Sometimes to move forward, one needs to take two steps back. This set of Ubyssey clippings is a window on first day for the UBC Student Union Building in September 1968 courtesy of the Ubyssey archives.

Despite the promise of free donuts and coffee on opening day, the first day for the current UBC Student Union Building was a bit rough with “problems everywhere”. From running out of money to equip the building to serious accessibility deficiencies “SUB architecture forgets paraplegics” to the oversight of not having a student pub, this look back show how notions of sustainability, student participation, and community space have changed over the decades. Important lessons perhaps for the Alma Mater Society and students of UBC who are in the midst of an innovative stakeholder driven process to develop a new Student Union Building.

Incidentally, it would be after five years (1973) and several “Pub-in’s” before the current Pit Pub be created. A then-UBC’s Associate Professor of Zoology David Suzuki declared “What this campus needs is a pub!” who with full support from the AMS President (former Minister of Forests) David Zirnhelt help establish the Pit Pub.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 10th, 2010 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.