UTSU ELECTIONS: Full coverage
VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 20
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1880
10 MARCH, 2014
UTSU widely criticized for summit withdrawal Zane Schwartz & Theodore Yan VARSITY STAFF
The University Fund mechanism is a result of a new budget model adopted by U of T in the 2006–2007 financial year, intended to increase transparency and improve decision-making. The Fund is a 10 per cent ‘tax’ taken off a division’s attributed operating revenue. Each division is allocated a portion of the University Fund, with a fixed amount (totalling $100 million) having been set in the first year of the new model, and the rest distributed at the discretion of the provost. Professor Scott Prudham, current president of
While the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) election continued outside the second last meeting of the Student Societies’ Summit, Agnes So, current vice-president, university affairs of the utsu, quietly announced the union’s intention to withdraw. U of T Voice presidential candidate Yolen Bollo-Kamara, who has represented the utsu at summit meetings throughout the year in her current role as vice-president, equity, was not present. According to So, the decision was prompted by the exit of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (utmsu) last month, and by a survey of 1,200 undergraduate members conducted by the union. “Eighty per cent of the students we polled told us that they did not want the utsu’s future to be decided by administrative faculty,” said So in a letter sent to Summit participants. “It does not escape me that the university is extending a hand into this issue at a time when they are likely frustrated with us for our work on Flat Fees, Access Copyright, ancillary fees, the Transitional Year Program and other such issues,” she added. When contacted by The Varsity Saturday evening So further explained her decision. “No one should have the false assumption that input from the union was being encouraged or respected. Our number one cry was always that all interested parties, especially within our membership, should be able to participate, and that was ignored,” said So. Combined with the fact that the Summit discussed cultural clubs, the Centre for Women and Trans People, and the Sexual Education Centre in disparaging ways, I am confident in the direction that I took to protect these necessary student groups.”
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WHEN STUDENTS SPOKE UP A history of student activism at U of T | Feature, pg 12
Undergraduate tuition subsidizes some professional faculties Murad Hemmadi VARSITY STAFF
U of T’s total budget is set to cross the $2 billion mark for the first time in 2014–2015, according to a report presented to the Business Board of Governing Council on Monday, March 3. Buried in that figure is over $40 million in within-university subsidies that will be transferred from undergraduateheavy divisions of the university to graduate-heavy and revenue-poor divisions. utsc and the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering give up the equivalent of 9.72 per cent and 6.94 per cent of their academic expense budget, respectively, through a budget mechanism called the University Fund. The Faculties of Den-
INSIDE
COMMENT
tistry and Forestry are among the net-recipients, taking in 32.83 and 72.10 per cent of their academic expense budgets respectively via the Fund (see table, page 6). Sally Garner, executive director of the university’s Planning and Budget Office, said that seeing the transfer between divisions as evidence that undergraduates “subsidize” graduates is too simplistic. “On average, that is probably true, but I think that’s too broad and too general because you could also say first- and second-year are subsidizing third- and fourth-year undergrads,” she explained. “Although the university fund is a reality, we must participate in due to the nature of the New Budget Model; our students at utm deserve more funding from the university,” said Hamza Ansari, vice-president, university affairs & academics of
the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (utmsu).
ARTS & CULTURE
SCIENCE
SPORTS
Chris Hadfield at Con Hall on Friday
Insider the RAWC at UTM
Burying the Transitional Writer-in-residence David Bezmozgis Year Program
THE UNIVERSITY FUND
While the fight for funding must certainly continue, it is important to bear in mind that axing a program’s funding is not the only way to kill it. Identity loss too is a form of death.
This is the writer who The Globe and Mail described as “a tad prickly, even downright hostile,” and who wrote a parody of an interview with himself in which he explicitly stated, “I hate being interviewed.”
Ten months back on Earth appear to have done little to diminish the popularity of Colonel Chris Hadfield, or to diminish his passion for sharing his experiences and promoting human space exploration.
The students, faculty, and alumni at utm have enjoyed the benefits offered at the school’s state of the art Recreation, Athletics, and Wellness Centre (rawc) since it opened its doors in 2006.
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