College gets $5.6 million boost

Funds part of $200-million pie for campus safety, green initiatives, building upgrades

Humber will receive $5.6 million in funds to invest in campus security, energy efficiency and building upgrades.

“We’re striving to maintain excellence in this field to make sure we do produce one of the most highly educated and highly skilled workforces,” said John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities at a press conference at George Brown College on Tuesday.

“Investments like these are true investments in the future of Ontario’s economy.”

The funding is part of $200-million plan announced a day after The Toronto Star reported Ontario’s universities are in dire need of infrastructure repairs.

Humber College President John Davies was pleased by the news.

“This is quite a reasonable share of the money which I’m very satisfied with. I’m not surprised with what we were given by the government,” said Davies.

Humber’s cut of the funding is based on the percentage of college students who attend the college. Currently, 9.1 per cent of Ontario’s college students are enrolled here.

“This money is no way factored into our current budget, so for us it’s additional funds,” said Davies, explaining Humber is not in a deficit. “So we now have $5.6 million to put into projects that we didn’t have before today.

“From a safety point of view, we will build new fire systems accompanied with PA systems,” said Davies.

The college is looking at whether or not to install a wireless PA system or to integrate it with a new fire system. Davies said because of the college’s size, a PA system would be beneficial in an emergency situation.

Davies said he would like to spend the money on new weight room facilities, changes in the labs, a new crime scene lab for the Justice Studies program at Lakeshore Campus, a new moot court for the para-legal program and a new bio science lab.

“It doesn’t end the list. In a college this big you can always put money into all of those facilities, so having another $5.6 million to do that is great,” said Davies.

Davies’ thoughts on new facilities and campus safety were echoed by Milloy at the press conference.

“For faculty and students to have an excellent learning experience they need to work in facilities that are up to date, that are energy efficient, and that are safe and secure,” said Milloy.

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Worker shortage in IT industry means good news for grads

Graduates in the information technology sector have more job opportunities available today than five years ago, said Karen Fast, manager of the career centre.

“We really saw a flattening of that industry for a good five years,” she said. “It was really discouraging for a lot of people, so a lot of students didn’t go into the programs because they were afraid that the jobs weren’t there at the end. We’re certainly seeing a huge number of jobs coming through now.”

A report issued by the Conference Board of Canada last week said as many as 58,000 new jobs will open in the next year, while new graduates are down about 50 per cent from 2002.

Canada’s IT sector is facing a shortage of workers that will cost the economy $120,000 per year for each vacant position, says the report.

Nancy Rodrigues, associate dean of school of media studies and information technology, said the number of new students in IT programs has increased over the past two years.

“The publicity is changing from jobs going off-shore to there being jobs available,” she said.

“As parents and students are seeing more jobs available, more people are interested.”

Joe Tomona, associate dean of the school of applied technology, said the burst of the tech bubble and the fall of Nortel scared people away from IT fields.

“Coupled with that we have a booming economy where skilled trades and the government’s efforts to increase the skilled work force kind of gave people an idea and the government was great at marketing it,” he said. “So I’ve seen a decline in high tech and an increase in skilled trades in terms of enrolment.”

Despite the shortage of graduates, Tomona said they have not been pushing the school’s technology programs more.

“We have not been aggressively marketing. It hasn’t traditionally been in our style. But maybe a little bit wouldn’t hurt.”

Patrick O’Gorman, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, said the government has not focused on one area at the expense of any others.

“The ministry has had increased funding over the last year,” he said. “We are not taking away from one area to give to another.”

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Vendor hopes for peace in homeland

Many students grab a quick bite to eat at the hotdog vendor’s stand outside Humber’s lecture hall without a thought about the man serving them lunch.

Jabbar Raufi, 36, left his home in Kabul in 1989 after growing up there during the Soviet occupation.

“I didn’t want to be enlisted as a soldier, war is not a happy time, so I left my home to come to Canada.”

He hopes to visit his native Afghanistan some day.

“I pray for Afghanistan to be peaceful,” he said at his stand outside the E-wing on North Campus. “For over 24 years I have never seen it like that.”

He appreciates the tolerance and friendliness of Canadian society.

“You do your job, that’s it,” he said. “Where you’re from, what culture you are, what village you’re from – it doesn’t matter here.”

Raufi dropped out of school at the age of nine to work as a tailor.

