This article was first published in The Sheaf, the print newspaper of The University of Saskatchewan. It was an article inside Volume 91, Issue 21.
The Honourable Glenn Hagel, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Skills Training, made a visit to university campus on January 5. He was in town for a Computer Science funding meeting to discuss problems in the department that student representative Aaron Boyko calls “a terrible crisis.”
Along with Hagel and Boyko, Tom Wishart, Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Science, Dick Neal, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science, Rich Bunt and Eric Neufeld, professors in the Department of Computer Science, and members of the Computer Science Students’ Society (CSSS) Executive met to discuss concerns made by students. Boyko pointed out that the meeting was organised by the students, with backup from professors in the college.
Topping the list of concerns the students had for the department were the issues of congested and non-functioning computer labs, insufficient faculty for those labs, and the general cost to students to use computers.
Rick Bunt, a professor of Computer Science, stressed that the department is a very strong one, being among the top five in Canada. Graduates of this field are also very high in demand. He went on to say that resources in the department are dropping, with more funding for the department being an obvious solution. Both Boyko and Bunt referred to the issue as being in a “crisis state,” with Bunt adding that there could be “serious consequences [in the department] if [these issues] are not addressed.”
While no total solutions were made at this meeting, Boyko said it was “quite productive,” and he enjoyed the opportunity for concerned Computer Science students to “touch base with the Provincial Government abou this crisis.”
Bunt agreed, affirming that the “problems appear to be understood” by the university and the Provincial Government.
However, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science, Dick Neal, said he disagrees on some points made by the CSSS. While he said he has “recognised their problems” in the Computer Science department, he does not believe increased funding is necessarily the answer. While commending the Computer Science students who managed to get the attention of Minister Hagel, Neal suggested that personnel changes in the department have also caused problems in the long run. Faculty members with great expertise have been lost, and increased funding will not correct problems made by this fact, said Neal. He does admit that if there were funds available to disperse at this time, the Computer Science department would be a likely recipient.
Minister Hagel furthered the notion that the meeting was very “comprehensive and forthright,” and agreed with both the CSSS and the College of Arts and Science that all problems the department is facing are real and need to be addressed.
“This has been acknowledged by students and the faculty, as well as by the province that this has been identified as an important and growing need,” he commented.
Hagel complimented the CSSS for “terrific organisation” of the meeting, and said that the issue would be carefully reviewed for more funding later in the year while the budget is being worked on. Hagel did point out that any increases in the department’s budget will be provided by the university, and the province can only allocate more funds to the University of Saskatchewan, but not departments therein. Providing that the needs of the department have truly been identified by the university, Hagel said he sees no problems in the allocation of funds to go toward more computer equipment and resources.
