Alumni facts?

You would think the Alumni Association for the University of Victoria would have a proper fact checker... or at least someone with enough time on their hands to do the work. Apparently not. As I said in my last post, Holly's Convocation was a couple weeks ago. During Convocation, you get an alumni pin from the Alumni Association. Looking at Holly's and then mine and then Holly's again over the course of a day or two, I noticed a few differences. When I got them together, they were completely different, as you can see in the pictures below. The pins are quite different, but have the common elements of the book/tome/whatever representing knowledge (I assume) and the three martlets. The text on the card stock that the pins come attached to are also fairly different. My card has the official motto in both English and Latin, whereas Holly's only has it in English. What's most interesting, though, is the discrepancy of the facts.


Mine reads:

A gift for you...

It is with pleasure and congratulations that the University of Victoria Alumni Association welcomes you as a member. We hope you will wear this pin with pride as a token of the dedication and discipline with which you earned your educational distinction. We trust that this pin will serve as a reminder that you are one of an accomplished group of individuals.

The Alumni Association is a volunteer-based, non-profit society which works in partnership with the department of Alumni Affairs at the University of Victoria to encourage a life long relationship between alumni and their university. The back of this card outlines the ways you can stay connected to your graduating class and UVic.

Multitudo Sapientium Sanitas Orbis
(A multitude of the wise is the health of the world)

The three martlets on the crest are symbolic of the 1903 to 1915 Victoria College affiliation with McGill University, while the blue and gold colours represent the UBC affiliation from 1920 to 1963. The University of Victoria formally came into being on July 1, 1963. The Alumni Assocation was incorporated as a society in 1965.

Holly's reads:

A gift for you...

The University of Victoria Alumni Association welcomes you as a member. We hope you will wear this pin with pride since it represents the dedication and discipline you gave your studies at UVic.

The UVic Alumni Association is a volunteer-based, non-profit society working in partnership with the department of Alumni Services at the University of Victoria to encourage active relationships between alumni and their university. You automatically become a member of the association upon graduation. There are no membership fees.

About your new pin...

Your alumni pin features a simplified version of the university's official coat of arms. The three martlets on the crest are symbolic of the 1903 to 1915 Victoria College affiliation with McGill University, while the blue and gold colours represent our affiliation with UBC from 1920 to 1963.

The formal coat of arms also includes a torch (from which the alumni magazine takes its name) and the official mottos: "Let there be light" and "A multitude of the wise is the health of the world."

The University of Victoria was established on July 1, 1963. The Alumni Association was incorporated as a society in 1964.

Re-read the red bolded sentences. Interesting, no? So was it 1964 or 1965?


Holly's is on the left, mine is on the right.

That is all.