Some students at Laurentian University are still “in shock” over the recent announcement over cuts to staff.
On June 29 the university announced that 25 positions — half in management, half in administration — will be eliminated.
The announcement of the cuts led to the creation of the Laurentian University Students for Staff (LUSS) group.
Kenneth King, a fourth year sport and physical education student and founder of LUSS, said certain jobs that were cut will greatly impact students.
“The day the announcement happened, I talked to a couple of varsity athletes at Laurentian and a couple people who work and live in residence,” he said.
“We were shocked that it had happened at all and even more shocked to hear that certain jobs were redundant — specifically the athletic therapist and the secretary of services in residence.”
King then decided to help create LUSS, which currently has about 250 members on its Facebook page, titled LU Students for Staff. He said the point of the group is to make “everyone” aware of the situation and “let students form their own opinion.”
“That’s pretty much what we’ve done up to this point,” he said. “We’re going to start moving forward with letter writing, petitions (and) public protests.”
And the group is starting to get noticed. King said he’s received letters of support from the Calgary Flames athletic therapy department and from Laurentian University alumni, including Olympic medallist Alex Baumann.
“That really gives us a bit more wind in our sails, when you look at the fact that we have people,” he said.
King said the decision to make cuts to the athletic therapy department will not only impact current students, but visiting athletes as well. He said it could even affect the school’s ability to recruit athletes.
“It’s definitely made some athletes ... reconsider their decision,” he said. “(If) they get hurt, that service isn’t there.”
As for the impact on students living in residence, King said the elimination of the secretary of services in-residence position is a “unique situation.”
“Anybody who sees ... (what) she does knows that she goes far above and beyond what needs to be done,” he said. “She’s raised thousands of dollars helping out with charity events that the residence organizes. There’s a high probability that those events aren’t going to happen now, because she’s not there to help.”
For now, King said the group will continue to work to properly inform students as to what is happening at the university, and how the cuts will affect them.
“There’s still students that don’t live in Sudbury — and maybe even some that do live in Sudbury — that aren’t even aware the terminations have happened,” he said. “Considering the amount of money the students put into the school every year, that’s just unacceptable.”
-Posted by Heather Green-Oliver
