By Reg Johanson

In a dramatic meeting on May 7, Capilano University’s senate voted to reject the administration’s budget, which proposed major cuts to programs and services.

The senate also called on the university’s board of governors to reject the budget.

The senate vote was the result of two weeks of activism on the part of staff, students, and faculty.

The board makes the final decision on the budget on May 14. The senate vote should make them think twice about accepting it.

Students, staff, and faculty carrying placards and banners overflowed the senate meeting room.

A broad range of speakers—including many senators—spoke against the budget, while President Kris Bulcroft and her Deans and VPs, the budget’s principle architects, sat in silence.

By the time the vote was called, emotions were strong enough to compel the chair, Tammy Towill, to call for a secret ballot instead of a show of hands.

The Senate Budget Advisory Committee, which reviews the proposed budget in detail and recommends to the senate, had this to say:

The SBAC does not recommend the budget to Senate as it was unable to perform the appropriate due diligence based on a sufficiently finalized academic plan with clearly articulated criteria and an adequate amount of time.

What does this mean? It means that President Bulcroft and her management team have failed to win the support of the university community. It means that the university community expects to be brought fully into the decision-making process. It means if the cuts were proposed according to a strategic plan, that plan has been kept secret. It means the university community doesn’t have confidence in the president’s leadership.

The president and her team have made a major blunder. They need to own it. How can they continue to lead without—at least—a serious mea culpa?

But this fight is not only about poor leadership skills and an authoritarian management style. It ultimately stems from years of government underfunding. Cap U’s unique program mix makes it more than a college yet quite different from a traditional university. It gained no additional funding after it was granted university status in 2008. Cap U receives the lowest funding per capita among our sister institutions—Kwantlen, University of the Fraser Valley, Emily Carr, and Vancouver Island University.

When the board of governors meets, they will need to consider certain facts: the university senate rejected the budget, and called on the board to reject it; hundreds of people have involved themselves in protest against the budget and thousands of names have been gathered in petitions; politicians are getting the message, including B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix, who is calling for the board to consult with stakeholders and delay a decision on the budget until after the election.

Most importantly, they need to understand that our protest shows that we care enough to take responsibility for what happens at Cap. Give us that responsibility.

Send your comments to the board and the Ministry of Advanced Education at hitthepausebutton.ca.

Updates, info, and actions can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/383150671804369/.