Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
10 November, 2014
The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
Give me some
Sugar Some students are turning to “Sugar Daddies” to fund their university tuition
Alyssa Bouranova and Alexander Cohen VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS
“[Bind] me up with rope and physically hit me,” read the message. As a new user of dating website SeekingArrangement, the blunt proposition for bdsm was initially only mildly shocking to Elaine* — until she read the accompanying price tag. Elaine, a U of T student, is a rookie “Sugar Baby” — a young woman looking to cover the costs of tuition by dating men she meets online,
and receiving money in exchange. The request, introduced as a “non-sexual arrangement,” came from a 34-year-old Mississauga man with a net worth higher than that of most of her classmates combined. The site, which describes itself as “the leading Sugar Daddy dating site where over 3.6 million members fuel mutually beneficial relationships on their terms,” was founded in 2006 and now boasts 2.6 million “Sugar Babies” and one million “Sugar Mommas.” The site claims to have eight ‘Sugar Babies’ per
“Sugar Daddy,” and supposedly offers numerous benefits for “Sugar Babies,” including financial stability and mentorship.
SEEKING ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT While 63 per cent of Canadian students rely on income from employment to cover tuition, a select group of young women and men have found that seeking out “Sugar Daddies” is a more attractive option. SeekingArrangement, along with other simi-
lar websites, mirrors conventional dating sites with a “mutually beneficial” twist. Providing what it describes as “relationships on your terms,” it matches young women — many of whom make under $34,000 a year — with older, wealthier men called “Sugar Daddies.” In exchange for dates and other romantic interactions, the women can receive money from their male companions, as well as travel, gifts, accommodation and other accoutrements of privilege.
CONTINUED ON PG 6
INSIDE Comment The cost of foreign education
Features U of T and the Great War, 100 years later
Arts
International students pay more due to low provincial funding PG. 9
Studying in the city
Science In conversation with Cynthia Goh
Sports Women’s golf wins gold
Reflecting on the contributions of U of T soliders
A guide to getting work done in Kensington Market
Techno founder talks science entrepreneurship
Blues finish season in first place at OUA championship
PG. 12
PG. 14
PG. 18
PG. 21
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Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
THE VARSITY VOL. CXXXV, No. 8
21 sussex Avenue, suite 306 Toronto, ON, M5s 1J6 Phone: 416-946-7600 thevarsity.ca
VARSITY NEWS
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WHAT’S GOING ON THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS MONDAY
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THE TEMPEST Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle, 8 pm
Masthead editor-in-chief editor@thevarsity.ca Danielle Klein Production Manager Catherine Virelli production@thevarsity.ca
One of Shakespeare’s most lyrical plays, The Tempest is set on an island and interrogates themes of justice, power, and the human condition with magic and mystery interwoven.
Managing online editor online@thevarsity.ca Shaquilla Singh
TUESDAY
design editors Kawmadie Karunanayake Mari Zhou design@thevarsity.ca Photo editor Jennifer Su
photo@thevarsity.ca
senior copy editors Lucy Genua Rose Tornabene
copy@thevarsity.ca
news editor James Flynn
news@thevarsity.ca
comment editor Alec Wilson
comment@thevarsity.ca
Features editor Samantha Relich
features@thevarsity.ca
arts & culture editor Sarah Niedoba
SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE Soldiers Tower, 10 am—12 pm A service commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the First World War and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War. It includes Carillion preludes and postludes, the service itself, and a reception.
WEDNESDAY The bells in soldier’s Tower. jenniFer sU/THe VarsiTy
MW170, 1265 Military Trail 5:30 pm—9 pm
arts@thevarsity.ca
science editor Jasleen Arneja
science@thevarsity.ca
sports editor Elizabeth Benn
sports@thevarsity.ca
Learn about the work that SCSU does and vote on important motions put forward by the membership. There will be food available.
THURSDAY
illustration editor Julien Balbontin illustration@thevarsity.ca Video editor Jamieson Wang
video@thevarsity.ca
Web developer Eric Bannatyne
web@thevarsity.ca
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA STUDENTS’ UNION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING UTM South (Davis) 5 pm—8 pm Get informed about the services of the UTMSU, vote on important motions, and share your opinions on how to make the union stronger.
Associate Design Editor Vacant Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor Hunter McGuire Associate News Editor Iris Robin Alex McKeen Salvatore Basiolone Associate Comment Editor Victoria Wicks Emma Kikulis Associate Features Editor Vacant Associate A&C Editors Daniel Konikoff Jacob Lorinc Associate Science Editor Nadezha Woinowsky-Krieger
SCARBOROUGH CAMPUS STUDENTS’ UNION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
FRIDAY UC FOLLIES PRESENTS: LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES University College Junior Common Room, 15 King’s College Circle, 8 pm
The UC Junior Common Room. sHijie zHoU/THe VarsiTy
Come out to the UC Follies’ production of Jean Cocteau’s surrealist novel. This is a multimedia production featuring live projection and puppetry. Ten dollar student tickets available.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Varsity Publications’ Fall Meeting of Members
Associate Sports Editor Reshara Alviarez
Thursday, December 4, 2014, 5:10 pm
Associate Web Developer Ishan Thukral contributors Sean Allingham, Salvatore Basilone, Kira Bensimon, Laura Betcherman, Lola Borrisenko, Alyssa Bouranova, Trillium Chang, Aditya Chawla, Alexander Cohen, Emma Compeau, Sampson Coutts, Devika Desai, Ivana Dizdar, Samantha Kay Dunnigan, James Flynn, Claire Fox, Sara Gajic, Leila Keshavjee, David Kitai, Pratishtha Kohli, Andy Li, Jacob Lorinc, Sofia Luu, Tamim Mansour, Alex McKeen, Sara Omer, Li Pan, Anthony Piruzza, Iris Robin, Kasi Sewraj, Alec Wilson, Theodore Yan, Ameena Youssef, Alice (Xia) Zhu
The Fall Meeting of Members of Varsity Publications, the corporation that publishes The Varsity newspaper, will be held for the purposes of: 1. 2. 3. 4.
copy editors and Fact checkers Jasleen Arneja, Salvatore Basilone, Elizabeth Benn, Kieran Buckingham, James Flynn, Emma Kikulis, Hannah Lee, Jacob Lorinc, Alex Mckeen, Sarah Niedoba, Tobi Odubekun, Lauren Park, Iris Robin, Sean Smith, Suhas Srinivasan, Catherine Virelli, Nadezhda Woinowsky-Krieger, Elliot Wright Photographers and designers illustrators Kawmadie Jasleen Arneja, Julien Karunanayake, Janice Liu, Vanessa Balbontin, Khaiam Dar, Brittany Gerow, Catherine Wang, Mari Zhou Macintosh, Emilie MacLeod, Mallika Makkar, Samantha cover Relich, Alexandra Scandolo, Photo by Jennifer Su, Kenneth Truong, Jennifer Su Maya Wong, Arnold Yung
Membership: All full-time undergraduate students who pay the Varsity Publications fee are members of the corporation and are entitled to attend and vote at this meeting. Proxies: Members who are unable to attend may proxy their vote by returning the form of proxy to the meeting location at least 24 hours before the meeting.
Business Office
Location: The meeting will be held in The Varsity’s offices, on the second floor of 21 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON.
Business Manager Karen Zhou business@thevarsity.ca Business Associate Vacant Advertising Executives Anna Afshar anna@thevarsity.ca rachel@thevarsity.ca Rachel Choi The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2014 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789
Consideration of the financial statements Consideration of the public accountant’s report Re-appointment of the public accountant Any other business
For more information, to view documents to be considered at the meeting, or to download the form of proxy, please visit: var.st/fall-meeting-of-members.
st. Michael’s College. alexandra scandolo/THe VarsiTy
Submit your photos to photo@thevarsity.ca
Correction: “An article from November 3, titled “University’s research income rises seven per cent,” misquoted Dr. George Fantus. The Varsity regrets the error.”
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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Privacy breach at UTAPS 179 files containing sensitive information about students’ funding sent to unintended recipients Alex McKeen
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
On October 29, some students received e-mails from the University of Toronto enrollment services indicating that they were awarded funding through University of Toronto Advanced Planning for Students (utaps) only to find that they had also been sent 179 files containing sensitive information that was not theirs. utaps grants are available to full-time students who are Canadian citizens, protected persons, or full-time residents. Individuals who have already applied for government student loans through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (osap) are automatically considered for extra funds through utaps. Awards are granted based on individual need. The 179 files that were inadvertently distributed contained students’ names, street addresses, award amounts, student numbers, and faculties of study.
SAFE COMMUNICATION The leak of student information immediately
raised questions about the security of the university’s communication procedures. Talisa*, a first-year nursing student who received the e-mail, was shocked to discover the mistake. “I’ve never gotten utaps before and I was just thinking: ‘Do they usually send this out to everyone [at once]?’” Talisa initially opened a number of attachments expecting to find her own, before she realized that she was invading fellow students’ privacy by doing so. “I could tell now how much someone needs money — that’s pretty confidential,” she said. When Talisa called Enrollment Services, she was disappointed to find that staff were unapologetic about the error and tensely asked her to delete the e-mail immediately. This same request was repeated to all students who received the initial email in an emailed apology from Donna Wall, director, Financial Aid and Awards in enrollment services later that day. Talisa expressed concern that details of the grants were sent out by email. “There should be something secure to log onto… rather than sending it in an email that is clearly more prone to these problems,” she said, citing the fact that osap operates this way.
Talisa noted that the lapse in security was particularly surprising given the high standard usually afforded for student confidentiality on campus. “When you call the financial aid [office] at U of T... they won’t even discuss financial issues with you over the phone because it’s not confidential enough,” she said. According to Richard Levin, executive director of enrollment services, the leak occurred due to a coding error in the program that matched the emails with the attachments. “We are reviewing our quality assurance mechanisms and will make whatever changes are required to prevent future occurrences,” Levin said. Levin maintained that the university responded to the privacy breach appropriately, by asking students to delete the emails without passing on any information contained in them. “The University takes the privacy of our students very seriously,” he said. “This is an accepted, sound privacy practice for this kind of occurrence.”
STUDENT REACTIONS To some affected students, however, the situation has not been sufficiently addressed. Talisa said that some classmates are looking into taking legal action against the university in re-
sponse to the error, but did not reveal their names. In the event of a lawsuit, she said she would be willing to support her friends. In 2013, lawyers in Windsor filed a $600-million class-action lawsuit on behalf of post-secondary students in Windsor and Essex County who took out osap loans between 2000 and 2006. The students’ privacy were compromised when federal employees misplaced hard drives containing sensitive personal information. Talisa has not yet deleted the email in question. Talisa received a follow-up email on November 5 from Wall, asking her once again to delete the email. She has not yet responded. “[The] only reason I haven’t deleted it is to keep this evidence,” she said. “I think they haven’t done enough to address the issue. After all, not only is my personal information out there, but if I had someone I didn’t like on campus who also got utaps, they now know exactly where I live,” Talisa said. In the meantime, Talisa is still waiting for an adequate explanation and apology from the university. “They should at least have said… we are to blame for it. It won’t happen again,” she said. *Name changed at student’s request.
UTAM trailed median Canadian university investment returns from 2002 to 2012 2012 CAUBO report tracked pension fund, endowment returns for nearly 70 Canadian universities Theodore Yan
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Depending on whom one asks, the University of Toronto’s investments are either performing significantly better than they had in the past, or are losing millions in opportunity cost with an appreciable risk of losing more. The Varsity obtained a copy of a 2012 Canadian Association of University Business Officers (caubo) survey that provided data on investment performance for nearly 70 Canadian universities. The survey included information on the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (utam), a wholly-owned university subsidiary that manages both U of T’s endowment and pension funds. utam was founded in 2000 as a vehicle through which U of T could attempt to pursue greater investment returns than it could with passive investment management. The corporation hires other investment management firms to invest the university’s endowment and pension funds. In the 10 years leading up to December 31, 2012, utam posted an annualized rate of return of 5.2 per cent on U of T’s endowment and five per cent on the pension fund. Over the same period, the median return among institutions with endowments of over $100 million and pension funds worth more than $500 million were six per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively. At first glance, then, over the 10 year period, utam seemed to under-perform in comparison to its peers.
DIFFERENT RISK AND RETURN TARGETS Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T director of media relations, cautioned against taking this conclusion at face value: “It is natural to think you can simply compare different institutions’ investment returns to measure comparative performance,” she said. Blackburn-Evans noted that the performance of a Canadian university fund is a function not
only of investor skill and market conditions, but also the risk and return targets of the client. For this reason, rather than competing directly against other university funds, utam compares its performance to a benchmark portfolio that it constructs specifically for those purposes.
Actual Long-Term Capital Appreciation Pool portfolio return vs. university targets for the LTCAP portfolio as June 30, 2014
SELF-REPORTED DATA Ettore Damiano, professor of economics and the University of Toronto Faculty Association (utfa) representative on utam’s board of directors, also noted that data in the caubo report are self-reported. Therefore, he said, it is difficult to draw effective comparisons from the report for a number of reasons. For instance, some institutions may report their gains net of management fees — as utam does — while others may not. Further, utam’s investment performance has improved. In the five-year period ending June 30, 2014, utam reported that its returns on both the endowment and pension fund outperformed the hypothetical benchmark portfolio — 10.18 per cent compared to 9.13 per cent. According to the report, the market value of U of T’s endowment per full-time equivalent student is about $22,000. For Victoria University, who has the highest endowment funds per full-time equivalent student of any university in the country, that number is closer to $111,000.
“URGENT NEED FOR LOW COST AND EFFECTIVENESS” George Luste, former president of the utfa, was less optimistic. At the end of 2013, according to a presentation prepared in April 2014 by Allan Shapira of Aon Hewitt, a human resources consulting firm, the U of T pension fund ran a deficit of $1 billion — $3.05 billion in assets less $4.05 billion in going concern liabilities. The university’s projected 2014-2015 operating revenues are about $2.04 billion. In a presentation prepared for the utfa, Luste argued that the university’s pension fund’s going concern liabilities are closer to $5
YTD
One Year
Two Years
Four Years
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University target
Actual portfolio return
Actual pension portfolio return vs. university targets for the pension portfolio
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Actual portfolio return billion, if its real rate of return in the coming year is assumed to be 2.25 per cent — a more conservative estimate with which U of T budgeted in the early 1980s. If Luste is correct, the university would need to draw about $200 million from its operations budget for 15 years to eliminate the pension fund’s deficit. “I am very concerned about the pension future for the younger, be it in society or at our university,” he stated. Luste went on to say that there is an “urgent need for low cost and effectiveness — in management and in the investment process.” He also said that U of T ought to pursue a lowcost, largely passive investment management structure — as it did prior to utam’s founding — or risk repeating the mistakes of 2008 and 2009, when utam lost about $1 billion.
