An image of present-day SUB is merged with an archive photo of workers installing the Jordi Bonet sculpture on the south wall [Photo: Richard Siemens]
Five decades ago, a group of young University of Alberta students embarked on something so bold it profoundly changed the way people across campus could interact with each other.
These student leaders decided that in order to get the kind of gathering space they wanted, they were going to have to lead the charge themselves. It was the U of A's own "by the people, for the people" moment, and the result is a legacy that has benefited students for nearly 50 years: the Students' Union Building.
"The movers and shakers behind this project displayed the savvy of country horse traders, the tenaciousness of labour negotiators, the eternal optimism of politicians and the shrewd business sense of corporation executives," said then-university president Walter Johns, '70 LLD (Honorary), in the Oct. 27, 1967, edition of Time magazine.
High praise indeed for a group of university students who had spent nearly five years planning and managing the construction of a much-needed new student-centred space. Few alumni today who graduated after the building's 1967 opening would not have set foot in SUB at least once - whether to eat lunch, study, go to a concert, visit the doctor or the bookstore, meet friends, collect a convocation gown, receive career advice or just take a nap.
Owned by Students
Some of the students responsible for SUB will reunite during Alumni Weekend, Sept. 18-21. Though SUB officially opened in 1967, the group is billing this as its 50-year anniversary.
One returning alumnus is Iain Macdonald, '64 BA, who led the SUB expansion committee for 30 months starting in March 1962. His research into other student union facilities around North America helped shape the building that was to become the envy of student unions around the country.
For Macdonald, now a recently retired United Church minister living in Nova Scotia, the reunion will be his first return to campus since 1969.
"I am wondering how I will feel when I come back to campus and visit, not a new SUB, but a 50-year-old building, well-used and recently worked over," he says from his home on the East Coast. "Will I recognize anything? Is the Jordi Bonet sculpture still up there on the wall? Is there still a chapel with [a] beautiful stained glass wall? Will I know how to get there from wherever the Campus Tower hotel now stands?" (Editor's note: The cast-iron mural by Jordi Bonet can still be found on the south facade of SUB. Seven of the eight original stained glass panels are now housed in the Interfaith Centre on the third floor of SUB. The eighth was broken long ago.)
David Jenkins, former Students' Union president, had an epiphany in the shower: students could own SUB. [Photo: John Ulan]
Also returning for the reunion will be David Jenkins, '62 BA, '63 LLB, Students' Union president during the early stages of the SUB building project.
Jenkins says one driver behind the need for a new students' union building was the expected growth in student population. Numbers were predicted to nearly triple from 6,500 students in 1962 to 18,000 in 1989, and the student leaders knew something was needed to address the space crunch. But there were challenges in shepherding the building from its conception in 1962 through its opening in 1967, Jenkins recalls. Students were worried that, if left to the administration, SUB would be little more than a utilitarian structure, he says.
"My concern, and that of my 1962-63 student council, was that the administration would build too spartan a structure - essentially a combination of a prison and a hospital, with tiny rooms constructed of dreary, long-lasting materials. On the other hand, the students wanted recreational facilities and all kinds of warm, comfy lounges where students could relax, meet other students - and even study," says Jenkins.
"Finally, I had a minor epiphany … in the shower. I came up with the idea that if we, the students, paid for the new SUB with an annual fee per student, then we would be the 'owners.' That allowed the students to fully control what went into the building."
Jenkins will never forget the meeting where he proposed the idea to then-president Johns. "He grasped right away what we were all trying to achieve … he was very supportive through the whole exercise. He really was a prince of a man."
The SUB experience infected Jenkins with the development bug. He went on to become president of two major real estate development companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. "The pay was noticeably better than student politics." He is the founder and owner of Cruise Vacations Inc., a national company based in Edmonton.
The plan to make SUB student-owned went forward and students were told they would be levied an additional $5 on their activity fees to pay for the building. This, plus the $4.5-million (plus interest) estimated total cost, led some students to believe the SUB was an overly lavish plan. One critic quoted in a November 1963 Gateway article charged: "The SUB expansion has been planned … by a small clique, which is by no means representative of the student body" and called the expansion an overly expensive and "grandiose plan." A minor uprising by some members of the student body erupted and the fervour over the cost couldn't be ignored. The Students' Union president for 1963-64, Wesley Cragg, '63 BA(Hons), '64 MA, announced the U of A's first students' general meeting.
Hundreds of students showed up to hear from both sides. Cragg stuck to the hopeful vision for the rapidly growing body of students, who, he said, deserved a state-of-the-art building that met every aspect of their lives. "They made their pitch," reflects Cragg, 73, now an ethics professor at York University. "The students voted and the rebellion lost." (More from Cragg in Deconstructing Leadership)
A SUB Like No Other
A few features that inhabited the original SUB when it opened in 1967:
- bowling alley
- curling rink
- billiard tables
- Ping-Pong tables
- music practice rooms
The SUB Legacy
Today's Students' Union council members find themselves once again talking about accommodating a growing student body - 39,502 students were registered for the 2012-13 school year. In March 2012, U of A students voted to renovate SUB and agreed to pay up to $9 per student per term to help cover some of the estimated $14-million cost. This fourth major renovation since 1967 will look at making better use of the existing space. The project is due to be completed in March 2015 - just in time for alumni returning to celebrate the centenary of the Alumni Association.
Students' Union President William Lau, '13 BSc, says the most recent renovations have stayed true to the original vision. "We have gone back to those documents to make sure changes to the building honour the legacy of those who were instrumental in having it built 50 years ago," says Lau. "What they did was amazing, and I look forward to hearing some of their stories during the [Alumni Weekend] reunion."
For Macdonald, Jenkins and others, the reunion will be a chance to revisit a place that has seen more than a few changes since its construction 50 years ago. "It sure is going to be a wonderful chance to catch up with an amazing group of people who shared an incredible journey," says Macdonald.
- Omar Mouallem contributed to this article.
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