@prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:isReferencedBy "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2432419"@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "University Publications"@en ; dcterms:issued "2015-07-16"@en, "[1972-03]"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/alumchron/items/1.0224351/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ ^^| UBC ALUMNI ■ ■ Chronicle ^-V >v Expose! The Inside Story of the Great British Columbia Doctor Snatch VAIKiTU is for families! 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Vancouver City Savings Credit Union Five Offices in Vancouver and West Vancouver "Owned by the people it serves" Assets: $58 million CANADA'S LARGEST VAriCiTU 24,000 members ^^1 UBC ALUMNI ■ ■ Chronicle VOLUME 26, NO. 1, SPRING 1972 4 TEA-TIME IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE Viveca Ohm 9 THE GREAT BRITISH COLUMBIA DOCTOR SNATCH Keith Bradbury 15 NOTES FOR A NEW SONG ENTITLED 'GRAVEYARD ROCK' David Brock 19 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF MANAGEMENT, 1972-73 President's Message Frank Walden 24 BOOKS 26 ALUMNI FUND '71 30 ALUMNI NEWS 33 LETTERS Comments and Rebuttals 35 SPOTLIGHT EDITOR Clive Cocking, BA'62 EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Susan Jamieson, BA'65 COVER Roy Peterson ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Alumni Media Ltd. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mrs. R. W. Wellwood, BA'51, chairman, Frank C. Walden, BA'49, past chairman, Mrs. Frederick Field, BA'42, Dr. Joseph Katz, (BA, MEd Man),(PhDChicago), Philip Keatley, BA'51, Trevor Lautens, (BA McMaster), Jack K. Stathers, BA'55, MA'58, Dr. Ross Stewart, BA'46, MA'48, (PhD Washington) 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. Ireland's Tragic Dilemma Is There A Way Out? Lord Terence O'Neill Former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland presents a personal view at the UBC Alumni Association Annual Dinner Thursday, May 18 Hotel Vancouver 6 pm Early reservations are advised Please send me tickets at $6.50 each Enclosed is a cheque for $ (payable to the UBC Alumni Assoc.) Name Address Phone number Mail to: Alumni Association, 6251 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver 8, B.C. (228-3313) Tea-Time In The Eye a The Hurricane Vlveca Ohm looks at the life and art of Joe Plaskett This is not a portrait of Joe Plaskett. Oh no, he's much too elusive for that. The notebooks and questions only drive him further into the quiet room behind the courteous answers. Just when you think you've caught him, he'll slip out of the frame and leave you holding facts. Joe Plaskett. UBC graduate 1939. Canadian painter "in the Beaux Arts tradition." Living in Paris for the past 20 years. Plaskett talks slowly. His whole manner is so low-key as to be disconcerting at first. But sooner or later his effect on people is calming. He is a gentle man. Wisps of thin grey hair touch his shoulders. His face suggests a sad and enigmatic bird. It has also been said (by a close friend) to resemble "the last known portrait of the Marquis de Sade at Charenton." The association is misleading in the extreme, for nothing about Plaskett hints of torment Or violence. At 52, he is an artist who no longer strives to be revolutionary. If he ever did. On the contrary, regression seems to be the keynote. An unabashed escape into a pre-war, pre- abstract, pre-Pop Art environment where time has been turned off. Women look like women and pianos look like pianos. But both seem to float in a pastel mist. Plaskett reflects his small world through very rose-tinted mirrors. He is an anachronism. His Paris studio is a salon where artists, models, writers drop in at any hour. Bright, beautiful people; women who argue with verbal razors. On Joe's canvas they all have fragile faces. After they have gone home, he paints the wine glasses. But his nostalgia is not for the 30s. It is for the early 19th century, the 18th, and long before. It is for Proust and Wordsworth and Vivaldi, for the Baroque in style and all that is Romantic in outlook. An unlikely painter for 1971. But Joe has never felt compelled to keep up with racing trends; he is not a mainstream painter. Whether he is even a Canadian painter is debatable. Being born in New Westminster, attending UBC and the Vancouver School of Art does not necessarily make a Canadian artist, or does it? Whatever Joe's art is, his following is mainly Canadian. In 1949 he moved to Paris, but his exhibitions have been in Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and it is here he has an established audience. Who is this audience? Fine Arts Gallery director Alvin Balkind describes them as "tending to be people who don't like present life. They prefer to dwell on the past; they've stopped at a certain point in history. That doesn't mean they're old. Many are—but many are young. They're people who would like to go back to what they think is a golden age." Plaskett's quest is the same. "I am searching for a lost paradise. . . am obsessed by a dream of a Golden (or at least a Silver) Age." His art and his way of life are one—"a cry of love for what is about to be destroyed." ("If I were the suicidal type, that's what I would commit suicide for, the pulling down of old buildings, old things.") To that end he has retreated to his 15th century house on the Right Bank (between the Bastille and the doomed Les Halles) and has filled it with tassels and chandeliers, with curlicued mirrors and ivory statuettes. The photographs show rooms so cluttered with relics it is difficult to see how he is able to move, much less paint. It was this whole environment Alvin Balkind wanted to show when he brought "Joe Plaskett & His Paris: In Search of Time Past" to the UBC gallery last November. He insists that it was not a one-man show, but an exhibition of a life-style. Opening night: the usual speeches, welcomes, hyperboles by dignitaries. The people who glide from painting to painting seem to be carrying invisible glasses (although there is only tea on the long table). Later, Balkind says of the audience that it "represented the power structure, the Establishment figures. Quite different from the student/ artist audience we have here on opening nights when we have something far out, avant-garde. Then these people stay away. . .they have fled from the world of art in the past 10 years, and the world of art moves on with the speed of sound or light. Zoom, zoom, the movements go by. These people simply haven't the capacity or the interest to keep up with it. . ." What do they experience in an exhibition of Joe Plaskett's life-style? Great multi-panel views of sun- streamed rooms (which in the accompanying photo-blowups look decidedly gloomier). Portraits of friends lounging in chairs. The same soft faces recurring, surrounded by plants and mirrors. On massive placards, lists of names intrude. The heading is "Cast of Characters in the Plaskett Human Comedy". The audience squints, tries to memorize the descriptions of the Canadian writer, Japanese artist, Romanian "beauty", Russian poet. There is as much print as paint in the show. A profusion of quotes from old masters vie with profundities by the aforesaid friends on What Joe Plaskett Is Really Like. Examples: "Joe is discreet and physically pleasant to be with. . . a rock in the ocean surrounded by screeching gulls ... an ascetic who has had a glimpse of Nirvana. . . Joe either knows life is hell and people are awful and so consciously tries to make them more attractive than they really are —or he doesn't know." Maps of Paris zero in on Plaskett's house; Plaskett pastels view it from snow-covered streets. Music from Plaskett's favorite composers floats through the room; a flute concerto by Vivaldi, strains of Chopin, Scar- 6 latti. As one critic put it, "only a whiff of decayed Camembert is lacking..." Reaction? It's two-fold. Either one is magnetized, all defenses down, by the sheer romanticism of it all, or one is repelled by the precious intimacy in which one has no part. But the amount of love (and even sentimentality is love) exuded by the brushstrokes is sometimes enough to win over the most cynical. Even so, the comment sheet swings wide: "such humility. . . semi-real. . . moved by the human spirit. . . without the trimmings and Paris, the paintings are nothing. . . finally a return to real art ("real art" meaning