Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
23 March, 2015
The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
E K I S E R ST TINU N O C MORE STRIKE COVERAGE INSIDE
CUPE 3902 Unit 1 votes down tentative agreement
Last week on the picket lines — a timeline of the strike so far
Iris Robin ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
After three weeks of picketing, the strike has not yet concluded. cupe 3902 Unit 1, which represents some 6,000 teaching assistants (TAs), exam invigilators, and other academic staff, voted down an agreement early Monday morning. The vote count was reportedly 1,101 no to 992 yes, with 27 disallowed and 4 spoiled. Negotiations were held throughout the past week, with the university and the union reaching a tentative agreement on Wednesday, March 18. cupe 3902 then voted to send the tentative agreement for ratification on Friday, March 20. Unit 1 went on strike in the early hours of February 27, when the union did not approve a last-minute deal that the university proposed. Since that time, the union and the university declined to accept proposals put forward by the other side, before voting on the current ratified agreement. So far, academic activities have been disrupted with classes, labs, and tutorials can-
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Undergraduates walk out of classes in support of CUPE 3902 PG. 9
“Clean up your mess” OP-ED: ASSU president Abdullah Shihipar to U of T admin PG. 11
celled or post-poned. The Varsity received reports of classes that were held on picket lines and off campus. Courses that continue on campus struggle with the labour shortage, with some students running informal study sessions to make up for lost reading analysis, professors changing syllabi in the absence of tas to grade assignments, and instructors from other units filling in for the strikers so the students could obtain their credits. The strike has made waves that reached the undergraduate population. Some continue to wear pins and cupe 3902 hats to show support, and some students in campus leadership positions signed off on a letter to the unionized tas, encouraging them to vote against the agreement, but stating that they would respect any decision the membership made. The letter acknowledges the effect of the strike on undergraduates, and says that the disruption caused by the strike is testament to the “value and import of Unit 1 members to undergraduate education.” “[Approving the agreement] would mean that, we have rewarded the university for its inaction. We pay thousands of dollars each
year to the University of Toronto, expecting that some of it go to those who teach us and we expect the university to be held to account for not living up to this expectation,” a portion of the letter reads. Last week, students at utm, utsc, and St. George walked out of their classes as a show of support for the strike. On Tuesday, March 17, academic officials at utsc wrote to Provost Cheryl Regehr, urging her to negotiate. A quieter minority of students condemned the strike on social media. The record for the longest strike at a postsecondary institution in Canada belongs to York University, where cupe 3903, York’s ta union, went on strike for 85 days in the 2008–2009 academic year. That same union went on strike at York again, coinciding with the strike at the University of Toronto. While U of T only had one unit on strike, all three units at York were on strike, causing the university to suspend all academic activities. While the strike continues for two of York’s units, classes have resumed. No Canadian post-secondary institution has ever lost an academic term due to a strike.
INSIDE Comment
Features
Arts
Science
Sports
All-candidates debate
Higher education
Hidden treasures
In conversation with Sachdev Sidhu
Blues go pro
Varsity staff weigh in on UTSU executive candidates’ statements during forum
Learning about the benefits and dangers of marijuana smoking
U of T’s library system is home to ancient editions of famous texts
Molecular genetics professor offers insights on rising tech culture
Three Blues athletes recently signed professional contracts
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EDITORIAL
Ask candidates questions and make an informed vote
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VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
news@thevarsity.ca
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Drawings of rejected contracts on a “bargaining table” set up outside Simcoe Hall by attendees of the campus-wide walkout on Wednesday, March 18, 2015. TOSIN MAIYEGUN/THE VARSITY
Submit your photos to photo@thevarsity.ca.
WHAT’S GOING ON THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS MONDAY NETWORKING AT EMPLOYER EVENTS Davis Building, Faculty Club 1:00 pm—3:00 pm At this event for business, finance, or commerce students, learn how to market yourself and impress recruiters with your achievements and professional attitude.
TUESDAY MULTI-COLLEGE MIXER University College, Junior Common Room, 8:00 pm — 12:00 am
Associate Science Editor Nadezha Woinowsky-Krieger Associate Sports Editors Reshara Alviarez Sean Xu Associate Web Developer Ishan Thukral
Hosted by Innis, UC, Vic, and Trinity, this event is a chance to hang out with students from different colleges. Free food, drinks, music and a photobooth.
Copy Editors and Fact-Checkers Matthew Boissonneault, Kieran Buckingham, Karen Chu, Alexandra Grieve, Jennifer La, Hunter McGuire, Malone Mullin, Ai Nguyen, Soham Parelkar, Lauren Park, Michelle Pedreiras, Maja Rakocevic, Sean Smith Lead Fact-Checkers Ujwal Ganguly, Fu Yuan (Andrew) Liu, Suhas Srinivasan Designers Kawmadie Karunanayake, Jasjeet Matharu, Lisa Wong Un, Tiffany Wu, Mari Zhou
WEDNESDAY SGDO STUDY SPACE 21 Sussex Avenue Room 415, 2:30 pm—5:30 pm The Sexual & Gender Diversity Office is hosting a weekly positive and supportive study space. A learning strategist will be present and is holding drop-in appointments.
THURSDAY CINSSU’S DOUGHNUT PARTY! Innis Café, 2 Sussex Avenue, 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm
Business Office
Business Manager Karen Zhou
business@thevarsity.ca
Business Associate Parsa Jebely
parsa@thevarsity.ca
Advertising Executives Anna Afshar Rachel Choi
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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. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789
The Cinema Studies Student Union is hosting a party with doughnuts. Have fun at this destressor!
FRIDAY OREOS FUNDRAISING CONCERT University College, Junior Common Room, 6:20 pm — 7:30 pm This concert will include singing, dancing, and spoken word performances. All proceeds will go towards sponsoring a Nigerian child to go to school.
THE EXPLAINER
How to vote in the UTSU elections This week, we will decide on our new University of Toronto Students’ Union executive committee and Board of Directors. Aside from looking up the platforms of both slates and researching individual candidates (creeping Facebook pages totally counts), here are some logistical tips to help you vote. 1. Voting opens online and in-person on Tuesday, March 24 and will run until Thursday, March 26. 2. You can vote online or in person at a polling booth. Online voting is open at utsu.simplyvoting.com. You need your UTORid and password to log into the online system. 3. Polling booths are located at the Bahen Centre (closed on Tuesday) , Dentistry, Gerstein Library, Kelly Library, OISE Library, Old Vic (closing at 4:00pm on Wednesday), Pharmacy, Robarts Library, Sidney Smith Hall, and Wilson Hall at UTSG and the CCIT, Davis Building, and the Instructional Building at UTM. Bring your TCard to vote. 4. If you are voting in-person, ensure that you have all your ballots. You should receive a total of seven: one for each of the five executive candidates, one for your at-large candidates, and one for your college or faculty candidates. 5. The campaigning rules change while voting is open. Campaigning is not allowed within six metres of a student residence, computer lab, library, or polling station, and campaign materials cannot be clearly visible from a polling station. Candidates are also not allowed within six metres of a polling station, except to vote. Corrections: An article in last week’s issue incorrectly stated that the group Fossil Free U of T had hosted a meeting in Simcoe Hall last Monday, March 9. The Varsity regrets the error. An article from last week’s issue incorrectly indicated that professor James Brenan was a part of the Department of Geophysics. In fact, he is from that of Earth Sciences. The Varsity regrets the error.
VARSITY NEWS
var.st/news
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
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Last week on the picket lines How the strike is shaping up so far 2015
2014 Collective agreement expires
CUPE 3902 Unit 5 ratify agreement with U of T’s Governing Council with 72 per cent in favour
93.1 per cent of CUPE 3902 Unit 1 members and 8 per cent of Unit 5 members vote in favour of a strike mandate
CUPE 3902 Unit 3 hold strike mandate vote
CUPE 3903 Units 1, 2, and 3 go on strike at York University; classes are suspended
CUPE Unit 3 reach a settlement
CUPE 3902 Unit 1 vote on a strike deadline
CUPE 3903 Unit 2 reach a settlement at York; classes resume
92.1 per cent of CUPE 3902 Unit 3 members vote in favour of a strike if not agreement is reached by February 26
CUPE 3902 Unit 1 proposes an agreement; university rejects it and counter proposes. Unit 1 rejects that
Meeting between CUPE 3902 and Unit 1
From left to right: PHOTO COURTESY OF CUPE3902 FILE PHOTO:TOSIN MAIYEGUN/THE VARSITY FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY
Strike deadline; CUPE 3902 Unit 1 fail to reach an agreement with the university; the strike begins
Picket lines cause disruption at UTM; UTSC chairs and academic directors call for university to negotiate
St George students walk out of classes; university reaches “tentative agreement” with Unit 1
Iris Robin ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
MONDAY:
Both sides reject deal cupe 3902’s Unit 1 and the university both decline offers made by the other side after Unit 1, which represents around 6,000 teaching assistants (tas), exam invigilators, and other university staff, drafted a settlement and presented it to the university on Friday, March 13. The university revised the agreement on Monday, which the Unit 1 bargaining team rejected. Unit 1’s initial proposal included $600,000 of extra funding, to be spread out over four years. This figure would have helped to raise tas’ funding from $15,000 and included a $17,500 tuition waiver. According to Ryan Culpepper, cupe Unit 1 chief negotiator, the university’s counter offer did not include any new funds and was around $22,500 less than the first offer that Unit 1 rejected on Friday, February 27, triggering the strike.
TUESDAY:
Disruption at UTM Following the deal rejection on Monday, increased picket line presence blocked the three
entrance points to utm, causing delays of up to 90 minutes. Police were stationed at various locations in the utm area to direct traffic, and drivers were advised to take alternative routes if possible. The utm shuttle bus service relocated its stops and warned travellers that delays were expected. According to The Medium, utm administration was slow to notify its students of the delays. Despite picket lines reportedly forming as early as 8:00 am, notices of the disruption were not issued until 11:00 am on the utm administration’s social media channels, and not until 4:15 pm on their website.
WEDNESDAY:
St George students walk out; “tentative agreement” reached Around 1,000 students staged a walkout on the St George campus, congregating in front of Simcoe Hall. They remained there for around two hours, playing music and chanting in support of the striking tas. Later that day, the university announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with cupe 3902 Unit 1. This potential deal includes a “graduate funding package top-up,” intended to give Unit 1 members at least $17,500 of base funding, proposed as a fund and not on an in-
dividual basis. The reallocation of funds means an augmentation in the amount available to the top-up and for tuition assistance from $3.3 million to $4.935 million — an increase of $1.635 million. Under back to work protocol, strikers would receive 15 of 22 working days of pay.
In the meantime, some students are encouraging others to record the number of classes, labs, or tutorials they have missed due to the strike and demand a refund for an amount based on that figure.
THURSDAY:
UTSC students stage sit-in
Simcoe Hall vandalized; union votes to send agreement for ratification
utsc students gathered in front of their registrar’s office to protest “severe financial insecurity and unfair treatment of our tas, the increase in tuition fees for domestic students, the unregulated tuition fees for international students, and the university’s investments in weapons’ manufacturers and fossil fuels.” The sit-in occurred with the support of cupe 3902 members, who said that the students “should absolutely go ahead with the sit-in.” Students present held banners and signs that read “I <3 tas,” “U of T Negotiate,” and “#WeAreNotYourBasicIncomeUnit” among others. The protest happened following the release of a letter dated March 17 from utsc’s chairs and academic directors, calling for the provost to commit to a minimum funding package for graduate students that is competitive and takes into account the cost of living in Toronto.
Students and staff awoke to the sight of “SHAME” emblazoned in large red letters over the doors of U of T’s Simcoe Hall, which houses many of the university’s most important administrative offices. While it is unclear who was behind the incident, cupe 3902 strongly condemned it. “To vandalize a building in the heart of the St. George campus does not advance any one’s cause. Rather, it only serves to distract attention from where it needs to be, resolving a labour dispute that is hurting the university community,” said cupe 3902 chair Erin Black in a statement. At a meeting in the evening, Unit 1 members voted to send the tentative agreement reached on Wednesday to a ratification vote of the entire membership. The decision narrowly passed, with 789 votes in favour to 739, and eight spoiled ballots.
FRIDAY:
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VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
news@thevarsity.ca
UTSU elections in full swing Some accusations, few demerit points pepper campaign period so far Alex McKeen ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Trigger warning: Discussion of sexual violence MONDAY The campaign period for the 2015 utsu elections officially began at 9:00 am Monday, at which time both the Brighter UofT and Change UofT slates began to distribute campaign materials. The Change UofT website was launched Monday, while the Brighter UofT website was delayed due to technical difficulties. Change UofT is running Cameron Wathey for president; Grayce Slobodian for vice president, internal and services; Frishta Bastan for vice president, equity; Agape Amponsah-Mensah for vice president, external; and Xinbo Zhang for vice president, university affairs. Brighter UofT is running Ben Coleman for president; Ryan Gomes for vice president, internal and services; Sania Khan for vice president, equity; Jasmine Denike for vice president, external; and Vere-Marie Khan for vice president, university affairs.
TUESDAY The first taste of election controversy came Tuesday when Change UofT, the slate led by Cameron Wathey, was found to be distributing flyers with an insensitive and potentially triggering word-search puzzle. The puzzle included the phrase “Sexual Assault” among phrases such as “Snow Day” and “Go Blues.” Some alleged that the placement trivialized the issue of sexual assault. “I don’t think finding sexual assault is going to accomplish anything to be honest except trigger some folks,” tweeted student Nashwa Khan on Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY On Wednesday evening, Change UofT posted a defense of their word search flyer, saying that it was not an attempt to trivialize the issue. “We felt that for us to omit sexual assault from the list of words to find would only serve to reinforce the stigma and the silence around a public conversation about sexual violence and rape culture on our campuses, which we believe is missing,” the statement read. Also on Wednesday, former U of T student politician James Finlay accused the Change UofT slate of taking its name from a former slate with a similar title. According to Finlay, the slate name Change was used by a group of students, himself included, to oppose what they describe as a “line of direct incumbency” in the utsu. The Change slate was active from 2008-2010.
UTSU Executive Candidates Election Forum. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
Finlay says that the use of a similar name by Change UofT is misleading because the slate contains incumbent candidates: Cameron Wathey for the position of president and Grayce Slobodian for vice president, internal and services. “...Change means renewal, bringing in fresh blood. It means introducing something different than what was there before. The fact that they’re appropriating the name and using it for a purpose that’s totally contrary to that is a pretense. They’re essentially lying to the electorate,” Finlay accused. Change UofT did not respond to a request for comment on these allegations. As of Wednesday, the Brighter UofT website was active, but their platform was not available.
THURSDAY All executive candidates went head to head on Thursday at the mostly genial executive forum. One audience question from a student wearing a yellow t-shirt — the colour adopted by Brighter UofT supporters in the crowd — was not in keeping with safe space, according to the Change UofT candidate answering the question. The question asked the vice president, external candidates about resource allocations to campaigns that “do not represent the majority of students.” When asked for clarification on the question, the asker gave the example of the
utsu spending money to support campaigns for indigenous rights. Amponsah-Mensah responded by saying that the example given was discriminatory and inappropriate. “The land that we reside on is aboriginal,” Amponsah-Mensah said. “I just spoke about discrimination. I feel as though that question is in that realm.” The Brighter UofT slate issued a statement late Thursday night condemning the audience question and indicating that the individual who asked the question will step back from involvement with the team. “As a slate, we will actively work to right the offense, and ensure that those who stand with us are aware of our commitment to equity and anti-racism,” the statement reads. Some students later took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the environment in which the elections are taking place.
FRIDAY Early Friday morning, account activity from Change UofT presidential candidate Cameron Wathey’s Facebook page showed him “liking” a misogynistic post on the UofT Confessions page. In response, Wathey issued a statement on his Facebook page Friday morning assuring his social media network that the activity was not his own. In the statement, Wathey said he is “disgusted” by the “perpetuation of misogyny
and rape culture on our campuses and in the community,” and that anyone who knows him would recognize this as an attack and not his own action. Celia Wandio, an Arts & Science at-large director candidate, left the Change UofT slate on Friday to run as an independent. The decision followed the controversy surrounding the Change UofT campaign material that allegedly trivialized sexual violence — something Wandio has been focused on combatting as the founder of U of T Students against Sexual Violence. Wandio says that her decision to run as an independent should not be seen as an endorsement of either slate, and that she feels no animosity towards her former running mates on Change UofT. “I care about and support so many of them, and I recognize that they made an effort to take my opinions into account in their actions. However, it got to a point where I felt a pretty big divide in how we felt we should respond to this situation, and I could not see a scenario in which we could negotiate this to come to a solution we all felt comfortable with,” Wandio said. Wathey said that he supports Wandio’s decision to leave his slate. “The whole team supports her decision and we will continue our friendship and our work together regardless of the outcome of the election,” Wathey said.” The Brighter UofT election platform became available on their website Friday.
Equal Voice U of T meets with federal minister Discussion surrounds women in leadership, politics Andreea Musulan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Equal Voice U of T, a multi-partisan organization devoted to increasing female representation in government, organized a meet and greet with Kellie Leitch, federal minister of labour and minister of Status of Women last Thursday. During the talk, Leitch discussed her collaborations with Equal Voice on a number of projects. Leitch said that she prioritizes the advancement of women in leadership roles. The minister gave the audience a short autobiography, starting with her origins in Fort
McMurray, and discussed her own experiences navigating the world of politics. Leitch praised the organization for their work in executing their mandate. “ It’s outstanding to be part of an organization that empowers young women to get involved in politics,” said Leitch. The minister’s final notes were on the Girl’s Advisory Council, a federal initiative under her purview that she announced on International Women’s Day. The council, according to Leitch, is aimed at acquiring female youth’s perspectives to advise the government. For Daryna Kutsyna, president of Equal Voice at U of T, Leitch is a personal role model. “I think that the work we do is common
sense. Women bring about a different perspective and it’s common sense to showcase different perspectives,” she says. Shuyin Yu, reporter for hercampus.com, says that events such as these attract a host of students who are interested in equality in government. “We have so many people interested in law and politics and it’s important to get involved with the events,” Yu says. According to Yu, events like these bring feminism into the spotlight, adding that promoting female representation in politics is a step towards positive change. She also says that, as 30 per cent of federal Cabinet members are now women, progress is on the horizon.
