Volume 46, Issue 14

January 20,9,2020 September 2019

THE MEDIUM

The The Voice Voice ofof The The University Unviersity ofof Toronto Toronto Mississauga Mississauga || themedium.ca themedium.ca

Vol Vol.46, 46,No. No.14 1

Remembering Zeynab Asadi Lari Features 12 UTM prof Mitchell Huynh under fire for grading scheme

News

2

Aya Yafaoui addresses the implications of Trudeau’s new beard

Comment

7

Meghan and Harry to enroll at UTM?

Satire

8

UTM community mourns the passengers of flight PS752 DILJOT BADESHA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) students, staff, and faculty came together last Thursday to mourn the lives lost on flight PS752.

Operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, flight PS752 was struck down by an Iranian missile shortly after take-off on January 8.

The crash took the lives of all 176 passengers on board, including 57 Canadians.

Originally, officials had stated that 63 Canadians had died in the crash, but that number has dropped to 57 according to Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, during a press conference on January 10.

Among the 176 passengers were eight members of the University of Toronto (U of T) community, including six U of T students.

A prayer and memorial service for those killed in the crash, including UTM student Zeynab Asadi Lari and her brother Mohammed Asadi Lari, was held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the atrium of Maanjiwe Nendamowinan (MN).

Dozens of students and staff quietly gathered in the atrium, where pictures of Zeynab and Mohammed Asadi Lari were set on a table alongside a memorial book available for

people to sign throughout the service in the front.

The service began with an evening prayer led by Imam Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Faith Leader for the UTM Muslim Students Association.

After words of welcome and the land acknowledgement were said, friends, faculty and staff paid their tributes.

Seyed Mohammed Ebrahim Naghavi, a biotechnology specialist, a was friends with Mohammad Asadi Lari since Grade 5.

“He was energetic, ambitious, and helpful to others. Since the first day I met him, he always studied hard and encouraged others to form study groups,” said Naghavi. “He would find individuals who were not good at a particular course and spend hours helping them.”

“My world will not be the same without him,” added Naghavi.

Anahita Bahreini–Esfahani, a fourth-year student studying neuroscience and one of Zeynab’s closest friend, described Zeynab as “one of the easiest people to talk to.” She met Zeynab at the Health and Counselling Centre at UTM while volunteering as a wellness ambassador.

“I am a really private person but the first conversation I had with Zeynab, somehow I ended up talking about my childhood, high school, just everything,” said Bahreini–Esfa-

hani with a smile on her face.

Another one of Zeynab’s closest friends, Fatima Sahibzada, also spoke at the service.

“We shared everything together.

Together was her key word. She wanted to take classes together.

Hang out together. Study together,” said Sahibzada. “In our group of friends, she was the part that kept us bound.”

“Nothing is going to be the same without her,” added Sahibzada.

Habon Ali, the UTMSU’s VP Equity and a fifth-year student studying biology and environmental science, knew both Zeynab and her brother Mohammed.

“I was introduced to Zeynab by Mohammed. I met Mohammed in the summer [of] 2018. We were working together on youth policy and he was exceptionally bright and humble,” said Ali. When asked what made the siblings special and different than others, Ali emphasized the words humanity, compassion, and kindness.

“Every action they took, their community initiatives, their work, their interaction with people and individuals, it was always personal,” said Ali. “They [Zeynab and Mohammed] wanted to create change to have a better world,” added Ali. Vigil continued on page 5

Lourdes Duah reviews the Blackwood Gallery’s latest exhibit

Arts

9

Read all about eco-anxiety and why it’s a growing concern

Sports

15

On Iran-US relations UTM professor Dr. V. Firat Bozcali discusses the global implications of the recent US-Iran conflict BISMAH RIZVI ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR On January 3, 2020, the U.S. government assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by a drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq. On January 8, Iran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq. Later, an Iranian missile unintentionally brought down Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, killing the 176 passengers and crew members on board.

These incidents have garnered extensive media attention, sparked international involvement, and raised discussions concerning war.

Dr. V. Firat Bozcali, an assistant professor of anthropology at UTM, teaches ANT209: War, Trade and Aid: The Anthropology of Global Intervention. His research focuses on political economy and state formation, specifically in Turkey, Iraq, and the Middle East and his fieldwork has allowed him to observe first-hand the experiences of individuals living in high-conflict areas such as the Turkish-Iranian border. The Medium sat down with Bozcali to discuss the current political climate.

As to why this specific assassination received so much attention as

compared to a series of ongoing assassinations carried out by the U.S., including the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019, Bozcali cites Soleimani’s far-reaching influence and impact. Soleimani was the leader of the Quds force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). Although the IRGC is an official state institution, the U.S. continues to view it as a terrorist group, and therefore, Soleimani was regarded as a terrorist by the States. This view was controversial since many Iranians and people across the Middle East considered Soleimani a national hero who had served his country well for decades. As Bozcali explains, Soleimani’s specific agenda entailed containing, stopping, and deterring “Iran’s regional competitors and global adversities by organizing various militia groups and network partners across the region.” Furthermore, Soleimani was “essential to Iran’s perception of how [the Iranians] uphold and ensure their security.” Beyond Iran, Soleimani played a large role in power structures in Iraq and across the Middle East. Therefore, his death destabilized several power balances across numerous regions.

Iran continued on page 13

2

«

01.20.2020

Editor | Melissa Barrientos

UTM professor under fire over his grading scheme Mitchell Huynh was criticized for including Twitter follows and the purchasing of his book in participation marks SALEHA FARUQUE DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

PHOTO COURTESY OF MITCHELL HUYNH

Huynh awarded extra credit to his students for buying his textbook and following him on Twitter.

A University of Toronto professor’s grading system has come under fire online because of the way extra credit was being awarded to students.

Mitchell Huynh is a sessional lecturer in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus. Teaching “Introduction to Personal Finance,” a course developed by Huynh for the university, he offers students wealth management skills and finance education.

Huynh incentivized up to a five per cent grade top-up if students follow his social media accounts and buy a copy of his book. Priced $19.50 on Amazon, the self-published book, titled “Dumb Money: From The Working Person to The Wealthy Person,” also doubles as the main textbook for the course.

The book is not currently available through the U of T bookstore.

A deleted Reddit post originally revealed the controversial grading breakdown. The five per cent in participation marks relied on actions such as following Huynh on Twitter and Instagram and purchasing a copy of his book. Included in this partici-

pation rubric, students had to also create a LinkedIn profile.

The remaining participation points derived from 10 written submissions on what students had learned from the course.

Huynh defended his actions in an interview with The Medium, explaining that the marking scheme strategically falls in line with the theme of building a mentorship, one of the main course objectives.

“The theory behind the social media follows is to create a network where students have access to my LinkedIn, and all of my content and teachings,” he said.

Huynh explained the value of utilizing this network went beyond the classroom. “Through social media, students can leverage this resource as they move outside the course.”

Through being accessible on social media, Huynh said he could “always be there to mentor them.”

In addition to teaching, Huynh is the Division Director of Investors Group and hosts two financial advice programs on Rogers TV. When asked if giving extra credit in exchange for book purchases was ethical, Huynh claimed that the grading structure is not meant to benefit him personally.

“I’m not forcing students to follow me on social media and then somehow I benefit from that,” Huynh said.

“I think they benefit more from being connected. That’s the mentorship section of the course that we teach,” he continued. “This is the kind of mentorship that increases your personal capital.”

Huynh said that he receives frequent feedback and questions from students on how they should approach prospective opportunities of success.

“After the course, a lot of my students on LinkedIn or Instagram send me questions on things like mentorships or how to prepare for an interview,” Huynh recalled. “I think a professor’s position is not just to teach kids and grade them. We’re there to ensure their success.”

Bringing perspective to the social media aspect, Huynh said the overall course is designed around “creating wealth.” His goal aims to help students learn how to “leverage and create income and turn that income into wealth.”

One of those methods includes keeping in touch with Huynh once students begin applying learned concepts into their own lives.

Grading continued on page 4

QSS members surprised SCI model continues QSS held unofficial voting for future budgets to anticipate majority, finds members shocked to see SCI model ISIK VERA SENEL ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The Quality Services to Students (QSS) committee met for the first time after the winter break on January 15 to conduct straw poll votes, unofficial votes used to show the popular opinion on certain matters, on the student service budget proposals for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Before the committee began the voting process, Mark Overton, dean of Student Affairs, stated that they would be voting on the proposal model that was designed under the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) instead of returning to the previous model.

“Our process needs to continue to comply with the requirements of the university protocol,” stated Overton.

“We need to be adaptable no matter

what the provincial government does around appealing the Student Choice Initiative.”

“We’re trying to make this both backwards and forwards compatible so that it works no matter what happens,” added Overton.

The budget proposal of the Shuttle Bus Service was the first to be voted on and the straw poll vote displayed unanimous support. In the following academic year, four new dedicated buses with enhancements will be coming in while the old buses will be directed out of service.

The proposal put forward by Career Services, which includes the Career Centre and some correlated portions of the Centre for Student Engagement, Student Life Initiative, and the International Education Centre, suggested an increase from $81.73 to $84.90. The Career Services’ proposal

also received uncontested support.

The votes for the proposed budget under Academic Support were divided.

All student members of the committee abstained from the straw poll vote for this stream of services, which includes some sections of the International Education Centre, Student Engagement, and the Student Life Initiative.

Atif Abdullah, president of the UTMSU, stated that he had assumed they would go back to the old voting model that was in place before the SCI. “The preparation we came in with was split into the International Education Centre, Centre for Student Engagement, Family Care Office, and Career Centre. That’s not the same conversation we’re having right now because they’re bucketed together,” said Abdullah.

The student voting members of the committee expressed their surprise at having the QSS budget voting follow the new model introduced after the government imposed the SCI, despite the government’s announcement in December 2019 that they intend to appeal the Ontario Divisional Court’s decision.

“We were under the assumption that we were going back to the previous model and not the new model under the Student Choice Initiative, so it does change our conversation and change the discussion that we had internally.”

“We’re doing a straw poll right now which is non-binding so for a certain few of them, which we have not had that chance to discuss, because the changed agenda, we will be abstaining,” continued Abdullah.

After some discussion the com-

mittee decided to table voting for Academic Support, Student Clubs and Funds, and International Student Support. A straw poll vote for the tabled student service fees is scheduled to take place on January 22, which is also when all formal votes on the QSS budget proposals are expected to take place.

The remaining departments all received unanimous votes in support, which include the fees pertaining to Student Buildings, Child Care Support, Family Care, Student Handbook and Communications, Alcohol Education and Monitoring, Health Services, and Recreation, Athletics and Wellness.

The committee will be voting on the tabled proposals and moving forward with the formal vote in the next QSS committee meeting on January 22.

01.20.2020 THE MEDIUM NEWS

»

3

Task Force releases results of six-month study A close look at the Student Mental Health Task Force’s first six recommendations MELISSA BARRIENTOS NEWS EDITOR After a month of review, the University of Toronto (U of T) has released the Student Mental Health Task Force’s final report and announced that the university accepts all the recommendations “wholeheartedly.”

U of T’s recently formed Mental Health Task Force completed the final report back in December of 2019, which outlined their findings for U of T’s mental health services and recommended improvements.

The report came after students demanded reform following another student suicide at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology on March 17. The demand for better mental health services led U of T President Meric Gertler to announce the creation of the Task Force and a four-point action plan.

In April 2019, the Task Force, spearheaded by Dr. Trevor Young, Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and psychiatry professor, started conducting research on U of T mental health services and U of T community’s response to the available services.

The Task Force was specifically asked to look at four key areas, including the mental health service delivery at U of T and how to strengthen such services, the coordination between tri-campus student mental health supports and how to improve internal coordination, the partnerships with community-based organizations and hospitals and how to strengthen such external partnerships, and the physical spaces of mental health services on all three campuses.

In its final report to U of T administration, the Task Force also added two areas that “expand beyond the original scope of the mandate” that were discovered during consultations with the U of T community.

These two areas include “Culture at U of T” and “Institutional Systems and Policies,” which comment on the university’s strong reputation for academic excellence and its correlating pressure on students to excel. Their new comments also reflect on the bureaucratic policies that are frowned upon by students, such as the practice of campus police to handcuff students seeking help for suicidal ideation.

The entire report outlines 21 recommendations that “seek to impact immediate, short-term, and longterm efforts to create a caring and safe campus environment.”

The 21 recommendations mainly fall under the four key areas, referred to as “mandates,” with the last seven recommendations falling under “Culture at U of T,” “Institutional Systems & Policies,” or “Next Steps,” which advocates for a permanent wellness advisory committee and a new “institutional strategic research” department in the upcoming years.

On January 15, U of T also released the administrative response to the

Task Force’s final report, where it outlined future and ongoing projects that address, albeit sometimes not directly, each of the Task Force’s 21 recommendations.

The final report is sectioned off by mandate with a brief explanation under each recommendation.

For mandate one, the review of mental health delivery at U of T and how to strengthen such services, the Task Force proposed six recommendations.

the university increase access to timely mental health care (in person and via other means), expand the diversity of mental health service providers for students, and enhance coordination and expand direct crisis response support and resources, and establish a tri-campus mobile team for afterhours support.

