Seven out of eight student governors voted for the Towards 2030 framework on Oct. 23 as Governing Council passed the document almost unanimously, despite student unions’ opposition to the plan.
The Towards 2030 plan consists of two parts: a detailed synthesis document that’s subject to change and a framework that gives broad outlines.
“They removed a lot of the more controversial items […] to try and build consensus on it,” said student governor Ryan Campbell, who voted for the framework.
“Tuition fees will remain an important source of revenue,” reads the framework, which makes no mention of deregulation. The synthesis document explicitly mandates the eventual removal of provincial restrictions on tuition and ancillary fee increases. The synthesis will be approved during the plan’s later phases.
In a plebiscite held by the full-time and graduate student unions, 93 per cent of the 5,398 students, faculty, and staff who voted opposed deregulation of fees.
U of T president David Naylor said the student unions and voters had misunderstood the proposition, saying the word “deregulation” implied that the administration would have unilateral control over fee-hikes, without being accountable to anyone. The Towards 2030 synthesis refers to removal of provincial regulations as “self-regulation.”
“Self-regulation is deregulation,” said Sandy Hudson, president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union. Hudson said admin has never satisfactorily explained the difference between the two.
“Most students were against this, that might be in part because people have been misinformed somewhat on what was actually voted on,” said Campbell. Still, he said, “It was a good way to get students aware of the issues.”
Jeff Peters, the only governor to vote against the document, said there hadn’t been consultation with student leaders. Peters introduced a motion to table 2030 for a year, so that more student input could be made. This motion failed after only getting four votes, from student governors.
The framework also proposed continuing corporate-funded research: “In responding to this opportunity, and more generally in relationships with investor-owned and non-profit partners, the University will follow its extant policies.” Naylor said that there were policies in place to ensure academic integrity in research partnerships with private donors, but several governors raised concerns.
“I definitely think that we need to make sure that any corporate agreements we have are transparent […] we do have a bad track record here,” Campbell said, referring to the 1996 case of Dr. Nancy Olivieri, a member of U of T’s medical faculty who was fired when she broke a confidentiality agreement with Apotex Inc. by voicing concerns about a drug’s side effects.
