{"id":8372,"date":"2013-12-13T12:57:10","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T20:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=8372"},"modified":"2014-02-04T14:21:53","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T22:21:53","slug":"federal-esl-funding-cuts-have-camosun-college-shocked-disappointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/12\/13\/federal-esl-funding-cuts-have-camosun-college-shocked-disappointed\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal ESL funding cuts have Camosun College shocked, disappointed"},"content":{"rendered":"

[In a previous version of this story, we mistakenly said that Camosun’s entire ESL program looks to be on the chopping block, where in fact it is the ESL funding for domestic students which is in jeopardy.]<\/p>\n

Camosun College\u2019s entire<\/del> English as a Second Language (ESL) program<\/del>\u00a0funding for domestic students looks to be on the chopping block as of April due to a recent $2.5 million dollar budget cut. The announcement, which came down from the federal government in early December, was a shock to the college, according to Joan Yates, Camosun\u2019s vice-president communications.<\/p>\n

Yates says the college knew that changes were afoot, but had no idea the cuts would be of this magnitude, predicting the cost of running the ESL program at $1.3 million.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The future of Camosun’s ESL programs are in jeopardy after recent federal funding cuts (photo by Camosun College\/AV Services).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe mood within college administration has gone from shock to incredible disappointment,\u201d says Yates. \u201cESL programs are a fundamental for Camosun College. We put incredible importance in helping ESL students get into the economy and the job market, and this really hit us in the solar plexuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the announcement, the college has met with every level of its community, from senior admins to ESL students themselves, and has been working hard imploring to government the seriousness of the funding cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we heard the news we\u2019ve been going flat out, trying to look at what we need to do, including actively advocating and make everyone at the government level understand what this decision means,\u201d says Yates.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, college staff and students have been assured that ESL programs will continue to run through the winter semester. Currently, it\u2019s unclear what will happen to the programs and its students after April, but \u201cno more ESL funding means we have to extrapolate, no more ESL,\u201d says Yates.<\/p>\n

Camosun faculty and staff were informed of the cuts on December 5 via an \u201curgent communication\u201d from college president Kathryn Laurin. In the statement, Laurin asked the college community to \u201cplease extend patience to your colleagues who are most directly impacted and know that we are all reeling from this announcement.\u201d Laurin asked anyone with questions or concerns to direct them to vice-president academic John Boraas.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Camosun\u2019s union reps at CUPE Local 2081 say the negative message the federal government is sending with ESL cuts is two-fold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message it sends is disturbing,\u201d says union president Jerry Oetting. \u201cTo deny domestic ESL training to our resident immigrants is an appalling move considering this province was built on the backs of immigrant labour. I believe this government intends to move to a model where this training is provided by private schools. While they claim it\u2019s a financial decision, it\u2019s really about offloading the work onto the private sector so their pals in big business can make a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Camosun College Student Society is planning outreach work during January to create more awareness around the issue, says external executive Simka Marshall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis funding slash targets an already marginalized group who deserve quality ESL training that equips them to go on to postsecondary education or to enter the workforce,\u201d says Marshall. \u201cESL is important, as a majority of our domestic ESL students go right into other college programming. It\u2019s also crucial for new Canadians and immigrants as it\u2019s a way to get them comfortable in a college setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oetting says the effects of the ESL cuts will be far-reaching, including a reduction in student services as a result of any job loss for support staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact on Camosun College will be felt in every school and in the end all students will suffer as programs and options are cut and the true overall financial cost to the institution becomes apparent,\u201d he says. \u201cUltimately, CUPE members\u2019 jobs will be lost\u2026 for every position cut, there is a direct impact on student services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yates says the college is spending most of December before the holidays consulting with different levels of the college community, including its board of directors, and will decide what to do next when they receive a transition plan from the government sometime in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have to say that when we met with the faculty most of their concerns were about issues pertaining to students, not of themselves,\u201d says Yates, \u201cwhich I found to be highly commendable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[In a previous version of this story, we mistakenly said that Camosun’s entire ESL program looks to be on the chopping block, where in fact it is the ESL funding for domestic students which is in jeopardy.] Camosun College\u2019s entire English as a Second Language (ESL) program\u00a0funding for domestic students looks to be on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8376,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions\/8376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}