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Revision as of 02:22, 28 May 2006

This article is about the Canadian university. For the British university, see University of York.
York University
York University Crest
MottoTentanda via<br\>(The way must be tried)
TypePublic
Established1959
PresidentLorna Marsden
Undergraduates43,635
Postgraduates3,339
Location
Toronto
,
ON
,
Canada
CampusUrban/Suburban, 263 ha (650 acres)
Sports teamsLions
Websiteyorku.ca

York University (YorkU) is a large comprehensive university, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In terms of physical size, it is Canada's largest university, and third-largest in terms of student population. York has almost 50,000 students and 7,000 staff and faculty spread over two campuses.

History

York University was founded in 1959, by virtue of the York Act, which received Royal Assent in the Ontario Legislature on March 26 of that year. Its first class was held on September 1960, in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus, with a total of 76 students. In the fall of 1961, York moved to the Glendon campus, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education.

In 1965, York moved into its permanent home on the Keele campus. The campus, located at the northern edge of the City of Toronto, was regarded as somewhat isolated, in a generally industrialized part of the city. Petrol storage facilities are still located across the street. Some of the early architecture was unpopular with many, not only for the brutalist designs, but the vast expanse between buildings, which was not viewed as suitable for the climate. In the last two decades, the campus has been intensified with new buildings, including a dedicated student centre and new fine arts, computer science and business administration buildings, as well as a small shopping mall, and hockey arena. York has hosted the Canadian open tennis tournament for years. Faced with a threat of losing the high-profile competition, an agreement was reached to build a new stadium on campus. In 2004, the result was the tennis stadium on the west end of campus. As Toronto has spread further out, York has found itself in a relatively central location within the built-up Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and in particular, near the maligned Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Although its master plan envisions a denser on-campus environment commensurate with that location, the university's administration has made very limited efforts towards creating a centralized, urban feel. A controversial low-density, suburban-style housing development has served as a flashpoint for this tension.

Academics

File:Canada-toronto-york-university-01.jpg
View from Vari Hall

York University has ten faculties, with an eleventh, the Faculty of Health, being initiated 1 July 2006. This new faculty will house the School of Health Policy & Management, School of Kinesiology and Health Science, School of Nursing, and the Department of Psychology. Several of these faculties' programmes overlap. The Faculties of Arts, Science & Engineering, Liberal & Professional Studies (Atkinson), and Glendon College, for instance, each house separate mathematics departments. The Schulich School of Business, which figures in a number of MBA rankings, offers an International Business Administration programme which is the first of its kind in Canada, while the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies' School of Administrative Studies is the largest business undergraduate programme in Canada. Other faculties are unique, such as the Faculty of Environmental Studies, although it too has begun to overlap with aspects of the environmental sciences and engineering programmes whose professorial staff are resident in the Faculty of Science & Engineering.

Steps have been undertaken to begin to unify similar departments in separate faculties, and in some areas these overlaps have in fact contributed to York's efforts to brand itself as a university focused on interdisciplinarity. York University's Faculty of Graduate Studies is Ontario's second largest graduate school offering graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines, such as psychology, which is the largest in Canada. There are several joint graduate programmes with the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. The university has also been traditionally strong in arts and social sciences: York's Faculty of Arts is the largest in Canada and the school has the greatest number of humanists and social scientists in Canada. The political science department, a leading centre for the study of radical political economy, has been singled out in Maclean's annual ranking of universities. Its history department is especially strong in Canadian history. The School of Women's Studies at York University is one of the oldest of its kind and offers the largest array of courses in this field in the country, some of which are offered in French. The Canadian Centre for Germanic and European Studiesis co-housed at York University and Université de Montréal. The Centre was awarded to York University and Université de Montréal by the German Academic Exchange Service.

The Faculty of Fine Arts offers programmes such as ethnomusicology and a degree in cultural criticism referred to as "cultural studies"; York's joint Bachelor of Design programme with Sheridan College is the first and largest such joint programme in the province of Ontario. York's Faculty of Education is distinguished by the unusual amount of teaching experience that students acquire. The prestigious Osgoode Hall Law School is Canada's largest and among its oldest, having moved from a downtown location to the York campus in 1969 following the requirement that every law school affiliate with a university.

While engineering is new to York University, the school has long been involved in certain niche areas related to engineering within its Faculty of Science, now Faculty of Science & Engineering. Space projects are a particular strength, and York offers both a unique Space & Communication Sciences undergraduate degree and a pair of small telescopes on campus to help support it. York’s Centre for Vision Research, for example, has developed a ‘virtual reality room’ called IVY (Immersive Virtual Environment at York) in order to study spatial orientation and perception of gravity and motion. The Canadian Space Agency and National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) use this research to strengthen astronauts’ sense of ‘up’ and ‘down’ in zero-gravity environments; the room, a rare six-sided immersive environment in Canada, is made of the glass used in the CN Tower’s observation deck and includes walls, ceiling, and a floor comprised of computer-generated pixel maps.

