Fifteen years! Fifteen terrific years at the helm of Glendon! In June of this year, Kenneth McRoberts left his position as Principal of Glendon College. E-Magazine did not want to miss this opportunity to spend some time talking with McRoberts about his years in office as the person responsible for guiding Glendon’s destiny.
E-Magazine (E.-M.): You’re now getting ready to step down as Principal of Glendon. What do you see as the major academic developments that took place during all these years?
Kenneth McRoberts (K. McR.): The first thing I would stress is the renewal of the teaching staff. More than half of Glendon’s faculty members were hired over the last 15 years, in the wake of retirements, departures, etc. I would add that the emphasis on bilingualism was also very significant. We were very strict in this regard, requiring all applicants for faculty positions to give a presentation in both languages. Glendon is unique in that we insist on bilingualism at the time of hiring rather than after a period of several years, as is the case at other bilingual universities. All things considered, I think we have had considerable success in the overall renewal of our teaching staff. Obviously, we recruited from the best universities – not only within Canada but also from Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge.
E.-M.: Did the size of the teaching staff increase during this period?
K. McR.: No, and that is what was particularly difficult. The number of faculty members actually shrank due to the financial situation that affected all Ontario universities, including Glendon and York. The result has been a marked tendency to rely on lecturers – basically for financial reasons.
E.-M.: This was detailed in the book Academic Transformation…
K. McR.: Yes, and I would point out that we saw a significant hike in student enrolment during the same period. We actually lost ground in this respect.
E.-M.: If you don’t mind, let’s talk about the student population. How has it changed over the last 15 years in terms of numbers?
K. McR.: Our student population has grown by 40%. It should be noted that enrolments took a real nosedive in the 1990s – to such an extent that [York] University began to question whether Glendon had a viable future. I don’t know the reasons behind this decline but that’s what happened. The upshot was that we reviewed our situation in an effort to come up with solutions, and, over a 15-year period, student enrolments rose by 40%. Most of our students are undergraduates. Our current enrolment stands at 3,000 students, with 2,800 undergraduates. From the beginning, we have been a typical liberal arts college. Our student population has indeed gone up but, what is striking, is the fact that their success rate has also gone up; the result has been a qualitative improvement in our students. I look at their high school marks as my evidence for this high academic quality, and Glendon now counts itself among the strongest liberal arts colleges in Ontario. So, we’re experiencing a growing demand every year. Next year alone, applications for admission have risen by approximately 30% …
E.-M.: In other words, the College is attracting…
K. McR.: Yes, but keep in mind that Glendon offers unique opportunities in the form of bilingual education and a small campus. We’re the only campus of this size in the Toronto area. So, we needed to get the word out that we are a distinct institution that provides a special experience. And we succeeded. This required a great deal of effort on our part but we got the message across to the schools. We had an excellent student recruitment team, as demonstrated by the results.
E.-M.: Would you mind talking about how the campus has developed physically?
K. McR.: Several years ago we received $20 million in capital funding from the Ontario Government. This enabled Glendon to construct a new building at the approach to the campus, creating a sort of “main entrance” but, more importantly, giving us 15 or so classrooms and seminar rooms as well as a 250-seat amphitheatre. It was the first capital project on campus since Glendon was founded. Our campus was originally designed to accommodate 1,000 students. We wanted Glendon to be a small liberal arts college, along the lines of those found in the U.S. So, we needed to expand our premises and facilities to a fairly significant extent in order to accommodate more students. The new building was designed by Montreal architect René Daoust; he had a real appreciation for the beauty of our campus and wanted to ensure that whatever was constructed would be in harmony with the campus environment. In my view, he succeeded admirably.
E.-M.: What about the older buildings? Were you faced with problems in terms of renovating, modernizing and bringing them up to standard?
K. McR.: Yes, of course, but, like all universities, we have no choice but to defer or postpone maintenance and then live with the consequences. Many building renovation or modernization projects are put off until a future time for financial reasons, all of which creates difficulties. There were, of course, government-funded capital programs that the universities were able to take advantage of, but Glendon has always suffered a bit because of its status as a satellite campus of York University. Quite understandably, York tends to focus such investments on its main campus. In addition, the Ontario Government does not provide full funding for new building projects but expects the universities to make up the difference through fundraising. Another concern centres around student residences; since the Government doesn’t fund them, they must be self-financing. Our two residences need to be renovated, if not replaced. Moreover, we have a truly beautiful campus, with space for no more than two or three new buildings; beyond that, the beauty of our site would be compromised. This is a constraint that we must keep in mind at all times.
E.-M.: How would you describe the relationship between Glendon and the French-speaking communities of the GTA?
