Skip to content

'You won't lose your semester'

Georgian College President and CEO assures students
2017-11-14 Striking faculty Georgian College
Faculty members walk the picket line at Georgian College on Nov. 13, 2017. Sue Sgambati/BarrieToday

Striking faculty at Ontario's 24 community colleges have begun voting on the College Employer Council's most recent offer as their job action becomes their longest ever. 

Now in uncharted territory, the President and CEO of Georgian College insists students won't lose their semester.

"Students invested six weeks of the first of the semester. They paid for a semester of education. It will be delayed and be in a compressed framework but I do not believe students will lose their semester.  I'm telling students emphatically they won't," said MaryLynn West-Moynes in an interview Tuesday.

"No matter what, we're going to pick up the pieces. It will be messy. It'll be complicated but we're not going to leave any student that wants to complete behind."

About 12,000 faculty members walked off the job on Oct. 15 over issues of job security, specifically part time and contract work, and academic freedom. 

"I'm very, very sorry students are caught in the middle of this," said West-Moynes, who has been sharing two scenarios with students.

If college faculty vote yes to the contract, students could return to class as early as this Monday. The semester would continue to Dec. 22, but would not need to be extended beyond that date. 

If faculty vote no, plans for semester completion will be regularly revised, depending on how long the strike continues. Should students not return to class until Nov.27then the fall semester would need to be extended into January 2018. The holiday break would last for two weeks from Dec. 23 to Jan.7 and the fall semester would conclude the week of Jan.8 to 12, 2018.

West-Moynes says there could be some compression of assignments or fewer assignments and possibly a different testing model.

She maintains quality of education won't be compromised.

"I uphold the standard of the curriculum that we're teaching. I'm confident that we've been able to demonstrate that in the past. Unfortunately, we have been here.  We've been in these situations and we've still been able to go on and graduate (students.) I'm confident that this is do-able at this point."

The College President was referencing three previous strikes by college faculty with the longest being 28 days.

Some students have been demanding a refund of their tuition. 

"They've already invested money and six weeks into the semester and they owe it to themselves not to turn into the towel," said West-Moynes, noting Georgian students are not alone in that 24 colleges are in the same boat.

"On the refund point, in the end, we're going to deliver a semester to them so I would prefer we focus our energy in providing funds to students who are in financial hardship."  

The Ontario government has announced it will work with the colleges on a fund to support students who have experienced financial hardships as a result of the strike. 

Still other students want to withdraw.

"I encourage them to stick with it. They have a dream.They've determined what their future is going to be.  There will be lots of hardships along the way to getting to that dream. They shouldn't let this one be the one that turns them away."

In a letter to students sent out Monday, West-Moynes said contingency plans for an even longer strike are being finalized.

The results of vote by faculty should be known at some point after voting wraps up Thursday. 

 


Reader Feedback

Sue Sgambati

About the Author: Sue Sgambati

Sue has had a 30-year career in journalism working for print, radio and TV. She is a proud member of the Barrie community.
Read more