MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 201122 THE MEDIUM

Katherine Luczynski, Editor | news@mediumonline.ca

UTMSU to drop parking feesEdward Cai/The Medium

Las t Thursday , a round 25 s tu-dents gathered in the PresentationRoom of the Student Centre tojoin the executives of the UTMStudent Union. The UTMSU initi-ated a collective effort to spreadawarene s s abou t inc r ea s e s inparking fees and strengthen stu-dent solidarity in efforts to lobbythe motion.V i ck i t a Bha t t , p r e s iden t o f

UTMSU, presented the union’sstrategy to approach the init ia-t i v e . S tuden t s sp l i t i n to th r eegroups to bra ins torm wi th theUTMSU executives. Participantsengaged in l obby documentpreparation, creative awarenesscampaigns , and outreach plan-ning. Combining outreach pro-j e c t s and l obby e f f o r t s , t h eUTMSU wants to work with theadministration to find alternatesolutions to finance the universi-ty’s parking structure.“How can we at UTM control

the fate of a l l parking studentswhen the power is in the hands ofthe UTM administration?” Bhattasked participants. “The answer isthe Erindale College Council. Wewant to see as many students atthe ECC meeting as possible tohold your student representatives,professors, and senior administra-tors accountable.”The ECC is one of the highest

gove rn ing bod i e s a t UTM.Compr i sed o f f a cu l t y and s tu -dents, the council in this situationmakes amendments and rati f iesmotions regarding ancillary fees.This includes parking, residence,and meal plans. All major facultymembers wield one vote. As such,administration and teaching staffgrea t ly outnumber the s tudentvote with 75 seats.UTMSU s eek s t o f o r t i f y the

student voice within the ErindaleCollege Council. At the upcomingECC meeting, members will voteon a motion to increase parkingfees by five percent.Due to the construction of two

new bu i ld ings on campus , 440parking spaces were lost. With alarge increase in student enrol-ment, the administration chose toe r e c t a pa rk ing s t ruc tu re t oaccommodate the need for space.The parking deck, with a project-ed price tag of $6.5 million, wasf inanced wi th an amort i za t ionper iod of 10 years . With fewerparking spaces available, the uni-versity is not able to sell as manyparking permits as previous years.To break even after five years, ar i s e in pa rk ing f e e s wou ld berequired to cover the costs (abid-ing by the guidelines of SARG, acommittee that negot iates withParking Services). Last year, fees

were increased by three percent.The last time an increase in fees

was required was in 2006 whenthe CCT parking garage was con-s t ruc ted . S ince then , f ees havee i the r dec r ea s ed o r remained constant.“There is money in the budget

to provide the level of service thatis helpful for students. I feel that

the level of service that they areproviding with the current budgetis not conducive to what studentswant,” Bhatt said. “The parkingdeck should not have been built ift hey cou ldn ’ t f und i t . I don ’ tthink students should have to payfo r some th ing tha t i s a planning oversight.”At the organizing meeting, stu-

dents and UTMSU executives dis-cussed potential points of negoti-ation. Among the ideas that cameup, many were interested in theconcep t o f r e fo rming SARGgu ide l ine s and , f u r the rmore ,extending the amortization periodto pay off the mortgage.Tak ing sus t a inab l e concep t s

into consideration, students dis-cussed proposing a change in thedesign of the parking lot . Theysuggested that parking on a diag-onal would allow for more park-ing spaces, and therefore greaterrevenue from parking permits.“You need to put something in

the lobby document that will con-vince them [the administration]that there is an alternative,” sug-gested James Bouti l ier , an ECCmember and s tudent . “ I f thereisn’t an alternative way to fundthe parking structure, they haveno choice but to vote in favour ofthe increase.”The UTMSU urges students to

attend the ECC meeting to holdthe council fiscally responsible.“I wanted more people to come

ou t t o t oday ’ s mee t ing , ” s a idMunib Sa j j ad , UTMSU VPEx te rna l . “We ’ l l b e ho ld inganother meeting soon to collectmore op in ions f o r the l obby document and ge t more people involved.”The Erindale College Council

meeting will be held on January26 a t 3 :15 p .m. in the Counc i lChambers of the Davis Building.Students who are interested canfind more information about ECCon the UTM website.

