Trent Closes Up
Board Goes Ahead
Trent Democracy: Sham
College Closings, Open Books
College System Modelled
Closures Not Required
Motion Put Forward
Compromise Proposal
Open Session?
More Than Just Buildings
Right To Appeal
Protests
More Protests Planned

WWW TrentAction Archives

Student Demands

• Because students, faculty, staff and community members of Trent University have been excluded from meaningful decision-making processes concerning this institution;
• Because the current administration’s plans endanger the academic and cultural integrity of the college system at Trent, as well as the financial viability of the university as a whole;
• Because the autonomy of Trent University - particularly regarding courses offered, curriculum content, research opportunities and use of public space - is threatened by increasing private control of University space and resources;

1. Strike a committee to reassess the findings of the Final Report of The External Review of The Administration of Trent University (The Arthurs/Lorimer Report), with the mandate of taking concrete steps towards the improvement of decision-making processes at Trent, and focusing on issues of openness, transparency, and accountability to the Trent Community. This committee should be constituted as specified below.*
2. Maintain and enhance Peter Robinson College and Catharine Parr Traill College at their present downtown locations and revise the Capital Development Strategy to reflect this goal.
3. Guarantee that there will be no renewal or negotiation of new contracts with companies seeking to purchase advertising space at Trent University (including Zoom Media) until there has been a TCSA-facilitated student referendum on the issue; and that only with a majority of student approval will such contracts be signed by the administration.
4. Develop an official policy which declares all partnerships with private companies seeking use of university space and/or resources to be an academic issue subject to approval from Senate. This policy must also include criteria for assessing whether the company adheres to ethical and environmental standards domestically and abroad.
5. Recognise the administration’s culpability in the process leading up to these demands and grant legal and academic amnesty to all students involved in the current protest actions.

• Creating a space on the Trent web-site to post ALL comments presented at the open forum, as well as ALL e-mails and correspondence which provide relevant input to the process as defined above.
• Advertising the forum and web-site in community publications, through widely circulated public memos and by publicly displayed posters. After the committee has reviewed and compiled all relevant information, it will present its findings to the Board and Senate and the appropriate steps will be made to implement its recommendations.

Post-Occupation Art Show
A Roaring Success

I made the trip to Peterborough on Saturday to catch a glimpse of the Post-Occupation art show that I'd earlier advertised on this site, just to see how it was going.

As I arrived, I was greeted by Steve Daniels and a crew of other dedicated volunteers who'd spent the week there surviving on pop and other caffeinated beverages.

The show was amazing! The best part of it was the diversity of its contents. Like Trent itself, the artists in Its community are multi-disciplinarian, in the mixed-media sense. There were drawings, sculptures, photographs, watercolour and oil paintings, and posters. They even had 2 audio pieces, a video documentary, and a traditional film piece (set up in a very un-traditional manner) on display.

The combination of visuals, voices, and motion gave me a real sense of what was being fought for, and what was at stake for potential loss.

Over 30 artists contributed to the show; each showing a different piece of the mosaic vision that is our Trent. Thank-you.

dialogue: n.
post-occupation art show.

1. an art show supporting resistance and exploring social justice.

2. MARCH 26 TO 30TH, 383 GEORGE ST. NORTH.
Open during the day

3. All proceeds to THE STUDENT DEFENCE FUND, and continued actions of
a determined majority.

4. info: call steve @ 749 - 6828

or e-mail stevedaniels@canoemail.com

EVERYONE WELCOME!!

THURSDAY NIGHT event:

mediate: vb.
post-occupation art show.

1. a FUNKtion of dialogue.

2. THURSDAY, MARCH 29th
7:00 - 10:00 pm.
383 george st. north

3. Open MIC, speakers, LIVE music starting at 8:00

4. all proceeds to the student defence fund and continued actions of

a determined majority.

5. info steve @ 749-6828
email: stevedaniels@canoemail.com

EVERYONE WELCOME!!!

Teach-In Planned for This Tuesday

A day long teach-in is planned for Tuesday March 20th, from 10:30am until 4:30pm, at the LEC pit.

It will consist of workshops and lectures on themes relating
struggles at Trent to a larger context & look at other resistance
movements. People who have agreed to do workshops or talks:

• Erin George, from the CFS
• Sarah Dopp (anti-globalizaiton activist involved in project 2000)
• Professor John Syrret (who will be talkingon student movements of resistance to the Vietnam War.)
• Pr. T.Stapleton (on student activism in South Africa)
• Joan Sangster and Marg Hobbs (on 'Civil Disobedience, Feminist History and Politics')
• Kevin Thomas, from friends of the Lubicon (who will be talking near the end of the teach-in on issues of corporate control, silencing of protestors & the power of boycotts)

Also, did you hear about Howard Hampton's request to the Solicitor General for an inquiry into the police action?

(e)Motions Passed

Is this what democracy looks like at Trent?

BIG RALLY
Friday, March 16th
1:30pm @ the Bata Podium

Day 4 of the Occupation: the police break-in, arrests, & strip-searches

Show support, please come to the press conference at 12am today in the Lady Eaton College pit on Symons Campus!

At approximately 3am this morning, 25 police officers swarmed the student occupation at Lady Eaton College, forcibly removing and arresting the 8 women inside the Vice President's office and detaining 16 others.

The 8 students inside, who were all of yesterday afternoon and evening engaged in ongoing dialogue with the Peterborough police, were led to believe that they were moving towards a peaceful resolution . Most were alseep when police forces descended upon LEC.

