SIXTIES STUDENTS McGill (5B): Senate and Board Walk-Ins for a Critical University
The left-wing Robert Hajaly Student Council, supported by departmental unions operating in parallel, tried to work through channels to negotiate the ceding of student power, but McGill faculty were intransigent and key liberal and social democratic student leaders gave them cover. The result was a series of walk-ins to the closed meetings of faculty committees, the Senate and the Board. The ranks of the protesters included individuals from all parts of the student left. They called on McGill to become a democratized Critical University that served the interests of all Quebeckers equally in a new Quebec. Repression followed.
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.
