Founders' director fights to keep residence

Jacqueline Perlin
Recruitment Manager
With the impending closure of Founders College residence, some students are contesting the decision stronger than ever.
York administration confirmed the residence was set to close after the 2011 winter semester due to revenue loss. Some students, however, are vehemently opposed to this decision.
Robert Cerjanec, president of the Founders College Council, sent out an email early last week to the Founders community. The email outlined reasons why the residence should remain open for at least another year.
Cerjanec pointed out doing so would allow students and the York administration to thoroughly study the consulting report – a report which analyzes York’s student housing statistics – which will only be available in the spring.
“It’ll give a better analysis of housing at York and what York can do to boost the amount of people coming into residence,” said Cerjanec.
However, Gary Brewer, v-p of finance and adminstration at York, said the closure of Founders residence is simply to support an “operating efficiency.”
“At this point, the decision to take Founders off the list [of residences] for the upcoming year was based on the decline in applications for the residence at York,” said Brewer, who pointed out that Founders residence is home to the single largest vacancy level in all of York.
Currently, the vacancies in Founders College residence represent a $1.2 million loss in revenue for the university.
Cerjanec responded by stressing the difference between losses in revenue and a net loss.
“A loss in revenue doesn’t mean a net loss to the university,” said Cerjanec. “It just means they’re not getting in as much revenue.”
Cerjanec said the Founders community is planning on holding an open forum on Feb. 9 to discuss the pending closure. The forum will invite York administration to hear the concerns of the Founders community.
He also added that a letter-writing campaign directed towards the York administration is being organized, saying the community is adamant about keeping the residence open after this semester.
“Our [Founders] community is simply not happy with it,” said Cerjanec.
With files from Excalibur archives and Yuni Kim