Professor Allan Hutchinson is one of ten finalists
in TVO's Best Lecturer competition. Voting begins Feb. 10...
TORONTO, January 29, 2007 -- Allan Hutchinson, a professor of law at York's Osgoode Hall Law School, is ready to take on the competition on Saturday, Feb. 10 as a finalist in TV Ontario's 2007 Best Lecturer Competition.
TVO’s Big Ideas will broadcast Hutchinson’s lecture on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 4pm, and again on Feb. 11. Following the Saturday lecture, the television audience can rate Hutchinson's performance and viewers can vote for their favourite lecturer online. The winning lecturer's university will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship from TD Meloche Monnex.
Hutchinson, or "Hutch" as he is known at York, is one of 155 professors nominated by students in Ontario to the popular Best Lecturers Competition. The list, which included a Who's who of Canadian academia, was cut to 71 professors and then to 30. The final list of 10 academics was chosen by an independent panel of judges including Maclean's magazine managing editor Tony Keller, novelist Camilla Gibb and Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente. Finalists were selected for their ability to present complicated concepts with clarity, enthusiasm and authority.
Hutchinson promises to deliver a memorable experience on Feb. 10.
"My lecture challenges the received wisdom that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is obviously a good thing. I contend that the first 25 years of the Charter have not been an unmitigated success and that it fails in a number of regards," he says.
"In particular, the substance of many of its decisions has tended to favour established interests – it has not worked to the advantage of the disadvantaged and most needy in our society. Also, Charter litigation has tended to sap further the democratic energies and resources of Canadians and reinforced rule by elite groups. Accordingly, while the Charter is not all bad, it is clearly not all good as many assume or contend."
A member of Osgoode Hall Law School's faculty since 1982, Hutchinson teaches Tort law, constitutional law, jurisprudence and civil procedure. He has earned a reputation as a professor who is dynamic and engaging.
"Students most often remember Professor Hutchinson's first Tort Law class, where he typically storms in wearing a black robe, declaring that he is the 'Evil Deity'; what follows is a lively discussion..." commented one student.
Another says, "Professor Hutchinson...presents his ideas very clearly and enthusiastically, and with a finesse and rhythm that mimics Shakespeare's iambic pentameter."
For more information about the competition, including a video of Hutchinson in action, visit the TVO Best Lecturer Web site. For a profile, see the July 14, 2006 issue of YFile.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 23 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
-30-
Media contact:
Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca
