April 10 2008 Vol. XXX No. XXVI
UofT independent weekly
www.thenewspaper.ca
New College Discusses New Ideas Open Forum considers creating new campus publication By Moe Abbas Members of AlwaysQuestion, UTSU, and several cross-provincial student organizations discussed the state of education at the Open Forum on the Inaccessibility of Education. Hosted by Ad Hoc Committee for Just Education, the participants spoke about ways to educate and mobilize students to protest. Members of the committee expounded on reasons that called for major changes to the educational system, and mentioned what those changes should be. Following the lecture, there was an open mic forum where students took turns bouncing ideas off one another on ways to unify cross-provincial student organizations that shared common goals, and on ways to refine protest strategies. The committee proposed three “principles” to change the educational system. Reasons for these changes include enormous debt, as well as less family time as a result of overworking. First off, tuition fees should be eliminated altogether. The committee highlighted the possibility of such an action by using the examples of free education set by Norway, Sweden, and Finland. If the Canadian government were to reduce military spending and demand higher
PHOTO BY ISSHA MARIE
Starving Artists Get Their Share the newspaper investigates strange activity at 1 Spadina Crescent The November 22nd issue of the newspaper featured an article entitled “Starving Artists” in which eight students in UofT’s Fine Arts programs had to come up with a very large sum of money to put on their very own art show. Their art show, Anomaly, took place a week ago and Mahan Javadi, one of the students originally interviewed, stopped by the newspaper headquarters to let us know how it went. “We didn’t raise as much as we were
aiming for, so we had to negotiate how long the show went for, and the location that it took place. There were holes in the wall, so we had to do some repairs and paint the place. What we didn’t have in money we had to make up for in manual labour.” The original aim was $8000, a number that had been successfully raised by last years Thesis class. Unfortunately, the students were unable to match last years’ number.
By Joe Zabukovec
“In the end we managed to raise about $4000. So, not nearly as much as last year, but we didn’t have as many people in our class as they did last year either.” Despite the shortage of funds, Mahan was still pleased with the success of their exhibit and is confident that their hard worked paid off. “The turnout was amazing. Opening night we had about 100 people show up,
See Artists cont. pg. 2
classes to pay more taxes, then free education would come to fruition. Secondly, within UofT, the Governing Council should be made up of students, workers, and faculty only. A mere eight students out of the fifty GC members represent the student body; the other thirtyeight include corporate executives, lawyers, chairmen, presidents, and doctors. The third and final change would be to immediately end “police aggression against student dissent” by preventing police to operate on campus. Students then took turns discussing ways to improve their public image and methods of dissent, in reaction to the Varsity’s coverage of the Simcoe Hall protests. In response to the possibility of Chandler Levack helming the paper next year, the committee is considering launching its own paper to provide a more left-leaning perspective on such events. Some members of the committee disagreed on the various ways to protest, while others suggested forgoing the bureaucracy of petitions. However, the majority agreed that strong campaigns about UofT-related issues, tighter organization, sit-ins and peaceful protests, are the best way to reach out to UofT’s apathetic student body.
Global Day For Darfur STAND organizes annual rally By Tia Maryanne Kim This Sunday, thousands will gather downtown at Nathan Phillips Square for the 5th annual Global Day For Darfur. Around the world, over thirty countries will host their own versions of the event. Organized by Students Taking Action Now Darfur (STAND) Canada and Project Equity International, the event is not only to raise awareness and support for the victims in Sudan, but is also a unified call to demand continued action from our government. The complex political and humanitarian crisis in Darfur erupted 5 years ago as a conflict between rebel groups and the Sudanese government. The rebels launched a series of attacks
raze villages, abduct children, and engage in a campaign of mass rape. Day For Darfur will have speakers such as MP Glen Pearson, who has witnessed firsthand the suffering of the Sudanese people. In 1998, he went to the country to begin human rights and development work. Pearson and his wife, Jane Roy, have even adopted three children from Sudan. “A lot of people don’t understand the urgency of the people of Darfur,” says Hilary Tam, Event Coordinator at STAND UofT. “We are their hope.” As of March 25th, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier promised Canada would work to protect Darfur and dedicate money to diplomacy.
on government military installations. The government responded by expanding and arming militias known as the Janjaweed, who identify themselves as Arab, launching a campaign backed by the Sudanese military against non-Arab communities. Civilians continue to suffer as the Sudanese government, through their Janjaweed proxies, restrict international humanitarian access, bomb civilian targets with aircraft,
Prime Minister Paul Martin met with STAND, who pressed him on Darfur policy. Their mandate is to “mobilize a critical mass of Canadian students, citizens, and decision makers to end the crisis in Darfur, and respond to future threats of genocide.” This Sunday, at 1pm, get out there and show Sudan that Canada cares.