Restructuring overlooks important environmental legacy: critics – by Hugh Kruzel (Sudbury Star – April 30, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Laurentian is cutting environmental science, environmental studies, ecology and restoration biology programs as it works to balance its books

Sudbury has garnered a reputation around the world as a community that knows how to recover an environment degraded by mining and smelting operations. Most of that know-how was developed by Laurentian University researchers — expertise that will be lost as the university restructures, critics warn.

Laurentian is cutting environmental science, environmental studies, ecology and restoration biology programs – among many others – as part of a process to balance its books.

The university is insolvent, can’t pay its bills and has filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act as it restructures. So far, it has cut almost 200 jobs and 69 programs. Many, however, say cuts are a severe blow to the reputation of Sudbury as a leader in landscape revitalization.

“All you have to do is to look out your window and see the impact of Laurentian on the landscape,” said Franco Mariotti, formerly of Science North, a past employee of Laurentian and a graduate of Laurentian’s Biology program. “When the city became green it didn’t just affect how people, outsiders, looked at us but how we looked at ourselves. (It’s) 42 years of change. It is a beautiful place.

“The very thing that helped change this community into what we are today is what they cut.” Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, director of the Centre for Evolutionary Ecology and Ethical Conservation, wonders why Laurentian’s environmental and ecology programs were targets.

For the rest of this article: https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/restructuring-overlooks-important-environmental-legacy-critics