The purpose of this section is to clearly demonstrate and recognize the diverse cross-section of people who have clearly shown their support for TrentAction. Personal phone numbers have been replaced with xxx-xxxx for privacy-related concerns.

Dear Maclean's,

In recent years, Trent has faired very well as an undergraduate liberal arts school in Maclean's ranking of Canadian universities. We feel it is important that your readers are aware of recent events that have occurred on the Trent campus.

President Bonnie Patterson is currently in the process of closing down Trent University's two downtown colleges without having consulted with students, staff, faculty or alumni. The downtown campuses have unique character, allow the University to be integrated with, and provide economic support for, Peterborough. The President overturned the Senate's decision to reject the proposal to close the downtown colleges. According to the Trent constitution the Senate is the paramount academic decision-making body. Three Trent professors took the President and the Board of Governor's to court to challenge the President's ruling, however the professors lost the case. This represents a dangerous precedent and threatens the academic autonomy of all Canadian universities.

The larger issue present, however, is the prevention of freedom of speech. The President has impeded freedom of speech on Trent campus in the following ways: preventing any letters opposing her actions from being published in the Trent Alumni magazine or on the Trent website; banning an alumni documentary team from Trent campus for chronicling the events surrounding the college closures; preventing students from writing with chalk on the campus (a traditional form of communication and protest at Trent; when 8 female students peacefully occupied the Vice-President's office, the President ordered 25 riot police with a canine unit to forcefully remove the protestors at 3am. These women were arrested, strip searched, spent 13 hours in jail and charged with the felony of mischief, rather than a lesser charge of trespass.

For more information on Trent issues, please contact the protest website, http://www.TrentAction..com

In their reporting, Maclean's has a moral responsibility to provide a more in-depth representation of the spirit and direction of universities, rather than just a superficial one.

Sincerely,
Matthew Bowler ('94)
Louisa Kalimeris ('94)
Elizabeth Motluk ('93)
Stephanie Sodero ('99)

FIRST NATIONS HOUSE OF LEARNING NOW LIKE A RESERVATION: ALUM

Dear members of the Trent Community:
Support to the courageous group of students who staged a sit-in in the
Vice-President's office over reading break. I want to thank them for
articulating the legitimate concerns of so many silenced members of the Trent community, or what remains of it. These students are committed to the project made by Trent at its inception: the attempt at an integration between academic and urban in a small rural community. Thousands of students, staff and faculty were drawn to Trent over the years precisely to carry out this project.

Yet President Patterson's attempts to destroy that project, re-package
it, and sell it to hapless buyers manipulates the work of the both Trent
community and the Peterborough community and represents an institutional about-face. Her shallow project of delegated responsibility is nothing but the outright refusal to accept responsibility for the historical project of Trent University. She adopts the privilege of referring to her own megalomania as "Trent". She derives her support from a majority which she has never produced. Meanwhile, hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and alumni have exposed themselves to persecution in exposing her tactics of intimidation. Her "majority" consists of nothing more than certain docile faculty and administrators. On that basis I encourage the Trent community to do everything it can to oppose her private plans. The immediate resignation of President Patterson and all of her puppy-dog "majority" is requisite to the survival of the Trent community.

The First Nations House of Learning (and Humanities Research Centre) envisioned f or the Symon's campus repeats a reservation style of confinement in the landscape and represents a gross inversion of the apologetics for forced relocations and colonial governmentality which Trent has made a part of its scholastic practice. The original plan for the FNHL, which was outrageously pilfered by President Patterson without gratitude to the generosity and dedication of its inceptors, worked toward acknowledging the spirituality of Indigenous peoples as organizing ways of responding to the land and to community. It acknowledged the effectiveness of Native spirituality and learning to respond to settler community. The FNHL at Peter
Robinson College was an affirmation of the role of Native traditions in an urban environment, rather than the spurious planning of a reservation in the wilderness paternalistically conceived to protect Indigenous peoples from themselves. The gross inversion here is that on the underside "Camp Trent" at Symon's campus will conceal an act of re-location into Trent Reserve. Why is the President so eager to subject Trent to the isolationist policies which Indigenous peoples have for so long been telling us are unhealthy and de-spiritualizing?

I urge the Trent community to demand the immediate resignation of
President Patterson. It is time that Trent begins to work to preserve its
historical commitment to the community of Peterborough and save at least a little face.

David Dunne
Alumni 1996, Montreal

The following letter was sent to Trent University president Bonnie Patterson:

We, the parents and step-parents of the eight female students arrested at 3 a.m. March 1, 2001, send this letter to you protesting your response to the demonstration which involved the occupation of the vice-president's office.

We are quite aware of the reasons for the protest of our daughters and their supporters. Their dramatic occupation follows the values and strategies of non-violent direct action which has a long and honourable history.

At the moment, our focus is not to debate the issues involved. Our
concern is around the arrest and subsequent treatment of our daughters. We believe it was devious to do this under the shadow of night.To handcuff eight nonviolent students, take them to the police station, strip search them and detain them for 13 hours is unreasonable and fuels public concern over police brutality. The charges laid are also excessive.

These women could have been charged with the misdemeanor of trespass rather than the felony of mischief. Your over-reaction to the protest indicates you have abandoned the route of open democratic debate in the public forum. This is unacceptable in a public institution which is supposed to be encouraging learning, not fostering indoctrination. We encourage you to request the police drop all
charges as an appropriate gesture and first step toward an open and public debate.

In summary, we are appalled, as Trent University's president, you acted through a massive police presence and that you seek to criminalize our daughters rather than honour their courage and tenacity. We urge you to rethink what you are doing and move into a process which involves democratic dialogue.

Oscar Cole-Arnal, Bonnie Cole Arnal, Stephanie Bruker, Betty Rogers, David Rogers, Joanna Cygler, Nancy Napier, Donald Napier, ,Carl Lyons, Anna Travers, Beverly Lepischak, Chris Simmonds, Inga D'Arcy, Margie Kardash, Gail Markson, Stephen Markson, Lois Lamble and David Lamble.

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER 14 MARCH 2001
LETTER

OUTRAGEOUS ATTITUDE

My name is Oscar Cole-Arnal. I am the step-father of one of the eight women arrested in the dark hours of morning, March 1. By vocation I am a professor and Lutheran minister at our denomination's seminary in Waterloo.Already I have sent personal letters of outrage at the behaviour of the university's administration in its response to this protest and have contacted the parents of the arrested students so that we might send collective letters which have been sent as :well.

