The Road to Relevance

Overview:
Team Abby and Nick consists of Abby Chaudhry for President and Nick
Maida for Vice-President. As a team, we present a variety of Queens
experiences, skill sets, and expertise that make us strong candidates for
Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) Executive. While our
experiences may differ, our passion for making Queens a better place for
all students does not.
The decision to run for ASUS Executive was not made overnight. It was only
after intensive consultation and deep personal reflection that we chose to
put ourselves forward to earn the privilege of serving our fellow students.
What follows is a distillation of our vision for the Society and its
interactions with our membership, compiled after diligent research and
careful planning. We appreciate the valuable time you have set aside to
learn about our plan for this organization as its Executive.
We are committed to enhancing the Queens experience, and a common
theme between us is our natural ability to accomplish our goals. We believe
that decision-making must be collaborative, and we are committed to
making student government more accessible to Queens students. At the
end of the day, it is not just our Queens ASUS experience we hope to shape
- its yours.
We want ASUS to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to
communicating decisions that impact your experience as a Queens student.
Although there are challenges ahead, we are prepared to tackle them head
on and represent students. We believe in creating an environment that
allows all Arts and Science students to contribute to shaping the future of
their faculty.

A lot of focus is put on smoothing the transition between high school and
university, ensuring students remain in school. However, the Arts and
Science faculty does little to aid students in getting ready for the next step
of their lives after graduation. This is unlike other faculties, such as
Commerce or Engineering, which put considerable resources into preparing
their graduates for the job market and graduate school. We will work
collaboratively with the Faculty of Arts and Science to ensure that student
interests are taken into account and the appropriate changes are made.
Many of our academic practices are also coming under heavier scrutiny.
Over the years there has been growing concern about the vast grading
discrepancies that are present between the departments within Arts and
Science. In 2013, the Faculty of Arts and Science acknowledged this issue in
their Grades Report. We believe that the problem of grading discrepancies
is a clear and pressing issue facing students.
Our platform of promoting the quality of the Queens Arts and Science
experience breaks down into two pillars:
1.

Establishing a Professional Development and Mentorship Program

2.

Promoting Academic and Grading Fairness

During the campaign, and long after it, we are committed to listening to
you. We want to hear about your concerns and we want everyones feedback
about our ideas so we can improve ASUS together. Together, we can work to
build a better Arts and Science faculty, but it is up to you the students to
help us take the first step.
Duc Mentum Ad Libertatem,
Abby & Nick

Professional Development and Mentorship

Program:
In the changing economic landscape, the emphasis on professional skills is
becoming more important than ever in the labour market. Universities like
Queens have done a good job of smoothing the transition that students
face from high school to university, ensuring fewer students drop out.
However, unlike other faculties like Commerce and Engineering, Arts and
Science does little to aid in the transition from university student to
graduate. We propose implementing a system that will utilize our alumni
connections and creating a mentorship program.
We recognize that mentorship provides an advantage for students applying
for jobs or graduate schools. The benefits include getting guidance from
people who have an intimate knowledge of the application process. For
those who are looking for a summer job or job after graduation, they can
get the assistance of Queens alumni who work in companies that they are
applying to. The application of this program is not only limited to those
looking for a job. Students looking to apply for further schooling in law,
medicine, or other graduate programs, can now get in touch with alumni
who have already been through the application process.
This program will work by having current and past students register with
their Linkedin accounts or through the web service itself. The platform will
allow users of this program to give or receive aid. For example, a fourth
year student can register for the service and use it to receive help on a
graduate school application while also using it to help a first year student in
choosing a major.

This program will be relatively unique to Queens Arts and Science students.
Our model for this program will be the Queens Smith School of Business
alumni connection program and will receive input from Queens Student
Alumni Association. We believe that our Professional Development and
Mentorship Program will be successful since Queens graduates are spread
out around the world in diverse careers in their respective fields. But most
importantly, former Queens students have a strong connection to the
school and will be more than willing to help a fellow Gael in their pursuit of
postgraduate opportunities.

