President's Address

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT (20 October 1985 - UA RG 285, Box 2, File 6)

It is, as always, a pleasure and honour for me to welcome you to UNB Fall Convocation. To be able to do so in this our bicentennial year is a particular pleasure. And I hope it is so for you who will receive degrees today, for you have the distinction of being in the graduating class of our 200th year: bicentennial graduates one and all.

There have been so many bicentennials in New Brunswick in the past couple of years that we at UNB, in taking our turn, have tried not to put on too many bells and whistles. Our celebrations, which will go on throughout the academic year, are deliberately low key and low budget, and are designed to complement our normal academic and cultural activities. Three aspects of these celebrations will be seen at the Convocation. The Georgia Brass Quintet will bear eloquent musical witness to our discovery that the University of Georgia shares with us, in addition to a common founding date, a remarkable consanguinity of tradition and spirit that is worth, and has received, joint celebration.

Our Bicentennial Choir, performing publicly for the first time today, is an attempt to revive a tradition of choral singing at UNB that somehow lapsed in recent years. This, I believe, will be a bicentennial gift to ourselves that will last.

Finally, at the suggestion of the UNB Bicentennial Committee our honorary graduands today have been chosen by the nine Faculties on the Fredericton campus. The nominees represent outstanding achievement in their respective fields and are, I believe, as exceptional a group of people as will mount the convocation stage of any Canadian university this year.

While we have been frugal in the costs of our celebrations, there is no restraint upon the sense of pride we take on an occasion such as this in the realization that we are the oldest provincially-chartered university in Canada; that we have inherited a fine tradition of academic achievement and service; and that, at 200, UNB is as able and as keen to serve its province and nation as it has been at any time in its history.

It is appropriate that our Fall Convocations are always held around Thanksgiving Day for we at UNB have much to be thankful for -- especially this year.

Not least among our blessings is the relationship that UNB has had with the Aitken family: first Lord Beaverbrook, then Sir Max, and now Lady Violet. Madam Chancellor, we rejoice in your presence with us on this occasion. We were sorry you couldn't be with us in May for Encaenia and even more sorry that the reason for your absence was the death of your husband and our former Chancellor. Sir Max has a special place in the history of this institution and in the hearts of those here who knew him well. Whoever would seek his monument need only look around the campus.

It was with pleasure that we learned that his son and yours, Maxwell Aitken, had assumed the title Lord Beaverbrook, and it is an honour to welcome him and Lady Beaverbrook here this afternoon. (Ladies and Gentlemen, Lord and Lady Beaverbrook.)

It gives me great pleasure to announce that, to mark the first visit of Lord Beaverbrook to New Brunswick since assuming his grandfather's title, the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation, subject to the approval of the Senate and Board of Governors, will fund for ten years a scholarship program for part-time students. These undergraduate scholarships, which could number as many as 50 per year, would be known as The Lord Beaverbrook Bicentennial Scholarships for Continuing Education.

Currently, part-time students, unlike their full-time counterparts, are not eligible to receive scholarships or awards to recognize their academic achievements. Further, of the approximately 350 awards (including bursaries) administered by the University, only 5 are available for part-time students, and the value of these particular awards is quite limited (in the range of $100 - $300). This, despite the fact that part-time students now comprise a very large portion of our total enrolment.

For the twelve-month period of May 1, 1984 to April 30, 1985, for example, a total of 13,717 students enrolled in degree credit courses offered on both campuses. Of this number, however, there were 5,085 (or 37%) who were classified as part-time students - 3,840 on the Fredericton campus and 1,245 in Saint John.

The prevailing attitude towards part-time students has been that they are or should be able to support themselves and finance their university education from their own resources or from those of their employer. Experience at UNB and elsewhere has revealed, however, that this is too frequently not the case. Many part-time students are not part of the labour force, or if they are, generally earn only modest incomes largely because of their lack of higher education. A recent survey of a selected group of part-time students in New Brunswick indicates that the majority of them are women; that they have an average of 2.5 dependents; that approximately 1 in 4 is a single parent; that the average personal annual income is approximately $8,000; and that the average family annual income is approximately $13,000.

The Lord Beaverbrook Bicentennial Scholarships for Continuing Education would do for a significant number of part-time students what the first Lord Beaverbrook Scholarships did and continue to do for many bright young New Brunswickers: make possible a university education and degree.

It is another splendid gift to UNB from the Atiken family through the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. Madam Chancellor, My Lord Beaverbrook, we are in your debt -- as we have so often been in the past -- and we ask you to accept our sincerest appreciation.

Finally, I should like to say a brief word to you who graduate today, many of whom may have been part-time students at one stage or other of your university career. When Stephen Leacock received his Ph.D. he said: 'The meaning of this degree is that the recipient has been examined for the last time in his life and pronounced full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted to him.' Well, I doubt that you have been examined for the last time in your lives, and I'm sure you'll discover many new ideas along the way, so I shan't pronounce you full. I do hope, however, that we have done our part to prepare you for the professional and personal challenges that you will face. I hope also that you have at least on balance enjoyed your years 'up the hill'. May I, on behalf of everyone at UNB, wish you success and satisfaction in your lives and careers.