john 1“. Kennedy vowed in 1961 that the United States would put a 
     
     man on the moon by the end of the decade. If he had said Prince 
     
     Edward Island would have a single, non—denominational univer— 
     
     sity, too, it would have seemed just as unlikely. In an Island society 
     
     where Protestants and Catholics had their own dentists, hospitals, 
     
     and hILAs, higher education was also defined by the two soli— 
     
     tudes. St. Dunstans University, on the present—day UPEI campus, 
     
     was run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown and of— 
     
     fered a four—year liberal arts program. Prince ofVVaIes College, the 
     
     publicly funded but de facto Protestant choice,‘ was situated at what 
     
    
   
   
    
     is now the downtown Charlottetown location of Holland College 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     — am I giving the story away.> and provided high—school comple— 
     
    

    
     tion and a two—year junior college program, often a springboard to 
     
     Dalhousie or IVIcGill. Both St. Dunstan’s and Prince of Wales car— 
     
     ried traditions back into the 19m century, and had long tolerated the 
     
     other’s existence, confident in the knowledge that their school was 
     
     better—established, more respected, and academically stronger than 
     
     the other. 
     
    

    
     This stability started to erode in the late 1950s. The reason can 
     
     be traced back to higher education’s rapid growth across Canada in 
     
     this era. In a period of rising aflIuence, and with baby boomers ap— 
     
     proaching university age, the federal government began to inject a 
     
     great deal of money in post—seccmdary education, sidestepping the 
     
     jurisdictional niceties of the British North America Act by giving 
     
     the cash directly to the universities. 'Ihis allowed for the greatest 
     
     university building boom the country had ever known, as universi— 
     
     ties such as Simon Fraser, Carleton, Trent, and \Vaterloo came into 
     
     being. As both a cause and result ot‘this expansion, post-secondary 
     
     enrollment rose dramatically: from 78,000 in 1957 to 234,000 only IO 
     
    
   
   
    
     years later. A major related change was that a rising percentage of 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ; FlIiough avowcdly nonwlenomirrational. l’rince oii\\"ales could not avoid taking 
     
     religious concerns into account. For example, it never had a Catholic principal. 
     
     presumably to prevent any appearance that all l’l‘il higher education was under 
     
     Catholic control, 
     
    
   
   
    
     [2 —‘ L"l‘Ol’I.\N l'