The student body has a less than perfect memory. New people come and go every year; some spend a year at Trent, some two, some never leave. Thus, it is important once in a while to talk about what has happened before we arrived at Trent, so we can safeguard ourselves from it happening again.
In 2000, Trent had five undergraduate residences and teaching colleges; Peter Robinson (PR), Catherine Parr Traill, Lady Eaton, Otonabee, and Champlain. These colleges were supposed to be the sites where learning and living, students and professors, intersected. Whether or not this was ever the case has and can be debated.
However, in the last ten years, housing at Trent has changed dramatically. In 2001, the administration at Trent decided to sell off one of our downtown colleges, PR. This once-a-college sits between Trent Radio and Sadleir House, two student and community spaces where some professors maintain their offices to this day and so do many student groups. PR College also had a few buildings on Water Street, north of Parkhill.
The decision to sell the campus caused fury from current students, professors and alumni. Some alumni made public pledges never to donate to Trent ever again due to this decision. Regardless of these protests, the administration sold PR.
Within months, the administration realized their mistake and went to the private owners of PR and asked to lease it back for two years to meet the students' needs for residence space which the remaining four colleges couldn't handle. It has been rumoured the cost between leasing PR for the two years as well as other unexpected costs relating to this decision is equal to the price the administration originally sold the college for. At the end of the 2002-2003 school year, the administration was no richer, short a college, and had managed to upset many alumni, students, and faculty.
In early 2003, the housing shortage was still not solved, and with the double cohort approaching in the fall, the administration needed to do something. Peter Gzowski was not due to open for another academic year, and the administration continued to guarantee all first-year students a space in residence. To solve this issue, the administration decided to lease another building to meet the housing needs temporarily; Argyle was leased for three years, from 2003-2006.
In 2006, A few years after Gzowski was opened, the administration decided to shut the remaining downtown college, Traill. Again, protests rang out from students, alumni, and faculty asking the administration to preserve Trent's downtown presence.
This time, things did not proceed exactly as the administration had hoped. Instead of closing down the entirety of Traill, the administration decided to turn the site into a graduate college by removing the undergraduate components and selling off two of the original Trent buildings. At this point, Trent had sold off nearly 300 beds between Traill and PR.
Still in a housing crisis and badly in need of beds, the administration began in 2007 to investigate the idea of leasing Trent property to a for-profit corporation, the Residence Development Corporation. This new private residence was to be without a college affiliation and to hold, when complete, up to 500 students and some retail space. In true Trent fashion, students and community groups began to protest and organise against the plans. To this day, the private residence has not broken ground, and its future appears to be in question. During an interview with Arthur, out-going Mayor Paul Ayotte stated that "the university withdrew their application [to the committee of adjustment] under their own amolition." However, the administration has repeated that the project is still underway as of Wednesday, November 3, stating the mayor was speaking about the Argyle site.
Yet the tape-recorded conversation with Mayor Ayotte suggests otherwise. He stated that the "private residence on {Water St.] was something the university proposed to us to use up some of their endowment lands as part of their long-term strategy. That is what it was for, to use up some of their endowment lands." Later, when discussing the conflict between the community and the university's plans, he stated that "They had to have site approval but they withdrew their application under their own amolition." It appears that the mayor was not referencing the Argyle site, which is found on Argyle Street and is not part of the university's endowment lands.
The idea for a private residence on Water St. started with the administration announcing the plans, after they had been largely developed, to the students and neighbouring community during the summer of 2008. The unveiling immediately drew hostile responses from a variety of stakeholders and for differing reasons. Prior to this event, a document was released on WikiLeaks; the document was from a Board of Governors meeting in November 2007 and detailed the university's plans and the contract which the Residence Development Corporation (RDC) and Trent University were going to sign.
A group of community, labour, and student organizations formed the No Private Residence at Trent (NPRT) Coalition to raise awareness and fight against this development. Concerns ranged from having fears for the surrounding neighbourhoods and how they would have been negatively affected, privatization of the university's responsibilities, the undermining of the college system, and environmental issues.
