Students are against fee hikes. In campus-wide plebiscite in 2005, 98 per cent of U of T students voted against fee increases. And it’s not just students: according to a 2007 poll by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, 80 per cent of Canadians support lowering or freezing fees. Despite all this, the Governing Council votes every year to increase our fees. In fact, the university’s administration has vocally advocated deregulating fees entirely (calling it “self-regulation”). Yes, the federal and provincial governments are responsible, but when the university’s administration advocates increasing fees, it enables governments to continue with policies of inadequate funding. In a society where inequality is deepening, it also means complicity in perpetuating a cycle of poverty. Targeting the university’s administration is a focal point of many in the struggle for accessible education.
The administration continuously chooses to ignore student demands. They say hundreds of students are involved in decision-making, but how many are positioned to make decisive change? The Governing Council—U of T’s highest decision-making body—has eight student seats out of 50. Only four of these eight seats are for full-time undergraduates (including professional programs) over all three campuses. The other four are for part-time students and graduate students. Despite composing 10 per cent of the student population, international students are not permitted to participate. Elected student representatives, such as those on UTSU, which represents over 40,000 students, are regularly denied positions on Governing Council bodies. More blatantly, the university has always ignored decisions and recommendations of those governing bodies that are composed of a student majority, such as the Council on Student Services. CoSS has consistently voted down ancillary fee increases, but these decisions have been overridden by—you guessed it—the Governing Council, making CoSS’s efforts an exercise in futility.
This futility is evident in the process by which New College’s 20 per cent residence fee hike was approved. New College students and student representatives made numerous attempts through meetings and negotiations to stress their opposition. Jason Marin, president of the New College Student Council (NCSC), condemned the increase through a press release, and the treasurer of the New College Residence Council (NCRC) made it clear to the Governing Council’s University Affairs Board that NCRC did not support the 20 per cent increase. Rick Halpern, principal of New College, continued to assert that students were consulted before the decision was made. One can very well claim to consult sheep before leading them to slaughter.
Needless to say, we are not sheep. We are students and we will resist these formal avenues that have been designed to suppress—not facilitate— true student participation. As long as these structures continue to ignore the voices of students, we have no option but to escalate our expression of dissent. On Thursday, March 20, over 40 students staged a sit-in at Simcoe Hall—many of whom have been lobbying the administration for years. The students’ main demand was to speak with president David Naylor in person or by telephone. Students also asked for the proposed fee increases to be removed from the March 25 University Affairs Board meeting agenda and to be given 15 minutes at the meeting for a presentation and discussion of broader issues regarding the accessibility of education. Ultimately, the peaceful sit-in was met with physical aggression by campus police on the orders of senior administrators. Having consistently ignored student voices for years, the administration once more swept student concerns aside.
Students, workers, and community members will be meeting for an Open Forum on Monday, April 7 at William Doo Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the inaccessibility of post-secondary education and the notion that education is a universal right for all. There will also be a rally outside of Simcoe Hall on Thursday, April 10 at 4 p.m., when Governing Council meets to vote on increasing fees. We have to come together and discuss these issues in depth.
Faraz Shahidi and Ryan Hayes are ASSU Executive Members
