Lee Ellen Pottie
UPEI Contingency Plan
April 3, 2006

I hope that part of UPEI's contingency plan for students requires administration to take up the classes of the striking professors. In this way, administration (who are all professors) will understand and perhaps remember how difficult it is for the faculty to manage large classes. C'mon folks, give the professors what they need.

Brandon MacKenzie
March 29, 2006
Who will foot the bill?

As a UPEI graduate I have been following the present labour disruption with interest.

Clearly the UPEI FA has a strong mandate from their members, and presumably, strong reasons for their actions. I, like many, would be happy if UPEI's professors do achieve a sense of wage parity adjusted to the province's cost of living. But my concern lies in who will be footing the bill.

This question has been on the minds of students for many years. UPEI is funded by tuition and provincial operating grants. Recent history only points to substantive increases in tuition to cover increased operational costs, while operating grants have struggled to keep pace with inflation. This point has been raised annually by the UPEI Student Union, using any public event capable of conveying their concerns. Countless marches, educational campaigns, and press events have attempted to raise the profile of the dire funding situation facing UPEI and post-secondary education.

Now this funding problem has boiled over into a labour disruption. The primary point of contention remains money. If class sizes are to remain the same, this money ultimately has two sources: tuition increases or provincial operational grants. Seeing that substantive operational grants will not be coming from the provincial treasury in the near future, I wonder if the UPEI FA will finally join students in their public annual campaigns lobbying for an increase in post-secondary education funding?

UPEI's professors will eventually achieve an increase in pay, and I'm quick to say a well deserved one. But when they do, I hope that they join with students in fighting for a substantive increase in post-secondary education funding at the provincial bargaining table.

Sarah Clark
March 28, 2006
Students owed their semester

I would like to comment to the last message posted about students being owed their semester. First of all - when this strike is over - students will finish their semester. Their final mark will in most cases be evaluated in exactly the same manner as students last year. Final exams will occur, final essays and projects will still be passed in etc.

Currently, students with classes on Tuesday and Thursday have only missed three classes due to the strike. In many previous semesters more classes have been missed due to storm days. Faculty are used to dealing with semesters where some classes are missed and they regularly adjust classes appropriately to make up for these lost days.

On their last class, most professors gave their students reading material to keep up, which means that most students will be ready to jump back into the material when classes resume.

Secondly, students are aware that faculty strikes occur. We hear all about them on the news from other universities. Students at UPEI have been very fortunate to have never lived through a strike before. Some have chosen UPEI for that very reason. Some Maritime universities are on their second and third strikes in recent years. So UPEI students are very fortunate that strikes are not a commonly scheduled activity at UPEI.

Faculty at UPEI are among the best in the country and they are not asking for a great deal. Other Maritime universities have recently settled with faculty for more than UPEI professors are currently asking for. We must keep that in perspective.

If UPEI does not meet the demands of the faculty association we will lose faculty members who are among the best in the country. That is the bottom line. If we want to obtain and retain faculty that will allow UPEI to remain competitive then we must offer salaries that are at parity with other Maritime Universities.

Anne Koughan
March 28, 2006
Students owed their semester

I believe the university and its faculty are breaking a contract with their students by allowing this strike to take place.

When the university accepted payment of tuition from the students of UPEI, did the university not enter into a contract with these students? By accepting payment, would the university and the faculty not be obligated to provide a full semester?

Why should the students who are attending UPEI this term not be provided the same services that were provided students who attended UPEI in the past? Is the university and its faculty discriminating against the students of this term by not providing the services they were contracted to provide?

Before payment was accepted for this term, why were students not made aware of a possibility of a strike so they could make an informed decision on whether or not to attend UPEI this term?

Jeanne Maki
March 27, 2006
A matter of need or pride?

From my experience teaching in B.C., looking for wage parity can lead to jobs being slashed and tuition going up. It’s a never-ending, uphill battle that doesn’t help anyone in the end, other than Revenue Canada.

Is this desire for a large salary increase due to need or pride?

I see class size as being a more important issue to fight for-something that will benefit professors and students alike.

