MacHall operating agreement
Hello UCalgary students,
I’m excited to announce that late last night myself and Vice President Operations and Finance, Ryan Wallace, after getting support from your elected 75th Students’ Legislative Council, signed off on the resolution of the Mac Hall dispute. After years of hard work by Students’ Union (SU) executives and staff, past and present, we are very excited to have finally negotiated a solution with the university, one that protects students’ rights and recognizes students’ investments in your building: Mac Hall.
The settlement consists of two agreements. The first agreement is the Stakeholder Rights Agreement (SRA) which is unlike anything previously signed between the SU and the university. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, it’s unlike anything signed between any university and student association in Canada. The SRA grants the SU rights, including the rights to manage Mac Hall, occupy their current space within the building, and run their businesses. Best of all, these rights are perpetual for the life of the building and may be extended to any mutually agreed upon expansion of Mac Hall or future student centre.
The Management and Use of Space Agreement (MUSA) is an operational agreement that outlines the details of how the building will be managed and used by the SU. It is important to note that the SU’s management of the building has been expanded from what it has historically been. Previously the SU managed only SU and shared space in the building. The SU will now manage the entire building including all space occupied by university units and businesses. The MUSA will be periodically renegotiated – the first agreement has a term of 10 years.
The SU is extremely proud of both agreements and we’re making them available to you and the public. You will find links to them on this page along with information about the dispute.
The agreements resolve the issues that were the basis of the Mac Hall lawsuit that we filed against the university in 2015, and so we’ve settled it. The SU is expected to be fully managing Mac Hall by May 1, 2018. Students use of the building will not be impacted during this transition.
To all the students who supported us during these difficult years: thank you. If you have any questions about the dispute or the agreements, please feel free to shoot me an email at supres@ucalgary.ca.
Warm Regards,
Branden Cave
President, 75th Students’ Legislative Council
University of Calgary Students’ Union
See below for the Stakeholder Rights Agreement and the MacEwan Building Management and Use of Space Agreement (MUSA).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
60 Years of Student Investment?
More than 60 years ago, our students began to set money aside to invest in our student centre. Beginning in the academic year of 1953/54, the Students’ Union began to collect a building fee, with the goal of constructing a students’ union building. Eventually, in 1969, undergraduate students paid 55% of the cost of constructing the original MacEwan Hall. Over the years, the Students’ Union (SU) and students continued to make substantial contributions to each of the major construction phases and redevelopment projects in MacHall.