CALGARY, ALTA. — The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) has received a historic $10 million gift from its students’ association (SAITSA).
The funds were drawn from fees from roughly 70,000 students over the past decade. The money will be used to build a space for student activities.
The association has been planning to fund a new centre since 2007.
“We’re a diverse group of students representing a variety of backgrounds and disciplines,” said Ryan Morstand, the chair of SAITSA’s elected board, in a release. “We united to raise funds to pursue a dream and to leave a legacy for future generations of students. This is a remarkable accomplishment.”
David Jones, former SAITSA president, explained students have long asked for a new space.
“We heard from students year after year that there was a serious need for a central place to serve their non-academic needs – a place for clubs to hold meetings and additional spaces we could gather outside of class time with resources available to use at a moment’s notice,” Jones said. “We knew it was going to take money, and it wasn’t going to happen overnight.”
After holding a referendum, SAITSA raised the funds by charging students an incremental fee to be used for the student centre.
SAITSA elected to make the donation directly to SAIT to ensure the Students’ Association would not incur additional cost by having to purchase land to build upon. SAIT campus resides on Crown land and, therefore, all future building initiatives must go through the institution to the Government of Alberta.
“I’d be lying if I said everybody was happy to pay more, but the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Our students understood the need and they all contributed to this incredible accomplishment,” said Jones.
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