Where’s the Student Space?
You might assume, as the university is an institution for educating and enlightening students, that all the space that students occupy on campus would (technically) be considered “student space.” But this is simply not so, my friends. Not so.
From the exclusivity contracts outlining the food we eat, to the advertisements bombarding our eyeballs, to the security procedures controlling how and where we organize, “student space” has long been contested ground at Concordia.
Did you know that the Hall Building’s mezzanine and lobby were gathering and mobilizing spots for students until Tim Horton’s and university-installed, bolted-down leather couches—all part of a “Space Plan”—displaced them?
Did you know that Concordia has already had two Student Centres that both campuses have failed to maintain? And that, currently, there’s a 2009 Student Centre contract between the CSU and the administration that needs to be finalized?
Upon completion, it would mean students will be coughing up $10 million in fee-levy savings towards a down payment on the Faubourg shopping centre. It’s important to know the politics of the places you occupy so that informed decisions can be made. Here is a brief history of our space case:
Jan. 29, 1985: Plans for a new Student Centre on the Mezzanine of the Hall Building, due to the new Library Building plan freeing up space.
2000: “The Space Plan” suggests Student Services, clubs and associations to move from Hall Building to the GM Building. The student associations rebel, calling for a student centre between the GM and the future EV building.
June 2003: The CSU sends the Dean of Students a Space Plan Analysis for the Mezzanine, the Greening of the Hall Building Terrace—to be completed by August 2003. The budget for the mezzanine is $15,000 and the greening has a $10,000 budget. In other words, those four bench/planter hybrids you smoke and sit at are $10,000 worth of student space.
2003: The student body votes to institute a $1 per credit levy towards a student centre on the SGW campus. Today, we have $7 million.
May 29, 2009: After starting up the Student Centre project with a CSU/Admin working committee, former CSU president Keyana Kashfi signs an agreement with Concordia.
March 2009: 72 per cent of Concordians who cast a ballot vote against paying an additional $2.50 per credit to fund a Student Centre. No locations for the site of the centre are revealed by the CSU before the vote.
Nov. 2010: 69 per cent of voting students reject an increase to a staggered Student Centre fee levy. Over $7 million has been collected in fees to date. It is revealed that the Faubourg shopping centre is the destination.
Today: Throughout the Student Centre campaign, former CSU executives have been resolute that the building would give students greater decision-making power and autonomous ownership over our space.
But if you read the contract, it’s been made legally apparent how this space might actually work—the administration will retain 100 per cent control over it. Moving forward, it’s necessary that students reclaim their space and, more importantly, help shape and define it. Aren’t we the reason this space exists in the first place? So occupy it. Send a message to your student reps, contact your administrators and read up on what’s going down.
