Significant budget cuts to Trent’s Cultural Studies staffing allocation will cause the loss of LTA and CUPE positions. Consequently, the Cultural Studies Department will be compelled to allocate the remaining sessional positions to those who teach larger lecture courses.  Highly specialized CUPE staff, who are trained as both artist-practitioners and academics, are to be let go; this means the elimination of arts-oriented courses from the curriculum in particular, and the destabilization of the curriculum in general.

For current and future Cultural Studies students, the elimination of these courses means that many will not have the opportunity to receive specific designations on their degrees (for example: “a Specialization in Image, Sound and Performance”); and many more will lose “Emphasis in Theatre Studies” as a teachable. Since these arts oriented workshop courses are among the few at Trent based both in theory and practice, they are some of the most popular in the department, and have demonstrated a high rate of retention. Their elimination will be detrimental to the recruitment and enrolment of Cultural Studies students.   

The rash decision to cut the budget for staffing allocation does not hurt Cultural Studies students alone. Trent is an institution that boasts interdisciplinary scholarship; students who choose a Trent education are very conscious of the range of courses and electives available to them that can offer both theory and practice. It is precisely the students who do not plan to become arts professionals who most appreciate how courses in the creative arts can expand their professional imagination in their chosen career fields. The elimination of these courses (and, subsequently, their contributions to the vibrant and unique arts scene at Trent) will impede overall enrolment and retention for the institution.      

Trent’s past commitment to arts course programming has made a long-standing, direct, and greatly appreciated contribution to the greater Peterborough community. Many students who take arts courses at Trent go on to become a part of the rich, varied, and innovative arts scene in Peterborough and surrounding communities.  Arts courses give our community a tangible reason to be grateful to Trent, economically as well as culturally, as the arts are significant money generators for Peterborough. The termination of these workshop courses will have negative implications for the Peterborough Arts scene and the community as a whole.

But these negative changes can easily be avoided. These courses can be saved. If you believe that the arts should continue to flourish at Trent and in the Peterborough community, please, sign this petition addressed to President Franklin and Provost Boire.