#6party

As the McGill administration responds to #6party with disciplinary proceedings that could have repercussions up to and including expulsion from the university, some wonderful allies have created this letter of support to demand that the administration revoke its repressive and authoritarian attempts to suppress free speech and discussion on campus.

Please add your name in the comments at the link above, and forward widely!

Thanks for all your support.

Par Thierry Battut, étudiant à McGill

Madame la Principale,

J'ai lu avec attention votre message concernant l'intervention des forces de
l'ordre et je me permets de vous faire part de mes inquiétudes.

Au cours de l'histoire, certaines universités notamment européennes ont
bénéficié d'une autonomie allant jusqu'à disposer de leurs propres
tribunaux, ce qui n'a pas toujours eu des conséquences positives. Cette
période est révolue, mais l'idée était aussi de fournir un environnement
propice à la critique, à l'émergence de savoirs et à la créativité. Les
universités sont des lieux de contestation dans le sens le plus noble du
terme, mais aussi des lieux d’‘expression de voix réduites par ailleurs au
silence. La question n'est pas que l'on approuve ou non les méthodes ou les
revendications des occupants, mais la question est de savoir pourquoi en
est-on arrivé là. Pointer l'autre comme étant responsable de tout est
infantile. L'université McGill se félicite de son excellence; il s'agit de
la mériter.

En faisant intervenir les forces de l'ordre à deux reprises en l'espace de
quatre mois, il semblerait que la résolution de conflit prenne un sens
particulier dans l'esprit de l'administration.
Pour l'ancien enseignant que je suis, un des principes fondamentaux d'une
bonne gouvernance est celui que le tout répressif ne conduit qu'à des
solutions transitoires et ne règle pas la question de fond. L'ignorer est
une faillite éthique.

Ne pensez-vous pas que cela fasse la démonstration d'une gestion de conflits
critiquable et passéiste? Si des personnes ont été visées personnellement
par les uns ou les autres, c'est regrettable; la résolution de conflits en
conformité avec les valeurs notre pays suppose que l'on s'écarte de la
personnalisation ou de la diabolisation. Pourquoi ne pas avoir fait appel à
un médiateur indépendant ? Certes, cela aurait pris du temps, le résultat
n'aurait pas été garanti non plus, mais au moins une certaine dignité aurait
été préservée.
Clairement les clés et le pouvoir sont du côté de l'administration ce qui
implique des responsabilités qui ne sont pas assumées dans la mesure où la
réponse est toujours la même. Il s'agit là d'une spirale pour le moins
inquiétante et qui n'est pas de bon augure pour de futures discussions.
C'est une faillite morale.

Vous hiérarchisez clairement la notion de liberté de travailler dans des
conditions de respect de la personne et des biens et la liberté d'expression
en faisant prévaloir la première sur la seconde. C'est une faillite
intellectuelle.
La Charte canadienne des droits et libertés ainsi que des traditions
juridiques diverses s'y sont refusées.

Vous indiquez que les étudiants ont obtempéré aux consignes des forces de
l'ordre dans le calme; y avait-il un doute sur leur capacité à comprendre la
situation et sur leur sens des responsabilités? J'ai été attentif à leurs
propos; parfois certaines administrations universitaires ne sont décidément
pas à la hauteur des étudiants qu'ils « administrent ».

Je veux croire qu'un autre McGill soit encore possible.

Soyez assurée, Madame la Principale, de mes sentiments respectueux.

February 11, 2012

The current McGill administration has neglected its social responsibility towards both the McGill community and the wider Montreal community. CKUT and QPIRG are important organizations to many communities. Those who have decided to stand up against a socially irresponsible administration that has actively disregarded student support of these organizations must be commended for their efforts.

CKUT is our campus and community radio station, staffed by volunteers who champion free and independent journalism. CKUT also serves as a voice for many of Montreal’s cultural communities, featuring radio programs such as “West Indian Rhythms,” “Voice of Korea,” “Latin Time” and “Under the Olive Tree.” CKUT also takes part in McGill’s summer camp, a program that allows children and adolescents age 10 and up to gain knowledge and training in radio broadcasting. Many aspiring artists get their first airplay on CKUT.

The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG) educates the public through different organizations and events that fight any form of discrimination—be it against a person’s race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, political beliefs and/or disability. Through its research and educational programs, QPIRG creates spaces for marginalized voices in the community to emerge and contribute to a more diverse and democratic society.

