What are we doing online?: York forum explores guidelines for Web courses
By Michael Todd

On the theory that two heads are better than one, York faculty and staff got together recently to wrestle with the question of how to develop a policy for online course instruction. "Towards the Development of Policy for Online Instruction" was a forum designed to promote discussion of the many dimensions of the question: "What curricular policy or guidelines are necessary to accommodate the rapid growth of various forms of online instruction?"

Organizers of the event decided that a forum centred around four central questions was the best way to tackle the need for developing policy. Group leaders moderated each discussion group and introduced the question to the audience as a whole before breaking into smaller units and then re-meeting later and sharing individual group results with the entire forum audience.

The first question, introduced by Professor Susan Warwick, was: Should the transformation of an existing course to an online mode of delivery, wholly or in part, require approval as a new course offering? If so, should the approval process rest with the Faculty or with a wider University body?

The second question, was introduced by Professor Avi Cohen. Should limits be established for the number of online courses that can be taken towards fulfilment of degree requirements? Should it be required that at least some courses, or some component of some courses, take place in a face-to-face environment?

Cohen said participants need to consider the issue of limits. "Just to say 'yes' or 'no' would be a disaster," said Cohen. "Is it different for Atkinson versus someone in Fine Arts for instance? Also, we need to examine what the notion of 'online' means. Many so-called online courses require that students and profs meet face to face at least a couple of times during the course."

Professor Ron Sheese introduced the third question. Should there be a specific University policy that defines elements that all online courses should incorporate in order to ensure that academic standards with respect to instruction and evaluation are maintained?

"We all have our own idea of what standard ought to be," said Sheese. "The question is, how will standards be administered. There is a history of applying standards but how would that apply to online courses. And how many credits should there be. Some universities require that people who teach online courses have taken online courses themselves."

And, finally, the fourth question, introduced by Reference Librarian Scott McLaren: Should there be a University policy that defines the resources, scholarly and otherwise, that must be available to students enrolled in courses that are offered through online modes of delivery?

"There's a direct relation between resources a student consults and how it reflects on their grades," said McLaren. "If they aren't good researchers they aren't going to be good writers. And it's a fact that people take the path of least resistance - ejournals and Web sites. Many students don't want to come in and look through periodicals and books. Also, we're seeing a breakdown between disciplines in the kind of information students may need to know. And if students are taking a course online they'll want most of their resources online. Our question is a key question because a new desert is starting to appear. The 'desertification' of the Web. Information providers have found they can't underwrite their sites with ads, so you can't get free information anymore. Encyclopaedia Britannica is an example. You can only get the information if you subscribe."

The conference was sponsored by several senate committees (Committee on Curriculum and Academic Standards, Committee on Teaching and Learning, Libraries Committee and Committee on Academic Computing), as well as the Centre for the Support of Teaching and the Office for Technology Enhanced Learning.

'Euphoria of reformation' has ripple effect on Indonesia
By Cathy Carlyle

Lesley Potter

Mass transit might be good for the environment, but cars may be better for the soul
By Michael Todd

Is mass transit really the "better way"? - better environmentally and economically than cars, but certainly not in terms of privacy or creature comforts, and that may ultimately prove mass transit's downfall, suggests York psychology Professor David Wiesenthal. Simply, the basic uncomfortableness of most mass transit - from subways to city buses - may be too difficult a hurdle to overcome in the consumer's mind. And transit is a consumer issue. If it isn't appealing, it may be a hard sell.

The only solution may be to start designing our mass transit systems differently and offer more of a sense of privacy, Wiesenthal says.

As an expert in driver behaviour - especially in the area of driver aggression - Wiesenthal has spent countless hours thinking about drivers, how they drive and the car as environment.

These days car ridership is up, the TTC has fallen on hard times, and there has been a surge in consumer interest in large comfortable vehicles such as SUVs. Why? Probably because they give the driver even more of a sense of privacy and superiority than we previously had, suggests Wiesenthal.

"In psychological terms privacy is defined as selective access to oneself or one's group," says Wiesenthal. "It involves choice. Mass transit often takes away both privacy and choice."

