Sign onto a statement of endorsement
“SFPIRG (Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group) is the on-campus resource centre for social and environmental justice at SFU. Since 1981, SFPIRG has provided students with critical skills, resources and mentorship, as well as meaningful connections to grassroots communities. SFPIRG was created by students; is funded by students; and relies on student leadership and involvement at every level of the organization.
SFPIRG believes that students are responsible and capable community members. As our cities and neighbourhoods grapple with rising poverty, cuts to essential services, environmental destruction and the erosion of our democratic rights, SFPIRG is working innovatively to support student leadership in affecting change towards the full respect of human rights and environmental sustainability on campus and in our wider communities.
SFPIRG offers a wide range of resources and initiatives for students who are passionate about social and environmental issues. Students gain valuable organizational experience as volunteers and board members; have access to an extensive alternative library; apply research skills through partnerships with community organizations; share knowledge through do-it-yourself projects like the Bike Tool Co-op; develop practical experience for the job market; and challenge themselves to grow with anti-oppression, conflict resolution and facilitation trainings. SFPIRG creates a space for students to take initiative, experiment and build empowering community with each other.”
Support this statement? Sign below!
246 comments 
Category:
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:08 pm
.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:11 pm
SFPIRG has played a very positive and important role in my 5 years as a student at SFU. I am appalled by the methods those few students used to disrupt SFPIRG’s AGM and am very impressed with the professinal and respectiful way that SFPIRG has handeled this situation. I am confident that SFPIRG will continue to play a positive and important role in the academic experiences of future generations of students as well as the community at large.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Signature!
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
FOr more than 25 years I have been a supporter of Public Interest Groups across Canada. They are an important Canadian innovation are essential to the development of progressive, democratic ideals and community engagement.
There has always been reactionary resistance to the work of PIRGs and I see that dubious tradition is still with us, albeit in a weak form.
Thank you for your good work SFPIRG.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Many lament that today’s students are overly focused on career advancement and self-interested ends. The Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group proves them wrong, providing a resource and network that allows students the chance to connect their academic interests to matters of pressing public concern, advancing the cause of social justice in a world in which intelligent compassion is in increasing short supply.
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:57 pm
SFPIRG has improved my campus life in every semester at SFU. The services and support offered have been integral to my university experience. SFPIRG is an incredibly valuable organization that deserves all of our support!
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:14 am
I fully support SFPIRG.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:13 am
SFPIRG is an integral component of SFU as it provides important resources and support for a number of social and environmental programs and causes. Harry and the Shark Truth team thank and support SFPIRG’s mission to be the voice of equaliy and justice on the SFU campus.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:29 am
I attended the recent AGM of which the open letter was posted. I was and am still disgusted by the actions of those students, and feel that the board members and staff did a tremendous job of handling things in the face such disrespectful and disruptive behavior.
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 am
I support the SFPIRG! Thank you for providing an open space for students to relax, check out interesting resources, and meet new friends.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:06 am
You guys do some great work around campus and in the community. Thanks
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:06 am
Don’t Let em get you down! PIRG’s are sometimes challenged to forcefully defend the rights of justice and sustainability in our communities. SFPIRG will only grow stronger because of this. RPIRG hearts SFPIRG
In Solidarity,
Charlotte Morrissette
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:46 am
UBC Undergraduate
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:16 pm
i support.
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
So many social change activists and leaders in Canada has their start with the PIRGs. And SFPIRG has long been among those. It’s a vital resource.
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
SFPIRG was an important part of my life as a student at Simon Fraser University. It offered an opportunity to learn about social justice issues and activism, and to develop leadership skills. Those skills have been important in my career and volunteer work, and have helped me contribute to efforts to improve my community.
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
SFPIRG offers many opportunities for students who wish to become more involved in campus life and the broader community, especially on issues related to social and environmental justice. SFPIRG has excellent resources for students who wish to enhance their learning outside of the classroom environment. The Action Research Exchange program gives students the chance to do research on behalf of community organizations while earning course credit.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm
SFPIRG is an amazing resource at SFU. It is an organization that provides students with unique opportunities to learn about social and environmental issues firsthand. It is an organization that empowers students to creatively and intelligently work toward social change. The staff and volunteers of SFPIRG are committed to and function in the spirit of collaboration and inclusivity. I fully support SFPIRG, and I hope the organization will continue its good work for years to come.
I am an SFU alumni and I heart SFPIRG.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:29 pm
I heartily endorse the work of SFPIRG and other PIRGs around the country.
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:35 pm
SFPIRG is a vibrant and critical part of the SFU community. I am a current grad student at SFU and I heart SFPIRG.
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:59 pm
For many years, SFPIRG has helped Haiti solidarity activists in Vancouver organize information and fundraising events to raise awareness about Haiti. Their commitment to social justice is long-term, and greatly needed.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I worked at SFPIRG a few summers ago and came to know it as a wonderful resource for the SFU community. It is, not to mention, a place where essential and excellent work takes place. I fully support SFPIRG.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:08 pm
I am an SFU graduate and volunteered with SFPIRG up to summer 2008, during my last two years at SFU. I’ve also been back to visit since. SFPIRG has long been a positive and important part of the SFU community, and I hope it stays that way for years to come.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 pm
SFPIRG is a vital campus resource. Many of my students have used/use SFPIRG for research, or for organizing campus/community events that greatly contribute to the intellectual environment of our University and greater community.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
For many years, through my involvement with a variety of organizations and movements in the Lower Mainland, I have seen the humongous amount of positive work that can be done with a bit of in-kind and monetary funding from SFPIRG. As well, I have observed the positive impact on young folks who have volunteered with SFPIRG and, as a result, also been connected to community organizations inside and outside of SFU. SFPIRG is a vital community resource and its absence would be felt in a deeply negative way.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Signed!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Ever since my first year at SFU pirg has been provided me valuable resources and support to gain meaningful engagement with my community and important issues. I have gained such important and transferable skills from these experiences that I would not have otherwise learnt during my academic career. The library and help of the staff have also provided me great materials for my classes that I would have had trouble finding elsewhere. This semester the ARX program collaborated with one of my profs so that we could have real, meaningful practical results come from one of our assignments. Because of this I am gaining valuable experiential and hands-on learning through engaging with my wider community, creating important networks, and getting a fuller education. My four years (and counting) at SFU would not have been as fulfilling if SFP!RG were not a part of it.
If anyone has any valid concerns regarding SFP!RG they should go in and constructively talk with them. SFP!RG has always provided exceptionally friendly service, and are open to feedback. The attacks on pirg are an affront to everyone who value meaningful community engagement. The tactics being used are unfair, undemocratic, and destructive.
I <3 pirg!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:15 pm
SFPIRG has been an invaluable resource for myself and others who have taken on social justice initiatives. At PIRG, I found all the resources, information, advice, and community I needed to organize campaigns with Oxfam SFU and the coalitions for more fair trade availability on campus. I have always used the PIRG space for researching, hanging out, and meeting interesting people. There should be a PIRG on every university campus!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
SFPIRG has for years made valuable contributions to the struggle to persuade governments to enable construction of new social housing by private non-profits and housing co-ops. SFPIRG should do all it can to withstand this unjustified, self-promoting, and cynical attack.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
As an organization that values positive social change through community building (using methods such as education, consensus building, active engagement; and embodying such values as self-determination, collaboration and anti-oppression), PeerNetBC supports the work of SFPIRG.
