Report: UTM Campus Affairs Committee - February 10, 2021

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Via Virtual Meeting

REPORT NUMBER 45 OF THE CAMPUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

FEBRUARY 10, 2021
 

To the Campus Council, University of Toronto Mississauga,

Your Committee reports that it held a meeting on February 10, 2021at 3:10 p.m. via a Virtual Meeting Room.
 

Present:
 

Joseph Leydon (Chair), Robert Gerlai (Vice-Chair), Alexandra Gillespie (Vice-President & Principal), Amrita Daniere (Vice-Principal Academic and Dean), Saher Fazilat (Chief Administrative Officer), Mark Overton (Dean of Student Affairs), Nagham Abdalahad, Diana Aldaz, Lee Bailey, Dario Di Censo, Imre Gams, Claudiu Gradinaru, Adriana Grimaldi, Shelley Hawrychuk, Yuhong He, Tanya Kenesky, Ashley Monks, Hans van Monsjou, James Parker, Stephanie Santos, Joanna Szurmak, Laura Taylor, Ryan Tomlinson

Non-Voting Assessors:
Tammy Cook (Executive Director, Facilities, Management & Planning), Christine Capewell (Executive Director, Financial & Budget Services), Andrea Carter (Assistant Dean, Student Wellness, Support & Success )

Regrets:
Noha Farawi, Allen Lu, Brandon Nageer, Anthony Wensley, Fatima Yakubi, Mitra Yakubi

In Attendance:
Melinda Scott, (Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and Student Policy Advisor), Josh Hass (Coordinator, Student Policy Initiatives), Megan Evans (Manager, Parking & Transportation Services), Antonia Lo (Assistant Director, Student Services & Ancillaries), Jessica Silver (Director, Student Engagement), Renu Kanga Fonseca (Director, Strategy & Sport Wellness), Veronica Vasquez (Director, International Education Centre))

Secretariat:
Cindy Ferencz Hammond (Assistant Secretary of the Governing Council) Emma Thacker (Assistant Secretary of the Governing Council)


  1. Chair’s Remarks

    The Chair welcomed members and guests to the meeting and reminded members about the ongoing governance elections in the Undergraduate student constituencies of the Campus Council, Campus Affairs and Academic Affairs Committees and in the administrative staff constituency of the Campus Affairs Committee. He encouraged those eligible to participate and reminded everyone that voting would be open until Friday, February 19, 2021.
     
  2. Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees: Report and Analysis for 2020-21* (for information)

    The Chair advised members that this item was presented for information and invited Ms Melinda Scott, Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and Student Policy Advisor, to provide her report. Ms Scott offered a presentation that provided a brief overview of the Annual Report. She noted that the Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees specified the requirements and conditions associated with the fees and the manner in which they were charged. The presentation highlighted two significant changes associated with the fees: the Student Choice Initiative as well as reductions associated with COVID-19. She noted that as a result of the Student Choice Initiative, the fall 2019 session is broken down into optional and mandatory components and fees after winter 2020 are shown as they were prior to that initiative. With respect to COVID-19, Ms Scott noted that campus services and student societies were invited to review their programs and services and consider any temporary fee reductions that might be appropriate. She referred members to the documentation, which included the original fees as well as the fees reduced in response to COVID-19.

    A member asked about student society fees and why the part-time student fees were much higher at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Ms Scott explained that those fees had been approved by the relevant student governments, primarily being UTMSU (undergraduates) and UTMAGS (graduate students) at UTM, and that a large component of both was the student U-Pass with Mississauga Transit, which did not have a differentiated fee for part-time versus full-time students. Another member remarked about the high fees paid by graduate students and Ms Scott noted that graduate student society fee questions and concerns would best be addressed to the UTM Association of Graduate Students, who determined them. In addition, she noted that the shuttle bus service and its portion of the student services fee had been suspended during the pandemic, and therefore resulted in a lower charge than had been approved through governance.
     
