THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW
VOLU~E 3, ISSUE 5
•
FEBRUARY 12, 2002
• www.law.utoronto.cajultravires
Five-year plan includes concessions on accessibility Faculty council to vote on the report on Wednesday BY DAVID KOLINSKY AND TIM WILBUR ,\fter sigruficam changes, the task force on the faculty's five-year plan has approved a final draft of its report. The document 1s expec~ed to_, be voted through b) faculty council on \Xednesday. lr will then be passed on to the Universt:y of Toronto's provost for final approval. 1\ll members of the task force have signed on to the plan, except for Professor .\1~ ha Shaffer and third-p.:ar srudem Jacob Ghck. Shaffer and Glick have writttn a joint dis ent which is appended to the report. Students' Law Society President Benjie 'ihmtwald, although approving most of the pi n, has attached a concurrence contaimng a number of reservations. The report, mcluding the dissent and reservations, is avaiL1ble on the law library's e-legal website. Changes to the draft report came after extensive negotiaoons with mam student and faculty represcntatiws at thl•l;w school. "Civen the context 111 which we had to \\."'rk, I'm proud of the changes that we , sttucd .. }unCW'iitld. Shtnew:~ld cites the establishment of a
committee dedicated to moniroring and reviewing the faculty's accessibility performance as one of a number of maJor changes to the ongmal plan. The new com mittee will also draft the terms of a yearly indcpendem survey of the school's progress in maintaining and incn:asing accessibility. '' \ key win for the students is that the dean IS required to consult w1th the student caucus about the appointment of the chm of this new committee. That is a sea-change in procedural accountability," Shinewald stated. Other major changes in the document mclude commitments on diversity (sec Dtverstt}, p. 4), a new .\borigmal bursary program, and stated goals for Improving the culture and atmosphere at the law school. The plan still recommends that $1.7 million be set aside for faculty salary increases, and that tuition rise to $22,000 over the next five years. Even wtth the changes, Shaffer and Glick did not support the final draft. "I don't think these arc meaningful concessions," Glick stated. 'The plan is still bad."
PLEASE SEE wOPENNESS ,~ P4 MORENEWS AND COMMENT ON PLAN, P4-5
Police look on as chanting srudents protest tuition increases a t Flavelle H o use on the Feb. 6 D ay of Action .
Committee to propose greater restrictions on recruitment Student leaders happier with the status quo BY SIMREN DESAI \fter consulting with students at two sepa rate focus groups over the last two weeks, the Career Services and Recruitment Committee 1s set to table two alternative proposals wtth respect to the future of the law school's policy on recruitment activity. The first would entail the initiation of collccnve action auned at extending blackout periods for first-year students at Ontario schools and McGill. The second is a maintenance of the status quo. SLS President Benjie Shrncwald con firmed that he is the only comminee member who will support the status quo when the proposals are brought to faculty council. The rest of the committee is expected to support collective acoon to increase restncnons on recruiting.
"We're not trying to be a fascist state. The measures are not meant to be prohibitive, they're meant to carve out appropriate times for recruiting." - Bonnie Goldberg A third option, unilateral action by U of T, was scrapped after widespread negative reaction by students. The collective action proposal has also been scaled back to extend rcstncoons only to first year. Under this optton, first·year students would be unable to attend open houses, seminars, or any other off-campus events sponsored and anended by lawyers until after first·year
recruitment at the end of February. The restrictions would not affect scholastic extra-curricular acti\ities like trial advocacy and client counselling. Shinewald feels that his support for the
PLEASE SEE wcOLLECTIVE ACTION , ~ P2
UVINDEX • • • • • •
ACADEMIC PLAN NEWS, p4-5 TEA WITH SAMER, p6 AlTERNAnvE CAREERS, p9 FEATURE: GET A LIFE, pl0-11 VALENTINE'S DAY, p16-17 PROF AID, p19
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