For over four decades, students came to Waterloo PIRG with ideas that didn’t fit the mold, or challenged it. On a campus that makes claim to thinking “beyond ideas”, WPIRG carved space for critical, visionary student ideas overlooked by university administration and traditional curricula.
Our members were the driving force behind the first recycling programs on campus (1989), the beginnings of the wildly successful Fossil Fuel divestment campaign (2016—), and countless radical programming on political issues from Indigenous solidarity, anti-Black racism and white supremacy, fighting apartheid from South Africa to Palestine, tenants’ and workers’ organizing, and making space for sexual and gender diversity.
While in operation between 1973 and 2018, WPIRG ran countless workshops, hosted international speakers, held concerts, produced independent radio, and provided space, funding, and educational tools to some of the brightest and most forward-thinking students passing through Waterloo. Our funding, resources, training, staff support, and volunteer base made it all possible.
Explore WPIRG’s incredible archives!
The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group is proud to present our organizational archives, now fully digitized. Browse the website to explore a selection of over 40 years of student research and action on issues of social and environmental justice at the University of Waterloo and beyond.
Their website below is a selection of the large digital collection housed at the University of Waterloo’s Special Collections & Archives. Browse the pages for a peek into nearly 50 years of student-led initiatives — from conferences, workshops, action groups, research projects, film and cultural festivals, and more.
We hope this website and the collection will be a permanent resource and inspiration to students, faculty and staff, and the wider community at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Region.