SFPIRG has a nearly 30-year history of involving students and community members who might have otherwise been excluded from sharing their stories and executing their plans for positive action and results in our neighborhoods, province, country and beyond.
SFPIRG has played a major role in connecting people to campaigns and in connecting campaigns to talented and compassionate people with the energy and talent to get the job done.
From a more pragmatic viewpoint, SFPIRG also provides a number of valuable services to the student population – a bike tool coop, a resource library, a student lounge and meeting space for groups.
PeerNetBC gladly adds its name to the list of SFPIRG supporters.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:03 am
As a volunteer with a local Amnesty International group, I am so glad SFPIRG is around to provide us with essential resources for the activist community. In particular, we are grateful for meeting spaces they have provided to us at significant discounts.
SFPIRG is an essential resource, not just for SFU but for the wider community. I fully support SFPIRG.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:04 am
I did a workstudy placement and volunteered at sfpirg for a few years during my undergraduate degree. The resources, space and training provided by SFPIRG the staff were very important in shaping my understanding of social and environmental justice, and continue to be an integral part of the SFU community. I am a current SFU student and support the continued funding of SFPIRG.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:07 am
SFPIRG is a necessary and vital part of the university community at SFU. Not only do they promote excellence in scholarship, they promote socially necessary, responsible and organic scholarship. SFPIRG is a reflection of what a University ought to be, what it could be. It’s loss would immeasurable to the standing of both SFU as a school, and SFU as a community of engaged scholars, students and faculty.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:46 am
SFPIRG has provided access to many resources and networks that I have found to be immensely useful in my life. I’ve volunteered at PIRG in many capacities during my undergraduate degree, and it is largely the experiences, contacts and support found at PIRG that allowed me to transition successful into working in the non-profit sector/ with community groups.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I had the good fortune of working at SFPIRG as a summer student, and saw just how important SFPIRG is for students wanting to take action on a huge range of issues. I worked on the ARX program, which connects students with community groups, and was impressed with how SFPIRG helped students put their academic skills to use. I hope SFPIRG continues to act as a resource for the many students working for social and environmental justice.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:49 am
SFPIRG is a crucial resource that I use when looking for stuff on environmental and social justice issues. It also offers students the chance to volunteer on issues and get some experience and a chance to get away and socialise. We need to keep it to offer students a different point of view if we need one for the argument in our papers.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:16 am
On behalf of Citywide Housing Coalition, I wish to convey our dismay that a small group of individuals are attempting to undermine the great reputation and credibility SFPIRG has developed over the past 29 years. We fully support the existing SFPIRG staff and volunteers and look forward to many more years of their necessary, exemplary research.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:18 am
SFPIRG provides a valuable resource for both SFU and the broader community by channelling the energy and skills of students into much needed community based research projects. I, for one, am proud of the work that we have done, and continues to be done, at SFPIRG.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:45 am
On behalf of Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education (PACE) Society, I would like to offer our unconditional support of the work of SFPIRG. We have been pleased to partner with SFPIRG in the past via an ARX project and, more recently they were able to assist us in educating our members about working safely during the 2010 Winter Olympics. We fully support the continuing work of SPIRG and look forward to working with them in the future.
March 4th, 2010 at 3:11 am
Since when is anti-oppression an undemocratic ideologue? Or a harvest box? Ugh..
In Solidarity,
Isaac Louie
March 4th, 2010 at 5:04 am
SFPIRG is entirely valuable and enriching on many levels. I am thankful for the space and resources it offers Oxfam and other groups. SFU would be worse without it.
March 4th, 2010 at 5:28 am
On behalf of the Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements, I would like to commend the role SFPIRG has played in supporting the work we do as a SFU-linked organization. SFPIRG has promoted our events and sent students to volunteer and work with us. I challenge the claim that SFPIRG is ideological; it has been open and willing to support an organization like ours which is both religious and multifaith and, though SFPIRG I have met students of many different political stripes. Many of the most outstanding activists, scholars and community workers I have met in Vancouver have turned out to have had some connection to SFPIRG. I consider its consistency over the years in areas of social and environmental justice one of the things that it contributes to the university and helps to distinguish SFU from other universities in the region.
March 4th, 2010 at 5:41 am
I support SFPIRG and all the (increasingly embattled) PIRGs around the country for the amazing work they do. The PIRG structure is one of the few that allows students to connect with communities and develop skills in more than just test-taking and essay-writing – which is what education should be all about.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:07 am
In my classes, I have partnered with ARX several times to provide invaluable service-learning opportunities. SFPIRG does something that no other organization on campus does, or can do: it provides a student-led connection to a broad range of community organizations across the entire Lower Mainland. It is vital to the education mission of the university that this organization run by and for students be supported to continue its valuable work.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:28 am
SFPIRG provides exactly the type of learning experience so many students need in their university years.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:28 am
As coordinator of a community space, I have had the opportunity to witness how crucial a resource SFPIRG is for students and for the broader community. SFPIRG provides the unique opportunity for students to contextualize their learning within their own communities and in service of issues that are important to them, all while developing skills for leadership and scholarship with integrity. I have great admiration for SFPIRG and the people who lead it, as well as for the many SFU alumni who developed skills through SFPIRG that they now apply to a wide array of leadership positions in Vancouver and beyond. Keep up the good work, SFPIRG!
March 4th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Through the ARX program SFPIRG bridges the gap between the university and “the real world.” This remains an important way for students to understand how what they learn through text books, lectures and tutorials has practical applications. What could be more cutting edge than this? In fact, 100% of the 34$ million for post secondary announced by the BC liberals in their post-Olympic budget should go to SFPRIG.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:57 am
I fully support SFPIRG. Providing people–many of whom are marginalized–with the tools (i.e., knowledge and more importantly efficacy) they need to take on or get involved with social justice issues should be considered an essential service. Especially in the lower mainland where the disparity between the haves and have nots is utterly appalling.
You don’t really have to work towards social justice, or even grasp what that entails if you aren’t marginalized–or if you are privileged–or better yet if you are one of the “haves”…which might explain the small group of individuals who clearly don’t seem to get why SFPIRG is a vital resource within the SFU community.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:59 am
My experience at SFU has been broadly impacted by SFPIRG. I fully support SFPIRG and know they will continue to do amazing things for students and the community!
March 4th, 2010 at 7:01 am
We recognize and appreciate the important role that SFPIRG plays for the university and the community. We very much appreciated the support we received from SFPIRG when we first started to work with Mexican migrant farm workers in BC.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:02 pm
SFU PIRG has played a critical role in contributing to the public sphere of British Columbia by enhancing the voices of civil society. A democracy relies on the voices at the margins and the periphery to amplified. By helping organizations such as ours in organizing public forums at SFU Harbour Centre, we were able to raise important public interest issues related to the impacts of the Olympics such as housing, civil liberties and opportunity costs of the Olympics. Our ‘Right to the City’ speaker series had hundreds of people participate and dozens of media attend.
Without organizations such as SFU PIRG doing the great work that they do, the ability of civil society organizations would be greatly diminished.
The Impact on Communities Coalition will support SFU PIRG in whichever it can to ensure that democracy is challenged with critical voices and perspectives.
~Am Johal
Chair, Impact on Communities Coalition
PS – Keep up the great work!
