Series F-223-1 - Radical Campus files

• Sound recordings

2.55 m of textual records
72 sound recordings

The series consists primarily of material collected by Hugh Johnston; however it also contains material collected during an earlier attempt at writing the history of SFU. In 1990 President William Saywell commissioned history professor Robin Fisher to undertake a history of SFU. Fisher hired graduate student Steve Hicks as his research assistant to photocopy background material from the SFU Archives. When Fisher accepted a position at the University of Northern British Columbia, he took the photocopied material with him. Other commitments forced Fisher to abandon the SFU history project.

When a new SFU President, Michael Stevenson, asked Hugh Johnston, to write the history of SFU, Johnston contacted Robin Fisher who sent him his photocopied material in 2001. Johnston incorporated this material into his own records. The Fisher-Hicks material is recognizable because of the "RG" (record group) notation by Hicks at the top of each photocopied document. In 2004, Hicks sent Johnston additional photocopied material that had been forgotten in the basement of his parents' house. The archivist did not retain this material except for draft chapters and notes.

Series consists of research material gathered by Hugh Johnston for his book Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University. Radical Campus was published to coincide with the university's 40th anniversary in 2005. Subjects, events and activities documented include the socio-political context of post-secondary education in the 1960s; the establishment of SFU; the rise of student activism; the growth of academic departments and faculties; the role of prominent members of the SFU community; and the governance and administration of SFU. Series includes photocopied newspaper articles; photocopied fonds material such as correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, press releases, briefs, bulletins, book excerpts, drafts, curriculum vitae, interview transcriptions; working papers; audiocassette recordings; chapter drafts; and indices.