193 BU students drop out post-strike; others dropping courses

In the wake of the 45-day faculty strike, many students have elected to leave Brandon University.

As of January 6th, 193 students, approximately 6% of the university population, dropped out completely for a full refund. At the same time, student credit hours have dropped by over 11%, due to those electing to stay but reduce their course load. This translates to another 6% of students who have dropped courses. “We weren’t that sure about what to expect,” says Scott Lamont, vice president of administration and finance. “We got a hold of places… that we knew had extended strikes and asked them what happened in the term and the next term.”

In the days following the conclusion of the strike, the university announced plans to give refunds to students who wished to drop out. These refunds included 100% of tuition, technology fees and student service fees. The mandatory U-Pass, Health & Dental Plan, and ID card fees were non-refundable. Residence refunds were calculated at the end of the month in which a student moved out.

With the compensation given to students, BU obviously suffered a financial blow. “We’re going to have to wait and see how it plays out until the end of the year,” says Lamont, adding that the university must also take into account the number of students who would add and drop courses in a regular year. “There’s inevitably a certain change that happens [between the first and second term]… normally our enrollment goes up, so whether that will happen this time, or whether students will use that as another opportunity to make other changes, we don’t really know.”

Many university services have also been affected. “We do have to take into consideration what happens with residence and food operations and parking and the bookstore… even things like the print shop are affected by this,” notes Lamont.

Due to the wide variety of programs offered at BU, some faculties have been impacted in different ways. “For some of the students, education students for example, their terms weren’t that different,” explains Lamont. “They were out doing student teaching, so they finished the first term [at the] normal time and started the second term at the normal time.” Some nursing students were also out on practicum during the strike.

But other groups on campus, namely arts and science students, are dealing with condensed terms, restructured course outlines and assignments, and tests crammed into a small time frame. For some students, enough was enough.

After the university was placed in a rather negative light for a lengthy duration of time, Lamont says their priority is to attract and retain students. “We’re trying to make sure that [...] the kind of services that students need [are] here, offered through student services,” says Lamont, “so if a student is having difficulty, needs a tutor, any of these kind of things, we’ve got people in place to try to help them.”

With the majority of students having elected to tough it out, and the second semester just days away, it is business as usual at Brandon University. As to what the long term implications of this lengthy strike will be, only time will tell.