UVic students calling for lower fees for international students and an end to the university’s oil investments kept administrators from their offices on Friday morning.
The students put up picket lines at 7:30 a.m. around the Michael Williams Building, home to the university president and the vice-presidents who make up the executive of the University of Victoria.
Nobody crossed the picket line, which was taken down at noon.
On March 26, students with similar concerns jammed a meeting of the UVic board of governors.
Students were so noisy that the board temporarily adjourned and moved to another location, where the international fee increases were approved.
Those fee increases include a 15 per cent hike for international undergraduates enrolled after April 2018, and a four per cent rise for those enrolled before. International graduate students fees will go up by four per cent.
Meanwhile, tuition for undergraduate domestic students will rise by two per cent.
Domestic students are subsidized by the province and pay about $6,000 for two semesters. Foreign students receive no subsidy and are required to pay the full cost of tuition, about $25,000.
Mehdi Hashemi, chairman of the UVic Grad Students Society and a Canadian originally from Iran, said he hears of many international students struggling with increases in rent, tuition and other costs in Greater Victoria.
In an interview at Friday’s picket line, Hashemi said he witnesses international students lining up for donated food every week near his on-campus home.
“People are coming half an hour ahead of time lining up for just a few bananas or a potato,” he said.
UVic has said the fee increases have been publicized for two years, and even with the increases, the university’s fees are below those of similar institutions, such as Simon Fraser University.
The university's board of governors has asked for an update on students’ request to divest from fossil fuels for its meeting next month.