March 4th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Whether for linking student research to community through the Action Research Exchange program, supporting progressive social change through antiracism workshops or small grants for independent publications like the People’s History of Canada Poster Project, or just offering a fantastic resource library, SFPIRG has been invaluable for me as a graduate student. SFPIRG is a hub for students to connect with like-minded others and with the community at large. Through SFPIRG I’ve learned skills in group decision-making, workshop planning, community-based research… and the list goes on. SFPIRG is an invaluable resource at SFU.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:47 am
SFPIRG has obviously been a great help and a resource to students for many years. its presence on campus is obviously crucial to the continuation of critical thought and progressive active on campus.
the people, united, will never be divided…
carry on PIRG.
reb
March 4th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
The editorial collective of the Vancouver Media Co-op endorses SF PIRG’s statement.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I support the important work that SFPIRG does. Thank you for all that you do on behalf of SFU students to connect and work with our community and the world at large, and keep fighting for your right to do so in the face of such reactionary forces.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
As a student, I have benefited from having SFPIRG as a resource both directly and indirectly in events thoughout my time at SFU. Yeah SFPIRG! You guys are doing a great job!
March 4th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
SFPIRG has played an incredibly important role for me in my four years at SFU. This community has empowered me and others I know in many ways, and has provided us with the resources to engage in our own initiatives aimed at promoting justice in the wider world of which we are all part. Thanks to SFPIRG, I have been able to access invaluable resources and skills-training in event organizing, networking, media work, and facilitation, which has allowed me to engage in much advocacy work around old-growth forest protection and other issues. I feel that SFPIRG embraces democracy in a sense much deeper than the one that has been used against us. In targeting systemic exploitation and oppression, and in advocating for or allowing for the voices from those whose rights have been trampled and who have little or no opportunity to be heard, SFPIRG acts very much in the interest of democracy. I fully support SFPIRG.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
SFPIRG is a valuable part of the SFU community and the larger community at-hand. They act with compassionate and concern for the inequalities in our communities.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
As an SFU graduate and community organizer I have always appreciated SFPIRG’s record of offering students a kind of education and experience – real engagement with the community and the world – which are too often absent from the formal university curriculum.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Power to the Rotunda Groups!
March 4th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
yay SFPIRG!
March 4th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I encourage students to support the work of SFPIRG for all the reasons that have been described in the previous posts and because SFPIRG is not only a valuable resource for students and the university community but for the community at large.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
I fully support the work of SFPIRG!
March 4th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
I fully support SFPRIG and its efforts on campus to foster community spirit and interconnectedness with the university and the community, and wider social issues. The actions taken by this small group of people are distasteful and disgraceful. It’s one thing to voice your opinion and express concern and seek answers, this is encouraged; however, this was not the case. I believe the work that SFPRIG is doing is very critical to a well-rounded campus life, and whether you are involved in SFPRIG or not, the right to exist should not be threatened.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
SFPIRG is well worth the tiny, optional fee that students pay. I believe that SFPIRG opens up spaces for dialogue about relevant, important social issues; that space would otherwise not exist on campus.
To the vocal critics, I remind you that there is no greater barrier to knowledge than contempt prior to investigation.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
I’m glad PIRG has successfully staved off this mean-spirited attack. I don’t interact with PIRG that much, but I’ve always been glad they’re around, and sometimes see good results from the work they do.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
SFPIRG is definitely an invaluable resource for me and for the broader SFU community. Through SFPIRG I have learned skills in consensus decision making and facilitation, poster design, and organizing. I think the center does an incredible job linking student research with community initiatives, and I am excited to potentially get involved with the ARX program. I also really appreciate that there is a place for us students to connect with others who are passionate about social justice and sustainability. On a day to day basis I use the PIRG to fix my bicycle, warm up my lunch, compost my food scraps and access books, DVDs and magazines that are not available elsewhere on campus. I fully support the SFPIRG!
-Maria
March 4th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I’m an alumni of SFU and fully support SFPIRG, which is a great organization and valuable resource for students on campus.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Yes PIRG Yes! So helpful and vital!
March 5th, 2010 at 12:34 am
SFP!RG is a center to be highly valued by our community. Its capacity to galvanize like minded individuals against the tyranny of a powerful and priviledged few ensures that a respectable degree of democracy can be exercised. All the power to SFP!RG!!!
March 5th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Kudos, SFPIRG, for your beneficial work
March 5th, 2010 at 1:09 am
SFPIRG, Thank you so much for your fantastic work here at the school and in the community. You are an incredibly valuable resource and I couldn’t imagine the school with out you
In Solidarity, Mitchell Ward
March 5th, 2010 at 1:10 am
I heart SFPIRG.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:31 am
SFPIRG is a valuable resource for community minded individuals to learn about, and participate in, social and environmental justice. I fully support them.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Solidarity from OPIRG Peterborough!!!!
March 5th, 2010 at 2:03 am
I support this statement and SFPIRG… Don’t stand for those students’ bullying behaviour!
March 5th, 2010 at 2:23 am
I am in support of SFPIRG
March 5th, 2010 at 2:57 am
I fully support SFPIRG! I still remember how excited I was in my first year to discover the SFPIRG library and the wonderful people involved with this valuable organization.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:49 am
SFU needs SFPIRG
March 5th, 2010 at 4:38 am
SFPIRG has played a vital role these many years in bringing together a group of socially and environmentally-conscious, dedicated and caring students to enact change, on and off of campus. I’m shocked that this group thought to take it upon themselves to disrupt your AGM and sabotage the great work that PIRG is doing.
March 5th, 2010 at 4:41 am
I support SFPIRG as a valuable resource for SFU students and the greater community.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:25 am
I believe that SFPIRG is a vital asset to our campus community. SFPIRG provides space, resources and opportunities for students to become informed, educated and engaged citizens. You have my full support!
March 5th, 2010 at 5:37 am
if not for sfpirg then for what?
for freeways over farmland?
for rivers free of sockeye salmon?
for old growth forests free of trees?
for free trade instead of fair trade?
for the free production of weapons to kill humans?
for the freedom to forget the first people of this land?
upon consideration, i realize that i too am for a just, sustainable and meaningful world.
i too am for sfpirg!
March 5th, 2010 at 5:38 am
I also fully support the work of SFPIRG. SFPIRG must be funded and supported to be a prominent and impactful part of the SFU community.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Supporting comment!!!
March 5th, 2010 at 7:32 am
SFPIRG is a fantastic resource for students looking for encouragement in their studying of civic society and the power of community and environmental injustice to galvanize action. The reality of inequality in social access to resources and communication can’t be denied, and SFPIRG highlights work done in this area – current local work in non-mass media context that students can learn about and become involved in, work that provides material for research. SFPIRG teaches all interested students how to organize group campaigns, how to publicize, lead, facilitate and be more considerate of those around us of different means and abilities. This is very valuable practice for everyone living in a democracy.
The collaborative, consensus-building way that SFPIRG fosters between participants is legal and common to many worthwhile and respected organizations and institutions, and is surely a better way to run an organization than attempting to overrun other participants using intimidation and invective.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:26 am
SFPIRG is a great, warm, helpful space that I have visited when wishing to brainstorm my various papers. The ARX research mentorship/experience program is a wonderful addition to SFU’s opportunities for students to engage within. SFPIRG’s support for SFU’s sustainability, local food initiatives and of course the housing of the climate action committee, are all admirable projects to be involved in!
