Alternative campus magazine asked to relocate to allow for new CSA service

Daniel Bitonti

“Do we give priority to an organization that has no affiliation with the CSA?  Do we prioritize that over CSA clubs, CSA services, CSA staff?” Galen Fick, local affairs commissioner for the CSA

At the April 7 CSA Board of Directors meeting, a motion was passed that will move the Alternative campus magazine, the Peak, out of their second floor UC office space by April 26.

Attached was the condition that the CSA executive locate a suitable space with at least 200 sq. ft. for the collective.

The decision to move the Peak is directly related to the creation of the Student Help and Advocacy Center (SHAC), a new CSA service. SHAC combines the Legal Resource Room (LRR), the Financial Resource Room (FRR) and the Human Rights Office (HRO) into one single service. A motion to create SHAC passed at the March 10 CSA Board meeting, despite intense opposition from several groups including the HRO.

“Basically the CSA space that the Peak currently occupies is seen to be the ideal location for SHAC to have,” said Galen Fick, the CSA’s local affairs commissioner. “Easy access, direct, open, visible, the rest of our services are in a back hallway and not quite as prominent. And we really wanted SHAC being a place where there is enough space to have individual consultation rooms and a sort of main area.”

The Peak is not a registered CSA club, and Fick says that a question was put forward to the board at the April 7 meeting asking whether a CSA service like SHAC should take precedent over a group like the Peak.

“Do we give priority to an organization that has no affiliation with the CSA?  Do we prioritize that over CSA clubs, CSA services, CSA staff?” he asked rhetorically.

The Peak collective could not be reached for comment despite repeated request for an interview from the Ontarion.

Fick and Josh Gaber, the CSA’s human resource and operations commissioner, had also began looking into the space occupied by Photo and Arts Club (PAC) with the possibility that PAC and the Peak would share the general office space PAC currently occupies. At the April 10 board meeting, a discussion on the future of PAC space was tabled for a later date.

But this came after a month and a half of ongoing discussions between the CSA and PAC, including several meetings as well as a series of proposals and counter proposals that both the CSA and PAC members created.

“We wanted to do a space assessment with them and evaluate how they are using their space, and if there was a way to reduce their space without significantly impacting them in their operations,” said Fick about the PAC club space, which includes an office space, two studios and a dark room.

“We don’t have a specific intent for that space. Just because we did the work up until now, I believe that there is fruit in potentially looking there… technically, it’s [proposal on PAC space] being tabled to be reconsidered, and what I’m going to bring in that report is to recommend to table it indefinitely, to sort of put it aside, for now.”

Fick said the proposals and discussions about PAC space could be used in the future when another space issue creeps up.

While PAC executives said they understood the position the CSA is in, they were critical of the approach they took in the consultation process.

“We do understand that the CSA is in a position where space is limited on the second floor. Ideally, the whole UC would be student space and it would be lovely and we would sing kumbaya, and run through meadows holding hands,” said Ema Suvajac, a PAC executive member. “We understand that we are privileged… we did try to help the CSA out with the overall lack of space issue. The thing is, during the talks everything was so rushed.”

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