![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/10245398_753954364628952_5967856279497176112_n.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI want to go into the diploma years,\u201d says Kaehn about her jazz studies, \u201cbut I might not be able to if this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jazz program at Camosun is the only one on the island, one of many reasons why music students are upset about the possibility of the program either undergoing changes or being cut entirely.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother friend in classical, she wants to do music therapy,\u201d says Kaehn. \u201cThis is the only place on the island where you can get help for how to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camosun College vice president of communications Joan Yates says that the college is in the middle of budget development and is in the consultation phase with a number of proposals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a few options that were put on the table,\u201d says Yates. \u201cThey\u2019re not about cuts at all, they\u2019re about making programs more viable. The partnership with the conservatory was one of the things that was put on the table. No final decision has been made. At this stage we\u2019re working quite hard with staff and faculty at the conservatory to see what can be done to mitigate that initial proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
That initial proposal was to cut $200,000 from the conservatory\u2019s budget, says Yates, but she says she doesn\u2019t know what that would impact.\u00a0Camosun is dealing with budget cuts from the Ministry of Advanced Education and in an attempt to cut $1.3 million from their budget are also considering cuts in the areas of computer technology and early childhood development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know, and I say that honestly because we\u2019re still working it through. I\u2019m not being vague. It may well be mitigated. It may be fewer faculty, it may be fewer courses offered, it may be a different process to register than what we do right now. It may be that the program is no longer viable. That\u2019d be the worst-case scenario, and we\u2019re hoping very hard that we\u2019re not going to see that scenario. So it\u2019s a whole spectrum of things that we\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yates adds that the college is working very hard not to eliminate programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how very, very hard it is to regroup and get them back once they\u2019re gone,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019ll recall a few years ago with ACP [Camosun\u2019s now-defunct Applied Communications Program], we\u2019re now looking at a different model of decision-making in respect to programming.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, students can expect to hear more on this situation once the Camosun board\u2019s finance committee makes a recommendation to Camosun\u2019s board of governors. That meeting will happen in May, says Yates.<\/p>\n