Modern languages department takes hit amid Langara’s financial woes

By MARC GUIDO BOLEN 

Langara College is cutting all Chinese classes from the department of modern languages, beginning fall 2025.  

The cuts come amidst what the college called “a five percent cut across the board” in response to a budget shortfall. 

Wei Xia, the assistant chair of the modern languages department, said a total of 35 sections will no longer be available by spring 2026, resulting in layoffs. Out of the seven faculty members impacted in the humanities division, six of them are from her department, including four complete layoffs and two partial layoffs, she said.

In B.C., temporary or partial layoff means that an employee is given less work or no work with an expectation of returning. A complete layoff means a termination of employment. 

Huimin Lin, a Chinese language instructor at Langara, said that her students were very upset when she told them the news.   

“They said Chinese is such [an] important, marketable skill for them to find a job in the future. It’s not just a three-credit course,” Lin said.  

Both Lin and Xia have received layoff notices that will take effect in the upcoming fall semester.  

“I think our departments are very much targeted,” Lin added. 

At a town hall meeting late last month, Langara College announced it is expecting back-to-back budget deficits as a result of declining international student enrolment. 

The college is anticipating a $1.5 to $2 million deficit for the current fiscal year and $13 million in the next.  

Other departments are being impacted by the shortfall. Niall Christie, the department chair of history, Latin and political science, said his department is also having to make cuts, including two sections in history and one section in political science.  

“[Deans] are looking at enrolments, looking at the number of sections, and deciding how many sections they need to reduce in their respective faculties,” he said.  

According to Christie, summer enrolment numbers will be the next indicator for which classes will be cut. 

Michael Koke, Langara’s vice-president of administration and finance, said in last month’s town hall that the executive leadership team is planning a five per cent cut “across the board” and a 25 per cent cut to travel and team engagement in their respective departments. 

In B.C., post-secondary institutions are not permitted to run budget deficits, but the college is working with the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills to get approval for Langara’s current budget. 

Yusuf Varachia, vice-president of external relations and community engagement, said in an interview at the town hall meeting that the federal government’s international student cap is having a profound impact on the college. 

“Everyone in this room — our faculty, our staff, the executive team, everyone — [is] working with government, with each other, with community, to try to solve some of these concerns,” Varachia said. 

Ivan Kuba, a former Langara student who took up Chinese language course, started a “Stop Chinese Exclusion at Langara College” petition that he hopes will encourage the school to reverse their decision to cut Chinese language courses. As of March 9, it had gathered over 600 signatures.