The reasons for my outrage go much deeper than the fact that my
step-daughter was one of those arrested. The arrest serves chiefly to
underscore the reality of closed-door discussions about Trent University's future culminating in the use of an excessive police presence (including riot gear and a police dog) to arrest eight non-violent students, handcuff them, strip search them and then charge them with a felony. Sadly the struggle for an open, democratic and egalitarian society these days precipitates such responses which echo the reality of a Latin American police state. The arguments used by president Patterson and vice-president (academic) Taylor for such action is strikingly reminiscent of those used by American sheriffs
when they brought out their fire hoses and dogs in the civil rights movement. To the contrary, our daughters stand proudly within the tradition of such figures as Martin Luther King, J.S. Woodsworth and Nellie McClung. I applaud both their passion and their wisdom.

REV. OSCAR L. COLE-ARNAL
Cabot Trail
Waterloo

MORE THAN MONEY

I am watching the great Trent debate over the sale of the downtown colleges, from here in Nelson B.C.. I am an alumnus of Trent (BA, 1973).

Students and faculty are fighting hard to keep minds open in this debate. Alternatives to the sell-off are being presented and not, apparently, being given serious, let alone respectful consideration.

Professors Nader and Syrett give good reasons why the sales are an error. The replies to them from the administration are inadequate and unconvincing - unless the reason for the sale are not fiscal but political and ideological. In that case, facts and figures are irrelevant. Minds are closed to argument.

Peterborough stands to lose if the downtown colleges close. There are many reasons to say so, and many have been articulated in your paper. It is the media's duty to make debate and dialogue open and well-informed. "Spin" surrounding events is not a journalist's duty, but I see it often. Civil disobedience such as the Trent Eight performed should be covered with more objectivity than I have seen in some papers. What must the political atmosphere be, to allow this?

Politics should not decide what the Trent administration does. Factual
arguments about the best way to manage university finances should have high influence on the choices.

But also other values, about education and community and social good and public participation, should determine what to do with the urban colleges. If it is true that Trent must sell PRC and Traill, surely that case can be proved? It has a not been, yet.

Trent must have sustainable finances. Peterborough must have the university presence. Between the two truths there has to be a better plan than the governors of Trent are offering. Public interest in the decision-making is not as high as it could be. I hope The Examiner and other media do their utmost to address this public-participation issue.

Charles Jeanes
Nelson, B.C.

TUMBLE WAS OMEN

A smiling Bonnie Patterson I applauding a clever student at a charity event (Examiner, March 13) does not take away from the fact that 63 per cent of her faculty have condemned her administration and have called for the restoration of due process and consultation.

I remember when Bonnie Patterson had just arrived in our community and without checking her support, invited a number of people out onto her deck overlooking Stoney Lake. I do not know the physical or metaphysical cause for the collapse, but the fact that all her guests went tumbling downhill seems now to have been an omen.

I disagree with John Wadland who said that bipolarized opposition at the university exists for reasons for which we are all responsible. When the majority of the led disagree with the leader it is clear where the blame lies. It is apparent to me, a casual outside observer, that following Bonnie Patterson is courting disaster.

George Barron
Stewart Street

Chancellor Gzowski:

in regard to your column in the Globe and Mail, March 16:

While I can respect your need to be the "eminence grise" at Trent and
exercise your diplomacy, I would ask that you let your passion for Trent come through a little more! Your judicious comments about the police action were perhaps too tepid. The question that needs to be asked is, "who in the Trent Administration advised the police?" We know that some form of liaison between police and University governors occurs.

Someone told the police to "step over the line" into tactics of force
and humiliation. It was surely not their independent decision to do this, or I am much mistaken in my assessment of how police and civil authority are related. (My father was an OPP officer for 34 years) Please, sir, get to the bottom of this. The consequences of civil disobedience can indeed be harder than young idealists might imagine. But, they assumed this is Canada in the year 2001, not the British Raj in India, 1919. We never had an Amritsar massacre. We can be proud of that. We have our police firmly under our civil control. So when they act to "send a message" or "make an example" by
their use of strip searches, who told them to use such force?
You have some authority at Trent. Can you not use it please, to ask
penetrating questions about this event?

I certainly agree with you about the way the college-sales issue has
grown out of its borders, into bigger issues about governance. Well, there must be a lot of ill-will about the process -- about a lack of sincere listening to alternative ways of making Trent fiscally sustainable -- for such an overflow and such bad feeling to come about.
I have sympathy for the President. She has to communicate why the choice of selling the colleges is the best one. She has not convinced a majority, from all I read and hear. I wonder why. Poor process?

Thank-you for your time and your written remarks about Trent.
I am a graduate, BA,history, 1973.

Charles Jeanes
Nelson, BC

Support In Alberta:

Just a note of support for the protesters who were treated so badly by the police. The reporting makes the President of Trent University out to be an administrator with no heart and no head for the complexities of this debate. Non-violent civil disobedience, petitions and a desire for dialogue usually initiate discussion and debate. Sorry to hear that at Trent they are met with a brick wall.

Yours,

Janice Williamson, Professor,
Department of English, University of Alberta

To: Bonnie Patterson
From: Richard Tannis

I would like to begin this letter by drawing attention to the
two letters that append this correspondence. The first letter
was sent by Professor Patterson, on 1/14/00, to Trent Alumnus of
both Traill and P.R. The subsequent was my response to her.

Why I am writing this letter? There are many reasons I guess,
but they all stem from the same source that caused me to write
initially, namely my emotive and subjective attachment to the
Trent that drew me to her over ten years ago. The catalyst,
however, for this latest letter comes from the disturbing events
that occurred recently in the Vice-President's office, the non-
violent sit-in, the dialogue that ensued, and its resolution by
unnecessary force.

These facts, as much I have been able to ascertain through the
Trent Action (trentaction/) and the
media, primarily from the CBC, and specifically the coverage
given to the events by As It Happens (03/15/01)
(http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/asithappens/), I believe have
given me a sense of what unfolded.

As is well known, a university environment fosters passions for
causes, pleas of the innocent, and attachment to place. Trent
is no exception to this rule. In fact, I remember my initial
research into Trent some eleven years ago, and the popular
whereto book at the time described Trent as a Northern Berkley.
WOW I thought that is where I want to go, a place to challenge
my preconceptions and my culture at large. From my initial
foray into Trent, I was confronted by issues of sexuality,
aboriginal rights, my own spirituality and faith. Trent was
truly my intellect's mater. So it comes as a disappointment to
hear that the Administration responded to what I believe was the
fifth recorded student sit-in with the use of force in Trent's
37 year history.

