Langara Faculty Association calls for action after saying over 200 faculty have lost work
LFA plans to attend Board of Governors meeting and says college suffering a more significant decline than administration has admitted
By SAGE SMITH
The Langara Faculty Association shared some “grim” news with its members this week, saying that over 200 faculty members had lost work because of declining international student enrolment, and they expect more to come.
In an interview LFA president Pauline Greaves said the loss of so many jobs has left many remaining faculty members worried about their futures as well.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen in the summer this year,” Greaves said, “and we don’t know what’s going to happen in spring next year.”
On Monday, Greaves sent an email to faculty members outlining what she sees as significant job losses. She said the calculation was made by comparing faculty dues paid between September 2023 to September 2024, a decline of 165 members, as well as 22 faculty who received notice last month and 15 who have taken early retirement.
“Most of the work lost is by our temporary faculty, many of whom have worked at Langara for years and received no notice or severance for their loss of work.” Greaves wrote.
More faculty layoffs on the horizon
Asked about additional layoffs she fears may be coming, Greaves highlighted the number of administrative staff the college has.
“They have over 170 administrators, from managers to presidents. Are any of them going to get laid off?” Greaves asked.
“Are they going to be hiring more people when they’re cutting off faculty? That’s what I want to know,” she said.
The college was hit especially hard by a drop in enrolment due to international student caps brought on by a change in federal government policy. Langara has a high proportion of international students compared to other B.C. post-secondary institutions. Langara president Paula Burns told faculty in an email that the college was facing a dramatic drop of almost 79 per cent in international student applications for the 2025 spring semester.
LFA “call to action” asks faculty to attend board meeting
Greaves’ email called on its members to “show up en masse” to tomorrow’s Board of Governors meeting “to be visible as the people who produce the education at the centre of this institution.” The meeting will be at Langara at 4:30 p.m. in room B141.
Greaves wrote that the board “is responsible for the strategic direction of the college” and that receiving faculty input is crucial in maintaining educational quality “in the face of declining enrolments and pressures for change.”
Faculty who have received layoff notices plan to attend
Wei Xia is the assistant chair for the Chinese section of the department of modern languages, and she said she is feeling the negative impacts of receiving a layoff notice in February. She said it caused emotional issues, financial worries and she has taken sleeping pills to cope with the stress.
Despite this, she says she is trying to stay positive and will be attending the board meeting tomorrow. She hopes the board will talk about what plan they have, other than faculty reductions, to mitigate the effects of the drop in enrolment.
Xia said that until receiving Greaves’ email, she had no idea how many faculty had been laid off. She said faculty have never received an exact number from the administration and they have to rely on word of mouth to understand what is happening.
She said Kwantlen Polytechnic University has been very transparent with their job loss process and hopes Langara can do the same.
Adam Brayford, Langara spokesperson, did not respond to multiple requests to comment by deadline.
Editors note: The feature image was updated on March 20, 2025