December 15, 2008 - TORONTO, Ont.

As we write, more than 110 York undergraduate students are joining graduate student members of CUPE 3903 in an occupation of the President’s Office on the 9th floor of the Ross Building at York University. They are demanding that President Mamdouh Shoukri come out, engage them, and address 12 key questions.

They also plan to present him a letter to sign, requesting that he commit to participating in a public forum of undergraduates and CUPE members, to be held in the week of Jan. 5th, 2009.

Since the strike began on November 5th, and the University locked out students by canceling all classes, Shoukri’s actions and those of his representatives have ranged from unresponsive to hostile to the majority of student concerns. Most recently, President Shoukri refused to participate in an undergraduate Town Hall organized by the York Federation of Students on Thursday, Dec. 4th. There, students discussed the YFS economic proposal* urging York to direct funds and fundraising dollars away from non-essential expenses such as luxurious celebrations, and huge raises and bonuses for York Administrators, back to the classroom where it belongs.

Monday, December 15th
The Concord Café (937 Bloor St.)
7pm

A panel discussion on Labour and the University

On November 6, 2008, CUPE 3903 went on strike against their employer,
York University. Fed up with the employer's dismal offers, nearly 3500
teaching assistants, contract faculty, and research and graduate
assistants took action to win decent job security, equity, wages, and
benefits.

December 15 marks the beginning of week six on the picket lines.

Facing anti-union media, an employer that refuses to negotiate, and
self-serving politicians, it is sometimes difficult to find spaces where
we can collectively discuss the historical and political significance of
this struggle.

Nevertheless, we must ask: what are the implications of this strike for
3903 members, the university sector, and the Canadian labour movement?

Upping the Anti welcomes all organizers, activists, and allies committed
to labour union solidarity to attend the forum with questions and
contributions.

Speakers:

*Punam Khosla* is long-time antiracist marxist-feminist activist and
organizer, and a strike coordinator and media spokesperson with CUPE
3903. She is currently doing her PhD in Urban/Environmental studies at
York University and is a course director (Unit 1). Her current work aims
to support women of colour left activism and involves developing a new

From Apathy to Activism: Student activists lead the way in building cross-campus, cross-movement coalitions
by Susan Dianne Brophy, from Canadian Dimension, September/October 2008.

Why is it that students don’t really give a damn about anything outside their own lives?” asks Mikhael Aziz. An upper-year undergraduate student at York University, Aziz is also a member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid, a group at the forefront of campus mobilization.

Regarding the deeply rooted apathy that many students exhibit, my observation, and that of those with whom I have consulted in writing this article, is that it is an offshoot of a sense of self-entitlement. Most students have yet to experience any political upheaval or economic hardship for themselves. The wave of relatively steady economic growth in Canada, and the consumer culture that accompanies it, results in a dangerous combination of political complacency and consumer insatiability. Coupled with the demolishment of the welfare state, the resulting competitive individualism produces a sense of hostility expressed as self-entitlement, which has had a potent demobilizing effect across campuses nationwide.

What: Rally against fee hikes and repression of dissent at University of Toronto
When: Wednesday, May 21, 4:30 PM
Where: Simcoe Hall, University of Toronto, 27 King’s College Circle

Students and organizers will rally outside a meeting of the University of Toronto’s Board of Governors Wednesday, May 21, to protest UofT campaign of intimidation against those mobilizing against fee hikes. They will peacefully attempt to deliver letters and 1700 petition signatures in support of 14 students arrested and charged by the University in connection with their campaign for accessible education. The rally will feature speakers from the Committee for Just Education and its allies “charging” UofT administration with misconduct in its repressive response to peaceful dissent.

On March 20, over forty students and allies organized a sit-in at the University of Toronto administration’s offices in Simcoe Hall to protest increasing student fees. The peaceful sit-in ended after police exercised aggression against the demonstrators on the orders of senior administrators. Undeterred, students continued to organize against fee hikes with rallies on March 25 and April 10, and an open forum on the accessibility of education on April 7.

URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT – PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY**

University's level of hostility and repression against students
unprecedented in the last decade

Community Release: Toronto; April 25 2008

WHAT: Allies for Just Education - Community Support Meeting
WHEN: Monday April 28, 6pm
WHERE: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St (http://tinyurl.com/4sn49c)

Dear Ally,

Over the past several weeks, a wide coalition of students, alumni and
workers at University of Toronto have come together to protest and
organize against proposed fee hikes and to demand accessible
education. This coalition has organized public meetings, a sit-in and
demonstrations which have received wide community support. Students have also conducted extensive research on the effects of fees and the fiscal policies of the university administration (see
www.fightfees.ca).

Due to a peaceful sit-in, organized to protest against tuition fees on
March 20, students are being subjected to an intense campaign of
intimidation by the UofT administration and Toronto Police. Students
have been followed by campus police, both on and off campus, as well

Strength in Numbers?

Why Radical Students Need a New Organizing Model

Caelie Frampton

In October of 2006, 1,000 students gathered at a mass meeting at Simon Fraser University (SFU) to impeach seven elected student union directors who were widely perceived to be acting against student interests and to be supported by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).1 In the lead up to the assembly, the impeachment campaign involved classroom speaking, petitions, motions of non-confidence passed by 30 different student groups, occupations of student union space, and banner drops. The mobilization culminated in a court case that acknowledged the legitimacy of the impeachment meeting. Compared to these vigorous grassroots initiatives, the SFU component of the CFS National Day of Action four months later on February 7th, 2007 was dismal. Thirty people, mostly consisting of recently-impeached student leaders and their friends, stood around holding prefabricated “Freeze Tuition Fees” signs. Considering the recent spike in radical organizing at SFU, it was no coincidence that they protested alone. Having reclaimed their student government, many students at SFU were not interested in supporting a rally orchestrated by the national organization widely perceived to be linked to the actions of the impeached student officials.

Students occupy Montreal Stock Exchange to protest tuition hike
Saturday, November 17 2007

On Friday, November 16th, 150 students and supporters occupied the Montreal Stock Exchange at 8am for approximately an hour. An estimated 60,000 students from various universities and cegeps were on strike this past week in order to protest the lifting of the tuition freeze in Quebec, which has been in place for 13 years. Tuition is expected to rise 500$ over the next 5 years.

by Kelly Ebbels, The McGill Daily

An unlimited general student strike may be in the works this fall as Quebec student groups plan their responses to the Liberal government’s decision to unfreeze tuition.

Most students were off for the summer when the Ministry of Education announced in June that it would permit tuition to be raised $50 per semester for the next five years, to a total increase of $500 – approximately a 30 per cent increase. Tuition for Quebec residents had been frozen at $1,668 since 1994.

This latest issue of the online journal _Workplace: A Journal for Academic
Labor_ is devoted to reflections on last year's strike at NYU by grad
students. It's worth checking out and circulating. See below for more
info.

*******

Dear Readers,

The fourteenth issue of *Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor* is
now available online at http://www.workplace-gsc.com . "Beyond the
Picket Line: Academic Organizing after the Long NYU Strike" features

ZNet | Activism

by Doug Viehmeyer; left turn; March 21, 2007

In 2006, youth and student movements around the world showed signs of life that have inspired and sharpened the focus of radical student organizers in the US. Despite the continued US imperial onslaught in the Middle East - demonstrated by the ongoing occupation of Iraq, US support for Israel’s wars against Lebanon and the Palestinians, and the deteriorating occupation of Afghanistan - students rose up globally against the neoliberal economic policies that are the foundation of US empire.