According to folks who a couple of hours ago were at the police station where the 8 students are (still, I think) being held, it looks like they are being processed individually.

Although the police aren't letting other students into the station, a couple of faculty members have been allowed in and a number of students are currently picketing outside the station encouraging supportive honks from passing local traffic.

Isabel.

Photos Of The Occupation

Update from the inside of the Occupation at Trent University - Day 3:

Hello to everyone on the outside!

It is now day 3 of the occupation. Yesterday was a very busy day. We spoke briefly with the President in the morning, when she restated her position that our demands are not negotiable and we restated ours: We are not leaving until our demands are negotiated. The President responded with a warning that we would have to leave the offices, voluntarily or not and that we would be held accountable for our actions. We werre not intimidated by her statements

Most of the day was spent speaking with media. We had interviews with local news people, CBC radio in Toronto, the Independent Media Centre in California and three independent film makers.

During the day we received an outpouring of support letters and e-mails from across North America, from Montreal to Berkely, from Thunder Bay to Cincinatti. These have included letters of solidarity and congratulations from student groups, unions, Trent alumni, the Canadian Federation of University Students, and individuals from communities across the country. These letters have given us much strength and we thank everyone for their show of solidarity.

In the evening we had visiters come up after the community Forum on Trent that was held in downtown Peterborough. This included speaker Rosario Marchese, MPP for Toronoto's Trinity-Spadina riding, who gave us many encouraging works, saying that he was confident that this action could work as a catalyst for further mobilization on the issues at large.

We also had a much appreciated visit from local musician "Rev. Ken" who rejuvinated tired souls with his melodious fiddle.

Also in the evening, upon suspician that the police might try to break in during the night, we prepared for that possibility. We re-fortified our our barricades, prepared for a body chain lock-down and went over jail solidarity and legal support issues.

Fortunately, the rest of our team was well-organized and ready for anything. Twenty-five people remained outside the offices all night, keeping watch and ready to form a human barricade to prevent police from attempting to break in. Those numbers clearly paid off, since the police
We were all relieved that that the police didn't come during the night, and we are now ready for a new day.

We are still in high spirits and are trying to preserve our energy. We are sleeping in shifts and trying to take good care of ourselves.

Again we wish to thank all our supporters and we send hugs to the rest of the team on teh outside.

-From the students on the inside

Statement from the Trent Student Occupiers to Staff & Faculty RE: Personal Files

Update from the inside - February 27th, 2001

Hello to everyone out there!

We have now been barricaded inside the Vice-Presidential Suite Offices of Trent University for 24hrs.

After entering the offices at 8:30am yesterday, announcing that this is a non-violent protest and safely escorting the three staff members out, we locked and barricaded the doors and windows, closed off three rooms for security and set ourselves in for the occupation.

Our phones and e-mail access were cut soon after we entered, but we have been keeping communication links open through a cell phone and other back-up systems.

We are currently feeling pretty much at home in here. We have set up a bathroom (since there wasn't one here - which we knew in advance), a kitchen area, sleeping space, quiet personal space and group meeting area. (Its like a two bedroom apartment for eight - nice 'n' cozy!)

We spent most of the day in meetings, discussing strategy, communicating with outside liaisons, going over set-up and securing the area from all fronts.

In the late morning yesterday, we had a brief encounter with President Bonnie Patterson, accompanied by VIce-President Graham Taylor. Bonnie told us that she did not feel our demands were negotiable. We stated firmly to her, that we are not leaving until our demands are negotiated and that she should come back to speak to us when she is ready to negotiate.

Yesterday evening - we were entertained by a "Rockupation" - an event of music, drumming and rockin'-out - with performances from students and local community members. It was a great time by all!

After the performance, ten people stayed to sleep in the foyer outside the offices - so for the night the occupation grew to 18!

While we all looked forward to a good night's sleep last night, we are in good spirits and feeling well. Much of this is due to the fact that the rest of the group which planned this action as well as many others who recently offered support have been so strong in the work on the outside. We are proud of our teamwork and are keeping each other going.

We want to thank all our supporters, especially those sending food, writing letters, disseminating information, and keeping us company.

Onward we struggle!

In solidarity,
the eight students on the inside.

trent_revolution@hotmail.com

P.S. We have received word that tonight there is a community forum: "Trent in Our Community - It Works" the theme being specific to the downtown colleges issue. This meeting, sponsored by the Peterborough NDP Riding Association, is intended to bring together the various groups and individuals outside the university who realize the value of the colleges and want to find ways to keep them open.
It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew's United Church
The contact for this meeting is Fred Birket, 932-3257.

Student Occupation!

• Because students, faculty, staff and community members of Trent University have been excluded from meaningful decision-making processes concerning this institution;
• Because the current administration’s plans endanger the academic and cultural integrity of the college system at Trent, as well as the financial viability of the university as a whole;
• Because the autonomy of Trent University - particularly regarding courses offered, curriculum content, research opportunities and use of public space - is threatened by increasing private control of University space and resources;

1. Strike a committee to reassess the findings of the Final Report of The External Review of The Administration of Trent University (The Arthurs/Lorimer Report), with the mandate of taking concrete steps towards the improvement of decision-making processes at Trent, and focusing on issues of openness, transparency, and accountability to the Trent Community. This committee should be constituted as specified below.*
2. Maintain and enhance Peter Robinson College and Catherine Parr Traill College at their present downtown locations and revise the Capital Development Strategy to reflect this goal.
3. Guarantee that there will be no renewal or negotiation of new contracts with companies seeking to purchase advertising space at Trent University (including Zoom Media) until there has been a TCSA-facilitated student referendum on the issue; and that only with a majority of student approval will such contracts be signed by the administration.
4. Develop an official policy which declares all partnerships with private companies seeking use of university space and/or resources to be an academic issue subject to approval from Senate. This policy must also include criteria for assessing whether the company adheres to ethical and environmental standards domestically and abroad.
5. Recognise the administration’s culpability in the process leading up to these demands and grant legal and academic amnesty to all students involved in the current protest actions.

