NSCAD supporters anxiously await report’s release
Posted Dec 12, 2011 05:53:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A report is expected to be released this week on the future of a historic fine arts university in Halifax.
The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, better known as nscad, is facing a $2.4 million budget shortfall and is $19 million in debt.
Former bureaucrat Howard Windsor was appointed by the province to look into NSCAD’s books and provide recommendations for its future.
His report, which is now in the hands of the provincial government, will outline the school’s viability.
Nicole Cooper, the student union’s vice president of external affairs, says she hopes the report does not recommend merging with another institutions.
“The characteristics of the university that make it so attractive are the ones that would be in jeopardy if we were to merge,” she said. “Things like having the administration make decisions for us on a small scale having to do with our classes, and the allocation of money is very important for how the school functions.”
Cooper says there’s no proof that merging would solve the school’s financial problems, pointing out that whatever institution accepts NSCAD also accepts its debt.
A separate report earlier this year identified NSCAD as one of six universities in the province deemed at risk because of financial difficulties, prompting students, faculty and alumni to launch a campaign calling on the Dexter government to keep the school autonomous.