presumably, recognizable objects) . . . anaemic horseshit. . . " "How can people put down such mean things?" wonders one lady. Balkind assures her that Joe doesn't mind the critics, is in fact rather amused by the whole thing. The comments were much stronger in a 1964 Plaskett show when one outraged spectator declared "the artist in question should be castrated and hung." It's hard to imagine a more unlikely instigator of such fury than Plaskett or any of his dreamy canvasses. Take those Bonnard-like still- lifes of tables. Remnants of dinner for six, carved-out melons, empty wine-glasses, tea-cups, chairs pulled out. Titles like "After Dinner— Green Tablecloth". "After Dinner— Pink Tablecloth". "After Dinner- Yellow Tablecloth". After a while one becomes very familiar with Joe's chinaware. It's part of the "comedy". "Consuming a meal" means people consuming "each other in their conversation" for Joe. He chases away anyone who offers to help clear the dishes, and then "the table may be left for days, even weeks, while I paint the remains of the meal, accenting the confusion of glasses and fruits. . . the visual spectacle. . . ghosts of people and echoes of conversations." Chairs "replace the figures, and take on the form of the sitter." Rococo chairs, naturally. He preserves a shell, this man. Doesn't let go. Or is it just today? Because he is tired, made uncomfortable by the royal fuss and fanfare that exhibitions bring? Balkind peeks around the corner to ask when Joe could see a photographer. Joe sighs, maybe he'll take a rest tomorrow. The New Westminster he was born into in 1918 was one of Victorian mansions and cows grazing on fields that sloped down to the Fraser. His father was an Anglican clergyman; Joe grew up in a setting whose morality was as gentle as the countryside. When he was 14 his only brother, who was a year older, died. That was one of the losses in his life; there must be others, but he doesn't talk about them. As a UBC student he studied history and graduated with first-class honours in 1939. But he had always painted; after this academic detour, he studied at the Vancouver School of Art under people like Shadbolt, Ustinov, Binning. Later he studied in Banff, California, New York, and learned from A. Y. Jackson and Hans Hofmann. By the end of the 40s he had had several exhibits in Vancouver, which led to friendships with Lawren Harris and Jock McDonald. He had been for two years principal at the Winnipeg School of Art, when he first went to Paris in 1949. He didn't consciously go looking for a dream; the dream materialized the moment he arrived. Paris overwhelmed him, its architecture, smells, atmosphere, its more-than- hoped for reality. He found it "like some world created by a super- Disney or a Cecil B. deMille". Plaskett's representational/romantic style of painting hasn't changed much in the 20 years since his coming to live in Paris. He is still protecting and nurturing the world he found. Alvin Balkind, who is a long-time friend of Plaskett's, recently visited him in Paris. From Balkind's lyrical Don't you see anything beautiful or exciting that moves you in this century? Yes ... but no, my real love and what moves me most is the past. I think that's my personal idiosyncrasy. Have you always felt like that? Yes... well, there was a time when I was studying art and doing abstracts... for a while I tended to think the new art would replace the old. I don't know that I ever did think that. No. I have lost faith in modern art. And you never feel you have to "say" something in the socio-political sense ... I'm not a political animal. When I was younger I may have wanted to be a reformer... but now I have become more cynical about "progress" ... I cultivate my garden ... weLcome AkiyAMA ! ANclsupmb (,UfST ARTJSTS V1HUDI MfcNUUIN (MIL GILILS 7 ARA NEISOVA CARRICK OHLSSON STEVEN STARYK PINCHAS ZUKERMAN ALFRED BRENDEL ELYAKIM TAUSSIG lAlA^ a qlomous season oF Music wrrh The Vancouver syiviphoNy orchestra kAzuyoshi AkiyAMA ancI silVION STREATfEild CONduCTJNq tIie worIcI's qREATEST rviusic taIents subscribe NOW ,^?™:F^ ANd ENJOy 4 concerts Free ! :zu:,::':: ■"":xi»:r"" when you subwribo NOW VOU SAVE $2.75 $33 $22 $11 $3.50 $42 $28 $14 $4.50 $54 $36 $18 $5.50 $66 $44 $22 $6.50 $78 $52 $26 Subscription prices will increase after May 31 you ENJoyl2 qloRious concerts pAy FoRONly 8! TO qET ThE |)EST SEATS qET yOUR SEASON TicliETS NOW AT tUe VANCOUVER TicliET CENTRE, 670 IfAIVtitrON ST. or caLL 687*7299 to chARqE to youR eaton account. recollections (which formed the introduction to the exhibit), Joe's days take on a clearer form. He wakes early in a massive four- poster bed, whose spiral columns support a tasseled canopy. Very Baroque. Descending a medieval staircase, he reaches the much- celebrated, much-painted studio which is also his living and dining room. After breakfast there are quick letters to people, some in response to the inquiries that are starting to swamp him. The telephone rings frequently; it will be one of the friends-cum-cast with an invitation or a piece of news or a personal crisis. Joe is a great soother. The same friend may drop by in the afternoon to watch Joe paint. The Spanish gypsy who sings at the bistro below will bring up some new waif of an acquaintance. Later, perhaps all of them will go down to Le Petit Gavroche (The Little Street Urchin) to talk and drink away most of the night. The clashes of personality that take place over the table will feed Joe's brush. Balkind: "So many people don't realize that Joe too is an ironist, Joe too has a sense of the ridiculous. Joe too has said, in talking about the 'human comedy' that he loves having a gladiatorial contest. It is a world in which no banality is allowed to die a slow death. There are some very sharp minds in this world, they'll slash and cut away. Joe watches all this; he rarely participates. . . He is a gentle man, almost saint-like. But I'd like to qualify that and say there's a certain kind of saint (the kind I'd be more inclined to admire) who is also a devil. Who watches the wickedness of the world and enjoys it to some extent, but is yet removed from it." It is an utterly vulnerable world, this haven of Plaskett's. For all its wit and ritual, it is an unreal world, defying time with "comedy". That is why Balkind calls it "tea-time in the eye of the hurricane, or a Fellini barge in a shark-filled sea. The hurricane moves on, the sharks may engulf you, and the whole thing could be shattered in an instant." □ Viveca Ohm, BA'69, is a Vancouver freelance writer who writes regularly for the Vancouver Sun. The Great British Columbia Doctor Snatch Or, why pay to train doctors when you can get them for nothing? 1UMPK5TANP YOU HEBt> MM DOCTORS IH &.C. Keith Bradbury Reveals The Scandalous Story Of How Wealthy British Columbia Would Rather Steal Doctors From Poorer Areas Than Train Its Own TN 1950, WHEN THE UBC MEDICAL -*- school enrolled its first class, there was room for exactly 60 first year students. Last September, when the latest class was enrolled, there were still exactly 60 first year places. The intervening two decades had seen the population of British Columbia nearly double and the number of university students increase by nearly 400 per cent but there had not been even a one seat increase in the intake of the medical school. UBC in the early 1970s is still turning out the same number of doctors it was turning out in the early 1950s. This is, in plain language, the worst record of any province in Canada. The impoverished Atlantic provinces, with a combined popula- 9 tion equivalent to that of British Columbia, have twice as many places for students wanting to enter medical school. That favorite British Columbia target, Quebec, has more than 10 times as many places, 629 in the fall of 1970. The Canadian average is one first year seat in a medical school for every 14,000 of population, but the B.C. ratio is one place for every 35,000 of population, a ratio that is twice as bad as that of the next worst province, Saskatchewan. In most places, it would be impossible to go on indefinitely turning out only about a quarter or a fifth of the new physicians needed each year. In the end, it would catch up with those responsible, either in the form of a scandal or a disaster. Doctors would soon be swamped, the standard of care would deteriorate and an alarmed public would demand that the public officials involved