UNBC commemorates the contributions of one of its founders

The man who helped spearhead the campaign that made UNBC a reality had his legacy honoured today as the school renamed one of its main buildings after him.

The Administration Building is now Charles J McCaffray Hall.

McCaffray was a prominent member of Prince George’s academic community and the president of CNC when he first floated the idea of a northern university back in 1986.

“I always thought it was odd that he was the one promoting a university,” says Tom Steadman, another early supporter of UNBC and McCaffray’s friend and neighbour.  “He said, ‘There’s no competition implied here. The people that will attend our institutions in some cases will be the same and in other cases, are entirely different people.’ And that’s the way this place has grown.”

Steadman says McCaffray saw no conflict in having both a college and a university in the city. Instead, he saw both as necessary to providing complete education opportunities in the north.

Steadman was the one who approached the university about a lasting recognition after McCaffray passed away in 2015.

“The legacy that’s being remembered here today is not a straight line legacy. He was stubborn. He was tenacious. Charles had this very, very strong commitment to serving the region.

Steadman believes, although McCaffray was known for keeping a low profile, he would have been pleased both with the recognition and with all that UNBC has achieved.

“There’s a beautiful complementarity here that didn’t exist before. As adverse as he was to public recognition, I think he’d be tickled pink by today, I really do, because some good people recognized him today.”