As a U of T alumnus and professor currently on leave, Leitch was recognized as a role model for gender equality. “I have a mother and a sister whom I love and I’m glad they live in a free country where they can pursue the lives that they want,” says Mack Blith, who attended the event because of his interest in politics. Leitch used the speech to share her optimism about Canada’s democratic system. Using herself as an example, she explained the democratic privileges Canadians have to succeed. She says that her own humble origins are evidence enough for hard work being fruitful.
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
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In conversation with Thomas Mulcair Leader of the opposition discusses post-secondary education, Bill C-51, sexual violence on campus TV: Do you have any concerns over how Bill C-51 would affect students and academics? TM: We’ve been paying a little bit less attention to the way it could affect academics, but students, as key actors in our society who are often at the forefront in contesting things… will be in the same position as environmental groups, of which students are often members, or First Nations communities, for the good and simple reason — and there’s a great [article] in today’s National Post, of all papers, by someone who just tears a strip off Harper on this on a purely technical side; says it’s a massive invasion of our rights and freedoms with no tradeoffs. There’s nothing in return for it. Harper can’t even give me a single example. I asked him six times. He can’t give a single example of why this bill is necessary — what it goes after that existing legislation does not go after. Everybody who’s looked at this agrees that it throws the net far too wide. It does constitute a real threat to your rights and freedoms in our society… We’re a party of principle. We’re going to stand up to this one. We’re opposed to it, and we’re going to vote against it.
Thomas Mulcair. MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY
James Flynn NEWS EDITOR
Thomas Mulcair, a professor and lawyer, assumed office as the leader of the Official Opposition on March 24, 2012. Since then, the leader of the New Democratic Party (ndp) has been locked in a battle with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau over which party will win the next election. The Varsity sat down with Mulcair to discuss post-secondary education, Bill C-51, sexual violence on campus, and the cupe 3902 strike. The Varsity: What do you see as the role of a university education in the twenty-first century? Thomas Mulcair: It’s of course personal. The individual can add to their life and their experience in the world. But I think if we want to be honest with ourselves, it’s also social and economic. It’s true that the only way to create new wealth is to create new knowledge. There’s that practical side of it. But also in the world in which we live today, the role of a university education is more important than ever — getting people to understand, as objectively as possible, the world around them. Our sources of information have increased exponentially, but the ability to wade through it doesn’t necessarily follow suit. That’s why critical thinking and a good broad-based education will always, in my view, remain important. I think, in this world, this interconnected world, more than ever having the ability to wade through things… I think university education — any form of education, but especially a university education — is more important than ever in our society. TV: Through what mechanism should postsecondary education be funded?
TM: I’m not one of those people who thinks it should be tuition-free. I come from a really large family of 10 kids. It was very, very hard for me to go to university because we didn’t have any money — financially, I mean, it was hard. But despite that, I didn’t begrudge the fact that I finished with a reasonable debt that I had to pay back. Quebec invests quite heavily in support programs — loans and bursaries for students. I don’t think I would have been able to go to a place like McGill [University] if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was in Quebec and there was that level of support. My bottom line is always that, nobody who is able to do their studies should ever be discouraged from doing them for purely financial reasons. We have to make sure that it’s affordable. TV: Can you talk a bit about the specific initiatives or programs that you’d like to see the federal government implement under a more active role? TM: I think that the first thing that you can do quite easily, because you can work quite fast on it with provinces and territories, is increase funding for research. That’s easy. And right now, in Canada, we’re backsliding quite a bit. We used to have one of the higher percentages in terms of the oecd or the g20, and now we’re constantly backsliding in terms of our position on that. It’s not terribly surprising. We have a government that doesn’t believe in science of any kind — social, or pure and applied. It’s also said that if you’re going to have a good government you need to practice fact-based decision-making. Mr. Harper practices decision-based fact-making. It’s not quite the same thing. So I think that that’s an easy place where we could get back involved. TV: We have an ongoing strike at the University of Toronto involving some 6,000 teach-
ing assistants, exam invigilators and other academic staff. Do you have any comment on the precarity of employment among nontenured faculty? TM: That’s a really good point. Having been contract faculty for several years at Université du Québéc à Trois Rivières, and at Concordia [University]… Those are really lousy working conditions. And there’s a massive difference between full-time, tenured staff and the ones who are doing the heavy lifting as part-time sessional lecturers or teaching assistants. And they have to be paid decently. It’s not as if young people aren’t paying enough tuition for them to have a decent salary. So that’s something we are strongly in favour of correcting. TV: There’s been a lot of discussion lately surrounding sexual harassment and sexual violence on postsecondary campuses. Do you see the federal government playing any role in combatting sexual harassment and sexual violence? TM: The federal government has an obvious role with its share of law enforcement and lawmaking in Canada. The Criminal Code, unlike the United States where criminal law is done state-by-state, here in Canada it’s a federal code. It applies across the country. And changes to that legislation over the years has broadened the definition of what sexual assault is, and made it easier to get prosecutions. In the past, it used to be very hard because it was based on a very strict definition. That’s changed over the years. That’s a good thing. With regards to actual programs themselves, more often than not, that type of social side is left to the provinces. But the federal government could play an active role, as it does in a lot of crime prevention aspects.
TV: Can you talk about specific policies that the NDP would implement to improve youth employment and youth outcomes? TM: The job market is incredibly tough for young people. Toronto has 16 per cent youth unemployment, which is huge. It’s totally unacceptable. We also know that we could help the job creators, which would often include selfemployed… We’ve also proposed to lower the business tax rate… Across Canada, young people are paying a very heavy price for the shift in our economy. Mr. Harper has killed off large sections of the manufacturing sector. Those were good jobs that were killed off. They’re being largely replaced by part-time, precarious work — more often than not in the service sector… One of the other things that we’re putting on the table is to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which will be a strong signal to the provinces and territories to follow suit. And we hope that they would. We think that getting a decent living wage into people’s hands, although $15 an hour is not a lot, it’s still a lot more than the $10 an hour that you’re making in some provinces now. TV: Does the NDP have any specific plans for diversifying the Canadian economy? TM: The biggest mistake [the Conservative Party] made is to put all our economic eggs in the extraction basket. It’s a huge mistake, and we called them on it a long time ago. I called them on this since I became leader, but long before that when I was finance critic. It’s a mistake. Keeping a diversified, balanced economy… is actually good because when there’s a shock, whether it’s falling oil prices or something else, the more diversified, the more you can absorb that shock because you’ve got other pillars to the economy. You don’t only have the primary sector of extraction, whether that’s fisheries, agriculture, forestry, mining, and the like. But you’ve got a strong secondary sector, with manufacturing, upgrading, refining. You’ve got a tertiary sector, the service sector. You’ve got a very viable, balanced economy, and you’ve got the ability to absorb shocks. By putting all our economic eggs into the extraction basket, they left us exposed to a drop of that basket. There are a lot of broken eggs on the floor right now. That’s another reason that the Conservatives are playing a hide-and-seek game with the budget — it’s the peek-a-boo budget — because they know it’s a lot worse and they were going to ride into this election campaign saying that the books had been balanced. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
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Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
VARSITY NEWS
news@thevarsity.ca
Brighter UofT presidential candidate Ben Coleman rent executives that I would say has been quite valuable, sometimes the line between what is political and what would be apolitical is either not there or very complicated. ... I’m ok with the utsu taking political stances in that I’m ok with students who are activists being supported by the utsu. Let’s be optimistic, say we have 15 per cent voter turn out, and then [the utsu] says we are now the moral authority on all issues and tries to do activism in that way, I think that’s where the lack of credibility comes in and that’s why [some] people get upset. I mean, there are some people who do legitimately believe that it be limited but I would disagree with them... For some controversial issues that our team wanted to address, our approach has been: give the space for our members to educate other members and do it in a way so everyone has a say because I think people can participate in that a lot more rather than hoping that we represent everyone.
Ben Coleman. MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY
Alex McKeen and Tamim Mansour ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS
Ben Coleman is running for president of the utsu with the Brighter UofT slate. After spending the past year representing Arts & Science students on the Governing Council, Ben Coleman has his eye out for the Presidency of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu). The fourth—year student from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology hopes to lead the utsu with “realistic and strategic” policies. Coleman sat down with The Varsity, fresh from the candidates’ forum on Thursday, to discuss polity, policy and politics. The Varsity: The price of a university education keeps increasing. How can the UTSU work towards keeping this price affordable for students? Ben Coleman: There are specific things that we’re worried about. The classic example: if you’re a law student and you end up with $100,000 of debt when you leave, if you’re lucky enough to find a job that’s paid, say you were going to choose between working for a legal aid society and working for a corporate law firm, if you have a $100,000 of debt, you may just go work for the corporate law firm... I think it’s bad for society if people... say ‘Oh, well you know they can make more money so we might as well charge them for more tuition’, and end up driving people out of non-profit work and work that helps society at large. There’s this justification that you can make a lot of money, in certain fields, after you graduate, therefore the debt is reasonable. But you really have to think about it and see whether it’s good for society... If two [students] who are equally talented go into university, they both get the same degree, same marks, you want them to have an equal chance at life. And if one of them happens to be from a poorer family and they have debt, then it makes it harder for them
to accumulate wealth. They may have to delay having children, buying a house... So we really should be cautious about justifying tuition as an investment, because the high debt perpetuates inequality. ...We need to twist the government’s arm instead of trying to persuade them to give more funding. No government in poor financial shape wants to be throwing money around. Telling the stories better, about why it’s bad for our society to have students with large debts, that’s not something that gets out. TV: How do you plan to continue the consultation process on the restructuring of the Board of Directors? BC: We have to engage with all the college and faculty student governments, engage with clubs. [Gomes] and [Petra] had that open meeting and I think we just need to have more of those... We want to encourage as many people who care about this to help, because honestly, once you get into the weeds of these issues, it’s very tricky. ...Ryan’s proposal is essentially a compromise. I’m quite excited for a utsu that has equity even more structurally built into it. Culturally it’s been built into it for the last while, which is very good. But structurally built in I think is good progress. I don’t consider myself qualified to lead the process of figuring out who those identitybased reps should be. That needs to be [Khan] or somebody else who really knows what they’re doing. Because that’s such a crucial process... and we need to get it right. There were some concerns about tokenization or forced outing if you have these positions... I don’t think I’m qualified to solve that problem and make that a really good proposal. For the identity-based directors specifically, not for the whole thing. I know some policy. TV: Should the UTSU take a stand on political matters outside the purview of students or the university? BC: Four years ago, I used to think like ‘Oh, the utsu shouldn’t be political’. And I think if there’s anything I’ve learnt from the cur-
TV: Back in October 2014, the provostial advisory committee on student mental health published recommendations to improve mental health. They are now working on the implementation of the recommendations. What role should the UTSU play in this process? BC: I’ve been to a meeting where I’ve seen an admin go from ‘You don’t need to tell us about these problems ‘cause we already know they exist,’ then hearing a bunch of students speak about caps, and [saying] ‘Oh, you know what? On second thought, we didn’t realise how bad this was.’ So... if we create safe spaces, sometimes we get the feedback that makes admin change their minds. Effectively, being able to listen to students, and as [Vere-Marie Khan] was saying, getting that from students in a safe space and taking that to admin in a way they understand... We can encourage the admin to be brave. ...Every university in Ontario is struggling with adequately providing services with mental health, and the fact that there were no caps wait times in the report says to me that the admin hasn’t mustered up the bravery to really look at what’s wrong... The University of Ottawa did a very selfcritical report and they found they hadn’t even set up a sexual assault office and they got good press because they were honest with themselves and they really looked at what’s wrong. So I would encourage [the admin] to be brave, they’ll do a lot better being brave and being honest... TV: Why do you want to be the UTSU president? BC: It’s very fulfilling to do this... When you do something, even the tiniest little change is so satisfying, because you know there are students out there that [change] might’ve helped... As student leaders we always want to make space for those people who previously had to suffer in silence... and have their voices heard... There are some really excellent people on this team. I’m so excited to win and work with these people. It’s going to be so much fun and it’s going to be so gratifying because they’re all so great and they all care. I want to give students a choice... You can’t have half-assed opposition, we need to present an actual choice to students. Do you want these qualified student leaders or these qualified student leaders, pick between them. The best thing for the race is if people go... ‘let’s increase the standards of what we expect from student leaders, let’s expect that both candidates are always going to be really good people.’ So I’m really excited to offer students a choice. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Slate: Brighter U of T
College: New College
Past Experience: Governing Council, UTSU Arts & Science At-Large Director
Subject PoSts: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics
Most mentioned: Financial aid information, transit discounts from other cities
Favourite burger: Veggie Burger
Hails from: Born in Barbados, Raised in Abingdon, UK, moved to Mississauga, ON at 12
Point of Pride: “My parents would play music from [Barbados], e.g. the Mighty Gabby. I can sing a bunch of those songs.”
Most recent tweet as of press time: “@CP24: WATCH LIVE: Premier Kathleen Wynne unveils sexual violence and harassment action plan” #fb
VARSITY NEWS
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MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
7
Change UofT presidential candidate Cameron Wathey TV: Should the UTSU take a stand on political matters outside the purview of students or the university? CW: When it comes down to it, we are a political organization. We have been a political organization in our broader history, and we’ve been able to pressure the university administration. [The union has] done an outstanding number of things in the past such as making sure that women have access to hart house, undergraduates have access to Robarts, starting the first pride in Toronto by walking through Kings College circle. At the end of the day, it’s up to the membership [as to] whether we do take a [political] stance because many of our motions are presented at the agm and we decide from there. (...)
Slate: Change UofT
College: University College
Past Experience: UTSU vice-president, internal and services for two years, Cinema Studies Student Union, Caribbean Studies Student Union, University College orientation
Subject PoSts: Film, History, English
Most mentioned: International students, Student Commons, putting students first
Hails from: St. Marteen
Point of Pride: “People will message me saying ‘Hey Cam, I need to go to this building, where is it?’ I know this campus back and front.”
Most recent tweet as of press time: Join the conversation to #changeuoft? What would you #change? Post a message on our Facebook or Twitter! :) @CamWathey
Cameron Wathey. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
Alex McKeen and Tamim Mansour ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS
Cameron Wathey is running for president of the utsu with the Change UofT slate. He was an international student who attended University College (uc) for film, english and history. Prior to his involvement in the utsu he was involved in the Caribbean Studies Student Union, the Cinema Studies Student Union, and uc orientation. Wathey sat down with The Varsity on Saturday to discuss his position on some of the issues most important to students at the University of Toronto. The Varsity: The price of a university education keeps increasing. How can the UTSU work towards keeping this price affordable for students? Cameron Wathey: Over the past...little more than a year, I’ve worked with the team to get rid of flat fees. We had to take a new approach to that because...we had been lobbying the administration to get rid of [flat fees] for the past couple of years since [they] was implemented in 2008. We lobbied the Minister of Training Colleges and Universities, Brad Duguid at the time. We brought [together] over 6000 petitions [including] utm which was very much involved with the project, and we were able to get the government to listen. One of the things that I’m primarily concerned with is international students. [International student] tuition keeps going up, right now we pay five times more tuition than everyone else... Incoming students [will] pay approximately 10 per cent [increase] and continuing students around 5 per cent [increase]. I think there’s a 3 per cent cap for domestic students. There are [also] ancillary fees that we have to look into. Ancillary fees are basically another part of or tuition fees...Professional faculties also pay more. …[F]or instance engineers have to pay an additional fee...for an elective in the faculty of Arts & Science, which doesn’t make any sense. So making sure that we’re...working
with [the professional faculties] so their tuition doesn’t keep going up. Also [we will] work closely with utmsu to ensure that we’re working on regulated fees at utm being implemented, in the same manner that we worked on tackling flat fees. TV: How do you plan to continue the consultation process on the restructuring of the board of directors? CW: I don’t think there’s one answer to this. There’s not one perfect structure. Throughout our 114 year history you can see that the utsu has changed significantly, almost from year to year. We have to consider the fact that the needs of the membership change and also the strategies change...[W]e’ve changed in the past to reflect the membership and I think we need to change again to reflect our membership. We are a vehicle for change here at this university, and if people want representation we [all] have to meaningfully participate in our students union. I think everyone needs to come together and we need to participate and compromise. I think we also have to consider that the [board of directors] structure has to support diversity but also unite us. U of T is a very diverse community, we see that all across the campus. We have to make sure that we’re representing all U of T students. When people start talking about fragmenting the union, that’s not the way to go. When we come together, when we work together we are able to accomplish much more...We need something that works for the immediate future that also reflects this political moment in time. TV: Given the time constraints on being compliant with the Canada Not for Profit Corporations Act, how will consultation work? CW: …[W]e need to meaningfully reach out to our members. We’ve finally gotten access to our listserv this year, which means we can finally reach out to all of our members at once. [We] also need to reach...out on the ground, talk..to them, possibly even conduct...a survey.
