8 Monday, November 10, 2008
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12 www.mediumonline.ca
Volume 35, Issue 10
Thousands descend on Queen’s Park
photo/Matthew Filipowich
In protest of higher tuition fees and deregulation: Nearly 6,000 post-secondary students from the GTA made their voices heard in front of the Ontario Legislature at Queen’s Park this past Wednesday.
ANDREW HAMILTON-SMITH FEATURES EDITOR
Last Thursday, approximately 1,000 students from UTM were part of a protest to send a message to the provincial Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty: “No new fees.” Over 6,000 students from universities and colleges across the GTA – including York, Ryerson and George Brown – marched on the Ontario Legislature at Queen’s Park. The march was simultaneous with other similar student protests going on in 13 other cities across Ontario. The action was in response to several new and ongoing developments with regards to post-secondary tuition fees. In 2006, Premier McGuinty cancelled a popular tuition fee freeze and replaced it with the “Reaching Higher” framework for tuition fee increases. The framework allowed fees to increase as high as eight per cent a year, or
36 per cent over four years. However, that framework is set to expire in 2009. As a result, the government has been meeting with stakeholders such as the universities themselves in order to hammer out a solution to the problem of post-secondary education funding, which is now essentially controlled entirely by the province. Some university leaders, such as University of Toronto President David Naylor, have called for greater deregulation of government-set tuition rates, allowing universities to set their own fee levels as high as they want. Although this is only one possible option out of many that the government is considering, student unions across Ontario have recognized the importance of the situation, and want to make sure that the government hears the voices of students themselves. The horde of students from UTM participated, and filled several buses as they brandished signs, beat on drums, and chanted anti-fee slogans. Other popular chants included references to Barack Obama, who was elected President of the United States the night before. As the parade began to pour out
onto Wellesley Street, students were stopped by a surprise attendee and speaker of the day, Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP). Layton was in attendance along with Ontario NDP leadership candidate and MPP Peter Tabuns in order to express his party’s support for a tuition freeze and increased funding for post-secondary schooling from the provincial government. The parade proceeded towards Bay Street, where everyone stopped for several minutes – blocking traffic – in front of the Education Ministry offices, making as much noise as possible to get the attention of the bureaucrats and politicians who draft Ontario’s laws and policies. From there, the march continued along Bay down to College Street, where a sit-in was staged for at least twenty minutes in the middle of the intersection of University and College. Once assembled around the stage on the front lawn of Queen’s Park, the full size of the 6,000 people assembled became apparent.
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An APUS celebration ANDREW HAMILTON-SMITH FEATURES EDITOR
Last Thursday evening saw the Association of Part-time University Students (APUS) celebrate forty years of student representation here at UTM. Located at the Student Centre presentation room, the affair was attended by approximately 200 people, which comprised of a diverse range of students – local and international, part-time and fulltime. On offering throughout were free cotton candy and food, puppet shows, music and spoken word performances. “This is a celebration for us,” declared Oriel Varga, executive director of APUS. “It was a struggle for many years, with [our organization] often undermined,” said Varga, referring to the declining numbers of part-time classes and enrolment opportunities, weak or non-existent support services that are only available to full-time students (such as daycare), and the general feeling of “being forced out” by the University of Toronto administration. Last year’s merger of APUS’s subsidiary EPUS and the UTMSU had creat-
ed much tension between APUS and UTM’s Student Union. Varga suggested that the UTM administration tacitly supported the move as a way to “sideline part-time students, through an illegitimate raid on our membership,” and stated that the EPUS board of directors essentially broke communication with APUS prior to the referendum [to merge with UTMSU in February 2007], refusing to communicate with the parent body. “It was a few execs [with EPUS] alone who pushed forward with the referendum,” explained Varga. “It was an illegitimate referendum.” APUS took the matter to court last year, and the court upheld an application by APUS to retain its membership at UTM, finding that APUS was “sidelined” during the referendum and not given an opportunity to participate. This was all the more reason for APUS to put on a big show Thursday night. APUS executive secretary Helen Choi agreed that the evening was about “focus[ing] on positive energy and building bridges, one at a time.” continued on page 3