File f58 - McBratney, Jean

File consists of a recording of Jean McBratney. Topics of the conversation include Queen's Registrar's office under Jean Royce, Assistant Registrar Jean Richardson (1930s-40s). Personal replies dictated by Royce to admission applications; nearly automatic admission of Arts students, review of Science applications with Dean and Secretary of Applied Science. WWII regulation requiring failing students to withdraw, without supplementary exams or permission to repeat; formal report of failed students to Government as potential draft choices. Scarcity of applicants during WWII; open admission of Arts students, admission quota for Science students. Lack of government financial aid for students throughout Depression; available scholarships, bursaries; no recollection of student withdrawals on financial grounds. Prof. Campbell's friendly banter with typing staff; Dean Ellis' dog-companion, 'Buster', Prof. Ciark's Scottie dog (which bit Dean Ellis). Royce's preparation of exam timetable, sans computer; Gestetner as sole reproducing facility. German students interned in England (WWII),welcomed in Canada if sponsored by Canadian; Queen's students Alfred Bader (later art donor), Kurt Rothschild. Doubled applications after WWII; full-time summer sessions, resulting in 'Class of 48 1/2'; special courses, e.g. Prospecting. Community war effort: knitting; playing cards with soldiers at Barriefield; no recollection of objectors or veteran bitterness. Popularisation of married studenthood by veterans; poverty as a contributing factor to pre-war single studenthood. Dedication of veteran students, occasional academic failure. Financial support of veteran husbands by wives; desertions by ungrateful graduate husbands who felt they had 'outgrown' uneducated wives. Employment by Assistant to Principal (1952-6), by Dean's Office, Faculty of Medicine, (1956-78). Studious campus quiet during 1950s, lack of political protest. Availability of funding in 1960s,former economic stringency: battle of supervisors to raise salaries, employment of teachers on part-time, supplementary income basis, or on Fellowships. Med School requirements laid down by Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons; Queen's 6-year Meds programme, late switch to 2-year pre-Meds, 4-year Med School system. Arts faculty requirements for Medical programme, dropped in 1974; student illiteracy problem; former mandatory remedial courses for students with English marks below 60. Admission of women to Med School, 1943; higher standards required for entrance compared with men; tendency to drop out as primary reason for rejecting, discouraging them. Barb Campling's protest of refusal (despite superior grades) by Queen's Medical School; acceptance to pre-Meds programme, Western University; later refusal of Meds option at Queen's. Subject's acceptance of women Med students' situation. Increase in number of female applicants, in quota accepted; frequent superiority of female Med students; smaller number of dropouts coinciding with introduction of pre-Med system (2 years plus 4 seems less than 6). Friendly acceptance of Nancy Moffat, first woman graduate of Applied Science, by male students. Low WWII enrolment, general progressive pressure as causes of eventual admission of women to Med School, not protest (nonexistent) by rejected applicants. Regrettable abolishment of standard provincial Gr.13 entrance exams. Difficulty of winnowing sincere students from huge volume of applicants to Med School; lack of formal interviewing procedure at Queen's. Subject's lifetime in Kingston: memory of Depression in terms of economy, not hardship; Queen's salary 'not great', but (more important) the work was interesting.//Acceptance of limited career options for women (1950s); scarcity of remunerative summer or part-time jobs ('no money to do things') to stir ambitions. Subject's Distinguished Service Award from University Council. Volunteer hospital work on fill-in basis; volunteer involvement of faculty wives. Defence of unpaid volunteer work: valuable in an economic recession, as legitimate boost to self-esteem. Enjoyment of Arts courses audited at Queen's and St Lawrence College. Decline in townspeople's tolerance for students since 1930s; memory of city people welcoming returning Queen's football champions, stopping to watch victory snake-dances down Princess St; students as city benefactors even now. Enjoyment of busy Queen's career; lucky variety of first appointment, introduction to student, faculty, and administrative points of view.