Queen’s University is seeking comment on its updated draft sexual violence policy, which has been modified to align with the recently introduced provincial legislation and policies at other universities in Ontario.

“This policy will be a critical component in our continuing work on sexual violence prevention and response,” says Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Alan Harrison. “It aligns with provincial legislation, recommendations from the university’s Sexual Violence Prevention Working Group, and best practices across the sector.”

An implementation team, chaired by the provost, has been in place since July, advancing the working group’s recommendations. The draft policy, and all sexual violence education and training programs and initiatives that have been implemented to date, have been developed with extensive student input and involvement.

Most recently, Queen’s announced the creation of a dedicated Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator position. The coordinator will be a central point of contact for students, staff and faculty and will lead campus-wide education, response, support, training and advocacy activities. The university has also introduced new education programming for students during Orientation Week, created new resources and training for students, staff and faculty, and worked to enhance the profile of sexual violence support services on and off campus with a new poster and updates to the Green Folder resource.

The draft sexual violence policy articulates the university’s commitment to addressing sexual violence and the comprehensive supports that will be offered to individuals who have experienced sexual violence. It also outlines the university’s responsibilities relating to awareness, education, training, and reporting.

The Queen’s community is invited to comment on the draft policy by emailing policies@queensu.ca until Feb. 2, 2016.

Review the draft policy

Here's a quick recap of the Queen's Gaels teams that were in action over the weekend:

Women’s Basketball

The No. 10 Queen's Gaels women's (8-1) basketball team picked up arguably their biggest win of the season on Saturday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, defeating the No. 2 ranked Ryerson Rams (6-2) by a score of 80-74.

Fifth-year senior Jenny Wright tied Liz Boag's 1,055 career point total with a team-high 20 points. Wright and Boag sit tied for second on Queen's all-time scoring list behind Brittany Moore, who finished her five-year career with 1,652 points. Robyn Pearson picked up her second straight double-double, with 14 points and 12 rebounds to go along with five assists and five steals.

On Friday, Pearson hauled in 20 rebounds and put up 11 points as the Gaels earned a dominant 57-33 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues.

Men’s Basketball

The Queen's Gaels men's basketball (6-3) team dropped their second game in as many nights, falling 97-81 to the CIS No.5 ranked Ryerson Rams (6-1) on Saturday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

On Friday, the team fell 85-84 to the Toronto Varsity Blues (3-4) in a tightly-contested match at the Goldring Centre

Fourth-year forward Ryall Stroud tallied a team-best 25 points against the Rams and Sukhpreet Singh recorded a game-high 24 points versus the Blues.

Men’s Hockey

The Gaels men's hockey team (11-5-1) fell short of a thrilling comeback in a 3-2 double overtime loss to the No. 5 UQTR Patriotes (18-3-1) at the Memorial Centre on Saturday.

Peter Angelopolous and Slater Doggett scored for the home side wihile Kevin Bailie stopped 54 of 57 shots.

On Friday, the Gaels tumbled to the Concordia Stingers 4-3. Eric Ming, Spencer Abraham and Alex Stothart scored for the Gaels and Bailie made 38 saves.

Women’s Hockey

The Queen's Gaels (8-1-3-2) pushed the York Lions (2-4-6-2) to overtime but fell 2-1 for an upset loss on the road.

Clare McKellar scored the lone goal for the Gaels, scoring on a third-period penalty shot for her third goal of the season.

Men’s Volleyball

The Queen’s Gaels men’s volleyball team (8-3) managed to take the first set against the undefeated No. 1 McMaster Marauders (12-0) on Friday night but were unable to maintain the momentum, losing  in four sets (25-27, 25-21, 25-16, 28-26) in Hamilton.

Mike Tomlinson led the Gaels offense with 14 kills, also scoring a service ace in the match. He was supported by Marko Dakic who chalked up 12 kills, seven digs and two aces.

Women’s Volleyball

The Queen’s Gaels women’s volleyball team (7-5) opened their 2016 schedule Friday night with a straight-sets road win (25-17, 25-20, 25-23) against the Lakehead Thunderwolves (4-8).

Shannon Neville led the Gaels with 13 kills while Franzi Wilhelm contributed 28 assists as well as four digs and two kills.

With the aim of helping faculty, staff and students "Get Your 150" (minutes of recommended exercise a week) to improve health and wellness, the Gazette and Athletics and Recreation will be offering Fit Tips each week.

It’s that time of year again, resolution time! 

Don’t be discouraged by failures of the past, look towards 2016 as an opportunity to improve on something awesome! (that’s you)

Here are a few tips to help you rock your resolution:

1 – Be realistic, set achievable goals. Instead of saying you want to lose 30 pounds this year. Set a goal of 2.5 pounds each month and focus on that month.
2 – From wearable tech to apps on your smartphone, use technology to remind you to be active and ‘Get Your 150’.
3 – Schedule check-ins on your calendar. Once a month ask yourself, how’s your resolution going? Leave encouraging notes to keep you motivated.  
4 – Don’t let a little slip stop you. Life is busy, don’t let a short fall in your goal be the end of your resolution. Look at the next day as a fresh start to your goal.

Two books from the Queen’s School of Policy Studies have been included in The Hill Times Top-100 Political Books of 2015.

In the annual list Thinking Outside the Box, edited by Keith G. Banting, Richard P. Chaykowski and Steven F. Lehrer (McGill-Queen’s University Press) placed 88^th while Toward A Healthcare Strategy for Canadians, edited by A. Scott Carson, Jeffrey Dixon, and Kim Richard Nossal (Queen’s McGill University Press) was ranked 90^th in the annual list. The Hill Times is an independently-owned newsweekly covering the Canadian government and politics. 

“Being included in The Hill Times list is great news for the School of Policy Studies and Queen’s,” says Dr.  Carson, Stauffer-Dunning Chair and executive director of Queen’s School of Policy Studies. “This recognition demonstrates that the collaborative academic work produced here at Queen’s University is being read, and, more importantly, informing Canadian policy.”

“Thinking Outside the Box” originated in a conference celebrating the research and policy contributions of Tom Courchene, the founding director of the School of Policy Studies. As Keith Banting, Professor of Political Studies and Policy Studies, observes, “the title of the book perfectly captures the inventiveness and creativity of Tom’s policy research.”

Toward A Healthcare Strategy for Canadians is the result of the Queen’s Healthcare Policy Change Conference Series, a joint initiative by the Queen's School of Policy Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences and The Monieson Centre for Business Research in Healthcare at Smith School of Business, which brought together 385 senior Canadian and international leaders from business, healthcare delivery, government and academia to explore mobilizing change and how to manage and govern a pan-Canadian approach to healthcare.

A companion volume focused on implementation, Managing a Canadian Healthcare Strategy, will be published in 2016.

Both books are part of the Queen’s School of Policy Studies Series, a premier publisher of policy-related material in Canada, on McGill/Queen’s University Press.