A internal memo leaked to the Varsity suggests top U of T officials have already decided to hike tuition, and are supplying principals and deans with public relations advice on how to justify hikes. This is in the wake of recently released salary figures showing administrative pay hikes of as much as $36,000.
The memo has answers to 16 questions commonly asked about tuition increases, saying that “you should feel free to share this with your chairs as background material, and to adapt it as appropriate to the questions you may receive about your specific tuition issues.”
Vice-president and provost Adel Sedra—who the memo says should be responsible for taking media calls—was not available for comment. However, a random calling of university deans and principals showed their ideas on tuition are in line with the memo’s content.
“I basically believe that they’re a necessity now,” said University College principal Paul Peron, about tuition increases.
“If one aspires to have an international presence, one has to attract outstanding faculty…. There are only three areas where you can increase revenue: one is basically through government support, which is lagging, the other is private support, and the third is tuition.”
The response is almost verbatim from the memo, which also advises administrators to stress U of T debt relief programs, the desire to maintain excellence, and lack of government funding.
Joseph Boyle, principal of St. Michael’s College, spoke of such funding, and then noted, “The central administration…is working very hard to get a serious bursary program and serious needs-based support for the people who really need it.”
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science Carl Amrhein said, “It’s never a happy discussion to raise tuition, but the bottom line is if we’re going to maintain the quality of undergraduate programs, we need the revenue.
“U of T has put a spectacular amount of money into student tuition assistance and financial aid over the last ten years as well, and we have a guarantee that no student will be prevented from attending U of T for financial reasons.”
Meanwhile, the assistant to the dean of Applied Science referred calls to the vice-provost, noting, “It’s only proper for there to be one consistent message relayed.”
Law school student Maggie Wente was unimpressed by the memo’s advice to administrators to say that “the Faculty of Law is still part of a publicly-supported university and is doing its best to protect and enhance the level of public funding it receives.”
“It seems if they have to provide answers to people that maybe the answers aren’t particularly obvious,” said Wente. “The benefits that they say are going to happen as a result from higher tuition aren’t necessarily popping into the heads of the administration when they were asked questions about it.”
David Melville, one of the few student representatives on the Governing Council—which sets tuition fees—takes particular issue with the memo’s advice to stress the fact that U of T is putting pressure on the government to fund universities.
“There’s very little discussion about the values of education, and a high discussion about the business of education and the economics of education,” said Melville, adding that their lobbying cannot be effective because they don’t work well enough with students. In his opinion, the administration needs to spend less time having private lunches with student leaders, and more time really working together. Veteran U of T activist Chris Ramsaroop said the memo has come at a time when students are putting forth formidable resistance to increase in tuition fees. He thinks the university is nervous.
“They know that overall, the whole system is not working,” said Ramsaroop.
“I think, especially this year, the university is feeling threatened by the student leadership…. Student groups have never worked so well. In all the years I’ve been here, and I think in the years before that, they’ve never seen anything like this, ever.” He referred to student groups such as the Graduate Students’ Union, the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students, the Students’ Administrative Council and student governors, all working together to end tuition increases. “Everybody is working together, and that’s really, really important,” said Ramsaroop. He attributes it to the effects of provincial budget cuts, as well as deregulation of professional programs.
Pay hikes and tuition
The memo says, “Increased tuition is necessary because, as in other sectors, costs are increasing.” It notes that U of T’s costs increase 4-6 per cent per year, but doesn’t mention that part of this increase comes from salaries increasing by as much as 17 per cent. Last week, salary disclosures for administrators and academics who make over $100,000 a year were released. Dean of Law Ron Daniels, for one, will have his pay hiked from $217,695 to $253,916, with almost $33,000 in taxable benefits.
“I really think the salaries, considering the perks that are involved, are at the top of the line, whereas the funding is at the bottom,” said Melville. “It’s understandable, if you look at these people’s salaries, why they aren’t able to comprehend or really sympathize with the plight of what students are really involved in when they have to find money to pay their tuition, to pay their bills, to pay their rent,” said SAC president Alex Kerner.
“I think, when we have a university president who is paid well over $300,000 and the vice-provost students making close to $200,000, plus all the other ridiculous salaries, we can find some places where money can be found to afford a tuition freeze,” said Kerner.
During an interview about tuition increases, Carl Amrhein said, “Academic salaries are rising at a rate much higher than inflation because of competition across North America, and we need the revenue to compete.”
This international competitiveness is drawing administrators away from the focus on education to a focus on world-class status, according to some students.
When asked, based on her experience with this year’s hike in law school tuition, whether the answers provided in the memo had any merit, Wente said, “The answers have merit inasmuch as what they want to do, this is the way to achieve it. It’s just whether or not the end goal is laudable.”
To her, and to Melville, “world-class” means more than highly paid professors and higher fees for students.
“You can have all the wonderful researchers in the world and none of them could give a damn about teaching, and you’re not going to end up with a better law student or a better lawyer in the future. It makes me question what sort of benchmark they’ve chosen in terms of measuring the excellence of the school.”
Melville echoed her assertions. “World-class is a synonym of some sort of inferiority complex. If you’re world-class, you don’t need to tell anybody about it.”
He woould rather replace the history of elitism at U of T with real accessibility, emphasis on multiculturalism and the building of ties with the Toronto community that include the marginalized and disenfranchised. In Melville’s opinion, this can’t happen with tuition increases.
“The key is the redistribution of power. Power to the hands of the students. Power to the international community,” he said.
