Ultra Vires Vol 6 Issue 6: 2005 March

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW

u tra vires VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

MARCH 22, 2005

SINCE 1999

WWW.ULTRAVIRES . CA

Changes to first-year curriculum spark controversy Students, profs decry lack of consultation

BY JOHN NORQUAY A decision by Faculty Council to revamp the first year elective program has left a number of students and faculty members fuming.

The change will spell the end of the current set of electives, and will mean that a new set of courses incorporating "global perspectives" will be introduced in their stead. The elimination of the Introduction to Feminist Analysis and Law and Dtversity electives sparked the most outrage, particularly in light of a perceived lack of student consultation.

"To take away these courses is to take away the one small safe place where the significant subset of students who compose minority groups, who often feel alienated and marginalized, can feel recognized in the curriculum and feel welcome in the commumty," said Amy Salyzyn (III), one of the fifteen student members of Faculty Council.

The proposal, which passed Faculty Council by a reported vote of22 in favour, 15 opposed, will be implemented in the coming academic year. Of the student representatives, all voted against the proposal with the exception of Meghan Riley (I) and Noah Gellner (II) who voted in favour, and Bradley Bullock (I) who abstained from the vote.

First-year representative Meghan Riley defended her vote, stating "there is no reaCONTINUED ON P.3 MFACULTY COUNCIL"

UVINDEX

Rich Turner, Stephanie Pearce, Sven Hombach and Rebecca Katzin put on their hard-hats for Habitat for Humanity on March 1!, sponsored in part by Gowlings and Davies.

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Building move could mean school name change Student concerns aired at 'town hall' meeting do more, or not have to engage in some of the anticipated tuition hikes, it would be In a town hall held last week to discuss his irresponsible not to have that discussion." proposed plan to relocate the law school, Whi le he agreed that if such an offer mateDean Ron Daniels refused to rule out the rialized he would bring it to the students for possibility that the Faculty of Law may be an "appropriate conversation," he refused renamed after a piivate donor. The Dean to commtt himself to a referendum. emphasized that while his current intention The Dean's comments were prompted by a is to find a donor to name only the build- question from Mark Elton (II), who also ing, the idea of selling the name of the asked if a new building would lead to larg. er class sizes. Rejecting the idea, the Dean Faculty itself is not out of the question.

"If someone came along and offered to promised to maintain the current size of the increase the donation if we named the law student body. However, he did note that the school after them, and this meant we could law school intended to rent space in the

BY KEIR WILMUT

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• • • •

MOOTS P.2 LAW FOLLIES P.6 ELECTION SPECIAL P.11 BEEF P.15 YEAR IN REVIEW P.18 PEASANT V. TROGDOR P.24-6 MAX MORGAN RNALE P.33 ULTRA NEWS CONTEST P.34

new facility to another university program.

The town hall, sponsored by the SLS, was attended by approximately fifty students. The Dean stated two reasons that the law school's current facilities are inadequate. First, citing the lack of access for students with disabilities and poor office space for faculty, he suggested that our facilities are not of high quality. Second, given the growth in programs and the doubling of the faculty, he suggested that the school has simply outgrown Falconer and Flavelle.

CONTINUED ON P.2 SEE MFACULTY"

ENJOY BEING CHALLENGED? (@

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2

ULTRA VIRES

End-of-year wrap up from the Career Development Office

UofT mooters achieve near clean-sweep!

BY ANDREW PIWAR In one of the most successful mooting season~ in U ofT's history, teams from the law school won top honours in four of five external mooting comp~titions. The Gale, Jc:.sup, Securities and Wilson moot teams each won their respective competitions.

The Gale Moot was won by the team of John Adair (Ill), Yousuf Aftab (II), Mark Elton (II) and Amy Salyzyn (III). The team was coached by Sidney Mclean (lli) and Ellen Snow (III) Based on the win, the team advances to the Commonwealth Cup, held every three years. This year, the competition will take place m London, England in September. The Gale Moot is the oldest national mooting competition, and has involved criminal and/or Charter issues in n.:cent years. This year's competition featun.:d teams from 17 law schools across the country. The final panel ofjudges included Justices lan Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada, Thomas Cromwell of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, and Stephen Goudge of the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The Jessup Moot on a topic of public international law was won by the team of Nader Hasan (II). Tamara Kagan (I]),

The Jessup Moot Team and coach.

Michael Kotrly (H), and Agape Lim (II), coached by Hilary Book (lll) and N1cole Skuggedal (III). This is U ofT's third consecutive win at the Jessup, which was held in Vancouver this year. The team's written memorials were awarded third place honours, and Tamara Kagan was named the top ora list in the final round. The team will participate in the finals, hosted by the American Society for IntematJOnal Law, at the end of March in Washington, D.C. Top honours in· the Securities Moot competition were picked up by U ofT stu-

(ll), David Hughes (III), Gabrielle Larocque (Ill), and Duncan McPherson (II) took second place for their factum at the competition in Shcrbrooke, Quebec. The team was coached by JcfT Shafer (III).

Finally, students from L ofT won another moot (as they do every year!). The Callaghan Moot is an internal U ofT competitive moot, urgued on constitutional or crimmal issues, and held ut the Ontario Court of Appeal. This year, Leslie Church {II) and Jean Thomas (II) won the competitiOn in a close final against Christine Shalaby (II) and Candice Suter (II). Leslie Church \\o1IS named top oralist, and Tyler Dellow (II) and Aaron Rousseau (U) also won oralist awards. Best facta were awarded to Tina Kim (II) and Aaron Rousseau, and to Christine Shalaby and Candice Suter. The 16 students who participated were coached by Gleb Bazov (III), Danny Cappe (Ill), Amanda G1bson (Ill), and Svcn flombach (111), and Janice Bayani (III) organized the moot as Chief Justice.

At the conclusion of such a successful season, congratulations to the Moot Committee Chairs, Audrey Ackah and Ellen Snow. and to all students and coaches who were part of the moots this year.

MMOVE" CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

MP3 Conference a Smash H\t for T'P Group

the MP3 technology

conference hosted by the Technology and Intellectual Property (TIP) club,· UV reported. "The student-run conference, entitled 'Oecodrng the

Issues: The Challenges and Promises of MP3' explored the legal, economic, and cultural impact of MP3."

Organized by law student and TIP Club Chair Max Leveson, "a diverse and impressive group of speakers gathered to discuss the possible ramifications of MP3." One panel, composed of practitioners, addressed legal tssues such as thrrd party liability and Tariff 22, which deals with copyright tssu~ on the Internet. Other panels consisted of musicians, songwriters, and Industry Insiders.

SL~ Budget Cuts Tweak Club Funding

Fa~ng a significant deficit, "the Students' Law Society announced a senes of budget cuts that disappointed fifteen clubs and committees Including Ultra Vires " '

"Last.year's SLS budgeted over what th.ey collected from student fees," explamed SLS president Kashif Zaman. "They hoped to raise a lot of money for the yearbook, but the fundraising effort was a real disappointment." Also identified as a cause of th~ budget shortfall was •irresponsible spendrng" such as event organizers givmg away tickets to their frrends, and purchasrng beer an9 pizza using SLS funds.

Contraband Alcohol Brings Law Ball to Early Close

The Law Ball, held at the Four Seasons, was shut down by hotel staff at 1:00 a.m. because some students brought their own alcohol. The actions of the hotel staff were criticized by students, who reported that •hotel staff made no attempt to merely remove those who had brought the contraband instead of shutting the whole event down ... the whole thing was truly embarrassing and insulting at the same time."

Further annoying students, the Dean foiled plans to pelt him with buns during his speech. Mlmagine our disappointment when he brought his daughter up with him to act as a human shield," lamented students.

"Although a few rogue missiles landed near their target, the mood changed - much to the dismay of Jim Phillips, who was seen prior to the speech stuffing his blazer pocket With buns from neighboring tables."

The Dean noted that the plan to relocate the school comes after the failure of a number of attempts to increase space at our current location. He reported that the administration investigated a number of scenarios. such as building on the space between the law school and the Faculty of Music, building on top of Laskin library, and constructing a semi-circle shaped building along the back of Laskin library; however, all were deemed impractical due to zoning restrictions. Attempts to purchase the music building and the Planetarium were rebuffed.

The construction of a new building. suggested the Dean, gives us "a chance to start fresh, and think creatively about what a great law school should look like."

Promising consultation, he stated that "there will be a users committee. We welcome the opportunity to work closely with students, faculty, and staff."

Anat Ar<,mowicz (l) suggested that the constraints of the current facilities are less pressmg than arc being made out, and arc certamly not severe enough to warrant a move. The Dean disagreed. stating that "there is just no way to find the additional space in these two buildings. It is now time to think of something more creative and ambitious."

Concern was raised that soliciting donations for the building would decrease the amount of support for other programs. such as financial aid. In response, the Dean claimed that money raised for the proposed building would come from new sources and thus would not divert donations from other initiatives.

The town hall followed an email to the law school community in which the Dean reported that h1s plan to relocate the law school had been approved by the University of Toronto's Planning and

Budget Committee. With this "first major hurdle" passed, the plan will now be sent the Academic Board, and then Governing Council for final approval.

In response to a question from Ran Gocl (1), the Dean identified two remaining hurdles. First, a significant amount of moncy must be.! raised. In exchange for vacating our current buildings, the Planning and Budget Committee approved a credit of $33 million. With the cost of construction budgeted at $X5 million, this means that $52 million will need to be fundraised.

"Obviously, we have our work cut out for us," Daniels said, adding that if significant fundraising progress is not made within one year. the university would reevaluate the law school's proposed usc of the site.

Second, the right design for the new complex must be found. The Dean acknowledged the ancction students and alumni have for the current facilities, and promised to find an "outstanding architect" · who would "preserve some of the classic architecture and style." The Planning and Budget Committee has approved the transfer of the current Otftce of Admissions and Awards Building, suggesting that the new school will include a heritage building alongside modem facilities.

Assuming these hurdles can be surmounted, the Dean hopes to have construction begin by the time the current first year class is gmduating.

farewell to falconer

3

Articling Update

The CDO reports that 175 members of the cl . . · articling positions for the upcomin car Wh.ass of 2005 have secured

BY ANDREW PILLIAR mcnts were secured last summer~{ ca~l tht.l~ the bulk of these placcsuccessJul in landing a position since Oct~bc I~y~ar, fiv~ people were COO estimates that between 5-l 0% of studc r.. s !11 prcvJO~s yc~rs, the Clerkships ments continue to seck articles into the s ri~t~ ;vlthout arttch~g place· P g and summer. 1 here arc 213 students in the class of 2005 _ Six U ofT law students have been hired to clerk at the Supreme Court Students may also defer their articles and rca d . of Canada, one of the highest clerkship rates in recent memory. The months, and several have inform d th, COO pp1Y, ~nng _the summer f e c ofthetr mtentton to do so clerks, who will work with Justices Major (or his replacement), Binnie, Th L s · ~ aw Oclety o Upper Canada reports that in 2003/2004 95 5%0 0 f ~astara~hc, Deschamps, Abcl~a and Charron, were drawn from among ~tu e.nts who entered the Bar Admission Course in 2oo 3 . l ,1· -? apphcants from U ofT, a slightly larger applicant pool than last year. 1dent1fied as "actively lookin, for . . . . .~an \\ 10 were • fi d' · · . & an arttc 1mg postt10n were successSmcc 2000, 25 U ofT students or alumni have clerked at the Supreme fluJ m m mg art1c1es wtthm s1x months.

Court, according to the COO. The record year was 2002-2003 with ' seven students moving to Ottawa.

Yet the Supreme Court hirings arc only the tip of the articling iceberg First Year Hirings Three U ofT students have also been hired to clerk at the Ontario Court of Appeal •. and hiring confirmation continues for other courts across the .first year students have received summer jobs thr h fi fi country. Smcc 2000, there have been 101 U ofT students hired as clerks Nine recrUitment. According to the COO th ol!& Om1a.1 Inn at courts across Canada. throug~ the formal hiring process, th~ sa%~ 'e~~s~l~s available Clerkin& o~en fulfills the articling requiren:tents _for most law society ~ummfr ~mployme_nt opportuniti~s arc available ~utsi.de ~hee~~~;~~ bar adm1s.s10n processes. Clerks usually begm therr term of ten months onna lnn recrUitment.

Selections for IHRP internships and fi or a y~ar m the month.s following graduation from law school.

Donner, Callwood, and SLS Fellowships have been made and incl ~r The SIX students appomtcd to date arc: Yousuf Aftab Andrew Botterll ed a large numb_er of first year students.

Several other first year stude~t~ Brendan Brammcll, Chris Esscrt, Nader Hasan and Ben Perrin. ' were recently htred as summer students at DLS. A!lecdotall~, there appeared to be fewer app.Jications to formal firm ·obs th1s yc~r, as ga~ged by the number of submissions to the COO's rcs~me coll ~ctdwn. serv1ce.. However, this result docs not track students who app 1e Without usmg the service.

:Sef:s(

1

Faculty seeks $52 million

5 Years Ago in UV "It was standing room only in Bennett Lecture hall for

dents Ryan Ashmead (llf), Brt!ndan Brammall (II), Catherine Powell (II), and fvan Thomas (II). The team was coached

by Melanic Adams (Ill), Steve Penner (III), and Lawrence Taylor (Ill). Catherine Powell was n~med top oralist, and Brendan Brammall and Evan Thomas tied for third place. These awards arc all the more impressive gi' en that tillS moot requires students to be able to urguc on behalf of both tht> apr~llant and the respondent.

For the second year running, U ofT students won tht> Wilson Moot. Th1s year, Rahool Aggarwal (II), Paul Iskander (II), Nathaniel Lipkus (II), and Larissa Rudcnnan (lll) claimed the prize, coached

by Audrey Ackah (Ill), Ingrid Grant (Ill), and Oscar Strawczynski (Ill). Rahool Aggarwal and Larissa Ruderman won first and second place, respectively, as top oralisis. The Wilson Moot was established in 1992 in honour of Madame Justice Bertha Wilson, and focuses on equality issues in a Charter context, including but not limited to s.l5.

In the Laskin Moot, a national competition on administrative or constitutional law which requires arguments in both French and English. the U ofT team of Aniz Alani

NEWS

22 MARCH 2005

Faculty Council vote triggers larger debate ·on diversity "ARST-YEAR" CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ~on

why diversity can't be incorporated mto 'global' electives. I understand students' concerns about the lack of diversity on the faculty, and in the school's thrust generally, but I don't think that issue has much to do with the electives. I think the elective issue triggered a bigger issue, which should definitely be examined."

Associate Dean Sossin, who brought the motion before Faculty Council, also defended the moYe, claiming that diversity conccms were not bemg compromised.

"The goal of the Global Perspectives program is to expose first year students to the challenges of thinking legally in the global era. 1 am of the view that such initiatives arc complementary to and not in opposition with the broader goals of diversity and critical approaches in the curriculum," said Sossin in an email to Ultra 17res.

Much of the criticism levied by students and faculty over the proposal resulted from a lack of student consultation on the part of the administration.

"There was little room for meaningful consultation," said Professor Shaffer. ''These proposals seem to always come shortly before the meeting, to be decided at that meeting- and there is always the assertion that students have been consulted."

The electives proposal was first considered by the International Advisory Committee in the fall term. as part of their examination of means to further infuse the curriculum with international components.

It was endo~ed at a meeting on February 22. The Cumculum Committee, the body

which normally makes decisions regarding the first year elective course assignments, discussed the plan in January, however did not consider it again until March 14-the day before the Faculty Council meetingat which time it also endorsed the proposal.

"My understanding is that student members on both committees consulted the student caucus and obtained student feedback," said Sossin.

"This feedback was reported to both committees. As the proposal was being developed, consultations also · occurred wtth faculty members in fields related to those covered by the global perspectives program but who were not on the two committees, as well as faculty members not in related fields."

However, at the Faculty Council meeting, several professors, including Prof.

ShatTer and Prof. Phillips, denied having been consulted.

Sossin was also approached by representatives from the student club Women and the Law in February. He relayed their concerns to the Curriculum Committee, which consequently amended their motion to endorse the plan to recommend that "the Global Perspectives program encompass a broad range of legal systems and traditions."

The next day, in spite of this amendment, approximately fifteen non-member students attended the Faculty Council meeting to voice their concerns. Dean Daniels indicated that these students would be collectively allotted five minutes to speak at the close of debate.

For Salyzyn, that procedural decision spoke volumes.

"While a significant number of interest-

ed students attended the meeting, their opportunity to comment was restricted. I have difficulty concluding that members, especially professors, were able to vote on this proposal with a full understanding of all the perspectives at play," said Salyzyn.

Saba Zarghami (II), one of the students to speak at the meeting, noted that Faculty leaders did not appear to take the concerns of students seriously.

"It was disappointing to many of the students present at the meeting that in the limited time that we were given to speak the chair [Dean Daniels] and his neighbours did not even seem to listen to what v. e had to say, instead choosing to chat with one another. Whether this was intentional or not. it felt contemptuous tmvards the students."

Shortly before the \Otc, Prof. Nedclsky suggested an amendment to the proposal that the new Global Perspectives electives be required to incorporate feminist or critical approaches. Dean Daniels trt>ated this amendment as "friendly".

The li t of courses to be taught umkr the new Global Perspectives program was not made available at the Faculty Council meeting. llowevcr, the administration . released the list of courses to UV three duys later. The courses arc currently scheduled as Intro. to Transnational Law, lntro. to Islamic Law, lntro. to C1v1l Law and the Civilian Traditaon, and Iniro. to Globalization, Law and Feminism.

"What I valued about the Introduction to Law and Femimsm class was that it offered a chance to re-read cases 1 had read in 'core' classes and analyze them from a critical feminist perspective," commented

Polly Dandy-Kaplan (11), one of the

Women and the Law representatives.

"Although a course on women's issues in international law may be interesting, it will not provide the same pedagogical benefits as a class that uses feminist perspectives to critically examine ideas and cases introduced in the first year. I hope that the Faculty is open to further exploring these issues."

In addition to the concerns around diversity in the first year curriculum, several members of Faculty Council, both professors and students, also highlighted the fact that the proposal was only sent to the body at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 11-four days before the meeting-and before it had even been endorsed by Curriculum Committee. · "1 didn't have time to read [the proposal] and it was only by fluke that 1 had to come back to my office Friday afternoon, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it until Monday morning when I was too busy to be able to properly take a look at it," said Prof. Shaffer.

Sossin explained that it is common practice to send out the agenda and associated documents the Friday before Faculty Council meets.

"In my experience at U of T, which admittedly is limited, Friday distributions of material for Faculty Council meetings the following week are not uncommon.

Again, in my experience, a notice period of this length has not compromised the quality or the vigour of the ensuing discussions."

~

NBNS

ULTRA VIRES

-Set date for marks: As strange as it seems, 1t is actually quite difficult for the administration to set a date on which marks will be released. Last term, however, they set a firm date for the availability of marks and will continue to set release dates for

"nze crew were mostly just kids. Rock and rollers with one foot in their graves... You smell that? Procedural arguments, son.

Nothing else in the world smells like that. I lore the smell of procedural arguments in the morning. " Well, the SLS can~ claim heroics. (At/east not like the crazy LZ commander in Apocalypse Now.) All we can claim is that we set out to do a few things early in the year, ana that some of these things were accomplished Not the least of which were a couple of good procedural arguments.

T he administration sometimes appears not to take seriously its responsibility to engage with the general student body on its own, without waiting for the SLS to tell them exactly how it should be done.

Notable successes: -Appeals policy: The faculty's policy on appeals was dysfunctional, and apt to cause students more delay and confusion than necessary. The Dean agreed to make this a priority this year, and it is being brought to Faculty Council in April.

-Publication of faculty budget: The Dean presented to Faculty Council a 'basics' version of the faculty's budget. We hope that next year's SLS wiH secure a similar commitment and obtain more relevant financial mformation.

-Speed bump: As laughable as it is, we take a\ a point of pride the faculty's installation of a speed bump in the entrance to the parking \ot. l have seen a trucker hit it at 60 "km:h.\rucker, 0; speed bump, \. Poor guy.

At \ca~t it wi\\ be safer for students.

future terms.

-Expansion of outreach programs: On the student side, the GRADitude program was designed by students to address the lack of outTeach programs. On the faculty side, the

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Dean has set up an outreach program with two area high schools. Both of these initiatives, although separate, involve SLS representatives and are important reflections of student interests and should be applauded.

-Implementation of safety audit: The administration has made some efforts at responding to various recommendations made in the 2004 safety audit. There are still items remaining, however, such as installing an emergency exit sign on the 'basement door' to Flavelle and replacing all paper Slgnage with more permanent signs of better quality.

-Increased COO emphasis on non-Bay Street opportunities: The CDO responded quickly to some problems regarding the Vancouver interview process, so that next year B.C. firms will have an OCI process earlier than has happened over the past few years. Next year the SLS will appoint an SLS member to act as CDO liaison.

Notable failures: -Accessibility committee: Despite the SLS lobbying to have the accessibility committee continue to study the impact of tuition increases on accessibility and career choice, the faculty has done nothing. Since making this commitment five years ago in the 'Five Year Plan' wherein tuition increases were approved, there has been only one such study.

-Curriculum: Although the SLS tried to convince the Curriculum Committee to take seriously the broader ramifications of replacing the first-year electives with a "Global Perspectives Program", Faculty Council approved the changes. While the SLS doesn't disagree with the principle of increasmg awareness of global perspectives, we felt that the Curriculum Committee neglected to engage with important. related issues. For instance, what should happen to the current electives (e.g. Law & Feminism; Law and Diversity)'? Should the bridge program be reformed to reflect the loss of 'perspectives' courses in the elective progrdm?

The Curriculum Committee has said that it will consider these broader issues, but this same committee also resolved two years ago to create a first-year mooting elective. Next year SLS will work to ensure that these concerns are treated more seriously.

-Admissions report and diversity: The administratton reports on ftrst-year admissions every year, but there is very little diversity-related mformation included in that report. The administration argues that without the assistance of OLSAS, 1t can do nothing. The SLS feels that the administration has to take a more proactive stance in discovering why people do not apply to and/or accept offers from this law school.

The administration hasn't sought to answer the pressing question of whether people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are choosing not to apply to or attend this law school because of its high tuition.

Interestingly, this failure is related to the problem (sec above) with the Accessibility Committee.

Challenges: The SLS faces continuing challenges in how the administration responds to student concerns. Matters are approved by commit-

HELMUT

5

Hapless administrator turns to HELMUT for solace

SLS President: no hangovers, no regrets

BY JAMES MCCLARY

22 MARCH 2005

DEAR HELMUT tees and come to Faculty Council despite student objections. The faculty members assume that the committee has adequately addressed any important problems, and thus generally vote in favour of what a committee proposes. This happened this year with the first-year elective program changes. Had the Curriculum Committee addressed concerns raised by its SLS representatives, the proposal likely would not have caused such a stir at the recent Faculty Council meeting.

The administration sometimes appears not to take seriously its responsibility to engage with the general student body on its own, w1thout waiting for the SLS to tell them exactly how it should be done. In November, SLS members raised several specific concerns with the administration about the quality of support for East/West and non-traditional careers. Then, the COO criticized me for not meeting with them individually until March. Had r met with them in November, the COO said, they could have had a meeting with affected students to figure out how they should improve the program. Since when does the CDO need the permtssion of the SLS President to consult with students on its programs?

Similarly, the administration has asked what should be done to respond to the problems at this school around diversity, but it isn't yet clear whether they are keen to engage in a broad discussion with the students about the issue. The SLS has encouraged the administration to give the Diversity Committee a strong mandate to consult with the student body to understand how it can ameliorate student concerns. Alternatively, it could strike a task force separate from the Diversity Committee to address the issuc and report to Faculty Council on how the law school's approach to these issues could be 1mprovcd. Perhaps next year will see such a commitment. Th1s remains to be seen.

In sum:

A year ago, the SLS was c~ticized f~r being not much more than a soc1al coml~tt­ tee. It is impossible to say whether anythmg has changed from the point of view of the students. However, your SLS representatives have taken their responsibilities scnously and continue to do so. Unfortunately, the structure of government at this school is such that much of what the SLS does flies under the radar. The SLS IS far from perfect.

But we all aspire to change this school for the better.

Interestingly, the race for Student Caucus positions this year demonstrates significant student interest in the role of Student Caucus within SLS. I hope the result of this election is an mv1gorated student government that continues to take its job seriously.

At times, 1t seems that the administration listens to the SLS only when it is convcmcnt, when it isn't, the SLS is ignored. At these latter times, sometimes our only arguments arc procedural arguments. But just like in Admin class. who wants to make procedural arguments? Better than getting napalmed, I suppose, but it could be a lot better.

Feeling down? Health Enables Legal Minds at the University of Toronto (HELMUT) offers advice

HELMUT Dear HEI.MUT. It~ almost exam time again. and for me.

EXAM meuns "Encroaching Xerophthalmia, Anxiety Mounting". I don~ ha~¡e enough time in the day. and although I don ~ know anyone else who:\" done their readings. I know there are people out there just waiting to kick my academic ass. What can I do?

- Acronyming in First Year Dear AFY, First, congratulations on using the term for "abnormal dryness of eyeball due to deficiency of vitamin A" in a sentence.

