We had a big turnout at last week’s Cross Campus Alliance event! At March 5th’s York United for Equity and Against Austerity Open Forum, the labour unions and student unions on campus showed up in solidarity. Whether you could be there or not, make sure to fill out the survey to help document your concerns at York U.
On Zoom and in-person, we heard from undergrads, grad students, staff, the YUFA Indigenous Caucus, the YUFA Race Equity Caucus, CUPE 3903 contract faculty, YUFA faculty, the Palestinian Solidarity Working Group, and the CUPE Remobilization Committee.
We discussed a range of topics that York U community members cared about at the Open Forum. These included the administration’s shameful disrespect for Indigenous faculty and their broader colonial administration, the York President’s lack of action on direction from Senate to suspend the suspensions, an administration that invests student tuition in weapons manufacturing, and about underinvestment in student services alongside plans to increase student fees.
We also heard about the existing surveillance of racialized students on campus and York’s plans to potentially introduce Special Constables to our campus, the administration’s plans to allow dangerously high levels of CO2 in buildings, mold in undergrad campus housing, and cockroaches in grad campus housing. Furthermore, York U community members raised issues about contracting out of snow removal that’s resulted in slips and falls and about York administration putting pressure on grad students to ignore family care responsibilities and financial burdens, plus denying grad students’ medical accommodations.
Other concerning topics that attendees discussed involved chronic understaffing in various units at York alongside a big rise in senior managers and senior management salaries, as well as how the York Board of Governors is dominated by bankers and corporate executives. Inspiringly though, we also heard about people’s current strategies to resist and lots of new plans for how we can be York United for Equity and Against Austerity.
Please complete this survey to tell the Cross Campus Alliance about the issues that matter most to you, and to keep in touch about what’s next!
Now, take action! Contact the senior administration directly (via e-mail or phone) or indirectly (via social media) to demand that York University abide by the Senate decision to suspend the programme admission suspensions:
- Rhonda L. Lenton, president@yorku.ca and rlpvc@yorku.ca
- Provost David Peters, provost@yorku.ca; Peters is also Health Dean healthdn@yorku.ca
- Lisa Philipps, lphilipps@osgoode.yorku.ca
- Dean JJ McMurtry, deanlaps@yorku.ca
- University Secretariat, grp_0380@yorku.ca
- X/Twitter: @YorkUPresident, @YorkUProvost, @YorkUniversity
- Voice mails to: President’s office – (416)736-5200; Secretariat office – Board of Governors (416) 736-5310