I have to qualify something at this juncture, namely the nature
of the force. The breaking of glass, the use of 25 riot geared
officers and subsequent strip searches should not be the issue.
In fact, the Peterborough Police should most definitely not be
used to shift the focus of the discussion away from the intent
of the sit-in nor the failure of successful dialogue. The
police performed the duty, we as a community have empowered
them, admirably well and within their outlined procedures. What
should be questioned in regard to the force, is not the
institution entailed to perform its obligatory duty, but rather
the perceived need by the Administration to resort to the use of
force. For the Administration to attempt to shift any sense of
blame besmirches the integrity of the Peterborough Police force,
and, in my opinion, further creates more obstacles to resolving
the ongoing conflict within the Trent community at large.

What is this conflict to which I am referring? What has gripped
me most by the sit-in's intent most, is obviously that present
Trent students, who will soon be alumni as well, believe, as I
do, that the college system is integral to what is Trent. It
seems to me that Trent, in a microcosm, represents present
alienation between a group's and individual's sense of place,
sense of community by the evolving mantras of the day -
Consumerism and Corporatism. There is no doubt that Trent has
been and is in need of financial reform, but the manner in which
the Administration has attempted to bring about the changes,
according to the sit-in, have been non-inclusive, as well as
possibly pseudo-legal according to Senate procedures.

When any major changes are required, someone in the end has to
make difficult choices, which may not in fact be supported at
the time. There can be no doubt that Professor Patterson has
confronted these sentiments, both directly and subtly. The
problem, however, is when matters of finance and bottom line
over-shadow the reality of place, the reality of what is Trent.
Trent is its colleges and the colleges are Trent. To remove
them from the downtown core, once again in my opinion, removes
both the figurative and literal roots that bind Trent to itself.
If the impetus for restructuring demolishes the colleges, it is
my belief that Trent will merely devolve into another
institution whose intent is not to prepare a young mind to
think, to challenge, but rather to budget, forecast and invest.

I tip my hat to those brave students who challenged the silence
of change, and I truly hope that their actions re-invigorate a
new discussion where both sides can express their needs, and
hopefully, in a mutual and inclusive manner heal the wounds that
are still fresh. In the end, it is the decision whether Trent
survives or not. No colleges have closed yet, no one has been
injured, rusticated or placed on probation.

Well my rhetoric is over, and in the final analysis, I will use
the language of Corporatism to try to make my sit-in. As I have
told Trent Alumni when they call, as long as it seems that the
colleges will be dissolved, both my partner and I will withhold
contributing to the financial future of Trent. Without the
colleges, I would feel that I was donating to the University of
Toronto. A fine institution, but in the end an institution, not
a Place.

Yours respectfully,

Richard Michael Manley-Tannis (Catherine Parr Traill 1995)

To Richard Tannis
From: Bonnie Patterson

January 14, 2000

TO: Trent Alums [sic] from Peter Robinson College
and Catharine Parr Traill College

I understand that many Trent alums have been receiving
communications from individuals intent on preserving Peter
Robinson College and Catharine Parr Traill College in their
current locations. Much of the information circulating is
incomplete, not representative of the integrated strategy
approved by the Board of Governors and quite inaccurate in
several ways.

I am sending this email to explain what the University is
planning to do and why.

Your alma mater is in very serious financial difficulties.
Those who argue that our audited financial statements and
budgets misrepresent the severity of the situation are
incorrect. An editorial in the Peterborough Examiner before
Christmas stated, "It may be that the downtown campuses can't be
saved without jeopardizing the future of the entire university."
After analysing Trent's circumstances and prospects for the last
18 months, my administration and the Board of Governors have
concluded that Trent University is at risk. The future of the
University, its very survival as an autonomous institution,
requires fundamental changes in our operations.

We have developed a three-year cost cutting strategy that will
pare $3 million from our operations. This is only the latest in
a series of budget cuts and restructuring that have taken place
over the last decade. However, despite the severity of its
impact on various departments, this restructuring alone will not
resolve our financial problems. Trent must grow - and a plan
for enrolment growth has been approved by Senate. However, we
have shortages of some needed types of space and our physical
plant is in a state of deterioration.

A new provincial capital funding opportunity, The SuperBuild
Growth Fund, offers us a chance to address our physical
facilities challenge. The government wants the university
system to have the capacity to accommodate the one-time
enrolment bulge that will occur with elimination of year 5 of
secondary school in Ontario ("the double cohort") and continued
growth in the university-age population. Government also
recognizes that universities have significant deferred
maintenance problems - at Trent this neglect amounts to a $32
million problem we have not been able to address.

It is not news that the buildings at Peter Robinson and
Catharine Parr Traill colleges are old, but some may not know
that many of them are also mortgaged. Nearly all are in need of
extensive renovation and are very costly to operate. Last summer
a fact-finding task force determined that these buildings are
too expensive to renovate properly for institutional use.
Accepted government standards were used in this analysis -
standards on which future funding decisions will be based. The
costs of having three campuses in Peterborough are no longer
sustainable given our size and because economies of scale and
efficiencies other institutions enjoy are not available to
Trent.

Our colleges have cumulative and annual operating deficits.
These are on top of the University's multi-million dollar
operating deficit challenges. Solutions must be found.

SuperBuild offers us a chance (if our application succeeds in
the face of stiff competition from all other Ontario
universities and colleges) to build more capacity on the (main)
Symons campus and, over time, relocate Robinson and Traill
activities. Equally important, it offers us an opportunity to
provide all of our faculty, staff and students (current and
future) with better quarters. This is a chance to upgrade
academic space and infrastructure that is unlikely to repeat
itself any time soon - a chance to protect what is truly unique
about Trent in the face of unrelenting financial pressure: our
college system, our academic programs, our small classes, and
our emphasis on the individual student.

Many of the discussions I have had personally with alums confirm
their appreciation for a more comprehensive view of Trent's
realities and the decisions taken by the Board. I understand
sentiment for buildings and history - what Walter Lippmann
called "the pictures in our heads". However, images must also
reflect current reality and future possibilities.

Detailed information about the Capital Development Strategy can
be found on Trent's website
[http://www.trentu.ca/news/capstrategy.html]. For your
reference the website also provides answers to the most
frequently asked questions about the strategy
[http://www.trentu.ca/news/faq.html] and a summary of the
positive reactions this strategy has elicited from alumni,
faculty, staff, students and friends of the University
[http://www.trentu.ca/admin/po/letters_of_support.html]. The
University's financial statements are also available for your
perusal [http://www.trentu.ca/financialservices/financial.html].

I have invited the University community to participate in the
next steps of implementing the capital development strategy and
extend a similar invitation to alums who were at Peter Robinson
and Traill. Details of how we are approaching this are provided
in a letter to the University community
[http://www.trentu.ca/news/letter.html]. We welcome your input!

