A venerable member of the U of T community presided over his last-ever convocations this month, while a movie star urged grads to go out and take the real world by the throat.
According to the university’s public affairs department, U of T produced nearly 10,000 new graduates this year. Some things about the 2003 convocation were familiar, such as the list of notable public figures who received honorary degrees and addressed the graduating classes. Fear of SARS, however, brought some unusual changes: graduates were instructed not to shake hands with U of T Chancellor Hal Jackman, but instead simply nod.
“I presume the Chancellor doesn’t have SARS,” U of T President Robert Birgeneau joked at one ceremony to nervous laughter in the audience.
This year marks the last convocations that Jackman will be presiding over. At the Monday, June 16 ceremony, Jackman’s last, Birgeneau noted that the Chancellor had a perfect attendance record at convocations during his six years in office. During that time, Jackman came to 115 convocation ceremonies.
U of T handed out 16 honorary degrees this year to notable public figures, including filmmaker Atom Egoyan, actor Christopher Plummer, and entrepreneur “Honest” Ed Mirvish.
Mirvish, whose son David and wife Anne Lazare-Mirvish, were also to receive awards, was unable to attend his scheduled convocation or receive his honorary doctor of laws degree because of “unforeseen circumstances” which were never fully explained. Professor Linda Hutcheson of U of T’s Centre for Comparative Literature gave the graduating address in Mirvish’s place; The Mirvish family will receive their awards at some future date.
Atom Egoyan spoke to graduates of science from U of T at Scarborough and graduates of Trinity College on Tuesday, June 10. Egoyan, a graduate in International Relations at Trinity himself, received an honorary doctor of laws degree and spoke to the graduates about his time at the university and the need for cultural understanding. Warning the class that they were entering into a “world of conformity,” Egoyan stressed the need for cultural perspective.
“I thought the speech was quite good,” said Trinity grad John MacKay, who was in the audience. “Better than I expected. None of the boring platitudes that we got from everyone else.”
Before the ceremony, Egoyan had said that the degree had a special significance for him.
“It’s been 25 years since I came to U of T, so it’s more reflective, it’s the most significant honour I could imagine receiving,” said Egoyan.
Christopher Plummer, most famous for playing Captain von Trapp in the 1965 movie The Sound of Music, received an honorary doctorate on June 16, at the convocation of UTM Science and Innis College graduates. Plummer, who gave a short speech without notes, spoke of his time in Toronto during the 1930s and 40s.
The actor, who never graduated from a university, said he was delighted to be “graduating” with the class of 2003.
“You’re about to take your bold first steps across the threshold of life to grab it by the scruff of the neck, and dammit, I’m coming with you!” he shouted to the audience. He was greeted by a standing ovation.
Other honorary degree recipients included Richard Bradshaw, conductor and general director of the Canadian Opera Company, Jeffrey Skoll, first president of eBay.com, and philanthropist Doris Lau.
