{"id":48508,"date":"2019-02-09T11:12:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T18:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=48508"},"modified":"2021-02-07T22:42:35","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T05:42:35","slug":"despite-10-million-gift-no-timelines-offered-on-saitsa-hq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2019\/02\/09\/despite-10-million-gift-no-timelines-offered-on-saitsa-hq\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite $10-million gift, no timelines offered on SAITSA HQ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Gift Wrapped<\/strong>: The crowd in SAIT’s Stan Grad Centre reacts after the announcement the SAIT Students’ Association (SAITSA) has donated $10 million to SAIT, for construction of a student centre, on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. On stage are SAIT president Dr. David Ross (right) and chair of the SAITSA board of directors, Ryan Morstad. (Photo by Alex Hamilton\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I<\/span>t will be months, and perhaps years, before SAIT students see construction begin on a long-promised new headquarters for SAITSA.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>hat’s was the bottom line on the announcement Jan. 23 that the students’ association was turning over $10 million raised for the project from student fees to the institute.<\/p>\n

While SAIT has promised to get the headquarters built, there is no firm timeline for the project, and significant funding challenges remain, officials said.<\/p>\n

SAIT president David Ross said that the building, dubbed SAITSA HQ, has a total price tag of $35 million, with a request before the provincial government for the additional $25 million still pending.<\/p>\n

Ross explained after that for now, the $10 million would \u201cgo into safekeeping,” being invested alongside other endowments, and will \u201cbecome available when we start to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe invest endowment funds on a regular basis at SAIT. The money\u2019s well taken care of and will be ready to go when we need it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money that\u2019s being donated will be the cornerstone of the new student centre, and will help students for many, many generations to come,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n

However, because the provincial loan has yet to be approved, neither Ross nor SAITSA director Ryan Morstad would say when students can expect construction to begin.<\/p>\n

Ross and Morstad admitted that the upcoming provincial election complicates that process.<\/p>\n

The United Conservative Party (UCP) has proposed freezing government spending<\/a> until the Alberta budget is balanced. In addition, the UCP has proposed making post-secondary students\u2019 union fees voluntary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t committed to a timeline yet because the unknown is still the government approval, but one thing I will say is that the planning is well under way,\u201d said Ross.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want it in the ground as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morstad, meanwhile, said that \u201ctimelines are really hard\u201d and noted that the funds may have to come from other sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have a great team of our staff working on possible other sources, as well as some private donations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without commenting on the provincial process, Morstad said he trusted SAIT to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have built many, many buildings on this campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know how to handle it better than us. I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t be too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, 2018, SAITSA declared SAITSA HQ would break ground in the spring<\/a>. At that point, an architectural firm had been chosen, and concept art of the building released. The website created, saitsahq.com<\/a>, was also announced. That site was offline as of Jan. 27 this year.<\/p>\n

SAITSA HQ has been planned since 2007-08, and the $10 million came from students voting in 2009 to contribute to a fund toward its construction.<\/p>\n

In a second SAITSA referendum in 2015, students voted to release the funds and begin planning the building.<\/p>\n

This time, the heavily-hyped joint announcement did not emphasize the building, but the $10 million donation, celebrating what both parties called a unique relationship between the school and its students\u2019 association.<\/p>\n

A press release noted<\/a> that the donation was \u201cthe largest gift from a student\u2019s association to an institute of technology in Western Canada.\u201d The announcement ceremony at SAIT\u2019s Stan Grad Centre was packed with students, alumni, and current and former SAITSA executives.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t committed to a timeline yet because the unknown is still the government approval. – David Ross<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe asked for students to come back and take a leap of faith,\u201d said former SAITSA president David Jones, who first oversaw the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we needed a place that was ours,\u201d said Jones.<\/p>\n

Ross praised the relationship between SAIT and its students\u2019 association.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all students\u2019 associations are created equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say how proud how I am of the students that have worked year over year to build this. Easily, this could have gone away but here we are celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building is planned to be located on land on the southeast side of the Campus Centre and just north of the C-Train line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAIT announced a $10 million gift on Jan. 23 from the SAIT Students\u2019 Association (SAITSA) toward a new student centre, but the project still has significant funding hurdles and no firm timeline. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":513,"featured_media":48517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 SAITSA Gift","footnotes":""},"categories":[711,2,510],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-campus-2","9":"category-saitsa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48508"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48958,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48508\/revisions\/48958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}