November 25, 2013

VARSITY EDITORIAL PG 13

SUMMIT A WASTED OPPORTUNITY THUS FAR

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

25 November, 2013

UTSU criticized for “complete lack of transparency” Tensions high on eve of UTSU AGM, which does not include vote on approval of agenda Trevor Koroll

VARSITY STAff

The 2013 Annual General Meeting (agm) of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) will not include a motion to approve the agenda.

“Last year, members were denied the opportunity to scrutinize our audit when the agenda failed,” said utsu president Munib Sajjad about the 2012 agm, which ended abruptly after students voted down the agenda half an hour into the meeting. “There is a process to voice dissent, and we encourage opposing voices. Denying a discussion altogether takes that opportunity away and wastes significant time, effort and money.”

“[The vote on the agenda has] been there invariably, year after year,” said Vip Vigneswara, Victoria College director on the utsu, who noticed that there was no motion to approve the agenda on the notice of the meeting posted on the utsu website. “I asked Cam Wathey [vice-president, internal and services], as to why it wasn’t up there…he said it was a mistake that it appeared last year.”

Jeremy Settler, organizer for the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) of Ontario, confirmed that there is no rule or procedure in place to enforce a vote on the agenda for any members of the federation. “It’s up to the local student union bylaws and procedures.

It’s not a set format... It’s up to each individual students’ union,” he said.

Sajjad agreed, saying that the move is

intended to allow students to discuss more relevant issues.

Despite Wathey alleging that the vote on the agenda was a motion included in the 2012 agm because of a mistake, the 2011 agm package also shows that a motion to approve the agenda was included. Past records of University of Toronto Scarborough and University of Toronto Mississauga students’ unions, as well as those of the cfs, show that their general meetings include motions to vote on the agendas.

While the utsu may have no obligation to include the agenda vote in its agm, representatives of student groups at the university see the removal of the vote on the agenda as a means to sidestep student involvement.

“I am deeply concerned by the change in procedure, considering the complete

lack of transparency from the utsu with respect to any sort of justification for this move,” said Jelena Savic, president of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (vusac).

“They wanted to stop students from sending a message,” said Pierre Harfouche, one of two engineering representatives on the utsu’s board of directors.

“They found just another way to stop students from voicing their opinion.”

Harfouche said issues such as fee diversion and online voting are past examples of items that the utsu did not want to discuss until it was forced by the university. Harfouche had proposed three motions to be added to the agm: two on the Student Societies Summit and one related to fee diversion. All were ruled out of order by the utsu board of directors and not added to the agm.

Sajjad said the motions were ruled out of order because of procedure.

“Two of them, if passed, would force the utsu to contravene its own bylaws, which is illegal.”

“They consistently deny students the opportunity to voice their concern if those concerns are not on topic that the utsu currently wants to engage in,” argued Harfouche. “The motion to adopt the agenda…it is no longer there because it was just another way for students to speak out against you [the utsu] and you don’t want that to happen.”

Aside from limiting dissent, Savic says there a number of reasons why students should be able to vote down the agenda.

She contends that a number of mo-

CONTINUED PG 6

ALLEGATIONS OF VOTER SUPPRESSION IN TORONTO CENTRE BY-ELECTION PG 4

Green Party campaign manager criticizes Elections Canada for poor organization

U OF T SPORTS REMODEL ANNOUNCED New model reclassifies several teams

PG 24

campus Comics

Exploring the medium across Toronto PG 14

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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

THE VARSITY VOL. CXXXIV No. 11

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— Tuesday, November 19

AMANDA WEDOW @AMANDAWEDOW  I think it would make a fun art project to photograph students sleeping in public. #robarts #UofT — Tuesday, November 19

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CAVALCADE OF LIGHTS: PRESENTED BY GREAT GULF Fireworks, musical performances, a skating party, and the lighting of Toronto’s official Christmas tree. Kick off the holiday season in style.

OXFAM U OF T’S SECOND ANNUAL  HOLIDAY BAZAAR Get your holiday shopping done early as local, ethical vendors of jewellery, fairtrade crafts, art and dÊcor, baked goods, and more set up shop in Hart House November 28, 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm East Common Room, 7 Hart House Circle Free entry TORONTO CHRISTMAS MARKET

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Fodor’s Travel calls it “One of the World’s Best Holiday Markets‌â€? Vendors of artisan gifts and wonderful foodstuffs (including chocolate dipped bacon on a stick), beer gardens, and spectacular shows

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November 29 – December 15 Monday – Friday 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm Saturday – Sunday 10:00 am – 9:00 pm Distillery Historic District Free entry

SMCSU PRESENTS: GREASE The St. Michael’s College Student Union presents the beloved classic musical for your viewing pleasure November 28 – 29, 8:00 pm November 30, 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle $12 for students and $20 for non-students LEFTWORDS FESTIVAL OF BOOKS  AND IDEAS Presentations by Canadian authors on food security, women in a globalizing world, health activism, and more — plus the launch of the Socialist Register 2013.

November 24, 11:30 am – 5:00 pm Oakham House/Ryerson Student Centre, 55 Gould Street Free

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— Tuesday, November 12

This assignment is due tomorrow, and I’ve been done since yesterday. So why am I still stressing? #UofTProblems — Wednesday, November 20

BIANCA ESTRELA @BIANCAXESTRELA I should sue UofT for anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation, back aches, migraines, trouble seeing, getting ugly & fat, generally hating things — Wednesday, November 20

CORA DONELLY  @CORAJDONELLY In environmental studies we don’t learn about the environment...we have classical violinists come to our lectures instead #uoftprobs — Thursday, November 21

By-election voting 101 Vote between 9:30 am – 9:30 pm Monday, November 25 To be eligible to vote you must be: Š ' )GTGJOGT IOZO`KT Š '4* ÝĂ _KGXY URJ UX URJKX Š '4* 8KYOJKTZ UL ZNK :UXUTZU )KTZXK KRKIZUXGR JOYZXOIZ LXUS 5IZUHKX ßý ´ 4U\KSHKX ßÿ INKIQ ]]] KRKIZOUTY IG LUX _U[X KRKIZUXGR JOYZXOIZ

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Advertising Manager Victoria Marshall advertising@thevarsity.ca

I wonder if anyone sitting around me has noticed that I’ve had like gwen stefani and fergie on repeat for like the last 4 hours #robarts

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November 30, 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W Free

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the week in tweets CHRISTINA STIRPE @CHRISTINASTIRPE 

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Students who live on residence at St. Michael’s College or Victoria University College are residents of Toronto Centre You must bring with you: Š -U\KXTSKTZ ROIKTYKJ VNUZU /* ]OZN TGSK GTJ GJJXKYY K^GSVRK JXO\KXY ROIKTYK Š 58 :]U VOKIKY UL G[ZNUXO`KJ /* HUZN ]OZN TGSK GTJ UTK ]OZN GJJXKYY K^GSVRK NKGRZN IGXJ GTJ N_JXU HORR Š 58 (K ]ORROTM ZU ZGQK GT UGZN GTJ NG\K GT KRKIZUX ]OZN /* \U[IN LUX _U[

The closest polling station to campus is Polo Club II, 44 St. Joseph Street.

LINDSAY YATES @LINDSAY_YATESMT seriously unsure if i will even survive until christmas #unilifetho — Thursday, November 21

RHIANNON KYLE @RHIANNON_KYLE  First snowfall of the season leaving the house as initiated members, such a beautiful moment with my @TriDeltaUofT sisters! — Saturday, November 23

MEGAN CHENEY @MEGANCHENEY  The #UofT security cameras are going to have fantastic footage of me derping + running around in the snow outside Robarts #MiamiKidProblems — Saturday, November 23

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

3

Concerns over NSA monitoring as students’ emails now stored in US Administration quietly conducting transfer despite faculty association, union opposition Taylor Stinson VARSITY STAFF

The University of Toronto has moved roughly a quarter of students from utormail to a globally based Microsoft server, raising concerns that email will now be monitored by the National Security Agency (nsa).

Since fall 2011, the university has moved over 135,000 students to a free Microsoft Outlook platform with servers located around the world, including in the United States. Last week, the system was upgraded to Office 365. The university describes the move as a user-friendly, cost-saving measure that was decided through an open and consultative process.

This move has received little publicity from U of T’s Information Technology Services (its), who are responsible for implementing the switch. A series of town hall meetings and consultations by a small committee of students and staff from each campus were held prior to the switch.

The meetings, which occurred over a period of more than two years, aimed to address the protection of privacy and identify the e-communication needs of students. Concerns over data mining by the nsa, as brought to light by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, were investigated.

“Our agreement is with Microsoft Canada, but the services are provided by their world-wide cloud environment that includes US data centres,” said Robert Cook, U of T’s Chief Information Officer (cio). Now that faculty and staff are facing a transfer to the same email platform as students, there is heightened anxiety over outsourcing to US-linked corporations. This is because Microsoft and the university cannot guarantee full privacy to their users.

James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (caut), represents those against outsourcing. “All of your records and data come under American terrorist laws, so American cloud providers like Microsoft are obligated to turn over records in their servers to the NSA if requested, and the NSA doesn’t have to have a specific reason to do so. Microsoft is also required by law to keep customers in the dark about these requests,” said Turk.

He further noted the dangers within the Microsoft contract itself: “The agreement makes reference to various policies, all of which are very complicated and may infringe on our academic freedoms. Emailing an article as an attachment could become risky and threaten our intellectual property rights. The problem is that we just don’t know who is looking at our records.”

Andrew Clement, professor at U of T’s Faculty of Information, is also concerned about the cloud servers. “The university hasn’t done a good job of educating students on the dangers of outsourcing. What’s more, we know less about what’s going on in Canada in terms of surveillance, but we do know that the US has acted unconstitutionally and without appropriate oversight in the past,” he said.

Cook noted that there was plenty of consultation and communication over the past two years as to the transfer of student email, and asserted that there is demand from the faculty to use the same service. “The infrastructure underpinning [the faculty’s] current services is end-of-life and at risk of failure. We want to equip our community with contemporary communications services that will support our academic excellence,” he said.

NaNcy ji/THe VarsiTy

One of the main motivations in switching to Microsoft is money.

“Money saved by the university in providing commodity services is money that can be directed to the core university mission, including teaching and learning,” said Cook.

Due to the drop in government funding for universities, U of T is looking to save wherever possible. “Microsoft has a sophisticated system and it is free, so it is a creative way for the university to save money,” agreed Turk.

By working together, the university receives financial benefits, and Microsoft gets publicity by signing a contract with a trusted educational institution.

“Other universities are now using this server, which builds a broader base of people invested in Microsoft’s technologies,” said Clement, “Microsoft can now perhaps get students to stick with its service after graduation, which makes them more money.”

The alternatives to Microsoft seem few and far between. According to Clement, universities are hesitant to invest in their own cloud servers, which would fundamentally prevent issues with encryption. “The University of British Columbia (ubc) is doing it, so that could be a possibility,” he said.

Students were given the option to not establish a Microsoft

account, and instead have their email redirected to any service of their choice. However, most students decided to switch to Microsoft. “Fewer than one half of one percent of subscribers opted out of the Microsoft cloud and satisfaction is very high,” said Cook.

Munib Sajjad, president of the University of Toronto Student’s Union (utsu), thought the compromise for modern technology was a poor shortcut: “I do believe the university was looking for ways to offload the burden of putting together a new email client…

[U of T] could have done better to research email clients that could have greater protected the rights and freedoms of our students.”

UTMSU bans The Medium from taping AGM Restricted access latest confrontation between UTM students’ union, newspaper Theodore Yan

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (utmsu) prohibited media from filming its Annual General Meeting (agm) on November 14.

The Medium, utm’s campus newspaper, was allowed to photograph and write about the event, but were not permitted to take video. “I got an e-mail on Wednesday, the day before the AGM, from Raymond Noronha, the president of the utmsu, to tell me that we would be banned from taking video,” said Luke Sawczak, editor-in-chief of The Medium.

“There were some students who brought up concerns to

myself that they did not want themselves to be part of any videos during the Annual General Meeting,” explained Noronha.

He and Sawczak met to discuss possible solutions to the situation, but could not come to an agreement. Noronha suggested that The Medium do interviews with students after the agm so that it could receive consent, and privacy concerns would not be a problem.

News editor Larissa Ho’s bag was searched before she was allowed into the meeting. Ho explained that Shane Madhani, manager of the Blind Duck Pub, asked if she had any cameras before asking her to put her bag down so he could look through it. “I said there is a

laptop in there, and then he physically searched through the stuff in my bag to see if I had any recording devices in there,” she stated.

“To my knowledge and as far as I could tell, no one else’s bags were being searched.”

Sawczak noted that the utmsu has recently been barring The Medium from filming many of its events, such as pub nights and this year’s Frosh Week. “There’s a sense to me that there’s a stance of just trying to bar any new access that we could have,” he stated.

According to Sawczak, Walied Khogali, executive director of utmsu, had apologized for the searching of Ho’s bag and promised it would not happen again.

Students vote at UTMSU AGM. cHrisTy Tam/THe medium

4

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

news@thevarsity.ca

Students rally in support of Filipino typhoon victims Campus groups raise money, awareness for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan Aisha Kakinuma Hassan VARSITY STAFF

On November 8, the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan — one of the most catastrophic tropical storms in the country’s history.

In the two weeks since the disaster, the death toll has risen above 5,000, and the number of people displaced is estimated to be in the millions. In response to the tragedy, members of the U of T community have rallied together to raise money and awareness for these victims.

Relief efforts were quickly mobilized by student groups across campus. Some who helped had personal ties with the Philippines, such as fourth-year global health student Camille Feir. Feir volunteered with the Red Cross in the Philippines this past summer in the Filipino province of Eastern Samar and city of Tacloban, Leyte — areas that were heavily affected by the typhoon. Though members of her family do not live in the area, Feir was worried for her close friend, whom she met while volunteering. “The last thing I heard from her was on Facebook, when she updated her status saying that, ‘The winds are so strong I can’t sleep.’ It was very sad. I didn’t hear from her again after that.” Feir has since heard from her friend and the group of volunteers she worked with, who are fortunately safe.

As an executive member of World Vision at U of T, Feir held a small seminar for her fellow executive members to raise awareness on the impact of the disaster.

She also organized a bake sale in Sid Smith. Though she initially found it difficult to find a way to broach the subject, Feir decided to use photos to try and put a human face on the tragedy. “The most important thing, when you hear statistics like this, is to realize that they are people too,” said Feir, adding, “which is why I showed them the people… that they are just like us who have dreams and aspirations.”

The Filipino Students’ Association of Toronto (fsat) at the St. George campus has also been active in raising funds. fsat president, Liza Caringal stated: “We are devastated about what has happened in the Philippines, as many of our family and friends have been affected, though we know that the Filipino community is resilient and will persevere through this hardship.” On Friday evening, fsat held a candlelit ceremony at Hart House Circle, where students took a moment to send thoughts and prayers to their loved ones overseas. fsat hopes to continue to raise awareness and money through bake sales, t-shirt and pin sales, and an upcoming pub night.

Other students got creative when it came to raising money. The United Nations Society (unsoc) president, Angelo Gio Mateo, collaborated with The Sound of Change, a local Toronto charity, and the Trinity College Volunteer Society to organize a coffeehouse show to raise relief money. “I really wanted to do this because I am Filipino and it does mean something personally to me,” said Mateo. The pay-whatyou-can event included a range of

Coffeehouse organized by United Nations Society raises money for those effected by the typhoon. DENIS OSIPOV/THE VArSITy

musical acts — from more wellknown Toronto acts to smaller ones from within the U of T community.