Under the first recommendation, where the Task Force stressed accessibility to mental health services, the report states that members of

based and online appointment booking and confirmations, and increasing after-hours care.

The second recommendation, “enhancing mental health literacy among students,” concentrated on clearly identifying the services that “may be beyond the scope of the university,” and which will result in students being referred to community organizations who may be better equipped for specialized support.

The Task Forces also stressed that

NOUR SAQQA/THE MEDIUM

The Task Force has made 21 recommendations centered around UofT’s response to mental health.

The Task Force’s proposals to the university include simplifying “pathways to care to increase accessibility to resources and supports,” developing “a comprehensive strategy to enhance mental health literacy among students, staff, and faculty, including knowledge of mental health supports and services,” and increasing “the focus on resources for mental health promotion broadly across the university.”

The Task Force also recommended

the U of T community “struggle to navigate the services available and do not know how to access resources or make referrals appropriately.”

The Task Force recommended “one access point where anyone can easily query what to do if a student is seeking support or is in distress, regardless of campus, division, or college.”

Ways in which this can be accomplished, the report stated, include creating a user-friendly website for mental health at U of T, offering text-

better communication is needed on university service expectations such as waitlists, appointment caps, and missed appointments fees.

The fourth recommendation, “increase access to timely mental health care,” asks the university to consider adopting other ways students can access mental health care, such as with apps or online contact with health professionals.

The report discussed in detail the benefits of My SSP (My Student Sup-

port Program) that is currently being piloted at the St. George campus.

My SSP offers international students with “24/7 confidential, culturally relevant, multilingual support services by phone or chat.”

In its administrative response to the final report, U of T stated that My SSP is now available to all U of T students, both domestic and international. “[Students] now have access to counselling by phone or text in 146 languages, at any time, day or night,” stated the administrative response.

The Task Force also outlined an increasing concern in their fifth recommendation where the diversity of mental health service providers is questioned.

“It is important to underscore that there is room for improvement in the diversity of our staffing complements across the university and that everyone benefits from diversity,” stated the Task Force’s final report.

“Not all students from underrepresented communities feel the current counselling options are adequate to support their needs and experiences,” continued the report. “When a student encounters an individual at campus mental health services who seems unable to understand them, this can be a barrier to seeking support.”

The Task Force recommended further training is needed for “all U of T employees in order to increase their competencies in working with students from Indigenous, LQBTQ+, and racialized communities, often with intersecting identities.”

The last recommendation, “enhance coordination and expand direct crisis response support,” that falls under “mandate one” calls on the responsibility of the university to offer a crisis mental health response team for evenings and weekends.

“The Task Force understands that the university is not a hospital, so 24-hour services are not practicable,” stated the report. “However, given our student population, the number of students living in residence, and the fact that classes, co-curricular activities, and graduate student research extend beyond the regular nine-tofive, Monday-Friday schedule, the university would benefit from having a mobile, on-call, after-hours urgent mental health response team for evenings and weekends.”

U of T administration responded to this recommendation in their new partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), where “integrated care pathways” between campus services and CAMH will include “crisis management services.”

The U of T administration’s statement does not clearly explain if the “crisis management services” will mean UTM will have an on-call mental health response team for afterhours, such as in the evenings and weekends.

This story is ongoing. More to come.

4

«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 01.20.2020

What should be graded?

Grading continued from page 2 According to the syllabus, the course provides the tools and knowledge to efficiently manage finances, while helping guide others to do the same. The course also teaches financial literacy through concepts like cash flow analysis, asset management, taxation, risk management, retirement, and estate planning.

Expanding on these terms, Huynh believes financial success requires personal development. “The more you invest in yourself, the more you raise your self-value. That’s one of the elements of the course that I want to teach. It’s that mindset.”

When reached for comment, a University of Toronto spokesperson declined to directly speak on private matters of school staff. However, they stood firm on their Assessment and Grading Practices Policy.

Faculties and divisions are allowed to develop their grading guidelines,

so long as grading abides by certain rules under the policy. The policy states that grades should measure “student performance,” defined as their “command of the content of an academic program.”

Reacting to this policy, Huynh described the unique process of teaching and learning finance, including its scope and potential when used in the real world. “This is part of the mastery of this course. Students need to understand how to use networks and the other tools out there at their disposal.”

Huynh also pointed out the importance of achieving more than one source of income nowadays.

“There’s so many different tools for us to start businesses on the side and be cognizant of all the tools that are out there. I think higher education has always been somewhat limiting in terms of that,” Huynh said, describing what he feels is a “disconnect” between academic experience and

the practical application of learning material.

Huynh cites the popularity of his course, highlighting positive reviews from his students.

“Many of my students say this is the best course they’ve taken in their university career,” Huynh said. “They say they’ve learned life skills that they can take elsewhere. They tell me they’ve been given a mentor for life; someone they can look up to and follow.”

Huynh said the university has reached out to him and requested changes to the participation grading scheme.

While he doesn’t “blame” the university for their stance, he acknowledged it’s hard to “pigeonhole” the course.

“The mindset and understanding of the course are really only delivered to the people that are inside [of the course].”

Council cuts programs, adds courses Academic Affairs talks high student intake and removes programs

HUMANS OF UTM

“In my first two years of university I was in Life Sciences doing a double major in Biology and Psychology. I took two years off and worked full-time with my dad at an engineering firm. I hated it. I applied to run a franchise, a student painting business. I got through the interview process which was 3 or 4 interviews and in the end I ran the only franchise in Mississauga.

In the beginning, I didn’t get a lot of help because the Toronto locations were getting all the focus. I had to learn a lot by myself, but they supplied me with everything: the flyers, the homeowner letters I had to use, and the territories to market in. All I had to do was hire and manage my team. I marketed for three months by myself, going door to door. For those three months, I didn’t get a single project.

I was making calls in the mornings and booking estimates on the weekends. I eventually got my first project in April, and the rest starting coming in. I realized I didn’t want to work a 9-5.

What really opened my eyes was the potential I could make running my own business. There is more that I can achieve by working for myself, and putting a system in place to meet a demand in the market. I started developing myself, buying books in personal development, sales, finance, and market, psychology, business fundamentals. I educated myself for myself. I was enamoured by the idea of becoming a doctor and the money that came with it. I learned that the money they made came with a lot of sacrifice like time with family in friends. I want to be able to spend time with the people I care about. Running a business showed me that there are other ways to earn a great living without sacrificing what matters to me.”

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

The Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting proposed to be phased out in 2021-2022.

HARRIS WATKINS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM)’s Academic Affairs Committee held their first meeting of 2020 last Monday in the William G. Davis building’s Council Chamber. The agenda, though rather light, featured some interesting topics surrounding the academic experience here at UTM, both for future students and current students alike.

The meeting began with a presentation by Lorretta Neebar, registrar and director of Enrolment Management, where enrolment statistics gathered by her team provided a clear picture of current and future enrolment trends.

Though the figures are tentative until later on this year, overall trends show that enrolment for the 20192020 academic year were at an alltime high, with over 15,000 students.

Of this intake, about 4,013 students were incoming first years. About 29 per cent of these first years are international students, which is down from 2018-2019’s 33 per cent intake of international first-years.

Consistent with previous years, more and more students are choosing to study Computational Science, Mathematics, and Statistics at UTM. In the 2019-2020 incoming class, 17.1 per cent of first years chose the Computational Science discipline—mak-

ing it the second-highest discipline choice after Social Sciences (19.2 per cent).

Neebar noted that this trend has been rising in the last five years and as a result it is estimated that UTM’s computer science department will continue to grow in the coming years to cope with such a demand.

In terms of the alteration and closure of programs offered at UTM, two were put up to the vote for the council: the Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting [commonly referred to by its acronym DIFA] and the Specialist in Interactive Digital Media.

In the case of the Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting, Professor Len Brooks presented the case for closing the program by the end of the 2021-2022 academic year, noting industry pressures motivating those in the field to pursue a master’s degree instead.

Professor Brooks noted the success of the Master of Forensic Accounting Program—launched in 2017 as a successor to DIFA—in preparing students to enter higher-level positions in downtown firms.

Moreover, Professor Rhonda McEwen presented the case to the Council for the Specialist in Interactive Digital Media, citing student feedback that the Specialist degree did not offer the sort of hands-on experience that they had hoped to gain in the Specialist

prerequisites.

The Specialist in Interactive Digital Media, as Professor McEwen noted, only has two remaining students within it, so the effects of a possible closure would be marginal.

The Council voted resoundingly to permanently phase out both the DIFA and the Specialist in Interactive Digital Media in the coming years.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by Professor Heather Miller regarding minor changes to the curricula in the disciplines of the humanities, the sciences, and the social sciences.

Included in these changes are some exciting new course propositions with dozens of new additions to the aforementioned faculties.

Moreover, slight modifications and a few prerequisite courses were introduced like the brand-new first year courses designed to hone in students’ reading and writing skills in preparation for upper-year courses. These first year reading and writing courses are in the works for majors and specialists across a vast range of degrees under the humanities and social sciences umbrella.

These propositions were also approved overwhelmingly by the Council, albeit with one abstention.

The next UTM Academic Affairs Committee meeting is on February 11 at 4:10 p.m. in the Council Chamber.

January 9, 2020.

Police Assistance.

A student was trapped in elevator 2 in the MN building. Elevator tech attended and freed the student.

January 13, 2020.

Suspicious Vehicle.

Campus Police attended lot 8 for a vehicle idling for a few hours. The driver was located.

January 15, 2020.

Police Assistance.

Two students were trapped in elevator 7 in the Davis building. The elevator doors eventually opened and the students were able to leave.

January 12, 2020.

Police Assistance.

Campus Police and EMS attended OPH for a student experiencing medical distress. The student was transported to hospital.

January 14, 2020.

Fraud.

A student reported a fraudulent phone call. The caller told the student there was an ongoing investigation

by Service Canada that resulted in two serious allegations against them.

They then directed the student to deposit all their money in a bit coin machine and they would be reimbursed

by Service Canada.

These reports are those that have been released to The Medium from Campus Police and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list.

Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905-453-3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

01.20.2020 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Mississauga has a climate change plan The city approved a 10-year plan to end emissions SALEHA FARUQUE DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR The City of Mississauga is one step closer to achieving its central goal of becoming a net-zero community.

City council approved the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) earlier this month, Mississauga’s first comprehensive climate change plan.

The plan contains two goals and 21 Key Actions to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions through combined short-term and long-term methods.

The plan also works to include Mississauga within the global movement of limiting increasing temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Boasting a $457.6 million budget, the plan contains a path forward for climate action in Mississauga over the next 10 years. This will be achieved through incremental steps detailing necessary action, progress measurement as well as potential adjustments to its implementation.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time,” Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie expressed after city council’s endorsement of the expansive plan. “We have already begun to feel the impacts of our changing climate,” she added.

In 2018, the City of Mississauga joined other Canadian municipalities, including the global community, in declaring a climate emergency. As the third largest city in Ontario, Mississauga is expected to experience hotter temperatures all year round within the next 30 years.

There are also expected changes to seasonal precipitation patterns such as increased rainstorms, heatwaves, and overall wetter periods in winter, spring, and fall.

The continuation of the CCAP intends to reduce 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“With this plan, we are taking significant action to fight climate change so we can reduce our greenhouse gas footprint and create a more resilient future for Mississauga,” said Crombie.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates that by 2040, the annual loss from ice storms would be $9 million. Furthermore, the anticipated climate change increase could propel this loss to $12 million per year.

The CCAP represents an unprecedented commitment by the city to work towards reducing greenhouse gasses and mitigating climate change effects.

Here are a few highlights of the plan, including measures that Mississauga students and residents can support between 2020 and 2029.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission targets Two main goals espoused by the CCAP are “Mitigation” and “Adaptation.”

According to the plan, “Mitigation” steps will aim to reduce GHG emissions and help Mississauga become a

“low carbon, resilient community.”

By 2050, experts hope that emissions will reach 80 per cent below previous 1990 levels. In this phase, Mississauga will join the emerging low carbon economy.

As part of the 10-year plan, an interim GHG reduction milestone of 40 per cent has been set.

To promote the “Adaptation” goal, steps will be taken to promote the capacity of the city and its community to increase resiliency against future climate events.

Some examples of “Action Pathways” that support the “Mitigation” and “Adaptation” goals include implementing low emissions transportation, green building infrastructure, and clean energy.

Current emission rates in Mississauga According to the approved plan, several components of the city greatly contribute to its carbon footprint.

Among many statistics highlighted in the plan, a few figures stand out.

Residential, commercial, and industrial buildings produce over 50 per cent of GHG emissions in Mississauga. Transportation as a whole contributes to 30 per cent of GHG emissions.

70 per cent of total GHG emissions come from the city’s transit vehicles.

Accounting for 30 per cent of GHG emissions are buildings owned and operated by the city.

Total emissions in Mississauga are equal to 6.2 million tonnes of CO2.

This figure includes the emission contributions from the private sector, such as businesses and residents.

Financial cost The $457.6 million climate change plan covers four action areas under its capital cost forecast over the next 10 years.

These budget categories include corporate buildings, transit, corporate fleet, and one unnamed category. $46.2 million is dedicated to improving existing corporate buildings.

