MONTREAL - Concordia University will cancel classes and lock down its two campuses on March 22 as nearly 200,000 students are expected to march on Place du Canada for a province-wide protest.
With students from the province's universities and CEGEPs protesting the Charest government's plan to nearly double tuition by 2017, 200 professors from Concordia came out in support of the student protests on Monday.
"The student actions against tuition hikes speak to the broader issue of the gradual privatization of university research and teaching that permeates the Liberal government's university funding plan," wrote Professor Norma Rantisi in a press release.
While some teachers have stopped teaching classes, the majority of teaching has continued.
"Concordia university students and their colleagues across Quebec are right in arguing that a tuition hike would reduce accessibility to higher education, disproportionately affecting women, people of color, and other marginalized groups," wrote Kevin Gould. "This is a major breach in the decades-old Quebec social contract on education."
With the tabling of Quebec's provincial budget by Finance Minister Raymond Bachand tomorrow, the government is expected to officially unveil its plan to increase tuition by $325 a year.
"Do we, yes or no, want world class education?" asked Premier Jean Charest over the weekend. "If the answer is yes then we need to give the universities the financial resources they need and everyone needs to make an effort."
Charest and his government have shown no signs of backing down in the battle over tuition hikes.
"With this plan universities will provide us with a balance sheet that ensures every extra dollar put into the education system has a direct impact on the quality of our education," said Mariepier Isabelle, president of the Young Liberals of Quebec.
Students from Concordia will hold a mock sale on Tuesday of the condominium the university purchased for President Frederick Lowy last year. The university gave Lowy a $1.4 million interest-free loan to purchase the downtown condo.
The protest will come after Education Minister Line Beauchamp hit Concordia with a $2 million fine on March 9 for the overly-generous severance packages given to senior administrators at the university.
Monday's protests
On Monday, a sea of students in red shirts held still for 15 minutes in Place des Arts as part of ongoing protest. Earlier in the day, students marched on the office of Quebec's education minister and blocked access to Google's new offices in Montreal. Charest was helping unveil the offices.
"My message to the students is that as a government we will always be open to dialogue, we want everyone to make an effort. Tax payers will make a lion's share of the effort to fund our universities, the private sector will do more and students need to do more," said Charest.
