No one wanted a strike to happen, I think that’s a major misconception. There are some people that think that APSCUF (Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties) just wanted to strike, that they don’t care about the students' well-being. That all they want is more money. That they had a million selfish reasons as to why they should strike. But in reality, they didn’t want the strike, it was just the last option after such a long time of negotiating and the negotiations going nowhere. How many of us were awake at 5 A.M. to hear whether or not we would be having a strike?
APSCUF faculty members are officially on strike. Our website is overloaded. Press release will be visible soon.
— APSCUF (@APSCUF) October 19, 2016
The students didn’t want a strike to happen. Now, I’m sure you’ve gone around and heard people say how excited they were for a strike because their due dates for things would be pushed back. I’ve heard it countless times. Sure, it’s nice that that paper that was supposed to be due today is now due at a later date. Sure, it’s nice to have more time to study for exams that are now pushed back. We didn’t want the strike, though. A strike means we don’t have class, for the most part, and that means that we stop our learning and we aren’t getting the education we paid for. We want that education, but most of us still side with APSCUF.
The contract, the negotiations, the strike, they’re not about the money. All you have to do is ask a professor and they’ll explain that to you. Yes, they want raises, but fair raises, and that’s not an abnormal thing to negotiate. It’s not about the money, though, it’s about the quality of our education. What is at stake is whether or not our degrees actually mean something when we graduate.
An example of this threat to the quality would be taking one of my English professors who is amazing at teaching English and telling them, “You need to go and teach Calculus 3.” As of most recent negotiations from APSCUF and PASSHE (Pennsylvania State System for Higher Education) while it cannot be forced, it can still happen with a vote from faculty. If faculty did vote to do that, then yes, that English professor would have to go and teach calculus. Would those students receive a quality education? No. Say some of the students in that class are Secondary Education—Math majors who may have to teach that level of calculus one day, they will have no clue what is happening when they go into the classroom. This isn’t just one generation of students this is impacting. Future generations to come will be more and more impacted. This shouldn't even be something worth negotiating.
Another impact on the quality is fewer full-time faculty and more temporary and adjunct. It’s been proven that if a faculty member is temporary, they get paid less and are less likely to be strongly invested in the school they’re at. Some are, yes, but not all. The moment they can get a full-time job they typically will, regardless of if it is where they’ve been teaching. I know how comfortable I feel when a professor tells me that they’ve been teaching at Bloomsburg for ten years, fifteen years, even more. I know they have experience. I know for a fact they can teach me what I need to know. Temporary faculty are still great though and they give their all, if not more. But when the State System wants to depreciate them and make them work more for less, why would they want to give their all? We respect our faculty and we want the best for them and for us.
We have some pretty amazing professors here at Bloomsburg, I know I’ve run into plenty and I’m only a sophomore. Sure, everyone has a professor or two they don’t get along with or agree with, but we all agree that our professors deserve better. Why else would students have formed “Bloomsburg Students United,” a Facebook group with 272 members and counting, to stand and strike with the faculty we care so much about? We stand #withAPSCUF here, most of us at least. We don’t want a prolonged strike, but we will stand up for what we believe in.