March 9, 2015

Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

9 March, 2015

The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Tuition set to soar Increases come amidst decreasing provincial support Tamim Mansour ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Little movement as strike passes one-week mark CUPE Local 3902 Unit 1 members call on university to return to bargaining table James Flynn and Salvatore Basilone VARSITY STAFF

As the cupe Local 3902 Unit 1 strike reaches the one-week mark, union members are calling on the University of Toronto to return to the bargaining table.

Last Friday, members of cupe 3902 Unit 1, which represents some 6,000 teaching assistants and graduate course instructors, voted overwhelmingly to reject a last-minute deal that had been reached around 2:45 am that morning.

“Our members are engaging in the purest form of democracy by coming out in full force picketing and demonstrating, calling on the University Administration to return to the bargaining table where our own representatives

are waiting,” said cupe 3902 chair Erin Black in a Huffington Post article on Wednesday.

According to Black, the strike vote saw the largest voter turnout for contract academic locals in Canadian history.

Members of cupe 3903, which represents some 3,700 contract faculty and teaching assistants at York University, have been on strike since Tuesday. The two parties reached a tentative agreement late Friday night.

BARGAINING According to U of T vice-president, human resources & equity, Angela Hildyard, the university remains in contact with the provincial mediator regarding cupe Unit 1, and has been advised that as soon as the mediator thinks there is a basis to return to the bargaining table, he will invite the parties to do so. “We

have indicated that we are, of course, prepared to accept that invitation,” Hildyard says.

However, some cupe 3902 Unit 1 members, like Michael Collins, a PhD candidate in English, say they are frustrated by the administration’s apparent unwillingness to return to the bargaining table. “I don’t think many of us feel hopeful, let alone confident, that a deal will be reached soon. Every signal from the [university administration] thus far indicates that they are digging in their heels and are prepared to fight dirty,” Collins says.

Collins also expressed concern over tactics university administration has used to attempt to sway public opinion. “I’d say it has damaged any sense of pride or belonging I might feel toward the University of Toronto as a

CONTINUED ON PG. 8

Tuition fees are set to rise for both international and domestic students.

Next year, domestic students will see a average rise of three per cent for both incoming and continuing students, with Arts & Science programs seeing a three per cent increase and most professional programs seeing a five per cent increase. The increases are in line with the province’s tuition framework, which caps the annual overall increase at three per cent.

Current international students will see an increase of five per cent to their current tuition, while incoming Arts & Science students will see an increase of nine per cent and applied science and engineering students will see an increase of 10 per cent.

Unlike domestic students, the Provincial Tuition Framework does not regulate tuition fees for international students.

The Tuition Fees Schedule for 2015-2016 was approved by the university’s Business Board during a meeting last Monday. Student governors Benjamin Coleman and Caitlin Campisi were the only governors to vote against the schedule.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT Jane You, vice president, communications of the International Students Association (insa), feels that the increase in international tuition fees are not in line with the increase in international student support.

“A lot of these students come here with the aim of living here and getting a job here. And for the amount of help the university provides international students, the tuition fee increases aren’t justified,” she says.

Yeliz Beyo, iNSA vice-president, social, has previously applied to run for student governor, but was rejected as she was not a Canadian citizen.

Beyo echoes Jane’s sentiments, saying that the increase in tuition fees is “out of proportion” with the support for international students.

Beyo says that “it is important for international students to be involved” on Governing Council, given the fees they pay.

The university maintains that tuition fees remain competitive with peer institutions.

Using Arts & Science tuition and incidental fees for comparison, the schedule showed that while domestic tuition fees were slightly higher

CONTINUED ON PG. 9

INSIDE Comment Relative versus absolute progress

Features Different strokes

Arts Making an impression

Science Safest abortion method not in Canada

Sports Jill Stratton reflects on Varsity Blues career

On race relations in Canada

Exploring alternative spirtuality, Toronto retailers

Learning the art of letterpress printing

Government delays approval of mifepristone

Women’s basketball all-time scoring leader leaves U of T

PG. 10

PG. 14

PG. 16

PG. 21

PG. 26

EDITORIAL

Sexual assault survivors need resources now

PG. 13

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PHOTO OF THE WEEK

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Demolition begins behind Simcoe Hall in preparation for construction of The Centre for Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship. SANDY MA/THE VARSITY

Submit your photos to photo@thevarsity.ca.

WHAT’S GOING ON THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS MONDAY

Associate Senior Copy Editor Hunter McGuire Sean Smith Associate News Editors Salvatore Basilone Tamim Mansour Alex McKeen Iris Robin Associate Features Editor Caitlyn Fleming

BEYHIVE SOLIDARITY Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St.George Street, 10:00am–5:00pm The ASSU is hosting a Beyonce-themed coffee open-house Monday.

Students who drop by are encouraged to sign a petition to the university administration in support of the ta strike.

Associate Comment Editor Emma Kikulis

How to succeed when your term paper is due tomorrow and you haven’t started So you’ve procrastinated, and now you find yourself facing an all-nighter at Robarts to finish that term paper due tomorrow.

TUESDAY

Associate A&C Editors Daniel Konikoff Jacob Lorinc

UTMSU ELECTION VOTING PERIOD BEGINS Polling stations at University of Toronto Mississauga, Tuesday-Thursday, 9:00 am-6:00 pm

Associate Science Editor Nadezha Woinowsky-Krieger Associate Sports Editors Reshara Alviarez Sean Xu

Voting in the UTMSU 2015-2016 election will begin Tuesday at several voting locations on UTM campus. Voting will close Thursday, and the election results announced Monday, March 16.

Associate Web Developer Ishan Thukral Copy Editors and Fact-Checkers Matthew Boissonneault, Kieran Buckingham, Karen Chu, Ariel Gomes, Catherine Li, Malone Mullin, Saranja Neelananthasivam, Soham Parelkar, SoJin Park, Michelle Pedreiras, Maja Rakocevic, Shubhi Sahni, Paige Sambrook, Delaney Stewart, Emaan Thaver, Allegra Wiesenfeld, Mathilde Wold, Sean Wu

Koffler House, 569 Spadina Crescent, 5:00 am Tuesday-11:00 am Wednesday

Lead Fact-Checkers Ujwal Ganguly, Fu Yuan (Andrew) Liu, Suhas Srinivasan

U of T World Vision campus is reworking this annual event so that participants can “fast” from any aspect of their life, be it food, technology, communication.

Designers Kawmadie Karunanayake, Janice Liu, Priscilla Suen, Vanessa Wang, Lisa Wong Un, Mari Zhou

Business Office

Business Manager Karen Zhou

THE EXPLAINER

business@thevarsity.ca

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Advertising Executives Anna Afshar Rachel Choi

anna@thevarsity.ca rachel@thevarsity.ca

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 © 2015 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.

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WEDNESDAY U OF T 30 HOUR FAMINE

THURSDAY LET’S TALK: ARTS, CULTURE, & THE FUTURE OF THE CBC AGO Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas St W. Entrance, 7:00pm Members of Parliament Chrystia Freeland and Adam Vaughn host this free talk Thursday to discuss the future of Arts and Culture in Canada.

RSVP chrystiafreeland.ca

FRIDAY

Don’t despair. Follow these simple tips, and success will be yours.

1. Drop the course. Going anywhere this summer?

Taking a few weeks in June to make up the credit means you can go home now, laughing at the poor souls sitting at the study carrel.

2. Post a status complaining on Facebook; watch funny YouTube videos; play some games. Wait, isn’t that what got you into this mess in the first place? Sure. But at least you’ll be momentarily distracted from your terrible situation.

3. Sell your soul to the devil in exchange for a finished, A+ essay.

4. Coffee, coffee, and more coffee.

5. Go to an exotic pet store and find some frozen rats for sale as snake food. Buy a frozen rat, and then let it thaw out. Bam! Your pet rat (suggested name: Pinkie) died and now you have grounds to request an extension.

6. Seriously though: You can do this! Caffeine it up, play some pleasant background music, and get to work. Summer will be here soon enough.

A NIGHT OF THE ISLAMIC ARTS Location TBD, Room 610, 4:00-6:00 pm The Muslin Students’ Association is hosting a week’s worth of events to celebrate Islam Awareness Week, closing with this celebration of Islamic Arts.

Correction: An article from March 2 on the UTSU board of directors contained incorrect information about the number of directors who have missed five meetings.

VARSITY NEWS

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MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

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Report reveals $515 million in deferred maintenance at U of T Figure up $10 million from 2013 Iris Robin

THE FCI OF SOME FREQUENTED BUILDINGS AT OF U OF T

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Although Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto was featured in a scene from the 2004 film Mean Girls, the building’s $2,244,607 deferred maintenance cost is far from “fetch.”

This cost is a fraction of the $515 million in deferred maintenance that U of T has accumulated — a $10 million increase from last year’s total of $505 million.

According to the 2014 Deferred Maintenance Report presented to the Business Board on March 2, the St. George campus carries the majority of the burden — making up $443 million of the $515 million total.

The university’s Facility Condition Index (fci) measures a building’s condition. An fci of 10 per cent or more indicates a building or property portfolio in poor condition. U of T’s combined fci is 14.1 per cent, the same as last year.

However, the fci varies across different campuses. The St George campus has the highest fci at 14.9 per cent – a drop from last year’s 15.1 per cent. The report notes that “utm’s campus fci is slightly up from 8.3 per cent last year to 8.4 per cent this year.” In a similar vein, utsc’s fci is slightly higher, rising from 12.6 per cent last year to 12.9 per cent this year.

BRICK BY BRICK The report contains a detailed breakdown of individual buildings on all three U of T campuses, accompanied by data on the nature of the building, replacement costs, deferred maintenance costs, and fci. The building with the highest fci is Mary Hall at the St. George campus with a whopping 51.6 per cent.

By contrast, the Instructional Centre at utm has an fci of zero.

The report states that the university receives $3.1 million in funding from the province, a decrease from $4.7 million in 2010.

In order to maintain U of T’s current institutional fci, the report says, U of T “will require an investment of just over $19.8 million per year in funding”.

“However, the challenge of deferred maintenance is being managed,” the report reads.

“With stable and significant funding, we will be able to maintain the current condition of

the buildings and minimize, although not eliminate, the chance of an unforeseen problem having major consequences to the University’s mission and operating budget.”

Medical Sciences Building – St George “The Medical Science Building is the administrative centre of U of T’s Faculty of Medicine” and is designated in the report as an academic and research facility. It has the highest replacement cost of all, valued at $266,760,297. The edifice also comes with a $58,299,772 deferred maintenance tag and is due to be audited in 2015.

Geomorphology Building – UTM Like the Medical Science Building, utm’s Geomorphology Building is listed as an academic and research facility. Despite its relatively low

replacement cost of $259,958 and its $91,056 deferred maintenance cost, it runs an fci of 35 per cent — the highest of any audited building at utm. It was last audited in the 2012–2013 academic year, with no date given for its next projected audit.

Humanities Wing – UTSC Designed by the same architect who imagined the cn Tower, utsc’s Humanities Wing opened in 1966. An academic and administrative building, it has an fci of 17.5 per cent, a replacement cost of $39,933,943, and a deferred maintenance cost of $7,001,872. It is unknown when the Humanities Wing will next be audited.

Sandford Fleming Building – St George Named after Sir Sandford Fleming, a Canadian engineer credited with much of the work

on the Intercolonial Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railways, the Sandford Fleming Building is home to U of T’s engineering students. The academic and research facility is valued at $94,594,529 for replacement, has a deferred maintenance cost of $15,195,867, and an fci of 16.1 per cent. Last audited in the 2010–2011 school year, Sandford Fleming is due for another audit in 2015.

Sidney Smith Hall – St George Sidney Smith was president of U of T from 1945–1957 and the hall that bears his name houses the Faculty of Arts & Science. Despite its illustrious name, it has an fci of 47.8 per cent and a total deferred maintenance cost of $29,235,205. Its replacement value is $61,133,726. The building is scheduled for an audit this year.

FCI ACROSS U OF T’S THREE CAMPUSES

Sidney Smith Hall. FILE PHOTO: ELENA IOURTAEVA/THE VARSITY

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VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

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Reform vs Rise: UTMSU elections underway Despite disqualifications, both slates speak at forum

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union, left. Campaign materials, right. MARGAUX PARKER/THE VARSITY

Iris Robin ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (utmsu) elections are off to a dramatic start. For the first time in five years, two slates are battling for the executive positions.

Just three days into the start of the campaign period, utm Rise and utm Reform were disqualified when the Chief Returning Officer (cro) assigned both slates an excess of the 35 demerit points needed for disqualification. Both teams appealed the cro’s rulings, though neither had been officially re-qualified before the All Candidates’ Debate Forum took place last Thursday.

DISQUALIFICATIONS Both teams were asked to meet on the evening of March 4, the night before the All-Candidates’ Forum, where they were informed of their disqualification.

According to Maaham Malik, the presidential candidate for utm Reform, her slate accumulated demerit points over allegations that their slogan and hashtag, #timeforchange, constituted a malicious or intentional violation of election procedure code or policy.

“The utm Rise slate is not disqualified from the elections,” said the candidates of Rise in a collective statement to The Varsity. Rise confirmed that they had received demerit points but did not elaborate on the reasons for which they were given.

According to cro Ashley Toste, the Rise slate was given demerit points for unsanctioned use of union resources. Toste further ruled that Rise was campaigning in unauthorized areas such as libraries, and that Reform used high-gloss campaign posters, which are not permitted.

Both teams were penalized for improper distribution of campaign materials, and individual candidates were also issued demerit points for unapproved campaign material. When both slates appealed, Rise had their demerit points reduced to 15, and Reform’s were reduced to 14. “[The] cro made it very clear that this election should not be about submitting allegation after allegation, and making the election environment so hostile between the two teams,” said Malik in an interview with The Varsity.

Malik says that the cro encouraged both

teams to appeal the allegations, but forbade any further campaigning until the Elections and Referenda Committee (erc) had ruled on the appeals of both slates.

The erc was not scheduled to meet until Thursday evening. The candidates were thus permitted to participate in the forums “conditionally,” meaning they could promote the forum online on Wednesday night but still could not campaign any further.

Neither of the teams had been officially requalified before the All Candidates Forum.

ALL CANDIDATES’ FORUM Rise and Reform went head-to-head at the forum, held at utm’s Blind Duck Pub on March 5.

Ebi Agbeyegbe, the presidential candidate for utm Rise and current utmsu vice-president external, faced Malik, currently a director for the utmsu and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) Board of Directors, in the opening segment of the forum.

“I want to increase access to education,”Agbeyegbe proclaimed to the crowd at the forum. Agbeyegbe referred to the high level of parking, meal plan, and residence fees at utm, noting student dissatisfaction.

“When we talk about access to education, we’re talking about fees. Fees are the main things that distract us from our lives. As a union, we’re here to fight fees,” he said.

For her part, Malik said that the relationship between students and the student union troubles her. “The reason I decided to run is because the relationship is quite weak,” she said, recounting her conversations with students who expressed that they felt left out. “I believe that this is because there is a wall that exists between the students and the students union. One of my main goals this year is to break that wall.”

Regarding food services at utm, Rise hopes to increase the number of food providers at utm. “[We] hope to add more healthy, authentic and affordable food options by continuing discussions on the overall campus food quality,” the candidates said.

Referring to the recent strike on campus, Rise candidates noted that students are frustrated by the lack of information and direction provided to them, and have pledged to improve communication between students and university authorities. “[We] hope to raise all the concerns brought to us by the undergraduate membership,” they affirmed. utm Reform, on the other hand, said that they would like to implement a more transparent hiring process, a new forum called Union Ear, and an expansion of the utmsu bursary programme and more accessible financial aid.

Malik says that job opportunities with the utmsu are not advertised enough and that many feel that they would be unsuccessful even if they tried to apply. “Many students have shared their concerns with us stating that they don’t believe they can be hired by utmsu without being “friends” with people in the office,” Malik claims.

With files from Nicole Danesi, The Medium.

Candidates Reform

Rise Ebi Agbeyegbe Francesco Otello-DeLuca

PLATFORM POINTS When asked to name their top three platform points, utm Rise stated that transit services, food services, and communication with university administration were their goals.

“For transit services, our team has committed to consulting students on the various services that run through the Mississauga Campus,” read a portion of utm Rise’s statement. The slate also committed to identifying issues with the shuttle service to the St. George campus and improving services provided by MiWay Mississauga Transit.

Malik believes that an applicant should have the right to know why they were accepted or rejected from a job at the union.

In her speech at the All Candidates’ Forum, Malik also mentioned that students were turning to social media such as Spotted at utm, to ask questions and share their problems. “People [wouldn’t] resort to posting about life’s depressions on Spotted at utm if they had an actual open and safe environment within the Union which could provide all students with advice and comfort in their time of need,” she says of her proposed service.

Expanding utmsu bursaries and making student aid more accessible remains a cornerstone of Reform’s platform. “Let’s create more student aid programs, acquire sponsors for annual student grants, so that students who need help paying for books and living accommodations can apply for aid while tackling financial struggles,” Malik said.

Voting will take place on March 10, 11, and 12.

Nour Alideeb

Zehra Ramsha Naveed Ahmed

President VP internal and services

Maaham Malik Muhammed Talha Mahmood

VP university and To be announced academic affairs VP equity VP external

Rishabh Dev Shreya Narang

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VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

5

Falling through the cracks High cost of on-campus childcare services places large burden on U of T staff of finding them care downtown.”

The Trinity College staff member made the decision to enroll both of her children in childcare in Durham region.

