All Posts Tagged With: "York University"
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.
York student group hosts Iranium screening despite protests
Controversial documentary creates tension rather than discussion
Because the political climate at York University isn’t quite hot enough, a group of students decided to host a screening of Iranium on campus last week.
The controversial documentary made headlines last month after a screening scheduled at the National Archives was canceled due to complaints from the Iranian Embassy. But this past Thursday, the movie was successfully screened at York University’s Computer Science and Engineering Centre.
Organized by Hasbara@York, the film was originally to be shown at Vari Hall but the location was moved after Toronto Police received “unspecified threats.” About 50 to 60 people showed up to protest the screening, organized by the Iranian Student Association at York.
My apologizes if I’ve led you to a yawning fit. Obviously, this sort of issue is not new for York University. Generally speaking, Group A will host controversial speaker/association/screening, Group B will protest said speaker/association/screening, and Group A will assert its right to free speech/peaceful assembly. Is everyone following so far?
I’ve seen Iranium and it is certainly not a feel-good flick. While obviously centred on the Iranian ruling regime, I took it as highly critical of the U.S. government as well. Of course, none of that should really matter. The belief that a documentary is biased or propagandistic does not give one the right to prohibit others from seeing it, especially on a shared campus.
A more tactful approach for dealing with this or similar issues would be to tackle the content directly, rather than try to stifle the message overall. The first five minutes or so of Iranium could probably make for an hour-long lecture on Orientalism, for example. Another missed opportunity was when George Galloway spoke at York in November. Instead of protesting his presence, why not host a subsequent event titled “Funding Hamas and Other Poor PR Moves” instead?
Questioned by York University’s Excalibur, Iranian Student Association at York president Mehraz Javadyniya said, “We acknowledge that there are human rights issues in Iran [...] but the Iranian community within the university do not agree with them speaking about our human rights issues when it’s our problem.” His statement is problematic for a number of reasons–namely for suggesting that discussion of issues in a community should be exclusive to its members. Rather than trying to quiet other people’s discussions, why not seize the opportunity to add to the conversation?
Now I think I’ve got a whole new group of people yawning (and probably preparing their placards). As you were, York University.
Rob Ford dropped out of university. How dare he?
What’s really stunning is that he went to York
Toronto mayor Rob Ford dropped out of university in 1991 and it is apparently a scandal. There was some confusion over whether or not he graduated but that was cleared up months ago. He attended Carleton University for 1989-1990 and we now know that he later attended York University for 1990-91 taking distance education courses.
Bouncing off an Open File Ottawa story that looked at whether or not, and by how much, Ford embellished his time as a member of Carleton’s football team, the Toronto Star writes:
Mayor Rob Ford took courses at university — that much, at least, is clear.
Normally, a mayor’s post-secondary education is an easily confirmed thing, a line or two in an official biography.
But Ford is no ordinary mayor.
So, an ordinary mayor would list himself as a university dropout on an official biography? Or would an ordinary mayor simply list the education institutions he attended in order to imply he graduated, when he did not? Or is it that ordinary mayors have university degrees? It’s not really clear what the Star is implying. Are official biographies not usually a list of a politician’s accomplishments, and not their list of failures and incomplete or half-hearted measures? Should Ford’s official City of Toronto biography also list how many times he’s been arrested?
The Star also writes that: “Ford’s official biography makes no mention of university.” Well that is not entirely true. The biography does mention his experience playing “university-level” football, which is just the sort of passing reference one might expect from a politician who attended but did not complete university. The emphasis on football, and not, say, the courses he took in political science also seems to be typical Ford.
Besides, the Star appears to have buried the lead all the way in paragraph nine. Rob Ford went to York!?
Spending public funds on lobbyists
Ontario NDP says universities spent nearly $1 million on lobbying
After taking aim at hospital lobbyists, Ontario’s New Democrats are now zeroing in on hired guns paid by the province’s universities and colleges. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is demanding to know why nine colleges and universities have been spending close to $1 million on lobbyists to influence the government.
