Let me reiterate why I am blogging this rather unpleasant period of my professional life.The media will report the factual to the students and to the community at large.
The newspapers will tell you how many picketers there were on the first day.
The television crews will try to summarize the entire strike with footage of a single dramatic event, such as faculty delaying the President's car as it enters the grounds.
But who will relate the emotional turmoil of those faculty members shivering on the picket line?
Who will express the deep anxiety and frustration of the average Joe (!) faculty member who sure as hell does not want to be on strike, but who has been pushed into this radical position by an administration that refuses to bargain?
What media report could ever relate the guilt that every single striking professor will feel because we have had to walk away from our students?
I am blogging because I think students have a right to see the human aspects of this strike. Students have a right to know that the decision to strike is one not taken lightly -- every faculty member whom they see on the picket line has struggled in a personal Gethsemane over the decision to walk.
Oddly enough, there seems to be no inner turmoil on the part of the administration as they play roulette with the lives of students -- they walked away from the bargaining table, refusing to negotiate again until December 3rd, a mere 24 hours before the strike date!
I understand that many people read these jottings as their source of information about the strike. Let me implore you to get other sides of the argument and weigh up what you find in this new evidentiary field before you come to any conclusions.
For example, I have reported that the administration broke off negotiations and walked away from the table last Tuesday. And I am sure many of you must have argued, "Well, administration must have had a good reason for doing so." So why not find out for yourself? Why not ask, "Why did you break off talks?"
Put your questions to the people who can give you the answers you need for this research.
Ask President Jack Lightstone.
Ask Vice-President Terry Boak.
Ask Chairman of the Board David Howes.
Expand your evidentiary field, then draw your conclusions based on the evidence.
1 comment:
I have to say...I commend you...after working Brock U. for so many years, it is very sad to see that you and other teachers have been placed in a situation like this one. I truly respect you and your blog, and for what you are trying to do...humanizing the strike. This pits everything into perspective. I feel students should find out more, and not listen to the roomers going around, because that will often be altered and place the student under more stress.
I suggest reading the fact, study your butts off, and prepare for exams. Really try to take something out of this semester... KNOWLEDGE and STRENGTH.
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