Over the last few months, the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) has been facing scrutiny from University of Regina (U of R) administration, campus groups and students.

This has culminated in the termination of the union’s fee sharing agreement with the U of R and lawsuits from two campus groups.

U of R announced early in April that they would no longer collect fees on behalf of the union after it was indicated in an auditor’s report that the union was facing financial uncertainty.

The union is a nonprofit organization, and therefore audits must be conducted every year and made publicly available each year. The most recently available financial statements from 2024 show a $1.25 million dollar deficit. 

In a press release, U of R president and vice-chancellor Jeff Keshen stated that the decision comes after the URSU failed to undertake steps recommended by the university to address issues with their financial situation and governance, and that as a result, the the University had “lost confidence in URSU’s ability to serve and represent the University’s students.”

Similarly to the University of Saskatchewan’s fee sharing agreement with the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union, fees are included with tuition to be distributed to the USSR and contribute to student services such as health and dental benefits, bus passes and advocacy for students.  

The agreement will be terminated as of August 31, with Keshen stating that student services and fee collection will continue in the fall 2025 term. 

Although Keshen stated that the university would remain committed to “working in good faith with a student union that demonstrates a commitment to good governance and sound financial management,” the termination of fee collection leaves some uncertainty about the future of certain student services.

New fee collection agreements will need to be made before this time, leaving some uncertainty about who will execute these services for the university’s 17,409 students — whether it is a compliant USRU, the university itself, or an entirely new student organization. 

This major decision from the university is a culmination of months of controversy surrounding the URSU. 

An online petition which would force a special general meeting and calls on the board of directors to initiate a referendum for the dissolution of the union has been circulating since March. The petition claims that the URSU has failed to represent student needs and has mismanaged funds. 

As of April 23rd, the petition has over 1,166 signatories, eclipsing the five percent of voting members, or 870 students, required to forcibly call a meeting in accordance with section five of the URSU constitution.

In September, the URSU board passed motions to hold student referendums regarding whether they should continue dispensing student fees to the university’s Women’s Centre and the UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, a move the URSU stated was because both organizations were out of compliance with their service agreement.

While these referendums were paused indefinitely, meaning no fee agreements were terminated, both organizations have filed legal claims against the URSU, alleging that the organization has withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars of student fees. 

UR Pride filed their claim in February, alleging that they have not received student fees from the URSU for the 2024 winter, spring, summer and fall semesters, with an estimated value of over $100,000. Student fee funding collected by the URSU on UR Pride’s behalf accounts for approximately 50% of the centre’s operational funding. 

The withholding of funding has come as a result of breakdowns of service agreement compliance talks between UR Pride and the URSU.

The Women’s Centre, meanwhile, alleges that around $200,000 in student fees collected on behalf of their organization during the 2024 spring, fall, and summer as well as the 2025 winter semester has been withheld. 

They filed a claim late in March seeking these fees as well as punitive damages. The Women’s Centre denies that they have ever been out of compliance of their service agreement. 

Further controversy occurred on March 14th when the Women’s Centre AGM was disrupted by students. The room was cleared out by campus security, and the meeting was postponed until April 16th. 

The ongoing tensions between the Women’s Centre and the URSU have resulted in speculations that the URSU was involved, an allegation which they denied in a March 24th Instagram post, stating that they had no involvement in the events, and that while the Women’s Centre had not formally accused the URSU of wrongdoing related to the incident, social media platforms had been “filled with accusations and implications suggesting that URSU was somehow responsible.”

In a later post, the URSU made allegations that the Women’s Centre and campus security had mishandled the incident by racially profiling and inappropriately physically handling involved individuals. They also accused the Women’s Centre of a lack of transparency and violating their own bylaws in certain meeting procedures. 

Keshen has since stated in an email to the student body that the U of R’s internal investigation of the incident has since found sufficient evidence that multiple attendees of the adjourned AGM had participated in “disrespectful, intimidating, or disruptive” actions which possibly violated student conduct policies, and that further investigation would be conducted.

Allegations of “racial discrimination, physical harassment and privacy violations” were looked at, according to Keshen, but the auditor “did not find sufficient evidence to forward these for investigation.”

There was no specific reference to the URSU in the email, with Keshen stating that some “alleged behaviours were outside the scope of the investigation as they related to organizations separate and apart from the University of Regina.”