Toronto, Nov. 06, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ryerson University students are holding a 1-Day Student Strike to call on Ryerson University and the Ontario Government to improve access and public funding to post-secondary education and uphold students’ rights to organize.
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU), Ryerson Graduate Students’ Union (RGSU), and the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR) collectively represent over 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students. They are uniting with students’ unions across the province on their own campuses to combat cuts to post-secondary education.
“Students are being forced to postpone their graduation, or to put their graduation on hold indefinitely” said Nicole Brayiannis, President of the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson. “Ryerson students are experiencing a loss of OSAP grant funding, and have less options for financial support on campus. As students’ unions have been deemed ‘non-essential,’ they have been forced to cut important financial supports, like bursary programs, that students rely on.”
In March, Ryerson held the largest walk-out in the province and showed the Provincial Government that students will not tolerate the cuts to post-secondary education. Today, they unite once again to continue to grow the movement and combat cuts to OSAP grants, increases to International Student tuition fees, increasing class sizes, and attacks on students' union and students' association autonomy.
“Enough is enough,” said Kwaku Agyemang, Vice-President Education at the Ryerson Students’ Union. “We are calling on our Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Colleges and Universities, Ross Romano to stop the increased privatization of post-secondary education and to start acting in the best interests of students by cancelling student debt and prioritizing free education for all.”
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