Sheldon Willerton, President of the TCSA, says this would be a significant win for NPRT in the fight against the privatization of our campus. About the housing shortage at Trent, he claimed that "we need to plan our growth and we need to fit our plans into how Peterborough wants to grow and their master plan." Peterborough's Central Area Master Plan calls for one of the two post-secondary institutions developing a satellite campus downtown and to be more involved in the central area. The document also estimates the monetary impact students have in the downtown core.
The deal between RDC and the university was for a 99-year lease for the land adjacent to Nassau Mills Road and Water St North. The university would allow a non-college residence to be built and operated by RDC, and would receive $17 million over the 99-year lease.
The plans put forward by RDC were comprised of two stages of development. The first phase, which if built would have opened last September according to the development plans, was for 250 upper-year beds arranged in four, five, and six bedroom apartments. When RDC took several members of the TCSA on a tour last year, it was said that the apartments would range in price from $465 to $500 a month plus amenities, with a 12-month lease.
The second phase of the development would have added another 250 beds to the site as well as small-impact retail. Small-impact retail could be described as convenience stores or laundromats. This RDC development plan has been implanted at other campuses; University of Guelph and University of Ontario Institute of Technology both have residences run by RDC. At Guelph, there are nearly 800 students living in RDC apartments, and all are red brick-walk-up architecture style between three and four storeys in height.
In the 2009-2010 academic year, Trent was still in a housing crisis and in need of approximately 50 more beds. The administration decided to turn doubles into triples in Otonabee College and offered the affected students a discounted rate. Students began to organise amongst themselves to address student housing needs. The Student Cooperative Housing Initiative was formed and began to build membership and plan the development of a student cooperative residence in the downtown of Peterborough.
In the current academic year, 2010-2011, the administration still has a housing crisis. This year, the administration decided to fashion more triples out of double rooms in Otonabee College and the new downtown residence, the McDonnel St. Residence, or Champlain Annex, was born.
This new Champlain Annex is another temporary lease and not a permanent feature of Trent. However, this suggests that maybe the administration has recognised the need for residence beds downtown, considering the relationship between Trent and the Peterborough community. To those who wish to see the university return downtown, a downtown college is what Trent needs.
Alternate Solutions to the Housing Crisis
The housing crisis Trent is going through has spawned several ideas on how to solve the issue. The private residence was one solution. There are also rumours of a downtown residence. The latest idea comes from the Student Cooperative Housing Initiative (SCHI), a student-run and lead group with the mandate to establish a not-for-profit student housing cooperative in downtown Peterborough.
Cooperatives can take many forms; they can vary by profit-motive, purpose and structure amongst other variables. All cooperatives have seven basic principles upon which they operate, these are: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education and training, cooperation amongst cooperatives and concern for the community.
The idea of co-ops at Trent is not new. The Seasoned Spoon is a currently existing co-op at Trent. The Seasoned Spoon is a student-lead initiative to provide a need that is not currently met otherwise on campus. The Seasoned Spoon is owned by those who purchase a membership. Those members vote directors into office to run the organization on a day-to-day basis. The co-op provides benefits to its members such as lower prices as well as the ability to influence decisions. Within the Peterborough community, cooperatives can be found from credit unions to insurance companies. Additionally, the city has three housing cooperatives currently.
The members of SCHI, which is nearing 100 paid members, range from faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, community members and alumni. They plan to buy or develop a housing co-op that will fill the role that the colleges once did; a place where learning and living mingle. The idea has several administrators buzzing with excitement as well as the other student co-ops across the province.
The Initiative is still in the early stages, having formed a legal trust, found legal consul and has begun thoroughly investigating four potential sites in downtown Peterborough, sites ranging from as large as 128 beds at the former Peter Robinson College to as small as 20 beds at a small brick walk-up building.
"Historically, Trent was based on a college system where communal living was valued. The college system is deteriorating and students need to take it upon themselves to recreate the sense of community that has been lost. The student co-operative housing initiative empowers students to create and control their own living space." Heather MacDonald, elected Secretary of the SCHI, said while explaining the suitability of a housing co-op at Trent. Furthermore, as Trent students have a past where we come together to provide the needs of the students through student-run organisations, such as Sadleir House, Trent Radio and the Seasoned Spoon.
Throughout Ontario, there are currently six student-owned and operated housing co-ops, ranging from as small as 14 to as large as 800 beds, some almost 100 years old, more than double the age of Trent University, and the newest being established in 2007.
