Party Around the Block

QPIRG Hosts Event to Reclaim Student Space

NewsMelina Giubilaro — Published September 26, 2011

The Norman Bethune Square was the centre of a block party devoted to defining and reclaiming student and community space on campus.

The party was the closing event of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group’s Disorientation, which offered an alternative orientation for Concordia freshmen.

“[Bethune Square] is still a relatively free space. People can hang out, eat, smoke and interact,” said Jaggi Singh, a representative of QPIRG. “Concordia definitely has their plans for the Quartier Concordia so we want to really assert that the square should remain an accessible space.”

Quartier Concordia is the $400 million project to revitalize the area surrounding the Sir George Williams Campus. Three million dollars have already gone into revitalizing Bethune Square, according to Alex Matak, an organizer of the event.

“The event’s purpose is to pose the question: who should have control over this space, and what’s holding us back?” said Matak.

A majority of attendees left the event once the free food provided by People’s Potato was finished.

“I think a lot of people take the People’s Potato and a lot of projects for granted.” said Singh. People should remember that today, People’s Potato is going back to its origins where they would come out and serve free food to anyone who needed it as a measure against poverty.