In a letter to the Guelph Mercury June 26, York Chief Communications Officer Richard Fisher responded to an editorial titled “Overcrowding is a hazard,” in which the paper claimed York has “more applicants than it is prepared to accommodate.” That assertion, said Fisher, is “quite wrong.” He wrote: “York’s total admissions numbers are within our projected target and we are ready to accommodate those students to whom we have made offers. Naturally, the number of first-year students coming to York directly from school is higher than in the past but this is just one part of the admissions equation. Other groups include mature students, international and transfer students. The total number reflects York’s overall enrolment for this year and it is on target.” Fisher noted that York has been preparing since 1998 to meet the demand for new student spaces, including the double cohort. “In the most competitive admissions environment in recent history, more students than ever have made York their first choice,” he said. “We are prepared and ready to welcome them.”
It’s not the who, it’s the how
In an article in the Globe and Mail June 27, Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Patrick Monahan argued there’s nothing wrong with Jean Chrétien’s Supreme Court appointees, but there’s a lot wrong with how they’re appointed. “With the impending replacement of retiring Supreme Court of Canada Judge Charles Gonthier this summer, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien will have appointed six of the nine members of the country’s highest court, as well as having elevated a seventh member, Beverly McLachlin, to the post of Chief Justice,” said Monahan. “With the Supreme Court now dominated by Mr. Chrétien’s appointees, the question naturally arises: might the current court properly be labeled the ‘Chrétien court’ ?” Monahan argued that, ironically, the six Chrétien appointees are largely indistinguishable on political or ideological grounds from the three current Supreme Court members who were appointed by Chrétien’s predecessor, Brian Mulroney.
Excal writer wins journalism award
York grad Jill Andrew (BA Hons.’02, BEd ’03) has won the Canadian Ethnic Journalists’ and Writers’ Club award for her editorial “I Will be Seen and Heard,” published in York’s student newspaper, Excalibur, the club announced on Canada News-Wire June 26. The award was presented at the CEJWC gala awards over the weekend. The awards ceremony honours two persons each for print, radio and television work.
Innocence Project battles on
Osgoode Hall Law School’s Innocence Project filed a brief with federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon on convicted murderer Romeo Phillion’s behalf, asking the minister to overturn his conviction and order a new trial, reported the Toronto Star June 27. Phillion, 64, has spent more than 31 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit. A Superior Court judge is considering his unusual bid to be released on bail pending a review of the case.
Mass transit
The magazine University Manager (Summer 2003) noted in an article that several years of consultation and partnership-building with York’s local community led to the founding of the first university-based Transportation Management Association (TMA) in Canada. York has taken a leadership role in developing the TMA – a public/private partnership bringing together area business, local government and transit agencies to pool resources and expertise in order to tackle traffic, smog and costs to members of the communities involved. As a leader in the initiative, York’s Security, Parking & Transportation Services department won $10,000 as part of the 2003 Quality and Productivity Award from the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO), which publishes the magazine.
On air
- York professor Dennis Raphael, School of Health Policy & Management, was interviewed by CBC Radio news in Toronto (CBL‑FM) on June 26 regarding health conditions among Toronto shelter residents. A high number of residents ( 38%) have tested positive for TB.