Carleton’s Board of Governors (BoG) put forward a motion without debate to accept a committee task force’s report, which concluded there were “no feasible alternatives” to raising tuition costs at a meeting March 30.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after approving the report due to student protestors chanting slogans both inside the meeting room and outside the building.
Students from the Carleton University Student Action Movement and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) were protesting the report’s conclusion, which states tuition must go up. The report did note, however, that students have access to different financial aid systems within the province.
Students continue to chant. VP Finance Duncan Watt walks away. #bog #cunews pic.twitter.com/ArqaKjk9CY
— Nadine Yousif (@nadineyousif_) March 30, 2015
Duncan Watt, Carleton’s vice-president (finance and administration) said a lot of work went into the report, with 15 people spending dozens of hours looking at different data pertaining to tuition costs.
“It illustrated even for me how complex the system is and how the government provides funding to the university and the variety of student support that’s available,” Watt said. “I think certainly the majority of the task force members supported the key conclusions.”
GSA vice-president (academic) Michael Bueckert was one of the students who protested within the meeting room. He said students were not represented in the report.
“When they struck this task force, what they were supposed to do was look into alternatives to tuition increases and the financial hardships facing students,” he said. “Members expressed some curiousity about how hard it is for students to attend university, and the report didn’t address it at all.”
Students chanting at the BoG meeting: pic.twitter.com/ejca3V9b8b — Nadine Yousif (@nadineyousif_) March 30, 2015
He added the task force was an opportunity to work within the system in order to come up with a common solution, but there was never a genuine attempt to include students in the conversation or look at alternatives.
Samiha Rayeda, a student who also protested within the meeting room, said their goal of shutting down the meeting was accomplished.
“Our goal was to shut down the BoG meeting and we did that, so we really sent a message,” Rayeda said.
But Rayeda said the protest was not completely successful as the BoG ultimately approved the tution report’s findings.
Students speaking up at the BoG meeting. Chants heard in the background. pic.twitter.com/HMyi2ZD7CP
— Nadine Yousif (@nadineyousif_) March 30, 2015
Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president Folarin Odunayo was present at the meeting as a member of the board and said he hoped the report would have been discussed further during the meeting.
“I’m sure people had opinions,” he said. “Unfortunately due to the protestors, we weren’t able to actually have a discussion.”
CUSA did not send any representatives to the rally, though Odunayo said the association notified their constituents and offered to help publicize the event.
Watt said he is not sure if the protestors’ response was reasonable.
“My experience, having been through tuition fee increases many times at the university, is virtually every year students in some form protest the tuition fee increase,” he said. “Most years it’s more civil than this but it’s not that unusual.”
Watt said there will be a meeting convened by conference call to look over items that had to be dealt with on this agenda later in the week. That has happened many times in past years where student protests have disrupted the meetings.
Watt said the task force’s report is not up for further reviewing.
“It’s finished,” he said.
