by Dave Christian

, Walking in through the main doors on the second
floor, the first sight one is greeted with is. an
immense, glittering roof overlooking the central
concourse. Two buildings, one to the north, and one
-to the south, rise to meet this transparent canopy.
Trees, planted in attractive cedar boxes, dot the
main floor and progressive levels of stairs rising to

the third floor walkway. :

And inside the buildings: 50 classrooms, 52 special
laboratories, the 350 seat performing theatre the
large gymnasium, the two level library, the Dental

$5 : Service Clinic; in short everything needed to make
Douglas College a first rate educational facility. It is
a far cry from the first days of night classes in
secondary schools and warehouses. Bill Day, pres-
ently College President, has been with the college
since those first days. He:tells the story of the long
road to where we stand today. ;

The MacDonald Commission’s report in 1962 start-
| ed it all. It recognized the need to do something
about the lack of post-secon educational facili-
. ; ties in the province, and sparked interest for a large
; community college system all over B.C. By 1965
political action had begun to take place, and, the

 

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Photo by Dave Christian

 

McBride Campus .

province provided funds for what were then called

operating was V.C.C.,or Vancouver City College.

After V.C.C. opened, the schoolboards of Rich-
: mond, Delta, Surrey, Langley, Maple Ridge, Burn-
aby, Coquitlam and New Westminster each came up
with a plan, calling for a college on both the north
and south sides of the Fraser River. Leadership in
the early days was mostly provided by school trust-
; ees and the educational administration.

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provided by the committees and decided they would
only authorize one college, not two. A rider was
attached to their authorization however, the commit-

: final approval to the project. This was because at

that time the colleges were partly funded through
: local taxation. The plebicite passed, and, in the fall
of 1969 Douglas College came into existance. The
first president, Dr. George C. Wootton, was hired
that fall, and, nine months later, in September 1970,
the first students were enrolled. (Dr. Wootton is now
the executive director of the Vancouver Public Lib-

rary.) :
. When Douglas College first began holding classes
they had the equivalent of 900 full-time students

ondary schools in Burnaby and Surrey, and in a
small warehouse in Richmond. (This warehouse is

 

- paces J OTHER FEATURE ) THE OTHER PRESS s

- -. a Te eyo

District, or Regional Colleges. The first one to start -

The Ministry of education examined the plans

tees had to hold a community plebicite to give the _

enrolled. Classes were held at night in Junior Sec-

MARCH 16, 1983

 
  

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now the Ministry of Education offices and the Rich-
mond Campus of Kwantlen College is acroll the
street). The schools that classes were originally held

‘in were: William Beagle Jr..Secondary, Simon Cunn-!

‘ingham Jr. Secondary, and Queen Elizabeth Sr.
Secondary in Surrey and Cariboo Hill Jr. Secondary
in Burnaby. Some events were also held at the
Burnaby South Sr. Secondary, but these were rare.

When the College first opened it operated on a’
skeleton budget that had no money to spate for
buildings. The College had to ‘‘root; hog, and
shove’’ for anything it could get. The College board
selected three sites that they felt had the best access
for students, Richmond, Surrey and New Westmin-
ster. Access was the most important factor, for this
was one of the main tenets that the community
college system was based on. In later years the
Agnes Street, Winslow (Coquitlam), Maple Ridge,
Riverview, Langley and Newton Centre campuses
were added.

The land the campuses lay on was paid for in a .
variety of ways. The McBride and Surrey campuses
are leased for a dollar per year from the Surrey and
New Westminster School Boards. McBride is in the
process of being returned to the New Westminster
School Board. The Richmond and Newton campuses
are leased warehouse space, and the Langley camp-
us is owned by Kwantlen College, the Riverview
Centre was borrowed from the Coquitlam School
Board, and the Agnes and Maple Ridge sites were