The “Freeze the Fees?” Ontarion article from last week discussed the “Rise for Ryerson” campaign. It said this campaign “supports fee increases approved through student referendum.” Ancillary fees and student organizational fees are approved through referendum and are different from tuition fees. Student organizational fees help students have the power to run their own organizations, while ancillary fees can only go towards non-academic aspects of the university. However, the “Rise for Ryerson” campaign also supports tuition-fee increases imposed upon us by the provincial government and the Board of Governors. These increases are not approved by student referendum and are different from student organizational and ancillary fees.
“Rise for Ryerson” argues along with senior administration that tuition fees need to rise in order to maintain the quality of education. This is a bad argument, designed to deter student action against budget cuts.
The “Freeze the Fees” campaign at Ryerson and the “Pay More Get Less” campaign at Guelph are both campaigning for quality education by demanding an end to budget cuts at our schools, unlike “Rise for Ryerson.” Ryerson students have organized an alternative budget, which shows that there do not have to be any tuition fee increases and budget cuts at Ryerson University. The same is true for U of G, where our institution has had large surpluses since 2011, including a $25 million surplus, and a $26 million surplus.
When we fight against budget cuts, we stand for smaller class sizes, against the slashing of academic programming, and in solidarity with workers at our school whose working conditions affect our learning conditions. When “Rise for Ryerson” campaigners say that they are okay with tuition-fee increases, and do not campaign against tuition-fee increases and cuts, they side with senior administration and governments, which are making education less accessible and of a lower quality.
Finally, it should be clarified that the “Pay More Get Less” campaign is a coalition that not only includes the CSA, but also includes CUPE 1334, CUPE 3913, OPIRG Guelph, and the Guelph Student Mobilization Committee.