The Rotman School of Management’s planned new building on St. George Street is not sitting well with its neighbour, Massey College. While the move will relocate the Classics department, CIUT radio, the Sexual Education and Peer Counseling Centre, and the adjacent parking lot, students of Massey College with have to put up with numerous annoyances in their backyard—the new structure will be built directly to the west of the picturesque college.
John Fraser, the master of Massey College, evinced displeasure over the prospect of the proposed 10 to 13-storey tower casting a shadow over the main courtyard where students spend much of their spare time. “It will just be gruesome if they get that height,” he told the Globe & Mail. “The only positive thing to say about this is it will block our view of Robarts.”
Fraser is optimistic that Rotman’s plans will fall through. “Many projects get approval but don’t get done,” he said.
While this has certainly been the case in the past, as with the 46-storey condominium proposed by the ROM in 2005 that was cancelled due to fierce community opposition, it seems unlikely that Massey will win this battle. Roger Martin, Rotman’s dean, has relentlessly pursued the goal of positioning Rotman as one of the best in the world. The plans call for the tower to be completed by 2011, and by 2015 Rotman hopes to increase its faculty and student body by 50 per cent.
Fraser is also concerned about noise pollution that construction will bring. The college is home to 60 graduate students, who had similar thoughts. “The reality is, is that with any project of this kind there are both positives and negatives,” said James Harrington, a U of T student. “In this case it seems that U of T believes the positive implications of a brand new building for the business school far outweigh the negative ones such as casting a shadow over our quad or generating a lot of noise.”
