Mount A students anxious as strike deadline looms, says student union president

Mount Allison University students have a lot anxiety about a possible faculty strike at the university, but are getting few answers to their questions, according to the president of the school's student union.

Last week the association representing the university's full-time faculty voted in favour of a strike, which could happen as early as Monday.

Emelyana Titarenko, the president of the Mount Allison University Student Union, said the student union is hearing from many students about the possibility of a strike.

"Students are definitely approaching us asking a lot of questions relating to, you know, 'Is there going to be tuition rebates, how are we going to find out, is it only just going to be full time faculty?'," said Titarenko. 

"Lots of questions that we definitely don't have an answer to, especially at this time."

Laura Ripley, a spokesperson for the university, said the two sides continue to negotiate.

Full-time faculty have been working without a contract since July 2019, and have been negotiating with the university since June 2019.

The faculty association cites a decrease in the number of full-time instructors and the precarious position of part-time instructors as major concerns.

But, the university said it has one of the lowest student to teacher ratios in the country and said calling part-time positions "precarious" is inaccurate.

Monday deadline

According to the union, instructors can begin a strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning, but Titarenko expects to get advance notice.

"[The faculty] have to give about 24 hour notice to the employer, the university, at which point the university's going to send an email to the students to let them know that classes are going to be cancelled on Monday." said Titarenko.

Titarenko said the student union is attempting to remain neutral in the dispute.

"I think the only way to make sure that we don't get too tied into it, to complicate matters, is to really stay neutral," said Titarenko

Titarenko, who is expecting to graduate this year, doesn't believe a strike will affect students' ability to graduate.

The student union is planning for a strike, making efforts to offer more entertainment options for students who would no longer have classes, as well as looking at bringing in tutors.

"Just to make sure that students are, you know, still together and they're not perhaps feeling so isolated from the whole university in general," said Titarenko.