Opposition to U of T’s plans for Back Campus is growing, as two events were held last week to protest the administration’s decision to convert the space from a grass field to artificial turf.
U of T’s director of media relations Laurie Stephens confirmed construction is still scheduled to begin July 1.
The demonstrators want to reverse Governing Council’s decision to install artificial turf on the Back Campus green space, located behind University College and Hart House, which will be used in the Pan Am Games in 2015.
The controversial $9.5 million project will be paid for by U of T and the Ontario government. U of T’s contribution is pegged at $4.2 million, with the province covering the remainder. Proponents of the plan stress that once constructed, there will be two field hockey turfs that U of T students will be able to use for years to come. A protest held on April 30 saw several student, faculty, and community groups pitted against the proposed conversion.
Instead of a traditional sit-in, Francesca Hannan, a first-year student, organized a “play-in” to raise awareness of what students will lose if the space is converted. Over 100 people attended the event, and soccer, Frisbee, and quidditch games were organized. There was also a juggler and guitar player in attendance. Hannan argues that the ability for students to use the Back Campus at will and the environmental impact of the artificial turf are good reasons not to go ahead with the project.
“There’s definitely a place for that angry activism,” Hannan said. “But you know, it doesn’t always get a lot of people involved. We wanted to make a statement while celebrating something instead.”
Hannan created a video inviting people to come and play on the field to celebrate and demonstrate its traditional use. The video garnered a lot of attention, with over 2,300 views, and many people taking to social media to support the endeavour, including Margaret Atwood.
Atwood, who has been a vocal opponent of the Back Campus project, shared the video with her almost 400,000 followers on Twitter.
Atwood arrived at the “play-in” on Tuesday armed with strawberries, cookies, and a few thoughts to share about keeping the Back Campus green. “It’s a hideous waste of money,” Atwood said. “And what’s wrong with Brampton?”
A brand new field hockey turf located in Brampton will host the 2013 Pan American Men’s Cup. Only 15 minutes away from the airport, it would seem to fit the purpose of 2015 Pan Am Games, argued Atwood. The Brampton field is one of a number of proposed solutions for halting construction on U of T’s Back Campus.
On May 1, a gathering of city spokespeople and U of T faculty discussed potential ways to halt the Back Campus construction at an information forum organized by activist Kim Storey.
Trinity-Spadina MPP Rosario Marchese was among those who presented at the forum. Marchese suggested that constructing an artificial turf field at U of T for the Games would be a waste of taxpayers’ dollars, because such a space already exists in Brampton. Marchese will be submitting the latest petition against the plastic-coated asphalt field plans to the legislature.
Another active opponent to the plan is U of T English professor Alan Ackerman. In his presentation, Ackerman highlighted the issue of environmental protection and the threat the plan poses to open access to the current public green space. “The university should be an environmental leader, not just in Canada, but in the entire world,” says Ackerman. “And this is a construction project, not a ‘landscape project.’”
If constructed, the new field hockey turf would require watering three times per game, which amounts to approximately 98,000 gallons of water per year. The artificial field itself may only have a lifetime of seven to eight years before it would need adjustment or replacement.
Professor Suzanne Akbari contends that the health of five 130-year-old elm trees on the west edge of the field will be in jeopardy. According to arborist Jack Radecki, the water reaching these trees could become infused with chemical overflow from the artificial turf, threatening the trees’ survival. U of T would have to apply to the City of Toronto to obtain a “permit to injure” before beginning the process of pruning the trees’ roots.
In 1999, a plan to pave the Back Campus field and replace it with a parking lot was shot down. That was when Urban Strategies, a Toronto-based urban design and planning firm, wrote a plan called “Investing in the Landscape,” which was approved by university governance.
Although the plan to cover the Back Campus with “plastic-coated asphalt” in preparation for the Pan Am Games was legitimately executed in line with U of T Governance Council’s rules, some are questioning the ethics and morality of the decision, because it was made without broad consultation. In March, opponents delivered a petition bearing 3,000 signatures to university president David Naylor at a Governing Council meeting.
Some argue that the project, as presented at consultation meetings with U of T faculty, was a pre-determined plan, rather than a genuine proposal, open to community feedback. Due to the sensitive nature of some of the information discussed, these initial meetings on the project were conducted in camera and the minutes were not made publicly available.
The university maintains that normal consultation processes were followed, and that Hart House, University College, and the University of Toronto Students’ Union were all consulted individually.
There were five levels of university approval that the project had to achieve between February 29 and April 11, 2012. Support for the project was unanimous at all stages of the approval process, with one abstention.
Opponents are also seeking official heritage designation from the City of Toronto, which may delay the project or cancel it completely.
“I think we have to keep optimistic about it,” said Kim Storey about maintaining the green space. “There are so many talented, interesting people working hard to stop it … and I think we can.” Storey is an architect and urban designer with Brown and Storey Architects Inc.
U of T released an official statement on February 20, 2013, which set out a point-by-point reply to the concerns raised by activists, but the university maintained their resolve to convert the Back Campus to an artificial turf field. The statement concludes, “the project will be proceeding as approved by Governing Council.” Stevens confirmed that this is still the university’s position.
