Queen's University is among the many Ontario post-secondary institutions facing exacerbated financial deficits
On Jan. 25, Queen’s University announced they they would begin working with Nous Group to address their financial struggles.
These financial struggles are part of a larger issue many universities in Ontario are currently facing. In a report by a blue-ribbon panel, created by the Ontario provincial government to ensure long-term financial sustainability in post-secondary education in the province it was found that in Ontario universities currently receive the least amount of money per entering student in comparison to other provinces.
Furthermore, the Council of Ontario Universities noted that 10 universities are currently predicted to have a total of $175 million in operating deficit.
Many universities are blaming their financial strife on the tuition fee reduction in 2019 and the subsequent tuition freeze policy. These were implemented in 2019 after provincial government had removed the system that provided tuition rides for low-income students through the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
Queen's University currently reports its financial deficit at $48 million, which had originally been marked at $62.8 million. On Queen's University's website, they credit this improvement to enacting a hiring freeze and adjustments of budgets.
To improve their finances, Queen's is now working with international consultancy firm Nous Group and has introduced their operations as the Queen’s Renew Project. The timeline for their project has not been released. However, they have emphasized that the goal is to address the financial concerns through internal review and suggest redirection.
A group called Queen’s Coalition Against Austerity has formed in opposition to the controversial Queen's hiring freeze.
This state of financial crisis is not unique to Queen's and is being experienced by the majority of Ontario post-secondary institutions. McMaster University has also begun to take steps to address their financial issues.
The institution has announced that their finances are being managed internally and have released written financial goals through the published blue-ribbon panel report.
With the recent updates to their financial management, Queen's University principal Patrick Deane stated in a published message, "I am hopeful that as we have done in the past, we will face obstacles together and emerge stronger for our efforts."
This is an ongoing story.
It’s the biggest margin of victory yet, but this time in an unfortunate Marauders loss for the Marauders women's rugby team
As the McMaster University women’s rugby team entered week five of competition, they geared up to face the Queen’s Gaels. The Gael’s hold the number one spot on the U Sports women's rugby leaderboard and are the reigning national champions. It was obvious from the get-go that it would be a tough match ahead.
Coming into the week McMaster ranked quite highly themselves, having secured the number nine position in the U Sports ranking. They were coming off a 77 to zero win against the Laurier Golden Hawks and looked to provide a real challenge for the Gryphons.
Unfortunately for the Marauders, they weren’t able to provide much resistance in their battle with Canada’s number one, losing by a final score of 96 to three. Following the loss, McMaster was removed from the U Sports top 10 list.
Facing a top ranked team has proven to be a challenge for most teams. The top five ranked teams have yet to be beaten.
Katie Mcleod, the captain of the women’s team, discussed how difficult it can be facing teams like the Gaels and the strategy that goes along with these big games to ensure the team keeps on moving forward.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,” said Mcleod.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,”
Katie Mcleod, Captain of women's rugby team
She noted her team seemed to know this game would result in a defeat, showing the importance of goal setting to continue measuring progress regardless of the outcome.
“Going into our Queen’s game, we kind of knew it would be a loss,” explained Mcleod.
The game ended going in the way of the Gaels, as was apparently anticipated. Mcleod was the lone scorer for the Marauders.
But why do these scores keep occurring? How do these substantial margins continue to happen game after game and for every team, not just McMaster?
“It comes down to the legacy that teams have developed. Some teams have full time head coaches, which provides for better recruitment,” said Mcleod.
This message seems to ring true, seeing the recent scores throughout the league. It also makes sense that stronger players recruited to only certain schools would lend itself to the creation of uneven scores. Though it looks like McMaster is trying to compete with these top ranked teams with the addition of head coach Chris Jones and his coaching staff.
“Now that we’ve gotten a new coaching staff, I know that recruitment has become something more on the radar. Hopefully in a few years we can be at a higher level,” explained Mcleod.
Looking to finish the season strong, the Marauders women's rugby team will face York and Brock to wrap up the season. It will become very important for the team to keep their focus on the season ahead, despite the prospect of a promising future they may already be looking forward to.
In last week’s referendum, full-time undergraduate students voted to uphold the current agreement between Hamilton Street Railway and the McMaster Students Union, which gives students bus passes for 12 months with expanded service on the 51-University bus line.
Out of five options, 43 per cent of students that voted chose the 12 month expanded bus pass as their top choice on the ranked ballot.
Students also had the option to decide between a 12 month pass without expanded service, an eight month pass with or without expanded service and no bus pass at all.
Prior to 2014, the MSU provided a subsidized HSR bus pass that lasted from September to April. In a 2014 referendum, students voted overwhelmingly in support of a year-round bus pass with expanded 51-University service.
The MSU renews their contract with the HSR every three years. Students voted to uphold the agreement in 2017, and did the same this year.
To establish the agreement for the base fee of the bus pass, the MSU engaged in a negotiation process with the HSR alongside the university, Redeemer college and Mohawk college.
In September 2019, students paid $225.55 for their bus passes. Next year, under the renewed agreement, they will cost $223.92, climbing to $229.62 in 2022. In comparison, an unsubsidized monthly HSR bus pass costs $110 per month, or $1,320 for a full year.
According to a 2017 briefing from the McMaster Graduate Student Association, the city of Hamilton has a vested interest in offering a reduced bus fare. A subsidized bus pass encourages students to explore the city, which can in turn lead to greater population retention.
The HSR stands to benefit from this deal as well. Approximately 12 per cent of the revenue collected by the HSR comes from the McMaster U-pass.
McMaster is one of many post-secondary institutions across southwestern Ontario to provide some sort of subsidized bus pass for undergraduate students. Within Hamilton, Mohawk college and Redeemer college also offer subsidized bus passes for students. Students at Queen’s University, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Guelph also decide via referenda to provide compulsory passes for undergraduate students. The costs vary depending on the university, ranging from $90 to $240.
Now that the McMaster bus pass has been voted on via referendum, students cannot opt out of the fee. This is because, when HSR knows how many students will pay the fee, they can project service levels and secure revenue. In turn, they agree to provide a bus pass at a substantially reduced cost.
After the student choice initiative was announced in January 2019, there was some concern that the bus passes would be designated as non-essential, which would have prevented the MSU from making an agreement with the HSR for subsidized bus passes.
In February of last year, Merrilee Fullerton, then the minister of training, colleges and universities, announced that the bus passes would remain mandatory.
The agreement with the HSR will be renegotiated in 2023.
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On Nov. 5, it was announced that Patrick Deane, our seventh and current president of McMaster University, would be leaving his position to assume the role of the 21st principal at Queen’s University, effective July 2019.
Commencing July 1, 2019, Patrick Deane will serve as 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor of #queensu https://t.co/2BRBQx6nsj pic.twitter.com/2DJ2DD7ggK
— Queen's University (@queensu) November 5, 2018
Deane has been serving as McMaster’s president and vice-chancellor for nearly nine years. Prior to his two terms spent at McMaster, he was Queen’s vice principal of academics from 2005 to 2010 and also served as acting president of the University of Winnipeg in 2003.
The news of Deane’s departure has been met with mixed responses: some students are happy to see a change in leadership while others are opposed to him leaving for Queen’s. Most, however, are indifferent to the news. When nearby students were asked for their thoughts, they responded with “what does the president even do?”
McMaster University's President Deane to lead Queen's University. Sad to see Patrick Deane go. He seemed like an all-round good guy. I took to heart his "engage the community" message, although doing so had more impact on my personal life than my work life. Good leaders do that. pic.twitter.com/vJc8PRhUVB
— David Kemper 🎧😌🤙 (@dkemper) November 6, 2018
This is a fair question. Students often only see the president during a speech made at Welcome Week and then again, four years later, at convocation. Patrick Deane, at the least, has managed to maintain a neutral profile. There have been no publicized scandals or rumours that have made him well-known by the student body. But for someone earning an annual salary of nearly $400,000, there ought to be more accountability.
It is not enough for students to be indifferent towards their president. Surely, Deane must have accomplished something in those nine years which afforded him the offer at Queen’s. He has been credited toward improving student learning experience, improving the university’s relations with the local Hamilton community and strengthening McMaster’s national and international research reputation.