They include Laurentian University, which had a contract worth $102,000, and Toronto’s York University, which had three contracts totalling close to $500,000. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology also has a lobbyist contract worth up to $130,000, according to documents obtained by the NDP under freedom-of-information laws.
“Something is very, very wrong here,” Horwath said in the provincial legislature. “Ontario students pay the highest tuition fees in the entire country. Why are universities spending that money on high-priced, well-connected, insider lobbyists?”
Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy said the schools have no reason to hire lobbyists and that spending public funds on lobbyists is not acceptable. “There’s no need for them to be spending public money on lobbyists and my ministry will be working to make sure that message is sent loud and clear to the college sector,” Milloy said.
The revelations came a day after the NDP disclosed that 14 hospitals had hired lobbyists — a practice Premier Dalton McGuinty quickly condemned.
The Canadian Press
It’s getting crowded in here
Campus residences are overflowing with crush of first-year students
Incoming students at Dalhousie University that were guaranteed a room in residence are out of luck as the school year starts. At least 75 students will have to sleep in common areas while the university finds a solution to an apparent overflow. It is a direct result of rising enrolment numbers, says Heather Sutherland, assistant vice-president ancillary services. “Dalhousie is thriving,” she said.
Many universities intentionally oversubscribe their residences, and temporary housing is common, as there are always a handful of students who change their minds, or simply don’t show up. What is notable at Dalhousie this year, is that the university is having difficulty accommodating first-year students who are guaranteed a room if they apply before August 1. It may take until Thanksgiving before the housing situation is sorted out. “Past practice has shown us they’re not sure where they want to live,” Sutherland said.
Dalhousie is just one of several universities across Canada that is experiencing a crush of first-year students wanting to live on campus. While final enrolment numbers are not yet available, universities are preparing for what could be a record year.
Similar to Dalhousie, the University of Western Ontario guarantees a room to all first-year students who apply, but has avoided having to resort to temporary housing, or a waiting list. With an extra 270 first-year students wanting a bed, a little over 100 will be housed in on campus apartments, normally reserved for upper-years students. The displaced older students are being moved to an apartment building just off campus that the university leased in anticipation of increased demand. “We know that first-year students want to be on campus,” Susan Grindrod, associate vice-president of housing, said.
At McGill University, the residence normally operates at 105 per cent capacity at the beginning of the year. This year they are running at 110 per cent. To accommodate for the overflow, and a general rise in demand in recent years, McGill has converted other areas, such as small study areas, into rooms. Additionally, the university has acquired three hotels, adding at least 800 rooms, to be converted to residences by September 2011.
Mike Porritt, executive director of student housing for McGill, says that while higher enrolment can partially explain the increase in demand for residence, it is the proximity to campus services that is attracting students. Students are closer to their classes and libraries, and can more easily form study groups. “We’re a part of the academic mission of the university,” he said. To back up that claim, he cites internal numbers that show first-year students living in residence boast grade point averages six per cent higher than their peers who live off campus. The retention rate, students who stay on for second year, is eight per cent higher for those who live on campus.
At the University of British Columbia, where demand has been straining the school’s resources for much of the past decade, a survey of 6,000 students last year revealed that 82 per cent recognize that it is profitable to live at school. “There seems to be a heightened understanding of the benefits of living on campus,” Andrew Parr, UBC’s managing director of student housing, said.
Across the city from UBC, Simon Fraser University takes a unique approach to campus housing. “We don’t oversubscribe,” says Chris Rogerson, associate director of residence. Instead, SFU only sends out as many offers as there are rooms available. Any offers that are declined are then sent to the next students on the list. In previous years, about 55 per cent accepted the first offer. This year the yield was closer to 65 per cent.
