Vol 39 issue 4

CRITTERS OF THE NUIT PAGE 5

October 1, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 4 www.mediumutm.ca

Students critique province’s paper St. George and UTM student unions hold town halls to talk about the government’s proposals Larissa Ho News Editor In light of the release of the Ontario government’s discussion paper “Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation, and Knowledge” this past summer, UTSU and UTMSU held town halls at their respective campuses to provide a forum for students in which to discuss the postsecondary education issues presented in the paper.

Released in June by Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, the paper proposes “efficiency-focused strategies” for making university and college systems stronger. Through a consultation process, it “seeks to identify ways to improve productivity through innovation” at Ontario institutions. Proposed suggestions include “labour-marketfocused” three-year degrees (which are common in Europe), year-round classes, standardized first- and-second-year courses across Ontario (to facilitate transfers between institutions), and increasing the availability of online undergraduate courses by up to 60%. The paper stresses that the

Larissa Ho/The Medium

Scott Prudham, Shaun Shepherd, and Cheryl Misak answer students’ concerns over the white paper. government hopes these proposals will lead to discussions that will transform the postsecondary education sector.

To encourage a greater turnout, UTMSU promised a cash prize of $200 to the person who brought the most people to their “Emergency Education” town hall. They held it in

the wake of UTSU’s own town hall the night before. It took place last Wednesday afternoon in one of the Instructional Centre’s main auditoriums, with about 40 people in attendance.

Caitlin Smith of the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario, an interest group of which more than 80 univer-

sity and college student unions across Canada are members, moderated the town hall. Smith made it clear that the purpose of these town halls is to hear students’ feedback.

Christopher Thompson, the president of UTMSU, and Linda Kohn, a U of T Faculty of Association (UTFA)

executive and UTM biology professor, led the discussion, and encouraged students to make their voices heard.

Kohn mentioned the lack of attention given to research, one of U of T’s specialties. “The white paper doesn’t even mention research,” Kohn said.

“This research aspect of your education should be recognized by the province. They see us as a K–12.”

The concerns brought up by students included the three-year degree proposal; one student was of the opinion that the quality of education would decrease. Another concern was year-round classes, which, it was argued, would impede students’ ability to work during the summer to afford their tuition.

UTSU’s own “Emergency Education” town hall, which about 100 students attended, featured a discussion led by Cheryl Misak, the provost of U of T, Shaun Shepherd, the president of UTSU, and Scott Prudham, the president of UTFA. The discussion was moderated by Munib Sajjad, UTSU’s VP university affairs and academics.

Education continued on page 2

UTM community runs for a cure Lily Bowman A mass of pink-clad people congregated at UTM on Sunday to start another year’s run (or walk, for some) for a cure for breast cancer. Students ran alongside faculty, administration, and residents of Mississauga, all sharing one goal: to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

The CIBC-funded Run for the Cure gives many people a way to support or commemorate friends and family members who suffer from the illness. The run is in its 26th year of providing a way for people to connect and to contribute to the development of earlier detection methods and better treatment. With 23,500 Canadians diagnosed last year alone, it is impossible to ignore the impact of breast cancer. Currently, the fiveyear survival rate for Canadian women is at 88%, and the mortality rate has fallen by 35% since 1986.

Last year, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation reported that the Canadawide event engaged more than 170,000

Search for a president A search is underway for a successor to David Naylor.

Medium News, page 3

Online community?

The province suggests that moving to a focus on online courses would promote innovation and community.

Medium Opinion, page 4

Culture Days daze Essra MOstafa/The medium

Runners at UTM for the CIBC Run for the Cure start at the start line in front of Davis Building. volunteers and raised over $30 million for cancer research. In past years, UTM’s Undergraduate Commerce Society has ranked in the top 10 fundraisers and top five university teams. Their goal for this year is to raise $6,000.

Everyone has their own answer to the Foundation’s question: “Who are you running for?” Many runners are or have been personally affected by breast can-

cer. Others, like Julia Huynh, a secondyear art and art history student who ran for the first time this year, participate not for themselves but in support of those who have been affected.

Many students on campus are involved, like Julia, just “to support a great cause” and, since it’s held on our campus, to join other U of T students sharing a common goal.

“[I hope to] have the largest team at the run this year, composed of students, faculty, admin, and everyone else interested,” said Yasmine Youssef, UTMSU’s VP equity.

The run is not about competition or having a lightning-fast finish time, but sharing experiences, supporting each other, and lending hope to the fight against cancer.

The kickoff event at Celebration Square was a hit.

Medium A&E, page 6

Introverts in school Should everyone really have to speak up to succeed in class?

Medium Features, page 8

Blues’ second football win Quarterback Simon Nassar leads team to 40–26 victory over Waterloo.

Medium Sports, page 12

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM

10.01.2012

Learning outside lecture halls Organizations congregated at the RAWC to offer opportunities to students to volunteer, intern, work, and research Mudeeha Yousaf Students packed the RAWC last Wednesday for the annual Get Experience Fair, an event to inform students about prospective career fields and opportunities.

This year 886 students attended the fair, which was a little lower than last year’s turnout. Forty-seven organizations and programs attended the fair to offer brochures and chat with students.

“We’re very happy with how the fair went yesterday. It’s such a great opportunity for students to get out and learn about transferable skills, and to connect with possible organizations and programs where they can develop these skills. This fair is mutually beneficial as well,” said Michelle Atkinson, the coordinator of event and employment services at UTM’s Career Centre. “Most of the organizations are not-for-profits in the community, and it gives them the opportunity to connect with our engaged students. In speaking with the reps yesterday, the general consensus was that even one or two committed volunteers makes a great impact on an organization—and

Ayman Khan/The Medium

Representatives from different organizations speak to UTM students at the Get Experience Fair. we have a really great bunch of students here at UTM!” Some of the booths that filled the RAWC were Peel Children’s Aid, Employment Services, UTMSU, Employment Ontario, the Experiential Edu-

Town halls held for discussion on education Education continued from Cover Murray had been invited to the event and had confirmed his attendance, but it was withdrawn the night before the town hall after Murray’s office discovered that he would not be allowed to speak during the town hall.

Many students expressed their regret that the minister was not present, calling his absence “unfortunate” and “disappointing”.

“Let me, first off, say that it’s really heartening to see the student government and the faculty association and the administration—although I must confess to loathing that word—can come together so beautifully, really, on a unified front,” Misak said. She talked about what she thinks are the fundamentals of the paper and how she thought they were “not good ideas”. Misak said that U of T will consider the proposals in the discussion paper and ensure that the quality of a U of T degree is not compromised.

Misak also talked about the threeyear degree and said it will not help students trying to apply to graduate programs outside of Ontario, because it would not have the same merit as three-year degrees elsewhere, such as in the UK. “When you graduate with a fouryear degree from the University of Toronto, that means something to the world,” said Misak. “That’s a passport to fantastic graduate and professional programs around the world.”

The good side to the three-year degrees is that for people who know what they want to do, they will be able to pursue a full 20-credit “threeyear fast-track degree” at U of T (an option currently in development), which will be easier to earn than the proposed alternative—a four-year degree compressed into three years— would be.

Another issue Misak brought up was the “easy and unproblematic transfer” between all Ontario institutions, which Misak says will not work because institutions are not alike.

Dropout rates are high when universities allow these transfers so easily.

She said that sometime next week, it will be announced that we will have credit transfer consortiums to make it easier for students to take courses at other similar institutions whose credits have been deemed transferable.

The third thing Misak brought up was the number of online courses proposed in the discussion paper.

“You chose the University of Toronto, so you’re in labs and in lectures with the best people in the world, and we’re not going to require you to take one third of your courses online,” Misak said.

Misak conceded that if a student has a scheduling conflict and can’t take a certain course, but finds a quality course online with faculty-student interaction, the university “should make that available to [them]”.

Prudham said that the government should safeguard academic freedom, an issue not mentioned in the paper.

Students and faculty took turns criticizing the discussion paper after the opening remarks by Misak, Prudham, and Shepherd.

A few students said they agreed with Misak’s views. One student pointed out that U of T is a unique institution, and said that while the proposals in the paper might work for other universities in the province, they wouldn’t work for the U of T and need to be “massaged out” for us because “not all universities are created equal”.

Another student’s question, directed at the absent Murray, was about U of T’s role in this discussion paper.

The student said it doesn’t seem to be represented at all.

cation Office, Distress Centre Peel, and more. These organizations offered opportunities for volunteering, internships, summer abroad programs, camp positions, work-study jobs, oncampus positions, and research expe-

rience that caters to each individual’s level of participation and the kind of careers they would like to pursue. “[The fair] offers students various positions in paid and unpaid work so they can gain experience and gain

skills they can use after university,” said Manreet Sandhu, a career assistant.

The event ran smoothly. It not only offered opportunities to meet with potential employers, but made students aware of the kinds of skills employers desire. Helpful signs sat on each table showing students the kinds of abilities they would learn from each position. Billboards lined the walls, advertisign paid opportunities and listing the numbers of employers of the organizations.

“There’s more volunteer positions and not enough paid positions for graduating students,” commented fourth-year commerce student Anni Huang. “I liked the UTM booths set up, but outside booths weren’t that helpful to me.”

Besides the current UTM students, the fair was attended by recent graduates trying to find paid opportunities or internships they could acquire with their degrees.

“I’m a recent grad, and there seems to be a fair amount of opportunities for me, by the looks of these organizations,” says Sunil Singh, who graduated from UTM two years ago.

Low turnout at town hall

Academic Planning town hall failed to attract student attention

Junaid imran/THe Medium

Only four students, of which two were staff of The Medium, attended the town hall last Friday.

Bailey Green Amy Mullin, UTM’s vice-principal, academic and dean, held a town hall last Friday in the Faculty Club to discuss the UTM Academic Divisional Plan, a detailed outline of the vision for the future of UTM. The plan was compiled through feedback from departments, institutions, faculty, and students, and dealt with a wide range of issues facing UTM. It was intended to focus on the core values that make U of T an internationally renowned institution. The August draft of this document has been available for over a month now to the UTM community, and some town hall meetings have been held since then to establish a dialogue between staff and students and to gather students’ opinions on the plan itself.

A total of four students attended the meeting, including Andrew Ursel and two staff members of The Me-

dium. Mullin sat down at the table to address questions about the Academic Plan and issues that have been raised over the past year, such as potential changes to how writing skills will be taught at UTM. She also discussed the steps being taken by the vice-dean to better inform the student body about the Academic Code of Conduct and what constitutes an academic offence, with a focus on prevention.

Mullin was asked about the plan’s measures for improving students’ writing skills. “The approach I favour is the ‘writing for the disciplines’ approach,” she replied. “That is to say that instead of a mandatory, expository writing course that students have to take, we should instead invest more writing skills in courses students want to take already, where they can learn academic writing for their discipline.”

On the one hand, this method would put the responsibility on the professors in each department to

teach content-specific writing skills.

On the other hand, it would provide students with more specialized writing skills for their industry.

Other topics discussed were the changes to the Work-Study program (which is no longer funded by the government), the integration of experiential learning in different departments, the hiring of new faculty, and the reworking of the utmONE program.

Mullin encouraged students to read the Academic Plan, which can be found by searching “divisional plan” on UTM’s website, and emphatically requested feedback.

“I just think it’s important if students are unhappy with some of the ideas they should make their views known, just as if they are happy with them,” she concluded. “We just think it’s important to recognize the distinctiveness of what we are here at U of T.”

THE MEDIUM NEWS

Queer orientation wraps up Alexander Tkachuk UTM’s Queer Orientation continued last week and ended on Wednesday night with the annual “Night Crawl”.

Throughout the two-week-long LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer) frosh event, both attendance and spirits were high.

The second week of events began when OUT@UTM officially unveiled their new clubroom on the second floor of the Student Centre and announced their office hours for the year. The room is small but cozy, and its walls are covered with LGBTQ posters both campy and chic. The week continued on Tuesday with a retro gaming night.

The retro gaming night was the first

collaboration ever between OUT@ UTM and the Erindale Gaming Organization, and it had a large turnout from both clubs. Students played classic Nintendo games and board games in the Student Centre almost until midnight.

Around the end of the night, club executives announced that because of the success of the event, the two clubs were planning to arrange a similar event every month.

Queer Orientation wound down on Wednesday, which began with an active dialogue. Queer and ally students shared stories and discussed LGBTQ issues associated with student and campus life. The topics included homophobia and transphobia on campus, coming out, and the problems and benefits of

safe spaces as they currently exist.

The last event held on campus was the Night Crawl. UTM students waited until after dark, and then wandered through the nature trails behind the campus with only flashlights and glow sticks to guide them. Laughing and smiling, they stumbled over logs and tree roots until they reached the gazebo in Erindale Park.

The gazebo had been decorated with rainbow flags and streamers and was lit up by dozens of tea candles set in mason jars, which gave the night a quaint 19thcentury feeling. Students talked by the gazebo and roasted marshmallows, then slowly dispersed.

The year’s first OUT@UTM events were a great success. The club has many plans for the coming year.

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»Did you vote in the ECC Elections?

Diane Vitorino First-year, life sciences

Nikita Caines First-year, criminology

No, I didn’t vote. I just turned 18.

No, because I don’t even know what that is.

Daniella Fabiano First-year, psychology

Scott Johnston First-year, social studies

No, because I didn’t even know about it.

No, I did not. I wasn’t aware of them. I’m brand-new to this school.

ECC fills student seats Sarah Elborno The unofficial results of the Erindale College Council election were posted online pending ratification.

ECC isthe highest governing body at UTM. Fifty full-time undergraduates and 14 part-time undergraduates, including executives from UTMSU, were elected to represent over 12,000 students.

This year, approximately 60 students ran for a position.

On Friday, September 21, UTMSU was informed that only 25 to 30 students had successfully been nominated to the

ECC. A concern was that people did not follow through in their promise to nominate individuals to the ECC. According to UTMSU, Deep Saini and Cindy Ferencz-Hammond offered to reopen the nominations period for the weekend until Monday to give more students a chance to be nominated.

“We agreed to the conditions on the basis that more student reps were better than few. And all students who really want in would follow through, because it was reopened as a first-come, first-served basis until the 50 full-time number was reached,” said Christopher Thompson,

the president of UTMSU. The ECC includes 75 student seats: 50 full-time undergraduates, 14 part-time undergraduates (including the president of UTMSU), nine members of UTMSU’s Board of Directors, and the president of the Erindale Part-time Undergraduate Student Association.

During their one-year term, student representatives will vote on matters that affect UTM students, including financial and academic matters. The ECC makes recommendations on matters such as residence fees, parking fees, and academic policies, including the 1.0 drop credit.

Presidential search in the works About 10 people attended the presidential search town hall last Monday, along with 10 members of the Presidential Search Committee. The committee held the town hall to gather input and advice from students, faculty, staff, and alumni, which they will use to define the presidential role at U of T. In March, Richard B. Nunn, the chair of the Governing Council— the highest governing body of U of T—announced that the Governing Council’s Executive Committee had decided to extend the appointment of Naylor’s term as president to December 31. The university then issued a call for nominations for members of the search committee.

David Wilson, the chair of the committee and the former chair of the Business Board of the Govern-

ing Council, presided over the town hall. Accompanying him was Louis Charpentier, the secretary of the committee and the former secretary of the Governing Council, and other members of the committee, which is made up of alumni, full- and parttime undergraduate students, graduate students, and teaching staff.

Some of the committee members in attendance were Donald Ainslie (teaching staff), Maydianne Andrade (teaching staff), John Switzer (alumnus), and Jake Brockman (full-time undergraduate).

Some of the stakeholders from whom the committee is seeking feedback were faculty members (including Holger Syme, the chair of UTM’s English department), representatives from the Office of Advancement (including Andrew Stelmacovich, the executive director of advancement), Devin Kreuger (the director of UTM’s Office of the Vice-Principal

Research), Linda Kohn (a biology professor and a representative of the U of T Faculty Association), and Michael Meth (an economics librarian and the director of UTM’s Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre. No student stakeholders attended.

Kohn was the first to offer input.

She voiced her concern that the new president should be able to see UTM and UTSC as “vibrant, growing places with changing missions, changing demographics, and excellence”.

“I’ve been here long enough to know that the suburban campuses are not always treated with respect by the St. George faculty,” said Kohn.

“We want a president who will come out to see us and find out about us and start with an open mind about us.”

“There’s a big, strong need for community building,” said Meth.

“There needs to be one U of T.” He said he was sad to see that more of

the UTM community didn’t attend the town hall to provide input to the committee.

Meth also touched on U of T’s relationship with the provincial government when he brought up the discussion paper “Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge”, released by Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities.

When Brockman posed the question of whether the new president must be someone who has studied or worked at U of T, the consensus around the table was that “it doesn’t matter” so long as that person is the best person for the job.

When Wilson asked whether the best person to be the new president would be “someone from the academic community”, the group listened to Syme point out that it would be “difficult” if the new president were not a member of the academy,

as there are many “idiosyncrasies” involved. He said that it would be hard to bridge a division between the faculty and the leadership in such a case.

“Those of you who are academics across the table know how hard we are to deal with,” Syme joked.

“I think—as we said before—ultimately, we want the best candidate,” said Meth near the end of the discussion. “I think we want someone who has the ability to be a big-picture thinker, the ability to synthesize, understand the structure, [who] has the intellectual depth and also curiosity to work in a system that way.