Arielle Vetro VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Judith Taylor, a professor of Sociology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, sent her two children to U of T’s Early Learning Centre (elc).

The quality of such services comes at a great cost, both in terms of fees and length of waitlists. It is a cost that some staff are unable to pay.

Although her experience was positive, Taylor says it was a financial strain.

“I had a fantastic experience there. It was incredibly financially arduous for my family to do it, but it was possible,” says Taylor.

QUALITY OF FACILITIES

THE COST OF CARE The fees these childcare facilities charge differ based on the age of the child and the occupational status of the parent(s). Since May 2013, enrolling an infant in U of T’s elc costs $1,831 per month for full-time students, and $2,143 per month for full-time faculty and staff.

“I just knew that we weren’t going to be able to afford the cost,” says a staff member at Trinity College. The fees, coupled with a roughly year-long waitlist led the staff member to utilize off-campus childcare services for both of her children.

A manager at Victoria College has utilized one of the employee support programs provided by the university. “The best thing for me is the child tax credit that was run through U of T… it wasn’t huge, but it helped me recoup at least some of the costs I was paying,” says the staff member.

While the Victoria College staff member briefly looked into the on-campus childcare fees, he has since enrolled both of his children in an offcampus service closer to his home in North York.

Despite the university’s ranking as a Top Family-Friendly employer, both of the inter-

The Childcare Centre on Charles Street West. JULIA MALOWANY/THE VARSITY

viewed staff members said that they found these services to be inaccessible, both in terms of price and waitlists. “I don’t know how people can afford it in Toronto,” says the Victoria College staff member.

OTHER BARRIERS TO ACCESS One growing cause of concern, Taylor notes, is the strict schedule by which U of T operates. “I feel like staff are the most constrained in terms of their work schedules, and most constrained in terms of their finances,” says Taylor. “They are a huge part of this campus, and they are pretty invisible… they are the ones I think who are really underserved.”

Taylor argues that faculty members, unlike staff, generally have more flexible schedules and earn a higher income, while students have a range of subsidy and grant opportunities available to them.

In a written statement, Francesca Dobbin,

director of family programs and services at the University of Toronto, notes that the University offers programs to support employees. One service that all U of T faculty and staff are eligible for is the Child Care Benefit. Through this program, U of T annually reimburses up to $2,000 per child for employees’ childcare expenses.

Beyond the university, Dobbin writes of the effect municipal policies have had on commuter U of T employees and students. The city determines a parent’s eligibility for subsidies, but prohibits the use of these subsidies outside of the parent’s region of residence. “These municipal policies impact our entire commuter population (students and employees),” writes Dobbin.

“I live quite far East; I live in the Durham region, so the childcare costs are significantly less there than they are in Toronto. But it’s far,” says the Trinity College staff member. “I had to choose between leaving my child so far from where I am all day, every day, versus the cost

The University of Toronto has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top Family-Friendly employers from 2012 to 2015, and as Dobbin attests, exceeds the quality requirements set by the Ministry of Education, offering a high ratio of early childhood educators for each age group.

Taylor likewise applauds the high calibre of U of T’s childcare facilities. She notes that her time at the elc provided her with an enriching experience, as she was able to develop relationships and participate in a unique community with faculty, student-parents, and their children.

Accompanying this praise, Taylor also suggests that there is room for improvement. “The University of Toronto has money, and it decides what to do with that money,” says Taylor. “[M]y feeling is that a top employer figures out what its employees can safely pay without going into debt, and then it subsidizes the rest.”

In 2009-2010, Taylor helped to organize a fee stay, proposing to reduce the hours of the director of family programs and services by 50 per cent. The money was to be redirected to the childcare teachers, as well as to prevent a fee increase.

While Taylor says that she and the other parents were successful in implementing their proposal and freezing the fees, the director position later returned to its former full-time hours after the fee stay organizers’ children had left the facilities.

“The next horizon is I think developing more accessible daycare for staff and making sure that we’re really filling their needs,” says Taylor. *Names of staff members have been omitted to protect privacy, by request.

Petition calls on TTC to eliminate postsecondary student ID card U of T student’s campaign garners 7,600 signatures in two weeks Claire Fox VARSITY STAFF

Just two weeks after launching, one U of T student’s petition to eliminate the Toronto Transit Commission (ttc) post-secondary student identification card has garnered over 7,600 signatures.

Students enrolled in a full-time degree or diploma program are entitled to the ttc post-secondary student metro-pass, which costs $112.

However, to use these passes, students must also present a valid post-secondary id card.

The post-secondary metro-pass has been in use since 2010. Before this, postsecondary students paid the full-fare.

A long-term metro-pass user, Jordana Schiralli says she started the petition after she was kicked off a ttc bus for not having her ttc-issued postsecondary identification card while on her way to a midterm.

“The experience added unnecessary stress and anxiety to my morning, and I mostly started the petition as a way to vent,” Schiralli says.

“The support from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Since I started the petition… I’ve heard stories of students getting harassed, fined, and even kicked off busses late at night,” Schiralli adds.

Milly Bernal, a ttc communications advisor, says that the ttc uses its own identification

system in place of university-issued cards because the latter do not always contain required information.

“Most post-secondary school IDs do not show eligibility (for example, they do not distinguish between full-time and part-time status.) When students go to get their ttc photo ID cards, they also must bring proof of full-time enrolment,” Bernal says.

One ttc driver, who requested anonymity, says that ttc operators are not typically directed to refuse service to riders without the identification card.

“Operators are encouraged to ‘educate’ customers who are missing said fare or accompanying documentation and then provide the service. I have never refused service to a student passenger for not having their card. By far and away, the majority of drivers I know have not either,” the driver says.

However, the driver says he does not think the identification card is out of date. “I don’t think it is especially onerous to ask that post secondary students carry and present this card. On the other hand, people forget things and are always in a rush… Students very rarely show me the id card with their metro pass.

I make the mental shortcut of assuming they have forgotten their id card and will show it tomorrow,” he adds.

However, the driver agrees that the system as it stands now needs some rethinking, saying

Toronto Transit Commission street car. TOSIN MAIYEGUN/THE VARSITY

that a “hole [may] be created whereby people can purchase metro-passes at reduced rates they are not entitled to.”

For her part, Schiralli says she wants her petition to serve as the impetus for a ttc policy overhaul. “The ttc has several options. One particular solution could be to implement a sticker validation system. This would allow

students to use their student id (e.g. TCard) with their metro-pass. A new sticker would be added every year verifying that the student is enrolled in full-time studies,” Schiralli says.

Schiralli does not have a specific number of signatures in mind for the petition, but says she hopes to formally submit the petition to the ttc next week.

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Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

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Canadian Federation of Students says “Let People Vote” Charter challenge claims Fair Elections Act violates voter rights

BRITTANY GEROW/THE VARSITY

Alex McKeen ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) and the Council of Canadians are “taking the Conservative government to court” over certain changes brought about by Bill c-23, the Fair Elections Act, ahead of a looming federal election.

The groups have filed 2,000 pages of evidence supporting their case, they announced February 23.

The cfs and the Council of Canadians are seeking a court order to dismiss some provisions of the act, saying that they defy the right to vote as set out by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Since Minister for State of Democratic Reform Pierre Poilievre first introduced the bill in February 2014, the Fair Elections Act has been under fire from opposition parties and other groups that claim its provisions restrict voting, especially by youth, and suppress democracy.

The bill received Royal Assent in June 2014 after a series of amendments that removed some of its more controversial points.

REMAINING POINTS OF CONTENTION The Canadian Federation of Students and the Council of Canadians are contesting the Fair Elections Act specifically on its changes to voter identification, changes to the mandate of Elections Canada, and to the role of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Under the new law, the “vouching” option previously available to voters, in which a citizen without proof of their identity and/ or residence could still vote by having another citizen vouch on their behalf, will be ended. It will be replaced by an oath system in which all

voters must provide a form of identification, and may have another eligible voter sign an oath to prove their residency.

In future elections, voter information cards will no longer be acceptable proof of address.

Elections Canada will also be unable to engage in campaigns to promote voter turnout, which remains chronically low throughout the country — particularly with young people.

Only 61.1 per cent of eligible voters exercised this right in the 2011 federal election.

For citizens aged 18-24, that statistic was only 38.8 per cent.

To Jessica McCormick, cfs national chairperson, these changes mean substantial barriers to voting — especially for students. “Students often move multiple times in a single year, so maintaining proof of address is not only rare, but also costly,” McCormick says, adding that in her eyes, the Fair Elections Act makes it more difficult for mobile people to provide the necessary documents to vote.

The cfs and Council of Canadians are calling on the former chief electoral officer of British Columbia, Harry Neufeld, and three other experts to provide evidence that tens of thousands of eligible voters would be disenfranchised by the removal of vouching.

Craig Scott, official opposition critic for democratic reform, referenced the Charter challenge in Question Period on February 24.

“Provisions of this act are so problematic that two leading organizations are ready to ask for an injunction. There are sections of the unfair elections act that clearly infringe on charter rights,” Scott said of the challenge.

Poilievre responded that vouching is fraught with the possibility of fraudulent voting, and that Canadians agree it is reasonable to expect voters to provide identification to prove their eligibility.

VOTER TURNOUT McCormick is particularly concerned about the how the Act will impact youth given that they are already underrepresented at the polls. She says that the move to restrict Elections Canada from encouraging people to vote will damage years of partnership between Canada and the cfs to combat low youth voter turnout.

Garry Neil, executive director of the Council of Canadians, agrees that parts of the act are undemocratic. “Canadians should be aware that the act would make it more onerous for many qualified electors to vote and will disenfranchise thousands of voters,” Neil said in a press release on February 23.

Neil added that, with a federal election slated to occur in 2015, Canadians should be concerned that the validity of the election results could be compromised by the Act. Poilievre argues that the Fair Elections Act does not stand in the way of eligible voters’ rights, but will make it more difficult for fraudulent ballots to be cast.

In a Globe and Mail op-ed from March 24, 2014, Poilievre made a distinction between providing voter “information” and voter “motivation” arguing that Elections Canada is exclusively mandated to perform the former.

McCormick says that she will play an active role as a witness in the Charter challenge. “I will personally be participating, lending my experiences with the vouching process, and explaining to the courts the realities of the student experience that already stand in the way of many young people casting their ballots,” she says.

She adds that the Act precludes necessary action for a more engaged youth demographic. “In order to encourage young people to

participate in the democratic process, we need to revoke the parts of the bill that make it more difficult to vote and to access information about voting,” she says.

ONGOING DEBATES, LOOMING ELECTION The Fair Elections Act also attempts to set controls over automated calling used during political campaigns in response to the “robocall” scandal that called into question the 2011 election results in six ridings.

Calling service providers must now register with the Canada Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, which must in term keep records of the calls made during elections.

Political fundraising is also altered under the Act, with donation limits expanding to $1,500 for associations, parties, candidates and nominations/leadership candidates. This means a single source could conceivably donate a total of up to $6,000 in a year with both an election and a nomination race.

This provision has received vocal opposition from members of the ndp and Liberals, who say that it will benefit the Conservative Party disproportionately.

The Conservatives already have a fundraising edge over the ndp and the Liberals, having raked in $18.1 million in 2013, compared to the Liberals’ $11.3 million and the ndp’s $8.1 million.

Poilievre was promoted to minister for employment and social development in Stephen Harper’s cabinet on February 9. He still holds the Democratic Reform portfolio.

The cfs continues to engage with students and interested parties about the Fair Elections Act through their “Let People Vote” campaign at fairelectionsact.ca.

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MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

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OCUFA highlights growing use of contract faculty Campaign calls for increased funding for public universities Salvatore Basilone ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

“As a full time professor, I would be able to stop worrying about survival and give my family and community all I have to offer.”

So says one of the stories shared by a contract faculty worker in a new initiative of the We Teach Ontario (wto) campaign.

The initiative seeks to highlight the work being done, and the challenges faced, by a group that is carrying out an increasing amount of the undergraduate teaching in this province.

“We often think of professors as individuals with strong job security, benefits, and good pay,” says the wto website. “But a large—and growing—number of professors work on contract, from course to course.” wto was originially launched in 2013 by the Ontario Coalition of University Faculty Associations (ocufa).

Graeme Stewart, ocufa communications manager, says the biggest reason that contract faculty have taken on such a larger role in teaching is chronic underfunding by the Ontario government, which has caused the hiring of full time faculty to stagnate.

“Ontario now gives universities 30 per cent less per-student funding than they did in 1990,” he says, adding that the province has the lowest per-student funding in Canada at 34 per cent below the national average.

Stewart also places some responsibility on university administrations. “Employing people on contract gives university admins greater workforce flexibility, at the expense of good working conditions,” Stewart adds.

Andrew Langille, a Toronto labour lawyer, says the situation with contract faculty reflects broader changes in the nature of employment. “The move towards insecure,

A classroom in Sidney Smith Hall. TOSIN MAIYEGUN/THE VARSITY

precarious employment isn’t just a feature of academia. It’s a trend that can be found in every industry,” he says.

Both say that the challenges faced by contract faculty relate to the labour strife at U of T. “The cupe members at U of T are striking for pay above the poverty line, which the administration says it cannot grant due to

financial constraints,” says Stewart.

“What we’ve seen specifically at the University of Toronto... is the increasing reliance on a precarious, temporary, disposable workforce marked by poverty level wages, huge amounts of unpaid labour, and the inability to maitain a secure, dignified existence,” Langille explains.

Stewart says that data on contract faculty is hard to come by, but some trends can be detected by looking at publicly available information from individual universities.

A cbc report from September 2014 highlighted statistics from Laurier University. In 2012, 52 per cent of students were taught by contract faculty, a 38 per cent increase from 2008, but their salaries only took up approximately 4 per cent of the budget.

“We don’t know much about them, or the extent of their employment in Ontario’s universities,” he says, adding that the insecure nature of the work makes it difficult to gather information.

The cbc also stated that, while full professors make between $80,000 –$150,000 dollars a year, contract faculty average only $28,000.

A report entitled “The “Other” University Teachers” was published in 2014 by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, an agency of the Ontario government, seemed to concur with both Stewarts assessment of the data, and some trends as well.

“Most Ontario universities do not report the number of non-full-time instructors, but relevant data are available on the websites of five institutions,” the report says.

Looking at data from five universities including U of T, “it is clear that the number of sessional instructors has increased in recent years at four of the five universities.”

In the short term, the goal of wto is to build solidarity between full and part time faculty, as well as to explore how existing labour legislation can be amended to better protect contract faculty.

“In the longer term, we will continue to call or renewed investment in Ontario’s universities,” says Stewart. “Increased public funding will mean more full-time faculty, lower tuition fees, and a better quality education for every student.”

Students protest talk by speakers who deny Armenian genocide Silent protest targets talk at Best Institute Tamim Mansour ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Students from the Armenian Students’ Association together with the Armenian Youth Federation (ayf) of Canada and the Armen Karo Student Association, an organization that promotes Armenian studies in Canadian universities, protested a panel discussion held by the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations on February 27.

Justin A. McCarthy, a professor from the University of Louisville, and Bruce Fein, a prominent lawyer, were the two speakers invited to the panel. Both have denied that the 1915 Armenian Genocide was a genocide, in opposition to the stance taken by international organizations such as the International Association of Genocide Scholars and Genocide Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a movement to prevent and stop genocide.

The Armenian Genocide was conducted by the Ottoman Empire on the Armenian population that lived in the area presently known as Turkey. It is estimated that between one million

and 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of the genocide.

Amir Hassanpour, an associate professor in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern civilizations, identified a clear distinction between genocide and other forms of killing. “[It] is not based on the number of killings. It is based on ‘the intent’ of perpetrators,” Hassanpour says.

When asked why there are people who continue to deny the Armenian Genocide, Hassanpour says that it is because of the seriousness of the crime. “This is a serious international crime, and nationalists everywhere try to sanitize their history,” he says.

He also explains that governments were concerned with the financial consequences of recognition of genocide in the form of reparations to victims.

The protestors sat in the audience during the talk. At the first mention of genocide by Fein, the group stood up and turned their backs to the speaker in silence. Many of the other audience members were upset by the protest.

One commented that the protest was “strategically planned to disrupt this” while another called it “disrespectful”.

Organizers discussed with campus police what actions could be taken, and were told that the silent protest did not prevent the speaker from carrying on.

Some protestors were asked to move out of the line of sight of other audience members seated at the back.

After about 10 minutes, Fein resumed his speech.

When it was clear from Fein’s talk that he was denying the nature of the genocide, the protestors walked out from the panel discussion to cheers and applause from the other audience members.

Rosalie Minassian, a fourth-year political science student and president of the Scarborough chapter of the Armenian Students’ Association, was one of the leaders of the protest. According to Minassian, all Armenians at the protest were descendants of genocide survivors.

“They are using the University of Toronto as a guise to bring legitimacy to genocide denial,” she says.

Minassian also says that this went directly against the Canadian government’s official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in 2004.

After the walk-out, the protestors made their way to the Anti-Racism & Cultural Di-

versity Office to submit a petition and lodge a complaint against the event. The petition called for the university to distance itself from the organizers and speakers of the panel. It was put online two days before the talk, garnering over 2,000 signatures.

According to Minassian, a letter demanding the cancellation of the event was also sent to a number of university administrators.

Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T director of media relations, says that the event was held by an external organization that rented space from the university.

“Events that such external organizations host are not University activities; the University does not affirm or condemn any assertions made at such events,” BlackburnEvans says.

She adds that such events are governed by the university’s policies.

