The halls of the Biosciences Complex were flanked with approximately 50 students protesting budget cuts as Provost Matthew Evans made his way to the auditorium for an exclusive town hall.
Students lined the hallway leading into the Biosciences Complex auditorium holding signs calling for transparency as part of a protest organized by the group “Queen’s Students vs Cuts.” The protest is in response to the Dec. 11 town hall hosted by the Provost, whose goal was to provide updates on priorities for 2023-24, while answering questions from faculty members from the FAS.
Students were barred from attending the town hall. Most students first caught wind of the budget cuts in an email sent by Evans on Nov. 30 explaining Queen’s budget deficit.
For Cameron Christie, ArtSci ’25, his heart goes out to Queen’s applicants who are deciding whether to attend the University, not knowing what to expect due to high financial uncertainty. He attended the protest to call for open dialogue between Queen’s administration and students who will be experiencing the impact of the cuts.
In recent weeks, documents outlining proposed budget cuts to the FAS have caught students’ attention. Burdened with an initial $62.8 million deficit, Queen’s is making cuts, and the FAS is required to make operational changes.
READ MORE: University operating budget deficit lowered from $62.8 to $48 million
The leaked documents revealed Queen’s money-saving mandates will cut FAS undergraduate courses with less than 10 students beginning next year. Graduate courses with fewer than five students will also be axed starting in 2025-26. Exceptions to these course cuts can be granted at the discretion of the FAS Dean. Meanwhile departments are encouraged to optimize their curriculum, which includes “condensing options, streamlining specializations, [and] limiting electives,” according to leaked documents.
Recommended changes to academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate level in the leaked document.
Both FAS Dean Barbara Crow and Provost Evans, declined The Journal’s request for comment as they were entering the town hall. In an email to The Journal, a spokesperson from the University said Evans has been holding employee forums since October. The University denied The Journal from covering the town hall, stating that all other town halls have been closed to the media and public.
According to the spokesperson, Evans is committed to ongoing student communications after exams, during the new year.
The AMS executive, KMV, attended the protest and while not invited, were granted entry into the town hall. No member of ASUS’s executive was present, and the Society hasn’t responded to any of The Journal’s request for comments.
Small seminar classes are the cornerstone of a robust humanities education at Queen’s, Megan Zelle, MA ’24, said in an interview with The Journal. Choosing to stay at Queen’s following her undergrad, Zelle is one of four master’s students in her cohort studying global development. Zelle’s largest class this semester had eight master’s students across multiple departments.
“Small courses help you get more time to network and meet people, to have a relationship with your professor maybe develop specialized interests in what you want to do [graduate] work in,” Zelle said.
Proposed changes to Queen’s graduate programs see less time for degree completion and the elimination of the International Queen’s Graduate Award Student Tuition Award, which grants all international PhD students a minimum of $4,000 as part of their base-funding stipend. Graduate students will be expected to teach more undergraduate courses as part of their funding packages, and the University is exploring the possibility of sharing TAships across departments as a cost cutting measure.
Increasing research grant applications from external sources such as Tri-agency funding programs is key, according to leaked documents. The University plans to “monitor” income from research grants allocated to graduate students on a bi-annual basis.
Organizational changes being considered by the FAS as presented in the leaked document.
FAS represents 43 per cent of the University’s total deficit, approximately $27 million, according to documents obtained by The Journal. The FAS is relying on $163 million in carryforward to cover its operating expenses, which the University predicts will be exhausted in 2024-25.
The University continued to blame the provincial government’s ongoing tuition freeze combined with reduced international student enrollment for the budget fiasco.
Protest organizer Ethan Chilcott, ArtSci ’24, wants Queen’s to conduct an external audit of its finances. Having compiled information from the Sunshine List on administrators’ salaries, and leaked memos from faculty members, Chilcott still feels students have been left in the dark. He says the Board of Trustees, the Provost Office, and the faculty offices are all pointing fingers at each other, when it’s the departments who’ll be hit the hardest.
“Everyone blames someone else. They’re blaming the departments, and the departments [are] the people who least want to [make cuts],” Chilcott said in an interview with The Journal.
Departments have limited options, Chilcott explained. Adjunct professors will be the first faculty to be terminated, and department events such as speakers and conferences face the risk of cancellation. Chilcott says reducing classes and changing TA structures will happen simultaneously.
In addition to the ongoing hiring freeze, the University won’t be replacing retiring faculty members. The documents leaked to The Journal advocate for the Provost to discuss incentives for faculty retirement with QUFA, the union representing faculty, archivists, and librarians on campus.
Chilcott and his peers want Queen’s to hire an external auditor to review the University’s finances. At the December Board of Trustees meeting, the Board approved the University’s financial statements, which were audited by external accounting firm KPMG. KPMG audits Queen’s annually with findings released to the public through the Board of Trustees.
Film and media student Anelie Hennze, ArtSci ‘26, says her connections with adjunct professors are essential for getting a foot-in-the-door in the film industry. Concerned by perceived inequity between science and humanity departments, Hennze has started filming day-in-the-life short films to reveal how the budget cuts are impacting students.
“First, tell the students [what] these cuts are affecting; what’s going to be happening to them and their degrees. Second, let’s not cut the departments that you’re trying to cut because it’s not going to lead to a better education for your students,” Hennze said in an interview to The Journal.
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AMS, Asus, Budget, budget cut, cuts, Executive, KMV, Student
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