January 13, 2020

January 13, 2020

THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Vol. CXL, No. 13

Flight 752

U of T remembers

2

THE VARSITY

NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

U of T remembers six students who died in Iran plane crash

Vol. CXL, No. 13 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 thevarsity.ca

the.varsity

thevarsitynewspaper

the.varsity

@TheVarsity

The Varsity

Community mourns, memorial service held at Multi-Faith Centre

MASTHEAD Josie Kao Editor-in-Chief

editor@thevarsity.ca

Julie Shi Creative Director Ibnul Chowdhury Managing Editor Ilya Bañares Managing Online Editor

creative@thevarsity.ca managing@thevarsity.ca

Ori Gilboa Senior Copy Editor

copy@thevarsity.ca

Andy Takagi News Editor

news@thevarsity.ca

Angela Feng Comment Editor Stephanie Bai Features Editor Kashi Syal Arts & Culture Editor Adam A. Lam Science Editor

comment@thevarsity.ca features@thevarsity.ca arts@thevarsity.ca science@thevarsity.ca

Silas Le Blanc Sports Editor Srivindhya Kolluru Business Editor Megan Brearley Deputy Senior Copy Editor Kathryn Mannie Deputy News Editor

sports@thevarsity.ca biz@thevarsity.ca deputysce@thevarsity.ca deputynews@thevarsity.ca

William Xiao Design Editor

williamx@thevarsity.ca

Aditi Putcha Design Editor

aditi@thevarsity.ca

Dina Dong Photo Editor

photos@thevarsity.ca

Iris Deng Illustration Editor

illustration@thevarsity.ca

Nathalie Whitten Video Editor

video@thevarsity.ca

Kevin Lu Front End Web Developer

kevin@thevarsity.ca

Stephanie Zhang Back End Web Developer

stephanie@thevarsity.ca

Osobe Waberi Public Editor

Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor

publiceditor@thevarsity.ca

Laura Ashwood Associate Sports Editor

Hannah Carty, Mikaela Toone Nicole Shi Associate Business Editor Associate News Editors Hafsa Ahmed Associate Comment Editor

Vacant Associate Design Editor

Jadine Ngan Associate Features Editor

Joshua Chua, Samantha Yao Associate Photo Editors

Liam Bryant Associate A&C Editor Javiera Gutierrez Duran, Tahmeed Shafiq Associate Science Editors

Following a memorial service held at the Multi-Faith Centre on Friday, a service was also held in Convocation Hall.

online@thevarsity.ca

Fiona Tung Associate Illustration Editor Haley Sheh Associate Video Editor

Lead Copy Editors Yousef Chaparian, Jacob Harron, Valeria Khudiakova, Nicola Lawford, Isabella Mckay, Khyrsten Mieras, Maya Morriswala, Eva Wissting

HANNAH CARTY/THE VARSITY

Hannah Carty Associate News Editor

Students, faculty, and community members came together for a packed memorial service at the Multi-Faith Centre on Friday for the six U of T students, and eight U of T community members overall, who died in the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 plane crash on January 8.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the next day that Iran had mistakenly shot down the airliner, which killed all 176 passengers and crew, including 57 Canadians.

The incident occurred amidst escalating IranUS tensions this month. Hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles into Iraq, aimed at US and allied military bases in response to the American assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani on January 3.

“On behalf of the entire University of Toronto community, let me say first and foremost how profoundly heartbroken we are,” said President Meric Gertler. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families, the friends, the classmates, and to the teachers of those who lost their lives.”

Mojtaba Abbasnezhad Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, 26, was a first-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Pooya Poolad, a friend of Abbasnezhad, wrote to The Varsity, “He was one of the most talented and intelligent guys I knew.” They had known each other since they studied at the same university for their bachelor’s degrees and reconnected when Abbasnezhad came to U of T. In the same department, Poolad and Abbasnezhad worked on the same floor in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology and saw each other frequently. “Right before he [left] for Iran, we were sitting at my apartment, planning and dreaming about the future, and thinking what should we do for our PhD,” Poolad wrote.

Mohammad Asadi Lari Mohammad Asadi Lari, 23, was a second-year joint MD and PhD student in the Faculty of Medicine, and was in the crash along with his sister, Zeynab.

He co-founded and served as the managing director of an organization called STEM Fellowship, a non-profit organization that helps provide opportunities for youth in STEM. Sacha Noukhovitch, founder and President of STEM Fellowship, wrote that Mohammad “worked tirelessly to develop the organization’s mission and vision.”

STEM Fellowship’s statement describes him as a “visionary,” and adds that “he was also a compassionate leader who went above and beyond - fostering a strong community, developing others’ potential, and inspiring them to unite around a common cause with his humanitarian ethos.”

He also co-founded the Canadian Association of Physician Innovators and Entrepreneurs.

“In a program full of stars, Mo shined brightly,” said Professor Nicola Jones of the Faculty of Medicine. She remembered him as someone with broad interests, who was “very passionate about being a clinician-scientist.”

Zeynab Asadi Lari Zeynab Asadi Lari, 21, was in her fourth year pursuing a bachelor of science at UTM. Matineh Panah, a U of T student who spoke at the memorial service, described Zeynab as “full of life, dreams, hopes,” adding that “she wanted to be a doctor.”

Zeynab also worked at STEM Fellowship, creating its human resources department, and spearheading the creation of a branch of STEM Fellowship at UTM. She was the founder and president of the UTM branch of STEM Fellowship.

The statement on behalf of STEM Fellowship describes her as a “creative, hard-working, committed young leader who made invaluable contributions to STEM Fellowship.”

Zeynab was a health and mental health advocate, serving as a mental health network coordinator for the Youth Mental Health Association, and a Youth Member for Young Canadians Roundtable on Health. “I know if Zeynab was here, she would want me to advocate for mental health,” said Panah.

Mohammad Amin Jebelli Mohammad Amin Jebelli was a graduate health

science student in translational research and a physician.

Jebelli was recognized for his contributions to an online forum for helping international students adjust to international life. “Every time someone would post a question, a concern, he would constantly reply any hour of the night,” said Panah. “He would offer guidance and his help in any form he can… He was just always willing to help.”

He was also remembered for his “kindness to other students” by Professor Joseph Ferenbok of the translational research program. “There are hundreds of people whose lives he touched that recognize him.”

Mohammad Amin Beiruti Mohammad Amin Beiruti, 29, was a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science.

When Panah spoke with Beiruti’s colleagues, they reported that he was soft-spoken and kind.

“He was very careful on how he treated others.

He talked with kindness and grace.”

Panah shared an anecdote that when Beiruti could not attend an international research conference, he had a friend present his work for him.

“He was passionate about advancing technology.”

“He cared about the impact of his research and wanted to make the world a better place,” said Professor Yashar Ganjali.

Mohammad Saleheh Mohammad Saleheh, 32, was a PhD student in computer science. Saleheh was in the crash with his wife, Zahra Hasani, a prospective U of T student herself. They had immigrated to Canada only a year and a half ago.

“When I asked about Mohammad Saleheh, everyone talked about his bright mind,” said Panah.

“They said he was the humblest genius they knew.”

“It was really my great privilege to know and to work with my PhD student, Mohammad Saleheh,” said Professor Eyal de Lara. They had known each other for three years, working together before Salaheh became a student of de Lara. “He was amazingly good at what he did,” said de Lara. He was also a teaching assistant, and “students really just loved him.”

Copy Editors Adriana Areco, Toryanse Blanchard, Linda Chen, Anita Ding, Elena Foulidis, Emily Hurmizi, Jla Johnson Starr, Mary Kennedy Katharine, Matthew Lee, Lolita Vorobyeva, Teresa Wang, Michelle Wang, Amy Zhao

BUSINESS OFFICE Algimantas Janusis Business Manager

business@thevarsity.ca

Nicole Qian Advertising Executive

nicoleq@thevarsity.ca

The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2020 by The Varsity.

All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions.

Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity. ca. ISSN: 0042-2789

Students wrote down messages for the victims outside of a memorial held in Convocation Hall.

HANNAH CARTY/THE VARSITY

var.st/news

JANUARY 13, 2020

3

U of T Professor George Elliott Clarke withdraws from Regina lecture amid controversy over relationship with convicted killer

Criticism directed at willingness to read poetry written by the perpetrator of an Indigenous woman’s fatal beating

Clarke drew controversy for a speaking arrangement at the University of Regina.

CC WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Kathryn Mannie Deputy News Editor

Content warning: article contains mentions of sexual violence.

George Elliott Clarke, Professor of English at the University of Toronto, was at the centre of controversy last week, after public outcry saw him withdrawing from a lecture at the University of Regina (U of R). The backlash revolved around Clarke’s relationship with, and openness to, citing Stephen Brown’s poetry in the now cancelled lecture, which was titled “‘Truth and Reconciliation’ versus ‘the Murdered and Missing’: Examining Indigenous Experiences of (In)Justice in Four Saskatchewan Poets.”

Brown, who changed his name from Steven Kummerfield, was convicted for the 1995 murder of Pamela George, an Indigenous woman from Regina. Clarke has edited poems and books for Brown, and the two have a long-standing relationship.

“A terrible murder, a vicious crime” Brown and Alex Ternowetsky beat George to death and abandoned her in a ditch just outside Regina. They were both initially charged with first degree murder, but that conviction was reduced to manslaughter. Although Brown was sentenced to serve six-and-a-half years in prison,

he was released on parole in 2000, having been behind bars for only three years.

George’s murder trial in 1997 sparked outrage from groups representing women and the Indigenous community. They believe that Brown and Ternowetsky received unjustly lenient sentences because of their racial privilege and affluent background. This speaks to a larger systemic issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, which includes the targetting of economically vulnerable Indigenous sex workers like George.

The judge had instructed the jury to consider George’s occupation as a sex worker in determining whether or not she had consented to sex.

Clarke says he learned about Brown’s past in September 2019 and characterized George’s fatal beating as “a terrible murder, a vicious crime” in an interview with The Varsity. This prompted him to wonder how a person goes from being a murderer to, in his opinion, “a talented poet.”

When Clarke was asked to give the 2020 Woodrow Lloyd Lecture at U of R, he claims that he considered using Brown’s work to analyze these kinds of situations, as well as “in terms of the absence or presence of commentary regarding violence, in particular against Indigenous women and girls.”

“It was never my intent… to celebrate his poetry, condone his crime, exonerate him of his crime.

Not at all,” said Clarke.

Regina one year after George, also spoke out against Clarke’s lecture. The ambiguity of whether Brown’s poetry would be read was a source of stress for families like hers with direct ties to violence against Indigenous women.

“Why play mind games with people? We’re trying to heal here in Treaty 4 territory… and I don’t think it’s necessary that we bring a killer’s name into light,” she said.

A day before withdrawing from the lecture, Clarke issued an apology to George’s family and stated definitively that he would not read any of Brown’s work.

University response In the face of public scrutiny, U of R’s Faculty of Arts refused to rescind its invitation to Clarke.

In its statement, it claimed that doing so would be an example of censorship, which “goes against everything a university should stand for.”

However, after Clarke’s withdrawal, the university acknowledged that the planned event “brought back painful memories for many in relation to the 1995 killing of Pamela George.”

U of R plans to conduct consultations with Indigenous leaders and community members “to hear people’s concerns and perhaps begin a healing process.”

U of T declined The Varsity’s request for comment.

A community still mourning When critics learned of that Clarke might read some of Brown’s work, they were quick to call on U of R to cancel the lecture.

Heather Bear, Vice-Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said in a statement to CBC News that she is “disgusted, disheartened and hurt that university officials would consider promoting — even indirectly — this [killer’s] work or even to allow the potential of it to be read aloud publicly within the community that still mourns her death.”

Members of the U of R community were also concerned about the lecture, with one faculty member highlighting that the event may not be carried out in the spirit of reconciliation.

Krista Shore, daughter of Barabara Ann Shore, an Indigenous woman who was murdered in

Claims of cancel culture At the time, Clarke did not know if he would use Brown’s work in his lecture because he hadn’t finished researching the contents of the talk. However, he maintains that it is his right to “quote whatever [he thinks] is cogent for the sake of [his] argument.”

In an interview with The Varsity, Clarke expressed that he felt that his fundamental charter rights of freedom of expression were under attack due to a “campaign of harassment and intimidation.”

He felt that some individuals at U of R had jumped to conclusions about the points he would make and so worked to ensure it would be “impossible for [him] to give this lecture.”

“They are the enemies of free speech, they are the enemies of free thought, they are the enemies of free expression. And the only reason why I cancelled the lecture was because I was being cast as

Faculty of Law dean apologizes for assignment that featured Indigenous stereotypes

Dean maintains that this is not indicative of U of T shying away from difficult issues Mikaela Toone Associate News Editor

The Dean of the U of T Faculty of Law, Edward Iacobucci, emailed an apology to all first-year law students in December after an assignment garnered backlash from law students for using racial stereotypes of Indigenous people. A Globe and Mail article drew attention to the story, questioning whether this was discouraging students’ realworld preparation skills.

The assignment asked students to write a legal memo about the effects that the new Child, Youth and Family Services Act would have on a hypothetical case, which involved Indigenous children in foster care, whose parents were experiencing alcohol and substance use disorders.

A recurring racial stereotype of Indigenous peoples is that they are genetically predisposed to alcohol and substance use disorders. However, there is no scientific evidence for this claim. For Indigenous communities, alcohol and substance use disorders are linked to historical social conditions, such as the trauma inflicted by colonial policies like residential schools.

The case summary states that the father had recovered and wanted to continue a relationship with his children against the wishes of the foster parents, a non-Indigenous couple who wished to

end all contact between the children and their father and pursue adoption.

