Stories of Support
University of Toronto students’ union promotes campus accessibility with $250,000 gift to the Landmark project
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) is improving accessibility in the St. George campus core with a generous $250,000 donation to the Landmark Project.
“We enthusiastically support the Landmark Project’s goal of creating a more inclusive, pedestrianized and student-friendly campus environment,” says outgoing UTSU President Mathias Memmel (BMusP 2016). “Which is why the UTSU board approved use of the Wheelchair Accessibility Fund to make our campus grounds more accessible to students with disabilities.”
CREATING MORE INCLUSIVE OUTDOOR SPACES
The UTSU’s generous gift to the Landmark Project will be recognized at a new ramp leading from Queen’s Park to King’s College Circle that will permit easier access at the southeast entry point to Front Campus.
“We want people with disabilities to be able to navigate the same routes through campus as everyone else, without having to use a separate entry or pathway,” says U of T President Meric Gertler. “The UTSU’s generous support of the Landmark Project will remove barriers to access and better integrate the historic core of the University with other parts of the campus and surrounding neighbourhoods,”
TRANSFORMING U OF T’S HISTORIC CORE
The Landmark Project will recapture the original open spirit of Front Campus and King’s College Circle by dramatically reducing surface parking and vehicle traffic, introducing an integrated network of pathways, plazas and greenspaces, and creating more welcoming and accessible entry points to the centre of campus. The result will be more modern, inclusive and functional outdoor spaces that better serve the needs of our diverse U of T community.
“UTSU shares the University’s vision of a campus that is universally accessible and more fully integrated into the social, cultural, intellectual and environmental life of the city,” says newly elected UTSU President Anne Boucher. “On behalf of 50,000 full-time undergraduate students, I encourage all supporters of the University’s mission to help us realize that vision.”
Posted on June 4, 2018