Guelph Alumnus Magazine, May 1973

TEN 5PRfNG DAY5 fN 5PAfN W

HAT makes a tri p unforgetable?

Could it be the compatibility of the participants, the historical sites and country they vi sited, the fact that they all shared a very commo n experience quite early in t he trip-that of having little or no luggage for the first two days (though inconveni ent at the time, it certai nly had its advantages)-or t hat everyone was assoc iated wit h Guelph, or perhaps a combination of all these fa cto rs.

Wh ateve r it was, some 55 alumni and frie nds spent 10 marvellous days together in sunny Spain, from March 30 to April 9. This was the first such trip organized by the University of Guelph Alumni Association.

The outstanding highlight of the trip was the day spent at Carrascosa del C am po, Tarancon, and Sagobriga where Dr. M .

Sadek from the Departme nt of Fine Art at Guelph, who accompanied the group to Spain, led the first Canadian "all visito r" expedition to the site of the ancient Roman ruins, which he and his team are uncovering southeast of Mad rid . (D r. Sadek and the team will be excavating at th e site from May 14 to Ju ne 30.) Alumni fro m all colleges representi ng years from 1921 to 1972 were, brought closer together as they wal ked through the ruins surrounded by flo cks of sheep on the hiilsides and an occasio nal donkey. Members of the group left the si te feeling very proud that t heir University is engaging in such an important p roj ect of arc heology.

Naturally the trip woul d not have been complete without visits to Toledo , t he forme r capital of Spain, the bullfights, th e fla menco shows, the sangria parties, trips to Granada and Tangiers, and of course, some time along the beaches of the Costa del Sol. The enthusiasm of this g roup throughout the entire trip and for the possibility of the next one would indicate that there shoul d be a trip organized for 1974. •

Members of the alumni party to Spain visit the Alhambra in Granada (above), ri de burros, sit at outdoor cafes, and vis it an ancient Roman amphitheatre (at right) being excavated by Dr. M. Sadek of the University's Department of Fine Art.

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Contents

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH May-June, 1973, Vol. 6, No.3.

GUEL HALUMNUS 2 Ten spring days in Spain Fitty-f ive alumni and friends spent 10 days touring Spain, an d visi te d an arch eo logical site bein g excavated by a member of the University.

4 Sir William's big, brick schoolhou se Co me, tou r the labyrinthine ro oms of Macdonal d Con solidated, the school wit h a spirit that made up for weaknesses in structure. In spite of architectural defects t hat outraged the man who paid for it, t he Macdon ald Consolidated pion eered in several educational move ments.

CREDITS : Cover design (taken from the Polar Bear Express, which runs from Cochrane to Moosonee): Lyle Doc herty.

Photography: Rosemary Clark: p. 2; Lyle Docherty, Department 01 Information : p. 8 above; Dave Helsdon, Audio-Visual Services: p. 6 below. (this photo won the Walmer Wabstek award as Ihe best in the magazine); Professor D. C. Jordon, Department of Microbiology: pp. 1, 10-14; Dave Webster: pp. 6 above, 9,18,19,21.

7 Hugh Calverley: farmer, artist, man 01 surprises The late Hugh Calver ley, fat her or father-in-la w to ix Guelph gra duates, turned in the fi nal ye ars of his life to art, and created works of con siderab le im pact. Calve rley was a man of unusual dispositi on, whose ac hievements ra nged from poetry to t he gathering of scr apped Wo rld War II bombers.

Writin g: Rosemary Cl ark: pp. 2, 24; Mary Cocivera, Dep artment of Information: pp. 10-14 ; Dave Webster: other articles.

UNIVERSITY OF

GUELPH

ALUMNI

ASSOCIAT ION

HONORARY PRESIDENT : Dr. W. C. Winegard.

PRESIDENT: T. R.

HIL ~ IARD ,

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OAC '40.

SENIOR VICE -P RESI DENT : M rs. J . D. (Virginia Shortt) Bandeen, M ac '57.

10 Guelph North

VICE-PRESIDENTS: Dr. Sand ra J . (Kelk) Chernesky, OVC '63; Frances Lampman, Mac '54; A . C. McTaggart, OAC '35; and Patri cia Moll, Well '70.

The North , a region large ly neglected by scientists , Is the focus for a num ber of University of Guelph resea rch p ro jects. Mam mals in the hig h Arctic, poll ution from mine wastes, t he mic rob iology of the Hudso n Bay Lowland-all these and more are un der st udy at the Univers ity.

SECRETARY: Dr. J. H. Millington, OVC '69.

TREASURER: J. J. Elmslie, Development Officer, University of Guelph.

DIRECTORS: Elizabeth Brandon, Well '70 ; Mrs. J. B. (Doreen Kern) Dawson, Mac '5 4; Mrs . R. P. (Valerie Mittler) Gilmor, BA '72; M. G. Greer , OAC '41; Mrs. A. R. (Shirley Ann McFee) Holmes, Mac '62; Mrs. M. (Linda Sully) Keith, Well '67; Dr. W. H. Minshall, OAC '33; Dr. Jean M. Rumney, OVC '39 ; Mrs. S. W. (Pat Damud e) Squire, Mac '63; and J. A . Wiley, OAC '58.

15 The long arm of politics The OAC was fo und ed by the Ontario government and, fo r th e fi rst 90 yea rs of its history , was under the gove rnment's direct contro l. Th is situation sometimes led to difficulties, as is shown by extracts from Fro m Sc hool to University, Professor A. M. Ross's history 01 the college.

EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS : A . L. Gouge, Well '69, president , Arts and Sc iences Alumni As. oci atlon; G. R. Greenlees. OAC '62, presiden t , O.A.C. Alumni Association; D r. Elizabe th Gull ett, Mac '55 , president, Macdonal d Institute-Fam ily and Consumer Stud ies Alumn i Association; Dr. F. D. Horney, OVC '51, president, O.V.C. Alumni A ••ociatlon; and J. K. Babcock, OAC '54, director, A lu mni Affairs and Development.

Th e Guelph Alumnus is published by the Department of Al umni Affairs and Deve lopment, University of Guelph.

18 Green Thumb Day packs 'em in Some 270 people turn ed out for tree-plan tin g, interest sessi on s, fellowship and a bu ffet dinner, at the alumn i association's secon d an nual Green Thumb Day.

The Editorial Committee is comprised of Editor-Dave Webster, BA '71, Alumni Officer; Art Director- Lyle Docherty, BA '72 ; J. K. Babcock, OAC '54, Director of Alumni Affairs and De velopme nl; Rosemary Clark , Mac '59, Senior Alumni Officer; D. L. Waterston, Director of Information; D. W. Jose, OAC '49, Assistant Director of Information.

The Editorial Advisory Board of Ihe University of Guelph Alumni Association is comprised of Dr. J. H. Millington, OVC '69, chairman; Robert Me rce r, OAC '59; David Nowett, BA '72; G. B. Powell, OAC '62; James Rusk, OAC '65;

Mrs. Joan (Ellerington) Tanner, Mac '57;

Ex-officio: J. K. Babcock, OAC '54; T. R. Hilliard ,

OAC '40; Corresponding members: D. R. Baron,

OAC '49; G. M. Carman, OAC ' 49; and H. G. Dodds,

OAC '58.

Undeli ve red copies should be returned to Alumni House, Unive rsity of Guelph, Guelph, Onlario, Canada.

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19 Campus highlights

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22 Letters (Now it can be told) The st. Patric k's Day brawl of 1927 is recalled by th ree participants.

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Alumni News

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Sir William's big, brick schoolhouse

Above: This postcard, which was printed before 1910, shows teachers and pupils tending the garden at Macdonald Consolidated.

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HE big, red schoolhouse down the hill from Macdonald Institute has seen many changes. It sits, like an aged veteran in a wheelchair, and stares w ith unblinking, glass eyes at passing traffic. It's name, Macdon ald Consolidated School, still remains on the white , Greek-revival portico where it was carved seven decades ago. But the 1unction of the school has changed several times.

In fact, the changes in the use of this building correspond with principal changes in the Ontario school system.

