Hear Other Side City council listened to the people who favour keeping Trent University’s downtown colleges. Council didn’t make a decision to support their view. That was the right decision Monday night. What council chose to do was wait until it heard the other side of the debate. Trent president Bonnie Patterson will speak to council next month. Council will be able to question her about the university’s decision to seek provincial funding and close the downtown colleges. That’s a long delay.
The people who came to council Monday night made good arguments to keep the colleges. The arguments were based on economics, education, culture, passion and history. Council listened.
Councillor Bob Hall asked council to throw its support behind the preservation of downtown.
But council should hear the other side. Why is it waiting until next month?
There are those who say council should get involved in this argument, there are others who say it is none of council’s business. It is clearly council’s business unless, of course, the future is not its business.
Council is listening, and while some of the members may be hesitant in getting involved, it is now clearly involved. What is closer to a community than the university, the downtown, the economy, the youth and the future?
If council chooses not to stick its nose in the business of college closings in its downtown, it must also choose not to get involved in private enterprise…bars, restaurants, industries, planning.
It is absurd to think the business of Trent University’s future is not the business of a community council.
If that was the attitude the council of 1950s took, there may not be a university in the community today. As much as it is the role of council to attract outstanding institutions such as Trent to this city, it is the role of the council to make sure about its future.
But it also should listen to all sides before deciding what role it will take, and on Monday night it made the right decision.
The council should have asked President Patterson to speak with members long before this. Council seems to be taking a passive attitude toward the situation.
Let’s hope that is not the position it wishes to adopt on all local issues. The council can certainly play a role with Trent and the province. Having stated this the real problem is not one of council’s making, but the university’s.
The university’s board of governors gave its community little time for debate. The university shouldn’t blame the province for this haste. The plan to ride itself of these colleges was hatched long before any application for provincial funding.