Dean Edward Iacobucci October 26th, 2018

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

Jackman Law Building
78 Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M5S 2C5

Dear Dean Iacobucci,

Re: Campaign for Excellence without Barriers

Next year, the Faculty’s annual tuition and fees for JD students will be more than $40,000. This is a significant
threshold that should give us pause to reflect on the future that we want for our law school. We are adding our
names to this open letter because we believe students should be part of envisioning this future, and we want to
ensure it is an accessible and diverse one. We applaud the Faculty’s current Excellence without Barriers
campaign to bolster the financial aid program. However, without addressing tuition cost, we do not believe that
we can begin to meaningfully address the Faculty’s accessibility crisis and its effects on access to justice and
student well-being.

We share your vision of a top-tier law school accessible to all qualifying students—regardless of
socioeconomic background—from application to graduation. Unfortunately, the Faculty’s current trajectory
does not align with this vision. As you know, excellence requires drawing from the widest and most diverse
pool. Achievement, not debt tolerance, ought to be the sole criterion of admission.

In order to achieve this excellence, accessibility must be a guarantee built into the system of the law
school​—​not merely an aspiration contingent on the charity of alumni donors. Without a plan to address tuition
and operating costs, donations will have a diminishing return on investment for alumni and our law school will
become increasingly inaccessible for low and middle-income students. Given the racialized nature of poverty
in Canada, this also has significant consequences for racial diversity at U of T Law. Fostering diversity in law
schools tangibly furthers the Law Society of Ontario’s vision of a more equal and inclusive profession, as
recently ensconced in the individual Statement of Principles required of all licensees.

We want to build a more trusting and collaborative relationship on this issue, and we see improved
transparency and accountability as vital to that relationship, especially given the history of broken promises
made regarding accessibility and financial aid.

To that end, we request that the Faculty of Law implement a moratorium on tuition increases past
$40,000 per year until the following conditions are met:

1. The Faculty conducts a comprehensive financial review of the law school, with ​publicly
accessible​​ results in the form of a report​​.

In this report, we request, among others, the following information:

a. Projected detailed allocation of the donations from the Campaign for Excellence without
Barriers, and projected impact on students (​i.e. a​ verage increase per student in financial aid,
increases in funding towards clinics and student experience, projected timeline of allocation,
etc​.)
 b. Current fair value of the financial aid pot, as well as sources and amounts of revenue to the
fund over the past 5 years
c. A detailed breakdown of current expenses related to student experience, including costs of
teaching (adjunct vs. faculty), clinics, moots, externships, trainings, and extracurricular
programs
d. Average and median parental incomes of students receiving financial aid since 2015
e. Current fair value of the Faculty of Law’s endowment, and changes in fair value from the
previous fiscal year by expense/revenue type (​i.e.​ endowed donations, investment income,
fees and expenses, and allocation for spending)
f. The number of students expected to graduate with private debt over $100,000 in 2019

2. Based on the results of the review, the Faculty makes concrete commitments to control costs and
protect financial aid allocation, in consultation with alumni and students.

We request the following concrete commitments, among others:

a. Guaranteed allocations of financial aid to low-income applicants upon offers of admission

b. An automatic set-aside of a specific percentage of revenue generated from annual tuition
increases, as per Dean Daniels’ promise of a 30% set-aside
c. Monitoring of student accessibility on the basis of an annual independent review, as per Dean
Daniels’ proposal in 2002
d. A long-term sustainable plan to ensure tuition remains affordable and consistent

We hope that these measures will serve as a stepping stone to future constructive discussions about
accessibility. As proud students and alumni of this institution, we truly believe in the capacity and desire of all
students, staff, faculty and alumni to come up with effective and creative solutions to these issues. We look
forward to working with you on this.

Signed,
India Annamanthadoo (JD 2020) Ioana Dragalin (JD 2020) Hesam Wafaei (JD 2020)

Alexandra Hergaarden Robertson (JD 2019) Christina Roussakis (JD 2020) Dana O’Shea (JD 2020)

Benjamin Miller (JD/MPP 2020) Madeline Torrie (JD 2020) Sydney Edmonds (JD 2019)

William Carter (JD 1975) David Baker (JD 1975) Sarah Rankin (JD 2014)

Howard Feldman (JD 1975) Bernard Fishbein (JD 1975) Brett Hughes (JD 2016)

On Behalf of the Campaign Against Barriers to Excellence

If you would like to add your name to this open letter to the Dean, ​click here​.

