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Editorial
NEWS
COVER IMAGE
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“The students came out and showed that they believed in unity, that they believed we would put them first.” - Krisna Saravanamuttu
By Laila Rashidie
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“York University has attempted to pretend that Singer is a distinguished scholar because this is what gives him credibility, even though Singer has no credentials as a scholar - a fact that he himself has been the first to admit.”
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By Ali Mustafa
By Rachel Gurofsky
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“Zionism, a political ideology whose project of a Jewish homeland could only be fulfilled through the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Palestine.
Ali Mustafa
Members of the York community participate in the first public forum organized by NION-York, ‘Reconsidering Zionism’
By Farah Islam
By Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen and Nora Loreto
Farah Islam
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By Joe Howell
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“I think marking is the enemy of learning. It makes learning the means to an end with the mark being the end rather than the learning.” -- Alan Sears, Sociology professor at Ryerson University
Pawel Dwulit
Professor Denis Rancourt.
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“If it’s possible if, in one fell swoop, to take over the Board of Directors [of OPIRG], I think that it would be pretty impressive, and you’d be a hero to the Conservative movement if you can pull that off.” Lee-Wudrick
Conservative MP Peter Braid addressing Conservative Party students at University of Waterloo
6 By Morgan Dunlop
By Rameez Mahmood
Original print by I. Aochamub
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“We know that Toronto relies on its image of multiculturalism and diversity, and that’s an image that we are dragging through the mud... It’s a sweatshop city. It’s a city that maintains a system that treats huge layers of this migrant population as second-class residents.”
Sudanese Pres. Omar al-Bashir
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IAW SPECIAL
Nadiha Ali
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IAW SPECIAL
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By Liisa Schofield
Kareem Dabbagh
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IAW SPECIAL
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Kareem Dabbagh
By Dan O’ Hara
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The consequence of a selective form of institutional memory, to borrow the old adage, is that history repeats itself.
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FEATURES
U
CONTINUED FROM p. 10 the state of Israel. One of their demands is for the York University Foundation (which is responsible for fundraising and donations) to show transparency in their investments in Israel. Spokesperson for SAIA, Adonis El Jamal, stated that rather than engage the group in a dialogue, the University sent an “arbitrary letter…saying that we’ve been suspended for thirty days, we’ll be fined $1000, plus $250 on our signing authorities student account. This is a clear form of repression and censorship.” Both the faculty opposed to Sasakawa’s donation and SAIA invoke the ethical concerns that twenty years ago led to a policy of divesting from Apartheid South Africa.
March 20, 1997 York University Faculty Association (YUFA) goes on strike over funding, retirement benefits, and concerns with institutional governance. The strike would last 8 weeks, the longest faculty strike in English speaking Canada to date.
October 26, 2000
CUPE 3903 goes on strike as the administration proposes to remove tuition indexation among other benefits. After 76 days (11 weeks), The union emerges victorious.
January 28, 2003
The Casualization of Academic Labour at York University
In the recent CUPE strike, York University’s over-reliance on contractualized academic labour erupted as a central and critical question in discussions around the union’s job security proposals. Interestingly, last fall, at the outset of the strike, most Unit 2 members of CUPE 3903 were largely unaware of the extent to which contract faculty were utilized to fulfill the university’s teaching mission, particularly with respect to undergraduate instruction. Our concerns lay more with working conditions,
labour force composed largely of contingent instructors. This is what is referred to as the “casualization” of the academic labour market, i.e. where undergraduate teaching (and even in some cases, graduate teaching) is increasingly delegated to a cadre of precariously employed contract faculty, mainly because they constitute a cheap and a flexible pool of academic labour for universities and colleges. Scholarship on the casualization of academic labour links this trend to declines in government spending on education and the rise in the corporatization of North American universities, a phenomenon whereby post-secondary institutions are
in the American Association of University Professors has declined from 90,000 in 1973, to a mere 43,000 today, despite unprecedented expansions in undergraduate and graduate student enrolments. In ‘Reclaiming the Ivory Tower’, Joe Berry argues that the “casualization of the faculty workforce … represents one of the few recent instances in the United States economy … where an entire occupation has been converted from permanent career status to temporary, often part-time, status in the space of a single generation of workers.”
