All Posts Tagged With: "York University"
“Truth Behind the Sarah Grunfeld Story” video emerges
Student who accused professor of antisemitism is back
From The Truth Behind the Sarah Grunfeld story
Remember Sarah Grunfeld? She’s the York University student who stormed out of a lecture in September of last year because her professor said that “all Jews should be sterilized.”
It later emerged that Professor Cameron Johnston, who is Jewish, was using the statement as an example of an invalid and dangerous opinion that must be reasonably qualified.
It appears that Grunfeld left the 450-seat lecture before Cameron qualified the opinion. Grunfeld was widely rebuked, including by Maclean’s own 22-year-old Jewish columnist, Emma Teitel.
But she didn’t go away quietly. She’s now back in a YouTube video called The Truth Behind the Sarah Grunfeld story. At least, we assume it’s her; the face in the video appears in silhouette.
“I was ridiculed, I was demonized,” says the shadowy figure. “I was called an moron, a dimwit, an idiot…” The figure then explains that she was paying full attention (FULL ATTENTION!) and sitting in the front row of class. “I know exactly what I heard,” she says. The shadowy figure admits that the comment happened in the “first five minutes of [Cameron's] talk about how opinions can be dangerous.” She says she waited for the professor to provide some kind of qualifier, but he did not.
This all comes before the shadowy figure accuses against the media, York University, Hillel of Greater Toronto and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs of mistreating her. The voice concludes by asking: “what’s the future for Jewish students?”
A better question might be: “what’s the future of Sarah Grunfeld?”
Another peeping tom reported at York University
Woman flees washroom
Footage of suspect (Toronto Police, Jan. 11)
A third woman has reported an apparent peeping tom lurking in a washroom at York University.
This comes two weeks after two similar incidents. Women reported seeing a man in a washroom stall at Curtis Lecture Hall on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10.
The latest incident occurred on Jan. 24 inside a washroom at the Stacy Lecture Hall. At 8:55 p.m., a woman says she noticed large shoes inside a stall that looked like they belonged to a man. She fled the washroom and activated a security alarm.
The suspect is described as a brown male aged 21 to 23. He’s about six feet tall, weighs about 185 pounds. He has a chinstrap beard and a square jaw. He was last seen wearing dark jeans, brown or dark-green shoes with beige soles, a dark-grey hoodie with a black jacket and was carrying a dark brown or black backpack. Those with any information are encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Voyeur reported in washroom at York
Male suspect had phone in his hand
Security camera footage from Toronto Police
Toronto police are looking for a man after several women reported seeing a male lurking in washrooms at York University over the past week.
Police say that on Jan. 9, at 6:05 p.m. two women in a washroom stall at Curtis Lecture Hall noticed a man reach under the stall they were in, holding a cellular phone. The man then fled. The next day at 8:30 p.m., a different woman walked into a washroom at Curtis Hall and saw a man looking over a stall. He fled once more.
The suspect is described as brown skinned, aged 20 to 25 years old, 5’8″ to 5’9″ high with a thin face and chinstrap beard, dark eyes and black hair. He was last seen wearing a grey knitted sweater, blue jeans, grey shiny sneakers with two straps and a grey toque.
Canada’s Top Five university comics
Prof. Pettigrew ranks our campus cartoonists
#2. Caveman Agent by Evan Eshelman
One fond memory of my undergraduate days is of reading the comics in the student newspaper. They lacked the artistry of professional comics in the big dailies but they had a certain joie de vivre that came with, presumably, not getting paid very much (if anything at all).
Since then I have followed university comics mainly when they get involved in controversies, as when the UPEI student newspaper was confiscated by university officials after it published the notorious Danish Mohammed cartoons, or when a community college ran a comic in which Barack Obama looked a bit like a monkey, or when the Saskatchewan student paper ran a comic, reportedly by mistake, showing Jesus in, shall we say, a sexually compromising position.
But browsing student news sites the other day, I became curious as to the state of university comics, so I went looking and found that the tradition was alive and well, and even better than I remember. In fact, I was so impressed that I am inspired to provide my entirely subjective, online-only list of the top five university comics in Canada. Here are my picks.
