December 29, 1999

Many questions have been raised about Trent's Capital Development Strategy and the application for funding from the SuperBuild Growth Fund for Postsecondary Education. The University welcomes the interest of its extended community and has provided the following answers to frequently asked questions. If you do not find answers to your questions here, please contact Skip Maxwell, Chair, Steering Committee.

Why is Trent closing the downtown colleges?

Trent does not plan to close colleges or move away from the college model - the plan is to relocate faculty, staff and students from old space downtown to new, purpose-built space on the main campus.

Why is this necessary?

Trent has very serious financial problems. Consolidating Peterborough operations in one location will reduce expenditures. Sale of the downtown college properties will allow the University to retire the mortgages on these buildings and will build capacity to maintain buildings on the Symons campus. The buildings Trent currently owns downtown are more expensive to operate than those on the main campus and they are costly to repair and renovate. Not surprisingly with an average age of over 100 years, they have a very large backlog of deferred maintenance. The University has reached the point, financially, where it cannot sustain Peter Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill Colleges in their current locations.

What is the University's plan?

The University has approved a $70 million capital development strategy that will:

1. give faculty, staff and students better, more up-to-date teaching and research facilities
2. give Trent room to accommodate its share of students from the "double cohort" (a short-term enrolment surge when Ontario students begin graduating from a 4-year high school program) and from longer term provincial demographic growth.
3. reduce operating costs - and the operating deficit - by eliminating the costs of having three campuses in Peterborough
4. reduce mortgages, debt and carrying costs
5. reduce existing deferred maintenance by renovating science facilities on the Symons campus and selling dilapidated buildings downtown; and create a sinking fund for future building maintenance on the Symons campus
6. redirect money (currently being used to maintain old buildings downtown) to preserve the architectural heritage represented by buildings on the main campus
7. bring all Peterborough operations together in one place (giving students access to more courses because they won't have to timetable travel time from one campus to another; providing more opportunities for interdisciplinary contact among faculty; and allowing closer proximity for necessary staff interaction and efficiency)
8. provide space to: facilitate industry/research partnerships; increase summer usage of the university (teaching and conferences); enhance academic program delivery (elements originally identified for the First Peoples House of Learning and Humanities Centre)

For more details about the Capital Development Strategy click here.

What will be the economic impact on Peterborough from the University's capital strategy?

Currently Trent University and its employees and students contribute $118 million per year to the local economy. If the University is able to take its share of Ontario university enrolment growth, this figure will grow to $155 million at least.

What will be the impact on small businesses that depend on Trent students when the town college facilities close?

The capital development strategy will support a large (31%) increase in enrolment. Most 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year undergraduates, and nearly all graduate students, live in private accommodation in downtown Peterborough (approx. 3,700 students in 1999). They eat, they shop, they do laundry, they go out in the evening downtown. This will not change - except that there will be more of them (forecast - over 4,500 students total). The University's plans would provide beds for an even smaller proportion of students than is currently the case.

But what about the students who currently live at the town colleges?

Most of the 300+ students currently living at Traill and Robinson are on University meal plans. This means that they purchase their accommodation and their meals from Trent and they do their laundry in residence. This would not change under the capital strategy. These students, like other students already living on the Symons campus, will continue to go off-campus (to downtown Peterborough) for services, shopping and entertainment.

What about a Trent University presence in downtown Peterborough?

Trent is committed to providing its programs to the people of Peterborough. Currently over 80% of evening courses are taught on the main campus, so most people studying at Trent part time will not be inconvenienced by the relocation of the town colleges. However, the University is interested in exploring new ways of offering its services to residents in the region that respond to part-time student needs and convenience while controlling University costs.

Many non-credit activities sponsored by the University enjoy greater public participation if they are even closer to downtown than Traill and Peter Robinson (e.g. lecture series at the public library). Trent's community-based education program (where students do research for community agencies) is based downtown (but not at a town college) and there are no plans to move it.

Does this plan break a promise from the "founders" that Peter Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill would always be there?

If an earlier administration made that promise, they failed to anticipate the financial difficulties the University now faces and the fundamental changes in today's post-secondary environment. What this plan does is protect the VALUES the founders established for the University - things like the college system, interdisciplinarity, student-centred learning, small class sizes - things that are now at risk because of the University's financial situation.

What are the building plans for the Symons campus?

As yet there are no drawings or formal architectural plans. The President has invited the University community to give her advice about processes for planning the buildings and about specific teaching and research space needs. In general the University will:

• create a new residential college on the main campus that incorporates faculty and staff from Traill and Peter Robinson (and the needs identified in the First Peoples House of Learning and Humanities Centre proposal) renovate and enlarge the Science Complex
• find private sector partners to build modern residential spaces associated with the new college. These will be designed so as to be convertible for conference and other uses in the summer time and eventually will replace not only those at Traill and Robinson but also the Otonabee College residences
• incorporate space for university research/industry partnership activities

What is SuperBuild and why is it important?

SuperBuild is a major government capital funding opportunity across all sectors. Ontario is unlikely to see another opportunity like it for ten years or more. In the post-secondary sector, SuperBuild money can only be used for academic space (i.e. not for residences and other non-academic residential college space elements).