The event raised over $1,000, which will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Mateo hopes that the support shown this week will be long lasting, he urged students to “donate as much as possible and continue being supportive both emotionally in this time and financially, be supportive towards immigrants and Filipinos, even not in times of natural disasters.”

The university administration has also reached out to the Filipino community. On November 13, University of Toronto president Meric Gertler announced: “On behalf of the entire University of Toronto

community, I wish to extend our most profound sympathies to those suffering from this disaster.” Additionally, the university has planned an institutional observance event, in coordination with fsat, to take place on November 27 at the MultiFaith Centre. The event invites all members of the U of T community as: “an opportunity for our community to reflect on the devastating impact of the typhoon, and show our solidarity with those who have been directly and indirectly affected by these events.” Richard Chambers, director of the MultiFaith Centre, calls the university’s ceremony a service of solidarity.

The event is designed for people to acknowledge the tragedy, as well as

to demonstrate the resilience of the Filipino community through music and dance. Both Gertler and a student representing the Filipino community will speak at the event.

Shortly after the disaster, the Government of Canada announced a Typhoon Haiyan relief fund, pledging to match every dollar individuals donate to Canadian registered charities for Typhoon Haiyan. This includes charities such as the Canadian Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. The governments matching program will run until December 9.

Disclosure: Angelo Gio Mateo is a member of the Board of Directors for Varsity Publications.

Green Party campaign manager alleges voter suppression in by-election Campaign manager criticizes Elections Canada for poor organization Iris Robin & Dan Smeenk VARSITY STAFF

When Sharon Danley, campaign manager for the Green Party, went to St. James Cathedral to place her vote in advance for the Toronto Centre byelection, she arrived to find an hourlong lineup, the returning officer (ro) missing, and voters without election cards. This prompted Danley to send a complaint to Elections Canada (ec), where she accused the organization of voter suppression.

“In my opinion, these actions are akin to voter suppression, and speaking for myself only, I am outraged,” Danley wrote. Among Danley’s concerns was the placement of the polling station, which she claimed were difficult to access. “The polling station for election day is several blocks away from where

we have normally voted for years. We are a building of elderly, reduced mobility, and disabled people, making it extremely difficult to vote,” Danley said.

Danley was also dissatisfied with the waiting time at the polling station. “People were leaving without voting because they couldn’t wait that long,” she alleged. Angela Zhu, treasurer of the University of Toronto New Democrats and a volunteer on the New Democratic Party (ndp) candidate Linda McQuaig’s campaign, received two similar complaints. The ndp office received at least one message from a man who complained of long lines at a polling booth near Regent Park.

Lauren Tedesco, a spokesperson for Liberal Party candidate Chrystia Freeland’s campaign, said that the Liberal Party was satisfied with the execution of the advanced polling.

“Running election day and advanced polls can be a monumental task, and there are always logistical challenges and room for improvement. It would be helpful to have more staff and better trained staff, but we are satisfied with the way the advance polls ran, and we commend Elections Canada staff — both the management folks and the casual staff who came in for just a few days, for their diligent efforts,” Tedesco said.

Diane Benson, an ec representative, dismissed Danley’s claims.

“The ec does not own the locations where the polling stations are situated, and that their availability is not always guaranteed for election time,” she stated. Benson explained that ec requires that polling stations meet extensive accessibility criteria, and that each

ro has an accessibility checklist for when they rent locations.

Benson does not believe that Danley’s experience constitutes voter suppression, as the problems Danley encountered were not disruptions of the electoral process intended to prevent voting. Benson suggested that the ro may have been at training during Danley’s visit, or in the returning office, taking care of other duties. ros are partially responsible for training the 800 staff members who work at the polls during election time.

In regard to the issues of voters without elections cards, Benson clarified the process by which ec tries to ensure that each voter receives an election card: the voter receives an election card in the post, followed by a reminder a week later, asking the voter to check that they received their card, and that all the details on it are correct.

“The polling station for election day is several blocks away from where we have normally voted for years. We are a building of elderly, reduced mobility, and disabled people, making it extremely difficult to vote.”

—Sharon Danley, Green Party campaign manager

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

5

Access Copyright negotiations set to end University will announce whether it will renew controversial agreement in the first week of December Sarah Niedoba

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Negotiations between the University of Toronto and Access Copyright are coming to a close, with a decision to be announced by the first week of December. Access Copyright is a not-for-profit agency that collects money from universities who duplicate copyrighted material and then returns it to the original creators of the work. The university requested a cancellation of the current agreement this summer. Provost Cheryl Regehr stated: “In view of the changes in the regulatory landscape, including significant Supreme Court of Canada decisions in 2012, and amendments to the Copyright Act, we sought an opportunity to negotiate a new license at a substantially lower rate.”

The university’s contract with Access Copyright will expire on December 31, 2013. On November 5, 2013, U of T released a statement detailing what would happen if the negotiations were to prove unsuccessful. The statement outlined that the university would create a similar model to the one already in place at other universities across the country, namely York University and the University of British Columbia (ubc). These systems have created a copyright office run by the existing staff of the university, who would oversee all copyright licenses and educate university professors on how to properly obtain copyrighted work.

Some are critical of such a system, including Jim Romano, co-

chair of Access Copyright. Romano feels that the university is underestimating the time and money involved in setting up an independent system, and that it will soon find itself overwhelmed by the process. “I think they’re going to be hauled into court for copyright violation pretty quickly. They are in denial about what is covered by the licenses they own,” argued Romano.

The university is seeking to try to substantially reduce the existing royalty rate. Currently, the flat rate per student sits at $27.50, an increase from a prior rate of $3.38. When asked about the increase, Romano said that, with the implementation of online sources, fees were bound to go up. He explained that while most of the material a history student would be using is in the free domain, the numerous course packages for a student in the dentistry program are not. “What is free and what is not? What is fair use and what is not? That is the question,” said Romano. “Various people, such as Ariel Katz, are demanding a very broad interpretation, and people who own copyright are saying ‘hey, that’s way too broad.’”

Katz is a professor in U of T’s law faculty, and has long advocated for the removal of Access Copyright in favor of a university run system. He referred to the Copyright Modernization Act that came into effect in July 2012 after a ruling by the Supreme Court, placing a significant amount of material under the label of fair dealing, and making Access Copyright’s current roy-

Journals at Robarts library. FILE PHOTO: CArOLyn LEvETT/THE vArsITy

alty tax unfair in the opinion of many institutions.

The utsu is also against the university continuing a relationship with Access Copyright. Agnes So, vice-president, university affairs for the union, explained what it would like to see come out of the negotiations: “The utsu would like the University to develop a Copyright Office for students, similar to the University of British Columbia.

There should be no additional licensing fees for access to materials for educational services, as spelled out in the Copyright Act,” said So. She also listed the $26 students would save if the university was to choose this model, going forward.

Romano feels that the utsu and other student unions across the

country are misguided when it comes to their understanding of copyright. “Well, student unions believe they can find open sources that will replace all this stuff, and to some degree you can,” said Romano. He then went on to explain that the corporations providing and promoting the open sources have their own agendas, citing Google as a prime example. “I think they will find there is a price attached very very quickly to these open source documents. Though the price may not include the price of a book.”

Regehr explained in broad terms what the university plans to do if negotiations with Access Copyright are unsuccessful, citing library acquisitions, licenses

of various kinds, and open access materials as resources available to the university and its faculty.

She also mentioned the Copyright Act’s “fair dealing” provisions and other statutory permissions that do not require additional payments to rights holders. “As a long-term strategy, the university continues to enhance our copyright compliance capacity through a number of mechanisms, and we are continuing to educate all instructors about how to use copyrighted materials efficiently and lawfully,” said Regehr.

Negotiations between Access Copyright and the university are due to come to a close by the first week of December, at the latest.

With files from Tanya Rogova.

David Miller talks environment, city-building Former mayor of Toronto comes to campus Ilona Kabanova VARSITY STAFF

The Cities Centre at the University of Toronto hosted David Miller as the key speaker in its ongoing Justice in Toronto series, and looks at how the City of Toronto can address issues of race, housing, education, employment, and the environment in a more just manner. The series’ website states: “it is unjust to the extent that some undeservedly enjoy more opportunities than others or where some unfairly avoid facing common urban problems.”

Miller spoke alongside Ingrid Stefanovic, a professor in the philosophy department and a founding director of U of T’s Centre for Environment, in a lecture called Environmental Justice in Toronto.

The lecture began with a short introduction by Stefanovic, who is also an author of The Natural City: Re-envisioning the Built En-

vironment. She outlined what environmental justice is, and how it can be addressed in the City of Toronto. In her opening remarks, Stefanovic stressed the need for a balance between economic development and socioeconomic and environmental justice.

Miller, who has long been a champion of environmental issues, discussed how the City of Toronto can solve issues of environmental injustice. “Mayors can be great leaders, and mayors are responsible for the effects of the climate change on their cities,” said Miller, speaking about two of his initiatives as the mayor of the city. The first was to address the problems in parts of the cities where there were significant challenges in terms of low public investment and incomes of the residents. The second was his proposed Transit City system of rapid transit.

Miller stated that the debate over the transit network needs to end and to “just build it.”

Miller praised U of T’s efforts to promote environmental sustainability, making special note of the Scarborough campus: “utsc in particular has been really good at addressing environmental values as to how to build their campus and how it relates to the nature and how sustainable the buildings are. The St. George campus has the opportunity to show the same kind of leadership in terms of city building.”

Miller said that, during his tenure as mayor, he had a strong working relationship with U of T president David Naylor. Naylor had a “positive attitude towards working with the city, which is not always the case,” said Miller. He was critical of U of T’s approach in the past, characterizing it as uncooperative and stubborn.

Miller said that, when it comes to city building, there needs to be cooperation between the city and the university, adding: “Even though the university is an important institution, there are design and density issues that the city has to address.”

David Miller addresses the crowd. CArOLyn LEvETT/THE vArsITy

Miller served as the sixty-third mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010, and went on to become the advisor on urban issues for the

World Bank in 2011. He is currently the president and ceo of wwf-Canada, the Canadian chapter of the World Wildlife Fund.

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VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

news@thevarsity.ca

Final hearing on proposed 24-storey residence begins University, developer clash with City, local residents Liza Agrba

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Knightstone Capital Management private development company is in the process of an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (omb) over the building of a 24-storey, privately run residence for U of T students. The proposed site for the residence is the southeast corner of College Street and Spadina Avenue. Knightstone stands against the City of Toronto, as well as a number of local residents and residents’ associations. The proposal has been a source of tension between the university and residents’ associations for years.

In 2010, Knightstone proposed a 42-storey residence. It scaled the plan back to 24 storeys in response to local opposition that emerged following a series of meetings between Knightstone and opposed parties. Toronto City Council rejected the 24-storey proposal in 2012, resulting in the current appeal.

All parties agree that the key issue in this hearing is the degree of intensification (increase in population density) appropriate for the proposed site at 245–255 College Street and 39 and 40 Glasgow Street.

Knightstone, the City of Toronto, and the residents provided evidence from expert witnesses, including architects and urban planners, over the first half of the 10-day hearing, which began Monday November 18.

The City and residents’ associations (including the Grange Community Association, the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, the Annex Residents’ Association, and the Huron Sussex Residents’ Association) argue that the proposed building would not fit in with the rest of the neighbourhood. They claim that the building’s height and density will overshadow the low-rise neighbourhood to the south.

“It is our view that this proposal, as it is, will lead to the destabiliza-

tion of College Street, Spadina Avenue, and, more particularly, the neighbourhood to the south,” said Ceta Ramkhalawansinghin, honorary president of the Grange Community Association, in an opening statement on behalf of residents and residents’ associations.

However, Knightstone argues that the building was carefully designed to suit its physical context, as well as the City’s larger development goals for College Street and surrounding areas.

“I would be the first one to say that intensification is not a trump card,” said David Bronskill, an attorney for Knightstone. He maintained that the proposal is for a high-quality, architecturally distinguished residence, in line with an increased need for student housing.

The building would consist of apartment-style residences, with individual bedrooms for each student — typically with one washroom per two bedrooms, and limited kitchen space. The building would feature amenities including a full-service dining area, laundry, study, and lounge spaces, as well as retail space on the ground floor.

“I agree with Mr. Bronskill that intensification in and of itself is not a trump card: it’s not a mantra,” said Ray Kallio, attorney for the City. “What we will be asking at the end of the day is that all appeals be dismissed. We don’t need a monument to this perceived need for student housing. Everything can be done in balance, and we will try to prove that it is not being so done.”

U of T supports the development proposal. Althea Blackburn-Evans, acting director of News & Media Relations, said that the proposal addresses a growing need for student housing. She added that the university’s lease agreement with Knightstone states that the land can only be developed as a student residence. Blackburn-Evans said that the university provided ample opportunities for the local community to address its concerns with the developer.

“We find it regrettable that this project had to go all the way to the

NaNcy ji/THe VarsiTy

Ontario Municipal Board since we believe there were many opportunities for the parties to find an agreement,” she said. utsu president Munib Sajjad is strongly opposed to the development, citing safety and accountability concerns. He said that the residence will be open to people outside the university, which he argues would impact the safety

of students living there. Sajjad said the utsu was told that the residence may target international students. He claimed this would make little sense as international students already pay triple the tuition fees of domestic students.

“We think that the university rushed in to this agreement.

Knightstone does not seem to have

any experience with student housing; they are a property manager for commercial businesses,” said Sajjad. “Residence associations in the area agree that this is essentially a private corporation attempting to profit off students.”

The hearing will conclude on Friday, November 27.

With files from Alessandra Harkness

“AGM” CONTINUED FROM COVER tions on the 2013 agm — such as the vote on the utsu complying with the Canada not-for-profit corporations act — are not appropriate for the agm. The student body was not consulted about these changes and information was not provided as to what it will mean if the motion is adopted.

“Effectively, we are expected to vote on something that we know nothing about. This motion expects that students will act as a rubber stamp, in the midst of summit discussions. I would vote wholeheartedly against the approval of the agenda — if I had a choice,” said Savic.

While the utsu has limited the ability of students to shut down the agm as they did last year, Vigneswara says that will not stop students from speaking their minds.

The utsu agm is scheduled for November 27 at 6:00 pm.

“I am deeply concerned by the change in procedure, considering the complete lack of transparency from the UTSU with respect to any sort of justification for this move.”

— Jelena Savic, president, VUSAC

UTSU building surrounded by freshly fallen snow. File PHoTo: BerNarDa GosPic/THe VarsiTy

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

7

VUSAC holds second annual AGM Annual General Meeting covers fee diversion, voting reform Anthony Marchese VARSITY STAFF

The Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (vusac) held its second Annual General Meeting (agm) on Friday, November 22. The meeting was part of an ongoing process to make vusac more open to Victoria students. Though the meeting was well attended, this was partially because attendance was mandatory for leaders of Victoria’s student levies and clubs.

A large portion of the agenda was devoted to an update on the ongoing Student Societies Summit between the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) and other student societies. No one on the utsu Executive attended the agm. Jelena Savic, vusac president, updated students on the discussions on electoral reform and other topics.

“We’ve come down to a consensus on some things, but when we get down to the nitty-gritty about student governance, we don’t agree...

Every student society agrees on everything — which is a miracle — but the only one with severe objections is the utsu,” said Savic.

