The academic staff union at Mount Saint Vincent University has filed a grievance challenging MSVU’s decision to suspend enrolment in two academic programs.

The decision, said Kenneth Dewar, president of the Mount Saint Vincent University Faculty Association, has effectively shut down the programs without any regard for constituted mechanisms for academic governance.

“Our members are quite willing to have an informed discussion about programs, how to define sus­tainability and the need for more appropriate recruitment efforts, but we do not want decisions about programs to be made unilaterally by the administration,” Dewar said.

Faculty, students and staff first learned of the enrolment suspensions in the information technology program and the family studies and gerontology undergraduate program in an email received earlier this year from university president Kathryn Laurin.

Dewar said the news came as a surprise since the university senate was still awaiting the results of an external review of the family studies and gerontology program and had rejected a recommendation to nix the information technology program offerings.

The union filed a grievance claim­ing the administration’s actions vio­late the Mount Saint Vincent Uni­ver­sity Act and are at odds with the faculty contract that esta­blishes conditions governing program re­dundancy.

“We have constituted procedures in place for these decisions and the university ought to act in accordance with those provisions,” Dewar said of the grievance. “The senate is res­ponsible for all academic matters, so the administration should not be circumventing the senate.”

Furthermore, it’s an important is­sue for the association as it also arises amid growing concern about declining enrolment at several institutions in the Atlantic region, he said.

MSVU’s most recent strategic plan commits the university to “fo­­cusing efforts and resources on high quality, distinctive and sustainable undergraduate and graduate programs that are attractive to students.”

“We hope this isn’t just about reducing the number of programs for the sake of efficiency,” Dewar said.