Childcare. Tuition hikes. Sweatshops. And beer? A brief history of student protests on University of Toronto

Here is a brief history of on-campus protests that have occurred at U of T.  

Tent City

This current encampment protest actually has precedent in U of T history, as in September of 1968, in response to a housing crisis, students built a small tent city in front of Hart House to demonstrate for affordable housing.

The Mother of all Sit-ins

In March 1970, more than 300 students — including several mothers of young children attending the school — rushed the school’s senate chamber and held a sit-in overnight to protest for better daycare facilities at the school. 

Fight for your Right to Research

When Robarts Library was constructed, undergraduate students did not have access to the same materials as Faculty and Graduate students, so in March 1972, the senate chamber in Simcoe hall was once again occupied and demonstrations took place, until the school reversed the policy. 

Radicals against Racism

In March 1974, 50 students led by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) fought with campus police to break into an administration building to gain access to a governing council meeting, which was eventually adjourned. The group was demonstrating for their right to attend the meeting, where an SDS spokesperson was supposed to read a statement protesting racism on campus.

Against Apartheid 

This is also not the first time students are asking the school to divest holdings due to global events. In March 1987, approximately 250 students disrupted a meeting of the University of Toronto’s governing council after council members refused to consider selling the university’s holdings in firms with South African operations to protest Apartheid.

Tent protest denied

In 1988, the 14th G7 summit took place in Toronto, and world leaders were holding meetings on campus and planned a dinner at Hart House. The University of Toronto Popular Summit Coalition wanted to erect bright orange tents on campus and hold a rally to protest the use of the school grounds for the event. U of T officials banned the tents for health and safety reasons.

Scar-Beer-ria

In October 1989, about 300 students at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus held a protest because their only on-campus pub — called The Pub — hadn’t been open since school started. The protesters accused the principal of denying them a watering hole, shouting “we want our pub back.”

Protests at the President’s office

In October 1990, about 30 University of Toronto students staged a sit-in outside the president’s office to protest racism on campus. The students, part of a university group called the United Coalition Against Racism, sat outside President Robert Prichard’s office for more than five hours.

In February 1997, 20 students peacefully occupied the office, demanding a freeze to all tuition hikes. The students ordered pizza, but campus security wouldn’t let the delivery man into the office, so the pizzas were brought up by rope to the office.

In March 1999, the office was again occupied by 20 protesters calling for an end to racism on campus. This time they reportedly brought a lot of food and were using a bucket to go the bathroom.

In December 2000, a dozen students calling themselves Students Against Sweatshops occupied the office for more than a week, because they wanted the school to pass a policy banning the manufacture of university clothing by companies exploiting cheap labour markets.

G20 arrests

It was not an on-campus demonstration, but in June 2010, when massive protests engulfed the city during the G20 summit, 70 out-of-town protesters were arrested after they were being housed at the Graduate Student Union building on campus. Police said they found clothing and “weapons of opportunity” that were used by the notorious Black Bloc of protesters that wreaked havoc throughout demonstrations across the city.

Tuition Walkout

In March 2019, about 250 students walked out of classes to protest the Progressive Conservative moves to eliminate free tuition for low-income students and making some student fees, including those that fund campus clubs, optional.