Wiesenthal notes that Alan Westin wrote the first book on the idea of privacy in 1967. Westin outlined four basic aspects of privacy, says Wiesenthal: 1) personal autonomy - relating to control of privacy and central to the core of the self and self-esteem; 2) emotional release - that the space you choose to be alone in allows you to deviate if you wish from social customs, citing the example of how most of us are "different" both in our cars or at home as opposed to the office; 3) self-evaluation - the notion that physical separation aids contemplation; and 4) that you have limited and protected communication in your private space.

So what's the problem as far as mass transit is concerned? "The TTC bases its appeal on a rational economic decision and making a green impact," says Wiesenthal. "But people don't think like that. I would argue that the car fulfills all the basic four attributes for privacy [which humans need].

"Also, we express our identities through cars. Cars are an emotional release...you see people being amorous in them, singing etc. People have a chance to be alone in cars, to plan things, to think with no interruptions. That's a luxury not many of us have today and the car and the commute is one place we DO have that 'luxury'.

"Why do you think people have good AC or great stereos in their cars?...or window tinting? Sometimes they don't even have those things in their houses. It's because cars are places they can be private. You don't get privacy on the TTC."

Sarah Climenhaga, executive director for the Black Creek Regional Transportation Management Association, says that commuters ARE choosing to use some mass transit systems such as GO trains and buses.

"I agree that it is a consumer issue," Climenhaga says. "People choose GO because it's convenient and comfortable."

Climenhaga sees part of the problem as the technology. "Our city buses, subway trains and streetcars are in many cases 20-years-old. I'd suggest the problem is more of a funding issue. I think our transit systems are some of the best in the world in terms of the amount of people we carry, but we need to do more to make a seamless system of transit across regions.

"If your transit is fast, convenient and comfortable I think the need for 'privacy' goes down accordingly. If transit is competitive with these factors with the car, people will take transit."

York's IWRP raises awareness of plight of Afghan women
By Martha Tancock

Before the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the list-serve editor for the Canadian Coalition in Support of Women in Afghanistan announced she was stepping down. Three days a week was just too much to spend doing unpaid work.

After the terrorist attack, she changed her mind.

The list-serve, a valuable source of news and opinions about the plights of Afghan women, is the glue that binds a coalition of 100 Muslim and non-Muslim women and six women's organizations across Canada. Formed in February 1999 under the umbrella of York's International Women's Rights Project (IWRP), it works through member groups to build awareness about the Taliban repression of Afghan women and the still desperate conditions in Afghan refugee camps on the Pakistan border. Member groups also raise money to support secret schools and health clinics in the camps.

The Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center galvanized Canada-based Afghan women's groups. "Absolutely without a doubt it has raised awareness," says Marilou McPhedran, IWRP director and founding member of the coalition. Women columnists, even those who weren't previously concerned about human rights, are "now addressing the massive denial of human rights" to Afghan women.

"The goals have remained the same," says McPhedran. "Refugees have got to be allowed to return.... Let the women go back to work. Let the girls go back to school."

The human rights lawyer and advocate has been inundated with requests for strategic counselling from fledgling groups of Afghan women in Canada on how to proceed in the wake of Sept. 11. And coalition members such as journalist Sally Armstrong, who has reported on conditions for women in Afghanistan, can hardly keep up with invitations to speak.

McPhedran speaks out at every opportunity these days. The IWRP's mandate is to work with partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to further human rights in the world. But she doesn't leave all the work to them. On Oct. 1 she flew to Ottawa to speak to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, which was hearing experts such as her before it set its priorities. McPhedran received special permission to talk about the petition and the plight of Afghan women and children.

The coalition has also endorsed a petition penned by the Afghan Women's Organization, a founding member of the coalition, to Canadian and United Nations leaders. It asks that Canada provide asylum to refugees, that Pakistan and Iran open their borders to refugees and, above all, that allies respect human rights for Afghan women and children. Armstrong and McPhedran signed it and so have The Body Shop's Margot Franssen, Canadian Unitarian Council's Carol Dahlquist, Halton Rape Crisis Centre's Bev LeFrançois and representatives of Canadian NGOs that serve the needs of immigrants. The coalition has circulated the letter to its list-serve and posted it on the IWRP-hosted Web page.

The Maytree Foundation gave a modest grant to the IWRP and coalition to mentor emerging women leaders in the Afghan Canadian community. In only 33 months, the coalition received recognition as a sponsor for the work of Dr. Sima Samar, an Afghan woman who is operating a health clinic in refugee camps along the Pakistan border. Dr. Samar will receive the 2001 John Humphrey Freedom Award from the Rights and Democracy, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, for exceptional achievement in the defence or promotion of human rights and/or democratic development. The award consists of a grant of $25,000 as well as a speaking tour of Canadian cities to boost awareness of the recipient's human rights work.

York students' visit to forum in Africa 'an epiphany'
By Cathy Carlyle

"We're just regular people, not super-students. We love travelling and working and learning about truth."

- Monique Huggins

"In our personal lives and through our work and studies we have made a commitment to make a difference to those plagues that affect people: racism, poverty, hatred and homelessness."

- Chris Penrose

Two York students who went to Africa in August left full of idealism and returned full of zeal. They represented Canada, York University and the National Harmony Movement for Canada at a United Nations World Youth Forum at Dakar in Senegal. It was the first such forum to be held outside of Europe.

Chris Penrose and Monique Huggins have long been passionate about wanting to understand other cultures and ways of life and combat racism. It was this ardour that led them to be a part of the forum. When they finally heard that they had been accepted to attend, the two students, who were working hard at their summer jobs, had a scant 17 days to raise the necessary $7,000 between them and to put in place the nuts and bolts of obtaining passports, visas and vaccinations.

They did it all, but couldn't believe they were actually going until they touched the African soil. By the end of their five days in that country, they felt so at home they were saying, "Can we stay forever?"

"Going through something like that was an epiphany," said Huggins. "It was a phenomenal experience that will forever stay in our hearts and our lives. We'll transfer what we learned to everyday life." Penrose added, "It was a moving experience that has had a concrete effect on us."

Ostensibly, the purpose of their attendance at the forum was, as Penrose said, "to join youth who are actively involved in leadership and development, and to gather and discuss topics of global concern." However, both he and Huggins also said their visit was to experience another country's culture, and thereby broaden their minds, which happened when they were invited to the house of a Senegalese family.

"Talk about destiny," said Penrose, explaining that he and Huggins discovered that one of the interpreters at the forum had attended York University. The former student spotted Penrose's York T-shirt and warmly welcomed him and Huggins to his place for a meal. "The hospitality he showed us was beautiful," said Penrose. "We shared from a massive plate of food called Tchebouden, made of a fish called thiof, millet, carrots, cassava and other vegetables. The conversation informed us deeply about his life and family, and his country and its history. We gained so much education which was amplified by the feeling of being honoured and loved."

At the forum itself, Penrose and Huggins joined about 350 delegates who splintered into 10 groups to discuss a particular topic over five days. Huggins examined the subject of young women and girls, touching on education, gender inequality, health and mutilation. "It may seem that, because I am from Canada, these [sub] topics have little to do with me. But they do - I am a woman."

Penrose delved into the subject of poverty when his group dealt with the legacy of colonialism and its impact on economic affairs and debt forgiveness. Each group compiled a list of recommendations for its workshop field. On the final day all the delegates discussed the recommendations in-depth, made amendments and then voted on them. The result was a comprehensive document.

They said being part of the forum expanded their outlook on what they, as two York University students, two citizens of Canada, could accomplish. We know we can do more than we ever realized before, they added.

Huggins and Penrose were sponsored by several organizations and institutions, including York University, specifically, York International, the Faculty of Arts English Department, and the offices of the Vice-President Academic and Student Affairs.

