Thread by @eeseejee, The catastrophic program, faculty, and staff cuts at Laurentian are the result [...]

The catastrophic program, faculty, and staff cuts at Laurentian are the result of years of financial mismanagement. How did that happen? The timeline linked here offers some insight on that question, along with links to supporting documents. 1/?

https://bit.ly/3sbWIuy

In this thread, I'll recap the timeline. 1st, imp to know that LU's Board of Governors is responsible for LU's finances. They hold LU's purse strings and are ultimately accountable for how LU spends $. They approve budgets + ensure that LU Admin sticks to those budgets. 2/?

In the 00's, the LU Board dug itself out of a financial hole and by 2007 had its largest ever accumulated surplus. Finances went south shortly after that, and a $15M spending deficit in 2008-9 wiped out LU's savings (and more). 3/?

In 2009, the BoG approved a Sustainability Plan aimed at eliminating LU's budgeted deficits over 3 years. Despite budgeting according to the plan, ACTUAL spending didn't decrease enough, and the BoG saw the accumulated deficit grow by $25.9M to around $38M. 4/?

To be fair, the $38M accumulated deficit is a tricky number. It includes some notional expenses, e.g. a $9M charge reflecting the current value of LU's interest rate swaps. Over the next couple of years, the BoG approved retroactive restatements of its financial results. 5/?

These restatements reduced the accumulated deficit significantly, and the restatement of 2012-13's $6.7M deficit transformed that year's deficit into a $202k surplus, the first since 2007 and the last until 2018. 6/?

Back to 2012: facing a large accumulated deficit, the BoG approved the Campus Mod project, an ambitious plan to construct the School of Architecture, renovate the Sudbury campus, and build a stand-alone campus in Barrie. The plan required balanced budgets over the next 6 yrs. 7/?

And the budgets were balanced! E.g. in 2017, LU Admin announced that the BoG had approved its 7th consecutive budget.

Despite approving 7 straight balanced budgets, the BoG oversaw 7 straight spending deficits (except the 2012-13 restated surplus).

8/?

2017-18: accumulated deficit of $35M. BoG approves Sustainability Plan 2.0. It's not clear what the plan entails as it's not publicly available. But negotiations with the faculty union break down, leading to a 10-day strike. The $ saved leads to LU's first surplus in years. 9/?

In 2017, the faculty union asked LU Admin to invoke financial exigency clauses, which would lead to reduction of LU's expenses and probably job losses. The. Union. Asked. For. This. 10/?

It's important to recognize that the union asked to invoke financial exigency 4 years ago. Some claim that the exigency clauses require spending too much and are impossible for cash-strapped institutions to implement. Was LU cash-strapped 4 years ago? Not as much now. 11/?

Makes you wonder where a collegial restructuring over past 4 years might've looked like. Sigh.

2019-21: more deficits, exacerbated by the pandemic + tuition cuts.

Oct - Dec 2020: LU Admin hires E+Y, who reveal LU's insolvency to BoG, who hold secret emergency meetings. 12/?

Feb 2021: BoG officially initiates the CCAA process, setting unprecedented timelines for LU's restructuring.

Feb- April 2021: confidential "negotiations" lead to the dismantling of LU without apparent regard to its mandate, Northern ON context, or plans for future success. 13/?

Some claim that the CCAA was unavoidable as the financial exigency clauses are too expensive and time-consuming to invoke. Such claims overlook earlier opportunities for the BoG to have acted. Could another solution have been found in April 2020? Probably. 14/?

Could an alternative solution have been found in 2017? Certainly. In 2012? For sure.

The key justification for the CCAA process is that there was no time to do anything else. This justification is false. 15/?

There was time to address LU's underlying problems and to avert this crisis. But that time was squandered. Who knows why? Who's accountable for that squandering? These are key questions, and LU community, Sudbury, and Northern ON deserve answers to them. 16/?

But what we know right now is that those staff and faculty who have lost their jobs are paying a heavy price for that squandered time.

And those who squandered those opportunities have largely escaped attention.

/end

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