For instance, all corporate buildings will be retrofitted, as in they will be upgraded with energy-consuming systems to enhance energy efficiency.

All new corporate buildings will be built under the “Corporate Green Building Standard.” This new building standard motivates developers to increase energy efficiency by using heating and cooling systems powered by low-carbon, renewable sources.

Changes to Mississauga’s transit, totalling $295.2 million, will cover improvements such as converting bus fleets to electric systems, and updating various public infrastructure to support these electric buses. $3 million of the capital costs support the electrification of corporate fleets such as MiWay. The cost of several other action areas is yet to be determined. However, the city did apply for federal and provincial funding to offset the cost of buses.

»

5

Vigil honoured Zeynab Lari Vigil continued from page 1 Aman Arif, a first-year psychology student, said that adapting to the university lifestyle was made a lot easier with Zeynab by her side.

“Zeynab was one of my very, very close friends,” said Arif. “She was the first one I made at school.”

“She was [always] mentoring other students, helping other students,” added Arif.

Jade Atallah, an assistant biology professor at UTM, remembers Zeynab with having eyes that were “always radiating with excitement.”

Atallah described Zeynab as an “active student leader” who had a clear understanding of what it took to succeed as a science student.

“She would come up to me before class. She used to rub her hands together when talking to me. I used to worry that she was nervous. I quickly learned she was just excited,” said Atallah.

“All I could think of is Zeynab—I am so sorry. Whatever factors, direct or indirect, local or international, intentional or not, that led to this, these are not the ideals that you and your classmates work for. These are not your standards. You deserve better,” continued Atallah.

“All we can do is promise ourselves that we will do better than what was done to you. We need to be better,” added Atallah. “We need to aim as high as you did.”

After a few words from Mark Over-

ton, UTM’s dean of Student Affairs, the service concluded with a moment of silence, followed by closing words.

Last Wednesday, universities across Canada including U of T took part in a national moment of silence at 1:00 p.m. to honour the victims of the crash. UTM students and staff observed a moment of silence in the library during that time.

U of T also announced on Wednesday that it had created an Iranian Memorial Scholarship Fund to honour the lives lost in the crash. The fund will provide international undergraduate and graduate students from Iran studying Iranian studies with scholarships, allowing them to pursue their careers in Iranian Studies.

Alumni debates on passion Attendees discuss if passion can lead to success at the annual Alumni Debate

HART HOUSE/FACEBOOK

The audience was swayed by the arguments of passion and success, ending in a 58-51 House vote.

ED WINTER CONTRIBUTOR By a narrow 58-51 vote, attendees at the annual Hart House Alumni Debate voted to reject the motion “This House Regrets the Narrative that Following Your Passion is the Path to Success.”

The big picture There are many conflicting opinions as to whether it is wise to follow your passions. Vincent Van Gough said, “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” On the other hand, a 2018 Stanford Paper argued that people following their passions were less likely to “anticipate difficulties in pursuing passions” and were thus likely to fail when facing roadblocks.

A debate was held at Hart House to explore both sides of this issue.

What is the alumni debate?

An annual tradition hosted by the Hart House Debates and Dialogue Committee, the debate serves as a platform for U of T alumni and students to discuss pressing issues of the day “while celebrating the spirit of lively debate that has played a defining role in the educational experience of many.”

Who took part?

The debate was chaired by the Hart House Debate Club (HHDC) president Gautier Boyrie.

Speaking for the government and supporting the motion that following your passion is not the key to success were Dr. Ira Wells and James Coady.

Wells is the current Academic Programs Director at Victoria College while Coady is a fourth year HHDC debater.

Acting as the opposition and arguing that following your passion is the key to success were Dr. Joy Fitzgibbon and Deborah Wong. Fitzgibbon

serves as an assistant professor and associate director of the Margaret MacMillan Trinity One Program at Trinity College and while Wong is a third-year competitive debater at HHDC. A select few audience members also chose to offer their opinions near the end of the debate.

Format of the debate Each speaker was granted seven minutes of speaking time.

Wells opened the debate on behalf of the government and was opposed

by Wong. Then, Coady reaffirmed the motion and was opposed by Fitzgibbon.

Afterwards, each side was granted four additional minutes of speaking time to conclude their arguments.

At the conclusion of the debate, the audience members could offer their opinion in favor or against the motion and take part in the “splitting of the house” where they voted on who they believe presented the stronger arguments.

What the debaters and audience members said?

For the motion “What makes [successful people] successful has more to do with willpower and determination and discipline than it does with passion,” said Wells.

“The case that opposition brings you fundamentally misunderstands what passion is,” responded Coady.

“The egoism in following your passion is very harmful to the human person.”

“I think this holy grail of passion puts too much pressure on young minds to pursue individualistic pursuits,” stated an audience member.

Against the motion “This narrative [of passion] generates the most amount of content-

ment for individuals,” declared Wong.

“When an individual person follows their passion, you probably get a more diverse and inclusive society.”

“Passion can actually lead to a deeper awareness of our purpose in life and our calling,” stated Fitzgibbon.

“When [Steve Jobs] decided to drop out [of university], he decided to take classes that interested him [before he left]. He ended up taking calligraphy... And as a result, we have beautiful word processors when we might not have,” argued an audience member.

Neutral “Mr. Speaker, what happens if you like both private equity and biblical studies. What if we think both interpretations of the question are incomplete...I think we need to find the middle way, the third way, the either-or way... the Canadian way” proclaimed an audience member.

Results 58 audience members were swayed by the opposition and rejected the motion while, 51 audience members supported the government and stood for the motion.

What’s next?

On Jan 29, Hart House will host the 6th Annual CIC Foreign Affairs Debate at the Hart House Debates Room between 7:00-9:00 p.m.

The event will be comprised of student debaters from U of T and Ryerson University who will argue the motion “Be it Resolved That the United Nations Should be Abolished.”

U of T will stand in favor of the motion while Ryerson will stand in opposition. An expert panel of three judges will judge the debate in addition to the splitting of the house.

01.20.2020

»

15

Editor | Sarah-May Edwardo Oldfield

Morally outraged: physiologly and politics A recent U.S. study has found that your political affiliation affects how your body responds to moral outrage ANDREW STONE ASSOCIATE S & H EDITOR

Politics and morality are often paired together and have a great deal of influence on each other. Whenever there are decisions to be made, people try to figure out which side of the discussion fits best with their own morals. Each side tries to pinpoint their opponent’s moral stance and demonstrate how their own stance is better.

A study from the University of Southern California tested how people’s morals and emotional responses to moral-breaking scenarios varied based on their political identification.

The study involved 600 participants, half of which self-identified as Democrats and the other half identified as Republicans. They were then randomly assigned to five equal groups each focused on one of five moral conditions: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, or purity.

The participants were asked to read short vignettes for each moral condition, containing a scenario where the moral in question is violated. They were asked to rate from 1-5 how morally wrong the depicted behaviour was (1 = not wrong, 5 = very wrong) and how much of an emotional response was felt anywhere in the body from reading the vignette (1 = weak, 5 = strong).

DONKEYHOTEY/FLICKR.COM

Your self-defined political party affiliation could affect your emotional and physical response.

They were also asked to self-report where exactly they noticed bodily sensations after reading the vignettes.

To obtain a map of sensations, the participants were asked to use a computer program that displayed two silhouettes on either side of the screen that they could use to map their own experiences. On the left silhouette, they coloured in the areas where sensation in the body increased and on the right silhouette, they coloured in the areas where it decreased.

Next, the participants were instructed to place themselves on two political spectrums based on their political affiliation (1 = Strong Democrat, 7 = Strong Republican) and their level of conservatism (1 = Very Liberal, 7 = Very Conservative). This allowed each participant’s data to be properly matched with their political affiliation and how they self-report their level of affiliation.

Finally, the participants were assessed for their moral decision-mak-

ing skills via a 30-item questionnaire to see how important each of the five moral conditions were to the participants.

The results showed that across every moral condition, people experienced many similar sensations. For example, everyone experienced high activation in the head and face, but also reported deactivation of sensation in the limbs.

However, the data shows notable differences in the reports of sensation

for liberals and conservatives. For example, liberals reported much more sensation related to violations of loyalty in the head and chest than the conservatives. In contrast, the conservatives reported more activation in the head from violations of purity than liberals. While most violations warranted activation in the chest, purity violations uniquely caused more activation in the abdominal area instead.

What do these results tell us? The high activation found in the head and face likely indicates greater activity in these areas, specifically the higher cognitive processing power needed to understand the moral violations found in the vignettes. The results of the moral questionnaire paired with the sensation maps show that individuals who report certain moral conditions as more important have greater responses to the corresponding moral violations.

So, when liberals have higher activation for violations of loyalty, we can see that certain political affiliations are related to greater moral outrage for certain morals. In saying this, the sensation maps show that everyone on both sides of the political spectrum reacted to the vignettes and felt that each described act was morally reprehensible, only conservatives and liberals reported different expressions of those emotional responses.

Eco-anxiety: a growing problem for youth Being aware of climate change and witnessing disasters, like the Australian bushfires, raises youths’ anxiety ANASTASIA WU CONTRIBUTOR The Amazon wildfires, the Australian bushfires, Typhoon Lekima.

Maybe you’ve heard of them, maybe you haven’t. These are some of the environmental problems we’ve faced within the past year due to climate change and human activity.

For starters, the Amazon wildfires were caused by humans due to a process in deforestation where trees are left to desiccate and then later set on fire to clear the land for crops and agriculture. The fires got out of hand and quickly spread to other unintended parts of the Amazon. As a result, the fires caused a lot of destruction to the Amazon rainforest and put many species of plants and animals at risk.

As for the Australian bushfires, over 6.3 million hectares of land have already been burned. Due to the dry climate of the region and

the rise in temperature from climate change, the frequency and intensity of bushfires in Australia has increased.

To this day, many people around the world are raising money and helping bring awareness to the unfortunate event in Australia. Celebrities like Chris Hemsworth, Elton John, and Kylie Jenner are only a few among the many who donated generous amounts to help the Australian bushfire relief.

While some people are raising money for causes like the Australian bushfires, others are raising awareness. For example, at the 2020 Golden Globes, Russell Crowe mentioned the bushfires in his acceptance speech and chose to bring awareness to the oncoming climate change issue.

Other environmental activists like Greta Thunberg, Jack Harries, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez are all aiming to bring more awareness at

a political and global standpoint.

Many people know Greta Thunberg through her intensive campaigning against climate change when she started by protesting in front of the Swedish Parliament. Later on in September 2019, she was invited to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City where she took a zero-emissions yacht to get there from Sweden.

On another political standpoint there is Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, an indigenous Mexican-American bringing global awareness to climate change by suing the U.S. government for climate inaction.

There is a new term being used by people, and that is eco-anxiety.

Eco-anxiety is the strong concern or fear for the environment, its future, and how we affect it. It refers to the pressing matter of climate change because as each second passes all of our human activity worsens the issue.

Some scientists have characterized eco-anxiety as a mental disorder in more extreme cases.

The term has its pros and cons.

One of its pros is it leads many people, not only environmental activists like Greta Thunberg, but even others like Kylie Jenner and Russell Crowe, to raise money and bring awareness to the issue at hand and help make it more globally known.

The danger of eco-anxiety, on the other hand, is that it can lead to more extreme symptoms for some people like panic attacks or depression. This seems to occur more with youths than adults. Eco-anxiety is a growing problem for the youth because all the symptoms they’re experiencing focus on something they can’t control.

What can we do to help people who experience eco-anxiety, and how do we stop climate change?

Eco-anxiety isn’t easily fixed or reversed, but we can help by doing

what we can to fight climate change.

Climate change isn’t something that can be stopped, but it can be slowed down.

We can start by lowering our carbon footprint and reducing chemical emissions. We can also buy more organic foods and try to eat less meat. We can try to use less plastic, where applicable, by using reusable water bottles or bags instead of plastic ones. Lastly, we can try to carpool with a friend or take public transit instead of driving alone every day.

If you want a real challenge, try not to use transit at all and walk or bike instead. This will completely eliminate all your carbon emissions that prove to be harmful to our atmosphere. When you’re trying to help out the environment and slow down climate change, just remember that it’s never too late to start or to change. It’s not the end yet. Let’s keep it that way.

16

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 01.20.2020

Volleyball player profile: Brianna Webb Brianna Webb wants her impact on UTM athletics to last longer than her role on the volleyball court SARAH-MAY OLDFIELD SPORTS & HEALTH EDITOR

Up until grade 10, UTM athletics and volleyball student leader Brianna Webb’s life revolved around soccer. She played on soccer representative teams all her life—it was everything to her.

Currently, in Webb’s fifth year at UTM, you would never find her at a drop-in soccer session or playing in one of the UTM intramurals soccer leagues. A bad soccer coach late in her competitive soccer career cemented the inevitable realization for her—Webb hated soccer. At the same time, Webb realized she had a real passion for volleyball.

Webb grew up in Stoney Creek, Ontario, a small city just outside of Hamilton. If she wanted to play for a good volleyball team, she would have to play in the neighboring city of Burlington or somewhere else in the GTA. She never pursued volleyball beyond her high school team, a house league team, and the odd volleyball tournament.

