Canadian University Thread

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Friedrich Nietzsche

Centre
Of
Meaningless
Marxist
Institutionalized
Education

Free T-shirt with every BA in the humanities

This is a ridiculous smear. Perpetuating false stereotypes will not win you converts to your position.
And for the record, I am not in the Humanities.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by theman23

There is no gang. I don't even like/agree with most of the posters I get lumped in with by Acaliojack. .

I don't have a "gang" or "clan" that I've identified, so you're certainly not part of any such thing.

Your takes on Quebec are usually off-base, but there is nothing exceptional about that on SSP Canada!

[casper]

Originally Posted by thewave46

I should expect no less from the Ted Rogers School of Management regarding naming, I suppose.

They are associated with the geniuses who stripped 'SkyDome' off the stadium and renamed it Rogers Centre, so it can join the Rogers-branded empire of homogeneous pablum-named venues.

At least it isn't Crypto.com University, I suppose.

Not certain what your point is. Most business schools are named after people who have been successful in business.

I may not like Rogers as a company however I would agree Ted Rogers has created a very successful financial empire under the Rogers brand.

This is no different than other Universities. UBC Sauder school of Business is name after the founder International Forest Products. University of Manitoba school is named after Izzy Asper. Same for nearly every other such school.

[MolsonExport]

And (my alma mater) Concordia with John Molson (School of Business). At least he made Beer.

[esquire]

Was University of Ontario taken? That would have been an obvious choice. Ontario Tech, whatever the hell that is, doesn't count.

Toronto Metropolitan University sounds like it was chosen by a search engine optimization consultant.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by casper

Not certain what your point is. Most business schools are named after people who have been successful in business.

I may not like Rogers as a company however I would agree Ted Rogers has created a very successful financial empire under the Rogers brand.

This is no different than other Universities. UBC Sauder school of Business is name after the founder International Forest Products. University of Manitoba school is named after Izzy Asper. Same for nearly every other such school.

My point is this: Ryerson had an opportunity to rebrand itself here. It had a whole nation and history of choices it could have chose from to do so. Distinctive choices, interesting choices, hell, even weird choices. Choices that would have set it apart from the preexisting universities in the area.

Instead, it took the bland pablum route; a name that could be confused with the other major university of the city. The coincidence is that it aped the ethos of Rogers Corporation in the way that it chose to do so (see: how Rogers chose to rename SkyDome) and that its business school is named for the former leader of that company is amusing.

The name does fit with modern Canadian ethos though. Be bland pablum, count on the oligopoly and inertia to save you. At least you didn't try anything unique, god forbid.

Then we wonder why people love living in modern Milton. It is who we are, distilled.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by thewave46

My point is this: Ryerson had an opportunity to rebrand itself here. It had a whole nation and history of choices it could have chose from to do so. Distinctive choices, interesting choices, hell, even weird choices. Choices that would have set it apart from the preexisting universities in the area.

Instead, it took the bland pablum route; a name that could be confused with the other major university of the city. The coincidence is that it aped the ethos of Rogers Corporation in the way that it chose to do so (see: how Rogers chose to rename SkyDome) and that its business school is named for the former leader of that company is amusing.

The name does fit with modern Canadian ethos though. Be bland pablum, count on the oligopoly and inertia to save you. At least you didn't try anything unique, god forbid.

Then we wonder why people love living in modern Milton. It is who we are, distilled.

Think of it this way:

Naming for an individual: OUT (someone is bound to find a skeleton of some kind in an old closet)

Indigenous name: OUT (you're liable to be accused of cultural appropriation)

[niwell]

Originally Posted by thewave46

My point is this: Ryerson had an opportunity to rebrand itself here. It had a whole nation and history of choices it could have chose from to do so. Distinctive choices, interesting choices, hell, even weird choices. Choices that would have set it apart from the preexisting universities in the area.

Instead, it took the bland pablum route; a name that could be confused with the other major university of the city. The coincidence is that it aped the ethos of Rogers Corporation in the way that it chose to do so (see: how Rogers chose to rename SkyDome) and that its business school is named for the former leader of that company is amusing.

The name does fit with modern Canadian ethos though. Be bland pablum, count on the oligopoly and inertia to save you. At least you didn't try anything unique, god forbid.

Then we wonder why people love living in modern Milton. It is who we are, distilled.

Good points here. I do think this has always been Ryerson's thing though - you didn't go there to learn and develop theory. That's what UofT and even York are for. You go there to get practical experience to get a job. So in that sense it's kinda fitting.

[WhipperSnapper]

Do we really think the Ryerson board caved to the nonsense cancellation over using the opportunity to install a bland corporate name? AFAIK, Ryerson made one comment which has everyone to arms but, spent the rest of his life doing the exact opposite. I know quite a few Ryerson graduates that are pretty pissed off that there didn't seem to be much consideration on what a name change means to them in any change in career.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Do we really think the Ryerson board caved to the nonsense cancellation over using the opportunity to install a bland corporate name? i know quite a few Ryerson graduates that are pretty pissed off that there didn't seem to be much consideration on what a name change means to them and any change in career

I don't suspect it was so much 'cancel culture' as much as it was 'bland culture' of modern corporate management.

It was simply easier to put a name no one could be offended by and declare it done. Laziness, with a side of bland. Like painting the interior of a house a neutral gray colour, because paint in 5-gallon pails is cheap and people like inoffensive no-colour shit. Path of least resistance.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Do we really think the Ryerson board caved to the nonsense cancellation over using the opportunity to install a bland corporate name? AFAIK, Ryerson made one comment which has everyone to arms but, spent the rest of his life doing the exact opposite. I know quite a few Ryerson graduates that are pretty pissed off that there didn't seem to be much consideration on what a name change means to them and any change in career

We have MolsonExport on here who went through a name change at his university, from University of Western Ontario to Western University.