“There is a clear statement that all reservations for use of university space are subject to the university’s policy concerning freedom of speech,” she says. “The university upholds the principles of freedom of speech and of the freedom of individuals and groups from physical intimidation and harassment.”

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Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

VARSITY NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

The TA strike continues this week with no sign of pending negotiations CONTINUED FROM COVER whole — they have waged a very dishonest and adversarial campaign against us,” he says. “You do not treat colleagues the way striking workers have been treated by this [public relations] campaign.”

Andrea Day, a PhD candidate and teaching assistant in the Department of English, echoed Collins’ concern. “By publicly devaluing our research and teaching skills and attempting to portray us as petulant children… the University has shown that its position lacks substance and that it expects [undergraduates] and community members to be fooled by smoke and mirrors,” she says.

On Wednesday, cupe 3902 also expressed concern over a crane that was photographed blocking off access to strike headquarters.

According to Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of media relations at U of T, the planning for the replacement of the two cooling units on the roof of the Earth Sciences building has been in the works for a month.

At the Mississauga campus, shuttle bus and public transit stops have been moved due to the strike, raising the ire of many students.

Last Friday, students from across the Greater Toronto Area joined a University of Toronto Students Union led strike.

According to a statement from the Arts and Science Students’ Union, some students have reported being e-mailed by departments to conduct ta labour. “We ask our students to be incredibly careful of this. The departments inolved in doing this do not have your best interest in mind,” the statement reads.

MINIMUM FUNDING PACKAGE Chief among union grievances has been the guaranteed minimum funding package of $15,000 annually.

“Every PhD student we admit to the University of Toronto receives a guaranteed level of financial support, unlike many of our peer institutions, which do not provide a universal funding commitment,” Hildyard and U of T vice-president and provost Cheryl Regehr said in a joint statement.

The university offers PhD students a funding commitment for up to five years of their program.

The package was last increased more than seven years ago. Toronto’s low-income cut-off for a single person is about $23,000 per year.

“The administration has to raise the guaranteed minimum funding package. There is no way out of it,” says Collins.

“If you tell someone on the street that workers who make $42/hour are on strike, they’ll think it’s outrageous — and that was indeed the University’s opening gambit,” Collins adds.

According to Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T director of media relations, total funding packages for graduate students in the doctoral stream range from $23,400 to over $46,000.

“We negotiated a generous agreement that lifts teaching assistants’ compensation and benefits to some of the highest levels in Canada,” says Blackburn-Evans.

“If the administration is to be believed,

A picket line outside Robarts Library. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY

many PhD students already make much more than [$20,000], so a guaranteed minimum of $20,000 really should be no hardship to offer,” counters Collins.

STUDENT RECRUITMENT Some cupe 3902 Unit 1 members have also noted that the ongoing strike could affect recruitment of prospective graduate students.

“The paltry sub-poverty funding package itself is a liability to recruitment, and has been for some time now,” Collins says.

Collins says that PhD students at Princeton University receive almost twice the University of Toronto’s guaranteed minimum funding package, while many non-Ivy League American schools leave surpass U of T’s funding levels.

“I have heard the counter-argument that the U of T’s prestige counts for more than money, but this is a silly kind of thing to say. It’s obvious that prestigious institutions fund well, and in any case you can’t pay your rent or buy groceries with prestige,” Collins adds.

A seventh-year PhD student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, voiced particular concern over funding packages for international students at U of T. “It’s totally unclear to incoming international students that they’re funded for five years but expected to take six or seven, and that the minimum guaranteed funding is too low to live on, while their opportunities to get work that would take them above that level are regulated by the university, and they are ineligible for most Canadian external scholarships that domestic students rely on,” the student says.

ACADEMIC CONTINUITY In a letter to members, dated February 24, Scott Prudham, president of the University of Toronto Faculty Association (utfa), addresses “ques-

tions about possible changes that faculty and librarians might be asked to make to courses and programs” by university administration during the strike.

The fear is that the Academic Continuity Policy (acp), adopted in 2012, could give the administration the power to unilaterally change course requirements in the name of “academic continuity.”

“For academic freedom to be upheld,” the letter says, “discretion on whether and what changes to course grading schemes and assignment designs need to be… must remain primarily in the hands of course instructors and program coordinators.”

Normally, grading is covered under the University Academic and Grading Practices Policy.

Once the grading policy of a given course is announced, it can only be changed with student approval.

The course instructor must organize a class vote on proposed changes, and “the consent of a simple majority of students attending the class” is required for changes to go into effect.

The acp may allow the University to bypass this.

Prudham says that, as worded, the acp “puts tremendous power in the hands of the Provost to force changes at the level of individual courses.”

Implemented in January 2012, the acp allows the vice-president and provost, or the Academic board, to declare a state of academic disruption.

Disruptions can be declared in the event of “potential threats to the continuity of… academic operations,” whether at the level of individual programs, departments, faculties, campuses or U of T as a whole.

The policy also says the “principles” of “fairness to students,” “integrity of academic programs,” and “primacy of the educational

mission” must “guide” the declaration of, and response to, a disruption.

Prudham’s letter expresses worry that “undue pressure” could be placed on faculty members “to reconfigure or otherwise significantly alter their courses or those of striking instructors” This could take away “[students’] rights to be meaningfully consulted about changes to courses in the middle of the term,” Prudham says.

However, university administration has given assurances that they intend and will do no such thing.

A strike faq from the Office of the Vice President & Provost states that, “Faculty members’ rights to academic freedom… will be fully respected during the strike,” and that no members of the administration will force faculty to do anything inconsistent with this principle.

Prudham says that, thus far, the utfa is satisfied with the assurances they have received administration.

NEXT STEPS Still, both parties say they would like to reach an agreement so that the university can return to normal operations.

“All of us would rather be in our classrooms or in our labs instead of standing outside in the freezing cold, and seeing that our students understand that a strike for our working conditions is also a strike for their learning conditions has warmed our hearts,” Day says.

Separately, voting to ratify a deal between university administration and cupe 3902 Unit 3, which represents some 1,000 sessional professors and other non-student academic staff, is slated to continue on Monday and Tuesday.

With files from Meerah Haq

Panelists discuss diversity at City Hall ASSU event features councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, former Ward 1 candidate Idil Burale Andy Li VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Last Monday, Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and former Ward 1 candidate for councillor Idil Burale discussed the inadequate representation of ethnic minorities at City Hall in a panel discussion hosted by the Arts & Science Student Union (assu).

Although about half of the city is born outside the country, the city fails to reflect its diversity, the panellists argued.

“Over the years, there is an increase in the number of councillors of non-Anglo-Saxon or-

igin… but there are still few women [and] few people of colour in city council,” said former Ward 20 councillor Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, who moderated the panel.

According to former Ward 1 candidate for councillor Idil Burale, the barriers that prevent these members of the community from participating in the municipal electoral process are multifaceted. “There are many disconnects at each level. Within my community there is the gender issue. Externally, there are the differences between Tamil and Canadian culture,” Burale said.

Burale added that often, the political “issues did not matter, but the identity politics.”

However, the panellists acknowledged that the solution is not simple. Burale said that diversity is often cited as the solution to an illdefined problem. “There’s an assumption that adding more people of colour would [somehow] make politics better. Unless we can demonstrate [this]… nothing will happen... Diversity is an easy scapegoat,” Burale said.

For Wong-Tam, the changes in the political landscape that happened over the last few decades “did not [occur] in isolation, without someone in the lgtbq community saying ‘we want in.’ Without [Ramkhalawansingh] whispering sweet nothings in their ears,” WongTam said.

The panel’s general consensus was that the solution is not merely diversity; it is people demanding representation in city council.

The audience appreciated the candor of the speakers. Audience member Lexy Martineau praised the event for being “very informative.

My questions were heard… and answered.

The panelist selection was great.”

According to assu president Abdullah Shihipar, the purpose of the panel was to provide tentative answers to “relevant questions brought up by the recent municipal elections.”

“I am glad so many people turned up to the event and expressed an interest in municipal politics,” Shihipar said.

VARSITY NEWS

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MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

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NEWS IN BRIEF U of T student launches campaign in response to Venezuela health crisis University of Toronto student Fiorella Wever has launched an Indiegogo campaign to send condoms to Venezuela.

The campaign, which officially began Wednesday under the name “Protect Venezuela” has raised nearly $800 so far from approximately 24 funders. Wever has collaborated with Aid for aids International to ensure supplies are distributed where the need is greatest.

According to the Protect Venezuela webpage, the country is currently facing a scarcity of basic health supplies such as diapers, medicines and vaccines. Access to contraceptives has been limited since December, putting the nation at greater risk of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.

Boxes of condoms have been sold for as much as $755 in the country.

The Protect Venezuela campaign will run until April 3. A $5 donation will send 30 condoms to Venezuela.

— Alex McKeen

York University, union reach tentative deal Less than a week after picket lines went up on campus, York University and cupe 3903, which represents teaching assistants and contract faculty, have reached a tentative agreement.

The last strike by CUPE 3903, seven years ago, lasted three months.

This year’s short-lived strike cancelled all classes at the university.

“I know that students, parents and members of our community are concerned about this strike — I share these concerns,” said York University president Mamdouh Shoukri on Monday. “We have made every reasonable effort to avoid a labour disruption, and we continue to believe that a settlement is readily achievable. We look forward to continuing negotiations with cupe 3903 as quickly as possible.” cupe 3903 members will vote on the tentative deal on Monday. Details of the agreement will not be released until that time.

— James Flynn With files from the Toronto Star

Province announces $41 U of T professor wins L’Oréalmillion commitment to combat UNESCO award for Women in sexual violence Science Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne announced on Thursday a $41 million commitment, over three years, to combat sexual violence.

Among other things, the commitment includes a legal requirement for colleges and universities to publicly report statistics on sexual violence, and requires each college and university to maintain a comprehensive sexual assault policy.

The commitment also includes a public awareness campaign that centres around an ad that shows harassment and assault.

“When you do nothing you’re helping him,” the ad says. “But when you do something you help her.”

“At its core this is a plan to change behaviours and challenge social norms,” Wynne said in announcing the plan.

“Sexual violence is rooted in misogyny, which is deeply ingrained in our culture, often in unconscious or subtle ways... These are learned behaviours, which means that they can be unlearned — or better yet — never learned in the first place.”

Molly Shoichet, a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Toronto, has been is the new L’Oréal United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco) For Women in Science North American laureate for 2015.

Shoichet is the senior advisor to U of T president Meric Gertler on science and engineering engagement. She is the only person to have ever been elected to all three of Canada’s science academies.

Shoichet is currently working to develop materials that will allow drugs to directly target cancer cells in order to combat the side effects of present cancer treatments.

The $140,000 award recognizes female researchers and encourages more women and girls to pursue scientific and technology-related careers.

— Iris Robin With files from U of T News

— James Flynn With files from The Huffington Post

“New tuition revenues are critically necessary” says budget report CONTINUED FROM COVER than the median tuition of other peer Canadian post-secondary institutions, they were still far below the tuition fees at comparable us and uk universities.

Although international students continue to pay the highest tuition fees in the country, the university maintains that the fees remain competitive to top public American universities.

The university believes the comparison is “appropriate given the University of Toronto’s place in the international rankings and international student enrollment remains very strong.”

You acknowledges that international tuition fees in Canada are cheaper compared to the rest of the world, but expressed skepticism about the sustainability of the increases.

“I don’t really know how it’s viable, in terms of the university and the province increasing the international student population,” she says.

You also noted that, given the way tuition fees were increasing, the university will be catching up to its us counterparts very soon.

Enrollment numbers indicate that far from being repelled by increasing tuition fees, international student enrollment is increasing.

When taken as a percentage of total student population increase from 2002-2003 to 20142015, the growth of the international student population accounts for 44.9 per cent of the university’s total enrollment growth.

The university expects to see an increase of six per cent in international student enrollment next year.

However, You says that the financial burden on international students is reaching a tipping point.

“I know so many international students who are advising their friends against coming to U of T,” she says, noting that international students do not receive enough “tangible support for the amount they’re paying.”

NET TUITION In the tuition fees schedule report for 20152016, the net tuition of an average undergraduate student in 2012-2013, a measurement that refers to the percentage of tuition that domestic students pay “after taking into account the contribution of both the Province, through osap grants, and the university, through its various non-repayable grant and scholarship programs,” stood at 22 per cent.

In the tuition fees schedule report for 20142015, the net tuition of an average undergradu-

Jane You is the vice president, communications of the International Students Association (iNSA). FILE PHOTO: MAYA WONG/THE VARSITY

ate student in 2012-2013 was 48 per cent.

The only difference was that for the 2015-16 report, the average tuition tax credits of 26 per cent was added to the net tuition analysis.

During the meeting, Coleman questioned the use of tax credits in calculating net tuition. He said that these tax credits were non-refundable and had to either be deferred until students started working or be transferred to their parents.

In an interview with The Varsity, Coleman said that the inclusion of tax credits to the net tuition analysis was “because governors often ask about it.”

“For low-income students, this either means giving the tax credits to their parents or using after they graduate by deferring the credit,” he says. “In either case, the money is not going to be in their hand to pay tuition — so it’s misleading to say that tax credits make tuition more affordable.”

“Whether your parents make $50,000 a year or $250,000 a year, you both get the same tax credit,” he adds. “They do nothing to make it relatively easier for low-income students to attend university, and shouldn’t be considered part of ‘financial accessibility.’”

You notes that international students don’t receive the same access to grants or loans. “International students don’t even get the option of having a loan. So they can’t have subsidized

education like domestic students,” she says, while acknowledging that domestic students also have a considerable financial burden to contend with.

PROVINCIAL SUPPORT These tuition fee increases come at a time when the university expects no net increase from operating grants given by the provincial government.

“With no net increase in revenue from perstudent operating grants projected for 20152016... new tuition revenues are critically necessary to fund initiatives and enhancements across academic, student, and shared service divisions,” the tuition fee schedule said.

The operating budget for 2015-2016 was also presented to the Business Board. Just 30 per cent of the operating revenue comes from provincial operating grants — a decline from 50 per cent of revenue in 2000–2001.

It is projected that the proportion will drop to 25 per cent by 2019–2020.

This drop in proportion of revenue from the province has been accompanied by a rise in the proportion of revenue from student tuition and fees. In 2000–2001, student fees constituted 28.7 per cent of the university’s operating revenue. For the upcoming school year, student fees will account for 57.3 per cent of operating

revenue, with the expectation that this proportion will increase to 62.9 per cent in 2019-2020.

STRUCTURAL CHALLENGES The budget report also says that the university is facing a potential structural budget challenge.

The challenge would occur in the context of when the university has achieved its long-term goals in terms of enrollment and student population mix, and no longer relies on growth in enrollment numbers for increasing revenue.

In such a situation, it has been projected that the average increase in revenue would be 2.5 per cent while the average increase in expenditures would be four per cent, thus creating a structural deficit of 1.5 per cent.

During the meeting, U of T president Meric Gertler said that the university was “fortunate to be enjoying strong enrollment growth,” calling the increased international enrollment positive.

Gertler also acknowledged the structural deficit and the challenge it presented, adding that the budget challenge was “facing all postsecondary institutions” in Canada.

According to Professor Scott Mabury, U of T vice-president, university operations, the university is exploring increasing “non-student sources of revenue” to meet the structural deficit.

Comment

VAR.ST/COMMENT

9 MARCH 2015

comment@thevarsity.ca

Relative progress does not mean absolute progress Let’s not fall prey to the idea that Canada’s race relations are better than the US Column

Students attend a "Black Lives Matter" solidarity protest earlier this year. FILE PHOTO: SHAHIN S. IMTIAZ/THE VARSITY

Victoria Wicks

ASSOCIATE COMMENT EDITOR

When discussing race relations, I find that fellow students often assume and emphasize Canada’s superiority over the United States.

They argue that since we had never institutionalized slavery or segregation, Canada is more equitable towards our black population.

More broadly, Canadian identity is supposedly founded upon an inherently tolerant “mosaic,” instead of an aggressive, assimilation-promoting “melting pot” in the us.

This explicit commitment to diversity certainly deserves a pat on the back. Yet, it is incredibly arrogant to repeatedly emphasize these achievements as trumping the us. Such rhetoric absolves us of any responsibility to investigate Canada’s colonial past and how racial oppression manifests today.

For example, we often boast that Canada was a refuge for slaves fleeing the us. However, simply focusing on Canada as a “haven from

racism” erases how black people faced de facto segregation after arriving in Canada. In 1911, the Edmonton city council passed a resolution to ban black people from the city. Similarly, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court legitimized racially segregated movie theatres in 1946. Such systematic discrimination continues today — in Toronto for example, our police stop and question black people at disproportionately higher rates than others. In one patrol zone, the likelihood of being “carded” was 17.1 times higher for black people than white people.

This is not to mention Canada’s abhorrent treatment of its Aboriginal people. Our country is marred by the legacy of residential schools, stolen children, and land appropriation, and this state-sanctioned violence is hardly a relic of the past. In particular, there are a disproportionate number of Aboriginals in prison currently — they make up almost a quarter of all inmates but constitute only four per cent of our population. We are also facing a crisis of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, for which Prime Minister Stephen Harper callously refuses to pursue a public inquiry.

Being cocooned in U of T’s ivory towers, we are easily preoccupied with grand political

theories and distant historical texts. As such, it is easy to forget how much racism translates into the daily experiences of fellow students on campus. Consider what happened in 2009: five students not only showed up to a U of T–affiliated Halloween party in blackface, but also received the best costume prize. More recently, EngSoc held a questionable “fiesta-themed” pub night this year, which many criticized for encouraging racial stereotypes. I’ve also heard countless disparaging comments about U of T being “too Asian,” as if Asian identity is somehow homogenous and undesirable.

