THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA
January 21, 201 9 Volume 45, Issue 1 5 themedium.c a
Hurricane Hazel is back
A statement from The Medium
Strands of Hair at Hart House
Remembering the pain
3rd place for women’s soccer
News, page 2
Opinion, page 4
Arts, page 5
Features, page 8
Sports, page 11
Same fees, new health and dental plan As of January 1, all fees paid by UTM students to the UTSU have been transferred to the UTMSU MELISSA BARRIENTOS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
On January 1, 2019, the UTSU and UTMSU separation came into effect through UTM students’ official invoices. All the fees listed under UTSU on the 2019 Winter invoice have been transferred directly to UTMSU, including the as UTSU incidental fee ($34.47), the UTSU Accident and Prescription Drug Insurance Plan fee ($92.81), and the UTSU Dental Plan fee ($77.58). “Changes to official invoices take some time and require a lengthy process,” UTMSU VP External told The Medium. “There will not be any further transfers to the UTSU from UTM students that will be shown on the invoice for membership fees and levies as of September 2019.” The fees and levies the UTSU had collected from UTM students were transferred to UTMSU within fourteen days of receiving them from the University of Toronto’s administration, except for 15 per cent of the UTSU membership fee and 25 per cent of the Orientation levy, as per
LOGOS REPRESENTATIVE OF UTMSU AND UTSU
The UTMSU and UTSU separation came into effect through UTM students’ official invoices. their Associate Membership Agreement (AMA). “We do not know how the UTSU spent our UTM membership fees, we don’t think any of it was spent in
the name of UTM students or UTM advocacy”, UTMSU Media stated in an email. “We also see that for the Orientation levy. The 25 per cent the UTMSU will now get back is
not an amount substantial enough to make a huge impact on Orientation. We will evaluate changes to the best interest of first years and to keep it as cost-efficient as possible.”
The current Health and Dental plan organized by the UTSU will continue to cover UTM students for the paid full-year coverage, ending on August 31, 2019. The following academic year UTM students will be covered by a new Health and Dental plan organized by the UTMSU. “We did not want to disrupt the current level of service for our students,” Abdullah continued, “We will be taking the next few months, at our Board, to run an RFP (Request for Proposal) process to tender out to a new insurance broker and provider. We will be running and managing the Health and Dental plan as of September 1, 2019.” Regarding the fees and levies UTM students will be paying toward UTMSU services, the union reaffirmed there will be no financial changes following the UTSU and UTMSU separation, meaning UTM students will continue to pay a total of $340.78 per semester in incidental fees for UTMSU services ($681.56 per academic year). UTMSU continued on page 2
Campus affairs committee raises fees The 2019-20 budget will see residence, parking, and meal plan fees rise by up to ten per cent MDUDUZI MHLANGA
The first Campus Affairs Committee meeting of the year was held this past Wednesday, January 16. The meeting provided an overview of extradepartmental units (EDUs) and their ranking systems to distinguish their approval mechanisms and appointment powers. Some EDUs at The University of Toronto Mississauga include the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology. The units are defined as “flexible and multidisciplinary entities, organized around emerging research and teaching areas that span departments and divisions.” The Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre and the Institute for Management and Innovation are up for EDU-status consideration. The Bulk of the meeting was spent on discussions for the 2019-2020 UTM Ancillary Budget, which was presented by Chief Administrative Officer Saher Fazilar. For campus parking, the projected revenues for the 2019-20 academic year is $4.5 million. Fazilar proposed
parking rate changes, which entailed a 10 per cent increase in CCT underground permits and an increase of two per cent for all other permits, one per cent less than planned. Fazilar mentioned that the ten per cent increase for CCT parking was partially due to renovations. She stated, “our underground parking garage is way cheaper than any other in competition.” A suggestion for lower rates for certain groups (i.e. staff or students) among those paying for parking has repeatedly been brought up during negotiations. For Student Housing and Residence, the projected 2019-20 revenue is $16.8 million. Most housing units will be going up in price by 3.75-4 per cent. MaGrath Valley and Putnam Place skew this percentage upward. MaGrath Valley, which is in high demand, will increase by seven per cent to $10,644 for a single residency, and $6,919 for a double. Putnam Place will require a 15.63 per cent increase in cost to $10,947 to help offset the price of renovations. Fees continued on page 2
SERVICES
COST COME 2019-20 SEPTEMBER
CCT Underground Parking UNRESERVED Parking - Annual - 8-month - 4-month
$1,190.96/year
PERCENTAGE INCREASE FROM 2018-19 10%
$9,598.11 $8,822.50 $9,925.00
5.88% 3.75% 3.75%
RESIDENCE Undergraduate Student Housing -Average
$9,598.11
5.88%
Graduate Student Housing - Average
$8,822.50
3.75%
Med Student Housing - Average
$9,925.00
3.75%
Family Student Housing - Average MEAL PLANS Group A - Average
$1,794.50
$3.76%
$4,025.00
1.9%
Group B - Average
$2,480.00
1.75%