It’s no secret that post-secondary institutions are struggling in Ontario after facing tuition freezes and funding shortages under the Ford government only to then face reductions in the one thing they’d be using to make up for those shortfalls: international student enrollment.
Since the beginning of the year, colleges and universities have been announcing the suspension of programs they say they can no longer afford to run, and it was probably just a matter of time until it hit the arts.
That has now happened, as Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie has announced it is pausing first-year admissions in its music program for a year.
And the union representing its faculty is fighting back.
OPSEU Local 685 says the five programs the university’s board of governors chose to suspend – history, geography, music, sociology, and visual arts – provide liberal arts and sciences education with a focus on northern Ontario and cultivate cross-cultural learning between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Professor George Townsend, who served on the Senate committee that started reviewing the programs in December, said the board made the decision before his committee’s work was complete and, thus, based it on insufficient data.
In the music department, for example, the number of enrollments has doubled this year, he said in a news release issued by the union, while salary costs have been reduced. This puts them into a healthy surplus.
Cutting the program now will put the department into a situation it will never be able to recover from, he said.
Case’s Music owner Jacob Rendell, an Algoma University music graduate, said the program also contributes to the local economy.
“We teach hundreds of students each week, employ Algoma U music students and grads, and work closely with the community,” he said.
“None of that would have been possible without the education, support, and community-driven mindset I found at Algoma, which builds leadership, creativity, discipline, and connection.”
In addition, the program helps put Soo musicians on the map globally, said Dr. Edward Turgeon, the director of music.
“One of our graduates is a leading conductor on Broadway,” he said.
What’s more, he said, the re-launch of the Great Lakes International Summer Music Experience in July will be a draw for new applicants.
“It’s such an exciting time for the music program,” he said, “which is why my colleagues and I are at a total loss as to the reasons behind the Board’s decision.”
Clarification: A previous version of this story said Algoma was cutting the program. In fact, they are suspending first-year enrollment for one year.