Four Years
Five Years
University target “There’s no accountability. Every time I bring this up, they say, ‘That’s in the past. Why are you thinking about the past?’ Well, I say, if you don’t figure out what you did wrong in the past, how are you going to do things right in the future?” Luste said.
RISK RESTRUCTURING Damiano said he could not identify the exact reason that the utam portfolio of assets performed poorly in 2008 and 2009. However, Damiano said that, since 2009, utam has been restructured to lower its riskappetite in exchange for lower expected returns so as to reduce the likelihood of such extreme losses in the future. utam’s annual performance in the past five years has consistently beaten the benchmark portfolio’s.
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Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
VARSITY NEWS
news@thevarsity.ca
Meet the man who keeps the university running VP, university operations Scott Mabury aligns university’s operations with academic mission James Flynn NEWS EDITOR
Scott Mabury is the University of Toronto’s vicepresident, university operations. The office, which has only existed for about two-and-a-half years, is responsible for aligning facilities and services management and the university’s budget with its academic mission. It is also responsible for ancillary services, including food, parking, and certain campus residences. In short, Mabury is tasked with optimizing the university’s relationship between its faculty members and students. The Varsity met with Mabury to discuss the university’s operational challenges, tuition fees, and funding. The Varsity: What is the biggest operational challenge facing the university today? Scott Mabury: Our fundamental steady-state budget: revenues lag expenses. We have a structural budget challenge, which I talk about every year in the budget presentation. If we just froze the university now — the number of faculty and students, the number of undergraduate versus graduate students, the number of international versus domestic students — then there’s a gap between the revenues and expenses. Expenses, primarily, at the University of Toronto are salaries and benefits — compensation — which have been running close to five per cent… while revenues are close to three per cent… We deal with that by growing, by changing the mix going on. We try to control cost as much as possible, and we look for efficiencies… So my portfolio has a $50 million operational excellence target. We announced that November 1, 2013. Within five years from that announcement date, we will have identified $50 million in savings from operational excellence initiatives. So we project now, at the end of that five years, already we’ve identified about $46 million… The biggest challenge is constantly finding ways to be more efficient, more productive, [and] more excellent. TV: Ontario is obviously dealing with funding issues. How does the university deal with the provincial funding shortfall? SM: By operating smarter and better and trying to be as efficient and productive with the resources we have as possible. Our budget model — the Toronto budget model itself — is unique in all of Canada. There are lots of universities now mimicking it and adopting all of it, or making some portions of it their own. Many, if not most, are going this way because our budget model is, I believe, best in tune with our academic mission. The academic missions drives the budget that you put in the hands of deans
Scott Mabury is an expert in environmental chemistry. MALLIKA MAKKAR/THe VARsITy
and chairs at the front lines — and the front lines meaning between the faculty member and the student, because that’s why we’re here… Our budget model is best aligned with optimizing what happens there. That alignment means the university has weathered the challenges, [and] found opportunities… It is a challenge that all of our revenue streams — 87 per cent of our budget is connected to [students]. It comes from tuition and government grants. When I came to Simcoe Hall in 2009, the amount of dollars we got from tuition and the amount of dollars we got from government grant were perfectly matched. Now, it is 55 per cent to 34 per cent, I think. Tuition as a proportion of the pie has gone up; government grants have gone down… [The province] gives us more money total, but not per student. That’s the key. TV: Has the provincial government given any indication that they will increase perstudent funding? SM: Nothing. So I’ll quote directly from The Globe and Mail — the article about providing funding for international graduate students. That was a high priority for us because the University of Toronto has not positioned itself to just do well in Ontario. It’s not positioned itself to just do well in Canada. It’s positioned itself to do well on a global scale. That means we do need to attract the best and brightest graduate students from the world here. We have not been doing that because there’s no funding for [foreign] graduate students in Ontario, while there is in other provinces. That’s the big difference between us and the uc Berkeley’s of the world, the [University of] Michigans, the [University of] Washingtons — these great public univer-
sities in the world. We have less the funding per student than they do… Even given these funding constraints, we are competing with the best in the world in all the rankings… The fact that the University of Toronto does well in all of them… is quite an accomplishment. The only explanation I have for that is that we simply accumulate really good decisions. We hire well; we make good decisions about how to design programs to attract the best students; we align our physical resources to support faculty, staff, and students in how they’re working... we make sure that we take the resources we have — irrespective of how much less they are than our comparators — and we make sure we spend them as wisely as possible. TV: There’s been a lot of talk lately about rising international student tuition levels. Does international student tuition subsidize domestic student tuition? SM: No — not in my view. We don’t parse out ‘What does an international student cost?’ versus ‘What does a domestic student cost?’ What we do know is that a domestic student attracts government grants. That’s a given. So certainly one of the things… is to capture that government grant differential. But the government grant is not the only taxpayer-supported investment in the university. One of those is the building you’re sitting in… The University of Toronto has 16 million square feet of space. If we had to build it again, multipled by $500 — a small number, and most of the people who work for me say it costs more than that — I think that works out to $8 billion or more. Those weren’t paid for by international students. Those were largely tax dollars or donations — but frankly, more tax dollars,
overall. And then the $1.2 billion per year in research dollars… That’s almost all government funding. That’s taxpayer supported, meaning international students interface with that benefit of coming to a highly research-intensive and highly research-supported university. Part of the thing here is there’s differential tuition because the Canadian taxpayer is funding the university to a significant amount. For me, the question is: “Are these international tuition fees dissonant with the quality of the experience? Are they dissonant with comparable tuitions at universities we are in competition with, or comparable to us?”… For 14 years, the university has been raising international tuition fees. And for 14 years, the numbers of applicants has gone up and the yield has gone up. So the quality has gone up over that entire period, the numbers have gone up over that entire period. The evidence suggests that the University of Toronto, as a place to pursue postsecondary education, is viewed — on a global scale — as a great place to come. TV: Do you see a maximum dollar cap on where international, and also domestic, tuition fees will go? SM: No. That would be disastrous for the university… I don’t see employee groups saying: “I will freeze my salary and benefits.” I don’t see that happening in any domain anywhere in the world. Ultimately, that would cause a degradation of quality of experience. It would increase student-to-faculty ratios. If expenses are going up and revenues go to zero [per cent per year], we’re still paying average salary and benefit increases about five per cent. If you run that out, what happens? That’s the equivalent of saying: “The price of milk stays constant forever. So why would anyone milk any more cows?” TV: So it’s foreseeable that it could surpass tuition levels in the United States? SM: Well, certainly not under the current tuition fee framework in Ontario, held where they are at three per cent. I don’t see them ever catching up with Michigan, for example. And Michigan is our comparator. They have more than twice the dollars per student that we do… Back in the 1990s, tuition fee rates year-overyear were quite a bit higher. But the sticker price is the wrong question. Net tuition is a number that everyone in the United States follows carefully. How much do students actually pay of the posted price? We’ve been reporting that every year. The number for first-entry undergraduate students is 43 per cent, if you’re on osap, which about 54 or 55 per cent of students are. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
U of T plans centennial commemorations for World War I The Varsity presents a look at Remembrance Day activities on U of T’s three campuses Andy Li
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
World War I took the lives of 66,000 Canadians and wounded another 172,000. Of the Canadians lost, 628 were students at the University of Toronto, leaving a legacy of devastation and sacrifice. Every year on the eleventh hour of the eleventh
day of the eleventh month, Canadians observe a two-minute silence to remember those who were killed, wounded, or scarred psychologically and physically by the war. On Tuesday, the university will be holding a number of services to honour the fallen soldiers of both the First and Second World War, as well as other Canadian military involvements. The annual Service of Remembrance will take place at Soldier’s Tower on November 11 from
10:20 am to 11 am. The service, which is organized by the Soldier’s Tower Committee, will include a recitation of “In Flanders Fields” — the famous poem by University College alumnus John McCrae — as well as national and royal anthems and a laying of wreaths. A reception in Hart House will follow the service. The university’s Scarborough and Mississauga campuses will also be holding services. At utsc, the annual Remembrance Day service will take
place on November 11 at 10:40 am in the Meeting Place featuring the utsc concert band and concert choir. At utm, the Remembrance Day Observance will take place on November 11 at 10:45 am at the flagstaff in front of the William G. Davis building. The Memorial Room, located in soldier’s tower, will also be open on select days. The room contains memorabilia honouring the university’s fallen soldiers.
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
5
Administration responds to GSU meeting disruption Renewed controversy as dust settles on GSU divestment meeting disruption Claire Fox
VARSITY STAFF
Angela Hildyard, University of Toronto vicepresident, human resources & equity, has issued an administrative response following a disruption at last week’s divestment campaign petition launch at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The event, hosted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (bds) ad hoc committee of the Graduate Students’ Union (gsu), was interrupted by members of the Jewish Defense League (jdl), an off-campus group with no official affiliation on campus. Around 30 faculty and staff signed a letter to Hildyard shortly after the event to express their concerns over how the disruption was handled. The event was officially cancelled by the administration, but continued after relocationg upstairs.
DISAPPOINTMENT OVER RESPONSE Jens Hanssen, associate professor of history
and near and Middle Eastern civilizations, said that the signatories received a response on November 6, nearly 10 days after the letter to Hildyard was sent. In the letter, Hildyard referred to the gsu event in question as one organized by an “autonomous student society” — one that is not organised, sponsored, or endorsed by the University of Toronto. “Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech are core values for any university in a democratic society,” Hildyard said in the letter. Hanssen took issue with the response, calling the letter a “boiler-plate” piece of writing. “We are in fact asking the administration to enforce the very things that she has told us they stand for, and they haven’t… It’s clearly disappointing,” Hanssen said. Hanssen added that Hilyard’s letter supposedly failed to address the concerns put forward by their letter — particularly their request that the university “ensure that the responsible individuals, and the group they belong to [the jdl] are banned from campus.”
“This is not about academic freedom or inclusiveness. If you have a group that — maybe not in this country, but in the United States — has a criminal record, then it’s not about open dialogue anymore,” Hanssen said. “If they were a student group, then maybe they would have some say, but they’re not.” According to Meir Weinstein, a spokesperson for the Canadian branch of the jdl, the group had every right to be there. “[T]he people in attendance included students and people who weren’t students and the composition of our group is exactly the same,” Weinstein said. Weinstein added that students from the University of Toronto are part of the jdl — although the group does not have a recognized branch within the university. In regards to Campus Police’s involvement, Weinstein said that he didn’t think there was much of a disruption at all. “If anything it was an over-reaction. There were one or two people that took a strong exception to some of the terminologies which were
being used… and then after that some of the people on the bds side went ballistic,” he said.
FUTURE PLANS Hanssen said that the signatories may draft a letter of clarification to the administration or try to “dig deeper into some of these links to the policies that this letter provides, ask the administration to live up to its letter and encourage, and promote what we’re doing because its so crucial to a university.” Faraz Vahid Shahidi, a doctoral candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, said that the committee would not allow the disruption to interrupt the divestment campaign. “In the mean time, the campaign is certainly looking for more people to sign the petition, support the campaign, and do work within their own departments to consistently spread awareness about the campaign,” he said. As of press time, university administration did not respond to requests for comment.
Students report disparities in service at college writing centres Despite last year’s funding increases to centres, quality of experience remains varied Devika Desai
VARSITY STAFF
Provost Cheryl Regehr increased funding to university writing centres in 2013–2014 “with the intention of reducing the number of students waiting for writing assistance and to enhance small-group writing instruction,” according to Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T director of media relations. “After three years, a review of the status of each writing centre is to be undertaken to ensure these initiatives are being achieved,” Blackburn-Evans said. However, according to some students who have visited one or more college writing centres on the St. George campus, there is a disparity between the centres in terms of access to support and the type of help received. A third-year Victoria College film studies student who also takes courses at Innis College, Bronwyn Nisbet-Gravy, has access to and has made use of both the Victoria and Innis College writing centres. She found that instructors at Innis take a more hands-on and direct approach to her papers, while those at Victoria generally refer her to writing resources that she can use at home. “When it comes to [Victoria College], I feel that if I haven’t already done a lot of the work, there wasn’t much that they could help me with, as they mostly proofread and refer me to handouts, websites, and books that I could use,” Nisbet-Gravy said. “On the other hand, I once visited Innis with a kernel of an idea for a formal film analysis due in a few days and they really helped me flesh out a thesis and outline for my paper,” she added. Aditya Thakore, also a third-year Victoria student, agreed that the level of feedback received from Victoria College writing centre tutors was
Writing centres provide both individual and group sessions. jENNIFER SU/THE VARSITy
low. “I was looking for comments on the structure and thesis of my essay, but the feedback I got back was mostly on citation and grammar, which wasn’t helpful as it was only a first draft,” he said. Peter*, a Trinity College student, found the reviews given by instructors at the Trinity College writing centre unnecessary. “They focused on points in my essay that were presented as a matter of personal choice. I just thought they… didn’t really give me constructive criticism,” he said. On the other hand, Bilan Moallim, a secondyear women and gender studies and equity studies student, had no complaints about her experiences with both the University College and New College writing centres. Moallim found instructors at both colleges
very personable and helpful in their approach to her papers. “I have a list of specific people in my head that I go to for my papers, so every time I see a vacancy with one of them, I book that appointment. As my program is a part of New College, I do go there more often and what I find really convenient is that the instructors there already have the assignment outlines beforehand,” she said. Colin*, a Woodsworth College student, echoed Moallim’s thoughts, with no negative criticism of the Woodsworth writing centre. However, he did remark that it is difficult to find an opening for an appointment. Thakore said that he too encountered a fairly lengthy waitlist while trying to book an appointment.
The writing centres are in high demand during midterm season and other assignmentheavy periods. Richard Carter, coordinator of the St. Michael’s College Academic Research and Skills Centre, said that overwhelming student demand combined with a shortage of writing centre instructors contributes to the space shortage. “We have four librarians who help with research and we get a fair bit of take out with research help, but we get even more when it comes to writing help — more than we can take on at the moment,” Carter said, adding that he is considering implementing drop-in hours for students who are unable to book an appointment. Jerry Plotnick and Brock McDonald, directors of the University College and Woodsworth College writing centres, respectively, agreed with Carter regarding the challenges of student demand. “Student demand has always outstripped supply, despite offering more appointments and drop-in hours,” Plotnick commented. McDonald added that Woodsworth has not only added drop-in hours, but also enhanced access to online appointments. The online system allows students to upload their paper online, and an instructor then reads the paper without an in-person meeting. “Students definitely prefer the oneon-one since they get that dialogue, but this feature has been widely used by our students as well,” said McDonald. Blackburn-Evans said that, apart from services offered by the individual centres, students can also access the Writing Plus Series, which is a series of workshops offered in conjunction with the libraries, the Academic Success Centre, and the Career Centre. She also cited the advantage of drop-in hours at the campus’ Academic Success Centre. *Name changed at student’s request.
