THE FORCES THAT SHAPED US

Innis is currently home to approximately 2,000 students, three sought-after academic programs, and despite its relative youth, a unique history unlike any other U of T college. So how did we get here? Through interviews with grads and other Innisians, current Innis student Angelina Zahajko begins a decadeby-decade unpacking of Innis’s fascinating early history (the sixties through the eighties), revealing how each decade’s social forces shaped both the College and the personal trajectories of Innis alumni.

1960S: THE SPARK OF STUDENT POWER

Innis is currently one of the more selective colleges upon U of T admission; however, when it was established in 1964, the College begged for applicants. In an interview, former Innis principal (1973-78) Peter Russell explained that, initially, the College was established as a capacity solution for the rapid influx of university applications following the postwar baby boom.

“In the early years, Innis and New College were hardly being chosen by U of T applicants as their first choice,” Russell said. “So, Innis had all the leftover students. … [Rejected by their first choice of college], we knew they wouldn’t be top academic students in any sense … [but] it was always a lively place, always full of life.”

One of those self-described leftovers was Ken Stone (’68), a lifelong activist and key player in some of the College’s most significant early moments.

“I mean, Innis College chose me,” Stone admitted in an interview. “We all had low marks in high school … it really was a biscuit box of a college.”

Nevertheless, Stone would not have traded that experience for anything, as it introduced him to the power of student voice and sparked his steadfast passion for activism. Even through the confines of a Zoom screen, Stone lit up as he described long nights in the common room spent swapping stories about marching against Jim Crow laws in the South, and participating in anti-war sit-ins.

One of the most significant events of the 1960s was the inauguration of student parity within college governance, a victory that both Russell and Stone fought for. On graduation day, Stone famously tore up his diploma on the Convocation Hall stage, protesting students’ exclusion from administrative decisions and rote learning-based classes.

A couple of years later, Innis established student parity in college governance, and transitioned to Stone’s preferred thematic teaching style. “My biggest regret about that day was that I didn’t prepare my mother,” Stone confessed with a laugh. “She was mad at me for 36 years after that!”

Stone asserted that he and his fellow graduates left Innis hoping to change the world rather than pursue wealth. He has served as a member of the Canadian Party of Labour throughout its full 20-year duration, and, since 2002, has been a dedicated leader of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. In both roles, he continued to advocate for an uprooting of Canadian systems, just as he did in his university days.

1970S: THE FEMALE FLAME

On-campus counterculture continued to rage throughout the 1970s, particularly within U of T’s second-wave feminist movement. Key figures included Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, pioneer of New College’s Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI), and long-time member of the Innis College Council, as well as Kay Armatage, co-founder of both the Cinema Studies Institute, and the WGSI.

“The principle is having a sense of place within the university in which you can pursue your interests—women didn’t have that,” Ramkhalawansingh explained.

Carol Geffner (’74) felt the effects of the fight for that sense of place: “The 70s formed the foundation of my values, values like civil rights and justice. … During my PhD, I naturally grew into my feminist identity in my early 30s, as I was constantly reflecting on my life and where I wanted to dedicate my energy in my future.”

Geffner continues to abide by the feminist ideas that have followed her throughout her university career; a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, she is currently writing a book on women in leadership in male-dominated fields, a subject based on her career in business and academia.

“Innis played a really formidable role in my younger years. The personal community of Innis nurtured freedom and independence of thought. … It made a huge difference in my life,” she said.

1980S: BURNING EMBERS AND NEW ERAS

Founded in 1976, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)— originally known as the Festival of Festivals—put Toronto, and Canada, on the film industry map. As TIFF slowly began to garner more global recognition, another institution was growing and developing under the supervision of Bart Testa and Kay Armatage: Innis’s Cinema Studies Institute (CSI).

Bart Testa, associate professor, CSI, and fixture of the CSI and Innis community, explained that there was a symbiosis between TIFF and Innis’s CSI: “As Toronto transformed into a cinema city around the mid-80s, we saw higher enrolment rates for the Cinema Studies Institute. … Actually, TIFF was a very common job prospect for graduates.”

Debra Kwinter (’87) was a product of this culture within CSI, finding her home under the TIFF umbrella from 1990-95 and, again, from 2017-20. She maintains that the 80s were not an ideal time to graduate with “a critical thinking degree.”

“The 1960s and 70s produced the rise of counterculture; whereas, the 1980s produced greed and Wall Street. Baby boomers were hustlers, [and] cinema studies was not an employable commodity. … I was very nervous about job prospects at the time!” Kwinter said.

According to Testa, the hustle culture that plagued Kwinter was part of a larger shift within Innis College: “Innis was a scruffy little college that was very experimental throughout the 60s and 70s; however, in the 80s, things were normalized, professionalized—people were there to get their certification.”

Kwinter, who has since exited the industry and now runs a successful consulting firm, maintains that there was an artistry in the 80s that breathed new life into the city: “The energy of TIFF fed on itself; suddenly there was an explosion of restaurants, bars, and bigger venues. The global impact of TIFF forced Canada to strengthen its communications infrastructure, journalism, everything!”

TODAY: THE ENDURING SPIRIT OF OUR FIRST GRADS

It is this enduring spirit of resilience, passion, and innovation that defines Innis College’s tradition—a shared legacy found in the different personal trajectories of Ken Stone, Carol Geffner, and Debra Kwinter.

“I think [Innis College’s legacy] is its openness to new ideas, and its creativity,” Russell concludes. “It is an academically and socially creative beacon for the University of Toronto and, as part of one of the largest universities in the world, [Innis’s] influence is magnified! Its creativity and openness are also an indicator of a great community of students and scholars.”

Stay tuned for the second instalment of “The forces that shaped us” in next year’s edition of Innis Alumni & Friends.

1. Even the College’s lower level will be expanded. Here, natural-light wells permeate the raised ceiling, illuminating much-needed student lounge space and bookable studios.

2. The beloved Innis Café will be doubled in size and flooded with natural light, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows along bpNichol Lane (pictured on left) and the Innis Green. A relaxing reading area—complete with fireplace—caps the northern end. 3. Innis’s Office of Student Life will find a new home at 2 Sussex beside the Student Learning Centre—a fittingly central hub to offer valuable co-curricular programming and support services. 4. Combining the library, writing centre, computer lab, and suite of private study spaces, the new Student Learning Centre will be a modern, accessible academic-support hub for thousands of students.