Larissa Kurz
Regina Leader-Post
The University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) is suing the U of R for terminating its fee collection agreement and “withholding” student fees for the first semester of 2025.
The legal action was announced Friday in a media release signed by the union’s board of directors. The lawsuit was filed on March 24 in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench, according to documents obtained by the Leader-Post.
URSU’s statement of claim alleges the U of R has “wrongfully withheld” student fees since Jan. 1, 2025, and that it did not provide the required 90-days notice in writing as outlined by the parties’ fee agreement before doing so.
According to the claim, URSU seeks a court order requiring the U of R to provide the funds it alleges are “wrongfully” unpaid, and to continue remitting student fees per the standing agreement.
“Without payment of the withheld funds, URSU will cease to continue operation in the very near future,” says the claim.
The U of R announced in early April that its fee agreement with URSU would be severed as of August 2025, effectively stopping the only flow of operational income for the students’ union.
The current pact, signed in 1989, sees the university collect student levies each semester that are passed to URSU for dispersal, including certain campus services. Despite terminating the agreement, university president Jeff Keshen said at the time that core student services would continue, “as will the collection of student fees that fund those services.”
Keshen said the decision to sever that fee agreement was due to having “lost confidence in URSU’s ability to serve and represent the University’s students.” He cited concerns with the student union’s financial stability and governance.
Keshen said URSU had not provided a reasonable solution to resolve its $1.36-million operating deficit shown in a 2023-24 audit, despite being given recommendations from administration to do so.
In Friday’s news release, URSU says it has “done significant work reducing out-of-scope headcount, restructuring our programming, and renegotiating fee agreements” since that audit.
“As a result, we expect the 2024-2025 audited financial statements to show a net profit of approximately $400K and we have communicated that to the University,” reads the release.
The URSU board said terminating the fee agreement “was not the only option” to resolve the university’s concerns, and that the decision will leave student representation lacking on campus.
URSU also said the university should “not intervene in student governance absent evidence of fraud,” adding that no such evidence has been proven.
“URSU knows we need to take steps to restore confidence but we also cannot adequately represent the student body if we allow the University to dictate all terms and exclude student representation,” said URSU’s release.
“Our prior record of losses likely reflects a need for changes to the governance structure or to internal spending policies, but that is a process that should be led by students, not University administrators.”
URSU is already engaged in legal actions against the U of R Women’s Centre and UR Pride Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity over fees that the two groups allege URSU has not delivered.
lkurz@postmedia.com
