by Lexey Burns, Editor-in-Chief

As Laurentian University began its Companies’ Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) the community was warned that there would be cuts ahead, but the separation between Laurentian and the federated universities came as a shock to many. 

Dr. Aven McMaster has been teaching at Thorneloe University for 14 years. 

“To be told in the announcement last night that Laurentian sees us simply as an expense, taking ‘millions of dollars’ away from the university to ‘deliver’ programs that students aren’t interested in, is extremely hurtful and upsetting,” McMaster said. 

McMaster says that May 1st, 2021, the official date of termination of the deal between schools, does not allow the professors at the federated universities enough time to finish marking and turning in final grades for this term’s courses.

“I don’t know how they can say that they are acting in students’ best interests,” she said. 

“I have no help to give them.” 

McMaster said that she has already had students contacting her in a panic, worried about what will happen to their studies.

She also criticizes the timing of the announcement “leaving students with no way of contacting anyone, and faculty and staff dealing with this awful news as they try to spend a holiday with their families, is cruel and irresponsible.”

McMaster said that John Gibault, Thornloe’s President, had notified Thorneloe faculty before the news broke out publicly. 

She said that Gibault confirmed that “Thorneloe does not accept this unilateral termination and will be taking the matter to court.”

“[Gibault’s] clear communication and thoughtfulness have stood in stark contrast to the communications from the Laurentian administration throughout this process.”

Kayla Sills, a Huntington Communications alumna and former Lambda Editor in Chief, tweeted “What LU program would I, a humanities student with 0 science credits, have transferred into in this situation?” 

Dr. Janis Goldie, chair of the Department of Communications at Huntington said in a Twitter thread “The news of the termination of the federation @LaurentianU is devastating for the students and faculty who just learned their programs in Communication Studies, Indigenous Studies, Gerontology, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies will no longer be offered beyond this term.”

“These are not insignificant or unpopular programs, contrary to what Laurentian University and Hache’s communications will have you believe,” Goldie said. 

The programs offered by the federated schools will no longer be considered as a Laurentian degree after May 1st, 2021. 

Many professors including Dr. Krishnan Venkatraman, chair of the Gerontology Department at Huntington, shared their experiences with student panic.

“I received close to 60 emails yesterday from students,” Venkatraman said in a Tweet.

He said that some of the students contacting him only needed one or two more courses to receive their degree in Gerontology. Others were still in their second and third year.

“The overarching themes in all of these emails was ‘well [sic] I get to complete my degree’?”