Volume 50, Issue 5

Page 1

The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Toronto Mississauga since 1974

Issue 5 Volume 50 October 09 2023

themedium.ca

Principal Alexandra Gillespie on the heart of UTM’s goals and aspirations “We are very different with different experiences. We can learn from one another, but we are also deeply connected. And we find our joy and our purpose in those connections.” Juliana Stacey & River Knott Editor-in-Chief & Managing Editor

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t the beginning of the year, the management team at The Medium sat down to talk about our goals: building a community, helping our writers develop and become more confident in their writing skills, and producing a paper that we, and our writers, could be proud of. These sentiments sat at the back of our minds as we crafted questions for an interview with Alexandra Gillespie, the vice-president of the University of Toronto and principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). Arriving at Principal Gillespie’s office, we expected to chat about specific initiatives or programs being implemented in the coming months. While we were able to discuss some of the plans that UTM looks to realize, we also learned a lot more about the structure of our campus and its community, looking past just the programming and offerings and instead at the “heart” of our institution itself. Principal Gillespie tells us about a “diagrammatic representation” of the campus, which contains a heart right in the middle. “That heart represents lots of different things,” she says.

“It represents our commitment to truth and reconciliation first, […] our commitment to Indigenous Peoples, and to walking the long path towards reconciliation.” She adds that part of these efforts toward reconciliation include “understanding that [reconciliation] has to be grounded in truth telling. And that without that at the heart of what we do, nothing else will be okay. Everything else will be destabilized.” On UTM’s campus, that looks like doing the work to “connect, repair, and create reciprocity.” “I’m really proud of the fact that we opened the new office for the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation,” Principal Gillespie shares. She speaks of the Tipi and the teaching lodge—which now stand near Principal’s Pond—and of the hopes of working towards more programming that revolves around the “recovery and teaching” of Indigenous languages, as well as a focus on Indigenous placemaking. These projects, as well as other initiatives in the works, focus on “making [UTM] a place where Indigenous People can feel connected, but actually in which we are all connected to that goal of truth and reconciliation—that it’s actually something that we feel, and we experience in an embodied way.” Another goal that the heart looks to highlight is our campus’ connection to the environment. Initiatives supporting this goal include the geothermal heating systems that exist beneath the soccer field, which is conveniently located at the heart of our campus. Principal Gillespie shares that the campus is committed to

reaching carbon zero status, and even looks to be in the “positive impact” zone by 2050; this means the campus would be removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it is creating. Having been a part of UTM’s community for 20 years, Principal Gillespie comments on the changes that the Covid-19 pandemic brought to our campus. She acknowledges that quarantine and isolation have increased social anxiety among UTM students, which can inhibit them from making meaningful connections with other members of their community. When asked what her advice for current UTM students would be, Principal Gillespie highlights that we should strive to move away from fear. “It’s really hard and you can’t do it all the time and you can’t do it completely. But don’t be afraid,” she says.

“Try not to be afraid because fear shuts you down and […] it’s a closing emotion.” She reminds students to approach their studies with a sense of openness, remembering that “you’re at U of T. You’re going to do this degree, or you’re going to do part of this degree. Some of you won’t finish that; it’s okay too. You’re going to have an amazing experience, you’re going to carry that experience with you for the rest of your life, it’s going to be okay. Or else, as a famous poet once said to me,

‘It won’t be okay. And that will be okay too.’” Principal Gillespie acknowledges the reality of ongoing mental health struggles among UTM students, and how these struggles have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. She explains that in the past, students have confided in her that they have been in “acute situation[s]” regarding their mental health and “it was taking them months to get seen” by UTM’s wellness professionals. As a result, UTM has adopted a “step care model for the provision of services,” under which students who are in critical situations have access to same-day service and swift follow-up appointments. Principal Gillespie explains that access to student aid for UTM students continues to be a priority. This year, the budget for student aid has increased to a lofty C$365 million dollars. When asked about her other goals for the near future, Principal Gillespie let our management team in on just a few of the initiatives that she intends to have

realized in upcoming years. She explains that, while UTM has programming for a variety of medical professions affiliated with the Mississauga Academy of Medicine, there is currently no nursing program at UTM. Principal Gillespie recognizes the important work of nurses and expresses her concern for the shortage of nurses nationwide. “We hope that by the end of this year, we have on the books, under governance, ready to go a small nursing program,” she reveals. Principal Gillespie also speaks passionately about the importance of interdisciplinary learning in the 21st century, claiming that the traditional makeup of 19th- and 20th-century academic disciplines “predate the world that we are living in in a very, very significant way.” It is becoming more and more apparent that problem-solving in academic and professional settings during the 21st century often requires a significant amount of overlap between academic disciplines. “Sometimes the person who’s really good at crunching the numbers is not the best storyteller,” Principal Gillespie shares. “But if the storyteller and the number cruncher can speak to one another and know how to do that, and do that really well, that’s the secret sauce, I think.” She notes that “I’d love UTM to be at the vanguard of thinking really creatively, but also responsibly, about what it is to be a 21st century arts and science student.” Indigenous reparations, student wellness, community building, and interdisciplinary learning appear to be areas occupying the forefront of Principal Gillespie’s ambitions over the next couple of months. Our interview made it clear that her passion for the wellness of UTM students and their involvement in the community has been a powerful catalyst for change when it comes to academic norms, student aid, and the prioritization of making meaningful connections with each other during our time together at UTM. When The Medium asked Gillespie for her personal insights on how students and faculty can build connections within our community and find happiness along the way, she explains that: “We are very different with different experiences. We can learn from one another, but we are also deeply connected. And we find our joy and our purpose in those connections.”

NICK IWANYSHYN /UOFT


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