On Apr. 1, around 2:30 p.m. a protest was run by a small group of theatre students on the UFV campus on the outdoor bridge between Buildings A and B. The protest was primarily focused on raising awareness about the decision to axe the Wardrobe Manager position, currently held by Heather Robertson. I understood the outrage of the students as this decision will have an extremely negative impact on UFV’s Theatre Department, which has already faced severe cuts in the past. As a result of this, theatre students put on a peaceful protest to make their voices heard. They were set up with a table and a megaphone, and according to some of the protesters, they seemed excited to garner support from fellow students as they handed out pamphlets and guided people to scan a QR code of a petition to save Robertson’s position.
Now, to me this seems like a pretty mild version of students extending their right to free speech, however UFV security was sent to shut down this protest because of the usage of the table and megaphone. This classified it as a school event, which needs SUS approval. Personally, it seems a bit counter-intuitive to need permission to protest. Initially, they only took the table, but later on security also prohibited usage of the megaphone as it was “disturbing the people indoors”. Now, I don’t know if you know much about protests, but disturbing people is a large part of it. How else can students put pressure on their universities and get them to take their voices seriously?
I find it particularly interesting that security had no problem shutting down a peaceful student-led protest, yet allowed a racist and homophobic group of demonstrators to campaign on UFV property earlier this year. On Jan. 20, a group of residential school deniers invaded UFV’s campus, spreading racist and transphobic hate speech, and harassed multiple UFV students, some of whom got shoved. All this happened while UFV security “monitored” the situation. As a result of this, many reported feeling extremely unsafe on campus. But sure, shut down the peaceful group of students.
So I wonder, UFV, does this mean that hate speech is allowed but free speech isn’t?
I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what protest culture was like at UFV in the past. I was lucky enough to get an interview with Sandra Hakanson, UFV’s first student union VP external, from 1995-1997. I also chatted with UFV’s first Student Union President, Robin Price 1995-1996 — and, for clarity and transparency, I’d like to disclose he is my dad, so the interview was more informative than formal.
During 1994-1995, student protests happened all across Canada as a part of the Earth to Ottawa movement, during which extreme financial cuts were underway — sound familiar? This was before the Student Union started to work toward more rights for students. Rallies, marches, and speeches were all a large part of student protest efforts.
In 1995-96, the Student Union led many of these protests, advocating for the rights of UFV students. You may find this hard to believe seeing as our current Student Union hasn’t even put out a statement about the funding cuts. In both of these cases, students never needed to get permission to protest, and the university never shut the protests down. Even though these protests were 100 per cent more disruptive than the one that happened in April, in my opinion. At that time, UFV was more centralized, which meant that the library, the registration office, the bookstore, and the president’s office were all in the same building, and student protesters would march up and down the halls chanting.
Another big difference was the media coverage. According to Hakanson, local news both covered and came to student protests, such as the Vancouver Sun. This made a huge difference in terms of support. Alongside this, the UFV President at the time, Dr. Peter Jones, listened and collaborated with the students. Finally, they had government support. Hakanson had a direct line to B.C.’s 31st Premier Glen Clark, and he was willing to listen to student voices. However, I will say that this last one likely has less to do with UFV, and more to do with Hakanson being a force of nature.
One of the main takeaways both Hakanson and Price had were for future protestors to work with other departments. If cuts are happening in your department, chances are they are happening elsewhere. Students are stronger together! And if you have a free minute, do me a favour and email our Student Union president at president@ufvsus.ca to take action and advocate for students’ rights in this time of financial uncertainty.
