Professors on strike

Thursday, September 24, 2009 is the scheduled date of the University of California Professors Strike.

College professors on strike? If you look at the list, they are calling for a strike on all of the UC campuses-- Berkeley, LA, Riverside, Irvine, San Diego, San Francisco, Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Merced. I was also told that certain staff will be participating in this strike as well.

Their list of demands is relatively simple: 1. People paid under $40K/year should not have to experience a paycut 2. Re-address the furlough issue 3. Make UC spending more transparent.

It will be interesting to see the results. How many professors will actually follow through on the strike? The list is primarily humanities and liberal arts professors.

Truthfully, the loss of a single day of classes (especially the first day) is minor for most undergraduate college students. I assume most professors will compensate by creating a heavier homework load for a few days and/or spending less time on less important material. In practical terms, one day less of classes has as much impact on learning/teaching as expecting professors to take furloughs.

When I was an undergrad, there was a really bad snowstorm one year that actually shut down the University of Wisconsin campus for one day. Vehicles weren't moving on the street because there was too much snow. All classes were cancelled EXCEPT for my physical chemistry class. My professor, knowing that it would snow heavily the night before, spent the night in the dorms with his college aged son. He showed up to class and presented his lecture to a handful of us (who didn't listen to the radio or check the t.v. before we trudged through the snow to class). I don't remember the topic covered in that lecture. I just remember the dedication the professor showed to his students that day. What do you think this strike is REALLY teaching students?