Trent University has a long history of being involved with the downtown and surrounding Peterborough area. However some feel that Trent is becoming a little too involved, so-to-speak.
With the growing population of Trent University, Trent’s student clubs are forced to use many alternative buildings that are located off-campus.
This is to make room for more student spaces designated for studying or sometimes even just to make room for another club, as new clubs are always welcome to start up and participate in the Trent community.
“We do not have adequate space for the amount of groups that keep joining,” former president of the Organization for Latin Awareness (HOLA) and current Club Coordinator, Adriana Sierra, comments, “I don’t feel that moving downtown is the answer, there just is not enough space. It will be a long term solution as Trent continues to grow.”
Trent is very limited on spaces due to the unique structure of each building on campus leaving little space for students to study or meet for projects. This leaves a lot of clubs to hold their meetings at their homes or in the downtown area.
Although these options are available they are hard to accommodate as spaces everywhere, whether it be on campus or downtown, fill up quickly as there are over 90 clubs and groups currently operating at Trent.
“I think we all feel that pressure [to move] because of our buildings and their structures, we are limited on how much we can expand,” Mayra Asmar, Vice President of University and College Affairs, states. “If we could have more buildings on campus, that would be ideal.”
Although all students have equal opportunities and are open to all the same resources such as transportation and accesses to buildings, on-campus groups have the advantage of accessibility and confortability of being close.
Whereas, off-campus students might feel intimidated by where or how to get to certain places that are downtown, such as Sadlier House.
“There are definitely negative and positive sides to both scenarios” the Youth Coordinator and Kawartha World Issue Center Seeds for Justice Youth Facilitator, Rachelia Giardino voices.
“Being on Trent main campus gives us a unique opportunity to connect with and support students on a daily basis through our shared resource centre in the Environmental Sciences Building. We also reach out to local community groups and high schools, and organizing on main campus in the evenings and weekends can be tricky due to accessibility and ease of our local transportation system.”
As the Trent University population continues to grow in a positive way, it now needs a more thought-out plan on how to sustain this population and to accommodate all participants in the Trent community.