Queen's Homecoming : Aberdeen Street

[leobcampos]

I liked the girls. =)

[AspiringPotato]

Nothing like everyone else soaking their brains in booze to shift the bell curve in my favour.

[CommentClown]

Queen's has been quick to renounce any responsibility for the propagation of this culture. I was there in the late 90's, and I found that many of the university-sanctioned events enabled binge drinking and even provided access. That's a big accusation, but here you go: I lived in university residence and was provided alcohol (while underage) on numerous occasions by my floor don, who was employed by Queen's. Years of alcoholism followed.  I hope things have changed.

[joemichealmurray]

lol, Kingston should harvest this event not reject it. Cities going about it the wrong way, imagine. Setting up beer tents, hosting keggers, have beer sponsors set up and down the street (That way the city is makign the money it needs to have the proper amount of police patrol and control) and then just have cops contorling who goes in and checking id, anything, embrass it as a city event, if you treat it as anarchy it will be carried out as anarchy.

[jjbendavid]

That is the fucking worst video I have ever seen.

[InstantWaterAddWater]

sheep...

[Cazper86]

vituperative.........did they reject you?

[vituperative]

I'm a student at Queen's, so no they did not reject me.

[vituperative]

To end this inevitably fruitless debate on youtube I'll say this; I did not DENOUNCE your time spent at Queen's or your work or your friends. I simply stated that in my view the aberdeen shitshow is inconsistant with the reputation Queen's supposedly has and tries to proliferate.

[vituperative]

I would say that Queen's has what you call the "aesthetics of being the "best team" but they have so many shitty players that lack talent and skill. And that's the problem. Students who are serious about academics want to go to an institution that is serious about academics. Again Queen's isn't the worst but there is lots of room for improvement.

[vituperative]

Of course acting like idiots once a year during homecoming isn't really 'the'problem but it does reveal a lot about what is wrong with students these days. How can Queen's expect to attract top profs (which I rather have than better technology)when so much of the student body are NOT serious scholars?

[vituperative]

Anyways it's too frustrating with this 500 word limit to debate this issue properly so I'll say this. Your argument differs from mine because you think much of the problems rest in factors outside of students. I disagree and think that students need to take matters in to their own hands.

[vituperative]

Nobody include myself is denying that Queen's has a good reputation but the substance behind that reputation is slowly slipping away.  When I overhear students patting themselves on the back for getting a 75 like that's some amazing mark it makes me cringe. Too many students are delusional and think a 75 from Queen's is a golden ticket to prosperity or something.

[vituperative]

And no I didn't get my rankings from McLean's. I've learned of Queen's position from talking to various employers and individuals with responsibilities related to admissions to graduate and professional schools.

[vituperative]

But lots of money to throw into technology isn't the answer. I see your point and understand your analogy between the Jays and the Yanks but in the end it's the individual that I think makes the difference. Queen's is developing a reputation for attracting individuals that want to party. And those people are not conducive to improving the academic reputation of Queen's.

[vituperative]

The average cost per student in Canada is not that far off from that of the average cost of American students it's just the government subsidizes the rest of the cost here. We pay approx. $7000 and the government chips in the other approx. $15,000 a year (which is a reason why it bothers me that so many are crying for more tuition freezes. We already have a HUGE break in terms of not paying the actual costs to put yourself through university).

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

please excuse the fragmented nature of my reply..youtube will not let me post more than 500 characters......

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

We may ask ourselves...Why are we not the number one university in Canada or better yet, North America. Well there are many factors...

A) Tuition rates - Avg. tuition rate in the United States of America - $22218US.(Before our dollar rose above that of the States); Avg. tuition rate in Canada - $7,688 CAD.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

With American students paying a significantally large portion of their tuition expenses (Our $7,000CAD does not cover full costs of our education) American schools are able to provide more versatile technology, better classrooms and higher faculty budgets than their Canadian counterparts. Are the Yankees a better baseball team than the Jays? My opinion? No.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

When you have a one hundred fifty million dollar (per year) expenditure to use for negotiating contracts, it is much easier to provide the aesthetics of being the "best team" (high paying contracts,etc.) With the Jay's operating at 32 million dollars, we present an opposable force to the NY Yanks. We have talent (that which I believe far exceed NY) but the inability to compete with big brother.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

B) Certain faculties receive much more attention than others. Compare the Art's buildings to that of Engineering. Some faculties just get more funding, providing a richer learning experience (better classrooms, technology, etc.) Our learning experiences differ, and that spectrum of funding is decided by the ADMINISTRATION.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

C) The national average of ALL schools are on the downward spiral. (I assume you got your rankings from...McLeans?) I even read on the McLean's website today how Universities are beginning to allow much lower acceptance averages to attract students to the schools.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

D) Cultral Diversity - Simply put, We NEED, and would love to see more. I do not want to blame the lack of diversity on reasons of administrative or geographic circumstance as I do not possess the figures to extrapolate a solid conclusion, but it is true that people notice this problem, and are beginning to DEMAND (thank god) that we are situated a more culturally diverse environment.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

This is also a significant factor in our "lower ranking" as students show a considerable amount of discomfort to this situation and rank school's lower.

All of the issues explored are administrative problems. Not that of the students. Yes, we cannot hold others accountable for our actions and one could argue that it is the fault of the students. (Two sides to every coin); but negate everything and just said and argue your point of view....

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

We could contextualize the weekend, embody the ideology associated with 'homecoming' and stereotype each student associated with Queen's University, not blame any of our ranking issues on the administration and continue to believe that the reason at which we are not matched to that of McGill and U of T (well actually...we rank one higher than U of T) is because we are defiant, unacademic, party goers.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

This one weekend is the effigy of why our school is an embarassment. Unfortunately it's not that simple, and you have taken a very broad issue and narrowed it down to one reason. Juxtaposition is a very scary thing. I once saw a billboard which read..."Number of world wars before TBS was made? 2. Number of wars since?

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

Even though this narrative alludes to TBS being the end all of world wars, we are certain for a fact that this is not the reason as to why each of us is using a computer at this moment and not a semi-automatic rifle. Anything can be contextualized, juxtaposed, symbolized and interpreted in a various number of ways. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It does not make your assumptions correct.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

We produce some of the world's most top notch engineers, producers, financial bankers. Come to think of it, I haven't met many fellow fourth year student who did not have a rewarding career planned out for them once they left the Queen's bubble. We can not refute the evidence that this event is rather cumbersome, large, expensive and very 'spring break' esque,

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

but to denounce the four years I have spent here, the work I have succeeded in creating, and the work of my fellow students for one night (that is attended by undergraduates within the same age bracket as yourself vituperative - and one night which is attended by more and more people from surrounding areas each year) is absurd, embarassing, unsubstantiated and downright ignorant.

[ReeLifeEntertainment]

We have a great academic reputation, and I have yet to meet an employer who has scoffed at the thought of a prospective employee attending the beautiful school which I know as Queen's University.

[vituperative]

I'm talking about the event as a whole -which you knew. Queen's students should be working on improving their grades and the academic reputation of the school. It's no doubt a great school but it has a long way to go before it is competitive (academically)with McGill and U of T, nevermind schools like Yale, Cornell, Harvard etc...

[vituperative]

What an embarrassment. The "Harvard of the North" really knows how to live up to its supposed reputation.

[kylecb]

I agree vituperative - the parts with the purple ball, and the free water were the worst! Horrible!