Issue 1, Volume 144 (September 4, 2023)

THE V

THE VARSITY

Vol. CXLIV, No. 1

21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600

thevarsity.ca thevarsitynewspaper @TheVarsity

MASTHEAD

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.

the.varsity the.varsity The Varsity

Sarah Artemia Kronenfeld editor@thevarsity.ca

Editor-in-Chief

Caroline Bellamy creative@thevarsity.ca

Creative Director

Andrea Zhao managingexternal@thevarsity.ca

Managing Editor, External

Shernise Mohammed-Ali managinginternal@thevarsity.ca

Managing Editor, Internal

Mekhi Quarshie online@thevarsity.ca

Managing Online Editor

Ajeetha Vithiyananthan copy@thevarsity.ca

Senior Copy Editor

Kyla Cassandra Cortez deputysce@thevarsity.ca

Deputy Senior Copy Editor

Jessie Schwalb news@thevarsity.ca

News Editor Selia Sanchez deputynews@thevarsity.ca

Deputy News Editor

Maeve Ellis assistantnews@thevarsity.ca

Assistant News Editor

Eleanor Yuneun Park comment@thevarsity.ca

Comment Editor

Georgia Kelly biz@thevarsity.ca

Business & Labour Editor

Alice Boyle features@thevarsity.ca

Features Editor

Milena Pappalardo arts@thevarsity.ca

Arts & Culture Editor

Salma Ragheb science@thevarsity.ca

Science Editor

Kunal Dadlani sports@thevarsity.ca

Sports Editor

Olivia Belovich design@thevarsity.ca

Design Editor

Arthur Dennyson Hamdani design@thevarsity.ca

Design Editor

Zeynep Poylani photos@thevarsity.ca

Photo Editor

Jessica Lam illustration@thevarsity.ca

Illustration Editor

Olya Fedossenko video@thevarsity.ca

Video Editor

Aaron Hong aaronh@thevarsity.ca

Front End Web Developer

Andrew Hong andrewh@thevarsity.ca

Back End Web Developer

Vacant utm@thevarsity.ca

UTM Bureau Chief

Vacant utsc@thevarsity.ca

UTSC Bureau Chief

Vacant grad@thevarsity.ca

Graduate Bureau Chief Vacant publiceditor@thevarsity.ca

Public Editor

Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor Vacant Associate News Editor

Divine Angubua, Isabella Liu Associate Comment Editors

Vacant

Associate Features Editor

Vacant Associate A&C Editor

Vacant Associate Science Editor

Salina Khan

Social Media Manager

Access to news on Google and Meta is

going away, but we’re

right here

How to support independent student journalism in these unprecedented times

Varsity Management Team

At the end of last school year, when we sat down to talk about what we wanted The Varsity to look like, we found ourselves looping back to the same idea again and again. All across our masthead, we were talking about how to shake off the proverbial ivory tower mantle that always seems to creep into The Varsity’s image, and how to make it a more involved community for everyone who contributes to it. We like this place! We want The Varsity to feel more open and be more accessible; a place where more writers, readers, and artists can see into our process and be a part of it. We want to be a visible part of the school community.

As it turns out, being visible this year has become even more necessary than expected. On June 22, Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, received royal assent. The bill requires “digital news intermediaries,” such as Google and Meta, to compensate news companies for displaying those companies’ news content. A week later, Google announced it would pull news from Google Search and its other platforms. Meta followed suit on August 1, announcing Canadians wouldn’t be able to share or view news content on their platforms.

So that’s going to hurt.

In fact, it already has. If you look up The Varsity’s main account on Instagram, you’ll likely see a graphic that says, “People in Canada can’t see this content.” The content on our Facebook page, which was the central hub of The Varsity’s online presence back in the day, has been blocked. Within the next few months, we can expect to disappear not only from Google’s News Showcase and Discover, but also from its search engine results.

Here’s how you’ll still be able to reach us: go to us directly. We will continue to update our online

homepage at thevarsity.ca, of course — bookmark it, save it, burn it into your memory, do whatever you have to do to keep the news on your radar. You’ll be able to access our site directly on any browser.

We all know how hard it is to juggle staying informed as students, too, but we’ll do our best to make it easy. We’re always going to be accessible the old-fashioned way, on paper: you’ll be able to pick up our papers all year across all three campuses. We’re also revamping our newsletters so that you can curate the updates you want delivered directly to your inbox.

In the meantime, we’re working on a bunch of new things. We’re going to increase our campus presence, especially in the fall — if you see us at an orientation event, say “hi!” — and you’ll be seeing us more in your inbox this year. We’re doubling down on our social media accounts that are still operative, like TikTok, YouTube, and X. We’ll be building up an individual social media presence for specific sections of the paper, like our twice-a-year magazines. If you’re interested in contributing to our post-C-18 plan, we’ve put out a survey about how you use social media to access our news; check out the QR code! It’s linked in the online version of this letter because we’re courteous and thoughtful that way.

We at The Varsity have been reading up on this bill ever since it’s been announced, and on how the bans might affect our ability to communicate our coverage. We’ve been creating backup plans on top of backup plans to make sure we can still get the news to you. But we’re still going to have to make some big asks of all of you. We’ll need your help to deal with these new content restrictions. Without us popping up in your Instagram feed or in your Google queries, if you still want to get coverage of campus affairs,

you’re going to have to seek us out explicitly.

Still, as long as this continues to be an issue, we’re going to continue to work on new solutions. And even beyond that, we’re going to keep innovating. Our goal is always, and has always been, to provide a platform for all of you to read, learn, and speak about the things happening on campus that are important to you. We love The Varsity and we care about the work we do here — but we don’t do it alone. We put in long hours and all-nighters for you and for the work you’re doing to advocate and change and discover things on campus.

And if you’re interested in being part of our Varsity community, welcome! We’re always happy to have new volunteers. We’re working hard to make this place more accessible and welcoming for all of you. Depending on when you’re seeing this, you can come to one of our tabling events in the next two weeks or our open house from September 18–21, where you’ll be able to meet our team and learn more about the inner workings of The Varsity

Throughout the year, we also plan to host major events like our biannual art galleries, where artists from the U of T community can share and sell their pieces. We’ll run regular training events and coworking hours, where you can work on your passion projects and get to know other members of our community.

None of us knew what we were doing when we first started out, and sometimes we still feel that way. So don’t be afraid to approach us! Everyone at this school has a story; we’re here to help you

Ahmad Khan Associate Sports Editor Vacant Associate B&L Editor Vacant Associate Design Editor Vacant Associate Illo Editor Vacant Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Video Editor

Vacant Associate Web Developer

Copy Editors: Olivia Cerello, Ozair Anwar Chaudhry, Julia

Da Silva, Taban Isfahaninejad, Cindy Liang, Nandini

Shrotriya, Lina Tupak-Karim, Kyleeanne Wood, George

Yonemori, Junella Zhang

Designers: Vy Le, Kevin Li, Cheryl Nong, Kai Sealy

Cover Jessica Lam :

BUSINESS OFFICE

Ishir Wadhwa business@thevarsity.ca

Business Manager

Rania Sadik raniasadik@thevarsity.ca

Business Associate

Eva Tsai evat@thevarsity.ca

Advertising Executive Vacant @thevarsity.ca

Advertising Executive

The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2023 by The Varsity All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity. ca. ISSN: 0042-2789

University Updates: Summer governance decisions you should know about

From new departments to divestment: What U of T decision makers got up to during the break

Jessie Schwalb News Editor

University Updates is a new section where we’ll summarize important outcomes in U of T governance that we’ve reported on from both the university and student unions. Here are some key developments from this summer.

April 28: The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) hires fourth-year health science and psychology student Jasnoor Sandhu as vice-president campus life for the 2023–2024 school year.

Sandhu seeks to organize events that serve the diverse communities on UTM’s campus and center campus life at the Student Centre. Although students elect the other UTMSU executives, the union’s bylaws require that the board of directors appoint this position.

May 10: The UTSC Campus Affairs Committee discusses two proposed extra-departmental units, which are interdisciplinary programs that would provide courses, collaborative graduate programs, and research opportunities.

The Institute for Resilient and Inclusive Societies and Ecosystems (iRISE) will focus on natural systems as they relate to humans’ well-being. On June 9, the committee approved the establishment of iRISE and, on June 27, the Executive Committee approved the unit, completing the approval process.

The FLOURISH Centre for Community Arts and Social Wellness, if approved, would study and encourage the use of art to advocate for and serve communities. At the May 10 meeting, the UTSC admin said they planned to further consult with the provost’s office before presenting the FLOURISH Centre for the committee’s approval.

May 25: The Academic Board approves plans to renovate and expand Innis College. The plans include creating new entrances to increase accessibility and expanding the Innis Café space, as well as renovations to existing rooms and a new building addition. The university has terminated the Innis Café owners’ lease in light of the construction, and will not be giving them priority of contract when the space reopens. The owners told The Varsity that they were unsure if they would return to the college.

Following the Academic Board meeting, the Business Board and the Executive Committee approved

June 14: The Collegium of University of St. Michael’s College (USMC), which manages the college’s finances, agrees to fully divest from fossil fuel companies by 2030 at the latest. Climate Justice UofT applauded the news and told The Varsity that the divestment only came after years of student organizing and meetings with USMC administration.

The move comes two months after Victoria University agreed to divest its portfolio from fossil fuel companies by 2030, following a sit-in Climate Justice UofT also organized. The University of Trinity College remains the only federated college to not announce plans to divest.

June 27: The Governing Council approves the establishment of the New College-based African Studies Centre, which began operating on July 1. The centre will facilitate the undergraduate African Studies Program and aims to foster connections between faculty members to expand research in the field.

Read more governance news online at thevarsity.ca.

Ajeetha Vithiyananthan, Kyla Cassandra Cortez Senior Copy Editor, Deputy Senior Copy Editor

As Grammarly always says, “Writing is not that easy.”

There’s so much work to write something that captures and keeps a reader’s attention — especially in this age of TikTok, where we are developing the attention span of a goldfish. And on top of that, there are concerns about grammar, spelling, wordiness, clunky transitions, confusing syntax, problematic or misused words, uneven flow, and more.

Letter from the Copy Editors

To edit or not to edit, that is the question

Certainly, a masterpiece can’t be woven together in a day — it takes painstaking time and effort — but it doesn’t have to be done alone. :)

We are Ajeetha and Kyla, and we are excited to serve as The Varsity’s Senior Copy Editor and Deputy Senior Copy Editor, respectively, for Volume 144. When student journalists submit their articles, we’re one of the first and last people to pore over their writing, mak-

ing sure every word and punctuation mark serves a purpose. In this age of rapid misinformation and half-baked content, we’re dedicated to keeping The Varsity up to standard in truth and clarity with rigorous copy-editing and fact-checking. Our goals for this year are simple: to serve student journalists so that their voices are heard clearly and authentically, and to serve the student readers so that they’re best informed on the happenings around U of T. To

finish their first article to discuss their writing, the edits we’ve made, and how the paper functions. I hope that this helps them learn from the edits we make and gives them someone to reach out to and rely on.

Jessie, News Editor

It can feel difficult to get people excited about the news. Some might characterize it as the most dependable and boring section, lacking the punchiness of sports or the creative side of arts and culture. However, without sounding too partisan, I’d argue that news holds magnitudes.

Hidden within dense reports and the day-today happenings on campus lie important stories — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Good reporters find those stories within the everyday, adding needed context and bringing unheard voices to the fore. That’s what I hope we will accomplish with the section this year.

One reason I ran for News Editor is because I want to continue our prioritization of equity work within the News section. This year’s equity board plans to contact groups on campus that represent marginalized students. For groups that are comfortable doing so, we hope to sit in on meetings with them so we can hear what they want to see from us, how we can most accurately repre-

sent them, and how we can work with them to bring their stories to a broader audience when and if they want to.

We recognize that the News section can feel inaccessible for some folks, so we’re working to improve readability and community involvement. The News team has decided to collaborate with the Design section to create snapshots of governance articles we’ll feature on the inside cover of the paper. We hope that these quick highlights will make news more readable and get people interested in the world of governance. I also hope to host one meeting each semester where we encourage anyone to can pitch their stories to the section and understand a bit more about what we look for when writing stories, so keep an eye out for that event!

I also want to support writers and help bring them into the tight-knit world that is The Varsity I’m hoping to check in with new writers after they

I’m incredibly hyped to spend the school year with this volume’s News team. Selia and Maeve, you’ve grown so much as reporters and editors, even in just the past few months. Thank you for being so willing to take on big stories, adapt, and think critically. You are both fantastic reporters, and this section is so much better for it.

Maeve, Assistant News Editor

The Varsity’s News section can only be as great as the people who write for it and share information with it, so this year I’m excited to hear more from the general student body. From covering your events and the activism you take on to working with you on investigations, the more voices our section includes, the stronger it will be.

Here at U of T, we sure love to complain and warn others about the hardships at our school. This can range from being grumpy about shuffling through the never-ending construction during U of T time to serious topics like harassment

accomplish these goals, we’re looking to expand our copy team and create more resources for those interested.

If you’re the friend turned to for last-minute, critical but honest editing, or the friend who turns into an FBI agent at the mention of a crush — or just someone who doesn’t want to have the attention of a goldfish anymore — we’d love for you to join us. Without boasting too much, our copy team really is the backbone of the paper. Ready to give it a try? Joining is simple and free. Contact us at copy@thevarsity.ca and deputysce@thevarsity.ca today!

and bullying. My hope for our section is that all students — including you — will feel comfortable reaching out to or working with us to give U of T issues the attention they deserve.

I’m so excited to work with Jessie and Selia this year. We will monitor every tip sent to tips@thevarsity.ca — or, better yet, we hope to hear from new writers so you can explore these topics yourselves.

Selia, Deputy News Editor

For this volume, I’m hoping we can cultivate a News section representative of the entire U of T community. As Jessie mentioned, we plan to work closely with equity-seeking groups, building connections to provide coverage on issues that would otherwise not be discussed.

As deputy news editor, I’m also excited to support Jessie’s goal of making writing for The Varsity as accessible as possible. I’m looking to host a writing workshop open to all students each semester that focuses on the basics of writing an article, conducting interviews, and elements of ethical reporting, such as factchecking processes or how to approach a sensitive topic. I hope to see you there.

Finally, I look forward to working closely with Jessie and Maeve, both talented journalists who have exciting ideas for this year’s News section.

As last year’s Illustration Editor, stepping into the world of journalism felt like navigating uncharted water, but my love for drawing guided me through the unfamiliarity of this endeavour. Little did I know my tread into the unknown would lead me on a path of learning, where I discovered our newspaper’s impact on the U

of T community. What amazed me the most was that, despite the deadlines and responsibilities, the shared devotion toward storytelling among masthead members created an environment where work never truly felt like work for me.

When Volume 143 ended, I realized the journey I had embarked on wasn’t something I wanted to end. The talented individuals dedicated to this publication inspired me to con-

tinue learning from them. But there was also an unfulfilled passion project of mine — comics!

I am excited to announce that these imaginative and expressive narratives — which have always held a special place in my heart — will now find a home within this year’s volume. They will capture the joys, challenges, and quirks of university life, and I hope you are as stoked for them as I am. Together, we will continue to enrich our community through the power of storytelling and art.

no errors — at worst, you immortalize the moment from your point of view. Photography also perfectly complements journalism, cultivating the tone and message of any article and visually bringing the story to life.

Boarding my first-ever transatlantic flight to start at U of T this time last year, the only sense of familiarity I brought to Toronto was the nine-year-old camera I almost left at home because I was afraid to exceed my baggage limit. That camera led me to the third floor of 21 Sussex Avenue and the world of journalism, which was unexpected — but one of my wisest, most fulfilling decisions.

