The Varsity Centre bubble may soon deflate. U of T will put a plebiscite to students in the first week of March, asking whether they want to fund the facility’s operations.
The UTSU plebiscite will finally resolve the debate that has been ongoing since the bubble was proposed about a decade ago. The issue flared up last year, when the Council on Student Services rejected the Varsity Centre budget before finally deciding to temporarily adopt it until a student vote. For any ancillary fee to be implemented, it would have to first be approved by COSS.
Voting will happen between March 4 and March 6.
“By voting Yes on the plebiscite, students will have guaranteed 75 per cent of the facility use,” said Masha Sidorova, co-chair of the Council of Athletics and Recreation. “The popularity of this facility is evident through filled stands during Varsity [Blues] games, increased participation during recreation times, long waiting lines at the free golf driving range, and about 1,000 new students participating in intramural sports.”
“We are already paying for the Varsity Centre!” countered Arts and Science Students’ Union president Ryan Hayes, who is organizing the No campaign. Hayes claims that students cover costs for the centre through steeply rising athletics fees.
A proposal to fund the construction and operation of the facility was brought to the students in 2002, but was overwhelmingly rejected. The university then raised $24 million and built the centre itself, hoping students would agree to fund it after having used it. COSS rejected that proposal, preventing it from ever going to a vote.
“While it is an excellent facility,” said Michal Hay, UTSU VP university affairs and member of the No Levy campaign committee, “students made it clear in 2002 that this was not a priority and that they did not want to pay any more than they were through their current incidental fees.”
COSS will approve or decline the Faculty of Physical Education and Health budget based on the plebiscite. If the levy fails, operating costs will have to be covered through other sources such as renting out the facility, said Sidorova.
Sidorova was confident that the students will sympathize with the Yes campaign. “We are not trying to change peoples’ minds,” she said. “We are simply giving students an opportunity to express their desire to maintain Varsity Centre as a student-priority facility.”
While plans for the CHPS are a long way from being finalized, a May 2007 preliminary project proposal presented to the university’s Planning and Budget Committee stipulated that students would pay 75 per cent of the annual $2.8 million operational cost.
