by Lexey Burns, Editor-in-Chief
Can we just agree that Canadian Party Life is not a news source?
Canadian Party Life (CPL) is an Instagram page that features videos of university students from across the country doing dumb stuff (mainly while intoxicated).
So of course when they posted a screenshotted tweet saying “Laurentian University files for bankruptcy & owes three Canadian banks $91 million” they just went with it.
They took this information from Financial Post’s article “RBC, TD, BMO snared in Laurentian University bankruptcy.”
Laurentian filed for creditor protection but what does that really mean?
Sylvia Hunt, an English professor for the university said that “insolvency simply means that we’re asset rich. We have buildings, we have all this stuff, but it’s not liquid cash.”
Whereas if the university had gone bankrupt, that would mean that they have no assets and no cash.
“They didn’t have enough money to pay [the faculty] for February,” Hunt said.
Hunt said that part of the problem is that the province of Ontario has been in a tuition freeze for multiple years. This prevents Laurentian from raising tuition.
Charlie Dedo, a second year french mathematics student said “I feel like they just dropped a bomb on us.”
Dedo is concerned as french mathematics is a very small program.
She believes low enrolment programs will be the first to be cut, or at least close admissions until the university can financially support them again.
The university had announced back in December that they had racked up approximately $10 million in debt due to previous expenses as well as the pandemic, so when television station CTV stated that the debt was closer to $200 million, it definitely came as a shock to both students and faculty.
One of my classmates said she found out through Instagram.
The thing is though, I believe we’re not far behind a bankruptcy declaration and here’s why.
In the senate meeting yesterday, Monitor representative Sharon Hamilton from Ernst & Young Inc. which is the court-appointed moderator for Laurentian’s insolvency declaration, said that six members of Laurentian’s Senate can represent during the mediation.
“The time commitment will be substantial… it is quite possible that the mediator will expect parties to participate seven days a week in mediation,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton advised potential participants to “expect that this will be your first priority for the next little while.”
The six members consist of three faculty, two students, and one member of administration.
The three faculty members are Eric Gautier, Amanda Schweinbenz, and Jennifer Straub. The two student reps are Jay Patel and Malek Abou-Rabia. Administration is represented by Brent Roe.
But to ask for the faculty members’ time, seven days a week, seems unfair to their jobs and to students’ studies. I believe that this will affect students’ grades, if it hasn’t already, by the end of the semester.
“This [CCAA] is something that prevents parties from taking any enforcement action or certain other types of actions and… gives the organization breathing room to focus on a restructuring.”
Hamilton says it’s a “fairly transparent process.”
“Laurentian has negotiated and executed an agreement that will provide it with 25 million dollars in financing to be able to continue operations for the balance of the academic semester.”
Laurentian president Robert Haché acknowledged that this is an emotional and stressful time for students, faculty, staff, and the entire Laurentian community.
“Students come first at Laurentian,” Haché said.
“The decision to initiate a court proceedings under the Company’s Creditors arrangement act was not an easy one, but it was a necessary step to take. Put simply, Laurentian is currently insolvent… over the next three months, we must come together as a community to achieve the significant changes needed for Laurentian, not only to survive but thrive.”