Instead of proudly embracing the contribution of QPIRG and CKUT towards a greater understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural diversity of communities at McGill and in Montreal, the current McGill administration is actively pursuing ways to abandon long held principles of social justice and accountability that should be associated with institutions of higher learning that promote equality and democracy. The administration of McGill are couching an attack on free speech and the promotion of cultural understanding in their attempt to de-legitimize the referendum questions voted on by an unprecedented number of students last Fall. These students voted in favour of allowing these organizations to continue their existence and to maintain autonomy on how they operate; the administration not only needs to support these results, they also need to respect them.

The current protest by students must be seen against this backdrop and the students deserve to be recognized for their efforts to bring this issue to the forefront. When highly paid administrators refuse to listen to the considerations of members of their community and instead choose to take away access to food, water, medicines and sanitation, this creates a worrying precedent. Undoubtedly, the actions of the administration poignantly remind us of the need for CKUT and QPIRG, two non-profit institutions run by student volunteers that promote free speech and social justice—to maintain autonomy and secured funding so they can continue to operate. AGSEM strongly condemns the irresponsibility of the McGill administration in their treatment of protestors and demands that it enter into meaningful dialogue with the students.

AGSEM is McGill’s teaching Union representing Teaching Assistants, Course Lecturers and Instructors and Invigilators employed at McGill and is affiliated with the FNEEQ-CSN Fédération Nationale des Enseignantes et Enseignants du Québec and Confédération des Syndicates Nationaux.

[Le français suit l'anglais]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At noon on Monday, following the eviction of the #6party occupiers, hundreds of Montrealers plan to rally outside the James administration building. The demonstration will continue the #6party’s demands for the recognition of student referenda in support of QPIRG and CKUT, and protest the ongoing corporatisation and privatisation of education. Sunday morning’s eviction marked the second time this year that police have come onto McGill’s campus to suppress political protest, in addition to the threat of police action implicit in the administration’s legal injunctions against MUNACA.

The demonstration will bring together students, professors, workers, community members, and others in solidarity — including members of the three labour unions operating at McGill and students at CEGEPs and universities across the city. The #6party occupation was supported by labour unions MUNACA and PSAC-Quebec, the Coalition Large de l’ASSÉ, and over 300 McGill alumni, among others.

As students across Quebec begin to go on strike this Tuesday, the demonstration seeks to highlight the involvement of McGill’s administration in pushing for increased privatization and inaccessibility of education. In addition to the fact that McGill’s administration stands to profit from increased tuition fees, McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum serves as the president of CREPUQ, the organization that has led the push for higher tuition in Quebec. Munroe-Blum also serves on the board of RBC, a corporation which stands to gain enormously from the increased student loans generated by higher tuition.

We quote the “Open Letter to the 5th Floor Occupiers” signed by 116 faculty and students at McGill and across North America after the occupation of Principal Munroe-Blum’s office on November 10, 2011. What was true then is true now:

   [McGill] is and has been a site of racialized warfare, where students, staff, and faculty of colour routinely face hostility and racism, where research and reports exposing institutional racism are ignored, and where both the history and the present reality of racist and colonial violence are disavowed.  As well, research and teaching focused on communities of colour that poses a challenge to white supremacy is not valued  – and is actually undermined — within the institution, whereas research that romanticizes liberal Canadian multiculturalism is respected.
   It is and has been a site of national warfare, where the RCMP, the military, and other governmental agencies enter campus for recruiting purposes and where the Grenadier Guards are lauded as part of the institution’s heritage. While Remembrance Day is celebrated with cannon fire, there is no acknowledgment that indigenous life was and continues to be harmed so that the university can be here — or that profits James McGill generated via slave labor underwrote its creation.
   It is and has been a site of gendered class warfare, where female staff and faculty are paid substantially less than their male counterparts.  We note, also, that about 80% of MUNACA members are women and that they are among the lowest paid employees at McGill. The presence of women in high-level administrative positions does not undo the greater reality of second-class status for the vast majority of women on campus.
   It is and has been a site where class war also becomes a war on youth.  As education strives to reproduce class distinctions among youth, youth becomes particularly subject to the burdens of normative regulation.  It is youth who become subject to violence when they pose any challenge to the outmoded and increasingly totalitarian fantasies offered by powers-that-be.

The very communities who have time and again been marginalized by McGill’s administration are those whom QPIRG and CKUT have served.

