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Curiosity delivers. Vol. 24 Issue 25
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Tuesd ay, M a rch 2 2 , 2 0 0 5
PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS' SOCIETY OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY
S t r ik e
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XIANG GU & MIKELIS STEPRANS M o re than 5 0 0 M c G ill students w ent on strike last Friday to protest Q uebec's cuts to the university loans a nd grants program . An online plebiscite is also underw ay, asking students w h e th e r M c G ill should strike a g a in on Thursday.
LAURASABA Early Friday m orning, striking students g a th e re d a t the R o ddick, M ilto n , a n d M cTavish G a te s to form p ic k e t lines. Demonstrators m ade noise, chanted, w a ve d posters, a nd cheered w hen passing cars honked. Some protesters heckled students crossing the picket line. O n rue M ilto n , stu dents threw snow balls a t a cut-out o f Premier Jean Charest, w h ile at the main gates they set up a m aze o f y e llo w po lice tape. "The w h o le idea here is to in some w a y
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make students choose to g o through the pick et lines, so that they realize that they are do in g something that they should be thinking about," said A aron D onnyG lark, Students' Society vice-president (community and government)elect. "It's a m aterial w a y o f getting students to think ab o ut w hether or not they really w a n t to g o in the cam pus despite the strike." Nevertheless, students w h o w a n te d to attend class d id not encounter a n y difficulties. “ [The protesters] o n ly g a ve out papers," said Jennifer Barton, U 2 Arts. "They are pretty nice and they d o n 't bother yo u ." Later in the day, close to 1 5 0 students m arched to the James Adm inistration b uilding, holding p lacards and chanting, in a peaceful yet vocal demonstration. "I believe education should be accessible to everybody," said M a d e le in e C ohen, a UO Arts student. Billy Denman, U 2 Electrical Engineering, said that education should not be free. "People say that free education is a right," he said. "It's not a rig ht— it's an invest ment yo u 're m aking, a nd w hen you d o gradu ate, you can p a y b a ck society.” M a n y o f the protesters w e re out-ofprovince students not directly affected by the cutbacks.
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See STRIKE, page 4
N E W S
ho is the face of McGill's administra tion? Principal Efeather Munroe-Blum is the most recognizable person of the university's top leaders. In her two years on the job, she has had to answer tough questions about campus issues, ranging from food servic es to Muslim prayer space. The Trib sits down with the lady herself.
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