U of T students shell out $30 million for Pan Am sports complex
Students at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus have perplexed people city-wide by agreeing to help pay for a new athletics facility on their campus—one that would probably have been built for the upcoming Pan Am Games anyway. To be fair, it’s likely the students will be most perplexed, considering that only a small number of them (2,300 out of 10,273) bothered to cast a ballot in last week’s referendum. The vote gave the thumbs-up to a levy that will see the students contributing $30 million over 25 years toward a state-of-the-art athletics complex that will be a major part of the 2015 Games. (No word on how state-of-the-art it’ll be after 25 years, but no matter.) The rest of the bill will be footed by the university and the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
Joeita Gupta, vice-president of the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students, told the Star that the students were led to believe that without the levy, the new facility would not be built. She says her group received word from the mayor’s office and the local councillor that a “no” vote on the referendum would not have halted the facility’s production. “People lost track of the fact that this building would have been built even if students voted no,” she said.
By 2014, when the new athletics centre is slated to open, full-time students will contribute $140 per semester as part of their student fee package. By our calculations, that’s the equivalent of nearly 19 days’ worth of food for those on OSAP.
• U of T students vote in favour of levy for Pan Am aquatic facility [Toronto Star]
• U of T students approve levy to build athletic complex [Globe and Mail]
• Pan Am pool approved for U of T campus [CBC]
Did anyone think about the children in the current primary/secondary schools?
Or what happens after the games? how often would it be used and the maintenance costs?
Students should not be voting for the new aquatic centre because many of them will have graduated and many will not use the facility. There should also be a plus 50% undergraduate turnout for voting, else outcome is skewed. Students are in their final exams and may not be aware of what is happenning.
The vote should come from taxpayers, parents and high school students who will be forking this bill in the coming years.
The facility should be built in the Greater Toronto Area (Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughn etc.) and not be congested within the confines of central Toronto. If you take a look at the Vancouver Olympics, the Richmond Oval is now used as a skating/fitness facility for the public and a training ground for all athletes. Everyone wants to go and it is easily accessible for EVERYONE!
I am a UofT grad and a mother of 2. My children will be attending university in the coming years. As a parent, would you send them to UofT or another university with the same great reputation but lower cost?