming-related.
Appropriately, the motion was tabled until November.
As the Kelsea Fitzpatrick case highlights, the student-run system needs work. Fitzpatrick’s tri-pub ban was overturned by the highest appeal board and the AMS was heavily criticized in its handling of the case.
The editorial printed in the May 26 Kingston Whig-Standard, lamenting the tabling of the motion, was—like the deans’ motion—an emotional, irrational and hasty reaction to a much more complicated problem.
The main crux of the deans’ motion and the Whig’s editorial seemed aimed at solely tackling Homecoming. However, JComm operates year-round and handles a variety of cases. As Mansell mentioned in her address, before ing any such motion, Senate should first allow the recommendations made by the Senate Committee on Non-Academic Discipline and the AMS to be implemented. JComm and the peer-istered non-academic discipline system will be closely observed from now until November. The events that transpire at Homecoming 2006 will likely decide the fate of student-run non-academic discipline at Queen’s.
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