Issue 12, (Volume 144) (December 4, 2023)

December 4, 2023 Vol. CXLIV, No. 12

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THE VARSITY

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NEWS

The Varsity would like to acknowledge that our office is built on the traditional territory of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat, the Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Journalists have historically harmed Indigenous communities by overlooking their stories, contributing to stereotypes, and telling their stories without their input. Therefore, we make this acknowledgement as a starting point for our responsibility to tell those stories more accurately, critically, and in accordance with the wishes of Indigenous Peoples.

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Students note an abundance of leftover food at Burwash Dining Hall.

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Students, faculty plan initiatives to upcycle leftover meals at Victoria College Program in progress to divert leftover food to food banks Eshnika Singh Varsity Contributor

Based on a 2022 Waste Audit commissioned

by U of T, 12.7 per cent of the waste collected at UTSG consisted of food — an estimated total of 342.1 metric tonnes of food waste annually.

Simultaneously, students and people across the city have been facing increasing rates of food insecurity brought on by rising food prices on and off campus, as highlighted in the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) Food Insecurity Report.

Cecilia Xie — a student at Victoria College — and a group of her friends noticed an abundance of leftovers at the Burwash Dining Hall and devised a program to donate this food to food banks across the city. In addition, these students are working with Professor Eva-Lynn Jagoe to establish a café called “Climate Café,” where they intend to give out free food to students.

Food donation plan The Burwash Dining Hall provides Victoria College students three meals on weekdays, and two meals over the weekends. The staff at Burwash immediately discards the leftover food at the end of the day.

Xie told The Varsity that she and others previously worked on a program to use students’

surplus meal plan money to purchase produce to donate. However, this plan focused their efforts on the end of the academic year, so the project did little to save the amount of food that was wasted on a daily basis. Xie pivoted to implementing a system that uses excess food by donating it to various food banks.

As of November 2023, Xie and her colleagues are looking to launch their pilot program. They have reached out to and are working with Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council, the dean’s office, the campus group Student for Collective Resistance, and the dons at Victoria College.

The group submitted a grant application to the Air Travel Emission Mitigation Initiative (ATEMI) project, a U of T program where the university collects funds from a fee on its air travel and uses the money to support initiatives that reduce emissions. Although they are still waiting to hear back, the ATEMI website states that the Sustainability Office will announce ATEMI fund recipients in early 2024.

Climate Café Professor Jagoe, a faculty member in the Spanish and Portuguese department and the Centre for Comparative Literature, leads the Climate Café initiative, which grew out of an undergraduate

research project in summer 2023. The Climate Café program aims to provide free food to students in opposition to a “profit-oriented mindset toward food,” according to an email from Xie. While the Food Donation Program and Climate Café have been in the making for a whole year, the team is still working on securing proper funding and collaborating with the Burwash Dining Hall staff and the university to divert dining hall food to both food banks and the Climate Café.

Seeing the larger picture The UTSU Food Insecurity Report highlights problems faced by students due to rises in prices at New College and Chestnut Dining Halls. The report says, “As meal prices surge, students who cannot afford these increased costs may be forced to skip meals or reduce the quantity and quality of their food intake. This can have profound implications for their physical and mental health, as well as their academic performance.”

Food scarcity and food prices also impact those not living in residence. The City of Toronto website reports that 18.6 percent of Torontonians live in food-insecure households as of 2021.

Xie mentioned the urgency of implementing the two initiatives. “[The] clock’s ticking, meals are being cooked every single day — and they dump things out every single meal,” she said.

Coming out later this week on thevarsity.ca UTSC Faculty for Palestine holds Palestine teach-in

Hyperpop artist SOPHIE’s music glimmers through its hypercapitalist boundaries

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ISSN: 0042-2789

CORRECTIONS: An Arts article published in Issue 5 initially entitled “A review of a U of T alumni power couple’s romance novel” has been amended for accuracy. It mistakenly wrote that the story was set in Toronto, when it is actually set mostly in St. Jerome, a small fictional town in Ontario. The description of Jean Kaladeen’s career was also originally inaccurate, and the review previously misconstrued the protagonist Diana as having taken a hospital job “aimlessly,” which is inaccurate to the plot of the book. These factual errors have been corrected. We’ve also updated some wording, including the title, for clarity, and to clarify that the book bills itself as a “romantic comedy,” not a romance novel. The Varsity regrets these errors.

An Arts article published in Issue 11 entitled “The Victoria Pool Society: A society unlike any other” profiled the Victoria Pool Society (VPS), a club at Victoria College. Earlier this week, VPS announced on Instagram their decision to end their collaboration with VUSAC and therefore their affiliation with Victoria College.

An News article published in Issue 11 entitled “Federal government set to reintroduce 20-hour weekly work cap for international students” has been amended for accuracy. In an earlier version of this article, a UTSU executive said that another school’s student union president would not be able to hold their job without the lifting of the weekly work cap. This was inaccurate; however, some student unions may still not count as on-campus work, and as such, those unions’ executives might be affected by the federal government reintroducing the 20-hour weekly work cap for international students.

A Comment article published in Issue 11 entitled “Opinion: Universities should be required to provide emotional support to students” has been amended for accuracy. A previous version of the article stated that U of T currently offers self-guided counselling, but that the university should expand its resources to offer psychotherapy and referrals to medical professionals. The article has been amended to account for the fact that U of T does currently offer these resources to students, among others, but that mental health resources may be inaccessible in some circumstances.

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DECEMBER 4, 2023

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University Updates: November governance decisions you should know about A resignation, budgets, Annual General Meeting contention, and a failed referendum Jessie Schwalb News Editor

November 7: University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) Vice President (VP) External Neelofar Ahmed resigns eight minutes before a special Board of Directors (BOD) meeting that included a motion to suspend Ahmed for violating the union’s bylaws. Ahmed writes that she’s resigning from the UTGSU because she alleges that the BOD violated union bylaws and that she faced harassment from other executives. An internal report alleges that Ahmed herself harassed staff, including the union’s former Executive Director Amir Moazzami, who cited Ahmed’s actions in his resignation. As of December 3, the UTGSU has an interim VP external, but two of the union’s six executive positions still remain unfilled.

November 10: The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) BOD approves the union and the Blind Duck pub’s operating budgets. For the first time in at least four years, the union projects a net loss for the year, amounting to a $34,450 deficit.

November 13: The UTMSU announces that a referendum asking students to approve a levy that would fund an expansion of the Student Centre has failed.

November 14: The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) holds its AGM. Students vote against a proposal that would have lowered the voter turnout required to pass a referendum, but they approve a motion to increase the amount of money advocates can spend in referendum campaigns. Students also approve a $4.50 increase to SCSU executives’ wages. The union fails to present its financial statement for this past year because it has not completed its audit.

November 19: The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) BOD approves its 2023–2024 operating budget and its May 1– October 31 financial report. According to the operating budget, the union expects to rake in $3,316,890 this year — largely from student fees, health and dental administrative fees, interest and investment income, and revenue

Student groups criticize U of T’s deferred exam fees, absence declaration system Critics say policies encourage attending exams and classes while sick Eshnika Singh Varsity Contributor

As of October this year, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) reports that, according to its Student Needs Survey, 72 per cent of respondents “would consider” going to class or taking an exam sick if they had already used their one allotted absence declaration U of T allows for each semester.

The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS), the UTSU, and student disability advocates have raised concerns about U of T policies that require most students to pay if they want to reschedule exams missed for illness or other emergencies. They are also hoping to pressure U of T to change its Absence Declaration policies so that students no longer need to submit a doctor’s note if they have multiple absences during the semester.

U of T policies on deferred exams According to the U of T Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) website, students who cannot sit for an examination due to “unavoidable circumstances” must, usually within at least five business days of the exam period’s end, submit a petition, to defer their exam — which means writing it at a different time.

Alongside the petition, students must also submit a personal statement outlining their reasons for missing an exam. Students must provide supporting documentation, such as a medical report or death certificate, to substantiate the claims made in their personal statement. Based on whether the faculty determines that the situation was “outside of your control,” it will either grant or reject the deferral.

As supporting documentation, the FAS website suggests that students submitting a petition for health-related issues also submit a doctor’s note or letter from their accessibility advisor.

If their petition is granted, students must pay a deferred exam fee of $70 for one course or $140 for two or more courses in one semester before taking the deferred exams.

The university “may” waive the fee for students

registered with accessibility services or for students who request a deferral as a religious accommodation.

At UTM, students who miss an exam must submit a petition with supplemental documentation within 72 hours of the originally scheduled exam time, along with a deferral fee of $72. Meanwhile, the UTSC policy requires students to submit their petitions within five business days from the exam date. The fee for deferring one exam is $72, and for two or more deferrals, the fee is $144.

According to Alicia Abbott — a fourth-year political science and government student and president of the University of Toronto Accessibility Awareness Club (U-TAAC) — the club has never directly assisted students who had to miss an exam for a reason related to a disability. However, she wrote in an email to The Varsity that she believes the fee might lead students to avoid deferring the exam, resulting in them receiving a lower grade.

Students who defer a FAS December 2023 exam can take the exam from February 20– 23, 2024. Abbott wrote that the long length of time between the end of the course and the deferred exam period disadvantages students because the content won’t be “fresh in their mind.” Students might also lose out on additional resources generally available before exams, such as TA office hours.

“These policies are unjustifiably punishing students with disabilities for circumstances that are out of their control,” wrote Abbott.

The ‘Don’t invoice our illness’ campaign In 2022, the APUS launched the ‘Don’t Invoice our Illnesses’ campaign to advocate for U of T faculties to remove the additional fees students must pay to defer an exam. In an email to The Varsity, APUS Vice-President External Shanti Dhoré wrote that the effort grew from an increased awareness about the importance of social distancing during the pandemic. Recognizing the challenges that come with being sick and isolating for illness, the association voiced its complaints about the fees to the heads of all U of T faculties.

from the Student Commons. The union also Students, primarily engineering students, vote expects to incur $3,699,650 in costs, against the motion, which ultimately fails. for a net loss of $382,760. Wages, club funding, events, and costs associated with the Student Commons account for the largest portions of the union’s expenses.

From May 1 to October 31, the union reports that it received income of $1,930,413.42 and spent $1,538,187.72, with the largest portions spent on events; facility upkeep and management; executive and staff wages; and “people and culture infrastructure” costs such as health benefits and “morale” costs.

The UTSU transfered the fees it owed to the Engineering Society on November 22.

Later that day, the UTSU held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) — a meeting where students vote on bylaw changes and review the union’s financial statements and initiatives.

The UTSU executives put forward a motion to abolish the Student Senate added to the bylaws during the union’s last AGM, hoping to replace it with an advisory committee made up of representatives from various campus groups. ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI/THEVARSITY In a survey of over 250 students conducted by the APUS in 2022, most reported that they would attend an exam even when ill to avoid paying the fee.

Dhoré wrote that she believes it is unjust to make students who are sick on the day of an exam pay more than their peers, noting that it doesn’t match U of T’s “claimed public health principles.” On its Environmental Health and Safety page, U of T outlines that, in terms of health and safety, it “[works] with various U of T groups to ensure that buildings, classrooms, libraries and other campus properties are safe working spaces for students, faculty, and staff.”

Abbott wrote that she would like U of T to remove the deferral fee and potentially involve students in rescheduling their exams. “[Students] are better equipped than the university to determine when they will recover from their flare-up and when they would be fit to take the exam and have it still be an accurate reflection of their knowledge,” she wrote.

In 2020, U of T waived the need for doctor’s notes to support absence declarations for COVID. It has since reintroduced the need for notes. Neither the Ontario Health Insurance Plan nor the University Health Insurance Plan covers the price of sick notes for school or work, which cost $20 according to the Ontario Medical Association’s 2020 guidelines. Dhoré wrote that U of T’s decision to require supporting documentation to prove illness if they want to defer an exam was a “mistake.”

UTSU criticizes broader absence policies At the onset of the pandemic, U of T suspended the need to provide a doctor’s note for absences from class if students experienced flu-like symptoms, instead asking them to declare an absence on ACORN using the Absence Declaration tool.

Starting in the 2023–2024 academic year, the university restructured its policies. Now, students can only use the Absence Declaration tool once during the semester for a period of up to seven days. For other absences, they must submit a doctor’s note.

In the UTSU executive members’ October 2023 report to the Board of Directors, the UTSU called on the university to allow the students multiple uses of the Absence Declaration tool. UTSU Vice President,

Public and University Affairs Aidan Thompson told The Varsity that the university changed the system without consulting the union.

According to Thompson, limiting students to only one absence declaration per semester pushes them to attend class if they fall ill a second time, compromising their safety and the safety of those around them. If students must miss class for a second time, obtaining a doctor’s note can be expensive and unnecessarily expose physicians to illness. Thompson pointed out that burdening students to obtain this documentation goes against the university’s commitment to be “student-centred” and “[prioritize] the mental well-being of students.”

In collaboration with the Arts & Sciences Students’ Union and APUS, over the course of the semester, the UTSU has advocated for U of T to allow students to use the Absence Declaration tool and for more leniency in the verification process for exam petitions. The unions plan to release a joint statement on the subject soon.

U of T has not yet responded to The Varsity’s request for comment.

Students call on U of T to waive deferred exam fees.

AMAREENA SALEH-SINGH/THEVARSITY

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THE VARSITY

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Kenneth Roth discusses free speech in universities.

JESSIE SCHWALB/THEVARSITY

Human rights icon Kenneth Roth says universities should stop commenting on world events Roth gives 2023 CensureUofT lecture discussing the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom Jessie Schwalb News Editor

Many students and advocacy groups have called on the university to express stances on world issues, from the violence in Gaza and Israel to the war in Sudan. But should universities be weighing in on global affairs?

According to former Human Rights Watch (HRW) Director Kenneth Roth, the answer is no.

In a November 16 lecture hosted by CensureUofT — a faculty group that advocates against donor interference and the suppression of speech on Palestine — Roth argued that universities should generally protect and promote an expansive right to freedom of speech but avoid commenting on issues themselves, arguing that statements on world affairs invite donor interference.

Roth prescribed systematic changes to how universities approach free speech, touching on issues such as international student funding, boycotts, convocation speakers, whether speech can constitute violence, and more.

CensureUofT and the annual lecture Faculty members originally formed CensureUofT during the Azarova scandal, which erupted in 2020 when the Faculty of Law allegedly rescinded a job offer to human rights lawyer Valentina Azarova after a donor complained about her writings discussing Israeli settlers’ occupation of the Palestinian territories. At the time, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) officially censured U of T, instructing its members — more than 72,000 teachers, researchers, librarians, and staff across Canadian public universities — to avoid accepting speaking invitations at or appointments to the university.

CensureUofT advocated for the censure, which CAUT lifted in November 2021 after U of T reoffered the position to Azarova.

Around 6:00 pm on November 16, approximately 180 people settled into the Faculty of Law Rosalie Silberman Abella Moot Court Room for CensureUofT’s second annual lecture.

In their opening remarks, Geography and Planning Professor Deborah Cowen noted that the U of T community must remain vigilant about combatting donors’ influence over the university, citing another scandal revealed this year involving Amazon’s donations to U of T. They told the audience, “We’re never about all agreeing on all the answers, but [we can agree] about sharing in a firm commitment to challenging the Palestine exception to academic freedom and to refusing donor and executive power.”

Kenneth Roth — who served for almost 30 years as executive director of HRW — began by discussing his experience as the subject of another hiring scandal, when Dean Douglas Elmendorf of the Harvard Kennedy School vetoed a fellowship offer to Roth earlier this year. A Harvard professor told The Nation that Elmendorf had attributed his decision to HRW’s “anti-Israel bias,” and Roth publicly accused Elmendorf of

appearing to cater to donors to Harvard who were proponents of Israel. After public pressure from students, professors, and human rights groups, Elmendorf reversed course and offered the position to Roth. Elmendorf claims that donors did not influence the original decision to block Roth’s appointment.

Roth acknowledged that the case had a positive outcome but noted that most people facing “censorship” do not possess the same kind of leverage or media connections he had to fight back. Even then, Roth said, at one point, he asked Harvard to release a statement affirming students’ rights to free speech on Palestine and Israel, and the Harvard administration refused. “If anybody was able to stand up to donor pressure, it would be the wealthiest academic institution in the world. And they just would not stand up for principle,” he said.

“My fear is that if universities begin to regularly indulge in this sense of discomfort as a reason to suppress speech, they are going to stop doing their jobs,” he said. “We shouldn’t pander to students by pretending that the issues they’re going to face are always going to be palatable… because they’re not.”

U of T did not directly respond to The Varsity’s questions about how it determines what issues to comment on and how it crafts its public statements. Instead, a U of T spokesperson highlighted U of T’s Provostial Guidelines on Donations, which states that the university will avoid taking donations that compromise its commitment to “integrity, autonomy, and academic freedom.” U of T raised $256 million in pledges and gifts between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023 — approximately eight per cent of its total operating revenue over the same period.

