Students at Queen’s University are currently occupying the office of Principal William Leggett, in an effort to prevent the deregulation of fees for the undergraduate Arts and Science programmes. The students are calling for a freeze in tuition fees for all programmes for the 2002-2003 academic year and the withdrawal of the proposal submitted to the Ontario government.
Dramatic increases in tuition fees have already had a devastating effect on accessibility to post-secondary education. In programmes where fees have been de-regulated, tuition fee increases have been astronomical. As Queen’s is seeking to be “test-case” for the deregulation of undergraduate tuition fees, this experiment is likely to open the floodgates for higher tuition at other Ontario Universities.
CUPE believes that postsecondary education should be a right for everyone, not a privilege for the wealthy few. We call on the Queen’s administration to withdraw their proposal to de-regulate tuition fees in the Arts and Science Programmes. We also call on all levels of government to restore adequate funding levels to all our public post-secondary institutions.
A high quality, truly accessible system of post-secondary education would benefit all Canadians.
CUPE members are encouraged to do the following:
- Send messages of support to deregulationoccupation@hotmail.com
- Express your concerns to Principal Leggett. His email address is principa@post.queensu.ca
- Donations can be sent OPIRG-Kingston, c/o the Earth Centre, JDUC, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 (phone number 613-533-3189).
For more information, visit the web site of the Queen’s Coalition Against Deregulation at www.web.net/~opirgkin/deregulation.html.