During her first two years at UTM, Webb, like many student athletes, felt she needed to take a break from sports and focus on school. Up until starting university, sports had been a large part of her life.

“My mom used to play volleyball, but only recreationally,” Webb told The Medium. “My family is more of a hockey family, so there’s no spotlight where volleyball goes. Everyone follows hockey. My dad played hockey, and my brother plays for Saginaw Spirit [and] was drafted to the Detroit Red Wings.”

As the oldest of three siblings, Webb is the first to take volleyball seriously. In her third year at UTM, Webb became a member of UTM’s tri-Campus volleyball.

“I just decided to do it. I felt like I was better able to manage my time in my third year than when I was in my first. In hindsight, I wish I was better at managing my time earlier. I really missed volleyball in my two years off, but I guess I also didn’t realize what kind of opportunities were out there. I did my own research and found there was a team, not just a campus recreational league,” said Webb.

Like most sports, playing volleyball often comes with injuries.

Last year, Webb dislocated her right thumb.

“I went to volley a really hard hit with my hands, instead of bumping it. It hit my thumb hard,” said Webb.

The injury came at terrible time for Webb and her team. They were in the middle of their season and had signed up for extramural tournaments. She had a cast for four weeks, and her thumb taped for another two weeks. A true lover of the game, Webb tried to get back into the game as soon as possible. She described the experience of staying away from the game she’d fell in love with as “torture.”

“I wasn’t fully ready, but I slowly

IRTAQA ARIF/THE MEDIUM

Volleyball has transformed the life of student, leader, and athlete Brianna Webb. eased into it and now I’m 100 per cent,” Webb said.

After being a regular participant in drop-in volleyball at the RAWC and in UTM’s campus intramurals, Webb took her involvement a step further and became a student leader this year. She is now the Head Volleyball Referee, and, like a commissioner, she assigns student referees to games and helps with scheduling and other administrative duties involved with running the intramural

the most is being able to contribute and playing a major role in the program’s growth.”

Despite being an infant sports program in comparison to most universities, UTM’s athletic community has become familial for many student athletes. Year after year, it continues to grow—the program, the teams, and the athletes.

“I feel like it’s growing, and it feels amazing to be a part of that growing process. I feel like we’re going to be

sense. It wasn’t about what was going to make me the most money, it was about what was going to keep my passionate for the long run.”

Webb is more than a student athlete. She works part time through the city of Hamilton teaching children’s sports skills classes.

“I teach volleyball, basketball, and soccer. I work with children as young as three—pre-school kids.

The pre-school kids are my favourite, because for them it’s just about

UTM ATHLETICS/FACEBOOK

Webb, #7, focuses on what she brings to the athletics program over what she is leaving behind. program.

The leadership role wasn’t one Webb thought she would undertake during her time at UTM, never considering herself to be very vocal or have assertive qualities often synonymous with leadership.

But she has surprised herself, not only with how much she has come to love the role but with how much she loves having a say in UTM athletics.

“As weird as it sounds, I like being in charge of something and having a say and contributing to how athletics are run for students. I want it to be successful, and I’d love to have a hand in that success. What I like

really good in the next few years. I can see the differences being made,” said Webb.

In terms of life after UTM, Webb plans to pursue a master’s in social work to fulfill her passion of working with and taking care of children.

Webb has known for as long as she can remember that she wanted to work with children. She just didn’t know what field she wanted to work in.

“When I looked into what child social workers do, I could see myself doing just that and helping children. And once I realized what I was actually going to be passionate about, everything seemed to make

learning,” said Webb. “They don’t have a clue, and I can just teach them.”

Webb also recently started working with children with special needs.

It was another new venture this year that placed Webb outside of her comfort zone. Up until this year, she taught just classes. Now she counsels one-on-one with young people, providing extra support. And like her new student leader role, the new component to her job is one she likes a lot more than she originally thought she would.

UTM’s volleyball team has struggled in recent years, but Webb has been optimistic, especially after

some of the recent changes the program has gone through. One such change is their new coach, Ngebui “Natalie” Chafeh who Webb feels has brought a lot to their struggling program.

“Natalie has the most faith in the world that we are going to develop as a team. I knew from the first practice [that what she was having us do] was definitely going to help us progress so much more than last season,” said Webb. “She’s impacted our team dynamic, how we play, how we communicate, and our overall chemistry.”

A true fan of sports, Webb follows volleyball and basketball whenever she can. With volleyball not being a very popular sport it’s harder for Webb to access volleyball games, but that doesn’t stop her from supporting her fellow volleyball athletes at their games whenever she can. There isn’t one volleyball player that she considers a role model, but if she had pick one she’d pick UTM’s own coach, Natalie.

In terms of work ethic, despite him being younger, Webb looks up to her brother.

“He’s really hard working in sports and it’s helped him reach where he is today with a spot in the NHL. Even though he’s my younger sibling, he’s been into that hardworking environment in sports for a lot longer than I have, and that’s something I look to him for and get advice from.”

A humble student leader, Webb would rather focus on what she can bring to the athletics program over what she wants to be remembered for.

“I want to leave a mark on the progress that UTM’s volleyball has made. I know people in the past, like Jessica Maltese, were in the same position I am now, the position to contribute if only in the slightest to that progression,” said Webb. “I’d like to be part of a winning team because I never have in the past. I want to contribute to some success for the team, while also developing as a player.”

Webb is an approachable and patient leader who exerts an understated optimism that inspires and uplifts the people around her. She recognizes how much being a part of the UTM community through athletics has changed and added to her life, and she hopes future students won’t be as timid as she was to get themselves involved in the community as early as possible.

“Unlike myself, who didn’t get involved until third year, I would say get involved right away, immediately. Even if it doesn’t come to you, seek it out,” said Webb.

“Go out and see what you can get involved in. It doesn’t have to be sports. I guarantee it will make your time here at UTM so much better,” added Web. “And you can definitely handle it on top of school. Even if you think you can’t, you definitely can.”

6

«

01.20.2020

Ali Taha

MASTHEAD Editor-in-Chief / Ali Taha

editor@themedium.ca

Managing Editor / Paula Cho

Challenging the power of professors

managing@themedium.ca

News / Melissa Barrientos

news@themedium.ca

Deputy News Editor / Saleha Faruque

deputynews@themedium.ca

Satire / Erin Delaney

satire@themedium.ca

A&E / Vinney Wong

arts@themedium.ca

Features / Fatima Adil

features@themedium.ca

Sports / Sarah-May Edwardo-Oldfield

sports@themedium.ca

Photo / Julia Healy

photos@themedium.ca

Design / Tegwen McKenzie

design@themedium.ca

Illustrations / Tala Alkhaldi

illustrations@themedium.ca

Copy / Jessica Cabral

copy@themedium.ca

Online / Yasmeen Alkoka

online@themedium.ca

GENERAL STAFF Webmaster / William Pau

web@themedium.ca

Distribution Manager / Mduduzi Mhlanga

distribution@themedium.ca

Ads Manager / Amina Safdar

ads@themedium.ca

ASSOCIATES News: Harris Watkins, Isik Vera Senel, Diljot Badesha Satire: -A&E: Shalomi Ranasinghe Features: Latisha Lobban, Bismah Rizvi Sports: Noor Bhatia Photo: Hayden Mak, Kellsy Ann Meneses, Nour Saqqa, Irtaqa Arif

MEDIUM II PUBLICATIONS 3359 Mississauaga Road Room 200, Student Centre Mississauaga, ON, L5L 1C6

Editorial

The Uninviting Campus Are you all ready for this year’s winter carnival? It’s going to be a doozy. Here are some things that are included in the $3.00 ticket: “two concerts, three meals, seven movies, a drama production, and eligibility in the prize-laden scavenger hunt.” There’s also the pub, “a coffee-shop, ping pong championships, skating, a boat race, an office chair race, a pep rally, a karate demonstration, and an auction of lost goods.”

Oh wait, that was the winter carnival schedule for the week of January 26, 1972. It’s hard to imagine such an ambitious undertaking at UTM in 2020.

It’s the third week of a new semester and this campus couldn’t be more boring. Students are corpse-like, depressed, and lethargic. It feels like nobody wants to be here.

This is symptomatic of a larger issue on campus that has plagued UTM since its inception. The Medium has been reporting on campus apathy for years. Just last semester we published two articles — an editorial and an op-ed — addressing student apathy. Part of this apathy stems from UTM’s image as an uninviting campus.

UTM is not a cozy campus. There is not a corner on this campus where you can sit and feel comfortable studying, reading, or learning. This place doesn’t inspire, it deflates. The buildings are blocks of cold concrete. They don’t feel like places that advance the university mandate — the pursuit of truth and knowledge. They are instead places of operation and business. At its worst, when there is no one around, the UTM campus is sterile and lifeless. Put bluntly, the campus is ugly.

It should be an inviting place — a place driven by wonder and filled with a community of people who are passionate about learning and developing new experiences.

Students come to campus for their classes and then they leave. And many of them accept knowledge, they don’t pursue it.

Not that that is the university’s problem, but an inviting campus is the first step to a conducive learning experience for undergraduates.

MITCHELL HUYNH/TWITTER

Mitchell Huynh has presented his own book and Twitter account as the holy grail for grades.

TOMASZ GLOD STAFF WRITER Mitchell Huynh, a sessional lecturer in the management program at UTM, has made national headlines for making students purchase a copy of his book, get it signed, and follow him on social media to earn participation marks.

He has been met with fierce criticism this past week, with many regarding the sale of the book and the additional social media followers as, well, stupid.

Huynh isn’t the first professor to assign his own book as a course resource, and through his interviews he’s been insistent on the fact that the amount of money that he makes from book sales is marginal. “Teaching and book sales together are less than five per cent of my annual income,” he told the National Post. The book is listed on Amazon for $20 – certainly less than textbooks in most courses.

Huynh might believe that he is helping students by providing them easy grades for doing something that consists of little effort and cost only $20. But there is a larger issue that people have a problem with, and that is what Huynh represents: why would someone trample over the downtrodden?

Students are already paying hundreds of dollars for his course, so why should they be forced to buy his book and follow him on social media? To the people that are in his course, my piece of advice is this: just do it. My personal

experiences at UTM have been underlined by the ability and power that instructors have within their courses, and as evil as you might perceive Huynh’s requirements to be, there are other courses that would get you to pay a much larger sum of money to fully participate (i.e. cost of textbooks, TopHat, iClickers) and most importantly, his requirements will generate easy marks.

The larger issue that I take with Huynh is the cult-like personality that it appears he is looking to create. To be completely fair: I have never met Huynh or taken his courses, but from the personality that he is attempting to create and sell online, it appears incredibly disingenuous. Just as there are professors on this campus that regularly place textbooks on their syllabus that cost more than $20, there are also instructors that make the conscious effort to include readings that are available to students through the tuition that they are already paying.

Some of the greatest professors that I have had are ones that genuinely concern themselves with the well-being and success of their students. From the video that Huynh posted on his Instagram in response to the backlash, it appears that he prioritizes his success, referencing to the fact that he regularly receives great testimonials from students from course evaluations, that his course is a very highly rated one and that the book shows his students how

to create additional income.

His inability to focus on the real issue at hand—his students—and his focus on what is more interesting—material wealth—is evident through the comments that he makes, encouraging his students to use his book as a “wealth bible.”

He then points to the fact that the notes that students make throughout their university career will probably end up discarded, but “the minute that you spend money on something […] it is now something that is more valuable.”

If he’s not making any money off his book and teaching, then why continue? His genuine care for his students? Only Huynh can answer that. But the fact of the matter is that through this position that only brings in five per cent of his annual income, he’s gained a lot of clout.

Perhaps Huynh, like some other professors, should make a conscious effort to be more in tune with caring for his students by making teaching more personal, a quality that is easily forgotten within the size and prestige of U of T. However, under the assumption that he cares for his students, Huynh represents a type of professor that could learn just as much from his students as he thinks he could teach them.

Huynh also associates the inherent value of something with the fact that one pays for it. He shouldn’t forget that his course isn’t free, and neither is the time of his students.

01.20.2020 THE MEDIUM COMMENT» 7

The political implications of a beard Facial hair is a rarity among politicians, especially in the modern tradition of western politics AYA YAFAOUI STAFF WRITER

We’ve all seen it dominating the news, a tragedy that may change Canadian politics for a long time to come. An issue that has garnered strong opinions from all sides of the political spectrum: Justin Trudeau’s new beard. Yes, JT has decided to sport a new beard this year—because it went so well the last two times. While this new beard is not as atrocious as it’s predecessors, I can’t help but ask “why?” when confronted with the image.

There are many questions that need to be asked, like, “why now?” and, “why that style of beard?” and, “has Trudeau been dying his hair black all this time?”

If you think such a discussion of one leader’s choice in facial hair is frivolous I would like to first of all applaud you for your naïve idealism, and secondly, point you to the body of research that says otherwise.

Now, the beard is a remnant of Trudeau’s Costa Rican winter vacation, and many people believe that he has held off on getting rid of it due to the media attention and the effort of staying cleanly shaven. These explanations are definitely factors, but I believe that when it comes to Trudeau’s image, nothing is done without careful consideration. So, let us explore the implications of facial hair in the political sphere.

