Category: Academic Reportage

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Craig Greenham, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. This tidy maxim has been used for years to describe sports outcomes.

This polarized expression, however, oversimplifies fan reaction to events like the Blue Jays’ World Series loss, ignores the complicated emotional terrain of fandom and fails to recognize the psycho-social forces at work.

So, why are many Canadians so deeply invested in the Blue Jays?

Fans develop parasocial relationships with players, teams and even broadcasters — evident in the outpouring of emotion surrounding Jays’ announcer Buck Martinez’s cancer journey — through repeated media exposure.

Over time, these constant encounters foster a sense of familiarity and emotional intimacy, as if a genuine personal relationship exists. In a way, it makes sense: over the course of a long season, many Blue Jays fans see and hear more from slugger George Springer than from some of their real-life friends.

Personal pain

Jays losses therefore feel personal — and so, too, does the team’s success. This connection is captured by the concept of what’s known as BIRGing — basking in the reflected glory — when fans feel a sense of personal triumph when their team performs well, as though there’s a twinning of fates.

The phenomenon was playfully illustrated in a 2024 A&W promotion — “Blue Jays Win, You Win” — that offered free or discounted food after each victory, literally tying fan rewards to team success.

Of course, the opposite is true too. When the Jays fall short, fans feel lacerated. The more crucial the game, the deeper the cut. Given this emotional investment, it’s no surprise that Blue Jays fans felt like a bundle of nerves heading into Game 7 and were devastated by the result.

The nature of the Game 7 loss inflames the emotions further — a game the Jays were leading until the ninth inning. There were opportunities to increase that lead that went maddeningly unrealized, embattled relievers yielded home runs to Dodger lesser lights, there were near-collisions in the outfield that could have jarred loose a key run from an outfielder’s glove, and a play at home plate that required frame-by-frame analysis to determine an outcome ultimately unfavourable to the Jays.

Canadians understand the description “sudden death” as a hockey term, but there’s no denying that Game 7 created a similar profound sense of loss, not just in Toronto but across the country.

In the sports realm, the ninth inning events resembled a funeral for Jays fans. The finality and closure was symbolized by the final out; the loss of routine and community created a void and disconnection for fans; feelings of mourning a dream amid the vanquished hope as the team fell just short of the ultimate World Series goal; and an unknown future that brings with it the anxiety of not knowing which players will return and an understanding these opportunities are rare.

Players and fans have to navigate and negotiate their way through the loss. The tears on the field and in the clubhouse mirrored those in the stands and living rooms across the country, a vivid reminder that fandom is as much about emotional commitment as the scoreboard.

Haunted by the Maple Leafs

Of course, Blue Jays fandom isn’t siloed — especially for those in Ontario. Many of the club’s loyal supporters are equally passionate about the forlorn Toronto Maple Leafs, who have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967.

The hockey club has put the fan base through the proverbial wringer with prolonged periods of ineptitude, mixed with inexplicable collapses and controversial playoff defeats.

The fragility of this fan base is palpable — excited in hope, but also braced for doom because of its frequent visits. Toronto sports fans aren’t used to being favoured by fortune. That’s why moments like the Joe Carter World Series home run in 1993 or the Kawhi Leonard buzzer-beater baseline jumper in the 2019 NBA playoffs have been immortalized.

They’re outliers, those precious times when the fan base evaded the grim reaper’s scythe and grasped the greater glory.

The rarity of these victories elevates them to mythic moments — reminders that even in a history full of sports heartbreak, there are flashes of transcendent jubilation that justify the fan’s emotional investment.

Five stages of grief

Sports fans are nothing if not resilient, however, and Blue Jays fans are working themselves through the classic five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

What has likely expedited the process and softened the blow for some is the fact that the Blue Jays weren’t expected to challenge for the World Series at all in 2025. The club finished last in its division in 2024 and surprised the baseball world with its rise to prominence.

This process is called framing and it explains how people interpret and give meaning to events. It’s the lens. So instead of focusing on the anguish of Game 7, diehard fans emphasize team growth, memorable moments and optimism for next season.

Naturally, nothing in baseball is guaranteed and a Blue Jays return to the World Series in 2026 will require the personnel, performance, health and luck necessary to have success. Fans, meantime, will use the off-season to emotionally steel themselves for, potentially, another wild ride. Spring, after all, is the season of hope when anything seems possible.

