Faculty, community raise questions about Algoma University suspending programs, including music

The Algoma University Faculty Association is raising questions and concerns about the suspension of admissions to five programs, particularly the music program which it said was popular and performing well.

OPSEU local 685, as well as students and community leaders say the decision to not accept new students in the history, geography, sociology, visual arts and music program will have a wider impact on the Sault Ste. Marie.

Interim university president Donna Rogers told a Senate meeting at the beginning of this month that those courses were identified as having low enrolment.

In a news release, the faculty association said it is concerned about how the decisions were made.

Professor George Townsend sat on the Senate committee that started reviewing these programs in December 2024. 

In the association's news release, he said he was shocked "to find out that the Board of Governors had gone ahead and made a decision before we (the Senate) had even completed our exercise." 

"The board made this decision based on incomplete data," he said, with Townsend adding that enrolment in music doubled this year, while salary costs were reduced.

Edward Turgeon, the director of the music program, was also puzzled by the move.

Turgeon had been heartened by numbers he obtained from the registrar's office that confirmed an increase in enrolment in the program from 2023-24 to 2024-25, going from  33.5 full-time equivalent students to 65.5.

Additionally, he said that early this year, that he had put forward a proposal that would trim the cost of running the music program by about $60,000 a year.

"So the information that I supplied in February, two months before the board made its recent decision would have placed the music program solidly in the black," he said.

"We're trying to understand and faced with giving the board and giving the university these ways to make it a profitable program, this requires engagement."

He said the program has contributed greatly to the community and further, with one graduate going on to be a leading conductor on Broadway.

Jacob Rendell, who owns Case's Music store in Sault Ste. Marie, said they teach students who later go on to study at Algoma University, and then hires Algoma students to teach youngsters.

He said not taking on more music students sends a message to future young musicians that they might want to go elsewhere.

"I hear, honestly, a lot of mixed emotions from various people," he said.

"At the end of the day, the university is a business. So there's an understanding that that there has to be, there's a fiscal responsibility that they have to take on."

However, he said it is a shock for those in the music community.

"A lot of people are kind of reeling and not really knowing what that's going to mean for the future," said Rendell.

"The community of musicians here is pretty tight knit. So one of my biggest concerns is I have a long history of professional relationships and friends that actively teach music at the university, and I'm worried about the impacts on them."

Algoma University in a statement said it "recognizes the value of all its academic programs and their contributions to the cultural and economic fabric of Sault Ste. Marie, Brampton and Timmins, including those currently under the one-year admissions pause. That is precisely why the University is committed to ensuring they are financially sustainable over the long term."