By: Ella Pendlington, SFU Student and Petra Chase, Features Editor
Since 1965, The Peak has brought issues that matter to students to the forefront, investigating concerns, engaging students in university and local politics, and allowing a space to build community.
However, The Peak hasn’t always fulfilled its duty of fair reporting, at times publishing racist or sexist content and undermining oppressed groups. The damage this has done to the very communities who have often been the ones at the forefront of progressive issues is also documented, sometimes with their responses in the paper. The Peak’s strongest storytelling and reporting have emerged when we’ve uplifted marginalized groups and activists on campus, platforming their voices and holding our institutions accountable. These pieces stood out as key moments in our archives, but this list only scratches the surface of our first three decades of work.
The Peak’s complete 181 volumes can be accessed through the SFU Library: Digital Collections. Home > Newspaper Collections > The Peak. The web version of this article includes hyperlinks to references.
October 13, 1965: “Newspapers dissolve, form new publication”
For the first month after the university opened, SFU had two student newspapers, The Tartan and The S.F. View. “Various good and bad ideas were flowing and being debated. Stages were being set. Students were passionate and interacting,” Rick McGrath, co-founder of S. F. View, recalled in a 60th anniversary essay. SFU came to be known as the “instant university,” due to how students quickly scrambled to organize, from politics to clubs to the press. The Tartan was run by one person — Lorne Mallin, a former UBC student who came to SFU, formed a newspaper, and declared himself editor.
So, a plan was set in motion to “take down” The Tartan. Student Don Pulsford believed a rival newspaper was the solution; the result was The S.F. View, which published its first issue on October 4. Pulsford nominated McGrath to be editor. On October 13, an article was published in a paper which explained the dissolution of both publications and the formation of the new student newspaper. One week later, on October 20, the first-ever issue of The Peak was published.
October 27, 1965: “Rally tempers blaze”
“The first organized attempt at self-expression by Simon Fraser University students was a smashing success Tuesday,” reads the article. Set against the backdrop of the ‘60s, the counterculture movement was characterized by its anti-war and anti-establishment sentiment. The roughly 2,000 students enrolled at SFU were mainly baby boomers. These students were excited at the prospect of creating a university that was their own. Students were displeased with universities corporatizing education. This came as an especially jarring turn of events that was only just the beginning of SFU’s early reputation as the “radical university.” Especially in its first five years, a lot happened. October 26 would go down in history as the first-ever rally at SFU. Students argued back and forth regarding the abolition of university fees, and a day later, their arguments for free tuition were presented in the newspaper. Student advocacy regarding tuition fee increases continues to this day.
July 10, 1968: “Pussy power strikes back”
In the 1960s, many universities were just beginning to accept women students, and by 1968, women were still fighting for respect on campuses. Students Marcy Toms and Doreen Weppler called for a meeting of women activists at SFU, which occurred in early July. In The Peak’s issue on July 3, an article regarding the meeting used the offensive title, “Pussy Power Strikes at SFU.” “Pussy power strikes back” was a response to that which included this statement: “To assume as you have, that our goals are ‘as yet undecided,’ is to contradict our awareness of the problems which do exist. We stated that our aims and purposes would be incorporated into a manifesto which would be made publicly available.” They stood up for themselves, refusing to be identified as possessions. Though the letter referenced women’s objectification, The Peak published it alongside an image of breasts. “The reference to us as ‘women of council members and sundry hangers-on’ only serves to perpetuate the traditionally ascribed role of the parasitic, subservient female, owned by the male.” What was then referred to as the Feminist Action League later became known as the Women’s Caucus. They advocated for issues including abortion rights and daycare services on campus. Maggie Benston (yes, that Maggie Benston) later contributed an educational article to The Peak titled “on abortion,” which was criminalized until 1969.
November 25, 1968: “Cops Bust 114”
In the early morning of Saturday, November 23, 114 students were arrested after occupying SFU’s administration complex for 65 hours. A week prior, students held a rally for alleged inconsistencies in the admissions policy. Students had attended a Senate meeting to discuss the admissions problem, with the main demands asking for greater transparency and student involvement. When their demands weren’t met, approximately 300 students who had come to the meeting walked out to occupy the administration building. Doors were barricaded by filing cabinets and were only opened to let messages and other students pass hourly.