Why universities shouldn’t comment on world affairs Roth then discussed the pressures universities face from donors to comment in a particular way on world affairs. “I have come to the conclusion that it’s in significant part the fault of university leaders themselves that they are facing these kinds of pressures… because they have gotten themselves into the business of commenting on the world,” he said.

Although Roth acknowledged that these statements likely grew out of a desire to show concern for students’ well-being, donors often view themselves as entitled to shape universities’ public statements. He argued for a position popularized in the 1967 Kalven report produced by a University of Chicago committee, saying that universities should avoid commenting on world issues themselves. According to Roth, universities can best continue to address “burning issues” by promoting their faculty’s and students’ speech.

Roth also argued that universities cannot sufficiently uphold students’ and faculty members’ free speech if they themselves weigh in on global events. “It’s only a short step from [donors] saying ‘we want to influence your statement about the world’ to ‘we want to influence what statements happen on campus,’” he said.

Roth suggested that to allow student and faculty autonomy, universities should put up official statements clarifying that community members’ statements do not represent the stance of the university. He stated that universities should maintain a focus on community members’ mental health by regularly sending out messages reminding students of the resources available to them.

In terms of what speech universities should protect, Roth took an expansive view. He advocated against the view that speech could constitute violence, saying that he believed only physical violence could be labelled as ‘violence.’ He told the audience that universities and individuals shouldn’t advocate for limiting free speech merely to avoid listeners’ discomfort.

Government pressures and other puzzles Roth discussed another source of pressure restricting academic freedom on campus: governments. He noted that universities’ increased financial reliance on tuition from international students, particularly those from China, might limit academic inquiry on issues that could damage those governments’ images.

In particular, he claimed, universities reliant on tuition from Chinese international students “have become hypersensitive about criticism of China that might emerge from their campus that Beijing might use to stop those students from coming.”

A March 2020 report by international human rights organization Amnesty International condemned the Chinese government for harassing activists with ties to China or Hong Kong in Canadian universities who raised concerns about its human rights practices.

Roth argued that universities should try to diversify their funding sources, build up reserve funds, and recruit students from various countries to avoid reliance on tuition fees from any one country in particular.

In 2019, the funding U of T received from international students’ tuition surpassed what it received from either domestic students or government grants. As government funding has stagnated and the provincial government has capped domestic student tuition, the university’s reliance on international student tuition has grown. During a 2021 Governing Council meeting, then-Executive Director of Institutional Planning and Budget Administration Jeff Lennon estimated that one-fourth of U of T’s entire operating budget comes from Chinese international students’ tuition.

When The Varsity asked U of T whether the university considered free speech repercussions when planning the recruitment of international students, the university did not directly address the question but instead pointed to U of T’s 2022–2023 Enrolment Report, which says that the university is “committed to diversifying its international enrolment.”

Roth brought up other free speech issues universities might face, such as protests against speakers delivering lectures on campus. He argued that universities should allow people to protest peacefully but should ensure that speakers can exercise their right to speech.

Roth noted that a university’s choice of convocation speaker might imply the institution takes certain viewpoints, so he advocated for universities to outsource decisions on convocation speakers to faculty or student committees. At U of T, community members can nominate convocation speakers, and a committee — which includes the university president, teaching and administrative staff, and students — then makes a final recommendation to the governing council.

Reactions from attendees During the question and answer period, multiple attendees pushed back against Roth’s position, which one attendee described as “free speech maximalist.”

One attendee discussed how universities may undermine people who exercise their academic freedom if they are not held to public commitments. “These statements are not platitudes,” said the attendee. “They are a commitment to the vulnerable, and without them, the university administration will act in very nefarious ways.”

In response, Roth implored the audience to consider what happens when university administrations take stances: “It is not the progressive positions that prevail once donors get in,” he argued.

Amira Dirie — an attendee and second-year master’s student at the Ontario Institute for the Study of Education — wrote in an email to The Varsity that she appreciated Roth’s contributions. She agreed about the importance of not conflating discomfort with a lack of safety. Still, she wished that Roth “left room for the nuance of what is considered harmful/ hateful speech versus what level of speech is necessary to propel discourse.”

At the event, some attendees also asked Roth whether he thought universities should or should not boycott Israeli businesses or universities.

Roth said that universities, like all businesses, have obligations to avoid “complicity in human rights violations” by divesting from companies that violate human rights.

However, he advocated against boycotting Israeli universities, distinguishing between governments and the people. “You gotta look to the people as potential allies to change the government because that’s foremost why governments change — because they’re getting domestic pressure.”

Roth ended by telling the crowd that he sees a “big role” for students in encouraging free speech. He urged them to avoid calling for university statements and to fight donors’ and governments’ efforts to encourage official stances from administrators on world issues.

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DECEMBER 4, 2023

The Breakdown: What repercussions can you face for political speech?

Understanding Canadian laws, U of T guidelines around speech Iva Zivaljevic Varsity Contributor

In high-profile cases across Canada and the US, individuals who expressed pro-Palestinian stances on social media have faced repercussions such as being fired and suspended, sometimes because their employers have alleged their statements perpetuated antisemitism.

U of T’s policies prioritize free speech with limits to maintain a respectful environment. Canadian law protects free speech, but some speech can still impact individuals’ job security. The Varsity broke down some of U of T’s and Canada’s policies and laws governing what speech is protected and where people may face repercussions for speech.

Free speech rules at U of T According to U of T’s Statement of Institutional Purpose and Statement on Freedom of Speech, two key aspects underscore the university’s approach to free expression: the acknowledgment that free speech “can be uncomfortable” and the recognition that free expression depends on an environment of “tolerance and mutual respect.”

U of T emphasizes that it does not allow speech threatening violence. According to the Statement on Freedom of Speech, U of T may intervene if a member of the university uses speech that directly attacks others if it prevents others from exercising their free speech rights or if it “[interferes] with the conduct of authorized University business.”

The statement advises individuals to avoid using language that belittles individuals based on their group characteristics, such as their race and sexual orientation, but states that there may be instances where the need to safeguard lawful free speech precedes “values of mutual respect and civility.”

The Statement on Prohibited Discrimination and

Discriminatory Harassment states that the university “aspires to achieve an appropriate balance between” the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom from harassment and discrimination. As such, U of T does not have a comprehensive code of conduct defining what community members can and cannot say.

The Code of Student Conduct states that U of T must allow peaceful protests and cannot “inhibit freedom of speech as defined in the University.”

However, individuals must comply with the applicable laws of Canada and Ontario.

According to U of T’s 2022 Free Speech Report, U of T students with free speech concerns can reach out to different offices depending on the nature of their concerns. Students can contact the Office of the Vice-Provost if they’re concerned about events hosted by autonomous student groups. Concerns about statements from faculty in an academic or public setting fall under the purview of the Division of the Vice-President & Provost. In cases of discrimination and harassment, students can schedule a meeting with a member of the equity offices to discuss options for resolution, which can include filing a formal complaint or discussing the issue with the accused person directly.

Alums and benefactors can address concerns related to free speech to the Division of University Advancement, which is designed to handle fundraising and alumni engagement. Community members can address governance-related concerns through the Office of the Governing Council.

U of T only received one formal free speech complaint — which can either ask U of T to limit speech or to expand it — during the 2021–2022 school year. The Association of Palestinian Students (APS) brought forth a complaint with specific concerns regarding a non-curricular lecture on antisemitism. The lecture was scheduled to be

UTGSU governance confirms by-election process during Annual General Meeting Union hopes by-election will fill vacant Board of Directors seats Emma Livingstone Graduate Bureau Chief

The University of Toronto Graduate Student’s Union (UTGSU) met on November 28 for its monthly General Assembly (GA) meeting and on November 30 for its monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting.

At both meetings, members mainly discussed the process for holding a by-election to fill 23 vacant director positions — an issue that UTGSU members and the executive raised during its October governance meetings.

The directors elected in the by-election will hold office until April 30, 2024. The positions up for election include seven seats for students from the humanities division, seven seats for the social sciences division, six seats for the physical sciences division, and three seats for the life sciences division.

The election’s nominating period runs from December 1–5. A candidate must obtain at least 15 signatures from UTGSU members to apply as a candidate in the by-election. The voting period will begin at 7:00 pm on December 7, during the union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), and end on December 8 at 11:59 am. Voting will take place online through the Simply Voting platform.

GA meeting During the GA meeting, the membership discussed and passed three motions motivated by member Pria Dobney from the Department of Physics. Two of the motions recommended the UTGSU BOD amend its bylaws to allow the union to fill vacant BOD positions during its AGM.

BOD member Christopher Rodgers expressed concerns about the proposed bylaw changes, given that the GA attendees voted last month in favour of a motion recommending that the BOD refrain from making bylaw changes at the moment given the significant number of vacancies on the Board. Vice President (VP) Finance Zoya Tawhidi argued in favour of it, noting that the membership voted on last month’s motion because of underrepresentation on the board, which this motion hoped to remedy.

The third motion, titled “Members in Bad Standing,” proposed that the BOD add several provisions to Article 10 of the UTGSU Bylaws, which discusses disciplinary proceedings for UTGSU directors and officers. The proposed additional provisions outlined reasons a member might be designated “bad standing” and procedures and sanctions for disciplining the member.

The motion also included a provision that would automatically place any member who had been impeached, suspended, or removed twice in “bad standing” with the union. The motion also stated that if placed in “bad standing,” the member would be barred from acting as a director or officer of the UTGSU. GA attendees argued at length about this motion, and some feared it could be misused. Ultimately, however, all three member motions passed in the GA and went to the BOD for discussion and voting.

Board of Directors The union’s BOD met the same week to discuss the member motions from the GA alongside other

delivered by a guest speaker who the APS claimed had made “offensive” statements in the past.

The group called on the university to postpone the scheduled event and find an alternative speaker given the speaker’s past statements. The university invited the complainants to speak with the AntiRacism and Cultural Diversity Office and ultimately decided to proceed with the event as planned, citing a commitment to upholding the principles of free expression.

Protected speech under Canadian law In Canada, Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms constitutionally protects freedom of expression, granting individuals the “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”

The Constitution allows individuals to express opinions and criticize the government without legal reprisal. However, the Criminal Code restricts hate speech, prohibiting public incitement of hatred

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based on characteristics such as race or religion.

In addition to these provisions, defamation laws prohibit people from making false statements that may harm someone else’s reputation. Obscenity laws prohibit the possession, production, distribution, or sale of obscene materials — meaning materials primarily about sex paired with horror, cruelty, or violence — including photos, videos, or “written matter.”

Free speech in the workplace In Canada, the relationship between voicing a political opinion and job security isn’t straightforward.

The Charter ensures that speech is free from governmental interference, but this protection doesn’t extend uniformly to private, non-governmental employers. In the workplace, these entities often establish their own guidelines and repercussions.

Adding to the complexity, Canadian employers hold the legal right to terminate employees without cause. This means that individuals may face dismissal for expressing a controversial opinion and might not have prior knowledge or warning about it. However, a firing may be unlawful if influenced by features protected by Ontario’s Human Rights Code, such as race and ethnicity.

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, anyone who experiences racial harassment in their workplace can also file a formal complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

FIONA TUNG/THEVARSITY

business that carried over from the previous meeting on October 31.

The directors first discussed a motion for the UTGSU to redesignate the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) as a UTGSU course union. The motion also proposed reworking the GSA’s funding so it could receive the full amount it received before the UTGSU disaffiliated with the GSA in 2019.

The motions both died on the floor after no one seconded them.

The members also discussed the member motions put forward during the GA earlier in the week.

While all three motions passed in the GA, the BOD only passed the first two motions at its meeting.

This means that, at the union’s AGM, members will vote to confirm altering the bylaws to allow for the appointment of interim directors and interim executive officers.

The BOD tabled the third motion regarding “members in bad standing” until the January 2024 meeting. Directors expressed that they wanted more time to discuss how to set up an appeals board structure and to put together a mechanism so members determined to be in bad standing could appeal their case.

The BOD members also discussed and voted

on a motion to hold a by-election for the vacant director positions during the AGM scheduled for December 7.

The motion initially proposed the voting period would take place on December 7 from 7:00–11:59 pm. However, some directors raised concerns that the time period was too short to ensure adequate voter turnout. The BOD members decided to split the voting period provision into a separate motion and passed an amended motion to hold a by-election during the AGM. After some deliberation, the members voted in favour of a motion to extend the voting period until 11:59 am on December 8. VP Academics and Funding for Divisions 3 and 4 Mohammadamir (Amir) Ghasemian Moghadam explained that the union should refrain from extending the voting period any longer for the by-elections, as the staff would need time to ratify the results before the UTGSU closed for the winter term break on December 8.

The UTGSU also passed a motion to hire Songhee Back — a graduate student at the Department of Nutrition Science — as the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) for the by-election. The union is also currently looking to find a CRO for the general election at the end of the winter term.

The UTGSU met for its monthly General Assembly and Board of Directors meetings.

GABRIEL CARTER/THEVARSITY

Comment

December 4, 2023 thevarsity.ca/category/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Israel is hypocritical in pointing out Hamas’ use of unsustainable materials The Israeli government is weaponizing the climate crisis to gain public support Urooba Shaikh Comment Columnist

On October 20, the 13th day of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza strip following the Hamas attack on October 7, prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg posted a picture of herself with some friends on social media platform X. They were holding signs that read “Free Palestine,” “Stand with Gaza,” and “Climate Justice Now.” In the caption of the picture, Thunberg expressed the importance of calling for “an immediate ceasefire” and “justice and freedom for all Palestinians and civilians affected.”

The Government of Israel’s official account on X, managed by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replied to Thunberg’s post, writing, “Hamas doesn’t use sustainable materials for their rockets which have BUTCHERED innocent Israelis. The victims of the Hamas massacre could have been your friends. Speak up.”

In my view, the Israeli government’s response on social media is littered with hypocrisy, as the last 50 days of its bombardment of the Gaza strip — and its recent business operations — have revealed that it seems to have very little regard for climate protection.

Violations of international law aren’t very environmentally friendly Human Rights Watch has verified videos taken in Gaza and Lebanon in early October that show Israeli military operations using artillery-fired white phosphorus. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also used white phosphorous in its bombardment of Gaza from December 2007 to January 2008.

Using white phosphorous — especially in densely populated areas like the Gaza Strip — is illegal under international law because it is classified as an incendiary weapon under Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

When exposed to oxygen, white phosphorous ignites, and the resulting fires and thick smoke can be extremely harmful. As such, the US Environmental Protection Agency has listed white phosphorous as a Hazardous Air Pollutant.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry under the US Department of Health and Human Services has also listed multiple more long-term potential environmental harms from its use, such as the contaminated water and a buildup of white phosphorous in fish, soil, and sediments.

These harms from white phosphorous come on top of the struggles Palestinians have already been facing through fishing limitations and limited access to clean water as a result of Israel’s 16-year-long blockade of the Gaza Strip — and I believe they will have devastating and long-lasting impacts on Gaza’s population.

Destroying farmland isn’t sustainable either According to Al Jazeera, the IDF targets farmlands in Gaza with bombing during times of war in an ongoing pattern; in 2014, Israel’s 51day bombardment of the Gaza Strip destroyed 17,000 hectares of farmland. The IDF has also been documented spraying farmland with pesticides since 2014, killing crops and making land unsuitable for agriculture. At the same time, there is documentation of Israeli settlers setting fire to farmlands and preventing Palestinians

Boycotting is about reconciling with our imperfections and simply trying to make change To what end do we boycott companies and their products?

Divine Angubua Associate Comment Editor

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Lately, as I have walked past the Starbucks locations at UTM, I have noticed the odd emptiness inside these cafés. Where students used to make lines from the cash registers up to the entrance for the sake of a hot americano or an iced chai latte, there is now a pathetic trickle of customers. The sight of a nearly-empty Starbucks at a university campus on a busy Thursday afternoon is jarring, even unmooring.

In a number of countries in the Middle East, there has been a similar spectacle. On any evening, McDonald’s employees in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco might be seen cleaning tables inside empty restaurants during business hours.

After the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the Israeli military’s violent retaliation in the Gaza strip soon after, Starbucks sued its workers’ union, Starbucks Workers United, over posts in support of Palestine’s liberation that included the company’s logo. It accused the workers’ union of ‘harming its reputation’. McDonald’s Israel also announced on its social media that it was giving out free meals to the Israel Defense Forces personnel, and to “all those who were involved in the defense of the state, hospitals, and surrounding areas.”

In early November, the popular Palestinian-led

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement’s published a list detailing “companies that were profiting from the genocide of the Palestinian people.” In the context of mass protests for Palestinian liberation, social media campaigns to boycott these companies generated traction. There were calls to boycott the Walt Disney Company after its donations to Israel; to boycott PUMA for sponsoring Israel’s football association and governing teams in illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land; and to boycott Google and Amazon for supporting Israel with artificial intelligence and other computing technologies in a $1.22 billion contract.