These anecdotes are neither anomalous nor trivial. They accumulate daily, creating a hostile social climate for many racialized students. Indeed, “The Final Report of the Task Force on Campus Racism” published by the Canadian Federation of Students in 2010 has catalogued the numerous and multi-faceted ways racism continues to affect students and faculty across Canada.

Moving forward, we need to be more proactive in fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for our peers. For instance, professors can add equity statements in syllabi and discuss them at the beginning of their

course. This would remind students of how certain behaviours or remarks can be discriminatory, while also informing students of procedures for reporting any racism they may face or observe.

Colleges and student unions should also mandate anti-oppression education for elected student representatives. This would not only ensure our student leaders are sufficiently informed about how racism operates on campus, but would also empower them to intervene where racism occurs.

Above all, we need to listen. Specifically, when our peers speak out about their lived experiences of racism, it is crucial to recognize and uplift their stories as valuable insight into the problem, instead of accusing them of being “too sensitive.”

Let’s not fall prey to the idea that Canada’s race relations are necessarily better than the us'. Even if we were, that’s no excuse for social stagnation — we can always do better.

Victoria Wicks is an associate comment editor at The Varsity. She is a second-year student at Trinity College studying political science and philosophy. Her column appears bi-weekly.

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MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

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TA compensation, the argument for a competitive institution We can’t be a world-class university without paying top dollar for world-class talent Column

Zane Schwartz

VARSITY COLUMNIST

Citations matter. They force you to prove that you’re not just making things up. I know this because U of T threatens to expel me if I don’t cite properly every time I start a new class.

So it’s a bit hypocritical for our university to not provide any sources for all the numbers they’re spouting regarding the TA strike.

For example, provost Cheryl Regehr maintains that graduate student funding has increased to an average of $35,000 per year. This is — to use U of T’s own language on academic honesty — a misrepresentation of facts.

That $35,000 includes tuition, which has been rising steadily while the minimum take home pay of graduate students has remained at $15,000. It’s the equivalent of saying: I’ll pay you $35,000 except I’m going to keep $20,000.

In the most recent data from 2011–2012, U of T offered 79 doctoral-stream graduate programs. Forty-two of the master’s programs and 53 of the PhD programs offered a minimum funding package of $15,000. It would be easy to manipulate this data to represent a specific conclusion.

For example, I could point out that 14 of the master’s programs offered $0. Alternately, I could emphasize that these are minimum

benchmarks and some students — such as those in the Faculty of Medicine — can get up to $18,000 a year in funding. $19,000 is a lot better than $15,000, but it’s still $307 below the poverty line in Toronto. The truth defies simplicity but it does require facts.

There are reasonable disagreements to be had about the nuances of graduate funding.

Should contract faculty’s health insurance cover their family members in the same way that teaching assistant’s insurance does? How does paying criminology master’s students $0 and their counterparts in the PhD program $15,000 affect the research output or the international competitiveness of that department? Is that the industry standard?

However, we can’t have these conversations if U of T keeps fudging the numbers. U of T regularly boasts about how well it’s doing in international rankings. This year we were ranked twentieth in the world by the Times Higher Education Ranking. So it’s remarkably disingenuous for U of T to claim that they provide: “16% more funding per student than comparable Canadian research universities.”

Comparing us with the University of British Columbia (ranked 32) or McGill University (ranked 39) makes sense. But that number also includes McMaster, which is ranked fourth in Canada and ninety-fourth in the world. It further includes Western, Waterloo, Queen’s, Laval, Calgary, Dalhousie, and Manitoba none of which even make the top 200 globally.

We should be talking about how U of T com-

CUPE 3902 Unit 1 members on strike. ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY

petes with similarly ranked schools. For example, Cornell University is nineteenth in the world.

They pay their teaching assistants $24,104 a year.

U of T can’t be a world-class university if it’s not willing to pay top dollar for world-class talent. U of T knows this. Tuition has been skyrocketing for years as U of T tries to compete with other schools to attract the best professors. Yet graduate students do the majority of the research that U of T is so proud of. If the logic of high salary equals great talent applies for faculty there’s no reason why it shouldn’t apply for graduate students.

U of T claims that they will go back to the bargaining table once the provincial mediator

tells them to. Legally, there is nothing stopping U of T from returning to the bargaining table.

We’ve had a week of lies and distortions from the administration. If they’re hoping undergraduates will be gullible enough to swallow another week of made up numbers — and that the media and the rest of Canada won’t see the utter contempt they’re treating their students with — they’re going to be disappointed.

Zane Schwartz is a fourth-year history student who contributes to The Globe and Mail and Maclean’s. He was The Varsity’s news editor last year. His column appears bi-weekly.

Safe spaces, free speech, and the fight for unwelcome ideas Intellectual diversity is stifled on campus Will Hall

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In the preface to Animal Farm, George Orwell takes aim at a form of censorship that is not institutionalized, but rather self-imposed.

“The sinister fact about literary censorship in England,” he says, “is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.” Typically when Orwell’s name is brought up in discussion about censorship and free speech, it is not in reference to this piece, but instead to 1984, with its Big Brother and Ministry of Truth.

This shouldn’t be that surprising, as the preface was initially only published in a Ukrainian translation meant for counterrevolutionaries fleeing Stalin and was not rediscovered in the English-speaking world for many years. It is a shame, though, as this work raises important questions pertinent to contemporary debates about intellectual diversity and free speech on university campuses — U of T included — that may otherwise be glossed over. Namely, what more insidious forms can censorship take, and what is our duty to ideas we find reprehensible?

These questions are important to ask because, in terms of traditional censorship, we are largely not at risk here at U of T. Formal bans on thought and expression in the style of 1984 are rightfully abhorred and thus a

non-issue. In its 2014 Campus Freedom Index, an annual report intended to “measure the state of free speech at Canada’s universities,” the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms awarded the University of Toronto an "A" for official policies protecting freedom of expression.

Weighing into this assessment was a policy drafted by the Governing Council propounding that rights of freedom of speech and academic freedom “are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.” Institutionally then, free speech is safe; however, we should ask, as Orwell reminds us to, what these guarantees are worth if we are already policing ourselves? What good is the protection of disturbing questions when no one is asking them? Recent events on campus suggest a troubling trend in which concerns like these are ignored in order to maintain the comfort of an unchallenged consensus.

An event that illustrates a laudable example of free speech and disturbing evidence for the opposite trend took place on February 27, when the St. George campus hosted a lecture entitled “WWI 100th Anniversary: Human Suffering in Eastern Anatolia.” The event featured two speakers, University of Louisville professor Justin McCarthy and lawyer Bruce Fein. Many, including the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada (ayf) and U of T’s Armenian Students Association (asa), hold

these speakers to be deniers of the Armenian genocide. The Armenian Weekly reports that: “Protesters allowed the speakers to deliver their opening remarks. However, when it became apparent that the speakers would deny and misconstrue the facts of the Armenian Genocide, the group stood up and turned their backs to the podium as a silent protest against genocide denial.”

This was an act of protest entirely permissible under the university’s guidelines for what constitutes disruption of an event, and was commendable in that it clearly expressed that the protesters found the contents of the speech loathsome, without unduly interfering with or silencing the speakers.

In contrast, events surrounding the lecture demonstrated a concerning desire among many to ban the lecture outright — a refusal to allow the expression of an unwelcome idea on a university campus. Preceding the lecture, a petition was circulated on the ayf website demanding that the university not allow the lecture to take place. Similarly, a statement by the asa following the lecture stressed that the “University of Toronto should not provide podiums to those who are looking to legitimize their denial of the first genocide of the 20th century.”

However one feels about the contents of the lecture, these strategies should be disconcerting. The motion to ban the expression of an idea on campus sets a dangerous precedent and effectively says that you are

comfortable offloading your critical judgment to someone else. To consider some idea, even the most hateful, entirely forbidden from expression is, as Orwell warns, simply “to exchange one orthodoxy for another.” The enemy is not the pernicious idea, but rather, as he puts it, “the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played at the moment.”

What follows from this is that the expression of truly unpopular ideas is in most need of institutional protection, liable as it is to selfimposed censure. It is not through edict that ideas become anathema to thinking people.

Rather, as John Stuart Mill put it in On Liberty, “If it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.” In the same respect, controversy surrounding the Armenian genocide is not resolved by stifling even the most odious of speakers, especially on a university campus.

George Orwell ended his preface to Animal Farm with a quote from philosopher and dissident Rosa Luxemburg, which behooves reflection in a discussion of free expression: “Freedom for the other fellow.” While freedom of expression includes the freedom to speak, the freedom to write, and the freedom to protest that which you find abhorrent, it must necessarily also include the freedom to offend, and the freedom to be wrong.

Will Hall is a third-year student at Trinity College studying political science and American studies.

12

Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

VARSITY COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Content warning: you may not agree with this Hypersensitivity has no place in academia or the distribution of information

TINA YE AND PRISCILLA SUEN/THE VARSITY

Sarah Niedoba VARSITY STAFF

An article published in last week’s issue of The Varsity opened with the following statement: “CONTENT WARNING: graphic description of sexual violence.”

This sort of introductory description, which is becoming increasingly common in numerous publications, is colloquially known as a “trigger warning.” While there seems to be no single source for these labels, they have existed since the early days of the Internet, created to warn readers who

might be sensitive to the content of any given article.

In the aforementioned Varsity article, students shared their personal stories of sexual assault, many of which featured explicit and disturbing details. The purpose of the trigger warning, in this instance, is to warn readers who might have experienced sexual assault that the article contained “triggering” details, which could result in painful flashbacks, anxiety, or even self-harm.

Now, a case could be made that the subheading of the article, “Survivors and administrators share experiences with sexual assault,” would render such a warning unnecessary. Nonethe-

less, in an article that addresses personal accounts, which could be traumatic for victims of sexual assault, one can see the reasoning behind the notice.

Where trigger warnings become problematic, however, are in circumstances where we apply them too liberally.

Recently, The New Republic reported on student leaders at the University of California, Santa Barbara, passing a resolution to institute mandatory trigger warnings on class syllabi. The article in question goes on to cite a growing trend of students demanding trigger warnings in course materials on university campuses across North America. The article reads, “The trigger warning signals not only the growing precautionary approach to words and ideas in the university, but a wider cultural hypersensitivity to harm and a paranoia about giving offense.”

This statement addresses an important aspect of the trigger warning: once you start labeling things as troubling, where do you stop?

“It’s not inconceivable that they’ll appear at the beginning of film screenings,” writes The New Republic’s Jenny Jarvie. “Will newspapers start applying warnings to articles about rape, murder, and war?”

In an article for The Washington Post author Wendy Kaminer questions the growing culture of political correctness on university campuses — one that includes discussions of the creation of “safe spaces” for students, which she describes as “[students] often talking about the threat of unwelcome speech and demanding protection from the emotional disturbances sparked by unsettling ideas.”

Such a quote encapsulates the problems that stem from widespread use of trigger warnings:

by slapping “warnings” on information, we are constricting it and, implicitly, our understanding of it.

With this in mind, the trigger warning should stay safely within the space it was created. Personal accounts of distressing situations? Perhaps. Within academic institutions and the daily news? Absolutely not.

University campuses must remain places where ideas can be expressed openly — without fear of unpopularity or offense. Similarly, the job of news outlets is to provide, to the best of their abilities, an unbiased and factually accurate account of the day’s events. In doing so, they should not and must not filter, censor, or limit, in any way, the information they are tasked with sharing.

This seemingly inevitable spread of the trigger warning, while undoubtedly well intentioned, is troubling in that it creates a society in which we are constantly thought of as “easily upset;” perhaps one in which we are not given the full scope of an idea, for fear of offense. We aren’t given the bottom line, but instead we are given the one more easily walked; instead of the pill we need, the one that’s easiest to swallow.

It is inevitable that there will be people who choose not to interact with relevant news and ideas. Yet, this is not behaviour that should be catered to, or facilitated. The world can be a cruel, upsetting place. Both journalism and academia strive, in their own separate ways, to hold those who make it so to account. There are no trigger warnings in real life and there should be none in the discussion and reporting of it.

Sarah Niedoba is The Varsity’s Arts and Culture Editor. She is a fourth-year student at Victoria College studying English.

Two approaches to constitutional change The UTSU could take a lesson from the Arts & Science Council Jeffrey Schulman VARSITY STAFF

Administrative changes across all of U of T have made it necessary for the Faculty of Arts and Science to amend its bylaws and constitution to comply with new guidelines. This is similar to how the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) must restructure its Board of Directors in order to become compliant with the Canada-Non-For-Profit Corporations Act (cnca).

However, both organizations have approached reform in completely different ways.

The Arts & Science Council, which is the faculty’s governing body, has addressed the need for regulatory compliance separately from discussing any substantial changes. The council appointed a body to review the existing constitution and recommend changes, which were presented to the Agenda Committee. That committee immediately separated the only two substantive changes from the rest of what was suggested, and decided to put them to the council in a format that would make it possible to consider the substantive issues separately from the pro forma ones.

By comparison, the utsu used the opportunity presented by the cnca to overhaul its structure. cfs-backed executives proposed replacing college representation on the board of directors with a series of constituency representatives who would be elected by a confusing array of groups around campus, from First Nations to varsity athletes.

Meanwhile, the utsu has been locked in an ongoing battle with many of the smaller colleges and faculties on campus, as these constituencies’ previous calls for fee diversion remain unresolved. Critics, such as myself, see utsu’s tactic as little more than a ploy to abolish its opponent’s representation by gerrymandering dissenters into larger groups of supporters.

Other faculties then blocked the changes from moving forward at the utsu Annual General Meeting, a one-time event, with very low attendance. The ongoing struggle threatens to lead to the dissolution of the utsu as an organization through non-compliance with Canadian law.

Meanwhile, moderate students around campus have worked to break the logjam. Most recently, engineering director Ryan Gomes, as well as fellow students Natalie Petra and Nish Chankar held a public meeting to solicit proposals that might be mutually acceptable to all parties. Discussion at this meeting, and other events throughout the year, has made clear that another catastrophic result of the cfs executives’ action is a lack of clarity.

Discussion must center on what approach to take to a board structure — basically, how students should be electing directors, and how to compromise to comply with the law. The result of this, and the absence of professional advice, means that many substantive ideas must be thrown out for legal reasons, and potential technical solutions are deemed unacceptable, because they would require sacrifices from angry parties.

Governing council chambers. FILE PHOTO: KENNETH TRUONG/THE VARSITY

If cfs backed executives had consulted with students about whether to adopt pro forma changes that would assure legal compliance before beginning the political process, the union would not be in danger of dissolution.

This would also allow a clear and productive conversation to take place around campus about how to organize the union rather than causing

the mad struggle now taking place.

The results of this academic year show examples of both responsible and incompetent governance at this university — hopefully the utsu can learn from others.

Jeffrey Schulman is a second-year student at Trinity College studying classics.

Editorial

VAR.ST/EDITORIAL 9 MARCH 2015

Sexual assault survivors need resources now Waiting on a comprehensive policy, survivors need a road map to navigate the current system

BRITTANY GEROW/THE VARSITY

For the past several months, countless instances of sexual assault on North American university campuses have been dominating the media. With these stories comes criticism for the absence of effective policies for dealing with incidents of assault and the silence that surrounds sexual violence in our society.

In last week’s issue of The Varsity, reporter Victoria Wicks conducted a sweeping investigation of sexual assault on campus, with testimonies from survivors expressing the inadequacy of available resources. In recent months, studentrun grassroots initiatives such as U of T Students Against Sexual Violence and U of T Thrive have sprung up on campus in response to growing dissatisfaction with the administration’s treatment of the issue.

In many of the narratives that have arisen as a result of this discourse, certain details recur — particularly, many survivors have expressed a sense of disorientation following their assault. They did not know where to go or who to talk to; they feared their stories would not be believed; they were told, repeatedly, to go to the police.

In November, the university announced the creation of the Advisory Committee to the President and Provost on Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence. This committee includes student representatives and is a step in the right direction — but organizing a committee, producing a document, reviewing the report, seeking further consultation, and translating it into actual policy is a lengthy process. Generating an adequate and effective policy on sexual violence on campus certainly requires ample consultation and consideration and, in order to ensure that it is done right, cannot be done rashly. With this in mind, in the short term, survivors need a more immediate solution.

At this point in the process, the establishment of the advisory committee does little more for survivors than provide a sense that recourse may eventually be available — a mere consolation during a time when they require concrete resources and support. For the university, the committee provides a convenient answer to the growing pressure to do something about this issue, in addition to acting as a publicized nod to the existence of the problem. However, for survivors attempting to find support on campus right now, the system in place remains highly decentralized, leading to redirection and, consequently, demoralization.

The reality is that sexual violence is an urgent problem on this campus and on many others across North America.

With each month that passes while the university develops a response, more students are getting lost in the maze of the system. The effects of this disorientation are profound and distressing, often leading to isolation, academic struggle, and for some, depression or suicidal thoughts.

There are several small steps that the university could take as short-term solutions to this issue. In Wicks’ feature, Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of news and media relations at U of T, says that a document identifying support and services available to survivors on campus is currently being worked on.

Something as simple as a chart outlining precisely what resources are available to survivors at U of T could be produced quickly — it could include the names of offices and relevant individuals, along with descriptions of the sort of support and the degrees of confidentiality that can be expected from each of these resources. It could also include information on general options available to survivors of sexual assault, including going to the hospital if necessary, reporting the crime to the police, talking to friends and family, and city resources.