Not every university is experiencing rising demand for on campus living, however. York University has seen a steady decline, being unable to even fill existing rooms. In 2008, there were around 50 vacancies. Last year, there was approximately 150. This fall, Debbie Kee, director of housing, expects there to be 250 unfilled rooms. The decline is a combination of new housing developments around the campus, and the fact that York is a commuter school. Many students, who live in the Greater Toronto Area, who might have previously lived in residence, are choosing to stay home because of financial restraints. “Unfortunately it has left us a little shy,” Kee said.
Update: York student investigated for hate speech
University suspends Salman Hossain over internet postings that support genocide.
Updates to this story at the bottom.
A York University student is being investigated by the Ontario police hate crimes unit in relation to postings on a website called Filthy Jewish Terrorists, the National Post reported last week. On the website, Salman Hossain appears to have made several remarks supporting the genocide of Jewish people.
According to the Post, Hossain “refers to Jews as ‘diseased and filthy,’ ‘the scum of the earth,’ ‘psychotic’ and ‘mass murderers’ and writes that ‘a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.’ ”
Section 318 of the criminal code prohibits the promotion of genocide, and section 319 prohibits the “willful” promotion of hatred against identifiable groups. Hossain, who is being investigated by the Hate Crimes Extremism Investigative Team, first came to the attention of police in October 2007. Back then he was probed by the RCMP for internet writings that supported attacking Canadian soldiers on Canadian soil. No charges were laid in that case. At the time Hossain was a University of Toronto student.
In response to the allegations, York University says it will conduct its own investigation to determine if Hossain is in breach of the university’s code of conduct, which could lead to an immediate suspension while a panel of students and faculty consider his case.
UPDATE: Yesterday, York University officially suspended Salman Hossain. He will have to face a disciplinary panel, and is not allowed on the campus until that time. Spokesman Keith Marnoch told the National Post that the panel has to meet within 60 days, but that it should happen much sooner. He also emphasized safety concerns regarding the case, “We want all of our students, all of our community members, to be safe and knowing that they can be.”
‘Odious’ Israeli Apartheid Week condemned
Yearly campus event denounced by politicians as a ruse for racism
Israeli Apartheid Week, held annually on university campuses around the world, has always provoked a strong reaction and this year Canada’s politicians are denouncing the event that began Monday. Later this week, Edmonton Conservative MP Tim Uppal will put forward a motion calling on the House of Commons to unanimously recognize that Israeli Apartheid Week is a ruse for anti-Semitism.
The proposed motion reads: “That this House considers itself to be a friend of the State of Israel; that this House is concerned about expressions of anti-Semitism under the guise of “Israeli Apartheid Week”; and that this House explicitly condemns any action in Canada as well as internationally that would equate the State of Israel with the rejected and racist policy of apartheid.”
A similar motion was passed by the Ontario Provincial Parliament in late February, where all present members supported a motion put forward by Tory MPP Peter Shurman. Shurman told the Toronto Star that he would like to see the name changed. “Israeli Apartheid Week is not a dialogue, it’s a monologue and it is an imposition of a view by the name itself—the name is hateful, it is odious.” Similar sentiments were expressed by both Liberal and NDP members of the provincial legislature.
On Monday of this week, federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff released a statement that would seem to suggest that the Liberal party will endorse Uppal’s proposed motion. “The very premise of Israeli Apartheid Week runs counter to our shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of nationality, race or creed. It is an attempt to heighten the tensions in our communities around the tragic conflict in the Middle East,” Ignatieff said.
As for the event itself, at York University, where tensions caused by the event have often run the highest, the Excalibur reported today that so far Israeli Apartheid Week has been civil. The Excalibur also reported that York’s president Mamdouh Shoukri encouraged students to not use the event to engage in racist behaviour. “Political activism is no excuse for racism, intimidation or hatred of any kind,” he said.
Global ambitions
Organizing an exchange placement abroad becomes an education in itself
Whether your idea of travel is sipping margaritas on a beach or immersing yourself in foreign cultures, you probably never believed the hardest part would come before you stepped on the plane. Not, that is, unless you’ve ever been on a university exchange: for that true Alice-in-Wonderland experience, try one, and watch yourself fall right down the rabbit hole.
