The Alumni News From Up The Hill| Vol. 1, No. 2 | February 1947
ALUMNI NEWS MAGAZINE | 100th Anniversary Edition
In January, 1946, after foresight and planning by the University Senate, President, and administration, Alexander College was opened to accommodate some of Canada's exservicemen - the veterans who wished to avail themselves of the education which they had hitherto sacrificed in favor of service in the armed forces.
"Alexander College" was the name chosen by the first group of resident veterans to honour the great British War Leader. When their Excellencies visited us last Fall the Governor General expressed pleasure at the choice of name and presented large autographed photographs for Alexander Common Room.
At that time, there were approximately 180 students who for a campus found that they had part of No. 70 Canadian Infantry (Basic) Training Centre. Now Alexander College has 490 freshman students, the whole of the Training Centre and the C. W. A. C. quarters in adjacent Wilmot Park-a total of some so buildings.
Living accommodation for the veterans soon became as urgent a problem as staff, lecture room, and laboratory space. In September, as many as 30 men were living in dormitories and eating in dining rooms that somehow were arranged for them. In addition, the imposing task of creating a total of 73 self-contained apartments for married veterans with families has now been completed. All are occupied, and there is a long waiting list.
Seven classrooms, an administration building, a common room, a reading and study room, a nine-bed hospital, an art centre, a handicraft workshop, a gymnasium, an indoor rifle range and a canteen make up the balance of Alexander College.
The Dean of Alexander College Major D. K. Parr, a veteran of both wars, who has had extensive teaching experience. Other personalities at the college include Mrs. Parr, who is the supervisor of the hospital; Miss Lucy Jarvis who is in charge of the art centre; Dr. Ivan Crowell, '29, provincial director of handicrafts; and Mrs. Walter Bailey who is just as popular as canteen manager as she was when she had the tuck shop in the basement of the Arts Building.
Thanks to Alexander College, U. N. B. did not turn away a single student who wanted to enroll. It is an accomplishment for which those responsible deserve unstinted praise and of which Alumni and Alumnae can be justly proud.