This information is mostly publicly available, but is not compiled centrally or cohesively. Frankly, it should not take months of work to put this sort of resource together. It should be prepared immediately and advertised widely as a means of both providing support to survivors of sexual assault and giving informed guidance to administrators and staff.

Another short-term solution that could be implemented is to introduce mandatory consent workshops for incoming students during frosh week. The Sexual Education Centre already offers optional presentations on consent to frosh, but not all colleges and faculties take advantage of this opportunity. This resource, which is already available, would be an ideal way to introduce principles of sexual health, safety, and prevention of sexual violence to students as soon as they arrive at the university.

At present, there are some, albeit inadequate, services available to survivors of sexual assault in the U of T community — but the task of finding the right resource to fit an individual experience is far too arduous. The unfortunate reality is that many students know someone who has been affected by sexual violence in their time as an undergraduate student at this institution.

Given the immediacy and pervasiveness of this issue, the university has a pressing responsibility to provide a coherent catalogue of options available to students who experience sexual violence. Right now, there are survivors of sexual violence on campus falling through the cracks. These students should be the university’s priority — yet, in a practical sense, the committee at present does little to help them and does far more to make the university appear as though they are providing a solution. Whatever response system the committee creates must put survivors first, rather than the reputation of the university. During this interim period of policy development, the university must take simple but immediate action toward prioritizing the students currently trying to navigate the ineffectual support that currently exists.

The Varsity's editorial board is elected by the masthead at the beginning of each semester. For more information about The Varsity's editorial policy, email comment@thevarsity.ca.

comment@thevarsity.ca

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR

Vol. CXXXV, No. 19 | March 2, 2015 Dear undergraduates of the University of Toronto, I understand your frustration with the strike and I’m not asking for your support (although very welcome) but just the opportunity to explain my position, which is shared with many grad students.

Like yourselves, we are frustrated with the high cost of your tuition, especially since it is unclear where all your money goes since those who do more than 60 per cent of the teaching at U of T account for only 3.5 per cent of the budget.

Graduate school might seem like a great deal, because we don’t pay tuition and get $15,000 in funding.

However, many grads including myself are paying tuition ($8000$20,000 a year) and nearly 60 per cent of that is earned through work as TAs, research assistants (RAs), and course instructors (CIs). Yes, we are paid $42/hour for this, but this is part of the $15,000, so wage increases mean nothing when the funding remains unchanged.

You’ve heard that graduate students are living well below the poverty line and maybe thought: ‘why not just get a part time job?’ Most students do take on extra TA, RA, and CI work to pay the bills. However, that’s not an option in every department and those who do undertake extra work often take longer to complete their degrees. We love our experiences teaching undergrads, but we are also students.

We take graduate courses but at the end of the day when we are finished coursework and teaching, we conduct research from which the university benefits in prestige and grant money. Since this work continues all year round, it is not just a full-time job it’s a lifestyle; we work all day, making it impossible to take on a job outside of this lifestyle. If you add up all the hours we devote to our graduate work and divide it by the $15,000, it works out to just a few dollars an hour.

I understand that you may not be sympathetic with our position, but I hope you can see that we are not striking to hurt you; we are fighting so that we can provide you with better education – right now most of our hours are devoted to marking but you deserve more of our time with smaller tutorials, office hours, and individual feedback. We would love to provide that to our students, but the university doesn’t see it as enough of a priority to pay for it. Finally, some of you may one day apply to graduate school and what I hope most of all is that what we achieve today will benefit you in the future.

Thank you and hope to see you in class again soon!

— Nicole Daniel, course instructor and teaching assistant When I converse with graduate students from other departments, I have to apologize for the Computer Science Department’s relative embarrassment

of riches. Our minimum PhD stipend is $19, 300 (plus tuition), far higher than many of our peers' $15,000; there are more TA and instructor positions than we can fill, yet we are only required to perform 108 hours, again less than in many other departments.

Our teaching conditions are excellent, thanks to a series of proactive and responsive undergraduate chairs.

So why would I, and many of my peers, even consider going on strike?

I could say solidarity, but if that were all, the level of support from both the undergraduate and graduate TAs in our department would be much lower.

The unfortunate truth is that we are a frustrated and dispirited bunch; despite the successes, the situation in the department is far from rosy. Our professors are beleaguered and strained and still produce world-class research with ever-decreasing levels of support.

Our stipends are guaranteed for only 5 years, when our median time for an MSc and a PhD is 7 years. This means many of our graduate students are not only unfunded for 2 years, but are also responsible for several years' worth of tuition. This is an extraordinary burden. These are young adults trying to start their careers.

Unfortunately undergraduate students are caught in the middle. They pay in tuition almost double what other Faculty of Arts and Science students pay, if they manage to hurdle enrolment caps that are driving the minimum admission grade ever upwards. Those extra fees are not redirected back to the department, but are instead distributed throughout the Faculty. So in return, undergraduates work on outdated technology. They are squeezed into 4th-year courses with hundreds of students because we can't find instructors to run more sections. They miss out on courses we cannot offer, because we have no professors to teach them. With the department struggling to find the capacity to meet their demand, their class sizes are ballooning and their TA’s support has been slashed to less than 80 per cent of what it was 5 years ago.

This is the state of affairs at one of U of T's globally acclaimed departments. Amazing achievements continue but they occur almost in spite of the myriad constraints placed upon the department.

So why go on strike? I harbour no illusions that we can solve these problems through collective labour action.

I know that my department will still have struggles long after I have departed. This strike is speaking out about important issues. It's about using what little leverage I have to rectify what few injustices I can.

All I can ask of the undergraduate students is to have patience, to take a little bit of time to understand our situation, and to give a little effort in becoming engaged. You are not powerless, you are not tokens or chips, and you are not victims. This is your future, one way or another; don't just let it happen to you without you.

— Brian Law, President of the Department of Computer Science Graduate Student Society

Letters to the editor should be directed to comment@thevarsity.ca. Please keep letters to 250 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Delving into the world of alternative spirituality in Toronto Article by Emmeline Molnar Photos by Rusaba Alam “The mind is like a parachute: it doesn’t work if it’s not open.” Frank Zappa probably didn’t have alternative spirituality in mind when he said these words, but they pertain to the subject nonetheless.

We exist in a time and place where the boundaries of the realm of spirituality have been expanded, making space for a wide array of approaches and practices. Spirituality in general is a highly personal, sometimes controversial subject — alternative spiritual practices are no different.

Responses to these practices are wideranging. Naturally diverse perspectives on the subject are the product of multiple influences, perceptions, and sources of information. The realm of alterative spirituality and its practices can prompt intrigue, skepticism, or something in between — but the most important part of approaching the subject is having an open mind, and perhaps a functioning parachute.

The Rock Store, a crystal healing centre located in Kensington Market, is one of many alternative spirituality retailers in Toronto.

DIFFICULT DEFINITIONS

Notoriously challenging to define, alternative spirituality is often referred to as “post-traditional spirituality” or “New Age spirituality.”

This indicates its push toward deeper and more referential understanding. Where these monikers do not suffice, alternative spirituality is generally understood as spiritual practices concerned with self-development, healing, and personal transformation. The idea as a whole is quite difficult to define.

In addition to the concepts, the diversity represented within the wide spectrum of alternatively spiritual practice, can present a challenge for individuals looking to become engaged or those who are simply curious. In many ways, the intention is to avoid classification and narrow definitions that cannot aptly express the diversity of alternative spirituality. This fluidity of definition, in some senses, pays a sort of homage to one of its main principles: “transformation” or “becoming”. For those who practice, transformation is then elevated into the company of other notions, which similarly evade definition and can include love, truth, beauty, art, and god.

A GROWING PRESENCE

With so little in the way of a comprehensive definition, the exploration of alternative spiritual practices can seem daunting and unfocused. The cultural diversity enjoyed in Toronto — Canada’s largest and most diverse city — lends itself to an impressive range of practitioners and practices.

Strolling down a Toronto street, the signs in windows invite passersby to engage in a multiplicity of choices. There are the more well-known culprits, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, and yoga. Accompanying these familiar faces are relatively unknown characters; strange words and phrases like “Reiki” and “mindfulness meditation”. Although represented well enough in the Toronto community, these practices are relatively unfamiliar and esoteric.

Whether you’re navigating these storefronts of Toronto streets or simply looking to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of these practices, an understanding of the lengthy history and origins of alternative spirituality is helpful.

REIKI

Reiki is a Japanese healing technique which operates on the assumption that “life force energy” channels through us and constitutes our being.

The word Reiki is comprised of two Japanese words, Rei and Ki, which translate as “spiritual energy” or “universal life energy.” It is a technique for relaxation and stress reduction, which also promotes healing.

Nearly a century old, Reiki is rooted in the Eastern metaphysics of energy and vibration.

Expanding beyond its Eastern roots, Reiki has been growing in popularity and commonality, particularly in diverse cities like Toronto.

Frans Stiene, a senior Reiki teacher at the International House of Reiki, stresses that the practice is heavily rooted in mindfulness. “The

system of Reiki is all about mindfulness as all the practices are meditations,” he says. Stiene elaborates, “When we become more mindful we get less distracted by the past, present, and future which in turn will help us to stay more focused.” He adds that by creating focused awareness individuals can reduce stress.

The practice itself, at the most elementary level, can be described as the “laying on” of hands, with the intention of realigning and restoring spiritual and energetic balance.

“It’s a very difficult thing to describe,” says Alice,* a Reiki Level Two student who has experienced various forms of energy work. “It’s a very calming experience,” she says, adding, “to me — the best way I can describe it — it’s this feeling of a soothing, gentle energy.” She is careful to add, however, that it is a very individual experience and others may have a different impression.

For Alice, becoming exposed to energy work was something of an accident. “I kind of fell into it. My earliest exposure to Reiki was actually in conjunction with more traditional medicine. I was seeing a massage therapist for a back injury, and they happened to be a Reiki master and offered it as an additional therapy.”

Like many practices of alternative spirituality, Reiki often receives a mixed response. There are those who are critical about the validity of the practice. When asked about her thoughts on the negative responses to the practice, Stiene says, “You cannot force anybody to believe in anything.” Stiene also advises anyone curious about the practice, including skeptics, to give exploration a chance, adding, “the only way to know if it is nonsense or not, is to start to practice the system of Reiki yourself, so that you can gain a direct experience of it.”

EARTHLY GIFTS

Crystals, healing stones, and semi-precious gemstones are often used as an adjunct to energy-healing Reiki sessions, or even on their own. Historical records of crystal healing dates as far back as the ancient Sumerians and are established for their personal utility in various belief systems. The ancient Greeks, for instance, carved goblets out of amethyst stone with the intention of preventing drunkenness.

In the realm of modern alternative spirituality, the practice of crystal healing employs the notion that crystals with high-energy frequencies have metaphysical healing abilities. The idea of crystal healing is closely tied to the energetic theory of chakras, a Sanskrit word that translates as “circle” or “wheel of life.”

The theory of chakras is dynamic and detailed. The Sparknotes version would likely state that there are seven main loci of energetic power in the human body which, when a person is healthy, are in alignment, balance, and are free of blockage. For believers of crystal healing, it is understood that the rates of energy vibrations in a crystal, when matched with the appropriate chakras, will assist in healing and a return to a normal, harmonized state.

Walking into one of two Gifts From the Earth locations in Toronto, a shop that specializes in crystals from a geological and spiritual perspective is daunting. The Danforth location is filled with an almost astounding array of crystals, ranging from small, pocket sized objects to three foot tall specimens of raw amethyst — the latter of which can’t help but impress.

With this enormous selection, choosing one seems like an impossible task. According to expert recommendations, however, the answer is simple — pick the one that draws you in. This advice is offered on the basis that an energetic attraction will guide you to the crystal that you most need. Historically, crystal healing has had links to Western medicine as well; the idea of colour as a healing quality in crystals was reinforced by colour therapy equipment present in Western hospital rooms until the middle of the twentieth century.

Crystals are sold in a variety of stores around the city. One such establishment is Wonderworks, located on Baldwin Street. Natalie Krolikowski, one of the stores employees, describes the business as a “natural healing store.” Wonderworks offers a wide selection of crystals, floral essences, and more adventurous items including magic candles. “We section off our crystals according to your needs, for example, mental focus,” Krolikowski says when asked specifically about navigating the store’s crystal selection.

Wonderworks is an intriguing shop. To the untrained eye, the stock of the store appears as organized chaos. The merchandise is neatly organized, but it’s unfamiliarity to some may make it feel a little overwhelming.

Rochelle Holt, owner of Wonderworks, offers some advice to beginners exploring the practice of crystal energy that extends to alternative spirituality in general. “Try not to be too overwhelmed and listen to your intuition,” says Holt.

Though practices like Reiki and crystal healing may seem unapproachable to some, Wonderworks merchandise also includes products that may have a more general appeal. The store carries a selection of candles, as well as a wide range of aromatherapy merchandise, including incense, essential oils, and bath salts. These products have a distinct tie to alternative health and spiritual practices, but may also be enjoyable to anyone looking for some relaxation.

MINDFUL FOCUS

Meditation is practiced by many cultures and within various spiritual and religious beliefs around the world — evidenced by 3,000 yearold Indian scriptures. Understood as simply being, meditation is about letting oneself fully resonate with life, in a way that qualifies neither suffering nor joy.

Tibetan Buddhist Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche says, “Meditation is based on three fundamental factors: first, not centralizing inward; second, not having any longing to become higher; and third, becoming completely identified with here and now.” In other words, meditation introduces you to true selfhood, despite

the impostures and impositions of the world.

It puts you in tune with your mind and body, it works to subdue the ego, and it allows you to face everything without judgement.

The effects of meditation are mental, emotional, physiological, and spiritual. Its practice effectively reduces mental and physical stress, improving emotional intelligence. Meditation brings tranquility and healing, and even improves neuroplasticity.

Zach Summerhayes, a student at the U of T, says that his ongoing experience with mindfulness, aids him in being fully present and acquiescing in feelings, thoughts, sensations, and the moments of life.

“It has opened up the possibility of experience in everything, provided me with the tools to know myself better, helped regulate my emotions and discouraged the projection of my automatic beliefs, so that I can engage with experiences more in the moment,” says Summerhayes.

Summerhayes has found that meditation has aided in “cultivating an attitude towards myself and others that is non-judgmental, inquisitive, and generally, really interested.” He clarifies that his transformative journey has not been insouciant, “It’s hard self-work, it’s uncomfortable a lot of the time, and involves letting yourself be seen by both you and others.”

DIVING IN, OR NOT

Whether you are already committed to a practice or have yet to find a suitable option, it is important to try various practices out in the hopes of getting the most enriched, enlightening, and safe experience. Finding the right modality is often a matter of deep feeling and intuition. If something is stirred within you, chances are, you are on the right path.

Cataloguing these sensations is in keeping with the notion that the value of alternative spirituality is a matter of cumulative experience, rather than stated ideology or doctrine, and primarily depends on the persons involved. There is a growing trend in alternative spirituality, but despite an increased presence in mainstream society, navigating the legitimacy of resources remains something of a challenge.

That being said, accurately informed guides do exist. Toronto is full of authentic retailers providing a plethora of materials from sage smudge sticks and crystals to therapeutic essential oils, incense, and reading materials. A few of these retailers include Wonderworks, The Rock Store, Gifts from the Earth, and House of Energy — all of which offer many opportunities to expand and explore conceptions of spirituality, for the curious mind or complete skeptic.

Alternative spirituality remains a fascinating avenue of enquiry clawing back to the lively discourses of philosophy and metaphysics on the subject of spirit. So who could then reasonably expect a clear answer on the benefits of alternative spiritualism? Perhaps the only answer available is first-hand experience. *Name changed at person’s request.

Arts&Culture

VAR.ST/ARTS

9 MARCH 2015

arts@thevarsity.ca

Put it in print Exploring letterpress typography on campus and in the city Emily Katz and Joseph Ianni VARSITY STAFF

In a city as massive and concentrated as Toronto, people find themselves bombarded with typography at every turn. From the innumerable books students are expected to read for class to the billboards and advertisements that cover Yonge Street, typography is inescapable.

It’s no surprise, then, that many are interested in the process of letterpress. There are numerous presses spanning the city that offer a variety of services for education in the art of letterpress.

At Queen and Crawford, Graven Feather embodies the artistic world of modern letterpress. Since it opened four years ago, it has functioned as a gallery space, creative workshop, and storefront. They have artist residencies almost every month; the current exhibit

by Natalie Draz features large designs made from printed materials and pop-up books that feature scenes of Montreal and Toronto.

“One of the important things about our space is that it’s really accessible, and we have a lot of other people coming in, sharing equipment, sharing the space, sharing the walls,” says co-owner Pam Lobb. “I think it’s different from other print shops… when you’re looking at them, they might be more of a print business, but they don’t have this interactive piece. They might teach workshops, but maybe not where you can come in for a period of time and access the equipment. So I think that’s a bit of the different spin that we have.”

Graven Feather specializes in public engagement rather than production; they encourage people to take workshops and learn how to make their own letterpress work. They even have educational programming where they bring in students from high schools and universities to learn about the art form first hand. Lobb and co-owner Erin Candela often sell their personal work commercially, like a letterpress calendar they put out every year. Another project included input from a graphic designer and a chef to create holiday recipe cards. Their work is dynamic, much like the history of letterpress itself.

