New panel allows for student input on decisions about new and existing tenants
Hamid Adem
Assistant News Editor
The York University Development Corporation has formed a student panel to advise them on the decisions made about new and existing tenants that operate in York Lanes.
The YUDC and the Student Representative Roundtable, a student group advising the vp students, have come together
to create a two-student advisory panel that will meet with YUDC and discuss any future business decisions regarding changing
and adding new tenants to York Lanes.
Christopher Edey, director of commercial land use development for the YUDC, says that in the past, feedback would come through the occasional phone call or email from students.
However, since the closing of Blueberry Hill, the SRR and the YUDC have been noticing more student engagement, which prompted the formation of the panel.
The two representatives chosen by the SRR are Ayala Rubin, chair of the Faculty of Health’s student caucus, and Evan Wickham, president of the McLaughlin College Council.
Rubin says it’s hard to make decisions about the development of a building meant to be used by students when there is no student feedback.
When asked about how he was chosen to be on the panel, Rubin says, “I believe the SRR was looking for students that were well-connected and do have the ability to gain other students’ feedback on this panel.”
Rubin believes that the student voice will be better heard to the YUDC now that this panel exists.
“As a representative, I have access to the opinions and feedback of a lot of students,” she says. “We are two representatives who have a lot of influence within the student population so they would definitely be interested in hearing our ideas and not taking what we say lightly.”
Edey says that the two members of the student advisory panel were chosen immediately because the new businesses for York Lanes are to be selected this fall.