Image is paramount in politics, so much so that whole teams are created to directly manage a politician’s image. Trudeau has famously cultivated

PHOTO/GLOBALNEWS.CA

Justin Trudeau has made headlines and history with his beard that the country is divided over. his image to appear as a young, capable leader that is in tune with the younger generations’ most pressing issues, especially as a champion of gender issues. Yet, now it seems that the “young and hip” persona is being exchanged for a mature, statesmanlike one, and this change is significant.

Facial hair is a rarity among politicians, especially in the modern western tradition. The last Canadian prime minister to sport any kind of facial hair was Robert Borden in the early twentieth century, and the last fully bearded prime minister was Mackenzie Bowell, who served from 1894 to 1896. The popularity of being clean-shaven in politics can be attributed to many things, such as the need among soldiers to be clean-shaven in World War II for their gas masks to

seal properly. Yet regardless of how beards fell out of fashion, their modern implications are fascinating.

According to a 2015 study conducted by professor Rebekah Herrick and two other Oklahoma State University professors titled, “Razor’s Edge: The Politics of Facial Hair,” facial hair can have benefits and drawbacks depending on the message politicians want to send. The study focused on U.S. Congressmen and the perceptions that surrounded those who chose to wear a beard. They found that politicians with facial hair were seen as “more masculine, and less supportive of feminist issue positions,” and that “facial hair led to presumptions about greater masculinity, which in turn influenced assumptions about issue positions.”

However, regardless of the percep-

tions of participants, the study found that there was, “no evidence that legislators with facial hair voted any differently from those without facial hair. On women’s issues and legislation pertaining to the use of force, there were “no significant differences between the voting records of Congressmen with and without facial hair.”

So, what does this mean for Trudeau’s image? Well, as many in the media have speculated, the new beard may be an attempt to cast Trudeau as a seasoned veteran, or to emphasize the fact that he is, in fact, 48 yearsold and getting close to 50 (could the next phase be Boomer Trudeau?). Yet, I think that Trudeau’s beard, however long it stays, is a sign that Trudeau is not only “cooling down” his image— whatever that means—but that he’s

taking on a new role, one that will see him fighting to regain the power that has slipped through his hands during the last election.

Of course, it should also be noted, as former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall did in his National Post piece, the obsessiveness that accompanied Trudeau’s new beard. In today’s era, it is all too common for the public to focus on a politician’s appearance, and even more prevalent for them to be mocked for it. Often, it is a trend that particularly targets female politicians and racialized politicians.

While Trudeau might get a snide remark or a political jab because of his new beard, it is important to recognize that neither the sarcasm nor the beard is permanent. In contrast, the bullying and trauma that female and racialized politicians face due to their unalterable features, such as their gender and race, are much more harmful and lasting. This is why I would like to stress that although a politician’s appearance is an important part of their image, it should not be the defining measure of their worth or their merit, and it should never be used as a way to make racist or misogynistic jokes.

Therefore, the bottom line with Trudeau’s new look is that although I find it positively patchy and ageing, it is at the end of the day just a beard.

A mass of hair on his face that could indicate a new phase in his role as prime minister, or a relic of a vacation that captured the media’s attention because of their collective fascination with appearance. Either way, I just hope he shaves it soon.

For a commuter school, we have a parking problem If the cheapest parking pass is over $700 and can’t guarantee a spot on any given day, something needs to change JULIA HEALY PHOTO EDITOR During the summer of 2019, it was announced that all parking passes would be sold online.

This decision was most likely made after students lined up outside the Parking and Transportation Office overnight the year prior. The website was launched at 10:00 a.m. on August 1st, 2019, but crashed soon after.

The website was down for hours.

Most people were not able to successfully secure a pass until much later in the day. Others were not so lucky and have had to find other methods of parking their cars near campus. Or if they wanted to park on campus, they would have to compete with passholders for spots, and then pay $15 for a full day of parking.

For the people who did get a parking pass, there are still major problems. For the students willing to shell-out the money, they can park in the reserved underground CCT parking lot. For the students wanting the cheapest option, there is the unreserved parking pass that permits passholders to park in P4, P8, or P9.

The first two are multi-level and right next to each other, in front of the RAWC. Parking Lot 9 is smaller, one level, and closer to the library.

With the recent construction that slightly expanded the one level part of P8, one would think that the students and staff of UTM with these unreserved parking passes would have no problem parking. They would, if staff member and student didn’t have to be on campus at a high-volume time, or if there weren’t any events on campus.

If, say, a Get Experience Fair was happening, promising 1000 students the same well-paid summer job, I think the parking lots would be a bit fuller.

So full, that multiple cars would have to drive around for half an hour to look for spots, or even take up parking on the grass in some instances.

Now, there have been rumours of over-selling of these unreserved parking passes, which wouldn’t be so bad if everyone who bought a parking pass wasn’t at school five days a week.

But some people are, and unreserved shouldn’t mean “oh well you don’t get a spot if there aren’t any.” Even if there are warnings on the parking websites, why should a person who drives be

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

We have a parking problem that leads to questioning the accessability of our campus. prevented from attending their expensive classes when their expensive parking pass gets them nothing?

If the cheapest parking pass is over $700 for a full year of parking, and apparently cannot guarantee a spot on any given day, there needs to be a change. If there is already a problem with parking for students, staff, and faculty at UTM, it must be even harder for guests.

If any changes are to be made, they should be made for the division of parking lots. Section out space for staff, space for students, and space for guests. How can we claim our school is accessible when only people who can pay $1200 for a yearly parking pass are guaranteed a parking spot?

A tip to anyone in a parking spot: if you’re headed back to your car to leave school and see the parking lot is

full and there are lots of people waiting around for spots, how about we get a move on? It doesn’t take long to get situated and take off. A tip to anyone looking for a parking spot: keep moving! You’re more likely to find someone leaving their spot when you drive around then if you stay idling in one row (and idling isn’t good for the environment).

8

«

01.20.2020

Editor | Erin Delaney

SATIRE

Harry and Meghan expected Small bug barred to enroll at UTM from Cricket

Intramurals

LEVIATHAN/WIKIMEDIA

UTM’s littlest athlete is being barred from his birth-right.

THE ROYAL FAMILY/TWITTER

Meghan Markle and her husband are choosing UTM as the destination of their Canadian adventure.

ERIN DELANEY SATIRE EDITOR The act of leaving your family is often the first step in a young person’s life toward gaining independence and becoming a tried and true adult, and for two members of the royal family, the time has come to leave the nest.

When Harry and Meghan announced their departure from the royal family on January 8, their decision marked a dramatic change for the monarchy, and for UTM. Meghan and Harry were reported to have applied to several post-secondary Canadian institutions. They were considering Western University in London Ontario, on the off-chance Harry would feel homesick. They had also considered the University of King’s College in Halifax, as a means to show respect to Harry’s balding brother, the future king, Prince William.

With the possibilities of war loom-

ing in the Middle East, Harry was already accepted to the Royal Military College despite not even applying.

And while they had considered Queens University in Kingston, they ultimately decided against it, since the whole point of their international move was to escape the Queen and non-subtle racism.

After much consideration, the couple landed on the obvious decision, University of Toronto Mississauga.

A palace insider explained to The Medium why the couple chose UTM: “They had initially set their hopes on the downtown campus but settled on Mississauga because the rent was cheaper. I overheard Harry tell Meghan that it’s basically the same degree anyway.”

UTM appealed to the royal couple thanks to several factors. Like many other international students, Harry was drawn to the diverse community at UTM, as well as the Early Learning Centre for his son, Archie. Meghan’s

previous time in Canada spent filming the television series Suits qualified her for OSAP funding, which will give her much needed financial assistance with the 10 per cent tuition reduction courtesy of his royal highness, Doug Ford.

“Meghan will absolutely love being so close to Toronto. After all it is only a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride during rush hour!”

Their education at UTM will help the couple develop much needed skills for their professional adult life, since Harry’s history of unemployment will make it extremely difficult to find a job to support his wife and child. Meghan’s past acting experience will surely land her a prime spot in the Erindale Theatre program as tree #3 in The Hobbit.

With Harry and Meghan now proper Eagles, be sure to keep an eye out for their royal motorcade on the second level of the CCT parking garage.

ERIN DELANEY SATIRE EDITOR The recent start of the winter semester also marks the beginning of several campus programs, including the winter sports intramural program offered by the Recreation and Wellness Centre. With the membership included in their incidental tuition fees, most students are able to participate in sports like basketball, indoor soccer, dodgeball, and cricket.

But one UTM student is facing difficulties in getting his game on.

Jim LAST is a third-year environmental science major. He enjoys eating greens, hopping around town, and staying up late. He’s also a cricket. He enrolled at UTM and moved to Mississauga from India, where he was the star player on his Cricket team. He was headed to the cricket intramurals at the RAWC when an athletic centre employee squashed his plans.

“They told me they don’t usually allow grasshoppers in the RAWC, which was the first strike,” LAST told The Medium. “I’m obviously a

cricket.”

“Then they said that my wings would give me an unfair advantage.

If that’s so, why do they have a birdie at all their badminton games?”

When told that the birdie was not an actual winged creature, but a plastic shuttlecock, LAST responded, “You humans are so unoriginal. If I called my butthole Greg, you’d probably be confused too.”

“I’m a cold-blooded beast on the court,” LAST continued. “I was voted MVP (Most Valuable Pest) back home.”

When reached for comment on this restrictive policy, the RAWC responded that “UTM is committed to preventing vermin and pests from dirtying the gym.”

“They told me that it was just simply UTM eagle policy, and to that I said ‘EAGLE? Where???’ and burrowed into a vent to escape the predator,” LAST commented.

Before we could finish conducting our interview with LAST, he was unfortunately squished by a cricket paddle.

Job Fair prompts students to sign deal with the devil ERIN DELANEY SATIRE EDITOR The Get Hired Fair is the crown jewel of UTM’s Career Centre, with hundreds of students and alumni flocking to the RAWC’s main gym in hopes of finding their dream job, or at least something to cover their OSAP debt with. While most attendees walked away without any plans for the future, a few students signed the deal of their lifetime.

The devil, also known as Satan, Lucifer, and “Kyle” to his friends, is the harbinger of doom and the personifi-

cation of evil, and now he is also the boss to a few dozen UTM students and alumni. Most students have considered selling their soul to the devil but haven’t followed through. These new hires are willing to sacrifice their afterlife for valuable work experience and the ability to fill the empty space on their resume.

“While god is bound to a not-forprofit business model,” one student told The Medium, “Satan and his subsidiaries are able to exploit the market to their unholy heart’s content. After all, he did invent capitalism.”

A Satan representative explained to The Medium that, “When it comes to our prospective hires, we look for several key factors: Greed—you gotta be motivated to make your money.

Sloth—work hard, sleep harder.

Pride—gotta rep the brand with pride. Gluttony—we have weekly bagel meetings, so bring your appetite.

Wrath—you should be invested in your work. Envy—you gotta be clear with your goals and aspirations. And due to previous HR violations, I am no longer at liberty to discuss lust, but it definitely helps.”

We tend to hire more political sci-

ence majors, followed by education and English,” continued the representative. “Business majors don’t actually have souls, so we are unable to provide employment to them. Overall, it’s quite simple. An employee of ours gains skills and experience, and in exchange all we ask for is their soul and for them to spend their entire afterlife in damnation. We are pretty on par with most major banks. And we are committed to cultivating a diverse work environment. I deeply believe all shapes, colours, and religions have a place in hell.”

“And most new hires quickly work

their way through the ranks,” the representative concluded. “You may start with fanning the flames of hell, but soon enough you’ll be torturing all the sinners and who knows, maybe one day you’ll get your own pitchfork and corner office.”

We caught up with Christian Goodman, a recent Satan hire, who summed up the state of the job market. “I mean, it’s the devil, but dental care is dental care, you know? There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism anyway. I’d rather have a devil with horns as my boss than a devil in a discount business suit.”

01.20.2020

»

9

Editor | Vinney Wong

Caravans of Gold shows the way of life The exhibition at the AGA Khan Museum highlights the history of West Africa and the Sahara MAHERA ISLAM CONTRIBUTOR Mansa Musa, the King of the Malian Empire in the fourteenth century, made a pilgrimage to Mecca, a journey during which he was accompanied by around “8,000 courtiers, 12,000 slaves, and 100 camels, each carrying up to 300 pounds of pure gold.” He is said, by many historians and scholars, to have been one of the richest person in history. This journey inspires the name of the exhibit, Caravans of Gold: Fragments in Time, currently showing at the AGA Khan Museum, which explores the history of West Africa and the Sahara during the medieval period.

With over 250 objects, the exhibition showcases artifacts, artwork, and various other archeological discoveries from the eighth to the sixteenth century, allowing visitors to see how central the Sahara Desert was to the global network of exchange and trade, and how Islam and Arabic spread to this part of the world. Objects range from gold jewelry and coins, to beautiful sculptures of various materials, to fragments of textiles, to pages from holy and scholarly texts, and many more.

