Next Wednesday, students all across Canada will come together and let their voices be heard. Feb. 4 is the National Day of Student Action, where students from British Columbia to Newfoundland call on their governments to reduce tuition fees and increase federal funding for post secondary education.
The Day of Action is an ongoing campaign launched by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) with the aim to continue its effort to reduce the cost of post secondary education. CFS currently represents more than 450,000 students from college and university students’ unions across the country, including the students at the U of T.
A meeting was held last night at U of T’s Bahen Centre to plan out the big day and finalize the details. Steve Trott, a member of CFS here at U of T noted that “this kind of lobbying in the past won us a tuition freeze from the new Liberal government at Queen’s Parkthat means for the first time in over a decade, tuition fees won’t go up next September.”
Indeed, one of the items on Dalton McGuinty’s agenda is to freeze tuition, improve student financial aid and provide “tuition waivers for the neediest 10 per cent of students.” The new government also promises to add 50,000 college and university spots for Ontario students.
The plan for the day at U of T will begin at Sidney Smith. A “debt convocation” will be held at 1 pm. According to Alex Artful-Dodger, Vice-President Operations for SAC, the “debt convocation” will be a spoof of an actual graduating ceremony. The plan is to have Ranjini Ghosh, president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union, to act as the chancellor and hand out “honorary debt degrees” to 10 students. The debt degrees will show the actual amount of money each student owes as a result of high tuition fees. Also later in the day, there will be a march around campus ending at Simcoe Hall where President Birgeneau and other speakers will address the crowd at around 3 pm. Elsewhere in Toronto, a forum titled “Can Student Aid Compensate for Rising Tuition Fees?” will take place at the Metro Hall from 7pm 9pm.
Numerous events will be happening at other campuses across Canada as well. In Halifax, the Mount St. Vincent University Students’ Union will organize a “symbolic free education week” with guest speakers and students from the university who will also participate in a rally in Halifax. At the University of Winnipeg, students will march to the Manitoba legislature building where the Minister of Advance Education, Diane McGifford, will address the crowd. In Regina, students will be viewing a documentary called “My Student Loan” and join a rally later in the afternoon.
