Dear Members of the McGill Community,
The Working Group on Principles of Commemoration and Renaming submitted its Final Report yesterday, 6 December 2018. I thank the members of this Working Group, led by Deans Anja Geitmann and Robert Leckey, for the diligence and thoughtfulness that they brought to their mandate. This Report is the result of months of hard work and consultation with McGill students, faculty, staff and alumni, and with members of the wider community beyond our campuses. It establishes core principles to which the University can turn when faced with decisions about commemoration, naming, and renaming.
I encourage you to read carefully the Final Report of the Working Group on Principles of Commemoration and Renaming, in a continuing spirit of respectful and collegial discussion.
The principles articulated by the Report will be applied in the first instance to the question of renaming of our men’s varsity teams, the Redmen – a matter that has drawn particular attention in the last several months. The University’s leadership continues to pay close attention to the debates that have arisen on this subject, and is listening carefully to the diverse viewpoints, insights and suggestions that have been shared. To this end, we welcome further comment from across the broader McGill community. A decision concerning next steps with respect to the Redmen name will be communicated in January 2019.
Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic)