Catching Daniel Pearl’s killer is an important step, says the father of the murdered journalist. But eradicating the hatred that leads to extremist violence is the most vital policy that countries must pursue, Judea Pearl told students at York University, reported the Toronto Star March 4. His son, a Wall Street Journal correspondent who was captured Jan. 23, 2002, while researching a story on Islamic militants in Karachi, Pakistan, was held for a week by a militant gang, who videotaped him as a prisoner, forcing him to announce that he was Jewish, before beheading him. “I believe that there must be justice,” said the journalist’s father. “Killers must be caught, so that the rules of civilized society are obeyed. But we really need to prevent the next generation from getting into this mentality of terrorism. That’s what we should be concentrating on above all.”
Judea Pearl, a professor of computer science at University of California Los Angeles, has spoken widely on tolerance between Muslims and Jews since his son’s murder, joining Akbar Ahmed, a Pakistani-born Islamic scholar. “There are three ways of stopping the hatred that is so prevalent today,” Pearl said. “It’s spread by the clerics, who have put out no fatwa against bin Laden; by media that distort their reporting on Israel and Jews; and by hate groups on campuses that are now making anti-Zionism a form of racism.” Pearl has started a foundation in his son’s name, and its campaign for understanding has met with some success.
Marshall’s CFL success creates new opportunities for university coaches
Just over a year ago, Greg Marshall became the first Canadian Interuniversity Sports head coach to jump directly to a head coaching job in the Canadian Football League when he left McMaster University to join the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He took over a bedraggled Ticat team, that had won just one of 18 games the previous season, and turned it into playoff contenders with a creditable 9-8-1 record. For that he was named CFL coach-of-the-year last week in Winnipeg. “Greg has opened up opportunities,” said York University head coach Tom Gretes. “He’s shown we can coach up here. Now when you apply for a job they won’t be asking ‘Are you a Canadian?’ You can sell yourself on what you know and what you’ve done.”
Osgoode grad competes in international tennis
Jody McCormack, a 36-year-old local commercial litigation lawyer, has qualified for the International Tennis Federation’s senior championships in Perth, Australia, reported The Daily News in Kamloops, BC, March 4. McCormack, who moved to Kamloops from Toronto in December, will compete in the women’s over-35 division, in singles and doubles. McCormack graduated from York’s Osgoode Hall Law School in 1994.