Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., is reducing its staff levels amid “financial pressures,” according to the university’s vice president of student experience. In an email to students, Scott Duguay said the university made the “extremely difficult decision” to reduce its staffing complement on Wednesday morning. He noted no further reductions are currently planned. “The decision to complete all changes in a single day was made to prevent employees from enduring prolonged uncertainty and to allow everyone to begin moving forward together,” Duguay said in the email. “I want to acknowledge how challenging today has been for our entire university community.” Duguay said financial challenges like tuition freezes and declining enrolment due to the international student caps have made it “impossible” to maintain their staffing levels. “These financial pressures required immediate action to preserve the quality of your academic programs and to ensure we can sustain essential student services for the long term,” he said. Thirty-one positions were eliminated. The university says academic programs and teaching positions were not affected. In a Facebook post, the Acadia Students’ Union said it was “deeply saddened” by the reductions. “Many of these individuals have played important roles in supporting students and shaping the community at Acadia,” the union said. “We recognize that today has been a difficult day for many students, staff, and faculty who have built relationships with colleagues, mentors, supervisors, and friends who are directly affected.” Students say staffing cuts impacted the Wong International Centre, health promotion and counselling staff. “I think it causes a lot of uncertainty and a lot of anxiety amongst our student body when so many people were let go so abruptly and it’s really disheartening,” said Yas Jawad, Student Union president. Students planned a protest Thursday to voice their concerns. “I have friends who are directly affected. I myself am directly affected by some of these services being completely shut down,” says protest co-organizer Yash Raj. Raj says the Wong International Centre is vital to supporting international students. “I’m graduating now. My work permit is something that I have to apply for and the Wong International Centre office, there’s immigration advising there,” he says. Officials told international students they won’t fall through the cracks. “We know difficult decisions have to be made far and near. I think, where so many of us take issue is that there wasn’t student consultation, there wasn’t any student input,” said Jawad. In a statement, Acadia said the difficult decisions reflect the financial realities the university needs to address to remain “strong and sustainable while continuing to serve students well.” With files from CTV Atlantic’s Callum Smith For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