“And if we can identify, or more importantly, if you can identify someone who fits that bill, then they just have to be a person who ideally fits the bill,” he added. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, [or] who they are. It doesn’t make a difference so far as I’m concerned.”

US military deaths in Afghanistan reach 2,000 after years of war

Omar Khadr leaves Guantanamo Bay’s detention centre

Mirvish and Gehry planning a huge mega-complex

Woman charged with stealing Sick Kids donation box, arrested

Justin Bieber vomits twice on stage in one show, keeps singing

The Afghan war has cost 2,000 US military deaths so far since it began on Oct. 7, 2001.

Besides the American deaths, at least 1,190 coalition troops from other countries have also died, according to iCasualties.org. The US plans to withdraw most of its combat forces by the end of 2014. A US official confirmed the latest death on Sunday.

Toronto-born Omar Khadr left Guantanamo Bay’s detention centre via US military aircraft and was transferred to Millhaven Institution’s assessment centre near Kingston three hours later. Corrections staff there will determine whether he should serve his sentence. The transfer came as a surprise to many, including Khadr.

David Mirvish, the king of Toronto theatre, and Frank Gehry, an internationally celebrated architect, are planning to transform Toronto’s Entertainment District with a new complex on King Street. The complex will give Toronto two new museums and is expected to take four to seven years to construct. Mirvish says it will involve tearing down the famous Princess of Wales theatre.

On Saturday, police arrested a 43-year-old Toronto woman who is accused of stealing a donation box from the Hospital for Sick Children. She faces one count of theft under $5,000 and one count of possession of cocaine. The box was taken from a UPS store last Wednesday evening. The woman will appear in court on Sunday.

Although he suffered symptoms of the stomach flu during the middle of his show, the teen idol from Stratford, Ontario continued to perform for his Believe tour. He ran off the stage twice for several minutes before returning, apologizing and promising an amazing show. He powered through the 20-song show and later tweeted that milk was the cause of the upset in his stomach.

Source:Yahoo

Source: The Globe and Mail

Source: TheToronto Star

Source: CBC News

Source: TheToronto Star

Larissa Ho news editor

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« 10.01.2012

Editor-in-Chief » Stefanie Marotta

Online courses: innovative or limiting?

Since last week’s round of emergency town halls at the St. George and Mississauga campuses, I’ve engaged in plenty of conversation surrounding the province’s discussion paper “Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge”. The document—released in June—provides suggestions for improving the quality of postsecondary education in Ontario while striking a balance between government and student interests.

According to the government of Ontario, this means changing the way the province invests in postsecondary education and the learning environment to which students are exposed.

Recognizing that the paper is meant to encourage discussion and not implement actual policy (yet), I’d like to point out the most concerning suggestion in the paper—and by “most concerning”, I mean the one most likely to occur and develop regardless of policy changes from the government.

The paper states, “Efficiency-focused strategies to contain costs can

reduce the capacity of critical services and may not always deliver sustainable operational savings. […] These challenges can potentially be addressed in the medium and long term by adopting innovation in the sector to drive productivity.”

That’s a lot of fancy talk to say that the government needs to cut back on spending and that it can be done by enrolling more students in online courses. Ridding “redundancies” such as lecture halls and office hours will assist the government in its plan to introduce austerity measures to reduce the large provincial deficit.

While I’m all for spending money wisely and making information more accessible to people via the Internet, I don’t think that online courses are the answer, especially for maintaining the quality of education.

I sit in a classroom with my peers as the information is presented and discussed. I am exposed to a creative and innovative community that teaches me not only how to critically analyze read-

ings and effectively write essays, but to absorb verbal information quickly and voice my own opinions, questions, and concerns to a large group of people.

The university has already introduced more online courses, as have Ivy League in the United States. Online courses provide people with the opportunity to learn about topics they otherwise would not have been exposed to due to geographical or financial barriers. My concern is that this secondary aspect of a university education will grow until most students are enrolled online and bound to their computer screens. I hope that my children will have the opportunity to engage with their professors and fellow students the way I have. In my opinion, this person-to-person intellectual interaction has been the most effective and beneficial part of my university education.

Yours, Stefanie Marotta

Politicians don’t care about students Dear Editor, Austerity, deficit reduction, reining in of spending, all echo through the media and political spheres. Hold on a second before you turn the page; this has to do with you. Want a more affordable education? That’s what I thought, so listen up. Students want a high-quality education that they can put toward gaining the career they want without being crushed by the burden of student debt.

Every year campaigns are initiated by student unions and organizations calling for a decrease in tuition costs. This is a noble idea, but is it anything more than that?

Regardless of the strong pushes made to lower tuition, the cost of attending university continues to peak year after year. Despite the catchy slogans and the loud chants, things are not changing. The notion of students campaigning for lower tuition rates functions in

a bubble. If students want to get noticed and listened to by the government, they must vote. The youth demographic consistently has the lowest voter turnout compared to other age groups. Politicians look at who votes for them and cater to their needs. Wonder why seniors and retirees are often at the forefront of debate and policy decisions? They vote.

Some years, the government is in a better position to offer increases in funding. Currently, the government of Ontario has more debt per capita than the government of Canada. The good thing is that the government is taking measures to control spending and get back to a balanced budget. In situations of poor provincial economic health, the government is unlikely to increase funding. On the other hand, in situations of good provincial economic health, the government is more likely to increase funding (and often does), because there is room to spend more

without tipping the budget or taking a toll on the economy.

When the government is in a better position to offer more, students should lobby for more. When the government is in a situation where spending is restricted, students should lobby less. Establishing a mutual understanding between government and student groups is essential in formulating a strong relationship if we want to see incremental decreases in tuition. Student unions and organizations should never completely stop lobbying, because the student voice is essential to have at the table. But we need to adjust our efforts according to how much the government can really offer and be realistic when we campaign for lower tuition. By taking this approach, we can transform the idea of “drop fees” into action and results.

Stan Fedun Fourth-year, political science

Stifling dialogue Thoughts from the president of U of T Liberals Dear Editor, You’d think it would go without saying, but a discussion paper is necessarily designed to provoke discussion.

But in response to a discussion paper released by the bureaucrats at the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, the University of Toronto Students’ Union did what it always does. They cried, “Apocalypse now.”

And then they spread hyperbolic misinformation. It was an “emergency”—if only in the minds of UTSU. Apparently, the Ministry didn’t want to hear from students. Shaun Shepherd, the UTSU president who seems to think the truth is a contagion, wrote in The Varsity, “They’re not interested in your opinion about it.”

I’m not going to mince words: that claim is a lie. This is a discussion paper.

It is designed to elicit feedback. It is not government policy; it is a series of suggestions stakeholders are encouraged to react to through submissions to Ministry bureaucrats.

But someone wanted to stifle dialogue. It was UTSU! After inviting minister Glen Murray to speak at their town hall, they then decided to silence discussion. At the last minute, Murray was told he could still come but that he couldn’t speak. You can’t have a dialogue if one participant isn’t allowed to speak.

In a callous twist, the UTSU executives budgeted around 10 minutes for a campy “icebreaker” exercise, time the minister could have used to outline his plans to the nearly 100 U of T students and faculty assembled on the St. George campus.

What the discussion paper proposes is a variety of means to find innovation and a balance between efficiency and quality in the postsecondary education

system. It suggests more online courses, a return to three-year degrees in more universities, and more classes in the summer.

It recalls investments the government continues to make in postsecondary education, even during a period of worldwide austerity, including a 30%off tuition grant to some 200,000 modest- and middle-income undergraduate students, and capping OSAP debt.

I critiqued the paper in U of T Magazine. I don’t think it’s a paper designed for U of T; we are unique, the best school in the country. This paper is not written with research universities in mind but rather for students hoping to get accreditation for the job market.

Fortunately, at their “emergency” town hall, UTSU had the good sense to invite U of T’s provost Cheryl Misak to speak. She struck a thoughtful balance, reacting to the proposals the paper suggests, noting, “This paper contains some pretty bad proposals for undergraduate education” at U of T “but, in each of these proposals, there is a good side.” She then outlined how U of T could sensibly react if—and it’s important to stress the word “if ”—any of the paper’s suggestions are implemented.

Thanks to Misak and the assembled students and faculty, a thoughtful discussion occurred—despite UTSU’s cynical attempts to do what they always do.

Hopefully UTSU learns from this exercise that thoughtfulness, sobriety, and reason are preferable to hyperbole, mischaracterisation, and cynical disrespect of government officials.

You can submit your own comments about the discussion paper to psesubmissions@ontario.ca.

