EVAN VELLA
<Letter Writer>
I have been dismayed by this publication’s policy of publishing anonymous opinion pieces.
Letters: The Obiter’s Policy on Anonymous Submissions
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Some Reflections on 2012/2013
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Congratulations, Osgoode – we’ve made it yet another year.
Don’t Be Hasty
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Almost two weeks ago, following Pope Francis’ election, many of our friends and acquaintances sounded off, outraged, regarding his views on sexuality.
The Writing’s on the Wall
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It is difficult to overstate the importance of freedom of expression. It is more than a legal right. It is more than a constitutional right. It is a manifestation of human freedom at its most basic level.
Your Father Smells of Elderberries
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As a newspaper editor and loudmouth, the freedom of expression is one very dear to me. While the freedom is certainly necessary for the healthy development of a democratic state, it also addresses something more personal.
Law and Politics: Battling the Ballots
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What is the relationship between law and politics? Are they synonyms? Is politics a manifestation of law? Or, is law a manifestation of politics? I argue that the answer to these questions centres on the idiosyncrasies of the reader.
The “Praxicum” Requirement and Osgoode’s Roots in Experiential Learning
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It is easy to forget, seeing as our students today probably worry considerably about grades and academic fortitude, that for nearly a century, Canada’s first official law school at Osgoode Hall didn’t even grant degrees.
The LPP: Not What We Bargained for
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In these pages lies Student Caucus (SC)’s response to the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC)’s Pathways Report on the future of articling. It is a commendable and articulate effort, to be sure, especially in view of a rather tight deadline, which the response notes. But alas! I’ve been forgotten again.
What Does the American Election Mean for Canada?
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With the American election resolved and the President re-elected, the question now becomes what to expect in a second Obama term, and what its implications are for Canada. To be sure, the President retained his position decisively in the Electoral College, but won much more narrowly in the popular vote.
An Enjoyable and Politically Correct Halloween for All
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An elementary school in Seattle recently reported that students were prohibited from dressing up for Halloween this year. The decision was implemented as a preventative measure out of fear that Halloween costumes could offend or upset students of different cultures, which came as somewhat of a surprise to me.
Letter to the Editor: Hot Bob-Ombs
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ANONYMOUS <Anonymous Person> <Probably Travis> I hope everyone had the pleasure of watching various world leaders’ speeches at the UN last week. The most informative and argumentatively sound speech was of course Mr. Netanyahu’s (Yahoo). I would offer my congratulations to him and his adoring fans at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the American Enterprise Institute. I...
Osgoode Then and Now
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LORNE SOSSIN <Dean> When we embarked on the Osgoode History and Archives Project (OHAP) in 2010, we wanted to focus on telling our stories as an Osgoode community. This project includes infusing those stories in the new Ignat Kaneff building (for example, through the Osgoode Then and Now niche in Gowlings Hall), in digital form (for example, through the Catalysts and Building Osgoode...
Sizing Up Our Predecessors
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You know that scene in Love Actually when Hugh Grant, playing the British Prime Minister, wonders aloud at the portrait of Thatcher on the wall if she had the same problems as he? Well, we’ve been poring over the back issues of the Obiter from as far back as 1970 and wondering the same thing. Adorning the walls of Room 0014G are 109 volumes (some of them duplicates) of this superb publication...
Who’s Afraid of Pauline Marois?
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There’s an elephant in the Canadian room right now that this publication still hasn’t addressed. There’s a new Premier on the scene, and she (apparently) means business. Pauline Marois has spent the last two months saying deliberately shocking things to rile up anglophone Quebeckers and the citizens of the so-called “Rest of Canada” (or ROC, for short). Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t...
The New Obiter Dicta
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I remember picking up my first issue of the Obiter Dicta sometime during an O-Week lunch break two years ago. My initial thoughts were probably somewhere along the lines of “what does ‘obiter dicta’ mean” and “how does anyone have time to read this during law school much less produce its content?” But as every IL eventually learns, the scarce amounts of spare...
The Soundtrack to My Law School Experience
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This. is. it. Wow. 3 years ago, I started working for the Obiter Dicta, doing layout between classes, and it blows my mind that this is my last issue ever. It’s even crazier to me that my time at school is almost done. Like some of my fellow writers in this paper, I wanted to write a piece on my time at Osgoode Hall. You know, something reflective, that was also kind of funny and epic. But how do...
Library Resources
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Is our law library an open resource for every member of the Osgoode community? Apparently not. Who would have thought that our law library was being used to store books that students are banned from reading! After a request for an accompanying instructor’s manual to Bruce Ziff’s first-year text: A Property Law Reader was made by a student this past week, the library bureaucracy...