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Student protests mulled here

Looming tuition hikes may bring action: union

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 05/30/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Will an $83.68 increase in tuition send University of Manitoba students into the streets in a Quebec-style tuition protest?

The next move is up to Premier Greg Selinger and Advanced Education Minister Erin Selby, U of M Students' Union president Bilan Arte warned Tuesday.

"We're certainly not shy of showing up and protesting and having demonstrations throughout the summer and into the fall," Arte said.

Arte and University of Winnipeg Students' Association president Lauren Bosc said Tuesday students throughout Manitoba are unhappy with pending provincial legislation that has allowed schools to increase tuition by 2.8 per cent, the cost of inflation.

At the U of M, that's $83.68 for a maximum course load in arts, to $3,075.98 next fall, while at the U of W, it's an $86.44 increase to $3,173.74.

"U of M jacked tuition up to what they were allowed to," Arte said, even though the university had previously set draft budgets based on a lower inflation-rate increase.

Arte said students fear pending legislation allowing annual tuition increases to be capped at inflation not only allows universities to raise fees to the maximum each year regardless of need, but also leaves open even higher possible fee increases for international students and professional faculties.

The Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students will be taking its tuition and student financial concerns soon to Selinger and Selby.

"Whether those concerns are listened to... we're likely to see some demonstrations or actions after that," Arte said.

"We have been organizing as students across this province," Arte said. "It (Quebec protests) has served as an inspiration for students to stand up."

Even though most students are out of class this time of year, Arte said, social media will quickly mobilize students.

"Students were dismayed in the rise in tuition fees of 2.8 per cent, further increasing barriers," Bosc said.

Bosc said national student leaders are meeting soon in Ottawa to discuss mobilization tactics and strategy, and local student groups are forming a coalition of students and organized labour here in Manitoba. "It's something that will come from the ground up," Bosc said.

Meanwhile, both the U of W and the U of M have approved budgets based on tuition increasing by 2.8 per cent, the rate of inflation. Both budgets differed little from their previous draft budget predictions.

U of W president Lloyd Axworthy said the board of regents passed a $110-million budget Monday night that includes leaving $4 million worth of jobs vacant and pumping an additional $3 million into ongoing pension problems. The budget is $6 million higher than a year ago.

"There's no reserve left -- we used it last year to cover pension costs," Axworthy said.

Nevertheless, the U of W will hire 11 tenure-track professors and 11 instructors, most of them in arts.

Axworthy said the U of W is lobbying the province for changes to the university funding formula, demanding historical differences in grants be changed so the U of W receives more per student -- the U of M and Brandon University receive much more per student under the current system, he said.

Axworthy said the government must also help schools with their pension contributions. "It's a pension system designed 30 or 40 years ago that doesn't fit today's economic situation," he said.

The U of W is targeting commercialization as a revenue source, particularly its plans to develop medical isotopes on campus.

U of W Faculty Association president Prof. Pauline Pearson said Tuesday the new hires were announced months ago. "We remain very concerned about the aggressive vacancy management... the increasingly unsustainable financial situation."

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 30, 2012 A5

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