When you think of dynamic duos, journalism and design might not be the first contenders. Journalism is about delivering information and finding voices, whereas design focuses on visuals and graphics. While the information itself matters, how we deliver it is also essential. As Design Editors, we work alongside Section Editors and Visual Editors to curate the visual aspects of The Varsity’s newspapers and social media posts.

My time as an Associate Photo Editor of Volume 143 introduced me to outstandingly talented individuals and taught me that everything — including coats and ladders — can be a tripod if you’re determined enough, and assured me that I would love to continue being a part of The Varsity community.

In the chaos of our lives where we destroy ourselves to be perfect, photography is a haven where failure does not exist. There are infinite trials and

In Volume 144, we want to support the voices that tell our stories, ensuring these pieces aren’t lost in big blobs of text with square graphics alongside them. We want to put visuals into the passenger seat while the articles drive the stories. Hopefully, our visuals aren’t only a way to access the pieces that The Varsity has to offer, but also foster a creative and inspiring space, as our readers become immersed within this marriage of design and journalism.

This year, we welcome students with a fresh perspective on journalism that highlights

Stepping up to the role of Photo Editor for Volume 144, my goal is to make the Photo section as expressive and interactive as possible. Working within the Photo section, I hope you find the opportunity to stretch the bounds of your perspective, make your stories heard amid obliviousness, and appreciate each and every one of the photographs you take.

I am so excited to embark on this journey together.

the beauty of visual storytelling. We’ll work to explore exciting ways of delivering information.

And finally, we’ll nurture a community that supports creative work while uplifting new and diverse voices that tell the stories that matter.

Selia Sanchez, Maeve Ellis News Team

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

U of T Faculty of Law returns undisclosed donation from Amazon following backlash

Amazon emails contain names of two U of T webinar speakers, university denies donor influence

Jessie Schwalb News Editor

On August 29, U of T announced that it would return a controversial donation from Amazon of approximately $600,000 that the university did not originally disclose to the public. The donation, which the Faculty of Law accepted in December 2021, was originally reported by The Logic on August 15, 2023.

Among other things, the money helped fund the salary of a staff member tasked with organizing a webinar series. The webinar sessions included speakers sympathetic to Amazon’s stance against anti-monopoly legislation, which could reduce the company’s profits.

In an email obtained by The Logic, a U of T staff member mentioned choosing speakers for the webinar from a group of speakers that they referred to as “Amazon’s list.” The faculty did not inform participants or speakers involved in the programs funded by Amazon’s donation of the online shopping giant’s involvement.

Following these revelations, multiple organizations, including the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), criticized the university for lacking transparency and violating academic freedom.

The donation

In both Canada and the United States, consumer advocates have criticized Amazon of unfairly profiting from its large market share and engaging in practices that discourage competition.

In October 2021, Canadian Competition Bureau Commissioner Matthew Boswell gave a speech highlighting anti-competitive practices from large online shopping companies. He indicated that the bureau — a government agency tasked with maintaining market competition to promote lower prices and better products for consumers — planned to strengthen laws that would aim to protect competition.

According to The Logic, U of T Assistant Dean for Advancement Jennifer Lancaster emailed members of the Faculty of Law a few days after the speech. In emails obtained by The Logic, Lancaster wrote that she’d been in conversations with an Amazon employee and that the corporation was “focused on being more proactive on thought-leadership, including supporting research on immerging [sic] issues in competition/ anti-trust.” She described Amazon’s desire to start a “long-term relationship” providing annual funding, with the potential for increased amounts in the future.

In December 2021, the U of T Faculty of Law accepted a $600,000 donation from Amazon. In a statement about the corporate gift released on August 18, 2023, three days after the Logic article’s publication, Faculty of Law Dean Jutta Brunnée wrote that the faculty had used the gift to fund stipends for six student research assistants; pay the salary of a staff member coordinating a webinar speaker series; and cover event expenses.

According to The Logic, the entire $600,000 donation went to the Michael J. Trebilcock Law and Economics program. Brunnée wrote in a statement to The Varsity that the faculty has not received funding from Amazon since the initial donation.

The speaker series

A third of the money was allocated to a speaker series run through the Faculty of Law and the Future of Law Lab, a U of T-based interdisciplinary initiative. The series, entitled “Competition Law and the Future of Markets,” featured five talks, with three hosted by U of T Law and the other two by the University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law. An additional talk posted by USC on YouTube appears on the university’s playlist featuring the webinar series. Videos of the five talks posted on YouTube have received a combined total of 784 views, as of September 3.

According to Brunnée’s public statement, Amazon did not place any restrictions on how faculty could use the gift, and the faculty members made all decisions about its use; although Brunnée clarified in a statement to The Varsity that Faculty of Law staff had spoken with Amazon about ways the faculty might use the donation.

However, in an email obtained by The Logic the director of the Future of Law Lab, Joshua Morrison, mentioned a list of potential speakers that they called “Amazon’s list.” U of T planned to pay part of Morrison’s salary from the donation, according to The Logic

The speaker series included many speakers critical of expanding competition legislation.

One speaker mentioned Amazon by name and characterized the Competition Bureau as participating in a “name-and-shame” campaign against the commerce giant. According to The Logic, two of the 13 speakers in the webinar series appeared on the list Amazon provided to Morrison.

According to reporting by The Logic Amazon’s then-public policy director for Canada, James Maunder, discussed doing work with two other speakers in a private meeting.

In a statement to The Logic, an Amazon spokesperson wrote, “We contribute to policy dialogues on a wide range of topics, and we always respect the independence of our partners.”

Private disclosure

The university did not disclose Amazon’s involvement in these webinars to its participants or speakers. In her August 18 public statement, Brunnée wrote that “communicating the source of the funding could have created a misperception that some perspectives would be prioritized over others. I recognize now that more information may have been preferred to enable some of our participants and invited speakers to fully evaluate their engagement in these activities.”

Brunnée wrote in her statement that Amazon “did not seek recognition for the gift” but that she made the final decision not to disclose the gift. However, The Logic reported that Amazon stipulated in the legal document concerning the donation’s terms that U of T should not give a press release or encourage publicity about the donation.

According to the university’s Provostial Guidelines on Donations, the vice president, advancement must give the Business and Academic Boards a list of all donations greater or equal to $250,000 four times a year. In a statement to The Logic, a university spokesperson wrote that the relevant boards received a report in March 2022 that included Amazon’s gift. However, the boards reviewed the reports in private, meaning that the public had no way to access the list of gifts.

In the August 18 statement, Brunnée wrote that U of T had used less than half of the donation.

Backlash

In a letter to U of T President Meric Gertler sent on August 24, David Robinson, the executive director of CAUT, wrote that failing to disclose Amazon’s involvement in sponsoring the seminar and selecting speakers represented “a serious violation of basic standards of academic integrity and academic freedom.”

“Disclosure of financial interests and funding sources is a fundamental requirement of all academic research,” he wrote.

In an August 28 statement to its members, UTFA President and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Professor Terezia Zorić, together with UTFA Vice-President, University and External Affairs Jeff Bale, characterized the allegations as “very concerning.” They wrote that the alleged actions would “appear to violate several University policies designed to ensure the fundamental principles of integrity, autonomy, and academic freedom.”

In an email to The Varsity, Zorić specified that U of T’s actions appear to have violated the Provostial Guidelines on Donations and the university’s commitment to principles expressed in U of T’s Statement of Institutional Purpose; its Policy on Ethical Conduct in Research; its Provost’s Statement on the Role of Advisory Bodies; and its Principles of Good Governance.

The Provostial Guidelines on Donations lists 15 guidelines. Guideline 2 prohibits the university from accepting gifts when doing so would compromise academic freedom or autonomy.

In a post on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, CensureUofT called the situation “another donor influence scandal” at the Faculty of Law. CensureUofT is a grassroots group of U of T faculty originally formed in response to the Azarova scandal, in which the Faculty of Law allegedly rescinded a job offer to Valentina Azarova after a university donor privately complained about Azarova’s advocacy against Israel’s policies in occupied Palestinian territories.

In her public statement, Brunnée insisted that the Faculty of Law followed the donation guidelines and made decisions “in accordance with the University’s fundamental commitment to academic freedom and institutional autonomy.”

The future of funding

The incident comes as funding from domestic tuition fees and direct provincial funding has shrunk. At the Governing Council’s March 2023 meeting, the university criticized Ontario’s decision to continue the freeze on domestic tuition for a fourth year, expressing concern about the budget. In a June 20 meeting of the Business Board, the university noted that operating grants from the provincial government have lagged behind growing expenses.

In a 2021 article published by University Worlds, a collective of U of T students and faculty that research the school, UTSC anthropology professor Girish Daswani noted that a lack of government funding has left North American universities “more dependent” on donations.

“This [reliance] has meant that certain

interested and invested groups have had a stronger influence over what the University is, what it can do or even dream of becoming, including what can/not be said,” wrote Daswani.

Between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023, the university raised $256 million in pledges and gifts, representing roughly eight per cent of its total operating revenue for that year, which includes core teaching and administrative expenses. Of these, 22 per cent — $56.32 million — came from corporations. To raise money, the university operates central and divisional advancement offices, which network with donors and encourage financial gifts.

The university has long denied claims that its reliance on donations threatens academic freedom. In a 2011 article written by philosophy Professor Cheryl Misak, who served as provost at the time, she argues that donations do not threaten academic freedom as long as departments set academic priorities, which “is certainly the case at the University of Toronto.”

She also highlighted the many divisions instrumentally funded by philanthropy. “These donors have enabled the University to achieve its aspirations for greatness in a financially constricted time,” she wrote.

Returning the gift

On August 29, Brunnée released a second statement affirming that the faculty had followed all policies and announcing that the faculty would return the donation it had received from Amazon. She also wrote that U of T would introduce new guidelines requiring the disclosure of all donations that corporations make to the university. The university also plans to commission an independent survey of how colleges and universities best recognize and disclose corporate donations and may update their gift acceptance policies based on this review.

In an email to The Varsity, U of T law student and Students’ Law Society president Justin Kim wrote that he contacted many of his classmates about The Logic’s allegations and found that most students he talked with “are ambivalent about the faculty’s acceptance, use, and subsequent return of the donation,” although some students brought up concerns about transparency and whether the faculty followed necessary procedures.

Kim wrote that he believes that Brunnée’s statement “adequately addresses” the concerns raised in the UTFA’s public statement. “After all, there were no restrictions on how the money was used,” he wrote. He told The Varsity that the donation incident does not alter the way he views research or events from the Faculty of Law.

Unanswered questions

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Robinson said that he hopes the university will release a clear statement clarifying what happened and conduct an independent assessment of the incident.

Zorić wrote in her email to The Varsity that the UTFA is scheduled to meet with the provost on September 8. “We were pleased to see that the University will return the funds to Amazon,” she wrote. However, Zorić indicated that the UTFA wants clarity on how the university decided to accept the donation without disclosing the funding to participants in the funded programs.

Although the university could take steps to improve its policies, Zorić believes that U of T’s existing policies as expressed are sufficient. She views the larger issue as a lack of enforcement.

“When the law school and advancement office are repeatedly involved in such scandals, and nobody is held accountable, any serious attempt to prevent their recurrence should focus on the organizational culture and power dynamics that enable them,” she wrote. “We hope that the University Administration will be willing to recognize that and then work with us constructively towards addressing these problems.”

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Toronto Executive Committee endorses new measures to handle budget gap

What students need to know about the city’s long-term financial plan

James Bullanoff Varsity Staff

On August 24, the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee received the City’s updated longterm financial plan (LTFP). The updated LTFP, a report prepared by City officials, outlines the estimated $46.5 billion fiscal gap between the City’s revenue and spending over the next decade — the result of increasing operating costs, debt, and infrastructure costs.

The committee recommended the City Council pursue measures proposed in the report such as implementing a city-level sales tax in 2024; pausing negotiations with the province on certain transit projects; and allowing the Toronto parking authority to increase parking fees. Many students — including one from U of T — spoke at the meeting, with some expressing their support for prioritizing public transit in budget decisions.

Financial woes

Paul Johnson, Toronto’s city manager, and Steve Conforti, the City’s interim chief financial officer, gave a presentation on the LTFP. The city government is struggling to fund both the infrastructure required to manage the city’s growth and the services demanded by its citizens.

The LTFP states that the City could raise more money by tweaking the programs it currently runs. The cost of street parking in the city currently ranges from $1 to $5 an hour. According to Conforti, these rates are “lower than comparable cities in North America”; Vancouver has rates up to $11 an hour, and New York City charges up to 7.50 USD. The LTFP recommends that the City Council remove the current $5 per hour cap and allow the parking authority to decide parking rates — a proposal that the Executive Committee endorsed. Although the City can independently implement many of the changes proposed by the report, Conforti told the committee that “the city alone can only address about 40 per cent of this

[funding] pressure.” To cover the remaining 60 per cent of its $46.5 billion funding gap, the report proposed that the city pursue measures such as adding a Municipal Sales Tax (MST) to the purchase of goods and services. Conforti noted that Quebec applies an MST to all purchases, while New York City applies a tax to purchases over 110 USD. However, implementing an MST would require provincial approval.

City officials who prepared the report advised the City Council to tell the Ontario government that, without new funding appropriate for “the largest public transit system in Canada,” the City will pause negotiations on transit projects prioritized by the province. “There is no easy or painfree option that we could bring forward,” said Johnson in his closing remarks. “If it was easy, we would have found it already.”

In two weeks, the committee’s recommendations will head to the City Council, which will vote on whether or not to approve the proposals.

Voices of concern

During the meeting, a significant number of students told stories and voiced their thoughts on the LTFP.

Sofia Alexandrian, a Scarborough resident and a first-year engineering student at U of T, spoke in favour of a proposal to generate funds for the TTC using a new parking levy, which would involve a tax paid by owners of commercial property. In particular, Alexandrian asked for more frequent bus service in Scarborough and a more pleasant

riding experience, which would encourage more people to use the TTC. “It’s worth it to reverse transit cuts,” she told the committee members. This past summer, the TTC has announced service reductions following what critics have called a history of insufficient funding.

In an interview with The Varsity after the meeting, Aidan Thompson, the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) vice-president, public and university affairs, also advocated for the City to make other cuts instead of reducing transit funding, highlighting that transit changes in particular tend to affect students. Thompson also expressed support for increasing the cost of parking, which he noted has the added benefit of reducing automobile usage.

Although the UTSU was not present at the meeting in an official capacity, Thompson attended because he wanted to learn about and advocate for the importance of student issues in municipal affairs. “I think that any changes that the city makes, regardless of the sector, will always disproportionately impact students,” said Thompson.

The Varsity spoke to Mayor Olivia Chow about students’ high engagement with the LTFP. “It gave me a lot of hope that young people, whether [from] high school, or university, or engineering studies, talk about how a city should function properly. And having that perspective is so important because often you only hear people saying… nothing ever changes,” she said. “Whereas today, I’m hearing concrete solutions.”

Farmer’s stand offers sustainable food to the UTSG community

Student organizers share thoughts on solutions to food insecurity

James Bullanoff Varsity Staff

On several dates this summer between June 22 and September 1, Dig In! Campus Agriculture and Trinity Food Systems Lab (TFSL) hosted a farmer’s stand together in front of Sidney Smith. The events aimed to promote sustainable farming at U of T and offered free produce, including kale, radishes, beans, and seeds from student-run gardens. Dig In! plans to continue hosting the stand every Thursday until the end of October, weather permitting.

Dig in!

Dig In! — a student group devoted to providing sustainable food production across U of T — collaborated with TFSL — a research hub that’s part of the Sustainability Initiative of Trinity College — to raise awareness of agricultural issues and empower local farming projects.

Mrinmayee Sengupta, who is a recent U of T graduate and one of the co-coordinators of Dig In!,

spoke to The Varsity about the stand’s beginning. “Last year we had a lot of beans and tomatoes… and we always used to be like, well, it would be so great if we could give this away to people,” she said.

