Department of Germanic Languages and Literature

“The ��Ƶ is a world-renowned academic institution, but it can stressful … U of T has a solid international reputation for research, but it can be a little overwhelming,” said Markus Stock in an interview in advance of his installation ceremony on Wednesday as the college’s 17^th principal.

He said he would like to see that “but” replaced with an “and” – in particular, an “and” that highlights the many benefits of U of T’s college system, including a welcoming, friendly and supportive atmosphere to accompany the university’s reputation for world class academics and research.

“If we could insert the colleges into the conversation right at that point, people might say, ‘U of T has an immense reputation as a research institution and its colleges provide students with a valuable support system and social connection.’ I think that would be ideal,” said Stock.

Stock’s installation ceremony, held in Hart House’s Great Hall, was attended by U of T President Meric Gertler, Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr, Chancellor Rose Patten and Faculty of Arts & Science Dean Melanie Woodin, among others.

The procession enters Hart House’s Great Hall. From left to right: President of University College Literary & Athletic Society Danielle Stella, Governing Council Chair Claire Kennedy, University College Principal Markus Stock and U of T President Meric Gertler (photo by Johnny Guatto)

An associate professor of German and medieval studies, Stock joined U of T in 2005 and was previously chair of the department of Germanic languages and literatures. He took over the role of principal of University College on Jan. 1. for a four-year term. The college, established in 1853, was previously led by Professor Donald Ainslie for eight years.

Stock said he is keenly focused on enhancing the student experience and intends to be a hands-on principal by driving forward student-centred initiatives and programs founded primarily on student engagement and interaction.

“Talking with students, I’m figuring out how we can best support their experience on campus,” said Stock. “For me, figuring that out might be the most fascinating part of the job.

“I’m finding out what their aspirations are to see where we can support their academic excellence, but then also emphasize their college is a place where they can live and congregate.”

From left to right: Associate Professor Jennifer Jenkins, Faculty of Arts & Science Dean Melanie Woodin, Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr, University College Principal Markus Stock, Chancellor Rose Patten, Professor Walid Saleh (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Stock said he is excited about the college’s future and intends to fully embrace and celebrate equity and diversity within the college’s student body. He also plans on stressing the importance of student mental health and well-being.

“That’s something I feel very strongly about,” he said. “We have to figure out how to provide services to students who face a mental health crisis – but, to an equal degree, ensure that students who are happy now stay happy during their rigorous academic experience at this university. I think the colleges play a huge role in that.”

U of T President Meric Gertler shakes hands with Markus Stock, the 17^th principal of University College (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Stock also plans to capitalize on the newly renovated student and research spaces as he leads the completion of the University College Revitalization Project.

“What are we going to do with these spaces? How can our new spaces help us with this?” he said, noting that he plans to take full advantage of new spaces for students to freely connect, recharge and easily access support services.

“If I could look back in five years and we instituted many initiatives that led to our students to continue to have a fulfilled academic life, but also have access to valuable learning beyond academics, I think that would be a big success,” he said.

U of T students mark global day for public use of city streets by taking over Toronto parking spot

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:23:18 +0000

U of T students mark global day for public use of city streets by taking over Toronto parking spot

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 09/23/2019 - 10:23

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U of T students take over a parking space on Bloor Street West to mark PARKing Day, a global effort to draw attention to the need for public space (photo by Gabriella Shiyuan Zhao)

Nina Haikara

Topic

City & Culture

Department of Germanic Languages and Literature

School of Cities

Faculty of Arts & Science

Geography and Planning

Graduate Students

Humanities

Innis College

Undergraduate Students

University College

Urban Studies

Woodsworth College

What started as a course assignment in urban landscapes and planning resulted in a real-life guerrilla installation by ��Ƶ students that’s designed to bring attention to the need for public space around the world.

PARKing Day has been marked annually since the first PARK in San Francisco in 2005. Taking place the third Friday in September, the event sees urban enthusiasts around the world select a parking space – normally reserved for automobiles – and transform it into a mini-park for public use.

The U of T installation in front of 273 Bloor Street on Friday received funding to initiate the project from U of T’s School of Cities.

“We think of Toronto as being a global city. Yet this is a global initiative that's unrepresented here,” says Kelly Gregg, a PhD candidate in the department of geography and planning in the Faculty of Arts & Science. She was also the course instructor who assigned the parking day proposal last term.

