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Rise Up UTSC wins all but three SCSU positions
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Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 18 February 12, 2018 thevarsity.ca —— University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
Play that funky music, engineers Music minor approved for Faculty of Applied Sciences & Engineering students
UTSC Voice candidate Nicole Brayiannis elected President
Kiana Shahbazi Varsity Contributor
Josie Kao Associate News Editor
The Rise Up UTSC slate has won all positions of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) except for those of President, Director of Philosophy, and Part-Time Director, according to unofficial results released on February 9. Nicole Brayiannis was elected President and is the sole executive winner from the UTSC Voice slate, having defeated Rayyan Alibux 905–721. Rise Up UTSC’s presidential candidate, Deena Hassan, was disqualified. Rise Up UTSC won the other four elected executive positions. Ayaan Abdulle won Vice-President Academics and University Affairs, Hana Syed won Vice-President External, Chemi Lhamo won Vice-President Equity, and Desmond Chan won Vice-President Operations. Brayiannis said that UTSC Voice members had tried their best, but that “the odds were stacked against [them] from the start.” “The SCSU election always has the same people running every year. There is always a returning executive that brings in a group of people. This year UTSC Voice was a brand new team of students who challenged that. We tried our very best without the advantage of having any prior SCSU experience.” Despite the defeat of her slate, Brayiannis is still “looking forward to working alongside this team to do what is best for students on our campus.” Recounts, appeals for demerit points, and submissions for campaign expenses must be addressed before the results are sent to the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) for approval. After the ERC approves them, the results are sent to the SCSU Board of Directors to be made official — this will likely happen at the March 29 board meeting. The Director of Philosophy position was a tie and will be recounted, along with three other positions that also had narrow margins of victory: Director of Physical and Environmental Science, Director of Centre for Critical Development, and Director of Computer and Mathematical Sciences. Chief Returning Officer Sahab Jesuthasan said the unofficial voter turnout was 1,887, 954 of which were spoiled ballots. The election was conducted using only paper ballots. None of the executive winners from Rise Up UTSC responded to The Varsity’s requests for comment.
TENTATIVE AGREEMENTS REACHED Protesters at CUPE 3902’s strike countdown rally last week. ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY
Day before deadline, St.Mike’s faculty, admin find middle ground
TA bargaining team, admin reach deal Ilya Bañares Associate News Editor
Aidan Currie Deputy News Editor
Following more than five months of negotiations, on February 8, the bargaining team of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3902, Unit 1 reached a tentative agreement with U of T, two weeks ahead of the strike deadline of February 26. To avoid the possibility of a strike, the tentative agreement will have to be ratified by the union membership. An ascension meeting will be held today, Monday, February 12, at 6:30 pm in Convocation Hall. The bargaining team will present the agreement and recommend it to the unit’s membership. They will also field questions, host a discussion, and vote on whether or not to send the document to a unit-wide ratification vote. If the vote at the ascension meeting fails, the unit will return to the bargaining table with the same strike deadline of February 26. If it passes, voting stations for ratification will be available across all three campuses until February 16. If the full ratification vote fails, negotiations will resume with the university again. CUPE 3902, Unit 1 represents more than 7,000 academic employees across the university who work as teaching assistants, student and postdoctoral course instructors, and exam invigilators at all three campuses. Graduate funding was at the centre of negotiations. The unit’s bargaining team was seeking a roughly 25 per cent increase in the minimum graduate funding package, from the current $15,000 to $20,000 over the next two years, ending in 2020. Other issues included improved equity, health care, support for unfunded unit members, and working conditions. The details of the tentative agreement are not currently available to non-union members. Days before the tentative agreement was reached, the union held a strike countdown rally outside Simcoe Hall in support of the bargaining team on the last day of conciliation with a provincially appointed conciliator. The event drew more than 250 people, many of whom were waving flags, holding signs, and chanting, “Hey, hey, U of T, we won’t go quietly!” CUPE, page 4
The St. Michael’s Faculty Association and the University of St. Michael’s College (USMC) administration have announced a tentative collective agreement, which, if ratified by the members of the faculty association, will be in place until June 30, 2020. The deal comes after faculty filed for a no-board with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, threatening to set up picket lines on February 12. The two sides had been in negotiations since August 8, 2017. After the second negotiation meeting on August 9, the administration filed for conciliation. Meetings were held in September, October, December, January, and most recently on February 9. Michael O’Connor, the faculty’s Chief Negotiator, said there was little detail he could provide regarding the agreement. The tentative agreement must first be sent to the University of Toronto Faculty Association executive for approval, after which it will be sent to unit membership for a ratification vote. The timing for both of those steps is “yet to be determined,” according to O’Connor. “It was a long day and both sides worked hard to get things done,” said O’Connor. “All I can say for now is that we are pleased with the outcome and that the bargaining team will be recommending the agreement unanimously to our membership.” USMC President David Mulroney issued a statement expressing that he was “delighted” to report that the two sides had come to an agreement, and he reiterated that there would not be any disruption of classes or services at St. Mike’s. Faculty filed for a no-board after they were unsatisfied with negotiations during a meeting on January 19, triggering a 17-day timer for an agreement, after which either side could legally take job action, such as striking. The move was made to put pressure on the administration to negotiate a deal, O’Connor told The Varsity.
The Faculty of Music and the Faculty of Applied Sciences & Engineering (APSE) have approved an Engineering Music Performance Minor, which will allow engineering students to complete a degree in music performance and technology. The program received unanimous approval at the January 2018 meeting of the Faculty of Music Council and is set to start in September 2018. The curriculum touches on the crossover of music and engineering within “acoustics, signal processing (both physiological and technological) and noise control. Students can then apply this knowledge to further studies in music technology, cultural areas, or engineering applications,” according to the proposal memo released on November 8. This interdisciplinary initiative is part of the Faculty of Music’s five-year academic plan, which, since 2016, has aimed to expand the resources, research opportunities, fellowships, and exchanges available for music students and staff. Similar initiatives include joint programs like Music Technology & Digital Media. Auditions for a core course — which will be year-long PMU course — will begin as early as March 2018. An information session, hosted by U of T Engineering, will occur on Tuesday, February 13. Committed faculty members in attendance will include Professor Willy Wong of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty of Music professors Ryan McClelland and Midori Koga. The minor will consist of three required courses, the core course, titled Applied Performance; TMU130H1 — Music Theory 1; and ECE446 #1 — Sensory Communication. A half-credit of 1.0 FCE in electives must relate to technology and music. The minor was created in response to student demand, according to the memo. Engineering students have expressed their interest through clubs like Skule Orchestra, Choir, and Stage Band, as well as by choosing music electives to fulfil their Humanities breadth requirements. “I’m excited that this is happening. Given the extensive role engineering plays in modern music performance and production, I think it’d be Bnad, page 4
COMMENT
SCIENCE
SPORTS
FEATURE
State of the union
Harmonies of the heavens
Dancing with the Varsity Blues
Summer internship advice
UTSC students reflect on the SCSU’s rocky elections
U of T planetarium turns TRAPPIST-1 star system into audiovisual show
Varsity Blues, OHDC fundraise for Free the Children
Upper-years discuss challenges, benefits, and more
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2 • THE VARSITY
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Crossword
Difficulty: idk good luck 30. The pits 32. Simon of Uncle Tom’s Cabin 33. Does’ dears 36. Opposite of eternally 38. Lacking colour 39. Cons 40. Give relief 41. Beekeepers 44. Low cards in a pinochle deck 46. Omitted 47. Sound some strings 49. Leans hard on 51. Exemplar of cruelty 54. Put one’s foot down 56. The “c” in etc. 58. Mexican eatery staple 62. Candy with a hole 64. Bone, to a boxer 65. Dubai VIP 66. It’s staked by a scout 67. Canine show? 68. Cotillion honorees 69. It’s better when they meet
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1. Expressed, as an adieu 5. Flashlight’s projection 9. Solemn 14. Pyramid point 15. Figure in Lost Horizon
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Why does it come in mint: Condom Tasting with VP!
Location: Robarts Library, Purple Lounge, Floor 14 Time: 12:00 – 2:00 pm
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DOWN 1. Can of worms, perhaps 2. Breathing woe 3. Try to prevent 4. Going offstage 5. Played raucously 6. Fast opposite
7. Answer to prayers? 8. Palindromic address 9. Less trained 10. Bunch of nonsense 11. Burning outcome 12. Go toe to toe 13. Dragon roll ingredient 18. Flat-topped desert sights 22. Cock and bull? 24. One of your cavities 26. Club’s yearly meeting 27. Pun follower, at times 28. Causing heebie-jeebies 29. Marsh flora 31. Takes a load off 33. Pogo Possum’s home 34. Pig-like forest dweller 35. Sambuca flavoring 37. Police protectors 39. It may be added to a bill 42. Biblical equine 43. Paraphrase, say 44. Some paintings 45. Parrot or ape 48. They’re in a heat 50. Did a shoe repair 52. 1995 Brad Pitt thriller 53. Market analyst’s concern 55. Small change? 57. Liberal pursuits 58. Ave. crossers, often 59. Hurler’s pride 60. Island souvenir 61. Actor Mineo 63. Small tale?
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Events at U of T
Rocsaut X Utehksa: 2018 Lunar New Year Location: Spigel Hall
Location: Blind Duck Pub
Time: 7:30 – 10:30 pm
Time: 7:00 – 11:30 pm
Price: $30 - $35
Price: $11 – 14
Hairspray: The Broadway Musical Location: Hart House Theatre Time: 8:00 – 10:00 pm Price: $10 for students, $15 for adults until February 17
St. George Mississauga Scarborough
Rangreza
UTMSU Presents: Black History Month Pub w Special Guests Smoke Dawg & Puffy L’z Location: Blind Duck Pub Time: 10:00 pm to 12:00 am Price: Various prices, 18+ with valid TCard and government ID $15 for adults
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 • 3
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Where do U of T PhDs end up? Research shows preference for staying in academia Survey of 10,886 U of T grads conducted Alex Tough Associate News Editor
A study released by the School of Graduate Studies revealed that PhD graduates are more likely to end up employed at postsecondary institutions than in all other sectors combined. The study analyzed the employment status of 88 per cent of the 10,886 PhDs who graduated from U of T from 2000–2015, across all academic divisions. Of those analyzed, 59 per cent attained positions in post-secondary institutions after gradua-
tion, while the rest found employment in the private and public sectors, non-profit organizations, or in independent businesses. Only four PhD graduates were unemployed. However, this trend was not uniform across the board. While close to eight in 10 Humanities PhDs ended up in academia, just less than half of Physical Sciences PhDs chose this path; 40 per cent were employed in the private sector. Of those PhDs who were employed in postsecondary education, about half were in tenure-track positions. Fourteen per cent
Employment of PhD graduates (2000–2015)
Postsecondary education
1,116
Charitable sector
340
Individual sector
304
500 Canadian citizen Permanent resident International student
400
2,086
Public sector
for Cancer Research and the Ontario Brain Institute. The data also revealed significant changes in the composition of the PhD student body. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of U of T PhD graduates per year almost doubled, from 494 to 901, and the amount of non-citizen PhD graduates also doubled. On the other hand, gender composition of the PhD student body over that time has been stable, varying slightly from a 50-50 split. The majority of PhD students — 85 per cent on average — were Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Number of PhD graduates by status in Canada
600
5,694
Private sector
of graduates were postdoctoral fellows, and approximately four per cent ended up in teaching-stream positions. Many ended up doing research and teaching at U of T, York University, Ryerson University, and McMaster University. PhDs in the private sector either established their own enterprises or found jobs at Google, Intel, or the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. In the public sector, they mostly worked in hospitals or in the government, and in the charitable sector, they tended to work at health-related non-profits, such as the Ontario Institute
300 200 100
43
Other 0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
Number of PhD graduates employed
2000
2005
Year
2010
2015
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
ENTREPRENEURSHIP@UOFT WEEK
STARTUP SHOWCASE March 1, 2018, 11:00am-6:00pm at MaRS
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CUPE, from cover “We’re confident the rally had a significant effect,” commented Aleks Ivovic, Chief Spokesperson for the unit’s bargaining team. “It wasn’t until after the rally that we made our most significant gains.” Academic workers firmly backed their bargaining team at the rally. “This is very important. We have to show our support and solidarity for this cause,” said Chris Chung, a Teaching Assistant in the Department of History. “There are a lot of issues that are long-standing, and we have to go out and show our support in order to effect any change.” “The union was guided from the beginning
Bnad, from cover and at all times by the priorities set by the membership,” said Ivovic. “We have made significant gains in these areas and we are proud to present the agreement to our members.” The university voiced support for the agreement. “We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with CUPE 3902, Unit 1,” said Kelly Hannah-Moffat, U of T Vice-President of Human Resources and Equity. “We encourage Unit 1 employees to get out and vote on it and be part of this process.” —With files from Kathryn Mannie.
