I am writing to you again to inform you on the current issues that students of Laurentian University are facing.
As I have written to you in my prior letter, I am a current student of Laurentian University in the Indigenous Social Work program.
We as students are currently in the midst of finals while President Robert Haché attempts to financially restructure the institution that we as a community of Sudbury have grown to love and be proud of.
While this financial restructuring is transpiring Laurentian University believes “the best thing that students can do is to stay focused on their studies and not be distracted by the financial restructuring that is taking place.” I have attempted to stay focused on my studies at this time, however that has proved to be next to impossible.
I am currently enrolled in the Indigenous: Cultures, Behaviour, and Identity course at University of Sudbury as one of my electives towards my Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work. I attempt to “focus on my studies” even though my professor has graciously decided to cancel our final paper during this incredibly stressful time. He has given us the option to complete our assigned final for bonus marks.
I have decided to attempt this avenue as I feel my paper is incredibly important work, it relates to the mental health and addictions crisis of Indigenous youth and how it is important for them to reclaim their culture as a healing tool in retaining their personal identity.
This morning when I sat down to work on my paper, I decided to log onto our university portal to make sure that I was adhering to the course outline expectations. Unbeknownst to me and my professor, all of our content has been removed from the online portal.
Laurentian University is currently in the process of doing a major disservice to the students and community at large.
This is not the first attempt of the Laurentian University administration to take away our much needed content to finish our program of study. I have seen this happen this past week in my psychology class where our syllabus was removed without our professor’s knowledge, even though our exam is not scheduled until April 26.
This removal of our content is not only happening to my Indigenous and Psychology courses. There are numerous students in various programs such as Biology, who have come forward about the dismantling of our online portal. Students have been reporting that their content is disappearing and their professors are having to re-upload the information.
These efforts to silence the students into focusing on their studies while our content is being taken away from us before our very eyes during our finals while the school year is still in process is not okay on any level.
Laurentian University’s current administration is attempting to take the knowledge of the Indigenous knowledge keepers who have created the Indigenous Studies program at University of Sudbury. This is an attempt to appease the students to develop the knowledge being taken into an Indigenous perspectives path at Laurentian University.
The dissolving of the federations, the mining of knowledge and silencing of the students are colonial efforts.
How are we as students supposed to continue to focus on our studies while our content to finish our studies continues to disappear?
Kristen Lavallee
Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work