Globe and Mail Update Published on Tuesday, May. 04, 2010 2:04AM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, May. 04, 2010 11:49AM EDT
First Nations University of Canada announced Monday it will sell off its Saskatoon campus to help pay off the school's mounting debt.
Interim president Shauneen Pete told reporters the sale is necessary to ensure the future of the school, adding that there isn't enough money to run courses after the summer.
“It had grown too big, at this point. What we need to focus back to our purpose and our mission, which is the quality programming for first
Students at the campus will finish their classes August 31, but won't be returning there in the fall. The Saskatoon campus, established in 1976 on the University of Saskatchewan Campus is home to the Indian social work program which had been moved there from the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre.
There are also reports of layoffs due to the impending closure - three staff members and a professor have already been notified of their departure.
The sale is just one more in a number of financial steps the university has had to take to survive. Earlier last month, students at the Regina campus staged sit-ins and marches to protest the school's potential closure. Professors ran lectures, or a “teach-in” to prove the necessities of indigenous based education to Indian Affairs minister Chuck Strahl, whom they had been lobbying for more funding.
On April 16, Chief Guy Lonechild of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations wrote a letter to the University saying the next two days were crucial in convincing the government that it can managing itself responsibly. He asked the board to submit an application for Indian Studies Support Program funding, submit an academic and business plan that lines the University up with its budget of approximately $7.2 million and outline specific major steps it will take to show it's addressing its financial challenges.
There is no word on whether the 83-year-old Saskatoon property has a potential buyer waiting in the wings.