U of C fires back at students’ union
Offer to extend MacEwan Hall deal in jeopardy in face of legal threat
A top University of Calgary official says the school won’t bow to threats of a lawsuit by the students’ union as the two parties continue to engage in an increasingly bitter dispute over control of MacEwan Hall.
Dru Marshall, provost and vicepresident academic for the U of C, said she is disappointed the students’ union is considering legal action and has offered to extend the current operating agreement that ends in December to next May so the two can get back to the negotiating table.
But Marshall said the university would rescind that offer if student leaders refuse to abort a pending lawsuit and that the school would assume control of the building if a new deal isn’t reached by the looming December deadline.
“Would you negotiate with someone who is suing you?” Mar- shall asked in a recent interview. “Would it make sense to do that? That is where we are currently.”
In a Sept. 22 letter to the students’ union, Marshall points to the 1999 License of Occupation, Operating and Management agreement as evidence the university owns the building.
That clause states, “all commercial licenses for MacEwan Student Centre and MacEwan Hall shall be executed by the Governors as owner of the building and by the Union as manager.”
Marshall said the U of C has “50 years of documentation” to support its claim of ownership, but refused to provide the Herald with those documents.
But the president of the students’ union says the clause in the 1999 deal was drafted in error and challenged university officials to produce any documents showing students relinquished its stake as majority owner.
“We’ve received nothing,” said Levi Nilson, president of the students’ union.
“We think the students’ union has always held ownership of that building and that through successive turnover of the students’ union that this one clause was drafted in error.”
He produced various documents stretching back to the late 1960s that show students covered 55 per cent of the building’s original construction cost, proving they hold majority (55 per cent) ownership of the facility.
An operating agreement from 1969 states ownership of MacEwan Hall is vested in the students’ union and board of governors, which has a 45 per cent stake.
“We would have need to have given it up or gifted it in some sort of way,” Nilson said.
“There needs to have been some sort of deal made, but we can’t find anything that explicitly states that.”
The students’ union filed a statement of claim in April against the university over the ownership dispute, but hasn’t served the school with that lawsuit.
“The SU has an obligation to students — preserving the option to pursue legal action isn’t a threat,” Nilson said. “The SU is simply defending itself using all available means.”
Marshall said the university remains committed to working with students in good faith to achieve a “fair and equitable agreement for the operation of Mac Hall.”
But if the two can’t come to terms and the current agreement expires, the university would take over the building, Marshall said.
“We said the students could absolutely occupy the space that they have and that we would work with the students on the student programming to make sure that student programming continues,” she said.
Levi fired back, saying the U of C has repeatedly used questionable tactics to downplay the students’ union’s stake in the building, such as threatening to evict the student body as far back as 2010.
He said the university only offered to extend the current operating agreement after the students’ union went public with the dispute earlier this month.
“The university assuming ownership and control over a building that offers great student programming and would only work with us and would assume all the revenue,” he said.
“We think is completely inappropriate.”
We think the students’ union has always held ownership of that building and that through successive turnover of the students’ union that this one clause was drafted in error.