Classes on Friday might look quite empty as Carleton students and staff march down Parliament Hill, rallying for the Global Climate Strike. And if you want to attend but aren’t sure about skipping class, the university has asked professors and supervisors to be lenient, but “within reason.”
“We have been asked to support Carleton students who would like to take part in solidarity with millions around the world,” reads an email obtained by the Charlatan from provost and vice-president (academic) Jerry Tomberlin to instructors and other faculty.
“On behalf of senior administration, I would like to encourage all course instructors to provide reasonable accommodation and access to materials covered that day to students participating,” Tomberlin wrote Sept. 19.
Teaching assistants and instructors unionized under CUPE 4600 can also ask their supervisors for accommodations, according to a statement to the Charlatan by the union.
The youth-led protest is part of a global initiative in more than 150 countries to demand action on the climate crisis.
The geography and environmental studies department will be sending a delegation of faculty, students and staff to the rally, they said in a public statement issued shortly after Tomberlin’s email.
The department “will be striking from school and work to demand that the climate crisis be acted as an emergency,” according to the statement. “We encourage others to join us for this important action!”
But, Tomberlin said students “remain responsible for all academic obligations,” regardless of accommodations—meaning students should check in with professors if they’re worried about being marked down for missing class.
Maheep Sandhu said it shouldn’t matter if instructors don’t accommodate students wanting to attend Friday’s strike, because ”they should do so, anyway.”
“The thing about climate change is, it’s not just an environmental problem—it’s an everything problem,” the Ottawa march and rally co-organizer told the Charlatan, who’s also founder and president of the Carleton chapter for Student Energy.
Canadians aged 18 to 38 will make up the largest group of eligible voters, almost 37 per cent, in the upcoming federal election, according to numbers by polling firm Abacus Data.
It’s important that younger people strike to let officials know these issues matter to them, said Sandhu.
“We go to school and university and college to intersect the knowledge we learn with the real world,” he said. “But what good is your education if you won’t have a future to practice it?”
Everything in our daily lives is affected in some way by climate change, said third-year global and international studies student and society president Max Lee.
“I’m striking because I want the government and businesses, such as large corporations, to put climate issues at the forefront when they talk about what they want to do in the future,” said Lee.
“It’s not just about educating people about these issues anymore,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to be the ones living with the decisions these large bodies make.”
The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will be protesting on the Hill, said president Lily Akagbosu.
CUSA considered lobbying for “complete amnesty” for students who wanted to strike but had school commitments such as due dates, said Akagbosu. “But that’s a weeks-long process,” she added.
“We are still promoting students to come join our executives attending the strike,” she said. “It’s something we’re committed to now, and we’ve been committed to from long before.”
For students living in residence, “it can be easy to live in a bubble and think climate change doesn’t affect us,” said Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) president Douglas Cochrane.
“But I’m attending because I’ve seen how the changing weather and climate change has affected us, and myself personally, in ways we didn’t think possible like seasonal depression,” he added. “Students in residence should definitely care about it.”
Several residence fellows and staff members told the Charlatan they will also be attending.
Carleton students have been asked by various groups and the geography department to meet outside the O-Train station around 10:30 a.m. to travel together to the protest.
Ottawa’s rally kicks off 11:30 a.m. at Confederation Park Friday before marching down Parliament Hill around 12 p.m. until roughly 2 p.m.
Featured image from file.
