SIXTIES STUDENTS McGill (1): Serve the People in a New Quebec
Students at McGill University in Montreal built one of the most advanced student movements in Canada in the 1960s. The key conflict was over whether or not McGill would change itself to serve the interests of the French-language majority, and not just the English language minority, in a new Quebec.. In 1964-65 there were major protests over the Vietnam war, African-American civil rights in Selma and opposition to a fees increase.
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (6): The PSA Strike
On July 3 1969, the faculty in the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) department voted to affirm its system of student-faculty parity in decision-making. Four days later, PSA was placed under trusteeship, and proceedings were begun to fire the majority of the PSA professors. A siix-week strike in Fall 1969 won strong student support, but equally strong faculty opposition. The strike was defeated, and the professors were fired.
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (5): the 114 Occupation and Biased Admissions Scandal
On October 1 1968, Simon Fraser students voted overwhelmingly to reject a radical student power slate, and to elect a Moderate Student Council. But appearances are deceiving. The Students for a Democratic University (SDU) joined with SDU-type radicals from other BC campuses, to raise 4 demands for an end to discrimination in admissions based on class and politics (including draft dodger status). An occupation of the SFU Administration Building led to the arrest of 114 of the student occupiers by the RCMP, who had been called onto campus by President Strand. Massive meetings of the student body continued for a week after the arrests. Students endorsed the 4 demands and opposed calling cops on campus, but rejected a student strike.
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (4): The Student Power Council Wins Parity
On May 30 1968, Simon Fraser students elected an openly left-wing student power slate to most of the seats in the Summer 1968 Student Council. The radical Council was thrust immediately into a mass mobilization of the student body, to raise eight demands for a full-scale democratization of the University (by rewriting the provincial Universities Act) and to vote for a student body moratorium on classes. They did this to support faculty who were seeing signs of a politicially-motivated purge of ‘troublemaker’ professors. They backed the demand of the left-led Faculty Union for Board acceptance of an Academic Freedom and Tenure brief.
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (3): The Board Walk-In
On March 1 1968, a delegation of students elected earlier that day at a general student body meeting ‘walked in’ to a closed Board meeting. They presented two briefs and a petition that all future Board meetings be open. Most of the students did not trust that fair decisions would be made behind closed doors. Many were worried that purges of faculty who were left-wing, or just different, were underway.
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (2): The TA Incident
On March 17 1967, SFU Student Council voted to strike to demand that the Board reinstate Teaching Assistants, who had been fired for organizing a political protest outside a local high school off campus. They won active and visible faculty support, and the Board reversed its decision..
SIXTIES STUDENTS Simon Fraser (1) Experimental University
Simon Fraser University opened in September 1965 as an ‘experimental university’ on the working class east side of Greater Vancouver on Canada’s west coast. The first major left-leaning protests were directed at the SFU Board’s decision to grant a private corporation (Shell) exclusive rights to an on-campus gas station, as a reward for donations that helped finance a men’s residence.
