The Student Centre expansion referendum has failed, according to the unofficial results released by UTMSU today.
The union posted the initial vote counts of 1,618 “no”, 1,548 “yes”, and 17 spoiled ballots on their Facebook page.
The total voter turnout was 3,183, about 900 more students than voted last year. This is equal to about 24.7% of UTM’s population, compared to the 5% required for the referendum to be valid.
No work will be done on the expansion this year, and the dollar-for-dollar match of up to $2 million offered by the university will not be granted without a demonstrated student commitment.
The results still have to be presented to UTMSU’s Elections and Referenda Committee for official ratification.
UTMSU’s website has not yet been updated, nor was the Medium notified in time to print the results for this issue.
Full coverage will be provided in the next issue of the Medium.
UTM, where I learned the truth about hope, as does everyone else. There’s a reason why this place can sometimes choose the right decision… hope. Every student who has ventured there over the centuries has looked up to the student council and imagined them suggesting useful ideas. So easy… So simple… but unlike needy students turning to cct lab from uncontrollable urge to find study space, many have chosen the right thing. I learned here that there can be no true hope without much consideration. So, as a majority of us voted no, it will feed us hope to raise our sprits. The Utmsu let us believe that we required an expansion to survive so that they could watch us clamoring over each other to enjoy, disregarding the fact we came here for our degrees. They can watch us fill in the entire library and when they have truly understood the depth of this immense overcrowding, they will suggest mistakenly to expand the student centre… But us students will oppose them and then, when it is done, and the referendum is ashes… then utmsu has my permission to cry.
Bane son, you have made me proud! These people deserve better.. Better than anything UTMSU can ever offer them.
That sad moment when two villains are against UTMSU
And the realization that we both agree with them…
Why expand master wayne?
Because the UTMSU are the heroes UTM deserves, but not the ones it needs right now. So we’ll oppose them. Because they can’t take it. Because they’re not our heroes. They’re a silent menace. A watchful annoyance. A sorry sight.
For the first time I am so proud of the UTM voting community! CONGRATULATIONS ON VOTING NO FOR THE STUDENT CENTRE EXPANSION! We truly showed that we can stand up against our Union and vote NO. I am immensely happy about the results of this referendum. For many reasons I was against it. Many people asked me of my views on this during the referendum and in almost all cases I chose not to disclose my answer in an attempt to not influence anyone. If you want to know my reasons why I was against it, then you can find me and I would be happy to discuss them in person. Now my only concerns are the ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE and MONEY spent on the second campaign which was only for a short period of time. Once again t-shirts were made, buttons and flyers that were only going to be used for this short period. We should be mindful of the environment and going ECO-FRIENDLY. I only hope in the future, we reduce these kinds of waste and also go to electronic voting to reduce paper waste. If other campuses like Humber College’s student government the Humber Student Federation can do electronic voting, I ask why not UofT? Thank you! :)
They just did what they do best, they took their referendum and turned it on itself.Look what they did to this place with a few votes and couple of campaigns.
Government increases tuition, no one cares. UTMSU wants to raise tuition fee, AND EVERYONE LOSES THEIR MINDS
You know why UTMSU forces people to vote……the internet is too quick, you can’t savour the little…..frustrations.
Don’t listen to what UTMSU say, but look at what UTMSU did!
Đừng nghe những gì UTMSU nói, mà hãy nhìn những gì UTMSU làm!
It wouldn’t surprise me if these were all written by the same person…
We work in secret. You will never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if you bother the people of UTM and make them lose their mind, We will find you!
I like this post I like it
You either die a hero (UPass) or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain (Referendum).
You can’t leave something like that to chance…..we make our own luck.
I’m so glad UTM voted no as well! Last year the results were invalid due to “something” that “UTMSU did wrong” – or so I heard. This year they made it seem like the Office of Registrar was the reason last year’s results were invalidated. Nope. Stop lying to us, thanks. UTMSU is losing it’s influence slowly but surely.
how come the medium also released this article? http://archive.themedium.ca/news/referendum-for-student-centre-expansion-passes
which one is true?
that article is from last year’s referendum, which got overturned due to clerical error, they had to re-do the referendum because of this, and it failed this time