I am a fine arts student at Toronto’s York University about to head to Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, for a third-year exchange program offered through York. That program, York International, is pretty much why I enrolled there. While the university’s entrance scholarships were attractive, it was a brief high school presentation on exchange possibilities that sealed the deal. I wanted that badly to go overseas.
Not so fast, though. Given universities’ bureaucratic nature, going on exchange is not as simple as clicking your heels together and saying I want to go to Australia. At the mid-October 2008 information session I was handed the application package, fat enough to shoot my first overseas plan down in flames. I had wanted to go to Japan for years, ever since becoming hooked on manga. But Japan’s application deadline was just two weeks away. Faced with essay demands and this elaborate a year for York exchange, with one reserved for a law student.
A month later came word that Flinders had accepted me, and that York International had given me a scholarship. I went from despair to elation in seconds, blithely ignorant of the fact that York’s bureaucracy was far from finished with me, and that Flinders’s was just getting started. Forms flew into my inbox from both ends of the earth. It didn’t help that the Australian school year (March to December) doesn’t correspond with ours in the northern hemisphere. Officials at the two schools were concentrating on different priorities. Even Ontario’s student loan program got in on the act, seeking repayments last fall because I was not enrolled full-time at either York or Flinders.
Prime among my application needs were a student visa, health insurance notifications, power of attorney forms and housing. I started falling behind, losing track of what had to be filled out in what order by what deadline. It was November 2009 before I realized I was missing Flinders’s residence application. More forms were cheerfully sent—arriving exactly one day after the deadline.
But nothing loomed larger than the question of what classes I was going to take. It took months, but by mid-December I had received course approval from York and Flinders. But when I went to register in my classes over Christmas break, I learned that of the four topics approved, three were on the same day over the same four hours. I was incensed. Why would they approve impossibilities? Apparently, at Flinders, one department approves, and another—which hadn’t swung into action yet—tells you if it works out. And once you learn about the conflict, that doesn’t mean you simply fill in substitutes—they too have to go through the approval pipeline.
All this was in spite of the efforts of the people in the York and Flinders international offices, who regularly went out of their way to help me—one at Flinders even took time out of his Christmas holidays. But the system itself is flawed. Holding mass meetings, as York does, before the host universities send out their forms, doesn’t help much: students don’t yet know the questions to ask. Although the applications are general—you can apply to Hong Kong, Spain and Britain at one time—the acceptances, and the consequent paperwork, are university-specific. And it doesn’t come to you all at once. It would have been an enormous benefit to me if I could have worked through everything all together with someone who knew Flinders’s needs. In short, you are responsible for getting everything in on time—a reasonable enough demand on a university student, except there is no real mechanism to ensure you know what “everything” consists of.
By January I had to ditch the course quagmire and shift my focus to getting to Australia, no simple task either. I reviewed my budget and came up with a plan: a three-day bus trip across Canada to Vancouver, staying with an uncle for a couple of days, then flying (via San Francisco) to Sydney and from there to Adelaide. An odyssey set to take seven days, over three countries and a dozen cities—but by far the cheapest way there.
So here I am. I may have a monster journey ahead, and nowhere to stay when I get there, but that’s nothing compared to surviving an existential struggle with two university bureaucracies. It’s all good now . . . right?
York backtracks on cuts to grad students
After weeks of protest, social work students will get full funding
York University backpedalled on its decision to reduce funding to graduate students in the Master’s of Social Program late last week. Just weeks ago, students were informed they would receive only $6,600 of $10,000 promised in their letters of acceptance. After weeks of protest, graduate studies dean Douglas M. Peers sent an email confirming that students would be awarded the full amount.
York originally told students that they must have misinterpreted their acceptance letters, and that they would only receive $6,600 during their second year of study because the year only consisted of two semesters. However, the acceptance letter (click here to view letter) does not contain any mention of prorated funding. The letter reads, “In recognition of your excellent academic record, York University will award you a minimum of $14,000 in Year One of your full-time master’s study, and $10,000 in Year Two of your full-time master’s study, in the form of a tuition scholarship, teaching assistantship, research assistantship or graduate assistantship.”
