RING RETRO: Day care campaign 1975

During this 50th anniversary year of the university, The Ring will be delving into its own archives to unearth and publish items of historical interest, providing perspective on UVic’s development.

The very first issue of The Ring, on Oct. 16, 1975, covered, among other issues, the first external review of academic programs at UVic, the sad lack of knowledge of Canadian history among students, and consultations on the controversial “Petch procedures” involving ratification votes on candidates for administrative appointments. And another perpetual issue made news in that inaugural edition: the need for more day care spaces (see below).

Beginning this month, we are posting digitized and searchable copies of early volumes of The Ring on our website. Currently, volumes 1 and 2 (24 issues from 1975 and 1976) are available, courtesy of UVic Libraries, at http://ring.uvic.ca/archive, with more to come later. Enjoy.

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From Vol. 1, No. 1, October 16, 1975, p.4

Day Care Campaign Goes to UVic People

For the first time since UVic was established, its staff, faculty and students will be asked to dig into their pockets and contribute to a campus project.
The project is a new $200,000 day care centre that will house at least 80 children. Floyd Fairclough, who as director of Development Funds is setting up the campaign, said folders outlining the case for support will be circulated soon around campus.

“We will have ample funds if everyone gives just a little.” Fairclough noted that faculty and staff haven’t been asked for financial support since Victoria College became the University of Victoria in 1963.

At that time, “an underpaid and overworked” staff kicked in $130,000 towards the capital costs of constructing UVic’s first Gordon Head campus buildings. With the provincial government paying one-half the costs, the university had to come up with the other half—$9 million—to pay for the buildings.

With people expecting governments to pay for more and more these days, Fairclough anticipated that overcoming this attitude may pose a problem in the day care drive.

“There is no way we will raise funds from the community at large, and receive support from the provincial government, unless we demonstrate our own conviction for the worth of this project.”

He also noted that UVic is one of the few Canadian universities that doesn’t have its own annual fund drive for worthwhile campus projects.
The need for a day care centre is apparent, he said, and the quicker it is built the better it will be for nearly 50 parties currently on the waiting list for the facilities.
Once built, the centre would be self-supporting from parent fees and provincial assistance. It would be open to the children of students, faculty, staff and non-university residents of the Gordon Head area. […]

For the past four years, UVic’s present day care centre has operated in an old house at 2246 McCoy Road, and was able to handle only 20 children between ages two and four. The operation has just been expanded to the old Department of Transport building next door, which used to house U Vic’s Print Shop. That means another 20 children are being taken care of between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.