provide the places needed. But this is British Columbia, a place that in so many ways seems immune to the forces that ordinarily guide the affairs of men. British Columbia has a high standard of living, pleasant scenery and a moderate climate, three of a number of factors that make it an ideal place for doctors to locate. The result is a steady inflow of doctors trained elsewhere. In the year ending September, 1970, 289 new doctors were registered in British Columbia, but UBC graduated only 55; in 1971, 299 new doctors were registered while UBC was graduating 61. This meant that despite its abysmal failure to do its fair share of medical education, British Columbia could still claim more doctors per unit of population than any other part of the country. In 1969, B.C. had one doctor for every 689 people, compared to one for for every 825 in the country as a whole. The inflow of doctors also meant that the steady, year by year deterioration of B.C.'s provision of medical graduates could continue to go unnoticed by the public at large. Those who wanted a doctor in B.C. were usually able to get one—and as a result there was no public outcry. Yet, does this make the B.C. policy any less cynical, any less parasitic, any less of a public scandal than it would otherwise be? Not really. The provincial government would presumably argue that it is only good business to pick up doctors trained elsewhere. Why train them here when 10 somebody else will pay to train them? But the answer begs the issue, for what is involved here is not just a question of economics or budget balancing. What is involved, quite simply, is a moral issue. On the one hand, British Columbia, one of the wealthiest provinces in a wealthy land, is drawing off doctors from not only its poorer sister provinces but from poorer countries as well. Directly or indirectly, it is needy nations like India and Pakistan that are making up for British Columbia's failure to do its duty. On the other hand, literally hundreds of young British Columbians who want to follow medicine as a career are being denied the opportunity—because of the lack of space at UBC. The draw on less-developed countries is "morally indefensible" in the view of Dr. John F. McCreary, who recently stepped down as UBC dean of medicine to serve full-time as coordinator of health sciences, a post which he had also handled earlier on an interim basis. As he points out, not only do we take doctors that these countries need, but because of our high standards we take their best doctors. "We are robbing doctors from other countries when we should be sending doctors to them," adds Dr. Patrick McGeer, a member of the medical faculty and the provincial Liberal leader. In the year ending September, 1971, B.C.'s imported doctors came from the following areas: about 100 from other parts of Canada, 66 from the United Kingdom, 9 from the United States, 5 from South Africa, 8 from Australia and New Zealand and 50 from other countries, many of them poorer countries that could ill afford to lose doctors. But even these figures, of themselves, do not give a full picture of the extent to which the B.C. policy works a hardship on the underdeveloped nations; they do not show the indirect draw we make on the medical manpower of poorer countries. For example, one may see nothing wrong with taking 66 doctors from the United Kingdom since the U.K. is, in world, terms, relatively affluent. But how are those 66 replaced in the U.K.? The answer is by the U.K. drawing on less developed countries. "The National Health Service in England would have fallen on its face by now if it were not for the doctors they get from India and Pakistan," says one member of the UBC faculty. The British Columbia policy (and indeed the Canadian policy of training only about half the doctors the country needs) starts a chain reaction that may stop only when it reaches the underdeveloped countries. Only slightly less reprehensible than taking doctors from countries which need them is the growing practice of rejecting young British Columbians who want a medical education. Last fall, the medical school received 707 applications for its 60 first year places, of which 215 came from British Columbians. As long ago as 1969, the UBC medical faculty was forced to institute a "British Columbians only" policy (with one or two exceptions) because of its limited entering class size. But even with that policy, only slightly more than a quarter of those young British Columbians wanting to practice medicine can now be accommodated. Statistics from a year earlier are even more startling because they give an indication of the kind of highly qualified and highly motivated students now being turned away by the medical school. That year, there were 536 applications for the 60 first year spots. Among the more than 450 stu- dents rejected were 30 with pre- medical averages of over 80 per cent and another 69 with averages of over 75 per cent. A study of the situation by the medical faculty's admissions committee concluded: "There are now sufficient qualified B.C. candidates to fill at least twice as many positions as the number presently available in the entering class." The study added: "Even if the intake of medical students at UBC were doubled immediately, the B.C. ratios of medical school entering class places to provincial population and to provincial undergraduate enrolment would still be less than those for the country as a whole and for the majority of other provinces." What happens to those young people who after three years of pre-medical studies— and perhaps several years spent in anticipation of a medical career— find there is no room at the school? The admissions committee said its evidence indicates "the large majority of them do not gain admission to any medical school and are presumably, therefore, lost to the profession." One other aspect of the situation that may be of legitimate concern is whether British Columbians are getting as a high a standard of health care from the large numbers of foreign-trained physicians as they would from doctors trained in B.C. At least two faculty members with whom I spoke contended that care would be better with home-trained doctors. One reason, they argued, is that medicine even today remains as much an art as a science. "There's still a lot of magic in it, a lot of mysticism," explained one of these doctors, "and as a result, the doctor's sociological and cultural background, his personality and his past experiences have a lot to do with how good a doctor he will be. Some doctors, from places like Eastern Europe and Asia take an approach that is too' scientific and which does not take account of the whole human being." However, Dr. W. G. McClure, the registrar of the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, has responded to past criticism of foreign-trained doctors by pointing out that the imported doctors must pass the same examinations as doctors graduated here. Well, then, who's to blame for the present situation? Much of the blame no doubt falls on that familiar villain, the provincial government. It has not exactly over-endowed the medical faculty with either capital or operating grants and, to members of the UBC faculty as well as doctors off campus, it has conveyed the impression that it would just as soon continue to get doctors from elsewhere without having to pay to educate them. (Health Minister Ralph Loff- mark turned down a request for an interview on the subject, saying that he was, at the time, too busy preparing his budget estimates for the legislature). The matter does not end there, 11 The Grim Reality Ratio of medical school entering class places to provincial population: 1950-51 British Columbia 1 Alberta 1 Saskatchewan 1 Manitoba 1 Ontario 1 Quebec 1 Atlantic Provinces 1 1970-71 British Columbia 1 Alberta 1 Saskatchewan 1 Manitoba 1 Ontario 1 Quebec 1 Atlantic Provinces 1 18,950 18,260 26,031 10,667 12,848 9,428 27,534 35,467 11,146 18,860 13,080 16,580 9,547 16,783 12 however, Dr. McCreary says governments—federal and provincial— "have not taken their fair share of responsibility for the education of doctors. Whether they've done this deliberately or have just slipped into it, I don't know." Others suggest that the UBC medical faculty itself can take part of the blame, since a proposal to increase the size of the first year class to 80 for the 1971-72 session was opposed by two basic