Two Ryerson University publications have removed Egerton Ryerson’s name from their titles to disassociate themselves with the educator and early influencer of the residential school system.
The former Ryerson Review of Journalism and Ryersonian have changed their names to the Review of Journalism and On the Record, respectively, in light of Egerton Ryerson’s role as a key influencer in the creation of residential schools and their institutionalized assimilation of Indigenous peoples.
The name changes follow a decision from August by Ryerson’s board of directors to rename the university itself.
The Review is an annual feature magazine publication, while On the Record is a print and online publication more oriented toward daily news. Both are run by final-year undergraduate and graduate journalism students.
In November 2020, the Ryerson School of Journalism (RSJ) advisory council voted to set up a committee to explore renaming both publications in response to student feedback. After COVID-19 complications and the resignation of RSJ’s former chair and associate chair, the council regrouped in April and established the committee in May.
The chair at that time, Janice Neil, who was also publisher for the Review, told its 2020/2021 masthead that while the publication’s name could not be changed by students in the meantime, its design could.
The Review was first retitled to [ ] Review of Journalism, which served as a placeholder name while RSJ chose a new official title for the publication. Julia Duschesne, the Review’s lead print editor for the 2020/2021 masthead, said the 2021/2022 masthead can now choose to redesign the publication’s name if interested.
“We just wanted to indicate in our magazine that the name was in flux and that it was a contested name,” Duchesne said.
Despite political criticism toward the temporary name change and comments that the brackets made the logo look wonky, Duchesne said the redesign received plenty of positive feedback.
Assistant professor Sonya Fatah, whose Narrative Masthead class gives students the opportunity to work for the Review, said the publication’s 2020/2021 masthead had not wanted the renaming process to be left entirely to RSJ.
Rather, staff had wanted an opportunity to “exercise their editorial perspective on the name without having the authority to permanently change it.”
Despite other suggested names, including the Canadian Review of Journalism, Fatah said the intention was to avoid using locative names, such as Canada or Toronto, that denote colonial imprint.
“The Ryerson Review of Journalism is colloquially or casually known as the Review anyway, so we felt like it wasn’t a loss of identity for us in any way just by removing [Egerton] Ryerson from the record,” Fatah said.
Paula Tran, a former news editor and reporter for On the Record, said the publication followed suit with the Review before summer 2021 by taking feedback and new name ideas from the editorial staff.
Tran said editorial staff had been calling for a name change since 2017, adding that “we don’t want a colonial speaker in our publication name.”
She said RSJ instructors were receptive to students’ feedback and concerns, despite only being able to change the publication’s name independently of its editorial staff.
Tran said she thinks there is still work to be done.
“I think that the school needs to do a better job of decolonizing itself because, as a person of colour, it was really hard for me to feel safe in that environment,” Tran said. “It was also just kind of difficult because I don’t think there [was] a lot of [support] for Indigenous students.”
RSJ co-interim chair and associate professor Gavin Adamson said that while the name changes were important steps to take, they do not address the larger matter of Egerton Ryerson’s legacy. He also credited the university for gathering substantial background research on Egerton Ryerson to better inform students, faculty and staff.
In August, RU’s presidential task force submitted to president Mohamed Lachemi its final 58-page report on Egerton Ryerson’s legacy, of which eight pages detail his life and five detail his commemoration.
“I don’t think there’s any [more] work that needs to be done on that part — his name and who he was,” Adamson said. “But, certainly, there are tons more work to do at the curricular level and at the university relating to reconciliation and I think the faculty takes that very seriously.”
Going forward, Fatah said she hopes to see the university take on a greater leadership role in addressing Egerton Ryerson’s legacy and creating a more inclusive environment for students.
“I think we have a long way to go and I think the proof of it will not come today or tomorrow. It will come in months and, genuinely, years.”
Ryerson’s Indigenous Students’ Association and Yellowhead Institute did not respond for comment on behalf of the university’s Indigenous community.
Featured image by Jimmy Kwan.
