Rally for the future of Loyalist College draws big crowd

With chants of ‘our college, our future,’ a large number of faculty, support staff, students and union supporters rallied at Loyalist College Wednesday afternoon.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says recent cuts to faculty and alarming decisions by senior management, have cast doubt not just on the financial sustainability of Loyalist College, but also the availability of quality, local post-secondary opportunities.

Early this year, Loyalist announced it was suspending 30 per cent of its programs and cutting 20 per cent of staff at the end of course completions.

The school indicated that chronic underfunding by the province, along with the federal cap on international students were the major factors leading to the cuts.

With some additional staffing cuts added last month, it’s expected there will be an almost 50 per cent reduction in faculty.

Loyalist Faculty Union President Tracy Mackenzie addresses the crowd at a rally to protest program and staffing cuts, September 3, 2025. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)

Faculty union president Tracy Mackenzie says college officials have their priorities wrong, wasting money on expensive capital projects like the new front entrance, instead of investing in students.

“And finally, hold decision makers accountable for both financial and academic outcomes. This fight is about protecting education, protecting opportunity, and protecting our future. Together, we will make sure Loyalist College continues to serve the students and the community it was built for.”

OPSEU President JP Hornick fired up the crowd calling the college the beating heart of the region and that the programs being lost are what feed the local economy.

“You have an economy that is rooted right here locally, and every job that leaves, every spot for a student that leaves means one more spot where folks are forced to leave their homes, their hometowns and go to a larger city to try and seek the kind of education that you deserve right here.”

Hornick noted that the community college system was set up in 1967 to provide accessible, affordable post-secondary education in every community but called the mismanagement of Loyalist shameful.

Rally to protest program and staffing cuts at Loyalist College, September 3, 2025. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)

They also called out the provincial government for attacking small rural and northern colleges, suggesting it is working towards a privatized system.

“It is a scandal. It is about redirecting the resources that should be investments in students, investments in frontline support staff, investments in frontline faculites, and directing that into the friends of Ford’s pockets, into corporate interests, into private training centres, rather than the public system where they belong to make sure that every single student who is here today can be here tomorrow.”

Professors from recently suspended programs made emotional addresses the crowd.

Culinary Professor, Chef Karin Desveaux and Esthetics and Spa Management Professor Bridget Ferguson spoke about the successes of their programs over the years and how they’ve allowed local residents to get a quality education close to home and give local employers a solid talent pool to hire from.

Desveaux says it is heartbreaking that she is returning to work this week to teach the Culinary Program’s final cohort.

She says access to public post-secondary education is a vital component of rural economic development and that the impact of the cuts to the community will be devastating.

“Aspiring culinary students will now have to relocate to an urban centre for culinary education and for many families, this is simply not possible. It is my sincere hope that our provincial government steps up with the necessary funding and that Loyalist College finds a way to restore culinary and so many other critical programs.”

Ferguson says the esthetics program has been a staple at Loyalist for almost two decades.

“It’s running at full capacity, the majority of our learners were domestic and local. Many were single mothers, first generation, students attending post secondary education, whose parents never had that opportunity in our area.”

Both professors lamented that the college had made significant investments in their program facilities over the last few years only to cut the programs.

Rally to protest program and staffing cuts at Loyalist College, September 3, 2025. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)

Following the gathering on the lawn outside the college’s main entrance, Hornick led many of the demonstrators into the school and up the stairs to the hallway outside the office of President Mark Kirkpatrick.

Hornick encouraged the crowd to write and call every member of the Board of Governors and call on them to restore the cuts they’ve made.

OPSEU President JP Hornick addresses supporters at a rally at Loyalist College, September 3, 2025. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)

Meanwhile, Ontario’s public college support staff, including those at Loyalist College, could go on strike as soon as September 11 if no deal is reached.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has notified College Employer Council that full-time support staff at Ontario’s 24 public colleges will start strike action on that date if there’s no collective agreement.