science departments within the faculty. These departments wanted a commitment that their facilities and staff would be enlarged before they would agree to expanding the size of the class. While we're at it, some blame can go to the medical profession as well, which has been somewhat less than vociferous in pointing out to the public the growing problems in medical education. Perhaps more than anything, however, the present situation at UBC is just another tribute to our traditional approach to planning for health care in this country. As a nation, we don't seem to have had a very clear sense of purpose in the health care area. Expensive acute care beds have been overemphasized at the expense of cheaper beds for other forms of care; incentives have been built into the health delivery system that encourage over-servicing by doctors and high costs—instead of cheap, but efficient, care. The examples are legion. It would be inconsistent, in the circumstances, to expect that the output of doctors would have been, in some way, related to the needs of the country. In fact, it has been left largely to chance. There has been no single body charged with the responsibility of determining in advance the medical services the country needs and then planning and coordinating programs to get the necessary manpower. Indeed, in the medical specialties, the most expensive area of medical training, it has all been left to the desires of medical faculty department heads. Any similarity between the number of specialists turned out and the number needed was largely coincidental as witnessed by the fact that in British Columbia at the moment highly-trained general surgeons spend roughly 30 to 35 per cent of their time doing general practice. Dr. McCreary advocates both short and long term solutions for the present situation. In the short term: immediate expansion of the first year class in the medical faculty to 80 students with a further increase to 100 students in, perhaps, two years; and operation of the medical school on a year-round basis in order to reduce by a year the time it takes (now four years) to turn out a doctor. For the longer term, the cornerstone of his program is the creation of a National Health Council, the health equivalent of the Economic Council of Canada, which would decide upon an acceptable national standard of health to be made available to all Canadians and the kind and amount of medical manpower required to reach this national standard of care. (The federal government announced last fall that it would establish such a council.) To make it easier for young people wanting a medical education to get through medical school, Dr. McCreary would completely subsidize medical education and pay medical students living allowances. This kind of assistance, however, would have its price for the student: he would be required after graduation to spend at least three years practising in an area in which doctors were needed. This, then, would help to eliminate another familiar health delivery problem, the imbalance in distribution of medical personnel between rural and urban areas. The money? It would come from the federal government, since it is Dr. McCreary's contention that professional school graduates are a national, and not just a provincial asset. To enable them to operate effectively on a national basis, he would remove the barriers such as different licensing regulations which now prevent the free flow of medical personnel across provincial boundaries. However, none of this should be undertaken without prior or simultaneous study of new methods of delivery of health care. The reason is that new methods will likely affect not only the numbers of health professionals needed, but the kinds as well. So-called paramedical personnel may take over some of the routine work of doctors. Community health centres featuring doctors on salaries may put more stress on preventive medicine, reduce the over- servicing (unnecessary operations and the like) that is occasioned by the fee-for-service system, and reduce the number of doctors needed. (Royal Columbian Hospital admin- istrator Dr. R. G. Foulkes, who has made an intensive study of community health centres, says they could mean that we would need only 60 per cent of the doctors that we would need with the fee-for-service system). The greater emphasis on ambulatory care in hospitals would require the training of new kinds of health professionals as well as the development of new relationships between the professionals themselves. (The UBC Health Sciences Centre now being built around a planned $60 million teaching hospital, is to train professionals in these new approaches). Other doctors, with whom I spoke, seemed to be in general agreement with Dr. McCreary, although there was some difference as to details. There was unanimous agreement about the urgency of the present situation and the desirability of doing something about it quickly. In each case, there was also recognition of the need for creation of a body to determine medical manpower needs and then for governments, the university and the profession to get together and ensure that the required personnel are provided. Dr. McGeer would establish a second medical school in the province. Another member of the faculty suggested that the school and the provincial licensing body take on the function of deciding the number of GPs required. But these are details; the aims are the same. Yet, if one may be permitted to express a personal opinion, I can't help but think that in all this one thing has been overlooked—that the solution requires at least one more element. It is quite simply, a commitment to let the general public in immediately on what is happening, something the medical profession so often has been loathe to do. If, as the central figures seem to feel, most of the problems arise from the attitude of the provincial government, an informed and even alarmed public could be a most helpful ally in changing the government's mind—especially in what appears to be an election year. □ A former Vancouver Sun reporter and freelance writer/broadcaster, Keith Bradbury, BA'66, LLB'69, recently joined the CHAN-TV News- hour as a features reporter and interviewer. A resort to match a matchless setting The Harrison in British Columbia British Columbia created the setting. The Harrison added a full range of facilities for relaxing fun. The result is a resort of uncommon charm. Here, in the midst of natural beauty, you can enjoy swimming in heated pools, golf, riding, boating, water-skiing. Plus the delight of nightly dancing and entertainment. Superb international cuisine. And a choice of 285 distinctively-styled rooms. British Columbia and The Harrison have been good for each other. They can be simply great for you. For our color brochure, write: Max A. Nargil, Managing Director The Harrison, Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada Represented in the West by Fawcett/Tetley Co., in the East by Robert F. Warner Inc. For reservations see your travel agent. ?.§;•■ •• 'W Go sporting in British Columbia! More than 60 major international competitions will feature British Columbians meeting athletes from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Japan, Mexico, England and Germany. More than 100 centres throughout the province will host over 300 thrilling sports events for your enjoyment. See colourful fairs, parades and pageants staged in communities in every region of British Columbia during Festival weekends. It's a great combination! Action days and British Columbia at a time of year when scenic beauty is most spectacular. PLAN TO BE PART OF THE THIRD ANNUAL BRITISH COLUMBIA FESTIVAL OF SPORTS MAY18-JUNE 5,1972 fa \\ ^ Sponsored by the British Columbia Sports Federation and the i» GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA *s^ Jg7 Department of Travel Industry/Hon. W. K. Kiernan, Minister/Ft. B. Worley, Deputy Minister For a Calendar of Events write to B.C. Sports Federation, 1200 West Broadway, Vancouver 9, British Columbia. 14 Notes For A New Song Entitled 'Graveyard Rock' A vintage Dave Brock exploration of the peculiar similarities between the Twenties, the Thirties and today SOMETIMES I GET A FUNNY feeling that the 1920"s are on their way back again. To name only a few symptoms and confining them all to ones beginning with the letter "D", we are now, as they were, overly preoccupied with being Disillusioned and enjoying the game of having Disappeared into a lost generation. We keep looking for Drugs that will cure and cause restlessness at the same time, and while we don't talk quite so much about Drink we consume more of it than ever. We pretend to understand and enjoy Dadaist non-art, in cluding Din. We seek new kinds of Dirt. We deliberately try to look Disreputable, or so a ghost from more elegant times would have to assume. And we have revived the old and impossible trick of trying to think in Decades. Not a day passes that someone doesn't claim some natural thing has become unnatural and wrong because, "We're in the Seventies now, you know." What a strange coincidence that the words Decade and Decadence have so much in common. At other times, I have a feeling that the 1930's are also coming back, hand in hand with the 1920's. There is, for example, that little question of a Depression, accompanied by the assurance that prosperity is just around the corner. And as in the thirties, I see droves of students who cling to the campus as an almost permanent Dwelling and Diversion just because they can't find jobs in the real world outside. Some of these feelings are just dreams and delusions, I suppose, while others may have something in them. For three years or more I spent about half my working days gather- 15 ing material and writing scripts and choosing pictures for a television series which I called "Some of Those Days". In the course of more than 120 shows I used about 7,000 still pictures and maybe seven hours of short snippets of antique film, with God knows what hundreds of songs. But the implication of the title was clear enough: I was dredging up more samples of Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian social history, nor did 1 want the audience to fall into the trap of believing that all American college boys wore coonskin coats in the so-called Roaring Twenties, and the streets of Manhattan were piled high with the bodies of stockbrokers and their clients who jumped out of windows after the Wall Street crash of 1929, and Capone's Chicago had a murder rate that we would consider phenomenal or impossible, and so on. Serious historians assume that if a thing was happening at all, it must have been happening in a major way, and thus the main product of any era appears through no fault of its own) to be folklore and downright fibs. The only scientific check on the coonskin coat myth was made by Christopher Morley, who found that while three Yale men wore coonskin coats to a Harvard-Yale game as a joke, they did not actually own these garments. The suicide figures for Manhattan are always available and after the 1929 crash they were unusually low. There were later and worse crashes in the early 30's, about which we seldom hear any more, but I am talking about the 1929 myth, and I doubt if the skies were black with brokers at any time. In Capone's worst year there was about one gang murder a week. The publicity was enormous, but the product was piffling, even by modern Montreal standards, while in modern Manila they have a murder every nine minutes, with Colombia not far behind, and nobody cares a hoot. Both from my own memories of the Twenties and Thirties and from my fairly deep researches into their worries and diversions, I can assure you it was a very rare fad that was even known to the whole population in its brief heyday, let alone admired and practised by all. And while the comic papers of any period are useful reminders that many fads, such as huge "plus-four" golfing knickerbockers, or the monstrous trousers known as Oxford bags or balloon pants, were thought funny at the time without any help from our later titters and jeers, these same comic papers mislead us into thinking a fad was more universal than it really was. In British Columbia in 1925 or '26 I knew a very few high school boys who wore Oxford bags of incredible width. But there was only one UBC man who tried it, and his balloon pants were taken off him by other students, very much as a white crow is pecked to death by normal ones. After being flown from a flagpole and then torn during a series of inter- faculty battles for their possession, the giant pants were cut into hundreds of patches which were sold as tags to raise money for a decent pair of trousers to replace the offensive ones. This was probably the first and last time the art critics have made good any loss occasioned by their acts of criticism. The new trousers were presented to the ex-balloonist on the stage of the Capitol Theatre, with a suitably worded brass plaque stitched onto their seat, after a great snake parade along Granville Street and into the theatre, without payment or permission. In those days students were known to parade and fight and behave tu- multuously (which is the legal definition of a riot) but only in a vain effort to become as little children, as a nice change from being grown-up, instead of in a vain effort to believe the tumultuous are the only wise ... a mistake made by Camille Desmoulins, a very silly little nothing of a man whose, words led to the fall of the Bastille, which led to the Terror, which led to Napoleon, who led in a surprisingly direct line to Hitler. The Battles of the Pants led to nothing, except to prove (to those of us with long memories) that any 1976 film showing all the 1926 UBC men in Oxford bags is going to be one more example of the fantastic dream world of film directors, script writers, costume designers and social historians. Such a film will naturally show fraternity house orgies, based on novels and films of the 1920's for how can the wee fairy film folk tell that at the UBC fraternity houses of the Twenties, women and liquor were usually barred? I believe I am under oath not to discuss any of the affairs of the one fraternity of which I had first-hand knowledge between 1926 and 1930, but perhaps my old friends and brothers can offer me a 16 special dispensation, in the interests of history, when I say that liquor came into our house only during the Christmas holidays, and women came only to attend our rare tea- dances, those chaste ceremonials dead these 40 years. Another thing wrong with making too many guesses and generalizations about the past is the temptation to assign some peculiarity to a definite decade exclusively. The shallowest, briefest research can show you that almost anything we think typically Twenties could be found both earlier and later than that. Girls smoked cigarettes at Cambridge in 1870. Men smoked pot in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1870, though the jazz musicians of the Twenties liked to think themselves the first to try this Indian rope trick. Irene Castle invented bobbed hair, and was much copied, around 1912 or so, and invented most of the rest of the Twenties while she was at it . . . including, I am quite sure, the tea-dance. The New Yorker still thinks it changed the whole of humour with the one- line caption in 1925, but a glance at old files of Punch will show you plenty of British artists using it long before the Twenties. My God, even the poet W. B. Yeats, ever in his own dream-world and unconscious of fads, was using one-line captions under some of those funny drawings he did for Punch over the pseudonym "W. Bird". For a suitable bet I could find you dozens and scores of examples, even though it is rare for a photographer to waste film on what seems plain bloody ordinary at the time. There are photographs and drawings of Parisian students looking deliberately dirty in 1875, because they were extraordinary, but it would be hard to find Stanford students looking deliberately dirty in 1922, though this is what they did and as a boy of 11 I saw them doing it. When home movies became popular in the late '20's and the new owners shot every- 17 thing in sight, their waste and folly became (much later) a social document beyond all price. None of the professionals were shooting the routine appearance and doings of routine people. When one UBC student in 1929 shot humdrum scenes of students unanimously wearing suits with waistcoats as their fathers had done on some campus of the 90's (all except myself, who affected a sweater under a jacket that failed to match my trousers) he did and preserved something that the TV audience and I found far more interesting and incredible than his carefully staged scenes of necking in rumble seats, lovely