The air was thick with righteous rage. Finally, I felt like change was stirring. Change that grew out of a collective choice; a force with a root. If, as common people, we are powerless against the forces that are waging war in Gaza, I believe we can at least put our money where our morals are and participate in the boycott. If enough people do not walk into Starbucks or pay for a Big Mac, the public pressure on companies may lead to them withdrawing their support for Israel, and there could even someday be no more bombs to drop in Gaza. No more churches or hospitals obliterated; no more bodies burst open in the street; and no more children forced to livestream their tragedies, gazing at us through innocent eyes that have lost the glimmer of youth and now look very, very old.

Sometimes in boycotts, people know what’s going on, and they care, but still choose to support these corporations. A friend of mine insists on

from accessing their olive groves for harvest with violence in the occupied West Bank.

The violence has increased in frequency since the October 7 attack. On October 28, olive farmer Bilal Saleh was shot and killed by an Israeli settler as he was harvesting from his grove in al-Sawiya, a village near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

In 2020, U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council, "Each year, the ability of Palestinians to harvest is compromised due to access restrictions, attacks and intimidation."

One important aspect of Palestinian agriculture is the olive harvest. Olive groves account for 48 per cent of Palestine’s agricultural land and fuel 14 per cent of its economy, and they carry cultural and historical significance for Palestinian families who have been harvesting for generations.

The destruction of olive trees also carries serious implications for sustainable agriculture and the Palestinian economy, not to mention the serious environmental harm from destroying acres of farmland and trees. Some of these harms include reduced carbon dioxide absorption, soil erosion, and food insecurity for Palestinians.

What’s hiding behind the green shield?

The Israeli government’s hypocrisy on social media in pointing out Hamas’ use of unsustainable materials to gain public support has been described as “greenwashing” by organizations such as the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. Greenwashing is a form of advertising where an entity spends more time marketing environmentally friendly aims instead of carrying out environmentally friendly practices. This is often done by companies or governments in an attempt to distance themselves from their neglectful practices.

In the case of the Israeli government, along with the environmental harm it has been causing against Palestinians, its economic ventures suggest to me her daily Starbucks order because she sees boycotting as largely hypocritical — so much of our consumption is already sourced through the blood of innocents, and she would rather not be a hypocrite. The iPhone on which I share my support for Palestine is primarily extracted in Congo — the country bordering my father’s village — through guerilla warfare, child labour, and terror.

So many places, like Congo, deserve our attention and action and get so little. Boycotting is selective and morally gray, and can get exhausting.

That means that our boycotting practice must be specific, focusing on one cause at a time — and since the cultural conversation has centered on Palestine, we must focus there first.

We know from past experience that boycotting works. The Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 was the first large-scale act of protest against racial segregation in the US. After Rosa Parks was arrested, the US Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system and this boycott launched the political career of pastor Martin Luther King Jr. Boycotting works — but, like a spell of magic, it is complex, and can be both good and evil depending on the cause. We recently witnessed the Bud Light Boycott. After Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote their beer, conservatives organized a boycott which cost the company 23 per cent of their sales and their spot as the top-selling beer in America.

In the end, all it takes is time, energy, and talk.

It matters that we keep reminding ourselves about what we are fighting for. Already, McDonald’s Egypt has seen a 70 per cent drop in sales in October and November. Turkey’s government removed CocaCola and Nestlé products from all restaurants on the parliament campus following a public outcry against the brands. McDonald’s Corporation issued a statement expressing dismay at disinformation on their position on the conflict, while its Egyptian branch has pledged $650,000 in aid to Gaza and its franchises across but not

that its front of sustainability is a farce.

Amid the ongoing violence, Israel’s Energy Ministry announced on October 29 that it had given licenses to six companies to search for natural gas reserves off the Mediterranean coast.

This is especially alarming after an Israeli wartime document drafted on October 13 showed plans to transfer the Gaza Strip’s entire population of 2.3 million people into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, as well as other countries in the Middle East. According to Basav Sen, climate policy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies, “The Israeli occupation that we’re seeing is a manifestation of the same process of colonialism that has also brought us the climate crisis.” Just as violent European colonization disrupted sustainable connections with the land for Indigenous people in Canada, I see the Israeli occupation’s violence in Palestine carrying serious implications for the environment and pointing to an even more sinister objective: the expulsion of the population for access to fossil fuels.

What I see as the Israeli government’s false concern for the climate crisis — displayed during what United Nations experts have called “a genocide in the making” — would be laughable only if it wasn’t so grave.

Urooba Shaikh is a third-year student at UTSC studying molecular biology, immunology, and disease. She is a Climate Crisis Columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

ZOE PEDDLE STEVENSON/THEVARSITY

limited to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates have pledged more than $3 million in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

I believe it is important that in the consumercapitalist machine, where algorithms and advertisements may glean our passions and desires and tempt us with rewards, we do not give in to “boycott fatigue” only weeks after the first bomb was dropped in Gaza.

Boycotting demands sacrifice, and in a world full of pain, are we ready to surrender everything for the sake of freedom? I like my iPhone, but I care more about the people in Congo that died to make it. So, I shall use my iPhone to talk about Congo when no one else is. It is not a perfect method — but it means I am trying.

Divine Angubua is a third-year student at UTM studying history, political science, and creative writing. He is the editor-in-chief of With Caffeine and Careful Thought and a staff writer at The Medium.

He is the associate comment editor of The Varsity.

I believe it is important we do not give into boycott fatigue.

ELEANOR YUNEUN PARK/THEVARSITY

thevarsity.ca/category/comment

DECEMBER 4, 2023

It’s time to change the way we describe the ecological crisis By unpacking the term “climate crisis,” we can refocus the environmental movement Hannah Katherine Comment Columnist

The term “climate crisis” has lost its meaning. If people — myself included — have time to sit and ponder the meaning of a particular crisis, I think it is abundantly clear that the crisis itself is not being taken seriously as an urgent matter. To me, a crisis implies quick action. However, in the case of the climate crisis, many still debate what needs to be done and who should do it.

In short, it appears to me that we’re acting with no urgency on the climate crisis and I believe that the language we use sets the tone for action.

Thus, in my view, we should adopt the phrase “ecological crisis” to more appropriately address the crisis’ broader impacts.

The history of the term “climate change” Wallace S. Broecker coined the term “global warming” in his famous article, “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” The article, published in Science magazine in 1975, details the concept of humaninduced climate change: “If man-made dust is unimportant as a major cause of climatic change, then a strong case can be made that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide.” Broecker highlights “man-made dust” that contributes to the Earth’s rapid heating and predicts that this rapid heating will correlate with the rapid change in climate.

The term “climate change” makes sense to me in the scientific context of the patterns of weather changing due to human activity or destruction.

However, in the context of enacting social, political, or economic change, I believe the term’s meaning is clouded by the overwhelming pressure on social justice groups, politicians, and businesses to address the entire environmental problem.

When did we start talking about the “climate crisis”?

The environmental movement in North America first began to gain traction in the 1970s when Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson organized the first Earth Day as a demonstration to advocate for environmental issues and to show respect for life on Earth. Since then, numerous organizations have banded together to join the fight for environmental justice.

In 1980s, North America suffered a heat wave that resulted in record-breaking temperatures

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and wildfires. This was evidence of the effects of global warming and mass climate change, making this a more obvious threat. Since then, climate change appears to have largely dominated the public conversation, leading to the creation of government departments dedicated to it, such as Environment and Climate Change Canada. To this day, environmental justice groups, organizations, and movements that deal with more than climate change use the term ‘climate change’ as all-encompassing.

The term “climate crisis” became popularized in the 2010s by activists like Greta Thunberg and those in the scientific community to draw more attention to the crisis. World leaders began calling the climate a “crisis,” like when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party declared climate change a national emergency in 2019 with the former Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna describing the situation as a “real and urgent crisis.”

However, the adrenaline associated with it has run out. If we want to talk about the full scope of the human-induced and rapid destruction of Earth, we need to expand our language to include all components of environmental degradation. This includes issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, global freshwater use, and the loss of biodiversity.

Over the summer, I took ENV222 — Pathways to Sustainability, where the professor posed an argument for using the term “ecological crisis” instead of “climate crisis.” The word ‘ecology’ means “the study of the house,” because the root of the word “ecology” comes from the German word ‘Ökologie,’ which gains its roots from the Greek word ‘oikos,’ meaning “house.” The term “ecological crisis” itself suggests that our house is in crisis, not just the pattern of weather. In my opinion, the term “ecological crisis” becomes more personal, because it is our home that is being destroyed.

It’s now time to rebrand I admit, “climate change” or “climate crisis” is catchy. The terms are frequently used in statements like “The Climate is Changing, so should we” and “Systemic change, not climate change.”

Why does it matter?

Overall, the debate surrounding the current declining state of the environment is turning from whether or not there is a crisis, to what needs to be done on it and by whom. The term “ecological” characterizes the broader impact of this crisis because the scope of the issue extends past the climate and to the broader entity of the environment.

That being said, whether we call it the “climate crisis” or the “ecological crisis,” it is still a problem that needs to be addressed. Still, the discussion of the rhetoric surrounding the problem is important because I see it as an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the environmental movement and the structural changes it is fighting for. The language we use sets our tone. I think it is time we rebrand and refocus the ecological discussion.

ZOE PEDDLE STEVENSON/THEVARSITY

Hannah Katherine is a third-year student at Innis College studying literature and critical theory.

She is a Climate Crisis columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

We should be thoughtful about translation and interpretation when approaching scripture Linguistic intricacies in scripture can be unjustly used to divide and oppress religious groups Sulaiman Hashim Khan Comment Columnist

“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

These words rushed through J. Robert Oppenheimer’s mind in 1945 as he watched the culmination of his work in the Trinity nuclear bomb test. They also echoed through cinemas around the world this summer, just like the explosions which inspired them.

Oppenheimer was attempting to quote a moment from the Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita, which describes a lengthy dialogue from the epic the Mahabharata. In this moment, the Lord Krishna shows his Supreme Form — the Vishvarupa, whom the entire universe is described to reside within — to the hero-prince Arjuna, and says to him in Sanskrit, “कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृ (kālo ’smi lokakṣhaya-kṛit).” In English, this is better rendered as “Mighty time I am — that which comes forth to annihilate all the worlds.”

While similar in verbiage, there is a profound difference between the scriptural mistranslation popularized by the father of the atomic bomb and its true meaning.

But Oppenheimer is not alone in his mistake.

Erroneous mistranslations of important holy texts are not rare. At the surface, subtle changes in wording are not inherently harmful — a camel may be just as awkward to push through the eye of a needle as a thick rope. But incorrect translations or applications of hermeneutics — the study of interpretations of scripture and literature — can become pernicious when they are used to subjugate or oppress within religions. I believe we must be especially cautious about how those with power among religious communities, as well as those who wish to deride faiths, look to play with holy texts to justify division in and among religious communities.

Most of the big world religions have holy scriptures that were written a thousand or more years ago, in languages that have since evolved and changed, and often in languages that practitioners do not themselves speak — such as the more than a billion Hindus who do not speak ancient Sanskrit. Scripture also tends to be written in poetic and often metaphorical language that is not easy to grasp in its original language, let alone via translations. Then there is the issue of interpretation — even if the apparent meaning of a text is clear, its rhetoric may not be.

There are many arguments over the correct interpretation of scripture. Since the great world religions all carry with them a tradition of religious literature — which contains rules, parables, and myths that are meant to guide their followers — they can always contest the translations and interpretations of these truths.

As I have discussed before in my column, religions hold great power over the way in which people and societies conduct themselves. As such, both religious-political leaders within a religion as well as those who aim to be hostile toward religion may become opportunistic when it comes to seizing parts of scripture that can be used to support their own arguments and interpretations.

A classic example of scripture being misused within a community in the past is Christian leaders promoting antisemitism due to their accusations that certain parts of the New Testament discuss Jews persecuting Jesus Christ. This interpretation was one of the Christian theological justifications of centuries of Jewish persecution under western European rule.

Churches no longer teach of this accusation as a way to antagonize Jewish people. The Catholic Church has declared, on at least two occasions in modernity, that there is no basis for antisemitic teachings in Western Christian doctrine. Pope Benedict, for instance, specifically wrote that the references to the “Jews” who accused Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew and John, and in the letters of Paul, are references to the Temple Aristocracy — a group who had political authority in Roman Palestine — instead of a justification for collective persecution.

One often quoted verse of the Qur’an used by those who wish to antagonize Islam as being incompatible with Western society, appears in a Surah, a Qur’anic chapter, which is mostly a narrative about The Last Supper. There is the verse, “O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to an-

Erroneous mistranslations of important holy texts are not rare.

COURTESY OF NYC WANDERER/CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

other. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk” (The Table Spread with Food - 5:51).

The word which is translated here as “friends” is the Arabic word “‫ي ْلوَأ‬ ِ ‫ ”َء َآ‬or “awaliyah.” But the word is not used in reference to personal relationships — rather, it is better translated as “political guardians.”

What God is prescribing to the Arabs is to avoid political alliances with the societies that have been in conflict with them. This is in reference to the tensions between the newly-formed Islamic society of the time of revelation and their neighbours.

Muslim Arabs were in constant tensions with the Christian Byzantines and the Jewish tribes in Arabia at the time, which led to multiple confrontations between the groups.

Naturally, over the centuries, as language transforms and entangles, certain phrases and sentiments lose their nuance. Then it is mighty time — the great annihilator of worlds and words — which separates us from the wisdom found in our holy texts. It instead leaves us bickering about details and technicalities which we can use to support our own biases, and fuel our hatred.

While it is true that there are certain parts of all religions which can be criticized in a political, academic, or sociological sense, I believe that this criticism must be conducted while cognizant of the degrees of removal between the reader and the text. When consulting scriptures of our own or those of others, it is important to approach them with respect and with the understanding that there are layers of complexity that have been effaced by the process of conversion from one language to another.

Sulaiman Hashim Khan is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying English and ethics, society, and law. He is the Religion columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

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COMMENT

Toronto needs to do more to accommodate non-English speakers Analyzing Toronto’s problem with language barriers Rubin Beshi Varsity Columnist

Toronto is famously diverse. Walk down its streets, and you’ll encounter a multitude of cultures, languages, and traditions. I believe this is where Toronto derives its strength — this melting pot of cultures creates a truly cosmopolitan urban environment.

However, in a city whose inhabitants speak hundreds of languages, serious accessibility challenges can arise. Toronto has come under scrutiny in recent years over its failures to accommodate those who don’t speak English. I often see essential information published by the city that’s not readily available in multiple languages — which can render crucial public services, such as healthcare, ineffective.

Given that these language barriers also limit job opportunities and community involvement for many, I believe that Toronto needs to take more steps to address these problems. Toronto’s City Council should strongly consider implementing more policies aimed at promoting inclusivity and multilingual information services in order to overcome bureaucratic hurdles and to make Toronto more accessible for everyone.

Toronto’s past policies Studies in 2018 suggest that around one in 20 Torontonians can’t speak English or French. This accounts for over 132,700 Toronto residents. To put this into perspective, roughly 20 per cent of all non-English and non-French speaking Canadians live in the city. These language barriers pose serious

challenges to the quality of life for these residents, as they are linked to higher rates of poverty and unemployment.

In 2017, the City of Toronto released a report for action in regard to the language barriers many Torontonians were facing. In the report, the City Manager urged the City Council to adopt the “City of Toronto Multilingual Information Provisions Policy” in order to update Toronto’s multilingual policy. This proposed updated policy outlined how the city will make a greater effort to ensure nonEnglish speaking residents are accounted for. For example, the report discusses how the policy will clarify roles and responsibilities for upholding the policy among City divisions, which helps ensure compliance with the policy, and emphasizes translation in localized areas.

Focusing on translation in localized areas demonstrates an acknowledgement that translation needs differ greatly among different demographics and geographical areas. According to non-profit community organization Social Planning Toronto’s report, around 60 per cent of Torontonians who don’t speak English or French are women and girls.

Both women and seniors are more vulnerable to language barriers since they are more likely to arrive in Canada dependent on the principal applicants or sponsors, which reduces the necessity for them to possess official language skills.

In addition, the most spoken languages other than English among Torontonians are dialects of Chinese — notably Mandarin and Cantonese — followed by Portuguese, Italian, and a variety of other European, Asian, and Middle Eastern languages. These non-English-speaking populations

Studies suggest that around one in 20 Torontonians can’t speak English or French.

ASHLEY JEONG/THEVARSITY

mainly reside in the west end of North York, the old city of Toronto, and northwestern Scarborough.

Understanding these statistics can help language policies be more specific and targeted, which improves their efficiency.

Moving forward Although the City of Toronto’s 2017 policy was promising in its understanding of the issue, I believe its scope was too limited. It focused exclusively on City services while neglecting the fact that oftentimes non-English speakers are most affected by more personal issues. For example, the comfort of elderly tenants living in social housing is often compromised by their language barrier. The policy makes no mention of how to address these more intimate circumstances.

Furthermore, a key deficiency of the City’s implementation of this policy was that they didn’t make an attempt to cooperate with provincial legislation. I see this as a major problem considering the authority the provincial government has over municipalities, which can render local policies like this ineffective.

One area that demonstrates this is provincial standardized testing. As the Ontario Institute for

Studies in Education Associate Professor Jeff Bale said, these tests aren’t “designed with multilingual people in mind.” As a result, tests like the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test have seen relatively high fail rates and have proven a major problem in accommodating immigrants. In my view, Toronto’s City Council should make a greater attempt to work with Ontario’s provincial government in order to address these fundamental issues.

Overall, I believe the City of Toronto needs to introduce policies with a wider scope that addresses these external problems. Setting comprehensive guidelines for landlords, employers, and other private actors will go a long way to ensure Torontonians’ language accessibility needs are met. Cooperating with the provincial government will target more macro, institutional problems that lie at the root of this issue. In order for Toronto to maintain and improve upon its beautiful diverse population, Toronto’s City Council needs to step up its game and introduce more encompassing policies.

Rubin Beshi is a third-year student at Woodsworth College studying political science and English.

He is the Local Affairs columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

TikTok algospeak is redefining linguistic evolution How TikTok accelerates the natural, perpetual “unaliving” and rebirthing of language Max Zhang Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article has mentions of death and sexual assault.

In the endless and ever-changing linguistic landscape where TikTok and other short-form media reign supreme, I often reflect on how utterly incomprehensible we must be to past generations. Every so often, I try to show my mom a funny video and find myself drowning in endless terms to define, trends to explain, and unintuitive humour to articulate.

From this rapidly evolving social media culture, we see the rise and resurgence of new terms and ideas. Concepts like “rizz,” “gaslighting,” “gatekeeping” and “beige flags” pop up out of nowhere, skyrocketing to become common knowledge in a matter of days. TikTok’s effect on language goes beyond introducing new terms, often inventing replacements for existing terms. Triggering and sensitive topics like death or sexual assault are replaced with softer replacements like “unalive” and “mascara.”

Many dub this phenomenon as “algospeak,” which are codewords used to circumvent algorithms that platforms introduce to filter out terms that may be sensitive or violate app rules. While the origins of algospeak are clear, the hyper-connectivity of the internet can conclude a different explanation for its pervasiveness in TikTok vocabulary.

In my view, algospeak is not simply filter evasion, but a natural, albeit accelerated, cycle of linguistic evolution.

The way our learning causes language to drift Language is an ever-evolving aspect of human

society. A study from the University of Reading in England examined the evolution of words across modern Indo-European languages and found a high similarity among very common words — such as “three” — across languages, indicating that frequently used words evolve very slowly. However, less commonly used words — for instance, even the words for “bird” —- showed wide variations in sound across languages.

From the trends shown in the study, the researchers estimate it could take only 750 years to replace lesser-used words. These historical changes in linguistics took effect in pre-industrial Eurasia, too. But with the immense interconnectivity the internet brings, incremental changes in vocabulary that would have had to accumulate over generations and permeate hundreds of kilometres can now be in a constant state of rapid cumulative change fueled by the massive exposure TikTok allows.

The method of social learning that humans employ is crucial in the evolution of language. Compared to close primates, human children have a heightened tendency to learn by high-fidelity imitation, that is, by copying all actions demonstrated to them, even when unnecessary to their goal. This blind imitation is how humans can learn so efficiently because even when we do not fully understand the rationale behind actions, we faithfully copy them. This can naturally be extended to language: children are often scolded for repeating profanity, but they are simply copying others.

Studies also show that children learn languages spontaneously and far quicker than adults, and only at around age 12 are these abilities assumed to start diminishing. Accordingly, a Statista report revealed that 36.2 per cent of worldwide TikTok users are between the ages of 18 to 24.

Algospeak is nothing new — just a set of new words to be learned, another generation of language.

ELEANOR YUNEUN PARK/THEVARSITY

However, this data cannot be fully representative of the population. The previous source claims to account for 100 per cent of TikTok users, but it has no statistics for users under the age of 18. This is in spite of the fact that TikTok's terms of service allows users aged 12 and up, and even younger children are allowed a censored version in the US. Although this data does not account for the large population of users under 18, one online marketing company called GrowthDevil estimates that up to a quarter of US TikTok users are in the age group 10 to 19. With so many young, spontaneous language learners, new terms and phrases can spread like wildfire.

Algospeak as the natural cycle of linguistic evolution Thus, I see algospeak as nothing new. It is just a set of new words to be learned, another generation of language. Children will copy them with no knowledge of their original purpose.

The conscious replacement of “offensive” or sensitive words is not an inherently new concept either. Euphemism has existed as long as language itself. The earliest recorded instance of euphemism is the word “bear,” which was coined with the superstition that the true word for bear would summon the animal. The word evolved from the

Old English word “bera,” akin to the word “brūn,” meaning brown. Until researching this, I had no idea that bear was a euphemism, making it a salient example of how words naturally evolve, and conscious replacement can, with time, be wholly adopted so that their original intent is forgotten.

The loss of intent does not have to take place over millennia. I had always thought that instances of algospeak were simply users trying to be conscious of sensitive topics. I have seen posts across the internet marked with “trigger warnings” to alert potentially sensitive topics, euphemisms used to soften horrible truths, and I figured words like “unalive” were simply a humorous extension of these intentions.

As children and others like myself — users not privy to the ins-and-outs of boosting engagement and dodging bans when posting TikToks — are exposed to the results of algospeak, we will tend to adopt these terms without questioning or understanding their original intent. Now, inevitably, when TikTok decides the next arbitrary word to filter out, a child will learn the algospeak word for it as if it were a synonym, like any other word — a natural extension of linguistic evolution.

Max Zhang is a first-year student at Woodsworth College, studying computer science.

thevarsity.ca/category/comment

DECEMBER 4, 2023

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The Indian government is rewriting history to benefit its agenda Modi’s government is writing propagandic material into Indian school curricula Nidhil Vohra Comment Columnist

Content warning: This article discusses Islamophobia and mentions genocide.

India is a democracy. That is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tell you. When he said “India is the mother of democracy” in an address to the US Congress this past summer, the attendees burst into a clatter of applause. He accompanied this statement with three broad definitions of democracy: “the spirit that supports equality and dignity,” “the idea that welcomes debate and discourse,” and “the culture that gives wings to thought and expression.”

This might appear to be a sensible outlook toward democracy from a person leading the largest democracy in the world. Unfortunately, while Modi’s words exhibit the charmer that the Indian prime minister is, I believe his policies depict the calculated and divisive mindset with which he governs India.

Modi’s hypocrisy is glaringly evident in the recent restructuring of the nationwide course curriculum by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Under the leadership of Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in April of this year, the NCERT struck some chapters out of grade 12 history textbooks which discussed the Mughal era in India. The Muslim Mughal dynasty ruled large parts of India for nearly two centuries until the mid-eighteenth century and is credited for bringing almost the entire Indian subcontinent under one rule.

The remaining content about the Mughal era in the NCERT textbooks vilifies the dynasty’s rulers while removing any mention of their historical achievements. The NCERT erased centuries of history in one go because they considered the information an “unnecessary burden” on students that

“can be removed.”

The attempt to erase and rewrite Muslim history in India is in line with several other actions the BJP has undertaken to antagonize Muslims. For instance, the government and its spokespersons have continuously propagated an Islamophobic conspiracy theory called ‘love jihad,’ which baselessly claims that Muslim men entrap Hindu women romantically to convert them to Islam.

It is ironic to me that while equality remains a hopelessly distant dream for India’s Muslims, the prime minister discusses democracy as “the spirit that supports equality and dignity,” grinning ear to ear.

from entering the US for over a decade due to his actions — or, rather, his inactions.

There was and still is considerable debate regarding Modi’s involvement in Gujarat, and I assume that removing the event from textbooks is likely an attempt by the BJP to gradually put an end to this debate, because the people can’t debate what they don’t know about. It is bizarre to think that political science students will graduate without studying one of the darkest periods in Indian communal history, while people still continue to suffer from its aftershocks.

The most absurd of the NCERT’s syllabus

India’s National Council of Educational Research and Training recently removed content about the Mughal dynasty.

COURTESY OF SYED WAMIQ AHMED HASHMI/CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Additionally, under the same decision, political science textbooks will no longer carry mentions of the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat where Hindu extremists killed over 2,000 Muslims under the eye of Modi, the then-chief minister. Modi was accused of perpetrating genocide by several news outlets and was even banned by the federal government

changes is the removal of Darwin’s theory of evolution from science textbooks up until grade 10.

Under this change, only when a student decides to study biology in grades 11 and 12 will they learn about how human beings came to be. The decision comes five years after a BJP minister claimed that Darwin’s theory was unscientific because no

one had actually seen apes turn into human beings.

Such is the sorry state of the BJP. Such is the state of democracy that, according to Modi, is “giving wings to thought and expression.”

I spent nine years in the Indian education system, and although I struggled through most of it, I was pleased with the knowledge I gained during my time there. I studied the Mughal era as an important period in Indian history, and learned of their architectural, cultural, economic, political, and traditional contributions to the rich tapestry of Indian history. I was taught that evolution explains how we came to exist through an enduring and complicated process that spanned over millions of years.

I am therefore concerned at the thought of the polity that the government hopes to create through this new curriculum. Educational brainwashes have formed a key part of fascist authoritarian regimes in several parts of the world, like in Hitler’s Germany, where anti-Jewish propaganda was ingrained in school propaganda to radicalize German youth.

Thus, I believe the government engaging in similar propaganda meant to advance its political goals shows that India is headed in a problematic direction.

However, while researchers continue to draw attention to India’s severe democratic backsliding, the BJP sings of its democratic prowess in a choir led by the effervescent Prime Minister Modi.

“India is the mother of democracy,” he sings with his chest thumped and his hair neatly parted to the side, and the members of the US Congress, like children admiring a magician at a birthday party, burst into a clatter of applause.

Nidhil Vohra is a fourth-year student at St. Michael’s College studying peace, conflict and justice and political science. He is an International Affairs columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

LinkedIn is just like the other girls Why LinkedIn is not different from other social media platforms Mari Khan Varsity Contributor

My friend once told me that LinkedIn gives them imposter syndrome. Like any other social media app, LinkedIn helps create unhealthy standards of lifestyles we should be living. On LinkedIn, we must all be happy for each other’s achievements while adding as many bells and whistles to our profiles, to stand out and present the best version of ourselves at all times. Our professional career rests upon the platform, but we are being monitored by each other and potential recruiters.

It is tiring.

A recent article published by The Cut argues that “Gen Z has become one of the fastest-growing demographics on LinkedIn.” Younger users, who are tired of the constant need for attention and popularity from others on more popular social media platforms like Instagram, seem to see it as a productive space to share content. However, my experience and discussions with fellow university students paint a different picture, and I believe LinkedIn isn’t actually so much better than other types of social media.

In conversations with my friends, a lot of them told me that LinkedIn makes them feel underachieving and worse about themselves. We often hear about how social media is a highlight reel of our lives, and I see LinkedIn as no different. The goal of being on LinkedIn is to create a highlight reel of our professional lives to catch the eyes of recruiters and hopefully secure employment in a company to further build up our portfolios. In my view, being on LinkedIn is a constant chase of looking for better opportunities.

The bigger the network, the better?

I would argue that when users are networking, LinkedIn can be as insincere as most social media platforms. On Instagram, some people follow the follow-back culture, where someone follows you and you follow them back. On LinkedIn, that culture is automatic, because when you accept someone’s request to connect with you, it means you also follow them now. This makes sense, as a connection should be a two way street — but I believe this function leads to large networks that are impersonal and lack significant connections.

The amount of connection requests one can receive can be overwhelming, and some will blindly accept because, like other social media platforms, a larger network is supposed to be better than a smaller one. And while LinkedIn prompts users to send a message to others they have recently connected with, I doubt many people actually do this, because, once again, I think most people are looking to expand their network, not deepen their connections. I believe this superficial perspective toward LinkedIn connections is why we lose the opportunity to make genuine connections that have meaning.

One upside of LinkedIn that I think could be argued by its proponents is the lack of trolls. You can safely post your accomplishments without randomUser_37292 diminishing your achievements, because Linkedin does not allow users to use fake names or pseudonyms that do not accurately reflect their real names.

I believe another reason for the lack of trolls on LinkedIn is due to the professional culture the platform has. Your LinkedIn profile is associated with your professional capabilities. Your profile

Social media is a highlight reel of our lives, and I think LinkedIn is no different.

ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI & ZEYNEP POYANLI/THEVARSITY

is your professional presence and you represent the organization you work for through your LinkedIn. So, users will generally attempt to be on their best behaviour.

The professional nature of LinkedIn also comes with its downfalls, though. While I didn’t come across any stories of individuals getting fired because of something they posted on LinkedIn, a CNBC article reported that hiring managers warn professionals to keep their LinkedIns clean and professional as they will look up employees on LinkedIn to get a feel for their presence before hiring them. The downside to this is that a lack of a LinkedIn account or an “established presence online” might also be able to cost you a job.

Similar to businesses researching potential partners on social media, hiring managers want to do their research on you before extending an offer, and the lack of an online presence can mean lack of an offer. I think the direct connection between online presence to employability is quite absurd, and I believe it adds to why LinkedIn is indeed like the other social media apps.

LinkedIn is just better at hiding it.

using our resources properly. It can make it harder to celebrate your own accomplishments when you see others who are your age, in your program, or in a similar demographic doing better than you are.

I find myself in that boat often. It seems that my own life is mundane compared to others on LinkedIn. Posting about my achievements seems pathetic when I see others in my network doing more than I am.

To people who find themselves in my predicament, I have comforting words for us.

Just as you will hear people inflate their resumes, people will inflate their LinkedIns. A study by Jamie Guillory and Jeffrey T. Hancock published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking sought to answer how truthful individuals are on their LinkedIn. The study found that participants lied roughly three times on average on their profiles, with participants writing deceitful statements on their abilities and interests.

I believe that the fabrication of LinkedIn profiles brings us back to how social media is a highlight reel of our lives — just as LinkedIn is. LinkedIn is truly not too different from the other girls.

Imposter syndrome from inflated profiles When I talked to my friends, we all shared sentiments that LinkedIn makes us feel overwhelmed, like we are underachievers, and that we are not

Mari Khan is a second year student at UTM studying social sciences. She is the Sustainability Coordinator for the UTM Student Union and Opinion Associate Editor for The Medium.

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FEATURES

Beyond the words: Language as culture

How a complicated national history distanced me from my language Liya Izmukhan Varsity Contributor

My grandmother had an overflowing shelf on her bedside table filled with notebooks. She would stop talking mid-sentence or wake up in the night, taken by a fit of inspiration, and reach for one of the notebooks, rushing to jot down the lines of verse that came to her.

My grandmother was taught Russian in a Russian school, and faced racism and discrimination for speaking Kazakh. She spent her childhood having Kazakh forcibly removed from every fibre of her being. Despite this, she still wrote in Kazakh.

Language is a power of culture, passed down from generation to generation: it is transmitted through the soft words of a child, the sound advice given by a mother, and the words of praise a father reserves only for the most impressive accomplishments. Did my grandmother spend the rest of her life trying to reconnect with the culture that was severed from her? Was writing poetic verse in Kazakh an attempt at communicating the inexplicable feeling of being disconnected from her culture and heritage?

It’s difficult to describe what language is. Ironically, I can’t seem to find the language to do so. Language is, first and foremost, a method of communication. But it is also intrinsically the expression of culture, belief, and identity. How do you reconcile with the knowledge that your language is not your language? That the connection of a common language, that thread which ran through your bloodline for generations, has been whittled down and severed?

As a Russian-speaking Kazakh woman, I face my identity’s duality — or perhaps triality — daily. Even in my home country, I feel like an immigrant — out of place, not quite part of Kazakh culture, ousted from a secret club to which others are privy. Language is a necessary means by which culture is communicated, and when that is taken away, it becomes much harder to reconcile with one’s identity.

It is not a coincidence that processes of colonization often — if not always — involve attempts at the dogmatic and systematic erasure of the colonized peoples’ language, replacing it with the colonizer’s ‘superior’ tongue.

Language and colonization Language does not exist independently from the communities that use it, so it must be integrated into these communities to survive.

When you remove someone’s connection to their language, you ultimately sever their connection to their ancestors and heritage.

It is not a coincidence that processes of colonization often — if not always — involve attempts at the dogmatic and systematic erasure of the colonized peoples’ language, replacing it with the colonizer’s ‘superior’ tongue. The ideal colonized ‘other’ becomes assimilated and educated into the culture of the colonizing ‘superior.’ This is how colonial

powers often use language as a tool of colonization: if you can control a person’s speech, you can control their perceptions and, therefore, their life.

My father tells me he was discouraged from learning his own language, as he was told knowing Russian would provide him with greater opportunities. This perspective was often perpetuated by older generations who, having undergone the colonial trauma of the Soviet Union, view assimilation as the only way of life, or at the very least, as the only way to a good life.

In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, as it brought forward harboured resentment for Russian colonial occupation, many

former Soviet states have started their own internal conversations surrounding the necessity and the legacy of Russian still being spoken in these countries.

On one hand, it serves as a language in common between 14 different nations who underwent certain similar experiences under Soviet rule. In historical context, it makes even more sense why Russian as a lingua franca remains prevalent in legal, educational, and everyday use in Kazakhstan, even afforded an official status as per the Constitution. During collectivization — the process of land being taken away from people colonized by the Soviet Union to facilitate a socialist system of agriculture — many minoritized populationsfrom around the Soviet Union who were deemed ‘non-socialist enemies,’ such as Ukrainians, North Koreans,

Uyghurs, and some Russians, were deported to Kazakhstan under political and criminal convictions.

Giving Russian the role of a cross-cultural, universal language for these groups makes it nearly impossible to remove from a country like Kazakhstan, which still boasts many minoritized populations who are deeply loyal to Kazakhstan after having spent generations there, but also rely on Russian as an intermediary language.

On the other hand, I feel like the language’s continued usage seems to perpetuate an idea of the Russian ‘older brother,’ whose role was

to educate and lead all the other — ‘lesser’ — nations of the Soviet Union into a better future: the ultimate Soviet goal of a communist utopia.

Using Russian directly plays into the superiority ascribed to it by the colonizer. There has existed a long-standing view of Russian as the superior ‘intellectual’ language in former Soviet states, an idea which is often perpetuated in

features@thevarsity.ca these countries through their policies.

In Kazakhstan, this attitude has historically manifested in the country’s educational system. In 2006, Juldyz Smagulova — a researcher of Kazakh and the current dean of college of humanities and education at KIMEP University in Almaty— discussed the history of Kazakh language education over the latter half of the twentieth century in Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science. She wrote about how, during much of this period, Russian-speaking schools generally received more government funding, were located closer to urban centres, and could present their students with more

educational opportunities. This might have led some to send their children to a school with more funding and opportunities where learning Kazakh was less of a priority.

Language is more than communication I still remember the first time I felt the impact of being a Russian-speaking Kazakh. I was seven years old. I gently touched a metal playground bench, checking to see if it was bearable to sit on or whether I’d receive burns across the back of my legs. The sun shined high above me, and the scorching heat and dust made breathing harder. I sat down, strawberry ice cream cone in hand, and resolutely looked around the empty playground. I was always a lonely child.

A girl around my age ran up to me. I noticed two others lurking behind her, further down the street. She said something to me, gesturing at my ice cream.

I strained to listen but could not make out a word she said, her speech made more difficult to understand by her rolling Rs and harsh Ks. “What did you say?”

I tried asking her in Kazakh, suddenly aware of how foreign my words sounded on my lips.

She looked at me quizzically at

first, and then a flash of disgust appeared on her face as she said something incomprehensible to me, spat on the ground, and ran away giggling. I did not understand her final words any better than her first, but her vitriol made tears well up in my eyes. I threw my ice cream down, watching ants swarm toward it.

I got up and ran home, calling the intercom: “Mama!” As I turned around, I noticed the girls were still there, staring at me, their laughs reverberating against the multi-story apartment buildings typical of a post-Soviet world.

The buildings looked down at me mockingly, brick and concrete remnants of a colonized present.

If you speak another language, you’ll likely agree that many words and phrases are impossible to translate accurately between languages. The translation process inherently asks the translator to sacrifice some aspects of the original in favour of the translated. This sacrifice can feel like it’s adding to a legacy of culture lost and forgotten, when every idea is retold in the language of someone else, seen through the eyes of someone only able to conceptualize your culture in translation.Because we have the ability to understand and enact language, as humans, our thoughts are shaped by it. Some psychological studies find that responses from bilingual and multilingual

people to questions and environments change based on the language they use. Losing a language can mean losing a part of yourself that you’ll never know existed. The absence of a shared language with my ancestors creates a disjointedness in which I cannot express my innermost human desires due to lack of a true connection to the words.

I lived in Kazakhstan for 16 years, yet I personally grew up learning English before my own language. Neither of my parents ever spoke Kazakh, a product of the time they grew up in, and while I learned it in school, I felt like I was not taught it well. To my perception, it didn’t seem to be my teachers’ priority to teach me something I did not know through no fault of my own. Instead, I felt like

KAISA KASEKAMP & ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI/THEVARSITY

they shamed me for a perceived fault in my character, in my family’s character, for not knowing our national language.

I now wonder whether that shaming from teachers and peers is achieving the opposite of the collective goal of preserving culture and language. If you wish people to be interested in reconnecting with their culture and part of themselves, is shaming and shunning them in any way encouraging?

I know that I felt resentment for many years — the response to this feeling of rejection from my culture was rejecting my culture back. I started believing I was above it since I was not welcome. I began to buy into my perceived superiority of speaking perfect Russian and English, viewing it as more important knowledge than my own native language and not understanding that sowing division between people is a prerequisite for cultural eradication.

Her poetry exists as a manifestation of resistance, how intrinsic language is to emotion, and how it can never be fully eradicated.

Changing attitudes My grandmother published a poetry book, and her poems were often dedicated to loved ones or to the land she grew up on. I always admired her ability to express herself so beautifully in a language which she, by all accounts, should not have known. Her poetry exists as a manifestation of resistance, how intrinsic language is to emotion, and how it can never be fully eradicated. In the end, she reserved her most gentle and soft words to be expressed in her native language.

When I was younger, she would attempt to teach me Kazakh, but it never interested me much. Now, living in Canada, after my grandmother passed away, I feel even more disconnected from myself. I regret not learning our native language from her when I had the chance and I regret that I might spend the rest of my life speaking in broken sentences and improper verb tenses.

There are some words in Kazakh that I use daily, though. These are mostly terms of endearment, which are what I associate the language with. ‘Zhanym’ is a word commonly heard around my small apartment, always directed at my cat in a baby voice. It can be translated as just meaning “my soul,” but that would be an extreme oversimplification and a disservice to the importance of the word. Some things simply cannot be translated. It is ironic how I feel most comfortable expressing emotion in my native language, even though it is one I barely know — and, well, doesn’t that speak to something?

I feel like there’s an intrinsic, subconscious connection with my language, where my real self still remembers an ancestral bond.

I feel that it’s impossible to move through life completely oblivious to your native language — whatever that may mean to you — as it sows the seeds for community and cultural transmission. In Kazakhstan, it is now quite popular to reject speaking Russian, opting to learn the native language instead. Over the past few years, an increasing number of Kazakh adults who are less familiar with the language have started taking language classes, and people are finding joy and community in discovering and nurturing this part of themselves. People are opting to once again embrace Kazakh language and identity and reconnect with a part of themselves.

I believe any diaspora feeling disconnected from themselves and their culture should attempt to learn their language. The only way to move away from a colonial past and feel at peace with ourselves is to find a connection to the most human part of ourselves: the words that connect us with the generations before us like an invisible string.

Business & Labour

December 4, 2023 thevarsity.ca/category/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Residence closures over winter break will likely cost students heavily Students unable to go home for the break will have to find temporary accommodation Medha Barath Business Correspondent

As the winter holiday draws closer, students without family or friends nearby to retreat to may face a tough predicament — scrambling to find alternative, temporary accommodation as their residence closes for the winter. Students from overseas are especially affected as they often cannot return home for the break or do not have immediate family to stay within the area.

Multiple campus residences will close for the winter break, including those at Woodsworth College, St. Michael’s College, and Trinity College, and the residences at UTSC. University residences have historically shut down during this period as part of U of T’s winter break closure. This year, the university is closed from December 21, and will reopen on January 2. Residence buildings closing for the break usually stay closed a few days after the university opens, as late as January 7 this year. Some residences will remain open during the break, including the Chestnut Residence, residences at New College, and residences at Victoria College.

In the past, students have been able to pay for temporary accommodation at the Chelsea Hotel or the CampusOne residence, but those options have been very expensive. Neither is open to students seeking temporary accommodation this winter holiday.

Confusion, restrictions surrounding campus accommodations Jackie Ko, a third-year criminology and sociolegal studies major, recalls a lot of confusion and miscommunication when she applied for residence and winter accommodation in 2022.

She told The Varsity in an interview that she requested winter accommodation while applying for residence at Victoria College but wanted to stay in the all-women’s residence, Annesley Hall, during the school year. Later, Ko recalled, she found out that only students living at Margaret Addison Hall and Rowell Jackman Hall were eligible to stay in residence over the break

and that, because of her residence request, the housing coordinators had assumed that she did not want winter holiday accommodations.

Ko is an international student, so going home for the holidays was too expensive of an option for her. But, she noted that winter housing on campus can also be quite expensive. Ko recalled that she had to pay approximately $1,000 to stay over the two-and-a-half week period during the winter break. Comparatively, staying at a

Residences at some colleges at UTSG will be closing for the winter holiday.

BRENNAN KARUNARATNE/THEVARSITY

summer residence at Victoria College over two months costs a single occupant $1,675, before accounting for the damage deposit.

Food offerings may also be limited in student residences during this period. Beethal Phlaphongphanich, a second-year arts and science student at University College, recalled in an email to The Varsity that the cafeteria in Sir Daniel Wilson Residence closed during the winter break, and his friends who stayed behind in residence only had access to the residence’s “semi-functioning kitchen.” As a result, Phlaphongphanich noted that friends staying in the UC residence had to spend a lot of their own money on food.

U of T students run demos for their AI learning assistant at local schools Jai Mansukhani’s service AceIt aims to disrupt “cookie-cutter learning” Hannah Guo Varsity Contributor

Imagine having a little study buddy who took your exam materials and made a series of review flashcards for you to study for your tests and exams.

This is essentially what AceIt’s AI chatbot Quizzy does for you — an early-stage, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered service geared toward students in K–12 classrooms.

AceIt is the creation of fourth-year U of T student Jai Mansukhani studying computational cognition.

Mansukhani told The Varsity in an interview that he co-founded AceIt with the vision of transforming learning experiences. Other team members include fifth-year student Alexander Yoshino, a computer science specialist at U of T, and Pashan Sidhwa, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Waterloo.

Riding the AI startup wave Mansukhani described that his inspiration behind AceIt’s design came from observing K–12 classrooms and seeing the shortcomings of how

The Chelsea Hotel U of T has also offered the Chelsea Hotel as alternative housing for stranded students during the winter holiday in the past few years.

Students could stay on hotel premises, pay reduced prices for the food at the hotel restaurant, and access its various amenities at a discounted rate.

This option did have its drawbacks, though — primarily its price tag. Students had to pay

teachers communicated with their students. He recounted that teachers would “dump semesters [of] content on a student” and frequently reuse the same content in their lessons.

“There is never really a support system for people who actually want to stay engaged with their lesson. It’s like cookie-cutter learning, basically,” he said.

In response, Mansukhani and his team made Quizzy, the core feature of AceIt. Quizzy is an AI chatbot aiming to tailor study materials to individual users’ specific needs.

“There are a lot of competitors in this space because generative AI is a big trend,” Mansukhani said. He noted a lot of tech companies are implementing AI into their services. Indeed, Mansukhani recounted that the idea for Quizzy came about because chatbots were “booming” then.

To differentiate AceIt from the competition, Mansukhani emphasized that AceIt focuses on the “personal component” — he noted that the content Quizzy generates for users is primarily based on user prompts and must fit the user’s individual requirements.

at least $2,322 to stay at the Chelsea for the full 18-night winter break period, or $129 per night. Ko recalled that she had to pay $2,700 to stay there in winter 2022, before accounting for the cost of buying food during that period.

Students also had to stay at least five nights at the Chelsea to qualify for temporary residence. This prohibited any students leaving Toronto a few days after their residence closes or returning to Toronto a few days before their residence opened again from accessing this service. The deal was also unavailable for students under 18. This winter, the option is no longer available.

Navigating entrepreneurship and full-time studies “Sometimes [potential investors] ask, ‘You’re a full-time student. How do you expect to run a business at the same time?’” Mansukhani recalled. He described that while he and his team like to say they work on AceIt full-time, this is not always possible.

While he said he understands this skepticism, Mansukhani described his strategies for navigating his dual life effectively. First of all, he plans out his schedule one to two weeks in advance. “I try to stay up to date and finish everything as quickly as possible. So I don't have the stress component,” he said.

Finding off-campus accommodations Yehjeen Cha, a fourth-year student who previously lived in St Michael’s College, told The Varsity in an interview that she has stayed in an Airbnb for the past three years. Although Cha has Canadian citizenship, she has no family in the country.

“It was kind of weird when winter break would come, and people would leave one by one to the US or within Canada to their families. And then the international students and I will be like, ‘Oh, we have nowhere to go.’” Cha recalled. To find accommodation, Cha said she and other students in her situation came together to find Airbnb accommodations. The predicament “was a bit bitter.”

Cha noted that Airbnbs could be much cheaper than accommodations like the Chelsea Hotel.

They may also help to reduce food costs, as students can access a fully-functioning kitchen.

However, finding an Airbnb during the holiday season can be quite a hassle. Cha described that she has had to spend a lot of time searching for available houses due to high tourist demand around Christmas time. This significant demand means that prices are also high — Cha said she paid a similar amount for an Airbnb and food over the 2022 winter break as she would have paid for the Chelsea Hotel.

There was also the hassle of moving in and out. Cha recalls that one year, her Airbnb was near Eglinton station, which is about five kilometres north of UTSG. “I just remember lugging around luggage we’d have to use for a month,” Cha said, noting that students cannot retrieve anything from their rooms over the break.

This year, Cha lives off campus and will not have to deal with all the hassle of searching for accommodation and dragging around luggage as her peers go home to their families for the holidays. “[That] was the biggest reason why I moved out,” Cha said.

Disclosure: Medha Barath is currently serving as the Academic Commissioner of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC). Jackie Ko is currently serving as VUSAC’s chair.

AceIt has partnered with business incubators hosted by various universities, such as Toronto Metropolitan University’s DMZ, Waterloo’s Velocity, and U of T’s InnovED. Mansukhani noted that AceIt has received some grants and sponsorships in the past, and is “always on the lookout” for more.

The team has started testing AceIt at Beverly Public School and an after-school coding academy, which are both in downtown Toronto.

“Seeing [students] use it is like… it didn’t even seem real the first time it happened,” Mansukhani recalled. “I feel like when you work on something for eight or nine months, and you see it physically being used somewhere, that’s the coolest thing ever.”

The AceIt team is currently testing their service at Beverly Public School in Toronto.

GEORGIA KELLY/THEVARSITY

Arts & Culture

December 4, 2023 thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

In Translation: There are no real bananas in Canada The bittersweet moments of a Dominican in Canada Anna Alemany Varsity Contributor

This marks the beginning of the renewed Arts and Culture column In Translation, which is all about the complexities of language! This column will feature the stories of different students who have a ‘home’ other than Canada and their experiences adapting to the verbal, physical, and cultural language of Canadian society.

I am rather particular with my bananas, for more reasons than one. On my home island, the Dominican Republic (DR), bananas are supposed to be super sweet, smooth, dense, and bursting with flavour. When I moved to Canada, I assumed that the bananas I would pick up at the University College dining hall would equally satisfy my tropical fruit craving. Sadly not — Dole bananas are mushy and somehow grainy, with an overall absence of flavour.

After my first bite of a Canadian banana, I was shattered. Surely, it was a bad batch that day, I thought — but it wasn’t.

The DR talks and breathes bananas, and they are representative of the culture at large. You’ll find them used in local graffiti; they’re a staple in both sweet and savoury meals and very much a symbol of pride for our diverse agriculture. On every corner, someone is eating a banana over a lively conversation, and every so often, I wish someone on my corner was eating one, too.

As a Dominican girl in Canada, I have experienced my fair share of linguistic mishaps, awkward hugs, and disbelief at how polite Canadians are.

After two years in this country, I feel I have truly had the opportunity to draw comparisons between the culture I grew up in and the one I am in currently, and in what ways I miss it.

The DR is a beautiful island with a vibrance beyond compare, and it makes up a huge part of my identity. Beyond the Spanish language

how European states and policymakers set the stage for the current violence in Palestine during the fateful years following World War II. Contextualizing the current violence in Israel and Gaza has been an important aim of the CSE445 course. As Desai explained, the class allowed for “[the] contextualization of 75 years of what has been happening, [and the idea] that things don’t just happen in a vacuum.”

Notably, the course did not just include Palestinian students but also students from

diverse backgrounds donning keffiyehs and presenting their research projects.

“Growing up as Palestinian, you’re always aware of just the general opposition towards us, and how a lot of our history is misconstrued,” said Barhoush. “So I feel like I came into the university ready to defend my cause.”

However, she explained that by coming to U of T, she realized that she wasn’t really alone. “There are a lot of people that know a lot about the cause that aren’t Palestinian, which was really good.”

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

itself, a yearning for human connection and a love of fruit are unshakeable aspects of its ‘language,’ which shapes the energy and culture of all Dominicans.