SSTTEEFFAANNIIEE MMAARROOTTTTAAASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Textbook revampsU of T curriculumA complaint lodged in early 2010 byan unidentified student and two doc-tors in the faculty of medicine about atextbook has prompted U of T tochange its curriculum. The complaintwas about perceived drug industryinvolvement in a textbook on manag-ing chronic pain that was funded andcopyrighted by the makers of the pre-scription painkiller OxyContin.Dr. Rick Glazier and Dr. Philip

Berger, both physicians at St.Michael’s Hospital, one of Universityof Toronto’s teaching hospitals, hadasked for the inquiry. They wereapproached by a medical student whowas concerned about the industry-sponsored book brought to the univer-sity’s Centre for the Study of Pain.Dr. David Mock, the dean of den-

tistry at U of T, said in an interviewwith CBC News that the 371-pagebook had been provided to students byan unpaid guest lecturer with ties tothe drug company.Lorraine Ferris, the inquiry head,

reports that she has not found evi-dence of wrongdoing or actual conflictof interest.However, her report for The

Canadian Press says that “time is ofthe essence” in revising the curriculumof the 20-hour course taught to stu-dents in medical, dental, and pharma-cy school. She said in an interviewwith CTV News that planning for therevised curriculum needs to beginsoon, in time for delivery of the nextcourse this spring.In her report, Ferris said the revised

curriculum should include delivery ofbalanced information by experts inseveral fields, including pharmacologyand painkiller addiction.“As part of their discussions, faculty

will need to address important, topi-cal, and often sensitive issues regard-ing opioids—including, for example,opioid addiction, improper opioidprescribing, at-risk communities, illicitsales and drug diversion, ‘double-doc-toring’, and recreational sharing anduse of opioids,” Ferris commented toCBC News.In an interview with CBC News,

Berger said, “[Ferris] has met our con-cerns head-on,” and was pleased byher inquiry. “To me—and, I think,quite correctly—she’s called for ahigher standard in a public policy areaof a very high profile and of interest toboth government and the public. Ithink it’s fair to say that the imple-mentation of professor Ferris’s recom-mendations will make the public saferand likely will save lives.”Ferris also suggested that the cur-

riculum, development, and account-ability for the pain course be trans-ferred from the Centre for the Study ofPain, which conducts pain researchand helps educate doctors, dentists,nurses, and pharmacists. Rather, theCentre for InterprofessionalEducation, which takes a multi-disci-plinary approach to developping theskills of health professionals, shouldnow take over curriculum andaccountability. Ferris also recom-mended that only U of T faculty members teach the pain course.

“I think this is a good thing,” Mocksaid in an interview with CBC News.“I’m not looking at this as a hand-slapfor the [pain] centre. I think whatwe’ve done is move it into the moremodern governance system that weare developing at the university.”Mock stated that from 2002 to 2006

the pain course was funded by dona-tions, including $117,000 in unre-stricted educational grants from fourdrug companies: Merck-Frosst,Purdue Pharma, Pharmacia Canada,and Pfizer; the drug companies had nodirect input on the course content.Since 2007, the program has beenfunded solely by faculty budgets.Purdue’s copyrighted book on pain

management had been brought in byDr. Roman Jovey, an unpaid guest lec-turer and co-author of the book wholeft copies “for anyone to take”. Jovey,medical director for a chain of clinicscalled the Centres for PainManagement, is a member of Purdue’sspeakers’ bureau, paid by the companyto conduct workshops and lectures.

Jovey confirmed in an interviewwith CTV News that he had left copiesof the book, entitled Managing Pain:The Canadian Health CareProfessional’s Reference, for students.“It was a gift from Purdue. I’m not

at all embarrassed or ashamed. I thinkit’s a darn good book,” he said. “If weall want to be politically correct andhave the appearance of being political-ly correct, then I guess I get it—thatnothing that has any kind of pharmalogo or name or ownership should begiven out to medical students.”In an interview with CTV News,

Berger said that report raises the issueof the pharmaceutical industry poten-tially affecting undergraduate medicaleducation in general.“The danger is an obvious one. It is

in the interests of the drug company tohave physicians prescribing as manyopioid medications to as many patientsas possible. It’s the only way it makesits money,” said Berger. “So it raises avery serious question about whetherindustry-sponsored speakers or mate-rials should ever be used in undergrad-uate medical education because theprimary interest of the pharmaceuticalindustry who makes these drugs is tohave people on the drugs—not to edu-cate students properly.”“This would apply to any disease

that requires medications.”Recently a study was published

showing prescription rates for opiods,including OxyContin, which hadsoared in Ontario over the last twodecades, as well as the number ofdeaths linked to the narcotic.

SSAANNAA HHAAQQ

“The parking deckshould not have beenbuilt if they couldn’tfund it. I don’t thinkstudents should have

to pay for aplanning oversight.”

—Vickita Bhatt

“If we want to bepolitically correct...Nothing that has anykind of pharma logo orname or ownershipshould be given out.”—Dr. Roman Jovey

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