By: Mohamed Mahoud
McMaster University’s welcoming community, rich history and reputation are all factors that make it a nationally and globally renowned school. But why is McMaster, our home away from home, so far away from where most of us come from?
Many Mac students leave their home towns and either commute or move to Hamilton to attend.
This becomes a challenge for both students and their families, as making an adjustment in a new city is required.
However, this familiarity process could become easier for both students and their families if McMaster offered more variety in campus locations.
This would not only make McMaster a school that students want to attend, but one that they realistically and logistically can attend. In addition, it would strengthen McMaster’s reputation nationally.
One institution that has followed this style of expansion is the University of Toronto. Though some would argue that U of T’s campuses lessen the sense of community for students who attend any of the affiliate campuses, I would argue that this merely creates closer communities based on campus location.
This becomes a challenge for both students and their families, as making an adjustment in a new city is required.
McMaster’s relatively small campus in comparison to other universities is a part of what helps create a sense of close community for students.
This would not be taken away with more campuses, but would be multiplied and more accessible to students from different cities.
In addition, this would help to create more opportunities for prospective graduate students and research opportunities with increased resources and facilities.
McMaster is reputably a research-driven school and receives funding that is specifically for research. This would increase the input and output of McMaster research by creating more opportunities for students who are interested in pursuing graduate and post-graduate studies with McMaster.
Consequently, expanding McMaster’s campus in different locations would also create more co-op opportunities for students who are looking for co-op opportunities within McMaster.
As an engineering student, this would be beneficial for me as it would mean that I wouldn’t have to commute to places like Guelph for co-op and would be able to stay with my family.
Since I already commute to campus from Mississauga, campus expansion could make commuting easier for me in terms of my commute time. This would also help take off some stress for finding co-op opportunities if McMaster offers more co-op opportunities with expansion.
Campus expansion would help create a greater sense of community for certain faculties if the McMaster affiliated campuses were to be faculty-based. This would cater to the needs of specific faculties and make networking within one’s discipline more accessible and easier to achieve.
For smaller faculties, this would be beneficial as it would work to break the hierarchy of faculty representation, where each faculty can have an increased representation in different campuses and more opportunities for community-based events and networking.
In addition, this would make events like welcome week more productive, where students can get to know other students in their faculty a lot quicker than they would by have one welcome week for one campus.
Expansion would not only make student’s lives easier in several ways, but would also enhance McMaster’s reputation as research-driven school that students want to attend.
It would make the logistics of being able to be a McMaster student more attainable and would help strengthen each faculty in its own ways.
Campus expansion for McMaster would help build McMaster as a university and the students that make McMaster what is notable for today.
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In a referendum that took place in March 2017, McMaster students voted to expand the Pulse fitness area and make membership part of the Student Activity Fee, eliminating the supplementary fee that users originally had to pay to receive a full year membership.
As a byproduct of the policy, more students have been taking advantage of the now-compulsory Pulse membership.
Compared to Sept. 2016, the David Braley Athletic Centre, which includes the Pulse, has seen a 13 per cent increase in overall traffic.
According to Laura Rietmuller, the fitness and wellness coordinator at the Pulse, membership has more than doubled since last year, and the Pulse has seen an increase in both student use and damaged equipment.
In the wake of the overcrowding problem at the Pulse, complaints from McMaster students have surfaced.
“You need to stay in line for everything. Every day, I wait at least ten minutes for a locker. A workout that should take you half an hour takes two hours,” said Shahed Salehi, a daily Pulse user and social sciences student.
“I only went to the Pulse once, but it was full to the brim, with much of the equipment occupied. As a result, I have yet to return,” Rishi Bansal, a first-year arts and science student, said.
"You need to stay in line for everything. Every day, I wait at least ten minutes for a locker. A workout that should take you half an hour takes two hours,"
Shahed Salehi,
Student
Social Sciences
As a result of the overcrowding, the Pulse has also experienced an increase in humidity. To remedy this, Garret Pratt, a first-year commerce student and Pulse user, suggests that the Pulse consider lifting its ban on tank tops.
“The Pulse tends to be so humid from all the bodies, it’s ridiculous. If you go in at night you can see all the windows coated with steam,” Pratt said.
When asked how the Pulse is accommodating for the spike in users, Rietmuller said that in late Oct. 2017, the gym will be turning the east auxiliary gymnasium into a “Pop-up Pulse.”
The gym, which will include cardio equipment, a women’s only area, free weights and free space for activity, will serve to divert traffic in the Pulse until the expansion is completed. Equipment for the east auxiliary gym has already been purchased.
In addition, the Pulse has increased both its hours of operation and the number of outdoor fitness classes it offers. The McMaster Students Union, Athletics and Recreation and Student Affairs have also been working to provide students with additional opportunities to exercise.
Rietmuller also notes that the gym is not students’ only avenue for physical activity.
“Go for a swim, try the outdoor fitness circuit and climbing wall, challenge a friend at squash, explore Hamilton’s natural beauty and trails, hit the indoor or outdoor track, check out intramural sport leagues,” Rietmuller said.
The Pulse will be offering students free racquet rentals for the first term and, as a product of the referendum, a 50 per cent discount on intramural tournaments. Pilates and yoga programs will also be 50 per cent off for students.
These initiatives, which appear to be aimed at increasing space in the Pulse, however, are only part of a band aid solution. The expansion construction project, which will result in a gym that is double the size of the existing one, is not scheduled to be completed until 2020.
As the nice weather subsides and increasingly more students take advantage of their membership, the Pulse will have to continue to do more to reduce its overcrowding problem.
The Phoenix Bar and Grill reopened at the Refectory Rathskeller on Tuesday to a busy crowd eager to size up the new venue. The relocation of the 43-year-old campus bar from Wentworth House to the Refectory has been an ongoing project since summer 2011.
The Phoenix runs on reduced hours this week and will host an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, Sept. 10. President Patrick Deane will attend the event along with members of the university administration, Graduate Student Association representatives and MSU executives. VP (Administration) Roger Couldrey will kick off celebrations.
Covenant, a new art installation, was cemented in front of the McMaster Museum of Art right before move-in weekend. The life-size bronze sculpture of an encounter between two coyotes is by Canadian First Nations artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. The sculpture adds to McMaster’s collection of over 7,000 art pieces.
Installation of a new $3 million outdoor track with a turf field nears completion after 4 months of construction during the summer. The eight-lane track, to be used by students and possibly rented for public use, has a new high-tech synthetic surface. The facility is expected to be ready for use in mid-September.
Second-floor expansion of the Psychology Building has reached the structural steel stage. The addendum will be home to a Large Interactive Virtual Environment (L.I.V.E.) performance laboratory. The lab will be dedicated to research bridging music and neuroscience, and will include a small concert hall. Construction is expected to finish by spring 2013.
As part of the City of Hamilton’s backflow prevention program, four water lines on campus have been undergoing construction, including one outside the Engineering Technology Building facing Main Street West (shown above).
Pipeline enhancements will prevent the university’s wastewater from entering pipes throughout the city.
The initiative is in compliance with a by-law passed in May affecting all commercial, industrial and institutional buildings over four storeys high.
Edwards Hall and Chester New Hall, both over 45 years old, now back onto a new walkway. Similar walkway and pedestrian crosswalk improvements have been made near the Burke Science Building, the Main Street West entrance at Forsyth Avenue South and parking lots I and E.
