In March, Trinity College proposed a new $150 ancillary fee agreement to the Trinity College Meeting (TCM), Trinity’s student government, which instead unanimously voted to delay approval and put an amended proposal to a college-wide referendum. Between May and September, Trinity College has scrapped the fee.
The money would have gone directly to the college with commitments for student life revitalization and student consultation. Trinity administration cannot raise the money itself due to a provincial-wide ban on increases to university tuition, so the agreement had the TCM introduce the ancillary fee instead.
College leadership underscored the need for a new fee by pointing to the significant debts accrued by Trinity from the construction of the new Lawson Centre for Sustainability.
It is not yet clear how the Trinity administration plans to make up for the revenue they sought to raise through a new fee. Kaelem Moniz, chair of the TCM at the time, claimed at a TCM meeting an administrator told him that without the fee, cuts to services and personnel would be inevitable.
Lawson Centre costs
The opening of the student residence and academic building, Lawson Centre for Sustainability, was originally planned for 2023. After several delays, the opening is currently planned for 2026. The Lawson Centre’s construction was initially estimated at $120 million, but the college’s latest audited financial statement projected that figure to be $177 million.
In a statement to The Varsity, a Trinity College spokesperson wrote that, “Even through pandemic-related challenges in construction and supply chain management and rising construction costs, the project remains funded and on budget.”
To finance the project, Trinity secured a $15 million loan and $5 million in funding from U of T, as well as a $90 million loan from the Bank of Montreal.
Nicholas Terpstra, Trinity’s Provost & Vice-Chancellor, said at a TCM meeting in March that he hoped securing student approval for a new fee would show the Bank of Montreal that the college has the support of the student body.
A modest proposal
The proposed ancillary fee agreement included a slate of commitments by the college intended to “fund student experience initiatives and expand student spaces and services across the entire Trinity College campus,” according to a Trinity spokesperson.
The proposal promised student consultation, outlining the formation of a committee of student leaders and administrators, which would be consulted on “key decisions” around the dispensation of the ancillary funds.
One of the other commitments was for “mandatory quicker response times from the Dean of Students’ office.”
There was also a commitment to “recommend” to the Trinity College Board of Trustees, the college’s legal governing body, that student representation be increased on the board. Currently, four out of 28 seats are designated for students.
The March meeting
Rather than decide on the proposal when it was presented in March, the TCM voted unanimously to put the fee to a college-wide referendum in the fall.
Alice Ferguson-O’Brien, a fourth-year cognitive science and philosophy student, is quoted in the TCM meeting minutes as saying, “The TCM, or some representative body, must have the opportunity to reject proposed spending if it does not align with student wishes. This is student money that could be going directly to the TCM – if we are going to give it to [the] admin, we must be actively included and consulted.”
In response to expanding student spaces, one student said, “There are common rooms on every floor of this building, there are common rooms in St. Hildas, and they aren’t open.”
Residence common rooms at Trinity, unlike at other colleges, are locked by default and must be reserved in advance to be used.
Referring to the commitment for faster email response times, one student asked, “Why do we have to give them any money for them to respond faster?” They continued, “This can just happen tomorrow… this kinda seems like a ploy.”
“It’s barely a ploy,” Moniz replied, “It’s what [the TCM leadership] have been able to put together to a degree that ensures maximum accountability.”
Anneke Lee, then TCM’s Deputy Chair, is quoted in the meeting minutes as saying the general consensus was that the proposal was “not ready to pass and everybody needs to be involved in the process of this agreement.”
Discussions ongoing, then gone
On May 30, a Trinity spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that “Discussions are ongoing; and the College hopes students will support these new opportunities. If the agreement is approved by the student body, the levy would be implemented for the fall 2026 semester.”
Later on September 5, a Trinity spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that, “After further conversations this summer with undergraduates and student leaders of the Trinity College Meeting, Trinity has decided not to pursue a student levy at this time.”
Current TCM chair Anneke Lee, when asked about those conversations, wrote in an email to The Varsity “The administration’s reasoning for pivoting from the pursuit of a student levy is unknown to us, but it can only be assumed that the lack of support received at the March TCM indicated to them that – [Ancillary Fee Protocol] or not – a levy is not likely to be passed in the fall.”
