Students and faculty at the University of Manitoba (U of M) are protesting upcoming budget cuts.
Hundreds of students and several of the university’s organizations held a rally in January to protest the proposed budget cuts. The rally took place outside of a meeting of the U of M board of governors.
Thomas Kucera, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), said in an email that close to 300 people from student groups and campus unions gathered outside the meeting to protest the cuts.
“Representatives of several of the groups, led by the students and including me, gave brief speeches to the crowd explaining their opposition to the proposed cuts,” Kucera said.
Some group and union members “crowded into the Board room” during the meeting while others marched around campus to protest the cuts, according to Kucera.
“I was really impressed by how the diverse groups involved were able to express their common interests in opposing these proposed cuts. Everything that impacts one group impacts all groups,” he said.
The cuts will be on average four per cent across the university, according to an online statement from U of M president David Barnard.
Barnard said there are several rising costs at the university such as salary payments, updating classrooms with proper equipment, and promoting the school to future students and faculty.
“Unfortunately, all these costs, from salaries to equipment, continue to rise at rates that have not been matched by the combined funding we receive from the government and tuition fees,” he said in the statement.
The budget cuts could reduce the number of courses available for students and limit access to student services, according to a document posted on the U of M students’ union website.
“Potentially, all students and staff of the University are at risk of being affected by these budget cuts . . . no faculty or unit has been declared ‘off-limits,’” the document says.
Kucera said the cuts will also have a severe impact on job security for faculty, from sessional instructors to graduate students. This will likely cause a “degraded academic experience” for students at the university, he said.
The recent rally was part of the “Stop the Cuts Coalition,” an ongoing campaign with the support of various U of M organizations to protest budget cuts. Kucera said all campus groups have protested budget cuts in previous years, but this year is more significant.
“[Four per cent] cut in each of the next two years will bring the total budget roll-back over three years to over 10 [per cent],” he said.
Kucera said this will “certainly have a severe impact on the university’s ability to deliver on its core missions of teaching, research, and service to the community.”
The UMFA has asked to meet with administration to discuss the university budget and Kucera said they will “probably be taking other initiatives in the near future.”