Last March, 61 per cent of Victoria voters cast ballots in favour of fee diversion, yet failed to reach required turnout for a binding decision. Zack Medow, vice-president, external of vusac, reflected on the summit and Victoria’s position on fee diversion: “Instead of having to do something radical, like fee diversion, the University has gotten involved, and the table has opened to change the structure... Fee diversion is less the goal than the last resort.”

Students were largely supportive of vusac’s efforts at the summit and the future of student governance at Victoria and U of T. David Kitai, assistant chief returning officer of vusac argued that vusac “can act as a mediating body, without that vested hatred in the utsu that you might find with Trinity or Engineering.”

“The way I see it, it’s the utsu’s dragging of its feet that is holding us back. I genuinely think that if the utsu is willing to compromise, I would be very happy to remain in the utsu,” said Kitai.

Other issues addressed at the agm included possible changes on the representative structure at Victoria, including a new Board of Directors. No specific details on

Students vote at VUSAC AGM. SADiA AWAN/THE VARSiTy

membership or elections were given. Despite this, a binding motion was approved for vusac to hold an open meeting on representative structures, including the Board of Directors by the end of January. First-year Stephen Warner criticized the Board of Directors: “I’ve been confused as hell about

how student government works at Vic. Adding another layer of government isn’t best and won’t solve the issue. We should streamline what we’ve got.”

Voting reform was also discussed, with members approving a binding motion on vusac to investigate the use of alterna-

tive, ranked voting. Savic highlighted the importance of voting reform, saying that, “There is a clear democratic deficit with the current system, so to address that in whatever way we see fit with student input in the discussion is going to be an absolutely amazing achievement for this year.”

Great Barrier Hunt highlights accessibility problems Students for Barrier-free Access urges university to fix issues discovered in scavenger hunt James Flynn

VARSITY STAFF

On Monday, November 18, 20 University of Toronto students participated in the second annual Great Barrier Hunt. The event, organized by Students for Barrier-free Access (sba) and the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students (apus), aims to raise awareness of accessibility issues on campus. Using the format of a scavenger hunt, participants perform an accessibility audit of U of T buildings.

Participants audited the Sandford Fleming building, the 21 Sussex Clubhouse, University College, and the North Borden Building.

According to Kriya Siewrattan, apus secretary, the goal of the event “was to get participants to think broadly about accessibility — considering everything from limited mobility, to vision, to gender, to dietary accommodations, to religious observances and more.”

Aisha Raja, centre director for sba, noted: “Something that many students encountered during the hunt and brought up over and over again is the lack of proper signage. There’s no standard for signage. Every building follows its own rules. Some have really small, hard to read signs and [do] not [have] clear instruc-

Sid Smith main entrance is inaccessible, argues Great Barrier Hunt organizers. MAX STERN/THE VARSiTy

tions.” Raja cited North Borden as an example of a building with improper signage.

According to Siewrattan, the university is not fulfilling its obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The university currently relies on “user-based identification of barriers and user-initiated strategies for accommodation,” she noted.

Siewrattan alleges that this approach means that accessibility issues can go uncorrected for long periods of time. For example, Sidney Smith Hall, one of the busiest buildings on campus, does not have a wheelchair ramp at its main entrance on St. George Street.

Yolen Bollo-Kamara, vice-president, equity of the University of Toronto Students’ Union, also ex-

pressed concern over the university’s current approach. “Often, accessibility issues are addressed after students are already in crisis or have been denied equity in access,” she said.

At the university, most accessibility issues are addressed through Accessibility Services.

Accessibility Services provides students with a number of ser-

vices, including test and exam accommodations. The University’s Office of Space Management (osm) works with Accessibility Services to address physical accessibility needs, such as elevators and power door openers.

The osm and Accessibility Servcies were contacted for this article. Both suggested contacting the other organization and declined comment themselves.

Bollo-Kamara believes that the university’s slow response time is largely the result of underfunded programs. “There needs to be more funding for Accessibility Services and Counselling and Psychological Services (caps) in particular, so we can expand their reach,” she noted.

According to Siewrattan, building accessibility issues usually have simple fixes. “A simple change could include more campus maps, elevators that announce floors, braille on signs, single-stalled washrooms, better lighting, [and] powered doors,” she said.

Raja agrees. “I think the university has begun to undertake many important projects to begin addressing accessibility needs,” he noted, “but there still is much work that needs to be done.” Raja cited the Athletic Centre as an example of a building with a high standard for accessibility.

Both apus and sba plan to run the event again next year.

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VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

news@thevarsity.ca

The unexpected costs of graduation Gown rental, diploma frame can cost hundreds Emma Compeau VARSITY STAff

For U of T’s graduating students, there is at least one more fee standing between them and their convocation. The cost of graduating is something most students don’t consider in their financial plan for university, and can be an unfriendly surprise for graduates.

In order to walk across the stage at convocation, U of T requires that all graduates be outfitted in a gown provided by Gaspard, a company which specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of academic regalia.

According to Terry Johnston, assistant director at the Office of Convocation, gown rental is currently $45 for both a hood and gown day rental, if ordered previously online.

If not pre-ordered , the gown costs $75 on-site on the day of convocation. If the gowns are not returned immediately after the ceremony students are charged the full price of a take-home gown. Regalia costs at U of T are among the most expensive of all Ontario universities, where the cost of pre-ordered gowns range from $25–$45.

For years, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) offered a not-for-profit regalia rental service to students at the cost of $10 for gowns and $5 for hoods.

Students were not required to order these items if they had alternate access to them.

Six years ago, U of T decided to take over the administration of rentals making them mandatory for students participating in convocation. The utsu put in a contract bid to provide these services but was not selected by U of T. Last year the published a report on university fees outside of tuition costs, which resulted in the university ceasing to charge students some fees that are banned under provincial guidelines. The ongoing investigation has highlighted some high — and in some cases, illegal, fees surrounding graduation — including regalia rentals and transcripts.

Another issue related to graduate students is the Balance Degree Fee — a minimum cost which must be paid by students in certain departments to complete their degrees. The university states that the length of the program, as defined by the graduate unit into which a student is admitted, determines the minimum total academic fee that a student must pay prior to graduation. This results in many students who complete their degree requirements early being forced to pay an additional cost to graduate. If a student has paid more than the full-time fee due to the time taken to complete the degree requirements, there will be no refund of fees. Students who have had their diplomas withheld due to outstanding fees must also pay an additional fee to receive them after graduation. utsu vice-president, equity, Yolen Bollo-Kamara, spoke on behalf of the union, stating: “Tuition fees at the University of Toronto are among the very highest in Canada, and it is disappointing that the university uses excessive, unfair ancillary fees as a backdoor tuition fee increase.” Bollo-Kamara added: “It’s unfortunate that even as students are leaving the university, after paying in excess of $28,000 in total for their degree, they are being solicited to pay high prices to celebrate their academic achievements.”

There are many other optional costs that graduating students may choose to partake in, such as purchasing diploma frames which are available through the U of T Bookstore and are sold at convocation plaza during ceremonies. These frames range in price from $36 to $285. A certification of degree can be printed out on a letterhead containing the name of record, degree conferred, and date of graduation at a cost of $20 per certificate.

Having one’s diploma delivered costs up to $70 extra for international destinations, while having a diploma replaced will cost $80.

Transcripts of academic history are available on rosi at a cost of $10 per transcript. If friends and family

BY THE NUMBERS $45 in advance, $75 on site U of T $45 in advance, $60 on site WESTERN $35 in advance, $50 on site QUEENS $25 on site only LAURIER $25 online only GUELPH choose to drive to see their loved one graduate, they must pay an average of $15 for parking on campus as outlined by the university’s campus parking report.

Immediately following convocation, U of T offers a host of services and activities held under the marquee. Few of these activities are free of charge — most of the options for students and their families involve ways for them to financially commemorate their special day. These services include convocation café, where snacks and refreshments are available through U of T’s food services; the purchase of flower arrangements, made available exclusively through Convocation Flowers; the purchase of gifts from a mini-bookstore located within the marquee; and a special photo backdrop and video corner where grads can order visual memories of their special day.

Caleigh Lusk, who graduated from U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science in 2012 was bothered by the cost, stating: “At convocation, everyone had something with them or on them that said ‘University of Toronto’. It did seem very commercialized, but I guess that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be like. After five years at U of T, I’m used to this sort of thing.” Caitlin Embree,

julien balbontin/tHe Varsity

a recent graduate of the Rotman School of Business was less concerned, stating: “I didn’t feel a lot of pressure to buy anything other than a frame for my diploma.”

Students on campus in their graduating year, however, would like to see some of these fees absorbed into their tuition costs.

Tegan Stairs, a fifth year criminology student set to graduate next term, is unhappy with the addi-

tional cost of walking across the stage, stating “I wish that the university would incorporate the extra costs of convocation into their incidental fees. We pay so much in tuition already; can’t they give us this one break?” Johnston did not comment when asked why the university does not incorporate regalia and certification of degree costs into the anually collected undergraduate campus fees.

Asbestos abounds at Sid Smith U of T removing asbestos at Sidney Smith Hall, many buildings on campus still have insulator Aidan Slind

VARSITY ConTRIbuToR

On the walls throughout Sidney Smith Hall, one can find triangular yellow stickers marking the presence of asbestos in the ceilings above. Students on the geography- and psychology-dominated ground floor, however, may feel slightly more secure.

An asbestos removal (or “abatement” as it is properly known) began in room 612 on the morning of November 19. “I’m kind of annoyed they didn’t talk to us or give us any warning it was going to happen,” said Marc Acton, president of the U of T Undergraduate Geography Society, which has an office immediately beside the room currently being abated.

He was not alone in this grievance.

Three other rooms on the same floor were recently abated (504–506).

These rooms were once psychology laboratories and a graduate lounge for students of the psychology department. Students in the neighbouring undergraduate lounge said that they were at no point explicitly told that the process next door entailed asbestos removal.

“We weren’t even approached about removing it in this room,” said Daniel Jubas-Maltz, a psychology undergraduate. The wall of the department’s undergrad lounge sports one of the aforementioned yellow stickers.

Acton remarked that a group of geography graduate students became so upset with the noise caused by the removal work that

they approached the workers in room 612 and asked them to continue in a quieter manner.

However, Acton also said that he was confident that the process was perfectly safe. Indeed, the university will not re-open rooms 504–506 until favourable air samples are provided by Pinchin, a third party environmental consulting company.

“Essentially, this is part of a planned renovation and not uncommon in buildings of that age,” said Althea Blackburn-Evans, acting director of News and Media Relations at U of T. Rooms are completely sealed off during their abatements. Asbestos was commonly used insulation material when many of the older buildings on campus were being built, and is still present in many of them.

orange tarp marks work areas for asbestos removal. jenniFer su/tHe Varsity

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

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Kinky Crafts Week promotes DIY sex toys Sexual Education Centre organizes sessions throughout the week Alex Verman

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

From Monday, November 18 to Friday, November 22, the University of Toronto Sexual Education Centre (sec) and Hart House’s Get Crafty! program teamed up for Kinky Crafts Week — five days of volunteer-run sex education, handmade leather and lace accessories, and do-ityourself sex toys.

“It’s a base for people to have sex-positive discussions,” said sec’s Norah Wardell, sexual education coordinator-senior. “And also it’s really fun and a really positive way to get people to come and meet like-minded people, talk to each other, create something that they can take home.”

The event was organized by Wardell and Ola Skudlarska, sexual education coordinator-junior, to provide what they consider an accessible platform for exploring sexuality, and to create a more light-hearted fall event. “We usually do Sexual Awareness Week, which is in January, and we’re still doing that, but we wanted to do something else to round the year out,” Skudlarska said during Wednesday’s workshop on burlesque headdresses. She also stated that since sec has a whole new executive body this year they have been attempting more educational outreach.

According to Skudlarska, Kinky Crafts Week has been successful as an outreach project, attracting groups of people that have not in the past made use of the sec’s services and education. “We haven’t had necessarily a huge turnout, but we weren’t really expecting one. What we have had that’s really cool is that we’ve had people who don’t normally use our services coming, and people coming for multiple events and multiple days,” said Skudlarska. “Like we had a whole group of engineers come and decorate their lab coats, which I thought was super cool.”

Kinky Crafts is unusual for the sec in both its format as a week-long occasion and its lightness and fluidity. In the past, sec events have placed more emphasis on pre-

Kinky Craft Week participants make sex-themed toys. jennifer su/THe VArsiTy

senting educational material, while Kinky Crafts was designed to be a casual and accessible way to talk about and explore sexuality. Day Milman, program coordinator at Hart House and head of Get Crafty!, a weekly drop-in crafting session, was drawn to the event for that very reason. Milman said that inviting people to talk and complete an activity in a safe place is an excellent way to introduce the idea of self-empowerment and change.

Milman believes that the accessibility and low-risk nature of crafting is highly conducive to discussion, and others involved with Kinky Crafts agree with her.

Michelle Gauthier, who volunteered to instruct in craft making, showed off her sex-themed cross-stitches on Wednesday while noting how her crafting has helped people comfortably bring up the otherwise taboo topics of their bodies and sexuality.

“They feel like it’s private and they can’t talk about it,” she said of the subject of her crafts, “so it kind of opens up discussion.”

Both Hart House and the sec have been pleased with the event partnership, describing it as a perfect connection for both campus organizations.

NEWS IN BRIEF Universities compromising academic freedom for corporate interest: CAUT

U of T acquires letters of General Rich students benefit from tax Decertification petitions dominate discussion at CFS AGM system: report James Wolfe

Some Canadian universities have entered into agreements with corporations and other organizations to focus their research on matters relevant to their interests.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (caut) has acquired details about 12 such arrangements, which it will detail in a report to be released November 26.

The University of Alberta has begun a $13 million research program on the oil sands for which it has agreed to “focus on areas of strategic interest to Imperial Oil.” Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer Inc. has similarly entered into an agreement with the University of British Columbia, which has “bound” it to the company’s interests.

“What many of these universities have done in these partnerships is absolutely unacceptable,” stated James Turk, executive director of the caut, contending that the agreements compromise the independence of researchers and credibility of the universities.

The University of Toronto has purchased the letters of Major-General James Wolfe for $1.5 million. The newest acquisition to the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library contains 70 per cent of Wolfe’s correspondence, detailing his life up until his death at the battle of the Plains of Abraham, which led to Britain’s conquest of North America.

They total 233 letters written between the years 1740–1759. The letters were held by a British family since the death of Wolfe’s mother in 1764. Most of the funds for the purchase were provided by Helmhorst Investments, a Toronto-based company, with help from U of T Libraries and the Movable Cultural Property Directorate of Canadian Heritage.

British historians attempted to keep the letters in Britain, with the British culture minister imposing a two-month ban on the export of the letters. However, without a serious bidder from Britain coming forward, the approval to ship the letters to Canada came on September 30, 2013.

—Theodore Yan With files from Post Media News

—Sarah Niedoba With files from The Globe and Mail

A report from the C. D. Howe institue, a public policy think tank, recommends that education tax credits be made refundable regardless of income.

Under the current model, the children of the wealthy benefit disproportionately; tax credits, which are on average $2000, cannot be transferred year to year, and many students do not make sufficient money to benefit from the deductions. Even though education tax credits can be claimed by the parents of those in school, 42 per cent of tax credits are claimed by the 10 per cent of people who have incomes over $80,000.

The report also argues that resps help the children of the wealthy more than those of the poor. A family with three children will get $21,600 over 18 years from an RESP through matching government contributions.

