Now that Laurentian University president Robert Haché is on his way out, a group working toward a French-language university in Sudbury is hoping his successor is more friendly toward their project.
Laurentian University announced on June 21 that it filed a plan of arrangement before the courts, as well as the “pending retirements” of two senior administrators, including Haché.
The Coalition nord-ontarienne pour une université de langue française (Northern Ontario Coalition for a French-Language University) hopes the university’s board of governors will take advantage of the pending retirement to “select a person who will agree to work with the Université de Sudbury as the only university institution in the Mid-North run by, for and with Francophones,” reads a press release from the coalition.
As part of the Plan of Arrangement materials filed with the Superior Court of Justice, Laurentian University announced the pending retirement of Robert Haché as President and Vice-Chancellor and Marie-Josée Berger as provost, to be effective prior to emergence from CCAA. An interim president and provost will be appointed, and the formal search process to identify a permanent president, in consultation with the Laurentian community, will be commenced.
“It is to be hoped that this new leadership will listen to the Francophone community, which has clearly expressed its support for an autonomous French-language university in Sudbury,” the release continues.
“Laurentian University must no longer hinder the development of the community after its sad decisions of April 12, 2021, when it scuttled 50 per cent of its French-language programs, laid off more than a hundred professors and disrupted the future of many Francophone students,” it reads. “Laurentian University must no longer oppose the collective development of the region’s Francophone community. It must transfer all French-language programs that it once offered or currently offers to the Université de Sudbury.”
Representing institutions, individuals, and organizations active in a variety of sectors in Greater Sudbury and Northern Ontario, the Coalition comes from the PlanifSudbury Francophone roundtable.