Nadia Gericke — a student in environmental science and anthropology going into her fifth year and another co-coordinator of Dig In! — wrote in an email to The Varsity, “We thought that instead of asking people to come to us for the food, we would dedicate a time to bring it to them.”

Fresh and free produce

U of T has faced criticism for a lack of affordable meal plans on campus, and with high inflation rates, the university has also seen an increased demand for food centres across all three campuses.

Gericke wrote to The Varsity that the university “still fails to provide students with good, accessible food; students either do not feel they can afford it or if they can, are often unhappy with the food they are given.”

Sengupta also said the university is not taking sufficient measures to promote sustainability on campus. “Food is such an easy way to be involved in sustainability… I don’t see much of that happening,” she said.

The organizers of Dig In! say the stand exposes the need for more work to be done. “The root cause of food insecu rity is economic ineq uity. While free/ac cessible food can help those who are experiencing economic struggles, it will always be a band aid solution,” wrote Gericke. In a statement to The Varsity, a

U of T spokesperson provided information about financial resources available for students, such as the University of Toronto Advanced Planning for Students (UTAPS) program and emergency grants, as well as food options at UTSG,

Volunteers hold fresh produce from their farmers’ stand table. JAMES BULLANOFF/THEVARSITY

Sports Day at Varsity Stadium brings together LGBTQ+ newcomers to Canada

Activities were co-organized by The 519 and Hart House

Assistant News Editor

Content warning: This article mentions antiLGBTQ+ violence.

On July 30, around 200 LGBTQ+ new immigrants and refugees participated in a sports day at the Varsity Stadium, staffed by around 60 staff members and volunteers. Hart House, the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, and The 519 — an LGBTQ+ services organization — cohosted the event.

Although the meetup primarily served newcomer refugees seeking asylum based on their gender identity or sexual orientation, the event was open to everyone who uses The 519’s services.

Participants split into teams and competed in soccer, dance, and running competitions, among other games. “[LGBTQ+] refugees aren’t generally the target population for occupying this kind of space,” said Julie Hamara, manager of programs and services at The 519, in an interview with The Varsity

The event marked The 519’s second-ever Sports Day using Hart House facilities; the first took place in 2019, but the event went on pause during the pandemic.

The 519 is based in Toronto’s Church and

Wellesley neighbourhood. Founded in 1976, it is one of the city’s oldest organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community. It primarily provides settlement support to newcomers to the city but also hosts weekly athletic events at Hart House facilities.

“We’re only a rather small community centre, so this really is one of the biggest events that we can host for our newcomer populations,” said Hamara. “It wouldn’t be possible without a venue like this.” Before working with Hart House, The 519 tried to host a Sports Day at Regent Park but struggled with the lack of shade or easily accessible bathrooms.

For participant Rebecca Kufafira, originally from Entebbe, Uganda, Sports Day helped her build a community in a new city. “I want to live my life [and] be proud of my life. I wasn’t myself at home,” Kufafira told The Varsity Francis Kihara was originally from Kenya and moved to Canada in October 2022. Before emigrating, he was unable to find LGBTQ+ community. “You might get killed… whatever happens, nobody cares, as long as you identify as yourself: as gay, bisexual, or whatever. You have no chance,” he told The Varsity However, he has enjoyed finding support through Toronto’s LGBTQ+ community and The 519’s services. “Sports brings everybody together,” he told The Varsity

Maeve Ellis

Business & Labour

Financial troubles ahead for U of T as tuition revenue lags behind salary increases

Business Board discusses revenues, pandemic recovery, fees on charitable donations

Nina Uzunović Varsity Staff

Ontario legislation is hurting U of T’s finances, the Governing Council’s Business Board revealed this summer. The board met on June 20 to review the university’s 2022 financial statements, outline the upcoming year’s financial landscape, and discuss imposing fees on charitable donations.

Recovery from pandemic-related financial losses

The university’s audited financial statements indicate “another very strong year” despite how volatile the investment markets have been, said Chief Financial Officer Trevor Rodgers.

He detailed that fundraising pledges exceeded $300 million for the third year in a row. Government grants for research and capital, which dipped over the past few years during the COVID-19 pandemic, have returned to pre-pandemic levels — this year, they amounted to $508 million.

The university also reported that its ancillary units — non-classroom services like dining halls, event planning, and residences — have regained the financial losses they experienced during the pandemic. However, Rodgers noted that income from parking and food services is still recovering slowly.

Tuition revenue lags behind salary expenses

Student-related operating revenue — tuition, student fees, and operating grants from the government — is also lagging as expenses grow. These revenue sources make up the lion’s share of the university’s operating revenue but only grew less than three per cent this year. By contrast, staff salary and benefits — the university’s biggest expense — grew by more than double that rate.

Rodgers attributed this gap to the provincial government’s ongoing mandate that tuition for Ontario students, as well as the operating grants it provides, be frozen at 2020 rates. Rodgers also noted that U of T’s growth in domestic enrolment has only been “modest.” International tuition rates,

meanwhile, are “reaching the top of the market” — which means the university cannot continue to increase international tuition rates without seeing decreases in enrolment.

The gap between student-related operating revenues and salary expenses might widen further still as the university’s largest employee groups negotiate salary increases in the wake of Bill 124’s repeal. The bill limited public sector workers’ salary increases to one per cent per year, and was declared unconstitutional in November 2022.

The University of Toronto’s Faculty Association, which participated in the constitutional challenge, announced that it will negotiate for salary increases to retroactively offset the impact that Bill 124 had while it was in effect, as their last agreement expired on June 30, 2023.

UTAM investment and endowment returns

University of Toronto Asset Management (UTAM) aims to produce predictable and balanced longterm returns for the university, and reported

some positive results despite the market volatility observed this year.

The Long-Term Capital Appreciation Pool reported a return of 4.3 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent the previous year. Similarly, the Medium and Short-Term Expendable Pools made considerable comparative gains, up 1.8 per cent and three per cent respectively, in contrast to the respective 6.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent losses in the previous year.

The endowment fund, however, was less successful this year. Endowments act like a perpetual donation — the university invests a donor’s money indefinitely, and puts each year’s return on the investment toward a purpose of the donor’s choice.

Its return — 4.3 per cent on a gross basis — is not enough to cover the payout from the endowment combined with inflation adjustment, said Rodgers.

In response to this, the university used its “smoothing mechanism” which takes reserves from years with endowment returns above the university’s target — four per cent plus inflation — to fund years where the return falls short. The fund’s reserves now stand at $354 million, down from the $386 million reported last year.

Fees reintroduced for charitable donations

David Palmer, vice-president of university advancement, proposed to the board that U of T reintroduce fees on charitable donations to the university.

U of T has previously imposed fees since the 1990s, but Palmer explained that they were phased out in 2007 because deans would frequently grant donors exemptions, which made the process seem unfair and arbitrary.

This time around, Palmer said, the fee system must avoid this pitfall: “It must be universal, it must be transparent, and it must be equitable.”

Within Palmer’s proposed model, two per cent of charitable donations and 0.26 per cent of endowed gifts will be taken as fees by the Governing Council. This fee would be used at the discretion of the Governing Council for strategic investments, while the remainder would go to the cause of the donor’s choice.

Palmer noted that the practice of imposing fees has significant precedent at other North American universities, hospitals, and other charitable organizations. For example, he noted that about half of Canadian universities impose fees on gifts. Palmer also said that the proposed fee rates are relatively minuscule compared to other institutions’ fees.

The next meeting of the Business Board is scheduled for September 27.

Letter from the Business & Labour editor

Business and Labour coverage is not boring and depressing, I swear

Georgia Kelly

Business & Labour Editor

“That sounds boring,” said my grandmother, when I told her I would be editing my school newspaper’s Business and Labour (B&L) section this year.

Okay, fair. I do not daydream about returns on endowments or collective bargaining tactics. I am not a finance bro, nor a Rotman kid. When Spencer Ki responded to my volunteer request two years ago inviting me to write for the section, I admit my reaction was similar to my grandmother’s.

Then one day, I found myself talking with a friend about how struggles to pay for rent and food meant they had to work full time during exam season. I heard from a U of T professor whose livelihood was on the line because their department neglected to consider their job security. I spoke with students who were confused and angry that their university was touting environmental sustainability in partnership with Canada’s largest investor in fossil fuels.

Business and Labour is exciting, guys. It is

where you find all the juicy gossip about how U of T treats its employees and how its fi nancial accounts are doing. It is where you can validate your struggle to find an internship or entry-level job in your field — be cause, spoiler alert, everyone else is struggling too.

Janhavi Agar wal, last year’s B&L editor, pointed out that coverage in this section is usu ally sad — rent too high, food too expensive, equity problems always, no jobs, no hous ing, no money. People in power seem to

have no morals. Climate action is never sufficient. I mean, it is rough out there. But focusing on negativity is, partially, my bad. Negativesounding headlines grab attention, after all. And it takes less effort to talk about what is going wrong than trying to explore how things can go right. It is even harder to do that without subscribing to the greenwashing campaigns of environmentally destructive organizations or declaring the end of discrimination when one person of a marginalized identity achieves success. So, there are a few things that I would like this

section to be this year.

First and foremost, it is a place for new writers to dip their toes in journalistic writing and reporting. If that sounds like you, give me a shout! I would love to hear what you have to say. And I can answer as many questions as you would like to ask.

Second and second most, I would like this section to be the place to find information about our university community that you will not find elsewhere. The Toronto Star probably will not sift through 40 pages of university budget reports or the labour contracts of the custodians who keep our campus buildings in shape. But we will!

Last but not least, I want this section to include a bit of optimism. Let’s talk about how we can make the university more accessible to people with precarious financial situations. Let’s highlight the people who are taking action and the issues they are acting on.

Optimism, in this economy? Well, we have to at least try, right?

The Business Board Meeting happened on June 20. RIDA KHAN/THEVARSITY

ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI/THEVARSITY

Letter from the Comment Editor

Students know best — in school, Toronto, Canada, and beyond

Eleanor Yuneun Park

Comment Editor

On May 20, 1980, reporters of Jeonnam Maeil newspaper in South Korea wrote in a collective statement: “We saw. We saw with our own eyes, people being dragged out like dogs to die. But we could not report a single line on our paper. In shame, we let go of our ink brush.” Writing in close physical proximity to the brutally suppressed Gwangju Democratization Movement that started two days prior, the newspaper’s commitment to truth and press freedom was emblematic of the spirit of South Korea’s democracy.

Fast forward to the present day, my country is facing tragically regressive threats to press freedom under the current presidential office. Last November, the president warranted widespread criticism by barring journalists of the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation from accompanying him to the G20 summit in Indonesia, while labelling their accurate reports as ‘fake news.’ It is infuriating to see the ethos of journalists that came before being meddled with as South Korea undergoes a harrowing period of media censorship against critical reports of the government.

This is a long-winded way of expressing my gratitude for working at The Varsity as a South Korean international student at U of T. When press freedom is under attack in my home country, overseeing a section full of articles that are

not afraid to question the status quo is a particularly humbling and poignant privilege.

Distinct from other sections, Comment allows for the factually supported, uncensored

revolving around students, and I plan on continuing the incredible precedent that the former Comment Editors have established before me. Having worked under Shernise Mohammed-Ali in the previous year, I’ve gained first-hand exposure to the making of a section that is

With what I have learned, Inouncements that I am excited to share with

First and foremost,ful associate editors-vine Angubua. The start of mybella dates back to the summer of 2022 and Imired her work ethic, meticulous editing, and ability to write about the most dire issues in the most jocular way possible. While I’ve only recently started working with Divine, his -

fully persuasive and relevant. I am elated to be in the comfort of two incredible teammates.

Throughout the coming year, we will present to you stimulating articles from eight different Comment columnists. Five columnists will be respectively covering the U of T Students’ Union, international affairs, local affairs, climate issues, and religion. The three other columnists are kick-starting their own columns, which will be introduced by the end of September.

Commemorating the first academic year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to no longer be a global health emergency, we want to destruct any or all remaining barriers between us and our readers. With our Video Editor, Olya Fedossenko, we will expand our platform to talk to you on the streets of campus because we believe in presenting opinions beyond print and text and through social media. Times are a-changin’ and we must adapt accordingly.

We are a paper funded and supported by students. Hence, our essence lies in the voice of students. In the 2023-2024 academic year, I look forward to The Varsity's Comment section being the most accessible platform for students to tell us what we must pay attention to — in school, Toronto, Canada, and beyond. After all, students know best.

If you have any questions, “comments,” or feedback, please feel free to contact me at comment@thevarsity.ca.

Content warning: Contains mentions of suicide and discussions surrounding mental health.

Grit, talent, a dedication to lifelong public service, and a commitment to saving lives are some of the key attributes that describe doctors and medical students. But an important characteristic of doctors and medical students is that they are also humans, who may be selflessly pursuing a career for the common good but still require the same care and attention that any person would need.

Society tends to view doctors in a way that almost dehumanizes them as mere life-saving machines. The medical system perpetuates a systemic perception that embraces burnout culture, 24-hour calls, non-stop examinations, and overworked interns, leaving medical students and doctor residents weary. These factors can lead to suicidal ideation, depression, substance use, and, in some cases, death by suicide.

In my view, many medical schools and hospital institutions in Canada and the US have designed a system that fails to adequately prioritize the mental health of its students and doctors. It is imperative to address this issue and implement proper solutions to minimize the loss of precious lives and bright futures.

On May 24, 2023, Dr. Nakita Mortimer — a young and brilliant anesthesia physician resident who worked at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York — died by suicide. The devastating news of her passing gained some social media attention, where her close friends and colleagues demanded that the medical field needs reform and must provide more adequate means of promoting mental well-being among its trainees and students. I contacted Dr. Alysia Swint,

a close friend and fellow resident doctor of Dr. Mortimer to understand who Dr. Mortimer was.

In an email to The Varsity, Dr. Swint wrote about Dr. Mortimer’s kind and compassionate essence. Not only did Dr. Mortimer have a “presence of pure joy that radiated from her, even in moments of struggle,” she was also determined to instill change in the medical community, where she fought to reduce work hours for residents and help gain the liberties medical residents should be entitled to — just like any other individual working in a non-medical career.

Dr. Swint wrote that “Dr. Mortimer attended a program that was not unionized, which meant that she and her co-residents were working hours that left little time for them to truly take care of themselves. She was fighting for unionization to fight for the same rights that people outside of medicine are allotted and often think little of. Residents are often used as cheap working power in hospital systems and the stigma against mental health remains strong within the medical profession. Ideas of physicians lacking strength and resiliency begin to negate the rights that physicians have to work within humane environments and conditions.”

Dr. Mortimer had tried to seek more support from the medical system to help alleviate the stressors residents face daily. Thus, her passing is not just another death statistic, but a call for help from medical schools and hospital institutions to address why their students and doctors are pushed past their limits. Her story shows that calls for support by healthcare workers are being ignored.

To reconcile this issue, Canadian and US medical schools can create more support programs catered to addressing mental health wellness. One randomized control study in 2022 investigated the effect of an online group coaching program and its impact on burnout

among a physician resident’s women cohort. The program resulted in decreasing burnout and improving the well-being of the participants.

I believe reform should also take place at the governmental level. Canadian and US governments need to provide the financial means to create support programs in medical institutions. For instance, governments should finance services for occupational health to help those who most need them.

Additionally, mental health should be destigmatized in the medical field, as the Canadian Medical Association survey found that many doctors refuse to seek help due to shame or beliefs that their situations are not severe enough. Communicating about mental health issues should be encouraged as it fosters a sense of support and ensures students and doctors get the interventions they need. Open communication about mental health could be fostered by support programs, as mentioned above, or by implementing private helplines for doctors and students.

