Impressions and remembrances of Simon Fraser University, 1968

The following article was previously published in the 60th Anniversary Edition of the Simon Fraser University Retirees Association Newsletter, Simon Says:

Pill, Jaan. (2025). Impressions and remembrances of SFU. Simon Fraser University Retirees Association Newsletter, Simon Says, (Fall), 42-43.

A PDF (which may take some time to load) of the Autumn 2025 special issue of the Simon Says newsletter can be accessed here:

https://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/retirees/news-events/Newsletters/2025/2025_Fall_Newsletter.pdf

We owe many thanks to Marcia Toms, Editor, and Walter Piovesan, Design & Production Editor, for putting together this highly valuable 60th Anniversary Edition of the newsletter. A tremendous amount of work is involved in putting together such a document, which I have been reading with much interest.

The links which are included in my article provide additional details, related to the content.

Impressions and remembrances of Simon Fraser University

By Jaan Pill

My own impressions and remembrances of the university’s early years centre around the Peak newspaper. I arrived on campus, I believe in January 1968, as a bachelor of arts student majoring in psychology, after transferring from McGill University. Soon after my arrival, I walked into the office of the Peak and said I wanted to start writing articles. Soon thereafter I was observing large, raucous meetings in the Mall, where multitudes of speakers were debating urgent and pressing issues related to the future of the university.

Years later, I would be using a cassette recorder – and, still later, a digital audio recorder – to keep track of who said what. The contentious meetings I was attending at SFU were taking place, however, at a time before widespread use of recorders. So, using just a pen and a pad of paper, I would write down lengthy quotations of what the speakers were saying. I was able to record such long passages, of people’s speeches, because some time earlier, I had come across a book about italic script, a form of handwriting which differs from the standard form of cursive handwriting – a standard method taught in the past, and which may be taught even now, in elementary schools.

Jaan Pill. Source: 1962-1963 yearbook of Malcolm Campbell High School, Montreal.

Using a book I had come across at a Vancouver bookstore, I had learned how to write in italic script. In this method, letters are formed using short strokes of a pen. Between each quick stroke, the pen is lifted off the page. That’s in contrast to cursive handwriting, where the pen remains in contact with the paper much of the time. With cursive handwriting, when you try to write really fast, what emerges quickly become illegible. With italic script, you can write very quickly, yet the words remain easy to read.

Accurate and balanced news reporting

The book I bought about italic script enabled me to launch my career as a student journalist. After writing a good number of news reports starting early in 1968, one day a member of the Peak’s board of directors asked me a question: did I wish to apply for the position of editor? The thought had never occurred to me, but I agreed to apply and my application was accepted, from among the ones that had been submitted.

One of the Peak staffers, Ed Wong, later told me about how Dennis Roberts, the university’s information officer, had reacted on learning of my appointment. He said that when informed that I would be the next editor, Dennis Roberts had breathed a visibly evident sigh of relief. By the expression on his face, you could tell at once that, for Roberts, the editorship of the Peak would be one less thing to worry about – in the midst of pressing governance issues, at a crucial stage of SFU’s history. The Peak was not about to be transformed into a narrowly focused communications project, devoted exclusively to the interests of one, or another, political faction.

I got to know Dennis Roberts, a former newspaper reporter, well. Under my stewardship, the paper would continue its track record of providing accurate and balanced news coverage of campus events. Hugh Johnson, in Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University (2005), an account of the early history of SFU, mentions by name a series editors at the Peak who ensured balanced and accurate news reporting.

Should fraternities be established in Vietnam?

In its opinion pages, the Peak also maintained its track record of providing regular opportunities for students and faculty to express whatever political opinion happened to occur to them. Humour also occasionally found its way into print, as when Allen Garr suggested a feature article in which people on campus were asked whether fraternities should be established in Vietnam. At that time, the Vietnam War was very heavily on the minds of many people. I was interested to learn that after graduating from SFU, Garr achieved distinction as an award-winning, Vancouver-based radio, television, and print commentator, housing advocate, and beekeeper.

I’ll mention just a few other people I remember. Stan Wong comes to mind at once. He was president of the student council at his high school in East Vancouver. At SFU, among several other key leadership roles, he chaired a series of large meetings, focused upon issues related to the governance of the university, in the late 1960s. The thought occurred to me, at the time, that Stan Wong must be well acquainted with the sometimes intricate rules of procedure, absolutely essential for the smooth conduct of such meetings. He made his ruling quickly and effectively; he consistently kept things on track. Stan Wong went on to a distinguished career as an economist and lawyer. I was saddened to learn that he had died in 2016.

“My mind is not boggled!”

I also recall getting to know Eveyln Williams. Occasionally, she would visit the Peak office in the course of her activities on campus. She was elected to the Student Society and was editor of the SFU alumni magazine. I remember her as a very bright, astute, active individual. After completing a bachelor’s degree in economics at SFU, Evelyn Williams studied medicine at the University of British Columbia. She has made a significant contribution to the field of public health in Ontario, with an impressive record of published work. Among other roles, she is past president, Ontario Long-Term Care Clinicians (OLTCC), and creator and editor of the OLTCC Medical Director Manual. She also taught for many years as an adjunct associate professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

I also recall that in those years, if people found something was absolutely amazing or uncanny, they would be likely to exclaim, “It boggles the mind!” That brings to mind what Rob Walsh, representing a moderate faction on campus, said in a Vancouver television interview. He was asked about a number of highly charged controversies featured in recent news reports about SFU. In the interview, Walsh said (and I paraphrase), “My mind is not boggled!” That was a good line; Walsh’s take, regarding events on campus in those years, resonated with a majority of students as indicated by his election as president of the Student Society at a crucial early stage of the university’s history.

I will close with a brief biography. I’m a retired elementary teacher who worked for the Peel and Toronto District School Boards. As a volunteer, I was responsible for media relations during the early years of the Canadian Stuttering Association, which I co-founded. I’m a co-founder, as well, of the Estonian Stuttering Association and the International Stuttering Association. I’m based in Stratford, Ontario, where I live with my wife and daughter; my activities also include documentary projects through my website Preserved Stories.