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WE SHALL OVERCOME
Blind Students On Campus A phone can be a voice from the past.
Good grief, you haven't heard that
voice in years. He could have been
best man at your wedding or she was
the college girl friend to whom you
told everything.
A voice from the past, a good memory
to relive. Don't wait for a voice from
the past, be one. Call an old friend
tonight.
S.C.T££&
A phone is what you make it. ^^1 UBC ALUMNI ■ ■
Chronicle
VOLUME 27, No. 2, SUMMER 1973
FEATURES
4        WE SHALL OVERCOME
Blind Students on Campus
Murray McMillan
10        DR. BEDDOES' INCREDIBLE
TALKING TYPEWRITER
The Literal Spoken Word For The Blind
Murray McMillan
12       ACADEMICS IN POWER
New Faces In Vancouver's City Hall
Hall Leiren
18       THE ARTISTIC CREDO OF
B.C. BINNING
Kay Alsop
DEPARTMENTS
24        BOOKS
27 FOOTNOTES
28 NEWS
33        SPOTLIGHT
EDITOR    Clive Cocking, BA'62
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT    Susan Jamieson, BA'65
COVER     Jim Breukelman
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Alumni Media, (604-688-6819)
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Mrs. R.W. Wellwood, BA'51, chairman; Frank C. Walden,
BA'49, past chairman; Elaine Bougie, Arts 4; Robert Dundas, BASc'48; Harry Franklin, BA'49; Geoff Hancock,
BFA'73; Dr. Joseph Katz, (BA, MEd, Manitoba), (PhD, Chicago); Trevor Lautens, (BA, McMaster); Ian MacAlpine,
LLB'71; Mrs. Bel Nemetz, BA'35; Dr. Ross Stewart, BA'46,
MA'48, (PhD, Washington); Dr. Erich Vogt, (BSc, MSc,
Manitoba), (PhD, Princeton).
Published quarterly by the Alumni Association of the University
of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Business and editorial offices: Cecil Green Park, 6251 N.W. Marine Dr., Vancouver 8, B.C.    (604-228-3313).
SUBSCRIPTIONS: The Alumni Chronicle is sent to all alumni
of the university. Non-alumni subscriptions are available at $3
a year, students $1 a year.
Postage paid at the Third Class rate. Permit No. 2067.
Member American Alumni Council.
High jinks
was the name of the game at a 1918 UBC
party (group portrait below). It's a fine
tradition to uphold at your reunion, the
weekend of October 20.
For the Classes of '28, '33, '38, '43, '48, '53,
'58 and '63.
Special reunions are planned for: commerce and engineering '53; commerce,
engineering, forestry, law, nursing,
pharmacy and medicine '58; commerce,
engineering, nursing, law, physical education and education '63.
If you'd like to plan something special for
your class contact Perry Coldsmith, at the
alumni office and he'll help you get it
all together.
The Golden Anniversary of the Class of '23.
For this 50th anniversary chairman J.V.
Clyne and his committee (Annie Angus, Ab
Richards, and Aubrey Roberts) have arranged several events for the weekend of
September 6-8. Alumni of '23 are expected
from all over North America — plan to join
them for this golden party.
On an athletic note: men's and women's
golf tournaments are scheduled as well as
the Second Annual Chronicle Squash Tournament and Bunfeed (see alumni news
section).
For further information on any of these
events call the alumni office, 228-3313 (6251
NW Marine Dr., Vancouver 8, BC).
Reunion Days '73 ;'■'.•'  i^f^J'.-^v
^-.fS.--
^.^gSiSt*
*«*?rr. KT.WKjptf*!'
»:■; f-i
We Shall
Overcome
Blind Students
On Campus
Murray McMillan
*£?%>j.
"People say 'You're so brave to
come out here.' There's nothing
brave about it — everyone has to
go through changes in their environment. It's something we want to do,
so we come to university."
Betty Butchart is adamant in the
way she says that. She's an independent young woman — forthright
in the way she speaks and acts. It's
clear she prides herself on that independence, but it isn't a flaunting
sort of pride. She graduated this spring with a bachelor of arts degree
with a major in French, and she's
done it with what most people on
campus would consider a great
handicap — she's blind.
"People have this whole United
Appeal-Community Chest 'world
of darkness' image about being
blind," she says emphatically, "and
it's not so. Sure you've got to accept
in certain instances that you're different, but you don't want to be put
on a totally different plane because
of it."
Mobility is the big problem for
blind students on campus. And
being alone in a vast plaza, like
this one at SUB, can be a nightmarish experience ... there is no
way of knowing which is the right
direction.
She is one of about 60 blind and
partially-sighted students at UBC
this past year, and if they have anything in common besides their
handicap, it's a strong and growing
sense of independence.
There's a common striving to be
considered as just another student
— to be normal and accepted for
themselves, not as someone special. For them, as for any other student v/ho does well in high school,
going to university is just the logical
step in the education process. Many
of them went through Jericho Hill
School for the Deaf and Blind, then
came to UBC; others made the
break from a special environment
earlier, and graduated from regular
public secondary schools.
Diana Peterson, who has just
finished her third year in music at
UBC, left Jericho after Grade three
and went to public schools in her
home town of Williams Lake. The
year after she left Jericho she was
one of only two blind students attending classes in the regular B.C.
school system. She says that, along
with three years in Penticton after
high school, taking singing lessons,
helped make her fairly independent.
"Coming out here to UBC
there's a bit more work, but you Crane Memorial Library head
Paul Thiele looks a book up, using
the braille card catalogue.
just have to know what you want
and have the desire to go out and
get it. It all depends on how you've
been trained and how your brain
works. All of us have come out of
different circumstances, but we all
wanted a university education."
For blind students at UBC, a
central ingredient in that education
is the Crane Memorial Library, a
division of the university library
system, which is located in the extension to Brock Hall. With a staff
of 17 headed by Paul Thiele, it contains 18,000 volumes in braille and
another 5,000 on tape to serve the
needs of both blind and sighted students and faculty on campus.
The Charles Crane collection
was the starting point for the library
and it still makes up a major portion
6
of its material. Crane, who died in
the mid-1960's, came from a West
Vancouver family and was throughout his adult life, a bibliophile. Both
deaf and blind, he went through
Jericho Hill School and later spent
two years doing special studies at
UBC in the classics department. As
a scholar and intellectual, his life's
devotion was to the collection of
books — both in braille and print
— and when he died his collection
of 6,000 volumes was reputed to be
the world's largest private braille
library.
But, says Thiele: "His estate had
great trouble getting rid of it. It was
offered to virtually every major library between here and Toronto, as
well as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and no one wanted it — they couldn't see the value
of it. Eventually it was offered to
UBC, and (Librarian) Basil Stuart-
Stubbs snapped it up."
That was in 1967, and after some
time of sorting and cataloguing the
crates and crates of volumes, the
Crane division opened its doors —
first as a reading room, in 1968, and
in 1969 it was made a full library
division.
Thiele states with certain justifiable pride that the Crane Library
is now North America's best resources centre for blind students.
It serves not only the academic
community, but scores of blind
people throughout the province and
through interlibrary loans, handles
requests from other universities
across Canada and the United
States.
In addition to the blind and
partially-sighted students here and
elsewhere in North America, the
Crane division also assists sighted
persons doing research on the problems of the blind, because it has an
extensive collection of material on
blindness. As well, through its extensive tape collection, it serves
many students with learning disorders who find it much easier to
comprehend material on tape than
on the printed page.
Braille books are produced at the
Crane division, tapes (both on
standard reels and in cassettes) are
also made and then duplicated in
numerous copies for use in widely-
scattered areas. Braille is still the
library's mainstay, although the use
of taped material is constantly
growing. A major problem with
braille books is the tremendous
amount of space they take up. It
is, of course, a system of raised dots
on heavy paper which allows the
blind to read the page by touch, and
this means that because of the
almost-cardboard-weight pages, the
books are very thick. In one room
of the Crane division there are three
floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, each
about three feet wide, for a total
of nine feet in width, just to accommodate one set of the World Book
Encyclopedia. Betty Butchart
laughingly points out that for one
of her language courses, the pocket
dictionary alone is 10 volumes.
But it's not just staid old reference books that take up that amount
of room. Thiele takes pleasure in
showing the visitors the library's
copies "Playboy" (sans centrefold)
which takes four thick pamphlets
to braille every month. "Playboy"
is one of 60 periodicals which Crane
gets in braille every month. Others
like   "Saturday   Review,"   "At- lantic" and the "New Statesman",
are somewhat less racy.
Both blind and sighted students
find their way around Crane by
using a card catalogue which shows
all information both in braille and
print. From there they can check
markings on shelves — again both
in braille and print — to locate the
volume or tape they are looking for.
There are dual markings on all
books and tape boxes.
The library is continually acquiring additional reference and text
books in braille for student use. The
CNIB brailles most of the textbooks which students are going to
need for extended periods. Other
books come from printing houses
which offer material in braille.
But more and more, additions to
the collection are in the form of
taped material. This spring Crane
has had 11 persons working under
a $31,700 federal Local Initiatives
Program grant to produce tapes of
books. Of these people, six or seven
are professional readers, performing artists who take a creative
approach in the recording. Besides
these people who work regularly at
the library, Crane relies on about
70 volunteers — faculty, students,
relatives and friends of blind people
— who come in for an hour or two
every week to read and record the
major portion of new material. Like
most other things, tape has both advantages and disadvantages — it
takes far less space to store than
a braille version of the same work,
but it does necessitate electronic
equipment to reproduce, which
brailled books do not.
Because of its burgeoning holdings, Crane is continually cramped
for space. At present the library is
eyeing additional quarters around
its present location for expansion.
It desperately needs proper, soundproofed recording studios so that
tapes can be produced free from
outside noise. It's also short on
study space, something which is an
irritation to some blind students
who'd like to do more work within
the library rather than have to take
out books and tapes.
Students do have some room to
study upstairs in Brock Extension,
but the space is barely sufficient.
Then there's the problem of Crane
becoming a meeting place for blind
students rather than just a library.
In the mid-1960s, blind students had
a common room in the basement
of Brock Extension, where they
gathered for much of their non-
class time.
Says Thiele: "When I was a student here, that was a social centre,
and it was damaging to some extent
for some people because they met
only other blind people. Here in
Crane we actually discourage
people from making it a social thing
— it's a move away from ghetto-
ization, a move to get people out
and moving within a majority of
sighted people."
So now blind students are put in
the position of having to function
almost totally in the non-protected
world outside Crane, and that's
something which adds to the independent spirit.
"Most of these people have spent
10 or 11 years in a protected school
system" says Thiele, "and being
dropped into the university can be
difficultforthem." He says the province is slowly getting away from
the idea of educating the blind in
special schools.
"B.C. is very old-fashioned in
that respect. In other places these
people are put into the regular
school system and given special
equipment. It does wonders for the
A reader, TerriHiller, tape records
a book, a technique being used
more and more to supplement the
library's braille holdings. Below,
the tape is being transcribed onto
a cassette for easier use by
students. While braille is still an essential
skill for blind students, the partially-sighted are assisted in their
studies by a form of closed circuit
television which displays print in
magnified form on a screen.
students and makes them much better individuals. The government is
now talking about doing more of
that here — more blind youngsters
are being allowed to go to regular
schools earlier in life, but it should
have happened years ago."
The main problem for the blind
student newly-arrived on campus is
mobility. "The biggest fright for a
blind person is to be alone in the
middle of a vast plaza, because
where the heck are you?" says
Thiele. "It takes a student a good
half year to get to know his way
around."
Blind students explain that most
find their own routes between buildings with a little help at first, and
then they stick to those same
routes. Says Diana Peterson:
"Getting around is not the hardest
thing you have to do here, but it's
something you have to concentrate
on all the time. I have my own route
worked out between Place Vanier
(residence) and the music building,
which I take all the time. If someone
takes me by another route, I haven't
8
any idea where I am along the
way."
The students seem to have their
own built-in radar, systems which
tell them where they are. Using
their canes they find their way about
campus with remarkable ease,
although they joke about the disasters and near-disasters which can
occur. Winter is particularly
troublesome for them, especially
when it snows.
"We all have trouble in the snow
— all your landmarks are gone and
you don't know whether you're on
the grass or off a curb, or in the
middle of the road," explains Linda
Evans, a graduate student in education. It's one of those things that
they accept with good humour. Last
December 12, when the campus
was blanketed in white, Diana
Peterson tumbled into the fishpond
outside Brock Hall on her way back
to residence from Crane Library.
She laughed about it then, she says,
even though she got soaking wet,
and she laughs about it now. Linda
once almost went into an open manhole —luckily there was a workman
nearby who stopped her just in time.
Construction projects are
another real headache. They can
suddenly interrupt a route which a
student has carefully worked out
and become accustomed to and, just
as important, they make a lot of
noise. Several students had difficulty when the new Buchanan
Tower, across East Mall from
Brock Hall, was under construction, mainly because of the noise.
The students rely a great deal on
sound to keep them out of danger,
and the rattle of jack-hammers and
gravel trucks can camouflage the
approach of oncoming automobiles.
For students like Diana, Linda
and Betty, the campus is their normal environment—they live in residence and move about with ease.
It takes a while, but once mastered,
they know where they're going and
exactly how they're going to get
there. Strangely, that's a part of
their independence which has both
good and bad effects. On one hand
the student doesn't have to count
on someone else to get him or her
from point A to point B, but it also
cuts down on contact with other
people. "Blind students still like to
hitch rides with others," explains
Thiele, "because it's a form of
human contact, a way to make
friends."
That contact is something that's
highly important. "It's hard for us
to make the first move in meeting
people, unless it's in a group situation," says Linda Evans. "You
can't look and see whether the person next to you seems friendly or
not."
For many the experience of living
in university residence has helped
broaden their range of friends and
given them a chance to experience
living in an unprotected environment. "I was a bit apprehensive at
first, moving in with five strangers
and wondering how they would
accept me as a blind person living
in their quadrant," said Linda.
"But it's great, I love it."
She lives in Gage Towers, the
new residence complex in which
groups of six students live in independent quadrants with their own
communal kitchen and living room
facilities. Added Linda: "It's really
been good for me because I've had
to do my share of the cooking and
housework — it's made me more
independent. At home I never had
to do that sort of thing, my mother
did it all — when I moved here I
didn't even know how to do the
washing."
