the newspaper
11September 2003 Vol. XXVI No. 3
U of T’s Independent Weekly
on the inside As You Like It • Film Festival Coverage • 500 Words Each
U of T’s $700 million gamble SPENDING ON NEW BUILDINGS REACHES RECORD LEVELS by Peter Josselyn NEWS BUREAU
SAC Day not a Disaster!
PHOTO BY PETER MOHIDEEN
by Edward Gebbie RASSLIN’ BUREAU
Yes! This years Student Administrative Council Day, held in and around King’s College Circle, was not an abject failure. Thousands of students gathered information on U of T’s many organizations while sorting through corporate freebies and rocking - or swaying exhaustedly - to the strains of local cover bands.
After a $2 dinner, students filled Varsity Arena to watch a wrestling exhibition and be halfheartedly berated by Dustin Diamond, Screech of TV’s longmissed “Saved By The Bell.” Also featured were “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and D-Lo Brown, who wrestled fine matches with lesser-known performers. The crowd was mainly wrestling die-hards, who celebrated as their glistening heroes battled in the squared circle. the news-
paper laments the poor performance of the newcomers, who fell to the former SuperStars in short order, costing this reporter $50. [C’mon, that guy was 20 years younger than Neidhart! What happened? compulsive gambling ed.] Orientation Week Organizer Dylan Rae was called in to quell the crowd when the excitement became too fevered, he rose to the occasion by swearing profusely. Thanks for a fun day, Dylan.
Yoga demonstration draws hundreds
building maintenance program. U of T administration are quick to draw a line between deferred maintenance and new capital expenditures: “Some buildings you can’t retrofit,” said Katherine Riggald, referring to how technological advances have changed the demands that students and faculty have for physical space. The new Bahen Centre for Information Technology is an example of a building where it was cheaper to start from scratch than to renovate an existing building. Vice-Provost Space and Facilities Prof. Ron Venter noted that expansion can actually solve the problem: “If a new building is added to the space inventory, we have an increased percentage of our space in better condition ... we are making progress in our overall plant,” he said. The expansion has raised eyebrows. SAC president Ashley Morton thinks that the emphasis on the St. George campus overlooks suburban campuses. “More resources are needed at UTSC and UTM and this expansion only exacerbates the problem,” he said. Expansion is also cheaper in these suburban areas, he noted. According to the Great Spaces web site, only 18% of cash is going to suburban campuses, with Scarborough getting a slightly bigger piece of the pie than Erindale. The university is facing what could be the biggest cash
The University of Toronto is expanding faster than it has in forty years. Get out a calculator and add up ongoing and upcoming building projects displayed on the U of T website, and you get a whopping $700 million. But that’s not all. That’s only the price tag for new real estate acquisitions (the Colony Hotel and the Board of Education Building) plus recent expenditures in bricks and mortar (the New College Residence and the Bahen Centre). This doesn’t count any additional staff that are hired or the increases in ancillary services that will accommodate the huge expansion. Not even the double cohort can fully explain the explosion, since that influx is the beginning of a decade-long demographic bump that will leave the university struggling to accommodate students. U of T faces the very real problem of how to expand, especially when dealing with over $276 million in deferred maintenance costs. Deferred maintenance is what happens when a building needs to be fixed, but there is not enough cash to do it – the project gets delayed. A leaky roof is simply patched or there are temporary measures for the most urgent complaints. Last March, the Facilities and Services branch of U of T released the “Crumbling Foundations Report,” which looked at the unfortunate state of U of T’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
the newspaper asks:
How much junk can you get on SAC Day? PAGE 8
B-HAPPY D-LIGHTS AUDIENCES AT THE TORONTO FILM FEST
PAGE 4
Students want VP Artful-Dodger gone Group collecting signatures for petition by Peter Josselyn
FLORIDA ELECTIONS BUREAU
PHOTO COURTESY OF KATIA TAYLOR
Hundreds take part in a yoga demonstration at Kings College Circle hosted by Woody Harrelson. Film maker Ron Mann, a U of T grad also attended. The stunt was part of the publicity for their new film, Go Further.
filling the hours
the newspaper’s guide to spending your time
Toronto International Film Festival (Again!)
This is it: your final chance to see anything before the festival closes midnight Saturday, and thereʼs still lots of great stuff. Donʼt be afraid to wait in the “Rush” line for tickets, or try the box office the day a screening. By this point, all but the diehards have collapsed due to fatigue. Take up the fight and see End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones at 3.45 on Friday, at the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre. Did you know Joey and Johnny didnʼt speak for over 10 years, yet remained in the band? Those punks didnʼt know when to quit, man. Lots of other films, too. Go!
Karaoke at The Gladstone Hotel
A grassroots movement is building to hold a referendum that could force SAC vice-president operations Alex Artful-Dodger from her position. Students can download a petition that will force a referen-
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Sing your little hearts out amidst old time boozers and song happy-Hipsters in one of Torontoʼs oldest bars. The ambience drips off the walls at
the Gladstone, and this is one of the best Karaoke nights in the city. All sorts converge over cheap draft, so itʼs worth going if only for the people-watching. Get there early, especially on weekends – thereʼs a huge line, believe it or not.
The Sadies
Saturday, September 13th at the Horshoe Tavern. Country that makes your ears bleed. At this point, a good show from The Sadies is assumed, and well worth the ten bucks.
Irreversible
Wednesday, September 17th, at The Vatikan (1032 Queen West). “Irreversible,” Gasper Noeʼs second film, is the most walked-out on movie of last year. Catch this rare screening and try to keep your eyes open through some of the most brutal scenes ever committed to film (well, video). The New York Post called it “A movie without any redeeming social value,” but itʼs a must-see for anybody with an interest in film or whatʼs going on in European art generally.
dum call from a new web site, www.recallops.ca. The problem is a hangover from last year’s SAC elections. Strictly speaking, Artful-Dodger was not elected at all: she won only 1,817 votes against incumbent John Lea’s 2,562. Last year’s SAC board of directors refused to ratify the result of the election or the recommendations of CRO John Hoskins and the Elections Committee. The board instead assigned additional demerit points to Lea causing his disqualification. Opponents allege ArtfulDodger, her friends, and her running-mates controlled the board and further allege that the move was purely political. “They appointed their successor, like any other elitist old-boys club,” says the web site. SAC President Ashley Morton recalls the debate surrounding the ratification of the election results: “What I said at the time was that the people who were making the motion didn’t disagree with any principle, just the results of the election,” he told the newspaper. Organizers of the campaign want to make sure that students have a voice. “There is a provision where the SAC Board can force a referendum, but we want
to show through the petition that students are offended,” said Mark Graham, a SAC Board member. He is not the only person on SAC advocating a referendum. “Several members of the Board and Executive are actively collecting signatures,” he added. The University College Literary and Athletic Society is behind the plan. President Andrij Harasymowycz noted that a motion was passed last year calling for Artful-Dodger’s resignation and for a referendum in the event that she refused to resign. “It’s not Alex herself. I can’t lend support to a procedure that was fundamentally flawed; the ends cannot justify the means,” he said. Asked about progress on the campaign, Mr. Harastmowycz said, “we’ve been out in fullforce, and the people we’ve approached – once we explain the situation, they’re happy to sign.” The Recall Ops campaign needs 2,000 signatures from full-time undergrads to hold a referendum with no more than 500 from any one faculty or college. So far, they have over 750. More information can be found at www.recallops.ca