McMaster needs cap: community president
Published: September 28, 2007
All the hard work and co-operation within the community surrounding McMaster University will be wasted if the school continues its unchecked growth, according to the outgoing president of the Ainslie wood-Westdale Community Association.
Rob Payne told a large group of residents at the group's Sept. 18 annual general meeting McMaster has exceeded its enrollment targets each of the past five years.
"They seem to be taking far more than their fair share," Mr. Payne said, comparing McMaster's recent unprecedented growth to the slower growth of most Ontario universities.
He said it has been difficult for the surrounding community and City of Hamilton to deal with noise, housing, garbage, vandalism and other issues related to students living in the residential neighbourhood because their numbers are growing too quickly.
Mr. Payne called on McMaster University to cap its enrollment at 17,000 - and improve its on-campus infrastructure.
"My understanding is that McMaster has no plans for future on-campus student residences. Two more residences need to be built to free up 140 homes," he said. "McMaster needs to develop a joint planning process with the community."
But the university blew past that suggested cap four years ago, on its way to a total enrollment last year of 21,694. Undergraduate enrollment this year is projected at over 18,000.
Annual increases over 1,000 force and limited on-campus residence force more and more students to find space in nearby single family homes - often unsafely converted to house six or more students.
Mr. Payne said McMaster University currently sets its own size, with no oversight or input from the Westdale and Ainslie Wood neighbours affected, the city or the province, making it impossible to properly plan for the future.
Mr. Payne's concerns were echoed by city councillor Brian McHattie. He said increasing enrollment and student capacity were the main issues of the annual meeting.
"It's very much an issue that needs to be addressed. We need to include the province in that discussion," Mr. McHattie said. "We're clearly over the number and all the good things we're doing aren't having the impact we'd like."
The comments prompted a response from McMaster University vice-president Roger Trull, who was at the meeting but hadn't intended to speak. Mr. Trull said McMaster grew by 50 per cent over the past 10 years, leaving the university in the "middle of the pack" as far as growth.
He said Mr. Payne highlighted other schools that had not grown as much as McMaster, but just as many grew even more than the local university.
Mr. Trull pointed to a few efforts he said the university has undertaken which offset the quick enrollment growth - including a downtown Hamilton continuing education campus and a planned Burlington campus.
"We'd like to remind everyone about the world class people we have brought to the community, in part because of that growth," Mr. Trull said. "I'm sure many of you agree every qualified student is entitled to a post-secondary education."
Enrollment figures provided by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, show McMaster is the fifth fastest growing institution out of Ontario's 18 main universities.
Only the University of Toronto (12,205), York (11,708), Ottawa (8,446) and Ryerson (6,893) have increased enrollment by more students over the past five years.
McMaster University has increased enrollment by 6,475 students since 2001.
That represents an enrollment increase of 42 per cent over five years at McMaster. Only four Ontario universities - Nipissing, Trent, Laurentian and Brock - have increased by a greater rate over the same period.
Conflicting numbers provided by Statistics Canada indicate McMaster has grown by 35 per cent and 6,048. But that still placed the Hamilton university as the fifth fastest growing institution in Ontario, based both on per cent of growth and total number of students. And while McMaster is steady at fifth place in both measurements, four different universities are ahead in percentage growth (Brock, Trent, Nipissing and Laurier or Laurentian) and total student growth (Toronto, York, Ryerson and Ottawa).
While McMaster entered 2000 slightly below Carleton and Queen's in total enrollment, it grew to outstrip both schools by 3,000 and 5,000 respectively.
Ministry spokesperson Miriam Griffin said it does not set any guidelines for enrollment growth, or total capacity.
"These decisions are the responsibility of the Board of Governors at each individual university," Ms. Griffin said.
Author: Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News