SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 VOLUME 118 ISSUE 2
since 1906
Looking back on Canada’s last women’s university JESSICA KIM FEATURES, IMPACT AND ENGAGEMENT EDITOR
MADELEINE MCCOLL GAZETTE The remaining Brescia sign, Aug. 13, 2024.
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atricia Skidmore-Skuce can’t imagine being taught by a female professor. As she pursued her undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees, seeing women in higher education — let alone achieving those milestones herself — was nearly unheard of. She graduated from Kent State University’s social sciences undergraduate program in 1965 before obtaining a masters in 1967 and a PhD in 1971 from the University of Alberta. After beginning her career, she completed a second master’s at Western University in 1977. Skidmore-Skuce dedicated 40 years of her life to teaching at Brescia University College, Canada’s last all-women’s university. From 1969 to 2008, she observed dramatic changes in women’s rights and education. In her early years at Brescia, Skidmore-Skuce explained that women were socialized to be passive, and men regularly employed tactics to silence them in the classroom. She recounted specific memories of students confiding in her after being on the receiving end of cruel jokes and insults on the basis of gender when taking courses on Western’s main campus.
“It wasn’t in their arsenal to be assertive,” she said. “The women’s movement of the 60s and 70s hadn’t really penetrated young women.” Skidmore-Skuce made it her mission to challenge these norms over her decades at Brescia. As a professor at an all-women’s university, she encouraged her students to find their voices, think critically and advocate for themselves. It’s been a year since Western announced on Sept. 21, 2023, that Brescia would integrate into its operations by May and no longer exist as an autonomous institution. The year was filled with heartache and reflection for those close to Brescia. Many students fought back against the integration, citing fear about the absence of a safe university space for women and gender-diverse people in the Western community and across Canada more broadly. “I was dismayed,” Skidmore-Skuce recalled. “Because it was such a good place for me and more importantly, for the thousands of students who went through.” The merger shocked students and faculty, especially as Western and Brescia’s faculty unions
were excluded from initial consultations. Western later apologized to the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association for its approach to the integration. According to Western, Brescia had approached the university about “financial difficulties it was facing and proposed an integration” in September 2023. As part of the agreement, Western assumed possession of all liability, debts and assets owned by Brescia, including around $35 million in loans, and acquired the land and buildings on the affiliate college’s campus. Jenna Beecroft, a fourth-year psychology and political science major — formerly at Brescia — explained she could feel the collective grief of Brescia students when Western made the integration announcement. In the following months, Brescia students formed the Brescia Preservation Alliance and several rallies were held throughout the fall. Hundreds of students, faculty and alumni attended dressed in Brescia’s signature blue and yellow, carrying signs that read “Save Brescia” and “Bold not Sold.”
Beecroft, who was the Brescia councillor on the University Students’ Council and a student senator, advocated on behalf of Brescia students during meetings with faculty and administrators. As a student leader, she wasn’t entirely surprised by the announcement, given Brescia’s small student body. “It was interesting to oscillate between the collective grief of students and then the student leadership perspective of being in these rooms, having difficult conversations and seeing admin’s perspective,” Beecroft said. Western created a $25 million Brescia Legacy fund to support scholarships and bursaries aimed at helping equity-deserving students. The university also promised to maintain Brescia’s academic programs for the next four years so current students can complete their degrees. Since its founding, Brescia students have earned Western degrees as part of its affiliation with the university. Beecroft is now continuing her degree at King’s University College, one of Western’s two remaining affiliate colleges.
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