Beginning in fall 2025, students keen to major in Indigenous studies, Jewish studies or gender and women’s studies will need to choose a school other than York University.
Under financial strain, the Toronto university is temporarily suspending new fall 2025 admissions to these and 15 other programs that have shown low enrollment, according to spokesperson Yanni Dagonas.
The change will mean that beginning this fall, no additional students will be able to major in these degree programs, which also include German, Spanish and religious studies.
Dagonas said the temporary suspension will help the university achieve financial sustainability in light of “unexpected policy directions at the provincial and federal levels affecting higher education.”
In 2024, the federal government significantly reduced the number of international students allowed to study in Canada, hurting higher educational institutions that had grown reliant on foreign students' tuition fees.
Last winter, the provincial government announced $1.3 billion in new money for provincial post-secondary institutions, but many groups have argued such funding is insufficient in the face of ongoing under-funding of the sector and a years-long tuition freeze for in-province students.
What will happen to these programs?
Students currently enrolled in the 18 targeted programs will be able to continue their majors and courses will still be offered within these departments.
However, with no new majors allowed, York University Faculty Association president Ellie Perkins said those programs will be at considerable risk in the future.
“It doesn’t bode well for those programs, because next year at this time they’re going to say, ‘Oh well, I guess we have to close it down now, because we don’t have enough students,’” she said.
“It’s really tragic.”
Perkins said faulty members are “up in arms” about the “slash and burn” approach taken by their employer and said the faculty association will file a grievance about the suspensions.
Frances J. Latchford, chair of the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies said the university is making the wrong choice.
“At a time when transphobic, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, Islamophobic, racist, homophobic, and misogynistic violence and hate are on the rise, the School and its programs are more vital than ever,” she said, in an emailed statement.
“Now is the time to increase, not decrease, support to its programs.”
Will suspensions lead to cancelled programs?
Perkins said the suspensions will particularly impact students who have focused their studies on equity-seeking groups, such as students majoring in Indigenous, Spanish or gender studies.
She said it was upsetting that for decades, York has marketed itself as the top institution for students focused on equity, but is now “shaft[ing]” those students and faculty members.
Dagonas did not respond directly to this allegation.
However, in a December memo to faculty about forthcoming potential program suspensions, York’s interim provost said program suspension is a temporary measure and “does not necessarily lead to program closure.”
The university will continue to offer more than 200 “exciting and excellent” degree options for students, Dagonas said in an emailed statement.
He added that the suspension of the 18 programs will provide the university with the chance to “learn more about what students are seeking and allow time to re-design our offerings.”
Auditor’s report prompts change
Dagonas said the change is also part of several actions undertaken by the institution in response to a value-for-money assessment of the university by the Auditor General of Ontario, which found many of the university’s undergraduate programs have low enrollment.
In 2023, 50 of the university’s 135 programs had 50 or fewer students enrolled, according to the auditor general’s report. Out of those 50 programs, 31 had 20 or fewer students enrolled.
In his December memo to staff, the interim provost said programs deemed financially unsustainable might face an enrollment suspension in 2025.
Perkins acknowledged universities are facing financial difficulties, but said she wished York had brought the concern to faculty to discuss how to move forward collaboratively.
Instead, she said it was a decree from the top.
Perkins added that suspending programs based on the number of students that have enrolled in them as their major is a poor choice, as many students choose to take courses or minor in the programs where enrollment has now been paused.
According to the faculty association, the university has said enrollment to the following programs will be paused for fall 2025:
- Classics
- Classical Studies
- East Asian Studies
- Hellenic Studies
- Indigenous Studies
- Jewish Studies
- Religious Studies
- Gender and Women’s Studies
- Sexuality Studies
- German Studies
- Italian Studies
- Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies
- Spanish Studies
- Environmental Biology
- Biomedical Physics
- Leadership and Community Engagement (Master’s program)
TorontoToday asked York University to provide the full list of programs with suspended enrollment, but did not hear back by publication time.