While bananas are more of a once-a-week complaint at breakfast, my experience with Spanish affects me daily. My first language is English since I attended a mostly English bilingual school, and my mom is a gringa. Despite this, some words or sentences just don’t click for me in English.

The event featured a keynote lecture and student project presentations

On November 28, the Critical Studies in Equity and Justice program held its second annual Palestine Studies Salon. The event was in collaboration with Hearing Palestine, a U of T-based organization that describes its mission as to “provide an intellectual hub for the study of Palestine.”

The William Doo Auditorium, where the event was hosted, was filled with attendees of all ages, many of whom wore keffiyehs — a traditional Palestinian scarf and cultural symbol. In addition to hosting a keynote lecture by University of California Berkeley Professor Ussama Makdisi, the event was also an opportunity for students from the U of T course CSE445 — Rethinking Palestine: Colonialism, Revolution and Transnational Solidarity to showcase projects from the class. On the auditorium’s walls were posters displaying research projects featuring maps of Palestine and art about Palestinian culture and resistance.

The event began with an acknowledgement of solidarity between the Palestinian cause and the cause of Indigenous peoples in North America. A land acknowledgement and solidarity statement by Assistant Professor of Indigenous Politics Uahikea Maile was followed by a rousing jingle dress dance performance accompanied by Ojibway singer and drummer Isaiah Cada.

back with comments such as, “Why is there only one period?” It makes perfect sense in Spanish to have a whole paragraph full of commas — but those same grammatical rules don’t translate. I also tend to make up words that are a blend of English and Spanish sounds — for example, “resaltaded,” a mix of “resaltado” and ”highlighted.” Bilingualism is very much a gift, but it has unintended consequences.

A much greater struggle than spoken language is the language of touch. One of the

most negative culture shocks I’ve experienced while in Canada is that hugs here are not standard practice when saying hello or goodbye, while hugging is a major part of the Dominican love language. Every time you say hello to someone you know, even if you are not super close, you’re supposed to give them a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek — within everyone’s boundaries and respect, of course.

Even if very subtly, it really helps you establish a bond with people far deeper than a simple wave.

I remember how back in the DR, I took physical touch for granted and even complained about the physical greetings. Admittedly, it can be super time-consuming, especially when there are over 10 people in the room you need to hug and kiss. Now, I would gladly do it 100 times. It has become part of my love language, a way I like to show care and compassion.

Of course, there are aspects of my experience with the Dominican ‘language’ that I definitely do not miss — most notably the language of misogyny. It is all too common to feel unsafe as a woman walking on the streets of the DR. Men are far too comfortable with catcalling and treating women as inferior in social, academic, and professional circles. This has always been my biggest frustration with my home country and something I am always grateful not to encounter in my current home away from home.

As an immigrant, there will always be parts of your home language that you miss and maybe some bits you won’t. But what is most important is remembering fundamentally who you are and remembering the bits you miss so that when you go back home, those hugs, bananas, and Spanish hellos are that much sweeter.

A student from the Dominican Republic shares what does — and doesn’t — translate to Canadian culture.

The Second Annual Palestine Salon hosts space for intellectual discussion Milena Pappalardo Arts & Culture Editor

For example, I tend to write run-on sentences in English and sound like I’m rambling. When I started at U of T, I would get all of my midterms

The event was MC’d by two Palestinian students in the CSE445 class, Sara Qadoumi and Jenna Barhoush. Qadoumi, a Canadian-born student whose father is Palestinian, presented a short film she created as her final project that traced her family’s experiences with displacement and diaspora across several generations. “[In this class,] I’ve learned more about my family, my heritage, my history,” she said in an interview with The Varsity.

Jude Arafat, a student in the class last year, also presented a short film. It featured a conversation between her and her grandmother, who currently lives in Gaza.

Although the event was a celebration of Palestine — featuring a spread of Middle Eastern food for attendees and students presenting their hard work from the semester — there was also a sense of urgency and gravity about the ideas being shared. Assistant Professor Chandni Desai, who taught CSE445, spoke to The Varsity about teaching a class about such a pressing and prominent geopolitical issue.

“It’s been breathtaking, actually,” she said. “In an environment where there’s a lot of misconception… to be able to teach a course that is grounded in Palestinian history… has been really, really important and refreshing.”

Makdisi, they keynote speaker, gave a lecture titled “Genocide and the Denial of Palestine.” His lecture offered a detailed history of roughly the last century, giving background on the genesis of ‘the question of Palestine.’ He particularly emphasized

Student projects on display in the William Doo Auditorium.

RAYMOND WONG/THEVARSITY

p

Professor Makdisi delivers his lecture on “Genocide and the Denial of Palestine.”

RAYMOND WONG/THEVARSITY

Student projects on display in the William Doo lecture hall..

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ARTS & CULTURE

A brief history of Christmas music Tracing the genre’s journey from ancient hymns to modern hits Harry Khachatrian Varsity Contributor

The advent of the winter season brings with it the annual deluge of Christmas music. As early as Thanksgiving, radio stations and Spotify playlists are awash with merriment and jingle bells. Not even classic rock radio is immune, as DJs dole out such cheesy covers as Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

But despite the barrage of pedestrian mall music, the genre is rich and storied, brimming with sundry musical styles dating as far back as the fourth century. Here’s a brief journey through the adorned annals of Christmas music.

Attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan (fourth century AD), the Latin hymn “Veni redemptor gentium” (“Come Redeemer of the Earth”) is considered the first official Christmas carol in recorded history. Although its austere vocals don’t lend themselves to a good review on Pitchfork, the song has recently found renewed appreciation.

It was under these religious auspices that Christmas-themed hymns continued to develop.

John Audelay, a fifteenth-century English priest and poet, is credited with some of the earliest English Christmas carols. It wasn’t until the sixteenth century, which some historians argue marks the inception of the Christmas tree in Germany, that we see the first indelible classics pop up that are still interpreted and performed today.

Accrued from ages of folk tradition, such cherished works as “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” and “O Christmas Tree” sprang from this era.

As the grandiose and energetic sounds of Baroque music swept across the Western world, composer George Frideric Handel composed his magnum opus, “Messiah,” an oratorio set to a libretto detailing the Biblical story of Christ. Universally recognized for its “Hallelujah” chorus, it was first performed in 1742 during Lent but soon became a mainstay of the Christmas repertoire.

The ensuing decades saw the Baroque period’s eminence wane — the musical world gradually shifted towards new horizons. The Victorian Era, marked by industrialization and technological

advancements like the gramophone, which made music more accessible and brought records into people’s homes, birthed the notable Christmas songs “Jingle Bells” (1857) and “Deck the Halls” (1862). This marks the first departure from the genre’s religious roots.

like dopamine and oxytocin. Dopamine is a hormone responsible for pleasure and satisfaction, while oxytocin is more commonly known as the love hormone. The increase in positive hormones while watching films like Hallmark movies and romcoms makes us feel ooey-gooey inside and is a biological reward that makes people continue to watch them.

These films are also nostalgic. They allow viewers to go back in time and experience the warm feeling we associate with the holidays but seldom feel. Life gets stressful, and with exam season coming up, we don’t experience the holidays like we did as children. Many of us want that feeling of unadulterated happiness back, and a Hallmark movie's cheesy, innocent plot helps with that. Part of the reason these movies help with revisiting nostalgia is that they create a bonding experience. Bonding is a recreation of

nostalgic childhood holidays, where friends can laugh together about how bad these films are, and grandparents can sit down with their grandkids to watch something horrendously cheesy together.

Hallmark movies will never be lauded for their impeccable writing, but it is clear that they’re here to stay. They hit the emotional goldmine of psychological factors that make holiday films so addicting, and the general consensus is that people find them fun.

Most of all, these types of films give people hope. Hope that a little bit of holiday magic will cut through your stress and find you this season.

Hope that one day, you, too, may stumble upon a little town, find the true meaning of the holiday season, and possibly stop a development company from building a ski resort — all while simultaneously falling in love, of course.

MILENA PAPPALARDO/THEVARSITY

Meanwhile, in 1892 Russia, Tchaikovsky, bereaved over the death of his sister, channelled his grief into a new ballet inspired by childhood vignettes that evoked her memory. Commissioned by the Imperial Mariinsky theatre, “The Nutcracker,” featuring whimsical melodies like the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” gradually captivated audiences worldwide, enshrining itself within the holiday season.

The twentieth century heralded a significant transformation in Christmas music, especially in the post-World War II era. The 1950s, marked by economic prosperity and the corresponding commercialization of culture in the West, saw an explosion of Christmas music that strayed further from its religious origins.

Coinciding with the establishment of the music industry and the rise of recorded music as a commodity, professional songwriting became a

The psychology behind the seasonal ‘guilty pleasure’

It’s that time of year again. The weather is getting colder, Mariah Carey has defrosted, and the return of cringy holiday movies is imminent. Love them or hate them, they are an inevitable consequence that comes with the season.

Everyone knows the formula: a girl, often a writer, goes from the big city back to her small town after a work-life catastrophe and falls in love with a childhood friend who never left. Don’t forget the very unconvincing fake snow and the old man at the end, who always turns out to be Santa Claus. Sure, holiday movies can vary slightly from the formula, but the one thing they all have in common is a happy ending. Some people appreciate it, others do not. However, even if you find yourself cringing at the copyand-paste holiday movie, there is something undeniably soothing about watching a movie so cheesy that it’s kind of good.

Despite widespread criticism or mockery of the genre, Hallmark rakes in millions yearly on holiday movies for a reason. There is a demand for holiday movies, and the explanation of why that demand exists actually lies in psychology.

Evolution has resulted in certain behaviours that contribute to our survival, like group tendencies such as empathy and caring for those we perceive as weak. Loving and being loved by others is also a need that humans have acquired

captured and conveyed the universal appeal of the holiday spirit.

As record companies pushed to cash in on the glaringly lucrative appeal of the holiday season, contemporary stars like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and even Elvis Presley recorded covers, many of which remain authoritative of popular Christmas standards.

Music continued to evolve in the following decades, and the ebbs and flows reverberated through the Christmas genre. In 1963, producer Phil Spector lent his signature “Wall of Sound” treatment to the style, recording A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector, featuring, among other talents, Darlene Love belting out vocals and shimmying in and out of dazzling falsetto harmonies on “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

The next notable progression for Christmas music came with the popularization of artists

composing their own songs. This shift was emblematic of a broader change in the music industry, where singer-songwriters and bands began to assert more creative control over their work. In the realm of Christmas music, this led to a surge of original compositions that reflected these musicians’ personal styles and artistic visions.

Joni Mitchell’s “River” from her 1971 album Blue offered a poignant counterpoint to the typically joyous holiday music. Opening with the universally recognizable “Jingle Bells” chords, the song swiftly descends into a poignant exploration of melancholy and longing during the festive season. Mitchell’s lyrics and sparse arrangement capture the contrast between the outward festivity and her inner sorrow, as she yearns for a river to metaphorically skate away on, escaping her emotional turmoil — in a 2001 interview, she described it as “a Christmas song for people who are lonely at Christmas!”

From this era comes my favourite Christmas song: The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” made even more resonant by the recent passing of Shane MacGowan. Vocally sparring with Kirsty MacColl, MacGowan ruminates on his bygone years with “I could have been someone” — to which MacColl wryly remarks, “Well, so could anyone.” It is a masterful portrayal of the diverse emotions and experiences that people navigate during the holiday season. It isn’t Christmas without The Pogues.

As we moved into the twenty-first century, Christmas music continued to mirror cultural trends, embracing contemporary pop influences.

Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” exemplifies the seamless blend of festive spirit with modern pop, and set a precedent for twenty-first century artists like Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber. Their fresh takes on holiday classics reflect the genre's adaptability and enduring appeal.

This evolution from ancient hymns to Joni Mitchell’s introspective “River” and onto the pop vibrancy of Mariah Carey underscores Christmas music’s ability to adapt and evolve, capturing the full spectrum of the holiday spirit.

The holiday genre dates as far back as the fourth century.

Why we love cheesy holiday movies Emily Chan Varsity Contributor

burgeoning career. Among these professional songwriters were individuals like Broadway lyricist Samuel Cohen, who wrote “Let it Snow,” and Mel Tormé, known for “The Christmas Song.” Despite possibly being more familiar with Hanukkah candles than Christmas trees, both writers deftly

since those with more support are more likely to survive. It is an innate need that has transcended into the present day, where people seek out others, like friends, family, and lovers, for support.

Terrible holiday movies are primarily romances with little substance to the plot. We may be able to fulfill our innate need to be loved by others and, therefore, to ensure our survival by associating with a group by living vicariously through the characters in cheesy films. Since there isn’t much action, antagonists, or anything else, there’s no stress worrying about whether the two characters will end up together, and you can just enjoy the romance.

Watching holiday movies that follow a predictable plot without heart-wrenching plot twists is a form of idyllic escapism. These movies are a welcome distraction from reality where, unlike the picture-perfect characters, problems cannot be solved as easily as finding the true meaning of the holiday season. Reality is unpredictable, to say the least, but these movies are predictable to a fault and provide viewers with a sense of stability that is not always present in their real lives. Many viewers find it calming to take a break from reality and enjoy the temporary holiday utopia that graces their screens for an hour and a half.

Not only is escapism a reason for liking holiday movies, but it also turns out our brains respond positively to watching sappy media. Holiday movies alter levels of beneficial hormones

NAYEON (NIKKI) SONG/THEVARSITY

Science

December 4, 2023 thevarsity.ca/category/science science@thevarsity.ca

Can being bilingual protect you from Alzheimer’s?

How bilingualism boosts cognitive reserves

An MRI of a brain showing medial temporal lobe atrophy in a brain with Alzheimer’s disease, compared to a brain without it.

LUKELAHOOD AND MCKEITH ET AL CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Edvina Bahar Varsity Contributor

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition that affects millions of people worldwide. This insidious and progressive disease has been implicated in many behavioural changes in cognitive functions: memory, comprehension, language, attention, and reasoning. While AD remains incurable, research has shown that certain factors may influence an individual’s susceptibility to the disease and the rate of cognitive decline.

One such factor in recent years is bilingualism. Bilingualism is not only a valuable skill for communication but has also been recognized as a protective factor in those at risk for AD. Cognitive reserves and bilingualism The term “cognitive reserve” describes the brain’s ability to withstand damage caused by aging or disease by optimizing neural functions. Studies suggest that individuals with greater cognitive reserve are more resilient and better equipped to cope with the cognitive challenges presented by conditions like AD. A 2019 review by Mario F. Mendez, a behavioural neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, delved into the intriguing possibility that bilingualism may offer a form of protection against AD. Mendez’s research examined the complex bidirectional interaction

between language skills and dementia, and found several studies that show bilingualism may delay the onset of dementia. A key idea emerging from this paper is that bilingualism may enhance cognitive reserves by engaging and strengthening various brain structures and connections.

This idea is supported by findings from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study that reveals notable differences in brain activity between monolinguals and bilinguals who became proficient in a second language early in life. Specifically, bilinguals who learned to speak two different languages from an early age demonstrated increased activation in language-related brain regions, such as Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, which are responsible for language production and comprehension.

Bilingualism and cognitive reserve are fascinatingly intertwined. As the review highlights, studies have suggested that using two or more languages regularly can contribute to one’s cognitive reserve. This occurs because bilingual individuals engage in constant cognitive exercises as they switch between languages.

In the case of bilingual AD patients, this increased cognitive reserve might manifest as a delay in the onset of dementia symptoms despite the progression of the disease.

Lastly, bilingual individuals with AD demonstrated better cognitive performance on

various tests than their monolingual counterparts. Their ability to perform tasks related to language, memory, and executive function remained relatively stronger, further supporting the idea that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve.

Bilinguals’ frequent need to switch between languages and select the appropriate language for a given context appears to involve more extensive recruitment of the brain’s left hemisphere, which is generally responsible for language. This linguistic juggling act demands a higher level of neural activation, leading to significant differences in brain functioning between bilinguals and monolinguals.

Such findings underscore the potential cognitive benefits of bilingualism.

Structural changes in the brains of mono versus bilinguals with Alzheimer’s A study by Cyrus A. Raji and colleagues at Washington University, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, presents compelling insights into the structural changes in the brains of individuals with AD, comparing monolingual individuals to bilingual ones. Their research involves the use of advanced neuroimaging techniques to examine brain volumes and structures.

The study reveals that bilingual individuals with AD exhibit a greater brain volume compared to their monolingual counterparts,

even though AD is typically associated with brain atrophy and shrinkage. The larger brain volume observed in bilingual individuals suggests that they may have a greater cognitive reserve, allowing their brains to better withstand the effects of the disease.

The neuroimaging data also indicated differences in the structural changes within the brains of bilingual and monolingual Alzheimer’s patients. Bilinguals showed more preserved brain regions associated with language and executive function. These regions are vital for memory, problem-solving, and decision-making, all of which AD significantly impacts.

