Nipissing hosts inaugural fundraising gala

This past spring, Nipissing University hosted its first-ever fundraising gala to help the student community.

The gala was the culmination of an eight-month fundraising campaign that raised more than $600,000 for the endowed Student Support Fund.

The event itself raised approximately $66,000 for the fund, which provides emergency financial support to help students cover expenses such as dealing with a family crisis or food or housing insecurity as the result of an emergency. President Kevin Wamsley created a task force to establish the fund in light of the increasingly harsh economic environment faced not only by students but also universities, who are struggling to make ends meet in the face of tuition reductions and freezes, as well as caps on international student visas, among other factors.

Access to this kind of aid, said Nipissing student union president Harikesh Panchal, can “make or break a student’s ability to finish their studies.” The support fund, he noted, is particularly crucial in a post-pandemic, high-inflation environment that has seen the cost of food, gasoline, and housing rise dramatically in the past few years, leaving students with no wiggle room if an unexpected expense arises. “The cost of a room has risen from four or five hundred dollars a month to seven or eight hundred dollars. We are seeing students doubling or tripling up in bedrooms.”

The fund, said Mr. Panchal, will also help to support Nipissing’s food bank, currently accessed by approximately 4.5 per cent of the student population.

The evening was also an occasion to pay tribute to outgoing Nipissing chancellor Paul Cook and outgoing vice-president, finance and administration Cheryl Sutton. It featured a stellar panel of speakers – many of whom have received honorary doctorates from Nipissing – included business leader and former Coca-Cola executive Penny McIntyre; former Nipissing vice-president, finance and administration, Victoria Paine-Mantha; WSP executive vice-president of transportation and infrastructure Corina Moore; and Jody Wilson-Raybould, former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada. They discussed strategies, inspirations, challenges and issues at the core of their success as leaders in business, politics and industry.

Areas of support for future galas, said Dr. Wamsley, may include research, scholarships and bursaries, student mobility, student co-ops or internships, or specific programs for academic support — all identified in the university’s strategic plan.

As a leader in student government, Mr. Panchal and his colleagues continue to work with administration and raise awareness at all levels of the need to address students’ financial precarity at Canadian colleges and universities. The gala, he said, is just one more way to help “alleviate struggle and constraint from students so they don’t have to choose between their right to education and also their right to a fair and healthy livelihood.”

The endowment will generate approximately $18,000 a year in funding available to students. While the funds will certainly help some Nipissing students in immediate financial distress, noted Dr. Wamsley, that amount will not be enough to address all the needs of a student population of 4,000 on campus and another 2,000 online.

“At any university, there are always areas of critical need,” he said.