That statement might have come
from any other student away from
home for the first time. The students say they are careful
not to rely on their fellow residents
for too much help, but they do ask
for assistance when it's needed and
find it cheerfully given. Diana lives
in Place Vanier, a slightly different
set-up from Gage Towers in that
dining and common room facilities
are still central for the residence
complex. "Kids around here are
great. They don't do anything special or try to help you because
you're blind and they're going to
do their Big Thing. Sure there are
a few people like that, but you only
ask them for help once because they
make you feel like two cents. The
other people are great and accept
you as just another person ''
Diana says blind people tend to
be extremely sight conscious in
order to fit in smoothly with the rest
of the university society. They're
meticulous about things like clothes
and take special care with their
appearance. It's just another way
of fitting in.' 'You don't want someone to look at you and say: 'She
looks sloppy — I guess it's because
she's blind.' So you take care. I
tend to get clothes which aren't the
same texture or fabric, and I learn
what goes with what as far as colour
is concerned — although I have two
sweaters, a red one and a purple
one, that are identical. There's a
safety pin in the back of the purple
one."
The academic side of life is much
the same as for any other student,
although they sometimes must be
content with fewer available resource materials. All the students
type and use both braille and typing
as their main study tools. Like most
blind students, Linda, Betty and
Diana all take classroom notes in
braille and use them to study from,
but essays and assignments are
typed to be handed in to professors
for marking. Through the Crane
Library, instructors have examinations brailled in advance of the test
date and then the students are
allowed to write them in braille and
transcribe them on typewriters in
special examination rooms.
What comes after graduation?
Linda Evans is now doing postgraduate work in education after an
unsuccessful attempt to get a job
as a teacher in B.C. "I wanted to
teach in a secondary school, but
there's never been a blind person
teaching before in B.C., and with
a surplus of teachers they're naturally going to hire someone else."
She's now expanding her areas of
specialization with the hope of
eventually landing a classroom job.
Diana Peterson hopes that her
voice major in music will lead to
some sort of performing work.
Being blind does limit academic
choice, as she points out. Things
like chemistry and physics just
aren't practical. "Music is a logical
choice if you happen to be musical,
which I am. But other students go
into economics and English, history, languages and education."
Theirs is definitely not an isolated
world, cut off from the main flow
of university life. UBC's blind students operate as independent
human beings, experiencing just
about everything the average student does as they go through the
academic process and, being sensitive, perhaps they experience something more. □
Murray McMillan, is a fourth-year
arts student and a part-time reporter for The Sun.
THE OPINIONS
EXPRESSED IN OUR PAPER
ARE NOT NECESSARILY
OUR OWN.
The editor and publishers of the Sun have certain opinions
and beliefs, which are frequently expressed on the editorial
page. But elsewhere in the paper you will often read totally
divergent views, expressed by our own staff writers. We feel
this is not only natural, given the varied backgrounds and
attitudes of our editorial staff... but that it is also a healthy
and dynamic situation. Our belief is that people look to their
daily newspaper not merely for accurate and factual reporting
... but for stimulating and informed opinion on the whole
range of problems and issues which confront us today. We may
not always agree on solutions to these problems ... but we do
offer a uniformly high calibre of opinion, expressed with
style, skill and integrity.
®ie %ncouper Sun Michael Beddoes
Dr. Beddoes'
Incredible
Talking
Typewriter
The Literal
Spoken Word
For The Blind
Murray McMillan
You run your fingers over the keyboard of a machine which looks like
any ordinary telex console, typing
as you would on an electric typewriter. Beside your hands is a small
loudspeaker box, perhaps a foot
high, and as you type it talks to you
— tee, ay, ell, kay, eye, en, gee.
Space. Tee, why, pee, ee, double-
you, are, eye, tee, ee, are.
"Talking typewriter" — and
that's exactly what it is, although
Dr. Michael Beddoes of the UBC
electrical engineering department,
who invented it, calls it Spellex.
"Basically what it is is a teletype
with an audio feedback," explains
Dr. Beddoes. Where a normal person checks over what he has typed
by looking at the characters on the
page in front of him, up until now
a blind person using a typewriter
hasn't been able to do this without
the help of a sighted proofreader.
Dr. Beddoes' machine makes it
possible for the blind person to type
his copy and proof it at the same
time. It's an audio reassurance instead of a visual one.
The two pieces of equipment,
sitting on the top of a desk in the
Crane Memorial Library in Brock
Hall at UBC, look deceptively simple —just a typewriter console and
a small brown box. The mechanical
brain of the operation is really several blocks away, in Dr. Beddoes'
department on the other side of
campus — it's his small research
computer, and it's what makes
Spellex tick.
"The crux of the project was the
code which had to be invented to
produce the sounds of the alphabet," says Dr. Beddoes. He and
an assistant, Dr. CY. Suen, who
is now working at the University
of Windsor, developed the code
which could be fed into the computer by pressing each letter or
numeral key on the typewriter keyboard. The resulting actions within
the computer generate an electronically-produced sound which comes
very close to the letter as it would
be pronounced by a human voice.
Besides the console in the Crane
Library on campus, there is also one
at the Jericho Hill School for the
Blind out on Fourth Avenue, where
use of the Spellex has become a
part of blind students' typing classes. It uses the same computer, and
the signals run back and forth over
telephone lines.
What does Spellex let blind persons do?
"Really it's just a typing tool,"
explains Dr. Beddoes, "and as such
I think it puts blind students at the
same level of advantage as a sighted
person. Right now at UBC, they're
using it to type essays in English,
French and Spanish."
Typing on the Spellex console,
the student creates a sound copy
only; nothing is printed. The student can listen to each letter as he
or she types it or not. (The sound
can be muted to allow the student
to type directly from a dictaphone).
And then, later, when a section of
work is finished, the student can listen to the whole page or paragraph
spelled back. The sound copy is
stored in the computer's memory,
then retrieved, and as it is read
back, the student can stop it reading, correct spelling, eliminate or
add words or even paragraphs, and
change punctuation — all because
nothing yet has appeared in print.
The student can listen to the
sound copy as often as necessary
and all errors can be eliminated.
When all is satisfactory, the student
presses a "write" command on the
Spellex console and a finished visual copy is typed out. The copy can
be given to a professor or used for
some other purpose. All this is done
through a number of simple commands typed into the computer
from the console by the student.
Not only does Spellex produce
finished copy free of errors, but
along the way it also helps improve
the blind person's spelling. "A
blind person over the years gets so
he can't spell if he uses braille a
lot, because it's contracted. With
Spellex they're able to hear the
words the way a sighted person sees
them, and they have to know the
spelling," Dr. Beddoes points out.
At Jericho Hill School the youngsters learn to type at an early age,
so this helps them to get into good
spelling habits before bad ones can
be formed.
Dr. Beddoes, a mild-mannered
gentleman with a soft British
accent, says his hopes for Spellex
go far beyond its use by students.
The development, he says, could
eventually help blind touch-typists
to find employment in offices alongside sighted co-workers. "Among
10 employed blind people, there are
very few who type as part of their
work," says Dr. Beddoes. "Blind
people in offices have the problem
that they have to have someone else
read over their work after they've
finished it." He says that with Spellex, the typist could work alone
without having to rely on someone
else for corrections.
He has been working on Spellex
since last September, trying to develop a machine which would do
what he wanted, yet be available
to students and workers at a reasonable cost. The main expense now
is the teletype console. A good unit,
one which will type both upper and
lower case characters (cheaper ones
give you only upper case), costs
about $1,000.
Then there's the cost of a telephone line to carry transmission
back and forth between the central
computer and the console, and
finally the cost of the computer time
itself. "This is a small computer —
you can rent time for between $1.50
and $3 per hour, compared with up
to $600 per hour for huge computers,"   says   Dr.   Beddoes.   He
explains that the unit which Spellex
is now using can handle three terminals, and likely could accommodate
up to six on a time-sharing basis.
If a student purchased the console
and had the phone line installed, he
could switch on his Spellex, use it
for as long as needed, then switch
it off. At the end of the month he
would be billed for time use.
The alternative to the central
computer scheme is the adaptation
of a mini-mini-computer set-up
alongside the teletype console or
even built into it, which would make
the Spellex an independent unit.
With this plan the problem of phone
line connections could be eliminated, but there would be the increased capital cost of the small
computer.
"It can and could go either way,"
says Dr. Beddoes. " depends how
many blind people want it, and how
many are willing to use it."
Spellex grew out of an earlier invention by Dr. Beddoes, called the
Lexiphone — a reading machine
which, as the blind person uses it
to scan across printed lines, translates the book into sound.
Carole Thiele, BA'70, BLS'71,
staff member at the Crane Library
listens to the 'voice' of Spellex
before continuing her typing on
the Telex console.
"It's a simple machine to make,
but it relies on the intelligence of
the readers because they have to
learn a code," he says. Linlike Spellex, the earlier invention does not
recite letters of the alphabet — it
just gives the reader code sounds,
and those sounds, says Dr. Bed-
does, rake about 200 hours to learn.
Because of the learning time involved, its acceptance has been
limited.
He says the next step in his inventive process seems to be a combination of Spellex and Lexiphone —
a machine which will read the
printed page and spell it out to the
readers in a normally-intelligible
sound.
Thar, would open up a whole new
range of material for blind students
now limited by the availability of
reference works which have been
taped or translated into braille. □
11 William C. Gibson
Walter Hardwick
ACADEMICS
For those who lie awake nights
worrying about such things, the
University of B.C. faculty have
not seized power at Vancouver
city hall.
It only seems that way.
But with the array of academic
brainpower lighting the red-leather
and oak panel council chamber at
Twelfth and Cambie the casual observer could be forgiven for believing the philosopher kings had taken
charge in "Narcissus on the
Pacific".
The thought of so many quiz-
givers, used to exercising powers
of life and death (almost) over students, under one roof is unnerving.
But on closer acquaintance they
12
turn out to be human after all. Vancouver may even prosper under
them. It will certainly survive them.
The onslaught of academics, as
most Vancouverites know now, occurred last December 14 when
The Electors' Action Movement
(TEAM) kicked the props from under the long entrenched Civic Nonpartisan Association, an organization that seemed part Colonel
Blimp and part Attila the Hun.
TEAM captured city council (nine
of 11 seats), the school board and
park board. While the park board
failed to elect any university academics two were elected to the
nine-member school board, mathematics professor Peter Bullen and
New Faces In
English professor Elliott Gose.
But it was on the 11-member city
council that the academics from
UBC made the greatest inroads,
outnumbering even those traditional political activists, the lawyers, by
four to three.
Someone suggested at the time
that the election marked a switch
in the focus of local political power
from the Terminal City Club to the
UBC Faculty Club. It wasn't that
at all, of course, but the phrase was
certainly indicative of the direction
of change in civic politics.
First came Walter Hardwick,
BA'54, MA'58, UBC professor of
geography, who led the aldermanic
poll. Voted in for his third two-year Fritz Bowers
Setty Pendakur
IN POWER
Vancouver's City Hall
term he topped even that redoubtable socialist and political brawler,
Harry Rankin, BA'49, LLB'50.
At times pedantic, generally cool
even when baited, Hardwick is the
most professorial of the lot. He is
not above hectoring his council colleagues in the manner of a patient
but exasperated school master explaining to a class of slow learners.
Hand on hip, he stands in the
Diefenbaker style as if massaging
a troublesome kidney.
Aid. Fritz Bowers, professor of
electrical engineering, together with
Hardwick and Aid,Jack Volrich,
BA'50, LLB'51, forms the pillars
on which Mayor Art Phillips'
(BCom'53)   administration   rests,
with more or less security depending on what issue is being voted.
If it has ever been said about any
member of the council that he has
a computer for a mind it must have
been Bowers. As soon as he came
on council he began to dazzle his
less mathematically-inclined colleagues with the speed with which
he calculated mills, percentages and
outstanding debt. Then they found
out that Bowers did indeed carry
a computer around. But it was in
his pocket, not his head. One of
those magic little boxes that fit in
the hand and on which you can multiply, square root and raise to the
nth power until you blow your
mind. After that there was no more
Hall Leiren
talk about Bowers' computer mind.
Planning professor Setty Pendakur. MSC'58, barely squeaked
into his council seat after a couple
of vote recounts, winning narrowly over restauranteur and ex-
policeman Don Bellamy. A volatile, outspoken maverick, he takes
delight in puncturing aldermanic
pomposities — yes, readers, they
are still with us — with cutting,
colourful language. He described a
fellow TEAM alderman in conversation once as: "An empty tin can
floating on a sea of bullshit."
That piquant and devastating
commentator on events, Sun columnist Allan Fotheringham (BA
'54),   thinks   Pendakur  does   too
13 much talking at times. "He is a worthy successor, although giving
away 200 pounds or so, in the lone-
liness-of-the-long-distance-speaker
sweepstakes headed by Halford
Wilson."
Dr. William Gibson, BA'33,
chairman and professor of the history of medicine and science and
unsuccessful TEAM mayoral
candidate in 1970, makes up the
fourth in council's academic quartet. He has yet to show his mettle
in council. Some say he hasn't the
brawling instinct of the true politician and is more temperamentally
suited to behind-the-scenes persuasion. Certainly he gives an impression of being too nice a guy for
the political rough-housing a local
politician has to join in. One of his
colleagues claims in fact that Gibson went into it because all his
heroes in the history of medicine
devoted part of their lives to public
service through politics. His passions, if that is the right word, are
libraries and parks. *
These four, all newcomers on
council except Hardwick, represent the academic Mafia from
UBC that has supposedly taken
over at city hall. The feelings of the
alleged mafiosi themselves are a little different. "There is no UBC
master plan to take over the city,"
quipped Hardwick.
In fact they all say they were unacquainted with each other before
going into politics and even now do
not mix socially. Since in the absence of evidence to the contrary
even politicians must occasionally
be taken at their word, that leaves
little grounds to suspect any conspiracy.
Bowers says that if one wanted
to make a case for the existence of
a supposed power group on council
it would probably be easier to prove
a plot by the B.C. Bar Association,
with three members, to take power.
"I think the lawyers are a great deal
more similar in outlook as a group
♦The UBC presence in civic affairs is
marked not by the involvement of university
professors alone — many UBC graduates
hold elected office. Aside from those mentioned above, the alumni on city council include aldermen Mike Harcourt, BA'65,
LLB'68 and Darlene Marzari, MSW'68. On
Vancouver School Board, alumni-trustees
include Jacques Barbeau, BA'55, LLB'56,
Mrs. Olive Johnson, BA'50, and Jack Say
Yee, BSW'64, MSW'66. Graduates serving
as park commissioners are chairman Art
Cowie, MSC'68 and May Brown, MPE'61,
George Puil, BA'52, BEd'57 and Sandy
Robertson, BA'49.
14
Darlene Marzari (left) and W.C. Gibson
•ec5""**"'
'V'^!
Harry Rankin   (left)    and   Fritz Bowers than the academics," he said.