Perhaps that is the foil of good leaders; that their good work remains unnoticed. I would argue though that it is the responsibility of such leaders to make themselves known. The office of the president does publish the president’s goals but this document should be better advertised to students. Students should be able to remember more about their president than his affinity towards Pizza Pizza and his South African accent.
In fact, it may even be worse that students remember their president by his omissions as opposed to his actions. Whenever controversial discussions occurred on campus, for example with the current talks of free speech, where was our president? While taking a centrist stance on these issues may have maintained Deane’s reputation among the majority of students, it ultimately doesn’t help anyone.
Starting June 30, the current provost David Farrar will serve as acting president of McMaster for one year. Following Farrar, it is unknown who will be McMaster’s next president. As Patrick Deane would say, here’s hoping for a #brighterfuture.
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After paying tuition, many students may not know what happens to their money. But organizers within the McMaster Students Union are working to see that changed, and show students what happens to their fees.
The finance committee of the MSU has proposed changes to a bylaw that would see student groups have their levies put up to referendum on a regular basis. The bylaw in question deals specifically with the five non-MSU, non-university organizations that currently receive a portion of student funding.
“What this bylaw essentially does is give [students] more information on where their money is going,” said Daniel D’Angela, MSU Finance Commissioner and Social Science SRA representative.
The groups that fall under this category are Ontario Public Interest Research Group, McMaster, Engineers Without Borders, Incite Magazine, the McMaster Solar Car, and the McMaster Marching Band. The money these five groups collect from the student body amounts to $10.86 for each full-time student.
And despite the enthusiasm of key players within the MSU, the groups affected have come out in vocal opposition of the motion.
“It’s an inefficient way to consult students,” said Lexi Sproule, co-president of the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders of the proposed system.
Under the changes, EWB and the other four organizations would have their levy put on the presidential ballot as a referendum for students to vote on every three years.
“It’s not very in-depth feedback,” said Sproule. “Even if you get approved, you don’t know if students have any issues with how you run things. It’s so much energy for feedback that’s kind of superficial.”
Proponents of the referendums disagree.
“I don’t think that once every three years having to spend two weeks going out and telling students about what you do, I don’t think it’s that taxing,” said Jeff Doucet,
EWB currently collects 37 cents from every full-time undergraduate student. While not making up their entire budget, the approximately $7700 it receives goes directly to funding students participating in the Junior Fellowship Program, a four-month volunteer placement overseas.
While the dollar amount per student is small, the effect the potential loss is on some of the organizations is significant.
“[Without the levy] I don’t think we’d be able to operate—that’s what keeps us going,” said Yuvreet Kaur, one of eight student board members of OPIRG McMaster.
OPIRG McMaster is one of a network of organizations across the province, which promotes social justice issues through grassroots organizing and through the funding of student and community-led working groups.
Of the five affected groups, OPIRG currently collects the largest fee, at $7.57 per student. However, the fee is refundable within three weeks of the drop and adds date in September.
“We give students the opportunity to take that money if they need it or if they don’t support the work we do,” explained Kojo Damptey, also on the OPIRG Board.
”We’re the only organization on campus that does that.”
The threat of OPIRG McMaster losing its funding is not unheard of; other OPIRG chapters across Ontario, including those at the University of Toronto and at Queen’s University, have come under scrutiny through NOPIRG campaigns, which aim to abolish the system of contributing student fees to the organization.
In the case of Queen’s, NOPIRG organizer Stuart Clark told the Queen’s Journal he was opposed to the levy because of “the use of publically available funds for certain activities that don’t reflect the values of the entire community.”
Mac’s chapter, however, feels that its values align very well with the university.
“Our current president [Patrick Deane] talked about forward with integrity—we’ve been doing that for two decades here,” said Damptey. He emphasized that the working groups funded by the group, which address a range of social justice issues, are the product of student ideas.
“There are certain working groups that a lot of the McMaster population is familiar with,” echoed Board Member Sabeen Kazmi. “Other groups…like the McMaster Farmstand and MACycle started under OPIRG.”
OPIRG and the other four organizations involved are seeking not only to make students and SRA members aware of their role on campus, but also to voice their opposition to the process of the bylaw changes being made.
