KINCARDINE - Around 200 students marched from Bishop University's Ross Hall past Sutton House and finally to Government House today with a list of demands. The students' demands include unionization for all graduate student workers and the establishment of a university in Sutton. "Why should I have to come across the Green Sea for college?" said Andrew Macalester, a Bishop University Economics Ph.D. candidate and president of the Student National Protest (SNP) - a student organization at the campus. "The fact that there is no major university in Sutton is a travesty. Look at all the economic development that Bishop and Uni-Roccato have brought to Kincardine! Suttonites deserve the same level of development and access to higher education as everyone else."
Andrew Macalester is the leader of the Student National Protest (SNP) and an Economics Ph.D. Candidate at Bishop University
A common theme of the protests was a growing discontentment with the government in Bekennial. "We're fed up with the national government," said Katie Cunningham, an MFA student in Drama at Bishop. "There is no reason the government shouldn't have been able to function over the past two years. The Republicans clearly aren't the answer to our woes." Macalester added, "Republicans can't get anything done, and the Royalists in Parliament are spending so much time defending the Monarchy that they've forgotten about real people like us. We have to focus our efforts on local and provincial government. We are thereby petitioning Premier Banfield for the creation of a new higher education institution in Sutton."
Premier Banfield meeting with student protesters at Government House.
The students, mostly Suttonites and other Roccatoans attending Kincardine-based universities, were surprised when Premier Banfield met them at the doors of Government House and offered an audience with them. The protesters presented him with the "Student National Protest (SNP)" Manifesto which included requests for the creation of a new Liberal Arts College or Research University in Sutton, Institutes of Ethics and Hutori Grand Strategy as part of that college or university, the right of students to unionize if employed by the new university. Banfield seemed impressed with the students and offered his support. "It is always a good day in Roccato when our youth stand up for their beliefs. I will take their full proposal under advisement, but I can tell you now that I already support the creation of a new higher education institution on Sutton."