History shows that austerity measures are always followed by a “necessary” repression to suppress the ensuing resistance. The McGill administration has correspondingly announced a new protocol for restricting protest and dissent on campus. The protocol reads, in part:

Demonstrations and protests may occur and will not be interfered with unless they:

• compromise the University’s ability to maintain a safe and secure environment for all members of the McGill community and for visitors to our campuses;
• impede the conduct of University activities, such as teaching, research, support services, administration, or other meetings and events duly authorized by the University; 
• involve explicit or implied threats to persons; 
•  pose a risk to University property or assets; 
•  occur in private offices or spaces, classrooms, laboratories or libraries, or restricted areas; 
•  obstruct access to, or egress from, buildings or spaces inside them that are generally open to members of the University community; 
•  continue beyond the normal operating hours of the University facilities in which they occur. 

These guidelines are so wide-reaching as to effectively subject any public expression of dissent or political protest to the discretion of the administration and security services. It is important to note, additionally, that the McGill administration has a long history of repression, intimidation, and the legislated exclusion of marginalized groups.

As demonstrators gather on campus tomorrow in continued support for the #6party’s demands and in opposition to the neo-liberal positions taken by McGill’s administration, they send a clear message, “the fight will go on.”

Contact:
Mona Luxion
514 224-0322

-30-

MANIFESTATION À McGILL APPUYANT #6PARTY, CONTRE LA PRIVATISATION ET LA CORPORATISATION DE L’ÉDUCATION

Lundi à midi, faisant suite à l’intervention policière qui a expulsé les occupants du #6party, des centaines de Montréalais vont manifester devant l’édifice d’administration James. Cette manif a les mêmes objectifs que #6party, soit que l’administration reconnaisse les résultats du référendum étudiant au sujet de QPIRG et CKUT et de dénoncer la corporatisation et la privatisation de notre système d’éducation. L’intervention policière de dimanche, visant à écraser la dissension politique sur le campus de l’université McGill,  était la deuxième en trois mois. Ces interventions s’ajoutent à la menace d’intervention policière implicite aux injonctions contre MUNACA.

La manifestation de lundi va rassembler élèves, professeurs, travailleurs, membres de la communauté et bien d’autres en solidarité. Des membres de trois syndicats présents à McGill ainsi que des étudiants de CÉGEPS et université de tous les coins de Montréal. L’occupation #6party fût appuyée par les syndicats MUNACA et AFPC-Québec, la Coalition Large de l’ASSÉ et plus de 300 anciens élèves de McGill parmi tant d’autres.

Des étudiants de partout au Québec commencent une grève illimitée à partir de lundi. Cette manifestation cherche à souligner le rôle actif que joue l’administration de McGill dans ce dossier en appuyant vocalement la hausse des frais de scolarité, limitant ainsi de façon délibérée l’accès à l’éducation. La principale de McGill, Heather Munroe-Blum est aussi la présidente de la CREPUQ, un organisme privé qui milite de façon active pour la hausse des frais de scolarité. Mme Munroe-Blum est aussi membre du Conseil d'administration de la RBC, une banque à qui la hausse de frais apportera d’importants profits grâce à la dette étudiante grandissante créée par cette hausse.

Nous souhaitons souligner une lettre écrite et signée par 116 membres de faculté et étudiants à McGill et partout en Amérique du Nord après l’occupation des bureaux de la principale Heather Munroe-Blum le 10 novembre 2011. Cette lettre est tout aussi importante aujourd’hui qu’elle l’était en novembre.

[McGill] is and has been a site of racialized warfare, where students, staff, and faculty of colour routinely face hostility and racism, where research and reports exposing institutional racism are ignored, and where both the history and the present reality of racist and colonial violence are disavowed.  As well, research and teaching focused on communities of colour that poses a challenge to white supremacy is not valued  – and is actually undermined — within the institution, whereas research that romanticizes liberal Canadian multiculturalism is respected.
   It is and has been a site of national warfare, where the RCMP, the military, and other governmental agencies enter campus for recruiting purposes and where the Grenadier Guards are lauded as part of the institution’s heritage. While Remembrance Day is celebrated with cannon fire, there is no acknowledgment that indigenous life was and continues to be harmed so that the university can be here — or that profits James McGill generated via slave labor underwrote its creation.
   It is and has been a site of gendered class warfare, where female staff and faculty are paid substantially less than their male counterparts.  We note, also, that about 80% of MUNACA members are women and that they are among the lowest paid employees at McGill. The presence of women in high-level administrative positions does not undo the greater reality of second-class status for the vast majority of women on campus.
   It is and has been a site where class war also becomes a war on youth.  As education strives to reproduce class distinctions among youth, youth becomes particularly subject to the burdens of normative regulation.  It is youth who become subject to violence when they pose any challenge to the outmoded and increasingly totalitarian fantasies offered by powers-that-be.

Les communautés qui ont été marginalisées de façon répétitive par l’administration de McGill sont les mêmes que QPIRG et CKUT desservent.