Sam Godfrey, co-editor-in-chief of Incite Magazine, expressed her concern with the idea of a referendum to determine fees.
“It’s hard to measure worth…by whether the majority of students read [Incite]. If you only funded things that the majority wanted, you wouldn’t have the same kind of community at Mac.”
However, D’Angela said that his impression was that the groups were in support of amendments.
“I met with them midway through the summer, the fee holders, and overwhelmingly, I’d say they agreed with increasing with transparency,” he said.
Sproule explained that while EWB is completely supportive of financial transparency, no mention of the proposed changes was made.
“All we heard was ‘great job’…what are we supposed to do with that? If we’d heard they had concerns, we’d be happy to change things,” she explained.
The bylaw changes were made within the Finance Committee but did not involve any further consultation with the groups.The process of amendment also didn’t involve notifying the groups when the motion was set to go to the SRA for voting; a system that was met with concern by OPIRG, Incite, and EWB, but to others was not problematic.
“If the finance committee decides to make a change because they feel we need more democratic input, should they notify the groups in advance that they make their change, before it goes public? I’m not sure if that will change the conversation that much,” said Doucet.
The discussion on the proposed changes will continue at the upcoming SRA meeting, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 29.
Despite the opposition raised by the five groups, who are expected to present at the meeting, D’Angela and Doucet stand by the Finance Committee’s suggestion.
“If students want to have democratic input, referendum is the most efficient way to do so,” said Doucet.
“We think that the students are smart, they are intelligent people and they’re able to weigh the pros and cons of any single vote,” explained D’Angela upon being asked about the effectiveness of a referendum.
“We think that students are able to make decisions if you give them the right information and give them the important information.”
In a referendum attached to this year’s Presidential Ballot, students voted ‘Yes’ to award the McMaster Marching Band 90 cents from student fees next year to support their actions.
Marching Band President Joshua Patenaude, a fourth-year BioPsych student, explained how the club has made both short-term and long-term plans for this new wave of funding.
“In the short-term we will be repairing everything we have. Everything needs repairs. But in the long-term, we’ll be building up our instrumental set and replacing instruments that have gone beyond the point of repair.“
The McMaster Marching Band will be receiving close to $20,000 next year because of the new levy. The band has budgeted for the monies to be predominantly spent on instruments, while also allocating some funds towards instructional costs and uniforms.
Queen’s University has a $5 levy attached to their student fees, while Western requires the members of its marching band to pay a $200 introductory fee.
Marching band members at Mac have typically paid a $65 membership fee, $250 in uniform fees and a miscellany of fees attributed to their respective instruments and music.
Patrick Osborne, a Marching Band VP and third-year Business Informatics student noted that this funding does not completely solve all of the band’s problems.
“The $20,000 is not sufficient right away. But we wanted to shoot for long-term stable amount of funding. Five years down the road we think $20,000 is what the band should be able to be sustained upon,” said Osborne.
The members all agreed that the funding will significantly lower financial barriers which would preclude students from joining the band. Miranda Clayton, the band’s promotions director described how certain instruments, such as the sousaphone, the instrument she plays in the band, are more expensive than the average cost of repairs.
Other major expenses include instructional costs, drum line replacements and possibly budgeting for the introduction of a colour guard to perform along with the marching band.
McMaster is facing off for the second time with Queen’s University for a free concert with Steve Aoki, Dragonette and Young Empires.
The annual TD Pump It Up contest has once again drawn an enthusiastic response from students on Facebook and Twitter. The contest offers three concerts to participating colleges and universities across Canada – one to each of its featherweight, lightweight and heavyweight divisions.
Last year, Queen’s won in the heavyweight division by outvoting McMaster. Both universities boast a tight-knit student community with a strong social media presence.
To vote, students must register on the contest website using their Facebook login or email address.
Currently, the contest site shows it is a tight race between the two universities.
To get to the finals this year, McMaster beat the University of Ottawa and Mohawk College, while Queen’s edged out Langara College in B.C. and Ryerson University.
The contest will close in less than 24 hours, on Monday Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. Those who vote will receive an email with the results when they are available.
