Durham College classes cancelled during province-wide faculty strike

Oshawa, Ont. – As a result of the province-wide strike by college full-time and partial-load faculty, all classes at the Oshawa and Whitby campuses and Pickering Learning Site, including apprenticeships, are cancelled until further notice. Continuing Education courses will continue to run.

 

“We understand there are concerns about the full-time and partial-load faculty strike,” said Scott Blakey, chief administrative officer, Durham College. “However, no student in the college’s 50-year history has ever lost their academic year due to a work stoppage. As an institution we are doing everything we can to ensure that fact remains true. Making sure our students feel supported is our top priority.”

Contingency planning
DC has developed contingency and semester completion plans to facilitate the completion of the academic semester, which will be finalized based on the length of the strike and number of school days lost.

Every school and program area will consider the most effective strategies for students to complete their semester. This could include additional in-class hours; online hours; or modified assignments, all in an effort to avoid extending the fall semester if at all possible.

Individual program and course semester completion plans will be revised and implemented once classes resume, with the students situations and needs top of mind in all decision-making.

Picket line information
Students, employees and the public should be advised that legal picket lines will be established at the entrances to Durham College’s Oshawa and Whitby campuses and Pickering Learning Site. Anyone travelling to and from those locations should expect delays.

Durham Region Transit and GO Transit will continue operating buses as scheduled however alternative drop off and pick-up locations at the Oshawa and Whitby campuses will be in place.

The college has created an extensive information page to keep students, employees and the public informed of relevant details pertaining to the work stoppage, including frequently asked questions. That information can be found at www.durhamcollege.ca/strike.

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About Durham College
At Durham College (DC), the student experience comes first. With campuses in Oshawa and Whitby and a learning site in Pickering, the college offers more than 12,000 full-time post-secondary and apprenticeship students access to more than 140 full-time and eight apprenticeship programs in a number of different disciplines, enabling them to develop the skills required to meet the demands of today’s job market. The college is also set to launch its first four-year degree program, the Honours Bachelor of Health Care Technology Management, in September 2018.

The Oshawa campus features the state-of-the art Student Services building and will soon feature the Centre for Collaborative Education, a legacy project tied to DC’s 50th anniversary in 2017. The new facility will bring together local, Indigenous and global communities, providing a new home for several of the college’s most innovative and ground-breaking programs.

The Whitby campus features the award-winning W. Galen Weston Centre for Food, which includes Bistro ’67, a full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant, and Pantry, a retail store featuring food prepared by students in the college’s culinary programs.

For more information, visit www.durhamcollege.ca or call 905.721.2000.

Media contact:
Meghan Ney
Communications and Marketing
905.721.2000 ext. 6219
meghan.ney@durhamcollege.ca

Or

Melissa McLean
Communications and Marketing
905.721.2000 ext. 2952
melissa.mclean@durhamcollege.ca