Barrick Gold Corporation - The world's largest gold producer. Munk School of Global Affairs – Join the global conversation | Home. Munk OUTofUofT (MunkOUTofUofT) Academic Freedom? | Peter Munk OUT of UofT. In Canada, Barrick is using SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) against three academics and two small presses, one in Quebec and one based in Vancouver, that have published or announced an intention to publish books that damage Barrick’s image.
The latest SLAPP was directed at Talonbooks of Vancouver, before the book was even published. These lawsuits take advantage of an archaic defamation law within Canada that allow a company to sue entities for merely doing damage to their reputation. The law allows lawsuits if a company is able to make a claim of reputational damage, leaving it to the defendant to prove that what they alleged was true. This effectively creates a “libel chill” preventing anyone from saying anything negative about powerful corporations, lest they end up with a costly lawsuit that they then must fight. See the Free Speech at Risk campaign for more information! Sign the online petition for an anti-SLAPP law and send it to all your contacts Like this: Free Speech at Risk | Countering Threats Against Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We’ve been Munk’d – (this should have been posted ages ago) « Now or Never.
To say that “it’s been awhile” is a drastic understatement. However, while my blog activity has been pitiful as of late, I will try and make amends by posting something that should have been seen by the public long ago. While away in Indonesia this year, I received word that Peter Munk had made a “generous” donation to the University of Toronto. His $35 million dollars would fund the new Munk School of Global Affairs – an institution Janice Stein praised as a giant step forward; a momentus and wonderful opportunity for the University of Toronto and Canadian academia more generally. Having recently been elected as Peace and Conflict Studies co-President – a position that now firmly entrenches me within the Munk universe (PCS is a part of Munk’s school, and will physically be housed in Munk’s lair next year) – I wrote an article outlining some of the conflicts of interest I saw with this latest development. Below, you will find said article. Tarnished Gifts Summer 2010 Like this: Peter Munk in his own words: speech at the 2010 Barrick AGM.
Daily Exchange: Students, workers & faculty rally against the corporate takeover of UofT. ____________________ Education Students, workers and faculty rally against the corporate takeover of UofT Toronto - The Anti-Corporatization Working Group of the UT General Assembly is calling a rally outside of the University of Toronto's Governing Council to protest the Munk “donation” and the privatization of education. Professor Noam Chomsky, speaking at a public lecture in the afternoon, has expressed support for the cause and is expected to make an appearance at the rally. Organizers claim that the administration wants to generate discourses around global issues that are financed by and subject to the annual approval of the Munk Foundation.
Peter Munk is the chairman of the mining company Barrick Gold, a corporation facing frequent allegations of international human rights and environmental abuses. Even the UofT administration seemed to expect controversy surrounding the acceptance of Munk's money. "The omission of the motion from the agenda comes as no surprise. University of Toronto’s Governing Council raises tuition fees, bars access for students, workers and faculty | Peter Munk OUT of UofT.
Students, workers, and faculty at the University of Toronto gathered yesterday to rally against the privatization of funding and decision-making at the university. The rally began outside of Simcoe Hall, where University’s Governing Council was meeting. Renowned intellectual and visiting speaker Noam Chomsky addressed the crowd about the need for free and accessible education.
Campus and community members were angered by the agenda for this particular Governing Council meeting. Governors were set to ignore a motion served by a student governor calling for a renegotiation of the Munk Foundation’s contentious donation contract with UofT, and to increase tuition fees so that for the first time ever, tuition and user fees are projected to surpass public funding in UofT’s operating budget. After the rally, a hundred students, workers, faculty and allies proceeded inside the building to observe the GC meeting. Morgan Vanek, Member-Elect of Governing Council and Ph.D. Like this: Like Loading... Joeita Gupta (GC member), John Valleau, and Paul Hamel presen. Peter Munk’s Cheat Sheet | Toronto Standard | A Daily Digital Briefing. Pretty much anywhere you turn at any major private university in the United States you’ll see evidence of generations of benefactors who, through dint of accumulated capital and/or a forgiving tax act, have given scads of money to ensure that their wealth, if not their “accomplishments,” are recognized throughout the years.
