University Control
On March 4, 1837, the King's College charter was amended to take UCC in under the control of the university, with the principal to be appointed by the King, and the vice-principal and masters nominated by the Chancellor of King's College (the Lieutenant-Governor) at the approval of the King's College Council.
In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the College and said of it: "a sound education in every department of polite learning can be had, at a very moderate expense... It has pretty good endowments in the way of land, and is a valuable and useful institution."
By 1887, despite an enrolment of 300 that was quickly outgrowing the 1831 buildings, UCC came close to closing its doors when a Liberal provincial government, which supported university federation and saw the College's endowment and downtown campus as sources of funds for such an expensive venture, came to power. That year a Notice of Motion was introduced to the Legislature by a Liberal Member named Waters: "in the opinion of this House the time has come when Upper Canada College should be abolished... as the instruction given in the College can be obtained in any well conducted high school in the province," adding that the College's real estate should go to the province. In reaction to this, a group of Old Boys met, along with letters of support from various alumni, including Lieutenant Governor John Beverley Robinson, in an effort to stop the closing of the College. The meeting ended with a unanimous motion that the group's views be laid before the government. The story was covered widely in the papers of the time, with the Evening Telegram being most supportive, the Globe taking a more moderate stance, and the News criticizing the existence of the school. In the end, after much negotiation, a decision was reached to detach the school from King's College after fifty years of affiliation, and to operate it under the guidance of five trustees appointed by the Minister of Education. The College was also to be relocated to an area outside of the city, though this provision was not included in the statute.
Read more about this topic: History Of Upper Canada College
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