“My hope is that it challenges people to think of the street as a public space, not just for automobiles, but for human use as well.”

How youth influenced the EU election – and could do the same in Canada: U of T expert

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 19:33:26 +0000

How youth influenced the EU election – and could do the same in Canada: U of T expert

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 06/07/2019 - 15:33

Cutline

A demonstrator holds a sign outside the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon during a climate strike of school students on Friday, May 24, 2019 (photo by AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Tobias Wilczek

Topic

Our Community

Department of Germanic Languages and Literature

Climate Change

Europe

European Union

Faculty of Arts & Science

With major votes occurring within the span of five months this year, the European Union and Canadian federal elections are critical in deciding our planet’s future.

The results of the EU election – in which each European country elects an allotted number of representatives to the EU parliament – have already resulted in big changes, largely due to youth getting involved in politics.

Young people around the world are demonstrating a thorough understanding of the larger economic and environmental threats that are endangering not only individual freedom, but the very survival of our own species and more than a million others.

Around the world, youth protest movements like #FridaysForFuture have been growing steadily. Student protesters recently turned out in 120 countries and 1,700 cities to demand action on climate change just days before the EU elections on May 26. The next global student strike has already been announced for Sept. 20 and is expected to draw even bigger numbers.

It’s clear that young voters are bringing critical issues to the fore.

Young people protest ahead of the European elections during a climate strike of school students as part of the Fridays for Future movement in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany (photo b Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

As Europeans headed to the polls to elect a new European Parliament, the notion of a European “Green New Deal” was a big campaign issue. The German Green Party made history by coming in second place with 20.5 per cent thanks in part to the increased voter turnout in Germany (61.4 per cent).

The shift was due mostly to many first-time voters casting their ballots for the Greens, who won the highest support in the 18-to-24 cohort — 34 per cent — and 27 per cent in the 25-to-35 age group..

European Green New Deal

There was a renewed brawl pitting democratic eco-socialists and liberals against conservatives and far-right parties, as Europeans witnessed most strikingly in the first debate of the lead candidates of the pan-European parties.

The debate focused on “digital Europe,” “sustainable Europe” and the future of Europe.

The prospect of a European Green New Deal — popular among young voters — has been increasingly paired with renewed discussions about democratizing the European Union not just politically, but also economically.

Yanis Varoufakis’s transnational party European Spring included a Green New Deal in its platform, with the following pledges: “To dismantle the habitual domination of corporate power over the will of citizens; to re-politicize the rules that govern our single market and common currency.”

The party only marginally missed the threshold for securing seats in Germany and Greece, but more than 1.4 million Europeans voted for a Green New Deal. In Spain, the Socialist Party (PSOE) won on a Green New Deal platform.

As World Economic Forum writer Katie Whiting explained, a European Green New Deal would invest “at least five per cent of Europe’s GDP in emissions-free transportation infrastructure, renewable energies and innovative technologies, while creating jobs and transitioning Europe to zero-emissions – all without raising taxes.”

The European Greens, with 69 projected MEPs in the European Parliament, will certainly need to respond to calls from the Left Bloc (38 seats) and the Socialists and Democrats (153 seats) to work together on making Europe environmentally green and socially just.

They’ll have to do so while dealing with MEPs from pan-European parties like Volt Europa who want to democratize the European Union as far-right parties like Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) embrace increasingly nationalist and isolationist views.

The EU environmental agenda is also being shaped by particular national New Green debates. For example, in Germany, there is talk of reappropriating apartment units and car manufacturers to alleviate inequality and establish a more sustainable Europe.

Nationalize BMW?

Soon after discussions about nationalizing real estate properties emerged in the state of Berlin, Kevin Kühnert, the head of the 80,000-member-strong youth movement of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was recently in the news for public remarks calling for the nationalization of corporations like BMW as well.

BMW is in the spotlight due to allegations it “breached EU antitrust rules from 2006 to 2014,” according to the European Commission. It’s being investigated for allegedly using illegal defeat devices to cheat regulatory emissions tests.

It’s not just young people making the case for abolishing private ownership of some entities. These daring remarks by young people, sometimes considered taboo, have inspired older generations, too. As Germany celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Federal Republic and its German Basic Law, even Baby Boomers are reminding the public about the law’s Article 15 that allows the nationalization of private property.

