Letter to Members - 14 January 2010
Dear Member,
As you will know, we held a Special General Meeting on 17 December 2009. This was held to discuss the future of our Club, and to seek guidance on the issue of its temporary relocation to Level Four of Union House. This followed a lengthy process of negotiation with the University authorities concerning our long-term existence as a key institution within the University community. In conducting these negotiations, I was especially heartened by the many, many expressions of concern, and support for our Club. Either in detail or in spirit, each of these expressions of support was incorporated into my discussions with the University. I've done my best to respond to as many of these messages as I could, but if you didn't hear from me, it did not mean that your letter or e-mail was unnoticed. Each and every one helped enormously in establishing how important we are in the context of University life and its work.
The talks held with University authorities, which included a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, resulted in some pleasing outcomes; indeed, far, far better than we had anticipated at the beginning of the process in mid-October 2009. Having earlier insisted that the Club could have just two rooms (being the Equinox and Medlin Rooms) on Level Four, by the time of the SGM, the offer had improved considerably, with our being assured of those rooms together with a very large function room, the Eclipse. In addition, with the departure of the Wine Centre catering business from North Terrace Campus, the Club was offered the opportunity to replace it. This, in effect, means that our Club will take over all catering activities on campus for 18-24 months, and this will include the running of student/staff facilities such as Unibar, the Mayo, Backstage Café and Briefs, as well as catering for functions across the campus. In effect, we will have the opportunity to considerably enhance our financial position for the near-term, as well as having facilities for large functions, thereby allowing the Club to thrive in the long-term. The Vice-Chancellor himself wrote a letter of reassurance regarding the value of the Club to the University, and this was accompanied by an initial sketch of the Club's proposed facilities, provided by the University authorities. The meeting concluded with the passing of the following motion:
'This meeting recommends relocation in principle to union house at this
time, according to the enhanced conditions offered by the University,
as specified in the plan delivered on 17th December.'
This was carried unanimously by the members present, and it was a decision that had the full backing of the Club's executive and members of its Committee. And while each of us lamented, and laments still, losing the Terrace Garden, it was decided that this would be lost to us irrespective of any moral or legal arguments put forward regarding the Club remaining where it is. The Garden is not, in fact, the Club's property (given that it is the roof area of a University building), and its likely redevelopment would mean that our main dining area would be both cramped and claustrophobic. It would not be, as the meeting agreed, the same Club.
We are currently completing negotiations with the University concerning the detail of our agreements on the Club itself and a separate one on its enhanced role in the University as a whole. An in-principle notice of the latter was circulated by the Vice-President's office on 23 December 2009. A temporary relocation of the Club will be carried out in the next few weeks, and we will still be able to lodge a business proposal to return to our Hughes Plaza site upon completion of the 'Learning Hub', although the physical environment will be a considerably altered one, and especially so with respect to the permanent loss of our enviable Terrace Garden area. This poses some serious questions as to whether we actually will wish to return, or in what form would do so if we do (for example, we might well consider putting forward a plan to establish a smaller dining/lounge area there in order to establish a presence on the site).
In the meantime, the Club will open, as scheduled, at its present location on 18 January 2010, although we will be ensconced in the temporary site on Level Four of Union House in mid-to-late February. The plans for the refurbishment of the Equinox are currently in train, and the environment and services in the new venue should be very good indeed. We hope you will continue to use the Club's new premises, and use the enhanced functions facilities for meetings, dinners and special events. In this last respect, it is most pleasing indeed to be able to say that the Club will be able to host events for upward of 300 people, and do so without restricting the use of the main Club room!
Finally, on behalf of your Committee, may I extend belated Season's Greetings, and wish you a very happy and satisfying 2010. We very much look forward to seeing you at the Club in the course of the year.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Felix Patrikeeff
(Chair, University of Adelaide Club)
