Pandemic hastens loss of music at Providence

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This article was published 14/05/2020 (2354 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PROVIDENCE University College has cancelled its music program — a highly regarded part of its history and an important part of its constituency relations efforts — owing to the pandemic.

“It was a big decision,” said provost and vice-president academic Cameron McKenzie, who graduated from the program in 1984.

“Music has been a significant theme in the Providence story over the years. So it brings a particularly personal disappointment to be having to make this decision.”

McKenzie said discussions about the future of the music program had been occurring for some time.

“The music program had been fighting an uphill battle for enrolment for a number of years,” he said, noting it had dropped to just three majors last year from a peak of 10 to 15 majors.

Although the review of the program was not complete, “the urgency created by the current public health crisis made it necessary to make decisions without the full benefit of finishing those strategic conversations and processes,” McKenzie said.

The Otterburne-based school anticipates as much as a 20 per cent drop in revenue owing to the pandemic.

“Like all other universities and colleges across the country, we have had to engage in the process of planning for the future in a way that accounts for several different enrolment and operational scenarios,” said McKenzie. “This has led the way to our decision to wind up our degree program in music.”

The closing will result in the loss of one full-time position and one part-time position, along with a number of sessional instructors.

McKenzie knows its loss will be lamented. This was evidenced on social media, where former students and others voiced their disappointment.

“This is tragic for all southern Manitoba,” said one person.

“I’m stunned by the decision. What a loss,” said another.

The closing is doubly difficult for David Sawatzky, who formerly directed the school’s music program. Sawatzky, 46, had been at Providence since 2013 teaching, leading choirs and organizing choir tours.

“It’s a devastating loss,” he said, noting he can’t imagine how a Christian university college that serves the church can exist without a music program.

He acknowledged the enrolment challenges of the program, but said “I’m not sure this was the inevitable outcome… I’m heartbroken at the loss.”

Justin Cooper, executive director of Christian Higher Education Canada, an umbrella group for 35 Christian universities, colleges and seminaries, isn’t surprised by Providence’s decision. The pandemic, he said, “speeds up the inevitable,” when schools have weak enrolments.

So far, none of CHEC’s other schools has announced program closures, he said.

None of the three other Christian colleges and universities in Manitoba — Canadian Mennonite University, Booth University College of Steinbach Bible College — is considering closing programs.

Both CMU and SBC will decide this month if it is safe for gap-year programs, in which students travel across Canada, the U.S. and to Central America, to go ahead in fall.

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