There has been a significant update in SFPIRG’s campaign to secure long-term, leased space at SFU.
As we previously posted, SFPIRG submitted two letters to the SFSS on April 16th, 2018. One of the letters addressed the terms of the SFSS’s sublease extension offer, and one addressed the ongoing issue of long-term space negotiations.
On April 19th, the SFSS removed the $10,000 security deposit clause from the sublease extension, but provided SFPIRG with less than 24 hours to sign the new sublease extension agreement, or else face eviction at the end of June. Faced with this ultimatum, SFPIRG signed the sublease extension agreement under duress on April 20th, and issued another letter to the SFSS Board of Directors, highlighting the unaddressed issues from the previous letter about the sublease extension and raising the issue of being forced to sign the agreement under duress.
In response to SFPIRG’s letter re: long-term space negotiations, the SFSS issued a letter to the SFPIRG Board of Directors on April 24th, 2018, withdrawing their offer of space in the Undergrounds.
On June 7th, 2018, the SFPIRG Board of Directors responded to the SFSS Board of Directors, issuing a letter re: student leadership at SFU. [please note that the letter has been re-uploaded on June 22nd, following an issue with formatting; however, the content has not changed]
Until now, SFU has insisted that SFPIRG negotiate with the SFSS in order to secure space at the Burnaby campus. Faced with very real concerns about the process to date and the lack of solidarity with their fellow student societies, the SFSS chose to completely withdraw from any further dialogue instead of ever acknowledging or addressing the concerns. It is clear that space for SFPIRG is no longer available through the SFSS, and SFPIRG is no longer seeking space from them.
The SFPIRG Board of Directors have sent a letter to the SFU Administration re: leasing space directly to SFPIRG, asking SFU to return to the table to discuss providing long-term, leased space to SFPIRG. Having attempted to negotiate with the SFSS, to no avail, SFPIRG has no choice but to seek space from SFU.
We remain hopeful that SFU will come to the table and provide long-term, leased space to SFPIRG. In the meantime, our campaign continues!
You can help by staying informed, spreading the word through social media, and, if you’re up for it, volunteering to table for SFPIRG and speak to other students, sharing the experiences you’ve had with SFPIRG and why you care about the campaign to save student space at SFU. If you are teaching classes, letting one of our volunteers came and speak to your students about SFPIRG’s impending eviction is another way to support the our campaign. We are also asking folks to write letters of support, and to send them to the SFU Administration, asking them to lease space to SFPIRG.
To volunteer with the campaign, contact us at outreach@sfpirg.ca and we’ll follow up with more info!
UPDATE
In response to SFPIRG’s June 7th letter re: student leadership at SFU, the SFSS issued this letter in response, dated June 13th.
If you haven’t signed our online petition yet, please consider doing so here: https://www.change.org/p/simon-fraser-university-save-sfpirg-and-provide-leased-space-on-campus
We’ll post updates as they become available!
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