SFU to rally for education: Will Kwantlen?
November 7, 2010 by Hayley Woodin
(Provided by the SFU Community Coaltion's education rally campaign)
Simon Fraser University will host a student-led education rally Wednesday to protest funding cuts to universities and issues surrounding student debt.
The SFU Community Coalition aims to raise awareness about the current state of education funding in B.C., in the hopes of making post-secondary education a high priority in B.C.’s next provincial budget.
The Nov. 10 rally, scheduled for the Convocation Mall at 3 p.m., is an offspring of the Canadian Federation of Students’ student debt campaign, which focuses on similar issues and unites students in an attempt to induce legislative education reforms.
Unlike other universities across Canada, Kwantlen has yet to speak out about those issues.
“The KSA will have a campaign, it’s just a matter of to what extent students grasp it and to what extent we are able to use our capacities to the fullest in the KSA,” said Bradley Head, the KSA’s director of academic affairs, and the chair of the academic issues committee.
The capacity of the KSA is currently limited: internal politics have rendered council ineffective since the start of the fall semester, and there haven’t been any official meetings since September, according to Head.
“We’ve been in discussion with SFU a little bit, but not to the extent where we can do any big campaign,” he said.
Head said that the KSA would like to look into receiving more operating funds and grants for the university, increasing class sizes and making student loans more accessible.
These are similar to the issues being brought up on Wednesday on SFU, along with reducing student loan interest rates, and increasing funding to StudentAid B.C., a government program that helps students with the cost of post-secondary education.
The provincial budget will be finalized mid-November, so students have limited time to voice the changes they’d like to see in the 2011 budget.
But change is possible. And with Premier Gordon Campbell’s recent announcement that he will be resigning, there may be hope for increased funding towards education.
“I think that [with] the change in premier, there’s a lot of positive that could come from it for the school,” said Head.
“Depending on who is placed in that position, their opinions based on student debt and the way the education system’s currently funded, [it] could massively change any chances the student unions have of decreasing or maintaining current tuition,” Head speculated.
Head said he hopes the issue be brought up within the KSA in the next two to three weeks.
“[But] that’s if council meets,” he said. “If council doesn’t meet, there’s no way to actually do the campaign.”
Even if the KSA Council does not meet, the KSA could still do something on this front, as organized by the Director of Academics and the Director of External Affairs with the Executive, so long as the goals of the rally fall in line with what policy the KSA currently has on the books – which has all been passed by the KSA Council previously. Current KSA Policy is located here:
http://kusa.ca/index.php?pid=146
And the KSA does have one specific policy on the underfunding of PSE:
http://kusa.ca/files/File/1.2%20PSE%20Public%20Funding%20Policy.pdf
Further, something like this would be supported by the KSA’s Constitution:
http://kusa.ca/files/File/Constitution1995.pdf
Finally, the KSA’s membership in the CFS, as approved through referendum by the students of Kwantlen, means that the KSA supports the policy of the Federation (for better or for worse), and as such, the KSA executives could support any actions or activities regarding a student debt campaign at Kwantlen.
The only stumbling block that could come up would be if the KSA wanted to put financial resources towards any on campus efforts. Depending on what areas in the 2010 lobbying budget are available, the KSA executive may not be able to provide funding for the support of any on campus efforts without Council’s support.