Jonathan Scott President, U of T Liberals

HAVE AN OPINION? GET PUBLISHED. editor@mediumutm.ca

10.01.2012

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Editor » Colleen Munro

Night of art and discovery in downtown TO Crowds descend on Toronto for the seventh annual Nuit Blanche art festival ARISTOTLE ELIOPOULOS ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR Art lovers and citizens of Toronto alike came out to enjoy the seventh annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche on Saturday night. The festival, which runs from sunset to sunrise each year, provides an outlet for Toronto artists to display their pieces throughout the city.

We started our night in Parkdale and worked our way down Queen Street to explore some of the night’s independent projects. This included many smaller exhibitions in the Gladstone Hotel, such as “Fly by Night: Into the Wild”, a collection of artists and pieces with many diverse styles.

Many of the pieces in the hotel featured a futuristic tinge for the night, including “a WIRED vision”

by Alex Grguric, which combined old print media and magazine covers with LCD monitors and speakers, and the impressive “#embodiment” by Maria Galaxidas, an interactive sculpture of a cyborg brain covered in red, green, blue, and yellow LED lights.

Continuing down Queen, one memorable piece in the window of the Knit Café was “She Come Undone”. It was a giant knitted matryoshka doll that participants unravelled throughout the night to reveal another smaller doll under each layer until nothing remained. The destruction of the art piece became the main attraction, leaving only a memory the original doll in the photographs and videos of pass-

JENNIFER DO/THE MEDIUM

Toronto was illuminated by many lights-based exhibitions for Saturday night’s Nuit Blanche. ersby throughout the night.

As we moved towards the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, which featured a waterfall of tied fabric on the outside, more artists with different visions appeared.

Jamelie Hassan’s “At the Far Edge of Words” featured art from her various collections, including pieces inspired by the poet Mahmoud Darwis, featuring handwritten Arabic manuscripts decorated with

modern neon symbols.

Yonge and Dundas became a place for many to meet up and explore what the night had to offer. The Eaton Centre stayed open to display some bigger pieces descending from the mall’s ceilings, such as “Slipstream” by United Visual Artists, which had stainless steel prisms shifting and scattering light from the inside.

Light-based installations domi-

nated the evening, with many artists displaying creative pieces of work that illuminated the darkening city. Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky’s “All Night Convenience”, a tent set up as a tiny convenience store filled with lit-up containers, bottles, and fake canned products, drew a large line.

The mock store was anything but convenient, requiring a wait of up to an hour to get in, but those who

did get in got to take home a glowing piece of the store.

Other light installations included a giant Space Invaders-inspired light piece outside the St Andrew subway station, featuring the classic neon-green aliens from the video game.

Many people came out to enjoy the spectacles. Summer Jones, a resident of Toronto and a veteran of Nuit Blanche who has attended the event four years in a row, offered her advice for taking in the various art exhibitions. “Sometimes there’s no right way to plan your Nuit Blanche experience,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of meandering through the streets and seeing what intrigues you visually.”

With its many different types of art media, Nuit Blanche transformed Saturday night and the city into something outside of and beyond the usual. It was a great chance to meet up with friends from around the city, and downtown Toronto provided a visual backdrop that stimulated the senses. The festival was attended by serious art lovers, people of doubtful sobriety, and everyone in between, but the participants came together around the pieces and lit up the night. A light drizzle of rain throughout the evening added to the mood.

The night also provided exposure to many artists who were not officially part of the festival but who still wanted to showcase their art to passersby.

Is the banjo making a move to the mainstream?

Chart-topping English folk rockers Mumford & Sons return with their sophomore album NIVEEN FULCHER Mumford & Sons were quietly introduced to the music industry in 2008, but they soon rose to fame with the release of their debut album, Sigh No More, in 2009. After a three-year wait, it’s about time for a new album. On September 24, their new album, Babel, was finally released.

On Babel, it’s evident that the band’s unique banjo-heavy, enlightening style is still intact. For those that haven’t yet been sucked into the British group’s style, all it will take is a few good listens to be hooked on the heart-wrenching lyrics and smooth instrumentation. With so much of today’s music consisting of dance-pop, rap, and the never-ending adult contemporary, Mumford & Sons is one of the few originalsounding indie folk bands that have made it into the mainstream.

Their new album will likely satisfy their old fans and enthrall newcomers with its beautiful, jaunty folk tunes. Sigh No More had a few big hits, like “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave”, which both made it onto Billboard Hot 100 and achieved success in other parts of the world. Mumford & Sons further impressed the alternative music world when they were invited to the White House by British prime minister David Cameron to play for him, Barack Obama, and many other celebrities at the state dinner in June. With these accomplishments under their belt, it won’t be a surprise if this group of four talented men, all of whom contribute to the band’s unique sound, have at least one of Babel’s singles on the charts.

The lyrics sound as though the guys were sitting around a campfire and decided to write exactly what was on their minds, turning their

thoughts into picturesque stories that hold the listener’s attention.

With a raw but profound ambience, Babel is the kind of album that will be listened to on both good days and bad.

Mumford & Sons is one of the few bands that can switch from one extreme to the other and make it sound effortless. The songs “I Will Wait” and “Holland Road” are perfect examples of this ability, and are also two of Babel’s strongest tracks.

“I Will Wait” has the upbeat folk character the band is known for, the one that makes you want to get up and dance for joy, while “Holland Road” brings you back down to earth with depth and beauty.

With so much electronic and synthesized music around these days, it’s reassuring that there is still raw, unedited talent in the world. Babel will likely be known as an example of exactly that. MMMM½

MUMFORDANDSONS.COM/PHOTO

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«ARTS THE MEDIUM 10.01.2012

Homegrown culture gets the spotlight Mississauga takes part in national Culture Days weekend with DJs, art displays, and award ceremonies SUKHWANT GILL Mississauga Culture Days took place this past Friday with a plethora of activities for everyone in the community, including a variety of DJ sets in Celebration Square, an interactive digital experience commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Civic Centre, and the presentation of the Mississauga Urban Design awards.

Culture Days is a weekend-long, nationwide volunteer movement to engage Canadians more in their communities’ arts and culture. Mississauga’s Culture Days gave a free, in-depth look at the work of a variety of artists, heritage workers, and different cultural organizations.

Celebration Square was buzzing on Friday evening, when the event began with an audio-video disco party. Simon Jain, the FranDiscos, Kill Them with Colour, Gray Moonen, and the Kwikfiks took turns filling the square with musical entertainment. They were accompanied by a video show on the big screens, which included live video of the events happening all over the Civic Centre.

Despite the fantastic sets, the crowd was very reluctant to begin dancing. However, as the sun began to fade, the atmosphere was appar-

ESSRA MOSTAFA/THE MEDIUM

DJs got the crowd moving at Celebration Square’s Culture Days kick-off on Friday night. ently right for some of the younger people, including 15-year-old St. Francis Xavier student David Philip. He livened up the evening with an impromptu breakdancing performance, which drew quite a crowd.

“Different cultures are great,” said Phillip afterwards. “You get to try new things, meet new people. And if you go out of your way to try these things, it can be pretty awesome.”

Later on, Mayor Hazel McCallion thrilled the crowd when she got on stage to try her hand at DJing.

The music was not the only entertainment the crowd got to expe-

rience. There was also a live digital media performance by Faisal Anwar, which looks back on the 25year history of the Civic Centre. His project, entitled “/Titra”, included an interactive experience on tablets that allowed people in the community to experience and interact with the history of the Civic Centre.

Youth from the Dixie Neighborhood Centre walked through the crowd with the tablets to allow the piece to reach as many people as possible. “/Titra is a project that I’ve been working on for about a year now, and this is one component of it,”

Judge Dredd comes back for another round Blood and guts take precedence in eye-popping Dredd adaptation

Karl Urban makes a run for it in Dredd 3D. JAIME POKHOY Based on the popular Judge Dredd comic book series, Dredd 3D successfully captures the essence of the dystopian and futuristic Mega-City One setting, while adding a grittier and bleaker feel than the original.

Dredd 3D skips the lengthy backstory of many similar film adaptations of books; instead, Karl Urban revs right onto the screen as Judge Dredd, sporting a frown and speaking in a voice reminiscent of the Dark Knight’s.

The plot of the movie is simple; in fact, it’s contained within a single mega-structure, which at times has the audience begging for air—or at least a change of scenery. Dredd (Urban) and his new rookie Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) are “judges”—the only line of defence against crime, capable of delivering immediate judgment and, if need be, execution. And, yes, most of the judgments end in bullet-riddled corpses and pools of blood.

The unlikely duo is called into a

gang-infested mega-structure to investigate a recent homicide and deliver judgment throughout the hallways of the slum’s 200-storey high-rise.

