Penguins protest: Calgary students set up display in fight against education cuts
Posted Feb 9, 2021 12:29 pm.
Last Updated Feb 9, 2021 12:30 pm.
CALGARY – A snow penguin protest that generated buzz in Edmonton appeared in Alberta’s biggest city.
Representatives in Calgary for the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) said they built about 250 snow penguins outside the provincial government’s McDougall Centre to protest cuts to post-secondary education.
Late last month, students from the University of Alberta and MacEwan University used snow moulds to build about 800 penguins on the grounds of the legislature for the same cause.
Groundskeepers destroyed most of them the next day, as the government deemed them tripping hazards.
An army of Penguins have been placed outside the McDougall Building this afternoon protesting the #UCP cuts to education resulting in institutions potentially raising tuition fees by 22% over the next three years. #yyc #Calgary @660NEWS @citynewscalgary pic.twitter.com/9rVOPu6mVR
— Nick Blakeney (@CameraGuyNick) February 8, 2021
Marley Gillies, vice-president of the University of Calgary Students’ Union, said the group has been in contact with management at McDougall Centre and hopes the penguin display will last longer.
Gillies added students in Calgary want to bring attention to a 22.5 per cent rise in tuition over three years and to cuts to Alberta’s post-secondary institutions.
