Here we go again. Everywhere, starting from social media posts to the large crowds standing in front of the entrances of some university buildings, we are reminded that recently, the University has been affected by another wave of strikes. Throughout campus, discussions relating to the current state of events are not uncommon. Opinions seem to be divided between students welcoming the potential winds of change and students associating the strikes with unnecessary disruption towards their overall university experience.
Last semester, apart from the occasional cancelled lecture, most of my lectures ran as planned, therefore disruption was kept to a minimum. Initially, with the current strikes, I expected a similar experience, however, my expectations changed radically as a result of the occupation of Jessop West by a group of students. Jessop West was the first building to be occupied, shortly followed by the Hicks building.
Unfortunately, myself and other students have faced deadline changes as a result of the strikes, meaning that they may or may not clash with other deadlines, which in the long run may add unnecessary stress.Nonetheless, I understand that this is the best alternative, and it is admirable the speed at which the professors are able to deal with this current situation. Furthermore, I also noticed that a further disruption coming from the student strikes could be the fact that they are occurring at quite an early stage in the Spring semester, removing valuable time that I could be using to adjust back to university life after a long Christmas break, not to mention the exam season that got further disrupted amidst the Omicron variant concerns. Nonetheless, in my opinion, the most disruptive element of the strikes were not the cancelled lessons per se, but the classroom changes. As a result, the simple action of turning up to lectures transformed into a logistical nightmare. At the same time, some classes had no other option but to be online causing a disruption we are far too familiar with: connection issues. A subtle reminder of a time when Google Meets and Blackboard were the only gateways to access lectures. Nonetheless, despite the greater disruption, I am aware that compared to other students I had a more positive experience dealing with strikes. Indeed, when the Arts Tower got occupied, many Architecture students faced a crisis situation because most of their work was stored in the Arts Tower, and closure meant that they were unable to continue their time consuming and demanding assignments.
Ultimately, to conclude on a positive note, personally, I am in favour of the strikes, because they highlight that there are certain aspect of the education system that needs to be addressed and solved, as a result, when those issues continue to be unresolved, a strike seems to be the only method to drive for change in relation to their future, pensions and working conditions. Indeed, working conditions usually are linked to performance. Having the right conditions could drive motivation, and as we are all familiar with, motivations lead to better performance, therefore in the context of higher education, leads to better teaching and resources for students. In spite that working conditions and pensions are noble motives to strike for, extremist actions, notably the occupation of university buildings, are not representative of all the people involved in the strikes, and individuals are more likely to remember the negative impact rather than the reason why the strikes happened on the first palace. Now there is only hope that the large-scale disruptions were helpful to the cause, and as a new wave of strikes is approaching in the coming weeks this is more important than ever.