Here is my response to several questions that have been asked regarding the Drop Pants, Not Fees event.
I think that this blog post is a perfect way of expressing how a lot of students on campus feel. I can’t add a whole lot to that, but I can reiterate a few points. One of the most important lines in this article states “I do not believe that the SFUO should have the right to represent us on a political basis”. This makes up a very large portion of my reasoning for this event. The SFUO claims the following. “The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) as the student union, the instrument of political action of the undergraduate student population.” This, in itself, is forcing every undergraduate student at this university to be politicaly represented by the SFUO. This goes against every possible modern human rights notion one might think of. Not only should this idea not sit well with you on a personal level, it is also a very clear violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as article 20 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states “No one may be compelled to belong to an association.”
A large portion of the students on this campus (including 93% of voting Engineering students) have made it very clear that they do not wish to be represented politically – or in any capacity – by the SFUO. By flat-out ignoring the democratic process, the SFUO shows that they have no interest in representing (or asking) what students really want. I also like Lydia’s analogy. “Let us imagine for a moment how the student body would react if they made these decisions for us in terms of religion. Imagine that our student federation spent slightly over $100,000 in a year promoting and fighting for arbitrarily chosen religious causes that don’t actually represent the beliefs of the student body whatsoever. I’m no lawyer, but that sounds like something that’s probably completely unconstitutional and not allowed, as well as just being totally rude and insensitive.”
Finally, to keep my message concise, I would like to add that I personally do not believe that the Drop Fees campaign is effective. It costs uOttawa students alone up to $600,000 every year. Imagine how much that is across Canada! It would be much more wise and economically feasible to invest this money and use it for scholarships and grants. This would make a real, constructive, and realizable impact.
Let it be clear that we are not protesting lower tuition fees, but rather, we are protesting the illegal and illegitimate actions of the SFUO in forcefully and falsely representing students on this campus.
Nicholas Crawford
**Stop Throwing Tantrums Over Tuitions**: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jonathan-scott/mcguinty-tuition_b_1242497.html
Agreed!!! WORK to pay off your own student fees! Don’t protest to get other citizens to pay it off for you.
You said it Nick and I couldn’t agree more. I would love to see this in the Ottawa newspapers.
I really like your article, Nick and I am definitely a skeptic of the SFUO’s association with the CFS and their support of the Drop Fees movement. I also agree that the money spent on supporting this campaign would be much better spent on awards and grants for students in need and students with exceptional academic merit. However, at the end of your article you mention that you are indeed not protesting the lowering of tuition fees (which honestly is something I was under the impression would be part of the counter-campaign). I was wondering if you could elaborate on this as lowering tuition fees make very little economic sense and doing so would only raise competition for a finite number of jobs awaiting students after graduation.