[Introducing “Simcoe Hall”: Though many on campus are no doubt interested about what university administrators are and aren’t approving in the various chambers in Simcoe Hall, who can keep track of the sundry boards and committees that make up Governing Council?

And who has time for the ponderous prose of their pronouncements and reports?

That’s why we at The Varsity want to make it easier for you. Our writers cut through the drivel to tell you how their decisions impact you: the students, staff, and faculty. We hope you find this regular feature incisive and informative.]

Making a statement
Taking a note from the padded essays submitted by its students, U of T has issued a fattened revision of its 1992 Human Rights statement. The document outlines the administration’s “broad vision of the university community.”

But its new version, now dubbed an “Equity Statement on Equity, Diversity and Human Rights,” has swelled from a readable 162 words to a baffling 717. Not only are we faced with a increased word count, the document strives to extoll the virtues of U of T’s bureaucratic values.

Instead of the single line: “Acknowledges that it conducts its teaching, research and other activities in the context of a richly diverse society,” we are given a paragraph reaffirming U of T’s diverse hiring policies, its place as a diverse organization within society and its own touching reflection on the attributes of diversity.
-Adnan Khan

Varsity stadium budget soars
With phase one of the Varsity Centre construction underway, the initial sum of $16.4 million committed to fund the project was increased by $5.4 million at a Business Board meeting last month. It turns out that the old stadium is proving more stubborn to demolish than earlier cost estimates had envisaged. The first phase of the stadium will now cost about $21.75 million to complete – an increase of about 33 per cent.
-Cristophe Poirier

CSI: Mississauga
The University has approved the re-location of the Centre for Criminology to the UTM’s Canadiana Gallery. The expansion of the Richard Charles Lee Hong Kong Library Location made it necessary to boot the Centre out of its current location on the eighth-floor of Robarts Library. Estimated cost of the relocation is $2.1 million.

Fine Art Department to relocate, expand
The Department of Fine Art will move to One Spadina Crescent. The department’s re-location means that the lobby of the building, along with other adjacent spaces, will be subject to renovation. The move will free up office space at Sidney Smith Hall.

U of T economists are bullish
Also approved last month, the expansion and renovation of the Department of Economics at 150 St. George St. The total cost of the project is estimated at $15.3 million. Renovations will create room for new facilities including space for the Institute for Policy Analysis and a new 75-seat tiered electronic lecture hall.

UTM parking garage nixed
Last month, Governing Council rejected a proposal to construct a new parking garage despite complains of insufficiency in parking space. The campus currently contains 2,600 parking spaces for a student population expected to be about 11,500 by the 2007-08 academic year, from under 5,000 in 2000.

About 3,300-3,500 additional spaces were requested. The Project Planning Committee, however, decided that current parking demands could be addressed by reducing the number of spaces designated as reserved. Additional space could be created by a more efficient layout of the parking lots. It concluded that UTM did not appear to require a new parking structure prior to 2009-10.

Instead, alternative solutions to minimize the automobile use will be explored. Most UTM students drive to the campus because of limited public transportation alternatives.
-Josephine Lee