By: Petra Chase, Editor-in-Chief
On September 18, student-run non-profit Embark Sustainability hosted a panel discussion, Eviction to Empowerment, reflecting on a not-to-be-forgotten chapter in recent history at SFU: years of organizing gave independent student societies and equity groups the space they now have in the Student Union Building (SUB). In the Embark studio at the bottom of the SUB, with the room full of student attendees, the panelists shared lessons of collective support and steadfast resistance.
Groups that operate under the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), that aren’t clubs or student unions, can fit into two categories: constituency groups or student societies. Constituency groups provide support, resources, and community to students who experience systemic discrimination based on their identities. This includes Students of African and Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA), First Nations, Métis & Inuit Student Association (FNMISA), SFU Disability and Neurodivergence Alliance (DNA), and Out on Campus (OOC), who only gained their seats on Council in 2020. Independent non-profits like Embark, and media organizations like The Peak and campus radio station CJSF are student societies, and provide students with services. These groups all receive funding from the SFSS fee (included in students’ tuition), though they operate independently.
“I probably would’ve dropped out if it wasn’t for SOCA,” said SFU student Balqees Jama, who spoke first on the panel. SOCA used to be located at the Rotunda building above the Transportation Centre, when Jama came to SFU. This was in addition to FNMISA, OOC, CJSF, Womens’ Centre, and SFU Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG) — though not all of these groups had to fight for space in the SUB. In winter 2018, four of these Rotunda groups were handed eviction notices by the SFSS, who were their landlords. Jama, exec at-large of SOCA at the time, spearheaded the Black Space Matters campaign to resist eviction alongside then-SOCA president Giovanni HoSang. SOCA was the first group to “publically start resisting.”
FNMISA also put out a statement about the SFSS at the time, saying, “By withholding space in the new SUB, SFSS has denied Indigenous students a consistent, safe space to gather. This denial of space has compromised our ability to succeed academically and maintain our mental, physical, and spiritual health.”
The Save the Rotunda Community coalition kept up the pressure to get leases extended for the time being, and also helped usher six allied representatives onto the Board at the 2019 election. Hosang, SOCA’s president, became SFSS president. “Considering that Giovanni wasn’t even one of the ‘insiders,’ the vote is a strong rebuke from the student body against the direction of current and previous several Boards,” the Save the Rotunda Facebook page wrote in response to the results.
But the Board members fighting for equity groups were still in the minority. The following November, with the SUB’s opening underway, the SFSS Board rejected a motion from Hosang to allocate space to SOCA, SFPIRG, CJSF, and Embark — four groups that had long-established presences on campus, now with no guaranteed space in the SUB.
“That Board vote was catastrophic,” explained SFU alum Annie Bhuiyan. That’s when some Rotunda groups joined forces to protest. She described SFPIRG as being a safe space for student groups to organize.
“When I met people at SOCA, something clicked. It was very soothing. You didn’t have to be put into a specific box.” — Balqees Jama, SFU student and organizer
The idea for the SUB is almost as old as the university itself, but it took until the past decade for it to come to fruition. The first SUB committee was formed in 1966 to consult students on a space that would “house everything of interest to students.” The building plan was also designed with the intention of having significant space for student organizations, so it came as a shock that these groups would be left out.
SOCA had had space on campus since 1997. “Doctors and counsellors didn’t have the capacity to understand why this was so distressing for Black students to be kicked out of [their] one safe space in this city,” Jama said. This meant students couldn’t get doctor’s notes for academic concessions, which can be granted when unexpected circumstances bar a student from keeping up with a class. Jama described how vital SOCA is for connecting Black students to community and resources. “When I met people at SOCA, something clicked. It was very soothing. You didn’t have to be put into a specific box.”
The SFSS Board attempted compromises, none of which were adequate. They proposed to provide rooms for groups to share and use bookable space in the SUB. The discussion facilitators described the absurdity of dividing Embark’s room for three different groups to share, as SFSS Board members suggested. Magnus Thyvold, who has been station manager at CJSF for over thirteen years, recalled the SFSS treated the groups like they weren’t valuable enough or had to compete for space in the SUB.
