Dd scared of crossing a university picket line

[littlemissrain]

Dd's university is taking part in the strike next week.

Most of her teachers (mostly postgraduate students) will be striking, but none of her lecturers are. 2 of her lectures aren't recorded, so she has to go to them. This will
mean crossing the picket line, and she's terrified that the strikers will call her out/jeer at her as she goes in. She has anxiety problems so is really building this up in her mind. The strikes are, as things stand, going to last for up to a month, possibly longer.

Does anyone have any experience of having to cross picket lines?

Tell her to hold her head up and walk straight past. If anyone gets stroppy (they probably won't) tell her to smile and wave at them. Nothing works better than passive aggression. Thats how people fought back against the WBC idiots, it works like a dream.

Sorry to hear your dd is feeling anxious about this. I suspect it'll be much lower key than she fears and it'll be no problem at all. Are any of her friends going in so she has someone to walk in with? Definitely no need to chuck it all in and volunteer in Greece just yet

I had an amazing time at uni, made lifelong friends, attended (nearly) all my lectures, and got a good degree. I didn't get involved with anything political at all. It's not compulsory.

I wouldn't worry about what the SU say. Attending lectures given by strike breakers is one thing, attending lectures given by staff in different unions is another thing.

Head up high, thank anyone who gives her a leaflet and in she goes.

I remember a group of utter twats in my uni years who thought they were revolutionaries, sticking it to the man.

Mostly middle class snowflakes who knew nothing about the real world.

Everyone knew they were gobshites. Everyone ignored them.

I suggest you do the same on this thread, OP.

This "you can read it all in books" is rubbish even for the humanities tbh. The point of attending classes and lectures is to test and refine your understanding of what you've read, make it work in real-life debates and analyses, and fix it in your memory (far more likely to happen with a discussion than from a page). And ultimately, start to go beyond the knowledge you've read and build on it under the guidance of an expert who will encourage you to see things in new ways beyond the books. This is the case whether or not you agree with your lecturers views.

Otherwise you really are just doing rote-learning. Sitting in the library can be a pretty sterile business, as any PhD student will tell you, and they're highly skilled in absorbing and developing material by their stage, an 18yo doesn't stand a chance. If you arrive at uni thinking you know everything there is to know about intellectual self-development, and leave the same way, then you just haven't progressed. It's an extremely unfortunate point to make because it ultimately acts to undermine the humanities as a mode of study.

Could she take a year out and volunteer somewhere in Greece say, with a charity helping refugees coming in by boat? She could make a real difference there and the hardships she sees might reset her anxiety and perspective to a more realistic level.

Yes, lets all go and look at the the poor people and feel oodles better about our #firstworldproblems SMH

I went to a very politicised university. During strikes the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. Lecturers would normally have a table outside their building and would pass out fliers, say hello etc. Students will be walking around campus and going into buildings for many reasons other than lectures (library, using the toilets etc) and no one will say anything to her.

UmmmIdontThinkSo independent analysis of the USS scheme concluded that it is sustainable as it is. The funds assets have increased by 12% year on year for the past 5 years and it has always been the case that contributions exceed benefits paid. This latter will continue to be the case for at least another 40 years.
The supposed deficit is based on a particular way of calculating the schemes liabilities and future performance. This is based on i) modelling what would happen is ALL universities simultaneously closed down, which is rather unlikely, ii) a de-risking strategy of moving investments into government bonds which is the pensions equivalent of keeping your money under your mattress and actually does not reduce risk. The USS's own most recent 'best-case' valuation estimated that the scheme was in surplus by around £8bn.
(Some, not all) Universities want to close the defined benefits scheme to remove the potential risk from their balance sheets so that they can borrow money more cheaply to put up buildings that are not really needed, but which they think will attract students. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the affordability of the scheme.
Uni staff have seen working conditions get a lot worse over recent years. 10 years of sub-inflation pay settlements have knocked 15-20% off the real value of wages. The final salary pension scheme was closed to new members several years ago and to existing members last year. Uni's have more money now than they did before the £9K fees were introduced, but have decreased staff spending by around 15%.

