Behind closed doors - University of Windsor
Gord Henderson Windsor Star Thursday, January 31, 2008 Was it really about saving engineering students from the misery of five-minute shuttle rides? Or did fear of offending key University of Windsor supporters play a role in killing a downtown location for its $110-million engineering facility? I guess we'll never know for sure, given that this publicly funded institution's board of governors made the most critical site decision in decades behind closed doors. Ontario taxpayers, like it or not, are contributing $40 million to this project. But they haven't heard, first-hand, the arguments that went into last week's historic rejection of a proposed $37-million partnership between the city and the university. Most of us, I suspect, haven't a clue who sits on this absurdly cumbersome 35-member body (you might ask why legislation requires as many warm bodies to govern one modest Ontario university as it takes to govern all of Canada), let alone understand how they reached that fateful show-of-hands decision. But some folks do want to know more. Readers have been asking, for instance, why there's nobody from city council on that board and yet Tom Burton, deputy mayor of Tecumseh, a town that's in a take-no-prisoners war with Windsor, is a board member. Burton, by all accounts, is a straight shooter and man of honour. So maybe he did the right thing and sat out that vote and the debates that preceded it. But human nature being what it is, it's hard to imagine a Tecumseh politician not taking satisfaction in seeing Windsor's dream for downtown revitalization crushed. With the scuppering of Tecumseh's Ice Track aspirations in 2006 still a raw nerve, it would take a remarkably forgiving individual not to see divine retribution -- sweet payback if you prefer -- in last week's vote. FOE OF FRANCIS Probably the best-known board member is automotive analyst Dennis DesRosiers. An acknowledged global expert on the industry, DesRosiers' views on the location of an engineering school with major automotive components would carry a lot of weight. And justifiably so. Problem is, DesRosiers is viewed as their most vociferous foe by Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and most of the current council. DesRosiers lowered the rhetoric over the past year and made efforts to reach out to city hall when provincial funding for an expanded engineering school was announced. But, unfair as it might seem, he'll always be seen in certain jaundiced quarters as the guy with the horns, someone unlikely to promote a deal that would make the current city hall leadership look good. Also on the board is Matthew Moroun, vice-president of Centra Inc. and son of Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun. Matthew Moroun is a respected businessman and the bridge company has a hard-earned reputation as a good corporate citizen and a solid university partner. I'm betting he didn't vote, given the circumstances, but if he did I'm sure it was for all the right reasons. But what if other board members, mindful of the bridge company's high-stakes standoff with city hall over plans for a second bridge, became nervous about choosing sides in entering a big-dollar partnership with the city? Could some have worried unduly about alienating their bridge partner, which agreed in 2006, when few others were stepping up, to donate $2 million to the university's stadium complex as part of a $5-million agreement doubling their payment to the university for operating the bridge duty-free shop? Matthew Moroun said at the time that the donation was partly goodwill but also a partnership. "We're partners, the furtherance of the university and making it a better school and the bridge an easier and better place to cross every day, it goes hand in hand. We can't get along without them." And then there's Tony Toldo. You and I know that Toldo, Windsor's leading philanthropist, is a big-hearted guy without a vindictive bone in his body. But I wonder. Could some of the folks on that board (and he's not a member) have been fretting that Toldo, a huge university supporter and the driving force in bringing a medical school to the Anthony P. Toldo Health Education Centre on the current campus, might be less than pleased to see a massive expansion project located away from that campus? If they were concerned about that possibility, I'm sure they misread this honourable guy. And that would be truly a shame, because this project deserved to be judged on its merits. ghenderson@thestar.canwest.com © The Windsor Star 2008 Inserted from <http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=c56950b0-b843-4534-9548-c179deca4f39>
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