As money gets tighter and tighter, society as a whole needs to make sure those at the bottom are earning enough before looking for more for themselves. Quality of life rather than quantity needs to be the guiding light. It will pay the highest dividends.

Glenn Kavanagh
March 25, 2006
Right to strike?

In this work relationship, as long as the union has the right to strike the students will always be the victims of this type of protest. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate the process for bargaining, without jeopardizing the employee's rights.

Trevor Wade
March 24, 2006
Back-to-work legislation

Good luck UPEI strikers. Any government can and will quash your strike with legislation. Makes you wonder why you are in a union.

Andrea Horton
March 23, 2006
Back-to-work legislation

As a student at UPEI, I want to make it clear that I wholly support our faculty and the actions they have been forced to take to seek wage parity with other professors in the region.

Our faculty is the face of the university, but more than that they are its heart and soul. Were it not for their dedication we would have no reason to come here. While the administration constructs buildings they apparently can't afford and hikes our tuition to pay for them, our professors stay on after hours and make every effort to ensure we receive the education we're paying for.

I wouldn't even mind the rising tuition costs so much if I knew my money would actually fund the efforts of my professors, but when I know the money I'm paying goes to put up more buildings that, without the promise of wage parity, soon won't even have quality professors teaching in them, I just get mad.

The Premier should take a long hard look at what he'd be ordering the faculty back to (not to mention the long term ramifications on UPEI students brought on by the sub-par faculty that will be attracted by sub-par pay) before he thinks about ordering them back to work.

Jill Anne McDowall
March 23, 2006

I am anxious, frustrated, and sad. Checking the faculty association and administration websites is taking over my days. I am listening to fellow students talking about how they are using this time to finish assignments and work on term papers but I’m not having such an easy time of it. How do I know that the assignments will ever get passed in? How do I muster the motivation to do work while my future is being decided by individuals who I do not know sitting (or not sitting at the moment) around a table? Actually, it is not only my future being decided, it is my present that is being decided too. Will I be going to class tomorrow? I don’t know – let me just check to the websites once more – or better yet, check the information line that tells me the strike is ongoing and to…check the websites.

I am anxious because I am a graduating student. This is actually my second time graduating from UPEI and I have spent many years praising this university, even while I was in another country studying on a scholarship I feel I earned because of the encouragement and support I had from several of my professors here at UPEI – encouragement and support that did not exist at that institution to the level that is possible here. I do not think it is fair to judge the quality of the education you can obtain from UPEI until you have experienced other universities. Of course I want to fulfill my course work and move on to my next endeavor but I fully support the faculty association in their quest for parity so that the superior level of teaching can continue for years to come.

In response to the many comments and questions regarding the salaries of professors in comparison to other salaries on PEI, I am frustrated. How can you compare apples to oranges? I fully agree that taking a post at a small maritime university has its down sides, one of which is earnings. But the university is not solely part of PEI. UPEI is part of a much broader community – the university community, which spans not only the Maritimes or the country but the world. Professors are competing with top universities for research and grant money. The various departments at UPEI are competing with this global community for leading individuals in their field to bring their expertise to UPEI, to the classrooms, and to the labs. That is what is going to make UPEI survive the test of time, and remain a GREAT small university. We want UPEI to be an institution where professors want to come and want to stay.

I am saddened, however, by the degree of vagueness in terms of the day-to-day status of the student standpoint. I would like to see the student union preparing a plan for the student body – but not necessarily by putting pressure on only one side of the table, but both. We just need an agreement to be made and it would be best if it was endorsed by both parties to ensure UPEI maintained its “small great university” atmosphere.

I don’t have any great ideas or answers but I know I want to graduate with a feeling of pride and accomplishment. I do not want to finish my UPEI education with this sense of frustration and incompleteness. Besides completely undermining the faculty association’s efforts, how would settling for interim marks be regarded by post-graduate institutions and future employers? True, maybe they will not even know – or care, but I will know and I care. I too want to get on with the next stage of my academic career but I want to do so by fully earning my degree.

That being said, I do not believe it is fair to the students to withhold the marks if it means losing the semester, or prolonging the semester past the final exam period. I think the big problem here is the unknown. We do not know what will happen in the next few days or weeks. Talk about end-of-term stress! I am interested to know how students will perform to the best of their ability on their exams and final assignments after this disruption anyway!