Academic & Grading Fairness to Fight

Massive Grading Discrepancies:
What sets Queens University apart from other universities is the quality of
its academic programs. Students from all over Canada and the world come
to Queens for its reputation of academic excellence and rigour. However,
over the years, there has been a growing discrepancy in the grades achieved
between different departments within the Arts and Science Faculty. This has
led to students taking courses where they believe they can maximize their
grades instead of pursuing subjects they are passionate about. To this end,
we propose implementing the findings of the 2014 ASUS Report on Grading
Discrepancies.
The faculty of Arts and Science did a report on the grading system at
Queens in 2013 and found that there were major discrepancies between its
departments. It found that Political Studies awarded the least number of A+
grades, sitting at just 1.4%. This is in stark contrast to the Classics
department, which awarded 21.6% of all grades as A+, a 20.2% difference
between Classics and Political Studies.
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Grading discrepancies are a major problem for several reasons. First,

grading discrepancies incentivize students to study something that they
may not be passionate about. Furthermore, students may be forced to
study something they do not want to simply because it will net them better
grades for student awards; awards which would be funding their education.
Future schooling would also be negatively affected if students were to
study one subject over another more rewarding one. Lastly, in todays
competitive economic environment grades are crucial to landing coveted
jobs. If a student were to study something less rewarding, these jobs may
be out of their reach.
We propose to adopt the findings of the ASUS Report on Grading
Discrepancies with some adjustments:
1. Giving students the option to include a distributional mode on official
transcripts.
2. Instituting mid-semester formative teaching reviews.
3. Using surveys to figure out why certain courses have high fail rates.
4. Developing learning outcomes and rubrics to ensure consistency and
integrity in the grading.
5. Restructuring the Deans Honour List with Distinction to top 3% of each
department.
We believe that by implementing these 5 suggestions, students will be able
to get the most out of their degree by being more comfortable in studying
something that they are passionate, without fear of a low GPA. Most
importantly these 5 suggestions can help all students become more
competitive,

when

they

compete

for

jobs

and

opportunities, relative to students from other universities.

graduate

school

General Assessment of the Society:

Lack of Cohesion:
Before the commissions can be analyzed in depth, an overview of the
general problems facing ASUS must be discussed. The two major problems
in ASUS are the lack of cohesion between its different components and the
excessive apathy within the student body.
The different parts within ASUS consist of HR, the Commissions, the DSCs
and Year Societies. What is clear is that these components work independent
of each other. A clear example of this is the DSC working independently of
the Marketing Commission when advertising their events. Another example
is the HR office being at odds with the Executive. This lack of co-operation
between the different parts ultimately has a negative impact on the bottom
line for ASUS and the student body.
SCRUM Methodology:
To improve efficiency we seek to implement the SCRUM methodology as the
main project management system. SCRUM is a project management
framework for completing complex projects and is praised by major
management consultants such McKinsey & Co. It was pioneered by Toyota in
1986 and has since been adopted by Fortune 500 companies around the
world. How it works is simple; it adopts realistic stretch goals and then
utilizes all parts of an organization to work together to produce an end
product. This program would require every commission to be actively
involved with the other commissions. Using the SCRUM framework, ASUS
will be able to enhance the efficiency and cohesion of the seven
commissions and its offices.

Department Student Councils (DSC):

DSCs are an integral part of the academic advocacy system at Queens. DSCs
have two main functions: grassroots academic advocacy; and, department
socials. DSCs have done a fantastic job of increasing unity between
members in their respective departments through various socials. However,
the problem arises from the fact that DSCs have not done any consistent
academic advocacy work. We plan to change this by using the DSCs to
implement our Academic Advocacy Agenda. Doing so will provide a unifying
and urgent issue for all DSCs to work on. Also, using the DSCs will yield
more substantive academic policy as it will lead to well-adapted and
broadly-sourced solutions that work for everyone rather than those
developed in a one-size-fits-all manner.
Apathy:
Apathy within ASUS is also a major concern. Apathy can be seen in the lack
of student engagement with the governing assembly as well as the general
elections. Simply put, not enough people know what ASUS does. Those who
do know have little trust in the organization or are intimidated by its elitist
nature. We believe that ASUS has been marketed poorly towards its
membership and improving the marketing would significantly increase its
awareness.
Increasing Student Engagement:
In order to increase student engagement, ASUS must be marketed more
aggressively and made to be more accessible and transparent. In terms of
marketing ASUS, our plan will involve using all ASUS staff members to use
social media and class talks to consistently advertise major announcements
to ensure students have as much information with the greatest convenience.

Furthermore, we will instruct each commissioner and officer to upload a

brief document stating their roles along with their current strength and
weakness analysis reports onto the website. Through these reports students
can have a greater understanding of each role.
Lastly, it is our plan to upload the annual ASUS budget onto the website and
include a monthly financial update. We will also make all financial
information available on Excel. Both of these measures are intended to make
information as free and easy to access as possible. Students will know
exactly how their dollars are being spent and can gain key insights into the
inner workings of ASUS. Furthermore, by making financials available on
Excel, students will find it easier to conduct analysis.
Assembly:
Assembly is the most important aspect of ASUS and is a body for the
students by the students. Unfortunately, over the years, Assembly has seen
a major decline in participation. Our plan is to utilize social media and class
talks to inform students of upcoming assemblies and major issues that
Assembly deals with. We will also post the Assembly agenda onto the
website and social media so that it is accessible to all.
We believe that Assembly has taken on an elitist nature over the years with
Assembly members and ASUS staff creating a bubble cut off from the
student body. It is this elitist nature that scares students from participating
in the first place as many of them feel that they are not at the same level
and thus not qualified. We will strive to make Assembly open and friendly.
We will do this by having an open door policy where we have an ASUS
member stationed at the doors welcoming students in, as is done currently
with AMS assembly. We will post a brief outline of the agenda to social

media groups with an explanation of why the agenda points may be of

interest students.
Lastly, our plan will involve making Assembly more efficient. We will work
with assembly to make the process more efficient and to run as smoothly as
possible. Currently, Assembly can go on for several hours, which may be a
detriment to student involvement. By having a more efficient Assembly
students will be required to sacrifice less of their valuable time. We do
recognize, however, the important medium Assembly presents to members
to voice any concerns they have with ASUS and the Faculty in general. We
shall strive to ensure this remains as strong as it has ever been as we seek
these procedural efficiencies.
Elections:
Over the past decade student involvement in ASUS elections has dropped
dramatically. In recent elections positions have gone uncontested and have
been left vacant. We believe that the election process itself has not been
marketed effectively. Once again our policy solution is to aggressively use
social media and class talks to heavily advertise all positions.
Budget Transparency:
We believe strongly that every student is entitled to know how their money
is being spent. We will make all commission and office budgets public and
accessible to the student body, with appropriate explanations for spending
decisions. Arts and Science students deserve to know how their money is
being allocated. Publicly releasing budgets helps establish this financial
transparency. Furthermore, we will be releasing our budgets in Excel format
so as to make it more convenient for students to analyze the budget.

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Personal Interest Credit (PIC):

Another area of interest that we would like to improve is the Personal
Interest Credit (PIC). When launched in 2016, Queens became one of four
schools in Canada to have a PIC program in place. However, since then the
program has faced 2 problems in its roll out and marketing.
Improving Marketing of the PIC:
Although the PIC was a popular policy when implemented, ASUS did not do
as good a job with its marketing. As a result few students know what the PIC
is and how to use it.
As a solution, we propose heavily using social media to promote the policy
during the times of year when students are registering for courses. These
times would include the initial sign up in July followed by open enrolment
periods in September and January.
Streamlining PIC Registration:
Another major hurdle in the implementation of the PIC has been the
convenience of signing up for it. Currently if one wants to register for a
course using the PIC, they would have to go to the Arts and Science office in
Dunning and fill out a form. We believe that this presents an inconvenience
to our members. Our solution is to provide the form on the Arts and Science
and ASUS websites, where students can print and fill out the form and then
submit it to the Arts and Science office. This online option to retrieve the
form couples conveniently with our social media plan for the PIC.

