University of Trinity College
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:TrinityCollegeMainBuilding.JPG The University of Trinity College, or simply Trinity College is one of the federated colleges making up the modern University of Toronto.
Trinity is the smallest of the University of Toronto's seven colleges. Throughout Trinity's history, it has managed to maintain high entrance averages for incoming students. It is also well known for striving to continue an Oxbridge-type atmosphere including mandating the wearing of gowns at dinner and, until 2005, preserving sex segregation in the residences. The college maintains a thoroughly Anglican flavour in both academic and daily life, even though many of the students that attend the College are not Anglican themselves.
Trinity's Faculty of Divinity is one of six Anglican seminaries in Canada, and is considered liberal and Anglo-Catholic in its theology. Trinity is also home to the Munk Centre for International Studies, Canada's premier International Relations schools.
Trinity College is also a member of the Toronto School of Theology (TST), which is an ecumenical federation of seven theological schools affiliated with the University of Toronto. Students enrolled in the Faculty of Divinity can take courses from any of the member schools.
Contents |
History
In 1827, Bishop John Strachan, an Anglican deacon who arrived in Canada in 1799, received a Royal Charter from King George IV to build King's College at York (now Toronto). At the time the British Empire was being reformed along financial and religious lines, and one of the goals of the "new system" was to form churches (by way of land grants) and schools in all of the colonies. However, York was so small at the time that there were no funds available for actually building the college, and the first classes were not held until 1843.
The college was born into a turbulent period in colonial history. In 1848, the first local elections were held, and the land grants to the churches reverted to "crown" ownership. This left King's College in a somewhat odd position, and Strachan's support for the school vanished. In 1849, the school was secularized, and became the University of Toronto on January 1 1850.
This action incensed Strachan, who immediately set about creating a private school based on strong Anglican lines. In 1850, the Cameron property on Queen Street, at the western end of Toronto, was purchased for £2,000, and the school was built on this site, on the west side of Garrison Creek (now buried). On 2 August 1851, the legislature of the Province of Canada passed an act incorporating Trinity College. This was supplanted by a Royal Charter for the University of Trinity College, granted by Queen Victoria in 1852. The construction work was completed quickly, and students arrived in January, 1852, including some from the Diocesan Theological Institute in Cobourg, Ontario, which the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College replaced. In 1884 the college admitted its first woman student; in 1888, St. Hilda's College was created for the women students of Trinity. Trinity College was a highly regarded school throughout the nineteenth century, and was (perhaps surprisingly) fairly progressive.
With Strachan now long dead, efforts began in the 1890s to unite Trinity with the University of Toronto. Most of the degrees granted were turned over to the University of Toronto, with the exception of the degree in Divinity. In 1904 the college was federated with the university, and efforts began to move to a location on the main Queen's Park campus. Land was purchased in 1913, but due to World War I construction was not begun until 1923. Bishop James Fielding Sweeny laid the cornerstone. The new building was opened in 1925, at which point the land and original building were sold to the city, then later torn down in 1950. Only the old gates of the college still stand, at the southern entrance to Trinity Bellwoods Park on Queen Street West. The former women's residence building for St. Hilda's students is now a home for senior citizens and overlooks the northern end of the park from the west side.
In 2004, the college board of trustees voted narrowly in favour of ending Trinity's long practice of same-sex residency. Beginning in 2005, large portions of Trinity's residences will be home to people of both sexes.
College Cheers
Salterrae
Who are we?
We are the Salt of the Earth,
So give ear to us!
No new ideas shall ever come near to us!
Orthodox! Catholic!
Crammed with Divinity!
Damn the dissenters,
Hurrah for old Trinity!
The Grace
Before dinner on weekdays (Monday to Thursday), the Head of College or Arts is responsible for saying the grace.
Quae hodie, sumpturi sumus,
Benedicat Deus,
Per Jesum Christum,
Dominum Nostrum,
Amen.
Translation:
May God bless what we are about to receive this day,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
College Song
This song has been rewritten so many times that it now includes both Greek and Latin verses. The first Latin verse, Nimium Cervisi, was an epinikion, a victory ode sung after the annual steeplechase run on St. Simon and St. Jude’s Day, the 28th of October. It seems to originate from about 1895, while the rest of the song is at least twenty years older, possibly from as early as 1863, with the Fenian invasion. Sanctum Hildiam canimus is the St. Hilda’s verse.
