COALITION SEEKS ALTERNATIVES TO BUDGET CUTS AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

(Kingston – November 27, 2023) Drastic budgets cuts ordered by the Queen’s University Board of Trustees threaten to undermine the university’s academic mission, claims a new cross-campus alliance seeking alternatives to “curriculum streamlining” and mass layoffs.

The Queen’s Coalition Against Austerity (QCAA) will host a teach-in on Friday, December 1, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. Speakers will shed light on the university’s financial situation, raise awareness of the impact of the cuts on students and employees, and discuss alternative pathways the university could pursue in order to safeguard its educational purpose.

Queen’s has announced sweeping cuts over the next two years, yet independent analysis of the university’s finances by bond rating agency DBRS Morningstar states that the university has “flexibility to endure a difficult operating environment without the need to make drastic cuts that could affect its core academic mission.”

"The university is an educational institution and not a for-profit company. Its investments should be a means to an end, not an end in themselves," says Mary Louise Adams, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies. “QCAA is not persuaded that the Board of Trustees understands or cares sufficiently about the impacts of their mandate for budget cuts, which seem to prioritize short-term market thinking over long-term academic excellence,” she added. "Years of provincial underfunding are hurting all universities in Ontario, but the large deficit at Queen's is the result of local financial decisions. And now the plan is to cut courses, jobs, and services to balance the budget in just two years, no matter how much damage that will cause to the quality of the education we can offer."

Speakers will highlight a new report, Shock Doctrine at Queen’s: Budget Cuts and Austerity in Context, which challenges the justification for the speed and scale with which the cuts are being enforced. The audience will hear from students, administrators, staff, adjunct professors, graduate student employees, and postdoctoral fellows discuss the impacts of the cuts on the quality of their education and the conditions of their work. 

The teach-in will provide the occasion for the launch of a petition to the Board of Trustees urging them to pursue alternative measures and an invitation to participants to join this growing movement. 

The event is free and open to all. Join the Zoom here.