Vol 39 issue 1

THE MEDIUM M THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA

September 10, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 1

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Froshies survive Apocalypse First year students embrace the madness at UTMSU’s Orientation Week UTMSU, enjoyed the week’s activities.

“The most rewarding aspect of Orientation Week, to me, is to see the smiles on the first-years’ faces and as they meet new people and create new connections,” said Thompson. “Firstyears commonly arrive not knowing [many] people. They are nervous, and entering a new setting, but after being introduced to pumped-up, higherenergy leaders and meeting the rest of their group members and going through a couple of events, first-years start to make new friends [and] feel more comfortable, and high levels of energy and smiles tend to emerge.”

Students crowded the CCT Building and the CCT link for the Student Services Fair on Tuesday, which showcased the academic departments and a few clubs (including the Muslim Students’ Association and the UTM Tennis Club). Afterwards, the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre was transformed into an indoor carnival, and for the rest of the day the frosh enjoyed the UTM’s Got Talent show.

Student teams battled other groups in the UTM Athletic Council’s “Hunger Games”. The groups rotated around campus to designated spots where they played dodgeball, V8 Flip

Cup, and flag football, and stumbled through an obstacle course. Relief showed on the faces of students as they approached the rest station.

Students crowded the Blind Duck for the Apocalyptica Pub, sponsored

by CFRE Radio. The Student Centre was aglow with red and neon lights and bursting with music from the speakers set outside on the balcony.

Inside the pub, fake icicles hung from the ceiling as flashing lights shot through the smoke generated by a fog machine.

The smoke turned out to be too much for the apocalypse survivors and the party was forced to move outside as fire alarms sounded above the music and students were ushered out of the building.

“THIS IS MADNESS!” cried a group of students in unison—a familiar UTMSU cheer that past froshies will remember.

The fire truck arrived a few minutes later, drenching the crowd in red light.

A dancer twirled her hula hoop, aglow with blue and green lights, among the flashing red lights of the truck.

Thompson later confirmed that the fog machines set off the fire alarms.

North Building Hollerado Renovation rocks square

Frosh isn’t over yet

Province reforms osap

mixed results for the blues

Over the summer, the university knocked down the west side of the original building on campus.

Juno nominees Hollerado play a free concert at Celebration Square.

Relive frosh and check out pictures and video on our new website.

Investigating the new policies and OSAP requirements.

The Medium talks with Quittenton and recaps the season opener.

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LARISSA HO NEWS EDITOR First-year students have started off their careers at UTM full of memories made at the always highly anticipated Orientation Week, hosted by UTMSU. After picking up their frosh totes full of goodies last week and receiving their group and bus numbers, hundreds of first-year students congregated to celebrate new beginnings and make friends as they cheered the traditional UTM frosh cheers. For the theme this year, the campus was hit with the apocalypse and froshies endured the elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

“The idea behind our theme is that many students may think university is the end of the world and will be really difficult, but together we can provide them with the tools to succeed or survive,” explained Lara Stasiw, one of two orientation coordinators this year. “These tools include orienting them to the campus, providing them with mentors—our leaders—to answer any questions they have, introducing them to other first-year students to help create friendships, and giving them a sense of UTM pride.”

Chris Thompson, the president of

Apocalypse continued on page 3

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM

09.10.2012

North Building demolition underway Phase A of the North Buidling Reconstruction Project has finally begun Larissa Ho news editor Like most members of the UTM community, professor Lee Bailey was shocked to discover one morning that reconstruction had begun on UTM’s oldest academic structure, the fabled North Building.

“I’d made a few trips to the North Building just because I was interested in seeing the big toys,” said Bailey. “They seemed to be working gradually. The building was still standing on Thursday. I worked at home on Friday. When I came in on Saturday, the whole west end was gone.”

Phase A of the demolition of the North Building had been executed.

The UTM community has grown in ways no one had envisaged, and the dire need for space at UTM has grown stronger over the past decade.

The North Building, formerly a building of 9,459 gross square metres, was built in 1967. It was a temporary measure, meant to serve UTM (then called Erindale College) only for the next four years. It was intended that the building be demolished after the William G. Davis building (then the South Building) opened in 1971. Yet it is still standing, and heavily used for classes—even though it doesn’t meet today’s standards for academic space as outlined by the Council of Ontario Universities.

UTM has seen a 77% increase in space in the past decade in the form of classrooms, labs, offices, and residences, but even this

The oldest building on the UTM campus is getting a facelift. hasn’t kept up with our enrolment growth.

Space at UTM is still in extremely high demand.

With the growth in student enrolment and the general need for academic space, UTM has not been able to afford making the North Building inactive for construction before now. Thirty percent of UTM classes were taught in the North Building until the Instructional Centre opened, revealed Paul Donoghue, UTM’s chief administrative officer.

Undergraduate enrolment is expected to increase by about 2,000 full-time students between now and the 2015/16 year, and graduate enrolment by more than 80. In the 2011/12 year, the campus was at around 80%

of the Council of Ontario Universities space standards, and with the expected increases in enrolment, that number will drop even further.

“Rebuilding became a very important priority for us,” said Donoghue. “It was discussed widely within the context of the Master Plan that we redid in 2011, and what we were able to do was to obtain some money from the government of Ontario to help us with the reconstruction of two projects that don’t seem to be related—but they are.”

One is the North Building Phase A, and the other is a four-year program to rebuild all of the science teaching labs in the Davis Building. Both projects address the dire need for technology and science space.

Junaid Imran/The Medium

When the Health Science Complex opened, it provided space for the new Mississauga Academy of Medicine and the departments of biomedical communication and forensic science.

Two years ago, to address the lack of wet lab space, UTM relocated the psychology department’s AWB research labs from the Davis Building teaching block to the Academic Annex, as a temporary location. New modern labs are a part of the North Building Phase A project. In the meantime, the Davis Building teaching block is being renovated floor by floor. By 2016, all the floors will have been renovated into modern labs, with the second, third, and fourth floors reserved for teaching and the first floor for research.

“So it’s really trying to rationalize the amount of space that we have, build as much as we possibly can, because we’re under huge pressures for space and we’d like to get it done as quickly as we possibly can,” said Donoghue.

The North Building was one of five capital projects UTM identified in 2008 to be submitted for approval to the provincial government, but the request was unsuccessful until Phase A was resubmitted in 2011.

As outlined in the 2011 Campus Master Plan, the North Building Reconstruction will take place in three phases, the first of which is now underway. Phase A will address a serious space shortage, meet the space standards of the other buildings on campus, and transform the southern portion of the two-storey North Building into a modern four-storey academic facility.

The total estimated cost for Phase A is $56 million. The government of Ontario will fund $35 million of it, $0.9 million will come from UTM’s Graduate Expansion Capital Fund, $3.1 million will come from UTM’s one-time capital reserves, and $17 million will be acquired through borrowing.

The new facility will total 10,440 gross square metres and will accommodate rehearsal studios for the department of English and drama, as well as food services, classrooms, and study space. The upper levels will accommodate research and teaching labs for the departments of psychology and MCS and faculty offices for multiple departments.

Phase A will be completed by August 2014.

Environmental Affairs Draft of Academic Plan presented Office restructured Environmental coordinator position terminated Jai Sangha The UTM administration reorganized the Environmental Affairs Office and eliminated Aubrey Iwaniw’s position as environmental project coordinator.

Iwaniw had worked as the environmental project coordinator in the EAO since 2004 and also headed the UTM Green Team. She engaged more than 700 students in her projects during her time at the EAO. “It appears that there is a revival of increasing bureaucracy to lead these sorts of departments like the environment: business case things, and keeping things neat and tidy, and having one department do one thing. And it makes good sense on paper; it is very neat and tidy. But the world doesn’t work that way. The world is messy [and] disorganized, and everyone is just hanging on,” says Iwaniw.