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Mental Health:
Mental health has been a dominant issue at Queens for the last several
years. This issue is of tremendous importance to ASUS as every single
student has either experienced, or is currently dealing with, mental health
struggles or knows of someone who is. Previous ASUS administrations have
taken the initiative to conduct in-depth and thorough discussions about this
issue. The last two ASUS administrations, rectors and AMS executives put in
place a plan to provide more access to mental health councillors. We believe
that it is time to take action on this issue and we propose continuing the
plan put in place by our predecessors. Mental health is a tough subject to
deal with and the more we delay addressing it, the more students will
suffer. What we propose is simple; continue implementing the plan already
in place and making adjustments to it on a case-by-case basis with the
involvement of Assembly. We will also advocate tirelessly for the
administration to allocate a greater share of funds to programs aimed at
improving the mental wellness of our members and the greater student
body.
Clubs Policy:
Clubs are an integral part of Queens student life and in many ways work to
improve the academic experience. This is the first time that an ASUS team
has ever run a club specific policy and we are proud to be at the forefront of
this development. The most important event of the year for most club
recruitment is the ASUS Sidewalk Sale. We propose finding efficiencies to
lower the cost of entry to the Sidewalk Sale. It is simply unacceptable that
every club is expected to pay $150 to participate in the largest recruitment
event of the year. With 5000 frosh passing through the sale, all clubs must
be able to have access to this event. Currently, only the largest and most
well established clubs can participate. We will also create an ASUS resource

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centre on clubs and promote it on social media to better help students

connect with opportunities on campus.
Undergraduate Student Research Conference:
We believe that all Arts and Science students should have increased access
to research and publication opportunities. We would like to facilitate a
conference at the end of the academic year where students can present their
research and thesis projects to the public. With this opportunity, students
can expect to develop important presentation skills and have something
great to put on their resume. The best part of this policy is that it will be
open to people of all faculties and will provide yet another research
opportunity. Science students will be able to teach arts students about their
areas of study and vice versa; a truly liberal arts education.
Marketing:
The Marketing Commission is tasked with being the middleman between
ASUS and the student body. Everything ASUS-related that needs to be
pushed out to students goes through the Marketing Commission whether it
be an information graphic or a video. Unfortunately, Marketing has suffered
from underinvestment and has been overburdened; in other words, there is
a significant amount of deferred maintenance that needs to be addressed.
Creating a Professional Structure:
Within the Marketing Commission there is a clash between serving the
needs of the society and promoting individual creativity. We intend to
remedy this by likening the Marketing Commission to the AMS Marketing
and Communications Office, achieved through a more business-like
framework. Furthermore, we would like to integrate personal projects with
formal projects. This will lessen the workload on the commission while still

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allowing commission members to improve their skills and promote their

creativity.
Within marketing we see a potential for generating revenue from certain
services. We propose that marketing should charge money for producing
videos, the same way Studio Q charges for its services. We will use the
revenues to fund purchases of high-quality and reliable equipment. This
will help to address the issue of underinvestment by giving the commission
the sufficient capital they need to fulfil their mandate. We seek to provide
them full control over these purchases in order to equip themselves
efficiently.
Brand Perception:
Far too often in our personal consultations with students have we heard
that ASUS lacks a mechanism whereby members can voice their approval or
dissatisfaction with Society initiatives. In order to improve transparency, we
must have a wide-ranging feedback solicitation process in place. That way
we can effectively deliver on the issues that matter to students in our
portfolio. Similar to the AMS Marketing and Communications Office, we
shall task the ASUS Marketing Commission with conducting brand surveys
encompassing the many activities in which ASUS actively participates. We
propose adding an additional committee to the Commission that shall be
solely focused on organizing and overseeing the operation of these surveys.
Governance:
The Governance Commission plays an important role in overseeing
elections and ASUS Assembly. Due to its high-profile political portfolio, it is
a well-known facet of the organization. During our consultations, we were
delighted to learn that many of the problems plaguing governance in the
past had been solved by previous administrations. However, progress on