York's five libraries contain more than six-and-a-half million items including more than two million books and subscriptions to over 13,000 electronic journals. The Osgoode Hall Law School houses the largest law library in the Commonwealth of Nations. The Clara Thomas Archives contains the literary and personal papers of many notable Canadian cultural figures such as Margaret Laurence, Rohinton Mistry, Adele Wiseman, bill bissett, and others.

York's approximately 1,200 full-time professors and academic librarians are represented by the York University Faculty Association.

Athletics

The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the York Lions. Beginning in 1968 York's sporting teams were known as the "Yeomen", later the term "Yeowomen" was created to allow for female sport participation under a gendered name specific to themselves. Popular sentiment ran against the name scheme however, as many students noted that a "yeowoman" was fictitious, neither a real word nor possessed of any historical merit. After extensive internal study a polling a name change was proposed which came to fruition in 2003. York's "Yeomen" and "Yeowomen" were no more, and in their place the "Lions" emerged. This change of name also necessitated a change in logo and sports merchandizing which brought the sports icon of the university, now a white and red lion, into line with the university's new visual scheme. The name change also brought York university in line with the 92% of other Canadian universities which use a single name for both gender's sports teams. Interestingly, and perhaps due to the school tradition of gendered sporting names, many students currently refer to the female lions teams as the "York Lionesses" despite the fact that the term "Lion" can be applied to either gender. [1]

SportYork offers 29 interuniversity sport teams, 12 sport clubs, 35 intramural sport leagues, special events and 10 pick-up sport activities offered daily.

York U has several athletic facilities, some of which are used for major tournaments. These include a football stadium, 4 gymnasia, 5 sport playing fields, 4 softball fields, 9 outdoor tennis courts, 5 squash courts, 3 dance/aerobic studios, an ice arena, a swimming pool, an expanding fitness centre and the new Rexall Centre (Home of the Rogers Tennis Cup).

Plans in 2005 to build a new football and soccer stadium to host the Toronto Argonauts Canadian Football League team and future football tournaments were scuttled, however, when a deal was signed by the Argos to remain at the Rogers Centre (formerly known as the SkyDome). York's proximity to many of Toronto's cricket-playing communities and role as host of an annual "York is U" cricket tournament has led to speculation that the university might act as a permanent home for Canada's growing cricket programme, which headed to the World Cup in 2003 and has qualified again for 2007. No concrete plan for a permanent cricket facility has yet been developed, however.

Campuses

Keele Campus, York's main campus, is located in North York and most of the University's faculties reside here. The Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School each have a satellite campus downtown, however; Schulich's is known as the Miles S. Nadal Management Centre, while Osgoode's is known as the Professional Development Centre and is located in the Dundas West Tower at Yonge and Dundas.

Glendon College, a bilingual liberal arts faculty which conducts its own recruitment and admissions and hosts its own academic programs, is also housed on its own campus in a tonier part of North York. Glendon is the only university-level institution in Southern Ontario that offers university courses in both French and English; others elsewhere in Ontario include the University of Ottawa and Laurentian University in Sudbury. A shuttle bus runs regularly between the Glendon and the Keele campuses.

Major buildings (Keele Campus)

Curtis Lecture Halls and the Ross Building

The Curtis Lecture Halls and Ross Building was once the entrance or main door of York University from the 1960s until the opening of Vari Hall in 1992.

Curtis Lecture Halls is a 3-4 floor complex of lecture halls of varying sizes built in 1971. Above the halls is the Ross Building, containing offices of professors, faculty offices and the Senate. Curtis Lecture Halls was named for Air Vice-Marshal Wilfrid A. Curtis, founding organizing committee and first Chancellor of York (1959-1968).

The Ross building opened in 1966 is named for the late Dr. Murray G. Ross, founding president of York (1960-1970) and law professor at the University of Toronto. It was originally called Humanities and Social Sciences building .

Vari Hall

Vari Hall is a building primarily containing lecture rooms. Built in 1992 by Raymond Moriyama, a $2 million donation and other cost were covered by George and Helen Vari, Hungarian refugees and businesspersons. The 3 storey rotunda of the hall has become a meeting place for students and protests.

The building looks out towards the York Commons, a park at the university. Prior to the Hall's construction, a massive ramp provided access to the Ross Building from the Commons. York's crest adorns the outer face of the rotunda.