Macdonald Consolidated may claim to be the province 's first consolidated school. It was built in 1904 with fund s donated by Sir William Macdonald, the man who founded the Macdonald Tobacco Company, and made the donations which built Macdonald Institute and Macdon ai d Hall.

Si r William and his associate , Dr, J . W. Robertson, thought Guelph an excellent loc atio n for the new school. They hoped that farmers visiting the OAC would pick up the consolidated school idea and carry it back to their home communities .

Sir William purchased two-and-a-half acres of land for the school and donated $20, 000 towards its construction. But the school was not completed entirely according to his specifications. The money he had donated did not cover the total construction costs and changes in the plans were made, apparently without Sir William 's knowledge .

It was only at the official opening of the school that he discovered how extensive the changes had been. According to a story

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told by the late Harry Westerby, mayor of Guelph at the time, Sir William's reaction was violent.

He had been ceremoniously met at the Guelph railway station and driven up College Hill to the newly-completed school.

Here he was to cut the ribbon that would officially open it. However, Sir William was a man of forceful manner: he saw the school, he did not like what he saw and he reacted characteristically: "Oh, is that the way you've wasted my money!" he cried. And he wouldn't visit the school, he wouldn't cut the ceremonial ribbon, he wouldn't eve n descend from the carriage. So the embarrassed Guelphites were oblige d to turn their procession around and drive Sir William back to the train station, where he waited two hours for a connecting trai n to Toronto. According to Mr. Westerby's story, Sir William swore he would give no more money to Guelph and he never did.

J. A. Mac donald, a principal of the school, but no relation to Sir William, referred obliquely to the incident in an article in the 1921 O.A.C. Review: The sum specified for the erection of the building, twenty thou sand dollars, was insufficient to carry out the original specifications, and hence a change was made by the committee in charge, so as to come within this sum . The building, when completed, was visited by Sir William Macdonald, who evidently was not too well pleased with the change, and his first visit proved to be his last.

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In fact the building was architecturally inferior. It was built in a very austere '(ashion with almost no ornament, says Professor Gordon Couling, a member of the University 's Department of Fine Art. To people of the time it would have looked more like an industrial building than a public edifice. The school also had serious structural weaknesses which led to the clo sing, several years ago, of its se cond floor .

But in 1904 the school represented a whole new experiment in education. Six rural school sections, located to the north as well as to the south of Guelph, agreed to consolidate and send their children to Macdonald Consolidated. The children were brought to the school in horse-drawn vans (a stable for the horses was erected near the present Textiles and Design Building) . The length of time they spent in these vans was considerable: it was comparable , apparently, to the time today's rural youngsters spend on the school bus or the urban commuter spends in his car. But the belief was that the quality of education in the new school would be superior to that available in the "little red schoolhouses" further out in the country. To encourage the new school Sir William undc::rtook to pay for three years any costs above those the six school sections had paid in the past.

Sir William 's project w as not too success足 ful. At the end of the three years , costs were one-third above those of the old system .

When the consolidation project was sub足 mitted for a vote, four of the six school sections turned it down-although, as Mr. Macdonald's article said, one of those sections rejected it by two votes, the other rejected it by only one.

Macdonald Consolidated was used for practice teaching throughout the period when a normal school program was offered at Macdonald Institute. Mac girls would come to the school to teach domestic science (that is, cooking, sewing and other household arts). While the girls were thus absorbed, the boys would receive lessons in manual training (woodworking, machine shop, etc .) from instructors from the OAC. In its early years Mac(ionald Consolidated was noted for its school garden. Such gardens were regular features of schools of the times, but the one at Macdonald was rather special. It was three-quarters of an acre in size and provided produce which was canned and bottled in the domestic science classes. This produce helped provide the hot lunches which were another distinctive feature of the school.

Macdonald Consolidated had a long and

Above: A second view of the school garden Below: The horse-drawn vans shown in the photo brought children to the school.

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Preschool children come to Macdonald to attend a nursery school and an educational clinic.

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distinguished list of alumni. One of them, Fred Krouse, established a gold medal for the highest mark in the school 's high school entrance examination. He also initiated a fund to provide flowers for children from the school who were sick. Macdonald Consolidated also had one of Ontario's first home and school associations, an association which was founded in 1925.

After the consolidated school project was abandoned the school came under the Guelph Township School Board. In 1966 this board was absorbed into the Guelph District Board of Education, which then took over the school. In 1969 Macdonald Consolidated came under the newly-created Wellington County Board of Education.

But by this time the o ld building presented problems : it was structurally unsound and needed repairs; and the students who had once attended it were being transferred to other, more modern schools. Yet the school could not be converted to other purposes: Sir William had stipulated, when he donated it in 1904, that it was to be used solely for education. In the end the board decided to repair the school so that its main floor, at least, could be used (the second floor remains unoccupied). And now, as a re­ flection of today's emphasis on preschool education, the building is devoted to the very young.

Among other things, the building is being used for an educational clinic for four-year­ old children. This clinic was initiated by Professor Norma Bowen of the University's Department of Psychology, who was awarded a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Education, and is operated in co­ operation with the Board of Education.

Under it forty children are given lessons, which are integrated informally into play periods. The progress of these children, who will enter kindergarten next year and grade school the year after, will be watched carefully to see if the clinic has given them a head start in the school system.

Macdonald Consolidated may continue to retlect trends in the educational system .

It is not well fitted to provide classroom space: the cavernous rooms and lofty ceilings are inconvenient and the second floor, is, because of the building's weakness, closed off. But the school does provide space for the experimental projects that are not well enough established to be integrated into the school system. In coming years, a spokesman for the Board of Education said, the school may be used for classes for children with learning disabilities . •

Hugh Calverley: farmer, artist, man of surprises

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A chalk pastel done near the end of Hugh Calverley's life.

For most people, old age is the harshest, most difficult stage of life. But for Hugh Calverley, member of the English landed gentry, immigrant to Canada, soldier in the First World War, farmer near Oakville and father of five children (four of whom attended Guelph), old age was a time of continual activity. At the age of 68, when most people are retiring from worldly concerns, Calverley turned to drawing and painting. In the nine years up to his death in 1971, he produced more than 200 works, most of them done with chalk pastels (although he tried a wide variety of art techniques), and many of them distinctive enough to be featured in exhibitions. One such exhibition, at which some 80 of his works were displayed, was held recently at the University of Guelph.

Calverley's works are primarily pastel drawings of Ilowers, although he has also done landscapes and portraits of the members of his family, says Judy Nasby, the University's curator of art. They are complex and sophisticated, and show an unusual sense of colour and composition.

Their most striking characteristics are perhaps the warmth and gaiety they project.

Calverley's family had a number of

connections with Guelph. His father studied poultry farming at the OAC when first he came to Canada in 1912. His three sons enrolled at Guelph, and each married girls who were also students there. The eldest son, O. M. Calverley, OAC '50, married Gwen Stewart, Mac '50, and now raises beef cattle on a farm near Innisfail, Alta.

The second son, Dr. A. H. Calverley, OVC '52, and his wife Dr. B. J. Calverley, also OVC '52, are now in veterinary practice at Aurora, Ontario. The third son, Dr. J. L. Calverley, OVC '58, married Frances Cook, OVC '58, and is now living at Carmen, Manitoba. A daughter, Anne, also attended Guelph in 1946 before going into nursing. (In that year three Calverley children were in first year at the OAC.) In later years the Calverleys became grand­ parents: in all they had 23 grandchildren to which, like most grandparents, they were strongly attached. But Hugh Calverley was at the same time an intensely individualistic man, an unpredictable person, who was guided by his own inner spirit, not the conventions of society.

-ioday his farm and the house in which he lived are filled with tokens of his presence. His letters, poems and records overflow from a trunk in an upstairs bed­ room. His paintings hang throughout the house, and flovvers of the type he would sketch sit at the table where he used to work. His daughter, Mrs. Sybil Rampen, art teacher, wife of CBC producer Leo Rampen and mother of five children, lives with her family in the house and acts as keeper of his works.