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news@thevarsity.ca
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Over one million SeekingArrangement profiles registered to university-affiliated email addresses
CONTINUED FROM COVER For some women, meeting men on SeekingArrangement provides access to a lifestyle few University of Toronto students can dream of. While exact financial terms aren’t explicitly set, most women indicate their desired “assistance level” on their profile. “Expectation” amounts range from one to 10 thousand dollars monthly.
“SUGAR DADDIES” IN TORONTO Since setting up a SeekingArrangement profile, Elaine has received romantic offers ranging from the earnest to the bizarre, including offers of casual dating, more serious commitments, and long-distance relationships. Although she hasn’t gone on any dates yet, one man went so far as to propose giving Elaine a “monthly allowance” of $2,000 for an on-going commitment. Others proposed fetishism. While women make up the majority of “Sugar
Babies” on the site, Jake*, a third-year U of T student, joined to pay off his debt. According to a 2013 Bank of Montreal survey, female Canadian post-secondary students graduate with about $30,000 in debt, on average, while male Canadian post-secondary students graduate with about $22,000. In the past, Jake worked multiple part-time jobs throughout the school year to support himself, but was concerned about how they affected his academics. He said that SeekingArrangement is less taxing than certain standard minimum wage jobs. Also apprehensive about meeting potential ‘Sugar Daddies’ in person, he has so far only considered offers for long-distance relationships. One man offered him a monthly stipend just for regular Skype dates. Jake said that while the man seemed friendly and sincere throughout their initial Skype call, he’s still unsure as to whether
he’ll contact him again. Elaine and Jake are far from alone. According to Brock Urick, a public relations manager with SeekingArrangement, university students represent the site’s largest demographic — with over one million profiles registered to university-affiliated email addresses. While Urick said that SeekingArrangement doesn’t “track patterns of use per se,” he said it’s a safe bet that a majority of university students who use the site are paying for their schooling and graduating debt-free. Toronto is a good place to be a “Sugar Baby.” According to Toronto Life, Toronto’s “Sugar Daddies” earn, on average, north of $250,000 a year and have an average self-reported net worth of $5.3 million. They also spend a little over $4,000 a month on their “Sugar Babies.” Despite the temptation of easy money, Elaine said she isn’t looking for anything serious. “If I were going to do any type of arrangement it would have to be in a public place,” she said. So far, she is apprehensive about the site and the types of messages she has received.
CAUSES AND IMPACTS Elaine’s sentiment is echoed by Chris Glover, a Toronto Public School trustee and adjunct professor of education and public policy at York University. A researcher on student debt and its impacts in the age of neo-liberalism, Glover sees student involvement in dating sites such as SeekingArrangement as symptomatic of post-secondary education’s underfunding by the government. Pointing to U of T’s tuition fees in the 1990s, which hovered around $2,500 a year for most programs, Glover bemoaned the current situation. Today, it costs about $6,000 a year for
domestic arts & science students. Ontario has the highest tuition fees and lowest per-student funding in Canada. Well over half of Canadian students rely on personal savings and earnings from part-time work to collectively cover about half of their tuition, according to Statistics Canada. Glover is concerned about the effects of this financial stress on students’ integrity and emotional health. “Nobody should ever be coerced… to pay for their education by selling sex,” he said, pointing to a provincial government decision in the late 1990s to deregulate tuition fees, which subsequently sent them soaring towards their present levels. While discussion around sites like SeekingArrangement largely revolves around ethical questions, the legal ramifications are also a concern. According to Brenda Cossman, professor of law and director of U of T’s centre for sexual diversity studies, there isn’t a clear answer as to whether use of SeekingArrangement constitutes prostitution. Cossman said that ‘Sugar Daddy’ websites offer an array of possibilities for interaction — ranging from an explicit exchange of money for sex to an ongoing relationship where sex is simply part of the equation. “If it’s the former, it could run into the same legal problems as prostitution,” said Cossman. Bill C-36, a federal government bill tabled in June, makes it a crime to “obtain for consideration… the sexual services of a person.” It also makes it a crime to “[receive] a financial or other material benefit, knowing that it is obtained by or derived directly or indirectly” from the sale of a “sexual service.” *Names changed at students’ request.
U of T logs in to Ontario Online Students experience key focus as Ontario Online web portal prepares for fall 2015 launch Tamim Mansour VARSITY STAFF
The University of Toronto offers seven online courses as part of the Ontario Online Centre of Excellence (Ontario Online) initiative. Ontario Online is an initiative started by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, together with several Ontario universities and colleges, to “share best practices in pedagogy and online resources, as well as offer state-of-the-art scalable courses that are recognized for credit across multiple institutions.” Currently, these courses are only available to U of T students. However, students in other Ontario universities will be able to enrol in the courses starting from fall 2015 with the expected launch of the Ontario Online web portal.
TRANSFER EQUIVALENCIES Sioban Nelson, vice-provost, academic programs, said that the courses offered by any university through Ontario Online will award credits from the specific university. These credits can be transferred back to their home institutions through the normal transfer credit process. “Some universities have pre-arranged transfer equivalencies for some of the courses developed under the Ontario Online initiative,” Nelson said, adding that the university has worked with its partners to identify equivalencies wherever possible. Don Boyes, a senior lecturer who will be offering his course, Geographic Information and Mapping I, on Ontario Online, said that the initiative is meant to confront the problem of transferring credits. “One of the big problems in [the] past is that a student takes a course in another university and finds out they can’t use it for their degree. They’re trying to eliminate that,” Boyes said. However, this does not mean that every course offered on Ontario Online will have credits that are automatically transferable to U of T. Boyes said that “[not] every single course in Ontario
Online will be transferable to every single university, but they will be able to see a list of which courses can be used from which universities.” Jennifer Campbell, another lecturer who is offering a course through Ontario Online, believes there’s an appeal to offering for-credit courses online. “Here, we tend to offer our courses three times a year because we are a large institution and we are able to do so. Not every institution can offer their course[s] that regularly, so if a student isn’t able to take a course or ends up dropping one for some reason in the fall, they might have to wait an entire year to be able to retake it,” she said. Campbell added that this makes course offerings more flexible for students, as they would not have “to wait perhaps a full year to take the course at their home institution.”
STREAMING LECTURES Currently, both courses offered by Campbell and Boyes employ non-traditional classroom models. Boyes uses a hybrid approach, in which students learn from a “blend” of traditional lectures and online resources — like demonstration videos and live webinars. Boyes has also been running fully online versions of his course during the summer sessions for nearly three years. Campbell’s course uses a flipped classroom model in which students watch online lectures before class and do assigned problems during the time in class that is normally taken for lectures. Campbell’s course also has a session that is fully online, in which all lectures and assigned problems are done and submitted electronically. These courses, as well as other courses that use unconventional pedagogical methods, are supported administratively by Online Learning Strategies, a part of Information and Technology Services that is “committed to development and implementation of the University’s online learning strategy,” and Open UToronto, an initiative launched by the Office of the Provost in 2012 to maintain the university’s standing as a leading institution in teaching, learning, and research.
They provide both administrative and technical support to faculty who wish to adopt and develop innovative teaching methods as well as provide a community for faculty to share their findings and resources. They are also coordinating the university’s participation in Ontario Online. Campbell and Boyes have received funding from Ontario Online to further develop and upgrade their course offerings and the infrastructure that supports them.
NOT A MOOC Ontario Online has been criticized by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (ocufa) for the lack of faculty representation on the Board of Directors. According to Kate Lawson, ocufa president, the ocufa is also worried that the initiative could “be a cost-cutting venture for universities or for the Ontario government.” Lawson further said that “online education cannot be chosen as a cheap alternative to face-to-face instruction” and that “Ontario students deserve a high quality university education, whether in the classroom or in a digital environment.” However, according to Boyes and Campbell, enrolling and providing for courses through Ontario Online is not like taking a Massively Open Online Course (mooc). For one, students will have to pay to enroll in courses offered by other universities. “The Ontario Online courses are for-credit courses that students pay tuition for just like on-campus. In terms of who can enroll, you can get a student from another campus coming in and getting permission to enroll in an on-campus U of T course paying tuition fees too,” Campbell said. Nelson confirmed that students must be enrolled in an Ontario university and they need a Letter of Permission to enroll in an online course offered by another university. Boyes explained that the fact that students pay tuition fees means that they will have ac-
cess to many of the out-of-classroom support that students on-campus receive. “While they are taking my course, they are considered U of T students, because they are taking a U of T course,” Boyes said. “They would have access to anything a normal U of T student would have, while the course is being offered. As far as I know, they will have a UTORId and anything else they [need].”
FUTURE DIRECTIONS Citing a speech that U of T president Meric Gertler gave at the U of T Teaching and Learning symposium on Monday, Boyes was very encouraged by the university’s support for online learning and new ways of teaching with technology in general. “I think that they’re enthusiastic in their support but they’re also realistic that we have to do this carefully and properly and methodically so that we are doing this in a way that is really of value to students,” Boyes said, “It’s really important to stress that. We don’t ever want to do this for the sake of doing it, or that it makes us look good. It really has to be useful.” Campbell seems to have the same impression of the university’s approach to new pedagogies. “I think U of T is trying to explore in a measured way different options in online learning.” Campbell added that she and her colleagues will be doing a study comparing their online and on-campus students, and will be sharing relevant results with the wider education community. Both agreed that when all is said and done, it’s the student experience that counts the most. “I look at new teaching methods, I look at new technology, and I try to see where it’s useful to use them. I don’t just try to use anything just because it’s new and the latest thing. There has to be value in it,” Boyes said, noting that it all comes down to engaging students. “The funny thing is that students don’t have any patience at all. They’ll figure out very quickly if something really isn’t helping them or isn’t valuable,” Boyes added.
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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“XAO forces us to think about the realities of our campus” eXpression Against Oppression (XAO) challenges students to combat oppression on campus find ways to combat the various forms of oppression we, as well as our peers, face,” Ali Sardar added. Alycia Hawkes, an upper-year equity studies student, said events like xao are a good start in creating an equitable campus environment, but asked that there is still more work to be done. “I love the fact that students are drawing attention to the important issue of oppression on and off campus. Beginning the discussion is a huge first step, and I am proud to be part of a student body that takes initiative to work towards a more equitable campus life,” Hawkes said., adding, “That being said, we need to remember to not limit the spirit of the event to one week of activities on campus. The university needs to take an active role in working to solve the issues addressed by students year-round.”
TA-NEHISI COATES
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic. COURTEsy OF CRysTAL GAO
Emma Compeau and Salvatore Basilone VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS
From November 3 to 12, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) and the Arts and Science Students’ Union (assu) are hosting the fifth annual eXpression Against Oppression (xao), a series of events aimed at tackling social justice issues at U of T and bringing them to the forefront of student attention. This year, xao programming included a screening of the film Polytechnique, an openmic night, and self-defense workshops. New to the programming this year was an
inclusive dance event, organized in partnership with lgbt Salsa and held at the newly opened Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. “I originally noticed this campus group during Queer Orientation, however they did not get the attention they deserved due to multiple programming on the same day,” said Najiba Ali Sardar, utsu vice-president, equity.
COMBATTING OPPRESSION According to Ali Sardar, xao allows students to learn about oppression, which is an issue she says is often left out of academic curricula. “xao forces us to think about the realities of our campus, to open our minds, and to
A highlight of the week was the keynote address given by American journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates in an event jointly hosted by the assu, the Munk School of Global Affairs, the Faculty of Arts & Science, the utsu, and the history department. Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, writes about culture, politics, and social issues. The topic of his lecture was to argue that African Americans have been subjected to systemic racism and economic exploitation up to the present day, and that the American government should be prepared to pay reparations. Coates’ groundbreaking article, “The Case for Reparations,” was published in June 2014. In both the article and his lecture at U of T, Coates argued that racism towards African Americans involved economic exploitation that enriched other groups in American soci-
ety, and was not simply a matter of prejudice. “White supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it,” Coates wrote in the article. The lecture was held in an effort to “cause our students and the community to engage critically and discuss issues pertinent to our society and the world,” said assu president Abdullah Shihipar, continuing, “We wanted to bring a big speaker who would spark such a conversation, and we thought Ta-Nehisi Coates was perfect for this.” “Canada is not immune from dealing with issues of privilege and the marginalization of certain groups. Hearing about the context in the United States may help us learn about how to deal with such issues in Canada,” he added. Coates’ work explores the history of racism towards African Americans, covering widely known topics like slavery and Jim Crow, and lesser-known topics like discrimination against black homeowners in midtwentieth-century Chicago. He wrote that, even into the twenty-first century, “the notion that black lives, black bodies, and black wealth were rightful targets remained deeply rooted in the broader society.” Neither the article nor the lecture made specific claims as to how the payment of reparations would occur. Rather, Coates is a vocal supporter of H.R. 40, a bill introduced in the House of Representatives in January 2013 that would establish “the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.”
President Gertler lays out priorities for university’s future Gertler cites university’s location, international opportunities, undergraduate educational experience U of T hosts around 10,000 international students from over 150 countries. He also cited the need to encourage more students to pursue inbound and outbound international opportunities. “Despite the fact that we live in such a globalized city-region, it is striking how a relatively small proportion of our students take advantage of outbound international opportunities,” he said about the current proportion of students enrolled in the university going overseas. He added that the university is working towards removing the obstacles to students trying to pursue international opportunities. Gertler expressed his desire to come up with creative means to improve the international presence of the university. He acknowledged that building overseas campuses, as some other universities have done, is not a viable option for U of T.
Tamim Mansour
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto, named leveraging location, strengthening international partnerships, and reinventing undergraduate education as priorities for the university’s future at last week’s Business Board meeting. Gertler initially identified these three priorities last year when he became president and is opening the priorities for discussion to the general population.
THE UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY Gertler, an urban expert, plans to capitalize upon the university’s location in Toronto to enhance its reputation as a city-builder. “The better we make Toronto, the easier it is for us to attract and retain talent,” he said during his presentation to the board. In October, a Varsity investigation found that a dispute between researchers could damage the university’s involvement in the international Centre for Urban Science and Progress partnership. Gertler also said he wants to leverage the university’s location to provide opportunities for students and faculty. “There are tremendous research opportunities here in the city region around us... and tremendous opportunities that we can leverage for the better of students’ learning experience,” he said, adding that he also
UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
President Gertler began his term on November 1, 2013. KENNETH TRUONG/THE VARsiTy
intends to work with the city-region to identify areas of research for faculty members.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS Gertler acknowledged the global scale of
many current complex problems, thereby making it important to enhance the university’s ability to meet global challenges through mutually beneficial relationships with global partners.
In order to reinvent undergraduate education, Gertler wants to take advantage of the university’s strengths in research and international partnerships. “We’re learning through inverted and hybrid classroom models that these tools in fact can help us to completely rethink how we use the time in the classroom and what kind of ways we can make that experience more rewarding for students and faculty,” Gertler said.
