The Saskatchewan Polytechnic Administrations has announced that sports and recreation activities at three of their four campuses, including Moose Jaw, have been discontinued.

The Students Association was told about the change on Thursday, the same day it went into effect. This includes the elimination of all athletic programs, closure or recreational facilities and fitness centres, intramural and termination of recreational services staff.

The students association is highly critical of the decision and have sent out a letter highlighting some of their concerns, including a claim from administration that only 100 students across the province will be impacted by the cuts.

"In response to the message from Dr. Neufeld that the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Athletics Program only impacted about 100 students across the province; the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Students Association believes the reach is far greater than that.

The goal of an athletics program is to not only provide a recreational outlet for our top athletes on campus; it is also to provide a sense of community. We only have to look as far as the University of Saskatchewan to see the impact of athletics. While only a very small percentage (under 2%) of their students compete in the Huskie Athletics Program, the number of students and alumni that feel connected to the University through athletics has created a culture on their campus as well as with their
Alumni. Saskatchewan Polytechnic should strive to match this sense of community. Athletics programming should be a way for Saskatchewan Polytechnic to be more visible in communities across the province, it should be a recruiting tool, it should foster a sense of pride on campus, but instead Senior Administration has chosen to look at the number of participants rather than the full potential of the program.

The SPSA became the official student representative group at all campuses July 1, 2017, a mere 10 months ago. Since then we have tried to work with Saskatchewan Polytechnic Administration to offer opportunities to increase recreational opportunities across the province to mirror the service level of the Saskatoon Campus where our partnership with Recreation Services first began. During this time, the SPSA kept participation statistics for all recreational programming at the Saskatoon location, the most recent numbers from September 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018 are as follows:
Fitness Centre Participations: 33,000
Intramural Participations: 2,900
Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre Participations: 9,600
Amaruk Athletic Teams: 6 (Including: men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's indoor soccer) winning 2 league champions and 3 provincial championships

The SPSA questions Saskatchewan Polytechnic's decision to terminate all recreation programming when in Saskatoon alone, recreation participations reached an average of 8,250 per month from September 2017 - April 2018.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic has said they have evaluated external trends and polled students for input and is promising a more holistic approach to recreation that will satisfy more of the student population. While the results of their findings of which we have requested and have not yet received, a 2014-15 Student Satisfaction Report published by Saskatchewan Polytechnic showed that 93% of respondents (49% of student population) who used the recreational services on campus were satisfied with the level of services offered. Since that time, these services have grown to provide a more inclusive approach to wellness, including stress better activities and health fair events.

The SPSA looks forward to receiving the results of the research conducted by Saskatchewan Polytechnic that led to the dismantling of recreation on three of the four campuses and will continue to advocate for the services our student membership not only needs, but deserves."