Along with his apology, Iacobucci has provided an alternative assignment and promised to consult with the law school’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the hopes of avoiding similar situations in the future.

In the Globe and Mail article, Cindy Blackstock, a McGill University professor of social work and member of the Gitksan First Nation, questioned whether students would have the capacity to take on these cases after graduation if they hadn’t already faced them in school.

Blackstock noted that the “reality is that First Nations kids are overrepresented among children in child welfare.” She further contextualized the issue as linked to “poverty, poor housing and substance misuse linked to multigenerational trauma arising from colonialism writ large and residential schools in particular.”

“Striving to be respectful in a discussion is not at all equivalent to striving to avoid discussion,” Iacobucci wrote to The Varsity. “There is no legal issue in the ‘real world’ that we would be unwilling to teach our students.”

Iacobucci further emphasized that these discussions need to occur in the proper contexts.

The President of U of T’s Students’ Law Society, Morgan Watkins, also maintained that the

law school is not shying away from any tough issues. “The school hosts discussions on some very difficult cases that have involved Indigenous people… that have been in the media,” Watkins said, citing talks which concerned the cases of Colten Boushie and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

However, the assignment purely concerned instructing students on writing legal memos; the class did not delve into the history of Indigenous people in Canada or child welfare law. For this reason, Watkins believes that the assignment “really flattens and glosses over any of the context.”

Watkins explained that it’s important to ensure that students have the right “repertoire of knowledge” before giving an assignment such as this one. Watkins does not claim to speak for Indigenous students, or the student body in general, but was present for discussions surrounding the assignment.

Leslie Anne St. Amour, an Algonquin law student from U of T’s class of 2020, wrote to Law Times that there are alternative ways to introduce Indigenous law to students.

St. Amour elaborated that, “The law school has a Manager of Indigenous Initiatives who could have been consulted in the writing of the assignment in order to prevent the display of stereotypes with no context that students received.”

being opposed to anybody receiving due justice for horrendous crimes against Indigenous people.”

However, he later elaborated that another reason for his withdrawal was out of consideration for “Ms. George, her family, survivors, [and] the wider Indigenous community who did not understand and never were told about the campaign of harassment that I had to endure for two months.”

He went on to say that as someone who is partly Indigenous himself, he has never condoned racist violence — and that his lecture would have been supportive of Indigenous empowerment.

Clarke stands by his appreciation of Brown’s work.

“Knowing about his criminal past makes that more difficult now, but I can’t change my mind about what I like about his work. And I don’t think that’s an impossible statement to make, while still saying that I find violence against Indigenous people to be a crime against humanity.”

Where to find sexual violence and harassment support at U of T: A list of safety resources is available at safety.utoronto.ca The tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre’s website is www.svpscentre.utoronto.ca Individuals can visit the Centre’s website for more information, contact details, and hours of operation.

Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-9782266.

Locations: U of T downtown Toronto campus: Gerstein Library, suite B139 U of T Mississauga: Davis Building, room 3094G U of T Scarborough: Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, EV141 Those who have experienced sexual violence can also call Campus Police to make a report at 416-9782222 (St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905569-4333 (U of T Mississauga) After-hours support is also available at: Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre (416-323-6040) Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre (416-495-2400) Trillium Hospital Sexual Assault Care Centre (905848-7100)

Edward Iacobucci, Dean of the U of T Faculty of Law, emailed an apology in December.

COURTESY OF JOHNNY GUATTO/ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

4

THE VARSITY

NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

The Breakdown: Victoria College renames “Ryerson Stream” to “Education Stream” Changes made following criticisms over Ryerson’s involvement in the residential school system Ori Gilboa Senior Copy Editor

The Vic One Education Stream was, until 2019, named after Egerton Ryerson. It was changed last summer after Victoria College students protested the name due to Ryerson’s involvement in the creation of the residential school system.

Ryerson, a prominent nineteenth-century Methodist minister, had been honoured by Victoria College for his role in establishing the college and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, as well as a free and compulsory public education system in Canada.

Ryerson also created blueprints for the residential school system, which forcefully relocated an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children between 1880 and 1996, with the purpose of assimilating them into Euro-Canadian culture.

Students were isolated from their culture and community, and many experienced physical and sexual abuse. As a result, intergenerational trauma continues to negatively and severely impact Indigenous communities. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that this policy amounted to “cultural genocide.”

This legacy is what inspired last year’s Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) to call on Victoria University’s Board of Regents to rename the Ryerson Stream. Its report on the matter stated that, “The man [Ryerson] was has no place being celebrated in this age of truth and reconciliation.”

The decision to rename passed with little fanfare by the board before the beginning of the academic year.

Why rename?

Ira Wells, Victoria College’s Academic Programs Director, wrote to The Varsity about renaming, noting that staff at Victoria had been “considering the appropriateness of the name of the Vic One Ryerson stream for some time,” and that they welcomed VUSAC’s report. He expressed that the re-

naming was “one part of a larger conversation that will continue for some time” between Indigenous communities and Victoria University.

Vibhuti Kacholia, Vice-President External of VUSAC, echoed this sentiment, saying that the union is looking into “other initiatives that we can put into play that are [going to] make Victoria University a better space for Indigenous people.”

Kacholia ultimately thinks renaming is important because “language is very powerful in the way that we not only have our institutions here but… students who are coming into our campus and their impressions of it and their feeling of comfort and home… are tied to the language that we use here.”

Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, Special Advisor to the President of Victoria University on Indigenous issues and a member of the Kahnawà:ke community, said that these discussions serve to “[get] people thinking about the [issues around reconciliation].”

“This is not about blame anymore… There’s no one here alive who [is] part of [that history], but… they’re part of this institution. They’re part of the structure. And so it’s to say, ‘okay, we’re here today as this group. How do we recognize what’s happened, and then how do we move to… open up the spaces?’”

Hamilton-Diabo called the relationship between Ryerson and Indigenous peoples “complicated.”

Ryerson’s recommendations of segregated, religious, and industry-based boarding schools for Indigenous populations did, in large part, shape the residential school system. However, he also spent some time with the Ojibwa people at Credit River as a minister, where he befriended Kahkewaquonaby, a chief of the Credit River Mississaugas otherwise known as Peter Jones. Jones also supported a schooling system similar to the one that Ryerson advocated for, though one that was on “native… controlled terms,” according to Hamilton-Diabo.

He argued that at times, historical figures are thought of as “heroes and villains,” which reduces

Ryerson’s name removed due to involvement in developing the residential school system.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

the complexity of historical relations. Renamings, he thinks, should not be done automatically, but should be undertaken through consultation with and for the benefit of Indigenous communities.

Ryerson’s support for the residential school system was not the only reason for the switch. Wells wrote that his name had been problematic during recruitment events, like the Ontario Universities Fair, since prospective students would mistakenly assume that the stream was affiliated with Ryerson University.

Why “Education Stream”?

According to Wells, the name “Education Stream” was chosen because it “most closely captures the academic purpose of the stream.”

This choice is contrary to the original name suggestion provided by VUSAC’s report.

VUSAC hoped to name the stream after Cindy Blackstock, a notable Indigenous and children’s rights activist who earned her doctorate at U of T, and has been described by The Globe and Mail as “Canada’s ‘relentless moral voice’ for First Nations equality.” Excluding the Education Stream, five of seven Vic One streams are named after white men, with no racialized or Indigenous members.

Though the name was potentially a placeholder at the beginning of the year, pending further discussions with the board, Alexa Ballis, President of VUSAC, wrote to The Varsity that the college has no intention of changing the stream name from “Education.”

Kacholia noted that VUSAC was not made aware of the decision to rename the stream, and continued by saying that “[the board] would have loved to be consulted in that process.”

Criticisms surrounding the renaming Recent scrutiny over statues, institutions, and plaques honouring contentious historical figures garnered some pushback. Critics say that renamings constitute “historical revisionism,” which oversimplifies the complicated morality of Canada’s historical figures.

Kacholia said that VUSAC has “definitely [seen] a critique [that the renaming is] somewhat erasing history and embracing the legacy that Ryerson has here,” but remarked that “Ryerson is not forgotten in… the Vic One stream.”

Ballis hopes to add a description of Ryerson’s legacy on the Vic One website, and ensure that there are discussions in the Education Stream’s classroom surrounding its previous namesake.

An explanation about the stream name is not present on Victoria College’s website as of time of publication, and VUSAC does not yet know if these discussions have been implemented for this year’s cohort.

Moving forward Kacholia stressed that VUSAC sees the renaming as a starting point for reconciliation. According to her, the union hopes to return to the report and avoid putting “the settler narrative onto whatever we think is best for the university because as settlers, we don’t really know what that is.”

A main priority going forward will be on consultations with Indigenous groups and the general student population through a consultation form.

The consultation form has seen 187 responses, according to Ballis, who also provided The Varsity with some sample responses, which have been supportive of VUSAC’s report.

Kacholia said that she’d like to bring an updated report to the Board of Regents by the end of the year.

Reflecting on reconciliation efforts at U of T, Hamilton-Diabo said that he has seen improvements in relations with Indigenous communities.

He added that, “It’s just become a wider discussion… [people] are now paying attention to it and wanting to engage in figuring [out] how to do this.”

“Reconciliation’s not a feel-good project. It’s not meant to make people feel good,” HamiltonDiabo said. “It’s actually about understanding the stories and how Indigenous people… have come to a particular place collectively.”

University suspends incidental fee opt-out portal following court decision quashing Student Choice Initiative Students required to pay all incidental fees, Ford government appealing ruling

Andy Takagi News Editor

Following a Divisional Court of Ontario ruling in November, the University of Toronto has decided that all students will be required to pay the full incidental fees — both optional and mandatory — for the winter 2020 semester.

In its ruling, the Divisional Court found that the Ford government’s Student Choice Initiative (SCI) — the mandate for universities to implement opt-out options for certain incidental fees — impugns on their autonomy. In early December, The Globe and Mail reported that the Ford government would be seeking an appeal of the court’s decision.

The SCI’s tumultuous journey from the government’s executive action to the impending court appeal has played out over the past 12 months. It began with an announcement in January of last year, followed by multiple student-organized protests and confusion within universities regarding the government’s “essential” and “non-essential” fee categorization.

For the fall 2019 semester — the only semester where the SCI was implemented — students could opt out of an average $60 out of $850 of incidental fees, according to The Varsity’s own analysis of fees across campuses and colleges.

Province appeals court decision Honourable Justices Harriet Sachs, David Corbett, and Lise Favreau wrote in their decision to strike down the SCI: “Universities are private, autonomous, self-governing institutions. They are ‘publicly assisted,’ but not publicly owned or operated.”

As a direct admonishment of the government’s argument, the justices wrote that for over a century, “Ontario has had a legislated policy of noninterference in university affairs… conferring on university governing councils and senates the authority and responsibility to manage university affairs.”

A brief obtained by The Globe and Mail on the government’s appeal of the SCI outlined the province’s argument for its appeal of the Divisional Court’s decision, primarily hinging upon the court’s decision that the SCI had overstepped the province’s authority in the governance of universities.

As part of its appeal, the government is arguing that the autonomy of colleges and universities is not being violated: “Attaching conditions to government grants in no way interferes with university autonomy and independence.”

The government brief further stated, “Universities remain free to exercise their independence and autonomy through the choice to accept public funding, subject to whatever conditions are

attached.”

Provincial operating grants make up 24.1 per cent of the university’s overall 2019–2020 revenue, with its core operating grant standing at $578.2 million per year. However, since 2017, the university has actually received more money from international student tuition than from the province.

“The decision on what financial barriers to education are sufficient to warrant a policy response is precisely the kind of value-driven determination for which elected decision-makers ought to be accountable to the public,” argues the government in its brief. “And should attract deference from a reviewing Court.”

In one of the few comments that Minister of Colleges and Universities (MCU) Ross Romano has publicly made since taking the MCU position from Merilee Fullerton — under whom the SCI was implemented — Romano remarked that “I’m not able to elaborate… but what I can say is that we have protected certain programs or certain services as essential,” as iPolitics.ca reported.

Downtown Legal Services (DLS) was among the many organizations that faced serious cuts from the Ford government. Lisa Cirillo, Executive Director at DLS, spoke to The Varsity in late November on what a government appeal could mean and look like.

“The court has laid out really firmly: this is the territory of universities and student unions with-

in the universities, and we don’t believe that you can encroach on that,” Cirillo said.

Cirillo refers to a passage in the decision where the court rebuked the government’s argument that the SCI was outside of the court’s jurisdiction of review, saying that doing so “would undercut the supremacy of the legislature and open the door for government by executive decree, a proposition repugnant to the core principles of parliamentary democracy.”

University suspends opt-out portal “The University suspended access to the online site that enabled students to opt out of incidental fees for the winter term, following the decision of the Divisional Court regarding the Student Choice Initiative,” wrote a university spokesperson to The Varsity.

As the SCI was overturned, universities had the choice to independently continue or discontinue opt-out portals for their incidental fees. U of T has decided all students must pay fees for the winter 2020 semester, and has thus shut down the online opt-out portal on ACORN. “Opt-out selections for the Winter 2020 term are not available. Students will be required to pay all optional and mandatory fees for the Winter 2020 term.”

The Varsity has reached out to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities for comment.

var.st/news

JANUARY 13, 2020

Students save 10%

*

Tuesdays | Wednesdays | Thursdays

Metro College Park 444 Yonge St. Metro Bloor West 425 Bloor St. W. *10% Student Discount is only valid at select Metro locations. Visit metro.ca/StudentDiscount for a complete list of participating locations.

In order to qualify for the offer, a valid post-secondary school student ID must be shown prior to purchase. Not valid on purchases of tobacco, lottery tickets, beer, wine, cider, stamps, Western Union, gift card purchases, prescription medications, behind-the-counter pharmacy items, and professional pharmacy services. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Metro reserves the right to amend or terminate this offer without notice.

5

Business

January 13, 2020 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Here’s where U of T experts stand on Sidewalk Toronto’s controversial smart city plan Google’s sister company proposes redevelopment of Quayside, sparking concerns

Kaitlyn Simpson Varsity Staff

On October 31, tri-governmental organization Waterfront Toronto tentatively agreed to move forward with a reduced version of a controversial plan to redevelop part of Toronto’s Quayside into a technology-filled smart neighbourhood.

The redevelopment proposal was put forward

by Sidewalk Labs — a company owned by Alphabet that focuses on urban planning and innovation. Alphabet was formed in 2015 and is the parent company of Google and other Google-related ventures. Sidewalk Labs’ first significant redevelopment project, Sidewalk Toronto, has promised radical urban planning to improve city life. The flashy innovations range from timber skyscrapers, to robotic garbage collection, to new public transit infrastructure.

However, Sidewalk Labs has faced significant backlash over its evolving scope, governance structure, consultation processes, and data collection goals.

The Varsity spoke with several U of T experts to discuss the divisive proposal and how it may impact the university community.

How Sidewalk Toronto got here Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Waterfront Toronto’s partnership with Sidewalk Labs in October 2017, alongside Toronto Mayor John Tory and then-Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

The original plan was to redevelop nearly 12 acres of land at Queens Quay East and Parliament Street. As the project developed over time, Sidewalk Labs argued for an increased scope, including the addition of a roughly 190-acre plot of land in the Port Lands as a new site for Google Canada’s headquarters. These changes were released last June in Sidewalk’s 1,500-page Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP).

When Waterfront Toronto agreed to proceed with the project on October 31, it did so with the condition that Sidewalk Labs considerably limit its MIDP. Moving forward, Waterfront Toronto has agreed to continue holding consultations and negotiate plans until March 31, 2020, when the par-

ties must formally approve the partnership. If approved at this phase, the proposal will still require additional approval from the City of Toronto.

U of T’s involvement with Sidewalk Toronto U of T has played a consultatory role on the Sidewalk Labs project to date. President Meric Gertler served on Waterfront Toronto’s Board of Directors from January 2017, until he was fired from this position on December 6, 2018, for unknown reasons. Former Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Monte McNaughton also fired Waterfront Toronto chairpersons Helen Burstyn and Michael Nobrega alongside Gertler.

The firings followed a report by Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, which criticized the board’s oversight structure and raised concerns about Waterfront Toronto’s initial proposal request process that may have favoured Alphabet over other applicants.

Several U of T professors and faculty members have participated in Sidewalk Toronto consultation processes and committees. One of them is Andrew Clement, Professor Emeritus from the Faculty of Information, who currently sits on Waterfront Toronto’s Digital Strategy Advisory Panel. When asked about his role on the panel, Clement wrote to The Varsity that he offers advice “on whether the digital aspects of Sidewalk Labs’ proposals achieve high standards of protecting and promoting the public interest.”

Additionally, four U of T students — Keisha St. Louis-McBurnie, Paul Seufert, Carol Yeung, and Sharly Chan — participated in a Sidewalk Toronto Fellowship program in the summer of 2018. They explored urban issues around the globe and provided insights into the Sidewalk Toronto project.

In their final report, the 12 fellows issued a series of recommendations for Sidewalk Toronto’s consideration, including setting affordable housing targets, promoting data literary, and using data collection to “build community trust.”

While it’s not officially part of Sidewalk Toronto’s redevelopment, U of T has partnered with MaRS Discovery District to lease 24,000 square feet inside the Waterfront Innovation Centre, a technology- and business-driven venture at the city’s waterfront.

In response to a question about whether U of T supports the Sidewalk redevelopment, a U of T spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that the “university supports Waterfront Toronto in its ambition to turn Quayside into a sustainable smart neighbourhood. Collaborating with global partners in such endeavours helps ensure the city, the province and the country build experience and influence as world leaders.”

Other postsecondary institutions have officially partnered with Sidewalk Labs. On November 28, George Brown College announced its signature of a letter of intent to work with Sidewalk Labs on community programming initiatives.

Thoughts on the proposal Mariana Valverde — a professor of criminology and sociolegal studies and member of #BlockSidewalk, an organization opposing Sidewalk Toronto — criticized Waterfront Toronto’s initial request-for-proposal (RFP) project.

Waterfront Toronto “issued a highly ambiguous document (RFP) that then allowed a Google company to propose a very vague but extremely ambitious plan that would require overturning any number of local laws and rules and would completely marginalize city departments and city democratic processes,” Valverde wrote to The Varsity.

Clement believes Sidewalk Toronto offers a unique opportunity to consider policy responses to smart city proposals. However, he cautioned against approving the project as it stands, noting that there has not been enough information or time to adequately debate Sidewalk Labs’ sweeping plans.

Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Urban Studies Program and Associate Director, Partnerships & Outreach at the School of Cities, wrote to The Varsity that the proposal will most likely shift as it moves forward. “We’ve seen over the past 18 months that the plan is subject to change and will most certainly continue to change if it makes its way through the approval process.”

Ongoing criticisms of Sidewalk Toronto are its data collection processes and subsequent privacy implications. Clement reflected these concerns around privacy, noting the consequences of “a multitude of sensors capable of fine grained sur-

veillance of individual behaviour.”

Alongside questions about data collection, Brail also highlighted concerns regarding the financial model and accessibility of the project, given that “the property is predominantly publicly owned, thus resulting in heightened public expectations.”

Valverde echoed these privacy concerns, while adding that there are issues with the urban development process of Sidewalk Toronto. “There are basic issues of democratic control over urban development, or rather the lack of it. Waterfront Toronto is not a democratic organization. It has no mechanism to be accountable to citizens,” she wrote.

Brail noted that some U of T researchers, faculty, and students are already benefiting from the Sidewalk Labs project through various consultation and scholarship opportunities. “If the proposal moves forward, there are likely to be additional opportunities, for instance in prototyping, experiential learning, and continued research and evaluation,” she wrote.

Civil and Mineral Engineering Assistant Professor Shoshanna Saxe — who has also written about the Sidewalk Labs project in The New York Times — wrote to The Varsity that the university can broadly benefit from studying Toronto as a “living lab.”

While acknowledging that Sidewalk Toronto could theoretically provide employment opportunities for researchers, Valverde put forward that “there has been little emphasis on hiring locally or using local tech companies, and we know that Google does buy tech inventions from all over, including Toronto, but the profits all go to the US, as does the intellectual property.”

Meanwhile, Rotman School of Management Professor and School of Cities Scholar in Residence Richard Florida is a vocal proponent of the Sidewalk Labs project. In an opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, Florida argued that Sidewalk Toronto demonstrates Canada’s potential in the high-tech development sector.

Disclaimer: Kaitlyn Simpson previously served as Volume 138 Features Editor and Volume 139 Managing Online Editor of The Varsity, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Varsity Publications Inc.

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

Comment

January 13, 2020 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

To better accommodate students with disabilities, U of T should compensate note-takers

Pay or extra-credit would improve the quality and quantity of notes Bao Li Ng Varsity Contributor

Throughout my academic career at U of T, I’ve had many note-takers, all of whom I appreciate more than they could ever know. However, I’d like to start this piece with a thank you to one in particular: a man whom I will call Herbert.

Herbert was a volunteer note-taker for an evolutionary anthropology course. His notes were effectively perfect. He uploaded a set for every lecture, never missing a single class, and always wrote the date, lecture number, and lecture topics at the top. He put in a table of contents, diagrams, and bullet points that changed based on the subject matter. His wording was simple yet eloquent, and he covered all the necessary material without overdoing it.

Herbert, if you’re out there — this one’s for you.

Like many of us at U of T who require accommodations, I sometimes miss classes for disability-related reasons. There are definitely a lot of reasons why other students need note-takers, but the gist of it is that not every student can attend lectures, or if they can attend, not all of them are able to efficiently take notes every class. This is why note-takers are so important.

Unfortunately, volunteer note-takers are few and far between. There are many classes that don’t have any note-takers at all, and the ones that do might only submit one or two lecture notes

and then stop. This makes it hard for students who have no other way of following the lecture material.

You could try to get notes from our friends, but what if you don’t have friends in your class, or they spend all class watching shows on Disney+?

What if you don’t want your friends to know you have a disability, or don’t feel comfortable asking them for notes?

Students are left shouldering this responsibility, but they should not have to make up for U of T’s inability to provide equitable access to course material. Volunteer note-taking is a necessary service for many students. Without it, they would have almost no other way to study for material covered in lecture.

By failing to adequately provide this service, the university is failing these students, and furthering accessibility challenges for those who are reliant on them.

If note-takers are so necessary, why are volunteer notes so subject to chance? As a student who depends on accessibility services, I know that there are ways to improve both the quality and quantity of notes. These include financially compensating note-takers or providing an extracredit incentive.

Paying note-takers would create an incentive for students to not only apply for the position but also to improve the quality of their notes.

Furthermore, note-taking is a necessary ac-

commodation, and it should be compensated as such. By only compensating this labour through co-curricular credits (CCRs), we are undervaluing the impact of good note-takers, and potentially leaving those who depend on this service with limited access to coursework.

Whether it be through a work-study scheme or through an honorarium, providing financial compensation for note-takers is long overdue. This will not only provide some students with more opportunities to earn income, but it will also provide students with better learning materials.

Another way to compensate note-takers would be providing extra-credit opportunities for submitting high quality notes. By doing this, students would be able to receive some academic recognition for their work, rather than just CCRs. It’s important for U of T to accommodate all its students, and that includes those who require accessibility services. Students who use accessibility services are just that: students. They’re people who deserve to be given the opportunity to learn the course material through high quality notes.

I would like to thank every note-taker who has

JACQUELINE RENEE/THE VARSITY

ever submitted notes. I printed out your notes, colour-coded them, sat on a pink blanket on the floor with my incense burning, and read them over and over until it was time to take my meds.

They are in my heart — always.

Especially your notes, Herbert. Your notes have a special place in my heart.

Bao Li Ng is a third-year student at Victoria College.

Op-ed: SMCInclusive is dedicated to fighting for the LGBTQQ2AIP+ community

The new St. Michael’s College student group hopes to make U of T a more inclusive place Andrew Raya Varsity Contributor

After more than 50 years, one can still hear the echoes of the Stonewall Riots reverberating through space and time. With the right set of ears, the sounds of chants which manifest the struggle for liberty and the impact of bricks against the seemingly impenetrable walls that divide people from each other can be heard. They call on us all to cast away hatred, break down limitative binaries, and accept the irrefutable diversity of love.

Despite the passing of five decades, and all the advances that came with it, the fight for LGBTQQ2AIP+ rights is as relevant and necessary now as it has ever been throughout history. There is still a need for greater change, enlightenment, and efforts to obtain equity peacefully for the community, on a scale ranging from changing individual minds to reforming

COURTESY OF SMCINCLUSIVE/FACEBOOK

whole organizations.

The University of Toronto and its student body is by no means immune to this transformative call for action and inclusivity.

SMCInclusive, the newest LGBTQQ2AIP+ inclusive social and outreach group for students and staff at St. Michael’s College (SMC), aims to be an answer to this call.

SMCInclusive’s primary mission is to represent all students that identify and are allied with the LGBTQQ2AIP+ community within SMC, and to encourage the growth and advancement of its constituency and the greater community within the University of Toronto as a whole.

We aim to do this through coordinating and running activities and events, and creating a supportive environment for all SMC students and staff regardless of age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression, immigration or citizenship status, race, religion,

sex, or sexuality.

We aim to play an active role in fighting against discrimination against all individuals identifying with the LGBTQQ2AIP+ community and their allies through educational and social outreach to reduce incidents and proliferation of homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, heterosexism, lesbophobia, and any other forms of intersecting oppression.

Behind this group is a team of individuals that has pushed for its existence, and will continue to fight for its longevity: President and Founder Andrew Raya, Vice-President Brennah Doyle, Treasurer Marie-Rose Domenichini, Secretary Adam Da Costa Gomes, and Social Media Representative Michela Lo Re. Since its inception on October 30, SMCInclusive has hosted three events, including a welcome social, an LGBTQQ2AIP+ movie screening and discussion session, and a holiday-themed exam de-stresser co-hosted with SMC’s Wellness Council.

In 2020, we are to host more social events — including a drag brunch at the Glad Day Bookstore and screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show — and engage in various social outreach and archiving projects. In accordance with its aim to respond to incidents of homophobia and transphobia, SMCInclusive has already made groundbreaking strides alongside SMC’s progressive administration.

Near the end of the fall semester, it was brought to the attention of the executives of SMCInclusive that multiple posters advertising its “Netflix & Chat” event in an SMC residence building were subjected to “anti-gay rhetoric,” as worded in a follow-up statement issued by the Dean of Students, Duane Rendle.

Rendle’s groundbreaking statement to SMC residences was a result of SMCInclusive taking initiative. Upon realizing that such an offence had occurred, executives from SMCInclusive held a meeting with Rendle and consulted with

President David Sylvester, asking the college to respond to the incident in a way that ensures inclusivity for all SMC students.

In his statement, Rendle continued, “To all those who were made to feel unwelcome or unsafe by this incident, please know that St. Michael’s College affirms the dignity of all its community members and is committed to working towards equity and challenging discrimination.”

He further expressed his support for SMCInclusive and other student advocacy groups.

In the short time that it has existed, SMCInclusive has made noticeable strides towards making the University of Toronto a more inclusive place for all individuals that identify with the LGBTQQ2AIP+ community.

