By Diane Gilhula
Faculty and students at Laurentian University are painting a very black picture of campus life.
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Several students, professors, and representatives of the Laurentian University Faculty Association made presentations late last week at hearings being held across the country to look into the future of universities and colleges.
The president of the faculty association said he feels the university has "grossly underestimated" the effects of the double cohort of students expected in the fall of 2003.
Jean-Charles Cachon said he doesn't agree with university administration that expect a 10 per cent increase in student enrolment in 2003. He worries Laurentian will not have classrooms to accommodate 200 students or more. He expects classes of 500 may be necessary in some cases.
Overcrowding at universities and colleges is widely expected to be the result of the elimination of the OAC year (Grade 13) by the Harris government. Two graduating high school classes will hit post secondary institutions in the fall of 2003.
The university, Cachon said, already has problems in recruiting faculty, but this is exacerbated by the lower-than-average salaries and the massive retirements at the university expected in the next 10 years.
Professors at Laurentian get paid the lowest salaries in the province averaging $75,000 per year, he said.
Some of the presenters at the hearing expressed doubts about LaurentianÂ?s ability to establish a medical school because of chronic underfunding, he added.
Lorraine Brosseau, a lab technologist in the biology department, told the hearing the university is tremendously underfunded in all respects. Old equipment and space issues plague the science departments.
Professors in some cases are teaching graduate courses for free because there is no money to pay them, said Brosseau.
"Instructors are getting tired of all the freebies expected of them because the university is underfunded."
She also said some part-time faculty are teaching outside of their area of expertise which lowers the standards of education for students.
Brosseau has concerns there seems to be no plan at the university to deal with the double cohort, she said.
"The university needs space like you would not believe. It needs more rooms and also equipment."
Sue Legault is the vice-president of student issues at Laurentian. She has recently completed a BA in English and philosophy.
Legault expressed fears about rising tuition costs, the abolition of student grants, and the underfunding of the universities and those effects on accessibility to public education at the post secondary level. She worries that education is less accessible than it used to be, and in the future it may be only for the rich in society.
Legault told the hearings that $16,000 is the cost of one year of full-time studies at an Ontario university, and students are carrying high debt loads in excess of between $25,000 and $50,000.
Sophie Gauthier is a fourth year student in Physical Education at the university. Many students at Laurentian have to visit the food bank to survive, she said.
David Cameron is a mature student who said he has many friends who are Â?frightenedÂ? by the cost of giving all their children a university education. It was his observation that a typical student at the university has two jobs, may be raising children, and may have a need for day care which are all factors making it very difficult for students.
Representatives from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, the Sudbury and District Labour Council, Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 613, the French Public School Board, and the Committee to Remember Kimberly Rogers also made presentations.
The hearings are designed to provide a forum for members of the community to express their views about a public institution critical to their own opportunities and quality of life, and the continued well-being of all the communities of Northeastern Ontario.
Hearings began in Halifax last spring, and will visit all major centres. After hearings have been held across Canada, the results will be published and presented to university leaders, governments, premiers and the prime minister.
The Sudbury hearings were sponsored by the Laurentian University Faculty Association, and Canadian Association of University Teachers.
