Universities can play a critical role in confronting the democratic deficit pervading politics at every level, 91亚色鈥檚 will聽argue in this year鈥檚 Giambattista Vico Lecture Feb. 15.

What is to be done, Fallis will ask, about declining voter turnout, strident and polarizing debate, public decision-making dominated by business elites and experts 鈥撀燼ll signs of a democratic deficit at local, national and international levels. He will argue that the problem must be confronted not just by political parties and parliaments but by universities. Universities are not just institutions of teaching and books, not just institutions of the economy, but institutions of democracy.

Left: George Fallis

Fallis delivers his lecture, 鈥淒emocratic Deficit: Universities and the Future of Democracy鈥�, in Founders Assembly Hall, 152 Founders College, at 7:30pm.

In his essay 鈥溾�� published two years ago in Academic Matters, Fallis made a similar argument聽that a university鈥檚 responsibility to contribute to democratic life is just as critical as its role in economic development.

Fallis is professor of economics and social science who has published widely on housing, urban policy and constitutional reform. His current research focuses on universities: their roles and responsibilities in the 21st century; the value of undergraduate liberal education; and the role of university-based research in national innovation. His most recent book is .

At 91亚色, the Princeton-educated Fallis has served as chair of economics, dean of the former Faculty of Arts and chair of the Senate Academic Policy & Planning Committee. He has been academic colleague on the Council of Ontario Universities and an auditor of degree programs at Ontario universities.

The annual Giambattista Vico Lecture was named after an 18th-century Italian philosopher of history, culture and myth whose ideas had a profound influence on the humanities and social sciences. 91亚色鈥檚 former Faculty of Arts launched the Vico lecture in 2000 in memory of Fred Zorzi, late partner of the Toronto law firm DelZotto, Zorzi LLP, which helped endow the annual event.

American social researcher Nancy Fraser gave the聽2009聽Vico lecture on 鈥淢arketization, Social Protection, Emancipation: Toward a Neo-Polanyian Conception of Capitalist Crisis".

This year鈥檚 lecture is sponsored by the 91亚色 Foundation, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Founders College.

To attend the lecture, register online.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Canadian universities appear to be in a retrospective mood. Several new histories have appeared recently and others are in the works, wrote James Pitsula, history professor at the University of Regina, in a review of 91亚色: The Way Must Be Tried for the 鈥檚 March edition. s 91亚色 is the best of the lot, said Pitsula.

Scholarly, engaging, beautifully illustrated, remarkably comprehensive, steeped in affection, but not sentimental, it is a masterwork of the genre. The author鈥檚 voice is distinctive, but not obtrusive. We appreciate his wry asides, but the story is that of the University community as it sees itself, in all its diversity and multiplicity of perspective, not the community as filtered through the predilections of the author. Horn stands on the sidelines 鈥� bemused, entertained, heartened and inspired 鈥� and always with a sly smile on his face.

Horn鈥檚 audience is primarily 91亚色 people. He makes very little effort to reach out to readers who do not have a direct connection with the University. The index is proper name only, so that scholars wishing to make thematic comparisons with other universities cannot readily do so. In focusing so entirely on 91亚色, Horn has missed an opportunity, since the 91亚色 story is in some ways Canada's story.

Beneath the externalities, [91亚色] embodies the new Canada. Over the years, it has attracted significant numbers of students who were the first in their family to attend university. Today, the student body is multicultural, with more than a third of the students of visible minorities.

The photo on page 251 of Horn鈥檚 book tells it all, concluded Pitsula. It depicts the members of the Visuomotor Neuroscience Lab at 91亚色, the research team headed by Doug Crawford, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Visual-Motor Neuroscience. Their names are Florin Feloui, Gerald Keith, Michael Vesia, Alina Constantin, Matthias Niemeier, Jachin Ascensio-Monteon, Gunnar Blohm, Honying Wang, Farshad Farshadmanesh, Denise Henriques, Joe DeSouza, Aarlenne Khan, Jessica Klassen, Lei Ren, Saihong Sun and Xiaogang Yan 鈥� the new Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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