The Journal
By Michael Todd

MANY OF THE FOREIGN STUDENTS who left the US shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks plan to return to college next semester, according to university administrators. chronicle.com/daily/2001/12/2001121908n.htm

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TAIWAN IS PLANNING to subject professors to more rigorous evaluations, give university presidents more power, consolidate its universities and welcome foreign universities, under a plan outlined at a meeting in December. chronicle.com/daily/2001/12/2001121910n.htm

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A SIX-MONTH STUDY of wage and employment policies at Harvard University released recently recommends giving an immediate raise to the university's lowest-paid workers and adopting a policy that would rely on collective bargaining with service employees' unions to arrive at equal wages and benefits for university-paid workers and those under contract. chronicle.com/daily/2001/12/2001121906n.htm

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FOR THE FIRST TIME, the Internet2 project has posted a net loss of corporate members. The loss is a small one, officials say, but because contributions from corporate members provide much of the network infrastructure and research money on which Internet2 depends, any drop could be worrisome were it to continue. chronicle.com/free/2001/12/2001121901t.htm

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A GLANCE AT No. 13 of American Letters & Commentary: "The Text is Not Enough". "The nonvisual are suspicious of the visual, seeing their power as a seduction," writes Hannah Hinchman, an artist and writer. Even writers know, however, that the way words are juxtaposed with images is "somehow crucial", she says. Her essay is one of several focusing on the relationship between text and pictures. The essays are not online, but more information about the journal is available at www.amletters.org/.

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UNIVERSITY LABS UNDER SCRUTINY IN WAKE OF ANTHRAX ATTACKS. In the wake of the recent bioterrorism, US federal officials have undertaken an inspection program of university facilities across that country conducting research on viruses and bacteria with the potential to be used in bioterror. The inspections mark a new and extensive campaign by the federal government to eliminate the risk of future bioterror attacks. There are more than 200 universities registered with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform research on potentially dangerous viruses and bacteria.

The anthrax attacks, in particular, have suddenly brought a new level of oversight and scrutiny to an area that has largely operated in anonymity. Indeed, what has emerged in recent weeks is a portrait of a research structure about which relatively little is known - and seemingly open to easy misuse. Officials know, for instance, that there are hundreds of labs with anthrax cultures at universities, private facilities and public-health agencies. But they don't know the exact number because they don't keep an inventory.

A team of five inspectors from the Office of the Inspector General at the US Department of Health and Human Services began its inspection this week at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. CNN, 12/12/01, fyi.cnn. com/2001/US/12/12/inv.universi ty.biochem/index.html, Christian Science Monitor, www.csmonitor.com/2001/1210/p1s3-ussc.html

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GIVING STAYS STRONG DURING CRISES, SAYS STUDY. After times of national crisis, the stock market and philanthropic giving historically have proved resilient, according to a recent study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University at the behest of the American Association of Fundraising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy. The study examined the effects on the stock market and giving after 13 major events of terrorism, war, and political and economic crises, including Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President Kennedy, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and the 1987 stock market crash. CURRENTS, 11/01, www.case.org/currents/2001/novdec/wedekind.cfm, American Association of Fundraising Counsel, www.aafrc.org/press5.html

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CATCHING UP IN AFGHANISTAN. Kabul University was once one of the finest places of learning in Asia. Nearly 1,000 lecturers and professors taught in a range of Faculties that had links with academic institutions around the world. But as Kabul was engulfed in fighting during the early '90s, the campus became a battlefield. As factions of what is now the Northern Alliance fought from building to building, the university was destroyed. Laboratories, dormitories and the library were completely looted. As the institution struggled to rebuild, the Taliban took over.

