Great street for a great mind: McLuhan is still pointing the way on St. Joseph Street

Influential thinker Marshall McLuhan has recently been memorialized by a strip of St. Joseph Street that now bears his name. On August 19th, U of T unveiled the signs for Marshall McLuhan Way, which runs along St. Joseph between Queen’s Park and Bay St., in honour of the colourful and controversial figure who taught at U of T for over thirty years. It is here that McLuhan theorized and expounded the affects of technology, advertising and communications on society, culture and politics, right up until his death on New Years Eve of 1980.

Marshall McLuhan Way is one of a handful of public streets and spaces named after prominent intellectuals and artists in and around U of T ‘s campus. Some others include, bpNichol Lane, which commemorates the life and work of the late language poet, and Matt Cohen Park, honouring the acclaimed Toronto author who passed away in 1999.

This is the third memorializing nod to McLuhan on St. Joseph Street alone, which already includes a plaque honouring his life and work, as well as a bronze likeness of the man who gave us the oft heard phrases “global village” and “the medium is the message.”
-DC

StatsCan sees silver lining in tuition hikes: “smallest increase in three years”

Canadian tuition fees grew by the smallest amount in three years, a Statistics Canada report found last week. Nationwide this fall, tution rose by an average of 3.9 percent over last year. In Ontario, tuition fees rose by 1 percent, a result of a provincial tuition freeze instituted last year.
“For students, it just means a smaller dose of the bad medicine they’ve been handed for the past decade,” said James Kusie, the National director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. Other student groups had the same message, welcoming tuition freezes but demanding they be lowered, not just frozen.

“High tuition fees, even if frozen, are still a barrier to access for many lower- and middle-income Canadians,” said George Soule of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Tuition freezes were in effect in four provinces: Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland.

Tuition at the University of Toronto averages $5068.90 for 2004, about $900 more than the Canadian average and about $100 more than the Ontario average. Ontario remains the second-most expensive province in which to attend university.

Statistics Canada’s focus on universities and not colleges drew fire from the College Student Alliance (CSA), which called the study “disappointing.”
“College student have been asked to pay more than ever before,” said CSA president Justin Falconer. “The data that Statistics Canada collects is critically needed to address the long term impact of tuition increase on our colleges.”

Students in British Columbia saw the biggest increases for the third year in a row, where tuition shot up by 15 percent. Fees in BC last year soared by 29 percent. A six-year tuition freeze in BC ended in 2002; the last three years have seen rates explode in the province, which is now the fifth-most expensive province in terms of tuition.

Nova Scotia continued to be the most expensive province to attend university in, which at more than $5900 runs $1000 more than the next-most-expensive province.

In 2004, tuition fees rose in nine out of the ten provinces.
-GFS