“And that’s the good stuff. That’s where change happens and people are inspired. People are not inspired by orderly nature. They are satisfied in some way, but they are not inspired. So this change, that may seem completely appropriate, may not initiate innovation and inspiration.”

The Department of Facilities, Management, and Planning took over the responsibilities of the EAO, including oversight of the Green Team.

“There is a perception that we eliminated the EAO and eliminated the Green Team, when in fact that is not what happened. We took a look at the environmental sustainability initiatives in a broader context in terms of what had become integrated

into our operations on campus, and no longer required a free-standing EAO,” says Paul Donoghue, UTM’s Chief Administrative Officer. “In a sense, the office hasn’t been dissolved, because the responsibilities have been transferred to a group of senior people in FMP.” The Green Team is a group of Work-Study students who work on institutional waste reduction, alternative transportation, and litter campaigns on campus. In the last few years, the Green Team has offered 25 to 30 positions.

“My understanding is that when the Green Team started, the whole notion of the team was very much volunteer-based. But the volunteer aspect, which I think is incredibly important, was gradually supplanted, where the number of students volunteering compared to the number of students employed was really quite different from when it started,” says Donoghue. “That illustrates the other problem, that is, the evolution of the Work-Study as the driving force behind the Green Team. It has become incredibly vulnerable and we’ve seen what happened. The government, with no notification, unilaterally just pulled the plug on the program.”

During the summer, the provincial government withdrew funding from the Work-Study program. All employed positions will be funded by the university and departments. For the fall semester this year, the FMP has posted only eight Work-Study positions for the Green Team.

Environmental continued on page 3

Larissa Ho News Editor

Amy Mullin, UTM’s vice-principal academic and dean, has presented the draft of the UTM Divisional Academic Plan, a reflection of the values and issues that emerged in the planning process. The plan is for 2012 to 2017.

Last Wednesday in the Council Chambers, at a town hall dedicated specifically to staff members—the first of three planned town hall meetings meant to give the UTM community a chance to discuss the UTM Divisional Academic Plan—Mullin led a discussion about the draft plan.

About 30 faculty, staff, and alumni attended the town hall. Mullin began by presenting a short overview of the August draft of the UTM Academic Plan, which was first developed at the end of June and is expected to go through governance by the end of November.

Mullin struck the Academic Planning Committee to guide UTM through the planning process, an opportunity for UTM to assess its development and identify areas for change and growth. The APC included four faculty members, a graduate student, an undergraduate student, a librarian, one of our alumni, and a staff member, in addition to Mullin.

As part of the process, a set of values was drafted and shared at two academic town halls last October. One was specifically meant for receiving input from students.

By the end of November, individual academic units were asked to complete “self-studies” and incorporate the key findings of those studies in a first draft of their plans. Each unit was expected to consult with staff, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, librarians, and alumni.

The plans addressed such issues as

research, teaching, the academic experience, and curricula. The APC gave detailed feedback on each department’s draft plan and the final plans were submitted by March.

Finally, the draft of the entire UTM Divisional Academic Plan was created as a synthesis of the drafts of the different academic units.

The draft starts off by citing that throughout the five years the plan is to be in effect, the international undergraduate student intake will exceed 17%, and the domestic undergraduate enrolments will increase by approximately 5% per year.

The draft continues with a statement of UTM’s values that guide academic planning, and then breaks down those values into the divisional plan.

“The plan is presented in the context of the values,” said Mullin. “The plan kind of presents a snapshot of where we are [and] where we want to be, and lists the next steps.”

One of the most important things about the plan, she said, is to invest in new faculty and staff positions to enhance the student experience.

Another announcement that Mullin made was that UTM is currently in the process of hiring a campus-wide fulltime equity officer, as was first called for by the students, who will be funded centrally by the university and who would offer support to the whole UTM community. This is so that students don’t have to go downtown every time they are presented with an equity issue.

Mullin went on to express her desire to hire a central community outreach officer in order to support different units with the outreach each department has been doing. UTM will also hire another person to work with Stacey Platt, the international student development officer at UTM’s International Centre, in order to better address the needs of interna-

tional students.

Mullin spoke briefly about using campus space as efficiently as possible, as pressure on classrooms is increasing due to increased enrolment. The draft refers to the expansion of the North Building and Kaneff Centre as new sources of academic space to meet the needs of a growing community. In light of this, a Scheduling Committee has been struck to “develop principles that will govern the scheduling of classes on this campus”.

When Mullin spoke about the importance of skill development, she addressed the increasing support to the transition to university programs at the university.

In the future, said Mullin, there will be a utmONE skills-based credit option, a utmONE “Scholar’s One”, and drop-in sessions instead of mandatory sessions.

Mullin spoke at length about the development of writing skills, and the decision to move forward with what has been at the faculty of arts and sciences, which is training “lead writing TAs”, who will then train additional TAs. This is a response to a proposal from the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, an option Mullin prefers over introducing writingintensive courses—which have proven to be less effective than writing initiatives.

A major concern brought up by faculty members was students’ writing skills.

One faculty member suggested that students should need to pass a writing course in order to pass into their third year. It was replied that such an initiative would be very “resource-intensive” and would not be as effective as a writing initiative like the one the RGASC proposed.

In an effort to ensure that student voices are heard in the academic planning process, a town hall primarily for students has been booked at a location and date to be announced, possibly when classes are underway and students have settled into their schedules.

9.10.2012 THE MEDIUM NEWS

UTM dominates Frosh

3

»What was the craziest

Orientation continued from cover Students headed to the RAWC on Thursday morning for the “Stuff a Bus” event. Students had been bringing non-perishable items, such as canned goods and drinks, all week for this event, in which they stuffed a MiWay bus full of these items in support of United Way. “The whole 2012 ‘end of the world’ theme, the apocalypse—I think it’s just another way of getting people together and realizing we’re not that different from each other,” said Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, an orientation leader. “No matter what kind of background you come from, whether it’s a rich family or poor family, first world, third world—we’re all here for the same goal. It’s to get an education, a job, to help better the world in various different ways—in whichever way you feel like doing.”

In the afternoon, they travelled downtown by bus to collect donations for United Way. Froshies enjoyed a show at Medieval Times and snapped photos with the knights for their Facebook profiles. The group headed back to Mississauga on a party bus with music and dancing.

On Friday, the froshies and their leaders had an extremely busy day filled with marching, singing, dancing, and cheering. They arrived at King’s College Circle at the St. George campus after a pizza lunch in front of

»

part of frosh?

Rebeca D’Alessandro First-year

Christopher Thompson President of UTMSU

Medieval Times, the after party... There was a DJ, flags, and beach balls.

When the hypnotist hypnotizes people, it still kind of freaks me out.

Sophia Busdos First-year

Joshua Campbell First-year

The craziest part of Frosh was the parade, because everyone was cheering loud.

There was a tie between the cheer-off and the parade... it was awesome.

Junaid imran/The Medium

A fire-eater entertains the crowd after the Apocalyptica pub.

University College, where they faced off St. George’s architecture frosh, the University College frosh, and the froshies of Innis and other colleges.

The energy was high as the UTM crowd chanted, “UTM! UTM! UTM!” The architecture frosh shouted back, “Quantity!” and pointed at the UTM frosh, then pointed at themselves and shouted, “Quality! You don’t even go here!”

The UTM frosh replied, “We don’t even want to!”

UTM led the crowd as each college and faculty walked the streets of downtown Toronto following the cheer-off. Songs like Carly Rae Je-

psen’s “Call Me Maybe”, the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex”, and the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” blared from the two huge speakers at the back of Shane Madhani’s car, which led the way for the UTM frosh, alongside a police officer on a motorcycle.

