Dear Dalhousie Administration and Board of Governors: 
 
From October 19 to November 11, our valued academic workers, represented by CUPE 3912, were on strike to rightfully demand fair wages and working conditions. Their loss was felt widely across the university as Faculty members lost access to teaching support and students lost tutorials, labs and, in many cases, entire classes over this period. We are relieved that they are now able to return to work with wages and working conditions that better reflect their immense value in upholding our university’s teaching and learning infrastructure. However, our administration’s choice to endure this labour disruption while having capacity for a 69% cost increase to a hockey arena, a $64 million annual surplus and a 13% cost-of-living increase for our President’s salary has alienated many students and Faculty members alike who have had to cope with the brunt of the strike’s impacts. 
 
STUDENT SUCCESS IS OUR HIGHEST OBLIGATION

Our Third Century Promise recognizes students as “the foremost reason for Dalhousie’s existence and purpose” and identifies student success as the University’s highest obligation. Yet this Fall term has been one marked by continuous overwhelming disruption for many students who are still reeling from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The start of this term was marked by the continuation of a housing crisis, a 39-year high inflation, a historic hurricane and related power outages, and campus Wi-Fi outages. As students return to courses that were either cancelled or operating at reduced capacity during the strike, we will be faced with undue pressures like compressed timelines, unachievable marking schemes, and rushed content delivery. Dalhousie students pay among the highest tuition fees in the country to receive a world-class education. As our world faces increasingly complex and multidisciplinary challenges, we refuse to settle for anything less. 
 
OUR CALLS TO ACTION

We demand that Dalhousie University compensate students through tuition rebates and compassionate academic contingency measures that justly account for the strike’s impacts on teaching and learning. 

We also urge you to ensure student voices and needs are rigorously represented at every stage of bringing this semester to an equitable end. 
 
THE DALHOUSIE STUDENT UNION’S COMMITMENT 

The Dalhousie Student Union remains committed to supporting the University with achieving these goals. Our survey on strike impacts has collected over 550 responses to date and illustrated student concerns about progressing to future classes, graduation plans and job opportunities. We are recommending the following academic contingency measures and more in consultation with students and Faculty members:

• Streamlined CR/NCR option for Fall 2022
• Transcript notations to identify courses impacted by the strike
• Deadline extension to apply to graduate
• Minimal changes to syllabus & learning outcomes 
• Reversal of Senate decision to waive student consent requirement for syllabus policy changes
• Increased access to academic advising appointments

We hope you reciprocate our commitment to championing both students' immediate and long-term best interests. We know our demands and recommendations align with best practices set by peer universities that recovered from strikes. We acknowledge that these measures cannot fully make up for the disruption we experienced but they will bring us closer to upholding our shared values.
 
With expectation,  
 
Aparna Mohan, President 
Sydney Keyamo, Vice President Academic & External 
Tammy Maniou, Vice President Internal 
Emilia Córdova, Vice President Student Life 
Henry Amin, Vice President Finance & Operations 

On behalf of the Dalhousie Student Union