The one day in the year when hundreds of students come together to raise money in a combined effort to fight cystic fibrosis. Up until shine day $24,000 was raised through various fund raisers in the summer. The shinerama committee faced tons of obstacles for their biggest fund raiser which is shine day. On the day it was supposed to take place two weeks ago it was postponed due to the rain (which cleared up only a few hours later), and then the next week it was postponed again due to the rain. Even though today was a beautiful day for weather, the campus is a ghost town due to the strike. Nonetheless, shinerama carried on and raised thousands more for cystic fibrosis research. And I got to sing! Overall, it was a great start to the day.
I engaged in several conversations with students today about the strike and how long it could last. Building on one another's ideas we came up with a silent rally event to be held on Tuesday. We decided to focus on students, join all of us together regardless of our views about the strike to send a clear message: we want to get back to class.
The timing couldn't be better since there is a Board of Governors meeting to be held on Tuesday September 23 in the Toldo Health Education Centre. We decided to hold a mass study session outside of Toldo at 3:00pm while the board members are entering the building.
(For those of you who don't know, the Board of Governors is the highest financial decision making body at the University, it is the body that holds the administration responsible for their actions. It is made up of various community members: http://www.uwindsor.ca/units/bog/main.nsf/inToc/68595772C935B9F985256D6D0062C1D2?OpenDocument )
We named it "Take It To The Streets: Study Session on Sunset"
The goal is to get together, bring our lawn chairs and laptops, blankets and text books and study together. All of this to show the Board of Governors (the highest financial decision making body at the University of Windsor) that we want the education we paid for.
We will also have standardized letters to be filled out "Hello my name is ______ this is how the strike has affected me ___________". It is clear that the strike is affecting so many students in different ways, by personalizing these letters we are able to show how important it is to each and every one of us that this is settled immediately.
The UWSA agreed to sponsor cold drinks for the study session and the deal was done.
Seeing as this is nothing more then a peaceful rally I hope no one attempts to change the location of the Board meeting. We aren't being adversarial, we simply want to send the message loud and clear that an agreement needs to be reached for the good of everyone, especially students.
Anyways, I'm off to a birthday party. I'll see you all Tuesday.
Spread the word.
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