This newspaper was tested on animals. They didn’t read it. Story > page 5
the newspaper University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly
September 22, 2011
Vol. XXXIV N0. 3
HOW DO WE REVITALIZE OUR DEMOCRACY? Former Hungarian politician criticizes our current political order, gives us a few pointers With a title as in your face as The Failure of Liberal Democracy, last Tuesday night’s Munk Centre event promised more than a tepid, academic discussion. The speaker, Romanianborn, Hungarian philosopher, dissident and former politician Gaspar Miklos Tamás did not disappoint. His lecture on the fundamental problems of our western political system would inspire any apathetic voter or lazy liberal to re-think what they stand for, what they’re !""!#$% &'% ()*+!,*-% .'+% -/0)"% rights and what they refuse to let slide. Fellow Marxist scholar Leo Panitch of York University introduced Tamás to a healthy sized crowd of members of the university and public communities at the Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility.
GEOFF VENDEVILLE
ASHTON OSMAK
Gaspar Miklos Tamás, philosopher and former politician talks of democratic failures
Campus briefs
SEX IN CLASS > page 4
SAIM SOHAIB
Newsweek ranks U of T in top three universities outside the U.S. The University of Toronto joins the ranks of illustrious institutions, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, as one of the three top schools outside the United States, according to the Newsweek Rankings Report for 2011.
The Newsweek study used a methodology that utilized the ranking attributes used by the three most prestigious global college rankings, The Shanghai Ranking Consultancy (SRC), The Times Higher Education World Rankings and the Webometrics world rankings research institute. The University of Toronto comfortably made it to the top 10 of each of the three rankings, and was ranked 4th in the Webometrics ratings. This reflects on the breadth and depth of the University’s programs, as each ranking takes a different set of measures that are indexed when rankings are calculated. This year the criteria included: Nobel Prize awards and Fields Media awarded to staff and alumni; research impact (in terms of citations); Continued on page 3
BODI BOLD
The ranking of “the best halls of higher learning outside America’s borders” included four Canadian universities, with The University of British Columbia, McGill University and McMaster University coming in at 8th, 13th and 15th respectively.
The lecture opened with a /0-(&!'#1% 234)&% !(% &4-% 5+-*'#dition for any kind of liberal democracy?” The answer, according to Tamás, is the belief in the idea of the common good. While that might seem simple, the challenge, as Tamás point-6%'0&7%!(%-#(0+!#$%&4)&%&4!(%2!(% not understood deductively or axiomatically, but is instead recognized by the people living in the political system.” In other words, it’s not enough to read J.S. Mill or Rousseau for your POL100 class. Everyone needs to get why the common good matters and why their political system is working toward achieving that. Without this moral principle, -89-%$'&%)%:!$%5+':"-;<%2=.%&4-% principle is massively doubted or delegitimized”, Tamás con&!#0-67%2&4-#% -%*)#8&%4)9-%"!:eral democracy.” Tamás proved Continued on page 3