FROSH Week PHOTO eSSAy
RA RA VARSITY BLUES Why you always got to lose?! page 3
On page 4, check out the partay!
the newspaper
University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly
Vol. XXXII No. 2
September 10, 2009
TyleR iRVinG Students in Ottawa have won an early victory in their fight over discounted bus passes. At a meeting on September 1, student organizations persuaded the city’s transit committee to revisit a policy that would lower the age cap on discounted student bus passes to 28. The policy, proposed by Ottawa City Transpo, is deemed discriminatory by student groups. “The notion that graduate students finish their degrees before 28 is ill-founded,” said Gaétan Beaulière, External Commissioner of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate Student Association. “Seventy-seven percent of our doctoral students are over 28, and according to
Statistics Canada, Ph.D students finish their degree at age 33, on average. There is no reason why they should be treated differently.” The age cap was introduced in the city’s 2009 budget, and was ratified last December. When it took effect on July 1, students reacted in opposition. We Ride, a coalition to reverse the ban, was spearheaded by student associations from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, as well as several smaller institutions. The coalition made the September 1 presentation to the city’s 8-member transit committee, resulting in a unanimous vote to raise the issue at the Continued on Page 3
Flat fees now in effect
What does this newly implemented program mean for you? pg. 3
Chapter closes on Pages bookstore independent bookstore closes its doors after 30 years
CAilin SmART The last of the original Queen Street cool was extinguished last week as Pages, the iconic indie bookstore, closed its doors. It was a sad day for those who remembered a more “interesting time on Queen, before the Gaps and Club Monacos.”
These are the words of ringleader of Queen Street’s art scene and owner of Pages, Marc Glassman. He is as spirited as ever about Torontonian literature and art as he comments on his store’s incendiary thirtyyear run. “I didn’t care about making money,” he says. “Pages was pure in terms of motivation. There was no commercial calculation, and people were responsive to it.” Indeed they were. In fact, the police were particularily
responsive to a feminist art project, “Its’ a girl!” in 1984 by the art group the Woomers. The installment, involving red sanitary napkins in the Pages store window, landed Glassman in jail for defying censorship laws, which were altered in favour of artistic expression after the incident. When Pages wasn’t busy fighting the social zeitgeist, it was the host of many events. “I love putting on events,” Continued on Page 2
Students tend campus gardens TOm BUGAJSki At university, we expect to cultivate our minds, but not necessarily a vegetable garden. This is something U of T Campus Agricultural Projects (UTCAP) is trying to change. In the past year, they have initiated several agricultural projects, including vegetable gardens outside Hart House, Hart House Farm, on top of the Galbraith Building, and at the Scarborough campus. Their gardens grow a bounty of
produce, ranging from tomatoes and potatoes to melons and potatoes. Jason Qu, a fourth-year Environmental and Equity Studies major and coordinator of UTCAP, explains that it is about more than just growing a few fruits and veggies. “People want to know where their food comes from, they want to be connected to their food,” he says, “and the most direct way of doing that is Continued on Page 5
DAN EPSTEIN
Ottawa students fight transit decision