Victoria University, Toronto
Encyclopedia
Victoria University is a constituent college
of the University of Toronto
, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division. Since 1928, Victoria College has retained secular studies in the liberal arts
and sciences while Emmanuel College has functioned as its postgraduate theological college.
Victoria is situated in the northeastern part of the university campus, adjacent to St. Michael's College
and Queen's Park. Among its residential halls is Annesley Hall
, a National Historic Site of Canada. A major centre for Reformation
and Renaissance
studies, Victoria is home to international scholarly projects and holdings devoted to pre-Puritan
English drama and the works of Desiderius Erasmus
.
Victoria College was originally founded as the Upper Canada Academy by the Wesleyan Methodist Church. In 1831, a church committee decided to locate the academy on four acres (1.6 hectares) of land in Cobourg, Ontario
, east of Toronto
, because of its central location in a large town and access by land and water. In 1836, Egerton Ryerson
received a royal charter
for the institution from King William IV in England, while the Upper Canadian
government was hesitant to provide a charter to a Methodist institution. The school officially opened to male and female students on October 12, 1836, with Ryerson as the first president and Matthew Ritchie as principal. Although the school taught a variety of liberal arts subjects, it also functioned as an unofficial Methodist seminary. In 1841, it was incorporated as Victoria College, named for Queen Victoria, and finally received a charter from the Upper Canadian Legislature.
John Harper (architect) designed Victoria University Medical College (1871-2), Gerrard Street East at Sackville Street, Toronto which was demolished.
Victoria University was formed in 1884 when Victoria College and Albert University
federated with each other. In 1890, Victoria University federated with the University of Toronto. In 1892, Victoria University moved from Cobourg to its current campus on Queen's Park Crescent, south of Bloor Street
(at Charles Street West), in Toronto.
A plaque was erected at 100 University Avenue at the intersection with College Street in Cobourg, Ontario
.
James Loudon
, a former President of the federated universities, had prohibited dancing at the University of Toronto until 1896. However, dancing at Victoria was not officially permissible until thirty years later, in 1926.
King George V
gifted to Victoria College a silver cup used by Queen Victoria when she was a child and the Royal Standard that had flown at Osborne House
and was draped on the coffin of the Queen when she died there in 1901.
Two bronze plaques on either side of the outside door of Victoria College were erected as memorials dedicated to the students of Victoria College who lost their lives in the First World War.
In 1928, the independent Union College federated with the theology department of Victoria College, and became Emmanuel College.
On the old Ontario strand for piano by Joyce Belyea was published for the Victoria College Music Club between 1946 and 1948 by the J.H. Peel Music Pub. Co. in Toronto.
. The main building, Old Vic, is an example of Richardsonian Romanesque
architectural style. The architect was W. G. Storm, who died shortly after completion. The campus is centred on the main quadrangle of Victoria, outlined by the upper and lower houses of Burwash Hall.
The oldest residence building at Victoria is Annesley Hall
. Built in 1903 and renovated in 1988, it is a National Historic Site of Canada located across from the Royal Ontario Museum. Annesley Hall was the first residence built specifically for women in Canada.
Burwash Hall is the second oldest of the residence buildings at Victoria. Construction began in 1911 and was completed in 1913. It was named after Nathanael Burwash, a former president of Victoria. The building is an extravagant Neo-Gothic work with turret
s, gargoyle
s, and battlement
s. The architect was Henry Sproatt
.
The building is divided between the large dining hall in the northwest and the student residence proper. The residence area is divided into two sections. The Upper Houses, built in 1913, consist of four houses: North House, Middle House, Gate House, and South House. The Lower Houses were built in 1931 and were originally intended to house theology students at Emmanuel College, whose current building was opened the same year. Ryerson House, Nelles House, Caven House, Bowles-Gandier House are now mostly home to undergraduate arts and science students. The latter two are mostly reserved for students in the new Vic One Programme.
To the west the Upper Houses look out on the Vic Quad and the main Victoria College building across it. West of the Lower Houses is the new Lester B. Pearson Garden of Peace and International Understanding and the E.J. Pratt Library beyond it. From the eastern side of the building, the Upper Houses look out at Rowell Jackman Hall and the Lower Houses see the St. Michael's College
residence of Elmsley. The only exception is the view from Gate House's tower that looks down St. Mary's Street.
