An emergency Special Assembly saw snaps and thumbs up from PSAC 901 union .
AMS Assembly met on March 31 for a Special Assembly to discuss whether or not to take a position on the ongoing Public Service Alliance Canada (PSAC) 901, Unit 1, strike. On March 27, the AMS announced President Owen Rocchi called the Special Assembly to discuss how the Society can undergraduate students during the strike. The meeting focused on whether to the Undergraduate Open Letter, which calls for a tuition refund and a Grade Deferred (GD) option instead of Credit Received (CR) on transcripts.
A CR grade is generally used in exceptional personal circumstances and implies that the student ed the course but doesn’t show what grade was numerical or letter grade was earned. A GD grade means the grading for the course has been delayed.
READ MORE: Undergrads call on the University to resume negotiations with PSAC 901
In a presentation during Assembly, PSAC 901 representatives urged to back the Open Letter’s demands and stand behind the union.
“Without our [TA’s] assistance, you do not receive the same education—and you haven’t. So, every kind of attempt on your end to defend your rights to better education is important” one of the spokespeople said. “Your voice matters a lot, like ours.”
A motion directed the AMS President to advocate for an exemption on grade point average (GPA) requirements for scholarships and academic probation. Students in the Arts and Science faculty are put on academic probation if their GPA is below 1.6. If the GPA remains below 1.6 for a year they’re required to temporarily withdraw from the University. At Assembly, Rocchi explained if CR is adopted on transcripts, students wouldn’t be able to increase their GPA to meet these requirements, which seems unfair to him. The motion ed unanimously.
Discussing the Open Letter, Assembly, students at large, and PSAC 901 who were unable to talk as they’re not AMS —communicating through approval snaps and holding their thumbs up and down—discussed four demands from the letter and made a motion recommendation for if they would the demand in their own statement afterwards.
After 40-minutes of discussion on whether Assembly should recommend to the University that students receive GD over CR amid marking delays, Engineering Society President Jack Walker argued that forcing students into one option would be worse than offering a choice. He proposed that Assembly prioritize advocating for letter grades when possible, but allow students the option of receiving a CR or GD when a letter grade isn’t feasible. The motion ed unanimously.
Assembly discussed whether they should recommend to the University students receive a partial tuition refund for the education they’ve paid for but not received. Rector Niki Boytchuk-Hale, a non-voting Assembly member, was in favour of the motion, explaining the University isn’t in a position to lose that money and it puts pressure on them—even though issuing a tuition refund likely isn’t feasible. Rocchi echoed Boytchuck-Hale’s sentiment, explaining the motion is on principle.
“Although I don’t know how tangible it would be, I think it’s something on principle we can all agree on,” Rocchi said. The motion ed with several abstentions.
Student leaders moved on to discuss how to go about urging the University to immediately engage in bargaining with PSAC 901, Unit, 1 to ensure a fair deal is made that s union . After deliberation on the wording of the motion and whether they wanted to include the word “fair” in their calls due to its subjectivity, the motion ed unanimously without the inclusion of the word.
Lastly, Assembly discussed whether they should recommend all pre-strike, completed assignments be graded. After discussion, they decided to make the recommendation, but specified this should be done by the original graders assigned, no undergraduate Teaching Assistants, or outside hires. The motion ed with Walker as the only abstention.
Assembly will now put together a letter to the University outlining the recommendations voted on.
This is an ongoing story.
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