SASKATOON – In his first state of the university address, University of Saskatchewan (U of S) president Peter Stoicheff focused on sustainability, reconciliation with indigenous people and possibly re-opening one campus.
In 2012, the U of S closed the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, projecting to save the university an estimated $500,000 in operating costs over three years.
“We need to figure out what a vision for that campus is and then we need to develop a site plan with architects and with planners and that will be expensive,” Stoicheff told reporters after his address Friday.
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The 22-acre campus north of Prince Albert connected students with nature and offered arts programming.
Cultural and environmental sustainability should also be among the university’s priorities, he said. The president announced one-time funding for student-led sustainability efforts on campus.
“I haven’t determined how much funding is there. There’s going to be enough there to satisfy the needs of all the great projects that students say they want to work on,” Stoicheff.
The president also committed to further “indigenizing” the university, adding 15 or 16 of the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission could be applicable to the U of S. He also promised to add a vice provost position targeting indigenous engagement.
“We have to be a leader in that respect,” he said.
All of Stoicheff’s ambitions will be at the mercy of the upcoming provincial budget.