We, as students, need to know what will happen if this labour disruption comes dangerously close to the end of the semester. We need to be reassured that BOTH parties will be willing to do what it takes – together – to make sure we are successful in obtaining our credits – and how this will be accomplished, and what will then be expected of us. We need both sides to come to an agreement, or at least to end the strike so that we can finish the semester and stop being used as the dangling carrot.

I better go – it has been over an hour since I last checked the websites.

Ann Braithwaite, striking UPEI faculty member
March 23, 2006
Student demands her marks

I'd like to add my voice in response to the student who wants her marks submitted as is to the administration - in effect, asking for a kind of 'Weale Deal' for herself and others that only a few short weeks ago so many students thought was ridiculous.

First of all, there has been no official request from the university administration for grades from the faculty; while a few people may have been approached or have volunteered this option unofficially, right now this has not been talked about and is not part of the negotiations process. Assessment of students in any semester is composed of several criteria, distributed differently for every class and professor (and discipline or department) across the semester; for many students, there would simply not be enough of a mark to forward (even if asked to) that could adequately or completely enough reflect how they have done in a particular class. Indeed, in many cases, students are dependent on final assignments and exams to raise their marks, or sometimes even for any marks at all – since some classes have no assessments until the end of the semester. Many students continue to have final papers and assignments (often worth half or more of their grade) during the weeks following the end of classes, especially in classes that don't give exams. As all of this illustrates, there is little merit in faculty volunteering grades to date as any such move would help some students, hurt others, and possibly have no impact on a few; in short, there would be no chance for equal treatment of or fairness to all students, which is the primary purpose of assessment and grading, and the primary desire of UPEI faculty at all times, even during the process of negotiations. As such, faculty would resist any such request – even if one were forthcoming – as ultimately not in the students’ best interests.

Secondly, remember that we are still many weeks away from the end of the semester, and that there is still much time to resolve the outstanding issues and get us all back to the classroom to finish off the semester as originally planned. As stated by both the faculty association and the university administration on their respective web pages, no student in Canada has ever lost a semester due to a faculty strike, and the faculty association remains confident that this administration is not interested in changing that history. Faculty are – as always – concerned about their students, and are doing everything in their power during this process to ensure that students’ lives are not disrupted more than necessary. How to make up outstanding course work in a way that is just to all students will be paramount when everyone returns to the classroom, and the faculty association expects to work closely with both students and administration to fairly address this issue.

And, in response to the other student who noted that we could go teach at a place like McGill if we were unhappy here, I'd like to stress that many of us chose to work at UPEI and didn't just end up here. Personally, I want to teach at a small university where faculty and students can have the kind of close intellectual and personal relationships we have, where I can know my students and often have them in five or six of my classes, and where we can have such an impact on each others' lives! Indeed, that is one of the primary reasons for this strike and for faculty demands for parity. If UPEI cannot attract and keep good faculty, faculty committed to what UPEI has to offer, then this university will quickly cease being 'a great small university' or any kind of university that students want to come to. And that is something those of us who are here because we believe in this kind of education cannot sit back and watch quietly!

Robert Kennedy
March 22, 2006
Do faculty care?

The spokesman for the faculty claimed in an interview that teaching staff care for their students' well-being. How can this be the case when they chose to strike only a few weeks before the end of term and further refuse to submit marks-to-date in case administrators use them to formulate a final mark and thus take away a union bargaining chip?

The union claims this is not the case, but actions speak for themselves. Let's be clear here: the students are the only victims. In the case of professors, while they may feel they are not being paid all they are worth, these are not underpaid individuals in terms of wages in P.E.I. Each of them chose to work in a small regional university. If they feel that they can work at McGill and receive higher compensation they are free to leave and pursue that.

What they should not be free to do is hold other people's education hostage for their own ends.

Perhaps administration should resolve the problem by giving each student a final grade of 70 per cent. Isn't that what they do at UPEI when a professor can't be bothered to teach?

Alison Jackson
March 22, 2006
Student demands her marks

As a fellow student at UPEI I would just like to comment on Montigny demanding her marks.