One of the most eye-catching sculptures is the ‘Seated Figure’ from Ife, made of copper, dating back to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. Chemical analysis of the raw copper suggests that the ma-

PHOTO/SALINA KASSAN

This exhibit shows the influence of Africa and West Africa on the culture of the medieval times. terial may have originated in France, being brought to Ife where it was displayed in a beautifully intricate and thin cast. The figure was part of the ritual life in Tada, a small village on the banks of the Niger River 120 miles north of Ife in the early twentieth century. During the medieval period, this location would have been strategically important to Ife, connecting it with long distance trade.

Part of the reason this exhibit so aptly fits at the Aga Khan Museum is because it highlights the spread of Islam and contribution of Muslims during this time period.

Towards the beginning of the exhibition, museumgoers will come across the ‘Leaf from the Blue Qur’an,’ one of the most celebrated Quran manuscripts, which originated from either Tunisia or Iraq around the ninth and tenth century. The original manuscript would have contained around 600 folios. These pages are unique because the verses are written in gold leaf, as opposed to shell gold which was the more common technique of making gold manuscripts in the central Islamic world. The manuscript is also decorated with silver over indigo coloured parchment. In-

digo, a material used in many other objects at the exhibit, was frequently traded across the Sahara at the time.

The exhibit also includes an installment from a section of a panel from ‘The Catalan Atlas,’ a medieval world map made by Jewish cartographer Abraham Cresques in the fourteenth century in Majorca, Spain.

The entire map is made of illuminated parchment mounted on a total of six vertical wooden panels, and was a gift for Charles V, the king of France. This piece includes the portrait of Mansa Musa, with a caption in the Catalan language, describing

how this “Moorish ruler” is the “the richest and most distinguished ruler of the whole region on account of the great quantity of gold that is found in his lands.”

The exhibition also displayed various items of everyday or common use, such as the fragments of ‘Tellem’ textiles, found in cave dwellings in Mali, ranging from the eleventh to fourteenth century. Some pieces are fragments of blankets, one is of a cap, and one is of a sleeve. Each piece showcases a high level of technique and various styles of weaving, often dyed with indigo and made of cotton. There are also various displays of gold jewelry and ornaments, one being the ‘Earrings, pendant, and ring,’ thought to have been manufactured in Western Sudan around the thirteenth to fifteenth century, and excavated among the grave goods of a high status person buried at Durbi Takushehyi in north-central Nigeria.

Caravans of Gold is an educational and important experience as it challenges many people’s ideas and misconceptions of the middle ages, as this time period is often taught from a very Eurocentric perspective.

The exhibit, which runs until February 23, allows visitors to see how Africa, in particular West Africa and the Sahara, were incredibly important to the commerce and culture of the world during the medieval period.

The state of living at Blackwood Gallery Other Life Formings takes visitors on a visual journey and explores what it means to be alive on Earth LOURDES DUAH CONTRIBUTOR In an age where animation has the power to bring life and vitality to a series of still frames, the art exhibit Other Life Formings at the Blackwood Gallery poses an interesting question: how do we determine what can be called “alive”? Three works are currently on display in the Blackwood Gallery and weave together themes of life, time, animation, and nature.

The first installation in the exhibit is The Lighthouse by Parastoo Anoushahpour. In the center is a round, rotating screen with the image of a lighthouse on a cliffside. Projectors on either side of the screen cast the image onto the walls. The slow motion of the screen and relaxing ocean sounds accompanying the piece make it very serene. The exhibition calls attention to the interesting in-between space that the piece occupies: “it is neither a photograph nor a film and yet it marks a time, a place, and a memory,” reads the exhibition guide. Instead of a still image representing a single static moment,

CHEN GONG/THE MEDIUM

The simpllicity of life and art is captured in this exhibit showcasing Indigenous culture. the scene constantly disappears and reappears before the viewer, making it more present and engaging to the viewer.

Next is Linda Sanchez’s 11752 mètres et des poussières. The 71-minute video tracks a droplet of water as it travels across an unidentified surface. While the subject seems ordinary, it feels surprisingly lively when viewed up close. It’s reminiscent of being in a long car ride and watching

water droplets fall down the window, but as if the droplet were autonomous and alive, moving on its own.

A viewer would know that a water droplet isn’t sentient, but the way it’s shot suggests that the droplet has a life of its own. The piece plays well with conceptions of what can be considered alive, which is a major theme of the exhibit.

Finally, there’s Amanda Strong’s animation, Biidaaban (The Dawn

Comes). The short film tells the story of Biidaaban, an Indigenous, genderfluid person carrying on their ancestors’ practice of collecting sap from maple trees. Biidaaban is aided by a sasquatch creature named Sabe. Together, they travel through the city, connecting to the land and the past along the way. Strong combines stopmotion animation with unique colour schemes and character designs, making the characters and scenes

feel otherworldly. Beyond the visuals, the short film tells a unique and culturally significant story. Even to a viewer who knows little to nothing about the Indigenous faith, Biidaaban’s connection to their ancestors, the land, and the spirits around them is incredibly palpable. For example, the imagery of the roots and the visions of the spirits help convey Biidaaban’s connection to the land. Even without a word spoken in the film, the viewer can still follow and be inspired by Biidaaban’s journey.

Overall, the exhibit was enjoyable and made me want to see even more pieces. However, context was needed to fully understand and appreciate the works. I would not have fully appreciated Biidaaban had I not read about the Indigenous tradition of sap collecting in the exhibition guide, nor would I understand the exhibition’s questioning of life and animation had I not read about it on the website. That said, it was very effective in making me want to find out more, and I would recommend seeing the exhibition before it closes.

Other Life Formings runs at the Blackwood Gallery until March 7.

10

«ARTS

THE MEDIUM 01.20.2020

1917 is a thrilling and technical triumph Unlike other war films, 1917 captivates audiences through amazing visual effects and cinematography CATHERINE JOSEPH CONTRIBUTOR Fresh off its wins at the Golden Globes, 1917 launched into its wide theatrical release, becoming a major subject among moviegoers and recently securing ten Academy Award nominations, deservedly so. The newest venture from director Sam Mendes holds itself to the highest technical standard and proves to be a visual experience that demands to be seen on the big screen.

In modern cinema, World War I can be considered the older sibling, often overlooked and given far less attention than the younger sibling World War II. 1917 explores a small corner of this war without explicitly dealing with its happenings and larger implications. The film isn’t necessarily based on true events but can be considered as an amalgamation of various stories and soldiers, represented onscreen by the two main protagonists, Blake (Dean Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George Mackay). We follow them as they journey into dangerous territory beyond enemy lines, tasked to deliver a message to prevent an advance of a British battalion who would unknowingly be walking into a massacre. The stakes are established imme-

MILIDAE CLAIRE UY/THE MEDIUM

This big screen film tells a small story of WW1 and the responsibility that one soldier can have. diately: the lives of sixteen hundred men, including Blake’s brother, are on the main protagonist’s shoulders, his mission constrained by the time of a single day.

Mackay manifests a gripping performance in a physically demanding role and grounds the film amidst

the action. The choice to focus on ordinary soldiers and casting relatively new faces in a big studio film was a risky and deliberate one that ultimately pays off in enhancing its small but important thematic exploration. The roles of high-ranking officers are relegated to well-known ac-

tors like Benedict Cumberbatch and Colin Firth, but they only appear in fleeting moments.

1917 is a truly immersive experience, boasting technical virtuosity to the credit of master cinematographer, Roger Deakins. The riveting display of action and movement is one

that can only be preceded by months of preparation, storyboarding each shot and hidden cut, as well as rigorous on-set rehearsals to perfect longer takes. The collaborative work put into the production transcends beautifully onto the big screen as one continuous shot, following the soldiers in real time through constantly shifting terrain. The visual feat is accompanied by a haunting score from composer Randy Newman, filling the story with anxious notes and dramatic crescendos.

The visual dynamic onscreen is compelling enough for the audience to brush off the surface level character and plot development, which is not something 1917 needs to worry about for it to be a brilliant movie.

Certain nuanced scenes touch upon the futility and tragedy of war ,which rests heavy on the backs of soldiers who are mere cogs in a war machine. Despite knowing very little about our protagonists, the performances are enough to capture the audience and make us root for the underdog characters.

In its entirety, 1917 is a stunning display of what can truly be achieved by the cinematic artform and is an experience that should not be watched in theaters, the way it was intended.

Why Greta Gerwig’s Little Women works The film centers around three sisters and their desires to be independent women in the 1800s MAHERA ISLAM CONTRIBUTOR The recent film Little Women (2019), written and directed by Greta Gerwig, is the seventh film adaption of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott. To me it begs the question, is another period drama centered around white women necessary right now? While that is a valid critique, I think that this film offers a fresh new interpretation of the story, and is definitely worth your time.

Gerwig not only takes creative liberties by telling the story through flashbacks as opposed to chronologically, she also chooses to insert elements of Alcott’s own life into the character of Josephine “Jo” March, played by the brilliant Saoirse Ronan.

The story starts in 1868, with Jo living in New York City trying to earn money as a writer, which she sends to her mother (Laura Dern). The film then jumps seven years back to Concord, Massachusetts, showing the March sisters’ childhood. All perfectly cast, each March sister has a distinct personality that captures your attention. Meg (Emma Stone), the eldest and most responsible, loves acting, but hopes to get married and have a family. The second is Jo, who is very independent and unconventional, loves to write, and is not so sure about marriage. Beth (Eliza Scanlen), who has a great talent for playing piano, is the most reserved and innocent. Amy (Florence Pugh), the youngest, who

CHARLENE BEA/THE MEDIUM

This classic tale tells the simple story of sisters who fight for love and independence. loves to paint and draw, often finds herself in trouble and yearns for Jo’s attention and friendship.

In their adulthood, Meg is married with children, but struggles financially because of her husband’s occupation as a tutor. Beth still lives with her parents and is seen dealing with weakened health after contracting syphilis when she was younger.

And Amy is in Paris, accompanied by their wealthy unmarried aunt (Meryl Streep), perfecting her painting skills and hoping to receive a marriage pro-

posal.

The film jumps back and forth between these two timelines, contrasting the nostalgic childhood of the March sisters and their adventures as teenagers to their present day lives as grown adults navigating the real world. Gerwig adds this juxtaposition visually, by contrasting the brighter and orange-toned colour palette of the flashback scenes to the graytoned, slightly dulled colour palette for the present timeline. These transitions are at times unexpected but

work in favor of the story.

In one scene, a younger Jo wakes up to find that Beth, who has just contracted syphilis, is no longer in her bed. Worried, she rushes downstairs to find her happily eating food with their mother. The film then jumps forward to the present, where Jo wakes up again to see Beth’s bed empty. She walks downstairs, slower this time, and finds her mother alone, crying. Beth is someone who asks very little of others and is extremely pure hearted, so her death later on

in the film will inevitably leave you heartbroken.

Of course, the film also showcases the difficulty of being a woman in this time period while trying to maintain your own agency. In the present, Jo is speaking to her mother and feels conflicted after reflecting on her decision to reject her childhood friend Theodore “Laurie” Laurence’s (Timothée Chalamet) proposal years ago.

She gives an emotional monologue on how she is tired of the restrictions and roles pushed onto women, as they have so much more to offer.

At the same time, she feels so lonely that she considers settling and marrying someone she does not love.

Ultimately, like Alcott’s own life, and unlike the book, the film does not end with Jo getting married—rather, her triumph becomes her novel getting published.

Despite the relatability of the film, Little Women was recently overlooked by the selection committee at the Academy Awards, only being nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Gerwig did not receive a nomination for Best Director, which shows that the struggles of Jo March and Louisa May Alcott are still a reality for women today.

Hence, while this heartwarming story will inevitably leave a smile on your face, it is also a relevant story about women living in a society where they are expected to fill certain roles, and are rarely celebrated for their creative work.

01.20.2020 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 11

Selena Gomez cannot be revived on Rare The singer, who has dealt with personal issues in recent years, bares her empty soul on her new album VINNEY WONG A&E EDITOR For Selena Gomez, quietness has become a part of her appeal in recent years. The 27-year-old has chosen to live reclusively after high profile breakups and makeups with Justin Bieber and The Weeknd, mental and physical health struggles, and an onslaught of negative social media trolling. The once most followed person on Instagram now uses the platform when she has something to promote, like her album Rare which was released on January 10.

Rare, a follow up to 2015’s Revival, sees Gomez switching up seductive bangers for powerful confessions and reassuring mid-tempo tracks.

“Why don’t you tell me I’m rare?”

Gomez asks in the chorus of the title track. Minimalistic kickdrums combine with Gomez’s relaxed vocals to make it sound like she’s in a daze.

Despite the questioning, Gomez assures herself (and her fans) that “there’s somebody else out there,” who will call her rare.

And indeed, Gomez is a rare type of popstar with vocals as soft as a whisper and an ability to tranquilize listeners into making her songs chart toppers — as was the case with “Lose You To Love Me.” The song, written

by Gomez and long-time collabora-

HORY GREEN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Selena Gomez’s supposed big comeback falls flat with lacking lyrics and uninspired singing. tors Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, hit #1 on Billboard shortly after its release last October. To be fair, Gomez was never the strongest vocalist in comparison to her peers, but she managed to deliver personality and varied vocals on previous hits, “The Heart Wants What It Wants” and “Bad Liar,” that are sorely lacking on

Dedicated to the lives lost on flight PS752...

