Inception of the UNB Student Union Building
Before the construction of the current Student Union Building, the University of New Brunswick's Student Center was located in the Memorial Student Center (known today as the Alumni Memorial Building). As the university itself grew, so too did the need for a larger building in order to meet the needs of the ever-increasing student body.
As early as 1962, students began to recognize the need for an expanded facility to house student activities and student government. Discussion circulated concerning the possibility of expanding the existing Memorial Student Center. In response to these increasing demands placed on the Student Center, in 1963, the Student Representative Council President, (Sandy LeBlanc), and the first chair of the Student Union Building Committee (Richard Oland) proposed the idea of a student-funded, Student Union Building. This building was to be an expansion on the existing student center. In 1963, the UNB SRC passed a motion to increase Student Union fees by ten dollars in order to fund this expansion project.
In 1964, the UNB student population expanded considerably with the relocation of St. Thomas University (an affiliated university of UNB, founded in Chatham) to the UNB campus. As well, UNB welcomed the addition of the Teacher's College, known today as the Faculty of Education. Resulting from the incorporation of these two schools with the UNB campus, the need arose to establish a building that was centrally located on campus. As such, plans were adapted from an expansion of the Memorial Student Center, to the construction of an independent Student Union Building.
The Student Union decided to take advantage of the new increase in the student body, and include St. Thomas and the Teacher's College in the payment of the ten-dollar levy for the building of the SUB. This would inherently entitle the students attending these institutions the same rights and privileges for the use of the building as that of UNB students.
In the spring of 1964, the Student Union Building Project faced potential problems. Although many of the students were in favor of the construction of a separate Student Union Building, some did not support the manner in which the SRC forced the ten-dollar levy on every student. As a result, a petition was drawn and circulated requesting a referendum with regards to this issue. The petition succeeded, and on March 11, 1964, a referendum was held. The referendum passed with 657 students in favor (363 in opposition) of the increase in student fees in order to build a student-funded Student Union Building. Construction of the Student Union Building was to begin in the spring of 1965.
The groundbreaking ceremony of 1965 came as a culmination of a joint effort put forth by students from UNB, STU, and the Teacher's College to finance and plan a common student center. In the end, the students paid for one half of the final cost of construction and furnishing, and the university absorbed the residual costs. The university was also to remain responsible for the continuing costs of heat, light, water and sewerage, as well as cleaning services of the building.
In April of 1966, another referendum was held with regards to the Student Union Building. The first of two questions concerned two possible designs for the exterior of the building. The second part of this referendum involved the proposed increase of the Student Union SUB levy from ten to fifteen dollars. It was proposed that every full-time UNB, STU, and Teacher's College student would pay this fifteen dollars annually until the mortgage of the Student Union Building was paid off. This aspect of the referendum was approved with 75% of the voters favoring the increased fee. This levy was imposed for fifteen years.
The intended date of completion for the new SUB was set for 1967. However, it was not until August of 1967 that construction had even began. On January 29, 1969, the SUB finally opened its doors to students. Less than six years later, students were already voicing their concerns with both the design and the available services offered in the Student Union Building. These concerns were reflected in the 1975 SRC presidential election when all four of the candidates stressed SUB expansion as a major campaign issue.
Due to the increasing student interest in expanding the new SUB, the SRC, in alliance with the SUB Board of Directors, decided to hold a referendum in order to measure actual student interest in expansion. The goal of this referendum was to evaluate whether it was necessary for the SUB Expansion Committee to explore preliminary investigation into financing such an expansion. This referendum was held in mid-October of 1976. The results showed that the students were opposed to the Student Union assessing both the possibility of a SUB expansion, and considering any renovations. This referendum was one of many to follow concerning the issue of SUB expansion/renovation.
In the spring of 1980, again, talk of expanding the SUB resurfaced among the SUB Board of Directors and the UNB SRC. Because the system of financing the building was not working as well as the SRC believed that it should, another pressing issue was the need to either increase Student Union fees, or allow the SUB to become incorporated with the university's overall operating budget. Twice a referendum was rescinded concerning a Student Union increase of fifteen dollars, and twice the referendum was canceled by the SRC. The reason for the cancellations were due to the fact that many of the councilors did not support the increase in fees, and the existence of a general misunderstanding concerning what exactly the fifteen-dollar increase was for.
In May of 1981, major renovations began in the SUB cafeteria. The layout of the SUB cafeteria had been a bone of contention with students for quite some time. These renovations were paid for in their entirety by Beaver Foods Limited in appreciation of the exclusive contract which they had received from the university.
By the fall of 1981, a second major attempt at improving the SUB through a proposed renovation began to surface. These renovations were directed toward a relocation of UNB and STU Student Union offices and renovations of the College Hill Social Club. The mortgage of the SUB was nearly completed, and because the fifteen-dollar SUB fee would be terminated upon the finalization of the mortgage, the referendum of 1981 sought to re-establish this fee. This referendum also failed.
When the students' mortgage was retired in 1981, students had paid, in total, one million plus interest toward the SUB. In addition to having paid the other half of the mortgage since the opening of the SUB in 1969, the university has maintained, heated, and lighted the building.
Talks of renovations and expansion continued almost every year with every new Student Union executive. All referendums concerning the possibility of expansion were refuted until 1994. At this time, students voted in favor of a twenty-five dollar increase in their Student Union fees to expand on the existing SUB. In the fall of 1999, construction of the new SUB expansion began, and it was completed in August of 2000.
