Students frustrated as Acadia University faculty strike enters third week

WOLFVILLE, N.S. -

The strike by faculty at Acadia University has entered its third week and, with no progress, students are upset over lost time and money.

“I’m just frustrated that the students aren’t being put first,” said student Lily Ramsay.

The frustration is being felt all over campus. Students launched a petition to get their money back for the semester.

“We’ve now been out of class for three weeks and I’d expect that we’d want that money back seeing how we haven’t been receiving our education,” said Georgia Saleski of the Acadia Students' Union.

The students' union has started to have this discussion with the university, but what students really want to see is a conversation happen between the faculty’s union and the university.

“We’re already done waiting. I’m done waiting. My friends are done waiting. Our student union building is pretty empty right now. A lot of students have gone home to wait this out,” added Saleski.

Talks are happening through a provincially-appointed conciliator.

Since the strike started, the two sides haven’t sat down.

“We’ve reached out to the conciliator and to the board team and have received no response since we went on strike,” said Jon Saklofske of the Acadia University Faculty Association.

“Our team spoke with the conciliator several times yesterday,” said Dale Keefe, Acadia University provost and vice-president academic.

The faculty’s union wants improved wages and working conditions for part-time staff as well as a commitment to hire more diverse and tenured faculty.

“If you bring full-time faculty to the university, you can sustain the small class sizes that Acadia is known for,” added Saklofske.

“There’s a lot in their financial package that would basically ask to add millions of dollars annually to our operating budget and we just don’t have the ability to do that,” said Keefe.

Students have reading week next week, so they could be out of class for a whole month.

“I wish there was a little more sympathy for us,” said student Ava Ramsay. “They know we’ve been through a lot in the past couple of years and we’re paying a lot of money to be there.”

As for compensation, the university says it will look at rebates and refunds once the strike is over.