In alliance with other phenomenal advocacy groups on campus — such as Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Trans People of the University of Toronto — and organizations including the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office and Sexual Education Centre on campus, it is the hope of SMCInclusive’s members and executives to continue working to make SMC, and the greater campus, a place where students can thrive and embrace who they are freely.

With the beginning of a new semester comes a promise from SMCInclusive to hold a wide variety of events that provoke much-needed discussion, celebrate the community’s art and culture, and engage in altruistic efforts and promote wellbeing through leisure and self-care.

If you are interested in attending these events and staying updated about LGBTQQ2AIP+ relevant news on campus, reach out to the club through Instagram and Facebook at @smcinclusive. Together, we can all work towards continuing to make the University of Toronto a more inclusive place for all.

Andrew Raya is a recent Psychology graduate from St. Michael’s College. He is the founder and current President of SMCInclusive.

8

THE VARSITY

COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

To improve Black health, we have to study it

Canada’s data collection cannot continue being colourblind

Nadine Waiganjo Columnist

A report released in 2018 by the Ontario Human Rights Council revealed that a Black individual in Toronto was nearly 20 times more likely to be fatally shot by police than a white person. This data opened the eyes of many people across the city and country alike. It prompted the Toronto Police Service to commit to “start tracking and reporting the race of people involved in certain encounters with police,” according to CBC News.

News of the Toronto police’s commitment gives a sense of hope for change, but nevertheless highlights just how much information is lacking when it comes to racialized experiences in Canada. This lack of data was similarly detailed in a recent report by a team of University of Toronto researchers, led by Onyenyechukwu Nnorom, a faculty member at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. The study found that a “lack of health data [is] hurting Black Canadian women.”

The report, which was dedicated to finding data on cervical and breast cancer as it relates to Black Canadian women, details that even though they had to maintain a broad search for relevant studies, they were only able to find 23 studies that could be included in their synthesis.

This lack of studies unfortunately reinforced what they had noticed in their years of doing research centred around Black Canadians: that there is a “lack of race/ethnicity-specific health care data in Canada.” Even the data that they were able to include in their study was plagued by research that did not include Black Canadian women, or too often conflated Black participants and their results with that of other people of colour, as if they were “one, homogenous, racialized category.”

However, they were still able to determine that Black Canadian women may be underscreened for two cancers that, according to evidence from the United States, disproportionately yield more severe outcomes for them.

The need to use data outside of Canada in and

of itself is a glaring example of just how detrimental this lack of data is for future Canadian researchers hoping to build upon their findings.

The push for this policy and others like it to be implemented throughout Canada has been a topic of discussion for many years. The core argument being that the country’s solution to systemic racism has been to disregard race completely. The implications of this ideology at the governmental level are detrimental.

The appeal of this phenomenon of ‘not seeing colour’ is clear as expressed by faculty from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Georgia. It allows perpetrators of racism to completely negate responsibility by “[maintaining] an egalitarian self-image.” In the case of Canada, there’s no need to address the debilitating effects of institutionalized racism if the data doesn’t show it exists, simply because it’s not being collected.

The United States has its own unique culture, politics, environment, and other factors that differentiate it from Canada. While this may not seem essential when it comes to health data, the report makes it clear that it is vital to arriving at clear results because “such ethnic and cultural differences between and within countries may influence different health behaviours and outcomes within the Black Canadian population.” We simply cannot continue looking to other countries’ data to influence our understanding of the health of racialized Canadians.

Furthermore, this lack of data and therefore, knowledge of needed action, makes breaking down the pillars of systemic racism impossible, which further results in frustration among minority groups due to the relative lack of commitment to anti-racism action. It’s not a myth that institutionalized racism exists in Canada, but without the numbers and evidence to sup-

SKYLAR CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

port this claim and the ways that it affects Canadians, it virtually presents itself as one.

The unfortunate truth is that Canada only very recently began to take the steps to fill this gaping hole of information — one example being Ontario’s Anti-Racism Data Standards, which were implemented in 2017.

However, just months after Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives were elected, committees dedicated to advancing the standards were disbanded. There seems to be no commitment from the Ford government to host the mandatory annual anti-racism conference.

There are quite a few U of T researchers attempting to fill this gap, but it is challenging to continue doing their work when, in Canadian society, there’s no data collection in the health care system to support them. It’s a cause that needs to be addressed not just by the groups that it affects, but the Canadian population as a whole.

Researchers Aisha Lofters, Nnorom, and Nakia Lee-Foon, wrote to The Varsity about this lack of data, and its effect on their work. They explained that the absence of such necessary

information points to a greater fault within the health care system itself leading to health care disadvantages among racialized populations.

Responsibility in championing a change in this system falls on everyone’s shoulders as well. Lee-Foon explained that a “combination of institutional and on-the-ground advocacy is vital to push for this data.”

Universities, researchers, and individuals across Ontario and the country alike need to advocate for a deliberate effort to follow through on better data collection.

This can and must be applied to all sectors of Canadian society. If we are going to address issues such as the disproportionate presence of Black and brown bodies in Canadian prisons, or missing and murdered Indigenous women, and other such cases of systemic racism head on, we must first take the steps to dismantle Canada’s own egalitarian image by systematically collecting the much-needed data.

Nadine Waiganjo is a second-year International Relations student at University College. She is a columnist for The Varsity’s comment section.

Letters to the Editor Re: “U of T Students among victims of plane crash in Iran” “Sending all my love to all those affected by this. It is absolutely heartbreaking. Big hugs to each of you.”

—Rachel Lissner (from web) Re: “Building a career out of a chemical engineering degree” “I’m hearing alot of vague support here, but what are some ACTUAL jobs that chemical engineering graduates (bachelor’s) can reliably get? One of the draws of an engineering degree is that it DOESN’T require a post graduate degree to land a good job. Is this not the case for chemical engineering?”

—Vlad Baderca (from web)

Re: “What’s next for the Student Choice Initiative? Downtown Legal Services perspective on legal decision”

“Hey Ben, we haven’t received any further word regarding the future landscape of the SCI. We have asked the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students directly (after this article was posted) but they are still in the evaluation/planning phase. When they give us any word of what it’ll look like, we’ll let you all know as soon as we can.

Our discussions about this can also be found in our board meeting minutes, which are on our site (and *should* be in searchable PDF format) — our next board meeting will be in January but you’re always welcome to attend if you’d like to!”

—Arjun Kaul (from web)

“Hi Ben, although the University of Toronto has suspended the opt out portal, we have not recieved clear communications regarding what will happen for those students who already opted out of winter fees, or if we are still expected to follow the ‘bucket’ system. The Ontario Government has filed a motion for leave to appeal but has not asked for a stay on the decision, meaning they have not requested that the SCI be reinstated while the appeals process is being undertaken. If you have any questions about UTGSU fees, or the legal case, you can email finance@utgsu.ca!” - University of Toronto, Graduate Students’ Union —UTGSU (from web)

Re: Op-ed: Students should counter concerns with the CFS and other student unions with dedicated action “I would give this op-ed more benefit of the doubt had it not been written by a former GSU member who must be aware of how incredibly difficult bureaucratically and practically it is to leave the CFS.” —Albert Hoang Re: “Opinion: UTSG has much to gain from banning cars on campus” “Ban cars on campus!”

—William Dobias (from web) Re: “The slow burn of falling in love with Toronto” “Hating and resenting are two Canadian pastimes.”

—Moses Wuggenig (from web)

var.st/comment

JANUARY 13, 2020

9

Building a movement: #NoWarWithIran How we organized a protest against war in a day

Yana Sadeghi Varsity Contributor

Growing up in the United States I was taught to be proud of my cultural background and to embrace multiculturalism, as both of my parents were refugees: my mother a Russian Jew, and my father an Iranian.

As a child, this seemed to be a reasonable request, and in large part, I liked floating between different worldviews. However, as I got older, my cultural background began to surface more in conversations, and I could tell that there was twang of distaste toward a young Russian-Iranian-American girl living in a suburb of Washington, D.C. — a place that is heavily dominated by government workers and their families.

As far as my classmates were concerned, I was born in the ‘axis of evil,’ considering the fact that my parents were from arguably the most hated nations by the United States.

With time, I realized that the American brand of multiculturalism that I had been brought up with was a hoax. When I moved to Canada, I felt more welcomed by my community — not because of the government or any sort of policy — but because there were people who shared my cultures.

This sense of community marked the start of my political activism, and eventually led me to organize a rally against war, following the recent airstrike in Iraq.

On January 3, the Trump Administration conducted an air strike near the Baghdad International Airport, assassinating Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Iran’s United Nations ambassador spoke up about the events shortly after, and deemed it an act of war. Since then, Donald Trump has threatened to target 52 Iranian cultural and historical sites if Iran retaliated against the American aggression. However, this threat was later rejected by the Pentagon.

Naturally, many of the Iranian Canadians I know, myself included, were outraged. To be clear, it’s not so much a matter of who had been killed, but more so an issue of what Soleimani’s death gestures for the fate of Iran. This seems all too reminiscent of the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Yemen — the list goes on — and we decided that we would not idly stand by.

My friend Saman Tabasinejad, a former Ontario New Democratic Party candidate and community organizer, asked if I wanted to help set up a rally to fight against a potential war the following day.

I answered with an emphatic ‘yes.’

Being the naïve first-year that I am, I had no idea how to organize a rally, not to mention arranging one in a single day, but I had the support and guidance of other community members.

The first part of our mission was to make the #NoWarWithIran rally less about Iran and more about the broader issue of American imperialism and militarism. After all, many other countries have been targeted under similar circumstances and we felt that we had a duty to address those injustices as well — especially in a diverse city like ours.

From there, Tabasinejed spoke to some of her colleagues about their protest experiences and found a multitude of speakers from various backgrounds for the event. In the meantime, I created social media accounts for the rally and made digital posters to better circulate the information.

We also faced another pressing question regarding what we wanted our protest to accomplish. There have been far too many occasions where people have banded together to express their anger, but have left without creating any tangible change.

Tabasinejed suggested that we pressure Canadian government officials to take action following the rally; to achieve this goal, we set up a campaign

The No War With Iran movement has inspired protests across the globe.

COURTESY OF BYU GEOGRAPHY

page where people could directly contact their local MPs with a default email that we had drafted.

Frankly, I was unsure of how successful our turnout would be. Only four people had closely planned the rally and we were very reliant on our social media following — but I was wrong to doubt followers of the issue. On January 4, around 300 people mobilized to show their solidarity for the cause — photographers, journalists, representatives from non-profit organizations, and individuals alike — and we seemed to have garnered a strong following. It was a moment of true people power.

And, despite opposition by counter-protestors on the other side of the road, our rally remained peaceful and respectful.

Since the rally, more than 300 people have con-

tacted their local MPs, calling for them to condemn acts of war and to take a stand on the global stage. Activists in Montréal also followed suit, organizing their own rally the following day.

We have pledged to come back and rally until we get a response from our officials. We refuse to let history repeat itself, but it’s also important to address that this rally was by no means intended to support the current regime in Iran.

Iran is undoubtedly a deeply flawed nation and still has a lot of progress to make. However, this change should be brought forth by the Iranian people, not the American government. Despite what we are taught, politics are personal.

Yana Sadeghi is a first-year Social Sciences student at New College.

Launch your path to success

MASTER OF TAXATION

Become a highly-valued member of the Canadian tax community.

Join Canada’s most comprehensive English-speaking program for the development of tax professionals. Offered through the University of Waterloo at our downtown Toronto classrooms.

Learn to REACH BEYOND

EXPERT FACULTY DOWNTOWN TORONTO CLASSROOM

learn … develop … experience mtax.ca C017845

The MTax advantage

10

THE VARSITY

FEATURES

“We unearth the unheard histories of Black Canadians”: CDN335 returns to U of T Writer: Ibnul Chowdhury Photographer: Dina Dong

After being pulled last year due to enrollment challenges, CDN335 — Black Canadian Studies (BCS) returned under University College’s Canadian Studies (CS) program for the fall 2019 term. Taught by artist and researcher Audrey Hudson this semester, the course aims to interrogate “the constitution of blackness in Canada” and provide students with a “deeper understanding of diverse black communities.”

For Black scholars and students, CDN335 provides a space through which to learn and discuss histories that are otherwise overlooked in Canada. The course also mirrors a growing nationwide push to establish an independent space for Black studies in Canadian scholarship, as seen with the recently established infrastructures at other Canadian universities, namely Dalhousie University and York University.

Cheryl Thompson, who is currently an assistant professor at Ryerson University’s School of Creative Industries, was the inaugural instructor, teaching and designing the course from 2015– 2018. She wrote to The Varsity on the significance of the course for Black students, noting, “[The] more you know who you are, the more you are going to love yourself.”

Conceiving the course “While people of African descent have been in Canada since at least the seventeenth century, the histories of black Canadian presence have been overwhelmingly written out of Canadian histories, as well as histories of the black Diaspora and transatlantic slavery,” reads the introduction to the CDN335 syllabus.

Originally titled UNI335, CDN335 was first introduced in the 2014–2015 academic year under the CS Program Director Emily Gilbert, who is cross-appointed between the CS program and the Department of Geography & Planning.

Gilbert returned to program’s directorship in 2018, after serving a first term between 2010– 2015.

“I saw a real need for a course that would examine the experiences of Black Canadians in light of the renewed discussions of anti-Black racism in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement,” wrote Gilbert in an email to The Va r s i t y .

“The class looks at Canadian history through a different [lens],” said Karel Peters, a CDN335 student.

“While one course will not bring about needed institutional change, it is a small start.”

