Students, parents feeling frustrated, uncertain amid Dal contract dispute

Nova Scotia·New’People sort of feel caught in the crossfire,’ says Dalhousie Student Union president Maren Mealey.’People sort of feel caught in the crossfire,’ says Dalhousie Student Union presidentFrances Willick · CBC News · Posted: Aug 24, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoNearly 1,000 members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association are currently locked out and on strike at Nova Scotia’s largest university. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)A contract dispute at Dalhousie University has left some students and parents feeling frustrated and uncertain.On Wednesday morning, the school locked out members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association after the two parties were unable to reach a collective agreement for nearly 1,000 professors, instructors, librarians and professional counsellors.On Friday, the union began a defensive strike.The lockout and strike come less than two weeks before the start of classes for the fall term, after many students and their families have already made travel arrangements to arrive on campus.Adam Kennedy is entering his third year of an accelerated three-year nursing program and said he and his cohort are feeling stressed.”It’s really disheartening,” Kennedy said. “It does not feel like the students have any say or that they’re keeping our best interest in mind at all.”Adam Kennedy is entering the third year of his three-year nursing program at Dalhousie University. He is concerned about the potential impact on students of a protracted contract dispute. (Submitted by Adam Kennedy)He said since his program is already condensed into three years from the standard four-year program, any lost time means the semester will be condensed even further — possibly leading to mental health issues and burnout for students. And, he pointed out, parts of the curriculum cannot just be cut, because students need to take a licensure exam that covers all the material.Kennedy said if the contract dispute is prolonged, it could also affect health care for Nova Scotians.”If this goes on for too long, our entire nursing program may just get delayed by a semester. And if that happens, then that’s Nova Scotia’s largest nursing program — missing graduates or having all of them delayed, that’s going to further impact the health-care system that needs us very badly.”Despite his concerns, Kennedy said he supports the faculty.”They put in a lot of work for us and we definitely appreciate that. We want to see them doing well and we want them to have a quality place to work in.”‘Caught in the crossfire’Maren Mealey, the president of the Dalhousie Student Union, said students are already feeling the impact.”I’m hearing a lot of frustration and uncertainty from students,” she told CBC’s Maritime Noon. “I think people sort of feel caught in the crossfire for a labour dispute that they didn’t bring on.”She said students taking summer courses had exams booked in August that will now need to be rescheduled or waived, and graduate students were slated to defend their theses and dissertations that will now be delayed.Fall-term students are weighing whether to come to campus as planned or delay their arrival. For some who are travelling from out of province, that means they are considering whether to book tickets, or reschedule tickets that are already booked, Mealey said.If the start of the academic year is delayed, students who were working during the summer, but who decide to return to campus, may miss out on potential earnings if they had stayed at their jobs longer during the dispute.Maren Mealey is the president of the Dalhousie Student Union. (Dalhousie Student Union)Mealey said the student union is continuing with its orientation week events, and is advising students to come to campus regardless of the contract dispute.”We encourage folks to come, not just because there’s amazing things planned, but if a negotiation does lead to a deal, that might mean classes get back on in a matter of days.”The student union hopes both sides will come together to try to reach an agreement, Mealey said.”We want both parties to come back, to sit back down, to engage in negotiations again and work through a deal that really represents the best interests of everyone.”Parent concernedClaudia Leavens’s daughter is entering her first year of a bachelor of arts degree at Dalhousie.Leavens, who lives in Toronto, said they have tickets booked and are planning to fly to Halifax on Aug. 28 regardless of whether classes will soon begin.But she said the uncertainty of the situation has her “a little bit concerned.”If the lockout and strike continue past the scheduled start of classes, Leavens wonders what students will do with their time after the fun of orientation week subsides.”Is it going to be frosh week for three weeks, or is the expectation that she needs to self-study?” she said. “You know, I’m sending my 17-year-old daughter there to be part of a structured system and if that doesn’t happen, yeah, that is a concern.”Leavens said she also wonders how a disruption to the school year could affect midterm break or the rest of the academic calendar.”I’m all for people making, you know, a living wage and so I’m not taking a side either way, but it’s just unfortunate,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORFrances Willick is a journalist with CBC Nova Scotia. Please contact her with feedback, story ideas or tips at frances.willick@cbc.caWith a file from Maritime Noon