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Call to Arms
Apr. 25th, 2006 06:35 pmIf you're someone out of my rather diverse friends list that is still in St Andrews, it would be helpful if you read this all the way through. It's a bit dull, but it's important.
A large stress that's been hanging over the class like a badly placed grand piano recently has been the ongoing situation with the lecturer strike. I haven't mentioned this before, but it's becoming worrying - I thought that it would only last a few weeks, but it's now getting to the point where my exams aren't being written, my project might not be marked, and I might not be able to graduate unless I come back after summer. A couple of weeks ago, all those ideas just seemed melodramatic, but they're becoming increasingly real as each day goes past.
The latest email update on the strike from the student union is that "the teaching union is prepared to discuss the possibility of resuming negotations with regard to eventually solving" the matter, which sounds pretty laughable, but with a bit of luck the negotiations today will have helped somewhat. In fact, there is also the possibility of a temporary solution being implemented within St Andrews so that we can get our work marked.
But here is the problem - the Principal of the university doesn't believe that it's a major problem because he has only had about fifty replies from the entire student body concerning the situation. Therefore, the CS class went up to the lab this afternoon and sent a heap of individual emails to him about how concerned we are about our uncertain graduation. One of the more irate members of the group sent an additional one off to the AUT with the subject line "You greedy, selfish, inconsiderate bastards".
I'm not suggesting that people go that far, but to make the students' situation understood, people need to contact the principal and let him know of their concerns. I'll even give you a link to his email address so that you can do it without leaving the page (it'll only allow mail sent from another St Andrews email). Even if you're not graduating this year, or your lecturers aren't on strike, there are people in rather dire situations that may be helped a lot by as large a student response as possible. It doesn't have to be a long or complex email - just anything expressing concern about the ongoing strike and asking him when it can be resolved would go a long way.
In summary: Help!
A large stress that's been hanging over the class like a badly placed grand piano recently has been the ongoing situation with the lecturer strike. I haven't mentioned this before, but it's becoming worrying - I thought that it would only last a few weeks, but it's now getting to the point where my exams aren't being written, my project might not be marked, and I might not be able to graduate unless I come back after summer. A couple of weeks ago, all those ideas just seemed melodramatic, but they're becoming increasingly real as each day goes past.
The latest email update on the strike from the student union is that "the teaching union is prepared to discuss the possibility of resuming negotations with regard to eventually solving" the matter, which sounds pretty laughable, but with a bit of luck the negotiations today will have helped somewhat. In fact, there is also the possibility of a temporary solution being implemented within St Andrews so that we can get our work marked.
But here is the problem - the Principal of the university doesn't believe that it's a major problem because he has only had about fifty replies from the entire student body concerning the situation. Therefore, the CS class went up to the lab this afternoon and sent a heap of individual emails to him about how concerned we are about our uncertain graduation. One of the more irate members of the group sent an additional one off to the AUT with the subject line "You greedy, selfish, inconsiderate bastards".
I'm not suggesting that people go that far, but to make the students' situation understood, people need to contact the principal and let him know of their concerns. I'll even give you a link to his email address so that you can do it without leaving the page (it'll only allow mail sent from another St Andrews email). Even if you're not graduating this year, or your lecturers aren't on strike, there are people in rather dire situations that may be helped a lot by as large a student response as possible. It doesn't have to be a long or complex email - just anything expressing concern about the ongoing strike and asking him when it can be resolved would go a long way.
In summary: Help!