Craig Greenham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The anguish of losing: The Blue Jay fan’s guide to dealing with feelings of despair – https://theconversation.com/the-anguish-of-losing-the-blue-jay-fans-guide-to-dealing-with-feelings-of-despair-268756

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mahmood Fayazi, Assistant Professor and Head of Disaster and Emergency Management Program, Royal Roads University

Two years into the Israeli war in Gaza, world leaders recently gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to deliberate on a long-awaited peace plan to end the conflict.

As part of this plan, both Israel and Hamas agreed to another ceasefire agreement — the latest in a series of truces that have repeatedly collapsed since the war began in late 2023.

The meeting, involving Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States, marks the most concerted diplomatic effort yet to halt a conflict that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israel. It’s also displaced nearly 400,000 Palestinians.

Yet even if the fighting does stop, fundamental questions persist: how, when and by whom will Gaza be rebuilt? The recovery and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will undoubtedly be an immense and complex undertaking, but the history of past conflicts sheds light on the way forward.

The scale of destruction

A February report from the World Bank estimated that recovery and reconstruction needs in Gaza and the West Bank will cost US$53.2 billion. Around US$20 billion of this is required to restore essential services, rebuild infrastructure and revitalize the economy — an amount exceeding the annual GDP of Belarus and Slovenia.

The scale of devastation is staggering. An estimated 84 per cent of the Gaza Strip and up to 92 per cent of Gaza City has been destroyed, with satellite data showing 292,904 homes destroyed or damaged. More than 60 million tonnes of debris — equivalent to 24,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — is awaiting removal.

The conflict has devastated Gaza’s economic sectors. Up to 96 per cent of agricultural assets and 82 per cent of businesses were damaged or destroyed, halting production and eliminating key income sources.

Years of Israel’s blockade on Gaza — which predates Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel — have further restricted the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza, severing access to international markets and vital raw materials. As a result, there has been near-total economic collapse and the private sector faces complete paralysis.

Beyond the physical and economic devastation, Gaza’s population faces severe psychological trauma. High rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, coupled with displacement and community breakdown, risk creating an intergenerational cycle of suffering through the psychological and epigenetic transmission of trauma.

Trump’s controversial peace plan

In an attempt to jump-start Gaza’s recovery, U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a 20-point peace plan envisioning interim governance by a committee of Palestinian technocrats under a “Board of Peace.” Authority would later be transferred to the Palestinian Authority following institutional reforms.

Read more:
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The plan outlines an economic development program to be designed by experts who “helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.” It also includes the creation of a “special economic zone” and temporary security provided by International Stabilization Forces made up of U.S., Arab and international partners.

Under the proposal, Hamas, which has governed Gaza for nearly two decades, would be expected to disarm, accept amnesty and transfer control to international forces. Yet even if Hamas disarms, experts estimate up to 100,000 members could remain in Gaza’s political landscape and reconstitute under new forms to maintain influence.

While the peace plan outlines a framework for recovery, past post-conflict settings shows that externally designed plans rarely succeed without active local engagement.

Read more:
Hamas is battling powerful clans for control in Gaza – who are these groups and what threat do they pose?

Learning from past failures

As an expert in disaster and emergency management, I am conducting an ongoing systematic literature review (not yet published) analyzing recovery processes across post-war settings in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate that it’s naive to assume economic, administrative and security frameworks can succeed without genuinely engaging the local population.

This research shows that externally driven recovery plans often fail, and underscores the importance of adapting lessons from places where recovery has been effective.

My developing review suggests several critical factors for sustainable recovery:

• Developing local capacities
• Building strong and transparent institutions
• Implementing gradual and sequenced reforms
• Ensuring there is a deliberate transition from external to local leadership

Conversely, over-relying on external powers, neglecting capacity-building and failing to address social exclusion and power imbalances can undermine long-term outcomes.

Rebuilding hope through local participation

A common theme across nearly all the studies I looked at is the importance of restoring household livelihoods. This can be done by revitalizing economic production, supporting small businesses and implementing reforms that empower communities and restore hope.

After financing more than US$6.2 billion across 157 post-conflict operations in 18 countries, the World Bank concluded in 1997 that “without economic hope, we will not have peace.” This underscores the central role of economic recovery and livelihood restoration in post-war reconstruction.

An analysis of 36 post-civil war peace episodes (1990–2014) highlights the need for co-ordinated international efforts focused on administrative restructuring, judicial reform and local government elections.

Successfully integrating diverse political voices in post-war governance promotes transparency, accountability and local ownership, while helping to restore hope among populations affected by war.

In contrast, top-down reforms implemented without local engagement, as seen in Cambodia and Pakistan, can deepen divisions and undermine peace and development.

