It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that UTSC is not a source of pride for its students. The overwhelming shortage of study space, the 20-minute lineups at Tim Horton’s, and the school’s preference for the ludicrously substandard Staroffice software has given students understandable justification for promulgating the abbreviation UTSC as “UT Sucks Crap.” UTSC administration and the SCSU recently added another source of complaint, promoting the idea that Sundays be fair game when scheduling exams.

What is most astonishing is that a small number of students actually welcomes the idea of Sunday exams. It seems they fail to realize the broader injustice that is being imposed upon them. Proponents of Sunday exams reason that the existing exam schedule already conflicts with the obligations of many faiths-those that congregate on Saturdays and weekday evenings, for example-and that Sunday exemptions promote favourable treatment to Christian worshippers.

As valid as this argument may be, these students overlook the broader sense of the problem. UTSC continues to enrol too many undergraduates, and is running out of the space needed to accommodate all exams within the normalcy of weekday business hours. While students can plan their classes around religious commitments, they have no say in the extensive scheduling of exams during ungodly weeknight and weekend hours. Had effective administrative planning adequately proportioned enrolment in light of available exam rooms, the issue of religious favouritism would not have existed in the first place. Why must the student population suffer by placing their faith lives behind academics when the administration is to blame?

Other student activities on weekends play into this debate. In an institution where many students hold part-time jobs to foot their education expenses, students intentionally schedule their working hours or family obligations on weekends. Needless to say, students are being asked to put their families and financial obligations on the backburner as the result of the administration’s negligent planning.

As the UTSC’s commuter population already knows, one might as well watch the grass grow while waiting for Sunday bus service. Students living on the fringes of the city, who already spend over two hours commuting to campus during weekday rush hours, will see those times lengthened even more on Sundays. In case the administration hasn’t figured it out, more commuting hours equals less study time.

The SCSU online forum has offered a number of solutions to the issue of Sunday exams. Adding a few days to the beginning of the school year seems most sensible; after all, U of T already starts its fall semester a full week behind its rival institutions.

Regardless of the disagreements amongst students over how to solve the issue, UTSC’s student body can agree upon a common distaste for examinations outside of weekday business hours. The only condition that prevents these sentiments from being expressed is a lack of student activism. Without any strong and organized student resistance to this illogical administrative planning-which is, after all, the real culprit-UTSC will continue ramming unfavourable policies down the throats of its students.

To paraphrase Marx, students in the factory of broken dreams must unite in protest. They have nothing to lose but their chains of indifference.