Eggs, meat, and dairy products are high in vitamin A, and green leafy vegetables and carrots are also good. But if boosting your vitamin A intake isn't enough, you might want to try stepping back. There is simply too much information in law school for anyone to be able to process it completely (unless you were an android. or some sort of genius. And while we have geniuses

around from time to time, the latest you keep yourself emotionally balanced, adm 1ssion report suggests then! wercn 't so that you can react to things the way you any android admissions last year). You want to. That may mean taking some time have to be able to choose which out of your day to do something unrelated information you need to know, and how to work. Try not to view this as a waste of you can best learn that information. If that time studies show that after a certain means that you study for only one hour a point, spending more time on a problem day great, though you might want to will not necessarily lead to a better avoid leaving things to the last minute. I fit solution. A lot of people at the law school means that you cram - great. Even when like to be in control of things-it's a very we get into exams, try giving yourself a common trait, particularly among people reward at least once a day- something that who identify with the "Type A" character you'll enjoy, that is in no way related to the mould. If you think this might be an issue, things that are bringmg you stress. Do it you might want to try letting go of some every day. It doesn't need to be a big thing, little things. You can test this by either. HELMUT likes popsicles, performing a type of experiment: if you personally. Popsicles fortified with have something that you have convinced vitamin A. yourself you "have to do", try not doing it, or doing it in a different way. Obviously, Dear HELMUT, you shouldn't try this with important I'm afraid no one likes me. No matter what things. But if you think you don't have I do, people still think I 'm the spawn of time in your day to take half an hour out Sauron. I've never been that fond of for something you want to do, try taking division or getting angry, but people are the time for the next week or two. At the protesting tlungs. and I'm not sure what to end, you can look back and see if that extra do. I think I'm doing good things, but half hour every day, spent doing sometimes it feels like I'm the only one something you like, made thmgs better or who sees those things. What can I do? worse. Go ahead. Just for a week or two.

-Anonymous Administrator Dear HELMUT. Dear AA, I just helped to organi:e a conference and Interpersonal relationships can be huge only a few people showed up. What can l sources of stress and strain. Obviously, it's do? important to communicate with people. - Confused Organizer Just like our first writer, it's importunt that

Dear CO, Well, you might want to hold your conference some time \\hen people don't have class in the future. Otherwise. try to look at it in a ditlcrent \\11y: the fact that you had a conference at all is probabl)' a good thing, and you can learn a lot from failures. That's something that doesn't get a lot of credit around here, but probably should Failure can be a great thing, but only ifyou're wise enough to learn from it and capitalize on that learning. So the nc.xt time you think you've failed at something, try looking at the longer path: as long as you can take some kind of knowledge from an experience, you may be in a better position at some time in the future. Life isn't a series ofTV episodes with winners and losers at the end of each episode; the longer view is usually the healthier view.

-6

NEWS

"Wizard of Laws" draws praise

Some frustrated by shortage of tickets

BY EVAN THOMAS

good-bye weekend update!

A :;tanding room only crowd filled the Tranzac Club on Thursday, March 3 for the twenty-fourth annual production of the Law follies. This year's production of the "Wizard of Laws" followed the journey of Dorothy, played by Kristin Janson (II), from her small hometown of Gopher Crotch, Saskatchewan, to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Along the way, Dorothy met the Tinperson, played by Yvanna Mycyk (I), a student so heartless that even the Bay Street firms wouldn't hire her; the Cowardly Lion. played by Andrew P1lhar

(II), who feared the prospect of graduating and entering the real world; and the

Scarecrow, played by Keir Wilmut (II), who asp1red to public office despite his utter lack of intellect or principles.

Upon reaching the Emerald City, Dorothy and her friends were confronted by a giant glowing green head strangely rcscrnbling Bora Laskin. Asst. Dean Lois Chiang, played by Leslie Church (II), cut the power, exposing the great and powerful Wizard as none other than Dean Daniels (played by himself m a special cameo pcrfom1ance). After admitting that the JD thing was just something he made up after a few drinks, the Dean gave the grour a fe\\ token rarting gifts. such as a book of Canadian political cliches to the Scarecro\\, and hurried off-stage, leaving the friends unsatisfied and indignant. After realizmg what a wonderful time they had in law school, however, the whole cast retumed for the final closing number.

Ke1r Wilmut produced and directed the production. He also wrote the script, with contributions from Adam Hirsh (I), Yvanna Mycyk (I), Ryan Kirshenblatt (III), Leslie Church (II), and Andrew Pilliar (H). "I was very happy with how it turned out. All of the performers did a tremendous job, especially Kristin Janson as Dorothy, Adam Hirsh as the Dean, and Meghan Riley as the Wicked Witch of Commerce Court West," said Keir.

Students, staff and professors agreed that th1s was one of the more memorable of Follies recent years.

Merri/ Boden, C e I i a Genua. and Effie Kouts felt that the production \\a "excellent. in good taste and fun," unlike some previous productions where the humour and tone got "a bit nasty."

Professor Weinrib noted how he continues to be impressed by the talent of people at

ULTRA VIRES

the school.

Other performances included two dance numbers that received thunderous applause. Early in the play, Dorothy suggested that law students couldn't dance, provoking an indignant response from the S2 Dance Crew, led by Natalia Bitton (II) and Jocelyn Mackie (I). Later, while wandenng in the basement of Flavelle, Dorothy stumbled upon the Brown Kids Ghetto. organized by Saba Zarghami (II).

"We wanted to bring some diversity to the Follies, put a fun spin on the diversity

Law & Lust: Sex workers face moral minefield

BY NICOLE RICHMOND Sex sells. Literally. Beyond the advertising culture featuring a half-clothed, tanned Adonis selling perfume and jeans, it is more than just the image of sex that is lucrattve. Sex work is estimated to add a half-billion dollars to the Canadian economy annually, with approximately 125 escort agencies operating in Toronto alone. Advocates of sex workers, like the Sex Workers Alliance of Vancouver, strive to raise awareness about the contribution this industry makes; one of SWAY's promotional items included a self-inking money stamp: "It's a busine$$ doing pleasure".

Prostitution is not illegal per se in Canada, but there are certain restrictions in the Criminal Code on facilitating or otherwise enabling acts of prostitution or activity in "bawdy houses". A common web search of the terms "prostitution" and

Articling monkeys go bananas as the forces of good and evil meet issue and dress up in pretty costumes," sure that everyone who wanted to see the said Zarghami. Ali Ahmad (II) wrote the Follies could attend. dialogue and Melissa Krishna (ll) choreoSome advocated a re turn to the format graphed the dancing. To learn the dance • used in previous years. when the 1olllcs routine. the performers put in two hours a were held on two nights, usually a Friday d<Jy mer two weeks. Zargh<Jmi, however.

and Saturday. Others also 1>Uggcstcd a larg-

suggested jokingly "had it only been the women, it would have only taken a few hours.'' She noted that the reaction from the audience wns "amazing and positive," and was pleasantly surprised that people "got the humour.''

As he has for the last dozen or so years, Profcs or Jim Phillips wrote and organized the faculty and staff skit. Phillips cast himself m the role of a beleaguered Property professor, desperately trying to keep the attention of distracted and sullen students amusing themsehes with crosswords.

Professor David Duff's performance as a front row keener armed with an endless supply of multicoloured highlighters won particular plaudits from students, as did Effie's over-the-top portrayal of one-half

er venue in the future.

The production was reasonably wellattended by stafi" and f~tculty, but was st1ll well below the attendance during previous productions. Merril Boden, Celia Genua and Etlie recalled that in past years, staiT and faculty used to attend the Friday night performance and "make an event out of it.'' Profes~or Weinrib suggested that the event could be better publicized to stan· and faculty, and he agreed that returning to the two-night fonnat over a Friday and a Saturday might increase the number of statr and faculty in attendance. · Wherever the Follies arc held, Keir Wilmut promised "next year's show will be even better. Just remember to buy your tickets early!"

BLAKE,

2005 BLAKES SUMMER LAW STUDENTS:

CASSELS& GRAYDONLLP

Rahool Agarwal, Stephen Birman, Sarah Davidson Ladly, Rahat Godil, Sophia Javed, Alex MacMillan, Doug Robertson, Adrienne Sum, Richard Turner and Kate Wood MONTRtAL OTTAWA TORONTO CALGARY VANCOUVER

of an infatuated law school couple, the other half of which was played by Professor Ben Alarie.

Despite the acclaim for all involved in this year's Law Follies, many noted how difficult it was to get a ticket for the performance. Tickets were sold out by the end of lunch on Tuesday- the second day of availability- and numerous students were turned a·way at the door. At least one student resorted to forging a ticket Students recalled that this also occurred last year and queried what could be done to make

NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON

BEIJING

BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

NEWS & LEGAL ISSUES

22 MARCH 2005

"Toronto" reveals a number of sites exalting the high quality of the sex workers in Canada and praising Canada for allowing prostitution and sex work to be legal. These men are mostly from the United States, which is one of the few countries outside of the Middle East where it remains illegal. However, Judges do have discretion under s. 173 of the Criminal Code to determine what is indecent on a case by case basis, when an indecent act is committed in a public place, or an indecent act is committed with the intent to insult or offend another person.

For example, in R v. Mara, the Supreme Court found that lap-dancing was in fact indecent under this provision.

The initial connotation of prostitution and sex workers is that of street hookers.

Think Pretty Woman or think Monster-or think of Jarvis street around ll p.m. Other forms of the sex trade include exotic dancers, porn performers, massage brothels, phone sex workers and so on.

Now magazine contains cop1ous advertising for such services in their back pages, facilitating a wide-open and unregulated market for sex. The Internet also matches up the desirous with the desired. Sex work, pamcularly in large urban centers like Toronto, is a fact of reality.

It is no secret that men are the predominant consumers of the sex trade, even in the case of male prostitution. \n a report on Male Prostitution entitled "M is li.>r 1\.futwtJ, A is for Acts· '\talc Sex \.\'ork

and

Aids

in

Canada",

the

/ttemturc

7

revealed that sex acts for money between pay them, or if they've been beaten on the men tend to be more reciprocal and equal, job. More recently, Buzz Hargrove and therefore some disparities of power are recommended that prostitutes unionize evened out as compared to sex acts for themselves to seek better wages and to money between men and women. shift the power imbalance between The dangers faced by female prostitutes themselves and their johns and pimps. are very real. Women prostitutes are 60 to In the current system, female prostitutes 120 times more likely to be murdered than nrc at the very lowest rung of the social the general public. Street prostitutton ladder, usually not by ch01ce. Granted, appears to be the chore of the most some women are making big money and desperate, and undoubtedly puts women in fame out of the sex industry, but an the most vulnerable overwhelming majority position. One need of women who turn to only recall the Wit out a our rights, prostitution were

h

f .

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example of Robert f sexually molested as Willie Pickton, who actng t e t reat 0 children or were allegedly preyed on otherwise victims of criminalization and the drug-addicted sexual abuse. Has prostitutes, primarily effect of stiff social society and the law Aboriginal women, simply turned their frequenting stigma, prostitutes are back on these women?

Vancouver's For example, if a client Downtown Eastside powerless. runs out on a prostitute neighbourhood. He without paying, what is alleged to have brought women to his pig remedy does a sex worker have? Not farm, disposed of their bodies with a wood much. Without labour rights, facing the chipper, then mixed their body parts with threat of criminalization and the effect of pig feed or entrails. We need to ask stiff social stigma, prostitutes are ourselves why such sadistic acts can be powerless. committed against prostitutes for nearly a So what can be done? Do sex workers decade without anyone really noticing or need to be rescued or do they need rights? caring. Are prostitutes less than human?

We cannot simply moralize about social 1f we accept prostitution and other forms harms without ensuring that proper of sex work as a gtven m soc1ety, what infrastructure is in place to support the steps ought to be taken either to remedy the basic \ega\ rights of sex wor\ters. response shou\d be social ills that allow it to emerge on such a Community large scale, or to regulate the industry to formu\ated on a case b)' case \>a<;\.,., \a\r.\n'j!, minimi?e the harm that may re-.u\\1 Sex \nto account conte11.tua\ detail-. and {lt'<W\d\nl!. a?-pro{lr\ate rc\\a'bi.\i.ta\\on wmker advocate,, \\kc. ~~'f',.\J or \ts ·ronmto equ\va\ent, SWA\ \wn\ch no O'pt\ons for S\..'11. workers. \t \S i.rres-pons\'b\e longer formally exi,b), cmpha,ize th:ll sex to tum a blind eye to the danger!> of sex "orl,;ers should be: able to go to 1f sometlung

tit~

pollee

happens, it' the1r lH.>SSes don't

"vrk. particularly wll<-'11 d<>ing ,,o Jlcglect,.; the ''<>lliCn '~ho nc\cr cho.,,. t<> be th<-'TC.

Faculty Council to vote on changes to back-end debt relief program Review of program three years in the making

BY JONATHAN DESBARATS After a three-year waiting period, the Financial Aid Committee has finally concluded its review of the back-end debt relief program. A handful of proposed changes to the program will be put to Faculty Council at its next meeting in April.

The changes include requiring students to disclose "gifts, inheritances or other windfalls," ratsmg the dependant allowance for children under 18 from $4,000 to $5,000, introducing an eligibility requirement that applicants be employed full time, and changing the way that the Financial Aid Committee takes into account spousal income.

Of the proposals, the latter is the most controversial. Under the old system, in calculating a married student's total income, the committee would take the greater of two sums the income of the applicant, or the incomes of the applicant and hts or her spouse divided in two. With the current proposal in place, the committee would look at the combined incomes of both applicant and spouse and subtract a "housing allowance" of$15,000.

The change to the calculation of household income is designed to prevent what

was perceived as a glaring inequity by the committee. Under the old system, a student with an income of$40,000 married to a spouse with the same income would be treated as having an income of $40,000, whereas a student earning $80,000 married to an unemployed spouse would be deemed to be earning $80,000.

The net result of this change is that fewer married students will qualify for debt relief, a situation that concerns some members of the faculty.

"I don't think it's right to saddle somebody with whom a student becomes involved, with their law school debt," said tax professor David Duff. "That's not something we usuaUy do in our society."

Duff also expressed concern that the spousal mcome rule, coupled with the new stipulation that recipients of relief must be employed full-time, could impact the behaviour of students post-graduation.

"It could have effect on whether graduates decide to have kids, whether it's students who want to leave the workforce themselves to raise the children, or students looking to have to deal with their spouse's debts," said Duff, pointing out that this approach seems at odds with the goal of creating meaningful choices for students upon graduation.

Moreover, because the starting point for

the new plan is to create an assumption that work in the paid labour force is the norm, any benefits that are paid to people in special circumstances, including people who are forced to leave the workforce for mental health reasons or reasons of physical disability, will have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. That will add even more confusion to a program that has been assailed in the past for its lack of transparency.

"When you're planning your future it's important to have some certainty in the program," said Duff.

In adopting the requirement that students eligible for benefits be working fulltime, the school was addressmg concerns that some students would simply choose to "take time off" rather than make efforts to start paying back their debts. Duff questioned to what extent the program should be shaped by this assumption, given that there are no indications that this is a widespread trend. According to statistics released with the report, four of the 26 students in the program last year were unemployed. That number has remained relatively constant over the five-year history of the program, despite the fact that the number of students in the program has more than doubled since its inception in

2000.

-

Ultimately, it may not only be what is in the proposal that is the source of heated discussion at the April Faculty Council meeting, but what is missing. Most importantly, the report fails to address the key concern that back-end debt relief is only available to students who qualified for front end relief. That means that students who took on private debt in order to finance their legal education will not recc1ve any assistance.

The proposals put forward by the Financial Aid Committee were culled from a report submitted to the Faculty by Stephen Brown, Director of the Financial Aid program at Fordham Law School in New York. The Faculty commisstoned Brown to undertake the review in the summer of2002, and had requested that a draft report be submitted by October 25, 2002 in order to have any changes approved by February 2003.

Other suggestions put forward in Brown's report, such as lengthening the amortization period from 10 to 20 years, or requiring that students enter a public interest field in order to qualify for relief, were not adopted by the Financial Aid Committee.

8

LEGAL ISSUES

ULTRA VIRES

Amazonian land fight dei dly

BY UNDSAY LANG

1found out about Dorothy Stang's murder in

an email sent to me by my mother. The message read. "Please be careful,·• and she attached an article explaining that the 74year-old American nun had been shot in the Amazon, where she had worked for three decades defending the rights of rural communities. I was used to my mom forwarding me articles about violence 10 Brazil, and to her guilt-inducing one-liners, but new:. of Dorothy's death particularly caught my attention since I was in the Amazon at the time and because of the social realities that led to her assassination.

The Brazilian Amazon is roughly the same sit.c ns we~tern Europe. Between 1964 and 1985. the government built a Trans-Amazon highway and gave free land to people willing to settle in the area.

Unfortunately, formal land registration pmcticcs were absent and consequently 600,000 small farming families who live in the region do not possess legal title to their property. This leaves them vulnerable to being pushed off their land by loggers, ranche~. and land speculators. Displaced familie!> generally migrate to the cities \\here. having few transferable skills, they hve on the brink of starvation. Since January, these powerful groups have managed to expel 49,000 people from their farms by using a combination of violence and scaretactics which often include setting fire to villages. The

jj

ranchers routinely threaten activists, like Dorothy, who denounce their actions; ~ired gunmen have murdered 1,400 people tn the last twenty yea~. Sadly, people have only been punished for 76 of these deaths and the cnmes have rarely been investigated The impunity of the killers and the failure to provide protection to threatened persons arc due to the loggers • and rancher~· control over the Amazonian state governments and judiciary. In fact, getting rid of the American nun was a campaign promise made by the mayor of the region where Dorothy was killed.

The only reason Dorothy's murder has made national and international headlines is because of her American citizenship.

The l.J.S. Ambassador promptly demanded a thorough mvestigation into the case. and Brazil has fulfilled this request with astonishing speed and skill. In the month since Dorothy's death. charges have been laid and the gunmen as well as the two large landowners who ordered the hit arc in custody. Federal troops have been sent to secure the area and FBI agents, human rights groups. journalists. and UN officials arc all present to ensure that the crime is brought to justice.

Some Brazilians believe that Dorothy's murder and the subsequent successful investigation will propel the government to take agrarian reform actions. I tend to agree with those who note that despite Brazil's current leftist president who is uncommonly committed to agrarian

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reform, the conservative rural elite has been able to thwart all reform efforts. In the absence of substantial changes to the political system, I am doubtful that in the future the government will respond to the murder of a Brazilian with the same level of attention that they have given to Dorothy's case.

Thts is my last issue of Ultra Vires and

I realize that I have only been able to write about a few of the many issues that Brazil IS confronting. I will feel that my efforts have been worthwhile if my submissions have compelled even one of you to seek out the views of those more qualified to speak on contemporary Brazil.

I hope to article with a firm that regards me as cheap labour."

0

0

0

0

Strongly Agree

0

0 Strongly Disagree

No you don't. In fact law students told us they want to contribute. So what do we do differently? We put your knowledge to work, often for clients involved in mergers and acquisitions, securities, intellectual property, information technology, bankruptcy, real estate, banking, health law, advocacy and more. Interested? Visit www.casselsbrock.com or contact Deborah Glatter, Director of Student Programs, at 416 860 6606 or dglatter@casselsbrock.com

cb CASSELS BROCK LAWYERS

C 2004·2005 Canels Bro<k & BlackwrlllLP. Cassels Brock and the CB loqo are trade marks of Cassels Bro<k & Blackwell UP. All riqhts reserved.

LEGAL ISSUES

22 MARCH 2005

l

9

Meet visiting Associate Judge Satoru Uchida

BY ROB WAKULAT First-years may have noticed him in Professor Shaffer's Criminal law class. Upper-years may have stumbled upon him in Evidence or Wrongful Convictions. He has been a modest, keenly interested interloper among the general student body this year. His name is Satoru Uchida and he is an Associate Judge of the Tokyo District Court. If you have had an opportunity to speak to him, you probably foung that he quickly dispels the common, but mistaken, belief of the Japanese as a reserved people. He is very enthusiastic and likes to cover a wtde range of topics in conversation. Ultra Vires was fortunate to catch up and chat about his experiences this year.

Satoru came to Canada after applying to take part in a program run by the Supreme ~ourt of Japan, which sends judges abroad to study foreign legal systems. "An elderly Judge called me one day and said, 'you'll go to Canada, okay?' and I felt obhged to say yes:" Satoru explained, "I had checked off every country in the Young Judges Overseas !rammg Program, but I didn't have a preference." While he's here for one year, some Judges go abroad for as long as two years to places such as Australia, France and Germany. (Perhaps no one had briefed Satoru on the Canadian winter before he accepted.) The law school also recently welcomed Japanese Supreme Court Justice, Kazuko Yokoo, the only female member of the 15-person Bench and the only Justice without an official background in Jaw, as well as a lower court judge, Kazuko Yao, as part of their trip to Canada.

Since this is Satoru's first travel experience outside of Japan, the 29 year-old has also encountered culture shock for the first time. "I was a little upset and embarrassed when I first arrived," he began, "People tried to speak with me in the elevator and I couldn't say anythmg. I couldn't understand why people were talking to mel" However after a ~eriod of adjustment, Satoru has found life in Canada to be much less stressful than it IS m Tokyo. He is now beginning to think that Canada is "ordinary" and Japan is a httle strange. ~is fondness for Canada also extends to his newfound knowledge of our academic environment and legal system. In parttcular, he believes that the professor-student rapa~d the Supreme Court's affirmative action to protect minority rights." Yokoo and Yao's port is very beneficial. "At U ofT, there is a mutual relationship between professors and tnp also took them to the Supreme Court of Canada where they met with Cbief Justice students. It's not unilateral," Satoru mused. "In class, professors ask students questions McLachlin and found the court reference systc~ to be very interesting and usefu\. \t and they actually answer! Outside of class, for example, in the administration of the law always seems like it takes an outsid~r to point out that e·\'en though Canada face:- probs~hool, Associate Dean Sossin and Assistant Dean Chiang think of students ftrst and prolems, there arc sti.\\ good efforts being made to address them. vtde a _lot of programs for them. There arc also lots of opportunities like workshops anc.l Common sen-.e s.ecms \o be the cunent theme of la-pa.ncse \aw rcforro as the CO'I.m\ry lunchtime lectures where students and pmf'essors can communicate y,ith each other. l\'s gmpp\cs with how to 1.\l\drcss the ccds of \\s citi1ens .. We v,'t\n\ \o try \\nd nanow \he very ditTerent from the Japanese system." If circumstances hadn't conspired to keep htm ditch try to join the common p :oplc to the judicial system." Yokoo explained during awa), Satoru would probabl)> have bc.:l'll even n)()rc shc.>ckcd to sc..•c..• tudcnts sntirizing l1cr \ JSJf ro rite Inn scltool "I or c"nmplc. 1/Jc tiC~~ qunsi-judicwl jury ·')'SfCJII n 1/1 he professors on stage at Law Foll ies.

Lm!>t:d 011 the: c..·onllnon .,t:n.,c or on/wary people... And I tiJinJ.. tny role.• ,_, to bring 'conlWith regard to the Canadian legal system, this Jupanese judge belieH~s that Canada is mon sense' to the court.·· very progressive and always on the lookout for ways of improving itself. He referred to Providing insight into the Canadian jury system is S~toru's main role. Japan \Hil be a project undertaken by Professor Roach. saying "I noticed many poor people at introducing its own unique answer to a trial by jury in four years. ·'Wt: don't know lww Provincial Court, especially aboriginals. This is a social problem. In R. ~~ Gladue, the to instruct. select or communicate with juror:.." Satoru points out. Once a montll he Supreme Court recommended to have a new trial for abonginal people. Professor Roach ·writes a report on his experiences and sends it back to Japan.

Even though there's only a mo!lth left to his time in Canada. Satoru is very approachhelped to construct this new system. Canada is very flextble and progressive compared to Japan. which is conservative." Satoru also pra1~ed the Supreme Court reference sys- able and \\ould be happy to answer any questions about Japan or the Japanese legal system. unlike the U.S or Japan. "Sometimes the Supreme Court decides very political tem. So if you sec him in the halls. welcome him and ask him to do his karaoke rendiissues, some of whtch I think the legislature should deal with. However. I think the tion of"Piano ~an"!

Canadian legal system looks so liberal because of the e.xistence of the reference S}stem

Pro Bono: Building communities, building connections BYDANIELLE MARKS For the majority of new law students. the i n i t i a I weeks of legal education are defined by enthusiasm and punctuated with idealism. Yet, as first semester wanes, so does the energy in the halls of schools: students slid~ into serious seclusion and the faculty fosters fears of dreaded December tests. Downtime discourse becomes limited to hurried wh1spcrs of the inevitable threat of OCis and hushed dcconstruct10ns of the B curve. Now, as the year's grand finale looms. students' thoughts are taken with strategies on how to best battle against B status.

But, it is in these demanding days that it is most important to recall our initial ideal-

Though all Canadian law schools arc in 1sm and remind ourselves of the communi- cerncd that your three hours of weekly city centres. this year PBSC began an outty outside of the classroom and courts. one work is not making a difference. consider reach program to involve organizations that we are not only members of, but that the three hours of effort that 178 Dalhous•c outstdc of the urban landscape. In Alberta. we help create. Committed public interest students are expending weekly. The PBSC Saskatchewan and Ottawa, students have experience shows that individual effort involvement in general and PBSC placeserved associations that have no tics to the ments in particular have bridged the gap makes an impact. but collective effort city society. In Saskatchewan. students between the legal education in the class- makes change. worked and travelled with the Northern This is even more recognizable when room and the justice system in the comSaskatchewan Cree Court Circuit. participatstudents across the country are munity for many students across the counThe last connection to celebrate is one ing in the same placement.

