It has taken four months to accomplish, but it seems that the student union representing part-time students on St. George campus will soon be moving into a new home.
The Association of Part-time U of T Students (APUS) and U of T’s administration have come to an agreement to relocate APUS offices to what they hope to be their permanent home in the Margaret Fletcher building at 100 Devonshire Place, across from the Varsity stadium.
After lobbying since June, APUS and U of T agreed that the building would be a suitable location for its home because of its close proximity with Woodsworth College, the college for part-time students.
Margaret Fletcher was initially home to a daycare centre, but has been largely empty since 2003. And although the space in question is situated in a “central building,” the university is in the midst of renovating it in order to meet basic requirements, according to Farrar.
“APUS should be situated comfortably in the Margaret Fletcher building within approximately two weeks,” he said.
Since the summer, APUS members have been petitioning and lobbying in order to get support for their cause and also to avoid what they argued was an eviction from their current offices in Woodsworth College.
Farrar, however, did not see the APUS’s office situation as an eviction.
He said that “from the beginning we were going to give them an alternate location.
There was never to any intent to evict APUS from their previous location, nor did they ever receive any language from us that we would use that action.”
APUS executive director Oriel Varga, however, thought otherwise.
“Without telling us where to relocate, [the administration] came to us in March telling us that we had to leave our Woodsworth office by the end of the term. It was an eviction.”
This situation could have been solved more quickly according to Dave Farrar.
“Since this episode began about six months ago, the administration offered APUS two different locations, both of which APUS declined to accept.”
These locations were 91 St. George St. and 21 Sussex Avenue. Varga maintains that these locations were much smaller and APUS would have been “just another student group.”
Part-time students comprise about 40 per cent of the student body at U of T, according to Varga, and they should feel comfortable in the community.
Varga said that during the disagreement, APUS received tremendous support from the U of T student body and the community-at-large.
“We have won this battle. Had it not been for their support, we would have been forced to operate from our very tiny office at Sidney Smith.”
However, Dave Farrar also believes that the part-time students should feel like belong at the U of T.
“We do not distinguish between part-time and full-time students,” said Farrar.
Although APUS representatives have still not received the keys to their new home at the Margaret Fletcher building, Varga said that they have made progress on the issue.
“Until now, we have been getting mixed messages from the administration. We want some sort of assurance that this will remain APUS’s permanent home for the long run.”
