PSAC 901—the union of Graduate Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows, Research Assistants and Postdoctoral Scholars at Queen’s University—has been rallying to abolish tuition over the last month.

Astrid Hobill, president of PSAC 901, believes that post-secondary tuition should be abolished as a whole, because it is a barrier that prevents people from accessing education. The union is currently arguing that Queen’s University Principal Principal Deane stops lobbying for the tuition freeze to end, and to instead call on the provincial government for better funding packages for graduate students, if not, to abolish graduate student tuition as a whole.

The union gathered together to protest the increasing rate of graduate student tuition on Feb. 7. After learning that Deane was lobbying to end the tuition freeze that was extended for the 2022-2023 academic year by the provincial government, PSAC 901 presented their concerns to him and invited him to a town hall meeting, which he was unable to attend. They invited him to a second one but did not hear back from him, resulting in the union taking their initiatives and concerns to him and his office directly. The union is still waiting for a meeting with the principal and his office to discuss the "financial precarity" of graduate students at Queen's, and across Ontario.

One initiative, titled “ramen reasons,” is an ongoing social media campaign in which graduate students were invited to give their #ramenreasons as to why better funding is needed for graduate students at Queen’s. Physical ramen packages with reasons were created and the packages were intended to be delivered to Patrick Deane at Richardson Hall. But the doors were locked on the day of the rally, preventing PSAC 901 from entering. Protesters left their ramen packages at the main doors. 

“We are here. We are doing work that is supporting the university. We are the backbone of the university,” says Hobill.

CFRC has reached out to Principal Deane's office for a statement and is waiting on a response.

For the full interview with Hobill, listen here: