East Asian Studies Students’ Union

We encourage all students to come out to our information session next Tuesday at 4pm in the Purple Lounge! Learn more about the Dean’s new Academic Plan and how it will affect you, as well as the future of EAS at U of T if these plans go through. EAS faculty will be there to discuss the issue, and answer students’ questions. Hosted by EASSU and EASGSU.

If you can’t make it on Tuesday, you can learn more about the Academic Plan and our campaign at http://saveeastasianstudies.wordpress.com. Don’t let the Dean dissolve EAS at U of T! You’re paying tuition, these decisions should not be being made without your approval. Get informed, and get involved!

As school starts up for the year, so does EASSU! We’ll be going to classes this week to deliver announcements about upcoming events. Here are the details!

1. We are planning to have our first general meeting on September 30. We will be holding elections for our remaining executive positions at that time, so if you’re interested in being part of our team, or just want to meet fellow EAS students, we hope to see you there! As always, there will be snacks! More information will follow once a location and time are set.

2. On Tuesday, September 21st at 4pm, EASSU will be joining up with the EAS graduate student union and faculty to hold an information session about the proposed dissolution of our department. We highly encourage students to come to this event to learn about what is happening and the consequences that the Dean’s new academic plan would have on their studies and the future of EAS at the university. The session will take place in the Purple Lounge of the EAS department on the 14th floor of Robarts. Everyone is welcome!

3. There will also be town hall meetings taking place with the Dean on Thursday Sept 23 at 4pm and Monday Sept 27 at 4pm, both in the OISE auditorium. This will be a great opportunity for students and all those affected to have their voices heard! It is critical that we have a large student representation at these meetings. This may be one of very few opportunities for us to come together as a group to present our issues with the EAS department’s inclusion in the School of Language and Literatures to the Dean, so please come out and support the campaign!

For more information about our Save EAS campaign, check out the website!

It has just been announced that the Dean of FAS plans to effectively dissolve the East Asian Studies program at U of T. All EAS language and literature courses will be moved to a “School of Language and Literature”, along with the departments of Germanic Languages & Literatures, Italian Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures and Spanish & Portuguese. Professors focused on Asian history will be moved to the History department, professors who teach courses on anthropology moved to the Anthropology department, etc. There will no longer be an undergraduate program in EAS offered at this university.

We currently do not know what will happen to undergraduate students that are not in their final year of study at U of T.  We do know that this will have huge ramifications for the interdisciplinary study of East Asia at this university in the future.

This has been proposed during the summer in order to avoid protest from students. We must act now, before the next phase of development occurs, in order to save East Asian Studies. You can send letters to the Dean at the following address:

Meric Gertler
100 St. George Street, Room 2005
Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Phone: 416-978-4439
Fax: 416-978-3887
Email: officeofthedean.artsci@utoronto.ca

You can check out our Save EAS blog for updates. Please also join our facebook group here and sign the online petition.

We are happy to announce the 2nd Annual On East Undergraduate Academic Journal Conference of 2010.

Thursday, March 18 – 208N Munk Center @ 10:00

Speaker:
Marcus Noland (Deputy Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics)

Abstract:
Marcus Noland will speak about economic change in North Korea (including the failure of recent currency reforms) and the criminalization of economic activity in North Korea (including the expanded use of the penal system). His talk is based on two large scale refugee surveys conducted by Noland, who will also touch upon nascent dissent and political attitudes in North Korea based on his findings.

Bio:
Marcus Noland is the deputy director and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, where he has worked since 1985. His research encompasses a wide range of topics including the political economy of US trade policy and the Asian financial crisis. His areas of geographical knowledge and interest include Asia and Africa where he has lived and worked. In the past he has written extensively on the economies of Japan, Korea, and China, and is unique among American economists in having devoted serious scholarly effort to the problems of North Korea and the prospects for Korean unification. He won the 2000–01 Ohira Memorial Award for his book /Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas/.

Noland was educated at Swarthmore College (BA) and the Johns Hopkins University (PhD). Noland has served as a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President of the United States and as a consultant to organizations such as the World Bank and National Intelligence Council.. He has held research or teaching positions at Yale University, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Southern California, Tokyo University, Saitama University (now the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), the University of Ghana, the Korea Development Institute, and the East-West Center. He has received fellowships sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and the Pohang Iron and Steel Corporation (POSCO).

– Hosted by the North Korea Research Group

CONGRATULATIONS to OUR NEW EASSU Executive FOR 2010-2011!! It will be another great year!

President: Michel Marion
Vice-President: Luke Witzaney
Secretary: Julianne Kelso
Communications Co-ordinator: Sol Ramon
External Affairs Officer: Michael Sarty

However, we still have four positions open: Webmaster, Junior Executive, Treasurer and Class Representative Co-ordinator
If are you …interested, please check out for another General Meeting in September/October 2010!

Oh yeah, it’s that wonderful time of the year again. Warmer temperatures, longer days and… loads and loads of work.
Fortunately, EASSU comes to the rescue this week with warm noodles and other delicious treats! Look for us this Wednesday and Thursday at the Sydney Smith lobby from 11am to 3pm.

(Join us. We have Pocky.)

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=379593087003&ref=mf

University of Toronto FILM FESTIVAL

100 films, 15 countries, 12 rooms, 1 day

March 13^th, 2010

TORONTO, ON— The 2010 UofT Film Festival will be held on Saturday, March 13th entirely within Hart House. Multiple rooms throughout the House will be converted into screening venues and screenings will be staggered throughout the day. With the addition of installations, workshops and an ongoing-reception the entire House will serve as a full-fledged film carnival under one roof. Audiences will be invited to wander throughout the House, taking in all we have to offer.

This year’s festival will spotlight social justice issues with a special eye to current modes of censorship.  Our special guest director is Babak Payami (an alumni of the Hart House Film Board) who will present a rare double bill of his films Yek rouz bishtar (One More Day) and his controversial Sokoote beine do fekr (Silence Between Two Thoughts). Mr. Payami also joins the debate and panel discussions on freedom of speech and censorship.

Read more University of Toronto FILM FESTIVAL

Please see the attached poster and program.  For program details, visitwww.utoronto.ca/ai/asianfoodprints.
Register for the conference here.
Register for the dinner here.
Questions can be directed to asian.institute@utoronto.ca.

U of T’s Asian Institute has organized its third international Asian film conference, Taiwan Cinema Yesterday and Today. We invite you to the media launch on Tuesday, February 16, 10:00 a.m. at the Munk Centre for International Studies, 1 Devonshire Place. An announcement will be made of the line-up of films, lecture, and symposium.

Taiwan Cinema Yesterday and Today will run from February 26-28, building on the enthusiasm generated by our first two film conferences, this third one featuring Taiwan, is poised to be our most successful. We have invited scholars and specialists from around the world to contemplate varied aspects of Taiwanese cinema. The 3-day event will also feature several screenings of recent Taiwan cinema and more classic films.

Joseph Wong, director, Asian Institute and Ken Chiu, director, Information Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto will deliver opening remarks in English and Mandarin, respectively. Bart Testa, Professor of Cinema Studies, U of T and Colin Geddes, International Programmer, Toronto International Film Festival will discuss the films and the conference.

WHAT: Asian Institute’s film conference media launch

WHERE: Munk Centre for International Studies
North House – Room 208N
1 Devonshire Place

WHEN: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 10:00 am – 12:00pm
(A light lunch will be available)

CONTACT: Eileen Lam
Asian Institute at the University of Toronto
Munk Centre for International Studies
t: 416-946-8997
f: eileen.lam@utoronto.ca
url: www.utoronto.ca/ai