Bowers points out that he himself
is an engineer specializing in the
rather esoteric field of radio astronomy. Gibson is a physician with
his main interests in the field of mental health. Hardwick is a geographer
specializing in urban planning. Pendakur is an engineer with interests
in traffic and planning. Dr. Bullen
is a mathematician and Dr. Gose
an English professor specializing in
19th century literature.
"It is quite conceivable that if we
had not got into politics we would
never even have met each other,"
Bowers said.
However, despite such professed
differences, the council represents,
in broad terms, the new breed of
politicians coming to the fore in
Canadian cities. Canadians are revolting against the kind of old-style
politics that was represented here
by the NPA, which perceived the
duty of local government to consist
in the main of expediting the desires
of the business and real estate interests. Anyone who feels documentation of such a statement is
necessary has only to pick up the
newspapers and start flipping backwards.
The new kind of politician is committed to social change, to involving
people as much as possible in the
process of government, to giving
people control over their neighbourhoods, to demanding a greater
degree of social responsibility on
the part of business. They are concerned about things that up until
now have only been felt in the guts
rather than articulated: the whole
question of growth and how to manage it; concern for the environment;
concern for cities, their effect on
people, and how they may live and
how to avoid them being destroyed.
They tend to believe, for example,
that a boulevard of trees is more
important than increased traffic
capacity on a street, that an old
neighbourhood may often be a
much better thing than a row of
clean, neat and sterile apartment
blocks.
Generally the new council is in
philosophic agreement with this
kind of urban thinking. The test will
be whether or not they have the
political will to implement the kind
of changes that will bring these
ideas to reality.
However, there is no question
that the general attitude of council,
and this includes not only the academics but other members as well,
is radically different from what prevailed in the reign of the NPA
pachyderms. There is a willingness
to listen, to look at new evidence,
and even to admit mistakes, qualities that are presumed to be the hallmark of the academic.
Despite the gut feeling in the
community that TEAM somehow
represents UBC Inc., the organization, which ran its first civic candidates in 1968, has a rather polyglot
parentage.
Those who shared the black
bread of civic political impotence
in the hard old days when the organization was forming included the
present Senator Ed Lawson, with
his powerful connections in the
labour movement; Bill Bellman,
former president of CHQM Radio;
Art Phillips, then known mainly as
a one-time campaign manager for
Environment Minister Jack Davis;
Gowan Guest, a successful lawyer,
prominent Conservative, and onetime executive assistant to Prime
Minister John Diefenbaker; and
architect Geoffrey Massey. Businessman Allan McGavin, the former Chancellor of UBC, and present
chairman of the board of governors, attended some of the meetings at which the party's foundations were laid.
There was, of course, also a
heavy involvement of UBC types,
with particularly strong participation from the School of Community
and Regional Planning.
Dr. Peter Oberlander, director of
the School of Community and Regional Planning currently on leave as
Secretary to the Ministry of Urban
Affairs, elected to school board in
1968 along with Bullen, participated
in the founding of the party. So did
acting director of the School of
Planning Brahm Wiseman, associate professor of planning Bob Collier and assistant political science
professor Paul Tennant. Walter
Hardwick and his brother David,
a UBC associate professor of pathology, were also actively involved.
"The party represented what you
might call a perfect marriage," recalled Pendakur, who also was in
from almost the beginning. "A perfect marriage that saw the UBC
Faculty Club joined to the Terminal
City Club. The academics going to
bed with the liberal business elite."
For reasons no one can really
seem to explain it was the academics rather than the businessmen, however, who came to the
forefront as candidates for election.
Dr. Bullen, himself a member of
the New Democratic Party, speculates that one of the reasons for this
reluctance on the part of businessmen may have been that they felt
queazy about being associated too
openly with an organization that included, and still does, some fairly
radical NDPers.
Certainly there doesn't seem to
have been any great push on to get
academics involved. On the contrary, according to Bowers, the
TEAM nominating committee has
always been nervous about the high
proportion of professors whose
names seem to be put forward. He
said that he himself was given only
half-hearted encouragement when
he told the party organization he
wanted to run for alderman in 1972.
This may well stem from the kind
of flimsy folk wisdom cultivated by
the old NPA (the present organization now claims to be the "new"
NPA) that all academics are slightly
looney and certainly an irresponsible lot. If once they got their hands
on the till it would spell ruin for
all.
In fact, among the heavy thinkers
of the NPA it was an article of dogma that the word "academic" was
never mentioned in polite company
unless prefixed with a pejorative adjective. The constant references by
the faithful were to "woolly-headed" academics, "airy-fairy" academics, "irresponsible" academics,
"impractical" academics, and
other less polite terms.
Bowers said the last election in
particular proved that academics
are, despite local superstitions,
highly electable. "This never fails
to surprise the backroom boys," he
said. "It was particularly so in the
last election but it happened in 1968
and 1970 too."
The quartet has arrived at city
hall by various routes.
Bowers and Gibson lay little
claim to any romance to the story
of how they became involved. In
Bowers' case it was simply a matter
of being told at one point that if he
had so many gripes he should run
for office and do something about
them. He did. Gibson said he got
involved mainly to promote parks
and libraries, the first as an aid to
mental health and the second as an
15 aid to education.
Hardwick and Pendakur romanticize their entry somewhat in the
"years-of-struggle" mode. They
speak of the urban guerrilla days
in Vancouver's freeway and urban
renewal battles of the 1960's. They
nostalgically recall how they suffered the revenge of their abused
stomachs as they travelled the rubber chicken circuit of Rotary,
Kiwanis and Junior Chamber of
Commerce luncheons, railing
against what in those days seemed
the inevitability of radial freeways
and planning madness, out to accommodate machines at the expense of man.
The common thread however,
seems to be that they got involved
more by accident than design in running for office. "In my own case
what happened was that when the
nominating committee in 1968
started looking around for candidates there just wasn't anybody
who wanted to take it on and I more
or less fell in because I felt we had
to run somebody," said Hardwick.
Desire to escape the so-called
Ivory Tower seems to have played
only a negligible part. "We are for
good or ill all of us very practical
academics," said Pendakur. They
see their involvement springing
from the very practical consideration that their time schedules,
along with such people as lawyers
and businessmen, are flexible.
Bowers is the only one confessing
to feeling a certain relief in the
change from campus to city hall.
Bowers — whom Fotheringham
characterizes as "the real surprise
of the new council, extra solid, the
common-sense ballast among the
academic utopianism" — says it
gives him a sense of "dealing with
the real world, of having a chance
to put your ideas into practice instead of just talking. It is a very
nice relief from the endless debate
and petty politics that go on in university politics and never accomplishes anything".
One senses at times, however, a
certain smugness among them, a
feeling —justified—that their intellectual equipment is considerably
above the average. "The bureaucrats know they cannot snow us,"
one commented.
The harsh fact, of course, is that
the average bureaucrat when threatened can outsnow a Saskatchewan
blizzard.
16
Setty Pendakur
Walter Hardwick
Already there are signs the soft
nose of innocence has come up
against the hard fist of reality. Frustration is felt in varying degrees by
aldermen, who feel things are stuck
or not moving fast enough in this
or that area. In fact, Bowers went
so far recently as to say, much to
the mayor's dismay, that if as little
is accomplished in the next year by
council as has been accomplished
in the first five months the whole
crew deserves to be thrown out in
the next election.
However, this may be the healthy
kind of frustration that leads to
renewed effort and creativity. One
thing is certain. The present council
is probably the most maverick Vancouver has had. TEAM is, in
theory, a team. In fact, its aldermen
are nine highly individualistic persons, voting their own way on
issues instead of adhering to any
party discipline.
From the point of view of the man
in the mayor's chair this is undesirable. He is not in control. Certainly,
Phillips does not have the kind of
control that ex-mayor Tom Campbell exercised. Campbell always
knew that when it came to the
crunch he could count on having
at least six votes of the 11 on council. Phillips can never be sure of
mustering a majority and on occasion has been embarrassed to find
he couldn't.
Any one among the Bowers-
Hardwick-Volrich triumvirate
seems at any one time to be just
as much in charge as the mayor.
In fact, Fotheringham suggests that
Hardwick, because of apparent lack
of personal ambition, underestimated his potential to become
mayor when he quietly moved aside
after Phillips pre-empted the candidacy by declaring his intention to
run, some nine months before the
TEAM nominating convention. "One suspects, and one suspects
that perhaps Walter suspects, that
the somewhat outlandish suggestion early in 1972 by the Vancouver
Province editorial page that Hardwick would make the best TEAM
choice for mayor was true,"
Fotheringham said.
The three are, of course, too loyal
— or politically astute — to say anything suggesting the mayor is not
calling the shots, but the nuances
are there.
Fotheringham's assessment of
Hardwick as a kind of council Hamlet is reflected by Aid. Rankin, who,
while conceding that Hardwick is
knowledgeable, hardworking and
conscientious, also finds him "long
on theorizing and short on decisive
action."
Rankin, whose capacity for outrage, real or feigned, is matched
only by his power of invective, has
strong opinions on the other academics as well.
He finds Pendakur somewhat
volatile. "Pendakur is decisive but
uninformed on civic matters and not
prepared to work hard on civic business," Rankin said. "He is leftish
in phraseology."
Bowers is "decisive, intelligent,
conservative, rapidly (filling) the
shoes of Earl Adams," the irras-
cible, tightfisted and reactionary
financial watchdog of NPA days.
How effective have these people
been so far?
The answer is mixed. They have,
of course, only had about six
months to master the many intricacies of civic administration and one
should not expect miracles in that
short a time. On the other hand,
many of Vancouver's problems are
vitally important to the future of the
city and people today are impatient
and won't allow an alderman the
year or more that used to be taken
to ease into the job.
Hardwick and Bowers are probably the most effective. Both are experienced and knowledgeable about
the city. Bowers, as a newcomer,
has already shown as chairman of
the finance committee that he has
the will to make unpopular decisions. It is not out of the realm of
the possible that the Bowers-
Hardwick-Volrich troika will
emerge openly as the real leadership
on council before the next election
rolls around.
Pendakur's effectiveness is
hampered by his maverick behaviour, which he says he has no plans
to change. "There are some people
who interpret the TEAM platform
to suit themselves but I'm not one
of them". How effective he will become, in the sense of being on the
winning side of things, will depend
on how far he is willing to modify
this attitude of the outside loner.
Gibson has yet to play a very
active role in council debates. He
takes little part in debates unless
the issue involves parks or libraries. That is not to say those
issues are unimportant or that Gibson is not making a contribution in
those areas, but an alderman
should display wider concerns. It
may be, however, that — as some
observers suggest — Gibson's real
strength is his energetic, conciliatory approaches behind the scenes.
A UBC conspiracy to take over
the city? If you find one the local
politician-academics would like to
be the first to be told. □
Hail Leiren is city hall reporter for
The Sun.
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17 The Artistic
Credo Of
B.C. Binning
Kay Alsop
Stone steps overhung with white
cherry blossoms, bordered thickly
with greenery, lead down to a flagstone patio, a yellow door. There
below me is the house that broke
the mortgage barrier back in 1940
— the first flat-roofed house to be
built in Vancouver. A lot has been
written about it, and about its
designer-owner, artist B.C. Binning. I had read some of it with interest and now, waiting for him under
the Japanese wind chime at the en-
'$$ a
<
>
trance, I recall a sprinkling of highlights.
Born in Medicine Hat in 1909,
Binning formed and, until 1968,
headed UBC's Fine Arts Department. He retires this year after an
impressive and influential career in
British Columbia art. He's been
variously described as "an exponent of new architecture in
paint", a "philosopher king", even
as the author of "the Binning era
on the Point Grey campus." Others
have labelled him a spokesman for
officialdom, never a radical. "His
supreme value has to do with his
super-sophistication," said a longtime acquaintance.
Dressed in houndstooth jacket,
conservative black knit tie and
steel-rimmed glasses, Binning looks
a very pillar of the community as
he ushers me in. He resembles
much more the professor than the
artist.
The house he designed, still an
example of imaginative architecture
after 30 years, is a witness to his
fascination with the Orient: an entry
gallery lined with books; the characteristic Binning mural in grey, white
and black facing a wall of glass overlooking Howe Sound; spare Swedish chairs; Japanese pots.
In the unclutterred elegance of
the living room he lowers himself
carefully onto a sheepskin-padded
chair, reaches into a pocket for a
match and lights the pipe he's been
cradling in his left hand, dwelling
sombrely on my questions.
His parents brought him to Vancouver at the age of four, and it was
while he was growing up here that
he unconsciously absorbed an
awareness of Oriental culture:
"This city has always been influenced in a very objective way by the
Far East. Our only physical contact
with any foreign land came to us
by way of those great Empress
liners which docked at the foot of
Granville Street — and you could
smell it, you know, the wonderfully
Oriental smell, the Asiatic crew,
and all the strange cargo. Smuggling
went on like billy-o all around there,
and every home in Vancouver had
its display of Oriental things, that
we just took for granted."
He spent quite a few years studying at the art school here, went on
to studies in Oregon, Greenwich
Village, New York, and London.
His career has spanned roughly four
decades highlighted by awards,
scholarships, teaching, public service posts, and major exhibits dating from 1949.
Alvin Balkind, former director of
the Fine Arts Gallery at UBC listed
some of Binning's accomplishments
in the catalogue issued during the
University's retrospective exhibit
of Binning's works this spring:
"The list of Binning's direct or indirect creations beyond the objects
which are his art include the founding of the Department of Fine Arts
(which he directed for many years),
the development of the UBC Fine
Arts Gallery, the initiation of the
Brock Hall (later Student Union)
Collection of Canadian art, the conception and direction of the Festival
of Contemporary Arts, the negotiations for the planning of the Nitobe
Gardens, and, together with the late
Frederic Lasserre, the idea of the
Norman MacKenzie Centre for the
Arts at UBC, which although as yet
uncompleted, has resulted in the
construction of the Lasserre B uild-
ing, the Frederick Wood Theatre
and the Music Building."
Now he's 64, and the galloping
pace has slowed a little. Yes, he's
had an illness for the last couple
of years. It's been really exasperating, a kind of enforced doldrum
which he's hoping will end by this
summer. The studio out back has
been idle long enough. But, enough
of that...
This house? Well, he's been told
that it startled the mortgage companies into a whole new field of
architectural acceptance — but he's
not sure about that. He threw so
many curves at them that he thinks
in the end they may just have
thrown up their hands and conceded
him the ball game.
He looks out through the trees
to where the sun glints on the water
and a white-sailed boat cuts into the
wind, and suddenly the dry professorial voice gives way unexpectedly
into a chuckle: "I couldn't afford
to buy this house at today's prices.
His supreme value has
to do with his super-
sophistication.
