A war of the bullhorns erupted on the steps of Simcoe Hall on Tuesday, as students caught on opposite sides of an athletics fee fight sought to outdo each other.
“Save our dome!” went the rallying cry of a group of concerned users of the Varsity Centre-site of the now-familiar inflated dome or “Bubble,” which opened in January. The protesters were echoing administration threats that the facility would be taken away from students, which would hurt intramural teams.
“No taxation without consultation!” SAC chairperson Jen Hassum screamed back. She led a contingent of student leaders decrying the administration’s lack of consultation with students on the athletics fee hike.
The row over the Bubble erupted at the March 2 meeting of the Council on Student Services, when student representatives voted down-among other things-the Faculty of Physical Education and Health’s co-curricular programs and services budget.
Had it passed, it would have increased yearly athletic fees for full-time St. George students by $34.38 to $244.20. Of the increase, $20 would have gone to funding the operation and maintenance of the Bubble, the rest being an inflationary adjustment set according to university-wide policy.
COSS is a forum set up in 1996 to give certain student unions, including SAC, APUS and GSU, a say in administration decisions to increase non-tuition student fees.
The 17-member council is comprised of seven U of T administration members and appointees, eight SAC, APUS, and GSU appointees, and one student from each of UTM and UTSC. One of COSS’ rules states that a majority of COSS’ student members at the meeting must approve a fee increase in order for the hike to pass.
After numerous attempts by student leaders to force a referendum on the fee increase-a move dismissed by administrators as costly, ineffective and doomed to failure, as it would have required paper ballots to be mailed out to each student at the university-the council eventually voted 9-8 against the proposed athletics fee hike.
So events came to a head on the front steps of Simcoe Hall on Tuesday, in a series of heated exchanges between student union leaders and student members of the Phys Ed faculty’s Council of Athletics and Recreation.
“[SAC] is not doing its job, you guys failed to represent the students!” George Polyzois, chairperson of the CAR’s budget committee, which prepared the proposed Phys Ed budget.
“[Phys Ed dean] Bruce Kidd also voted against having a referendum to let the students decide on the issue, ” retorted Emily Shelton, the VP external at SAC. “So if anyone, the administration is responsible for not having students represented,” she went on. “We weren’t given the opportunity to consult with the students, because we were hurried into the decision.”
“How could you vote down the Bubble when you weren’t even aware of the student body’s position on it?” Polyzois demanded.
“How could you expect us to allow making students pay an extra $20 a year for something that they might not even want?” Shelton shot back.
Meanwhile, inside Simcoe Hall, the meeting of the University Affairs Board was proving to be one of Governing Council’s most eventful meetings of the year. Student leaders began by criticizing this year’s budget process at COSS.
“This year’s process was riddled with problems,” said Andrea Armborst, the COSS chair. “Meeting dates and agenda items became issues of contention,” she said, citing insufficient communication between administration and student leaders.
Student reps were also incensed by the fact that only two meetings were scheduled this year, as opposed to four meetings in past years, they protested. This, they said, denied them the time to consult with students on the proposed fee increases.
The noisy “Save our dome!” demonstrators outside also drew criticism from some.
“A lot of the students out there have a vested interest,” said Faraz Siddiqui, one of the student governors. Siddiqui remarked that the students gathered outside were not as broadly representative of students as the student unions.
Phys Ed dean Bruce Kiss rebuked Farraz’s “vested interest” contention. “The men and women who run for CAR care about the students they are representing,” he said.
Kidd warned that without the extra $10 sessional fee, “We will have to rent out our facilities for great blocks of time,” especially in winter.
Adam Pomper, one of the co-chairs of CAR, which has jurisdiction over intramurals at the university, chimed in.
“Each year, 300 intramural teams are on the waiting list,” he said. “The Bubble would have wiped out that waiting list.”
Pomper criticized SAC and APUS members of CAR for not showing up to the council’s meetings. Only GSU attended the important meetings, he accused.
(“They’re pitting students against students,” remarked APUS’s Oriel Varga. “It’s a classic tactic.”)
After some horse-trading, student leaders and administrators decided to give the student unions time to consult with their members, and have COSS reconvene at a later date.
SAC’s Hassum saw the meeting’s outcome as a victory.
“We’re holding them accountable to the consultation process,” she said. “This is going to create a standard.”