Rowell Jackman Hall, is the newest of Vic's residences, having been completed in 1993. It is named after Mary Rowell Jackman whose son Henry N. R. Jackman
made a substantial donation to the project. It stands just to the east of Burwash Hall
on Charles St. and is west of St. Michael's College
Loretto College. Before Rowell Jackman Hall was built, the site was home to a parking lot and the historic Stephenson House. Prior to construction Stephenson House was moved to a new location further east on Charles St. The building's construction caused some controversy as it greatly disrupted life in Burwash.
Margaret Addison Hall is a seven-floor co-ed residence across Charles St. from Burwash Hall, between the Wymilwood building and the Victoria sports field.
Built in 1961 and located at the south end of the quadrangle, the E.J. Pratt Library the main library of Victoria University, with some 250,000 volumes. The collection is geared towards the undergraduates and contains mainly humanities texts with a focus on History, English, and Philosophy. The site of the library and the adjacent Northrop Frye Building was originally on the route of Queen's Park Crescent. The road was pushed south into Queen's Park to make way for the new buildings.
Victoria is presently the wealthiest college at the University of Toronto by net assets. In part this has been because of alumni donations, but much of the growth is specifically due to the rapidly increasing value of Victoria's large real estate holdings in downtown Toronto. Today, the College has a securities portfolio worth approximately $78 million and a real estate portfolio worth $80 million.
The E.J. Pratt Library is the main library of Victoria College. The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies holdings fall into three main categories: rare books, most of which were printed before 1700 (currently about 4,000 titles), modern books (currently about 25,000 volumes), and microforms (several thousand microfiches and reels). The library contains primary and secondary materials relating to virtually every aspect of the Renaissance and Reformation
. In particular, it houses the Erasmus collection, one of the richest resources in North America
for the study of works written or edited by the great Dutch
humanist
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
. The collection holds a substantial number of pre-1700 editions of his works, including the Novum Instrumentum of 1516.
The academic programs of the college include Literary Studies, Semiotics and Communication Theory, Renaissance Studies, the Vic Concurrent Teacher Education Program (developed in conjunction with OISE/UT) and the first-year undergraduate programs Vic One and Vic First Pathways. http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/vic/academic.htm Recently, the administration of Victoria University has been actively promoting international experiences as a part of the undergraduate student experience.http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/Assets/Alumni/vicreports/Winter+07/President$!27s+Page.pdf?method=1
Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) is a research and teaching centre in Victoria University devoted to the study of the period from approximately 1350 to 1700. The CRRS supervises an undergraduate program in Renaissance
Studies, organizes lectures and seminars, and maintains an active series of publications. The centre also offers undergraduate, graduate
, and postdoctoral fellowships. The Records of Early English Drama (REED), also known as the Centre for Research in Early English Drama, is an international scholarly project that looks at the broader context from which the great drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries grew. REED examines the historical manuscripts that provide external evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642, when the Puritans closed the London theatres.
Founded in 1975, REED has for the last 31 years worked to locate, transcribe, and edit all surviving documentary evidence of drama, minstrelsy, and public ceremonial in England before 1642. As well, two collections go beyond the original boundaries of our research to cover other parts of the British Isles, RED (Records of Early Drama): Scotland and Wales. Twenty-five collections of records have been completed since the first REED collection, York, appeared in 1979; the most recent one, REED: Lincolnshire, comes out in 2009. Over 30 editors are at work on future collections.
REED's internal governance is provided by an Executive Board of senior scholars in early drama and related fields, with advisors and collections editors drawn from Canada, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For many years, REED also published a twice-yearly newsletter (REEDN), now superseded by a refereed journal, Early Theatre (ET/REED). The co-directors of REED are Alexandra Johnston and Sally-Beth MacLean.
Levy receivers are students groups with special status. They receive a guaranteed fixed levy from student fees every year. Levy heads are considered assessor members of VUSAC. Victoria's eight levy receivers are:
Victoria is also home to the Isabel Bader Theatre, which opened in March 2001. Over the past few years the theatre has been used as a lecture hall for University of Toronto students, an active learning space for Victoria University students groups, numerous concerts, theatrical productions, film screenings, and conferences.
