‘— © F e a t il r e § September 10, 2003 the other press e Barbara. Adamski e opfeatures@netscape.net Douglas, Then and Now Barbara K. Adamski Features Editor September is my favourite month of the year. I love the cooler mornings, the crispness in the air, new back-to-school clothes, and virgin loose-leaf just waiting to be written on. There's something special about September. Something to get excited about. And this year, there’s even something to be thankful for. As I write this, Douglas College's New Westminster campus is undergoing a major ren- ovation. A fifth floor is being added. It’s been a long haul this summer. I had to suffer through poetry 201 in a room without a view. No clouds, birds, or street people wander- ing in front of the window to inspire me. I actually had to look deep into my own soul, or at least out my bathroom window at home, in search for inspiration (I don’t mean any disrespect by that — my bathroom window looks out onto a flower garden). So what is it I have to be thankful for? Well, I’m thankful we have a roof over our heads - and a floor beneath our feet. You see, Douglas College students 33 years ago didn’t have such luxuries. No, things were different for those students beginning post-secondary studies in 1970, the year Douglas Regional College opened its many doors. For one, there was no campus. The opening lecture of the college's one-year diploma program on residential childcare took place September 11, 1970 in a temporary classroom of fourteen students in the New Westminster YMCA/YWCA, according to that day’s edition of the Columbian newspaper. Due to delays in installing the ultra-convenient, prefabricated modular units, students were attending classes in various churches, basements, and other vacant sites in New West, Richmond, and Surrey (the three cities that were to initially each have a campus). The joke at the time was that college repeatedly encountered “Morfey’s Law” — a pun on the infa- mous Murphy’s Law, created by substituting the name of the then bursar of the college, William Morfrey. Certainly, it appeared that anything that could go wrong did. In addi- tion to problems with the modular units, excessive rain delayed the pouring of concrete, and when concrete finally did get poured, it didn’t always harden on time. Even bookends that had been ordered for the library burned on the truck. The whole project seemed ‘jinxed. When the premier of the time, W.A.C. Bennett, officially opened the New Westminster Campus on November 19, 1970, he did so from a distance of two miles: he was at Vincent Massey Auditorium; the still-unfinished campus was at a temporary site at 8th and McBride (Terry Hughes Park). Bennett did, however, brave the torrential rains for the offi- cial ribbon-cutting ceremony, but left almost as soon as he arrived, for he was plagued by demonstrators protesting the high unemployment rates of the times. The site, where Glenbrook Middle School now stands, was to be temporary in any case, with an original lease for three years, and the option to renew for a maximum of another three, according to then mayor, Muni Evens. Support for this location was more favourable than for the initially proposed site at East 6th and Cumberland, where a high percentage of the residents opposed construction of the college. During Douglas’s initial year of operation, it was essentially a “commuter college,” according to Dean Chant, chair of the Academic Board of BC at the time. Students and faculty were forced to commute to and from Richmond, Surrey, and New Westminster campuses. In celebration of surviving that first difficult year, a three-day retreat was held on the UBC grounds. Gord Gilgan, dean of the academic division at the time, is quoted in Douglas College: Twenty Years of Making a Difference as saying, “It was a three-day, knock-down, drag-out party. There was a lot of drinking going on. It’s known more in leg- end. Even people outside the College remember the retreat.” But still, the troubles facing Douglas College were not resolved for quite some time. Many students in the 1971-72 academic year attended classes at the McBride Shopping Centre, in two stores that had been converted into makeshift classrooms. This did not sit well with many of the mall merchants, who complained that a shortage of parking spaces would lead to decreased business. In reality, however, many merchants experienced an increase in business, no doubt as a result of student spending. In September 1974, the still noticeable lack of facilities meant that students in non- credit courses still had to attend classes in high schools and church basements, somewhat stretching the definition of “community college.” Later in the seventies, however, negotiations for a more permanent site for the college began. In 1981, however, before those plans could be realized, Douglas College split into two separate entities. Kwantlen College was created to serve communities south of the Fraser River (Langley, Surrey, and Richmond) and Douglas College continued to serve communities on the north side of the river. Following this split, enrolment dropped from 4400 students to approximately 2000 but, according to the book, Yeah College! A Story of Douglas College by Steward Graham, enrolment was back up to 4300 students by the end of the decade. In 1982, a permanent home was found for Douglas College at Royal Avenue and 8th Street, where it remains to this day. And so here we are, 33 years later—a community college with two campuses (David Lam was built in 1996) and over 12,000 students. And we're still growing. But with growth comes growing pains. So if your classroom has no window, the ham- Modular prefabricated units make up the original Douglas mering gives you a headache, or you can’t sneak out for a smoke during the break because College buildings in Surrey. Photo c 1972 courtesy of the the exit is blocked, hang in there. The construction will be over soon. In the meantime, New Westminster Public Library. just be thankful for the roof over your head, because one day, it just might rain. eaeas Page 18 http://www.otherpress.ca th, We inet Heritage house at 701 Agnes Street. Although Douglas College students fought to save the building, it was secretly demolished one night. Photo c 1970, courtesy of the New Westminster Public Library