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volume 44 / issue 23Wednesday, March 23, 2011Ryerson’s Independent PaperSince 1967theeyeopener.com
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: MARTA IWANEK
INVISIBLE
STUDENT NEGLECTED BY RYERSON’SLEARNING DISABILITY POLICY
PAGE 3
The Eyeopener2
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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The EyeopenerWednesday, March 23, 20113NEWS
Student ignored by learning disability policy
$300,000 for new head of Rye portfolio
BY EMMA PRESTWICHNEWS EDITOR
The department that controlsmaintenance and planning for newproperties has been split in two.Campus Planning and Facilities willbe divided into Capital Projects andReal Estate, which will deal with Ryer-son’s real estate portfolio and capitalassets, and Campus Planning andSustainability, which will be respon-sible for the maintenance of buildingsand custodial services on campus.Ian Hamilton, the previous headof CPF, has decided to retire early. Hewas unavailable for comment.The university has hired ElisabethStroback, currently the senior advi-sor of construction and real estate toVP administration and nance JuliaHanigsberg, to head up Capital Proj-ects and Real Estate.Tonga Pham, the current managerof maintenance and operations atCampus Planning, has been hired asthe acting director of Campus Facili-ties and Sustainability.While Pham has been part of thedepartment for several years, and hasgone up through the hierarchy of ad-ministration, Stroback technically isn’ta Ryerson employee at all.She is on-contract for six monthsthrough her rm Tanalex Corp. and isbeing paid $300,000 per year in thisposition. It is unknown how this sal-ary translates for a six-month period.She reports directly to Hanigsberg,who said she originally hired Stroback in October 2010 to give her supportand advice in her new position as VPadministration and nance.“I brought her in to help re-orientme,” she said.Stroback has a history of involve-ment in real estate and infrastructureprojects, including as a vice-presidentof Infrastructure Ontario, an arms-length provincial organization.She was on the board of directors of Housing Services Incorporated from2004-2007, a company owned by theToronto Community Housing Cor-poration. The TCHC has come underscrutiny after a recent city audit thatrevealed the company was grosslymisspending its money and not fol-lowing proper purchasing practices.The auditor-general’s report circlesHSI as a yet-unstudied area of inter-est in the case, but Globe and Mail re-cently reported that it plays a big rolein TCHC’s purchases and the websitelists HSI as a major service provider.Hanigsberg would not commenton Stroback’s involvement with HSI.President Sheldon Levy said mostuniversities have two separate de-partments to deal with real estateand maintenance, but that the twohad been combined under the termof past VP administration and nanceLinda Grayson.“It’s most common that you differ-entiate the physical plant that way,”he said.Two different administrators willhead up the two departments. Bothare only acting in their roles until theuniversity runs an open competitionfor the jobs, which would likely be inthe next few months, once the struc-tural aspects of both departments aresorted out, said Hanigsberg.“We need people who can be inplace from the get-go,” she said.In Ryerson Today, Hanigsberg saidthe decision to re-organize was madeon Hamilton’s advice.Manager of public advancementJanet Mowat said Hamilton was leav-ing for China later in the week.
Head of one of Ryerson’s biggest departments steps down, and half his role is contracted out to a non-university employee
Tim Hortons is off the list of com-panies Ryerson University will sell thenaming rights of Maple Leaf Gardens(MLG) to.On March 22, the Eyeopener gotan exclusive tour of MLG and saw ren-dered blueprints and images of thecompleted arena. While the imagesdidn’t look any different from the origi-nal plans, Tim Hortons’ name was allalong the borders of the rink and onthe jumbotron looming above the ice.“It was just [there] in order to havea placeholder,” said Adam Kahan, VicePresident of University Advancement.“Tim Hortons is not the naming donor.”Kahan said there would be moreinformation in May, but Ryerson presi-dent Sheldon Levy hinted MLG couldbe named by then.While Kahan conrmed that TimHortons will not have its name along-side Ryerson University and Maple Leaf Gardens on the building, he did saythat the university is in talks with themabout other opportunities.“We are in discussions with themabout various partnership and supportopportunities but nothing has beenconrmed,” Kahan said. “Sometime inMay we will conrm where we are [interms of the naming donor].Ryerson’s President Sheldon Levysaid that although Ryerson was in talkswith Tim Hortons to sponsor parts of MLG, the never got back to them. “Asfar as I know, we are not talking to [TimHortons] anymore,” he said.“They never go back to us ... if theywanted to become engaged with theGardens ... then we are always open fordiscussion.”