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VARSITY NEWS
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Studying mental health at UTSC A look inside the first undergraduate mental health program in Canada five years on Iris Robin
BY THE NUMBERS
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Enrolment in the University of Toronto Scarborough campus undergraduate mental health program has exploded since the program’s inception, with the number of students pursuing a major doubling in the first five years. The program offers specialist, major, and coop options. It is the first of its kind in Canada. The first students to enroll in the program did so in 2009–2010. The program is under the purview of the utsc Department of Psychology and is designed to prepare students for work in mental health-related institutions, whereas psychology puts more emphasis on the research of normal thought, feelings, and behavior — and less on abnormal psychological processes. Veerpal Bambrah, a mental health specialist in her final year, said that she enjoys the clinical focus of the program, as the courses highlight the various clinical interventions and psychotherapies that can be used to address mental illnesses. “You’re being taught by clinicians themselves, so it’s always interesting to hear about their personal clinical experience with patients and how they dealt with various issues,” Bambrah said. Bambrah said that an undergraduate mental health program is worthwhile for its intersections with other disciplines. “I think mental health really does transcend all aspects of life,” Bambrah said. “Having a background in mental health studies can be used to its advantage in any field an individual chooses to pursue afterwards.” As a fourth-year student facing the prospect of employment or further education, Bambrah expressed optimism that her undergraduate degree would serve her well.
Mental health at UTSC enrollment Specialist 2010-11: 131 students 2013-14: 193 students Major 2010-11: 131 students 2013-14: 259 students briTTANY GerOW/THe VArsiTY
“Mental health is apparent and exists in law, gender studies, economics, [and] teaching. So I think it’s beneficial to have a background in mental health studies in your undergrad[uate career]; the knowledge and skills you learn can be applied anywhere in any other field,” she said. Bambrah highlighted “Diseases of the Brain and Mind,” a course recently added to the mental health program, as a component that she particularly enjoyed. The course addresses various principle methods used to diagnose, investigate, and treat a range of neurological diseases from a clinical perspective. “What’s interesting is that the course is taught by a different faculty of the brain sci-
ences research program at Sunnybrook Research Institute every week, so it offers very unique appreciation of different model and traditional neuroscience techniques that are implemented by these experts,” Bambrah said. According to George Cree, chair of the utsc Department of Psychology, enrollment in the mental health stream is growing rapidly. “We are delighted to see student interest in this area,” Cree said. Outlining the direction in which the program is headed in the future, Cree noted that the program is in the process of review by U of T administration, with the hope of producing a combined undergraduate/graduate program. According to Cree, such a program would allow high performing undergraduate stu-
dents in the mental health program to receive early acceptance into the Masters of Social Work program. Cree said that this would be done in collaboration with the U of T Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “Students benefit by learning in their thirdyear of undergraduate studies that they are accepted into the Masters program, and having some of their course work stand for advanced credit when they arrive in the Masters program. We expect this to be an attractive option for students when they are selecting their undergraduate programs, and we think it speaks to the excellent training we are providing our undergraduate students,” Cree said.
Religious freedom ambassador challenged by U of T professors Panelists discuss religious freedom in international context at Multi-Faith Centre
The Multi-Faith Centre houses numerous resources and spaces . MAYA WONG/THe VArsiTY
Alex McKeen
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Andrew Bennett, the first person to take on the role of ambassador for Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom, visited Toronto
on Monday to engage in a panel discussion with University of Toronto professors. The talk, entitled “Religious Freedom in an International Context,” took place at the U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre in front of a full auditorium, and was moderated by professor Pamela Klassen of the Department for the Study of Religion.
The crowd included students and professors as well as a diverse showing of representatives from nearby religious and cultural groups including the Toronto Area Interfaith Council and Ismaili Youth Chair. The panel, which included professor Melissa Williams of the Political Science Department, and professor Anna Su, a professor in the Faculty of Law, scrutinized Canada’s role in promoting religious freedom internationally. The Canadian Office of Religious Freedom was established by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on February 19, 2013. It is mandated to advance worldwide religious freedom as a Canadian foreign policy priority. In his remarks, Bennett said that he saw religious freedom as a human right rooted in human dignity. He noted that the Office of Religious Freedom is meant to reflect the principles of democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law to advance their foreign policy mandate. “Fundamental principles... are immutable. They are also not culturally specific, so when we speak of them... these are not the sole preserve of Western liberal democracies,” said Bennett. These sentiments were challenged by both Williams and Su, who began their remarks by professing their roles as “devil’s advocate.” Williams, speaking through the lens of
political “realism,” questioned the role of government foreign policy. “Should a democratic government’s foreign policy reflect the moral ideals that inform its constitutional order? Or is it the responsibility of a democratic government first and foremost to uphold the interests of its citizens, rather than the citizens of other states?” Williams said. She also questioned whether it is possible to have a principled foreign policy apparatus at all, when governments are inescapably influenced by political and economic motivations. Su noted common criticisms that arose when the United States opened a similar office in the late 1990s. She said that critics were concerned with government playing a role in assessing what constituted a religion, and that the office gave special status to religious rights over other rights and freedoms. Bennett denied that the Canadian office plays any role in assessing religions. “If we need to reach out, we reach out,” he said. Zul Kassamali, president of the Toronto Area Interfaith Council emphasized the importance of the event in increasing what he called “religious literacy” among diverse groups. “Our knowledge of each other’s religions is... key,” Kassamali said. “Where we aim to better understand each other’s faiths… we begin to stop essentializing each other’s religions.”
Comment
VAR.ST/COMMENT 10 NOVEMBER 2014
comment@thevarsity.ca
Foreign higher education is a luxury good Until provincial funding increases, international students should be prepared to pay more
juLIEN bALbONTIN/THE VArsITy
Li Pan
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
This academic year, U of T’s incoming international students are paying $35,280 in annual tuition. That amount is set to increase by 50 per cent over the next five years, and the province is aiming to enroll 50 per cent more international students by 2015. Compared to the amount domestic students pay, U of T charges its international students just over two and half times more for the same education. An argument could be made that such a difference reflects the cost of providing additional services to international students, but we might as well face the blatant fact: our university is using international students as cash cows to counterbalance the shortage in government funding and domestic students’ unwillingness to pay more. The question then becomes: is it wrong to do that? I think the answer depends on the role our university is expected to play for international students. Our university should always remain accessible to qualified domestic students. That is why osap exists. However, it is not so obvious why the same standard should apply to international students. After all, it’s each government’s own responsibility to educate its youth and it’s not as if foreign governments aren’t up to the task. Take China as an example, home to almost 60 per cent of U of T’s international student body. 16.3 per cent of China’s total public expenditure is devoted to educational insti-
tutions and public subsidies for all levels of education. This figure is even higher than its equivalent in the us, which only dedicates 13.8 per cent. Given that foreign governments are focusing on public education, it seems that U of T’s role amounts to nothing more than that of a service provider for an alternative choice for tertiary education. It is a very costly alternative. The domestic student tuition in 2012 amounted to $14,414 — the total cost of one year at U of T with provincial funding included. An 18-year-old Chinese high school graduate considering staying in China or coming to our university faces a choice between $833 (or ¥5,000) a year in tuition at home and $14,414 in Toronto. That is a 16-fold difference. It may be somewhat justifiable by citing the value of the experience, or, presumably, by the wide disparity in quality of education between the two countries. However, when someone shuns a standard and heavily subsidized service in favour of one that is 16 times more expensive, the latter probably qualifies as a luxury good. It’s hard to argue for a drop in the price tag of a luxury good on fairness grounds: why does it matter whether a luxury good costs 16 times its standard version, or 32 times its standard version? As a provider of a nonessential and commercial service, U of T is certainly free to charge twice, or three times, the cost of provision. Given its role as a nonessential service provider, perhaps the more relevant question for U of T is whether or not international students
are satisfied with what they’re receiving for their money. With some of my friends, international students from China, it seems the answer is a resounding "yes." The most important factor they care about is our university’s international ranking. As long as it stays at its current twentieth place on the qs World University Ranking, the prestige alone is worth the price of admission. Tuition is only a secondary concern, but even then, our university offers competitive prices. The twenty-third place University of Michigan charges cad $47,480; the twenty-fifth place Australian National University, cad $29,455; and the seventeenth place University of Edinburgh, cad $27,423. Alternatively, one might argue from the perspective that students in foreign countries are entitled not only to an affordable higher education in their home countries, but also to a presumably better one at an institution overseas. In that case, our university should take the same approach to international students that it does towards every other student: the provider of a basic public service. It’s not rocket science to see what our university ought to do under this alternative assumption. Regardless of their country of origin, all students should pay the same tuition after adjusting for differences in government funding. Perhaps this unpleasant debate about whether higher education in Canada should be affordable to foreign students doesn’t need to be had. Our university wouldn’t
need to generate extra income if only the provincial government would just pay up. Indeed, if each of our university's 48,380 full-time domestic student received the average per student funding in Canada — excluding Ontario — of $12,707 instead of the current $8,233, our university would have more than enough money to lower its 8,167 full-time international students’ tuition fees. Even if one believes that it’s not wrong for our university to use international students as cash cows, knowing that the money is ultimately covering up the provincial government’s lack of vision and political will still leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. It is simply ridiculous for our province to lag so far behind the rest of the country — Alberta’s government, for example, provides $15,631 in funding per student. This lack of funding unfortunately leaves U of T with the difficult task of finding money elsewhere. Higher education in one’s own country is a basic government service. Higher education at a foreign institution is not. It seems to me that as long as local governments are spending adequately on higher education, students who choose to go abroad are choosing a luxury they should be prepared to pay a premium for. Perhaps the easiest way out of this dilemma is for the provincial government to simply pay its fair share. Li Pan is a third-year student at Trinity College studying financial economics and math.
10 Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
VARSITY COMMENT
comment@thevarsity.ca
Defederation alone is not enough As the CFS slumbers, the student movement is ripe for internal revolution Op-ed Brad Evoy
MEMBER, STUDENTS UNITED TO RESIST THE FEDERATION
The Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) and its plethora of subsidiaries and components serve as common subjects in papers like this one and in the wider national press. Oftentimes, mentions of the organization are accompanied by a message of sorts from the disaffiliation movement of the time — there being countless waves of disaffiliation from the Federation since 1995 and even before. This is not such a message, but rather, I hope it can be more than that. It is my belief and clear opinion that student organizations should leave the Federation, but “defederation”— as it is still called by some — is not enough. Most recently, at the last Annual General Meeting of the Federation, other members took issue with the Federation’s budget — lines devoted to legal expenses and other costs remained undisclosed to member locals, an issue from the previous meeting that remains unaddressed. This instance would be concerning on its own, but it is part of a wider pattern — in my view — of dodging curious members and deflecting due diligence from member organizations. Budgets of the Federation have come under attack for well over a decade for financial issues. Concerns voiced about the amount of legal expenses coming out of actions against student unions are often raised. Claims made around mountains of spottily accounted-for debts to the Federation by some of the larger student organizations? Noted in past issues of this very paper, in fact. Moreover, from Joey Hanson to Haanim Nur, the Federation has found itself embedded in alleged scandals ranging from questionable loans to old-fashioned theft — scandals that include the lawsuits and millions of dollars spent on the former Federation subsidiary Travel CUTS, now operated for-profit by Merit Travel. This narrative leaves aside matters both in Québec and the cfs’ international affiliates altogether, in spite of the various controversies found in such areas — one could write a whole other set of articles on these. From what I have witnessed over seven years, these issues are compounded by a secretive culture that rejects change and a
Brad Evoy. priyanka sharma/The VarsiTy
drive towards service-provision. Altogether, though, all these matters point to the Federation’s largest failing: it isn’t what it claims to be. The cfs, in all its forms, is a corporate service-provider, not a student-led engine of action. The cfs and its stepchild, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, replicate the aforementioned culture and infuse weak-lobbying efforts to meet their broader educational goals. Free education, then, can be a supposed goal of the cfs — but is it truly ever considered as the ends to be met? I would say that such claims from the Federation are lip service, a remnant of earlier days.
The first step, then, must be more than disaffiliation. We must create a new organization that explicitly rejects replicating the service-driven culture of the cfs and its lobbyist offspring. We cannot simply retake the current ships in play; they are corrupted and driven to certain means at their core. In March, organizations like Students United to Resist the Federation and others across the province are aiming to host a conference of central, faculty, and departmental student organizations to build this manner of anti-capitalist, provincial student organization. We will put our words to action — directly
democratic, anti-capitalist action driven to free education. Unlike the complacency of current organizations, we desire a student movement that dares to struggle. The cfs, however, will attack this organization as ‘ultra-left’ or ‘too radical’. It will claim we are a front for right-wing conquest and that we cannot be trusted. The Federation, simply put, will take up all of the political oxygen if one allows it to. This leads to another reason why defederation is not enough. A weaker, more disparate cfs will still attempt to take up space with its muddled reformism, so long as it draws breath through funds from students like you, anywhere. Defederation is not enough, then, because it is granular and focuses on a particular campus. Instead, we must think bigger. To paraphrase Cato of old, I say that the cfs must be destroyed and its foundations covered with salt. From root to stem to leaf, the vicious yet useless Federation has to be isolated on a macro-level and a campaign must be enacted to drive them not just from campuses, but also from the Left. No longer can politically-minded students be lax while the cfs sleeps like an old bear in hibernation. It has grown indulgent and tired, while students suffer in an ongoing winter of political disaster and ever-rising tuition fees. With a yawn, the cfs moves to cool dissent while putting up token resistance to the state’s laxity on issues of higher education. If we are serious, then, in growing a truly effective student movement, we have to clear the field for a new movement to grow like a garden. Defederation is not enough by itself — instead we must have a revolution within the student movement and a fundamental change in what we, as students, deem acceptable from our organizations. This task will take time, brutal honesty, and a commitment to student power, but defederation can be a start. Brad Evoy is a Master’s student in the History of Education (Social Justice Education) at OISE/UT. He is also a former member of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union’s Executive and Litigation Committees, as well as the former Students with Disabilities Constituency Commissioner for CFS-Ontario in 2012–2013. Currently, Evoy is a member of Students United to Resist the Federation.
Your Ebola jokes aren’t funny The problem with trivializing a global epidemic Sara Omer
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Our technology-driven generation uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share thousands of ideas across the globe every day. In the past couple of months, the Internet has exploded with tweets, photos, and memes spreading the word about, and often poking fun at, the world’s most recent buzz topic: Ebola. If you have access to these social media sites, there’s no doubt that you’ve seen the whirlwind of Ebola jokes — the “Sexy Ebola Nurse” Halloween costume is but one of many examples. A simple search online for “Ebola jokes” or “Ebola memes” will give you thousands of links and photos making light of the epidemic. I use the world “buzz” to describe the way Ebola has been followed online, because that is how the situation is being presented. In fact, the Ebola epidemic is anything but a mere buzz word; it’s a serious and deadly issue that is affecting the lives of thousands of West Africans living in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
kawmadie karunanayake/The VarsiTy
Platforms like Twitter have permitted the light humour and funny posts about Ebola, but Ebola is anything but humorous. The epidemic has taken 4,960 lives and has infected some 13, 268 people as of November 7. Only one of those killed lived in the United States.