Toward a people-centred reconstruction

Although each post-war context is unique and requires its own approach, research consistently shows that actively including survivors in recovery efforts is essential.

Gaza’s reconstruction will only succeed if its people regain hope and play a central role in shaping a safe, peaceful and prosperous future for themselves and their communities.

Any international coalition or political initiatives aimed at rebuilding Gaza must recognize that survivors are not passive victims. They are central agents of their own recovery, whose voices must guide the reconstruction process.

Once immediate humanitarian needs are met through international support, all subsequent decisions about Gaza’s long-term development must be made through inclusive, democratic processes.

Fair and transparent elections must follow the urgent restoration of security, food, clean water, health care and education. Only through such an inclusive and locally grounded process can Gaza move toward genuine recovery, lasting peace and sustainable development.

Mahmood Fayazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Lasting peace and recovery in Gaza depends on local participation, not just ceasefires – https://theconversation.com/lasting-peace-and-recovery-in-gaza-depends-on-local-participation-not-just-ceasefires-268176

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Catherine Heggerud, Associate Professor (Teaching), Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary

When Harvard Business School tumbled to sixth place in the U.S. News MBA rankings in 2020, the reaction was swift. Critics questioned the methodology, picking up on earlier critiques of rankings.

Some ranking skeptics continue to point to low response rates — for example, in 2025, U.S. News disclosed that approximately only half of the ranked schools participated in peer assessment surveys, which gauge how top administrators regard other institutions.

Yet behind closed doors, business school deans across North America have nuanced conversations about rankings — ones that reveal an uncomfortable truth about how rankings shape their institutions.

I interviewed four Canadian business school deans about the influence of MBA rankings on strategic planning during 2021-22, using semi-structured questions. These deans represent about a quarter of management schools from research-intensive universities in Canada. I discovered something striking: these leaders simultaneously dismiss rankings as flawed measures, while dedicating significant institutional resources to improving them.

The ranking obsession is real

Despite their public skepticism about rankings, every dean I interviewed could point to concrete ways their schools invest in them.

One noted that “all the data collection happened within the school” and identified a dedicated data analyst whose job centres on ranking submissions. Another described having “a senior staff member who is in charge of gathering the data” and co-ordinates with media relations teams.

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The contradiction becomes starker when you examine what deans say versus what they do. In interviews, I heard statements like “we can never rank so it’s a waste of our time” and “the ranking itself, if that aligned with your mission, who cares?” Yet these same leaders described conducting internal “education campaigns” to help stakeholders understand rankings and carefully select which ranking systems to participate in based on where their programs might perform well.

What rankings miss

The deans’ skepticism is founded. Current MBA ranking methodologies have significant blind spots that leaders recognize but feel powerless to address.

Take the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, which heavily emphasizes post-graduation salary data and international diversity. Or QS World University Rankings that weighs “thought leadership” through media mentions and research publications. These metrics favour certain types of programs while potentially disadvantaging schools serving different missions or regional economies.

One dean told me bluntly: “The faculty that understand the rankings care less.” This observation cuts to the heart of the problem — those closest to the educational mission see rankings as measuring the wrong things.

Rankings measure what’s easy to count, not what matters. Teaching quality, mentorship, curriculum innovation — none show up in the formulas. Neither does information on whether graduates become ethical leaders or build meaningful careers over decades rather than months.

As the Rockefeller Institute found, when schools chase rankings, they end up “working toward improving their performance as measured by ranking factors rather than toward actual improvement of the academics and educational experience.”

Academic research shows ranking systems distort institutional behaviour, while studies of business schools demonstrate rankings “blindly follow the money,” ignoring social impact and educational quality.

The financial pressure driving the paradox

So why do deans continue playing a game if they know it’s flawed?

Canadian universities increasingly depend on international student tuition as government funding has declined. Between 2000 and 2021, tuition revenue at Canadian universities grew from 14.4 per cent to 25.6 per cent of total revenue.

For MBA programs, while program costs vary, international students pay significantly more than domestic students: for example, at Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, domestic students pay around $70,000 while international students pay around $109,000.

Read more:
International students’ stories are vital in shaping Canada’s future

As one dean explained to me: “By accepting international students, we are helping domestic students from the funding cuts.” Another noted that “rankings are mostly important for international students” who use them as key decision-making tools when evaluating programs from abroad.

This creates a compelling justification: pursue better rankings to attract international students, whose higher tuition subsidizes domestic students and program quality. It’s a rationale that allows academic leaders to reconcile their intellectual skepticism with market reality.