The research supports the concept of cognitive reserve, emphasizing the importance of engaging in cognitive exercises such as language switching, which bilingualism inherently involves.

While bilingualism is not a guaranteed shield against Alzheimer’s, it may contribute to building cognitive resilience and delaying the onset of cognitive decline. This research highlights the potential benefits of bilingualism beyond linguistic and cultural advantages and underscores the importance of continued exploration in the field of neurology and cognitive science. So, in the quest for mental fortitude, embarking on the journey of learning a new language sooner rather than later might just be your brain’s best bet!

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SCIENCE

The critical role of epidemiology in linguistics Studying the spread of disease can give us vocabulary to talk about language Artur Gyonjyan Varsity Contributor

As peculiar as it may seem, the studies of linguistics and epidemiology intersect in more ways than we might think. Broadly speaking, epidemiology is the study of how diseases or illnesses can spread throughout populations. On the other hand, linguistics is the study of language, encompassing the examination of specific languages and general language characteristics.

When studying linguistics in epidemiological terms, linguists contend that people do not transmit entire languages to each other through a single event, but instead in small units over time known as linguistic items. Hence, in linguistic epidemiology, the focus is on tracking how these small linguistic items spread through populations as individuals are exposed to them, creating chains of transmission.

Variation and transmission People can understand the epidemiology of linguistic items through the distribution of linguistic variants: two or more alternative forms of a single linguistic item. An example of a linguistic item is morphemes, the smallest grammatical unit of speech. Morphemes can be entire words or small fragments of words, like a suffix.

One of the most researched linguistic variants in the English language is that of the “-ing” variable.

There is variation in “-ing” because some speakers pronounce words like “driving” with a velar pronunciation [ŋ] — as in, with the back of their tongue touching the back of their upper mouth. Others use an alveolar/apical [n] pronunciation — as in, with the tip of their tongue touching the ridge behind their front teeth — to create a form that roughly sounds like “drivin.”

Speakers can spread the linguistic variants through daily interactions with other people, where individual speakers adopt and pass on specific variants, and through relocation, where groups moving to a new area bring two dialects into closer interaction. Linguists can study the transmission of variants of linguistic items present in dialects across populations using epidemiological methods.

Adopting epidemiological methods In his book Linguistic Epidemiology, linguist Nick J. Enfield argues that the type of linguistic variants that spread depends on the behaviour of their carriers. According to Enfield, an individual has to reproduce the linguistic item in some way, by pronouncing or repeating a word, to expose more individuals to that item. However, the behavioural pattern of how individuals reproduce that item varies, giving rise to variants. As such, the type of linguistic variant that a person adopts depends on the variant that they were exposed to.

Enfield suggests that we can use epidemiological approaches to understand how linguistic variants

Do you like me?

Metaperception bias and its impacts on communication Simran Dhindsa Varsity Contributor

First impressions are important in any social interaction. When meeting new people, we put our best selves out there, and others do the same. Sometimes, these short first interactions are all that an individual may use to create a mental image of you.

So often, we wonder what the other person thought of us. Did I say the right things? Did I have the right body language? Were my jokes actually funny? Now, it would be awkward to ask the person for direct feedback on how they perceived us, so we are left with unconfirmed beliefs of how the other person perceived us.

These beliefs are called “metaperceptions,” and many factors come into play when we establish them, such as the other individual’s response and overall impression of the interaction. However, our self-perception is more influenced by how we think we are perceived because knowing another person’s true thoughts and feelings during a conversation is difficult.

Even if the person you’re talking to is completely open and honest with their opinions of you, your own thoughts and perceptions carry the most weight.

Our insight is poor when others do not agree with our views In the 2016 book The Social Psychology of Perceiving Others Accurately, the editors Judith A. Hall, Marianne Schmid Mast, and Tessa V. West mention how the accuracy of our insight — specifically, our intuitive understanding of another’s thoughts and beliefs — is stronger when the other people in our conversation agree with us but is poor when they do not share our same views.

This often leads to a ‘liking gap’ — when your perception of how another perceives or likes you differs from how they actually perceive you.

Many studies have found that people tend to underestimate how much others like them, even children as young as five!

A 2019 US study published in Nature by Jeffrey Lees and Mina Cikara of over 4,000 subjects highlighted how negative metaperceptions of a group influenced the interactions between members of that group and external groups, which can lead to conflicts and barriers between them. These negative metaperceptions can hinder people’s social interactions and create a sense of alienation if individuals underestimate their likeability. Such a negative perception of someone’s conversational ability can lead to feelings of self-blame for how their interactions unfold.

The liking gap with English as a second language While researchers have conducted many studies about metaperception with individuals who speak English as a primary language, we don’t know much about the implications of the liking gap in those speaking English as a second language and its impact on communication and belonging.

While the language can be quite difficult for non-English speakers, navigating the nuances of another’s communication style can be even more challenging. As an English speaker myself, even going to Montréal posed a challenge in assessing how likable I seemed, as I faced cultural differences in interactions on top of differences in communication, even when other people and I were speaking the same language.

A study at Concordia’s Applied Linguistics Lab looks into the phenomenon of the liking gap in students who speak English as a second language and its potential social impact.

The researchers instructed a total of 38 pairs of students to read and discuss a short text. After, the students filled out a questionnaire rating their partner’s overall impression of them.

The study aimed to explore two questions: does a student’s perceived rating differ from the actual rating by their partner after an academic discussion? Does the student’s metaperception influence their willingness to engage in future interactions with their partners?

Linguistic epidemiology refers to the way linguistic variations spread through groups and populations.

BRENNAN KARUNARATNE/THEVARSITY

spread among a population. This involves using social networks, and accounting for social and cognitive factors, to understand the potential transmissibility of given variants.

The ‘social network model’ proposes that speakers are nodes within a social network where each speaker is linked to others through communication. This network could also include sources such as advertising, written materials, television, and radio as nodes in the network model. In essence, we analyze an individual’s network of connections to pinpoint the origins of novel linguistic behaviours and identify the individuals or sources shaping their speech.

Beyond locating sources of linguistic forms, linguists may also study an individual person’s

potential to transmit linguistic forms — in the same way an epidemiologist may seek to study the potential of an individual to transmit a virus.

To study an individual’s potential to spread a new facet of language, linguistic epidemiology takes into account cognitive and social factors. When considering social factors, for example, it is important to acknowledge that the specific linguistic variant that a person adopts is influenced by their desire to sound like a member of a specific social group. Linguistic expressions, then, are socially marked, conveying both semantic and social meaning.

So, next time you hear someone using another linguistic twist, blame it on linguistic epidemiology — making language infectious, one conversation at a time!

The findings aligned with previous knowledge of the liking gap, extending its impact to international students, who, in this study, also underestimated how much their conversational partners in the activity liked them. Most participants rated their partners more favourably than how much they thought their partners liked them. This gap was also more prevalent for women participants in terms of speaking skills and interaction behaviours, and the women participants’ perception of how much their partners liked them influenced their interest in future interactions. The men’s interest in future interactions was not predicted by their partners’ liking.

Rachael Lindberg, a PhD student at Concordia and one of the main authors of the study, stated that “this [metaperception] insecurity

could potentially have consequences for [some students’] academic and social integration.” Not only does metaperception impact their confidence in themselves as English speakers, but it can create an atmosphere of hesitancy when seeking social interactions.

I believe a good starting point to help mitigate negative metaperceptions is through better understanding, communication, and empathy between groups and individuals. So consider ending a conversation with how you felt about it, whether good or bad, to help the other person better understand how the interaction went for you — rather than letting them create a biased metaperception which, as we now understand, is inaccurate in most cases.

Several studies have highlighted the gap between our perceptions and the reality of how much people like us.

CHRIS ZDRAVKO/THEVARSITY

thevarsity.ca/category/science

DECEMBER 4, 2023

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How language can uphold gender biases in our conversations Linguistics course JAL355H1 explores how gender and language interact in our daily lives Jeanine Varney Associate Science Editor

Language is one of the fundamental tools we use to navigate the world, but we often don’t think about all the minute nuances that make up our experience in language. The field of linguistics helps bring attention to the variety of small aspects of language and their interactions that underlie our everyday conversations.

Linguistics research often focuses on how language is used differently by people of different demographics and intersectionalities. One class at U of T that helps bring attention to the gendering of language use is JAL355H1 — Language and Gender, a joint anthropology and linguistics course.

JAL355H1 spotlights the ways gender affects our experiences of language and how the usage of language is gendered in society. Among discussions about gender and language, two topics from JAL355H1 that exemplify the kind of issues the course addresses are the study of interruptions and the structure of interactions in a conversation.

How interruptions work in language In a conversation, when one person speaks, they provide places where it is appropriate for other speakers to join the conversation, called “transition relevant places.” Transition relevant places are points in the conversation at which it feels natural to change speakers — such as at the end of a sentence.

When someone begins to speak at a transition ‘irrelevant’ place, linguists call this overlap. One type of overlap is cooperative overlap — when

a person in the conversation interjects short affirmative words like “yep” or “uh-huh” that don’t change the flow of the conversation. The other type of overlap is interruption. Interruption is a hijacking of the conversation at a non-transition relevant place, which diverts the conversation to the interrupting speaker.

The gendering of interruption in research about language is conflicted in scientific literature. Some early research by linguists Don H. Zimmerman and Candace West in 1975 found that interruptions occurred more in men’s conversations with women than in conversations with other combinations of genders. More specifically, men interrupted conversations with women more often than with men.

However, in the 1990s, other linguists found differing or inconclusive results, with the effect of interruptions changing due to factors such as setting or the social positions of the conversation participants. Essentially, participants thought of interruptions differently if they were in a business meeting or a conversation among friends.

Specifically, when linguists Kristin J. Anderson and Campbell Leaper were reviewing studies on the effects of gender on interruptions, they found these gendered effects were greater in more intrusive interruptions, as in those that were the most successful at commandeering the conversation, compared to non-intrusive interruptions.

Gender affects what we hear We’ve all heard about how women or genderdiverse people might present an idea in a meeting to receive no acknowledgment, but the second a man says the same idea, the room celebrates it.

Linguistics can explain this using a part of speech

JAL355H1 explores how gender identity affects language in a social setting.

SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

act theory, which breaks an utterance down into three components: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.

A locutionary act refers to the exact words of a statement — essentially, what you said. An illocutionary act is what you meant by the statement, or what action you wanted to compel from the listener. Together, locutionary and illocutionary acts form “uptake,” which is your ability to get your point across.

A perlocutionary act is what the listener thought you meant, and it determines whether you were successful in getting your message across. Specifically, perlocutionary acts determine “discourse updating,” which constitutes the conversation being redirected to include the new information from the statement.

For example, if I tell my dog “sit” — a locutionary act, I mean for him to sit, which is an illocutionary act, and if he listens to me and sits, he understands my meaning and performs the requested action, demonstrating a perlocutionary act.

Uptake and discourse updating can both be affected by gender. Uptake can sometimes depend

on the listeners’ perceptions of what the speaker is saying in the conversation. Listeners’ perceptions are also based on the genders of the participants, which means the conversation is filtered through the listener’s own biases about gender.

Discourse updating can also be affected by gender; if listeners in the conversation do not take the speech of women, gender-diverse people, or other minoritized speakers as equally valuable as men, then the conversation may not be updated to include ideas or statements coming from those women, gender-diverse people, or otherwise minoritized speakers.

Gender acutely and directly affects how we hear and are heard by the world around us. Linguistics and courses like JAL355H1 can help decipher the numerous interactions that make up our everyday lives and unpick the systems of language that surround us. Further, looking at linguistic phenomena such as interruptions or speech act theory can help us understand how we interact in conversations and describe problems we might face, continuing to show how we navigate the world using the fundamental tool of language.

The neurobiology of multilingualism How code-switching helps strengthen your working memory Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Staff

Multilingualism is more common than you might think, as more than half of the world’s population speaks more than one language.

Have you ever watched two bilingual people converse in two distinct languages, switching in and out during the conversation, or even during a sentence? Maybe this is how you communicate with your family at home. But have you ever inquired how the brain can accomplish this?

Understanding the brain’s ability to switch back and forth between languages raises important neurobiological and linguistic questions that require us to invest our time and resources to answer. In linguistics, the phenomenon of being able to shift from one language to another during a conversation, or even within a sentence, is called “code-switching.”

The bilingual advantage It is a common belief that those who speak multiple languages possess a cognitive advantage, that is, a superior ability in how they register and process environmental stimuli. Picture this scenario: you are fluent in both English and French. However, you are speaking to an individual who only knows French. While speaking, you must be capable of repressing your knowledge of English so that you are only verbally expressing yourself in French.

Researchers have proposed the “adaptive control hypothesis” to explain how individuals who speak multiple languages can inhibit information in one language to use another language in a conversation. This skill requires more effort from the brain and thus leads to strengthening the anterior temporal lobe and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, regions of the brain that play a role in memory abilities.

But is this hypothesis supported by neurobiology research?

Neurobiological mechanisms for codeswitching A 2021 study by Sarah F. Phillips and Liina Pylkkänen investigated whether there is an association between the brain’s temporal lobe and prefrontal regions during code-switching.

While previous studies have shown that the left anterior temporal lobe is responsible for composing words, it was unclear

information about the exact role they play in this process.

In their study, Phillips and Pylkkänen used magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements in 20 bilingual individuals fluent in English and Korean. MEG is a noninvasive neuroimaging technique used to measure brain activity.

English and Korean are “typologically distant” languages, meaning they have different

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

how the temporal lobe — responsible for processing sensory information, regulating emotions, restoring and recalling memory, and understanding language — plays a role in codeswitching. Furthermore, although the prefrontal regions of the brain have been associated with code-switching, neuroscientists lacked further

grammatical patterns. Phillips and Pylkkänen conducted tests for both spoken language and orthography — the conventional spelling system of a language. To assess the participants’ orthographical abilities in both languages, they conducted two tests, the COMP test — where they assessed participants’ speed at matching

a picture to a two word-sentence — and the LIST test — where they assessed the speed of matching the picture to one word of a two word-list.

While there were no discrepancies in participants’ response time and accuracy when switching between spoken languages, there was a decrease in reaction time in the COMP test and accuracy in the LIST test when switching orthography.

Brain regions involved in code-switching The MEG results of the study showed that the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus are active during language processing and interpretation. In addition, the anterior temporal lobe and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex are active when an individual switches between languages. The study revealed activity in all four of these regions when participants switched between different languages for speaking and orthography. This not only indicates that these regions are relevant for both speaking and orthography, but that there is coordination between them during both processes.

Overall, this study helps us understand how multilingual people can switch back and forth between languages. The underlying mechanism identified to explain this ease lies within the left anterior temporal cortex and its ability to interpret language equally, even when an individual switches between languages.

Language switching does not get processed in the brain until after the switch has occurred, revealing how natural this phenomenon of multilingualism truly is. These findings reveal that code-switching is seamless, and the patterns of activity found within the brain regions of individuals switching from one language to another are parallel to the patterns of brain activity found in individuals continuously speaking one language.

Sports

December 4, 2023 thevarsity.ca/category/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Is dance finally deemed ‘sport enough’? Breaking joins the lineup for Paris 2024 U of T dancers weigh in on breakdance as a new Olympic event Julia Kochanski Varsity Contributor

From its humble origins in the South Bronx to its spot on the upcoming global stage in the 2024 Paris Olympics, breaking has transformed into a revolutionary form of expression. Breaking is joining the Olympics in an attempt to attract a younger audience — but it also presents a unique opportunity for dancers to showcase their talents on the biggest stage for competitive sports.

Breaking through time The dance style known as breakdance, or “breaking,” was cultivated by hip hop’s cultural development among African-American and Latine communities in New York. Through the 1970s, breaking emerged from the streets of the Bronx, New York City but had trouble gaining popularity in major cities like Los Angeles and Miami, possibly in part due to a lack of coordinated effort between different dance groups to popularize it.

Breaking gained credibility through media and pop culture in the ’80s and gained international popularity in the ’90s. By 2010, major Canadian cities such as Toronto and Vancouver and countries such as Australia and France hosted independent breaking competitions.

Breaking was first featured in the Olympics at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires,

Argentina, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) claims it captivated over 2.5 million views across social media.

Why add new events to the Olympics?

Thomas Bach, the President of the IOC, wrote in his 2020 Olympic Agenda that he strives to revamp the Olympics and increase its viewership by appealing to a younger demographic. The Olympics has recently struggled to capture millennials’ fascination, and the age demographic in which it’s most popular has gone up with each Olympic Games. There was a six per cent increase in the median age of Olympic viewers between the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio Games.

At the same time, NBC experienced a 15 per cent television decrease in viewership between the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Adding new events that might be considered more socially relevant may appeal to younger viewers. Grace Butler, a fourth-year English major and a Varsity Blues dancer, wrote in an email to The Varsity that “if the Olympics continues to promote [itself on] social media [to] showcase [athletes’] talents and surreal abilities [it might be able to attract] younger audiences, who can idolize these athletes as they grow up and learn to play many of these sports and practices.”

