Students not to receive tuition credit or refund

OK so many of you have been begging me for an update and my take on events so here it is.

Currently, bargaining is still going on. This is a good thing since both university administration and FASBU (Full-time Academic Staff Bargaining Unit) are willing to meet face to face and look at each other across the bargaining table and hopefully exchange some positive phrases here and there.

On the other hand, the faculty have been busy preparing their picket signs this weekend. Although I'm not sure what the signs say, it would be interesting in the event of a strike nontheless.

On Tuesday morning I met with Dr. Errol Aspevig, Nipissing's VP Academic and Research. After I sent my e-mail to the administration as I have posted on this blog, Aspevig replied shortly after and invited me to meet with him. During the hour and a half meeting, I voiced my main concern about there being a lack of contingency plan(s) specifically where students were concerned. Although he reassured me that some were being considered, he would not confirm nor agree that students would receive a tuition credit or refund for class time missed in the event of a strike/lock out. No surprise here. With the university's rising deficit and the province wide cap on tuition fee increases (that will likely be lifted soon), any student money that the university can hold on to will be done no matter how many e-mails I send or face to face meetings I have.

Aspevig continued to discuss how the university's revenues are generated through tuition fees and government money. Also, the Registrar's Office predicts a slight decrease in number of students this year; this is approximately 200 students or so less than projected which translates into approximately (by rough calculation) $1.6 million in lost revenue. So much for predictive models.

The university finally set up an updates website here. I requested this central hub of information from Aspevig and although I shouldn't take credit for it since it would have likely happened anyway, at least it got the ball rolling.

Lastly, it appears that bargaining may be moving into the public domain. This of course is a great concern to both bargaining teams since they agreed not to release sensitive information to the public (one of the limitations of this blog). With the administration's recent press release that I posted earlier, it appears that they're framing the bargaining issues around one theme: money. What I see happening is that if the faculty is going to receive wage increases, whatever they may be, there still needs to be some way to get at hacking salaries. The biggest expense of our institution is salaries and benefits. For the university to deal with the deficit, Aspevig sees that salaries will need to be reduced as an expense somehow. If this doesn't come directly with layoffs or a lockout, it could very well be by slashing ineffective programs; that is, reducing or eliminating courses/programs that have few students in them so as not to have to hire professors to teach them. So much for small class sizes.

Overall, I'm getting some great feedback about the blog. There are many issues at stake here and I think we all realize the negative impacts that a strike would have. Should it continue into my practicum weeks for my B.Ed program, I would not be permitted to teach during that time.

Negotiations continue all day tomorrow so I won't find out until Monday morning if a deal is reached or not. Stay tuned and positive, folks. In the meantime, I invite you to e-mail your concerns to Dr. Errol Aspevig at errola@nipissingu.ca He's told me that he's looking forward to your questions and comments.