Calverley's individuality corresponds with his family background: his father was squire of Oulton in England; he bore a title which extended back to the Middle Ages, when Sir John de Calverley was knighted by Henry IV. Calverley's mother came from a family with intellectual and artistic learnings; her father was an ornithologist and colleague of Charles Darwin. Calverley himself came to Canada in 1912, and settled with his parents in OaKville. At the outset of the First World War, he enlisted and was posted to such theatres as Gallipoli, the Western Desert, Gaza and France; he was twice wounded and twice decorated. At Gallipoli, one of the most frightful theatres of the war, he showed that preoccupation with flowers that appeared 50 years later in his art. Calverley and a botanist friend

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Above : The table and chair at which

Calverley used to work.

At right: Calverley and a grandson stop at a

farm fence.

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would walk out into the no-man's-land which divided the two armies. There, under the guns of an enemy that was too weary or too short of ammunition to 'fire, he would each day pick a flower.

At the close of war Calverley returned to Canada , partially disabled and severely shaken psychologically. A doctor advised that for the sake of his health he turn to farming. Thus he established himself on a farm in Trafalgar Township, north of Oakville. And there he married Amelia Firtsch, family governess and granddaughter of the aide-de-camp to Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph.

Calverley was living in a country that was only a few generations from pioneering, among people who were closely-knit and conservative. However he went about farming in his own way; he attacked problems , not through conventional methods, but in a highly individual manner.

Such an approach sometimes produced concrete results , For instance, he introduced red alfalfa, asparagus and grapes at a time when such crops were unheard-of a mong his neighbou rs.

Times were ofte n difficult for farmers in the area. In the tilirties , for instance, thieves

would come in the night to clean out a farmer's poultry, thus leaving him with little to sell, sometimes with little to eat.

Calverley protected his own poultry by a network of mines and exploding devices that could have fatally injured any trespasser. One neighbour did have some of his chickens stolen. On a subsequent night Calverley heard sounds in a neigh颅 bour ' s chicken-house and suspected that the thieves had returned to complete the theft. He went out with a rifle, located the car that the thieves had parked and shot out all four tires, thus preventing their escape.

It was also in the thirties that Calverley came down with rheumatic fever, then a disease which was considered incurable.

He travelled to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Un ited States for a treatment that was then highly experimental, and was able to recover . Afterwards he travelled 路to Eg ypt, where a sister was involved in archeology.

When returning his ship stopped at Ma rseilles ; and in a burst of Calverley unpred ictab ility , he jumped ship and spent sev e ra l w eeks touring France.

Ol1 e Calv erley action became kn own throughou t the region in which the farm was

located: the time was the close of the Second World War; the place, at the outset, was Malton, where the RCAF found itself with a stock of obsolete airplanes. In this situation Calverley was able to buy the wings of 200 mosquito bombers, complete with gas tanks, piping and other paraphernalia.

These he trucked, a few at a time, to his farm where, by the time the job was done, they covered a whole field. As a result people from miles around would drive by to gape at the sight. But like many things that seemed bizarre, the airplane wings served an important purpose : the brass screws in them could be taken out and sold for significant sums of money. Such considera­ tions were of great importance for a family struggling to send five children through college on a shoestring .

In 1952 Calverley began seriously writing poems; he continued to do so up to his death in 1971. A collection of his later works, given the name Pool Sets, was published several years ago by his youngest son. Pool Sets is a series of free-verse compositions, written daily during the time, perhaps an hour in length, when his wife was in their swimming pool. The situation sounds genteel, suburban and upper-middle­ class. But in no way was it so. Mrs. Calverley suffered arthritis following a hip injury and was unable to walk. The swim­ ming pool, an outdoor model, which was heated to 90°F, had been built specially for her and she used it, summer and winter, for a vigorous program of exercises. Even when the icy winds of January blew over the fields she exercised, clad only in a woollen hat, and watched by her husband or a grandchild to make sure she didn't black out in the water. By these Spartan methods, she developed strength enough to walk without a cane.

Calverley was quite knowledgeable in art and had long pursued it as a hobby, but when his daughter asked him to pose for one of her portrait c lasses, he began to work intensely at it. At one point he was called away to England for a three-day business trip. But Calverley began taking his sketch pad into the pubs and drawing the English in their natural habitat. In the end he stayed several months.

Flowers, like those he had picked half a century earlier at Gallipoli, became his principal subject. He sketched bunches of flowers-a .new bunch was set out for him

every day- but only if they were fresh and in their prime.

In 1970 Calverley suffered a severe stroke which left him partially paralyzed . Shortly afterwards his wife died. But still he per­ sisted in his work. Until his own death in 1971, he continued to show the energy and tenacity which had so long characterized him .

Are there lessons to be drawn from Calverley 's rather extraordinary life?

Perhaps one of them is that old age need not be a time of sorrow and desolation . It may be a time when life's possibilities are explored with a courage and vigour that is not shown in younger men.

Magnolias, given by a friend in lieu of funeral flowers, bloom beside the Calverley farmhouse.

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By MARY COCIVERA

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Canada's North-land of vast, barren beauty, untapped natural resources and fascination-will play an increasing role in the life of the nation. Untouched landscapes and a plethora of wildlife tempers its desolation and remoteness. From the arid deserts of the high Arctic islands to the swampy peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada's North entices man with untold potential in minerals, fuel and exploitable natural resources.

Research in all aspects of the North is a crucial prerequisite to informed decisions on development. Potential areas for study include permafrost, resource inventories, wildlife inventories, environmental effects of gas and oil drilling and pipelines, environ­ mental effects of roads, sociology of indigenous peoples, and vital life processes in all areas of the North.

The University of Guelph has recognized the need for such studies and encouraged several research groups in a variety of projects related to Canada's great North.

Several of these projects were described in last year's May-June Alumnus; those described here should supplement that list and reveal preliminary results of those studies.

Permafrost study A permafrost study in the Department of Land Resource Science, funded by the University's Research Advisory Board, explored the feasibility of conducting studies on the Arctic's physical environ­ ment. The study concluded that there is a definite need for: (1) extensive research in this area, (2) an information exchange be­ tween research groups and (3) a co-ordinated research effort between disciplines. Part of the study, a literature survey, resulted in a bibliography of existing information on

the physical environment of the North. A survey of current research in North America pinpointed major areas of research activity and the groups conducting such research.

A third phase of the study, perhaps the most significant in terms of future efforts, defined the research needs of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, particularly in the earth sciences.

The land resource scientists identified two areas for expanded research efforts: the Arctic islands, where there is im­ mediate pressure for the development of gas deposits; and the Hudson Bay Lowland, whose hydroelectric potential, and coal deposits and proximity to populated areas will exert an eventual pressure for development.

The study explains that Arctic research in the past has tended to be limited to short term programs, completed by consulting firms of engineers, geologists and geogra­ phers. Now and in the future, the need is for more integrated, long range studies, incorporating physical and biological scientists. Their findings will provide the basic data for long term development plans that would minimize harmful effects to the northern environment. Arctic research will also benefit from agreements within and among universities to develop inte­ grated programs and joint research facilities.

Following the study's recommendation to encourage more exchange of information, the Department of Land Resource Science recently sponsored a symposium on the physical environment of the Hudson Bay Lowland. Authorities from several universities and government agencies discussed the current body of knowledge on the lowlands environment, in terms of geological and surface deposits, biological

productivity, micro meteorology , permafrost distribution and muskeg ecology.

Hudson Bay Lowland An interdisciplinary research project in the Hudson Bay Lowland, sponsored by the University 's Research Advisory Board, is one of the first research efforts in this previously neglected area. Covering one­ quarter the area of Ontario and bordering the western side of James Bay , the lowland is drastically different from any other land area in the North.

Although the lowland is relatively close to us, the area is inaccessible, perhaps accounting for the virtual vacuum in research data. Professor D. C. Jordan, Microbiology, who heads the University of Guelph team , explained that much of the area is covered with water during the temperate months. The water is too shallow for boat, canoe or seaplane transport, and too deep for easy foot travel. Getting from one place to another means simply slogging through knee and hip-deep water, treading cautiously on the tangle of roots that underlie the surface water, and fighting off hungry hordes of black flies.