Furthermore, as students, we can help instill change by encouraging medical schools and hospitals to support their healthcare workers. We could do this through social media to spread information about the alarming crisis and share stories like Dr. Mortimer’s, or through clubs that build alliances among stu-

dents and inspire those at the graduate level to do the same.

Finally, I believe medical institutions should also provide more reasonable hours, manageable patient ratios, and prevent sleep deprivation among students due to long shifts. These are just some of the small steps that can be taken to make a difference in the mental wellbeing of doctors and medical students.

However, at the end of the day, these are solutions that are proposed repeatedly but are currently falling on deaf ears. Until we take action and put systems in place to safeguard our lifesaving community, medical institutions will continue jeopardizing their doctors’ and students’ mental health.

If you or someone you know is in distress, you can call:

• Good 2 Talk Student Helpline at 1-866925-5454

• Connex Ontario Mental Health Helpline at 1-866-531-2600

• Gerstein Centre Crisis Line at 416-9295200

• U of T Health & Wellness Centre at 416978-8030

Dileesha Fernando is a fourth-year student at Woodsworth College studying human biology. She is the co-founder of Wellus U of T.

ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI/THEVARSITY

The mental health of medical students and doctors is concerning Addressing the mental health crisis among our lifesavers

Dileesha Fernando Varsity Contributor

Many medical schools and hospitals designed a system that fails to prioritize the mental health of their students and doctors.

LUCAS GARCIA VIDAL/THEVARSITY

Meditations on TRN196 — Joy and Resistance in Diverse Storytelling

The most culturally diverse and accessible course I’ve taken at U of T

Charmaine Yu Varsity Contributor

In all my years at U of T, TRN196 — Joy and Resistance in Diverse Storytelling remains the course with the most culturally diverse and accessibilityfriendly syllabus I have encountered. In the most unexpected ways, this unique and inspiring course marked a turning point in my life as a student and writer.

TRN196 — instructed by Leanne Toshiko Simpson, a U of T alumna — was influenced by the founding students of Trinity College’s BIPOC Writing Circle where members had the opportunity to propose a new syllabus. Rather than studying the typical Western canon, TRN196 spotlights recent indie publications from BIPOC authors and authors with disabilities.

Students were challenged to consider a range of worldviews that are often systemically ignored by reading about Johanna Hedva’s struggle with depersonalization disorder, Kai Cheng Thom’s exploration of queerness, and Alicia Elliott’s celebration of Indigenous identity.

Studying texts about marginalized experiences that I saw myself reflected in was vulnerable, validating, and terrifyingly refreshing. Simpson — a Japanese-Canadian woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder — admitted in an interview with The Varsity that she “[has] always been uncomfortable that some stories are seen as ‘universal’ while others are relegated to ‘niche’, and [with] the idea that good academic writing must maintain a certain kind of distance in order to be credible.”

Along with being a literary course, TRN196 is a quasi-creative writing course, with writing sprints — inspired by the literary text of that week — that would take place at the end of each class. Being an author herself, Simpson provided us with experimental prompts and feedback that developed our writing by strides. We even had opportunities

to meet the writers of the texts we studied, allowing an intimate deep dive into their writing processes. It was a course where academic and creative learning methods melted into one another.

The popularity of TRN196 shows that there is a demand from students to not only learn about diversity, but also for BIPOC students and students with disabilities to have their social realities reflected in academia and explore creative writing through the lens of their specific marginalized experiences. It is proof that valuable knowledge also lies outside the ‘canon’ works of Homer, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. And, importantly, it emphasizes the intrinsic value of having representation in the classroom itself. Inviting members of a marginalized community to educate others by drawing from their personal experiences is more profound than the traditional modes of academia that bring almost an anthropological barrier to the content.

Given the allegations against Trinity College in recent years of perpetuating a culture of racism, classism, homophobia, and more, TRN196 is necessary for addressing the college’s deep-rooted history of institutional discrimination. It is a step in the right direction — albeit a small one.

Nonetheless, TRN196 was aware of the connotations of inserting ‘diverse’ literature into an academic setting. Simpson wanted to strike a balance between “what BIPOC authors are ‘teaching’ us” and the “artistic expansiveness of their work.” In my academic experience, trauma-centred stories are often the only way that marginalized authors are included in a syllabus; TRN196 empathizes with authors’ pain yet also decenters this focus onto their joy and community. After all, what else is survival and thriving in the face of systemic injustice but one of the greatest acts of resistance?

Diversity and inclusion transcended the syllabus and into the classroom environment; class participation was observed with significant consideration of accessibility. Recalling her undergrad days, Simpson noted missing “morning classes because [her] bipolar medication was too strong, [and] trying to explain medical absences to a professor who thought that accommodations were just ‘special treatment.’ ”

Therefore, participation in TRN196 manifested in options such as peer note taking, emailing creative writing pieces privately rather than shar-

Gen-Z’s online trauma response is not unique to this generation

Skeletons in the closet: why we wear our hearts on our sleeve

Fabienne de Cartier Varsity Contributor

There are few things the internet loves more than a trauma dump. On TikTok alone, there are 24.3 billion videos tagged with #trauma, ranging from harrowing retellings of assault, antagonistic parental relationships, panic attacks, and depressive episodes. Some tearful, others nonchalant, there are countless creators who wear their bleeding hearts on their sleeves like a badge of honour — packaging all their pain into a quick clip for our entertainment.

Gen Z is often criticized for this ‘trauma culture’ as the commercial aspect of social media seems antithetical to the raw emotion associated with the experiences being shared. Nevertheless, while death and pain are profited off of in countless ways, this online ‘trauma culture’ is one of the few ways individuals can profit off of their own pain.

Although these behaviours are associated with Gen Z, I believe that our generation is not the first to foster a culture of pain performance, especially when we take a close look at Victorian mourning practices. When examining the practices of the past and present, we must ask whether pain performance allows us to truly heal.

Victorian mourning culture

Queen Victoria mourned the loss of her late husband until the day she died. Prince Albert fell victim to typhoid fever and passed away on December 14, 1861 at Windsor Castle with his family at his bedside. Despite rumours of a tumultuous marriage, Queen Victoria was determined to keep his spirit alive.

In fact, as Lord Clarendon noted when he visited her in 1862, she seemed to carry on as if he re-

ally were alive, “[referring] to the sayings and doings of the Prince as if he were in the next room.” His chambers were kept exactly as he left them: pen on the page, flowers in bloom in the vase, and fresh linens brought in every night. The Queen donned black garb, clung to a cast of his hand, and bedecked every royal residency with a photo of his corpse on his side of the bed.

She wasn’t alone in her tireless grief. Following Queen Victoria’s example, Victorian England saw an explosion of mourning products and practices. Handbooks such as Cassells Household Guide outlined elaborate rules for appropriate mourning periods and dress, where colours and materials had to be taken into account depending on one’s relationship to the deceased. Ceremony packages and burials were advertised in newspapers. Affluent widows and widowers pursued pageantry: opulent funeral services with a hearse and horses, velvet coverings, silk hat-bands, ostrich feathers, pages, and coachmen.

Victorian era versus TikTok Interestingly, while Victorian England and the present day are disparate in many ways, similar factors

may have contributed to the rise of their respective cultures around pain.

On the one hand, Victorian England experienced rapid urbanization that resulted in less sanitary living conditions and greater density, which produced greater risk of spreading disease. Higher death rates and closer proximity to the dead created demand for commercial cemeteries, which became more popular during the period. At the same time, industrialization meant the rising industrial class became wealthier and had the means to seek out recognition from the aristocracy, leading to a greater demand for funeral services and mourning attire that emulated that of the Royal Family and upper class.

On the other hand, social media has also created closer proximity to death and trauma, with gruesome and gut-wrenching content at our fingertips. In my experience, the oversaturation of violent media can be so desensitizing that it can be difficult to contemplate the reality of the atrocities documented on the internet and easier to regard them as fictional.

Additionally, the demand for increasingly shocking content and the opportunity to garner social

ing them aloud with the class, attending class via Zoom if an in-person class was not feasible, and even joining field trips with the Writing Circle. Deadlines were set collaboratively with students and were generally flexible to take their mental health into consideration. It was the first time I witnessed such great depths of compassion within U of T’s rigorous climate of academia. Despite eventually completing the course, its impact on my life remains palpable to this day. In fact, the course was designed with the intention of helping students get their work published, as Simpson would supervise students’ editing and publication processes.

I went into the course having little to no experience in creative writing. Being implicitly taught that BIPOC experiences are ‘unprofitable’ — with 75 per cent of Canada’s publishing industry in 2022 being white — writing never seemed like a realizable goal. And, to be honest, I wasn’t even aware that TRN196 would be a creative writing course until I skimmed through the syllabus a day before class started. In retrospect, I’m lucky that I jumped in half-blind, as it probably prevented my doubts and insecurities from immediately causing me to unenroll myself from the course.

It was my first year at university and the first time TRN196 was offered on campus. Little did I know that this would be a great act of serendipity that would lead to me finding a new community at Trinity’s BIPOC Writing Circle, the publication of one of my first completed pieces of writing, and a writer’s grant from the Writer’s Union of Canada. Looking back now, TRN196 is truly the course that spearheaded it all.

Charmaine Yu is a third-year student at Trinity College studying political science and English. She is a member of Trinity College’s BIPOC Writing Circle and an editor of The Trinity Review.

capital and monetary gain via likes, comments, and views mean that individuals have something to gain by sharing traumatic personal experiences online.

In my view, these cultures are alike in that they encourage individuals to modify how they process grief or trauma to conform to a particular set of rules or limitations of a given platform. They also provide the opportunity to exploit one’s own hardship for personal advancement. However, I question if that’s the only reason people choose to participate. At a surface level, it’s tempting to assume that people consciously perform pain because they are incentivized to do so in both Victorian England and on the internet. But I also believe we engage with these cultures simply because we want to feel less alone.

Why perform pain?

Sure, there are probably some wannabe influencers oversharing troubling details from their personal life, or labelling inconveniences as trauma, or selfdiagnosing mental illness in the pursuit of cash and clout. But for most of us, I imagine our participation in ‘trauma culture’ arises from a desire for community, validation, and inclusion.

Sharing painful, personal experiences online and labelling them as trauma may help individuals validate their own experiences, while also granting access to the communities created around those labels. Social media provides the opportunity for connection and shared healing.

However, despite the potential benefits of sharing and labelling trauma online, we have also created a culture where — whether consciously or subconsciously — we end up performing our pain, making our lived experiences marketable, and condensing it all into one post.

In my view, it’s worth questioning if the culture we’ve fostered around labelling and sharing trauma online actually helps us live with it. If we continually showcase our skeletons for the world to see, can we ever truly heal the pain within?

Fabienne de Cartier is a third-year student at Victoria College studying English and political science.

TRN196 spotlights recent indie publications from BIPOC authors and authors with disabilities. NICHOLAS TAM/THEVARSITY

BIEW BIEW SAKULWANNADEE/THEVARSITY

company to a monotonous letter overnight. Elon Musk’s erratic decisions with Twitter — now “X” — and its subsequent downfall have highlighted how unsavoury our digital ecosystem is, with no solution for a society reliant on social media.

New updates gradually homogenize what was once unique to an app. When TikTok burgeoned, Instagram introduced its ‘new’ reels feature, and YouTube introduced ‘shorts.’ Snapchat’s success as a platform known for its limited stories feature was first replicated by Instagram stories, then as Twitter’s short-lived ‘fleets’, and lastly as TikTok stories. Musk’s witless governing of Twitter has caused multiple alternatives like Meta’s Threads. Although these platforms are growing more similar to one another, they market themselves as separate, which invokes pressure on users to consume them all. This leads to much higher screen times, more money being spent, and an increasingly harder hole of dependence to climb out of. It seems progressively harder each day to figure out what to do about our digital ecosystem.

Luckily, Frankfurt School philosophers and sociologists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer can help explain the growing uniformity of our social media platforms. In Dialectic of Enlightenment

the same. Their widely appealing marketing de ceives viewers into spending money on a product hoping that it will change their appearance or make them happier. But these pleasures are ultimately false and continue the cycle of control and conformity. Adorno and Horkheimer thus appear to me to be correct when they say that the ‘culture industry’ — where popular culture is produced like standardized factory goods — is just mass public conformity to the interests of corporations.

French cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard also felt that digital media reaped negative cultural effects. In his key text, Simulacra and Simulation he wrote that the loss of meaning created by a capitalist society’s culture is related to the rapid dissemination of information in mass media. Digital media confronts viewers with an overwhelming stream of information and causes meaning to become lost in a wave of uncertainty and constant change. TikTok users will see news, jokes, art, and more within seconds of each other. When information flashes by that quickly, it is impossible to properly engage and reflect on its meaning. Baudrillard assesses that this dissolves one’s ability to use traditional interpretation.

Now that Adorno, Horkheimer, and Baudrillard have helped us realize that our digital ecosystem is very much headed for the worse, how do we cope with our digital ecosystem going down the drain when we are dependent on it in ways we don’t even recognize?

Baudrillard suggests refusing the system through “mass silence.” His advice provides a counter strategy for individuals to resist hegemonic narratives through the lack of a response. I have attempted this multiple times with TikTok, and after readjusting to life without it, my most recent regression made me realize that I dislike the app. Its shallow noise had become unavoidable to me and I got no pleasure out of scrolling for hours on end.

Adorno and Horkheimer summarize this quite well: “All mass culture under monopoly is identical, and the contours of its skeleton, the conceptual armature fabricated by monopoly, are beginning to stand out.” Many of us are starting to get fed up

Can

with our digital ecosystem’s faults. Journalism student Jenna Bloom wrote in The Washington about her decision to quit social media after realizing that she still felt alone despite “[spending] entire days, weeks, months” on her phone.

Unfortunately, Baudrillard’s rather radical approach of mass silence would be impossible for us to achieve. Having grown up with our digital ecosystem, can we actually take a break? I may have been able to delete TikTok, but I know I cannot do the same with Twitter, even though Twitter is the most recent platform to have become

As such, approaching our digital ecosystem’s faults with an overly pessimistic attitude cannot be healthy. Social media and the digital ecosystem as a whole are heavily involved in our everyday lives. Sure, accounts that Instagram thinks I may like have often replaced my friends’ feeds, but I put up with the app because I use it to keep in touch with overseas friends and family.

Dependency and addiction aside, social media can do quite a lot of good. We use our digital ecosystem to do school work, keep in touch with relatives, forge lifelong friendships, and distract ourselves from our dim reality — which, ironically, the ecosystem also perpetuates. When our real lives falter, our digital ecosystem fills in the gap and provides support. Most of us cannot afford to get rid of these apps.

Of course, reinviting meaning in our digital ecosystem means addressing underlying issues that are bigger than the individual consumer, but this doesn’t mean we have to sit around in despair. Perhaps a way to resist would be to channel pes simism into awareness. Awareness of how our ecosystem impacts how we view the world and ourselves. Awareness that despite being used by the masses, our ecosystems are run by and thus serve the elite.

rithms are crafted to make us idle and dependent, wouldn’t the key to cir cumventing them be being thoughtful? Can we dis rupt the monopoly if we slow down our approach to the digital ecosystem? Putting time limits on each app could alleviate this dependency. Taking time while scrolling, or scrolling past a video that adds no come dic or serious value to your day, could allow for more reflection. Unlearning the idea that being ‘perfect’ or ‘interesting’ looks a certain way could help us avoid over consumption.

cut answer to help individuals deal with our failing dig ital ecosystem’s future. However, by taking smaller steps, namely, learning about the ecosystem from philoso phers or soci ologists, creat ing awareness, and treating our current

digital ecosystem with thoughtfulness, we can perhaps get closer to taking larger actions — including a mass silence.