Once in, they are trapped by the disfigured Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), a ruthless gang leader who harvests large amounts of a new drug called “Slo-Mo” (yes, its name really does say it all). From that point on, the movie is a blur of bullets, psychedelic special effects, predictable twists, and dreddful one-liners.

Urban’s acting is heavily restricted by the bulky suit and helmet, which never comes off. The bit of face shown doesn’t help much either, because it’s a plastered-on frown that rarely moves. However, his boulder-like persona is a perfect fit for the comic book hero. Thirlby’s pretty face is visible throughout the movie, a glimmer of innocence amid the seemingly endless drugs and blood.

The action is similar to any other shoot-’em-up film, although the futuristic equipment, high body count,

DREDDTHEMOVIE.COM/PHOTO

and special effects make it worth the time of the most bloodthirsty moviegoers. Despite the film’s title including the word “3D”, the film doesn’t warrant the extra price hike, since there are only a few splashes of 3D throughout the 95 minutes of killing. However, the special effects used to portray the haziness of Slo-Mo are stellar. Director Peter Travis does a great job of incorporating these stunning visuals into the brutal carnage of the action scenes. A few of Urban’s one-liners provided a small number of chuckles, but the weak script and acting get the audience through the movie without evoking much emotion or thought.

Dredd 3D is a successful, muchneeded redemption of the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone, which was considered to be a big-budget, star-studded parody of the popular comic book. In the end, if you are looking for a simple, one-dimensional plot with an abundance of threedimensional killing, this is the movie to watch. MMM

Anwar explained. “It basically looks into the whole notion of how in the past we looked at time travel, and what that means to the present. I think it’s happening now because the data, video, and information is moving so fast that technology is providing us with the feeling that we are travelling in time. What I’m doing for the 25th anniversary celebration is creating an interactive experience on iPads. It’s sort of looking back 25 years, while also focussing on the present and the future.”

The Civic Centre presented the Mississauga Urban Design awards at

the same time. This was followed by a reception featuring music by Rob Tardik, a local favourite and a frequent performer at cultural events in Mississauga.

“They provide a lot of opportunities for me to perform and to showcase my particular art,” reflected Tardik. “It’s very important; these events are a part of the lifeblood of any city to bring people together. It’s a community bond that brings people of all cultures together. It helps to bring people out and let them see things from art to architecture to dance and music. I’m glad to be part of it, and it’s an honour for me to perform at these events.”

The event in the Civic Centre was finished with a cake-cutting ceremony. As the evening wound down, people gathered to listen to the jazz performance by Tardik, who was accompanied by pianist Davor Jordanovski.

Some of the crowd were architects who had received awards, others were local politicians, and there were many regular citizens just enjoying an eventful evening provided by the city. Above all, they were members of a community so diverse and yet so close that it’s second nature to come together and experience our local art and culture together.

Live review: Ben Howard SONIA DHALIWAL On September 24, singer-songwriter Ben Howard thrilled a packed crowd at Toronto’s Sound Academy.

Howard, who was raised in Totnes, a market town in the county of Devon, England, released his first album, Every Kingdom, in October of last year.

His music is identified variously as folk, folk rock, alternative, acoustic, and indie. In reality, he is an underthe-radar triple threat.

First, Howard’s voice is a spectacle in itself, rumbling across a shockingly wide range of vocal registers.

He also plays the guitar with incredible expertise, employing complicated fretwork, colourful riffs, and sporadic drumming on its body to produce the characteristic sound he has become known for. His lyrics tell tales of good times with friends and love in its most elemental form, perfectly complementing the acoustics of his tracks.

The crowd at the Sound Academy was made up of music lovers of all stripes, reflecting the mosaic of influences present in Howard’s music.

I heard more than one UK accent in the crowd as I pushed my way closer to the front.

Howard opened the show with a new song. Throughout the concert, he played more untitled tracks, presumably from his upcoming album. They all shared a sound distinguishably different from that of Every Kingdom: heavier in bass and slower-paced, enveloping the audience in a warm blanket.

His set flowed beautifully, gearing up with “Diamonds” and “Old Pine”, followed by a swift transition into “Only Love”, a softer, delicate ballad.

Howard got the crowd oohing to “The Wolves”, punctuated by his signature fast-paced strumming, and finished

with his uplifting single “Keep Your Head Up”.

Howard is an intriguing performer, if you could even call him that. The concert felt more like a cozy jam session than the huge show it was. Howard was engrossed in the music, often turning away from the audience to strum vigorously, and squeezing his eyes shut at intimate moments.

But his expertise was inspiring. In the middle of one track, his guitar strap snapped, but I almost didn’t notice, because he played it off without even a minor interruption of the song.

Howard’s bandmates, India Bourne and Chris Bond, complemented his performance, singing backup in addition to their instrumental accompaniment. Bourne gave off an Emily Haines-esque vibe, her eyes hidden by chopped bangs as she swayed rhythmically on the bass. She also played cello, keys, and percussion throughout the set. Bond was a quieter presence on stage, but nonetheless an incredible talent. He is best known for playing percussion and electric guitar simultaneously.

The close-knit connection between Howard, Bourne, and Bond added an element to their music that I’d never heard before the concert. At the height of the encore performance of “The Fear”, Bourne and Howard formed a circle around Bond at the drums. Howard hunched passionately over his guitar, strumming with incredible stamina as Bourne jumped, beaming so brightly it could be seen from the back of the hall. Howard took his hand off the fretboard for a split second to slam the crash cymbal before closing the song.

“Thanks for coming to the docklands of Toronto,” Howard saluted his audience before leaving the stage.

YOUR HEALTH & DENTAL

PLAN BENEFITS For more info please contact your students’ union: U.T.S.U. Health & Dental Plan Office 12 Hart House Circle health@utsu.ca

THE U.T.S.U. OFFERS TWO INSURANCE PLANS An extended health plan; and a dental plan. Students who have comparable health coverage may optout of the health plan while any student may opt-out of the dental plan. Students are required to opt-out on an annual basis.

Students may enroll their spouse (including a common law or same sex partner) and/or children to both the health plan and the dental plan for an additional fee.

GET MORE INFO ONLINE Visit utsu.ca/health for benefits information.

Once your account is activitated, register at greenshield.ca/ studentcentre to get personalized claims forms, claims history, to print your Green Shield ID card and to get discounts on dental and vision with exclusive Discount Networks.

WHO IS ENROLLED?

All full-time undergraduate, professional faculty and theology students at St. George or Mississauga are automatically enrolled in the U.T.S.U. extended health and dental plans.

Plan members who are first year students or returning from a leave of absence are covered starting September 1, 2012. Although coverage is effective from September 1, new plan members will not be able to receive reimbursements until their accounts are activated by the end of November.

Provider info: 1-888-711-1119 greenshield.ca/ studentcentre

OPT-IN & OPT-OUT DATES

Students starting in September: Aug. 27 to Oct. 5, 2012 Students starting in January: Jan. 7 to Feb 1, 2013 OPT-OUT ONLINE AT STUDENTPLANS.CA/UTSU ENROL BY VISITING HEALTH@UTSU.CA

YOUR INSURANCE PROVIDER IS GREEN SHIELD. YOUR GREEN SHIELD ID IS:

SAC (U of T ID#) - 00 i.e. SAC 999999999-00

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« 10.01.2012

Editor » Carine Abouseif

To the kid sitting in the back...

Does course design take the extroversion/introversion continuum into account?

How does group-oriented course design affect those who thrive on inward reflection and shrink from interaction?

JILLIAN LIM “In our society, to admit that you’re an introvert is almost to admit that you’re weak,” confesses Aristotle Eliopoulos, a fifth-year sociology student. “It’s not necessarily fair, but that’s life.”

The stigma to calling oneself an introvert is uncomfortably real. Frosh events, class participation, and competitive job markets routinely encourage us to speak up, come out of our shells, and let loose. At parties and networking events, our success relies heavily on how actively we engage with others. The bolder and the louder, the better. If you can’t work a room, read How to Win Friends and Influence People. According to the book, “extroverts”—people who crave social stimulation—succeed by definition. And by implication, “introverts”—or people who work better by themselves—struggle.

But what if I prefer reading to talking and quiet rooms to large crowds? What if I like spending time alone? I feel compelled to ask myself: Should I change?

In her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talk-

ing, Susan Cain emphatically answers, “No.” Cain, a former Wall Street lawyer, draws on personal experience, scientific research, and stories from the lives of other introverts to fight common misconceptions about introversion. Introverts are not necessarily shy, she says; they just work better in quieter environments. Nor are they simply quiet; they often have something to say.

They are not antisocial; they just feel more stimulated in low-key or quiet environments. And most importantly, introverts—who make up something between one third third and half of the population—produce some of the most brilliant works of creativity without ever having had to change.

