Langara Faculty Association says work reduction notices sent by college are unclear and ‘chaotic’

By SAGE SMITH

After two weeks of protest by the Langara Faculty Association in the face of expected layoffs, Langara employees received the news that 22 faculty members had received work reduction notices for the fall 2025 term.

On Feb. 13, Langara president Paula Burns sent an email announcing these work reduction notices, adding that employment “may continue if there is temporary work for which they are eligible in their department.” 

According to LFA president Paulina Greaves, the work reductions will result in layoffs, but the number of people affected remains unclear. She said the process has been confusing for staff. “Now we have to go back and ask their HR partner, ‘Can you explain this to me?’” she said. “It makes the thing really cumbersome and chaotic because they haven’t worked through all of those issues yet.”

In her Feb. 13 email, Burns also wrote that many temporary faculty members received fewer hours or in some cases no work in the spring 2025 semester, and 12 Continuing Studies staff members received reduction notices in late January 2025. 

“This is no doubt difficult for the people affected. We are grateful for their contributions,” the email said.  

Burns added that due to federal international student policy changes, this spring semester saw 1,400 fewer students on campus compared to this time last year. 

Langara particularly vulnerable to caps: LFA 

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 many other similar 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. 

The LFA held two weeks of protests, from Feb. 4 to 14, in response to these expected layoffs. 

Niall Christie, an LFA board member and department chair of history, Latin and political science, said the college’s reliance on international students’ tuition for funding has made it vulnerable to the caps. International students pay approximately six times more for tuition than domestic students. 

He said faculty jobs could be saved if the administration is willing to reduce class sizes and promote the college to attract more students. He said that the administration is going for a “quick and not well thought through approach, which is simply to cut faculty jobs without actually considering the human impact.” 

Christie said the college has demonstrated “an extraordinary lack of leadership.”

In a Feb. 26 email statement, college spokesperson Adam Brayford said that the college has done their best to share as much information as possible with instructors. Brayford said last summer and fall there were a series of town halls to raise awareness of enrolment declines and possible impacts, messages were sent with the same subject matter, deans met with impacted faculty and mitigation strategies have been communicated. 

Employees express fear and concern 

Another college employee, who asked to remain unnamed due to fear of job loss, said that staff and faculty have also received push-back from the administration, and some are afraid to speak out.

“Department members have faced warnings,” they said. “Even just saying we don’t want to cut a class has faced reprisals.” 

This article was originally published on Feb. 12. It has been updated with new information.