THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW
SINCE 1999 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2
WWW.ULTRAVI RES.CA
OCTOBER 21, 2003
Tuition rally draws diverse crowd Impact of protest uncertain BYSIMR~D~
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On Sept.17, about 200 law students, professors, students from other faculties, and union representatives rallied against rising tuition in front of the Flavelle House. The event, initiated and organized by Ben Arkin {II), was attended by several members of the law school faculty, including Professors Hudson Janisch, Jim Phillips, Denise Reaume, and Martha Shaffer. Emcee Josh Paterson (III) also played host to a wide range of speakers from outside the law school community, including Rosario Marchese, NDP MPP for TrinitySpadina; Liberal candidate Nellie Pedro; Dr. Philip Berger, Associate Professor at the Faculty of ~fedicine; Pam Frache of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS); and Alexandra Artful-Dodger of Students' Administrative Council (SAC. ~1echa in attendance included UBC.. racho, the Toronto Star (education reporter Louis Brown and ) phorogrnph<'.r), AM 760, Tht Var.si!)', and Tl~ .Nm<Jf><lP" (formerly The Intkpmdtnl). At the microphone, Plltcrson started tl1c
spct•chcs \\ i~h a c-.ridcism of th~ pro"-inc!al governments deregulatory policy anc.l Its effects on accessibility and career choice. "When Mike I larris was elected, tuition at thts school stood at less than $3,000. This year, entering students are paying $16,000-an increase of over 400%. The percentage of students who decide to take jobs at large firms has increased around 30% since tuition hikes began ... [B]etween my third-year class and the class below mine, there's been a drop of 19.5% in the number of students in the under $60,000 range, and an increase of 21.8% in the students over $90,000," said Paterson, referring to students' household income levels. Professor Janisch then delivered a rousing commentary on the societal costs of privanzed legal education by pointing to the Amencan modeL Asking the attendees to cons1der "a perverted tort lottery system which enriches trial lawyers but fails to compensate most who are injured; a health care system that leaves millions unprotected; an approach to narcotics which corrupts producmg countries by failing to reduce demand but succeeds in crowding jails with long-term prisoners; [andJ a Supreme Court which hobbles years behind Canada in
PLEASE SEE "PUBliC" ON PAGE 2
Students gather outside Flavelle to rally against the ever-increasing cost of professional school education. See pages 12-13. Photo tollrll!J of Simrtn Desai.
Back-end debt relief policy scrutinized BYB~ARKIN
As law students approach graduation, most will face the unpleasant prospect of having to start repaying their student loans. Many of them will look to the Faculty of Law's Back-End Debt Relief Program for help, especially if they choose not to work for a high -paying Bay Street firm. But until the banks start pounding on their doors, most students will have very little idea of how the program works, or if it will work for them at all. In fact, a lot of questions ha~<e been ra.tsed about the effectiveness of the program. James McClary (II), Students' Law
Society (SL.<;) Student Caucus and Financial Aid Committee member, ran for SLS on a platform of rev1ewing the program's flaws. In light of the concerns, the Financial Aid Cornnuttee-<:onststing of three professors, three SLS students, and Assistant Dean of Students Lots Chlang-plans to conduct a rev1ew of the program, and hopefully make recommendatiom to Faculty Council. Some background is useful in understanding the situation: When law school tuition first began to climb sharply in 1998, it became apparent that fewer and fewer students would be able to pay up front for thru legal educanon. In response, the Faculty unplemenred a financialJUd program con-
sisting of increased "front-end" funding in the form of bursaries and interest-free loans, and brand new "back-end" funding to
PLEASE SEE "PROGRAM" ON PAGE 8
UVINDEX • • • •
LLM ADMISSIONS, P3 HAIKU WINNER, P9 TUmON RALLY, P12-13 BOWIE WISDOM, P22