Joel Bentley is finally graduating this April. After five years of university, he’s more than ready.
“It’s about time,” he says. “Most of my friends have already moved on.”
The difficult part is still ahead, though. Bentley has immediate plans of going to Africa for four months to film a musical, but he doesn’t know what September will bring when he gets back.
Bentley is just one of the 445 Trinity Western University students participating in the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremonies this April. Each graduate has his or her own story, and everyone is experiencing intense emotions, usually mixed with a healthy of dose of anxiety.
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The life of a university student is constantly in flux. It’s a time of transition and growth, and change is just a part of the job. This principle also applies to the Trinity Western University campus – though the structures and atmosphere seem so permanent during a student’s four-year stint, they too are as variable as the people they accommodate.
Just ask Glen Forrester. As vice president of administration, Forrester has been heading the task of revising and cementing the Campus Master Plan, which outlines changes that will be seen over several decades of university growth.
Recently, the Plan has moved into what Forrester calls “phase two.”
Phase two involves looking at the campus layout and current structures to decide what changes will be made, where and how. With the help of local design firm Phillips, Farevaag, Smallenberg, the university will be presenting an open house of the work which has already been done, presenting assessments that have been made and directions that have been outlined to the student body. The open house will take place from 11:30 to 3:30 on the first floor of Reimer Student Centre on April 9.
Phase one, which took place first semester, was defining what principles the new Master Plan would follow in future design projects. These principles were set to give guidelines that protect and enhance the university’s identity and mission.
“The primary output of phase one was to understand who we are, and who we aspire to be,” said Forrester. The university worked with architectural firm Hanbury, Evans, Wright, Vlattas and Company of Virginia to analyze their needs.
According to Forrester, the Master Plan will not be finalized until April. But he calls all current plans “virtually final,” and said any changes until then will be minimal.
Once phase two is completed, fundraising will begin for the building of a new Live-Learn Centre (re: “Where are we going?” Mars’ Hill, Volume 12, Issue 1), as well as a new chapel.
While the Live-Learn Centre will be a brand-new building, elements of the chapel will be retained in the new design. For example, the design of the roof will be maintained in some form, as will the rock wall. Forrester said no final decisions have been made on how these elements are to be incorporated.
Construction will hopefully begin on both projects in the next two years, though Forrester stressed this was completely dependent on fundraising.
Forrester said the updated plan is quite different than the one displayed in the entrance of RSC. The old plan, still exhibited in 3-D and glass cases near the entrance to the cafeteria, dreamed big and was full of underground parking and eight story residencies. But, said Forrester, the school simply can’t afford it.
In addition, and more importantly, Forrester stresses that the old plan “didn’t capture [TWU’s] essence to the degree which we now want. It didn’t communicate who we were.”
This seems to be the main focus of the new plan: using structures and space to communicate a campus identity in line with the university mission. Forrester cites architecture which reflects the university’s placement in rural Langley and the West coast, paths and buildings which facilitate community and designs that respect the environment as possibilities for the university’s future.
Forrester hopes to redo the display in RSC in the next year. But, like all things in the university’s dreams, “only if we can afford it.”
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September
Upper classmen begin living in Fraser. Ceaseless fire alarms ensue almost instantaneously.
Fall census reports enrolment down another eight per cent.
October
TWU gets A+ in quality of education in annual Globe and Mail report card. In other news, Sodexo gets a ‘D’…again.
Dr. Eve Stringham becomes TWU’s third research chair in the area of genetics.
Students sleep outside to raise awareness and funds for new community homeless shelter.
November
LC, waterline certain to be finished “any day now.”
TWUSA president Brian Weir sits in on November Board of Governors meeting, a step in making student voices heard.
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Researcher links diet and academic performance
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Water leaks at the LLC
After an unusual winter in Ottawa with over four metres of snow and bizarre thawing periods, the Laurentian Leadership Centre has experienced some water leaks in the Booth Mansion.
According to LLC Director Dr. Janet Epp-Buckingham, the leak is coming from the second-floor deck off a tech room and into the Administrative Assistant’s office, as well as the library. The library, which has wood paneling, “has not yet been affected but we are watching it carefully,” said Epp-Buckingham.
Renovations will involve removing the deck, fixing the roof and repairing brick work after the snow melts. Some of these six-inch thick bricks may have to be replaced. A portion of the third-floor’s copper roof will have to be replaced; this is another leaking location which has left water deposits in a doorway.
Epp-Buckingham said the repair work will allegedly begin in early May, in hopes that summer thunder storms don’t pose a threat to the facilities.
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In the past five years, Trinity Western University has extended its presence across Canada – as far east as Ottawa, due to the Laurentian Leadership Centre, and recently as far south as Bellingham with a new satellite campus established there last year. The next move for extension will take place in the university’s own backyard: Metro Vancouver.
According to Ron Kuehl, vice president of external relations, TWU is in the process of working with a donor who has offered the school a facility in Richmond to operate a satellite campus.
Though Kuehl could not mention names, he did say the donor is a well-known Canadian philanthropist who often assists charities in the Lower Mainland. The donor chose to give the land to TWU after considering both the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.
“The facility is of great use, utility and interest as a way to strengthen our presence in Richmond,” Kuehl said. “It will give us a higher profile in Metro Vancouver.”
Right now, the concern is the feasibility of the campus itself. With dropping enrolment and budget problems, adding another campus could create concerns. But Kuehl assures the increased presence in Vancouver will be imperative for the university’s growth.