TV: Back in October 2014, the provostial advisory committee on student mental health published recommendations to improve mental health. They are now working on the implementing the recommendations. What role should the UTSU play in this process? CW: Yolen has done a lot of excellent work on this...I think we need to acknowledge...the types of stressors that students undergo. We have to acknowledge that caps has worked for people but the waiting time is getting longer and longer. Talking to racialized communities, we’ve also noticed that caps is predominantly white so making sure that students feel represented [and] making sure that we know what kind of choice is available to them [are priorities]... Making sure that U of T is prioritizing mental health both in terms of funding and in terms of [increasing] awareness of the services that they already... have and building community. I think that the union can work on building community, hosting events, hosting exam destressers and destressers in general. [We should make] sure that we are working on all of these challenges. It’s a difficult task but I think [the] union can definitely implement... services... while also ensuring that we are working on the bigger picture. TV: Why do you want to be UTSU president? CW: I want to be the president of the UTSU because I came to U of T not knowing what direction I wanted to go, and being lost in the biggest city in Canada. I came here from an island of 30 odd thousand people to a population of 2.5 million and wanted to just fit in and feel at home and the University of Toronto has provided that to me. I think that there’s good reason why [the University of Toronto] is the best institution in Canada. It does have a community and I want to build on that community. I want to make sure that all voices are being heard at the table from colleges, because my college provided me with that sense of home and I am so grateful for that. I also know that now more than ever we need a leader. Spitting out statistics, anyone can do. But I think that we need someone that can bring the people together. I think we need someone who’s coming from all sides of the table and understands each perspective. I’ve worked closely with the colleges in the past and I’ve worked closely with the community all over. And we need to make sure that we are coming together because right now is a very key political time for the student union. We’ve been able to accomplish a lot but we need to accomplish a lot more. We need to make sure that students are being prioritized, at this university because it is a university, not a corporation. I can take anything that’s thrown my way, and any amount of scrutiny. I’m not going to back down and I’m not going to shy away from anything. I’m the type of person that’s relatable, personable, and ready to listen to you and what your concerns are. I think we need that in a leader. Finally, I just really love U of T and I want to represent it. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
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Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
VARSITY NEWS
news@thevarsity.ca
TEDxUofT hosts third conference “A Constellation of Insights” draws 500 attendees Emily Katz VARSITY STAFF
While many University of Toronto students were catching up on sleep or getting ready to face another day of studies, a crowd of around 500 quietly filled the Medical Sciences auditorium on March 15. It was one of the first bright spring days, and the room hummed with anxious excitement. The occasion was the third annual TEDxUofT conference, an offshoot of the nowfamous ted series. TEDx gives independent organizers a chance to screen ted videos, as well as organize live presentations from local scholars and creative minds. TEDxUofT is not the same as TEDxToronto, which occurred for the sixth year in a row last October at Koerner Hall. Both events are entirely volunteer-run. The conference, themed around “A Constellation of Insights,” addressed a range of topics. The first speaker was U of T instructor Michael Reid, well known by students familiar with introductory astronomy courses. Reid said that the way science is taught is fundamentally wrong. He believes in teaching that everyone can “do” science, just as everyone is taught they have the ability to read. He compared the Canadian literacy rate to the scientific literacy rate: 99 per cent compared to 42 per cent. “If the literacy rate were 42 per cent, it would be considered a crisis,” Reid said,
TEDxUofT. COURTESY OF PIERRE ROQUET/TEDXUOFT
Avis Glaze spoke about the need for access to technology in the digital age, saying that schools “need to open up for those who don’t have access to technology.”
She highlighted the struggle for minority groups, saying it is necessary to make sure those students have the means to succeed. Glaze also emphasized character develop-
ment as part of a curriculum. “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to create a menace to society,” she said. “Empathy can be taught.” PhD student Samantha Joel spoke about the way that modern-day relationships are thought of as consumer purchases. As with other purchases, people are often under the impression that they would choose the best possible option for themselves. “We think of ourselves as consumers, even in dating… and we assume the decisions we make are all about ourselves,” Joel said. Her research points to the opposite of what we often believe to be true. As people we “inherently, fundamentally care about other people’s needs. We are not self-interested,” Joel added. One of the final talks of the day was by Scot Wortley and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, who discussed how crime narratives differ by race, including perspectives of youth and police in Toronto. Wortley explained how, as a white man, his privilege lies in that if another white man commits a crime, it will not affect him at all. Both presenters explained that the biggest predictors of criminal activity are perceptions of social justice. They quoted a young, Canadian black man they had interviewed in their work, who said simply, “This is not my country.” They finished their talk with an urge for Canadians to stop complacency. “Racism is softer, gentler, perhaps more polite here, but just as much of a problem,” the presenters said.
Brighter, Change go head to head Hopefuls face off at utsu elections forum Alex McKeen ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Two slates battled for support at the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) Executive Candidates Elections Forum before a packed room on Thursday night. The Brighter U of T and Change U of T slates are fielding one candidate each for the positions of vice-president, external, vicepresident, equity, vice-president, university affairs, vice-president, internal & services, and president. No independent candidates will be on the executive ballot. The candidates were called up to the dais by position. Each gave an opening statement and were asked questions before making their closing remarks. Questions ranged from how the candidates plan to make campus more equitable and accessible, to clubs funding, and some personal questions regarding the competence of individuals. While most of the Change U of T slate arrived shortly after the meeting commenced, presidential candidate Cameron Wathey did not arrive until 6:29 pm, almost thirty minutes after the scheduled start. When asked the reason for the delay, Wathey said that it was due to struggles in printing candidate materials.
VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TALK EQUITY, ACCOUNTABILITY First to speak were the candidates for vice-president, external. Jasmine Denike, the Brighter U of T candidate, gave opening remarks first. She outlined plans to provide support and materials to incoming students and to host “accountability cafes” to stay in touch with the student population. “For utm, I especially want stronger communication between the campuses and I will go to utm campus at least once every two weeks,” Denike said.
Agape Amponsah-Mensah, the vice-president, external candidate for Change U of T spoke after Denike. She described her experiences being marginalized as a black woman at U of T, and said that this gives her an appreciation for equity issues necessary to the role. “I was struck with awe that the utsu cares about students that look like me,” she said. The candidates for vice president, equity spoke next. Sania Khan for Brighter U of T spoke about her experience belonging to several minority groups at U of T, and the need for the utsu to provide spaces for such groups. “As a minority, I need to know that I own my own narrative,” Sania Khan said. Frishta Bastan, the Change U of T candidate, also spoke about the need to provide marginalized students on campus with avenues for discussion. “Equity is an action, a discussion, a necessary understanding for communities,” Bastan said. Students present asked the vice-president, equity candidates how they would combat racism on campus, and what it means to trivialize issues. To the latter question, Bastan spoke in defense of Change U of T’s campaign material, which included a flyer featuring the phrase “sexual violence” on a wordsearch of issues that Change U of T hopes to tackle. Bastan said that it was not meant to trivialize the phrase. “Sexual violence is real – it happens – and the only way to address it is through dialogue,” Bastan said. In a response to this question, Sania Khan added that she is primarily in the business of “winning hearts,” not votes. “’I’m an activist, not a politician. I’m not going to homogenize issues,” she said. Candidates Vere-Marie Khan for Brighter U of T, and Xinbo Zhang for Change U of T spoke next regarding their respective plans for the position of vice president, university affairs. Zhang spoke about launching new initiatives for international students, such as airport
pick-ups. He also said that, as vice-president, university affairs, he would prioritize helping students find employment. “I will work to organize the largest career fair in Ontario — if not in Canada,” Zhang said. Vere-Marie Khan said her work as vice-president, university affairs would involve advocating for mandatory mental health training, and providing international students with information packets when they arrive at U of T. The candidates responded to an audience question regarding previous attempts by engineering students to divert utsu fees to the Engineering Society (EngSoc), including a referendum held in 2010 in which EngSoc members voted in favour of fee diversion. Vere-Marie Khan said the result of the EngSoc referendum was indicative that the utsu has not met the needs of its engineering constituency. “There must be compromise to take into consideration the views of engineering students,” she said. Zhang responded that, thanks to his previous involvement on campus, he is confident of his abilities to liaise with other groups at U of T. The candidates for vice-president, internal & services addressed the crowd next. Ryan Gomes, for Brighter U of T, outlined his plan to make utsu’s budget transparent, to increase clubs funding, and improve existing services, such as printing and metro passes. Gomes said that he would also be committed to delivering a new, legal Board of Directors structure, as well as improving the union’s communication with the broader community. “We need to sit down with students and say: ‘How can we work with you?’” Gomes said. The current utsu board structure is untenable under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. An alternative board structure proposal was rejected at the utsu Annual General Meeting in October 2014, igniting a debate over how best to represent U of T students and determine member constituencies. Grayce Slobodian, Change U of T’s candidate
for the role, spoke on the changes she wants to see at the university. “I’m running for the utsu because I’m sick of students’ voices being heard last at this institution,” she said.
COLEMAN, WATHEY COMPETE FOR UNION PRESIDENT In opening statements, Wathey pointed to what he sees as his team’s two greatest successes during his tenure with the utsu: securing approval for the Student Commons, and eliminating flat fees. Wathey said he plans to focus on mental health and sexual violence strategies. Ben Coleman, the Brighter U of T presidential candidate, encouraged the audience to ask questions that would keep candidates accountable. “If you feel that my responses to your questions demonstrate commitment and integrity, you should vote Team Brighter U of T,” he said. The presidential candidates answered questions about providing space for commuter students, and giving a voice to clubs on the Student Commons Management Committee. Melissa Theodore, University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union vice-president, equity, asked the candidates about their views on white supremacy and whether they think space on important committees should be taken up by cisgender, able-bodied, straight, white males. Wathey responded that he is aware of his privileges as a cisgender, able-bodied, straight, white male, and affirmed a commitment to be the best ally he can. Coleman also acknowledged his privileges. “I think listening is very important,” Coleman said. The two delivered their closing remarks by expressing confidence in each of their respective slate team members. Polls open on Tuesday, March 24, and will run until Thursday, March 26. A version of this article appeared online.
VARSITY NEWS
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MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
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A show of solidarity: undergraduates walk out Students leave class to pressure university administration Rachel Chen VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Last Wednesday, undergraduate students, teaching assistants (tas), and other supporters left classes at around 12pm to attend the Student Solidarity UofT-Wide Walkout in solidarity with cupe Local 3902 Unit 1. The event, hosted by the University of Toronto Students’ Union, attracted a large crowd that chanted in front of university offices in Simcoe Hall. The reasons listed for the walkout included the university’s allegedly providing the public with misleading information, refusing to communicate with students, and refusing to meet with cupe 3902. utm and utsc held similar events last week. In a press release by the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union executive committee, executives acknowledged student concerns about the academic disruption, but endorsed the cupe 3902 members. “The counter-offer that was recently proposed does not display any interest on the part of the university administration in a fair and equal agreement,” the press release said. “The university should understand that, if they are ‘committed to our academic success’ then they must make every effort to negotiate in good faith with our educators who are the key to that very
success,” the press release added. Elena Basile, a Sexual Diversity Studies instructor at University College and an English lecturer at York University, made accommodations in her class so students could participate in the walkout. She is currently a contract faculty. “The commercialization of education, and knowledge overall, over the past 15 years or so, has meant that universities increasingly run like corporations, with all of their verticalized and contracting-out logic attached,” Basile said. She pointed to over-inflation of salaries at the top echelons of the administration and dependence on student fees and grants tied to industry as problems resulting from the corporatization of the university. “This produces at least three sets of problems: a cohort of undergraduate students increasingly indebted just to make it through school; precarious graduate student teachers and researchers who can barely afford to do what the university is asking them to do, i.e. produce innovative knowledge and pedagogies; a disaffected cohort of precarious part-time faculty scrambling to piece together a living while also trying to keep up with research,” Baslie added. Graham Hassell, a fourth-year student hoping to graduate this year, attended the walkout. He hopes the walkout shows the administration how undergraduate students are invested in supporting their tas.
Student Solidarity UofT-Wide Walkout. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY
“I don’t appreciate being told that everything is alright,” Hassell says, adding “I have a class that is currently cancelled — things are not all right. I think that some people perhaps are going too far in accusing the administration
of being misleading, but there is definitely some misinformation being spread.” Brian Law, president of the Computer Science Graduate Student Benevolent Society, was also present at the walkout. “Maybe it’s for
nothing, but even if it is nothing for the moment, even if it doesn’t bring everybody back to the table right away, it is a symbolic gesture of strength and unity from the [undergraduates] that this kind of thing can happen,” Law said.
STUDENT HERE writing group hosts action ESSAY session
Student activists speak about sexual violence Emily Katz VARSITY STAFF
Content warning: Discussion of sexual violence Students gathered in a University College lounge on Tuesday to hear an info and action session hosted by here, a swiftly expanding feminist writing collective. The meeting was called to address the issue of sexual violence on university campuses. Two organizers of anti-sexual violence campaigns at the University of Toronto gave a presentation. Celia Wandio, founder of U of T Students Against Sexual Violence, and Katrina Vogan, founder of the Thrive Initiative, spoke to a variety of issues surrounding sexual violence policies at Canadian universities. The presenters highlighted that, on most Canadian postsecondary campuses, including the University of Toronto, there are no policies dedicated to sexual violence. At U of T, sexual violence falls under the Code of Conduct, addressed in the same way as many other university infractions such as
plagiarism. Wandio and Vogan said that, in the United States, despite a recent array of high-profile sexual violence cases on university campuses, there are at least best practice policies in place. Best practice policies mean that there are interim procedures, such as access to certain services. Advocates like Wandio and Vogan are demanding that universities adopt specific, explicit sexual violence policies for their campuses that give options to survivors. Vogan’s Thrive Initiative includes a survey of student experiences with U of T services and perceptions of safety at U of T, as well as demographic information. Vogan is still collecting data and has received results from about one per cent of the St. George student population. Vogan urged everyone present to share the survey and participate, including men or others traditionally less vulnerable to sexual violence. “We need baselines,” she said. “We need men to respond too.” Wandio and Vogan also spoke about the effects of sexual violence
at an interpersonal level. “You can, in fact, catch trauma,” Vogan said. While it is often professionals like doctors or psychologists who are at risk, those who step in as caretakers to victims of sexual violence are at risk. Reading down a long list of physical and psychological symptoms, they explained that the list was nearly identical for victims and caretakers. The presentation highlighted how sexual violence is discussed in the media, with emphasis put on the events leading up to and during the assault, rather than its consequences. “[We] don’t talk about the fact that the ‘after’ is very long,” Vogan said. She implored those present to demand more of the university. “There’s power in afterwards,” she added. here holds monthly meetings where members write letters, aided by prompts, to anyone or anything. The founders of the group chose letters as their medium of expression because it is direct and allows for expression without academic or other traditional structuring.
CONTEST
STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST
2015 Topic
National Security and the Role of Government: Safety vs. Privacy in a Technological Age For complete contest details, visit:
studentessaycontest.org 538
SUBMIS SSIO ON DEADLIN NE: JU UNE 1, 2015
Comment
VAR.ST/COMMENT
23 MARCH 2015
comment@thevarsity.ca
Boundless finances U of T is financially stable but it cannot meet the needs of all
Pronvincial funding is necessary for the continued operation of the university but it also constrains U of T's financial freedom generally. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
Christian Medeiros VARSITY STAFF
Complaints, comments, and conjecture about U of T are often predicated upon the assumption that the university has unlimited money to play with. It is assumed that imaginary massive budget endowments can solve all ills and create new policies. The reality is that the university is tightly constrained by its position as a public institution, whose revenue and policies are partially controlled by the provincial government. It is important to note, however, that this does not mean the university is in bad shape; U of T receives consistently high credit ratings, indicating it is in a stable and sustainable financial situation. This system is ultimately for the better good — namely, easy access to education for those that qualify — but means that other projects need to be sacrificed as a result. The operational financing of the university is largely contingent on student enrollment. Student enrollment results in revenues from their fees and from government grants and salaries. Student fees and government grants for education make up 64.3 per cent of U of T’s revenue stream; student fees garner more revenue than government grants by about a third. The rest of the revenue comes from grants for restricted purposes, like research and projects; donations, investment income; and other sales. Student enrollment also increases the operating costs of the university. The largest expenses are salaries, which make up 60.4 per cent of expenditures and are primarily
funded by student fees and grants. Other expenses are the operation and maintenance of the university campus, as well as scholarships and grants. The province has provided substantial aid to universities since the 2005 budget, which allocated $6.2 billion for universities and colleges. This funding is necessary for the continued operation of the university, but it also constrains the university’s ability to significantly alter its financial situation because other revenues are constrained as a result. The province’s grants for student enrollment require U of T to cap tuition fee increases for domestic students to an average of three per cent per year. This is excellent for Ontario students at U of T — students from the gta alone make up 59 per cent of enrollment — but it applies considerable pressure on the university’s financing options. This is not to say that the university would like to make significantly more money — it is not a private company — but it does mean that financial aspirations are necessarily more modest. Without tuition fee caps and government grants, the average Ontarion U of T student would be paying at least $21,000 in tuition each year. These fees would likely increase in order to solve budget constraints and financial aspirations. Since the university’s tuition fees are capped, the main opportunity for revenue growth is by increasing enrollment, which has a ceiling due to physical constraints. The result is that funding for post-secondary education will likely not receive any increases, and, at worse, will decrease. It is interesting to note that this position means that U of T is significantly below its us peers in both revenue and endowment per
full-time student. The discrepancy is most obviously the result of comparing two very different post-secondary financing systems, but it shows that U of T is not financially on the same competitive footing as comparable American institutions. International students are experiencing the effects of this. There has been a significant push back against planned increases for international student fees this year. In this context, these policies from the university are not greedy or surprising — they’re the result of an inability to increase revenue from other sources. Paradoxically, these revenue constraints and their side effects are often the problems students complain about and hope spending will resolve. The university cannot realistically reduce enrollment or shrink class sizes in a meaningful way, and it cannot cap tuition, especially not for international students. University expenditures are another difficult matter. Deferred maintenance at U of T is now running north of half a billion dollars with the average condition of facilities being 14.1 per cent according to the Facility Condition Index (fci) — an fci above 10 per cent indicating poor condition. According to U of T’s financial statements, repairs and maintenance have increased by about 80 per cent from their 2005 levels, while capital assets have been amortized at the same rate. The situation is not as dire as it may seem, but is still problematic. The university seems to have the situation under control, and the large deferrals are likely just prudent financing. The buildings on campus cannot reasonably be sold, so keeping them in pristine condition is not financially necessary. Additionally,
the government has funded capital renewal projects for Ontario universities. What the deferred maintenance saga shows is not a crumbling campus, although conditions are probably less than ideal, but that the university needs to use a frugal method to cut ever-increasing costs. This dilemma makes more sense in the context of university salaries and benefits that make up 60.4 per cent of operating fund expenses, which have increased by 54 per cent from their 2005 levels. This is the result of increasing faculty to meet expanding enrollment, as well as collective bargaining agreement from all sectors of U of T staff. The salaries of U of T professors and staff are large and growing expenses that are obviously vital for maintaining the university’s existing services and for facilitating revenue growth from increased enrollment. Benefits are another large problem for U of T due to prior mismanagement and the financial crisis. Pension obligations and the like are another serious constraint on university finances. What all this shows is that U of T is not boundless like the posters around campus claim. More importantly, perhaps, it displays that our demands should not be boundless, either. U of T is financially stable and sound, but it cannot meet the needs of all — complaints by international students and the strike by graduate students are the result of this system. In order to provide affordable post-secondary education to masses of Ontarian undergraduates, others need to bear the costs. Christian Medeiros is a third-year student at Trinity College specializing in international relations.
