Thompson Rivers University’s senate came to a consensus after initially refusing to provide advice to the university’s board of governors as the deadline looms for a final decision on significant cuts proposed for fine arts programs.

Senators previously stated they wouldn’t provide advice to the board of governors until being provided both a written notice of intent to proceed with the program closures and a written request for advice on each identified program from the university’s board of governors.

In December, the board put the ball back in senate’s court when they responded by saying they’d move ahead with a final decision on the proposed cuts at the end of January, with or without senate’s advice.

Senators ultimately came to a decision Monday to provide the board with a report from the university’s Academic Planning and Priorities Committee, written submissions from eight stakeholders senate heard in September and a submission from the arts faculty council.

Senators clashed during the meeting, with some suggesting they’d like to see a completed program review before providing their advice while others stressed they were running out of time to include their voice at all.

“I think not giving them advice would really take our voice away. We’re here as senators just to provide information so that they make a decision based on their policy,” said Sen. Gregory Anderson.

Sen. Craig Jones was joined at the meeting by Visual Arts student and Indigenous artist Shoshana Wilson, claiming 25 to 30 per cent of the program’s students are Indigenous and their voices have been left out of the decision-making process.

“Can any of us say that we would not benefit from a program review that would speak to students, particularly Indigenous students who have not had a voice in this process whatsoever,” Jones said.

In September, TRU’s senate heard presentations from affected parties including community members, students and faculty. They spoke largely in favour of keeping the BFA program.

Programs at the university must undergo a review every seven years, a process that hasn’t been implemented since 2011 in the visual arts program and was partially completed in 2018 before being halted due to advice from the university’s office of quality assurance.

Gillian Balfour, TRU provost and vice-president academic, said program reviews are initiated by the faculty. Jones responded by saying the program review policy states scheduling of reviews is carried out by the office of the provost.

Balfour countered by beginning to say the dean of the program to be reviewed co-ordinates with the school’s faculty council, before Jones cut her off, saying the dean of arts, Richard McCutcheon, wants to axe visual arts programs.

“I think everyone can see what’s going on,” Jones said.

Jones has previously raised concerns the university may not be following policy in the proposed elimination of its Visual Arts program.

Deliberation continued as Jones and TRU lawyer Scott Blackford disagreed over interpretations of the program elimination policy.

Blackford claimed previous precedent illustrated the board of governors isn’t required to wait for senate’s advice before making a final decision on the program cuts, with which Jones disagreed.

Student senator Anel Jazybayeva questioned where resources would be allocated from visual arts programs if they were to be cut.

McCutcheon said a strategic plan put forward by the faculty identify Indigenous studies, counselling psychology, criminology and communication design as areas of interest. When Sen. David Carter questioned McCutcheon, asking if the strategic plan had been ratified by the arts faculty council, McCutcheon refused to answer.

“I feel that I am in a position that is not safe. Quite frankly, there’s been innuendo in this meeting and unfortunately it gives me some pause,” McCutcheon said.

“I think that we have heard sufficient and so I’m not willing to be sitting here and have individual members questioning me. I’m sorry, but enough is enough.”

A motion that would have advised the board to not cut the fine arts programs and to initiate a program review was defeated.

The board of governors said they would make a final decision on the proposed cuts at an extraordinary meeting before the end of January. No date has been set for that meeting.