Published: January 31, 2008
STU faculty's dangerous game
New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Page: A4
Section: Opinion
The faculty at St. Thomas University in Fredericton is playing a dangerous game in the labour dispute that's shut down classes since the Christmas break.
This week, the majority of professors rejected the university's contract offer - one that a mediator said would have given them fair wage increases in line with the pay at other Maritime universities.
About 2,500 students risk losing their money and a year of their lives, thanks to the intransigence of some faculty who want a healthier sum, regardless of the cost to the university's budget or future tuition rates. Also at stake is the university's reputation as a quality liberal arts institution, with its focus on teaching and smaller classes. This reputation has already taken a beating due to the cancellation of classes and would be irreparably damaged if the entire school year was nixed, a situation that officials have warned is a real possibility.
What other faculty in North America has been so sharply criticized by its own students during a strike? The student union has taken a plucky, courageous stand backing the university instead of faculty. They are not afraid of any mean-spirited professors when they do eventually go back to classes. Recently, the Canadian Union of Public Employees weighed in, calling the student union "the Anti-Union Student Chamber of Commerce." Despite this outside pressure, student union reps are still fighting to save their school year and keep tuition prices at a reasonable level.
The all-or-nothing strategy of the faculty association is being cheered on by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which has already handed over $1 million to support the strikers. The subtext here is that St. Thomas faculty must hold the line to help their brethren at other universities across Canada. Solidarity makes them all stronger, particularly when it comes to better employment and wage settlements.
That same national solidarity could also push tuition fees out of the range of affordability for other students across Canada. Provincial governments have made it abundantly clear they will not transfer higher university costs to taxpayers, and students have been shouldering their fair load for the better part of a decade. Why make it worse for them?
It's worth pointing out that 49 of the 151 instructors voted to go back to work Tuesday. This significant minority knows that St. Thomas is no U of T and shouldn't be offering wage increases out of line with what instructors of a small liberal arts institution in the Maritimes deserve.
Surely, the rest of the faculty at St. Thomas is enlightened enough to see that their wage and working concerns pale in comparison to the worries of their students. Through hard work and perseverance, the instructors have already "made it" in the world. It would be a shame if they didn't afford that same opportunity to the students studying underneath them.
© 2008 Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick)
Idnumber: 200801310038
Length: 475 words