University of try throughout the year. Yet. there is anothrooted in the courts of Toronto. The Toronto PBSC voluntee~ have been worker bridge that has been built this year. one Family Law Project began v..ith the initiaing with Waterkeepers to stop polluters of that has gone unnoticed by the individuals tive of Toronto students and has inspired Lake Ontario.

But the effects of their involved: it is the connection created programs in Calgary, Windsor. London, efforts will not be limited to the shores of between communities, the link that has Kingston and Halifax.

Collectively, particToronto, as their insights will inspire stulaunched a national movement. ipants in the project are making fami ly PBSC's program growth represents the dents at chapters across the country, workcourts more accessible and applying their first column of this bridge. In past years, ing to protect the Fraser River in in-class knowledge to improve the experiPro Bono placements have been imple- Vancouver, the Bow River in Banff, mented in law schools across the country. Georgian Bay in Collingwood, the Bay of ence of clients across the country.

As the end of term imposes isolatton, But, with the addition of Sherbrooke and Fundy in Fredericton and the Peditcodiac remain insptred by the notion that every the Universite de Montreal this year, Rtver m Moncton. effort works to transform the national legal In addition, the scope of the connections PBSC is a complete cross-country connec· landscape: idealism does not come in tion students at all nineteen law schools between communities has been extended small packages. participated in placements. If you are con- this year to include rural contributors.

1

I ~

)

I I ) I )

ELECTION SPECIAL

22 MARCH 2005

11

Election special: meet your candidates for st~:~dent representatives On Mllnii28-J(J, $/udwlr can vote for tht! lected post/Ions on SL S President Student Cauc 115 and Student Affairs (the po~itwn of Vice President.ha.'i been acclmmed).

Votmg Will toke plac. e durmg lunchtime at Bora s fle(ld.

At the same time, third ~e(lrs will haloe the opportunitv to vote for class 1 uledi ronan, the recipient of the John Wtllis A1mrd fm Spmt, the Mev. ell Teaching Award and the professor 'Kho 'Kill gtve the Hall and

President

What do these kids do anyways?

Student Caucus

The President is the pnncipal representati\ e and spokesperson of the SLS, for relations including the admmtstration and organizations and individuals beyond the Faculty of Law. The President leads the Student Caucus, which handles \'arious policy matters including accessibility, admissions, curriculum, and financial aid. In thi:; role, the Prestdent is the primary advocate of the law student body, particularly in negotiations "ith the Faculty's governing body: the Faculty Council. The President also sits ex officio on Student Affairs. to support SLS activities relating to student life and welfare.

Farewell Addt¥:5S at com ocat1011 m June.

There '~ill aim be a referendum quettion to mwrporatc the first year $50 oriental/on ~~eek into SLS wulent fee5 fiJr /ir'it vean. inste(ld of

requestmg a <ieparate pm-ment

He '1•e primed descnptions of the (jLS po~itwns and t/us ye.ar ·~ clmdulates ~tatemems below Come out and ca,\t \'OUr

Vice-President The Vice-President runs Student Affairs, whtch is the side of SLS that deals with matters relating to student life and \\-elfare at the law school. The VP does not s1t on the Student Caucus The VP. along with the Student Affairs representatives, runs events, fundraising initiatives, the SLS website, and organizes the year's distribution of financial support to the various law student clubs. See below for a more complete description of the role of Student Affairs.

vote!

have done my very best to respond to the views of students, and to represent those views to the faculty at this law school. I have worked especially hard this year on the Financial Aid Committee, in bringing our Kim Haviv (I) *acclaimed* unique views to the table as only students in As the girl who brought you such creativefirst year are saddled with parental deeming ly-named socials as the Guacamole and Homestretch Pubs, I'm hoping you'll gtve regardless of any other circumstances. l me another round on the good ship SLS would appreciate the opportunity to return my year of experience to Student Caucu:s.

Now I know you're all thinking. "Kim, und the Financia\ Aid Committee m the haven't you already spent enough time in commg year. l a\so fcc\ that returning me to the basement of the Duke?" Yes. yes I have.

Student Caucus will ~st sene the inte-rest

VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE

But that's the kind of sacrifice I'm'" illing to

rnukc fix your social lite.

You're looking for an opportunity.

We're looking for a future partner.

At Fraser Milner Casgrain

LLP,

In the days before law I served as president of my undergraduate faculty and a planner of my school's welcome week. As vicepresident of the SLS. I will try to develop guidelines for students about how the SLS makes funding decisions, and I'd hke to organize a large-scale fundraiser of some sort. I'm also fmnly committed to karaoke.

Firmly.

Woiman cannot live on library alone. Trust me with your social calendar, and I'll make sure you get out. Vote Kim.

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SECOND YEAR STUDENT CAUCUS CANDIDATES (fiVe positions available): SaadAhmad

<>f the soon-to-b.: second-year students Please re-elect me as a student rcprc.scntutive. Thank you.

David de Groot I completed my Bachelor and Master's of Arts m Political Science at the University of Calgary. During that time I wa<; a member of several student government organizations, including the Political Science Students' Assoctation and the Graduate Representative Council. Through this latter association. I became involved with the Alberta Graduate Council, a provincial organization that works with the Government of Alberta to ensure adequate funding for, and representation of all graduate students within the province of Alberta.

While I am generally interested in student government, I am particularly' interested in ensuring that student voices arc heard in the debates surrounding the relocation of the faculty. Specifically. I want to guarantee that proposals not only improve our physical surroundings. but that they provide security in regards to tuition costs. class sizes. and educational quality. Other areas of concern include ensuring that the availability of financial aid reflects the reality of students' lives.

I have greatly enjoyed the opportumty to represent the student body at Student Caucus this year, and would be honoured if you were to permit me to do so going forward as well. Over the course of the year, I feel that I have given the position the attention it deserves. whether through helping arrange town halls to elicit views on the proposed new building and financial aid. or voting on faculty council. In closing, I have · Adam Hirsh strived to resolve our common concerns and I have had two lifelong dreams. The first is be aware of issues that might impact us. and to arm-wrestle Mickey Rooney. But alas, the am eager to continue to do so next year. Mickster is getting up in the years, so I fear Thank you for considering this statement. my dream will have to go unfulfilled. Help me achieve my second dream: to be your Bradley Bullock student caucus 2nd year representative! Vote My name is Bradley Bullock, and I want to HIRSH! thank you all for giving me the opportunity to serve on Student Caucus this last year. I Anita Houshidari

Each Student Caucus representative sencs on Faculty Council and one or more of its subcommtttees. Student Caucus represents student concerns to the administrahon and faculty through membership on the law school's governing body Faculty Council and tts sub-committees. such as accessibility, admbsions, curriculum, fmancial aid, and staff-student relattons.

Student Affairs Student Affairs representatives vote on all matters relating to student life, welfare, and financial support of student clubs and activities. Student Affairs provtdes financial support to the various law student clubs through annual fundraismg mttlatt\cs, and also provides logistical support by providing meeting space, mailboxes, and web hostmg on the SLS site, along with other benefits. It sponsors monthly breakfasts and pub mghts. and hosts a number of social events throughout the school ) car, including Law Folhcs, coffeehouses, Orientation, and the elegant Law Ball. Finally, it organizes outreach events. which include annual food and clothing drives, monitors equity tssues within the law school, and oversees liaisons with other groups inside and outside the umversity.

My name is Anita Houshidari and I'm in priorities are to voice student concerns and first year. I'd like to run for Student Caucus. champion our mterests. Through my comHaving almost completed first year and mitments to Student Caucus, the curriculum talked to a lot of students about various con- and diversity committees. DLS and Law cerns throughout this time, I have a lot of Review, I have worked closely \\- ith diverse ideas and suggestions for making the law segments of the student body. Together. we school experience an even more positive have helped improve \ife at the school. \ one. One important issue that has come up is have seen how the SLS can have a ro~\t\vc the need for a fust year \ega\ research and impact. but most important\)', now we must writing course. A \ot of students have rea\\y \mprove. fc\t lhat -rucb a course i.s a necessary add\t\\ln -Bu\\d\n\!, ?\an·. we need \o max\m\7.c ~\u· to \he fir t )'caT cuttku\um. N umoo of \u- dent \n\)U\ mto \he -p\an for a n.:w \:>u\\U\nl!,. dent:. h.wc also c.xprt: ~cd n \'MCty of opin- The ndministrotion has promised that tuition i<ms about tile ut1lity oltbc bmlgc "ccA,;. I law :m excellent experience for student.;. consulta·

fed tllat m ord.:r to make U of

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tion and reflection are needed on a continual and ongoing bas1s It's crucial for students to feel that they have a say in important decisions about admissions. curriculum, financial aid. etc. I feel that I'm very open and approachable and that 1would be able to represent my classmates' concerns and suggestions in an effective and successful \\-ay.

Tiffany Murray Once upon a time, I was skeptical that the student voice held much persuasion for the puppeteers and powers that be. But I realized - if we assume nothmg will ever change, that reality is guaranteed. I remain positive and committed to issues, we face as studenl'> including: -Diversity: we need substantial action to reflect a meaningful commitment that does not just pay lip service to what is undoubtedly a U ofT buzz word.

-Financial need: problematic situations remain a cause for concern and investigation.

-Curriculum reform: sure international law is sexy. but is it what the students \\ant or need? Arc the bridge weeks effective?

Student input needs to be considered.

We need to ensure our stu~ent voice is being heard through representatives who remain dedicated to expressing the issues that concern us both individually and collectively.

I'd like to be one of them. Thank you for your consideration.

u 11/ not be u.~cd to fi.md the new buildi11g and thlll enrolment and class size nil/ not

increase. Jfclt--cted, I will hold the ndmini.\· trntion accountable for their commitments.

-Diversity: we need to foster diver-icy in all its fonns and track the impact of the major changes in recent years on the composition of the student body. The SLS needs to make concrete recommendaltons on hiring so that both faculty excellence and diversity can coexist.

-Financial Aid: $53 million has to be raised to fund the new building. We should not let this detract from fundraising to increase financial aid.

Vnsuda Sinha After five years of if!volvemcnt in student politics, mcluding this past year ao; a mcm· ber of your SLS, academic policy and uni· vcrsity affau-s remain two of my grc<~tc t interests. We have been promised one of the best legal educations in the country; but, it goes almost without saying that an administrator's understanding of what counts as the "best legal education" does not ncce sanly coinctde wtth a students' . I seck rc-electton to the Student Caucus because I think the representation of student interests in the administration of our faculty is vitally important-especially in light of the issues that will arise with the new building. and the direction in which the administration wanb to take the Faculty of Law in the next few years. My experience in university polttic~ and my desire to ensure that we actuall! receive the best possible experience at O!ts law school make me believe that I am 8 strong candidate to remaN. a member of the .Mike Pal I am running for SLS because students Student Caucus. deserve a responsive and inclusive SLS. My CONTlNUED ON P.12

¡-

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12

ELECTION SPECIAL

C()HTINUED FROM P.11

SECOND YEAR STUDENT AFFAIRS CANDIDATES ..,. positionS available; the third will be

eleCI8d in a September by-election): Kevin Shipley *acclaimed* 1am interested in being a part of the SLS stUdent affairs committee because I believe that the most important work the SLS can do is help students maintain a balance between academic and non-academic activittes.

Over this past year I have taken part in a variety of SLS events (including the Halloween party, law games, law ball, and various pub nights) and while I was impressed. I believe that I can contribute some new ideas for the upcoming term.

In addition to my law school experiences, r have some related undergrad experiences to draw from. During my undergrad I served as both 2nd and 3rd year reps and VP social of the undergraduate engineering society, as well as being selected to the campus-wide orientation staff responsible for planning frosh week activities.

It is my combination of experience and cnthustasm that would make me a good choice for SLS student affairs.

Gabi Szerze *acclaimed* Do you like bagel'donut madness? Do you like casual pub nights? What does Y-E-S spell?

For those of you who said yc<:. to any of these 3 questions -students, \\!'.ten up' There is a grave danger out there. that somebody (or

views, but also means raising the interests of those who are not typically heard and ensuring that they arc addressed in a manner that is inclusive and supportive. I will work together with the administration and faculty to make a more welcome environment for students, with a pamcular focus on establishing a foundation for fully appreciating and benefiting from the diversity in the student body and faculty. A vote for me is a vote for accountability, determination, and change.

Leslie C hurch I would have four goals as your representative: Increasing transparency in the financial aid process; developing a strategy to identity and address access and diversity concerns; ensuring a new building moves forward with student needs in mind; and strengthening communication and cooperation between Faculty and students, and between Student Caucus and the student body.

I was a member of the recent 'Rae Review' of post-secondary education, lobbied Queen's Park as executive dtrector of the Ontario Undergraduate Student AJiiance, and served as Prc<:.ident of the University of Alberta Students' Union and member of the university's Board of Governors. Among other things, I actually enjoy talking about financial aid policy when most people would rather read the Tax Act. I'm deeply committed to the principles of access, affordability, and quality of education here at the Faculty and hope you will give me your vote on March 28-30th!

Nadine Dcc'bausay

nobody) may (or may not) be trymg to sabotage and put an end to these ofevents!*

I am running for Facul ty Council to give a voice to all students. My goal is to promote

I, as a dedicated 2nd year student affairs rep, will vow to stand up for your right to free bagels. I won't let no rogue try to take away from us what is rightfully ours! So long as I am in office, I promise that SLS will continue to offer these delightful events. Please vote Gabi to avoid disappointment. *based on inconclusive evidence.

an inclusive agenda by ensuring that all student perspectives are represented. including those of otherwise marginalized racial, gender, and socioeconomic groups. I have a background in education administration and social justice work, and am confident I will be able to navigate the interests and constraints of the committee while maintaining a focus on results and positivity. Trust that even in the face of opposition, I will continue to speak out for students. A vote for me ts a vote for accountability, determination, and change.

som

THIRD YEAR STUDENT CAUCUS CANDIDATES

ULTRA VIRES

(five positions available):

actively ignored. As a member of student help continue changes that have lx.>cn started caucus, I will work respectfully with the over these past two years, and also to act on school administration and faculty but also new issues. First among these is addressing raise my voice on issues of importance to student voice in the SLS and m the law student<;. Because the admtmstration hears school as a whole. We need to make sure student views through SLS, tt is an impor- that students are interested and involved in tant and powerful student mslltution. I will the Faculty's plans for the new building. We work to also make it one that is representa- need to make sure that important student tive of and relevant to students. A vote for concerns, namely improving diversity, arc me is a vote for accountability. determina- acted on quickly. We need to make sure that the SLS not only responds to student contion and change. cerns, whatever they may be, but seeks out those concerns. I will be on exchange for Oliver deGeest As a member of the Student Caucus, I hope first term, but I will be as involved as possito address important student issues that may ble while away, and committed to the posigo overlooked. Having transferred to tion whtle I am in Toronto. Thank you.

Toronto from the Universtty of Sydney, I feel that I can contribute my unique experi- KeirWilmut ence gained while a member of another law I believe I would make a good addition to school. For example, next year poses an the Student Caucus. Through my involveinteresting challenge, as more information ment with Law Games, Law Follies, and will surface regarding the new location of Ultra Vires, I have shown my willingness to the law school and possible sources of fund- work hard and my abihty to do a good job. ing. A similar situation occurred in Sydney I'll keep an eye on the administration, and only two years ago, and I witnessed how work to represent student interests. students were 'left in the dark' in regardc; to some major decisions.Students should be informed about all stages of this process, and I hope to make this possible by offering the pros and cons of how this situation was handled elsewhere. With cons iderable lead- Oliver deGeest â&#x20AC;˘acclaimed* ership skills attained from a variety of extra- As a Student Affairs Representative, I hope curricular positions over both my under- to address all aspects of students' social life. graduate and graduate history, I believe that Having transferred to Toronto from the I can aptly serve on the Student Caucus. Universtty of Sydney, I feel that I can conThanks for the opportunity. tribute my unique expenence gained while a member of another law school. Specifically, Kristil Hammer I hope to address the un-needed tension that 1 am running for SLS Caucus because I seems to occur between first years and think that living up to the rhetoric of being upper year students. While at Sydney, I Canada 's premier law school depends on experienced a cohesive bond between all o ur ability to truly be! a national !;Chool. Thi!; members of the law community, and I can only be achieved by recognizing and would like to see this trend exist at Toronto. taking positive steps towards fostering the Law school should be a fun place, and, idegeographic, cultural and ideological diversistudents should be brought together ally, all ty within our student body. I will not only in a social atmosphere, devoid from the provide strong representation on behalf of of school.

My resume lends a hispressures widely-held student views but also firmly tory of social leadership skills, and I wish to stand behind my belief that to become truly exceptional, it is imperative that this entire tmplant these skills on the position of law school address expressed concerns over Student Affairs Representative in hopes of inclusiveness and openness. I commend this making school fun for all involved. Thanks year's SLS Caucus on their firm insistence for the opportunity. of economic accountability from the administration, and I will continue in their foot- Angelo Gentile *acclaimed * steps. Tius school provides an excellent legal education and attracts a truly impres- Nadir Nurmobamed acclaimed* sive student body, but it could be enhanced So, do you like Stuff? by ensunng that the environment is a posi- I'm Nadir I got skills. Donut Madness tive place for all students to pursue their skills, numchuck skills, bow skills, Law legal studies. A vote for me is a vote for Games skills, Law Follies skills. If you accountability, determination, and change. don' t want next year to be like ''only the worst day of my life" then I'm a good Andrew Pilliar choice to make. The above ideas are courI'm running for a posttton on Student tesy of my friend Napolean Dynamite.

Caucus for next year. I've been on Student Caucus for the past two years, and I hope to

THIRD YEAR STUDENT AFFAIRS CANDIDATES:

Angela Chu I am running for Student Caucus because I think it is an enormously effective way to make tmportant changes that can positively affect how students feel as members of this law school. I strongly believe that representing the student body not only includes advocating in favour of widely held student

Polly Dondy-Kaplan I am running for student caucus because I am concerned about the Law Faculty 's fatlure to adequately address issues of gender and diversity within the cumculum and hiring process. Over the past two years, I have become increasingly concerned that the voices of many students are not being heard within the Faculty and are sometimes being

Presidential Candidate James Rickert

including clothing sales, pubs, and Donut "Madncsses". As Vice Prestdent, I took my campaign promises seriously:

cy. Moreover, student attendance at our social events was a-; high as ever, suggesting effective advertising.

I promised funding f or new initiativev.

The upcommg year is critical for the student body. Several important issues have come to the fore: serious concerns about equity and diversity, the introduction of back-end debt relief, and the new building proposal. Deahng with such VJtal issues requires a leader with experience, demonstrated enthusiasm and drive who can ensure meaningful student input at every decisionmaking stage.

My Record: I've served on the SLS for two years. As a first-year Student Affairs representative, I organized multiple evcnto;

Several student leaders took me up on this; successful new initiatives mcluded the creation of the Health Law Club, PBSC using increa<;ed funding to expand its events, the addition of Rowell room socials with free food (who could forget the Guacamole party?) and the introduction of the Deansponsored Bagel Breakfasts.

I promised to get first-year s tudents excited about becoming involved right away. In

I promised communication with the student hod;~ To this end we modified our

funding policy and published it early and created both a funding policy for students attending conferences and an election poli-

late August, I organized a "Welcome BBQ" at which over I 00 incoming first-year students attended, along with higher numbers of faculty representatives and upper year volunteers than ever.

I am very proud of my SLS involvement to date, but enough about the past. ..

Why Me: As a third-year student who has satisfied the more onerous aspects of law school already, I will be able and willing to dedicate the time and effort that you expect and deserve. Moreover, through my

SLS expenence, I have established valuable relattonships with key members of the administration. I feel confident in my ability to work with the administration to further student interests, yet I am comfortable enough to put forward vigorous opposition if I feel student views are being ignored.

Lastly, and most importantly in my eyes, I belteve that I am capable of increasing the profile of Student Caucus. I' ve been involved in activities from Law Games to Law Follies to Intramural Cncket Those who I've participated with know that I'm not one to ever take a back seat; if you elect me as President, I certainly will not let issues that affect the student body take a CONTINUED ON P.13

22 MARCH 2005 ELECTION CONTINUED FROM P.12

back seat either.

My Platform: The foundation of my platform is tmproving two-way communication with the student body. As such, I promise to institute the following initiatives if elected: - The SLS will submit a report in each issue of Ultra Vires.

- On a ~egular basis, SLS representatives will be made available to answer questiOns and hear complaints.

- I will continue to push the development of the SLS website (created this year) into a valuable tool that will allow students to give input and receive timely replies.

These initiatives will help the SLS fully represent your views; its priorities will be your priorities. However, there are several issues that, if I am elected, will remain on the agenda: - Equity and diversity: I promise to expand the mandate of the current Diversity sub-committee ofFaculty Council and institute an ongoing consultation process involving individuals and student groups that will culminate in a document highlighting concerns and making recommendations that can be used to measure the performances of the administration and the SLS. - Back-end debt relief: Continual evaluation of this program is crucial to ensure that it meets student needs.

- The new building proposal: I promise to ensure that students contribute at every stage of the decision-making process; all developments will be fully communicated to the student body.

- Career choice: I promise never to \o,e sight of the fact that students' goals and aspi-

ELECTION SPECIAL rations differ. The SLS will pursue curriculum and career development objectives that reflect your diversity.

I admit that my goals are lofty; however, I am confident that with your support, together, we can ensure that student voices are heard loud and clear in 2005/6.

Experience counts. Vote James Rickert for President.

Presidential Candidate Mike Pal I am running for President because students deserve a responsive and inclusive SLS. My prionties are to voice student concerns and champion our interests. Through my commitments to Student Caucus, the curriculwn and diversity committees, DLS, and Law Revtew, I have worked closely with diverse segments of the student body.

Together, we have helped to improve life at the school. I have seen how the SLS can have a positive impact, but most importantly, how we must improve. Contrary to popular belief, the SLS is not just about the limousines, junkets, and the fan mail. Here are the major issues facing the law school as I see them and how I would approach each one.

The Building Plan: We need to maximize student input into the plan for a new building. The administration has promised that tuition will not be used to fund tlus new building. They have also promised that enrolment and class size will not grow with the increase in our physical space. This is important to maintain the strong scn"e of commumty that we have nt the law school

13

and to keep classes as small as possible. If Student Caucus representatives. We need to elected, I wtll hold the administration be vigilant m ensuring the administration's accountable for their commitments. I will commitment to a significant diversity comconsult with students at every step and faci l- ponent remains strong. I will work to make itate direct student body input into the build- sure that subsequent changes to bridge ing plan. weeks and the upper year curriculum reflect Student Body Diversity: We need to fos- more clearly students' concerns. ter dtversity in all its forms and track the Financial Aid: Fifty three million dollars impact of the major changes in recent years have to be raised to fund the new building. on the diversity of the student body. We We should not let this detract from fundraishave made great strides compared to many ing efforts to increase the pool of fmanctal other law schools but we can do much bet- aid dollars. A new policy on back-end debt ter. The recent UV poll highltghting dissatis- relief ts being put into place. The SLS must faction with the law school environment by be vigilant in ensuring that the new system minority students is evidence of how far we is workmg for those in the greatest need. have to go. One way to move forward is to A Responsive SLS: The SLS ts the conexpand the mandate of the diversity com- duit between the student body and the mittee to investigate the issue and present administration. I will make it a priority to solutions to the Dean. I will push the admm- increase direct student to administralton istration to implement this proposal. consultation on major issues. The SLS tt-;elf Faculty Diversity: The SLS needs to also needs to be more responstve and commake concrete recommendations on how to municate better with students. If I am electimprove faculty diversity so that excellence ed, we will have more open meetings next and diversity can coexist. The professors' year, make a commitment to proactively ranks are not keeping up with the changes in gather student feedback, have more frequent the student body. This is another area in consultation with student groups and leadwhich the current reality does not meet our ers, hire a full-time webmaster to improve aspirations. This should be part of any study the webs1te, and be accountable and incluby the committee. sive.

C ur riculum: First year electives have ..We face many significant chotces in the been significantly changed for the incoming upcoming year. The student body needs the class. Students will now only be able to strongest possible leadership to ensure that choose from amongst a variety of interna- students' priorities are reflected in all of tional courses. This raises questions for these major decisions. I have the expenence which perspective courses will be offered in on Student Caucus, know\edge of the i!'.Sucs. upper years, diminishes the scope of choice and strategic vision to best advocate for our for first year students, and disregards the interests. Everyone bas a stake i.n now tne earlier commitment to having a mooting schoo\ is run. Come out to vote so that 'jOur voice can be 'heard. Vote {or an \nc\~we, e\~ti.ve. For these rea-,ons \ voted agai.ru.t the proposal, with the vast ma)onty of -proacti.vc, and \ron\l, S\..S.

{'

OPINION & EDITORIAL

14

ULTRA VIRES

EDITORIAL

OPINION

The Dean's "five minute warning" speaks volumes

Help! I'm transpatially confused!

here was a telling moment at last week's Faculty Council meeting that stuck in our collective craw here at Ultra Vires . After listening to professors an<~ student representath es debate the pros and cons of the proposed curriculum change ad nauseum, the Dean opened up a five minute window for comments from the concerned gawkers-at-large in the peanut gallery.

It was a trifling procedural bone, to~sed out robotically, begrudgingly even, to the largest number of students to attend a Faculty Council meeting in at least three years.

What followed was downright painful to watch. Students, some of them practically on the verge of tears, explained how the first-year elective courses about to be axed provided them with a sense of belonging at that difficult, awkward time at the beginning of their law school tenure. The message coming from these students was clear- let's take a little more time to consult v,:ith the student body about this. Let's think of some ways of allaying student concerns before cramming the motion through Faculty Council.

