For our last Ryersonian of 2008, we take this opportunity to revisit the biggest story of the semester.

We had anthrax scares, the introduction of classrooms in movie theatres, the last lighting of the Sam’s sign and, of course, more of the same dysfunction at the RSU and CKLN.

Then there was the economy. It’s true that, to this point, there have been a lot of “what ifs.” What if donations dry up? What if new graduate programs don’t materialize as quickly as expected? What if students can’t find jobs after graduation?

So far our leaders have put on a brave face. Nobody’s talking doom and gloom. And who knows, maybe the bottom won’t fall out after all.

On Thursday, Ryerson president Sheldon Levy will be hosting a community town hall meeting at the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre to discuss the effect the economic downturn will have on Ryerson. He plans to address the school’s pension plan, operating budget and endowment fund.

This comes on the heels of an open letter to the school published on Oct. 31, in which Levy reassured that “Ryerson enters these uncertain economic times in a position of strength.”

This year’s Ryerson budget remains relatively unaffected, and we’ve received some soft promises from the province that education funding won’t be dramatically cut. But what about the exciting stuff?

As Ryerson works to carve a new identity for itself and to make a mark on this city, the timing could not be worse. Levy’s legacy project, the Master Plan, might spend more time on the drawing board than expected. And while there is no solid time frame for completion, these things need momentum in order to survive.

In his letter, Levy also warned: “At the same time, we can no longer rely on previous financial assumptions.” Toronto’s zeitgeist of the past decade of big renovations and large-scale planning will probably make way for a holding pattern. City building may have just gone out of style.

Levy admitted last year in an editorial he wrote for the Toronto Star: “We will doubtless not be able to achieve all our aspirations, and in some things we will have to take the long view.” It’s true that even before the credit crisis, all the goodies promised in the KPMB-drafted Master Plan looked too good to be true, and that there was never really any solid plan to pay for all of it. Perhaps Levy wasn’t expecting hard times to hit so soon.

But groundbreaking for the Student Learning Centre is still apparently on schedule. The Image Arts building is also still slated for a major renovation. Negotiations with the province to acquire the Sears parking lot at Jarvis and Dundas have been put on hold for now, but Levy said he still has his eye on it. The optimism persists.

But let’s see what 2009 brings.