This recognition can usually be found emblazoned on the side of a building – the Carnegie and Rockefeller centres for this, the Guggenheim and Bloomberg centres for that, and, inevitably, the Gates centre for this and that. While such benefaction in Toronto is not nearly as evident, a stroll along Devonshire between Bloor and Hoskin might suggest otherwise. The newly endowed Munk School for Global Affairs bookends the street north and south, occupying what were once, respectively, an engineering residence and the Department of Astronomy. For all that, in the face of their critics, U of T continues to treat Munk with kid gloves. The Globe and Mail? Liberty University blocks newspaper website for reporting on its federal financial aid haul - War Room. Last month, the Lynchburg News & Advance reported that Liberty University, the evangelical private school founded by Jerry Falwell and run by Jerry Falwell Jr., received almost half a billion dollars in federal financial aid money last year.
After we pointed out that that was more federal money than NPR received last year, Liberty University apparently blocked access to the News & Advance website for at least one day. Yes, Liberty University is exactly like Communist China. Liberty University officials at first claimed they were unashamed of receiving so much government cash, but apparently they later thought it embarrassing enough to attempt some clumsy censorship.
Not that Falwell admitted that that’s why he blocked it! “Most of the websites that are blocked have to do with obscene material, material that is inappropriate,” Falwell said. But Jim Romenesko says he learned that the financial aid story is what led to the blocking. The uneasy ties between Canada's universities and wealthy business magnates | News. After almost three years of negotiation and internecine battles, a private think-tank established and chaired by Jim Balsillie has signed a $60-million deal with York University in Toronto to create a school of international law. Through the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the co-founder of BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd. has committed to donate $30-million to create 10 research chairs and 20 graduate scholarships over the next 10 years.
In return, Mr. Balsillie’s private, not-for-profit organization has secured a voice to influence, and veto, staffing and curriculum at the school. The collaboration, which includes $30-million from the Ontario government, has raised eyebrows in the academic community. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has “condemned” the agreement, saying it “opposed any collaboration that allows third-parties a voice in hiring or academic decision-making.” “Are these things uncomfortable to talk about? Protestbarrick (@stopbarrick) sur Twitter. Ethics watchdog examines apparent conflict by PM’s chief of staff. OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, Nigel Wright, is now the subject of a formal conflict of interest examination by the federal ethics watchdog. Mary Dawson’s office confirmed Tuesday that the ethics commissioner has launched an examination of Wright’s dealings with Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX), under section 45 of the Conflict of Interest Act. That section empowers the commissioner to act on her own initiative — without waiting for an MP or senator to request an investigation — if she has reason to believe someone has contravened the act.
“The fact that she’s decided, on her own, to look into this and launch an investigation speaks to the seriousness of the allegation,” said New Democrat ethics critic Charlie Angus, who had been contemplating asking Dawson to investigate the matter. At issue is whether Wright improperly used his influential position to further the private interests of friends at Barrick. Wright and Anthony Munk worked together at Onex Corp. “Mr. Anti-Munk author speaks on campus. On Friday, sociology professor and controversial author Alain Deneault visited University College to speak about his new book, Imperial Canada Inc. Deneault’s invitation to speak on campus is the latest in a series of vocal protestations against mining mogul and philanthropist Peter Munk’s presence on campus. In 2010, Munk donated $35 million to the university to found the Munk School of Global Affairs. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the school’s new building at 315 Bloor St. was held this week. Since news of the endowment broke, the Munk School has been dogged by accusations of improper donor influence.
Deneault is best known as the author of Noir Canada, an academic text that claimed Barrick Gold’s alleged complicity in the deaths of fifty-two miners in Tanzania, and Banro Corporation’s fuelling of violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Spokespeople for the Munk School of Global Affairs declined to comment on Deneault’s visit. Peter Munk, UofT & Barrick Gold: Info Session | Peter Munk OUT of UofT. WHAT: Peter Munk & UofT info sessionWHERE: UofT @ OISE, 252 Bloor room 5150WHEN: Tuesday, April 16, 6:30pmSOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook eventWHY: To learn about the implications of the infamous “Munk Contract”. The Munk Contract which established the Munk School of Global Affairs was signed in secret and not publicly available until a Freedom of Information request put out by two professors. The details turned out to be scandalous. Find out why the U of T now houses a right-wing think tank. Find out what we mean when we say that Munk’s donation came with “strings attached”.
The event will be hosted by researcher and activist, Sakura Saunders, who will take you on a tour that starts with a contract and ends with the take over of public institutions, the repression of the truth, and corporate impunity. Like this: Like Loading... Sakura Saunders @sakura1979 sur Twitter.