As one of these students was in midsentence, the Dean casua\\y \eaned over to Associate Dean Soss\n to have a \itt\e dwt about what we can only speculate. f here "'ere no responses to these heartfelt comments, only intermittent glances at the clock and assurances that the five minute rule was going to be hard and fast.

At the end, there was a vague, hurried promise to tack the word "feminism" onto one of the new courses.

This display .was made all the more disheartening by the constant references to "student consultation" peppered throughout the meeting. It would one thing if our brave administrators claimed to have no need for student input m the decision-making process. And indeed, we

T

arc not claiming that students should have the last word m shaping the school's curriculum. But if our administrators do take student input seriously, as they cla1m to, then the consensus seems to be that they aren't doing a very good job of showing it.

Particularly in handling an issue as emotionally charged as the one that came before Faculty Council last week, administrators should put forward some effort to foster an atmosphere where student opinion is encouraged and appreciated.

Instead, it is undertaken as a sort of hasty afterthought, an inconvenient and formal obligation. The result, as was evident at the last Faculty Council meeting, is that some students appear hesitant to speak out, unsure of whether there is any point, whether it is worth risking being perceived as a troublesome ne' er-do-well by professors and peers.

It would be nice if our fearless leaders showed a bit more respect for student opinion. And there would be wisdom in this approach, we believe. Common sense tells us that in making decisions that will affect the quality of the student experience, one should tum to the experts for guidance. Those experts are not professors or administrators both here and elsewhere ·rne experts are tbe students themselves.

Not only would a more concerted effort to consult students benefit the decision-making process itself, it would continue to encourage students to care passionately about what happen'S here at this school.

That brand of passion was on display in full force at last Tuesday's meeting.

Unfortunately, after the shamefully contemptuous reception it received, there will likely be more than a few students who walk away feeling like there's just no point in caring. And that is a damn shame.

ultra vires Ultra Vues is the independent student newspaper of the Faculty of Law at the University ofToronto.

Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor News Opinion and Editorial Legal hwes Features Diversions Production Editor Copy Editor Business Manager

John Norquay Jonathan Desbarats Andrew Pilliar, Keir Wilmut KeirWilmut Lisa Cavion Adrian Liu Lisa Minuk Laura Bowman Ian Disend Lisa Cavion

Communications Centre, Falconer Hall 84 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto ON M5S 2C5 ultra.vires@ utoronto.ca (416) 946-7684

lice she should aim for.

"Should I be an international lawyer?" t was a rare treat to sit m on last she mused. I had to answe r honestly: "1 don't know what an international week's Faculty Council meeting and listen to professors, administra- lawyer is, let alone what they do, or even tors and students spar over changes to the if they exist."

Of course, nor did she. Which made me first year curriculum. As an incorrigible scribbler, I can never resist an opportunity wonder: how could it be that this was the to put the word "brouhaha" into print,_and first discipline that should come to mind? this meeting could accurately be descnbed The answer, as anyone will tell you, is that as such (although maybe closer to a "hub- international law is "sexy".

This is not an assault on the importance bub").

But despite the obvious enterta inment of international law, gentle readers. I just value of the meeting, I can't help feeling a wish someone would explain to me in real little distressed in the aftermath. The terms what it is about the discipline that source of my unease is in trying to come to students are required to know to prepare grips with why it is we feel that interna- the m for the real world. Listening to Peter tional law is so overwhelmingly importa nt Benson's passionate defence of internathat the school would be remiss in letting tional law convinced me that there must be students graduate something l am missing. without a firm grounding in the dis- A we . I guess I'm just So what is it? Are cipline. students going to a crusty old cynic. We to According learn bow to file Peter Professor facta in the Hague? should probably take Benson. students The proposal submitted to Faculty (even "sOCialist" their W Ofd for it.

Counc il was not ones) without a wellmuc h help, bemg groomed "transnaintentionally void of any details as to what tional" "transpatial"(?!? ) and "translegal" materia ls will be taught in these new and perspective are simply "not ready to go out revolutionary courses.

U pon reflection, it into the world." strikes me as odd that one would tout the Not only do I not have a firm grounding in the aforementioned disciplines, 1 hon- merits of a set of courses without any estly don't think 1 could te\\ you what knowledge as to what the content might those words mean. And having been a be.

Given the lack of substance, I can ' t I member of the workforce for eight years prior to attending law school, I'm some- shake the thought that this latest decision what perturbed by the idea that after three is mostly cosmetic. After all, what differyears at this institution I am suddenly less ence does it make what we teach, so long prepared to emerge from my academic as those incoming students can salivate cocoon, due apparently to my "trans-chal- over the prospect of getting all transladen w1th internationalism here at "Yale lenged" status.

My instincts tell me that globalization North"?

Ah well. I guess I'm j ust a crusty old must be something important. It's coming, cynic We should probably take their word nay, it's here, and we damn well better be for it.

Given the pitiful five minute segprepared. If that's the case, then I'm woefully unprepared- a fact that was under- ment students were given to air their conscored recently when a friend of mine, cerns or put forward questions, I can only shortly after being accepted to law school, assume that the pre-trans generation oflaw asked for my opinion on what area of prac- students are too far gone to understand.

BYJONATHAN DESBARATS

I

h

11

contributors I man Abokor, Yousuf Aftab, Anat Aronowicz, Oren Sick, Kathryn Bird, Angela Chu, Ron Daniels, Ian Disend, Chris Essert, Noah Gellner, Jeremy Glick, Ingrid Grant, Julia Guaragna, Andrew Hennigar, Sarah Horan, Danny Kastner, Malcolm Katz, Lindsay Lang, Alex MacMillan, Danielle Marks, Max Matas, James McClary, Kate McGrann, Genny Mcinnes, Matt Pierce, Denise Re~lUme, Tariq Remtulla, Nicole Richmond, Larissa Ruderman, Bryce Rudyk, Hugo Sin, Evan Thomas, Rob Wakulat, Lee Waxberg, Saba Zarghami & friends

Ultra V1res is an editorially autonomous newspaper. We are open to contributions which reflect diverse points of view, and our contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Faculty of Law, the Students' Law Society (SLS), or the editorial board.

We welcome contributions from students, faculty, and other interested persons.

Ultra V1res reserves the right to edit submissions for length and content.

OPINION & EDITORIAL

22 MARCH 2005 I GOT BEEF:

That building they are talking about

What would Stinch·combe. do?

BY SARAH HORAN, ALEX MACMILLAN, GENNY MCINNES & LEE WAXBERG So how long did it take you to rl!ahzc that HELMUT is fake? If 11 took you a few issues to figure 11 out, don' t feel bad. If at this point in your law school career you still thought it was real, be ashamed While we're at it. I might as well tip you off to a few other things that arcn ' t real. Easter bunny'? Fake. Santa Claus'? Fake. Law School B curve? You got it, fake.

Anyhoo, it occurs to me that this newspaper should have at least one real advice column, so I'll shoulder the load and step up to the plate. Here are some real questions (not really) about important topics (not really) from real students (not really).

Dear Beef>: In )'Our last column you mentioned that the school had posted neon green signs in the classrooms telling us not to steal the wheels off the chairs, but now I've noticed they 're not up anymore. What happened to them?

Now it s all I can do to help from stealing ~theels. Help!

- The Book-Wheel-Light Bulb-ChalkEra~er-Neon Green Sign?-Thief That's a very good point- where have the signs gone? Some might assume that our Dean Ronme D reads the beef column, and thought we made. a good point. Or, science fans like myself, might prefer to subscribe to Achcms Razor the theory that all events bcmg equally likely, it is the simplest that h as occurred ( lhu nk you creepy .lu rnc::s Woods from Contact). In this instance. that

would clearly mean that someone else has stolen the very signs meant to prevent theft.

Complicated? Not at all- just fiendish. I say the school needs to step up security. And that begins with new, bigger, brighter neon green signs that now read "Don't steal the green signs" (notice how l' ve removed the word "please"). Or maybe we should just stop known thieves from stealing, instead of threatening them with invisible cameras.

Either way, your call.

Dear Beefy.

It seems that the school gets a lot of ne11'.1papers that nobody likes. Why do they do this? Can~ they just get evet}'One .\· favourite the Metro?

- Conrad Black I think the school gets three daily newspapers because each does something well. Here's my proposal why not order a special law school edition that amalgamates all three papers into one: The "'ational Globe and Star. First. it would have the Globes front page. Next from the Star we take the crossword, Family Circus, and Marmaduke cartoons. It's funny because it's true! Finally, we include the National Post crossword, with one caveat: all of the stupid Canadiana clues (you know, like "famous prairies ballerina from the 1930s") are already filled in.

Advertising inquiries should be sent to the attention of the business manager at ultra.vires@.utoronto.ca. www. ultravires.ca

Dear Beefy, Whats your favourite animal?

- Sandon Shogilev

The next issue will be published in the Fall of 2005 Have a great summer and good luck on exams.

Norquay is the bestest! We ' ll miss ya.

I think a Liger is pretty much my favourite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed ... bred for its skills in magic.

15

BY ANAT ARONOWICZ

Dear Beefy, Who :1· th~·guy in the library with the dol(v?

Scared S W Corner Studier I don' t know either, but he's creepin' the hell out of me. On second thought, I'm not really sure who that guy is or what he 's doing in the library. but I welcome anyone who has the audacity to bnng a piece of warehouse equipment into a university library. You go crazy guy!

Dear Beefi.: I 'm having problems reconciling mv life at home ~tith my life at school. It s not that there s too much work. The p roblem is that e very time I come home, my girlfriend wants to know about my day, and I have no interest in reliving the horrors that are the daily life of a law student.

- Trouble in Paradise Wow, did you ever hit the nail on the head.

This is a problem that many law students face. As if it's not enough trouble having to understand the particularities of tort law, now you have to talk about it after class.

And these aren't exactly topics you can JUS! launch into. So you start to explain it, which requires further explanation, and by that time your significant other has \ost interest.

So here's a quick way to end that conversation. Stan w\tb tbe most complicated thmg you k now I StliJBC::.t tlw u illcrcncc bc.:t ~~ ccn objective und subje.:tin: fault and its application to wilful blindness.

If she still cares after that, you've got

problems that go well beyond explaining your day.

Dear Beef>: I'm all f or participating in extracurricular e vents, but I f eel/ike this school has a few too man;: I g et three emails a day .from the administration telling me about another lecture that I won~ be a11ending, but feel I should How many symposiums can one person attend?

- Homer Simpson You ' re right. This school docs have too much going on. But don 't feel bad that you're not one of the people running things.

You see, they're what we call "joiners" and these Cra1g Kie lburger-typcs make you feel bad with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). If we were working in a steel mill, they'd be called "rate busters" and you 'd be able to drop a heavy pipe on their foot to subtly tell them to stop it. Unfortunately, the only thing we have like that at school is the moving stacks in the library basement and who ever goes down there? Don't worry though, there are things you can still do. Above all else, boycott. If you can avoid certain activities, you'll be better off for it. There are three things in particular that these people use to try and suck you in: Law Games, Law Follies, and Law Ball- also known as the Triple Crown of Law School fun. Just imagine what a great place this world would be if nobody had to do anything. You'd have all day to work on your skills. You know, like numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills.. . Girls only want boyfriends who have skills.

I have not been at the law school for very long, and I am generally more apathetic than I should be. Nevertheless, some of the arguments that have been put forth in ts clear the marginal benefit support of a new building get my blood outweighs the marginal cost. I believe that boiling . .Jn a formal sense, many weak the administration wants our passions arguments do not generally add up to a inflamed by the purported indignity of strong case (except for the case of adverse having to put up \\ith a substandard possession). But 11 seems that this move is much more about politics and "vision" tha n logic. 1 realize that it is largely a done deal; however, I would still like io offer my two cents' worth.

At the recent town hall Dean Daniels argued tha~ a new building was needed because of the lack of a contiguous facility. Please: it's a ten second walk across the parking lot, and good things happen when students and teachers cross paths m the great outdoors. The real problem is that both buildings names start with an F, so it's hard to remember which is which. Perhaps we could rename one of using space more efficiently them instead? wouldn't help.

The Dean went on to lament the lack of a "dramatic reading room," although facility, thereby justifying the need to everyone knows that drama tends to make move, even at the obscene cost of $52 reading more difficult. Nevertheless, if m1\hon. How many superb profes~ors can that's what 1s wanted there \S a sim-p\er, be bought for \bat, not to ment\on cheaper ~o\uti.on. Space can be made and bursari.e':'>'l There \'i> no rea'i>Ot\, ot'het t'han to furniture re-arranged to accommodate the manipu\ate, \or these sma\\ \mpto\lemen\ desired reading room. Pcrhap. an interior t.''\f>Cnditures not to be made. de.o<tgncr can be recruited to attain this Dean Daniels argues that the m oney vision. isn't here yet, and that funding for the new To argue that additional space is needed building is not coming out of operating to design a library for the technology er.11s costs. However, if money can be raised for an especially absurd argument. Getting rid one "good" cause, tt can be raised for of paper resources implies needing less another. space, leaving more left over to Note also that fundraising for accommoda!e reading rooms or study significant renovations has just recently areas. been concluded. Asking for money to G1ven that the administration undo a job you just recently got money to do is a very good \\ay to eat up alumni goodwill. What about all those donors' lcgac1es? U of T Law is not showing a lot of respect or gratefulness these days.

Meanwhile, these past improvements have made the building espec1ally well suited for our purposes as a law school, and not much good for other faculties. Who would want so much common space to intemct in?

Yuck.

Reading rooms in current school : distracting or not Two flippant points to close. A move incorporating • dramatic enough? You decide. the observatory as "our new heritage building" will require the school apparently does not want an increase in the to change its logo from four pillars to a size of the student body, I can't help but depiction of an observatory. This might ask myself if a newer bigger building is confuse some, as well as degrade the really needed. My discussions with other signalling value of our degree. Finally, if students suggest that their needs can be anyone wants their name put on a met by getting better chairs in the moot bathroom stall (I mean on a nice plaque, court room, upgrading the washroom not graffiti of course), I am taking facilities, and buying an extra set of donations (refundable upon a move) to couches for the area near Bora's Head. renovate the basement bathrooms.

Dec1sions to make these kinds of improvements and do this sort of maintenance are not being made, even

I

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At this law school, and proba)Jly many others in Canada, there is a general anxiety about talking about

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Is there something wrong with our school when a student is transfcning because she feels that her viewpoints as a visible minority arc ignored and belittled? I think so. I think it shows that while we arc willtog to attack social inequities in our community and beyond by volunteering for countless organizations like Pro Bono Students Canada, OO\\ ntown Legal Services, and the IHRP. we arc much less willtng to discuss these social inequities in our daily conversations and interactions.

At this law school, and probably many others in Canada. there is a general anxiety about talking about positions of power and privilege that are embedded in Canadian society and how they shape our experience as law students and future lawyers. I don't think that this is because we don't care about these issues. Rather I think that the general discomfort about talking about issues of diversity arises out of the fear of expressing views that leave one open to attack.

Issues such as race, religion and gender arc implicated with stereotypes that we have absorbed unwillingly from intcmctions with family and friends. through newspapers and television and a host of other media. Many of us are wonicd that if we give voice to these stereotypes. we will attmct the scorn of our friends who will label us a mcist, a word that throws us into the company of groups such as the KKK

and lynch mobs. In order to make both woman was able to work. This ad, which school. will be comfortable doing so. visual and non-visual minorities more was trying to de.n ounce the sexism that led Otherwise they\\ ill engage in the self-cencomfortable discussing controversial to the confinement of women in sorship and self-protective tactics that issues, we need to stop being so quick to Afghanistan, was in effect insulting Islam cause all students, whether or not they arc equate problematic statements by tndivid- by conflating the religion, rather than the visible minorities, to feel silenced on these uals with bigotry. In today's society, if Tali ban, with the oppression of women in important issues.

Letting others give free re1gn to their everyone who has a stereotype about a par- Afghanistan. As a Muslim, I was extremethoughts on controversial issues may lead ly offended by this advertisement. ticular group floating around in their head some to fear that indh: iduals would make However, I didn't write off the United is a ractst then none of us can be free from Colors of Bcnctton comments that will hurt the feelings of visthat label. I'm Company as "a ible minorities. There is a value in selfnot saying that bunch of bigots" censorship when the comments arc so we should counwilfully promoting hateful and inflammatory that their very tenance hateful hatred but rather purpo.c is to demean a particular group comments by gave them the ben- and affirm the superiority of one's own. I others or to let it efit of the doubt. don't think that at U of T Law, from my slide by When which was based experience anyways, we have to y,orry too someone makes a on much that encouraging individuals to on a reflection racist comment speak openly about issues of di\ersity will their stellar record in your midst, result in individuals deliberately disparagof polttical you should defiing visible minorities. Rather the real chalactivism. that they nitely point out to lenge is getting us to critically examine, had unwillingly them that it is and given expression if necessary challenge, our positions problematic. But of advantage and disadvantage vis-a-vis to a stereotype about Islam. before you label them a "mcist," and in each other and those outside the law I think that as students and as friends we effect silence them, you should ask school. should try and do the same when someone whether the comment is a reflection of With the International Day for the says something about a controvcrstal topic them as a person or an isolated incident. of Racism upon us. one of the Elimination that we d1sagrec with.

It would be much This was brought home to me when I most effective strategies that we can take more eftcctive to engage in a dialogue saw a Bcnctton ad soon after the United States overthrew the Taliban in about diversity issues where both side~ of to combat racism and other social Afghanistan. ln the ad, there were 1\\0 pic- the argument can come to light and be dis- inequities in society is to discuss them tures side by side. On the left was a woman cussed rationally instead of passing judg- openly with each other. To use the word whose hair and face was completely cov- ment on each other's viewpoints. This is of Caro\inc Meyer, \ think it is time that ered by an ls\amic veil. Next to it was a the only way that students who want to we a\\ took a co\\ccti.ve breath. picture with her with the vei\ oiYand n cap- discus~ controversia\ topics, such as v.;\v)' there aren't un)' b\ae\1;. professors at the \aw lion \11\dcmcath that ":>aid that now the

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OPINION & EDITORIAL

22 MARCH 2005

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Memoirs of a Third-Year Student

BY A.DRIAN LIU As ~and my :ellow class of 2005 reach the end of our time at law school, I can't help but wax

a btt nostalgtc. Though at times, it felt like school was nothing but an endless stream of lccexams ~d cover-letter writing, now that it's almost over, I daresny I might miss some of1t. And whtle the past 3 years were relatively scandal-free (law student posing in Playboy notwithstanding), it certainly had its moments-whether in class, at Law Ball, or reading the back pages of UV. Here are just a few. tur~s,

Top 10 Briefly Noteds Some highlights from UV's best-read section, culled from the past 3 years' issues: Student awakes from threeyear coma, awarded law degree.

Doughnut Madness actually quite orderly SLS launches website, used book sale, Town Hall, Great Leap Forward.

After no beers, all full-service firms begin to look the same First years titter as prof says "penal negligence"

Hcadnotes goes paperless, toilet.-; are next, says Dean

Faculty member's heart adversely possessed by skanky whore Judge rebukes badger for counselling witness Bridge week speaker mauled by squirrels "Panda Killer" pleads for new pseudonym

Most Memorable Lines

"You're tlze involuntary bailee of my heart."

The unlikely speaker of this was none other than Professor Ripstein, who taught the latter half of my first-year Torts class. You have to understand that Ripst~in, who usually starts sentences with "Let me put this differently" and "This is just like Moclz", spent a solid 15 minutes setting up this doozie of a . one-liner. The hypothetical he set up involved a sushi-grade tuna, a frozen human heart, and an open . window. Just when I'd wrapped my head around the story and the possible tort implications, he dro\)s a \\ne \\ke that, one bef1tting of a Bob Dylan song or Shakespearean sonnet.

"Non-rods?"

Before the professors' team stole the trophy away from the st~dents in this year's trivia match-up, there was last year's inaugural game. The question was, "Which photoreceptors in the eye are responsible for colour vision?" The students buzzed in with "Rods", which turned out to be incorrect. The profs, itching to steal the point, came up with this genius of an answer. I guess there's a good reason why none of the profs on last year's team showed up. this year.

"You can't suck and blow at the same time."

This otherwise highly evocative line was uttered in the most unlikely of scenarios-first year property law with Professor Phillips, in reference to fee simples (I think).

Something about not being able to give away all your land, while holding back some of it. While I can't fault him for being unclear, there certainly could have been other less, urn, graphic metaphors-to say the least.

Things That Should be Revived 1. The "C" Club This ingenious club was spearheaded last year by the soon-to-be-graduating Lisa Minuk and had but one event-a screening of Kevin Smith's Clerlls accompanied with cake, candy and Crunch n' Munch. The name says it all- in a student body filled with double-majors, overachievers, and all-round brainiacs it was thought to be refreshing to ' have a club that celebrates mediocrity. Got·a C? Corne commiserate with the C-Club! Membership is limited to those who have gotten a C, or who aspire to-but no RNER BR05. one's checking.

Besides, one thing this club won't suffer from is a lack of ideas. You can watch Casablanca, eat Cheerios, play checkers, or just chill. The possibilities are endless.

.HENHEIO. ,._..._ ~,

2. Sotto voce

For many years, a column called Sotto voce ran in the Diversions section of UV that featured regular gossip about students and faculty, penned by an anonymous Rita Zekas-wannabe. The column made for great reading, helped by the fact that it conveniently bolded the names of all the people it referred to (just like People or In Touch!).

And honestly, don't you want to know who made a drunken fool of themselves at Law games? Which prof mentioned Lucy Lawless in class? Or who hooked up at Law ball? This is the official call for a truly informed socialite to take the reins and reinstate Sotto voce.

3. Supreme Cork The fact that this wine-tasting and appreciation club has all but died out this year (it got SLS funds, but hasn't surfaced) proves that its heart ana soul was the recent grad, Daniel Anthony. Which is surprising, because surely with the combined effects of OCis and CDO sessions, most students should've been driven to the bottle already. Why not formalize the process in a club that teaches you how to swirl, sniff and sip?

Best Ways to get Free Food Okay, so by now we all know the grab n' g~ome lunchtime, swing by the classrooms (the Falconer solarium is always a sure bet), swipe sandwiches/spring rolls/juice or pop, cover it up with some extra napkins, and discreetly sneak out.

While these food chances can be had on a regular basis (health law policy workshops are every other Thursday, and law & economics are on Wednesdays), there are other, perhaps lesserknown ways to have the faculty that feeds us, feed us better food.

1. Welcome & Outreach Day It's been a few years now, but remember going to U ofT's welcome & outreach day, where they invited some semi-famous alumnus (Bob Rae, in my case) and had all the DLS/Pro Bono/human rights internship folks tell you why you should come to UT? (To fulfill your dreams of becoming a human rights lawyer, apparently.) Well, they followed that up with a splashy, no-holds barred buffet and open bar in the Flavelle dining room. We're talking smoked salmon on rye, vegetable maki, buffalo chicken wings and did I men.t ion smoked salmon? For my part, I'll admit that in upper years, I made good use of my club-leader status by 'representing' at these events. Two glasses of white wine, and even I'm convinced that $15,000 a year is a small price to pay.

2. Law Review meetings /launches It's not exactly a secret, because we all know that Law Review has deep pockets. The only way I'd be willing to wade through 10, 12 papers about the Intcrnntiona1 Crimina) Court would be if I know that I'd he rewarded with a full-course dining experience. Previous caterers have included Indian food from Host (chicken vindaloo, vegetable samosas, and loads of naan) and sushi trays from Sushi Inn (not just the vegetable stuff- we're talking salmon, tuna, the works). Does the Journal of Law & Equality serve you that?

3. Orientation Week dinners This is an easy one to get into. Every year, upperyears are solicited to take groups of first-years out on the town for dinner. Not only does the law school pick up the tab, and you get to hang out with firstyears, but you get a wide array of restaurants to choose from-mostly themed ones like sushi, Indian, Little Italy, Thai, even a sports bar. You'll get to sample some of the finer dining in the city, plus feel like a million bucks walking into a restaurant with a veritable entourage In tow behind you.

Best SLS Events While we know the SLS is a good

source of carbs and sugar (witness the proliferation of Doughnut and Bagel madnesses), they've also been a source of good ol' fashioned fun over the past three years. Here are some highlights: l. Hallowe'en parties Outgoing SLS President James McClary was right on the money when he described the Hallowe'en party as fast becoming one of the highlights of the school year. Who knew that dancing in the same room you had Fault & Responsibility in earlier that day would be so much fun? But the real reason why the party is such a blast are the costumes-because boy, do people go to great lengths for them.

(Apparently the over-achiever in us extends to costume parties as well.)

The greatest hits are duo or team-costumes. I've seen Elvis & Priscilla Presley (those were scary side-burns!), Kermit and Miss Piggy, a pair of garden hoes, a 70s-style wrestling team and this past year, the entire Mario Brothers gang (including Bowser).

2. Law Ball 2003 Professor Phillips on the dance floor, draped in Adeline Kong's hot-pink boa. 'Nuff said!

••

20

OPINION & EDITORIAL

ULTRA VIRES

Saba's ~oapbox opens up to let silent voices speak what happened: the last issue come out andpeople started talk»rd omeM here along the lHIV J -..-..- that there are a lot ofpeopl;, a/ Facultv »ho are more angry than more fmstraled. or arc jujt able to f.o.IIID~ them.,eil'f!'> on the issue far bet/ co11. l a/~o realized how many llf}' clas~matc~ never--ever -hear voices I decided to gn•e m~~elfa break and the SQap box ove1; to wrap up a of intense di'>cus~iollS. and po.mgrve us all something to mull over summer. I began to ad1·erti-;e the f~tJIDf!lllim! o(rhis column in rhe hopes that who speak to me in privare would /o 'ihare their experiences » ith ~ne No one wanted to speak. That no one wanted to \peak until I ossured them all rhe enrries would be mous--11nd that disturbs me molT! titan any of the indil idual comments .mode here toda}: Once that guarantet "Mm made. the contribulions poured in.

