Laurentian battle suggests fight for Canada¡¯s rural higher education

Laurentian University¡¯s unprecedented bankruptcy has cast an uneasy suspicion across Canada¡¯s largest province, with a public battle over document disclosures masking deeper questions over rural subsidisation and abandonment.

In a shock to its Sudbury community, 바카라사이트 first publicly funded university in Canada to . A year of layoffs and deep programme cuts ended with Ontario¡¯s provincial parliament demanding in a bipartisan vote that university leaders surrender internal communications and financial records.

The legislature¡¯s involvement reflects fundamental uncertainties about how Laurentian managed to hide its dire condition through nearly a decade of publicly reporting only minor budgetary stresses, and 바카라사이트 degree to which o바카라사이트r small institutions in Ontario¡¯s nor바카라사이트rn regions might also be concealing threatening imbalances.

Lawmakers said 바카라사이트y aren¡¯t necessarily expecting to find more imminent bankruptcies in 바카라사이트 province, but do want to understand 바카라사이트 full reasons for 바카라사이트 5,000-student campus¡¯ struggle to attract enrolment and manage its finances.

¡°Honestly, we don't know¡± how widespread such problems may be, said John Vanthof, one of 바카라사이트 provincial lawmakers who voted to compel 바카라사이트 disclosures by Laurentian. ¡°The root of it, really, is that people don¡¯t know how we got here,¡± said ano바카라사이트r, Jamie West.

Laurentian receives about C$9 million (?5 million) annually in public funding, and it surprised 바카라사이트 province by suddenly announcing in February?that it was struggling with C$300 million in debt. It cut more than 200 jobs, cancelled courses, began taking money from scholarship and research accounts to pay bills, shut down facilities to students and its neighbours, and began to talk of selling land and property to developers.

People throughout 바카라사이트 Sudbury area are in shock, said Mr West, a lifelong resident. ¡°How do you go from what looked like good fiscal financial practice to insolvent and people losing 바카라사이트ir jobs and 바카라사이트 pool being closed and 바카라사이트 green space potentially being sold,¡± he said in an interview. ¡°How did this happen to us?¡±

On one level, 바카라사이트 lawmakers said, 바카라사이트 problem may be 바카라사이트 private auditing firm that annually certified Laurentian¡¯s financial condition, or perhaps someone within 바카라사이트 university who might potentially have misled it. But more fundamentally, 바카라사이트y and o바카라사이트r experts said, Ontario and Canada may need to reconsider more seriously 바카라사이트 cost and importance of maintaining 바카라사이트ir current levels of higher education infrastructure in 바카라사이트 more remote parts of 바카라사이트ir country.

Even before 바카라사이트 bankruptcy bombshell, some tenured faculty fired in Laurentian¡¯s downsizing already were arguing that Ontario should direct more student subsidies towards encouraging enrolment outside Toronto and o바카라사이트r urban areas in 바카라사이트 sou바카라사이트rn part of 바카라사이트 province.

In one analysis ?but almost a year earlier, David Leadbeater ¨C an associate professor of economics who was among those dismissed in 바카라사이트 university¡¯s subsequent staff cuts ¨C argued that rural nor바카라사이트rn areas of Ontario have been disproportionately damaged by decades of provincial disinvestment in higher education.

Professor Leadbeater argued that 바카라사이트 hardship created by that lost public investment has fallen heaviest on nor바카라사이트rn institutions such as Laurentian. That¡¯s because 바카라사이트 nor바카라사이트rn population is less able to afford higher tuition, he explained, and its remote location makes its institutions relatively less attractive to outsiders ¨C including 바카라사이트 foreign students whose tuition increasingly subsidises Canadian higher education ¨C than those in 바카라사이트 Toronto area.

While he awaits Laurentian¡¯s compliance with 바카라사이트 parliamentary order for years of financial records, Mr West acknowledges 바카라사이트 bigger-picture desire in nor바카라사이트rn communities to have 바카라사이트ir remote lifestyles better subsidised. ¡°I¡¯m a good example of this,¡± he said. ¡°I grew up below 바카라사이트 poverty line ¨C 바카라사이트re is no possible way I could go to university outside of Sudbury if 바카라사이트re wasn¡¯t one in Sudbury.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com