Open Day attracts throngs to campus

Five And A Half thousand people visited Victoria last Tuesday in the third annual Open Day.

Acting on the invitation from the president of the Students' Association, Gerard Curry, to see students engaged in their many activities, members of the public thronged laboratories, lecture rooms, the cafeteria, library, theatre and forum.

Some were highly appreciative of the opportunity they had to visit the university.

"I told my husband this morning he would be advised to come up and have a look for himself," an elderly woman told a Salient reporter.

The woman with her mentioned the relatively small proportion of long-haired students, compared to what she expected.

They had both sat through a fascinating lecture in education and felt they had a "much clearer understanding" of what students are doing at university.

Another couple said they had enjoyed the day, except for the quality of debate at forum, which disappointed them.

"Although I didn't really know what to exepect, I thought it wasn't as good as it might have been," the man said.

Asked to comment on the value of Open Day, generally, he said it was "worthwhile".

Some, however, did not share the same opinion, with forum taking the brunt of the abuse.

"You couldn't escape from the advertising," one bearded visitor said.

"Everybody knew it was Open Day."

The Open Day controller, Jack Swan, said it had "proved its value to Varsity public relations.