The lowland covers areas of continuous permafrost, discontinuous permafrost and permafrost free zones. It has the largest uninterrupted peat deposit in the world.

Muskeg, or swampy peatland, is the dominant terrain, but there are so many different types of terrain and plant growth, that broad generalizations based on data collected in one small area would be invalid .

In view of the lack of research data in this region, the Guelph team has attempted to establish baseline data on microbial ecological aspects of the Moose River area within the Hudson Bay Lowland. This

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data can be used as a measuring stick to determine future changes in the environ­ ment caused by development. Because of the complex nature of this environment, a multidisciplinary approach has been adopted, involving sc ientists in the Microbiology, Land Resource Science, Environmental Biology and Zoology departments.

Microbial activity governs the basic biological processes upon which all other life forms depend-decay and the cycling of elemental nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and sulphur. As a starting point for low Arctic research, the team is looking at these interactions in the unique multiphasic ecosystem in the Hudson Bay Lowland.

Their investigations include a look .at sewage disposal problems in perma­ frost areas.

In its first stages, the purpose of the study was " to determine the feasibility of establishing a baseline 'from which to evaluate certain future types of deteriora­ tion of the Sub-Arctic and Arctic marine and terrestrial environments, and for the establishment of guidelines for intelligent and maximum resource usage." During the

past year, the team has assessed the logistical problems of collecting and analyzing data in the James Bay-Moosonee region of the Hudson Bay Lowland. These studies have led to suggestions of areas for future research . Additional probes were· made in Churchill, representing the northern extremity of the Hudson Bay Lowland.

Work in the Moosonee area will continue through this summer and perhaps into next year depending on the availability of funds.

The Quebec government's announced massive hydroelectric development in the James Bay area and the Ontario govern­ ment·s probes into developing this area make such basic resea rch critical. On the basis of present data, predictions on the ecological effect of such developments is simply impossible. Professor Jordan and R. A. Johnston, in a brief presented to the James Bay committee, stressed the importance of long range studies on all aspects of this environment, and on establishing a baseline for intelligent resource use.

Even the preliminary activities of road building and work camps have had their

effect on the ecology of the area. Sewage organisms ere already in the streams, about 2,000 transients have settled in the area, and traces of pesticides and heavy metals are present.

Futher development is inevitable­ deposits of soft coal, hydroelectric power and minerals will be targets for developers.

Research data collected over a period of five to six years or longer will enable establishment of guidelines for develop­ ment which will minimize the detrimental effects on this unique environment.

The Hudson Bay Lowland is also a focal point of the permafrost study in the Department of Land Resource Science.

Professor B. D. Kay said that plans call for evaluation of the sensitivity of different terrain types to modification by human habitation , development of models which can predict changes in soil temperatures, and development of a terrain sensitivity rating for the different terrain types in the lowlands. Preliminary field studies will begin in 1973 around Moosonee and Churchill.

Resource use in the North Concern over resource use has prompted

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on seals, such as voluntary regulation of heart beat and blood circulation, could have direct application to human medicine and man's underwater adaptation. Other basic data will help maintain populations of this major Canadian species. A creature of the western Arctic, the ringed seal, is the subject of extensive research activities.

Baseline data necessary for further studies of this Arctic mammal has been established by scientists working in cooperation with the Fisheries Research Board's Arctic Biological Station . Professor J. R. Geraci, Zoology, has participated in this investiga­ tion, designed to determine some effects of Arctic exploration and development on mammal populations. The ringed seal is a vital source of food and income for Eskimos.

To date, investigations have encompassed biochemistry, hematology and food utiliza­ tion of the seals, with future plans to investigate the effects of man-induced changes and naturally occurring diseases.

Tiny marine crustacea, Cumacea, form one of the primary links in the Arctic food chain. An important source of food for fish, 20 species of these crustacea live in Arctic and Sub-Arctic waters. Working in co­ operation with the Fisheries Research Board's Arctic Biological Station, Professor S. Corey, Zoology, is investigating the distribution of these Cumacea from Hudson Bay through the Arctic Archipelago.

Small mammals in the Arctic may provide clues about how all wildlife adapts to the meagre solar energy in the North. Professor K. Myers and Professor R. J. Brooks, Zoology, are monitoring changes in number, and studying reproduction and behavior patterns of the lemming, field mouse and snowshoe hare. They are comparing the field mouse and the snowshoe hare in

14

southern and northern regions. Professor Myers is interested in the popUlation dynamics of all three animals, aiming at an understanding of the cyclical variations of populations. He feels there is a relationship between population levels and available plant nutrients, and perhaps solar energy (or sunspots). Professor Brooks is particu­ larly concerned with an explanation for the lemming population's failure to peak at its last four year interval. Although the cause may be natural, he suspects that new gravel pits and high levels of DDT may have contributed to this.

As Canada looks north to its rich, if inhospitable frontier, scientists at the University of Guelph will playa significant role in determining the shape of its future development. If research data collected now and in the near future can influence political decisions on northern development, unnecessary and unpredictable damage to this unique and unspoiled land may be avoided . •

A 1903 view of the OAO.

OAC history

The long arm of politics The OAC was not a college like other colleges . Many of the Canadian institutions of higher learning that were set up in the nineteenth century were established by the churches, primarily to prepare young men for the ministry. The OAC, on the other hand, was established by the Ontario government with the aim of serving the province's farm community. Where other institutions had considerable autonomy in conducting their affairs , the OAC was direclly under the Ontario Minister of Agriculture. This relationship between college and govern足 ment, which was not altered until the coming of university status in 1964, often caused uneasy situations. The following article, composed of selections from From School to University, Professor A. M. Ross's history of the OAC, describes some of them. (The selections from the book are printed in normal type; those paragraphs printed in italics link the selections or paraphrase information. Readers are reminded that this article is a condensed version of the book .

Various passages are omitted because of lack of space or to avoid controversy. The book itself is being published by the O.A.C.

Alumni Association, in honour of the college's hundredth birthday in 1974. It will be available later this year at a pre足 publication discount to Alu mnus readers.)

N 1871 John Sandfield Macdonald's Conservative government purchased land near Mimico for Ontario's agricultural college (or school of agriculture, as it was also named). However in the same year Ontario went Liberal. Oliver Mowat, the new premier, and Archibald McKellar, his minister of agriculture, decided after some investigations to move the site to Guelph, where better land was available. The move was condemned by Mowat's political opponents.

I

The Opposition Party, headed by M. C. Cameron, one of the notable political figures of the time, took the issue of the Mimico deal to the hustings . The Toronto Globe maintained that the Mimico site was one of the bribes or inducements dangled

by Sandfield Macdonald and his colleagues before the eyes of the constituencies during the election of 1871. The Mail,

Toronto 's leading Conservative organ, argued in one of its editorials that the removal of the proposed college from Mimico was a bit of Liberal trickery. On 31 December 1874 the Mail even alleged that the Government had moved the Farm to Guelph to appease Peter Gow, a Liberal MPP from Guelph, for his expUlsion from the cabinet.

In 1873 Henry McCandless was appointed principal of the college. He soon found that much of his staff was to be drawn from the friends of the party in power. James Stirton, who was hired as farm superin足 tendent, was the son of a member of the legislature. In his application he had included as references the names of eight members of parliament.

The Government also appointed a Mr. Henning to the College staff. He was a brother of the Honourable George Brown's brother-in-law. Henning told the Principal that he was to be "farm manager, steward, or something in that way". In the end he seems to have excelled only at "parading

15

Three Ontario ministers of agriculture: from left, Hon. John Dryden, 1890-1905; Hon. Charles Drury, 1888-1890; Hon. Nelson Monteith, 1905-1908.

the streets of Guelph", and the Ontario Commissioner of Agriculture and Arts had to discharge him. (The scandal that sub足 sequently broke over the OAC is described in detail in "The Model Farm Scandal", chapter two of From School to University.)

Mr. McCandless was succeeded by men considerably superior in ability. William Johnston served as OAC president from 1874 to 1879, James Mills held the post from 1879 to 1904, and George Creelman was president from 1904 to 1920. These men administered the college, often in the face of tight government restrictions on spending.

