Tuesday, February 5, 1985
Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University
Volume 4, Number 17
Freudian Athletic Complex? by Michael Smart By Administration reports, the long-awaited new athletics complex may soon begin con struction. However that happy news has been clouded by the concern of some student leaders may in fact go the way of the Olympic Stadium’s retractable roof. McGill students voted in 1981 to donate a total of $4 million to the project over a period of fif teen years. The fees collected so far have been paid into a fund that has remained dormant. “ We want to know what’s happening to that money,” said Students’ Society President Grace Permaul. “ The old gym is really in bad shape, and we think we’ve waited long enough at our end.” Permaul had proposed that Stud Soc establish yet another committee to study the pro blem. She did not attend last Thursday’s Council meeting, however, and her motion has been tabled. Sam K in g d o n , th e U n iv e rs ity ’ s D ir e c to r o f Physical Resources explains the current delay lies in securing land from the City for the pro ject. McGill had asked the Drapeau Administration to cede a parcel of land on Pine Avenue, adjacent to the Currie gym. While the field presently serves only as a short-cut to McGill residences, it is officially considered a part of Mount Royal Park. The city charter does not permit any ‘alienation’ of park land, consequently, any cxhange of ownership would re quire a troublesome act of the
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provincial legislature. To avoid any entanglement in the dif ficult world of Quebec politics, the University has proposed in stead that the land could remain officially in city hands. The gym would be merely a ‘recreational facility’ , and would be under the control of the University. The current plan, known to the initiated as ‘Option Five’ , calls for the construction of a large annex to the existing gym. The new building would house an indoor track and multi purpose gyms, plus nine badly needed squash and raquetball courts and a sports-medicine clinic. The price tag is presently estimated to be $10 million. Kingdon says the proposal is being evaluated by the city’s planning department, and he hopes a decision will be made by the Executive Committee in the next two months. He says ground could be broken within six months of the city’s sanc tion. Montreal is a city with little history of prompt construction of sports facilities. However, Kingdon remains confident that the project will soon be approv ed. “ They aren’t saying no to us,” Kingdon stated. “ At this point I’m just feeling frustrated by the time the whole process is taking.” Jim H aym an, a student representative to the University Athletics Board suggested the Administration might not be pressing as much as possible on the project. “ Why should they rush?” he asked. “ In the mean time they’re collecting interest on the students’ funds.”
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Torquing 225 is easy compared to holding together the Gym with glue and tape. He also expressed concern that delays might allow costs to rise well beyond projected levels. He urged the University to begin construction as soon as
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by Stephen Hum McGill students may have cause to recall M ontreal’s Olympic stadium as Student Services considers a proposal to help foot the bills for the university’s long awaited new athletics complex. The administration and Sam Kingdon, the D irector of Physical Resources have appeal ed to the Committee on the Coordination of Student Ser vices (C .C .S.S.) to aid in con struction of the athletics com
Fee Hike Possible
by Michael Smart Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the polling booth, it seems this year’s Stud Soc elections will include another referendum on fees paid to the McGill Daily. David Goodman, chairman of the board of directors of the Daily Publications Society, says the organisation will be asking for a two dollar increase in stu dent fees to support the newspaper. Last year, the Judicial Board overruled a resolution that would have end ed the subsidy paid to the Daily. Albert Nerenberg, editor of the Daily, explained the hike was needed to prop up the finances of the campus paper. “ Our situation is improving, but there are definite long-term
problems ahead of us,” he said. Nerenberg cited the deprecia tion of typesetting equipment and a foreseen increase in rent paid for Daily offices as poten tial pitfalls for the paper. Cur rently, the Daily rents its offices from Stud Soc for the nominal fee of one dollar a year. The lease expires in 1986. Nerenberg said he is currently negotiating a new lease with Stud Soc Executive and shrugg ed off suggestions that future Presidents might wish to kick the Daily out of the Union building entirely. “ Any Presi dent who did that would be a dumb President,” he said. Speaking to an open meeting of the Publications Society, at tended by reporters from the Daily, the Tribune and one
possible, even if that meant selecting a sub-optimal location. Permaul’s resolution will pro
other student, Goodman said that the paper’s accumulated deficit, which peaked a t $25,000 in 1983, has steadily decreased following recent austerity measures. The Daily now averages fewer pages, says Nerenberg, and this year the paper will publish only 79 times, compared with 95 issues in the past. “ We may even get rid of the deficit this year,” said senior news editor Leela Madhava Rau, “ but that has been at great cost.” Last year, the deficit was halved to only $11,000. At the meeting last Thursday, Nerenberg outlined proposed editorial and business changes that would alleviate financial liabilities and possibly even c o n tin u e d p a g e 3
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bably be discussed at the February 14 meeting of Coun cil. In the meantime, keep try ing to get a squash court.
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plex by providing $600 000, an amount to be drawn from the Student Service’s accumulated reserve fund. At the time, Stevenson ex pressed concern that C.C.S.S. did not have enough facts to deal with the issue cogently. C .C .S.S. agreed at the meeting to strike a special task force to look into the University’s re quest. The reserve fund came into being in 1978 when Student Ser vices, a self supporting arm of the University, found itself with a small surplus due to tight budgeting. Then-Dean Michael Herschorn put the surplus into an interest gathering account which has grown steadily to reach the present figure. Stevenson pointed out that the fee charged for Student Ser vices has not been raised since 1980, and the reserve fund could play a role in stalling any increases in the immediate future. “ But a change in economic climate could put more people into the job market and lower student enrolment here. That could leave us very underfunded.” Under such circumstances, the accumulated reserve fund would play a crucial role in maintaining the level of Student Services, said Stevenson. This year, for the first time, Student Services has budgeted a deficit says C athy Sheeran, A d ministrative Officer in the
A t h le t ic s Dean’s Office. The reserve fund will make up the difference. Some members of C.C.S.S. have sounded warnings about depleting half of the reserve fund in a period when the university is facing cutbacks. “ Some have said maybe we should try to keep the fund for a rainy day. That’s where my feel ings lay, but we’ll wait for the task force,” said Stevenson. Administration has advised C .C .S.S. that it anticipates cash-flow problems in the building schedule of the com plex, which had originally been slated to begin construction in May/June of 1985. Two million dollars in McGill Advancement Program funds have been pledged to the pro ject, but will not arrive in time to pay for many of the expence involved in the construction. If C .C .S.S. agrees to pay, it will have to consider whether the money will be paid back to the fund,” remarked Steven son. “ However, there’ll have to be serious discussion as to how it will be paid back. If, say, we charge a rate of interest com parable to that of a bank it will defeat the purpose of the university’s attempt to find some quick, easy cash.” The task force, composed of 4 students and 4 non-students, will make recommendations to C .C .S.S. before April.