How much does Trent want from SuperBuild?

$33 million of the $70 million needed for the Capital Development Strategy.

When will Trent hear SuperBuild results?

The government has not confirmed when it will make announcements. The University understands that mid-February, 2000 would be the earliest possible date.

What are the University's chances of securing SuperBuild support?

Trent has made a solid, integrated case that meets the Ministry's criteria and interests (accommodating short- and longer-term enrolment growth and reducing deferred maintenance) and Trent's own imperatives (growth, reduced operating expenditures and resolution of other operating problems).

What if the University doesn't get all the money it applied for?

The University will take what it can get and stretch it as far as possible. The planned enrolment growth over the next 10 years would have to be scaled back. In any event, with or without SuperBuild support, Trent's financial and structural problems must be addressed and facilities will need to be closed.

Why not just put the money into the town colleges and fix them up?

SuperBuild funding is for expansion of space to support growth over the next decade not simply to adapt current facilities. Quite aside from capital considerations, the University cannot sustain the costs of operating three campuses in Peterborough. Keeping colleges in town would not resolve course access problems (created when students have to build travel time from one campus to another into their timetables) and would not generate necessary efficiencies.

Trent has learned a lot over the years from past investments in renovations. Many of the buildings at the town colleges are beyond practical renovation for institutional purposes. In addition to their condition, most were not designed for institutional use and because of their age few can be readily adapted to provide the physical (e.g. wheelchair) accessibility that society, and Trent, now expect. To build more capacity at Traill and Robinson, some of these buildings (which are already mortgaged) would have to be demolished and replaced with new construction. By not selling the property the University would lose the financial advantages of retiring mortgages, reducing debt, lowering debt carrying and other costs in the operating budget, and building a sinking fund to offset future maintenance of buildings on the main campus.

Why not just leave the town colleges alone and expand the Symons campus facilities?

The University cannot afford the costs of operating or maintaining everything it currently does - including the town colleges. These operations are contributing to deficits in operating and college budgets, and to the accumulated deficit.

Trent must stop this pattern of spending beyond its means.

When there is so much student demand for places in the town colleges, won't Trent lose enrolment by relocating them?

There is not, and has never been, a great demand for residence in the town colleges. The fact is that 9 out of 10 entering students and their parents prefer the 1st year college/residential experience offered on the main campus. In 1999 only 150 of 1,390 1st year students indicated Traill or Robinson as their preferred college placement. Demand for main campus accommodation will grow starting in 2003 when entering students are one year younger.

The SuperBuild application has not been made public. Why won't the University publish the application?

SuperBuild is a competitive program. Trent is competing against all other Ontario universities and colleges. Applications to SuperBuild far exceed the funds available. Trent must protect its capacity to compete effectively for this funding.

There was a lack of due process in adopting the capital development strategy and making application to SuperBuild. Why the rush?

SuperBuild had a deadline of November 15 - and the program criteria weren't released until October 15. In the month available, the University took all possible steps to consult internally. Yes, the process was different for Trent, and perhaps not ideal. But it was necessary to move quickly to have a chance to get funding.

Why was there no university community involvement in the process - and why were the students and downtown colleges not consulted?

The fact-finding task force that worked through the latter part of summer in anticipation of SuperBuild was chaired by a faculty member. Task force members included two students (the President and Vice-President of the Trent Central Students Association), the Director of Student Affairs (who had been a don at Peter Robinson for two years and Principal of Traill for 6 years) and faculty and staff representatives of Senate's Site Development and Space Utilization Committee. Two members of the task force were alumni. Faculty Board and Senate were consulted before the Capital Development Strategy was approved by the Board of Governors.

Is this an attack on the college system?

NO. Two colleges are going to be moved but the college system is going to be strengthened. The construction of a new college on the Symons campus will reflect the values that have always been at the heart of the college system. Currently the Symons campus colleges subsidize the town colleges. Having all Trent's residential colleges on one campus will allow a more equitable distribution of college system resources and services for students.

Is this the first step in reorganizing the University around disciplines rather than colleges?

Absolutely not. Trent's colleges will all continue to have members from a variety of disciplines.

Has there been an error in governance? Did the Board of Governors have the authority to overturn Senate's decision?

Trent has a bicameral governance structure that gives Senate responsibility for academic policy and the Board of Governors responsibility for the management and control of the University and its property. These responsibilities are spelled out in the Trent Act.

Senate did not have authority to make a decision about the physical assets of the colleges and passed a resolution that was beyond the scope of its authority. The President and the Board of Governors were not bound to respect Senate's views in this instance. The Board of Governors clearly has responsibility for the decisions it took. (In fact, all previous decisions about creating colleges at Trent were solely the decisions of the Boards of the day - Senates did not make these decisions.)

With a resurgence of enrolment aren't Trent's financial problems solved?

NO. Enrolment growth will help, but Trent's basic financial problems will continue despite having more students. Costs do not stand still. Trent must find more economical ways to manage its activities while preserving the values that differentiate it.

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