CEGEP Students Walk Against Tuition
At the start of a new school week at the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, students stood outside the college’s entrance on the morning of Nov. 22 and told arriving classmates that the school was closed. All students were locked out.
At the start of a new school week at the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, students stood outside the college’s entrance on the morning of Nov. 22 and told arriving classmates that the school was closed. All students were locked out.
Over the weekend, the CEGEP’s administrators had heard a rumour that students planned to occupy the school during a planned two-day bed in on Nov. 23 and 24. With a famously active and radical student body, the CEGEP was thrown into a five-day lockdown until last Thursday.
“The rumour was that we planned to use bike locks to keep the doors open after 5:00 p.m. on Nov. 22 and would hold a sit in at the school to force negotiations with an administration that completely refused to hold negotiations with us,” said Mateo Solkin, a member of Vieux Montréal’s student union mobilizing committee.
On Nov. 2, a general assembly of the Association générale des étudiants du Cégep du Vieux Montréal approved three days of bed ins and strikes on Nov. 23, Nov. 24 and Dec. 6 to protest looming tuition increases.
“In the past, the administration has always kept the third floor of the school—the main floor—open to students,” said Solkin. “That is the floor that has the student union room and where we can go to the bathroom, especially when you are striking in the winter and need heat. But this time, they decided that we wouldn’t have access to the third floor.”
Despite being locked out of their school, the students kept to their strike schedule.
In front of the college, the students built a makeshift camp with tarps, cardboard, pallets, warmers, stoves and a port-o-potty. Concerts, workshops, conferences and poetry readings were held during the two-day sit in. The event went off without incident.
“We were quite resourceful and we ended up having all of our activities outside,” said Solkin. The 40 students who participated in the bed in were joined by 100 classmates for demonstrations in front of Hydro Quebec and at McGill.
When asked to comment on the CEGEP’s reaction to the student bed in, Anne-Louise Savary, a spokesperson for the CEGEP du Vieux Montreal, said that “the administration won’t comment further on this matter.”
She pointed The Link to a press release issued during the weekend and declined to comment further.
In 2007, a similar event took place as students organized a bed in to protest a cut in bursaries by the provincial government. The school then called in the Montreal riot police to expel the students from the building.
The CEGEP’s principal and head of security later resigned due to negative media pressure.
“Out of paranoia that the 2007 event would happen again, they decided to have a complete lock out,” said Solkin. “The administration told us, ‘Oh no, this can’t happen. We don’t want a repeat of 2007; we really don’t think we want to do this anymore. Mon’oncle a pu l’énergie pour vous surveiller.’”
In 2008, another bed in took place that ended peacefully.
On the morning of Nov. 20, the CEGEP gave the student union a 10-minute warning before it sent an e-mail to all students telling them that they were locked out.
“We saw it as a direct attack. They told us that they were going to get back to us about it; they didn’t and they just decided to tell students to stay home.”
Solkin said the main point of the bed in was to start a negotiation between the students and administration.
“We were just looking for common ground,” said Solkin. “They gave us an ultimatum.”
This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 16, published November 30, 2010.
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