Geography Students Become the Fourth to Strike

GUSS Joins Three Other Undergrad Student Associations

NewsJonathan Caragay-Cook — Published March 18, 2015

Thomas Radcliffe, the VP Communication of GUSS, proposed the motion, which originally stated that the protest would be a weeklong demonstration from March 26 to April 2. He says he has no issue with the change in dates.

“I felt maybe a weeklong strike would have had more of a presence,” he said, citing Students of Philosophy Association’s (SoPHiA) weeklong strike as inspiration for the original motion. “But I was definitely in favor of a two-day strike.”

An amendment to have the strike enforced by “hard-pickets” against professors also passed. This means that students will physically block professors from entering classrooms but will allow students to pass through the pickets if they so choose.

Radcliffe says that he thinks professors will be lenient with assignments that week, adding that many teachers were understanding during the protests in 2012.

A second amendment also mandates that GUSS protest against controversial bylaw P-6 and article 500.1 of the Quebec Highway Safety Code. These two rules allow for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal to declare protests illegal through street obstruction and a lack of a planned itinerary.

SoPHiA, the Fine Arts Student Alliance and Liberal Arts Students have all voted to strike on their respective mandated dates as well.

More strike votes will be held in the coming days. The School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association will hold an assembly tomorrow at 5:30, while the Political Science Student Association will have a special general assembly on Monday at 6:00.