Ryerson University decided to change its name to Toronto Metropolitan University. .“Our new name Toronto Metropolitan University embodies so many things about our university, our community, our students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi in a Tuesday statement..“Located in the heart of our country’s biggest and most diverse city — we represent all that it is to be metropolitan.”.Ryerson’s board of directors voted in August to change the university’s name over concerns about namesake Egerton Ryerson’s connections to the residential school system in Canada. .Ryerson’s ideas led to the creation of the residential school system. About 6,000 children died in residential schools, and many more suffered various forms of abuse. .Community members had been calling on the university to change its name and the Egerton Ryerson Statue to be removed for years. The Egerton Ryerson Statue was torn down by protestors in June. .Metropolitan, said Lachemi, defines the university’s goals to expand its reputation and reach, which has been “exemplified by our new Lincoln Alexander School of Law, our first international campus in Cairo, Egypt, and our plans for a future school of medicine in Brampton.”.He said Toronto comes from the Mohawk word Tkaronto, which means the place in the water where the trees are standing. He added he knows the new name will “continue to invite people from all over the world to gather to learn, to teach, to share, to undertake scholarly research and creative activities, and to engage in new ways of thinking and doing.”.Lachemi thanked the University Renaming Advisory Committee for helping the university to find a new name. He expressed his gratitude to community members who have advocated for a name change and to people who provided ideas to the committee. .Lachemi said that renaming Ryerson is not about erasing history. .“Our new name is a cause for celebration, to celebrate all that makes us who we are and to welcome all the ways we can make a positive impact on the people and communities around us — here in Toronto, across Canada and around the world,” he said. .Quillette associate editor Jonathan Kay mocked Ryerson’s new name. .“This is dull and makes it sound like a convention center,” said Kay. “But I have to admit I’m surprised they didn’t go with something more over the top like Tkaranto Solidarity and Resistance Institute.”.Jonathan Bradley is a Western Standard contributor based in Toronto
