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LETTER: Brokenhearted about Quest

Editor’s note: This letter was sent to Quest University and copied to The Chief. Allie Chalke is a member of the Quest University Canada Class of 2011.

Editor’s note: This letter was sent to Quest University and copied to The Chief.

Allie Chalke is a member of the Quest University Canada Class of 2011.

I am writing today to convey my utmost sadness and disappointment at the decision to end Varsity Athletics at Quest. We haven’t met. I am a member of the class of 2011, a former SRC president, and above all a proud Kermode.

Without basketball, I would not have come to Quest. Full stop. It was the athletic program, then in its nascent days, that drew me. At Quest, I found passions beyond athletics. I grew. Without hesitation, I can say that Quest was transformative for me.

Varsity athletes built Quest. At every opportunity, student athletes helped to make Quest better. We made it more diverse. We put it on the map. We — more than anyone else — were ambassadors for Quest. We carried a literal banner, not just a metaphorical one.

In reading your emails, I wondered which values of a varsity athletics program were not aligned with Quest’s new vision. As I have always seen it, the values of athletics are the values of Quest. Diversity. Inspiration. Excellence. I am sad to see Quest’s values change.

If someone hasn’t played sports, they may not understand. And I feel — for the first time in the seven years since I left — that Quest has failed me. It failed to teach me how to handle this situation. It failed to show you the value of something so close and so dear to me. I want more than anything to explain to you the mistake you’re making and to show you that the impact of this decision will fundamentally change Quest.

A university needs to be well-rounded to survive, to be respected, and to be attractive to potential students.

Of course, I see a potential scenario where there was no other option. Maybe this is a doctor removing limbs in the hope of sustaining life just a little bit longer. A Hail Mary. A desperate play in the dying seconds. If this is a symbol of the beginning of the end of Quest, then I am sorry. I don’t believe that though. Your emails and communication with current students suggest that this was an ideological decision. That the board decided this was the right thing to do, but not to worry because an occasional bus to the community swimming pool will certainly make up for it.

Budgetary decisions are always questions of priorities. What do we want to do? Who do we want to be? How should we be known? These decisions reveal integrity, and in the end, they make or break you.

This decision is a sad preview of the future of Quest. A less inclusive, more elitist, more isolated school that no longer sees value in the ideas it was founded on.

I am profoundly disappointed. I want to plead with you.

The university as I know it will not survive this. It may become something else, sure. But it will not be what it was. That legacy of descent is on you. Your former athletes will carry a different legacy, one that we will not share.

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