The Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) unequivocally condemns the job losses and program closures announced at Laurentian University. These cuts are incredibly damaging to Laurentian, to the people of Sudbury where Laurentian is housed, to the people of northern Ontario, and to Canada. The loss of tenured and tenure-track faculty positions, moreover, is deeply alarming. ACCUTE extends its sympathies and solidarities to those faculty members whose roles are impacted at this time. Furthermore, we are extremely disconcerted by the devastating cuts to Indigenous and Francophone programming, which will have deleterious effects on these communities.  

Although the Department of English Literature, Media, and Writing is not one of the programs that has had its closure announced, ACCUTE observes that the cuts announced by the administration at Laurentian have massive impacts upon Arts and Humanities disciplines. Standing in solidarity with the Canadian Association of University Teachers and the Laurentian University Faculty Association, ACCUTE calls upon both the provincial government of Ontario and the federal government of Canada to intervene in order to ensure the continuation of Laurentian University. 

Laurentian University is a public post-secondary university, not a private corporation. The administration’s filing to undertake insolvency proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act is, in ACCUTE’s view, inappropriate. This approach is inimical to the very nature of the university system itself. ACCUTE calls upon provincial and federal governments to provide stable, ongoing funding to the university and to support access to public post-secondary education.