The letter which President Creelman sent to W. H. Day of Physics on 19 February 1910 needs little explanation: Dear Sir: I passed an account for your Depart足 ment this week for $3.50 for a lead pencil sharpener, two, in fact, for the same building. I am afraid this will look extravagant in the Public Accounts, and while it is so hard for us to get money for ordinary maintenance, I think you will agree with me that it is not well to incur such extravagance at this time. I have never felt, for instance, that I could afford such a luxu ry for my office.

Very truly yours, G. C. Creelman.

Penny pinching of this kind may seem amusing today, but its effect in Creelman'S time, when brought to bear upon faculty salaries, meant the loss of good men like George Day, and a weakening of 3cademic excellence.

Political patronage in Creelman's day was by no means a thing of the past, and the College from time to time was made to realize its responsibilities. On 26 September 1912 W. H. Day received this letter from the Honourable James S. Duff:

16

Dear Prof. Day, I have been informed that in the County of Bruce, convenient to Tara, our political friendsieel somewhat sore that the drainage demonstrations in that section are all being conducted on land belonging to men who are opposed to us.

Now my information may be wrong, but I should be glad if you would look into the matter and let me know as to the condition of affairs. It seems to me that, all things being equal, our friends should get any足 thing that is going. Of course, I have no desire to make this a Party matter, but I do desire that in anything being done by the Government, if our friends have what will suit, they should be patronized. I think perhaps the great trouble comes through the man who makes the selection interviewing someone who never has and would not now support the Government, instead of going to some level headed man of our Party. Hoping to hear from you

in regard to this at an early date,

I am,

Yours very truly, James S. Duff.

What Dr. Creelman lacked, after the defeat of the Conservatives by the United Farmers of Ontario in 1919, was political favour. He lacked influence with both E. C. Drury, the new Premier, and Manning W. Doherty, the Minister of Agriculture. His removal as President of the Ontario Agricultural College was largely a political matter. Although the President had not played politics in his office, it was no secret that his leanings were Liberal, and that in 1909 members of that Party had asked him to undertake the leadership of the Liberal Party in Ontario.

This offer he turned down publicly early in January 1910. But in 1920 a new Government with new "friends" was in power. George Christie Creelman was compelled to resign as President to accept the position of Agent足 General for Ontario in London, England.

His valedictory address is worthy of quotation: The position of President of this College is peculiar in some respects. He

is directly responsible to the Minister of Agriculture, who has authority to 'Hire and Fire' both the President and his staff at will. Even a hint will sometimes cause a man to change his environment.

Dr. Creelman was succeeded by J. B. Reynolds. When he retired in 1928 the Minister of Agriculture chose George Christie, a man of great vigour and popularity, to head the OAC. Dr. Christie set about to obtain new campus buildings.

As long as the Conservatives remained in power Dr. Christie was able to push through a building program. The Old Residence was condemned in 1928 by a fire marshall's report. In 1929 a contract was let for a new administration building. The old building was vacated 1 October 1929, and five weeks later the new basement was being dug and footings were being poured.

At the same time the old heating plant was replaced by a mODern plant east of the Agricultural Engineering Building. In addition, a new Horticultural Building was making its appearance alongside the Apiculture Building. The 1929 Annual Report also mentions that a new Poultry Barn, two storeys high, had been erected near the Poultry Building. The College was having a new well drilled and many buildings painted and repaired. The stone house, previously the home of the Professor of Animal Husbandry, was chosen as the home for the President. This building, too, was renovated. Concrete sidewalks began to appear allover the campus, and some twenty-five new boulevard lights were installed along Highway 6 between the entrance to Macdonald Institute and the Poultry Building. Obviously the President had the goodwill of the Government in power at Queen's Park.

But Christie had been very fortunate in taking over as President when he did.

Had it been three or four years later his

Three OAC presidents: from left , William Johnston, 1874-1 879; James Mills, 1879-1904; George Creelman, 1904-1920.

graduate of OAC '31, who later was an advisor to United States Pres iden t John F. Kennedy.

chance of getting any kind of building program approved would have been slight indeed.

On 8 January 1932 the Provincial Treasurer, Edward Dunlop, announced the deductions which were to be imposed upon salaries of Civi I Servants. On a $3,000 .00 yearly salary the monthly wage-cut was, for example , $6.25, and on $6,000.00 it was $17.08 monthly. The Treasurer also announced that in future Civil Servants would be paid only once a month . The Conservative Henry Government reduced the College budget by $100,000 for the year ending 31 October 1932. In addi tion, of course, all members of the staff an d employee s as Civil Servants suffered reduced sa laries. With the exception of the rebuilding of the beef barns, whi ch were destroyed by fire 20 March 1942, no other major building appeared on the campus before Dr. Christie retired in 1946.

In 1934 th e Annual Report indicated th at 26 faculty "resigned" incl uding men like A H. Maclennan, J. R. Cavers, A. L. Gibson, D. A Kimball, and J. C. Steckley. Thi s event is the most flagrant illustration of govern­ ment interference in College affairs in this cen tury. Some of the resignation s occurred, a:ter the defeat of the Ontario Con servatives in June 1934, because the succeeding Liberal government of Mitchell Hepburn maintained that any appointments made during the "lame-duck" session of the previous government were not valid. On 29 August 1934 the Mail and Empire carried the announcement that Fo rty-two employees of the Ontario

Department of Agriculture, rang ing in seniority and salary from W. C. Noxon, Agent-General of the Province in London, England ($6000. 00) to a $975.00 per year farm hand at the O.AC. Guelph were fi red yesterday by the Hepburn govern­ ment on the recommend ations of Hon. Duncan Marshall.

In this connection Hepburn said that no new appointments would be made to fill any of the vacancies created by their dismissals.

A notorious feature of Duncan Marshall 's Department of Agriculture was the way in whic h some men knew long in advance through Toront o papers that their heads were to fall. On 22 September The Mail and E.-npire reported th at 25 resignations from O.AC. were demanded by the Minister: " Ouster to Take Effe ct by Oct. 31" . "Two of the most senior officials who are 'getting the axe' ... are sa id to be Professor J. C. Stec kley-Head of the Animal Husbandry Department and Professor A H. Maclennan , Head of Horticulture." By 31 October The Mail and Empire released word that 17 more employees of the O.AC. had been dis missed.

Altogether the "firings " we re carried out in a very high-h and ed manner. The quality of faculty di smi ssed was soon apparent as these same men in a few years di stinguished themselves elsewhere, no one more so than the greatly wronged Profe ssor Steckley whose success in establishing the Western Ontario Agricultural School testifies to the man 's ability and integrity.

In a 1948 article in Saturday Night Professor Galb raith ridicu led the notion th at " real scholarship" could ever flourish "i n a civil service atmosphere where, as at O.AC., men sign in in the morn ing and dutifully record thei r hour of departure at night " . No scientist, he maintained, should ever find him sel f "in a posi tion of having to co nsider, even subjectively, the effect of hi s work on the political fortunes of a superio r". The separati on of the re alm of politics from that of science, he argued, was "in the best tr adition of weste rn academic freedo m".

Galbraith's ar ticle still deserves attenti on.

Hi s argument never descends to the trivial fo r he is too concerned with what is funda­ mental to IN Gste time on unimportant side issues. The problem simp ly centred about the conflict which is always present between the ends to which politi cia ns are committed, and those to wa rd which educationists strive. The partiality and the emphasis upon what is immediate, w hich enters into party politics , must ever clash head on wi th the imp artial app ro ac h and the long-te rm view which belongs particularly to modern scientific thinking. What J. K. Galbraith said in 1948 may have been unpleasant at the time, but it was fundamental to the futur e welfare of the College.

Galbraith's criticisms are more forcefully stated and carefully discussed in Fr om School to Universi ty than they are in this article. Readers are referred to the appendix to chapter 7, and to chapter 8 of the book . •

The severest criticism made of the connec tion between OAC and government was probably made by J. K. Galbraith, the

17

G.ccn Thumb Day

packl 'em in

Above: Margaret (Farr) Loewen, Mac '60, and her children , Amie and David, plant a tree. In the background is constru ction for the Centennial Arboretum Centre.

