Black Student Centre

Overview

The BSC will provide a range of culturally appropriate services and programs to a diverse and vibrant Black student population. These will include counselling services and comprehensive mental health education to promote resilience. The centre will also provide anti-racist career services, advising, and writing support to enhance academic success and equip Black students with the necessary career competencies for the 21st century. It will also promote Black racial and cultural identity through events such as welcome events for new students, Black History and Future Month celebrations, and Black brilliance student graduation celebrations and programming informed by community interests and priorities.

About the space

SFU's BSC will provide an identity-affirming environment for Black undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at SFU’s three campuses in Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver and Fraser International College (FIC). The BSC will provide a welcoming, culturally affirming environment for Black students to study, seek quiet reflection, connect with peers and other community members, participate in sessions, and host or attend community events. Within the Black Student Centre, Black students from a variety of backgrounds will find safe spaces where their experiences with anti-Black racism will be acknowledged without judgement, they will find students who look like them and have shared insight into the way they inhabit the world. They will receive emotional and social support that empowers them to thrive in any setting. They will also have access to a variety of resources and programs tailored to their flourishing. 

The BSC aims to provide an adaptive response to SFU's diverse Black community's urgent needs and interests by providing culturally appropriate resources that are duly representative of Black experiences, intersectional identities, and diverse cultures. Overall, the BSC seeks to address the harms of institutional anti-Black racism through the community-engaged development of safe spaces, racially sensitive services, and culturally appropriate programming that promote and support healing, belonging, and connection within the Black community. It will uphold the principles of promoting Black flourishing and fostering inclusive excellence, as outlined in the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Higher Education.

The journey so far

The SFU Black Student Centre is the result of student-led advocacy and activism. This effort, led by the Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry (SOCA) and SFU's Black Caucus, began many years ago when students lobbied for a dedicated space for Black students at SFU.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, SOCA and SFU's Black Caucus further advanced their advocacy for the establishment of a place where Black students could receive culturally appropriate and racially sensitive services that support their thriving. In 2021, SFU committed to establishing a long-term, permanent support service for Black students.

In order to ensure that the planning and construction process is guided by the voices and perspectives of Black students, SFU enlisted the help of architect Michelle Fenton of Khôra Architecture + Interiors and Osob Mohammed of OM Consultancy to help with the visioning and design of a new Black student centre on campus.  The findings of this visioning process were used as the qualifying metrics for the identification of a suitable space for this Black Student Centre. 

While progress has been slow, it has remained steady. The identified space was confirmed in March 2024 following rounds of community feedback. Key factors of favourable consideration were the space's central and prime location, proximity to key university facilities and services, accessibility, size, and natural lighting in the designated areas.

Why a Black Student Centre? 

Anti-Black racism is a reality that post-secondary institutions continue to contend with. Research reveals that Black students in historically white institutions in North America face numerous challenges that impact their academic success. These challenges include, but are not limited to, daily instances of individualized micro-aggression, implicit and explicit bias, racial discrimination, and other dehumanizing practices in and out of the classroom that result in the alienation and marginalization of Black students. To redress the harms of systemic and institutional racism, post-secondary institutions across Canada, including SFU, increasingly recognize the importance of providing a culturally affirming, safe, and welcoming space and unique supports that strengthen community ties for Black students, which would directly impact Black students' academic success, personal growth, and wellbeing. Some post-secondary institutions, such as the University of British Columbia, Toronto Metropolitan University, and McMaster University, have already begun this important work and created safe and welcoming spaces that affirm the wellbeing, culture, and identity of Black students.

Next steps

With the ideal space identified, SFU retained the services of Michelle Fenton from Khôra Architecture + Interiors to facilitate two community engagement workshops in August and October 2024 to refine design choices appropriate for the space and discuss programming for the BSC. These workshops built on prior community engagement sessions with the Black Community facilitated by Michelle Fenton and Osob Mohammed.

The findings from the community engagement process will guide SFU in designing the space and developing  BSC programs and services.