QPIRG-McGill fee increase – YES
The Daily endorses a “yes” vote on the QPIRG-McGill fee increase, which seeks to raise the opt-outable fee for undergraduate and graduate students from $3.75 to $5 per semester. QPIRG-McGill serves as the umbrella organization for 16 volunteer-run working groups and provides funding and resources to the students and community organizers that make up the groups. What’s more, QPIRG-McGill offers event series, an alternative library, workshops, and opportunities for applied, community-based research.
The most important feature of QPIRG-McGill is that it connects McGill students with the larger Montreal community, a valuable link that is rarely made. In addition, the organization is a pivotal source for anti-oppression work on campus, which is otherwise sorely lacking. Since its founding in the 1980s, QPIRG-McGill has only once asked for a fee increase (of $0.75), and so its current fees have fallen behind the rate of inflation, leaving it with less money than it needs. A fee increase for QPIRG-McGill is thus necessary to sustain its current work, and to further increase its presence on campus and in the Montreal community.
—The McGill Daily Editorial Board
Commentary editor Cem Ertekin was not present for, or involved in, the discussion and endorsement of QPIRG-McGill’s referendum fee, as he is a volunteer at QPIRG-McGill.
The referendum voting period runs from February 26 to March 2.