An Open Letter to the President of the University of St.

Michaels College

July 31, 2017

Dear President Mulroney,

We watched with great interest your short presentation on June 19 to the SIGNIS World
Congress (2017) held at Laval University on the theme Promoting Stories of Hope. You had a
wonderful opportunity to explore the richness of the academic life offered by the University of St.
Michaels College within one of the worlds leading research universities. Instead, we were surprised to
witness a rather narrow view of the university, reducing the institution to a before/after profile since
your assumption of the presidency. While there is much we might question in this talk, we feel bound to
speak out against your generalizations about our students.

You used an international forum of communicators, educators, and religious leaders to

stigmatize the students of St. Michaels College. By profiling only a few negative images in a film clip and
taking the administrations conflicts with the St. Michaels College Student Union to such a public and
well publicized congress, you actively promoted a clear impression of SMC students as party animals and
Islamophobes. We believe this is a distorted picture, and a disservice to the nearly 5,000 undergraduate
students in the Arts & Science Division and over 200 graduate students in the Faculty of Theology.

In our judgement, informed by our work inside and outside the classroom, the most important
stories of hope we can tell about the university are stories of our students. USMC students routinely win
academic accolades, present papers at international conferences, contribute to Varsity athletics, and
offer service to their community within and outside of the University. We wish that members of the
Congress might have learned how Out of the Cold at SMC was a student led initiative at the University,
or how our graduate and undergraduate students work for the cause of social justice in the world. In
your address, you fault the faculty for neglecting public debates on human life and personhood, but no
such accusation could be made against our students: SMC students have, for years, served as leaders of
the University of Toronto Students for Life and, as the euthanasia debate heated up in this country in
2013, students in our Christianity and Culture programme hosted an open foruman event which was
covered favorably in the Catholic press. Members of the Congress might have been delighted to learn
how, every year, our Celtic Studies students organize an international conference which gathers faculty
and students to discuss student research, or how students in the Book & Media Studies programme
were critical to the operations of the Toronto School international conference last October. Our
students also produce their own journals annually: Garm Lu, Foolscap, and Saeculum. These are great
beacons of communication and hope, befitting a world class post-secondary institution.

We understand that you had limited time for the presentation, and that you are naturally, and
understandably, preoccupied with those issues that have most urgently required your attentionabove
all, the reform of financial practices in the SMC Student Union. But, when any of us is called to speak
publicly about and for our students, we make choices. By choosing to offer an exclusively negative
portrayal, we contend, you effectively reduced the hope of our university to your leadership as
President. We beg to differ. Each year, since 2011, the Henry Carr Award has been awarded to the St.
Michaels College student who makes a profound contribution to the University of Toronto. It honours a

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St. Michaels Basilian who valued the strength brought to each institution through federation. Our
students have been excellent ambassadors to Carrs dreamas they win multiple Cressy Awards and as
alumni win a plethora of Arbor Awards. These students, and their achievements, are the true hope of
the University of St. Michaels Collegepast, present and future.

Your presentation was potentially harmful to our students and alumni. It was very disappointing
and embarrassing to members of this community who have come to appreciate the gifts of our students
and the legacy of the University of St. Michaels College as a leader in post-secondary education,
bringing to life the motto of our founders Teach me goodness, discipline and knowledge. Your
remarks, in our judgement, have dishonoured this legacy and shaken our confidence in you as President.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark G. McGowan, Professor of History & Principal Emeritus (St Michaels College), former Acting
Vice-Provost, Students, University of Toronto

Dr. Mario DSouza, CSB, Associate Professor & Dean Emeritus (Faculty of Theology), Basilian Fathers
Chair in Religious Education, University of St Michaels College

Dr. Reid B. Locklin, Associate Professor, St Michaels College, Department for the Study of Religion,
University of Toronto

Damon Chevrier, Registrar, St Michaels College

David Hagelaar, Associate Chief Librarian, John M. Kelly Library

Dr. Colleen Shantz, Associate Professor, University of St Michaels College

Professor Seamus Ross, Professor (and immediate past Dean 2009-2015) Faculty of Information,
University of Toronto

Dr. Michael Attridge, Associate Professor, Director of Academic Programs, University of St Michaels
College

Dr. Anne Marie Brousseau, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, French Department, University of
Toronto

Dr. Giulio Silano, Professor, Medieval Studies, University of St Michaels College, University of Toronto

Dr. John L. McLaughlin, Associate Professor, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, University of St Michaels
College, Acting Coordinator, Graduate Center for Theological Studies, Toronto School of Theology

Silvia Vong, Librarian, Head of Public Services, John M. Kelly Library

Dr. Dennis OHara, Associate Professor, University of St Michaels College, Director, Elliott Allen Institute
for Ecology and Theology

Dr. Michael OConnor, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Christianity and Culture, University of St
Michaels College

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Dr. Michael Steinhauser, Professor of Early Christian Literature, Former Director of Advanced Degree
Programs, Toronto School of Theology, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Theology, University of St Michaels
College

Dr. Darren Dias, OP, Associate Professor, University of St Michaels College

Richard Carter, Reference Librarian, John M. Kelly Library

Dr. John Kloppenborg, Professor, University of Toronto, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Theology,
University of St Michaels College

Steve Hoselton, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, University of St Michaels College

Fr. William L. May, CSB, Former Chaplain, University of St Michaels College

Professor Bruno Magliocchetti, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Italian Studies, University of
Toronto

Professor David A. Wilson, F.R. Hist. S, FRSC