What emerged from these studies was the realization that York University is leading the vanguard, at least among public universities in Ontario, towards an academic
increasingly managed by, modeled on, and oriented towards corporate interests and practices. Over the past three decades, American universities have been at the forefront of this transformation. ‘In How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation’, Marc Bousquet demonstrates that tenure and tenure-track faculty, in the United States, now barely constitute 30% of those teaching at universities, and membership
Kareem Dabbagh Members of CUPE 3903 walk the picket lines for job security and other demands.
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Similar patterns have transformed the Canadian academic landscape, although research suggests to a
This is what is referred to as the “casualization” of the academic labour market, i.e. where undergraduate teaching (and even in some cases, graduate teaching) is increasingly delegated to a cadre of precariously employed contract faculty, mainly because they constitute a cheap and a flexible pool of academic labour for universities and colleges. specific terms of employment, and the precariousness of contractual work. However, one of the benefits that the strike afforded was time to research more fully the circumstances of contractualized academic staff at the university.
U
March 26, 1959
Sasakawa
Lykke de la Cour is a member of CUPE 3903, Unit 2.
York University Timeline
York University founded
Rather than deference, the University should show openness to the constructive contributions that these and other community members can make especially as it relates to history and memory of sensitive cultural issues. Until then, we await a university that can confront its own history and grow at a pace that matches the passion and conviction of its staff and students.
By Lykke de la Cour
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slightly lesser degree than south of the border due to stronger trends, in Canada, towards academic unionization, legislative support for collective bargaining processes, and the efforts of professional academic organizations, such as CAUT. Nevertheless, during the CUPE 3903 strike, it became increasingly apparent that while York University has historically relied on a contractual teaching complement, it now stands poised to head even further towards an American model whereby undergraduate teaching rests largely on the work of contingent academic labour. Contract faculty currently make up 55% of the teaching complement at York University. Published figures in the York Fact Book 2007/8 indicate that the university employs 1,612 contract faculty and 1,520 full-time faculty. However, this latter figure is somewhat misleading as it also includes Contractually Limited Appointments (CLAs), faculty who hold Special Renewable Contracts (SRCs), and “Authorized True Visitors.” If
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Ultra right-wing political commentator Daniel Pipes is invited to speak at York, causing a wave of student protests on campus. As widespread opposition to Pipes’ visit grew and organizations withdrew their sponsorship of the event, then President Lorna Marsden intervened by arranging a private venue heavily guarded by over 100 Toronto police officers to ensure the speech would occur as planned.
April 30, 2004
York undergraduate student Dan Freeman Maloy receives a letter of expulsion following his participation in a Palestine solidarity rally in Vari Hall. The letter was issued and signed by then President Marsden, citing the use of sound amplification (ie. a megaphone) during the rally as grounds for the expulsion.
October 2005 Professor and longtime critic of the Marsden administration David Noble applies for a Senate review of York’s policy to cancel classes on Jewish High Holidays, which originated in 1974 due the large proportion of Jewish students and faculty members at that time.
January 20, 2005
Toronto police are called to campus by then President Marsden in response to a peaceful rally in Vari Hall protesting the second inauguration of US President George W. Bush and York’s corporate driven Board of Governors. Five student protesters were arrested, one of them was reportedly so severely beaten that he had to be hospitalized.
March 6, 2008 A student-based club known as the Sustainable Purchasing Coalition (SPC) organizes a sit-in to demand that the administration implement a ‘no sweat’ licensing policy at York, ensuring that no official school apparel will be produced in sweatshops and meets international labour standards. After 45 consecutive hours outside the office of recently appointed President Mamdouh Shoukri, the students emerged victorious.
March 26, 2008
Immigrant rights organization No One Is Illegal organizes a rally in Vari Hall to defend international student Saint-Sierra Leonty from imminent deportation. Following overwhelming support from the students, faculty and community members, Immigration Canada was forced to grant Leonty a 2 year stay in Canada until her appeal was processed.
