Crawford
Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
HIS TONE of voice embodies defiance. He is a man on a mission, for which he has been both lauded and lambasted by the Jamaican public.
But Damion Crawford, president of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Guild of Students, believes there is a cause.
The embattled pencil-thin president seemed unperturbed by the recent happenings, where he and scores of other students were tear-gassed and tongue-lashed by the police and members of the public for blocking the gates to the UWI on Wednesday to protest against what they deemed unfair policies.
Crawford, 24, was decked in a UWI jersey, beach shorts, slippers and hair in plaits when The Sunday Gleaner caught up with him on Friday. But the stressful look in his eyes belied his nonchalant style of dress.
Mr. Crawford told The Sunday Gleaner that the perception that he is picketing so as to not be de-registered, is the furthest thing from the truth.
On the contrary, he says, his reasons for protesting against "flawed policies" are two-fold. Firstly, because it is a personal conviction. And, secondly because of his presidential post, as he believes that if you are elected to represent the people, you should do just that represent.
BEHAVIOUR JUSTIFIED
One thing is for sure, there will be no apologies for the actions taken by the Guild.
"If I think our behaviour was justified? Based on what we wanted to achieve, yes. When we analysed the situation we saw it was much more than university administration versus student issue," he said. "When I spoke to administration, I didn't get the feeling that they wanted to kick out these students, but they were faced with certain constraints which were as a result of governmental policies which was to cut back on the budget... we never locked the gate saying we can't get anywhere with admin, my God dem yah people yah wicked, we blocked the gate saying we needed an intervention from the Government, to understand what are the policies, because we would have to address those policies if we felt that they were not for the people."
Crawford believes that the people he represents and their cause is widely misunderstood: "I like to have things done but I don't want it to be seen that I like to disrupt things but sometimes if things are not working out you have to take action."
"My true feeling is that I am representing an entire social class which expands greater than the students, because the major thing, and I believe that this has been lost in the arguments, is that I am not fighting for whether or not they should pay and that is not the issue. The part of the policy I am fighting against is the part that says if you can't pay you have to leave."
He made it abundantly clear that he does not support delinquency: "I don't support a man who is delinquent in payment of his fees".
"I believe that everybody should have equal access to certain things. I believe that everybody should have equal access to health, education and social mobility tools and therefore I cannot stand for a policy that says that persons who can't afford it should not come."
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
According to Crawford who said that he aided in the implementation of health insurance for students and campus security while he was president of the Guild of Students in Nassau, Bahamas, "There is a wide cross-section of people here but the fact of the matter is that a lot of them is below the poverty line and the greater majority can't afford the fees because you don't have to be poor to not be able to afford to pay the fees."
Crawford said that he feared that the policies, which are not geared towards making the cost of schooling affordable, would force some students to take desperate measures such as smuggling drugs or promiscuous indulgence to appease their desperate situations quickly."
What manner of man is he?
He hails from a place called Little Lane, located at 113 Hagley Park Road in Kingston. He completed his bachelor's degree in hotel and tourism management in Nassau, Bahamas, where he was also president of the Guild of Students. He is currently reading for a master's degree in hotel and tourism management.He was chairman for Taylor Hall last year.He was a mathematics teacher at Norman Manley High School in Kingston for a year.
