SAC (soon to be UTSU) is unwilling to impose an annual levy of $34.46 on U of T students without a thorough consultation, even if this might mean losing the use of the Varsity Centre for most of the coming year.
SAC will demand that the fee increase, proposed by the faculty of physical education, be approved for only a year until the matter is put to a plebiscite by next year’s board to give students the final say on the question.
Without the money raised from the fees, the administration has declared that the Bubble would be rented out for a good portion of the year to cover the $939,000 annual cost of utilities, staff wages, and maintenance costs.
One vote on the Council on Student Services is all that is needed to to tip the balance in the phys ed budget’s favour and change the fate of the Varsity Bubble for the next year, as the council reconvenes to vote on whether or not students will contribute $10 per semester-plus a fee to offset inflation-to the athletics budget to pay for maintenance costs of the facility.
“I think that our fight against the administration trying to ruin the process and limit the work of students’ democratic structures was worthwhile,” said SAC president Jen Hassum, one of the four SAC representatives on COSS.
“The SAC Board did a wonderful job to consider the fee increase without allowing the administration’s meddling with COSS, or the aggressive ploys of Council of Athletics and Recreation representatives to skew their decision making.”
SAC officials felt that they were not given enough opportunity to consult with students while making the decision at the first COSS vote, during which the budget was turned down by nine votes to eight.
A six-hour-long SAC meeting on Wednesday evening, concluding at 1 a.m., was spent figuring out the board’s position on which way the four SAC votes on COSS would go on the phys ed budget.
SAC concluded that its representatives should approve the budget, under the condition that the fee increase would only be collected during the next school year, after which a plebiscite would be held over whether the increase should be implemented permanently.
Following the meeting, a large rally by student athletes of all sorts, as well as representatives of CAR, protested the prospect of losing access to the Varsity Centre. After appeals to the University Affairs Board by SAC and CAR, the budget was sent back for COSS to vote on after each of the student unions had met with their boards to discuss the issue.
The UAB has tentatively decided to meet on April 17 to pass a supplementary version of the phys ed budget for next year.
