Radical Campus (PDF)

This engaging history of a university—and an era—traces the formative years of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. SFU was born in a period of ferment and flux, when ideas about education were changing so rapidly and the western world was starting to feel the impact of student activism, the Civil Rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. Promoted as an open, innovative university, SFU attracted more mature students and far younger and more idealistic faculty than other schools. The stage was set for educational and political fireworks.

Radical Campus traces those first exhilarating, confusing and profoundly educational years, from the search for an architect who could produce an extraordinary design, to the hiring of young professors from all over the world, to the uproar caused when Chancellor Gordon Shrum declared himself against tenure for faculty. All contributed to SFU's reputation as a radical, difficult, obstreperous place. In fact, the university rapidly became a lightning rod in an unforgettably creative era in post-secondary education in the Western world. From the tumult of its first years, SFU has emerged to become one of Canada's most respected universities—youthful, energetic, regorous, and still growing and learning.