As deans make sense of the landscape where they lead, they interpret the ranking landscape — while also shaping how stakeholders understand it. This reflects a broader paradox: deans must simultaneously embrace contradictory demands — dismissing rankings publicly while investing privately. A dynamic tension persists.

What this means for the future

Rankings have transformed from a strategic choice into an operational necessity. What began as optional marketing has become embedded in how business schools function and communicate.

For prospective MBA students: treat rankings as one data point among many. Review official employment reports, which detail hiring companies and placement rates. Connect with alumni through LinkedIn or school events to hear about actual experiences. Investigate which companies recruit at different schools and which program culture matches your preferences.

For business education more broadly, the ranking paradox reveals a system increasingly shaped by external accountability measures that may not align with core educational missions.

Until ranking methodologies evolve to better capture what makes business education valuable — or until institutions find ways to communicate quality that don’t depend on rankings — deans will continue walking this tightrope, publicly dismissing what they privately work hard to improve.

Catherine Heggerud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. What’s the No. 1 MBA? Why business deans invest in rankings, knowing they miss a lot – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-no-1-mba-why-business-deans-invest-in-rankings-knowing-they-miss-a-lot-266556

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Patrick Clancy, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University

There are few sports more exciting than playoff baseball, but behind every pitch there is also a fascinating story of physics. From gravity to spin, the science shaping the game can be just as compelling as the action on the field.

When the World Series returned to Toronto for Game 6, right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman took the mound for the first six innings. Gausman’s best pitch is the splitter, an off-speed pitch that looks like a conventional fastball but travels more slowly and drops more sharply before it crosses the plate.

Physicists consider the flight of a baseball as an example of projectile motion. The trajectory of the ball depends on several forces: the force of gravity (pulling the ball downwards), the drag force (slowing the ball as it moves through the air), and the Magnus force (which causes the ball to curve if it spins as it travels).

Why splitters are so hard to hit

So why is the splitter so difficult to hit? Start with speed. The average speed of Gausman’s fastball is 95 miles per hour (or 42.5 meters a second). Since the distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate is 18.4 meters, this means that it takes 430 milliseconds, or less than half a second, for Gausman’s fastball to reach the batter.

In contrast, the splitter, which travels at an average speed of 85 mph (or 38.0 m/s), takes 490 milliseconds. That 60 millisecond-difference may seem small, but it can be enough to separate a strike from a base hit.

For context, a typical swing for a major league batter takes approximately 150 milliseconds. This includes time for the batter’s eye to form a picture of the ball leaving the pitcher’s hand, for their brain to process this information and send signals to the muscles in their arms, legs and torso, and for their muscles to respond and swing the bat.

This means a batter has roughly a quarter of a second to judge the trajectory of a pitch and decide whether to swing. Considering that it takes approximately 100 milliseconds for a blink of the human eye, it’s remarkable that batters can hit any major league pitch at all.

The importance of the drop

The second secret to the splitter is the drop. All baseball pitches drop as they travel towards home plate due to the force of gravity, which causes a baseball (or any object in freefall) to accelerate downwards.

If there were no other forces acting on the ball, this would cause Gausman’s fastball to drop by about 92 centimetres on the way to home plate, and his splitter to drop by approximately 115 centimetres.

In practice, however, there is another important force that acts on the ball to oppose the effect of gravity — the Magnus force. The Magnus force arises from the rotation or spin of an object (like a baseball) as it passes through a fluid (like air).

The ball’s rotation makes air move faster over one side than the other. On the side spinning in the same direction as the airflow, air speed increases; on the opposite side, it slows down. This difference in air speed creates a pressure imbalance, generating a force that acts perpendicular to the ball’s path.

This is an example of Bernoulli’s Principle, the same phenomenon that generates lift as air passes around the wing of an airplane.

In the case of a fastball, the pitcher creates a strong backspin by pulling back with their index and middle fingers as they release the ball. This rotation results in an upwards force, which causes the ball to drop far less than it would under the effect of gravity alone. The faster the rotation, the stronger this lift force becomes.

Gausman’s signature pitch

Gausman’s fastball typically drops 25 to 30 centimetres on the way to home plate — less than one third of the drop experienced by a “dead ball” without spin.

On the splitter, he changes his grip to dramatically reduce the amount of backspin, weakening the Magnus force and allowing the ball to fall much farther, about 50 to 75 centimetres, before it hits the plate. The result is a pitch that doesn’t reach the batter when or where they expect it to be.

While the Blue Jays failed to win a third World Series title, Gausman’s splitter offered an example of how physics can shape performance in elite sport. Understanding the science behind the pitch offers a new way to appreciate the game.