Each Upper House at Burwash Hall consists of three floors. The lower floor contains a common room
equipped with kitchen facilities, couches and a television. The upper floors each have their own kitchen and dining area. Upper Houses are divided between double rooms and singles, with about sixty percent of the population being in doubles. The Lower Houses each have four floors, but are much narrower with each level having only four rooms. Each level also has its own kitchen, but these are much smaller than in the Upper Houses. The Lower Houses do have far larger and better fitted common rooms that are similar to the one's the Upper Houses had before the renovations. The rooms in the Lower Houses are also considered more luxurious with hardwood floors and large sizes. The upper houses were gutted and renovated in 1995. The lower houses have only been partially upgraded. Before the renovations the entire building was all male, but now every house is co-ed.
Gate House is one of the four Upper Houses of Burwash Hall. Until 2007, when Victoria administration made it co-ed, Gate House was one of the last remaining all-male residence building in the University of Toronto. The Gate House emblem is the Phoenix, visible in the bottom-right corner of the Victoria College insignia. Gate House, with the rest of Upper Burwash, opened in 1913 and has held students every year since then except 1995, when it was renovated. Gate House has three floors which house 28 students.
The eight storey Rowell Jackman Hall building is an apartment style residence with each floor divided into a number of suites. When it was completed Rowell Jackman Hall was mainly home to upper years and graduate students. Today it only houses undergrads and has a considerable number of first years, except for International House, which continues to house a number of upper years.
Stephenson House is a community involvement residence at Victoria University, hosting ten undergraduate students per year. Stephenson House is self-governed and self-regulating with a separate application and selection process.
where the professors and college administration lunch. Historically, the Upper Houses each had their own table. Gate sat in the southwest corner, Middle sat in the far northeast, South sat in the table to the west of Middle, while North sat to the west of the southeast corner. The only lower house to have had a designated table was Caven, in the northwest corner beside the Alumni table. (Note that prior to the 1995 renovations, some of these houses, particularly North and Caven, 'traditionally' sat elsewhere)
During its 93 years as a men's residence, Gate House developed a distinct fraternity-like character and reputation. These antics included pranks, toga parties, streaking, caroling to other residences, hazing rituals, "beer bashes" and "incessant pounding" on the Gate House table in the dining hall. Paul Gooch wrote that these traditions gave Gate House an "ethos" that contradicted his vision of residence life.
The all-male Gate House was known to many as a social centre and spirited, tight-knit community. According to Grayson Lee, who created a snow penis sculpture in 2007, an important tipping-point in the dissolution of the house, most of its residents were "heartbroken" to leave. Former Gate House President Dave Ruhl commented that "the Gate House camaraderie is unique" and that living there was "one of the most important parts of the university experience" for many.
The Reuters news agency nicknamed Gate House "U of T's Animal House" because Donald Sutherland's memories of its parties are said to have influenced the script of the 1978 movie. The Toronto Star described Gooch's decision to put an end to its traditions, activities and distinguishing characteristics as "neutering Animal House."
Famous Victoria alumni include Margaret Atwood
, Lester B. Pearson
, Don Harron
, and Donald Sutherland
.
Collegiate university
A collegiate university is a university in which governing authority and functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges...
of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division. Since 1928, Victoria College has retained secular studies in the liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and sciences while Emmanuel College has functioned as its postgraduate theological college.
Victoria is situated in the northeastern part of the university campus, adjacent to St. Michael's College
University of St. Michael's College
The University of St. Michael's College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil of Annonay, France. While mainly an undergraduate college for liberal arts and sciences, St. Michael's retains its Roman Catholic affiliation through its postgraduate...
and Queen's Park. Among its residential halls is Annesley Hall
Annesley Hall
Annesley Hall is the all-female residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto campus. The residence is a National Historic Site located across from the Royal Ontario Museum....
, a National Historic Site of Canada. A major centre for Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
studies, Victoria is home to international scholarly projects and holdings devoted to pre-Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
English drama and the works of Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
.
History
Cobourg, Ontario
Cobourg is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km east of Toronto. It is the largest town in Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is located along Highway 401 and the former Highway 2...
, east of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, because of its central location in a large town and access by land and water. In 1836, Egerton Ryerson
Egerton Ryerson
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Methodist minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada...
received a royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
for the institution from King William IV in England, while the Upper Canadian
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
government was hesitant to provide a charter to a Methodist institution. The school officially opened to male and female students on October 12, 1836, with Ryerson as the first president and Matthew Ritchie as principal. Although the school taught a variety of liberal arts subjects, it also functioned as an unofficial Methodist seminary. In 1841, it was incorporated as Victoria College, named for Queen Victoria, and finally received a charter from the Upper Canadian Legislature.