However, the family needs to contribute $2,500 per child per year — a total of $7,500 — a sum many do not have.

The Annual National General Meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) in Ottawa this past weekend was dominated by the move by students on several campuses around the country to decertify their student unions from the federation.

Executives from the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill (pgss), Concordia Student Union (csu), and Dawson Student Union (dsu) bussed to Ottawa to protest outside the meeting on Saturday.

Petitions for the decertification of the Capilano Students’ Union, University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (gsu), and pgss were reported to have been accepted by the cfs national executive. A petition to remove cfs national chairperson Jessica McCormick was also accepted, but the motion failed to pass.

The meeting also highlighted lobbying wins claimed by the federation, including a single-application study/work permit for international students.

—Zane Schwartz With files from Yahoo News

— Murad Hemmadi

NEXT WEEK IN COMMENT

VAR.ST/COMMENT 25 NOVEMBER 2013 comment@thevarsity.ca

New U of T commercial shaping our reputation var.st/comment

Local institutions do more to renew independence post-disaster Effective disaster relief depends on cultural and social context on the ground

?

Ankit Bhardwaj

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda has killed more than 5,000 people and devastated the livelihoods of 13 million.

An overwhelming majority of those affected are traumatized, hungry, thirsty, hurt, and homeless.

This is an appeal to aid, but perhaps not a conventional one. I wish to convince you to donate to local agencies that I believe have more expertise, empathy, and long-term outlook to provide a more resilient post-disaster Philippines.

Relief is complicated. It carries political and methodological baggage. Non-governmental organizations (ngos) will be fighting on the field as to what, how, and to whom aid should be distributed. Cash or food? Women or men? Shelter or

medicine? With limited resources come hard decisions. "The choice is to use the same truck either to distribute food or collect bodies" said Tacloban's mayor, bleakly. There is no doubt that there is a need for resources and thus I will not discredit the efforts of larger agencies — such as the World Food Program, the un Refugee Agency, Oxfam and Red Cross/Crescent that are well-intentioned. But with relief, intentions are never enough.

Relief is contextual. Money rarely translates into what the donor intended, more importantly, beneficiaries are rarely provided with the aid they need. The social context into which foreign aid is introduced will determine how that aid is distributed. I witnessed this first-hand when I studied a post-cyclone relief effort in India. Cultural nature, political rivalries, ethno-religious

divisions, and economic stratifications are essential to understanding how to propagate a relief effort.

I am not Christian, but I would not think twice about donating to a smaller, Christian organization if they are effectively getting aid through to those in need. Aid comes first, not ideology.

International aid is rarely as effective as locally tailored aid. Local knowledge is essential to effectively providing aid. It can be as simple as knowing another route in case of traffic, or completely understanding what people's priorities are and how to deal with the various demographics. That is why I recommend donating to Filipino or regional agencies that have a robust local network. The Philippine Red Cross stands out, as do Citizens' Disaster Response Centre, the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management,

and Community and Family Service International. You can also donate directly to the government's Department of Social Welfare and Development — which, though facing criticism, is still one of the most effective agencies in the field.

Relief is human. Affected people always have pride, and if provided with the correct tools, they develop some agency. This is far from the conventional image of helpless, dejected, and submissive victims.

Even with their houses destroyed, these people rarely submit to begging, or discarded old T-shirts. Local agencies are usually more aware of this. Because they are inherently invested in the society around them, they do more to provide agency to the affected people.

Relief is never over. This current and essential relief effort will die down. International agencies

will pack up and leave when critical needs have been met; the initial crisis will have been averted, but the essential job of rebuilding livelihoods remains.

Post-disaster reconstruction efforts are achingly slow due to lack of funding, and international agencies rarely deal directly with these efforts, as there are no glamorous media-bites.

However, disasters due to climate change will only increase in frequency — we need to design our cities to be resilient, but also socially and environmentally appropriate, which can only done by locally aware agencies.

Donate locally; not only will these charities provide better and faster aid ,but they will also be there to do the serious rebuilding that comes after the big organizations leave.

Ankit Bhardwaj is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto

var.st/comment

VARSITY COMMENT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

11

STUDENT VOICES

Finding company for active minds Experience with deep depression leads to new friendships and opportunities on campus Chelsea Ricchio

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In high school, I was never the cool girl. However, I was blessed, for a while, to have a steady group of friends who I met in elementary school.

We all walked home from school together every day, until one day, when I was 15, I found that they had left without me. I had fallen in love with the leader of the pack, unbeknownst to him, and that was just not allowed. Their motivations are still a mystery to me, but from what I can infer, they did not want to deal with any potential drama that could arise. I had to be taught that there would be consequences for my actions, and consequences there were — two years and a turbulent relationship later, I found myself almost completely isolated.

I saw others with loving friends and significant others, and thought that because I no longer had those things, there must be something wrong with me. My anxiety and depression, already present, but subdued, grew out of this period. At this point, I never became suicidal or had a serious desire to self-harm, but many people faced with similar situations do. However, I was young and I still had a vague sense of hope that things might get better for me in university.

I had no better luck there. I had difficulty fitting in socially. Eventually, I reconnected with my old high school friends, who offered me hollow apologies. Many claimed they didn’t know how I felt. I accepted their apologies because I was lonely, and we truly did enjoy each other’s company. I still cared about them, and I believe that people can change.

But it wasn’t long before a similar situation happened again, and I decided to cut my losses.

Despite the decision being partially my own this time, the loss I felt was devastating — and now, four years later, the same old feelings came crashing down on me again. I was almost 21; this was no case of “typical high school bullying.” This was just my life.

I wondered if anyone would ever really love me, or if I was just doomed to repeat this disappointing cycle forever. I felt like there was a fence between me and the rest of the world, and like Ariel in The Little Mermaid, I wanted desperately to be part of that world. Over there, people had the friends and, more importantly, the love and acceptance that I so desperately desired.

At this point, I did become suicidal for a brief time. A lot of people think that if you suffer from depression, you must hate yourself, and for many people this is true. But by and large, I quite like myself. I think that I’m a great person and I am so angry at how the world has treated me that it makes me feel hopeless. Some days it takes everything I have just to get out of bed; other nights I can't sleep at all. All of my life, having a solid social circle had been a primary goal of mine, but the constant disappointment was becoming exhausting. If I could not achieve my dreams or have love in my life, I could not see a good reason to live. I no longer had the idealistic hope that things would change.

So I stopped trying, or at least, I stopped trying with the same people who rejected me over and over again. Sometimes the only person that I had to talk to was my counsellor, who worked for free because I couldn’t afford to pay her. But despite a couple of close calls, I carried on, because I found something new to put my passion and energy into: helping others. I knew that I was not the only person who felt this way, and I wanted to help others feel less alone too. This led me to look

Wendy gu/THe VArSiTy

into Active Minds, an organization that promotes mental health awareness at the student level. I am now the vice-president of U of T’s chapter, and planning our upcoming events gives me a reason to get up in the morning.

I want to include people, not exclude them, and help those who need a little bit of kindness in their days. My goal is to do that with Active Minds at U of T, and I strongly encourage anyone who struggles with mental health or just wants to learn more to

get involved. On Wednesday, November 27 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm in UC140, we will be hosting an event called “Speak Out! Students Talk Mental Health” featuring speeches from students on their experiences with mental health. If you would like to attend, please contact activemindsuoft@gmail.com.

Chelsea Ricchio is the vice-president of the U of T chapter of Active Minds, a group dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues on campus.

OP-ED

We are not cash cows

International students ought to have fair access to post-secondary education

Agnes So

UTSU VICe-PReSIdeNT UNIVeRSITY AffAIRS

In Jeffrey Schulman's recent piece in The Varsity ("International student fees ought to stay competitive," November 4, 2013) he made some statements that were ill-informed. As an international student, I am compelled to respond.

We often hear this argument: international students don’t pay taxes so they should not benefit from public funding. But international students do pay taxes and contribute to the economy. According to the federal government, international students contribute approximately $3 billion to the Ontario economy by working and paying income tax and sales taxes. Seventy per cent of us stay in Canada and continue to contribute to the economy after completing school.

In the early 1990s, tuition fees for domestic students and international students were equal, and international students were covered by Ontario Health Insurance Plan (ohip). We are now paying three times more than domestic students in tuition fees, and those benefits have been taken away from us, even though our peers in other provinces still receive medicare. We are required to pay into the University Health Insurance Plan (uhip), which is provided by a private, for-profit insurance company. Not every clinic or hospital even recognizes uhip. Imagine being an international student who requires immediate medical assistance and the closest accessible clinic requires you to pay out of pocket. If you do not have enough money, this experience can be truly terrifying and costly.

Recently, the Ontario government imposed a $750 fee to universities for each in-

ternational student, which was transferred to us in the form of tuition fees. Since our fees are deregulated, institutions can increase international tuition fees as much as they want in any given year.

Treating international students as cash cows to increase revenues is short-sighted.

It is not sustainable to expect international students’ fees to make up for government underfunding. Eventually, only international students who are able to pay high fees will be able to study at U of T. Those who are wellqualified but cannot afford it will be shut out.

This is a loss for our institution, the entire student body, and the pursuit of knowledge as a whole. We are not as competitive as other provinces and other countries whose international student fees are more affordable.

Though some of us are paying triple the amount that domestic students pay, there remains an antiquated xenophobic rule at the heart of one of U of T’s governing documents — international students are barred from running for seats on the Governing Council of U of T! Just like domestic students, we are paying more for less.

In conflict with his statement that international students should not benefit from tax dollars, Schulman concludes that the government should focus on international students rather than flat fees. This is not an either/or situation. I agree that the government should fund all students, including international students. I also strongly believe that students should not pay for five courses if they only take three.

International students should not be exploited as cash cows, and domestic students should not be exploited by paying for education they do not receive. A province that is constantly patting itself on the back for

UTSU vice-president, university affairs Agnes So. Jennifer Su/THe VArSiTy

how well the economy bounced back following the Great Recession should be able to work on both issues. The billions that have been wasted in scandal after scandal (billions that could have made education free for all of us!) show us that. Poorer countries are able to offer free education to both domestic and international students.

Schulman also fails to acknowledge other challenges that international students face when studying in Canada. We have to deal with the unfamiliarity of a new place, the distance from family and loved ones, and discrimination on the basis of citizenship status, race, and ethnicity. In conclusion, as an international student, I don’t think it’s helpful for domestic and international students to compete with each other for who deserves what. I be-

lieve post-secondary education should be affordable and accessible to all. Rather, we should provide a diverse learning experience and a unique sense of community.

Lack of provincial funding for education is the biggest challenge for all students.

International students should not be used as an alternative revenue source in order to make up for government inaction. International students should be recognized for our economic, social, and intellectual contributions. To continue these benefits, the government must make our education affordable, give us access to social supports like healthcare, and above all, support us. Do not use us as cash cows.

Agnes So is the vice-president, university affairs, of the University of Toronto Students' Union

12

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

VARSITY COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Time to go, Rob The mayor's scandal continues to tarnish the city's reputation Frank Weng

Elected office requires respect for the position and the powers that it entails. It requires those in public positions to engage in intelligent debate. It requires a respect for the law and those who serve it. It requires civility towards others and respect for other legislators.

Admittedly, the oath of office that the mayor swore when he assumed office does not reference these requirements, but I think they are widely assumed to be critical to the success of a democratic system. A strong argument can be made that an individual who was appointed but behaves respectfully, engages in intelligent debate, respects law, and acts with civility, is more of a democrat than someone who was elected but doesn’t display these characteristics.

Rob Ford performed well on the being-election criteria, but in the last six months he has failed miserably at living up to the obligations of a leader in a democratic system; he shows no sign of recognizing his shortcomings.

“I love saving taxpayers money,” said Ford, explaining why he won’t step down. It shows how out of his depth he is as mayor. It has nothing to do with personal behaviour; he doesn’t understand that the concerns of big city mayors extend beyond just saving money. It’s probably what made him a good council member and a horrible mayor.

The media has portrayed the mayor as the laughing stock of Toronto and of the world. With

Ann SHeng/THe VARSiTy

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

a history of violating the code of conduct, allegations and later confessions of illegal drug use, the use of vulgar and unthoughtful comments, and the accusations of association with gang members all show Ford’s poor character.

But does that give legitimacy for

the Council to strip Ford of his powers? No. The Council has legitimate grounds if Ford is convicted as a criminal. However, there has been no official court ruling that Ford is guilty of the recent allegations.

The only reason that Ford had

his mayoral power stripped is because he sets new, inconceivable, lows daily, and that is troubling to Torontonians and Canadians.

In other words, Torontonians have voiced their frustration and given their representatives the mandate to act. The result is the

special meetings of the past three days, where Ford was stripped of some powers. For instance, Ford has been stripped of his mayoral budget, has lost most of his staff, has lost the capacity to appoint members of the city's executive committee, and cannot fire the deputy mayor.

The problem is that he is still mayor in title. That means he is still a representative of Toronto, and removing his powers does not address the key issue of his lack of judgment and poor character.

Thus, he can continue to be the laughing stock of Toronto and Canada. Stripping him of his powers is ineffective in this regard.

Furthermore, the stripping of his powers is unjust. Mr. Ford was elected mayor by the citizens of Toronto. There is no evidence to suggest that councillors acted on the will of the majority of constituents who wished him gone.

Everything was happening too fast to calculate. The decision of councillors on whether to remove him was likely a political game.

Associating with Ford could be incriminating. Remove Ford's powers, and he becomes harmless to the politicians regardless of what nonsense he does.

Let Rob Ford be a reminder of the need for serious consideration when casting ballots, and of the importance of expecting more than simple promises when selecting candidates. Ford has set a new low for Toronto and only a fresh election can correct that wrong.

Frank Weng is a fourth-year student studying political science and history.

Premiers agree the CPP needs to be expanded A coordinated, collective agreement between provinces is necessary Yves Guillaume A. Messy VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

On November 15, Canada’s provincial premiers met to address the country’s most urgent public finance priorities: foreign direct investment, the Canada Job Grant’s viability, and the thorny topic of pension reform. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne urged her colleagues to avoid the impending fiscal iceberg that is Canada’s pensions and retirement saving deficit.

The current dialogue emphasizes brainstorming potential pension reform options for individual provinces. The federal and provincial governments should agree on terms for the incremental expansion of the Canada Pension Plan (ccp). Failure to do this will either worsen already dire imbalances in the intergenerational economic compact, or it will guarantee the move to an even more complex, bloated, and stagnant pensions system.

A bit of context: Canadians are not saving nearly enough, they are set to live longer than ever, and the cost of living is rising in tandem. At the same time, the federal retirement and pensions system is still legally committed to providing a minimum preretirement income in old age — a key

element in many Orgination of Economically Developed Coutries (oecd) nation's social compacts.

But as income inequality rises federally, and with baby boomer retirees set to retire en masse, this minimum is thinning, leaving droves of young people at a loss for an affordable pension supplement. Contrary to what most young adults and university students believe, the pension crisis is not just about older people’s old age pension, today’s 20-somethings stand to lose a substantial portion of theirs unless this is rectified. In the meantime, old age poverty and homelessness rates are on the rise, as a direct consequence of this inequity.

The federal government, under Conservative leadership, cannot be relied upon to suggest anything more than encouraging words, and the usual mantra of private initiative, to remediate an essential government responsibility that has gone unfulfilled. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recognizes the importance of this looming pensions gap, but he prefers to avoid another recession by crippling middle income-range Canadian household’s pensions in order to boost the economy.