He started working as a hotdog vendor five years ago so he could earn more money to support his wife Farida and three children.

He sells up to 200 hotdogs a day.

“I like it a lot. People are really friendly and they don’t bother me.”

Every day he travels daily from his home in Toronto.

In all types of weather he works at his hotdog stand to serve hungry students.

“The only bad part of my job is when it is really cold outside and the students don’t come.”

He enjoys summer most, when there aren’t as many students around and he works shorter days.

“I just come in for lunch, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. I make money then I go home, relax, and play volleyball.”

He likes to spend free time with his family and dreams of owning a restaurant at Humber one day.

With hotdogs for $2.50 and sausages for $3.50, taxes included, students keep coming back for the food and the service.

“I like the hotdog guy,” said accounting Amarbir Bal. “His prices fit my pocket and he is a nice, friendly guy.”

“The food is quality street meat,” said Brian Cole, a 3D model and visual effects student who eats there once a week. “He’s a friendly dude.”

To help draw people outside Raufi offers a money-back guarantee.

“I make delicious hot dogs and delicious sausages,” he said. “If they don’t like it, they get their money back.”

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Winter salt harms campus nature plan

Every winter, North Campus uses more than 500 tonnes of road salt to keep its parking lots and walkways safe. But this comes at a heavy cost to the Arboretum, says Sid Baller, Arboretum superintendent.

“The hot button for all of us right now, and it’s kind of a conundrum for everybody – the college and the Arboretum – is the use of de-icers,” he said.

The effect of all of this salt on the Arboretum is far-reaching. Baller said a stand of evergreens in the river valley died and it is harmful to aquatic life in the Humber River.

Gary Wilkins, Humber River specialist at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, said he has seen more chloride in the river recently, most of which comes from road salt.

The authority is responsible for managing rivers in the GTA. A report it released on the Humber River last November said chloride is the only conventional pollutant to see an increase in its levels over the past decade.

Road salts have been designated a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Wayne Falls, co-ordinator of site maintenance, said the college has looked into alternatives but the cost of more environmentally friendly products is prohibitive.

“The major concern that we have is providing safety for the students and the staff that use the facilities,” he said.

Baller said part of the problem is that students and staff expect the parking lots to be clear down to the pavement. “There is a whole casket of consequences that flow from that environmentally. It’s a city-wide problem, it’s a region-wide problem, and I don’t think it’s been addressed beyond that.”

Bob Nicholson, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, said the goal is to minimize the amount of salt needed during the winter and still keep roads safe. “We do realize it has an impact on the environment,” he said.

The province has taken numerous steps to reduce the amount of salt used each winter by inserting electronic controls on spreaders, pre-wetting salt to make it stick to roads better, and pre-treating some roads prior to storms.

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Students going ahead with Kenya

Despite recent crisis, Humber plans to join Free the Children in May

For Revlon Stoddart, the recent violence in Kenya has not deterred her from going to build a school there this May.

Stoddart, fourth year early childhood education student, is one of 16 Guelph-Humber and Humber students going on the trip with Free the Children, a non-profit organization helping youth around the world. The organization was founded in Toronto by Craig Kielburger when he was 12 years old.

“I’m not scared,” said Stoddart, the co-founder of the Humber chapter of Free the Children. “I’m driven by my passion and love for children. I know what I want and I made up my mind at the end of August that for sure, this is what I want to do, to travel to Kenya.”

The violence is the result of the hotly contested Dec. 27 election that was won by President Mwai Kibaki by only 232,000 votes over opposition leader Raila Odinga. Both sides have exchanged accusations of electoral fraud and the turmoil has left about 500 people dead and approximately 250,000 displaced.

Kielburger’s brother Marc, chief executive director of Free the Children, said he doesn’t expect there to be any problems.

“I personally would be shocked if the situation weren’t fully resolved or extremely close to being resolved by May,” he said.

Internet management student Kendi Muchungi is concerned about developments and has been keeping in close touch with her friends and family in Kenya.

“I miss home. Especially now because I feel like I should be in Nairobi.”

However, she said she believes the violence will subside in her home country as most Kenyans focus their attention on the struggles of daily life.

Despite the optimism, Humber is still monitoring the situation carefully and will not put any students at risk.

“Humber will always err on the side of caution and if need be we will cancel the trip,” said Michael Kopinak, manager of residence life and international student services. “The hope right now is that we don’t have to do that.”

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