The Northern Undergraduate Student Society at UNBC is remaining neutral during the labour dispute between the employer and the Faculty Association.
President, Holly McVay told Vista Radio the student population is split on who to support.
“There are some that as you’ve seen that do support the faculty association and are participating in their efforts to get what they would like out of the bargain and there are students who have voiced their concerns and support the administration in this matter.”
She adds there are plenty of options on how the semester could move forward based on the length of the strike.
“There is some opportunity to extend this semester and move dates around so perhaps, for example, we could have some final exams in the New Year and just cut the next semester short by a couple of weeks.”
“There are some possibilities. If it’s only a couple of weeks it may not be that big of a deal, they could move around some assignments, omit some, take some final exams and move them around and it’s kind of lucky in the situation that it’s happening in the first semester instead of the winter one.”
This is the second time since 2015 the faculty have gone on strike, drawing the ire of some of the older students.
“There are students that have been here for all of these years and they have voiced their concerns as this is frustrating to go through twice but thankfully, the last strike didn’t last too long as I believe the last one was about ten days so we’re hoping this doesn’t last long either.”
McVay said the student society will remain open during the labour strike providing essential services such as the food bank, emergency funding and health care support.
During the strike, classes will not be taking place, however, the library, dining hall, non-academic services and the Northern Sport Centre will remain open.
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