Date: 30 Dec 2000 21:08:40 -0800
From: dizzybee
To: message@esmartstudent.com
Subject: frustrated and disappointed in Toronto...


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To Whom This May Concern,

I am in my last year at Glendon College in International
Studies. Well, imagine my surprise when I got back home from a week-long
well deserved vacation to find that an offer had been made to relocate York
and Glendon students to other universities in Ontario...

First of all, I am very angry about the strike, and am surprised to hear
so many people lashing out at CUPE. Doesn't anyone think about linking this
to Harris, an anti-socialism and anti-poor agenda and big business? So CUPE
rejected some offers. That's not the main point. We are fighting for lower
tuition, easier access to bursaries and OSAP and how are we treated? With
rising tuition fees and OSAP penalizing me because I forgot to mention that
I had made a bit more money than I had estimated. On York's board of directors
sits CIBC; who else profits as much as them for our rising tuition fees
and however else they can get our money?

Second of all, I am at a bilingual campus (one of only 3 in Ontario) in
a program that is not even offered at any other university in Ontario. So
what am I supposed to do? I thought I would be finishing this year so that
I could decide my immediate future. HA HA HA!!! I am so stressed out because
I can't even apply for internships. I wasn't working because I wanted to
focus on my last 4 classes, and have now been desperately seeking one for
the past 2 months as I am dirt poor.

York is not the only university with
a strike that has been on-going since October. The Université de Québec
a Trois Rivieres has been going through the same thing. There will be a
continous wave of this until Canada and the provinces themselves decide
that yes, education is important, and begins to increase funding to all
institutions.

I know that York and other universities are businesses in
disguise (though not well-hidden) and that the administration doesn't care
what happense because they aren't being penalized. But WHY AREN'T WE AS
STUDENTS DOING ANYTHING??? I believe we should strike, petition, write millions
of letters, try to do whatever we can to get more attention on our cause.
I am asking all of you who are reading this to dwell on this and offer suggestions
on what we can do. I am up for anything at this point.

A rambling student who has no idea where else to turn.



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