AccessOsgoode

accessosgoode@gmail.com
March 8, 2015
Lorne Sossin
Dean
Osgoode Hall Law School
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

Robert Wai
Chair of Faculty Council
Osgoode Hall Law School
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

Dear Dean Sossin and Chair Wai:

We are students at Osgoode Hall Law School. We are writing to express concerns about the labour
disruption by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 (CUPE 3903), and York University's
decision to temporarily suspend classes at Osgoode. As you are no doubt aware, the strike and the
university's response has been a source of considerable stress in an already challenging learning
environment. We are particularly frustrated that our access to legal education and timely completion of
the school year has been threatened by a strike that involves no essential teaching staff at the law school.
For those in their final year of study, a failure to graduate on schedule could mean an inability to write the
bar exams in June, and a failure to satisfy the conditions of job offers or to begin articling placements.
This would ultimately leave these students jobless, and entering a period of debt repayment at the tail end
of one of the most costly academic programs in the country. As of yet, third-year students have received
no firm commitment from the school that they will be able to complete their degrees as scheduled and
with sufficient time to prepare for the bar exams in June. That commitment is overdue. The start of these
students legal careers is subject to the strict timeline imposed by the Law Society of Upper Canada
(LSUC) licensing process, and they need Osgoode's support to ensure they can fulfill the requirements.
Similarly, if the academic term is delayed, those returning to Osgoode next fall face the prospect of
rescinded summer job offers, scuttled opportunities for international summer studies or internships, and
most importantly, forgone opportunities to earn income over the summer months to fund their education.
Obviously, these are worst case scenarios, but they remain possibilities. They also remain top of mind for
Osgoode students.
Moreover, our decision to attend Osgoode has been a substantial investment, and not one made lightly.
We are troubled about the sustained reputation of the law school in the eyes of future applicants, the legal
community, and legal employers if proactive measures to resume classes are not implemented in a timely
fashion. We believe that policies should be enacted to exempt Osgoode from this manner of disruption in
the future, in the same way that the Schulich School of Business MBA program has continued holding
classes during the strike.
While we acknowledge the right of CUPE 3903 to engage in a legal strike, the cost of their disruption
should not be carried by Osgoode students, whose financial health, jobs, and career progress could be
significantly compromised by a prolonged or delayed academic year. It is completely unwarranted and
unfair to impose this risk on bystanders to a dispute.
We note that your decision to resume classes need not force students to cross picket lines - students
must merely have the option to do so. We believe that above all, the law school must prioritize access to
legal education and the career outcomes of its students over an overbearing observance of a largely
external strike. Osgoode students and their futures should not be held hostage by CUPE 3903, York
University, or their bargaining stalemate.

For these reasons, we urge Osgoode administration and Faculty Council to:

(i) Take all measures to immediately resume Osgoode classes;

(ii) Improve the physical accessibility of classes for the duration of the strike; and

(iii) Allow students to complete the Winter 2015 term as scheduled, such that graduating
students remain able to participate in the current cycle of the LSUC licensing process.

We look forward to proactive and reassuring communications from the administration on this important
issue. Should you have any questions, or should you wish to communicate with us as a group, please
email AccessOsgoode@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Cameron Adamson, JD 2017

