Vancouver Island University reaches deal in faculty strike
Posted April 11, 2011 2:43 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Thousands of students at Vancouver Island University are heading back to class on Tuesday. A deal was reached Sunday night, ending a month long strike.
Loni Pierce is studying forestry at the Nanaimo campus. She says notices on the school’s website had warned the semester could be a write-off. She was preparing to get a refund on her tuition. Now, she has to catch up on seven classes as well as write five midterms. “How is anyone supposed to be motivated to do anything? I have ten days before I leave for Europe.” Her class will be studying forests in Romania.
Faculty walked out March 10th at campuses in Nanaimo, Duncan, Parksville-Qualicum, and Powell River. The university would have had to give back $18 million to 19,000 students if negotiations didn’t pan out this weekend.
A notice on the university’s website says the semester will wrap up April 29th.
