Broken Hearted Quebec Students Abandoned by Marois Regime

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ASK PREMIER MAROIS TO MEND THEIR BROKEN HEARTS

by Concordia Graduate Students' Association

Students Surround Concordia University in “One Giant Hug” to Ask for Support and Inclusion.

Broken-hearted foreign students will address the media on Valentine’s Day at 12:15pm in front of Concordia University’s administration building on the corner of Guy and DeMaisonneuve while their friends and families dressed in heart costumes will unite hand-in-hand in “One Giant Hug” to demand an end to unrelenting international tuition hikes that leave these students unable to meet their basic needs.

In view of the upcoming Summit on Higher Education and cuts to university budgets, students at the “One Giant Hug” will send giant envelopes with hundreds of Valentine’s cards from students to Premier Pauline Marois, Higher Education Minister Pierre Duchesne, and Concordia Senior Management. The cards will ask them to have a heart and mend the broken hearts of international students by stopping the differential treatment of international students, increasing their financial support, and asking Concordia to rescind financial penalties for students impacted by money transfer delays due to sanctions against their home country.

Engineering graduate student Payam Mehregan from Iran, Geography graduate student Xiaojuan Li from China, and Political Science undergraduate student Mario Nouel from Dominican Republic will speak to the media about their personal experiences and those of their friends and families. “We are asking for fairness,” says Nouel. “Don’t exclude us from the Summit, don’t shut us out of Quebec society, we also have rights here to a decent quality of life.”

Real and chocolate hugs as well as free samosas will abound to alleviate the intense emotional and physical costs that 40% of international students pay as they struggle to meet their basic subsistence needs, amidst deregulated and unexpected fee increases that often occur with no warning from either the government or the university.






MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release: February 14, 2013

More about the Concordia Graduate Students' Association (http://gsaconcordia.ca):
Established in 1970, the Concordia Graduate Students' Association (GSA) represents over 6,000 graduate students at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The GSA is committed to defending the interests of its members at the local, provincial, and national level through a variety of campaigns and participation on University governance bodies. The GSA firmly supports the right to accessible education through active participation in education and mobilization campaigns, and seeks to increase graduate students' influence on decision-making bodies and encourage involvement of its members in political processes, both internal and external to the University.