When the frosh finally made it back to Hart House, a carnival was awaiting them. A concert began as students went from tent to tent, picking up goodies from each booth. An after-party at the Guvernment night club in Toronto for all three campuses, a traditional U of T Orientation event, ended the apocalypse.

Green Team will continue U of T moves online give UTM a bad image, because these partnerships are inevitably going to find out,” says Mehta. “I don’t think the administration gave them enough credit when they decided to make this decision so abruptly.”

Students directly involved with the Green Team talked about the lack of planning on the administration’s part and the experiential loss with Iwaniw’s departure. According to these students, Iwaniw was central to uniting individuals, groups, and faculty with common environmental goals.

“I would definitely say that my work was hindered by Aubrey’s absence. Nobody had a clear understanding of what I was working on, or prior years’ experience of the position and its duties,” says Amanda Puopolo, a fourth-year environmental management student who was working under Iwaniw during the summer as the naturalization and stewardship coordinator. “Although I was provided with the logistical means of completing my work from meetings with the grounds department at UTM, it lacked the support, resources, and knowledge base that I had with Aubrey when I began the job.”

University launches courses on the web

“I think the Green Team is critically important. I need advice from students about how we reinvigorate the volunteerism and how we can coordinate with other environmental groups on campus,” says Donoghue.

“I understand not everybody shares that view, and there’s a perception that this organizational change pulled the plug on Green Team. Well, in fact, we haven’t. We’re protecting the Green Team and we’re trying to build it.”

Besides managing the Green Team, Iwaniw taught ENV232 with professor Monika Havelka. Iwaniw was also responsible for starting the conversations with Mississauga Transit in 2004 that eventually brought the UPass to UTM. “I remember the first year [of the U-Pass]. Only a small number of people were taking the bus, because nobody knew about the U-Pass. Now everyone knows about it. It is normalized. And that changes lots of things,” says Iwaniw. “It changes people’s behaviours towards transit. It’s no longer believed to be something for poor people; it’s something for young

people. People are moving around the city and living in areas along transit corridors, where before that wasn’t as important.”

Critics of the reorganization argue that students directly affected by the changes were not consulted or informed. Rahul Mehta, a UTM alumnus who was involved with environmental initiatives, set up a Facebook page for students, staff, and faculty to give their feedback on the reorganization.

“All the work of the EAO directly impacts the youth, so it would be logical that if a large part of it is removed, the youth would be informed,” says Mehta. “You know, it is very convenient how they chose the summer— the most isolated time with the fewest amount of staff and fewest amount of students.”

Mehta plans to start a petition early in the school year to get student, staff, and faculty feedback to the changes and gauge the impact of the loss of Iwaniw.

Iwaniw also liaised with off-campus organizations. “Partnerships need to be informed if drastic changes like this happen. Otherwise, it’s going to

In July, the University of Toronto signed up with Coursera, a USbased company offering open online courses. As a partner of Coursera, U of T will join a trend led by top US schools such as Stanford and Princeton.

The US-based company offers what are known as “MOOCs”: massive open online courses.

This is a growing trend in which schools offer free online courses to students who sign up. U of T is currently the only Canadian university among 11 international schools announced as new partners of Coursera.

“It is just a way of getting our courses and our content and our great instructors in front of the whole world,” says Cheryl Misak, the provost of U of T. U of T will offer five online courses this school year, each lasting between four and six weeks. Several prominent professors have volun-

teered to teach courses ranging in subject matter from computer science to social work.

Over one million students have enrolled in online courses with Coursera so far. Maxim Jean Louis, the president of distance education network Contact North, says the demographic that will benefit the most from online courses of this type is the growing middle class in developing countries.

Currently, Coursera does not have any revenue source. Several suggestions have been made for “premium content” that could have fees, including receiving actual credentials.

George Siemens, an Athabasca University researcher who was involved in the creation of the course, says the aim of the course is to try to make the best use of the technology space. He criticized Canada as a “laggard in open access learning”.

U of T’s move into the field may be a sign that Canadian educators are starting to embrace the technology.

Malibu homeless man jailed for strangling pelican

Yangtze River runs mysteriously red

Brampton high school launches reality TV series

Condom maker fined for false claims

Silver SpongeBob coins go missing

Sergio Alvarez admitted to strangling a bird after being hungry and not being able to catch any fish. Pelicans are a fully protected species in California.

Officials don’t know why a stretch of China’s longest river has suddenly turned tomato red. Reasons for it may include red clay infiltration, waste from a chcemical plant, or colour-producing bacteria.

Brampton’s Cardinal Leger Secondary School is running a six-episode reality television series called Cardinal’s Highschool Cafe, about a student-run café inside the school. In the show, high school students cook gourmet-style food.

The Original Condom Company falsely advertised that its condoms come from the town of Condom in France. A court has ordered the claim to be removed and fined the Frenchmen who own the company $12,600 for false advertising.

When Peregrine Financial Group collapsed in July, 76 sets of silver coins sporting the image of cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants went missing.

These coins have a retail value of $20,000.

Source: Huffington Post

Source: Live Science

Source: The Globe and Mail

Source: NBC News

Source: Reuters

Environmental continued from page 2

Sana Haq STAFF WRITER

4 09.10.2012

Editor-in-Chief » Stefanie Marotta

Take a closer look at Homestead I’ve lived in Mississauga my whole life.

I was born at the hospital just down the street from UTM and donned dozens of Mississauga soccer league jerseys. With so much suburban experience, I knew when I ended up at this campus that I shouldn’t expect the big-screen, sloppy version of university. Life at UTM is tame, just like life in Mississauga.

Our residents are proud to live in one of the safest cities in Canada. Unlike smaller Ontario cities that thrive off of university life, such as Western and Guelph, Mississauga has grown in a different manner. With Square One being the extent of the city’s “downtown” scene, parents generally rest easy knowing their children are safely tucked away from the dangers of the big city.

MEET THE MEDIUM Introducing this year’s editorial team.

UTM has grown with Mississauga.

Each year, frosh gets rowdier, the library stacks are riddled with more students sitting on the floor, and the Tim Horton’s line gets longer. With a greater student presence, communities surrounding UTM grow wary, especially at Homestead.

Homestead is a residential area a few minutes east on Dundas Street. The compact townhouses and nearby location offer affordable and accessible housing to UTM students—a rare find and a luxury in Mississauga.

Campus residence costs more than $6,000 for the regular academic year (September through to April), and students have to move out after their last exam in December for the holiday

break. At Homestead, the lodging fees are just under $5,000 for a full year. Students reap the benefits of cheaper accommodation for longer and get it free of dons and surveillance.

Over the past few years, disgruntled residents at Homestead have made complaints concerning drug trafficking, public intoxication, and noise complaints. Some of them continue to push city councillors to enforce stricter rules on lodging houses, especially the ones popular with students, and create bylaws that further limit the number of lodging houses in any given area and the number of lodgers permitted in one residence.

Fortunately, the area surrounding campus is relatively well served by public transportation. But for residential areas

past in the northeast end, Mississauga Transit is a last resort. Some commutes can stretch more than an hour and require numerous transfers. If affordable housing around campus gets any scarcer, students will be forced either to pay for residence on campus or to move farther out of reach of Mississauga Transit.

The university organized administration, student union executives, and members of the police force to go doorto-door at Homestead, hear the concerns of residents, and speak on behalf of UTM students. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a solution that will appease residents and pose as a solution for students.

A former UTMSU president took it one it one step further. Throughout his

term in 2009/2010, he attended Mississauga Council meetings and appealled to councillors to avoid implementing bylaws that limit the availability of offcampus lodging houses. The efforts have since been abandoned, as far as the UTMSU agenda records are concerned.

