In an international survey rating social consciousness, York’s Schulich School of Business is one of six in the top category of “schools on the cutting edge,” along with such world‑class institutions as Stanford, Yale and the University of Michigan, reported The Globe & Mail Oct. 6. The survey by two think tanks, the World Resources Institute of Washington and New York’s Aspen Institute, rated 100 business schools in 20 countries on their social and environmental stewardship. Schulich Dean Dezsö Horváth said of his school’s placing: “This is not a great surprise to us. But it’s very satisfying that we are recognized among the great schools of the world.” Horváth noted that Schulich has recently been awarded top ratings by three other business school surveys: Forbes, the Financial Times and the Economist Intelligence Unit. Two other Canadian schools, the University of Calgary and McGill University’s Faculty of Management, were rated in the latest survey as having, respectively, “significant” and “moderate” activity.
Toronto, city of haves and have-nots
Harvey Schwartz, a York economics professor, Faculty of Arts, was quoted in the Toronto Star Oct. 4 on the schism between the economic success engine that is Toronto and the gulf between its rich and its poor. “Toronto is bankrupt. It doesn’t have enough money to fund its activity,” said Schwartz, who has been gathering data on the impact of amalgamation and the province’s decision to download services such as housing, welfare and transit. Schwartz noted that the annual capital spending shortfall for transportation and transit in Greater Toronto is about $800 million per year.
The mayoralty race: dull as dishwater
Ron Burke, professor of organizational behaviour in the Schulich School of Business, was quoted by The Toronto Sun Oct. 4 responding to a recent poll that found Toronto is a city in desperate need of a leader. Burke had a quick explanation for the leadership void: “Most of the politicians in Ontario are dull as dishwater.” He didn’t see much hope as Toronto gets ready to pick a new mayor on Nov. 10. “I don’t see a leader,” said Burke, who teaches leadership. “Most of the candidates are not very exciting, and several are flawed.”
The challenges facing Paul Martin
In an opinion piece in the Toronto Star Oct. 6, James Laxer, social science professor, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, examined some of the thorny issues in Canadian‑American relations that will face Paul Martin when he becomes prime minister. Among them were cross-border pharmaceutical sales, trying to talk the US out of fingerprinting Canadians when they enter the United States, and attempting to assuage the Bush administration as Canada eases its marijuana laws. Coping with Washington on a long list of matters could well be the new leader’s biggest challenge, Laxer wrote.
Ontario’s education prospects
Paul Axelrod, dean of York’s Faculty of Education, was quoted in the Toronto Star Oct. 4 on the provincial Liberals’ promises regarding education. He warned that people should not hold their breath for the Liberals to overhaul Ontario’s schoolhouse overnight. “It depends on what the government finds when it lifts up the financial rock and sees what’s underneath,” he said. “If it’s manageable, they’ll make changes more quickly, but if there’s an enormous deficit, it will be done more slowly or not at all.”
The economics of divorce
Anne-Marie Ambert, York sociology professor, Faculty of Arts, was quoted in a Hamilton Spectator article Oct. 4 on the links between divorce and low incomes. “What we know is that there is a higher divorce rate among lower-income people. We also know that in the United States the poorest neighbourhoods are also plagued by the highest number of single‑mother families,” Ambert said. Scholars have known of the link between divorce and low income since at least the 1970s. But few, if any, have studied divorce “clusters” in specific Canadian neighbourhoods, said Ambert. Mapping these rates can help us understand the chicken-and-egg relationship between divorce and poverty, wrote Ambert in her report “Divorce: Facts, Causes and Consequences” for the Vanier Institute of the Family.
Boys won’t be boys
Michaela Hynie, psychology professor, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, was quoted in a Globe & Mail article Oct. 4 on the changing male image. Hynie said advertisements now feature young men who are beautiful and elegant. The Globe said new masculine images and TV programs such as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” are blurring the distinction between homosexual and heterosexual men.
Taking stock: Milevsky still in the running
Moshe Milevsky, Schulich School of Business finance professor, is still a contender in The Globe & Mail’s annual stock picking contest, reported the Globe Oct. 4. Milevsky, last year’s champion, is now in third place with Canadian Superior Energy Inc., which gained 37.3 per cent to close the quarter at $2.06. Each contestant must pick just one stock trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at $1 or more at the beginning of the year. Contestants are competing for a Globe & Mail mug.