U of T students to rally in support of disability studies professor

Angry students are expected to rally Tuesday against the University of Toronto's uncertainty regarding the contract of a popular blind professor who teaches disability studies.

Rod Michalko, whose classes routinely have waiting lists, had been told recently his three-year contract would not be renewed next year, prompting more than 800 students to sign a petition of protest and plan a rally before one of his lectures Tuesday afternoon.

Students will hold the rally despite the fact Michalko says university officials have since emailed him to suggest they will renew his contract for one more year and may set up a task force on the future of disability studies.

"Professor Michalko is a phenomenal lecturer; I was so blown away the first time I heard him I decided to go into disability studies and I'm shocked that there isn't more recognition of this whole area of study," said Isabel Lay, a fourth-year student in the Equity Studies program, of which disability studies is one of several streams. Michalko teaches all three of the disability studies courses at the undergraduate level to about 130 students at the U of T's New College.

He says the fact that he is blind makes him an important role model to students, some of whom have disabilities, including blindness. One of the ways he adapts, he say, is to have teaching assistants read aloud the essays he must mark.

"People just don't get the chance to see a disabled professor and I think that's important," said Michalko Monday, admitting he is confused about his future at the university.

Michalko has won the dean's special merit teaching award, and has been interviewed for an upcoming issue of the university's alumni magazine.

A university spokesperson said his contract is being reviewed by the faculty of arts and science, by New College where he teaches, and by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the U of T, where he advises graduate students in disability issues. The joint proposal on Michalko's contract would go to the provost's office for review.

Doctoral student Anne McGuire is a teaching assistant for Michalko, and she says the U of T's disability studies courses are doomed to disappear without Michalko.

However provost Cheryl Misak said Monday that "to say a decision has been taken about disability studies is ill-placed. As far as I know, my impression is that New College is pretty keen on this field of studies, and Arts and Science faculty is in a major academic planning exercise, so no decisions have been taken yet."

Students will rally outside the Sidney Smith Building, 100 St. George Street, at 12:30 p.m. and then go into Room 2108 to hear Michalko's lecture on "Coming face-to-face with suffering," part of his regularly scheduled class in Introduction to Disability Studies.