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HISTORY

The Student Centre or Student Union concept originated in the early 1800s when Cambridge (1815) and Oxford (1823) universities in Great Britain established the first "unions," both initially taking the form of debate clubs or societies. The use of the term "union" arose from the intent of these societies to form a link and a degree of unity across the boundaries of the various college or facilities found on campus.

Unions surfaced around the turn of the twentieth century as an institution-run concept in the United States and in Canada, but they continued to develop as student-run organizations in both the United Kingdom and Australia.

Since then, in Canada, the operation of the student union has been seen by most institutions as, at least partly, the responsibility of student government — hence the term "Commonwealth model" that most unions or student centres operate under. Across Canada, similar to the mosaic that defines most of our culture, other models of governance of student union facilities (both the American or institution administered operation and the independently incorporated board model) are interwoven with the predominantly Commonwealth or student-run operations.

AMICCUS-C began as a loose network of General Managers employed by student associations in Canada who conceived of an annual gathering to share ideas and network. The first conference was held in 1977 in Montreal, hosted by the Students' Society of McGill University. This was a fitting forum as McGill was the first institution in Canada (1907) to build a facility specific in design for a student union!

The organization was first known as AMCUSO (Association of Managers in Canadian University Student Organizations). AMCUSO was a loose organization with little structure whose members would meet once a year in a national forum to discuss the issues of the day.  A focus of the gathering was not just to meet and work, but to share experiences among colleagues with similar issues.

At the Guelph Conference of 1987, the future direction of AMCUSO was discussed.  The membership agreed to change the name of the organization to AMICUS-C (Association of Managers in Canadian University Student Centres) and to develop a proper constitution.  One main area of concern was the desire to maintain the informality amongst the members to ensure the longstanding desire to meet and rekindle old friendships, make new ones, and share experiences.  The annual conference was intended to accomplish this objective, while the organization took on a more formal structure.

Maintaining itself for over a decade with volunteer "hosts" for annual conferences, it wasn't until June of 1989 at the University of Saskatchewan that delegates ratified a constitution and bylaws for the association. Leadership positions — all volunteer — were also formally established at that time.

At a subsequent general meeting, the name of the organization was modified to AMICCUS-C (Association of Managers in Canadian College and University Student Centres).  This change took into account the inclusion of the word “College”.  As time progressed, the structure of the organization was changed to move from three regional representatives to an Executive Board that consisted of a President, a regional representative from the East, Central, and Western regions, a Communications Director, and a Member-At-Large.  The Constitution and By-Laws have been strengthened over the years.  In 2008, the Association hired its first Executive Director, Bernie Peets.

Since its inception as AMCUSO, the organization has striven to meet the needs of full time professional staff with the student government/student facility movement within Canada.  The organization still maintains a social framework at the annual conference in order to embrace new and returning members.  The annual conference also provides an excellent professional development and networking forum.  Professional growth has been a core objective of AMICCUS-C and this has included the development of regional conferences, which are typically held in the fall.  Sessions at both the national and regional conference cover a broad range of topics and include both group and concurrent programs in order to meet the growing and diversified delegate base.

National conferences in the past have also included delegates from the United Kingdom and the United States.  In particular, a representatives of ACU-I occasionally attends the National Professional Conference.

AMICCUS-C Presidents

Award of Distinction Recipients

Guy Brisebois
Awarded on May 29, 2008  

National Professional Conference Sites

Copyright © 2001 Association of Managers in Canadian College, University and Student Centres