Our History

First formed in 1973 and officially incorporated in 1979, the Central Student Association is your undergraduate student voice on campus. By working together, students have made important changes to our campus, as demonstrated in the following timeline.

Student Voice Timeline —

1913: Frustrated by high prices for textbooks, students take a cart and horse to Toronto, buy textbooks themselves, and sell them at cost, creating the Guelph Campus Co-op.

1919: To commemorate students who died during WWI, students pay for and build War Memorial Hall. Legend has it they cleared trees and dug a foundation in the middle of the night before the Administration could object to the prominent location.

1947: Union Council, the first central student government, is established.

1951: Students dig out the basement of Massey Hall, creating the first on-campus coffee shop open after the dinner hour. The space remains a coffee shop until it is permanently closed in 1999.

1966: Students vote in favour of a Student Union Building fee for a student-controlled building, which eventually becomes the University Centre (UC). The Administration takes over the SUB project, and stops collecting Student Union fees, bankrupting the organization.

1971: The Administration begins building the UC without student consultation. Construction continues into 1972.

1973: Students vote to create another student union, the Central Student Association (CSA).

1974: Then-CSA President Tim Hawkins sues the University (for $1.4 million) for misappropriation of funds regarding the UC, settling out-of-court in 1978 for a student majority on the UC Board. However, the University President holds veto power.

1979: The CSA incorporates.

1979: The Bullring is leased by the CSA for $1 per year for use as a student-controlled pub. In the two decades that follow, it becomes one of the most popular spots on campus. CSA joins the national and provincial lobby organizations of the Canadian Federation of Students as Local 54.

1980s: Students occupy the presidential offices for almost one month to protest differential fees for international students. The Board of Governors is convinced to delay implementing a 40% increase for five months.

1987: Students at the University of Guelph vote in successful referendum to join the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) National as local 54. 

1997: Students occupy the executive offices of the University Administration for two weeks to protest tuition increases. In response, the Administration creates the Student Budget Advisory Group (SBAG) to consult students about the University budget.

1999: In response to student protests, the Administration promises never to differentiate student fees.

2003: The CSA reopens the Bullring as a licensed restaurant and coffee shop, offering an alternative to Hospitality Services, with an emphasis on healthier food options.

2005: Students and staff force their way past multiple police lines into a Board of Governors meeting. This action was to demonstrate opposition in the face of the proposed international student fee increases, a 4.5% cut to all departments, and a Board of Governors member accused of union busting and unethical labour practices.

2007: Students vote to contribute $10 per semester toward the Energy Retrofit project for the next twelve years.

2008: After a long and arduous space audit, the UC Board moves to hand over two key spaces on the second floor to be designated as CSA student space and managed by the CSA. Further consultation on space allocation in the UC continues.

2009: To demonstrate against the cutting of both the Women’s Studies and Organic Agriculture programs, students fill both a Board of Undergraduate Studies meeting and a Senate meeting. Although Organic Agriculture was saved, Women’s Studies was eliminated. The operating budget of Women’s Studies constituted a mere 0.17% of the University’s deficit.

2010: Students vote to hold a decertification referendum from the national and provincial chapters of the CFS, after which a court order is sought to hold the referendum. Voters choose to discontinue membership with the CFS.

2011: The CSA goes bottled water-free, including at the Bullring, where drinking water is available for free. A student space sit-in throughout the University Centre is organized by the CSA to draw attention to the lack of adequate space for student needs. The CFS is granted an appeal by the Ontario Court of Appeal, due to the 2010 judge’s failure to provide reasons for his decision in the original referendum court case, rendering the referendum no longer binding. Membership with CFS continued.

2012: During a referendum, students vote against the continuing sale of bottled water on campus.

Students staged an all-day ‘study sit-it’ in the University Centre to draw attention to the lack of adequate study space on campus. Study tables filled all the major halls and public spaces in the UC. The University responded by opening Peter Clark Hall for studying during the exam period. The library also responded by adding many more tables and chairs.

The University discontinued the collection of CFS membership fees, against the wishes of the CSA.

2013 - 2014: The CSA continues correspondence with the University, requesting recollection of fees, but without success. The CSA Board of Directors passes a motion to file a joint application with the CFS, to put the University’s uncollected membership fees before a judge.

The Board of Governors (BoG) meeting in April is protested by students and workers as the Board votes to increase tuition fees once more. The University is unwilling to commit to lobbying the government alongside students to increase public funding for education.

2015: Students and workers rally at a BoG Finance Committee meeting where CSA representatives present a lobby document speaking to their concerns and demands. The April BoG meeting is successfully shut down by protesting students and workers as it seeks to pass a budget that calls for increasing tuition fees to the maximum allowable amount, while also cutting the upcoming budget by $10 million. The BoG reconvened via a private conference call a week later to pass the budget.

As part of the United for Equity campaign, the CSA brings LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox to campus.

2016: When a referendum on the Universal Bus Pass fails to reach quorum, the CSA Board of Directors, with overwhelming student support, brings forward a Board motion to reopen voting. Voting is reopened and students win their Bus Pass for the next five years.

2017: After much dialogue, the CSA passes a motion to renovate the Clubs Space hallway to create space for the 70+ clubs that did not have space in the previous hallway. A new Clubs Policy is created to account for this change.

CSA members vote at the Annual General Meeting to restructure the Executive governance, creating a new full-time staff position, and re-opening the President and Vice President positions for the first time in 23 years.

A referendum to collect student service fees ($0.90 per full time student) in order to provide free menstrual products across campus passes with a majority of 77%.

2018: UofG implements a freedom of expression policy as mandated by the province. The CSA agrees to abide by it but elects to stick to the virtues outlined in CSA policies, rather than adopt the policy on behalf of the organization due to the potential to outsize underrepresented groups 

2019: The CSA responds to the provincial government's Student Choice Initiative through budget reductions, staff changes, program refinement and enhanced information for members.

2020: On March 5th, 2020, the CSA brought your favourite scientist Bill Nye to the University of Guelph. The event was held in the Athletics Centre and it was sold out in under an hour to over 1,800 students.