I pe11110ned Ulrra Vires lo allow the submissions to be anonymous for this reason. there is a tremendotL<> power in the fear and alienation that is being apressed here The need for dialogue tnJ afe ~paces in this school i~ dire. and we (the students and the adminlrafiOn) conslstentl}' continue to thai

rhe voiCes ofyour classmate.'> scaples of a s•gnificanl dJSII'fiiiP. a11d thm• are afking you 1• MJi....Ff:tllfllrr t1llfl!le/p./igltl dJaf ipO-

Small protest outside falconer on Thursday

school, while others feel so alienated? It may be because ofdifferent experiences prelaw school. different ~io-econornic backgrounds there arc a whole range of reasons. Further it may be because of the simple fact these individuals may be minorities in the \vorld at large, but they are not minorities in the world ofU ofT law! So there may be groups ofvis1blc minorities who may not feel that they are a minority at the Ia\\ school, because in number they are not.

Moreover, there are non-visible minoritie:., i.e. rc\igious. that arc so many in number in both the facu\ty and the student body, that may nor nave an acute concern about this \s'!>ue. \\owe'<er, \hi.s ~:.hou\d not d\~count the fact that mm~'' are very upset. And so those ~\110

lind comfort in the words of visible

dents to gam knowledge about torts or contracts in first year. If it is tn1ly a priority, then it should be reflected in the course requirements. What r find so interesting is that we have no difficulty analyzing a sectiOn 15 Charter claim and understanding the concept of a violation of dignity and the various ways in which it may arise. And we have no problem balancing that claim against a freedom of expressiOn claim Yet we are confused about the situation here at the faculty and why people feel alienated-a further reason why diversity instruction is necessary.

What the electives in first year did was at the very \ea.st require two-thirds of the f'm;t

year class to gain some knowledge about diversity issues, who perhaps had not previ-

minorities who say "1 feel tine here" fail to ously received such exposure whether it be educational or experience related. If you recognize the nuances of the rssue. tli'F mine. hu1 1 stand by all qf have no problem going out into the world, Let's return to my first point You would claimmg to be intelligent yet being ignorant ask, so why docs this person feel uncomabout the diversity among your colleagues fortable at U of T law school if it is not and clients, good for you. But to many of us because of the fact of being underrepresentthis is fundamental.

It is a slap in the face ed? every time we are made aware of the ignoI'll tell you why. People in this school are rance around here, mostly based on people's ignorant of diversity issues. Period. I deficomments.

If you want to be that person, nitely don't mean all of you but there are There are two things that I would like to enough of you that are making a number of fine. Continue to assume that nothing can be make clear at the outset. our experiences a living hell. I don't know done and we must just wait for minority proFirst, the reason why I feel uncomfortable where it COJ11CS from, because like r said I fessors to arrive at our doorstep instead of in this school - yes the reason why some have never felt this level of ignorance before bemg active in recruiting them. Or sit in the days I just need to get the he\1 out of this despite the fact that the racial makeup of my Rowell room and discuss the building plan! building because l feel so angry and isolat- previous educational experience has been Surely, strategizing about the building ed, has nothing to do with the fact that I am worse. Let me provide you with an example whose direct benefits will materialize well one of the few minorities in this school. I of why I and others feel alienated. I am sit- beyond our time here, is more worthy of our have spent my entire life in classrooms that ting in class. Student: "Well maybe the bicy- time than making strategies to assemble a have been even less diverse. In fact in my clist was a drcadlock and had bad hygiene, diverse faculty that has the potential to undergraduate class l was the only one. and so I don't know if he should get a tax directly benefit all ofus next year.

Second, not all visible minorities in th1s deduction." Class: (erupts in laughter ... school feel uncomfortable. ln fact, some minus the students like me who are appalled appear to be the strongest supporters of this by the association of dreadlocks with bad school- they love it, and they see no prob- hygiene). After class, as usual, a group of lem with the fact that the faculty is so minority students gather and shake their homogenous. You may hear some say "I heads. If you don't understand why this It seems self-evident that the don't see why people are complaining, the comment is ignorant, well this is precisely basis of any real institution of faculty composition will change in time!" why we arc upset. It is simple. You don ~ learmng, legal or otherwise, The flip side of this story, of course, is that understand. And that is why instruction in must be free and open speech. not all white students feel comfortable about diversity is needed. I'll leave it up to you to Equally, if that institution of learning is to take pride in its the diversity issue at U ofT law. ln fact a investigate why this comment is offensive.

Ignorance can clearly be remedied by capacity for "excellence", and number are the most vocal dissenters of the administration's lack of action on the issue. increasing your knowledge. It is obvious its sense of "community", Th1s simply speaks to the fact of diversity. that there is a lack of interest in diversity then that speech must be heard There is no blue-print; the simple fact of a issues among the student body, smce people by individuals in the adminisbrown face does not 1mply unhappiness, no are not lining up for feminism courses or tration. Now, for some time I more does that of a white face imply happi- diversity lectures. So at the very least requir- was under the impression that ing students to enroll in these subjects will any alienation felt by any soness.

Why, you ask, does a student who is a help. Requiring students to gain this knowl- called "marginalized" group, visible minority feel comfortable at this edge is no more coercive than requiring stu- was a problem with speech, /(oM o/fl!e commenL.r included

Students are missing the point on minority issues

School failing miserably at student consultation

CONTINUED FROM P.20

with the lack of an organized vo1cc to discu s the race. power and class issues so systematically and frustratingly ignored by our curriculum. I have however. come to a different conclusion recently. There IS no problem with minority speech at this law school, We all speak plenty. and furthermore, \\e often find strong and compelling support for our concerns among the larger law school community. The problem is in the listening, and the fact that the admmistt:ation here doesn't do it.

Law schools, like any other pedagogical institution, are motivated by their own discourses and sets of institutional values.

While U ofT prides itself on excellence, it fails miserably at consultation with student groups. Truly diverse speech, just like truly diverse representation in the faculty, reqUires an institutional effort to cultivate. It requ1res that the faculty and administration make an effort to change the status quo and actively seek out the opinions of students and stakeholders who are more interested in deeper alterations to the cumcuJum and the makeup of the faculty than moving it to the parking lot down the road. Beyond providing SLAM with discretionary dollars, or providmg us with one or two votes at Faculty council, this law school must learn to listen to its students, to provide them with a real say in how the law school is run and who gets to run it. lf it docsn 't, all the soapboxes in the law school won't bring us any closer to actual representation.

First-year profs systematically ignore

issues of race I have tx.>en attempting to write for this column for almost three weeks. Every time I attempt to write, inarticulate emotions overpower reason. As any good lawyer-in-training I decide to take a break, clear my head, and come back to it when I can reason more clearly. Unfortunately when I do the same cycle repeats itself. So here is my best attempt to explain only one of the reasons why that this school tends to alienate ethnic and religious minorities who a:e most often from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It starts in first year. Professors that teach first year have the most profound impact on impressionable law students' legal reasoning and training as they are the ones that introduce us to the topics. Most of the pro- . fessors that teach first year are dogmatically and ideologically rigid. Most of them and their theories about the law- which is not actual law but thc1r take of it-systematicalCONTINUED ON P.21

21

OPINION & EDITORIAL

22 MARCH 2005 ly ignore, triv1ahze. and berate issues of race, power, and socio-economic status.

Consequently the experiences of minority students as minorities is systematically excluded and trivialized. For example according to the rights theory. poverty and gcndered power dynamics arc irrelevant factors in analyzing tort, criminal or contract law. When minorities mention such issues they arc complainers. people with political agenda. or simply " less intelligent"- ! have been called all of these things. This alienates minority students· early in thc1r law school careers from both from their classes and the majority of their non-minority peers -who arc too often willing to remind us how they do and we don't "get it". This feeling of alienation results in disengagement, resentment, and eventually ari inarticulate dislike for the majority of the law school experience.

Aboriginal issues remain on the fringe As an Aboriginal woman, I am proud to see myself reflected in the faculty; that is, in Darlene Johnston. However, do I otherwise see myself reflected in this school? Most often I don't. While there is support for Aboriginal issues amongst my close friends here, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, our issues seem sadly classified as special interest or fringe concerns. The Lieutenant Governor reminded us when he visited in early March that some communities. particularly those in northern Ontario, persist in third world living condition.. You should do some research -some commumties huvc no runnmg water, their houses are fulling down,

their schools arc filled with mould, and their young people are committing suicide at appallingly high rates. Meanwhile, the Dean wants to encourage a global perspective in the law school. I worry that this neglects to acknowledge the very real problems that exist in our own province.

And what's up with combining Property and Constitutional classes to deal with Aboriginal cases? Why d1dn 't Torts and Contracts combine to deal with issues of foreseeability? Or Constitutional and Criminal to deal with the Charter? The school has to be conscious of the signs it sends to students- the priorities of this faculty will become the priorities of the legal profession. Until law schools arc proactive enough to make these severe pohtical, legal and social inequities a priority on their

research and curriculum agenda, these issues will continue to be fringe 1ssues.

Clusters of black and brown assailed in field of white!

"So you think I hate you because you're whit&." These were the words which came out of my mouth. I couldn't believe it as I was saying the words and still can't believe that one of my classmates at the law school was chiding me for being friends with people from my own ethnic background. I was at an end of term party, having a good time with classmates, and this person had suddenly decided to confront me.

The interesting point is that you don't rca\ly choose who your friends wi\\ be. Most of us arc friends with people whom we simply click with. But that's not the point hen:.

Why is it that the white people at the school

are never made to account for their choice of friends? I'll telJ you why ... it's because the student body at thjs school is so homogenous that any kind of "unusual" activity, like, God forbid, people of the same background hanging out together, gets highly noticed. In this field of white, what are these distasteful clusters of black and brown?

What angers me is the fact this homogeneity empowered this white person to ask me to justify my friendships. like she had that right, and what angers me most is that this homogeneity has resulted in a need for a column such as this!

Privileged students need to reflect on sense of

entitlement The biggest fiustration that I have with this law school is the feeling of entitlement that many students here have. Students come to U ofT thinking they deserve to get A's, to get the highest paying jobs, and to be praised as the country's best and brightest.

In my experience, a majority of students who feel this way are those who come from a great deal of privilege. I suppose they have this sense of entitlement because they are used to getting what they want and they are after all the sons and daughters of this country's elite (lawyers, doctors, professors, etc.). Unfortunately, not all of us here come from upper-middle class backgrounds and so it's hard for us to feel that we arc entitled to anything. given that some of us had very \itt\e growing up.\ am struck by the fact that whi\e so many law students work with underprivileged people e-.:erydaj at a legal clinic or through a Pro Bono placementthey still genuinely feel that they deserve to get whatever they so desire even if the maJority of"regular'' people out there don't feel this way. Perhaps students here need to step back and think a bit more about how much they do have before focusing on what it is they don't have. I think we'd all be better for 1t.

feel like one nonetheless. I look very ethnic.

When people ask me where I am from and [ say I'm from Canada, a common follow-up question is "yes, but where are you really fromT' In discussions at this school about minoritie!> hO\\Cver, I feel strangely silenced.

During a telephone poll about financial aid la~t year, I wa' ao;ked if I was part of a mmority group. I ans\\ercJ that I was Jewish, but was told that according to the poll, I nm not considered to be part of a minority group. I have heard Jewish law professors at this school referred to as "old white men," in disregard of what their actual experiences may be. When I bring up my discomfort about Jewish students being sidelined, a common response is that Jews cannot be considered a minority in the same way since there are already so many of us at this school. This response can easily be translated into the statement that "Jews already have more than their fair share.

They no longer have the right to make a claim of minority status." Whether they mean to say this or not, this is what I feel I'm being told. While I am happy that certain Jewish holidays are respected by the school and that there are other Jewish students here, this does not mean that I feel completely comfortable here as part of a minority religious group. I think that we would all be better off if we were to take a broader approach when discussing issues of race and discrimination in the future, and acknowledge that minorities may not always be visible. Not only would this be more inclusive, bul we wou\d also have a greater appreciation of the diversity of our student 'bod'j.

Sense of community

lacking at law school

I've never had as much difficulty making meaningful relationships as I have had at this law school. If you think about it, we arc actually a small tight-knit community, bound by a common pursuit and physical premise. So why doesn't it feel like such a community? I've spent some time trying to understand why it is that many of us, even when we're surrounded by a cla-;sroom full of students, still feel so isolated. I have yet to solve the mystery, but as a female minority student with a disability, it is becoming When l filled out the UV poll a couple of apparent to me how the dynamics at the law weeks ago, I stated that I was a visible school have served to push me to the outer minority. l am Jewish. This was probably boundaries of acceptance. There are many not what the pollsters meant when they CONTINUED ON P.22 asked whether I am a visible minority, but I

Time for a broader approach to "minority" tag

RESEARCH IVNICTJ IOUGHI Research on Religion Among Youth In Canada A Project Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada We are looking for individuals to participate in a research project on the role and importance of religion in the lives of second generation immigrant youth in Canada. Participants have to be between 18 and 26 years old. They should be of Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu background, but they don't actually have to be practising those religions right now. As well, participants have to have been born In Canada or have arrived in Canada when they were 10 years old or less. They also have to have at least one parent who is an Immigrant to Canada. The research takes an explicitly sociological approach and in no way favours one religious perspective over another, neither one of the ones just mentioned nor any other.

For more information, please contact research assistant Arlene Macdonald at armacdon@chass.utoronto.ca, research assistant Carrie Reimer at car· olynreimer@hotmail.com or Professor John Simpson. Hitachi Survey Research Centre, University of Toronto at Mississauga, (905) 828-3942.

22 SOAPBOX: CONTINUED FROM P.21 possible: explanations, a major one being that 1do not sec myself represented in any igmficant form in the faculty or staff at the law school. While professors make honourable attempts to address issues faced by women and minorities, the absence of adequate representation sends a subtle message as to who is considered to be of value in our society. I clearly do noi fit that category.

Ho\\eVt'f, my most disheartening experience of the law school community's values came when Accessibihty Services (a service prov1ded to make the umversity accessible to student' with a disability) asked professors to make an anonymous announcement on my behalf. The request was for a notetaker, sotm.'one to plbs their class notes on to Accessibility Services who would then pass it on to me. since my health often resulted in missed cla~scs. Not a single person volunteered to help a fellow law student with special needs. Clearly, this was survival of the fittest. and I was out of the running. This expcnence seriously influenced my opinion of fellow classmates and my own selfworth, leading to further feelings of alienation.

On a positive note, I have bonded with students who have surprised me with their generosity. I believe that most of us don't know when \\.e're behavmg m a way that isolates other students. Many of these actions are subconscious, we don't realize we're sending messages based on a person's sex, skin colour, or disability. Speaking out about how these indicators influence others \'!. a ~\\\ve flrs\ S\e\l in makin~ U'!. aware of now oux ~ef'J da'J' ac\\on'!. affec\ \he a\read'f disenfranchised amongst us.

A tale of two law schools This is not one law school, it is at least two.

There is the law school that is attended by the majority of students who come from backgrounds of privilege, who have never been troubled by the racial make-up of the faculty, and who aspire to practice corporate commercial law after graduation. They are mostly white students. but this law school has a knack for admitting v1sible minorities who arc coloured versions of that privileged mold. To them, this law school is the best in Canada, and maybe beyond. It is at the forefront of everything including, according to them, diversity issues. Then, there is the other U of T Law that I attend. My law school is an alienating, repressive place where I have never felt as much a minority in every way. Unlike the white and assimilated non·\\.hite students, I don't see diversity in the faculty (there arc only three visible minority profs!!); I don' t see it in the curriculum which is heavily slanted toward commercial law; I don't see it in the administration which fails to put critical minority offic1als into positions of authentlc power and leadership. And I don't see any encouraging signs of change. My law school sucks.

I don't get to speak in class as freely, or feel as much a part of the other students' mainstream. Do believe me when I say that my law school exists, it is real and painful. But because it is attended by minority students, it is a marginal concern and few people in the majority law school acknowledge it exists.

So I have devised a plan w\th a group of classmates from the "othered" law school.

We are joining together, building our collective voice, and stonning the walls of your

OPINION & EDITORIAL

ULTRA VIRES explain to them why they dtdn't get it. But I didn't. And neither did anyone else.

I remember how many of us got together after cla~s and talked about those two cla-;smates. But we already knew how offensive those comments were-the discus~ion was wasted on us. TI1e people who really needed to hear these comments never did.

And so I wondered, how many like comments have been made at the different classes at our law school? I low many other students and professors have also stayed stlent following those comments? How many of these classmates have gone on to practice, ignorant of exactly how ignorant they were. and continued to offend others?

I ask you-isn't prior learning at school preferable to learning it on the job, at the company expense, and under court order?

WHY DON STUDENTS

Lack of minorities on faculty obviously ignored law school. We ·are naming the· exclusions and calling you to account for it. With determination and vision, we will unify this faculty to bring healing and justice to all.

Now is the time to learn about minority perspectives

•

The funny thing IS, l was never the silent person \n my c\ass before. \n my undergrad c\as!ic!i. \ a\wa)',; contributed to c\ass discussion. ln my JOb followmg graauation, 1 playt-xl un active role in team meetings. But law school has somehow managed to stifle any urge l had left to question others, to challenge their thinking, and to enrich the classroom learning experience for all.

I could tell you all the reasons why it's important to have a diverse faculty for minority students. How important it is to get exposure to different viewpoints. How reassuring it is to finally have someone understand your questions and your position on certain issues-even if they may not necessarily agree with you. How the subconscious effect of having a majority of law professors bcmg white males reinforces the image that only white males can go into law.

How the lack of diverse faculty creates a vicious cycle since they tend to mentor white male students, who-you guessed it, becomes white male professors.

But sadly, I think trying to get you to empathize with our situation (which includes not only minority students but also other student<> who understand the importance of a diverse faculty) will not work.

That unfortunately (with the exception of some enlightened individuals), is not the language you speak. The system is working well for you, so why change it for people for whom it isn't working? So instead, I try to speak to you in a language you do understand, to explain to you why a diverse faculty also appeals to your interests.

In today's increasingly globalized society, it will be next to impossible for you not to have to deal with minorities. Your colleagues may be a woman and/or a visible minority, so could your boss, and even more likely, so will your clients. Wouldn' t you rather learn to' deal with someone who did not look and think like you at school? Where it is still okay to make mistakes as long as

you learn fTom them? Instead of offending a client from a multi-national company or getting a slapped with a harassment or discrimination suit?

I remember in my Constitutional law class how one of my white male classmates had made a comment saying that motherhood was the role that all women aspire to. How confused he looked when the class burst out in shocked laughter. How our professor did not say anything. l remember later on, in that same class, how another one of my white male classmates made a comment likening a woman having an abortion to a woman getting a nose JOb. The class was silent for a mmute.

And again. our professor moved on.

I wanted to raise my hand to point out how offensive those two comments were.

(And if you're scratching your head at why these comments were offensive. I encourage you, please. to stop someone in the hallway and ask. Or even better, to talk to a professor who teaches on gender issues. Please.) How those two students just didn't get it and

As a minority woman, my experience here has been significantly coloured by the lack of minorities in the faculty, and in the student body. At this point in the year, I have simply ceased to do a bead count, knowing full well the likely result.

Minonty students often discuss our limited presence here at the school, much to the surprise of any member of the Caucasian majority who has joined in the d1scuss1on. It is not so much, then, that the Caucas1an students don't believe that there is a problem. It is that they simply don't notice the dearth of minorities and that is what I find troubling: that something so blazingly obvious to a minonty student might not be noticed at all by someone else. This leads me to wonder if Dean Damels and the other faculty members in charge of appointing new members simply are not aware that their choice not to appoint minorities has perpetuated a very visible problem- but of course this cannot be the case. They have to have noticed. And so the question becomes: why are we still so few?

22 MARCH 2005

23

OPINION & EDITORIAL

Global Perspectives elective: your representatives cast their vote

YES: Change will enhance JD program upper year program." The two aims of the one student member opposed. The initiative are to "signal and support the sig- Curriculum Committee added a commitI voted to approve the Global Perspectives mficance of global perspectives in the JD ment to review possible collateral cumcuFirst Year Elective proposal based on my curriculum" and to "provide coherence to lar effects and voted to endorse, with one sincere belief that it satisfies the wants of the electives." While maintaining student student member against. Finally, it was introduced to Faculty Council. A potentialthe student body while maintainmg a choice, the electives are to be focused. space for non-majority perspectives.

The proposal originated in the ly troubling aspect of the process was that The meeting was highly emot1ve as the International Advisory Committee, which the Curriculum Committee's vote took proposal elicited serious concerns from included three student members-Student place the day before Faculty Council and faculty, the SLS and students in atten- Caucus representatives from all three consequently there is a risk that there was dance. The concerns ra1sed two main years. It was developed over the course of insufficient dissemination of the proposal among the broader themes: problems w1th the process by the year and went faculty. which the proposal was developed, and through a number The proposal was Because the SLS potential curricular effects, particularly of Iterations. approved in the had ample time to with respect to course offerings relating to The major studiscuss and consider diversity and feminism. dent concern raised International Advisory the initiative, I d1d Before considering these concerns, it is during the developnot find the proceimportant to consider the substance of the ment process was Committee with one dural concerns proposal and the method by which it that focus on Global student member opposed. raised at Faculty arrived at Faculty Council.

Perspectives foreCouncil compelling.

The motion was to approve the Global closed other proThe Curriculum Furthermore, I Perspectives Program for the first year, jects. The main Committee added a believe that the subwith reliance on a commitment by the alternative suggest- . stantive content of administration to review potential deleteri- ed was first year commitment to review the proposal is ous curricular effects gomg forward and courses on Legal desirable to the possible collateral assurances that there will be course offer- Research and broad student body. mgs that focus on critical perspectives, Writmg and a Moot and curricular effects This belief is based with particular attention to issues of diver- program, all of sity and feminism. which had been voted to endorse, with one on discussions with students and obserThe proposal is part of the Faculty's approved in the past student member against. vations on cour!ie broader internationalization goals which but had not been include, "increased foreign student enrol- implemented. selection and emo\\ment in our graduate program, collaboraThe proposal was raised during SLS ment. Thus even if l thought \hat the tive faculty research with colleagues at meetings throughout the year and debated. process was faulty, which I don't, I voted foreign peer institutions, student c:"change Feedback was solicited during SLS meet- for the proposal because it reflects student programs. human rights clinic case work ings, through SLS internal mailings, and interest. and internships, the Distinguished from the student body.

At Faculty Council, the administration Intensive Visitors Program, and [ ... ] The proposal was approved in the made a commitment to include diverse enhanced curriculum offerings in the International Advisory Committee with perspectives in the elective offerings. The

BY NOAH GELLNER

importance of not silencing diverse perspectives was underscored by the attendance of many concerned students at Faculty Council and the views that many of these students expressed.

The main concern was that courses like Feminism and the Law and Diversity and the Law provided space for perspectives that were felt to be absent in the rest of the first year program, and at the law school more generally. Students did not want these offerings to be pushed away for general international offerings.

I appreciate the importance of the law school's commitment to diversity, and the concerns evidenced by the recent UV poll, but l don't see a fundamental tension between this and the Global Perspecttves proposal. Furthermore, under the old elective scheme there was no assurance that any particular course would be offered from year to year. but in response to the student concerns raised at Faculty Council the administration has committed to providing courses dealing with critical perspectives, diversity and feminism.

As relations between the student body and the administration continue to evolve, attention must be paid to issues of the procedure by which proposals are developed, and to the concerns of the student body.

However. whi\e these i~~ue~ were raised during discussion of the G\oba\ Pcr.;pectives proposal, they did not go to the substance of the proposal itself I voted for tbe proposal because, as a representative of the student body, I felt that it offered improvements to the JD program.

NO: too many questions remain unanswered

BY ANDREW HENNIGAR Personally, I do not have a problem with the idea of shifting the focus of the first year electives to "Global Perspectives." I voted against the proposal, however, because there are too many issues surrounding the proposal that are not acceptable to students.

First of all, the proposal is incomplete.

Paragraph E of the proposal refers to "Consequential Curricular Impacts," and notes that current perspectives courses will be displaced from the first year curriculum, and that " many" of those displaced will be included as upper year classes. A previous iteration of the proposal specifically mentioned the possibility of reworking the current upper year perspectives course requirement. Currently, upper year students must take at least one "perspectives" class (out of about forty-five possible perspectives classes). The idea that has been discussed would limit the pool of classes to 6 or so of the more mterdisciplinary sort that are currently offered as first year electives. This would ensure that students are still exposed to the various perspectives that the faculty Identified as critical when they were chosen as the theme of the first year electives 3 years ago. I

would hardly consider a change of this nature to be merely a "consequence" that can be contemplated at a later date when change is already in motion. In fact, it IS a central component to a larger change in curricular priorities.

Another proposal would see Bridge Weeks change from the current issue-oriented themes back to their original incarnation as interdisciplinary bridge weeks.

For example, we would no longer have themes like the Immigration bndge or Human Genome bridge. Rather, we would return to the Law and Economics bridge or Law and Diversity bridge.