5. The Daily Snooze, by Jacob Samuel, Simon Fraser
Samuel provides us with quite charming one-off panel cartoons, of the sort one finds in The New Yorker—and provides fewer head scratchers than that redoubtable mag.
4. Ski Ninjas, by Kyle Lees, Lakehead
Ski Ninjas feels like it could have been called Little Orphan Anime. I admire the strong lines and the simple off-beat humour, as in this strip where the joke is essentially that “booze” is a funny word. Which it is.
3. Too Fancy Gents, by Mike Hayes and Amani Elrofaie*, Western
Too Fancy Gents gives us the dialogue of two Oscar Wilde-esque fellows called Monocle and Bowler (perversely, Monocle wears a bowler, and Bowler wears a monocle). Typically our gents (who really are too fancy) sound awfully posh but quickly veer off into accounts of their sexual escapades or drug-fuelled misadventures.
2. Caveman Agent, by Evan Eshelman, York
I must admit, I don’t think I always understand Eshelman’s Caveman Agent (which feels a bit like Ziggy if Gary Larson had drawn it, with a dash of Krazy Kat for flavour), but the drawing is fantastic and the artist manages to catch his main character (is Cavemen his name?) in oddly human moments, as in this panel where he tries to keep his dinosaur from being traumatized.
This one makes me slightly regret my one-winner-per-university rule, though, since York provides several other worthy candidates, including Adventuresome by Keith Maclean, and the very clever Sent from the Moon, by Alison Wight. Let’s call those very honourable mentions.
1. Glamour Pig, by Katherine Johnson, Dalhousie
Glamour Pig is a largely text-based comic with admittedly sketchy drawing, but has just the sort of skewed viewpoint that gives us a new perspective on life (as in one comic where Johnson lists some of the downsides of eye glasses: “Impossibility of repair should damage occur in post-apocalyptic future.”). This is the kind of comic that makes you feel like you have a cool new friend.
If I have missed any worthy candidates, please feel free to link to them below. Meantime, campus cartoon artists: don’t stop now!
*We initially failed to give credit to Amani Elrofaiem, the illustrator behind Too Fancy Gents. We regret the error. Additionally we initially listed Ski Ninjas as Sky Ninjas. This post was updated Jan. 14, 2011.
Christmas thefts at York
20-year-old charged
Toronto Police have charged James Wentworth Sutcliffe, 20, with a series of thefts that culminated in an investigation on Christmas Day. Sutcliffe is accused of stealing from several units at York University’s Vanier Residence during November and December. Police are looking for victims to come forward, as they have unclaimed stolen property.
Club cancels debate on women’s role in rape
“Poor wording” says debate society
Screen capture from Don't be THAT guy on YouTube by extremelineprod via Crime Prevention Ottawa
The University of Calgary Debate Society is blaming the cancellation of an upcoming debate on “poor wording.” They advertised an event on Facebook earlier this month that stated the debaters would discuss whether to “hold women partially accountable for rape prevention.”
Students complained. The event was cancelled.
“People do often debate things they don’t necessarily believe in,” the society’s training co-ordinator Pardeep Dhaliwal told Metro Calgary. That much is true—debaters frequently argue about absurd things. And it wasn’t intended to be offensive. In fact, the debate was planned in conjunction with the Calgary Sexual Assault Voices, which has been part of the Don’t Be THAT Guy campaign, which has targeted young men with ads that say things like “Just because she’s drunk doesn’t mean she wants to f**k.” and “sex without consent = sexual assault.”
Continue reading Club cancels debate on women’s role in rape
Where Ontario’s next university must be built
Sorry Niagara Falls, it’s not you
Aerial view of GTA by Paul's Best Shots on Flickr
No sooner did Ontario’s government reiterate in their throne speech that they will build three new universities than a couple of small-town politicians stepped up to demand one for their town.
Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor told the Niagara Falls Review yesterday that the city of 82,000 should get a campus. Naturally, the mayor is on board too. The newspaper called it “a no-brainer.”
But sorry Niagara Falls, your case is weak.