19 But even back 30 years ago money
was hard to come by. Although we
didn't think much about it then,
really. Didn't buy much of anything, either. We usually went
around looking as crummy as possible. But if we sold a painting, then
we'd automatically throw a party
for all pur friends. That's the way
it was. Now I see artists sneaking
into the bank making deposits after
their exhibitions, buying bonds...
"Everything changes," he says,
sighing a little, puffing reflectively
on his pipe, "and yet nothing
changes. I look at the students out
at the university now, and I see that
things don't mean very much to
them. Most of them are trying to
find their way back to somewhere.
They're not quite sure where it is,
but they're trying."
Art, like living, requires questing
and effort, and for that Binning has
respect.
"There are three kinds of people
in this world. First, those who are
absolutely lost where art is concerned. They not only have no interest
in it — they have an inborn hatred
of it, of anything of the spirit, and
you can't do a damned thing about
them. As soon as I detect I'm talking to that kind of person I clam
up.
"At the extreme opposite are the
people who may not be able to paint
or write poetry or music, but who
just love anything connected with
the arts. They've got it in their
bones. God gave it to them — and
they don't need me, or anybody
else, to help them along."
In between these two small
groups he corrals the rest — the
middle men of the world. "They're
the people who are curious, who
may not know much about the arts,
but who are ready to listen if
approached the right way. The doctors, lawyers and merchant chiefs
who eventually become leaders in
the community, who sit on boards
for the opera or the art gallery or
the symphony, who ultimately have
the say in how our community develops. And these are the people
I've always thought we should go
20 after — to educate them in the arts,
and the appreciation of the arts. To
hang with teaching more artists to
paint — leave that to the art
schools."
That was his reason for giving up
his teaching post at the Vancouver
School of Art and accepting
UBC's invitation to become associate professor of architecture in
1949. At first, the thought of it
frightened him. He'd never had
much to do with universities. Didn't
have a degree or anything. And, to
the artist, the Point Grey campus
lookedjust about as sterile and institutional as a hospital. Then he
changed his mind.
"I began to think: Look, here I
am teaching drawing and painting
to a bunch of female students who
really don't care a heck of a lot
about art — they're just using it as
a kind of finishing school — when
I could be out there teaching architects something about art."
Architecture has always fascinated him, anyway. Both his grandfathers had been architects, and had
it not been for an earlier illness
which had kept him in bed for a
year or so, he'd likely have followed
in their footsteps. As it is, his art
has been geared to architecture, has
been part of his core philosophy —
that art, in all its facets, is not just
a thing unto itself, but should be
considered as part of the total environment. The UBC job fitted in
perfectly with this thinking, nobody
there seemed to have the least idea
of the visual arts. So he started trying to work up some interest...
First, with a series of noon hour
lectures — a kind of introductory
appreciation of art course which ultimately grew into the widely
acclaimed Festival of Contemporary Arts and brought in the
period referred to, by Balkind, as
"the Binning era when the arts
burgeoned at Point Grey."
And next, with a campus gallery,
which he succeeded in starting but
was never able to give the prominence he felt it deserved. "A disgraceful thing, but it was there if
we   wanted  to   use   it.   And  we
figured, as a temporary measure, a
kind of foot-in-the-door, we'd put
up with it. You know, they gave
me that retrospective exhibition in
that very same damned gallery that
I 'd been fighting, for more than 20
years, to have replaced."
All the years at UBC were more
profitable than he may have imagined, however. Students found,
behind the pedant's facade, a man
of sympathy, and understanding —
even, apparently, of inspiration.
"He taught me to think", said one.
"He'd take you to a door, open it
for you, and you saw things you
never saw before," said another.
All those years Binning was fighting to replace more than the gallery.
He was working to replace what he
felt were outmoded ideas, ignorance, and apathy with a greater perception of the role that art plays in
shaping the world around us. Art,
he says, is a reflection of society.
It's a man's mirror of himself.
If so, how does his art reflect
B.C. Binning?
There are many reflections. His
joyfulness. His orderliness. His fascination with the sea. Boats,
wharves, sails, masts, rigging,
stylized or not, show up again and
again. And, a craftsman himself, he
paints his appreciation of simple
things well done.
"The hulls of boats, now. I've
loved painting them. But a fiberglass dinghy — that's nothing but
a bathtub. Before, boats were made
of wood. They called it carvel-
planking. Ribs, all bent, and the
planks bent around the ribs, and the
whole thing was riveted together,
and little chunks of wood reinforced
the corners. And when you looked
at one of those boats there was a
real tension, a kind of quality about
it, that you could understand. You
know, the ribs holding the planks,
and the rivets holding the thing together..."
A pause, then the deliberate
teacher's manner dissolves into the
irrepressive sense of fun. "The only
thing was, they were heavy as hell,
and the plastic thing is a lot lighter
and stronger.  So when it comes
He'd take you to a door,
open it for you, and you
saw things you never
saw before.
21 Any good artist has to
learn what he's doing.
He's got to learn his
craft, just like carpentry
or needlework.
right down to it, if I had to row
one, I 'd go for the plastic myself.''
It's part of the Binning logic. It
isn't whether things are good or
bad. It's just that they are inevitable. An Oriental wisdom, which
is strong in the face of change and
upheaval. "Very often people say
to me, 'you don't like this change,
do you?' And I say, 'well, look,
it doesn't much matter whether I
like it or not. It's happening, and
it's got to happen.' And if you're
an artist you've got to be a little
bit of an optimist as well, and be
ready to record what is happening
whether you like it or not, and make
the most of it."
It's certainly one of the qualities
he most admires in the Japanese —
this ability to adjust, to work within
limits of time and space, recognizing neither constriction nor confinement. Again, the simple things fascinate him — their gardens, for instance...
"Have you ever seen a Japanese
stone garden? Nothing but stones
and sand. No regimented rows of
geraniums or anything. Just a simple, beautiful arrangement, like a
great seascape of sand, with those
islands of stones. Or a moss garden,
nothing but moss and green trees
and a little water, in pools, and in
between those three elements you
get the greenest green you've ever
seen in your life."
Discipline. Control. These are
his working rules, his points of departure. For Binning is, above all,
a product of civilization.
"Any good artist has to learn
what he's doing. He's got to learn
his craft, just like carpentry or
needlework. We had to learn to
draw in our day, but now people
simply dive right in, and the excuse
is 'oh, well, if you impose too much
discipline on me you're going to
hang me up.' But I never tried to
regiment my pupils with discipline
in the military sense. I just wanted
them to know how much they can
do with what they've got. You don't
need very much."
22 He learned this lesson while
studying in England under Oxen-
fant, a purist who insisted that his
students begin with just three colours, black, white and yellow
ochre. Eventually they would be
allowed to add red ochre, but not
before they had mastered all
shades and nuances possible with
the first three.
"You really got to know what
colour was all about and when you
finally got to the point where you
were permitted to let yourself go,
you had learned enough to discipline yourself, so that you would
never again be extravagant, or misuse colour.
"Anything that is irregular because of its shape or its colour
brings an emotional response from
a painter. Like discovering a new
word, to a writer. Well, great. But,
so what? What are you going to do
with it? It's what you say with those
words, those colours and forms,
and the way you relate them, that
makes the difference between
formulating a great dramatic impact, or just pronouncing a fact.
"The most difficult thing for an
artist to do is to arrange colours,
or forms, or words, so skillfully that
they appear not to have been
manipulated at all. And every writer
or painter uses basically the same
elements to make what come to be
recognized as his individual
arrangements."
That is, what the public recognize
as his artistic identity. For the artist
it's sometimes a different matter.
He may not even know himself.
"The first time I had an exhibition — just a small one in the art
gallery — I walked in on those
pieces which had been sitting in
ones, twos and threes around my
studio, and it was like walking
naked into a room of mirrors, and
I said to myself: 'why, I didn't know
I looked like that.' But I do. But
it wasn't what I thought I was at
all.
"What did I see? Well, now that
you ask me, I saw a less serious
person than I thought I was — a
person who had a kind of, not cynicism, but skepticism, about life. I
saw somebody who, apparently,
was far more elegant than I thought
somebody from Medicine Hat
could ever possibly be." □
Kay Alsop writes for The Province.
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23 Wesbrook: Dreams
That Dissolved
Into Mist
Wesbrook and His University
by William C. Gibson
The Library of the University
of British Columbia
Vancouver, $7
F.H. SOWARD
For Bill Gibson this attractively
printed biography was obviously a
labour of love. His father had been
a friend and supporter of Dr. Wesbrook. Forty years ago when an
undergraduate in residence at
Union College he heard much about
our first president from Dr. W.H.
Hill who had known Wesbrook in
his Minnesota days. As Gibson
puts it, Hill recalled him "with enthusiasm and reverence." Members of the class of '28 will be gratified to know that the stone bench
by the library, which they presented
in honour of the president, helped
to keep Wesbrook's memory alive
for the young student. Even in his
student days at Oxford Gibson's
admiration was heightened by the
manner   in   which    his   mentor,
24
Charles Sherrington spoke "almost
tearfully [of] dear Frank Wesbrook." When the library of UBC
was just being formed, Sherrington
presented it with a precious gift of
Bidloo's Anatomy, published in
1685.
As the author admits, the memoir
has been long in the making. It was
written' 'for the students who never
knew him but who interpret the
motto he gave them, Tuum Est, as,
"It is up to you." Incidentally, that
translation offended the critical ear
of Professor "Lemmie" Robertson, our first professor of classics,
who maintained that the proper
translation is, "It is yours."
When Dr. Gibson began his biography he had complete access to
the university archives and the invaluable assistance of Wesbrook's
daughter who had collected his personal records including his diary.
For Wesbrook's pre-UBC career
Dr. Gibson has consulted the librarians and archivists in the medical schools of Manitoba and Minnesota, and the archives of the Department of Pathology in Cambridge. President Klinck, Dr. Wesbrook's successor and one of his
closest friends on the faculty, also
supplied first-hand information.
I must confess that I was surprised to find in the list of references
no mention of Harry Logan's official history of the University, Tuum
Est, which was enriched by Harry's
early association with Wesbrook.
Like the students, I, too, never
knew our first president since I
came to UBC four years after his
death. But I learned a good deal
about him when, at the request of
Dr. Klinck, I compiled the early
history of the university in the Thirties. Like Gibson I soon acquired
a great respect for the president and
was assisted in my researches by
his secretary, Mrs. Mary Rogers,
whose picture is included in the interesting collection of photographs
in this memoir. But I knew almost
nothing of Wesbrook's career before coming here, since my "terms
of reference" limited me to the official records in the university files.
It is here that Gibson breaks new
ground in which his own enthusiasm
for medical history is apparent.
Wesbrook's studies and researches
in London, Marburg and Cambridge, which gained him life-long
friends, led to his appointment at the
early age of 27 to a full professorship
in bacteriology and. pathology in the
University of Minnesota. There he
made Minnesota a leader in medical
education, became dean of faculty
and in 1905 was the president of the
American Public Health Association. Two years later he delivered
an address on "State Responsibility
in Higher Education" at his alma
mater, the University of Manitoba.
It compared higher education in
Canada, Britain, France, Germany
and the United States and ended
with a strong warning, much needed
in Manitoba, that "the province has
only to realize fully what it owes
to itself in the way of provision for
the strongest arm of provincial development, that is, the university."
His address, subsequently published in Science attracted wide interest
and, in Gibson's opinion, added his
name "to the short list of possible
presidents in North America." If
such is the case, it is surprising that
an invitation to become a president
did not come for five years and then
from a newborn institution.
I cannot share the biographer's
claim that Wesbrook ranks "on a
plane with Osier, Flexner and Sherrington in the field of higher education." The sad fact is that Wesbrook, who died at the age of 50,
was deprived of the opportunity of
reaching that high rank. He served
only five years as a president and
in that period a depression in British
Columbia and the First World War
robbed him of the opportunity of
becoming the wise and far-seeing
academic statesman in Canada
which he would almost certainly
have otherwise been.
We know that Sir Richard
McBride and his minister of education, Dr. Henry Young, had great
plans for the new university which
Wesbrook hoped to make the Cambridge of the Pacific. They even offered the presidency to the senior
president in Canada, Sir Robert
Falconer of the University of Toronto, who declined in a gracious
letter. Others were also considered
before the offer came to Wesbrook
in December, 1912. It appears from
Gibson's rather cautious account
that Wesbrook was available partly
because of differences with the new
president of the University of Minnesota over the phasing out of part-
time teachers in the medical faculty
and from "certain developments"
within the faculty itself. There is
no doubt that he was also attracted by challenge of the opportunity "for
a rapid as well as a sane and sound
growth" in a new institution with
a superb site, an attractive architectural plan and a huge endowment
of land in the Cariboo.
One prophetic warning did come
at the time from "craggy-browed"
Sandy Robinson, "the only man
who as superintendent of education
consistently struck terror into the
hearts of successive provincial cabinets." Sandy agreed with Wesbrook that he had accepted "what
will be the most important position
in university work (sic) in the
Dominion" but warned that "an
immense amount of pioneer work
must be waded through before you
can begin to exhibit any tangible results." He added that, "an immense amount of patience should
be your prime characteristic for the
next four or five years."
It was not long before this patience was put to the test. The additional land required at Point Grey
for the projected faculty of agriculture was not made available. The
government was feeling the pinch
of adversity after a boom and the
deputy minister of finance told Wesbrook at the end of 1913 that the
government was "rather short of
funds." He inquired ominously, "I
shall be pleased to know the least
sum you can get along with until
the Loan Bill is passed." Wesbrook
was then on a recruiting mission in
the East and England where he succeeded in securing such excellent
men as L.S. Klinck, dean of agriculture, R.W. Brock, dean of applied science, Douglas Mcintosh,
professor and head of the chemistry
department, and H. Ashton, assistant professor of French. Victoria was told UBC could get
along with $60,000 until the end of
February, 1914.
But the Board of Governors felt
sufficiently secure to call for tenders
in the spring for buildings on the
Point Grey site to cost $1.5 million.
Wesbrook despatched the librarian
of his former university to Europe
in the summer with authority to
spend up to $5,000.
J.T. Gerould's adventure makes
a story in itself but his efforts for
books and Wesbrook's success in
securing gifts gave the university a
nucleus of 30,000 volumes. War followed depression in August, 1914,
and it was decided that only the
steel and cement frame of the pro
posed science building should be
constructed. In October, accompanied by Klinck and H.R.
MacMillan, with whom he had developed a warm friendship, Wesbrook inspected the university land
reserves which his dean of agriculture thought to be worth not
more than fifteen cents an acre. By
the end of the year plans for teaching mining and other applied science
subjects in 1915, agriculture and economics in 1916 and forestry in 1917
were abandoned. Early in 1915
Wesbrook drew up his sixth draft
budget based on a government grant
of $175,000. The first session of
UBC would begin in September,
1915 in the existing buildings of
McGill College reinforced by what
the president called "temporary
shack-like structures". It was these
"Fairview shacks" that were to
house UBC for a decade. As Gibson puts it, "now the dream of a
second Cambridge was dissolving
into mist."
