THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
September 9th, 2010
Issue 4—Check out our new website: www.tsmwindsor.ca
By Vajo Stajic and Darryl Gallinger
No to Cuts in the Name of “Strategic Planning” Last year, a few university committees mapped out the Strategic Plan—a plan that directs faculties to fulfil the vague principles outlined in Dr. Wildeman's vision to get our university back on track. The Strategic Plan requires funding to run. To this end, a “Strategic Priority Fund” has been developed. Faculties who wish to access this money must apply to the Provost, and demonstrate that the money will be used to meet the needs of the Strategic Plan. Faculty budgets are meant to be allotted through various decision-making bodies such as the Board of Governors, the Resource Allocation Committee and Senate, not by one person. Faculties that already have tight budgets are then forced to make cut-backs ordered by the administration. These cut-backs, along with other sources of funding such as tuition fees, are then used to build the Strategic Priority Fund. Faculties short on funding must apply to the Provost—who has sole discretion over the Strategic Priority Fund—to try and win back some of the funding allotted to them. They will find themselves in competition with one another for this funding.
between several professional and scientific programs with nothing given to the Faculty Arts or Social Sciences, despite FASS accounting for half of the student body. Another example is the shift in faculty hiring. As tenured professors retire or transfer, their positions are left vacant. Sometimes they are filled with sessionals, who are then later cut when funding is reduced. Evidence of this can be found last year with Anthropology. Students have experienced numerous problems attempting to complete their program successfully. Numerous course substitutions—which can impact your ability to attend grad school if the course does not meet pre-requisites—and lastminute sign-ins have been needed to obtain a degree. Two full-time faculty have departed from Anthropology and their positions are still vacant. When Anthro students confronted Dean of FASS Cecil Houston about this, he stated the program needed to increase enrolment if they wished to receive more funding. The students responded that enrolment has increased, but they are still struggling to save their program. Continued on next page.
Last year, an article was published in the Windsor Star where Board of Governors Chair Dave Cooke set the stage for the elimination of programs at the University of Windsor. Members of the TSM Editorial Committee attempted to raise awareness and fight these changes, only to be brushed aside by university administrators. It's important to note that what we have seen is that programs are cut through starving them of resources and creating a downward spiral where fewer resources reduces enrolment, which then justifies more budget cuts. This can be seen through things like the Strategic Priority Fund, where funding can be shifted away from certain faculties and towards others. In this year’s budget, the SPF was divided
Last year’s Drop Fees Nov. 5 Forum on Post-Sec Education The Student Movement
A Brief History of Drop Fees Lowering tuition fees was part of the Ontario Liberal Party platform during the 1999 provincial elections: the Liberals promised to reduce tuition fees by 10% if elected, but they lost the election. For the 2003 elections, the Liberals promised to freeze tuition fees and they were elected. Two years later however, Dalton McGuinty lifted the tuition fees freeze: for returning and incoming students, tuition fees were and still are regulated at a maximum increase of 4% and 8% respectively, while tuition fees for international students and some professional programs (medicine, engineering, law, etc.) are unregulated. At the University of Windsor, tuition fees have increased by the maximum allowable amount since the freeze was lifted. Of course, political parties are not the only ones involved with tuition fees. The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) has run various tuition fees campaigns over the past decade, including “Freeze the Fees” and, after the Liberals lifted the tuition fees freeze, “Drop Fees” and “Take Action for a Poverty Free Ontario.” The last two culminated in the November 5 th Days of Action in 2008 and 2009 where demonstrations were held at schools across the province, including the University of Windsor. The Drop Fees Coalition (DFC) is a group of Windsor students who originally took up CFS’s Drop Fees campaign on our campus, with a focus on changes happening specifically in Windsor. In March 2010, the DFC started The Student Movement (TSM) to inform students about what’s happening on their campus. With the start of a new school year, we’ve decided to formally separate TSM and the DFC. The DFC is holding its first coalition meeting this month (see last page for details) where the future direction of the organization will be discussed. We encourage all interested students, faculty, and staff to get involved, as well as campus organizations to send representatives. By Ian Clough
Students painting banners to raise awareness of national student debt. Continued from Strategic Planning. At the Board of Governors meeting last May, and at the Board of Governors meeting in March 2009, tuition was increased roughly 4% for domestic students and 8% for incoming and international students. When doing so, the board blamed the faculty strike and the upcoming negotiations with CUPE 1001. During a town hall meeting last year, Dr. Wildeman blamed costly faculty and staff for the deficit. Students were frustrated because they felt he was avoiding their questions and concerns. By voicing their concerns and taking an active role in university affairs, students have prevented these things from happening in the past. Write to us about experiences in your department, voice your opinion on the new direction of post-secondary education and participate in the discussion. Send submissions to: movement@tsmwindsor.ca By Darryl Gallinger
Previous Drop Fees Coalition Directive Whereas tuition fees on this campus have increased by the provincial maximum for years, while at the same time we’ve been seeing across-the-board budget cuts. Whereas education has been grossly underfunded since the 1990s. The DFC opposes this attack on the quality and accessibility of education at the University of Windsor. The DFC organizes and informs students, faculty, and staff through rallies, demonstrations, and forums to bring the campus together in solidarity to defend education. The DFC calls upon the administration, provincial, and federal governments to reinvest in education.
