As the Nova Scotia government positions itself to take greater control over the province’s 10 universities, some within the university community say the potential changes are “short-sighted” and part of “anti-democratic,” “Trump-style politics” in the province.
Last week, the Progressive Conservatives introduced a bill that would link the university’s funding decisions to the government’s social and economic priorities. Bill 12 would allow the minister of advanced education to appoint up to half of the members of the university’s board of governors, and force a university into a revitalization plan. The legislation also would allow the Nova Scotia Community College to grant degrees.
CBC News contacted all 10 universities in Nova Scotia requesting an interview, but none put someone forward. Spokespeople for some schools said they are still assessing the bill and it is too soon to comment, while others did not respond.
The president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Peter McInnis, said the tabling of the legislation blindsided administrators, including presidents, who were not warned of or consulted on the bill.
“It’s a little bit of a, you know, unexpected surprise and not a pleasant one,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “This seems to be picking up some of the more unsavoury trends across the country.… It seems to be part of a certain amount of anti-democratic legislation.”
On Thursday, Advanced Education Minister Brendan Maguire said the province isn’t asking universities to eliminate programs.
“One of the things that we said in the last bilateral agreement was we wanted more seats for health-care professions because we are in desperate need for health-care workers and we wanted them filled at 97 per cent and they were incentivized to do it,” Maguire said.
“But in no circumstances will we be asking them to eliminate programs. Listen, they’re their own entity. What we want to do is just work with them to make sure that they’re filling what we need here in Nova Scotia.”
Linking funding to government priorities
McInnis, who teaches in the history department at St. Francis Xavier University, said tying funding to government interests is “a short-sighted approach” because “political priorities may shift with the wind.”
He gave the example of the University of Calgary, which at one time increased its focus on the oil and gas sector, but when that declined, enrolment dropped.
“So it is very difficult to forecast what’s going to be valuable.”
Cathy Conrad, the president of the Saint Mary’s University Faculty Union, is a professor in the geography and environmental studies department.
She said she has worked for 25 years to oversee the development of climate change programs at SMU, and worries about the impact of the legislation on her field of study, and others that may not align with government priorities.
“If environmental stewardship is not a priority of this government … then what does that mean for programs that are based on evidence and need and social justice? Does that mean that these programs will no longer have funding and instead we should be focusing our priorities on extractive economic priorities related to mining and fracking?”
Conrad and McInnis worry that if the government wants universities to focus on applied research or studies that help fill labour market needs and have a more immediate return on investment, that could affect funding for the arts and humanities.
Conrad said humanities are not always appreciated, but she said a well-rounded, expansive understanding of our world is crucial to respond to, for instance, U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats related to Canada becoming a 51st state.
“If we don’t understand our history and the philosophy and the psychology and the sociology of how it is historically — and actually relatively recent history — we don’t know how to move and navigate ourselves into this new world that we’re finding ourselves in very quickly.”
Conrad said the bill itself “feels and reads very much like Trump-style politics, which is really troubling.”
Board of governors appointees
Both McInnis and Conrad said they are also concerned about the possibility of the government appointing up to half the members of university boards of governors.
Boards are responsible for making decisions about budgets, capital projects, new faculties or faculty reductions, and are also effectively the boss of the university president. If 50 per cent of members were appointed by the government, it would “tip the balance” to approving what politicians want, McInnis said.
Maguire said he won’t be picking board members. He said the province will collaborate with universities to find the right people for the job.
McInnis said while administrators and board members at universities come and go, it’s the faculty members who are in their profession for decades, and who bring their expertise to benefit the university boards.
“[Boards] need to be advised and how best to do that from the people that are on the ground actually teaching the courses and doing the research.”
McInnis added that if it’s accountability the government wants, that already exists through a peer-review system for funding decisions at universities.
Merger worries
As part of the bill, universities deemed to be in financial trouble could be mandated to undergo a “revitalization plan.” The government could withhold funding from those institutions until they’ve created an acceptable plan charting a way forward.
McInnis said he worries it could mean the government is considering merging universities, which he said would detract from how schools serve their communities.
David Westwood, president-elect of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, expressed alarm over the bill, writing in a statement that universities are “already crumbling” as the result of inadequate public funding.
“Increasingly, public funds to PSE [post-secondary education] come with strings attached, as provincial governments attempt to steer institutions to meet their own mandate and priorities through threats to withhold or even reduce core funding,” wrote Westwood, a professor of kinesiology.
“Public institutions are being gutted or eliminated in real time, and democratic values are under threat as power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few.”
Provincial funding for Dalhousie, he noted, has fallen to below 50 per cent of the university’s operating budget, with the rest coming mainly from tuition fees.
“One can scarcely consider Dalhousie to be a public institution any longer,” he said.
Maguire said he has no desire to merge universities in Nova Scotia.
“What we want to do is make sure that they are viable and sustainable for the long term … and one of the things that we want to put in place is just, you know, like warnings. So we know in advance if they’re going down a path of insolvency,” Maguire said.
Maguire said there are some universities that are facing financial troubles and the province wants to ensure there are “stopgaps” before it gets worse.
“If they’re going down a path of potential insolvency or they’re going down a path of great debt, we can work with them with the tools they need to make sure that they’re sustainable. This is all it’s about. We don’t want any of our universities to go away. In fact, we want them to grow,” he said.
Auditor general’s report coming soon
The province’s auditor general’s office is finalizing its report on whether the Department of Advanced Education is effectively monitoring and holding universities to account for public funds.
That report is scheduled to be released on March 4.
Universities in the province receive $380 million a year in operational funding, plus $43 million for specific programming.
