The Strike is Over!

Yes. It's over. The CAS members and the Board of Governors both ratified the agreement and they're going back to work. While some are disappointed about the agreement they have made several important steps on the road to properly recognize the CAS profs for the contributions they provide to the Laurier community.

I'll ask about the details of the plan but I think we can all take a deep sigh of relief that what began seven months ago, is finally come to an end.

As many of you know from the WLU website, extra class time has been schedules for us and I recommend everyone to visit to see the class schedules for their CAS profs and make sure you attend. There's one for the Waterloo campus and one for the Brantford campus.

Tentative Agreement Reached!

Around 5:00 am this morning the bargaining teams of the university and the CAS have found a tentative agreement!

What does this mean? Well, it could possibly mean settlement. I've asked Dr. Judy Bates, president of WLUFA, about the details of the agreement and if the CAS got some of the things they were asking for - she hasn't gotten word yet because Doug Lorimer, WLUFA's chief negotiator, collapsed in exhaustion.

Picketing will continue through the morning but instead of a rally today at noon in the St. Mike's parking lot, there will be a celebration instead - come out and celebrate! WLUFA's executive will meet while Doug Lorimer and James Butler (administration's chief negotiator) will work out a "back to work protocol" deciding how things will work out now after being upset by the strike.

The CAS bargaining unit will vote on the agreement through the weekend and, if successfully passed, that will be the end of the strike and the labour negotiations.

Following that, on Monday at the Senate meeting, extra class time will be added on Tuesday and Wednesday to have profs get in touch with their students. As for specific cases in classes, that, I believe, would be for the profs to work out.

Besides that - This is really great news!

Quiet Sit-In

Tomorrow negotiations resume and to show student discontent at how we were treated through this procedure the Student Solidarity Group is having a quiet sit-in outside the administration offices. No signs or fliers this time, this is a neutral sit-in at a symbolic place of power of an institution that has treated us poorly in the past two weeks.

If you are discontent about how both sides have been unresponsive - come by and sit around and study on the second floor of the Peters' Building outside the administration offices* between 10:00 and 4:00 on Thursday.

* We'd call for a sit-in outside of the CAS Strike Office in accordance to having this a neutral event, but it's private property and we'd get in trouble for loitering. If you have other places you can do sit-ins without getting in trouble, feel free to do so.

We need lots of students visibly, peacefully protesting on that day!

Letter to the Senators from the CAS

Dear Senators,

We welcome the opportunity to have our voices heard at this extraordinary Senate meeting. Our collective voice has spoken through our picket lines and our rallies. In that voice we have been expressing our determination to ensure an ongoing commitment to overall academic integrity at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Many individual CAS members desired to share their observations and insights with you. What will be read to you today is only a portion of the abridged versions of what was prepared for Senators to consider. (A longer document has been prepared and circulated to you.)

Let us now attend to their observations and insights.

One member asks: What does Dr. Blouw really believe?

In an interview published in the Cord Weekly, soon after he arrived on campus in Fall 2007, President Blouw stated: "Here I hope to create environments where people can excel - its faculty members, students and staff members. Because if you can create an environment where the greatest human potential can be realized, then you're really serving society well." We could not agree more: the hundreds of Laurier classrooms now sitting empty confirm the cost of ignoring Dr. Blouw's own advice.

Another member wants to reflect on how the administration hiring of Ph.D.s for CAS work, brings WLU credit in the Maclean's annual survey, but then the administration publicly dismisses the research work of these Ph.D.s. This tension calls into question how exactly the administration views the contribution of CAS members to the academic strength of Wilfrid Laurier's programs.

Regarding the difficulty of maintaining high academic standards in teaching when academic staff are under-resourced, one member remarks that:

The lack of proper office space and other facilities shows the administration's disregard for our well being. Having a 'space' ensures that one can carry out one's academic work to the best of one's ability. The general perception is that we are transient workers who move on to other jobs. In fact, some of us have been part of the Laurier community for years. Our poor salaries and work conditions are a reflection of the administration's perception of who they think we are, and what our contribution to academic quality really is.

