Class of 1970’s Rod Hurd and Janet (Scott) Hurd worked hard to represent and support their fellow students. Both were active in politics, and the couple – who celebrated 44 years of marriage this year – each pursued careers involving students.
Rod Hurd is a name you might remember if you were around campus between 1968 and 1970. Very active in student politics, Rod was elected president of the Scarborough College Students’ Council (SCSC) in 1968-69.
In 1968, UTSC – then known as Scarborough College – was still in its infancy. But that didn’t mean the student body was complacent – in fact, just the opposite. “It was the tail end of the sixties,” says Rod. “Those were the days of really serious student politics,” adds Janet. The College was young, but its approximately 500 students were active and empowered.
At that time, students who applied to the University of Toronto were “assigned” to colleges – including Scarborough and Erindale. While remote, Scarborough College received a large number of international students, including a significant number of students from the United States who were exercising their political conscience over the Vietnam war.
"Those were the days of really serious student politics"
The College had originally been designated a “commuter” school. There were only two buildings on campus – and no student residences. (The first residence, the Village, opened in 1973). While many students lived in the surrounding neighbourhoods, a large number of students found themselves without access to housing near campus.
In protest, the students held a “sleep in.” For three weeks, up to 60 UTSC students camped in a large tent city set up in front of the Andrews building, drawing the attention of the media. The SCSC then went to work collaborating with then-Principal Wynne Plumptre to convert a number of College-owned houses on Military Trail into much-needed rental units for out-of-town students, creating Scarborough’s first student housing.
The following year, Rod was elected president of the University of Toronto Students’ Administrative Council (SAC). While the SAC represented all three U of T campuses, the seat of presidency – like most of the council seats– had always been filled by a student from St. George campus.
“There was enormous turnout from Scarborough for the vote,” says Rod. In fact, his election started a movement. In response to the overwhelming vote by Scarborough and Erindale, the SAC changed its rules to allow two vice presidents, to ensure there would always be representation from each of U of T's three campuses.
From there, Rod’s impact expanded exponentially.
At the time Rod took office on St. George campus, the National Union of Students (NUS) had dissolved. NUS had been the owner of a small student charter flight business that flew students overseas at discount prices. With the parent organization dissolved, though, hundreds of students stood to lose their purchased tickets or become stranded.
Rod got on the phone with his peers at five Ontario universities, as well as Dalhousie University, to try to salvage the flight program. Along with McGill University, the schools reestablished a national, not-for-profit student service association, called the Association of Student Councils, enabling the flight operations to continue.
But then, someone had to run it. Says Rod, “I ended up staying on U of T campus and running the charter flights, which got bigger and bigger.”
Travel Cuts was born. Soon, there were 72 offices in Canada alone, which joined up with student networks all over the world. For many years, Rod was chair of the International Student Travel Confederation, which lobbied UNESCO to recognize the International Student Identification Card (ISIC) as the only official identification for student travelers utilizing the international program. And he was also instrumental in creating the Student Work Abroad Program (SWAP), which arranges thousands of work exchanges between Canada and 27 other countries.
In 2011, Rod received an award from UTSC for his remarkable contributions to the life and community of the University and generations of students who followed after him.
But while Rod created the means for students to travel the world, Janet brought students from all over the world to U of T.
“Back then the idea of going to visit high schools and talking about university, particularly Scarborough, was quite novel"
As with Rod, it was Janet’s involvement in student government that ultimately shaped the course of her career. In 1970, Janet was organizing the end of year dance for Scarborough College. It was a large undertaking, so she asked her professor for an extension on her essay. He wound up offering Janet a job – as an assistant in the registrar’s office.
“I love this place,” Janet had thought. “I can’t imagine being paid to be here.”
She began the day after her graduation, and worked for 10 years at UTSC before moving over to St. George campus as a liason officer. There, Janet became among the first liason officers from Ontario universities to actively recruit students from high schools.
“Back then the idea of going to visit high schools and talking about university, particularly Scarborough, was quite novel,” says Janet, who adds, “I got heavily involved in representing U of T but also Scarborough.”
She travelled with officers from universities across Ontario for the Office of Student Recruitment. Soon, a triumvirate was formed between U of T, Queens and UBC. Nicknamed “Canadian Ivy,” the collective sought to recruit students to Canadian schools in the tough US market, facing stiff opposition from the big American schools. They expanded the program outside of the US market, too. Janet’s job took her as far away as England, Hong Kong and India to recruit students to U of T.
Janet was named Assistant Director of the office before she “wandered” into the Director role in 2007. She retired in 2012 after an entire career spent building and bolstering U of T’s reputation among students, families and guidance counsellors, and bringing scholars from around the world to study here.
In recognition for her services to the international education community, Janet received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Overseas Association for College Admission Counselling.
Throughout her professional life, Janet’s love of the University of Toronto Scarborough remained strong, and her recollections of her time as a student fond. (In fact, in 1970, Janet and Rod joined former Prime Minister and Nobel Prize winner Lester B. Pearson for lunch when he came to deliver the inaugural F.B. Watts Memorial Lecture – a perk of their roles as student reps).
For a number of years Janet had been a tour guide for UTSC. “Our big thing was taking interested tourists around to see this incredibly modern building,” says Janet, adding “the Humanities and Science Wings were revolutionary at the time.”
Since then, there has been remarkable growth to the campus and its student population.
In 1970 there were two buildings, no residences and around 500 students. Currently, UTSC registers over 14,000 student per year, and the school’s landscape has radically transformed.
This year alone, UTSC will erect three new structures: a 750-bed residence, IC2 (a second instructional centre) and Indigenous House, with more capital projects in the planning stages.
“The last time I was there, I was overwhelmed and impressed by [the changes on campus],” says Janet.
But while the UTSC campus landscape has changed over the years, the revolutionary, community-oriented spirit of its students has not.
Photos: (left) Janet Hurd hands Beryl and Wynne Plumptre (retiring principal of UTSC) flowers circa 1970; (right) Rod Hurd and other graduates from the Class of 1970 were awarded silver tankards from the Alumni Association upon graduation (courtesy Janet and Rod Hurd)