Editorial

IMAGECOVER

NEWS

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York University has attempted to pretend that Singer is a distinguished scholar because this is what gives him credibility, even though Singer has no credentials as a scholar - a fact that he himself has been the rst to admit.

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By Laila Rashidie

The students came out and showed that they believed in unity, that they believed we would put them rst. - Krisna Saravanamuttu

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By Ali Mustafa

Zionism, a political ideology whose project of a Jewish homeland could only be ful lled through the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Palestine.

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By Rachel Gurofsky

By Farah Islam

Members of the York community participate in the rst public forum organized by NION-York, Reconsidering Zionism

Ali Mustafa

Farah Islam

By Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen and Nora Loreto

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Conservative MP Peter Braid addressing Conservative Party students at University of Waterloo

If its possible if, in one fell swoop, to take over the Board of Directors [of OPIRG], I think that it would be pretty impressive, and youd be a hero to the Conservative movement if you can pull that off.

Lee-Wudrick

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By Joe Howell

Pawel DwulitProfessor Denis Rancourt.

I think marking is the enemy of learning. It makes learning the means to an end with the mark being the end rather than the learning.

-- Alan Sears, Sociology professor at Ryerson University

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By Rameez MahmoodBy Morgan Dunlop

Sudanese Pres. Omar al-BashirWe know that Toronto relies on its image of multiculturalism and diversity, and thats an image that we are dragging through the mud... Its a sweatshop city. Its a city that maintains a system that treats huge layers of this migrant population as second-class residents.

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Original print by I. Aochamub

7Nadiha AliCONTINUED ON p. 8

IAW SPECIAL

By Liisa Scho eld

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Kareem Dabbagh

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IAW SPECIAL

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Kareem Dabbagh

By Dan O Hara

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IAW SPECIAL

By Matthew Fava

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The consequence of a selective form of institutional memory, to borrow the old adage, is thathistory repeats itself.{

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the state of Israel.

One of their demands is for the York University Foundation (which is responsible for fundrais-ing and donations) to show transparency in their investments in Israel. Spokesperson for SAIA, Adonis El Jamal, stated that rather than engage the group in a dialogue, the University sent an arbitrary lettersaying that weve been sus-pended for thirty days, well be ned $1000, plus $250 on our signing authorities student account. This is a clear form of repression and censorship. Both the faculty opposed to Sa-sakawas donation and SAIA invoke the ethical concerns that twenty years ago led to a policy of divesting from Apartheid South Africa.

Rather than deference, the University should show openness to the constructive contribu-tions that these and other community members can make especially as it relates to history and memory of sensitive cultural issues. Until then, we await a university that can confront its own history and grow at a pace that matches the pas-sion and conviction of its staff and students.

Three student-based clubs are sanctioned by the administration follow-ing a rally organized by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) in protest over Israels latest military assault on Gaza and Yorks alleged ongoing complicity in Israeli Apartheid. SAIA was suspended from all campus activities for 30 days and ned $1000 (plus and additional $250 charged directly to the student account of the group signatory).

York University Timeline

U UMarch 26, 1959

York University founded

March 20, 1997York University Faculty Association (YUFA) goes on strike over fund-ing, retirement bene ts, and concerns with institutional governance. The strike would last 8 weeks, the longest faculty strike in English speaking Canada to date.

October 26, 2000CUPE 3903 goes on strike as the administration proposes to remove tuition indexation among other bene ts. After 76 days (11 weeks), The union emerges victorious.

January 28, 2003Ultra right-wing political commentator Daniel Pipes is invited to speak at York, causing a wave of student protests on campus. As widespread opposition to Pipes visit grew and organizations withdrew their spon-sorship of the event, then President Lorna Marsden intervened by ar-ranging a private venue heavily guarded by over 100 Toronto police of cers to ensure the speech would occur as planned.

April 30, 2004York undergraduate student Dan Freeman Maloy receives a letter of expulsion following his participation in a Palestine solidarity rally in Vari Hall. The letter was issued and signed by then President Mars-den, citing the use of sound ampli cation (ie. a megaphone) during the rally as grounds for the expulsion.

October 2005Professor and longtime critic of the Marsden administration David Noble applies for a Senate review of Yorks policy to cancel classes on Jewish High Holidays, which originated in 1974 due the large propor-tion of Jewish students and faculty members at that time.