Another member speaks of the unpaid work that so many CAS members do, so as to develop strong and effective courses, through syllabus preparation and external research saying:

What I want to say here is that my work as a 'part-time' faculty member is in fact very demanding. Before my contract even begins I design the courses I am going to teach and produce a course syllabus for each while making sure that I've got the course web page designed. Oh yes, I will also review and decide on textbooks for the course and order them.

I also think about my next research project. Will it be a comparative study of various forms of 'de-linking' currently being practiced in Latin America? I might have to travel to the region to collect data although I doubt the $100.00 expense account the university provides me will get me beyond Toronto, so I will ahve to apply for a research grant.

Still another member echoes this last thought about the amount of unpaid work we undertake in our commitment to the quality of education at Wilfrid Laurier University, pointing out that:

Like any competent professor, full- or part-time, I spend months preparing to teach a course and creating, honing, and refining my course outline. Months before a course starts, I'm doing data base searches and reading the most up-to-date literature. I examine myriad textbooks to determine which one will best suit the learning objectives of the course and the needs of students. I create relevant and informative course packages which can take many months even years to perfect.

And yet I cannot call myself a professor. According to my university, I am an instructor and what I do is absolutely and easily replicable. Apparently, in the eyes of the institution, I am credited with doing little more than standing at the front of the room reading from a textbook.

A member from Music offers a unique perspective for your attention saying:

Most CAS studio instructors in the Faculty of Music are nationally and internationally renowned orchestral and solo performers, composers, and music therapists. We are professionals at the top of our respective fields, with extensive training at the highest level. Our students rely on our years of training and experience to help them achieve the highest level of performance.

In that respect, it is extremely distressing to see our students face the possibility of having to perform their final juries, graduation reciatals, chamber concerts, and major ensemble performances without the benefit of the coaching they deserve as students of Wilfrid Laurier University. For the University to be proceeding with these events sends a clear signal to us as CAS instructors that they do not value the skills we bring to their students, and believe that the students are capable of completing the requirements of these courses on their own. It calls into question the Musical integrity of our students' work - and thsu the academic integrity of their program.

Our final speaker for today reflects a vision of WLU that remains committed to the highest quality educational experience.

We have heard about President Blouw's plea for a vision for Laurier. The vision of CAS members and of the students and full-time faculty that support our strike, embraces not intellectual division, but intellectual unity. Our vision seeks a university that provides a forum in which all scholars, full-time and part-time, are treated equally to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge. Our vision includes a full acknowledgment of our value to the Laurier community. Good academic work, excellence in teaching, commitment to the advancement of knowledge, is not the monopoly of a particular group of instructors.

We thanks you for listening to just a few individual voices of the CAS. We hope you keep them in mind as you deliberate today, and as you continue to contribute to the life of this academic community - to which we are all so deeply committed.

Contract Academic Staff, Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association
For more contributions from the CAS to Senate, please
check our website at: http://www.wlufa.ca

This letter was passed around before the Senate meeting and, while not read, was referenced in a comment made by Dr. Judy Bates. The meeting itself was enjoyable, many voices both from students and full-time faculty were raised in concern for the senior administrators by passing the power of the Senate in allowing students to drop their courses (taught both by part- and full=time faculty).

An Open Letter to Wilfrid Laurier University and the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association

Just in case you missed it, here is the Open Letter to Wilfrid Laurier University and the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association:

We, the undersigned, issue this letter as the official student representatives to the Senate and Board of Governors of Wilfrid Laurier University.

The recent labour dispute between Contract Academic Staff and the University has caused immense disruption, stress, and potentially negative long-term consequences for students in classes taught, assisted, or otherwise facilitated by these staff. These problems have been magnified by a consistent lack of communication, clarity, or transparency from either side with regards to the impact that this dispute will have and what plans there are to mitigate it. This is unacceptable.

Furthermore, the rhetoric issued by both sides has given students the distinct impression that they are being used as a bargaining chip and has consistently misrepresented the realities of the situation. This is disingenuous and insulting and must stop.