At the moment, the voices of Homestead single-family residences are stronger in the Mississauga Council. Without proper student representation at the table, miscommunication and distrust will continue to push the student and family communities in Homestead further apart.

NEWS

ARTS

FEATURES

SPORTS

Larissa remembers being in first year and loving being the Associate News Editor, but hoping to be the News Editor one day. Now she’s the News Editor. She realizes that she’s new to her role and there are going to be some bumps in the road, but she also knows it’s going to be so worth it in the end. For one thing, she’s learned so much from her friend (and Editor in Chief) Stefanie, her co-editors, and writers. For another thing, she loves doing it. And finally, the paper—a product of all our hard work—looks amazing when it’s done.

Colleen is a fourth-year student majoring in English and in professional writing and communication. As a selfconfessed pop culture geek, some of her hobbies include discovering new music, hate-watching reality television competition shows, and accumulating useless Oscar trivia knowledge. She’d love to hear from any and all interested writers so feel free to send her an email or stop by the Medium office. Whether you want to write about a new art exhibition in Toronto or Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a place for it in A&E.

Carine graduated in June with a double major in CCIT and professional writing. She’s spending the next year doing technical writing for money. If Carine were a punctuation mark, she would be a question mark. Carine loves investigative features that ask difficult questions: Where’s the money going? Why are there no seats at the library? Why do people walk so slowly? (Seriously, the rest of us have to be somewhere.) In the future, Carine hopes to be a big-time magazine editor so she can ask the world even more questions.

Isaac is UTM’s all-around everyday resident “sports guy” and former running back for the Varsity Blues football team, turned sports journalist. In covering sports like soccer, hockey, baseball, rugby, football, tennis, badminton, basketball, and track and field I plan on bringing the focus back on UTM’s intriguing figures and stars in each sport. Feel free to drop by the Medium office for sports debate, banter, fantasy advice, or picks before Sunday’s game.

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09.10.2012 5

Editor » Colleen Munro

Hollerado rocks the Square Juno nominees Hollerado play the hits and charm the crowd at Mississauga’s Celebration Square NIKOLINA LIKAREVIC Rock ’n’ roll was alive and kicking Friday night at Mississauga’s Celebration Square, where Canadian bands the Balconies, Topanga, and the headliner, Hollerado, played a free show.

The night started off with the pop and classic rock sound of the Balconies, followed by a breed of punk rock by Topanga before Hollerado took the stage. The intermissions were equally lively as a DJ spun dance beats, top 40, and rock songs by the VIP booth.

The Balconies may not have had a large crowd, but the band rocked hard nonetheless. Lead singer Jacquie Neville intoxicated the crowd as she danced and thrashed in her leather tights and cowboy boots while hammering away at her electric guitar and filling the Square with her powerful voice. The performance was even haunting when the influence of 1960s–1970s rock bands came through heard in their music, especially in their songs “The Slo” and “Kill Count”.

Topanga put on a more conventional show, mixing vocal ohs, ahs

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Hollerado performed at Celebration Square on Friday night. and bada-das with harder rock.

However, the band had no shortage of talent, and their guitar solos were solidly executed and entertaining to watch.

Many members of the diverse crowd gathered by the stage to experience the show up close, while some found alternative forms of entertainment at Celebration Square. Many relaxed at the Square’s picnic tables,

In profile: the Balconies

while others walked the grounds eating crêpes, visiting a truck that was selling cupcakes, and playing on the inflatable jungle gym slide.

UTM’s own CFRE Radio and 102.1 the Edge’s Intern Army were also on hand at the show.

Additionally, thanks to Mississauga’s technical team, audience members could also send photos and texts to Celebration Square and have them

posted on the two huge flat-screen TVs on either side of the stage. These were nice touches, and it was refreshing to see a revamped and technologically savvy Mississauga.

Hearing the term “free concert”, one might think of more basic, nonflashy entertainment. But when Hollerado came up, they didn’t strip down their typical performance. The confetti and glowing beach balls still

came out and the jokes and stories between songs were at full force.

The do-it-yourself band put out an energetic, positive vibe on stage.

And when their brand-new amp broke down at the beginning of the performance, it only made them play harder. They seemed excited, as did the opening bands, to be in “clean” Mississauga. They jokingly expressed a wish to trade Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, for Mississauga’s mayor, Hazel McCallion.

Highlights of Hollerado’s setlist included “Juliet”, “Americanarama”, “Good Day at the Races”, and “Got to Lose”. The Juno Award nominees also played their newest single, “Lonesome George”, which seems to be about a turtle that dies, and partway through the set they tested out a new song from their upcoming album, due to be released early next year.

When a concert is free, there’s not much one can complain about. But Friday night’s show was certainly more than just good enough. The bands wowed and the Square felt like it was worth every citizen’s penny.

May there be many more fun and free concerts in our future.

TIFF takes flight The festival’s first weekend attracts big stars and arthouse premieres

Toronto rockers talk influences and the future COLLEEN MUNRO A&E EDITOR Armed with a wall of noise and hook-filled choruses to spare, Toronto rockers the Balconies made quite the impact opening for Hollerado at the Celebration Square concert this past Friday night. But when The Medium caught up to speak with the affable trio, it quickly became apparent that the band members weren’t always so firmly rooted in the rock world. Citing influences as diverse as baroque music and The Big Chill’s soundtrack and Green Day, the band brings those varied tastes to their latest EP, Kill Count, which was released earlier this year.

As students at the University of Ottawa, Jacquie Neville (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Stephen Neville (bass guitar), and Liam Jaeger (drums) originally studied classical music, but nearly five years ago, they turned their love of various genres into the Balconies.

And despite that classical background, the Balconies have a pretty unfussy formula when it comes to their live shows. Liam cites the “stripped-down and really loud” ap-

proach of other power trios such as the Police, Cream, and Nirvana as inspiration for the band’s concerts.

“We strive to recreate that,” he says.

The band got their start playing bars in Ottawa, and they still have a strong affection for their roots.

“The Ottawa scene was very supportive,” Jacquie says fondly. “There was always a scene in Ottawa for us.” But after self-releasing their debut album in 2009, the band later moved to Toronto, where they teamed up with producer Jon Drew (Tokyo Police Club, Fucked Up), who helped them expand their sound and record the five-track Kill Count EP. “[Jon] took our songs and how they sound live and made them sound really, really good,” Liam says of the finished product.

The Balconies have since had “intense” recording sessions with producer Arnold Lanni (Our Lady Peace), who helped them rerecord and remaster their infectious single “Serious Bedtime”. And with a crosscountry tour this fall and another full-length album on the horizon, things certainly don’t seem to be slowing down for this young band anytime soon.

TIFF.NET/PHOTO

Ryan Gosling makes facial tattoos fashionable in The Place Beyond the Pines.

COLLEEN MUNRO A&E EDITOR With the Toronto International Film Festival kicking off this past Friday, critics and film fans alike descended on the city to catch the newest cinematic offerings from around the world. Meanwhile, stars such as Ryan Gosling, James Franco, and Kristen Stewart arrived in Toronto over the weekend to promote their latest projects at the festival. Here are a few of the festival’s many offerings that The Medium caught up with during the festival’s first weekend.

Frances Ha One of the more surprising titles on the TIFF roster this year was Noah Baumbach’s latest film, Frances Ha, which some film fans didn’t even know was in production. Co-written by and starring indie darling Greta Gerwig, the film follows Frances, a free-spirited but broke dancer living in New York. Short on luck with men and attached at the hip to her best friend, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), Frances experiences a series of embarrassing situations as she tries to navigate adulthood.

Unfortunately, that’s about all the film has to offer in terms of plot. And perhaps that would be okay if the characters were more fully formed.

