A group of students opted to spend the last few days freezing, in hopes that tuition fees would do the same.
Anabela Ventura, vice-president of Laurentian's Graduate Student Association (GSA), was one of several people involved in the quiet protest outside the “bowling alley” of the school. She and a number of others spent Jan. 30 and 31 huddled into a make-shift tent, next to a toasty fire.
Ventura said some of the key issues surrounded the protest are rising tuition fees and the recently introduced Ontario Tuition Grant Program that will only help some students.
Mature, part-time, graduate and international students won't receive any benefits from the grant, Ventura said.
“It's really discriminating,” Ventura said. “We don't think that's fair.”
Mark Collins, president of the GSA, said the student body at Laurentian has been supportive of the cause.
“They appreciate what we've been doing,” he said.
He added that by being in front of so many students, more were inclined to sign up for a bus trip to Toronto, where students from across the province will gather together to protest.
Chlor Hallee-Theoret, president of the university's francophone student association, Association des étudiantes et étudiants francophones de l’Université Laurentienne, said space is running out on the 112-seat bus.
Ventura said if the protests went the way students wanted them to, there would be a drop, or at least a freeze, in tuition fees, and the grant would include all students.
She said the current situation is looking grim for those interested in pursuing a post-secondary education.
“(The status quo) doesn't promise a very bright future for students,” she said.
Posted by Arron Pickard