UTSU Board bans candidates from using non-U of T student firms in election campaigns Decision stems from previous slate’s use of Splash Effect last year Jillian Schuler Associate News Editor
The February 11 meeting of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Board of Directors upheld a decision by the Elections and Referenda Committee to ban candidates in UTSU elections from using marketing firms not run by U of T students during their campaigns. UTSU President Mathias Memmel explained during the board meeting that candidates who violate this article will be penalized by up to 15 demerit points. He noted that the penalty is indicative of the seriousness of the violation. “If we’re going to be reimbursing people for professional services, I would much rather those be students,” said Memmel.
Memmel said that candidates hiring non-university-affiliated firms to run their marketing campaigns is an issue the board noticed during last year’s elections. The We the Students slate hired a student from Splash Effect, an external marketing firm, during last year’s UTSU executive and board elections. The slate did not reply to requests to clarify whether the student hired attended U of T. Memmel said that last year seemed to be an anomaly, but he added that the union wanted to address the concern before it becomes a legitimate issue, especially after learning that other university students’ unions have dealt with similar issues as well. The next UTSU Board of Directors meeting will take place on February 24.
a fascinating area to explore,” said Harry Jiang, Vice-President Communications of the Engineering Society (Skule). “Also, I hope this opens up more access to artistic resources by Engineering Students.” The program’s pilot year enrolment limits are based on audition outcomes that will be revealed by May 2018. An estimated cap is set for eight pianists, four string players, and two chamber groups. Students auditioning can choose between performing classical or jazz, as well as performing solo instrumental or in a chamber music setting. All prospective minor students are required to play at RCM Level 8 and must have background in theory and rudiments — Rudiments II or equivalent. When asked about these restrictions, the engineering Skule Music groups wrote in a joint response that “the performance minor is somewhat exclusive in its requirements and therefore may be inaccessible.” “We would like to see the minor offered to vocalists, instrumentalists in the jazz stream and other orchestra musicians as the program grows,” the groups wrote. They recommended expanding the minor to give “students opportunity to learn an instrument or partake in the faculty of music ensembles.” McClelland, who is also Associate Dean Academic and Student Affairs at the Faculty of Music, said that the faculty has a growing interest in developing more program-based
collaborations in the future and that “having students from APSE in music courses will bring new perspectives and areas of knowledge into the classroom, enriching the experience of both students and faculty and opening up possibilities for future collaborations that might extend well beyond students’ time at U of T.” Second-year music major Ricci Ebron is happy about the new minor but worries about the student plan on balancing the workload. “It’s a good opportunity for engineers to explore different areas, however I believe engineers are already super busy with their heavy schedules and would suffer from having to balance time,” said Ebron. “Music is not just having fun and playing music all day. Underneath all that is a lot of intensive theoretical and historical studies.” Furthermore, she is concerned about the stress it will place on the Faculty of Music’s resources, saying that “if they’re integrated into the program that would mean they would have to be included into our ensembles, which are already overpopulated, as well as use our practice spaces which are already extremely limited.” Associated costs for this minor will be covered by the U of T Interdivisional Teaching framework, through which the Faculty of Music will receive a “per student” compensation for each engineering student enrolled in its courses.
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Employment Equity Report presents intersectional analysis of U of T’s workforce Strong disabled representation, low Indigenous presence, says admin Aidan Currie Deputy News Editor
U of T has presented its 2016–2017 Employment Equity Report, which details university personnel’s statistics of self-declared sexual orientation, gender identity, racial identity, and disabilities. The data, taken from a workforce analysis survey between July 2016 and August 2017, was presented to the Governing Council Business Board on January 29. The survey saw a 70 per cent response rate among university personnel, which encompasses all positions, from senior administration to professors to service workers. Respondents were able to choose a variety of identifiers, and results were presented in an intersectional manner. For example, 47 per
cent of faculty and librarians self-identify as women; 17 per cent of this group self-identify as a racialized person or person of colour. “For us, I think it was really important because in doing that survey and having a survey that has all those details in it, it gives us a much better and detailed understanding of our workforce,” said U of T Vice-President Human Resources and Equity Kelly Hannah-Moffat. “It also helps us identify gaps in candidate pools and areas where we could do a better job and improve our representation, which in turn helps with strategic recruitment and a number of other things.” One of the strengths of the report, according to Hannah-Moffat, was the representation of persons with disabilities among faculty and staff. Eight per cent of respondents self-identified as having a visible or in-
UTSU struggles to fill positions on Appellate Board President cites lack of student interest despite four months of online advertising Ann Marie Elpa Varsity Contributor
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Appellate Board has struggled to recruit members, though job listings for board positions have been posted on the union’s website as early as October 2017. The quasi-judicial board is in charge of hearing appeals about elections, grievances against the UTSU, and executive reviews. Created in 2016, the board’s mandate is to ensure a fair, unbiased elections process. UTSU President Mathias Memmel emphasized the importance of having an appellate board, describing it as “the supreme court” of the UTSU. “We created the Appellate Board because we recognized that there was a need for a genuinely arm’s-length adjudicator, especially in the context of elections,” said Memmel. “Despite aggressive advertising, we struggle to find students — especially law students — to sit on the Appellate Board.” “If we want the Appellate Board to work, we need to develop a culture of mature, process-based decision-making,” he continued. “At the moment, most students aren’t interested in wading into UTSU politics.” He also noted that other university students’ unions, including the Students’
Society of McGill University and the Alma Mater Society at Queen’s University, follow a similar quasi-judicial model and have not had the same issues filling board positions. Under Bylaw 18 of the UTSU, the board is supposed to consist of four law students and three first-entry undergraduate students who have completed at least two years of study. An understanding of the UTSU’s procedures for grievances, knowledge of legal writing and the format of legal statutes in Canada, and prior experience on other quasi-judicial bodies are some of the assets required for potential applicants listed on the job’s page. Those who have held office in the UTSU are ineligible to apply. The UTSU Appellate Board was established after the abolition of the Elections and Referenda Appeals Committee in 2014, which Memmel described as being deemed “openly biased and implicated in deliberate electoral fraud.”
The Appellate Board handles appeals about elections, grievances against the UTSU, and executive reviews. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY
visible disability. Hannah-Moffat attributed the representation to a change in language regarding questions about disabilities. “Having new language around invisible disabilities as opposed to the previous language was just indicating whether or not you see yourself as having a disability,” said Hannah-Moffat. “It helps us to understand that a good portion of our population, who identify as having a disability, have an invisible disability, such as a learning disability or a mental health issue, and that’s something we didn’t know before and helps us understand our community better.” Another key aspect of the report was data concerning racialized persons or persons of colour and Indigenous people. One per cent of respondents identified as Indigenous, which Hannah-Moffat said the university
would like to improve upon and address in terms of strategic recruitment, highlighting the “very strong and highly skilled population of Indigenous people in Toronto.” “We need to reach out to the community more effectively and attract them to the positions we have available in a number of different areas,” said Hannah-Moffat. “We also feel that it’s very important that the University of Toronto is an institution that individuals feel that they have a place in which they can identify with and work if they’re from any other underrepresented category.” Appendix C of the report includes a representation analysis of the main categories of the survey: gender; racialized persons of colour; Indigenous or Aboriginal People of North America; persons with disabilities; and sexual orientation.
“The Police Man’s Burden”: U of T hosts talk on American police violence How police understand, justify gun use discussed at Centre for Ethics
The event featured Jennifer Carlson, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona.
ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY
Lidia Likhodi Varsity Contributor
U of T’s Centre for Ethics hosted a talk about how American police understand and justify the use of force, leading to discussions about how similar trends might arise in Canada. The event, which took place on February 5, was titled The Police Man’s Burden: Emotional Labor, Masculinity, and the Ethics of Force. The talk was based on the research of featured speaker Jennifer Carlson, who is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Government & Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Carlson spoke about increased gun carry among both civilian and off-duty police in the United States. She said that her studies point to a shared justification for gun carry as a form of masculine care work, with men caring for the community by filling the role of protector. She argued that the rise in civilian gun carry represents a devolution of the police monopoly on force. In her interviews with police officers, she found that they borrow from civilian gun carriers’ sense of obligation and masculine care work in that they feel obligated to carry and use guns to protect their loved ones. In a climate of mass shootings, post-9/11 concerns about terrorism, and hostility toward law enforcement, police feel they must be prepared for violence “anytime, anywhere” and embrace their role as off-duty gun carriers, said Carlson. Given that 16 million people currently have a license to carry a gun in the United States,
Carlson described the increasing possession of licenses for concealed gun carry in the United States as an “assertion of relevance.” She pointed to the declining manufacturing industry putting men out of work, arguing that as men can no longer act as providers, they are embracing the idea of becoming protectors. Beyond simple self-protection, gun ownership and lethal force have been “reframed as a civic duty,” argued Carlson. Gun owners see themselves in a “supplemental kind of relationship” with police. Despite differences in gun laws and culture between the United States and Canada, Carlson said that the neighbouring countries may not be as different as they might seem. Though Carlson noted that both countries have similar problems with racial profiling, when it comes to how police chiefs in the US talk about guns, she had “a really hard time imagining police chiefs in Canada saying similar things.” However, that is not to say that gun culture will stay the way it is in Canada, according to Carlson. Alt-right groups in Canada could have similar relationships with police, she said, which presents worrying implications for due process and civil rights. “I would ask the question of what is their relationship to the police and those organizations, as informal as they may be,” said Carlson. “The work that is out there really suggests the ways in which rights, due process, all sorts of things are circumvented by these interesting informal collusions between armed civilians and police.”
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Notice to Members: UTSU Spring 2018 Elections UTSU is your Students’ Union and your voice on campus. UTSU is governed by a Board of Directors elected by YOU. Our aim is to provide services and events that save you money, enrich your university experience, and to advocate for issues that are important to you. The University of Toronto Students’ Union is holding its Spring 2018 elections for the following positions: POSITIONS AVAILABLE
SEATS
EXECUTIVE: Â’
President
1
Â’
Vice-President, Internal and Services
1
Â’
Vice-President, University Affairs
1
Â’
Vice-President, External
1
Â’
Vice-President Equity
1
Â’
Vice-President, Campus Life
1
Â’
Vice-President, Professional Faculties
1
DIVISION I DIRECTORS: Â’
Innis College
1
Â’
Woodsworth College
3
Â’
The University of Trinity College
1
Â’
University College
3
Â’
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
2
Â’
St. Michael’s College
3
DIVISION II DIRECTORS: Â’
Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering
3
Â’
Faculty of Dentistry
1
Â’
Faculty of Nursing
1
Â’
Toronto School of Theology
1
ACADEMIC DIRECTORS: Â’
Computer Science
1
Â’
Humanities
1
Â’
Life Sciences
1
Â’
Mathematical and Physical Sciences
1
Â’
Rotman Commerce
1
Â’
Social Sciences
1
Two (2) Professional Faculty Directors at-large from any two (2) of the following Professional Faculties:
ELECTION DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Nomination Period: Monday, March 5th, 09:00 am to Friday, March 16th, 05:00 pm Silent Period: Friday, March 16th, 05:00 pm to Monday, March 19th, 09:00 am All Candidates Meeting: Sunday, March 18th, 01:00pm at Galbraith Building (35 St. George St.) Room 119. CAMPAIGN PERIOD: In-person campaigning: Monday, March 19th, 09:00 am to Monday, March 25th, 06:00 pm Online campaigning: Monday, March 19th, 09:00 am to Thursday, March 28th, 06:00pm Voting Period: Monday, March 26th, 12:00 am (midnight) to Wednesday, March 28th, 06:00 pm *Note: Vote online at utsu.simplyvoting.com. Online voting opens March 26th at midnight and will be open until the voting period ends. To run for a position, please collect a nomination package during the nomination period from the UTSU office, 12 Hart House Circle. Please keep in mind the dates and deadlines listed above.