K. McR.: That’s an interesting question because this relationship has evolved over time. When the College was founded in 1966, Glendon’s bilingual character was largely a reflection of the ideas held by its first Principal, Scott Reid: he believed that the goal of the institution was to prepare leaders for public life. We’re talking about the 1960s, and one of the developments in bilingualism back then was the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission. The thinking was that Glendon would institute a bilingual curriculum because of the need for our leaders to be fluent in both languages. But this wasn’t done in close collaboration with the Francophone community in southern Ontario. In those days, this community was not well structured and, historically speaking, it was more heavily concentrated in eastern Ontario, around Ottawa. Since then, however, we have seen quite a considerable change in demographics. In other regions of Ontario, the French-speaking population is not growing; in fact, it is actually shrinking in the North. It’s in the southern part of the Province that this population has experienced significant growth. Today, nearly a third of all Francophone Ontarians can be found in southern Ontario, thanks not only to immigration but also to migrations from other parts of the Province – and even from Quebec. By the end of this decade, half of Ontario’s French-speaking population will be living in the South of the Province. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has developed a new appreciation of the importance of postsecondary education in French. Glendon stands alone in this regard in central southwestern Ontario. The northern part of the Province has Laurentian University, and in the East there is the University of Ottawa. So, there is a debate under way but we also have a better structured Francophone community with an awareness of what it needs in terms of postsecondary education…
E.-M.: … and this community is more articulate in expressing these needs…
K. McR.: Yes, and this is important for Glendon.
E.-M.: Two recent reports have come out on the delivery of postsecondary programs in French in central southwestern Ontario. There seem to be some interesting developments ahead vis-à-vis higher education in French in this part of the Province. What role would you like to see Glendon play in this future?
K. McR.: I hope that Glendon will be in a position to expand its undergraduate program delivery. Indeed, I hope that Glendon will be the centre in southern Ontario for university education in French, in collaboration with the two Francophone colleges and with Laurentian University and the University of Ottawa. We have been here for nearly half a century; it seems to me – and this is what I have told the Government and the Francophone community – that, if opportunities for university education in French expand in the Southwest, it would be completely logical for this to take place at Glendon. I believe that this argument carries a certain weight. The Ministry has created a plan and has released substantial funding to enlarge postsecondary programming in French. I hope we will be in a position to establish new programs in such fields as biology, communications, psychology and business – in other words, more or less the same type of programs that are generally offered by American liberal arts colleges or by Canadian institutions in the eastern part of the country, such as Mount Allison in the Maritimes or Bishop’s in Quebec. This is doable, and I think it’s the best way to meet the needs of the French-speaking community.
E.-M.: One last question, if you don’t mind. What would you like to say to Glendon alumni when you pass the torch on to a new Principal?
K. McR.: Glendon College is stronger than ever. I would add that it has not tried to reinvent itself, nor has it needed to do so. We’re still operating on the same formula and pursuing our original mission: Glendon has remained true to itself. Our vocation continues to be the provision of a liberal arts education in both official languages, in accordance with our own particular formula – and this is a formula which we need to hold on to for the future of Glendon. I would add that, over these past years, the College has grown somewhat more autonomous in its relationship with York University. In theory, Glendon is a faculty but it’s a faculty that’s located on another campus and, on top of that, it’s a bilingual faculty. So, we have an important uniqueness that’s being increasingly recognized by York. Two years ago, the responsibility for student services was transferred to Glendon as a way of guaranteeing that Francophones could be served in French. In addition, York University as a whole is moving towards a new budget management system under which each faculty will receive all the revenue generated by its student enrolments. This will position Glendon to be even more autonomous. The College’s place within York has been strengthened and clarified, and the University has a greater appreciation of Glendon’s importance as a bilingual institution that needs to differentiate itself from York.
E.-M .: Actually, an institution like Glendon is also a big asset to York University…
K. McR.: Yes, and the University’s appreciation of this fact is a recent development. The Ontario Ministry of Education talks a lot about differentiation within the Province’s universities – and Glendon is well differentiated indeed. As a consequence of the challenges facing the College, there is now a movement under way to establish a separate Franco-Ontarian university. I believe it’s important for Glendon’s development that it be designated as the postsecondary education centre for Francophones in central southwestern Ontario. There’s also another challenge that stems from the lack of a Quebec presence. This is something we used to have but no longer do, especially because of the tuition fee freeze in that province. I myself believe that Glendon has lost something very significant because, if we go back to the time of Scott Reid, the original concept was that the College would have a national mission. So, it would be important for us to have students from Quebec at Glendon. We do have a very significant number of faculty members from that province. Fifteen years ago, one of our priorities was to re-establish the Quebec presence at the College. We were successful in recruiting Quebec teaching staff but, in terms of attracting students, we still have work to do. But that’s just one of the many challenges I’ll have to pass along to my successor…
E.-M .: Thank you very much, Mr. McRoberts, for this interview.
Interview conducted and edited by Michel Héroux