Rare.

It’s almost as if Gomez got bored in the recording studio and chose to put in as little effort as possible. It wouldn’t have been a problem had Gomez committed to a full dance album where emotional deliveries were not necessary, but Rare was supposed to be her diary sung out

loud—yet there were no emotions to be felt. Tracks like “Vulnerable” and “People You Know” aptly expose the lack of emotional and lyrical depth.

“We used to be close, but people can go / From people you know to people you don’t,” Gomez sings on the latter track. Guest appearances by 6LACK and Kid Cudi on R&B-

lite tracks “Crowded Room” and “A Sweeter Place” also don’t add much to the album apart from clout. Gomez would’ve been better asking “Taki Taki” collaborator Cardi B for an empowering verse.

Despite the uninspired features and Gomez’s ASMR-like vocals, Rare does have a few bright spots. “Dance Again” — a French disco-inspired dance number — sees Gomez commanding more of her voice as she celebrates her newly found freedom.

On “Kinda Crazy” — a psychedelic funk number — Gomez sings about a guy gaslighting her: “Made the move, asked me to be your babe / And now you’re treatin’ me like I’m insane.” Looping choruses and warm synths showcase Gomez at her best because she’s able to let go and have fun without worrying about whether her vocals or lyrics resonate on an emotional level. Unfortunately, Gomez’s strengths are underrepresented on this mid-tempo heavy album.

Near the end of Rare, Gomez confesses that she’d rather stay vulnerable. Maybe so. But it’s difficult to take Gomez’s vulnerability or musical identity seriously when Rare doesn’t offer any real perspective on self-love or acceptance apart from surface level clichés atop generic beats. Rare should’ve been another revival for Gomez, but it flatlines on execution.

Romanticism and You The Netflix series has created loyal and obsessed fans DANICA TENG ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR

BAYOWA AYOMIDE Dearly to the sun, your serpentine fins embraced bluffs, tripped the morosely linking earth & the heavens with howling wings. // a poet; a feather//You became lines of sun-split stanzas & warped seas underneath you. You hoot ecstatic stunts, ‘everyone deserved a sunbath.’

// a feather; a dreamer//You didn’t have enough sleep, you ne’er dreamt. You imitated a night-disciple; zombied your hands over your shoulders, and blurred God in the face.

// a dreamer; a tossed coin//Unbelievers chose the head, the tail, I chose none but you burned blue through your gasps in awe & palpitate as volatile balloons; from the lip of a knitting needle. You gasped fireworks, heaven echoed fossil fuels.

// a tossed coin; a fallen-pious angel// Against the hard clicks of a gong & strikes of human-skinned drums, the spotlight was moved to us in thick tears, & our tight gullets as a tourniquet.

We were displaced, cruised amid police gossamers ‘police lines, do not cross.’

Our feet swept metallic feathers, our hands with a kettle douche in a pool of grief; one flopped a portrait & the other lantern. The debris clasped our locust jeans to melting plastics & iron shafts.

Evening bird, as you watched tears rain from our eyes & haven’t yet proved enough theory on risk society, please; Fall! Fall!! Fall alone!!! like a thunderbolt faraway from our smiles.

Hello, you. Do you ever wonder who sees what you post online? Do you ever wonder how much someone can find out about you through social media? Is your profile public?

Are you…safe?

You is a show on Netflix that explores the dangers of online stalking and has gained much popularity since its release in 2018. Based on the book by Caroline Kepnes, the story is narrated by the beloved Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley). Joe seems like an average guy, your local bookstore employee, a perfect candidate to be the perfect boyfriend.

Although he may seem like a great lover, at what point does that love become too much? What happens when fate is forced through stalking? When jealousy becomes suffocating? And when that love becomes a justification for murder?

The first season of You tells the story from Joe’s point of view as he meets the blonde and beautiful Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail).

Joe falls for her instantly and tries to find out everything about her in any way he can. This chaotic journey to build and maintain a relationship with Beck drives Joe crazier than he

already is.

The first season went by too soon, and fans craved more. Just before the start of 2020, Netflix dropped the second season of You, leading us on another adventure with this lovesick bookkeeper. The second season continues along its trail of toxicity as we follow Joe on his chase for love.

Though You’s popularity meant success for its producers, it also sparked concerns among some. Joe is a stalker, a manipulator, and a murderer. Yet, many of us still root for him, and then we scold ourselves for rooting for him. We justify his bad actions and say that he’s not necessarily a bad guy. After all, he looks out for children like Paco (Luca Padovan) or Ellie (Jenna Ortega) and tries to help them in his own way. Everything Joe does, he does out of love. That is how the show portrays it. That is what makes You so dangerous. The show utilizes perspective. Perspective gives power, enough power to influence its audience into romanticizing a killer.

“It says something about how much we are willing to be patient and forgive someone who inhabits a body that looks something like mine — the color of my skin, my gender, these sorts of privileges, and

how much less willing to forgive people who don’t fit those boxes,” said Badgley on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Much of our sympathy for Joe comes from his narration because it allows us access to his thoughts and gives us justification for his actions.

Netflix even released a video of scenes without Joe’s narration, and the result changed the tone, distancing us, and exposing just how creepy his character really is. As problematic as Joe is, we’re given that insight into his reasoning, which makes us feel like we understand him more.

Unfortunately, some fans don’t just stop at understanding him, or even at defending him. They adore Joe and crave to be his victim. Some users on Twitter expressed their fantasies about Joe, with one even directly tweeting at Badgley, “kidnap me pls,” to which he replied, “no thx.” As funny as his replies to obsessed fans may seem, Badgley seems genuinely concerned about the blind love people seem to be giving his unstable character. Though the show purposely entices us to love Joe, it doesn’t mean it should be acted upon. Romanticizing the true horrors of reality only makes it easier for the Joes of the world.

12

«

01.20.2020

Editor | Fatima Adil

Remembering Zeynab Asadi Lari Zeynab Asadi Lari was a fourth-year Bachelor’s of Science student at the Univeristy of Toronto Mississauga FARISHTEH KHAN CONTRIBUTOR

Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, a civilian aircraft, was shot down on January 8, 2020, shortly after take-off in Tehran. All 176 passengers and crew members on board perished.

Among the 57 Canadians aboard the doomed flight were eight University of Toronto students. Zeynab Asadi Lari was a fourth-year student, completing a Bachelor’s of Science degree with double majors in biology and anthropology at UTM. Her brother, Mohammad Asadi Lari, was a graduate student at the Faculty of Medicine at the St. George campus.

The two had been returning to Canada for the winter semester after visiting family in Iran.

Zeynab Asadi Lari was an active and influential member of the UTM community. She was the president of the UTM branch of the STEM Fellowship, a “youth-run Canadian non-profit organization that uses mentorship and experiential learning to equip the next generation of change-makers with indispensable skills in data science and scholarly writing.” She was admired and wellrespected by peers and faculty. Her goal was to pursue medicine following her undergraduate degree, an

MAHNOOR NAEEM/STEM FELLOWSHIP UTM

Zeynab is remembered by her friends and teachers as a kind heart who was always there for others. aspiration reflected in her profound empathy towards others.

In particular, Lari was known for being vocal about eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health.

Professor Fiona Rawle, associate professor in the Department of Undergraduate Biology at UTM, remembers an incident which demonstrated Lari championing the cause.

“I once found Zeynab comforting a distraught student who kept apologizing for crying. In response, Zeynab said, ‘Don’t say sorry — you are sad and you are crying, and that is okay.’”

Lari’s friends often credited her as

being a shoulder to cry on, a moral support, as someone who always had a kind word to say and an attentive ear. She had a “vibe” that often drew people towards her and she was often “the life of the party.”

Saleha Zubair, a close friend of Lari’s, explains, “She was uncomplicated, kind, [and] generous. She was the laughter in every conversation, the hope in all hopelessness. She held the world in gentle hands.”

Another friend of Lari’s, Hamna Zubair, reiterates, “Zeynab was that friend. She never let you down.”

Despite Lari’s kind heart and her acceptance of others, she was very

hard on herself and always strove to be better. “[Lari] was fiercely competitive with herself but immensely collaborative with others,” says Rawle. Although Lari held herself accountable to demanding and rigorous standards, she did not compete with her peers and instead chose to learn, share, and grow together.

“We shared everything together.

‘Together’ was her key word. She wanted to take classes together, hang out together, study together,” remembers Fatima Sahibzada, a friend of Lari’s.

“Everything she wanted to do, she wanted to do together. Every oppor-

tunity she came across, she shared with us,” agrees Zubair.

Lari was passionate about her academics and was an eager learner. Dr. Jade Atallah, assistant professor in the Department of Undergraduate Biology at UTM, recalls, “She would rub her hands when she spoke to me. I used to think she was nervous.

I quickly learned it was because she was excited.”

Shortly before beginning her journey back to Canada, Sahibzada spoke with Lari briefly: “My last conversation with Zeynab was when she was getting on the plane on Tuesday evening. We talked about […] how excited we both were to have another wonderful session full of great laughs. She told me she missed me and couldn’t wait to see me.”

News of the crash jarred Lari’s friends and family. Her memorial was held on Thursday, January 17, 2020 in Maanjiwe Nendamowinan and was attended by faculty and students from across campus. Students stopped by to honour her memory and remember her as a beloved member of UTM’s community.

Zubair says, “We used to save each other seats at every table. Every table we sit at now has an empty seat for her. And we will always have a seat reserved in our hearts.”

The George Elliot Clarke controversy UofT professor criticised for association with convicted killer of an Indigenous woman NOUR SAQQA CONTRIBUTOR Earlier this month, The University of Regina (U of R) rejected calls to cancel a talk by George Elliott Clarke, a University of Toronto English professor and former parliamentary poet laureate of Canada, over his friendship with Steven Brown, the killer of a 28-year-old First Nations woman named Pamela Jean George.

The Woodrow Lloyd talk, titled “‘Truth and Reconciliation’ versus ‘the Murdered and Missing’: Examining Indigenous Experiences of (In) Justice in Four Saskatchewan Poets,” was scheduled for January 23. It was supposed to be a part of the current efforts to advance the process of Canadian reconciliation that involves rebuilding and renewing the relationship between Indigenous and nonIndigenous Canadians.

According to CBC News, U of R had no intention of cancelling or censoring the lecture, maintaining the issue was a freedom of speech.

In a public statement, Richard Kleer,

the university’s dean of the Faculty of Arts, said that “denying someone a speaking platform, or censoring their message, simply because they have had a working relationship with a convicted criminal goes against everything a university should stand for.”

He further acknowledged that an institution should be dedicated to encouraging “open, civil, and robust discussion [around] controversial issues.”

In an earlier statement, Clarke said that he also doesn’t have an issue with reciting a poem written by Brown, then known as Kummerfield, if it fits into the context of the lecture.

The statements by both U of R and Clark received major criticism from members of the public, especially those within the Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and other Indigenous communities throughout the country.

According to Danis Goulet, an award-winning Toronto-based Cree/ Métis filmmaker, the possibility of this lecture has caused members of

the Indigenous communities, more specifically women, to re-experience old wounds.

In her open letter to the school, Goulet stated that the murder of Pamela Jean George was “a painful awakening to Indigenous women in that community and beyond, making them realize that their bodies were to be ‘used, discarded, and killed.’”

She later argued that the university, which is home to the First Nations Univ ersity, should know better.

“They are one of the key institutions in Saskatchewan. They should be well aware of the legacy of antiIndigenous racism on the prairies,” continued Goulet in the open letter.

According to James Daschuk, a U of R professor and the author of Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, the existing racial divide in Saskatchewan predates the formation of the province.

In the past, the region’s alarming racial divide has been evidenced by events including the hanging of the late Métis political leader, Louis

Riel, and the case of Gerard Stanley, who was acquitted for the murder of Colten Boushie—all of which had the same racial underpinnings as George’s case.

Pamela Jean George was killed on April 18, 1995.

On a drizzly night, Steven Kummerfield and Alex Ternowetsky, then university students, lured her from an inner street in Regina and took her to the outskirts of the city, where they raped and beat her to death. The following morning, a passing motorist found her body.

George was a Saulteaux and single parent to two children, who also occasionally worked in the sex trade industry for an income.

On December 20, 1996, Kummerfield and Ternowetsky were acquitted of first degree murder and convicted of the lesser offense of manslaughter.

That day, the judge, Ted Malone, was reported to have told the jurors that George “indeed was a prostitute” who may have consented to sex with the two young men.

On January 7, 1997, Kummerfield

and Ternowetsky were both sentenced to six and a half years with no parole.

How did Clarke’s initial statement of possibly including Kummerfield’s poetry in his talk impact the Indigenous community at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus and the Indigenous community in Mississauga as a whole?

To answer this question, we interviewed Maria Hupfield, a Canadian artist and UTM assistant professor of Indigenous Digital Arts and Performance: The Medium: The situation is quite complicated. What are your thoughts on it?

Maria Hupfield: There’s so many layers to it that can make it seem complicated, [but] it’s a very clear case when we come down to it.

For me, as a new professor, there are some things that really stand out.