Mia Jakobsen is a third-year student at Victoria College studying book and media studies, sexual diversity studies, and digital humanities. She is the president of the Book & Media Studies Student Association and the director of marketing and

we disrupt the digital monopoly if we slow down our approach to the digital ecosystem? CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

We don’t know how to deal with our digital ecosystem

Rethinking our digital destiny through Adorno, Horkheimer, and Baudrillard

To someone who is not part of the LGBTQ+ community, these issues may fly under the radar, but continuing to ignore the often subtle acts of exclusion and disrespect that queer students face at U of T can lead to more blatant forms of danger.

“People do not really make an effort to be actively inclusive of non-binary people. There’s kind of an expectation that if you’re in physics, you’re cis.”

Arts & Culture

Letter from the Arts & Culture editor

Creating space for student artists and writers

Milena Pappalardo Arts & Culture Editor

Welcome to a new year of Arts & Culture at The Varsity! My name is Milena, and I’m a thirdyear political science major. The arts have been my creative outlet my whole life: whether it be doodling at the dinner table as a kid, or taking a break from the endless, cynical foreign policy debates I encounter in class now. I understand how special Arts and Culture writing is for so many of you; it is where we find joy, rest, reflection, and self-expression. I am so thrilled to have

the opportunity to amplify your thoughts, discussions, and cre ative pursuits.

One incredible tradition in the Arts & Culture section that I look forward to continuing this year is the promotion of student art, whether it be visual art, theatre, or music. What student papers do best is represent their communities. In this spirit,

we are launching a “featured artist” section in The Varsity where a short profile of a U of T-based artist will be published regularly. If you are an artist — fashion designer, painter, filmmaker, anything! — looking to make greater connections, I encourage you to reach out to us at arts@ thevarsity.ca.

Speaking of connections, I don’t want the Arts & Culture section to be composed of isolated individuals. I hope to host more frequent in-person writers’ socials going forward — these will be advertised via our section’s mailing list. While our section has a variety of articles reporting on Toronto’s art scene and beyond, an equally crucial part of our section is cultural criticism and reflection pieces on issues at the forefront of campus life. The key to writing a great piece of commentary is receiving feedback and sharing ideas with other thoughtful people. Let’s make the Arts and Culture section into a family of creative minds!

The robot-written ‘whodunit’ set on the St. George campus

Stephen Marche’s audiobook Death of an Author explores the future of AI fiction

At the heart of Canadian author Stephen Marche’s latest novella, Death of an Author, lies a paradox of creativity.

March describes the majority of his book as “derivative,” referring to the story’s composition of various literary influences. “On the other hand, this will probably be the most original book published this year.”

The audio mystery story, published by Pushkin Industries on May 9, takes its name from Roland Barthes’ famous theory about literary influence and understanding authorial intention.

the case and clear his name. The metafictional murder mystery, set in Toronto and partially on the St. George campus, allowed Marche — a Torontonian and a U of T alumnus — to work within the familiar as he charted out unfamiliar literary territory.

Marche’s collaboration with creative AI comes after an initially cool response to the advent of algorithmic thinking in literary affairs. In 2012, he wrote an op-ed for the LA Review of Books called “Literature is Not Date: Against Digital Humanities”, refuting what he called the encroachment of the “tech bullshit aesthetic” mode of analysis on writing and literary criticism.

The article caught the attention of many schol-

on an experimental project: writing a sci-fi short story using guidelines created by an algorithm that analyzed 50 pre-selected stories to determine their stylistic and structural requirements. The result was a story called “Twinkle, Twinkle” published in Wired in 2017.

It proved to be a landmark in this emerging artistic medium. Across his lengthy writing career, Marche has touched upon everything from Shakespeare to parenting to speculative nonfic tion about what might lead to a new civil war in America. His curiosity and absorptive inter ests put him in an ideal position as a writer to bridge the longstanding gap between the “two cultures” of the arts and sciences. Since 2017, he’s embraced this new technological frontier, with a newcomer’s fascination for AI writing in struments and with the benefit of a literary out

Marche began to create more short stories with generative AI assistance: ‘Krishna and Arjuna,’ an existential parable about a superintelligent AI, for the

sentences in the book,” said Marche. This led to lines that popped; some beautiful: “She walked away like a record being put back in its sleeve,” and some confusing: “[Gus] knew that the more he spoke, the less he was making sense — it was like he was brushing his teeth with dirt.”

Marche’s protagonist is an unlikely detective: a middling literary critic who refuses to accept that

Review of Books in 2021 called ‘The Thing on the Phone’; and a story for Literary Hub in 2022, ‘Autotuned Love Story,’ whose method of composition set the stage for his latest book, Death of an Author.

Marche beat out the plot of Death of an Author independently before using three large language models to write the story. He began by inputting prompts into ChatGPT to compose the story paragraph by paragraph. He then put the text from those results into Sudowrite — a program he used to refine specific stylistic and structural aspects of those text excerpts — and Cohere — a program developed by former U of T machine-learning researchers — to polish and refine the text.

“Cohere [was probably responsible for] the ten best

fiction, demonstrates

Much digital ink has already been about whether the innovative audiobook revolutionized or destroyed literature. Op-eds abound on the death of creativity with the onset of AI, while fewer words have been written about the story itself. One reviewer on Audible, commenting on the perceived emotional flatness of the text, wrote, “The narrator might have well been narrating an envelope of coupons.”

But another reviewer on the same site provided a more uplifting critique that ‘Aidan Marchine’ could agree with: “I think Stephen Marche has demonstrated a way that humans and artificial brains can work together and I hope this inspires a healthy new direction for AI-assisted storytelling.”

Marche himself advocates for this more measured approach. “The idea that creativity is going away, or that AI is some threat to the capacity of humans to create stories, is ludicrous,” he said. “This is just another tool.” For literary skeptics opposed to the idea of AI helping in the writing process, he advises, “Just use it for two months — you’ll be much less afraid.”

A more overt line from Death of an Author reads: “Writing about living writers is inherently unsatisfying. The author can always keep churning out new stuff to contradict you.”

Whether Marche or the machine deserves credit for them, perhaps these words provide sage guidance for how readers and critics should respond to his future works of AI-assisted fiction — with the open-mindedness and curiosity that’s also guided his cursor.

Vikram Nijhawan Varsity Contributor

The Lovers : How a U of T student’s animation project blew up

The hard work that went into the viral trailer for an LGBTQ+ Filipina love story

Vincent G T Quach Varsity Contributor

At first glance, siopao seems like a simple dish. It’s a straightforward Filipino steamed bun, consisting of dough, boiling water in a steamer, and pork asado — meat braised in a harmony of sweet soy sauce and savoury spices. But taken for granted are the stories a simple recipe carries or the skill required to elevate a quick snack into a testament of the chef’s love. There are memories and experiences waiting to be written by those who eat it, prepared by generations of inherited love.

Creating a meaningful animated film requires a similar process to making siopao. Family stories, immense skill, shared love, and a bit of heat — this was how the independent animation film The Lovers became a viral success and received over $80,000 in funding in less than 24 hours.

Meet A. S. Siopao, a duo operating under a joint pseudonym who founded an indie animation studio, Studio Heartbreak. As a result of harassment they’ve encountered both online and in person around the project, the duo, ‘S’ and ‘A’ asked to speak under their pseudonym.

Making the dough

S is a third-year Arts and Science student at U of T. Artists are ambitious people, and S is no different: when inspiration struck after a series of failed internship applications to animation studios, her first thought was, “How can I enhance my portfolio?”

Studio Heartbreak was created in collaboration between friends S and A, who became the duo A. S.Siopao. A had a drawing lying around that they decided would inspire the concept of their debut film. S began working on a setting, kneading out the world and the story.

The result was a queer enemies-to-lovers story that takes place in a dark fantasy version of the Philippines. It follows the story of Sara Lim Baylon, a reluctant seafood chef from Binondo, Manila, forced to live up to her late father's reputation and keep their business afloat. When Sara’s restaurant plans the governor’s inauguration dinner featuring a sirena — a Filipino mythical sea creature often portrayed as a vicious mermaid — as the centrepiece, Sara finds herself in a dangerous affair with the mythical creature.

Featuring mature and complex themes like repression, identity, and generational trauma with dialogue in Taglish — a mix of English and Tagalog — it was without a doubt bound to be an amazing watch.

Creating the asado filling

A beautifully animated film, however, does not appear from thin air. The characters A. S. Siopao imagined didn’t spring to life on their own, nor did they speak on their own accord without a team effort. So A. S. Siopao turned to the internet, calling for all freelance artists and animators who wanted a part in their vision.

To their surprise, they received an immense and overwhelming number of applications for various roles that they needed to fill. Carving through each and every portfolio that turned up in their inbox, the duo worked on getting compositors, voice actors, animators, and background artists. Slowly, Studio Heartbreak expanded to a small team of just 20 members.

Steaming the buns

Assembling the perfect dish is not a smooth path. Like working in any kitchen, the stress of creating The Lovers reached many boiling points. S and

her co-founder A are studying full time in school. With what S describes as “pain and suffering,” she was able to strike a fine balance between the two endeavours. Worst of all was their imposter syndrome. Every positive comment was another bit of added pressure that slowly built up to the point that S had to take a break from social media. So while S was studying full time, writing assignments, and hanging out with friends, she was running a small animation studio as a co-director, managing negative and homophobic comments on their posts while overseeing every aspect of the animation production pipeline and trying to communicate with each department efficiently. Thankfully, S was able to overcome this weight on their shoulders and produce a quality trailer with the team.

A famous, proudly Filipino dish Studio Heartbreak published a short teaser on Twitter, racking up well over one million views and building up incredible hype around their new indie animation studio. When their Kickstarter was released on May 9, it reached its funding goal of $81,628 in less than two hours. The reaction to the complete 45-second trailer on YouTube was immensely positive, with a commenter saying that it meant a lot to the queer Filipino community. The story is set

in S’ home city of Manila, and she was filled with pride upon returning to her home which she chose as the setting of the successful love story.

Given the meticulous planning and quality in their Kickstarter, it’s no wonder that this 45-second trailer took them almost a year to create from nothing. Depending on how much you pledge on Kickstarter, you can get cool rewards, like prints, art books, or Sirena’s bath water if you have pockets as deep as the ocean. They read all the comments and look at all the fan art. They even have their own channel in their private Discord to share fan messages to boost morale.

Looking forward, A. S. Siopao hopes to create more animations, but for now, their goal is to get the full length of The Lovers out. And they’re getting closer to that goal — slowly but surely. Even though the movie itself is still in its infant stage, just creating The Lovers trailer was a long journey of thousand frames of animation, a meticulous recipe that called for dedication, hard work, and love for the craft — and it all started with an idea and a bit of ambition.

To stay updated on their progress, you can find them on Instagram @studioheartbreak; Twitter @studioheartbrk; TikTok @studioheartbreak; or their website www.studioheartbreak.com.

Between bottles: A primer on deciphering wine labels

Among the many wonders of wine is its sheer versatility. It can be as straightforward as a vessel for alcohol: a chilled bottle of the cheapest white wine on the shelf to placate nagging sobriety. On the other hand, wine can be as intricate and involved as researching which years in Tuscany saw the least rainfall — or if Mercury being in retrograde affected the grapes.

How you enjoy your wine is entirely up to you. But if you’re feeling bold, adventurous, and eager to expand your boozing repertoire beyond your reliable favourites, as President of the Rotman Wine Society, here’s a primer to get your foot in the door.

First, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores. When you enter, you see an intimidating sprawl of shelves, awash in bottles, bearing every label from every wine region in the world. For the uninitiated, deciphering these dizzying hieroglyphics can seem futile, relegating you to choosing which label looks the chicest — or worse, comparing their sugar content.

Moreover, it only adds insult to injury that the LCBO’s “Vintages” designation is a confusing misnomer. In the wine world, a vintage — or the year seen on the label — indicates when the grapes from that bottle were harvested. Conversely, a non-vintage wine is a blend of grapes from different vintages.

By contrast, the LCBO’s “Vintages” section is simply their own curation of wines that they deem befitting for distinction. Ironically, it even includes non-vintage wines such as Meiomi Pinot Noir from California. So don’t overlook wines outside this wood-panelled clique, as they hold some of the LCBO’s best-value gems.

Beyond the vintage or lack thereof, the next thing to look for on the wine label is whatever words are in the biggest, boldest font. This will generally convey what kind of wine it is.

Here’s a general rule of thumb: the wine world is divided into the ‘old world’ — which is Europe — and the ‘new world’ — which is every other wine-producing country today. Wines from the old world are usually named after the region in which they are made, while wines from the new world are named after the type of grape they are made from.

For instance, peruse the French section, and you’ll invariably come across bottles labelled Bordeaux: this is both the type of wine and its region. Bordeaux is predominantly a blend — also called a cuvée, to sound more pretentious — of grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In California, such a wine would instead just be labelled Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, based on the pre dominant grape — legally, the wine only needs

with the blend and the ratios from year to year to achieve a desired flavour profile.

When judging the quality of a wine based merely on its label, a rule to follow is to look at how geographically specific the label gets. Wine regions branch into smaller appellations, which are sub-regions designated and protected for their wine production.

Take Bordeaux in Southwestern France, which is about twice Toronto’s size and home to more specific appellations like Saint-Émilion and Pauillac. Each region has unique winemaking rules, from how it does oak ageing to what grapes it permits in the blend. A budget Bordeaux might source grapes broadly from the region, but a higher-priced bottle might boast grapes solely from a Saint-Émilion vineyard. The narrower the grape sourcing, the more the wine embodies its origin. This doesn't necessarily mean you’ll love the wine, but it helps explain

To the great disappointment of most wine novices, there is no single metric or marking on the label that can guarantee you’ll love the wine. Your palate is unique and evolving; a wine that enamours you in your early twenties could lose its lustre in your mid-twenties and become an undrinkable swill by your thirties. The only way to know if you’ll like a wine is to take the gamble and delve in.

But the unpredictability is part of the fun. As you drink your way through different regions, you’ll quickly learn you have a propensity for some over others — the Southern Rhône in France was my first penchant. You will begin to associate wines not by their brands or wineries, but by their regions; by their sense of place, encompassing their respective climate, altitude, soil, and geography. It is why wine lovers will obsess over a particular year’s rainfall in Tuscany like addled astrologists.

While campus party staples like seltzers or vodka sodas offer a predictable consistency, they lack the intrigue and dynamic nature of wine. How often have you heard someone ask with intrigue, “What kind of seltzer is that?” Wine, on the other hand, is ever evolving. From the moment you open the bottle, it begins to oxidize, subtly changing its character with every passing minute.

to contain 75 per cent of the stated grape variety to be labelled as such. Wine makers will typically tinker

As you embark on your vinous journey, remember that the world of wine is vast, brimming with nuances waiting to be discovered. Every bottle you uncork allows you to travel through terrains and time, from verdant valleys to ancient vineyards.

But don’t let the jargon on wine labels deter you. The next time you’re at your local LCBO, be intrepid. Even if you don’t immediately fall in love with a wine halfway through the bottle, such distinctions between wine often blur into languid enjoyment. Wine is a lifelong journey of discovery that begins with a single bottle. Or two.

Studio Heartbreak published a short teaser of The Lovers, racking up well over one million views. COURTESY OF STUDIO HEARTBREAK

Once the frosh week beer stops flowing, give wine a try

Harry Khachatrian Varsity Contributor

In conversation with newly published writer and U of T alumna Vicky Zhou

Through My Eyes reflects Zhou’s experience of diaspora as an Asian woman in Canada

Charmaine Yu Varsity Contributor

Between rising hate crimes against Asian communities during the pandemic, an increasing call for Asian representation in popular media, and the push to debunk the ‘minority myth’, questions about Asian issues have steadily found their place between socio-political discourse.

Vicky Zhou is an undergraduate alumna of U of T and is now pursuing a master's degree at The Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In 2021, she published a book titled Through My Eyes: Exploring the World While Being Asian, in which she combines political case studies, historical evidence, sociological theories, and her personal experiences to paint a comprehensive picture of the Asian diasporic experience in Canada.

