Over 6,000 ConU students reported to be on strike

A board in the LB keeps track of student striking. Photo by Sophia Loffreda
A board in the LB keeps track of student striking. Photo by Sophia Loffreda

As of this past Monday, seven Concordia student associations are now on strike against tuition hikes, after they voted to take action at general assemblies held throughout last week.
These votes were held prior to the Concordia Student Union’s vote, which will take place at a general assembly on Wednesday, March 7. If that vote passes, all undergraduate students will officially be on strike between March 26 and 29.
Departmental and faculty student associations that have so far cast their votes are the Fine Arts Student Alliance, the Political Science Students’ Association, the Students of Philosophy Association, the Women’s Studies Student Association, the Geography Undergraduate Student Society, the Linguistics Student Association and the School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association.
FASA had 465 fine arts students attend the assembly with a clear majority favouring a strike.
“The gathering was positive and constructive,” said FASA President Paisley Sim. “We received an overwhelming turnout for our vote. By joining fellow Concordia departments, we believe that this strike adds momentum to this important issue.”
The GUSS has also voted to oppose tuition fees by striking, with 37 out of the 50 students who attended the assembly voting in favour, and two against.
GUSS VP finance Trevor J. Smith said the assembly was an opportunity to deal with students’ concerns over their academic experience, and believes that their opposition against tuition fees can make a difference.
“We are fighting for this right, right now, and we will continue to do so as Quebec students,” Smith said.
At the LSA assembly, president Yulia Manyakina said, “We had over 20 students from the [classics, modern languages and linguistics] departments attending the assembly, which was great. I felt that everyone had a chance to voice their opinions and there was definitely some debate.”
Manyakina believes that the strike has the momentum to make a significant change, pointing out that it would make the fight against tuition hikes gain visibility and spark debate.
“It’s a way to show the government that they can’t make unilateral decisions without our consent,” she said.
SoPhiA, representing 430 students, had 34 students voting for the strike mandate and six against. WSSA had an attendance of 50 students out of the 200 in the department, and started their strike March 2.
The SCPASA voted 22 in favour, 2 against with 4 abstentions. Like many other associations, the mandate was conditional on a certain number of Quebec students already being on strike, in this case 70,000.
More student associations are planning to have their votes on the strike this week, including the Sociology and Anthropology Student Union and the Urban Planning Association. Weekly meetings will be held by most associations to vote again on whether or not they intend to continue their strike.

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