John Harper (architect) designed Victoria University Medical College (1871-2), Gerrard Street East at Sackville Street, Toronto which was demolished.
Victoria University was formed in 1884 when Victoria College and Albert University
Albert College (Belleville)
Albert College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Belleville, Ontario. It is the oldest co-ed boarding school in Canada. It currently has an enrollment of approximately 300 students representing 25 different countries...
federated with each other. In 1890, Victoria University federated with the University of Toronto. In 1892, Victoria University moved from Cobourg to its current campus on Queen's Park Crescent, south of Bloor Street
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, in the Canadian province of Ontario. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct westward into Mississauga, where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the viaduct, Danforth Avenue continues along the same...
(at Charles Street West), in Toronto.
A plaque was erected at 100 University Avenue at the intersection with College Street in Cobourg, Ontario
Cobourg, Ontario
Cobourg is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km east of Toronto. It is the largest town in Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is located along Highway 401 and the former Highway 2...
.
James Loudon
James Loudon
James Loudon, F.R.S.C was a Canadian professor of physics and President of the University of Toronto from 1892–1906.-References:* at The Canadian Encyclopedia*...
, a former President of the federated universities, had prohibited dancing at the University of Toronto until 1896. However, dancing at Victoria was not officially permissible until thirty years later, in 1926.
King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
gifted to Victoria College a silver cup used by Queen Victoria when she was a child and the Royal Standard that had flown at Osborne House
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
and was draped on the coffin of the Queen when she died there in 1901.
Two bronze plaques on either side of the outside door of Victoria College were erected as memorials dedicated to the students of Victoria College who lost their lives in the First World War.
In 1928, the independent Union College federated with the theology department of Victoria College, and became Emmanuel College.
On the old Ontario strand for piano by Joyce Belyea was published for the Victoria College Music Club between 1946 and 1948 by the J.H. Peel Music Pub. Co. in Toronto.
Sites and architecture
Victoria College is somewhat separated from the rest of the University of Toronto geographically, bordering Queen's Park, and being located on the eastern portion of the campus along with St. Michael's CollegeUniversity of St. Michael's College
The University of St. Michael's College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil of Annonay, France. While mainly an undergraduate college for liberal arts and sciences, St. Michael's retains its Roman Catholic affiliation through its postgraduate...
. The main building, Old Vic, is an example of Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
architectural style. The architect was W. G. Storm, who died shortly after completion. The campus is centred on the main quadrangle of Victoria, outlined by the upper and lower houses of Burwash Hall.
The oldest residence building at Victoria is Annesley Hall
Annesley Hall
Annesley Hall is the all-female residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto campus. The residence is a National Historic Site located across from the Royal Ontario Museum....
. Built in 1903 and renovated in 1988, it is a National Historic Site of Canada located across from the Royal Ontario Museum. Annesley Hall was the first residence built specifically for women in Canada.
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s, gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
s, and battlement
Battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles. These cut-out portions form crenels...
s. The architect was Henry Sproatt
Henry Sproatt
Henry Sproatt was a Canadian architect in the early 20th Century.Born in Toronto, he trained in Europe and in New York. He formed a partnership with another celebrated architect, John A. Pearson in 1890 and with Frank Darling in 1893...
.
The building is divided between the large dining hall in the northwest and the student residence proper. The residence area is divided into two sections. The Upper Houses, built in 1913, consist of four houses: North House, Middle House, Gate House, and South House. The Lower Houses were built in 1931 and were originally intended to house theology students at Emmanuel College, whose current building was opened the same year. Ryerson House, Nelles House, Caven House, Bowles-Gandier House are now mostly home to undergraduate arts and science students. The latter two are mostly reserved for students in the new Vic One Programme.
To the west the Upper Houses look out on the Vic Quad and the main Victoria College building across it. West of the Lower Houses is the new Lester B. Pearson Garden of Peace and International Understanding and the E.J. Pratt Library beyond it. From the eastern side of the building, the Upper Houses look out at Rowell Jackman Hall and the Lower Houses see the St. Michael's College
University of St. Michael's College
The University of St. Michael's College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil of Annonay, France. While mainly an undergraduate college for liberal arts and sciences, St. Michael's retains its Roman Catholic affiliation through its postgraduate...
residence of Elmsley. The only exception is the view from Gate House's tower that looks down St. Mary's Street.
