Business school surveys matter, says Horváth

Most business schools are limiting their participation to a few surveys, reported The Globe and Mail Nov. 17 in a feature about criticisms of popular rankings. One exception to this narrower participation is York’s Schulich School of Business, whose dean, Dezsö Horváth, has indicated he feels an obligation to stakeholders to participate in every survey he can. He says a school can be assessed most accurately over a broad range of rankings. The Globe identified The Wall Street Journal‘s MBA ranking as the most focused and noted that Schulich comes in 14th among international schools.

At York University students can attend networking breakfasts with alumni who have gone into their chosen fields so students can see the breadth of career opportunities available to them, reported the Toronto Sun Nov. 17, in a feature on how students can jump-start their career at school. “We’re very much fans of ‘planned happenstance,’ ” said Cathy Keates, manager of curriculum and service at York’s Career Centre. That does not mean ignoring career planning but instead, taking an open-minded approach that allows students to explore their interests both in and out of class. The Sun pointed student readers to York’s award-winning Career Cyberguide at www.yorku.ca/careers/cyberguide.

A Montreal Gazette article that indicated B’nai Brith Canada’s human rights complaint about Concordia University is only the start of a nationwide campaign has created a stir at several other universities, which the advocacy group said have failed to protect Jewish students against discrimination, reported The Canadian Jewish News Nov. 18. The Nov. 5 article said that B’nai Brith, which filed its complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission, was looking at pursuing similar actions against York University, Ryerson University, McMaster University and the University of Western Ontario.

Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith’s national executive vice-president, said, “Concordia is not an isolated example of Jewish discrimination, but part of what we believe to be a much wider trend in academia where Jewish students fear that they cannot freely voice their opinions on Israel or the Middle East without this resulting in harassment or seeing their marks suffer.”

Zac Kaye, executive director of Hillel of Greater Toronto, said that “most universities have become very sensitive to these issues and have worked very hard to set up a culture on campus that really speaks to all students.” At Ryerson, those efforts have “enabled a calmer environment to prevail,” he said. Similarly at York, “I think we have a very different environment on campus than we did last year.” Kaye stressed that there are complaints procedures at the universities themselves.

Pagers offer deaf students independence, literacy skills

Preliminary research shows two-way pagers help improve both the social skills and the independence of deaf students, reported Canadian Press in a story printed in The Daily Press in Timmins Nov. 17. Connie Mayer, professor in York’s Faculty of Education, said her research, now in the second year of its five-year term, will have implications for education policy in terms of making a case for different technologies to be funded by the government so that deaf students stay on par with their peers.

• Following the death of Palestine Liberation Organization Chair Yasser Arafat, Miriam Yosowich, cofounder of York’s campus peace group Shalom-Salam, told Barrie’s New VR Nov. 11 that “Yasser Arafat set it out so that peace talks can happen. We feel that his legacy will not be ignored.” She was accompanied by Shalom-Salam members Ali Manavipour and Hina Khan and York political science Professor Saeed Rahnema, who said, “There is a good possibility that they will start renewing negotiations, which will be very good and very important for both sides.” York student Shadi Hajjara of campus group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights said he hopes “we can move on from here.”
  
• Richard Leblanc, contract faculty with York’s School of Administrative Studies, discussed the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit against Conrad Black, on Report on Business TV’s “AM Business” Nov. 16.
  
• Calla Lachance, a master’s student in dance, and third-year dance students Mara Brown and Sarah Shead, discussed Arcanum Nonnock, an upcoming showcase of York student choreography, on “Evi-Dance” on 89.5 FM CIUT Nov. 14.