A coalition of post-secondary student unions from across New Brunswick is heading to Fredericton next week to protest against potential cuts in the upcoming provincial budget.
The Mount Allison Student Union, or MASU, is part of that coalition and has organized buses to take Mount A students, free of charge, from campus to the provincial legislature on March 17, the day the budget is set to be released.
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Wilson Paluch, a fourth-year history student and president of MASU, said the hope is to assemble about 800 students from Sackville, Moncton, Saint John, northern CCNB campuses and Fredericton, to convince the government to come up with a different plan to reduce its deficit.
“I really think that it is a decision the government will regret, and I’m hoping that if we bring enough students, they’ll see how many people this is really affecting, how many people are really, really upset.”
The ongoing saga started a little over two weeks ago, when media started reporting on a document being circulated to university and college presidents, outlining a range of options to reduce government spending on post-secondary education.
Among those options was the privatization of Mount Allison by removing its provincial grant, as well as folding St. Thomas University into the University of New Brunswick.
While Post-secondary Education and Training Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours was quoted in a CBC article saying the “discussion was just a discussion,” it did little to quell fears – and soon faculty, students and their unions were calling for a halt to the cuts.
A frustrated Paluch was among them.
“ And here we are now, two weeks out, and we find out about this massive cut that will change every public post-secondary institution for the next 10 years. And we have two weeks’ notice,” he said. “That’s a little unfair to me. Like I said, I understand that there are things that have to be done, things that might have to be cut, but I do not think this is the right place to do it.”
To that end, Paluch and the other student union reps had what he called a “productive” meeting with Premier Susan Holt on Tuesday, making the point clear they didn’t want cuts and ensuring student voices were heard, he said.
“ In addition to that, we also advocated for a few specific things…but also if they were gonna cut, these are our priority areas. And that was student services, experiential learning, accessibility and affordability, educational infrastructure, and then post-grad opportunities.”
On Monday, Paluch sent out a campus-wide email to students, informing them of the protest and the arranged transportation. He said the response, as of Wednesday, was massive.
“ We are over 55 students. Our capacity is 106 right now. If we need to increase our capacity, we can find funding for that somewhere but, you know, we’re halfway there and the protest is still a week out. So we’re feeling very good.”
He also said he knew of more students who were planning to carpool to attend the protest, bringing his estimate up to around 75 students.
Even if things don’t go their way on Tuesday, Paluch says one positive aspect has been the solidarity among student unions in the province, something he thinks will continue to shape post-secondary education for years to come.
“That is something that is really good for us, and also is something that should kind of scare the government,” he said. “Because if you’re bringing together a group that couldn’t organize for the past 10 years, that shows how severe the situation really is.”
Paluch knows this fight is bigger than any one school and urges everyone who can to attend.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to have their voices heard, have some fun, get some protesting experience, and I hope to see everyone there.“