VARSITY COMMENT
var.st/comment
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
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Accounting for change A look back at the UTSU presidential candidates’ leadership Column Zane Schwartz VARSITY COLUMNIST
At first glance, the platforms of the two candidates seeking the presidency of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) appear shockingly similar. Cameron Wathey, heading up the Change UofT slate, is advocating for more mental health services and against tuition increases. So is Brighter UofT’s leader Ben Coleman. On paper, the two candidates agree on practically all the major issues — both want to change the rules blocking international students from sitting on Governing Council, and both want to overhaul the deplorable way U of T handles sexual violence. This is the third utsu election where Wathey and Coleman have been major players. Both candidates have served in senior leadership positions for the past two years — Wathey as vp internal for two terms, and Coleman as Arts & Science director-atlarge last year and Governing Council representative this year — so both have a track record that a curious journalist can check. When running for the position of vp internal last year, Wathey said he wanted to get international students covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (ohip), cap international student fees, and improve the relationship between the utsu and the colleges and professional faculties. The rules on ohip have not changed. International tuition will rise an average of 6.2 per cent next year, and the relationship between the utsu and the colleges and professional faculties has notably soured over the past year — with a letter accusing the utsu
UTSU Presidential campaign posters dot the university's campuses. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
of widespread misconduct in May 2014 having changed very little about how the union interacts with student societies. When Coleman ran for Governing Council last year he said he would seek to increase study space, lobby for improved mental health support on campus, and push U of T to reduce its $500 million deferred maintenance backlog. Every governor I’ve spoken to this year has said that Coleman was a vocal advocate for ensuring sufficient study space in the planned renovations of the utm North Building, the Robarts Commons, and the Faculty of Architecture’s new building. Coleman has helped set up a number of consultations for students to provide feedback on U of T's mental health policy directly to the administration. On February 12, he co-organized a forum called Better
UofT, where students had the chance to offer feedback on U of T's newly released mental health report. He's had less luck with deferred maintenance, which has increased to $515 million this year. To be fair to both candidates, the problems they sought to tackle were ambitious, and failing to deliver on your campaign promises doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to come through next time around. What is telling is the way the two candidates explain their failures. At the all-candidates debate on Thursday, March 19, both were asked what they would do to get international students the right to run for Governing Council. Wathey described how he had met repeatedly with senior administration and asked them to do something. He expressed frustration that
although senior administrators were supportive in the abstract, they never committed to actually doing anything. And then he said that if he were elected, he’d meet with senior admin some more. Coleman said he would call for a vote by Governing Council on the issue — that’s a very basic answer, and it might not work. Then again, who knows? Wathey has never been able to get a vote so we don’t know where Governing Council stands. Wathey has had two full years to work on this issue (it was part of his platform when he first ran for vp internal) and the fact that not only has he made no progress, but his plan is to do the exact same thing, is quite concerning. When discussing his own failures, Coleman mentioned his promise to regularly update his blog with information about Governing Council, and acknowledged that he has only posted three times this year. He admitted that he has made mistakes, explained them, and then offered a concrete plan for why things would be different next year. Contrast that with Wathey, who not only cannot account for his lack of success, seems convinced that doing the same thing would yield a different result. For example, he still wants to get international students covered under ohip, and his plan is still to lobby the province. Both candidates are making big promises this election cycle. Coleman has a track record of accomplishing things. Wathey has a track record of saying he’ll accomplish things. As you head to the polls Monday, keep that in mind. 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.
Clean up your mess Undergraduates continue to bear the burden of the administration’s bad faith Op-ed Abdullah Shihipar ASSU PRESIDENT
This past weekend, members of cupe 3902 voted to reject the proposed tentative agreement reached last week between members of the union’s bargaining team and the University of Toronto. As such, we are now entering the fourth week of the strike, and things are getting dire. Syllabi votes are being held every day in classes to get rid of assignments and re-weight other evaluations, in other cases departments are stepping into cancelled classes to take over the work of the striking instructor. Labs and tutorials are still not occurring, but term tests are continuing nonetheless. The university is not operating normally and the quality of education students are receiving has decreased substantially. Soon, exams will start, and as of yet there are no plans to extend the exam period. Students could be walking into exams that they have been inadequately prepared for. In some cases, students’ rights have been trampled on, with classes changing syllabi without a vote, or by holding the vote improperly — by providing two alternative syllabi options for example but not the original syllabi — or by using coercion. In the classes where the department is stepping in, and in many cases changing the syl-
labus, students are concerned that academic freedom is under assault. Syllabi are set as a contract between the instructor and the student, while the university insists that departments can take over a course and conduct the votes — it has failed to provide a reference to an active policy that allows this. The situation is a mess. How has the university responded? By crafting press releases, faqs, and e-mails aimed at turning students’ against striking graduate students, rather than informing undergraduates. At assu, we find that we are the ones actively educating students about their rights during this strike period, not the university. Even before the strike, the university repeatedly refused to communicate with undergraduates, often telling representatives that they would not meet or comment on the matter. Despite this, we know that that the university had months to produce an acceptable contract and avoid a strike. They chose to wait till the last minute to produce a contract, which barely changed anything. In the weeks since the strike has started, the university has failed to bargain in good faith. When they have produced contracts, those too have fallen far short of addressing the grievances of Unit 1 members. Instead, they have chosen to manage the strike through strikebreaking and syllabi changes, which can have an adverse impact on students’ academic records. Depend-
ASSU President Abdullah Shihipar. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
ing on whether or not you are a domestic or international student, you are paying in between $7,000-30,000 for an education that is on hold because paying those who teach us is not consider a priority by the administration. We expect our tuition to go to those who teach
us and we will continue to push Simcoe Hall to make education their priority and reach an acceptable agreement that finally ends the strike. Abdullah Shihipar is the President of the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU)
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VARSITY COMMENT
Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
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UTSU executive forum: How did the candidates do?
Last Thursday's forum welcomed a full auditorium of supporters and potential voters to see candidates for the UTSU executive election speak to their respective platforms . JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
All-candidates debate full of promises, with plans often absent Samantha Relich VARSITY STAFF
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Executive Candidate Forum on March 19 opened to a slow start, with vacant chairs where the candidates from the incumbent Change UofT slate should have sat. The moderator had finished outlining that “general rules of decorum would apply.” Punctuality, it seemed, was not included. Once the debate began, however, it was a surprisingly substantive and often heated evening. Questions posed by students ranged from addressing tuition fees, sexual violence on campus, and communication and accountability in student government. Lobbying was unsurprisingly the answer to most questions. The most concrete plan of the evening was brought forward by Brighter UofT's Jasmine Denike who responded to a question about tuition fees with a detailed plan including measures to lower the current debt cap. Agape Amponsah-Mensah highlighted the extent of the issue and emphasized the year’s success with flat fees, but failed to articulate any clear plans for the future. Where Amponsah-Mensah was emphatically clear was in her focus on ensuring the protection of minority voices and groups, particularly in her eloquent response to a controversial question regarding resources allocated to campaigns on Aboriginal student rights and issues. Although inclusivity became a focus of the evening, policy issues came into play as well. A question regarding approaches to establishing faculty policies like “drop credit” — used to drop the lowest mark off a student’s transcript — gave the vp university affairs candidates an opportunity to showcase their knowledge. Vere Marie Khan proposed a plan to work closely with
the faculties while Xinbo Zhang admitted that he was not sure how best to tackle the issue. Candidates articulated their platforms well, generally providing direct answers to questions. The most notable exception occurred during the vp internal and services debate when Grayce Slobodian, Change UofT candidate and current vp external at the utsu, responded to a question regarding the disparity between allocated funds for utsu salaries and the audited figure by skirting the issue and citing confidentiality. Slobodian’s opponent, Ryan Gomes from Brighter UofT, seized the opportunity to highlight his dedication to transparency, emphasizing in response to the same question that students deserve to know when and why budget lines change. Both presidential candidates faced pointed questions from the audience, which they took in stride. Unfortunately, both candidates provided weak plans for improving commuter life and community integration on campus, focusing on the importance of the Student Commons. Where Change UofT’s presidential candidate Cameron Wathey celebrated the success of the recent movement on the commons, his competitor Ben Coleman approached the issue cautiously. In his response, Coleman provided a more structured plan for providing the building and ensuring the effective use and management of the space. In an evening that saw the debate veer on and off course, the candidates answered questions to varying degrees of success. For those with burning questions, there is still time before voting begins on March 24. Bearing in mind the significance the election could have on student life at U of T, it may be wise to ask — and to remember that substantial plans matter more than platform promises. Samantha Relich is The Varsity’s features editor. She is a fourth-year student at Victoria College studying criminology and political science.
Passing over of financial concerns reflects poorly on the incumbency Jeffrey Schulman VARSITY STAFF
With charges of sexism being thrown around freely and an opposition supporter being dubbed racist for their question at the debate, one could say it has been quite the utsu race thus far. In politics, things like this are called noise. Disturbances such as these can sway the election, but they're just distractions. Somewhat lost in all the chaos, however, is a very serious issue about the utsu's finances. The issues over the utsu's budget were brought to a head when vp internal candidates Grayce Slobodian of Change UofT and Ryan Gomes of Brighter UofT revealed some of the union's troubling financial details. It seems that the utsu overspent its salaries budget by a serious amount. Furthermore, the original budget projected a substantial surplus while the utsu audit revealed that, in actuality, the union ran a deficit. If true, this suggests that the utsu has been horribly mismanaged over the past year. Slobodian's response, that she couldn't discuss the issue for reasons of confidentiality, is deeply troubling. It is a very real issue in a campaign filled with noise, and it seriously calls into question the current structure of the utsu. Both slates have promised to better administer the utsu. Just about every candidate who
ever ran for office has made a similar promise. The question is whether the utsu can function under the current system. Two structural issues call this into doubt. Every year the utsu sends a chunk of student fees to the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs). The cfs uses these fees to fund its own administration and engage in politics. U of T students who pay these fees see almost no benefit. Change UofT, the cfs-backed slate, should clarify whether and why it accepts an endorsement from this organization. Brighter UofT should also clarify what it plans to do about the cfs if elected. The second drag on utsu efficiency is more local. We have an undergraduate student union that represents students at two of three campuses; that is absurd. Both slates have promised that the utsu will work for utm students even though the vast majority of its constituency and its main office are located here on the St. George campus. In the debate, Grayce Slobodian dodged the question about finances; Ryan Gomes simply stated it was the incumbent’s problem. Anyone who wants to be vp of the utsu should explain how they plan to fix the financial disaster here on campus. That is what really matters in this race, and the candidates should focus on fixing the utsu — not petty politics. Jeffrey Schulman is a second-year student at Trinity College studying classics.
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Editorial
VAR.ST/EDITORIAL 23 MARCH 2015
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You should be asking questions
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
Vol. CXXXV, No. 21 | March 16, 2015
Students should inform themselves about individual candidates before going out to vote
This year’s University of Toronto Student’s Union (utsu) executive candidates election forum featured some difficult questions and some strong responses from both slates. Having sat through the opening and closing statements, as well as question periods, for each of the other prospective portfolios, the presidential candidates from the competing Change and Brighter U of T slates finally took the stage. When the time came for Brighter’s Ben Coleman to launch into his opening statement, he encouraged the assembled crowd to ask him questions. Among Coleman’s suggested queries, he said, “You should ask us, how do you listen to students… how are we sure our board can keep us accountable, since we’re running on slates… how have my opinions changed in the last year, and why?” It is refreshing to hear someone in Coleman's position — challengers to incumbent slate presidential candidates are perenially disappointed — advocating for the importance of vigourous questioning. U of T's undergraduate population has a voter apathy problem which has unfortunately resulted in superficial and perfunctory debate in past years. Too often have candidates been allowed to skirt their way through elections by towing the party line and refering back to platform points. Unfortunately for those in attendance, Coleman's invitation came too late in the evening; by which time the candidates for the other executive portfolios had already taken and left the stage. On the whole, there were some thankfully practical suggestions floated from some of the candidates in response to inquiries regarding the union's finances, accountability, and governance structure. However, these rational responses to questions were punctuated by less informative emotional appeals, distraction, or, at other times, silence, in response to tough questions. Such was the case when Ryan Gomes and Grayce Slobodian, of Brighter and Change U of T, respectively, were asked to respond to some questionable discrepancies in the previous year's budget. Where Gomes, who has never occupied an executive role with the utsu, was quick to stress the importance of transparency and accountability in financial matters, Slobodian, the current vice-president, external, declined to answer, citing confidentiality. Where she may have been tightlipped regarding spending, Slobodian spoke at length on other issues, including suggesting that utm students have been made to feel lesser than their St. George counterparts in the past, a concern that moved her to tears. This disparity was not necessarily reflective of the slates as a whole — vice-president, external candidates Agape Amponsah-Mensah and Jasmine Denike, from Change and Brighter, respectively, both offered solutions to issues such as reaching out to utm students; Amponsah-Mensah said she planned to advocate for lower parking prices at utm and Denike declared her intention to visit the campus on a bi-weekly basis in order to establish a union connection. The purpose of highlighting the disparity between the two slates’ vice-president internal candidates is to demonstrate what students should be asking for from their candidates — clear goals and plans to accomplish them — as Coleman put it, “a plan, not a wishlist.” Many executive candidates took time in their closing statements to encourage students to do just that — read their platforms, ask them questions after the forum and, most importantly, to vote for candidates because they held appeal as capable individuals, regardless of what slate they belonged to. This is the sort of message that should be championed throughout the campaigning period, and as students head to the polls this week. Particularly in an election that features no independent candidates for executive positions, it is imperative that students make informed voting choices based on each individual candidate’s experience and priorities. To achieve this, we must be prepared to ask questions, and lots of them. We must choose the students we feel are most to able represent us — not the slate who seems friendliest, or whose campaign materials are most attractive. utsu executive elections have boasted an abysmally low voter turnout in recent years, typically hovering just about 10 per cent of eligible voters. This year’s contest features an unprecedentedly qualified group of candidates in every available field. It is imperative that we as the voters take full advantage of the opportunity to put our would-be representatives through the paces. They deserve to be asked the tough questions just as much as we are entitled to ask them. With voting days occurring throughout the week, be sure to cast not only a ballot, but also an informed one. Do your research, make sure your questions are answered, and encourage others to do likewise. It would be misguided to assume that others would do the work of holding leadership accountable for you and vote conscientiously on your behalf.