• Creating a space on the Trent web-site to post ALL comments presented at the open forum, as well as ALL e-mails and correspondence which provide relevant input to the process as defined above.
• Advertising the forum and web-site in community publications, through widely circulated public memos and by publicly displayed posters. After the committee has reviewed and compiled all relevant information, it will present its findings to the Board and Senate and the appropriate steps will be made to implement its recommendations.

Trent in Our Community

The Feb. 27 meeting, sponsored by the Peterborough NDP Riding Association, is intended to bring together the various groups and individuals outside the university who realize the value of the colleges and want to find ways to keep them open.

The public meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew's United Church on Rubidge Street. Anyone interested in preserving Peter Robinson and Traill Colleges and the programs they offer in Peterborough's downtown is invited to attend.

The contact for this meeting is Fred Birket, 932-3257

The Action Continues!

Welcome to the New Year and the rejuvenated battle to save the
downtown colleges and democracy at Trent! Read what happened
at the open session on January 19 of the Trent Board of Governors,
which turned into a lively demo for free speech and fair governance,
putting the issue back on the front page. We've got a compilation of
the latest news articles from the Peterborough Examiner, Peterborough this Week and Arthur.

Read the five recommendations of the Compromise Proposal
which Faculty Council endorsed on Devember 12, 2000, calling for
the two downtown colleges to remain open until at least 2007. (The
proposal was immediately dismissed by Trent President Bonnie
Patterson, and was refused as an agenda itdem at the open BOG
meeting.).

Here you'll also find an Ontario government spokesperon confirming
that there is no link between provincial government funding and the
closing of the downtown colleges.

As well, there 's an editorial here from the Examiner condemning
the Board of Governors for proceeding with a secret meeting in
President Bonnie Patterson's office without requiring a proper vote
to go ahead. The Examiner also rapped the Board's knuckles for
refusing to hear the compromise proposal, or to accomodate
students who have every right to a proper hearing.

We've also got letters from professors, alumni and faculty and one
from Gary Wolff, Chair of the BOG, responding to the Examiner
editorial.

Read on and please contribute your own thoughts to this forum.
Visit the chatboard and find out what others are thinking and
planning.

Yours in solidarity,
Alumni Saving Trent

Compromise Proposal

A COMPROMISE PROPOSAL

John Syretts Address to the Board of Governors of Trent University,

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COLLEGE CLOSINGS, OPEN THE BOOKS

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER EDITORIAL,
7 DECEMBER 2000

It's a year late and far from complete, but
Trent University's administration has finally
released some detailed information in support of
closing Peter Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill
colleges.

The numbers on individual college costs were
dragged out of Trent in response to a report by
professor George Nader, head of Peter Robinson
college.

Nader disputes the official Trent position that
the two older, downtown colleges are a drain on
the university. His reports conclude that all
five colleges are profitable, with Peter
Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill at the head
of the class.

He also argues that Trent can afford to do $6
million worth of deferred maintenance and
repairs, despite official university concerns
that keeping the aging buildings will eventually
push the university into financial ruin.

All sorts of nasty things have been said about
the creative use of numbers - "figures lie and
liars figure" comes to mind. The Trent situation
is no different, with both sides accusing the
other of selectively picking data to support its
case.

But while the conflicting reports may not
produce a definitive answer, at least they are
out there and available to anyone interested in
Trent's future.

That future is now tied to $33 million in
provincial SuperBuild funding. The money was
approved last spring based on Trent's plan to
close the downtown colleges and build new
residence, classroom and science facilities at
the main campus, along with a native learning
centre.

Until the detailed response to Nader's figures
on college costs was published on Trent's web
site over the weekend, president Bonnie
Patterson and the board of governors were
offering only personal guarantees that their
SuperBuild plan could be backed up and was not
only in the best interest of the university, but
crucial to its survival.

They were saying, in effect, "Trust us."

Patterson was saying, explicitly, trust us
because we know best. She made that clear last
month when refusing repeated requests from
students to release supporting data for the
SuperBuild application.

"It would take hours and hours to go through the
complexity of this decision. It's just not
feasible to take a university community through
that," she said. "University administration is
hired, responsible and accountable for the
financial material it takes through the board
and it will continue to be so."

The SuperBuild report presented to the board of
governors should have been made public when it
was discussed a year ago. If "hours and hours"
of explanation were needed, that would be no
less than the university community, and the
general public, deserved. This is, after all, a
change in direction that both sides say will
determine whether Trent still exists 10 years
from now.

Making the report public would not have ended
all opposition. It may even have given opponents
some ammunition for their fight to preserve the
downtown campuses. But administration's
responsibility was to allow, even encourage,
full debate by all who wanted to participate.
The plan's merits, or faults, would then have
become apparent.