One is that this crime happened 25 years ago by a 19-year-old who was an alumnus of the University of Regina.

So, there’s a lot of local specificity.

Regina continued on page 14

01.20.2020 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 13

Is there going to be a third world war?

Iran continued from page 1

Because the drone strike was targeted towards a leader of a state’s military, the assassination may also be considered a war crime. If it is dealt with as a war crime, international courts will be involved, and the impact can extend beyond Iran and the U.S. With regards to Flight PS752, the incident is still undergoing investigation. The Iranian authorities initially rejected accusations of their involvement. However, they later admitted that their own missiles had unintentionally struck the plane. Bozcali says that “it’s really hard to believe the lack of coordination between Iranian state institutions, the military, and civilian institutions.” Moreover, assuming that the missiles were unintentional, the extreme negligence of Iranian authorities is troublesome and “authorities need to face responsibility.” Regarding the aftermath of this tragedy, Bozcali believes that there will now be “increased risk perception of the Iranian nuclear program [and] Iranian authorities will probably face more international pressure towards their nuclear program because of this negligence.”

The plane crash involves other nations as well. Since the plane was Ukrainian, Ukraine will need to play a large role in investigations. The passengers of the plane were of different nationalities, and those na-

NAZANIN TABATABAEE/WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY

Instead of a world war, it is better to stay focused on de-escalation and the roots of the issues. tions will also be seeking justice for their citizens. Given Canada’s history of peacekeeping, Bozcali states that Canada can constructively handle the situation by maintaining a peace agenda and focusing on de-escalation, while demanding justice for the 57 Canadians who were killed in the crash.

Because of the heightened political tensions and international involvement, the situation has led to conversations about a possible third world war, especially on social

media where citizens of developed countries are sharing viral videos and memes about World War 3. According to Bozcali, the likelihood of these events triggering a third world war are minimal. However, regional conflicts will continue. “With expectations of a world war, we normalize these seemingly small-scale sufferings, which are not actually smallscale, and in that way, [we] justify these small-scale conflicts.”

Rather than panicking about a third world war or waiting for the

situation to worsen, Bozcali urges people to refocus their attention to existing issues such as the countless human rights violations which occur during these types of conflicts. “We should find a way to feel more responsible or engage with rights violations in different parts of the world, without necessarily waiting for the violations to lead to wider regional or global conflicts,” he says. For example, in November 2019, tensions surrounding oil prices in Iran led to protests from Iranian citizens and

violent government intervention.

Although the incident resulted in numerous injuries and deaths, it received minimal media attention and very little international intervention. Many similar issues and human rights violations continue globally which Bozcali asks us to consider and act upon.

Bozcali states that it is important to include anthropologists in discussions of war and politics as anthropology examines the lived experiences of individuals through fieldwork and participant observations. During situations of conflict, the actual suffering of those impacted by the conflict is often left out of the conversation. Anthropologists can help bring people’s voices into the wider discourse. Additionally, since most of the existing research on conflict-rich regions come from state-funded research, the potential for bias is very high. Anthropologists can help minimize bias and provide valuable insights into conflict.

The assassination of General Soleimani is just one component of the ongoing tensions between Iran and the U.S. Within a few weeks, the assassination has already led to the deaths of hundreds of people during protests, military action, and the Flight PS752 crash. As more international parties become involved in this situation, de-escalation should be prioritized in order to protect the rights and lives of civilians.

Genetic risk markers and misrepresentation Dr. Parra talks about molecular anthropology, precision research, and balanced representation in research HEMA RAMNARINE CONTRIBUTOR

The Medium recently had the chance to sit down with Dr. Esteban Parra, a molecular anthropologist and anthropology professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).

Parra has had a long and far-reaching journey in science which began in one of the oldest universities in Spain, the University of Santiago de Compostela. He began his studies in biology and “like many students everywhere [he] discovered what [he was] really passionate about” while completing his undergraduate degree.

For Parra, the discovered passion was anthropology and genetics. After completing his Ph.D. degree, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at a molecular anthropology lab in Spain.

He was also a post-doctoral fellow in Rome, Italy, and Pittsburgh, USA, before joining UTM in 2002. Parra advises those interested in graduate studies to be willing to follow the opportunities that arise. For him, it has been “incredibly exciting” to see how the UTM campus has changed and grown in the past seventeen years.

“We have been attracting incredible new faculty, not only to anthropology but to many other programs, which has been nice to see,” he says.

Parra has continued his research at UTM. One of the focuses of his research is to identify some of the genetic risk markers of traits and diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes,

cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

This is done using a genome wide association study to identify variants that are associated with these traits.

Parra uses a consortia—a large group of samples—to have access to as much data as possible. The more samples there are, the higher chance there is of finding a common link between the genetics of an individual and the ailments they suffer from.

Parra does mention that genetics are often not the only cause. For diseases such as cystic fibrosis, one’s genes are the primary factor in causing the condition. These diseases are termed Mendelian disorders. However, for complex conditions like obesity and diabetes, one’s environment and lifestyle play a huge role. “Modifications in your lifestyle, your diet, and physical activity, are the best way” to combat conditions such as obesity and diabetes, said Parra.

An exciting development Parra is looking forward to is the advancement of precision medicine. Precision medicine—or “personalized” medicine as it is sometimes referred to—is when an individual’s genetic profile can be used to develop a tailor-made treatment program for the individual.

Precision medicine is a new field because it has only recently been made possible by technological advancements, which have also lowered the cost of genetic studies dramatically, and, in turn, opened many doors in the field of genetics.

Parra emphasizes the importance of collecting as much data as possible.

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Parra works on identifying genetic risk markers for common diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

“The best way to approach this is to collaborate with other scientists [...] there are some studies that are done with many participating research groups, and they have been able to use samples of up to a million individuals.”

One of the advantages of collecting a large number of samples is balanced representation of diverse ethnic groups, which for Parra is very important. He explains that genetic studies in the past have primarily been conducted in European countries which is problematic for the future of precision medicine. “When you primarily work in just one population group, it may not be as helpful for the rest of the world,” he says.

In fact, for almost all non-European groups, underrepresentation is

a significant issue which is only improving slowly. Underrepresentation can be attributed to a variety of factors such as biasness and the location of the research groups who generally choose to perform their research in their own areas. Parra encourages those conducting research to overcome these factors since “it is absolutely critical to do more studies and represent these groups.”

Parra has contributed in his own right to the growth of the sample pool.

One of the studies he participated in was part of a large collaboration with researchers from around the world.

Together, the researchers collected samples from over eighteen thousand individuals of various ethnicities.

Since very few studies had been previously conducted on non-European

populations, they focused on looking for genetic markers of obesity in children. Ultimately, they discovered a new locus—a fixed position on a chromosome where a genetic marker is located. The locus they had discovered had not been found in significant numbers in purely European groups, but appeared consistently in the diverse sample pool, exemplifying the need for more diverse sources.

Despite the shortcomings, Parra is hopeful about the future of the field and its growth. He encourages greater awareness of the disparity of samples and urges efforts to rectify the misrepresentation. He is immensely passionate about anthropology and genetics and finishes off by stating, “DNA is an open book—you just need to know how to read it.”

14

«FEATURES

THE MEDIUM 01.20.2020

Dr. Malti awarded for excellence in research Malti researches how to help children and adolescents become kinder and less aggressive ELIZABETH PROVOST CONTRIBUTOR

Dr. Tina Malti, a professor of psychology at UTM, is the recipient of the 2019 Research Excellence Award for her extensive research in developmental psychology and psychopathology. She aims to understand how emotions and aggressive behaviour are fostered in children and teenagers. Her research has led to the development of powerful tools and interventions that have promoted children’s potential for kindness.

Malti has been passionate about child development since her first year of undergraduate studies. She completed her Ph.D. degree at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Free University of Berlin and her M.A. in clinical child psychology from the Academy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Children and Adolescents in Switzerland. She also completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, the University of Maryland, and the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development before joining the University of Toronto faculty in 2010.

Her research team at UTM is comprised of students of various academic levels and backgrounds

PHOTO/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Malti’s research has shown the true ability of a child’s mind to develop based on the care given. which is beneficial in determining inclusive and unique approaches to ideas. To acquire data, multiple methods are utilized and various individuals are consulted in order to obtain a holistic understanding of children. Parents, teachers, and children are studied through direct interaction and behaviour observation. Malti and her team also use a longitudinal research design, where the children and families are observed throughout their development. The resulting data is supplied to intervention studies which ame-

liorate treatment designs.

For Malti, the Research Excellence Award is “an inspiration to improve and transform the quality of research within teams and to become a global leader. In doing so, [she] hope[s] to implement longitudinal and intervention studies that test new strategies to improve particular types of mental health.”

Her vision is to “improve the full potential of kindness in children” and to promote younger scholars and students in a way that supports child development and health. Malti

acknowledges that there are solutions urgently required for the current mental health crisis afflicting younger individuals and aims to apply her research and knowledge to create solutions.

Malti is highly passionate and dedicated towards her research.

However, she also “want[s] to give back to students and support the next generations.” She aims to create a network of colleagues who work together “using their complementary skills, [as] ten complementary minds are more powerful than one.”

When professionals who have not previously worked together, combine their skills and resources, disciplinary and mental boundaries in the child development and mental health field can be broken.

Through her research, Malti has been able to observe the “transformatory power of a child’s mind.” She explains that there are no limits to the malleability of a child’s mind if the child is probed in the right direction.

Although Malti’s research focuses on the development of children, her findings are applicable to all ages.

“The body and mind are connected and emotions are heavily dependent on how we create that connection,” she states.

Malti and her team often ask young children to reflect upon themselves in regards to others.

They are then asked to think about how their actions affect others and how others affect them. This process of self-reflection can help individuals understand their stresses and emotions and gain a better understanding of their bodies. It can be used by people of all ages.

To follow Malti’s research and read her publications, you can visit her website. She is passionate about giving back to the UTM community and is open to connecting with faculty and students in various fields.

Clarke cancels talk amid criticism Regina continued from page 12

This has a lot of impact on me because we’re looking at someone who is the age of students. And there’s a lot of responsibility about our role as academics, and how we are raising a generation of scholars—and the privilege that comes from that.

Being in university is a privilege.

[We have] a responsibility [to talk] about the way that race, and privilege play out in institutions and in academia. It’s a bigger conversation that can happen. So that to me has a lot of bearing because the

person whose poems George Elliott was going to read was not only a convict, but also an alumnus of that program. So, there’s all of this that’s the responsibility of the University of Regina to deal with.

The other thing for me is that Steven Brown would have been a student when I was a student. I think that we have to come to a point where we’re being real, and it’s not just about careers. There’s responsibility with community. And if we’re looking at reconciliation and working with the community, then we have to acknowledge that there’s work that needs to happen within

institutions to help frame conversations so that we’re not re-traumatizing people. We’re only now getting at a place where there are resources, and that relationship of trust can be developed.

One of the things that strikes me about this is that George Elliott Clarke is someone who is biracial.

So he’s a minority, but minorities are not interchangeable. I’m curious about why—if we want a poet, why are we also not looking to a woman, especially if we’re talking about missing and murdered women.

Maybe we need to look at a native woman poet, especially someone

FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

This controversy is multi-layered with issues of race, sex, age, and the criminal justice system.

who is locally based. It raises a lot of questions around the decision that was made.

TM: How do you feel about what happened?

MH: If we’re looking at social justice, even in Clarke’s attempt to create a space for conversation, he is still making this about men and careers. And that is not the space to have that conversation. The conversation that needs to happen in this case is around Indigenous women.

If we’re talking about privilege and whose voice gets to be heard, then maybe it’s not the men.

There may be another point in here about toxic masculinity. In this space, having two poets who are male, I think, is inappropriate, especially when we’re looking at murder and missing women. You often hear the quote, “Nothing about us without us.” For instance, you can’t talk about water without having water.

Similarly, how can you talk about missing and murdered women without having someone to represent them?

We can’t widely enter into these conversations. We need to move forward responsibly.

TM: There’s clearly a lot of history that has played a role in the kinds of responses we’ve seen within the Indigenous communities. Can you tell me more about how the community as a whole has been impacted?

MH: One of the things that makes this very clear to me is when you read the court case and find out the facts, here’s a 19-year-old and his

friend. They pick up a woman. It doesn’t matter who she is and what her background is. And without her consent, they force her to have oral relations with them, and then they precede to beat her for forty-five minutes to an hour, until she’s dead.

And then they leave her in the ditch.

And then they go to court for that.

And rather than being convicted of first degree murder, they’re convicted of manslaughter. So this is the injustice.

George Elliott’s case does not hold up, saying that Brown has paid his dues for his crime as a young person. That is not the case. We see someone who has been let off on a lighter sentence because of the racism. *** After having served only half of his sentence, Kummerfield was released in November 2000. He now resides in Mexico City and continues to be recognized as a poet.

Clarke, who only learned of Kummerfield’s crime four months ago, apologized to the public and to George’s family for the statements he made when speaking with CBC News.

On January 3, in a statement released through his literary agent, Clarke asked the University of Regina to cancel his appearance. Since the incidence, U of R has reached out to the Indigenous community and has expressed an interest in hearing their concerns in an effort to “perhaps begin a healing process.”