Rally breaks silence
February 10, 2026 4:51 PM
On Friday, Feb. 4, StFX students gathered in the hundreds to voice their discontent with the recent decisions made by the university’s administration. More specifically though, the “loud and peaceful” rally was to protest a larger concern: a broken line of communication between the senior administration and the StFX students’ union.
Students’ Union President Sam Mason expressed enthusiasm over the ‘diversity’ of students that came out to show their support. “I recognized that these issues don’t just affect the campus police force, or don’t just affect the students in Cameron and MacKinnon Halls” he said, “I think the student body as a whole can recognize how important these issues are to student life.” He was also pleased with the presence of some faculty members in the crowd, explaining how “important it is to see our educators on board with what we care about.”
The crowd made their way from Bloomfield Centre to the office of Keith Publicover, then to that of Noreen Nunn and the residence office, before ending up at the step of university President Sean Riley’s office. Riley, as expected, was ready and waiting to greet the crowd of protestors, making a statement and listening to the concerns brought forth. Mason said afterwards, “Riley really knows how to connect with what the students care about.”
Noreen Nunn also made a brief appearance, coming out of her office to the chants of the crowd. She spoke through a megaphone saying, “I agree with you that X is dynamite,” before finishing, “I don’t know what you want me to say right now.”
The crowd, while peaceful, was anything but hospitable to those who the protest was aimed at. After a failed first attempt, the group made their way around, for a second time, to the office of Keith Publicover. To chants of “We want Keith,” Publicover emerged to give a brief statement, promising to address the issue with more clarity at the upcoming meeting of the Campus Police Commission.
Students’ union members were anything but satisfied with the statements given by Nunn or Publicover. Union VP of student relations, Meg McNeil, said this was expected. “I’m not surprised with no commitments from the administration,” she began. “But I do hope that they take from this that students are engaged, they know what’s going on, and they can’t get away with making such big decisions without consulting anyone.”
Mason feels the same way. “While it was courageous of Keith and Noreen to come out – I give them credit for that,” he started by saying, “though it’s dissatisfying when they don’t have anything constructive to say besides, “Hello, How are you? We’re going to make a meeting”, and well, that’s why we’re protesting,” he finished, “because the meetings aren’t working.” Students’ Union Vice President Alia Hack was overwhelmed by the turnout of students. “I couldn’t be more happy, I’m on a high right now” she said. “It was loud, it was peaceful, it was positive; it was everything we wanted. It’s exactly how we’ve always vowed to do our business, in a professional and positive way, and we’re not going to stop because we run into some communication problems.”
Hack believes that the showing of support by such a large number of students will give the administration an idea of the true spirit of StFX. She said the rally “showed the administration what StFX really is, what this experience is – and so hopefully, something will click for them now.”
Several media outlets were also present, including the Chronicle Herald and CBC. The Fox also broadcasted the protest live on their station.
While the demonstration was meant to crack the foundation of the impending changes, it will depend on the work in weeks to come to try to reverse the course for the students’ union. The Campus Police Commission will be meeting on Thursday, Feb. 10, and will be addressing the issue of a new security force versus the campus police.
