York University’s Schulich School of Business will open its doors in September to 40 MBA students in Hyderabad, India, as part of a new twinning arrangement with the GMR School of Business, reported Business Standard Aug. 8. Students will spend their first year at the Hyderabad campus and their second year at Schulich’s Toronto campus, and Schulich faculty will teach all of the courses, in both Hyderabad and Toronto. Read full story.
H&M pulls headdresses from Canadian shelves after complaints
“What I see going on here with H&M is something quite different than the whole ongoing ding-dong about the Redskins name, for example,” said York University marketing Professor Detlev Zwick in the Toronto Star Aug. 9. (Native Americans have spent years lobbying to change the Washington, D.C., football team’s name). “A Swedish, fast-fashion designer house considers a relatively free-wheeling variation on traditional aboriginal headwear entirely unproblematic, because back in Europe it probably is. When you bring this fashion item into a new context, such as Canada, with its troubled imperial history towards the First Nations, well, the meaning of the same thing changes.” Read full story.
Mississauga will honour its own
Unlike Canada’s Walk of Fame, Mississauga’s Legends Row will be more far reaching, to include business leaders and community builders. The categories include the aforementioned as well as sports, arts and culture, entertainment and media, public service, science, innovation and philanthropy, reported the Toronto Sun Aug. 11. The free inaugural induction ceremony is Saturday, Sept. 14 at 1pm at Celebration Square. There will be 10 inductees, including Lata Pata, adjunct professor of dance at York University and Order of Canada recipient. Read full story.
Variable annuities: Beware of shrinking payouts
These days, the variable annuity and rider combination isn’t looking like the panacea it once seemed to be….First, the financial crisis tanked customers’ portfolios, putting insurers on the hook for billions in guarantees on pre-2008 contracts. Since then, years of low interest rates have left firms uncertain that they will be able to satisfy future payouts. “A lot of companies got burned,” said York University finance Professor Moshe Milevsky in CNNMoney Aug. 6. “Besides rejiggering the terms on their contracts, many insurers have reduced the number of policies they sell; last year two big names – Hartford and Sun Life – dropped out of the business altogether.” Read full story.
Investigation by teachers’ college too long, says prof
The Ontario College of Teachers has taken an unusually long time to investigate a local teacher’s conduct. So long, in fact, it could affect the evidence and testimony of witnesses involved, said Richard Leblanc, professor of law, governance and ethics at York University. “It’s just inevitable because of recollection, of memory, of documents,” said Leblanc in the Hamilton Spectator Aug. 6. “You don’t want to trample the rights of the accused, but six years strikes me as long – anomalously long.” Read full story.
The presumed innocence of capitalism and Lac-Mégantic
“Lac-Mégantic is but an eye-catching example of a common phenomenon. It is but a vivid example of the routine operation of competitive capitalism, our supposedly well-regulated competitive form of capitalism,” wrote Harry Glasbeek, professor emeritus and senior scholar at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in Canadian Dimension Aug. 7. “There should be no sense of surprise. Anger, yes; surprise, no. The key to this parlous state of affairs is the fact that our regulatory laws and standards are intended to legitimate a harm-causing, risk-shifting system.” Read full story.
Are you guilty of oversharing?
According to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, most people are oversharing online, revealing much more personal info than they would be comfortable divulging face-to-face. Why? Social media has essentially become a source of therapy, says the study’s author, York University marketing Professor Russell Belk. When you post about a feeling or experience online, you tend to feel like your social network is listening and supporting you, so the effect is cathartic, said Belk in Women’s Health Aug. 7. Read full story.
The audacity of sex workers
“I led a separate session on the recent court challenges to Canada’s prostitution laws, and next steps for sex workers if the laws that criminalize and endanger them are struck down,” wrote Joyce Arthur in Rabble.ca Aug. 2. “It was a great opportunity to share our excitement – tinged with trepidation – at the prospect of imminent decriminalization in Canada, after the Supreme Court hearing on the Bedford case in Ottawa on June 13.[…]Lawyers for the plaintiffs did a fantastic job by all accounts. Alan Young, a professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, argued against the living off the avails and bawdy house laws[…]” Read full story.
Between borders: How and why do we define academic territory?
“What then is the purpose of naming a field? What are the consequences of creating and using terms in this way? Once something has been defined, it takes on a new ‘realness’ and becomes something people think and talk about in new and specific ways,” wrote York University PhD candidate Melonie Fullick in University Affairs Aug. 2. “When the boundaries are set out, we’re encouraged to define ourselves and the scope of our work in relation to them. More academic legitimacy can be gained when a research area can be discussed in terms of a body of work and/or a group of researchers, and when we have means of making a distinction between what belongs and what does not.” Read full story.
Have your say: How can we stop discrimination based on weight?
Canadian courts have recognized obesity as a disability in relation to employment by protecting individuals from discrimination under human-rights law “unless there is a bona fide occupational requirement,” according to employment lawyer Stuart Rudner.…“Law is not terribly effective at changing negative attitudes and stereotypes. But it’s a tool we use to educate and discourage discrimination on other grounds like race, age and sex,” said York University labour and employment law Professor David Doorey in The Globe and Mail Aug. 6. “Legislators could easily add ‘weight’ or ‘physical appearance’ to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. This would at least require employers, landlords and service providers to explain why weight is relevant.” Read full story.
Athens to host Canada-Greece/Cyprus University Partnership Forum in September
Canada’s High Commissioner to the Republic of Cyprus Robert Peck announced on Thursday that the first Canada-Greece/Cyprus University Partnership Forum will take place in Athens on Sept. 16. The Forum’s key objective is to promote new institution-to-institution partnerships between universities in both Greece/Cyprus and in Canada, which could include faculty exchange/enrichment programs, lectures, semester abroad programs, Canadian and Hellenic studies, and collaboration in research and development….Eight Canadian institutions – including York University – will take part, reported the Famagusta Gazette Aug. 8. Read full story.