I am able to send this note only to those whose email addresses
we have on file. Again, it's a matter of money. A mailing to
alumni costs $16,000 and this is more than I can justify given
that we do not yet have a response from the government about
SuperBuild and given the University's financial situation. When
the SuperBuild decision is known, we will ensure you are fully
informed. Meanwhile, I would appreciate your passing this
material along to other alums who may not have received it.

Yours sincerely,

Bonnie Patterson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Trent University"

To: Bonnie Patterson
From: Richard Tannis

1/17/00

Dear Ms. Patterson,

I must admit that your e-mail has put me at great unease. I
have understood, as an alumnus, the need for pairing and new
approaches to increase the cost effectiveness of several aspects
of my alma mater. Not unlike the political climate of today
outside of the university, from municipal to federal levels,
there has occurred a realisation that duplication and over-
spending that began in the sixties and ended in the eighties has
severely crippled many institutions, from health care to post-
secondary education. These realisations are self-evident in the
language which you have used to describe the 'crisis' and the
need for 'fundamental changes in our operations'.

I must admit, however, that it is here, and only here, that I am
in agreement with you. You rationalise the need to par down and
finally sell off the colleges in order to offer a future
student the continuation of "our college system, our academic
programs, our small classes, and our emphasis on the individual
student."

What is Trent? What has its intent always been? How do I
answer these questions? Simply put, from what drew me to Trent
some ten years ago.

I had taken a year off from high school to save and decide
whether academia was for me, I guess on my second M.A. I am now
hooked. There were several choices; Queen's with her history
and limestone, Carleton, the hometown option or Trent. What was
Trent? A university which focused on the individual. A place
which was intimately inter-twined with the community, from a
grass-roots level. One which spread its fibre and inter-wove
the student with life beyond dormitories and high-browed walls,
where you could 'stain your fingers' with life. Would I go to
Tent now if it were only the Symons campus? Of course not. Who
would? It is a cold and austere place in the winter. With the
College system spread out, all students, Lady Eaton, Traill and
Champlain share geographies and place. You mention the
'pictures in our heads'. Well those pictures are the
accumulation of the self. They define where we have been and
where we are going. Place and sense of place are not abstract
concepts used to define the fiscal, but the soul.

You quote the Examiner as saying that, '[i]t may be that the
downtown campuses can't be saved without jeopardising the future
of the entire university.' I would counter that it may be that
the future of the university is in jeopardy should the downtown
campuses not be saved. As proud alumni, both my partner and I
have thoroughly discussed this issue over the last year, and
should the university opt to sell the downtown campuses, I must
inform you that we will cease to give to Trent, because it would
no longer be our alumni, but a small northern campus of U of T.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Michael Manley-Tannis '95.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF A UNIVERSITY

from the Arthur

What happened on 1 March 2001 will not soon be forgotten. A
student occupation of administrative offices is ended by the President
calling in rio t police and attack dogs. What university professor would send their own children to such a school? Would the President want her own children treated in this way?

For me it is the death of Trent University. The President has no
need for a Philosophy Department: there are apparently no ethical issues here. The President does not need the History Department: the history of direct action, for example to protest the Vietnam War, has no relevance. The President does not need the social sciences: the skills of understanding a different culture and a younger generation have no value. The interpretation of complex meaning in the Humanities has no value for the President of Trent University.

The knowledge that is fostered at a liberal university might be
okay for the classroom. But the President's actions speak loud and clear. The only books worth reading have titles like How to Be A Successful CEO and slim paperbacks on How to Deal With Terrorists: A Guide for Managers Operating in High Risk Environments.

Goodbye to Trent University and the tradition of liberal
education. Today it's the Peterborough school of business.

Alan O'Connor
Associate Professor of Cultural Studies

THE REAPPEARING SPECTRE OF TRENT'S GOVERNANCE
PROBLEMS

by Sean Gauthier
(in the arthur)

As the tired old cliche goes, those who do not learn from the
mistakes of the past are forever doomed to repeat them. It's kind of obvious when you think about it. But, what might not be so obvious is the fact that this is happening here at Trent before our very eyes.

Following the strike of the Trent University Faculty Association
in 1996 and the subsequent resignation of the majority of the senior
administration, an external review was commissioned in an attempt to ameliorate Trent's governance problems. The report was co-authored by Harry Arthurs, former president of York University, and Joyce Lorimer, former president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. The two authors were asked to address two general questions: how to ensure that Trent's administration meets the standard of best practice within the Canadian university community; and, how to initiate a process which will, over the long term, promote constructive relations amongst students, staff, faculty, administration, the Board, and other bodies concerned with the governance of the University.

Though the report focussed largely on labour relations and
criterion for selecting a new senior administration, the conclusion forewarned the predicament we now find ourselves in, namely that of the downtown college closures. "... we offer the University our Report not so much as a blueprint for the future, but rather as a set of observations and suggestions which will assist it in drawing its own blueprint. This implies that all the elements of the University... will have to work cooperatively, over the next year and beyond, in a constructive spirit, something they have not had much practice
at recently.... governance structures have to be repaired and
administrative processes put in order so that they can function effectively and thereby regain the respect of the community."

At the most recent meeting of the Board of Governors, Professor
John Syrett asserted that the Arthurs/Lorimer Report had fallen on deaf
ears. Syrett suggested that the Board's unwillingness to hear Professor
George Nader present the findings of his report, to allow Syrett himself an opportunity to present his compromise proposal, and their
disregard for the voice of Senate are all demonstrative of the failings of the Board and Administration to heed the warnings of Arthurs and Lorimer.

In response to this accusation, the BoG Chair Gary Wolff stated
that "The Board has had a wide range of consultation around this issue and we feel that we are moving in the right direction."

One must wonder whether or not the direction that Wolff is
talking about is, in fact, a full circle. Whether one is for or against the closure of the downtown colleges, one cannot deny that we are living/ working in a thoroughly divided Trent. A Trent in which civility and community are threatened by a process that has been less than open. It seems that we have not gotten any farther towards the amelioration of the problems outlined by Arthurs and Lorimer.

"Trent University has seen its share of conflicts in the scant
thirty five years since its foundation.... All of the qualities in which the Trent community takes justifiable pride have so far survived intact, despite the University's recurring crisis of governance, administration and employment relations... But if Trent cannot find a way to live with what we believe to be some fundamental principles of university life, it will find itself again and again in situations that no one on campus really wants, which harm the University's reputation and its ability to perform its vitally important functions and which are inconsistent with the best in its tradition and ideals."