January 20, 2005Toronto police are called to campus by then President Marsden in re-sponse to a peaceful rally in Vari Hall protesting the second inaugu-ration of US President George W. Bush and Yorks corporate driven Board of Governors. Five student protesters were arrested, one of them was reportedly so severely beaten that he had to be hospitalized.

March 6, 2008A student-based club known as the Sustainable Purchasing Coalition (SPC) organizes a sit-in to demand that the administration implement a no sweat licensing policy at York, ensuring that no of cial school apparel will be produced in sweatshops and meets international labour standards. After 45 consecutive hours outside the of ce of recently appointed President Mamdouh Shoukri, the students emerged victori-ous.

March 26, 2008Immigrant rights organization No One Is Illegal organizes a rally in Vari Hall to defend international student Saint-Sierra Leonty from im-minent deportation. Following overwhelming support from the stu-dents, faculty and community members, Immigration Canada was forced to grant Leonty a 2 year stay in Canada until her appeal was processed.

November 6, 2008CUPE 3903 goes on strike over poverty-line wages and better job se-curity for contract faculty. The strike would last 85 days (12 weeks) until the union is legislated back to work in unprecedented fashion on January 29, breaking its own record to become the longest in English speaking Canadas history.

January 26, 2009President Mamdouh Shoukri announces the appointment of Martin Singer as the the founding Dean of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, which will the largest in Canada. Following closer scrutiny of Singers record, his quali cations and the process by which he was appointed are brought into serious doubt. President Shoukri is subsequently charged with academic fraud.

February 24, 2009

Sasakawa

The Casualization of Academic Labour at York University

By Lykke de la Cour

FEATURES

Lykke de la Cour is a member of CUPE 3903, Unit 2.

In the recent CUPE strike, York Universitys over-reliance on contractualized academic labour erupted as a central and critical question in discussions around the unions job security proposals. In-terestingly, last fall, at the outset of the strike, most Unit 2 members of CUPE 3903 were largely un-aware of the extent to which con-tract faculty were utilized to ful ll the universitys teaching mission, particularly with respect to under-graduate instruction. Our concerns lay more with working conditions,

speci c terms of employment, and the precariousness of contractual work. However, one of the bene ts that the strike afforded was time to research more fully the circum-stances of contractualized academ-ic staff at the university.

What emerged from these studies was the realization that York Uni-versity is leading the vanguard, at least among public universities in Ontario, towards an academic

Kareem DabbaghMembers of CUPE 3903 walk the picket lines for job security and other demands.

labour force composed largely of contingent instructors. This is what is referred to as the casualization of the academic labour market, i.e. where undergraduate teaching (and even in some cases, graduate teach-ing) is increasingly delegated to a cadre of precariously employed contract faculty, mainly because they constitute a cheap and a ex-ible pool of academic labour for universities and colleges.

Scholarship on the casualization of academic labour links this trend to declines in government spend-ing on education and the rise in the corporatization of North American universities, a phenomenon where-by post-secondary institutions are

increasingly managed by, modeled on, and oriented towards corporate interests and practices. Over the past three decades, American uni-versities have been at the forefront of this transformation. In How the University Works: Higher Educa-tion and the Low-Wage Nation, Marc Bousquet demonstrates that tenure and tenure-track faculty, in the United States, now barely constitute 30% of those teaching at universities, and membership

in the American Association of University Professors has declined from 90,000 in 1973, to a mere 43,000 today, despite unprecedent-ed expansions in undergraduate and graduate student enrolments. In Reclaiming the Ivory Tower, Joe Berry argues that the casual-ization of the faculty workforce represents one of the few recent in-stances in the United States econo-my where an entire occupation has been converted from perma-nent career status to temporary, of-ten part-time, status in the space of a single generation of workers.

Similar patterns have transformed the Canadian academic landscape, although research suggests to a

slightly lesser degree than south of the border due to stronger trends, in Canada, towards academic union-ization, legislative support for col-lective bargaining processes, and the efforts of professional academ-ic organizations, such as CAUT. Nevertheless, during the CUPE 3903 strike, it became increasingly apparent that while York Univer-sity has historically relied on a contractual teaching complement, it now stands poised to head even further towards an American mod-el whereby undergraduate teaching rests largely on the work of contin-gent academic labour.

