Communiqué from the sit-in outside President Shoukri’s office, York University:
The First Week and Response to Shoukri’s Letter

December 27th, 2008

Dear all,

We are a group of undergraduate and graduate students and workers writing to you about the ninth floor sit-in, outside of York University President Shoukri’s office, which lasted from Monday, December 15 to Friday, December 19.

CUPE 3903 has been on strike since November 6, 2008. Since then, the university administration has refused to negotiate seriously. The administration has also refused to engage the university community through dialogue and discussion on the effects of the strike on education. This refusal has contributed to the disintegration of both the university’s sense of community and its claim to pedagogical soundness.

We decided to organize the sit-in because President Shoukri has neglected his responsibilities, and as such we demand that he reestablish a meaningful connection to the wider university community.

We have two demands for President Shoukri: (1) that he sign a commitment to hold and speak at a public forum about the strike and about the quality and accessibility of education in the first week of January; (2) that he answer 12 questions we have prepared.

On Wednesday, December 17, two days after our sit-in began, President Shoukri had a letter delivered to the sit-in, in which he stated that he refuses to meet with us. Addressed only to CUPE 3903, the content of the letter speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of our position and our composition. As a group of both undergraduate and graduate students, we are reflecting broad student concerns with the quality of education at York and how it has been affected by the strike. We do not wish to bargain CUPE 3903’s contract with President Shourkri: we ask only that he fulfill his role as our President by making himself available to the community during this trying time.

In his letter, President Shoukri claims he made himself available at previous “town halls.” These meetings were actually unpublicized University Senate meetings which are not open to the public and in which community members are normally not allowed to speak. The scheduling of the last Senate meeting at the same time as CUPE 3903’s own general membership meeting forces us to question the seriousness of President Shoukri’s claim to openness, transparency, and accountability.

Over the past week, we have spent much time organizing ourselves and forging collective decisions about how to proceed, while also drafting and publishing dispatches and communiqués, coordinating supplies and logistics, and liaising with media and security. This work has been performed collectively, which has consumed a great deal of time, but is evidence of participatory democracy at a small level. We recognize and gain strength from the fact that we are not alone. Students at The New School in New York City staged an occupation to remove university administrators. In Chicago, the workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory staged a successful sit-in to receive wages and benefits to which they were legally entitled. Students have occupied scores of universities in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and in Greece the occupations have occurred together with a general strike.

The current financial crisis is affecting us all around the world, and it is being used to prevent hope for social change. But the theme common to all these student and worker movements is captured by the Italian slogan: “We won’t pay for your crisis!”

We remain committed to our demands and to bringing them to President Shoukri in the new year.

Signed,

Ninth floor sit-in participants

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President Shoukri’s Letter to Sit-in

December 17, 2008

Dear CUPE 3903,

As I am sure you are aware, you are currently engaged in illegal picketing activity, which goes against CUPE 3903’s stated intention to return to the bargaining table and this can only serve to undermine the negotiation process. You will understand that it is impossible for me to be seen to engage with unlawful picketing activity and discuss matters that belong at the bargaining table.

I will also remind you that in the past month I have made myself available to community members in two Town Hall meetings - one as recently as last Thursday. Since the beginning of my term, I have made myself available to meet with students in many for a - in meetings, at lunches, in town halls - and I will continue to do so.

As I have said to some of you before, it is not necessary to create a photo-opportunity in order to ask me questions. You could have done so twice in the past month alone. I cannot, however, in fairness to all the other members of the York community, agree to a meeting under unlawful circumstances, nor can the University negotiate deals with its unions at anywhere other than the bargaining table. I would underline that the University has reached collective agreements with many of its unions through the regular negotiation process.

Sincerely,

Mamdouh Shoukri

President and Vice-Chancellor