Patrick Clancy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How the physics of baseball explains Blue Jay Kevin Gausman’s signature pitch – https://theconversation.com/how-the-physics-of-baseball-explains-blue-jay-kevin-gausmans-signature-pitch-268732

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Marycarmen Lara Villanueva, PhD Candidate, Department of Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

The Conservative Party of Canada and leader Pierre Poilievre have begun circulating a petition calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the reinstatement of “the merit principle,” arguing DEI spending and government waste “need to die.” The petition echoes Elon Musk’s infamous “DEI must DIE” social media post two years ago.

Similarly, in 2024, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani launched a petition to end DEI and focus on affordability, without acknowledging that inequity and unaffordability are deeply connected. Building on this momentum, Jivani has since launched his Restore the North Tour, which seems like a Canadian version of Charlie Kirk’s movement, given its aim to appeal to disaffected young men.

Inevitably, commentary on these measures has cast them as Canada’s version of America’s culture wars. While there are obvious parallels, this framing obscures Canada’s own history of injustice.

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Systemic inequality

DEI initiatives, like all frameworks for social change, are not perfect. Pointing to their perceived limitations to revive the illusion of meritocracy and historical denial is hardly new. But these criticisms are being weaponized at a moment when equity work is needed most.

Recent portrayals of DEI as “anti-merit and anti-individual,” “hollow signalling” or “flawed and illiberal” are textbook examples of what the late American philosopher Charles Mills described as “white ignorance” — a deliberate and organized refusal to see how systemic inequality works.

They suggest a refusal to acknowledge well-documented histories of Indigenous dispossession, gendered and racial injustice, institutional racism and generations of what geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore terms “organized abandonment” — when the state and capital abandon communities through neglect, privatization and degradation of the environment.

In other words, these criticisms do not represent an innocent ignorance, but a dangerous refusal to know.

Economics versus equity

The Conservative petition claims that $1.049 billion was wasted in DEI funding. This claim conceals a deeper truth about the way public money actually circulates.

In 2023, the total operating budget for all police services was $19.7 billion, an increase of six per cent from the previous year. Policing in Canada has a long history of surveillance and criminalization, from Indigenous land defenders to Muslims and pro-Palestinian supporters.

Fatal encounters with police also disproportionately affect Black and racialized people and continue to rise.

Other forms of public spending go almost unquestioned — from billions in fossil fuel subsidies to the steady expansion of border surveillance — resulting in environmental injustice and border violence, respectively.

In contrast, DEI’s $1.049-billion price tag was spent over several years. The claim of wasteful equity spending reflects a broader pattern of scapegoating DEI for systemic economic failures. What is deemed a waste may reveal who, and what, our society values.

Read more:
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Racial capitalism

What’s known as racial capitalism — a system where racial inequality is built into how wealth and power are produced and shared — sheds light on how class exploitation and racial domination are interconnected. As Black radical theorist Cedric Robinson explained, capitalism did not emerge separate from racial hierarchy, but through it.

Understanding racial capitalism helps explain why equity work must extend beyond representation and inclusion. British-American race scholar Arun Kundnani has argued that DEI programs focusing on unconscious bias, racial awareness training and increasing representation do not tackle the economic and institutional root causes of inequity.

DEI programs therefore need to address racial capitalism; if they don’t, they may end up supporting it by using racialized people as resources and judging success only by numbers.

In other words, the economy cannot be “fixed” without unraveling the racial, classist, ableist and gendered hierarchies that it requires to function. Inequality is not really a flaw in the system but its organizing principle.

Sharper DEI

Policymakers should work to defend DEI initiatives from far-right attacks, Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and economic scapegoating. But DEI measures also need to be critiqued and improved in ways that honour their historical trajectory and acknowledge their limitations.

Doing so requires confronting and untangling the deep layers of injustice and exploitation that are the foundation of many organizations and institutions.

Anti-DEI rhetoric can be considered an expression of anti-Blackness and, by extension, other forms of racism. It is also bound up with sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia and classism.

Read more:
Why DEI in Canada struggles to uplift Black people

Instead of abandoning DEI, Canada should strengthen and reshape it to better promote the structural equity our communities deserve.

The future of equity in Canada depends on moving beyond simply counting racialized people in power and must instead examine how power works, upholds injustice and can be collectively transformed for real systemic change.

Marycarmen Lara Villanueva does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why DEI needs depth, not death – https://theconversation.com/why-dei-needs-depth-not-death-268136