The Student Movement
Illegitimacy, Corporatization, and Maternal Health: Some of the Issues Protested at the G20 For more editorials on the G20, visit our website at www.tsmwindsor.ca
In June, the G20 summit took place in Toronto and was heralded by over thirty thousand protesters taking to the streets and denouncing the legitimacy of the summit. No doubt you’ve seen images on the news of graffiti, broken windows, and burning police cars, alongside the terms Black Bloc, anarchists, and riots. A few YouTube searches will reveal reports of the many horrendous violations of people’s rights committed by the police, including videos of peaceful protesters being pepper sprayed, beaten, or shot with rubber bullets. What you and most other people probably couldn’t find were the issues which people were protesting. The media this summer has been so focussed on the images of smashed glass and flaming cars that the peoples’ messages have almost entirely been lost. One of the most prominent issues protested was the illegitimacy of the G20 summit itself. Every school child knows that the international decision-making body is the United Nations, yet the G20 circumvents this democracy by bringing the twenty most powerful economies together and letting the rest of the world hang out to dry. The decisions made at the G20 summit effect the entire world, not just those twenty nations.
Not only is the G20 summit illegitimate, it is also extremely corporate. At the same time as the G20 summit, the Canadian Finance minister met with two corporate leaders from each of the G20 nations at the G20 Business Summit, or B20. These are some of the richest and most powerful people in the world who, in most cases, gained their wealth through the business of exploitation. Neither the B20 nor the G20 represents the people of their nations but rather the interests of the wealthy and few. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) was one of the groups organizing demonstrations during the G20 protests. They spoke out against the continued reduction to social services Photo by Ken Townsend which Canada has seen under Prime Minister Harper, such as the reduction to the special diet: a program which helped poverty-stricken Canadians with specific dietary needs access the food they require. OCAP also protested against the Harmonized Sales Tax which illegally taxes indigenous peoples. And, amongst other things, OCAP took to the streets and condemned how the government spent $1.2 billion on a two-day summit, yet will not divert funds to poverty reduction. Continued on last page.
Suggested G20 Resources Toronto Media Co-Op: 2010.mediacoop.ca toronto.mediacoop.ca Toronto Community Mobilization Network: g20.torontomobilize.org Ontario Coalition Against Poverty: www.ocap.ca Marxist-Leninist Daily cpcml.ca
Suggested UWindsor Student Resources
The Student Movement Website www.tsmwindsor.ca UWindsor Senate www.uwindsor.ca/senate UWindsor Board of Governors www.uwindsor.ca/bog Dr. Wildeman’s Strategic Plan www.uwindsor.ca/sites/default/files/TakingAction.pdf Photo by Ken Townsend The Student Movement
The Student Movement Mission Statement
Continued from G20 Issues. Indeed, the security budget and the police state it created was one of the chief reasons people marched in protest. When only $4 billion was allocated to social programs in last year’s federal budget, over $1.2 billion was spent turning Toronto into a literal police state leading up to, during, and after the summit. The Pittsburgh G20 summit in September 2009 cost $19 million; albeit, there were three or four times the police in Toronto, but that still doesn’t account for the extra hundreds of millions of dollars. That money could have been invested into education, healthcare, poverty reduction or any number of other areas that are in dire need of funding. Thousands of people took to the streets in the defence of women’s rights. Despite maternal health being one of the key issues that was discussed, abortion is not part of the Canadian government’s Maternal Health Plan, an aid plan targeted for Africa. There is only one African nation on the G20 (South Africa), yet the summit is making decisions which effect the entire continent. In this way, Harper is creating a double standard that prevents some of the most poverty-stricken women in the world from accessing essential maternal care. And for the first time in the past four decades, our government decided against giving money to the International Planned Parenthood Federation. This is another step which the Conservative government has taken to further marginalize women on top of funding cuts to another eleven NGOs.
The Student Movement is Windsor’s grassroots, student newspaper. Founded to inform and empower, TSM reports on political issues that affect the youth of Windsor, especially education and campus issues. The newspaper prides itself on critical and empowering journalism that encourages political participation and discussion.
Build Real Student Journalism The Student Movement invites everyone to join in its work. We aim to inform ourselves and the campus about developments taking place at our university and in our community so that we can participate. Writing for The Student Movement is not a question of whether or not you’re an English major (although some of our writers are!): it is a question of giving a voice to the student body on important issues. For us, quality journalism is not just about how an article is written, but what it is writing about. Together we improve our writing. We invite those interested to report on what is happening in their faculty or program as a first step to finding ways to empower the campus community and represent student interests. We also invite serious responses to what is printed in The Student Movement so that we can build an academic atmosphere of discussion and learning on campus. Join the movement! By Enver Villamizar
Get involved on your campus! The Student Movement Editorial Meetings
TSM’s Editorial Committee meets every Saturday at 2pm in the CAW commons (in front of Tim Horton’s). Come out and get involved! For info: movement@tsmwindsor.ca
TSM Annual General Meeting
Photo by Lauren Quinn Students and other youth were very prominent during the protests, not only in marches and demonstrations, but also the planning and organization. Young people are educating themselves on the issues that affect themselves and the rest of the world, and they are taking a stand. If you want to get involved in making change, then do not rely on this newspaper alone, but do additional research outside of the mainstream message of violence and get involved. Contribute to the discussion by sending your thoughts to: movement@tsmwindsor.ca By Ian Clough
TSM is holding its first AGM on Tuesday September 21st at 5:30pm in the CAW Boardroom (2nd floor CAW center, above the Advising Center). All students, faculty, and staff are welcome. If you’d like to find out more about Windsor’s grassroots, student newspaper, this is the place! For info: movement@tsmwindsor.ca
Drop Fees Coalition September Meeting
The DFC is holding its first coalition meeting on Wednesday September 29th at 4pm in the CAW Boardroom (2nd floor CAW center, above the Advising Center). We encourage all interested students, faculty and staff to come out, as well as for campus organizations and unions to send representatives. Come fight rising tuition fees and cutbacks at the University of Windsor campus! For info: drop.fees.windsor@gmail.ca
The Student Movement