The proposal passed through curriculum committee with the recommendation that the "consequential" impacts be explored next year. This simply is not good enough. Two years ago the faculty made changes to the mooting program that were to include, by Faculty Council resolution, the creation of a first year mooting elective which has not, and now will not become reality. Further, the faculty undertook to improve the research and writmg reqmrements in the first year program and charged the curriculum committee to oversee this development. Again, the cumculum committee failed to do so.

Without a plan for how the displaced

perspectives courses will be treated, this proposal is incomplete.

The second problem has to do with coherence. One of the motivating rationales for the change in focus of the elective program is that the current coJlection of courses lacks coherence around a central theme. The new theme of "Global Perspectives" promises to give some direction to the course offerings.

However, it is telling that some professors who voted in favour of the proposal still have questions as to what qualifies as a "Global Perspective." Is it international?

Transnational?

Transjuris-dictionaJ? Extra-jurisdictional? Extra-terrestrial?

What exactly would qualify and what would be the test? It seems to me that 3 years from now we're likely to arrive at a situation where the understanding of what it is for a course to be a "Global Perspective" has become so misunderstood that we will once again be in a position where the first year electives are an incoherent offering of courses organized around a theme that nobody can clearly define. · The proposal needs to be clear on what it means by "global."

Lastly, a major concern of some student groups is the message that this change in focus sends. The interdisciplinary per-

spectives electives were added to the curriculum 3 years ago as part of an agenda to increase the overall diversity of the faculty and the approaches taken to studying law.

At a time when diversity issues have emerged as the hot-button issue on the minds of student groups, de-prioritizing diverse perspectives on law in our curriculum-without a clear plan of if or where they will be re-situated in the programsends the wrong message to students about the faculty's commitment to addressing diversity concerns.

As a final note, I feel the SLS dropped the ball in dealing with this proposal As a Student Caucus member who had a chance to discuss this proposal at the committee stage, I certainly did not do enough to solicit student input. For that I apologize.

At the same time, I commend the student groups, most notably Women and the Law, who made an effort to make their voices heard.

Associate Dean Sossin has pledged to make it a priority to have the curriculum committee follow through in dealing with the "consequential impacts" of this proposal next year; let's hope that happens. I will be watching.

~

OPINION & EDITORIAL

ULTRA VIRES

curriculum reform, U ofT style

22 MARCH 2005

Dean: Building a pluralistic academic community ty to explicatmg, analyzing and deliberatmg upon the multi-dimensional challenges of Thank you for your invitation to me to share creating a robust multi-cultural society my views on diversity and the Law School around us. One of our great strengths as a with your readers. As you know, diversity is Law School is that we are located in a city susceptible to multiple meanings and under- that now stands as one of the world's most standings. Students and faculty may be interesting social experiments as a result of our rapid integration of waves of different I firmly in favour of "diversity" (in fact, I have seldom met anyone who is against immigrant groups from all over the world. "diversity"}, but have very different under- Remarkably, almost 500/o ofToronto's popstandings of what is implied by the term, ulation consists of first generation immiand this can create confusion and some- grants, and, significantly, many of these times strain. So let's be clear what we are immigrants are also visible minorities. The challenges of ensuring meaningful integratalking about.

To some, diversity is about supporting an tion of these groups and individuals into our intellectual environment in which every society, the tensions that can arise between member of an academic community, irre- the beliefs and practices of some of these spective of their background, beliefs, expe- groups and the demands of liberal society, riences and ideas, feels comfortable and the appt"opriate forms of state accomexpressing their honestly held views to fel- modation to address these concerns are all low community members. Underlying this fodder for mature, reflective academic conception of diversity is the belief that debate and analysis. So here, under this these different views should not merely be vision of diversity, if the Law School is to tolerated, but genuinely welcomed, so that stand as a relevant intellectual community the speaker is confident that the listener may that can contribute to the resolution of these change his or her point of view as a result of issues it is essential that our academic promeaningful discussion. This is the essence gram devote energy to these issues.

Yet to others, diversity means communiof a deliberative, open-minded and exciting intellectual community, and supporting this ty representation. Frequently over the years, end-point requires a widely-held commit- I have heard members of our community ment to intellectual engagement. but it obvi- express their desire that we have a Law ously also requires diversity of membership School, both m terms of its faculty and stuand thought within it, or the commitment is dent composition, that tracks the richness of Canadian society. Given our shared belief in a fairly shallow one.

To others, diversity is code for a commit- the equal value and capabilities of different ment on the part of an academic communi- groups in society (whether defined by race,

BY DEAN RON DANIB.S

BY PROFESSOR DENISE REAUME

Committee, chaired by Professor Macklem, was charged with a wholesale rethinking of the curriculum. In retrospect, it is perhaps telling that the Dean's memo outlining the Committee's mandate made no mention of the need to improve curriculum coverage of diversity issues apart from a vague reference to "social justice" concerns as an aspect of the changing legal environment. The memo did highlight, however, the need to introduce international themes into the curriculum, indeed, to

0n March 15, Faculty Council approved a proposal to change the content of the First Year electives from the relatively diverse slate of options avai !able now to a range of courses loosely linked under the label "Global Perspectives" on law. Students may have heard that the proposal was conuo,¡er.;ial and the meeting a difficult one.

Some background about recent developments in the first year curriculum may help students understand what is at stake.

A Bridge Program was introduced in 1986. The original objective was to create It is likely not a a forum for a systematic, if brief, examination of law from an interdisciplinary perspective. The first Bridges were in law and coincidence that the latest philosophy, law and economics, legal hisproposals were crafted tory, and legal institutions. The hope was that over time these interdisciplinary without input from the dimensions of the study of law would filter down into the rest of the first year prolarger law school gram as well as infusing at least some of the upper year program, at which point the community, and that no Bridges might no longer be necessary. time was allowed for Within a few years, a Feminist Perspectives on Law Bridge and a Race meaningful debate. and Cultural Diversity Bridge were added to the roster. The latter arose out of the report of the 1991 Committee on Diversity and the Curriculum urging the develop- infuse "every nook and cranny of the proment of first year teaching materials that gram" with a global perspective. addte!>\\ i\\sues of race, ethnicity, and cu\Des\)i.te the inattention to race and gen\ure. 1\.'i. we\\ a!'. 'otoadenin!l, \he intcrdisc\- der 'Issues i.n the Dean's v is io n , the p\inary ambitions of the origina\ program, Mack\em Report did recognize their thtâ&#x20AC;˘sc Rridgcs served to fill a very signifi- importance, endorsed the recommendac;mt gap in first year. Traditionally. the tion:> of the 1991 Committee on Diversity standard curriculum has paid little atten- and the Curriculum, and urged further tion to the specific ways in which legal efforts towards better integrating class, rules and doctrine affect women and culture. gender, race, and sexual onentaraciahzcd minorities, creating or com- tion issues. Student groups were instrupounding disadvantage. These bridges mental in pressmg these issues, and the offered an opportunity to analyze the exis- Comm1ttee responded. tence, sigmficance, and consequences of Shortly thereafter, Dean Daniels these gaps, as well as think creatively appoanted a Task Force on the Faculty of about solutions to the problems diagnosed. La\\ 's Next Fifty Years to re-examine and A~ with the earlier generation of re\ isc our academic mission. Once again, bridges, the hope was that acquaintance early drafts of the Task Force Report with feminist and critical race analysis neglected to identify diversity issues as would eventually filter down into the rest important to the curriculum, while treating of the first year curriculum and these the integration of globalization as urgent.

Bridges could then However, in response to stube phased out. I, for f one, would . . . etri ges serve to i a very dent and faculty pressure, the come that day, but significant gap in first year. unfortunately I am final report, still waiting. Apart approved by from a few instrucFaculty Council tors who have made an effort, the Bridges m 1996, did endorse the need for ongoing were largely treated as an excuse not to attention to diversity. cover race and gender in the other first The 1999-2000 Curriculum Committee year courses. was charged with furthering the Macklem Although the original idea was that report agenda, specifically with respect to there would be a rotation amongst Bridges, the first year program. This time, the we soon discovered that the attempt to Committee's mandate explicitly included drop either the Feminist Perspectives or the incorporation of class, culture. race, Race and Cultural Diversity Bridges met gender, and sexual orientation perspecwith howls of protest from students. I tives into the curriculum. The Committee, would be the last to claim that every sangle chaired by Professor Roach, was split on student JOined the protest. but for a very the Bridge program, with a slight majority significant minority these \\ere one of the favouring its replacement \\ ith a few places where they saw reflected the Perspectives course combining the differreasons they had decided to come to law ent perspectives covered in the various school. and they were loath to deprive the Bridges. The majority fully recognized the importance of exposure to race and gender next first year class of that experience.

In 1995-96, the first year of Dean issues as part of a well-rounded legal eduDaniels' tenure, the Curriculum cation. The minority preferred retaining

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the Bridges but shifting from a pcrspcc- latest proposals were crafted with little tivc-onented focus to the current model of input from the larger law school communi1ssuc-based bridges. This latter option car- ty, and no time was allowed for meaningful debate. The International Advisory ned the day at Faculty Council.

In response to student concerns that Committee and the Curriculum Committee femanist and critical race perspectives worked largely in secret. No draft of the would be lost in the shift, a commitment proposal was made available to outsiders was made that each of the new issue- until the Friday before the Faculty Council focused bridges would incorporate the dif- vote. In 23 years here, I have never known ferent perspectives previously covered by curriculum reform to include so little the Bridge program. I'll leave it to those opportunity for discussion. It is particularwho have experienced the new Bridge ly insulting to ideals of collegial govermodel to judge how effectively feminist nance that when student groups got wind and critical race perspectives, in particular, of what was in the works and tried to voice have been carried forward. objections, their concerns were completely It is interesting to note that the Roach sidelined and yet their initiative was Committee recommended against the appropriated as Committee consultation incorporation of International Law in the with students. first year program, and a motion to amend However tepid our institutional comthe report in favour of such incorporation mitment to diversity issues has been, it has was soundly defeated. now been completely supplanted. Through The following year, the first year elec- yet another ¡rearguard effort at Faculty tives were created. A Feminist Analysis Council, assurances have been secured eleciive was included, probably to mute that the new electives will deal with diverthe protests about the reduction of feminist sity issues, but recent history suggests that content in the first year program. The ulti- such assurances are next to worthless. mate trajectory was soon evident, however Even if one of the new courses deals with - in the first two years fully half of the gender, or post-colonialism, the study of electives fit the Global Perspectives model the "global" version of these issues is a that has just been brought before Faculty poor substitute for their systematic analyCouncil. This trend, sis in domestic law, while in fact, contradicted convey ing a Curriculum It is interesting to note that Committee recomthe message mendation the Roach Co mmittee that these approved by problems recommended against the Faculty Council in exist else where. not 200 I that an eclecincorporation of International here. It may tic array of elecbe, as was tives be developed Law in the first year program, said at through the normal Facult y process of instrucand a motion to amend the Council, that tors proposing the current courses to the report in favour of such elective on Short - term Feminist Curriculum incorporation was soundly Analysis of Committee, rather defeated.

Law is "a than the content poor prize to being dictated cenbe fighting trally. over."

But Thus, despite almost fifteen years of reiterated Faculty the question is why arc we reduced to Council endorsement of the need to incor- fighting for scraps, not why bother fightporate race and gender issues into the cur- ing for the only scrap we have. It is evident riculum, starting w1th first year, Faculty that the political will to make the study of Council has now turned its back on that race and gender an integral part of our procommitment in favour of ensuring that stu- gram is absent. By contrast, we have seen dents team to "think like global la....,yers". in the relentless internationalization of our If there was even a modest amount of cov- program since 1995 what transformations erage of race and gender issues securely arc possible when the administration puts embedded in our first year, I'd be the first its weight bchand an initiative.

I have nothing against international, to say it was time to consider including new movements in legal thinking. But the global, and comparative approaches to the truth is that while the Faculty has pro- study of law. I do doubt whether the JUdgclaimed a commitment to diversity, noth- ment can be defended that exposure to ing has been done to build on the earliest these issues is more 1mportant for each and initiatives in this direction. every student than any of'a variety of other In fact, we have, through stealth, been options, mcluding race and gender perretreating from our commitment to cover spectives, which might be included in a diversity issues. Whenever the curriculum slate of electives. One thing is certain, has been up for discussion, students and though: the administration and Faculty faculty have fought against mainstream Council have treated students w1th conindifference. using the consultation tempt in the wa) it has conducted this process and Faculty Council debates to "debate". keep diversity issues on the agenda as part of a quality legal education, and in the end, Faculty Council has until now supported them. It is likely not a coincidence that the

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OPINION & EDITORIAL religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or even political philosophy), then it follows that there is value to having representatives from these different groups and perspectives in our community.

At one level, this representation assists in the realization of the two other conceptions (certainly not mutually exclusive) of diversity I articulated above. Yet. at another level, diverse representation is important in fostering the idea that we are truly an equal opportunity society, and that the Law School, standing at the pinnacle of the Canadian legal academy, understands well its obligations to ensure that the most talented of any equity-seeking group are welcome here.

Now, given these multiple (and, I would argue, inextricably linked) conceptions of diversity, how have we been doing at the Law School in responding to the challenges and opportunities surrounding diversity?

And, more importantly, what work needs to be done to further support the creation of an intellectually diverse academic community?

Let's start with student composition.

Currently, 32% of our incoming students are members of equity-seeking communities, up from 21% in 1995. Of course, this percentage focuses only on visible minority status, and does not take account of other forms of diversity that are clearly reflected in the composition of the student body: religion, culture, age, gender, nationality, ability, sexual orientation and economic background. This dramatic change in student

composition is, I believe, primarily the result of the changing nature of our applicant pool. As Canada has changed, so too have the students who seck application in our program.

Through our experiences of the past ten years, we have come to appreciate that our outreach efforts must start earlier than at the undergraduate level. We have run a Summer Mentorship Program (SMP) at the Faculty for the past eight years. Given the success of the SMP, we have been seeking other ways to greatly expand our high school outreach as we believe this Is a critical factor in allowing us to enhance the pool of qualified apphcants from diverse backgrounds and attract them to law school. This year, we are launching our new partnership with the Toronto District School Board and two nearby high schools with at-nsk students, Central Technical School and Harbord Collegiate Institute.

Now, it is true that the diversity of our full-time faculty docs not yet reflect the composition of the student body. We have nevertheless made some promising moves in this direction. Over the last several years, a non-trivial percentage of faculty positions have gone to colleagues who identify as members of equality-seeking groups. 'While we clearly have much further to go in ensuring that our faculty complement is as diverse as our student body as a whole, these changes (as was true of the change in CONl\NUED ON P.26

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OPINION & EDITORIAL

!!N~~~0!!2~as ways to go in strengthening diversity

ULTRA VIRES

mdeed, the world, that IS able to marshal so Transnational Law and the Civilian The Faculty carmot rest on its laurels. In particular, I am anxious to address the findstudent composition) will not happen much intellectual energy in the service of Tradition. ' overnight. We have made significant efforts understandmg diversity issues.

Finally, I should mention the e-.tm-cur- ing. as reported in the last UV issue, that to put suppo~ in place for promising stu- . And of course, whether students arc ricular activities and programs that we offer there arc a number of visible minority students who w1sh to pursue an academic mterested m advocacy on behalf of minon- students which provide them with an unpar· dents who may not feel like they "fit m" as career, on the theory that nurturing and ty communities, outreach to the community alleled range of opportunities to build diver- much as non-visible minority students. I encouraging students now will expand the or rep.resentation of its individual members, sity perspectives outside of the formal have already met with a number of students pool of candidates later. Next year, for the~~ IS no shortage of these types of oppor- classroom experience. Over the past few and student groups to discuss this, and am instance, we will mount an academic tunttJes at the Faculty. Students can volun- years, we have held conferences, symposia determined to take steps to hear from more stream course for third year m students teer at attend.fo~ academic credit DLS or and workshops on a number of topical students to learn what can be done and to interested in an academic career. We intend o~e. of 1ts spec~ahzed community satellite diversity related issues. These include the work on enhancing the experience for such to make a serious effort to identify all tal- c.hntcs, t~~Y u.nde~e international human impact of anti-terrorism legislation on students.

While admittedly no one at the Faculty cnted students, and particularly students nghts ht•gatJOn wHh the International mmorit1es, human rights in China, racial who have come from backgrounds that are Human Rights Program, and they do pro profiling, the role of shari'a courts, the will have "the" answer to all of these issues, not well represented in the academy, who b?no ~lacements at organizations that scr- impact of section I 5 jurisprudence, and gay I hope that together, we will take the steps ha\C the potential to become leading schol- VICe di.verse populations. Faculty members marriage, to name just a few. In addition, as necessary to make strides in the right direcars. superv1se students working on two impor- a result of a consultative process initiated a llon. In taking those strides, I have no doubt The other dimension of diversity that 1 tant new student journals-the Journal of few years ago, the Diversity Working that our debates over how we best achieve discussed earlier- academic engagement in Law and Equality and the Indigenous Law Group introduced a law and diversity lee- diversity can and will be animated, passionthe task of charting our multi-cultural Journal. ture series for the first year class. We also ate and intense. Reasonable people will diSFor first year students in particular, the hold public lectures on law and diversity. agree over what mechanisms ought to be experiment-is greatly assisted by the · f bridge weeks and the electJ·ves raJ·se ··ssucs "VY''e run a serJ·es of academ1·c workshops, used to achieve diversity, and an academic recent appomtmen 1 o severa1 co11eagues whose research and teaching interests are relating to race, ethnicity and culture. There including one on diversity topics, but other community is precisely the place to have focused on equality, immigration, and has been some recent discussion, in the con- workshops also regularly address issues these discussions. Based on our experience multi-culturnl issues, including: Sujit text of changes to the first year elective pro- that directly or indirectly implicate a diver- to date, I am confident that our debates, Choudhry, Brenda Cossman, Darlene gram, as to bow relevant international equi- sity agenda, including the law and feminism however vigorous, will be framed in mutuJohnston, Audrey Macklin, Kerry Rittich, ty and human rights issues are to our work workshop, the International Human Rights al respect, reason and principle.

Ayclet Shachar and Lome Sossin (and this here as a Canadian law Faculty. I continue Program workshop, and the constitutional I fully appreciate that for many students there is much at stake. To be sure, there is is in addition to the substantial number of to maintain that issues of local and global round table. colleagues who have been at the Faculty for justice are inextricably linked, and that we In closing, I have set out above a sense of much at stake for the Faculty, as we work to have an obligation to our students to offier where we have been• how fiar we have come · build a truly pluralistic academic communiseveral years, and have significant interests in diversity related issues). Consequently, them a substantive grounding in social jus- and how much further we need to go. I hope ty that offers a welcoming and engaging the number of courses we offer that tackle tice and equality issues in a global frame. that it is clear that we have come some way learning environment for our students. I issues of equity and diversity, from both a Our new Global Perspectives Program in in strengthening diversity in all its facets at welcome faculty, students and staff to first year will accomplish this goal through the Faculty and that we care deeply about approach me or any member of the admindomestic and internationa\ perspective, nave cx:p\oded. One wou\d be hard-pressed courses we are envisioning such as Islamic these issues. But 1 also hope that I have con- istration with ideas and suggestions to help us move forward on these issues. \o fmd another \aw sc\\oo\ 'm Canada or Law, Feminism and Globalization, veyed clearly that there is more to be done

o:

Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP is pleased to congratulate the winners of The 2005 FMC Gale Cup Moot Competition from the University of Toronto: Yousuf Aftab Mark Elton John Adair Amy Salyzyn Student Coaches: Ellen Snow and Sidney Mclean

The team will go on to represent Canada at the Commonwealth Moot in September in London, England.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

OPINION & EDITORIAL

22 MARCH 2005

Elitismvs. openness debate rages on at Law Review

BY JAMES MCCLARYAND OREN BICK Editors-in-Chief. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Revi~t: Vol. 63

When we first arrive in law school, the advice comes fast and furious: "Do Pro Bono. Join a clinic. Join a journal." Most people listen, and it has become a rite of passage among at least half of the first year law class to volunteer as assistant ed1tors for the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review. Not having any background in law or legal research, we all throw ourselves into the fire just a month after entering Jaw school, engineers debating Dworkin with musicians.

Encouraged to voice an opinion. we do so with confidence. This competition argument is weak, we opine. This equality piece is flawed-a terrible rambling thing. This constitutional paper has the syntax of a teenager on speed! And then the Senior Editor reminds us that it may well have been written by a colleague of ours. Well, we offer, it does offer some good points, maybe.

But still, rejected. How docs anything ever get published?

Later in the term, lost in the library doing footnote checks, it becomes clear that the whole law review thing is a charade. First of all, it's not a big deal anyone can join. And the entire project ts pointless. Nobody comes to the cell group meetings prepared, · none of us know about section 15, and who cares about the McGill Guide?

Having gone through this process ourselves for two years before applying for senior positions at UTFLR, we were both surpn ·C<J to discover that the question of how to make the first year experience more engaging comes up year after year. Editorsin-chief have for decades asked themselves the same questions· Are we asking too little responsibility? Would it be better to accept a smaller number of volunteers, and ask each to do more work? How would the application process work?

With these questions in our head, we travelled to Kingston on March 5 to represent UTFLR at a conference called "Making Connections The Student-Run Law Journal Experience". The goal of the conference was to bring together senior members of the various law reviews across Canada.

Most law schools have a student run law journal or law review. We met students from law schools as far away as UBC and as close as Osgoode. Most carne prepared to speak about some aspect of running a law journal, from fmancing to the editorial process. We led a discussion on what we saw as the central issue: the place of volunteers.

Law reviews have a twofold mandate: the first is to publish an academic JOurnal of the highest quality; the second is to provide

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FRASER MILNER CASGRAIN Ul

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students with valuable research, evaluative, and editorial skills. Given this dual mandate, the question is whether we should accept all comers or whether there should be a competitive exclusionary process. Should we be democratic or elite? If we adopt an exclusionary policy, how should candidates for pos1tions, especially first years whose ability in Jaw has not been tested, be evaluated?

Undergraduate grades? A writing sample?

These issues that we saw as central turned out to be a non-starter to most other journals. Nearly every other school in Canada has an exclusionary policy for working on journals. In contrast, the UTFLR masthead (with the exception of its senior ranks) is open to all. This appears to put us, as well as our U ofT colleagues such as ILJ, JLE and nLIR, in a unique position.

Aren't we supposed to be the elitist school, where everything is a competition? Why is it, then, that we invite everyone to get involved with institutions that, at other schools, are reserved for the highest academic achievers?

The answer, we thought, might lie in the fact that while many other schools have a comprehensive flfSt year research and writing program, our school's equivalent program is tlldden deep in the recesses of small group. When students are looking for some greater expenence than that, they arc told to ')oin a journal". For us, then, the second part of the mandate takes on a greater importance than for journals at other schools. While they can afford to merely supplement the research & writing program that Js already in existence, we find ourselves providing more basic skills, which students are not finding elsewhere in the curriculum. When we invite first year students to comment on the substantive aspects of an article, and not just on whether it was written clearly, we are taking them beyond their first year comfort zone, and challenging them to develop research and evaluative skills that may not otherwise be demanded in first year.

It may be cliched, then, to suggest that what volunteers get out of UTFLR depends on what they put in, but it is also true. Other journals demand commitment from their students by admitting fewer students and putting more responsibility on each. We spread the work around many more. In that situation, it is easy for each of us to take our small part lightly, but if we do, what are we getting out of Law Review? Some would say it's about the resume, but most first year volunteers take the educational portion of the Law Review's mandate seriously. This is something that must be considered in the ongoing debate between elitism and openness, because as long .as its volunteers are taking this part of the mandate seriously, so should the UTFLR

27

Mediocrity is excellent Dean says average is A-OK! BYKATE MCGRANN AND KATHRYN BIRD As students that were fortunate enough to be educated at an undergraduate level in faculties that were supportive of student's v1cws, and committed to promoting a wide range of perspectives within the program, the scant consideration paid to student voices at this faculty is dismaying, to say the least.

Diversity within the student body and the faculty at our school is average, and Dean Daniels believes that this 1s something that we should be proud ofl Students, by contrast, are concerned about the lack of diversity; in the student body and faculty, but also in the academic discourse ~d pedagogy at our school. It appears, however, from the events that have transpired over the last few days that the administration is not concerned with student's views.

We are not labouring under any illusions here, we understand that the law school IS a business and that students are always relatively powerless in academic institutions, but the value that students can add to debate and program content should not be undervalued simply because of a lack of administrative clout. The encouragement of a diversity of opinions within the pedagogy and academic discourse is something that the administration should be interested m fostering. Courses such as "Law and Diversity" and "Introduction to Feminist Analysis of Law", which are, as of Tuesday, no longer going to be part of the first year e\ective program, provide valuable insight and critical analysis of the function and role of law in society. Classes such as these highlight issues that are otherwise not discussed in the

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first year program and provide an avenue for students to critically assess both the profession and the process/system to which we are dedicating at least three years of our lives. It is instructive to note that first year students currently involved in these courses were not consulted as to their abolbhment, nor were the students present at the Faculty Council meeting taken seriously when they voiced their concerns.

The curriculum changes directly affect the education of student~ and yet the administration is not interested in our views. It is concerning that the educational options offered to flfSt year students will be diminished by the lack of critical analysis in the first year program.

Although a change in the first year elective program, in an effort to give it a more cohesive underlying thread, is not necessarily negative, losing the perspectives and viewpoints in the classes currently oficred will most undoubtedly have adverse affects on the education provided in first year. Law school should be about more than providing a means by which to wear a suit to work every day, it should also be an enlightening academic experience that expo~s students to multiple perspectives and viewpoints ..