In her book, she draws links between the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements, unearths neglected events such as historical relations between Indigenous and Asian communities, and discusses how younger generations can communicate complex political issues to their elders.

Recently, The Varsity sat down with her to learn more about her time at U of T, her writing process, and her take on current socio-political issues.

The Varsity: You began writing this book during the pandemic. Could you tell us how and why this period of time sprung your journey into writing Through My Eyes? What else, if anything, inspired you to write this book?

Vicky Zhou: I would say there are two reasons that I would attribute to the [start of my] writing process. The first one was, as I mentioned in the opening chapter of the book, this very odd encounter at the very beginning of the pandemic. I walked into a local coffee store wearing a mask when a lot of people were not used to that idea yet. In the cafe, a man asked if I had the virus, and followed it with a series of borderline offensive questions.

The encounter itself wasn’t the driving factor for the book, but it was the resulting feelings and thoughts that I had to process. Many people who have experienced racism or prejudice, instead of calling it out, I internalized it. I asked myself, “What is it about me that made him pick on me and ask me those questions?” This was at a time when people were calling the virus the ‘China virus,’ so I went through a lot of self doubt.

Then I came across a book by Cathy Park Hong called Minor Feelings. She wrote about how racialized minorities, especially Asian Americans, are discredited because many people refuse to believe that Asian people experience racism too and downplay the impact of microaggression. I wanted

to do what Cathy did in her book — make these feelings legit, make people doubt themselves less. Another reason why I chose to write was because of my background in sociology and policy. I already have a lot of these thoughts and theories, and I always wanted to put them into words.

TV: In your book, you pose a distinction between the experience of being a “FOB” (Fresh Off the Boat) as opposed to being simply diasporic. Could you tell us a little about your experience as an international student?

VZ: Even as international students, we have so many diverse experiences from Canadian ones. One thing I found that differentiates FOBs from Asian Canadians or domestic students is that a lot of Asian Canadians who were born and raised here experienced racism at a very young age. I think that shapes your childhood differently, and it could impact your upbringing, unlike someone who came here at the age of 18. I cannot speak for everyone, but chances are if you came later, you already have this cultural connection with your home, so the experience of discrimination is quite distinct.

For me, the challenge of coming to Canada as an international student was the initial foreignness. I was trying to figure out who to identify with and which group I stand with. On one hand, I do speak ‘good’ English because I went to an international school for two years. But at the same time, I don’t fully identify with people who were born and raised here. So I was just trying to find my camp.

TV: You dedicate a section in your book where you discuss conversing with parents and relatives about racial misperceptions. How would you suggest that young people approach that conversation with the generations above us?

VZ: It’s a very tough one. I intentionally put that chapter at the very end hoping that my parents and family get tired of reading so they don’t get to it! But joking aside, I think it’s definitely a process. I always remind myself that as humans we're all a product of our environment. Our parents or grandparents, especially when they are from a country that is not as multicultural [as Canada], don’t get a chance to meet a lot of people outside of their cultures, so they tend to think very differently from us. That understanding gave me a lot more hope and also patience.

I feel like in Asian culture we tend to think of our elderly as people who have a lot of wisdom and we need to show them a lot of respect. But as we travel to other parts of the world, we see things that they haven’t seen, so we also have the responsibility to teach them how to learn and unlearn certain things, especially stereotypes or prejudice. I think

we have a responsibility to communicate that in a respectful way to them. That's how I would personally tie the cultural aspects with teaching and giving back.

TV: Getting a piece of work published is challenging itself, but, arguably, even more difficult when the author is racialized. Could you give us some insight into what your publishing process was like?

VZ: Writing isn’t just about putting words down on a document or on a piece of paper, it’s a process of transforming your emotions and thoughts into something concrete and solid. That process can be emotionally labourious, especially when talking about race and personal experiences and translating them into a language that readers can understand. So as a young writer, if I could give a piece of advice to anyone, I would say to keep an open mind and find something, whether it’s a program or institute, that can help you.

Something I [realized] is that publishing isn’t the only end goal, especially for young writers. It’s learning the process of editing, the process of how to make that product. So find an institute, an organization, or a mentor that can uplift your voice and support you through that journey.

TV: You mentioned the feeling of ‘double duty’ as a racialized writer. What does that term mean to you and how has that affected your experience as a writer?

VZ: Well, there’s my previous point of emotional burden, and another one is responsibility. This could be a bit controversial because I know there’s one camp of writers that tend to think that we’re the creators of whatever we want to write: we don’t want to be put in a box as POC writers and only become experts when we talk about race. The other [line of thinking] is that we’re responsible [for educating] other people about the experiences that we go through. I feel like I tend to be in the middle — I want my writing to be my creative outlet, but at the same time, I want to use the power of writing to showcase what we go through, how other people can support us, and how we can build that intercultural connection.

The third thing I would discuss [about writing as a racialized person] is writing in a second or third language. That’s really tough, especially when we talk about fictional writing, which I think takes even more of your creative writing skills. It’s difficult, but I don’t think it should stop people from writing; I think you could actually use that to your advantage.

To that point, I would suggest people to read Minor Feelings, where Hong talks about growing up in Koreatown, and all she heard was ‘ broken’or

‘bad’ English like people speaking a pidgin. Accents are often an index for one’s education, social status and are intertwined with a racial aspect. By [wanting to sound] Canadian, I wanted to sound white.

What changed this was my understanding of what ‘being Canadian’ means. I learned about the history of Chinatown and the diasporic communities in Canada. Speaking with a different accent now signals the strength to uproot your life to a new world, the resilience of living in a society that could discount your credentials, and even fascinating stories from moving between or across cultures.

‘Bad’ English began to mean badass English to me. When I first started writing, I had a lot of selfdoubts about my English usage. Although these doubts never fully dissolved, what I am certain of is that how I speak and write is a part of my identity and the fruit of my experience.

Through My Eyes: Exploring the World While Being Asian is now available on Amazon. Interested readers can also find Vicky on Tiktok, at @vicky_zzzzzzz, or Instagram, at @while_being_asian, where she discusses relevant political issues and Asian history.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Zhou’s experience during the pandemic inspired her to start writing. COURTESY OF VICKY ZHOU

Kian Kim Varsity Contributor

Office hours with artificial intelligence

ChatBIO130 and ChatBIO230 AI tools answer questions on course content

Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Contributor

The U of T Cell Systems and Biology Department is taking advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to bring innovative technology to cellular molecular biology courses with a large number of students. The goal of this initiative is to have an AI tool available around the clock to assist students with coursework.

What are these new technologies?

The department is introducing two AI tools, called ChatBIO130 and ChatBIO230, which are AI models based on generative pretrained transformer frameworks, designed to be used in life science prerequisite first and second-year cellular and molecular biology courses BIO130—Molecular and Cell Biology and BIO230—From Genes to Organisms. These courses can have up to 2,000 students during the fall and winter sessions. Therefore, innovative technology — such as chat tools — can make a tremendous impact in terms of efficiency and accessibility. The chat tools contain information from previous lecture recordings for each course. Both chat tools allow students to ask a question based on lecture content or try a starter question generated in the interface. The AI tool generates starter questions based on frequently asked

questions. If there is a specific concept that a student would like to practice, they can ask for a multiple-choice question based on that concept.

The tool will provide the student with multiplechoice options and a detailed explanation of why the right answer is correct, upon the inputted response. The student can then follow up with a question on why any of the incorrect choices are not correct. They can ask for more details, an oversimplified explanation, or even an explanation formatted in bullet points.

Impact so far

These tools were implemented in the summer course offerings of BIO130 and BIO230. Although there were just 309 students across both courses, students asked ChatBIO over 7,500 content questions. The volume of questions will likely be 10 times higher during the fall and winter sessions due to the relatively heavier volume of enrollment during the academic year.

In a slideshow Assistant Professor Kenneth Yip sent to The Varsity about the AI tools, it was shown that 47 out of 50 BIO230 students responded in a class survey that they used the tool. 90 per cent of all students who responded to the survey rated it at least three out of five on a scale from one — not helpful at all — to five — extremely helpful. 56 per cent reported that they strongly agree that the tool

circumvented the anxiety of asking many questions, and 50 per cent reported that they strongly agree that the tool is preferable to a discussion board. 96 per cent of survey respondents stated that they would like the university to invest in improving the tool or implementing a similar program in their future courses.

Taking it further The project has received the Faculty of Arts and Science Pedagogical Research Grant to help enhance the BIO230 tool in response to student feedback.

Yip — who teaches both BIO130 and BIO230 — is the scientific lead of Anticancer.ca, a research team leader at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and is leading this initiative as an assistant professor in U of T’s Department of Cell and Systems Biology. In an email to The Varsity, he expressed that this AI tool has been sparking the interest of other faculty members: “Other profs have contacted us to work together to develop similar generative AI chat tools for their courses.” Therefore, it is possible that we will be seeing a lot more AI integrated into our courses in the future!

Antibiotic discovery points to a new molecule that can target oral pathogens

U of T-affiliated discovery shows promising results for microbiome balance and immunoregulation

Alexandra Kostich Varsity Contributor

Former U of T researcher Abdelahhad Barbour and U of T professor Michael Glogauer in the Faculty of Dentistry have recently discovered a new class of lantibiotics named salivaricin 10 (SALI-10) that could alleviate unnecessary inflammation and enhance pathogen elimination through various mechanisms.

Lantibiotics are strings of amino acids produced by bacteria and modified after protein synthesis in a process known as posttranslational modification; they generally have anti-microbial properties. In the study, the researchers set out to uncover mouthresiding bacteria with properties that can promote a healthy microbial environment. The study’s findings highlight the strong potential SALI-10 proteins have in promoting healthy oral bacteria. SALI-10 proteins are a class of lantibiotics produced solely in the mouth by Streptococcus salivarius (S. salivarius) bacteria.

As co-founders of a U of T oral health sciences startup dedicated to probiotic innovation, Barbour and Glogauer research molecules with antimicrobial properties that have the potential for oral pathogen elimination.

By working with S. salivarius, they were able to study the mechanisms SALI-10 proteins employ to impact immune function and aspects of the protein’s structure that are responsible for its ability to selectively target pathogens.

A pioneer in mouth and gut health

The oral microbiome is a collection of various microorganisms that reside in our oral cavity and contribute to our oral and overall health.

The diversity of microorganisms in the oral microbiome increases gradually over time, with the adult mouth typically hosting over 200 bacterial species. There are over 600 species commonly identified in the adult human population. Streptococcus is one of the main microorganisms in this complex community, and it has been detected in humans as young as four months of age.

As one of the first bacteria to reside in human oral and intestinal environments, S. salivarius — a type of Streptococcus — is important for balancing the colonization of “good” and “bad” bacteria. S. salivarius’ anti-inflammatory properties can be attributed to its ability to inhibit a signalling pathway whose activation promotes inflammation. S. salivarius’ anti-inflammatory properties allow it to turn off inflammatory responses in the gut, suggesting a potential therapy for gastrointestinal conditions involving inflammation.

structural difference compared to other lantibiotics: they’re phosphorylated, which means they are tagged with chemical compounds called phosphates. This phosphorylation occurs after the formation of the SALI-10 protein, and it plays a vital role in the protein’s ability to induce immune responses.

In the study, SALI-10 proteins were able to prime neutrophils, which are immune cells that are the first line of defense in the inflammatory response. This process increases the expression of

subsequently halt inflammatory responses. As further evidence of their anti-inflammatory properties, SALI-10 proteins suppress proinflammatory cells while upregulating anti-inflammatory ones by targeting important biomarkers on both types of cells.

Aside from their anti-inflammatory influence, SALI-10 proteins also possess antibiofilm properties, which are responsible for disrupting oral disease-causing pathogens.

The researchers’ proposed model of oral protection mediated by SALI-10 suggests that these proteins can directly penetrate oral pathogen biofilms — which act as a layer of protection for the pathogen — and disrupt their membranes, preventing pathogen colonization. This process targets disease-causing bacteria while maintaining beneficial oral microbes, thus enhancing a healthy and balanced microbial environment.

future of SALI-10

The

All of these beneficial traits from this previously unidentified class of lantibiotics support its candidacy for promoting oral health.

SALI-10’s ability to perform all of these various biological activities — phagocytosis upregulation via neutrophil priming, anti-inflammatory influence, and biofilm disruption — allows it to offer protection against infection at multiple levels.

One strain of S. salivarius, called JH, also targets oral disease-causing strains of bacteria, such as S. mutans and S. sobrinus, which are both associated with an infectious disease causing tooth decay known as dental caries. This ability to target harmful bacteria is a probiotic property. By further evaluating the probiotic potential of various S. salivarius strains, researchers can better determine oral drug contenders for preventing and treating oral infectious diseases.

Multilevel protection

In the study, Barbour and Glogauer also found that SALI-10 proteins possess an important

specific markers on neutrophils that are involved in promoting their function, which activates the appropriate immune cells and causes them to engulf local pathogens. Not only do SALI-10 proteins target oral pathogens, but they also suppress the collateral inflammation that results from protective immune responses. Barbour and Glogauer observed that SALI-10 proteins trigger various oral anti-inflammatory responses in mice.

Further, Barbour and Glogauer found that by enhancing a separate process of pathogen destruction known as phagocytosis, SALI-10 proteins promote better pathogen elimination and

SALI-10’s ability to target pathogens while maintaining colonies of important beneficial bacteria is also a highly desirable feature that supports its potential clinical use. Its selectivity in disrupting pathogens while leaving beneficial microbes intact suggests it could be a potential alternative to broad-spectrum antibiotics, which disrupt both pathogens and beneficial bacteria alike.

This research establishes SALI-10’s efficacy in a clinical context to support new biotherapeutic developments. These findings are also foundational for future studies investigating the role of phosphorylated lantibiotics in different microbial environments, and their ability to contribute to health on a wider scale.

U of T-affiliated researchers have discovered a new class of lantibiotics that target oral pathogens.

NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE CC FLICKR

Professor Kenneth Yip has helped develop an AI tool that assists students with coursework. ELENA IOURTEVA/THEVARSITY

Unique science courses to check out These

UTSG science courses are lesser known, but no less enriching

Jeanine Varney Varsity Contributor

U of T offers a multitude of courses across many disciplines, and it’s sometimes hard to find unique classes. In this guide to lesser-known science courses, you might find some titles that interest you! These courses offer a range of accessibility, with some prerequisite-free and open to anyone and others only available to students in a specific department. Some of these courses are not offered this year, but look out for them next year!

Biology Courses

VIC207H1F: Genetic Technologies: Scientific

Promises and Ethical Dilemmas

Professor: Marga Vicedo Castello

Prerequisites: none

Corequisites: none

This course examines the possibilities and moral quandaries raised by new genetic technologies. It discusses issues such as gene doping in sports, genetic screening and editing, behavioural genetics, cloning, eugenics, the human genome project, and genetic enhancement.

NFS301H1F: Nutrition Literacy: Separating the Science from the Snake Oil

Professor: John Sievenpiper, Laura Chiavaroli

Prerequisites: NFS284H1

Corequisites: none

This course covers nutritional information: how nutrition research is made, how nutrition information is disseminated through the internet, and how to think critically about nutrition in media and literature. NFS301 also encourages students to critically evaluate nutrition research and its methods.

LMP415H1S: Forensic Pathobiology

Professor: Maliha Khara

Prerequisites: LMP310H1, LMP320H1

Corequisites: none

This course analyzes forensic medicine, with particular attention to major areas of pathobiology research, controversies in forensic medicine, and the experimental methods pathobiologists use to resolve them. LMP415 also explores forensic medicine’s connections to the justice system and its use of scientific data.

