Advance praise for York University: The Way Must Be Tried
"Horn’s book…is grounded in research using archival and secondary literature as well as a series of interviews with former administrators, staff, faculty and students. He emphasizes York’s successes, but by no means avoids its obstacles and problems. The result is a history that effectively delineates the university as observers and participants broadly saw it over time…Horn’s history is buoyant and optimistic…”
-Paul Stortz, Literary Review of Canada, Vol. 17, No. 2, March 2009
TORONTO, March 26, 2009 -- On Thursday, March 26, 2009, York University marks a momentous occasion—the 50th anniversary of the York University Act. A year-long celebration will include numerous “U50” events showcasing the successes that have been built by the faculty, researchers, students, administrators, and partners from different disciplines over five decades.
As a memorial for this landmark occasion, York is publishing a history of the university. York University: The Way Must Be Tried is a co-publication with McGill-Queen’s University Press. In 2002, President Lorna Marsden named Michiel Horn, Professor Emeritus of History, Glendon College of York University, as the author of the official history of York University.
York University: The Way Must Be Tried is a definitive history. Michiel Horn has drawn together the vision and the people who have contributed to the greatness of York. He documents the founding of a brand new university, with 76 students and 50 faculty members, and follows the making of this major institution right through to the position that York University has achieved to date – the third-largest university in Canada, with 52,000 students enrolled in 11 faculties on two campuses (2007 figures). Horn deftly weaves together the archival research with anecdotes he gleaned from personal interviews with over 250 faculty members, Senate members, Board members, administrative staff, and students to shape his compelling image of York University.
Says Horn, “York has grown, sometimes according to plan, sometimes haphazardly, sometimes in response to external forces, but almost always in the spirit of (its motto)—“Tentanda Via, the way must be tried.”
The Odyssey Begins
The institutional odyssey started in 1957 when a group of Toronto business and professional people saw an opportunity to meet the demands for adult education in the fastest-growing city in Canada. With the availability of public funds through the federal government and the anticipated impact of the baby boomers in the 1960s, the organizing committee received the green light to establish a university in federation with the University of Toronto.
On March 26, 1959, the York University Act received royal assent.
The Original Vision: A Small Liberal Arts University
From the beginning, the establishment of York University was seen as an opportunity to develop a unique intellectual environment. If you were to choose one word to describe York’s ethos, it is “interdisciplinarity”—“the commitment of faculty members and students to make an effort to look and reach across disciplinary boundaries in their teaching, learning, and research,” says Horn.
The first president, Murray G. Ross, conceived of the original vision for York as a small liberal arts university with a program that would focus on “liberal and general education, as opposed to one of specialization.” In early 1962, Ross believed that growth should be slow and guided. However, a report by the Committee of Presidents of the Universities of Ontario warned that enrolment would increase more rapidly than expected. York’s Board of Governors made the decision to expand—the target: 7,000 students by 1970.
With this decision, Ross ran into opposition from the faculty. This led to one of the first confrontations York would witness between a president and the faculty, with Ross being charged with not living up to earlier agreements. In the end, the board sided with Ross. The incident is now part of York University’s folklore and mythology.
Over the course of Ross’ tenure, York grew enormously. By 1970, 9,000 full-time students and 6,300 part-time undergraduates were enrolled on two campuses. York’s budget had increased to $29 million, with 700 faculty members and 1,700 administration staff. This rapid growth had been demanded by the government and was necessary to meet the demographic realities.
Keele Campus
On many levels, the rapid growth of York University mirrors the incredible growth of the GTA. Early students on the Keele campus pictured themselves as “pioneers.” The major construction projects under way gave the campus a vital energy. It was brand new and the students themselves were often the first in their families to attend a university—a pattern that continues to this day.
York University was often prescient in seeing trends ahead of the curve, then building to meet the needs posited by these trends. In 1961, when the Toronto Board of Education stressed the necessity of improved access to higher education for adults, Ross’ long-range vision of an evening college with its own program of study, targeting working people, was justified, and York established the Joseph E. Atkinson College.
In 1968, Osgoode Hall Law School became a faculty at York. Osgoode developed the reputation for engaging the law with other disciplines in exciting and imaginative ways and this was a major attraction for both faculty and students. In 1971, Osgoode’s operation of Parkdale Community Legal Services became a story of success for the community; by 2005 Ontario had 75 clinics modeled on Parkdale, which was “the jewel in the crown of the legal clinic system.”
Early Milestones
In 1965, York reached two milestones—a new York University Act was passed and the university severed ties to the University of Toronto. York, eager to celebrate its independence, launched its own fundraising campaign, the York University Founders Fund Campaign.
In 1963, the twenty-year master plan for York University was released: by 1980 the enrolment target would be 20,000 students, 1700 faculty and 3200 other staff members. Glendon would be home to the liberal arts university modelled on US institutions such as Amherst, Atkinson College would continue to develop as planned and the Keele campus would be home to a multi-faculty university with both undergraduate and graduate programs. The total cost for the completion of the complex of buildings necessary to support the master plan came to $150 million—money that would come from the provincial government and the Founders Fund Campaign.
