During the December 8th Board of Governors, members of Trent’s Senior Administration took pains to express their feelings that Trent is “taken for granted” by the City of Peterborough as they discussed the progress of the ongoing internationalization efforts across both campuses.

Christine Elliott stands out from the other honourary degree recipients in that there seems to be no really obvious or consistent facet of her career which speaks to, or is informed by, what Trent University as a whole pretends to stand for as an institution of learning, curiosity, and compassion—which might actually be the point.

Shireen Ahmed was born to immigrant parents who were both avid hockey fans, in particular supporters of the Montreal Canadiens. She spoke about how she grew up surrounded by sports but it was not until the Olympics that she saw women’s sports being presented on the same level as men’s. Ahmed received a MA in Journalism from Ryerson University (now TMU) and worked as a freelance journalist until she joined the CBC. In 2021 she was the first hijab-wearing and racialised woman to appear on TSN and remains one of only four hijab-wearing sports reporters in the US and Canada.