The new book Academic Reform, by policy experts Ian D. Clark, David Trick and Richard Van Loon, took a comprehensive look at exactly what Ontario’s post-secondary system needs right now. They examined what works and what doesn’t, from Australia to Europe, from Florida to British Columbia.
They agree that, yes, Ontario badly needs new universities.
But only in the suburban ring around Toronto, known colloquially as The 905.
They projected that the Greater Toronto Area will need 51,000 to 74,000 new undergraduate seats between 2009 and 2025. The rest of Ontario will require, at most, 30,000—possibly none at all.
And the rest of Ontario already has more seats available than the GTA, despite the fact that the GTA will soon have more than half of the 18 to 24-year-olds. There are 20 universities in Ontario, but only three main campuses are in the GTA. That partly explains why nearly half of local secondary school students leave the city to go to school—far more than come into the city to be educated. Thirty per cent don’t get into university at all. Could it be because local schools are full?
It’s also clear from the research that the GTA needs entirely new campuses, not expansions. Toronto’s universities are already among the biggest in the world. York University, at 55,000 students, and the University of Toronto, at 54,000, are the fifth and sixth largest in North America. U of T has determined that it doesn’t want more growth. York and Ryerson can only grow so quickly.
The growth is in Toronto’s suburbs, like Brampton, Marham and Vaughan. Consider that Brampton grew at a rate of 33 per cent between 2001 and 2006 to 434,000, according to the Census. It’s likely closer to 500,000 now. The City of Vaughan passed the 300,000 mark in 2011 and projects it will add 116,000 more by 2031. These new citizens will demand local options to study.
That said, there are a couple fast-growing cities just outside the GTA that could make reasonable cases too. Barrie, which has put aside $14-million for a potential campus, grew 33 per cent in the past decade to 191,000. Milton, which grew by 71 per cent between 2001 and 2006 to 88,000, has land set aside for a possible campus of Wilfrid Laurier—and it’s a short commute to Brampton.
But Niagara Falls, with 82,000 people, grew by just four between 2001 and 2006. Besides, it’s only 17 kilometres from Brock University in St. Catharines—also a short commute.
If they think they’re getting a new university, they’re dreaming. All three should go to the GTA.
In a class of their own
Adventure Studies, Space Engineering, Costume Studies!?
UBC Wood Processing students putting together the podia used at the 2010 Olympic ceremonies
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
Parents have a tendency to dream on behalf of their children. Sometimes they envision their daughters and sons climbing the hallowed staircases of ivory tower institutions. Sometimes they’re graduating from law school, leaping headlong into medical school, or simply training to take over the family business. There’s no doubt such dreams have merit, but they don’t always mesh with what kids want. Canadian universities offer a staggering array of enticing programs in which students can pursue their own destinies and determine their own dreams. Here are a few standouts:
Deadly construction collapse at York University
No injuries to students reported
One man is dead at York University after a piece of construction equipment, possibly a crane or drilling machine, toppled over onto construction workers around 2:30 this afternoon. Another man, who is 36-years old, is still trapped in the debris as of 4 p.m., reports CP24. Three people have been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The accident happened beside the Schulich School of Business where construction workers are drilling for the Spadina Subway extension. The accident has caused road closures, including portions of Keele St. York students are currently on a reading week break, so few are on campus. No students have been injured.
So much for the ‘People of Einstein’ myth
A student makes Jews look bad. But that’s a good thing.
Photo by wokka on Flickr
By Emma Teitel. Republished from Macleans.ca.
There’s an inside Yiddish expression used by Jews to describe other Jews behaving badly in the public sphere: “shanda for the goyim” — shanda meaning “shame” and goyim denoting “gentiles” (non-Jews). The phrase is most commonly employed by Semitic seniors, when the modern media informs them that Jews can in fact be lechers (Dominique Strauss-Kahn), alcoholics (Amy Winehouse); unsuspecting nudes (Scarlett Johansson); and now, thanks to one 22-year-old Toronto Jewish girl, dangerously obtuse.