Check out
theeyeopener.com
to seesports editor Sean Tepper’ssneak peek intoMaple Leaf Gardens.
Tim Hortons is not thenaming donor.
— Adam Kahan,VP university advancement
BY SEAN TEPPERSPORTS EDITOR
When Adam Beaudette writesan exam, it’s more frustrating thanstressful. Regardless of how much hestudies, Beaudette understands thequestions, but confuses the detailedanswers in his brain.Beaudette, a second-year sociologystudent, has a rare learning disabilitythat affects his memory. While he re-ceives high marks on assignments, hewill fail or barely pass his tests. He wasdiagnosed with a learning disability ingrade nine after a psychoeducationalassessment. He was reassessed inJune 2010 and was diagnosed againas an adult.His testing showed that he scoredaverage in areas like math and reason-ing. His processing speed and readinguency were average, and his pas-sage comprehension was superior.But in memory skills, Beaudette had apercentile rank of 0.2 out of 100. Hisimmediate memory overall ranked 2and delayed memory overall was 0.1.“They said the problem was thesame, if not worse,” said Beaudette.Beaudette is using Ryerson’s Ac-cess Centre, which accommodatesstudents with disabilities. He is givenextra time on tests, is able to write ina different room, and is allowed touse queue cards. But the queue cardscan’t include specics.Beaudette said while extra time isbenecial, his disability allows him toremember overall concepts but forgetand mix details.“I’m not allowed to write [detailed]information, and I have to use acro-nyms,” he said. “But I won’t rememberwhat the acronym means. I get themmixed up.”Beaudette said the Access Centregives a blanket solution to uniquelearning disabilities.“They don’t really give me anythingthat is really memory based,” he said.“It’s not like I don’t understand what’sgoing on, but when I go to write, I mixthings up and can’t remember thingsproperly.”There were 5, 546 university stu-dents with learning disabilities in themost recent statistics from the Minis-try of Training, Colleges and Universi-ties from 2007-2008. This was a 17.9per cent increase over ve years, butstudents with learning disabilitiesmade up only 2.24 per cent of thetotal post-secondary student popu-lation. There are currently just under400 students with conrmed learn-ing disabilities using Ryerson’s AccessCentre.Stefanie Marinich-Lee, manager of the Access Centre, said the accom-modation process doesn’t provide anextraordinary advantage to any stu-dent. Alternate processes must stillshow that the student understandsthe course content.“Each course or placement haslearning outcomes identied. Ev-ery student needs to show they’veachieved those learning outcomes.”“The thing with accommodation iseveryone is individual, but all univer-sities are struggling with academicintegrity. It’s a balance,” she said.Academic integrity refers to main-taining standards for curriculum,evaluation, and student achievement.Accommodating students with dis-abilities is part of the human rightscode. But there are no outlines onhow accommodation should work.Diane Wagner, manager publicpolicy of the Learning Disabilities As-sociation of Ontario said if accommo-dations are needed that the universitydoesn’t usually provide, negotiationsare needed.“In some cases, [universities] wouldsay memory for something is whatthey require, but it could be counterargued that in the real world, youcould have the information with you,”she said.The Ontario Human Rights Com-mission provided a consultation re-port in 2003 titled The Opportunity ToSucceed: Achieving Barrier-free Edu-cation for Students with Disabilities.The Learning Opportunities Task Force was quoted saying “Appropriateaccommodations should not lead tolowered standards or outcomes: rath-er, an appropriate accommodationwill enable the student to success-fully meet the essential requirementsof the program, with no alteration instandards or outcomes, although themanner in which the student demon-strates mastery, knowledge and skillsmay be altered.”But Beaudette doesn’t feel he’s be-ing helped to succeed effectively inhis courses. He has dropped out of three classes this semester.“I’ve asked the Access Centre aboutthings I can do alternatively to a test,”he said. “I don’t think it’s a fair mea-sure of my intelligence and I don’tthink they understand the extent of my disability.”
Tim Hortonsout of MapleLeaf Gardensname game
Adam Beaudette said Ryerson is not helping him succeed with his learning disability.
PHOTO: MARTA IWANEK
I don’t think they understandthe extent of my disability.
— Adam Beaudette,second-year sociology
We need people who can bein place from the get-go.
— Julia Hanigsberg, VP o administration and fnance
Students with learning disabilities should have access to help and accommodation, but Ryerson’sfocus on fairness doesn’t help everyone.
News Editor Sarah Del Giallo
reports
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