“The Port Mann bridge is frankly a very large barrier,” Kuehl said.
The new campus will hopefully break that barrier.
As for budget, “[We are] doing a feasibility study to determine whether we can actually make this thing work,” he said. Though the facility is donated, the university will incur the financial burden of maintaining the campus and programs there in the future. Kuehl said they are currently fundraising to offset these costs.
“It’s quite normal, considering we’re already doing this,” said Kuehl, speaking of the currently operating TWU extensions.
Specific programs have not been set this early in the process, but ideas have been considered. One prominent idea is the development of a Can-Asian studies centre.
Kuehl said a financial model is being worked out, and the Board of Governors will vote on the proposal in late April.
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Trinity Western University undergraduate students will have to reach deeper into their pockets next year as tuition is expected to increase 5.8 per cent, a jump of roughly $1,000. The decision is expected to be formalized this week by university administration.
Acting senior vice president of enrolment advancement Marilyn Crone and vice president of finance Jim Poulsen said that this is TWU’s lowest tuition increase in a decade. According to them, the rate at which TWU’s costs are rising is actually slowing down, compared to the six per cent tuition increase 2006/2007.
They added that, for the second year in a row, the cost of housing will remain the same to encourage more students to see living on-campus as a good financial option. Decreasing the rate of tuition increase and making on-campus housing an affordable and attractive option were goals the university achieved this year
“There will be a smaller rate of increase for the 2009-2010 year,” assured Crone. “While next year’s budget is not quite complete, we are projecting additional financial aid funds for current students which will be distributed on the basis of need.”
The TWU website is announcing that new scholarships are available to students. However, these scholarships are limited only to incoming TWU students.
“The new scholarships are for new students to improve the affordability of a TWU education and thereby assist in achieving the university’s enrolment goals. They are funded by the tuition increase related to new students only – not from the tuition increase related to current students,” said Crone.
Students voiced concerns about the implications of the most expensive school in Canada becoming even more so.
“If Trinity’s cost keeps increasing at five per cent a year, in 20 years tuition will be approximately $45 grand a year,” said third-year psychology major Michael Witten. “I hope the school can figure out a way to slow the increase down.”
Witten acknowledged that the cost of education is inevitably rising, but thinks TWU’s price is increasing too swiftly.
Third-year nursing student Emma Strobell believes that with the American dollar faltering behind the Canadian, TWU’s tuition increase will lower the incentive for Americans to attend the school. Strobell, who is from Colorado, points out that to Americans the university has been considered an affordable Christian university due to a combination of the previously-positive exchange rates and TWU’s price, which is comparatively less than similar American schools.
First-year student Joshua Lewis said an increase in tuition could hurt The Great Campaign for Students, which focuses on bolstering TWU’s declining enrollment.
“Students won’t want to attend if they know the costs are just going to keep going up.”
But not all students feel this way. Second-year accounting student Dan Demerse had an alternate point of view: “If students want to enjoy the benefits of a small, private university they should be prepared to pay for it in increasing amounts. Trinity is an expensive school, that’s not news to any of us. Increasing tuition is the best way for Trinity to compensate for lower enrolment, while maintaining high academic and extracurricular standards.”
A forum for students and administration to discuss fees and issues surrounding the budget at TWU will be held in the Atrium during the next few weeks. Like last year’s forum, this is an opportunity for students to make their questions and concerns known. The date and time of the event were unavailable as of press time.
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Posters announcing the annual Grad Banquet have signaled the end of the school year. For many students graduating this spring, it represents entering into a new phase of their lives.
This year, however, there have been significant changes made to the grad dinner; instead of the traditional banquet, seniors will take to the seas on the Queen of Diamonds cruise ship, which tours Vancouver.
Matt Keller, senior representative, and Tiffany Stusinski, grad banquet committee member, both said they believe the change will benefit the 2008 graduates. “My original thought was ‘we have all of Vancouver, one of the greatest cities in the world,’” said Keller, about his planning process.
In previous years, the event was held at Newlands Country Club, yet Keller felt “it was time to get into Vancouver.” An added bonus was the significant budget increase the committee received, which went up from $3,000 to $5,000 from the Trinity Western University Student Association.
The cruise will include dinner and dessert, a hired DJ and three speeches made by seniors throughout the night. While the setting will be priceless, the cost of the event has gone up to a fee of $35 per person. Yet Stusinski is not concerned that the price will deter students. “I don’t think it’ll change the number of people that come. We are offering them dinner, dessert and a cruise around Vancouver with good picture opportunities, which will end up being priceless.”
Despite the appeal of the event, many senior art students are forced to miss out due to the Senior Art show, Underground, which is debuting the same night as the cruise. Both were planned for around the same time, leaving most senior art students stranded with no options.
“It seems like poor planning on TWUSA’s part,” said Alma Visscher, senior art student and coordinator of the show. “It hurts a little bit – we put a lot of work into it.”
“It kind of represents how art is viewed at Trinity – as an afterthought,” she added, noting that the date for the art show has been set on the university calendar since the beginning of the school year.
Keller said “it was devastating” when he found out the conflict between events. “I racked my brain trying to think of a change. Eventually I figured there was nothing we could do. I still feel terrible for the art students.”
Keller recognized the oversight on his part: “We knew we had to do it sometime in April,” he said. “This was just the weekend that worked best.” With everything paid for, Keller said there is little he and the committee can do now to assuage the situation.
