Deos anyone remember what Rochdale College in Toronto Canada in the late 60's was all about ?

Question

Rochale College existed in Toronto Canada in the late 60's and mid seventies. It had alot of infamy.

Answer 1

I'm too young to remember Rochdale College myself, but from the stories my father tells me about it, I might as well have been there.

Rochdale College was an idealist hippy 'free-university' (a predecessor of the modern day 'anarchist free-schools') which didn't offer any courses, but existed as a forum for independent thought and unstructured debate. It was set up as a response to what was then viewed as the overly-administrated University of Toronto. Although the two were not officially linked, there were numerous Rochdale residents who were also students at the UofT.

The other thing that Rochdale is famous for is the drugs. It was often regarded as something of a drug warehouse, with plentiful supplies of hash, pot, LSD, mushrooms, and just about anything else you could want. Ultimately, the drugs became more important than the debates, and the police shut down Rochdale College.

It is now a rent-geared-to-income apartment building.

Answer 2

Rochdale was a free university where students were supposed to guide themselves and learn without restrictions and controls placed on them by others.

In truth, it was just a drugged up, debacle.