The Alumni News| Vol. 19, No. 2 | Summer 1965
ALUMNI NEWS MAGAZINE | 100th Anniversary Edition
When Dr. Colin Mackay, President of the University, announced on July 7, 1964 that the University of New Brunswick in Saint John would open in September and would offer all freshman courses except nursing, there were shouts of joy from those who had advocated the establishment of a university in Saint John.
Beaverbrook House on Carleton Street, once the home of the U.N.B. Law School became the centre of operations for the new campus now known as the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. In this beautiful old building we set up offices, four lecture rooms, reading rooms and a lounge.
During August carpenters, painters, electricians and plumbers changed the stable and carriage house located at the rear of the property into "The Barn'' with one large and one small lecture room.
Lecture rooms while so important are but one requirement of an adequate university instruction programme, hence we made arrangements with the Board of School Trustees of the City of Saint John to use its well-equipped science laboratories located in the new wing of the Saint John High School and its language lab in St. Malachy's High School. The Roman Catholic Bishop, owner of the school, was most cooperative in connection with the language lab.
For library services we turned to the Board of Commissioners of the Saint John Free Public Library and for physical education and recreational facilities to the Board of Directors of the Saint John Y.M.C.A.
The Community through the N.B. Museum, a film society, University Women's Club, N.B. Symphony Club, N.B. Symphony Orchestra, service clubs and other organizations and individuals too numerous to mention, opened its arms to the fledgling institution and thus offered the necessary enrichment and encouragement. Ninety-six full time students and five part time students lined up before the registration desks on September 18th and the new branch of the University opened with a much larger enrolment than most had dared to anticipate. Over half of these students were enrolled in courses associated with the arts programme while the remainder were interested in furthering their education in some area of science.
Students attending university gain much from classmates whose educational background differs from their own. We were pleased to discover that the University of New Brunswick in Saint John with approximately one hundred students drawn from no less than sixteen high schools, both public and private and from five Canadian provinces afforded ample opportunity for this kind of personal growth and development.
In addition to those enrolled in the regular programme five hundred and fifty four adults attended evening lectures offered by the extension department of the University.
Immediately after the official announcement was made concerning the opening of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, President Mackay and the heads of the various departments and the Principal of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John began the search for competent instructors. Through their efforts and the cooperation of the various agencies, boards and individuals too numerous to list we secured an instructional staff of nineteen full and part time members: three full time instructors resided in Saint John, four faculty members at the parent campus in Fredericton travelled to Saint John for lectures.
Others served on a part-time basis as lecturers, lab supervisors or assistants. Additional members of the staff included a stenographer, a part-time catalogue and a custodian.
A famed educator once said, "An educational institution that arises because of the desire of the citizens of a community to provide better educational opportunities for its people will prosper provided that community is prepared to back up its desires with deeds". The younger members of the community, the first freshman class, has written a satisfactory account on the first page of our history while their adult partners in the community through their elected representatives have deeded a beautiful site in Tucker Park for the new campus and contributed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the University's Development Fund - Deeds such as these augur well for the future – a future that is now being planned by university officials and architects.
- G. FORBES ELLIOT, PRINCIPAL