At right: Dick Hilliard , OAC '40 , wields a spade during tree planting ceremonies.

18

The second annual Green Thumb Day, held May 5, was a success in just about every way. Some 270 people, almost three times last year's number, came to plant tree s at the Arboretum, to enjoy '1ellowship and a buffet at the Cutten Club, and to attend a se ries of interest sessions. The sessions, conducted on lawn care, patio landscaping, winemaking, patio barbecuing and flow er arrangemen t, drew a large attendance. And in the afternoon the sun shone brightly on the assembled tree­ planters.

The ceremo nial highlight of the day was the planting of trees near the Arboretum Service Centre. Those who made speeches at this point included Tommy Th ompson, OAC '36, Metro Toronto Parks Commis­ sioner ; University Presiden t W. C. Winegard; Di ck Hilliard, OAC '40, president of the University of Guelph Alumni Association; Reverend Dr. Cliff Plant, OVC '47, who made the dedication; and Dr. Rowan Walker, OVC '47, who organized the tree-planting ceremony. Also present at the ceremony was Shirley Ann Holmes, Mac '62, cha irman of the committee which organized Green Thumb Day. The trees for the ceremonial planting were made available through the aid of a donation from th e Rugby Alley alumni group .

(This group is composed of alumni w ho played rugby under Coach Bill Mitchell, OAC '38, between 1948 and 1952; they lived in "Rugby Alley", the south corridor of John ston Hal!.) Four members of the Rugb y Alley group, Andy McConvey, OAC '49, Bill Dies, OAC '49, Chuck Shi elds, OAC '50, and Professor Mitchell, took part in t he ceremonial planting.

Afterwards the alumni w ho were present planted 108 shrubs and -riowering trees, drawn from 70 different spec ies, near the site of the OAC Centennial Arboretum Centre. The planter s were aided by a group w hich was working under a Loca l Initi atives

Program grant to assist development of the arbore tum. Professor Bob Hilton , director of the arboretum, said later that the 'flowering trees that were planted shou ld mature in 15 years and live for more than half a century after that. The shrubs are a "forever thing", he said. They would periodically send up new shoots, so that the old ones could be trimmed away. Thu s they could be main­ tained in a relatively young condition for centuries, he sa id . •

-

Campus Highlights Financial situation will be tighter, President warns The University's financial situation in the wake of the Ontario gove.rnment budget is "not quite as bad as the budget committee had prepared for but a long way from our hopes," Presi dent W. C. Winegard said recently.

The statement was co ntained in a general review of Guelph's prospects, given by the presi dent in speec hes Apri I 13 and 16 to the University community. On the negative side he made the following points : • Operating grants will rise only 3.4 per cent in the 1973-74 academic year, although the cost of living has risen by a substantially higher percentage.

• Guelph's operating grants will, with one exception, be given on the basis of last year's, not this coming year's enrolment.

Thus the University will be required to service more students, but without an in­ crease in government grants. (This provision arises from the slip-year financing system, introduced this year by Minister of Colleges and Universities, Jack McNie . Under it the universities will receive operating grants on the basis of enrolment in the previous, not the current year. It benefits universities where enrolment is falling but penalizes universities such as Guelph in which enrol­ ment is rising .)

The one exception to this provision is in the veterinary program. Guelph will receive $310,000 in compensation, this year only, for the increased enrolment there. "We had hoped for fuller compensation from the Slip-year financing system but it didn't come," President Winegard said.

• The two per cent increase in the sales tax will cost $60,000 to $70,000 in the purchasing of new materials and equipment, he said. (The energy tax, which has since been withdr?wn, would have cost an additional $90,000.)

Other points the president made had positive as well as negative aspects. He noted , for instance, that the freeze on

capital expenditures will continue, so that there will be no provincally-funded building projects in the 1973-74 academic year. But this freeze should not affect two proposed buildings : the Hotel and Food Administration Building, which will be financed through contributions from the hospitality industry, and the new OVC building, which, hopefully, will receive 'federal government assistance.

The three campus buildings now under construction (the University Centre, the Laboratory Animal Building and the Human Kinetics wing of the Physical Education building ) should also be unaffected by the freeze .

Research grants to the University from the National Research Council have in­ creased considerably in the past year. Two years ago they totalled $1 million; last year they increased 50 per cent to total $1.5 million.

The projected enrolment for thi$ fall is below earlier projections but still sub­ stantially above last year's enrolment, Professor Winegard sa id. Decreases in enrolment are, as in every university in Canada, primarily in the B.A. program, he said.

President Winegard also referred to public criticism of the universities. "In the past the universities were not criticized for how they spent their money," he said.

"That was because they were not considered important and influential. Today, because they are highly visible and engaged in many activities, they attract criticism. This criticism is not something that will go away; we must learn to adapt and to live with it."

spoken to a high school audience in Arnprior and had stressed Guelph's provision for spring admission. This pro­ vision is of particular benefit to students with agricultural backgrounds, he said . It permits them to complete a semester of study by early August and work until January. Experience has shown that jobs are plentiful in the fall for such students.

Dean Switzer referred to the OAC's new environmental biology and pre-vet majors.

In connection with veterinary studies he noted that more than 600 students applied to attend the OVC this year. Of this number, 250, the majority of them having first-class honours, will be interviewed and 120 will be accepted.

Job opportunities for 1973 graduates appear to be excellent, he said. Demand at this time is highest for graduates in food science, with several positions being offered to each graduating student. Graduates in agricultural economics and environmental horticulture are also particularly in demand.

Dean Switzer was introduced by Clarke Topp, OAC '59, and thanked by Art Stewart, OAC '33, while master of ceremonies for the evening was Ottawa Chapter president Bob Anderson, OAC '6 7. The evening featured a buffet supper and casino-style gambling with play money. Prizes in the gambling went to Frank Pope, OAC '54, Mrs. Lucille Lussier (wife of Jean Lussier, OAC '43), and Elmer Banting, OAC '50.

OAC enrolment climbing dean tells Ottawa UGAA Enrolment at the OAC is at an all-time high and is expected to go still higher ne xt year, Dean Cl ay Switzer, OAC '51, recently re­ ported to a meeting of the Ottawa Chapter of the University of Guelph Alumni Association.

This increase comes at a time when enrolment in many universities is dropping, he said. The OAC now has about 1,700 students, while the University as a whole has almost 8,000 st udents, full-time and part-time, in its programs. Dean Switzer was speaking before some 60 alumni attending the chapter's April Social, held April 6 at the Carleton Towers Hotel.

He noted that earlier in the day he had

Alumni gamble their play money away at the Ottawa UGAA's April Social.

19

•

Your guide to campus parking You haven't been on the campus for years but next month you're planning to drive there?

Then read this article, It tells you how to beat or at least to conform to the parking system, now that Guelph has joined the already swollen ranks of Ontario universities which charge for daytime parking, You have several choices: • If you plan to stay more than an hour, the four pay-as-you-park lots are for you .

They charge 25 cents for the first hour and 10 cents for each additional hour. But when you enter you pay the fee for the day (if you're there before 9 a.m., for instance, you pay $1). When you leave you get whatever refund is coming to you.

• If you plan to stay less than an hour, leave your car at one of the parking meters that are located on the campus. They cost five cents for half an hour, and 10 cents for an hour.

• Your third choice is to break the regulations. You may leave your car in one of the parking areas for cars that have parking stickers. (These stickers are sold for $14 a semester to university members.)

In this case you risk being slapped with a $2 fine. If you choose noi to pay this fine, be careful about further infringements o f the parking regulations. For if caught co mmitting a second offence your car will be towed away, and it will cost $7 (or more) plus a certain amount of inconvenience to retrieve it.

• Your fourth choice is to come to Guelph after 5 p.m. or on the weekend. At those times the parking regulations are not in effect.

The lots marked on the adjacent map with

numbers are lor paid parking: they are P2,

P23, P42 and P44.

