U of W governance concerns cited

Twelve days after a University of Winnipeg board member resigned in protest over governance concerns at the cash-strapped campus, his ex-colleagues approved a balanced budget that rests on continued austerity measures.

The board of regents — a group of appointees who are alumni, administrators and public representatives, among others, and in charge of policy making at U of W — approved a $175.5-million budget on June 24.

Domestic tuition is increasing by 3.5 per cent overall. International student rates are up seven per cent.

The new blueprint starts to phase out “low rate” tuition labels for some courses that have not traditionally required extensive marking or equipment costs.

Former regent Cory Sul stepped down before those decisions were made. Sul submitted his resignation letter on June 13 to board chair Bruce Miller and Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable.

“Manitobans rightfully expect transparency, accountability, and proper governance of their public institutions,” he wrote in a statement to the Free Press on Wednesday.

Sul, a practising dentist, was appointed to the volunteer position by the provincial government in 2019.

Citing his role as a representative of public interest on the board, he said he took “the responsible step” of notifying the province about his personal concerns.

“Serious concerns about governance at the University of Winnipeg have been repeatedly raised by multiple individuals and groups over the past couple of years,” he noted.

The university’s faculty association penned an unusual letter to regents in July 2023 to express concern about an exodus of senior employees in a short timeframe and the subsequent loss of institutional knowledge.

Senior administration faced criticism in 2024-25 for failing to consult community members before cutting its women’s soccer team, discontinuing its English language program and introducing a new campus access policy.

More recently, an employee at the U of W submitted a whistleblower report to the Manitoba ombudsman in April that called for a probe into institutional transparency and leadership decision-making.

Sul refused to share his resignation letter, saying it was intended only for Miller and Cable.

Miller declined to discuss the matter. He deferred comment to Caleb Zimmerman, executive director of communications at the post-secondary institute.

“Since the board of regents is an independent governing body, any further comment or discussion regarding its membership would rest with the board itself,” Zimmerman said in an email Wednesday.

Multiple current regents told the Free Press in separate interviews they’ve been hearing increasingly from community members who are frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency related to decision-making.

Two board members confirmed the group was not informed prior to senior administration announcing in January that it was scrapping soccer and the English language program.

President Todd Mondor has defended his leadership style, which he describes as transparent and collaborative, citing numerous town halls organized during his tenure.

Mondor hosted his latest such event on June 25 to share details about the 2025-26 budget.

During the event, he debriefed community members about the persistent financial challenges, which he has repeatedly attributed to a drop in international enrolment and what he maintains is an unfair provincial funding formula.

Attendees also learned about an eleventh-hour injection of $2.5 million in funding from the province.

A government spokesperson said the two parties have been working closely “to understand student needs.”

The province has set aside extra funding this year to support them, the spokesperson said.

Provincial operating funding is increasing by five per cent in total, the equivalent of about $4 million, as per the U of W’s budget news release.

Faculty association president Peter Miller said his members were initially informed that U of W had to find $13.7 million in cost savings in the 2025-26 budget to get out of the red.

His top concerns? The fallout of increased vacancy management and the teaching assistant budget being frozen at last year’s levels, despite the fact these employees recently negotiated higher salaries through their union.

“Effectively, we have fewer TA hours, so I’m hopeful that the $2.5 million goes right to the front line, the core mission of the university — i.e., let’s support instructors and then let’s hire contract staff when we need them,” the professor of classics said.

Zimmerman declined to share the U of W budget slide-show presentation Wednesday because the current version has yet to be updated to reflect the last-minute funding announcement from the province.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca