The Flavelle commission, officially the royal commission on the University of Toronto, was a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

that studied university governance in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Joseph Flavelle led the commission, which focussed on governance of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. It made its report in 1906. The commission was formed in response to accusations that universities in the province were subject to political influence. It made two central recommendations. First, it recommended that a board, as opposed to the provincial government, control university decisionmaking. Second, it recommended that universities adopt a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

governing structure. According to this recommendation, one chamber of the university governing body—now often called the senate—would be responsible for academic matters. The other, called the board of governors, would handle financial matters. This model of university governance is ubiquitous in contemporary Canadian higher education.

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