Rowell Jackman Hall, is the newest of Vic's residences, having been completed in 1993. It is named after Mary Rowell Jackman whose son Henry N. R. Jackman
Henry N. R. Jackman
Henry Newton Rowell "Hal" Jackman, OC, O.Ont, CD , served as the 25th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1991 to 1997....
made a substantial donation to the project. It stands just to the east of Burwash Hall
Burwash Hall
Burwash Hall is the second oldest of the residence buildings at Toronto's Victoria College. Construction began in 1911 and was completed in 1913. It was named after Nathanael Burwash, a former president of Victoria. The building is an extravagant Neo-Gothic work with turrets, gargoyles, and...
on Charles St. and is west of St. Michael's College
University of St. Michael's College
The University of St. Michael's College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil of Annonay, France. While mainly an undergraduate college for liberal arts and sciences, St. Michael's retains its Roman Catholic affiliation through its postgraduate...
Loretto College. Before Rowell Jackman Hall was built, the site was home to a parking lot and the historic Stephenson House. Prior to construction Stephenson House was moved to a new location further east on Charles St. The building's construction caused some controversy as it greatly disrupted life in Burwash.
Margaret Addison Hall is a seven-floor co-ed residence across Charles St. from Burwash Hall, between the Wymilwood building and the Victoria sports field.
Built in 1961 and located at the south end of the quadrangle, the E.J. Pratt Library the main library of Victoria University, with some 250,000 volumes. The collection is geared towards the undergraduates and contains mainly humanities texts with a focus on History, English, and Philosophy. The site of the library and the adjacent Northrop Frye Building was originally on the route of Queen's Park Crescent. The road was pushed south into Queen's Park to make way for the new buildings.
Academics and organization
Victoria University is governed bicamerally by the Victoria University Board of Regents and the Victoria University Senate. These bodies are represented by faculty, administrators, elected students and alumni. The colleges are governed by the Victoria College Council and Emmanuel College Council. College councils are represented by faculty, administrators and elected and appointed students. Victoria's governing charter was most recently amended in 1981, with the enactment of the Victoria University Act.Victoria is presently the wealthiest college at the University of Toronto by net assets. In part this has been because of alumni donations, but much of the growth is specifically due to the rapidly increasing value of Victoria's large real estate holdings in downtown Toronto. Today, the College has a securities portfolio worth approximately $78 million and a real estate portfolio worth $80 million.
The E.J. Pratt Library is the main library of Victoria College. The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies holdings fall into three main categories: rare books, most of which were printed before 1700 (currently about 4,000 titles), modern books (currently about 25,000 volumes), and microforms (several thousand microfiches and reels). The library contains primary and secondary materials relating to virtually every aspect of the Renaissance and Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. In particular, it houses the Erasmus collection, one of the richest resources in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
for the study of works written or edited by the great Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
. The collection holds a substantial number of pre-1700 editions of his works, including the Novum Instrumentum of 1516.
Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) is a research and teaching centre in Victoria University devoted to the study of the period from approximately 1350 to 1700. The CRRS supervises an undergraduate program in Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
Studies, organizes lectures and seminars, and maintains an active series of publications. The centre also offers undergraduate, graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
, and postdoctoral fellowships. The Records of Early English Drama (REED), also known as the Centre for Research in Early English Drama, is an international scholarly project that looks at the broader context from which the great drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries grew. REED examines the historical manuscripts that provide external evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642, when the Puritans closed the London theatres.
Founded in 1975, REED has for the last 31 years worked to locate, transcribe, and edit all surviving documentary evidence of drama, minstrelsy, and public ceremonial in England before 1642. As well, two collections go beyond the original boundaries of our research to cover other parts of the British Isles, RED (Records of Early Drama): Scotland and Wales. Twenty-five collections of records have been completed since the first REED collection, York, appeared in 1979; the most recent one, REED: Lincolnshire, comes out in 2009. Over 30 editors are at work on future collections.
REED's internal governance is provided by an Executive Board of senior scholars in early drama and related fields, with advisors and collections editors drawn from Canada, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For many years, REED also published a twice-yearly newsletter (REEDN), now superseded by a refereed journal, Early Theatre (ET/REED). The co-directors of REED are Alexandra Johnston and Sally-Beth MacLean.
