UWSA fails to support fitness facility referendum

Presentation from UMSU may have swayed vote

GRAHAM PODOLECKI WITH FILES FROM JO SNYDER THE UNITER (UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG)

WINNIPEG — It turns out that University of Winnipeg students may not be voting for a new fitness facility after all. The UWSA decided at their Feb. 23 board meeting not to have a referendum in which students would not only vote for the building of a new fitness facility off the Duckworth Centre, but also the addition of a $35 annual fee for students, meant to pay for the new facility.

Although originally voting in favour of the referendum at their Feb. 8 meeting, the UWSA, faced with new facts and questions about their original decision decided to vote a second time, failing to get the 2/3 support necessary for a referendum.

The meeting featured a presentation from the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) and the University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), arguing that by having students vote on this matter, the UWSA would be setting precedent for other local university administrations to use referendums more frequently to push more fees on students.

Besides the presentation, many board members were worried about how quickly the last vote was made with some board members absent. The vagueness of the referendum’s question along with complaints of a lack of student consultation left some members worried about the university’s intentions. Concerns were raised that the money might not be used for the facility.

“It’s a big decision,” UWSA president Kate Sjoberg pointed out at the meeting. “If we don’t have our eyes open to it, we might miss something.”

The indecisive vote means that the UWSA will neither support nor oppose the referendum. The only way students can now call for a referendum is if a petition with 5 per cent of U of W students’ signatures on it is handed to the university.

Katie Sawicky, president of the Athletic Therapy Students’ Association, is in favour of the proposed renovations to the gym, the extra fee, and the referendum.
“It’s always good to hold a referendum,” she says, “the decision to drop it is disappointing. [The UWSA] needs to look at what the student population wants.”

Professors in the kinesiology department have been encouraging students to sign a petition going around in support of the referendum, says Sawicky. Almost 200 signatures were collected after the first day.

With the upcoming UWSA election, the decision to drop the referendum could have an impact on students’ willingness to vote. For Sawicky, a student who has voted in the UWSA election for the past two years, the lack of debate about the levy could negatively influence her desire to vote. If the student government isn’t listening, she says, what’s the point? “If this issue is taken off the table I would be deterred from voting.”

Recently, Devin King, UWSA director of education, resigned from his position, partially because of the sway in the association’s decision on the referendum. King stated he was unhappy with the amount of power CFS held in decisions made by UWSA, adding that UMSU has been said to have the same problem.