the journal Queen’s University
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Vol. 153, Issue 10
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F r i day , O c o t b e r 1 0 , 2 0 2 5
Commerce versus Engineering: The battle of misconduct cases
The two faculties made up over 60 per cent of NAM cases Jonathan Reilly Senior News Editor Even in Non-Academic Misconducts (NAM), the Commerce and Engineering rivalry persists. Presented to the Board of Trustees on Sept. 26, the University approved the Non-Academic Misconduct Annual Report. The report measures NAMs—which are departures from the Student Code of Conduct—from May 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. There were 1,079 total NAM cases, with 93 per cent taking place in residence. The report also looked at NAM cases by faculty, with Engineering and Commerce students two to three times more likely to be involved in a NAM case when comparing their offence rate to the percentage of the student population. Arts and Science and Health Studies students, together making up 70 per cent of the student body, made up 39 per cent of NAM cases. students twice as i nvo lve d
Engineering were about likely to be in a NAM
case, at roughly 15 per cent of the student body, but 31 per cent of NAM cases. Commerce students were also overrepresented, at 9 per cent of the student body but 30 per cent of NAM cases. Together, they were responsible for a reported 61 per cent of cases, despite only making up roughly a quarter of the student body. Despite requests from The Journal to speak with the Deans of Engineering and Commerce about how they plan to mitigate these numbers, the University provided a statement, adding that the numbers for each faculty can vary each year. “Many cases involve multiple students due to group-related incidents, meaning the number of respondents from each faculty can vary annually,” the University wrote. According to students, the
culture in these programs could be playing a large role. Ethan Powell, Sci ’27, was a former FREC and
EngSoc’s 2024-25 Director of External Relations. He explained in an interview with
that could be problematic for first-year students—especially given that they may be unfamiliar with drinking.
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Situated on the
traditional lands of
the Anishinaabe and
Haudenosaunee peoples.
Since 1873
NEWS — PAGE 2
Queen’s avoids $8.6 million deficit FEATURES — PAGE 4
The racial and sexist biases of Rate My Professor EDITORIALS — PAGE 5
Unify Canada turns dialogue into division ARTS & CULTURE — PAGE 10
The Journal that engineering students have a strong culture, leading to events that could cause misconduct. He cited GPA Bars, which are challenges that students can take part in to get patches for their engineering jackets, as a primary factor that could lead to more misconduct. “There’s definitely misconduct sorts of events that are encouraged for all people in engineering to do, and it definitely surrounds the bar culture,” Powell said. “There are a lot of great bars that promote a lot of teamwork and collaboration, a good example of that is the fix and clean bar, where students go and clean elderly people’s houses and help them do chores [...]. But people also create their own bars, and when you give that power to anyone, they make some rambunctious things.” Specifically, he pointed to drinking bars as something
“When your first serious drinking is in this super high energy environment where everyone is doing it around you, you kind of get the impression that ‘if I don’t drink a lot, then people are going to view me as weak or as not a real engineer.’” The idea of faculty-culture playing a role was also echoed in an interview with The Journal by Elizabeth Kim, Comm ’28. She explained that “party culture isn’t uncommon, and it’s not frowned upon in commerce.” Alongside the culture, she added that within the commerce community specifically, finances could play a role too. “Queen’s commerce is a more expensive program, thus attracting maybe a wealthier demographic. And so, I think that just having that monetary fund at their expense allows them to maybe go out and
‘Most performative male’ at Lay Low Cafe POSTSCRIPT — PAGE 10
I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up not worry about the financial barriers,” Kim said. Powell explained that generally, in his eyes, the stronger the community, the more misconduct. “Any super social program is going to have a lot of misconduct, because the more social gatherings there are, the more opportunity for large-scale misconduct and influence from other people.”
Nomination signatures scrapped for AMS executive
Running candidates face Assembly Lilly Meechan Assistant News Editor
AMS wants to end the “popularity contest” and elect future executives based on a candidate’s platform. Following the second Assembly of the year, the AMS has revised its Election Policy to eliminate the requirement that executive candidates collect student signatures to appear on the ballot for the upcoming election cycle. The Elections Policy Review Committee brought forward the recommendation. Motion 4, titled That AMS Assembly approve the amendments to the Election Policy, as presented in Appendix B, was moved by AMS President Jana Amer and seconded by AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Alyssa Perisa and passed unanimously at the Sept. 29 AMS Assembly meeting, ending the requirement for signatures. queensjournal.ca
Amer explained in an interview revised process now places number had already been with The Journal the decision the responsibility of vetting reduced from the previous year, behind scrapping the signature candidates with the AMS Assembly when candidates were required requirement to eliminate social through a ratification assembly. to have 300+ signatures before barriers and create being eligible to a fairer, more run, Amer told accessible path for all The Journal. students to run for Amer’s confident executive positions, that the ratification with the Assembly process offers a now having the more meaningful decision-making gauge of candidates power over who will than signatures be on the ballot. could. The Elections Policy “The ratification Review Committee, assembly is going which brought forward to be that kind JOURNAL FILE PHOTO of the recommendation, The motion was approved on Sept. 29 check mark was formed by student leaders Candidates must now present because they will be expected to who have run in elections, as a five-minute pitch, where come with a platform […] what well as various members from Assembly will then vote to approve their goals are, what they’re the AMS’s civics affairs team and their nomination by a looking to do, how that timeline is judicial team, who have all majority of 50 per cent going to look like for them.” taken part in running for plus one. Only Amer emphasized that the elections, according to Amer. The those who have been ratified are signature requirement presented committee was created over the eligible to campaign and appear on several issues. summer to re-evaluate election the ballot. “Nomination signatures never structures. The committee was Last school year, seemed to be a proper marker dissolved at the AMS Assembly candidates seeking to run for of the legitimacy of candidates,” on Sept. 29 after completing its AMS executive positions were she said. “[Candidates] weren’t summer evaluation. required to get 125 signatures even allowed to communicate According to Amer, the to qualify for the election. That their goals. You weren’t @queensjournal
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allowed to talk about literally anything you wanted to do other than ask people that you know to sign this letter.” According to Amer, the shift is also a step toward making student leadership more accessible, allowing for a better evaluation of the students running. “It required them [students] to be extroverts and it required them to be people that have pretty large social networks,” she said, “It’s a lot better to assess our students and potential based on their platform.” She also pointed to an issue of “signature fatigue,” when students are constantly being asked to sign various nomination forms for AMS execs, referenda, and club elections, leading to confusion about whether they were voting or just signing. Amer emphasized that the change isn’t set in stone. The AMS plans to monitor the upcoming election cycle to evaluate how the new system plays out. @thequeensjournal