As Director of the University News Service, Dennis Roberts purchased a cassette recorder, which he took with him to meetings, interviews, and newsworthy events. Over the years, he captured the voices of students, staff, faculty and administrators. Although there are no transcripts for the recordings, many of them served as the basis for articles in Comment magazine, which contain additional information on the topic or individual interviewed. Topics include student protests; the dispute over the Political Science, Sociology and Anthopology (PSA) Department; interviews, speeches and news conferences with university Presidents, adminstrative officers, faculty members, staff and students.

The Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department was established in 1965 as one of the original departments at SFU. It marked a significant academic innovation in that it united three separate disciplines under one head—the distinguished Marxist scholar Tom Bottomore. By the late 1960s, Bottomore had returned to England, and the department entered a period of scholarly and administrative turmoil. The crisis culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.

The collection consists of various files collected over the years by the staff of the University Archives to assist history students and other researchers. Includes press releases, reports, publications and other documents.

Norman Swartz joined the Department of Philosophy at SFU in 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1998.

During Swartz's early years at SFU, the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology Department was in academic and administrative turmoil, which culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.

Various faculty members, administrators and students produced documents to support their points of view during the PSA crisis. As he explained in his autobiographical notes, Swartz collected all of the PSA material that circulated around the University and that reached his desk from 1969 to 1970. Collection includes correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings and other documents related to the ongoing events in the PSA Department at this time.

Fonds consists of records relating to a dispute between SFU's administration and the Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology Department. In July 1969 SFU President Kenneth Strand placed the PSA Department under trusteeship. In September eight faculty members and a number of students went on strike. Strand suspended the faculty members with pay and informed them of their right to appeal. One faculty member, Nathan Popkin, asked for a separate hearing because, although he was technically "on strike," he conducted classes in his home. Mike Lebowitz agreed to act as his counsel before the appeal committee chaired by UBC economist Gideon Rosenbluth.

The Rosenbluth Committee concluded that there was no cause for dismissal. The university reinstated Popkin only to allow his contract to expire the following year.

Fonds consists of correspondence, minutes, transcripts, agendas, notes, schedules, procedural rules, chronologies, reports, constitutions, petitions, news clippings, and other documents.

While Lebowitz acquired the papers for Popkin's defense, there is considerable material relating to the other professors who went on strike.