Thread by @ErinStevensonSG

I’m angry. And profoundly disappointed with Advanced Education Minister @demetriosnAB and his handling of the @AthabascaU situation. Why? Let me lay this out for you. #AthabascaU

First, why am I tweeting about this when I’m a City Councillor for Spruce Grove? Well, my ‘day job’ is as the Marketing Manager for Athabasca University, a job I’ve held since November of 2013. I was elected to my first term as Councillor for SG in 2017 and again in 2021.

Most councillors in Alberta are part-time, because of the size and scope of our positions, including budgets for most town and cities. So nearly all councillors and even mayors and reeves have other jobs unless they’re retired (which is very common).

I grew up in Spruce Grove, moved away like so many of do growing up in a small town or city (I left when it was about 15,000 people) and came back in June, 2023 after living in a condo in Edmonton for a decade.

I commuted to work for 7.5 years in to Edmonton. Depending on my work, I’d head up to Athabasca once a month or every couple of months to meet with staff and connect with other members of the Advancement team. That commute is 1.5 hours and can be no joke in the winter!

I’ve never worked out of the Athabasca main campus, though it’s very nice, I enjoyed visiting and really looked forward to our annual convocation ceremony we’d have up there each June. And while I like the town, I wouldn’t live there. It’s just not a fit for me, just like

Spruce Grove wouldn’t be a fit for many people. The last thing I’d want is anyone to be forced to live in my city because they were told to to keep their job. Imagine what that would do for morale and culture in the city! No thanks

Athabasca residents aren’t asking for 65% of the staff (roughly 500 of us) to move up to Athabasca. Even our Athabasca based staff think this is absolutely bananas! And just like me, they don’t want us if we don’t want to be there. Do you blame them?

Minister @demetriosnAB, how do you propose moving 500 staff, their spouses and children to Athabasca when logistically, this is an impossible task. Have you considered:

There are not 500 houses to move us into. A town of less than 3,000 and it has (according to the 2016 census) just 1,313 private dwellings. So you’re somehow thinking they can build 50% more housing in two years to accommodate us? The number of houses for sell is around 50…

Staff, spouses and kids— bringing in at least 1,500 new residents into the town. Can the schools handle the influx of new students? Doctors? Dentists? Other services we require? Oh wait…..

We’re talking about a town that doesn’t even have a McDonalds! And it just got a Boston Pizza a few years ago. Like let’s be real here. It’s a rural town with rural services and opportunities. We can’t expect to have the “they are here, the services will come” scenario.

And let’s talk about how patriarchal it is to believe that 500 staff can just up and move their families to a town of less than 3,000 people. Remember— the whole point of this supposed relocation is to have Athabascans working at the uni. But are they?

You’re just conveniently moving us there. But I digress. It’s patriarchal to believe that most households have two working partners. So now you’re expecting the partner of every AU staff to also move to a small town and find work. Um…..where? Where are they going to work?

Can the university hire them? Often there’s clauses in uni contracts to hire spouses when executive team members are hired. But again, is this not defeating the purpose of hiring local? So you’re now asking people who are partnered to AU staff to give up their career and path

So their partner can continue to work at AU. This isn’t like a many office transfers where you’re moving to a large city where job opportunities are much more abundant and in your field.

And kids! Not every kid can just be expected to be okay with a move to Athabasca. What about their friends, their connections, their activities? This ain’t your 1950’s nuclear family where what dad wants, family does.

Minister @demetriosnAB, you need to rethink this whole plan. It’s coming off as petty and pandering to the rural voter to keep your UCP MLA in the running for re-election in 2023. Anything else is disingenuous and wrong.

Here some more facts that need to be considered about #athabascau - over 60% of our students are not from Alberta. That means we do not receive government funding for those students. The government only provides funding for Alberta students. Hence why out-of-province students

Pay more- they have an additional fee structure to make up for the lack of government funding. You changed our focus to be on Alberta students. This will effectively bankrupt the university as MOST of our funding comes from out-of-province tuition.

#AthababascaU receives the LEAST amount of government funding of all the publicly funded universities, and especially the 4 CARI (research based) unis. There is little support for AU as it is from the government, and now you’re threatening what little we get? Really?

You had and still have an opportunity to make this right. We are the largest online university in Canada, and we’re right here in Alberta. We are proud to support 40,000 students coast to coast to coast and internationally. Whether I work from my home office shouldn’t matter.

I do my job and I do it well. And balance my duties as councillor in the city I CHOOSE to live in. Do we want Athabasca based staff? Absolutely! No one is arguing that. But it has to be reasonable, fair and realistic. And we have to be consulted (we haven’t been). #Athabasca

Making us move to Athabasca and work at campus (by the way, those building CANNOT handle an influx of 500 staff, not even close) does nothing for our mandate and most importantly, for the students we serve. Don’t forget the students. Athabasca University does not exist to

Keep a small town alive when they need to seriously ask what they’ve done to keep their economic growth going as well as how they support the university. It is not as much as people may think. But that’s for another thread. Stop the nonsense @demetriosnAB and work with us!