Evidence linking the absence of adequate pension provisions to radical increases in foreign direct investment

is currently lacking, pointing to a political argument for inaction rather than an economic one.

Along the same lines, the premiers agree that the ccp should be expanded — the majority of Canadians’ opinion at the time of writing — but the Harper administration feels that fixing this structural economic problem might endanger Canada’s gdp growth prospects. The federal government’s unresponsiveness to the urgent pension crisis is thus largely political, likely linked to the upcoming elections in 2015.

At the end of the 2013 Council of Federations meeting, there was widespread agreement that reforming the ccp is a priority, but the federal government’s argument struck a few notes. Alberta and New Brunswick’s premiers are not urgently considering pension reform, while the remaining provinces either have voluntary alternatives, or are actively supporting ccp’s enhancement.

More pension and retirement savings plans at both federal and provincial levels will complicate Canadians’ retirement options. It will muddy the regulatory waters around exact rules for business owners and employers' retirement saving bill. It is sure to divide provinces in their stance on pension reform, just as it gives the

Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne was present at the CPP discussion. PAUL SCHReiBeR/FLiCKR

bulk of the reform leadership to its federal detractor.

The simplest solution is to coordinate between provincial and federal actors in order to agree on expanding the ccp’s. This would provide a clear message that the federal government is keen to prevent substantial imbalances from creating structural problems in Canada’s labour market, or in its social security system. The best solution to highly complex problems is often the simplest one. A collective agreement to coordinate saving between provinces to ensure federal-lev-

el balance would be best. Indeed, if we must redefine the social compact on pensions and pre-retirement savings, why not be proactive and cooperative about it? The alternative is sure to confuse foreign investors, impoverish the aging baby-boomer demographic, and guarantees structural imbalances within Canada’s workforce. Let’s not reach that tipping point.

Yves Guillaume is in his final year of a specialist in political science.

He is a political commentator on CTV National News.

Editorial

25 NOVEMBER 2013 editorial@thevarsity.ca

STUDENT SOCIETIES SUMMIT

Summit opportunity wasted thus far Disputes between the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) and dissatisfied constituent student groups have been chronic at this university for almost a decade. Back issues of this publication often make for depressing reading, as we see the same unresolved issues being brought up and, year after year, distracting from more pressing concerns that are recognized by students on all sides.

Struggles over electoral reform, salaries, the transparency and responsiveness of the union's governance structure, and some of the union's advocacy efforts and priorities, among other issues, are nothing new. These disputes continue to divert politically active students' time and energy away from addressing problems such as the university's lack of student housing and student space, the rising cost of education, the decreasing quality of education, unfair and illegal fees, equity, accessibility, mental health resources, and more.

With the ongoing controversy concerning fee diversion, these disputes have reached unprecedented levels of intensity and complexity. In the past, the administration has been satisfied to monitor the situation and let student leaders fight it out among themselves. That the university has now taken steps to force all student societies into negotiations shows that it recognizes that something has to change.

Dissatisfied divisional societies are tired of paying for a union they do not support, and must also be tired of fighting for fee diversion. The union must be frustrated by having its claim to represent all undergraduates weakened by internal disputes, and by the amount of time and energy union staff and executives spend managing these problems. Other student societies, including those divisions not pursing fee diversion, must be tired of having campus discourse dominated by these controversies, rather than focusing on the goals articulated by their members. Most importantly, we have to recognize the very large number of students who are turned off student politics altogether, and whose voices are rarely heard.

To top it all off, the university has delayed the multi-million dollar Student Commons project until the fee diversion issue is resolved, so every stakeholder will benefit from resolving this interminable controversy. The Student Societies Summit presents an ideal opportunity to work towards settling disputes. Yet, as meetings of the summit continue, it is becoming increasingly clear that the posturing of both the union and certain divisional societies is contributing to a frustrating lack of progress.

The Trinity College Meeting (tcm), Engineering Society (EngSoc), and Victoria College Students' Administrative Council (vusac) are all maintaining their stances on fee diversion from the utsu, while the union maintains that these divisions' referenda on the subject were illegitimate.

Fee diversion need not prevent substantive discussion of governance structures, a topic that the summit seeks to address. No one should expect a quick resolution; these are complicated and long-standing issues. Yet, we cannot expect any resolution at all if neither side is willing to compromise.

Leaders of those divisions seeking fee diversion have said that the democratic will of their constituents, as expressed in the referenda, constrain them to pursue fee diversion and make it impossible for them to consider any other resolution. This seems logical, but if these leaders were truly open to compromise, there is a simple alternative. Any compromise resolution negotiated at the summit could be put to their membership in a new referendum and either ratified or rejected. Although former U of T president David Naylor said last year’s referenda have no expiration date, this does not mean that they bind the leaders of these divisions to pursue fee diversion indefinitely.

This is an excuse and a roadblock, rather than a real obstacle.

Historically, these divisions have always said that they would prefer to see the utsu reformed, and that they are now trying to leave the union because they do not believe reform is possible. Yet, through the summit, changes to the union’s structure and to student governance are possible. Although decisions aren't binding, they will influence Governing Council. Statements made this week by student leaders at Victoria show an encouraging willingness to move forward and treat fee diversion as a last resort.

For its part, the utsu must stop pretending that the grievances of dissatisfied students are something new. It is preposterous to feign surprise at complaints about elections and governance structure that have been well-known on campus for nearly a decade. The union must also show that it takes the summit seriously. utsu president Munib Sajjad remains noticeably absent from these meetings. If the utsu was taking the summit seriously, it would send its president — as every other participating division has.

On November 15, the Innis College Students’ Society (icss) submitted a letter to the summit, criticizing the utsu's involvement in the summit and calling on Sajjad to attend. It is telling that the icss has expressed this frustration, since it historically has not been involved in opposition movements, and has remained silent throughout the current governance debacle. Making an exception to the summit's rules to allow Sajjad to attend will certainly further the summit's overall goals.

The union must realize that its ability to represent and advocate for its membership as a whole is being eroded by this ongoing dispute. Important bodies — such as the university administration and the provincial government — no longer seem confident in the utsu’s representation of the university's students and have started to consult with divisional leaders directly.

This week, at the utsu's Annual General Meeting (agm), another important issue may be sidetracked by these disputes. Last year's meeting came to an abrupt end when members present voted against the agenda. Opposition leaders are not unreasonably frustrated by the union's decison to not include "Approval of the Agenda" on the agenda for this year's meeting. They are also keen to protest the absence of motions concerning fee-diversion submitted by utsu board member and former EngSoc vice-president Pierre Harfouche.

There has been some suggestion that in order to protest the absence of agenda approval, students opposed to the union might vote down other motions. Such motions include one which will amend the union’s bylaws to comply with the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act — which, if it fails to pass, could lead to serious legal and financial ramifications for the utsu. Student leaders who feel that they have a mandate from their divisions to pursue fee diversion are free to argue at the agm. However, a word of caution is warranted here: voting down the compliance motion would demonstrate a serious disregard for students in other divisions by imperiling the union's ability to serve its members in all divisions, including those not pursing fee diversion.

This publication cannot prescribe the outcome of the summit; that is the responsibility of elected student leaders.

There are, however, some areas that any solution must address. First, there must be an arrangement to share fees and responsibilities between the union and divisional societies. The university has rightly pointed out that there are many examples of federal funding and power-sharing arrangements that could be replicated. The university has also provided experts in the field to help craft a model that will both accommodate divisional interests and keep the benefits of a cohesive union. Second, the union must make changes to its governance and elections that will make the organization more responsive and accountable, as well as give students confidence that their union is fair, representative, and democratic.

The Student Societies Summit is an unprecedented opportunity to fix student governance at U of T and free our campus from the disputes that have poisoned student politics for far too long. Right now, this opportunity is being squandered by the lack of serious commitment from some student leaders; if the summit is to be more than a forum for institutionalized bickering, this must change.

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

NaNcy ji /thEVaRsity

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR Vol. CXXXIV, No. 10 | November 18, 2013 Re: Metropasses and granola bars The last line of the haiku about Bloor station has six syllables. Excellent analysis of commuter culture, although don't you think that some of your advice goes against its purpose of improving one's daily commute? For example, wouldn't a friendly smile from a stranger be a little nicer than a complete lack of eye contact on the subway?

— anonymous (from web) Re: Album Review: ARTPOP by Lady Gaga Seriously? This is the strangest review of artpop I've read so far.

What do you want her to do? Sing Christmas carols and knit a sweater? If you don't get it that's fine. But to say the cd is overshadowed by racist remarks is idiotic.

— Paul Toronto (from web) In response to Paul Toronto: I don't think it's "idiotic" to call Lady Gaga out on her racism on this album. All her other albums have been amazing — they've been quality and creative without being offensive. For someone as well-known and influential as Lady Gaga to be able to get away with such atrocious lyrics this publicly is more of a commentary on how normalized racism has become.

— Disappointed Gaga Fan (from web)

Re: Lack of interest in science is hurting the economy There is a definite solution to this problem: make stem subjects mandatory. Grade 11 and 12 students get to pick there own subjects, how does that make sense? Make a core of subjects mandatory and let students pick options to fill out their programs.

— CanadaLoanSearch (from web) Re: Shaun Shepherd steals Trinity College Symbol Wait, so Trin kids want to complain about disrespecting property while they wander around campus to tell everyone how much better they think they are? Well, it looks like the poor little rich kids can't take it when a prank is turned on them. Besides, pissing on a building or egging something are actually disgusting and cost time and money to clean up. They just lost a costume hat.

— James (from web) In response to James: You can complain about Trin — but you can't assume that Trin kids are "rich kids." Anyone can apply, and a variety of people get accepted.

It's not like Trin asks for an income statement before they accept their students.

— Shaan (from web)

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

Between the panels

by Danielle Klein

A comprehensive guide to comics on campus and in Toronto, featuring original works by student artists at U of T The word “comics” today carries a very different meaning than it did just a few decades ago.

Once a genre dominated by white, male superheroes playing out an extreme manifestation of the American dream, today the world of comics connotes a culture that spans far beyond the traditional comics of the past to include heavily detailed, literary graphic novels, and new canons of serialized comics such as manga.

Themes in comic books have become modern, dark, and intellectual; comic book art has become increasingly sophisticated.

Recognizing the value of comics as a literary medium, U of T offers many courses in graphic novels — including the popular survey course, The Graphic Novel, taught in the Department of English by Andrew Lesk. The School of Continuing Studies offers a course called Creating Comics and Graphic Novels, which can be counted towards a certificate in Creative Writing. The department of religion offered a course two years ago called Jewish Comics and Graphic Novels.

In The Graphic Novel, students read a selection of modern graphic novels, and learn about the “architecture” of comics — interrogating how the various elements on the page work together, such as panels, gutters, the art, the text, and so on.

The culture surrounding comics, therefore, is largely academic; students probe the artistic, literary, and cultural meaning of comics in classroom settings. In Toronto, however, comics and graphic novels are part of a larger geek culture that is enlivened by passionate fans, longstanding comic book stores that post their regularly updated merchandise online, and events such as Fan Expo and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

This fan approach to comics is reflected on campus not just by students donning T-shirts expressing their allegiance to various superheroes and comics figures, but also by the formation of small communities around comics, graphic novels, and the collaborative creation of sequential art.

22 Pages is a U of T comic books club that promotes discussion of the comics medium and seeks to pair together the creative abilities of aspiring comic book writers and artists. Alex Correa, founder of 22 Pages, notes that the club is more of a community for discussion than creation: “The majority of our member [sic] prefer reading and discussing comics as opposed to creating, although we do have a handful who do.”

Correa hopes to shift that tendency in the next semester by offering new programming, oriented towards inspiring creators: “The most exciting thing we have planned for early 2014 are workshops and seminars for hopeful writers and artists. We hope to bring creators together so that they can have the means to create the story that they’ve always wanted.”

While Correa is skeptical of the uniqueness of the broader comics community in Toronto, he does think that the city serves the niche of independent creators well: “…Toronto does its best to shine a spotlight on independent creators by way of festivals like Canzine and, of course, [the] Toronto Comic Arts Festival.”

Toronto is home to many beloved comic book stores, some of which are near campus, such as Labyrinth on Bloor and the internationally famous The Beguiling in Mirvish Village. These shops have supported underground comics and allowed for innovative, recent graphic novels to reach Toronto and gain popularity. Various festivals and events in the city, such as Fan Expo, have pushed this momentum forward.

As the medium of comics and graphic novels expands in exciting and innovative ways, the niche culture that surrounds it also grows — slowly bringing the underground comics that once represented an outcast subculture into the mainstream literary realm. The diversity of Toronto allows for this evolving medium to thrive in the city, serving fans and creators across a broad spectrum of interests and genres.

Arnold Yung/The Varsity

Alicia Robinson/The Varsity

Getting your comic fix in the city SHOPS

CONVENTIONS

OTHER SPOTS

1. The Beguiling

1. Anime North

1. Scott Pilgrim Landmarks

601 Markham St.

650 Dixon Rd.

Various

Located in Mirvish Village, The Beguiling is an independent comics retailer that has made a name for itself through the sales of international and indie comics.

Held in late May at the Metro Convention centre, this fan-run festival features a flea market, programming, and more cosplay than one can imagine.

For fans of Brian Lee O’Malley’s ode to Toronto and young love, all of the locations in Scott Pilgrim are easily accessible by transit or foot.

2. Hairy Tarantula

2. CanZine

2. U of T School of Continuing Studies

354 Yonge St. and 6979 Yonge St.

918 Bathurst St.

58 St. George St.

A quickly growing shop, Hairy Trantula focuses less on comics and more on all things geeky. It recently launched a “creatororner” where customers can display art

Organized by Broken Pencil magazine, CanZine is an annual event celebrating independent press. You can find much more than comics amongst the vendors participating.

During the summer, U of T offers the course Creating Comics and Graphic Novels, which is taught each year by an industry professional.

3. Planet X

3. Fan Expo

2227 Queen St., 815 Major Mackenzie Dr. E., and 2879 St. Clair Ave. E.

255 Front St. W.

3. The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery

With multiple locations and a diverse collection, Planet X serves markets well outside the downtown core.

Fan Expo is the largest comics event in Canada. A-list celebrities are regularly in attendance, as are the largest studios and publishers.

4. The Silver Snail

4. Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)

329 Yonge St.

329 Yonge St.

Recently moved from its home of 36 years on Queen Street, The Silver Snail is a long-established shop with a loyal customer base. Plus there’s a coffee shop inside!

tcaf celebrates comic artistry every May at the Toronto Reference Library. The whole festival is free and features some of the biggest names in the comics biz.

587A College St. A hybrid of shop, lounge, and gallery, this venue hosts art, workshops, and comfy furniture. The space is shared with a printing company for any enterprising comic creators.

Want more?

THERE ARE MORE COMICS ONLINE AT VAR.ST"COMICS

Arts & Culture var.st/arts

25 NOvEMBEr 2013 arts@thevarsity.ca

Up Close: Lissie

Singer-songwriter talks about her new album, Back to Forever, and the importance of dreaming big

MEdia PhOtO

debut album, Catching Tiger, and now to Back to Forever?

L: I think touring and playing live with my band has helped me to hone in on a sound over the last few years! I'm already thinking about how I want the next album to sound!

TV: Your earlier music is not as band-heavy as it is now. Why did you go the route of being backed by a whole band? Did the band click with your vibe and vision right away, or did it take some time to get in the groove of things?