"Met’Agona Stephanos"
Hormaometh’ adelphoi
Eis agona deinon,
Pantelos dunamenoi
Nikan panto echtron.
Chorus:
Met’agona stephanos,
Melos kai semeoin.
Airometh ’es to telos
Hemin kudos phaidron.
Nimium cervisi
Ebriat tirones.
Non oportet fieri
Vappas nebulones.
Sanctum Hildiam canimus
In voce puellae
Unde mox exibimus
Doctae atque bellae.
Achilles no podarkes,
Ho Ares to theon
Kronon kai Harakles
Hessuointh’ huph’hemon.
Chairomen gethosune,
Kleontes kai humno,
Psallomen simona to
Ioudan to Dio.
Translation:
Into the mighty contest,
Being altogether capable
Of conquering every foe.
Chorus:
After the conquest, the crown,
The song and the symbol.
Let us win glorious honour
For ourselves at the end.
Too much spirits
Intoxicates the freshmen.
It is not seemly to become
Good-for-nothing wretches.
Saint Hilda we sing
In girlish voice
Whence soon we shall go forth
Learnedly and charmingly.
Achilles, the swift-footed,
Ares from the gods,
Chronus’ son and Hercules
Are trampled on by us.
We rejoice with joy,
Celebrating also with song;
We sing to Simon
And Jude, the holy pair.
Episkopon
Image:JohnW.GrahamLibrary,TrinityCollege2.JPG Episkopon (sometimes spelled "Episcopon" earlier in its history) is the controversial Trinity College secret society that was founded in 1858. The society presents three "Readings" each academic year that are intended to portray the follies of the college's undergraduates in a humorous light. Some critics have claimed that these readings tend to single out certain groups and actions for ridicule as a form of social control. The order has both a male and female branch that produce separate readings. There was an especially great controversy in the early 1990s over the group's alleged treatment of homosexuals and women. The group left Trinity in 1992 and gave up its privileges to advertise on campus and to use public rooms at the college in exchange for the benefit of being exempt from censure.
Despite being disassociated from the college, Episkopon continues to hold readings to this day and is still a well-known institution of the college, despite attempts on the part of the administration to quash it. (See link below)
While undergraduates. many of the college's prominent alumni were members of Episkopon. These include: former Governal General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, photographer Roloff Beny, Former Defence Minister and Opposition Leader Bill Graham, Law Professors H.R.S. Ryan, Hugh Craig, Atom Egoyan, Archibald Lampman and Archbishops Charles Seager, Derwyn Trevor Owen, Robert L. Seaborn, Howard H. Clark, and F. Temple Kingston in addition to a number of bishops, priests, professors and lawyers.
Facts
Trinity College (Men of College) and St. Hilda's College (Women of College) share with Wycliffe College, University College, and New College, the distinction of being Canadian Dominion cousins to namesakes in the University of Oxford in Great Britain, upon which the college system at the University of Toronto is modelled.
The Trinity College Literary Institute (or "Lit") pre-dates the founding of the college. The institute was begun at the Diocesan Theological Institute in Cobourg. It is considered one of the oldest student debating societies in Canada.
Famous alumni of the college include a recent Governor-General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson; Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Michael Peers, current interim leader of Liberal Party Bill Graham; Canadian communications magnate Ted Rogers; filmmaker Atom Egoyan; and Canadian poet Archibald Lampman. Trinity's current provost, the historian Margaret O. MacMillan, is a Trinity alumna, and the author of the Canadian best-selling book Paris: 1919. Trinity's chancellor, Michael Wilson, is a Trinity alumnus as well. He currently serves as the Canadian Ambassador to the United States.
Trinity College students participate in the University of Toronto Hart House Debates Club, and throughout its history have fielded some of the top-ranked teams in the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate.
Trinity College has also produced a remarkable number of Rhodes Scholars in its history, including 5 Scholars (Zinta Zommers and Thom Ringer, 2003; Navindra Persaud and Maria Banda, 2004; Bryony Lau, 2005) in the last three years.
References
- Reed, T.A. (Ed.) (1952). A History of the University of Trinity College, Toronto, 1852–1952. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.