Margot Van Der Krogt

In a last-ditch attempt to save the Architecture Café, hundreds of students gathered to protest outside the Leacock Building last Wednesday afternoon.

 The rally kicked off minutes before McGill’s first senate meeting of the year was scheduled to begin in Leacock 232. As administrators, professors, and other members of senate entered the building, students chanted slogans such as “Save Arch Café” and “Show some respect and show us the numbers,” backed by banging drums.

McGill’s administration permanently shut down the café at the start of the school year, citing concerns about the management and profitability of the café. However, they have refused to disclose exact figures.

At Wednesday’s demonstration, the largest at the university in recent memory, students held signs displaying phrases like “McGill ranked number one in ignoring students” and “Show us the numbers or give back the Arch Café.”

“I think it’s really upsetting that they’re shutting down the café, our last student-run food service, and they have absolutely no proof that they’re running a deficit,” said Taylor Stocks, a U3 political science student who attended the rally. “I mean, what’s next? We need a place to work on campus that we run.”

“The Architecture Café was always a great place to go to get reasonably priced food during breaks, and it was student run which was great,” added Cathryn Supko, U2 mathematics. “I think it’s really unfortunate that it’s not around anymore and [the administration is] not even giving us legitimate evidence for why they’re closing it. We have the right to know what’s going on.”

Students’ Society of McGill University President Zach Newburgh appeared at the rally and thanked the students for helping to send the administration a message.

The rally continued after the Senate meeting started and eventually made its way around campus towards the Macdonald-Harrington Building, where the Architecture Café was located. McGill Security refused entry to protesting students.

For some students, the café itself is not the main issue, but rather the way the administration deals with student needs and responds to their petitions.

 “I think it’s more than just the café,” said Lily Schwarzbaum, a U1 international development student at the rally. “I think it’s a representation of the attitude of the administration towards students, the manner in which they did it was really inappropriate. They want to replace it with study space, which is very clearly not what the students want.”

The Engineering Undergraduate Society, in conjunction with the Architecture Students Association, has presented an alternative proposal to closing the café to the administration, in which the EUS would take over the café and establish it as a student run service, similar to the Frostbite and Copi-EUS food outlets in the engineering buildings.

Despite the optimistic atmosphere at the rally, the efforts of Arts Senator Amara Possian along with those of SSMU President Zach Newburgh and Vice-President University Affairs Joshua Abaki at senate failed to sway the administration. At senate, Possian, Newburgh, and Abaki cited the rally and a slate of student signatures supporting the proposal for the EUS to run the café under their management.

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson, however, said that the Architecture Café’s closure was part of a long process of phasing out student-run food services on campus. He rejected calls to re-examine the issue.

“I can accept that people in the university feel attached to the café, but I am convinced that the café can no longer operate at a managerial loss,” Mendelson said. “There’s been a number of years where we had student run services on campus which generated serious problems that were addressed by taking over.”

The café, Mendelson said, was operating at a loss which the university could no longer afford. He added that the purpose of having co-ordinated food services on campus is to improve the delivery of [these] services on campus.

“[When the café was] run by ASA, students involved were given seven years notice that there will be a change,” said Mendelson regarding claims that students were not consulted when the closing of the café was considered. “The administration does not wish to revisit the issue.”

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