In his email to students, Dr. Peers wrote that “normally the funding is prorated for students registered in five-term programs.” But because of the lack of clarity in the admission letters, he wrote, the Faculty of Graduate Studies would make an exception for master’s of social work students and award them $10,000.
“I am very happy that York has decided to honour our funding package,” says master’s of social work student Erinn Michele Treff. “It’s unfortunate that it had to come this far—petition, letter writing campaign, legal advice, and an article in Maclean’s—however, I can buy books and groceries again.”
In surprise move, York University rolls back funding to graduate students
Students allege awarding less funding than promised is a breach of contract
Erinn Michèle Treff had an A average when she applied to graduate programs in social work. Not surprisingly, she was accepted by four of the five universities she applied to. In considering her options, one university stood out: York University, which offered her significantly more funding than any other program.
“I don’t have a lot of money and I already have a significant OSAP loan,” Treff says, “so when I was offered a funding package for $14,000 first year and $10,000 second year, it seemed like a no-brainer.”
So imagine her surprise when a few weeks into her second year, rumours circulated that social work students wouldn’t receive their full funding package. Treff emailed her department head asking for clarification, but received no response. A few days later the rumours became reality when a meeting was called: the students must have misinterpreted their acceptance letters, the university said, and they would only be paid $6,600 because the second year only consists of two semesters instead of three.
With the surprise cut to the funding she expected, Treff doesn’t know how she will afford to get through the year. After paying tuition she, like other students affected, is left with about $2,000 for everything else. She doesn’t have time for an extra job because she is already working the equivalent of two part-time jobs as part of her program: as a graduate assistant at York (for which she is paid with the funding package York rolled back) and as an unpaid intern at the Ministry of the Attorney General. The result? She hasn’t yet bought any books because she can’t afford them.
“I was absolutely livid,” Treff says, who added that she had planned to apply for two PHD programs at York. “When this happened, I shredded my applications.” In an online petition started by Treff, her anger is mirrored by over 300 students and sympathizers who have signed in the past six days.
“The university admin should be ashamed,” one commenter Cameron Campbell wrote. “I will not be donating any money to the University when I become an alumni over actions such as this,” pledged Graham Potts. “My family will also be doing the same.”
The anger seems not only in response to this series of events, but attached to resentment that has been simmering under the surface since last year’s strike, which kept 45,000 students out of class for three months. “I will never let any of my family members ever to go to York. First the strike and now this?” wrote Arvinder Singh, adding his voice to a number of petitioners who interpreted the strike and this move as a sign that the university mistreats students.
Treff says that although the strike was horrible, she understood it was necessary and didn’t hold a grudge. “Having our promised money taken away is another story.” She blames the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the administration of the university—not her specific program. “I love my professors and I love my program,” she says. “But it’s such a shame to have such a wonderful program dirtied. It’s embarrassing.”
York University did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails before deadline.
Treff was “dumbfounded” when she was told students misunderstood funding levels promised in their acceptance letters. Other students echoed this sentiment. “There was no letter misinterpretation of any kind. Bottle [sic] line is a contract was breached and we deserve our PROMISED money!!” wrote petitioner Josie DiPlacito. Treff agrees that the acceptance letter constitutes a written contract, and she alleges that York is breaching that contract.
From viewing one of the relevant acceptance letters, it’s easy to understand the students’ frustration. The letter, signed by the dean and associate vice-president of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Dr. Douglas M. Peers, reads, “In recognition of your excellent academic record, York University will award you a minimum of $14,000 in Year One of your full-time master’s study, and at least $10,000 in Year Two of your full-time study, in the form of a tuition scholarship, teaching assistantship, research assistantship, or graduate assistantship.” There is no mention of funding being subject to the number of semesters in each year.
