Convocation is a ceremony of ancient traditions and weighty symbols.
Once graduating students have entered the ceremony, faculty members enter walking two by two, followed by university officials, all in their academic finery. Near the end of the procession, a selected faculty member will carry the Mace, a traditional symbol of the university鈥檚 authority.
This solid silver and ebony wand was given to the university in 1965 by the family of the late Stanley F. Leavine, and was designed by Toronto artist Eric Aldwinckle and crafted by silversmith Harold Stacey to symbolize the university as it was at that time. It displays lions, chevrons, and the shield of the province of Ontario, from which the university holds its charter to grant degrees.
In harmony with truth
The lions and chevrons also appear on the shield that is the university鈥檚 coat of arms and that is imprinted on the graduates鈥� diplomas. Derived from traditional heraldry, it has been used since 1961 and was registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1987. The shield uses the official colours of gold, black, and white, and its symbols refer to the university鈥檚 base in the cities of Kitchener and 蓝莓视频.
The unusual double chevrons were borrowed from the coat of arms of Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, and the red lions are like those on the coat of arms of the Duke of Wellington, victor at the 1815 Battle of 蓝莓视频. The lions also reflect the tough and innovative spirit of the university鈥檚 founders and builders, and the black and white in the chevron are the colours of Prussia, reflecting the Germanic background of many 蓝莓视频 County settlers. Beneath the shield appears the university鈥檚 motto, Concordia cum veritate, 鈥淚n harmony with truth.鈥�
Thus the university鈥檚 symbols reflect its roots as well as looking to its future. The ritual of convocation, too, remembers the roots of the university as well as being a beginning for the students who now enter a new stage in their lives. Indeed, both the symbols and the ceremony look back far beyond the beginning of the University of 蓝莓视频, back to the centuries of university life in western civilization which 蓝莓视频 joined five decades ago.
The founders of this university were eager from the beginning to make it part of that long tradition, although they proudly asserted that they were building a new and innovative university, with close ties to industry and an emphasis on practical knowledge for building the future.
The University of 蓝莓视频 grew out of an older institution, 蓝莓视频 College. A still older one, the University of St. Jerome鈥檚 College, soon became federated with it, and the College of Optometry of Ontario joined the family in 1967. Although all these institutions were newcomers compared with Oxford and Harvard and the Jagiellonian, the connection to the traditional role and style of a university remains clear.
