City
U of T Sit-In Protestors Evicted by Police
Thursday, a group of 35 University of Toronto students organized a protest in Simcoe Hall, outside the president's office, seeking to speak to president David Naylor about current tuition fees and about a planned increase they wanted to see dropped.
Perhaps they were also on some level hoping to get in on some of the sit-in success at York last week, but this situation ended quite differently.
Video of what some students are describing as police brutality after the jump.
Student demands were threefold:
1) To be granted a meeting with President David Naylor;
2) To have the proposed fee increase removed from the University Affairs Board meeting, scheduled to take place on March 25; and
3) To be given 15 minutes at the University Affairs Board meeting for a presentation and discussion on broader issues of access to education and the impacts of high tuition upon students, families and communities.
I am definitely sympathetic to the impact of the high price of higher education on students individually and communities as wholes, but I think my immediate response to the video is "...what brutality?"
I mean, it is unfortunate in my eyes that those goals weren't achieved, although I'm not sure I would've expected this to bring them about either. I don't think police carrying people who are resisting passively counts as brutality by any stretch though, and the fact that they seem to simply be doing a really shite job of actually being able to pick anyone up isn't quite the same as them whipping out billy clubs.
I would like to see some inroads against tuition fee heights and hikes, but I'm not sure what tactics would bring that about. It kinda looks like we can cross this method off the list, though, with limited exceptions I think protest like this really fails to appeal to any second or third parties.
The anti-sweatshop rally last week at York out of desperation after years of being ignored, going and demanding something that could very reasonably be immediately granted, made sense and was successful because of that. The anti-imperialist rally this week with a student using a megaphone outside the president's office to demand that York cease all forms of direct/indirect support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't really as much of an "activist surgical strike" and didn't really accomplish anything.
I hope that eventually anti-tuition fee activism does find its niche, because it is truly needed in Ontario and in particular at U of T, and the protests and lobbying done so far hasn't seemed to get students very much.
Video: Police Brutality at University of Toronto by alwaysquestionUofT.
Photos by Edward F. Wong, also on Flickr.
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That guy in the wife beater... really? He just wanted you out buddy, you push any harder and you might get arrested. Secondly, I commend the cops for not punching that chick in the nose. Man, she's probably the most annoying thing I've heard on youtube. That's right, more annoying than 2girls1cup reaction videos. It was a nice try though UofT.
Just my thoughts.
I love how students are so hardwired to be outraged at police (a la don't tase me bro - did you hear one of the girls practically lifting lines from that video?) that when they AREN'T being abused, they still act like jackasses.
Shame indeed.
http://thevarsity.ca/article/2845-occupation-is-a-crime-
it sounds like fans and photographers chasing after a celebrity
Is this how pathetic the left has become?
And yes, that shrill voice of "socialism" is the most annoying thing I have ever heard. Perhaps that was their tactic ;)
oh why dont you get a job so your mother doesn't have to and pay for your own damn education.
I have to work and pay for my schooling myself, you're spoiled enough to have your parents paying and you're unhappy that they're raising prices? why don't you get a job and help your mother out.
Moreover, residence fees at New College might actually be a good thing, as they would provide funds to improve the buildings. Furthermore, if you want to complain about tuition look no further than the US for contrast. Much of UT funds come from alumni, private donors, and the government. Education is available to lower income citizens, its called OSAP! So, it's not just the shrill annoying tone of that girl's voice, it's also the content of her demands, and immature presentation.
The OSAP program has ruined many people's lives and I can't wait for the day that we, as a country, "grow up" and make higher education available to all by illuminating tuition.
Just go to Europe and see for yourself, universal education is worth it.
"
3/21/2008
Administrators at University of Toronto don't seem too worried about students threatening to take action against the school.
The students say they were roughed up while being booted from a sit in outside the president's office, they say they were there to protest rising residence fees.
A spokesman for the school says several campus police were actually attacked by the protesters."
http://www.640toronto.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1001856
Hopefully not with student union money...
I've been a student at U of T for around 7 years now. (I started as an undergrad and I'm a grad student now.) What I can say is that undergrads could have far more influence on the university than they think, most of them just refuse to pay any attention to the legitimate channels of communications. Voter turn out for the elections of the student representatives on the governing council is shamefully low. I've interacted with deans, vice-deans and other high level people at U of T and I can honestly tell you that they really do care about the student experience and want to make it better. The problem is that when students don't pay attention to the councils or the people representing them on those councils, then they typically end up with no voice. A student rep who doesn't talk might as well not be there. Believe it or not, when student reps speak reasonably and attempt to present solutions instead of just problems, people listen.
No shame on the students for making the rest of UofT look bad. I was was administration I wouldn't want to sit down and have a bunch of radicals jump down my throat about unrelated issues and their personal biases
I can't wait for President Naylor to expel the offending parties. Good riddance you extremist thugs, take your juvenile antics elsewhere!
AQ should be run off campus!!!
TO ALL UT STUDENTS THAT DO NOT SUPPORT AQ:
Email ASSU, UTSU and let them know we will not tolerate them supporting extremist groups with OUR money!!!
Let Mr. Naylor Know you stand behind him and the administration and do not support AQ
AQ is not even a recognized UT student group!
Let's get a petition going that bans them from campus
AQ DOES NOT REPRESENT US
AQ IS NOT WELCOME AT UT
This makes the big guys up top look even worse. They want these men and women to take the heat and deal with the issues while they hide. If you want to point to the bad guys that prevent these employees from getting home to their families you have to blame both sides, no? Naylor wants someone else to have to listen to complaints that he should deal with as his responsibility to the student body.
'I am definitely sympathetic to the impact of the high price of higher education on students individually and communities as wholes, but I think my immediate response to the video is "...what brutality?"'
I'm trying to say "Don't cry wolf" to people whose stated concerns and objectives parallel my own. Telling neo-Bolsheviks that trying to change the world by selling newspapers at protests that their tactics are moronic isn't the same thing as being opposed to social co-operation, and saying that I think the methods here are obviously less than effective in this case isn't the same as saying "Let's crank up tuition fees for kicks!"