‘Scary to be a student’: Lethbridge university strike raises graduation concerns

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Students at the University of Lethbridge are facing worries over their graduation status and their future learning opportunities as classes are paused during a strike by faculty.

Holly Kletke, president of the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union and a fourth-year music student, said she has heard from several peers concerned about their degrees as well as the future of their learning amid a strike by the faculty association.

“A lot of students have anxiety around their graduation status and learning the content and getting the full value out of their tuition dollars this semester,” said Kletke. “That’s definitely a concern. As well as, I think students have expressed a lot of fear about the future of the university, the future of post-secondary in this sector.

“It’s really, really scary to be a student right now.”

Members of the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association voted overwhelmingly in favour of job action last week and began striking on Thursday. The faculty association and the school have been locked in bargaining negotiations for more than 600 days.

Dan O’Donnell, faculty association president, said Friday that no contact has been made between the two sides since the start of the strike. The university issued its own statement saying its goal is to continue to bargain in good faith and reach a mutually acceptable agreement.

On the second day of the job action, a number of solidarity rallies were held in Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton. About 30 people attended the rally outside of the U of L campus in downtown Calgary, including members of the faculty and representatives from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the Mount Royal Faculty Association, which is also engaged in collective bargaining.

David Hobbs, an assistant professor of English, said the strike was a province-wide issue as several universities are currently negotiating contracts with their faculties.

“We have representatives here from Mount Royal,” said Hobbs. “We had representatives yesterday from the University of Calgary as well. We’ve been keeping track of people from other organizations that are out in solidarity and have been really astonished by how many people from other universities are seeing what is happening at our institution, not as unique, but as part of the trend.”

Standing out in temperatures hovering around 0 C as drivers honked, Hobbs said it is heartening to see so much support for those on the picket line. He said he will continue to join the line for as long as it takes to get a fair deal.

The ULFA strike is the second job action at an Alberta post-secondary institution in two months. Staff at Concordia University in Edmonton picketed in January, the first of its kind in Alberta’s history. Disputes are ongoing at Mount Royal University, the University of Alberta and Athabasca University.

Kletke said she believes most students understand the need to strike, saying it’s a legitimate bargaining tool, but said she hopes both sides can come to a meaningful resolution that allows students to continue to learn. She said the disruption to class comes after two years of students having to repeatedly pivot their learning environment to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our professors are very hard-working, very intelligent people,” said Kletke. “Of course, we want them to have a good deal. We also want the university to offer us the quality of learning that we deserve. And so I think overall, yeah, students just want the resolution to be one that is positive and sustainable.”

She called for students to be supported after the strike is over with appropriate rescheduling timelines. She said she wants students to be consulted when it comes to remediating their learning and the student group is advocating for a tuition referral if the strike goes past a certain point in the semester. She did not outline what that point in the semester would be.

Kletke also said she believes that government cuts to post-secondary funding are contributing to the stalled negotiations. She called for the government to freeze any further cuts in the upcoming budget.

Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement Friday that he shared concerns over a delayed semester and called for both sides of the negotiations to come together and find a resolution.

“We are encouraging both parties work together at the bargaining table and create a deal that is fair to faculty members, a reflection of the fiscal realities in the province, but also takes into consideration the impacts of a strike on student learning,” said Nicolaides.

dshort@postmedia.com