  3. Operating Plans and Fees: UTM Student Affairs and Services for 2021-22

    The Chair advised members that pursuant to The Memorandum of Agreement Between the University of Toronto, The Students’ Administrative Council, The Graduate Students’ Union and The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students for a Long-Term Protocol on the Increase of Introduction of Compulsory Non-Tuition Related Fees (The Protocol) approved by the Governing Council on October 24, 1996, the UTM Quality Service to Students committee (QSS) reviewed annual operating plans of fee-funded student services, including current and proposed future budgets and related compulsory non-academic incidental fees and would then offer advice to the Committee on those plans. The Chair invited Mr. Mark Overton, Dean of Student Affairs, to present the advice shared from QSS.
     
    1. Advice from the Quality Service to Students Committee (QSS)

      As per The Protocol, Mr. Overton noted that student input was provided in relation to compulsory non- academic incidental fees through consultations with QSS, which was composed of administrative staff and a majority of student members. He noted that although QSS is not a governance body, it is asked to provide advice to governance. He invited Ms Salma Fakhry, Chair of QSS to report on that group’s deliberations. Ms Fakhry noted that QSS's advisory groups on the services met in the fall of 2020, and the directors and managers of the services sought input through those advisory groups to shape their operating plans and budget proposals. She noted that throughout these meetings, the adjustments that these services had been making because of the pandemic had been discussed and the specific budget proposals for 2021-22 had been considered at meetings in December 2020 and at two January 2021 meetings. Ms Fakhry referred members to the straw polls noted in the documentation and explained that there were two subcomponents of the student services fee where students expressed concern about increasing any fees in light of the pandemic. However, she noted that in consideration of the totality of the full fees package, all student voters and administrative voters passed the motions with unanimous support.

      A member asked about the straw poll voting process at QSS. Mr. Overton explained that QSS voted on each individual sub-category fee of the student services fee bundle via a straw poll so that the individual concerns of various specific components could be teased apart and addressed, but then to comply with the requirements of the Protocol, the entire student services fee is voted on as a whole at the end of the process.
       
    2. Operating Plans and Fees for 2021-22

      Mr. Overton summarized the three fee categories and referred members to the documentation, which showed the current fees, the proposed fees which had been endorsed unanimously by QSS, and a reference point, which was the maximum the services could have sought based on the Protocol’s rules. He noted that the administration was seeking either no increase, or as in the case of the student services fee, an increase that was much lower than the maximum allowed.

      He referred members to the detailed operating plans and rationales for fee increases in Health Services, Athletics & Recreation as well as the Student Services Fee category based on student feedback and consultation. He showed a video from a series by the International Education Centre called “The View From Here”, which highlighted how an international student was adapting to studying from abroad during the pandemic.

      A member commented about the ongoing existence of the childcare centre, which received a contribution of $178,000, but only serviced five to eight families. Mr. Overton responded, that over the past number of years, whenever the topic of discontinuing the child care centre arose, there had been a tremendous amount of resistance to such closure. Students had agreed that they were willing to pay extra in order to have the childcare service continue on campus. He added that some of the fee also supported a portable fee for students with child care expenses elsewhere in Peel Region and noted that the Region also provided support to the operation.

      On motion duly made, seconded and carried, YOUR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED,

      THAT the 2021-22 operating plans and budgets for the UTM Health & Counselling Centre; the UTM Department of Recreation, Athletics & Wellness; and the UTM Student Services under the Student Services Fee, recommended by the Dean of Student Affairs, Mark Overton, and described in the attached proposals, be approved; and

      THAT the sessional Health Services Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full-time student be unchanged at $60.15 per session ($12.03 for a part-time student), and

      THAT the sessional Athletics & Recreation Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full- time student be unchanged at $205.88 per session ($41.18 for a part-time student), and

      THAT the sessional Student Services Fee for a UTM-registered or UTM-affiliated full-time student be increased to $210.36 per session ($42.07 for a part-time student), which represents a year-over-year increase of $9.11 per session ($1.82 for a part-time student) or 4.5%.
       
  4. Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees: UTM Student Societies - Proposals for Fee Increases for 2021-22*

    The Chair noted that student society fees were subject to the terms and conditions of the Policy on Ancillary Fees and the Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees. He invited Mr. Overton to speak to the matter. Mr. Overton advised members that the fee increases requested by student societies adhered to the appropriate processes.