20

1,148 awarded degrees at Spring Convocation A total of 1,148 stu dents received deg rees and diplomas, 1,090 at the undergraduate level and 58 at the graduate level, during Spring Convocation, held May 24 to 26. In addition, Dr. Hans Selye, a Canadian scientist who is internationally-known for his work on stress and its effects on the body, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Dr. Selye, who is director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery at the University of Montreal, developed the concept of diseases of adaptation-that is, diseases resulting from a breakdown of t he body's mechanisms for adaptation.

Two former members of the University's Board of Governors were named Fellows of the University. They we re Ronald Ritchie, chairman of the board from 1968 to 1971, and Lawrence Kerr, who served on the board from the University's founding to a year ago.

The numbers of students graduating from the different undergraduate programs were as follows: B,A, 349, B,Sc. (Agr,) 178,

B.Sc. 163, BASc. 124, Assoc. Diploma 96 , D.V,M. 82, B.Sc. (P.E.) 38, B.Sc. (Eng.) 24, B.Comm. 22, and B.L.A, 14. The graduate figures were: M,Sc. 43, M.A. 7, Ph.D . 6, and Graduate Diploma 2.

Spring admissions down Freshman enrolment for the spring semester has dropped significantly, according to statistics from the Registrar's Office.

A total of 314 freshmen registered on a full-time basis, 25 per cent fewer than last spring and 44 per cent fewer than in the spring of 1971. Tota l full-time und ergraduate registration for the spring semester was 1,641, eight per cent below last spring an d 15 per cent below the spring of 1971 . On the other hand, part-time enrolment stood at 436 this spring, up 32 per cent from last spring and 38 per cent from the spring of 1971.

Those programs which drew the largest full-time enrolment this spring were the B.A. program with 1,056 students, the B.Sc . with 330, the BASc . with 132 and the B.Sc. (Agr.) with 83.

Farm willed to university The University has taken possession of the Cruikston Park Farm, a 973-acre farm located in Cambridge at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers, President W. C. Winegard announced recently.

The farm which was willed to the University by the late Matthew Keefer, provides a full range of the land types found in Southern Ontario. It is, at the same time located within a complex urban area.

The University will use the site to develop an ecological program involving farming operations, plus teaching and research in the life sciences, President Winegard said.

Old Jeremiah kidnapped On the morning of Friday, April 13, Old Jeremiah the cannon which has watched the ebb a'nd flow of a centu ry and a half of history, was kidnapped. A group of students from Engineering '73 winched the aged artillery piece onto a truck; they drove it from its place near Mills Hall to a new location south of the McLaughlin Library House. Then they lowered it onto a bed of concrete that had been poured the previous evening, bolted it into place and doused it liberally with yellow paint. In the next lew days it was painted twice more-orange by FACS students and red and blue , inscribed with the words "OAC '73", by Aggies.

The cannon , a two-ton naval piece , was apparently manufactured in Britain during the reign of George III and may have been used in the War of 1812. It arrived at Guelph shortly before OAC President James Mills came in 1879. Since then it has been the object of hundreds of student painting projects.

The cannon may stay in this new position a long time. "We don't intend to move it back," says President W. C. Winegard. "That would be much too big a job." The president also spoke of advantages in the cannon's new position. "I think it is appropriate," he said, "that it is set to boom out into the Engineering Building, knocking down the University Centre on the way."

Enrolment shifts towards sciences Enrolment in the winter semester rose nine per cent from the previous winter but shifted from the arts toward the sciences.

Enrolment figures for the colleges of arts, biological science, physical science and social science show that enrolment in arts dropped six per cent from the winter of 1972, while it rose 26 per cent in physical science.

In biological science it rose 15 per cent, and in social science it edged up three per cent.

(These figures, which help determine how operating funds are divided between the colleges, indicate trends in student enrol足 ment. But, as the deans of the colleges point out, they do not always measure trends accurately. Changes in prerequisites and courses that are shifted from one semester to another may distort them,) In the College of Arts , enrolment in philosophy, which had been very high in recent years, was down 28 per cent from a year ago. Enrolment in the languages, which had been declining since the compulsory language course was dropped in 1967, was down 16 per cent. On the other hand three courses which had been growing steadily for some years showed continued increases:

drama enrolment rose nine per cent between the winter of 1972 and the winter of 1973, history rose 12 per cent and fine art jumped 22 per cent.

In the College of Biological Science al足 most all subjects, with the exception of botany which was down 46 per cent, showed increased enrolment. Zoology rose 77 per cent, nutrition rose 31 per cent, human kinetics rose 18 per cent, microbiology increased seven per cent and biology increased six per cent.

In the College of Physical Science enrolment rose in all subjects except mathematics, which dropped 10 per cent.

Enrolment in Computer SCience , perhaps influenced by job opportunities for graduates, jumped 110 per cent while physics, in which there was reschedu ling of courses from fall to winter semesters, had an increase of 66 per cent. Statistics rose 35 per cent and chemistry rose 15 per cent.

In the College of Social Science enrol足 ment in geology and geomorphology (two subjects also taught in the OAC) was down 44 per cent and sociology was down five per cent. Psychology, which already had by far the largest enrolment in the college, rose an additional 15 per cent while political studies rose 22 per cent.

r

Old Jeremiah sits at its new site, freshly painted and surrounded by the earth excava ted for

its concrete base.

21

Letters (now it can be told):

The great St. Patrick's Day brawl

The photographer recalls The picture in the March-April issue of the Guelph Alumnus (see above) brought back memories.

The incident depicted in t his picture occurred on March 17, 1927, prior to break足 fast in front of the d ining hall. It was a yearly confrontation between the members of the Freshmen and Sophomore years. It probably surpassed all previous fights in the amount of human skin exposed. I along with others was waiting on the dining hal l steps for the doors to open when the fight began.

It gave the appearance early of prod ucing material for unusual photography SO I hurried to our room in Mills Hall for my camera , that I knew was loaded and ready for action. Upon my return there were so many interesting scenes that I made six exposures as fast as I could operate a Brownie. I returned the camera to Mills Hall, removed the film and returned to the dining hall. The Co-op had a fast development servi ce even in those days for my pictures were waiting for me at 5 o'clock. All six exposures turned out fine pictures. The one that you show was one of them. I have a copy of it and one other.

J. Edwin Wilson, OAe '27

Thornto n, Ontario

22

Or . Wilson enclosed a copy of the arti cle that appears below. He also said in B telephone convers ation that th ere was a great demand, especially among the class es of '28 and '29, for copies of the photos he had taken : there we re something like 500 orders for them, he said.

Ed.

Naked as a jaybird but not as prepossessing (from the March , 1967 OAC Alumni News)

By T. H. JUKES, OAe '3~ Dawn came grey and dreary at Guelph in March 17, 1927, as the freshman class gathered in the Old Residence before walking to breakfast togethe r. It was a motley c rew; young Ontario farmers; refugees from urban life; a few expatriates from older lands ; and two muscular brothers from Fort William an d Port Arthu r. The group was noteworthy for being composed principally of abrasive and eccentric individualists of a type that is currently about as common in under足 graduate populations as are live pterodactyls in a zoo. On that day, how足 ever, personality differences were forgotten in face of the common enemy: the class of 1929. Old and tattered clothes

were worn by all in anticipation of the long-awaited and schedu led fracas with the sophomores.

Breakfast was a perfunctory affai r, and little attention was paid to the stragg li ng entran ce of a few females with bath robes over their nightgowns , their hai r tied up in the counterpart of the rollers that are to-day worn by their granddaughters.

These women were shortly to w itness an hi storic scene.

The two rival groups of men left the dining hall together, and t he busi ness of the day started briskly . Soon dozens of wrestlers were struggling in the mud beneath the spru ce trees. A shirt was ripped , a sweater torn apart an d sudden ly the stripping procedure bec ame universal.

In the twinkling of an eye, between 70 and 80 adult males were nude except for their footgear . Conspicuous among them towered a lank and p orten tous fi gure, 6 feet 8 inches in height, naked as a jaybird, but not as prepossessin g.

