Queen's Rector: Nick Day abuse of office?

Will Nick Day resign his position as Rector after the largest student body on campus held a referendum and found him to be illegitimate?

Undergraduates at Queen’s University have voted 72 per cent in favour of making a recommendation to the university to impeach rector Nick Day.- Students vote to impeach Rector

Yesterday Day continued his tradition of making Queen’s students face-palm hard in a letter responding to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s recent condemnation of Israeli Apartheid week. In the letter, which you can find written as a note on his Facebook profile, Day begins by raising a bunch of not-unreasonable points about Israel’s policies towards Palestinians and defending the legitimacy of Israeli Apartheid week. A few paragraphs into the letter, however, Day starts ladling on the kind of highly opinionated, provocative and toxic politicizing that got him into trouble last November.- Syrup Trap

Regarding the extent of student disgust at Day’s behaviour, the result of the vote speaks for itself. (It’s also impressive that 27% of eligible students bothered to vote — a bigger turnout than you get in a lot of municipal elections.-National Post

Mr. Day is, of course, perfectly free to express hatred toward Israel. He is also free to make up hysterical claims about the Jewish state -such as the notion that it is engaged in the deliberate extermination of Arabs (a claim that would be true if it were directed at Muammar Gaddafi in Libya or Basha Assad in Syria, whose crimes don’t seem to bother Mr. Day much). But he made a mistake when he signed his article as Queen’s Rector. Not unreasonably, many students felt he was misusing his title to promote his own narrow political opinions. And a group of activist students took it upon themselves to organize a petition to hold a referendum on Mr. Day’s fitness to hold office. In just a day or two, they got all the names they needed. -National Post

I am glad the students are taking back the campus from the vocal but small minority in the radicalized left.

Related articles

• Queens University 23rd Rector: Attacks Ignatieff and Israel. (canadiansense.blogspot.com)
• Queens University students move to impeach Nick Day? (canadiansense.blogspot.com)
• Queen's rector under fire for backing Israeli Apartheid Week (nationalpost.com)
• Sun sets on Day (thatotherguysblog.wordpress.com)
• Ottawa slams Israeli Apartheid Week (nationalpost.com)
• -Israeli Apartheid Week: The Facts- Part Two (jewishinfonews.wordpress.com)
• -Israeli Apartheid Week: The Facts-Part Three (jewishinfonews.wordpress.com)

Queens University students move to impeach Nick Day?

Nick Day exceeded his mandate as Rector, and he used the weight of his office to bolster his argument and divide the Queen’s community for personal, political, and partisan views. -Jake Roth a Queens University student has set up a Facebook group here.

A valuable lesson for Nick Day is fast approaching: Accountability. Nick Day used his position as the 32nd Rector to voice his personal opinions that are outside the mandate of his office. Elected student leaders  from the undergrads may have taken offense to his behaviour and negative publicity being generated for Queens University. 

Students are paying attention to issues that matter. A petition was quickly generated by them and the threshold has been met in order to have the AMS act on allowing a motion to be made.( A simple majority of fifty plus one per cent of the vote with no minimum will be necessary for the impeachment recommendation to be forwarded to the University Council.)

The graduate student union a member of CFS has voiced an objection to the undergraduate union use of language including the representation of the entire study body? Do they object to the removal of the Nick Day? The process undertaken against Mr. Day is an AMS process with neither the input nor the consent of graduate and professional students at Queen’s. Given the grave importance of this issue, the SGPS is carefully evaluating the options to determine the course of action that best reflects the interests of our members. Perhaps the President Jawad Qureshy, SGPS wants to be delay the process or protect the 32nd Rector from the referendum vote. In my limited understanding the AMS referendum on the impeachment of Nick Day it will not be binding on the University Council. This referendum is an opportunity to send a message from the student body on their  32nd Rector, Nick Day will become illegitimate in his role if the referendum passes regardless if University Council acts. I think it is a mistake for the SGPS to exclude themselves from this debate on the removal of the 32nd Rector. The elected student leaders should be polling their fellow members if their Rector did overstep his role and duty.

Is the  SGPS trying to negotiate some student-diplomatic immunity if he is a graduate union member? The SGPS boasts nearly 17% of the student enrollment, will they use their standing to protect Nick Day? ( Enrollment 22,477 vs 4,000 SGPS)

At a March 10 meeting of Queen’s University’s students’ society, a unanimous vote was passed to hold a referendum that will ask students to decide whether Day will continue to hold his position as rector.

Approximately 350 people were in attendance at the meeting, including Craig Draeger of Queen’s Campus Conservatives, who presented a petition with 2,200 signatures calling for Day’s impeachment. -Student Union and student body fed up with Nick Day? - Impeachment of Nick Day

A AMS Assembly records 35 in favour, 3 abstains, 0 against on holding a referendum at the 8:37-9.02 mark. Michael Coren has a few episodes this week in where they discuss the problems on campus.

I did a post on this a few days ago in defence of the Liberals and Ignatieff regarding the open letter from Nick Day.  I am not a fan of the Liberal party or their current leader. I don't support the radicalization on our campuses including IAW. I am glad to see the students are taking our campuses back from the radical groups in left. This is NOT about free speech or freedom of assembly. I believe this about the majority are tired of being intimidated by the most vocal minority. This is a great time for the moderates to step up and punish the radicals on either end of the spectrum. What do you think?

 

Queens University 32nd Rector: Attacks Ignatieff and Israel.

Nick's Facebook: here

Twenty-eight per cent of graduate and undergraduate students voted in the rector election. The entire student body eligible to vote is 20k. If Nick won with 50%+1 that would translate to a total of 5,600 student engaged  in democracy. Of the 5,600 that did bothered to participate he secured less than 3,000 votes.

If you continue to condemning critique of the genocide happening in Palestine, you and the party you lead are complicit in that genocide.- Nick's Essay attacking the Liberals and Ignatieff

As a Conservative partisan blogger, I don't think Ignatieff is a good MP or a leader for many reasons, but I don't accuse him of being complicit or his party for war crimes.  That is OVER THE TOP!

Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman was the first politician to introduce a resolution to condemn IAW. The Ontario Legislature passed it unanimously. ...the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has banned IAW from all board properties . Are they also complicit?

People are entitled to their worldview and it appears for some people, they have no difficulty in resorting to character assassination.

I remember the great speech our PM gave in defense of Israel. Our PM understands the lessons from history and will not be silent before the pacifists and thugs that single out  any group, country including Israel unfairly.  That is the role of a genuine honest broker, it took us a few years to recognize him.

The National Post Jonathan Kay demolishes Nick Day's attempt to demonize Israel.

Nick Day, the rector of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., has taken it upon himself to declare Israel guilty of “genocide.” He also tells readers that he is a big fan of “Israeli Apartheid Week” (IAW), the anti-semite- and communist-inspired festival of Israel-hatred that has been unanimously denounced by the Ontario legislature and the federal government. In his essay, which he fashions as a rebuke to Michael Ignatieff’s laudable denunciation of IAW, Mr. Day tells readers that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians represents “perhaps the biggest human rights tragedy of my generation.”

I am curious how many students and staff share the views of their thirty-second rector?

Update

At least Nick Day has been consistent: Why pay tribute to war veterans when you can make divisive political statements instead?

Rector Reprimanded-At AMS Assembly last night, a motion passed to have Nick Day censured after his Remembrance Day speech earlier that day. Even though he was reprimanded, Day says he wouldn’t treat the situation differently if he were to do it again.