A copy of the Arthurs/Lorimer Report can be found at
http://www.treotu.ca/ adreview/memo5.html

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER
17 MARCH 2001

TRENT LEADERSHIP IN QUESTION

Re: Your editorials (Examiner Feb. 28, March 3) on the recent
Trent University protest and how it was handled by administration -

First, I disagree with your assumption that "Patterson's only
option was to have (the students) removed." She had many
options. She, or her administration, could have brought in trusted
members of the Trent community to negotiate with the students. If
that failed, they could have requested neutral, third party
negotiators. Calling in the police should have been a very last
resort. The administration's approval of the use of the police
containment unit with 24 armed and shielded officers to arrest eight
female protesters at, let's remember, Trent University (these are
not L.A. riots) is excessive. (The sergeant's defence that the police
"didn't know what the situation was?" seems ill-conceived. Had
police not been negotiating with the students for the previous 12
hours?)

Second, let us not forget the context of this protest. The
students are reacting to an administration that has, since the
appointment of Ms. Patterson as; president two years ago,
pursued an inflexible agenda committed to closing the downtown
colleges as a way of partially solving Trent's financial problem. Ms.
Patterson has been criticized by faculty, students,
Peterborough community members and alumni for the calculations
used in deciding to close the colleges and, more importantly, her
top-down management approach that has not respected the Trent
(and university) tradition of open discussion of issues relevant to
the future of the university's academic affairs. Having met Ms.
Patterson about the downtown colleges, it was clear to me she
was not sincerely open to considering alternatives or to more
public discussion. Plans to have full and open debate through the
alumni magazine and student and faculty retreats went unfulfilled.

Third, it is my understanding that Ms. Patterson had the
authority to request that a lesser charge of "trespassing" be laid
against the students, rather than the more serious charge of
"mischief." The fact that she didn't and deferred responsibility to
the police reinforces my concern that she is not acting in a
judicious manner.

Fourth, the inference in the Feb. 28 editorial that the protesters
acted childishly because they cannot accept the decision of the
administration seems spurious. Let's turn it around and consider
who is acting childishly and stubbornly. Perhaps the protesters
were responding to Ms. Patterson's own unreasonable behaviour at
pursuing her agenda to close the downtown colleges.
It appears that as opposition to the closing continues, Ms.
Patterson becomes more entrenched instead of recognizing that
others (the university Senate included) may have something
seriously worthwhile to say. The events that led to the sit-in and
Trent administration's heavy-handed response reinforces my
concerns about the overall approach taken to those who do not
agree with their policies. She might take note of the consultative,
inclusive process followed by the Peterborough Regional Health
Centre administration in planning construction of the new hospital.
A similar approach at Trent might have avoided the current situation.

Finally, there should be a public investigation into how the affair
was handled. Perhaps it is time for the Trent board of governors to
seriously reconsider Ms. Patterson's suitability t o lead Trent into
the new millennium.

THOMAS MILLER, M.D.
Fleming Place

From THE ARTHUR

ON "MOVING FORWARD": TRENT ALUM

Actions speak louder than words. Bonnie Patterson may talk about
the civil character of the university, but she is consistently doing
her best to make sure that that civil character does not exist at
Trent.

The way in which any given governing body deals with dissenting
voices is a measure of its civility. So while some in the
administration may not like the language used by their critics, their
own actions and the actions of the President are far more offensive.
Granted it's an exaggeration to allude to apartheid and to other
forms of authoritarianism as some people have done in
the heat of the moment and in various contexts. but these are only
metaphors.

The reality is that things at Trent are pretty bad, especially given
that it isn't South Africa. When twenty five police officers with dogs
etc. arrive at 3 AM and arrest eight female demonstrators and then
strip search them, this is a pretty extreme reaction to an
expression of dissent. Though the police have stated that the
university is not responsible for the way in which the arrests
occurred, it is generally assumed that the police would not have
come in at all without an invitation. These kids (they're between 19-
24 years old) have probably never been in trouble with the law and
fingerprinting them and keeping them in jail for eleven hours does
not do much to support Patterson's image as someone who has
any sense of proportion. Especially since in her press release
subsequent to the arrests she made it clear that her intention
was to try to sell the whole debacle as a security issue - as though
she were dealing with terrorists and not some of her own young
students.

Some object to strong language, I object to the way the more
powerful members of this contest consistently euphemise their own
position. It's like the police spokesman (Rob Hotston) said in one
Examiner article: "It's not riot gear. It's crowd management
equipment." I know I feel better after hearing that. It's not a strip
search, it's guaranteeing our safety. It's not an awful experience.
It's a learning experience. It's not smashing dissent.
It's moving forward.

Lisa Howard B.A. M.A.
Trent

Alumnus Letter

I am a Trent alumnus ('72), and I also served as senior don at Peter
Robinson College from 1984 to 1990. In addition, I taught in Sociology and Cultural Studies at Trent from 1980 - 1995.

I wish to express my total support for all those faculty and students
involved in the effort to secure the future of Trent against the present
attempts to undermine the traditions and democratic processes which have been Trent's hallmarks.

While I am distressed by the decisions taken to close Peter Robinson
college, I am above all concerned that the high-handed and arbitrary
approach to the issue by the present Board and Administration of the
University be stopped, and that the apparent subversion of the rights of Senate and the refusal to listen to or take seriously valid counter-proposals or suggested compromises be reversed.

If the downtown campus is closed, a vital material part of Trent's
fabric will be lost. But if the attitudes of the present administration, and the manner in which the closing has been put forward by that administration, are not fundamentally changed, the ideals that
Trent stands for will cease to exist.

I am particularly incensed by President's Patterson's references to the
"safety" and "security" of the "learning environment" as reasons for the
police intervention last week. I see these as contemptible excuses, all
too easily invoked, but with lasting consequences for community and
democracy at Trent. They accomplish precisely the opposite of their
claimed object.

William Ramp
Assistant Professor of Sociology
The University of Lethbridge

Alumni Letter to Trent Action

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER 9 MARCH 2001
LOTS OF LETTERS

WHERE IS CITY COUNCIL?

CALL TO POLICE
NEW LOW FOR TRENT

SUBJECT TO LIGHT OF HISTORY

PROTESTERS ARE OUR FUTURE LEADERS

EXPECT TO BE ARRESTED FOR CRIMINAL ACTIONS

TRENT PULLED PLUG ON LAW-ABIDING STUDENT 'SURVIVORS'

PROTEST 'HANDLED' WITHOUT DISCUSSION

PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK 9 MARCH 2001

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER 8 MARCH 2001
LETTER

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER 8 MARCH 2001

Letter from Ontario's New Democratic Party (NDP) to Patterson

Strong Canadian Federation of
Students Support

February 26, 2001

Dear local 71 members,

On behalf of the 185,000 Ontario college, undergraduate and graduate students of the Canadian Federation of Students, I want to congratulate the members of the Trent Central Student Association for taking a stand today against the commercialization, corporatization and privatization of your university. The Canadian Federation of Students supports your demands to save the college system at Trent University, to improve student decision making, to protect the institutional integrity and autonomy. These demands are part of a larger struggle to protect an accessible, publicly funded, quality system of post-secondary education that literally hundreds of thousands of students are engaged in across this country.

