Saturday, September 3, 2016

Dahdaleh's Dilema: York’s top donor identified in the Panama Papers

The Dahdalehs pictured with York President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri 
Recent revelations about York’s largest graduate donor, Victor Dahdaleh, have students and faculty up in arms about the billionaire’s recent $20 million donation to York.

The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health was established and the TEL building has been renamed to the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Building in his honour, as York formally recognized him at the June 2016 convocation ceremony.

Farshad Azadian, former Osgoode student and organizer of the Socialist Fightback Club at York considers the university’s decision unjust.

“This is capitalism in action. Billionaire crooks and tax evaders are given every honour, while working class students are struggling to stay above water as education funding cuts push their tuition fees up,” says Azadian. “Naming the TEL building after Dahdaleh is an insult to those who study and work at this campus.”

Stephanie Ross, social science professor, expressed her disappointment in a Toronto Star article about the university’s decision to honour Dahdaleh.

“Most universities across the country face the contradiction of seeking philanthropic donations from wealthy individuals or corporations — but then also having to live with the association with those individuals or corporations if and when they are revealed to be not the greatest corporate citizens,” she told the Toronto Star.  (more...)


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I'm not aware that U of Toronto alumni have repudiated the largess of Nazi collaborator IBM, or their own co-operation with Canada's Operation Paperclip -- career-limiting moves among the corporate technocracy. Foolish to forget that Mussolini defined "Fascism" as corporatism.

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