Almost immediately following the retirement of Howard Hanson as director in 1964, the University of Rochester administration began to examine the future of the Eastman School of Music facilities in downtown Rochester. Very little had been done to the facilities since their original construction. The first comprehensive study of the question produced a plan for renovation and new construction with an estimated cost of about ten and a half million dollars. Although there was some informal discussion at the time about the possibility of moving the school to the university's River Campus, most held the opinion that construction of entirely new facilities at the campus would be prohibitively expensive. Six months after he had succeeded Hanson as Eastman School director, Walter Hendl was able to reassure his faculty that the school would remain in its downtown location. Renovation seemed to have easily triumphed over relocation.

Two years later the entire question was reopened by W. Allen Wallis, then holding the title of president of the University of Rochester. He was to become the most ardent and persistent voice in favor of moving the Eastman School closer to the rest of the university. Sentiment at the Eastman School at the time was somewhat divided. A faculty committee appointed by Walter Hendl reported back to the director in December 1967, suggesting that there should be serious and immediate consideration of moving the school to the River Campus. That committee, however, consisted of people who were relatively new to the school. All of them were Hendl appointees who had served as faculty members for no more than two or three years. Moreover, not a single member of the performance faculty had been invited to join the committee, and it would be fair to state that the committee did not represent an accurate cross-section of the faculty. It wasn't until late 1969 that the entire Eastman faculty became fully aware of what was transpiring. President Wallis attended a faculty meeting on November 11, asking that another committee be appointed with Hendl as chair to study the question of the school's location and to gather opinions from the faculty. Opinions on both sides began to harden. The university president had become increasingly committed to having Eastman leave downtown in favor of new construction at or near the River Campus.