An open letter to Cheryl Regehr Dear Ms. Regehr, First off, I appreciate the time you are taking in reading my email. I understand how busy you must be, particularly now, but knowing that my voice is heard is what we have always fought for isn’t it? We are a democracy where all voices are heard, aren’t we? But I am not feeling that way today. I am a part-time undergraduate student at the St. George campus, in the last few weeks of the very last course of a degree which has taken me 15 long years to complete. And to say I am underwhelmed and disappointed is an understatement. You see, as a part-time and mature student, accessibility has never truly been an option for me. I have struggled with balancing life demands, bills, responsibilities, and a very demanding job which allows me the finances to pay for my very expensive education. On top of this, I committed myself to returning back to school in my thirties to complete a degree which I had been unable to complete earlier due to illness and finances. It is people like me who rely the most on our tas. For when I am up, late at night or early in the morning, struggling with an assignment or a concept, a reading or a lecture, it is the tas to whom I reach out, not the professors. And it is the tas who meet me for coffee, after work hours, when I am available and patiently walk me through the materials; it is the tas who stay late after class, who return hours upon hours of emails, who mark my assignments, and who provide me with the crucial constructive criticism that is so essential to a quality education. It was the seasonal lecturers, graduate students, who taught every single lecture I took in the summers and it was those same people who held every single tutorial I attended. I can’t express how important those tutorials are to someone like me who struggles with the demands of life. It is those graduate students, tas and seasonal lecturers, who I have formed friendships with in sharing our mutual love of academics, and who I have watched struggle; unfairly and unequally struggle. Is that right, Ms. Regehr? Have you walked in their shoes, today, when demands are at the highest for aspiring academics and graduate students? Do you know how little $15,000 per year can afford? Do you know how tired they are? Have you asked them? Have you walked to the picket lines and asked every single one of them what they need the most? You say your institution has offered them a fair wage and opportunities. I wholeheartedly disagree, Ms. Regehr. Like me, these students are not young people with the benefits of their parents’ support. They are mature adults with small families of their own who are struggling to pay rent, to clothe
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their children, and to maintain the highest academic standing to which the University of Toronto excels. Ms. Regehr, give them what they deserve. Give them what they ask for. The University has the money. I see it every year when I pay my exorbitant tuition. Stop making a mockery of the pillars that hold your institution high above the rest. Give them what they are asking for or your entire institution, which you have fought to bravely for, will crumble and everyone will go down with it— from the youngest, freshfaced undergraduate, to the President himself. All my best wishes for a speedy resolution, which is fair and egalitarian, — Kelly Stephens Re: The University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union urges administration to return to the bargaining table I appreciate very much the conundrum facing tas and graduate students as explained by Nickie Van Lier. She points out that there is a neoliberal trend at the universities that is transforming education from being a public good to a commodity. Her position is very well argued and justifies a strike in order to restore distributive justice of earnings in the name of the public interest. I would recommend an alternative course of action. The province of Ontario is in debt, the universities are feeling the pinch, and the responsible course of action in this situation is not to increase the pressure. There are many opportunities to work in the private sector to finance education. By taking up this responsibility, an example is set for full-time faculty and administrators to follow. Besides, when one pays one’s own way (lodging, food, and tuition), a person gains valuable work experience, including enculturation in a working environment that just might be exemplary and invaluable to future success and healthy habits of mind. As it stands, and I know that this does not address the issue of distributive justice within the publicly funded university, the market-place value for ta work is probably about 20.00 an hour or less. This tells me that anyone who is lucky enough to be making more than the marketvalue for their work as a result of collective bargaining and membership in one of the largest unions in the country should be very grateful and, as mentioned, respond to inequity by taking responsibility for financing of an education rather than imitating others’ bad habits, exacerbating the burden on the overstretched public treasury. Doing so is an invaluable contribution to the public good as is volunteer work of course. — Andrew Fuyarchuk, Th.D. student, Trinity College
Dealing with dope Perspectives on student marijuana use Article by Malone Mullin Photos by Jennifer Su and Malone Mullin
R
uben’s* apartment looks a lot like mine. Unframed posters adorn his walls and empty beer cans litter the countertop — it’s a typical student living space. But one thing’s patently different: on Ruben’s coffee table sits a twenty-inch water bong, stained with resin from the countless tokes that Ruben and his friends have taken from it. Ruben reaches for the bong as I sit down to talk about his marijuana use. He’s a U of T student on hiatus: his active student status was suspended for poor academic performance last summer. And, yes, he says, his weed habit did have a lot to do with it. But Ruben says he’s critical of his drug use and is aware that it has both a positive and negative effect on his life. “It helps me relax,” he tells me, in between cracks directed at LeBron James’ choice of hairline on the television in front of us. “There’s still the fun factor, the excitement factor. But if I’m ever in pain I don’t need to take an Advil. I don’t need sleeping pills. It helps with anxiety because it calms me down.” Yet he acknowledges that these benefits are countered by the negative effects of the drug. “[Smoking marijuana] also makes me forget about the things I need to do, which can be good or bad… It’s all about time and place,” he says.
A HARMFUL MENTALITY? Cannabis use is relatively prevalent in Canada, with one in five individuals aged 15 to 24 indulging in 2011. It’s usually smoked and sometimes eaten. The effects of cannabis range from mild euphoria to pain relief to, in rare cases, acute psychosis and delusions. Youth tend to think of cannabis as largely harmless and natural. A 2013 Canadian Centre On Substance Abuse (ccsa) survey noted that young people
believed cannabis promoted relaxation, focus, and creativity. Some of those interviewed also tended to see any longterm negative effects, such as cognitive decline or dependence, as a defect of the individual rather than the drug itself, and even these concessions were often overshadowed by beliefs in the substance’s medicinal properties. Some even thought pot could cure cancer. Not since the days of Reefer Madness, it seems, has cannabis been approached with hysteria or contempt. Most young users today seem to get blitzed without much concern about the drug’s potential dangers. The ccsa survey suggests that many students — Ruben included — see pot as something that can be used moderately to only minor detriment. But Dr. Wiplove Lamba, an addictions specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital, believes this attitude does not reflect the reality of cannabis use. “There are problems with the medicalization of marijuana,” he says. “Students don’t think it’s harmful. When people think something is not dangerous they tend to use it more. Some patients might say ‘I can’t sleep or eat without marijuana’, but what they might not realize is that these can be signs of dependence,” Lamba explains. “Some people think the big bad government is preventing people from smoking weed, but there are risks. There needs to be more information… There is little data on what cannabis does to the body… So there are no low-risk guidelines for use, like we have with alcohol,” he adds. A 2013 Health Canada report acknowledged that cannabis impairs short-term memory, attention, and concentration, among other faculties. This damage, it notes, “[has] the potential to be long-lasting”, and even quitting for a year or more did not re-
store cognitive function for those who started smoking pot in adolescence. Perhaps one of the strongest indicators warning against youth cannabis use comes from a study done in New Zealand, which found in heavy users — after following over a thousand participants for 25 years — an average decline of eight iq points. Lamba considers the New Zealand study “as good as you can get sciencewise”, and recommends that marijuana not be used by anyone before the age of 25, as the frontal lobes have not fully developed until then. This not only means that youth lack the requisite gray matter to fully weigh the risks of their actions, but also that the cognitive effects of cannabis can permanently alter the course of neural development. “For me personally this study would be enough not to use [cannabis], but everyone has to make their own decision,” he says. “What’s concerning is that in adolescents, it’s not a reversible effect.”
USE MANAGEMENT So far, these findings only show the impact cannabis might have on a student’s academic performance. But mental health and social functioning are also at risk. Marijuana increases the possibility of developing schizophrenia. Additionally, its illegal status can also lead to serious social repercussions such as stigmatization — not to mention the possible criminal consequences of its possession, cultivation, or sale. Yet the Health Canada report also suggests that weed might help anxiety, lending support to anecdotal claims like Ruben’s. Hunter*, a fourth-year history major, spoke about a similar experience with cannabis, claiming that his daily use allows him to cope with academic tasks by alleviating his anxiety. “I smoke every single day, at least once,” he says. “If I have papers
and shit to do then I’m smoking all day at home. I sit there with my bong on my table and just work all day [high].” I express my surprise that he can work while stoned, as it’s not known for increasing attention spans. “I’m not sure if it helps me focus,” he responds, “but it’s definitely a coping mechanism.” Hunter elaborates that it makes him feel guilty to rely on marijuana to help him with daily tasks, but he compares it to coffee, characterizing cannabis as a substance that can expedite certain activities. “One thing I’ve noticed is that it really does vary from strain to strain,” he adds. “I used to be like, ‘oh, if it’s green I’ll smoke it’ but now I think, no, that doesn’t work… I use a vaporizer and I find for medicinal qualities it gets you exactly what you want. You set it on the temperature that you want the specific chemical to be vaporized at and then you get always that. It’s pretty technical. Like, if you want to medicate for anxiety you set it at 170 [degrees Celsius].” Hunter tells me that weed helps him manage his anxiety better than pharmaceuticals, allowing him to avoid prescription anxiety medications such as Ativan, which he tried after seeing a doctor about his symptoms. “I did Ativan twice and it made me feel like I didn’t have a soul for a day afterwards,” he says. “I felt like I was just empty. Fuck that stuff.” From talking to Ruben and Hunter, it seems as though use management would become easier if cannabis were a regulated substance. “Tailored” highs, a result of knowing the chemical structure of the strain prior to consuming it, could act as a preventative measure against some of pot’s more worrisome effects. Jane*, a fourth-year humanities student, radio show host, and editor of a
student journal, also views cannabis as the best way for her to manage her mental health. “I smoke it for a number of reasons, one being my depression,” she says. “I use it as an alternative to bottled prescription medication. I have nothing against that kind of treatment, it’s just not for me. [Smoking weed] pretty effectively helps me deal with my depression. I’m a lot happier with weed in my life than without it.” I ask Jane if she thinks her gram-aday habit has impeded her academic success. “It’s really hard for me to say whether or not I’d be more successful had I never smoked pot,” she replies. “On one hand, I understand the link between memory and marijuana use; sometimes my reaction time is a little slower than it should be in terms of critical thinking. Being someone who uses it in part to deal with depression… I’m gonna have to say no, I probably wouldn’t be able to get out of bed and do my thing every day without it. “I’m not saying weed ‘saved my life’ or anything like that, I’m just saying that it helps me calm myself down and not freak out about everything,” she adds. “It’s a good way to unwind. It makes me less intense.” It would seem that at least some students at U of T can smoke pot regularly and still function — in some cases, perhaps better than they would if they didn’t use marijuana. But Lamba points out that marijuana’s criminal status, and its lack of experimental data, currently precludes an informed way to regulate one’s use. “If there are benefits to [self-medication] they have to be judged on an individual basis,” he says, “although I think some medical body could [plausibly] come up with low-risk usage guidelines.” The medicalization of marijuana has been a hot topic in Canadian politics for the last few years. Compassion
centres currently exist to supply those who were deemed eligible for cannabis treatment by a doctor, but the government has not actually approved its use as a medicine. Rather, court rulings have enforced reasonable accessibility to the substance for patients who require it. Cannabis effectively treats a slew of ailments, including chronic pain, nausea associated with chemotherapy, and depression associated with chronic diseases. “I’m not for criminalization of this drug at all,” says Lamba. “But the problem with medicalization is the delivery system [smoking], and we have no way to determine the dose being used. Health Canada made [medical marijuana policy] without consulting medical bodies. I think decriminalization is inevitable but there are challenges.”
CANNABIS CULTURE, NORMALIZED In 2011, sociologists at U of T conducted a survey on the relationship between recreational cannabis use and academic performance. They found no association between recreational users and bad grades, indicating that marijuana use was “normalized” at U of T. In other words, most of the students surveyed were able to smoke pot without the drug hurting their studies. The researchers suggested that while high school users — who typically show a correlation between cannabis and poor performance — were often part of a deviant, low-achieving subculture, university users were “sufficiently academically focused” to regulate their usage and escape the negative effects that befell their younger counterparts. Jenna Valleriani, a PhD candidate, pro-legalization advocate, and board member for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP), agrees that recreational use is becoming more prevalent and acceptable. “We are see-
ing a normalization of cannabis use, where even if we don’t use cannabis we can walk into a party and see our friends doing it and we’re okay with it,” she says. I tell Valleriani about the students I’ve spoken with, who consider their weed habits a means of self-medication. In contrast to Lamba, Valleriani supports the idea. “On a scale of relative harm and risk cannabis is relatively low,” she explains. “Once it gains legitimacy as a medicine it I think it will be accepted as an alternative to pharmaceuticals like Ativan to treat conditions like anxiety or depression.” “[Cannabis] doesn’t get as much attention [as pharmaceuticals] but it’s equally important for its medicinal benefits,” she adds. “It’s not as harmful as a lot of pharmaceuticals we reach to, like Ativan.” However, cannabis is still a physically addictive substance, with nine per cent of users developing dependency. Dr. Lin Fang, an associate professor at U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, warns that cannabis’ increased potency might mean a greater risk for addiction, and that “cannabis use is associated with a range of mental illness, such as anxiety, psychosis, and depression.” Self-regulation of use is difficult, she says, because “we do not really know what [a] moderated amount is for each individual.”
DEALING WITH DOPE Cannabis’ potential as a substance that can both help and harm makes informational resources at U of T essential—but these resources don’t currently seem to exist. Counseling and Psychological Services (caps), U of T’s notoriously overbooked therapy center, does not visibly address pot use aside from a single document on its website, and no external sources are
available for students seeking information on marijuana. “I do think it would be a good idea if we can have more resources designed for students,” Fang says, “that summarize the current research [evidence] in a user-friendly way so that students can make informed decisions.” Lamba, Fang, and Valleriani all see decriminalization as the best means of harm reduction. This sentiment echoes a 2014 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (camh) report, which proposes legalization to address the failings of prohibition. “Legalizing the substance together with tight regulations [such as] clear information about the product and its potency, minimum age… and education on the effects of cannabis is probably a more sensible way to go,” says Fang. Valleriani agrees, and encourages students to support legalization, whether they use cannabis themselves or not. ”Youth voices are integral to policy making, particularly with regards to drug policy,” she says. “Young people should have a say in how our policies are created and have access to information that lets them critically think about the policies they’re getting.” As with responsible alcohol use, it seems as though students can smoke weed without necessarily harming their performance. But even for stoners like Ruben, indulgence needs to be carefully watched. “Is what I’m doing bad? When you smoke a lot, you’re not happy with yourself,” he says. “It’s not for everyone. We live in a society where it’s regulated for reason.” “Weed didn’t kick me out of U of T. I did,” he says, hitting the bong again. “You just have to learn to control it.” *Names changed at students’ request.
Bikechain, 10 years on
Celebrating the anniversary of a U of T staple in sustainable transportation Article by India McAlister | Photos by Amy Wang
T
he Centre for Social Innovation (csi) space on Bathurst Street was all about bikes on March 20, when Bikechain celebrated its tenth anniversary and twenty-five-thousandth visit. The event featured a panel of guest speakers including urban planner Yvonne Bambrick and city councillors Mike Layton and Joe Cressy. Bikechain, for those who have not accidentally stumbled upon the initiative during a search for Harvest Noon, is a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable transportation methods, namely the bicycle. The organization is based out of the St. George campus, and provides a variety of resources and services, facilitated through volunteers, including affordable repairs, diy resources, and education for cycle enthusiasts of all levels.
HUMBLE ORIGINS BikeChain, which was founded in 2005, is an initiative of the then-newly established Sustainability Office; in its early days, it operated out of oise’s underground parking garage. The ill-sheltered space was far from ideal; it was cold, damp, and windy. As Alex Gatien — a volunteer at the time — remembers, it was as basic as “two stands with a bunch of tools in two old parking spaces.” After its first year, the operation moved to the basement of Cumberland House. Gatien,
who is also a former coordinator, describes the organization’s infancy as the “lean years” when Bikechain operated for weeks without any funding. In 2007, after a failed referendum to gain a 25-cent levy the previous spring, a renewed effort gained the operation the 25 cents per student needed through sac (utsu). It remains an utsu levy to this day. In the years that followed, Bikechain’s popularity grew exponentially. In 2009, Bikechain had its five-thousandth visit, became an incorporated not-for-profit organization, and gained its own board of directors. The growth was rapid and unprecedented. “You’re not the engineer of the train, you’re strapped to the front of it,” says Toby Bowers, coordinator from 2009 to 2012, recalling his experience. Bikechain quickly outgrew the “really narrow, really crowded, really noisy” space that led to long line-ups and frustrated students, as Eugene Chao, current president of the board of directors, recalls. This is far from hyperbole; Chao remembers having to literally crawl underneath people in order to get to the door. Bikechain’s current home, the North Borden Building, is a little more functional. “We have natural light now,” current coordinator Kelly Bray exclaims, describing the many improvements, including doubling the shop
floors capacity from four bike stand stations to eight. Bikechain is now hoping to refocus on building community, and servicing as many students as possible. Bikechain may be facing another move in its near future. It has been promised a place in the new Student Commons. This space, as Riley McCullough, utsu vice-president, University Affairs, points out, will be fully accessible — which would be a first in the operation’s 10-year history.
A REWARDING EXPERIENCE The community that sprung up around Bikechain has been life-altering for many of its volunteers and employees. The animated chatter at csi is clearly indicative of a close community — Bowers even describes it as “familial in a way.” For many former volunteers and employees, Bikechain was the launching of a lifelong interest, and in some cases, a career in the bike industry. Chao, who graduated as an English major and who describes himself as “very academic,” was immediately hooked by the tactile experience of working on a bike. “I found I could put my hands on something, and I could make it work, that feeling was really empowering,” he says. Chao, along with Bowers, currently works at Central Commerce High School running a bike mechanic program.
Matt Draimin, who in 2007 took his dad’s “old beater bike” to Bikechain, quickly found himself in “bike world” as a volunteer, worker, and, eventually, president of the board of directors. Draimin, who initially studied history during his undergraduate degree, has now transitioned to studying industrial design. He credits Bikechain as the inspiration for the switch, emphasizing that “bicycles are amazing from a design point of view.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE The method to Bikechain’s success was most aptly expressed by Bambrick in her speech at the event: “Having a bike space for students just makes a lot of sense.” If the crowded bike racks on campus in the spring and fall months — and even winter for those daring few — are any indication, Bikechain will continue to be an important staple for the university community and asset in sustainable transportation efforts. Though the anniversary celebration centred around the panel, the room was clearly a reunion of sorts. It only took a few questions to realize that the night was a congregation of the many members of Bikechain’s decadelong community of volunteers, employees, and supporters, gathering to reconnect and celebrate “the Chain.”