When a Liberal government took
over in Victoria, the president's
burden was augmented by personal
differences with him which led to
a boycott of the second graduation
ceremonies by all the invited government guests. It is little wonder
that Wesbrook, who had somehow
found time to qualify as an officer,
asked to be released for overseas
service, a request which his board
felt they could not grant.
He could only watch from the
side-lines while members of his staff
like Brock, LeRoy, Logan and
Eastman went overseas and the students provided D company of the
196th Battalion. Dr. Gibson's biography gives us a moving description of Wesbrook's pride in his
"boys" and his assiduous efforts to
keep in touch with them. They
eagerly responded and one of them
even found time to speculate about
the role of an alumni association.
His name was Sherwood Lett.
Early in 1918 Wesbrook's health,
which had been precarious for some
time, visibly failed. The last entry
in his diary was January 11. A summer holiday in Caulfield failed to
restore his health. He invited Dr.
Klinck to assume the post of acting
president before the fourth session
of UBC began and sent staff and
students a moving message for
"what may be the very best year
which the University has seen."
The end came on October 2.
Gibson's last chapter contains
the warm tributes to the late president which came from men like Osier, Sherrington, Welch, Mayo and
Flexner, to mention only his medical confreres. From Minnesota
came an eloquent formal memorial
resolution which spoke of "the
strong man he was, of the great
work he did, of the worth of his
friendship and the joy of his companionship."
That UBC has become "a provincial university without provincialism" is due in no small measure
to the dreams of a man who saw
so little of his plans fulfilled. We
can be grateful that his example inspired one of its alumni to produce
this appealing biography which will,
I hope, adorn the shelves of many
of his fellow-graduates.
Dr. Gibson, BA'33, MSc, MD.
(McGill), PhD (Oxford), is UBC
professor of the history of medicine
and science, Dean Soward,
LLD'64, BA (Toronto), BLitt. (Oxford), is dean emeritus of graduate
studies.
Scann: Innovative,
Vivid And Intense
Scann
by Robert Harlow
Sono Nis press
Port Clements, Queen Charlotte
Islands, $9.95
G.W. HANCOCK
The publication of any fine novel
in Canada can only be lauded as
admirable. Robert Harlow's third
novel, Scann is a vivid and intense
work which through an innovative
use of the novella form explores
something of what it means to be
a Canadian.
Robert Harlow was born in British Columbia and received his
bachelor of arts degree from UBC
in 1948. During the Fifties and early
Sixties he worked for the CBC, before returning to UBC as head of
the creative writing department, the
position he now holds. His three
published novels, Royal Murdoch,
A Gift of Echoes and Scann form
a trilogy describing the history of
the northern Canadian town of Linden and its people.
Amory Scann, the main character, defines his self with a ballpoint
pen. A middle-aged editor of a small
25 town newspaper in B.C., he is
dissatisfied with his job, his family
and even his mistress. Lying to his
wife that he is at a newspaper convention in Banff, Scann rents a
cheap room in his hometown hotel
and starts writing a book over the
Easter weekend.
Or rather, a number of books. In
trying to establish his essential
nature, Scann investigates some of
the possibilities of his origins and
it is through the interweave of
stories which comprise the novel
that Scann finds a meaning for his
existence.
Searching for his beginnings, the
several stories of Scann's book
reflect his anger and frustration at
living from day to day in a world
where even friends of 20 years are
strangers. To give his present a
foundation and a purpose, Scann
searches or invents a past for meaning. The scenes shift rapidly: a
northern trapper hunting a wolverine, wartime England, an Indian girl
shooting dope in a hotel room. Fiction, which Scann sees as a way
to control chaos, mingles with reality. The past mingles with the present.
Something, however, which
Scann calls an animal, sits inside
his skull, watching him and knowing
that writing does not distinguish
past from present. It is by trying
to make up stories about real people
that the meaning of Scann's life becomes clear.
But there is more to Scann than
his books, and in fact, Harlow
notes, Scann may be the more interesting. There is "the problem of
hyperbole in the Canadian character — the tendency he has to become a bigger junky, a wilder
drunk, a more dedicated power-
monger, a more fantastic ego,
etcetera, etcetera." Harlow emphasizes that the Canadian is not
an American, but someone who
lives in "romantic squalor" collected from bits and pieces of other
civilizations. "As there is the
Roman eagle, the Chinese dragon,
the British bulldog, the Russian
bear, so there is the Canadian pack-
rat." Scann, in examining the bits
and pieces of his own case history,
discovers part of the meaning of
being a Canadian.
A Canadian longs to be someone
else and it is this act which identifies
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him positively, Scann writes. The
twin heritages of French and English form not a mosaic, but a labyrinth and Scann's problem is how
to join it. By believing he is someone else, the Canadian underestimates himself and like Scann eventually has to search for his real state.
Scann, however, is more than a
flag-waving novel. It is an innovative work and as such Harlow's
technique should certainly inspire
imitators. The main stories of
Scann are written within the confines of the novella form, "the very
form Scann is trying to master". As
readers of detective and mystery
fiction will know, the novella differs
from the novel in that it is more
surface, more cinematic and moves
forward in a rapid trajectory. In this
direct and forceful style Harlow and
Scann seem to jeopardize each
story as fact and fiction flow freely
between the pages but manage to
rescue the threads in time.
Harlow deals with the idea of
beginnings and endings in Scann.
Any beginning is only a beginning
of sorts. Each time Scann searches
his past, that past becomes reality
again. And just as there can be no
beginnings, there can be no endings.
"Only bad writers go in for endings." Time is a constant and consistent force. Death is only a temporary ending since someone
always carries on. Scann defines his
survival with his pen. Scann's
characters are reborn, imposing
their wills as they flow continuously
through the conduit of history.
Harlow has written an excellent
novel. Twisting together history
and fantasy and slipping backward
and forward in time, it is a book
which maintains an electric tension
in its attempts to define Scann and
the small town of Linden, B.C.
But Amory Scann rises beyond
his passion for place. His books are
acts of love. In understanding that
his notebooks and ballpoint pens
are only artifacts of the fiction writer, he realises that there can be "no
revelations, only a continuing sense
of occurrence."
There are many ways to inherit
a country, Harlow writes. In this
fine novel, vividly written, we
understand something of what it
means to inherit Canada. □
Geoff Hancock, BFA'73, is presently working towards a master of
fine arts degree at UBC.
26 FOTM1OT
Blasting Through The
Educational Barriers
Britain's Open University has been likened
to education's armored division of the future
which, having blown a hole in the barriers
of the status quo, has now broken through,
freeing education for an era of innovation.
This imaginative description was made by
Norman MacKenzie, one of the planners of
the Open University, at a day-long seminar
on the Open University held in March at
UBC's Centre for Continuing Education.
MacKenzie is the Director of the Centre for
Educational Technology at the University
of Sussex. He was a member of the planning
committee of the Open University and is currently a member of the Council. MacKenzie's visit to UBC to participate in the seminar, which was attended by about 125 educators, was made possible by the Cecil and
Ida Green Visiting Professorships Fund.
MacKenzie told his audience that educators for years have talked about new
approaches to learning, new curriculum and
new educational technology, but very little
innovation had been done in a concentrated
way until the Open University was established.
"For years we've been like the army patrolling the wire outside El Alamein," he said.
"We've needed some way of blowing our
way through the wire. The Open University
is the armored division that has enabled us
to blast a hole in the wire and break out."
He said that in the Open University
enough students and enough resources have
been concentrated in one institution to enable new learning materials, a new curriculum and new teaching methods to be brought
together in one coherent system. The Open
University has shown that these innovations
work and this is having a great influence on
education in Britain.
' 'The Open University is not a 'University
of the Air' and it's not a hardware-based
university," MacKenzie emphasized. "It is
essentially a concept. This concept rests on
the fact that no formal entry requirements
are needed — unlike the present system with
its entry visas and exit permits."
The OU approach to education, which
essentially concentrates on a sophisticated
correspondence program in conjunction with
radio, television and some classroom instruction, represents a challenge to the traditional assumption of educators that education is most effectively carried on by face-
to-face instruction.
Norman MacKenzie
During the seminar MacKenzie discussed
the possibility of an Open University being
established in B.C. He emphasized that
three elements were essential: a well-
planned organizational structure; adequate
resources; and sufficient status to acquire
high quality staff. MacKenzie particularly
stressed the need for a long-term commitment to the concept of an Open University,
warning against the tendency of North
American educators to engage in experiments that ultimately do not survive. "A
thing that is called an experiment doesn't
involve commitment — there is always a way
out."
MacKenzie cautioned that educators must
first determine that an institution patterned
after the Open University is needed in B.C.
and be prepared to engage in long-term planning, particularly of the curriculum. As for
teaching techniques, he pointed out that television is one of the most expensive and least
effective media. "Radio," he said, "is one
of the least expensive and one of the most
effective. With the exception of courses in
science and mathematics, I would be prepared to run the Open University program
on radio alone."
MacKenzie suggested that the best course
of action for B.C. at the present time might
be to develop a pilot project first and use
that to gauge the need for and effectiveness
of an institution like the Open University
in the British Columbia context.
UBC Part-time Degrees
Overdue By A Decade
As a UBC grad who completed a degree
entirely through part-time study I found the
"Time For A Change in UBC's Educational Philosophy" article in the Spring
Chronicle infinitely interesting for several
reasons. First, although you state that
UBC, by regulation, specifically prohibits
students from obtaining degrees solely by
part-time study I have found that providing
the individual has the capacity and enthusiasm for higher education it is possible to obtain a degree by part-time study alone, Although this is not given much publicity by
the registrar's office I'm certain that others
beside myself have earned a degree at UBC
in this manner, As you know, part-time
study is not a new concept at UBC. Every
week-night hundreds of part-time students
attend classes for credit courses on campus,
but I feel that these classes are nothing more
than a token gesture and I agree wholeheartedly with Gordon Selman in his stand for
UBC to open its doors wider to part-time
students.
It ;s also respectively suggested that the
changes mentioned in this article are long
overdue. This problem should have been recognized at UBC 10 or 15 years ago. The
shortsightedness combined with a distinct
lack of imagination in UBC's educational
philosophy in past years never ceases to
amaze me  In my opinion for the last 10
or 15 years UBC should have been offering
degree programs on a part-time basis at both
the bachelor and master level. Indeed the
necessity to make bachelor level degrees
available on a part-time basis is a basic
one ...
In my nine years at UBC from 1962 to
1971,1 found the faculty and staff very helpful and cooperative in many ways for which
I am grateful and I have the highest regard
for the faculty who turn out year after year
to give evening courses and teach adult students...On the other hand, I often wonder
if university faculties should have a dominant decision-making role when it involves
setting policy in the matter of achieving
degrees on a part-time basis, degrees which
may well have a profound effect on the life
chances of an individual. Perhaps there are
still a number of narrow-minded faculty
members and university administrators who
feel that the democratic extension of education can only be equated with the dilution
of education. I expect there are still some
faculty members who refuse to teach evening classes. After all, it's a well known fact
that university faculty members in some
cases do develop a rather stuffy, restrictive
and private club attitude...
At one point when I asked a department
head at UBC about the possibility of doing
graduate studies on a part-time basis he appeared to turn green and go into a state of
shock while mumbling something about the
need of a grad student having sufficient time
to mix and discuss studies with other grad
students on campus. Therefore, it doesn't
surprise me one bit that the faculties responded with a negative reply when asked
about the demand for degrees on a part-time
basis.
Many anomalies still exist in the educational system of B.C. but in any given
human population there is a wide range of
general ability depending for its development on the appropriate social and educational environment. Clearly, in B.C. there
is a great need for further change and reform
in educational policy which should make
every attempt to remove from the social environment those conditions which restrict
talent and smother ability. I feel that a full-
scale part-time degree program would play
a major role in offsetting some shortcomings
that now exist in the higher educational system and every effort should be made towards making UBC's educational services
more widely available.
Ken Whitten, BA'71,
Vancouver
27 M
President Gage To
Retire In Two Years
The Age of Gage is to come to an end on
June 30, 1975. It is on that day that
Walter H. Gage — "Mr. UBC" — will
resign as President of the University, ending
a career of more than 50 years on campus.
Allan M. McGavin, chairman of the UBC
board of governors, recently announced
that President Gage had signified his intention to resign. He said he was grateful to
the President for giving the board two full
years to seek a successor since it would be
difficult to find a replacement for a man who
had served the University so well. "The
contribution that Walter Gage has made to
UBC as student, professor, dean and President will never be forgotten," he said.
Dr. Gage became President on April 3,
1969 after serving as acting President following the resignation of Dr. John B. Macdonald
and, later, of Dr. Kenneth Hare. At that
time, Dr. Gage agreed to "continue in the
position of President of the University on a
year-to-year basis for a period of from three
to five years from June 30, 1970, at the discretion of the board."
UBC Alumni Association president
George Morfitt also paid tribute to President
Gage's contribution to UBC.
"To my mind, President Gage had three
remarkable qualities," said Morfitt. "He
was a man of very high academic standing,
he was a first-rate teacher and he was extremely well thought-of as a person — he
seems to know practically everyone who has
ever graduated from this university. I think
it's going to be very difficult to find anyone
with the qualities of President Gage — and
who can administer a big university."
Under the Universities Act the board of
governors has sole responsibility for the
appointment of a new President. A broadly-
based committee, with representatives from
the board, senate, faculty, students and
alumni, is being established to recommend a
short list of presidential candidates from
which the board of governors will select the
new President. Morfitt and two other persons, as yet not chosen, will serve as alumni
representatives on this committee.
The Age of Gage began for UBC in 1921
when Walter Gage enrolled as a freshman at
UBC in the old Fairview shack campus. In
May, 1925, he graduated with first-class
honours in mathematics and the following
year, after completing requirements for his
master of arts degree, he was hired as an
assistant in UBC's mathematics department.
Over the years, he has held countless positions on campus including, director of the
Summer Session, Dean of Inter-Faculty and
28
Alumni Association
Active in Convention
An obviously pleased alumni past president, Bev Field (above left) presents University
Professor of English Dr. Roy Daniells (right) with a Ross Hunt Indian mask in recognition
of receiving the Alumni Award of Distinction at the annual alumni dinner in May. The
guest speaker, noted semanticist Dr. S.I. Hayakawa (below) shakes hands with alumni
following his address on "Universities and Social Change".
Student Affairs, acting dean of the College
of Education, as well as deputy, acting and
full-time president. Dr. Gage has been a
member of UBC's senate for more than 40
years, longer than any other faculty member.