November 6, 2008 CUPE 3903 goes on strike over poverty-line wages and better job security for contract faculty. The strike would last 85 days (12 weeks) until the union is legislated back to work in unprecedented fashion on January 29, breaking its own record to become the longest in English speaking Canada’s history.
January 26, 2009
President Mamdouh Shoukri announces the appointment of Martin Singer as the the founding Dean of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, which will the largest in Canada. Following closer scrutiny of Singer’s record, his qualifications and the process by which he was appointed are brought into serious doubt. President Shoukri is subsequently charged with academic fraud.
February 24, 2009 Three student-based clubs are sanctioned by the administration following a rally organized by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) in protest over Israel’s latest military assault on Gaza and York’s alleged ongoing complicity in Israeli Apartheid. SAIA was suspended from all campus activities for 30 days and fined $1000 (plus and additional $250 charged directly to the student account of the group signatory).
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‘Redefining the Possible’: York’s 50th Birthday Wish List Democratic Governance
Kareem Dabbagh
Student/worker parity on the major decision making bodies at York, including the Board of Governors and Senate whose current structure consists of little more than token representation of students, faculty, and staff – less than 5% overall. Fiscal Transparency & Accountability Adoption of a ‘Socially Responsible Investment’ policy that would signal a fundamental shift in York’s current investment model from one dictated by an undemocratic manegerial cadre of corporate CEO’s and based upon profit maximization, to one that is more inclusive and better reflects the values of all of its stakeholders (ie. human rights, environmental sustainability, and governance concerns). Liberalize Student Space A commitment to making campus safe for free speech, peaceful assembly, and legitimate dissent, which together constitute the core qualities of what distinguishes York as a unique and dynamic learning environment. Put Priorities in Order Less reliance on precarious and casualised labour along with a commitment to better job security for contract faculty and (at a minimum) poverty line wages for TA’s, who alone do 50% of the teaching at York yet receive only 7.5% of the entire existing operating budget.
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WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Compiled by David Noble
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Kareem Dabbagh
In the past three years, since the effective withdrawal of YUFA from ‘Critical Times’, the inter-union campus newspaper, there has been no public and general discussion on campus of academic workplace issues such as the deteriorating FT-faculty-to-student ratios, the increasing portion of teaching assigned to casualized faculty, the growing corporatization of the university, and suppression of free speech and academic freedom.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM YORK UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT’S CONTRACT Unless terminated early the contract of York’s president will expire in 2012. The president’s appointment comes with a base salary (2007) of $325,000 with annual increases – in 2008 this amounts to a 3.5% increase and $2700 progress-through the ranks payment. In addition to these payments every year there is a cumulative salary adjustment of $10,000 (by 2011 the adjustment will be $30,000). There is also eligibility for a performance bonus on the basis of an annual review. The target bonus payment is ¼ of the base salary to a maximum of ½ of the base salary. In the first year, this bonus is guaranteed at a level of at least ¼. The president has membership in York pension plan, as per terms of the plan, plus a supplemental pension that increases the overall pension on retirement – this amounts to $13,000 each year. The president gets full premium coverage of extended health care, vision care, and dental care for himself and his family plus life insurance ($975,000), travel accident insurance, and longterm disability. In addition there is an annual entitlement of up to $5,000 for financial planning assistance (since someone, after all, will have to look after all that money). Emergency Health Care expense for treatment for items not covered under the York University Plan (up to $20,000), Professional Expense Allowance ($1650/year), payment of membership at the York Club and other similar social clubs, payment of the annual membership at a health club of the president’s choice are also included. A housing loan without interest of up to $750,000 for acquiring a home in Toronto or the GTA. As long as the president is not dismissed, $50,000 per year of service to the university of this loan is forgiven. A year of leave following the term as president. Four weeks vacation at full salary every year. Use of a car and driver for use in connection with the office, reimbursement for travel expenses on York business. Allowance to serve on the Board of Directors on up to two corporate boards and retain any fees for such service. Reimbursement of moving expenses and of expenses while entertaining on behalf of the university, including entertainment at home.
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16 By David McNally
Ali Mustafa
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University administrators have used the retreat of social movements during the 1980s and 1990s to try to create the neoliberal, corporate-friendly, dissent-free university. In the process, they have privatized and corporatized campus space and clamped down on political protest.
