U of W talk of possible financial crisis alarms faculty

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This article was published 31/03/2025 (216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Early discussions at the University of Winnipeg about “financial exigency” — a crisis that, if declared, could lead to tenured academic layoffs — are causing further unease on the cash-strapped campus.

University president Todd Mondor made note of a clause in the faculty association contract that can be invoked during an emergency when he spoke to senate members about budgetary pressures March 27.

Article 37 defines financial exigency as U of W either having a recent record of hefty deficits or projections to be in the red for at least two years in a row.

The situation must “place the solvency of the university as a whole in serious jeopardy,” per the contract.

“It’s looking for alternatives to saying ‘we’re broke, we can’t meet our payroll, we can’t meet our financial commitments’ — like any kind of bankruptcy, it’s about solutions,” said Peter McInnis, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

If U of W’s Board of Regents were to move on the matter, it would have to hand over all financial records to the union and the parties would strike a commission to assess whether there is a legitimate crisis and how to proceed. There is a detailed process for issuing related layoffs.

One faculty member called Mondor’s mere mention of the clause “a bombshell,” likening the fallout of financial exigency to “the academic Hunger Games.”

“(Administrators) are getting their ducks lined up and now that Mondor has gone public with mentioning it, that’s serious cause for alarm,” they said.

The academic, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution at work, said the university is trying to make the case for a government bailout.

Asked about the school’s financial situation in recent weeks, Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable has reiterated that its operating grant grew 22.6 per cent from 2022-23 to 2024-25.

The Manitoba government’s spring budget includes $1.56 million more in base funding, a two per cent increase, for next year.

U of W administration said it will “be challenged” to maintain existing programs and services in a public statement that cited inflationary pressures, growing labour costs and a drop in international student enrolment.

Since the start of the school year, the post-secondary institute has announced a number of cost-cutting measures, ranging from a hiring freeze to suspending its women’s soccer team.

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Mondor has indicated U of W’s 2025-26 deficit could range between $4 to $18 million.

“The president indicated that there was no plan to, or interest in, declaring exigency — that this would be a last resort,” university spokesman Caleb Zimmerman said in an email Friday in reference to Mondor’s comments to senate one day earlier.

Faculty association president Peter Miller said his message to members is that the language in Article 37 is “very strong” and requires proof of a sustained financial crisis, which he believes to be far off, and transparent response.

“This is not on the immediate horizon, although we take it very seriously,” Miller said, adding that U of W leadership has not directly broached the topic with the union.

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Given a growing number of Canadian universities are in precarious situations, McInnis said he is not surprised that exigency is a threat on the campus in downtown Winnipeg.

Academics can at least be assured that related clauses have built-in checks and balances and establish an orderly restructuring process, unlike what happened at Laurentian University in 2021, he noted.

The school in Sudbury, Ont., used bankruptcy laws to cut professors and reduce payouts instead of declaring exigency and working with its faculty association.

Ottawa has since passed legislation to bar universities from being able to follow suit.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.