For Gilbert, curriculum should speak to the diverse experiences, needs, and interests of the student body. However, when she began constructing the course, she observed a lack of BCS-focused courses across Canadian universities. “I think it is especially important to have courses and programs in Black Canadian Studies because historically universities have been unwelcoming to Black Canadian students, faculty and staff,” she reflected. “And I know this is still the experience of many.”

“I loved that course because I gave my students my knowledge of Black Canadian history, because I was given breadth to create the syllabus as I saw fit,” Thompson wrote. “It’s always good to teach a course that’s fully yours.”

“You might not even know of the course” After running for four consecutive years, the course was not offered in the 2018–2019 academic year due to insufficient enrollment numbers. When Gilbert returned as the program director in 2018, she was determined to revive it for the following year, citing its uniqueness at U of T. “The need to examine the experiences of Black Canadians continues to be highly important, especially as anti-Black racism persists on campus and beyond,” she wrote.

In the year preceding Gilbert’s return, there were several public incidents of anti-Black racism at the university. The most prominent story, which received mainstream media attention, occurred in fall 2017: a Massey College senior fellow resigned after receiving backlash for racist comments they made toward a Black student.

On the enrollment challenges that face the BCS course, Gilbert noted that while the course draws interest from students she has spoken to, it lacks visibility owing to its placement in a small University College program.

Thompson agreed with this observation: “If you’re not in Canadian Studies you might not even know of the course.”

The President of the Black Students’ Association (BSA), Anyika Mark, added that students are not made aware of the course’s value beyond serving as a requirement for the CS program, or as an elective. CDN335 can also serve a half-credit toward major programs in which interested students may already be enrolled, like History, Caribbean Studies, and Diaspora and Transnational Studies.

This year, Gilbert focused on outreach for the course to ensure sufficient enrollment. She promoted the course on social media and reached out to other undergraduate departments and advisors to share the course with their students.

This year, the class ran with 11 participants out of a maximum number of 25. One of those enrolled, third-year CS and equity studies student Karel Peters, had reached out to Gilbert last year to express hope for the course’s return. “She made it happen, and worked very hard to do so,” Peters wrote to The Varsity. She “found a black professor to teach a black Canadian studies course, sent countless emails to various student groups to ensure there was enough enrolment to ‘justify’ to the university that students were interested.”

Thompson pointed out another structural barrier for enrollment: prerequisites from other CS courses, which may deter interested students.

“When I taught the course, I had to exempt prerequisites,” reflected Thompson. “I tried to make the case that it should be an open elective.”

Gilbert acknowledged the problem: “We are working on changing this for next year so that the course is more available to more students.”

As the CS director, she hopes that with further outreach enrollment for CDN335 reach nearer to full capacity so that the course can be offered every year in the future.

The instructors behind CDN335 Hudson, this year’s instructor, articulated how the course reflects the nuances, multidimensionality, and pluralism of Blackness in Canada — contrasting with the erasure of Black histories in conventional Canadian education.

“This course allows us to celebrate the amazingness of blackness in Canada but also to enter a dialogue that complicates our relationships to a nation that undervalues our community and continues to erase us,” wrote Hudson to The Varsity. “We unearth the unheard histories of Black Canadians.”

For Thompson, the course reaffirms the place of Black people in Canada. By teaching the diverse histories of Black Nova Scotians, Albertan pioneers, southern Ontario communities, as well as Caribbean and African diaspora communities, the curriculum shows that Canada is their country too.

Hudson noted that her classroom was ethnically mixed, although it was predominantly Black. “I think it’s natural that students want to learn about their own histories of being and building Canada,” she wrote. Thompson appreciated the diversity of her classroom, and she observed that the lack of BCS in Canadian education meant that both Black and white students were confronted with new material.

On people with racist attitudes, Thompson wrote, “a lot of their prejudices come from

features@thevarsity.ca ignorance. They don’t know us.” But she also observed how the class provided an opportunity for transformation: “The more you know about other people, the more loving you are going to be towards other people.”

The student experience: “We are here, and we’ve been here” Peters described Hudson’s classroom this past fall as a collaborative learning space that validated Black presence and history in Canada. As for the space it provides for Black students to share their life experiences, Peters wrote, “We are here, and we’ve been here.”

Mark, who took the course with Thompson, wrote to The Varsity, “So many people don’t know how entrenched anti-black racism is in our country and that starts with not knowing our history.” She emphasized that anti-Blackness exists in Canada, as it does in the United States.

“Despite the image of Canada as an extremely diverse and unproblematic nation, minorities continue to feel the effects of racism, systemic oppression, and racial hierarchies present in Canada’s society,” Renee Rankine, a fourth-year CDN335 student in criminology, wrote to The Varsity.

On the difficulty of being racialized at U of T, Rankine noted, “You doubt yourself and your abilities, and if you combine that with the variety of academic pressures within the UofT community, it can be… very lonely.”

CDN335 provided a sense of community for Rankine: “Mingling, and forming friendships with fellow black students is an extremely refreshing experience, and hearing about the contributions of Black Canadians, offers a sense of pride.”

Peters, Mark, and Rankine all emphasized that CDN335 is not strictly a course for Black students. “[It’s] for everyone,” wrote Peters. “If you are a non-black person entering the space, be prepared to listen. This is a space where people are coming to learn about their history and unload any emotional trauma that accompanies those experiences.”

In light of the enrollment challenges faced

by CDN335, Mark calls on non-racialized students to help support such courses to ensure they continue to exist. “For us to move on as a harmonious society, I think it’s super important that non-Black students learn about how antiblack racism is ever-evolving in Canada in order to help us stop it.”

Beyond U of T: the national picture While one undergraduate course constitutes BCS at U of T, other institutions have established more formal infrastructures in recent years, reflecting the advocacy of Black scholars and students. In these programs, students can earn more than just one credit in the area of BCS. In 2016, Dalhousie University received national coverage when it established a minor in Black and African Diaspora Studies, following years of effort from Associate Professor Afua Cooper. In 2018, York University launched a BCS certificate program, following student advocacy for a curriculum that includes students’ own histories and experiences.

“A program like Black Canadian Studies is necessary for all Canadians, for all of us, to

Audrey Hudson, this year’s instructor for the class, brought in her favorite book from the course.

interrupt the idea that Blackness is somehow separate from Canadian society as a whole,” said Associate Professor and Coordinator for the BCS certificate, Andrea Davis, in a YFile news story.

Aside from Dalhousie and York, there is also noticeable advocacy at Concordia University to offer a Black Studies minor. While these are significant steps in the expansion of BCS nationally, they do not currently offer students the ability to graduate with degrees that concentrate in the area of study.

Charmaine Nelson, an art history professor at McGill University, runs a BCS advocacy website that calls for stronger infrastructures that can offer degrees to students in order to increase Black-focused Canadian scholarship. Such dedicated spaces for BCS would require more resources: namely, standalone departments and staff, which Nelson notes are severely lacking in Canada compared to the US.

The future of BCS In recent years, there have also been numerous calls for more investment in Black studies at U of T. In December 2015, the Black Liberation Collective (BLC) presented several demands to the university administration. This included calls to increase the presence and representation of Black administrators, faculty, staff, and students, and to develop a standalone African & Caribbean Studies Department. Currently, African Studies and Caribbean Studies exist only as programs at New College.

Following the university’s lack of response to the demands, the BLC protested by blocking traffic on campus on March 15, 2016 — contesting the university’s celebration of its birthday as “189 years of mistreating Black students and Black academics without speaking out.”

In November 2017, following incidents of antiBlack racism at the Faculty of Applied Sciences & Engineering (FASE), the BSA, the BLC, and the National Society of Black Engineers echoed these demands. They called, among other items, for an independent Black studies department and further recruitment of Black faculty and staff in the FASE. “I think that an investment in these courses, in hiring more Black faculty and staff, is definitely a

part of how students feel properly represented,” elaborated Mark. “Blackness is such a nuanced concept, and, to have an entire department for it, would greatly impact how Black students feel about coming to UofT.” When asked about anti-Black racism on campus and community calls to invest more in Black spaces at the university, a U of T spokesperson reaffirmed the university’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

They pointed to recent examples, like the provost’s commitment to more hiring funds for Black and Indigenous faculty; the Department of History’s current efforts to hire a full-time, tenurestream assistant professor in Black Canadian history; the Faculty of Medicine’s Black Student Application Program; and the 2018 hiring of full-time recruitment officer for outreach and support, who helps underrepresented students reach university.

Gilbert is encouraged by these developments and attributed them to the work of the Black U of T community. “It is important to recognize the vital advocacy of students and faculty through groups such as the Black Liberation Collective and the Black Faculty Collective, and the provostial Black Faculty Working Group,” she wrote.

Professors and students reflect on the significance of Black Canadian Studies

“This momentum around new hires could help to build a program in Black Canadian Studies at UofT, especially if students make it clear that this is something that they want.”

Hudson not only believes that there should be more courses offered in the area of BCS, but that it should be a more common part of the university experience. “[CDN335] should be a mandatory class for all students, if we are going to cultivate more healthy relations with Black communities,” she wrote.

For now, there is no indication at U of T that there will be any sort of investment any sort of larger BCS space, such as a department or program. But whatever the future holds, CDN335 remains an intimate, nurturing space for those who experience it. Its value resides in the students who choose to participate, and what those students choose to make of it.

“Every week, I feel privileged to be learning with and from this group of students who have found our class a space to honour all of our lived experiences,” Hudson wrote. “They are interdisciplinary, intellectual, brave, gracious, bold, and eager to ascertain what Blackness in Canada means across the nation.”

“It is my honour to observe their contributions.”

Arts & Culture

January 13, 2020 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

in each of the movies is equal parts witty and thought provoking. The films are distinctly interesting and tell wildly adventurous stories, though both maintain a sense of uniqueness. The wideangle cinematography used in both is so visually encapsulating that it becomes difficult to draw your eyes away from the screen, save for those of us too squeamish to stare at the gruesome images.

In case you missed them: the best movies of the 2010s

Ring in the new year with some of the silver screen’s finest

Moonlight is arguably the best film to appear during the past decade.

COURTESY OF TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Riel Flack Varsity Contributor

As the 2010s come to a close, it has become apparent that watching films at the theatre is far less popular than it was compared to the beginning of the decade. Big-screen viewings have been overtaken by small-screen distribution companies like Netflix and Amazon.

This shift has increased accessibility to movies for the public, who are watching more movies from around the globe, leading to what is now called the New Golden Age of Television. It is against that backdrop that I have compiled my favourite movies from the last ten years. In no particular order, here are the group of must-see films — both foreign and domestic.

Moonlight (2016) Barry Jenkins’ masterpiece, Moonlight, is arguably the best film to appear during the past decade.

For this film buff, it ranks as one of my favourite films of all time. The story grapples with the experiences of a young, Black, and gay character as he struggles to find his identity in a world that refuses to accept him.

To say that Moonlight is visually stunning is an understatement. The cinematography ventures into a previously unseen world of cinema by combining different hues of purple, blue, and yellow — all conveying the film’s raw emotion. The art of the film is undeniable; it is both powerful and genre-defying. Moonlight has set a new standard

for storytelling and cinematography.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) One might bristle at placing a post-apocalyptic franchise film in a discussion surrounding the best films of the decade, but Mad Max: Fury Road is not your basic formulaic piece. This actionheavy visual assault defies all the clichés as it displays groundbreaking cinematography. The film is bathed in a saturated orange hue and makes no apologies for communicating a powerful feminist message. The six Academy Awards it received speak for themselves — Mad Max: Fury Road is a definite must-watch.

Whiplash (2014) Damien Chazelle’s intense drama is about a young man at an elite music conservatory who will stop at nothing to become the top jazz drummer at the school. His determination means that he’ll have to survive unrelenting abuse from his instructor, who is ruthlessly played by J.K. Simmons, a role that earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Whiplash is both electrifying and masterful — it’s in everyone’s tempo.

Son of Saul (2015) Hungarian director László Nemes took home the Cannes Grand Prix award and won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for Son of Saul, a film set during World War II at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The film employs only one continuous shot from a dizzying

hand-held camera throughout its entirety — a technique which is distracting at first, but arresting in its final impact. Son of Saul is raw and uncomfortable. But it’s a necessary film, revealing a previously unencountered perspective of the horrors that took place during the Holocaust.

Birdman (2014) Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s two-hour-long satirical drama, which also features one continuous take, is a cinematic tour de force. Birdman employs intricate camera movements, a lively jazz percussion score, and a devastatingly funny script that is enhanced by the flawless performances of Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone. Birdman is a daring and unique film that is a multilayered work of artistic genius.

Cold War (2018) Paweł Pawlikowski’s post-WWII drama is about a pair of star-crossed lovers, and is set against the rise of communism in Europe. Exquisitely filmed in black and white with a 4:3 aspect ratio, the work leans heavily on its classical jazz score that drives the brilliant script and its wonderful portrayal of a tug-of-war between politics and love.

Cold War is not simply a romance film, it’s a work of pure art and cinematic beauty.

Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015) To decide between these two Quentin Tarantino films would be nearly impossible. The writing

Parasite (2019) Parasite, Bong Joon-Ho’s latest thriller, exceeds all expectations. Not only is this Cannes Palm d’Or winner wickedly funny, but, more importantly, Parasite explores class resentment in a unique way. The film is brilliant, and it never lacks a moment of suspense or visual intensity. I predict that Parasite will make history as the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Unlike The Irishman, this three-hour long Martin Scorsese movie demands the viewers’ attention right from the beginning, and never loses it. The Wolf of Wall Street is intense, fast-paced, hysterically funny, and rightfully earns its ‘R’ rating with a consistent stream of sex, drugs, and perfectly timed f-bombs.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Wes Anderson’s highly stylized and colourful dramatic comedy is just as quirky and brilliant as his previous cinematic works. The film’s eccentricity is complimented by Anderson’s classic use of timely deadpan comedy, whimsical costumes, meticulous set design, and unique camera movement. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a treat for the senses.

The Master (2012) Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic drama is a thinly disguised social and religious commentary, centering around the birth of a scientology-style cult during the 1950’s. Not only was the choice of 70-millimetre film an artistic bullseye, but performances done by Joaquin Phoenix, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams are heartwrenching and praise-worthy. Their performances are haunting and limitless, earning them a trifecta of Academy Award nominations for their efforts.

A review of Cats reviews — the dodgiest film of 2019

Some instances where the pen was certainly not mightier than the sword Mikaela Toone Associate News Editor

I went to see Cats with every intention of writing a review. The film — based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1981 stage musical about the gaudy tales of a group of anthropomorphic cats — thoroughly disturbed and entertained me. However, since it seems like every major film critic took Cats as an opportunity to flex their creative muscles, I don’t believe I have much more to add to this critical anthology, so here’s a review of some Cats reviews: “‘Cats’ is a dog — a big, dumb, loud one” Peter Howell for the Toronto Star I feel as if Howell has been collecting felinerelated puns like stamps over the years, and jumped at the opportunity to throw them all into one disparaging review. Some highlights include “not a complete cat-astrophe,” “non-rouser of a meow-ser,” and “empty as a goldfish bowl in a roomful of hungry tabbies.”

If you’re looking for an analysis of Cats that claws the film apart with more dad jokes than depth, this is the review for you.

Cats’ reviews purr-fectly captured the alluring bizarreness of the film.

COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES

“Stop mewling! Cats is no turkey, say our dance and theatre critics” Arifa Akbar and Lyndsey Winship for The Guardian Amidst a tornado of creative put-downs, this review stands out as largely positive. Both critics agree that Cats is no masterpiece. However, they

don’t label it a total flop.

Winship highlights widespread discourse over the lack of visible genitals and asked, “It would be a lot weirder if they did [have them], no?”

As to why Cats was so poorly received, Winship suspects that reviewers are lacking in a critical skill needed for viewing theatre: “Suspension of disbelief.”

Akbar goes further to suggest that the film would greatly appeal to children, for whom T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the basis for Webber’s musical, was intended.

If you, like me, derived an inte`nse, bizarre enjoyment from Cats, this review offers validation. “‘Cats’: Spay It” Scott Tobias for NPR The curt title gives away this review’s conclusion right away. Despite Tobias’ praise for the work of ballerina Francesca Hayward, whose wide-eyed perspective the camera follows, he purports that the story itself is greatly lacking in narrative.

The “fundamental wrongness” of the film undercuts any instance of dignity or grace, according to Tobias. The reviewer clearly had a strong distaste for Cats before stepping into the movie theatre.

Perhaps Tobias’ critical perspective might benefit from injecting some of Hayward’s wide-eyed curiosity into his critical lens. “‘Cats’ could have been a contender” Richard Brody for The New Yorker Brody expresses praise for almost all the elements

of Cats, including the actors’ performances, the choreography, and even the computer-generated imagery! The downfall of the film, according to Brody, is the directing, with Tom Hooper delivering “what’s expected of him” rather than “his own sense of desires and curiosities.”

Going deeper into directorial failing, Brody dissects the casting choices in Cats — specifically criticizing the decision to use what he calls “whiteface” makeup for the lead Francesca Hayward, “who is a light-skinned Black woman.”

It is worth noting that Hayward defended her makeup in an interview with The Sunday Times.

She said that she would not take on a human role that required a change in skin tone, but felt it acceptable considering she was playing a cat.

Nevertheless, Brody’s review provides a deep analysis of the film’s directorial blunders from the perspective of a lover of the musical who wholeheartedly believes in the success that Cats could have had.

All in all, each reviewer seems to find their own unique failings and redeeming qualities in Cats. After taking in these reviews I personally would like to watch the film again and spot each unique failing or redemption that I may have missed the first time — from the “cat-astrophic” nature of the visual effects to the good fortune that the editors opted for non-visible genitals.

If you decide to see Cats, I guarantee that you will be disturbed, delighted, or probably both — but definitely not bored.

var.st/arts

JANUARY 13, 2020

13

Study abroad: ditch your LSAT for el cerveza A perfect break from Toronto, despite Granada’s subpar oranges Sunniva Bean Varsity Contributor

When I arrived in Granada, Spain, the city was as beautiful as it had appeared during my many anticipatory Google Maps searches. I did the standard exchange student clichés — I watched the sunset over the Alhambra and drank wine in plazas filled with flamenco dancers.

The only disappointment was the oranges that had looked heavenly in photos but tasted like acidic garbage. Granada was just as charming and deceiving as the inedible, ornamental fruit trees that made the city so quaint.

At 21, it was my first time in Spain. I could only follow about half of the iconic Andalusian dialect of Spanish, and quickly became a pro at asking related questions when I could not remember the correct vocabulary. I’d easily get lost and flustered in conversations, asking the locals to repeat themselves again and again.

I spent my first meals reading books beside people chatting over beers and eating their threeeuro falafels on park benches. I learned that language can’t translate directly because the meanings embedded in vocabulary change too. Even while speaking in varied levels of Spanish and English, the context of our idioms were not always shared.

My city, Toronto, meant skyscrapers and a bedroom on the 15th floor. The culture was a mosaic of ethnic fragments: Chinatown and Little Italy stretching through grubby neon streets; ’50s style mansions that were split into student apartments; brisk colourful falls that faded into endless harrowingly cold winters.

I’ve come to learn that their city, Granada, means medieval mazes of narrow cobblestone streets overlooking the Sierra Nevada. Midday siesta breaks leaving only bars open, and a free tapa with each two-euro beer. Spring bringing its weeklong fiestas, and summers too hot to stand. Phrases like ‘no pasa nada’ and ‘me da igual’ told me to relax, often without an exact English translation.

I moved into a house with 12 roommates from all over the world: Italy, Germany, France, Bulgaria, England, Belgium, Morocco, and more. We had two bathrooms and one narrow but wellequipped kitchen.

Located right downtown, the house was rumoured to have once been a brothel, but for the past three decades it has been home to international students. The house invited you to add to the clutter that was already present.

The large roof terrace was filled with graffiti of giraffes, palm trees, trippy faces, and political stencils. This art decorated the three floors. Umbrellas and giant paper monkeys hung on strings, costume pieces, toys, and furniture were scattered throughout. Every wall had stickers and posters stuck to it. CDs hung like disco balls. There were hundreds of plastic roses stuck into every crevice possible: the showers and door frames, in bottles, between pipes, and in our hair for music festivals.

I moved in on a Tuesday morning. A new roommate offered me a drag of his cigarette as he welcomed me. There was a red glow as you entered due to a lampshade that had been repurposed from a water jug, which glared down with an ominous face if you happened to look up.

Another roommate said that the food left on one counter — stews and leftover vegetable dish-

es — was to share, a trend that continued for the rest of the year. A trippy collage covered my closet and my bed was bare aside from a bright orange sheet and pink wig.

In my Toronto high-rise apartment, visitors had to check in. I once recieved a noise complaint at 10:15 pm and was informed that a second would result in a $300 fine. Opposingly, in this home backpackers commonly slept on our roof, which was equipped with six mattresses; we once adopted a group of travellers after a roommate met a man sleeping in a tent.

He’d been part of a German forest protest movement which made houses in trees too high to evict during their battle against giant timber companies and police. So, he spent the next month sleeping on our roof. In Granada they lived with anarchist rules: scavenging supplies, sharing objects, and making decisions communally. The treehouses were as ‘treehousey’ as you might imagine, strung together with wooden plank bridges to create a city among pits of destroyed forest remains.

A couple of weeks in, his friend joined. We searched through trash using a homemade map which detailed the hours that bakeries usually put out their slightly stale leftovers, them in their usual rugged outdoor look, me in a skirt and a touch of lipstick.

Friends joined from Denmark, Netherlands, and France, and played music and returned from the weekly food market with overflowing baskets of discarded tomatoes, artichokes, grapes, and chirimoya, not quite at the point of molding. But eventually the number of people stretched the home’s limits and they continued on their travels.

In Toronto, university dominated my schedule.

On weekends, I indulged in studying in cafés, sacrificed sleep for debate tournaments, and got beer after studying Weber’s protestant work ethic.

During the exchange, classes were all pass or fail, which gave me plenty of free time.

Exchange students had known a sleeping bag and tent were mandatory for the many free outdoor trips. Once, I was awoken at 7:00 am an told that we were going to climb the two tallest mountains on the peninsula.

That night we slept entirely alone in a remote cabin, high within the Sierra Nevada. The only other life forms were small goats that camouflaged well with the rocky rubble, which was still blanketed with snow despite it being June. We hiked and hitchhiked down to free raves in a valley, and slept between olive trees strung with fairy lights. We didn’t bring enough food, so we spent Sunday eating oranges off of the trees between our tents.

At university I felt plagued by my discomfort with Spanish. It was frustrating and embarrassing to approach classmates and not understand their rapid reply — it was easier to not invite that confusion.

This made me deeply grateful for students who helped me navigate the intricacies of the language.

One classmate offered me all of her notes if the course went too fast. She was stern and not particularly friendly, but was unceasingly helpful, continuing to check in when I had too much shame to keep asking. A classmate from China could not understand anything in Spanish or

English, yet continuously greeted me with the warmest ‘hellos’; we were friends by virtue of being foreigners.

A month in, I switched into a toxicology class to fulfill a science credit requirement. I hoped that I would be as anonymous as I was in U of T’s lecture halls. But alas, my second-year cohort of 25 students took every class together, and they noticed a redheaded American often arriving a few minutes late, covered in clay as she sped from a sculpting class.

They thought I was in the wrong place for weeks, the professor repeating that this was not sociology, and me repeating that I was there intentionally, although I had no knowledge of toxicology. I was once surprised to discover the class in lab-mode, mixing bright liquids in uniformly white lab coats and goggles; whereas I was running late, coffee in hand, wearing ripped black jeans and a leather jacket.

As the months passed, I relaxed into Spanish and discovered people who had previously been distanced from me by language barriers. Speaking Spanish was not so daunting — mistakes were usually funny rather than shameful. I didn’t feel so foreign when I was acquainted with the local cashiers.

I hoped to come across the Parisian architecture student as he smoked outside the popular alternative bar. Even discovering that I was in his web of flings gave life and emotion to this city. I had stayed long enough to become intertwined in their intricate social relations.

I did not feel as foreign as I adapted to their standards of femininity. I was initially surprised at my four female flatmates’ lack of makeup, but when I moved out, I discarded my untouched beauty products. When I applied the eyeliner I’d worn at home, it made me look foreign.

The semester’s end meant the termination of my undergraduate degree. I hadn’t made a concrete plan for afterward, so I found myself the last in a city swamped in heat. I spent the next month walking across the north of Spain on an ancient pilgrimage, reflecting on the end of my studies and the beginning of my independence.

A pilgrim follows arrows into the unknown, with their life carried on their back. This removes their usual rhythm and domain, altering their relationship with time and space. By joining them, you join the pilgrims of the past millennium who’ve removed themselves from normalcy in order to walk in pursuit of answers.

Here, I considered what ‘home’ would mean next. My Canadian study visa expired along with my identity as a student, and I’d not committed to the renewal’s requirements. The years when I’d considered the US my home felt forever ago, though I’ll always be met with expectations about what it means to be American.

I accepted a job to write remotely, and my Irish passport made the options seem limitless. When I reached Santiago, I derailed my family’s expectations that the year would be spent on law school applications. Exchange and my wacky house had inspired greater dedication to painting and writing with the ample time that Granada always seems to have. So, seven months after my study abroad, Granada, so charming and cheap, has become my home.

Granada is known for its agriculture — especially its rolling hills of citrus.

SUNNIVA BEAN/THE VARSITY

14

THE VARSITY

ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

Theatre Review: Eurydice A retelling of an ancient Greek myth from a fresh perspective

William Dao’s directorial endeavour features a star-studded cast and colourful set design.

COURTESY OF NICK GAREL-JONES

Mikaela Toone Associate News Editor

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is, pardon the pun, frustrating as hell. Orpheus had one seemingly simple task as the pair made their escape from the Greek underworld: don’t look back at Eurydice. He fails. Severing the lovers, Orpheus returns to the realm of the living and Eurydice to the realm of the dead.

However, Eurydice, written by Sarah Ruhl, directed by William Dao, and performed at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse from December 6–8, extended the narrative beyond this one devastating moment. The true pain in Eurydice lies in watching Orpheus, Eurydice, and Eurydice’s father face the preposterous task of living and dying without their cherished loved ones.

Dao is a friend of mine, and I’ve bore witness to the obsessive care he invests into his plays. As such, I had high expectations for his latest creation.

Walking into the sold-out theatre, I was met with sugary ’50s and ’60s pop songs playing across a bright pink and blue set. The stage was

bare, save for a series of whimsical bird houses, lanterns, vases, and figurines shelved neatly on the back wall. While the songs had cheery melodies, they each expressed the aching that accompanies overwhelming love: “I’m all shook up,” sang Elvis Presley.

Then the play began. Eurydice (Margaret Rose) and Orpheus (Stephanie Zeit) lay gushing with mutual affection and agreed to marry against the noise of seagulls and lapping sea.

Their marital bliss is cut short, however, when the Nasty Man ( Jacob Kay) in a foreboding blood red suit lures Eurydice to his high-rise condo using a letter from her dead father. In her attempt at escape, Eurydice tumbles down the stairs and perishes.

Whereas the original Greek myth follows Orpheus in his epic quest to save his wife from death, this retelling focuses on Eurydice, as she learns to exist in the underworld by recalling the memories and language she lost to the prowess of the river Styx.

