Through the past 74 years, UW has resided within a small area of western Waterloo. However, there may be radical changes to the UW campus in the near future.
The campus can no longer house all the necessities of the university. For instance, Health Services is now located between the Clarica building and Grand River Hospital. The Warriors hockey teams now practice and play in the archaic Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. University administration told the local and national press that there will be more movement of services and departments from the main campus to make room for expansion.
The Waterloo Millennium Recreational Park, or to long-time local residents, RIM Park, had been a total flop ever since its opening in September 2001. The number of people using the facilities was far below expectations. In 2012 the park was sold to the Region of Waterloo and in 2025, the land was purchased by the University. The University came up with the money to buy the land by making Columbia Lake an amusement park and charging admission from visitors. The park earned $400 million within 2 years of its opening. The university borrowed the rest from mathNEWS, which is enjoying the riches that came via the presentation of the correct proof of the Twin Primes Conjecture in an issue of mathNEWS in the fall of 2014.
Many members of the UW Senate believe that the land is like an untapped gold mine. They are seriously considering to move at least two faculties out of the main campus and to the former location of the RIM Park. Currently the Senate plans to relocate the Faculties of Engineering and Mathematics to the new location. However, the deans of the respective faculties have yet to come to terms on how to divide up the land. The deans of the remaining 5 faculties, particularly the CS faculty, refuse to move his/her faculty to the new location. None of the deans are willing to budge and this problem may persist for a long time.
The students are dealing with titanic class sizes and a shortage of assistance outside the classroom. Both the Senate and the deans believe new space is needed to reduce class size and to lure more professors. However, they have argued over whether to move some faculties to the vacant land for over 12 years. Since the two sides have not found any compromise yet, the 20,000 incoming frosh can soon expect crowded lecture halls and the absence of TAs, like what upper-year students are experiencing now.
Jacob "the Megaphone" Lau