The power of the word 'university'
No longer a college, OCAD is finally taking steps to change its name, Dave McGinn reports. What graces will the new title confer on the 131-year-old institution?
DAVE MCGINN
With a report from Jennifer Lewington, Special to The Globe and Mail
September 8, 2007
The newest creative endeavour from the minds at the Ontario College of Art & Design needs to have rhythm and cadence. It needs to recognize tradition but be new and fresh. And, of course, it needs to be engaging from a design perspective.
It's not an installation. It's not a painting or an illustration. It's a new name for the eight buildings in area near McCaul and Dundas streets.
In 2002, when OCAD received degree-granting status from the government of Ontario, the school effectively ceased to be a college. On Monday, faculty, staff, students and alumni will gather in the school's Great Hall for a brainstorming session in the latest step of the Renaming Project, to clarify the institution's status as a university.
Earlier this year, OCAD approached the Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities to consider a formal proposal for a name change. "We're not a community college, but because we have the word 'college' in our name, there is a great deal of confusion both as we go out to recruit students and also in all kinds of dealings with government and industry," president Sara Diamond says.
The confusion over the name has seen the school miss out on grants available only to universities and has caused faculty members headaches, when they must explain that OCAD is, in fact, a university despite its current name.
"There are all kinds of associations with the word 'university' that the word 'college' doesn't have," says Michael Finlayson, a former provost at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
"Once a university acquires degree-granting status, certainly everybody associated with the institution wants to see it as a university," he says.
Chris Hutsul, who has worked as an artist, illustrator, journalist and filmmaker since graduating from OCAD in 1999, says clarification would help potential students. "When people are young and they are trying to decide what to do with their lives, going to art school is a very risky proposition. But if you can tell your parents and your peers that you are going to get a degree, it helps them support your decision," he says.
For the institution itself, the challenge is attracting and retaining top students.
"Universities are always concerned about their reputation," says Sheldon Levy, president of Ryerson University. "They are always looking to attract the very best students and faculty. That's where their reputations are going to be made."
The formerly named Ryerson Institute of Technology and Ryerson Polytechnic Institute changed to its current title in 1993. Did it make a fundamental difference?
"Absolutely," Mr. Levy says. "The entering grade average for students [at Ryerson] 10 years ago was significantly below the average entering grade of Ontario undergraduates," he said. "Now, it is above."
This will be the sixth time OCAD has changed its name. Founded in 1876 by the Ontario Society of Artists, the school was originally called the Ontario School of Art. A decade later, it changed its name to the Toronto Art School. A few years later, it became the Central Ontario School of Art and Industrial Design. In 1912, it was renamed the Ontario College of Art. In 1996, Design was added to the name.
Each name change has reflected the evolution of the school, Ms. Diamond says. But the latest attempt to rename the institution will not be easy. "We are very proud of our history and our current name, so we're trying to imagine how to both make it very clear that we are a university, but ... sustain people's sense that this is OCAD," she says.
Ms. Diamond, 53, a video and new-media artist, has been president of OCAD since 2005. She has developed fresh programming in keeping with her involvement in the new-media world, including the link to Mobile Digital Commons Network in a bid to explore new uses for wireless technology. This spring, OCAD also announced the Digital Futures Initiative, to help students secure careers in the "imagination economy." This is a natural progression from her work at the Banff Centre, where she ran the media and visual arts division from 1994 to 2003 and created the Banff New Media Institute.
After announcing the Renaming Project in early August, the school sent out letters to thousands of alumni and current students asking for suggestions. So far, the school has received more than 170. Those suggestions and many others will be discussed at the brainstorming session.
"Obviously we need the word 'university' in there," Ms. Diamond says. "But we want to have something that's credible, descriptive, reflects the strategic goals of the institution. We want the new name to be both rooted and forward-looking, and we want the new name to be able to stay for a while."
Hugh Steele, a fourth-year illustration student at OCAD, says he is looking forward to attending the brainstorming session. He, too, has experienced a fair share of confusion during his time at the school. "I sometimes tell people that I go to OCAD and they look at me weird," the 28-year-old says.
"I say, 'You know, that big crazy building in the sky,' and then they go, 'Oh, yeah.' "
That description may clearly identify the school. But it is doubtful that the communications committee of the board of governors, which is overseeing the Renaming Project, will go with That Big Crazy Building in the Sky University. For one thing, the committee is looking for a snappier acronym than TBCBINTSU.
"It needs rhythm and cadence," Ms. Diamond says of the new acronym. "It needs to not be 20 lines long, and of course it needs to be visually interesting."
The communications committee will whittle the suggestions down to five contenders to take to the board of governors on Sept. 24. That board will present two to the Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities. The Ontario government is not compelled to choose the name that OCAD's board recommends, Ms. Diamond says. "It may well have its own wisdom." It is not known when the new name will come into effect.
Mr. Hutsul is disappointed that the school has decided to change its name. "This is a school with a long history to it and people have very positive associations with the name. To me, it feels like part of a larger process whereby the whole operation is becoming more grown up and more institutional, and I think that's the exact opposite of where the school should go," he says.
Mr. Steele is not sure what suggestions, if any, he will bring to the brainstorming session. But he knows what he does not want the school to change its name to.
"I hope they don't go with the Ontario University of Art and Design. OUAD," he says, pronouncing the acronym, "that just sounds strange."
*****
That's a heck of a moniker
No one knows what OCAD's new university name will be, but the people who work in galleries along Queen Street West have a few suggestions:
Steven Schwartz
Who: co-owner, Engine Gallery
Year graduated: "I went there when it was still OCA, but I only stayed there for a couple of years."
Suggested name: "The New University of the Old OCAD."
Ruth Tate
Who: administrator, Propeller
Gallery
Year graduated: "I can't remember. 1978?"
Suggested name: "Spend Government Money. They're very good at that."
Leonard van Bruggen
Who: owner, Lens Factory
Year graduated: 1992
Suggested name: "When I went there, it was the Ontario College of Art. I think it should still be OCA. What are they going to call it next, the Ontario Polytechnic University of Design, Art and Computer Gobbledygook?"
Stewart Pollock
Who: co-owner, Spin Gallery
Year graduated: "I didn't, but everyone I know did."
Suggested name: "The obvious one would be the Ontario University of Art and Design. Wouldn't that be the simplest? They need a committee for this?"
Anthony Koutras
Who: preparator, Stephen Bulger Gallery
Year graduated: 2003
Suggested name: "I think it should stay the same. Changing the name wipes out OCAD's
history."
