So much for the university as a beacon of free thought and inquiry!
Dennis
---------------------- Forwarded by Dennis Raphael/Atkinson on 12/12/2001 09:38
AM ---------------------------
"David Hulchanski" <[log in to unmask]> on 12/12/2001 07:46:28 AM
Please respond to [log in to unmask]
To: "- CUCS distribution llist"
<[log in to unmask]>
cc: "Michael R. Marrus" <[log in to unmask]>,
"Donald Cormack" <[log in to unmask]>,
"Susan Bloch-Nevitte"
<[log in to unmask]>(bcc: Dennis
Raphael/Atkinson)
Subject: The City and the University: in the national news
today
The UofT is in the national news again -- this time for
preventing publication of an article analyzing urban trends.
The article was commissioned by the UofT for the UofT
Magazine and is written by John Lorinc, Toronto Life
magazine's respected civic-affairs columnist.
The Globe and Mail quotes John Lorinc: "A university has a
role to play in criticizing and debating social policy. ...
This university, to its credit, is engaged in the public
debate with all three levels of government. [The] article
contains well-founded criticisms of the current state of not
just Toronto, but of Canadian cities generally. It's amazing
to me that it would be seen as hurting building
applications."
In case you missed it, the full text of the Globe article is
below.
I have not seen the article by John Lorinc yet. The Globe
notes that it contains "material from interviews with or
publications by several U of T scholars intimate with the
city's problems."
David
______________________________________
J. David Hulchanski, PhD, MCIP
Director, Centre for Urban and Community Studies
Professor, Faculty of Social Work
University of Toronto
Tel 416 978-4093; Fax 416 978-7162
[log in to unmask]
http://www.hnc.utoronto.ca
http://www.housingagain.web.net
______________________________________
The Globe and Mail
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
? Print Edition, Page A20
U of T MAGAZINE ARTICLE KILLED
By James Adams
National Arts Correspondent
A University of Toronto administrator has axed the cover
story for a forthcoming issue of U of T Magazine, in part
because its "cynical, very negative view" might have harmed
the university's relations with the city.
Susan Bloch-Nevitte, director of U of T's department of
public affairs, took the action late last week, just days
before the commissioned 4,000-word piece was to have gone to
the printer as the lead story for the magazine's winter-2002
issue. It was written by John Lorinc, Toronto Life
magazine's award-winning civic-affairs columnist.
Ms. Bloch-Nevitte said yesterday that she offered Mr. Lorinc
the chance to rework the article, a heavily researched look
at Toronto's myriad social, political and environmental
problems. But yesterday Mr. Lorinc, who was paid $3,500 for
the piece, announced, "I'm not going to change it," saying
it had already gone through two or three rewrites and been
given the okay by the magazine's editor, Karen Hanley.
Ms. Bloch-Nevitte killed the article in her function as
publisher of U of T Magazine, which comes out four times a
year and circulates to an estimated 350,000 alumni around
the world.
"I saw [the Lorinc article] at a late date, later than I
should have, and I'm sorry for that, but when I did read it,
I thought it was extremely unbalanced," she said.
While "beautifully written," it was "a near-rant against the
city, the city's municipal leaders, the province, the
federal government," she added.
Ms. Bloch-Nevitte noted that the U of T is currently
involved in sensitive negotiations with the city about
constructing as many as six high-rise residence towers
between Queen's Park Crescent and St. George Street.
"This university deals with the city all the time," she
said. "It has for 145 years and, hopefully, will do so for
another 145. I just thought this one-sided perspective was
not helpful in our relations with the city."
Mr. Lorinc, who graduated from U of T in 1987, argued that
his article was thoughtful and balanced. "The ideas in there
are not just my ideas," he said, noting that he had included
material from interviews with or publications by several U
of T scholars intimate with the city's problems, including
Beth Savan, a professor in the environmental studies program
at Innis College and Councillor Jack Layton, co-chairman of
the city's sustainability roundtable.
"A university has a role to play in criticizing and debating
social policy," Mr. Lorinc said. "This university, to its
credit, is engaged in the public debate with all three
levels of government. [The] article contains well-founded
criticisms of the current state of not just Toronto, but of
Canadian cities generally. It's amazing to me that it would
be seen as hurting building applications."
Ms. Bloch-Nevitte, who described Mr. Lorinc as having "a
burr under his saddle on this one," added that she had other
concerns about the piece. For one, it was "too
Torontocentric."
The piece needed more non-Toronto voices, she said, as well
as "a more optimistic perspective" just for the sake of
fairness.
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