Opinion
Arts & Culture
Sports
BFA acting students take on the Romantics 17
Do sponsorships spoil academics? 9
Rogers/NHL deal a game changer 24
gateway b ^ Y R " X a /
THE
G
N
=
November 27th, 2013
4
Issue No. 16
F
F
b
Volume 104
F
H
b
I
!
H
q
B
4
V
TH E O F F IC IA L STUDE NT NE WS PA P E R AT T H E U N I V ER S I T Y OF A LBERTA
}
]
0
Q
V
Y
Cuts Chip Away at Circumpolar Institute news staff @meksmith
B
udget cuts hit the University of Alberta’s northern research community last week with the announcement that the Canadian Circumpolar Institute, an interdisciplinary centre supporting arctic research, would no longer be funded. After more than 50 years on campus, the institute now faces an uncertain future as consultation begins to refocus its operations and find new sources of financial support. Students and faculty involved with CCI were informed about the situation in a letter from Vice-President (Research) Lorne Babiuk. In his statement, Babiuk said the cuts to CCI are a result of the eight per cent funding cut to the 2014–15 Research portfolio. A review of academic centres and institutes conducted by the Provost’s office also indentified a problem in the institute’s reliance on funding from the office of the VP (Research). Unlike other academic institutes on campus that have been established with endowments, CCI’s base funding comes from the university. As a result of the cuts, Circumpolar/Boreal Alberta Research (C/BAR) funding, which provides grants for graduate students doing research in the north, has been eliminated. Two administrative staff positions in the institute were also cut. But students and faculty involved in northern research have heavily criticized the decision, and many argue that the loss of CCI’s support will hurt the presence of arctic research at the U of A. The Circumpolar Students’ Association (CSA) has been collecting feedback from the northern research community in the wake of the cuts. CSA president Amy Colquhoun said students and faculty are confused about
what’s happening to CCI and feel they weren’t adequately consulted about the decision. “From my perspective, there are three main issues,” she said. “First, the lack of transparency or understanding about the process that’s taken place. Secondly, the outcome of the cuts, and how they might impact students and faculty who rely on the guidance and facilitation that’s offered through the institute. Third, the ideological message being sent about the value of northern and circumpolar research by cutting its funding.” Associate Vice-President (Research) Ingrid Johnston said the decision to eliminate funding for CCI was difficult, but the cuts were unavoidable. “(CCI) was very dependent on the base funding from the university. And the president and the provost had made a decision that institutes and centres should become selfsustaining after a number of years, and that hadn’t been happening with CCI, unfortunately,” she said. “It’s never easy when something like this is cut and people get upset. It’s unfortunate. The budget cuts weren’t our idea.” In the wake of the funding loss, the provost’s office has also requested a review of the institute. Johnston said the intent is to refocus CCI and make it more sustainable. The new visioning should be completed by the end of March. But Colquhoun is still concerned that the funding cuts could spell the end of the institute. “If you’re going to strip the staff and strip the funding to (CCI), then I don’t see what else you could call that but loss,” she said. Colquhoun and the CSA are also concerned about how the cuts could directly affect students. Doing field work in the north can be expensive, and the loss of the C/BAR grants means many graduate students will lose a resource to fund their research.
as tm is hr C D.I.Y.
GIFTS
Madeline Smith
Barry Robinson, a PhD candidate in Biological Sciences, received funding from C/BAR to study peregrine falcons in the arctic. He was able to afford the high costs of doing research in the arctic in part because of funding and support from CCI. “If it wasn’t for CCI, I would have a very hard time doing what I did for the last five years,” he said. “I spend three and a half months every year living up in the arctic doing my research. To get there, a plane ticket is $3,500. It’s one of the most expensive plane tickets you could probably buy. The vast majority of that money has always come from C/BAR.”
PLEASE SEE Circumpolar PAGE 5
=1@213#4$
O
5%6^7&8*9
(0)
ne of the most stressful parts of the holiday se ason is often the gift-giving, w hich seems to the common be factor among st holidays of all cultural an d religious de nominations. For students e specially, find ing heartfelt gifts at a reas onable price of ten proves to be more of a chore than an enjoyable experience.
?/>.<,Mm
PLEASE SEE D.I.Y.
PAGE 14
NnBbVvCcX
“I don’t know how to write a haiku, but here’s my try, Socks.”
xZzZ
#3page LF9