OPEN FORUM ON THE DNA CLUSTER PROJECT:
Community Members Question the Benefit of 70-Acre
Business Park on Trent Campus

An open forum on the proposed DNA Cluster Project at Trent will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 in Lady Eaton College, Room 203, Trent University. Panelists at the open forum include Bonnie Patterson [OurTrent editor's note: President Bonnie Patterson cancelled her appearance at the very last moment], Trent University President and Greater Peterborough Region DNA Cluster (GPRDC) Board Member, Brad White, Director of the Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre, and Dennis Ferkany, LABINterlink Managing Director and DNA Cluster Project Executive Director.

Because very little detailed information has been made available to the Trent community, a number of concerned groups are organizing an open forum to discuss the issue. Members of the Trent administration and those involved in the DNA project have been invited to speak on a panel and then respond to questions and comments from the floor.

The open forum, which is being hosted by the Trent Association for Public Universities (TAPU), the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA), and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), will provide an opportunity for Trent and Peterborough community members to find out more information about what could be the largest public-private partnership at Trent University.

Trent University is proposing to build a DNA research facility on the Symons campus which will incorporate the creation of a 70-acre industrial park. The DNA Cluster would be developed in a public-private partnership between Trent, the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ontario Provincial Police, and other private sector partners.

The groups involved in organizing the forum are concerned about the lack of public consultation and open process around the project to date. The project has received no consultation within the wider university community, nor has it been approved by the Trent University Senate and Trent’s Board of Governors. "This project marks a significant shift in the direction of Trent University," says TAPU member Natalie Napier, "a shift too great to be done without meaningful consultation within the university community."

While Trent’s Board of Governors has not given the official go-ahead for the project, at the last BoG meeting on October 1, the site for the DNA Cluster was chosen on the North-East side of the Science Complex, on Trent’s east bank. An architect for project has been chosen, an application for a building permit is underway, and a completion date has already been set for December 2005.

"This project is moving forward at an alarming pace," says Shantel Ivitts, TCSA Director of University Affairs, "its benefit to the Trent and Peterborough communities needs to be seriously evaluated before it can go ahead."

According to President Patterson, the "vision" for the cluster is "driven by DNA research (led by Trent University) and its commercialization potential." At a Board of Governor’s meeting in April 2003, Patterson stated that Trent 's participation in the DNA cluster should "help the University to meet future commercialization targets."

But beyond "commercialization targets," TAPU members are concerned that leasing out Trent’s land for the purposes of an industrial park will be of little benefit to the university. "What are the benefits of this research beyond financial profitability?" asks Niiti Simmonds.

The groups involved in organizing the panel are also concerned about what impact a 70-acre industrial park will have on Trent’s Nature Areas; how this project will benefit Trent students, staff and professors; what businesses are involved in this project and what are their backgrounds and objectives; and why has this project gone ahead without due process.

To find out more information about the DNA Cluster project, or for questions about the open forum, please contact Cat Dickinson or Shantel Ivitts at the Trent Central Student Association at 748-1000, or email tapu@trentcsa.ca

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