The woman in question—with whom I share at least one mutual Facebook friend (I am also a 22-year-old Jewish girl and it’s very possible we crossed paths, maybe at B’nai Brith summer camp, or perhaps in the annual United Synagogue Youth Limousine Sukka Hop)—is a York University senior named Sarah Grunfeld, who last week made shanda-esque headlines when she put her social science professor’s career in jeopardy over an anti-Semitic remark that turned out to be—well—not. The statement “All Jews should be sterilized,” Professor Cameron Johnston explained in the introductory lecture to his class, was an example of an invalid and dangerous opinion; his point was that in academia especially, opinions must be reasonably qualified. Grunfeld failed to catch that qualifier, though, perhaps because before the prof had a chance to offer it, she had stormed out of class and enlisted the on-campus Israel-advocacy group, Hasbara (Hebrew for “Explanation”), to call for his immediate resignation.
Word of Johnston’s so-called racism exploded virally online by way of what National Post columnist Jonathan Kay has dubbed the “Bubbie-net” (Jewish grandparents frantically emailing their kin with fresh findings of alleged anti-Semitism); at the same time widely-respected Canadian Jewish civil rights association, B’nai Brith (Children of the Covenant), leaped in with equal gusto to champion Grunfeld’s claim. Then came the big reveal: Ms. Grunfeld had made a mistake. Not only was professor Johnston not an anti-Semite, he was a Jew. To borrow a more accessible Yiddish phrase, political correctness at York University had effectively schtupped itself. Not to mention Sarah Grunfeld.
The maligned university student has since “qualified” her accusations against Johnston with claims twice as ludicrous as the original. “The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’,” she told the Toronto Star recently, “still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.”
A lot of Canadian Jews are embarrassed and ashamed by this kind of doublespeak, and so was I, until I re-examined the root of my disquiet. There’s a reason why this particular shanda—and not, let’s say, Woody Allen’s marriage to his adopted daughter, or Garth Drabinsky’s defrauding of his shareholders, or The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart’s changing his name from John Stewart Liebowitz—ignites such fierce indignation in the Jewish community: Because Grunfeld doesn’t simply make us look bad (like the guys above); she makes us look stupid, and in doing so debunks the cultural stereotypes of intellectual superiority that we sometimes not-so-secretly enjoy.
Jewish American author Michael Chabon explored the seductiveness of this stereotype to Jews themselves in the New York Times last year in considering the calibre of the discussion following Israel’s botched raid of the Gaza bound Turkish flotilla, Mavi Marmara, in which nine activists died at the hands of Jewish soldiers (a debacle Diaspora Jews had trouble reconciling with our supposed “cultural” cleverness):
“I would look around the Passover table, say, at the members of my family, and remark on the presence of a number of highly intelligent, quick-witted, shrewd, well-educated people filled to bursting with information, explanations and opinions on a diverse range of topics. In my tractable and vainglorious eagerness to confirm the People of Einstein theory, my gaze would skip right over—God love them—any counterexamples present at that year’s Seder.”
Sarah Grunfeld—God love her—is one such counterexample. But we’d be wrong to let our gaze skip right over her, because there’s another, more disturbing lesson to be drawn from the Grunfeld affair and it’s this: as Jews, we hold the moral high ground to call out anti-Semitism. That’s why, in part, Grunfeld’s accusation had the legs it did, and why, perhaps, it got the backing from the Jewish infrastructure organizations such as B’nai Brith, which still hasn’t distanced itself from Grunfeld or denounced her fallacious claim, but has instead published her unapologetic letter blasting Professor Johnston for a sin he didn’t commit, with a logic even more addled than before. And there lies the biggest shanda of all: Grunfeld’s false allegations and the group’s uninformed decision to support her are bad mistakes, but both parties’ inability to own up to those mistakes renders them inexcusable. Because when we cry wolf —especially on one of our own—serious apologies are in order.