CC:​​ Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto; University of Toronto Governing Council; Former
Deans Mayo Moran, Ron Daniels, and Robert J. Sharpe; U of T Law Faculty and Staff; Malcolm M. Mercer,
LSO Treasurer; Lynne M. J. Vicker, President of the Ontario Bar Association
 General Signatures

Karlota Borges (JD 2020) Brad Valley (JD 2016) Andrew Luba (JD 2021)

Rabiya Mansoor (JD 2018) Alistair Pimlott (JD 2020) Nargis Fazli (JD 2020)

Tess Sheldon (JD 2004) Tina Cody (JD 2019) Nicholas Adamson (JD 2001)

Lily Hassall (JD 2019) Mackenzie Claggett (JD 2022) Renatta Austin (JD 2012)

Jordan Stone (JD 2016) Nick Papageorge (JD 2018) Michelle Hayman (JD 2017)

Liam Turnbull (JD 2021) Emily Hubling (JD 2012) Sarah Bell-Etkin (JD 2017)

Kamal Bakhazi (JD 2014) Amber Neumann (JD 2016) Dyna Tuytel (JD 2012)

Sukhmani Virdi (JD 2020) Nadia Sayed (JD 2013) Jeffery Couse (JD 2016)

Pooja Lasi (JD 2017) Chad Podolsky (JD 2017) Carina Chan (JD 2015)

Shaun Parsons (JD 2018) Emily Young (JD 2018) John Sime (JD 2019)

Madchen Funk (JD 2016) Rishi Ariyakumaran (JD 2019) Cara E I Gibbons (LLM 2011)

Hilary Ingle (JD 2017) Maude Woods (JD 2017) Danica Sergison (JD 2015)

Timothy Jones (JD 2016) Samuel Bayefsky (JD 2018) Daryna Kutsyna (JD 2020)

Amanda Bertucci (JD 2017) Beatrice Marry (JD 2015) Brittany Tovee (JD 2015)

Jessie Dobson (JD 2016) Sheena Lessard (JD 2014) Andrew Lynes (JD 2016)

Emily Dies (JD 2017) Vidya Prakash (JD 2021) Ash-Lei Lewandoski (JD 2014)

Rob Sniderman (JD 2019) Craig Flood (JD 1986) Emily Sinclair (JD 2007)

Sahar Sayyad (JD 2020) Isi Caulder (JD 1995) Tali Chernin (JD 2019)

Mike Hawk (JD 2020) Padraigin Murphy (JD 2017) Amanda Cutinha (JD 2021)

Charles Gordon (JD 1991) Vidushi Hora (JD 2016) David Wilken (JD 1993)

Angela Hou (JD 2020) Isfahan Merali (JD 1995) Jason Lamb (JD 2020)

Laura Bowman (JD 2006) Anna Spieser (JD 2018) Vlad Duta (JD 2014)

Louis Century (JD 2013) Andrew Max (JD 2013) Ryann Atkins (JD 2013)

Jim Phillips, U of T Women & the Law Nicole Wilkinson

U of T Law Professor since 1988 Executive Team 2018/2019 (JD 2016, LLM 2017)

Sophie Giguère (JD 2016) Jeffrey Wang (JD 2021) Suhasini Rao (2020)

Lee Webb (JD 2013) Celine Zhen (JD 2021) James Dunn (JD 2021)
 Iain Wilson (JD 2021) Ashley Qian (JD 2021) Lynn Tay (JD 2019)

Avnee Paranjape (JD 2021) Marcus Campbell (JD 2019) Kamal Azmy (JD 2021)

Ramz Aziz (JD 2019) Novalee Davy (JD 2021) Ritika Rai (JD 2019)

Robin Spillette (JD 2019) Celina Kassam (JD 2021) Lillian Bonakdar (JD 2020)

Maura McDowell (JD 2020) Adam L Drew (JD 2006) Sarah Nematallah (JD 2021)

Robbie Grant (JD 2020) Ryan Deshpande (JD 2021) Carol Liu (JD 2021)

Tina Yuan (JD 2020) Teng Rong (JD 2021) Kennedy Simpson (JD 2019)

