Laurentian University has only just begun to recover from the deep cuts of receivership, and stability remains fragile. In this context, the prospect of a faculty strike is profoundly out of step with what our students need.
I taught the first cohort to return to in person learning after COVID, and I saw firsthand how much they were still trying to regain their footing. Now, teaching nearly 100 first year students online, I see the same patterns: this generation is still carrying the academic and social fallout of those disrupted years.
National research has documented declines in literacy and math skills among students who experienced pandemic era interruptions, along with elevated levels of anxiety and disconnection. These findings appear in the Pandemic Fallout report by Cardus and in national reporting by CBC News.
These students are still rebuilding their confidence and academic habits. To subject them to yet another avoidable disruption is unfair. Strikes have long been treated as a normal part of university life, with students expected to absorb the fallout.
But this time, students are not fair game. A strike may serve long term goals, but it is today’s students who will bear the immediate cost in lost time, lost momentum, and renewed uncertainty.
Laurentian is still healing. So are its students.
Shame on any decision that puts them last.
Noreen Russell
Sudbury