Lobb explained the transition of letterpress from function to form in the twentieth century. “In the '60s, ' 70s, [letter presses] became really obsolete, and you could get things really cheap for a while. But as it be-

came obsolete as a vocational skill, then artists started taking it and using it… it moved from a trade into a craft. And now it’s pretty much more of an artistic practice,” she says, continuing, “In that sense there’s a gap. The guy that we bought a lot of our stuff from, he’s 90, so he was doing it as a trade but then you have people coming in and using it for more creative purposes.”

Future goals for Graven Feather include expanding their collaborative efforts. This mode of work comes partially from necessity —their letterpresses are smaller, older models, that lend themselves to handcrafted projects — but is also the nature of the space that they’ve created, in which designers, photographers, and writers all utilize the studio.

If you’re intrigued by the world of Graven Feather and want to learn more, there are plenty of opportunities to do so on the U of T campus.

Located a block away from Robarts Library is Coach House Books, which continues to press some of Canada’s most exciting writers.

The team is always looking to show students the latest in the literary community and the history of Toronto letter pressing.

On the opposite side of campus is the Kelly Library Print Room at St. Michael’s College.

A part of the college’s book and media studies program, the Print Room works closely with students to produce cards and stationary to keep the history of letterpress alive.

The program boasts six working presses that range from over 60 to 100 years old, and they even display some other machines as feature pieces on the first and second floors of the library.

Smack between these two locations is another press, found at Massey College, where the book history and print culture collaborative program is housed. The program looks to preserve and pass on the skills of letterpress and provides sanctuary to a collection of nineteenth century hand presses. Students enrolled in the program are required to demonstrate to classes how the presses work.

The appeal of creating handmade letterpress is easy to see. Candela relates it to broader consumer and artistic trends, explaining, “It’s an overall trend that’s appreciating a physicality, and also that’s bringing craft into contemporary art, and a higher value and appreciation of goods. Just the way vinyl is coming back, and embroidery, and paper installations. Physical qualities are making their way back into art and luxury goods.”

Letterpreess has become more of a contemporary art form in recent years. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY

var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

17

One student’s trash...

“U of T Free & For Sale” offers a network for students looking to buy and exchange goods India McAllister VARSITY STAFF

If you type “U of T Free and For Sale” into Google, you won’t find what you’re looking for. That’s because it’s an exclusive community — available to roughly 7,700 University of Toronto students. The group boasts a wide array of items from iPods to Metropasses and, since this is U of T, several sets of MCAT review books.

The current administrator of the group is Samuel Huang, a third year economics and statistics student at UTM. Huang saw potential in a smaller Facebook group which he took over: “At the beginning the group was just called "University of Toronto Social Group,” he explains. “I saw a lot of spam in the group and at the same time, a lot of students are posting stuff they want to buy and sell. I realized the admin wasn't doing anything regarding keeping the group clean and useful, so I asked the person to make me admin and let me manage the group. During that time, the group was around 1,000 to 1,500 members.”

Since then, with the help of assistant admin Priscilla Suen, Samuel has been keeping a tight rein on the group. “The group is within University of Toronto, so only students with a valid UTOR email can join,” he says, adding, “Whenever someone [posts] inappropriate contents, hate speech, or spam, I just remove it, and sometimes ban the person too. This is how I keep the group clean and safe.”

Kanuga*, a first year life sciences student, had to deal with some mild “trolling” when she posted her prom dress up for sale on the group: “The weirdest part? I didn't put up a price on the post, and some random guy wrote "$140 OR OBO" and I was like... who are you? It wasn’t his dress to sell.” Bonnie Dalaroy, another member of the group, says she has “personally never gotten any negative responses” but has “seen some pretty nasty comments pointing out an overpriced item.”

While the group is closed, there is still nervousness between buyers and sellers.

Sarah Luttrell, a member of the group who has bought and sold many items, mentioned a couple of her own “red flags.” “When someone is like ‘I have ten unlocked iPhones on sale,' that raises some eyebrows,” she says.

Amina Collaku is one of those people having posted several iPhones, although hers are “locked” to Rogers. She claims that she posted the phones on behalf of a guy off of Kijiji, whose company “switched from Rogers to Telus,” and asked her to help him sell the phones. When asked if she is making a profit off the phones Collaku said, “I doubt I’ll get anything, but I don’t mind, I was just happy with his service and knew others would appreciate it as well.”

Another so-called “red flag,” Luttrell, pointed out was, “the concept of putting used makeup online,” which concerned her for hygienic reasons.

However, third-year student Peili Li says that putting her “gently used makeup” online is just another way to stay within budget. “My monthly budget for beauty products is around $200, and some high end brand is pretty [expensive] for a student so I decided to sell the products that don't fit my skin,” she explains.

BRITTANY GEROW/THE VARSITY

Dinah Soar Is there a reason why you are selling it? (just wondering cause usually people sell it if something is wrong or if they got a new one) I'm also asking cause i might be interested and i don't want to buy then find out something is wrong or it breaks in a month 16 hrs · Like Mabel Sirup I don't find myself using the tablet very much. There's nothing wrong with it. I just prefer to write notes on my laptop 16 hrs · Like JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY

Li has her own tips for assuring you enter into a good deal. She says go with your gut: “It may sound strange but behind the computer screen… through the [Personal Message] conversation, you can tell if the person is well-mannered.”

One of the more adorable, though undoubtedly strange, offerings to be found on the group were a couple of abandoned cats, as posted by Bonnie Dalaroy, a third-year Rotman Commerce student. Dalaroy was offered a lot of support and pet care tips through the group. “I find that really heartwarming, which is why I decided to post in Free and For Sale

first instead of sending the cats to a shelter directly,” says Dalaroy, adding, “There are people out there who really care!” Currently the cats are living in Dalaroy’s uncle’s garage waiting to find, as described in her original post, “a forever home.” Dalaroy may take them to the Toronto Cat Rescue, some advice she got from a member of the Free and For Sale group, if the cats are not claimed soon.

Collaku echoed what many others had to say about the group: “Many students are tight on money so it's great to help each other out... I've had great experiences with the page and look forward

to using it consistently!”

Not everyone has had as much success. Kanuba, who tried to sell her prom dress over the group, had some difficulties, for example. “One girl was very interested in the dress, but I labeled it as "Zuhair Murad" because that's who I thought the designer was...

Anyways she did her research and told me it was Monique [Lhuillier] and changed her mind... Which is, well, awkward," she says, continuing, "Did you like the dress or did you like the designer? Ah well.” *Name changed at student's request

Five items you can find on U of T Free and For Sale right now: û

A Louis Vuitton wallet

û

Men’s “Worn Once out of Shop” Cole Haan oxfords

û

Guitar with tuner

û

“White Bunny” sneakers

û

The Portable Procrastinator Doodle Pad

18

Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

Dog day afternoon Everything you ever wanted to know about campus street meat

Campus is full of different types of student-friendly street meat. PHOTOS BY MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY

Jacob Lorinc and Daniel Konikoff ASSOCIATE ARTS AND CULTURE EDITORS

This piece is dedicated to the former hot dog stand in front of Robarts. You will forever be in our hearts (and stomachs).

Hot dogs are to students what gasoline is to cars; they provide energy and sustenance to keep you going throughout the day, but,

like fossil fuels, you may want to think twice before putting them in your mouth.

In keeping with this perhaps misguided automobile analogy, we spent Friday afternoon motoring our way down St. George Street, parking ourselves at each hot dog stand that crossed our path. Our goal? To partake in and review the St. George campus’ vast array of franks.

We began by laying out the ground rules for our carnivorous quest. We would, at the first stand, ingest our own respective ‘furters, bedecking them with all the fixings we could conceivably fit on the bun. As the journey progressed, we would — in order to prevent our bellies from blowing — split each subsequent dog, ripping it down the middle King Solomon-style (shout out to applicable Biblical humour).

FIRST STOP We met our first hot dog with heart and determination — our stomachs were empty, and we were prepared to fill ourselves with meaty goodness. Located at the corner of Bloor and St. George, we both ordered an all-beef dog from Noori, the stand’s amiable owner, and waited a meager two minutes for the food to be ready.

Conveniently, this was Noori’s first day on the job in this particular location, which meant he had been taking extra care to impress the customers.

The end result was a finely cooked, succulent dog, piled with an infinite array of toppings, that thoroughly fulfilled our abdominal desires.

RANKING:

SECOND STOP Next, we made our way towards the stand in front of Sid Smith. Arriving at our second destination, we were met by Sani, the stand’s owner. We ordered another all-beef hot dog — this time with the intention of splitting it — and noticed another hot dog stand just down the road, located uncomfortably close to its competitor. Sani, however, seemed unfazed, and served us our alarmingly long frankfurter within minutes of ordering. Unfortunately, this hot dog was a tad overcooked, and the all-too-familiar black crust had begun festering at the top. We shoveled it down and made our way to the next stop, a little green around the edges.

RANKING:

THIRD STOP A stone’s throw away from our previous stop, this stand — curiously labeled “Mama’s Best,” despite the startling absence of a maternal presence — offered us the best dog of the day. Opting to change things up, we decided to gorge on a jumbo chicken dog, leaving our beefy roots well behind us. Stefan, the

cart’s operator boasting eight years of hot dog stand experience, was bubbly and kind, and cooked up a hearty, delicious dog with a perfectly toasted bun.

He even answered a question that had been nagging us since we embarked on our journey: where does the stand go at night? “I keep it in my garage,” he explained, with a mysterious glint in his eye. We left the stand full, but somewhat skeptical of this response: we’re on to you, Stefan.

RANKING:

FOURTH STOP Our guts nearing maximum capacity, we opted to cap off the day with a deviation in form: a trip to the blue ruck outside of McLennan Physical Laboratories. We had had all that we could stand with stands.

It instantly dawned on us that trucks are a lot less intimate than stands. Stefan had managed to create a rewarding customer experience simply by engaging us in pleasant conversation. But after taking our order at Blue Truck, the operator disappeared behind a veil of deep-fryers and stacked beverages. The pig-inthe-blanket we were given lacked soul and care; the pig tasted undercooked and sour, and the blanket started to crumble and flake as soon as it entered our hands. The bitter taste of a lacklustre hot dog in our mouths marked a glum end to an otherwise fulfilling (emphasis on the filling) day.

RANKING:

IN CONCLUSION While we would not suggest this Homeric quest to anyone who values their arteries, we do recommend the occasional campus dog. Hopefully you will consult this guide on your next trip to the hot dog stand, so that all of this gastrointestinal chaos hasn’t been in vain.

For further questions, please call Toronto General Hospital.

var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

What defines a positive relationship?

In light of growing discussions around consent, sexual violence policy, and education about healthy relationships, The Varsi! talked to students and administrators this week about how they would define a positive and healthy relationship Article by Aneta Perehinets

Photos by Mallika Makkar

“Respectfulness and showing one another that you matter.”

“Probably trust — otherwise it’s not a very healthy relationship. Also a positive attitude toward each other, supporting one another and being encouraging.”

— Daniel

first-year student

“You are in a good relationship when you and your partner are willing to go out of your way to help [each] other succeed. Love and being in love can be shown in different ways. Facilitating their success and their life's goals is one of them.”

— Mary Anne

third-year political science and international relations student “I’ve heard love described as two people running towards each other in a field of flowers. For me, however, I think it’s more like two people running hand in hand in the same direction. In the first picture, the relationship and the partner are the focus, but in the second, the relationship is helping both people to advance towards their goals and grow together.”

— Khrystyna

third-year equity and women and gender studies student

“Friendship, and no pressure to be anyone but yourself.”

— Julien

— Dr. Scott Rayter

second-year student

fourth-year geography student “Being able to support each other through different life stages [and] transitions.”

— Andre

third-year Rotman Commerce student “I’d say communication, when you can do it effectively — the more comfortable you are to express your concerns, the healthier your relationship will be.”

— Vincent

second-year philosophy and political science student

second-year equity studies student

“A positive relationship is one where you can be free to explore all physical and emotional desires comfortably. It’s important to trust one another and keep an open line of communication, meaning not being afraid to tell your partner if something is lacking for you in the relationship. It’s also important to consciously want to make the other person feel happy and loved.”

“Maybe I'll turn things around and talk about healthy sexual relationships instead, and quote Gayle Rubin, who said it best, in "Thinking Sex”: ‘A democratic morality should judge sexual acts by the way partners treat one another, the level of mutual consideration, the presence or absence of coercion, and quantity and quality of the pleasures they provide. Whether sex acts are gay or straight, coupled or in groups, naked or in underwear, commercial or free, with or without video, should not be ethical concerns.’”

— Linh

— Lauren

— Ivan

“In a healthy relationship, you give positive and encouraging feedback to one another. Students are usually in their twenties, and a positive relationship can only help us grow at this time.”

second-year engineering student

“What comes to mind is understanding and support.”

associate director of Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies “A healthy relationship is one that involves open, honest communication between all people involved and that all parties are aware of and respect the boundaries and wishes of their partners.”

— Rae Costin

public relations coordinator, U of T Sexual Education Centre

— Rowan

second-year Book & Media Studies student

19

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

20 Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

arts@thevarsity.ca

No accompaniment required Acappellooza brings U of T choirs together in harmony Teodora Pasca

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

“[T]he most fascinating thing to a scientist is a mystery,” says Percy Fulford, an engineering student at the University of Toronto. “[M]usic, you can break it down to frequencies and vocal chords and everything like that, but [there’s] no explaining why it has any effect on emotions and why it’s so ingrained into human [society].”

Fulford is a member of New Resonance, a choir made up of New College students, residents, and alumni. It is one of four a cappella groups at U of T. On March 1, 2015, New Resonance, the Varsity Jews, TBA (Tunes. Beats. Awesome), and Onoscatopoeia (the Hart House Jazz Choir) got together to perform at the tenth annual Acappellooza, a showcase dedicated to celebrating the genre.

The choirs are very different, but they do have one thing in common: they’re strong communities that love to sing, with no accompaniment required. “[W]e all come from very different backgrounds, we all come from different areas of study, and we’re all very different people and individuals,” says Nick Kotoulas, member of tba. "[M]usic is kind of that glue that sticks us all together.”

Acappellooza is a charity concert: this year, proceeds were donated to unity, a not-for-profit that organizes school and community programs to support youth empowerment. With programs from art to dance to, of course, music, unity promotes diversity in Toronto communities.

Rena Ashton is musical director of the Varsity Jews, a U of T group that sings both traditional Yiddish songs and pop music

U of T is home to four distinct acappella groups.COURTESY OF ILYA MOTAMEDI

“with a Jewish twist.”

“I was really amazed to find the diversity of ability and the diversity of talent in the Varsity Jews,” she says. “[I]t’s really amazing to get to see people who come from totally different backgrounds [who] just love singing and want to do it.”

The concert had a dynamic and engaging program. The groups were given a chance to showcase their strengths by performing three songs from their repertoire. Memorable acts included the Varsity Jews’ “Jews Do It That Way” (a play on the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way”), New Resonance’s beautiful rendition of “Moon River”, and Onoscatopoeia’s take on the Bellas Final, the closing number from Pitch Perfect.

The choirs all featured a variety of soloists, demonstrating the incredible individual talent on campus. Lucinda Qu and Nick Kotoulas perfectly complemented the choir in tba’s original mash-up, “JeaLatch” (a Chromeo and Disclosure ft. Sam Smith mix), while Emma Lawrence and Chara Tan delivered powerful performances in New Resonance’s rendition of Fergie’s “Clumsy.”

A phenomenal guest performance from Yonge Guns Quartet — a successful barbershop group of singers from multiple universities, including U of T, tied all the pieces of the event together.

“Everyone who’s in Varsity Jews… sings all the time,” says Mira Kates Rose, who has been a member of the group for ten years. “In the

grocery store, in the shower, in the bathroom…

It’s almost the bigger question of when do I not sing, why do I not sing. It’s first nature.”

Yet many members of acappella ensembles are primarily university students: for them, singing is just a part-time gig. Most are not professionally studying music, but come from a variety of different departments, at all levels of study. It is the dedication of the singers, as well as a shared passion for song, that ultimately bands the choirs together.

“I think music is an outlet,” says Jeff McGee, musical director for Onoscatopoeia. “It gives people a way to feel. It gives people a way to express themselves, and to kind of communicate in a way that they may not be able to with their [normal] speech.” “[Music is] something that anybody can understand,” says Rob Sniderman, member of Onoscatopoeia. “Even if the text or the lyrics or whatever are in a certain language, everybody can comprehend the idea of a beat, or a rhythm, or a melody… [It’s] something that everybody’s able to participate in.”

There is immense potential for music at the university level. As a universal language, it has succeeded in bridging the gap between students of all backgrounds. At U of T, a sense of belonging can be difficult to find and foster.

But by bringing singers together, a cappella has successfully overcome the obstacles of a large-scale institution to form something invaluable: community.

“There are things that keep you up through [even the] hardest and most stressful times,” says Eugenia Barkova, manager of New Resonance, “and I feel music is definitely the one.”

“Music is that kind of thing that just changes who you are and you have no idea where it’ll take you,” says Dominic Ebona, co-director of tba. “[Y]ou just know that it’s gonna be a good place.”

Theatre Reviews

Company

VCDS's Company ends their season on a high note

Katie of Heilbronn: An Obsession A successful merging of contemporary and classical theatre

The cast of Company sings their hearts out. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY

Alexander Fernandez VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

This week the Victoria College Drama Society (vcds) put on their very own adaption of the Sondheim Broadway musical Company, their final production of the year. Director Kevin Wong did an excellent job of leading the performers to great performances; at just over two and a half hours, the play flies by in a rush of great entertainment.

