U of S faculty questioning decision to close community outreach centre

Numerous faculty at the University of Saskatchewan have written a letter to the university’s president and other top-ranking officials expressing concern over the looming closure of a community outreach centre for Saskatoon’s core neighbourhoods.

Rachel Engler-Stringer, an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, is one of the 16 signatories on the letter that depended on the office at Station 20 West to conduct community-engaged research. She said the office has acted as a link between the city’s core neighbourhoods and the university since the office opened in 2012.

She feels the closure of the office will only harm the relationships and trust developed between the office and various community organizations.

“It’s really critical to our work going forward,” she said. “To lose that trust, to lose those eight years of work.”

Engler-Stringer was told of the closure via an email last Thursday. To her knowledge there was no consultation with staff, students or faculty.

“They do exactly the opposite of what the university is saying it wants to do — without consultation,” she said. “There’s always choices to be made.”

In a statement sent to 650 CKOM, vice president of research Karen Chad said the decision to close the office was due to budget constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As part of this organizational restructuring, we are re-envisioning our university’s social innovation strategy and community-engaged research model, with the intent of enhancing the impact of our programs and services in this area,” she said.

Admitting that academics aren’t the most humble people sometimes, Engler-Stringer said the office helped keep faculty, students and the university more engaged and accountable.

The letter also suggests the U of S is abandoning its own ambitious plan outlined in 2018, University Plan 2025, which aspires the institution to become a leading university through transformative decolonization leading to reconciliation and productive collaboration, among many other goals.

“Building and maintaining relationships that create trust is slow and steady work, but it must be done to create systemic health and social equity change. These efforts are largely invisible and yet without them the university continues to be inaccessible, unaccountable and oppressive to marginalized communities, rather than the force for change that is described in its University Plan 2025,” a section of the faculty letter read.

The statement from Chad said two full-time positions will be eliminated when the office closes on Aug. 1. There’s no confirmation on what will happen with the space in the fall, but the lease at Station 20 West was extended an additional three years.

“By continuing to lease this office and meeting space, the university intends to make this space more available to our researchers and their community partners to further advance our community-engaged research, teaching, and learning activities,” Chad said.

Chad also said consultations will continue over the coming months with stakeholders and researchers who use the facility on “how to better enable community-engaged research and scholarship.”

Although Engler-Stringer understands COVID-19 has created financial problems for post-secondary institutions across Canada, she’s having trouble accepting the decision to close the office.

“It’s really difficult from my perspective how you can justify that right now,” she said.