The series consists of one file made up of materials that were deposited in Koenraad Kuiper's graduate student mailbox in 1969. Taken as a whole, it provides a sense of the types of materials that were circulating on campus during a tumultuous period in SFU's history.
Records include reports, articles, newsletters, and correspondence related to the PSA affair; memorandums and correspondence about the trial of the 114 students who were arrested for occupying the Academic Services building; a report from the Presidential Search Committee; copies of articles from The Peak; a copy of Focos magazine; two issues of SFU Komix; a copy of the first issue of SFU Comment; and miscellaneous materials related to Kuiper's role as a graduate student.
Kuiper, KoenraadIn the fall of 1969, nine professors in the Department of Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology withdrew their services in response to the department being put under trusteeship by the University administration. The University appointed a trustee because of allegations of departmental mismanagement of finances. The department also did not produce a constitution and tenure committee structure that were acceptable to the University administration. Various student and faculty support strikes and protest actions followed. The President suspended nine PSA faculty members who were most actively involved in the strike and later fired seven of them.
The series comprises audio recordings of the suspension hearings held by the Board of Governors for six of those faculty members. The Board conducted the hearings to enable faculty members to appeal their suspension by the President. In each case, the Board upheld the decision by the President to suspend the faculty members. Additional legal proceedings followed the suspension hearings.
Records include correspondence, press releases, newspapers, and other materials.
Norman Swartz joined the Department of Philosophy at SFU in 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1998.
During Swartz's early years at SFU, the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology Department was in academic and administrative turmoil, which culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.
Various faculty members, administrators and students produced documents to support their points of view during the PSA crisis. As he explained in his autobiographical notes, Swartz collected all of the PSA material that circulated around the University and that reached his desk from 1969 to 1970. Collection includes correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings and other documents related to the ongoing events in the PSA Department at this time.
Swartz, NormanFonds consists of records relating to a dispute between SFU's administration and the Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology Department. In July 1969 SFU President Kenneth Strand placed the PSA Department under trusteeship. In September eight faculty members and a number of students went on strike. Strand suspended the faculty members with pay and informed them of their right to appeal. One faculty member, Nathan Popkin, asked for a separate hearing because, although he was technically "on strike," he conducted classes in his home. Mike Lebowitz agreed to act as his counsel before the appeal committee chaired by UBC economist Gideon Rosenbluth.
The Rosenbluth Committee concluded that there was no cause for dismissal. The university reinstated Popkin only to allow his contract to expire the following year.
Fonds consists of correspondence, minutes, transcripts, agendas, notes, schedules, procedural rules, chronologies, reports, constitutions, petitions, news clippings, and other documents.
While Lebowitz acquired the papers for Popkin's defense, there is considerable material relating to the other professors who went on strike.
Lebowitz, MichaelThis series consists of records relating to the activities and deliberations of the APC. The files were originally created by the Vice-President, Academic as a member of the committee. At some point in the early 1990s, the records were transferred to and integrated into the record-keeping system of Academic Planning Services. Activities and topics documented in the files include planning retreats at Harrison Hots Springs (May 31 - June 2 1972) and Westminster Abbey, Mission (December 11 - 13 1972); consideration of program proposals in the Fine Arts and in Communication; and the activities of an APC sub-committee relating to disputes in the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) department. Records include meeting agendas and minutes, correspondence, reports, and program proposals.
Academic Planning CommitteeSub-sub-series consists primarily of photocopied material from the Sun, the Province, the Peak, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Bulletin, and other publications relating to the development of SFU. Subjects, events and activities documented include post-secondary education in the 1960s; student activism; the development and administration of SFU; post-secondary educational systems; faculty-administration relations; the Board of Governors; the CAUT Censure; the PSA affair; the Shell service station dispute; and the presidencies of Patrick McTaggart-Cowan and Kenneth Strand. Records include journal and magazine articles; newspaper clippings; reports and book excerpts.
For a list of correspondents, see Access Points.