Acting president Ken Strand went to the administration building and was denied entrance. He was told that “no member of faculty will be allowed in unless he is coming with a bargaining position.” Strand delivered an ultimatum, telling students to withdraw in the next half hour or face arrest. Students discussed among themselves and 64 decided to leave. The police then moved in and arrested 114. Many faculty signed for the students, and all were released from jail. The Peak continued to report the aftermath.
September 1, 1969: “Trouble Simon Fraser University”
This was written in response to how local newspapers, such as the Vancouver Sun, were portraying SFU’s activism. “What the newspaper print as ‘trouble at SFU’ are the attempts to change the top-down control of the university, the attempts to make the university meet the needs of the people and not just the business interests of B.C.,” reads the article. “Maybe the newspapers do cause trouble — for those in control.” The article references notable events at SFU thus far, which The Peak reported on:
- Shell: In 1966, Students Against Shell Service organized a protest against the construction of a Shell station on campus that was “smack-bang on one of the most scenic viewpoints, overlooking Indian Arm.”
- Free Speech: In 1967, five TAs were fired for supporting a Templeton Secondary student who was expelled for publishing a poetry book that criticized how literature was being taught at the school. Multiple protests took place, including a sit-in attended by 2,500 students and faculty. On March 20, the Board rescinded the firings, and Freedom Square was named in commemoration of academic freedom and student-faculty solidarity.
March 23, 1979: “I’ll give you a demo day”
The week of March 19, 1979 was the second week of the strike by clerical workers and involved multiple demonstrations that broke out throughout the week. The Peak decided to publish off of Burnaby Mountain to honour the request of not passing picket lines. Some students criticised The Peak for siding with the workers and not being objective in their reporting, while others praised them for choosing to act.
On March 22, the rally turned into a blockade at the Gaglardi-Curtis intersection, and was broken up by the RCMP who arrested eighteen for picketing. On March 23, professors cancelled class and joined the picket line. The fight for adequate bargaining and workers’ rights has been an ongoing issue The Peak has reported on.
November 21, 1980: “Oppose the KKK”
The increasing presence of the far-right white supremacist hate group, the Ku Klux Klan, in BC, was a major concern for students in the ‘80s. The student paper reported on student support for the criminal charges filed against the KKK by the BC Association for the Advancement of Coloured People for “inciting hatred and threatening peace.” As the case stalled and KKK supporters claimed an attack on free speech, an editorial by Richard Moore called upon student responsibility to “make it known that freedom of speech is not the issue,” he writes. “The onus is on us.”
In The Peak’s letters to the editor section, students would share opinions and responses. This edition included commentary from the South Asian Student Association, who encouraged students to align with anti-racism groups and demand the KKK be banned.
Additionally, W. K. Bahre from the SFU Committee against Racist and Fascist Violence called out Keith Atkinson, who argued for the KKK’s right to freedom of speech. Atkinson claimed that their slogan, “Fascists and racists have no right to speak or organize,” was fascist in itself. Bahre responded, “To defend the freedom of these racists and fascists to speak and organize is to defend and promote their crimes.”
November 21, 1980: “Blood Money”
“We may well be faced with the moral problem of whether or not to become involved in supplying the world with arms,” writes author Alastair McColl. Writing about the discovery park facility at SFU, a research organization that partners with post-secondary institutions including SFU to this day, McColl makes the case that the research facility could become involved in military research, especially given the profitability at the time. The article points out how the government was conflating “civilian” and “military” research, as if the two couldn’t be differentiated. McColl contended that the prospective tenant at the time, A. E. I. Microtel, was developing silicone micro-chips similar to other companies privy to the US military. “The distinction [between civilian and military research] may also become confused in the mindset of research park managers,” McColl wrote, urging the SFU community to ensure we don’t have a role in future wars.
Fast forward to today, McColl’s prediction is chilling, knowing that SFU currently openly invests in three military companies complicit in war crimes: BAE systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CAE Inc.
November 29, 1990: “Working ‘class’ heroes”
The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) had been attempting to settle their contract with the Board of Governors for the last seven months and held a strike on November 28. On the picket line were multiple TAs from different departments. The intersection of Gaglardi and Curtis was busy, with picketers stopping cars to discuss their cause with the drivers. Many students supported the cause and didn’t cross the picket line, but not all. Some students were still required to attend class, according to their professors.
