The University of Calgary Students’ Union (SU) is planning its next course of action after mediation between the SU and the university broke down Friday.
In October 2015, the SU filed a statement of claim in order to establish its members as majority owners of the building of MacEwan Hall, which serves as the main hub for student life and SU operations.
In a Friday statement, university administration said staff are “disappointed” for having as of yet been unable to reach an agreement on the issue of ownership or an agreement regarding the SU’s management of Mac Hall throughout the mediation process.
The university administration cites article 4.1 in 1999 Licence of Occupation, Operating and Management Agreement (LOOMA), which indicates the university as the original owners of the building. The SU, however, said the clause was drafted in error, and is calling to attention the original agreement signed in 1969 that shows their ownership of 55 per cent of the building.
SU president Levi Nilson said Monday the students’ next step is to book an injunction court hearing, in order to prevent the university from seizing control over the building in the meantime and to make sure that “everything stays status quo.”
“Mediation was something we had to try,” Nilson said. “I went into mediation with the premise that the university was going to be able to recognize basic facts about the case, but it’s obvious they weren’t really willing to do that.”
Nilson explained the SU previously brought a motion to their council asking for a reserve fund to be put in place to handle the legal costs, dubbed the Mac Hall Defence Fund. In two hearings, open to students and voted on by council, they were allotted $500,000 to cover fees, and if that were to run out they would “come back to the students.”
Support from the student body has been strong.
“I’ve been involved in student politics and been on the university campus for a long time and I don’t know if there’s ever been an issue that students have supported the SU in more,” Nilson said.
He went on to say that support from the community and alumni has also been “overwhelming.”
Because Mac Hall accounts for so much revenue to the SU, Nilson said it would be a “huge blow” to student life and the campus community were the university to win this legal dispute and take ownership over the building.
“It’s a big part of what we do, we charge some of the lowest student fees in the country and we haven’t raised our fees in 20 years because of Mac Hall,” Nilson said. “It’s disappointing that we try to make it a priority. And the money that the university would take would be so little, it would have basically no impact on their budget, but it would have huge impacts on us.”
Nilson said injunction hearing will likely take place before May 6.
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