THE RETURN OF THE SITTERS

Sunday, January 4, 7:00 pm - Toronto, ON.

We’re back, we’re sitting, and we’re waiting.

We figured that the Administration figured that we’d be back. But we figured that the Administration figured that we wouldn’t be back until Monday morning. So we figured that we’d outfigure the Administration and arrive on Sunday evening. And we figured really good: nobody seems to know we’re here yet, even though we made our triumphant entry to the tune of “Solidarity Forever.”

We are a group of undergraduate and graduate students and workers, and we’re asking what seems to be the unaskable: that York President Mamdou Shoukri meet with his students.

More precisely, we have the same two requests that we did when we sat outside his office from December 15 to 19: that he agree to speak about the strike at a public forum, and that he answer 12 questions about the strike. But alas, it might be unreasonable to expect a university president to meet with his students nine weeks into a strike that has cancelled almost all classes. For in his letter of December 17, President Shoukri stated that he would do no such thing.

But we have faith that he will reconsider.

So we’ve inflated our mattresses and rolled out our sleeping bags. And we’re asking you, members of the York community, to join us. We have a week’s worth of events planned, including teach-ins, discussions, movie screenings, discussions, lectures, discussions, and discussions. We’ve organized a food and cleanup committee, a communications committee, a redecorating committee, a video-making committee, and a scheduling committee, and we’ve posted Shoukri Sighting Sentinels throughout the campus to track the furtive president’s movements. The Sentinels even have walkie-talkies.

(We really do have faith that President Shoukri will reconsider, but we know it’s not easy for a university president to decide to speak with his students, so we planned ahead).

So please come for an hour or a night or a week. If you’re a student, come say hello to the president. If you’re a picketer, come warm up after your shift, or sleep over before your next shift. If you’re a professor or a contract faculty member, come say hello to your students. Let’s, as C. Wright Mills used to say, “Take it big, boy.” Or as Mr. Spock almost used to say, “Multiply and prosper.” Let’s ooze down the staircase to the floors below and across the long hallway to the Senate. And if you have an extra sleeping bag or blanket or mattress, please bring it along. We even have a return-extra-sleeping-bags-and-blankets-and-mattresses committee.

(And you know that rally that starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. at the Main Gate? Don’t tell anyone, but there’s a good chance it will end right here, on the ninth floor).

All power to the picket lines!

Yours in the snuggle,

The Ninth Floor Sitters

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