He has also received just about every
honour that UBC is capable of offering. The
AMS bestowed the Great Trekker Award
on him in 1953, the University conferred an
honorary doctor of laws degree on him in
1958, and the alumni association gave him
the Alumni Award of Merit in J966. In 1969,
when he was named the first Master Teacher
at UBC, he characteristically returned the
$5,000 cash prize that goes with the honour
to the University for the purchase of books
for three campus libraries.
The UBC Alumni Association will be playing a prominent role in the annual American
Alumni Council convention to be held in
Vancouver on July 8-12.
About 500 delegates from university
alumni associations from all over the United
States and Canada are expected to attend
the convention being held in the Bayshore
Inn.
Local involvement is being planned by a
coordinating committee composed of UBC r
President's
Message
Some 64,000 persons, all graduates of the
University of British Columbia, are
members of, and are served by, the UBC
Alumni Association. Ours is a large and
diverse membership which enjoys a common bond with, and appreciation for, our
Alma Mater.
UBC's first alumni were the small
group of 1916 graduates while the most
recent additions to the alumni roles are,
of course, the almost 3,300 graduates who
received their degrees this spring. Each
alumnus has his own personal memories
of his undergraduate days, but by and
large he shares with his fellow graduates
a common allegiance to our University
and to its ideals and aspirations. Our
alumni also recognize the importance of
furthering, in the broadest sense, the progress of higher education in the province.
There are many people active in alumni
affairs. The alumni who play a leading
role in the work of the association as
members of the executive, the board of
management and the many active committees provide a wide cross-section of
backgrounds, interests and occupations.
Virtually all faculties are represented.
There are, as well, non-alumni who contribute to our organization as special representatives to our board of management from both the student Alma Mater
Society and the UBC Faculty Association.
These are all talented individuals
whose expertise has, over the years,
helped to formulate and carry out many
successful programs for the association.
Such programs have dealt with all aspects
of higher education in B.C. with particular emphasis on the special problems and
needs of the University of British Columbia. Certain of our basic programs, such
as government relations and awards and
scholarships, are now well-established
and require only minor adjustment from
time to time as changing circumstances
dictate. However, each year there are
new and vital activities implemented
which ensure that our efforts are kept
channelled into areas which are both rele
vant and important to the furthering of
the objects of our association. Two such
new activities initiated in recent years are
Point Grey cliff erosion prevention and
alumni opinion survey analysis. Both will
be continued as part of our 1973-74 program.
We believe that it is important for the
future of our country that Canadians
maintain and improve their level of understanding and learning. Without continued emphasis on the need forimproved
and expanded educational opportunities
our country will fail to secure the bright
future which has been predicted for it.
The UBC Alumni Association helps to
provide this emphasis.
To remain a strong viable association
we need the continued support of all
UBC alumni, particularly with respect to
our informational, educational and fund-
raising activities. Informal alumni meetings are held each year in many communities throughout British Columbia
and elsewhere in connection with our
branch, division, class reunion and
Young Alumni Club programs. These
get-togethers provide opportunities for
alumni to meet one another and to keep
up to date on trends in education while,
at the same time, enabling alumni to
make known their views on matters relating to higher education. The UBC
Alumni Fund provides $83,872 toward
annual scholarships and bursaries and
these funds go a long way toward ensuring that no qualified young people of our
province are prevented for economic
reasons from taking advantage of the
higher education opportunities which
would otherwise be available to them.
We are proud of the many outstanding
achievements of our University and, with
the help of all alumni, our association will
continue to give it such support and encouragement as will enable it to enjoy
further success in the years ahead.
^0<-r^<.   J^     SY^r^tj£&
George Morfitt
President
Alumni Association executive director
Harry Franklin, UBC Alumni Fund director
Scotty Malcolm and Simon Fraser University
resources director Sandy Willett.
The delegates will be welcomed on Sunday, July 8 at a wine and cheese reception
hosted by the UBC Alumni Association.
The convention will be officially opened on
Monday, July 9 by B.C. Lieutenant Governor Walter Owen.
Gordon Shrum, former B.C. Hydro chairman and former chancellor of SFU, will be
guest speaker at a B.C. government-
sponsored luncheon that day. He will be
speaking on "Energizing Education." Special guests at the luncheon will include presidents and chancellors of B.C. universities
and representatives from community colleges and the B.C. Institute of Technology.
A UBC Alumni Association-sponsored
salmon barbecue will be held at UBC in
the evening.
On Wednesday, July 11, the local committee has organized a panel discussion on "The
Role of Alumni in New University Approaches — Renewal, Reconstruction and
Rededication to the World of Learning."
The moderator will be Stuart Keate, publisher of The Sun, and the panelists will be
Senator Arthur Laing, who will present a
Canadian viewpoint, and Dr. Cecil Green a
former UBC engineering student and benefactor of UBC, and director-founder of
Texas Instruments Inc., who will present
an American viewpoint. Chronicle editor
Clive Cocking will participate in a seminar
on "Issues in Education and Alumni Publishing" during the convention.
Brandies
AnyoneP
Interested in becoming involved in
alumni branch activities in your area?
Here are your local branch representatives :
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Castlegar: Bruce Fraser (365-7292). Duncan: David Williams (746-7121). Kamloops: Bud Aubrey (372-8845). Kelowna:
Don Jabour (762-2011). Nanaimo: Gordon B. Squire (753-1211). Nelson: Judge
Leo Gansner (352-3742). Penticton: Dick
Brooke (492-6100). Port Alberni: George
Plant (723-2161). Prince George: Neil
McPherson (563-0161). Prince Rupert:
Judith Bussinger (624-3005). Quesnel:
David Woolliams (922-5814). Victoria:
Chris J. Metten (386-0609). Williams
Lake: Ann Stevenson (392-4365).
ALBERTA
Calgnry: Frank J. Garnett (262-7906).
Edmonton: John Haar (425-8810), Gary
Caster (465-1342).
EASTERN CANADA
Halifax: Carol MacLean (423-2444).
Montreal: Hamlyn Hobden (866-2055).
Ottawa: Gerald Meyerman (232-1721),
Toronto: Jack Rode (364-7204). Winnipeg: Harold Wright (452-3644). Newfoundland: Barbara Draskoy (726-2576).
UNITED STATES
Los Angeles: Don Garner (342-2967). New
Mexico: Martin Goodwin (Drawer 1628,
Clovis, N.M.). New York: Rosemary
Brough (688-2656). San Francisco: Norm
Gillies (474-7310). Seattle: Stuart Turner
(MA 2-1754).
UNITED KINGDOM
England: Alice Hemming (35 Elsworthy
Rd., London NW3), Paul Dyson (c/o
Fry, Mills, Spence Securities, Wanford
Ct., Throgmorton St., London EC2).
Scotland: Jean Dagg (32 Bentfield Dr.,
Prestwick).
29 The Harry Logan scholarship is a reality. With Mrs. Logan (centre). Dr. Malcolm McGregor
(right), chairman of the scholarship committee, receives a $13,000 voucher certifying
establishment of the fund from I.C. "Scotty" Malcolm, Alumni Fund director. A $500
annual scholarship in memory of the late Prof. Logan will be awarded to a student
entering fourth year studies.
Alumni branches in Toronto and New York gathered to meet UBC Chancellor Nathan
Nemetz and alumni past president Bev Field in April. At the New York reception in the
Canadian Consulate, Chancellor Nemetz (above) chats with some of the 85 alumni in
attendance, two of whom were Marg Baber, BA'56, and an unnamed, smiling,
bearded gentleman (below).
30
'Golden Era' Rowers
To Hold Reunion
A reunion is being planned for all those involved in the "Golden Era" of UBC rowing
— the years 1954, 1955 and 1956. The reunion, tentatively planned for August 8 at
Cecil Green Park, will give rowing buffs a
chance to get together and relive the highlights of that era when UBC first emerged as
a power in world rowing.
That was the era, in case you've forgotten,
when UBC's eight-oared crew won a British
Empire Games gold medal in 1954, placed
second in the Henley Regatta in 1955 and
wop a silver medal at the 1956 Olympics,
while UBC's coxless-fours took the gold
medal in their division.
It is intended that Frank Read, coach of
what was then called UBC's "Cinderella
Crew", should be a special guest at the reunion. The reunion will also hopefully attract
back to U BC the oarsmen of that era and the
Friends of UBC and other supporters whose
fund-raising activities enabled UBC to compete on a world level. A special invitation is
being extended to B.C.'s Lieutenant Governor, Walter Owen, who served rowing well
during that period as chairman of a fund-
raising committee. Alan Roaf, present UBC
rowing coach, and coaches of crews over the
past 20 years, are also being invited.
As mentioned above, the date of the reunion is tentative at this stage. Further
details will be publicized later as the arrangements are completed. Alumni interested in
attending the reunion may contact: UBC
Alumni Association, 6251 N.W. Marine
Drive, Vancouver 8, B.C. (228-3313).
Creative Writing
Contest Established
The Chronicle has established a creative
writing competition for UBC students.
Cash prizes will be awarded to three students submitting the best pieces of writing.
Their submissions will be published in the
Chronicle. The competition, established
after the suggestion of alumni past president
Frank C. Walden, is intended to help stimulate creative writing on campus.
Students may submit any piece of creative
writing — previously unpublished — to a
maximum of 3,500 words in length. More
than one item (poetry, for example) may be
combined in a single entry providing it does
not exceed the maximum length. A committee of local writers and critics will judge the
submissions.
The cash prizes will be in the following
amounts: first, $175; second, $125; and third,
$75. The money for the prizes has been contributed by the UBC Alumni Fund.
The deadline for entries, which must be
typewritten, is January 31, 1974. The
announcement of winners is expected to take
place in March, with publication of the winning entries in subsequent Chronicles. For
further information contact: Chronicle Creative WritingCompetition, 6251 N.W. Marine
Drive, Vancouver 8, B.C. (228-3313). Alumni Welcome
Cliff Erosion
Control Plan
The UBC Alumni Association has welcomed news that the provincial government
intends to proceed with plans to check Point
Grey cliff erosion.
Resources Minister Bob Williams announced on May 28 that he had accepted
the recommendation of Dr. Robert L.
Wiegel, acting dean of the University of
California's engineering college, who had
been hired earlier this year to review the
plans for solving the cliff erosion problem.
Dr. Wiegel recommended that a built-up
protective beach of coarse sand — rather
than a mixture of sand and gravel as proposed by a Swan Wooster Engineering
Company study — be constructed to protect
the base of the cliffs from sea erosion.
"It's all very satisfactory from our standpoint," said Bob Dundas, chairman of the
alumni association's Point Grey cliff erosion committee. "After so many years of
neglect of this problem, we're delighted that
the government is now going ahead with a
solution. Under this plan the essential naturalness of the beach will be preserved and
the erosion at the base of the cliff checked.
It seems to me that this plan should satisfy
all interests."
Among several university buildings near
the cliff edge, the alumni association's headquarters in a former mansion, Cecil Green
Park, would be most seriously threatened
by continued erosion. The association had
campaigned over the past year for a solution
to the erosion problem.
In Toronto, about 100 alumni met at Hart
House, U. ofT. campus, for a reception
and dinner. The affair saw Robert Elliott,
BSc'68, (left) enjoying a pre-dinner drink
with Peter Braund, BA'67, LLB69, and
his wife Anne, BSR '69, while (above, left
to right) Eric Schwimmer, MA '65, PhD'70,
Donna Webber and Diana Filer, BA '54,
got into a deep discussion.
Unil*
A team of UBC engineers took the Wally
Wagon on a UBC alumni association-
sponsored tour of much of B.C. in May
and drew interested crowds everywhere
they stopped.. .In Terrace it was throngs
of school children, in Kamloops (lower
left) ii was Art Hooper (left) keenly interested in learning the workings of the
award-winning car from Dave Stasuk and
in Port Alberni (top left) it was a couple
of active branch members, George Plant
(left) end Stu Crawford (far right) whocame
out to see the car and talk to branches committee chairman Peter Uitdenbosch (centre
left) and engineering student Stasuk (centre
right)   .. In Nanaimo (lower right) Mayor
Frank Ney stopped by to talk to field
secretary Leona Doduk (right) and past
AMS president Doug Aldridge (left).
31 Squash Tournament
And Bunfeed
Set For Fall
The 2nd Annual Chronicle Squash Tournament and Bunfeed will be held on Saturday,
October 13, in the UBC Thunderbird Sports
Centre.
This promises to be a highlight of the fall
sporting season. Certainly the first such
tournament, held last December, was a very
grand affair, marked by elegance,
sportsman-like conduct and good fellowship.
It is being repeated due to popular demand.
The tournament, which will be played
according to international rules, will begin
at noon on October 13 and conclude about
6 p.m. During the tournament, a short clinic
on fundamentals of how the game really
should be played will be conducted by
George Morfitt, current British Columbia
and Pacific Coast squash champion. The
Chronicle tournament is being held in conjunction with the annual Reunion Days.
When tournament play ends, the participants will adjourn to tuck into a smorgasbord
and other refreshments. Following this,
prizes will be awarded: the grand winner will
receive The Squashed Cup (emblematic of
supremacy in Chronicle squash play), the
somewhat-less-grand loser will receive
something appropriate and other combatants
will also receive suitable prizes.
There will be a registration fee and the
number of participants will be limited, so
interested squash buffs should register early.
For information, phone: 228-3313.
Alumni
Money
to
the
Alumni
Fund
equals
Alumni
Power
to
help
UBC.
Help bring a glow to our (almost)
shining Knight ot Alumni Power.
Alumni Fund director Ian C. "Scotty" Malcolm (left) receives the American Alumni Council
Alumni Giving Incentive Award from AAC executive officer Hal Wilkins (right).
OTU
Ian C. Malcolm
On any given day, Ian C. "Scotty" Malcolm, director of the UBC Alumni Fund,
will use the word "cadence" at least 15
times. It's his favorite word. And it's the
rare discussion around Cecil Green Park —
particularly when it concerns the Fund —
that he doesn't work the word in somehow.
"The important thing is to maintain the cadence of the program..."
Cadence.lt's a pleasant-sounding word —
sort of has its own cadence — and it's not
without meaning in Scotty's context. "The
fact that our campaigns have a consistent
cadence to them has a lot to do with our
success," he said, using his word again. "We
make regular requests for donations and we
justify our reasons for asking. And since our
main interest is in helping students, alumni
respond very well."
UBC alumni, in fact, have one of the best
records of any group of alumni in North
America for giving to their university. Last
year, the total of alumni giving representing
regular annual support — from all sources
— was $333,593 and in 1959 it was only
$15,330. In the seven years Scotty Malcolm
has been director, alumni giving has doubled.
