…and it’s a pretty cool place.
As a 3L Student Caucus representative, I have the pleasure of sitting on the Osgoode Community Enhancement Forum (OCEF). Last year the OCEF considered how fostering a better relationship between Osgoode students and York University might improve the overall student experience at Osgoode. While this goal is obviously a work in progress, in this article I want to address one thing that we as Osgoode students have a lot of control over: our individual and collective attitudes towards York. Put simply – it’s time to stop throwing so much shade York’s way!
Arguably, fostering a better relationship with York requires us to accept that we are as much York University students as we are Osgoode students. It requires us to engage with the broader York community as stakeholders, as opposed to consumers. I know what you’re thinking. But, Allison! Disparaging York is as much a part of our shared Osgoode experience as complaining about the curve, the commute, and getting gouged by the prices in the Bistro. How will I express my frustrations with York if I remove “getting Yorked” from my vocabulary? What if by simply saying I attend York University, people don’t immediately recognize me for the law student elite I am?
Trust me. You will be doing yourself a favour, personally and professionally, to challenge your attitudes towards York. First, adopting a positive attitude about the place you attend daily is good for your mental health. Secondly, not to belabour the point, but it’s pretty reductive to sing Osgoode’s praises without acknowledging York may have some part in the way the school is run, or how it has enriched your life.
Okay, so if you’ve read this far, maybe I’ve encouraged you to consider that MAYBE re-evaluating the Osgoode-York relationship MIGHT benefit Osgoode students somehow. The good news is, once you’ve opened your mind to seeing York differently, there are actually many elements that make this institution pretty great. To demonstrate this, I asked some Osgoode and York “celebrities” to share some of their favourite fun facts about York that maybe you didn’t know:
Dean Lorne Sossin:
“There are many wonderful stories about York of significance for Osgoode. For example, York University began in 1960 without any dedicated space, and so had to borrow some from the University of Toronto to get started – the space U of T gave York was Falconer Hall, where it was located during 1960-61, and is now home to U of T’s Law School. At the time, U of T’s Law School was located at Glendon Hall, in the location that was soon to be ceded to become York’s second home!
The Osgoode faculty member with arguably the deepest roots at York is Professor Stepan Wood. Not only was he born to a York family (his father was a Geography Professor at York) but he is also the only Osgoode Professor to be born at York (his parents lived on campus at the time!)
A third fun fact is more personal – while I am the second Dean to have a degree from Osgoode after it had joined York (Patrick Monahan was first), I am the only Dean of Osgoode (so far) who began teaching elsewhere at York – in my case, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, in the Faculty of Arts, which I joined in 1997.”
O-Week Chair Steven Broadley:
1. People used to regularly swim in the pond behind Osgoode.
2. York University had Canada’s first sexuality and gender class.
3. York was built in the 1960’s during the height of the Cold War. Rumor has it that the reason York was built so far outside of the city was to act as a government organizing centre in the event of a nuclear attack on Toronto. This rumor was given greater weight when I visited the Diefenbunker in Ottawa and there is a map showing that York sits just outside of the third (or final) blast radius of the nuclear weapons at the time, meaning a number of buildings could quickly be converted to a government operations/rescue and recovery effort. Just a rumor though.
4. Jack Layton used to be a professor at York.
5. York has a fairly large telescope. The astronomy club hosts pizza parties allowing you to see distant objects (like Saturn!).
6. Bethune College is named after a famous Canadian doctor who went to China and fought in the Chinese civil war for the Communist side, and was friends with Mao.
7. They did a study a few years back to determine the political leanings of the various faculties. The most self-described communists were found in the Math Department.
Vice-Provost Students, Janet Morrison:
“Here are two fun-facts that speak to why I love York:
1) 33% of York students speak English as a second language
2) Our Track & Field team lives a commitment to excellence — in 2013, the men’s team won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship”
York University President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri:
“When I was younger, I aspired to be a professional soccer player. When that didn’t work out, I hoped to become a professional soccer coach. Failing both, I became a University president who loves cheering on York’s Men’s and Women’s Lions soccer teams.”
For context, here are some facts about the very successful Lions Men’s soccer team:
The last time the Lions lost an OUA regular-season game to an opponent other than McMaster was Sept. 18, 2010, a 2-1 loss to Waterloo.
The Lions are the defending 2013 OUA champions, and finished fourth at the CIS championships. They have finished atop the OUA West Division for seven straight seasons.
Toby Samson, Legal and Literary Society President:
“York University has been ranked as Canada’s greenest university for two years in a row, and the 14th greenest university in Canada in 2011.”
AND, lastly:
Jeffrey Herneaz, Student Caucus Chair:
“Rachel McAdams is an Alumna of the York University Fine Arts Theatre Program.”