Contract faculty currently make up 55% of the teaching complement at York University. Published g-ures in the York Fact Book 2007/8 indicate that the university em-ploys 1,612 contract faculty and 1,520 full-time faculty. However, this latter gure is somewhat mis-leading as it also includes Con-tractually Limited Appointments (CLAs), faculty who hold Special Renewable Contracts (SRCs), and Authorized True Visitors. If

This is what is referred to as the casualization of the academic labour market, i.e. where undergraduate teaching (and even in some cases, graduate teaching) is increasingly delegated to a cadre of precariously employed contract fac-ulty, mainly because they constitute a cheap and a exible pool of academic labour for universities and colleges. }

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Kareem Dabbagh

Democratic Governance

Student/worker parity on the major decision making bodies at York, including the Board of Governors and Senate whose current structure consists of little more than token represen-tation of students, faculty, and staff less than 5% overall.

Fiscal Transparency & Accountability

Adoption of a Socially Respon-sible Investment policy that would signal a fundamental shift in Yorks current investment model from one dictated by an undemocratic manegerial cadre of corporate CEOs and based upon pro t maximization, to one that is more inclusive and better re ects the values of all of its stakeholders (ie. human rights, environmental sustainability, and governance concerns).

Liberalize Student Space

A commitment to making cam-pus safe for free speech, peace-ful assembly, and legitimate dis-sent, which together constitute the core qualities of what dis-tinguishes York as a unique and dynamic learning environment.

Put Priorities in Order

Less reliance on precarious and casualised labour along with a commitment to better job secu-rity for contract faculty and (at a minimum) poverty line wages for TAs, who alone do 50% of the teaching at York yet receive only 7.5% of the entire existing operating budget.

Rede ning the Possible: Yorks 50th Birthday

Wish List

WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

Compiled by David Noble

WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?WHAT IS THE BOG & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

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By Nick Lary

In the past three years, since the effective withdrawal of YUFA from Critical Times, the inter-union campus newspaper, there has been no public and general dis-cussion on campus of academic workplace issues such as the deteriorating FT-faculty-to-student ratios, the increasing portion of teaching assigned to casualized faculty, the growing corporatization of the university, and suppression of free speech and academic freedom.

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Kareem Dabbagh

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM YORK UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS CONTRACTUnless terminated early the contract of Yorks president will expire in 2012.

The presidents appointment comes with a base salary (2007) of $325,000 with annual increases in 2008 this amounts to a 3.5% increase and $2700 progress-through the ranks payment. In addition to these payments every year there is a cumulative salary adjustment of $10,000 (by 2011 the adjustment will be $30,000). There is also eligibility for a performance bonus on the basis of an annual review. The target bonus payment is of the base salary to a maximum of of the base salary. In the rst year, this bonus is guaranteed at a level of at least .

The president has membership in York pension plan, as per terms of the plan, plus a supplemental pension that increases the overall pension on retirement this amounts to $13,000 each year.

The president gets full premium coverage of extended health care, vision care, and dental care for himself and his family plus life insurance ($975,000), travel accident insurance, and long-term disability. In addition there is an annual entitlement of up to $5,000 for nancial planning assistance (since someone, after all, will have to look after all that money). Emergency Health Care expense for treatment for items not covered under the York University Plan (up to $20,000), Professional Expense Allowance ($1650/year), payment of membership at the York Club and other similar social clubs, payment of the annual membership at a health club of the presidents choice are also included.

A housing loan without interest of up to $750,000 for acquiring a home in Toronto or the GTA. As long as the president is not dismissed, $50,000 per year of service to the university of this loan is forgiven.

A year of leave following the term as president. Four weeks vacation at full salary every year.

Use of a car and driver for use in connection with the of ce, reimbursement for travel expenses on York business. Allowance to serve on the Board of Directors on up to two corporate boards and retain any fees for such service. Reimbursement of moving expenses and of expenses while entertaining on behalf of the university, including entertainment at home.

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By David McNally

University administrators have used the retreat of social movements dur-ing the 1980s and 1990s to try to cre-ate the neoliberal, corporate-friendly, dissent-free university. In the process, they have privatized and corporatized campus space and clamped down on political protest.