When the provincial government cut funding for post-secondary education in 1996-97 by $400 million annually, colleges and universities were forced to seek additional funding from individual students and the private sector to make up for the funding shortfall. Consequently tuition fees now make up for 37.2% of university operating budgets with students paying a tuition fee increase of over 60% since the Harris government came into office. Tuition fees in Ontario are now the second highest in the country at an average of $3 971 for a four year undergraduate arts degree. The result: students incurring average debts of $25 000 to obtain the education necessary for this economy and society.

The remaining lost public funding dollars have been made up for with an increasing and disturbing reliance on private sector corporate funding – funding that threatens the academic integrity and autonomy of our institutions. Now the threats of private universities and trade liberalization are pushing public education to the brink of extinction.

The Canadian Federation of Students stands in solidarity with our members at local 71, Trent Central Student Association, in our collective struggle for an accessible, publicly funded, quality system of post-secondary education.

In Solidarity,

Erin George
Ontario Chairperson

Canadian Federation of Students
720 Spadina Ave. Suite 201
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2T9
chairperson@cfs-fce.on.ca
(416) 925-3825 (phone)
(416) 925-6774 (fax)
(416) 707-0349 (cell)

Canadian Action Party Support!

On behalf of the Canadian Action Party, a federal political party, I want to express our solidarity with those students occupying the Vice President's office at Trent University, as well as their supporters at the Trent Central Student's Association.

It is vitally important that those occupying the Vice President's Office at Trent University realise that they are on the front lines of the fight against corporatisation and privatisation. In striving to dismantle our education system for profit, the Governments of Canada and Ontario will have to overcome fierce resistance from students in places like York, Carleton, and now Trent.

All of this takes place in the shadow of privatisation of education at the provincial level, cutbacks at the federal level, and further erosion of public education by the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services and the FTAA at the international level. Thus, it is even more important to resist a corporate administration. Not only for yourselves, but also for generations of students to come.

If you fight to win, ultimately you shall overcome.

Best of luck.

The Canadian Action Party

Toll Free: 1-877-629-0841
dbanerjee@canadianactionparty.ca

OPEN LETTER TO TRENT CHANCELLOR PETER GZOWSKI

Ms. Patterson...

Dear President Patterson,

This father of 3 offers you solidarity in your just struggle. I am inspired to read of your commitment to public education and applaud your determination to invoke direct action to reclaim our public services and institutions. I am eager to share your struggle with others would be pleased to assist in any way possible.

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!!

Darren Steinhoff

During the Winnipeg Strike, a social gospel theologian named Salem Bland preached at J.S. Woodworth's Winnipeg Labour Church. During his sermon, he said that the only one of Jesus' disciples never arrested was Judas Iscariot. Ceratinly history has demonstrated amply that many whom we honour have put principle above safety and social convention, been arrested and spent time behind bars-- Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Ghandi, the Pankhurst suffragists, J. S. Woodsworth and countless other sisters and brothers. We love these heroes and honour them. Of course, they are safely dead now, and we must ask if we would have honoured them in the midst of their struggles. I would suggest that if your answer is "YES!", then honour their heritage by supporting loudly and publicly these brave, justice-driven occupiers at Trent University. These bold youth have resurrected their forebears courageous legacy and now languish in a Peterborough jail. My mentors behind bars, I say to you: you give me hope and courage. You rouse my aging bones to new life. I am with you; I honour you; I love you. My plea to all the supporters on the outside-- to the trade unions, to the movements of students and ant-globalization activists, to people of faith traditions, to all people of good-will who put justice and right above the god of the "bottom-line." Come out, stand up, show your support to the young who speak for us, who give us courage and hope. Perhaps Nellie McClung says it all: "For too long we have believed it our duty to sit down and be resigned. Now we know it is our duty to rise up and be indignant."

Solidarity,
Oz Rev. Dr. Oscar L. Cole-Arnal

On behalf of Trent's student TAs, graduate assistants, markers, and
computer lab advisors, we want to express our solidarity with you and
our support of your actions.

We applaud and stand behind your courageous occupation of Vice
President Graham Taylor's office. Your forceful demands against
undemocratic and irresponsible decision-making, corporate advertising
and privatisation, and the proposed closure of the downtown colleges,
come at a critical moment when these issues concern us all.

In solidarity,

The TAAWC (CUPE 3908-2) executive.
taawc@trentu.ca

There are people speaking clearly and loudly because of your articulate, reasoned stand. These people are proud to know you. These people haven't met you yet. I know you and you know me and that is why I am working downtown, not at campus.

I have a wish list :

1) that you know you rock

2)anyone who could help me transfer video footage of the forum so it can be used to educate others pleaze get in touch (beckyrosen@yahoo.com)

3) that I get on an update list for email

xoxoxoxoxo and laugh it up :make the security giggle...

I am writing in support of the student occupation of the Vice President's office at Trent and the list of demands, which are reasonable and, if met, would put Trent on course to become Canada's best small university operating in the public good, free of a corrupting corporate agenda!

hi...

VERY nice work. it's great to see such an apparently well-planned and well-thoughtout effort at social change. i'm a graduate student at u of t and i support you 100%. actually, i'm taking a course right now in
community development and we're focusing quite a bit on social change theory and the work of the great Alinsky...so it's great to see an example of this stuff in action! (you radicals, you...) by the way, if sarah lamble is in there, then this message is dedicated to her...because she kicks-ass. hi sarah!

take care...ketan shankardass

brothers and sisters on the inside;

sunny downtown montreal is made sunnier today by the news of your insurrectionary activities - we of K.A.R.P* salute you!

the fine tradition of lunacy and carefully executed monkey-wrenching
at trent university is ennobled by your furtive and skillful efforts.

always remember that there are hundreds of us with you "on the inside" - smelling each others zealous flatulence - resting our heads on each other's laps - our fists raised in defiance to the machine.

your struggle is part of a greater struggle - an existential howl against corporate homogeneity.

know that, at the time of this writing, two Trent alumni-freak-stinkos
are about to open their window to the streets of Montreal
and caterwaul in the direction of your autonomous enclave.

See you on the barricades of Quebec city!

FIGHT EVIL!

with love,

darrin mortson
brian sanderson
jason oliver
teresa morrow

*kawartha alliance for reality preservation

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I've been watching with dismay as Trent has been dismantled piece by piece by the current adminstration. Thank you for standing up for some of the priorities and concerns that has made Trent distinct.

