By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer
Content warning: brief mention of police brutality.
Last month marked the opening of SFU’s Black Student Centre, a project more than four years in the making. Advocates such as Dr. June Francis first set out to create the space in 2021 after the university signed onto the Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion. The charter was born out of a series of forums hosted in 2020 by the University of Toronto, featuring representatives from schools across the country. The product of these dialogues was four principles acting as guiding structures in the pursuit of anti-racist institutions: Black flourishing, inclusive excellence, mutuality, and accountability. Included in the charter is a recognition of the importance of “constructing affirming, accessible spaces” for Black students, faculty, and staff.
Dr. Jennifer Kandjii, SFU’s director of equity, diversity, and inclusion for Student Services, was an integral piece of transforming the centre from vision to reality. The Peak spoke with her for more information on this process and the space itself.
Kandjii explained that, before the centre’s creation, Black students on campus spent significant time “asking the university for a dedicated space that provides culturally appropriate resources.” The murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020 sparked protests internationally, and the Black Lives Matter movement amplified conversations surrounding anti-Black racism. In the following year, the forums sparked the creation of the Scarborough Charter.
While Kandjii’s responsibility was to determine the location of the centre on campus, Michelle Fenton, a Vancouver-based Black architect, took the lead on the designs. Kandjii said these details were “informed by prior consultation with Black students, faculty [members], and staff at the university.” Black students were involved in “choices around colours, choices around patterns, even the current photos we have on the wall of the Black Student Centre.”
The result? A space “culturally grounded in African and diasporic design” with “rhythmic patterns, geometric shapes, and natural materials.” This includes “terrazzo and mosaic-inspired details, terracotta tile, and green woodgrain millwork.”
The centre is community-minded with space for gathering, as well as private areas for counselling, advising, and meetings. Kandjii described a wellness area suitable for any number of programs, whether that be yoga, group counselling, dance, or hair styling. SFU’s Black student health and wellness report informed this space. It outlined Black community members’ needs within the university context in the pursuit of well-being and equity.
To ensure the centre receives proper support, SFU hired Daniel Sheriff as an associate director in February 2025. Sheriff will work closely with Kandjii to oversee and run the everyday operations of the centre. The centre is also in the process of hiring a student life coordinator to provide additional support.
Kandjii described a recent open house event for the space, where she witnessed past, current, and future students’ sense of profound fulfillment brought on by the centre. Local high schoolers were able to “see themselves being at an institution that cares about their well-being and cares about the cultural needs they have,” while current students expressed “the joy, the tears, the sense of relief and excitement.
“You could feel it in the room, you could feel it in the air, and students kept giving us so much feedback of appreciation and deep gratitude.”
— Jennifer Kandjii, director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Student Services
Kandjii reiterated that without these same students, in addition to faculty and staff, the space would not have been possible — “it was their insights, their voice, their spirit that led us to achieve this huge milestone.”
