Graduate Students’ Association plans protest against U of A’s tuition hikes

The University of Alberta’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) held a special meeting on February 16 to discuss their opposition to the proposed tuition increases for the upcoming academic year, aiming to educate the graduate student body about possible action. 

In the meeting, the GSA discussed the possibility of strikes and protests for graduate students in response to the increases. Janmejay Rao, GSA vice-president (external) noted that these discussions happened before the affordability measures announcement was made by the provincial government.

“Some of the students reached out to us and some of the departmental [graduate student groups] reached out to us telling us that they might want a GSA to take more solid stance and do something about [tuition increases],” Rao said.

Rao continued to explain that while a strike wasn’t legally permitted due to the employment nature for many graduate students, the graduate students could “surely engage in peaceful protest.” The council’s plans, said Rao, would begin with educating graduate students on what a protest or a strike is.

Rao continued to affirm that the GSA would continue to support a protest if the councillors were willing to protest the tuition hikes for the year. However, if “tuition is kept to two per cent and we can engage with the government and university in other ways … then we will support that too.”

A representative from the department of political science, Telisa Courtney, said that in addition to their position with the GSA, they were also working with a group that’s planning a protest against tuition increases.

The group, Halt the Hike, is planning to protest at the Board of Governors (BoG) meeting on March 24. Courtney stated they don’t believe that the affordability measures announced by the Government of Alberta had stopped those plans. 

“We’ve had a lot of traction in getting some graduate students together,” Courtney said. Courtney added that the University’s Association of Academic Staff (AASUA), the Campus Food Bank, and the undergraduate Students’ Union (UASU) all supported the planned protest.

Rao said that the GSA wouldn’t be able to have an impact on the tuition increases for the upcoming academic year. The tuition proposal is now with the BoG, which the GSA has little impact on as the minority representation.

“We can all hope that some of the board members are convinced to vote on our behalf,” said Rao.

Courtney responded that while the protest wouldn’t prevent the tuition hikes from being implemented by BoG, it would show that the students aren’t okay with it and are struggling even in light of the affordability measures.

“The tuition capping at two percent … that doesn’t do anything for the upcoming year. Cost of living is going up. Value of services at the university have consistently gone down since the restructuring began — despite tuition going up and up and up,” Courtney said.

“And the university’s answer of ‘well, we have to balance the budget somehow’ shouldn’t come on the back of students.”

Courtney said that a protest could utilize the media to “hopefully piss off enough Albertans that they vote differently,” referring to the upcoming provincial election. They said that students need to show Albertans “how much their votes are damaging us.”

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