Volume 88 | Issue 13 | obiter-dicta.ca
The Definitive Source for Osgoode News since 1928
Monday, March 23, 2015
dean for a day
winning essay submission
ê Ryan’s vision for a more accessbile Osgoode: throw open the front doors, come on in, and put your feet up! Mi casa es su casa.
ryan robski › contributor
editori a l note: Second-year JD student Ryan
Robski was chosen as this year’s Dean for a Day. He
was supposed to have moved into the Dean’s Office on
5 March. In light of the labour disruption, however,
Ryan and Dean Lorne Sossin decided to forego trading
places. Here is Ryan’s award-winning essay submission for the 2015 Dean for a Day contest.
R
emember “Big Block of Cheese Day” from
everyone’s favourite Aaron Sorkin hit, The
West Wing? If not, the idea was simple: to
throw open the White House doors for one
day per year for ordinary members of the public who
wanted to have a conversation with their government.
While the gesture may have been largely symbolic (or
thematic, in its television portrayal), it serves as an
important reminder nonetheless: our greatest public
institutions are for the benefit of the many, not the
privileged advancement of the few.
Osgoode Hall Law School is one such iconic
and storied institution. This year we are celebrating its 125th birthday—and it’s a perfect occasion to
reflect upon our fundamental role in shaping not just
access to education, but access to the law. My Dean
for a Day vision is concerned with instituting a new,
“Sorkinesque” tradition of accessibility and community-mindedness—”Open Osgoode.”
Accordingly, I propose that Osgoode open its doors
to anyone and everyone who wanted to learn a something about the law, try their hand at a law school lecture, watch oral advocates spar over points of law and
policy, or ask questions about the ethical obligations
of legal professionals. This would be an opportunity
» see dean, page 21
In this Issue ...
editorial
Environmentalism Apathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
news
CUPE 3903 Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SPECIAL SECTION
Healthy Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
arts & culture
Jurisfoodence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
sports
Blue Jays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20