In a 2012 TED Talk, Cain reeled off a list of famous self-confessed introverts, including J.K. Rowling, Rosa Parks, Gandhi, and Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the first Apple computer. Cain even threw in Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Geisel worked in a solitary tower and feared that children would not like his reserved personality compared to the crazy characters

he created. “These people all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their body was telling them not to,” Cain says. But she believes they accomplished things because of their introversion, not in spite of it.

The stigma associated with introversion influenced Cain’s own career choice. “I became a Wall Street lawyer instead of the writer I wanted to be, partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could be bold and assertive,” she explains.

When she was a child at summer camp, counsellors forced Cain to cheer “Let’s be rowdy!” even though rowdy was far from how she felt. She wanted to read books instead. “I thought my quiet and introverted way of being was wrong,” Cain says. In a world so structured for extroverts, Cain asks an important and timely question: “Why are we making introverts feel so guilty for wanting to go off and be by themselves some of the time?”

In many programs on campus, group work remains essential. In the English program, students in the specialist stream must take seminar classes that

require solid class participation. In the professional writing and communications program, students take part in editing groups where they share their writing and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. And in the CCIT program, students regularly work in teams to produce videos and presentations.

Carmica Marcelo, a fourth-year CCIT major, knows that interaction is key in her program: the very nature of social media requires a certain degree of, or at least knowledge of, sociability.

The CCIT frosh transformed Marcelo from something of an introvert into a self-confessed extrovert. “I didn’t know many people when I came to school,” Marcelo explains. “At frosh, everyone tried to get me out of my shell. They created a comfortable environment and I really opened up.”

But is change really the only option? If introversion boils down to the uniquely different ways that our brains work, the way we’re built, should we change?

Guy Allen, the head of the professional writing and communications department, suggests that alternate

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

ways of connection and expression may exist. “The solid categories of introvert and extrovert seem problematic,” says Allen. “There can be different ways of being an ‘extrovert’ and expressing yourself. Writing, for instance, which is a means of communication in itself.”

In a world where introverts can find alternative, personal ways to succeed, the terms “introvert” and “extrovert” just don’t fit everyone. Perhaps once we redefine these words and scrub them of their bias or implications, or choose entirely new words that reflect a different way of seeing people, we can start seeing introversion as natural and valuable.

I, like many of my peers, am an introvert in a world that pushes me to change. I like books, privacy, and quiet conversations. Like Susan Cain at her summer camp, I used to feel that it was the wrong way to be. But Cain reminds us other introverts that these confessions do not make us weak. Extroversion is not the only good.

“Spend your free time the way you like,” Cain writes with urgency, “not the way you think you’re supposed to.”

The postsecondary gender gap Do female students feel the need to outperform their male peers?

ANDREEA MIHAI More and more women attend university at an undergraduate level today than ever before. For example, in UTM’s 2009/10 year, we had 6,137 girls enrolled, compared to 4,573 boys. These numbers may suggest that female students are trying harder both to get into an undergraduate program and to stay there.

In an informal poll of 10 female students at UTM, seven said they didn’t feel the need to work harder than men in university. They said they didn’t feel the need to prove themselves on the basis of their gender. One of the seven, Patricia

Cleigo, explained the reason for her answer. She feels that there is an equality among students, that “they are not criticized based on their gender or nationality, but on the quality of the work they submit and how they conduct themselves”. Another of the seven, Edna Bovas, believes that students are evaluated solely on their intellectual contributions.

And yet, of the seven students who said they felt no gender pressure at a university level, two said this was not the case in the workforce. And five of the 10 polled said there was still pressure to succeed in a male-dominated workforce. Three of the students felt the need to outperform their male counter-

parts at university in fields historically considered “proper to men”, such as science and engineering, to have an equal chance at employment in these fields.

One CCIT student said that in our culture, women still have to give up more if they want to pursue the same careers as men. The student believes that women who passionately pursue their careers are perceived as aggressive, whereas men who do the same are well-regarded and considered ambitious.

And nine out of the 10 said they felt a pressure to prove themselves smart in general.

Harsimer Singh, the events coordinator of the UTM Women’s Centre,

discussed the result of the cultural and ideological shift that took place several decades ago: it became socially acceptable for women to pursue postsecondary education instead of marriage after high school. Before this shift, female university students felt pressured to live up to their family’s expectations and prove themselves particularly worthy of the investment. The question is, do female students still feel this way?

Another student, Julianna Chianelli, raised the point of unequal pay in the workforce. In 2010, the Canadian Human Rights Commission released a report that stated that women working full-time made an average of only 72

cents for every dollar earned by men.

The report explained that one cause of the gap is the difference in the type of work men and women do. Nursing, sales, and clerical work were cited as examples of lower-paid positions typically held by women.

Chianelli also supposed that there are more female students in the humanities than in business and science. Since positions that require humanities degrees are generally lower-paid, Chianelli feels that, in a way, society is training women for lower-paid positions by valuing their skills less.

Gender gap continued page 9

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10.01.2012 THE MEDIUM FEATURES

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Work wins, sleep comes last Students tend to sacrifice sleep for anything and everything, even health

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

All-nighters often result from procrastination.

UROOJ ASHRAF “One down, two more to go!” cheers Elizabeth, a first-year UTM student.

She slams her laptop screen shut. Two seconds later, she realizes she needs to have a shot of caffeine to keep her up.

At 10 p.m., she trots to her kitchen, gulps down an entire can of Red Bull, and heads back to her laptop. The battle for survival continues.

Many UTM students believe their workload exceeds normal limits. They say it leaves no breathing room for a social life, or even for sleep. Whether that belief is justified or not, postsecondary education is always tough.

It requires you to manage your time efficiently. But whether it’s because we procrastinate, or because we legitimately don’t have time, many of us become anxious the night before a major assignment is due.

There are several explanations for procrastination. For some of us, the instant gratification that comes from doing something else—like surfing the Web, watching TV, or hanging out with friends—makes that something else feel more worthwhile than

a reward that only comes later, such as doing well on a test or assignment.

For others, it’s the fear of failure.

Whatever the reason for it, procrastinating hurts in the long run. While your grades could be improved by working harder or repeating a course, the damage done to your body can’t be so easily restored.

One of the most common results of procrastination is the infamous all-nighter. (Of course, some students who pull all-nighters aren’t procrastinating, but simply prefer night activities or accept night shifts at work.) In any case, making a habit of staying up all night disrupts the body’s biological clock. According to surveys conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29% of US adults get less than seven hours of sleep per night. Not only that, the surveys also revealed that 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder.

In 2011, a team of scientists in Japan studied a group of workers who been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (also known as “adult-onset diabetes”). These workers had also cut

down on their sleep to work night shifts. The study found that workers who slept under five hours a night were six times more likely to develop diabetes than those who slept for more than seven hours a night.

Students’ thinking has changed. Instead of considering sleep a major part of our daily lives, we disregard its importance, thinking of it as something that can be sacrificed to get done what needs to be done. Some even consider it a waste of time; they think the less they sleep, the more they’ll get done.

But we forget that skipping a night’s sleep has an effect on the rest of the week.

Our bodies are programmed to begin work when the sun rises and to slow down as the sun sets. At night, our metabolism slows and glucose molecules build up in our bloodstreams. In the fight to stay awake, we chug caffeine. The sugar that builds up in that time not only works against your hour at the gym, it’s also what led to the development of type 2 diabetes in the study. Among the Japanese workers, 91% of those who developed diabetes had no family history of it.

The same study also linked two other sleep-relatd behaviours to diabetes: poor quality of sleep and sleeping more than 10 hours.

A 1999 study found that 40% of people who slept only five to six hours a night saw a decrease in their glucose tolerance. Impaired glucose tolerance is a bodily state that usually precedes diabetes. Another study showed that during sleep, the body’s hormones fluctuate and trigger changes in its neurophysiologic chemical signals, which are messages that disrupt the body’s nervous system. For example, the pituitary gland releases hormones that help produce glucose molecules, an excess of which can lead to high levels of growth hormones, inflammation in the blood vessels, and altered appetite hormones. That’s why all-nighters go hand in hand with severe food cravings.

Even exercising becomes a little useless. Think about it: many students are willing to stay up several extra hours to work, but not as many would give up an hour at the gym. But even when they get that exercise, if they don’t get the proper sleep, then

that buildup of glucose comes into play again. Burning off calories at the gym doesn’t help as much if you gain double that amount by staying awake that night. On top of that, your level of activity the next day tends to drop significantly.

Sometimes we fail to acknowledge that procrastination is at the root of this situation, and so we blame our heavy workload or the harsh marking of our instructors as reasons for pulling all-nighters.

If you’re an upper-year student and you’ve been sacrificing sleep for years, you might think that a lack of sleep never put you at a disadvantage. Or that you’ve somehow trained yourself to live this way. But the risk factors that come with lack of sleep—primarily the buildup of glucose that leads to all these problems—may only manifest itself years later. The symptoms of these malfunctions may not even appear until you’re 35.