Students also lamented the decision because they have already informed the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) that they would receive $10,000 in funding this academic year, so they don’t qualify for student loans. “I am not eligible for OSAP becasue OSAP believes I will be recieving $10,000 of funding that was in my contract [sic],” wrote petitioner Amanda Rose. “I can no longer continue to pay my rent, food and necessities on my VISA!”
In addition to the online petition, social work students and sympathizers have launched a letter writing campaign. As of the evening of October 20, there had been no response from the Faculty of Graduate Studies. But in an email that summarized an October 20 meeting with students and administration in the faculty of social work, a student wrote that it appeared that the social work administration “has taken a turn and is now supporting us.” However, whether the funding is restored is up to administration in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Both faculties will meet Monday, Oct. 26 to discuss the situation.
Why we fight
Study finds one in five students reported recent violence
Maclean’s reported July 16 on a study that revealed one in five university students reported recent violence.
The study, conducted at the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin and the University of British Columbia, also concluded one in four of the reported incidents was the result of romantic partner abuse.
Several sexual assault incidents took place at Carleton University and York University in 2007. This study provides contrast, focussing on the statistically significant amount of violence happening amongst university students “behind closed doors.”
The report also covers the rarely included violence experienced and reported by male students. The gender inclusiveness of this study recognizes the diversity of relationships university students experience and diverts from the stereotypical assumption that only females are victims of partner violence.
The study also concluded that the majority of violence reported resulted after consumption of alcohol.
While this may seem obvious to most students who have witnessed their fair share of bar brawls, the article does raise the question of whether schools have yet to make clear to students the connection between alcohol and violence, with the same warnings that come with alcohol and sexual assault and drinking and driving advertisements and campaigns.
The article reveals students need a better understanding of healthy relationships.
Though some schools have posted helpful tips on healthy relationships like Wilfred Laurier University, the consumption of alcohol as it relates to maintaining a healthy relationship is an issue the study raises.
What the study didn’t cover is the rate of increase or decrease in violence amongst students at the selected campus. As well, the study only assesses reported violence and that the actual rate of violence experience by university students is likely significantly higher.
So the questions still unanswered are: Why is there an alarming amount of violence among students? Are we becoming an increasingly violent generation or is it just a passing fad?
With still too recent memories of the shootings at Polytechnique in Montreal and Columbine High School in Colorado, these questions may reveal insight on and prevention of excessive violence on campuses and among students.
- photo by CTRL-F5
Israel-Palestine brouhaha at York rages on
Amid calls for Minister’s resignation, prof says academics look “insular and arrogant”
The lead up to a three-day conference, intended to discuss the possibilities for peace between Israel and Palestine, is proving to be anything but peaceful.
As of a few weeks ago, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in tandem with York and Queen’s University, was set to fully fund “Israel/Palestine: Mapping models of statehood and prospects for peace.” The mandate of the conference, which will run June 22 to 24, is to “explore which state models offer promising paths to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, respecting the rights to self-determination of both Israelis/Jews and Palestinians.”
But last week, in a furious press release, the Canadian Association of University Teachers demanded that Gary Goodyear, the federal minister for science and technology, resign his position. The group alleged Goodyear had telephoned president of the SSHRC, asking him to reconsider the peer-reviewed decision to fund the conference.
“It’s unprecedented for a minister – let alone a minister from the department that funds the granting councils – to intervene personally with a granting council president to suggest that he review funding for an academic conference,” said CAUT executive director James Turk.
“This kind of direct political interference in a funding decision made through an independent, peer-reviewed process is unacceptable and sets a very dangerous precedent.”
The National Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students joined the debate, echoing Turk’s angry sentiments on academic freedom. The group said Goodyear’s move continued a “dangerous trend” in the Harper government’s strategy of directing research funding to score political points.
The next day, in an interview with The Record, Goodyear struck back at his critics.
As this public debate raged, SSHRC said it asked the conference organizers about any changes in programming that may had been made. The council was told that the lineup changes made since last November were “minor and that the aims of the event remain unchanged in their essence. ”
Perhaps it might have ended there.
