'Lifeblood of this campus': University non-profits face uncertainty following students' union proposal

Executive Director of the Women’s Centre Jill Arnott said URSU's proposal to defund the Women's Centre "tone deaf." (Donovan Maess / CTV News)

The future of three non-profit organizations at the University of Regina (U of R) is uncertain following a proposal by the students’ union (URSU).

URSU’s board passed three motions in a meeting on Sept. 13 to hold a referendum on whether it should continue collecting fees from students to support The Women’s Centre, the UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, and the Regina chapter of Engineering Without Borders

Executive Director of the Women’s Centre Jill Arnott is calling the proposal a “targeted attack.”

“It's tone deaf,” she told CTV News Friday. “People come to the places they come to because that's where they're comfortable.”

All three entities are non-profit organizations – which are not overseen by either the university or the students’ union – but do receive funding from student fees collected by URSU.

According to the Women’s Centre, which has operated for 56 years, and UR Pride, which was formed in 2010, less than $12 per student per semester goes to their organizations.

Arnott says her organization provides a supportive and gender inclusive environment dedicated to the education of all students regarding women’s’ issues.

“I actually can't imagine the impact for the students who utilize this space that are not comfortable in other spaces,” she said. “That's why they come here.”

“These service centers have existed for decades for a reason,” said UR Pride Vice-chair Style Stenberg. “They are inherent to the DNA and the lifeblood of this campus.”

UR Pride has been in the spotlight for the past year, as the organization led the legal charge, along with Egale Canada, against Saskatchewan’s pronoun policy, and later the Parents’ Bill of Rights.

The legal battle between the provincial government and UR Pride remains ongoing.

“Our reach is not just University of Regina campus,” Stenberg said. “It’s also Regina and all of southern Saskatchewan.”

The Regina chapter of Engineers Without Borders was active on social media as of April 2024. The national organization seeks to create systemic change through community-driven collaboration by mobilizing the engineering community.

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When attempting to reach the chapter, CTV News learned it is currently inactive.

Each organization operates under a compliance agreement with the student’s union which includes holding fair elections, conducting annual meetings and completing yearly audits.

URSU claims the proposed referendum stems from the three organizations not complying with their respective agreements.

Concerning the Women’s Centre, URSU claims that students have frequently complained about the lack of service and have asked why the union is not taking their complaints seriously.

In a response to CTV News, URSU stated that the Women’s Centre has been perpetually closed for the past several years and is not fulfilling its obligations to provide services.

“We already are covering for most of the services that [the Women’s’ Centre] was supposed to be providing,” the statement read. “All concerned students have to come to URSU when they find [the Women’s’ Centre’s] door closed for eternity, and that's quite a frequent occurrence in the last four years.”

The centre’s board of directors have been unchanged since 2022, according to URSU. The union also claims that the centre does not have a president, only an executive director and has no record of the last time the organization has held an election, general meeting or similar activities.

The non-profits have openly criticized URSU’s decision to potentially defund them.

“We wanted to have a way to support students and help them be able to continue their education,” Arnott said. “[URSU] doesn’t know [their] demographic very well if [they're] suggesting this is not important.”

“This is a time for the student body here at the U of R to really come together and not be divided around this,” Stenberg said. “This isn't an issue of he said she said. This is an issue of unity.”

However, URSU maintains its decisions are purely due to the organizations not providing the services they agreed to.

“It is noteworthy that these non-compliant service centers only became active when asked to provide deliverables and address compliance issues,” URSU said in a statement.

“We are disappointed that some individuals have resorted to name-calling and making baseless claims of a gender-targeted attack. There is no truth to these accusations. The issue is that these service centers are not providing the services they were intended to.”

In response to the conflict, U of R administration recognized the importance of the non-profits.

“These agencies fully reflect and engage our values of equity, diversity, and inclusion,” the university said in a statement. “Our community is strengthened by their presence and services they offer on our campus.”

“While URSU’s operations are independent from the University, their proposed actions will directly and negatively impact members of our community,” the statement added.

URSU has not decided when its proposed referendum will take place.