Rally slated for detained professors

Supporters of Western Professor Tarek Loubani and York University Professor John Greyson will host a peaceful rally in support of the pair’s release from an Egyptian prison. The rally will take place at 1pm on Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Victoria Park, London, Ont., reported Western News Sept. 20. Read full story.

MMA for kids: teaching violence or values?
Paul Dennis, the former Maple Leafs’ player-development coach, is a high-performance coach at York University who has lectured extensively on concussions on behalf of Hockey Canada. Dennis says he admires and endorses all the benefits that flow from martial arts training including discipline, self-esteem and perseverance. “But I think all that is neutralized once they go into the ring to compete and their brain becomes vulnerable to serious injury,” he said in the Toronto Star Sept. 21. “I love the concept for training but I don’t understand why anyone would put themselves in a position where they could suffer serious brain damage.” Dennis says he would like to see UFC banned and is particularly troubled when young people regard the fighters as role models. Read full story.

Charting a new course
The Schulich School of Business at York University was the top-ranked program this year, reported Corporate Knights Sept. 23. Although strong in every category, it also managed to receive the only perfect grade in one of the three categories: institutional support. It boasts five institutes focused on everything from business ethics to building sustainable enterprises, while at least 10 professors published relevant papers in academic journals last year. Students are offered internships and consulting programs at a range of businesses focused on corporate social responsibility and non-profit management. Read full story.

Russian community partners in entrepreneur program
The York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDInstitute) kicked off its first session recently at the Schulich Executive Education Centre at York University, reported the Canadian Jewish News Sept. 23….The YEDInstitute is a collaboration of the Schulich Executive Education Centre, the JRCC, 3V Communications and the BDC….The program is conceived as a way to help budding entrepreneurs acquire the skills they need to make a success of their ideas. Candidates go through an extensive interview process to determine whether they have the right stuff to warrant the kind of investment in them that is contemplated by the YEDInstitute. Read full story.

Overfishing of sharks harming coral reefs
A team of scientists from Canada and Australia has discovered that a decline in shark populations is detrimental to coral reefs, reported the Eurasia Review Sept. 20. “Where shark numbers are reduced due to commercial fishing, there is also a decrease in the herbivorous fishes which play a key role in promoting reef health,” said Jonathan Ruppert, lead author of the report who is currently a postdoctoral research associate at York University. Ruppert was part of a team engaged in long-term monitoring of reefs off Australia’s northwest coast. Read full story.

Vengeful, angry, Uppal takes on her runaway mother
Mother flies to Brazil and the children never hear from her again. Now, fast forward 20 years. Priscila Uppal has become one of Canada’s leading poets. She has also published two novels (To Whom it May Concern, The Divine Economy of Salvation) and is a professor at York University in Toronto. One day by accident she stumbles across her mother on the Internet. Her mother is also a writer; a well-known film reviewer in Brazil. Priscila finds a telephone number. In April 2003, Priscila flies to Brazil to spend 12 days with her mother….The visit is a disaster. Priscila’s mother refuses to discuss the past. She won’t even deal with the present. Priscila is aghast, reported the Ottawa Citizen Sept. 20. The experience is recounted her newly published memoir Projection: Encounters With My Runaway Mother. Read full story.

This week in theatre: On the Rocks, The Best Brothers, Tick Tick…Boom, The Flood Thereafter
Quebecois playwright Sarah Berthiaume plays with the conventions of fables in The Flood Thereafter, a portrait of small-town Canada, reported BlogTO Sept. 22. The arrival of a stranger signals a change for June who strips every day at the Emotions bar for the men of the town. Canadian Stage’s continued partnership with the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University finds Ker Wells directing, fresh off a celebrated production of Macbeth in High Park. Read full story.

Student federation insists discontent not widespread
The Canadian Federation of Students said it is unaware of any large-scale movement among student unions at universities and colleges across the nation to depart the organization’s ranks, reported the Brampton Guardian Sept. 20. Earlier this month, a news release issued by three students in Toronto, Montreal and British Columbia indicated more than 15 student associations, including students at the University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson University, had started petitions to begin the process needed to cut ties with the federation. Read full story.