In an Aug. 10 editorial supporting more funding for universities, the Toronto Star quoted from the statement by Ontario university chancellors, which included York Chancellor Peter Cory and former chancellor Avie Bennett (see Headline News). Ontario, said the Star, seems to have lost sight of the fact that society as a whole benefits from an educated workforce, a point driven home at a recent meeting of current and former Ontario university chancellors. “No better investment can be made than in high quality, accessible university education. To meet their responsibilities, the province’s universities need enhanced funding. It is in everyone’s interest that the funding challenges facing universities be addressed,” they said in a statement.
The Star said: “No one likes to see tuition fees rise. At the same time, though, universities need more revenue to attract good teachers, boost research, improve classroom and student facilities, and keep libraries up-to-date. And in Ontario, that’s a major worry for university and college administrators because this province has fallen shamefully behind in funding post-secondary education.”
Actor Adam Waxman follows in his father’s footsteps
The Globe and Mail Aug. 10 profiled York alumnus Adam Waxman, lone son of the late Al Waxman, the celebrated Canadian actor who was an adjunct theatre professor at York from 1988 to 1995. The turning point in the life of Adam Waxman came during the Toronto International Film Festival, a few months after the death of his father in 2001, said the Globe. Twentysomething Waxman and his mother, writer Sara Waxman, were driving to the home of filmmaker Norman Jewison for his annual festival barbecue. The son was nattering from the driver’s seat when his mother interrupted, ordering him to pull over immediately.
“I was talking a lot of nonsense,” Waxman said. “She made me stop the car and she said, ‘I’m tired of you making half-assed attempts and I want you to devote the next couple of years to giving acting a try. If it’s not for you, then be honest with yourself and if it is, go for it. But stop talking about it and do it. Don’t live another day saying what if.’ Thank God for my mother,” he said with a grateful sigh. “I’m lucky to have someone like that. I re-evaluated my life and I’ve never looked back from that stern talk.”
After studying political science and communications at York (BA ’96 Atkinson), the junior Waxman took off travelling, finally ending up in Japan, where he did a little bit of everything and some things he never expected he might do. He returned to Toronto after his father died. In the wake of his mother’s lecture, he studied acting in New York and made his professional acting debut this summer with Shakespeare by the Sea, the venerable and inventive Halifax theatre company.
Kingston warned about convicted rapist
Newspapers and broadcasters in Ontario’s Kingston area carried public warnings from local police about the release of convicted rapist Philip Foremsky, who preyed on women in the vicinity of York University in the summer of 2000. Foremsky, who pleaded guilty in 2001 to groping, sexually assaulting and robbing six women ranging in age from 22 to 48, is now finishing out a five-year sentence at a federal halfway house in Kingston. Police told The Kingston Whig-Standard Aug. 10 that Foremsky, 22, could easily blend into a local university crowd. The story was also picked up by newspapers in Ottawa, Toronto, Peterborough and Edmonton.