U of T’s Governing Council was pleased to announce a judicial ruling in its favor in a case brought against it by two of its student unions. The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students and the Graduate Students’ Union had accused U of T of accepting an illegitimate vote on a controversial athletics and recreation fee increase.

On Tuesday, August 28, a provincial judge ruled that the fee hike—which amounts to $19 per year for full-time students—was not illegal.

APUS and GSU representatives, however, have warned that the ruling opens the door for unprecedented fee increases far outstripping the rate of inflation.

The increase was approved at a hastilyconvened meeting of the Council On Student Services called on April 5, 2007 especially to vote on the Athletics fee, which had been rejected earlier in the year.

APUS and GSU, who hold four of the COSS’s 17 votes, refused to attend the meeting, believing that it would not achieve quorum without them and therefore could not legally vote. The unforeseen last-minute appointment of Andréa Armborst (then SAC VP internal), from a non-voting to a voting position on the COSS, allowed the meeting to proceed and approve the increase.

GSU president Gina Trubiani accused the university of “exploiting the wording of the COSS protocol,” which U of T must follow when raising ancillary fees. These fees pay for non-academic aspects of the university— like athletics facilities, psychiatric services, and Hart House.

“The wording of the protocol is slightly on the ambiguous side, however the spirit of that protocol was not to exploit students and double-dip,” Trubiani said. The alleged double-dipping, in this case, means adjusting a fee by an inflation factor— twice.

Governing Council can only raise ancillary fees by a certain amount—generally, to keep up with inflation—without COSS approval. To calculate this amount, the university uses either the Consumer Price Index, which reflects the rate of inflation (this year’s CPI was set at two per cent) or the “University of Toronto Index”, a special formula calculated separately for each service fee. For example, this year’s UTI for the Student Services fee was set at 5.6 per cent, while the UTI for Hart House fees came to 13.4 per cent .

The UTI is generally the higher of the two indices, but fee hikes using the UTI are limited to a three year term, after which the COSS votes to scrap them or keep them permanently.

Governing Council has always chosen one or the other of these factors: the benefit of increased funding from using the higher UTI is offset by the risk of losing that funding after three years.

The $19 increase marked the first time the univrsity has added both factors to the cost. The ruling in Governing Council’s favour upheld the argument that such double inflationary increases are permitted.

GSU and APUS will each decide at their next meeting whether they wish to pursue further action on the matter.