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PETERBOROUGH, (CUP) - After a bitter three-week strike and a scandal over Christmas bonuses, three top administrators at Trent University are gone - but the deep divisions created in the past months remain. Trent President Leonard Connolly has announced he will be leaving his job before the end of his term. The acting Dean and the vice president academic resigned before the New Year. The latest resignation comes after a year of tense relations between the administration and the three unions that represent the school's faculty and staff. Those problems culminated in a three week strike by full-time faculty in November after the administration broke off talks during mediation. The main sticking points between the sides were wage parity with the rest of Ontario's professors, the number of faculty at the university, and the fate of surplus money from the faculty pension plan. The two sides reached an agreement in early December, in a settlement that was viewed as a victory for the faculty. But hard feelings remain for many about the strike and the way it was handled by the administration. Although Connolly cited "personal and professional" reasons for his premature exit, many believe it was inevitable in the bitter aftermath of the strike. "Don't even mention that name to me," said one staff member, in an informal interview as she locked the door to her office at the end of one working day last week. "His administration didn't treat any of us fairly this year. I just hope those resignations shake something up in those offices . . . we sure could use a change," said the staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Those bitter feelings are all too common on the campus, and were echoed by Professor John Fekete, the head of the Trent University Faculty Association, the union of full-time teachers at Trent. Calling the current administration the "most inept" he has ever had to work with, Fekete placed the blame for the strike on "administration intransigence" and lack of good faith during the pre-strike bargaining process. Mediation, with our best efforts, achieved nothing. This administration did not come to the table to make an agreement, said Fekete. "They did not even make an offer before the strike deadline," said Fekete. Fekete's complaints about the administration playing hard ball find their echo across campus, in the offices of Pat Shillemore-Martin, the head of the union representing Trent's non-academic staff. 
"We were very frustrated to see the faculty being forced to strike to defend what's important to them," she said. Shillemore-Martin speaks from experience. Her union signed a contract with the administration in late summer, but only after a bargaining process that she felt was not taken seriously by the administration. "We began bargaining last spring, without much enthusiasm on the part of the administration. They suggested quite early that we go to conciliation," or the administration would impose wage-levels unilaterally, she said. Although her union "came very close to walking out on strike," they eventually settled with the administration. President Connolly denies any lack of faith on the part of the administration. "Both sides had strongly held views [during the faculty strike], and both sides worked in the best interests of their constituencies," he said. "On the administration side, we were working in the best interests of the long-term viability of this institution," he said. Shillemore-Martin believes that the strike has seriously soured her members' feeling for being part of the university community. She points to the controversial decision of President Connolly to award $1,000 bonuses to non-unionised upper administrators just before Christmas as the reason. "When they turned around and gave out those bonuses despite saying there was no money, after we haven't had a raise in seven years . . . that really undermined my members," she said. 
One of those members spoke of the bonuses in less delicate terms. "It's like we weren't feeling bad enough they had to throw us out on the street and back over us a couple of more times," said the staff member. The bonuses also angered the members of the part-time faculty union. They quickly pointed out that the bonuses could have paid for the health plan they requested from the administration, but did not receive, because of a lack of money, according to the administration. The hardline approach that the administration took against the staff and faculty was partly the result of provincial budget cuts, according to Shillemore-Martin. That budget cuts are changing the way Trent works did not come as news Jen McColl, a fourth-year English major. Over the past four years, she has witnessed Trent's famous commitment to small-group teaching erode in the face of faculty cutbacks. "When I first came here, my biggest class was 12 people. Now first-years have 25 in a class," she said. In order to make their concerns clear, a group of almost forty students occupied the office of the university president Students occupying the office of university president Leonard Conolly's office let out yelps of elation when they heard the strike was finally over. The 40 or so students spent six days occupying the office as an attempt to force the university administration to end the strike. Aside from crossing picket-lines daily, the administration were able to continue to work (and be paid) without the disruption students were experiencing, the group said. So the group, who supported the faculty's demands, decided to pass the disruption along to the people with the power to end the strike. What was it like to live inside "the bunker" for six days? Most of the students involved would agree, it was an intense learning experience. Daisie Auty described it as an internal practicum. "We were learning in the most safe environment imaginable, how to organize politically - how to untangle power structures and re-introduce our voices in a meaningful way. It has been a real lesson in the importance of active participation." Corina Crawley wrote: "We were just there, inconveniencing and questioning the administrators. We saw the administration's negotiating team and President Conolly almost hourly most days. We demanded answers from them [and] let them get to know us and our concerns." Jen McColl who was also involved in the strike had this to say, "Nothing is going to change while students remain on the fence, stay neutral. The administration's lives needed to be disrupted during the strike to show them what we were going through," she said. Remaining neutral is exactly what the student government decided to do in order to best represent students, according to student council president Matt Gallinger. "The faculty union never came out and said that they were striking in order to combat provincial cuts to education," said Gallinger. Gallinger said he was happy students would be going back to classes, but was upset students who had left the city were give such short notice before classes began." Acting dean John Syrett said the quick return to class was essential to make up hours lost during the strike. Although McColl admits that the faculty were slow to pledge support for student concerns, by the middle of the strike that faculty union had made a promise to support students in their concerns for tuition levels and funding cuts, she said. Both McColl and Gallinger hope that the recent administration resignations signal the beginning of better times at Trent. McColl hopes that the resignations and the strike are a wake up call for others at Trent to realise that the university is being changed by budget cuts and hard times. For others at Trent, the divisions might take longer to heal. "There used to be a sense but of community for me. After the way we've been treated, any desire to work at this place is gone" said one staff member, who didn't want to be named. "I'm just working nine to five now. Just nine to five." With files from The Arthur |