though the cars and the girls all were by our later and lower standards. Not that all the incredible things were once routine. From about 1922 to 1926 there was an engineering student who turned up daily wearing spats and carrying a walking-stick (which was never called a cane except by cads, Sir). How I wish somebody had filmed him. Nobody believes it now. I bet he doesn't even 18 believe it himself, though he must have been proud once that he did it beautifully enough to get away with it. Well, I have said enough now, though in a sketchy way, to indicate the danger and lunacy of inventing watertight decades into which we cram wrong notions of the past. Now let me return to my original feeling that the Twenties and Thirties did have modes and quirks and a tone of voice that seem (in part) to be on their way back. My list of these items too must be sketchy, yet I can rattle off enough to startle myself with the coincidence, if that's all it is. From 1918 on, there was a great wave of Yank-hating, mostly because of their "We won the war", and then because of their sanctimonious isolationism, their malevolent jeering about war debts, the effects of Prohibition, and our theory that they alone caused the Depression. Downtown, and in company towns, there was a deep hatred of college boys. If you wanted a job in the Depression and had a BA, you kept quiet about it or lied about it. Business men as well as politicians were tired of pouring their slimmer purses into education. World-famous professors began to leave UBC for the first time. This was a shocking thing to do, for the strolling vagabond professor had not yet been invented, to turn faculty clubs into what are (in away) hobo jungles. To avoid becoming hoboes, when they couldn't get jobs, students came back to UBC in the Thirties, using God knows what for money, and took endless courses about God knows what. Is there not some sign of this returning? And with the Depression came the first examples of men and women taking teachers' training courses in cold blood, as a meal ticket, instead of as a mission. In the Twenties the student who had not seen Europe was made to feel inferior and restless. In the Thirties, of course, one of the many kinds of restlessness was a feeling of coming war and unpreparedness, sometimes balanced by Aldous Huxley's quaint theory (widely shared) that no German bomber would attack any town that refused to take air raid precautions . . . he'd give a friendly wave and turn homeward with all his bombs and tell Hitler the jig was up. The League of Nations turned into a sick joke, and the UN shows signs of becoming one. Every point made by atheist priests to-day was made in the Twenties, and answered by Monsignor Ronald Knox in 1927. The theory that the professors are the students' servants was voiced in The Ubyssey around 1931. In 1930 I knew at least two students who worked their way through UBC as pushers . . . they pushed only liquor, not "soft drugs", but their customers were up against a fine by an AMS kangaroo court if they even smelt of drink at a student function. College yells still existed, but were being used only by educated and self-conscious baboons. Yelling has returned with a far different purpose and effect. It is used to howl a speaker down ... a game played by gibbons, I'm told rather than baboons. Douglas Sutherland (whoever he is) published in 1969 a book about drink, drinking and drinkers, called "Raise Your Glasses". In it he said "The Thirties were, if anything, even more frenetic than the Twenties. Old traditions were passing and the new generation was dancing on the grave." Maybe so, maybe not, but a good many did seem to be dancing on the graves of certain things, including some future and quite literal graves of World War Two. And do I not detect something of this to-day? Perhaps there are new sorts of a more passive frenzy, and there are certainly fewer kinds of fun. But the graves of old traditions are far more numerous and the dancing grows somehow meaner, with a daft menace instead of a daft mockery. If the Canada Council wants me to trace further resemblances I'll be happy to oblige. I don't guarantee they'll all be significant. Or, as we now say, relevant and meaningful. But there should be enough and to spare for a PhD. And I mean an old PhD before inflation, when it was worth three or four of the new kind. In the meantime, excuse me while I jot down some lyrics for a thing called "Graveyard Rock". It will be rather like Noel Coward's "Twentieth Century Blues" in Cavalcade, written, though 40-odd years later, for much the same reasons. Forty very odd years indeed, but especially the first few and the last few. Q Dave Brock, BA'30, writes widely for magazines and for CBC radio and television. Alumni Involvement Wanted President's Message by Frank Walden President, UBC Alumni Association, 1971-72 THIS ISSUE OF YOUR CHRONICLE reports on the annual election of the board of management—the governing body—of the UBC Alumni Association. Once again, as in years past, the officers and most board members have been acclaimed. Congratulations to them all. They are interested, enthusiastic, capable people. The only disappointing thing is that there was no contested election for office. We hope this is the last year this happens. Last fall, at an extraordinary general meeting of the Association, members approved a by-law change which provided for a mail ballot to supersede the traditional method of voting in a new board at the annual general meeting. By doing this, we hoped to stimulate additional participation in alumni affairs by members living outside the Greater Vancouver area and, perhaps, outside British Columbia. The reason for this is quite simple. The association is not a cocktail party organization as characterized by certain uninformed student representatives or publications. It is not concerned simply with conducting an annual fund appeal to grads. It directs a wide-ranging program that attempts to exert an influence not only in support of UBC—its first concern—but in favor of higher education generally. Chief among our concerns is government relations. The Association's government relations committee carries on a vigorous program of dialogue each year with members of the provincial legislature on higher education matters. This consists of a series of special bulletins to MLAs, visits to cabinet ministers, and discussions with the MLAs of all parties in caucus. Our task is to convince them of the need of UBC—and other universities—for continued support. This is especially necessary these days in the face of increasing and widespread attacks on universities on the basis that they are failing to train students for jobs. We are also reaching back into high schools, attempting to provide guidance for thousands of young people who want a higher education but don't know how to go about it. The Association board last year prepared a booklet on higher education opportunities which provided guidance on institutions and courses, and then convinced the department of education to print and distribute it to high school counsellors. A committee of the Association is now studying a counselling program as a possible major alumni project. Alumni association members involve themselves in support of UBC on many committees, some university sponsored. Our Alumni Fund handles alumni segments of major university fund appeals. The Association allocations committee distributes unallocated funds to enrich student life at UBC. Many graduates are active in alumni divisions programs and, through them, in university department affairs. We are attempting to establish a strong alumni branches program, geared to local interests but preserving the bond with UBC. Our association is also involved actively in a non-education problem: trying to get an erosion-control project underway to prevent erosion at the foot of the Point Grey cliffs to prevent Cecil Green Park, the Alumni headquarters, from falling into the sea. The alumni opinion survey, conducted last fall, is now being tabulated. Results should be published in the next Chronicle, but preliminary indications are that alumni surveyed want a strong association that can take a positive stand on matters of higher education. It is the hope of this year's board that the programs and activities of the Association, reinforced by the survey, will encourage participation from alumni everywhere and