Ali Mustafa
17 By Niraj Joshi
Getty Images Protest over soaring food prices grows as UN based MINUSTAH troops stand guard.
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Joseph Wenkoff Protest over soaring food prices grows as UN based MINUSTAH troops stand guard.
19 By David Matijasevich
{
As history has shown and the situation in Thailand validates, crisis is just as likely to breed reactionary responses as progressive ones.
Paula Bronstein, Getty Images Protesters with the anti-government Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) cheer during takeover of the government building August 27, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Hundreds of peaceful protesters are camped out by the Government House, waving Thai ags and yellow banners representing the monarchy. The protesters want to unseat the seven-month-old coalition government lead by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
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20 By Federico Fuentes
AP, Juan Karita Native Aymaran voter casts ballot in Bolivia’s latest constitutional reform referendum
The Morales government has focussed on modernization of the country, promotion of industrialization, increased state intervention in the economy, social and cultural inclusion, and a more democratic redistribution of revenues from natural resources through various social programs.
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Reuters, Dado Galdieri President Evo Morales hands out copies of the new Bolivian constitution after referendum victory.
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By Justin Podur
Kareem Dabbagh Rally against Zionsim. The “Drop YFS” campaign was Zionist backlash to YFS’s denouncing of Israel’s war crimes.
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By Rameez Mahmood
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Society, and especially individuals, must reect upon their existence and muster their innate ability to feel, to think, and to change what is around them and themselves.
24 By Steve Anderson
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“Media ownership is more highly concentrated in Canada than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world”
Are we seeing the end of the mainstream ‘newspaper’?
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By Farah Islam
Canada is not “peacekeeping” in Afghanistan – it is waging war
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“This isn’t peacekeeping; it’s full out war”
Canadian Forces
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By Amil Shivji
Exodus Travels
The continent of Africa is too often stereotyped as being merely sunsets, zebras, and disease
UNC
In actuality, it is an extremely diverse region with a dark and complex colonial history
By Zubaira Hussaini
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COMMENTS
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A Public Statement of Support for Denis Rancourt
not found to be rightfully designated as a public official, but nonetheless, the judge ruled in favor of the student and found Marsden to be violating the student’s basic right to free speech. The irony surrounding this case is that members of the pro-Israeli groups also allegedly used sound amplification devices, but none were given the kind of harsh treatment Freeman-Maloy received, nor were they reprimanded in any way. But of course, he was most likely singled because of his articulacy as a public speaker and professional activist, or perhaps, as most would agree, because of his Jewish heritage.
By David Noble & Nancy Olivieri
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“The greatest challenge for these few genuine academics, however, has not been the enemies of truth outside the walls of universities but the enemies of truth within.”
Around the same time as the Marsden vs. Freeman-Maloy case was evolving, Professor David noble, a historian of technology and a staunch critic of the corporatization agenda of the York administration, was similarly treated for his political stance. Noble, who uncovered that York University’s Board of Governors was comprised of a great number of pro-Israeli lobbyists, distributed his findings in a pamphlet titled “The Tail that Wags the Dog.” Marsden issued a media statement denouncing Noble as racist, anti-Semite. Noble, who is of Jewish decent, retaliated by taking the administration to court.
And so, while York U magazine is obligated to present the beauty of York, we must not forget the ugly side. A university that prides itself as being a progressive, studentoriented institution has ironically launched a war on student movements for social justice and aggressively pursues to vilify and silence students and faculty who vocally express their political dissidence against York. Moreover, recent years have seen the increasing casualization of teaching jobs and increased student enrolment, translating into jampacked classrooms and resultantly, a drop in the quality of education. This, as well as the aforementioned wrongs committed by the institution, coupled with the impending threat to remove Vari Hall as a student space, makes York University’s future look just as grim as its past. What initially began as a warm response to the blatant anti-Semitism of U of T, the future York University now evoke concerns over the freedom of speech and the institution’s complicity with the state of Israel in its war on the Palestinian people. Perhaps it is too early to liken Shoukri to his predecessor. But one thing is certain: the activist community here at York sure knows how to put up a good fight!
