Students at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design are urging their school’s governors to keep the school independent.
The college’s students’ union presented more than 250 signed postcards at a board of governors meeting on Thursday.
According to union vice-president Elise Graham, the students are asking the administration to lobby the province for more funding, a reduction in tuition fees, and an increase in grants available to students.
The province’s Memorandum of Understanding with universities expires next March.
Upcoming negotiations will be conducted in light of Tim O’Neill’s report on universities, which recommends NSCAD consider merging with Dalhousie University and cut programming to reduce costs.
But Graham says that’s not acceptable.
“If we were to amalgamate with another university, fine arts would … not necessarily be a priority for the people making decisions about funding and curriculum,” she said.
“Fine arts programs are more expensive to run per student, so we believe that a lot of fine arts programming would get cut.”
