Nunavut Arctic College to discuss policy in wake of Inuit Studies program cancellation
The Nunavut Arctic College board will discuss its course cancellation policy at its next board meeting in March, after coming under fire for the last-minute cancellation of its Inuit Studies program which left some students stranded.
"The board decided a few days ago that this will be discussed at their next face to face at the end of March," said Joe Adla Kunuk, president of Nunavut Arctic College. "So it is on the agenda for further discussion as to how we will deal with future situations where a program has two students or less."
Kunuk said he was following policy when he and vice-president Eric Corneau made the decision to cancel the Inuit Studies program. Kunuk said it has been the college's longstanding practice to discontinue programs with two students or less.
The students were away on holidays at the time. They returned to the Iqaluit campus to find their course cancelled, their student funding cut off and they were given one week to get out of student housing.
Six students were affected — four on probation, and two who were passing the course.
Part of the reason the college cuts off programs with two students or less, Kunuk said, is that when classes are that small things such as classroom discussions are impossible.
He said there were no financial concerns about running a program with only two students and the program's instructors will continue to work at the college.
"One of the instructors transferred to the interpreter translator program," Kunuk said. "Plus, the board just approved a few months ago, the expansion of the Inuit studies program for future years, so two staff members that are affected will work on expanding the curriculum."
Corneau told CBC previously that the decision was made at the end of December.
"But the registrar and the management, including myself at this point, we did not provide [termination] letters to the students before they came back from the communities."
The college board issued a statement Tuesday apologizing to the students and promising that students will be notified in a more timely way about future course cancellations.
The college said Inuit Studies will be offered again in the fall. The two-year diploma course covers traditional aspects of language and culture and how these relate to contemporary Inuit issues. Graduates are expected to be fluent in oral and written Inuktitut, including syllabics keyboard skills.
