The future of the bachelor of fine arts program at Queen’s University is up in the air after the university announced it will be suspending enrolment starting next fall.
The suspension came after a professor announced his retirement at the end of the academic year, resulting in a shortage of faculty available to teach the specialized classes, according to a press release.
“There are no redundancies in the program,” said Alistair MacLean, dean of arts and science at Queen’s University. “Each professor teaches their special subject, which means the class is not available if that professor is not available. So it is unreasonable to admit more students.”
MacLean said the students currently in the program will not be affected, nor will other programs in the arts department.
The school will re-assess the program after next year before deciding whether or not to re-open enrolment for the 2013-14 year, and will be consulting faculty and students on the suspension, according to a university press release.
Because of the changes, some faculty fear the program will not return to the way it was before it was suspended.
“The idea is that we reconfigure and remodel the program,” printmaking professor Otis Tamasauskas told the Canadian University Press (CUP). “But if we reconfigure, then it’s not going to be the same program.”
Tamasauskas said he’s not convinced the school is actually lacking resources.
“To me, it almost feels like it’s rigged,” he told the CUP. “They say one thing about we don’t have the resources . . . but we have full enrolment every year.”
Jan Winton, an undergraduate chair and professor of the program, told the CUP the suspension was expected.
“We’ve experienced really, really severe cutbacks, university-wide, for the last three years,” Winton said. “It’s been something that we’ve seen coming down the line for a long time.”
The suspension of the program’s enrolment comes in the months after the University of Windsor had to suspend enrolment in its music therapy program due to lack of funding.