The musical centers around Bobby, a bachelor living in New York with a commitment problem and a group of comical best friends who all adore him. These friends, all in relationships, are throwing him a surprise thirty-fifth birthday party. When he arrives, they immediately begin to sing his praises. The rest of the musical centers around his visits to all of their homes where he witnesses marital troubles, a bride with cold feet,

a closeted gay friend and his wife who are more than excited about their ensuing divorce. Bobby also goes on dates with his three girlfriends, all of whom have their own quirks and colourful personalities, and none of which he is able to commit to. Throughout his travels, Bobby discovers the importance of love and commitment through the help of his friends and, by the end of they play, his mindset towards it changes.

The musical ends where it began — at Bobby’s birthday party.

The timing of the musical feels brisk because of its entertaining songs and sequences, all carried out by a very talented cast. Bobby, played

by Korin Thomas-Smith, was an especially notable performance, as were Maddy Foley as Amy, Dan Newton as Paul, and Jaymie Sampa as Joanne. Beautiful singing voices and great comedic timing were the driving force behind an exceptionally entertaining adaption.

A twist on a classic. COURTESY OF JANE SMYTH

Lola Borissenko

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Director Banuta Rubess’ Katie of Heilbronn: An Obsession is an exuberant collision of colorful projections, extravagant costumes, and, most importantly, a cast of highly dedicated actors

put on by The Centre for Drama Theatre and Performance Studies.

Indeed, the actors' energetic performances drove this play, making the two hours pass by in a flash. The entire show was a modern adaptation of a Romantic German play, Ordeal

by Fire by Heinrich von Kleist (1808). Yet, it was modernized only in regards to contemporary clothing and colorful tech; the script and overall message were preserved throughout the performance. It was very entertaining to watch a dynamic play which combined classical rhetoric and contemporary design to tackle universal themes of love and obsession.

The main performance took place on the second floor of the Helena Gardner Playhouse.

While the crew effectively managed the action on stage, the space itself did not fully flatter the show. A larger performance area would have benefited the actors, since they often seemed too crowded as the play neared its climax.

Despite this minor inconvenience, the actors gave outstanding performances; particularly noticeable was Kunigunde’s performance, as the young actress effectively explored the manipulative nature of her character. The smokelike images in the colorful projections complemented all of the actors’ performances, making Katie Heilbronn: An Obsession an extremely worthwhile theatrical endevour.

Science

VAR.ST/SCIENCE 9 MARCH 2015

science@thevarsity.ca

Safest method of medical abortion unavailable to Canadian consumers Despite support from researchers, government delays approval of mifepristone

The role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) biogenesis in inflammatory and fibrotic lung disease This seminar will be delivered by Dr. Kjetil Ask, assistant professor at the Department of Medicine at McMaster University Monday, March 9 11:30 am–12:30 pm Fitzgerald Building, room 237 Free; no registration necessary

Life, Death, and Differentiation in Yeast Organized by the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at U of T, this lecture features Dr. Marc Meneghini, associate professor at the U of T Department of Molecular Genetics Monday, March 9 4:00 pm–5:00 pm Medical Sciences Building, room 2172 Free; no registration necessary

Daniels Faculty B.E.S.T. Lecture Part of the Building Ecology, Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) lecture series, this talk features Daniel Pearl, associate professor at the Université de Montréal Thursday, March 12 6:30 pm–8:00 pm John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design Free; no registration necessary TINA YE/THE VARSITY

Malone Mullin VARSITY STAFF

Women in over 50 countries worldwide have access to safe, private, and effective abortions that do not require surgery. Canadian women, however, aren’t among them.

Mifepristone, an abortion medication that can terminate pregnancies up to nine weeks in, has been called the “gold standard” of abortion drugs by the World Health Organization (who). Mifepristone has been under review for approval by Health Canada for over two years. The decision was further delayed in January due to concerns about the drug’s safety.

However, some U of T researchers question Health Canada’s reasons for the delay, pointing to the large body of data suggesting that mifepristone, also called RU-486, is safe and provides many benefits for patients. “[M]y opinion is that this is mainly a political problem,” says Dr. Donna E. Stewart, U of T professor and inaugural chair of Women’s Health at the University Health Network, in an email to The Varsity.

“RU-486 has been approved years ago over the objections of anti-choice lobbying by most developed coun-

tries. Health Canada, the regulator, should be politically independent, but in my opinion and [that of] many others, is not,” says Stewart.

Mifepristone has been available in China and France since 1988. It has been legally available in most Western countries, including the United States, since 2000. Canada is one of the last remaining developed countries to not accept the pharmaceutical.

In an emailed statement to The Varsity, a Health Canada spokesperson states that the agency could not comment on specific decision timelines for drugs under evaluation, but indicated that all cases are subject to “detailed scientific review” prior to approval. CBC News reported that Health Canada submitted a request for more information about mifepristone from the manufacturer, thereby putting off the decision until the fall.

However, Stewart believes such caution is unnecessary, asserting that the safety of mifepristone “is not an issue.”

“RU-486 is not only safer than going into hospital for a surgical abortion but also provides much more privacy as the woman can take it at home,” Stewart says.

Mifepristone, an antiprogestin, works by blocking progesterone,

causing a thinning of the endometrial lining and softening the cervix.

This makes the uterus more susceptible to prostaglandin, administered one to two days after mifepristone.

Prostaglandin, a lipid that acts like a localized hormone, helps to induce an expulsion of the pregnancy tissue similar to a natural miscarriage. This process does not require hospitalization and takes place over a few days, primarily in the patient’s home.

Dr. Sheila Dunn, one of U of T’s leading proponents of mifepristone, noted in a 2014 report that only 0.4 per cent of patients experience serious complications after using mifepristone. The drug effectively terminates pregnancy 97 per cent of the time.

Canadians currently have limited access to the abortion drug methotrexate, the use of which is not recommended by the WHO. Methotrexate, a teratogen and cytotoxin, puts the fetus at risk of mutation should the termination fail. It acts by halting the division of embryonic cells, a method with a lower success ratio than mifepristone.

Dunn notes that the administration of methotrexate is more labour-intensive than mifepristone, requiring multiple injections and follow-up appoint-

ments over a period of weeks, which makes its use unfeasible for rural settings. In a 1996 study, U of T professor Dr. Lorraine Ferris wrote that the nature of this method “precludes [its] adoption… as an alternative to surgical abortion in geographic areas where surgical abortions are not available and where making a return visit would be difficult for the patient.”

Some researchers see denying access to mifepristone as a right-tohealth violation in part due to this reason. One 2008 report suggests that the failure to provide access to mifepristone entails a failure to deliver acceptable reproductive healthcare, a service to which women are entitled under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Dunn calls this failure “a form of discrimination.”

The report suggests a systemic bias in Canada against contraceptive and abortifacient pharmaceuticals. It also argues that abortions serve mental health needs.

Stewart questioned the courage of Canadian politicians in dealing with the issue of access to safe medical abortion.

“As this is an election year you can expect more stalling,” Stewart says.

Planetarium Show: The Search for Life in the Universe Attend the planetarium show to learn about habitable exoplanets like Kepler and where scientists are looking for life Thursday, March 12 Three shows at 7:00 pm, 8:00 pm, and 9:00 pm Planetarium Astronomy and Astrophysics Building Tickets $5; at the door

NeuCon ʼ15: At the Intersection of Research, Technology, & Business Organized by NeuStep, this conference explores topics surrounding neuroscience and general life sciences, aiming to bring together students, researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs with an interest in emerging technologies Saturday, March 14 9:00 am–5:00 pm Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning Tickets $7.50; available on Eventbrite

22 Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

VARSITY SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Possible cure for HPV–positive throat cancer patients Study: Clinical trials show improved survival rates in cases of severe metastasis Aditya Chawla VARSITY STAFF

WINSTON LI/THE VARSITY

Human papilloma virus (hpv) causes a type of throat cancer (oropharyngeal cancer) that has an extensive history of fatality in patients, but U of T researchers may have finally found a cure for this disease. This remarkable development was accomplished by Sophie Huang, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Princess Margaret Centre.

The demographic that oropharyngeal cancer affects has changed in the past few decades. The disease affects older individuals with a history of high smoking and alcohol consumption. However, due to the rise in hpv mainly as a sexually transmitted disease, there has been a 60 per cent increase in oropharyngeal cancer in younger individuals.

Until recently, oropharyngeal cancer was thought to be incurable, with no other option than disease maintenance and palliative care.

Huang’s research, however, has remarkably shown that individuals with oropharyngeal cancer due to hpv can be cured even after the tumor has metastasized, meaning that it has spread to many other parts of the body.

Among oropharyngeal cancer patients, there is a significant difference in those whose condition is caused by hpv and those who do not have the virus. Individuals with the hpv-positive form of the cancer had the more severe form of metastasis, with an increased spread of the tumor, when compared with hpv-negative patients. When these patients were treated with surgical removal and radiation, over 25 per cent

of the patients survived after three years. This is a huge improvement on the nearly zero per cent survival rate at present.

Huang attributes the success of the treatment to a number of factors. Firstly, hpv-positive cancers are more sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Also, hpv-positive patients are usually younger and have fewer health complications such as smoking related illnesses, that the older hpv-negative patients usually suffer from. The lack of these illnesses allows for them to receive a more aggressive form of treatment.

“This research greatly improves what we know about the role and the importance of hpv in oropharyngeal cancers, and gives hope in improving the diagnosis and treatment to those who are affected by the condition,” Huang says.

For future studies, Huang aims to understand why patients have one form of metastasis over another. Also, she hopes to identify predictive factors to help physicians identify an increased risk factor of oropharyngeal cancer in order to better treat patients. Huang also hopes to revisit current strategies for treatment for those already affected by this cancer and to optimize them further.

As of today, oropharyngeal cancer is the sixth most common form of cancer worldwide, but awareness of it is surprisingly low. Therefore, there are currently limited options for treatment of this disease. Huang and her team hope that this study will encourage physicians to treat hpv-positive cancer cases sooner and more extensively. This study adds substantially to understanding the role of hpv in human disease, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of individuals affected by the disease.

Survival of the biggest Study: decreased risk of frog species extinction when females are larger than males Anastassia Pogoutse VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Sexual dimorphism, which is most obvious when it comes to colourful male birds and their bland-coloured female mates, may be a matter of life and death for the many species of frogs and other amphibians currently under threat of extinction.

Research from the lab of Dr. Locke Rowe from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (eeb) Department at U of T suggests that in amphibian species, the larger the female is compared to the male, the less likely that species is to be endangered.

Sexual dimorphism refers to the physical differences between males and females within a species, and can include differences in body size, morphology, and behaviour. Some of its most extreme manifestations are found in birds with long colourful feathers, such as the peacock, but it can also take the form of differences in body size between males and females.

The patterns of sexual size dimorphism seen in amphibians are not as well understood as they are in reptiles, mammals, and birds, yet they may have important consequences.

“Most of the past studies that have looked at diversification and dimorphism have looked at it just in terms of sexual selection,” says PhD candidate Stephen De Lisle, lead author of the study.

Sexual selection acts on an organism’s ability to obtain mates. However, factors that directly affect survival can also lead to sexual

dimorphism. In the case of amphibian species, a third of which are under threat of extinction due to stressors such as habitat destruction, pollution, and disease. Studying factors such as these are key to conservation efforts.

De Lisle had collected his data set on amphibian size for another purpose, but decided to test whether it correlated with extinction rates. He found that for species in which the female was larger than the male, differences in body size correlated both, with greater species diversification, and lower risk of extinction. Diversification is important in allowing animals to adapt to new and changing environments.

His findings, published in February in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, address a major debate in his field. On the one hand, sexually dimorphic species are thought to use more resources in their environments, which in turn limits the creation of new species and diversification. On the other hand, the process of sexual selection has been thought to result in specializations that drive the creation of distinct species.

“The classical ecological explanation assumes that adaptation is the same for the sexes… but we kind of know that’s not the case,” says De Lisle. He instead proposes a model in which males and females independently evolve different traits suited for their particular needs, thereby promoting diversification.

It is too soon to say whether sexual size dimorphism will be taken into account to assess whether a species is under risk of ex-

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY

tinction. “There’s more work to be done… but I think that it’s a pretty surprising result,” says De Lisle, pointing out that dimorphism seems to be as important as latitude

for predicting extinction. “We have a general explanation for that, but I think that getting more of the underpinnings would be an interesting next step.”

var.st/science

VARSITY SCIENCE

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

23

Would you like bugs with that?

New U of T club promotes consumption of insects

JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY

Lucy Genua VARSITY STAFF

The persuasive power of free food was evident as students lined up to sample cricket confections at EcoFest last Wednesday.

“It’s surprisingly, surprisingly good. Like you really can’t taste the difference,” said life sciences student Andrew Hart in between bites of a cricket flour brownie.

Cricket flour cookies and crackers topped with cricket hummus and roasted mealworms were also available courtesy of Bug Bites, a

Male black widow spiders can sense hunger of females Study: fear of cannibalism drives mate selection for male black widow spiders Adrian-Michael Lorenzana VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A new study conducted by University of Toronto PhD candidate Luciana Baruffaldi and University of Toronto Scarborough professor Dr. Maydianne Andrade describes the mechanism behind the male black widow spider’s mate selection preference.

From an evolutionary standpoint between male and female species, females have been portrayed to be the pickier sex; males across species must often perform mating rituals and engage in competition against other males through a variety of activities, such as producing the most colourful display, creating the loudest calls, or aggressive altercations.

These are all performed in order to impress the female and win her as a mate. In the case of black widow spiders, however, while it is true that males must invest in courtship rituals to attract their female counterpart, they are also picky when they decide which female is worth the investment in terms of performing their courtship displays.

According to Buruffaldi, the males are able to detect pheromones released by females in the silk they produce, and can ultimately determine how well-fed the female is through those chemical cues alone. From a survival and reproduction standpoint, the male black widow spiders are known to typically prefer mates who are well-fed, as this is a physical manifestation of their fertility.

“We knew that males would react in some

way to the pheromones, but we didn’t know exactly what information they were using,” says Buruffaldi, adding, “it was really important to show that these chemical cues alone on a filter paper were enough for the males to tell a difference.”

Baruffaldi and Andrade wanted to determine the reason why the male black widow spiders were specifically seeking well-fed partners. They wanted to address the following specific issues — the isolated effect of pheromones on the male black widow’s mate choice, the desire to mate with a fertile female so as to ensure reproductive success, and the need to avoid mating with a hungry and cannibalistic female (it being an established finding that black widow females are cannibalistic in nature).

The researchers conducted comparative studies on two species of black widow male and female spiders, and their findings strongly suggested that males choose mates out of the need to avoid the situation of mating with hungry cannibalistic females, rather than waiting to ensure reproductive success with a well-fed female.

Baruffaldi and Andrade’s findings took into consideration previous research, which established that one of the species naturally did not avoid mating with cannibalistic females, while the other was keen to avoid them.

With respect to the comparative study of these two species, Baruffaldi says, “Males want to find a female, but some want to successfully mate with that female. One species will avoid the hungry females, the other does not.”

brand new U of T club promoting entomophagy — the practice of eating insects.

Bug Bites encourages students to eat insects “because they’re very environmentally friendly,” says co-founder Daniel Jubas-Malz, a psychology student.

Compared to traditional livestock, insect rearing has a smaller ecological footprint — it emits fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia, and it requires less land clearing and less water. Insects also reproduce much faster.

Pharmacy student Monika Stalmach cited environmental concerns as her primary motivation for considering entomophagy. She referred to a 2013 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which says that crickets are 12 times more efficient than cattle at converting feed into protein.

Insects may become an important food source in the future, says Jubas-Malz. The human population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050, and “we need enough food to feed everyone, so we really need to start expanding what we’re comfortable eating,” he says.

Insect consumption is not commonplace in Western society, but Bug Bites seeks to overcome the taboos associated with entomophagy.

The organization is an extension of an environmental psychology course project investigating the barriers to launching a successful environmental campaign.

They identified the “disgust factor” as the biggest obstacle for entomophagy.

Westerners may have an aversion to eating insects, but at least two billion people around the world include insects in their diet.

Bug Bites cites the current popularity of sushi as proof that food culture in North America can change and expand. It was not until the 1970s that raw fish began to transition from taboo into the widely enjoyed delicacy that it is in Toronto today.

For many people, environmental concerns won’t be enough to overcome the disgust factor.

The nutritional benefits of eating insects provide additional incentive to adopt entomophagy.

Insects are a great source of protein, calcium, iron, and zinc. “[I]t would definitely be much harder to actually support [entomophagy] if there wasn’t the health benefits, so that’s a huge part of our campaign,” explains Jubas-Malz.

The second largest obstacle for entomophagy is the accessibility factor, says Jubas-Malz.

As much as he enjoyed his cricket brownie, Hart said accessibility is the greatest obstacle to incorporating insects in his diet. “It’s just kind of hard to find where you can buy bugs downtown,” agreed Stalmach.

Bug Bites gets its cricket flour from Next Millennium Farms, an insect farm in Ontario.

Entomophagy as a sustainable dietary practice is a growing movement in North America, and Bug Bites hopes that U of T students will take part — but first, they will have to stop squirming.

Bug us! Write for Science! science@thevarsity.ca

New

Post-Baccalaureate Diploma program in Economics

Do you have an undergrad degree and want to explore economics? Or do you want additional prep for grad studies in economics?

Carleton’s new Post-Baccalaureate Diploma Program is for you!