In October 1996, the Taliban ordered women in Kabul to stay away from work and campus until the situation stabilized. Female enrolment at Kabul University went from 3,500 female students to none. But on Dec. 1, 2001, Farida Afzali, 21, became the first woman to register for classes at Kabul University in five years. Afzali secretly took English classes after her family fled Kabul and is re-enrolling after her education was interrupted. New York Times, 12/2/01, www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/college/coll02SCHO.html, BBC News, 11/29/01, news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1681000/1681896.stm

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SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY ENROLMENTS RISE. Enrolments are on the rise at South African universities as students respond to a combination of aggressive marketing campaigns and improved academic programs on campus. However, the enrolment increases are found primarily at white institutions, while historically black institutions are experiencing a drop in student numbers. South African Press Association, 12/11/01, allafrica.com/stories/200112110604.html

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PROTESTS IN SPAIN. Tens of thousands of college students and professors in Spain converged on Madrid in early December to protest a university-reform bill they say would privatize higher education and put it out of reach of the middle classes. New York Times, 12/2/01, www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/international/europe/02STUD.html

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GENDER GAP IN LEARNING. In a recent study, three researchers from the Universities of Florida, Iowa and Missouri found that women learn one-third less than men during college. The study, published in the September/October 2001 issue of the Journal of Higher Education, used test results from the College Basic Academic Subjects Examination (CBASE), which tests students in English, math, science and social studies. The study analyzed the test results of 19,000 students at 56 four-year colleges and universities in 13 US states over a five-year period. Christian Science Monitor, 11/27/01, www.csmonitor.com/2001/1127/p14s1-lehl.html

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STUDENT SPENDING AFTER SEPT. 11. Forty per cent of college-age students say the events of Sept. 11 have caused them to "reorder their priorities - although 85 per cent report that the terrorist attacks have not put a cramp in their spending habits, according to a recent study by Youth Stream Media Networks and Euro RSCG Worldwide. The study reported findings from 1,000 college students, 1,000 Americans of all ages, and 50 "young adults". New York Times, 11/27/01, www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/business/media/27ADCO.html

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SOME HIGHLY REGARDED UNIVERSITIES in South Korea are scrambling to fill their classes for next year, while mediocre ones are turning record numbers of students away. It appears that after facing the toughest college-entrance examination in the country's history, many students chose the safe bets in deciding where to apply. chronicle.com/daily/2001/12/2001121807n.htm

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COMPUTERIZED CHALKBOARDS? Several companies have created what they call "electronic whiteboards" that bring computing power to one of the oldest and most ubiquitous teaching tools. A growing number of universities are trying them out. chronicle.com/free/2001/12/2001121801t.htm

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A GLANCE AT No. 18 of the Mars Hill Review: Reports of the book's death have been exaggerated. S. David Mash, dean of information and resource services at Columbia International University in South Carolina, delights in tweaking the noses of those perennial prognosticators who predict the end of the printed book. In 1979, one author was convinced that, in the 1980s, the book would "slide into oblivion". In 1990, a report foresaw an all-electronic environment for both students and workers by the end of the decade. A magazine piece in 2000 asserted that within 20 years, college students were "never going to see a book".

What are the reasons for this irrational exuberance? For one, writes Mash, prognosticators fail to take into account that, even though the rate of digital information is growing, it cannot overtake that of print media, which is growing even faster. Those who foretell doom for bookdom tend to focus on the growth of digital media and ignore the tremendous leaps made by print. Another obstacle to e-books, he writes, is infrastructure. The vast majority of America's print media are not in electronic form, and to convert all those books and store them would require much effort and expense. And the technology itself is still unrefined and costly. And the last reason is money. Of the 0.0002 per cent of books available in electronic form, some cost more than double the price of their printed counterparts.

Instead of an annihilation model akin to the horse and buggy vs. the automobile, Mash proposes a model for digital and print media more like the automobile vs. the airplane. Both have their advantages, but neither can hope to replace the other. After all, how would you drive to the airport?

This article is not available online, but information about the journal is available at www.marshillforum.org/journal/mars.html.

Documentary film based on Faculty of Education professor's research shows how
elementary school children learn about resolving conflict
By Anderson Coward

From left: Teacher Marie Lardino, Faculty of Education Professor Esther Fine, eight students from the film, filmmaker Roberta King and Paul Axelrod, dean of York's Faculty of Education.

Like putty in her hands: Barbara McGill Balfour's installation will toy with your mind
By Michael Todd

Barbara McGill Balfour's "Offspring"

The focus of Barbara McGill Balfour's latest gallery installation might have been a scientific "failure" in 1949, but it is a critical art success for Balfour, a York fine arts professor and master printmaker.

