By Jackie Hong
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) set up a “tent city” in front of Jorgenson Hall Monday evening to protest what it said is Ryerson University’s “refusal to work with students and Ryerson community members on a budget that does not include budget cuts and tuition fee increases for the tenth year in a row.”
The set up of the tent city followed a rally for the RSU’s new campaign, “Freeze the Fees,” which calls for Ryerson to reduce international student fees so that they’re in line with domestic fees, for Ryerson and the Ontario government to stop increasing tuition costs, for the school to work with the RSU in creating an alternate budget and for the school of increase the number of student representatives on the board of governors.
The tent city mirrors “Occupy” protests where demonstrators set up tents in prominent areas to draw the attention of citizens and politicians to the protestors’ demands.
In a press release, the RSU said students will camp out “until the university cooperates to present an alternative budget to be considered at the Board of Governors Meeting in April.”
“We have tried … meeting and working within the process, but it is time for some drastic action,” said Vice-President Education Jesse Root in the release.
Leave a Reply