The Student Choice Initiative (SCI) had devastating consequences for students and student clubs when it was implemented in 2019. Bringing it back now in the midst of a pandemic will only harm students more.
Queen’s University is one of five universities intervening in the Ford administration’s appeal, scheduled for March 23-24, to bring back the SCI. Considering it failed to act against the initiative’s initial implementation in 2019, Queen’s acting now no matter how small is a positive thing.
The SCI was first initiated as a trial-run of sorts, aiming to save students money by allowing them to opt-out of student fees previously deemed mandatory. Yet this only served to negatively impact student clubs and organizations relying on those fees and to justify cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).