news 11/19/09

UBC rejects intrusion on Campus Plan

A Metro Vancouver proposal to install zoning regulations at UBC has raised the ire of university officials, who have warned that any imposition into the university’s traditional autonomy over academic lands would threaten UBC’s freedom.

Metro Vancouver put forward a recommendation to its staff to propose a zoning bylaw for UBC in May. The proposal is to be discussed for the first time at the joint GVRD/UBC committee meeting on November 25. However, UBC has already issued their opposition in an e-mail to all students, staff and faculty, in addition to a press release.

UBC VP External, Legal and Community Relations Stephen Owen told The Ubyssey the proposal is problematic because it places regulations on areas on campus slated for academic land use, such as student housing, laboratories and research facilities.

“It puts seven different zones within the academic area of the campus,” Owen explained. “It’s just an extraordinary constriction on the university’s ability to really maintain its academic and research prominence.”

The university is calling this a violation of “academic freedom.” In 1997, the university and Metro Vancouver agreed upon a Official Community Plan (OCP), which outlines land use designation at UBC and provides other various guidelines for development. However, in 2000 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Metro Vancouver and the university, clarifying that Metro Vancouver has control over the development and planning of family housing property, and UBC has control of the development and planning of academic, or institutional, land.

Metro Vancouver is arguing that the OCP needs to be amended to deal with several policy changes UBC has made over the past decade—most notably the current Campus Plan consultations.

“UBC currently acts as the landowner, developer, and approver for the campus lands. This situation…places UBC in a real or perceived conflict of interest on some land use issues,” reads a document presented to the Metro Vancouver Board on November 13.

“The OCP has not yet had a comprehensive review and update, which is normally completed for municipal OCPs every five years….The OCP and the new Campus Plan should also be made consistent.”

However, Owen said that the proposal is a violation of this agreement.

“Why on earth would a board that isn’t directly elected…be telling UBC, its students, staff, board, faculty and its researchers how to develop plans here?” he rhetorically asked.

Bijan Ahmadian, Board of Governors student representative who sits on the joint GVRD/UBC committee, offered his comments on the issue—speaking as a student, and not on behalf of the BoG—and what implications this proposal could have on the university.

“When it comes to academic land use…students and the university have been able to resolve their own issues themselves,” said Ahmadian, adding that the university has been managing its own land use for over a hundred years. “If we had to go through new hoops, new bureaucracy, with a body that is not linked to the university stakeholders, I don’t think that would work in the best interest of the students.

“A lot of institutional development relies on donor funds, and if you have to add another layer of bureaucracy to go through GVRD—which has lengthy processes—then we cannot develop our institutional buildings as quickly as we can.”

Director of Electoral Area A for Metro Vancouver Maria Harris told The Ubyssey that any comments from Metro Vancouver would be premature before the joint GVRD/UBC meeting, as the plans are only at the preliminary stages. She added that Metro Vancouver’s proposal was “not a surprise and not new,” and that while Metro Vancouver is for the idea of zoning on campus, they want to discuss the issue in a working group with the university.

Metro Vancouver has taken a more active legislative role in the past regarding academic land on campus. In 2004, UBC was forced to cut two stories from the original plans for Marine Drive residences because of backlash from the Wreck Beach Preservation Society, as well as reduce the number of towers from six to three. In 2008, Metro Vancouver voiced their support for keeping the UBC Farm at its current size. UBC has long felt that such intrusions by outside groups into decision-making on campus is not helpful.

AMS President Blake Frederick said that he could not comment on what the AMS feels the specific guidelines should be regarding the proposal, but was optimistic that the current conversation would produce positive results for students.

“For years we have been calling for increased governance guidelines fo this campus, particularly around campus planning and the land use provisions,” he said. “We would never want to put the university in the position where academic freedom would be compromised, but we do believe that we should have a larger conversation around land use on campus.

“[However,] we do not think that any bylaw should be implemented that would infringe upon the academic freedom of the university.”
—With files from Katarina Grgic & Larisa Karr