With looming cuts to graduate funding on the horizon, students are mobilizing to push back against the changes.
Organized by the Public Service Alliance of Canada 901, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), and Queen’s Students vs Cuts hundreds of students, staff and faculty gathered on University Ave. in front of Richardson Hall for an “All-Out Walkout to Save Graduate Funding” on Sept. 26 to protest proposed cuts to Queen’s Graduate Awards (QGA) for Master’s programs.
“This isn’t just our fight. This is a collective moment and we’re here today because we believe in the future of Queen’s. […] Today, we stand together amplifying the voices of the students, faculty, staff and alumni, we know this proposal is not just a budget decision, it’s a decision that strikes the very heart of what Queen’s stands for,” SGPS President Emils Matiss said, addressing the protesters.
Christina Salavantis, a program associate in the Department of Sociology, expressed her concerns during the walkout, stating the University is undermining the value of education with their proposed cuts to the QGA.
“We’re here today as a community that stands together in solidarity,b we’re here to our fellow workers and academic workers who are facing a grave injustice. Queen’s University is stripping away the financial lifeline of our Master’s and graduate colleagues, threatening their futures and undermining the value of education itself,” Salavantis said in her speech.
READ MORE: Graduate funding slashed, a blow on equity and financial necessity
The walkout blocked a section of University Ave. near Bader Ln. which caused traffic disruption, preventing two trucks and a City of Kingston bus from ing through. After a brief period of negotiation between protesters, the vehicles ed through.
In a press release, the organizers stated the walkout was put together in response to decisions made by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), a small group of senior s responsible for operational choices. Over the past year, concerns about the SLT’s commitment to the University’s academic mission have increased, leading to demands for greater transparency and ability.
The SGPS issued a statement on Sept. 20, announcing the SLT approved a series of cost-cutting and fundraising measures. As part of these measures, the QGA, which currently provides an average of $4,100 per student for research stipends, will be eliminated for incoming students starting in fall 2025.
Student groups and organizers from across campus gathered to show their solidarity and deliver speeches. Although the AMS Executive was present at the beginning of the walkout, when asked by PSAC 901 President Jake Morrow to speak at the end, the AMS was no longer present.
In a statement to The Journal regarding their silence at the walkout, the AMS stated they wanted to give graduate students the space to speak, as “the cuts affect them the most.” The AMS shared SGPS’s survey with their on social media and reposted information about the walkout.
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Dianna K. Goneau Inkster
The AMS doesn’t care about the quality of the TAs and RAs that teach their ? How many graduate students won’t come to Queen’s because that stipend has been cut? So, then, Queen’s has to offer its positions to wealthier, but second tier students. The AMS elected officials didn’t make that connection? Who’s funding these politicians that they don’t understand financial necessity? Their families? There’s too much financial elitism in the universities now. This is only going to make things worse.