The hard reality is that closure of the downtown
colleges was the provincial government's price
of admission to the SuperBuild funding pool.
Putting money into older buildings originally
designed for some other purpose was not part of
the agenda; modernizing and consolidating
campuses was.

Trent administration chose to deal with that
reality in an autocratic, top-down manner. As a
result, public meetings intended to get input on
how the changes will be made are still dominated
by demands that they be fully explained.

Releasing college financial data, even
grudgingly as a defensive measure, is an
admission that supporting facts and public
debate are necessary. Now Trent should follow
with the entire report.

PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK
Date not known

COMMUNITY CONCEPT AT TRENT MODELED ON WEBSITE, SUPPORTS COLLEGE SYSTEM
LOIS TUFFIN

Professor George Nader found a new ally in his
mailbox earlier this month.

The master of Trent University's Peter Robinson
College discovered a postcard announcing a new
web site that espouses the virtues of a
collegial university system. Collegiateway.org
uses Trent as an example of a university where
each student belongs to a smaller community-one
of six colleges.

The site is created by Harvard University
professor Robert O'Hara and links back to
Trent's web site.

"The real crisis in higher education today does
not have to do with the curriculum, it has to do
with the poverty of student life," Prof. O'Hara
writes.

In the past four decades, staff at large
universities have lost interest in students' non-
academic life, creating a vacuum that has led to
social isolation, alcohol abuse, vandalism and a
loss of connection to a school, he adds.

He encourages educators and students' parents to
choose the collegiate system where professors
influence student life within the university.
The college networks began with Oxford and
Cambridge universities centuries ago.

Back at Trent, Prof. Nader sees the web site as
fodder to support their campaign to keep Trent
the way it is. He has issued two reports
challenging Trent administrators' statements
that closing two downtown colleges-and building
new classrooms at the main north-end campus-will
save the school thousands of dollars in the long
run.

"In this whole business, we're not really
fighting for Peter Robinson College," he says.

"We're fighting for the residential college
system. (Prof. O'Hara) is saying it's the way of
the future, not the way of the past. We need to
create societies."

The changes planned for Trent will strengthen
the college system, not mark its demise, says
Trent president Bonnie Patterson. The colleges
offer speakers and artists-in-residence which
complements the academic side of university
life, she adds.

In November 1999, the university's board of
governors voted to close Peter Robinson and
Catharine Parr Traill's facilities downtown,
saying they would save long-term costs and tap
into more provincial funding by rebuilding.
Trent is battling back from a $9-million deficit
that has since been pared to $1.3 million.

Peter Robinson College, on George Street, goes
up for sale this summer while Catharine Parr
Traill on London Street, stays open until 2005.
The first college to open in the new buildings
will likely be named Peter Robinson College, at
the request of alumni, Ms Patterson adds.

LETTERS: PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER

COLLEGE CLOSURES NOT REQUIRED

Your editorial, "College Closings: Open the
Books", (Examiner, Dec. 7) will be widely
approved. It is important, therefore, to correct
a mistaken impression which it may have left.

No document or public utterance justifies your
statement that "closure of the downtown colleges
was the provincial government's price of
admission to the Superbuild funding pool". For
example the Ministry of Education, announcing
the award, said that Trent's Superbuild project
"will ..., through the eventual sale of the
Peter Robinson and Catherine Parr Traill college
properties, retire debt and generate a sinking
fund/reserve for the maintenance of the new
buildings". This acknowledges the planned sale
as part of the university's proposal, but it is
far from stipulating that the colleges be closed
as a condition of the award. Rather the
ministry's view appears to be that the closures
were a Trent decision, independent of its own
Superbuild agenda.

While we can conclude that the government of
Ontario has no view of its own on whether Trent
should close its downtown colleges, we should
all agree with you in expecting openness from
those who hold public funds in trust.

GRAHAM COGLEY (Professor)
Laurel Circle.

MOTION FOR THE MEETING OF FACULTY COUNCIL
12 December 2000

BE IT RESOLVED THAT FACULTY COUNCIL...

1) Endorses the principles of the document A
Compromise Proposal, a copy of which is attached
to this motion;

2) Calls upon the President and the Board of
Governors to work with faculty, students and
other members of the Trent community to embody
the principles of A Compromise Proposal in
planning and decisions relating to the Build
2000 process and to the future of the University.

Moved: J. Syrett
Seconded: G. Cogley, S. Katz

A COMPROMISE PROPOSAL

This is an important communication to all
faculty about Build 2000. It comes from a group
concerned about the most recent square footage
data supplied by Educational Consulting Services
(ECS). When we see what the $32.7 million of
SuperBuild and other funds will actually buy for
Trent and what they will not buy, it is clear
that the University will achieve only the most
minimal teaching and office space. Everything
else that is non-teaching and research space,
and is therefore outside the SuperBuild
criteria, will be gone or impoverished. We ask
you to spend a few minutes looking at this
critical situation with us, and then we ask if
you can join us in supporting the compromise
shared at the end of this communication. The
compromise tries to meet the needs of all,
including those devoted to the downtown
colleges, and it may be the way out of the
impasse many of us believe prevails. If enough
faculty support it, then the Build 2000 Steering
Committee and the President's Executive Group
will take heed. Please feel free to get in touch
with us if you have any questions.

