INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TRINITY NEWS January 13, 2009
Global Campus
Two month strike, no end in sight
COLORADO, USA
York University in Toronto, Canada, has halted classes since Nov. 8th due to a union strike. Neither side is conceding, and meanwhile students “put their lives on hold” and wait By Kasia Mychajlowycz International News Editor 50,000 UNDERGRADUATE students in Toronto, Cananda have not been in class for 2 months, with some specualtion as to whether they will be able to complete their courses at all this year. York University, located on a sprawling campus just shy of the city’s northern limits, has been locked in a battle with a union representing the 3,400 faculty members, teaching assistants and graduate researchers who walked off the job on November 8th due to failed renegotiations of their contract with the university’s administration. Among the demands of the members of the Canadian Union for Public Employees local 3903 is an extension of part-time contracts from eight months to five years, a 10% wage increase across the board, and a promise of more fulltime tenured positions for faculty to replace those who will be retiring in the near future. Job security is a major part of the union’s platform, but perhaps the most contentious demand is that this contract lasts 2 years, so that its expiration will coincide with other university unions in the province of Ontario, creating the possibility of a province-wide strike that would bolster unions’ bargaining power. Most recently, the university administration has made a move to end the strike in the next week by calling on the Ontario Ministry of Labour to supervise a forced vote by union members on their latest offer, which they made public last Wednesday, and which the union tabled without bringing it to a vote, with CUPE spokersperson
Tyler Shipley calling the offer “a step back”. The Toronto Star reported that the offer included better job security through more tenured positions, and a 0.7% increase in wages through benefits such as childcare from previous offers. According to labour laws in Ontario, employees can demand that the Ministry force union members to vote on one offer during each bargaining round; in 2001, the same union went on strike for 11 weeks, and forced elections brought about the agreement that ended that dispute. Alex Bilyk, spokesperson for York, said that the administration was “I can no longer aimlessly wait for York to figure out what they are doing.” -Amy Levy, BScN forced to make this move after the offer was rejected, and no counterproposal was forthcoming. “We have students out there who have put their lives on hold for two months already,” he said as he announced what the media have been calling York’s “surprise move”. Amy Levy, a 3rd year Nursing (BScN) student at York, is one of those students who has had her life ‘on hold’ along with her studies. Because she couldn’t know when the strike was going to end, she has held off on getting a job, hoping the strike would have been long over by week 11. Now, she says, she is “currently looking for work because I can no longer spend my days aimlessly waiting for York to figure out what they are doing. Not to mention, I am also looking for a
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new school.” York has announced that there will be no reading week, a week-long, campus-wide break in February, and that summer and fall exams will be on compressed schedules this year and next to try and compensate for lost time. The school year could also stretch into the summer, which would interfere with Levy’s nursing placements, a requirement for her degree, and would make pursuing a higher education that much more difficult for the many students who rely on summer jobs to financially carry them through the academic year. A few students have set up a group called Yorknothostage.com, which also has a Facebook group called the Anti-Strike group. Their website reads that this they represent the 4,000 students who have signed their petition demanding an immediate resolution to the strike, and has issued an open letter to Labour Minister Peter Fonseca to hold the forced vote at the earliest opportunity. Co-founder Catherine Divaris, a 5th year Kinesiology student, was helping to prepare a “shot-gun rally” for November 10th, 2 days after the strike started, when she met the other co-founder of Yorknothostage.com Lyndon Koopmans and other students who would eventually made up the group. When asked about the content of the Facebook sight, which includes photos of graffiti on campus giving lewd names to the teaching assistants and other union members on strike, she
emphasized that the site’s intention is to be a forum for students. “Our group is for the student voice, we try not to censor anybody unless it’s really offensive,” she told Trinity News in a phone interview. As for the forced vote by the Ministry, she explains that the union supporters “feel it takes away their rights as a union, but we’ve been waiting as students with no voice and no say and they hadn’t even started negotiation until last week. I don’t know how much longer we’re meant to wait.” As for accusations that the group is anti-union, Divaris says, “We’re a neutral group. We think both sides are to blame.” Despite the interruption to their school year, many students are backing the union and their right to strike, and oppose any back-to- work rules from the provincial legislature. They are with union workers at the picket line, and also support them by voicing their frustration with the administration’s priorities. “It’s too bad that the York administration is immune to rational requests. They’d rather spend almost 200 million dollars on a BS 59th birthday party for the university than [sic] fund the producers of knowledge and wealth in the school,” writes Scott McIver Thorn, a 4th year Political Science and Social and Political Thought student at York. “I REALLY hope there is some REAL negotiation SOON.” Thorn’s Facebook status: “Fair Wages, Job Security and Quality Education for the New Year!”
