Helen ZhangSomewhere up in the clouds, there’s a group of people who make the major decisions for the University of Alberta. Well, actually, they mostly make those decisions from the council chambers in the University Hall. But they have about as much power as someone in the clouds would. Unless they’re students.
I’m talking about the U of A’s Board of Governors (BoG), which is the highest level of governance at the U of A. It makes various decisions on things such as tuition increases, improving buildings on campus, building completely new buildings, and the structures of faculties and departments. All of these things have a huge effect on students — yet only three students sit on BoG.
Of the 27 seats, there is only one graduate student and two undergraduate students. It’s time that student experience and contributions are reflected on BoG.
The last academic year really showed how lacking building maintenance can affect students and faculty. Burst pipes flooded classrooms in the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy (ECHA) and Henry Marshall Tory Building. Over 100 classes were affected. Thankfully that was a relatively brief inconvenience for most affected classes.
But an electrical fire shut down the Humanities Centre (HC) for the entire 2024 winter term. Not only were classes relocated, but many professors lost access to their office space. And even though students and faculty are back in HC, there’s plans to eventually get rid of the building. That would be a huge blow to the faculty of arts which is largely based in HC. Arts students can say goodbye to having a centralized building to visit professors and have classes in.
BoG will ultimately make the decision on whether or not to keep HC, which will majorly affect students. Yet only three students will get to vote on that matter.
Outside of managing buildings, BoG also approves tuition increases and long-term plans for the university. SHAPE, the university’s strategic plan, aims to increase enrolment by 16,000 students in the next decade. That will likely mean a more crowded campus and classrooms.
But even with more students who will be paying more in tuition and other fees, we won’t get a larger say on BoG.
Of course, BoG isn’t the only way that university administration can hear from students. There are consultations for strategic plans and town halls about tuition increases. But it’s meaningless when the university seemingly doesn’t listen.
There was a tuition town hall last year. Kate Chisholm, the chair of BoG, received 904 emails from students against tuition increases. The two undergraduate students on BoG spoke out against the increases at the BoG meeting. Yet BoG approved the increases anyway.
When the U of A underwent massive restructuring in 2021, students and faculty had major concerns about it. And they weren’t quiet about it. Yet consultations left many still frustrated and feeling unheard. President and Vice-chancellor Bill Flanagan even reportedly laughed at a student who criticized the consultation process.
There were multiple different proposals before BoG approved the restructuring plan. And two years after the changes, students, faculty, and non-academic staff still had major concerns about the effects of restructuring.
More student representation on BoG could give students a real voice in these matters. Members from the general public hugely outnumber students. Yet we often bear the brunt of the effects of these major decisions.
There’s something to be said for academic and non-academic staff representation on BoG too. Academic staff have two designated seats, one nominated by the General Faculties Council (GFC) and the other by the Association of Academic Staff of the U of A (AASUA), which is currently vacant. The Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA) also has a designated seat on BoG.
Between students and staff, only six of the 27 seats on BoG are for those working or learning at the U of A. Most of the others are members of the general public or additional members, which equates to the same thing.
The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta chooses the other voting members from the general public. Alberta’s Post-Secondary Learning Act (PSLA) limits the number of members representing the general public to nine — not including the chair, who’s also a member of the public. This is far more members representing the public than there are representing students. Students who pay thousands of dollars in tuition every year, who stand to benefit or suffer from decisions made at BoG.
However, there is no limit on the number of “additional members” the province can appoint to the board. And the number of additional members has been growing. Since June, the province has appointed six more additional members, increasing the overall number of BoG members from 21 to 27. That means students went from making up a seventh of BoG to a ninth. Members of the public got more say at the expense of student voices.
The PSLA outlines who sits on BoG and what BoG is meant to do. It makes sense to have members of the public sit on BoG as the U of A receives public funding. But if that’s the logic for having so many members of the general public on BoG, that’s starting to lose its significance.
Provincial funding has been decreasing over the past several years and student tuition has been going up. Since 2019, the province has cut over $200 million worth of funding to the U of A. And since 2019, BoG has voted for tuition increases every year.
According to the U of A’s 2024-25 budget, funding from the provincial government accounts for 37 per cent or $738 million of the university’s total revenue. Student tuition and fees makes up 25 per cent or $500 million of the U of A’s total revenue. Yet students only make up 11 per cent of the seats on BoG. Members of the public chosen by the provincial government make up 61 per cent of BoG.
Several of the additional members or members of the general public are alumni of the U of A, so they have some connection to the U of A. However, they aren’t the ones currently paying tuition fees. Nor are they the ones dealing with fires and floods in the buildings they’re trying to get an education in. Yet, they have significant influence over how tuition and building maintenance is addressed.
Quite simply, something needs to change. The U of A has shown listening to students isn’t a top priority, in fact it’s a laughing matter to leadership. And with so few seats on BoG, students are easy to ignore. Yet students are the ones largely affected by decisions BoG makes, as are staff who have as little representation on BoG. Students are also increasingly bearing the brunt of the U of A’s financial woes. We deserve to have our say and have it mean something.