Arts&Culture
VAR.ST/ARTS
23 MARCH 2015
arts@thevarsity.ca
Preserving pages Looking at some of U of T’s special literary collections
U of T's library system, made up of 44 distinct libraries, is ranked third in North America. PHOTOS BY ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY
Emily Katz VARSITY STAFF
On any given day, there is a small corner of Robarts Library that is darker and quieter than the rest. If you’re not looking, you’ve probably walked by it without noticing. But, if you’re smart, you’ve been inside. This, of course, is the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, which juts out from the building onto the corner of St. George and Harbord. The lighting is dimmed inside this library to preserve the 800,000 rare books, manuscripts, and ephemera housed there. The library is open to the public and its staff believes wholeheartedly in access and outreach; the darkened entryway simply adds to the allure. Deborah Whiteman, the head of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, says her boss’ mantra is, “we’re a library, not a museum.” She explains, “We welcome people to come in and have the experience, because this building is extraordinary architecturally and extraordinary in what it contains.” The experience is certainly there for those who look for it; I was lucky enough to handle a twelfth century gradual, or liturgical book. It was massive in size and closed with bronze clasps. It was created entirely by hand by several monks with a quill. What is also incredible about these rare collections is that they make it possible to still do original research. Whiteman explains, “We’re
living in a digital age; it’s wonderful. We can access a manuscript, a rare book, get any kind of information we want from our rooms at home. But is that the same as coming and looking at this 12th century gradual, and actually looking at the paper and the binding and the writing? I think they complement each other.” The Fisher Library staff work hard to ensure people know what they offer; they have active social media accounts and create monthly exhibitions to showcase their materials. They offer tours, classes, and workshops to both undergraduate and graduate classes from U of T and other schools like George Brown, Ryerson, or the University of Guelph. They also encourage outside groups to participate, and on Doors Open Toronto last year, they had over 2,000 visitors in one day. While Fisher is undoubtedly the largest, all of U of T’s 44 libraries offer special collections. The e.j. Pratt Library at Victoria University also contains many printed books, manuscripts, and papers; their special collections include materials from George Baxter, William Blake, g.e. Bentley, Canadiana, a.p. Coleman, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Northrop Frye, Norman Jewison, e.j. Pratt, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Virginia Woolf. Roma Kail, the Acting Head of Reader Services at e.j. Pratt, did her graduate work on romantic literature. As she explains, “My supervisor at the time made trips to Pratt Library to use the Samuel Taylor Coleridge Collection. Before
I ever knew I’d be a librarian I was smitten by that collection, all the way over in -40-degree Saskatoon. I still have to catch my breath when I realize that I now work in the same building as [Coleridge]’s notebooks and letters.” Kelly Library at St. Michael’s College is also known for its rare books, some of which date back to 1475; the collection houses French and Italian literature, Catholic theology, and Irish and Scottish materials. Noel McFerran, the Theology and Rare Books Librarian, explained their collection to me. “We have hundreds of French plays from the nineteenth century; many of these are the only copy in North America. We have German and Latin pamphlets by the Catholic theologians who were debating with Martin Luther and other Protestants in the sixteenth century.” Gabrielle Earnshaw, Head of Manuscript Collections and Archivist of the Henri J.M. Nouwen Archives and Research Collection, also offered a take, saying, “We are also very proud of our collection of the nineteenth century French writer Emile Zola, including the most comprehensive collection of his letters (in facsimile) in the world. Complementing the Zola collection and the nineteenth century French book collection is an archive related to nineteenth century French theatre and the playwright André Antoine.” A personal favourite of McFerran's and Earnshaw’s? “There are so many to choose from but we love the hand-written journals of
writer Sheila Watson from her time in Paris in the 1950s. They offer an intimate portrait of a writer in a foreign city. They are brimming with astute observations about French culture and art as well as reflections on the craft of writing.” The East Asian Library, tucked away in Robarts on the often-forgotten fourteenth floor, also holds rare volumes. Stephen Qiao, the Acting Director of Chinese Studies and Collection & Services, described the materials housed there. “eal has one of largest Chinese rare book collections in North America. We hold over 3,000 titles, 40,000 volumes of Chinese rare books dated from Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) to Qing Dynasty (1616–1911). The library also has special collections on Asian Canadian studies, Tibetan studies (in Tibetan language), collections from China's Republic period (1911-1949), manuscripts of Korean farmers, North Korean film reels.” The resources available on our campus are innumerate; this is unsurprising when you are ranked the third best library system in North America. Also worth noting is that the librarians at U of T are also some of the best and brightest, always happy to help students — an important reminder on a busy and at times daunting campus. For both the literary scholars and scientists among us, the importance of these special collections is easy to understand. As Whiteman told me, “They will be here longer than we are, and we have to preserve them.”
18
Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
arts@thevarsity.ca
140 characters of comic gold How Twitter has changed the way we crack wise
Five Funny Accounts to Follow Larry King @kingsthings The man is 81 years old, yet he’s still got tremendous game. His #Itsmy2cents series, in which he bulk-tweets his stream of consciousness (“I’ve never been in a canoe #Itsmy2cents”) may be some of the most unintentionally hilarious tweets around.
Rob Delaney @robdelaney Because following him and his absurdly hilarious account is a Twitter rite of passage.
Megan Amram @meganamram Her Twitter account ultimately landed her a job in the Parks and Recreation writers’ room. If that isn’t upward mobility, I don’t know what is.
jomny sun @jonnysun One of the most hilarious exports from Weird Twitter. Punctuation and letter capitalization optional. JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY
Daniel Konikoff ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
I remember it like it was yesterday — I was sitting in the computer lab, in my Grade 11 English class, typing out an essay about Macbeth. One of my peers, a budding rapper who had garnered the affectionate nickname “Chubb,” crept up behind me and asked to follow me on Twitter. I turned around, looking up at him with my doughy, prepubescent eyes (I was a late bloomer). “I don’t have Twitter,” I confessed. Later that work period, I shot out my first tweet: “Who are you, a hula hoop? @ itsCHUBB.” It makes absolutely no sense now, and I can’t even fathom its original context, but hey, we all start at the bottom, right? Fast-forward four years and the micro-blogging app has since become an extension of both my brain and my funny bone. Although it took awhile to get there, Twitter is currently the storehouse for the vast majority of my witticisms. I found some pretty horrendous tweets during a recent scan of my Twitter archives (September 2011: “Arctic Monkeys. Damn, those are some cold primates”), but
in looking more at my current output (October 2014: “This shampoo says ‘No Tears,’ so why am I always crying in the shower?”), it’s safe to conclude that those days are well behind me. Twitter humour is its own beast; just like a George R.R. Martin novel, tweets have 140 characters, and that’s only when they’re at maximum capacity. Thus, tweeters are shackled to brevity, forced to get down to the funny business in the quickest way imaginable. Some users resort to tried-and-true joke formats (“Bae: come over”), while others just stick with wordplay. Oftentimes, the funniest tweets emerge from the peculiar depths of "Weird Twitter," a subculture so twistedly surreal that it could curl Salvador Dali’s moustache. Conjuring tweets has single-handedly altered my perceptions of reality. Instead of simply living life — you know, as some folks have been known to do — I look for the possible humorous tweet in everything. My drafts folder is bursting at the seams, overflowing with half-baked puns, jokes that are all setup and no punch line, wayward observations that have yet to transmogrify into A+ material, or zingers I worry won’t be as funny in a Twitter
feed as they are in my imagination. This proves Foucault’s predictions of modernity frighteningly correct; I indulge in frequent self-censorship, and I am my own worst critic. Before it enters the sweeping ether of the World Wide Web, I ask myself, “Is this 140-character quip Twitter-worthy?” If new episodes of Seinfeld had continued to air well into the twenty-first century, I imagine that Elaine Benes would be asking herself the exact same question. Those in search of comedic Twitter glory, be forewarned: Internet super stardom does not happen overnight. Unless you embarrass yourself on the news and find yourself the subject of an auto-tuned YouTube video, it is highly unlikely that you’ll become a viral sensation. Thus, don’t be discouraged when your funny tweets at first go unrecognized. Shirk a desire for external validation and hone your technique: don’t be afraid to bounce your jokes off of someone first, and definitely don’t be wary of posting puns that elicit more groan than a creaky door hinge. And remember, just because you have 140 characters doesn’t mean you have to use all of them; the joy of Twitter is that you don’t have to abide by the traditional conventions of humour, so you are as free as
Modern Seinfeld @SeinfeldToday “What if Seinfeld were still on the air?” This account proves that you don’t need 22 minutes to tell a hilarious Seinfeld narrative; all you need is 140 characters.
you please to experiment with joke format. The key to a funny tweet, though, is an element of surprise. Take this tweet by Megan Amram, for example: “It’s so awkward to accidentally see your parents having sex. I’m never going to that website again.” Reversals like these make the world of humour go ‘round, and I often try to infuse my own tweets with memorable yet whacky, unexpected twists. There is no way, though, that I am the sole proprietor of this paradigm shift. So much of existence is now mediated through cellular devices; individuals are so hung up on documenting every aspect of their day that every waking moment has now become mineable for content. But if one constantly spends life trying to condense it to fit within a pithy character limit, is one truly even living? You’ll have to check my Twitter page to find out. Don’t worry — I no longer tweet about hula-hoops.
TCDS’ 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee casts spell Strong cast shines in quirky musical Jeffery Chen VARSITY STAFF
Some may enter the theatre thinking that if spelling bees are hard enough to sit through, to make one a musical must be an act of audience cruelty worthy of M. Night Shyamalan. The Trinity College Drama Society (tcds)'s production of the Tony Award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee, however, proves that the concept can not only be dazzlingly funny, but can also serve as an insightful, if irreverent, portrait of academic competition. Winner of the 2005 Tony for best book, Bee casts six quirky adolescents against each other in a spelling contest. Instead of devolving into cutesy schtick, the writers took the time to develop what at first seem like conventional character tropes into human, lovable characters. According to Hannah Lazare, who plays one of the key spellers,
Olive Ostrovsky, “What sets my character and this musical apart is how identifiable the characters are, especially Olive, who’s the one you’re supposed to identify most with among all the other crazy characters.” This musical could not be further from the tcds’s production of Sondheim’s Into the Woods last spring. Unlike Sondheim’s work, Bee prefers not to dwell on the deeper recesses of human emotion and instead maintains a peppy optimism throughout. Though cute, Bee falters at times from lyrics that are to Sondheim what Olive Garden is to Italian cuisine. As the title song goes: “We’re living out our dreams, which is a very nice, very nice, very very very nice, very nice, very nice, very very very nice, very nice beginning.” Despite this, the stellar cast and performances elevate Bee into a lovable, hilarious comedy that is definitely worth watching. Spelling B seems an underestimation of this production; it’s definitely an A.
This ensemble musical marks TCDs' last show of the season. COURTESY OF SOFIA JELOVAC/TCDS
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
var.st/arts
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
19
Don’t be afraid to blend Makeup tips and tricks, and three looks to fit every occasion Article by Rose Tornabene Photos by Jennifer Su
Everyday:
Night:
Colourful:
Update your usual cat eye liner by adding two wings. This keeps it simple and not too adventurous, but still brings something exciting to your day. Go for a bold lip to really make your look pop.
Despite how much we all say we hate glitter, we know that’s not true. Use makeup with shimmer in it to brighten your eyes and lips — and hey, why not add some crystals while you're at it?
Don’t be afraid to mix colours. Blend. Layer. It all will come together and you’ll end up having a mini masterpiece on your eyelids.
OFFERING $10 UNIVERSITY STUDENT RATE WITH VALID STUDENT ID FOR ONSITE TICKET SALES ONLY
Makeup is something to explore and experiment with. Yes, we all remember our first introductions to makeup that included too much blush or too much black eyeliner, but by now we’ve learned that a little can go a long way. With this in mind, here are some looks that embrace those faults of our past and let them shine. These looks are versatile and can be changed to your liking, but they give you an introduction to makeup for different occasions. Consider establishing your own classic, everyday look. Keeping it simple is key for busy students; you can apply this makeup quickly in between a long night at Robarts and morning classes to keep you looking fresh. For going out, try going for something that isn’t a typical dark look; instead embrace your inner ethereal fairy. Lights will bounce off your glittering eyes and make you stand out in the crowd. For the last look, get colourful. Whoever said you can’t have a bold lip and a dark eye has clearly never tried it. Try this when you’re feeling confident or celebrating the completion of that last essay.
The basics: û Primer is your friend. Yes, it may be pricey, but hell, does it make a difference. Bleeding lipstick will quickly become a thing of the past. û Put concealer under the eyes, on spots, and on anything that you feel needs more coverage. Trust me, it’ll help mask last night’s all-nighter.
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û White or light shimmery eyeshadows in the inner corners of your eye or on your waterline can make you look like you aren’t running on countless coffees. û Fill your brows in with eye shadow using an angle brush or an eyebrow pencil — or both, if you want a more dramatic look. Everybody loves brows, so it’s time you start showing them some more love. û Wait to put foundation on until after you’re done with your eyes. You don’t want to have eyeshadow fall-out under your eyes or on your nose and have to wipe away your foundation. Same goes for that eyeliner that happened to graze your face. û Always put on lipstick last. Use a liner, especially for brighter and darker colours.
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
20 Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
Choosing music Examining the lives and goals of U of T’s music students
arts@thevarsity.ca
“The professional faculties are so intensive and unique and separate from the Arts and Science shenanigans that they’re kind of separate worlds,” explains Mathias Memmel, co-president of the Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association, when asked about the Arts and Science community’s relative lack of knowledge of U of T’s professional faculties, such as Music and Architecture. The Varsity spoke with several students in the music faculty to learn more about their lives as students tucked between Philosopher’s Walk and U of T Law, and how their studies will shape their imminent entry into the “real world.”
Article and photos by Maya Wong
MATHIAS MEMMEL
Third-year, voice performance Double major, political science & computer science
LIAM WEST
Fourth-year, music education, instrument focus: piano
SARA CONSTANT
Fourth-year, comprehensive (courses in theory, musicology, performance, and education), instrument focus: flute
CARA TORS
Fourth-year, history/theory, instrument focus: piano
TATJANA JALUVKA
Fourth-year, music education, instrument focus: piano
Choosing music
Choosing music
Choosing music
Choosing music
“When I applied to university, I was all over the map. I applied to [international relations], [political science], a bunch of commerce programs, and music. I got into all my programs but felt that going to business school was something I could do at any point in my life, whereas music was time sensitive. It’s the type of thing that you have to do physically, when you’re younger. That training has to start at an earlier age. So that was kind of the rationale [behind my decision].”
“[In high school] I loved music, but I wasn’t as good as other people. I got to Grade 12… and I said to my parents, ‘I don’t know what to do. I love teaching, I love music, I’m writing songs all the time now.’ So I took a year off because I was pretty bad at piano. I got relatively good and got in here. I was like, 'U of T has a reputation, it’s really cool, [I] met some of the professors, I want to study there and get good'.”
“Music has been a big part of my family life since I was little. I sort of picked up the flute in middle school band and ended up just carrying on with it.”
Favourite class
“I applied [to] life sciences but in the middle of Grade 12 I thought, music’s kind of fun, my sister didn’t have such a good time in life-sci, so why don’t I try applying to music? I got in and thought, well I might have more fun in music than life-sci.”
“[It was a] very difficult process. My parents started me in piano when I was six and I used to go to Rochester every two weeks to study at Eastman [School of Music]. I was serious about piano and getting my qualifications. I played in Kiwanis festivals and always did well so music just seemed like a natural thing to follow.”
Favourite class
“Multi-modal education. [It] focuses on different educational music approaches. Using improv, songwriting, technology in the classroom because that is something that’s seriously lacking in all the basic education courses at U of T."
After graduation
After graduation
“[It] teaches you a lot about yourself and teaches you how to be the best version of yourself because it requires so much of your own commitment and you have to put so much of yourself into [your] work… I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who comes out of the program and doesn’t know themselves [and their work ethic] a little better.”
Choosing music
“In performance, within classical music, you have these different genres — German song, French song, Italian song, and such. We’re given a master class for each of those so they kind of end up all smushed together, and collectively they’re wonderful.”
After graduation “My plan is probably to go to law school… it’s a way of bridging computer science and code and the music industry, especially with contract and copyright law.”
Lessons learned “You are responsible for learning your music. You’re responsible for integrating your technique. You also learn to work in chamber music environments. In an ensemble situation, you can get away with not doing anything so it’s a good test of character to see whether or not you are motivated and self-disciplined enough to focus and bring your best effort forward despite working in a team environment.”
Ideal career “So long as I’m in a situation where I can still performh and still influence what’s happening in the arts community and contributing to that and fostering future growth there, that’s I guess the dream.”
Favourite class
“I got accepted to U of T’s music tech program. Next year is the first year that it’s happening. It’s perhaps more college-related, more practical. There’ll be studio time, writing music for film. Personally, I’m taking a bit of my composer side and tech side, and saying this is going to allow me to write some music and continue to work with other people here who are really good.”
Lessons learned “I think you learn to interact with people at a whole other level, which becomes the music business because it’s all about your portfolio and being able to sell who you are, what you do, your music, whatever lines up with that. So we’ve kind of been set up to be able to do that.”
Ideal career “I’m still sort of open. I love teaching so I’m always going to teach and no matter how much production I do or how far I go with recording other people, I’ll always want to teach.”
De-stress music
De-stress music
“I love Elgar’s 'Enigma Variations'.”
“James Blunt, ‘Into the Dark’. Or I write my own music.”
“Contemporary music ensemble course. I really like contemporary music. It’s the field that I’d like to focus on in my studies after U of T. It’s been loads of fun…We do a couple concerts a year and it’s all more recent repertoire.” “Hopefully graduate school in the fall. I’ve applied to programs in musicology, focusing on contemporary music.”
Lessons learned
Ideal career “An emerging truth about having a degree in this kind of field is that it’s not always just a one-job situation… I would like to be involved in a couple [of] different organizations… I’m going to keep playing and practicing. I also work for a music magazine right now so I have a background in journalism and editorial work that I’d like to continue to work with in some capacity. I think not having concrete plans can be kind of a good thing.”
Favourite class “Composing for film. We partner with animators at Sheridan and our class provides the music for their short films. It’s a really cool opportunity.”
After graduation “[I’m] thinking of medical school, but I will always want to keep and use these musical skills. I’ve heard of a lot of people who go into medicine and music and it seems to work out well for them. There’s a cool field called music therapy which shows the effects of music on patients and that might be something I’d be interested in further down the road.”