Please note that the following Colleges/Faculties will be holding their own internal elections for their constituencies’ Director seats: ’
New College Student Council
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Architecture and Visual Studies Students’ Union
1
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Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
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Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association
1
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Faculty of Dentistry
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Faculty of Medicine
Kinesiology and Physical Education Undergraduate Association
1
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Faculty of Music
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Medical Society
1
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Faculty of Nursing
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Students’ Law Society
1
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Leslie L. Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
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Undergraduate Pharmacy Society
1
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Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education
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Faculty of Law
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Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
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Toronto School of Theology
Contact the CRO at cro@utsu.ca/ 416.978.4911 ext 241 for questions about voting. Learn more online by visiting our website at www.utsu.ca/elections.
Comment
February 12, 2018 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca
Alone on February 14? Try ‘Valentine’s Slay’ The benefits of embracing singledom on the most romantic holiday of the year
Sophie Borwein Public Editor
Covering Jordan Peterson When is he newsworthy?
GHEYANA PURBODININGRAT/THE VARSITY
Jenisse Minott Associate Comment Editor
With Valentine’s Day upon us once again, U of T students are beset by an intense urge to enjoy a nice, romantic evening filled with red wine, white chocolate, and pink heart emojis. In reality, this isn’t always an option. Many of us find ourselves single by the time February rolls around and must spend the day of love alone. Valentine’s Day is an emotionally exhausting holiday. It’s common for people in relationships on V-Day to expect bitterness from single people or to look at them with pity — even if they enjoy being single. This can cause singles to wonder whether there might be something wrong with them. Cupid is a pretty popular guy — most of society eats up all of his propaganda. Google searches show countless magazines, newspapers, and blogs running stories on “gifts for him” or “gifts for her” or “gifts for 2018.” This love-crazy and deeply consumerist holiday ostracizes those who are single and makes us second-guess our own lives simply because it’s so normalized in our culture to prioritize romantic gratification over other ideals. We can challenge this climate together — and if we really examine the circumstances of being single on Valentine’s Day, we might realize that the situation can actually be preferable to the alternative. First and foremost, it’s cheaper to be
single. With Christmas and Valentine’s Day only a month and a half apart — not to mention the countless birthdays that might pass in between — these holidays always manage to hit us where it hurts: our wallets. Last year, I had friends ask to borrow money to buy Christmas gifts for their beaus, else complain that they needed to pick up extra shifts to cover holiday expenses. While Christmas spending feels more justifiable due to its selfless and family-focused nature, Valentine’s Day has no such excuse. Last year, Canadians spent an average of $58 on each gift, not including dinner or new outfits. This year, CNBC reports that over half of American consumers are expected to spend $143.56 each on Valentine’s shenanigans. Singles on Valentine’s Day, however, get to save every dime they can. Those without significant others can also use this time to do special things for themselves. You can be almost certain that parties and friends won’t distract you on Valentine’s Day, with the majority of people too preoccupied with dating or moping about not dating. At Bustle, they suggest everything from “Galentine’s Day” to shopping to trying out new recipes. As university students caught between social prospects and academic performance, we should relish the opportunity to be free of both sets of constraints. In this way, we can use Valentine’s Day as a period of self-actualization. Finally, choosing to enjoy a Valentine’s
Day on your own is empowering. A relationship is so much more satisfying when you don’t need it to validate your existence, or when the fear of being lonely does not motivate your attachment. Really consider what a big statement it is to just enjoy your Valentine’s Day instead of dreading it. We have no one to answer to when it comes to our singlehood. Our lives are fully our own, and we can take pride in spending the day by ourselves, because there is absolutely no shame in that. If we choose to accept our realities without excuses or explanations, we can forgive ourselves for not being where we thought we’d be or where society tells us we should be, and we can teach others to treat us with that respect and compassion as well. The most important thing to remember about Valentine’s Day is that it’s optional. You can choose to spend it in whatever way best fits you and your current situation. Though it may feel disappointing to not have a significant other, there are so many significant people in our lives that prevent us from ever being truly alone. So enjoy your half-priced chocolate on February 15 and support your completely deserved, self-centred ‘Valentine’s Slay.’ Jenisse Minott is a third-year student at UTM studying Communications, Culture, Information, and Technology and Professional Writing. She is The Varsity's Associate Comment Editor.
Last week, The Varsity published a story covering the online threats a British journalist received after interviewing controversial University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson. Commenting on the story, a reader asked: how is this newsworthy to the University of Toronto? It’s not the first time The Varsity has been asked this question. As U of T’s student newspaper, The Varsity exists to keep readers informed of campus affairs, so you can argue that the story of the British journalist is newsworthy because Peterson is a U of T professor of continued interest to The Varsity’s readership. But is this really enough? Does Peterson’s position as a professor at the university make all of the controversy that surrounds him noteworthy to campus life? Though no one else is currently as controversial on campus as Peterson, other highprofile professors get covered with much less frequency by The Varsity. With the story only tangentially related to campus affairs, what do The Varsity’s readers get from another story on Jordan Peterson? As a newspaper, The Varsity’s fundamental purpose is to further inform or empower its public. How does this story do that? There is little new information in the story. It’s not the first time a critic of Peterson has been met with online threats from his followers. One reason I’m told The Varsity published the story is that Peterson provided them with comment for the first time in almost a year. The story quotes Peterson as saying, “Criticism and threats are not the same thing, and as far as I know there has been no police involvement.” But is this really enough? The story The Varsity published is of a British journalist receiving threats for interviewing Peterson, not of Peterson commenting to the newspaper for the first time in over a year. Comment from Peterson does not make the story of threats directed at a British journalist for interviewing him more immediately relevant to campus life. The real reason that Peterson continues to receive so much coverage is that readers continue to read it. My concern is that The Varsity has only so many resources at its disposal to cover the news. At some point, covering Peterson comes at the expense of covering other issues and events on campus. Are we comfortable with this trade-off?
8 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT
comment@thevarsity.ca
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
The state of the Scarborough student union UTSC students share their views on the SCSU in light of a rocky election cycle The 2018 elections of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) were mired in controversy. With the unofficial results now in, we reached out to UTSC students who wanted to share their opinions on everything that's happened.
Confusion surrounding SCSU-related controversies leaves students at a loss Coming to university, one of the things that fascinated me was the concept of a student council that had the ability to make a real difference. To the untrained freshman eye, the SCSU was ‘by students, for students’ and had the platform to influence decision-makers and advocate for my rights.
While these thoughts are valid in theory, recent events demonstrate this platform is not realistic in practice. Watching the controversy with this year’s SCSU elections unfold, the first thing that struck me was how unprofessional the whole situation is. Allegations of misconduct in this year’s elections were first brought to attention on social media; they contained some very serious claims but no real detail as to what truly happened. To this day, most of us who don’t have the privilege of working in the SCSU office are still left in the dark with a frustrating pile of ambiguous statements. After observing the protest at the all-candidates’ meeting and viewing the response from the official SCSU page, I have been forced to question how much of the battle is really for justice and how much is for personal gain. Do these people really care about me, or is the goal
just to obtain another nice mark on an already impressive resumé? While I do respect the amount of work and passion our current executive board displays daily, I can’t help but lose some respect for the union as a whole. As a campus that is not taken as seriously as it should be, we cannot present this kind of divided front. It is very easy for the powers that be to disregard student unions as childish, and I am afraid that this behaviour affirms those patronizing thoughts. Deborah Ocholi is a third-year student at UTSC studying Neuroscience.
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 • 9
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SCSU elections still primarily a popularity contest Videos. Hashtags. Petitions. What began as two candidate disqualifications has mushroomed into a fierce backlash against the SCSU. However, this commotion is obscuring the fundamental causes of the student union’s downfall. The foundation of this scandal is the student body’s woeful ignorance of the SCSU’s management. Unless you are a motivated individual with political aspirations or a desire to pad your resumé, you are probably unaware of the SCSU’s principles. What are the election rules? How is the budget determined? What values guide decision-making? This obliviousness stems from apathy on the union’s part in making its values widely accessible. To the layperson, the SCSU is a shadowy organization that can only be understood by those already inducted into its hierarchy. Lack of transparency facilitates the perception of corruption. Furthermore, trust in the electoral process is eroded by focus on candidate popularity at the cost of policy. Walking through campus during election season guarantees being bombarded by brightly coloured posters or students canvassing votes. Slates are banking on the familiarity of their candidates’ faces as the path to triumph. And unfortunately, their methods seem to be working. While most students can identify candidates by face, they might find it harder to discuss any of their policies, and candidates rely heavily on this. It falls on the SCSU to organize debates or town halls, where students can determine the feasibility of a candidate’s policies and decide who represents their interests. Yes, a candidate forum was held, but it was poorly advertised and even more poorly attended. Right now, friends vote for friends. Meanwhile, a glance at the candidates’ proposals reveal wildly unrealistic suggestions, most of which are unlikely to be implemented. One wonders from what bottomless pockets would funding for bubble tea and a permanent ice rink be procured. To the SCSU: don’t underestimate your student body’s intelligence. Give them the opportunity to engage in democracy. Until the electoral process is reformed, the SCSU will continue to be perceived as a nepotistic organization that does not embody the voices of the students it represents. Maria Raveendran is a third-year student at UTSC studying Human Biology and Psychology.
Being a candidate means following the rules I was an executive of the SCSU for two years, and during that time I saw the advantages and resources an incumbent has at their disposal. Using office space to plan for the election and recruit other candidates, using the station of their power to sway the election by wearing SCSU paraphernalia during campaigning, and intentionally misleading the student population regarding the Elections Procedures Code (EPC) are just a few examples of how the EPC was violated this year by incumbent executive Deena Hassan. Hassan was disqualified from the election twice this year. The demerit point system exists to ensure no candidate is able to win the election through unfair advantages like the ones I outlined above. Inherently, incumbents have an immense advantage in rerunning — let’s not hand them the election by letting them violate the rules unpunished. Ignorance of bylaws and policies is no excuse. As a part of the board of directors, it is the duty of executives to not only understand but to also execute all bylaws and policies of the union. In turn, it is the duty of the board, its committee, and the general student body to ensure that we hold the executives accountable. Do your due diligence and fact-check the campaign statements made by the candidates who were elected. Don’t just listen to the
people who had a stake in the result. Yasmin Rajabi is a fourth-year student at UTSC studying Public Policy & City Studies. She served as the SCSU’s Vice-President Operations in 2016–2017 and the SCSU’s Vice-President External in 2015– 2016.