Al Vachon
Trent 91-5

Hi,
I think what you guys are doing is really great
and it takes a lot of guts and I just wanted to
say that I support you in your endeavours and
hope you get the Administration to listen to you.
After all, you are who they say they're there for
right?

Good Luck

Allison Lindner

Oz (Oscar Cole-Arnal )

Dave Banerjee, Campaign Co-ordinator of the Canadian Action Party

Hello, my name is Michael Marsolek and my letter concerns the protests at Trent University. I have read the demands of the students and I find them to be reasonable and based in sound judgement. I ask the administration of Trent to address these issues in good faith. After all, the issues deal in large part with the rights of students at the university, and since the university is an academic institution whose
number one priority should be the education and well-being of its students, it is hard for me to understand how you could successfully argue against them, unless your priority isn't actually the
students. Therefore, show that Trent Unversity is a first class academic institution by listening to the students and coming to a congenial agreement.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Michael Marsolek

All the best with your action! The University has taken a very dark
and disturbing path in choosing to close PRC and CPTC. Traill and
PR were the very best places at the University, with the most
interesting intellectual and cultural communities, when I was at
Trent. The current state of affairs is shameful. My thoughts are with
you.

David S. Churchill
Assistant Professor of History
University of Manitoba
350 University College
220 Dysart Road
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3T 2M8
(xxx) xxx-xxxx

The Trent 8 and Allies,

On behalf of the 1500 Teaching Assistants and Sessional Lecturers at
Carleton University, I commend you! It is certainly time that students
stood up to the increasingly blatant bullying of the corporate goons that have taken control of our Universities.

Trent University is not a corporation - it is a University. It is a
community, and the people who make up that community are those who participate in teaching and learning, not those who sit in the boardroom.

You have made this abundantly clear by your actions - keep up the struggle!

In Solidarity,

Finn Makela

-----------------------------------------------
VP-External, CUPE 4600 (TA's, RA's & Lecturers)
Carleton University
520-2600 x.8778
-----------------------------------------------

I am an alumi of '94 and thrilled to see some action on the PRC and CPT front. I read about your protest in today's Globe and Mail, and shortly thereafter recieved a chain main from other Trent alumni forwarding your message from the inside.

I hope you know, (and sure you do) that there is much more support for the colleges than exists within the bounds of Peterborough. We are located globally, and word spreads fast. We are looking for opportunities to support our favourite college (in my case PRC) from Toronto, to London, to Syndey and back. Keep the journal updates coming and I hope you are successful.

best regards,
Louisa

Congratulations and Good Luck! to the eight protesters at Trent. Your demands are quite reasonable, and in this province, quite necessary.

In solidarity,

Karen Urchak
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Ottawa, Ontario

To all of the students participating in the occupation at Trent University and to all of the organizers and supporters I wish to extend my congratulations and support to you for taking on the struggle for democracy and quality education.

As never before all institutions are being challenged by right wing forces that seek to deprive working class people of our basic rights to education, health and other valued public services.

We will survive only if we unite and struggle.

By your actions you are providing leadership and inspiration to us all.

In Solidarity

Geoff Bickerton

Director of Research
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
377 Bank St.
Ottawa, Canada
K2P 1Y3
(tel: xxx-xxx-xxxx_
(fax: xxx-xxx-xxxx)
gbickerton@cupw-sttp.org

Dear Friends, Comrades, Companeros/as,

I am writing to express my suport for the students currently occupying
the Vice-President's office at Trent University. While at one time Trent
University was known as a bastion of liberal ideas where students and
faculty alike were engaged in the free exchange of ideas and a common vision of social and economic transformation based upon equality and respect for all it has now succumbed to the forces of corporatization, cultural hegemony and the academic mediocrity that travels with these forces.

Many people before you have struggled and won many battles at great personal and often professional cost at the Trent Campus and it is disheartening that the big-headed but small-hearted have triumphed in the administration and the eventual McDonaldization of the campus.

The shutting down of the downtown colleges in the name of economy is a direct attack on diversity - the very trait that hasd made Trent strong in the past. The University has never been a democratic institution and it is becoming less so with the refusal of the administration intent on marginalizing students even further - to what purpose we must ask.

Although the current direction of the university may seem bleak the
continuation of the long and honourable tradition of protest and civil
disobedience carried on by the students in the Vice-President's Office
is a light shining in the current darkness. In the spirit of the heroic
students of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), at this time when the Zapatistas march to the capital of Mexico City, as we organize to confront the forces of corporate capital in Quebec City, we offer support and gratitude to these students and offer the strength of our hearts.

Chi Meegwetch,

Rodney Bobiwash
Center for World Indigenous Studies
and the Organizing Committee of the lll Encounter for Humanity and
Against Neoliberalism
(former Trent University faculty - Native Studies)

You guys are amazing! I was invovled in the sit-in that happened last
yeat at UofT, and our demands were not nearly as clear and detailed as yours are - our experience was that in the first hour the admin
really tried to smooth things out with us before the media came and word got - but beware their shmoozy ways and don't back down on your demands if they aren't really prepared to negotiate - the balls in your court, and the longer you are there, the more pressure they will feel (even if they don't show it), and the more attention your action will get.

Let us know how we can support you in Toronto.

Stay strong!

Sonia

Dear Friends at Trent U,
I hope your action is going well! Your efforts give more
energy to students working on the same issues everywhere. Good
luck.!. This is Dennis Markatos, a senior International Studies/Econ
major from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) .

I want to let you know about a new nonviolent network that began here at UNC-CH in November of 1998. It is an international coalition called SURGE, Students United for a Responsible Global Environment. We are partners with SEAC, STARC, Free the Planet, and many other organizations and coalitions. We have contacts from over 300 high schools, universities, and NGOs from mainly the United States and Canada, and we reach into over 30 other countries. We would love another great contact from your group to partner up and share resources to help create the global link necessary for a real change toward justice. And together we can win! Our First Annual SURGE Conference October 22-24, 1999, and Second October 13-15, 2000, were awesome with people from all over the U.S. and
from Canada, Cameroon, and Costa Rica. Out Third Annual is scheduled for October 26-28th here in Chapel Hill, NC. We hope we are in the beginning of something amazing...