The golden oak doors at the to p of the dining hall sl eps swung open and the Mac Hall conti ngen t e merged , c arry ing, as usual , jugs of mi lk and stacks of toast for their torpid and st arving room-m ates.

Outraged screams rent the air as th e unspeakable spectacle con fron te d the maidens . Simultaneously the morn in g street car bumped its way up t he trac ks beside Mills Hall, an d from it stepped a figure neatly dressed in a new brown tweed suit. It was ou r classmate, Chippy Squirrell. He disappeared beneat h a horde of bare savages and his clothes were rippe d f rom him in pieces before he had time to utter a single, astonishe d c ry .

Such was St. Patri ck's Day at the OA C. forty years ago; now a memory enshri ned in a few fading photograph s that lie concealed , unmentioned , an d unmailable, in private and unrecorded arch ives.

Just as the Alumn us was going to press, a letter was received from Dr. Jukes . One paragraph of it appears belo w; the rest will be printed in the next issue of the maga zine.

Ed.

Identit ies revealed!

I wa s only joking w hen I said that I was afraid to identify people in the photogr aph.

Standing at left, bac k to camera, is "Black" Dick Graham, '30; on his right is Pete

Chepesuik, '30; and with the long thin legs behind Pete is J. K. Galbraith, '31. C. K. Mader, '30, later OVC '32, is in the fore足 ground, and on the right of the picture are "Dinty" Moore, '30, and Ken Deacon, '30.

Members of the class of '29 are not recognizable: they are all on the ground in the mud, overpowered by our class. This was not initi ation, which was much roug her; it was the Marc h 17 strip-in , 1927, in front of Creelman Hall, just as the Mac Hall late breakfasters were emerging in bathrobes and curl-p apers , carrying food for their torp id room-mates, Thomas Jukes, OAC '30 Berkeley, Ca\.

The March orgy I w as very much interested in the March足 April issue of the Guelph Alumnus and the ph oto on page ten thereof. This is not an initiation ceremony which is depicted but rather the 17th of March orgy of the year 1927.

This affair was between the Class of 29 Sophomores and Year 30 Freshmen. The c lass presidents were Joey Sykes and Sid "Bo iler" Howe. Word got around to us freshmen be fo re breakfast to go up to th e di ning hall in our old clothes but we did n ot know what was up . As is customary, every one who had a green tie wore one. Wh en breakfast was over Joey and Sid went out together and Joey reportedly pulled out a pair of scissors and cut Sid's tie off. This started a scuffle and before you know it the members of the two years were at it "hammerlock and tongs" on the lawn between Mills Hall and the dining hall.

There were a few from both years who aspi red to be wrestlers: one of the soph candidates was Hank Ford, and his freshman counterpart was the writer of this article.

We were pretty well matched as to size but I was a bit faster on my feet. I got Hank down and was giving him "the works " , so he retaliated by pulling off my shirt. Two could play at that game, so off came Hank's shirt. One thing led to another to the point that we were soon down to fundamentals except for shoes, belts and "protectors".

This sort of thing was going on all around us and before you knew it there were some two hundred men milling around in various stages of nudity and exhaustion. The fight did not last long, but long enough for the junior and senior year men to go to their rooms and get their cameras to record the

incident for posterity. It was reported that one of the "dandies" of t揃he soph class went up to his room and changed three times, and had his garments ripped off on as many occasions.

Dr. J. B. Reynolds was the president of the college at the time and, to avert a scandal, he arranged with all the drug stores and film developers in the City of Guelph to confiscate the film, and/or refrain from developing pictures of the "affair". The students were not to be outsmarted, however, so some of them sent their film to Hamilton for printing. In this manner "history" was preserved!

The picture shown is not the only one that is still in existence. I remember vividly one that was taken behind the judging ring where we went to dress our wounds. There were about a dozen of us, mostly naked except for a belt, jockstrap and shoes. T his one if printed in the Alumnus would really cause a sens ation!

M. W. (Mike) Chepesulk, OAC ' 30 Kelowna, B.C.

AI Beswick, OAC '50, has been appointed vice-presid en t for the meat division of Swift Canadian Co. Ltd. Mr . Beswick majored in agricultural economics at Guelph and took part in a number of campus activities. He was a member of the OAC Student Council, a quarterback on the intramural football team, and editor of the O.A.C. Review and the Libranni. He began with Swift in 1950 as a salesman and received promotions including a 1970 appointment as general manager of Swift Eastern Ltd. In his home community of Oakville he is a past president of the association for the mentally retarded and the art society, and is chairman of the board of managers and a choir member at Hopedale Presb yterian Church.

Derek French, OAC '58, has been appointed vice-president in charge of consumer products for the Toronto advertising agency of Cockfield, Brown and Co. Ltd. Mr. French, who majored in agricultural eco nomics, has been in marketing and advertising since graduation. His postings include two ye ars in London, England; he joined Cockfield, Brown three years ago.

Mr. French has been active in promoting the University of Guelph's Alma Mater Fund and has been Chairman of the Fund's Direct Mail Committee for the past two years.

Ewart Carberry, OAe '44, of Oakville, has been named an alumni member of Senate.

Mr. Carberry, who is president of Carberry Insurance Agency Ltd. , ran in the 1972 election for alumni member of Senate and lost by a narrow margin. He replaces Dr. M, A. Chernesky, OVC '65, winner of the ele ction, who recently resigned his post.

Mr . Carberry will serve until August 31,1975.

Above : left,

AI Beswick,

right, Derek French;

At lef/:

Ewart Carberry,

The next issue While labouring or lazing your way through the month of August you will receive yo ur next issue of the Guelph Alumnus-an issue that highlights the sombre predictions contained in the book, Limits to Growth. This book, which has had considerable influence at the University in the past year, forecasts catastrophe for mankind in the next half century unless some足 thing is done about the problems of a growing economy . The July-August issue will also look at urbanization in Ontario, the subject of a conference at Guelph this month , as well as Farley Mowat 's crusade to save the whale. And f(1T a change of tone the Alumnus will featul'e the story of "The Grudge Fight " , as recalled by "Fighting Bob" of OAC '20.

23

p otocom

Any Alumnus can win!

The University of Guelph Alumni Association has planned a new kind of program for alumni allover the world-a Photography Competition - and you are invited to participate .

The rules of the competition are simp le: 1. Photographs must have been taken by the associ ation member in 1973.

2. Photographs may be in bl ac k and white or colour.

3. The size of all photogr aphs should be either 8 by 8 inches or 8 by 10 inches, vertical or horizontal.

4. Entries shall be limited to four per person.

5. An entry fee of $1 .00 shall acc omp any each entry.

6. Photographs may be entered in the

follow ing classes :

(a) Individual Portrait (Bl ack & White or Colour Division); (b) Landscape, Seascape, or Arc hitecture (Black & White or Colour Division); (c) Comic C omposition (Black & White or Colour Division); (d) Family Group (Black & White or Colour Division); (e) Animal or Bird Life (Bla c k & White or Colour Division); (f) Open-Your Choice-Publi c ity, Human Interest, etc. (Bl ack & White or Colour Division) .

7. The name and addre ss of the Assoc iation member shall be printed on the back of each photograph, as well as the cla ss .

8. Photographs will not be returned and will become the property of the Alumn i Associa足 tion and may be printed in the Guelph Alumnus without permiss ion.

9. Entries shall be postmarked no later than

Septem ber 14, 1973.

10. A panel of three judges shall select the winners and the results will be announ ced at the Annu al Meet ing of the Assoc iation at Homecoming in October.

11. Prizes will be awarded in e ac h c lass in both black and white and colour divis ion s. (Prizes will be based on number of entries.)

12. Entries shall be sent to : PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITI ON UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ALUMNI HOUSE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH GUELPH, ONTARIO, CAN ADA

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Coming Events

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Sept. 28

OAC Alumni Golf Tou rn ament

Oct. 5

Convocatio n

Oct. 12

UGAA Annual Meeting R. S. Ritchie lecturship (Speaker: J. K. Galbraith, OAC '31 )

3 ex>

Oct. 13

Homecoming (Guelph vs. McMaster)

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