In 1965, Ross appointed Escott Reid to be the founding principal of Glendon College. Reid proposed that Glendon become bilingual and bicultural—“Glendon College should play a great role in helping to train a new generation of Canadians who would make a better job of relations between English- and French-speaking Canadians than their parents and grandparents.” Students who applied to Glendon were attracted by its small size and by the opportunity to improve or maintain their French-language skills. And Glendon’s public forums attracted political heavyweights such as René Lévesque, Ramsay Cook, and Eric Kierans.
The Meaning of the Historic Events of 1972
The years 1972/1973 witnessed the most dramatic episode in York’s history. In 1972, York’s deans were in full revolt against President David Slater, and this forced the Board of Governors to secure his resignation. It began in the fall of 1972, when provincial government grants to universities were lower and enrolment had fallen. York seemed to be bucking this trend and the academic planners prepared optimistic forecasts, with “real monies being committed on a hypothetical income.” As a result, a modest rise in enrolment resulted in a $4-million shortfall for York. Slater recommended that the Senate consider the dismissal of tenured and untenured faculty for budgetary reasons. However, his indecision in the face of opposition from the Senate and the faculty called his leadership into question.
In fact, says Horn, York’s structures were unequal to the challenges caused by the shortfall. People were looking for someone to blame and Slater became the victim. Horn, who was monitoring the meetings with great concern for the welfare and security of the faculty, gives a riveting, first-person account of this struggle.
In 1974, H. Ian Macdonald, a former Deputy Minister of Economics, was named York’s third president. His greatest challenge— dealing with the bad press that York had received.
Future Tense
By 2008, the Keele campus had changed dramatically. The architectural face of York University has grown. The New Archives of Ontario is currently under construction and the Seymour Schulich Building has been finished. The campus population, which is the equivalent to a city the size of Belleville on a weekday, reflects the multicultural nature of Toronto—the two most prominent groups on campus being those of Chinese and South Asian heritage.
Horn explains that “the heterogeneity of the student body has presented challenges. The issue of race has been contentious over the years.” A number of high-profile confrontations between groups with conflicting views prompted York University to issue a statement on York Values in 2008 during the celebration of their fifth annual Multi-cultural Week, calling for a “reciprocity of respect.”
In 1992, a report on the future of York University for the coming three decades, entitled 2020 Vision: The Future of York, recommended York become a “comprehensive university, developing its own distinctive idiom with a focus on growth...” In this quest, York has become more research-intensive. Current President Mamdouh Shoukri is committed to raising York’s research profile in health and the pure sciences and engineering. With the successful launch of the Faculty of Health, York has now positioned itself to make a case for a medical school.
Today, universities focus on public-private partnerships that work toward practical applications. To this end, two faculties will be merged on July 1, 2009, to form the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies—Atkinson College and the Faculty of Arts. Horn sees this as a unique opportunity to re-shape the university’s future in the 50th anniversary year.
Internationally, York University’s strengths are perceived to be the social sciences, the fine arts, the Seymour Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School. With the growth of transnational corporations, business schools have had to develop a global approach. By 2006, the Seymour Schulich School of Business had opened training centres in Beijing, Mumbai, Seoul, and a corporate governance centre in Moscow. A number of influential organizations rank universities. Business schools live and die by these rankings and Schulich has performed well—it has been ranked first in Canada for the MBA programs for the sixth straight year by The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal ranks Schulich Number One in Canada and eleventh in the world.
In the past decade, York has increased its support of research in response to the recommendations of the 2020 Vision report. Already a leader in Knowledge Mobilization, York is home to high-powered research centres that make up the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS). Biochemist and molecular biologist Ronald Pearlman notes that “…the pursuit of funding is highly competitive, but York has done well… insiders and granting agencies know that York has a strong and well-deserved reputation in science.”
York’s achievements may also be measured by the success of its fundraising campaigns. The target for the current Power of 50 fundraising campaign is $200 million—an enormous increase over the original York University Founders Fund Campaign, whose goal was $15 million. Over the years, York’s remarkable stature has attracted a large amount of philanthropic support and by 2008, the Power of 50 campaign had already raised more than three quarters of its goal.
Michiel Horn is Professor Emeritus of History, Glendon College of York University. A prolific author and editor, his most recent publications are the award-winning Academic Freedom in Canada: A History (1999), and the English-language translations of a novel by Dutch author Maarten ’t Hart, The Sundial (De zonnewijzer) (2004) and a work by sociologist Benjo Maso, Sweat of the Gods: Myths and Legends of Bicycle Racing (Het zweet der goden: legende van de wielersport) (2005).
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 26 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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If you would like further information about York University: The Way Must Be Tried or if you are interested in scheduling an interview with author Michiel Horn, please contact:
Diane Hargrave
416-467-9954, ext. 104
“YORK UNIVERSITY: The Way Must Be Tried”
By Michiel Horn
315 pages; colour throughout
$49.95 hardcover
Publication date: March 26, 2009
York University in association with
McGill-Queen’s University Press
ISBN: 978-0-7735-3416-2
