by Espoir Manirambona
On Feb. 2, students and workers rallied in front of Carleton University’s Richcraft Building (formerly known as River Building) to protest a closed-door meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG). The “Noisy Persons” protest was organized by a number of groups including students who support free tuition, activists who oppose Carleton’s Infrastructure Resilience and Research Group (IRRG), students who oppose the new sexual violence policy and Students Against Israeli Apartheid.
The BoG is a largely unelected body that makes decisions regarding resource allocation and tuition fees and has been the subject of controversy for a number of years. Last year, the Leveller documented how the Board tried to silence dissent within its own ranks and used security to intimidate student protesters.
Responding to more recent protests, Carleton President Roseann Runte sent a letter to students on Jan. 12. According to the “Noisy Persons Unite” Facebook organizing page, Runte referred to student protesters as “noisy persons” that are “contravening the basic principle of a civil society” by “the din” of “what they consider to be their right to freedom of speech.” This recent series of events is a sign that the contradictions between the Board and the Carleton community are intensifying.
At the rally, the mood was cheerful with a strong sense of enthusiasm emanating from the crowd. The students and their allies were indeed noisy, loud, proud and determined to be heard. Many expressed disapproval of the unelected Board members’ intention to increase tuition fees over the next two years.
Ashley Courchene, VP Support Services with the Carleton Undergraduate Students’ Association, spoke first during the Feb. 2 protest. “This is not my first time here; I’ve been here, in this exact spot, fighting against tuition increases for years now,” Courchene told the crowd. “And as usual, today, the Carleton Board of Governors plans to increase tuition for the maximum rate for the next two years.”
The move by Boards of various universities across the country to increase fees points to a growing disparity of motivations between university administrators and students. In November of 2016, the Canadian Federation of Students organized a National Day of Action for free tuition.
“The administration votes to increase tuition every year. They often argue that it is due to reduced government funding [for] post-secondary education and their own rising costs of maintaining the University. This is despite them posting millions in surplus every year,” Jenna Amirault, Vice President External with the Graduate Students’ Association, told the Leveller. “The Board of Governors and Carleton administration do not want free post-secondary education for all students. Instead, it is in their interest to further corporatize the University and try to maximize their profits.”
There were also students attending the rally to oppose the IRRG. The IRRG held a security symposium at Carleton in November to brainstorm legal measures — including using the Anti-terrorism Act — against activists challenging Canada’s natural resource sector. Carleton students published an open letter and launched an online petition in mid-February to “end Carleton University’s support to [the IRRG] promoting use of Bill C-51 against protesters.”
Students and workers concerned with the Carleton administration’s new sexual violence policy were also well represented at the protest. The Board implemented the policy in December following provincial legislation mandating Ontario universities to adopt sexual violence policies by January. While the new policy marks progress, students, faculty and workers still argue more needs to be done, including addressing rape culture on campus.
A coalition of campus groups argues that the sexual violence policy needs to be more survivor-centric. In addition, Carleton students launched a “Not Our Policy” campaign in February which included an open letter and a petition to reform the sexual violence policy.
The Feb. 2 rally affirms that the “Noisy Persons” are back. The rally signals to the Carleton administration and the community that activists will not be intimidated and will continue to exercise their democratic rights. Where will this moment take us? Will these groups continue to embrace unity? Will they continue to challenge the undemocratic nature of the BoG? One thing is clear, the student and worker movement at Carleton is alive and well. What happens at Carleton might seem small but it is part of a bigger picture: dissent on campus has a butterfly effect. The Leveller will be watching.
This article first appeared in Vol. 9, No. 5 (February/March 2017).
