The former location of Rochdale College on Bloor Street in Toronto.

Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in alternative student-run education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 376 KB) former Rochdale College File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Rochdale College User:Paradiso/images Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 376 KB) former Rochdale College File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Rochdale College User:Paradiso/images Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ...

Co-operative housing experiment

Rochdale was the largest co-op residence in North America. Rochdale occupied an 18-story student residence at Bloor St. and Huron St. in Toronto. It was situated on the edges of the University of Toronto campus and near Yorkville, Canada's hippie haven in the 1960s and early 1970s. Bloor Street Bloor Street Yorkville is an affluent neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Singer at a modern Hippie movement in Russia Hippie, often spelled happy, refers to a subgroup of the counterculture that began in the United States during the early 1960s, becoming an established social group by 1965, and expanding to other countries before declining in the mid-1970s. ...

Rochdale took its name from Rochdale, a town in north-west England, where the world's first cooperative society was established in the 1800s. For the larger local government district, see Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the  United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130...

The college's modern architecture was uniquely designed for communal living. Some areas were divided into independently-operated communal units of about a dozen bedrooms (called Ashrams), each with its own collective washroom, kitchen and dining room. Each unit was responsible for collecting rent and maintaining its own housekeeping. Other areas consisted of bachelor, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. On the first and second floor were common areas used for socialization, education, and commercial purposes. The roof was accessible from the 18th floor and was used for sunbathing. Clothing was optional. Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, a master builder, from αρχι- chiefs, leader , builder, carpenter)[1] is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ...

Educational ideals

In the late sixties, universities were centres of political idealism and experimentation. Rochdale College was established as an alternative to what were considered traditional paternalistic and non-democratic governing bodies within university education. Conversely, Rochdale's government policy was decided at open meetings in which all members of the co-operative could attend, participate in debate, and vote.

It was the largest of more than 300 tuition-free universities in North America, and offered no structured courses, curriculum, exams, degrees, or traditional teaching faculty. It became a hot bed of free thought and radical idealism, in many ways resembling a tribal community.

Traditional professors were replaced by "Resource People" of various academic and non-academic backgrounds, who would lead informal discussion groups on a wide variety of subjects, as opposed to structured classes. Resource person of note included authors Dennis Lee and noted Futurian Judith_Merril who founded Rochdale's library. Dennis Lee, CM , MA (born 31 August 1939) is a Canadian childrens writer and poet who lives in Toronto, Ontario. ... The Futurians were an influential group of science fiction fans, editors and writers. ... Judith Merril (January 21, 1923, New York, New York - September 12, 1997, Canada) was an North American science fiction author and anthologist. ...

Students had complete freedom to develop their own learning process, much of which emerged from the shared community experience. The college included theatres for drama and film, and a ceramics studio. Students decided school policy and made their own evaluations.

Rochdale students were involved with various cultural institutions in Toronto such as Coach House Press, Theatre Passe Muraille, The Toronto Free Dance Theatre, the Spaced-out Library (now the Merril Collection of the Toronto Public Library) and House of Anansi Press. Coach House Press is an independent press located in Toronto, Canada. ... Theatre Passe Muraille, theatre company in Toronto, Canada. ... House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey. ...

It was typical of the free universities not to award degrees and the University of Toronto did not offer degrees through Rochdale College, but anyone could purchase a B.A. by donating $25 to the college and answering a simple skill-testing question. An M.A. cost $50, with the applicant choosing the question. A Ph.D. cost $100, no questions asked.

The Rochdale application also described its "non-degree": "We are also offering Non-Degrees at comparable rates. A Non-B.A. is $25.00. Course duration is your choice; requirements are simple, we ask that you say something. A Non-M.A. is $50.00 for which we require you to say something logical. A Non-Ph.D. is $100.00; you will be required to say something useful."

Rochdale ran its own radio station called CRUD, with an unusual assortment of music, talk, and static. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission tried to shut the station down a number of times, but the dedication of its staff kept it on the air. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, in French Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes) was established in 1968 by the Canadian Parliament to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. ...

