“On 2 May 2007 a group of about 30 people gathered for the dedication of ‘First Tree Plaza,’ a small stony square between UBC’s Old Auditorium and the Geography Building. For some years the square had been home to several large waste containers; now it was being reclaimed for public use, thanks to the work of a presidential committee on campus enhancement under the leadership of Peter Oberlander, Professor Emeritus of Community and Regional Planning.
In a brief address for the occasion, Professor Oberlander drew attention to the presence on the site of a linden tree, the oldest of the trees planted annually by a graduating class. Originally placed on UBC’s first campus in Fairview by the Class of 1919, the tree was transplanted to its Point Grey home in 1925, and now stands proudly at the head of a line of trees stretching along one side of the lane that separates the Math Building from Geography….”
—From the foreword to UBC: The First 100 Years, by Eric Damer and Herbert Rosengarten (Vancouver: The University of British Columbia, 2009), p.vii.
The members of the President’s Advisory Committee on Campus Enhancement, shown in the final picture, are (from l. to r.) Peter Oberlander, Stephen Drance, Anne Piternick, Paul Gilmore, Judith Hall, Thelma Cook, Cole Harris, and Tim Oke.
- The plaque awaiting discovery
- The ceremony gets under way.
- The unveiling
- Peter Oberlander with President Toope
- The commemorative plaque
- President’s Advisory Committee