Saskatchewan Polytechnic students protest cuts to athletics

It was a playful and peaceful protest at Saskatchewan Polytechnic on Thursday after the school recently announced it was cutting athletics programs across the province.

According to Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the school is making changes to its fitness service model, and moving toward what it called a “wellness strategy.”

READ MORE: Saskatchewan Polytechnic drops athletics in favour of ‘wellness approach’

As part of the changes, the school’s sports teams including intramural teams have been shut down, seven staff members were laid off, and fitness facilities on all campuses, except Regina, have also been closed.

“I was in the fitness centre that morning and I was told to get my workout in because the doors would probably be shut within the hour,” Jessica Morrow, a nursing student and basketball player said. “When I went back the next day everything was locked, and I had already seen them start changing locks to the offices of the employees that were getting let go.”

On Thursday, students gathered in front of the main campus in Saskatoon to protest. Students dropped in to play basketball, volleyball, spikeball, hacky-sack, and toss the football and frisbee around while gathering support from other students and staff on-campus.

“We all feel that athletics and recreation is super important to us, but not only the sport itself, but the community and the support that it provides,” Morrow said. “As well as the seven employees that were let go; they were a resource for us, a huge support system for us.”

The students say they were in disbelief when the programs were cut, and that there wasn’t much dialogue between the student body prior to the changes. Saskatchewan Polytechnic admits they could’ve done better.

“Our efforts to communicate these changes fell short, leading to confusion among our students, faculty, staff and other close stakeholders,” the school said in a release.

The post-secondary institution said athletics are vital for student success, and that they will be shifting their approach and resources to promote student wellness on all four campuses across the province. The school said the future wellness plan will include access to fitness facilities, support for intramural programs and will focus on mental health.

“In the weeks ahead, we will review our stakeholder consultation and communication processes and initiate discussions with our students on next steps,” the school said in a statement. “Their success is the focus of our new wellness model and everything we do.”

“It’s a good start, we’re happy that we’re getting out there and they’re noticing us,” Morrow said. “I think that our main goal here is to re-implement exactly what we had going on with campus recreation; I think it was a fantastic program, I think it was student driven and I think with Sask Polytech’s support behind us, it can be an even better program.”