U of R community calls for change amidst budget cuts

More than 350 concerned students, faculty and staff members at the University of Regina signed a petition asking the school to take action to reduce the impact of budget cuts.

The petition was sent to the president of the university, Jeff Keshen, asking that the university seek help from the Government of Saskatchewan before the problems escalate further.

“I am worried about the future of the university,” said Emily Eaton, a professor and department head in geography and environmental studies, and one of the petition’s main organizers.

“More than a decade of austerity has left us with just nothing left to cut.”

The petition argued that recent job cuts have left several areas of the school sparsely staffed, and the organizers are asking that the university take immediate action.

According to the petition, even before its five-per-cent base budget cut, the school was operating with reduced capacity in some areas. Now, more cuts have been made to several departments.

“We’ve had these unprecedented years associated with the fallout of COVID, yet the same government funding doesn’t account for things like high inflation rates or the lower enrolment numbers that we experienced over the COVID crisis,” said Eaton.

According to the petition, base funding in Saskatchewan for post-secondary institutions has fallen by 13.7 per cent over four years.

“We just got an email today about the large number of students who are on wait lists at the University of Regina because we can’t mount the same number of courses that we would normally,” said Eaton.

Student tuition is also rising. Tuition for domestic students has been raised by four per cent, and international tuition is also at an all-time high.

The structural integrity of the school’s buildings was mentioned in the petition as well, because many maintenance projects have been put on hold while the university navigates its reduced budget.

“We really had nothing left to cut when the base budget cut was announced in the budget this year,” said Eaton.

The petition is asking six specific measures from Keshen and the university, including that the school begin advocating for emergency funding, create a plan to lower tuition, and create a plan to help international students navigate tuition costs.

The petitioners are also asking that the university seek to restore funding levels to ensure the university is a place that can help people begin their careers, develop a plan to keep staff, and to work more closely with the school community.

The signed petition was delivered to Keshen yesterday. He declined to comment on the petition personally, but the university provided a statement explaining that it will be making an effort to keep staff aware of meetings between the school and the provincial government, and is pushing for higher enrolment numbers in order to bring in more money.

“We are actively working to increase both our domestic and international student enrolment in order to increase revenues,” the statement read. “Our current enrolment outlook for Fall 2023 is showing very encouraging signs of growth.”

Keshen plans to meet with the petition’s organizers soon to discuss their concerns further.