She needs to know that all the other students here at UPEI are in the same position. If the faculty proceeds in submitting marks to the administration, that only grants the potential to draw the strike out even longer. Plus, I think she should be a little more supportive of the faculty that has taught her over the years. Yes, we are caught in the middle, but this is the only effective way to get through to the administration.

Maybe she should be asking why the administration didn't try harder over the past year to prevent a strike from happening and why they don't seem to appreciate the faculty at this university. The faculty are not uncaring; it's the administration who refuse to see their side.

Attacking the faculty members isn't going to get her what she and every other student wants. Showing our support and continuing our studies independently is the right thing to do for now while we wait it out.

Michelle Arsenault
March 22, 2006
Should faculty at UPEI submit current marks?

I am a third year mature student at UPEI and am doing a double major in psychology and sociology. As I listened to your piece where you spoke to a fourth year student about the need for faculty to turn over marks to the university administration I felt some annoyance. It seemed quite biased to me and I felt that you did not give a voice to the vast majority of students.

The majority of the students to whom I have spoken are not concerned that they will lose their semester to the strike at this time. Most have very close relationships with their professors and support this action. As well many of us are taking this opportunity to catch up on some end of term school work, and to refine term papers, which are soon due.

I did expect that those students who are on the verge of graduation to be more concerned about the prospect of a strike, but to be demanding that their marks be submitted to the registrar after less than one day off classes seems a bit ridiculous to me! Even if we were to miss a week or two of classes it still constitutes little more actual class time missed than if we had had several major storms.

Currently many students have been tested on little more than half of their work and a large percentage of their grades have yet to be earned. Personally I have spent countless hours in the last month working on a term paper which constitutes 30% of my final mark in one class. I would rather not have all that work wasted, which it would be if marks were to be submitted as is.

On the issue of faculty using students as pawns in their negotiations, Well of course they are! What else do they have to use? If marks were submitted as is and the term were in effect ended, they would have little or no leverage in their negotiations with administration. The university administration could comfortably let the faculty stomp around outside in the cold for at least another month and a half before it would really begin to have any impact on their bottom line!

On the issue of student fees, I feel I have a somewhat unique point of view on this subject. I attended UPEI in 1993 for one year. At that time the cost of one course was in the vicinity of $150 currently, as you stated in your piece, one course costs $460! That is more than tripled in 13 years! As well I am now paying much higher student administration fees than in 1993. Students are also required to pay for things such as parking now (don’t get me started on that) which were previously included in the cost of tuition.

For tripled tuition am I getting triple the quality of education? I don’t think so: classes are still overcrowded into dingy damp, cold classrooms while the administrators erect fancy new buildings that many students will never see the inside of. We the students are still often housed in mobile classrooms furnished with desks that bear names and dates from students dating back over 20 years. I don’t recall in 1993 ever having to wear mittens in class to keep my hands from freezing, or having classes cancelled because of water leaking from the ceiling, and fumes from construction workers tools choking students, but these have been things which I have had to deal with over the last two years.

Has the salary of the faculty tripled in the last 13 years? I don’t think so, but you can ask them that yourselves. I think you also might want to look into how much the administration at UPEI has grown over the last 13 years.

March 21, 2005
Pam Montigny
Response to UPEI strike

As a current student at UPEI, I am obviously frustrated with the faculty association strike. There is one item, however, that is upsetting me more than others. It is the fact that the faculty association is not allowing our professors to give the University administration our current marks. Combine this with the fact that Mr. Peters states he can't guarantee that we will be back in time for final exams.

So apparently, as much as the faculty association has tried to dispel this rumour, they are using us students as pawns in the fight against the university. I would just like to remind Mr. Peters that we paid around $462 for each of those marks that they are holding hostage. Does that not mean that we own those hard earned marks?

Look don't get me wrong, I know that the faculty has rights to obtain the things they believe they deserve but what about the rights of the students who are in fact paying for every class we miss in this strike. I would voice my concerns directly to Mr. Peters but he has not responded to any of my emails. I suppose he just doesn't care what the students have to say, as he has already stated he's not trying to win over the support of the students.