Faculty contracts expire Wednesday.

But for students, that day should be no different from any other. Faculty Association members should host class as usual.

The FA should extend its current contract, with the understanding that the new contract – whenever an agreement is reached – will be retroactive.

A faculty strike would unfairly place students in the crossfire between the FA and the university administration. Though a strike is one of the union’s most potent leveraging tools, it should not be treated lightly. The strike would badly hinder students’ educations – exactly the thing that FA members claim is one of their primary concerns.

Many students have voiced support for the FA, and a strike may not be wildly unpopular.

But even if many students are supportive, the FA needs to make the case that negotiations are so badly at loggerheads that a strike is warranted. Students should support faculty, but they should support faculty acting reasonably. If students’ educations are at all impeded, there had better be a good reason for it.

And right now that reason simply isn’t there. Though negotiations have not been resolved before the current contract’s expiration, there are signs of progress.

A fact-finder was named last week, and although either party may reject his proposal, it’s premature to strike before even seeing the proposal.

Any job action, whether it’s a full-fledged strike or only a partial slowdown, now would hurt students more than it would hurt administrators. The university has little say in how quickly the fact-finder makes his proposal; a strike hardly would expedite the process.

Extending the contract would, for now, let this prolonged process run its course without inconveniencing students. The fact that it has been prolonged is not reason enough for a strike; what matters is the outcome.

This is not to say that a strike would never be justified. If the fact-finder still proposes a legitimately intolerable package, the FA should carefully consider a strike, as there may be little other recourse.

But now is not the time. The administration and the FA have agreed to a particular fact-finder. It’s unreasonable for the FA to agree to a fact-finder but permit him hardly any time to do fact-finding.

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