But it’s doubtful that apologies of any kind will be made, and B’nai Brith will continue sniffing out anti-Semitism where there may not be any, all the while undermining cases where there is. If anything good does come from this debacle, however, it’s that our enemies and unsolicited friends (Glenn Beck comes to mind) may think twice before attributing all things grave and glorious to the “People of Einstein.” Because if public representatives of the Jewish faith continue to make exceedingly stupid mistakes, then the various calumnies the conspiracy theorists like to heap on all of us—the blood libel, the plague, AIDS, the Iraq War, and our obvious plans to take over everything from Saturday night TV to the World Bank—start to ring kind of hollow. After all, with Sarah Grunfeld leading the way, for what exactly can they blame us?
Possible fraud at York University
Forensic accounting report completed in May
York University announced Thursday that there is an investigation underway that is probing potential fraud that may have occurred at the university between 2007 and early 2010.
York hired forensic accounting firm Navigant in 2009. ”At the end of May 2011, York received Navigant’s report, which outlined a number of irregularities,” York said in a statement. “The University immediately handed over the relevant materials to the Toronto Police Service.”
“York will not comment on any specifics regarding this case,” they added.
York arms security staff with batons
Lower enrollment follows violent crimes
York University will arm its security staff with handcuffs, batons and bulletproof vests. It’s an effort to make students feel safer on campus.
One unnamed source told The Toronto Star that the move is clearly being made to fight future enrollment drops that could stem from perceptions that York is unsafe after high-profile crimes on and near the Toronto campus this year. Wallace Pidgeon, an official York spokesperson, refutes this claim.*
As of August 3, 40 fewer students had confirmed enrollment at York than had one year earlier, according to the Ontario University Application Centre. That’s a 0.6 per cent drop in a year when confirmations grew by 2.0 per cent overall.
Statue to honour Tiananmen Square victims tossed out
Not a political decision: York University
A four-metre high goddess statue meant to honour the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing has been removed from York University’s student centre, reports the Toronto Star.
Its disappearance had Cheuk Kwan, chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, asking whether it was removed due to political pressure from the Chinese government. After all, Cheuk Yan Lee, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government was to visit York this week.
In fact, the board of the student centre had thrown the statue away. “The materials used in its construction have exceeded their life expectancy, ” Scott Jarvis, the centre’s director told the Star.
Still, Kwan isn’t pleased. “The goddess replica is an iconic symbol of China’s democratic movement. We’re upset that they just threw it into a scrap pit,” he said. The original Goddess of Democracy statue was built by Beijing Fine Arts Academy in honour of the democracy movement. The gold-coloured replica at York University was created by Fine Arts students in 1992.
The Tiananmen Massacre occurred on June 4, 1989 when the People’s Revolution Army used live fire to make its way to Tiananmen Square and clear it of pro-democracy protesters who had been demonstrating for liberalization. At least several hundred people were killed by the army.
Former sex worker found dead
Wendy Babcock was advocate for safer sex work
Wendy Babcock, a prostitue-turned-law school student, has been found dead at the age of 32 in her Toronto home.
Babcock gained attention in 2009 after she progressed from homeless teenage prostitute to advocate for safer sex work and then to law student at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.
A police spokesperson said there were no signs of foul play, reports the Toronto Star.
Babcock had attempted suicide on several occasions.
Among her achievements was the founding of a group that compiles information on bad sex work clients and her work with Street Health, which prompted an award from former Toronto mayor David Miller.
Babcock was raised in an abusive home and began selling sex at age 15. Her work forced her to give up her son to social services. Eventually, she quit prostitution and attended George Brown College. After succeeding there, she gained admission to Osgoode Hall, despite not having the required university credits. She had successfully completed the first two years of the four-year degree when she was found dead.
Fourth assault in four months at university
30-year-old former student arrested in campus attack
Photo courtesy of Alyssa L. Miller on Flickr
A former York University student, Faizan Ali, 30, is charged with entering one of the university’s residences on Friday evening and sexually assaulting a female acquaintance and her friend, reports CBC News.
That’s the fourth alleged assault involving a student on or near the suburban Toronto campus in the past four months.
The most famous crime occurred on April 15 when Chinese student Qian Liu, 23, was murdered at her private residence near campus. Brian Dickson, a 29-year-old former resident of the same house was charged. The murder made headlines around the world because Liu had been video-chatting with her boyfriend in China at the time that Dickson allegedly killed her.
