This fall begins the last year that students will attend class in the law school’s current building. Next summer, construction will begin on a new home for the Faculty of Law. The new building, designed by Toronto architecture firm Hariri Pontarini, will feature a new multi-storey wing extending south along Queen’s Park crescent. Bora Laskin library will be heavily renovated, and Flavelle house will receive minor upgrades. In total, the new building will add 66,000 square feet to the law school, increasing our size by 50%.
Construction will be complete in time for fall semester 2015. However, for the next two years the Faculty of Law will have to find a new home.
Temporary Space Hopes to Replicate that Law School Feel
The Faculty has not yet settled on a temporary space to house the law school during the two-year construction phase, though they are reportedly close to a decision.
Finding a suitable temporary space poses many challenges. While the current building has some obvious shortcomings, it does have many shared areas and large spaces. The Rowell room, lower rotunda, and Bora’s head all serve as essential spaces for social, club and academic events.
The administration hopes to find a suitable space that accommodates student needs. Alexis Archbold, Assistant Dean of Students, said that the Faculty has these concerns in mind.
“First priority is looking for space that will keep students and faculty together. We want the library, classrooms and the student social space to be close together. We’re also hoping that the temporary space will be close to our current location. We’re really working hard to make sure that students are not scattered across campus”
The Faculty will be making an announcement in the coming weeks, once a temporary space has been finalized. After the announcement, Archbold hopes to begin more specific consultation with students. “We want to get quickly to a specific discussion of ‘where is the microwave going to be,’ ‘where are the bike lockups…’ so that students are not inconvenienced in any big ways with this space.”
Classrooms and Spaces to be Named for Donors
Since November 2011, the Faculty has raised more than $40.5 million to help fund construction of the new building. Many of the larger donors – many of them Bay St firms – will be rewarded with branded classrooms and spaces. Some students think this raises concerns about the school’s relationship with its donors.
“I think the debate on the appropriate extent of corporate influence and sponsorship in the law school is important and worth having. This definitely raises concerns about privatization and corporate influence. Subtle pressures toward Bay St are already present, but this takes it a bit further”, said Josh Mandryk (2L).
Others didn’t think it would have much impact on students.
“If they don’t sell them to firms, they sell them to individual donors. I guess the concern could be that firms are using classroom names as an ad space. But, to me, room names lose meaning pretty quickly”, said Giselle Chin (3L).
“In the long run I don’t think it makes a huge difference, people at the school barely know what the names of buildings or rooms are anyway. Nobody tends to refer to the Moot Court Room as the Abella Room, I certainly don’t know who Bennett is”, said Jeremy Ozier (3L).
Assistant Dean Archbold said that this practice isn’t out of step with how the Faculty has treated donors in the past, pointing out that Bennet Lecture Hall, Flavelle House, and the Rowell Room are all named after important donors.
“Naming is an important way to recognize the contributions of donors, without whom the new building would not be possible. We are committed to ensuring that all donor recognition is appropriate, tasteful and consistent with University guidelines.”