I wonder how that went? (Though in fairness the change isn't that great - people were referring to UWO as simply "Western" for decades before.)

[WhipperSnapper]

Indeed and, like I said, without much consideration what it means to past, present and, near future student resumes.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We have MolsonExport on here who went through a name change at his university, from University of Western Ontario to Western University.

I wonder how that went? (Though in fairness the change isn't that great - people were referring to UWO as simply "Western" for decades before.)

That's more representative of streamlining a name to make it less Canadian than a name change. "Western" was the focus and remains the focus.

[Acajack]

Toronto Metropolitan University, when The University of Toronto already exists, sounds like an upstart, second-fiddle institution. Which I guess, in the Toronto post-secondary hierarchy, is exactly what Ryerson is.

Kind of like how you have the Orchestre métropolitain (still a pretty good orchestra in its own right) in Montreal when the legacy prestige institution is the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM).

Or the New York Met(ropolitan)s vs. the New York Yankees.

At least Ryerson was a distinctive name.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We have MolsonExport on here who went through a name change at his university, from University of Western Ontario to Western University.

I wonder how that went? (Though in fairness the change isn't that great - people were referring to UWO as simply "Western" for decades before.)

Nobody is a big fan, even if we always use "Western" colloquially (just like we might say Con-U for Concordia, or UBC for University of British Columbia). the University of Western Ontario remains our legal name, and it appears on all my publications (a bit of anti-corporate resistance on my part, as well as by most of my colleagues).

UWO is not in Western Canada, so it provokes a lot of teasing from my colleagues at other schools in Canada/USA, and of course, having to give a two-minute explanation to my unaware Asian/European/Australian colleagues.

The University of Western Australia (which coincidentally, is where our former President, Amit Chakma, has now taken on the same role) is in Perth, which is about as West as you can be in that country. Western Ontario makes sense with the history of when the university was established (and even currently, given that there is not that much, population wise, of Ontario, that is West of London, with all due respect to Northwestern Ontario and Windsor/Chatham).

Plus there is already Trinity Western (some bible school, err, university out west, in Langley, BC).

[casper]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

That's more representative of streamlining a name to make it less Canadian than a name change. "Western" was the focus and remains the focus.

Some could argue: "As a Westerner I object to a university in Ontario being named Western. Misappropriation at its finest." To make it worse it is not even located in Western Ontario.

You see there are no safe names.

I actually graduated from a university names after a Scottish explorer who work served as a basis for much of the territory claimed by Canada after the war of 1812.

Simon Fraser University when it was founded in the 1960 was "the other" university in Vancouver. In the 1960s it clearly followed a different path that was far more progressive than UBC. Going for tri-semester calendar, a stronger focus on inter-disciplinary studies and co-op education. I think that is how a university differentiates itself, not by having a colorful name.

That said last year SFU had its own naming crisis. The varsity team was named "The Clan" (having the family meaning). An appropriate team name reflecting the Scottish ancestry of Simon Fraser as well as family clans being the basis of indigenous governance in the province. However it caused problems for SFU in that its athletics program is part of the US NCAA system and not the Canadian system. Its teams normally compete against US universities where "Clan" has a very different meaning especially in the deep south.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Nobody is a big fan, even if we always use "Western" colloquially (just like we might say Con-U for Concordia, or UBC for University of British Columbia). the University of Western Ontario remains our legal name, and it appears on all my publications (a bit of anti-corporate resistance on my part, as well as by most of my colleagues).
).

OK thanks.

So I assume "University of Western Ontario" is still used on diplomas as well. (Or maybe its Latin equivalent.)

I assume that this Ryerson change will involve the official legal name as well.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by casper

Some could argue: "As a Westerner I object to a university in Ontario being named Western. Misappropriation at its finest." To make it worse it is not even located in Western Ontario.

You see there are no safe names.

I actually graduated from a university names after a Scottish explorer who work served as a basis for much of the territory claimed by Canada after the war of 1812.

Simon Fraser University when it was founded in the 1960 was "the other" university in Vancouver. In the 1960s it clearly followed a different path that was far more progressive than UBC. Going for tri-semester calendar, a stronger focus on inter-disciplinary studies and co-op education. I think that is how a university differentiates itself, not by having a colorful name.

That said last year SFU had its own naming crisis. The varsity team was named "The Clan" (having the family meaning). An appropriate team name reflecting the Scottish ancestry of Simon Fraser as well as family clans being the basis of indigenous governance in the province. However it caused problems for SFU in that its athletics program is part of the US NCAA system and not the Canadian system. Its teams normally compete against US universities where "Clan" has a very different meaning especially in the deep south.

And so, what was decided for the sports team name?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

OK thanks.

So I assume "University of Western Ontario" is still used on diplomas as well. (Or maybe its Latin equivalent.)

I assume that this Ryerson change will involve the official legal name as well.

You assume correctly.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

And so, what was decided for the sports team name?

They are nameless at this point.

SFU Athletics are a study in absurdity. They play in the NCAA (where their football team is a punching bag with 3 measly wins in the last 5 years, but that's another story), and of course the fact that they do that means that they had to change their innocuous name because of the connotations it holds down there. Wouldn't be an issue if they played in Canada, but they can't have that.

And while they won't play in Canada, they will wrap themselves in their Canadian identity. It's pathetic. "Canada's NCAA Team"