So, why is it so easy to make light of a serious issue like Ebola? It probably has something to do with the fact that Ebola poses no tangible threat to North American tweeters behind their screens — that is, until a story like Thomas Duncan’s breaks on the news. Duncan travelled from
Liberia, where he was born, to visit family and friends in Texas, where he was diagnosed with Ebola. He died on October 8 from the virus. It is always difficult, and frankly inappropriate, to find humour in other fatal afflictions. The relative risk of developing or contracting a disease like cancer or aids in the West has always protected those illnesses from being regularly turned into laughing matters. The only real reason Ebola remains such a popular source of humour is that most of us know it won’t happen to us. It is acceptable to make fun of it precisely because we don’t fear it. For some people, it is difficult to understand the harm that comes from treating others’ problems with insensitivity. Being so far removed from such a devastating problem causes people to forget or ignore the terrible suffering it causes. The reality is that Ebola is a disease that is still affecting thousands of people around the world, whether they are miles away or close to home. The Ebola jokes need to stop, because they were never really funny to begin with. Sara Omer is a second-year student studying political science at St. Michael’s College.
var.st/comment
VARSITY COMMENT
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
11
T-12 months and counting A call for compromise on the UTSU Board of Directors question Op-ed Ryan Gomes
VP UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS, ENGSOC
The aftermath of the Annual General Meeting (agm) has been unsettling, to say the least. In the week since the agm's occurrence, there have been Facebook posts from both sides praising or condemning the agm’s proceedings. Beyond the obvious need to better preserve safe spaces, discussion has focused on the failed board proposal, and it hasn’t been pretty. Of course, student leaders have said that they look forward to "talking about the issues" or "engaging in consultation" for the next 12 months. But beyond these superficial statements, neither side has changed their fundamental arguments. No one is calling for a truly comprehensive compromise. No one is calling for a completely new proposal, different from the two that were defeated by the Board of Directors and membership respectively. As of today, no one has ceded any ground. Well, let me be the person to change the tone of this post-agm discussion. I have always believed that people can find common ground
Ryan Gomes. maya wong/THe VarsiTy
when it comes down to it. Having worked on the board this past year, I have seen that the body is not necessarily as split as people may think it is. There are reasonable people who desperately want to find a solution
that satisfies as many people as possible. And, as the agm proved, no side in this debate can get the two-thirds majority it desperately needs to push its own vision alone, which leads to perhaps my most important point.
As a student’s union, we need to come together in this 12-month period and work on a compromise. Regardless of what the incumbents or the opposition wants, any potential solution will have to have both side’s acceptance, and that
means neither side will get all of what it wants. Equity and college representation will both have to be on the table, full stop. Getting to that point might not be what either side had in mind, but we will need a board proposal with both if it is ever to have a chance at passing. I’d like to call on both sides to come back to the table and engage in a formal negotiation on a new board proposal, similar perhaps to the Student Societies Summit but without the tension created by an administrative presence. Of course the make-up of such a negotiation would be up to the participants, but the idea is simple: find common ground, and do it soon. Don’t posture, don’t pontificate — just work for the student body, and quickly. The bottom line is simple: students want a union that is both equitable and representative. Squabbling for the next 12 months is not an option. Unless we want to run out the clock on our union, we need to engage everyone on campus now and find a solution that works. Ryan Gomes is the Vice-President University Affairs at the Engineering Society. He is a third-year student.
In overseas volunteering, projects must be long-term, sustainable U of T medical students share their stories of working in a children's hospital in Kathmandu Student Voices CHALLENGE TWO: DIFFERENT CULTURES
Laura Betcherman, Kira Bensimon, and Samantha Kay Dunnigan VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS
Upon arriving in Nepal, myself and two other University of Toronto medical students realized that the situation that we had been placed into was going to be vastly different than what we had expected. We were volunteering for a charity devoted to improving children’s health in Nepal. Last summer at a nutrition outreach camp in a remote community high in the mountains, our hands were covered in urine as we measured the height and weight of 1,300 Nepalese children. But then again, nothing about our experience turned out the way we thought it would. We applied to volunteer for babu (Bringing About Better Understanding), a charity focused on improving children’s health in Nepal. We would be involved in improving the Nutrition Centre at the International Friendship Children’s Hospital (ifch) in Kathmandu, which ran a two-week nutritional rehabilitation and education program for malnourished children and their families.
CHALLENGE ONE: WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? Less than a month before we left Canada, we learned that the Nutrition Centre, the hub of our future project, was being threatened due
Kathamandu, the densely populated capital city of Nepal. sHarada prasad cs/flickr by cc
to a lack of funding. Our initial project had ended before we had even arrived. In retrospect, this was a blessing in disguise. It allowed us to start from scratch, spurring us to think about a type of project that would benefit our target population, and more importantly, would be sustainable; that is to say, a project that would continue without us once we left Nepal. Improving the health of a malnourished population through bettering their nutrition was always our pri-
mary objective. So why should that change? All we needed was an alternative solution to reach that goal but, once again, funding remained an obstacle. The Nutrition Centre at babu was fortunate to receive funds from both EarthTones, a yearly benefit concert at U of T, and a self-initiated fundraiser we hosted for friends and family. Although these funds gave us a head start on creating a new way to realize our goal, we had to be extremely frugal in spending what we had.
Living in Toronto, we were accustomed to a fast-paced, high-stress environment. When faced with a challenge, our instinct was to troubleshoot, marshal our resources, and solve the problem as quickly as possible. This type of Western urgency is the antithesis of Nepali culture. It was from our experience at the outreach camp, and learning from the locals that we discovered the true needs of the community, and how to cater our nutrition initiatives to those needs. At ifch, we worked alongside an amazing physician, Dr. S. — a short, wide-eyed, and big-hearted Nepalese doctor. As head of ifch, this man showed dedication beyond what we thought was possible. He had not taken a single day off work since starting the hospital over a decade ago. Most importantly, he supported our initiative to implement better nutrition at the hospital. Although it took us over two weeks to come up with a project idea, we decided to make "ready-to-use therapeutic food" or rutf for short, which we would give to malnourished children free of charge, for a two week period with the aim of weight gain and achieving better nutrition.
CHALLENGE THREE: PASSING THE TORCH We created a robust, easy-to-follow protocol so that our project could be
run for a full year. We trained medical students, nurses, and made a partnership with Dr. Shristi — a smart, young energetic doctor who would take on the project after we left. Her goal was to run a study that would help promote the hospital, and educate others on the importance of malnutrition research. There has been a lot of criticism about so-called “voluntourism” and short-term global health projects. In taking on this kind of work, you need to be comfortable with the fact that you are not going to save the world in a month. You need to be flexible, adaptable, and open to change. It is important to never lose sight of why you are there, and know that even if things seem frustrating at times, the smallest of successes do make a difference to someone. You are one player on a much larger team, and without laying down the soil, and getting your hands dirty in the process, nothing will ever grow. Laura Betcherman is a second-year medical student at the University of Toronto. She is involved with the University of Toronto International Health Program (UTIHP). Kira Bensimon obtained her Master's of Science at the University of Toronto in Neuropharmacology in 2013. Samantha Kay Dunnigan is a secondyear medical student at the University of Toronto.
along with others who were locals in the city. Armstrong was assigned to the fifth regiment of the battalion. He was one of many prospective Canadian soldiers recruited from Montréal and Almonte, Ontario to form the 73rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force sent to fight and, tragically, die in France. Armstrong was appointed to the battalion in July of that year but would not be sent overseas until eight months later in March of 1916. His company arrived in August and fought through Belgium around the Ypres salient before being sent to the Somme. At the time of his death, Armstrong was second-in-command of his company, a group of men who, by all accounts, were as fond of him as everyone else who had ever had the pleasure of meeting him. He was buried at a military cemetery in Albert, a small French commune that traces its historical roots back to an ancient Roman outpost.
Lest we forget Remembering the contributions of U of T soliders 100 years after the Great War
A storm of steel
By Alec Wilson
T Students and graduates of the University of Toronto made up the majority of the 67th (Varsity) Battery, shown here in front of the doors to University College on July 16, 1916. UNIVERSITy OF TORONTO ARCHIVES | ITEM NO. B1984-0001/001P (01)
The construction of Soldiers’ Tower as it nears completion on October 23, 1923. UNIVERSITy OF TORONTO ARCHIVES | ITEM NO. A1965-0004/006 [2A.6]
he artillery shell erupted violently from the mouth of a distant German howitzer with a plume of smoke and a resounding boom as one of the gun’s crew pulled the firing cord. The machine recoiled with a metallic groan, shifting the earth beneath it and spitting the weighty projectile up into the October sky. Soaring in an arc high above the scarred French terrain, over the sparse deciduous coverage provided by the Somme estuary, the bombshell disappeared from sight in an instant. It continued to sail for what must have seemed like hours, but was in reality only a few short seconds, before succumbing to gravity and beginning a steep decline, nose down, to deliver its destructive payload. Hurtling towards the earth at hundreds of metres a second, the artillery’s bursting charge was ignited by the fuse, causing the massive bullet to shed its heavy steel jacket in a violent ejection of hot, razor-like shrapnel in all directions. Standing unawares, directly in the target zone of the shell, were four young company officers of the 73rd Battalion on reconnoitering duty, a few kilometres from the French-Belgian border at a place called Courcelette. As the shell exploded a few feet overhead, it spit jagged steel on the men with enough force to embed pieces into trees and leave a devastating crater where they stood. The group of Canadians was killed instantly. Far away, the Germans removed their fingers from their ears and began preparing to fire the gun again. Among the four officers caught in the blast was 25-year-old Lieutenant Paul Lyndon Armstrong. Along with hundreds of other young men killed in action during the Great War, Armstrong had come to France by way of the University of Toronto. Some were killed in similar explosions, others were caught in chemical gas attacks, and more were collected from no-man’s land, having been pierced by enemy fire while rushing over the tops of trenches. The view of the battlefields of Europe from above was startling. The once idyllic French terrain had been ravaged by battle. Verdant fields were pockmarked by shellfire; the clear blue skies were blotted out by smoke; the Atlantic breeze bore with it the stinging scent of sulfur. The notion of a beautiful French countryside-playing scene to the soldier’s proposed European adventure had been destroyed in an inferno — one that was quickly burning out of control.
A portrait of a soldier
A Royal Flying Corps plane seen above tents on Back Campus, circa 1918. UNIVERSITy OF TORONTO ARCHIVES | ITEM NO. A1980-0030/002 (21)
The first Remembrance day after the dedication of Soldiers’ Tower on November 11, 1924. UNIVERSITy OF TORONTO ARCHIVES | A1965-0004/006 [2A.24]
Armstrong was born on September 17, 1890 in what was then known as Carleton, Ontario. The county would come to be called the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1969, and later the city of Ottawa in 2001, many years after the smoke had cleared from Europe and another world war had taken place. The city is nestled on the south bank of the Ottawa River, less than 100 kilometres from the American border. Armstrong enrolled at the University of Toronto to study political science in 1908 at the age of 18, spending four years at University College before graduating in 1912. A newspaper obituary, published upon his death, paints a flattering picture of a boy who was well-liked in his hometown. From the words on the page and the photo in blurry black and white, it is not too difficult to see why the young man was so popular. There is a handsome symmetry to his features, his dark hair parted neatly in the middle above a set of dark and gentle eyes. He remained exceedingly popular while a student, maintaining a healthy social schedule, which made him friends from Toronto to Montréal. Armstrong was a member of an eclectic series of clubs. He was in a fraternity, participated actively in collegiate athletics from tennis to hockey, and was renowned for being a competitive and capable athlete. An early photo from Torontonensis, U of T’s yearbook, shows a sharply dressed Armstrong cradling an impressive tennis trophy. When he graduated from University College, he moved a few streets south to Queen Street to study law at Osgoode Hall. He was called to the bar a few short weeks before he enlisted in 1915. It might be easy, at first glance, to suggest that Armstrong bares no real similarities to the countless undergraduates who walk the halls and quadrangles of U of T’s three campuses today. Surely, a lot of time and change separates any of us from his experiences. However, that is not to say that modern students do not resemble him and his countrymen of a century ago — or at the very least, cannot find some threads of empathy for his time. It was in Montréal that Armstrong enlisted in the army in 1915,
The engagement Armstrong found himself propelled into upon arriving in Europe had been initiated and catalyzed by actors and events that predated his involvement by years. In 1914, most of Europe went about its business completely unaware of the political and diplomatic powder keg resting beneath its feet. It was a warm day on June 28, 1914 that found Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria seated with his wife in the back of an idling Graf & Stift Bois de Boulogne on a Sarajevo side street. The two were recuperating in the open carriage automobile after a failed assassination attempt — a grenade had been lobbed towards the vehicle during a parade moments before. Gavrilo Principe was one of a group of young extremists belonging to a terrorist cell that had taken to calling itself the Black Hand. He and a number of others had gathered in Sarajevo that day with the express purpose of cutting down Ferdinand, a symbolic figure of the unwelcome imperial presence at the time. After the earlier attempt on the Archduke’s life by one of his peers had failed, Principe spotted the target of the day’s objective sitting vulnerable in a car in front of him. Without a moment’s hesitation, Principe shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife, unwittingly setting into motion a series of disastrous events. Within days, the great powers of Europe were at each other’s throats and drafting alliances and battle plans. Two months later, in August, Canada was pulled into the conflict as a dominion of the now involved Britain. It was up to Canada, however, to determine what form of participation it would take. The day after Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, the Governor General of Canada — Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, a member of the British Royal Family — officially submitted a matching declaration on behalf of the dominion. By this point, the war was already picking up significant momentum. Hostilities had erupted in the months preceding Canada’s introduction to the war in the form of the Austrian invasion of Serbia, with the German Schlieffen Plan already underway. Ultimately, Canadians — including U of T students like Armstrong — would march into battle over the next four years, earning their stripes and building a reputation for their country at battles like the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele. They came from places with names like Guelph, Ontario — as in the case of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon and poet — or Napanee, Halifax, and St. John’s. Their bodies were collected where they fell across Europe. The motivations of Armstrong, McCrae, and the thousands of other Canadians who signed their names to support their country are difficult to appreciate in their totality. Some were surely driven by a deep sense of patriotic duty. Ties to their European forebears must have compelled some to stand with England. A number born in Canada would have been eager to join to prove the country’s mettle in its nascence. But surely others were called to action at the prospect of adventure. The romance of it all is easily understood; the promise of glory set against the beautiful landscapes of Europe to combat the forces of evil danced in the minds of young men, untempered by the insights that would be provided by today’s media. Sparse communication from the lines would not, and could not, capture the brutality they were to face — the mud, the trenches, the gas. When conscription came into effect late in the war, in January of 1918, the visions of glory had been crushed by letters and death notifications sent from the battlefields of Europe to anxious families at home. None were enticed by the possibilities of death, or loss, and yet it is what so many received.
