in sterilizations). His successor was R.K. Thomson who was chairman until 1972 when the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed. University of Alberta ceases honours in MacEachran's name (1990s) In 1975, the University of Alberta's Department of Psychology inaugurated an annual lecture series honouring MacEachran. Every year a distinguished scholar of psychology would be invited to give a lecture to students and faculty in MacEachran's honor. Awards and scholarships were also distributed in MacEachran's honour, first in 1958 and then 1972 with endowments from his estate. After 1972, the Faculty of Education and the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology awarded annual scholarships to students honouring MacEachran's accomplishments. On September 3, 1997, a committee at the University of Alberta voted to rename the lecture series due to MacEachran's involvement in the unlawful sterilization of many Albertans. In 1998, a University of Alberta panel submitted a request to halt the distribution of awards in J.M. MacEachran's name. This request was based on data obtained from the Leilani Muir versus the Province of Alberta trial, which showed that many of the sterilizations were unlawfully approved by the Alberta Eugenics Board. The board, headed by J.M. MacEachran, approved sterilizations without clear evidence that the patient's deficiencies would be transmitted to their progeny. The board approved sterilizations of patients who did not fall into the category of "mentally defective". A section of the Sterilization Act stated that upon sterilization, the patient would be discharged from the holding facility and in many instances, patients were sterilized even though discharge was not imminent. The board also approved the sterilization of patients already known to be infertile (patients with Down Syndrome). Furthermore, castrations were approved in order to obtain testicular tissue for research purposes. The board approved sterilizations with the understanding that patient's sexual behaviour would be altered, therefore eliminating sexual deviancy, and also with the goal of stopping menstruation in women. MacEachran had also signed application forms, approving sterilization before the patients had been interviewed by the board. With regards to the Leilani Muir vs. Alberta trial, Madame Justice Joanne B. Veit noted: Dr. Thompson's [a former chair holder of the Alberta Eugenics Board] evidence demonstrates that the operations of the Board initiated on a purported scientific rationale, degenerated into unscientific practices. The decisions of the Board were not made according to the standards imposed on them by the legislation, but because the members of the Board... thought