The lost porter tradition at Massey College

Massey College, at the University of Toronto, is an important example of Canadian efforts to emulate the ‘OxBridge’ educational and college system at Oxford and Cambridge. I was pleased to join Massey as a junior fellow when I began my PhD in 2012, and found the college to be an indispensable social hub amid U of T’s general coldness. I was a resident during term time over three years but, for the rest of my PhD, still visited routinely to read, have lunch, or just see who was around. It used to be that any time I was passing the college I could drop in for a few minutes and have about a 1/3 chance of having a really interesting conversation, often with a stranger. As with everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic locked down Massey College to residents only, staring nervously at each other through plastic dividers. Unfortunately, and as with many other pandemic disruptions, some important changes have carried through to the present. It used to be that at most times someone would care to…