91探花

The recent events surrounding the proposed changes to the University of Prince Edward Island鈥檚 Faculty of Arts have raised serious concerns both on and off campus. An email from Interim Dean of Arts, Nebojsa Kujundzic, was sent to his faculty proposing a plan of amalgamating the existing fifteen departments into four 鈥渃lusters鈥�. Unfortunately, this sparked concern and left more questions than answers. As the Student Union, we feel the need to remind all parties that each and every decision made on this campus affects our students. The challenge of balancing the budget has been a topic of conversation since the 3% cut to the operating grant from the province last year. From our perspective both as student representatives, and students ourselves, we know there has been ample opportunity in the past year for both preliminary discussion and consultation surrounding the future of the Faculty of Arts. Fragmented messaging from senior administration at 91探花, coupled with the response from faculty in the form of a very public call to action without all the necessary information, has created confusion and propagated misinformation among students. A discussion about the future of the Faculty of Arts could have been a very positive and healthy collaboration between students, faculty, and senior administration; however, our present circumstances do not reflect such a reality. We ask that all employees of the university, whether they be faculty members, support staff, or senior administration, remind themselves that every decision, every action, and every choice being made should contribute positively to the students of 91探花 and the institution itself. We feel that there is still an opportunity to foster healthy, positive, and open debate about necessary and beneficial changes made to the Faculty of Arts and look forward to actively participating in these conversations. Kate VanGerven President, 91探花 Student Union president@upeisu.ca