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The economic stimulus bill that Congress is scheduled to vote on today includes more than $150 billion in new education funding, according to the New York Times.
That number includes $6 billion in construction and renovation funds for colleges and universities, and an $8 billion increase in Pell Grant funding.
The Pell Grant hike would raise total government support for the program by nearly 50%.
Meanwhile, as the Times reported two weeks ago, colleges and universities spending on students has dropped in the last half-decade, while the proportion of the cost of education paid for by students has risen. (The study the Times drew those conclusions from can be found here.)
I was figuring today would be a slow news day on the York University strike. I figured wrong.
- The Liberal party is rejecting calls for a tuition refund.
- CUPE is planning a court challenge to the upcoming back-to-work legislation.
- More than a thousand students have signed on to a class-action lawsuit against York over their handling of the strike.
January 28 Update: CUPE won’t be challenging the BTW law after all. Classes at York should resume on Monday.
That’s the slogan of the students who will be gathering at the Arizona state capitol tomorrow to protest a proposed forty percent budget cut for the state university system.
Organizers are expecting as many as two thousand students to participate in the rally, and are urging professors to bring their classes or excuse absences to boost attendance.
More details on the rally can be found at the Arizona Students Association website.
Not long ago, the York Federation of Students raised the idea of a tuition rebate for students affected by the strike. This morning’s Globe and Mail notes that there’s some precedent for such a move, and that some politicians don’t seem averse to it now.
The same article quotes New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton as suggesting that his party’s refusal to grant consent to a back-to-work bill may delay the legislation’s passage by only “two or three days.”
Meanwhile, the York administration has released a timetable for when classes would resume if a back-to-work law passes this week. In short, if the law is enacted today, tomorrow, or Wednesday, classes would start up two days later. If it passes on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, classes will resume next Monday.
Finally, there’s the question of what’s likely to happen if CUPE fights a back-to-work law in court. York law professor David Doorey posted some thoughts on that question on his blog last week.
10:44 am Update: Journalist Sarah Millar of the National Post is liveblogging (livetweeting?) the legislature’s question time on her Twitter feed.
1:36 pm Update: Liberal Party sources are now saying that Thursday is the earliest the bill could pass, which would make Monday the earliest York could re-open.
There’s a calm before the storm this morning, as observers wait to see the results of the session of the Ontario provincial legislature scheduled for one o’clock this afternoon.
The legislature is expected to take up back-to-work legislation aimed at ending the 81-day York University strike. The two largest parties in the legislature are on record in support of the bill, but with the New Democratic Party opposed, it is likely to be days, perhaps weeks, before any legislation takes effect.
Higher education writer Joey Coleman argues this morning that a brief delay is a good thing, as it will give the union, CUPE local 3903, one last chance to strike a deal and avoid binding arbitration. He’s hoping to see NDP agree to let the law be enacted on Wednesday if the union doesn’t approve a deal on Tuesday.
The Toronto Star is reporting that if the bill does pass on Wednesday, classes will not resume at York until Monday, February 2.
Meanwhile, the text of the bill has been posted on several blogs. It would impose fines of $2000 a day against individuals who continue to strike in the face of the back-to-work order.
2:20 pm Update: As expected, the eight NDP members of the provincial legislature voted against the back-to-work bill. The Star is now reporting that a final vote is “likely later this week or early next week.”
2:35 pm Update: As the York Strike 2008 blog points out, union spokesperson Tyler Shipley is quoted in the Star as saying that CUPE is looking into challenging the back-to-work order in the courts.
2:40 pm Update: More from the Star — applications to York for the fall semester, previously reported to be down 15%, are now said to have slipped 26% in the faculty of arts, York’s liberal arts division, and by as much as 40% in some graduate programs. The university is anticipating that the decline in admissions will lead to decreased enrollment, and consequently to faculty cutbacks.
studentactivism.net 
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