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Vi Southgate of Sardis was one of the
first students at Fraser Valley College
when it opened its doors in September,
1974, Last Thursday, at 69 years of age,
she was the oldest graduate at the UCFV
convocation ceremony as she crossed the
Stage with students who weren’t even

born yet when she took her first class. She
received a Bachelor of Arts with extended °

minors in English and history.

Southgate gave the valedictory speech,
in which she urged the university college
to remain a beacon for freedom of
expression and the exchange of ideas, and

to strive to be a place “safe from the evils .

of racism, homophobia, sexism, and
intellectual intolerance.”

“I feel privileged to have received an
education here — but I have to tell you
how important it is that the environment
remain open for the free exchange of
ideas,” she said. “We are in an era of
great diversity, and there will always be
resistance to that. It is the college’s
profound and almost holy duty to provide
a place for free exchange of ideas, and to
create a climate where all feel safe to do
so — not to reflect or buckle to the
prevailing social climate. UCFV must
reflect the diversity that is Canada today,
so that differences are respected and other
voices add to everyone’s education.”

“Tt is the college’s profound
and almost holy duty to provide
a place for free exchange of
ideas, and to create a climate
where all feel safe to do so— :
not to reflect or buckle to the

prevailing social climate.”

She also noted that her younger
classmates weren't unwise to choose an
arts degree in a “bottom line world”.

“The ability to think clearly and
articulate your thoughts, and to be open to
new ideas, are important to both the work
environment and to your duties as human
beings. In today’s media environment, the
ability to analyze and to think critically
are vitally important. Without the skills to
recognize social ills, how will you decide
how to vote or make decisions regarding
your own children’s education? ”

Southgate, a homemaker who raised
five children, started her post-secondary

career by taking Sociology 125 at the age
of 48. She continued to take one or two
courses at a time over the years, “flitting
along”, with gaps in between. She
enjoyed the intellectual stimulation she
got from taking classes.

Vi Southgate (right) with Governor General’s
medal winner Lori Macintosh.

“It was great to hear my own ideas
articulated while learning new ones.”

At the convocation ceremony, she
noted that it’s a major undertaking for
mature students to come back to school.

“It’s a short walk from the kitchen sink
to the washing machine, but a giant step
from the kitchen to enrolling in a college
course,” Southgate noted.

She went on to describe the “no frills”
educational philosophy of the Fraser
‘Valley in the 1950s and

"60s, drawing parallels to some of the
debate going on today.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that the
good old days were good! As parents, we
had to try to buck the prevalent notion
about ‘frills’. A gym was considered a

_ frill — not an essential item, nor was

theatre, music, or the arts. Just like today,
there was a refrain of ‘back to basics and
traditional schools’. There was an
undercurrent of anti-intellectualism then.
just as there is now. The struggle to

_ establish post-secondary education in this

climate was an uphill battle!”

Over the years she was involved in
parent groups when her children were in

Headlines/June 28, 1996

, Oldest graduate all the wiser after 22 years at college

school: “We always talked about how

_ people had to go away for post-secondary

and how there weren’t many prospects for
jobs out here... When the college opened
it was very convenient — something
people like me wanted for a long time.
There wasn’t much in this part of the
Valley. The college has brought about a
new awareness and broad-mindedness
about other ideas, a different insight.”
Southgate was thrilled when years of
lobbying paid off and Fraser Valley

-College was formed in 1974.She enrolled

as a mature student.
“In Chilliwack the classes were —

" scattered everywhere — church

basements, high schools, all over — but
the poor facilities were tempered by the
enthusiasm of the faculty and staff.”

She never expected to actually finish
her degree, as the college offered only the
first two years: “There was no hope of
any such thing. It was a dream a lot of -
people like me had, but not something
real.... Degree-granting status was a long
time coming.”

In 1991, when she heard UCFV had
become a university-college, she sat
down and added up her credits and
discovered that she had enough to enter
the final two years.

Although termed a mature student,
Southgate isn’t sure the description
always suits her.

“I’m a mature student, but a very
cheeky one. I've said a lot of things
tongue-in-cheek in the hope of starting up
a good argument or discussion — to jazz
things up. It may be some compensation
that I’m not 21 — the instructors put up

‘with a lot more from a mature student!”

Southgate noted that a “kaleidoscope”
of names and faces comes to mind when
she thinks of all the people at the college
who have helped her along the way, but
chose two for special mention: the late
Betty Urquhart for giving her the initial
push back in 1974, and Arts advisor
Joanne Bishop for encouraging her to
continue during her husband’s illness and -
subsequent death in 1994,

Now that she’s got her degree, she’s
considering what she’ll do to keep busy in
her 70s. a :

“I don’t think I'll ever quit. If there’s
something I can do, I’m happy to do it!”