Student-led organisation Yorknothostage.com staged a Christmas-themed demonstration in fronf of the Provincial Legislature in Queen’s Park, Toronto. Photo: Yorknothostage.com
High Point Uni Proposed ban of now smoke-free Israeli scholars
By Jennifer Doyle Staff Writer FROM JUNE 1st this year, High Point University in North Carolina will introduce a ban on all tobacco products throughout the campus. A small private liberal arts college with an attendance of 2760 students, HPU has decided to introduce the ban on smoking and chewing tobacco after conducting a survey in March last year. The survey, which was completed online by over 1000 students, showed that almost 70% were in favor of banning all tobacco products from being used on campus. This decision has recently been upheld unanimously by the university’s Board of Trustees and the process of making the campus smoke free will begin in June at the end of the academic year. The process will begin with the rezoning of designated smoking areas and removal of smoking paraphernalia such as ashtrays. On September 1st, when the students return after the summer break, they will find fines and sanctions in place for those caught smoking on campus -this includes smoking in cars parked within the college confines. The result of these measures is that students and staff who wish to smoke will be forced to leave the campus in order to do so. The Vice-President of student life at High
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Point, Gail Tuttle, has welcomed the decision to introduce the ban, saying that it reflects the desires of students living on campus who want ‘a living situation that is conductive to healthy choices and clean air.’ Rachael Parker, a sophomore at the university, is delighted with the ban, saying that ‘there won’t be cigarette butts’ spoiling the campus any more. In 1993, North Carolina State law banned smoking in all state run buildings and in 2007, the legislature deemed it legal that schools should be allowed to institute a ban on smoking in areas up to 100 feet away from school buildings. Bennet College was the first such college to enact the law and others have followed suit, with High Point University being the 21st to do so. It has been a success in many of the other colleges and according to Kathy Carstens, Director of Student Health Services at Greensboro College, the ban prepares students for a work environment where smoking is prohibited. The majority of colleges who have introduced the smoking ban have also offered classes to help their staff and students beat tobacco addiction. High Point is following suit, offering smoking cessation classes in spring and autumn of 2009 to help the student’s transition to a smoke free environment.
By Caitriona Murphy Deputy International News Editor DURING THE past weeks the world has been exposed to increasingly shocking reports from the crisis in the Gaza strip. With a cease-fire looking increasingly unlikely, one workers union in Canada has taken a drastic measure – to ban all Israeli academics from speaking, teaching or research work in Ontario universities. Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario arm of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has this week announced that the union will seek to pass a motion banning Israeli scholars from universities in the area. He stated that the only way the ban would be lifted would be if the scholars explicitly condemned Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip - “We are ready to say Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general,” In 2006 CUPE boycotted all Israeli goods in a protest against the ‘apartheid’ wall. However it would seem that not even the Palestinians are in agreement with the opinionated organization. The Palestinian Al-Quds University in Jerusalem condemned the ban, stating that it wished to ‘build bridges not walls’ with Israeli scholars.
There has also been a strong backlash from the Jewish community, with many labeling CUPE as ‘bigoted’ and ‘anti-Semitic’. Ryan sparked further debate by making an analogy comparing the Israeli bombings of a Gaza university to book-burnings during the Nazi regime. However many Canadian scholars have argued that though unfair, the ban is not anti-Semitic. Michael Neumann of Trent University stated that that in these extreme circumstances, the proposal is ‘reasonable and perhaps justified’. He argued that “It targets Israeli, not Jewish, professors,” and is therefore not anti-Semitic. Mira Sucharov, a professor at Carleton University, agreed that the proposal is not anti-Semitic but that it is unacceptable -”Excluding someone is fundamentally against the entire enterprise of academia.” This is not the first time that controversy surrounding Israel and Canadian universities has occurred. Currently, prestigious centres of learning such as the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto host an annual ‘ Israeli Apartheid Week’ – a weeklong festival of anti – Israel speeches and programs. Last year the festival created such problems that 125 of the University of Toronto professors took out an advertisement in the national paper condemning the University’s support of the week.
