Trinity's new provost has a solid grip on the
present and a realistic view of the past

Above: Two Trinity generations: Margaret MacMillan '66
and her father Robert Laidlaw MacMillan '38.

On September 4, 2002, Margaret Olwen MacMillan was installed as Trinity's 13th, and first woman, provost. After the swearing of the oath of office, the chancellor entreated the capacity audience at the MacMillan Theatre: "Will all of you... do all in your power to support her in this office?" The response was a resounding, "I will!" The following is an abridged version of the provost's installation address:

... I have inevitably been thinking quite a bit in the last few weeks about installations. My first thought was what a curious word. Have I become an appliance or perhaps a bit of pipe? My second thought was that the word is not so curious at all. I am after all being added to something much larger than me which long predates me, and which will continue to exist long after I have ceased to be its provost. If I am -- at least metaphorically -- a bit of pipe, then I have a job to do: to keep things working smoothly and not to be an impediment. ...

If I have a vision for the college (perhaps a rather presumptuous word -- indeed, I suspect the college is more likely to have its own ideas about me), it is to encourage learning and exploring as much as I can to enhance what already exists here, a community in which we engage with ideas because we find them exciting. And I want to bring in interesting and lively visitors, who will add their views to the mix....

After all, what is more wonderful in our busy world than to have the time to read, think, reflect, and consider -- and to do it with people who are doing the same thing. It is a great privilege. We must be prepared to grapple with new ideas and new ways of doing things. We live, as I need not tell any of you, in a world which is experiencing rapid change....

That does not mean, in my opinion, that we must throw out everything from the past.... The webs of relationships and the shared values and rules of the game that make societies work and that help us to work out who we are have all been built over the years. It is a dangerous folly to think that those webs, values and rules can be scrapped and new improved ones built overnight.

Just how dangerous is something we have seen, certainly in my lifetime, in the madness of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia who declared 1975 the year Zero and tried to rebuild Cambodian society from the ground up. That led nowhere but to the killing fields. Or in the struggle to rebuild the Soviet societies of eastern Europe after they had been put through the meat grinder of communist theory. As the Polish joke had it: "We know how to make fish soup out of an aquarium, but we don't yet know how to make an aquarium out of fish soup."

On the other hand -- and you always get an other hand with an academic -- we must recognize that not all traditions are equally important or deserving of preservation. Some are merely amusing, charming reminders of another age, like dance cards or corsages. Some quietly fade away, like the tradition of leaving calling cards. Some are gentle reminders of an age when clothes said more about status and occupation than they do today -- clerical collars, for example, or student and academic gowns. But do we really want to go back to the time when such things were compulsory, when those of us below a certain social rank were forbidden to wear silks or velvets?

We must pick out what is important in what we have inherited, and what is not. If I had to make a quick list for Trinity, I would say that its important traditions include its openness to difference, whether in ideas or people, its generous admiration for achievement, whether in scholarship or sport, its tolerance, and its respect for the rule of law....

Established ways of doing things must never become a strait jacket. We ought to be careful of talk of traditions -- so many are invented or at least tweaked to suit the current generation. Take kilts -- yes, Scotsmen used to tie a bit of cloth around their middles, but the whole elaborate regalia of pleats and socks and sporrans and pins, and the whole plethora of tartans, are something the Victorians invented. So are many of the histories that national groups bring out to justify their claims to their neighbours' lands. So watch out when people say: "We can't go against tradition," or, "Our tradition is ..." or, "We must respect our traditions."

In any healthy society or community, there comes a time for change. How do we know? Well, we have usually had a long period of discussion and debate. Attitudes start to shift, often imperceptibly. What might have been unthinkable 20 years ago now becomes commonplace.... Toronto has changed out of recognition from when I grew up. The sedate, dare I say it, dour city of my youth now has carnivals, World Cup fever, Gay Pride parades, sushi bars, curry houses, fresh pasta, kiwi fruit, goat curry, and bars where you can dance -- and even sing. The Toronto school system has students who speak more than 90 different languages. It's like seeing a dear old aunt throw off her sensible tweeds for spandex multicoloured tights. ...

Trinity takes pride in its traditions -- and so it should. It is also capable, like the wider society around it, of absorbing change. Indeed that is central to its traditions. Trinity started as an Anglican foundation, and its Anglican heritage and its education of Anglican clergy are deeply ingrained in its character. But that does not mean that it has not accepted students and fellows of other faiths -- for Trinity's Anglican tradition is a welcoming and open one with a respect for different paths and different views.

The Trinity I am becoming provost of is different in some ways from the Trinity I knew as an undergraduate, and different again from the one my father knew. But not completely. Students still skip classes.... They still sit in the Buttery or in the common rooms talking about everything from movies to the latest vagaries of Canadian politics. The fellows still meet and talk about everything from movies to the latest vagaries of Canadian politics. Although they are no longer capable of staying up as late doing it.

It is a privilege to be installed as part of such a place. It's interesting, it's fun, and it is doing important work. If I can keep all that going on, well, I shall have done my bit. Please give me your good wishes, and your advice -- and, above all, your blessings.