More Classes Cancelled for April 2 Strike
The five student associations that have held a strike vote against austerity since March 23 have had their classes cancelled on April 2, according to a statement by Concordia’s Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Benoit-Antoine Bacon.
The communication, liberal arts and political science undergrads, along with the geography, planning and environment, and sociology and anthropology graduate students all voted to strike on April 2.
The day of classes will be replaced with time for “reflection,” the same measure carried out for cancelled classes this past Monday.
What “reflection” entails is being left up to the faculties and departments concerned. The Fine Arts Student Alliance held a special general assembly with students and professors to discuss how austerity affects them.
Courses that are cross-listed with other departments will be cancelled as well. Three cross-listed classes which went ahead on Monday were disrupted by demonstrators.
Philosophy classes were picketed today with no major incidents. All classes were successfully stopped.
Quebec’s education minister has openly said the government won’t pay to extend the semester to make up for lost classes during strikes.
“We would also not welcome extending the semester,” said President Alan Shepard, who added that it would interfere with summer sessions and students with plans to graduate. “I’m not keen to see this semester extended either.”
Shepard says the plan is to offer each department that votes to strike a single day of reflection, but after that students are expected to go back to class. This will mainly affect students whose associations voted for week-long strikes, like the undergraduate and graduate philosophy as well as the women’s studies associations.
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