Build SFU moves forward

Build SFU General Manager Marc Fontaine announced that this past December, SFU signed a loan for $44.3 million for the building of a new Student Union Building. The loan, which is set at a 4.135 per cent interest rate, will be for a 20-year term commencing on December 31, 2018 and continuing until 2038. In the next few months a contractor for the building of the new SUB will be searched for.

Construction is scheduled to begin sometime this summer.

New U-Pass contract

VP Student Services Darwin Binesh announced that the SFSS had come to an understanding on a new fee for the U-Pass system and the SFSS is preparing for an upcoming referendum to approve the new fee. He also noted that the new contract might change the way that opt-outs are handled.

Currently five per cent of students are eligible for opt-outs by falling into a specific category, with one per cent being eligible for a discretionary opt-out typically reserved for students who live in areas not serviced well by transit. Currently this one per cent cap is being pushed by demand and so the new contract may create a new category in the five per cent for these students.

Kinder Morgan NEB hearing

Both the SFSS and Graduate Student Society (GSS) will present oral arguments in front of the National Energy Board (NEB) on January 22 at the Delta Hotel in Burnaby over the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion that will see another pipeline added to Burnaby Mountain. They will be voicing their opposition to the pipeline.