The nature of the disruption of the AGM is very upsetting to hear and does not bare well on those who wish to behave in such a manner. I wonder if this has to do with general finances, as I am aware of the legal case occurring between the Student Union and SFSS. If this is so, I feel that this small group needs to be more clear as to their reasons for these choices they are making and not cause pain and hardship for so many. I am speculating this as their quoted concerns in the open letter, are not grounds for their actions. SFPIRG has always been very open with their finances and the manner in which they are funded, is very democratic and cause very low impact on students (ie: $3 fee on our semester tuition I am glad to pay) but delivers so many services and a space for students to utilize and thrive within.
What’s next, these students want to take out the rest of the spaces available at SFU one at a time. I’m First Nations and utilize the student center on campus, going to have a problem there next? If there was real canvassing for signatures against SFPIRG, I would personally set up a counter-table for information on all that SFPIRG does for SFU! This is a long list…shame on these students for what they are doing.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Solidarity from OPIRG Windsor!
March 5th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
All PIRG’s provide a valuable and practical resource to the students and local community. They require our support, and deserve to get it.
March 5th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I hope SFPIRG can ignite spirit of social justice in other PIRGS in uprooting corruption in our system; small or large.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
SFPIRG is a vital part of SFU which does an amazing job of connecting students with the world outside of academia. This attempt to remove SFPIRG’s funding will only draw attention to the great work that it does.
March 5th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
SFPIRG is an inspiring and useful resource for students and a greatly needed tool for communities. I fully support SFPIRG as an essential part of SFU!
March 5th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I plan to ask every institution that openly opposes SFPIRG for a tuition refund next semester.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
SF Pirg has been a long time resource for those on campus who care about, human rights, environmental protection, peace, social housing and the equality of all people regardless of sexuality, race etc.
I have benefited from their ARX program and have always found the SFPirg to be an open friendly and helpful environment.
16 loud mouthed conservative ideologies at a meeting does not constitute a crisis by any means, 2 staff writers at the Peak, Reynolds an Van Maren were protest organizers, then they go and write about a controversy they orchestrated themselves, this is dishonest and a conflict of interest.
The articles in the Peak are pure dogma, no facts or evidence is presented that can show the SFPirg in a negative light.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 am
I strongly support SFPIRG and am glad to financially support them.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:29 am
SFPIRG and other PIRG groups around the country are a unique way to connect academics to practical issues of social interest. Irrespective of one’s political views, this should be valued and treasured. Hence it is difficult for me to see this attack on SFPIRG as justified by anything else than ideology.
We need diversity if we are going to meet the serious challenges ahead; the constant attempt by the neo-liberal agenda to be the only voice available – whether through control of the medias or by attacking sources of funding for other view (as is the case here) is a liability to our democracy.
I hope that people from the right, as much as people from the left, can see this, and agree that this attack on campus diversity and creativity is inexcusable.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:44 am
It’s ironic that SFPIRG should come under attack at the very moment SFU is embracing experiential learning as a strategic initiative. PIRG’s Action Research eXchange (ARX) perhaps best answers the eternal question: “knowledge for what?” ARX’s innovative fusion of “thinking of the world” with “acting in the world” exemplifies collaborative community-based learning. In fact, ARX proved to be one of the inspirations behind Sociology and Anthropology’s popular Field Study of NGOs and grass roots organizations. We can only hope the current controversy will make more people aware of the social justice trail blazer we’ve had in our midst for almost 30 years. SFPIRG deserves celebrating, not attacking; its funding should be expanded, not threatened.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:21 am
I support.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:25 am
I use the resource library almost weekly. It is also a wonderful space to discuss ideas and talk about community projects. I know first-hand that the donations to community groups foster important relationships between the university and the educational needs of various communities who don’t have access to the campus. SFPIRG’s grant to Joint Effort a couple of years ago bought the materials for the creative writing workshops we did in the BC women’s jails. We gave the women a chance to develop their voices creatively and publish a zine called “Broken Silence.” The excitement at the book launch was explosive. In the gym of the provincial jail people were drumming, singing, reading poetry and stories, playing music and cheering to hear things that one recognized as true.
I think this is just one example of how SFPIRG breaks the institutionalization of education. Here’s to the multiple perspectives it encourages and to the imagination it takes to use learning to liberate.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Whoo! Social justice!
March 6th, 2010 at 4:59 am
The SFPIRG has all the things required to keep me engaged at university: interdisciplinary collaboration, experiential learning opportunities, and a community of people doing things that matter.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I support SFPIRG and think of it as an important part of it’s larger community.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
SFPIRG has been a great help for me and various coalitions I’ve campaigned with in the past. If we need supplies they’re there, If we need support they’re there. Thanks SFPIRG!
March 6th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Mainstream (i.e.: conservative) ideals are regularly promoted as neutrally serving the interests of the homogenous public. Yet when marginalized discourses are given a voice they are frequently charged with being partisan, or reflecting the needs of “special interests.” The attacks on SFPIRG reflect a common and long standing tactic of those invested in maintaining the status quo – to silence and negate the view from the margin. SFPIRG is an invaluable resource providing a voice to marginalized discourses which are otherwise silenced by dominant mainstream ideology. As individualist neo-liberal agendas continue to decimate social programs, health care and the environment, supposedly in the interests of all, activist groups like SFPIRG are more vital today than ever. I heart SFPIRG! Keep up the great work!
March 6th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I support SFPIRG
March 6th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
As a former staff member, I can say that SFPIRG has been a vital resource to many, many SFU students over the years. And I’m happy to see the organiation has only gotten better. The addition of Action Research eXchange (ARX) makes SFPIRG indespensible to students wishing to engage their academic life off-campus. All for the price of a cup of coffee.
March 7th, 2010 at 2:08 am
The statement above is endorsed by the members of the Dominion’s editorial collective.
March 7th, 2010 at 5:15 am
SFPIRG is one of the shining beacons of the SFU student community. I know from experience that without it the daunting task of taking action on and learning about issues of great importance would insurmountable. SFU would be a weaker community without it, even if many students don’t know of its existence
March 7th, 2010 at 7:01 am
Between the library, the various co-ops, and ARX (Action Research Exchange), SFPIRG is one of the most important parts of SFU in regards to creating a space for gathering and action free from the corporatization which has swallowed the rest of the university. I fully support SFPIRG and happily give up half a beer per semester to contribute to this great organization.
March 7th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I fully support SFP!RG and the statement above. I completed a work study through SFP!RG during my very first semester at SFU, and found the experience very beneficial. I know that in the ten years since then SFP!RG’s pool of resources available to students has grown considerably, and therefore am very concerned about any attempts to undermine SFP!RG or its funding. I will also say that encouraging connections between groups on and off campus is a very positive aspect of SFP!RG’s work. I could only wish more SFU-based organizations, associations, clubs and academic departments would do this, especially when most of us are only spending such a small part of our adult lives as ’students.’
March 7th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Signed
March 7th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
SFPIRG is a great example of how research can connect to greater community issues and has my full support!
March 7th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
SFPIRG is an integral resource on our campus. They help put on events, provide a safe space for students, offer a fabulous alternative library, and make important connections between campus and community groups. They make SFU a better, more meaningful community.
March 7th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
The African & Caribbean Heritage Students’ Assn. supports SFPIRG and congratulates them on the job the job that they do. On behalf of all our members, “Thanks SFPIRG!”
March 7th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
You have my support!
March 7th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Keep up the good work!
March 7th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
As a student, and staff person at SFU I have made use of many of PIRGS resources and they have contributed immeasurably to my experience here. They provide a great space for the sfu community to connect and vision. I fully support SFPIRG, and applaud its efforts to create a more environmentally friendly and just university environment.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:56 am
Support!
March 8th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
SFPIRG has been very supportive, providing space, resources, and assistance when needed, to a group I am involved with – “Students for Mental Wellness” – as both an SFSS club @SFU, and as a non-profit in the wider community.
SFPIRG has our full endorsement.
Thanks SFPIRG.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I heart SFPIRG. As a radical university, we must keep it.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
I fully support SFPIRG and all its projects. It is one of the very few services on campus that does create an impact for both students and community members.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I am currently doing a community project with SFPIRG in SCD 403 (Sustainable Community Development-part of the new Faculty of the Environment). I feel really lucky to be doing this. I am a mature student in my mid 40’s and a part-time pharmacist. Our research is partly on the (still) lack of equality of women in Canada’s electoral system. It should be at least 30% (so that women’s issues can be put on the table), but it is still around 21%. We are trying to help a local provincial organization reach more women to learn leadership and political skills: The Canadian Women Voters Congress. Since I’ve been back to school I’ve learned what I already suspected: Canada is a patriarchy and the environment is in big trouble. I would like to help change those things.sz
March 8th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Full respect and support for SFPIRG!
March 9th, 2010 at 6:41 am
SFPIRG Rocks!
March 9th, 2010 at 8:36 am
The recent harassment of SFP!RG would be (pathetically) funny if it wasn’t so disruptive.
SFU students are fortunate to have access to the good folks at P!RG, and all their awesome (ongoing) work.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
SFPIRG is a vital part of the SFU community!
March 9th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
SFPIRG is an amazing resource and has a great group of people organizing, collaborating and working to ensure students and the wider community have a place to go to for information, workshops and so much more. My experience at SFU would not have been the same with out it.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Vancouver Status of Women is proud to support the work of SFPIRG.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
SFPIRG is a super important organization helping to link the university/student body with the community at large. Not only does it provide resources to organizations working for real social change, but they provide training and opportunities for work in the student body. There are too few organizations like SFP!RG out there and it’s loss would be noticeable both on and off the campus. Hands off SFPIRG!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I support SFPIRG.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
PIRG’s play a vital role in our society. I strongly support SFPIRG. We must protect this important community resource.
ben west
March 10th, 2010 at 12:36 am
I strongly support SFPIRG.
As a faculty member, I greatly appreciate the work they do to pursue social justice issues, and provide a site of student activism and awareness. It is valuable at several levels, providing students with opportunities to connect their research and passions with the larger community. It also provides a non-capitalist model for sharing skills, knowledge, and concern that has few analogs on campus. It provides an essential space for students who wish to examine and act upon social and environmental issues.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:35 am
Definitely in support.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:04 am
I heart SFPIRG! This drama is the most fun I have had at SFU since Defederation from the CFS!
Does SFPIRG do this all the time? I for one would pay twice the levy I do now for this kind of entertainment.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:46 am
I support SFPIRG. The group is one of the most valuable organizations on campus.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:46 am
I support SFPIRG.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:43 am
I support SFPIRG. It provides valuable resources for the community at SFU.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:05 am
A great university is committed to academic freedom, inclusive community dialogue and scholarship with a high degree of integrity. A great university includes opportunities to experience and explore effective citizenship and public interests. Great universities are homes to Public Interest Research Groups who are committed on all of these fronts. SFPIRG is essential to SFU’s history and future.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:06 am
SFPIRG represents the justice and intellectual freedom that are the right of university students. The support it provides students is an invaluable contribution to the entire SFU community.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:03 am
I think it’s great that we have this resource at SFU. I’m a student and fully support SFPIRG.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:08 am
I fully support SFPIRG, as it represents an important link between SFU and the larger community. I’m am disheartened by the fact that abstraction and “process” are being used to attack an important SFU community group. Without SFPIRG, our campus would be much the poorer.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I support SFPIRG.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:15 am
SFPIRG provides invaluable opportunities for students to add depth to their education while studying at SFU. It successfully bridges the gap between the “top of the hill” and the rest of the community through it’s innovative Action Research eXchange (ARX) and has been an exemplary model of what a student led organisation can achieve for decades.
Supporting SFPIRG means supporting student democracy! Don’t let a handful of conservative reactionaries shut down this fine example of progressive activism!
March 10th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
SFPIRG is a huge support not just to students on campus – with resources, ideas, inspirtation, initiatives galore – but also to organisations off-campus. The Action Research Exchange program, funded by SFPIRG, allows students to do practical work for local non-profit organisations as part of their course requirements.
SFPIRG moves a university closer to the progressive, critical, thoughtful institutions they were first established as. Keep up the great work, SFPIRG!
March 10th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I’ve attended many interesting/ informative meetings sponsored by SFPIRG – it’s encouraging to know that students are supportive of community and international causes.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I weas the E.D. of SFUPIRG at one time and it does my heart good too see that it is now very politically active. In Victoria we work very closely with VIPIRG which is very active here but has not yet faced a direct atttack. Carry on the good work in the community.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
SFPRIG provides an essential element to our university environment. And programs like ARX provide a space where students can put their intellectual abilities to use by connecting their research with the actual needs of community organizations. We gain new skills and insights while making progressive change, we need more of this not less!
March 10th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Anything that preserves our natural environment has my support.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:02 am
I have been working as a journalist and editor in Vancouver since 1993. Occasionally my work brings me to SFU, where SFPIRG has always been a valuable source of information and assistance. SFPIRG is an important asset for students and researchers – please keep it going!
March 10th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Your education is important and the resources are important – but not in and of themselves. What good is an academia whose influence never leaves the university?
What gives education relevance is that the impact leaves the university and has an influence on our communities and in our everyday lives. SFPIRG is key to connecting these spaces which too often remain disparate and disconnected. SFPIRG forms a bridge to the larger community and to PARTICIPATING in society & in real-world issues. Remaining within the walls of the institution our learning is rhetoric at best, hypocrisy at worst. Why do we educate ourselves if not to participate in society in meaningful ways?
SFPIRG’s activities provide the opportunity for students and the institution of the university to play an active role in their community and in so doing gains relevance and legitimacy within those communities.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:04 am
No One is Illegal-Vancouver strongly supports the work of SFPIRG both on campus and beyond, and its sustained efforts to engage diverse communities and build networks of support for students, local organizations, and those working for meaningful social change. Over the years we have built numerous alliances with members of SFPIRG and are deeply concerned by the attempts to threaten its long-standing and respected presence here on Coast Salish Territory. In the context of the increasing corporatization and militarization of campuses (being used as they are to accumulate massive private profit and recruit the newest members of the state apparatus) and the repression of what can and cannot be said within the academy (most recently at Israeli Apartheid Week), the urgency of SFPIRG’s work is ongoing. In struggle and solidarity!
March 10th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Keep up the good work!
