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VOL XXXIV Issue 22 • March 8, 2012
‘Prayer spaces,’ a misnomer says U of T Student union debates fan confusion about providing more prayer spaces
David Stokes
As the UTSU elections come to a close, some of the issues that defined the campaign remain unresolved. At last week’s allcandidates debate, members of both tickets expressed support to provide more space for faithbased purposes. The audience’s reaction was mixed; while some favoured the proposal, a few outspoken students claimed that designated spaces for prayer excluded many members of the U of T community.
Asked to speak to the issue of prayer spaces, Richard Chambers, director of the Multi-Faith Centre, stated that the university should acknowledge the religious needs of students. “Students don’t park their religion at the edge of campus. The university is committed to holistic education,” said Chambers. He was also quick to point out that the University of Toronto does not have any explicitly designated “prayer spaces,” nor will U of T build dedicated space for
see page 2
Hart House Chapel: not just for Christians anymore.
Bar fight on campus
Student union candidates’ proposal to build bar leaves campus shaken, not stirred Aberdeen Berry It is a well-known fact that university students are generally fond of drinking. However, the proposal of Students First, the opposition slate in this year’s student election, to build a campus bar has been a point of serious contention.
Dylan Moore, Students First candidate for VP Internal & Services, said, “Many other universities across Canada have campus bars as a place where students and even faculty from across campus can come together as a community” regardless of their proximity to other bars. “Students at Ryerson have
a campus bar,” he added. Moore pointed out several other advantages of a campus bar, such as “providing students with an opportunity to make their trips to the bar potentially cheaper and safer, given that the bar would be located closer to home for residence students.” However, Team Unity, the
did n’t. Page 6
slate featuring two UTSU incumbents including the current VP External and presidential candidate Shaun Shepherd, are highly critical of the idea of building a bar. “A campus bar is not our priority,” he said unequivocally in the all-candidates
see page 2
the briefs 1) Students Riot in Montreal
Yesterday about 1,000 students gathered in downtown Montreal to protest increasing tuition fees. In confrontations with riot police, who used tear gas to disperse the crowd, five people were arrested and four injured. Quebec tuition fees are currently the lowest in Canada for in-province students. Under the province’s plan, rates will increase by $375 per year for the next five years, making tuition $3,793 in 2016-17. Previous governments have ceded to students’ demands, but Premier Jean Charest refuses to budge.
2) TAs ratify memorandum agreement
On Wednesday, CUPE3902 - the trade union representing TAs, course instructors and other grad student workers at U of T - ratified a tentative memorandum agreement with the administration, averting a strike or further bargaining. Sixty-seven percent of CUPE members voted in favour of ratification. As of Wednesday night, the union had not released a statement. U of T Vice-president and Provost Cheryl Misak and Human Resources and Equity see page 3