No, it’s not Publisher’s Clearing House, but an envelope that will soon be arriving on every student’s doorstep will have multi-million dollar consequences.
Inside will be a question about whether students wish to pay $25 to $70 each year for decades to come to build a new stadium-arena-residence combo where dilapidated Varsity Stadium currently stands on Bloor Street. In late January, the University Affairs Board decided to put the plans to a referendum—most likely by mail in ballot—to be held in March. Now a heated battle is shaping up, pitting athletes, the administration and other supporters of the project against two of the largest student representative organizations on campus. The Varsity Centre project involves tearing down Varsity Stadium—the home of U of T football, rugby, track and other sports since 1924. In its place will rise a new, 5000-seat sports stadium with an all-weather artificial field and track. A new arena with an NHL-sized ice rink will be built beside the existing Varsity Arena. From Bloor St. south to Varsity Arena, a new building will accommodate weight rooms, fitness and dance studios, shops and space for student clubs to meet.
To sweeten the deal, the plan includes 800 beds for a new student residence.
After the wrecking balls swing and the dust clears, only a brick wall facing Bloor St. will remain to remind Toronto of the old Varsity Stadium.
Varsity and intramural athletes have long complained about overcrowding at U of T’s existing sports facilities.
Competition for ice time is intense in the school’s intramural hockey league. And students in the Physical Education and Health program say new weight-rooms and teaching facilities are desperately needed.
But some student organizations, including those that represent part-time and graduate students, say the levy to build the facilities is too expensive. If the referendum approves the project, next year all full-time students at the St. George campus will pay an extra $25 on top of their existing tuition and incidental fees.Once the facility opens in 2005-2006, that fee will rise to $70. It will increase with the rate of inflation every year until the building is paid for. The levy is expected to raise almost $30 million.
Both the Association of Part Time Students (APUS) and the Graduate Students Union (GSU) voiced their disapproval for the project at a recent meeting of the Council on Student Services. APUS and the GSU say students should not be asked to pay for buildings on campus—buildings owned by the university, which students will have only a fleeting use for.
But the man behind the Varsity Centre project, Bruce Kidd, dean of the school of Physical Education and Health, has said in the past that many university projects, like Robarts Library and the original Athletic Centre, were financed through student levies.
The Students’ Administrative Council (SAC), which represents full-time undergraduates, is neither officially supporting nor opposing the project.
“It’s a neutral position for now,” said SAC president Alex Kerner. Kerner said SAC’s role will likely be limited to a get-out-the-vote effort during the referendum period.
“As an individual I am opposed to the levy,” Kerner added.
“I don’t like to see increases in non-tuition [ancillary] fees,” said University College SAC representative Matt Curtis.
“I don’t think they’ve investigated the commercial aspect enough,” Curtis said, noting that Bloor Street is a popular shopping area and some commercial uses within the development could be a lucrative money-maker for the university.
