There will not be a social justice centre at the University of Saskatchewan next year.

Councillors voted 11 to nine against building the centre at the March 24 meeting of student council. However, the issue may come up again at education councillor Galen Richardson’s request.

“Shortly after the vote was finished, where I voted no, I quickly felt I had made the wrong choice. It became abundantly clear to me that I personally had made the wrong choice,” he said in an email to councillors March 28.

In late January, University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union president Chris Stoicheff put forward a motion to build the centre and was a strong advocate for it over the course of debates.

“I have concerns that this union is retracting and is moving away from being engaged in the community of Saskatoon and [from] being engaged in contemporary issues in society,” he said.

“Rather than turn our backs on this opportunity to be engaged in the community, I think we can implement a program that will be very beneficial for students.”

He was met with strong opposition from USSU vice-president external Blair Shumlich, who felt that running a small-scale project to test the centre’s effectiveness rather than committing to the entire centre would be more beneficial.

“It’s hard to stand up and say you are against social justice, but a vote no tonight does not mean the idea dies,” said Shumlich. “We should really test run before we implement it.”

An ad-hoc committee was set up in late January to investigate the viability of the centre. They polled existing social justice groups in the community and contacted centre leaders to investigate the need for such a centre. The groups that responded to their poll were positive about the need. However, of 96 groups contacted, only four responded.

At the March 17 meeting of council, the ad-hoc comittee recommended holding off on the centre for a few years.

Many councillors also felt that right now is not the best time to invest in a full-fledged social justice centre.
Reid Nystuen, an Edwards School of Business councillor and current candidate for next year’s vice president operations and finance position, said that the proposed centre was simply too costly considering the USSU’s current debt.

“I think it’s very important to be prudent — particularly at this time when we haven’t had full year actuals and we have an $18 million loan,” he said. “We cannot increase student fees — essentially tax students — to pay for services of the USSU.”

VP operations and finance Scott Hitchings said the centre would cost around $39,000 a year, excluding costs for startup.

Leon Thompson, vice president student affairs, sided with Shumlich and argued that the USSU should not shift its focus away from childcare.

“Social justice is one aspect that we can discuss and we can debate and say that maybe it will work and maybe it won’t, but childcare works,” said Thompson.

“We started this year with childcare. Let us work to advance that issue.”

Hitchings countered that the funds allocated for childcare are separate from the funds that would be allocated to build the centre.

“The two are not mutually exclusive whatsoever,” said Hitchings. “We would be able to open a Social Justice Centre and we would be able to provide funding for childcare at the same time.”

Thompson felt it was a matter of focus.

“I recognize when vice president Hitchings says that the two are not mutually exclusive, but I fear that if we divest our passions, we lose some of the fire,” he said.

“We have a chance to make a tangible difference.”

Hitchings felt that building the centre right away was the best option, a sentiment backed by several councillors.

“A Social Justice Centre in our university would benefit me from the frustration of racism and unjust circumstances,” said International Students Councillor Kai Li.