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>>AAUP and OU administration still bargaining- Slow progress (posted Sept. 7)

>>Vice president of Finance John Beaghan responds to some of faculty union’s claims (posted Sept. 6)

>>Oakland University faculty strike unresolved – AAUP and OU administration still at bargaining table (posted Sept. 5)

>>Letter to the Editor: Student sends complaint letter to OU administration (posted Sept. 4)

>>Picketing to resume Tuesday unless contract is settled – AAUP, OU at the bargaining table in Rochester (posted Sept. 4)

>>Oakland University’s faculty rally for better contracts (posted Sept. 4)

>>Classes canceled until further notice due to strike (posted Sept. 3)

>>Mixed student reactions to class cancellations (posted Sept. 3)

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>>Video: OU students react to faculty job action and cancellation of classes (posted Sept. 4)

>>Video: Interview with Karen Miller, vice president of OU’s AAUP chapter (posted Sept. 4)

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It’s the first day of school and at 9:30 on a crisp, sunny September morning students are milling around the OC. They are lined up 14-deep at Café O’Bears, gathered in groups at tables, or sitting at the bank of computers, at their laptops, or on their Blackberries, checking their e-mail to see if there has been an announcement. They are waiting to see if the next class will be cancelled.

OU teachers went on strike Thursday morning because their union and the administration have not settled on a contract. Teachers are unhappy with the negotiations, according to the AAUP, because the administration is not offering pay raises, wants to offer fewer health benefits, wants to decrease funding for research and travel to professional conferences and wants to hire fixed-term faculty rather than tenure-track faculty from now on.

Wednesday night 300-400 AAUP members voted to give AAUP the power to call a job action, or strike.

Students were angry about not being notified about class cancellations. While some students said they had received e-mails from individual teachers, many said that they had not been notified at all.

Many had battled traffic or driven long distances to arrive on time for the first day of class.

Senior Kelly Byrks, a communications major, said she lives 40 minutes away and was “kind of appalled [I] had to drive all that way and sit in traffic.”

Byrks said it was confusing and that OU should have sent an e-mail or used the emergency text message alert system.

Other students were disappointed that the university hadn’t settled the disagreement before school started.

“I’m a little bit annoyed that they didn’t have this [worked] out before classes started,” said Jonathan Gravenstreter, a sophomore in the pre-med track.

He said he went to his 8 a.m. chemistry class but that the teacher didn’t show up.

 

Some students were angry because they work hard to pay the cost of tuition and think they should be able to go to class.

“This is the first day of my senior year. Great, right? I think it’s embarrassing,” said Alma Biserovic, senior, psychology major. “It’s not like they told us … they take your money.” 

Biserovic said a lot of people are in a bad situation economically and don’t have jobs but they have to try “so hard” to get money to pay for school and then don’t have class.

Some students were happy to have an extra day of vacation.

Don Jacobs, freshman, physical therapy, said his teacher didn’t show up but that was “definitely mellow.”  Jacobs said, “I can meet people and don’t have to worry about classes. “

John Womack, senior, math major, SI and tutor, expressed solidarity with the faculty.

“Let’s talk about Russi’s [President Gary Russi] 40 percent raise. Let’s talk about the board of trustees 15-20 percent raise…there’s a 9 percent increase in my tuition to build a medical school that I never voted for…Out of the 9 percent, professors are receiving zero percent increase in pay and the university is taking 30-40 percent of the cost of their health care out of their paychecks,” said Womack.

He said that he hopes the teachers are smarter than the students were on the tuition increase and that they hold out for zero percent decrease in their health care.

Meanwhile, six guys were stretched out on “barkaloungers” in the basement of the OC, watching TV and biding their time.

Petru Pop, a senior health science major, said he was upset.

“I paid for those credits. I want to have something out of it at least,” said Pop.

 Pop said he worked all night and didn’t even go home before coming to OU at 8 a.m. only to find that his class had been canceled. He said he was fed up. That school had become more of a business and that it shouldn’t be that way.

Pop’s friend, Bogdan Olar disagreed.

“As long as I get credit they can strike as much as they want,” he said. “If they cancel classes, let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

Sara Chung, a junior nursing major, sat quietly by herself in the OC. She was reading over an assignment. Chung said, “I’m doing what I would have done irregardless of whether there was a strike. Come early, study, go to class, go home.”

AAUP Vice President Karen Miller said that the job action was a last resort.