THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA
October 1, 2018 Volume 45, Issue 4 themedium.ca
UTM’s parking crisis
Vote for our Board
Nuit Blanche takes Toronto
Aiding the refugee crisis
Homecoming inspires spirit
News, page 2
Opinion, page 4
Arts, page 5
Features, page 8
Sports, page 11
Students to pay for future expansion? The UTMSU detailed how the expansion would be paid for during their first commission meeting of the year MDUDUZI MHLANGA
UTM held its first “mega” commission meeting of the year, comprised of the Student Life commission, Services Commission, and the Campaigns and Advocacy commission last Monday. The meeting created multiple working groups and offered many opportunities for attendees to contribute to the planning of upcoming events and campaigns the UTMSU will be working towards in the coming year. The main point of discussion during the meeting was on the proposed Student Centre expansion. During the commission meeting, attendees and executives discussed the plans for the York University’s Student Centre expansion. Preliminary construction plans indicate that the new building will provide twothirds of multi-purpose rooms on the campus, an urban plaza, thirty-six additional club office spaces, and will house seventy per cent of the multifaith prayer spaces on campus. UTMSU President Felipe Nagata stated that he has been commu-
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Money for the expansion would come from the student body, says UTMSU President Felipe Nagata. nicating with the President of the York Federation of Students, Rawan Habib, who recommended a studentled strategy of “getting students to pay for it to make them feel like they’re building something that’s bigger than just a building, but like a legacy.” Na-
gata says the issue is that the UTMSU might have to pursue a different strategy on account of the fact that York achieved their expansion through a student referendum to have a levy. When asked how his executive team is in a better position than last
year’s executive team to ensure the expansion happens, Nagata highlighted how the current executive are focused on approaching students as opposed to the university administration. ”This year is a lot about community-building,” he continued. ”We’re fo-
cusing on students more. Everything that we do is for students first. We try to get students’ input and involvement in everything.” Nagata told The Medium he is more hopeful regarding the expansion because he sees more enthusiasm among students regarding the expansion. “People don’t usually like their tuition increased but I feel like this year everybody’s so excited to help out and they wouldn’t even mind giving a little bit more money to expanding the centre.” He added that the money for an expansion would come from the student body, but his executive team would pursue other options like donations from sponsors and the administration once a more concrete idea is presented. According to Nagata, the next step is to approach students and see how they feel about the idea in a referendum. “I personally think we aren’t ready this year. I think we need the students not only to know a little more about the issue but be sympathetic to the cause as well. We are definitely not there yet.” Expansion continued on page 2
UTM parking criticized for lack of space Students complain that the university has oversold parking passes for the current academic year KAYVAN AFLAKI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR UTM’s shortage of parking spaces on campus has caused complaints amongst students who have paid for parking passes, many of who are calling for more space and more reasonable fees. Zainab Qureshi, a third-year Psychology student and UTM commuter, is one of many students becoming frustrated with the university’s parking situation. As a parking pass holder, she travels to UTM regularly for class but has told The Medium that she is “no longer guaranteed a parking spot.” Qureshi elaborates that while she never experienced issues with parking on campus in the past, this year has proven different. “I’ve spent over $700 for a ‘maybe you’ll get a parking spot’,” she explains. “It’s unacceptable.” Commuter students like Qureshi have voiced complaints at the lack of progress being made to alleviate the inaccessibility of parking on campus. She asserts that the UTM administra-
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Students havbecome frusrated with the university’s parking situation. tion should be taking steps to resolve the matter. “I believe they should have designated parking areas for people to payand-display. The rest for parking pass holders.”
She contends that the problem may also be linked to the high volume of students enrolled for the 2018-2019 school year. This year, UTM has enrolled over 14,000 undergraduate students.
“If the university knows that they plan on accepting more students, then they should have planned to add another parking lot.” “If they can build an entire new building, they can add more parking,”
she adds, citing the construction of UTM’s new North Building. The price tag of the new North Building was reported as $121.2 million according to a 2014 UTM Campus Council public agenda. The 2018-2019 ancillary budget approved by the Campus Affairs Committee mandated a three per cent hike in parking permit prices, with the pay-and-display maximum increasing to $15 effective September 1st. In a 2017 interview with The Medium, UTM’s former Chief Administrative Officer Paul Donoghue stated that the price increase would be used to repay the debt of the previous parking decks that were developed adjacent to the RAWC. Other students, along with Qureshi, continue to raise their concerns to The Medium on the campus parking problem. Sasha McCaughey, a fourth-year Biology for Health Science major, echoed Qureshi’s dissatisfaction with the high cost of parking permits and the limited space to park. Parking continued on page 3