Why do we have a major building project on campus when we are short of money for day-to-day operations? It's a good question, and because the new construction and the tightness in operating budgets are equally visible these days, it is not surprising that it should be asked. I think there is a good answer and, if you are asked the question or you are asking it of yourself, I hope you will find the following to be helpful.
Our student facilities were built in the mid-'60s when we had about 5,000 students registered at St. John's. The numbers throughout the '90s have been 15,000 or more. The result is a grossly overcrowded student facility. In spite of creative upgrading and superb facilities management by all those concerned, the TSC has, for the past 15 - 20 years, been hopelessly inadequate for the purpose.
Recruitment issue
Over the past 15 years I have visited almost every university campus in Canada. In relation to size of student body, our non-academic student facilities are at rock bottom. They create for us an image of an overcrowded and uncaring institution. Don't take my word for it; the surveys and focus groups say so. This obviously detracts from our image and results in decisions to go elsewhere by some proportion of potential students.
In designing the new facilities, we built in not just the facilities to be used directly for student activities, but office space for those university employees directly concerned with student well-being — counselling services, medical services and student services generally so that, to the extent possible, there would be a "one-stop shopping" approach to student services. We also plan to have a variety of shops and services for the everyday needs of the whole university community. We therefore took the opportunity to place the new student centre at the geographic centre of campus for maximum convenience to all, which means that it must span the Prince Philip Parkway. This will assist in correcting the artificial physical division that effectively creates "two solitudes": the undergraduate campus and support facilities on the south side and the professional campus on the north. We obviously need more than physical links to rebuild the sense of community, which I think is weak at Memorial, but the physical bridge will, nevertheless, be an important step in the process. I believe it will also result in more interaction between students, faculty and staff, outside classrooms and labs, than now exists.
In short, we need not apologize to anybody for finally providing for the students at Memorial a student centre that has facilities comparable to those they would expect to find at any other Canadian university.
Funding issue
These facilities are not being provided through normal funding sources, those sources that allow us to operate from day-to-day and year-to-year. The money is coming from a special capital campaign organized for that purpose. Three million dollars of the $16 million in construction cost is coming from the student body through a $5 levy on each course registration. Five million dollars is coming from private sources through our fundraising, and the total of $8 million is being matched by the provincial government. This money would not be available to us for operating purposes. If we weren't using it to construct the student centre, we wouldn't have it.
Personally, I look forward to seeing the building completed at about the time that I complete my term as president. The timing will be convenient from another viewpoint. We are getting very close to the point where our library will need more space. When that occurs, the former student centre is close at hand and available to be utilized for library and archives, study space, lecture theatres, and associated purposes. It will need some costly transformation, but that's another challenge!
A.W. May, OC
President and Vice-Chancellor