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 (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.