Limiting electionrelated conversation is a limit on free speech The controversial events leading up to the SCSU elections this year have slowly come to light and have left many, including me, horrified at how deep the SCSU’s dishonesty runs. This year, one slate in particular, Rise Up UTSC, came under fire in the SCSU’s unjustified war for maintaining control over the council’s elected representatives. I feel the members of Rise Up UTSC have a lot to offer in terms of concrete change, especially compared to the other slate. While Rise Up UTSC recommended the expansion of the existing Food Centre and academic workshops to equip students with employable skills, president-elect Nicole Brayiannis of the UTSC Voice slate spent too much of her time promoting opening a bubble tea place, even though a food place on campus already sells it. However, over the course of the week after the protest, Rise Up UTSC members warned supporters to keep their language neutral while voicing their opinions for fear of receiving demerit points. They were required to draft a cookie-cutter promotional message and have it pre-approved by the CRO before disseminating it to their supporters. Even more troubling is that a recent ruling by the CRO resulted in students who were not connected to any of the candidates being limited in how they could express their opinions about the slate. Anyone who was outspoken about their support for Rise Up UTSC was a potential target for this restriction. I was personally asked by a member of Rise Up UTSC to amend my own opinions, which were posted as a Facebook status update, for fear of having the slate receive demerit points, even though they didn’t explicitly target any other group. And even with disclaimers that the opinions being expressed were not in any way encouraged by the candidates of Rise Up UTSC, the candidates on the slate were still penalized with demerit points for these posts. We’re just beginning to find out the ways in which students’ free speech can be stifled at Scarborough, and it’s all the more ironic coming from a union allegedly committed to social justice and equity. Can the SCSU reconcile with this injustice? I’m not certain. What I do know is that I don’t pay the SCSU roughly $40 per semester for bubble tea. Shiza Shaikh is a third-year student at UTSC studying Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
Transparency and accessibility were in low supply this election period From controversial allegations to poorly constructed statements, conflicts and miscommunication are not atypical of the SCSU elections process. While student politics are often manipulated to some degree, the lack of oversight, transparency, and the complete disregard for process this year is ridiculous. It’s hardly inconceivable that slates are planned by outgoing teams. Why is it that we so often have repeat executives while other candidates are quickly voted down, have spoiled ballots, or are disqualified? Aside from that, let’s talk about the fact that the Elections Candidate Forum was designated with a “TBA” for the date and time on all posters, and then the Facebook event was created the evening before the event was actually scheduled — and cross-promoted on the same day as another large-scale event. If more
time to advertise had been needed, there was ample opportunity to shift the dates, especially given the current controversy and the hiring of the new CRO. You would think that a student union would take pride in being able to share democracy with its members. Instead, it is common to find UTSC generally unaware of the details of the elections — or apathetic, as some would have us believe. Events such as the Elections Candidate Forum, whose purpose is to promote accountability and transparency in the elections process, often wind up doing the opposite. I have yet to see an adequately advertised SCSU election period or Annual General Meeting (AGM) in over four years of being a student at UTSC. A motion about adequate elections advertising was passed at this year’s AGM, but it was not enough to prompt the SCSU to reconsider how it carries out its promotions. While it is nice to see the campus on the alert during the aftermath of the SCSU elections controversies this year, it’s more about timing than anything. It’s a shame that more students aren’t aware of what has been going on, but it's more of a shame that the SCSU doesn’t seem to care either. Katie Konstantopoulos is a sixth-year student at UTSC studying Sociology.
Scandals at other student unions reveal the importance of solving SCSU problems now The controversies surrounding the SCSU are concerning, and given the even more serious scandals at other student unions in Canada, we should take care that they don't escalate further. Before coming to UTSC, I studied for two years at the University of Ottawa. The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), on a yearly basis, manages to make headlines for its clownery and corruption. The SFUO mismanaged its way to bankruptcy, all before increasing executive pay by 18 per cent. Allegations of unfair disqualifications may be new to the SCSU, but they are commonplace at uOttawa. Reform-minded candidates are routinely pushed out, especially when the power of incumbent slates is threatened. In 2011, a winning Board of Administration member was disqualified after the election, and the SFUO appointed the second place finisher to take his place. In 2015, the President of the SFUO, who won on a reform platform, resigned. To the surprise of no one, the candidate was replaced by the VP Communications, who belonged to the previous year’s incumbent slate. Another student union where mismanagement has been prevalent is the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU). Recent allegations made by executives describing a “boys club” environment and unpleasant working conditions have led one executive to resign outright. The VP Operations has also criticized the working environment, saying he and other executives were not consulted on important campaigns and initiatives. While the SCSU does not compare to the SFUO or the RSU, the recent occurrences do represent a troubling trend. When student politics becomes an industry, and when there is little to no turnover in executive elections, the quality of representation decreases, while scandal and incompetence increase. Examples from uOttawa and Ryerson should present a warning to UTSC students and student leaders. Low levels of turnover and incompetence in both executive and staff members have serious consequences that must be mitigated before they reach the levels of other schools. Andre Roy is a third-year student at UTSC studying City Studies.
Demystifying the student From Instagram to TIFF, internship insight and advice from students who’ve been through it all ILLUSTRATIONS BY IRIS DENG
Summer is supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation, but this idea completely evaporates when you get an unpaid internship. Some industries pay their interns, but in many fields, the number of unpaid internships is still significantly higher than those that pay. I spent the summer between my first and second year interning for free at the radio station Indie88 as a Digital Media Intern. The first week was amazing. I was invited to help with an interview shoot, and I was stoked to meet people and discuss whatever music news had come in each morning. By around week three, I was finishing up my primary task of writing briefs of old pop culture news in 300-word segments. I hoped that my efficiency would shine and that I would get invited to try new things and learn more skills. Unfortunately, the majority of my afternoons were filled with linking YouTube videos to the website and doing general online maintenance. At end of the summer, I was rewarded with two feature pieces for my portfolio and a pair of concert tickets. I didn’t learn many new skills, but I met interesting people and was able to fully immerse myself in Toronto’s music scene. What I gained most from my experience was the ability to see this industry without the rose-coloured glasses — I understood it for what it was, unpaid and all. My advice for those pursuing internships would be to apply to those for which you feel underqualified. Prior to my internship, I didn’t consider myself a music journalist by profession, only by hobby. However, my experience was valid and my passion evident. This carried over in my interview for the position. I would also stress the importance of evaluating your mental health when taking on responsibilities such as unpaid internships. That summer was amazing, but it also meant I was working paid nights to cover my unpaid days. This sleep deprivation stayed with me long after my internship and, in my opinion, affected a large part of my second year. If you have the means to do unpaid internships, I recommend gaining the experience. If you don’t, keep pursuing your dreams in other ways, such as through extracurriculars or less time-consuming volunteering. Experience is valuable, but it doesn’t necessarily have to come through an internship. — Chantel Ouellet
A music-filled summer, unpaid
Overqualified at TIFF During the summer months of 2017, I worked at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as their Editorial Intern. It was a two-month contract to support their creative team with the publication of festival materials — particularly with the program guide, which compiled images, bios, and descriptions of what would be 300 or so films for that year. I also generated pitch material for press conferences — including those of Call Me By Your Name and Meditation Park — and TIFF’s member magazine, 180°. A friend sent me a link to the job in late May after I finished the Jackman Humanities Institute Scholar-in-Residence program, and having nothing else to do that summer, I decided to apply. Much of getting a job is dependent on luck — and I was lucky. I was interviewed briefly over the phone by the individual who would later be my supervisor a few weeks following my application. Then I was called in-house to speak with some of TIFF’s editorial staff. A perfunctory chat ensued: have you been to the festival before? What are your favourite films? Can you tell us about an experience that challenged you? Things like that. I was overqualified for the position, true, but it wasn’t so much the qualifications that mattered. Qualifications were what got you the phone call. It was about how I could mesh with what was already a tight-knit team. Interviews are about interest. The cliché maxim of ‘be yourself’ is a cliché for a reason, because that’s all you need to do: be yourself. The interview ended with a small test. Nothing strenuous, just some writing. I started promptly in June. Two months passed and before I knew it, my contract was up. TIFF was my first real job, my first adult place of employment, where I worked a nine-to-five schedule and wore clothes that could be broadly identified as ‘smart casual,’ though no one really cared how you looked. I am grateful to have had such a formative experience with the company, really. If I could say anything about what I learned, I’d say: smile, walk with your head high, wear comfortable footwear, and leave your feelings at the door. Also, breathe. It’s scary, and suddenly you feel like you’ve aged 30 years. But your first real job is something you’ll remember forever, good or bad. — Jonathan Dick
As a young lad about to finish his tenure at U of T, one of the highlights of my time here was my summer research excursion to Germany. Among the biggest benefits of going to a large and renowned university are the opportunities it offers that allow you to go beyond the classroom to learn not just about your field of study but the world at large. Spending three months in a chemistry research lab in Mainz was fantastic — it expanded my view of the international academic world and gave me the chance to travel and explore central Europe on a student budget. My weekdays were filled with exciting work, synthesizing catalytic nanoparticles and utilizing a slew of analytical techniques to characterize them. Working alongside a friendly and knowledgeable supervisor, it hardly felt like work and involved many challenging yet intriguing problems. On the weekends, thanks to interconnected train systems, I could travel to nearby cities like Brussels, Berlin, Zurich, and Amsterdam. I met folks of all shapes, sizes, and quirks — especially in youth hostels and Airbnbs. I still keep in touch with many of the people I met. Emboldened by the foreign environment, I visited bizarre exhibits, enjoyed local beers, and even spent a day climbing a mountain. Time away from the stress of U of T really helped me refocus when I begrudgingly returned at the end of the summer. Because of two of the largest barriers most people face — namely, time and money — I never thought I’d be able to go on a trip like this. I’m extremely grateful to have had financial support from U of T’s Centre for International Experience and the University of Mainz, as I could not have covered the cost of the trip without finding scholarships and grants. If there’s anything you should learn from my experience, it’s that it never hurts to send a few emails and to explore opportunities, because as long as you are a tuition-paying student, you have tons of resources here that can help make even the most improbable of trips become a reality. — Nareg Kara-Yacoubian
Working abroad in a science lab
t summer internship
Pre-law opportunities on Bay Street Last winter, like this winter, I scoured the internet for summer employment opportunities to the point of losing count of the number of jobs I had applied to. One of the applications was for the Diversity & Inclusion/Indigenous Pre-Law Internship Program at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) in partnership with TD Legal. A few weeks after I submitted my resumé and cover letter through U of T’s Career Learning Network, I was emailed with the prospect of a phone interview. I attended an in-person interview with representatives from both companies and landed the job as one of two students for the summer. I accepted the offer of employment, despite the internship only lasting two months. As a major corporate law firm on Bay Street, the company offered pretty good wages — and I needed to pay rent. Of course, the experiences I had during the internship were rewarding as well. I was afforded many of the opportunities that summer law students received and attended events with them, including the Women’s Law Association of Ontario Awards Gala, legal seminars and workshops, and company social events. Most of my work involved diversity and equity issues within the practice of law, and I worked on initiatives of such kind. I also conducted comparative analyses of company policy and practice of recruitment, retention, and workplace culture for underrepresented folks who identify as women, Indigenous, Black, racialized, LGBTQ+, and disabled. The internship not only allowed to me to internally see the starkness of the diversity problem in the corporate law sector, but it also underscored how diversity is increasingly being commodified for corporate profit. I ended my summer grateful for the opportunity but aware of the importance of being mindful to address these issues meaningfully as I set out to begin on my own path toward a legal education. I would highly encourage undergraduate students considering law school to apply for this annual opportunity, even if you don’t want to enter the corporate sector, as it gives you a concrete everyday look at what the life of law students entails. The internship was a unique opportunity, and Blakes puts in effort to better the experience every year.
I’m a fourth-year Book & Media Studies major with a double minor in Women & Gender Studies and English, and I plan to graduate this June. I worked as Instagram’s first Business Intern in Silicon Valley for two summers in 2015 and 2016, and then I was an Editorial Intern at VICE Canada here in Toronto last summer. For me, gaining work experience throughout undergrad was, as with most things, all about being totally unprepared. If you decided that you wanted to be a doctor or lawyer at 10 years old, then good for you and please take care of me later. For everyone else, when you don’t know where your career path will take you, and you lack experience, money, clout, and business-casual attire, your dream job doesn’t really exist. Going into university, my dream ‘job’ was talking to people about Saturday Night Live and eating snacks in exchange for money. I didn’t know that I would be working in television after graduation, and I certainly didn’t have any experience working in tech or journalism. I only knew that I was interested in certain aspects of comedy, the media industry, social activism by and for young people, and that I had a knack for building communities and writing on the internet. When you don’t know what you want, which is fine, the search for experience and money then becomes about making informed guesses and learning from them. Without really understanding the scope of my role, I decided that uncertainty and wanting to live in California were good enough reasons to apply for an internship at Instagram. Working there for two years as a consultant and event organizer for teen communities who use the app urged me to focus on my own creative work and to understand more about the Canadian industry. At VICE Canada, I wrote for online editorial and videos and loved my team. The position also helped me realize that I prefer writing fiction to journalism. Don’t worry so much about what will look good or bad on your resumé, it won’t help you know yourself better. Throughout the past few summers, I was surprised by how much the roles themselves were backgrounded by the value of gaining real-life experience. Meeting people who knew a lot more than I do about my interests and figuring out the aspects of full-time, media-centric jobs that I do and definitely do not enjoy were indispensable in helping me discover what is now a professional and creative identity that I’m really proud of. Search for opportunities within or closest to the realms of your interests and skills, take guesses at what you might like to try doing, and be fine with feeling unprepared — more than once. — Celeste Jolie-Pitt
To Silicon Valley and back
Advice for government internships I currently work as a councilor’s aide intern at the City of Toronto as part of the Muslim Youth Fellowship Program. I applied because I had the necessary experience and wanted to learn more about the municipal political process. After submitting my application, there was a long wait. I waited over a month to hear back, and sometimes it takes even longer, so be patient. The hardest part in any job application process is always the interview. When you’re being interviewed, remember that you must prove to your interviewer that you are the best person for the job, so sell yourself. At the same time, be yourself, crack a joke, and most importantly, relax. It’s simple enough. I love working at City Hall. I perform a multitude of tasks, from planning events to writing motions to doing administrative work. The Muslim Youth Fellowship has an exceptional leadership program, which helped me develop the soft skills that I need to become an effective leader. Before applying to any job, you should look over the job description and see if you have the necessary skills. Needless to say, don’t apply to something for which you don’t have the qualifications. I have heard horror stories from employers where they had hired a student and soon figured out the student had lied about their skills. If you don’t have the skills for your dream internship, apply to another one where you can learn those skills, and try the dream job the following year. It is also good practice to tweak your resumé accordingly — if there is a skill that you have not highlighted in your resumé and the employers are asking for it, put it in. Another important note is to always make sure your resumé is simple and easy to read. Yes, having cool graphics is nice, but the most important thing is what’s written. Make sure what you have written is actually important, talk about what you did at the job but also talk about your accomplishments. Employers want to know that you excelled at your job.
