By: Kelly Chia, Staff Writer
On August 25, SFSS voted for the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) and Society of Arts and Social Sciences (SASS) to permanently occupy the two largest rooms in the Student Union Building (SUB). “The motion passed with 35 in favour, 11 opposed, and 2 abstentions,” reported SFSS president Gabe Liosis.
The SUS and SASS previously launched a campaign requesting common room spaces in the Student Union Building (SUB).
In an interview with The Peak, the SUS and SASS talked about what they picture in these spaces. “These rooms will serve as open, inviting spaces for students to mingle and socialize with those in and outside of their department, or even their faculty.
“We hope that this central location will serve as an anchor for our department student unions on campus, and will bring more foot traffic to the [SUB].”
In their campaign letter, one of the concerns they previously expressed was that students would not have a common hub.
“SFU is labelled as a ‘commuter school,’ meaning that a high proportion of students commute to school rather than living on campus, there is less opportunity for students to have interactions with their peers, especially those that would not necessarily be in the same classes as them,” they wrote. “Having a common hub for students allows for a space to host these interdepartmental interactions that are not likely to take place in open places like the library or the few DSU common rooms that currently exist.”
They also expressed that Council had been supportive of the movement. “When the motion to launch the Student Deserve Space campaign during the 2020/2021 term was put forward, Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of launching this initiative,” SUS and SASS said.
“This is a win for not just science students, but for all students at SFU as well as the SFSS as a whole.”
When asked to give a statement on the campaign, Liosis said, “The next steps include starting a working group to be chaired by the vice president internal and organizational development to create a Memorandum of Understanding with the two Faculty Student Unions, and to work out the finer details of the two groups’ stay in the SUB.”
“This does not mean the campaign to push for student spaces across campus has finished,” the SUS and SASS said.
“With the return to campus, our work is just starting, and we will continue to work with all willing DSUs to help them secure spaces of their own on campus.”