As student representatives, we take no side in the labour dispute; the student body is the third side, the side that has been consistently neglected throughout this entire process. Thus we demand a course of action that minimizes any further negative impact on students. We recognize that academic integrity has already been seriously compromised, and ask that any solution err on the side of the students. Pursuant to this, we have a number of demands:

1. Every student enrolled in a course with any element provided by Contract Academic Staff should be automatically granted a passing credit (not affecting their average) with a 25 percent refund commensurate to the 25 percent of classes missed
a. Students should also have the option to drop these courses with a 100 percent refund if they so wish.
b. Any student who has already dropped a course should be able to petition for either of these options.

2. Both the Wilfrid Laurier University Administration and the Faculty Association should immediately issue letters of apology for the stress and anxiety caused to students by the rhetoric and lack of communication during the past two weeks.

3. Whatever the University decides to do, the negotiation of that decision should be done in the open, in consultation with the students elected to represent students at that relevant governing body.

4. Furthermore, in light of the poor communication that has so far been in evidence, we expect communication of the final decision to be made in all of these ways.
a. The WLU Email ListServe
b. Press releases on the WLU Website
c. Advertisements in the Cord Weekly
d. Posters placed around campus
e. WebCT announcements.

5. Students should not be expected to hand in assignments due during the strike period or write exams in any class with elements provided by Contract Academic Staff, for the following reasons:

a. Students require class time and professor feedback in order to complete assignments and prepare for exams. It is unacceptable to expect otherwise.
b. In absence of a clearly defined and publicized course of action for students, it is perfectly reasonable to expect that they may not have completed the work.
c. There are students who do not want to cross picket lines. This is their right and must be explicitly respected.
d. Students have had absolutely no say in the decisions to collect course work as assigned.

6. Any course of action should minimize the number of students who are compelled to pursue petitions. Furthermore:
a. All petition fees in these cases should be waived.
b. Senate or Senate Executive must also approve any extraordinary petitions procedure.

7. No academic decisions should ever be announced to the community or made formal without the explicit input from and discussion by students.

If the above necessary actions are not taken, it will be taken as a clear indication that neither party in this dispute is sufficiently concerned with the interest of students at Wilfrid Laurier University.


Sincerely,

Josh Smyth, Senator
Bryn Ossington, Senator
Rachael Baker, Senator
Mark Ciesluk, Senator
Saad Aslam, Senator-Elect
Janice Lee, Senator-Elect
Paul Laanemets, Senator-Elect
Colin LeFevre, Senator
Culum Canally, Governor
Keren Gottfried, Governor
Matt Park, Governor
Jon Champagne, Governor-elect

Well spoken, I think every student will approve.

Laurier Milton

Apparently the university is looking to expand to new land donated to the university by the town of Milton. Ok... so the land is free. But a few simple questions:

Who will pay for the buildings? The professors? The administrators? The staff? The office equipment?

Why is the university looking to expand still when its this over expansion hurt it so badly in the past?

Is the university really having financial problems or can Max Blouw really shit gold?

Either way - why can't they just pay their CAS profs?

Three Words

It's about time!

The Student Union is amusing but not surprising. Back in the day of trying to prevent a strike - holding booths, attending dozens of classes, gathering the most successful petition in history (and then having it spit at by the administration), holding rallies, quiet sit in, and etc. The Student Union pretended that we are not here and that there is no problem. One of us was declined an audience with the Board of Directors before she was not "unbiased," and our warnings that have come true - the strike and the unfortunate results for all of our educations went ignored.

I guess things don't often disappear when you ignore them, huh?

Of course then, for over a week of canceled classes and picket lines the best the Student Union could say is "Play nice kids." Only afterward, when the strike prolonged from being uncomfortable to being scary, that they decided to actually do something... Only a month too late.

Of course, we support them all the way on this venture (though find it questionable as to their "neutral-activism"), better late than never I guess. Oh, but how typical is this of [student] politicians.