"I
can tell you that since I've become dean the number one question I get from
alumni is when are we going to put windows in the classrooms at Osgoode," said
Patrick Monahan. "When I became dean, I resolved that one of the things I was
going to do before I finished my term was to get windows into the large rooms."
That
resolve paid off this June when contractors began to install windows in
classrooms 104 and 204, thanks to donations from two large
"The
opportunity arose this year when Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP agreed to
fund a renovation of room 204, which was the last large room that had not been
upgraded into an electronic classroom," said Monahan. "And it happens that the
managing partner of Cassels Brock is Mark Young, who's a graduate of Osgoode,
and when we discussed the renovation with Mark we proposed to him that for an
additional amount we could put a window in the classroom.
"When
he heard that he immediately said we had to do it because this has been a real
source of complaint and he said we have to find the additional money to do that
and he went to his partners and they agreed to fund the additional amount."
Monahan
then went to Tom Heintzman, a senior partner with McCarthy Tétrault LLP and
also an Osgoode alumnus, to see whether McCarthys would be interested in
donating money to install a window in their classroom as well.
"I
went to them because the McCarthy Tétrault room is immediately underneath the
Cassels Brock room and explained to them that Cassels Brock was funding the
renovation and that they were going to put a window in their room and we would
like to put a matching window in the McCarthy Tétrault room, which had already
been renovated.
"They
more or less agreed on the spot that they would fund the additional cost,
because they, particularly Tom, were also very concerned about this issue of no
windows," he said.
Cassels
Brock donated $275,000 to upgrade room 204 into an electronic classroom that
provides wireless Internet access for students. The firm also provided an
additional $25,000 for the window project. McCarthys donated $250,000 to
upgrade the classroom several years ago and recently provided an additional
$25,000 for the window installation in room 104.
The
construction will be complete just in time for the new school year in
September, Monahan said.
"We're
going to have an official opening of the new Cassels Brock room and also the
window in the McCarthy Tétrault room in the fall. But they will be operational
when the students arrive and I think it's going to be something of great interest
to our alumni because this is something that everyone who's a graduate of this
school talks about."
