A few years ago I was one of the striking part-time workers at the University of Toronto Bookstore. During our strike it was at times disheartening to see fellow students cross the picket line and take our jobs.

The labour movement has a term for those who side with the employers: scabs. During the strike scabbing workers could retort that they needed to make a living.

That cannot be said for students who actively side with this university’s administration. Our university is actively engaged in lobbying the provincial government for the deregulation of arts and science degrees, has led the assault on accessibility by increasing tuition across the board, and implemented the deregulation of professional and graduate programs (including our law school, which will witness tuition rise to $22,000).

In response students at U of T voted to join the only organization that has had success at reversing the trend of inaccessibility in post-secondary institutions, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Last November, in overwhelming numbers students decided the time was right to become members of a national and provincial lobby organization. Despite efforts from political opponents to stain the referendum, claiming it was unfair, each student union (SAC, APUS, and SCSU) ratified the results and asked the university administration to collect the membership fee.

Yet, the democratic decision of the student body and the representatives in SAC, APUS and SCSU has not been respected. Though students at this university are members of CFS, the university has refused to collect the membership fee, and is denying valuable resources to the one organization campaigning against the lobbying efforts of this University.

The tragic and disgusting thing is that student representatives on Governing Council are actually siding with the administration. Both Sean Mullin and Mike Foderick (the latter an active member of the “No” side during the referendum) have actively lobbied to have this fee not collected. Under the auspices of “defending democracy” they are trying to undermine the votes of 5,400 students. In reality, they are siding with an administration eager to prevent the successful lobbying of the Canadian Federation of Students, and are sacrificing the autonomy of student unions in making their own decisions.

Though Mullin and Foderick will always claim that they are opponents of deregulation and tuition increases, their recent actions demonstrate that these stances are nothing short of opportunism: who would ever vote for a student who favours tuition increases after all. Both Mullin and Foderick have cushy summer jobs with politicians and are trying to position themselves for future endeavours. The cynic would say that they are complying and supporting this administration in order to garner future favour. Those students who actually care about the issues of accessibility and are not involved for career reasons would be a little more blunt: Mullin and Foderick are scabs and should be called so.

Alex Kerner is former SAC president 2001/02. He initiated the motion to join CFS and remains an active supporter.