From 1969 to 1970, Mackauer served as vice-president of the Simon Fraser University Faculty Assocation (SFUFA), and from 1970 to 1971 he served as SFUFA's president. During his time on the SFUFA executive, the university underwent a period of unrest culminating in the strike of eight faculty members in the Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology (PSA) Department. After the Board of Governors fired three of the suspended professors and cancelled part of the university's document protecting faculty rights, the SFUFA executive called for a vote of non-confidence in the Board and SFU President Kenneth Strand. When faculty members rejected the executive's recommendation, Mackauer and three other members of the executive resigned.
Collection consists primarily of the SFUFA president's correspondence during the PSA crisis. In addition, there is some correspondence concerning other matters of interest to faculty members such as salary negotiations, pensions, and sabbatical leave. Records include correspondence, clippings, notes, minutes, legal statements, reports and other documents.
Mackauer, ManfredSub-series consists of records of the University Affairs Committee. Activities documented are the investigation and reporting of grievances by faculty, students and staff. Includes frames of reference, minutes, agendas, correspondence, policy statements, reports, and grievance investigation records for specific cases such as the PSA controversy and others.
As Director of the University News Service, Dennis Roberts purchased a cassette recorder, which he took with him to meetings, interviews, and newsworthy events. Over the years, he captured the voices of students, staff, faculty and administrators. Although there are no transcripts for the recordings, many of them served as the basis for articles in Comment magazine, which contain additional information on the topic or individual interviewed. Topics include student protests; the dispute over the Political Science, Sociology and Anthopology (PSA) Department; interviews, speeches and news conferences with university Presidents, adminstrative officers, faculty members, staff and students.
Sub-series consists of correspondence between the Faculty Association and SFU departments, including PSA, Chemistry, English and others.
Series consists of records relating to a number of issues, activities, and areas of interest to the Student Society. Includes correspondence, reports, publications, and ephemera on a wide range of topics such as Amnesty International, Drugs, Library Services and Parking. For a list of names that appear in file titles, see Access Points.
Sub-series consists of records relating to the Vice-President, Academic's interactions with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). Activities and topics documented include CAUT's 1971 censure of SFU relating to the dispute in the university's Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department, university governance, faculty benefits, and development of research ethics policies. Records include correspondence, reports, news releases and other CAUT printed material.
Sub-sub-series consists primarily of photocopied material from the Sun, the Province, the Peak, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Bulletin, and other publications relating to the development of SFU. Subjects, events and activities documented include post-secondary education in the 1960s; student activism; Chancellor Gordon Shrum; the development and administration of SFU; post-secondary educational systems; faculty-administration relations; the Board of Governors; the CAUT Censure; the PSA affair; the Shell service station dispute; and the presidency of Kenneth Strand. Records include journal and magazine articles; newspaper clippings; reports and book excerpts.
The Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department was established in 1965 as one of the original departments at SFU. It marked a significant academic innovation in that it united three separate disciplines under one head—the distinguished Marxist scholar Tom Bottomore. By the late 1960s, Bottomore had returned to England, and the department entered a period of scholarly and administrative turmoil. The crisis culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.
The collection consists of various files collected over the years by the staff of the University Archives to assist history students and other researchers. Includes press releases, reports, publications and other documents.
Archives and Records Management DepartmentSub-sub-series consists of photocopied material from fonds held in the SFU Archives relating to The Peak; the Simon Fraser Student Society; Athletics and the TSSU. Hugh Johnston numbered each page of this material and created a rough index. This index is provided in pages 79-96 of the Yellow Notebook contained within sub-sub-series three. Subjects, activities and events documented include student conduct; the Student Affairs Committee; student activism; SFU Athletic programs; student clubs; health services; campus radio station; enrollment; faculty and student housing; the PSA affair; the Shell gas station affair; SFSS Presidents Stan Wong, Martin Loney, Rob Walsh, and Ian Spencer; the "Dentists' Wives"; the formation of TSSU; sabbatical eligibility; the presidencies of Kenneth Strand and Patrick McTaggart-Cowan; and the Women's Movement at SFU. Records include briefs, convocation programs, correspondence, journal articles, memoranda, minutes, newsletters, newspaper articles, press releases, reports, statistics, the University Act statutes, and Peak Student Handbooks (1985, 1989).