L’histoire nous montre que les mesures d’austérité imposées sur une population sont toujours suivies d’une répression ‘nécessaire ’ afin d’écraser toute résistance populaire. Pour éliminer la résistance politique au sein de l’université, l’administration de McGill a annoncé un nouveau protocole qui régit toute forme de contestation sur le campus. En voici quelques extraits :

Des manifestations et des protestations peuvent avoir lieu, et ne seront pas interrompues par l’Université, sauf dans le cas où :

· elles contreviennent à sa capacité de préserver un environnement sûr et sécuritaire pour l’ensemble des membres de sa communauté et pour ses visiteurs sur l’un ou l’autre de ses campus;
· elles gênent la mise en œuvre de ses activités, dont l’enseignement, la recherche, le soutien technique ainsi que la tenue de rencontres et d’événements dûment autorisés;
· elles créent une menace explicite ou implicite à l’égard d’individus;
· elles entraînent un risque quant à ses biens ou propriétés;
· elles se tiennent dans des bureaux et espaces privés, salles de cours, laboratoires et bibliothèques ou aires à accès restreint;
· elles obstruent l’entrée et la sortie d’édifices et d’espaces normalement accessibles aux membres de sa communauté.
· elles se poursuivent au-delà des heures d’ouverture normales des installations où elles sont tenues.

Ce protocole vague inclut la quasi-totalité des activités possible sur le campus et laisse à l’administration et aux services de sécurité le droit de déterminer, et ce, de façon arbitraire, ce qui est légitime et ce qui ne l’ait pas. Il faut noter que l’administration de McGill a une longue histoire d’intimidation, répression et d’exclusion de groupes marginaux sous le couvert de la loi.

Les manifestants qui se réuniront demain pour appuyer les revendications du #6party et pour s’opposer aux positions néo-libérales de l’administration McGill. Ensemble nous envoyons un message clair, la lutte continue.

Contact:
Mona Luxion
514 224-0322

“Freedom of speech” precisely means speech you don’t agree with.

Everyone is for freedom of speech they agree with.

To say you respect the freedom of speech means you respect speech you disagree with.

— one #6partyer

Dear friends,

At 9 A.M. this morning, the McGill administration called in the Montreal police and the #6party was evicted. Everybody is OK.

We will prepare a longer statement after we have a warm meal, but we do want to respond quickly to DiGrappa’s MRO; we were not offered food or counselling services. Our friends partying downstairs, however, have arranged for both. 

We are heartened to learn that our friends and supporters are still planning a support rally tomorrow (Monday) at noon, in front of James. For more information, see the Facebook event here. 

With love,

#6party

On Saturday, 11 February 2012, VP Di Grappa sent out an MRO stating that our demands have not changed and that the administration continues to refuse to negotiate. We appreciate his linking to our statement about demands rather than attempting to speak for us. We would also like to remind the university community that we have been open to negotiations from the start, and regret that the administration does not share our commitment to dialogue. We appreciate the support of QPIRG (seriously, we love you guys) and would be delighted to enter into 3-way talks. Ultimately, we are here not for ourselves but to ensure that CKUT and QPIRG are able to continue serving our community, as students have overwhelmingly voted for. As our demands have not yet been met, the party continues, and we look forward to the time when Dr. Mendelson and the administration will be ready to sit down and talk. As always, love and solidarity to our supporters outside, and around the world. Party on!

La Coalition large de l’ASSÉ (CLASSE) tient à témoigner sa solidarité envers les occupants et les occupantes de l’édifice administratif de l’Université McGill. Depuis maintenant trois jours, ils et elles réclament le maintien du financement de leur radio étudiante et de divers groupes étudiants. « Nous sommes solidaires de l’action entreprise par les étudiants et les étudiantes de McGill. Nous demandons à la direction ainsi qu’aux forces policières de respecter leur droit de manifester. » déclare Jeanne Reynolds, co-porte-parole de la CLASSE.

(Source: asse-solidarite.qc.ca)

Montreal, 9 February 2012

On February 8, Provost Anthony Masi issued a statement to all McGill students, staff and faculty members explaining the Administration’s rationale for refusing to recognize the results of recent referenda concerning independent student organizations Radio CKUT and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG). While the Provost’s message clearly represents the Administration’s position on this matter, its characterization of the issues involved in this dispute is not objective. The Board of Directors of Radio CKUT offers the following clarifications, in the hopes of more fully informing the campus community on this issue.