First, the analysis of the new ECS figures.
Various user groups at Trent will be
disappointed at what these figures point to. For
faculty working in the Sciences, the proposed
new Science Centre is reduced from the $10.0M.
proposed by Build 2000 to $8.6M. in the new ECS
report. Renovations to the existing Science/ECS
building will cost $9.3M. instead of $7.0M. For
faculty working in the Humanities, and to a
lesser extent in the Social Sciences, the
proposed Humanities building goes up from Build
2000's allocated$6.5M. to about $12M. This looks
promising, except that a very high proportion of
the new space is large classrooms and a
performance area. In fact, because of the
constrained resources, the Net Area Square
Footage, identified initially by ECS as needed
for this building, has been reduced sharply from
48,300 to 36,250. At this reduced footage, the
facility will meet minimum teaching needs, and
then only if there is computerized course
scheduling prescribing awkward teaching times,
and faculty offices following the COU standard
of 150 sq. feet - too small for groups over
five. For the community in Native Studies, the
acknowledged need for dedicated square footage
has shrunk to zero. The First Peoples House of
Learning will not exist unless it raises its own
funds. For Trent students, all undergraduate
association, pub and recreational space, at
present occupying more than 10,000 sq. feet, has
shrunk to zero. Student life space will not
exist unless students fund it themselves, and
then the space will only exist in a small,
centralized Student Centre. The ECS planning
basis also provides no room for current and
future growth of graduate studies and research
on the arts side, and locks us into the current
undergrad/grad mix.

Further to this situation of reduced
expectations, faculty should know that costs of
all non-fixed equipment and furniture for the
whole rebuilding project are extra to the costs
identified by ECS. (The 30% factor for "soft
services" does not include these necessities.)
Thus, even in its bare essentials the Build 2000
project cannot be realized for its projected and
available $32.7M. Extra costs approaching $6M.
are needed to realize a new consolidated campus,
suggesting that the effort to replace the
downtown colleges, which is the driving idea of
the project, will even further cripple space
needs on the Symons campus. Most serious of all
for many of us is the loss to Trent of its
unique environment for teaching and learning.
The ECS figures now make clear that this
environment, held in place partly through the
colleges and partly through a diversity of
student traditions, will not be paid for by the
funding at hand. In other words, student college
and social space is sacrificed. Over the three
years of rebuilding and perhaps for long after,
our environment for education will deteriorate
to the point where the types of students we like
to teach in the Sciences as well as the
Humanities & Social Sciences will go elsewhere.
Generally, we feel there is too much risk in
Build 2000 as it is presently conceived. The
compromise we propose is as follows:

(1) The Sciences buildings achieve something
like the full funding originally allocated to
them under SuperBuild, not the scaled-down
amount of ECS. The Sciences are adding a new
reputation to our University and they deserve
the best resources available.

(2) The Humanities & Social Sciences, in which
Trent's reputation was originally made and still
is made, receive a College 6 so that teaching
remains in the college context in which it
flourishes best. College 6 will follow the
thinking of the Residence, Social Space &
Conference Reference Group as well as the recent
TCSA position. The college would be built on the
Symons Campus in stages in line with the most
pressing needs.

(3) Some funds earmarked for the Humanities /
Social Sciences building will go to a free-
standing First Peoples' House of Learning along
the lines envisaged by its planners.

(4) The downtown colleges remain open and
continue to function as colleges. No college is
terminated until there is another college ready
for the students to go to, and in any event not
until the double cohort has passed through. (It
should be noted that in terms of residences,
which account for more than 80% of downtown
college space, the downtown colleges make more
profit on a per-bed basis than do the Symons
Campus colleges.)

(5) Finally, having sorted out our institutional
direction in a way that pleases most interests,
we prepare a fundraising campaign with a united
Trent behind it to fill out the renewed unique
strengths of our University. We feel this is the
best compromise available to us in the present
funding situation. Could you contact John Syrett
if you support such a compromise in principle?

The following members of Faculty Council have
indicated that they support the Compromise
Proposal in principle:

Olga Andriewsky
Sedef Arat-Koc
Pradeep Bandyopadhyay
Zsuzsa Baross
David Berger
Molly Blyth
Stephen Bocking
Rita Bode
Jonathan Bordo
Costas Boundas
Greg Cameron
Maralynn Cherry
Jennifer Clapp
Lorrie Clark
Debra Clarke
Graham Cogley
Sheila Collett
Jim Conley
Doug Curtis
Richard Dellamora
Victoria DeZwaan
Bernadine Dodge
Zoe Druick
Margaret Dyment
Geoffrey Eathorne
Colin Fewster
Ken Field
Kevin Fitzmaurice
Blake Fitzpatrick
Franklin Garcia-Sanchez
Jeff Grischow
Julia Harrison
Teresa Healy
Alison Hearn
Alena Heitlinger
John Hillman
Marg Hobbs
Bernie Hodgson
David Holdsworth
Veronica Hollinger
Trevor Holmes
Chris Huxley
John Jennings
Charlotte Jones-Noriega
Sean Kane
Stephen Katz
Carolyn Kay
Sarah Keefer
Konrad Kinzl
Arndt Kruger
Peggy Kruger
Michele Lacombe
Jean-Pierre Lapointe
Alan Law
Winnie Lem
Brian MacOwen
Jean Manore
John Marsh
Barb Marshall
Christine Maxwell
Mary Jane McCallum
Don McCaskill
Ian McLachlan
Anne Meneley
John Milloy
Orm Mitchell
David Morris
David Morrison
Michael Morse
George Nader
Mark Neufeld
Teo Noriega
Peter Northrop
Frank Nutch
Alan O'Connor
David Page
Andreas Pickel
Zailig Pollock
David Poole
Sara Posen
Dan Powell
Stephen Regoczei
Stuart Robson
Joan Sangster
Leanne Simpson
Jill Smith
Jackie Solway
Kevin Spooner
Elaine Stavro-Pearce
Margaret Steffler
Jim Struthers
John Syrett
Yves Thomas
John Topic
Doug Torgerson
John Wadland
Keith Walden
Ellen Waterman
Peter Watson
Andrew Wernick
Will Wilson
Rob Winslow
Bob Wright
Susan Wurtele

