Abandon Confessions

***URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT – PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY***

SIGN THE PETITION: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fightfees/index.html

Outrage is mounting over the arrest of 14 students who are facing criminal charges for allegedly participating in a peaceful sit-in at the University of Toronto on March 20, 2008. The sit-in, held to protest rising fees, ended when police acting on the orders of senior UofT administrators forcefully removed demonstrators. Students and organizers are being subjected to a campaign of intimidation by the UofT administration, who sought a criminal investigation of the matter and encouraged Toronto Police to arrest 14 individuals and have pressed charges against them. After turning themselves in last week, the students have been released on strict bail conditions, which ban them from associating with one another outside of courts and classes, thereby prohibiting their freedom to organize on campus. In addition, UofT staff, students and an alumnus have been completely banned from UofT property. UofT is attempting to further repress student organizing on campus by investigating at least 13 students under the Code of Student Conduct.

Outrage at the arrests and disciplinary actions by UofT administration
has been expressed by a growing number of professors and staff at the
University of Toronto. “I am urging the university administration to exercise
restraint in these matters and avoid what appears to be a crackdown on
political activity and freedom of expression at the university,” stated George
Sefa Dei, a professor in Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE, University of
Toronto.

Rather than addressing the issues of accessibility to education, the UofT
administration has resorted to tactics of intimidation and repression,
including police surveillance, as a means of cracking down against all dissent
on campus. Undeterred, students have continued to organize against
increasingly inaccessible tuition, Sheila Hewlett, an organizer with the
Committee for Just Education and an elected member of the Arts and Sciences
Student Union notes, “We have to look at who is excluded when these unchecked fee increases compound and realize that education is increasingly not accessible to many. The student experience is at best one of debt servitude; at worst, education is completely unavailable to more and more people.”

The Committee for Just Education, which includes the students charged by
police, have outlined the following demands:

i) Equal access to education through the elimination of all fees
ii) That the U of T administration and Toronto Police immediately drop
all proceedings against students and organizers and stop the
policing of dissent on campus
iii) Student, worker, and faculty parity on University decision-making
bodies, including the Governing Council

In the face of mounting debts, drastic increases in tuition and ancillary
fees and a hostile environment towards student organizing on campus, a
burgeoning student movement is demanding access to education for all people.
Allies and supporters of the students charged are calling on both the Attorney
General Chris Bentley and UofT President David Naylor to drop all charges and
disciplinary proceedings.

***WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHOW SUPPORT:***

We are calling on all community allies and support groups to show their solidarity with the 14 accused in any way they can. Community members are expressing their outrage at the growing cost of education, and at the use of intimidation and force against students who organize for accessible education at the University of Toronto.

It is critical for the university community and supporters across the country to publicly condemn and reverse attacks on students’ right to organize. We are calling on all community members, community groups, unions, and student organizations to:

a) Please sign the petition to drop criminal charges and university sanctions against students and organizers–Free The Fight Fees Fourteen!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fightfees/index.html

Please sign the petition to protest against the suppression of dissent, and to express your opposition to fee hikes. Collect signatures from members of your school, work, and community (please mail all petitions to OPIRG Toronto by May 15th).

b) Sign our letter (found at http://fightfees.ca/allies/ ) or write your own letter to the President of the University of Toronto, David Naylor, at david.naylor@utoronto.ca (please CC all emails to fightfees@gmail.com) or phone David Naylor at 416-978-2121 with an emphasis on the following:

(i) Drop all charges against UofT students, staff and alumni.
(ii) Remove all bail restrictions and conditions for all 14 accused
(iii) End the policing of dissent and protest on campus. In the wake of the March 20 sit-in, atleast 13 students are also being investigated under the Code of Student Conduct and student organizers have faced intimidation and surveillance from the campus police. More recently, the University has pressed charges against 14 students and organizers.

c) Send a statement of solidarity or a message of support to the Committee for Just Education at fightfees@gmail.com and issue a public statement from yourself and/or your organization expressing solidarity with the 14 students and organizers who have been charged by UofT.

Approach other students, faculty, staff, and workers at the University of Toronto or on other campuses to write letters of support (these statements will be kindly needed by May 15th).

d) Donate funds and/or materials: Please donate to the costs of legal proceedings, which all 14 individuals have to incur. Please let organizers know if you are able to provide other materials/services (ie. photocopying facilities, helping to collect signatures on petitions, etc).

e) Fundraise with your organization: Take our fundraising proposal to your organization and/or community and ask them to provide materials and/or funds for the 14 accused. (found at http://fightfees.ca/allies/ and will need to be kindly returned to OPIRG Toronto by May 15th).

***For further information: Sheila Hewlett: (416) 409-3873; Deena
Dadachanji: (647) 887-8256; E-mail: fightfees@gmail.com; Web:
http://www.fightfees.ca; Petition: http://fightfees.ca/petition***

OPIRG Toronto
563 Spadina Ave, Room 101
North Borden Building
Toronto, ON
M5S 2J7