Student life
Campus life for Victoria students is active and varied. Victoria College has both clubs and levy receivers, which are overseen by the Victoria University Students' Administrative Council (VUSAC)http://www.vusac.ca/. Clubs include PlenTea to Talk About, Vic Dance, the Scarlet and Gold Martial Arts Society, and the Victoria College Chorus.Levy receivers are students groups with special status. They receive a guaranteed fixed levy from student fees every year. Levy heads are considered assessor members of VUSAC. Victoria's eight levy receivers are:
- Victoria College Drama Society (VCDS)http://vcds.ca/, which runs at least four shows per year (a fall show, a winter show, a submission to the University of Toronto Drama Festival, and a musical)
- The Strandhttp://www.thestrand.ca/, Vic's student-run newspaper that is distributed fortnightly across the University of Toronto's downtown campus.
- Victoria College Athletics Association (VCAA)http://vicu.utoronto.ca/vcaa/, which provides students with a chance to participate and compete in intramural sports.
- The Cat's Eye http://www.thecatseye.ca, a student lounge in the Wymilwood building that is often used to hold events
- Acta Victoriana, an annual literary journal made up of student submissions.
- The Victoriad, the yearbook.
- WUSC, which sponsors a student from a developing country to come to the University of Toronto.
- Caffiends, Vic's student-run organic cafe.
- VicPride! http://vicpride.ca, an LGBTQ organization that strives to create a safe space at Victoria.
Victoria is also home to the Isabel Bader Theatre, which opened in March 2001. Over the past few years the theatre has been used as a lecture hall for University of Toronto students, an active learning space for Victoria University students groups, numerous concerts, theatrical productions, film screenings, and conferences.
Residential halls and houses
Common room
The phrase common room is used especially in British and Canadian English to describe a type of shared lounge, most often found in dormitories, at universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. It is generally connected to several...
equipped with kitchen facilities, couches and a television. The upper floors each have their own kitchen and dining area. Upper Houses are divided between double rooms and singles, with about sixty percent of the population being in doubles. The Lower Houses each have four floors, but are much narrower with each level having only four rooms. Each level also has its own kitchen, but these are much smaller than in the Upper Houses. The Lower Houses do have far larger and better fitted common rooms that are similar to the one's the Upper Houses had before the renovations. The rooms in the Lower Houses are also considered more luxurious with hardwood floors and large sizes. The upper houses were gutted and renovated in 1995. The lower houses have only been partially upgraded. Before the renovations the entire building was all male, but now every house is co-ed.
Gate House is one of the four Upper Houses of Burwash Hall. Until 2007, when Victoria administration made it co-ed, Gate House was one of the last remaining all-male residence building in the University of Toronto. The Gate House emblem is the Phoenix, visible in the bottom-right corner of the Victoria College insignia. Gate House, with the rest of Upper Burwash, opened in 1913 and has held students every year since then except 1995, when it was renovated. Gate House has three floors which house 28 students.
The eight storey Rowell Jackman Hall building is an apartment style residence with each floor divided into a number of suites. When it was completed Rowell Jackman Hall was mainly home to upper years and graduate students. Today it only houses undergrads and has a considerable number of first years, except for International House, which continues to house a number of upper years.
Burwash Dining Hall
The Burwash Dining Hall holds some 250 students and sixteen large tables. Hanging on the western wall is Queen Victoria's burial flag, given to the college soon after her death. Under the flag is the high tableHigh Table
At Oxford, Cambridge and Durham colleges — and other, similarly traditional and prestigious UK academic institutions At Oxford, Cambridge and Durham colleges — and other, similarly traditional and prestigious UK academic institutions At Oxford, Cambridge and Durham colleges — and other, similarly...
