Staffing shortages are causing weeks-long access backlogs to these facilities
With students unable to access program lab space, the halls of Concordia’s EV Building have gone quiet. Photo Esteban Cuevas
It was the design labs that first drew Siobhan Kuzak to Concordia University.
The first-year design student toured the facilities on visits, which she said the school heavily promoted. Kuzak pointed to them as a primary reason for her commitment to Concordia’s design program.
“When I was doing research into the program, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m excited to use these,’” she said. “People have different strengths and like what they like, but one of my things is being hands-on.”
Once Kuzak arrived on campus, however, it was a different story. A shortage of lab technicians led to a lack of lab space, with second- and third-year students given priority for the available appointments. When Kuzak attempted to find a space to work on her project, it was nearly impossible to find an opening, she said.
“If you wait to book it, it ends up being like two, three weeks later,” Kuzak said. “So it’s definitely affected—some people weren’t even able to get an appointment, so they ended up trying to do it on their own time. And obviously the outcome is less refined.”
Kuzak isn’t alone. Concordia’s design labs, such as the Core Technical Centre (CTC), offer Design and Computation Arts students the chance to work with metal, wood, 3D printing and other necessary tools for in-class projects and assignments. But a shortage of qualified workers and a lack of transparency in Concordia’s resolution of the issue have led to a department-wide issue that students and professors say threatens the program’s viability and function.
The program’s problems begin with a shortage of lab technicians, according to Pippin Barr, the chair of Concordia’s Department of Design and Computation Arts. For students to access the facilities to work, a technician must be present to supervise and observe. But a lack of technicians with the credentials to operate the labs means the labs are often empty rather than occupied.
“The technicians certainly don’t have full-time hours,” Barr said. “So they’re not always there.”
Erwin Regler, a part-time design professor, teaches the course DART 292—Bio-Inspiration in the Design of Objects. He explained that when Concordia lost several of its technicians, it was students attempting—and failing—to reserve lab spaces who found out.
“We found out that they have one technician who is on maternity leave and another one in the metal shop who had an eye operation and is not recovering as expected,” Regler said. “That’s a bit of a grievance for me, actually, because this made it substantially more difficult to manage the class.”
Barr explained that he believes Concordia’s structural deficit has impacted the ability to keep the labs fully staffed, with the university facing a projected $84 million deficit for the current academic year.
“One thing that certainly happened across the university is that the operating budgets of departments are smaller,” Barr said. “Traditionally, that’s where we would take the money to pay the technicians out of if they’re casual staff.”
Barr added that the university has successfully promoted technicians to higher positions, allowing them to take on extra hours at higher wages. But according to others, it hasn’t solved the long-running issues that have plagued students throughout the year.
“They just know that they have had to compromise on the quality of their project for unexplained reasons.”
— Zo Kopyna, club representative of the Design Arts Student Alliance (DASA)
Zo Kopyna is an undergraduate student in the design program and the club representative of the Design Arts Student Alliance (DASA). As part of an attempted resolution to the problem facing design students, DASA partnered with the Computation Arts Student Society (CASS) to release a petition asking for feedback from students who had faced problems with the labs.
Kopyna described some of the responses as “heartbreaking,” adding that some students were forced to choose between an inconvenient lab slot and their jobs. They said that the lack of available appointments often led to a decrease in the variety and quality of students’ work.
“For example, the woodshop has a lot of specialized equipment. A lot of this is not available in home studios or labs,” Kopyna said. “So it completely restricts certain methods of creation, which we think is fundamentally opposed to what we are supposed to be doing in these degrees.”
But it’s not just students who experience the consequences of limited lab space. With classes unable to complete projects on time, instructors have had to adjust their schedules and deadlines to accommodate the restrictions.
Regler explained that while he could adjust his courses’ content to work around the constraints, it required prior notice from the university, which he claimed Concordia did not provide.
“Classes that need the workshops, we have to submit the course outline earlier, and then this will be reviewed,” Regler said. “And if the shop cannot accommodate that, we would normally hear from them, and then we could adjust the course content. […] But we did not hear from them.”
Regler added that he and other professors learned of the labs’ issues through students, not the university. He expressed his frustration with the university’s lack of transparency and communication, which he said contributed to the issue.
Transparency remains a key grievance from students and administrators alike.
Kopyna described the communication between the university and the department as a “game of broken Telephone,” noting that an email from the university to design professors announcing increased lab hours turned out to be incorrect. They lamented students’ loss of opportunity without a warning.
“The average student that can’t get access to a lab for a class and has to submit a project four weeks late because they only just got an appointment, they aren’t aware of the intricacies of hiring policy or integration or wages,” Kopyna said. “They just know that they have had to compromise on the quality of their project for unexplained reasons.”
And this effect on average students may shape the program’s future. With the lack of student support, some believe it could affect enrollment.
“All these technicians are feeling it, and it’s affecting everyone’s education, which is really frustrating, especially with the amount of money that we’re putting in.”
— Quentin Meilhon, fifth-year design student
Quentin Meilhon, a fifth-year design student, used the lab extensively in his first two years at Concordia but said he’s barely set foot in it this year.
He said he was drawn to Concordia’s niche in design and conceptual art, an uncommon feature among design programs at other Montreal universities. He expressed his disappointment at the deterioration of quality.
“All of these smaller departments are feeling that pressure and are feeling that change,” Meilhon said. “And I think it’s not flourishing as much as it could. It’s dissuading people from applying.”
Meilhon said that, most importantly, he doesn’t want the blame to fall on the lab technicians. He added that he has had conversations with technicians, who expressed being understaffed compared to the number of students who want to use the space.
“I think budget cuts are really affecting design, really affecting all of the fine arts majors, really affecting print and all of these labs,” Meilhon said. “All these technicians are feeling it, and it’s affecting everyone’s education, which is really frustrating, especially with the amount of money that we’re putting in.”
Kopyna echoed the sentiment, underscoring that both students and technicians suffered from the Concordia administration’s bureaucratic decisions.
“We feel that this is, again, an issue of the people who are on the ground doing this labour and the people who are recipients of this work,” Kopyna said. “In the case of a lab technician and a student, their experiences feel unheard.”
In a statement to The Link, Concordia University spokesperson Julie Fortier wrote that the university has implemented no measures to limit student access to lab spaces.
“As for the CTC, it was affected by an exceptional staffing situation earlier this semester where three lab employees were on leave simultaneously and unexpectedly, and there were challenges in replacing them,” Fortier said. “A backlog has resulted, especially since the CTC labs are open to all students at the Faculty of Fine Arts, and the CTC has been implementing solutions to resolve it.”
But even with the university working to resolve the issue, Regler said he still fears for the knowledge of his first-year students. Speaking for his DART 292 class, he discussed how a lack of experience could affect further study.
“Even though this is the first year, many of them will do something that will be in their portfolio. And with the circumstances, we have to simplify things, and they will be rougher,” Regler said. “I don’t think they are suited for that.”
As DASA’s petition grows to 110 signatures, Kopyna said they have faith in what a mobilized student body can accomplish. They added that they are calling on their fellow students to stand with DASA and CASS, appealing to other Concordia student groups at risk of falling to the same cuts.
“There needs to be a more sustained voice by students in talking about these things because we want to make a statement that these cuts are unacceptable,” Kopyna said. “We want to see better, and we want the university to collaborate with us in creating that better future.”
With files from Geneviève Sylvestre.
Samuel Kayll is The Link’s Vol. 46 sports editor. His love for Korean barbecue is surpassed only by his love for the San Antonio Spurs.
