Arts and Science students to strike Thursday

The strike will allow students to join in province-wide protests against tuition hikes. Premier Jean Charest's decision to raise Quebec student tuition by nearly 75% has drawn the ire of many students in the province.

Charest says the need for more education funds justifies the move. President of the Graduate Students’Association Robert Sonin called this claim dubious. 

"Basically we think it's kind of a fraud. The government has the money, or could have the money. If they if they taxed properly and more fairly, they would have plenty of money to fund education and if they were really committed to education they could find the money fairly easily. 

Council members stressed the wider trend of making education less accessible and more susceptible toprivate interests. Councilman Richard Hinton said Charest was helping transform universities.

"This isn't a question of spoiled students it's a question of the direction our society is taking as a whole."

Schools from across Montreal will be holding a joint protest on the 10th at Place Emilie-Gamelin. Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill promised the protest would be a monumental affair.

"What that means, really, is that we're going to shut this city down on November 10th. And I think we can win." 

For CJLO News at Concordia's downtown campus, I'm Brandon Judd.