Malaspina instructor laid off

Gara Pruesse had a message for Premier Gordon Campbell when the B.C. Liberal leader went about pumping flesh to celebrate the designation of Vancouver Island’s Malaspina University-College into a university.

“I said, ”˜Hello, I teach computer science at Malaspina and I’m going to get laid off’,’ ” Pruesse told the Georgia Straight about what she said when the premier shook her hand during the April 23 campus ceremonies. “He [Campbell] said, ”˜I’m very sorry to hear that,’ and he moved away.”

The next day, Pruesse—who had been teaching at the institution for two-and-a-half years—and six of her colleagues formally received their layoff notices. A day after that, on April 25, Campbell announced yet another college that will be converted into a university: Capilano.

At the end of that week, the province had four new universities, at least by name, following earlier announcements for the university colleges Fraser Valley and Kwantlen. (The April 28 proclamation of the same for Emily Carr Institute brought the total to five, doubling the number of B.C.’s universities virtually overnight.)

“This was an event that was supposed to be celebrating our postsecondary institution, but, for me, a change in name was far less significant than actually reducing the availability of programs for students in the mid-island area,” said Pruesse, who holds a doctorate degree in computer science from the University of Toronto.

Pruesse said that when she addressed Campbell, she wanted to make him aware that the recent provincial funding cuts to postsecondary institutions have wide-ranging repercussions.

However, in a news release on April 25, Minister of Advanced Education Murray Coell described accounts that B.C. colleges and other learning institutions are planning staff layoffs due to government budget allocations as “misinformation” and “misleading”. Coell also dismissed reports about program cuts—specifically citing Malaspina’s computer-science program—as “not correct”.

“I fully respect people’s right to express an opinion, but higher learning is about truth, and people should therefore base their statements on facts,” Coell said in the news release. A spokesperson for the ministry wrote in an e-mail to the Straight that Coell was unable to “personally” return a call.

Malaspina’s computing-science department suffered two layoffs, according to a media release by the Malaspina Faculty Association. The same release quoted department head David Wessels as saying: “The department has reviewed the impact of the cuts and determined that it is not possible to continue offering the degree program with cuts this deep.”

Cindy Oliver, president of the 10,000-strong Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C., was furious over Coell’s claim that there are no layoffs going on.

“I find it astounding that the ministry would say that when they
have clawed back $60 million out of the system,” Oliver told the Straight. “Institutions are talking about cancelling programs and getting rid of others, and cutting courses.”

She said that a technician’s program and one other dealing with people with disabilities in the College of New Caledonia are gone. Also cut was a program at Douglas College that assists people with head injuries to get back to work. Oliver also said that Vancouver Community College’s English-as-a-second language program had been cut.

“I don’t know—do you need more proof than that?” Oliver said.

A Simon Fraser University news release announced that student bursaries and scholarships would be slashed as a result of the provincial cuts, along with SFU’s program of free tuition for seniors.

The designation of university colleges into universities will change perceptions that these institutions are mere colleges, according to Skip Triplett, president of Kwantlen University College.

“One of the problems we have been facing in our region, which runs from Richmond to the township of Langley, is the proportion of adults who have a university degree is about half of what it is in Vancouver,” Triplett told the Straight. “Part of the problem is if people don’t think we are a university, then we can’t help them. People still focus on the college part of that designation.”

But students in these new universities may end up paying more tuition fees, warned Shamus Reid, provincial chair of the Federation of Canadian Students.

After deregulating tuition fees early on during its previous term, the B.C. Liberal government imposed a two-percent inflation limit on tuition and other fees.