Queen’s University Contributes $750K Funding to the City of Kingston

Queen’s University has recently committed to an additional $750,000 in funding to the city, to be distributed in $150,000 yearly lump sums. We met with the Principal’s Office on the initial survey data that showed many students were assaulted and violated by police during this year’s homecoming following the university’s $350,000 donation to the city for “Covid enforcement”. We also saw a petition around the allocation of funding not going to the police, but rather towards harm reduction measures, garnering over 2000 signatures, showing it is clear how students feel about Queen’s funding going towards certain municipal services like the Kingston Police. After gathering and sharing this data, we hope that the city will consult with students and ensure that the funds are being spent on services that benefit the whole community.

We will continue advocating for the money to be spent on harm reduction services and initiatives, not police enforcement, because we believe this is the best way to address these student safety concerns. The Principal has worked to set up a meeting with the Chief of Police next week where we will all speak directly about the experiences and concerns of students brought up in our surveys.

While it is essential that the University commits funding to address student issues and student safety, we would like to see the same energy and resources that are being applied to addressing street parties applied to address the many social issues that are also currently impacting the community.

Please direct all media inquiries to Maddie Zarb, AMS Director of Communications, at " target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">

BACKGROUNDER

Alma Mater Society (AMS) – //www.myams.org

The central undergraduate student government at Queen’s University, the AMS represents over 19,500 students and is the oldest student government in Canada. There are over 1,000 student volunteers and 700 paid staff.