We Refuse the Suspension of BPMH

We stand in opposition to the proposed closure of the Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health (BPMH) program. We demand that any proceedings follow applicable policies.

We reject the abrupt suspension of enrollment announced in November 2023—a decision made without meaningful consultation, transparency, explanation, or adequate consideration of the students, faculty, and broader community whose lives have been shaped by this program. 

We refuse to accept the dismantling of a program that has been a vital intellectual, social, and emotional home for hundreds of students over two decades.

BPMH must not be closed.

We Defend a Vision of Transdisciplinary Education

BPMH represents a vision of higher education that transcends disciplinary boundaries. It is a pioneering transdisciplinary initiative grounded in the field of Contemplative Science, bringing together the study of mindfulness, meditation, mental health, and human and ecological flourishing.

At a time when universities claim to value community engagement and interdisciplinarity, BPMH embodies both.

The program offers one of the few opportunities to study science through a non-Eurocentric lens, honoring the intellectual and cultural traditions of East and South Asia while engaging critically with questions of colonialism, power, and knowledge. Students learn not only about contemplative practices but also about the social movements they inspire—movements committed to climate justice, decolonization, collective liberation, and resistance to systemic oppression.

As contemplative science programs expand across the world, BPMH remains the only undergraduate program of its kind in Canada. To eliminate it would be to abandon a field of growing global significance and undermine the University’s position as a leader in innovative, community-engaged scholarship.

We Believe Mental Health Belongs at the Center of Education

At a university where students frequently encounter long wait times for services, barriers to care, and discrimination, BPMH provides something rare: a community centered on well-being. It creates space for students to learn, research, support one another, and imagine healthier ways of living.

The University has repeatedly declared its commitment to addressing the student mental health crisis. The recommendations of the 2019 Presidential and Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health explicitly recognized mindfulness as part of that commitment. If those commitments are genuine, then dismantling one of the University’s strongest mental health-focused programs is indefensible.

For many students, BPMH has been more than an academic pathway. It has been a source of connection, resilience, and meaning.

BPMH is one of the few academic programs that treats mental health not only as an object of study but as a lived reality. Students do not merely learn about suffering and well-being; they engage directly with practices of mindfulness, compassion, reflection, and self-understanding. The program offers sustained, experience-based learning that students carry with them far beyond the classroom.

A university cannot claim to prioritize student well-being while simultaneously eliminating one of the few programs that places well-being at its core.

We Support Asian Studies and Condemn Anti-Asian Racism

Over the past decade, Canadian higher education has undergone a profound transformation.  The number of international students from East, Southeast, and South Asia has increased nearly fourfold. At the University of Toronto, Chinese students now comprise more than two-thirds of the international student population. But demographic change alone does not produce equity. 

We affirm the findings and recommendations of the University of Toronto’s Anti-Asian Racism Working Group. Its 2023 Final Report documented the long history of anti-Asian hostility in Canada and the systemic barriers faced by Asian communities. The report recognized that students struggle to find courses focused on Asia, Asian diasporas, and the experiences of Asians in Canada. It called on the University to strengthen curriculum, improve inclusive pedagogy, expand culturally responsive mental health services, and deepen institutional commitments to inclusion and belonging.

We reject anti-Asian racism in all its forms. We stand behind these recommendations.

BPMH is the only program whose curriculum is grounded in Asian histories, cultures, and traditions of health and well-being. It is the largest program of its kind in North America and a leading site for the study of Buddhism, one of the world’s major intellectual traditions. The program embodies the very goals identified by the Anti-Asian Racism Working Group. It advances teaching and research on Asia, Asian peoples and cultures, Asian diasporas, Asians in Canada, and anti-Asian racism. It promotes understanding of Asian and Indigenous knowledge systems and contributes to a more inclusive and globally informed university.

The suspension of enrollment into the BPMH minor contradicts the University’s stated commitment to anti-Asian racism initiatives and the expansion of Asian-focused teaching and research.

To weaken or eliminate such a program is to weaken the University’s capacity to fulfill its own commitments.

We Reject the Closure of a Thriving Program

For 20 years, the program has flourished. Enrollment in the minor grew from 25 students in 2008 to more than 380 students by 2024. During the 2023–24 academic year alone, over 1,400 students enrolled in BPMH courses, while hundreds remained on waitlists.

Demand continues to rise.

BPMH hosts 40 percent of all Buddhism courses on the St. George campus, with enrollment in those courses increasing dramatically over the past five years. Students from diverse disciplines consistently seek out BPMH because no other program offers what it does.

Its impact is documented and undeniable. Students, alumni, and scholars from around the world have testified to the program’s transformative influence on their intellectual development, personal growth, and professional lives.

The numbers make the situation clear: BPMH is not a failing program. It is one of the largest, most vibrant, and most sought-after interdisciplinary programs housed within the University’s colleges.

Closing a program of this scale, success, and reputation is unacceptable.

We Demand Transparency, Consultation, and Accountability

The abrupt 2023 suspension of enrollment threatens to become a self-fulfilling justification for closure. By cutting off new students, the administration has caused the very decline in enrollment that it may later cite as evidence that the program is not viable.

This is not a fair assessment process. Meaningful evaluation requires time, evidence, dialogue, and collaboration. None of these conditions have been met.

A program with demonstrated scholarly value, growing enrollment, international recognition, and profound effects on student well-being deserves careful consideration—not administrative haste.

BPMH is more than a minor. It is a living academic community.

Through research laboratories, student organizations, public programming, publishing initiatives, podcasts, and international partnerships, the program has connected tens of thousands of participants to critical conversations about culture, health, ethics, and human and ecological flourishing. For nearly two decades, it has cultivated meaningful relationships with Asian communities across Canada and around the world.

We insist that institutional commitments to equity and civil discourse be reflected in institutional decisions.

Our Call

1. We call on the Faculty of Arts and Science to immediately reverse the suspension of enrollment into the Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health program.
2. We call for a transparent, evidence-based review process grounded in genuine collaboration with students, faculty, alumni, and experts.
3. We call for the protection and strengthening of BPMH for future generations.
4. We believe universities should cultivate wisdom as well as knowledge, compassion as well as achievement, and community as well as competition. BPMH embodies these values. Its closure would represent not only the loss of a program, but the abandonment of a vision of education that our university urgently needs. We refuse that loss. 

We stand for BPMH.

– The BPMH Task Force consists of 16 members, including current BPMH students, BPMH alumni, U of T faculty members, and community supporters