stiff competition for board of management positions in next year's balloting. Alumni iation irdof Management On the following liifles you will be Jliiroduced to the l|Rembers of the (■1 board of manage- i ment for 1972-73, rap governing body i Of the Alumni Asso- j! oWIon. They were ifieently elected by iiitCClamation. This vm *-\\ **►&?; new 1972 ^ ®P handcrafted ISffl 25" giant-screen console featuring color tv's finest picture plus remote control OIAC, Unique! Designed to appeal to the avant-garde. Ultra Modern styling for the most contemporary room settings. Cabinet finished in Bermuda Shell White high gloss lacquer finish with Rosewood color top. Chroma- color 100 Picture Tube. Titan 101 Handcrafted Chassis. Solid-State Super Gold Video Guard Tuning System. AFC—Automatic Fine-tuning Control. Space Command" 600 Remote Control. '9i0mi\\ The quality goes in before the name goes on" 25 Generosity Lives! Alumni Fund 71 jJiM%g?: S ll'i^ WWHWTMilHl J sons Total Record $281,640 as an alumnus, it is easy as the years roll on to forget what attending UBC was like, to forget the good times and the struggles, to forget the myriad little things that went into making university a meaningful experience. That's why the UBC Alumni Fund is constantly pleased by the numbers of alumni all around the world who don't forget. Far from forgetting, growing numbers of alumni remember what university once meant to them and each year send in a donation to the Alumni Fund to help some other student get the most out of university. Volunteers and staff of the UBC Alumni Fund were particularly pleased that alumni and other friends of the University gave a record $281,640 to the University in 1971. "The University, I'm sure, greatly appreciates the help that is provided through annual donations," said Alumni Fund '71 chairman Ken Brawner. "And I'd like to express our gratitude to those alumni and other friends of the University for giving in 1971. Their continuing and growing support is enabling us to help more and more worthwhile student and academic programs on campus." Ian "Scotty" Malcolm, Director of the Alumni Fund, stated in his annual report that the $281,640 total was made up of donations from three sources. Direct gifts from alumni and other friends to the Alumni Fund and to agriculture and geology building campaigns amounted to $194,504; payments on remaining pledges to the Three Universities Capital Fund totalled $3,979; and other gifts to UBC by alumni totalled $83,157. Malcolm noted that the continuing support of UBC was particularly gratifying as it took place during a period of economic recession. "I hope that our worldwide network of friends will continue in the years to With UBC now a cycling campus, Alumni Fund granted $100 to UBC Bicycle Club for survey of need for campus bike paths. Reviewing the 1971 campaign and planning strategy for the 1972 drive are (left) Alumni Fund '72 chairman Don MacKay and (right) Ken Brawner, Alumni Fund '71 chairman. umni Giving '71 Dollars * UBC Alumni Fund $162,890 *Friends of UBC Inc. (USA) $ 31,614 Total $194,504 ^Includes Geology and Agriculture Building Fund returns ** Other Gifts and Three Universities Capital Fund $ 87,136 **Includes 1971 Graduating Class Gifts Total $281,640 Donors 5,590 603 6,193 3,780 9,973 > < Fund Executive Kenneth L. Brawner, '58, Chairman Donald MacKay, '55, Deputy Chairman George L. Morfitt, '58, Past Chairman James L. Denholme, '56 Michael Rohan, '66, Phonathon Program John A. Boland, Parents' Program Frank Dembicki, '67 Ralph H. Gram, '37 Frank C. Walden, '49 Donald J. Currie, '61 Alfred T. Adams Jack K. Stathers, '58 Clive Cocking, '62 Ian C. Malcolm Friends of UBC Inc. (U.S.A.) Stanley T. Arkley, '25, President William A. Rosene, '49, Vice-President Robert J. Boroughs, '39, Treasurer Directors— Frederick L. Brewis, '49 Frank M. Johnston, '53 Cliff Mathers, '23 Dr. Richard A. Montgomery, '40 Allocations Committee James L. Denholme, '56, Chairman George L. Morfitt, '58 M. Keith Douglass, '42 Kenneth L. Brawner, '58 Brenton D. Kenny, '56 Ian C. Malcolm Jack K. Stathers, '58 27 come to be as generous as they have been," he said. "There is much to be done and the funds the University receives from other sources are never adequate to provide those additional things that contribute toward academic excellence." In an indication of growing scientific emphasis of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Philip Townsley is producing coffee plants from cell cultures in the laboratory. Students Appreciate Academic Aid Program / have just received a bursary from the UBC Alumni Bursary Fund. Thank you very much for your gift. Apart from taking the tension off the financial knot that almost had me, it made studying more of a pleasure by eliminating a feeling I have had lately—that I cannot afford to be a student anymore. Thank you. This is a letter from a grateful student who had just received a bursary provided by donations to the UBC Alumni Fund. Provision of financial help to qualified and needy students has been and continues to be a major aim of the fund. In the coming year it is expected that more than 200 students will receive scholarships and 28 bursaries made possible by the Alumni Fund. N. A. M. MacKenzie Alumni Scholarships of $350 each are annually awarded to 64 top-ranking UBC freshmen from all over B.C. And 10 N. A. M. MacKenzie American Alumni Scholarships of $500 each are awarded to young Americans entering UBC. This latter program is supported by alumni living in the U.S. through the Friends of UBC Incorporated (USA). The fund also allocated $20,400 to the UBC Alumni Bursary Plan and $5,600 to support of the John B. Macdonald bursaries, a scheme which will provide 16 bursaries of $350 each to qualified, needy students. Other donations through the Friends of UBC Incorporated, provide the $500 Southern California Branch Scholarship and the $500 Daniel Young Memorial Scholarship. "Friends of Rowing", a special committee under the dedicated and able guidance of Aubrey Roberts and Ned Pratt raised $9,045. Vital support in this the Olympic year. UBC has a proud record in rowing. Fund Helps Engineers Build Urban Vehicle One major highlight of the 1971 Alumni Fund program was the allocation of a $2,000 grant to a UBC engineering student project to build a pollution-free urban car. About 150 students from various branches of engineering are involved in developing the car, which is to be UBC's entry in a competition involving 44 Canadian and American universities. Vehicles will be judged on the basis of safety, exhaust emissions, noise emissions and production cost. The UBC designed car, which could be produced for an estimated $2,000, will run on liquid natural gas and thus exhaust emissions will be 95 per cent less than for ordinary gasoline- fueled cars. Alumni Fund Highlights The following is a review of highlights of Alumni Fund grants to aid campus programs: • $3,000 toward establishment of a non-credit course examining the role of women in our society; called The Canadian Woman: Our Story, it attracted 650 male and female students: • $15,101 to the President's Alumni Association Fund for President Gage to use in supporting special university student-faculty projects; • $800 to assist publication of a special Fort Camp Grog magazine reviewing the history of soon- to-be-torn-down Fort Camp; • $2,500 toward provision of new furnishings for International House; • $400 to the students' High School Visitation program; • $3,200 to Men's and Women's Athletics. • $100 for the UBC Bicycle Club to print and distribute a survey of need for campus bike paths. • $6,300 toward purchase of new books and materials for UBC Libraries, and books, manuscripts valued at $1,900. Aggies Gain Support For Building Drive There's more to modem agriculture than planting, ploughing and harvesting. Agriculture has become increasingly scientific. And the UBC Faculty of Agricultural Sciences has accordingly in recent years adapted its program to meet the need for more science-oriented agricultural personnel. But lately the faculty has outgrown its facilities. That's why a $500,000 agricultural sciences building campaign has been launched. The UBC Alumni Fund is assisting in this appeal for funds to provide the faculty with the facilities to continue its good work. A total of $1,012,000 in new facilities is needed and the University has allocated $512,000 toward this end. It