Last Friday, the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies honoured its former director, the late Dr Roy Thomas, by officially unveiling a signpost for the “Dr Roy D Thomas Driveway” and hosting an archival presentation at the campus of the College at the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Valsayn.
Dr Roy Thomas, who served as the director of the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies, from 1991 to 1996, passed away last September, at the age of 95.
In an interview after the ceremony, Dr Andre Vincent Henry, the current director of the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies, said the naming of the driveway and the addition of the archival collection was done to honour the legacy of Thomas, who played a pivotal role in bringing the labour institution to where it is today.
Asked why the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies decided to honour Thomas in the way it has, Henry said: “First is that we have a tendency in Trinidad and Tobago not to respect, remember and recognise those who have contributed to our development. That’s foundational.
“Secondly, this institution started as a vocational school in a wooden building on Long Circular Road, with about eight students. While it was growing, when Dr Thomas came here in the 1990s, he effectively reoriented the institution and set us on the path to being an accredited tertiary-level institution.
“The third reason is that he has made such a fundamental contribution to understanding the labour market and the plight of workers in the Caribbean that we believe that he has left us with a body of work that needs to be built upon.”
Henry said when Thomas’s family offered the College his personal papers to add to its library, it was an idea that found quick and ready acceptance at the institution.
He said when the College went through the personal papers of Thomas: “It was so rich, that it has even exceeded our expectations.”
The Cipriani Labour College said it believed that the ceremony held special importance, as it celebrated the life and achievements of a remarkable individual.
During the ceremony, Roy Thomas’s son, cardiologist Dr Clifford Thomas, formally handed over a collection of his father’s work and personal papers to the College’s chairman, Professor Brian Copeland, the former principal of the St Augustine campus of The University of the West Indies.
The event also featured reflections from attorney-at-law Clive Pegus, who provided insights into Thomas’s significant contributions to the College and the broader academic community.
In delivering comments at the ceremony, Pegus, who worked with Thomas on several consultancies throughout the region, described the former director of the Cipriani Labour College as a pioneer in studying and analysing the labour economics of T&T and the region.
On the issue of Thomas as a pioneer, Henry said: “I think when he came back to the region after studying abroad, his PhD was in labour economics, he was a pioneer. Preceding his work, you do not see any evidence of scholarly, rigorous work that focussed on the economics of labour and what were the implications for the development of economies in the region.
“Dr Roy did not do the work only from a perspective of academic curiosity. He did it with a deep sense of justice and equity. So it is an honour to pay tribute to him in the way that we have and to be the recipient of his personal papers.”