where the professors and college administration lunch. Historically, the Upper Houses each had their own table. Gate sat in the southwest corner, Middle sat in the far northeast, South sat in the table to the west of Middle, while North sat to the west of the southeast corner. The only lower house to have had a designated table was Caven, in the northwest corner beside the Alumni table. (Note that prior to the 1995 renovations, some of these houses, particularly North and Caven, 'traditionally' sat elsewhere)
Culture and traditions
For 20 years Gate House hosted an annual party called Novemberfest in the Burwash dining hall. The Victoria Dean of Students cancelled Novemberfest in 2003, when police discovered widespread underage drinking and over 800 people in the dining hall, in violation of the fire code. Another Gate House tradition that no longer occurs is the "stirring the chicken," a dinner and keg party where house members cook chicken fajitas for hundreds of guests. Until 2007, Gate House held secretive first-year initiation ceremonies called Traditionals, which involved writing slogans on campus buildings in chalk, singing songs to the all-women's residence (who would then sing back to them), and leading first-years around the house blindfolded.During its 93 years as a men's residence, Gate House developed a distinct fraternity-like character and reputation. These antics included pranks, toga parties, streaking, caroling to other residences, hazing rituals, "beer bashes" and "incessant pounding" on the Gate House table in the dining hall. Paul Gooch wrote that these traditions gave Gate House an "ethos" that contradicted his vision of residence life.
The all-male Gate House was known to many as a social centre and spirited, tight-knit community. According to Grayson Lee, who created a snow penis sculpture in 2007, an important tipping-point in the dissolution of the house, most of its residents were "heartbroken" to leave. Former Gate House President Dave Ruhl commented that "the Gate House camaraderie is unique" and that living there was "one of the most important parts of the university experience" for many.
The Reuters news agency nicknamed Gate House "U of T's Animal House" because Donald Sutherland's memories of its parties are said to have influenced the script of the 1978 movie. The Toronto Star described Gooch's decision to put an end to its traditions, activities and distinguishing characteristics as "neutering Animal House."
Notable alumni and faculty
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
, Don Harron
Don Harron
Donald H. Harron, is a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author and composer.- Charlie Farquharson :...
, and Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
.
- Egerton RyersonEgerton RyersonAdolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Methodist minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada...
- one of the founders of Victoria College and its first President - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
– Author - Margaret AvisonMargaret AvisonMargaret Avison, OC was a Canadian poet who twice won Canada's Governor General's Award and has also won its Griffin Poetry Prize. "Her work has often been praised for the beauty of its language and images."-Life:...
– Poet - Wilbur R. FranksWilbur R. FranksWilbur Rounding Franks was a Canadian scientist, notable as the inventor of the anti-gravity suit or G-suit, and for his work in cancer research....
– Noted Scientist and Cancer Researcher - Northrop FryeNorthrop FryeHerman Northrop Frye, was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century....
– Literary Critic - Don HarronDon HarronDonald H. Harron, is a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author and composer.- Charlie Farquharson :...
- Comedian - Norman JewisonNorman JewisonNorman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...
– Current Chancellor of Victoria University and Filmmaker - Don McKellarDon McKellar-Personal life:McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario to a lawyer father and teacher mother. He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College...
– Actor and Filmmaker - Richard OutramRichard OutramRichard Daley Outram was a Canadian poet. Often regarded as a poet's poet, he wrote eleven commercially published books of poetry in addition to the many collections of poetry and prose published under the imprint of the Gauntlet Press...
- Poet - Lester B. PearsonLester B. PearsonLester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
– Former Prime Minister of CanadaPrime Minister of CanadaThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
and NobelNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
Laureate - E. J. PrattE. J. PrattEdwin John Dove Pratt, FRSC , who published as E. J. Pratt, was "the leading Canadian poet of his time." He was a Canadian poet originally from Newfoundland who lived most of his life in Toronto, Ontario...
– Poet - Laure RièseLaure RièseLaure Eva Rièse, O.Ont was an academic at Victoria University, Toronto, author, poet and later a mature model.-Early days:...
- First female faculty member - Donald SutherlandDonald SutherlandDonald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
– Actor - Kenneth D. Taylor - Former Chancellor of Victoria University and Former Canadian Ambassador to Iran
- Vaira Vīķe-FreibergaVaira Vike-FreibergaVaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the sixth President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in eastern Europe. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.Dr...
– 6th President of LatviaLatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... - Arthur L. Schawlow - Physicist, Nobel laureate
- Augusta Stowe-GullenAugusta Stowe-GullenAnn Augusta Stowe-Gullen , was a medical doctor, a lecturer and a suffragist. She was the daughter of Emily Howard Stowe.She is best known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school. Her appeal to Dr...
- first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school
Further reading
- Martin L. Friedland 'The University of Toronto: A History' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press © 2002)
- Neil Semple 'Faithful Intellect: Samuel S. Nelles And Victoria University' (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, September 1, 2004)
- C. B. Sissons 'A History of Victoria University'. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1952.