ARTHUR 23/01/01

OPEN SESSION? PATTERSON:
"MAYBE IN OUR NEW FACILITIES."
By Hala Zabaneh
Trent News Reporter

The "open session" of the January 19 Trent Board
of Governors meeting turned out to be not so
open. Over 40 concerned students and faculty
gathered outside the AJM Smith conference room
to attend the open session of the BoG meeting.
The crowd was informed that only 20 non-Board
members would be allowed into the room. Trent
Security, saying "we received our directives,"
cited fire regulations as the reason for the 20-
person limit.

Those who were allowed into the AJM Smith room
requested that the meeting be moved to a larger
venue. They also asked that the remaining
students be admitted to the meeting, and called
attention to vacant chairs and tables. Trent
President Bonnie Patterson responded by saying:
"We have a limited number of spaces. We cannot
simply take over larger parts of the
library...that's just not what we do. Maybe in
our new facilities."

Chanting "The Board's business is our business!"
students outside of the foyer pressed against
the locked doors, pounding the glass and holding
a banner which read "We are winning!"

Inside the AJM Smith room Trent student Niiti
Simmonds told the Board: "The further you
alienate students from the decision making
process, the further you are going to divide
this university." Shortly after Simmonds spoke,
BoG members closed their books and started to
exit the room.

David Wallbridge, student representative on the
BoG stated, "The Board Chairman [Gary Wolff]
made the decision that the meeting could not
continue because of the disturbance."

When Board members tried to reconvene the
meeting in an undisclosed location, students sat
down and linked arms to block their passage.

Patterson and a partial BoG retreated to the
President's office where quorum was maintained
and motions of a time-sensitive nature were
passed.

Students and some Board members remained in the
blocked hallway together for another hour,
arguing and munching on the Board's catered
breakfast treats. Protestors also gathered
outside all exits, playing guitars, drums and
didgeridoos. "I have a concern with the
accountability of the BoG," said student
protestor Devan Penney.

"I guess they don't want an open meeting," said
Cultural Studies professor Andrew Wernick.

Absent from the open session's agenda was the
Compromise Proposal recently endorsed by 104
Trent faculty members. A request to put the
proposal on the agenda was chief among a list of
demands prepared by students who had hoped to
attend the open session of the BoG meeting. The
Compromise Proposal requests that Trent
administration delay the closure of Peter
Robinson College until new facilities have been
opened.

Professor John Syrett added, "1 presume they're
afraid of having an open forum. My hope is that
they'll slow down and take another look. There
are enough signs that the Board has not taken
this seriously - this pressure might make them.
They're going to have to eat a lot of humble pie
and that's not easy."

One second year Trent student who was observing
the confrontation commented, "If students want
to sit in it's a good idea. I'm not really
involved but I care about it."

With files from Nanva Smolash

ARTHUR: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PETER ROBINSON COLLEGE:
MORE THAN JUST BUILDINGS

The news from other universities is about
introductory week signs saying "Send us your
virgins" (Queen's), or eight rapes on campus
since July (York), or coaches and swimming
instructors (Simon Fraser). At Trent, there is
none of this. Instead, the news from Trent is
about students and faculty standing up for
"Canada's Outstanding Small University."

The reason Trent is outstanding is because it
has the most vibrant upper-year student culture
of any university in Canada. This affectionate
free-spirited culture is also Trent's greatest
asset because it automatically recruits other
likeminded students here, and for a fraction of
what is spent on high school liaison.

What brings students to a wintry small city and
keeps them here is a diverse system of
communities that are held in place by the
college model. Each college has evolved its own
student folkways, giving Trent the energy of six
small universities all overlapping in one time
and place. I can't describe each of these sub-
worlds in their specialness, but I can share the
one I know best, which is Peter Robinson.

Here, in a group of funky heritage buildings,
faculty and staff have worked together on the
edge of an upper-year student village for over
twenty years. Here, births, maturities.
marriages, and yes even deaths - the realities
of life - are a part of ones experience of
growing up. Some remember when Sylvia, the Head
Housekeeper, was a little girl holding brooms
and mops trotting after her mother who was Head
Housekeeper before her. Here, in this ebullient
human community five Trent faculty found their
life-long partners. Here, philosophy professor
Alan Orenstein died among us. He rented a house
across the street from PR and used the last
months of his life to host a Platonic Symposium
open to all, and he was still teaching even when
his friends had to hold his head up - his death
a gift to the community. Here, North America's
first Cultural Studies department was formed,
twenty years ahead of its time. Here, Jeff
Ruhl's mayoralty campaign began. Here, Tom
Symons, one of Canada's most distinguished
public servants, still has his office. Fourth
Line Theatre was conceived here. "Virtual
Freedom," Trent's own Leacock award of merit
novel, is set at Peter Robinson. The College has
produced outstanding graduates in the arts and
media, out of all proportion to its size.

