By Laura Woodward & Roderick Fitzgerald
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) called out all students haunted by tuition fees for the “Rally For The Death Of Affordable Education” on Oct. 31.
About 30 students and RSU members attended the funeralthemed event. They marched around Ryerson campus dragging a coffin symbolizing the ‘death of affordable education’ to Yonge Dundas Square to protest tuition hikes.
“This [rally] is the education component. Results won’t suddenly just happen, but the hope of this rally is to raise awareness and pique people’s interest,” said RSU’s vice president of education Rochelle Lawrence. “Hopefully those people can stick with us and continue to organize with us, so we can eventually see something happen.”
Alastair Woods, chairperson of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) also attended.
After the march, the RSU brought the coffin to Jorgenson Hall. There, members visited Ryerson president Sheldon Levy and, in keeping with the funeral theme, delivered a wreath to him.
Not everyone was supportive of the march. While attendees were chanting, a bystander also yelled out, “It doesn’t matter what you want, you ain’t getting it.” Ontario students pay the highest tuition fees in the country. The average Ontario student graduates with $37,000 in debt from school fees.
Leave a Reply