Frances feels like a character cobbled together from indie clichés and is situated in a world not unlike that of the HBO series Girls. The film does have some funny moments, and Gerwig is charming, but more often than not, the script feels laboriously “quirky” and too familiar. The film seems more Woody Allen than Noah Baumbach (only enhanced by the fact that the film is in black and white), but unfortunately, it is not up to par with the best work of either.

Frances Ha does find its footing when it takes a more serious approach towards the end, but ultimately, it’s too little, too late. MMM TIFF continued on page 6

6

«ARTS THE MEDIUM 09.10.2012

Reviews from TIFF’s first week TIFF continued from page 5 The Place Beyond the Pines Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper square off in this slow-burning and affecting family drama from director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine).

Gosling plays Luke, a volatile motorcycle stunt driver trying to do right by his long-suffering girlfriend, Romina (Eva Mendes). But when some of Luke’s illegal doings land him in the sights of ambitious rookie cop Avery (Bradley Cooper), drama and heartache proliferate, and the reverberations of both their actions go on to affect their families in unexpected ways.

The Place Beyond the Pines offers a fairly conventional story, especially in the latter two acts, but Cianfrance offers enough stylistic panache and plot twists to make it compelling. Gosling is heartbreaking as a heavily flawed man who can’t catch a break, and Cooper effectively conveys the anguish of a man who becomes haunted by past decisions.

This is a film that comes in three easily identifiable sections. And as the scope of the story expands in surprising ways later on, it becomes clear that The Place Beyond the Pines is a study not only of family, but of masculinity. The men in the film are broken in a variety of ways, and Cianfrance ensures that their struggle gets under the viewer’s skin. And while the film does get fairly melodramatic at times, the director and actors show enough restraint to make the human drama believable. The Place Beyond the Pines is the rare film that can actually deliver on its epic premise.

MMMM½

George Pimentel/WIRE IMAGE GETTY

Kirsten Dunst, Garrett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart at the premiere of On the Road.

On the Road After re-cutting On the Road due to lukewarm reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) brought his longgestated adaptation of the classic Kerouac novel for a red carpet premiere this week at TIFF. The film stars Sam Riley (Control) as Sal Paradise, a fictional doppelganger for Kerouac himself. In the late 1940s Sal befriends the charismatic Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) and his teenage bride Marylou (Kristen Stewart), and the three begin a cross-country journey in search of love, drugs, and a good time.

Salles remains fairly faithful to Kerouac’s text, which both helps and

hurts the film. On the one hand, the film often meanders. Its episodic structure means that it introduces us to a spat of recognizable faces (Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, and Viggo Mortensen, to name a few), only to whisk them away minutes later. However, the film also captures the freespirited, dreamy vibe of the novel. It also boasts beautiful cinematography and an off-kilter score that evokes the beat generation of the 1940s and 50s to great effect.

Riley evokes the cool of the era and Stewart is intermittently effective, but it’s Hedlund who deserves a special mention for his fearless, natural performance as the ringleader, Dean.

Aiming to please Fall television will bring back fan favourites, introduce new faces RAJ-KABIR BIRK The upcoming television season is likely to both excite and disappoint audiences. As always, with a slew of new shows premiering in the next few weeks, we will no doubt see some new fan favourites, as well as some instant failures. However, the promise in the television landscape also lies with the series making their long-awaited returns.

CBS returns with the likes of How I Met Your Mother (Sept. 24, 8 p.m.) and The Big Bang Theory (Sept. 27, 8 p.m.), but also brings in a promising new drama in the form of Vegas (Sept. 25, 8 p.m.). The show follows a sheriff, played by Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, The Parent Trap), as he tries to bring lawfulness to Las Vegas in the 1960s. Starring opposite Michel Chiklis (The Shield, No Ordinary Family), Quaid makes his television debut with the type of role that seldom comes his way. We’ll have to wait and see if the show’s premise and cast lives up to its promise.

NBC also returns with the familiar fan favourite The Office (Sept. 20, 9 p.m.) and the criminally underwatched Community (Oct. 19, 8:30 p.m.). They also bring in a slew of new comedies. Among them is Mat-

thew Perry’s new dramedy, Go On (Sept. 11, 9 p.m.), which follows a sportscaster trying to come to terms with his wife’s death. We have become all too familiar with Perry turning up for short-lived sitcoms since Friends, including Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Mr. Sunshine— and the pilot for Go On does little to raise expectations.

FOX brings back big hitters like Glee (Sept. 13, 9 p.m.) and The X Factor (Sept. 12, 8 p.m.), with newly appointed judge/mentor Britney Spears. FOX also returns with Zooey Deschanel’s New Girl (Sept. 25, 8 p.m.) and premieres its heir apparent, The Mindy Project (Sept. 25, 9:30 p.m.), starring and written by Mindy Kaling of The Office. Following Mindy as she struggles through her love life, the show may not have the instant appeal of New Girl, but it certainly has the potential to stretch beyond one season.

The best that the new season has to offer comes in the form of returning dramas. AMC’s zombie series The Walking Dead (Oct. 16, 8 p.m.) goes into its third season with little expectation after a lacklustre second season, but it still has an ardent fan base. Also making a return is Showtime’s Dexter (Sept. 30, 9 p.m.), going into its penultimate seventh season.

Although some think the show’s quality has wavered recently, last season’s finale suggests that the show will go out with a bang.

HBO, seemingly synonymous with quality television, brings back Boardwalk Empire (Sept. 16, 9 p.m.) for a third season. It stars Steve Buscemi (Fargo, The Big Lebowski)—finally getting the fandom he deserves—as Nucky Thompson, a politician and alcohol distributer in prohibitionera Atlantic City. While unlikely to be held in the same reverence as The Wire or The Sopranos, Boardwalk is still a stellar addition to HBO’s lineup.

The fall television season will likely follow the pattern of most others: fan favourites returning and new favourites forming. The fates of many shows also hang in the balance as NBC’s Community goes into its fourth season without a promise of a fifth, and Parks and Recreation (Sept.

20 , 9:30 p.m.) continues to struggle in the Nielsen ratings despite being one of the most consistent comedies on television (and with one of the best casts to boot).

The influence of Canadian viewers won’t be felt directly, since ratings are only calculated from US televisions, but fandom and strong word-ofmouth can still make an impact.

His character feels like the most wellrounded of the group, and Hedlund is especially heartbreaking once Dean’s “no boundaries” lifestyle inevitably backfires.

On the Road may take a while to get going, but it sneaks up to pack a satisfying emotional punch. Many have declared Kerouac’s novel “unfilmable”, but Salles makes a pretty compelling argument that it can be done.

MMM½ Lore Taking place at the end of World War II, Lore follows a teenage girl, Lore (Saskia Rosendahl), and her family as they deal with the crum-

bling of the Nazi regime. With her parents having surrendered to the Allied forces, Lore is forced to bring her four siblings across the German countryside in hopes of reaching their grandmother’s house. Along the way, they meet a young Jewish man, Thomas (Kai Malina), and Lore is forced to question her internalized prejudice.

Director Cate Shortland (Somersault) has created a remarkable, disarming coming-of-age tale with Lore.

She tells a captivating survival story while sparing us the melodrama and cliché that often comes with the genre.

Shortland employs the “just when you thought things couldn’t get worse...” technique deftly, and she’s not afraid to go to some very dark places. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom, Snowtown) seems only too willing to go to those places, too, and he brings a languid and beautifully murky look to Lore.

Rosendahl is mesmerising and endlessly expressive in her first film role. The German actress gave what feels like a star-making performance reminiscent of Michelle Williams.

Meanwhile, Malina offers the perfect pitch of ambiguity to Thomas’s character. He’s threatening, but there’s also an allure that makes it easy to understand why Lore would find herself unwillingly drawn to Thomas.

