Undergraduate Orientation Review Working Group to examine orientation activities, submit recommendations. 

On Wednesday, August 30, Principal Daniel Woolf announced that Deputy Provost (Academic Operations and Inclusion) Teri Shearer will chair a working group that will review undergraduate orientation. The aim of the group is to compile avenues through which orientation can become “more welcoming and inclusive for all members of the Queen’s community,” according to a Queen’s Gazette press release. 

With a deadline of March 1 to submit their recommendations, the Undergraduate Orientation Review Working Group will consist of 19 sitting members which includes students, staff, faculty and alumni. They will look into Queen’s undergraduate orientation experience by consulting with the school community, examining best practices on other campuses and ultimately compile a vision for orientation to achieve certain shared goals. 

This examination will include the broader university orientation as well as individual student society orientation activities. 

Dr. Shearer told the Queen’s Gazette that, “Over the next six months, the working group will meet regularly and seek opportunities for feedback from the Queen’s community – culminating in a final report this winter.”  

“We will collaborate with the AMS and with students in a consultative and respectful manner which recognizes the value of both peer-involved and peer-led orientation activities,” Dr. Shearer said. 

Principal Woolf seeks reappointment to a third and final term

On Wednesday, Principal Daniel Woolf expressed his desire to be appointed for his third and final term. As a result, a Joint Board/Senate Committee to Review the Principalship has been established to advise the Board of Trustees on this matter. Woolf is currently serving his second term, which is due to end on June 30, 2019. 

The committee will include nine Board of Trustee members and nine Senate members, as well as Chancellor Jim Leech, who according to a September 13 Queen’s Gazette press release, will “chair the committee as an ex officio member”. 

— Sarina Grewal

Food retailers accepting debit this year 

For the 2017-18 school year, several on-campus food vendors will be accepting debit, including the Lazy Scholar in Victoria Hall and Tim Hortons in the JDUC. Located in Mackintosh-Corry Hall, MC Square is now also accepting debit. MC Square features a Pizza Pizza, Pita Pit and Chef Michael Smith’s Canadian Grilling Company.

New TAM system replaces meal equivalencies 

Replacing the meal equivalency system, the Trade a Meal (TAM) system has been introduced on campus. Instead of having around 150 meal equivalencies, students with meal plans are allotted 200 TAMs. 

TAM options are designated meal combinations that can be “traded” for a regular dining hall meal. TAM meals are available at all 21 retail locations on campus and are made visible through a TAM symbol beside the menu item of choice. Unlike last year, TAMs won’t equal $8.75, but will instead allow students to substitute a dining hall meal for any TAM meal, regardless of value. Alongside the 200 TAMs restriction, students are only able to have a maximum of four TAM meals daily.

— Jasnit Pabla