… the current president of the AMS has made some progress this year, demonstrating that the AMS can accomplish things for the students when it’s not trying to sort out elections.
Hello Everyone,
Thank you all for your help and for joining this group. We have succeeded. Athletic fees for students will be dropping substantially starting Sept. 2009. The AMS and Athletics will be issuing a press release tomorrow which I will put on this facebook group. I am sure the Ubyssey will have more info in Friday’s paper.
Some examples of the drops are as follows:
BirdCoop fees: 4 month pass $148 -> $25
Intramurals: all sports now between $5-10 per person per team (except hockey, which is being reduced, but not to those levels)
Aquatic Centre: free student access at all times
Thunderbird Winter Sports Complex: public skating -> free \\ all other drop in sports -> $2 \\ ice rentals -> 25 – 50 percent off
Tennis Centre: no deal worked out, still in progress
All these fees will be frozen for 3 years.
These drops have been realized due to the contribution students make to the department and the fact that the business model for the department has been doing quite well. These are also being realized because of the pressure the AMS has put on the department this past year. I would really like to recognize Neal Yonson, who has been integral in helping force these changes.
Now go make use of the reduced costs. Exercise and be merry.
Mike Duncan
I feel like this should serve to indicate to students that the AMS is looking out for their best interest, and that things can get done with some effort. I’m personally quite pleased, although I have yet to use the facilities. However, it’s this sort of news that makes me have faith yet in the capacity of the AMS to change things for the better on campus. There are other examples as well, of course, but I want to bring this recent thing up as an indicator of the AMS working.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Mike and his team! this is so awesome, and will affect alot of students. It’s really somthing that matters!
Any one want to go skating?
exactly, these are actual changes that students will notice.
What I think has made Mr. Duncan so successful as a president is he’s found a really nice balance between tackling long-term problems (like housing) and problems resolvable within his term (like high athletics fees). I’m pretty impressed. Actually, I am very impressed.
I will admit, though, that I am slightly concerned about how crowded the BirdCoop will get now that fees have been lowered so much. I work out there now, and it’s already probably functioning at capacity. Has anyone else thought about this?
Sunshine, the crowding issue has definitely been thought of. Unfortunately, to keep it less crowded, you’d need to keep the price high!
Workout space on this campus is so limited that it’s impossible to find the right balance of price and accessibility. I will be posting soon on this blog about a new workout space that just opened on campus, its implications, and the prospects for more workout space in the future.
Working on this with Mike has been about a year out of my life, and it feels great to get such a positive response from all directions. Everyone, go out and enjoy!!! I will definitely be up for some skating in September.
-Neal
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of opening up more workout space (like maybe adding a second BirdCoop), but I guess given the concessions the Department of Athletics has just made, this is pretty unlikely.
I hadn’t thought that much about skating, but now I am looking forward to it too!
-Sonja