So instead of battling against sleep, we should be battling against procrastination. At the end of the day, school and work are important, of course— but not as much as your health.

Gender roles in class Gender gap continued from page 8 Rebecca Witney pointed that while she feels there is no gender discrimination at university, she still feels that certain stereotypes encourage different educational routes.

“Boys are given toys to build with while girls are given dolls to play with, so it’s assumed that boys are better at math and engineering than girls,” Witney said.

The role that stereotypes play in students’ expectations when they come from high school is something Professor Rhonda McEwen says she has observed in her CCT classes.

“There are the guys who come for all the techy stuff and the decoding and then they realize that there is a lot of reading, and then the girls come in and they are scared of the technology.

And maybe there are guys who are scared about the technology, too, but they don’t want to share it with me, because they think I have stereotypi-

cal expectations of them and I’ll think less of them if they don’t fit that.”

McEwen cited that there is usually a balance between the genders of the students with the highest marks from every high school.

Whether it concerns the salary gap or the pressure to prove themselves as “smart”, it seems some female students are still worried about gender differences.

Professor Catherine Phillips of the French department observed that while there are generally more women than men in language courses, the males who are in the classes are strong in the subject. She also noted that when it came to class participation,

female students who are strong in a subject tend to refrain from answering questions when they felt others needed a chance to participate. Male students, she said, are more likely to answer a question when they know the answer, whether or not the professor wanted the rest of the class to participate.

So do female students feel they need to prove themselves in their classes? According to our informal poll, probably not. But of those who said they didn’t feel pressured to outdo their male counterparts in university classes, many said there was some difference in how they perceived their performances.

Whether it concerns the salary gap or the pressure to prove themselves as “smart”, it seems some female students are still worried about gender differences. And that worry may manifest itself in things like class attendance, academic performance, and university enrolment, and become self-fulfilling.

MMPA

Master of Management & Professional Accounting

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Room DV3130, David Building, University of Toronto Mississauga Wednesday, November 21, 2012 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Room DV3130, David Building, University of Toronto Mississauga Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Room KN 132, Kaneff Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga www.utoronto.ca/mmpa

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«FEATURES THE MEDIUM 10.01.2012

VOL 2 EP 3: SOUND AND SYMBOL LUKE SAWCZAK COPY EDITOR hel l o e ver yoneimg l a dto s e e you b a c k a g ai n for an ot h e r v o lu m e o flukeslanguagesthisweekwellb e t a l k i ng ab outt h e d i f fe re n c e s b e t we e ns p o ke n an d w r itt e n l an guage Huh, that’s funny. Why does my spell-check say that’s wrong?

“Hello” is a word, “ever yone” is a word… oh, wait. That’s right.

Unlike when we speak, when we write we use capitalization, spaces, punctuation, and other funny squiggles.

This week’s topic is the differences between written and spoken language, and what they mean for linguistics.

Something linguists have recently been noticing—or admitting—is that although we have a huge corpus of writing to draw data from, the data might be ver y different from how the language is actually spoken.

Why? Am I saying that when we’re writing a language, we’re not actually writing it? How does that make sense?

Well, the simplest difference is what you just saw above: one is communication through the sense of sound, the other through sight. They both have advantages and disadvantages.

Written language has some useful punctuation, only some of which has been translated back into face-to-face language—like “air quotes”. On the other hand, I was just saying to a friend the other day that we need some way to represent stress and intonation in writing. It doesn’t work so well to, say, capitalize the stressed parts of EVer y sentence.

Speaking of which, sarcasm might just be a good thing to be to mark, too.

And did you know that in the 16th centur y, someone created the backwards question mark to signal rhetorical questions But the whole punctuation thing is actually a little misleading. This past summer I transcribed about 10 hours of recordings of conversation word for word (don’t tr y this at home, kids), and I realized that the writing system we have just isn’t designed to transcribe how people actually speak.

They start new sentences in the middle of old ones, sometimes landing combos of four or five in a row. They fill gaps with “you know” and “I mean”. They mark some things as jokes by laughing. They speak over each other. Even at a structural level, they design their whole mes-

sage differently. They repeat things they wouldn’t normally repeat; they build redundancy into their sentences and their paragraphs.

And they definitely use a different vocabular y ; they’re more familiar with their tongues than with their fingers. The way people write, you might have a million lines of text and miss half of the casual phrases that make up our daily conversation.

Writing systems, among other things, are cognitive tools. They give us another look at how our language works, another means of communication, that involves a whole different skillset and mastery from spoken language.

When I mentioned this to a certain editor I know, from whom I learned ever ything I know about language, she pointed out that even though there was no good-looking way to represent all the half-finished

sentences, the trailing off, the asides, and all, it doesn’t sound bad when a person speaks.

Even though the best written transcription of their dialogue looks like a mess, these people are described as ver y articulate speakers.

Scar y.

Perhaps the most startling quality of written language was suggested by, among others, Kieran Egan. In The Educated Mind, he says that “natural mind development” mirrors the developmental stages of historical thought. In particular, he sees historical thought going through stages of increasing abstraction that line up with writing systems of greater abstraction. He cited an example of a non-literar y Slavic tribe whose members, when asked, “Ever ywhere up north has snow ; Siberia is up north; does Siberia have snow?”, responded, “I don’t know ; I’ve never been there!” He suggested that literacy correlates with logical reasoning.

Now, keep in mind that his work is more theoretical than empirical. A counterexample would be the Chinese writing system, in which each symbol essentially makes no reference to individual sounds, only to

concepts. In Egan’s model, their culture shouldn’t have so easily and quickly had the philosophical, literar y, and technological advances it in fact did.

But I do like one idea in Egan’s theor y : that writing systems, among other things, are cognitive tools. They give us another look at how our language works, another means of communication, that involves a whole different skillset and master y from spoken language.

Take, for example, a typo someone found in last week’s episode: “Imagination if there was…” That article, like all our articles, was edited several times. And it’s not that we’re shoddy editors, as we hope the quality of our paper in general makes evident.

No, the mistake illustrates a point: how differently the brain treats what it reads from what it hears. Can you imagine anyone making that mistake in speech? It stands out sharply to the ear, but to the eye, it and “Imagine” have a more similar shape. Written language works so differently from spoken language—I mean, seriously, how else could something so obvious have passed inspection by three different pairs of eyes?

Scar y.

10.01.2012

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11

Editor » Isaac Owusu

A surge of super-teams in the NBA With NBA teams following a trend of loading squads with as much talent as possible, what can the Raptors do?

Detroit CBS Local/PHOTO

Centre Dwight Howard and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak unveiled Howard’s jersey at a press conference where they introduced Howard to Los Angeles.

JASON COELHO After an off-season that saw one blockbuster trade after another, the NBA is set to begin a new season on Tuesday, October 30, giving sports fans something to cheer about while they continue to shake their fists in frustration over the NFL’s replacement referees situation and the absence of an NHL season.

As always, fans have a lot to look forward to in the new season. A sudden surge of “super-teams” has taken the NBA; the tried and true method of forming a winning basketball team has become something of a standard among general managers looking for an edge.

It’s nothing new, and won’t change the whole game of basketball. But the timing of this wave of superteams in the wake of another season of the Miami Heat, who caught the attention of many GMs after completing their second season as the “Big Three”, shows that it is a major trend. The Boston Celtics were the catalysts in 2007, when they added

the likes of centre Kevin Garnett and shooting guard Ray Allen to a team led by small forward Paul Pierce, and won the title that season.

This past off-season, many more teams have gained important players and earned the designation of “super-team”. Most recently, and maybe most notably, the Los Angeles Lakers added point guard Steve Nash and centre Dwight Howard to join the team’s franchise players, shooting guard Kobe Bryant and power forward Pau Gasol.

The Miami Heat in turn broke up the Celtics’ own “Big Three” when Allen signed with them, along with his former Seattle Supersonics teammate, small forward Rashard Lewis.

The move seems like a last push to win a championship before their careers come to their inevitable end.

But are super-teams really improving the game? Or do they just promote exclusion, denying teams who don’t have a “franchise player” the opportunity to compete? This system takes the best of the best and groups them together, so that fewer

and fewer teams have the chance to rise in the standings—like our hometown Toronto Raptors, who are allowed to fall by the wayside.

Juan Nunez, the coach of the UTM Division 1 men’s basketball team (White) at UTM, thinks the teams who don’t have enough star power nevertheless don’t need to fret when it comes to building a group that can be successful.