“Your action of requiring the conference organizers to immediately provide you with a list of all changes to their program since their grant was awarded violates SSHRC’s own policies and legitimates the Minister’s unprecedented and unacceptable political intervention in SSHRC’s peer-reviewed granting process,” wrote CAUT.
“When asked by the Minister to review SSHRC’s peer-reviewed approval of the York University conference, you should have pointed out to him that his request was inappropriate — that every minister before him had understood it was unacceptable to bring political pressures to bear on academic decision-making.”
“By intruding into the planning of an academic event after a funding decision has been made, SSHRC’s actions are likely to have a most unfortunate chilling effect on academics considering the exploration of controversial or unpopular topics,” seconded the York Osgood profs.
“In addition, by casting doubt on the integrity of its own procedures, SSHRC has empowered those who would devalue academic research and discourse by insisting that academic freedom be reserved only for those who happen to share their point of view.”
York, for its part, remained cautiously neutral in the matter. The school, according to multiple press releases, said it recognizes the freedom of independent scholars to organize conferences on matters of “legitimate academic inquiry” and that “it would be entirely inappropriate for the university administration to intervene in…the academic content of such events.” The school also made it very clear that, as far as it was concerned, academic freedom should not be a shield for racism and bigotry in any form, including anti-Semitism.
In the most recent volley, but assuredly not the last,
According to him, Goodyear’s request to the council was a reasonable reaction to citizens’ concerns, and CAUT’s call for him to resign was “irresponsible.”
“The call for Goodyear’s resignation makes academics look insular and arrogant,” wrote Hunt. “It creates the image of stuffy intellectuals who think they’re above everybody else and don’t have to account for how their money is being spent. In these troubled economic times, advocates of higher education cannot afford to maintain such a reputation.”
What do you think about this whole debacle? Let us know.
Body of York student found in Lake Ontario
Reserve soldier Shane Fair, 19, disappeared May 16 after a school dinner and dance
The body of missing York University student Shane Fair, 19, has been recovered by Toronto police after the teen went missing May 16.
Fair, who was also a reserve soldier with the Canadian Armed Forces, was last seen after a dinner and dance at Ontario Place’s Atlantis Pavilion. He later missed a bus back to the university.
“The York community is saddened to hear of this tragic development,” said York president Mamdouh Shoukri, in a press release issued Sunday. “Our thoughts are with Shane’s family at this most difficult time, as well as with his friends and classmates, who are mourning his loss.
Since his disappearance, friends and family had run a poster campaign around the community, and his parents even offered a $5,000 reward for any information.
The Toronto Police Service recovered his body May 31 in the Lakeshore Boulevard West/British Columbia Road area
Parents of missing York student, 19, offer $5,000 reward
Student was last seen May 16, police ask for community’s help
Toronto police are asking for the public’s help in locating a missing 19-year-old York University student.
Shane Fair, who is also a reserve soldier with the Canadian Armed Forces, was last seen May 16 at 12:30 a.m. after a dinner and dance at Ontario Place’s Atlantis Pavilion. He later missed a bus back to the university.
“York University staff and students will continue to assist police in any way possible in the search for Shane,” said York president Mamdouh Shoukri in a press release yesterday. “Our thoughts are with Shane’s family, friends and fellow classmates and we are all hopeful that Shane will be found safe and sound.”
Fair is described by police as white, 5’11″, 170 lbs., with brown hair and a short mohawk haircut. He was last seen wearing a blue suit with a blue shirt and blue tie.
Since his disappearance, friends and family have been putting up posters around the school and community. His parents are offering a $5,000 reward for any information that helps to find him.
According to a friend of Fair’s, writing on a Facebook message board dedicated to finding the student, the marine unit of the Toronto police have already performed a water search in nearby Lake Ontario, finding nothing. “This is a good thing,” she writes, adding that his family and police are monitoring his credit card and bank transactions, and that there has not been any activity thus far.