14

this chapter is not complete with a couple of issues still remaining. We

address them below.
ASUS Assembly:
In terms of ASUS Assembly, we want to see a move towards streamlining the
process and making it less time consuming. To do so, we propose adopting
a practice from the AMS Assembly where Assembly automatically approves
decisions made by committees comprising ASUS Assembly members, unless
those present at the meeting feel they must be examined further in the open
forum. Moreover, we propose themed Assembly nights to make meetings
more welcoming to Members-At-Large.
Human Resources:
Currently the relationship between HR and ASUS is vague in policy. As a
result there have been frequent clashes between HR and the Executive over
who has final jurisdiction over certain policies. We will work to solve this
issue by submitting to Assembly proposals aimed at clarifying contentious
policy in the next academic year. These proposals shall be submitted by the
Executive, with stakeholder input, but we cannot stress enough that this
decision must be scrutinized and finalized by Assembly and not by the
ASUS Executive.
Community Outreach:
The Community Outreach Commission is the largest commission within
ASUS in terms of volunteers. This commission provides volunteering
opportunities to the broader student body through 12 committees. Our
consultations with those involved in Community Outreach elucidated one
particular issue. We address it below.

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Clarifying the Role of Committees:

Given the size of the commission it makes sense that it also has the highest
number of committees. In a commission so large, the chance for
redundancy amongst the committees is greater. In order to limit overlap, we
propose conducting a full review of the purview of each. The review will
consist of an internal and external perspective on the role of the committee.
Diverse student input here is paramount; thus, we shall try in earnest to
seek reviewers from many facets of our community. The commonalities
between these two perspectives will help to establish a clear definition of
the committee.

Once a definition has been established, the appropriate

changes shall be implemented.

Academics:
The Academic Affairs Commission serves to advocate for a continued highquality university experience in a cost-constrained setting. The Commission
is tasked with overseeing the Departmental Student Councils (DSCs), ASUS
Peer Tutoring, and a number of Academic Journals. Overall, we recognize
the importance of incorporating a grassroots feedback mechanism through
the use of the DSC as well as streamlining the academic journal system.
Academic Journals:
Currently, the commission oversees a number of research journals
including QSURJ and Politicus. As it stands, many of the smaller journals
consistently fail to garner enough submissions. The issue stems from the
fact that there are many distinct journals that target a specific niche. In
order to reach a wider range of students, the major research journals must
have their mandates expanded so that they can accept more articles
covering diverse subjects. Doing so will help focus the service while
providing more abilities for students to get published.

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Department Student Councils:

Apart from Frosh Week, the Department Student Councils consist of perhaps
the most recognizable and popular ASUS endeavour. Currently, the DSCs fall
under the oversight of the Academics Commission.

These are councils

comprised of students from each department, which provide a grassroots

method of communication between ASUS and the departments within Arts
and Science. While the DSCs hold tremendous potential, and do great work
co-ordinating events for each department, we feel that they are being underutilized as academic advocates for their students. We plan to re-invigorate
the DSCs by using them as the primary catalyst to implement our Academic
Advocacy Agenda in the next year. By using the DSCs to inform, develop,
and subsequently mobilize our agenda, we will generate well-adapted and
diverse academic solutions implemented efficiently, rather than

a bulky

one-size-fits-all policy.
Equity:
The Equity Commission serves to advocate the promotion of fair and equal
treatment within the Queens community regardless of race, social class,
gender, or other matters of positionality. Through seven committees, the
commission covers a breadth of social justice topics. We recognize the
importance of this commission and pledge to give it our full support.
Considering the sensitive nature of the topics at hand, weve realized that
ASUS, the AMS, and the Queens administration have been afraid to conduct
the tough discussions that accompany social justice issues. To this end we
vow to facilitate these tough discussions and to push the Queens
administration to face ongoing problems relating to racism, misogyny, and
other forms of discrimination.

