8 National News

The Cadre

¢ 26 January 1999

Campus residences not covered under tenant act

By KELLY PEDRO

TORONTO (CUP) -- Stu- dents living in residences at Ontario’s colleges and uni- versities should be protected under the province’s tenancy legislation, student activists say.

Presently, Ontario’s Tenant Protection Act does not cover students living in un- dergraduate campus resi- dences, leaving them with no formal protection of their hous- ing rights.

While most universities have their own tenancy poli- cies in place, critics say the fact students aren’t covered by provincial legislation leaves them in a vulnerable position.

“Tenancy depends on student status and there’s quite a gap there because [universi- ties and colleges] can pretty much do what they want,” said Debra Ram, director of the community and legal aid serv- ices program at Osgoode Law School.

Although graduate apartments fall under the Ten- ant Protection Act, under- graduate residences are ex- cluded because they lack self- contained bathroom and kitchen facilities. This leaves Ontario universities with com- plete discretion over under- graduate residences.

For example, the pro- vincial legislation requires land- lords to give tenants 30 days notice before an eviction. On- tario universities, on the other hand, are not required to give students living in undergradu- ate residences any notice.

“It gives universities and colleges too much power and sets up an unfair situation,” said Joel Harden, chairman of the Ontario component of the Canadian Federation of Stu- dents. Harden believes a sin- gle set of rules governing stu- dents is needed to ensure they are treated fairly.

Student ease eies also

say they’re worried by the fact that since universities aren’t bound by the Tenant Protec- tion Act, they can charge what- ever they think the market will bear.

But not all students see the lack of formal guidelines as problematic.

Kevin Baker, a resident tutor at York University, says government legislation isn’t necessarily the best way to protect students’ rights.

“The university is pre- occupied with its reputation, so it works to protect students in some respects,” he said.

Yet Baker concedes that students could be easily vic- timized if they found them-

selves in a negative scenario while living in a university resi- dence.

York University says that even though student ten- ants aren’t covered under the provincial legislation, the school follows its guidelines anyway. “We operate as if we were completely under the act,” said Norm Noddle, manager of York’s apartments. “I feel we're bound to operate under those guidelines, and that’s what we’ve done.”

But Noddle admits the guidelines are not enforceable. “Believe it or not, we don’t have to do anything,” he said.

It’s not clear why dorm- style housing isn’t subject to

Ontario’s Tenant Protection Act.

According to Kevin Sullivan, manager of existing housing policy for the Ministry of Housing, student groups didn’t lobby to have under- graduate residences covered by the legislation when the province revised it in 1997.

But Harden says the Canadian Federation of Stu- dents submitted proposals to the Progressive Conservative government asking that resi- dences be included in the act.

The lobby group also submitted a research paper showing how hard students were hit by rent increases, he says. “Basically it was ig-

nored,” said Harden. Students living in Ontario residences aren’t the only ones with no formal housing protection. Students living in under- graduate residence apartments in Alberta, Newfoundland and British Columbia also lack for- mal protection under their prov-

-Ince’s tenancy legislation.

Despite the fact they’re not covered by provincial ten- ancy law however, these stu- dents still have options.

Even though they can’t lodge complaints with the pro- vincial housing tribunal, stu- dents living in undergraduate residences can still turnto small claims court if they have prob- lems, Ram says.

Acadia looking into Newfoundland campus

By AMANDALABONTE

GRAND FALLS-WIND- SOR, Nfld. (CUP) -- Acadia University could open a cam- pus in central Newfoundland as early as next September, says the mayor of Grand Falls- Windsor.

The Central Newfound- land Education Committee re- cently approved funding for Acadia University to study the feasibility of a university edu- cation centre here.

The study will investi- gate impediments to the uni- versity centre’s success, in- cluding the availability of suit- able sites, affordable high- speed network links and major operational costs.

Grand Falls-Windsor Mayor Walwyn Blackmore says the university and town are moving into the planning phase of the project.

“We are confident right now that the ball is rolling and

that our original intention was

to have some presence here in

September °99 and right now I don’t see any reason to change that date,” he said.

Blackmore says the town has been trying to ex- pand its university presence even though Memorial Uni- versity offers distance educa- tion courses and a transfer program with the College of the North Atlantic.

Last summer, Blackmore said the town had been fighting for a university presence since the provincial government shut down six re- gional first-year campuses in 1996, including the one in Grand Falls-Windsor..

“We hada lot of discus- sion with Memorial and Me- morial didn’t seem to have very much interest,” _— said Blackmore. “So then we ap- proached Acadia University. Ever since the early part of this year we've had meetings and correspondence with them.”

Blackmore says the pro- posed campus would initially

focus on first-year courses but other courses could be phased in at a later time.

Acadia would offer more than just distance educa- tion courses, but also class- rooms, offices and on-site in- structors.

Ina prepared statement, Acadia described the possible campus as a “technology-rich, world-class university educa- tion centre.”

Nancy Van Wagoner, director of Acadia’s division of continuing and distance edu- cation, says the project could have implications for morethan just Grand Falls-Windsor and Acadia.

“The project has the potential to provide informa- tion that will benefit all Cana- dian universities as they face the challenges of extending their resources far beyond the walls of their campuses,” she said in a prepared statement.

For now, Blackmore says the town is considering asking private companies to

help fund the project because the former minister of educa- tion indicated the province would be unable to help fund the campus.

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