WLUFA’s Governance Committee invited faculty and librarians last week (Oct 30) to discuss the University Administration’s plan to establish a satellite campus in Milton although government funding was removed, the University reports it is facing a deficit of $18 million, and Departments are being asked to make further cutbacks.
The Administration gave a presentation at the Oct 22, 2019 meeting of Senate (see https://lauriercloud.sharepoint.com/news/Pages/lauriers-presence-in-milton-next-steps.aspx and https://lauriercloud.sharepoint.com/sites/governance/senate/Documents/Senate%20Presentation%20-%20Milton%20.pdf#search=milton, or search “Milton” on Connect, and click on “Laurier’s presence in Milton: Next steps” and “Senate Presentation – Milton”).
From the discussion, it was clear that WLUFA members have many questions, such as: What is the business plan? Why are we proceeding given there are programs that are suffering at the Waterloo and Brantford campuses? Why are we proceeding given the withdrawal of government funding? How will a Milton campus help the Waterloo and Brantford campuses? What programs will be at Milton? Where is the evidence that the population in Milton will support a 3,000 student campus, especially given the intensity of competition from neighboring universities?
WLUFA’s Governance Committee is working toward getting answers to these and other questions about Milton.