The other assaults were reported on April 5 when a student was attacked by three males outside The Absinthe pub on campus and on May 5 when a student was sexually assaulted in the Seneca@York building.
Wallace Pidgeon, of York University media relations, told student newspaper The Excalibur in April that officials are making the campus safer by adding 25 security cameras to the 600 already installed, plus $200,000 more in light fixtures.
Is film school for suckers?
Job prospects are dismal, but applications keep going up
Photo courtesy of Vancouver Film School
Film students are often the butt of jokes about never being able to find a job. Yet this hasn’t deterred people from applying, even now, when job prospects are as dismal as ever.
The number of students taking on film and television majors has skyrocketed in the U.S. The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts — which only accepts 300 students each term — saw applications jump from 2,800 to 4,800 in a single year, writes the New York Times.
It’s a similar situation in Canada. Since 2006, the prestigious Vancouver Film School has had nearly 8,000 applicants for its 13 programs. The University of British Columbia says it gets an average of 75 applicants annually for a mere 20 spots in its film production program. And get this — York University in Toronto gets up to 17 applicants per spot for its film programs.
But a weak economy has caused many studios and production companies to scale back on staff. “It’s becoming an increasingly flooded marketplace,” Andrew Dahm, who holds a masters degree from U.S.C., told the Times. “Working as an assistant for six years is not unheard of.”
The shallow pool of film-related job postings online reveals a shortage here too. Many job titles applicable to a film graduates have no postings at all. Of the two postings under “video editor” on Workopolis.com, one was for an unnamed company editing wedding footage. A search of the word ‘film’ on Monster.ca brings up only five positions, one of which is an unpaid internship. True, these sites only represent a fraction of jobs, but it’s discouraging nonetheless.
Still, some film educators are optimistic about their students’ futures — just not in film.
“[The] majority of students majoring in film and television will not be having careers in those professions,” Stephen Ujlaki, Dean of Loyola Marymount’s School of Film and Television, told the New York Times. But film training leaves students with business savvy and other skills, he says.
As a student working on a film minor at the University of Manitoba, I have evidence that he’s right. As much flack as I’ve gotten from friends about my capricious minor, film training has proven to be an asset when applying for jobs in another field — journalism. Nearly every publication seems to want to expand its multimedia content and one of those publications, a newspaper, hired me this summer. The time management, organization and communication required on film sets apply to many other jobs
So, it may be true that most film school graduates aren’t going to work on big budget blockbusters or screen their films at Sundance. But that shouldn’t discourage those who truly love film from pursuing a degree in the field. Their time will not be wasted. I can personally attest to that.
Toronto student earns 100 per cent average
What’s David Marrello’s secret to success?
A Toronto high school student has earned a 100 per cent average in his high school courses, reports the Toronto Star.
David Marrello says his academic success is the result of constantly asking questions and being a perfectionist. He also makes time for extracurricular activities, including watching the famous quick show Jeopardy, playing the piano and heading up The Bishop Allen School’s Reach for the Top team.
Although he had his pick of schools, he chose to enroll close to home at York University’s Schulich School of Business. He will, of course, be attending for free thanks to a four-year scholarship.
Something is seriously wrong at YorkU
Another sexual assault reported on campus
The news, unfortunately, is not surprising. Toronto Police have announced that they are looking for a man in connection with a recent sexual assault at York University.
The assault took place inside the main hall at the Seneca@York building on Thursday around 4 p.m. The victim says she was followed into the building and was sexually assaulted twice.
Sporadic news of sexual assault on or around York University’s campus is not unusual. There was the violent assault on a 20-year-old student by three strangers last April, three assaults in five months back in 2008, which included two young students being raped in their residence rooms, and, of course, the recent murder of York University student Qian Liu.
These events speak to serious problems at York University. Any scholarship to be revered coming from the institution is already being lost in the shadows of its dangerous reputation. York needs to take further measures to protect its students both on campus and in off-campus student communities. Its reputation–and more importantly, the welfare of its students–depend on it.
