Posts Tagged ‘pool’
Roy Jensen, Instructor, Chemistry
***On 03 March, MacEwan Administration announced the pool closure.
This decision was made without consulting MacEwan faculty, staff,
students, and the community, yet this decision directly and negatively
affects all these stakeholders.
***The Dance program was cancelled in a similar manner (negligible
consultation; presented as a fait accompli) several years ago.
Apparently, the Dance program was struggling with low enrollments,
among other things. Faculty and staff complaints resulted in
Administration agreeing to more consultation in future decision
making. Sadly, this never occurred with the decision to close the
pool.
The Physical Education program is *thriving*. Closing the pool will
affect numerous physical education courses and intermural teams and
make the Physical Education program less marketable. Courses are being
cancelled that, historically, had strong enrollments. Is the
‘writing-on-the-wall’ for the Physical Education program?
***MacEwan’s Academic Governance Council (AGC) is responsible for
academic programming. The decision to close the pool will directly and
negatively affect academics at MacEwan, yet AGC was not consulted in
the decision to close the MacEwan pool. In fact, AGC should be more
than consulted: AGC should be an equal partner (along with the Board)
in making the decision to close the pool. Additionally, the Board was
not consulted on the decision to close the pool.
***The established literature states that a healthy workforce is
happier, more productive at work, takes less sick-days, and is less of
a burden on the health-care system. MacEwan is behind other major
employers in actively promoting healthy living for their employees,
despite having on-site recreational facilities. Not everyone likes a
‘weight room’. I *was* going to suggest the FA Negotiating Team and/or
Benefits Committee negotiate free gym memberships for faculty. Not
anymore.
The latest in a plethora of publications (from a science digest I
subscribe to):
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302185522.htm
***Not everyone likes a ‘weight room’. The MacEwan Student’s
Association should review how much is collected in MCSW fees given
that about 25 % of the diversity is recreational activities has been
removed. (pool, weight-room, gymnasium, courts)
***A proposal to close the pool was put forward in 2006. At the time,
a public outcry forced administration to rescind the proposal.
Administration further agreed to spend 2 million dollars to renovate
the pool area (maintenance of the pool area had been lacking). That
renovation never occurred (and maintenance hasn’t improved).
***500 000 $ is about 0.4 % of MacEwan’s total annual budget. MacEwan
is not running a deficit this year, or any in the past ten years.
MacEwan actually has reserves of over 20 million dollars and is using
some of those funds to build their new administrative complex.
***Student’s have rightly complained that there exists black-out times
in the use of the MCSW. MacEwan sells premium access that is commonly
purchased by local business professionals (maybe even purchased by
their employer, who value employee health). These people come at lunch
(12-1) and after work (4:30-7), thus the black-out times for students.
(Also an insight into Administration’s priorities.) Increasing the
size of the MCSW will allow more external memberships to be sold. Once
again, profits trump academics.
Why not increase the weight room capacity during the ’single-campus’
expansions, which are scheduled to occur within the next ten years.
***In a bicameral model, AGC and the Board are peers and can
communicate directly. I strongly encourage AGC to directly ask the
Board why this decision — a decision that directly and negatively
affects academic programs — was made without AGC knowledge,
consultation, involvement, and approval.
The Physical Education program and many MacEwan faculty, staff,
students, plus numerous community members are actively working to
reverse Administration’s decision. Please show your support for
keeping the MacEwan pool for the benefit of MacEwan academics,
faculty, staff, and student health, and MacEwan community relations.
The Physical Education department encourages you to write to the
- President (Paul Byrne)
- VP Academic (Janet PatersonWeir)
- VP Student Services (Cathryn Heslep)
- faculty Board of Governors Representative (Chaldeans Mensah)
- MSA Board of Governors Representative (Shawn McAuley)
- student Board of Governors Representative (Jamie Fraleigh)
- Board of Governors President (Eric Young)
- the Edmonton Journal
- Edmonton City Councilors (Ben Henderson and Jane Batty)
- Edmonton Centre MLA (Laurie Blakeman)
MacEwan students have established a Facebook group, ‘Save the Grant
MacEwan Pool’: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=339855957630
As of noon on 09 March, there are over 1900 members in this group!
_______________________________________________
Speak out on this issue by going to the topic called pool closure in the Discussion Forum. Remember, you’ll have to log on to the site first to participate in the forum. This is to ensure that your comments in the discussion forum are kept amongst the FA membership only and not made public for everyone else to see.
Posted in 
Tags: By Faculty Members of the Physical Education Department
On March 3, Cathryn Heslep, Vice President Student Services, announced, through a University-wide email, that the pool at MacEwan will be permanently closed on July 1, 2010, to accommodate an enhanced fitness centre. What the memo did not explain is that:
1. the closure will greatly affect the Physical Education program at MacEwan (25% of Physical Education courses at MacEwan have at least one class in the pool with some courses being taught entirely in the pool)
2. the U of A is able to operate its two pools for considerably less than the $500,000 that MacEwan currently spends to operate its facility
3. 88% of students surveyed in 2006 were opposed to closing the pool (no survey was conducted this time around)
4. 53% of students surveyed in 2006 indicated that maintaining the aquatic facility was important to them and their wellness (again no survey was conducted this time around)
5. 88% of faculty members surveyed in 2006 indicated that the wanted the pool to be retained and upgraded (again no survey was conducted this time around)
6. the pool is one of the best ways that MacEwan connects with the community through swim lessons, swim clubs, school visits, triathlon clubs, birthday parties, masters swim groups and adult fitness classes
7. inner city schools use the MacEwan pool on a weekly basis
8. the MCSW has recently begun to offer rehabilitation programs for special populations part of which include using the pool
9. the administration has NOT demonstrated how closing the pool will save Grant MacEwan $500,000 per year in operating costs (they have not accounted for the fact that a new fitness facility will need to be heated, cooled, cleaned, staffed and equipped).
The most important point that was omitted from Cathryn’s memo was that the Faculty Association, the Students Association, the Physical Education program and the community were not consulted in the decision to close the pool.
The Physical Education program is fighting hard to stop what administration has presented as a “fait accompli.” Please join us in our opposition to administration’s plan to bulldoze this through.
Write to our President, Paul Byrne, VP Academic, Janet PatersonWeir, VP Student Services, Cathryn Heslep, our Board of Governors Representative, Chaldeans Mensah, Board of Governors President, Eric Young, The Edmonton Journal, City Councillors, Ben Henderson and Jane Batty, and our Edmonton Centre MLA, Laurie Blakeman.
_______________________________________________
Want to Comment on the Pool Closure?
Speak out on this issue by going to the topic called pool closure in the Discussion Forum. Remember, you’ll have to log on to the site first to participate in the forum. This is to ensure that your comments in the discussion forum are kept amongst the FA membership only and not made public for everyone else to see.