By: Onosholema Ogoigbe, News Team Member
On June 26, members of Tuition Freeze Now held their third general assembly chaired by Annie Bhuiyan, an undergraduate student. The meeting was held in the Robert C. Brown Hall. Its objective was to create a schedule for their July activities and update attendees on the group’s recent activities.
Attendees were split into groups of two and asked to brainstorm ideas about what a charter for Tuition Freeze Now would entail. The two groups were encouraged to think about what TFN stands for, what the organization’s standards should be, and what they want from the province and/or the school. At the end of the brainstorm session, it was decided that TFN stood for affordability, feminism, and anti-oppressiveness, amongst other things. They highlighted that what they wanted from SFU was different from what they wanted from the B.C. government — for example, tuition freeze versus government tuition funding. However, they also acknowledged that there were some similarities, such as an “outlook change.”
According to Bhuiyan, Tuition Freeze Now currently has members at the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia and Langara College. Bhuiyan mentioned that the main tool for cultivating solidarity amongst the chapters would be engaging them in the planning of the charter. She highlighted the need for solidarity, stating that now that Tuition Freeze Now was growing, “they are a part of the movement too and I don’t want to leave them out.”
Bhuiyan also brought up the need for Tuition Freeze Now to host social events as a tool to build solidarity amongst its members and other chapters. SFU community member Corbett Gildersleve had suggested a potluck as a social event Tuition Freeze Now could hold in the Summer 2019 semester. The subject of a possible date for the event was brought up and it was agreed that the event would be held in late July.
The meeting ended with a discussion about the possibility of Tuition Freeze Now hosting a debate amongst federal party leaders. However, this project is still under development.