The tower Besides his headstone in Albert, Somme and the war memorial housed in Osgoode’s Great Library, Armstrong’s name can be found etched on the top right corner of the World War I memorial wall at Soldiers’ Tower on the St. George campus. Every day, thousands of students pass his name — and those of 628 other members of the U of T community who gave their lives — as they walk across campus and under the grand archway of the monolithic tower. They walk, largely undisturbed — save for the passing concerns of due dates and exams — and mostly ambivalent to the magnitude of events that prompted the tower’s construction in the first place. The university as it stands today is difficult to contextualize as an area for war. The firing range in Hart House has long been abandoned and there are no drills taking place on the newly turfed Back Campus. But, 100 years ago, every day for four years, students and staff milling about campus could not hope to avoid the presence of conflict; the war had come to them and, soon, many would step forward to meet it. Hart House, which adjoins the Soldiers’ Tower, appeared strik-
Canadian Officers Training Corps drill on a snowy front campus, circa 1915. UNIVERSITy OF TORONTO ARCHIVES | ITEM NO. A1968-0003/006 [7.8]
Red poppies have become a symbol of remembrance, inspired by John McCrae’s famous poem, “In Flanders Fields”. SAMANTHA RElICH/THE VARSITy
The Memorial Screen at Soldiers’ Tower is carved with the names of those who were lost during the First World War. jENNIFER SU/THE VARSITy
ingly different in the time that Armstrong and thousands of others used the university’s grounds to prepare for war. The structure itself was under construction throughout the period stretching from 1914-1918, though its incompletion did not stop the university from using it to train soldiers. It is fitting, then, that once the war had ended, its emblematic memorial would be built so close to the area where much of the university’s contribution to the war effort took place. In a piece titled “Changed by War” in U of T Magazine, published earlier this year, Alice Taylor describes the extent to which Hart House was made available to the burgeoning Canadian forces in the early days of conflict: “Recruits marched in the Great Hall, the Royal Flying Corps set up workshops in the gymnasium, and the Military Hospitals Commission Command trained medical personnel, including women nurses and rehabilitation specialists, in what are now the Debates and Music Rooms,” she writes. It is difficult to imagine having your walk between lectures or your midday coffee run interrupted by the sudden cracking of musket fire in shooting drills. There is something both playful and naïve about pre-war accounts of training on the university’s grounds. Images of students rushing to bayonet sand bags or navigating artificial terrain designed to resemble blown-out French and Belgian towns carry a sense of frivolity. Campus today does not lend itself well to large sustained military exercises — nor to imagining that these activities were once commonplace. On a Friday in late January of 1921, the Memorial Committee of
the University of Toronto’s Alumni Association delivered a letter to the university’s administration to request the requisite funds to finish construction on a memorial for the university’s war dead. The alumni were able to raise $397,141 towards a stone clock and bell tower in the Gothic Revival style. Canada’s then Governor General Victor Cavendish ninth Duke of Devonshire, laid the tower’s cornerstone in 1919, one year after the final shots of the war. The tower contains a Memorial Room that houses a collection of U of T’s war memorabilia. Patinated medals, tattered flags, and dog-eared historical volumes sit safely under glass alongside original photographs and letters.
100 years later In the century since Woeld War I ended, much has changed. Though time does not erase the sacrifices of Armstrong and the countless other Canadians who gave their lives in the Great War, it does blur their memories. It is easy for students to pass beneath Soldiers’ Tower and by the tribute wall without thinking of the individuals that the etched characters commemorate. It is not that students don’t remember; they couldn’t possibly be asked to. It is not that they don’t attend memorial services. Rather, perhaps they don’t appreciate that the war years, now a fixture in history textbooks, are not so long ago, and that the lives of young soldiers were not so different from their own. Each year, for a few fleeting days at the start of November, red flowers make appearances on the coats of students, staff, and fac-
Solidiers’ Tower. jENNIFER SU/THE VARSITy
ulty crossing campus. For a moment on November 11 at 11:00 am, many will pause in silence, perhaps to think about a time when campus wasn’t so peaceful in the shroud of late fall, and when youth was inextricably tinged with the uncertainty of war. These symbols — the tower, the wreaths, the recitations of McCrae’s powerful verse — represent our collective history. They preserve the memories of those who gave their lives and implore us to learn — to notice the individual names etched on the tower, and discover the stories behind them.
Arts&Culture
VAR.ST/ARTS
10 NOVEMBER 2014
arts@thevarsity.ca
Students' guide: Kensington Market Breaking out of the campus bubble for a day of studying and good eats David Kitai VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
So it’s November — you’ve got about a dozen papers due and for some reason all your professors scheduled their “finals” for the last week of class. You keep seeing Facebook posts with your friends in cool neighbourhoods all around the city, but who the hell has time for that? You’ve wasted September and October “making new friends” and “settling into classes,” and you feel so unhip. Chill — neighbourhoods in this city are full of places to study, and usually with way better spots to take a break than anywhere on campus. Just take a day, a couple of readings or a paper you need to edit, and go exploring. Start with Kensington — it’s close, cheap, and full of almost purpose-built students spots.
BREAKFAST: NU BUGEL Just south of Nassau Street on Augusta Avenue, this South American bakery specializing in Montrealstyle bagels is the perfect launchpad for a day in Kensington. Montrealstyle means a wood-burning oven, and the smoky-sweet bagels coming out of here are about as good as you can get in Toronto. A simple bagel with cream cheese is all of three dollars, but they also do a killer breakfast bagel with bacon and eggs. My personal favourite is a sesame seed with smoked-salmon cream cheese, made just down the street at Global Cheese Shoppe. Even more amazing — show up before 10:oo am and get free coffee with your meal. Sit back, take out your first reading, and watch as endless rounds of dough fly out of the oven and out the door. By about 11:00 am, though, the place gets a little crowded — about time to move along, to get some more focused work done.
FIRST STUDY SESSION: JIMMY’S COFFEE The standard working day in the market starts around 11:00 or 12:00 pm. Everybody, and I mean everybody, grabs a coffee at Jimmy’s before they start. Not quite independent but far from Starbucks, Jimmy’s offers a friendly atmosphere, eclectic art, and a damn fine
Americano. Grab a coffee and situate yourself on one of their benches for your first serious work session of the day. They’ve got free wifi, if you’re into that sort of thing. Don’t worry about distractions though — the gaggle of hungrylooking hipsters running startups on their Macbooks around you will motivate some serious work ethic.
LUNCH: RASTA PASTA Once you’ve consumed an unhealthy number of Americanos at Jimmy’s, you should be feeling adequately jittery. Mellow out with the five dollar jerk chicken special from Rasta Pasta on Kensington Avenue. In rain, hail, or driving snow, Magnus stands outside his tiny restaurant minding a couple of oil-drum smokers. Show up here after 1:00 pm because right at noon there’ll be a line stretching down the street. For five dollars you get a hearty helping of rice and beans, coleslaw, or steamed veggies and a full jerk chicken leg all slathered in West-Indian spicy gravy. The chicken is perfect: crispy on the outside but tender throughout, and never dry. The coleslaw is made fresh daily with a clean, crisp acidity that perfectly balances the spice of the chicken leg. The rice and beans provide everything you need in the way of afternoon sustenance.
AFTERNOON STUDY SESSION: MOON BEAN So maybe the wifi at Jimmy’s was a little much. You wasted the morning on Facebook and need somewhere to finish your problem set without distraction. Head down the street from Rasta Pasta and make a left past the fruit shop. Waiting for you there, like an island in time, is Moon Bean. It’s old-school Kensington — which is to say, it’s kind of weird. Weird is good, as is the coffee and tea selection. No wifi means uninterrupted productivity while well-worn wood chairs leave you just comfortable enough to work. If you’re desperate for a study snack Moon Bean does a killer boureka, a Bulgarian flaky filo pastry stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, onions, or potatoes — perfect for mid-afternoon snack cravings.
DINNER: GO SHOPPING Sure there’s a couple great sit-down restaurants around Kensington but
Cheap arts CINSSU and eOne Present: "Beyond the Lights" CINSSU and eOne host a sneak preview to upcoming film “Beyond the Lights.” Tickets can bepicked up at the CINSSU office. Monday, November 10 Isabel Bader Theatre 7:00 —8:00 pm Free passes available at CINSSU office (2 Sussex Avenue)
Jimmy's Coffee. ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY
Rasta Pasta. ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY
they call it a market for a reason. Swing by Sanagan’s Meat Locker on Baldwin and pick up a pork chop, or some sausages, or even a steak if you did really good work that day. Everything there is locally-sourced and hormone free, but actually fits in a student budget.
Head down Kensington Avenue and pick up some fresh kale and a couple sweet potatoes from Kensington fruit market. The old-school Portugese grocer has far and away the freshest and best quality produce in Kensington. Around this time of year they get special stemmed
Under $10, pay what you can, and free arts events happening around the city this week
San Marina / Beds / Rotary Dial / Indigo Joseph @ THE HORSESHOE TAVERN Indie 88 Nu Music Night
Short Cuts: Otherworldy
Indie 88 hosts a night of Toronto’s best new musical acts.
Thursday, November 13 TIFF Bell Lightbox 6:30 pm $10 for Students
Tuesday, November 11 The Horseshoe Tavern Doors at 9:00 pm Free (19+)
TIFF lightbox presents a series of creepy sci-fi short films.
The Secession w/ Starship Experience @ The Smiling Buddha The Smiling Buddha is hosting a night filled with Rock & Roll from various different Toronto musical acts. Thursday, November 13 Smiling Buddha Doors at 6:00 pm Price TBA
clementines from Italy. There is no better dessert. Look at that — you spent a day studying, and you got to chill in Kensington. The food was pretty good too, huh? Now go home and make your dinner, wake up tomorrow, and go visit Roncy.
By Jacob Lorinc "Punk Rock, Mental Illness and Recovery" — reality talk with Crusty Craig from Boston Ex-punk rocker Craig, also an author and magazine editor, speaks on mental health and addiction. Saturday, November 15 The Magpie Tavern 5:00–7:00 pm $5-$10
var.st/arts
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Theatre with a bang A review of Hart House Theatre's production of The Tempest
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ASSOCIATED With Daniel Konikoff & Jacob Lorinc
Jacob Lorinc
ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
The opening night to Hart House Theatre’s production of The Tempest started with a bang. An appropriate beginning for one of Shakespeare’s most stimulating plays, the Hart House production was a storm of flashing lights and booming noise. At moments reminiscent of a rave, the elaborate designs and extravagant sounds sent a surge of electricity running throughout the theatre. The Tempest starts out in the middle of a sea-storm while the protagonist Prospero’s brother Antonio’s ship is nearing the island in which Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been stranded. Production director Jeremy Hutton, clearly not one to shy away from the technical side of a performance, arranged for a grandiose opening scene of loud crashes and flashing lights. As the play carried on, the audience was introduced to the play’s lead, the vengeful wizard Prospero (Peter Higginson), and Miranda (Katherine Fogler), before the play breaks off into its three separate plot lines. In one, Miranda and Ferdinand (Andrei Preda) fall in love. In another, the spirit Ariel (Amaka Umeh) thwarts a murder plot between the stranded nobels. In the third, Stephano (Paolo Santalucia), Trinculo (Cameron Laurie), and Caliban (William Foley) ham it up as drunkards planning a rebellion against Prospero.
Prospero speaking with Ariel. courtesy of Hart House tHeatre
All three plot lines are equally enticing, with the comedic characters Stephano and Trinculo proving to be exceptionally hilarious. Santalucia and Laurie put on a wonderful performance as slapstick winos — they encounter Caliban, Prospero’s slave, who is convinced they have come from the moon. From that point of introduction, an array of outlandish jokes and phallic humour ensues.
The acting throughout this play was superb, although leading man, Higginson, sometimes fell short. Generally presenting a good rendition of the brooding wizard, I couldn’t help but feel that Prospero, who is known to be vengeful and menacing, was a bit too much of a softie. The dialogue was often delivered with a soothing, wise old-man voice, when it should have been
delivered with vigor and a hint of wrath. Unfortunately, stomping his staff against the ground every thirty-seconds just didn't cut it. All-in-all, The Tempest was an exceptionally entertaining piece of theatre. For a performance that lasts a whopping two hours and forty minutes, the play managed to maintain the audiences attention throughout, and that is something that’s worth applauding.
“An outsider looking in” VARSITY STAFF
courtesy of aisHa franz
Aisha Franz’s latest comic book, Earthling, tells the story of a few short days in the life of female teenage protagonist Mädchen and her mother and sister. An alien visitor makes an apperance, but the book mainly centres around the anxieties that come with being a teenager growing up in suburbia. The strength of the book, and in Franz’s artistry, lies in her ability to tell stories with simple imagery alone. Last Wednesday, Franz made a stop in Toronto as part of her book tour. The event was presented with the help of Earthling’s publisher, Drawn & Quarterly, local comic book store The Beguiling, and the Goethe Institut in Toronto. The night featured a presentation of Franz’s work and an interview by Toronto-based illustrator and artist Ginette Lapalme. Franz’s illustration style is, as she describes it, “impatient.” Upon further inspection, the reader will find smudges in some of the panels — these “imperfections” are reflective of Franz’s creative process, which is punctuated by moments of indecisiveness. Her talent lies in being able to depict real life situations in an honest and striking manner. Initially published in German in 2011 as Alien, Franz began working on Earthling during her final year of art
INTERSTELLAR DAN: Okay so, as far as big flaws go, definitely the writing… Because if you’re going to have something that requires you to suspend your disbelief to such an extent, the writing should be relatable and, uh, coherent. The dialogue just seemed like a mishmash of cheesy things that you’d see in ’80s movies.
JAKE: It was definitely really
A look into German illustrator Aisha Franz's latest comic book Sofia Luu
Associated is a bi-weekly podcast and film column created by The Varsity’s associate Arts & Culture editors, Daniel Konikoff and Jacob Lorinc. They’ll be rounding up and reviewing the latest movies making their way into theatres. On the bill for this week is Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Bill Hader’s heart- warming comedy The Skeleton Twins, and the mindbending Birdman. Read some of their thoughts here, and then be sure to go online and check out the podcast at thevarsity.ca.
school. Much of the material for the book is pulled from Franz’s own personal experience as a teenager growing up in suburban Germany. In an interview with The Varsity, Franz described her process creating the book as “intuitive and moral,” since it was her first experience creating a comic book. She expressed that drawing and plotting out Earthling was more about responding to ideas she had in her head and playing around with what might work. For the English publication of her first comic book, Franz had to find an alternative title for Alien. For German readers, “alien” works well because it is a “foreign word and therefore leaves a lot of space for interpretation,” she explained. She went on to say that when choosing “earthling” as the official English title of her book, she, “soon realized that Earthling is more about the experiences of being an outsider looking in, than an actual extraterrestrial being.” She continued, “It is a human, but still a strange and explored being, something all of us feel sometimes.” Visually, Earthling might come off as a bit grotesque — a little but imperfect, and a little bit discomforting. Still, there’s something appealing and relatable about Mädchen’s story — almost anyone can pick up Earthling, pick out a moment in the plot, and instantly relate to it.
beautiful, but when he’s going for this moral of ‘love will prevail,’ you sort of have to express that through dialogue not through… space.
