Despite the blistering cold, close to 60 Concordia students gathered on last Wednesday’s Day of Action in an alternate protest against the CSU, the Administration and the additional $100 this year’s student body is paying in ancillary fees.
“We’re here to demand our $100 back from Concordia and [President] Claude Lajeunesse. And we’re also here to demand that our student union act like a student union, and defend our right to accessible education,” said Ethan Cox, a member of OurConcordiaU and the main event organizer.
The Concordia Council for Student Life (CCSL) passed the $100 fee increase just prior to this year’s executive coming into office. Many students are accusing this year’s CSU of ignoring their best interests.
“It’s a bad state of affairs for students when we have a student union that’s more concerned with pleasing the administration than with defending students’ rights,” Cox said.
Cox explained that students are only now becoming aware of the fee increase and are getting involved in the fight against “back-door tuition.”
“We obviously support the freeze on tuition. But we have one primary objective and that’s to get our $100 back,” he said. “It’s not too late. As long as students come together in solidarity, we can do it.”
The protest brought together Concordia organizations such as QPIRG Concordia, Le Frigo Vert and the People’s Potato who aren’t happy with the fee increase and the CSU’s recent proposals to alter the fee levy system.
The People’s Potato was scheduled to serve free food at the CSU-organized protest, however they decided to move to the corner of de Maisonneuve and McKay at the OurConcordiaU protest.
“Initially we thought there was only one demo,” said People’s Potato employee Benoit Desgreniers. “But we decided to serve on McKay because it was what the people who are around the People’s Potato felt was the right thing to do. And [it’s] also more visual towards the administration. In the back [at the CSU-organized protest] we feel that it looks really hidden and it looks like we’re ashamed to contest student poverty. At the People’s Potato, we’re not ashamed.”
Desgreniers said not much has changed in fighting back-door tuition fees since he attended Concordia over five years ago.
“I feel that in the past year, there was not much gained on the student level in terms of tuition, in terms of fighting with the administration. A lot of it was just lip service,” he said.
CSU VP External Justin Levy said that according to police estimates, close to 1,500 students had mobilized once the full procession started moving along Ste. Catherine St.
Still, Levy was disappointed that so many students joined the alternate protest, which he attributed to the fact that it was located at the front of the school. The CSU-organized protest was set up at the back of the Hall building on the terrace because security wouldn’t allow them to go to the front.
“Obviously they have the right to protest, but I don’t agree with their position, in particular their position against the CSU. But obviously we agree that increasing tuition is not the way to do it, and we also agree that ancillary fees are not the way to do it,” Levy said.Nonetheless, Levy described the alternate protest as “hypocritical” and added, “When we question their fee [levies], everyone says ‘How dare you ask accountability [from organizations receiving] fee levies?’ Then they say ‘How dare you not stand up against the administration?'”
“It’s an illogical argument because fee levies are ancillary fees too, even if it’s 10 cents or $100,” Levy said.