    On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED

    THAT beginning in the Fall 2021 session, the University of Toronto Mississauga Association of Graduate Students (UTMAGS) fee be increased as follows: (a) an increase of up to $13.38 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U-Pass portion of the fee; and (b) an increase of up to $8.16 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part- time) in the Mississauga Transit Summer U-Pass portion of the fee1.

    If approved, the total Fall/Winter UTMAGS fee will be up to $236.86 per session, charged to all UTM-affiliated graduate students.

    and,

    THAT beginning in the Summer 2021 session, the University of Toronto Mississauga Student Union (UTMSU; legally, the Erindale College Student Union) fee be increased as follows: (a) an increase of $8.72 per Summer session (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U-Pass portion of the fee;

 1Further to UTMAGS’ request, Mississauga Transit U-Pass fees will not be charged to Master of Forensic Accounting (MFAcc) and Master of Management and Professional Accounting (MMPA) students.


 
THAT beginning in the Fall 2021 session, the UTMSU fee be increased as follows: (a) an increase of $0.25 per session ($0.01 part-time) in the society portion of the fee; (b) an increase of up to $10.21 per session (full-time only) in the Health Plan portion of the fee; (c) an increase of up to $8.53 per session (full-time only) in the Dental Plan portion of the fee; (d) an increase of $6.46 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part-time) in the Mississauga Transit U- Pass portion of the fee (e) an increase of $0.01 per session (full-time and part-time) in the Academic Societies portion of the fee; (f) an increase of $0.06 per session (full-time only) in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) portion of the fee; (g) an increase of $0.01 per session (full-time only) in the Downtown Legal Services portion of the fee; and (h) an increase of $0.01 per Fall and Winter sessions (full-time and part-time) and $0.01 per Summer session (full-time only) in the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Levy portion of the fee; and

THAT beginning in the Fall 2021 session, the UTMSU fee charged to Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM) students in the Fall and Winter sessions be increased as follows: (a) an increase of $7.41 per Fall and Winter sessions in the Mississauga Transit Summer U-Pass portion of the fee.

If approved, the total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee will be up to $416.15 per session (up to $150.81 part- time), charged to all UTM undergraduate students. The total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee for MAM students will be up to $505.91 per session.

  1. Reports of the Presidential Assessors

    The Chair invited Saher Fazilat, Chief Administrative Officer to provide an update on capital projects and the development of the UTM Master Plan.

    Ms Fazilat noted that the Science building was progressing on time and that the proposed Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) building was in the schematic design part of its planning. Because the proposed building was overlooking some of neighboring homes to UTM, there had been a consultation with the City of Mississauga and the local councillor and neighbours, which had gone well. She reported that the anticipated governance consideration date for this building would be September of 2021. The Student Services Commons was still in the planning stages, and was expected to enter governance in April of 2021.

    The CAO reported that the UTM Campus Master Plan was progressing well and that members would receive a presentation on the plan at the Committee’s next meeting. Governance consideration of the plan would occur in fall of 2021.

CONSENT AGENDA

On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE APPROVED
 
THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 7 - Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.

  1. Report on Capital Projects – as at January 31, 2021
     
  2. Report of the Previous Meeting: Report 44

    Report number 44, dated January 12, 2021, was approved.
     
  3. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
     
  4. Date of Next Meeting – March 23, 2021 at 3:10 p.m.
     
  5. Other Business

    There were two items of other business. A member asked administration to comment on Laurentian University’s situation. Christine Capewell, Executive Director, Budget, Planning & Finance noted that UTM, unlike Laurentian, has had a balanced budget for a number of years and that the campus budget presentation in Cycle 5 of this Committee would offer more details about UTM’s sound financial position.

    The second item of other business was raised by a member concerning opportunities and supports for graduate students on the UTM campus and asked administration to consider some strategies for increasing such support and recruitment. Professor Amrita Daniere, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean, noted that supports had been put in place to allow faculty to apply for Strategic Initiatives funding and more funding opportunities specific to UTM were planned. Professor Gillespie, Vice-President & Principal, also responded that UTM had plans to strengthen its research culture and invest in research initiatives including in the physical, chemical and biological sciences. She added that more discussion outside of the purview of this Committee would occur to address this issue.
     

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

February 12, 2021