Free income tax clinic for residents of Canada with income below $20,000 single/$30,000 family. Cecil Community Centre (College/Spadina), March 3, 8, 15, 31. Register to receive an appointment at 416-392-1090.
Join us on Feb 1st, as thousands of students rally at Queen’s Park!
DAY OF ACTION EVENTS:
10:00am: MEET for coffee and snacks at the new GSU café Harvest Noon
(16 Bancroft)
11:00am: RALLY at Sid Smith, have hot dogs from USW 1998, then march
to Convocation Hall
1:00 pm: CONVERGENCE of students from the GTA and beyond at Con Hall,
then march to Queen’s Park
3:00 pm: RALLY at Queen’s Park
On February 1st, UofT students will join over 600,000 members of theCanadian Federation of Students across the country in a National Day
of Action. We will take to the streets to defend affordable public
education in Canada, calling on the federal government to restore
funding for our colleges and universities to the 1992 level. We’re
also asking the Province to take the $423 million set aside for the
30% tuition fee rebate program for limited numbers of students to be
used to support ALL students with a tuition fee reduction of 13%.
MARCH with the Graduate Students’ Union because…graduate tuition fees
increase at double the rate of undergraduate tuition fees, $42 million
was cut from the Ontario Research Fund this year alone, and post-
residency fees were eliminated at U of T in 1993. And because we know
what mobilizing can do… in 2010 – a 50% increase in the number of
Ontario Graduate Scholarships, and $310 million funding injection into
colleges and universities while almost all other sectors were cut and
in 2008 –the creation of a new federal student grant program that
saves students $430 million a year.
Our volunteer yoga teacher Padina regrets she can’t offer classes during the 2012 winter term because of a heavy academic load. Please check our website in the spring to find out if she is able to offer the class. We are always looking for ways to utilize our gym with low impact activities during the day, if you have any suggestions, or can instruct a course, please contact us.
Just Graduated? Want to extend your coverage? Check our website for info: http://www.utgsu.ca/health-and-dental/extended-health-dental-insurance/
Fall Opt-out cheques will be mailed out by the end of March. This will also include opt out cheques for students who started in January 2012. You should have received an application number after you opted-out. That is your confirmation that your opt-out went through, and, if there are any discrepancies, please send an email to: health@utgsu.ca and refer to the confirmation number and your student number.
Students starting grad school in January can opt in dependents or opt out if they have comparable coverage between January 4th-February 3rd, 2012. To opt-out (if you already have comparable coverage) go here. To opt-in dependents, please go here.
The GSU is currently conducting a survey to collect information on the various departmental policies concerning stipend top-ups for winning major external awards. It can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/
If you have won a major award (e.g. CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, OGS) or aware of the award policies within your department, please let us know what the policies in your department are, as this would be a great help for us in our negotiations with UofT administration.
The survey is quite short, and it is envisioned that you responses will have a direct effect on the potential future policies in regards to the issue, so your participation will be of utmost importance. In case you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the GSU Academic Commissioner at academic@utgsu.ca
The new Grad Escape events have been posted to the website. Check out what kind of group events will be happening this semester here.
Do you need legal help? Have a bad landlord, or has a past room mate not paid bills they owe? As a GSU member you get free access to Downtown Legal Services. Give them a call and they might be able to help you out. For more information, check out their website: http://dls.sa.utoronto.ca/
TTC service cuts for January 2012 have been announced. These budget cuts mean service cuts that will impact the entire city. A full list of cuts is available here.
These are, by any reasonable definition, major service cuts. What makes this even more distressing is that these service cuts have happened without consultation and with no vote from City Council on the budget ? yet they have already been approved by the Commission. Please contact the Mayor (mayor_ford@toronto.ca) and the TTC Chair (councilllor_stintz@toronto.ca