Information on the PBD is available on the website of Carleton University’s Department of Economics.

carleton.ca/economics

Undergraduate Recruitment Office liaison@carleton.ca admissions.carleton.ca

24 Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

VARSITY SCIENCE

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Health Journalism Symposium draws distinguished journalists

Reporters talk about the writing process and the role of health reporting in society Jasper Lim VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

On Friday, March 6, three prominent health journalists from Vox, The Globe and Mail, and The Healthy Debate discussed the current challenges in health reporting faced by both journalists and the wider public at the Health Journalism Symposium co-hosted by The Varsity and Juxtaposition Global Health Magazine at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

With an eager audience of more than 100 students, scientists and journalists, the Health Journalism Symposium was trending on Twitter as #healthjournalismTO within a matter of minutes.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at UTSC, moderated the panel and opened the discussion by highlighting the importance of the internet in today’s world specifically in terms of determining “what constitutes authoritative and reliable information.” Dvorkin also emphasized that the media often generates “moral panic” around the issues it reports, and that the role of a journalist is to enable the public to make better decisions by keeping them informed, while minimizing such panic. Recalling his experiences of interacting with his students, he noted that journalism is more than simply the craft of writing.

Each panellist was asked to briefly discuss their writing process. Julia Belluz, an awardwinning health reporter from Vox, explained that the use of multi-media can be embedded as early as in the idea-generating phase of the

reporting process. “Follow your curiosity,” she told the audience and then, “pick up the phone and meet a lot of people.” Belluz explained that talking to key stakeholders such as health practitioners can help avoid missing important stories.

Andre Picard, health reporter and columnist at the The Globe and Mail, concurred and added that the role of health journalism is to help the public understand the key context around current issues in health. Journalists should answer common questions that the public wants answered, like the high cost of certain drugs and why or why not patients should invest in them.

The panellists then examined how various vested groups, like the anti-vaccine movement seek to circumvent the mainstream media via the Internet. Picard said that this is “easy to do in the Internet age,” adding that these groups usually tend to speak to the demographic that already subscribe to the specific ideology in question “It does not seem to swing people,” Picard said.

Belluz gave a surprising — if not shocking — example of a popular children’s health book on Amazon, The Vaccine Book, that preaches the ‘harms’ of vaccinations, a view that has been widely disregarded in the scientific community.

In addition, the panellists discussed in great detail what was being missed in health journalism and what the public should be focusing its attention on. Dr. Jeremy Petch, managing editor of The Healthy Debate, highlighted that the heaviest users of the health system are people in poverty.

“The number one health issue is poverty,” he said. The two other panellists concurred

From left to right, top to bottom: The Health Journalism Symposium took place at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Audience members listen intently.

Andre Picard and Julia Belluz.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at UTSC, addressed the audience.

MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY

that the topic of social determinants of health remains the most important in understanding structural health problems in society at large.

Petch added that, according to research or the wording of the term, “social determinants of health” remains an unpopular concept in communities with conservative political views, and makes a broader discussion about health difficult. The panellists also agreed that Aboriginal

health is an issue that’s not covered enough, citing the difficulties and costs of reporting on Aboriginal issues.

Above all, the panellists agreed that the manner in which journalists frame issues is vital. Dvorkin summed up the discussion well, saying, “The challenge is: how do you make the interesting important and the important interesting?”

Sports

VAR.ST/SPORTS 9 MARCH 2015

sports@thevarsity.ca

Professional sports top figures visit U of T

The UTSB Sports Industry Conference took place Friday afternoon at Rotman School of Management

ALEXANDRA YAO/THE VARSITY

Zaigham Ali VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The University of Toronto Sports and Business Association’s (utsb) annual Sports Industry Conference took place on March 6, 2015 at the Rotman School of Management. The day was packed with speakers and panels of leaders of all sorts in the sports industry.

“This [can be] your first step into the industry.

Whether it’s networking, gaining very awesome insights, getting some sort of tips. Just networking with the people on your table might be another way to go,” said Ted Machizawa, current president of utsb.

David Kincaid, who serves as the Managing Partner & Founder for Level 5 Strategy Group moderated the opening panel, “Why Invest in Sports”. The panelists consisted of Justine Fedak, Head of Brand, Advertising & Sponsorship, bmo; Scott Moore, President, Sportsnet & nhl Properties at Rogers; and Ken Otto, President, Family, Dining & cdo, Cara Operations.

The first panel of the event dealt with the factors that drive large corporations to take note of sports of all sorts and how sponsorships are leveraged.

The second panel, “Same Script, Different Story” was moderated by copywriter and contributor for tsn Bar Down, Daniel Bruno. This

panel dealt with the dramatically changing technology and mediums that networks use to engage with their audiences within sports broadcasting and reporting industry.

Panelists included, Evanka Osmak, sports anchor, Sportsnet; James Mirtle, nhl writer, The Globe and Mail; Steve McAllister, managing editor, Yahoo Sports Magazine; and Scott Morrison, journalist, Sportsnet.

Arguably, the most anticipated panel of the conference, the third was “Big Data & How We View Sports”. The growth of sports analytics has recently been on a tear. Analytics has grown at different rates in the various sports.

Alex Burwasser, who is the Sports Analyst at Bloomberg Sports, moderated the panel.

The panel consisted of Jason Rosenfeld, Director of Basketball Analytics, nba; Kevin Abrams, Assistant General Manager, New York Giants; Neil Smith, sports analyst, Sportsnet, and Former General Manager, nhl.

Smith pointed out that in the near future of hockey analytics “we will be able to break down things in ways we have never seen before.”

The entire panel referred to Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball, as to where sports analytics really started to take on a wave. Within the next decade, as analytics advance a huge number of job openings will be available in all nba teams and also the nba front office, said Rosenfeld, who holds the first ever basketball analytics position at the nba head office.

A big challenge the sports industry faces is filtering out the noise versus useful information that teams can use when it comes to data.

Psychology is another aspect of analytics that is overlooked when everyone is focused on crunching numbers. Teams are looking for ways to test athletes to decide if a player is ready to play at the pro-level.

Susan Krashinsky moderated the final panel, “Disruptive Marketing in Sports”. Krashinsky is an Advertising & Marketing Reporter for The Globe And Mail. Panelists included Keith Degrace, Vice-President of Marketing, Red Bull Canada; Susan O’Brien, Vice-President of Strategic Marketing, Canadian Tire; Kevin Foley, founding parter, Project 10; and John McCauley, senior director of Marketing, mlse.

The final two speakers were Rob Elwood and John Bitove. Elwood is the host of the number one sports podcast on iTunes, “Who Are You: The Life Lessons of Sports.” Bitove served as the final keynote, and he is best known as founder of both the Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre.

Bitove discussed the growth of the game and culture of basketball in Canada when the Raptors arrived in 1995, as well as the expected growth in upcoming years.

“Team Canada will soon have its full roster of 12 players playing in the nba,” said Bitove, who founded the Raptors when he was just 33.

“When the Candian and American dollar are equal, then Montreal and Vancouver will have teams,” said Bitove when asked about future Canadian nba teams.

Avish Sood, Co-Founder of utsb, said that the conference has grown exponentially over the years. Sood is currently working with the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games in a sponsorship position.

“I [still] help out with organizing in terms of the strategy and in terms of getting the speakers,” says Sood.

“Through this conference, I learned to be a professional. I learned how to send emails properly, [and] deal with executives, VP’s, presidents,” says Sood.

Sood explains that there are many opportunities for students to get involved in utsb, especially first and second year students.

CAN coaches vs. USA coaches Why comparing CIS and NCAA coaches is like a comparison between apples and oranges Emma Kikulis VARSITY STAFF

There is a variety of factors that influence a team’s or individual athlete’s success; commitment, diligence, and a simple passion for the sport name a few.

However, specific personality traits and motivation can only take you and your team so far; without someone organizing practices, spearheading games, and creating the right plays, you’re not going to go far or win many medals.

This is where coaches come in.

Coaches in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (cis) and other Canadian university sport leagues are critical to a team’s success and, in order to reach such high levels of success, tackle an array of responsibilities outside of just creating plays and fine-tuning play.

University coaches need access to enough monetary, technical as well as personal support by fans and spectators, in order to facilitate the ideal environment, leading athletes and teams to the highest level of success.

However, all of these factors, which are bountiful in the National College Athletics Association (ncaa), are scarce in cis sports.

When it comes down to how to motivate, inspire, and guide athletes every coach has a differ-

ent style. For U of T’s fastpitch head coach Craig Sarson, the main difference between the style of American and Canadian coaches is mentality.

“In the States, I find people are more open to different concepts, and teaching methods,” explains Sarson.

“In Canada I find that coaches are trying to stay inside some Canadian style, to benefit all of Canada instead of the individual athletes,” he adds.

U of T’s assistant swimming coach Linda Kiefer concurs, and explains that an athlete in the US is viewed as an employee of the ncaa, as many of these athletes receive full scholarships from their school. Meanwhile in in Canada, education is the top priority.

“Really, if you swim in the states, swimming is basically number one. You are being paid to swim,” explains Kiefer, using intercollegiate swim teams as an example, which can often apply to all ncaa teams.

The monetary support ncaa teams receive as opposed to cis teams is also another factor which can influence the effectiveness of a coach.

“In the ncaa the coaches and sports programs are able to accomplish a lot due to their resources on the whole,” says Sarson, who is also quick to note that comparing Canadian and American sport funding models is comparing apples to oranges.

“With the different scholarship policies, and

ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

attendance figures for ncaa sports, the finances are not in the same ballpark, so it’s not fair to compare the two,” he concludes.

“Money makes a big difference,” highlights Kiefer, when referring to how great of an impact resources make in the success of a cis team.

“The biggest difference is in travel to meets; being able to hire specialists like strength trainers, nutritionists, biomechanists, therapists etc.

The more money you have the more resources you can pull in,” she adds.

Kiefer also makes the point that the budget

for the team, not necessarily the salary of an individual coach, can have a tremendous impact on the amount of medals and trophies won.

“We [Canadian coaches] are not doing this job for the money… we do it because we love the sport,” she explains.

“But if you have more money in the teams budget, you can afford to do more things with the team; you can travel more places, race different people, buy different products for athletes to use in training etc. … it just makes things a lot easier.”

VARSITY SPORTS

26 Vol. CXXXV, No. 20

sports@thevarsity.ca

Jill Stratton’s Varsity Blues career comes to a close Stratton enjoyed a successful final season on the Blues’ women’s basketball team Zaigham Ali VARSITY STAFF

Last week, Varsity Blues basketball star Jill Stratton was named to her third Ontario University Athletics (oua) first team all-star selection.

“Its an honour to be selected as an oua first team all-star. This year was a bit different than the previous years, as the all–star teams were selected from the entire oua as opposed to being separated into the East and West,” says Stratton.

The oua hosts 18 teams for women’s basketball. Having been recognized as one of the top players in the entire oua league is an outstanding accomplishment for Stratton, making her the only player in U of T’s history to be selected for the all–star game three times.

Earlier this season while facing the York University Lions, Stratton passed Alaine Hutton as the top leading scorer in U of T women’s basketball history, finishing her career with 1,245 points through 96 regular season games. Making this feat even more impressive is her ability to break this record while missing a significant part of her third season due to an injury.

Unexpectedly, the guard’s biggest strength is not putting points on the board. Despite being a guard, Stratton rebounds at a high level as well.

Stratton began playing in Etobicoke, Ontario. She attests the basketball program at her high school, Etobicoke C.I. to have prepared her for a stellar basketball career at U of T. During the time that she played for eci, the talent level in the gta was tremendously high. Despite the competition, Stratton was named mvp for three consecutive years. She was also named mvp on the cross-country and track and field teams.

“Being a long distance runner would prove to be useful in basketball, as I found myself playing a high number of minutes per game. It also taught me how to push myself until exhaustion,” says Stratton.

As a terrific all-around player, Stratton’s mentality on the court focuses on moving the ball around and making plays that are best for the team.

After her rookie season, the team lost many key players. At this point, it became important for Stratton to take up a leadership role on the team.

Despite being such a prolific and proven scorer, Stratton also leads the team this season with 54 steals and 59 assists. Meanwhile, her career high in points is 30. In the oua Stratton finished in third, seventh, and tenth place in rebounding, scoring, and assists, respectively.

“Scoring was never really my biggest strength or my number one priority so it came as a surprise to me that

Jill Stratton left, on the court. COURTESY OF MARTIN BAZYL

I was even close to becoming U of T’s all time scoring leader,” says Stratton.

“When I get on the court, I just try to make the play that is best for my team, whether it be passing or looking to score,” she says.

Stratton’s final game in a Varsity Blues jersey took place when the

Blues travelled to Windsor to take on the Lancers in oua quarter-final action. The Blues fell short in a 64–49 loss. Stratton’s final stat line included 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

As Stratton’s undergraduate career at U of T comes to an end, her

basketball career will not.

“Next year I am hoping to go play pro overseas. I’m not ready to give up basketball just yet so I’m hoping that works out,” says Stratton as she graduates with a kinesiology degree.

“I don’t really have a backup plan, so as of now that’s my goal,” says Stratton.

Explaining injuries: tendonitis The third installment of a three-part series

Work with us. thevarsity.ca/volunteer

TIMOTHY LAW/THE VARSITY

Kasi Sewraj VARSITY STAFF

Tendonitis, caused by a tendon’s inflammation, is common in an athlete’s ankle, elbow, and wrist.

Instead of a sudden movement which caused the last two injuries that we looked at, torn acls and sprained ankles, tendonitis is actually a repetitive strain injury (rsi). If you are putting the same area of your body under strain in a non-ergonomic way, rsi’s are very likely to occur.

The injury is common in middle-

aged adults, though the risk does increase greatly for athletes who repetitively train and use the same muscles.

The diagnosis of tendonitis is very often chronic if untreated initially, meaning that once tendonitis develops, it is rare that it will ever go away, and pain resulting from it could strike at any time.

Due to the fact that this is a repetitive injury, there are some prevention methods with which you can engage.

Taking care to rest and recuperate important, and antihistamines can be used to reduce swelling in the area.

If the problem becomes increasingly

worse, corticosteroid injections work quickly to reduce pain and inflammation. Physical therapy can also help to reduce the pain and improve overall strength of the area.

Linda Hudson, an active athlete at U of T, was diagnosed with chronic tendonitis.

“I basically applied ice, rested my arm and took a course of anti-inflammatory drugs. The worst part of the treatment is not being allowed to do anything because it further aggravates the tendinitis. I never know when it will strike and keep me from playing tennis or rowing, which I love to do,” says Hudson.

In extreme cases, tendon repair surgery may be performed, in which case a doctor sews torn pieces of tendons back together, or the tendon is replaced with a tendon graft.

This surgery is not always a desirable option due to the fact that the post surgery tendon will not function as efficiently as the original, but will reduce pain in the area. Healing can take up to 12 weeks while kept in a cast.

One way to avoid this kind of injury is to make sure to stretch properly, strengthen the muscles surrounding the at-risk area, and make sure to minimize any repetitive strain to your body.

VARSITY SPORTS

var.st/sports

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

27

Roster shakeup proves fruitful for Blues Fencers

La belle Hélène

by Jacques Offenbach Uri Mayer, conductor Joel Ivany, director

THE GLENN GOULD SCHOOL OPERA WED., MAR. 18, 2015 7:30PM FRI., MAR. 20, 2015 7:30PM KOERNER HALL Offenbach’s witty political and cultural satire finds the perfect heroine to poke fun at in this parody of the story of Helen of Troy’s elopement with Paris.

Team claims both performance and sportsmanship awards = Target area

Generously supported by Earlaine Collins

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KAWMADIE KARUNANAYAKE/THE VARSITY

Matthew Manhire VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The season is coming to a close for the Varsity Blues fencing team, and the team has a lot to be proud of.

Hard work and quick team building have contributed to major success for the team. These traits, complimented by new team members, create a positive outlook for everyone on the team.

Fencing is very much a competitive sport, challenging the agility, fitness, and tactics of competitors. The sport is one-on-one with a choice of three possible weapons: foil, epee, or sabre.

The mantle at U of T will be a be bit more crowded this year thanks to sabre champion William Kinney bringing back the Schwende-Tully trophy for the second consecutive year, and the George Tully trophy, proving his skill, style, and sportsmanship.

Shun Kong delivered some stand out performances this season including a gold medal at Canada’s Cup in the foil division, which did not go unnoticed by head coach Thomas Nguyen.

“I’m very happy to see his hard work translate into more and more

victories,” says Nguyen.

Team veteran Donna Vakalis was named Ontario University Athletics fencing all-star.

“The experience of our senior fencers showed in the results, and where several of our newer fencers delivered personal best performances,” said Nguyen.

Paul Godin, a team veteran, couldn’t agree more that the right people have really come together this past season to create a strong team.

“I would say that overall we had a good season, largely due to strong newcomers who replaced the graduating team members from last year.

Obviously, we still need some improvement if we hope to win the banner, but if we train hard I can see that becoming a reality next year,” says Godin.

With confidence brimming, skills developing, and the experienced coaching staff mentoring the team, we should see talented rookies like Linnea Sage bring even more hardware back to Blues headquarters.

“What we didn’t realize is how quickly our rookie athletes would grow into central competitive roles,” says team manager Fidelia Ho.

DIVERSIONS

28 MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015

editor@thevarsity.ca

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTIONS Varsity Publications Board of Directors Elections will take place on

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at voting.utoronto.ca The candidates are: Zaigham Ali Hussein Fawzy Alexander Marshall Joshua Oliver Alexandra Rusu

Details of the election can be found at var.st/boardelections2015 If you have any questions or concerns about the election, please email the returning officer, Kelly Rahardja, elections@thevarsity.ca

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