Ryerson University announces its new name

Ryerson University has officially chosen a new name. Effective immediately, the institution will be called Toronto Metropolitan University.

On Tuesday, a board of governors unanimously voted on the new name in response to a months-long examination of the university’s namesake and his role in Canada's residential school system.

“This is a very important moment in our university’s history as we move forward with a name that better reflects our values and can take us into the future,” President and Vice-Chancellor Mohamed Lachemi said.

Speaking to CP24 on Tuesday evening, Lachemi added the new name defines the university’s “aspirations to offer opportunities for collaboration” and “building connection and community.”

“That’s what we do here in downtown Toronto and that’s what we do in the entire GTA,” he said.

Movement towards this change was provoked by protests that swelled last summer and included the toppling of the campus’ Egerton Ryerson statue.

Those demonstrations ramped up following the discovery of the remains of 215 students buried in unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The renaming process involved an appointed committee responsible for examining the responses of 30,000 community members and 2,600 potential options.

Ultimately, the selection of Toronto Metropolitan University was chosen to manifest the institution’s strong desire to associate its name with its location.

“Through our community engagement we learned that there was a strong desire - across all groups of students, faculty, staff and alumni - for the new name to reference our place or location, ” Jennifer Simpson, chair of the University Renaming Advisory Committee, said.

Prior to officially selecting a new name, the university said all degrees, certificates and diplomas with the school's former name will remain valid.

“The changing of the name of the university does not impact the value of the education, experience and credentials earned,” the school told CTV News Toronto in November. 

“The physical signage will take some time,” Lachemi said. “We hope to have the implementation strategy over the next few weeks and few months.”