Layoff notices have went out to three faculty members at the College of New Caledonia, including to one in Quesnel.
Chad Thompson, Vice President Academic at CNC, explains why.
“The reason for the layoffs is student numbers, which have been declining before the COVID pandemic came about, so these aren’t related to the pandemic at all.  But we see regularly at the college a shift in student interest, and we have to make adjustments accordingly.  Our Collective Agreement with the faculty requires us to serve layoff notices to take effect on July 31st no later than March 31st, so we are serving notices based on what we anticipate for the next 12 months.”
Thompson says there are now roughly 29 faculty members in Quesnel, with about half pf those part-time.
He says those impacted by the layoffs could be brought back.
“We immediately start working with our Faculty Association to assess whether other work is available for the impacted faculty and what that might be.  And then of course continuing to watch so that if we do see students numbers picking up in an area where we have been seeing declines, we would certainly look at the possibility of recalling that faculty from layoff.”
Thompson says CNC has seen an increase in full-time faculty positions over the past four years.
He says any layoff is always unfortunate and not something that they want to do, but he says they have to adjust staffing to changing student demands.