STU year shortened to make up for strike

By Ryan Ross

The strike-shortened school year will be tough, says one St. Thomas University student.
Katie Francis, a second-year criminology and anthropology student, spoke from Fredericton where she stayed throughout the almost month-long strike.
The school condensed what is left of the school year and the exam schedule to make up for lost time, she said.
“It’s gonna be pretty brutal.”
The faculty association’s contract expired June 30, 2007 and a lockout went into effect Dec. 27.
Both sides have since agreed to binding arbitration and classes resumed Feb. 5.
Francis said she has a lot of reading to do, but all the professors cancelled midterms.
“I still have just as many papers.”
Even with the strike-shortened schedule, students will only miss one week of school, she said.
“It’s going to be tense.”
Shannon Whidden went through a similar situation as a music student at Mt. Allison University in Sackville, N.B.
Whidden was in his last semester when professors went on strike in 1999 and left students with a shortened year.
When the strike ended, his academic classes were cut short, but professors gave the music students extra lessons for studio classes to make up for lost time as they tried to prepare for their final performances, he said.
Whidden said the students gave up about a month of preparation, even with the extra lessons, and that affected their sense of confidence.
“I felt like I really lost out, in that sense.”
But Whidden supported the faculty until they decided to go on strike.
“It’s not a factory job.”
There is more long-term damage when a strike affects people’s education, he said.
“I felt that their methods were pretty unpalatable.”
Whidden said if he had to do it again the strike-shortened year wouldn’t make him reconsider going to Mount Allison.
“It certainly soured me on some of it.”
And Francis said she won’t get the same quality of education she would have otherwise.
“We’re not going to get the regular amount of education we should have received.”