Write a letter to Save Mike's Place!

What's going on:

The GSA at Carleton University just announced they plan to close Mike's Place for the entire 2026-2027 year. Mike's place is the most important space on campus for graduate students, faculty, staff and community to gather and fight social exclusion. The GSA cites a "deficit" for why this decision was made.

This decision comes as a shock to anyone who has paid attention in the last few years. In March 2025, Students create a specific $7 fee levy for Mike's Place which would allow Mike's to "operate at full capacity and remain accessible to the community." There have been no public consultations, meetings, or polls on any of this. Aside from documentation only recently added to the GSA's website, there seem to be no minutes detailing this decision besides a vague statement on the GSA Website.

The GSA's statement did not indicate the Mike's Place fee would be returned to students but a follow up statement on Instagram indicates this is the case. This statement also notes that there will be a referendum on the future of Mike's Place. Any such referendum should only take place with the consultation of students, community members, faculty and staff. That input should be factored into the GSA's referendum. The GSA has already shown it is willing to take rash decisions without community consultation and cannot be trusted to create a referendum question or host a referendum in good faith.

Given that Mike's Place is funded by a per term levy that was designed to keep Mike's open at full capacity, there should be no more arguments about the deficit. At the very worst, Mike's should be run based on the fees received from the per term levy and food and beverage sales. The GSA also notes that there have been "multiple efforts at revenue generation" regarding Mike's despite the consensus being that Mike's Place has been operating at a lower capacity than prior to the COVID 19 Pandemic, with booking requests simply not happening. Events that are run at Mike's are generally from the GSA themselves, rather than external paying customers. The GSA's events have also become few and far in between rather than regular events promoted throughout the year. This is a far cry from the historical reality where Mike's Place events were occurring weekly and monthly, and were jam packed. The signage at Mike's is also outdated and it appears very little real effort has been put in to protect and grow Mike's Place as an institution and as a campus space. Instead it's been left to wallow.

The GSA's mandate with regards to Mike's Place is to keep it open and subsidize it for students. If they cannot, we the members of the Mike's Place community, are calling on all parts of the Carleton University and Ottawa communities to step up to challenge this decision. We call on all graduate students to stand up in solidarity against this abrupt, unjust, and undemocratic closure. Mike's Place CAN survive and thrive, but it needs those willing to fight for it to lead it.