“If you look at an Oklahoma City Thunder or Los Angeles Clippers team, they don’t have the purchasing power Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, or Miami Heat do,” he said. “Yet it is possible for those teams to build up to have a powerhouse. OKC is doing it in a smaller market than Toronto! In my opinion, it is up to the management of each franchise to figure out what their plan for the future is.”

Before the super-team was popular within the NBA, fans reminisced about the “golden years” of the NBA, when Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and James Worthy played

together for the 1980s’ LA Lakers “Showtime” crew. It was the same when other hall of famers played together, like the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird and the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. But Nunez said that super-teams were brought to a whole new level with “The Decision”, ESPN’s televised reveal of LeBron James’ choice to join the Miami Heat.

“One thing is for certain: superteams increase casual viewership.

Most casual fans watch to see superstars perform,” said Han Wang, a third-year commerce student and a centre on the UTM Division 1 men’s basketball team (Blue).

Christopher Autuchiewicz, a second-year political science student and basketball enthusiast, believes the phenomenon is nothing new. “Super-teams have always been in the NBA,” he said. “It’s just now we’re in a time of heightened media coverage.”

As to whether or not he likes the trend, Autuchiewicz said, “We watch it for the talent; we should want ev-

ery team to be a super-team!”

Nunez’s take on it comes from his position as a coach. He says he wants what’s best for his players, and for those who aspire to play professional basketball, he offers them this advice: “The ones who make it the farthest are the ones who are willing to work the hardest and smartest. You are your own biggest rival; strive to always improve yourself.”

Do the Raptors have a winning chance this season in a league swarming with super-teams? “I think the Raptors have a legitimate chance at having some success if the stars align,” said Autuchiewicz. “But the Raptors do have to deal with stiff competition.”

“How they do this year will be up to coach Dwayne Casey and the rest of the coaching staff,” Nunez said.

“I think they have a good chance to make a push for a seventh or eighth spot in the East, to try and get into the playoffs. For the future, it all depends on the GM and the rest of the management team.”

The family that plays together Varsity Blues defensive linemen Justin and Jordan Marra balance school, football, and a brotherhood at UTM INGRID MELDRUM Justin and Jordan Marra do everything together.

The third-year UTM twins have been playing football together since they were seven years old, and continue to do so even while they work on their postsecondary education.

At 6’1” and 6’2” and weighing about 500 pounds between the two of them, these guys are literally a big deal.

After a full day of class, they hop on the shuttle bus and head downtown to Varsity Stadium for a five-hour

football practice, which includes field time and a review of videos of previous games.

When asked why he plays football while he’s at university, Justin answered, “It’s just always been school and football.” Athleticism runs in the Marra family: their older brother played football for Team Canada, but had to stop after an injury. The twins have been on the varsity team since their first year, and plan on graduating after their fifth.

To be an athlete in any sport takes dedication and requires staying in

shape and maintaining a healthy diet.

When the Marra twins hit the gym, it’s usually with other varsity football players; they train together and motivate each other.

“As long as you can work out and eat properly, you can make progress and become a better football player,” Jordan said. “Don’t eat a lot, and definitely don’t eat McDonald’s.”

The guys put a lot of their time into their sport and their studies, leaving none for partying. “We have no social life during the season,” Jordan said.

Justin added, “Partying is saved for the

off-season, but we’ll go out as a team after a big win. It’s important, they say, for the players to stay focussed.

So far it has been a difficult start of the season, with the team starting at 1–3, and having just came out of a three-game losing streak.

You’d think it would be more convenient for Justin and Jordan to go to school at the St. George campus and enjoy the benefits of a reduced travel time to their practice and games, but they chose UTM for a specific reason: the atmosphere. They enjoy the chicken wings at the Blind Duck, the

close proximity of UTM’s buildings, and the amazing recreational facility of the RAWC. Of course, the twins aren’t the only football players who go to UTM. There are about 20 other guys who are part of “the freak squad”, as UTM players are called by their teammates. They encourage UTM students to head down to the Varsity Stadium, where they’ll receive free entry to watch the game.

The team’s next home game is Saturday, October 6, at Varsity Stadium, where they will host the Ottawa GeeGees.

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«SPORTS THE MEDIUM 10.01.2012

A new face for Division 1 hoops

New head coach Juan Nunez hopes to bring a defensive philosophy and lead Team White to a succesful season JUSTIN HERNANDEZ Juan Nunez begins his coaching debut this year. Previously, he has coached in high school and in Campus Rec. This year he coaches the team he used to play for: UTM White.

Last season, both of UTM’s Division 1 men’s basketball teams (the Blues and the Whites) made it to the top four. The teams are now ready for

the start of a new season. Nunez, now at the helm, expects a lot of his team for this year.

Nunez, a fourth-year student, also serves as the commissioner of the UTM Campus Rec intramural team.

His job is to make sure all the referees get the schedule and all players are registered, and to keep stats for the teams and individual players. Nunez says that although his workload is

full, it will not affect his coaching.

“The White team won the Division 2 championship two years ago,” Nunez reminds us. “Now we’re playing in Division 1; we have two teams playing in Division 1.”

As the coach, Nunez often needs to push his players. He points out some possible improvements for the Whites if they are to make it to the finals, such as not to let the team fall to

one player.

“Get the team chemistry going. It’s also the little things,” he says. “[Like] guys going for the rebounds and going for loose balls.”

His team’s basketball style focusses on defence. “Every coach would focus on defence,” he says. That means getting rebounds, causing turnovers, and filling the lane.

Nunez shows a lot of commitment

to his team; they practise at least twice a week. Nunez focusses on executing plays, running defence, and doing lots of cardio. He also works with his players one-on-one.

There are a few new faces on the team this year, and Nunez is very excited to see them play. “They bring a lot of energy to the team,” he says.

The team starts the season next week against Woodsworth College

Varsity Blues come out of much too familiar skid Second-year QB Simon Nassar leads Blues, beating Waterloo 40–26 and putting an end to team’s losing streak ISAAC OWUSU SPORTS EDITOR The streak is finally over. Led by their new starter, Simon Nassar, the Varsity Blues football team, took to Waterloo, where they beat the Warriors 40–26. This marks the Blues’ first victory in their last four games, bringing their season re-

cord to 2–3.

Nassar, a second-year English major, took the helm as quarterback in his first career start, replacing former starter Richard Quittenton. The sophomore QB had quite the game in Waterloo himself following a near last-second comeback in his previous appearance in the 31–29 loss against the Guelph

Gryphons.

Nassar set career marks for himself with 298 yards passing and two touchdowns, along with 35 yards on the ground on three carries and another score rushing. First-year running back Ashton Nelson also had a career day, carrying the ball 20 times for 122 yards and a touchdown.

UTM’s Stephan Boroniec had another game of multiple roles, finishing with four rushes for seven yards and a touchdown, two catches for 20 yards, and an assisted tackle.

On the defensive end, UTM players swarmed their opponents at all levels. Defensive end Everton Williams gave a sound contribution with four solos and four assisted.

Justin Marra did some defensive line work too, offering two assisted tackles with one for a loss, and Abi Olusoga finished with a single tackle for a loss. Defensive back Larry Broni contributed two assisted tackles and one solo.

The Blues will return to Varsity Stadium to take on Ottawa on Saturday, October 6, at 1 p.m.

Women’s Division 1 soccer dominate INGRID MELDRUM On Sunday, the UTM Division 1 women’s soccer team played against the School of Graduate Studies in their second game of the season. This victory marks their second win of the season, after their 5–0 victory over the Phys Ed department last weekend.

The game had been scheduled for 1 p.m. on UTM’s North Field, but the

girls were surprised to find that the field had been worked by the UTM grounds crew only a few days before and was extremely dusty. But because of a rugby game that had been scheduled on the South Field, the game stayed on the North Field with all the dust.

UTM dominated the game right from the start; the UTM players kept full control of the play, preventing SGS from getting the ball out of their

own end. When SGS was finally able to get into the UTM zone, the ball was cleared by the defence.

Natasha Butzow received the ball and scored on a breakaway, giving UTM the lead early in the first half.

A few minutes later, Butzow scored her second goal of the day off a pass from the corner by teammate Agnieszka Turalinski.

Right before the end of the first half, the game was halted because of

an SGS injury. The team was forced to play with no substitutes for the next half as a result. With three substitutes on the bench, UTM was able to give their own players a few breaks.

SGS lost steam in the second half, while UTM kept the ball in the SGS zone and was relentless with their shot attempts at the SGS goal. Four more goals were netted by Chantel Pandeirada, Leah Smith, Sheri Veibl,

and Burtzow, netting herself a hat trick.

Coach Robert Brown was all smiles at the end of the game.

“The girls did well; they moved the ball and hit the shots that were set up for them,” he said. “It’s looking like we could be another championship team.”

The girls will hit the field again on October 14 at 11 a.m. to face Victoria College at the North Field.

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