Upon flfSt glance, the student body at the law school is shockingly apathetic; however, c~ld this not partially be because we cannot be bothered when it is fairly obvious that these efforts are a waste of time'? For a\\ the lip service paid in orientation week to how fabulously intelligent, insightful, and v-Jiuable the student) at this school arc, maybe the administration should tty listening to what they have to say.

Thanks and good-bye from editor-in-chief '04-'05 I started working with Ultra ~iros back in September of my first year in the humble position of online editor. Feeling more than a little out of place at the law school back then as the slightly awkward lefty gay kid from Hamilton. it's hard to believe that eighteen issues later I'm reflecting on having spent the last year as editor-in-chief.

Coming into this position, my predecessors cautioned me to prepare for endle, s hours of thankless toil-that while most students may see UV as a vital part of the law school community, there is little recognition paid to the people who put it together. There were certamly times this year that the editorial board felt it was banging its collective head against a wall in trying to prompt the administratton to action-recall the book theft debacle but there were equally many moments of gratification. Whether it was writing in to disagree with a position we took, or offering a few precious words of praise in the halls, knowing that students cared about something we also thought was importnnt was thanks enough.

This year we look great strides forward in furthering Ultra Vires' variou:. goals of holding the administration to account, keeping students informed, and providing a fomm for discussion. The diVersity debate that has exploded onto the pages of this month's issue is a brilliant example of the important role that the paper can play in our community here at the law school. We also broke a number of important ne\\S tories, including some that may have never seen the light of day if the law school had had 1ts way.

It's only been six years since Melissa Kluger founded the paper, and for those of you who have ventured your way to our basement office in Falconer to read our back issues, you will see how far we've come in a short time. lfyou support our mandate, I urge you to get involved to ensure we continue our work long into the future.

-John Norquay

. Ultra Yires woul~ like to thank this year's contributors:

Iman Abokor, Yousuf Aftab, An1z ~lan1, Ben A_rkrn, Anat Aronow1cz, Mona Awad, Oren Biclc, Kathryn Bird, Hilary Book, Judith Borts, Andrew Botterell, Dylan Budd, R~dhramoo~y Che~ Todd ~hemeck1, K:rren Ch01, Nafisah Chowdhury, Angela. Chu, ~slie Church, Adrienne Copithome, Nicholas Daube, Nadine Dechausay, Oliver DeGcest.

S1mr~ Desa1, Ian ~•send, Chris Esse~ Miranda Gass-Donnelly, Noah Gellne~, K1ran G1ll, Jeremy Glick, Mathew Goldstein, Ingrid Grant, Julia Guaragna, Lord Haldane, Nadine H~s, ~eter ~awkings, Andrew Henn1gar, Sven Hom~ach, Sarah. Horan, P~tnck H~us~is, Jenn Jamieson, Fern Karsh, Darmy Kastner, Malcolm Katz, Jared Kelly, David Khan, Jenrufer King, Lmdsay Lang, Shawn f..:aubrnan, Agape L1m, Gave Lmdo, Agg1e Luczi<Jew1c~ Alex MacMillan, Danielle Marks, Max Matas, James McClary, Sarah McEachern, Kate ~cGrann, Ge~y ~clrtnes, Carohne Me7er, GeoffMoysa, C~t Ortv~, Umut Ozsu, Mike Pacholok, Steve Penner, Matt Pierce, Selwyn Pieters, Scheherezade B. RastegarDJavahery, Deruse Reaume, Ben Reentov1ch, Tanq Remtulla, N1cole R1chmond, Meghan Riley Larissa Ruderman, Bryce Rudyk, Amy Sal Th D-.... Lo d s D . seevaratnam, Christme · Sh I b dam Shi H s· An s· . ' yzyn, e cuA r auron, a\e a a y, A p, ugo .m' tonr mgl~ton, Lome Sossm, Juda Strawczynski, Oscar Strawczynski, Evan Thomas, Rob Wakulat, Caroline Wawzonek, Lee Waxberg, Zunra Yetnikoff, Dtana Yeung, Youpp1, Saba Zarghami. We apologize to anyone we omitted!

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-28Diversity more than just

OPINION & EDITORIAL

minorities

BY YOUSUF AFTAB 1 am a minority student. More importantly. though, l am: a subcontinental who has never lived in the subcontinent, a Middle Eastern with no ties to the Middle East. a Muslim harbouring Buddhist views, a minority with no conception of his minority-ness. To identify myself as a minority is to tell you nothing about who lam.

Diversity cannot be about minorities.

Of course, diversity must take account of race, religion, socio-economic status, gender and sexual orientation.

Nonetheless. that is not the end of diversity. We do not want diversity simply to point to how many colours, religions and sexual orientations populate our school.

We must value diversity because it affords new perspectives and new ideas that increase our understanding of the world around us. Diversity, in other words, is a means to help us approximate the ideal society.

In our present diversity debate, there is a troubling conflation of identity and minority status. I am part of a brown minority. But brownness (or blackness or asianncss) is fundamentally distinct from minority-nc<;s. \he \atter term speaks to one'\\ \)o~\t\on v\<;-a-v\s soc\et)'~ brown"e"'~

U\tect\)1 \m"Q\\cates o"e'\\ \det\\i\)1.

\ nc \)Cim\ \':>,we must t\O\ re\f)l m\t\or\ty-

ness at the expense of brownness (or homosexuality or femininity). An ideally Jnwse school values perspectives born of identity. but is oblivious to minontyncss.

What docs that mean for our law school? It means the measure of divers1ty is not Simply the composition of the student bod), but the receptivity to new 1dca . From the recent UV poll, it seems we ha\e failed in fultilling our aspiration.

That is not only the administration's fault. It 1s the entire community, including ~tudcnt~ of all backgrounds. The only people at this school who have made me acutdy and uncomfortably conscious of being different are other minority students. Still, many of their concerns escape me. All this to say we can only understand these concerns by paying attention to those to whom minority-ness is integral to identity. But they have to speak.

It is true that minority-ness cannot be fully understood by a non-minority.

Subjectivity, however, is the great rift which all communication must aspire to transcend. It is unfair to deny people the ability to discuss issues and effect change merely because perfect empathy is a chimera.

Protest must be the last step in engagement for it reflects a breakdown in communication. When it is premature, it provides little guidance. When it is premature, it is likely to impede development of understanding. The protest this week was premature and unfair. I voted against the change to first-year electives because it was not clear to me that we understood what we were trying to fix or that all the ramifications of this change had been considered. But this vote took place after an hour and a half of reasoned debate.

Everyone was allowed to air concerns and reservations about the proposal. Nonvoting attendees were accorded very limited speaking rights, but no vote was taken until all student comments had been heard. Certainly, one may have qualms about the proposal's development. However, it is unfair of students to impugn the process because the vote went the other way. It is inflammatory to suggc!'.t that the Dean was "intransigent"

ULTRA VIRES

Incorporating the Orientation fee into first year SLS member fees

BY JAMES MCCLARY

Elections are imminent. There is a race for the presidential spot- third years, remember that you get to vote for next year's prcs1dent. In the m1dst of this March madness, the SLS would like you to consider approving an increase to the SLS fee for students registered in the first year of the J.D. program. The referendum question will be on the ballot during next week's elections.

The purpose is straightforward: to incorporate the 'optional' orientation fee into SLS fees for first year students.

Why? Because everybody comes to orientation anyways, even though it purports to be optional, and it seems cheap of the SLS to ask for a $50 cheque right after the school asks them for thousands of dollars.

Nevertheless, orientation week, which is a $40,000 project, relies on the $8000 it collects from incoming students paying the $50 fee to attend orientation. Thus, the SLS feels that if first year students are going to pay that $50 fee anyway, it would be better to collect it when all other such fees are collected.

You may feel that we are me-re\y because he hc\d a different v iewaskmg you to approve an \)Otn\. increase in fees to students Inasmuch as the protest was about who cannot vote on it themdiversity in general, 11 was simply premature. The administration and student com- selves. Ask yourself. however, what you would prefer: to munity have only been made aware of the pay the $50 along with the uncomfortable environment recently. of your tuition and incirest Perhaps that is majority oblivion, but we dental fees. or to pay it sepacan scarcely expect them to understand rately by cheque.

If the forwhat they cannot understand. The next mer. you should vote to step. for the administration and for stuapprove the fcc increase. dents. is to engage in discussion. What is It is also worth considering it that makes this a chilling environment? that if the fee is incorporated How can those conditions be amelioratinto the SLS fee, the faculty ed'? Only when discursive opportunities have been exhausted can we legitimately will have to take that fee into account when setting out a start hurling accusations at one another. \hat said, there is one score on which student's budget for the year.

Remember that financial the administration has clearly failed: faculty diversity. I intend to teach law one assistance depends on the facday. Despite my affinity for this school, ulty's judgment of what a reathis IS not the first place I would consider. After all, I am still brown and Muslim.

sonablc student budget is. Currently, the orientation fee is not incorporated in that budget.

SLS fees for students in other years will not change. Those fees are currently $35 per session, of which $7.50 (per session) is a refundable Public Interest Advocacy Fee, for a total of$70 per academiC year, with a refundable portion of $15. With the fee increase, first year students will pay $120 (with $15 refundable). In practical terms everyone pays the orientation fee, such that we already ask for $120 from students, just at two different times.

Please support incorporating the orientation fee into first year SLS fees.

A LAW DEGREE WON'T GET YOU INTO A COURTROOM. WE WILL. If litigation is your passion and becoming a top counsel is your goal, make sure you work at a firm that has built its reputation on advocacy. lenczner Slaght is the leading Canadian litigation firm, highly rated by both Chambers and Partners and LEXPERT. ¡ For more infOf"mation contact Perry Hancock, Student Co-ordinator: 416.865.3092 or phancock@lsrsg.com

www.lsrsg.com

YOU WANr TO BE ON OUR SIDE.

DIVERSIONS

22 MARCH 2005

29

FASHIONABLY YOURS

School's fading out

Sometimes I talk to my shoes the summer is the return of the platform, wedge-heel sandal. Wedge sandals are My shopping hiatus has ended, just in much more comfortable than stiletto ones, time for me to purchase some new spring so you don't have to sacrifice any height fashions for a late semester jaunt to Cuba. for comfort. My favourites have gold or I'd be hard-pressed to find a person more silver metallic straps and a cork sole, but I undeserving of a vacation than me, but I'm couldn't find a pair anywhere in Toronto. taking one anyway. Bes1des, I'm bringing Why can't a girl get a sandal with metallic along the perfect beach accessory: my straps and a minimum 3-inch, cork, wedge Secured Transactions textbook. heel in this city? Is it too much to ask?

While trying on bikinis in preparation Stup1d trend alert: apparently it is in for my trip, I realized that I needed to pull vogue to have a little tiny purse that a Lmdsay Lohan and drop half my body attaches to a big purse, and to carry them weight over the next two weeks. Two both around at the same (lookmg quite options were available: immediately begin dumb, I would imagine). On Dharma & the South Beach diet, or begin a tanning Greg, their dog had its own dog, which regime, since a tanned body really does was kind of cute. But the idea of your look thinner. Considering that the first two purse having its own purse is just stupid. I weeks of South Beach doesn't even penn it mean, I'm all for anthropomorphizing the consumption of fruit (fruit!), I chose clothing {l do refer to my shoes as my the latter option. I friends after all), but also began doing a th1s is just ridiculous. lot of squats, which Of course, if th1s I'm unhappy to trend becomes all the report have made no In case you a n t rage, I reserve the right to wear my two difference in the noticed, this column is as appearance of either purses together and my butt or thighs. pretend like I thought much about me as it is So I'm pretty much it was cool from the relying on the illu- about fashion. Why? It's beginning and act sion of my tan to like I am so before save the day. The called narcissism, people. my time. downside is, of Sadly, this is my course, premature last column for Ultra aging and Vires, as 1 am gradumelanoma. J am a ating this year. Tf anyone is interested in total hypocrite when it comes to tanning: taking over Fashionably Yours, you should my face hasn't been tanned in about ten contact the future Diversions editor. You years, because I am paranoid about wrin- may wonder if you are qualified to be a kles, but I'll gladly tan the rest of the skin fashion columnist. For what it's worth, I on my body for aesthetic purposes So I'm have no qualifications whatsoever, other going to end up with a raisin-like body and than a voracious love of shopping. Thank youthful face when I'm older. But hey, life you for reading my column; I hope you is about compromise. had as much fun reading it as I did writing What does any of this have to do with it. spring fashion? Absolutely nothing! But in case you hadn't noticed, this column is as much about me as it is about fashion Why? It's called narcissism, people.

But I digress. In the course of my pre-vacation shopping (as distinct from the shopping I will do on vacation and after vacation to ease my depression about being back in crappy weather), I got a peek at what we can expect this spring, and things arc looking pretty good. The reason the situation looks good is that it would appear that absolutely everything is m style.

Seriously, the fashion magazines have hsted the following looks trendy: bohemian, Gypsy, ethnic (although which ethnicity is cool this season is not very clear), bright colours. tribal/safari (especially a lot of python accessories), nautical, 1950s garden party, prairie style, full skirts. and metallic accessories. Oh, and apparently Mary-Kate Olsen has popularized a "homeless chic" look on the NYU campus, and wavy hair is in. (When was wavy hair out?) Let me sum it up this way: everything but country western is in style, so you really can't go \HOng with anything but cowboy boots.

One of my absolute favourite trends for

BY JULIA GUARAGNA

BY ANGELA CHU As the end of the school year is fast approaching, the stars were perfectly aligned last night with the showing of "Dazed and Confused". It came as a delightful surprise since it was being aired on Toronto 1, a channel that only seems to

h d ,

show either "Overboard" (richie-rich Goldie Hawn gets amnesia Kurt Russell tricks her into thinking she's his hillbilly wife and mother of his four toothless rugrats-when she final\y remembers that she's loaded, she takes off-then rea\iLes that the whole experience changed her life and that she really loves Russell-all the while, hilarity ensues as she tries to get used to the poor life) or "Samurai Cowboy" {I thiitk the title says it all).

Anyway, every end-of-school experience needs a perfect song to cap it off. "Dazed and Confused" had Ahce Cooper's "School's Out". but this isn't the most appropriate song for the law school for many reasons. First, it's way too rambunctious for us bookworms. It makes you want to ride the rails of staircases, do skate tricks (on Pro Skater 4- not the real thing ... our bodies couldn't handle that, old timer!), and paddy-whack the heck out of the incoming freshmen class. OK, maybe not the paddy-whacking.

That part of the movie is the worst. It looks so painful that you almost expect the poor kids to spit up blood or something. Plus, I'm sure there's a number of potential assault charges associated with an initiation involving that kind of brutality. (Uuugh. I tried really hard not to make that comment, but couldn't resist. I am so lame. So lame.)

Moving on we need a song that's

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more subdued and rencctivc. Like something from Pet Sounds Or any late-ish Elvis Costello. The problem with these picks is that while the music has the right feel, the lyrics have no "end-of-year'era" message. "Wouldn't It be N1ce", for instance, is pretty peppy and exc1tmg but in a longing and tragic way. Perfect you think, right? Wrong! This song speaks to the frustration of kids who want to get their own apartment 'cause they're sick of gettin' busy in the back of their parents' car. Whew. I'm glad we're past those days.

Ahem. [Uncomfortable silence.]

And take Costello's "Shipbuilding." It has a pretty passiOnate sense of finality and blissful melancholy. But I have no idea what the song is about. Something about pearl diving. I'm actually listening to it now to see if I can make out any of the lyrics. Nope. There's just another couple "when we could be diving for pearls" and mention of a raft.

No, none of these will do. We need something more contemporary. A song by a bMtd that is more representative of our generation. Radiohead is a good choice because they're still cranking out the tune~ and continue to be widely listened to. And even for the snobbiest of music hipsters, they at one point in the1r listening careers owned a Radiohead album. Most of them wi\\ te\\ you that they stopped buying at The Bends, but we a\\ know they're lying.

They for sure bought OK Computer, illld maybe even Kid A (but only because they didn't listen to it before buying it). "Street

Sp1rit [fade out)" is a good end-of-year song and also maintains a minimum level of schoolboy defiance. Kind of like: "Look. Canadian Income Tax Law text: you may have gotten the best of me thi year, but I'll be back in September. And I'm going to show Commercial Bankruptcy who 1ts daddy is."

v s1\Jiu

~

DIVERSIONS

ULTRA VIRES

Put down the bong and start making rules: counterculture debunked The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can~ be

Jammed

By Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter Harpercollins Canada

REVIEW BY IAN DISEND Long before I'd heard of this book or its authors, I was watching the boundlessly irreverent South Park, where the character ''Butters", spumed by his friends, sets out to bnng the world to its knees.

Assuming an alter ego, he undertakes such mischievous pursuits as reversing two soup orders in a restaurant and rearranging his parents' drawers. To his great discontent, his exploits don't even make South Park's dinky newspaper, let alone bring down civilization.

If I had already read the book, I might have congratulated Butters on learning its main lesson. Namely, "culture jamming" doesn't work. That term refers to non-conformist behaviour designed to choke "the system", as championed by anti-consumerist voices such as Naomi Klein or Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn, and portrayed in films like Fight Club and American Beauty. Not only doesn't it work, argue authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in their recent release, The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed, it actually promotes the very consumerism so hated by the movement.

'Tne Rebe\ Se\\ sets out to show that co\m\etcu\tute \"" not }us\ a caten-a\\ de~criptive term, but an actual theory that has permeated virtually every aspect of our society, and particularly progress1ve politics, to the latter's great detriment.

Counterculture, the authors argue, is a critique of mass society based on a conception that "the system" cannot be separated from its ideology, and that its rules - both legal and social-repress our natural tendencies in an effort to ntake us conform to its whims. (Sound familiar?

Go watch The Matrix again).

Countercultural advocates therefore feel that they are making genuine political change or being subversive through "non-conform1st" choices such as wearing unusual clothing or listening to alternative music. When no real change results, or when their tastes become more mainstream, "the system" (and yes, the scare quotes shall remain) is blamed for "co-opting" the fringe.

The Rebel Sell calls the counterculture's bluff. In addition to relying on long-debunked economic theories, say the authors, the counterculture doesn't understand that advertisers and companies have never striven for conformity, because people consume to be distinct, not to be like everyone else. Advertisers know this, and have pushed the rebellio us or individualist image as long as anyone can remember. The "brand bullies" so criticized on the pages of Adbusters or Klein's No Logo do not control this, they're trymg to nde the wave. "People [have] a desire for dtstinction," explains Potter. "If you want to blame consumerism on anybody, blame consumers."

Just as alternative music becomes

mainstream when enough people like it, so too can all "non-conformist" goods, which explains the success of Nirvana or Converse sneakers. Advertisers are always trying to sniff out the next big thing, and it is seldom found combing through the mainstream mass of follow-

If you want to blame consumerism on anybody, blame consumers."

Cultural rebellion d oesn ,t "·Jam , th e system, it is the system, and it sells very well. ers. People who think that there is some fundamental difference between "mainstream" and "alternative" (which leads Adbusters to feel comfortable marketing its own line of shoes, for example) simp!) fail to see bow this works.

Encouraging people to buy non-standard or "subversive" goods just turns them into standard goods-and still encourages consumerism. Cultural rebellion doe~m't "jam" the system, it is the system, and i.t se\\s very we\\. lt's been twenty five years since singer Billy Joel recognized, "you can't dress trashy ' till you spend a lot of money."

The book doesn't stop at consumerism, although it has often been (erroneously) marketed as a reply to No Logo. It instead moves chapter by chapter through the countercultural influence on assorted aspects of life, from music to environmentalism to technology. The counterculture critiques of mass society (and subsequent calls for upheaval) simply miss the fact that most of the social phenomena they identify stem from basic collective action problems, not our natural instincts. The Man's rules, far from stifling us, try to fix these problems.

Take another look at consumerism.

Most goods, from real estate to "coolness" arc positional- that is, they depend on exclusivity for their value. This leads to a lot of keeping up with the Joneses: you need to consume to avoid looking bad. And the more you consume, the more the Joneses do. As in the famed "prisoner's dilemma," the solution to any collecttve action problem is imposing rules from above.

"We think that rules are not just restrictive, but ... also enabling," says Heath, a philosophy professor at U ofT and former punk. School uniforms were seen as repressive in the '60s, but now we realize that they can curb the "fashion show" arms race we all remember from high school. And those bystanders directing traffic during Toronto's big blackout two summers ago? They were hardly serving The Man in creating order and predictability- they were getting traffic moving. It is the way we mold society

through our mles, not our sporadic individual choices, which really makes a difference. In this sense, "think globally, act locally" is dead wrong.

Yet legislative and institutiOnal solutions are constantly rejected by the counterculture as not going far enough to correct our problems- a phenomenon that the authors refer to as "the cardinal sin", since it allows those very problems to linger. So rather than, say, regulating market failures, too many people want to destroy the market, and that doesn't help anyone. Too much advertising? Stop giving tax deductions for it, rather than decrying "brand bullies".

The book is not written by conservatives, but rather by genuine progressives who feel that the social justice movement is getting swallowed up in a confusion between culture and politics. "We think that's a major mistake that happened in the '70s, that the counterculture became identified with leftist politics," explains Potter, a research fellow at the Centre for Ethics in Research at the University of Montreal. "What we're trying to do is reclaim a domain of the political independent of the cultural. [Too many] see all forms of cultural activism as political activism, and it's a mistake."

A costly mistake, too. "Rebels" can justify their lifestyles as somehow political, so that they can claim the moral high

ground without actually putting in any work. In the meantime, pushing snobby goods wages a form of class warfare on the poor. The more sinister result is that a lot of criminal activity gets romantiCized, as deviant behaviour gets passed off as polit1cal dissent. (As the authors note, there's an easy smell test to tell the two apart: would the world be a better place if everyone did it?)

Desp1te the daunting breadth of The Rebel Sell's subject matter, it is extremely readable. The authors' analyses do not demand buying into a mind-bogglingly complex theory, but rather argue intuitively, requiring mostly common sense and a rejection of the ridiculous. The authors are pointed without being condescending, and pepper their entertaining narrative with life experience, philosophy, economics and pop cultural allusions. It is not often you can describe a work of non-fiction as a "page-turner", but if it were not for, say, law school, I would have lapped this up in one sitting.

Anyone who has ever wanted to improve the world ought to give this work a read. If we start thinking that dressi ng "subversively" or applauding criminality is more important than passing good legislation and debating policy, we're all in trouble.

' ' Ogilvy Renault's diversity of clients has meant that I am able to gain experience in a variety of business sectors and work with a team of colleagues whose backgrounds complement my own training as a chemical engineer. '

'

Andy Radhakant aradhakant@ogilvyrenault.com

OGILVY RENAULT

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o&ilvyrw\llult.com

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22 MARCH 2005

DIVERSIONS

31

Law of the small screen f~cus tightly on the lives or viewpoints of the cops, the detectives, the la\vyers and Television loves a crook. The CSI and Law the judged involved in the "search for JUS& Order franchises are ubiqUitous each tice". Unlike other genres, crime shows seems to have more spin-oils than Star rarely provide much insight tnto the lives Trek-and there's Boston Legal, Judging of law-breakers, even when we get a Amy, COPS, the Practice and Ally MeScal gristly close-up of their etTccts. The conplus the classtcs L.A. Law, Street I ega!, temporary criminal anti-hero is less Night Court, the flaky Ally McBeal, and fleshed out than the wcstem 's train-robber the home-grown or the soap-opera's This is Wonderland. scheming adulteress; The contemporary And almost all of their motivations an: them rerun endless- criminal anti-:hero is less more for advancing the ly: wtth TiVo or a plot than developing decent cable packfleshed out than the viewer empathy. age, you could easily These shows aren "t spend more of your Western's train,robber just gripping drama: time watching TV they are also morality or the soap,opera's law than doing your tales, and, as in most school readings. moraltty tales, the "good scheming adulteress Why is TV so guys" are the people we obsessed wtth the get to know. The main law? It's probably characters arc both repmotivated in part by resentatives of, and the same shivery titillation that encourages models for, social order: they are profesjournalists to focus increased attention on sional, and mostly upper-middle class. criminal violence, even as crime rates Their ubiqu ity on our most ubtquitous drop; it's an easy sell. Plus, crime is natu- form of public entertainment legittmizes rally engaging and dramatic-there's a law as our most wtdely-shared, non-partiviolation of the social order, a quest for the san, ostensibly apolitical form of social cause, and then, hopefully, retribution and control. It also normalizes the way law is resolution, which makes a clean narrative enforced and administered, providing porarc. traits of brusque-but-brave cops, nebbishBut with the exception of movies-of- but-dedicated investigators, and cynicalthe-week, most televised legal encounters

BY LISA CAVION

but-committed (and very well-dressed) sexualized contestation of attorneys' professional authority on-screen. attorneys.

