Brescia's students and faculty 'blindsided' by decision to merge with Western University

A decision to merge Canada's oldest and only women's college with Western University is being met with anger and disappointment by the Brescia community who say the integration was not done with consultation and is misguided.  

Andrew Chater, president of the Brescia University College Faculty Association, said he found out about the merger 15 minutes before it was publicly announced on Thursday. 

"We were shocked and blindsided by the news," he said. "We were not aware that this was a possibility or something that was in the works, so it really did come out of nowhere and we think that decisions such as these need to be made in consultation with the community."

Last week, the presidents of Western and Brescia announced the merger, ending 104-years of teaching women, in favour of focusing on prep courses for international and domestic students. 

Brescia was founded in 1919 by the Catholic Ursuline Sisters to increase the number of women in post-secondary school. Now that women make up the majority of post-secondary students, Brescia's president Lauretta Frederking said it was time to focus on underrepresented groups. 

The merger, which will take effect in May and will still allow current students to complete their Brescia degrees, came as a surprise to first-year students, Alex Wild and Emma McBean. The women said they feel betrayed not knowing this information before they accepted their offers to the school.

"They brought us here giving us all these hopes and dreams that the next four years are going to be great, and to hear none of that is true, is devastating and the timing feels kind of disrespectful to us students," said Wild. 

The administration has said students will take their courses on Western's main campus, once the merger begins, and programs for those students will not change. 

"We feel safer on a campus with majority women in a close, tight-knit community and we're kind of losing all that with the merge with Western," said McBean about the 1,200 student campus. 

Chater said full-time and contract faculty have been assured they'll get positions at Western, and his team will spend the coming weeks to ensure those employees get fair and equitable offers. 

Brescia has a preliminary year for students before they start university. It served both males and females and students from diverse backgrounds, which was a strength that could've been built upon instead of this outcome, said Chater.

"I feel really bad for the students who've decided to go Brescia for it being a women's college. It was a unique educational opportunity for young women to learn and that's lost now," he said.

Students have started a social media campaign and say they are planning a protest at Brescia on Wednesday, which is expected to be attended by alumni and faculty members.