Why destroy an asset like Robinson College?
Because the University can save on some deferred
maintenance. But George Nader's analysis shows
that deferred maintenance is actually small at
Peter Robinson - the place is relatively cheap
to maintain and it won't bring in much cash to
sell. Why close PR? Because the College System
is said to be a drag on the University's budge'
Yet Nader's "Business Analysis of Trent's
Residential Operations" given to the Board shows
that Trent's colleges actually make a profit for
the University, and PR is one of the best profit-
makers.

Since there is no overwhelming financial reason
to terminate this asset and since the closing of
PR is the only decision the senior
administration has made, downtown faculty can be
forgiven for thinking that the senior
administration's crusade to close PR is an act
of punishment against a community that has
maintained a $100,000 legal appeal on behalf of
the authority of Senate over educational policy.

Certainly, the culture of a downtown college
can't be recreated on the Nassau campus.
Dispirited faculty are not much for recreating
cultures. Neither are students who have to
travel to a suburban campus on a cold day. Will
you take a crowded user-fee bus out there for a
9:30 a.m. lecture on a cold day or will you just
stay in bed? Will you stand in the rain at night
at the bus stop for an evening event on main
campus? Will you give up your teaching practicum
or part-time job for a class scheduled by
computer for Friday afternoon? Small-group
teaching depends on lectures; lectures depend on
attendance - but will professors facing half-
empty lecture theatres go the extra mile for
students in small-group teaching? It will be
easier just to follow the six hours a week of
mass teaching as is done at the impersonal
universities, instead of the 12 hours a week
personal teaching we do now.

And so the slide into mediocrity will begin.
Trent is now in 4th place in Maclean's small
university rankings. Before 1996 it was in 2nd
place. In terms of average entering grade. Trent
is now 40th among Canada's 47 ranked
universities. Alumni support was 2nd in 1996:
now it is 5th. The only way the senior
administration can stop this slide is by a
balanced use of SuperBuild funds along the lines
of the "Compromise Proposal" being advanced by
many faculty. Otherwise. I can't guarantee Trent
will be a good place for students to come to -
except as a place of last resort for the
overflow of southern Ontario students who can't
get in anywhere else.

Sean Kane

PROFS GRANTED RIGHT TO APPEAL
by Anup Grewal
ARTHUR

Pressure is mounting against the Trent Board of
Governors, regarding their unpopular November
1999 decision to close the downtown colleges. In
a timely holiday surprise, the Ontario Court of
Appeals granted Professors Andrew Wernick and
Ian McLachlan the fight to appeal a September
court decision that dismissed their application
to block the Board's decision on the fate of PR
and Traill colleges.

In the September Judicial Review, three judges
from Divisional Court dismissed the original
application by the two professors and assessed
them court costs of S20,000.

The professors' lawyers had argued in September
that the colleges fall under the mandate of the
Senate, not the Board of Governors. The Trent
Act of 1964 states that Senate has authority
over matters of educational importance while the
Board is responsible for finances and the
physical capital of the University. The question
is whether closing the town colleges is a
financial or an educational matter.

The professors argue that under the Trent Act,
decisions about the colleges fall under
educational policy and are not solely about
finances.

The Board counters that the decision is
financial. In response to the appeal being
granted, Board Chair Gary Wolff states in a
press release that he "remains confident that
the Board acted within its authority and in the
best interests of the university and that the
appeal will again affirm this position."

The court case is being watched closely by
others around the country. James Turk, executive
director of the Canadian Association of
University Teachers (CAUT), says the case has
implications which go "well beyond Trent." The
CAUT, which represents over 30,000 professors
and university librarians, is financing the
professors' legal costs during the appeal.

According to Turk, if in the Trent case "the
board overruling the Senate is allowed to stand,
it calls into question all academic boards
across the country."

For Trent University, the court case also
represents another challenge to the
administration's Capital Development Strategy.
The strategy was created in order to obtain
provincial SuperBuild funding, which the Harris
government is granting post secondary
institutions to deal with the "double cohort" of
students beginning in 2003. President Bonnie
Patterson maintains that closing the town
colleges and having new buildings on Symons
campus will save the University money.

In recent months, however, the viability of this
money saving plan has been contested. In two
financial reports given to the Board, PR College
Master George Nader has argued that the closure
of the town colleges will ruin Trent
financially. Nader contends that it is unwise to
spend the provincial funds to replace existing
buildings.

Government sources confirm that there is nothing
to stop the Board from deciding what becomes of
Trent facilities. Universities are "autonomous
organizations", says Ministry of Training and
Education spokesperson David Ross. "We don't
impose upon them."

Whatever the case may be, the court case will be
closely watched in the months to come. No date
has been set for the actual appeal. The
professors have 30 days to file details and then
the University has 30 days to respond, after
which an appeal date will be scheduled.

PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER 20/01/01

PROTEST DISRUPTS TRENT EVENT
By INGRID NIELSEN Examiner Staff Writer

Members of Trent University's Board of Governors
were trapped in a foyer yesterday as about 20
angry students barricaded the area and demanded
an opportunity to voice concerns about the
closing of the university's downtown colleges.

About 40 more students and faculty protested
outside the foyer, visible through glass doors
but locked out by security.

After about 10 minutes of confusion and loud
chanting by the 60 protesters, Trent president
Bonnie Patterson, who had been confined to the
foyer, was able to get through the student
protest with the help of university security
officers and into her office.

