WUFA Supports our Students
January 31, 2018
The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) has called for a National Day of Action, tomorrow, February 1st, to protest the ever-rising costs of tuition. The University of Windsor Student Alliance will be hosting a rally to mark the Day of Action. The rally will be held in the CAW Centre at 2 pm. Please gather under the WUFA banner to support our students.
WUFA, along with the rest of the academic labour movement, has always supported and fought for education as a public good open to all qualified students, not just those that can pay. Across the country, and especially in Ontario, student tuition forms an ever rising proportion of university operating budgets. The downloading of costs to students is privatization by stealth, and also a direct harm to students. The more that their education costs, the more debt they have to take on, or the more work outside of school they have to undertake to pay the fees. This reality means less time for study, for peer to peer conversation, and interest-led exploration that education requires, and that universities ought to enable to the maximum.
If education is a public good, a collective investment in youth and the future of our society, private tuition should be progressively eliminated. If you think such a move would burden governments with impossible to bear expenses, consider the fact that the Czech Republic (GDP per capita of 18 000 USD) offers its students tuition free higher education. The GDP per capita of Canada is over 42 000 HSD per year. The issue is political priorities, not ability to pay.
So knock on doors tomorrow in your corridor and gather your colleagues to form a large and loud WUFA contingent to support our students.
Jeff Noonan, WUFA President
