An Installation is the official ceremony where the President is formally endowed with the powers and responsibilities of office. The ceremony provides the opportunity for the new President to share their vision for the university during their term of office.
An installation is often called Convocation, using the traditional meaning of the word: “a ceremonial assembly of members of a college or university.”
University installation ceremonies vary with the institution and include many traditions, such as: wearing academic regalia, procession of academic dignitaries, official greetings, bestowing the ceremonial robe of office, reciting the oath of office, formal language and ceremonial music. Trent’s Installation 2024 will honour many of those traditions.
Academic Regalia
Academic regalia is derived from the long robes and cowls worn by monks and students in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for protection from the cold. The colours of the gowns and hoods represent the highest degree held by the wearer and the institution awarding it.
The Procession
Dressed in their regalia, the faculty, Board of Governors, and dignitaries form an academic procession. Presidents of other Universities process in the order in which their University was founded. Trent's procession is lead by First Nations representatives carrying sacred objects (see below) and a bagpiper.
Investiture
The President is divested of their academic robes and invested with the robes of the Office of President.
Trent Traditions
Trent's Eagle Feather
Trent's Eagle Feather was gifted to the University by Curve Lake First Nation in celebration of Trent's 50th anniversary in 2014 and represents the long-standing relationship held between our communities. The Eagle Feather attends all meetings of the Board of Governors throughout the year and attends each Convocation ceremony. At Convocation, Trent's Eagle Feather leads the student procession and may be carried by a member of the Trent community, or hung on one of the Eagle Staffs.
The Eagle Staff
The Eagle Staff, consisting of eagle feathers on a long wooden staff, represents the strength and honour of Indigenous Peoples. This year, most ceremonies will be led by two Eagle Staffs – one is carried by a local representative of Curve Lake First Nation, and the second, representing the water, will be carried by a member of the Trent University Elders & Traditional Knowledge Keepers Council. Traditionally, an Eagle Staff is carried by a man.
Water
Water (nibi) is the most sustaining gift of our Mother the Earth and is the giver of life. In Anishnaabeg tradition, women have a special responsibility to care for and ensure that water can continue to provide for the health of our planet and ourselves. The nibi is collected through ceremony from the Otonabee River and is carried in a copper pot. Following the completion of convocation, the water will be returned to the River in ceremony.
The Condolence Cane
The Condolence Cane is a reflection of the Peacemaker’s mission to put an end to war and create unity by bringing good minds together to work for a peace that resulted in the founding of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Condolence Cane is a symbolic representation of the governance structure of the Haudenosaunee people and is used as a pneumonic device depicting the “seating” arrangement and relationships of the Grand Council Confederacy of Chiefs in the clans of the Six Nations (Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora). Trent University’s Condolence Cane was a gift from the Trent Aboriginal Education Council in 1995 and was carved by the late Chief Jake Thomas, leader of the Cayuga Nation, and a Trent professor. It is carried at the front of the Academic Procession and displayed prominently during the ceremonies.
The Honour Song
Trent honours the First Nations tradition of having an honour song performed for the new President upon the conclusion of the installation ceremony. This song is performed by Unity, a four-woman Indigenous a cappella group formed in Peterborough in 2006 by Joeann Argue ‘98, and now comprised of: Brenda Maracle-O’Toole ‘77, Barb Rivett and Heather Shpuniarsky ’00.