Queen’s University’s recent budget cuts to the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) has left the department in a precarious position. While the Smith-funded School of Business and Engineering faculty thrive, the University continues to handle the situation with a lack of honesty and transparency, leaving students frustrated.
Over the past year, the University has reduced funding, cut smaller courses, and increased class sizes within Arts and Science programs. The University claims the allocation was worked through collaboratively and in consultation with colleagues across the faculty, but this notion remains questionable considering the outrage of professors and students alike.
Some of the new initiatives addressing the $35.7 million operating budget deficit announced on July 1 haven’t been effectively communicated to students.
Instead, when asked how this sensitive information has been shared with faculty, staff, and students, Queen’s answered, through “town hall meetings, information sessions, and group meetings” mostly held in April—a clearly difficult time to reach the majority of their student demographic with most students travelling home for the summer.
There was a reason to hide these initiatives. FAS was assigned 43 per cent of the University’s budget deficit, out of five total departments. When Queen’s students received a leaked online document last December, they organized themselves as Queen’s Students vs Cuts. The document contained proposed changes of the removal of the Queen’s Graduate Award (QGA), cuts to undergraduate classes with fewer than 10 students, cuts to graduate classes with fewer than five students, and the closure of issions to Arts and Science Online degree options.
Unfortunately, these challenges have discouraged students from enrolling in important Arts and Science courses, jeopardizing some of the University’s most prestigious and highly regarded degrees. These cuts are especially disheartening given the prestigious recognition other faculties have received from alumni.
For example, the Smith School of Engineering, recently receiving a hearty $100 million donation from Smith, intensifying the sense of subordinacy and frustration felt by Arts and Science students. Graduate students in Engineering continue to receive stipends starting at a minimum of $28,950 per year, while students in Arts and Science receive $23,000 per year, further highlighting the disparity.
FAS students feel as though their degrees are being treated as pointless by the University, creating a sense of alienation among current and future students. This growing sense of neglect threatens to harm the University’s reputation and push potential students to seek out education at other Canadian Universities.
With the ongoing stereotyping of humanities degrees, which undermines their true value and the careers they can lead to, this trend only adds to the frustration. This past year, Forbes Magazine announced a list of the 13 most common pre-law majors, with 12 being arts or science degrees. Despite years of claims that arts and science programs are dying, liberal arts education continues to be undervalued. This ideology is puzzling, especially given that some of the world’s highest earners come from arts degrees. Consider celebrities like Steve Jobs with a liberal studies degree, George Soros with a philosophy degree, and even Oprah Winfrey who holds a degree in speech communication, and performing arts.
The decline of liberal arts is no recent phenomenon. The crisis surrounding the humanities has existed for decades, with Princeton University’s Wayne Bivens-Tatum publishing an of the fall of humanities subjects. In his report, he references an interview with the President of Cornell University’s “call to defend the humanities,” stressing the global significance of neglecting personality and individual freedoms in vocational education. This ongoing disregard only deepens the stereotype that the value of a humanities degrees is diminished, offering little in the way of a promising future.
I believe some of the most undervalued degrees are in the FAS, with students in history and English Literature and Creative Writing being particularly outspoken about the challenges they face. In response to the recent budget cuts, AMS clubs and Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) initiatives have gained popularity this year. To garner more for FAS, it’s crucial students these student-led organizations and help increase awareness of the importance of a humanities education.
One of the most prominent clubs this year is the Queen’s Undergraduate Conference on Literature, which is the only literature conference for undergraduate students at the University. The conference provides a ive academic community outside the classroom, offering faculty-driven awards and recognition for the most creative and impactful English papers.
This year’s conference will take place on Feb. 1 and is accepting positions for graduate students to earn mentorship opportunities, undergraduate students to submit their papers, and is an overall opportunity for students to learn from one another.
Another example is the History Department Student Council which has been notably advocating for the understanding of the value of a liberal arts degree. Their site features some of the most influential papers on topics like “The Interdisciplinary Value of History” and “The Importance of Social and Public History in Canada.” These papers explore the role of state-produced information and the fabrication of narratives that circulate “credible sources.”
FAS degrees were once among the most sought-after, offering students an education primed with opportunity, promise, and inspiration. Yet, unfairly allocated budget cuts are shifting the focus of our institution toward business and engineering, leaving FAS students further behind. It’s crucial students, staff, alumni, and donors stand together to student-led clubs, champion the faculty, and create a thriving, inclusive environment for all students. No degree should be valued more than another, and no student should ever be made to feel less than another at this institution.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].
Carol Hanna
Grace O’marra, you have brilliantly expressed very important views!