The Rochdale community was very tolerant, so it was not unusual for residents to wander nude or openly use soft drugs within its rooms and corridors.

Drug culture

Rochdale was originally a refuge for the nation's idealistic in 1968. As nearby Yorkville became gentrified during the late 1960s, however, much of Toronto's counterculture ended up at Rochdale. This included homeless squatters and bikers who dealt hard drugs. Yorkville may refer to more than one place: in Canada: Yorkville, a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario in the United States of America: Yorkville, Illinois Yorkville, New York (two places): Yorkville, Manhattan, a neighborhood in New York City. ...

According to the CBC archives, by 1971 Rochdale had become known as "'North America's largest drug distribution warehouse.' Hash, pot, and LSD are in large supply. The Rochdale security force includes members of biker gangs".[1][2] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. ...

The CBC archives also describe how "[d]ue to problems with cops and bikers, the governing council set up a paid security force to be on 24-hour alert. Ironically, some of these security people were bikers themselves. As had happened in Yorkville, an unofficial alliance with the Vagabonds motorcycle club developed."

Rochdale's educational focus and student population declined as the drug business increased.

With the increase in clashes with police, political pressure forced Rochdale to close in 1975. A number of residents refused to leave. On May 30 the last residents were carried from the building by police. The doors to the college had to be welded shut.

The building

The Unknown Student sculpture in front of the Rochdale building on Bloor St.

The 18-storey tower that once housed Rochdale at 341 Bloor Street is now known as the Senator David A. Croll Apartments. Completed in 1968, it is the sister building to the Tartu student residence a short distance west across Bloor street. Designed by the architects Tampold and Wells (who had earlier constructed the Charles Street Apartments at Bay Street and Bloor Street), it is seen as ironic that such as a hub of creativity and counter cultural ideology was housed within such a harsh, yet restrained, concrete Brutalism. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 404 KB) Unknown Student sculpture in front of the former home of Rochdale College. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 404 KB) Unknown Student sculpture in front of the former home of Rochdale College. ... David Croll as an Ontario Cabinet minister The Honourable David Arnold Croll (born Davud Avrum Croll March 12, 1900 - June 11, 1991) was a Canadian politician. ... Tartu College Tartu College is an independently-owned and maintained student residence on Bloor Street, just west of Madison Avenue, in Toronto, Canada. ... Brutalism is an architectural style that spawned from the Modernist architectural movement and which flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. ...

As homage to its Rochdale days, the tower features the large and intriguing Unknown Student sculpture out front, which has been affectionately nicknamed by students as Autofellatio. Autofellatio Photograph of a man performing autofellatio Autofellatio is the act of oral stimulation of ones own penis as a form of masturbation. ...

"Love it or loathe it, Rochdale College is hard to dismiss even 20 years after its closing." (University of Toronto Magazine, Spring, 1995, p.38.)

External links

• Video clips and descriptions of Rochdale College and Canadian culture from the era from the CBC archives.
• Historic Rochdale documents from Libraries and Archives Canada.
• Documentary and interview with a former resident.
• Architectural description of the building.
• A personal reflection of a former resident
• The story of Rosie Rowbotham, one of the suppliers of marijuana to Rochdale.
• The documentary film "Dream Tower" about Rochdale by Ron Mann.
• Website of Campus Co-Operative Residences Inc. a surviving organization affiliated with Rochdale. Includes a forum for Rochdale alumni.
• The Rochdale College Museum

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. ...

Resources

• Dream Tower : The Life and Legacy of Rochdale College, by Henry Mietkiewicz
• Merril, Judith; Emily Pohl-Weary (2002). Better to have loved : the life of Judith Merril (paperback) (in english), Toronto: Between the Lines, 282p. ISBN 1-896357-57-1. 

Coordinates: 43°40′01.13″N, 79°24′03.35″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...