? SAIA York Condemns Smears, Harassment and Administrative Repression By SAIA York
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at York University condemns the intensifying efforts to shut down Palestine solidarity activism on campus. The decision by the York University administration to fine and suspend our organization is disgraceful and part of a wider pattern of administrative repression faced by Palestine solidarity groups on university campuses.
and humanitarian law.
The February 12, 2009 Rally On February 12, 2009, SAIA organized a rally and march at York University to demand that York University president, Mamdouh Shoukri, issue a statement condemning targeted Israeli attacks on Palestinian educational institutions. Nazia Khurshid
right blowing up of universities and schools with students still in them would constitute a greater violation of academic freedom, worthy of equal if not even stronger condemnation. Rather than respond thoughtfully to our reasonable demand, the Shoukri administration chose to suspend our organization for a month and fine us $1,000 as well as an additional $250 charged
SAIA Condemns Violations of Human Rights In its recent attack on the population of Gaza, Israel indiscriminately killed 1300 people, including over 400 children civilians. Israel continues to besiege and starve the population of Gaza, to imprison thousands of Palestinians without trial, to subject Palestinians to torture, and to commit a host of other violations of international law, all under the open support of the Canadian government and academic institutions such as York. SAIA endorses the call from 2005 made by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank for a campaign of boycott, divestments and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international
A Coordinated Sabotage of our Activities Our membership, in trying to distribute critical political literature on our campus, has faced persistent harassment, intimidation, and verbal abuse from on campus clubs including Hillel and the Hasbara Fellowships together with off-campus extremist hate groups such as the Jewish Defense League (JDL). Israel advocates and the York administration have been shown to be working together in a coordinated fashion to try to sabotage our demonstrations and activities on campus, making them disruptive through aggressive counter-demonstrations and then using the disruption as a justification to shut us down.
The February 12th Rally for which SAIA, and other groups, were fined.
Since York University, like many other Canadian universities, condemned the call for an academic boycott as a violation of academic freedom, we maintain that the out-
directly to the student account of the group’s signatory – amounting in total to $1,250 more than our volunteer-based organization currently has.
False Smears Against our Activists The York administration and Israel advocacy push to shut us down includes attempts to smear us with baseless, unsubstantiated charges of ‘anti-Semitism’ through a morally bankrupt campaign of distortion, innuendo, and outright lies.
We oppose Israel’s apartheid policies, denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes in 1948, and institu-
tionalized discrimination against its Palestinian citizens. To suggest that this is ‘anti-Semitic’ is false and reprehensible. To fabricate false statements and attribute them to our organization without evidence, as has been done by some of our political opponents, is worse still. We continue to demand: 1. That President Shoukri uphold basic principles of academic freedom and moral clarity by condemning the Israeli bombing of Palestinian educational facilities. 2. That York University publicly distance itself from claims that SAIA and IAW activities constitute ‘hate’ or ‘incitement’. 3. That York University make a public statement that SAIA’s activities are protected on grounds of free expression and condemning disruptions and harassment of SAIA activists. Students have the right to peaceful political assembly on campus. We also have the right to speak freely at rallies, and where our voices are being drowned out, to try our best to allow participants to be heard. We will continue to assert our rights to organize, distribute political literature, and hold public rallies in Vari Hall as we deem necessary in our ongoing struggle to reclaim campus space.
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By Delan Hamasoor
{
By Alexander Arvelo McQuaig
“Truly identifying with classics doesn’t apply anymore; instead of knowing and praising them, music has essentially turned from ‘classics’ into a checklist. ”
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{
“Today’s big records are brought back to the Beer Store as tomorrow’s discarded empties with the end result that music’s personal qualities are fading fast. One wonders whether anyone feels a record anymore...”
By Clayton Lewis
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By Ali Mustafa
{
“It’s impossible for a human being not to feel touched, crushed by such a reality – and not to do anything...”
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By Taylor Abrahamse
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“My concern is about not getting into racial or religious issues because this is not my point. My point is called politics, imperialism, war for territory.�
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APRIL
MAY