Madeline Stewart (2021) Louell Thomas Tadesse Taye Sonia Patel (JD 2020)
(JD 2019)

Anthony Mahler (JD 2020) Teodora Pasca (JD 2021) Kieran May (JD 2019)

Karen Chen (JD 2020) Alexandra David (JD 2019) Mireille Pichette (JD 2020)

Michelle LaFortune (JD 2021) Sarah Strban (JD 2019) Eli Bordman (JD 2020)

Sepideh Kamali (JD 2019) Farshid Mombaini (JD 2019) Vincent Wong (JD 2013)

Daniel Carens-Nedelsky Aladdin Tingling Diakun Daniel Milton (JD 2019)

(JD 2016) (JD 2019)

Sunny Yun (JD 2022) Liam Thompson (JD 2020) Jennifer Crawford (JD 2019)

RJ Reid (JD 2020) Kristen Tannas (JD 2019) Rui Jun Carolyne Wang (JD
2019)

So Jung Lee (JD 2021) Dan Moore (JD 2010) Keith Garrett (JD 2021)

Nathaniel Bryan (JD 2019) Karishma Prasanna (JD 2019) Catherine Ma (JD 2019)

Lwam Ghebrehariat (JD 2011) Emma Byrnes (JD 2019) Megan Savard (JD 2009)

Rita De Fazio (JD 2019) Aylin Manduric (JD 2020) Victoria Lechner-Sung (JD 2020)

Ben Kates (JD 2010) Muhammad Ansab (JD 2019) Paniz Khosroshahy (JD 2021)

Malini Vijaykumar (JD 2016) Milica Pavlovic (JD 2021) Carlo Di Carlo (JD 2012)

Anita Szigeti (LLB 1990) Michael Blazer (LLB 1991) Brendan McCutchen (JD 2010)

Jacqueline Wilson (JD 2010) Amanda Wolczanski (JD 2021) Charles Campbell (LLB 1971)

Marie Kiluu-Ngila (JD 2019) Hong Hua Li (JD 2018) William Thompson (JD 2004)

Daanish Samadmoten (JD 2014) Catherine Hart (JD 2019) Ruby Dhand (LLM 2009)

Elliot Fonarev (JD 2017) Sarah Beamish (JD 2015) Stephanie Lewis (JD 2018)
 Sarah Catherine Chouinard Nicole Nazareth (JD 2019) Peter Rosenthal (LLB 1990)
(JD 2019)

Marcus McCann (JD 2014) Daniel Bach (JD 2005) W. Cory Wanless (JD 2008)

Sandra Ka Hon Chu Robert Janes (LLB 1990) Andrea Ngo (JD 2021)
(JD 2002)

Jonathan Schachter (JD 2012) Cate Martell (JD 2013) Magdalena Fish (JD 2013)

Josh Mandryk (JD 2014) Lindsay Woods (JD 2016) Tresa Zacharia (JD 2021)

Lama El-Hanan (JD 2021) Kristina Brousalis (LLB 1998) Alexandria Proctor (JD 2019)

Caroline Harrell (JD 2021) Lori Newton (LLB 1986) Wayne van der Meide (JD 1995)

Gordon Vance (JD/MBA 2019) Aidan Campbell (JD 2018) Maureen Webb (JD 1988)

Arleen Huggins (JD 1989) Mireille Giroux (JD 2012) Akosua Matthews (JD 2013)

Marianne Salih (JD 2014) David Wright (JD 1986) Emma Julian (JD 2016)

Law Students’ Society of Ontario Catherine MacIsaac (JD 2020) Lily Chapnik Rosenthal (JD 2021)

Michelle Polster (JD 2018) Michael Cockburn (JD 2017) Jeremy Greenberg (JD 2019)

Kun Li (JD 2020) Tyler Henderson (JD 2016) Sinem Ersoy (JD 2020)

Katherine Golobic (JD 2020) Ben Bouwman (JD 2019) Amara McLaughlin-Harris
(JD 2019)

Lucas Youmans (JD 2022) Cynthia Zhou (JD 2019) Theresa Donkor (JD 2018)

Nabila Pirani (JD 2016) Scott Wodhams (JD 2021) Krista Nerland (JD 2014)