Several board members managed to follow her and
entered Patterson's office, visible through more
glass doors. Protesters yelled out, "The board's
business is our business" and "Shame, shame."

A brief board meeting was held in Patterson's
office with several members missing, still among
the students in the hallway protest. Members
missing from the relocated meeting included the
board's two student representatives, Jordan
Lyall and David Wallbridge, who continued to
speak with protesters.

This latest battle in the fight over the
downtown colleges was spurred by an earlier
decision by the board to limit the number of
students allowed into the scheduled morning
board meeting.

On the agenda were the Build 2000 update and the
Symons Campus Master Plan update, both of which
relate to the downtown closures. Some of the
students said they had hoped for a chance to
address the board on these issues.

Protesters were also angry Prof. John Syrett was
not allowed to address the board yesterday about
a "compromise proposal" he and three other
professors circulated among faculty. Ninety of
Trent's 314 faculty members have endorsed the
proposal.

The compromise, released in December, calls for
Peter Robin son and Catharine Parr Traill
colleges to remain open until at least 2007 to
accommodate the double cohort of high school
graduates.

Board chairman Gary Wolff said due to fire and
safety regulations, only 20 students would be
let into the "open meeting."

About 40 additional students wanted in and they
demanded the meeting be held in a larger room to
accommodate everyone who wanted to attend. Wolff
said no.

"The debate (over moving the meeting) is over.
We believe we can process our agenda today. If
you'd like to participate, please stay," he said
to the 20 students in the A.J.M. Smith
Conference Room in Bata Library.

"Do you honestly expect us to sit here and shut
up?" one student yelled out.

Wolff warned the students that if the
disruptions continued, the meeting would be a
closed session and all the students would have
to leave.

"The fact of the matter is we're not going to
let this move forward," another student said in
response.

"This meeting has been changed to a closed
meeting," Wolff said angrily, and board members
were instructed to follow to a new, undisclosed
location.

When they attempted to travel through the
hallway, students blocked all exits by gathering
tightly at the doorways, linking arms and
refusing to leave when
asked by security.

At one point, one board member tried to push through a doorway. He tripped over
one of the protesters-and fell to the floor. The protester cried out that she
had been stepped on.

The protest escalated to yelling and banging on windows and more Trent security
officers arrived. No one was removed by force.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Lyall, shaking her head. "Being a board member
and a student, I'm in a difficult position."

A banner was unfurled in the outer hallway and put up against the glass. It
read, "We're winning." At one point, students were slipping danishes and
pastries from the board meeting under the locked to door to fellow protesters.

Dave McLauchlan, head of Trent security,
remained with the protesters throughout the two
hour event. He said he had concerns for board
members' safety but things "never got out, of
hand."

"I'm used to this sort of thing," he said about
the student protest.

Patterson said protests are typical at a
university, but she was concerned because
students were pounding on the glass and if it
broke, it could have caused injuries.

STUDENTS PLAN MORE PROTESTS
By KELLY LEYDlER Examiner Staff Writer
January 20, 2001

The crashing of an open house celebration at
Trent University by about 70 angry students
yesterday is a preview of more to come, one
student said.

"This will-be the strategy from now on,"
cultural studies and philosophy student Jacob
Potempski said, "to forcefully make our way into
the process. We're going to try to interfere
with the process."

The students, who want the university's downtown
colleges to remain open, were angry about
limited access to the morning board of governors
meeting. They brought their protest to the
official opening of the information commons in
the Bata Library.

The commons is the result of $2.8 million in
SuperBuild funding from the Ontario government
to develop a high-speed electronic network
between Trent and Sir Sandford Fleming College.

At Trent, there are about 60 new and upgraded
computers, a new wired classroom with 20
computers, a geomatics (mapping) and multimedia
lab and a new interactive learning centre. The
high-speed link that will allow both college and
university students to get information from
either institution, will be complete by
September, said Dave Binkley, head of Trent's
computing services.

Speeches by Trent president Bonnie Patterson,
Fleming president Brian Desbiens, and provincial
government representatives continued while the
students heckled, popped balloons and booed.

The podium was below the portrait of Trent's
founding president Thomas Symons, on which a
piece of paper in the shape of a caption balloon
was posted. It stated: "Don't Close PR (Peter
Robinson College)."

On balloons decorating the room, students wrote
messages, such as, "Keep the Downtown and "Don't
Centralize...Compromise."

While Patterson spoke, a student posted signs on
the podium stating, "Listen to Students," and
sat on the floor holding another.

After Desbiens spoke, another student approached
the podium.

"We disrupted this meeting because we want an
open process," anthropology student Jean
McDonald said.

She accused the board of governors of having a
"spineless decisionmaking process," and
presented the backbone of a cow in a plastic
bag. She then walked over to Patterson and
handed her a paper heart, and said, "There you
go, sweetheart."

Peaceful protests, a letter-writing campaign,
and a meeting with the board of governors didn't
accomplish their goals, Potempski said.

"Formal presentations haven't gotten us anywhere
and it's getting urgent," he said.

Peter Robinson College is expected to close this
summer; Catharine Parr Traill College is slated
for closure in five years.

Patterson told students she would speak with
them after the ceremony, but most left soon
after the ribbon-cutting.

"Their agenda today was disruption, which they
accomplished," Patterson said.

The board spent two hours with the students in
December.

"We explored many issues," Patterson said.
"Obviously these students don't agree with the
outcome."

The board is moving forward, she said, and
following a plan to "reduce costs in the long
term."