York Commons

York Commons is a park enclosed by the main buildings at York, including:

  • Vari Hall
  • York University Student Centre
  • York Lanes - retail mall, book store and office space for teaching staff
  • Centre for Film and Theatre
  • Accolade East and Accolade West

A roadway circulating the park and the buildings and serves mainly for buses and drop-offs. A shallow pool is also located in the tree lined park.

York Lanes

York Lanes is a two storey mall at the Keele campus of York University in Toronto, Ontario.

The lower level has restaurants and retail stores including the York University Bookstore at the East end. Also housed in the mall is the Campus Cove (an arcade/LAN gaming centre/pool hall) and the on-campus medical office. Offices for faculty of various departments as well as various student groups are located on the second floor.

The layout of the mall is rectangular (long in the East-West direction). It is divided into three sections (arbitrarily based on the bends of the corridor, and not on any other difference between the sections or their contents). One main corridor runs along it's length. Slightly diagonal towards the South-West corner at the start (the West Market), then East-West (The Main Wing), and finally turning south for a short span at the East end (the East Market). There is one branch off to a North exit where the West Market meets the Main Wing (where the corridor bends), and there is also a door to a narrow passageway at the West end (just adjacent to the bookstore and opposite the main East exit) to another back exit to the North.

Fraternities

Fraternities and sororities are not given official status at York University, as stated in Presidential Regulation #5. The reasons given in this regulation are that fraternities and sororities deflect students from participation in the College system, are in conflict with York's principles of inclusivity, and are often associated with inappropriate conduct. There are, unofficially, two fraternities and one sorority on campus:

Students

York is Canada's second-largest university, with almost 50,000 students enrolled. Most students come from the Greater Toronto Area, but there is a sizeable population of students from across Canada and abroad. To serve this large population, there are 225 student clubs and organisations; two student-run publications and three broadcast programmes; six art galleries; 33 on-campus eateries; and a retail mall. Yorkonline is a website run by students as a way for students and faculty to communicate with each other.

Colleges

York has 9 undergraduate residential colleges:

Faculties and abbreviations

Seneca@York

York also shares the Keele Campus with Seneca College, Seneca@York, and offers a number of joint programmes with Seneca College:

  • School of Communication Arts
  • Computer Studies
  • Biological Science and Applied Chemistry
  • Corporate and Technical Communications

Transit

Main article: [[:York University (YRT), York University (GO Station), York University (TTC)]]

York University is a classic commuter school. Over 85% of the students and 90% of the staff have home addresses in the GTA, and most of them commute by car or transit. Due to the high numbers of commuters leaving and entering the campus every day, traffic congestion, shortage of parking space and long bus lines result.

York University's Glendon and Keele campuses are served by the Toronto Transit Commission, the Keele site is also served by York Region Transit buses (both regular and Viva) from the immediate north, GO Transit express buses from several other Toronto suburbs and Greyhound buses for regional transportation. The department of Security, Parking and Transportation Services operates a shuttle service to GO Transit's York University train station on its Bradford corridor, as the station is not within walking distance. Close to fourteen hundred buses move people through the campus each day. A proposed extension of the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line beyond its current terminus would run directly under the campus, creating new stations at Keele and Finch (Finch West), at the centre of campus (York University), and at Steeles Avenue, interfacing with York Region Transit (Steeles West).

Controversies

There is a long tradition of activist politics on campus, often resulting in vocal demonstrations, particularly concerning issues relating to the Middle East and economic globalization. There have been criticisms of both the activists, for disrupting classes and provoking confrontations between students, and of the university administration for its response to demonstrators and activists, including expulsion and alleged police misconduct against activists.

As well, a recent (2005) controversy arose regarding the sale of university land for a low density housing development. The land was sold for C$15.8 million to a developer, Tribute Communities which has close ties with the university administration. Tribute Communities allegedly did not pay the full market price for the land. York University maintained that the proposal, mostly consisting of townhouses, was the best overall proposal. An independent investigation conducted by retired judge Edward Saunders reported that there had been no misconduct.

In October 2005, Professor David F. Noble, in opposition to York's practice of cancelling classes on the Jewish High Holidays, which originated in 1974 in deference to the university's large proportion of Jewish students and faculty members at that time, applied to the university's senate body for review of the policy. Upon the York senate's affirmation of the policy, he pledged that he would teach on those days anyway, but later decided to instead poll students in his courses, asking if they wished future classes to be cancelled out of respect for other religious holidays.

March 31, 2006 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the University, and its President Dr. Lorna Marsden could be sued by plaintiff Daniel Freeman-Maloy for "misfeasance in public office."[3]

Former presidents

Most famous chancellor

Noted alumni

Noted faculty

See also

External links

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