Shortland mixes small-scale personal drama with a broader look at the German political landscape of the time, and both elements of Lore are fascinating. With elegant characterization and charismatic performances, Lore makes for a vivid story that will stick with you. MMMM

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Editor » Carine Abouseif

Where do we go from here?

Without the environmental affairs office, what’s next for sustainability at UTM? CARINE ABOUSEIF FEATURES EDITOR “I chose UTM because of its environmental image,” says Rahul Mehta, a June 2012 UTM graduate. Mehta, an earth sciences major, spent much of his undergraduate volunteering with the Green Team and the now-defunct Environmental Affairs Office. Even before enrolling as an undergraduate, Mehta visited the campus for stewardship events hosted by UTM’s Environmental Affairs Office. In fact, back in 2004, UTM was the second university in Ontario and the third in all of Canada to hire a sustainabilitay coordinator. Back then, the concept of green buildings was still young, the green movement had barely begun, and An Inconvenient Truth had yet to be released. It was, in the words of our former environmental affairs officer and sustainability coordinator, a “niche concept”.

The position of environmental affairs officer has only ever been held by one person at UTM: Aubrey Iwaniw. In a way, the position was created for Iwaniw after she graduated in June 2004 with a specialist in environmental management. In her undergraduate years, Iwaniw volunteered with other students on environmental committees

and then began taking organizational roles. In 2003, she led UTM volunteers at a Suzuki Foundation event to discuss climate change. In the same year, she also became the president of UTM’s Erindale Environmental Association. In 2004, the Women’s Centre awarded Iwaniw the Woman of the Year title. I could keep going, but you get the picture.

Towards her graduation, Iwaniw approached UTM’s administration with a request. Her work was still unfinished and she wanted to pursue the same environmental leadership projects she had worked on as an undergraduate. So the university hired its first-ever sustainability coordinator under a contract. Later, the position was renamed to “environmental affairs officer” and Iwaniw was hired full-time.

As sustainability coordinator and environmental affairs officer, Iwaniw transitioned from compost education projects to waste management projects to construction talks. Again, you get the picture. The position of environmental affairs officer enabled Iwaniw to sit as an impartial third party at meetings on UTM construction. Between the party that wanted to build and the party that wanted to stay green, the EAO was the party that wanted to build

green and plan green. As part of the Naturalization Committee, the Environmental Affairs Office asked questions like “Are there native species here?”, “What’s the status on these green roots?”, and “How much of this construction fiber is recyclable?” The results of those questions are most evident in newer campus structures like the Instructional Centre.

The position of environmental affairs officer has only ever been held by one person at UTM. Finally, the Environmental Affairs Office transitioned into student-led projects. The Green Team, with its various Work-Study positions, was born.

The Green Team gave students the opportunity to follow preset projects created by Aubrey and others working with her office. But it also gave students the opportunity to build their own projects for the year.

Aubrey helped prepare students for the positions as well, says Mehta.

“She would orient them, give them

leadership training, take them step by step through the year, so it was almost like they were going through a program.” This is even more valuable than it seems. Mehta explained that outside of university, recent graduate environmental management positions are hard to come by. “There’s no such thing as a cheap environmental management position,” he says.

In 2008, professor Nicholas Collins of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology nominated Iwaniw for the Joan E. Foley Quality of Student Experience Award. In his letter to the Foley Committee, Collins referred to Iwaniw as a role model to students. “She is easily an identifiable example of what they could aspire to be,” he wrote. “I think that the most important contribution of the Green Team is the kind of personal development it facilitates.”

When I asked Iwaniw if she saw herself as a role model to students, she said it was difficult to accept such high praise. She did say, though, that she saw herself as more of a guide for those students interested in and pursuing environmental management projects such as those run by the Green Team.

But Iwaniw also talked about personal development in a more practical sense. When I asked her what

she thought was her biggest achievement at UTM, Iwaniw said it was the U-Pass.

While the accomplishment of having so many students switch to public transit is great in itself, Iwaniw specifically mentioned the students who had never taken public transit before enrolling at UTM. “Lots of students take public transit for the first time when they get the U-Pass,” she says. The learning and habitual aspect of this goes beyond their university years. Having a U-Pass teaches students to take the bus because it’s a more affordable option, but when they graduate many students who have become comfortable with public transit will continue to opt for public transit over cars.

On the subject of looking forward, Iwaniw said she was a little nervous about what would become of student-led environmental management projects without the “institutionalized memory” (as she puts it) that she brought to the discussion, but she wanted to remind students to stay engaged in her absence.

“Students have a lot of power in their ideas and decisions,” she says.

“They need to speak out when they want to and make things messy when necessary.”

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF YOUR CAMPUS AND YOUR CITY THIS SUMMER

UTM PhD candidate receives École Polytechnique award to build cancer-killing molecules

Google Streetview visits UTM

UTM’s first Concurrent Teaching Education students convocate

UTM Professor opposes 100-mile diet by publishing The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet

Mississauga soccer players win bronze at Olympics

UTM cancer research Carly Rae Jepson rocks team receives Celebration Square on prestigious Royal Society Canada Day of Chemistry award

UTM research shows fruitflies and humans have similar social behavior

U of T ranked 27th worldwide and first in Canada

Thief steals top half of Dairy Queen ice cream mascot outfit from a Mississauga backyard, leaving the cone behind

?

UTM north building taken down

UTM launches Boundless campaign

Funding for Work-Study positions decreases

Bomb’s a bust—suspected explosive turns out to be a TNT perfume bottle Sewing needle served in Pearson Airport sandwich

09.10.2012 THE MEDIUM FEATURES

»

9

The cost of a university education Government changes policies; more students to resort to the “OSAP diet” HAKIMA HAFIZI It’s over. The humid nights at boisterous parties, the spontaneous excursions to overcrowded beaches and parks, the long drives that ended with large family gatherings. Summer’s gone and it’s time revisit our old responsibilities.

If you’re like most UTM students, you might have invested a portion of your vacation time into a summer job. But if you’re like most other students, the bundle of cash you saved up this summer probably looks petty in the shadow of another academic year and its expenses.

If you’ve decided to apply for government aid, like 300,000 of your peers have, you’re in for a couple of changes this fall. One change was set in motion last October when the provincial elections sparked interest in the already much-talked-about aspect of student life. In particular, Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government introduced a new grant that promised 30% off of college and university tuition. The grant was intended especially for low- and middleincome families.

The second change introduced by the Liberal government for this fall is a cap of $7,300 on annual debt per student per two-term academic year. Meanwhile, the loans remain interest-free until six months after graduation.

Obviously, these are some pretty serious changes. But why now? And why these specific grants and caps and interest-free periods? Many of the statistics that were cited in preparation for these changes may not come as a surprise. For example, the rate of university enrolment has increased by 26% in Ontario—almost double the national average. The rate of college enrolment has increased by 18.5% in Ontario. And yet a survey conducted on high school students found that 72% of students listed “finances” as their barrier to higher education.

This seems contradictory. On one hand, more and more Ontario residents are signing on for postsecondary education. On the other hand, many high school students are now saying they won’t be taking postsecondary education. One conclusion to be made is that many of those students who are going on to postsecondary are doing so even though they have less than enough to cover the costs. In fact, recent polling by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations indicates that Ontarians list affordability of postsecondary education as a major concern, just behind quality of health care, and ahead of unemployment and reducing taxes.

Studies like the one done on high school students plus the voiced concerns of Ontario residents led the

government to propose the change.

Another line of reasoning was that the economic and social well-being of the young information-based society is dependent on its members receiving a postsecondary education.

But what do all these changes mean for the average student? No doubt students who applied for the grant were happy when they received their bank statements this year. But many students are less than thrilled with the changes.

Some students believe that changes to OSAP and grant amounts should not be the answer to rising tuition fees.

Grants like the one proposed will cost $200 million in taxes this year and $486 million by the 2015/16 academic year.

