Your Voice Matters! Make it heard!

At the March 27 Senate Meeting, the Provost announced that he would be transferring 200 seats from FAS to other faculties and that an additional 100 seats would be reallocated from the BA program to a selection of STEM programs within FAS. This measure is intended to generate additional revenue for the university starting in the 2026-27 academic year.

The Provost’s plan is scheduled for a vote at the April 17 Senate meeting. 

Given new rules around minimum class sizes, the Provost’s plan has serious implications for program viability and could eventually be used to justify program closures. It also pre-empts several ongoing processes meant to inform precisely this sort of decision, including the Bicentennial Vision exercise and the associated work of the Future of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Group, which was convened by the Principal to inform academic planning over the next two decades. These processes also include a committee that has been discussing the revenue split for cross-faculty teaching decisions, which will impact how much pressure the movement of seats would place on the FAS budget.

23 members of FAS petitioned Dean Lemieux to hold a special meeting of Faculty Board. This meeting is the only chance we have to discuss the Provost’s proposal before the April 17 Senate meeting. Let’s use our time well. 

  • The future of FAS is at stake. Don’t let important decisions happen without your input. 
  • First-timers welcome. If you’ve never been to Faculty Board, now is the perfect occasion to start. Term adjuncts, continuing adjuncts, and tenure-stream faculty members each have a vote. 
  • Bring a colleague. Encourage someone who doesn’t usually attend to sign up. It’s especially important that early-career scholars make their voices heard. 
  • Help spread the word. Circulate this post widely. Share it in your department, with your networks, and on social media.
  • Solidarity matters. Show up, speak up, stand together. 

Zoom link: https://queensu.zoom.us/j/99758657092?pwd=TXB2S2F2aU8rM2pDeFBYT0cya1g2UT09

Meeting ID: 997 5865 7092; Passcode: 388880 

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