Rose executes the title character with a delightful performance worthy of the script’s po-

etic prose. At one point she captivates the audience with only her hands as she silently mimes puppets while waiting for her father (Sid Srikanth) to build her a room in the underworld.

As Eurydice settles in the land of the dead, without her memories or language, a chorus of three Stones (Eiléanór O’Halloran, Tuhi Sen, Jamie Fiuza) arrive to guide her. The Stones remain on stage for the rest of the show, sporting porcelain doll makeup to mesh with the baubles shelving the back wall. Though the Stones dress and speak like glamorous French women, they twitched like otherworldly creatures and intently followed the action on stage with their eyes, acting as spotlights. This contrast stole scenes and left the audience astonished.

Not to be overlooked are the feats of Zeit and Srikanth, who played Orpheus and Eurydice’s father, respectively. Srikanth gave a patient and tender performance as he taught Eurydice to remember her language and her loved ones. Zeit has a beautiful voice, fitting of a legendary musician such as Orpheus, and is able to express desperate love in his frenzied search for Eurydice,

which makes their parting all the more difficult to watch.

And finally, Kay, in both the roles of the Nasty Man and as Lord of the Underworld, is able to hit a fine balance of acting both terrifying and leery toward Eurydice, while not wholly alienating the audience. Upon every exit, Kay produced a maniacal laugh that still haunted me for days after.

The colourful set, costumes, and music were sewn together for a visually stunning show and every actor went above and beyond to bring out the beauty in Ruhl’s imaginative script.

I came away from Eurydice into rainy Toronto reflecting on some of the show’s powerful images, like love letters delivered to the dead via worms, and pondering the idea of trust. Of whether I’d be capable of achieving what Orpheus couldn’t.

Dao’s take on this play was visually and emotionally mesmerizing. I highly recommend catching Dao’s final few on-campus shows as he enters his last semester at U of T. You won’t want to miss them.

Concert Review: BROCKHAMPTON’s Heaven Belongs To You tour Redwan Majumder Varsity Contributor

In 2019, hip hop collective and self-identified boyband BROCKHAMPTON returned with studio album GINGER, along with their Heaven Belongs To You tour. Despite founding member Ameer Vann leaving the group due to sexual misconduct allegations, BROCKHAMPTON have greatly progressed since they emerged as stars in 2017.

Tellingly, GINGER was introspective and touched on sensitive topics, which provided fans with insight into the lives of the band. Sonically, the project was vastly different from their other studio albums, innovating upon BROCKHAMPTON’s traditional sound. It focuses less on hard-hitting songs and catchy hooks, and more on ballads and melodies.

The accompanying tour was also innovative, with BROCKHAMPTON redefining how they perform. Their tour stopped at Toronto’s Coca Cola Coliseum, a fitting venue for the band. There were two openers: the first being 100 gecs, a duo that makes music even more experimental than BROCKHAMPTON. Their intriguing style of music mixes the autotuneheavy nature of today’s hip-hop with the strong guitar chords and drums of metal music. Despite being unknown to a vast proportion of the audience, there was definitely genuine fascination

The boyband bounces back

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

and appreciation.

The other opening act was rapper, slowthai. slowthai has recently evolved from a UK buzz to a global sensation. Most of the crowd was well aware of his stage persona, echoed his ad libs and matched his energy.

Shortly afterward, BROCKHAMPTON took to the stage. The crowd watched in awe and harmonized along as the band delivered enchanting melodies with articulate rhymes.

The most interesting aspect of the show was how many focal points there were on stage. Of course, the attention was placed on the members who were singing and rapping their parts.

However, it was obvious that there was so much talent on the stage.

The audience was just as excited seeing Kevin Abstract’s verses as they were seeing one of the best qualities of the band: the guitar solos of Ciarán McDonald, better known as bearface.

Despite having around six regularly performing members, each of them have their own significance in the group and its sound. It never felt like there was too much or too little emphasis on a single member.

This tour also saw BROCKHAMPTON innovate their stage antics through a reimagined set design. The entire stage was lit beautifully.

There were strobing crosses surrounding the group, colour coded areas, and a raked floor with LED strip lights going down it. Fans were there to listen to the group, but BROCKHAMPTON’s beautiful use of their stage made this show an amazing visual experience as well.

The atmosphere of the night was incredible and added to the performance that much more.

BROCKHAMPTON’s entire brand has been based off including ‘outsiders’ in their fanbase.

The band members are Black, white, and Asian.

They have different sexual orientations and they are all very open about their sexualities. Their fans also come from different ethnic and personal backgrounds. It was beautiful to see so many different people coming together and united in their appreciation for this band.

The Heaven Belongs to You tour was ultimately a great experience and showed fans that the group still has plenty of talent to share with the world. Constantly innovating and constantly redefining themselves, it will be interesting to see what 2020 brings for BROCKHAMPTON.

Science

January 13, 2020 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

How one U of T alum changed the face of animation

Oscar-winning animator of Toy Story 4 advises computer science students to get a diverse education and good “breadth of life.”

JD HANCOCK/CC FLICKR

In conversation with William Reeves: past at U of T, Toy Story 4, and entering animation Megan Brearley Deputy Senior Copy Editor

William Reeves is the very definition of success.

Since earning his PhD from U of T 40 years ago, Reeves has gone on to work with Lucasfilm and Pixar Animation Studios, where he is now a supervising technical director. He has worked on numerous award-winning movies, including Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life, Up, and Toy Story 4, and won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his work on the short “Tin Toy.” As a U of T alum, Reeves has a career that many students dream of, which begs the question: how does a U of T student go about becoming one of the top members of their field?

In an interview with The Varsity, Reeves spoke about his time at U of T, his career, and the work he’s been doing at Pixar.

Graduate studies at U of T Reeves graduated with his PhD at U of T in 1980.

He partially credits the Dynamic Graphics Project (DGP) lab associated with the Department of Computer Science for his education in the preceding year.

The lab is an interdisciplinary group consisting of faculty, graduate students, undergraduate research assistants, and more, with the goal of conducting research within the fields of computer graphics and human computer interaction, among others. The group dates back to 1967, and Reeves reminisced of being thrown into “a room where there were some eight — you know, at this point — ancient computers, and some very early computer graphics terminals and workstations.”

One of the key takeaways that Reeves learned from the DGP was how to be part of a team. “[The professors] said, ‘Each of you has your own little

project, but they all interconnect,’ or ‘make them all interconnect,’ or ‘we encourage you to make them all interconnected.’”

Reeves remarked that, with this idea in mind, he and his fellow graduate students “learned from each other, experimented, tried different things, spent long nights hacking away at this and that and the other thing, working on projects that we shouldn’t have been working on because [they were] fun.”

However, as much as the group taught him to be part of a team, it also taught him about working independently.

The professors fostered an environment that allowed the students to branch off and complete their own work — with guidance, but only that which was needed. “Rather than having someone spoon-feed you, it’s like, ‘This is what we expect… but you’ve got to figure some stuff out yourself,” Reeves remarked.

“As an undergraduate, you don’t really learn that.”

Reeves also attributes his interest in animation back to his time at DGP. He recalled a line-drawing animation assistant that a peer was working on, and reflected fondly on a project he worked on around the same time, dealing with queuing theory — how people line up, board trains, and the like — and animating simulations to more clearly demonstrate their ideas.

He also recognized that he was really lucky, as he graduated in a time when this was still a rising industry. “If it was five years earlier, wouldn’t have been possible, and if it was five years later, somebody else would have done it.”

Out in the real world — and killing it

Following his graduation, Reeves strived at his first industry-job at Lucasfilm, and now works as a supervising technical director at Pixar.

While working on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he developed a technology known as ‘particle systems,’ which is used to model objects like fire, grass, and smoke. In his 1983 paper, Reeves defines a particle system as a “collection of many minute particles that together represent a fuzzy object. Over a period of time, particles are generated into a system, move and change from within the system, and die from the system.”

In addition to working on numerous movies like Finding Nemo and Ratatouille, he’s also worked as a producer — in addition to many other roles — on shorts like “Luxo Jr.” and “Tin Toy,” the latter winning him an Oscar alongside John Lasseter.

Creating Toy Story 4 Reeves elaborated further on the various projects that he undertook while working on Toy Story 4.

One of the key areas that Reeves highlighted was the work of adapting the Toy Story world to new technology. With nine years between the release of Toy Story 3 and that of Toy Story 4, technology in the studio had changed, and the pre-existing Toy Story world had to adapt in order to reflect that.

One key thing that Reeves highlighted was the process of automating practical lighting, such as lamps and traditional lights that would behave similar to real lights. He remarked that rather than manually adjusting each light, as had previously been done, “We rethought the whole process about how to do practical lighting and build the actual physics of the light into the light.”

Now, with the help of their project, practical lights in the film are “all set up for the lighting

department in the end and then they can go and tweak them when they need to for dramatic effect.”

“They don’t have to worry about setting everything up.”

Another large project that Reeves worked on during production was the introduction of a process that he calls “dailies.” This process consisted of “[rendering] every shot that’s in production every night and [showing] it to people.”

Reeves explained that by getting everyone in the same room, they were able to open up all stages of the process and problem-solve together. Rather than every department working independently, “everybody could see what they were doing, what each other was doing, and then feed off each other.”

So you want to get into animation?

For those interested in the industry, Reeves stressed the importance of getting a diverse education — both inside and outside of computer science.

He encouraged students to resist “just studying hardcore computer graphics and focussing on grey tracing,” and instead to “learn all different aspects of computer graphics, compositing, bottling, shading, and then rendering as well.” He also stressed the importance of getting a good “breadth of life.”

However, Reeves also emphasized that when it comes to education in storytelling and filmmaking, “You specialize in the technical side of things and we’ll teach you film here.”

“You learn by doing and coming here and experiencing lots of different things. That’s what’s really important.”

Toy Story 4 was released on Blu Ray on October 8.

—With files from Adam A. Lam

More than a quarter of U of T PhD graduates find tenure-track positions

10,000 PhDs study finds that U of T doctoral students are among the most employable in academia Tahmeed Shafiq Associate Science Editor

Where do U of T doctoral graduates end up after donning their graduation caps and receiving their diplomas?

A study commissioned by the School of Graduate Studies and led by Professor Reinhart Reithmeier of the Department of Biochemistry sought to find out. Reithmeier and his colleagues published their findings in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PLOS One in January 2019.

The researchers behind the 10,000 PhDs project, who first released their findings online on U of T’s website in February 2018, collected publicly-

ISOBEL HEINTZ/THE VARSITY

available data of U of T PhD-program graduates from the cohorts between 2000 and 2015.

Over 9,500 graduates across all disciplines were examined for information about the employment prospects of a U of T PhD graduate. The data revealed that U of T graduates are among the most employable in academia — with 26 per cent finding a coveted tenure-track academic position after graduation. A further 25 per cent were employed in non-tenure-track appointments, including teaching-stream professors, adjunct or lecturing faculty, and post-doctoral fellowships.

Out of profiled graduates working outside the academy, making up half of the graduates, 18.3 per cent were employed in the private sector, 9.7 per cent in the public sector, almost three per cent were in charity work, and close to three per cent were self-employed.

What are tenured positions, and what are the odds of receiving one?

Tenured positions are the ‘gold star’ of academic employment: permanent appointments at a postsecondary institution that carry implications of generous funding and promotions.

Tenure-track positions comprise three academic ranks: assistant, associate, and full

professorships.

In Canada, assistant and non-tenured associate professors may be able to receive tenure a few years after their initial hiring, making them highly sought after.

Unfortunately, the numbers are not favourable.

Statistics reveal that the likelihood of landing a tenure-track position in North America vary between 10 and 25 per cent.

While that grants less certainty than many doctoral candidates may hope for, U of T graduates are among the luckier ones. Since 26 per cent of graduates found tenure-track positions, a U of T PhD will maximize your chances of finding a career in academia.

“The number of our graduates who are currently tenure-track professors was about 200 per year, every year,” said Reithmeier to The Varsity, reflecting on the data. As the size of PhD cohorts has grown, however, the relative likelihood of tenure-track has decreased.

“Our graduates are very competitive, and they’re getting tenure-track positions in the very best schools. That absolute number [of 200] has not decreased [over time] whatsoever,” Reithmeier added.

The University of British Columbia and Stanford University are two peer institutions that similarly give their graduates an almost one-in-three shot at tenure-track.

But at U of T, the numbers vary vastly at the departmental level. Humanities and social sciences graduates enjoyed one-in-three odds of tenuretrack, compared to physical and life science re-

searchers, for whom the odds were one-in-five.

Faculty matters too. An astonishing 72 per cent of alumni from the Rotman School of Management went out to tenure-track prospects. The Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work degree trailed closely behind at 58 per cent.

What about the private sector?

After completing their PhD, U of T alumni go on to find a diverse array of jobs in the private and public sectors.

If your doctorate is in the humanities and you work in the public sector, your employers will most likely be Canadian Heritage — the federal government’s department for cultural and historical initiatives — and the City of Toronto.

Meanwhile, life science students find jobs at pharmaceutical companies like Janssen and Sanofi Pasteur. The biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industry absorbs a quarter of all graduates who work in the private sector.

If you have dreams of working for Google or Apple, you might want to consult one of the graduates who make up the 17 per cent of physical science PhDs who work for Internet companies.

The study’s authors believe that U of T doctorates clearly have weight beyond the university setting. “[Graduate students] are pretty resilient,” Reithmeier said. “They’ll come across a problem… and they’ll persist, find a solution of some kind.” “[Graduate students] are bright, motivated, hard-working, problem solvers — those are the kind of skills that [entrepreneurial companies] want today… They need those kinds of inputs.”