Some students believe that changes to OSAP and grant amounts should not be the answer to rising tuition fees. Natalie Hawchar, a third-year UTM student majoring in criminology and psychology, believes that the increases in tuition fees are unnecessary and criticizes the Ministry of Education for refus-

ing to play a bigger role in covering the costs for students to attend postsecondary institutions.

Hawchar also pointed out that tuition covers almost half of the administration and operating revenues of universities. This, she says, is way too much. Working, studying, and juggling extracurricular activities puts extreme pressure on students, she says, and tuition fees and the high cost of living place even greater burdens on them. Recent surveys corroborate her concerns. Unsurprisingly, another OCUFA survey showed that over three quarters of students report that working during the school year has a negative effect on their grades. In these cases, Hawchar believes, the “30% Off Tuition” grant isn’t much help.

Another student, Rafia Aquil, said that the political party failed to address the narrow eligibility requirements for OSAP. This criticism is strengthened by recent studies on what is colloquially termed the “OSAP diet” and how insufficient funds leave students living below the poverty line. A 2010 Maclean’s article showed that students who fund their studies entirely on government loans are left to survive on an average of $7.50 a day—which, incidentally, is about the average cost of one meal bought at UTM. Politicians also failed to address interest rate issues. For example, a

student who takes 20 years to repay a loan at 7.5% interest will have repaid 193% of the loan. A student who repays it after 15 years will have repaid 167% of the loan. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, students with both government and private student loans graduate with an average of approximately $37,000 of debt for a four-year bachelor’s degree. Imagine the interest on a number like that.

In 2010, federal student debt increased by $948,087 a day. The Canada student loan debt is $15 billion.

According to the Canada Student Loans Programs Actuarial Report, the federal government spent over $90.4 million on the administration of student loans for the 2009/10 academic year. The report also showed that the federal government took in $369.8 million in student loan interest that year.

The cost of tuition is daunting for most of us, and we are left to wonder whether postsecondary education is worth it all. But as students in the university with the most expensive tuition fees in Ontario, we must keep in mind the power of our voices and our actions. Joining a club or academic society lets us be surrounded by peers facing the same challenges as us, and sometimes that’s enough.

At least it gives us a place to voice our concerns and maybe—hopefully—a place to instigate change.

ERINDALE COLLEGE COUNCIL University of Toronto Mississauga

The Council of Erindale College, also known as the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), exercises its powers and duties under the University of Toronto Act, 1971, as amended.

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS: • Full-time undergraduate students – 50 positions available • Part-time undergraduate students – 5 positions available • Administrative Staff (non-academic staff other than department heads) – 7 positions available Nominations may be submitted through the Council website starting September 10 at 9 AM: www.utm.utoronto.ca/council/ Questions about the nominations? Contact: 905-828-5233 / council.utm@utoronto.ca NOMINATION PERIOD for Erindale College Council Membership: September 10, 2012 - 9:00 AM to September 21, 2012 - 12:00 Noon Elections*: Friday, September 28, 2012 - 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM Nomination Period for Standing Committee membership for students*: October 2, 2012 - 9:00 AM – October 9, 2012 - 12 Noon Elections**: Friday, October 19, 2012 - 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM **If the number of nominations exceed the number of available positions

BE RECOGNIZED

09.10.2012 10

Editor » Isaac Owusu

Varsity Blues kick off the season Quittenton’s big debut has roots in UTM, helps Blues pitch first shutout in almost 20 years

Junaid Imran/The Medium

Quittenton prepares to take the field with his fellow Varsity Blues teammates.

ISAAC OWUSU SPORTS EDITOR It’s an experience that Varsity Blues fans have waited 17 long years for: the team’s first shutout victory since 1995.

U of T’s Varsity Stadium provided the Blues with a home-turf advantage that led to their 19–0 Labour Day defeat over the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks. Toronto’s second-year quarterback Richard Quittenton, in the first start of his CIS tenure, was integral in his team’s opening day victory.

He finished the game with 157 yards on 15 of 25 passes and six rushes for 19 yards, including two touchdowns.

With the sounds of Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” commanding

the loudspeakers, through the mildly breezy night’s sky as Labour Day came to a close, Quittenton followed the win with time to reflect. For him, this victory began at UTM, where his season preparation started in June at the campus’s upper field. He spent time as the Varsity Blues’ representative in the CIS program, where CFL teams hosted university quarterbacks for their training camps.

“I would never have expected to be at a pro camp at my age. It was a shock at first. Everything is faster; it’s the mental part of things as everything is more complicated and disguised,” he said in an interview during the Argonauts’ training camp back in June.

There were some moments at first in which he found himself starstruck

around the Argonauts as he was getting up to speed with the team. “The first time I saw [Argonauts starting quarterback] Ricky Ray, I was too shy to go up to him. I’ve been watching him since I was a little kid.”

Being able to work with Ray was a blessing for Quittenton, since he sees a lot in common between him and Ray. “I’m not the loudest guy; I’m sort of like Ray, a silent leader, so it’s been helpful to see how he handles things.

I’m not only learning the Xs and Os, but learning from example. When we’re off the field, we’re always in meetings together. I’m usually hanging off Ray’s shoulder.”

Quittenton made sure to soak in as much of his experience at the Mississauga campus as he could. He offered

a few thoughts on the campus: “Everything’s new. It’s really nice. That building [CCT] is real confusing— you can get lost every day. But I like it here a lot. Beautiful campus.”

Following Toronto’s first win to open the season, Quittenton credits his quick grasp of the university game to his stay at Erindale. “The first I saw was the speed was different. Dealing with pro athletes, you see guys who are bigger, faster, and stronger, so coming back and playing with these guys was just a little bit slower and easier to figure out on the field,” he reflects. “I’ve really learned what it means to become a student of the game. Back in high school you can get by on having a real strong arm. It’s not at all like that over here.”

“My time at out there was real helpful; the people there are great, and you can’t complain when you learn with the Argos,” he concludes.

Coming on the the heels of their Labour Day victory, the Blues took to London to face the Western Mustangs where they lost 62–7. Quittenton finished the day five for 10, with 53 yards passing and 11 yards rushing on two carries in the first half, before being substituted for Chris Jugovic, who played the remainder of the game.

UTM fullback Stephan Boroniec added two assisted tackles and one catch for 18 yards, while Everton Williams, also from UTM, contributed three solo tackles, two assisted and one for loss of yards.

Historic year on horizon for the RAWC Added teams, equipment, and leagues promise for greatest year ever, says program coordinator Jack Krist ISAAC OWUSU SPORTS EDITOR Program coordinator Jack Krist is proud of the progression of the Recreation, Athletic, and Wellness Centre, otherwise known as the RAWC (pronounced “rock”). He has major goals in focus as he sits smiling at his desk in his office.

“September 2006 we opened, and that’s the year we had the highest amount of campus rec teams. We had 130 that year. Last year was 127, but with two new leagues this year—with the ultimate Frisbee and outdoor soccer—we will break that record,” Krist said.

Since the opening of UTM’s main gym facility, Jack has been responsible for and welcomes great growth.

Krist expects that in 2012, UTM students will be in the best position to advance themselves physically and mentally by taking advantage of the

RAWC and its programs.

For Krist, the RAWC’s opportunities offer more than a common gym membership. “We have all kinds of programs; some are instructional and others are drop-in. We’ve got spin bikes, we’ve got hydroriders, where you ride in the pool. (Which is new—it’s like a bike that you ride in the pool.) We offer aqua fitness, Pilates, and other things that, other universities, they charge extra for all that. At this campus it’s all included in your incidental fees.”

Good-spirited competition is key for Krist, who personally participates in some events, including the Campus Rec ball hockey tournament. The RAWC hosts intramural and Campus Rec games premised on just that: healthy competition.

