Michael Mandel, law professor, was one of more than 100 prominent Canadians to sign a petition stating their opposition to a war against Iraq, reported The Globe and Mail Sept. 26. The petition, titled Time to Move Beyond War, urges Prime Minister Jean Chrétien not to support any US-led military action there. At the news conference in a Toronto church, Mandel called the United States “the greatest threat to world peace today.” The conflict with Iraq, he said, is not about making the world safe from weapons of mass destruction but about oil and “the thugs in the White House,” Mandel said. “Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11.” CP Wire also carried the story.
An ethical move
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports has named lawyer Gordon Kirke to its board of directors. Kirke taught sports law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, for more than 15 years, reported The Globe and Mail Sept. 26.
Nine to five
Judy Fudge, law professor, said a Labour Ministry decision that sides with Toyota car plant employees complaining about forced overtime reinforces the employment standards act’s underlying intention that overtime beyond eight hours a day should be voluntary, reported CP Wire Sept. 26.
‘Unmistakable marker’ of anti-semitism
“[A]nti-Semitism in the guise of opposition to Israel ([some call] it ‘soft anti-Semitism’), and in other guises has become a feature of the contemporary world, and not only on campus. It can be identified easily. Its unmistakable marker is the application of one set of standards to Jews and to Israel and another to the rest of the world,” wrote Michael Brown, humanities and language and linguistics professor, in a letter to National Post printed Sept. 26.
Appropriating Tubman
M. Nourbese Philip writes in a letter to NOW magazine Sept. 26: “I’m not saying that those who belong to groups that oppress and/or exploit other groups shouldn’t involve themselves in correcting historical wrongs. However, those wrongs cannot and will not be corrected through further appropriation, even to the point of dressing up in the clothing of the “other.” The Harriet Tubman Centre on the African Diaspora that recently opened at York University is just such an example of appropriation. Suffice it to say that it is a travesty. Be warned that the ancestors never sleep.”
On air
Paul Ritvo, health sciences professor, was interviewed on the news on CKCK-TV Regina Sept. 24 about stress as the worst enemy of a national hockey league coach. … Michael Mandel, law professor, says Canada should join the majority of countries around the world. He was interviewed Sept. 25 at a news conference about a petition urging Ottawa to oppose war on Iraq, on Broadcast News, CBC Radio’s Metro Morning in Toronto and Edmonton news, news programs on CFAX-AM in Victoria, CJUK-FM in Thunder Bay, Citypulse on CITY-TV in Toronto, and on Telejornal (in Portuguese), Studio Aperto (in Italian) and and Newsline (in Chinese) on CFMT-TV in Toronto. … In a Canadian Press story Sept. 25, Judy Fudge, law professor, says a decision by the Labour Ministry in favour of three Toyota, Cambridge, employees reinforces the law’s underlying intention that overtime beyond eight hours a day should be voluntary. … Global News reported Sept. 25 that York University students are getting meningitis vaccinations this week.