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TORONTO, April 29 / – Outrage is mounting over the arrest of 14
students who are presently facing criminal charges for participating
in a peaceful sit-in at the University of Toronto on 20 March 2008.
The sit-in, held to protest rising fees, ended when police acting
on the orders of senior U of T administrators forcefully removed
demonstrators.
In the weeks which have ensued, students and organizers involved in
the protest have been subjected to a campaign of intimidation by the
U of T administration, which has sought a criminal investigation of
the matter after having encouraged the Toronto Police to arrest 14
individuals and have charges pressed against them. After turning
themselves in last week, the students have been released on strict
bail conditions which ban them from associating with one another
outside of courts and classes, thereby prohibiting their freedom
to organize on campus. In addition, U of T staff, students and an
alumnus have been completely banned from U of T property. U of T is
attempting to further repress student organizing on campus by inves-
tigating at least 13 students under the Code of Student Conduct.
Outrage at the arrests and disciplinary actions by U of T admini-
stration has been expressed by a growing number of professors and
staff at the University of Toronto. “I am urging the university
administration to exercise restraint in these matters and avoid
what appears to be a crackdown on political activity and freedom
of expression at the university,” stated George Sefa Dei, a pro-
fessor in Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE, University of
Toronto.
Rather than addressing the issues of accessibility to education,
the U of T administration has resorted to tactics of intimidation
and repression, including police surveillance as a means of cracking
down against all dissent on campus. Undeterred, students have contin-
ued to organize against increasingly inaccessible tuition. Sheila
Hewlett, an organizer with the Committee for Just Education and an
elected member of the Arts and Sciences Student Union notes, “We
have to look at who is excluded when these unchecked fee increases
compound and realize that education is increasingly not accessible
to many. The student experience is at best one of debt servitude; at
worst, education is completely unavailable to more and more people.”
The Committee for Just Education, which includes the students charged
by police, have outlined the following demands:
i) Equal access to education through the elimination of all fees.
ii) That the U of T administration and Toronto Police immediately
drop all proceedings against students and organizers and stop
policing of dissent on campus.
iii) Student, worker, and faculty parity on University decision-
making bodies, including the Governing Council.
In the face of mounting debts, drastic increases in tuition and
ancillary fees and a hostile environment towards student organizing
on campus, a burgeoning student movement is demanding access to
education for all people. Allies and supporters of the students
charged are calling on both the Attorney General Chris Bentley and
U of T President David Naylor to drop all charges and disciplinary
proceedings.
