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Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access

by vivian belikJill Ratcliffe

Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access
Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access

To view a slide show of the evening, click on any one of the photos above.

Its 1:00 in the morning and there's more than a hundred students milling about NSCAD.

Some students are working hard on their final projects. Others are piled into the NSCAD student lounge listening to music, sharing food and discussing the administration's proposal to restrict 24 hour access to students.

"Any way you divide it up, this proposal just doesn't make sense," says Emily Davidson, Student Union President of NSCAD.

Currently, NSCAD is the only art college in Canada that provides students with around-the-clock access to studio space. Davidson says international and out-of-province students choose this university because of this selling feature.

The University hasn't formally announced it will be removing 24 hour access, it has only been discussed in a finance and property committee meeting that a student representatives sits on.

"There has been no communication about this," says Davidson who was upset by the university's decision to not engage students in the process.

The decision to restrict overnight access will save the university $140,000 a year, a nominal amount according to Davidson. It's part of a larger set of cuts to the university that will see fewer student assistants on campus, reductions to the library budget and the closure of the Dawson Print Shop, a for-profit print studio that was opened only ten months ago.

The university attempted to restrict 24 hour access last year but students' efforts last year prevented it from going through.

On April 30th the NSCAD Board of Governors will vote upon the issue. If the vote carries, access will be restricted as of May 1st, 2009

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Topics: Education
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