Jack FisherOriginally published in The Avro Post.
On Nov. 21, the Ontario Divisional Court deemed the Ford government’s Student Choice Initiative unlawful and the reaction has varied from sending the optional fees website offline to waiting on the Ford government’s response.
On Monday, Nov. 25, the University of Toronto responded by being the first university in Ontario to email its students informing them that they would be freezing the “incidental fees portal” while they took stock.
In an email to students from Vice-Provost Sandy Welsh, University of Toronto students were informed that the school was evaluating the “technical impact” of the court’s decision, and that there would be updates to come.
Today the UofT admin emailed all student groups stating that the Student Choice Initiative section of ACORN (the portal where you could opt-out) was suspended #StudentActionWorks #Victory 👏
— nour alideeb (@nouralideeb) November 25, 2019
In a graphic posted on their social media, Sheridan College said “Sheridan is monitoring the situation to see what course of action the government chooses to take. Until we receive a new directive, we’ll continue under the current one, which allows students to opt-out of paying certain fees.”
📣STUDENT CHOICE INITIATIVE UPDATE📣
— sheridancollege (@sheridancollege) November 25, 2019
The #StudentChoiceInitiative was successfully challenged in court last week and Sheridan has become aware of the court decision.
As new information becomes available, we will continue to keep you informed. https://t.co/q2UUzOTjJ6 pic.twitter.com/KOrywwsBqn
Few other post-secondary institutions have posted a public update about the new evolution in the implementation of the province of Ontario’s “Tuition Fee Framework and Ancillary Fee Guidelines” document.
The University of Guelph has not released a statement yet, but the administration has advised its student union, the Central Student Association, that large institutions can take time to implement legal decisions, and that figuring out mechanics with which to reverse the ”Student Choice Initiative” will take some time.
While the government of Ontario has not yet commented on the releases, there is speculation that they are considering an appeal. In a statement on Friday, November 22nd, spokesperson Clara Bryne wrote, “The Ministry of Colleges and Universities is currently reviewing the decision released yesterday. We will have more to say on this at a later date.”
Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario National Executive Representative, and the CFS representative in the legal proceedings, Kayla Weiler, said “we haven’t had any confirmation if there will be an appeal or not, and […] we’re hoping the government will respect the unanimous decision of the panel of judges and respect student democracy”
In its reasons, the Divisional Court said, “The University Guidelines [SCI] … are beyond the scope of the crown’s prerogative power overspending because they are contrary to the statutory autonomy conferred on universities by statute.”
Referring specifically to section seven of the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act wherein governments are prevented from interfering with the “normal activities” of student governing bodies – specifically, the court ruled that “normal activities” the government is precluded from includes; “reducing or eliminating the funding used by student associations.” ■