Balfour's recent show at Toronto's Open Studio Gallery titled aptly, "Offspring", revolved around the life and soft times of that weirdly bouncy flesh-like substance most of us received at some time in our childhood - Silly Putty.

What's a kid's toy doing in a serious art show?

"Silly Putty was my first printing experience," says Balfour who's currently head of print media in the Department of Visual Arts. "I literally did this on Saturday morning with the comics. I always thought it was fascinating how you could get the pictures to come off by squishing Silly Putty on them. It was a magical act."

Balfour, who describes her show as an "empirical investigation and Internet research in an ontological study of the viscoelastic polymer Silly Putty" says "I think using a kid's toy partly demystifies the whole 'serious art' thing, even though this is serious art. But there's definitely some humour here. It's a way of broaching that space between worlds."

Aside from Silly Putty's appeal as a technology of reproduction (hence the show's title) before the age of photocopies and computer scanners, Balfour was intrigued by its non-toy uses (as a flesh substitute for testing CAT scanners, or its similar chemical makeup to breast implant material) which she found on the Internet. She was also interested in the fact that it was an accidental by-product of a "failed" experiment by a scientist searching for synthetic rubber.

"Synthetic as it may be, Silly Putty contains several links to the body. Although officially called 'coral', it is unmistakably the pinky being colour once called 'flesh' in products such as Prismacolor crayons," writes Balfour in her artist's statement. "This taken-for-granted Caucasian skin tone was interchangeably synonymous with skin and flesh. Oddly enough, this artificial substance can act as a stand-in for actual bodies."

Balfour's show consisted of a number of elements: in a work called "Slump" Silly Putty drips and 'melts' from a high shelf onto the floor below. In an animated picture, a Silly Putty ball bounces off walls endlessly Sisyphean-like. In "The Chemistry of Silly Putty" Balfour's screen prints of its six molecular structure diagrams (for example, "dimethylsiloxane, hydroxy-terminated polymers with boric acid - 65 per cent") have amusing bits of Internet information about Silly Putty's many uses implanted inside the coloured blobs representing the molecules.

"There are discussion groups on the Net on Silly Putty. Some people use it to strengthen their hands - like rock climbers - or as a way to keep busy if they're trying to quit smoking. It's kind of a cure-all for addiction," says Balfour. "There's even a help line for emergency problems like if your kid gets it stuck in his hair."

Of course, having to work your show around a squishy, bouncy substance like Silly Putty has its problems. Like love, it doesn't last forever and its archival qualities are limited, says Balfour. And then there's the touch ability factor.

"I noticed when I came around to check on the show that the lithographs I'd done on Silly Putty... well, it seems people just couldn't resist sticking their fingers in them."

First century Jewish historian provides bridge between two scholarly groups
By Steve Mason

Last May, an extraordinary event took place at York's Glendon campus. Some 25 distinguished international scholars - from Oxford to the Ivy League, from Israel to Berkeley, and from two different scholarly areas - came together, along with about 50 conference registrants, to share ideas across disciplinary boundaries. The bridge between them was provided by someone from the first century CE, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

Josephus composed 30 volumes on Jewish history and culture. Although his works are most often studied by those interested in Jewish life and religion, sometimes as background to early Christianity, the fact that he wrote while living in Rome raises the question as to how his first (Roman) audience would have understood him. Who constituted his audience in Rome, and what did they get from his writings in the context of late first-century Roman issues? Conversely, how might Josephus' presence in Rome have affected his presentation of his own national culture?

From left, back row: Lincoln Blumell, University of Calgary; Ken Penner, McMaster University; Mark Brighton, University of California at Irvine; Steve Mason, York; Carole Westphal, Iliff Graduate School, Denver; John Barclay, University of Glasgow;

Front row: Susan Haber, McMaster University; Silvia Ceriani, Turin, Italy; Giai Lembi, Turin/Hebrew University of Jerusalem; James Rives, York; and Juliana Bastos Marques, Sao Paolo, Brazil

About half of the scholars at the conference presented themes on the Roman side (e.g. "Greek Literature in Flavian Rome", "Foreign Elites in Rome", "Writers and their Supporters in Flavian Rome") and the other half spoke from the Josephan and Jewish side (e.g. "Rhetorical Strategies in Josephus", "Josephus and his Roman Audience", "Spectacle in Josephus' War", "The Experience of Jews in Rome").