Ryan Bonin , JD 2015

Kayla Albin, JD 2016

John Brao, JD 2017

Faye Alipour, JD 2015

Jesse Braun, JD 2015

Peter Amrhein, JD 2015

Steven Broadley, JD 2015

Gaurav Anand, JD 2017

Jillian Bruce, JD/MBA 2015

Kirk Andrews, JD 2015

Cassandra Bruni, JD 2016

Michael Andrisani, JD/MBA 2016

Peter Buckles, JD/MBA 2017

Alex Baker, JD/MBA 2016

Julia Burke, JD 2017

Tom Baker, JD 2015

Margaret Campbell, JD 2015

Martin Banach, JD 2016

Umberto Cappella, JD 2017

John Bannister, JD 2015

Tori Chai, JD 2016

Joshua Beattie, JD 2015

Amy Chaplick, JD 2015

Matthew Beattie, JD/MBA 2018

Psalm Cheung, JD/MBA 2018

Alexey Belozorovich, JD 2015

Dara Church, JD 2016

Stuart Berger, JD 2016

Daniel Ciarabellini, JD 2017

Andrew Besik, JD 2016

Marco Ciarlariello, JD 2016

Jean-Paul Bevilacqua, JD 2015

Noah Ciglen, JD 2017

Jonathan Bilyk, JD 2015

Nick Clarkin, JD 2016

Kelsey Bishop, JD 2017

Dean Collett, JD 2016

Paul Blizzard, JD 2017

Mark Cornish, JD 2017

Ekaterina Bogdanov, JD/MBA 2017

Kendra d'Eon, JD 2015

Paulina Bogdanova, JD 2017

Joshua Daniels, JD 2015

Luc Boiron, JD/MBA 2015

Victoria de Luna, JD 2016

Vanessa De Sousa, JD 2016

Kevin Gillespie, JD 2016

Hannah Dejong, JD 2016

Kimberly Gillis, JD 2016

Vincent DeMarco, JD 2016

Jeremy Goldlist, JD/MBA 2017

Rachel Devon, JD 2017

Senka Grahovac, JD 2015

Simarroop Dhillon, JD 2015

Kendall Grant, JD 2015

Paul Di Libero, JD 2016

Benjamin Green, JD 2017

Yidan Ding, JD 2016

Clinton Green, JD 2015

Eytan Dishy, JD/MBA 2017

David Green, JD 2016

Adam DiSimine, JD 2015

Christine Greydanus, JD 2015

Julija Dmitrijeva, JD/MBA 2015

Tianchu Guo , LLM 2015

Daniel Dominitz, JD 2015

Laura Guzzo, JD 2017

Kira Domratchev, JD 2016

Simon Hamelin, Exchange Student 2015

Colm Dowds, JD 2016

Lisa Hartman, JD 2016

Carly Eastwood, JD 2017

Michelle Hatzikonstadinou, JD 2015

Noam Edell, JD 2016

Brittany Hazell, JD 2017

Robin Ellis, JD 2017

Ran He, JD 2016

Sarah Engel , JD 2015

Kevin Henry, JD 2016

Mark Evans, JD 2016

Jeffrey Hernaez, JD 2015

Kevin Feng, JD 2016

Jennifer Hill, JD 2015

Christian Ferraro, JD/MBA 2016

Jason Ho, JD 2017

Rachel Fielding, JD 2016

Vincent Ho, JD/MBA 2017

Jordan Fine, JD 2017

Steven Holm, JD/MBA 2016

Jaimie Franks, JD 2016

Ali Houssein, JD 2017

Daniel Galluzzo, JD 2016

Wen Chin Hu, JD 2016

Zack Garcia, JD 2015

Andrew Hunter, JD 2016

Stephanie Garraway, JD 2016

Anna Iourina , JD 2015

Caroline Garrod, JD 2015

Raphael Jacob, JD 2017

Hongyi Geng, JD 2016

Lisa Johnson, JD 2017

Jessica George, JD 2016

Patricia Joseph, JD 2017

Nareh Ghalustians, JD 2017

Douglas Judson, JD/MBA 2015

Joelle Kabouchi, JD 2015

Jeremy Mandel, JD 2015

Chris Kalantzis, JD 2013

Mike Maodus, JD 2016

Sally Kang, JD 2016

Ira Marcovitch, JD 2015

David Kelman, JD 2015

Corey McClary, JD 2016

Maryam Khalid, JD 2015

Jennifer McKee, JD 2015

Ariel Kirzner, JD 2015

Amanda Metallo, JD 2016

Danielle Knight, JD 2016

Brittany Miller, JD 2017

Derek Knoke, JD 2017

Victoria Mitrova, JD 2016

Taras Koulik, JD/MBA 2015

Sinead Mooney, JD 2016

Alexei Kovalev, JD 2016

Alannah Mozes, JD 2017

Gina Kripotos, JD 2017

Kelli Munkittrick, JD 2015

Angela Kwok, JD 2015

Peter Neufeld, JD 2015

Ben Lai, JD 2015

Jenny Ng, JD/MBA 2017

Alan Laking, JD 2017

Thomas Ng, JD/MBA 2016

Athanasios Lampropoulos, JD 2015

Randeep NIjjar, JD 2016

Anya Lavrov, JD 2015

Katie-May O'Donnell, Exchange Student 2015

Matthew Leask, JD 2015

Oladipo Onayemi, JD 2016

Olga Lenova, JD 2017

Leah Ostler, JD 2016

Adriano Lepore, JD 2017

Stephanie Ouanounou , JD 2016

Zachary Levine, JD 2016

Jerry Ouyang, JD 2017

Wesley Liden, JD 2015

Lisa Park, JD 2017

Xiaoyu Lin, JD 2016

Karol Pawlina, JD 2015

Maciej Lipinski, JD 2015

Alyssa Peeler, JD 2015

Michael Litwack, JD 2015

Diana Pegoraro, JD 2017

Crystal Liu, JD 2017

Jacob Polowin, JD 2015

Kerrie Lowitt, JD 2015

Marc Pontone, JD 2015

Larissa Lucas, JD 2017

Karina Pylypczuk, JD 2015

Roger MacIntosh, JD 2015

Hong Fan Qian, JD 2016

Sophie MacRae, JD 2017

Aaida Rajabali, JD/MBA 2013

Laura Magisano, JD 2016

Robert Richards, JD 2015

Mariko Rivers, JD 2015

Lucas Stevens-Hall, JD 2015

Ebony Rose, JD 2015

Kwaku Tabi, JD 2015

Meghan Rourke, JD 2017

Jin Tan, JD 2017

Tekin Salimi, JD 2015

Daniel Tatone, JD 2016

Aryeh Samuel, JD 2015

Kylie Thomas, JD 2015

Gabriel Sandstrom, LLM 2015

Noam Uri, JD 2015

William Scott, JD 2015

Abhishek Vaidyanathan, JD 2017

Elliot Seetner, JD 2017

Maria Velichko, JD 2016

Tony Servello, JD 2016

Giancarlo Volpe, JD 2017

Sachin Seth, JD 2016

Laura von Heynitz, JD 2016

Kenda Shaheen, JD 2015

Gloria Wang, JD 2017

Adam Shehata, JD 2015

Yanhua Wang, JD 2016

Ghaith Sibai , JD 2016

Arielle Wasserman, JD 2017

Michael Silver, JD 2017

Erica Whitford, JD 2016

Warren Silver, JD/MBA 2017

John Wilson, JD 2016

Tyler Sinclair, JD 2015

Martyna Wolska, JD 2016

Lyudmila Sivak, JD 2016

Jeremy Wu, JD/MBA 2016

Eliyahu Smolarcik , JD 2015

Jaime Yanevski, JD 2016

Bhavandeep Sodhi, JD 2016

Krys Zamko, JD 2015

Peter Spiro, JD 2015

Victoria Zaric, JD 2016

Cassandra Stefanucci, JD 2015

[Total Count: 207]
c.

Members of Osgoode Hall Law School Student Caucus