THE SKELETON TWINS JAKE: It was a movie that went
back and forth between comedy, and these serious moments, and they were really good at switching right on the spot. And the audience was right there with them, I knew when I was supposed to be laughing and when it was more serious.
DAN: There were all these really
dark moments, but the comedy would break that up. Normally you might see a movie like this and think it was uneven, but for some reason it really worked…I think that lies in the strength of the performances.
BIRDMAN JAKE: It was very interesting
how it was filmed, in that the entire movie was one long sequence. It was really amazing to watch.
DAN: And I think what’s so great
about this camera that never cuts, is that you’re allowed to have this intimate access with this reality that they’ve created. Because when you cut, it makes you realize, ‘oh this is a movie,’ but with the one shot… it allowed us to accept the somewhat ridiculous meta concept of the whole thing.
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Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
arts@thevarsity.ca
Anatomy of a Protest Wendy Colburn’s latest exhibit depicts the beginning of the SlutWalk movement Exhibit Review
Ivana Dizdar VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
In January of 2011, during a safety information session, a Toronto police officer told women at Osgoode Hall Law School that if they wanted to remain safe, they should not dress “like sluts.” The comment spurred an outrage and catalyzed the birth of a new protest movement: the SlutWalk. Currently featured at Hart House’s Barnicke Gallery is Anatomy of a Protest, an exhibition that chronicles the first SlutWalk. Now a global resistance movement, SlutWalk reclaims the word “slut” and confronts both victimblaming and slut-shaming behaviour. In other words, SlutWalk activists want to challenge the idea that victims are responsible for their victimization — it is a battle against rape culture. This seems straightforward, but when it comes to loaded issues like rape and terms like “slut,” there is always controversy. Wendy Coburn's exhibition is about those controversies and some of the problems that social movements face. The staple of the exhibit is Coburn’s film Slut Nation: The Anatomy of a Protest, which depicts the first-ever slut walk. Photos from the media and those who attended the event are also featured. Coburn shows that, even with hundreds of passionate people gathering on the streets in unity, getting
The Justine M. Barnicke Gallery. jENNIFER SU/THE VARSITy
the right message across can be far from simple. If a cause is misrepresented by a select few, it can undermine the movement as a whole. The artist suggests that, in the case of SlutWalk and the G20 riots, misrepresentations have had much to do with the very system that is meant to “serve and protect” us. Now is a really good time for exhibitions like this. Yes, it always
makes sense to talk about human rights and to take action against injustice, just as it's always valuable to question one's own compliance in these matters. But this exhibit comes at a time when women are saying they aren't feminists and claiming they don't need feminism. This is in light of the pervasive stereotypes that continue to exist. Of course, it's also a good
time to talk about the hundreds of Indigenous women who have gone missing in Canada over the past few decades — a subject that doesn't come up nearly enough. Anatomy of a Protest is an exhibition that is all about the politics of resistance. What's special about the exhibition is that it documents the resistance on both ends of the issues it deals with. Resistance is
too often associated with only those groups that are oppressed, but Coburn reminds us that dominant parties resist just as much. I recommend the exhibition to anyone who is interested in politics and protest culture. It's on until December 19. On Wednesday, November 12, Coburn will be present for a panel discussion at the Hart House Debates Room.
Beyond and After the Horizon The AGO's most recent exhibit explores the art of the Anishinaabe culture Exhibit Review Lola Borrisenko VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Art Gallery of Ontario. jENNIFER SU/THE VARSITy
This November, the Art Gallery of Ontario (ago) will feature art projects developed by the Anishinaabe artists of the Great Lakes. The exhibition, Beyond and After the Horizon, features a wide range of both modern and historical pieces that demonstrate the Anishinaabe culture. David Bradley’s bright acrylic painting Pow-Wow Princess in the process of Acculturation is certainly the most noteworthy work on display at the exhibition. The piece shows a union between traditional native and modern consumerist culture. Inspired by Renaissance art, the painting shows a princess depicted as an aboriginal Mona Lisa. Although the princess in the painting is wearing a traditional tribal crown, she also sports modern objects, such as a watch and a cigarette. These aspects of the painting suggest that native communities continue to adapt to a modern, consumer-driven world while maintaining cultural individuality. What is most striking about
the painting is its open-ended message; Bradley has demonstrated the merging of two cultures, but said nothing about whether it is good or bad — a question he leaves for the viewer to consider. Beyond and After the Horizon presents the Anishinaabe culture in several different mediums. Colourful embroidaries are also featured, many made hundreds of years ago in the Great Lakes region. The brown woolen sleeves and bags made more than 300 years ago give a glimpse into the Ojibwe people’s domestic lifestyle at the time. While the Ojibwe tended to focus on floral ornaments, Potawatomi artists explored geometric patterns in their works. By displaying works from both cultures, the exhibit demonstrates the diversity between the two groups' artistic preferences. This makes Beyond and After the Horizon a thrilling and culturally rich exhibition. Beyond and After the Horizon is a colourful collision of various artistic pieces that introduces the viewer to the everyday inspirations of people who have lived, and continue to live, in the Great Lakes region.
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
var.st/arts
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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“The mind of the play” An interview with the production team of UC's Les Enfants Terribles Sara Gajic VARSITY STAFF
The uc Follies have never been a theatre company to shy away from a challenge. Their website state that their 2014-2015 season explores performances that “complicate the line between reality and imagination” — meaning that their upcoming adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s surrealist novel Les Enfants Terribles promises to be particularly enticing. Written in 1929, the novel follows the lives of Paul and Elisabeth, two young siblings whose codependence manifests in an inner world of their own creation. It’s a strange, intensely imaginative world, one which production designer Jess Shane has decided to bring to life through a number of multimedia techniques. “We wanted to bring the audience into [Paul and Elisabeth’s] bedroom,” she said, explaining that the set will look like a child’s bedroom. Shane has decided to employ the use of live projection and puppetry to help bring the children’s inner world to life. After completing an exchange in Leon, Spain, where she learned about the use of puppetry in theatre, she found herself excited
about the idea of integrating it into the performance. The puppets will portray the adults in the play, representing the physical supports which allow the children to stay alive, but never showing them directly. “The mind of the play is having these imaginary fantasies while the action is happening in a real, concrete realm,” explained Ariel Martz-Oberlander, the play’s director. “We never learn who buys [the children] groceries, and they have a maid who cleans but we never meet her... [Paul and Elisabeth] never acknowledge them, because they live in this fantasy.” Surrealism and puppetry are not conventions one might expect in the same production, especially a student production, but both Martz-Oberlander and Shane believe they are up to the task. This is Martz-Oberlander’s directorial debut, but she’s been involved in campus theatre previously. She’s “excited to do something on campus that [integrated] the elements of not only the acting, but also the production, the design and the tech production. I was really excited to try something that I’d never seen done before.” Shane, a visual studies student in her fourth year at the University of Toronto, is excited to “take on-
Preparing for the production of Les Enfants Terribles. courtesy of uc follies
campus theatre to a different level of integration of visual art and theatre” in this production. The two began discussing the idea for this production two years ago, when they first became friends. “It was a very ephemeral, wispy little idea,” explained Martz-Oberlander. As their friendship grew, so did the idea of the production, taking many turns that neither expected. Now, two years later, the two students
are roommates and Les Enfants Terribles is only a few days away from opening to the public. Shane believes that the story is a universal one that will not only enthrall audiences, but also make them laugh. “The threat of being parted drives them to desperation... but also, there’s this humour element of the mischief they get up to,” she explained. “I think it resonates with anyone
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who has ever felt dependent on anyone else,” added Martz-Oberlander. “I think it is sort of a manifestation [of codependence] if you go all the way down that road. I feel that so often, whether it’s falling in love, or being admiring of someone...With Paul and Elisabeth, they have never known any other way of being.” Les Enfants Terribles runs from November 13 to 15 in UC Junior Common Room. Doors are at 8:00 pm.
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Science
VAR.ST/SCIENCE 10 NOVEMBER 2014
science@thevarsity.ca
In conversation with Dr. Cynthia Goh Entrepreneur, chemist, and professor Cynthia Goh talks about her inspiration and her vision for scientific entrepreneurship IEEE U of T PCB Design Seminar The seminar is organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to help students design printed circuit boards (PCB) Wednesday, November 12 6:00 pm–7:30 pm Galbraith Building, room 404 Free; register on Eventbrite
Astronomy on Tap TO Learn about astronomy in the least expected of environments at an event sponsored by the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and organized in collaboration with the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics Wednesday, November 12 7:00 pm–8:30 pm Supermarket Bar Free; no registration necessary
Annual Toronto Diabetes Expo Dr. Cynthia Goh, a professor of chemistry and the director of the Impact Centre. jASLEEN ARNEjA/THE VARSiTy
Dr. Cynthia Goh is quite the Renaissance woman. She is deeply invested in transforming scientific research into tangible technology and in the education of scientistentrepreneurs. She is the scientist that invented the technique of diffraction-based sensing for drug discovery and medical diagnostics. Beyond being a familiar face at the Department of Chemistry, she is also a professor at the Institute of Medical Science, the Munk School of Global Affairs, and the director for optical sciences at the University of Toronto. Goh is also well known for her highly acclaimed Entrepreneurship 101 course at MaRS, which has an attendance of over 1,500 participants annually. In 2012, she started the Techno2010 program to help scientists build companies at U of T. Goh also teaches IMC200, an undergraduate course detailing the basics of innovation and entrepreneurship at U of T.
In 2004, I thought that I would like to share this experience with students, because it really broadened my own horizons. So, I created a seminar series called Introduction to Scientific Entrepreneurship. I think we have amazing students [at U of T], and we provide them with great preparation in the fundamentals, and we get great research results. But there is a gap in how the students enter the world. Quite frankly, we lose a lot of our students to the us, because they don’t find really interesting jobs out here. So, I thought, why don’t we create our own jobs? And in fact, there is a shortage of high-tech companies in Canada. Considering the amazing research results we create, there’s no big technology cluster here. Canada is still built on pulp and paper and cement and fisheries and oil… we’re very much a resource-based country. So, I took it very seriously that we need to create technology companies. In 2004, it started dawning on me that it’s really the students are the appropriate vectors for entrepreneurship as they are still looking for jobs. The faculty already has a job.
The Varsity: How did you initially become involved with scientific entrepreneurship? Were you always interested in it? Cynthia Goh: I effectively created the term [scientific entrepreneurship]. I am a professor of chemistry… but around 1998–1999 I started feeling, why [was there] a gap in moving knowledge into the world? I knew my results were useful, but I wanted to prove it. That is when I created my first company with my students.
TV: How did your undergraduate experiences inform your career choices? CG: I did my undergrad in the Philippines. It is a very different kind of experience from what you guys have here. We didn’t have much choice. You either did chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics or engineering… I envy the undergraduates we have here because we offer you a lot of choices, a lot of programs. We have excellent fundamental academic background, but there’s
Trillium Chang
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
a lot of opportunity to do something else, and that wasn’t available where I was from. So there’s extra opportunity, which in some sense may be very confusing. I see a lot of students who… don’t have time for anything, because there [are] so many things. It can be overwhelming to have that choice. TV: What are the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur? CG: The one reason I encourage entrepreneurship is because it gives you an extra option. You can still always apply [for] a job, but you can also consider creating a job for yourself. So probably that’s, for many people, the biggest high: I don’t have a boss. It’s very exciting that you can control where you are going, but, at the same time, it’s also the low because now you are responsible. You cannot just default on somebody else taking care of you, you are in charge. And that’s both really exciting and really scary. TV: In your opinion, how important is entrepreneurship to scientific research and innovation? CG: Well, that’s really two different questions. You can do scientific research completely [by itself]… The goal of scientific research is to create new knowledge, and that’s really very important, regardless of entrepreneurship. For us to understand how the universe works is very important and very satisfying as well. However, for some of us, we want to see these discoveries lead to better quality of life. That’s where entrepreneurship plays a role — if you start thinking [about how] to turn that knowledge to something that
benefits the world in a short time span. It’s an option thing, I can do this — or I can do that. TV: Many students want to be involved in scientific entrepreneurship but do not know how to tap into the field. What advice would you give these students? CG: If it’s going to be scientific entrepreneurship, then you better be good at your science first. So, the students we take are people with very strong technical grounding, because if you are going to do something about new technology, then you better understand that technology very well. So I would say do your science background, because science is studied vertically; you cannot just know [or] study high-level science without the fundamentals. So, get good grounding in the fundamentals, and then you can dream about technology that will change the world. This is why typical people in Techno are graduate students, not undergrads. We have undergrads — it’s not like we ban undergrads, but we want to make sure you have a solid technical grounding before you can become a technical entrepreneur. The other thing, too, is like in anything, it’s about practice: you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to practice your entrepreneurial skills early. So get involved in organization and get involved in activities that are beyond the classroom because then you practice your skills in dealing with people, which are really important. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Among multiple exhibitors, speakers include diabetes specialist Dr. Ian Blumer, who is the author of Diabetes for Canadians for Dummies Thursday, November 13 5:30 pm–9:00 pm Ontario Science Centre Free; no registration necessary
U of T Civil Engineering: Research Opportunities Panel Learn about research opportunities from graduate students and professors from the departments of environmental engineering, transportation engineering, structural engineering, building science, construction management, and geomechanics Thursday, November 13 6:00 pm–8:00 pm Sanford Fleming, room 1105 Free; register on Eventbrite
Polanyi Conference on Science and Social Responsibility Hear Nobel laureate Dr. John C. Polanyi speak about the intersection of nuclear weapons and Canadian society, in addition to the concern of nuclear deterrence Saturday, November 15 1:00 pm–5:00 pm Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility Munk School of Global Affairs $5.00 for students, $10.00 general; register on Eventbrite
var.st/science
VARSITY SCIENCE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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Taking your research from bench to bedside
Techno Showcase features U of T startups rooted in scientific entrepreneurship
Mehrad Mashayekhi, founder and co-director of Illuster Technologies Inc promotes his startup. jASLEEN ARNEjA/THE VARSiTy
Alice (Xia) Zhu
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The Impact Centre at U of T hosted its fifth annual Techno Showcase at the MaRS Atrium on Wednesday, November 5. The showcase featured a variety of startup companies incubated by Techno, an elite entrepreneurshiptraining program for scientists and engineers who want to transform
their ideas and inventions into technology-based companies. By undergoing a month-long intensive entrepreneurship training program in the summer, participants of Techno have the opportunity to take their ideas rooted in the engineering and physical sciences disciplines and commercialize them to add value to society and to solve issues surrounding healthcare, the environment, the economy, and more.
