While most students spent last summer trying to erase memories of long nights spent in Flavelle House, the Faculty and SLS were hard at work recreating Flavelle across the street. Much of the SLS’s work during the 2012-2013 academic year was focused on making the law school’s transition to Victoria University as seamless as possible. Particular attention was given to gauging what students wanted in their transition space, thinking of ways to keep the collegial nature of the law school intact, and ensuring that students had enough places to plug in and study at an 177 year old college.
After initially being assured that access to electricity would not be a problem at Victoria, it became evident during the summer that distribution of electricity within the transition space was insufficient to meet the high demand from the law school. Numerous solutions, from installing generators to hanging electrical cords from the ceilings, were canvassed by the SLS and
Faculty administration. Resistance from Victoria’s administration came from the idea of doing major renovations to accommodate a mere two-year term of students.
The end result of the summer’s negotiation was a two fold plan: the Faculty of Law was permitted to retrofit four classrooms of varying sizes with electrical cords and the administration decided to compensate all students $100 if they needed to purchase an additional laptop battery. From the SLS’s end, these initiatives have been well received, as SLS’s Student Affairs and Governance branch has stated they have not received any major complaints thus far.
Although the vast majority of the transition was completed during the summer, there is still work to be done. Three classrooms in Victoria College still need to be retrofitted with electrical outlets, with this work occurring during the 2013 winter break. At the time of publication, wireless printing is still being configured with the hopes that it will be finished towards the end of September. There is a desire to get a water filter for Birge Carnegie’s student lounge, since installing water fountains was deemed impermissible. The Faculty is also seeking to address student complaints that have arisen thus far, such as noise complaints regarding the lamps and doors in the study room of Bora Laskin’s new location.
Overall, the SLS has been quite pleased with the results of the transition. Minor hiccups that occurred in September were addressed more quickly than anticipated. The hope for Peter Flynn is that if little problems keep arising, that they are addressed as quickly as they have been in the past, so as to not accumulate and turn into bigger issues.
Four Hidden Gems Around Victoria College
1. Caffiends (1st Floor, Victoria College)
$1 coffee. They’ll give you a mug. Need we say more?
2. Emmanuel Student Lounge (3rd floor, Emmanuel College)
Located right across from Emmanuel Library, this student lounge has a $1 soda machine, and a fridge with cold, filtered water for when you need a refill whilst studying.
3. Classy Bathrooms (Victoria College)
It’s not the “Men’s Bathroom” here at Vic College, it’s the “Gentlemen’s Bathroom”. While Flavelle’s bathrooms made you feel at risk of infection at all times, Vic College wants you to feel classy, even when you’re peeing.
4. Hot Chocolate Machine (Basement, Pratt Library)
This machine serves hot chocolate that is both cheap and delicious. To quote one student “I went on a date with my boyfriend for $2.50”.
