Laurentian University to spend millions on consultant recommendations, but nothing to reopen Olympic pool

Laurentian University's board of governors has approved a budget of just over $201.7 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year with $8million being set aside to enact recommendations to bring the university up to modern operating standards following its insolvency.

The university declared insolvency in February 2021; the first public post-secondary institution to choose federal legislation meant to restructure commercial enterprises in financial crisis.

As a result of restructuring, 69 undergraduate and graduate programs and 195 faculty positions were cut at Laurentian

The moneyset aside to respond to 52 recommendations from the provincial auditor general and Nous Group consultants will be segregated and not part of the operating budget, and includes money for information technology upgrades.

Vice-president of finance and administration, Sylvie Lafontaine says the money will be closely tracked on a monthly basis.

The board has decided to hire a lead transformation officer and create an office to make the changes internally.

One senate representative who was not present at the meeting expressed concern about the amount set aside for the transformation over the next five years.

A statement from Dan Scott was read into the record.

"While I acknowledge we need to extend and overhaul these systems, board members must recognize this is a major opportunity cost for increasing the quality and quantity of the programs we offer," wrote Scott.

He also worried that the money set aside to enact the consultant's recommendations would detract from hiring new faculty and curtail ability to do research

President Lynn Wells told the board the money is a crucial investment

"We need to see this work as not only required by the government but critical to our future," she told the board at its monthly meeting.

"And by going through this transformation, by modernizing our processes, we will be much better positioned to invest in our academic programs, to hire more faculty, to support more research, to support our students better."

Pool's future remains unclear

The university will spend $8.5 million on deferred maintenance but the fate of the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic pool remains unclear.

The pool was closed in the spring of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the university's insolvency, leaks were discovered.

The pool has never reopened.

There is no money in the deferred maintenance budget to fix the pool but $300 thousand has been set aside to assess it.

Lafontaine said the university was looking atthe minimum cost to reopen it but that there is no timeline for that to happen.

She noted the university is part of the city's review of aquatic facilities and is in discussions on where operating the pool may fit into that scheme.

A final report is to be tabled in the fall.

Wells said there is no hope that Laurentian would operate the pool independently because it simply cannot afford it.

"We need to work with our community partners," she said. "We need to find solutions that will bring funds to reopen the pool as quickly as possible through other means, rather than committing our operating dollars, or our quite scarce, in fact, deferred maintenance dollars."

Some tuition fees to rise

The university is still constrained by a province-wide domestic tuition freeze set to last another three years.

However, there are three exceptions for domestic students in programs where the tuition was lower than other similar programs at other universities.

The province is allowing Laurentian to increase tuition for students entering the undergraduate computer sciences program by 3 per cent, and those entering the undergraduate engineering program and graduate architecture program by 7.75 per cent.

Tuition for out-of-province students and international students will increase by 5 per cent.

Overall, Laurentian is budgeting for a slim $540,000surplus.