In a November 2011 referendum conducted by Elections McGill, an independent agency of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), students voted 72% in favour of continuing to support CKUT by paying a fee of $4.00 per semester. The referendum vote also authorized removal of a controversial online opt-out system that has threatened the viability of the station for the past several years. The Administration refused to recognize the outcome of the referendum, and refused to negotiate renewal of the University’s Memorandum of Agreement with CKUT based on this result.

The dispute over online opt-outs – in which students can withhold their individual fees at the click of a button, even if they have never heard of CKUT — has unfolded over several years.

In 2007, the Administration unilaterally imposed an online system for opting-out of fees paid to independent student groups, including CKUT, without consulting the affected organizations and against their persistent objections. Soon thereafter, an SSMU General Assembly and referendum called for the removal of the online opt-out system. The Administration refused, claiming it, and not the SSMU, represents McGill students, and has since refused repeated attempts by the affected groups to propose a mutually-agreeable alternative.

As the Provost points out in his message, the online opt-out system has dramatically increased the number of students choosing to withhold their fees. This has resulted in annual revenue reductions of tens of thousands of dollars, for groups that McGill students have consistently said they wish to remain vital parts of campus life. Additionally, during the opt-out period every term, these groups face organized online campaigns by anonymous organizations encouraging McGill students to opt out. These campaigns are not bound by the rules or procedures of Elections McGill. They typically involve misinformation and smears against the targeted groups and their supporters, and contesting them is a massive drain on the resources of the affected organizations, resources which would otherwise be spent serving McGill students.

Left with few options and facing severe budgetary pressure, CKUT asked McGill students in Fall 2011 if they agreed to support the organization by paying a fee that cannot be opted-out of online. The response by students was positive and clear.

In presenting reasons for the Administration’s refusal to recognize this response, the Provost makes a number of mischaracterizations. The first is that the question CKUT asked McGill students was unclear. Again, for the record, here is the text of the question:

“Do you support CKUT continuing as a recognized student activity supported by a fee of $4.00 per semester for full-time undergraduate students, which is not opt-outable on the Minerva online opt- out system but is fully refundable directly through CKUT, with the understanding that a majority “no” vote will result in the termination of all undergraduate funding to CKUT?”

Contrary to the Provost’s assertion that this question “asked two things at once,” it is clear that the question asks only if students are willing to support CKUT with a fee that is not opt-outable online. The Provost has mischaracterized clarification of the nature of the fee being requested as asking a second question. This is presumably because the Administration would have preferred CKUT to ask two questions but, in this case, the Provost is misconstruing the Administration’s preference as a binding requirement.

As this was a referendum asking McGill students for their money, to confirm the clarity of the question we deferred to Elections McGill, the duly constituted agency of the SSMU charged with authorizing student referenda. The question was fully scrutinized and authorized by Elections McGill. The question was debated extensively in the campus press prior to the referendum. McGill students knew exactly what they were voting for. That the Administration was unhappy with the result is not grounds for contesting the legitimacy of the question after the fact.

For the same reason, it is misleading for the Provost to characterize CKUT as claiming “the right to change an opt-out system to a method less convenient for all students.” CKUT claims no such “right.” We do assert that if McGill students have expressed their preference for a fee that cannot be opted-out of online, by majority vote in a referendum authorized by their own representative bodies, then McGill should feel morally obliged to respect that preference by implementing the result of the referendum.

The Provost also indicates that the online opt-out system was designed to “protect students’ privacy” implying that the previous system of on-site refunds was somehow deficient in this regard. CKUT must be privy to the names of students who choose not to pay its fees, as by this choice they also decline membership in CKUT, and become ineligible to participate in the organization’s elections and offices. Protecting students’ privacy does not require that students who choose to withhold their fees remain anonymous, only that their identities not be released to third parties. CKUT has always been scrupulous in its protection of students’ privacy, and will continue to be so regardless of which fee management system is in place.

Finally, the Provost’s message indicates that the Administration has now agreed to recognize the result of the Fall 2011 referendum as confirming that McGill students wish to continue to support CKUT by paying a $4.00 fee per term, and that CKUT plans to run another referendum this winter asking students if they agree to remove the online opt-out. The Administration’s previous refusal to recognize the results of the Fall 2011 referendum left us no choice but to agree to this proposal, as the survival of our historic organization, which is vital to the democratic life of the University, was otherwise in jeopardy. This agreement should not be construed as indicating CKUT’s agreement with the Administration’s position. We continue to affirm the validity of the results of the Fall 2011 referendum, as clearly indicating McGill students’ continued support for CKUT and their preference for a fee removed from the online opt-out system.

(Source: ckut.ca)