Batter up!

...let me make sure I'm explaining myself here.

Batter. Baseball. Strike.

There we go. That's the ticket.

As of 6 AM yesterday, all Laurier contract academic staff (part-time professors) - both in Brantford and Waterloo - went on strike. They've been without a contract since last August, and decided that enough was enough.

This doesn't really affect me all that much - I only have one course taught by a CAS. However, CAS teach roughly a third of classes at Laurier - slightly less in Brantford, presumably slightly more in Waterloo - and I know some people who are suddenly losing out on two or even three classes.

But that's not what I find most interesting about this. It should be relatively simply for either group to get students on their side - the CAS are being paid less at Laurier than at just about any comparable school in the province, which should be enough to get students supporting the strike. However, other students should realize that if CAS wages go up, so does their tuition - and support the school out of financial consideration.

But neither of these are really happening. I've seen a few students - mostly in Waterloo - willing to speak out in favour of the strike, but they seem to me to be the sort of student who simply support any cause that gets dropped in their lap. Most reaction has been either apathy or equal amounts of anger directed at both sides - students realizing that they're the ones suffering most.

Why is this? If I had to guess - and I've had two professors give a similar opinion - there was next to no communication until the strike began. The first I heard about the potential strike was two weeks ago, and even that was from a professor. Since the strike began, the university has put up a dedicated page on its website, while the union has handed out a piece of paper that really didn't convince me of anything - I actually felt less sympathy for the CAS after having read their literature.

With only two weeks left in the term, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

--Ryan

P.S. Don't expect anything from me over the next few days, I'll be in Montreal for no apparent reason. However, this does include a hockey game - and a recent Sports Illustrated poll asked NHL players which arena had the best fans (they couldn't vote for their own). Montreal came out on top with 35% of the vote. Should be an experience.