Current Student Centre no longer able to accommodate student population
Hamid Adem
Assistant News Editor
In light of the recent increase in York’s student population, the university is currently in discussion with the Student Centre Corporation to build a second student centre on the Keele campus.
“There is a growing concern about the lack of student space on campus, particularly in view of the growth in our enrollment that has occurred over the last couple of years since the original Student Centre was built,” says Gary Brewer, vp of finance and administration. “There is a need to create student spaces on campus because part of a university experience is to actually spend time on campus, and not just go to your classes and leave.”
The Student Centre was too small for the campus even in July of 1991 when it first opened, says Robert Castle, senior advisor of policy, operations and communications at York. Castle was the executive director of the Student Centre at that time.
“It was not big enough for the campus population then, and the population now is twice what it was then,” he says.
“It’s always a challenge to fulfill the desires of what you want to put in the building, and what you can put in the building. I remember there were a couple of moments where we had to make some tough decisions to reduce the scope of the project to meet the scale of the budget,” says Castle.
If the decision is made to build a second Student Centre, students will be included in the discussion of what kinds of spaces the new building will house, says Castle.