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Ali Mustafa

Ali Mustafa

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By Niraj Joshi

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Protest over soaring food prices grows as UN based MINUSTAH troops stand guard.Getty Images

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Protest over soaring food prices grows as UN based MINUSTAH troops stand guard.

Joseph Wenkoff

By David Matijasevich

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Paula Bronstein, Getty ImagesProtesters with the anti-government Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) cheer during takeover of the government building August 27, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Hundreds of peaceful protesters are camped out by the Government House, waving Thai ags and yellow banners representing the monarchy. The protesters want to unseat the seven-month-old coalition government lead by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

As history has shown and the situation in Thailand validates, crisis is just as likely to breed reactionary responses as progressive ones. {

By Federico Fuentes

The Morales government has focussed on modernization of the country, promotion of industrialization, increased state intervention in the economy, social and cultural in-clusion, and a more democratic redistribution of revenues from natural resources through various social programs. }

AP, Juan KaritaNative Aymaran voter casts ballot in Bolivias latest constitutional reform referendum

President Evo Morales hands out copies of the new Bolivian constitution after referendum victory.Reuters, Dado Galdieri

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By Justin Podur

Rally against Zionsim. The Drop YFS campaign was Zionist backlash to YFSs denouncing of Israels war crimes.

Kareem Dabbagh

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By Rameez Mahmood

{Society, and especially individuals, must re ect upon their existence and muster their innate ability to feel, to think, and to change what is around them and themselves.

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By Steve Anderson

{Media ownership is more highly con-centrated in Can-ada than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world

Are we seeing the end of the mainstream newspaper?

By Farah Islam

{This isnt peacekeeping; its full out warCanada is not peacekeeping in Afghanistan it is waging war

Canadian Forces

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By Amil Shivji

By Zubaira Hussaini

The continent of Africa is too often stereotyped as being merely sunsets, zebras, and disease

Exodus Travels

In actuality, it is an extremely diverse region with a dark and complex colonial history

UNC

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COMMENTS

not found to be rightfully designat-ed as a public of cial, but nonethe-less, the judge ruled in favor of the student and found Marsden to be violating the students basic right to free speech. The irony surround-ing this case is that members of the pro-Israeli groups also allegedly used sound ampli cation devices, but none were given the kind of harsh treatment Freeman-Maloy re-ceived, nor were they reprimanded in any way. But of course, he was most likely singled because of his articulacy as a public speaker and professional activist, or perhaps, as most would agree, because of his Jewish heritage.

Around the same time as the Mars-den vs. Freeman-Maloy case was evolving, Professor David noble, a historian of technology and a staunch critic of the corporatization agenda of the York administration, was similarly treated for his politi-cal stance. Noble, who uncovered that York Universitys Board of Governors was comprised of a great number of pro-Israeli lob-byists, distributed his ndings in a pamphlet titled The Tail that Wags the Dog. Marsden issued a media statement denouncing Noble as racist, anti-Semite. Noble, who is of Jewish decent, retaliated by taking the administration to court.

A Public Statement of Support for Denis Rancourt And so, while York U magazine is obligated to present the beauty of York, we must not forget the ugly side. A university that prides itself as being a progressive, student-oriented institution has ironically launched a war on student move-ments for social justice and aggres-sively pursues to vilify and silence students and faculty who vocally express their political dissidence against York.

Moreover, recent years have seen the increasing casualization of teaching jobs and increased student enrolment, translating into jam-packed classrooms and resultantly, a drop in the quality of education. This, as well as the aforementioned wrongs committed by the institu-tion, coupled with the impending threat to remove Vari Hall as a student space, makes York Uni-versitys future look just as grim as its past. What initially began as a warm response to the blatant anti-Semitism of U of T, the future York University now evoke con-cerns over the freedom of speech and the institutions complicity with the state of Israel in its war on the Palestinian people. Perhaps it is too early to liken Shoukri to his predecessor. But one thing is cer-tain: the activist community here at York sure knows how to put up a good ght!

