Students demand right of education

ÖMER F. ÖZEN

TORONTO - The students of the University of Toronto are against to 'the increase' of fees and they used their democratic rights of demonstration for taking attention of the authorities of the University who already had been stated as a "budgeting error". But they where arrested by Police. They are now in difficult situation of to loose their rights of education.

We talked with Eylül Sevi, one of the organizers of the demonstration.

- Could you tell us firstly a little about you Eylül?
- I am a third year political science and history student at University of Toronto, St. George Campus. I am a part of an organization called Always Question (www.alwaysquestion.info). We fight for social justice issues. We were also one of the main organizers for the sit-in on March 20th. We hold socialist values. We believe that tuition fees should be abolished as it is a class issue that often disadvantages the poor and working class. Education is a right and not a privilege of the rich.

- Who are the accused?
- There are 14 Accused: Noaman Ali, Gabi Rodriguez, Edward Wong, Semra Eylül Sevi, Farshad Azadian, Ryan Hayes, Chris Ramsaroop, Golta Shahidi, Michael Hay, Oriel Varga, Luis Granados Ceja, Liisa Schofield, Farrah Miranda, and one minor.

- What happened on March 20th?
- On March 20th, 2008 a group of over one hundred students and organizers at the University of Toronto protested an astronomical increase of residential fees at the university's New College residences. The increase, a whopping twenty percent, was a result of a "budgeting error" (as stated by U of T President David Naylor) on the part of the New College and UofT administration. As such, rectifying their financial quandary meant downloading the resulting debt onto the backs of students.

In response, students and UofT workers gathered at the administrative offices of the University of Toronto (over forty students), Simcoe Hall, and staged a peaceful sit-in in the hopes of gaining an audience with University of Toronto President, David Naylor to express their outrage at yet another obstacle to fully accessible post-secondary education.

- What are your demands?
- We had three demands: 1. To speak to David Naylor either on phone or in person, 2. To remove the proposed 20 % increase in residence fees for New College off the agenda for the Governing Council meeting and 3. To allocate us 15 minutes of speaking time at this meeting to give a 15 minute presentation on why education is a right and not a privilege.

But instead of a productive meeting of minds, campus police, on the orders of senior administrators, were sent in to forcefully remove the protestors from the premises. The use of police to break up a peaceful demonstration came as a shock and a surprise. This was not necessary.

- What happened next?
- In the midst of exams, the University of Toronto issued over 13 students with Code of Student Conduct charges which, if taken to their full extent, could result in expulsion. Soon after the first wave of Code of Student Conduct charges was laid, 14 students and organizers were also slapped with criminal charges for their alleged participation in the sit-in of March 20th. Some of these charges carry up to fifteen years in prison.

14 students were charged with criminal charges which are 1. five accounts of forcible attainment 2. forcible detainment and 3. mischief.

- What was the Police' treatment?
- Students received a call during exams from 52ed division indicating that they needed to turn their selves in otherwise they would be arrested during their exams. Thus we had no choice but to turn ourselves in. At 52ed division, Toronto Police handcuffed us and interrogated us for hours. I was kept inside for 10 hours and then released on strict bail conditions, which ban myself and the 13 other accused from associating with one another outside of courts and classes, we were also banned from U of T property, and could not participate in any unlawful demonstrations as well as we are banned from attending Simcoe Hall without a written permission from the administration. Our next court appearance on July 3rd, 2008.

The police acted on the orders of the administration. It appears that the use of police is a crackdown on student dissent on campus. The university was actively involved in helping the police lay charges as the police had access to and used contact information of students that was privy to U of T only.

- Why 14 people if 40 people participated in the sit-in?
- 1. The fourteen individuals that are under criminal investigation are also fourteen heavily involved organizers at University of Toronto, St. George campus. "The fact that the 14 accused are well-known and active organizers on campus and involved in various social justice campaigns cannot be written off as a coincidence. Much of their work targets the corporatization at Naylor's UofT and thus, it appears they have become targets themselves."

2. These charges are very political in their nature as this is a crackdown on critical thinking at an institution of higher learning. It is also important to note that the 14 students who have been charged are racialized members of communities that are often marginalized through inaccessible to post-secondary education.

June 2008