This new and potent mix of specialists gave rise to vigorous discussion after every paper: there was none of the perfunctory or polite-but-sparse questioning that often predictably follows conference papers. It was remarkable to see such prominent scholars acknowledging what they could learn from their counterparts on the "other side" of the disciplinary divide. The middle two sessions, in fact, required the Roman historians to face prepared responses from Josephus scholars, and the Josephus scholars to do the same with the Roman historians. A unique book will result from this encounter, as a foundation for future scholarship.

The conference organizers at York also represented the two sides: in Josephus's corner, Steve Mason; representing Roman interests, James Rives, professor of humanities and graduate history, and Jonathan Edmondson, professor of history and humanities. It is a noteworthy feature of York's program structure that these scholars work together within York's Division of Humanities and Graduate Program in History, whereas at other universities they would probably find themselves in separate departments, and might not even know each other. So the conference was in part an advertisement for York's approach to scholarship and teaching.

By way of highlighting these unique possibilities for study at York, the conference was supported by an intensive graduate seminar (HIST 5050A) on the same theme, meeting daily before and after the conference for more than two weeks. This seminar drew in doctoral students from Brazil, Italy, Israel, the US, and the UK to study with Rives and Mason. One of the conference participants, Prof. John Barclay of Glasgow, also stayed on as a special guest seminar leader.

The advanced students came from very different disciplinary backgrounds as well: classicists, students of early Judaism and Christian origins. As they began to head for their various homes, they all acknowledged that the encounter with both the conference scholars, in lively dialogue, and their peers from such different backgrounds, yet all working on the same questions for a while, had been a formative experience in their thinking about these fields.

The first of several conference highlights was provided by the annual Leonard Wolinsky Lectures. Michael Brown, director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at York, agreed to integrate these endowed, public lectures for 2001 with the Josephus conference. This meant that the Toronto community could hear some outstanding Josephus scholars. And come they did! Nearly 500 people crowded the Glendon College dining hall, a record attendance, to hear professors Louis H. Feldman (Yeshiva University, New York City) and Tessa Rajak (University of Reading, UK) talk about this famous ancient priest and historian.

At the end of the conference, at the reception provided by Glendon's Principal Kenneth McRoberts, many of the delegates expressed their feeling that this had been a rare experience in their conference-filled academic lives: a truly ground-breaking, illuminating and exhilarating encounter with scholars from whom they could learn so much. They also expressed admiration for Glendon's facilities and staff, for the "style" of the conference, and by extension for York University.

Steve Mason is professor of humanities and graduate history at York. He was one of the Josephus Conference organizers.

I'm turning Japanese (I really think so): African haiku in Zimbabwe with York Prof Ted Goossen
By Michael Todd

When professor of Japanese literature and culture Ted Goossen took Japan's culture to Zimbabwe, he didn't know quite what to expect. Goossen gave several lectures to the general public and students on various aspects of Japan's culture from the tea ceremony and ancestor worship to writing haiku.

"What I found when I landed was that the reality didn't always match Western media coverage of Zimbabwe's troubles," said Goossen at a recent talk he gave sponsored by York's Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies.

"I was interested to see what it would be like to present Japan to a very different culture from a Western one," said Goossen. "I was in somewhat of a pedagogic rut because you're always teaching Japanese culture here in North America in terms of Western pedagogy. But with Africa I thought it was a way of circumventing the West."

Goossen gave his first lecture at the National Art Gallery where he delineated a capsule description of Buddhism and Shinto and had a discussion about the efficacy of polytheistic traditions (and the way monotheisms have attempted to stamp them out). "I thought at the time the idea of ancestor worship and the tradition of Japanese Oban would be foreign to my audience but really there's a strong connection to the African tradition even though there's very little knowledge of Japan in Zimbabwe culture. Western ideas about the east haven't penetrated there."

