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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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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 !
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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.
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a matchless setting
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PLAN TO BE PART OF THE THIRD ANNUAL
BRITISH COLUMBIA FESTIVAL OF SPORTS
MAY18-JUNE 5,1972
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i» GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
*s^
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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.
Yorkshire
Trust
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Executor and Trustee
Registered Retirement Savings Plans
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Lawyer's Trust Accounts
Savings and Chequing Accounts
Term Deposits
A complete financial
service organization.
Offices at:
900 W. Pender St.
685-3711
590 W. Pender St.
685-3711
2996 Granville at 14th
738-2919
130 E. Pender St.
685-3935
737 Fort St., Victoria
384-0514
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