Megan Andrews (JD 2014) Wayne Bingham (JD 2008) Michelle Huang (JD 2021)

Ellie Marshall (JD 2018) Meena Sundararaj (JD 2019) Jocelyn McAdam (JD 2018)

Chantal Ma (JD 2018) David Kumagai (JD 2015) Jennifer Heaton (JD 2018)

ET Godel (JD 2018) Amanda Nash (JD 2018) Matthew Vaughan (JD 2016)

Amani Rauff (JD 2018) Jessica Fay (JD 2016) Simon Cameron (JD 2017)

Samuel Yorke (JD 2013) Black Law Students’ Association Ella Henry (JD 2015)
of the University of Toronto

Nadine Harris (JD 2005) Stephen Wahl (LLB 1974) Andy Yu (JD 2019)

Dakin McDonald (JD 2021) Moya Teklu (JD 2009) Cary Ferguson (JD 2013)

Mary Roberts (JD 2012) SuJung Lee (JD 2019) Morgan Sim (JD 2012)
 Christina-Markie Mammoletti Jay Potter (JD 2012) Tamara Ramusovic (JD 2011)
(JD 2014)

M. Claire Webster (JD 2012) Norman Yallen (JD 2019) Amanda Rogers (JD 2007)

Timothy Shin (JD 2019) Tamara Nachmani (JD 2012) Sara Tatelman (JD 2020)

Katy O'Rourke (JD 2013) Roxana Parsa (JD 2016) Gavin Leeb (LLB 2001)

Jacqueline Peeters (JD 2001) Vivian Sy (JD 2020) Dina Graser (JD 2001)

Lisa Roszell (JD 2012) Khalid Janmohamed (JD 2008) Hana Dhanji (JD 2017)

Tamie Dolny (JD 2018) Cassandra Florio (JD 2010) Tuca Bihari (JD 2011)

Zach Lechner-Sung (JD 2021) Liang Hsuan Pai (JD 2018) Christine Davies (JD 2008)

Alyssa Shivji (JD 2012) Fernando Monge-Loria (JD 2017) Katrina Longo (JD 2018)

Michael Edmonds (JD 2010) Raeya Jackiw (JD 2017) Ada Keon (JD 2016)

Maria Susanna Bastidas (LLM Justin Cuperfain (JD 2019) Mallorie Malone (JD 2014)
2019)

Michael McDonough (JD 2018) Allison Worone (JD 2012) Emily Tsui (JD/MGA 2021)

Matthew Marinett (JD 2012) Laura Brittain (JD 2010) Chad Pilkington (JD 2015)

Warren Cass (JD 2012) Stephen Hutchison (JD 2011) Priya Khalsa (JD 2019)

Ashley McKenzie (JD 2012) Lauren Wildgoose (JD 2020) Geetha Philipupillai (JD 2017)

Emma Phillips (JD 2005) Michelle Cader (LLB 1994) Adam Posluns (JD 2012)

Vanessa Payne (JD 1991) Amy Stein (JD 2009) Charlene Wiseman (JD 1999)

William Wu (JD 2014) Vanora Simpson (LLB 1998) Doug LeFaive (JD 2018)

Kenzie Bunting (JD 2019) Cathy Lace (JD 1977) Josef Mengyang Wu (JD 2020)

Mary Marshall (JD 1980) Trevor Rands (JD 1996) Sarah Rostom (JD 2017)

James K. McDonald (LLB 1976) John Moore (JD 1976) Arina Joanisse (JD 2013)

Esther Lexchin (JD 2014) Aria Laskin (JD 2014) Jeannie Pau (JD 2019)

Maia Rotman (JD 2017) Robert Nanni (JD/MBA 2021) Robert Spence (JD 1977)

Daniel Bertrand (JD 2012) Anna Rosenbluth (JD 2008) Bill Wilson (JD 1976)

Alexa Mingo (JD 2013) Ryan Walker (JD 2012) Mary Phan (JD 2013)

Kate Dalgleish (JD 2013) Lisa Loader (JD 1992) Maria Alexiou (JD 2020)
 Michelle Jackson (JD 2009) Julia Beskin (nee Guaragna) Andrew Bome (JD 1989)
(JD 2005)

Neville Austin (JD 1988) Dimitri Lascaris (JD 1991) Bethanie Pascutto (JD 2018)