So, could you or someone you know who might be interested be a
contact from your group? It only involves me putting your and/or your
friend's email address on the SURGE North America announcement/info listserve so that we can keep in touch and make events and demonstrations felt globally, not just locally. Our first national event, the National Day of Action Against the malicious U.S. policy towards Iraq went well on Friday, February 12, 1999. And we are working in partnership with USAS, United Students Against Sweatshops, to get sweatshops out of the collegiate apparel industry. We held a successful sit-in along with local groups to get Full Public Disclosure and a living wage for manufacturers' employees in April 1999 at UNC-CH. Another main focus was on the National Student Lobby Day against the School of the Americas on Monday, April 12, 1999. It made an impact with the vote that summer going our way in the House! November 22, 1998, the SOA national protest at Fort Benning, Georgia was a huge success with it's 7,000 participants. We followed our energy up by telling our Congresspeople all about the blossoming movement again on May 1-4 with the SOA Watch. We need to get the bills S. 873 and HR 732 to pass. We are halfway there! We got the funding cut in the House with a vote of 230-197 this July which marked the first time ever. On November 22, 1998, the SOA national protest at Fort Benning, Georgia was a huge success with 7,000 participants. 12,000 people have made the last two
national vigil/protest maintain the pressure on an institution breeding
oppression! Email back soon so that we can stay in touch on these
important issues and more. Check out our web page at
www.unc.edu/surge or www.surgenetwork.org Thank you so much. Enjoy the day.

We had our first international delegation this past summer from
May 22 - June 3 to Cuba through Witness For Peace, and hope to do many more all over the world in the future.
Peace,

Dennis Markatos
office phone # - (919)843-6548
Co-Coordinator, SURGE North America
Check us out at www.unc.edu/surge

"The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Stephen Biko, South African civil rights leader

6 current campaigns of SURGE members:
1. End the comprehensive sanctions strangling Iraq and Cuba
2. Close the US Army School of the Americas
3. Support USAS to get sweatshops out of the collegiate apparel industry
4. Mobilize against the Corporate-controlled WTO, IMF, and World Bank
5. Support the people of Puerto Rico in their effort to get the Navy out of Vieques
6. End the Death Penalty here in the United States

Thanks

To the occupiers at Trent University,

Today you follow in the footsteps of many students who have dared to challenge those who promote 'liberal arts' but engage in bottom-feeding practices. People outside of Trent have heard about the forcefeeding of decisions to close college residences, slash funding for classes, and open facilities for public-private partnerships.

These are many of the same battle students face elsewhere. Your merry band may seem small, but you represent far vaster numbers. Stay strong, have fun, and stick it to those who deserve it!

It is reassuring to know that others will be defiant in the fight to preserve public education. As a teaching assistant, I recently took part in a 78 day strike at York University that was fundamentally about making education a right, not a privilege. The longer battle for genuine democracy and liberation in our world will be premised on our ability to take action, but also to expand our capacity to imagine a better world. The fight for public education is therefore at the heart of the fight for freedom.

The brave French students of 1968 who inspired a strike of 10 million workers once said: "Be realistic - demand the impossible!" I encourage you to be similarly realistic in your fight at Trent.

Yours in the struggle,

Joel Harden
Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate (Political Science)
York University, Toronto.

Hey yo,

From the shop stewards of the sub local of 1281 at Carleton University....and in the words of our fearless CUSA president..."Stick it to the goddam man!!!"...good luck with the occupation...the folks here in Ottawa are behind you guys 125 % !!!!!!!

In solidarity,

Chris "epstein" Langtry
Shop Steward/Vice President
C.U.P.E. Local 1281

Carleton University

Trent Students Occupy Vice-President's Office: "Keep the Colleges Open," say students

Peterborough - Students at Trent University have occupied the University's Vice-Presidential office demanding that Peter Robinson College-slated to close at the end of the summer-and Catharine Parr Traill College remain open. This action follows on the heals of a January Board of Governors meeting where more than 40 students were shut out of a meeting which would have discussed the University's plans to close two colleges at Trent.

"Not only were students shut out of the decision making process, but so too were faculty members," said Derrick McIntosh, President of the Trent Central Student Association. "Professor John Syrett was prevented from presenting a compromise proposal on the college closures to the Board of Governors, despite the fact that the proposal had the support of nearly a third of faculty members."

Professor Syrett's proposal would keep the colleges open until the year 2007 to help accommodate the double cohort.

The students occupying the Vice-Presidential office are demanding that both the Peter Robinson College and Catharine Parr Traill College remain open; that any public-private partnerships considered by the administration be subject to a student-run referendum; that the decision-making structures within the university be improved based on principles of transparency, accountability and openness; and that academic amnesty be granted for students supporting these demands.

"The impact of privatisation of post-secondary education is being felt everywhere," said Mike Izzo, Vice-President External Affairs, Trent Central Student Association. "From the closing of colleges while the Ontario government opens the doors to private universities, to the privatisation of residence to the corporatisation of post-secondary curriculum, students are standing up to say: enough."


For more information contact:

Erin George,
Canadian Federation of Students Ontario Chairperson: (416) 925-3825 or (416) 707-0349 (cell)

Derrick McIntosh,
President, Trent Central Student Association, Local 71, Canadian Federation of Students at (705) 748-1000

Mike Izzo,
Vice-President External Affairs, Trent Central Student Association, Local 71, Canadian Federation of Students at (705) 748-1000

The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's national student movement with 400,000 members at more than 60 campuses across Canada.

Trent Students Need Your Support

Dear Friends:


Monday morning, eight Trent University students took
over the office of Vice President Academic, Graham
Taylor. The students are protesting recent moves by
the University administration to close two of Trent's
downtown colleges and to centralise all services onto
the suburban campus. This plan will lead to the
possible privatisation of services at the University,
decreased student spaces, the relocation of
departments to unsuitable locations, and the
disintegration of Trent's unique college system.


This ocupation comes after a year and a half of protests and attempts at dialogue with the administration, by students and
faculty. In 1999, Trent President Bonnie Patterson,
announced the "Capital Development Strategy" as a way
to obtain provincial Superbuild funds for the
University. Since then, decision-making with regards
to the Strategy, has not respected due process.
Furthermore, the Capital Development Strategy has been
challenged for its lack of financial, academic and
administrative feasibility.
Because protests and attempts at dialogue have had
little effect thus far, the students occupying the
Vice President's office hope their action will force
the administration to change the current course of its
plans.
The students' demands include: the administration
take concrete steps towards the improvement of
decision-making processes at Trent University,
especially on issues of openness, transparency and
accountability; that the downtown colleges be
maintained and enhanced at their current locations;
that possible privatisation of University space and
resources be addressed as a student and academic
issue; and that legal and academic amnesty be granted
to all students involved in the current protest
action. (**For a full text of the demands, please see
below)

****We ask your organisation to send letters of
support to these students and express your concern for
the future of Trent University. Please email all
letters to the following addresses:

trent_revolution@hotmail.com
anupgi@yahoo.com
bmpatterson@trentu.ca

If you have any questions or need further information
on letters, please contact anupgi@yahoo.com. If you
would like updates on the situation, please look at
www.geekunity.com/trentaction

Thank you very much!!!