is hoped that firms and individuals associated with the industry will contribute the other $500,000 which will be used to build new dairy barns, field buildings, greenhouses, storage buildings and experimental plots on UBC's south campus. To date a total of $150,000 has been raised. UBC agriculture students are united behind the campaign and have assessed themselves extra fees to contribute to the campaign—a $2,500 total. Over the years UBC has made a notable contribution to agriculture, graduating about 1,800 professionals Engineering students (left) work on pollution-free car which they designed and are building as part of a North American university competition. Alumni Fund granted $2,000 toward completion of the natural gas-fired car. since 1921. UBC agriculture graduates account for 67 per cent of the professional staff of the B.C. department of agriculture and 55 per cent of professionals in the Canada department of agriculture research stations in B.C. Alumni Fund 72 Campaign Launched That was the record for 1971. Now the 1972 campaign is off and rolling. Don MacKay, chairman of the UBC Alumni Fund '72 campaign, said donations from alumni and other friends of the University will have contributed, over the years, to a steady improvement in the quality of academic and social life on campus. "It's not well known, but alumni and other friends of the University, have contributed over $1 million to the University in the past four years through their annual donations to UBC," MacKay said. "These donations allow many worthy student programs to grow and blossom, where otherwise they would wither and die. I hope alumni keep them coming in 1972." Friends of UBC (U.S.A.) Name New President The Friends of UBC Incorporated (USA) have elected a new president. He's Frank M. Johnston, BArch'53 of Kirkland, Washington. An architect, Mr Johnston is with the Seattle office of the John Graham architectural firm. The firm is noted for its design work on regional shopping centres, such as the Lloyd Centre in Portland, and Seattle's Space Needle. It also did the basic planning of West Vancouver's Park Royal centre. Mr. Johnston takes over from Stanley T. Arkley, BA'25, who has retired after 13 years of dedicated and valuable services as President of the organization since its inception in 1958. The Friends of UBC Incorporated (USA) is an established Society to accept donations from alumni and friends of the University living in the U.S.A. □ Two presidents of the Friends of UBC, Frank Johnston (above) and Stanley Arkley. 29 alumni news* Alumni Push For Erosion Control the ubc alumni association is spearheading an appeal to the provincial government for finances to construct an erosion control project to stop Point Grey campus land and valuable university buildings from collapsing into the sea. The Point Grey cliffs on the north side of the peninsula are eroding at the rate of up to one-and-a-half feet a year, and now several university buildings are threatened with disaster. The most seriously threatened is Cecil Green Park, an imposing former residence which serves as offices for the Alumni Association and the centre for meetings and social gatherings of campus and community groups. If the erosion is not stopped, other buildings will be affected such as the UBC President's Residence, the School of Social Work in the old Graham residence, and the Women's Residences. The Alumni Association government relations committee will ask the provincial government, through the Vancouver Parks Board, to implement an erosion control project that will protect the cliffs from erosion and preserve the natural environment of the Point Grey beaches. Robert Dundas, chairman of the Association committee, said that President Walter Gage and the UBC Board of Governors are concerned about the problem and support the Alumni Association's efforts to stop the erosion of the cliffs. The Alma Mater Society also recently passed a motion supporting the alumni campaign. Dundas said the Association believes the best solution at this time would be for a sand and gravel protective beach to be constructed only on the most critical section of shoreline. "We believe it is possible to find a solution that prevents further erosion of the cliffs while still preserving the natural attractiveness of these beaches," he said. "And that's the approach we want to encourage the provincial government to take." Dundas said the plan his committee envisages would involve sand fill topped with a three-foot layer of gravel along the most critical section of beach, estimated to be about 3,700 feet. This would protect the base of the cliffs against wave action and enable slide materials to accumulate at their natural angle of repose, thus stablizing the Point Grey slopes. He said the project, which might cost about $200,000 should be carried out from the sea without any construction access being created on the shore. But he pointed out that the Association was making a general proposal and that the engineering details would naturally be worked out later once the provincial government accepted the overall approach. "We feel there is a need for speedy action on this as it is public land that is steadily being lost by the erosion", he said. "And it is only a matter of time before public buildings could be undermined and go crashing down into the sea." The problem of erosion of the 209-foot Point Grey cliffs is a long-standing one. In recent years they have been eroding at a rate of 0.3 to 1.6 feet per year. The drainage of water down the cliffs combined with wave action is the predominant cause of the erosion. On this point, the 1970 Swan Wooster report said, "Erosion of the cliffs proper Studying the effects of recent slides of the sandy Point Grey cliffs are (left) association director Jack Stathers and (right) government relations committee chairman Bob Dundas. is accelerated by surface and subsurface drainage water which undercuts portions' of the cliff and ravine banks to create slide conditions along some critical sections. The resulting slides of sand and silty sand materials flow on to the steeply sloping cobble beach at the cliff-base, and generally come to rest in the upper portion of the tidal range. Wave action rapidly disperses the loose slide materials and they move eastward around the point to build up sandy areas at Spanish Banks. In this way, the sea effectively prevents natural stabilization of the cliff areas." The land comprising the Point Grey cliffs is owned by the provincial government, but is currently leased to the Vancouver Parks Board as a foreshore park. The UBC campus boundary is at the cliff top. Dundas said, however, that since the land is provincially-owned the responsibility is that of the provincial government and it is hoped the government will provide the great bulk of the funds necessary to do the job. Anniversary Party For Great Trek A note to all former Great Trekkers. There is no truth to the rumour that a marathon walking race is planned for the 50th Anniversary of the Great Trek when it's held this October. But you can bet your Great Trekkers' boots there'll be lots of other celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of the Trek, which took place on October 22, 1922. The Anniversary celebration is tentatively planned for the weekend of October 21 at UBC. All former Trekkers interested in receiving more information are asked to write or call the UBC Alumni Association, 6251 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver 8, B.C. (228-3313). New Activity In Alumni Branches THE UBC ALUMNI BRANCHES program seems to be really branching out these days. England may be next to get an alumni branch organization. That's if Paul Dyson, MBA'70, has anything to do with it: he's trying to form a small club of UBC graduates, particularly commerce graduates, living in London. So if any of you London expatriates are interested, contact: Paul Dyson, c/o Fry Mills Spence Securities Ltd., Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street, London. This is just one sign of what is expected to be a period of lively growth for alumni branches. Toward this end the Alumni Association in February appointed Leona Doduk, BA'71, as field secretary in charge of branches. And she's been hard at work since, assisting in the organization of branches and in the planning of meetings and functions. 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