CAFA

Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations

11043-90th Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1 780 (492-5630)
CAUS Council of Alberta University Students

#2, 9908-109 Street NW, Edmonton, AB, T5K 1H5 780-297-4531

April 22, 2013

An Open Letter to the Premier

Dear Premier Redford, The Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) is the provincial organization that speaks for the academic staff associations at Albertas four research-intensive universities (CARIs). The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) is the provincial voice of the students' unions at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge. We are writing to you, jointly, on behalf of our members, to register our disappointment and grave concern at the deep cut in funding for post-secondary education announced in the March 7 provincial budget. Your governments commitment last year was to three years of stable and predictable funding to the public post-secondary institutions, with annual 2% increases to operating grants over that period. Instead, the unexpected cut of $146 million in operating support has these institutions scrambling to plug major budget gaps through job and program cuts that will reduce the accessibility, diversity, and quality of the learning opportunities our post-secondary system can provide to Albertans. Over the long-term, this reduction in funding will be felt throughout our communities as our institutions are forced to downsize, with the risk of additional financial pressure on students and their families through increased tuition and fees. This will make our universities less competitive, less affordable, and less attractive to students and faculty. The inevitable loss of capacity throughout the system will have immediate, and lasting, effects on the ability of learners to access the programs they require. Albertas universities, colleges, and technical institutes have been particularly effective in finding efficiencies and innovative responses to the freeze on operating grants over the past two years. However, the time has come to re-invest in the post-secondary education system, not to cut deeper. No one doubts the value of public investment in post-secondary education, or the unmatched return on investment it provides to our society and economy, as well as to the individual learner. Recent public opinion surveys, like the one Alberta faculty and student groups sponsored during the last election campaign, indicate that a strong majority of Albertans see post-secondary education as a priority, and want the provincial government invest in it. /2

Faculty and students understand the need to address the sustainability of the post-secondary system, but we believe that the combination of a sudden, massive cut in public funding, and the related plan to re-structure Campus Alberta to better align it with provincial priorities, risks undermining the accessibility, affordability, and quality of our system. A hasty, ill-considered downsizing of our post-secondary institutions at this time is in no ones interest, least of all the students, and will do long-term damage to our system - as the lasting impact of the drastic cuts to our sector in the mid-90s has shown. Alberta has an excellent post-secondary education system today, as a result of sustained investment and a shared vision of the provinces potential. We urge you to reconsider the deep funding cuts in the 2013-14 budget that threaten the integrity of our system and call that vision into question. Yours sincerely,

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Robert Sutherland Raphael Jacob President of CAFA President of CAUS cc. The Honourable Thomas Lukaszuk