Danny Kastner (JD 2006) Emilie (McLachlan) Amy Tang (JD 2015)
Maxwell (JD 2010)

Tim Wilbur (JD 2003) Matthew Howe (JD 2016) Brendan Neufeld (JD 2019)

Jordan Katz (JD 2014) Emilie Lahaie (JD 2014) Jessica Bishara (JD 2018)

Kate Bresner (JD 2016) Serin Remedios (JD 2016) Graham Henry (JD 2017)

Harrison Cruikshank (JD 2016) Andrew Vey (JD 2012) Hadiya Roderique (JD 2008)

Students' Law Society University

of Toronto Faculty of Law Sahar Kamali (JD 2017) Nabila F. Qureshi (JD 2015)
(2018-2019), with ​concurrence

Manish Oza (JD 2015) Kaley Duff (JD 2017) Samantha Hargreaves (JD 2021)

Kristy Milland (JD 2021) Justine Desmond (JD 2018) Rebecca McConchie (JD 2011)

Michelle Folliott (JD 2012) Justin Hooman Nasseri (JD 2012) Owen Goddard (JD 2012)

Samer Muscati (JD 2002) Yolanda Song (JD 2017) Rebecca Barclay (JD 2011)

Nadia Zaman (JD 2015) Chelsey Legge (JD 2019) Solomon McKenzie (JD 2019)

Garth Murray (JD 2017) Bruce Arnott (JD 1984) Malle Hanslep (JD 1980)

Lucas Lung (JD 2005) Brenda Gunn (JD 2005) Liam Churchill (JD 2013)

Kathy Laird (JD 1977) Patrick Hartford (JD 2015) Carlie Fox (JD 2014)

Eileen Church Carson (JD 2020) Ksenija Novakovic (JD 2020) Rachael Girolametto-Prosen
(JD 2021)

Cara Valiquette (JD 2010) Aaron Rankin (JD 2012) Luke Gill (JD 2013)

Stephen Henderson (JD 2013) Eric Chamney (JD 2011) Rebecca Liu (JD 2012)

Jacqueline Richards (JD 2015) Gary Edwards (JD 2011) Gillian Reiss (JD 2012)

Amrit Dhillon (JD 2017) Christopher Bamford (JD 2014) Alexandria Winterburn (JD 2011)

Noah Dolgoy (JD/MBA 2014) Kate Southwell (JD 2012) Joseph Heller (JD 2010)

Heather Palin (JD 2012) Lara Guest (JD 2014) Matt Brown (JD 2013)

Joanna Kyriazis (JD 2012) Mariangela Asturi (JD 2020) Ryan Lax (JD 2012)
 Mindy Noble (JD 2002) Heather Cohen (JD 2012) Michael DeFaria (JD 2013)

Jesse Heath-Rawlings (JD 2014) Jules Monteyne (JD 2014) Michael Mazzuca (JD 1990)

Sydney Hodge (JD 2015) Roberto Tomassini (JD 1994) Lesa MacDonald (JD 1996)

David Rosenfeld (JD 2004) Sarah Helmer (JD 2019) Jonathan Ptak (JD 2000)

William M. Sharpe (JD 1980) Grace Westcott (JD 1981) Denise Reaume
(UT Law Professor since 1982)

John Tuzyk (JD 1980) Shannon McDunnough (JD 2012) Nathaniel Warren Rattansey
(JD 2017)

Peter Shklanka (JD 1996) (V.R.) Sam Black (JD 1997) Joanna Birenbaum (JD 1995)

Gary Hopkinson (JD 1995) Josh Phillips (JD 1990) Aron Nimani (JD 2016)

Camille Labchuk (JD 2012) University of Toronto Students' Zachary Janes (JD 2020)
Union (2018/2019)

Karen Bliss (nee Kulak) U of T Out in Law (2018/2019) Erika Voaklander (JD 2020)
(JD 1992)

Robert Champagne (JD 2000) Alexis Vaughan (JD 2018) Daiana Kostova (JD 2021)

Amelia Fung (JD 2019) Dakota Forster (JD 2019) Dharshini Sinnadurai (JD 2012)

Allison Sephton (JD 2010) Jonathan Eaton (LLM 1994) Amanda Landre (JD 2012)

Laura Barnett (JD 2002)