This one wasn’t even close.
The labour disruption at Dalhousie University is over, according to the university’s board and the Dalhousie Faculty Association. But we can’t ignore the time (and money) that students lost out on.
According to a press release from the Dal Student Union, each week that classes are cancelled represents about 7% of the semester—as a result, students are holding a rally to ask the university for tuition refunds based on time lost already this year.
So, we asked you—should Dalhousie students be getting a refund for each day the faculty remains locked out? The results were a pretty emphatic yes!
Here are the official results:
And here are some of our favourite responses:
Yes! The student union should definitely be pushing for their money back.
“Students are already struggling with curriculum changes and being locked out. Help out students, they are going to be the ones to help us when needed ”
“The students are the ones who are suffering. Can we really count on Dal making up the time? When? Would it be robbing the students of a break that they were planning for?”
“A full time professor is making a lot of money also considering the fact they only work approx 8 months and teach maybe 2-3 classes a day (about 5hrs). Lots of them get grant money to do their research so they are not hurting by any means. The tuition fees now are ridiculous.”
“Considering what they pay for that education it’s outrageous that they should lose on any level. I’ve been in Unions and in general, I support them because they have been useful to me. The system needs to be revamped. It has to be another way of negotiating, then strikes at a time when not just the employer are affected, but those are also the focus between the union members and the employer are deeply affected as well.”
“The time also needs to be made up which affects their ability to start summer jobs.”
“Really, there’s no “making up the time” – the reduction in time available for a class to unfold makes it impossible to deal with the underlying issues that the course content deals with. It turns what might have been a dynamic experience into a memorize and regurgitate one. Definitely not useful for the students. So yes, they should definitely be pushing for their money back!”
“People get their money back when flight attendants go on strike. No difference”
“Students and/or parents don’t have the money the university wants for tuition, etc. they most likely took out loans. This is money they need to pay back with interest and they have lost a week or more plus, of education that this money buys. ”
“Or at least pro-rate it. Dalhousie university is expensive.”
“Let Professors operate in the real world for a few years and they’d be back, for 25% less pay in <5 years.”
“Maybe all lectures should be recorded, to be available for students during future strikes. The students should not lose out on the education that they are paying for, and if Dal makes up the lecture time later it takes away from the students’ time to study and get the course work done. I would like to see more coverage in the media about non-salary issues, which should be more possible to come to terms with.”
“Many university professors, especially at Dal are overpaid. I did a PhD there so I am speaking from experience. The few good professors at Dal do deserve an increase. The majority of the inferior ones deserve a serious decrease. Dal faculty need a major overhaul. I feel bad for the students who are being compromised by dereliction of duty by so many professors ”
“Yes!!! Yes yes. Many students go into debt to be there and universities in Canada run like a business. If post secondary education was free or substantially cheaper then I would feel differently. You go to school to learn. If you’re not in classes due to the university, you’re not getting what you are paying for. ”
“The students are losing out on instruction time which they paid to have. They should absolutely be refunded for the missed time, especially since this seems to be a frivolous strike – if it’s only about increasing the already high wages of lecturers and professors.”
“hard to feel sorry for either side, the faculty make good money and Dal has lots, enough to buy up all the old houses in the South end apparently.”
“Unfortunately, money seems to be the only thing that talks in situations like these. Students also pushing to have a refund on time missed is not only reasonable but also has the added bonus of adding more pressure to the board to make a reasonable deal with their faculty and staff. ”
“The plight of universities has been predictable for years. Faculty have had heads in the sand (or elsewhere.) Foreign students were charged exorbitant fees and universities quickly became accustomed to them without changing. The house of cards fell when foreign student enrollment was reduced. Sadly the most vulnerable – students and our future – suffer. University administrators and DFA are culpable.”
No! These disputes can’t be helped and Dal will find a way to make up the time.
“We have 2 privileged sides at the bargaining table in this “labour dispute”. Unions have their place in this world to support less privileged workers who need them, however, in this situation, the reality is the way universities have historically operated is not fiscally sustainable. The DFA doesn’t want to face that truth so they are delaying the inevitable downsizing that needs to happen and may just sink everyone’s jobs in this bargaining process… I think if you feel your position at Dal does not afford the “living wage” aka luxuries you expect to have by being a professor here, maybe you should go work at UofT or McGill…”
“Tuitions should be higher so Profs can make more and more money. They love money”
“Strikes have become far too costly for all concerned and have to be governed by new rules rather than the same old butting of heads across a bargaining table. ”
“University is a business, the more they lose, the tuition, etc will rise making it even harder for future students. And students were aware talks were eminent, the student union should be helping students find other ways to keep up their studies now. They’re wasting their time at Northwest Arms why should the university pay them back for having fun.”
“It’s too easy to focus on salary and ignore the other issues on the table. And many students have been actively supporting the faculty not running around in bikinis. Perhaps give the many a voice rather than the few. ”
“Dangerous legal precedent for what happens settling with striking unions of any kind. Should parents get their tax dollars back during an educational workers’ strike/lock out? Should nursing home patients get their fees back if the staff strikes/gets locked out? Should transit riders get their passes refunded if a driver or maintenance strike? Point being, not all fees in this case, or taxes in other cases, go only towards the salaries of the striking workers. Much of it goes towards maintaining the facilities, supplies, and administrative, support staff, and management costs/salaries. Who decides the amount and how much would be the portion of tuition fees that get distributed/ refunded in such a pay-back scenario? Especially in a university where fees and costs vary so widely across the curricula? Messy precedent. They’ll make it up in real instructional time. ”
There you have it!