It's too early to say whether L&O: Trial It is perhaps unsurpnsmg, then, that these shows can be profoundly conserva- by Jury will be too dark and too cynical to tive in their vtew of who gets to wield achieve the success of its predecessors. I power. The new Law & Order: Tnal by love dark n' cynical but even so it probably Jury has attracted criticism for being the won't ever replace my favourite hour of first L&O with an entirely unsympathet- law-on-the-tube: The West Wing episode ic and enttrely female-cast of attor- "The Supremes". Watching the White neys. The first episode confronts sexual House scramble to fill a vacancy on the politics head-on v.ith a gruesome domestic Supreme Court, \H! get to watch a male assault: in the course of the course of the and female justice with very ditl"erent episode. we hear actors characteriting the political bents clash in debate-respectfuL victim and the female a~tomcys as, vari- courteous. and e:\hilarating argumentation ously, entrapping bitches, emasculatmg that reminds us of the need for diverse aggressors, and skanky flakes. The show opinions, political engagement, and the as a whole is deeply cynical about the legal reasoned wisdom of the justice system. process; the d1stnct attorney admits that Maybe it's all a crock, but it make~ great the system gets it wrong, the cops shrug TV. when other cops screw up, attorneys plot to manipulate jurors other attorneys. When female DA objects that thought a trial was a search for the truth," the female judge corrects h "Counsel, a trial is a for admissible evidence Although the misogyn · accused is undoubtedly least attractive character the bunch, it's rare to be confronted with such profound, aggressive, and

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DIVERSIONS

ULTRA VIRES

SMORGASBORD

CROSSWORD & COMIC

22 MARCH 2005

1can still remember reading the email. rt

was October 2002. I was in first year.

And for some reason the school newspaper (Ultra Vires'! What a stupid name!) was offering to pay me to review restaurants. This law school thing was turning out to be really. really sweet! In the 30 months since then, I've learned so, so much. Herein, I'll pass on a bit of the important culinary knowledge. It'll start out organized as a reminiscence around some of my favourite columns and then devolve mto a sort of formless rant. · Remember when I went on that journey to the east side of the city to try to go to a Sn Lankan restaurant and it had burned down, so I had to make do with that Pear Tree (507 Parliament) place? I may have given it a good review, because I' m a nice guy, but I feel comfortable saying after a year that it actually sucked.

Well. last week I returned to Rashna a (307 Wellesley St. E.). It turns out that I'm finally ready to gtve a bad revtew. It wasn't very good Sri Lankan food, I feel. could actually be a very interesting and fun and delicious alternative to Indian food. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan cuisine is not realizing its fu\\ nature at Rashnaa, where there's just a bit too mu~:.h of what \ was !;Ure was ketchup and s\)a~het\i .

· Speaking of Indian Food, remember I 1~ cn1 to N ataraj (394 B loor W.)?

Well. I still really like it there (especially the Butter Chicken and the Saag Paneer and double e~pecially for takeout). But it turns out that you should all be hopping onto the College streetcar and heading 0\ er to Gerrard St. E. \\here there arc a lot more delicious places to go to. among which l'd ·uggest the Lahore Tikka llouse ( 1365 Gerrard E.). wl!~·n

· What about the breakfast rcvicv.. '!

There was a lot of gold in there, let rne tell you. I still mamtain that if you live in the student corndor, Au nties and Uncles (74 Lippincott) is your best bet, even if you leave smelling like the open kitchen, because the waffles are delicious. If you venture further afield, try ~iaga ra Street Cafe ( 167 Niagara). It is now open on Sundays only, which rs a shame because there tend to be lineups and such, but the food is really, really excellent, especially the homemade biscuits and the potato pancake. Thrs place is also open for dinner, which, as I think the people who I made come with me there before law ball would agree, was very good. They have a great deal on wines, the food isn't too expensive and it's really amazing. lf you have a big date and you need to impress in an intimate environment, this is definitely your best bet. · For reasons that I don't have room to go into, Nragara Street really reminds me of Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar (9 Church). I will (and do, actually) yell to anyone within range of me that this is my favourite restaurant in Toronto. Here's why: there ts a truly awesome selection of wines, mcluding a selection by the glass which may appear expensive but arc often a great deal; the menu changes every night and everything that l have had there ha-, been ama7ing~ but they main tain the French fries every night. wh ich is lucky, because you should cat them. every day if possible; a/so you cun cat at the bar which overlooks the kitchen and lets you feel like a million bucks. If you arc lucky enough to get taken here on a recruitment dinner. go wild. It's fun on the cheap (you can eat great for $30) but it's even more fun on the dime of a J.," frnn ready to blow cash.

Speaking of recruitment, here is a list

of restaurants thnt you should a) be excited about if a linn offers to take you there during intcn icw~. or b) try to get your finn to bring you to for your student din ncr in the summer: B)mark (66 Wellington); Susur (225 King W.);

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UV Case Briefs

BY LISA MIN UK Hawkins

l'.

McGee (1929)

Dr. McGee: lam Dr. McGee! lam a gifted surgeon and can fix your freakish\y scarred hand.

Hawkins:

Do you like ketchup nnd s!)agctti'?

Are you sure?

Dr. McGee:

College W.). Pla~:c~ other '"-'T fnl l·rnalion:ll Famous Clu•fo; from than these may tend to verge on the C hina (376 College) lor t he Spicy Fried flashy but not great, so lose the pressure Shredded Beef. Nor can I remind you on the firm. but always remember the strongly enough about how fun it is to cat chow hound's number one rule: There's pulled pork at Phil's BBQ (838 College Never Anything Wrong with a Free Meal. W.). But probably you shouldn't take my · I'm running out of words here, so advice (after all, I cat at Pho Hung twice some final thoughts include: Harbord a week). It's much better to find out for Fish and Chips = Yes, Chippy's = No. yourself.

C h iado (X64

I guarantee it.

Hawkins: Oh Dr McGee! You're so super!

The OPERATION happens.

Dr. McGee: Oops.

The hand turns HAiRY and is DYSFUNCTIO.VAL. Hawkins: GASP Everyone is going to think I masturbate!

Branch J .: Expectation damages. But stop whining that you suffered ... you signed up for that. And watch where you point that thing, it's real(v ugly.

CLASS ACTION

Vauglran ·~ Menlove (1837)

One perspective of the punctuation paradigm Endings. Everything has one. These days, it seems to be social dogma that eras and experiences should end w1th a triumphant exclamation mark: punctuation as proof of performance. And \\hat about relationships? How should a couple's end be punctuated?

An idealist might suggest that rela-

39. bugs 41 . dromedary 43. standardized tests 46. part 2 of Diana Ross CivPro . hit 48. Polynesian Goddess and Irish paramilitary group 50. non-traditional settlement process 51. Bennis and Coffman 52. checked out 53. uninterested 54. tree type

Across I. Clapton's criminal law ballad 9. fix I 0. Legal Marketing Association (abbr.)

12. fiery Emission 16. part 2 of Billy Joel Equity hit 18. locomotion appendage 19. Egyptian border goddess 20. Russian Baba of legend 22. tattered cloth 23. part I of Diana Ross CivPro hit 24. gross leftover 25. old French coins 26. before 28. Greek letter 29. __ King Cole 32. not (prefix) 33. Indigo Girls legal theory retrospective 38. rest

For a fun ::.nack in the Ita !ran st) le. try the \cal at California Sandwiches (244 C larcmont), and then try the version at San Francesco Foods (I 0 Clinton) (or try their pan~:erollo). I still can't strcs~ enough the importance of going to Pals

tionships too should end in such a fashion: they should end with an exclamation point in celebration of the intimacy the couple shared and the friendship that is to follow. Yet, a realist, or perhaps a cynic, would likely respond that anyone who felt like using an exclamation point was never truly in love, because those that have experienced the end of emotional intimacy would rare ly claim a cause celehre.

Indeed, exclamation points are fou nd as often at ends of true relatiOnshi ps as they are at ends of sentences in the classics: they arc relegated to rarity status. In neither life nor literature are breakups defined with a toast to tomorrow. So, exclamations aside, what is

continues with the relationship routine. the ideal way to punctuate an affair?

Those who suffer from emotional Yet, in neither ease docs the question exorcism may argue for a non-end mark serve as an ending. It is a lead-in to framed by ellipses ... the ubiquitous "dot a later chapter in the couple's chronicle. dot dot". The dots are defined by a failOf course, the last possibility in the ure to commit ... to a relationship or to a punctuation paradigm is the plainest. breakup. They usually follow the expla- Period. Ending a relationship with a simnations "it's not the right time" or ''I'm ple point serves every party's best internot in the right place" but never "you're est. It is brave and bold, and facilitates not the right one." The employer of trust and builds a foundation for a friendellips'cs fears exclusion and elimination ship or a future. If the breakup really has from the game of love and would prefer a basis in external factors, punctuating it to sustain as many players as possible. with a period permits for the possibility But, the problem with the dots is that . of a tomorrow without pushing the other they don't really do anything- for any- party into a stylized sentence: it allows one. They may be ideal for the dot-maker for independent choices outside of any but arc never beneficial for those affect- context of control or coercion. ed by their seemingly eternal scope.

Likc.its role in literature, the period is What about a question mark? A the all-purpose relationship punctuation: breakup punctuated with that point it allows people to move on, move out, or occurs in one of two situations: a couple even move towards a better beginning. takes ttme apart to consider their options, but neither party is strictly single, or an affatr is ostensibly over but the couple

Menlove: I'm Menlove. I think I will build a hayrick near the edge of my property. "'eighbours: Ummm ... Arc you sure that's a good idea pal? We're asking because it looks sort of flammable and we know you have a subnormal IQ. Men love: I don't see what could possibly go wrong.

He BUILDS the RICK. It IGNITES and DESTROYS his neighbours cottage

J udge: The law only relaxes the standard of care for~ disability, silly!

Br uce Chapman: This case will be funny to teach because it's about a stupid person being reasonable.

r ..,.., .r'_... St!,u.y MAl( ...

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UV Crossword: Legal Ditties

Two bites forward, one bite back: restaurant reviews in review

BY CHRIS ESSERT

33

Davies v. Mann (1 842)

Mann : I think I will tie my donkey's fore-legs and leave him in the middle of the road.

He DOES

Davies: I don't know why my wife thinks I can't read the paper and drive my wagon at the same time.

CRASH!'

Lord Abinger: I am going to apply the "last clear jackass" rule. The last person to act like a big jackass loses. That'd be you, Davies.

34

liRa News Contest

ing first-year "What Case is This?" and, surpnsingly. from Prof. Phillips. currently ~were overn helmed kith emries for our prepanng next year's "Daniels: Adversely first tn'er Ultra News Comest.

Posses ed?"

Congrau~larions to Ingrid Grant (JIJJ for Agreement, ho-wever, is not universal. hn- wmnmg entrv. Ingrid will receivl' a Fom1er Trial Advocacy instructor Julie fabulous $50 gifl certificate to the Hannaford is not pleased about teaching Kensington Kitchen. Don~ vou wL\-11 vou "Where did my Pass come from?", while had entered now?

• • DLS's executive director wa'> heard to remark: .. We arc teaching Public Interest Advocacy, not 'Docs Poverty Suck?'!"

There has been no comment on the change from "International Human Rights Clinic" to "Noah: Do you like me? Yes ( J, no [ ].

In the wake of "Can there be Um'<crsal maybe { j?''

Human Rights'!'' and "Playing by the While the sw1tch is not complete, stuRules?'' U ofT La\\ has announced th<"lt, in dents can soon expect changes to such future, ull course names must be m the form courses as Civil Procedure ("How?"), of a qucst1on. Says Dean Daniels (present- Criminal Procedure ("Ho\\ the fuck'!") and ly collaboratmg with Prof. Trebilcock on Jurispmdence ("WhaaT').

"Who is John Galt?"): "Answers can be - ingrid Gram proven \Hong in 20 years and often mvol\ed Hegel. With an interrogati\C paradigm. we will always be ready to f.'lce new challenges and wonder ho\\ to deal With them."

The mo\'c found support from fom1er Torts professor Arthur Rip tcin, no\\ teach-

Course names questioned

#2

Christian Conservatives Attack Suggestive Case

Daniels commands minions to adversely \)ossess ent\re cam\)us V.Tne'!>\~ \,\\.OM.~ \.,Dean~ ~

ln the face of the scandal generated by the Dean's surprising outburst in a recent SLS

mectmg where it was revealed that the impetus for moving the Jaw school stemmed from his desire "for a bigger office than Ernest Weinrib," further allegations have come to light. It seems that in an earlier incarnation of the plan to move the law school the Dean over the past several years paid several law students who, due to high tuition. were severely in debt to act as his agents in an attempt to adversely possess the Royal Ontario Museum.

The scheme was foiled by the diligence of the museum's staff who realized that the displays were not supposed to contain peo-

ULTRA VIRES

ULTRA NEWS

pie that "had such smug looks of superiority." Daniels derued claims that the attempt represented the opening move in a larger endeavour of taking over the University of Toronto, saying that ''the students living in Convocation Ha\\ arc taking care of that."

The investigation contmues though initial reports .~cem to suggest that Daniels also targeted Hart House and Trinity College but not the Athletic Centre which he describes as "a piece of shit" -Jeremy Glick

Genetic tests confinn Daniels, Skinner are longlost brothers DNA tests conducted Toronto hospital have Spnngfield Elementary Seymour Skinner (a.k.a

at a downtown confirmed that School principal Sgt. First Class

Dean Daniels decides true "excellence" requires further funding to be allocated toward the search for a new site for the law school, sends figurehead and pool boy to check out the site for the newly renamed "Yale North"

Names After the assault on Spongebob Squarepants, Christian conscrvath es ha" e a new target: court cases. Nantes hke ''Menlove" and "Ramsbottom" have drawn the ire of powerful Christian groups who say they promote homosexuality among the legal profession the very profession which w1ll detcnnine the outcome of hotbutton issues like same-sex marriage. ''If anything these names are even more insidious than the gay lobby's attentpts to influence children through sea creatures holdmg hands and that little girl with the rn·o moms." said nnll-gay rights activist. Tim. "Thousands of lawyers arc reading these cases in law school and going on to become JUdges where they cite them in their decisions. It's subliminal messaging and indoctnnation of the entire legal profession! I mean 'Rogers' it may as well be 'Buggers' for C'hrissakcs. If that's not bad enough, there're judges with names like 'Viscount Dilhom ' ... It's no wonder we have an activist judiciary undenninmg the very fabric of our society!''

- Malcolm Katz

Skmner, a.k.a. Amtand Tanzarian, a.k.a.

"Spanky") and University of Toronto Law School Dean Ronald J. Daniels (a.k.a Dean Damels. a.k.a. The Big Kahuna, a.k.a.

"Knuckles") are fraternal twins who were separated at birth. Both men agreed to undergo testing after intense speculation by the British tabloid press about a possible fam11ial connection between the two educators.

Before last week's surprising revelation, the law school dean knew little of his family or their whereabouts. Abandoned on the doorstep of a Colombian nunnery, Daniels spent hts childhood running guns in Bogota in the desperate hope of one day achieving his dream- to command a respected, if overpriced, Canadian law school. By his early teens, Daniels had raised enough pesos to hitchhike to Canada, only to find the Panama Canal had cruelly thwarted his plans. Smuggling himself aboard a container ship full of men's cotton-blend tube socks, Daniels disembarked off the coast of Louisiana. He worked briefly as a busboy in an all-male danoe revue outside of Baton Rouge, until a kindly trucker drove him north of the border.

Despite being separated for their entire lives, Skinner and Daniels display striking similarities. Both men enjoy cafeteria tatertots, and the heady rush of petty academic despotism. Both men also suffer from emotionally crippling Vietnam War flashbacks. although Daniels has never been to Southeast Asia.

When asked to comment on his reaction to suddenly having a brother, Daniel remarked, "He seems like a nice enough guy, but he's not dean of the line. And he never will be."

- Larissa Ruderman·

Attention-Craving Student Writes About Nothing An mflux of third-year students have been found submitting articles to Ultra Vires that

22 MARCH 2005

13 Queen Takes Stand Against Bush While not typically known for her stance on grooming. our well-coiffed monarch came out strongly against w1tidiness in a recent court act1on which made it to the Supr<!me Court of Canada: R. v. Bush. When her local represcntati\e. Crown prosecutor Bob, was asked, he explained it this way, "I am not ad\ocating for the 1-haven't-reachedpuberty-yet little girl look or anylhrng I always fmrnd that a little creepy to be honest and I don't even know who ever thought the stupid landing strip thing was a good idC'J, but honestly nO\\, a little trimming really does go n long way. Don't get me wrong. I Jove natural. Natural's great.

But shoot more for like an English garden-you know. natural but well-kept. I mean, we all Jove when girls go wild :JUSt not do\\n there.'' Bob also finds hair sticking out of bathing suits ick-y and anything from undernrms to be beyond the pale.

- Malcolm Katz are entirely devoid of newsworthiness. solely in the hope that their names get into the last edition of UV before they graduate.

Sources were not willing to name names, but said such submissions were especially prevalent in the Diversions section DiversiOns Editor Lisa (III) said, "it has gotlen to the point where people are making up thinly veiled stories about themselves, which are positively inconsequential, and then falsely quoting me to lend some credibility to their shoddy attempts at journalism." Diversions staff decided to print one of these articles. entitled "Attention-Craving Student Writes About Nothing", in the hope of unearthing the identity behind this act of desperation.

- Mall Pierce

No more awkward showers Faculty Council has unanimously voted to include a faculty-only health club and gym in the new law school building. Faculty members who spoke in favour of the proposal cited the increasing frequency of running into students in the showers at Hart House, and student caucus members apparently voted in favour for the same reason.

Even Prof. Phillips, long resigned to being a voice of dissent at Faculty Council, found himself voting with the majonty for the first time in seven years ...True. it \Viii be very expensive.'' he told UV, "and they'll probably have to hike tuition a wee bit more to pay for it, but even a'i it stands now it\ a bloody long walk to I lart House, and the new building will be even farther."

Oren Bic:k

66% ·choose Ass ~ftcr a w1de-mnging control-group study of ~me Faculty of Law students, the result~ arc m: 66% of students position themselves Ass-fo_rward when squeezing past other students m the Moot Court room; only 33% chose Crotch. When asked why he chose Ass, Andrew (II) explained: "No idea.''

one career counsellor. "Knowing whether to spit or swallow can make the ditlerence between working for the seven sisters and working for the Ministry of the Attorney General!"

The event will take place as part of the COO's "March Madness'' programming.

- UVSraff

\\b1le Ingrid (III) offered: ''It just feels right." However, Jim (1). a Crotchcr, opined that Ass-ers were out of line Md tllat the occasional brush of Crotch against head was simply an "occupational hazard ofMCR." Further experimentation is planned to dctcnnine whether seated students favour Ass or Crotch brushings. When told of the proposed study, however, Ingrid (Ill) responded. "I really don't give a damn what they want " She then stonned ofr chanting "Ass for hfe' Ass for life!"

-Dam~\' Ka\lner

Cossman subverts dominant feminist paradigm

Students dismayed by door debacle Panic set in among students who found themselves prevented from ·entering the Bora Laskin Law Library Ja:.;t week when the automatic door button broke. While some enterprising students made the best of the situation by going and opening the door themselves, most of them congregated outside the library, discussing other possible ways to get inside.

Gillian (Ill) seemed resigned to the situation, telling UV that there was nothing much to do besides sit around and wait for Campus Services to arrive and tix the problem. "You know. I've got a lot of work to do," she said...and I'd like to get it done before my intramural basketball game tonight. but \\hat can I do'? If the hutton's not working, I just can't get in. No need to panic. I'll just wait.''

-Oren Bick

Poker craze hits the law school, Faculty unsure of how to respond Concerned about a significant drop in course attendance. particularly amongst male students, the Faculty ha-; been forced to take acllon. Scvcml wt.'"Cks of surveillance in and around the law school has shed light on why student-; arc no longer altcnding classes. The culprit: poker.

According to Associate Dl!an Lome Sossin. "Poker has spread like wildfire at the top law schools throughout North America, and U ofT has been hit especially hard."

Students are playing on-line with many devoting in excess of ten hours a day to the pastime. For most the dedication has paid off. Unfortunately, not all students have been so lucky. A third year student who asked to remain anonymous said that he got so desperate that he had to "dip into [his) Millennium Bursary money.''

UV has learned that at least twenty students have approached the Financial Aid Office for emergency loans since February.

Said Assistant Dean Lois Chiang. "We don't really know how to handle this except to let students know that any money they do win has to be noted on their financial aid applications. Hopefully this will serve as a deterrent.''

Tariq Remtulla

Supreme Court Finds Hard-work Unconstitutional The Supreme Court yesterday handed out its ruling on the Discrimination Reference,

35

ULTRA NEWS

Students were thrown for a loop yet agnin last week after Prof. Brenda Cossman voted to abolish her own first year fen1inist elective course. The perplexing vote was the L'lt- . est in a scncs of pro-Daniels mm es, which included vocal support of the 2002 plan to rai e tuition to $22,000.

In an exclusive interviC\\ with UV. Cossman explained the alleged contradicfor his efforts in getting a speed bump tion bt:twcen her academic and political installed in the parking lot. In accepting the work and her Faculty Council actions. award, Rix noted that he could not take full "When I was teaching at Osgoodc in the credit for the achievement as his "entire SLS 90s, I found my salary didn't give me the team [had] worked tirelessly to ensure the speed bump was a top priority." Dean means to fund the demise of the white heterosexual male patnarchy. Ronnie called Daniels praised Rix for his ongoing commillncnl to safety at the law school and pro- one day about applying for this job at U of T, and I decided it was the perfect chance to claimed that the speed bump would be known as 'Rix's Bump.' Emily (II) raise more money for the revolution."

"Once I got here, I knew I had to detlect infonncd UV that her brother has always any suspicion there might have been about had n keen interest in safety issues. "At age my true moth es for coming to this place, the seven, he spent his summer \ acation bastion of male hcgt.'tllony, so you sec l had redesigning the house to make it less susto make some sacrifices in tenns of my ceptible. to damages caused by v.ildfirc."

Rix's parents were unable to attend the cer- stances on facu\\y dcci.sions."

When asked why her "suspicion-deflecemony due to a prior cng.agc:mcnt. ' tion" policy " ·as ~'till nccc..•;sary giwn tbat - fi.Jriq Remtulla she received tenure in 2000. Cossman cut the interview short, snapping "don't csscntializc me!" and left muttering something about being late f()r a manicure appointment in Yorkville.

Raising $52 million isn't easy. but ' the - John Norquay Faculty of Law is domg the best it can.

Faculty Council has recently affinned a proposal to produce a cuddly Ronald J. Daniels doll. TI1e "Dcanic Baby", which\\ ill be able Student pads resume to yawn, blink and talk. is expected" in preschoolers' hearts with his adorable blue uits SLS funds baby seal club and his affable good company.

Among the toy's 17 pre-programmed Mooter glimpses faculty advisor in expressions arc: "let's cat cheese!", "here's a hallway U ofT sweatshirt!", "math is hard'', "mwah New 1st year elective announced: ha ha", "will you love meT, "you arc cxccl''Transpattal Globalism and Tmns-Fatty lcnf', and "international law is fun!''

Acids in a Trnnsdimensional Vortex of Acccssorie:. and batteries will be sold sepaTrnnslucent Fcmmtst Perspccttves" rately. Asked for comment. Daniels remarked, "it's not a doll, sillie:-.. it's an NASCAR driver plays the race card uction figure!"

- l.isa 'vfi11uk Wood elves take Amup Cup, Daniel \Ows "swift and brutual" revenge

Grow-op fund raiser for new building fails despite "excellence" reading into the Constitution protection against discrimination based on undue hardwork. In its decision. the court cited promtnent figures such as Paul Martin and Vince Carter as reflective of our societal v,Jiucs. ''At only 647 paragraphs. this is the shortest decision by the court to date. It is a strong statement in actions by the court that hardwork will not be tolerated," says constitutional law professor Roger Carolson.

Scholars of constitutional law arc excited by the prospect\. "This could open up a whole flood of pedagogical litigation- it could mean the end of the bell curve," exclaimed Susan (II). student. Dean Dan Ronalds of the University of Toronto Law School answers. "As the leading law school in the world. second only to Yale, U of T has always bt:cn on the leading edge of the law.

Our grading policies have long since not tolerated any forms of discrimination."

- 1/ug,o Sin

Admissions Chair wants to see more student athletes While the Faculty docs not have an otlicial admissions policy on student athletes, sources close to UV indicate that JD Admissions Chair Arnie Wemrib will approach Faculty Council in early April with a proposal that would set aside at least ten positions in the fil'!>t year class for outstanding athletes. According to Weinrib. the move was motivated by the law school's "ongoing commitment to ensuring access to the legal profession in . light of recent increases in tuition."

Most current students scctn to favour the proposal. Scott (Ill) noted that having more athletes is a "good thing" since it "would make it easier for [the school] to \\in Law Games." Paul (III) commented, "If you ask me. I think part of the admissions requirement should be athletic prowess. People who suck at sports don't deserve to be at this school." When asked if the move was in response to the i~tramural basketball team's poor showing. this year. Wcinrib acknowledged that "it was a consideration."

- Tariq Remtulla

Speed bump named after fanner SLS President Former SLS President Robin Rix was hon oured last week with the 'Dean's Gold Star'

Faculty to release huggable Daniels Doll

Briefly noted

Up close and professional: COO to offer fellatio etiquette session The CDO. in conjunction with Women in the Law, plan to offer a spring seminar in fellatio etiquette. Canadian "scxpert" and television personality Sue Johanson will prepare second year students for their August articling interviews with a multimedia presentation and demonstration.

"Second to a well-built professional wardrobe, proper conformity to the rules of fellatio etiquette can be the most decisive factor in the interview process," enthused

sec minority: our views arc not being heard Jean-Fran~ois

Gaudreault-DcsBtens: so tine, they named him four times

U ofT Diversity Committee rejects mascot change to "Drinking Irish" Sossin approval rating plummets to 98% Trebilcock to portray Gollum in upcoming Lord of the Rings musical Ed Morgan: ''Hmpfl" Prcparation-H hires Daniels to market new "Back-End Decanal Relief' product

..