With size reductions proposed for Arts and Science, faculty warn the consequences could extend well beyond budgetary concerns.
Leaked consultation documents from NDSIK Management Consultants, obtained by The Journal, outline a long-term restructuring plan for the University, including a 3,500-student cut to the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) by limiting both streams to 3,000 students.
The leaked documents illustrate two separate consultation events. The first is the Provost Retreat on Jan. 31, 2024, where discussions focused on the future size and focus of Queen’s. The second is a round of documents recording a May 24, 2024, Strategy Session for Senior Leaders.
READ MORE: Leaked consultant document details proposed restructuring at Queen’s
The senior leaders’ session included an activity in which all groups at the meeting placed ping-pong balls into bins to indicate where they thought university resources should be allocated across five disciplines: social science, health, science and engineering, arts and humanities, and interdisciplinary.
In an interview with The Journal, a FAS department head, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal, attended the May consultation session and participated in the ping-pong activity, said that the Provost treated the exercise as a “vote” but failed to provide clear instructions. They explained that this resulted in two groups refusing to participate and several arguments among those at the meeting.
“Someone put up their hand at the beginning and said, ‘Are we voting for what we think the University is going to do, or are we voting for what we want the University to do?’ And the provost’s answer was either,” they said.
The department head also said that despite the fact that they knew and attended the May meeting, they weren’t aware of the January Provost Retreat, alongside many other department heads in ArtSci, who weren’t informed of the retreat or the substance of the consultations until The Journal published the leaked documents.
Concerns about consultation were echoed by Queen’s Senator Adnan Husain, professor in the Department of History, who said the Senate had limited awareness of the consultation process that informed the restructuring proposals.
Husain said similar concerns arose again during subsequent consultation meetings after the original 2024 sessions, including one he attended in August. He explained that the way those meetings were structured, mainly focused and framed around STEM, affected how participants were invited to think about long-term academic planning at Queen’s.
He also noted that the Senate was never informed of a proposal to essentially reduce the FAS student body by 3,500, though smaller seat transfers had already occurred. He mentioned the 300 seats were transferred out of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, with 200 out of the Faculty of Arts and Science, as 100 were reallocated within FAS to science programs, and approved by Senate in April, categorizing this transfer as a “worrying sign.”
He further stated that FAS voted at a Faculty Board meeting before the Senate passed the motion, which asked the Senate not to approve the transfer until further evaluation was complete. Adnan said he infomred Senate of his vote during the Senate, but the vote by the Faculty Board was ruled as not being in order, and it was ignored in the ratification.
“They voted overwhelmingly to ask the Senate not to ratify the seat transfer until there had been a more thorough evaluation and assessment of how this might affect various programs, and also what amount of savings for the University or extra income would really be acquired. None of this was presented to Senate when it was asked to approve this enrollment plan,” Husain explained.
Both the department head and Husain shared the view that the University administrators enjoy saying they practice meaningful consultation, but argued that the consultation they’ve experienced to date has fallen short.
“Everything’s just kind of decided behind closed doors and then justified publicly. And they tip their hat, they make gestures at consultation all the time, but there’s nobody listening to anything any of us has to say. […] It just feels like we’re being told what to do all the time, and that’s it,” the department head said.
Both interviewees also pointed to staffing reductions already underway in FAS as evidence that enrolment cuts are being accompanied by a contraction of academic and administrative capacity.
The department head noted that some lower-level administrative staff were let go over the summer, while upper-level administrative positions were left untouched, raising their concerns that students may struggle to access essential support services, such as course registration and degree advising.
Hussain highlighted that the University introduced a voluntary retirement program last academic year and then reopened it the following year, but only for FAS. Noting that any staff were able to retire, which can result in gaps in programs that can’t be planned for or fixed.
“There is a voluntary retirement program that is meant to encourage people to take retirement and then not replace […] it’s just blanket cutting, and that has devastating consequences,” Hussian argued.
Together, faculty members said layoffs and retirements—combined with proposed enrolment reductions—risk reshaping ArtSci in ways that are difficult to reverse.
“We’re just going to be a shrunken, impoverished Faculty of Arts and Science,” the department head said.
Corrections
A previous version of this article didn’t include the specific numbers from the 300 seats that were transferred out of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The current version includes 200 from the Faculty of Arts and Science, as 100 were reallocated within FAS to science programs.
Incorrect information appeared in the Feb. 6 issue of The Queen’s Journal.
The Journal regrets the error
Tags
ArtSci, Bicentennial Vision, consultant, Enrolment, NDSIK
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