Trinity College, Toronto
Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Anglican alignment, after the University of Toronto severed its ties with the Church of England. After five decades as an independent institution, Trinity joined the university in 1904 as a member of its collegiate federation.
For other institutions with similar names, see Trinity University (disambiguation) and Trinity College (disambiguation).
Today, Trinity College consists of a secular undergraduate section and a postgraduate divinity school which is part of the Toronto School of Theology. Through its diploma granting authority in the field of divinity, Trinity maintains legal university status.[6] Trinity hosts three of the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Sciences' undergraduate programs: international relations; ethics, society and law; and immunology.[7]
More than half of Trinity students graduate from the University of Toronto with distinction or high distinction.[8] The college has produced an unusually high number of Rhodes Scholars for an institution of its size, being a total of 43 as of 2020.[9] Among the college's more notable collections are a seventeenth-century Flemish tapestry,[10] two first-edition theses by Martin Luther,[11] numerous original, signed works by Winston Churchill,[12] a 1491 edition of Dante's Divine Comedy censored by the Spanish Inquisition,[13] and Bishop Strachan's silver epergne.[14]
Among the University of Toronto Colleges, Trinity is notable for being the smallest by population, and for its trappings of Oxbridge heritage. Trinity manages its student government through direct democracy, and hosts a litany of clubs and societies.[15]
Trinity has graduated notable academics including theologian William Robinson Clark, Michael Ignatieff, and former Trinity provost Margaret MacMillan, numerous politicians including the aforementioned Michael Ignatieff, his father George Ignatieff, former leader of the opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada Bill Graham (Trinity's chancellor from 2007 until his death in 2022), former leader of the New Democratic Party Ed Broadbent, and former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson as well as numerous notable diplomats including former Trinity Chancellor and Canadian Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson. Stephen Harper, Canada's 22nd Prime Minister, attended Trinity for a brief period before dropping out in his first semester.[168]
To the field of business, Trinity has contributed Ted Rogers, president and CEO of Rogers Communications, and Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of Research In Motion. To the arts, Trinity has contributed poets Archibald Lampman and Dorothy Livesay, architect Frank Darling, and filmmaker Atom Egoyan. Numerous high-ranking officials in the Anglican Church are also former Trinity students, including Andrew Hutchison, retired Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.[169] Forty-three graduates of Trinity having been awarded Rhodes Scholarships.
Official website
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