They say the style is the man. Judging
from the immaculate orderliness of his third-
floor office — shelves full of ring binders
containing Fund records, files and papers
arranged neatly on the desk, a few paintings
(his) on the walls — Scotty's style appears
one of super-efficiency. And it is. Many
donors are pleasantly surprised to receive
replies to letters, receipts and thank-you
cards a couple of days after mailing their
donations or letters.
It could be a trait left over from his days
in the military. Scotty was a special services
officer with the RCAF during the Second
World War. Ontario-born, he spent two and
a half years serving at a multitude of west
coast bases stretching all the way from
Dutch Harbour in the Aleutians to Tofino
on Vancouver Island.
Each spring Malcolm sits down with a
committee of alumni volunteers under an
Alumni Fund chairman (this year, Paul
Hazell, BCom'60) and maps out a systematic
32
campaign. With the help of the association's
communications staff in developing Fund
pamphlets, the association's printer in printing the pamphlets and other material, and
his two full-time staff in handling countless
details, Scotty ensures the campaign runs
on the right cadence.
It takes a lot of close supervision since
it's virtually completely a direct mail campaign. Any one of the series of mailings could
involve 40,000 pieces of mail. "We couldn't
possibly carry out this heavy mailing program without the help of the University data
processing centre for producing our gift
cards and without having our own press for
printing our material at minimal cost," he
said.
Other duties keep Scotty busy as well. He
and his staff assist faculty in special appeals
(most recently for the Harry Logan Memorial Fund and for tours by UBC rugby and
field hockey teams), he is a member of the
U niversity Resources Council and a member
of the Wills and Bequests advisory committee. He serves as executive secretary of the
Alumni Fund's allocations committee which
recommends — to the association's board
of management — allocations from the Fund
to worthy campus projects.
All of which Scotty does not only efficiently, but with a good deal of flair and success.
In recent years the Fund has won four top
awards from the American Alumni Council:
two for excellence of direct mail material
and two for sustained performance of the
Fund. It's perhaps indicative of Scotty's
background of experience: he was campaign
executive director for United Community
Services of Greater Toronto before he joined
the alumni association in November, 1966.
Scotty maintains as brisk a pace in his
leisure time as he does around the office.
An avid golfer and curler (president of the
men's section of the Point Grey Curling
Club), he still, as he says, "attempts the odd
game of squash" — last year winning an
award for sartorial elegance at the 1 st Annual
Chronicle Squash Tournament and Bunfeed.
He's a photographer, a builder of scale
model sailing ships and he's a landscape
painter. In fact, he's a very talented artist
and cartoonist and occasionally does
artwork for the Fund.
Scotty Malcolm — a man of many talents.
(This is the first in an irregular series of profiles of alumni headquarters staff.) r~J Michael Crowe
Tell Michael Crowe he's half the man
he used to be and he'll be complimented
— because that's exactly what he is, a
fat man who's made it to thin.
It was a gloomy Ottawa day, January
19, 1970, and the Bronson Ave. bus had
just reached the Rideau canal, taking
Mike home from his finance department
job when he made the momentous but
almost casual decision to lose some
weight. That day he weighed 340 pounds
and had a 56-inch waistline. "I now measure my whole existence as being either
before or after that day. Looking back
on it, I suspect that even then I intuitively
understood the significance of the decision."
For Mike, being fat was just part of
his life — he'd always been that way.
And from childhood through university
(BA'65) he had come to take a restricted
social life for granted. He says there
wasn't anyone pressuring him to diet —
"at worst my social and work situations
were static and I was reasonably contented with life." Perhaps the idea had been
brewing in the back of his mind for a
long time — maybe even for the five years
he'd been in Ottawa when most of the
hours when he wasn't working were
spent eating, reading, watching TV or
sleeping. Certainly he was aware of the
threat to his health posed by his obesity.
The first step down the road to thin
was to see a doctor, who gave Mike a
diet sheet and told him to come back if
he could stick to it for two weeks.
He did it. And the doctor, after giving
him a physical examination, put him on
a 600 calorie-a-day diet. "It became my
tyranny. My whole life centered around
that diet. Day after day, I 'd eat an orange
and an egg for breakfast, dinner was a
few beets or brussel sprouts, three
ounces of a lean meat (that's a piece
rather smaller than a cigarette package)
and maybe a few strawberries."
It was the simple things like bread that
he missed the most. Swallowing a daily
vitamin pill was a big event. Coffee was
forbidden because on an almost empty
stomach it made him jumpy.
His diminishing girth was soon noticeable — he was losing weight at about 20
pounds a month — "and people started
rooting for me. I rather enjoyed the attention." The only period of back-sliding
came during a five-week European vacation. It was "a dieting disaster — I love
Belgian waffles — but delightful if unsettling in other respects." For the first
time "I saw the world through thin eyes.
I could visit tourist attractions without
being a tourist attraction myself." For
the first time Mike "felt sort of free."
Different ways of life seemed to open
up for him — ways that hadn't seemed
possible when he was fat. Exactly a year
after he started the diet he weighed 170
pounds —one half of what he'd weighed
the year before. He gave away all his
big clothes ("I sold a $210 suit for $5").
And with his new 36 inch waistline and
a new image of himself he started life
anew — outwardly calm but inwardly
WTuayi
Michael at the historic spot where the
Bronson bus meets the canal.
exhilarated — "I was ready to beat the
world."
There was one surprise though. He
didn't feel healthier. He was often tired
and had been hospitalized for operations
on his gall bladder and stomach. Worse
yet — he still wanted to eat — desperately. Mike knows that there will always
be that fat man inside him waiting to get
out. For him it will be a lifelong fight.
"Now that I've been thin, I'll never be
a fat man again."
This new Michael Crowe took a leave
of absence from his government job and
moved to Toronto for law at Osgoode
Hall. He'll graduate next year and thinks
he might practise in the far north. For
him, one of the biggest changes has been
that now, "I don't go through life silently
apologizing for being fat. I'm more impatient, less tolerant of stupidity and silly
ideas, no longer dependent on the sufferance of others. Because I've earned the
right to speak seriously and have my
views taken on their merits. 1 don't have
to humble myself to gain respect and
attention from others." For him that's
the real victory.
Willisim Gale, BASc'22, MASc'23, was recently honored by the Southern California
branch of the American Chemical Society
for his 50 years of membership in the organization... George C. Vincent, BA'26, and his
wife, Jane, visited several cities in B.C. this
spring as part of their U.S.-Canada lecture
tour. Their topic is South America and the
material — including an extensive collection
of slides — was gathered duri ng three expeditions to the continent that the Vincents and
their two children made between 1962 and
1971.
The University of New Brunswick conferred an honorary doctorate of science on
Robert H. Wright, BA'28, MSc'30. (PhD,
McGill), at its spring Encaenia in May. Dr.
Wright, former head of the chemistry section
of the B.C. Research Council and
internationally-known for his work on insect
olfaction, (he knows why mosquitoes bite
and how to stop them), was instrumental in
helping establish the first graduate school in
chemistry at UNB... Recently named Citizen of the Year in the Creston Valley was
John Vernon Murray, BA'29, (MD,
Toronto), who has practised medicine there
since 1935. The citation mentioned his many
contributions to the valley, including the
time during the war years when he was on
call 24 hours a day, seven days a week as
the orJy doctor in the area.
Gweneth Humphreys, BA'32, (MA,
Smith), (PhD, Chicago), Larew professor
and chairman of the department of mathematics at Randolph-Macon Women's College h;»s been named one of four Dana professors at the university. The chairs were funded by the Dana Foundation and other
sources to provide recognition for outstanding scholarship and professional activities....
Thomas McKeown, BA'32, (PhD, McGill),
(PhD. Oxford), (MD, Birmingham), professor and head of the department of social
medicine at the University of Birmingham
is visiting professor at the Harvard School
of PuDlic Health... G. Neil Perry, BA'33,
(MA, MPA, PhD, Harvard), LLD'66, is
back in B.C. after three years in Ottawa,
to be director of the University of Victoria's
new school of public administration. A former dean of commerce and business administration at U BC he served as deputy minister
of education for B.C. from 1965 to 1970...
Alan Webster, BASc'33, retired last
November from the department of public
works. His 35-year career with the depart-
•33 Frank Seyer
ment was interrupted only for service in the
Second World War. He was most recently
manager of construction and engineering for
the B.C. district.
Former chief legal officer for Alcan, David
Petapiece, BA'37, is now back in B.C. and
has opened a law office in Osoyoos... Chief
meteorologist at the Vancouver weather station, Gordon Muttitt, BA'38, now has an
even bigger weather map to look after as
officer-in-charge of the Pacific Weather
Central region... Maurice Perkins, BA'39,
(MSc, Iowa), (PhD, Harvard), is director
of the new program in administration at
Brock University.... After 40 years in the
badminton game as player, coach, executive
and general enthusiast, David Waddell,
BA'39, MA'43, was named Ottawa's Sportsman of the Year at the annual sportsmen's
dinner at the Ottawa Civic Centre.
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m
Stuart Ney, BASc'40, MASc'42,
MBA '68, an exploration geologist, is executive vice-president, Quintana Minerals
Corp., with responsibility for activities in
Canada and Alaska.... Forty years of service
to education in B.C. — stretching from a
one-roomed school house in Pouce Coupe
to the executive offices of the B.C. Teacher's
Federation — will end officially when
Charles Ovans, BA'40, retires as the BCTF's
general secretary in July. Two highlights
from his career are the period spent in Geneva at the International Labour Office where
he worked on a joint ILO-UNESCO project
on the status of teachers, defining the minimum standards acceptable for an effective
teaching force and the day the BCTF presented him with the Fergusson Award, its
highest award, for his contribution to education...
Jacqueline Butters (Kloepfer) BA'42, is a
counsellor at Camosun College in Victoria...
Don Blake, BASc'43, has moved from the
Alberni Valley to MacMillan Bloedel's head
office as manager of production services...
Frank Seyer, BASc'47, has been elected
president of California Time Petroleum Inc.
For the past seven years he has been president of the Schick Safety Razor Co... July
1 marks the beginning of a five-year term
as head of biology at Queen's University
for Gerard Wyatt, BA'45, (PhD, Cambridge). He has been a faculty member at
Yale since 1954.
The world's number one Fuller Brushman
would probably be Thomas Grant, BCom'47,
the company's new president and chief
executive officer. He is also chairman of the
Canadian branch of the company... Ena G.
McLeod, (McCallum), BA'47, has said
goodbye to the school halls and taken an
early retirement from her 20-year career as
counsellorat the Alberni District Senior Sec-
onday School. She's got all kinds of plans
for her free time — volunteer work, gardening and perhaps a little writing.
One more representative of the people for
our list — this time from the United Sates.
Alan Bluechel, BA'48, BASc'48, is serving
his fourth term in the Washington State
Legislature, representing the 45th King
County district. A Republican, he is vice-
chairman of the Washington Land Planning
Commission and president of Loctwall
Corp.... George Calver, BASc'48, is chief
George Patterson
engineer of the Alberta department of agriculture engineering and home design branch,
farmstead development section.... Lt. Col.
Douglas Carter, BA'48, BSW'50, MSW'69,
is director of social development services
and senior social work consultant for the
Canadian Armed Forces... Peter Cherniav-
sky, BASc'48, has been named president and
managing director of B.C. Sugar Refinery...
A former circulation manager of Life and
McCalis, Wendell Forbes, BCom'48, is manager of the direct mail section of Y & R Enterprises, a Young & Rubicam subsidiary...Roberts. Harwood, BCom'48, BA
'50, is marketing manager for John Inglis
Co.... Two recent promotions in the Lindsay
family. Rod Lindsay, BASc'48 is now president of Seaspan International. Brother Barrie, BCom'58, a past president of the alumni
association and current board of management representative to senate, is now vice-
president of marketing with Johnston
Terminals.
James McGunigal, BA'48, is putting the
finishing touches to a new novel and doing
free-lance writing in Toronto. A former editor of the Daily Commercial News, he has
worked on several papers — the Toronto
Star, Regina Leader Post, Winnipeg Free
Press, — as reporter, feature writer and editor... James Miltimore, BSA'48, (MS, PhD,
Oregon State), now heads the Canada Agriculture research station at Agassiz... Raymond Pillman, BASc'48, president of Acres
International heads a new consortium of
Canadian engineering companies — the
Canadian International Project Managers.
The new group, which made its international
debut at the Peking trade fair, plans to go
after major international engineering contracts as a management contract team...
George R. Patterson, BASc'49, who joined
Armco Canada after graduation has been
elected president of the company.
When Peter Seaton,LLB'50 was appointed
to the bench of the B.C. Supreme Court in
1966 he was the youngest to be there since
Matthew Bigby in 1858. He/ecently moved
up a place on the bench to judge of the Appeal
Court. A special ceremony was held with
all nine Appeal Court judges in attendance
to welcome the new judge. Kenneth Meredith
BA'49, LLB'50, was appointed to the Sup-
34 Carol Anne Soong
reme Court to fill the new vacancy. Mr.
Justice Meredith made headlines last year
when he declined, with thanks, a Queen's
Counsel nomination... On the Provincial
Court scene there are four new judges: John
McCarthy, LLB'57 and Nancy Morrison,
BA'58, (LLB, Toronto), in Vancouver,
Douglas Reed, LLB'59, in South Fraser and
Patrick Dohm, BA'59, LLB'61 in Kamloops.
Grant Ainscough, BSF'51, is chief forester
of MacMillan Bloedel... Stanley Hodgson,
BASc'50, has been named senior mining engineer, research and development for Cominco...Major Blake Clarke, BASc'51, plans to
return to the West Coast in June after his
retirement from the Armed Forces... George
B. Little, LLB'51, is corporate secretary of
PanCanadian Petroleum... The energy crisis
is probably a way of life to the National
Energy Board — one of whose members is
Neil J. Stewart, LLB'51, associate vice-
chairman of the board.
George F. Dowling, BASc'52, is director
of consumer and special products packaging
for the American Can Co. of Canada...
Executive director of the St. Boniface
General Hospital, Luigi (Tony) Quaglia,
BA'52, BCom'54, has been elected president
of the Manitoba Hospital Association... Hector Lazzarotto, BASc'53, (MBA, West.Ont.)
is the president of the Bic Pen Company
in Canada... Gordon S. Patch, BA'54, joins
a growing number of UBC grads in P.E.I,
where he is pastor of First Baptist Church
in Charlottetown. He is a past president of
the B.C. Baptist convention and a representative to the board of trustrees of McMaster University.... Paul Chidwick, BA'55,
(BA, Cambridge) has moved to Windsor,
Ont. to be rector of St. Mary's church. For
the past two years he has been associated
with St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
For the second year in a row Ronald
Holmes,BASc'57, has shared the top award
presented at the National Open and Basic
Oxygen Steelmaking Conference. This is the
first time in the 56 years of the conference
that the award has been won twice by the
same person... A list of activities that runs
from U BC senator to the Status of Women
Council, to a position as regional liaison
officer for the citizenship development
branch of the secretary of state's department, all successfully combined with a busy
family life with her husband and children has
won for Carol Anne Soong (Wong), BA'57,
BSW'58, Chatelaine's homemaker of the
year award, Mrs. Chatelaine... John Fuchs,
BA'58, is principal of the new Barry Junior
Secondary School at Hope. He has taught
in the district for 20 years.
A bit of a first for the United Church in
B.C. — they've just elected the first layman
as president-designate of the B.C. conference — John Jessiman, BA'59, LLB'62...
Thomas Johnston, BASc'59, is plant project
manager of Hooker Chemical's new plant
inTaf:, La...Larry Lang, BSA'59, is with the
Alberta department of agriculture promoting
sales of Alberta products in Canada and a-
broad. ..The first superintendent of the Pacific Rim National Park, George Trachuk,
BSF'59, is now in Calgary as head of the
resource conservation section of the national
parks branch regional district.
Professor of history at Columbia University, Hollis Lynch, BA'60 (PhD, London),
has just brought out his third book, The
Urban Black Condition: A documentary history, 1866-1971 (Crowell, New York). Dr.
Lynch, director of the African Studies Institute al Columbia, has selected writings of
40 authors to illustrate the impact of urbanization on the blacks in America — 100 years
ago 9i)% were rural Southerners, today
almost half live outside the South and more
than 80% are urbanized with all the problems
of housing, education, employment, health
care and crime that go along with the increased economic, cultural and social oppor-
^^W
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THE 100% FARMER-OWNED B.C. DAIRY
Handcrafted to flawless perfection in stainless
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fade or tarnish. Illustrated 11" x 13"— $55 FOB
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residents add 5% sales 1ax. For yourself or as a gift
nothing will be more treasured and appreciated.
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Oakville
PLAQUE COMPANY
BOX 991  OAKVILLE, ONTARIO.
35 Sailing is the sport
at Strath con a
STR7ITHCON7I
LODGE SCHOOL
Residential School for Girls
Founded in 1927 on 30 acres of Vancouver Island
on beautiful Shawnigan Lake. Just 40 minutes
from Victoria. All new buildings in 1970.
Junior & Senior Grades — 6 to 12
University Entrance Programs stressed.
Applications now being received for
January and September 1973
For information & colour brochure apply:
Headmistress, Strathcona Lodge School,
Shawnigan Lake, B.C. Telephone (604) 743-5582
Rutherford
McRae
1774 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
Interested in buying or
selling real estate
in Vancouver?
For advice and assistance
without high pressure
salesmanship, call me
anytime.
Joan Bentley
224-0255 Res.
733-8181 Bus.
Hollis Lynch, and friends in Harlem
tunitiesofthecity... Shirley Myers, BHE'60,
(MSc, Iowa State), is in Calgary as a regional
home management specialist with the Alberta department of agriculture... Colin
Heuckendorff, BASc'61, is vice-president
and director of operations of that Vancouver
institution, the White Spot.
After four years as special assistant in the
prime minister's office, Thomas d'Aquino,
BA'62, LLB*63, (LLM, London), is back
in London combining work with Spencer
Stuart & Assoc, management consultants,
with academic endeavors at the London
School of Economics. Susan d'Aquino
(Patterson), BA'65, (MA, Carleton), is
working on her doctorate in philosophy and
art history at the University of London...
Dean Feltham BCom'62, LLB'65, is executive vice-president of Western Realty Shopping Centres Ltd...Rolf Viertel, BSc'62, has
left the editorial staff of the National Research Council to be news editor of Tappi
— a monthly pulp and paper industry magazine published in the States.
William T. Brown, BA'63, is a teacher with
a difference — he commutes to his classes
by plane. Based in Ahwaz, Iran, he flies to
classrooms on oil company operation sites
where he teaches English to the company's
Iranian and Arab employees... Ed Hemmes,
BASc'63, is president of Hemisphere Systems in Calgary... Barry C. McBride,
BSc'63, MSc'65, (PhD, Illinois), assistant
professor of oral biology and microbiology
at UBC has been appointed a member of
the Medical Research Council of Canada...
There is every reason to believe the Dr. Bun-
dolo does not have any sort of degree from
any recognized institution — except the
CBC perhaps, where he has his own program, The Pandemonium Medicine Show,
heard regularly on national radio. Members
of the good doctor's entourage include Jeff
Groberman, BSc'68, as writer, Dan McAffee,
BA'63, announcer, and Don Clarke,
BMus'69, music maker.
Mark Holtby, BSc'64, PhD'70, is off to
Victoria as administrative assistant to the
NDP caucus. He is a former director of the
Company of Young Canadians in Prince
George... Bruce Fraser, BSc'65, PhD'70,
has been named principal of Selkirk College.
A plant ecologist, he joined the college faculty in 1968... It's back to Canada year for
Rod Logan, BA'65, MA'67, (PhD, McMaster). This summer he will be visiting professor of geography at UBC and in the fall goes
to McGill as visiting professor and as resident director of the State University of New
York's Canadian Studies Program in Montreal. He is currently assistant professor of
geography and coordinator of geography at
SUNY/Platsburg.
Michael Cheng, BLS'66, is medical librarian at the University of Singapore... Beverly
Wong (Eng), BSc'62, is acting supervisor of
special education for the Yukon. Husband,
Randall Buddy, BCom'65, LLB'66, is with
the federal department of justice in Whitehorse... A developer who likes old buildings
is something quite unheard of in some cities
— but not Victoria where alderman Sam
Bawlf, BA'67, is recycling old buildings in
the downtown core. Hisgroup, Fort Victoria
Enterprises has rejuvenated several large
buildings — one near Bastion Square is filled
with boutiques, studios and an art gallery,
while others are office buildings... The recent expansion of Kelowna's city limits
means a new look at planning for the district.
Jane Fleming, BA'67, (MA, West. Ont.),
assistant director of planning for the Central
Okanagan Regional District is a technical
advisor to the local committee exploring
these new possibilities... Steven Henrickson,
BMus'67, is continuing his opera studies in
Munich where he is under contract to the
Bavarian State Opera.
If you live in the East and shop at Loblaws
you'll make David Nichol, LLB'68 very
happy. He is the new director of corporate
development for the food store chain...
Bruce Page, BA'68, is attending the American University in Washington on a Massey
Fellowship as well as finding time to be
sound man for CTV's Washington news
bureau... Grant Spitz, BCom'68, MBA'70,
is director of personnel and labour relations
at the Toronto General Hospital... Eugene
Lee, MA'69, is regional planner for the East
Kootenay district... B.C.'s new director of
human rights is Kathleen Ruff, (BE, Southampton), (BEd, New Brunswick), MA'69.
The founding president of the Status of
Women action group in Victoria, and an unsuccessful NDP candidate in the past provincial election, she hopes to expand the
scope of her office, perhaps setting up branch
offices throughout the province, and to bring
about revisions to the existing legislation on
human rights... Vernon J. Storey, BEd'69,
is the principal of the new Anne Stevenson
Junior Secondary School in Williams Lake.
The school which is expected to open next
fall is named for Anne Stevenson, BA'27...
Dwight Whitson, LLB'69, has moved from
Cranbrook to join the staff of the Vancouver
Children's Aid Society as its solicitor.
36 rr
Kathleen Ruff
TO
If you happen to have a spare $90,000 and
a hankering for a place of your own in the
sun a project in Bermuda might interest you.
John Frith, BArch'70, with the assistance
of   Stephane   Goiran   and   Blair   Dallin,
Sam Bawlf
BArch'70, is prime mover behind a Habitat
- influenced condominium development in
Warwick, Bermuda. It's called Mizzentop
and the site — a hilltop — has been in the
Frith family for 300 years... Brenda Hooper
(Harrison), BRE'70, in Montreal with her
husband, a McGill medical student, is programme director of the Fifty Plus Club, a
community recreation group for senior citizens... Any questions about Notre Dame
University in Nelson? Just ask Mike Jessen,
BA'70, the university's new public relations
officer... A member of Stage Campus 70,
Maurc«n McRae, BA'70, has had parts in
several productions since her arrival in
Toronto last year. A recent role in "White
Nights" at the Colonnade Theatre was pre-
ceeded by CBC television work in the
"Wonder Of It All," "Purple Playhouse"
and "lalna."... Edward and Barbara Stipp,
both BSP'70 are co-managers of the new
Isaacs Pharmacy in Smithers.
A LIP grant is going to mean the start
of an Elizabeth Fry Society in Kamloops
thanks to the work of Janet Gray, BA'71.
Since the end of January she has made a
survey of the need for the society in that
area, has the beginnings of a board of directors and started recruiting volunteers... The
blue bird on the side of the van is a welcome
sign of assistance and encouragement to
people disabled by arthritis in the outlying
areas of B.C. Linda Martin, BSR'71, an
occupational therapist with the Vancouver
Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatisim Society, was with the van on its travels up the
Sunshine Coast, helping patients find ways
to cope with the disease and remain independent and self reliant... A CUSO veteran Jack
Nazaroff, BSN'71, is lecturing in the nursing
program at Selkirk College.
Marian Grimwood  (Chapman),  BSc'72,
A Postie's Lot
IS Not    Specially, when he brings the
a   Uannv        Alumni Records Department
M nappy       bggs Qf Akjmni -unknowns'..
OJriG ... So if you're planning to
change your name, address or
life style ... let us know — and bring a little
lightness to a postie's walk, (enclosure of your
Chronicle mailing label is helpful)
Alumni Records
Cecil Green Park, UBC
Vancouver 8, BC
Name   	
(Maiden Name)
(Married women please note your husband's full
name and indicate title i.e. Mrs., Ms., Miss, Dr.)
Address
Class Year
37 WEMU
Marian Grimwood
couldn't find a job using her microbiology
degree so she's now driving a truck — a
large semi-trailer hauling cement beams —
for the family construction firm. To get her
Class 1 licence (she's one of two women
in the Lower Mainland holding this type of
licence) she had to get lots of practise on
the big rigs, take a special air brake course
and a special driving examination. She's just
waiting for her membership in the Teamsters' before she starts getting paid at the
rate of $1,000 per month. But she would still
like a lab job... Katft&ipp, BHE'72, is home
economist for . the *■•*:£* Egg Marketing
Board... Goodson Sak~a(Qao,BSF'72, is
assistant conservator of foresrs?fJjiithe staff
of the forestry and game departmenTi^yjib-
S^ 1^
Mr. and Mrs. Ken Dercole, BCom'67, a
daughter, Fiona Christine, December 24,
1972 in Vancouver.... Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Gilmour, BEd'68, (Cathy Francis, BEd'68),
a daughter, Tanya Lynn, April 5, 1973 in
Santiago, Dominican Republic... Mr. and
Mrs. Frank Gregory, BSF'69. (Jane Hyslop,
BHE'65), a son, Christopher Michael, February 20, 1973 in Prince George.... Mr. and
Mrs. Hugh Hamilton, BASc'63 (Barbara J.
McLean BEd'63), a daughter, Rhea Joan,
October 31, 1972 in Trail.... Mr. and Mrs.
David Holte, BCom'68, a daughter, Merydth
Rachael, January 29,1973 in Toronto.... Mr.
and Mrs. D. Alan Jamison, BA'70, (Ruth
Campbell, BEd'71), a daughter. Brooke
Marie, July 10, 1972 in Vanderhoof....Dr.
and Mrs. Danny K. Otchere, MA'68, (Freda
Eldrige, BA'69), a son, Kwabena, March 20,
1973 in Montreal.... Mr. and Mrs. George
Teather, MASc'68, (Vicky Palsson, BA'68),
a son, Adam Jonathan, February 3, 1973 in
Ottawa.
DM
Allen-North: Dr. Roger Allen to Mary D.
North, BA'65, February 1973 in Philadelphia, PA.... Torrison-Creasy: David A.
Torrison, BA'71, to Patricia Ruth Creasy,
BA'72 October 1972 in Burnaby... Squire-
Miles-Pickup. Gordon B. Squire, BSF'61,
(MSF, Yale), PHD'68 to Daphane Miles-
Pickup, BA'65, May 1973 in Vancouver.
Bernard Caner, MSc'64, PhD'69, February
1972 in Victoria. Survived by his wife and
two sons.
Thomas E.H. Ellis, BA'23, February 1973
in Vancouver. A past president of both the
alumni association and the B.C. Law Society, he was made Queen's Counsel in 1957
and served many years as a Bencher of the
Law Society. Survived by his wife, two children, sister, and three brothers (Robert,
BCom'42).
Arthur T. Fell, BASc'29, October 1972 in
Montreal. He retired in 1972 after many
years service with DuPont of Canada. He
was appointed head of employee relations
in 1964 and before his retirement was manager of general services. Survived by his wife
and two children.
Fraser G. Wallace, BCom'58, (MBA, PhD,
California), April 1973 in California. He was
executive vice-president of Transamerica
Computer Co. A memorial scholarship fund
has been established in his name at both
UBC and UCLA to benefit graduate students in commerce and business administration. Survived by his wife, two children
and parents.
Odin Sostad, BA'28, September 1972 in Vancouver. For many years he taught in
Vancouver schools and was twice appointed
by the federal government to teaching posts
in Africa and Scotland. Survived by two
brothers, fj Will the oceans of the world dry up? It's not likely!
The oceans of the world total 1391A million square
miles of water, so don't worry, they'll be wet for some
time to come.
Questions such as this and many other interesting,
factual and dramatic programmes about the sea and
all things marine are presented every Thursday night
at seven on your channel — CABLE 10, with Len
McCann and Joe Barrett. Pull up a chair with us and
dry up for awhile.
SCUTTLEBUT
Thursday night at seven
A wholly- owned subsidiary of Premier Cablevision Limited. Peter and Paul
and Bloody Mary.
As far as the Russians are concerned, tomato juice is for
breakfast, not for vodka. Vodka, they told us, was meant to
be taken straight. Sometimes with a plate of tangerines, or
some hot tea as a chaser. But nyet with tomato juice.
That was before we took Alberta Vodka to Leningrad and
poured a few Bloody Marys. Then our Russian friends had
to admit we were onto a great idea. Da!
They tried it a number of ways. Mixed and straight. And
Alberta Vodka met with smiles of approval in a country
famous for its own.
Canadians approve of Alberta Vodka's quality, too. That's
why it's now Canada's best-seller at the popular price.
Alberta
It takes more than a Russian sounding name
to make a great Vodka.