The Capilano University board's decision last week to cut 40 per cent of the adult basic education (ABE) courses at its Squamish campus will lead to a drastic cut in the number of spaces and increase the length of the waitlists for a variety of courses, a student representative on the board said last week.
A university representative, though, said that while the budget approved by the university's board of governors last Tuesday (May 24) represents a reduction, connecting with the community by providing courses that help Squamish residents advance toward university training remains a focus for the institution.
David Clarkson, one of two student representatives on the 15-member board of governors, on Wednesday (May 25) said the trimmed-down budget "isn't all bad. There are some good things in the budget just not for Squamish."
At the moment, the university's Squamish campus offers 18 sections of ABE in course areas that help locals work toward Grade 12 equivalency requirements, prepare for General Education Development (GED) exams, meet prerequisite requirements for university transfer courses and obtain career and meet course requirements for career and vocational training.
The budget cuts 7.5 sections of ABE a 40 per cent reduction.
"The real effect on students is to increase waitlists into the program," Clarkson said. "There's already quite a long list to get into the program and not enough spaces, so what this is going to do is to decrease offerings at the Squamish campus."
Last week, before the budget was adopted, about 40 faculty members staged a protest at the university's main North Vancouver campus to protest the cuts. Both Clarkson and John Wilson, faculty association president, said they didn't feel there was ample time for students and faculty to provide input on the budget before it was adopted.
"It was disappointing that the board was reluctant to get involved at what they saw as the detailed level, despite the severely flawed process," Wilson told the North Shore News.
Clarkson said that while the board has two student representatives, the university's senate committee that reviewed the budget has none, "so I don't feel that consultation was sufficient."
He said that while he recognized that while the board faced challenges in working within the budget framework provided by the Ministry of Advanced Education, he would like to have seen members rethink some of the priorities.
He said he would like to have seen the university delay hiring a new head librarian at a cost of $130,000 in favour of keeping more ABE courses and putting the money toward more arts and sciences courses.
"Having grown up in Squamish, where Cap. College has always offered those much-needed programs, I feel like there's been a change of focus there," Clarkson said.
Dr. Chris Bottrill, dean of the university's Squamish campus, agreed, but said a change of focus isn't necessarily a negative thing. He acknowledged the reduction but said the university remains committed to providing Squamish residents the opportunity to get the training and course work they need to advance toward postsecondary education.
"We want to be a campus which has a really clear role in the community of being a pathway to postsecondary qualifications," Bottrill said. "What we are doing is going to continue to offer advanced basic education, and we're also adding to our offerings university transfer courses as well.
"We're repositioning our university in the community, so while there may be less availability to some students, there will be more availability to others. We're enabling some students to keep one foot in the community and carry on toward university."
Despite the budgetary challenges, Bottrill added, "What we're really trying to do is make sure the Squamish campus has a really strong place in the community, and sometimes changes have to be made to re-adjust and refocus the role of the university within that community."
