Future of Kemptville, Alfred Campuses Unknown

Mar 11, 2014

University of Guelph Rumoured to close its Kemptville, Alfred Agricultural Campuses

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Rumours have been circulating that the University of Guelph could be closing down its Kemptville and Alfred agricultural campuses located in Eastern Ontario. The University of Guelph is expected to make an announcement Wednesday morning in Guelph, Ontario.

Kemptville was established in 1917 and is one of the province’s oldest agricultural colleges. Alfred, is the only Francophone agricultural post-secondary institution in Ontario.

Several PC MPPs raised concern about the potential closures on Twitter, including Steve Clark MPP for Leeds-Grenville. “I’ve been hearing rumblings [about a potential closure] since last week,” he said.

“It would just be devastating to the agriculture community if both campuses were closed,” explained Clark. ““I hope that these reports that we are hearing are wrong, but we’ve been hearing them pretty consistently throughout Eastern Ontario.”

Clark adds that he is aware that the university has budgetary challenges, but says the last thing the province needs is a closure of two agricultural campuses. He says that his constituency office has received several calls on the matter, including a Kemptville graduate who said his 1978 class had just had their reunion and were looking forward to the 100th anniversary in 2017.

The college has had several investments over the last couple of years including expansion of its robotic milking facility. “We need to expand and support what’s been taking place in these satellite campuses, not closing them for budgetary purposes,” explained Clark.

Clark says he plans to speak with the University of Guelph’s president Alastair Summerlee ahead of the scheduled announcement at 10:00am tomorrow morning. “I hope that my conversation with the president has some positive results,” he said.

The University of Guelph could not be reached for comment.

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