This week, U of T students are being urged by SAC and other student leaders to vote yes on a referendum to raise funding for U of T’s 382 ailing student groups.
From October 12-14, students will be able to vote on ROSI on whether to hike the fees paid to SAC for clubs by $3.82, which would provide badly needed funding. Currently, 27,000 full-time undergraduates , or 70 per cent of U of T’s undergrads, belong to a club or student organization.
“This is the most efficient, democratic, and accountable way to ask students for their permission to raise this money to essentially better their student experience on campus,” said SAC president Paul Bretscher, whose administration has already raised the clubs budget by 50 per cent.
“Unfortunately, the university’s administration has cut funding for clubs, and we’re sick of turning student groups down for funding when they come to us with excellent proposals for events,” he said. This has meant that SAC has had to trim its student services and commissions budget, so it can’t sustain its massive increase in clubs funding for long.
“Clubs funding is integral to every group on campus. The MSA is the largest and most active student group on campus and it’s important for us and other clubs that we do continue to get money from SAC to help improve the student experience,” said Shuaib Ally, president of the Muslim Students’ Association.
“The more money we can get from SAC, the bigger the possibility of us being able to hold bigger and better events on campus.”
“Just last year, the National Survey on Student Engagement ranked over 300 colleges and universities across North America on the quality of their extracurricular student experience. It came as no surprise to students that U of T ranked dead last not only in Canada, but across North America,” said VP external Jen Hassum. She pointed out that U of T spent $250,000 on this study, only to find itself severely lacking.
“The most effective way to improve campus life is to adequately fund our campus clubs. If this referendum is successful, we expect to see a demonstrable increase in the quality and quantity of club events,” said Hassum.
SAC’s campaign to encourage students to vote yes on ROSI includes flyers to be passed out in high-traffic areas as well as a letter sent to all campus residences.
SAC currently takes $11.46 per student, per term in fees. SAC’s budget is around $1.7 million a year, serving the 41,000-strong undergraduate student body, the largest in the country, with approximately $160,000 in clubs funding after the 50 per cent increase.
“We’re still going to be paying the second-lowest fees in Canada despite the increase” said Bretscher.
It isn’t difficult to see why SAC leaders feel the increase is badly needed, as SAC’s budget pales in comparison to that of the Ryerson’s Students’ Union, which gets four million dollars to serve only around 17,000 students. SAC believes that the increase will bring in $300,000 in new funds and they promise that 100 per cent of this money will be allocated to clubs. SAC would stop directly funding clubs, but would continue covering “internal services” like the staff that work with student clubs and photocopying services.
“I hope this referendum does pass,” said Ally. “We’re encouraging our membership to vote yes during Friday prayers and any other chance we get.”
