As Governing Council voted to approve major construction projects across three campuses at its June 23 meeting, noise from the protest outside wafted through the windows. The demonstration, organized by the University of Toronto Students’ Union, rallied against the new flat fees for Arts and Science students and demanded more attention for part-time students.
Every 10 minutes, in between blasting dance music, the sound of a heart monitor beeped before hitting a flat note.
One of the demonstrators, dressed as a surgeon, attempted to defibrillate a motionless student. The surgeon declared the student dead after two unsuccessful attempts, followed by a pun-loaded speech on the impact of the flat-fees measure, such as getting “first-degree burns.”
The “deceased” student then held a sign, also posted above the operating table, which read “Revive Flatlined Education.”
At the protest, UTSU encouraged students to attend demonstrations, financially support the ongoing court case against the university, and join the Drop Fees campaign.
The protest was sparsely attended, with 10 to 15 present, including members from labour unions CUPE and Steelworkers, and Hamid Osman, former president of the York Federation of Students. UTSU staffers were heard calling friends to boost turnout.
Inside council chambers, VP and provost Michael Marrus presented five major capital projects impacting all three campuses and totalling more than $170 million.
The bulk of the capital project spending went towards two new instructional centres at UTM and UTSC, which include classrooms, labs, and offices. The centres will each get more than $70 million. The remaining funds will go toward renovations for the Lash Miller Building, McLennan Physical Laboratories, and the School for Global Affairs at the Munk Centre.
But with a loud protest outside and outspoken dissent from student governors inside the meeting, the meeting’s process was anything but smooth.
Speaking through an interpreter, part-time undergraduate representative Jeff Peters argued that the university’s financial priorities were out of sync with the essential needs of students.
Peters said projects like a stadium for the Pan-Am Games and a centre for high-performance sport were unnecessary items that made part-time undergraduate students a lower priority. “They need advocacy,” he said. “They need APUS [the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students]. They need to pay less tuition.”
Marrus countered that students benefit through many of the university’s priorities by means of financial aid, library improvements, and necessary expansion. He pointed to the Citizen Lab, famous for developing software against online censorship and most recently used by Iranians for online dissent. “Where are they in the Munk Centre?” he asked, “They’re in the basement!” When The Varsity contacted Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert, he said it’s not the program’s location that’s the problem, but its lack of much needed space and sufficient funding.
Still, Peters said, for many students, the cost of the new buildings would be bundled into an ancillary fee not covered by student loans and could affect students’ ability to afford basic needs. “It’s more important to have food on the table than all these expensive buildings,” he said.
Governors voted overwhelmingly in favour of passing the construction projects, despite Peters’ challenge to those who voted “yes” to not eat for a week.
The next Governing Council meeting is set for Thursday, October 22. Both Peters and Marrus have retired as Governing Council representatives this year.
