Cassels takes oath, installed as UVic's new president

In a ceremony that included a formal swearing-in and tributes punctuated by light-hearted poetry and song, President and Vice-Chancellor Jamie Cassels became the seventh president of the University of Victoria.

Cassels took the president’s oath administered by BC Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon before graduating students, family and friends at the start of Fall Convocation ceremonies in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium.

The swearing-in was followed by the installation of the new president by Chancellor Murray Farmer, marking the formal beginning of new leadership for UVic and Cassels’ acceptance of his new responsibilities.

In his remarks, Cassels said that his new role leaves him feeling honoured and humbled. He vowed to live up to the promise that others see in him.

“The promise I want to be measured against is this: that in everything we do at the University of Victoria, our choices and actions will be guided by the goal of making the world a better place through our mission of education and research – to relentlessly pursue the goal of contributing to the lives of our students, our community and the nation through the advancement of knowledge,” Cassels said.

The president extolled the need for the university and its members to be open to discussion and positive change, because “There is always room for improvement.” Cassels also warned against reducing “the value of education and research to a purely economic calculation” without acknowledging their long-term value.

“Education is a process, not a product,” Cassels said. “Every one of our programs at this university should empower our students and advance their life prospects – but that will not happen in uniform or predetermined ways.”

Cassels cited the ways the benefits of research and discovery can be unpredictable. He noted how his degrees in philosophy and law – and a course in marine diesel mechanics at Camosun College – have all helped him in unexpected ways.

“My philosophy degree did not land me a job as CEO of a multinational philosophy company,” Cassels said. “But it did introduce me to a world of ideas, teach me skills of disciplined analysis and judgment, and how to engage with and learn from the wisdom of others.”

He noted that his law degree led to teaching and the ability to “explore and hopefully influence the principles and processes of Canadian law.”

An avid and experienced boater, Cassels pointed to his diesel repair course and his resulting adventures on the water as another example of long-term benefits of education.

A citation read by Prof. Juliana Saxton, university orator, noted that in 2001 Cassels was “one of the driving forces behind UVic’s innovative and ground-breaking Akitsariq Law School Program in Nunavut for Inuit students – and aboriginal education remains a continuing interest.”

Victoria MP Murray Rankin, a former teaching colleague in the Faculty of Law, said of his close friend: “Justice and fairness are in his very DNA.” Cassels was presented with the president’s regalia by UVic Board of Governors members Nav Bassi (representing staff) and Lucia Heffelfinger Orser (representing students).

Alumna Kyeren Regehr, a teaching assistant in the Department of Writing, read her Ode to Jamie Cassels – a tongue-in-cheek observation of Cassels’ ability to bring “sapling suppleness to the strategic plan.”

The ceremony concluded with the singing of What Do New Presidents Do? by Department of Theatre students Surya Butterworth and Amanda Miller accompanied on piano by School of Music student Gabe Lagos.

Cassels assumes the role of president and vice-chancellor after more than 30 years at UVic. He joined the university in 1981 as a professor in the Faculty of Law, serving as dean for two years prior to commencing a 10-year term as vice-president academic and provost.

He is a recipient of the country’s highest award for university teaching, the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, and he helped create the undergraduate research awards program which the university later named in his honour.

Cassels is the author of The Uncertain Promise of Law: Lessons from Bhopal, concerning the environmental and human toll of the 1984 Union Carbide chemical explosion in Bhopal, India, as well as Remedies: The Law of Damages, an influential work of legal scholarship that will soon to appear in an updated third edition.

He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2004 for his scholarly work and service to the legal profession.

Read President Cassels' remarks in full (PDF). Read Prof. Juliana Saxton's citation (PDF).