March 10th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
SFPIRG has my full support.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
From my experience as a grad student at SFU, I have found sfpirg to be a very important resource, especially the Action Research Exchange. These types of programs provide a valuable forum for students to put their university skills to practice in various community settings, and to bring important issues from the community back to the university.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
SFPIRG has helped me with a variety of initiatives since I started as an undergrad at SFU 4 years ago. Most notably, through the support of SFPIRG I was able to lead a volunteering initiative to the Kullu District of Northern India in the summer of 2007. They helped gain funding, sponsor fundrasing events and provide positive and innovative advice throughout the organization of the project.
The PIRG provides an invaluable resource that no other place on campus provides – a hub for students that want to start or partake in an initiative, be it an action group, research or just a film screening. I FULLY SUPPORT SFPIRG!
March 10th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I support SFPIRG!!!
March 10th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I fully support P!RG organizations across the country.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
It’s interesting (and revealing) that a “coup d’etat” is considered by this group of individuals to be the most appropriate means of promoting ‘democracy’ …
Keep up the good work SFPIRG
March 10th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
SFPIRG provides space, voice and connection to the on the ground and in community struggles for justice. It is an important bridge between dialogue and action and I have personally been part of grassroots community groups that have recieved funding and support from SFPIRG…without them many community level events would simply not happen. It not only needs to have continuing support but it is SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING for…
March 10th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
A Public Interest Research Group is a shining example of how liberal democracy should be implemented. Any student can participate without restriction or if they choose not to they can have their student fees returned to them. Unfortunately, varsity sport fees or student union fees are non negotiable even when a student has no opportunity to take part in their activities. If you find that your local PIRG is full of hippies and you are a God fearing Conservative why not get some of your buddies together and start an action group. I bet you that the friendly folks at SFPIRG would be more than willing to lend you a hand:)
Peace and thought,
before action and war
Peter
March 10th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
As a group that produces progressive community media, we would like to show our support for the SF PIRG. It has long been building space for students and the community to come together to serve the public interest. We are too familiar with the increasingly corporate control of the media on our end, and that there is an increasing influence from the private sector over the production of knowledge at our universities. True public interest research is rare these days, which is why SF PIRG is so vital to both the SFU and broader community.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:04 am
I support SF PIRG! SF PIRG creates critical links between students and social justice movements. The Action Research Exchange, project and group funding, community events listings (which I gratefully publish through the mailing list I moderate, van-announce), the library – all of these are important resources for students who want to link their work to real-world social struggles and to the area’s activist communities. Hands off SF PIRG!
In solidarity, Stephanie Smith
March 11th, 2010 at 7:57 am
As a student who is passionate about hands on experience, SFPIRG allowed me the opportunity to put my post-secondary education to use while supporting smaller, struggling organizations who required additional research. PIRG is a vital bridge between putting thoughts and theories into action, which is essential in the educational process. The experience was more valuable than any lecture or seminar: I felt as though I was helping the community in some way, shape or form. And, in turn, the community benefited from research in which they could not afford. This also serves as a metaphor for the larger society: shouldn’t we constantly try and help those in need? What’s the point of a degree if we can’t put it to use?
March 11th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I support.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I have relied very heavily on SFPIRG and in particular the ARX project to identify community groups that need assistance in completing research projects. ARX has a dedicated staff who can help groups understand what we at the university can do for them interms of research, and they help the university base researchers understand the capacities and needs of the community groups. Without this kind of intermediary, university research risks irrelevance and students and researchers miss wonderful opportunities to engage in meaningful research. We must not lose SFPIRG!
March 11th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
It is my understanding that I was the supervisor for the first student who did research under the SFPIRG’s ARX program, working for a women’s-advocate group in Nicaragua. Formally, the student enrolled in a directed-readings course in my department. She complete extremely useful socio-legal research for this group and became so motivated by her scholarly-practical experience that eventually she went on to work on a masters degree at McGill University. SPIRG was critical in setting up links between the Nicaraguan organization and SFU. For this and other activities,I regard this student organization as a shining light on campus.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Yes, we support.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:04 am
I learned so much from the people that I met and the experiences that I had during my years of involvement with SFPIRG. I consider SFPIRG to have been an integral part of my undergrad education. May it continue to thrive so that future students can benefit from all that it offers. Thank you, SFPIRG!!
March 12th, 2010 at 9:18 am
This campus group provides such valuable resources to students on campus, from a beautiful meeting space to an amazing library. This is such a great opportunity to build our community and to allow all of us who have previously been too silent on these issues and in our support of SFPIRG to stand up and band together to support the work that you do for all students on campus.
In solidarity,
jen
March 12th, 2010 at 11:32 am
I support the work that SFPIRG does with SFU and the community!
March 12th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I am in full support of the work SFPIRG does.
I think they provide great opportunities for students by connecting us to communities outside of University. They also provide a platform where students can put theory into practice. I have used their library many times, and I have friends who have enjoyed doing action research projects that not only helps communities outside of SFU, but it also provides a valuable learning experience for students. The people that work and volunteer at SFPIRG are also helpful, friendly, and understanding.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
SFPIRG offers a valuable service to the SFU community. I’ve supervised ARX projects and it has always been a great experience – for me as a teacher, the student, and the community organization involved.
SFPIRG has my support.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
I was a member of SFPIRG when I was in SFU.
I fully support this amazing group.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
I fully support the work SFPIRG does. Every college needs an organization that helps and encourages students to voice their opinions and take action in regards to human rights and other social issues.
Those affiliated with SFPIRG encouraged me and gave me the courage to finally take action for animals by starting up an animal action group.
Thank you SFPIRG
March 12th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Recently a group of students and friends of mine gathered together to form an environmental organization. SAMA, or The Society Advocating For Marine Animals was enabled and supported by SFPIRG. Their welcoming attitude, honesty, and knowledge on how to get things going was a significant help to us as a group. Without SFPIRG’s involvement our upcoming screening of ‘The Cove’ along with Voices For Animals action group – would not be possible.
Myself, and the entire S.A.M.A. Organization and its supporters acknowledge SFPIRG’s importance and right to to continue as it is, and to keep enabling concerned students and citizens to make a difference in this world.
March 12th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I support the PIRG in providing a means for students to be active in various social justice issues. The PIRG is a vital resource that allows for the learning that takes place in the classroom to translate to positive work in society. That, I believe, is what education should strive for.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I support the PIRG’s value in creating a more sustainable society! I’ve learn and grown so much with PIRG, it is definitely one of my favorite places on campus!
March 12th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
The network of PIRGs from across Canada are incredibly valuable for the promotion, protection and dissemination of knowledge on a wide range of social justice and environmental issue, and are well deserving of our support.
In solidarity, Perry Stein (former LPIRG board member).
March 12th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
I fully support the work that SFPIRG is involved in and have drawn on their support and services numerous times.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I fully support SFPIRG, and I know that I have personally benefited from their funding of various Women’s Centre and Out On Campus initiatives and events.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
As a past SFPIRG ARX participant, someone who likes to browse through and borrow materials from the SFPIRG library, and someone who wishes she had more time to get involved in some of the other SFPIRG projects, I’d like to add my voice of support to SFPIRG – I have a hard time imagining what SFU would be like without it. Keep up the important work.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Hooray for SFPIRG!
