Fighting for Student rights he present crisis in Canada’s post-secondary education system Cannot be comprehended apart from the world-wide international financial crisis of capitalism that has been in progress since the mid- Seventies. This most recent crisis has thrown millions of people out of work and produced wildly-fluctuating Interest rates and intractable in- flation. It has been coupled with the €lection of neo-conservative gOvernments in the USA and Great Britain, with programs that seek to dismantle generations of hard-won SOcial gains and reassert archaic pat- terns of discipline and social control. Echoing this neo-conservative acklash, the Trudeau government has gradually abandoned its tradi- tonal ‘‘liberal’’ concerns in favor of 4 policy of fiscal restraint. In the Name of ‘‘six-and-five’’, Ottawa is Cutting billions of dollars in post- Secondary transfer payments to the Provinces. Not to be outdone in this primitive Orgy of cost-cutting, the provincial 80vernments have proceeded with tic budget-slicing policies of their Own — as well as the blatant abandonment of long-standing com- Mitments to an accessible post- S€condary system for all qualified Students. Inadequate student employment °pportunities. and regressive 4€velopments in student aid are turn- ing our campuses into preserves for the well-to-do. And the only ‘plan- ‘ing’ being done is in the name of an ‘nstrumentalist logic that perpetuates the injustices of streaming and makes ®ducation subordinate to the needs of Monopoly expansion. The Stablishment is increasingly incap- Able of tolerating independent king. On Canada’s campuses opposition ‘0 this conservative drive has been 'Solated and reactive, although at groups and student-run public inter-- est research groups are proliferating and becoming more aware of the con- tributions that they make — as stu- - dents — to these issues. But these organizations and cam- paigns, growing as they are, remain in a state of isolation. What is needed is united student action at the local, provincial and federal levels. The efforts of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) to be- EDUCATION: ~ ARIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE come a viable nation-wide student federation, with integrated pro- vincial components, is a step towards such unity. Admittedly, there are the inevitable geographical and constitu- tional problems common to any na- tional Canadian organization (and seized upon by right-wing student leaders). But the alternative to CFS is continuing isolated and reactive protest. The Communist Party of Canada believes that students, as well as unit- ing to defend their own interests, can have a major role to play in trans- _ forming society. But to do so, they must establish a strong national stu- dent federation that will give voice to their ideals and defend both their own interests and the interests of fu- ture generations of students. The way to accomplish today’s task is through increased involve- ment of progressive students and campus groups in the affairs of stu- dent government and in the CFS. CFS is the vehicle through which _ Yarious levels many hopeful. _ €velopments are taking place. al student campaigns on issues Such as library access, overcrowd- » housing problems and the scape- 80ating of visa students have yielded Positive results. This special section of the Canadian Tribune was produced. by the Young Communist League in association with the Student Qom- mission of the Communist Party of Canada as a contribution to the growing debate on the crisis of post-secondary education in Canada. Only by joining in a broad coalition will students, faculty and staff be able to defeat the present right-wing offensive on our campuses. We invite your comments. students can stand beside faculty and staff unions, local school boards, community groups — and especially the trade union movement to develop a democratic alternative to the pre- sent malaise in post-secondary education and in Canadian society as a whole. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 28, 1983—Page 5 Women’s centres, campus peace