EDITORIAL – TRU decision to axe visual arts programs fails the community
(Image: Mel Rothenburger.)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE, education and the arts are about money.
That truth has been confirmed with the decision yesterday (Monday, Jan. 29, 2024) by the Thompson Rivers University board of governors to kill four visual arts programs.
It wasn’t a surprise, but it’s more than disappointing. Two visual arts bachelor programs, a diploma program and a certificate program will be gone.
The possibility has been known since last April, though after the initial shock TRU assured everyone the final decision wouldn’t be made until consultation with its community.
I somehow doubt there was a groundswell of support on campus for axing the programs but board Chair Marilyn McLean didn’t try to sugar coat it — it’s about money.
Dollars from visual arts will go elsewhere. She says the programs coming under the guillotine haven’t suffered declining enrolment; they’ve always had low enrolment. In other words, for all these years, TRU has been willing to support them anyway (so it must have seen their value) but not anymore.
The programs have nurtured a lot of talent. “Visual arts” encompass a wide variety of artistic expression ranging from painting and sculpture to photography and ceramics.
The termination of the visual arts programs will be a loss to students, the local arts community and the community as a whole. Kamloops is Canada’s Tournament Capital but it aspires to be Canada’s Tournament and Arts Capital.
The discussion of whether or not to build a new performing arts centre is part of that aspiration. TRU says it intends to keep its theatre major and music program but how can we claim a commitment to the arts when our beloved university doesn’t seem to share it?
Humans need more than knowing how to punch a time clock 9 to 5. They require time to smell the roses, to contemplate, to relax and enjoy, to nurture their creativity.
With this pragmatic decision — this decision about “public dollars” — TRU has failed us in that reality.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
It’s disappointing but these are the times we live in when governments put pressure on universities to cut costs. Enrolment in the BFA may have been low, but it is low in other majors as well. The university brings in its revenue from the large classes in majors such as business or computer science. Typically, teaching the large first year classes and service courses makes up for the smaller classes in the upper year courses. The rationale for making cuts based on budget issues doesn’t add up for me. As far as I know, TRU has never been in the red. On the contrary, it has enjoyed very healthy surpluses, even during the pandemic.
I’m not entirely sure this is just about money. There is a space crunch at TRU. They are probably eyeing the large studio spaces and thinking about converting them to classrooms, offices, or labs.
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I don’t agree with the sensationalist headline that TRU (somehow) failed the community because it axed the visual arts program.
Given that this supposedly so important program has been plagued by chronic low enrolment for years it is clear the “community” generally doesn’t seem to care about fostering and supporting creativity and nurturing “talent”.
Kamloops is about big pick-ups, coffee breaks and crass fun.
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Pragmatic is defined as “dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations”. With limited resources and “perpetually low enrollment” the university made the decision to invest elsewhere, if it’s in high demand areas, such as counselling for example, has the university really failed us, after all TRU can’t be all things to all people.
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