Lessons learned “Being in an environment where you have a lot of deadlines and you feel a lot of pressure but you learn to meet your goals even when it seems impossible.”
Ideal career “To work four days a week as a doctor but still compose on the side. Basically I would work in the medical field but have time to explore my other passions as well.”
De-stress music “Renaissance music, such as Josquin des Prez's ‘Ave Maria Virgo Serena’, or ‘Flow My Tears’ by John Dowland.”
Favourite class “Music in dance in the 20th Century. It’s very interesting… A lot of [ballet] music is written with these constraints imposed by the choreography that non-ballet composers aren’t used to.”
After graduation “Taking a year off, looking for internships and maybe return to school for more qualifications or get a job in human resources.”
Lessons learned “[It] teaches you self-discipline and time management. You have to figure out how your entire day will work. Being a musician, in an ensemble, you also have to work with others. There may be different views about how [a] piece should be but you have to get along with other people and figure out how to get what everyone wants.”
Ideal career “Combining my love of music with sales and marketing… or get into arts administration. Like working as an administrator for the coc [canadian opera company], scheduling tours and promoting. I’m thankful I did my undergrad in music because no matter how old I am, I can always teach piano.”
De-stress music “Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 in D-flat Major”
var.st/arts
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
21
“You have to take care of it yourself” Emerging artist Nathan Shaw discusses his musical career as electronic artist Ekali
Nathan Shaw has made a name for himself as an electronic musician without the help of a manager. COURTESY OF MICHELLE EDWARDS/FLICKR BY CC
Corinne Przybyslawski VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
When the Internet was first invented, no one could have known how important it would become to the arts, or how many independent artists would have their first success on the web. Distinct breeds of fashion, literature, and music have all been carved from the nostalgic database that is the Internet, leading to an inevitable oversaturation of patterns in trends such as normcore, alt-lit, and the use of Soundcloud to distribute music. When we look at music specifically, the problem that arises is how accessible the net is to any given bedroom producer. The issue at hand then becomes not only oversaturation in the Internet’s market, but the lack of originality in the material being published. The aim of most contemporary producers is to emulate the trend receiving the most attention; it’s difficult to stand out, even if the sonic resemblance is not intentional. However, when an artist does manage to stand out, the surge of positive attention is immediate and immense — as has been the case with Nathan Shaw, or, as he’s known is the world of electronic music, Ekali. Bassist to Juno Award winning band Said The Whale, Nathan Shaw has tackled multiple facets of the music industry. As Ekali, he’s had his original track “Unfaith” sampled on Drake’s latest mixtape, hit nearly 25,000 followers on SoundCloud, and had his Internet presence boosted by the mass hype surrounding his aggressive “Blessings” remix. The electronic musician maintains an artistic integrity that surfaces in the structural intricacies of his work,
his genuine knowledge (as demonstrated in his in-depth Reddit ama), and the engineering of the heavy-hitting kicks that brand his sonic aesthetic. He was kind enough to speak with The Varsity in the midst of his on-going tour. The Varsity: How did the Drake sample come about? Nathan Shaw: I have no idea how Drake heard it; I have no idea how [PartyNextDoor] found it and sampled it. I found out about the song about a week before the album came out. It all happened very quickly. I didn’t have a manager — I still don’t — so it was a bit stressful. I had to deal with all [of it] myself. It’s affected me pretty drastically. I’ve had a lot of people hit me up; I’ve gained a lot of momentum. TV: How do you feel about it when people ‘hit you up’? When does it border on annoying? NS: It depends on how they do it. I’m a firm believer in it that if you want to collaborate with somebody, you don’t just ask them. My least favourite thing is when an artist links me their song. I never ever check those because I get a bunch of them everyday. I just don’t find it very personal or meaningful. My first collaboration was with Maximus mmc from Flo Fi. We had been chatting on Twitter before we decided to collaborate and, for me, that’s what works the best. You earn that respect, and you respect each other before you start working. TV: Obviously there are artists you’ll communicate with but maybe not align with artistically, so what qualifies an artist as a collaborator for you? NS: Something special. If I hear someone’s music and it’s got something that I think I could
meld well with, I’ll pursue it. There are so many people chasing trends right now that it’s sort of hard. I don’t hear much special music these days. Everybody is just sort of biting each other. I think it’s up to the individual artist to develop their own sound; and have confidence in their sound; and be like, yes, this is my sound, this is what I want to do, I want you to be a part of that. TV: Are there any artists out there right now that you feel are really pushing that forefront and pushing their own sound? NS: For sure. Right now, Geotheory is one of my favourites. He’s got his own sound, it’s this brilliant, really lush synth sound that a lot of people are trying to imitate but no one is really getting it right. He’s paving the way on his own. Then there’s Pomo, who I actually played in a band with when I was younger. I played in a band with Pomo when I was 14; I’ve known that guy for a long time. He’s one of the most talented people in the scene in my opinion. TV: Do you consider yourself more of a natural instrumentalist or do you feel more attached to the electronic music? NS: I feel a bit of both; it’s a different feel. When I make electronic music, it’s a different kind of satisfaction than when I play an instrument. I’m a bass player by trade, so for my band I was writing the bass parts and playing the bass parts live, which was cool, but I always had this thirst to create a whole song of my own. Eventually I’d like to merge the two; the ultimate is to feel both at the same time. Being able to shave that electronic freedom and programming which I love but also incorporate playing instruments, merging the two together is what I want to have.
TV: For kids who are coming up on the scene, do you feel that it’s more beneficial to start out as a DJ and get a feel for song structure, or dive into production and tame their weird? NS: I think that both work differently. If you start out as a dj, you understand song structure more — or you understand club song structure more. When you’re playing a dj set you’ll learn matching 16-bar breakdowns with 16-bar build-ups, you can translate that into your production. Song structure for me is so important, and learning how to progress the song from start to finish. You learn that by playing songs out and learning how people react to it. Producing first and going into djing, you’ll have a greater respect for different sounds, and introducing different sounds to people. TV: What are the benefits of being a selfmanaged artist? NS: The reason that I don’t have a manager right now is because I feel like I don’t really need it. I’m self-driven and I have that drive to succeed. It’s a big decision grabbing a manger because usually you sign on for two years, typically at 15 per cent. The scary part is that it’s usually for two years on a contract, and in a year, you could outgrow your manager. They could be not as useful to you as you need them to be, but they’re still taking the cut of whatever you’re doing. Traditionally in a band, your first step once you gain some traction is to get a manager and a pr person. As a solo electronic artist, it’s standard for you to take on all of that yourself for the first stage of your career. It’s really important that you care about that and excel at that. Branding, marketing, booking — all of that. You have to take care of it yourself.
Science
VAR.ST/SCIENCE 23 MARCH 2015
science@thevarsity.ca
In conversation with Sachdev Sidhu
Molecular genetics professor wins award for protein engineering research good job at U of T, for example, [in] funding ... but we have a very poor record of getting private funding. So in a nutshell that is the goal. TV: Did you always know you wanted to do this aspect of research within biotech, as opposed to academia? SS: No, not really. Especially in Canada ... a lot of people aren’t even aware that [biotech] is an option. I went to Genentech to do a postdoc, which ended up being a lot longer. I wouldn’t say it was accidental, because, for example, even though U of T is a huge university, easily competitive to the best schools in the United States, students here and across Canada are much more naïve about biotech. It’d be very rare for somebody to have a plan in Canada to want to get into biotech. It’s been 20 years since I started and it’s rare to see that. In the Bay area, it’s typical for students to already be thinking about biotech, but I think in Canada it’s fair to say you have to kind of luck into it.
ing cancer cell growth. The second one is interesting ... you can turn on signals that induce cell death of Bcell lymphomas ... And the third way is [when] an antibody acts as a marker for the natural immune system. As you know, antibodies recruit Tcells. There’s a fourth way, [using] an antibody to target cytotoxic drugs, [which] is a delivery mechanism. The nice thing is this gives you a lot of different ways to use antibodies, as opposed to small molecules, [which] are the other big sourceof drugs. [Small molecules are] much more limited and typically act inversely — they down-regulate and inhibit proteins.
TV: What challenges have you had to deal with in developing CCAB from the ground up and how have you overcome them? SS: It’s just attracting the business ... I think we’ve had success recruiting people from Boston and San Francisco, which is actually very rare. So we have to get people to move from other places, which is not trivial. I’d say that’s the biggest thing. You need all the pieces of the puzzle, you can’t just say you have the greatest science. Another [challenge] is getting American investors to take Toronto seriously. We have to do a lot more work than a typical American company, to get the investors comfortable ... It’s still kind of the beginning, so it’ll take another five years minimum to get stuff to work and commercialize. So people are relying on you to remain committed, and Toronto doesn’t have a good reputation for that. We do great science, but we’re not doing a lot of translation ... Another thing is [that while] we have the money, you can’t train people in a reasonable amount of time; you need a [certain] skill set to actually attract people from very competitive cities.
TV: As the CEO of the Centre for the Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics (CCAB), tell me a little about CCAB and what it hopes to accomplish. SS: To make money from antibodies, which is a thing that’s done all over the world. Antibodies earn more than $50 billion a year, and will probably get to $100 billion in a decade. Firstly, almost none of that is in Canada, so [ccab is trying to] get commercial benefits from research in antibody therapeutics, which people in academics often forget that at the end of the day there’s only two sources of money: government or private pharmaceutical[s]. Canada does a
TV: Do you believe Toronto can be a really good biotech hub in the future, like San Francisco or Boston? SS: Yeah, anything is possible and things can change very quickly in the industry. You have to have a pattern of success, and one company can’t do that. But it’s actually quite exponential, if we get a few key pieces in place. And that’s the thing, to attract more money you have to get more people [with the skills to do it], then hopefully they’ll attract more people. So, it’s feasible but it’s not trivial ... ccab is one starting point but realistically, even if everything was successful now, we’re not going to be getting new drugs coming out of this for
Dr. Sachdev Sidhu. PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. SACHDEV SIDHU
Simran Dhunna VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Dr. Sachdev Sidhu, a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, recently won the prestigious Protein Society’s 2015 Christian B. Anfinsen Award for his cutting-edge research in protein engineering. Sidhu is also a founding member of the Centre for Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics (ccab), a biotech company established last November with the aim to provide new antibody-based therapies. This was a big boost for the Ontario biotech sector, and ccab already has antibodies targeting cancer and other diseases in their development pipeline. In this interview, Sidhu speaks to The Varsity about his biotech company and the rise of tech startup culture. The Varsity: Antibody therapy is an emerging and effective method to target cancer. Can you explain how it generally works to kill cancerous cells in humans? Sachdev Sidhu: It’s beyond emerging; it’s actually one of the major methods currently available to target cancer. There’s typically at least two ways that antibodies work. One is by targeting signaling pathways on the cell surface and then shutting down the signals ... So you actually down-regulate signals that are caus-
another [few] years, so we still need further funding, [which] we’re trying get the government to [commit to] ... It has to be a sustained effort. Again, Canada has a tendency to think that once it’s done, it’s done, but this is something that doesn’t have an end to it. Especially in other cities — Shanghai, San Diego, Singapore — there’s a lot of competition. It’s not like Toronto is the only city that’s noticed that we should be doing more biotech. It has to be consistent, and we’ll see if that happens ... I think the key is, will other groups do similar stuff? Otherwise, it’ll be very good for us and good press, but sustainability is key and we’ll see if other groups can take on the challenge. TV: For students who are interested in the intersection between science and business, what are the necessary skills one should have in order to attain the kind of career that you have? SS: ... It’s only in the past couple of decades with genomics, ironically, that there’s been this disconnect between academics and so called industry. If you think about it, going back to [the discovery of] insulin ... it’s not fundamental science or practical science, it’s obviously both. The polio vaccine, penicillin and Flemming… all of these are key examples of how there really wasn’t an intersection between academics and industry. I think that’s the mistake we all make: we do genomics, we do the academics, industry does this, and we occasionally have to intersect. ... I mean, this applies in computer science and physics. Was Nikola Tesla a fundamental scientist or was he an engineer? This is not a sensible question to ask. And oddly in biology we ask this question, which I think is very self-defeating. A lot of my colleagues in academics are quite guilty of asking students, ‘do you want to be in fundamental science or do you want to go into industry?’ If somebody asked Banting and Best that, we wouldn’t have insulin. I don’t think they were thinking ‘although now it’s getting practical, last week our research was fundamental, and a month from now it’s going to get industrial.’ If you read the history of insulin, none of these guys ask, “Am I doing hypothesis-driven science now or am I doing a fishing expedition?” All these words that have crept into science are completely self-defeating. It’s like somebody asking Bob Dylan if he’s a rock singer or a folk singer, but that’s going way back. These aren’t sensible questions. And it’s unfortunate that a lot of the faculty everywhere kind of imposes that on students ... There’s literally hundreds of examples where the best science has never been practical or fundamental, basic research or applied research. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Addressing Causes of Stigma and Promoting Discussion at Universities Hosted by the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Student Union, this seminar features guest speakers including Janine Robb, the executive director of Health and Wellness, and Andrea Levinson, an assistant professor at the Department of Psychiatry at U of T Tuesday, March 24 5:30 –7:30 pm Medical Sciences Building Room 2170 Free; no registration necessary
Amref Health Africa Coffeehouse Speakers Series on Global Development This seminar specifically focuses on the topic of “Preventing the Preventable: Breaking Down Barriers to Vaccine Delivery in Africa,” and features a keynote address from Dr. Ken Simiyu, who is the program officer at Grand Challenges Canada Wednesday, March 25 6:00 pm–8:00 pm Centre for Social Innovation, Annex The Garage — main floor at the back Free; register on Eventbrite
Toronto Wearables Meetup 32 Attend this gathering of wearables enthusiasts hosted by OCAD University, whether you’re an engineer or just interested in the fashion Wednesday, March 25 7:00 pm–9:00 pm Social Body Lab, OCADU Free; register on Eventbrite
Neutrophils in Cancer — When Yin Becomes Yang This seminar, organized by the Faculty of Dentistry, features Dr. Zvika Granot from the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada Thursday, March 26 1:00 pm–2:00 pm Fitzgerald Building Room 237 Free; no registration necessary
A Climate for Change: Conference on Policy and Social Responsibility 2014-2015 Hosted by the Climate Impact Network, this conference features a distinguished lineup of speakers including 350.org founder Bill McKibben Saturday, March 28 9:00 am–2:00 pm Earth Sciences Centre Room 1050 Cost varies; register on Eventbrite
VARSITY SCIENCE
var.st/science
Université d’Ottawa
|
University of Ottawa
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
23
“Injured but not down, disabled but capable” PTSD and anxiety discussed at Massey Grand Rounds “The Science of Stress” symposium
Already Applied? Further explore your graduate program. Travel grants available to come and meet with us.
www.discoveruOttawa.ca
General Roméo Dallaire. COURTESY OF JUSTIN LAM
Nadezhda Woinowsky-Krieger ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITOR
With term paper due dates right around the corner and exam season immediately after, the ninth annual Massey Grand Rounds (mgr) symposium last week brought to our attention a topic that is currently extremely relevant to all our lives: stress. Titled “The Science of Stress,” this year’s conference aimed to specifically highlight the scientific basis for, and approach to, stress and anxiety. In addition, talks also included discussions on how to minimize the stigma associated with mental health problems, as well as the state of anxiety within the U of T student body. The symposium opened with a keynote address from retired Lieutenant General, senator, and author of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Roméo Dallaire. He discussed his own experience of living with post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) following the witness of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Dallaire’s lecture was also available for livestream through the Munk School of Global Affairs website. At the heart of Dallaire’s talk was his frustration with mental health stigma among the veteran community. He explained that subtle changes in language can help overcome this stigma. These changes can also encourage those suffering from ptsd following the witnessing of violence and conflict-related atrocities to seek the help that they need. “I will emphasize that I am not a person with a disease, nor am I a person with a sickness, I am a person with an injury,” Dallaire said, explaining how comparing his ptsd to other types of injuries acquired on the field can help military personnel accept that they are in need of professional care as much as anyone else is. “It is only when we articulated that it was an
operation stress injury that then the doors opened,” Dallaire continued, adding, “And then the argument was defendable in front of them — that this was an honourable injury.” With the powerpoint slides behind him reading “Injured but not down, disabled but capable,” Dallaire went on to emphasize that in addition to a shift away from stigma, those suffering from the honourable injuries of ptsd and anxiety are in need of more regular peer support in order to help take the steps they need to find the professional care required to function in their day-to-day lives. He also emphasized that institutions who place individuals in stress-inducing situations should be responsible for providing this. “The peer support is the instrument to guarantee the continuum of an individual who will go and get that professional help,” Dallaire said, adding, “There have been enormous amounts of problems with doing that, again [for] people particularly from a Darwinian organization, that is very visible, like military or police and so on… even peers in the classrooms.” “It is preposterous not to recognize that your injury needs the same sense of urgency and support as if you had busted your finger or lost an arm,” Dallaire said, adding, “They’re on the same scale.” The symposium continued in the Massey College building with plenary talks from Dr. Anthony Feinstein, professor at the Department of Psychiatry, and Dr. Evelyn K. Lambe, professor at the Department of Physiology, both at the University of Toronto. After a ten-minute mindfulness exercise, in which everyone who attended participated, the symposium continued with a panel on stress mechanisms and management in student life. The panel included talks from Jannine Robb, Executive Director of Health & Wellness at U of T, and Dr. Benjamin Goldstein, an associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry at U of T.