SAIA York Condemns Smears, Harassment and Administrative Repression

Students Against Israeli Apart-heid (SAIA) at York University condemns the intensifying efforts to shut down Palestine solidarity activism on campus. The decision by the York University administra-tion to ne and suspend our orga-nization is disgraceful and part of a wider pattern of administrative re-pression faced by Palestine solidar-ity groups on university campuses.

SAIA Condemns Violations of Human Rights

In its recent attack on the popula-tion of Gaza, Israel indiscriminate-ly killed 1300 people, including over 400 children civilians. Israel continues to besiege and starve the population of Gaza, to imprison thousands of Palestinians without trial, to subject Palestinians to tor-ture, and to commit a host of other violations of international law, all under the open support of the Ca-nadian government and academic institutions such as York.

SAIA endorses the call from 2005 made by a broad coalition of Pal-estinian civil society groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank for a campaign of boycott, divestments and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international

and humanitarian law.

The February 12, 2009 Rally

On February 12, 2009, SAIA or-ganized a rally and march at York University to demand that York University president, Mamdouh Shoukri, issue a statement con-demning targeted Israeli attacks on Palestinian educational institutions.

Since York University, like many other Canadian universities, con-demned the call for an academic boycott as a violation of academic freedom, we maintain that the out-

right blowing up of universities and schools with students still in them would constitute a greater viola-tion of academic freedom, worthy of equal if not even stronger con-demnation. Rather than respond thoughtfully to our reasonable de-mand, the Shoukri administration chose to suspend our organization for a month and ne us $1,000 as well as an additional $250 charged

directly to the student account of the groups signatory amounting in total to $1,250 more than our volunteer-based organization cur-rently has.

A Coordinated Sabotage of our Activities

Our membership, in trying to dis-tribute critical political literature on our campus, has faced persistent harassment, intimidation, and ver-bal abuse from on campus clubs in-cluding Hillel and the Hasbara Fel-lowships together with off-campus extremist hate groups such as the Jewish Defense League (JDL).

Israel advocates and the York ad-ministration have been shown to be

working together in a coordi-nated fashion to try to sabo-tage our demonstrations and activities on campus, mak-ing them disruptive through aggressive counter-demon-strations and then using the disruption as a justi cation to shut us down.

False Smears Against our Activists

The York administration and Israel advocacy push to shut us down includes attempts to smear us with baseless, unsubstantiated charges of anti-Semitism through a morally bankrupt campaign of distortion, innuendo, and outright lies.

We oppose Israels apartheid poli-cies, denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes in 1948, and institu-

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By David Noble & Nancy Olivieri

{The greatest challenge for these few genuine academics, however, has not been the enemies of truth outside the walls of universities but the enemies of truth within.

By SAIA York

tionalized discrimination against its Palestinian citizens. To suggest that this is anti-Semitic is false and reprehensible. To fabricate false statements and attribute them to our organization without evi-dence, as has been done by some of our political opponents, is worse still.

We continue to demand:

1. That President Shoukri uphold basic principles of academic free-dom and moral clarity by con-demning the Israeli bombing of Palestinian educational facilities.

2. That York University publicly distance itself from claims that SAIA and IAW activities consti-tute hate or incitement.

3. That York University make a public statement that SAIAs ac-tivities are protected on grounds of free expression and condemn-ing disruptions and harassment of SAIA activists.

Students have the right to peaceful political assembly on campus. We also have the right to speak freely at rallies, and where our voices are being drowned out, to try our best to allow participants to be heard. We will continue to assert our rights to organize, distribute political litera-ture, and hold public rallies in Vari Hall as we deem necessary in our ongoing struggle to reclaim cam-pus space.

The February 12th Rally for which SAIA, and other groups, were ned.

Nazia Khurshid

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Truly identifying with classics doesnt apply anymore; instead of knowing and praising them, music has essentially turned from classics into a checklist. {

By Delan Hamasoor

By Alexander Arvelo McQuaig

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Todays big records are brought back to the Beer Store as tomorrows discarded empties with the end result that musics personal qualities are fading fast. One wonders whether anyone feels a record anymore...

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By Clayton Lewis

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By Ali Mustafa

Its impossible for a human being not to feel touched, crushed by such a reality and not to do anything...{

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By Taylor Abrahamse

My concern is about not getting into racial or religious issues because this is not my point. My point is called politics, imperialism, war for territory.

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APRIL

MAY

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