Over the past five years the Impact Centre has helped companies to demonstrate their cutting-edge innovations in a hands-on setting. The showcase on Wednesday demonstrated the diversity of the companies that have emerged from Techno, including companies in the healthcare, environmental, and science education industries. Dr. Mayrose Salvador, the president of Pueblo Science, reflected upon her experience with the Techno program.
“Techno basically opened a lot of doors for us,” said Salvador. “One of the co-founders, Cynthia Goh, started Techno so she is instrumental in having [Pueblo Science] out there, putting the word out there, connecting us to people who can help us. Techno basically offers another way for us scientists [sic]. [F]or we are always in the lab and… often get to wonder: is anybody ever going to use what I’m actually doing,” she added. Through the Techno program at the Impact Centre, a lot of students and scientists are able to bring their research straight to the market. Salvador also pointed out the flexibility of the program, which allowed her to take the not-for-profit route for her organization in order to maximize her contributions to society. Nari Kim, the vice-president of the startup SCIVENTIONS, which focuses on helping scientists to commercialize their research, also pointed out the benefits of the Techno program for her company. “I participated in the Techno program a few years ago, and I learned so much,” said Kim. “I have learned the importance of bringing technology outside of the research lab so that it can actually benefit society,” she emphasized. The Techno showcase also served as an opportunity for students taking the IMC200 Innovation and Entrepreneurship course to explore the variety
of startups at U of T, demonstrating that commercialization is attainable. According to one such student, Leila Atri, “The amount of … new and upcoming businesses is really remarkable.” Dr. Cynthia Goh agrees with the ubiquitous presence of entrepreneurship today. Goh is the current director of the Impact Centre, and visited the showcase on Wednesday. She believes that people’s attitudes towards entrepreneurs have turned for the better. “[Entrepreneurship] is a bit more accepted now,” said Goh, adding, “People might not have been more open about being entrepreneurs; now, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur.” “Hopefully we will end up generating a lot of great candidates [in the future] and therefore we will be able to be a lot more selective about the companies we choose to nurture,” said Goh, adding, “We will not really be making [the program] much bigger.” Other startups featured at the showcase include Sojourn Labs, which is commercializing a hybrid car-bicycle vehicle; Illuster Technoloiges Inc., which promotes its palm-sized circuit board to enhance electrical engineering education; and AllergenFree Solutions Inc., which is marketing a cleansing product that effectively inactivates peanut allergens.
The MCAT is changing: for better or worse? Greater emphasis on humanities and social sciences, increased test time among reforms to exam Aditya Chawla
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The Medical College Admissions Test (mcat) is a standardized test taken by individuals who wish to apply to most medical schools in the United States and Canada. The mcat was created in 1928 and has undergone four major revisions since, based on the changing pace of medicine and health care. The last time it went through a major change was in 1991. It was also subject to minor changes in 2003 and 2007. The biggest update to the mcat in more than 20 years will take place in early 2015, and will place a greater emphasis to the humanities and social sciences. The new version will address the importance of social and behavioural health determinants. Dr. Wanda Parsons, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Memorial University of Newfoundland, commented, “Prospective medical students need to understand the importance of socio-cultural and behavioural determinants of health and health outcomes in order to serve a diverse population.” Parsons added, “The Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behaviour (psbb) section of the new mcat emphasizes these important concepts.” According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (aamc),
the newer version of the mcat also “gives examinees more working time per question than [that provided by] the current exam.” However, the test is becoming a lot longer. The seated time is increasing from around five hours to seven and a half hours. This places a larger burden on pre-medical students, who are already stressed by the difficult requirements of medical school applications. “It’s going to be different, but not necessarily more difficult,” emphasized Parsons. She said, “ The new mcat will test both the natural sciences and the social sciences which will encourage students from a wide variety of different programs to apply to medicine to provide a diverse student body.” Parsons added, “In accordance with the Future of Medical Education in Canada (fmec) collective vision for md Education, our admissions process looks not only at cognitive abilities but also personal qualities such as communication and collaboration.” In addition to mcat scores, medical schools also take into account transcripts, courses taken, and other academic information regarding applicants. Parsons added, “The mcat is only one part of this large holistic process when it comes to medical school admissions.” A popular method of studying for the mcat is through preparatory companies such as Kaplan or Princ-
CATHERiNE MACiNTOSH/THE VARSiTy
eton Review that offer study guides and courses. However, there are several sources
where students can access free resources to prepare themselves for the new mcat. Parsons suggests that stu-
dents refer to the aamc website and make use of free and independent resources, such as Khan Academy.
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Sports
VAR.ST/SPORTS 10 NOVEMBER 2014
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Athlete profile: Jennifer Neilson Blues volleyball player Jennifer Neilson leads team to a successful start of the season
Jennifer Neilson is in her fifth and final year on the women’s volleyball team. courtesy of martin bezyl/varsity blues
Leila Keshavjee
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Women’s volleyball veteran Jennifer Neilson is hoping to finish her Varsity Blues career on a high. She was an Ontario University Athletics (oua) East First team all-star
in the 2013–14 season and is a threetime oua bronze medalist. The fifth–year right side player said, “the goal has been to win ouas but the team has fallen short the last three years. This year the team has more drive than ever before and we believe this is [our] time.”
The team has worked hard to prepare themselves to have a chance of competing in and winning both the oua and Canadian Intercollegiate Sports (cis) championships. The team is led by six returning veterans consisting of three in their fifth years of eligibility, and three students in their fourth year.
Neilson describes the team as unique because everyone contributes. “There is so much depth. There are 17 people and 17 contributors. Everyone plays a role and this team very unique compared to every other oua and cis team,” said Neilson. Being a student athlete is not easy. Neilson practices 5-6 days a week
for 2-2.5 hours and she said it can be difficult at times to manage with a full course load. “The team has a long season — they go from September to March. This is a long time to play the balancing act,” she said. Neilson is among seven academic-all Canadians on the team, which is the most of any team sport at University of Toronto. “We are very much students before athletes and this is brought down from [the] coaching staff,” said Neilson. Neilson has also been involved in coaching and hopes to continue after her playing days are done. She has worked with the British Columbia provincial team U16, who won the gold medal in the national championships while she was a coach. This past summer she coached team Ontario to a podium finish at a national tournament. She really enjoyed the experience and is hoping to coach the team again this summer. The Blues have played well in competitions and had a great opening weekend in their new home, the Goldring Centre. The women’s volleyball team is hosting CIS Championships later this season. “Although we get a berth, we plan to earn our way [into the championship],” she said. Neilson explained that the Goldring Centre will make the team grow to become better athletes and a closer team. “It’s great to walk in and know it’s ours,” she said. Neilson hopes to play professional volleyball after she graduates, as well as pursue a master’s degree in Sports Management.
Women’s golf wins gold Women’s golf ends season with first place finish, men finish in fifth place Anthony Piruzza
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The Varsity Blues women’s team concluded its successful season by placing first at the Ontario University Athletics (oua) championship on October 21, while the men’s team was unable to build off of its regular season success. The Varsity Blues women’s golf team dominated the Oshawa Golf and Country club on its way to a first-place finish. The team took an eight-stroke lead over the silver medal University of Waterloo team after the first round of play. This comfortable lead was extended to 23 strokes by the end of the second round, securing the Blues their third consecutive oua gold medal. Three Varsity Blues golfers placed in the top 10 of the Ontario-wide field. Sarah Dunning captured the Judy McCrae trophy for her individual first-place finish after two days of golf left her three strokes ahead of the field. Although Dunning has performed well all season, head coach
The women’s golf team claimed the gold medal at the OUA championships. courtesy of martin bazyl/ varsity blues
Chris Tortorice claims that her mental composure allowed her to improve from top 10 finishes to an oua gold medal. “She stayed patient and took what the course offered, when it came to club selection off
the tee and hitting approach shots into the greens,” said Tortorice. Dunning was trailed by first-year golfer Ana Peric, who tied for second place in the tournament. Following these two phenom-
enal finishes was Laura Upenieks, whose sixth place finish extended her streak of top 10 finishes to six straight oua tournaments. These three golfers have seen regular success throughout the
oua season. Upenieks, who is in her sixth year of eligibility, finished in first place at both the Allegheny and Toronto invitationals this season. Peric tied Upenieks for gold at the Alleghany tournament and placed third at the Toronto Invitational. Inconsistency has been a problem for the men’s golf team this season. While a solid team effort propelled the Varsity Blues to first place at the Waterloo invitational, the men were left with a disappointing fifth-place finish at the oua championship. Ryan Tsang was the team’s top performer at the tournament, finishing in a three-way tie for second. Tsang’s silver medal was the conclusion to a solid regular season. Tsang placed first at the Western invitational and completed three tournaments within the top four. Tsang was recognized for his success as a member of the oua first team all-stars. He was joined by Marcus Lam, who tied for tenth at the season ending tournament. The women’s golf team will compete in the Canadian University/College championship later next spring.
22 Vol. CXXXV, No. 10
VARSITY SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
Blues fall to Lancers in 6–5 loss
Men’s hockey loses lead to drop to 4–6 record Sampson Coutts VARSITY STAFF
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The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team hosted the defending Ontario University Athletics (oua) champions, the Windsor Lancers, Saturday night at Varsity Arena, losing 6–5 in a tense game that featured 109 penalty minutes. The Lancers opened the scoring nine minutes into the opening frame, with Windsor sniper Ryan Green blasting a shot past U of T goaltender Michael Nishi’s blocker on a partial break. Green has one of the best releases in the oua, and his goal on a seemingly innocuous rush drew gasps from the Varsity Arena crowd. With four minutes left in the first period, the Blues were handed a rare 10–minute power play after Windsor defenseman Paul Bezzo jumped Blues sniper Jeff Brown beside the Windsor goal. The Blues squandered the first four minutes of the penalty but capitalized twice early in the second period to take a 2–1 lead. Forward Christian Finch scored the first goal, corralling a failed point shot attempt and firing the puck past Lancers goaltender Parker Van Buskirk. Just 51 seconds later, Blues star forward Michael Markovic scored the goahead goal, catching Van Buskirk off guard with a strong forecheck.
The men’s hockey team has a 4-6 record. File photo: elena iourtaeva/the varsity
The Blues kept pressing after their successful power play and took a 3–1 lead near the midpoint of the period, with second-year forward Casey Knight putting home a loose puck following a mad scramble in front of Van Buskirk. The Lancers responded five minutes later with another highlight-reel goal, but the Blues kept up the pressure and scored with less than two minutes to play. Markovic entered the offensive zone on a 3-on-2 matchup, displayed excellent patience, and then hit trailing defenseman Marcus Yolevski with a great pass. Yolevski snapped a textbook shot past Van Buskirk’s blocker to cap off the best period of hockey the Blues have played at home this year. The Lancers cut U of T’s lead to 4–3 in the opening minutes of the third period, but the Blues answered back, with Jeff
Brown banging home a Patrick Marsh rebound to restore the two–goal lead with 15 minutes to play. The Lancers demonstrated the resilience that has propelled them to a 11–0–0 record, scoring three unanswered goals in the final quarter of the game to steal the win. Though the end of the game was certainly disappointing for a Blues team looking to reach .500 for the first time this season, it’s tough to be overly negative about Saturday night’s loss. The Blues played their best game of their season, atoning for the 10–3 drubbing they received at the hands of the Lancers earlier this season, and proved that they can play with the best of the oua. With a bit of luck and tighter team defense in the third period, the 4–6 Blues could easily have been the first team to beat the formidable Lancers this season.
Take a swing at sports writing.
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VARSITY SPORTS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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Cricket’s popularity on the rise The famous British sport is gaining increased attention in North America Kasi Sewraj
VARSITY STAFF
Canadians are known for their love of hockey, but an old sport’s popularity is on the rise: cricket. Cricket is ranked as one of the most popular sports in the world. It has a huge following especially from fans in India, Pakistan, the Caribbean, Australia, and the uk. Originating in England, cricket is played by two teams of 11. When the first team is called up to bat and after hitting the ball with the bat and protecting the wickets, tries to run to the other end of the pitch (called a ‘run’). The other team bowls the pitch and tries to catch the ball and tries to stop scores and the batsmen. The team with the most runs wins. There are many national and world leagues, as well as women’s leagues. The most well-known league is the icc World Cricket League. There was once a time when cricket had a much more significant popularity in North America and was arguably the continent’s most popular sport. However, after the civil war, most Americans turned their interest towards baseball. Universities like Harvard are now embracing this born-again sport. In 2009, five American teams, including Boston University, took part in a championship competition, and there are now over 70 different cricket clubs competing nationwide. It seems that the sport is more popular to first- and second-gener-
ArNOLd yuNg/THE VArsITy
ation immigrants, who are already familiar with the sport through cultural ties. However, more and more students who are new to cricket culture are joining in on the sport.
In New York, cricket is an official high school sport, and it seems that cricket fever is moving north of the border. U of T has caught onto the cricket trend and has an intramural men’s
cricket team that plays during the winter months, as well as the University of Toronto Association of Student Cricketers (utasc). There are also many other places to go if you ever want to pick up
cricket outside of campus. There are over 10 Toronto cricket clubs for people of all ages and skill levels, such as the Toronto Cricket Club or the Toronto and District Cricket Association.
U of T prepares for the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games Pan Am and Parapan Am Games providing opportunities for U of T students Ameena Youssef
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
juLIEN bALbONTIN/THE VArsITy
In preparation for the upcoming Pan Am and Parapan Am Games that will be hosted here in Toronto, many sports and athletic facilities have been quite busy. With the games happening in Toronto, it was a no brainer that the University of Toronto was going to be involved in some way. Preparation for the games have included improvements to existing facilities on campus, as well as construction of new facilities such as the Toronto Pan American Sport Centre (tpasc). “The Toronto Pan Am/Parapan Am Sports Centre, in my opinion is the ultimate investment for the general Scarborough area. The facility welcomes the entire community and provides a space for the community to enjoy, share, and develop,” said first-year track and field athlete Rayshaun Franklin. From the start, the opportunity to host events for the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games received a positive response from the majority of U of T students,
faculty, and staff. The opportunity has opened doors for the U of T community — athletes and non-athletes alike. “I aspire to take part in the Pan-Am Games as an athlete,” said Franklin. However, if he isn’t competing as an athlete, he still hopes to be a part of the games. “I would absolutely love to be front row of some of the events that will take place at U of T venues... It’s an opportunity for the community to come together and relish in the moments of such a rare, prestigious occasion,” he said. Many U of T facilities are being used as venues for a variety of events during the games. These facilities include the St. George campus Athletic Centre, Varsity Centre, the new tpasc Aquatic Centre, as well as the Pan Am Tennis Centre at the Scarborough Campus. The use of U of T athletic facilities as venues for the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games seems to be an opportunity that the community is excited for. The games have generated work and volunteer positions for students and increased many students’ pride in their school.
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
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