u of r students' union moves to defund women's centre, ur pride
"in my mind, this reads very much like a gendered attack. i don't know how else to take this otherwise," said jill arnott from the women's centre.
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jill arnott, executive director of the university of regina women's centre, stands for a portrait on tuesday, dec. 10, 2024 in regina.
kayle neis
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regina leader-post
executive director jill arnott says she was “blindsided” by a recent move from the university of regina students’ union (ursu) to defund the women’s centre and two other non-profit entities on campus. arnott said she only learned after the fact that ursu’s board passed three motions in september to hold a referendum on whether to continue collecting fees from students for the women’s centre as well as ur pride centre for sexuality and gender diversity, and the regina chapter of engineering without borders.
all three are independent non-profit entities, meaning they do not take governance direction from either the university or the students’ union but do receive funding via student fees collected and dispensed by ursu.
arnott said she has “no idea why” ursu chose to single out the women’s centre, noting that the students’ union did not offer any explanation before or after the motion took place this fall.
“given the number of women that utilize this place, i think it’s a really bad look for the student union to want to remove a safe place from so many,” said arnott, calling it a “targeted” attempt to shutter the women’s centre, which is fully funded by student fees and risks closure if that money evaporates.
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“you have to wonder why a centre that is independent and autonomous would have such a target on its back when it’s well-utilized, provides all kinds of services, bursaries and scholarships. in my mind, this reads very much like a gendered attack. i don’t know how else to take this otherwise.”
the motions originally proposed a referendum during ursu’s recent byelection on nov. 14. if the defunding vote passed, the students’ union would have ceased collecting fees as of the 2025 winter semester.
however, the referendums have not yet happened.
an email from ursu board chair tayef ahmed to the leader-post on monday said the board is “pausing” the other three referendums to allow the centres “some additional time to be in compliance with the service agreement” each holds with ursu.
no alternate timeline was offered.
“the board will assess the situation within a reasonable time frame in future and make decisions on the next steps,” wrote ahmed, who directed any further questions on the matter to ursu’s president, mahad ahmad.
ahmad did not respond to requests for an interview.
according to ursu’s minutes from the sept. 13 meeting, the original motions cited ur pride and engineering without borders as having been in non-compliance, but not the women’s centre.
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arnott said the centre has not been contacted by the students’ union with any compliance concerns, nor has it been operating in non-compliance at any time during her 16-year tenure as executive director.
“that has never been an issue,” she said.
an email in september from ursu’s general manager, aoun muhammad, did request a detailed budget, list of services and roster of directors as “outstanding obligations.” arnott disputes that suggestion, saying it is not a requirement under the women’s centre’s service agreement.
full-time students currently pay $6 per year in fees that go to the women’s centre while part-time students contribute $3 per year. arnott said the centre has not requested a fee increase since 2008 or faced an attempt to pull funding since 1992.
per the centre’s constitution, if dissolved, all assets would be held by ursu in a trust until “a new women’s centre or other successor non-profit corporation or like organization is formed by the female students.”
on a more human level, arnott fears that closing the centre after 56 years would be “devastating” to the student body it serves.
“for a lot of women on this campus, it’s the only place they feel safe. being from a variety of cultures, ethnic or religious backgrounds, they may not be comfortable in the main busy areas of the university so they come here,” said arnott.
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“i know what this place has meant to the women — and the men, frankly — who’ve come through its doors. i know how detrimental it would be to not have this centre, and it is extremely troubling that someone would come after it in this way.”
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