University compromise not enough to please student protesters

A proposed compromise from Lakehead University doesn’t sit well with students protesting the changes to a course in the school’s faculty of law.

Students have been staging a sit-in near Lakehead president Brian Stevenson’s office since Feb. 25 over changes to an Aboriginal class. On Wednesday, the university proposed a new mandatory course, Law 1535: Aboriginal Perspectives to complement Law 1530: Native Canadian World Views and Law in order to make a full-year course.

Provost Rod Hanley said that would meet one of the protester’s demands, mainly to have a full-year course. But protester Sebastian Murdoch-Gibson said the course still remains fundamentally changed from what was originally proposed and so the protestors will be staying put.

“It does not address any or our fundamental concerns and to accept it would be to compromise our principles,” he said.

Another issue is that the course would be outside of the Indigenous Learning department. But Hanley said it would be hard to have a course in the law school that wasn’t part of the faculty.

“Law courses have to be taught under the faculty of law and under the jurisdiction of the law faculty and managed by the dean of law so to have a course outside of that context makes it very difficult to do all of that,” he said.

The compromise has the support of organizations Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Metis Nation of Ontario. Murdoch-Gibson said he wants those organizations to exercise caution before supporting the plan.

“Ultimately that’s their decision and we support them in making any decision they want to make,” he said.

The proposal will be voted on by Lakehead’s senate March 22. Murdoch-Gibson said the protesters will have to live with whatever decision is made.

“At that point the record will be set, everyone will know whose position is what and we’ll be happy to leave,” he said.