the

by Dr. Paul Gallagher, Present Principal
of Capilano College.

A note had been left in my hotel room
asking me to come to the South Campus
Tower at 9 o'clock the next morning. I
was immediately concerned, because if
there was a South Campus, there must
also be a North Campus - and that
conveyed a sense of size I had not
anticipated. But, especially since I had
left from impersonal Toronto a little
more than five hours earlier, the thought
of a "Tower" - I could imagine taking the
elevator to the 12th or 15th floor - was
more than a disappointment. What a
shame, I thought, to mar such a striking
setting with a gross glass and concrete
monster. This was my first and quite
incorrect impression of Capilano
College.

The reality as I first saw it was really
quite different. I was delighted to learn
that "the Tower" was only three storeys
in height - and later to find out that it
was four storeys high from a different
angle. To discover still later that other
campus buildings were also on a human
seale - and that there was not a North
Campus Tower - was a real joy. The
sheer beauty of Capilano's setting -the
huge trees, the early morning birds, the
sensitive landscaping, the absence of
brick and mortar - was an impression
that grew and grew as time went on.
Simply to stand at the exit of the NB
building in the late evening and slowly
look around was a dramatic experience.

My first visit to Capilano was on an April
Friday. The campus did not appear to be
very busy, there was no_ sense of
crowding, but a great deal seemed to be
happening in small isolated pockets of
activity. By the second visit a few

Impressions
of Capilano College
in 1977

weeks later, my original sense was
confirmed. There was a real if
indefinable energy and vitality to the
college. People were active, there was a
sense of purpose if not mission, there
was a kind of muted _ exuberance.
Capilano, I felt sure, was a people place,
a college that bubbled, a centre of
controversy. My first adjective to
describe Capilano was "feisty", and the
experience of almost a year has not
altered that description.

It soon became very clear that the notion
of "community" was far more than a
platitude at Capilano. Very early it was
evident that Squamish was a force to be
reckoned with and a community with its
own style and needs; West Vancouver
appeared to be the spiritual as well as
physical parent of the college and a love-
hate relationship with that community
seemed to be part of Capilano's history;
Lynnmour was the main campus but by
no means the only centre of operations in
North Vancouver. A quick impression
was that Capilano had many and
different masters to serve.

But the overarching initial impression
was one of people - faculty, staff,
Council members, administrators - with
a true belief in the potential of their
college. Within weeks, I heard many
people speak almost passionately about
what the college should be and could be -
the vision was not always the same, but
the depth of conviction was quite
uniform. I was being told that Capilano
was a college unfulfilled but also a
college in whom a very high proportion
of people had very high hopes. If only ---
was the start of many sentences I
listened to in my first weeks at Capilano
College. =

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