Arts and Science faculty members played bouncer as students swarmed Mackintosh-Corry, wanting to hear the latest on the University’s budget cuts.
The tension was palpable on Jan. 26. as Arts and Science faculty discussed the University’s budget cuts. Members discussed the elimination of small classes, questioned Faculty of Arts and Science Dean Barbara Crow’s leadership, and passed a motion to reconvene on Feb. 2.
The structural deficit
The Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) is experiencing a “structural deficit,” Crow explained.
“A structural deficit is a deficit that recurs every year, we have less money coming in than we need to pay, every year and that’s not sustainable,” FAS Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) William Nelson said at the meeting.
Some faculty members questioned whether the budget accurately predicted a structural deficit, or if the Dean’s Office had explored alternative revenue streams. Faculty suggested withdrawing more from investments or advocating lower interest rates on debts within the University.
“This is a structural operation deficit. We could use those funds, but it still doesn’t address the revenue that we have to bring in,” Crow said.
Crow insisted she’s an advocate for Arts and Science behind closed doors, despite some faculty members and student representatives questioning her leadership.
“There’s concern the leadership who led us into the deficit is the leadership that can get us out,” Devon Fowlie, SGPS president, said during the questions period.
“This is a failure of leadership at every level,” Jordan Morelli, engineering and applied physics professor added.
The FAS is receiving “relief” from the University through a 1.5 per cent “tax on all things,” Nelson said, but all members of the Dean’s Office agreed structural changes need to happen now for the faculty to be sustainable.
Marcus Taylor, a member of the Budget Advisory Team and sociology professor, reminded faculty the budget crisis issn’t temporary, and the FAS has been ducking deficits for years.
“We can’t sit down at the table and negotiate with the Provost for more runway, [or] have more leeway, without a plan,” Taylor said.
The class size mandate
One way the administration is bringing costs down is to eliminate classes with enrolment below 10 undergraduate students in the last three iterations of the class, with exceptions undergoing approval from the Dean’s Office. Classes with under 10 students make up 0.5 per cent of the FAS’s courses but require 12 per cent of the faculty’s teaching capacity, Crow explained.
The Dean’s team argued the decision was made with department heads, which outraged some faculty members.
“[The Board is] pushing us to make program changes that will harm our offerings, harm our reputations, harm everything this University, I thought, stood for, in the name of a manufactured crisis,” Morelli said.
Nelson explained other possibilities, including offering joint classes with other universities to increase enrolment, and creating courses with unique learning opportunities to attract more students.
“This is the time to make those changes, when we have the agency,” Nelson said. “As we’re sitting here, discussing whether the budget [crisis] is real or not, we need a plan that works within these constraints.”
Arts versus Sciences
With courses headed for the chopping block, questions of the value of the arts and sciences arose.
Head of the Department of Classics and Archeology Daryn Lehoux argued cancelling upper-level Greek and Latin courses would harm Queen’s undergraduates, as the languages are essential for admissions into Masters and Doctoral programs in the field.
Lehoux put forward a motion asking the FAS board to consider continuing courses that have put forward “concrete and realistic plans” to increase enrolment. The motion will be discussed on Feb. 2.
As the debate heated up, Nelson acknowledged cutting courses in the humanities felt personal, but urged faculty and students to think about the sustainability of their departments.
“Yes, we have to subsidize the humanities. That’s an important part, and these courses are subsidized by other departments,” Nelson said.
Some faculty members rejected the idea of science departments subsidizing humanities and urged Crow to throw support behind humanities departments.
On Feb. 2, the FAS faculty board will meet to discuss the motion put forth by Lehoux.
Tags
Arts and science, budget cuts, Faculty Board
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Christopher Morris, Sc. '69 P. Eng.
Enrollment is mentioned but not specific enough to know what the intention is. There are three aspects of enrollment; Ontario, rest of Canada and Foreign students. As the University will be taking a big financial hit on fewer Foreign students and Ontario limits the fees for Ontario students the University should be pivoting to growing the enrollment from other provinces. This has been neglected for decades. The focus of the University has been on global domination when they are unknown in the rest of Canada.
The Journal could report on the endowment fund and let us know how it has grown over the years and how it is being drawn down. What conditions or better said limitations are imposed by The CRA on its use and application.
Finally, the first financial cuts at Queen’s should be to thin out the bulging middle and especially upper management staff. All seem to blame the administration so why not trim there. Unless there are too many golden parachutes?? It seems to me that many of the new hires do not have the Queen’s tradition in their psyche and therefore are not of the right ilke to administer the institution.