The annual national student day of protest takes place February 6, 2002. Students can gather at the Medical Science Auditorium (1 King’s College Circle, southeast side) at 10:00 am for banner and placard making, food, music and speeches. This will be followed by a rally at Simcoe Hall (27 King’s College Circle, southwest side by Convocation Hall) at 12:15 pm.

Academic amnesty has been approved by the University of Toronto for February 6 subject to individual faculty approval. Faculty have been asked to permit completion of an assignment or test at another time, and not to penalize students for non-attendance at classes.

Facts and Quotes:

82 per cent of Ontarians think tuition fees are too high, according to three separate surveys recently conducted by Feedback Research Corporation (September 2001), Ipsos Reid (Ontarians and Access to Post Secondary Education, April, 2001), and Angus Reid (Ontarians to Harris—”Hold the tuition fees,” February 2000).

In 1998, the provincial government de-regulated tuition fees for all graduate and certain professional programmes. This lead to up to 500 per cent tuition fee hikes.

Tuition fees for a four-year programme at the private University of Phoenix in British Columbia are $40,800. A comparable degree at an Ontario public institution is under $16,000. Student reps say ths shows how private universities combined with de-regulated tuition fees at public institutions will not improve accessibility.

Estimated tuition Mike Harris paid at teacher’s college in the 1960s: $80. Source: Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

Birgeneau noted that U of T is a “billion-dollar-a-year business” and there is a need for a sophisticated business plan. Source: “Birgeneau visits ECC,” Tamara Sulliman, the Medium, 9 April 2001.

A recent Statistics Canada survey found that those from wealthy families were 50 per cent more likely to attend university than those from lower or middle income families

U of T has requested “more flexibility” in tuition fees, saying it would like to be able to raise fees by five per cent per year for undergraduate programs. Raises are presently capped at two per cent per year by government regulations.

—Information from the Canadian Federation of Students and CUPE 3902