Students Being Affected

I totally agree with the OUC student about us being ripped off. I too attend classes in the buildings that are being worked on and have watched my instructor try to speak over the sound of an exceptionally loud tool, you can barely hear and concentration is a challenge. The parking situation is a complete mess, the snow was never properly cleared so that in order to reach the buildings you had to trudge through slush and mud, all this for the bargain price of $45.00 per semester.

The sidewalks and stairways on campus are also poorly maintained, on icy days you take your life in your hands crossing the courtyard, I really feel for the students with disabilities that I see trying to pick their way through it on crutches or with support devices. This is dangerous and completely unacceptable, the question is not if someone will be injured, but when.

On top of that, the strike has totally disrupted midterms, you prepare and study only to arrive and find that tests and exams have been moved to accommodate the strike. I realize they are trying to prove a point, but it's coming out of our pockets and I for one am sick of it. Now there has been talk of extending the school year, which totally messes up our chances of getting a summer job so that we can afford to come back for more of the same next year? I sincerely hope that with the UBC takeover, a lot of these problems will be alleviated. We are paying high tuition for an education that I feel is being greatly compromised by these situations and making our academic success more of a challenge than it has to be.

J.B.