— Priyanka Sharma — Haseeb Hassaan
Arts
Culture
February 12, 2018 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca
Overlooked: Valentine's Day Edition These love stories should have been endgame, and we're still not over it
Deok Sun, the fumbling heroine. The writers make us root for him time and time again, showing us just how much Jung Hwan loves Deok Sun before lifting the carpet from under us and having her end up with the sweet Go player from next door. At least the actors ended up dating in real life. — Laura Seijas Figueredo The love story of Vice-President Selina Meyer and her ‘bagman’ Gary Walsh takes place mostly in her office and inside the fictional American bureaucracy of Veep. Gary adores his megalomaniac boss, Selina, and his love for her knows no bounds; he constantly subjects himself to humiliation and ridicule for her. Yet for all the thankless sacrifices, there are moments where Selina is shown to truly love Gary — though in these moments, it’s also painfully clear that the two only have each other. Their love story is unglamorous and often excruciating to watch. However, it is this truthful depiction of love, hilarious complications and all, that makes the duo the most enjoyable to watch on television. — Hannah Turcotte Despite being endgame in the Harry Potter books, Harry and Ginny are often underrated due to the films’ abysmal portrayal of both Ginny and their relationship. The books show a passionate, compatible pair. Ginny’s Quidditch skills rival Harry’s, and she is constantly making him laugh. When Harry gets upset, Ginny never cowers like Hermione, but she stands strong and talks sense into him. Harry calls her his best source of comfort and longs for her every night they’re apart. Their love is fearless, with an epic first kiss in the middle of a crowded common room. No one else matched Harry’s fire like Ginny. — Linh Nguyen
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
Varsity Contributors
In a special edition of Overlooked, our contributors weigh in on love stories that go unrecognized. These are your wishful OTPs, the will-they-or-won’t-theys that never materialized, and the platonic friendships that don’t always inspire epiclength fan fiction. She was looking for a mind at work. He was not throwing away his shot. Together, they would have been America’s first power couple, putting the likes of Brangelina and Kimye to shame. Alas, Alexander Hamilton and Angelica Schuyler were not meant to be. Instead, founding father and rap master Hamilton would marry Angelica’s too-good-for-this-world sister Elizabeth Schuyler, who really deserved better than — spoilers — a cheating husband with a penchant for rhymes. And let’s not forget Angelica’s fate: a lifetime spent across the Atlantic with a man who couldn’t match wits with someone at her level. They were doomed to never be satisfied, but at least it made for a good musical. — Josie Kao It’s not uncommon to scroll through Tumblr and find posts celebrating Eleanor and Tahani as the ultimate couple on NBC’s The Good Place. I, for one, am all for it — an Arizona dirtbag paired with a sexy giraffe? Sign me up! But people overlook
The Good Place’s OG pairing: Eleanor and Chidi. Are we forgetting about how Chidi is literally trying to save Eleanor from eternal damnation by teaching her about ethics and moral philosophy? You would think that a shrimp-obsessed boner pill salesperson and a tortured academic who gets stomach aches from making decisions would be horrible for each other, but they are forking goals! Even when a demon tries to come between them over 802 times, they always find each other. I am #Cheleanor for life, and anyone who says otherwise can go to the Bad Place. — Ilya Bañares One of the most overlooked parts of love is platonic love, which is why I wanted to highlight the friendship between Troy Barnes and Abed Nadir from Community. The two started off on a rough note in the pilot, but by the second episode their chemistry became unmatched, demonstrated by the duo’s impeccable timing in their notorious Spanish rap, “Donde Esta la Biblioteca?” Later in the series, the two host a fake morning show together, share a sacred handshake, and embark on adventures dressed as characters from their favourite in-universe show, Inspector Spacetime. Friendships between two male characters are often seen on TV, but the closeness and warmth of Troy and Abed’s relationship are not. The show doesn’t feel the
need to declare their friendship is strictly platonic, opening a space for man-to-man relationships to be comfortably close without being dubbed effeminate. — Winnie Wang “I did fall in love with Katara. And I’ll probably always love her.” This is an actual quote from Dante Basco, who voiced Prince Zuko on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It speaks volumes that even Zuko’s official voice actor shipped his character with Katara — just as much as the fandom did. Objectively, the pairing was poetic: she was a waterbender, he controlled fire. She rejected everything he stood for, he did all he could to change and be better. She burned with passion, he was drowning in ambition. Zuko and Katara were more than just a cute couple — they were Yin and Yang. Be it here or in the Spirit World, they should have been together. — Sarim Irfan In 2015, tvN released the third instalment of its Reply series, a Korean anthology drama with different seasons set in different years of the ’80s and ’90s. Much like How I Met Your Mother, Reply 1988 plays with the viewer’s expectation of who the main couple will be by shifting from the present to the ’80s in something of a wild goose chase. At the centre of it all is Kim Jung Hwan, a grump with a heart of gold who loves
EM Forster’s Maurice — written in 1914, published posthumously in 1971 and adapted to film in 1987 — is an intimate, frustratingly overlooked novel. Its writing reflects Forster’s own struggles with homosexuality against the oblique, confusing world of the British upper class. Falling in love with his best friend, the titular Maurice wanders through life unsure of how to act. Forster approaches this relatable experience with compassionate understanding, like an incessant current flowing beneath the rigidity of classism. When Maurice finally finds love, Forster recognizes how brave an act this is and writes it beautifully. Comporable to Carol and Call Me By Your Name, Forster’s kind, defiant approach to love and class differences makes Maurice an essential read. — Arjun Kaul
Overlooked is a recurring feature in the Arts & Culture section where writers make the case for pieces of culture that don’t get the attention they deserve. To contribute, email arts@thevarsity.ca.
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 • 13
var.st/arts
“Not into Asians” Reflecting on prejudice and the choice to be rejected or commodified Jonathan Dick Varsity Contributor
It rained three days out of seven in Punta Cana during the week of December 21, 2016. Light rain, just on and off, so it wasn’t really uncomfortable. But it was rain nonetheless, which meant I spent a lot of time inside or on the balcony under umbrellas, alone. Listening to music. Going on Grindr. I had re-downloaded the app before my family left for vacation, and I kept noticing a certain profile nearby. It was blank, of course. No photo, no nothing, just his height — 6’3” — and a brief bio that said “Russian Model.” He was probably lying, but I wanted to believe that he was telling the truth, because there weren’t many guys around. He seemed somewhat less sketchy than the rest. I decided to message him. “Hey, how’s it going?” Three minutes later, his response. “Not into Asians” I was huddled under a small archway by one of the resort’s pools, waiting for the rain to pass, when I got this text. Three short words, no period. Hastily typed, probably. Written without a second thought, definitely. In my head, I could almost picture him responding, sunglasses on, lying on the beach, the sun turning his skin darker against that blue sky. He was one kilometre away, and yet the distance felt much greater. I wondered for a while if I should say something. I wanted to be composed, wanted to compose, but the words didn’t come. There was a thin boundary between me and what needed to be said, a boundary I didn’t know how to cross — because I felt guilty. What should I have been more ashamed of? My skin colour or my reaction? In 2012, I would have told you the answer was my skin colour. I was living in Calgary at the time, and I had been there for two years, training at the School of Alberta Ballet. That was the year when I started to bleach my skin. I dissolved tomatoes in milk overnight, coating myself in the mixture and sleeping in it. I rubbed lemons on my face and body. I used a papaya-based whitening soap that I had bought online from the Philippines for $24 plus shipping. Every night, like clockwork, in the dimly lit bathroom of my Mt. Royal dorm. My roommates knew, of course. Naturally, they were worried. But I did it because I was hard-headed, because I was motivated. Motivated to look whiter. I had an agent for commercials and film, and whenever she’d send me on a call, the role in question had to be ‘open ethnicity.’ I was too chinky to audition for ‘white’ roles and too white to audition for ‘Asian’ roles. But I also performed these whitening rituals because I thought it would make people think I was prettier. So many of the celebrities I admired growing up were white, and so many of the celebrities that are popular now are white. My roommate was white too, and everyone thought he was pretty. Looking at him was like drinking a tall, cool glass of water. It was easy, in my mind, to associate whiteness with prettiness. I wanted people to look at me the way they looked at him.
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
At the end of June, I graduated and moved back to Ontario. I felt like shit the whole journey back, because I realized I had to stop. I couldn’t let my parents find out. It would break their hearts — my mom’s especially. She’d think I was ashamed of her, but I wasn’t ashamed. I wanted change, which was different. Or at least that’s what I told myself. So I stayed inside and avoided the sun. When I did go outside, it would only be after applying SPF 60. “To be safe,” I told people. Looking back, I realize how stupid it all was. Skin is skin. And perhaps I had known this even then. But I’d done it anyway, because I was anxious; I felt and still feel different. I think this is why the Grindr guy’s message bothered me so much. In three words, he had said aloud what so many people do, silently, when I send a ‘Hello,’ only to get no message in reply. ‘Not my type.’ But why? There is no one answer. Types are preferences: they are personal, and everyone has one. This is fact. Types can be based on physical impressions, looks and smells, though sometimes they have sentimental significance, like, ‘you listen fully and with your eyes, and I like the way that makes me feel.’ I know that this is what matters nowadays, though perhaps it has always mattered this much. How we date has evolved — we have apps for it now. When you swipe through Tinder or scroll through Grindr, you make an immediate choice to interact with someone based on how they appear to you. Do you like the colour of their eyes? Do you like the cut of their hair? And what’s less talked about, but just as prevalent: do you like the colour of their skin? I can’t speak for ethno-prejudicial trends in the heterosexual dating sphere. I can, however, speak with experience about the gay dating sphere, which is markedly Eurocentric. Gay men like white boys. There’s this essay by Michael Hobbes, “The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness,” which devotes a few paragraphs to this topic. Hobbes describes
the “trauma of the closet,” loosely defined as a malaise or feeling of shame that queer persons inherit and bring with them into adulthood, because difference and alienation go hand in hand. At one point, Hobbes speaks to a researcher of sexual trauma named William Elder, who, in 2015, alongside Susan Morrow and Gary Brooks, published a series of interviews in The Counseling Psychologist that detail sexual schemas common to homosexual men. The conclusions: 90 per cent of the surveyed participants said they were exclusively attracted to partners that were “straight-acting.” Eighty-five per cent said that they were primarily attracted to white men. Those interviewed also said that most gay men find similar features to be attractive, like being tall, muscular, and white. In short, for me and the multitudes of gay men who barely meet one of these criteria, let alone five, Grindr and the gay dating world reify our deepest insecurities and prime us to expect rejection. We are made to feel like we are not enough because we do not fit the type, just like the auditions to which my agent sent me: too short, too scrawny, too ethnic, and perhaps too gay. ‘You’re not what the role called for — we wanted someone more like him.’ In some cases, however, we experience the converse: fetishization. Just as harmful, but not as discussed. To fetishize is to view a person as the fulfilment of some wish. It is a process of consumption, of fucking the Other as a means of livening up the dull dish of mainstream white culture. There’s a dichotomy, then: ‘Not into Asians’ versus ‘Super into Asians,’ ‘Asians +++++,’ ‘Asians >.’ It’s better than rejection, I’ve been told. Perhaps. Yes, fetishization equates to attention, but only a very specific kind — attention as objectification. The last guy I went out with treated me like a fantasy. He was in costumes, incidentally, for film and television, and he called me cute all
the time. I thought it was endearing at first, until I realized I was cute to him because he thought I was submissive. His exes were submissive, he said, and they had been Asian too. ‘Well, that doesn’t mean I’m submissive, too,’ I thought. Yet what I said was, “That’s nice.” I gave a weak smile before seeing myself out. I thought that he was attracted to me for me, but in reality he was attracted to me as something that would fulfil his yellow-coloured fantasy. So we’re left with a choice: rejection or commodification. Neither sounds like love to me. It might seem like this lacks a point or has no answers, but the point is the writing itself — this is what I should have written one year ago on that rainy day in the Dominican. Not to explain desire but to elucidate some of its effects on me and other people like me. Three weeks ago, I went out for drinks with a new friend. I’d known him peripherally before we crossed the line, dividing online friends from flesh-and-blood friends. We were sitting in a small booth at the back of a bar in Ossington when I mentioned I was writing an article. He asked me what it was about, and I told him because I knew he would understand, and he did. He nodded and listened as if this was all old news. For a moment, in the half light, as I stared at him from across the table, I saw that he looked like someone I knew, someone like me. When I finished, he asked me, “What do you think we can do about it?” I took a moment before answering. “I think all we can do is write it down, start a conversation, and open up some minds,” I said. “Even one will suffice.” We both nodded. The response felt insufficient, like there had to be more lurking out of view, but we both knew there wasn’t anything else to say. To speak was within our power. For others to listen was out of our hands.
14 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE
arts@thevarsity.ca
A single’s guide to Valentine’s Day Let's be honest: it's just another Wednesday Yasaman Mohaddes Varsity Staff
A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine was complaining to me about her boyfriend — the apparent favourite pastime of all my friends in relationships. She said something that didn’t quite make sense to me: even though she wanted to break up with him, she wouldn’t do it until after Valentine’s Day, so that she could avoid being single on the most romantic day of the year. Here’s the thing. I don’t really understand what is so romantic about Valentine’s Day, and I especially don’t get why it must serve as the occasion for couples to write sappy Instagram captions about each other or go to crowded restaurants together to somehow prove to the world that they’re not alone, as though being alone on Valentine’s Day is something to be ashamed of. I’ve experienced Valentine’s Day both while in a relationship and while single, and I must say that I highly prefer the latter. There is no pressure to try to somehow capture the essence of your love for someone in one day or one gift. Let’s be real, February 14 is right in middle of the chaos that is midterm season. I’m barely able to
find time to sleep between writing five term papers and studying for midterms, let alone find the time to spend with a boyfriend and buy him a gift with the money I don’t have when what I really need to be doing is studying. I know you might be thinking that these are just the excuses of a girl who’s salty about being alone on Valentine’s Day. I can assure it you, it’s not that. I am in a longterm, committed relationship — it just happens to be with school. What’s great about this relationship, though it can be challenging, is that when it’s over, I won’t be left crying my sorrows away into a tub of ice cream while watching the ending of Call Me By Your Name. I will instead be a more intelligent and hopefully wiser person — can that really be said about a relationship you’re only in for cuffing season? I promise that I’m not just being bitter. But I will confess that I find it unsettling that there’s one day per year when couples are expected to make grand gestures of love, and single people are supposed to simply sulk at their single status. I don’t think of Valentine’s Day as a reminder that I’m ‘forever alone,’ as some might. Just because I happen to be single this February
At least our relationships with U of T won't end with crying and pints of ice cream. ZAHRA ZAHRAVI/THE VARSITY
14 doesn’t mean I feel more single than I would on any other day. I live for myself, and I am exploring all facets of who I am and what I want — and I think there is no better time to be single than when you’re in your 20s at university. There’s no other time in your life when the main expectation of you is that you learn — not only in your classes but also about your-
self. And what better way to do that than to spend some time alone? Alternative ways to spend Valentine’s Day that don’t involve watching The Notebook: 1. Study, because you probably should. What’s better than a quiet, romantic night at Robarts? I promise that your GPA will thank you for it. 2. Ask a single bestie to be your
Valentine and take corny couple pictures together. See how many strangers you can fool into thinking you’re dating. 3. Get excited for discount chocolate. My favourite part about Valentine’s Day has always been the day after Valentine’s Day. 4. Or do nothing. Because in all honesty, it’s just another Wednesday.
The best date spots on campus, according to r/uoft Does dating at U of T even exist?
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
Reut Cohen Arts & Culture Editor
Valentine’s Day is upon us, and out of concern for my fellow students, I wanted to share some valuable knowledge. I decided to turn to that paragon of expertise, the U of T subreddit, to see what other students were deeming as our campus’ most romantic venues. “Hoping you guys can tell me of some interesting date ideas and places to take a girl around campus,” posted one account about three months ago. They received
a number of suggestions, ranging from restaurants and bars to activities and romantic locations on campus itself. Some restaurants in the area mentioned by r/uoft included Thai Basil, Famoso’s, El Trompo, and Fresh. Activity-based venues were also suggested, like board game cafés such as Snakes & Lattes or Tilt, the arcade-themed bar on Brunswick Avenue. Users also mentioned that students have free admission to the Royal Ontario Museum on Tuesdays and to the Art Gallery of Ontario on Wednesdays
from 6:00–9:00 pm. Those willing to brave the cold might want to check out Philosopher’s Walk or U of T’s various quads, including those at University College, Trinity College, or Knox College. For those willing to travel a little further from campus, there were several areas mentioned as worthy of exploration on a date, like Kensington Market or the Distillery District. Other students had more cynical responses to this query. “There is no dating at U of T, there is only pain,” wrote one user. “There’s a pretty titillating 137 lecture with Alfonso three times a week,” wrote another, likely referring to Professor Alfonso GraciaSaz’s calculus lectures, which take place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from either 9:00– 10:00 or 10:00–11:00. Other users were more concerned about venues where they would be able to screen their potential dates. In response to a year-old query from one user, someone suggested Future Bistro. “I have started a ton of downtown dates at Futures; it is an excellent way to ‘make sure they aren’t a serial killer’ place.” When they posted on r/uoft eight months ago, one user hadn’t quite made it to the ‘in a relationship’ phase, stating that they were an
engineering student and had observed that there seemed to be more female students in arts programs. “Is the dating scene such that you go up to a girl and ask for their number and text for a bit, then go on a date?” they asked. “Is it more complicated and do you have to try harder when it comes to UofT girls?” “It’s common knowledge that UofT girls are vastly different from other girls,” wrote another user. “I’ve heard there’s some molecular biology research going on… the
general consensus among the scientific community is that girls that go to UofT may share a different common ancestor than other ‘normie’ girls and could possibly even be, dare I say, inhuman.” There’s no shortage of locations around U of T to take your significant other. The hardest part will probably be finding the significant other. I shudder to think of the state of Tinder during midterm season — but readers, go forth and prosper. I’ll save the ‘where to have sex on campus’ posts for another article.
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Science
February 12, 2018 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca
Should access to scientific literature be free? The reality of open access and paywalls in the academic world
In an age where a vast amount of scientific literature is accessed online, whether or not this information is available for free becomes a pertinent issue. Many prominent journals are accessible only after purchasing subscriptions, and they are protected by copyright. Other journals are open access, meaning their articles are free and have no restrictions on use. Here, we present one piece that discusses when and why open access is important, and a counter-piece that explains why paywalls are a necessary evil.
PRO OPEN ACCESS Tina Bohin & Clara Thaysen Varsity Staff
Accelerated discovery, public enrichment, and improved education: these are the benefits of open access, as described by PLOS. PLOS is an open access journal founded in 2001 and is one of over 11,000 journals that publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles free of charge for readers and with no restrictions on use and dissemination. Without open access, readers face paywalls. These barriers, which are put up by subscription journals to generate revenue and offset the costs of publishing, affect students, researchers, entrepreneurs, medical practitioners, and the public in their ability to access knowledge. As a student, access to research articles is essential. Fortunately for current U of T students, the U of T Library (UTL) system removes most of these paywalls through paid contracts with subscription journals — in fact, the UTL journal collection is one of the largest in the world. Whether or not an article is accessible for free is essentially a nonissue while enrolled or affiliated with a prominent institution like U of T. However, the reality is that when you graduate or cease to be an employee, the paywall on these articles will reappear. The money to pay for these subscriptions comes from students’ tuition, and the rising costs of subscriptions is partly responsible for rises in tuition. Several universities across the country have had to slash some of their journal subscriptions due to a combination of skyrocketing subscription prices and the weak Canadian dollar. Open access removes these barriers from the get-go. Regardless of your institution’s access, tuition contribution, or your status as a student or employee, if you have an internet
PRO PAYWALL connection, you have access. The benefits of open access go beyond accessibility. Open access publishing gives authors the advantage of visibility. The impact of a scholarly article — and its authors — is increased by citations. The greater amount of citations, the better. In a study recently published by FACETS on marine ecology articles, the open access articles had on average nearly 60 per cent more citations than paywalled articles. Citations play a vital role in promoting scientific collaboration. Open access also helps improve information literacy — the ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use sources — by improving the ease of searchability. In order to access paywalled articles for free, students need to search through databases that are linked to their institution. If the student is not connected to campus WiFi, they need to take an extra step and connect through my.access, which gives U of T students offcampus access to library databases. In comparison, open access articles eliminate these steps and are accessible through a simple search. Fortunately, there is currently a push by institutions to promote open access. In an open memo in 2012, Harvard’s Faculty Advisory Council called on authors to deposit their work in DASH, an open access database that provides a variety of services like monthly statistics on viewing and increased citation rates for authors. UTL supports
open access through its TSpace initiative, a repository of scholarly work authored by anyone in the U of T community. UTL also offers discounts on publishing fees to U of T researchers who choose to publish in open access journals. Hopefully, concerted effort by world-renowned institutions like U of T and Harvard will help make open access the norm and increase the accessibility, visibility, and transparency of knowledge in academia. Tina Bohin is a second-year student studying Neuroscience and Cell and Systems Biology. Clara Thaysen is a fifth-year student studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is The Varsity’s Associate Science Editor.
Spencer Y. Ki Varsity Staff
I take no joy in being unable to access papers, and seeing paywalls makes me want to tear my hair out. Yet, while I am not a shill for big academic publishing, I must admit that academic paywalls are, for several reasons, a necessary evil. At the base of these reasons is the archetypical ‘root of all evil’: money. Lofty as their goals may be, at the end of the day, academic journals are businesses, and businesses have operating costs. These costs are usually paid for by institutions: this is seen close to home, as U of T purchases access to many publications for students and faculty to use for free. In the burgeoning age of open access, where revenue from the subscriptions disappear, the burden of operating costs shifts to the content producers. Authors may already pay a fee when submitting their article for peer review — even in open access journals. This money generally comes from their funding budget. But would authors be able to afford additional fees to help a journal make up for the loss in revenue from losing their paywall? Likely not. Unfortunately, research grants, which in the past have usually come from the government, are getting scarcer. Government funding in Canada has been declining for the past decade, and 2013 marked the first time since World War II that the US government did not contribute the majority of the country’s basic research funding. There are also private corporations that frequently fund private research for promoting research and development or for outreach reasons. However, this raises problems with impartiality that have been well documented in other literature. If government and corporate funding is out of the question, this would
leave the authors to foot the bill themselves via private or personal resources. This can discourage students, amateur researchers, and early-career scientists from publishing in prestigious but expensive journals, leaving them prey to predatory journals that charge enticingly low fees at the cost of editorial integrity and rigorous peer-review. How is the public affected by the paywall versus open access debate? Some suggest that removing paywalls improves the public’s science literacy by making peer-reviewed science more accessible. This solution, however, is subpar. Making something financially accessible does not make it intellectually accessible. “People who aren’t physicists aren’t able to read particle physics papers; that’s absolutely true. [And] the same thing is happening in the humanities,” explained Dr. Emanuel Istrate, Director of Academic Programs at U of T’s Impact Centre. “We need to do way more to involve the public... in what we’re doing... Just giving out PDFs is not a real solution; it’s a bandaid solution.” Spencer Y. Ki is a second-year student studying Astrophysics and Math.
FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY
Renovations to UTM Davis Building labs underway Upgrades come as part of project aiming to upgrade nearly half of U of T labs Nicole Sciulli Varsity Staff
UTM is currently undergoing a $17 million renovation project to update the biology, chemistry, and physics lab spaces housed in the Davis Building. This undertaking is part of the Lab Innovation for Toronto (LIFT) project that began in July 2016. The project is a $190 million partnership between U of T and the provincial and federal governments to
upgrade nearly half of U of T’s labs over the next two years. The university will pay $91.8 million, and the federal and provincial governments will contribute $83.7 million and $14.3 million, respectively. UTM will use its funding to update its research facilities with newer equipment. According to The Medium, some of the renovated labs in the Davis Building have been combined to create larger, collaborative spaces. Upgraded fume hoods and machine venti-
lation to remove chemicals and agents from the air within the labs will be added. Two of the labs, run by Professor Angela Lange and Assistant Professor Andrew Beharry, will see the installation of the new fume hoods as well as the installation of cell culture rooms, dedicated microscope suites, and quarantine rooms. A significant portion of the funding will also go toward the installation of backup generators and new
heating and air conditioning units. Though the aesthetics from renovations are appealing, a wellfunctioning lab plays a key role in research developments. The facilities were built in 1972, and the air handling and electrical systems were found to be inefficient. The aging system also required numerous repairs thattook significant time. The LIFT project renovations to the Davis Building are expected to finish by this spring.
ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
16 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE
science@thevarsity.ca
Harmonies of the heavens
Science Around Town
U of T astrophysicist Matt Russo designs an audiovisual odyssey Spencer Y. Ki Varsity Staff
“The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for several voices,” wrote seventeenth century German astronomer Johannes Kepler. In all likelihood, Kepler never would have dreamed that this beloved musica universalis could become a reality. Thanks to astrophysicist Dr. Matt Russo, the marvels of space now not only grace our eyes but our long-neglected ears as well. Russo, currently a planetarium operator at U of T’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and a professor at Seneca College, first stepped into the global limelight last May when he scaled the orbital frequencies of the TRAPPIST-1 star system into the human hearing range, creating an intersolar symphony. Internationally recognized in print and on radio for this feat, he has since delved deeper into the burgeoning field of ‘space music.’ Our Musical Universe is his new planetarium show, featuring sights and sounds from every source imaginable in observable space. “TRAPPIST-1 is the most musical solar system ever discovered, but the universe is full of musical harmony in many complex and beautiful ways,” wrote Russo. “From pulsating stars to waves in Saturn’s rings, I created Our
Musical Universe to showcase the surprising musicality of the cosmos.” Featured at the U of T Astronomy and Astrophysics planetarium, Our Musical Universe occurs irregularly and sells out remarkably quickly. The planetarium is a small dome nestled in the basement of 50 St. George Street. The show begins with a familiar sight: the Toronto skyline, devoid of all light pollution, allowing the majesty of the cosmos to shine through. Although breathtaking, starlit skies are not unique in planetarium shows. The true novelty of Our Musical Universe shines brightest precisely when it does not. It is in the dark that Russo begins to play the stars like a harpsichord. “The goal is to help people experience the universe from a new and often surprising perspective, including the perspective of someone that relies more on audio than on visual information,” explained Russo. “The show was designed from the start with the visually impaired in mind. I wanted to create a show that would get everybody excited to experience the universe in a new way while opening the doors to people that would benefit the most from something other than the typical visual focus of astronomy education.” The show spans from Toronto to the proverbial edge of the universe,
Charmaine Nyakonda Varsity Staff
The unique planetarium show allows audiences to experience the universe in new ways. PHOTO BY STAN OG, COURTESY OF MATT RUSSO
with audio accompaniment along the journey — it might even be more accurate to describe the event as a symphonic experience with the occasional visual embellishment. Indeed, Russo is a celestial maestro who manages to convey distinctly alien sounds with notes that are eerily recognizable. All of this is accomplished with the most bizarre instruments imaginable; the ensemble boasts sounds from the aurora borealis to the rings of Saturn. “Many seasoned astronomers are surprised by the sounds that were sitting in data, waiting to be heard,” explained Russo. “Some probes record electric signals in space and we can just feed these signals to a speaker; it’s like we’re plugging in a cosmic electric
guitar.” When considering things like cosmic electric guitars, it is no surprise that enthusiasm for the show is growing, as evidenced by the sold-out shows. “It’s inspiring to see science outreach expand beyond its traditional boundaries and be accessible to more people,” said Ayush Pandhi, Symposium Co-Director for U of T’s Astronomy and Space Exploration Society. “I think the public is very interested in science, but scientific research often tends to have a barrier of entry in terms of understanding and availability and events like this go a long way in tackling that problem.” The show is roughly an hour long and costs $10 per person.
Science on screen can be creative, but it should also be realistic Why science in movies should be accurate Rachel Takacs Varsity Contributor
Filmmakers often consult scientists while scriptwriting. A film too grounded in science can turn viewers away, while a film that does not abide by scientific principles and laws can compromise its legitimacy. Those making science-based films thus consult experts to make a creative yet plausible plot. The 2014 film Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, follows NASA
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pilot Joseph Cooper and his team as they leave Earth, which is becoming uninhabitable. Their journey to fictional black hole Gargantua takes them through a wormhole, where they explore new planets. Because of the complicated nature of the physics in this film, like black holes and wormholes, Nolan consulted Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist and now a Nobel Prize laureate for his work on gravitational waves. Thorne provided scientific basis. In fact, he partly inspired the film.
Generally, a consultant brought to a film project will provide factual or scientific basis for a director’s vision. While the process relies on scientific expertise, filmmakers typically have the final say in how they portray a scientific phenomenon. Because of this, scientists who consult on films can only offer a general understanding of scientific principles. While writing the film, Nolan would propose a situation he would want to take place in the story, and Thorne would provide necessary equations and current theory that could make the situation a reality. Interstellar was immensely successful at the box office and in demonstrating black holes and time dilation. Thanks to the collaborative effort between filmmakers and experts, it didn’t compromise the film’s scientific basis or Nolan’s creative vision. In fact, Nolan said the film could serve as potential teaching material for students understanding that realm of physics. While Interstellar is not perfect, it still inspires many to look toward the stars in search of habitable planets and extraterrestrial lifeforms. Looking further back in time, Stanley Kubrick, the director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, consulted astrophysicist Carl Sagan to create a story that
speaks of the transformation of man and man’s destiny through artificial intelligence, space travel, and extraterrestrial lifeforms. Kubrick is a master in the world of filmmaking, but to truly understand space — something that had not been visually witnessed at the time — he needed expertise. The 2016 film Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve, takes audiences on a journey through language and communication with extraterrestrial lifeforms who land on Earth. Villeneuve consulted linguistics professor Jessica Coon at McGill University on the deciphering and creation of languages. Filmmakers want to send their messages to the world, and in order to effectively accomplish this, their projects must be as accurate as possible. The US National Academy of Sciences saw the need for legitimacy in sciencebased films and developed the Science and Entertainment Exchange to foster relationships between film directors and scientists. Films like Arrival and Interstellar are grounded in science, but the guarantee of accuracy cannot come from filmmakers alone. Only through conscientious collaboration with scientists can movies truly become masterpieces on the big scree–ns.
Screening for novel aggression therapeutics in zebrafish Dr. William Norton from the University of Leicester will be discussing his research on the genetic and biological basis for aggression using zebrafish. Norton will also be explaining how his work could help develop a drug to reduce aggression in human patients with existing psychiatric disorders. Date: Tuesday, February 13 Time: 2:00 pm Location: Davis Building, Inner Circle Road, UTM Council Chambers Room Admission: Free Building a home the Vibrio cholerae way: biophysics of bacterial biofilms Dr. Jing Yan from Princeton University will be speaking about the use of bacteria models to investigate the underlying biophysical and biomechanical principles involved in biofilm formation. Biofilms are surface-adhering bacterial communities that can span the extracellular matrix and can be harmful or beneficial. Yan will also introduce a technology that can be used to study biofilm structure and composition. Date: Thursday, February 15 Time: 10:00 am Location: Davis Building, Inner Circle Road, UTM Council Chambers Room Admission: Free Modelling breast cancer in mice; testing bioinformatics driven predictions and therapies Dr. Sean Egan of U of T’s Department of Molecular Genetics will be hosting a presentation on how bioinformatics and whole genome sequencing allow scientists to test genes involved in malignant tumours. The guest speaker, Dr. Eran Andrechek, will also be discussing how such studies are done with mouse models and how gene expression is used to characterize breast cancer. Date: Thursday, February 15 Time: 3:30 pm Location: Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, 160 College Street, Red Seminar Room Admission: Free Functional Consequences of Mammalian Specific Alternative Splicing Events in RNA Binding Proteins This presentation will explore alternative splicing and how splice isoform evolution in RNA binding proteins can impact development and expand the regulatory capabilities of mammalian cells. Date: Friday, February 16 Time: 2:00 pm Location: Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, 160 College Street, Red Seminar Room Admission: Free
Sports
February 12, 2018 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca
From the podium to the stage: Dancing with the Varsity Blues Rower Esteban Poveda and dancer Emily Palios take first place
Varsity Blues athletes and dancers shared the stage in the inaugural Dancing with the Varsity Blues competition. ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY
Kate Reeve Associate Sports Editor
On a stormy Wednesday night, an unusually tall crowd of students descended upon The Cat’s Eye pub at Victoria College. Most wore various shades of Varsity Blues paraphernalia, from bulky winter jackets to low-slung embroidered backpacks. They settled into small groups, talking about practices and midterms, and waited for the show to begin. The Cat’s Eye was strung with dorm-room style fairy lights, with twin jets of blue light focused on a small stage at the front of the room. A lithe woman, the host for the evening, climbed up and fumbled with a microphone. Ingrid Lui smiled out at the audience and announced the beginning of the competition — the first ever “Dancing with the Toronto Varsity Blues.” Based on the vaguely popular TV show Dancing with the Stars, U of T’s Only Human Dance Collective paired with eight varsity athletes to choreograph and perform mercifully short dances to raise money for Free The Children. The judges were then led to their table. The first introduced was Rico Suico, a dance instructor at Dancelife X Centre and a dancer in Toronto’s K-pop cover group R.P.M dance crew. He was joined by brothers Mike and Kevin Scheitzbach of dance crew Imma Beast. The brothers are well known in the Canadian dance community, having danced with Avril Lavigne at the MMVAs and having participated in the World Hip Hop Championships. After they were introduced and settled off-stage, the show began. Cheerleader Amanda Choi and dancer Steven Cheng kicked off the event with
a bachata number. Choi clearly felt comfortable with the moves, and the pair worked well together. Next, rower Terek Been and dancer Daniela Ruscica, in matching maroon outfits, performed a contemporary dance. The height difference was especially noticeable when Been picked Ruscica up with stunningly casual ease. They were followed by Ishaan Kohli, a nordic skiier, and Berenice Alvarez. The two performed an upbeat hip hop routine to a variety of contemporary mixes, but they received relatively low scores from the judges. The venue was packed, with spectators piling onto low benches and on one another’s laps to get a good vantage point. Everyone cheered loudly, while many laughed as they watched their teammates blush their
way through their routines. Some athletes were more comfortable than others on stage, but all performed their choreography faithfully, even through slightly panicked expressions. The judges, clearly aware of this, were quite generous. The lowest mark given out was a six, but the average score hovered around a seven. Next up were men’s volleyball player Martin Kosic and dancer Elissa Morgan, who tip-toed with varying degrees of grace through a simple ballet routine. Kosic was clearly enjoying himself, and the audience appreciated his light-hearted approach to the show. Moving briskly along, his teammate Alex Barnes performed a fun Bollywood routine with Ravneet Kaur. Kaur was excellent, and Barnes kept up gamely. They were followed
Martin Kosic smiles during his ballet routine with Elissa Morgan. ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY
by women’s volleyball player Anna Feore and Stella Pock, who displayed some impressive flexibility in their contemporary piece. After their performance, the host asked Feore if she’d found the routine difficult. Feore smiled ironically into the microphone. “Yeah,” she said, “I did the splits!” Men’s rower Esteban Poveda and Emily Palios performed a Latin-inspired ballet routine. Heavy on the winking, Poveda won loud cheers from the audience, while Palios’ use of a fan was appreciated by the judges. Finally, the show was rounded off by water polo’s Maddie Hertz and Helen Su, who worked through a superhero-inspired routine. The women both wore silver masks and were clearly influenced by Hertz’s martial arts background. After all pairs had performed, the host announced a brief intermission to give the audience members time to vote. Each checked off their favourite pair and handed back their yellow voting cards. After intermission, the votes were tallied and the winners announced: Poveda and Palios’ Latin ballet. A clear crowd favourite, the two graciously accepted their victory. The event raised $600 for Free the Children and provided some much-needed entertainment on a cold night in the middle of midterm season. Athletes likely learned that the dance is much harder than it looks, while dancers likely learned that not all athleticisms are created equal. All in all, the event was a success, Blues teams showed up in droves to watch their teammates flipper around stage, athletes participated enthusiastically, and the audience members seemed to enjoy themselves.
18 • THE VARSITY • SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
How the use of performance enhancing drugs threatens the Olympics Latest doping cases raise questions on anti-cheating methods Jacqueline Wong Varsity Contributor
In the week leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the lifetime suspensions for doping charges of 28 Russian athletes. In a brief statement, the CAS explained that the bans could not be upheld because evidence did not support rule violations by the athletes, despite the allegations of state-sponsored doping that had shadowed Russia since 2014. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressed concern over the ruling by the CAS, and it quickly rejected the requests of 13 of the newly exonerated athletes to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The IOC argued that although the CAS had overturned 28 lifetime bans, 11 were still being upheld — which the IOC cited as proof that there existed “systemic manipulation of the antidoping system” within the Russian national team. The use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is not a new phenomenon in the world of competitive sports. For athletes, the pressure associated with competing at the elite level is surely daunting. Having dedicated years of their lives to a sport, the seemingly minute risk of being accused and subsequently charged with doping in exchange for grand titles and records has always proven
too tempting for some athletes. Lance Armstrong, for instance, was revered for years as the world’s best professional cyclist before he was accused of illegal doping, stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, and banned from the sport. At the elite level, accusations of doping and the ensuing media attention can make the use of PEDs appear prevalent, though it may be an unfair exaggeration to claim that doping is somehow inherent in sport culture at large. Nevertheless, with the investigations into allegations of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program, one question surges to the top: how is the issue of illegal doping resolved? When doping occurs at the Olympics, the IOC will become involved. Following a flurry of allegations claiming that Russian athletes had violated the Olympics’ rules against doping during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the Schmid Commission was created to confront what the IOC called a “systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia.” Although Russia has continually denied that there was ever any coordinated state effort to provide its athletes with PEDs, the Schmid Commission’s findings have detailed the opposite. The commission recommended a broad framework of action to the IOC, suggesting that it implement strong measures to deter the continued advancement of a doping program, defend the rights of clean Russian
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
athletes to compete, and evaluate the costs of the two IOC-mandated commissions. The Oswald Commission, separate from the Schmid Commission, was established to investigate the alleged doping violations committed by athletes who competed in Sochi. In accordance with the recommendations, the IOC voted to immediately suspend the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), issue the ROC a $15 million USD fine to compensate for the costs of the investigation, and allow for Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia.” The use of PEDs across competitive sports on other elite levels falls
into the purview of independent organizations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an institution established to ensure athletes comply with consistent antidoping regulations during competitions. WADA’s claim to impartiality is not without scrutiny. In July 2016 — mere weeks before the start of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro — WADA released the McLaren Report, which accused Russia of state-sanctioned doping. The report forced the IOC to ban dozens of Russian athletes from competing based on a previous history with PEDs, while hundreds of others were barred from competition
until an IOC panel could approve their cases. IOC President Thomas Bach blamed WADA for its unfortunate timing. In a subtle critique of WADA’s supposed impartiality, Bach also remarked that despite receiving information years ago, WADA did not choose to further investigate those matters. The organizations responsible for enforcing anti-doping regulations do not seem to shy away from implementing wholesale participation bans, but these bans come at the cost of subjecting a large number of athletes to humiliating penalties usually intended to punish only a few.
A history of sport in France Munk event highlights the country’s erratic relationship with sports Jillian Schuler Associate News Editor
Sports in France have an erratic history. They were prominent and strong during the Middle Ages, but they faded from view later on as the French placed more emphasis on learning and intellect. Professor John McClelland, who has a hand in four books on French literature and sport, went into de-
tail about the variability of sport in France in Sport and the French: an erratic trajectory from Du Guesclin to Coubertin, an event hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs on Friday. McClelland began his talk by showing pictures of Collège National Technique et Moderne, a collegiate school he attended in 1956. He expected the school to have the same kind of athletic centres as schools in Toronto,
where he intended to go originally. However, there was nothing of the sort. A picture of a courtyard at the school, outlined by carefully pruned trees, displayed a barren courtyard that had “no possibility of any athletic facilities.” McClelland stated that people would play aimlessly through the courtyard during the two-hour lunch break, but there was “absolutely no organization of any kind.”
Professor John McClelland speaks at the Munk School of Global Affairs. SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY
McClelland went into greater detail about the detached nature of France’s relationship with sport. He brought up Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with the revival of the Olympics in Europe in 1896 after many others’ efforts had failed, and how Coubertin received very little acknowledgement for his achievement despite having attended the games himself. From there, he dug deeper into the history of sport in France, specifically looking at the extent to which tennis captured the country in the Middle Ages. French monarchs such as François I and Henri II ensured that tennis courts were built within their palace, resulting in a trend throughout Europe to include tennis courts as a part of a standard palace design. McClelland referenced a quote by English traveler Robert Dellington, who, writing about France in the 1600s, said that “there were more tennis courts than churches in France and more tennis players than beer drinkers in England.” The avidness with which the French played tennis allowed for the sport to continue to flourish moving forward. Alongside tennis, fencing
and equestrian sports also remained popular in France due to their upperclass status. McClelland argued that the reason why few other sports were able to flourish in France is because the French liked precision. And sport was something that was not necessarily precise. In some instances it couldn’t even be judged. He mentioned that some books written by the French were done in an attempt to approach sport with more intellect, something that the French valued. In doing so, sports became very constricting, failing to encourage participation. From a passive standpoint, the French were still interested in watching sports. McClelland artfully described seeing people pressing their faces up to the windows of the electronics store to watch soccer games on the TVs that few people had in 1956. However, it is important to note that while the Germans and the Spanish baptized the sport with its own name, Fußball and Fùtbol, the French never did. McClelland said that “sport of this kind somehow remains foreign, no matter what the enthusiasm is.”
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 • 19
var.st/sports
Bittersweet final regular season home game for Blues women
WEEKLY BOX SCORES BASKETBALL
Blues women’s hockey team falls to Gaels 3–1 Vincent Ruan Varsity Contributor
The Toronto Varsity Blues women’s hockey team surrendered a close 3–1 match against the Queen’s Gaels on Friday night. The last home game of the regular season marked grad night, a special occasion for graduating players Rebecca Bourgeois and Katey Teekasingh. Both players were honoured in a pre-game ceremony. The Blues drew first blood as Breanna Berndsen found an open space in the slot and capitalized, scoring in the first period and giving Toronto a 1–0 lead. The Gaels still managed to create more opportunities on offense,
leading 10–7 shots on goal after the first period. Blues goalie Madeline Albert finished the night with a save percentage of 0.905, stopping 19 of 21 shots. Despite scoring on Gaels goalie Stephanie Pascal in the first period, the Blues failed to get the puck past her for the rest of the game. Pascal was sensational, saving an impressive 22 of 23 shots. The second period turned sloppy for the Blues as they committed unfortunate penalties, providing the Gaels with the chance to take the lead. Blues player Stephanie Ayres was called for holding, which Queen’s capitalized on. The Gaels’ Katrina Manoukarakis, who is the Ontario
Blues forward Breanna Berndsen battles her way around the boards.
PHOTO BY MARTIN BAZYL, COURTESY OF THE VARSITY BLUES
University Athletics’ second leading scorer, immediately scored just six seconds into the power play, tying the game. Late in the second period, Manoukarakis found the back of the net again to give the Gaels their first lead. Toronto failed to score in the final period despite having five more shots. Queen’s forward Jessica Wakefield scored an empty netter that went off of Blues defender Julia Szulewska, extending the lead to 3–1 and ending any hopes of a comeback. “I loved every minute of it,” said Blues captain Rebecca Bourgeois when asked of her time as a Varsity Blue. “I’ve sat through a lot of these grad ceremonies and I’m so thankful that I had all my friends here for this one. I really enjoyed my five years here and everyone who has come through during that time.” “We’re really just focusing on playing the full 60 minutes. Queen’s is a good team and I think we‘ve had a good run, but... we just need to focus on the little things and I think we’re well set-up for the future,” said Bourgeois. With the loss, the Blues drop to a 13-8-2 record and fall to the fifth seed in a tight playoff race. “I think definitely we want to make a run at it as far as we can. We’re aiming for that OUA banner... We’re going to go into it with pride and hopefully we’re going to play that way and come out successful,” said Bourgeois. Toronto will finish their regular season on the road against the York Lions on February 16.
MEN’S February 9 Varsity Blues
February 10 Varsity Blues
90–80
80–75
Queen’s Gaels
York Lions
WOMEN’S February 9 Varsity Blues
79–76
Queen’s Gaels
59–57
February 10 Varsity Blues
York Lions
HOCKEY MEN’S February 9 Varsity Blues
February 10 Varsity Blues
1–3
1–6
Brock Badgers
York Lions
WOMEN’S February 9 Varsity Blues
1–3
Queen’s Gaels
VOLLEYBALL MEN’S February 9
(20-15, 21-25, 20-25)
Varsity Blues
(20-25, 20-25, 12-25)
Varsity Blues
(18-25, 25-20, 2512, 20-25, 15-8)
Varsity Blues
(25-19, 25-19, 2325, 25-19)
February 10
Where Vegetarians Take Meat Eating Friends Lunch Brunch Dinner
124 Harbord Street (416) 901 5901
0–3
Varsity Blues
0–3
Guelph Gryphons
Waterloo Warriors
WOMEN’S February 9
3–2
Guelph Gryphons
www.harvestkitchen.ca HARVEST HABIT 11am- 5pm $5.50 Beer & Wine on Tap Group or Event needs? Go to our website and book one of our private spaces online!
February 10
3–1
Waterloo Warriors
This month, The Varsity will be seeking a levy increase of $0.80 per session from all full-time undergraduate students, as well as a new, $0.80 levy from full-time graduate students. Recent increases to provincial minimum wage — as well as an overall decline in advertising revenue over the past decade — means that The Varsity must rely increasingly on student levies to fund our expenses. This increase, if passed, would allow us to continue our legacy of amplifying the needs and voices of students, all while expanding our membership to include full-time graduate students. The increase would allow us to pay our staff according to the new minimum wage in Ontario. It would allow us to implement a UTM Editor and a UTSC Editor. It would allow us to invest in professional development opportunities for budding student journalists at U of T.
It’s a small price to pay — less than a single TTC token — but it goes a long way.
On February 28, March 1, and March 2, please help us continue to serve you.
Vote ‘yes’ to The Varsity’s levy increase. voting.utoronto.ca