The World DanceSport Federation brought on

Anastasiya Dyadchenko: The OUA’s Women’s Rookie and Player of the Year Dyadchenko talks about the individuality of tennis, and how it’s a constant in her life

Anastasiya Dyadchenko had an impressive season with the Varsity Blues.

COURTESY OF BARRY MCCLUSKEY CC VARSITY BLUES MEDIA

Bruno Macia Varsity Contributor

In her debut season, Anastasiya Dyadchenko has made a clear statement — the Blues tennis team has true talent within their lines. A secondyear student, pursuing a double major in criminology and political science, Dyadchenko helped the Blues become the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) 2022–2023 women’s tennis champions — their third title in four years.

Dyadchenko also won two big individual awards with the Blues: 2022–2023 Women’s Rookie of the Year and 2022–2023 Women’s Player of the Year.

However, her journey in tennis started long before migrating to Canada seven years ago. It was at the age of eight in her country of birth, Ukraine, that she began playing the sport.

Her dad, who had never played tennis before, learned how to play by watching YouTube videos and taught her everything he knew. “He was

Jean-Laurent Bourquin, a former member of the IOC, in hopes of incorporating rock-and-roll or Latin dance into the Olympics. Instead, Bourquin decided to give breaking a platform at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, using it as a platform to introduce breaking for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Now, Alien Ness, a veteran breakdancer, explained to The New York Times that the Olympics adding breaking to its events list will change “everything.” Paris 2024 will have large audiences tuning in to watch athletes they have kept up with through social media. “Social media has allowed for millions of people [globally] to get inside scoops into the [athletes’] training and… [Olympic] preparation,” Butler wrote. “Many [people] will want to watch the event to see how it all paid off for the athletes!”

Next summer, Phil Wizard from Vancouver, Tiffany Leung from Toronto, Emma Misak from Vancouver, and Samuel Cyr, known as Mass, from Montréal are all Canadian breakdancers viewers should watch out for.

The potency of dance I was intrigued to ask a dancer at U of T about their perspective on whether dance is an art medium or a sport.

“Most people would definitely say it’s an art, and they won’t really take into consideration how much we train… like athletes,” Lily Perritt, a firstyear kinesiology major on U of T’s pom team, said in an interview with The Varsity.

I also talked to Geoff Reyes, the CDS breaking sports director, higher performance director of the National Breaking Team of Canada, and president of Breaking Canada. “Breaking’s an art,” he said. “[Yet] as soon as you put [an] art form into competition, it can become a sport.” Consequently, he thinks breaking shouldn’t be categorized as only an art or only a sport.

However you categorize it, the inclusion of breaking at Paris 2024 allows elite dancers to showcase their talents internationally. Butler wrote that she thinks the addition of breaking to the Paris 2024 games “[will] inspire many new dancers to want to train, as well as inspire current dancers and artists to continue mastering their craft.”

Dance provides athletes opportunities to creatively express themselves, consistently work toward something they are passionate about, and maintain positive exercise habits. Breaking is an incredibly challenging dance style that can appeal to and impress large audiences globally. “[Breaking is] one of the hardest [dance] styles,” said Perritt. “So I feel… dancers [will receive] more respect for the athletic side of it [and] people [can witness how challenging] dance styles can be.”

Finally, breaking can provide individuals with an outlet to find and become better versions of themselves through self-discovery. “Dance is what allowed me personally to not be afraid to be who I am,” Reyes said.

Breaking will be featured at the Olympics for the first time ever.

COURTESY OF FEDERICO GRECHI CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

my coach for four years there,” Dyadchenko explained in an interview with The Varsity.

While she’s unable to trace the original reason that got her dad into tennis, she said he “loved the sport so much” that she just started playing with him. “[Tennis is a] very, very big part of my life,” she remarked with a smile on her face. Growing up, everything was “tennis, tennis, tennis.” “With my parents, I feel like it’s all we talked about,” she added.

To better understand her love for tennis, I fired off some quick questions to Dyadchenko, and she was fast to respond. Her favourite tennis player?

Elina Svitolina. Her favourite tournament to watch?

Roland Garros. Her favourite surface to play on?

Clay. And, finally, her preferred brand of racket?

Yonex.

“We played at the same club, and we travelled to tournaments together,” Dyadchenko explained.

The connection can be seen as the duo hasn’t lost a single match of the six they played together this year. With bright eyes, she explained, “We’re really connected… [so] I’m used to playing with her. And I know her really well. So we can support each other when we play.”

The supportive culture within sports knows no limits, even in an individual discipline like tennis. “I feel like I’m surrounded by really great people all around and great tennis players,” she said with a proud smile, after I asked her what it meant to represent U of T. She mostly played for herself before, so this new experience of belonging to a team is a learning experience. “It’s actually fun to be part of a team, and… it is a really great community.”

Immigrating to Canada Rackets and tennis balls continued to be a constant in her life when she moved to Ontario.

Dyadchenko expressed that she would “just play [tennis] indoors during the winter and outdoors in the summer,” and noted that weather patterns are similar in Ukraine and Canada.

However, moving to a new country wasn’t easy for her. “Tournament structure and practices are completely different from Ukraine,” said Dyadchenko. She went from practicing with her dad to now having a coach and a club where she would train with other players. “[I had to] learn a new language as well,” she added.

Nevertheless, tennis opened many doors for her. “I was able to travel the world, [and] meet new people,” she said. Playing among the best 1,000 juniors in the world two years ago, Dyadchenko had the opportunity to showcase her abilities around the globe, from France to Madagascar to the Caribbean to Mexico — and, of course, to Canada.

A good balance and a bright future Dyadchenko also knows there must be a good balance between courts and classrooms. This year, she’s focused on her studies but has also worked as a tennis coach. She feels like playing and training for the Blues is “just a fun thing to distract [her] from doing work all the time.”

The following season will be exciting for the Blues tennis team, especially because the men’s team has likewise crowned themselves as OUA 2022–2023 Tennis Champions. Also, the promising collaboration between Tennis Canada and USPORTS will open up the door for our amazing players to compete at a higher level.

Thinking about the future, Dyadchenko fears that the severe injury she had on her wrist two years ago, will affect her professional tennis career, “I think I just want to play tennis on the side while I’m focusing on my studies.”

The two awards she won this year, which also included the OUA Athlete of the Week on October 8, reinforced her talent as a tennis player, and motivated her as the injuries have kept her outside the courts for a while.

“It’s really cool to win awards like that,” she said. She remarked that they aren’t just personal achievements but also represent the achievements of extraordinary tennis players accompanying her on the team. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without my team. [They are] so supportive that I feel like I would never be able to do it without them,” she reflected.

A supportive community Dyadchenko usually plays singles, but on the Blues team, she has also formed an undefeated partnership with Maria Popova. Both players were named OUA All-Stars after their performance at this year’s OUA championship. Furthermore, the two have known each other since they were 13 years old.

thevarsity.ca/category/sports

DECEMBER 4, 2023 19

Blues men’s hockey conquer Waterloo Warriors with exceptional 7–2 win

Excellent teamwork earns Blues a remarkable victory before winter break Jennifer Lee Varsity Contributor

On December 1, the Varsity Blues men’s hockey team faced the Waterloo Warriors at Varsity Arena for their second faceoff this season. Following their previous 5–4 win against the Warriors on November 4, the Blues dominated the ice yet again in an outshining 7–2 triumph.

What happened The Warriors kicked off the first period by scoring their first goal just five minutes in. However, when the Warriors were given a penalty 14 minutes into the period, Blues Captain Cole Purboo, Six different Blues scored in a thrilling game against the Warriors. assisted by defenseman Nick Grima KATE WANG/THEVARSITY

Taylor Trussler’s journey of passion, leadership, and excellence The Blues women’s hockey captain discusses the past, present, and future of her hockey career Shonita Srinivasan Varsity Contributor

Hailing from the small town of Ayr, Ontario, Taylor Trussler — the captain of the Varsity Blues women’s ice hockey team — has been playing hockey since a young age.

“I think my dad was the reason I started playing hockey because he [had] always played [hockey] growing up,” Trussler explained in an interview with The Varsity. “So I think he probably pushed me a bit to play it as well.”

In her early career, Trussler played in boys divisions, an experience that “helped develop [her] as a player.” Nevertheless, once she hit grade nine, she began playing on a women’s team. “[That’s when] I kind of realized that you know, maybe going to play in university was an option for me,” Trussler said.

After grade nine, Trussler transitioned away from her local team in Ayr and began playing in Brantford. Soon after, she began playing for the Cambridge Rivulettes in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).

During her time with the Rivulettes, she was the top scorer with six goals during 13 postseason games. That phenomenal form has continued into her tenure with the Varsity Blues. In her second year playing, she scored a hat trick

in the second game of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) semifinals against the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold. She was named an OUA East first-team all-star in her third year and an OUA East second-team all-star in her fourth year. Additionally, Trussler has won the McCaw Cup — the trophy awarded to the OUA hockey champions — twice, in 2020 and 2023.

Yet, a defining moment with the Blues for Trussler was experiencing nationals and witnessing all the hockey talent there. “Obviously, we don’t know what it is like to win nationals, but [I’m sure] it’s a special feeling to win… [and] share that [joy] with all your teammates.”

Each year, there are eight teams at nationals, and in 2019–2020 as well as 2022–2023, the Blues have been beaten in the quarter-finals by the Mount Royal Cougars, a team from Alberta.

Trussler says these results have motivated her and fueled her passion to work hard.

On a personal note, Jarome Iginla — a winger on the Calgary Flames and Trussler’s and her father’s favourite player — remains an idol in her life. Trussler recalled meeting Iginla as a child and being starstruck at the opportunity to see her idol in real life. According to Trussler, Iginla was “very smart” and “hardworking” — two qualities she believes to be integral for a player on the ice.

Decrypting sports jargon A brief guide to various terms throws the ball to a teammate near the basket, who then catches and scores of the athletic world the ball in one singular mid-air motion Damola Omole Varsity Contributor

The world of sports is full of several colourful terms that perfectly paint the heart-wrenching and often unpredictable stories that unfold on courts, fields, and arenas worldwide. From the gravity-defying alley-oops of basketball to the swift timing of a volley in soccer, this guide aims to decode these terms and offer readers a glimpse into the linguistic tapestry that enriches the experience of every athletic pursuit.

Basketball Pick-and-roll: A prevalent offensive play involving a player initiating a screen, or a “pick” — a play where the player stands and blocks the defender — for a teammate holding the ball to dribble toward the basket in a move referred to as the “roll.”

Alley-oop: A play where an offensive player

— often a slam-dunk.

Euro-step: A move in which a player on offense fakes in one direction and then in the opposite direction before laying the ball into the basket to score.

Turnover: An instance of a team losing possession of the ball through forced or unforced error.

Soccer Volley: To strike the ball in mid-air before it makes contact with the ground.

Offside: A position where a player stands behind the other team’s last opposition player to receive the ball.

10-men: The case where a team loses one of their players after receiving a red card and goes from 11 players down to 10 players.

Rabona: A technique of striking the ball in soccer, wherein a player wraps one leg — their kicking leg — around the back of the other before making contact with the ball.

and second-year forward Nicholas Wong, secured the Blues’ first power-play goal of the night.

Soon after, first-year forward Julian Recine was given a penalty for tripping, which gave the Warriors a power-play opportunity. Despite the Warriors’ advantage, first-year forward Christian Stevens, assisted by third-year forward Owen Robinson, scored a short-handed goal with one minute remaining, ending the first period with a 2–1 lead.

The Blues gained further momentum in the second period, with second-year forward Graham Dickerson, assisted by second-year forward Jacob King, scoring a short-handed goal 10 minutes in. Dickerson returned the favour later, setting up King for another short-handed goal four minutes later. The Warriors narrowed the gap with a goal in the final two minutes of the period but the Blues maintained control, ensuring a 4–2 lead as the period ended.

The Blues showcased their dominance in the third period. Second-year forward Zack Smith assisted by Grima and third-year forward Ben Woodhouse netted the Blues’ fifth goal of the night. Wong and Grima stepped forward again and helped Purboo score his second goal of the night. To top it off, Robinson, assisted by Grima

and first-year defenseman Zack Terry, sealed the deal with the final goal for the Blues. The Warriors were unable to fight back, resulting in a 7–2 victory for the Blues.

“We came together as a team and battled a lot of adversity,” said Purboo in a postgame interview with The Varsity. “We took a bunch of penalties, but we were able to capitalize on the special teams and maintain a positive mindset.” He praised Grima’s strong vision and skills — he finished the game with four assists — and King’s performance throughout the night. Blues goaltender Jett Alexander also performed strongly, saving 31 out of 33 shots.

“We have a couple of injuries and even I’m banged up with my body and exams, so it’s nice to take that time [off],” Grima said in a postgame interview with The Varsity. “But we’ll still be practicing and trying to stay sharp.”

What’s next The Blues currently rank second in the Ontario University Athletics West Division. Now, they’ll enjoy a well-deserved winter break before returning to play against the Nipissing University Lakers in North Bay on January 5.

Many of Trussler’s strong values have Trussler is no stranger to demanding schedtranslated onto the ice and through the team. ules and dedicated work. “It’s exhausting having “Our [team] slogan is ‘Pride, Heart, Passion’ and to skate or work every day. So it definitely takes [Taylor] exemplifies that,” Vicky Sunohara, the a toll on you,” Trussler said. “I’ve struggled with head coach for the Varsity Blues women’s hockey [it] every year, but you just got to kind of find the team, said in an email to The Varsity. motivation.” In her first two years, Trussler strug“[Taylor] never loses her cool,” Natasha gled to balance hockey and school; however, as Athanasakos, the Blues’ assistant captain, the year passed, she learned to make the most added in an interview with The Varsity. “She sets of her time outside the rink and found a balance a great example, which is the first part of being a and rhythm. leader… [We’re also] not intimidated by her, but Beyond U of T, Trussler has considered possi[the team] respects her, which is awesome. And bly entering the police force. “I don’t know, it just we’re very lucky to have her. seems interesting, like [there’s] something new Athanasakos continued to speak very highly every day when you show up to work,” Trussler of Trussler and her impact on the team’s morale. explained. Ideally, though, Trussler hopes to Trussler embodies what the Blues women’s play hockey in Europe — or in the newly formed hockey program is all about, a sentiment PWHL — and develop her skills some more.

Sunohara agrees with. “She doesn’t [take] Overall, Trussler hopes to continue a practice off, [and] she doesn’t take a shift playing hockey and will deeply off,” Sunohara wrote. “She’s somebody in our miss her team program that we always want.” at U of T after As a leader, Trussler believes in setting an ex- graduation. ample for her team. “Everyone’s gonna do their own thing. So I think just setting a good example on the ice and giving your team something to look up to [by] working hard in practice, as well as [in] games, is really important,” Trussler explained. This also applies away from the ice — setting an example in the gym makes the team better on ice.

This current season, the team — the defending McCaw Cup champions — are focusing on reaching their long-term goals and putting their best foot forward at nationals. Mainly, they hope to improve communication on the ice, better their game flow confidence while playing, and instill good habits throughout the season.

Currently in her fifth year, Trussler is taking nondegree-seeking courses to finish her final year of Taylor Trussler aims to lead the Blues on and off the ice.

OUA eligibility.

KATE WANG/THEVARSITY Gridiron football Hail mary: A high-risk, often last resort, play in which a player throws the ball from a long distance in hopes of scoring a touchdown.

Blitz: A defensive tactic of rushing more players than usual toward the opposing quarterback to pressure the quarterback into fumbling.

Line of scrimmage: An imaginary line extending straight across the width of the field, delineating a boundary that a team cannot cross. The line changes with each play.

Checkdown pass: A quarterback’s attempt to complete a short, accurate pass.

Hockey Hat trick: Scoring three goals in a single game.

Five-hole: The space between a goalie’s leg pads. This term is typically used when a goal is scored through this opening.

Power-play: An instance in which a team has an extra player on the ice due to an opponent serving a penalty.

Gordie Howe hat trick: When a player records a goal, an assist, and a fight in a single game. The term is named after famous Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe.

Baseball Perfect game: A pitching feat where a pitcher faces 27 batters and successfully retires each one without allowing any to reach base.

Bunt: A strategic offensive play where the batter holds their bat in the path of an oncoming pitch with the intention of softly hitting the ball into play.

Double play: A defensive play that results in two outs.

Walk: A walk happens when a pitcher throws four pitches to an opposing batter that land outside the strike zone, and the batter is awarded first base.

It’s only awarded if the batter doesn’t swing at any of the four pitches.

Tag up: A base-running strategy used in the case of a fly ball, where a runner waits on their current base until an opposing defensive player catches the ball, to avoid running back to touch their original base.

Whether you’re a longstanding sports fan or a newcomer, knowledge of these words and phrases can allow you to procure a deeper understanding of the games you love and marvel at the richness of language embedded in the athletic world.

JESSICA LAM/THE VARSITY

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THE VARSITY

DECEMBER 4, 2023

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