24 Vol. CXXXV, No. 22
VARSITY SCIENCE
science@thevarsity.ca
Vogt Medal awarded to U of T professor Pierre Savard honoured for his contributions to the discovery of the Higgs boson Jeremy Li VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
A U of T physics professor was awarded a medal earlier this month for his contributions to the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Vogt Medal for Contributions to Subatomic Physics recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to subatomic physics in Canada. It was awarded to professor Pierre Savard earlier this month by the Canadian Association of Physicists in conjunction with triumf, Canada’s national laboratory for particle physics. Savard is a leading particle physicist and a member of U of T’s Experimental Particle Physics group. He is one of several U of T faculty who are active members in the Large Hadron Collider collaboration (lhc). Located on the border of Switzerland and France, the LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator. The accelerator is a continuous machine that spans a 27-kilometre circular tunnel — about the length of the ttc’s BloorDanforth line. Construction of the collider cost several billion dollars, and required the collaboration of around 10 thousand scientists and engineers from more than 100 countries. The sheer scale makes the LHC the largest and most complex scientific experiment of the modern age. In the lhc, subatomic particles are accelerated to enormous energies and speeds close to the speed of light. Housed in subterranean caverns along the accelerator are massive detectors in which the particles are made to collide in the hopes of discovering new particles.
Large Hadron Collider. MEDIA PHOTO
“If you’re familiar with Einstein’s famous E=mc2 equation, you can transform energy into mass. We start with two protons, we collide them together and out of this collision we create new particles, new matter,” says Savard. In 2012, the lhc stunned the scientific community when two separate detector projects on the accelerator independently confirmed the discovery of the most soughtfor particle in particle physics — the Higgs
boson. Proposed independently by two scientists in the 1960s, the Higgs boson fills in an essential piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. The Higgs boson and its associated Higgs field is responsible for explaining why particles have mass. “What’s really important, in fact, is not necessarily the Higgs boson but the Higgs field. Because all our particles, our electrons, our quarks, or whatever, they feel this Higgs
field everywhere in the universe, and by feeling this Higgs field they acquire their mass,” explains Savard. Savard co-led the Higgs boson group of the atlas experiment, and was part of analyzing one of the Higgs boson’s key decay modes. He also led the analysis team that confirmed the spin-zero nature of the particle, which is important in establishing that the discovered particle is consistent with the Higgs boson described by the Standard Model. “It’s the first particle, fundamental particle, that we found that had no spin, and this we measured by the way that it decays and is produced — it has the properties of a Higgs boson,” says Savard. “All the tests that we’ve done make the particle that we’ve found consistent with the Higgs boson of the Standard Model,” he adds. Savard is one of the several members of U of T’s Experimental Particle Physics group, which produces a large share of Canada’s contribution to the LHC project. The accelerator is restarting, possibly this week, after a two-year shutdown for upgrades. Scientists at the LHC are trying to reach higher collision energies than ever before in a search for new particles. Among other things, the experimental physics group is working on improving the equipment and instrumentation that makes this possible. “There are a few things that we know are out there for sure that we haven’t found,” says Savard. “We might find something that finally shows that the Standard Model is indeed flawed. We could break it, we could find something that is not predicted by it, or that one of its predictions is wrong.”
Students compete to develop clean, humanpowered designs Undergraduate club InnovaMasters hosts second annual design competition Haman Mamdouhi VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
This past weekend InnovaMasters, a student run club with goals of fostering leadership and arming youth with the tools to find creative solutions to real world problems, kicked off its second annual design competition. “Dedicated to unleashing the innovative potential of youth,” InnovaMasters revealed this year’s theme: “Power from Humans — How might we use human motion to generate clean energy,” challenging youth to find human-powered sources of energy hidden among everyday activities. The event showcased four projects, each presented to the judges at the conclusion of two-day competition, as though the students were “pitching their prototype to investors,” Alice Zhu, cofounder and president of Innovamasters explains. “We wanted to teach participants the engineering design process, which is ideate, synthesize, prototype, test and improve, all in an iterative process,” Zhu says. She emphasizes that this design process is “a skill needed by all social entrepreneurs.” The competition began with a lecture from speakers to arm the students with the necessary tools to tackle the competition’s challenges. Erica Lee Garcia, venture leader at Engineers Without Borders, described how the engineering process is much more than just building objects, but a method of answering complex questions. Joseph Wilson, Senior Strategist for the MaRS Discov-
ery District, gave students advice ahead of their presentations. As the participant handbook outlines, “[InnovaMasters] want to provide participants with genuine design experience, and thus we ask teams to generate a prototype,... virtual or tangible.” Then, with the aid of mentors, the team had two days with a budget of $30 to brainstorm and develop their prototype. Each team was then judged on their presentation skills, the viability of their design, their creativity, and the feasibility of their business model. The teams were selected from a pool of applicants demonstrating a passion for innovation, solving problems in society, and a passion to learn. “We want participants to develop presentation skills and business modelling skills, and to have fun, while becoming more aware of social issues,” Zhu says. The competition crowned Team Piezoelectricity, comprised of Aaron Pan, Lily Wang, and David Wang, as the winner. The trio developed an innovative design to install piezoelectric material in subway station floors to capture the kinetic energy of people stepping on them. Their prototype earned them the grand prize of a tour of Pueblo Science — a charity promoting scientific literacy in communities lacking resources — in addition to getting the opportunity to have lunch with its founders. Other noteworthy projects included capturing energy generated from the use of bicycles, beds, and even urinals. The students participating appreciated the
Alice Zhu (left) president of InnovaMasters with this year’s design competition winners. HAMAN MAMDOUHI/THE VARSITY
skills they learned from taking part in the competition. “It was great being given a problem that exists in the real world, and being able to propose a solution that you can actually implement,” says first-year engineering science student, David Wang. “We were given pretty much nothing to start with — just a vague statement, and we had to make something out of it,” says Wang, adding, “We took
our own interpretation, and grew it into something we could work with.” In addition to the annual design competition, InnovaMasters also runs a weekly leadership workshop where students bring their own innovative ideas to incubate into existing projects. Editor’s note: Alice Zhu is a contributor to The Varsity.
Sports
VAR.ST/SPORTS
23 MARCH 2015
sports@thevarsity.ca
Blues athletes sign with professional teams Graduating hockey players and a football player sign professional contracts Sampson Coutts VARSITY STAFF
Graduating Varsity Blues men’s hockey forwards Michael Markovic and Jeff Brown signed professional echl contracts in late February, following in the footsteps of recent football graduate Aaron Wheaton, who signed with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (cfl) in early January. Markovic was signed by the echl’s reigning champions, the Alaska Aces, who are currently locked in a dead heat with the Utah Grizzlies for the final Pacific Division playoff spot. A hard-working two-way forward, Markovic endeared himself to U of T fans with his selfless play, and finished his Varsity Blues career in elite company as one of only 24 players to surpass the 100-point threshold in the program’s 124 year history. Brown signed with the Brampton Beast, where he has quickly become a fan favorite, scoring five points in his first nine professional games and laying thunderous body checks. At times inconsistent in his three seasons with the Blues, the sniper was fantastic down the stretch when it appeared as though a playoff miss was likely, and even better in the playoffs. Aside from goaltender Brett Willows, who put on a performance for the ages in the first
round against the Ryerson Rams, Brown was U of T’s playoff mvp. Brown was offered the opportunity to play professionally after the Beast’s coaching staff scouted several U of T playoff games, and has been given the opportunity to play with two of the club’s best forwards in Richmond Hill, native Bobby Hughes and Brampton’s Jason Pitton, something for which Brown has expressed gratitude. At a Beast game earlier this month, Brown elaborated on the transition from Canadian Interuniversity Sport (cis) to the echl, communicating that it has been, perhaps, easier than might be expected thanks to the more structured nature of professional hockey: “I think this level suits my play... Guys are a bit faster and hit stronger, but it’s more of a chip-and-chase game [where] you get [the puck] in the zone and create offense off the cycle, whereas sometimes in the CIS it’s more ‘gunslinger’ or ‘run-andgun’ hockey.” Wheaton, drafted twenty-eighth overall in the 2014 Canadian College Draft, signed with the Redblacks following his fifth season with the Varsity Blues. A 295-pound offensive lineman, Wheaton was instrumental in the recent turnaround of the U of T football program, playing 38 games over the past five years. He anchored a young offensive line in his final seasons, earning a spot at the 2013 East West Bowl for his efforts.
Jeff Brown celebrates a goal while on the Blues. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTIN BAZYL
Social media has changed our interaction with sports Fan, athlete, and organization experiences with sports revolutionized by social media Arco Recto VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Social media: it’s a phenomenon. Sports: it’s a spectacle. Social media and sports combined: have unprecedentedly altered the sports landscape. Fans consume information, athletes share information, and brands advertise information from a myriad of innovative social media platforms: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more. It is truly revolutionary. At the collegiate level, sports teams can use social media to inform, engage, and interact with fans. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues have a growing social media presence. With over 400 YouTube subscribers, 4500 Facebook likes, 2000 Instagram followers, and 6000 Twitter followers, the Varsity Blues rely heavily on social media as means of interaction and dissemination of information. Mary Beth Challoner, manager of events, marketing, and sports information for the Blues, underscores how immediacy is one of the most important implications of social media in sports: “The most profound implication is the immediacy of which scores and highlights are reported and searched by the fans.” “Gone are the days where a long, written article is sent, or posted, a few hours after the game, detailing the intricacies of the event. There is a constant flow of pre-game and in-
NOOR NAQAWEH/ THEVARSITY
game messaging before the final buzzer or whistle even sounds. It’s a much faster-paced environment. Reports two hours after the game are considered old news or backfill (supplementary information) to the already existing story. 140 characters (or less) and a nice photo with a caption are the trending forces in sports media these days,” Challoner adds. Even for the athletes, their use of social media is not limited to commentary on their sport or virtually conversing with fans — they can employ social media to leverage their personal brand.
Michele O’Keefe, executive director at Canada Basketball, echoes the indispensable impact of social media amongst athletes who have invaluably benefited from social media exposure: “[Canadian nba] players like Tyler Innis, Cory Joseph, Kelly Olynyk, and Andrew Wiggins have greatly benefited from social media exposure compared to players in the pre-social media age.” Indeed, although she notes that those players are exponentially talented already, social media has certainly augmented their personal brand value.
Lauren Howe, third-year engineering student, is also the in-arena host for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She notes how valuable and important social media is to sports organizations: “Social media accounts for sports teams have allowed fans to engage in the ‘full fan experience’. This is a whole new era for people to learn about their favourite teams and favourite athletes more than ever before,” says Howe. “There [is] a variety of sources and news outlets that allow fans to hear about the performance of the game, but by having their own personal account, teams can share a tremendous amount of behind the scenes looks, stories and information to such a widespread audience,” Howe adds. The advent of social media has radically and revolutionarily altered the communication and information dissemination paradigm. In a digital world marked by its transcendental advancements in technology, accessibility and convenience are prevalent. Especially in sports, social media’s role to facilitate news has truly been remarkable. From the perspective of the brand, it allows engagement with fans from all corners of the world. For the athlete, they can upload a video of their incredible performances for the world to be amazed and awed by. And for the fan, not only can they learn about the scores of games in a matter of seconds, but they can also reach out to their favourite team, brand, athlete, or sports hero.
26 Vol. CXXXV No. 22
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Blues athletes compete on Team Canada Many U of T athletes have also represented Canada on national teams Emma Kikulis
Blues who have played on Team Canada
VARSITY STAFF
The University of Toronto is home to some of the most decorated and honoured teams and athletes in Canada — one only has to look at the nine Ontario University Athletics (oua) and Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (cis) banners won by teams this year alone. The talent exhibited by U of T athletes doesn’t go unnoticed by national teams who routinely scout and handpick athletes from a number of sports here at U of T to compete on national teams — representing Canada on the international competition circuit. Not only are the athletes selected to compete for a national team top scorers, fastest time clockers, or owners of the most medals and accolades, but they’re also the athletes who routinely display a superb commitment athletically and academically while simultaneously exhibiting leadership skills on and off the playing rink, court and field. Although being a well-rounded student athlete is not necessarily enough to earn yourself a spot on a national team — there are often specific time-thresholds, goals, scores and points needed in order to be in contention for a spot on a national team. Women’s hockey goalie Nicole Kesteris was named Varsity Blues female athlete of the year in the 2013-2014 season. Additionally, she finished her U of T career with over 50 regular season wins and was named an oua all-star and cis all-Canadian, She was subsequently picked to represent Canada at the Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain this past winter. The Winter Universiade, a bi-yearly competition propagated by the International University Sports Federation (fisu), holds competitions world wide with the goal of “support[ing]… competitions, which give student-athletes the opportunity to come together” while simultaneously “obtaining results at high technical level,” says Kesteris This university-centered competition con-
PAIGE SCHULTZ
women’s swimming Pan Am and FISU Games
AMANDA WOODCROFT
field hockey different international games on Team Canada
COLLEEN HENNESSY cross country FISU Cross Country
NICOLE KESTERIS hockey FISU Games
Nicole Kesteris making a save on the Varsity Blues. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VARSITY BLUES
trasts other national teams which many other U of T athletes have also been handpicked for. Take Varsity Blues swimmer Paige Schultz for example. Schultz was not only picked to represent Canada at the fisu, but also earned a spot on Canada’s 2011 the Pan American (Pan Am) team, where she won a bronze medal as a member of the 4x100 freestyle relay team. Although both are acclaimed athletic competitions, the major difference between the fisu and the Pan Am games is in scope, the former is a competition between student-athletes— one must be enrolled in university in order to be eligible — and the latter is a competition between athletes in the Americas, and is not restricted to university athletes. U of T has also been the academic and ath-
letic sanctuary of a multitude of athletes competing on the world championship and Olympic stage — most notable being Sarah Wells who competed in the 400m hurdles in the London 2012 Olympic games, Alicia Brown who represented U of T and Canada at the 2013 iaaf World Championships and graduate student Donna Vakalis who also competed in London in the modern pentathlon. With impressive statistics like these, its no wonder U of T has won multiple oua and cis banners and is the first stop for athletes. The fact that our athletes have gone on to represent U of T on the international competition circuit is also a sign that, in conjunction with U of T, Canada is a champion and supporter of our athletes as well.
CHRIS MANNING
swimming Team Canada swimmer
DONNA VAKALIS
XC, fencing 2012 Olympian (modern pentathlon)
MARIO KOVACEVIC soccer FISU Games
Taking a dive with the underwater club Hart House Underwater Club in its 54th year Matthew Manhire VARSITY STAFF
Have you ever wanted to breathe underwater, swim with fish, or play hockey at the bottom of the varsity pool? Since 1962, the Hart House Underwater Club (hhuc) has offered high quality scuba diver training courses leading to scuba certification with the National Association of Underwater Instructors, and an amazing schedule of outings for members to explore the depths. The summer dive season is fast approaching in Tobermory, where students can be certified and then go on to explore various Ontario locations like Brockville and Kingston. For the past 14 years, club instructor Rebecca Metcalfe has organized and acted as the trip leader. She is currently busy organizing the upcoming diving adventure to the Caribbean in May. Diving develops many skills, both physical and mental. Aside from the proven fact that the water itself can reduce stress, diving is a relaxing experience as your body improves its circulatory and respiratory systems. Slow, deep breathing is important in
HHUC diving in Little Cayman in the Caribbean. PHOTO COURTESY OF COURTNEY GIBSON
scuba diving to optimize air consumption and bottom time. With this physical benefit is the added soothing effect on the diver’s mind, which
promotes a calm attitude. Underwater is a weightless environment, and drifting through it can give you a feeling of peace and contentment.
“I took the Scuba Diver course with hhuc in the Fall of 2010 with my girlfriend Tammy (now wife). We were both impressed with the club’s approach to safety, community and how friendly everyone was,” says club president Jason Grenier, now in his third term in the position. “Our training continued with the club with Tammy becoming a Divemaster and I just finishing my Instructor course this past January,” adds Grenier. The principle of volunteering is very important to the club as they seek to share the underwater world with as many people as they can. The club has more recently begun offering an excellent opportunity to try out scuba diving for one night which guides students through an intro class and then suits them up for their first experience in the Varsity pool. Grenier finds that the experience communicates another important value of the club; “When people get to see and experience the underwater environment they typically develop an appreciation for just how remarkable and precious it really is. My involvement with the hhuc has been the most beneficial co-curricular activity that I’ve been involved with at U of T,” he says.
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Staying fit this summer Alternatives to a summer gym membership
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Reshara Alviarez ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
With just over two weeks of classes left, it’s difficult not to think about plans for the summer. For those at U of T who currently take advantage of the many on-campus athletic facilities at Hart House, the Athletic Centre, or the Goldring Centre, perhaps you’ve wondered about your new plans for how to stay fit this summer while not enrolled in classes at the university. There are many gyms across the city that offer month-to-month memberships, but sometimes varying your routine can provide great results. Here are some affordable opportunities that can keep you busy while in the city over the summer.
locations for Muay Thai Kickboxing in Toronto, and is located at 152 Augusta Avenue near Kensington Market. Krudar also offers a range of other classes including spinning, bootcamp, kettlebell, and yoga.
NIKE NEIGHBOURHOOD RUNNING CLUBS The Nike neighbourhood running clubs have been gaining popularity in the city over the past two years. The clubs are always welcoming new customers, and are open to all runners, regardless of previous experience. There are four locations, and The Annex club is conveniently located at the Hart House Arbor Room. The clubs are perfect for those looking for a new and exciting way to train for upcoming races or marathons this summer.
KICKBOXING CLASSES
OUTDOOR WORKOUTS
Kickboxing classes are a great way to stay fit while also acquiring a new skill in the company of new and old friends this summer. Most places offer new students the opportunity to enroll in trial classes at a reduced cost in order to determine whether the sport is for you. Krudar Muay Thai is one of the most popular
For those who prefer to engage in individual activities while also taking advantage of the longanticipated heat, there are a range of outdoor workouts that can help you stay active this summer. From biking and hiking to park bench workouts, there is something to fit everyone’s needs.
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