By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
At their monthly meeting Oct. 24, Lennoxville’s Councillors universally deplored the recent provincial commitment to double tuition for out-of-province university students. Along with putting forward an official statement in support of Bishop’s University (BU) “to help counter the tuition hike”, the Councillors expressed their personal views on the subject. Two residents attended the proceedings, which were otherwise mostly uneventful, including, notably, BU Student Representative Council (SRC) Student Life VP Olivia Woods. The meeting began at 5 p.m.
Councillor Claude Charron read out the Council’s “recommendation”. BU has existed for over 180 years in Lennoxville, he began. Thirty per cent of the student body is made up of out-of-province students. Losing these students could have a “catastrophic” effect on the functioning of BU as a whole. Many local residents work directly or indirectly for BU, and their employment is now under threat in the medium or long term. Thus, the Council supports BU in their opposition to the tuition hike. The recommendation will be forwarded to Geneviève Hébert, MNA of the Saint-François region.
“I am usually an optimistic person,” Councillor Jennifer Garfat said, giving her personal views on the tuition hike, “but all I could think of is at least this bomb didn’t fall and destroy buildings.” This bomb does not do damage materially, but in another way, she continued. Garfat wore her BU Gaiters sweatshirt to the meeting, overtop of her McGill sweatshirt, of which she is a proud graduate.
University is about learning to keep learning, she said. Meeting people at McGill from all over the world and the rest of Canada was an important part of her experience there. Even if some who study in Quebec do not stay here, they become “ambassadors” for the province when they return home. She has sons who have either graduated from McGill, are there currently, or have graduated from BU.
While she acknowledges tuition could be reasonably raised by a few thousand dollars per year, doubling it sends the wrong message to prospective out-of-province students. “It tells them: we don’t want you here.” She addressed Quebec Premier François Legault, saying “open mindedness is a good thing”.
In response to friends and family that wonder why she does not move out of Quebec, she says “my family has been here for 200 years, why should I move?” She insisted day to day life for English Quebecers is good, especially in the Townships, and not the way it is presented in the media.
Councillor Guillaume Lirette-Gélinas, responding to BU Principal Sébastien Lebel-Grenier’s call for alumni testimonies, said the following:
BU provides a “modern” form of education revolving around small class sizes. This gives students a closer and more engaging relationship with their professors. He fondly remembers gathering with his classmates and teacher at the Golden Lion Pub, reviewing modern music “in between two chicken wings”.
BU provided “revision services” that allowed Lirette-Gélinas to complete his master’s in his second language, English. BU’s commitment to a Liberal Arts education gives its students the flexibility and open-mindedness to have an “advantageous problem-solving capacity”.
BU contributes to Lennoxville like no other institution. BU’s heritage buildings delight foreign visitors. He applauds Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin and other local politicians’ support for BU. “I am a proud Bishop’s alumni, and I still bleed purple.”
The powers of the Council for the Lennoxville Borough are subordinate to the provincial government, Charron noted. The only thing they can do about the situation is to influence public opinion via their resolution. Influencing the CAQ will be difficult, he went on, for they face very little opposition. There is talk of some form of backdoor “compensation” for BU to make up for the money lost, but that would just be a patch.
The CAQ’s reasoning for the tuition hikes is based on information from Montreal, which is not the same as the Townships, he explained. Bills 101 and 96 “chip at our languages issue”. These problems don’t exist in Lennoxville, he insisted, which has a bilingual community that has been living together “for ages”. “It is negative for our community,” he summed up.
Garfat congratulated Sherbrooke’s Société de Généalogie for releasing a booklet, in English, containing the biographies of local English military veterans. This year’s Remembrance Day ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 5 beside the Borough Office in Lennoxville. There will be a rally against the tuition hike at the Golden Lion Pub Nov. 4.
After the meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m., Woods thanked the Council on behalf of the BU SRC for “supporting [them] fully”. She hopes BU can persevere through this. She reminded the group that there will be a “mobilization” of Quebec’s three English universities in Montreal on Oct. 30.