Extended Deadline Shot Down by Senate

Women’s Studies Student Association Request to Extend Deadlines Fails

NewsMichelle Pucci — Published April 18, 2015

Women’s Studies students won’t have their deadlines officially extended, after Concordia’s Senate informally decided to “accommodate” strikers individually at its meeting on April 17.

Concordia Student Union President and student senator Benjamin Prunty presented a last-minute motion to have the deadline for grade submissions extended for the Women’s Studies and interdisciplinary students, who have been on strike since March 30.

After speaking to department officials on Wednesday, several students were confused by an email sent yesterday by the department head imposing term deadlines.

Students and professors of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute received a notice from principal Geneviève Rail explaining that the semester will not be extended, and the deadline for professors to enter grades is April 29.

In the email, Rail said the strike will only impact Concordia’s administration and not its intended target, the provincial government.

“In an already very difficult financial situation, Concordia University is doing its best to keep small units like ours alive and well financed,” she wrote. “We need to work alongside (and not against) our institution to pressure the government into stopping the funding cuts.”

One professor in the department had agreed to have students submit papers a week after the strike’s end. After Rail’s email was sent out, students received notices from the professor that their papers were due in four days. The assignment is worth 65 per cent of their grade.

“We’re in an extreme situation [now] that there’s a hard deadline, and there’s absolutely no negotiation for that deadline,” one student told The Link.

During the meeting, petitioners for an extension said that even if they choose to break the strike mandate, there is not enough time to properly complete the assignment.

The email also says full-time and part-time faculty will have to submit grades by April 29.

Following the 2012 student strikes, many students received INCs (Incompletes), which means required assignments were not submitted before the grading deadline. Incomplete courses can be “completed” when students submit assignments in the following semesters.

“We’re in an extreme situation [now] that there’s a hard deadline, and there’s absolutely no negotiation for that deadline.”

Women’s Studies students pointed out that encouraging students and professors to work under current deadlines will put faculty under pressure and reduce the Institute’s academic integrity.

After discussing the issue, Prunty withdrew the motion, and senators agreed that some sort of accommodation should be arranged for striking students.

“It’s very clear there will be some sort of intervention on behalf of students to rectify this obvious problem,” said Prunty. “Maybe it’s not going to happen at Senate, but it’s going to be discussed again elsewhere.”

During the meeting, Prunty brought up the fact that although the CSU is not in a position to strike, the union will defend students who are upholding strike mandates passed through general assemblies.

On Wednesday the Women’s Studies Student Association voted to continue the strike until April 22. There will be another vote to continue the strike next Tuesday.

There was a lot of discomfort at Senate because the demand for deadline extensions didn’t follow the proper procedure, said Prunty. The motion was written last-minute after the email by Rail was sent out.

“Of course it’s going to be slightly disruptive,” Prunty said. “It’s a strike. Strikes are specifically disruptive.”

On Monday an open letter intended for President Alan Shepard began circulating among faculty members for signatures. You can read the letter here