Demands for action on climate change are growing louder every day. British parliament recently declared a climate emergency due in part to ongoing protests organized by the Extinction Rebellion movement, which has also been supported by #FridaysForFuture student activist Greta Thunberg.

Growing movement?

The strong representation of Democratic Socialists federally in Germany, including young socialists up to the age of 35, is beginning to take hold across the Atlantic, where the Democratic Socialists of America, whose membership stands at 60,000, have also amassed more than 200,000 followers on Twitter.

While Canada seems to be lagging behind when compared to the European youth activism, voter turnout for those aged 18-24 increased by 18 percentage points from the 2011 federal election to 57.1 per cent in 2015.

And although provincial elections in Alberta and Prince Edward Island resulted in Progressive Conservative governments, the Green Party of P.E.I. are the first Greens in Canada to become the official opposition.

The progress is happening as many young Europeans and Canadians look up to young leaders like Germany’s Kühnert and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the United States as they advocate Green New Deals. It’s time for young people in Canada to get more involved politically if they want to have a shot at saving the planet. For now, #FridaysForFuture may be a good way to start.

Tobias Wilczek is a PhD student in department of Germanic languages and literatures at the ��Ƶ.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

'It will define the field for years to come': U of T historian wins prize for book on Germany

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

'It will define the field for years to come': U of T historian wins prize for book on Germany

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 01/28/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

Professor James Retallack won the Central European History Society's Hans Rosenberg Book Prize for a 2017 book that explores the connections between political modernization and authoritarianism in Germany (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Alexa Zulak

Topic

Global Lens

Department of Germanic Languages and Literature

Awards

Europe

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

History

Humanities

Jackman Humanities Institute

James Retallack, a professor in the University of Toronto's department of history, has been awarded the Central European History Society’s Hans Rosenberg Book Prize for his 2017 book, Red Saxony: Election Battles and the Spectre of Democracy in Germany, 1860-1918.

Awarded annually, the Hans Rosenberg Book Prize honours the best book on central European history published in English by a permanent resident of North America.

“It’s rewarding to have the feedback and acknowledgment of my peers,” said Retallack, whose latest accolade bookends his Hans Rosenberg Article Prize win from last year.

“It’s especially rewarding in the sense that two different prize committees, comprised of three people each, both found something interesting in my work.”

Retallack, who is also cross-appointed to the department of Germanic languages and literatures, is a renowned expert on German society and politics between 1740 and the rise of Adolf Hitler.

Red Saxony, published by Oxford University Press, explores the reciprocal relationship between political modernization and authoritarianism in Germany over the span of six decades. It illustrates how Germans grew to fear the idea of democracy, paving the way – after many twists and turns – for Hitler and the Nazis in the 1920s.

The Hans Rosenberg Book Prize committee commended Retallack’s research, analysis and argumentation throughout the 700-page work. "Red Saxony is a powerful contribution that calls into question long- and widely-held assumptions while establishing new ones: it will define the field for years to come,” the committee wrote.

Now Retallack is ready to reach a new audience with the forthcoming translation of Red Saxony into German.

While he’s quick to acknowledge the challenges in translating the text – like having to track down some original German quotations that had been translated into English – he also notes that it will be satisfying to reach German colleagues and scholars who may not have read the English-language book.

“I don’t expect to win any prizes,” said Retallack of the translated work. “But I will be very happy if Red Saxony contributes to advancing German-language scholarship, too, in the field of Imperial German history.”

Retallack has received grants, fellowships and research prizes from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

His latest project – a biography of the founder and leader of Germany’s social democratic movement and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, August Bebel – won him a Killam Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015.

Retallack hopes prizes like the Hans Rosenberg Book Prize will lead to new readers.

“I’m very lucky that my publisher decided to nominate it,” said Retallack.

“In our world of scholarly activity, you almost know everybody in the field. Maybe someone who wouldn’t ordinarily look at it might pick it up.”

Department of Germanic Languages and Literature

Markus Stock, the 17th principal of University College, to focus on student experience

U of T students mark global day for public use of city streets by taking over Toronto parking spot

Read more about the School of Cities' public space lecture series

How youth influenced the EU election – and could do the same in Canada: U of T expert

European Green New Deal

Nationalize BMW?

Growing movement?

'It will define the field for years to come': U of T historian wins prize for book on Germany