March 12th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
I fully support SFPIRG in their mission of social justice and providing vital resources to students community.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I back SFPIRG as being a useful component of the university.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
SFPIRG is an extremely valuable and helpful resource to all SFU students. I’m grateful to have this structure in place to support those working on important and meaningful causes.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Although I have only recently begun my studies at SFU, I quickly noticed the valuable impact SFPIRG holds on the non-profit and social justice initiatives organized by SFU students. My encounters with SFPIRG have been nothing but positive and my intention is to keep working with the PIRG through all my time at SFU. They support students. They support positive change. I fully support them.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:10 am
I support SFPIRG!
March 13th, 2010 at 1:22 am
I support SFPIRG
March 13th, 2010 at 9:18 am
I support SFPIRG!
March 13th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I support the SFPRIG.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I support SFPIRG!!!!
March 13th, 2010 at 11:56 am
SFPIRG offers great resources to all students who take the time to check it out. Losing SFPIRG would be a great injustice to all future students. I completely support SFPIRG!
March 13th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
The modest fees that are paid by students to support your organization are money well spent
March 13th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Signature!
March 13th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
SFPIRG has been etremely supportive to many of the volunteer groups I have been a part of at SFU. SFPIRG empowers many students leaders to make change in their communities. I fully support and admire the work that SFPIRG does!
March 13th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
SFPIRG provides services that not only assist communities throughout the lower mainland but most of all, trains SFU students to be empathetic, caring, world citizens.
Thank-you SFPIRG!
March 13th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I highly support SFPIRG, i volunteer there and I am overwhelmed with passion at the hardwork they do of bringing into light the various issues that are easily ignored by most people. The environmental work, and all the rest is nice.
March 13th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
I support SFPIRG! It is probably one of the few organizations on campus which I believe actually helps connects academia with real-life community activism both on and off campus.
SFPRIG provided me with some valuable resources for me and our campaign on raising awareness about Canadian mining practices in my homeland of El Salvador. SFPIRG provided me with some good community contacts and helped spread the word about our campaign through their email newsletters. I am especially thankful to Emily who was very knowledgeable, positive, and encouraging when I first came to SFPIRG for guidance.
I am also very appreciative of their Consensus Decision-Making brochure as it has been a useful tool in my organizing work with the non-profit community organization that I am currently in the process of organizing.
Seeing as SFU’s motto is “Thinking of the world”, I believe SFPIRG plays an important role in providing resources, support, and inspiration for those students who truly want to be catalysts for change in our local communities and who are also “thinking of the world”.
Knowledge without action = useless. I would rather have my student fees support SFPIRG than support some random student club that only knows how to organize a pub night.
In solidarity.
March 13th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I support the PIRG and am disgusted in the tactics used by conservative students to attack SFPIRG. Through SFPIRG’s ARX program I was connected with a group to get valuable experience and integrating it into my curriculum. If aanything, I would support more of my money going to fund PIRG.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
I heartily support the work of SFPIRG.
March 14th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Of course I suppoort SFPIRG.
March 14th, 2010 at 3:35 am
Hey i support this organization. They have done so much over the years. No your point of view is not the right one. Gibe yourself the opportunity to learn from other views.
Carajos, yo apoyo esta organización. Nos a ayudado en muchas cosas. Den oportunidad a otros puntos de vista. No, su punto tampoco es correcto!!!
March 14th, 2010 at 9:28 am
In support
March 14th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
SFPIRG is a great resource. I have often used its services and spaces, with pleasure and to my benefit. It’s a great site of civic and social/political engagement. What I lament is that SFPIRG is the exception at SFU when it should be the norm! More of SFU should be as socially conscious, as supportive, and as genuinely interested in empowering communities as SFPIRG is. (This is supposed to be a university!)
March 14th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I support the work SFPIRG has done and continues to do for SFU and the larger communities of which it is a part. SFPIRG is a vital link between classroom and community learning, allowing for research and action to come together on a broad range of issues that affect us all.
March 14th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
My views have been expressed by others. Just want to provide my support.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
SFU already suffers from a lack of community because it is a commuter school. SFPIRG is one of only a few organizations that supports the development and maintenance of what community does exist here. It would be unfortunate to lose it.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I’ve deep respect for SFPIRG and the student efforts that they make possible.
In solidarity.
March 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
SFPIRG is a very important space, institution, and resource for students at SFU.
SFPIRG provides a safe space for people to grow as individuals and become active members in their commuities. My involvement with SFPIRG was the most positive experience while doing my BA at SFU. For SFU to lose SFPIRG would not just a be a HUGE loss for SFU, but a loss for society.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:26 am
I fully support SFPIRG and the invaluable work it does at SFU and with the larger community.
March 15th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Signed. Linnea McNally.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Support SFPIRG!
March 15th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
SFPIRG is my favourite part of SFU! It serves as an incredible resource centre on campus, while linking the student body to the surrounding Vancouver community, and is a great place to connect with energetic, inspiring people! Most importantly, SFPIRG has given me direction, and the means to use my energy toward creating positive change. Keep being AMAZING, SFPIRG!
March 15th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
As we can see from the amazing display of support on this website, SFPIRG is a very real and important part of the SFU community. I hope the postings continue! Neil’s poetic comment above put it well and I have to agreed with him: I am for farmland, I am for salmon runs, I am for fair trade, I am for peace, I am for justice. I AM FOR SFPIRG!
March 15th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
In addition to the points mentioned above, SFPRIG also plays an important role in bridging the gap between the academy and the community.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:01 am
SFPIRG has been a significant part of my learning experience and community at SFU. I fully support SFPIRG and can’t imagine campus without it.
Jillian Deri
March 16th, 2010 at 10:37 am
SFPIRG deserves much credit for its contributions to campus life at SFU. Without SFPIRG’s efforts I doubt very much that SFU would enjoy as good a reputation as it has. Keep up the great work.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:32 am
SFPIRG has been offering indispensable resources and services to SFU students, to the university community, and to wider social justice projects for the better part of three decades. Life on this campus would be unimaginable without the ARX program and the various other creative, inspiring, groundbreaking student-centred ventures that SFPIRG has spearheaded through the years. I can’t think of an organization or initiative that better exemplifies everything that SFU should represent to the world. To quote an earlier message from EA Paul: “SFPIRG Rocks!”
March 16th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
I used the Social Justice library to research all of my papers. I used the action group resources to promote events. I volunteered and made great friends. SFPIRG was a great tool for me and they have my full support!
March 16th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
WE*ACT Women Elders in Action support the work of SFPIRG because their program Research eXchange (ARX) is valuable to an organization such as ours a volunteer group engaged in researching the reality of the lives of women elders in BC and elsewhere. When we need help SFPIRG has been a valuable resource, always willing to attract students with research skills to work with us. Our members are dismayed to learn that there are students in university so ignorant of the importance of working with community that they would attempt to destroy their organization that affords them the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the reality of the world around them.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
WE support SFPIRG and hope they can continue to work with the community.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:07 am
SFPIRG does valuable work at SFU and with the student body.
It’s an important part of the Campus community.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I have been involved the SFPIRG periodically through out the duration of the undergraduate career at SFU. Campus communities often have tendency to be insular and to generate political environments the fail to extend beyond beyond the university. It is vital that students continue to link to the larger community. SFPIRG does just this by supporting the social and environmental justice work of local organizations through donations, the valuable particularized research produced by the ARX program and the space it gives to student to create Action Groups focused on their own particular concerns. Without this link it is hard to understand what the relevance of campus activism is.