L: It just sort of happened on the road. We sunk into a vision together. I was solo out of necessity, and as I started working with producers, I was able to explore fleshing out the songs.

I'm passionate, and being able to rock out with great players naturally led to a bigger sound.

The stripped-down stuff is still in me, and I'm looking for the balance.

TV: What do you enjoy more: just you and your guitar or your band backing you?

L: The band is so much fun! But solo has its place too. I have no preference.

MEdia PhOtO

Victoria Banderob VARSITY STAFF

At one point in all our lives, the future seems like a vast realm of opportunities and possibilities that allows us to delve into whatever dream hits a chord with us; those impossible dreams seem possible. Hailing from Illinois, singer-songwriter Lissie never gave up of her dream of becoming a rock star. After the smashing success of her 2010 debut album Catching Tiger, Lissie is back with a new album, Back to Forever, that lends a new sound to her repertoire.

In the midst of an international tour, many of Lissie's dreams are coming true, but when she sat down with The Varsity, she explained some even

bigger aspirations she has dreamt of, and how this new album relates to life’s everyday longings.

The Varsity: What does the new album title, Back to Forever, mean to you?

Lissie: It's a point of longing for a simpler past and reflecting on lessons learned. It is about wanting to return to a place where the future felt wide open, and still having forever to do everything you dreamed for yourself. As an album, it's quite reflective and a bit frustrated; I thought the title track would be a good album name as it's all about my life and longings.

TV: What has been your biggest growth since your EP, Why you Runnin’ to your

TV: Not only is the use of a band a little different, but I would say that your sound is evolving as well. What do you think is influencing this change from a folk-rock sound to a sound of rock that is much more pop/ dance-heavy?

L: I'm trying things out. I feel like I'm capable in my writing, singing and playing of a complex mixture of sounds. I think the producer colours the sound. I think different moods color the sound. I think just being in a studio and having freedom to do things opens it up to experimentation. It's fluid. It's always in process!

TV: What’s your approach going into an international tour? You’re away from home for so long, playing new music to new crowds in new places. Are there certain things that keep you sane?

L: Try to stay healthy. Sleep. See friends I've met along the way. Call my mom and my sister!

Remember to have fun!

TV: Your covers, like Kid Cudi's “Pursuit of Happiness” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way" are very popular, and you can so easily still give it that Lissie sound. What is it about doing covers that appeals to you?

L: It's just nice to re-interpret a song that I like.

All our covers have been raw and mostly done or recorded live, so that's so freeing.

TV: How important do you think the role of social media is in the music industry?

L: Very much so! It gets the word out, and I'm able to not only express my gratitude to my fans but also give them a glimpse into the reality of who I am as a person.

TV: What was the most difficult hurdle you had to jump over in the processes of making your career so far?

L: In general, trusting my opinion — not being talked into things or manipulated by others. I always struggle with it. Things get so complicated, and I'm always reminding myself to be positive, confident, and believe in my vision.

TV: Releasing your second album must be a pretty big dream come true. With your career kicking off and becoming more and more successful, do you find yourself making your dreams bigger? If so, what are your biggest dreams right now?

L: Yes it is! But it also makes me anxious 'cause I wanna keep creating and putting things out! I really just want to be happy and proud of what I do, respected by my peers, and earn a good living from music. It's always been a dream to be on Saturday Night Live and to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl and to win some Grammys too.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

var.st/arts

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

17

The nuts and bolts of bilingual media in Canada With two official languages, creating content in English and French is both a skill and an art Élyse Comeau

The feelings that the phrase "Hello, Bonjour!" evoke are unique to Canada. As a bilingual country, Canada has its work cut out when it comes to bilingual media and translation work.

Such fields are essential to the success of any corporation’s product in the public sphere at a national level.

There are currently no official post-secondary programs in bilingual journalism, yet Canadian employers highly value this skill, and practice and experience are regarded as essential. English and French are both valued by large corporations, and emphasis is placed on making the relationship between the two languages both effective and symbiotic.

In an interview with The Varsity, Mike Speranzini, director of advertising and communications for General Motors (GM) Canada shared his insights on the company’s approach to creating its bilingual advertisements.

The company is constantly under pressure to accommodate its bilingual market — especially in website, print media, and commercial areas. By legislation, all information and products must be adapted for both English and French consumers. This process, however, is harder than one may expect.

Speranzini explained how his team goes about satisfying “large cultural differences between the French and English in Canada.”

This often requires sociological insight into preferences that certain communities have.

According to Spereanzini, French consumers, for example, typically value style more than English-Canadians do, this is evident from the cars they drive, and provincial trends in GM car sales. In order to reflect this, the GM team is pressed to portray advertisements and campaigns that are fashionable and appealing to French-Canadian markets.

Adaptation and translation is a meticulous process. Speranzini exemplified this procedure with the country-themed 2014 Chevrolet Silverado commercial that aired last September.

The Québec television ad had to be adapted to localize it, making it more relatable to a French audience. A Québec artist was asked to adapt the song to French, and in addition to the language and soundtrack adaptation, footage for the ad was adapted in order to remove scenes that were not relevant to the French consumer.

These changes, while subtle, can have a huge impact. As Speranzini said, the adaptation of

TIMOTHY LAW/THEVARSITY

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

commercials to French can be overt at times, and subtle at others, but either case, they are produced in a way that ensures maximum marketability for the consumer.

It is increasingly important for corporations to be relevant and precise in choosing their phraseology, and that is one of Speranzini’s highest priorities. Translation is a much more dynamic process than simply translating each word. Experts in the field are required to adapt subtitles to Québécois French, and GM has agencies in Montréal that assist them.

Translation has the same dynamism in print media. Corinne Cécilia, deputy director of Maison & Demeure, shared the technical aspects of adapting texts, as well as the challenges of

translation work in the publishing world. “The biggest challenge is the layout itself... It constrains us,” Cécilia explained. How should a piece be translated in order for the copy to fit into a tight space? “Its main motive is to adapt the stories, while staying true to the content and ideas,” said Cécilia. It’s evident that translation requires a carefully crafted balance of highquality writing, preserving the integrity of the original text, and ensuring that the translation fits well into a limited amount of space.

French is certainly a more difficult language than English in which to write concisely. Every grammatical rule in the French language comes with an exception. Similarly, thoughts in French generally require more words to

be expressed than are required in English.

Translators and proofreaders must therefore know the grammar extensively in order to cut down articles. “This is extremely important, especially in a deadline-driven business such as editing and publishing,” Cécilia remarked.

Every word counts, which is precisely why translators and specialists in revision are so integral to the industry.

Clearly, bilingualism is alive and well in Canada’s media and brand-building landscape.

Companies understand its importance and are attentive to it, allowing brands to thrive in both English and French Canada. The beauty of our country lies in its diversity, with language acting as an art of expression.

Nostalgia 101 “Ballroom classes taught me how to salsa dance, but university taught me how to do the Macarena” Ondiek Ondour

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Photo courtesy: u of t commons

Picture this: You're a university student; it’s a Thursday night, and you probably have a 10 o'clock class the next morning. Yet here you are, at a house party — bumping and grinding to the melodious, yet somewhat raunchy, old school “Ignition (Remix)” by R. Kelly.

Sadly (but not really), what you’re imagining isn’t fiction, but the reality of students at U of T. It’s happened to the best of us. But why do we indulge in nostalgia?

In the social prison that was high school, weren’t we taught that it wasn’t cool to express your love for The Lizzie McGuire Movie? Wasn’t it trashy to ask or force the dj at prom to switch the music from a slow and calming Backstreet Boys song to an equally calming but fast-paced “Barbie Girl” by Aqua?

What is it about being in university that breeds a new interest for nostalgia? The answer is, everything.

Nostalgia is a vehicle for escapism. When we sit alone at a decrepit study booth in Robarts, it soothes our souls to remind us of a time when we didn’t have the responsibilities of being “adult.”

A time when we didn’t have to be staring at a blank document that should be filled with 4,000 words expressing our opinion on how feminism has affected the Suez Crisis. Instead, we get to go back to a time when things were much simpler — better, even. A time where Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were still newlyweds, arguing about what type of animal was used in their “Chicken of the Sea” can of tuna.

Nostalgia can often act as a social tool in mending flailing relationships. If you’re in a tiff with your best friend, a sure-fire way of saving your friendship is by taking a night out to watch the 1988 classic Beaches. By the time “Wind Beneath My Wings”

starts playing, the beautiful voice of Bette Midler would cause you to realize the futility of your misunderstanding. This will almost always result in you chasing down your friend at midnight to apologize, as you’ll immediately realize that life is finite; you never know when an unknown illness will strike your friend down.

Nostalgia can also have its educational benefits: the 97 minutes you take to watch Clueless, a film loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma, is almost identical to attending two, maybe even three, lectures in linguistic anthropology. You’ll be able to identify how teen slang worked its way from popular culture into our modern language — all while having a good laugh at the outrageous Valley Girl subculture that’s prominent throughout the movie In September, Aaron Carter played at Lee’s Palace to a strictly 19+ crowd. All the proof you really need of the importance of nostalgia to university students lies in watching the young-adult crowd simultaneously belt out “Aaron’s Party.”

18

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

REVIEWS

ALBUM: Government Plates by Death Grips

ALBUM: Rockin’ Legends Pay Tribute To Jack White by various artists

From not showing up to Lollapalooza to their Epic Records fiasco, Death Grips’ antics never fail to amaze. The spontaneous release of their new album Government Plates best represents Death Grips’ fascinating musical evolution and image.

The aggravated style of rapping and lyrical flow evident in their last album No Love Deep Web is recreated in this album along with the complex digital craft heard in their 2011 release, The Money Store. This perfect amalgamation of both Death Grips’ strengths make Government Plates not only one of their best releases, but the album that best defines their confusing identity.

The album opens with themes of paranoia, death, and sex, but transitions after “Birds,” into a testament to their independent attitude. “When I spit on your face, you’ll take what you can get, ” chants mc Ride in their closing track “Whatever I Want,” acting as a buffer for their transition into what looks to be a new stage in their musical career, one where they are not bound by expectations or contracts.

Highlights of this album include “Anne Bonny, ”“Birds,” and “Whatever I Want.” Acting as a “fuck you” to their turbulent year, Government Plates is not one to ignore.

— Ayla Shiblaq

The newly released cover album paying tribute to Jack White’s music from over the past ten years is, to say the least, unique.

Generally, we are accustomed to the concept of a young, newly discovered artist paying tribute to whichever musical pioneer inspired him or her most, but in Rockin’ Legends Pay Tribute To Jack White cover album, the tables are turned. Thoroughly aged rock-a-billy heroes from Wanda Jackson to Gary U.S. Bonds come together to recreate 14 tracks worth of White’s hits and as expected, they nail it.

The self-proclaimed queen of rock-a-billy, Wanda Jackson, provides a heavy opening to the album with “In the Cold, Cold Night” — a dark and sinister track that Jackson delivers with delightfully spine-chilling vocals, and the low rumble of church organs that nicely fill out the sound. From there, the album charges full-speed into the fast-paced blues of “I’m Shakin,” a style we most commonly associated with Jack White, redone by saxophonist Big Jay McNeely and Nik Turner. The album only gets better with 74-year-old Gary U.S. Bonds’ hard hitting version of “Salute Your Solution,” and comes off a strong reminder that Jack White is the twentyfirst century King of Rock.

— Jacob Lorinc

Université d’Ottawa

|

ALBUM: Avril Lavigne by Avril Lavigne Avril Lavigne’s new album is an incongruous mess. The album opens with her current single “Rock and Roll,” which proves to be the antithesis of its title. The song’s opening salvo “Let em know we’re still rock and roll,” is drenched with digital effects and, paradoxically, those effects underscore how the song is anything but.

Lavigne continues the posturing in her first single: “Here's to Never Growing Up.” In it she suggests that she is singing Radiohead with her friends. Rather problematically, she also notes that, along with her friends, they “live like rock stars and dance in every bar.”

Naturally my suspicion is Lavigne and her very friends actually confused Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” with “Fake Plastic Trees.”

Just to prove she’s not only a rocker, but also an artist on the avant-garde, Lavigne takes a break from all the posturing for some “experimentation” on the track “Hello Kitty.” The pseudo-dubstep cum rocker features Lavigne intermittently breaking into Japanese.

If at this point you have found yourself wondering whether or not this author is recounting his most recent lsd trip, or writing a review of an album, I wouldn’t blame you.

One last thing: the album also features a ballad with Lavigne’s heartthrob husband Chad Kroeger (of the best band of all time, Nickelback). But I will spare you the details.

— JP Kaczur

University of Ottawa

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

19

Artscape Youngplace: A new cultural and artistic hub Artscape's newest space is dedicated to fostering creativity in West Toronto Elena Gritzan

VARSITY STAFF It’s a situation that happens again and again as cities grow: artists populate an area of town with low rents, bringing it to life with their creativity and artistic projects. The area becomes attractive to others as galleries, cafés, and other businesses start to move in, attracted by the burgeoning creative scene. People want to live there, and the increased demand makes rents go up, often pricing artists out of the area whose cultural cachet they can take credit for.

The West Queen West neighbourhood — roughly squared between Bathurst, Dufferin, Adelaide, and Dundas — may have gone this route if not for the works of art organizations like Artscape. In 1995, Artscape opened their first building in the area with affordable work and live/work studios for artists. “Our interest in 1995 was really about being a catalyst,” said Tim Jones, ceo and president of Artscape, “Certainly serving the space needs of the arts community, but also being a catalyst for the revitalization of the area.”

Art and the people who create it can do wonders for a neighbourhood: “They’re powerful agents of change in the community,” said Jones. He elaborated: “When artists move into a neighbourhood, they bring all kinds

Counter-clockwise from top left: Natasha Mytnowch, managing director of Artscape Youngplace.

Heather Nicol, resident artist and curator at Artscape, A tour of the new Artscape Youngplace on Shaw Street. caroly levett/tHevarsity

of interesting things. First of all, they get engaged more than other people.

They tend to get involved. They volunteer; they’re community activists. The public around them starts to change: everything from graffiti, to public art installations, to community gardens — all kinds of things. That kind of energy and vibrancy attracts other people.”

In West Queen West, this has led to a creative explosion and turned the neighbourhood into one of the most well-known and best places for art in the city. Artscape is dedicated to providing affordable spaces that allow artists to remain in the area and continue to contribute to its growth.

On November 20 of this year, the doors opened to Artscape's fourth initiative in the neighbourhood, Artscape Youngplace. Named for the Michael Young Family Foundation, who provided the lead donation that made the building possible, Youngplace is housed in the century-old Shaw Street School. The historic school was shut down in 2000, due to decreased enrollment, but has now been revitalized and repurposed with studio space and offices for a wide variety of not-for-profit arts organizations and independent artists.

“The entire building is filled with phenomenal arts organizations and artists who will be, I think, making a huge impact,” said Natasha Mytnowych, University of Toronto alumna and manag-

ing director of Artscape Youngplace.

“From Luminato, to sketch, to Small World Music, to the many individual artists. I think there’s going to be tons of creative events and activities and all kinds of things happening here that people can take part in.”

Space in the building is below market value, keeping space affordable for artists at all levels. The first and second floors include a number of Flex Studios, which can be rented out by individuals or community groups. The public can use the space as well, by spending time in the Urban Living Lounge and Café, or by browsing the art exhibitions in the hallways and stairwells.

