these students were women.

On Prince Edward Island, the arrival offederal funding meant greater interest in and opportunities for education. And it meant St. Dunstan’s and Prince of Wales had more to compete for than ever. St. Dunstan’s new BEd program was licensed by the province in 1957, ending Prince otVVales’ monopoly in teacher training. To some Protestants, this was clearly a Catholic incursion into the non— denominational school system. The provincial government built a series of high schools throughout rural PEI, which lowered the de— mand for the Prince ofVVales' two high—school years even as it raised demand for its two university years. Responding to such changes, Prince of Wales lobbied the government in 1964 to become a full— fledged, four-year, degree—granting university. To some Catholics, this was clearly a Protestant incursion against St. Dunstans special university status.

Kicking up the sands had drawn to the surface the role that religion played in PEI higher education. The provincial Conserva- tive government set up a royal commission to study higher educa— tion, and even as Chairjohn Sutherland Bonnell’s report authorized Prince ofWales’ new status as a university, it observed there was little sense in such a small province having two universities. Bon— nell called for a federation between the two — or at least greater co—operation. He also cautiously mused about creating a University of Prince Edward Island down the road, even ifit were to be one in name only, “no more than a holding company" to grant degrees and simplify administration.i Ilis suggestion, and his timidity in rais— ing it, led others to push farther. An articulate group ofcoucerned Catholics and Protestants, first dubbed the “Group or. to“ and soon morphing into a larger University Study Group, joined to call for a single Island university. A “bitter and often destructive hostility”

had for too long infected Island society, they stated, and the con—

4 "UPlCl Origins — Royal Commission on Higher l‘iducation" vertical file, l’l‘il Colletrion.

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