Bhuiyan recalled disrupting a pizza meet-n-greet where SFSS Board members were mingling with club presidents. They silently marched from the Rotunda to the event, displaying the names of the seven Board members who had either voted against or abstained from the motion to allocate space on campus for the Rotunda community. The point of the protest being silent was to be non-disruptive, and show students, “These are the people, here are their names, they have evicted students. Make that message very clear that student leaders don’t evict students.
“You could hear a pin drop,” Bhuiyan said.
Embark’s director of engagement Marie Haddad, who co-hosted the panel, pointed out the lack of transparency at the time. Consulting and engaging with the Board was like “operating in the shadows,” Bhuiyan added.
What followed was a series of public statements trying to justify their actions, while the equity groups and societies coalition worked together to mobilize students and pressure the Board members, from protests, to posters and flyers, to collecting signatures and talking to press. Four months later, in February 2020, the SFSS Board “begrudgingly” passed a motion to allocate space for the Rotunda groups in the SUB, ahead of its grand opening, which finally happened in September 2021.
The momentum of that organizing didn’t only lead to these groups being neighbors in the bottom floors of the SUB, but major reform on the SFSS.
The SFSS has progressive roots, but has gone through many political phases. Thyvold explained that there was a rise in right-wing sentiments on campus around 2013 that led to a “centralization of power” on the Board. “They thought they had the vote and that’s that,” Thyvold said. Many Board members were interested in these roles to enhance their résumés. “When you get some folks like this involved, all of a sudden, we’re at their mercy, because it becomes more of a business relationship.”
With a multi-million dollar budget, denying resources to marginalized groups was “straight up oppression,” Jama said. One of the reasons why SOCA had a silent protest was because they were being called “aggressive,” which is a racist stereotype of Black people, and especially Black men, explained Jama. When HoSang confronted the Board about their “institutional racism,” at the time, a Board member accused him of being “unprofessional.”
Haddad also spoke on how Jama advocated for Black counsellors on campus. She cited that Jama said, “I didn’t come here to be an organizer, I was just a student fighting for my space.”
The campaigns for space coincided with other progressive movements and campaigns, like Tuition Freeze Now, research assistants unionizing, and the impeachment of a Board member. There was a realization that “we need to do things ourselves if anything is going to get done here,” Jama said. “People were outraged.”
The SFSS Council, who were an advisory group to the Board, were often at odds with the select few on the Board who had the power to make decisions. Council had condemned the Board’s decision not to house Rotunda groups 26–6.
A lot of work went into educating students and electing representatives who cared about equity and listened to the community. The student body also voted to restructure the SFSS, so a more diverse range of Council members had votes, including equity groups (now constituency groups).
Haddad, commended “folks like Balqees” for inspiring her, and helping to make so many changes happen.
“People don’t know that they have a voice. If there are things they would like to see happening, or shouldn’t be happening, you can speak up about it.” — Magnus Thyvold, CJSF radio station manager
HoSang, who couldn’t attend the panel, sent this reflective statement: “This was a very rough two years,” he said. “A great awakening of our team happened when we realized not everyone will fight for us when we don’t fight for ourselves and build solidarity.”
The panelists also took time to reflect on the connections and memories that were made during those tumultuous years, and how mutual aid helped “lighten the load for each other.”
“Build genuine connections and coalitions. Not in a transactional way,” Jama said. She referenced how the groups would often host casual skill-sharing workshops. She also stressed the importance of acknowledging peoples’ labour, and “allowing people room to grow.
“Call people in instead of calling them out. Especially if you know they’re well-intentioned. Everyone is doing their best.”
It’s been over four years since the spaces campaign, which means that not a lot of newer students know what things were like before. “Archive stuff. Send stuff to The Peak,” Jama said.
“It seems to me that things are a lot more quiet on campus,” Thyvold said. “[Students] don’t have high expectations for what the student society, or even our groups, can and should be doing.
“People don’t know that they have a voice. If there are things they would like to see happening, or shouldn’t be happening, you can speak up about it,” he continued.
Two final tips from Jama: “Celebrate your wins” and “try to keep imagining things.”
To find out more about student groups on campus and how to get involved, visit sfss.ca/sub/spaces-and-services/.
