This year’s investigations ranged from campus drug use to Queen’s sports history to vulnerable student groups and lacking resources on campus.

The Queen’s Centre’s forgotten promise

There used to be a hockey arena on campus. It  was called  Jock Harty, and it resided where there’s now an empty parking lot behind the five-story Queen’s Centre building.

Jock Harty was demolished in 2007 to make way for a new hockey arena — one that never arrived. Like the completed Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), the new arena was intended to be part of the multi-phase, multi-million dollar Queen’s Centre project.

Today, most Queen’s students have never heard of the Queen’s Centre project — or the promise it held for the university. 

But Colin McLeod, ArtSci ’09, remembers the constant hum of machinery on campus, when noise kept students up at night and blocked access on roads between University Ave. and Division St.McLeod lived through the height of construction of the Queen’s Centre — a project that aimed to expand student space and athletic facilities starting in the mid-2000s.

“Living at the corner of Barrie and Earl [Streets], I would often hear the dynamiting and feel our apartment building shake at times,” McLeod said.

But construction went silent sooner than expected. The project lasted from 2005-09, when it was abruptly brought to a halt.

“The first phase was originally slated to cost $124 million. Queen’s spent $169 million. The University never made it to phase 2 or phase 3 — which were projected to cost $83 million and $24 million.”

Cardiac Gaels

“A historic hockey game took place on March 2, 2011, witnessed by just 312 spectators in a university rink. The Queen’s Gaels and Guelph Gryphons clashed in a battle where six overtimes were need to decide the winner. It was the second-longest contest in North America — the longest since a 1936 meeting between the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons.”

Castle disrupted by staff cuts

 “For almost two years, a series of dismissals, resignations and curriculum changes have rocked the Queen’s Bader International Study Centre (BISC) with scant attention from main campus.”

Street harassment slips through the cracks

It’s a common enough sight. A young woman walks along the sidewalk, either alone or in a group, when suddenly a car drives by — slurs and innuendoes are yelled out an open window by a stranger. Before anyone can fully register what’s happened, the car’s gone.

Whether they’ve witnessed a drive-by catcall or public masturbation, female students at Queen’s are no strangers to street harassment in the University District.

But even when an incident is classified as a criminal offence, you’d be hard pressed to find a woman on campus who’s reported it to officials. 

For Nicole Ahrens, the drive-by scenario is nothing new. Like many other female students, she’s been called a “slut” and a “bitch” on the streets of the University District, with the occasional “I’m going to fuck you” thrown in.

5 dollars. a pill and an “A”

Grad student Issues:

International Grad Students

“Foreign graduate students often face language barriers and funding challenges”

Grad Student – Supervisor Relationships

“Positive working relationships with supervisors are key to graduate student success”