Hillel provides resources for Jewish students on campus
With the rise of antisemitism on campus and in the Kingston community, it’s important for Jewish students to be aware of resources existing for .
Queen’s Hillel and Hillel Kingston have offered a multitude of resources for Jewish students this past week with most events taking place in the Otterburn House, 1-124 Centre Street, the new home of Hillel in Kingston.
On Oct. 26 at 2:00 and 5:30 p.m., Queen’s Hillel hosted solidarity circles for Jewish students to decompress about antisemitism while acknowledging it’s ‘okay to not be okay.’
Within the solidarity circle, discussions included the increasing prevalence of antisemitism both on and off campus in recent weeks, including the antisemetic vandalism in Albert Street Residence.
On Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., Queen’s Hillel also hosted a grad student called ‘Jews for Cheeses’ in order to connect Jewish 5th year students—postgraduate, professional, PhD and Post-Doc—with each other.
On Oct. 23, Hillel hosted a screening of the short film Periphery in order to spark discussion about Judaism and included a discussion by Yoni Belete, ArtSci ’16, a Queen’s Hillel alumnus and a co-founder of No Silence on Race.
The film was produced by No Silence on Race, a Canadian not-for-profit organization dedicated to expressing the experiences of Jews of Colour in Canada—and the Ontario Jewish Archive—a local community archive that collects and preserves the historical records of Jewish life in Ontario.
Hillel urges anyone who has experienced an incident or has concern of antisemitism on campus to report it as soon as possible.
—Skylar Soroka, Assistant News Editor
Relay for Life plans events throughout the year
Queen’s Relay for Life organized a visual awareness event, akin to a candlelight vigil called “Lumies on Uni.” A play on the word “luminary,” which dotted the street.
The event took place on Oct. 25 in front of Stauffer library, with candles extending down University avenue. Relay for Life is a campus organization dedicated to raising money for cancer research and treatment.
Charlotte Pollard, Nurs ’23, and Julia McGregor, ArtSci ’23, both Relay for Life co-presidents, told The Journal in an interview the event was to raise awareness about cancer research.
“Luminary bags symbolizes reasons that people fundraise or raise awareness for cancer. So that could be those that they’ve lost to cancer, those that have survived cancer, those that are currently dealing with cancer,” McGregor said.
Looking forward, Pollard said Relay for Life is planning future events for the community.
“We currently are in the process of organizing a live music event, and partnering with local businesses in Kingston,” Pollard said.
McGregor said this is Relay for Life’s 16th year and students can find many ways to interact with the organization —through ceremonies, activities, and volunteer hiring, which is currently ongoing.
—Asbah Ahmad, Senior News Editor
OPRIG addresses police presence on campus
The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPRIG) met to organize a “No Cops on Campus” initiative.
The basis of the meeting on Oct. 27, was to set out goals to stop police recruitment and outreach on campus. OPRIG Kingston focuses on social environmental justice—through education, research, and action.
“I think there’s a huge divide in the community between students and the rest of Kingston. I think the police use this kind of language to separate and justify what they do to us […] harming us, getting into our privacy, getting into our community, getting into our spaces,” an OPRIG member said at the meeting.
The organization outlined tangible “goals” on a whiteboard: to stop police recruitment or outreach on campus, stop Queen’s sanctioned stop-and-searches on campus, to “strike down” nuisance party bylaws, and change policing methods.
“Get rid of the horses […] it is ridiculous,” one member said.
“I was screaming ‘fucking pigs’ [and] in retrospect, [it was] not very bright. But it speaks to the fact that they thought I was drunk because I disagreed with their political views,” another OPRIG member said.
Kingston bylaws are in effect during Homecoming weekend as are the University District Safety Initiative (UDSI) and istrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs).
One member believed the searches on campus were “highly discriminatory.”
“They don’t have any basis of who they are searching,” they said.
OPRIG documented St. Lawrence College, the AMS, the Queen’s Senate and Board of Trustees, and the City of Kingston as being those “in power” when addressing their goals.
—Aimée Look, Assistant News Editor
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