OTTAWA (CUP) — Students at the University of Ottawa are calling on their school’s administration — in a letter its president, former Liberal MP Allan Rock — to respect student spaces.

Several student organizations sent the letter to Rock after the administration issued no-trespassing notices to certain students attempting to access student union-occupied offices on campus over the last several months.

Representatives from the school’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSAÉD), the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and CUPE 2626 — the union representing student employees at the U of O — sent a letter to Rock on March 1 detailing their collective refusal to apply university-issued no-trespassing notices for the office space that student groups rent at the U of O.

“It’s important that we ensure that our members have unrestricted access to our offices and (our) services,” said Gaétan-Philippe Beaulière, GSAÉD external commissioner. “It’s unacceptable for students who are not a threat to the university community to be arrested on campus.”

The letter, signed by SFUO president Seamus Wolfe, CUPE 2626 president Sean Kelly, and Beaulière, noted the “obligation to uphold our firm commitment to providing our members with access to our premises” and claimed that details over access to those premises are to be decided autonomously by the organizations.

“This falls within our rights as occupants, which we ask you to strictly respect. In this regard, please refer to Article 1 of the Ontario Trespass to Property Act, which defines an occupier as: ‘a person who has responsibility for and control over the condition of premises or the activities there carried on, or control over persons allowed to enter the premises,’ ” the letter reads. “Furthermore, we insist that the university must respect right of passage on the premises occupied by it when anyone authorized by one of our associations comes to one of the premises that we occupy.

“Please note that we have obtained a lawyer’s legal opinion that confirms our position,” it continues.

“Right of passage is an important concept (in these cases) if someone has to cross university property to get to one of the student-controlled offices,” said physics master’s student Joseph Hickey, who was arrested on campus upon trying to make an appointment in December.

Hickey’s initial no-trespassing notice was issued to him after he attended a “freedom of expression” event, where words reading “These Walls Belong To Students” were painted on an outside wall of Morisset Library. GSAÉD and CUPE 2626 wrote letters to Rock defending Hickey and the notice has since been revoked.

Also facing a no-trespassing notice is deregistered undergraduate physics and mathematics student Marc Kelly, who has been arrested more than once on campus property by the Ottawa Police Service.

The U of O declined to release the reasons for which Marc Kelly had been issued a no-trespassing notice, citing confidentiality concerns in cases involving students and the university.

Marc Kelly was also arrested on Feb. 2 at the SFUO-operated Student Appeal Centre (SAC) — a resource available to students who wish to file an appeal with the university — when he was there to discuss how he could be allowed access to campus.

SFUO president Wolfe was also arrested that day after attempting to retrieve the SFUO lease information to show police officers upon arriving at the SAC office to arrest Marc Kelly. Wolfe was handcuffed after swearing at a police officer in frustration.

“As (part of) a public institution, I am outraged that the university administration can ban any individual from campus that does not pose a threat to security,” Wolfe wrote via email, in reference to the issued no-trespassing notices.

“It is of utmost importance that (students) have a safe space on campus to voice their concerns,” he continued.

In an attempt to raise more awareness of student-operated spaces, the SFUO is working on a “Right to Campus” campaign, to be reviewed later this month at a campaigns committee meeting, which will be open to students.

This motion for the campaign deals exclusively with the right of students to be on campus, and includes Marc Kelly as a case example multiple times. Ideas detailed include escorting Marc Kelly to his classes, petitioning President Allan Rock to return student status to Marc Kelly, and having the university senate formulate guidelines for the use of police officers in campus matters.

First-year biology student Liam Kennedy-Slaney, who drafted the original motion, said he will not stand for police forces barring students from attending the University of Ottawa.

A U of O spokesperson indicated it would be “inappropriate” for the university to comment on the situation, but explained in an email that, “generally speaking, the university has a duty to ensure the safety of the members of the university community and its visitors on all campuses which it owns. . . . It is clear that the university possesses the necessary authority to lawfully exclude all persons from its property when it deems it appropriate.”