Day 32 of the Ontario college strike was to be a motivational day of action by students that ended up with more frustration at the news the latest and final offer by the College Employer’s Council (CEC) was rejected by the striking faculty.
A form of protest had been organized over the last few weeks by Ontario college students that was given the name #AssToClass. The idea was for the 500,000 students affected by the strike to rally together, make themselves heard and sit-in on empty classes, showing they are ready to learn.
The Georgian College branch of the protest was run by second-year photography student Sebastian Vasoff. The 20 year student was hoping to get back to his studies but having heard the news of another rejection, he is worried his many friends who aren’t as lucky as him will be very negatively affected.
“I’m very frustrated and definitely pissed because I’m the type of person who could do what will be my career if I get my studies done early,” said Vasoff. “But to be honest I’m the lucky one; I’m in a situation where I’m able to survive and if worse came to worst I would be able to afford something. I have a lot of friends here who have many different stories as to why they came to college to begin with and of those who forked up entire life-savings and have nothing but a car to their name. There is a website called Students Ending The Strike and it has so many stories of those who are not only negatively affected by this, but some quite possibly permanently.”
Vasoff had heard of the latest rejection by the colleges and says that the rally today wasn’t as a result of that as his team had been planning the protest for weeks; but he is in no way surprised by the latest developments.
“For the last two days faculty all over Ontario were voting whether to approve an offer that had been given to them,” said Vasoff. “There are many different details and politics on the offer itself, to which the website I mentioned has many accounts from all sides for anyone to follow along. It’s no surprise to any of us, as we heard a little ago that the faculty will not return to work in the foreseeable future and that means we as students have no idea when we will be back in class.”
The rally today at Georgian was a little smaller than Vasoff and his team had hoped for but the spirit in the group was united. Conversations of fairness and just wanting to get back to learning were had while Vasoff himself says it’s all very simple as to what should be done in support of the victims of this ordeal.
“My personal viewpoint on life is that I try not blame a single person for things and I try to look at all sides,” said Vasoff. “What I am seeing here from all involved is that no one is really working together across the board. Miscommunications and the fact that no one wants to compromise is really what is spear-heading the failures. For us the students, I will say this; it’s fair today that if you pay for something and then you promise to do something but don’t deliver then the paying person is going to expect some compensation. If you don’t reasonably reimburse that person, then you may one day find you don’t have the necessary clients to support your industry. It is going to take a lot to pay back every student and Kathleen Wynne is taking a stance that they’re not getting involved and let everything take its course while we the students are sidelined. The money is going to have to come from somewhere and it’s likely her budget.”
For more information on the protest today and how some students in the region are feeling check out the Ass to Class and Students Ending the Strike websites.