The spirit of the school is retained in its new life; for instance, the Urban Living Lounge features the original classroom clocks on the wall, all frozen at 8:30 — the time at which they stopped when the school ceased operations.

Community members were actively involved in the creation of the project, with the use of a Community Advisory Committee during the design and construction phase of the project. Now, they are embracing the building. “They’re very excited,” said Mytnowych. “It’s actually been really tricky in the past couple of weeks to stop people from coming in.”

Visit Artscape Youngplace at 180 Shaw Street or artscapeyoungplace.ca.

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20 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

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It works in theory, but will it work in the real world?

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Science

FROM THE ARCHIVES

var.st/sCIENCE

Decade-long climate controversy: Canada and Kyoto

25 NOvEMBEr 2013

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science@thevarsity.ca

Canada, climate change, and youth in the UN Reporting from Warsaw on Canada’s environmental policy

Flu shot may reduce risk of stroke or heart attack in seniors Recent research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the flu shot may provide additional benefits to the cardiovascular well-being of senior citizens. This research, led

by Jacob A. Udell, a clinician scientist at the University of Toronto, included almost 7,000 participants with an average age of 67 years.

When compared with participants who did not receive the influenza vaccine, influenza-vaccinated participants were significantly less likely to experience a cardiovascular incident (such as a stroke or heart attack) during the one-year study follow-up time. Finding fewer cardiovascular incidents among vaccinated individuals is especially important because it highlights the flu vaccine’s potential to decrease health care costs. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, influenza (commonly known as the flu) affects five to 20 per cent of the population, and results in over 20,000 hospitalizations each year. The strain influenza places on the immune system is known to make the elderly and those with chronic conditions (such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes) more likely to develop complications associated with the flu.

These complications include, but are not limited to, pneumonia, dehydration, or infections.

Andrew E. Johnson VARSITY STAFF

From November 11–22, 2013, the annual climate negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (unfccc) were held in Warsaw, Poland. The unfccc is an international treaty that aim to combat climate change, but the treaty has no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for countries that sign it. The parties to the convention have met annually since 1995 at the Conference of the Parties (cop) to negotiate an international treaty or protocol that would potentially set binding limits. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), unfccc has set 2015 as the year by which an agreement on how to keep the planet’s climate change under a net increase of 2 degrees Celsius should be reached.

For roughly every five years since 1990, the ipcc has released an assessment report based on scientific climate research. In late September this year, the first part of the fifth assessment report (ar5) was released.

The report expressed that there are extremely high odds — around 95 per cent — that climate change is human-caused. Now that the science is clearer than ever, countries should feel the urgency to act — but something very apparent in the atmosphere at cop19 is that some countries, Canada included, are not listening. There is an undertone that Canada’s climate change policy is lacking.

The situation is not a simple one.

Though the science behind climate change is clear and there is an apparent need for reducing emissions, the proper method for countries to orchestrate reduced emissions in order to stay within the unfccc goal is not. Climate change is a result of the increased emission of co2 into the atmosphere; this release began in the 1800s, as many countries began to industrialize. Industrialization was made possible by cheap and dirty fossil fuels — including oil, gas, and coal. Though many countries — such as Canada, the US, Australia, and the United Kingdom — have developed and taken advantage of these cheap fuels, other countries are just starting to develop now. This industrialization gap is where the issue arises.

How do climate-policy makers tell developing countries that they must invest in clean technologies that are evidently more expensive than coal and other fossil fuels?

Climate negotiations are difficult because developing countries need investments from developed countries.

Many developed countries, especially Canada, are reluctant, possibly in part because of a refusal to grasp the gravity of the current environmental situation. Indeed, these countries often appear to be ignorant of the urgency

RESEARCH RECAP

— Alainna Jamal

The truth about healthy cooking oils

NaNCy JI/thE varsIty

of the climate change talks. Just last week, for example, the Canadian government publicly congratulated Australia for its dismantling of the Australian carbon tax.

This past Monday, the Climate Change Performance Index placed Canada and Australia fifty-eigth and fortieth, respectively, the worst rankings of all developed countries. Canada received this not-so-prestigious ranking as a result of its reluctance to move forward with any sort of climate change policy.

This issue is important for many Canadians, as the effects of climate change are not isolated to any nation or group of nations, but influence the entire world, as well as generations to come.

Young people have made their voices heard at these negotiations. However, this year, youth

face a unique challenge: as the venue changes from year to year, the amount of spaces available for young delegates differs. This year, although the venue was a large stadium, only a specific number of delegates were allowed due to security purposes. All constituencies — including secretariat, government parties and ngos — needed to make cuts in the number of delegates they sent to the conference. Young people in particular felt that they were underrepresented, as ngos are the only constituent that commonly offer space for youth delegates. In response to this, on the first Thursday of the conference, an intergenerational equity day was held that promoted the voice of the youth.

Young people are beginning to play prominent roles in climate negotiations, but University of Toronto

students were conspicuously absent from the Warsaw negotiations. U of T does not send a formal delegation — something that we should be working to change. There is a precedent among other universities: the Australian National University, for example, does send delegations to the negotiations. These delegations include students and professors, who attend for various purposes — for research, or to foster engagement. U of T is willing to send students, but logistics need to be worked out. Accommodation and flight costs must be addressed, and the issues upon which U of T personnel should focus their energies must be decided.

To promote change, Canadians need to be more involved. Youth involvement is one way to ensure that the policy in Canada becomes more constructive and forward-thinking.

Healthy eating just got a little more complicated! While it has become common for most of us to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils, new research suggests this may not be the best idea. According to a recent study at the University of Toronto, certain vegetable oils — thought by many to be healthy — could potentially increase your risk of heart disease.

This study compared two groups of patients that had been placed on a diet containing either saturated fats or “healthy oils,” and found that those on the oil diet showed an increased risk of heart disease. For years, oils rich in omega-6 linoleic acid but poor in omega-3 linoleic acid have been regarded as healthy because they are low in saturated fats. However, these vegetable oils — such as sunflower, corn, and safflower oil — may not actually have beneficial effects on heart health, despite the claims found on their labels. It is because of this that the study now recommends that the food industry exclude these oils from the list of heart healthy oils.

— Vanessa Barbieri

but not many more

VARSITY SCIENCE

22 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 11

science@thevarsity.ca

The thrill of discovery Dr. José Nobrega on the transition from BIO130 to scientist VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

With only a few weeks to go until the final exam period, some students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (stem) programs are considering abandoning ship. The Varsity interviewed Dr. José Nobrega and asked him about his journey through undergraduate and graduate studies to become one of the University of Toronto’s most successful researchers. He offered up words of advice to those students who struggle under the stress of exam season. Nobrega is a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (camh), where he leads the Behavioural Neurobiology Lab Research Imaging Centre. He is also a professor of pharmacology, psychiatry, and psychology at U of T. His general area of research is neuropharmacology, studying how drugs interact with the nervous system.

The Varsity: Drawing from your experience, what made you push through the hard times?

José Nobrega: Life in academia is a continuous process that requires setting new goals at each stage. As an undergraduate, the goal was to complete courses with good grades; in grad school, it was writing a thesis; as a postdoc, you dream of establishing your own lab, and so on. In other words, the whole process never ends. For me what has always helped was trying to look a little further ahead, having clear goals at each stage but without losing track of the ultimate objective. What is

further ahead often helps you get through the current challenges.

TV: What can students do, at the present moment, to get that much closer to achieving their dream of being successful researchers?

JN: Work hard, never get discouraged, and always keep sight of your ultimate goal, while setting objectives that can be achieved on a short-term basis.

TV: What has CAMH done to support its students in achieving their goals?

JN: camh is a hospital that is affiliated with U of T. As a U of T professor, I supervise undergraduate as well as graduate students.

I find that undergraduate student associations can be very helpful to students. There are several U of T program-specific student associations (e.g., pharmacology and toxicology) that help provide targeted mentoring and hold events that encourage student and professor interactions.

TV: What are the benefits of being an academic scientific researcher?

JN: For me it is doing what I enjoy and having this as my profession. Like many people from my generation, I did not plan to be a “neuroscientist” — that word did not even exist back then! But I knew I wanted to study the brain. There was this fundamental curiosity, which is really what still keeps me going.

CLASSIFIEDS VINYL, CDS, EQUIPMENT High Quality Vinyl & reconditioned equipment AROUND AGAIN 18 Baldwin St Things like making money or travelling were never really enticements. For me it has always been the thrill of finding things out, or better yet the thrill of the chase. But it must be recognized that academic scientific research is not for everybody. For every success you achieve, there are many, many failures.

TV: What is the mark of a good university?

JN: One that challenges the students to work hard because life in academic scientific research gets tougher at every level. None of

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VARSITY SCIENCE

var.st/science

TOTAL MONTHLY SNOWFALL (CM) BY YEAR

Winter is coming

by Katrina Vogan and Emma Hansen

400

TROOPS WERE CALLED INTO TORONTO TO CLEAR SNOW IN 1993 DUE TO THE HARSH WEATHER

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

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0 1913 1918 1923 1928 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003

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THE TEMPERATURE (°C) OF NOVEMBER 25 OVER THE YEARS

12 9 6 3 0 -3 -6 -9 -12

U OF T PHYSICISTS RECENTLY FOUND THAT SALTY OR DIRTY WATER PRODUCES ICICLES WITH RIDGES. PURE WATER FORMS ICICLES WITHOUT RIDGES.

-15 1913

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1998

Sports

NEXT WEEK IN SPORTS

Full analysis of the proposed Sports Remodel

var.st/sports

25 NovEMBEr 2013

sports@thevarsity.ca

var.st/sports

U of T releases proposal for new sports model If approved, sports model will classify all intercollegiate sports into three categories, 21 teams in lowest Elizabeth Benn SPORTS EDITOR

This past week, the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education released a proposal for the revised intercollegiate sports model. It includes an overview of the reasons for the model’s update, its goals, and the proposed categorization of all 44 intercollegiate teams and the services and recourses provided to them.

The newly proposed model was created by a committee that was appointed by the dean of the faculty to review the current model. In early 2013 consultations were made with teams, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and media in order to gain feedback on the proposed criteria for the sports model.

The update is being proposed in an attempt to rectify various problems that the faculty believes result from the current model. They include Varsity Blues teams’ lack of provincial and national success and “the magnitude of the resources required to comply with the regulatory and risk management issues associated with the current breadth and size of the intercollegiate sports programming.” The new model may also improve the management of financial, infrastructural,

human, and medical resources within the program.

The goals of the new model are all created in an attempt to sustain the new structure over a long period of time. Other directly stated goals include that the model “must be sustainable,” “must allow for competitive success,” and “must demonstrate commitment to academic success.”

Annually, teams will be reviewed based on various elements included in the model “to assess whether the new model has led to improvements.”

These include “academic success of student athletes; students’ perceptions of their student experiences; rates of graduation, retention, and recruitment success of student athletes; sport performances of athletes and teams; magnitude of the contribution to an enhanced sense of campus spirit and school pride.”

The 44 intercollegiate teams are sorted into three categories, all provided with different levels of financial resources, human resources, sport medicine support, and access to the university’ athletic facilities.

uNivErsity divisioN In the “University Division,” teams will receive the strongest support from the university. The teams will be pro-

vided with strong support in the Ontario University Athletics (oua) and Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (cis) organizations, funding for their regular season, playoffs, and partial funding for out-of-conference competition — such as exhibition competition out of province or out of country.

The teams will be provided with a full 12-month training program, full access to university athletic facilities year-round, year-round medical support, access to “ic strength and conditioning and sport science,” full time or part time coaches (head coaches as well as assistant coaches), and strong human resources support in event, sport information, program, academic, alumni, and recruitment.

toroNto divisioN The “Toronto Division” provides similar support to teams as the “University Division,” but only at the provincial level, rather than both the provincial and national tiers.

Teams in this category will receive funding for their regular season and oua playoffs, a partial-year (6–8 months) training program, part-time unpaid coaches who will receive an honorarium, access to athletic facilities and medicine during the academic year only, partial access to ic strength and conditioning, and

human resources support in event and sport information in-season only.

PROPOSED REMODEL

BluE aNd WhitE

uNivErsity divisioN

The final division is the “Blue and White.” In the last sport model, only three teams sat in the lowest level (that of “club teams”), but, if the proposed model is approved, the three teams will be joined by 18 more intercollegiate teams.

Without the same level of support as the “University Division” and the “Toronto Division,” the teams in the “Blue and White” division can compete against other intercollegiate teams in the province — as part of the oua, or in the intercollegiate league in which the sport is organized — during the duration of its season. The teams will be provided with resources in-season only.

At this level, the teams will receive partial funding for athlete preparation and apparel, the teams’ championships, and their part-time coaches’ honoraria. The teams will have 4–6-month training schedules, access to athletic facilities and medicine in-season only, and no access to ic strength and conditioning.

Any publicity (“event management and sport information”) will be led by students or coaches, rather than the university.

A game that we all play The university experience seen through the lens of four quarters Kelly Rahardja VARSITY STAFF

What is university if not a game? Of course, we all have different fields of study and different social and extracurricular activities, but in the end we are all after the same thing: to walk onto that podium after four years of intense competition and receive the award that we’ve worked so hard for.

First QuartEr: Just like the beginning of a new season, you start this one fresh and with unbridled enthusiasm. You have made it here by crushing the opposition and working your butt off. But hold on — this new-found hubris is a dangerous thing to have as a freshman. Let’s not forget that university is a one-man game with countless hurdles along the way. If you stumble, there will always be someone else ahead of you. Yet, while competition is fierce, it spans an average of four years of your life. So take it easy and get to know — and enjoy, if possible — your new battleground. Of course, at this time, it is too soon to speculate the outcome. Is your first C- the beginning of the end? Or is a great gpa comeback at hand?

sEcoNd QuartEr: “Things will get better in second year,” is a favourite phrase tossed around by veteran players of this game — and this is partly true. Now that you’ve just come back from a lengthy summer break, you’re ready to get back on the field. You’re faster, stronger, and hopefully wiser — all crucial to handling a new class of courses. You’ve also had time to re-group and choose your areas of study for the rest of the game, setting a clear goal at last. Yes, classes are expecting more of you, but you’ve tackled all of the challenges before and you’re a proven survivor. In fact, now is the perfect time to start dabbling in all those clubs that you signed up for last year. If you’re lucky, you’ve also made alliances with some other competitors who are willing to study and discuss strategies with you. After all, nothing beats a team effort.

third QuartEr: Third year already? The years are flashing by before your eyes! There are few game-changers to take note of during this period. Basically, classes start getting smaller, freshmen seem younger, and your tuition soars ever higher. On the bright side, could all those ConHall-trudging-over-muddy-fields days finally be over? With over two years of

training, you now have a decent idea of where your strengths lie. Now that you’ve grown even more accustomed to the rules of the game, you can focus more on research, volunteering, and all those other résumé-padders. Regardless, just like a foul play, all-nighters remain a sure occurrence. So take another swig of that coffee and get back on that puddle-ridden field!

Fourth QuartEr: Ah, the mystical fourth year. By now everything is almost a haze. Worn with experience, you are finally nearing a final touchdown. That being said, although U of T has become your second home, you never quite fully grasp the entire game. Robarts, the crown jewel of all libraries, remains a sorrowful enigma, and you still have trouble finding buildings on campus. Nevertheless, the final test that determines your final score is fast approaching. At this point, there is little you can do about a failing gpa. There are no more enemies now, unless you are headed into “overtime,” and competing with other students to join the master’s series. Either way, all that blood, sweat, and tears have led to the end of the game: the moment when you receive that coveted degree.

