St. Michael's College, University of Toronto

The college has a long a notable history and has long been a major part of Toronto culture. Most famous, for many years, was the college's sports program which was one of the best in Canada. The St, Michael's students were known as the Fighting Irish of Bay Street, in reference to the Catholic sports powerhouse of Notre Dame in the United States. Toronto's current OHL franchice, the St. Michael's Majors[?], is a descendant of the college's once elite hockey team.

In recent years with close federation with the University of Toronto the college's fame has decreased. The school has remained staunchly religious, the residence are compltely segregated by sex, there are still priests and nuns supervising activities, and the church still dominates the campus. As Toronto, and Canada as a whole, has grown more secular many of the best students no longer wish to attend such an institution and St. Michael's admissions standards have fallen.

St. Michael's has also run into financial problems. It does not have the large land holdings of Victoria College or the wealthy alumni of Trinity College and has not been able to build nearly as large an endowment. Thus many facilities such as the meal halls and library are archaic compared to those of other colleges.

In recent years St. Michael's opened a strom of controversy when it accepted a large donation from Imperial Tobacco[?] for its department of business ethics. Many critics saw this donation as questionable and pushed St. Mikes to reject it. St. Michael's refused at first, but is now reconsidering its decision.

St. Michael's specialises in Celtic Studies[?], Medieval Studies[?] (at the famed Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies[?]), and religious studies[?].