After the JDUC project ran $23 million over budget, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) gave up office space, leaving a former SGPS Vice-President dissatisfied.
To keep the Student Life Centre (SLC) fee—which contributes to JDUC renovation—low, the SGPS made permanent office spaces into bookable rooms. The graduate student’s SLC fee sits at $23.34.
Based on his time in office, former SGPS Vice-President (Graduate) Leo Erlikhman, MPA ’20, disagrees with the decision to give up office space. During his tenure at the SGPS from 2018 to 2020, he served on the JDUC revitalization committee where he designed the graduate student space. Erlikhman hasn’t worked for the SGPS since April of 2020 and was no longer involved in the SGPS when the project broke ground in 2023.
Erlikhman emphasizes the importance of having a centralized space where graduate students can meet with SGPS representatives in person. However, with the shift from dedicated individual office space to bookable rooms, the SGPS will continue to operate mainly virtually, diminishing the society’s ability to effectively students, claimed Erlikhman.
Unlike their undergraduate counterparts, SGPS Executives and staff will not have dedicated individual office space, opting for a co-working space instead—creating more room for bookable meeting and study spaces for SGPS , stated SGPS President Emils Matiss in an statement to The Journal. Despite this change in space, the SGPS will continue to have a reception area and secure storage.
“The decision to reduce the footprint of the SGPS within the JDUC was made based on the needs and concerns of current SGPS . In an atmosphere where students are struggling to keep themselves fed and housed, it seems completely inappropriate to ask for students to pay $11 more for spaces that would not directly benefit them,” Matiss stated.
“The SGPS office space and graduate student lounge space was [created] to provide graduate students with a gathering space on campus for more social gathering functions. We were creating a graduate student lounge that would be utilized by graduate students, as well as a revamped and integrated SGPS office space to deal with operations for the future,” Erlikhman said.
Erlikhman further criticized the decision, arguing the change is unnecessary and undermines the original purpose of the space.
“There are already bookable rooms. So, to say that there needs to be graduate-specific bookable rooms is short-sighted,” Erlikhman said.
SGPS leaders should’ve worked with the University to create more study spaces rather than bookable rooms, Erlikhman explained.
“If they needed more space, they should have worked collaboratively with the University. I think the University has been incredible at carving out graduate space for students over the last decade plus. You look at the advent of the Helen Howard reading room in Stauffer Library, that came from a direct graduate students need for a dedicated study space within the libraries,” Erlikhman said.
The AMS offices, services, and commissions have also encountered several obstacles with the JDUC revitalization project. The AMS move-in date was postponed from Aug. 1 to Nov. 29.
READ MORE: JDUC opening postponed until November
The AMS cannot afford the JDUC space if the undergraduate SLC fee, sitting at $39.88, doesn’t increase at the next referendum.
Corrections
A previous version of this article stated there was a shift from dedicated SGPS office space to bookable rooms in the revitalized JDUC and this change leaves the SGPS without a space to conduct interviews, hold meetings, or store confidential documents such as financial reports. This information was incorrect, in fact, the SGPS has retained a reception area, secure storage space, and a dedicated boardroom and co-working space for their Executives and staff within the new JDUC, as well as bookable meeting and study spaces for their .
The Journal regrets the error
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