Tentative deal reached at York University
Sources say three-year deal includes annual raises of 3 per cent and upgrades to benefits and job security
York University has reached a tentative contract agreement with the same employees who waged a recent three-month strike.
CUPE and the university negotiated a three-year contract for some 3,500 contract faculty and teaching assistants.
The agreement, to run until September 2011 if ratified, was achieved with the help of a provincial mediator who was appointed in February.
The strike, which wiped out classes for some 5,000 students, was focused largely on the use of part-time instructors.
Sources say the agreement includes annual raises of three per cent and upgrades to benefits and job security.
Most students, however, face another two months of school because the 85-day strike extended the school year.
- The Canadian Press
Job Security and Tenure
Unless they do something really wrong or stupid, tenured professors can’t be fired
One of the truisms of labour is that employees who are difficult to replace are least vulnerable to exploitation. Highly skilled employees can negotiate from positions of strength and can defend their individual interests. Less skilled employees, however, are very vulnerable. They need to band together in order to protect their interests – notably security in their employment. This is very often the biggest issue in disputes. Job security is one of the basic motivators of the labour movement.
Some time ago I wrote a piece about the strike at York, and outlined various issues that I feel aren’t properly understood. I think I need to add something new to that list. Casual instructors at York are making demands about job security. Some interpret these demands as insistence on status approaching tenure. I think this is a horrible misunderstanding of the situation, and I’d like to address that idea.
Tenure is a very specific basket of rights and protections enjoyed by professional academics. One of the most significant features is the kind of job security most people can only dream about. Short of doing something really wrong or really stupid (sometimes even then) it’s very hard for a professor to get fired once he or she has tenure. There are historical reasons for this, based around intellectual freedom. The idea is that professional academics should be free from any concern about the popularity or the public perception of their research and work. So even the fear of losing the job itself is eliminated as a constraint.
There are two completely different topics here. The first is job security in context of labour relations, intended to protect the employment of more vulnerable employees. The second is job security in context of intellectual freedom, intended to protect academic integrity. The result may look somewhat similar, but the rationale is completely different – even opposite in some ways. Professional academics are among the least in need of job security for the traditional labour-based reasons, as they are not easily disposed of or replaced. And contract instructors have no need of tenure security for the typical reasons either, as they are not employed to conduct research anyway.
It’s important to point all this out because we need be clear about what contract instructors are actually seeking. Observers get very confused over this and sometimes it seems even the unions speaking on behalf of instructors aren’t very clear. Contract instructors want job security. They want it not because they imagine they deserve something like tenure but rather for all the same reasons that any employee wants job security. They want to not be exploited. And surely that’s understandable.
Tenure is a quirky and specific sort of privilege. And it is a privilege. Those who turn to contract instructors and say, “you haven’t earned that” are quite right, in many ways. But essential job security should not be something that only the privileged few receive. The entire labour movement is geared toward avoiding that. It’s a mistake to imagine that every demand for security is a demand for tenure. Tenure doesn’t have a monopoly on the concept of secure employment. In fact, it’s a tiny exception to the general trend that security of employment is most important for the less privileged.
I’ll add that some find it difficult to think of contract instructors as vulnerable employees, but the fact is that they are. Tenure-stream positions are hard to fill because they are reserved for the most accomplished people in the various fields and there is great competition out there to recruit the best. But contract teaching very often goes to anyone with a PhD and the ability to teach a basic class. The fact is there’s a great oversupply of such people. And so these PhDs, despite their high levels of education, are in fact vulnerable to exploitation. It’s an obvious danger, when there’s a line of qualified people waiting to take your job away, and very little to distinguish between any of you.
Make of all this what you will. Not everyone feels the same way about organized labour, job security as a right, or even the institution of tenure. But please, if you want to understand what’s going on in higher education, don’t confuse demands for job security with demands for tenure. They are not the same thing at all, and never were.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. Even those I don’t address here will still receive replies.