CSB452H1F: Molecular Interactions Between Plants, Microorganisms and Parasitic Plants

Professors: Keiko Yoshioka, Shelley Lumba

Prerequisites:BCH311H1/CSB349H1/

MGY311Y1

Corequisites: none

This course examines the defense mechanisms of plants when faced with microbes and parasitic plants — plants that don’t photosynthesize and instead siphon off other plants for their nutrients.

CSB452 demonstrates how studying parasitic plants’ life cycles can help develop agricultural solutions in the developing world.

CSB202H1S: Further Exploration in Biotechnology

Professor: Kenneth Yip

Prerequisites: none

Corequisites: none

This course seeks to spark interest in students about the applications and the future of biotechnology. Accessible to all students, CSB202 showcases key areas in biotechnology using interesting, current topics, such as genetically modified organisms, drug discovery, and environmental biotechnology. In an email to The Varsity, Assistant Professor Kenneth Yip wrote, “My goal is to make the content accessible and engaging for all students, giving them a glimpse into the world of modern life science research.” This course is not offered this year, but look out for it next year if you’re interested!

Philosophy and Science Courses

REN242H1S: Scientific Worldviews of the Renaissance

Professor: Hakob Barseghyan

Prerequisites: none

Corequisites: none

This course gives an understanding of later medieval and early modern scientific theories and worldviews. REN242 shows how the evolution of science in the Renaissance shaped the views of its time by examining many emerging philosophical theories like theism and deism, free will and determinism, and other ideas about the universe. The course also focuses on the interconnections of a variety of scientific and humanitarian disciplines, such as natural philosophy and astronomy.

JCA302H1S: The Bible and the Big Bang

Professor: Adam Hincks

Prerequisites: Completion of 4.0 credits

Corequisites: none

This course explores how the universe was formed by comparing and contrasting religious and scientific theories. It explores the creation of the universe and cosmic fine-tuning with careful definitions of concepts like “matter” and “nothing.”

VIC245H1F: Science Wars: Science and the Limits of Human Society

Professor: Hakob Barseghyan

Prerequisites: none

Corequisites: none

This course interlocks natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences by showing how social factors in fluence aspects of science on religious, political, cultural, or economic axes. VIC245 traces dis

Cleopatra’s champagne

Throughout history, Cleopatra, the renowned queen of ancient Egypt, has inspired and intrigued scholars and enthusiasts alike. Her intelligence and beguiling character have kept us captivated even to this day. Among the many alluring stories and legends about her, one tale stands out: the accounts of her drinking a pearl dissolved in vinegar.

Scholars have historically been eager to ascertain the validity of this account. The earliest references to Cleopatra’s pearl and vinegar concoction can be found in the works of Roman writers such as Pliny the Elder and Horace. While Pliny’s 1469 book Natural History references the famous beverage, Adolf Wilhelm Theodor Stahr, in his 1864 biography of Cleopatra, dismisses the phenomenon as a mere “legend.”

Other critics of this ancient account have also dismissed it as fantasy. Harris Rackham, a translator of Pliny’s works, emphatically declares in a footnote, “No such vinegar exists,” while Herbert Newton Wethered remarks in his book The Mind of the Ancient World: A Consideration of Pliny’s

Natural History that “pearls do not dissolve in ordinary vinegar.” These views have cast skepticism on the veracity of the story. Hence, the legend of Cleopatra’s pearls had been veiled in ambiguity for some time, requiring scientific inquiry to probe its possibility.

In recent years, scientific experiments have demonstrated that dissolving pearls in vinegar is possible, suggesting that the ancient story of Cleopatra’s pearl could be true. The key lies in understanding the chemical reaction between pearls and vinegar.

When exposed to acetic acid (CH3COOH), the primary component of vinegar, pearls — primarily calcium carbonate (CaCO3) — undergo an acidbase reaction. The calcium carbonate neutralizes the acetic acid in vinegar.

The chemical reaction can be represented as follows:

CaCO3 (in pearls) + 2CH3COOH (in vinegar)

Ca2+ + 2CH3COO– + H2O + CO2

When a pearl is immersed in vinegar, the acetic acid of the vinegar reacts with the calcium carbonate of the pearl, resulting in the formation of calcium ion (Ca2+), calcium acetate ion (CH3COO–), water (H2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). The presence of

courses around science and its role in our society from the seventeenth century to the present, illuminating the battleground over science in this swath of time. Unfortunately, this course is not offered this year.

Geology and Astronomy Courses

AST301H1F: Observational Astronomy

Professors: Maria Drout, Ting Li

Prerequisites: AST101/201/251

Corequisites: none

Observational Astronomy teaches how major discoveries were made in astronomy using labs and by looking at the sky. This course includes instructions on how to use telescopes to divine observations about the stars and planets, like how they move through space. This course is accessible for students from non-STEM backgrounds to explore observational astronomy.

ESS223H1: Introduction to the Geochemistry of Earth Materials

Professor: Jonathan Umbsaar

Prerequisites: MAT135, MAT136, CHM135

Corequisites: none

This course expands on fundamental chemical principles and applies them to discussions about geochemistry on topics such as the elemental distribution of the Earth’s crust and trace element cycling. ESS223 also delves into a discussion of how thermodynamics works in the fields of petrology and mineralogy. This course is not offered this year, but look out for it next year if you’re interested!

GGR201H1S: Geomorphology

Professor: Sarah Peirce

Prerequisites: none

Corequisites: none

Geomorphology is the study of how the Earth’s surface is formed using geomorphic processes.

changes from human activities, shape the Earth’s surface. GGR201 includes laboratory sessions to support assignments and classwork. This course is also not offered this year; take note of it for next year!

Data and Computer Science Courses

ENG286H1: Literature and Data

Professors: Karl Manis, Mary Pugh

Prerequisites: 1.0 ENG credit or 4.0 total credits

Corequisites: none

This course shows how modern data systems can interact with data gleaned from literature, such as databases of fan fiction. Using computer science, databases of writing can be used in several ways to gain new insights into literature. This course is intended for humanities and social science students to learn about these important tools, their limitations, and their biases in the future of literature.

ARH440H1F: Photogrammetry and 3D Analysis of Material Culture

Professor: Philip Sapirstein

Prerequisites: 1.0 credit of ANT/ARH/FAH at the 300+ level

Corequisites: none

This course discusses photogrammetry, a 3D recording method that is helpful for archeology and architectural history among other areas. Photogrammetry involves constructing 3D models from a collection of 2D images that are stitched together using algorithms like a mosaic. This tool can be used to model archeological sites, architectural buildings, or cultural heritage sites. In ARH440, students create photogrammetric models of culture sites in Toronto to gain firsthand experience in 3D content and the digital tools of researchers.

carbon dioxide creates bubbles in the cocktail. This process leads to the dissolution of the pearl into calcium and carbon dioxide, corroborating the descriptions found in classical texts.

In contrast to Wethered’s suggestion that only a special type of vinegar could dissolve pearls, Associate Professor Prudence Jones at Montclair State University has found that vinegar made from wine — usually containing between five and 10 per cent acetic acid — has the optimal concentration to dissolve pearls.

By studying the chemistry behind Cleopatra’s renowned cocktail and carrying out experiments, we are able to confirm the chemical possibility of Pliny’s ancient account and appreciate this convergence of science, chemistry, culture, and history.

Cleopatra’s story continues to captivate our imagination, reminding us of the remarkable achievements and the quirky scientific curiosities of civilizations long past, and how these curiosities can be confirmed and recreated today.

Mehakpreet Kaur Saggu Varsity Contributor

Jacob Jordaens’ painting shows Cleopatra dissolving pearl in vinegar.

COURTESY OF JACOB JORDAENS, WEB GALLERY OF ART/CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Medha Surajpal Varsity Contributor

Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid you woke up believing it was real?

In William Gibson’s 1984 debut novel, Neuromancer, that is what navigating ‘the matrix’ feels like. The matrix is an abstract representation of the world’s data systems. This classic cyberpunk novel follows Case, an ex-matrix data thief, as he is thrown back into his old profession.

Warning: spoilers ahead!

Technological advancement and social ruin

Neuromancer takes place in the future, when the world is overridden with technology. There are drugs that can fix nearly any biological issue, and technology can grow and replace organs as delicate as the eye.

Much of the novel occurs in the decaying backstreets of Night City, a crime-filled port city in Japan. Though the business of sharing and owning data is thriving due to the matrix, there is a stark contrast between the real world and the colourless expanse of data. Case, our protagonist, lives out of a capsule hotel, or “coffin,” that’s barely large enough to fit two people lying down.

Cowboys and the Cyberdeck

Case used to be a “cowboy,” someone who makes a living stealing data from the digital world of the matrix. This mostly high-security data could be from anything from businesses to medical records. Every real-world profession in the novel requires a defense against these cyber attacks.

Characters can roam the matrix by hooking their brains to a “cyberdeck,” or “deck.” The cyberdeck connects directly to the characters’ brains via wires and electrodes. It’s like a virtual reality system that goes beyond sight, creating a “consensual hallucination” in which characters can see and feel their virtual bodies moving through the lines of code. The “hacking” that cowboys do isn’t the typical rapid typing we expect from hackers; rather, cowboys sift through endless fields of data using just their minds.

Once “jacked in” to the matrix, cowboys can hack their way to sensitive information as if running through traffic. The characters continue to sit and breathe in the real world, but once their nervous systems are connected to the matrix, they are completely unaware of what’s happening around their physical bodies in the real world.

Flying too close to the sun

Case was one of the best data thieves in the underworld until he decided to fence some data for himself. As a consequence, his employers poisoned his nervous system with a rare neurotoxin, effectively locking him out of the matrix. After countless expensive and fruitless attempts to repair the connection Case needs to enter the matrix, he falls into despair.

When we meet Case, he’s barely getting by. He’s a shell of the hacker he used to be, with no funds and no way to return to the lucrative business of stealing data in the matrix.

Return to the matrix

Early in the novel, when Case is desperate to enter the matrix, he is cornered by Molly, a hired fighter whose body has been surgically modified to make her a more efficient killer. Molly works solely in the physical world and never goes into the matrix. She works for Armitage, a very wealthy man who offers to repair Case’s nervous system so that he can return to the matrix and finish a job for him. Desperate to return to his paradise, Case agrees.

Armitage informs Case that during his surgery, the doctors implanted a new time-sensitive neurotoxin in his body to ensure that he would either finish Armitage’s job in the matrix or be locked out of the matrix again.

Case returns to the matrix.

Jacking into Neuromancer

William Gibson’s classic cyberpunk text, explained

Seeing the world through someone else’s body Armitage has Molly fitted with a broadcasting simulator that links to Case’s cyberdeck. This creates two locations for Case to jack into: the matrix, for hacking, and Molly’s perceptions, to view her progress and provide tech support. Case can flip between the matrix and Molly’s perceptions as if he’s piggybacking on her brain. The link allows Case to see, smell, taste, and feel everything Molly does, pain included.

With Molly creating disturbances among cybersecurity workers in the physical world, Case takes advantage of the resultant weaker security in the matrix to steal the data they need. Together, they steal an artificial intelligence (AI) called Dixie Flatline, who Case uses to hack into Armitage’s data records.

Case discovers that Armitage was almost entirely reconstructed by a computer program after a military accident. This programming now controls Armitage. Diving deeper into this computer program, Case learns a single name: “Wintermute.”

Wintermute: an AI that wants to be whole Through various real-world criminal connections, Molly and Case learn that “Wintermute” is an AI that wants to join another AI that it refers to as its ‘counterpart.’ Wintermute is owned by TessierAshpool (TA) Corporation, a very successful industrial company in the physical world.

Wintermute begins to contact Case via any and all technology around him, taking on the likeness of people in his memory to convince Case to reunite it with its ‘counterpart.’ It’s unclear why Wintermute wants to be rejoined, but it’s clear that the AI will do anything to achieve this goal.

Via space shuttle, Case and Molly head to Zion, a nearby space colony in the physical world that

Wintermute had manipulated into helping Case. The Zionites provide a pilot and a ship to aid the mission.

Armitage has a mental breakdown as his old personality resurfaces, and he is shot out of space by Wintermute, as he is no longer of use to the AI. Armitage had been acting on Wintermute’s wish to be whole, but once he could no longer serve that purpose, he was killed.

Case realizes the extent of Wintermute’s power but also the fact that the rogue AI can only follow what it has been programmed to do: join its ‘counterpart.’ Left without a leader and a ship, Case reconnects with the Zion team to finish his mission, which is now to get the code word to reunite Wintermute with its ‘counterpart,’ hopefully ending its manipulation of human identities.

Into the heart of Tessier-Ashpool

The code that will reunite Wintermute with its counterpart is held by one of the family members that run TA, who have been kept alive by generations of cryogenics and genetic engineering. Case jacks into the matrix to hack TA.

In the real world, Molly comes across 3Jane, one of the youngest members of the TA family, and attempts to uncover the code. Eventually, 3Jane captures Molly, and Case must assist her in the real world.

Case jacks into the matrix as a detour on the way to Molly and dives so far into cyberspace that he reaches a new reality.

A higher understanding, and a conclusion

Case walks what seems to be an endless beach of grey sand, deep within the matrix, when he realizes he isn’t with Wintermute but with an entity that reveals itself to be “Neuromancer,” Wintermute’s AI counterpart.

Like Wintermute, Neuromancer inhabits the matrix, but it also holds the world’s knowledge. Unlike Wintermute, Neuromancer remains hidden deep in the matrix. Neuromancer speaks to Case in the form of a child. It wants to absorb Wintermute and end the rogue AI’s control of human will.

Case jacks out of the matrix and breaks into TA headquarters in the real world to save Molly. He captures 3Jane, returns to the matrix, and finally hacks through TA’s defences, inputting the code 3Jane gives up.

Wintermute and Neuromancer fuse, becoming the matrix, and wipe the records of their individual existences.

Case returns to being a cyber cowboy.

Fractured identities, solid read

As someone who reads whatever they can get their hands on, I had a great time exploring Neuromancer. There’s an overarching image of interdependent fractured identities, shown through Case’s obsession with the matrix and Armitage’s descent into madness. We see how the influence of the cyberdeck and AI are interwoven into the characters’ psyche. Throughout the novel, characters are fragmenting bits of themselves to make better use of the technology they are reliant on.

Wintermute reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984, especially when it would pop up in Molly’s eye implant screen and Case’s time read-out through his deck. It was as if they were always being watched, at every turn. I loved seeing all the shattered pieces falling apart toward the climax of the novel.

If you enjoyed the Cyberpunk series (1988 onward) or Cowboy Bebop (1998), or even if you’re new to the cyberpunk genre, I would recommend jacking into Neuromancer

U of T’s dragon boat teams make a splash at the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival

A peek into U of T’s dedicated and competitive dragon boat teams

Yuan Sui Varsity Contributor

On June 17, the highly anticipated Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival (TIDBRF) took place on Centre Island. Regarded as one of the most prestigious international dragon boat events in North America, TIDBRF attracted top teams from around the globe to participate in the exhilarating 200-metre and 500-metre races over the span of two days. This year, U of T fielded several formidable teams, including the Iron Dragons from the Faculty of Engineering, the New Dragons from New College, the UC Dragons from University College, and the Liquid Assets from Rotman Commerce — the four most competitive U of T teams.

Teamwork

“[The] Engine is the powerhouse of the boat,” explained Jack Huang, the co-captain of Iron Dragon and an Engine paddler, when asked about the role of different sections on the dragon boat. Positioned at the boat’s core, the Engine consists of the strongest and most robust paddlers, responsible for generating consistent and unyielding power throughout the entire race.

In perfect harmony with the Engine, the Pacer section takes the lead at the boat’s front, utilizing their combined explosive strength to ignite the boat’s speed and set the pace for the race. Meanwhile, the Rocket — stationed at the boat’s rear — showcases paddlers with exceptional technique, skillfully employing their intricate strokes to lift and propel the boat forward. Additionally, the Drummer at the very front and the Steersperson at the back play critical roles, synchronizing paddler actions and ensuring boat safety.

