<p>The UC system is planning to unionize its entire student body. And, if any of you have kids currently in Berkeley, SDU (for Students for a Democratic University) is the student government party that aims to turn the student government into a student union, claiming that a student government is ineffective in its current form and a student union working under direct democracy, with general assemblies holding ultimate union power, would best serve students' interests.</p>
<p>But as CUNY attempts student unionization also, one has to wonder how much power should student bodies be allowed to wield in college. Some opponents of student unionism claim student unions may grow too powerful over time and they may pose a danger to the schools they serve.</p>
<p>I know all too well that Quebec students carried out a seven-month strike that ended last month and Quebec has carried out more student strikes than anywhere else in North America.</p>
<p>My own department was on strike for 10 weeks so I know that a student strike is intended to be called only as a last-ditch move.</p>
<p>They can have all the free public education they want, as long as someone is willing to pay for it.</p>
<p>I don’t quite get how this is suppose to work. Lets assume UCB students go on strike, couldn’t they just fill that student body with new students? Is there a law which says that the students couldn’t be replaced?</p>
<p>^ I was wondering the same thing. There are thousands of denied students who would be willing to take their places.</p>
<p>I think this is largely for publicity. What? Are the students being mistreated? Are they are being forced to labor in the country’s premier public school?</p>
<p>Yeah, because students should just shut up, pay their bills and do what they’re told! They shouldn’t have any influence on the system that they’re paying an ever-increasing amount of money for! The customer is always wrong! (And yes, that’s what students are: customers. They’re paying money to receive a service.)</p>
<p>Ah, America: where it’s A-OK for the upper class to band together and form corporations, but when the middle class bands together to form unions, that’s scary. The hypocrisy reeks.</p>
<p>But there is no such thing as a student STRIKE, any more than it’s a “strike” if 1,000 of my BFF’s and I decide not to eat Chik-Fil-A or Domino’s because we don’t like the politics of the owners.</p>
<p>What you’re talking about is a BOYCOTT. Which, of course, students are free to do (not show up at classes and the like), but that doesn’t obligate anyone to do anything about anything especially if the school can find new students. </p>
<p>It just sounds stupid to mix the two up.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You were an employee who was paid to provide a service. If you went on strike, that service didn’t get provided. That’s completely different.</p>
<p>Or it is rationed in some way to ensure its provision could be sustainable whether it’s through extremely competitive admissions like CUNY/CCNY before 1969 or through open/easy admission but not everyone graduates as was practiced in some Midwest universities towards in-staters during the '50s/60’s and some modern French universities*. </p>
<ul>
<li>With the French universities, anyone can get in as long as they have a HS graduation certification…but their policy is to weed out 50% or more of each class EACH YEAR through year-end exams.</li>
</ul>
<p>if a student strikes who cares? it is like a kid going on strike because daddy didn’t buy a new BMW for their 16 birthday.</p>
<p>who are they going to hurt, I do not care if a student goes on strike and does not graduate. p.s. what about the students who are their to learn like a engineering major and does not want to play the game, are they going to be harassed for going to class?</p>
<p>Any sentence that contains the word “Union” is an ominous sight. </p>
<p>All we need to remember is the abject spectacle of assemblies of morons who masqueraded as Occupy Something participants. No wonder they want to organize as an union; then they can duplicate the even worse spectacles in Madison, WI and Chicago, IL.</p>
<p>I am not sure they are ready to tackle the challenges until…more completely educated and skilled. Not sure they understand the complexities of satisfying multiple needs simultaneously. Give up food courts, air conditioning, state-of-the-art labs, etc, to reduce student costs? Allow forced quads, stop underwriting research, expand class size? Or just tackle salaries from the top down?<br>
I do love protest movements, participated as a college kid, believe they serve to make us all aware of issues- but as an adult, can see “the forest, not just the trees” and expect protesters to have some vision.</p>
<p>Students don’t just have to shut up and pay their bills; they do have to understand the beast, the nature of the beast and the battle involved and what Utopia they seek (and is feasible to implement.) Not just believe in their own power to slay it.</p>
<p>Of course not! Better food, more air-conditioning, the latest science toys and much lower student costs. Let some else figure out how to pay for it.</p>
<p>Unions in this country have historically been adversarial rather than cooperative, like in Germany. That’s one reason they have done so poorly in recent decades.</p>
<p>Tried it in Elbonia - the college would shut down for random reasons… Not a very good idea. Strikes would be called on a regular basis by the various socio-commie-anarcho-left-right-wingers who ran the place. We ended up nearly losing a year (saved only by summer classes, first ever in the history of the place) as seniors because the freshmen thought it would be cool to go on a lengthy strike to “demand improvements to the quality of our education”</p>