Hi everybody! We’re Trevor Jenkins and Juzer Sharafali, two of your Federation of Students’ Councillors for this 2011-2012 academic year. We’re here to represent the interests of engineering students within FedS in order to make sure the Federation is serving the needs of engineers and remaining accountable to students. We’re unfortunately both out of town this term for co-op, so you won’t be able to find us in the halls, but if you ever have any concerns, drop us a line at t.ek.jenkins@gmail.com or juzer89@gmail.com.
Federation Hall
As many of you have probably heard, the university has sent notice to the Federation stating that they have decided not to renew the lease of Fed Hall past its expiration in April 2012. How can they take control of a building paid for entirely and directly by student fees for over 15 years?
Essentially, all buildings on campus are owned by the university, so when a building like Fed Hall is built, a lease is signed with the university for a set period of time. In the case of Fed Hall, the original 20-year lease, which expired in 2004, contained a clause preventing the university from withholding renewal of the lease without reasonable cause. This was subsequently removed from the following lease that expired in 2010 and in the one which expires in 2012. Technically, the university is within its right to take over the building without any form of compensation to students or FedS for constructing, maintaining or equipping the building, or for establishing a reputation as a premier banquet facility in the region.
The university hasn’t finalized its plans for what it intends to do with Fed Hall. According to the latest information provided, it would see Food/Catering Services relocated to Fed Hall from SCH, which would then become the new home to the Student Success Office. Fed Hall would likely continue to operate in some capacity as a banquet facility, but early reports indicate the second floor mezzanine may be converted into offices, thereby removing the area commonly used as the 19+ area.
One of the university’s arguments for taking over the venue is that about half of the events are for off-campus groups like RIM, high school proms and weddings, something the university states the venue hadn’t been intended for. However, these groups ultimately subsidize student groups, who rent the hall either at reduced rates or even free. With no other large banquet facilities on campus, and both Bomber and SCH having limited capacities, it’s difficult to find space for large student gatherings on-campus. Should the university take over operations, the future of events like ComEng, society semi-formals and Frosh Week could potentially be impacted.
The Federation is opposed to this move and is in the process of establishing a student consultation strategy to see how students feel about this issue. From the information already gathered, students are either strongly opposed to the move or are impartial. Most view Fed Hall as a valuable resource to have for large events and don’t mind it being used by off-campus groups like RIM, since it does ultimately make the venue more affordable for student groups operating on shoe-string budgets.
For the sake of space I’ll cut this topic off here. For more information on the issue as a whole, check out feds.ca, under the story “Fed Hall Update-May 20, 2011” or contact me at t.ek.jenkins@gmail.com. Any further comments or opinions can also be directed to any of your friendly FedS Councillors.
Federation By-Elections-RUN RUN RUN!
Due to the huge number of students within Engineering, our faculty has six seats on the Federation of Students Council, with only three currently filled. As a result, there will be a by-election this spring to elect students to the remaining three seats of council. Any student within the faculty can run (with the exception of Architecture, which has its own separate seat) regardless of term, society (A- vs. B-Soc) or whether they are on campus or not. Since all the current councillors are on co-op, it’d be great to get some on-campus representatives to help with consultation and representation. Dates for the election are TBA, and I’ll pass them on once I hear. If you have any questions about the role or election procedures, please don’t hesitate to contact either one of us.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about anything related to FedS or the university in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us at t.ek.jenkins@gmail.com and juzer89@gmail.com. Best of luck to all of you as the impending midterm season approaches!
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