Congratulations, the end is nigh, but you’ve played the match of your life.

NaNcy ji /thEvarsity

Basketball (Men’s and Women’s) Field Hockey (Women’s) Football (Men’s) Golf (Men’s and Women’s) Hockey (Men’s and Women’s) Rugby (Women’s) Soccer (Men’s and Women’s) Swimming (Men’s and Women’s) Track/XC (Men’s and Women’s) Volleyball (Men’s and Women’s)

toroNto divisioN

Baseball (Men’s) Lacrosse (Women’s) Rowing (Men’s and Women’s) Rugby (Men’s)

BluE aNd WhitE divisioN

Badminton (Men’s and Women’s) Curling (Men’s and Women’s) Fastpitch (Women’s) Fencing (Men’s and Women’s) Figure Skating (Men’s and Women’s) Lacrosse (Men’s) Mountain Biking (Men’s and Women’s) Nordic Ski (Men’s and Women’s) Squash (Men’s and Women’s) Tennis (Men’s and Women’s) Water Polo (Men’s and Women’s) Wrestling (Men’s and Women’s)

var.st/sports

VARSITY SPORTS

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

25

Blues cross country ends season with a strong finish Men’s and women’s cross country teams show improvement from last year’s season Kelly Rahardja

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The Varsity Blues men’s and women’s cross-country teams ended their seasons with highlights at both the Ontario University Athletics (oua) and Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (cis) championships.

While the women’s team fared better out of the two teams, both demonstrated considerable improvement from last season’s results.

Finishing her fourth year racing with the Blues, team captain Colleen Hennessy is proud of her team’s performance this year. “I think the team had a great season!

Of course there are some races we had hoped to be better at, but that’s all part of competing. These girls are such dedicated, hard working, motivated athletes, who really put the team first,” she said.

Hennessy, who came in ninth place individually, led the women’s team to their fifth place results at the cis Championships on November 9 in London, Ontario. Finishing at 148 points, this was a marked improvement for the Blues, who came in ninth last year with 260 points.

Despite their cis achievement, the high point for the women’s team took place at the OUA championships on October 26 in Hamilton. Fighting cold temperatures and pouring rain, the women’s team managed to snag a third place

At this year’s oua and cis championships, U of T’s women’s cross-country team improved upon last year’s successes. PaTrick hennessy/The VarsiTy

finish, upsetting the higher ranked Queen’s University team.

“It was a great day for us, with some great performances,” Hennessy noted. “We all really worked together in races by trying to run with each other and stay together which helped a lot.”

An individual and team effort, cross-country running takes place during the fall in open air over hills and a variety of natural terrain. As

such, running in harsh weather conditions is not an unexpected part of competition.

Likewise, the men’s team also considered the oua championships a success after a turbulent first month. “oua‘s was a mud bath and we showed up and surprised everyone, qualifying to the cis championships in London,” recalled Ethan Davenport.

Davenport, who has been with

the team for five years, was team captain for the second time this season. Although he credits finishing fifth at the ouas as a valuable learning experience, Davenport is aware of its cost.

“With running there is a peaking process, meaning you have a window of opportunity to race optimally before you need to build up again for the next race,” he explained. “Unfortunately in order to

qualify we had to peak for ouas so for cis we were not optimal.”

Yet, even with a less than satisfactory thirteenth place standing at cis, the men’s team had a prior positive experience racing in New York that accounted for their success at the oua championships.

“We came second as a team, but more importantly we all started getting the ‘fall fever’ [cross country motivation],” said Davenport.

“Believing is half the battle, and even though the NY race was not the cream of the crop for competition, it got us thinking positively.

We took the positives from that race and never looked back. We started to feel like a team with some credibility and it translated to an exceptional oua performance!”

Considering their results this year, it is unsurprising that both teams are pleased.

As Davenport put it, “these are the sort of fond memories which will persist, these are the kinds of fleeting moments where you really get to know people.”

Hennessy herself was already looking ahead to next year’s season with excitement. “Our rookies were a great addition to the team; they trained very hard and put together a really good effort to help our team score. We hope to place even higher next year in the oua and cis championships as our team grows and more experience is gained.”

U of T swims to success at home in the Canada Cup Adena Ali VARSITY STAFF

The University of Toronto hosted the Canada Cup this past weekend at Varsity Pool. After finishing on top at the seventh annual University Challenge Cup on November 21, the Blues men’s and women’s swim teams took advantage of their momentum, finishing the weekend with a total of 12 medals.

On the first day of the Canada Cup, the Blues picked up two gold medals. The first was earned by Zach Chetrat who dominated the men’s 200-metre fly. He clocked in at 1:55.67, nearly one second ahead of the second place competitor David Sharpe of Dalhousie University.

Frank Despond picked up the Blues’ second gold medal of the day in the men’s 400-metre free, tying with Western’s Robert Wise.

Despond finished with a time of 3:48.00, a significant jump from his 3:55.35 time in the preliminaries.

The women’s team also brought their best on day one. Vanessa Treasure swam her way to a silver medal in the Women’s 200-metre individual medley (im). Paige Schultz, who earned gold medals in both the women’s 100-metre free and women’s 100-metre individual medley (im) on November 21, picked up two more medals on day

The swimming team will train in Florida during the winter break. Michael chahley/The VarsiTy

one of the Canada Cup: silver in the women’s 200-metre im, and bronze in the women’s 200-metre free.

The Blues won seven more medals on day two. After placing fourth in the men’s 100-metre free and men’s 50-metre breaststroke, Chris Manning picked up his first and only gold medal of the meet in the men’s 50-metre free with a time of 22:13 even better than his U of T record-breaking time of 22:31.

Matt Myers also picked up a gold medal on the second day of competition in the men’s 200-metre backstroke, finishing with a time of 1:55.74. Edward Liu placed second in the men’s 100-metre fly, clocking in at 52:87. Hochan Ryu also added to the medal count earning a bronze medal in the men’s 200-metre fly with a time of 2:02.26.

Paige Schultz continued to demonstrate her skill and versa-

U of T will host the 2013-2014 OUA and CIS championships. Julia Malowany/The VarsiTy

tility on day two of the Canada Cup, earning two more medals. She finished the women’s 100-metre free with a time of 54.96, taking the bronze medal in that event. She ended her appearance at the Canada Cup with a gold medal in the women’s 100-metre im, clocking in at 1:01.55.

Schultz was not the only woman to secure a gold medal at this meet.

Treasure also earned a gold in the women’s 400-metre im, with a time of 4:41.37.

To top off this weekend’s successful meet, Zack Chetrat won the male swim of the meet for his 200-metre fly on day one.

U of T is set to host both the Ontario University Athletics Swimming Championships and Canadian Intercollegiate Sport Swimming Championships in February.

VARSITY SPORTS

26 Vol. CXXXIV No. 11

sports@thevarsity.ca

Blues women’s volleyball in first after Paladins win JP Kaczur

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team won its back-and-forth battle with the Royal Military College (rmc) Paladins on Saturday.

The game featured a raucous atmosphere, thanks to the strong support rmc received on the road from its fans, beating drums and playing hunting horns.

The Paladins’ loud support did not, however, create a home-court disadvantage, according to Blues head coach Kristine Drakich: “I don’t know if it had an impact on the game. They played very good defense and brought the ball back. I’m not sure the crowd made a difference.”

Blues’ star Emma Jennings (12 kills, five digs, two blocks) wasn’t as dismissive as her coach and took it personally: “It’s our home gym,” she said, “we have to own it.”

The Blues did own the lead for the majority of the first two sets, but failed to dominate rmc. Aided by their fans, the underdog Paladins showed a lot of moxie, standing up to the more athletic and polished Blues, and never letting a lead get out of hand. Despite their best efforts, they lost the first two sets 25–16, 25–18.

The Paladins’ were seen syncing up their pre-game warm-ups with the top-40 hits being blasted

CHOOSE YOUR CERTIFICATE

Emma Jennings serves for the Varsity Blues. CAROLYN LEVETT/THE VARsiTY

over the pa system. rmc jumped out to a 13–10 lead that forced the Blues to call a timeout to regroup.

The Blues then brought the score to a one-point difference (17–16) after Tessa Davis’s service ace, but the confident Paladins once again pulled away, extending the lead by four, to 21–17.

Just in time, the Blues countered with six unanswered points to take a 23–21 lead. The unanswered points also forced the then-reeling Paladins to take a timeout. After the timeout, the Blues scored to make it game point. The Paladins didn’t back down, and added a point to briefly stave off defeat.

Shortly thereafter, the Blues clinched it with a Tessa Davis spike to win the final set 25–22. According to Jennings, the comeback was actually a result of the players raising their voices at each other: “[Our team] was a little bit quiet, but we pushed through. We started talking more, got louder. [It] made us enjoy the game more.”

The game wasn’t without controversy — the aforementioned horn player was switching sides every set so he could distract the Blues while serving. In addition, he was heckling the players as they served — on one occasion yelling: “don’t mess up.” Nevertheless, the

Charlotte Sider represented Canada in the 2013 FISU games. CAROLYN LEVETT/THE VARsiTY

Blues players managed nine service aces in the game. Jennings said the horn player didn’t manage to get under the team’s skin: “[Distractions are] there, but we’re

just focusing on our game and not what’s around us.”

The Blues improve to a 7–2 record, moving into a first-place tie with the University of Ottawa.

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VARSITY SPORTS

var.st/sports

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

27

Religion and sports: Cooperstown and Vatican City The second of three pieces on the connection between religion and sports Elizabeth Benn SPORTS EDITOR

A “hound,” in the context of sports, is someone who hunts down athletes in order to have them sign their name on a photo, card, ball, or other piece of memorabilia. Most fans find value in memorabilia, especially when it is rare or signed, but hounds will do anything to augment the value of their pieces. They push aside kids, elderly fans, and anything that may get in their way in order to demand a signature from their target athlete.

Many hounds will sell their signed items online or to collectible stores in order to make a profit. However, this is not merely a hobby or a way to make a little extra money on top of their day job’s salary — many are able to make their living off of hounding.

The reason why these items have such a high value is ambiguous, but remains present. Whether fine-tip or traditional, black or blue, the style of the Sharpie doesn’t matter: the name scribbled on the item gives it a higher value that it formerly had.

Fans’ admiration of sports memorabilia goes to a level further than just owning souvenirs. Millions of people visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of

nancy ji /thevarsity

Fame, and other museums of sports every year in order to admire rare and historical relics of the game. The loonie that sat under the Olympic ice as a good luck charm for the Canadian hockey team in 2002 and Curt Schilling’s bloody sock from game six of the 2004 American League Championship Series sit behind glass and are admired by fans daily.

Historical value is present in all of these items that are on display in these institutions. To the sport and its fans, these objects hold strong significance, to the history of the game, players’ progressions through the sport, and the importance of the moment in which they were used.

Sports fans place significance on these items in a similar way to the

significance placed on religious relics by the followers of the given religion.

Many would flock to see sacred religious relics, as die-hard Yankee fans will travel to Cooperstown to see the Babe’s glove.

Along with the significance placed on memorabilia, stadiums, fields, rinks, and courts are seen as historical monuments as well as simply the

home of their team. Spread throughout the buildings are plaques explaining significant historical events which have taken place in the buildings.

Unique aspects of the buildings hold historical and spiritual importance for fans. Without the right field foul pole, “Pesky’s Pole,” Fenway Park wouldn’t be Fenway Park.

Without ivy covering the red brick outfield wall in the north side of Chicago, Wrigley Field wouldn’t be Wrigley Field.

Some fans will aim to see every field or arena within a given period of time, or make it a priority to visit a city’s team’s stadium when travelling. Meanwhile, many who travel make a point of visiting monumental synagogues, churches, cathedrals, and mosques everywhere they go.

In Vatican City, more tourists can be found than residents of the country or surrounding city, Rome.

Baseball stadiums are often compared to cathedrals. The hall of fame is designated as a “shrine to baseball.” This connection between the material things in religion and sports is just another way in which parallels can be drawn between the two institutions; this occurs on a much larger scale than a player who will point upwards to the sky after scoring a go-ahead run in the late innings of a baseball game.

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DIVERSIONS

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ACROSS

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1. Western author 5. Q-Tip 9. Industrial injury 12. “Car Talk” subject 13. Chignon setting 14. Cockpit reading (abbr.)

15. Dogged souls 17. A little jerk?

18. It’s tapped 19. Saw things 21. Almost touching 24. Boom’s antithesis 26. Boot Hill letters 27. Active sort 29. Be-boppers 33. Back on a plane 34. Power glitch 36. Like a bairn 37. Become engaged?

39. Bouquet part 40. Grittily realistic 41. Word of honor 43. Immeasurable space 45. Latin dance 48. Epitome of easiness 49. Color quality 50. Scuba device 56. Misjudge 57. Keyed up 58. D.E.A. seizure, maybe 59. Breathing fire 60. Polly, to Tom Sawyer 61. Hotfooted it

1. Commuter’s buy 2. Same old, same old 3. Capt.’s prediction 4. They’re surrounded by whites 5. Hang-up 6. “The Hurt Locker” topic 7. Suitable 8. Personal records 9. Hotel posting 10. Buttonhole, e.g.

11. Cast wearer’s frustration 16. Gardener’s bane 20. And so forth, briefly 21. Learn quickly?

22. Biographical focus 23. Doesn’t vacillate 24. Anchorage 25. Basic desire 28. Bounce from the bar, say 30. Wrong, as plans 31. Bohea and pekoe 32. Mends, in a way 35. High-speed transmission 38. Bike, in slang 42. Blood carrier 44. Turtles’ mouths 45. Not us 46. Something in the air 47. Bookish type 48. Short shot 51. Lac contents 52. Magazine holder 53. Advice at the track 54. Accolade for Manolete 55. Lightning attractor

Last issue’s solutions are now online: var.st/crossword

AGM BINGO It’s that time of year again. Bring your copy of The Varsity to the AGM and play along. Tweet your bingos to @thevarsity for mad street cred amongst all the student politicos and their many bowties.

Meeting Frustratingly starts more long lines than an hour late

Someone mispronounces Langille

“Point of personal privilege!”

Profound misunderstanding of Robert’s Rules

“Do you even go here?”

Challenge the chair!

Cries of “decorum!”

Spot the couple making out in the back

Tortured logic

You missed Furious the omnibus exclamations

Something is

Overwhelming ruled “out of ennui

order”

Lady Godiva Memorial Band interruption

Rabble rousing speech

“SHAME!”

Someone mentions the rejected fee diversion motions

Trinity student asks a rhetorical question

See someone taking two or more samosas — glare

Ascots

Microphone too tall or too short

Someone’s motives are impugned

Auditor looks bored

VARSITY PUBLICATIONS’ FALL MEETING OF MEMBERS Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 5:00 pm Room 200, 21 Sussex Avenue The Fall Meeting of Members of Varsity Publications, the corporation that publishes The Varsity newspaper, will be held for the purposes of: 1. Consideration of the financial statements, 2. Consideration of the public accountant’s report, 3. The appointment or re-appointment of the public accountant 4. Any other business.

Membership: All full-time undergraduate students who pay the Varsity Publications fee are members of the corporation and are entitled to attend and vote at this meeting.

Proxies: Members who are unable to attend may proxy their vote by returning the form of proxy to the meeting location at least 24 hours before the meeting.

For more information, to view documents to be considered at the meeting, or to dowload the form of proxy, please visit: var.st/fall-meeting-of-members