On Thursday, the AMS held an emergency assembly to discuss the future of the Society in its current form.

The meeting was held after the Province presentation released to university administrations across Ontario. The presentation revealed essential fees will pertain to “athletics and recreation, career services, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, transcripts and convocation processes, financial aid offices, student transit passes, walksafe programs, andstudent buildings.”

Students can opt-out of the remaining fees, spelling a significant cut to the funding of student unions and services.

At Queen’s, the AMS opt-out rate is usually 30 to 35 per cent, according to an email Vice-President Munro Watters (University Affairs) sent to AMS staff on Wednesday. The Society anticipates this rate could increase with the new provisions.

In Thursday’s three-hour Assembly, members discussed which student fees should be considered essential and how the AMS might save the revenue lost to student opt-outs. The Board of Directors is projected to enact these changes within 48 hours of the meeting.

“We are currently working with the AMS Board of Directors and AMS Assembly to determine what changes we can make to ensure the AMS can carry on at all as an organization,” Watters wrote in her email on Wednesday.

She added the Ministry of Training, College, and Universities has tasked universities with overseeing fee categorization. “If Universities were to incorrectly categorize fees with the Ministry’s given framework, they risk the Government stripping them of their operating grants that are essential to institutions’ operations,” the email read.