MacEwan Hall mediation set as University of Calgary reaches deal with students' union
CBC News | Posted: December 4, 2015 10:44 PM | Last Updated: December 5, 2015
SU had filed a lawsuit claiming 55% ownership in student-services building it helped build and maintain
The University of Calgary and the students' union have agreed to use a mediator to decide the fate of MacEwan Hall.
The two sides have been fighting over ownership of the campus hub for months, even prompting a lawsuit from the students' union earlier this year.
But now both sides say they will avoid going to court to settle the dispute and appoint a mediator by Jan. 8.
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Neither side is speaking publicly during the process, but students say they're happy this issue is being settled without a courtroom.
"I think taking the university to court is a really extreme measure but at the time it didn't really seem like there was really another option," Elliott Reichardt said.
"So, it's really nice to see both parties are able to like sit down and start talking again."
Tejinder Gill agreed.
"I think it's better they're trying to negotiate it, because I think that's beneficial for all the students," she said.
Revenue, operation at issue
Mac Hall houses a food court, student services, and a concert venue.
One of the big issues is revenue from concerts and commercial tenants in the building, as well as how Mac Hall is run.
The students' union says it has put millions of dollars into construction and renovations over the past several decades and has produced documents going back 60 years that it claims show the SU should have 55 per cent ownership of the building.
The university claims it owns the building and, by law, only an act of government could change that.