VIDEO: Algoma University students protest in blistering cold in Brampton

Brampton | Education |

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Published January 15, 2024 at 11:46 am

algoma university brampton protest

More Algoma University students joined Brampton protests claiming unexplained failed grades.

The protests started in early January with claims that 130 students were “failed intentionally” in a computer science course at Algoma University’s Brampton campus.

Algoma later said that out of 230 students, only 32 have a failing grade. A group supporting the protestors says 100 of the failed students were found to have passed the course after a reassessment.

On Sunday (Jan. 14), more students marched around the Brampton Algoma campus as temperatures plunged to a frigid -12 C, feeling much colder with the windchill.

The students shouted “Algoma shame, shame” and held signs that read “Don’t cut our future” and “Algoma please come and talk to us, we need an explanation”.

The students “demand fair reassessment, transparency & accountability as more students from multiple classes came forward with unexplained mass failing grades,” said Naujawan Support Network, an organization uniting to stop the exploitation of international students and workers, on X.

Reportedly, the students in three business and management courses discovered that more than half the class failed one course, and numerous students failed in the other two courses, all taught by the same professor.

An Algoma spokesperson tells insauga.com that they stand by a statement sent last week.

Algoma University’s leadership listened carefully to the concerns of students who failed the computer science and offered students a make-up exam, the statement read, in part.

“The University will also continue its review, which will include reviewing students’ previous tests and assignments,” Algoma said in the statement last week. “We will continue to communicate with the impacted students.”

The protests come as international students deal with fraudsters taking advantage of the system and as Ottawa tries to better protect students from becoming victims.

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