World-class UTSC athletic complex paves the way for Pan Am Games

By Thandiwe Vela

 

The profile of my soon-to-be alma mater just got a huge boost.

In a referendum held Wednesday through Friday, an overwhelming majority of University of Toronto Scarborough students voted yes to a levy clearing the way for a world-class sporting complex to be built on our campus in time for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

With no pool to call our own and a gym the object of running jokes (but great for dodgeball tournaments) it's hard to believe that in four years, the UTSC campus will be home to two competition-sized swimming pools, a dive tank, an 8-lane 200-metre running track, racquet courts, a sports medicine clinic and other fitness and training facilities.

Don't worry U of T Mississauga and St. George students, you're always welcome to head east for a dip in one of our brand spankin new Olympic pools.

 

Can't say the same about you, UTM, but no longer will UTSC be a sidelined sister of the U of T downtown campus (perhaps we could get UTM something nice too).

 

Along with its prestigious joint-journalism program that just never stops churning out excellent reporters that should be hired at once, UTSC will soon also be an international athletic hub.

  

This calls for celebration, UTSC students - where's the party? 

 

 

UTSC community members celebrate Toronto's winning 2015 Pan Am Games bid. Ken Jones. 
 

 

Thandiwe Vela is a Star radio room reporter, student-athlete and secretary of the Canadian Association of Black Journalists.

tvela24@hotmail.com

 

Comments

[Doug]

According to the mayor's office, the Ward 44 councilor, this facility would have been built regardless of a yes or no vote. Students were scammed into thinking that its construction was based on their vote. What students have been stuck with is a 29 year levy that will make their school less accessible.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the truth.

[Tdotmarie]

I disagree with the notion that we were "scammed" into anything. The purpose of the levy was to encourage students to stake our claim on a major piece of the future of East Scarborough. While a "no" vote could possibly have seen the facility built "anyway", this is more likely due to the fact that there was already buy-in from the government... Toronto is hosting the Pan-Am games, and will need a facility one way or the other... in that sense, sure, it may have been built "anyway"...

The REAL question however, is whether UTSC students would still have access to these facilities, if it was solely owned by the government?

Essentially, a "no" vote would've meant a refusal to contribute to the building, and since there's no such thing as getting something for nothing, you can bet there would be some sort of pay-per-use costs associated with the space. This means that student clubs, fitness classes, study groups, etc would be RENTING versus OWNING space on their own campus! That would've been the REAL scam.

Anti-Pan Am Groups with hidden agendas running amok on campus under the guise of "standing up for student rights", when in reality they have NO CLUE about the student experience at UTSC and have no real interest in us?... THAT'S a scam.

A 62% majority vote toward a facility that benefits students, the community at large AND advances our campus identity? That's PROGRESS.

[Doug]

That's total conjecture. The university has a $3 Billion endowment fund and could have found the money to pay for it themselves, rather than have students do it. Instead of supporting a 'no' vote, and negotiating a better deal with the administration, student leaders took the easy way out and dumped a $30 million debt on those that follow. That's not progress, that's a step backwards towards a less accessible campus. By 2014, students will be paying $280 per year, indexed annually at 4% for 25 years. This is the worst levy yet for UTSC students.
And shame on the University for their propaganda campaign to scare students into giving their money. That's the total opposite of what an academic institution should be doing. Literally they had a "VOTE NO AND WE LOSE IT ALL" poster every couple steps in the university's hallways! That's obscene.

[Happy_UTSC_student]

Agreed Tdotmarie!! Students were not scammed into voting yes. Anyone who goes to UTSC knows what inferior recreation facilities we have compared to the other campuses. In fact, my high school gym is comparable to that of the current facilities. What I find "scam" like were all of the inaccuracies being spewed by APUS. If anything, they were lying. It's true the athletics complex would still have been built; however, not at UTSC. Therefore, not accessible to the UTSC community, who are in dire need of new facilities, and deserve them. If the majority of protestors, who were from the downtown campus, didn't have outstanding facilities of their own, I'm sure they wouldn't have minded this complex. UTSC deserves world class, and will finally get world class.

[Doug]

This is conjecture. The university has an endowment fund of $3 billion and could have easily funded the project if there was a 'no' vote. And the university's tactic was to put up posters saying, 'vote no and we lose it all'. These posters were literally taped up every couple steps throughout the university. This is the total opposite of what an academic institution should be doing, and teaching its students.
Making the university less accessible for the next generation is the only tangible outcome of this campaign.

[Tdotmarie]

Really Doug? You honestly believe that the University of Toronto could "easily" just take funding away from academics to support the construction of ONE facility at ONE campus?

The University of Toronto's endowments are mandated for student aid, endowed chairs, research and academic programs in support of the University's ACADEMIC mission. Where exactly does an ATHLETIC FACILITY fit into that equation?

Do you really think that if the administration had $30 million to spend, that they WOULDN'T choose recruiting top notch professors over erecting an athletic facility? Quoting a bunch of facts and figures from literature provided by the "Yes" campaign is all well and good, but if you're going to do it, at least be realistic with your claims!

Furthermore, student levies are not uncommon on university campuses across Ontario. I'm so SICK of this sense of entitlement that some students (and other folks POSING as students) seem to have, wherein they expect things to just be HANDED to them. Campus expansion requires a lot of human and financial resources, and at the end of the day, if we expect to benefit from that growth then we all need to contribute. UTSC students aren't the first group to ever have to pay for a building, and we won't be the last, as long as there is room for the University to grow.