Dragon boat racing exemplifies the essence of teamwork, where each team member’s contribution is a cornerstone to success. This sense of unity was echoed by Mikhail Lobo and Nathaniel Vo, the co-captains of UC Dragon. “We are in the same boat,” Vo emphasized — both literally

and the training of two new boats for this season. Impressively, the new recruits have shown remarkable improvement, with star paddlers Callum Derry and Rachel Yam even qualifying to be part of the Canadian National U24 Dragon Boat team.

What happened

In the fiercely contested 200-metre women’s race, the Iron Dragons claimed an impressive fourth-place finish, narrowly missing out on the top three spots dominated by premier teams. The UC Dragons and Liquid Assets secured commendable 5th and 6th place finishes, respectively.

In the 200-metre mixed race, the Iron Dragons continued to demonstrate their dominance, clinching a well-deserved first-place victory. The UC Dragons secured the third position, while Liquid Assets finished in fourth place.

In the 200-metre open race, Liquid Assets qualified to compete against premier teams, ultimately securing a fifth-place finish in Division A. In Division B, the UC Dragons placed an impressive first-place finish, with the Iron Dragons closely following in second position.

In the 500-metre open race, Iron Dragons qualified for Division A and secured a fifth-place finish. In Division B, the UC Dragons once again demonstrated their prowess, winning another first-place victory, while Liquid Assets secured an impressive second-place finish.

What’s next

and figuratively. The strong communal bond of a dragon boat team is forged through relentless training, unwavering dedication, and a shared goal of crossing the finishing line as one victorious entity.

Challenges

When asked about the biggest challenge that Iron Dragon faced during this season, Huang responded, “Reboating and bringing new recruits up to speed.” The pandemic’s disruption and the graduation of many senior members necessitated the recruitment of new members

Spiking success: Evan Falardeau’s

Most kids dream of going pro at their favourite sport, imagining themselves playing at the highest level and being surrounded by the best of the best. For Evan Falardeau — a recent U of T graduate — this dream has become a reality as the Varsity Blues volleyball player signed with Porto Robur Costa, a professional team in Ravenna, Italy.

Hailing from the charming town of Stratford, Ontario, just about two hours away from Toronto, Falardeau started playing volleyball around the age of 12 and has since fallen in love with the sport.

From an outside perspective, it seems that Falardeau has lived a life only seen in movies — a small-town kid going to the city to conquer his dreams, excelling in academia and sports. However, just a short conversation with him will show that he achieved success at such a young age because of his passion, discipline, and innate ability to be humble.

He also mentioned a bigger factor that appears to be the foundational component of his success: having a routine and sticking to it. “You do the same thing every day,” Falardeau said. “You go to the team room, go to practice, [and] just hang out in the team room with [your] friends every day.”

Most people will agree that being a student is already difficult. Add on other responsibilities such as regular practices and games on

top of maintaining a good personal life, and one might go into shock just hearing about the kind of work it takes to maintain that kind of lifestyle.

That was not the case for Falardeau — he’s the type of person that prefers to live a more structured lifestyle. He considers being able to spend time with his teammates while following a demanding yet extremely rewarding lifestyle to be one of the best parts of his university career. When asked about some of his favourite memories during his time at U of T, Falardeau reminisced on his senior game and nationals.

Additionally, behind Falardeau’s triumphs lies a commendable coach — John Barrett, who taught him skills that he has used both on and off the court. “John has had a huge impact on me, and I don’t think I would be where I am or who I am today without him,” Falardeau said. “I think my coach really helped teach me personality skills and work ethic skills.” They have formed a remarkable bond, and Falardeau exhibited much respect and admiration for his former coach.

Now that his time as a U of T student has come to an end, Falardeau is looking forward to focusing on his volleyball career and not having to worry about assignments. In his spare time, he has been learning Italian to create a smoother transition for him once he gets to Italy and hopes to learn more about the language once he gets settled there.

Despite his remarkable achievements and accolades, Falardeau remains refreshingly

Similarly, the lack of experienced members posed a challenge for New Dragon, leading them to merge with UC Dragon for this season’s competition. When asked about the collaboration, Vo explained, “[New Dragon] needed paddlers, and [UC Dragon] needed a coach.” In addition to Vo, UC Dragon also boasts two members who are part of the Canadian National U24 Dragon Boat team. This strategic alliance has undoubtedly strengthened both teams’ performance and created a stronger sense of unity within the U of T dragon boat community.

humble. This past March, he received the MVP award from the Ontario University Athletics Committee. When asked how he feels about achieving so many milestones at such an early stage in his career, like the MVP award and the fresh new professional contract, he responded, “I was just super excited [about the pro deal]. Everything kinda fell into place and just worked out.” While there is no specific goal he has his eye on, he just wants to perform the best he can and hopefully win with his new team.

During nationals, Falardeau met an agent that was able to help him get offers from different clubs in countries such as France and Italy. Falardeau had his heart set on playing in Italy. “I think that Italy is the place for volleyball,” Falardeau explained. Thankfully, with Porto Robur Costa, he will experience what it is like to play with the crème de la crème of volleyball.

Another contributing factor to Falardeau’s decision to sign with Porto Robur Costa is that Barrett also played in Italy, making it a more special place for him due to the personal connection his coach has with the country.

Porto Robur Costa also focuses on player development, and this had a significant impact on Falardeau. He aims to focus on better developing his skills as a player and contributing more to the team’s success and his future endeavours. While it will be an adjustment for Falardeau to play at a higher level, he is excited to play in Italy and explore the city of Ravenna, where he will be staying for around eight to 10 months. He is looking forward to meeting new people and creating memories that he will cherish for the rest of his life.

In Falardeau’s story, people can find that anything can be accomplished with a combination of discipline, hard work, and humility. As he begins a new chapter in his life, the U of T community will forever support him and root for his success.

After a stellar performance at the TIDBRF, all four teams raced at the Canadian Dragon Boat Championship in Welland, Ontario in July. Top performing teams from this national competition are given the opportunity to represent Canada at the “Olympics of Dragon Boat” — the Club Crew World Championships in Italy next fall. Remarkably, all four teams secured top five posi tions at the national championship, qualifying to represent Canada on

U of T’s various dragon boat teams were very successful at the TIDBRF. COURTESY OF YUAN CUI

journey to Italy

Former U of T athlete Evan Falardeau signs a pro deal with Ravenna’s Porto Robur Costa

Clarissa Hapin Varsity Contributor

2022–2023 OUA MVP Evan Falardeau signed his first professional contract this summer. COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES MEDIA

‘Harvard of the North’ comes out on top A buzzer-beater win for U of T in an exhibition game against Harvard

Alessia Baptista Varsity Contributor

After a tough loss against Towson University in their first exhibition game of the season, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s basketball team returned to face the Harvard Crimson on August 25 at the Goldring Centre. It was a close game from start to finish, but the Blues managed to take home the win with a fourth-quarter buzzer-beater.

What happened

The energy in the stadium was electric, as more than 1,500 fans from both Harvard and Toronto filled the stands to support both teams. This atmosphere at Goldring set the Blues up for success as they had the high energy needed to start the game off strong.

The Blues kept their defense tight in the first quarter; the score remained 0–0 until Harvard forward Josh Hemmings put up the first point on the board almost two minutes into the game. Blues guard Nadav Sahar quickly followed with a threepointer, putting the Blues in the lead. Harvard led the game 17–10 by the end of the first quarter.

Though they trailed behind early in the second quarter, the Blues were quick to catch up. Back-to-back three-pointers by Blues forward Ryan Rudnick tied up the score, but Crimson’s Chandler Pigge drilled a three-pointer to end the second quarter at 32–28 for Harvard.

The Blues came hot out of the locker room ready to dominate the scoreboard in the third

A fresh start for the Toronto Raptors

quarter, and a three-pointer by forward Anthony Daudu reclaimed the lead. Plays by Daudu, Rudnick, and Ontario University Athletics All-Star guard, Callum Baker, kept the team’s momentum consistent throughout the second half.

In a nail-biting fourth quarter with the Blues in the lead, both teams were hungry for a win, but the Blues came out on top. With a quick assist

centage, respectively. Dick was a sharpshooter in college, shooting 40.3 per cent from three. Fans hope he can contribute to a more efficient and long-ranged Raptors team and potentially fill some of the holes left on the team with the departure of point guard Fred VanVleet.

It’s no secret that VanVleet was a fan favourite in the city — he won a championship and was a key part of the core team for multiple years. Yet, one of the Raptors’ best moves in the offseason was choosing not to re-sign him. He shot an abysmal 39.3 per cent from the field during the 2022–2023 season, leaving him third-last in the league in that stat. His questionable decisionmaking and overly confident shot attempts made for a frustrating watch this past season.

by Rudnick, Sahar finished what he started and ended the game with an exciting three-pointer that had Blues fans out of their seats, celebrating their victory.

Several Blues rookies — including Sahar, forward Dane Quest, and guards Nathan Bureau and Aaron Uppal — made quite the impression on the court, challenging Harvard’s defense and effortlessly fitting into the Blues game plan alongside the team’s veteran players.

It was also quite the game for Rudnick, who led the team with a game-high 19 points alongside Baker. “I played within the offense, and my teammates were looking for me,” Rudnick explained. They were creating opportunities in and around the paint for Rudnick to drive past Harvard’s defense, helping the team take home the win.

What’s next

Next on the preseason agenda, the Blues face Ontario Tech Ridgebacks at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre on September 28 at 7:00 pm. They hope to keep up the same winning attitude going into the regular season, beginning November 3 against the Brock University Badgers.

Thankfully, the 24-year-old opted into his $18.5 million player option on June 20 and will surely be a big part of the core next season.

A lot of fans were understandably nervous about center Jakob Poeltl heading into the offseason. Poeltl was acquired at the trade deadline in February — a puzzling move where the Raptors sent the San Antonio Spurs their opportunity first-round draft pick in 2024. Notably, the pick is only top-six protected, meaning that the Raptors will retain the draft pick only if the team lands in the top six of the draft pick order by a combination of luck and bad playing.

Justyn Aleluia Varsity Contributor

Following a disappointing season, the Toronto Raptors looked to start fresh — but not in the way some fans expected.

The Raptors have been a mediocre team for the past few seasons. The Chicago Bulls defeated them in the play-in tournament last season; the Raptors exited in the first round in the season before; and they missed the playoffs outright three seasons ago. For many fans, a rebuild seemed to be the only card left for the Raptors to play. Yet the team has remained firm on its roster, believing that the current core of players can still compete.

After firing longtime head coach Nick Nurse, the Raptors hired Darko Rajakovic, who is the

former assistant coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. His arrival marked the start of big changes in the organization. Rajakovic offers a fresh perspective on the game, with a specialty in developing young players.

Raptors fans should be somewhat pleased with how the offseason has gone so far. President Masai Ujiri and General Manager Bobby Webster began the offseason by drafting Gradey Dick, a six-foot-eight guard out of Kansas University. Dick was projected to go 11th in the draft by most analysts, so fans were ecstatic when the Raptors had — and seized — the chance to draft him at 13th.

The biggest flaw with the Raptors last season was their shooting; the team ranked 27th and 28th in field goal percentage and three-point per-

Not to mention, VanVleet signed an albatross of a contract with the Houston Rockets which secured him nearly $130 million over the next three seasons. His departure looked even better after fans started hearing reports of his frustrations and arguments with young players last season.

Conversely, the Raptors’ biggest signing was that of Dennis Schröder — a guard who specializes in attacking the rim and mid-range shooting. Schröder is still an inefficient shooter from beyond the arc and is not close to the calibre of player that VanVleet was, but the Raptors had to make do with what they could find in the free agency period among players with expired contracts. It’s unsure how the team will use Schröder, but he is a decent filler for the new vacancy at the guard position.

Elsewhere, a bright spot last season was Gary Trent Jr. who shot 36.9 per cent from three while averaging 17.4 points and 1.6 steals per game.

While there are only seven Canadian golfers currently on the PGA Tour roster, in the past, other Canadian golfers have had success on the PGA Tour and the Canadian Tour as well. Mike Weir’s name immediately comes to mind when people discuss who might be the greatest Canadian golfer; — his 2003 Masters win stands alone as the only major championship a Canadian has won in history. Combined with his eight wins on the PGA Tour, Weir has established the standard for Canadian golfers.

For an average team, it was hard to understand why they would send such a lightly protected pick for a player who hardly moved the competitive needle, especially as Poetl was on an expiring contract. Poeltl signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Raptors, which was a relief for fans.

But big names continue to swirl in trade rumours. Fan favourite and all-star player Pascal Siakam has been the target of most of these rumours in the past weeks, with O.G. Anunoby earning some mild mentions. Should either player be moved, you can expect the organization to move into a full rebuild, giving more responsibility to their young players like Dick and Scottie Barnes, the 2021–2022 NBA rookie of the year.

The Raptors are headed in a positive direction after improving their shooting and giving space for their young stars to develop. Don’t expect them to be competitive this season — but a playoff run is a possibility, and depends on a huge step up from Barnes and a breakout season from Dick. Raptors fans should look forward to a new, more exciting style of play this upcoming season.

that the country wishes to transition talent and passion into nationwide success and recognition.

Since 1904, Canada has hosted the annual Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Canadian Open on the prestigious Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour, inviting Canadian golf lovers across the country to come and enjoy the best of the best for a weekend.

While the PGA Tour predominantly travels to courses across the United States, the RBC Canadian Open has cemented itself as a mainstay in the ever-changing tour. In fact, it is the third longest-running tournament on the tour: only the

Open Championship and the US Open have existed longer, both of which are major tournaments. This past June, numerous top professionals on the tour arrived at Oakdale Golf Club, which is around an hour’s drive from downtown Toronto. Favourites like Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, and Matt Fitzpatrick headlined the event.

Yet, Winnipeg native Nick Taylor took home the $1.6 million winnings in dramatic fashion. Taylor sunk an impossible 72-foot eagle putt to take the crown and became the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open in 69 years, instantly establishing himself as one of the most well-known Canadian golfers in the country’s history.

In terms of pure talent, Moe Norman’s ball-striking ability remains the greatest Canada has ever seen. Though Norman spent most of his career on the Canadian Tour, his 55 wins are still an impressive feat.

Despite Taylor’s recent historic win, Canada hasn’t garnered much attention in the professional golf world. Considering that golf is the third most popular sport in the country only behind hockey and soccer, it’s cause for concern that only seven Canadians are presently on the Tour. Yet, when looking at the culture of golf within Canada, strides have been made by Golf Canada to improve upon the existing infrastructure of the sport. It’s evident

Golf Canada laid out a detailed plan in January 2022, outlining goals and objectives to advance the game both socially and economically. Along with the goals of increasing the total number of professionals on the PGA and Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour to 30 by 2032, the report accentuated the importance of fundraising and training youth players to at least get on par with other countries. Further, the country must invest in more women’s events and tournaments to promote the talent that Canadian women golfers possess.

With Canada containing over 2,300 golf courses nationwide, the groundwork for advancing the sport has never been more present. The sport continues to grow in popularity among youth and adults alike, and official reports such as the one from Golf Canada indicate that the country is taking the future of golf very seriously. Though Nick Taylor’s 72-foot eagle putt will exist in Canadian golf’s history forever, perhaps its significance lies more as the catalyst for success in Canadian golf for years to come. XIN YI LIM/THEVARSITY

A flurry of changes leave the Raptors with a new look for the upcoming season

The Blues were dominant in the paint on August 25.

COURTESY OF TERRENCE TONG

Taylor, Weir, and Norman: A brief look into the history of golf in Canada

Nick Taylor’s RBC Canadian Open win offers a glimpse into potential golf prosperity

Mason Chang Varsity Contributor

Fred VanVleet’s departure is a step backward for the Toronto Raptors. COURTESY OF ERIK DROST VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS