At a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Provost Shirley Neuman fielded questions about the direction that U of T will be taking over the next few years. Students and faculty were responding to the vision for the university outlined in Stepping Up: 2004-2010. The white papers will go to Governing Council in December. This final town hall meeting before the end of the consultation process on the Oct. 30 was a chance for the university community to have their say.

Neuman began with a summary of Stepping Up, which included things like academic plans and the development in priorities for the use of time, expertise, space and money. She spoke about budgeting and all of the new construction on campus, saying that the university is spending money on correcting some of the worst safety problems, such as asbestos, but that there is a huge deferred maintenance bill. Neuman called the assumption that the university is spending huge amounts of money on construction erroneous, and said that the university hadn’t built anything new for a long time.

The majority of the feedback concerned issues of inclusiveness and community. Many of the town hall attendees stressed the need for the development of greater community on campus. Some stressed the importance of building with student groups and associations. Student’s Administrative Council President Ashley Morton raised the point that the idea of bringing in more third and fourth year students into the university would break up the university experience. “This sacrifices student community,” he stated. Neuman called these comments worthwhile. She found the 2003 orientation to be especially successful. “We were able to bring a bit more of the intellectual life to orientation this year,” she commented in relation to the absence of alcohol.

There was discussion of part-time students, who some felt had been marginalized. Others were wondering about the processes that would be put in place to address under-representation of Aboriginal and Caribbean students. Neuman referred to the equity section of the plan and promised that, “you won’t find a stronger statement in any other North American university.” One student suggested that new residences have different floors devoted to certain religions. Neuman emphasized the importance of diversity in higher education. “We shouldn’t come to university to sequester ourselves with our own kind,” she noted.