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Amplify Voices:
Despite the push in recent years to promote equitable policies, underrepresented, equity-seeking groups have been left out of the discussion.
Issues ranging from Indigenous rights to trans rights, even to addressing
the dominant white culture on campus, have been swept under the rug for
too long. Quite simply, persons of colour, members of the LGBTQ+
community, Indigenous people, and other students from equity-seeking
groups have had their voices silenced in order to protect the universitys
reputation. We promise to work earnestly to hear and amplify the voices of
members of these communities, and attempt to provide them a platform
whereupon they can voice their unique concerns to the whole Queens
community.
To accomplish this instrumental undertaking, we shall task the Equity
Commissioner with establishing roundtables comprising of student leaders
from marginalised communities to provide them a medium through which
they can articulate specific equity issues on campus to members of the
administration.
Services:
The Services Commission is critical to the future of ASUS. The commission
generates large amounts of revenues, which in turn enables more vibrant
student life. Through its four committees, the commission consists of ASUS
Jackets, Good Times Diner, Exchange Buddies, and ASUS Trips. Overall, the
Services commission has consistently been one of the societys largest and
most important portfolios.
One of the most distinctive features of the Queens campus is the number of
students walking around with faculty jackets. Over the last year, the
commission has seen some significant changes, which have led to improved

18

efficiency. For instance, the early bird sale and the Jackets look book
have been positive developments. Judging by the success of these
measures, we will strive to continue and institutionalize these best
practices.
One of the most popular volunteering opportunities in ASUS is offered
through the services commission: Good Times Diner. Good Times Diner is a
food service for under-privileged community-members which functions
twice weekly and accommodates around 20 volunteers. Currently, the
service is only provided on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, given the
increased demand for volunteer opportunities, we believe that there is a
scope to expand the service to include a third day in the week.
Frosh Week:
When most students think of ASUS, one of the first things to come to mind
is ASUS Orientation Week, and for good reason. This is a treasured time for
many incoming students, as it is when first year students get their first
taste of university life, and are allowed a period to adjust to living away
from home. For many students, Orientation Week is a time when lifelong
friends and memories are made. Orientation Week is steeped in traditions
that have existed for more than a century. It is a way for students to partake
in the same rich heritage of Queens that thousands of alumni have before
them, writing new chapters of their own in the process. We are strong
advocates of preserving Orientation Week as it is, ensuring that it is wholly
student-run, and that it continues to provide safe and inclusive activities
for students from all backgrounds. ASUS does a remarkable job of
running Orientation week very efficiently. We look forward to continuing
our

meaningful

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During our consultations with Orientation leaders, a concern they regularly

shared surrounded the financial accessibility of O-week. Currently, the
Orientation fee for first-year students and for Gaels is roughly $100.
Orientation Coordinators can spend up to $200 to fully partake in
Orientation Week. There are bursaries available to help alleviate these costs,
and in the interest of keeping such an integral part of the Queens
experience financially accessible, we hope to expand these bursaries so that
no student need be left out of Orientation Week due to financial need.
A complaint weve heard from many upper-year and first-year students is
that while Orientation Week provided a meaningful experience for them,
there seemed to be a lack of opportunities for bonding with their groups.
We hope to fix this by allowing Gaels more freedom to oversee the activities
of their individual frosh groups. This would allow students more time to
bond and interact with their peers and ultimately provide a greater
opportunity to form lifelong friendships and lasting memories.

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