Having profs teach more courses is one cost-saving tip rumoured to be part of economist Don Drummond’s report next week to Premier Dalton McGuinty, wrote the Toronto Star Feb. 7, in a story about a controversial new book that calls for new teaching-oriented universities where profs would have much higher course-loads. However, not everyone agrees Ontario needs any new campuses at all, the story noted. University Professor George Fallis, a former dean of York’s Faculty of Arts and a professor of economics, called it a “major mistake to expand Ontario’s university system now…we already have the system we need in place.” Read full story.
Monahan joins TVO discussion on education and religion
York Vice-President Academic & Provost Patrick Monahan took part in a panel discussion on education and religion on TVO’s “The Agenda” Feb. 7. View the video.
So ‘freakin’ much to say
Leo Strine is probably about as close as you can get to a rock star in the world of corporate law, wrote the National Post Feb. 8, in a story about a lecture given by the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery. At an event organized by the JD/MBA Students’ Association at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, Strine delivered a series of unscripted remarks through a casual conversation directed by Prof. Ed Waitzer, Jarislowsky Dimma Mooney Chair in Corporate Governance at Osgoode and the Schulich School of Business, and a Stikeman Elliott LLP partner. Read full story.
Indiana and the last crusade: Do right-to-work acts work?
David Doorey, a professor of labour and employment law at York University’s School of Human Resource Management in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, says there’s no substantial proof that anti-union “right-to-work” legislation in states like Indiana decreases wages and benefits or promotes job growth, reported The Globe and Mail Feb. 7 . “The entire point of this type of legislation is to cut off resources from unions so that they become weak and ineffective,” Doorey said in his award-winning legal blog. Read full story.
This bill is no SOPA
While hysterical predictions about copyright reform in Canada have been ratcheted up yet again, this time the claims are so outrageous that they can perhaps best be described as having “jumped the shark,” wrote Barry Sookman, adjunct professor in York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in the National Post Feb. 8. Read full story.
Wilcox returns to direct La Ronde
Richie Wilcox, a doctoral candidate at York, has returned to Halifax to make his directing debut with Dal Theatre, wrote Halifax’s Chronicle-Herald Feb. 8. He’s helming La Ronde, a play which was written around 1900 and only premiered in 1921 after it was banned for 20 years because it dealt so bluntly and frankly with sex. Wilcox noted the play is also very funny. Read full story.
Dorsey James’ gods, goddesses and wizards unveil the mythology in mundane places
For all his visualization abilities, Dorsey James (BFA ’76, BEd ’76) didn’t actually see art in his future until, dissatisfied with his job as an aircraft mechanic, he decided to take advantage of the US Veterans’ education benefits and go to university, wrote YongeStreemedia.ca Feb. 8. An aptitude assessment directed him to fine arts – “the silliest thing I’d ever heard,” he laughs. Once he was in the program at York’s Faculty of Fine Arts, James realized art really was for him. Read full story.
Fond farewell for former spelling bee champ
Scores of mourners gathered in Kingston, Jamaica, recently to bid farewell to Schulich grad Marjorie Elizabeth McLaughlin (MBA ’85), reported The Gleaner in Kingston Feb. 8. The 53-year-old McLaughlin, who died on Jan. 2 of complications from an injury she received in a car accident when she was 27, is also remembered for having copped the coveted National Spelling Bee Championship trophy in 1970. Read full story.