The Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) stands in firm support of the campaign to save Sheridan College’s Creative Writing and Publishing program (CW&P).

The decision to suspend this vital program, alongside 39 others, made without transparency or meaningful consultation, represents a troubling trend in post-secondary education: the prioritization of short-term financial considerations over the educational mission of public colleges and universities to empower students to study what they choose.

The CW&P program is the only undergraduate degree in Canada offering sustained study in both writing and publishing, providing students with invaluable opportunities to connect with industry professionals, develop creative and professional skills, and engage meaningfully with the literary world. The program fosters community and belonging for its diverse students, who produce initiatives like B222 Journal and the award-winning Ampersand Review of Writing & Publishing, amplifying the voices of emerging and established authors alike.

Sheridan College’s own website states, “In an economy based on innovation and change, leading CEOs agree that creativity is the top skill you can bring to the workplace.” The CW&P program is a direct embodiment of this principle: it cultivates creativity, critical thinking, and innovation, equipping students with skills essential for success in creative and professional industries. Students gain essential experience through internships with publishers, cultural organizations, and literary foundations, while CW&P alumni contribute widely across Canada’s arts and
publishing industries. The loss of CW&P would sever a vital pathway into these industries for emerging writers, editors, and creative professionals. To cut this program is to undermine Sheridan’s stated commitment to empowering students with the most important skills that drive today’s economy and society.

As a college-based program, CW&P at Sheridan makes a uniquely vital contribution: it democratizes access to the elite spaces of cultural institutions, ensuring that a wide range of voices, perspectives, and identities are represented on the Canadian literary stage. Programs like CW&P are the reason that Canadian arts reflect the diversity of the nation and contribute to our collective cultural and social well-being. By fostering new generations of writers, editors, and creative professionals, CW&P enriches Canada’s cultural landscape and strengthens our shared capacity for expression, imagination, and connection. If anything, more colleges should follow Sheridan’s model to start programs like this one. Suspending the CW&P program is a major blow not just to Canadian arts, but to Canadian society as a whole. 

We understand the strong pressures that are currently being placed on the college system in Ontario, and indeed, on institutions of higher education across the country. The financial pressures are real and demand collaborative resistance, and clear communications from faculty, students, and administrators, about what is being lost by the significant reductions in support for curriculum and programs that provide both specialized and general forms of education. Cutting valuable programs like CW&P that enrich students’ experiences and competencies in the composition of complex texts and the analysis of communications infrastructures represents a great loss to pedagogical offerings in areas that are of urgent importance to Canadian politics, culture, and society.

We call on Sheridan College’s administration, President Janet Morrison, and the Board of Governors to reverse this decision. The CW&P program is integral to Canada’s cultural and creative landscape—it must remain a cornerstone of Sheridan’s offerings for current and future students.