The SFPIRG office is also an excellent space whose staff and library resources provide student with information and skill building opportunities not available elsewhere at SFU. SFPIRG is well worth the three dollars I give to the organization every four months, the value I place on what I have gained through my involvement there being far greater.
Thank You SFPIRG!
March 17th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I fully support SFPIRG. They are an amazing bunch of people who provide invaluable support and resources.
March 18th, 2010 at 7:46 am
I support SFPIRG.
March 18th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I am really saddened to hear of the recent attacks against SFPIRG. I wholeheartedly and deeply support the important work that this organization does and sincerely hope it will continue to exist and thrive. Recently SFPIRG very generously supported our organization, AWARE Canada with a donation of $700. This financial contribution was incredibly valuable to us because it has allowed a small grassroots organization like AWARE to do projects and organize events for social justice. Additionally, we received a very encouraging letter from SFPIRG commending us on the work that we are doing with young women and girls. I think SFPIRG does a lot in terms of offering support (both financial and otherwise) to community projects and organizations and I would hate to see it go!
March 18th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I volunteered for SFPIRG for two semesters. Although I haven’t been able to join any action group of SFPIRG, like the Ancient Forest Committee, Food not Bomb and Letter for the Inside, I know that the work they do are very meaningful and contributive to society. Also, the SFPIRG has a nice library with collections of books, magazines, movies and CDs of various topics, such as Anti-Racism, Aboriginal Studies, Gender Studies, Globalization, International Human Rights, International Women’s Movements, and more. It is a great place to find useful information, especially for social science & environmental research. Moreover, the staffs running SFPIRG are very enthusiastic and friendly. I believe whoever works for or volunteer for SFPIRG mean to make the world better for everybody, regardless of gender, nationality, income, etc. They are making great efforts to build an equal and sustainable world and they should be supported.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
support!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
SFPIRG is a very valuable place where the university and community groups work together. Both SFU and Greater Vancouver benefit greatly from their work.
March 20th, 2010 at 12:50 am
SFPIRG has always been (and will continue to be) an integral catalyst for student development, engaging in issues critical to our world, and giving meaning to activism on and off campus. SFPIRG has enhanced my university experience by introducing me to some amazing people and offering opportunities to skill-build and engage in issues like anti-oppression. Passion, leadership, and support, etc. really does live here.
SFPIRG is most definitely an organization worth supporting and I am honoured to be a part of it. Thanks to all the amazing staff, volunteers, and supporters who make SFPIRG a success!! <3 I heart SFPIRG!
March 20th, 2010 at 10:18 am
I support SFPIRG.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Re: SF Public Interest Reseach Group
I support SFPIRG,
Jane Kalmakoff
March 20th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I adore SFPIRG. I have and will continue take advantage of the great resources available to students. The library rocks, the space to sit and read is wonderful. The SFPIRG is the perfect place to start for students who are interested in environmental and social justice and being involved in activism in these areas. The opportunities they offer students to volunteer, do research with ARX and start their own action groups are an important part of the university. SFPIRG should continue to do what its doing! Its great!
March 21st, 2010 at 11:02 am
I have proud to add my name to the list of supporters for the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:27 pm
SFPIRG has played a very important role in linking campus research and organization to off-campus community organizations including many I have been involved with over the years.
I support the continued role and purpose of SFPIRG.
March 26th, 2010 at 7:37 am
signature, check. LFTI is a great social justice project within a great PIRG. SFPIRG is an effective way to engage with real world issues from up high on the mountain.
March 29th, 2010 at 10:26 am
My name is Joah Lui and I am an SFU alumni. When i did my MA here in 2003-2006, SFPIRG was a critical space for me to find support in resources and community for my community-based action research project & thesis. I was a co-founder of the Action Research eXchange (ARX) and I believe that ARX and SFPIRG must continue its truly important work in connecting the university to Lower Mainland communities. Otherwise, Ivory Tower research will spend a LOT of money on theory and little action. Hoorah for SFPIRG for helping students to care about people, communities, the planet, and realize that action-learning engagement can be a lifetime commitment.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
The BC Compassion Club Society supports the work of SFP!RG. The ARX program which helps partner students with community groups is especially of importance to groups such as ours. SFP!RG makes the university relevant in the community. We hope you continue all the great work you have done over the years for many, many more.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
keep up the awesome work you do!
April 6th, 2010 at 10:34 am
For it’s excellent contributions, and for helping provide space and organizational help with many groups in Vancouver, I heart SFPIRG enormously.
April 15th, 2010 at 11:16 am
The presence of SFPIRG is essential and vital to the university and local community. PIRG’s give action to ideas that are more often than not: discussed, debated and compartmentalized in academic environments. SFPIRG exists as a accessible stepping stone for a students to move beyond cerebral analysis and into the front-lines of social and environmental justice work, where actions speak louder than words.
In addition, without the presence and support of SFPRG and particularly ARX, we at the Community-University Research Exchange (CURE) at QPIRG would not have been inspired to create the participatory program that we have in place today at both Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
We strongly believe that the result of education should be more than a series of grades on a transcript and a diploma in hand. Through programs such as ARX and CURE, students apply skills learned in university to create social change. We believe in the limitless power of students to improve our world and we are here to support them.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:49 am
On behalf of Hands Off Venezuela (Western Canada) I would like to extend our support for SFPIRG and the work that you do. HOV has been the fortunate recipient of SFPIRG’s services in the past and our work has greatly benefited from this. We hope that the students at SFU will rally behind SFPIRG and support your continued presence on campus.
Thank-you SFPIRG, for the work that you do!
May 13th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I’m really late to the party, but I want to join in with all these other voices celebrating SFPIRG. During my time as a working there, I learned a lot about my university, my community, and how important the connection between the two can be. I was able to educate myself about a myriad of social justice issues in a very comprehensive way, by reading, participating, and listening to what all our partners in the community and at the school had to say. They provide so many immeasurably valuable resources to everyone who expresses an interest, and I strongly support SFPIRG!
May 14th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Having a space to talk openly about social issues, to gather research, learn about the media and organize ideas about social change are necessary tools that an open and democratic society fosters to avoid oppression, conflict and war.
We need to graduate and believe that we can change the world for the better, with hope that we can take what we learned in our university and use it to improve our society not only in our work but also in our community. We all want peace; we all want to be heard; we all want a healthy planet; we all want an end to ignorance so we need to cherish the organizations and tools which help us to to talk about how to create and sustain a healthy society. like SFPirg.
If you obliterate or censor poverty, racism, animal rights,colonialism, environmental destruction, you cannot take away all the ignorance, rage, delusion which causes it.. you must face these problems to change them.
If we take any war and rewind it to pick out which kinds of things would have helped to prevent it, we will find that dialogue, education, social consciousness, community engagement and an open use of the media is crucial . The decline of any of these things in a society is not a good sign. We need to to have these things to talk about how to use our resources, respect our differences and protect the environment.
I applaud all the dedicated, compassionate and courageous people at SFPirg who I have seen work tirelessly to make a difference in their comminity….they inspire me.
May 15th, 2010 at 11:35 am
I served on the board of directors at SFPIRG for three years; PIRGs are not only important, they are necessary for an oft ignored dimension in students lives.