DESPITE THE current economic climate, a new bank is preparing to opens it’s doors this year in Carbondale, Colorado. However this is no ordinary bank – the staff won’t even have graduated from high school. Non-profit organization Computers-for-kids, based in Carbondale, is helping high school students from the area set up their own exclusively student-run bank. The organization has already converted an old school building in the town into a business centre for the students, featuring conference rooms, flat-screen televisions and cybercafes. They hope that running a bank will give the students a chance to learn how to manage their money. The venture was developed between Computersfor-kids and Alpine bank, who have set aside a $25,000 grant to get the bank started. The students themselves will run it, and groups from the local high schools are determining all of the products and marketing strategies. The bank will most likely keep student hours, and will offer saving accounts and debit cards. Kirsten McDaniel, executive director of Computers-for-kids has been helping students to develop the project. She notes that already the students have made some interesting insights into youth banking - they don’t support the idea of giving out credit cards, feeling that young people won’t be able to manage them properly. McDaniel believes the venture will teach students about key concepts in the banking world such as compound interest, as well as helping them set their own financial goals. She hopes that the experience will help them make better choices in life. Caitriona Murphy
UNIVERSITY GRENBOLE, FRANCE
TRINITY STUDENT ABROAD SUNDAY. APART from the optional extra of going to mass, Sunday in Ireland is virtually like any other day of the week. Grafton Street still swarms with tourists and window shoppers, closing time in the pubs and nightclubs of the city will see the typical amount of worse for wear students staggering into Abrakebabra. It didn’t take too long to discover that things aren’t quite the same chez les Francais however. These hardworking people, who toil for 35 hours every week (with only a measly 2 hour lunch to break the monotony of their day), take the commands of our Lord to a new level on the Sabbath. Everything is shut. If you want cigarettes or a newspaper, then get yourself out of bed before noon in order to take the brief window of opportunity when the tabacs (French newsagents) open for business. As for milk and bread, a failure to prepare on Saturday afternoons means a bleak and hungry end to the week. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m writing this on a Sunday. And yes I’m hung-over. After some terrifying experiences of trying to survive the boredom of Sunday afternoons in a state of sobriety, we quickly decided that the best tactic is to go out on the razz on Saturday nights and sleep right through the next day. It’s slightly depressing that Monday mornings have now become something we almost look forward to, but us Irish aren’t the only ones affected - whole books have been written on the subject by bored and disillusioned frenchies themselves. But I digress. There are six other days in the week, and France hasn’t turned out to be all that bad. Us Erasmus students are treated a bit like mentally-challenged aliens - 12 hours of classes per week, a distinct lack of homework and foolproof guides to passing the exams posted online. As for the language barrier, although some animated lecturers have proved quite difficult to follow (we managed to achieve the impressive feat of sitting in the wrong tutorial for more than an hour during the first week) le Francais has improved, although with our class encompassing students from Germany, Holland, Britain, Norway, USA, Canada, China and even Turkey, English has become the common language of communication. Whether this is a blessing (for our sanity) or a curse (on our learning) I’ve yet to decide. So with Sundays and class time taken care of, what does an Erasmus student in France do for the other 132 hours every week? Well, if you’re a lycraloving weirdo like myself, you join the local cycling club. Although it’s hardly the best sport for the street cred, it passes the time, and with Grenoble dubbed “the capital of the Alps” the scenery is spectacular. For normal people however, the common student hobby of alcohol consumption does exist over here as well - even if the locals haven’t yet managed to reach the level of perfection as the Irish. Bars close at a measly half-one every night, and although clubs generally stay open until five, you have to take out a mortgage just to pay the entrance fee, let alone get a drink. Cue the recession-time tactic of loading up on unbelievably cheap supermarket beer before even considering venturing out. So it’s three months into Erasmus and its going assez ok. France has its pitfalls (did I mention Sundays?) but it also has it’s advantages. There’s no snow yet, but skiing is only a month away. Until then... Domhnall O’ Sullivan