"Interestingly the people didn't seem to see religion as an amalgamation of Christian values and African ancestor worship. They saw it as absolutely 'monotheistic' [Christian]. Yet ancestors are included in many aspects of African life - there's a focus on them. Now the Oban tradition is not followed much in Japan compared to even 30 years ago because Japan has grown wealthy. My African audience saw that as a definite loss and perhaps a price one paid for becoming modern. They knew Japan was 'rich'. They seemed to sense there was a cultural price to be paid to better one's life."

Goossen wanted to point out that modern doesn't necessarily mean Western. "Japan is modern, but not Western. I wanted to see how they'd respond to that, what could be learned from that. The question was do you have to do away with African culture to embrace modernism and prosperity?"

As well Goossen tried his hand at getting students to write haiku (traditionally in Japan they deal with nature or contain a "season" word - a kigo). Goossen said he gave a talk on Japanese aesthetics as a precursor to tackling haiku.

"The challenge I found wasn't so much to introduce nature (because it's all around and very much a part of everyday life, from snakes to flying termites), but to get my African students to move away from an idea of poetry that they'd inherited - a very 'British' idea of what a poem is...with rhyme etc."

Luckily for Goossen (and for haiku itself), the three-line short form, in Goossen's words, "travels well the world over...that's why it's so popular. It can travel, unlike other aspects of Japanese culture. It's accessible and it's a way to enter that culture."

Senate Synopsis

At its 484th meeting held on Dec. 13, 2001, the Senate of York University:

* approved, as recommended by the Senate Executive Committee:

- nominees to fill vacancies on the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning and the Senate Tenure and Promotions Committee;

- amendments to the statutory rule governing in camera meetings of senate committees;

* approved, as recommended by the Academic Policy and Planning Committee:

- that APPC conduct a review of the final phase of the transition period for the Glendon planning framework in 2003-2004 and report to senate on this review;

* approved, as recommended by the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Standards:

- the change in degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts, Information Technology and Social Issues degree program and the change in name from Bachelor of Arts, Information Technology and Social Issues to Bachelor of Arts, Information Technology;

- the creation of an Honours (double major) Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree program in Communication Studies and Fine Arts Cultural Studies and the creation of an Honours (double major) Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree program in Communication Studies and Film & Video (film studies);

- the proposed harmonization of the psychology curriculum of the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, and Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies and the proposed reduction of psychology course credits from 42 to 30 for the Atkinson Bachelor of Science degree program in psychology;

* approved, as moved by Senator Ryan Toews, a motion recognizing the right of all students to attend the National Student Day of Action on Feb. 6, 2002, and acknowledging that students who participate in the National Student Day of Action will not be penalized for missed deadlines or examinations on that day, and that they be given reasonable alternative access to materials covered in their absence;

* noted the synopsis of the board of governors meeting of Dec. 3, 2001;

* noted a report for information from the Senate Executive Committee on:

- approval of student nominees for membership on senate committees;

- the report of the Senate Sub-Committee on Equity;

- approval of the membership lists for Arts, Atkinson, Fine Arts, Glendon, Graduate Studies and Osgoode Faculty Councils;

* noted a report for information from the Academic Policy and Planning Committee on:

- the need to address longer-term planning issues despite the impact and implications of budget cuts;

* noted a report for information from the Senate Committee on Admissions, Recruitment and Student Assistance on:

- approval of new awards;

- revised terms of reference for approved awards;

* noted a report for information from the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Standards on:

- the recently completed Undergraduate Program Review for the Translation program offered by the School of Translation, Glendon;

- minor changes to degree requirements and course approvals;

- amendments to the Academic Standing Regulations and revised calendar copy for the Faculty of Environmental Studies;

The complete text of the minutes will be posted on the University Secretariat's Web site at http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/senate/. For further information on any of these items, please contact the University Secretariat.