Percy Molson
Founder of the Molson Stadium
Killed in action July, 1917
But the hope of admitting women to the classes in Arts had not been abandoned. On October 25th, 1882, Professor Clark Murray moved at a meeting of the Arts Faculty a resolution, which was carried, to the effect “that the educational advantages of the Faculty of Arts should be thrown open to all persons without distinction of sex.” In the summer of 1884 a deputation of women who had already passed the examinations for Associate in Arts waited on Principal Dawson and asked that opportunities be provided in the College to enable them to proceed to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The obstacle in the way of granting this request was the lack of funds. But a few weeks after the request was made, Sir Donald Smith agreed to give a sum of $50,000 for the purpose, on conditions to be settled by him. These conditions stipulated that the classes for women were to be wholly separate and distinct from those for men, and that no expenditure was to be incurred beyond the income of the endowment. The offer was accepted by the Board of Governors. The sum given was sufficient to provide the necessary duplicate courses for the first and second years in the Arts Faculty, and in the autumn of 1884 the first session for women in McGill commenced with fourteen regular and thirteen partial students. The women's classes were given in the lecture rooms of the east wing of the Arts Building. The students were known as “Donaldas,” after the name of their generous benefactor, and the course was known as the “Donalda” course.
After two years had passed, in October, 1886, Sir Donald Smith increased his endowment to $120,000 in order to provide sufficient income for courses in all four years, and thereby to enable women students to proceed to the B.A. degree. In the session of 1886-87 there were twenty regular and fifty-eight partial students enrolled in women's courses, and in 1887-88 the number increased to twenty-six regular and eighty-two partial students. At the end of that session eight women received for the first time the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Higher education for women in McGill was now an assured fact. The Principal's dream had at last been realised.
But Dr. Dawson had hope of a still greater development of women's education. He said: “This great work is not yet complete. We look forward to a College for women, either a College of the University co-ordinate with McGill College, or affiliated to the University. Such College while taking advantage of the Museum, Laboratories, Library, and other appliances of McGill College, and to a certain extent of its staff, will have its own building, provided with all modern improvements and refinements for educational work.... I desire to express, as a matter of personal experience, my entire sympathy with those who hold that the education of women should be conducted, as far as possible, in separate classes.” The hope here expressed was again to be realised—and Principal Dawson lived to see the accomplishment of his plans. Sir Donald Smith, then Lord Strathcona, was again appealed to. He increased his endowment fund for the erection and equipment of a building such as the Principal had in view, and the building of the Royal Victoria College was begun in 1895. On September 4th, 1899, two months before Sir William Dawson's death, the Royal Victoria College for women was opened, and the women students of McGill had at last a home and lecture-rooms of their own, “provided,” as Sir William had dreamed, “with all modern improvements and refinements for educational work.”
Lord Strathcona
Since the opening of the Royal Victoria College the opportunities for the education of women in the University have been greatly enlarged and developed. To-day women students are enrolled on equal terms with men, not only in the Faculty of Arts, but in the Faculties of Law and Medicine, and in the Departments of Commerce and Physical Education. Indeed, women students are admitted to all Faculties and Departments of the University with the exception of the Faculty of Applied Science. Women graduates of McGill have continued to go out for thirty-three years to fill important posts and to take a prominent place in the building up of Canada and in service to humanity. In the half-century that has passed since the formation of the “Women's Educational Association of Montreal,” with its humble beginnings and its scanty courses for “Associates in Arts,” the higher education of women has made undreamed of progress. In McGill it owes its guidance and its growth to the tolerance in a time of prejudice, the determination in a period of opposition, and the patient faith in a day of discouragement, of Sir William Dawson, who believed in the greatness of women's sphere and influence in his country and in the world.