Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/609048
44 simon FALL 2015 The idea for a new college or univer- sity came up at UBC because faculty and administrators there were worrying about rising enrolment and its possibly damaging impact on their univer- sity. And when mem- bers of a special UBC committee began look- ing systematically at the home addresses of their students, they saw that each year the centre of UBC's catchment area was moving to the east. That meant that stu- dents were commuting from farther away. They were coming increas- ingly from middle class and working class areas, not just elite neighbour- hoods, and necessar- ily, given the distances and the inadequacy of the existing bus system, many were arriving by car. Ron Baker, then in the English department at UBC and later SFU's f irst academic plan- ner, pictured an unsightly multiplication of parking lots at UBC—unless students were given somewhere else to go. UBC, as an older generation remembers very well, was then the only degree-grant- ing institution in B.C. (There are now 16 with four-year programs.) In other words, UBC had a provincial monopoly on higher education. And while it relied partially on an annual grant from the B.C. government, it operated as an indepen- dent, self-governing entity—as universities theoretically operate today—except UBC's i ndependence t hen was greater. In that light, we can appreciate the significance of the decision on the UBC c a m pu s — suppor t e d by a new UBC presi- dent—to give up its monopoly and encour- age the creation of a separate, rival, degree- g ranting institution east of Vancouver's downtown area. The provincial gov- ernment quickly adopted the idea—and local municipalities got behind it—but it came from concerned UBC professors who were thinking not only of the larger social benefit but also of the future of their own campus. When these professors asked themselves where a new college or university should go, they found an answer on a map detail- ing prospective students' driving times. They located a focal point in Burnaby, at the Cariboo interchange on what was then the new Trans-Canada Highway. They saw this interchange as a strategic centre for an area stretching 50 kilometres west from Langley to the downtown heart of Vancouver. And when they looked for a university site close to this interchange, Burnaby Mountain was not just an option, but without doubt the most dramatic location available. In fact, no other site got much consideration. Their recommendations went into a report that the provincial government adopted and that led directly to SFU's creation. AN IVORY TOWER The mountain these UBC professors had identified might best be described as a big hill, but it is still high enough (at 370 metres or 1,214 feet) to be visible from many points in the Vancouver area. For SFU's first 30 years, the initial approach by road from the west was much steeper than today, rising 370 metres in four kilometres; and it was a big challenge for the many aging, pre-owned student and faculty cars that attempted it. It was low enough, nonetheless, to be managed on a bicycle and cyclists have been conquering it from the day the University opened. With a car, if one had a faulty engine—sticky valves or worn rings—the initial steep incline would quickly expose the problem. Lurching all the way up to parking lots A, B or C still brought one to breathtaking views of mountains, inlets and islands in the distance—on a sunny day. But even with a smooth, well-powered ascent, the six-minute drive up the mountain put a psychological distance between the University and the political, commercial, industrial and residential world below. And that psychological distance made it easier to speak of the Burnaby campus as an ivory tower, although speaking of it that way did not actually make it so. In reality, the Burnaby campus was not an ivory tower—if that meant a place of In reality, the Burnaby campus was not an ivory tower—if that meant a place of refuge or sanctu- ary or isolation. At SFU, the diversions of the off-campus world were inescapable A DIFFERENT STORY Local citizen groups were a force behind the rise of nearly every new university in Canada in the 1960s—when pub- lic demand for access to higher education was escalating. That campaigning by local groups describes the origins of York University, Waterloo, the University of Victoria and many others. But the SFU story was different. The idea for Simon Fraser University had its origins at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Professors and administrators at UBC—not a group of Burnaby citizens—were the ones to identify northeast Burnaby as the place for a new college or university. And these professors went further, pointing to Burnaby Mountain as a specific site.