She'll be fine. I had to go into college when some lecturers were striking, I saw one I knew, she gave me a leaflet and explained what the strike was about and we chatted for a bit. I think I signed a petition.

Uni picket lines are terribly polite. She'll be fine.

I am striking next week and we're getting all sort of letters about picketing and the rules around picketing. The lecturers really want the students on side and will be kind.

Lecturing staff and students are all on the losing side of Tory cuts to HE and and increasingly commercialised sector.

Could you find some videos on youtube about strikes? It wouldn't be like the miners' strike, if that what she has built it up in her mind to be (unless it is a very odd university). We've had strikes here a few times. No students are targeted at all by picketers, as they aren't involved in the strike. The strikers sit in deckchairs in small groups by the doors drinking coffee and handing out the odd leaflet. The only people who will get heckled are lecturers/teachers who are breaking their unions' strike, or others who they think should be supporting them.

absolutely agree that there is no chance of anyone abusing students on these picket lines.

We are not planning to do or say anything to staff crossing the line let alone students!

For one thing not all the staff are members of the union so they can't strike.

Honestly noone will say anything to a student!

The picket line will be very polite so nothing to worry about but if she's worried could she walk in with a friend?
As for the idea of just not going to lectures cause there's a library, I had compulsory lectures with practical elements that I couldn't have missed if I'd wanted to. If you are doing a science degree the likelihood is you can't learn it all from books, shocking as that is.

She could make a real difference there and the hardships she sees might reset her anxiety and perspective to a more realistic level.

This is a ridiculous thing to say. Anxiety is anxiety no matter what part of the world you’re in. You can’t just ‘reset’ it. That’s not how it works.

OP’s daughter is young and has presumably never experienced a strike before, so she’s anxious about what it might involve. To extrapolate that she’s therefore not cut out for university and should therefore drop out and move to Greece is just nonsense!

In any case something tells me she would be far more anxious about moving to Greece to do voluntary work

home, your ds needs to check that, at dp's uni material missed during strikes will still be on the exams.

Just to add, my experience of strikes at uni was that coursework just took bloody ages to come back to us because the lecturers were refusing to mark it. They are generally quite careful not to do anything which might seriously impact the students in a negative way. They definitely won’t be booing and jeering at them as they enter the building!

It’ll be fine, the picket lines are usually very polite, more leaflet and chat rather than shouting. If she’s worried, is there another entrance she could use?

I'll be on strike. All the conversation among colleagues has been how to avoid disadvantaging the students too much while making things very difficult for management. Lecturers care about students.

She won’t be ‘jeered at’ and I actually find this quite offensive. She may be handed a leaflet.

Yes, this. When I used to work at a university (in a non-academic capacity), academic staff held more than one strike. While many other staff and many students supported those striking, no one ever 'jeered' .

Lol at the idea that a student who’s anxious about walking through a picket line that has nothing to do with her would benefit/be able to volunteer on the front line of illegal immigration.

OP I think she needs to grow a backbone and get on with it. It’s what growing up is all about.

indubious it’s a humanities subject taught in modules. There’s no “fixed” end game like there would be in say a science subject. The exams will not cover aspects not covered as a result of missed lectures. Why on earth would the staff risk lower marks for their students when they can focus on matters already covered? It’s not logical.

home I’m in a humanities subject and our exams are set before the strike takes place to cover the whole of the course - as things stand we are not planning to amend them. The university may decide to send in cover, or make other arrangements, or the strike may be called off but that’s for them to sort out.

I agree that she will definitely not be jeered at. Why would the striking staff want to jeer at the students. The problem is with university management and the USS, not the students.

Of course the students should go to classes that are running. There are teach-in events on lots of campuses that people would be delighted to see the students attend. And also students that are deciding to run their own seminars based on the course materials, etc. All the striking staff are hugely supportive of them doing so.

OP, assuming your DD is in uni with a view to entering the workforce, I'd gently suggest that she needs to find ways to be comfortable with this kind of thing. She might work somewhere where there's a strike, or a dispute, or heck, even arguments among colleagues. I have suffered from anxiety myself so I'm not trying to be unkind, but is she getting any help in finding ways to cope with the world?