UToronto and York students launch BDS campaign
Demand universities divest from companies “involved in violations of Palestinian human rights”
On Monday March 7, the first day of Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto, Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at the University of Toronto announced the official launch of its joint Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] campaign with SAIA at York University.
Making brief reference to a similar campaign going on at Carleton University, SAIA U of T announced the new campaign, demanding that the university divest from four companies, claiming that “current investments in these four companies suggests it is complacent in war crimes.”
BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett Packard and Lockheed Martin were identified as contributors to “violations of international law by the Israeli state,” and named as the target of the York/U of T campaign.
According to SAIA’s research, the University of Toronto holds $1,746,000 and $1,157,000 worth of shares in BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman respectively. (Figures for Hewlett Packard and Lockheed Martin were unknown.)
Students are demanding that the universities divest from the four companies and refrain from investing in other companies that are “involved in violations of international law.”
The petition demands are posted below.
We, the undersigned, demand that:
(1) The University of Toronto and York University divest from and refuse to reinvest in BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett Packard and Lockheed Martin;
(2) The University of Toronto and York University refrain from investing in all companies involved in violations of international law. With respect to Palestine, this entails following the guidelines put forth by Students for Justice in Palestine in the historic divestment by Hampshire College:
The University of Toronto and York University should refrain from investing in companies that:
a) Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance of the Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights;
b) Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories;
c) Establish facilities or operations in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories;
d) Provide products or services that contribute to the maintenance and construction of the Wall;
e) Provide products or services that contribute to violent acts that target either Israeli or Palestinian civilians.
Falsies don’t mean ‘yes’
Manitoba justice was wrong to base ruling on rape victim’s clothing
All you girls out there better think twice before dressing up for a night out. After all, it seems that wearing a braless tube top is now judicially perceived as equivalent to the phrase, “Yes, I would like to have intercourse with you.” Heels mean you’re a harlot, in case you didn’t know, and wearing makeup implies you’re ready for a whole lot of fun. In future, eyes on the floor, skin clear, and for Christ’s sake keep those ankles covered. That way, we won’t have any confusion about so-called “consensual” sex.
These helpful hints are in accordance with a recent ruling by Manitoba’s Justice Robert Dewar, who decided that a man convicted of rape would not serve time in prison. According to Dewar, the victim sent signals that “sex was in the air,” specifically noting her attire which included high heels, a tube top without a bra, and lots of makeup. Commenting on the behaviour of the victim and her friend, Dewar said, “They made their intentions publicly known that they wanted to party.”
The obvious explanation is that Justice Dewar must’ve studied under Toronto’s Constable Michael Sanguinetti, who told a room full of York University students last month that they can avoid sexual assault by not dressing like “sluts.” The onus is on you, girls; make sure you don’t give the impression that you’re some sort of trollop. Because if you do—well, that’s pretty much the same thing as explicitly saying “yes,” right?
Actually, no. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the idea of implied consent as a viable defense over a decade ago in a ruling involving the case of R. v. Ewanchuk. And before that, in 1992, Canada established rape shield law provisions essentially limiting the extent to which a victim’s sexual history could be brought into a rape trial. Both moves were seen as positive steps forward with regards to altering “blame the victim” attitudes often prevalent in sexual assault cases. But as they say, one step forward…
Rulings such as Dewar’s and comments such as Sanguinetti’s not only reinforce negative stereotypes about rape victims who “ask for it,” but will likely dissuade further victims from coming forward and pressing charges. As is, just one in nine cases of sexual assault is actually reported to police; and I can see why victims may want to avoid having their tube tops as Exhibit A and their flirtatious texts as Exhibit B. As long as we keep blaming the victim, we can expect few to come forward.
So let me reiterate: a tube top doesn’t mean “yes.” Falsies don’t mean “yes.” Nor does a smile, or a wink, or a hair toss or twirl. The clothing of the victim in the Manitoba case shouldn’t have been used as the basis for Dewar’s ruling. Those of us who know that shouldn’t less the grass grow under our feet. And mine, I can assure you, will be wearing some killer heels.