“Campus Rec stuff is just on this campus; there’s no travel, practice, or tryouts. You get a bunch of your friends together on a team. If you

can’t find a team, you come to the office and we’ll put you on a free agent list, and then captains can come select you to join their teams. New this year, were going to start a Campus Rec co-ed ultimate league and then an outdoor men’s soccer league,” he says. “We had indoor, but never outdoor.”

“Three or four pro athletes work out here, on top of the Toronto Argonauts.

Jason Spezza works out here. Sam Gagne works out here.”

—Jack Krist Fitness trainers and free assessments are provided to UTM students looking to get on an exercise

program or work with the assistance of a trainer. The RAWC also has a power-lifting room, which houses a power-lifting team. If lifting weights is daunting, there are opportunities for aerobics, Pilates, and dancing instruction. Students can even just drop by for “rec badminton” days.

The RAWC is also full of hidden gyms, including a table tennis room, a golf cage, three squash courts, and tennis and beach volleyball courts beside the North Field.

Above all, Krist is excited about the RAWC’s newest exercise device.

“We have a new rotating rock climbing wall,” he says. “It’s called the ‘Fit Freedom Climber’. It rotates as you climb, but it only gets a foot or foot and half as you climb, and you can grab a whole bunch of grips and finger holds.”

But the climber is not the only change. “We’re relighting gym C, which was very dark, to go with new

doors for people to see things going on inside,” says Krist. “Like the ball hockey league that goes on inside it.”

Take a glimpse or a walk through the RAWC and it is easy to understand why it is called a state-of-theart exercise facility. With treadmills, elliptical machines, a full track with varying speed lanes, and a wide assortment of free weights and machine weights, it’s a facility good enough to serve the needs of pros, including the Toronto Argonauts.

“Three or four pro athletes work out here, on top of the Toronto Argonauts. Jason Spezza [a centre for the Ottawa Senators] works out here.

Sam Gagne [a centre for the Edmonton Oilers] works out here,” says Krist. “If you’re getting pro athletes to use your facility, it says something. It says we have what you need to work out.”

RAWC continued on page 11

09.10.2012 THE MEDIUM SPORTS

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RAWC introduces Nick Volpe, U of T’s Argo new equipment Hall of Famer reminices about Varsity Blues football RAWC continued from page 10 Krist is aware of the misconceptions about spending time working out and how it could distract students from their studies, but dismisses this idea as nonsense. “Getting involved with athletics is key! Most people think, ‘Oh, I don’t have time for that,’ but if you can get involved in a team sport or a routine, time-management-wise it’s actually going to help with your studies,” he says. “If you know you have a basketball practice every Tuesday night or a soccer practice every night, it forces you to make time to study.”

Scheduled program times at the RAWC are based on the needs of students and working to cater to their schedules. “Everything is at a set time, and you can find something that works for you. And if you find something that works with your schedule, I can say your grades will go up.”

For any questions or ideas about the RAWC or its programs, students can visit the RAWC staff in their office beside gyms A and B. Krist also wants students to take advantage of the UTM Athletic Council, made up of elected students, which is responsible for planning trips and other sports events on- and off-campus “We have a great UTM athletic council,” says Krist. “We have a mixed group of people. There’s two females on the council this year, which helps because last year’s council was all guys. So they can help the female aspect and get the female sports better promoted.”

Currently in its sixth year of operation, the RAWC is looking to house more teams than ever before and more sports to choose from this year.

Jack Krist’s mission is to get UTM students to make physical activity and exercise a priority. With such a wide range of choices, his mission should be a success.

Email Isaac sports@mediumutm.ca

ISAAC OWUSU SPORTS EDITOR As the crowd of 23,061 settle themselves into their Rogers Centre seats to watch the Toronto Argonauts battle their East Division rivals, the Hamilton Tiger Cats, they are witnesses to the celebration of U of T Varsity Blues teams of history. The ceremony serves as build up to the 100th Grey Cup game to be held here; it will take place in November. A banner to commemorate the ceremony is presented to U of T representatives; among the recipients on is Nick Volpe, a U of T alumnus from the class of 1948—and an Argos legend.

With a glowing smile, it’s clear that his love for his alma mater is as deep as it’s been since he graduated 64 years ago. “On July the seventh I was inducted to the university’s sports hall of fame. That came as a bit of a surprise after all these years, but I’ve been involved with Toronto in many capacities. As you already know, I send a lot of players there and I go there to watch most of the games. I’m always looking for someone to move up to this team, because that’s always a thrill—when I can get someone from U of T to play with the Argos.”

Volpe won the Yates cup with the Blues in 1948. Two years later, he earned himself another championship with his performance in the 38th Grey Cup, one of the most infamous CFL games in history, and the last time a

team has shut out another: the infamous “mud bowl”.

“I love football; I’ve been involved in it since I was 13 years old. I was in the class in ’48, and we won the Yates cup that year, and I went to Argos in ’49 and I won the grey cup in 50 in the mud bowl. I kicked two field goals in the game, and I caught a guy who broke away at the 15-yard line, and they didn’t score, and we won the game 13–0. Frank Clair, the head coach, said, ‘Nick, you deserve the game ball,’ so I have the game ball at home, all signed by the team. They only used that one ball practically the whole game,” said Volpe.

“I’m always looking for someone to move up to this team, because that’s always a thrill—when I can get someone from U of T to play with the Argos.”

—Nick Volpe Volpe made the most of his years as a U of T student, learning the significance of good work ethic carrying over into his professional life, where he’s been more than just a football player.

“U of T to me was wonderful, as it got me into education—and I was in education for 39 years. I started as a teacher, and then a head of department, a

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coordinator of phys ed, a principal of summer school, then a superintendent of schools.”

His mission in life has been to make a significant impact on his community.

His time in university awarded him that chance. “I always taught while I played. I used to teach school until 3:20, and then coach my football team until 5:15, and then jump in my car, drive to varsity stadium, practice with the Argos for two hours, have supper, come home, prepare for lessons the next day—and back all over again.”

This is an exciting year for a legend who was deeply involved in keeping his school’s football program alive during its darkest days. “I rooted for Toronto while they had a tough time in the last few years. 1993 was their last [championship] win, and I was one of the alumni in 1990, or about that time, who got on the phone who started calling. And we got donations and we earned about 300 grand. And that kept the team going.”

As a consultant for the Argonauts, Volpe can sometimes be seen at UTM, taking in the team’s practice. He shares fond feelings about the campus. “I didn’t go to school there, but it looks like an amazing, growing community.

It’s wonderful how it’s growing; I lived in Mississauga for 50 years or so.”

Meanwhile, his excitement for his university football is obvious: “I’d love to see the University of Toronto in the playoff—and, you know, this might be the year!”

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE HERE AT

UTM ATHLETICS! Lots of Campus Rec Leagues to choose from.

Including Ball Hockey, Basketball, Cricket, Flag Football, Indoor Soccer, Outdoor Soccer and Volleyball.

NEW LEAGUES TO UTM – MEN’S OUTDOOR SOCCER AND COED ULTIMATE FRISBEE Officials needed for all sports! Get paid and have fun!

Dance Lessons here at UTM – Ballroom, Belly Dancing, Break Dancing, Hip Hop and Latin all offered.

Martial Arts your thing? Choose from Aikido, Judo or Karate.

All taught here at UTM! Want to increase strength and flexibility?

Register for our Hatha Yoga classes.

Yoga for Athletes also offered.

Want to build your endurance? Register for our Learn to Run course.

Monday’s at 4pm.

Group Fitness Classes are free so why not take one?

And yes, we have a pool!

Register for swimming lessons or enjoy a recreational dip today!

utm.utoronto.ca/athletics

facebook.com/utmathletics

@UTM_ATHLETICS