Carleton students are exiting the atrium and boarding buses headed to the Human Rights Memorial downtown Nov. 5 to rally for the reduction of student fees and for more government funding to be allocated to education.
The Drop Fees for a Poverty Free Ontario campaign will join students from across the province in solidarity to lobby and pressure the government against tuition increases.
“This year, the Drop Fees campaign has broadened its focus to include the reduction of student fees as part of a larger poverty reduction strategy,” said Carleton University Students’ Association president Erik Halliwell.
This year’s operation has taken a new approach to the ongoing issue. By expanding the campaign to encompass mass poverty along with student debt, the movement is showing signs of steady growth and evolution, according to Halliwell.
“Many students have told us that they were happy that we’d broadened the scope of the campaign. We want to draw attention to how students are being affected by the recession, and we want to make their voices heard.”
This year’s rally will see the union of students from high schools and universities across Ottawa, including the University of Ottawa, Algonquin College and La Cité Collégiale.
“It’s not just about the reduction of student fees; this year we’re really trying to show the social context of the issue,” Halliwell said. “Students don’t live in a bubble, and we want the government to recognize the broad social context in which we live.”
However, others like Dean Tester, a fourth-year journalism student and founder of the movement to remove Carleton undergraduates from the Canadian Federation of Students, aren’t convinced the rally will accomplish anything.
“Although I’m completely for the reduction of tuition, the people who organize these rallies and campaigns make absurd demands but offer no real solutions,” Tester said.
“Marching with signs and t-shirts that say ‘‘F’ tuition fees’ isn’t the best attitude you want to take, especially if you want them to take you seriously. This is not how you campaign professionally,” Tester said.
Although classes were not cancelled because of the event, the Carleton University Senate gave students academic amnesty, asking teachers to avoid scheduling any tests or assignments to allow students to freely attend the rally.