16

THE VARSITY

SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Investigating the emergence of the Zika virus in Angola

U of T-affiliated study sheds light on the transmission of the Asian genotype of the virus in the country Hafsa Ahmed Associate Comment Editor

In 2016, the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency over the transmission of the Zika virus, which broke headlines for causing brain damage in infants.

Now, in 2019, a University of Toronto-affiliated study has investigated the outbreak of the Asian lineage of the Zika virus in Angola, with the goal of providing “the first cohesive insight into the introduction, circulation, and possible public health effects of Zika virus in Angola.”

The co-authors concluded that this subtype of Zika virus has been present in Angola, and that the transmission most likely originated from Brazil.

Why is the Zika virus so dangerous?

The virus has two distinct lineages: the African genotype and the Asian genotype. Researchers have detected the African genotype in Africa since the mid-twentieth century, according to the co-authors, but there is little data on the presence of the Asian genotype in Africa.

Until 2007, the Zika virus was only identified in 14 people in Africa and Asia. At the time, infection was believed to cause mild symptoms, such as a fever, headache, and rash. Since 2013, however, the Asian genotype of Zika virus has spread to locations in the Pacific Islands and the Americas, and has resulted in more than 800,000 suspected and confirmed cases of the disease.

The conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a mosquito population that can spread the disease and an appropriate climate for infection, means that the residents are especially susceptible to the disease. Research has also revealed that Zika virus is dangerous during pregnancy, as it can cause severe birth defects.

Subtype of Zika virus likely introduced to Angola from Brazil.

The investigation’s findings The study’s findings suggest that either a single

event introduced the Zika virus in Angola and continued until at least June 2017, or that there was a recurrent and later introduction of the virus belonging to a specific lineage present in Brazil.

The co-authors believe that the virus “probably circulated in Angola for 17–28 months.” This implies that the outbreak was substantially larger than the small number of cases detected by the Angolan ministry.

In order to investigate the possible source of Zika virus in Angola, the co-authors analyzed the global incident of Zika virus infection and human mobility data. They considered two major factors as contributors to a high risk of exporting Zika virus to Angola, which were high local incidences of Zika virus and a high number of air passengers travelling to Angola.

To achieve this they determined the monthly number of passengers to Angola from countries who were reporting Zika virus outbreaks, based on the worldwide ticket sale of data from the International Air Transport Association, from 2015 to 2017. They also used surveillance data to estimate the average Zika virus incidence per person per week in each country.

What did the investigation reveal about emergence and spread of Zika virus?

Previous research has established the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses between Brazil and Angola through studies on the spread of chikungunya virus from Angola to Brazil in 2014.

Angola and Cape Verde, the two African countries with confirmed Asian-lineage Zika virus, have regular air connectivity with Brazil.

Moreover, the co-authors found that Angola, out of all African countries, received the largest number of travellers from Zika virus-affected countries in the Americas.

The researchers concluded that Zika virus was

most likely introduced to Angola from Brazil, according to data for human flight mobility and the global incidence of the disease. However, the possibility of spread to Angola from affected locations where genomic data are unavailable is not out of the question.

The study’s methods In order to conduct their study, researchers undertook “a multi-component investigation into Zika virus and suspected microcephaly cases in Angola.”

They assessed surveillance data from the Ministry of Health in Angola in order to identify acute cases of Zika virus infection. The co-authors also screened samples from a separate 2017 study involving 349 people with HIV living in Luanda, Angola to expand the dataset. They sequenced Zika virus from three samples and performed an analysis to explain the origins and duration of the outbreak in Angola.

In addition, the researchers analyzed human air travel and data on the global outbreak of Zika to support findings about the geographical source of the introduced strain. They further assessed suspected cases of microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by abnormal brain development, notified to the Ministry of Health in Angola.

The co-authors also conducted an analysis of evolutionary relationships, called a phylogenetic analysis, that showed that the three Angolan Zika virus genomes that they analyzed had a common ancestor in June 2016, improving the understanding of the virus.

A better look st Zika outbreaks in Africa, noted the co-authors, is critical in order to safeguard the health of people living in the continent and across the globe.

DAVID GOODSELL/CC WIKIMEDIA

What do we know about microplastics?

U of T researchers review current literature concerning plastic pollution Jennifer Zhong Varsity Contributor

Plastic pollution is a known ecological threat, but the scope of its impact is still largely a mystery.

Macroplastics are undoubtedly responsible for many ecological effects. However, those of microplastics — pieces of plastic smaller than five millimetres in length — are much more complex.

A recent research review by Kennedy Bucci, Matthew Tulio, and Chelsea Rochman of U of T’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology analyzed the current literature concerning plastic pollution. Aiming to examine trends in detection of the effects of pollution and the environmental relevancy of lab experiments, they conclude that scientists may be approaching plastic pollution the wrong way.

“We suggest that it is time to ask more contextual questions and use more strategic experiments to begin to tease apart the complex effects of plastics on wildlife and ecosystem processes globally,” the co-authors wrote in the review.

What we know Macroplastics, especially in marine environments, are the most obvious form of plastic pollution, and are where research on plastic pollution originally started, as Bucci explained in an interview with The Varsity.

As a result of this extended period of research on macroplastic pollution in marine ecosystems, there is subsequently a disproportionately large

number of studies focusing on macroplastic pollution in marine ecosystems. Only recently have scientists began to examine the effects of macroplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments.

In comparison to those of macroplastics, the effects of microplastic are much more subtle. The study of these effects is a relatively new field, which has gained a lot of recent attention due to our increased understanding of their prevalence and possible impacts on ecosystems.

It is difficult to study microplastics in field experiments and determine their effects. Of the lab experiments included in the meta-analysis, approximately half of them could not detect the effect they were testing for, and there is still no consensus on the impacts of microplastics, as the authors noted.

The co-authors recommend that researchers treat microplastics as a group of contaminants with many variations, rather than as a single class.

By conducting more strategic investigations, they can gain a better understanding of the individual factors involved and how they contribute to the effects of microplastics.

Another important consideration is the ecological relevance of an experiment and how it relates to the natural world. Problems can arise when experiments fail to do so. For example, many laboratory experiments involving microplastics use concentrations that are not found in the natural world. The co-authors suggest that future researchers increase the number of field experiments and the use mesocosms — enclosed

experimental ecosystems — to help predict future effects.

Finally, an overwhelming majority of studies are done in marine environments. With this imbalance in mind, the co-authors encourage researchers to apply what they have learned from marine environments and explore ecological effects in freshwater and terrestrial environments as well.

Impact of findings Not only does this article present findings that can influence the way that scientists conduct future research on plastic pollution, but it also can serve as an important source for policymakers as well. The co-authors believe that the unbiased and meticulous nature of the article makes it an appealing reference, especially when considering that in recent years, science has been a major influence on the creation of new policies.

In the opinion of Alice (Xia) Zhu, a PhD student at the Rochman Lab involved in researchbased policy, “Science should influence policy because we’re the ones who can communicate it the best.”

Zhu recalled that her own research has had an impact on policy. Dealing with plastic pollution in the San Francisco Bay and other urban bays in California, Zhu’s work has been involved with a legislative effort to ban styrofoam statewide.

“Plastic can seem like a big problem,” she said. “But if we all work together, we can make a big difference, especially right here in our community.”

Pieces of plastic smaller than five millimetres in length have complex ecological effects.

COURTESY OF BRIAN YURISITS/UNSPLASH

var.st/science

JANUARY 13, 2020

Women in STEM: Silvia Tenenbaum

A clinical psychologist’s advice on navigating around the gendered elephant in the room at U of T Javiera Gutierrez Duran Associate Science Editor

Indigenous health resarcher and said she has “[challenged] the status quo.”

COURTESY OF SILVIA TENENBAUM

Dr. Silvia Tenenbaum is a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the WaakebinessBryce Institute for Indigenous Health, which is a part of U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

She discussed her research in psychology, clinical practice, and challenging the gender status quo in an interview with The Varsity.

Intersectional research Tenenbaum previously completed her PhD at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where she studied applied psychology and human development. The focus of Tenenbaum’s research has been on the intersection of public health and Indigenous reconciliation.

For her doctoral thesis, she researched the experiences of Indigenous Latino border-gender youth with accessing mental health services, which she wrote was the “fastest growing refugee seeking population in Canada,” with a decolonizing approach.

Currently, Tenenbaum runs a private practice in clinical psychology as the chief psychologist.

“My passion,” she wrote, “is to advance a non-traditional approach to psychological treatment and healing, from a global viewpoint.”

Challenging the status quo Tenenbaum wrote that she has “absolutely” faced challenges based on her identity.

“That is the white elephant in the room at U of T,” she wrote.

“If you speak with an accent, professors prefer to believe that you also probably think with an accent; if you are Queer but not part of the old visible club, you are the Other; if you don’t buy their justifications for using/abusing their privilege, and you claim your Otherness, you are met with a glass ceiling and are unlikely to be offered tenure in the long term, and are likely to encounter hostility in the short term.”

The advice she would give to students navigating sexism in academia is threefold: “To name the problems, to denounce them, and to generate community.”

Tenenbaum wrote that “challenging the status quo comes with a price, which I was willing to pay, and I did.”

She explained that that the “traditional view of an academically successful woman has been

17

that of an upper class, straight, able-bodied, cis[gendered] woman that reflects a masculine model of competition, aggression, and individualistic aim.”

“This is the status quo, and [it] not only fails to represent today’s diverse society, but is not committed politically and ecologically to current pedagogical needs.”

As an example, she pointed to the misperception that women and non-binary people of color are in the minority.

“Minorities are majorities,” she wrote. The perpetuation of this misperception explains how those who are actually minorities silence those who are in the majority. According to Tenenbaum, these mischaracterizations are harmful because they solidify the status quo.

On mentorship and advice for students Tenenbaum expressed that she has grown with the guidance of two woman mentors, but wrote that it is telling that she has only had two woman mentors in her two decades at U of T. Her advice for undergraduate students is to “find your niche by searching for academics with similar ethical values.” Her advice for graduate students is to “make sure you still have a life.”

“Academia is not a life,” she wrote. “It is a preparation for achieving credentials, and perhaps a job after.”

Neutralizing the risks facing workers who handle your electronic waste Electronic waste workers face risks to physical and mental health

Aanya Bahl Varsity Staff

Electronics have become an integral part of our lives — the constant presence of screens has become an indicator of humanity’s absolute dependence on technology. However, the short shelf-lives of our gadgets create a vicious useand-replace cycle which requires processing by human workers.

Dr. Victoria Arrandale spoke to The Varsity about the hazards facing workers who handle electronic waste. Through her work as a professor at the Occupational and Environmental Health Division of U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, she recently published a paper on the subject.

Arrandale co-authored the invited review with the aim of assessing some of the risks associated with electronic waste recycling and the exposure to hazardous chemicals that e-waste workers face. She worked together with Dr. Joe Okeme, a research associate at the Occupational Cancer Research Centre at Cancer Care Ontario.

“E-waste workers are exposed to a variety of chemicals including metals, particulates, persistent organic compounds, and flame retardants.

Exposure varies according to job task with higher exposures observed for dismantling and burning e-waste,” wrote the co-authors.

Little information exists on the health consequences of handling e-waste The literature to date has looked at the different kinds of exposure that e-workers face, according to Arrandale. However, there is little information on the health effects that these labourers incur, even though scientists know that some of these exposures are extremely hazardous.

In their review, Arrandale and Okeme summarized the conclusions of existing research on the various exposures that e-waste workers face, along with associated health risks that researchers have assessed on a qualitative level.

“In the literature there really isn't much epidemiology at all, and it’s epidemiology that tells us about the magnitude of the risk among these workers,” mentioned Arrandale.

“So, we can estimate… that these exposures are hazardous and are likely to lead to some health effects,” she continued. “But we can't currently really quantify that risk.”

Researchers relied on biological measures more often than measuring external exposure, according to the co-authors. To better protect workers, they noted that additional efforts are required to better understand these exposures and their effects on health.

They paper found that the removal of hazardous materials from electronics, together with lessened e-waste production, would benefit workers, communities, and our environment.

Psychological stresses of the work environment Electronic waste workers also face hazards to their psychological health. In the paper, the coauthors cited two articles that explored workplace stress experienced by e-waste workers.

Some of the work is done in dangerous environments, where workers face poor working conditions or may be working for low wages, which are factors that cause occupational stress. Arrandale believes that it deserves more investigation.

“In terms of e-scrap and waste, I think there are several levels to think about in terms of how we reduce the risk to workers,” Arrandale continued. She believes that it starts with personal responsibility, where we carefully consider which electronics we purchase and how quickly we replace them.

“The more electronics we use, the more waste we’re creating,” she noted.

Arrandale also thinks that there’s another angle that lays some responsibility with electronics manufacturers. Regulators may be able to ensure that producers both minimize the harmful chemicals contained within their electronics and plan for what happens to their products at their end of life.

“We as an occupational health and safety system need to engage more with key workplaces to improve things like ventilation,” Arrandale said, “or implement programs that will reduce exposure for workers and maybe even provide personal protective equipment.”

Ultimately, while Arrandale and Okeme’s review will better inform scientists and researchers, she hopes that it could also impact company workspaces. Another high-impact area, she noted, has been workspace research, which has involved direct consultation between her research team and companies.

Expertise drawn from this type of research can guide workplaces to resources that will help them improve their workers’ health and safety.

Sports

January 13, 2020 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Blues lose nail-biter to Rams Win streak was snapped, but Blues remain first in OUA West Conference The Blues men’s hockey team broke their winning streak in a tight affair with their crosstown rivals.

COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES

Sara Fredo Varsity Staff

The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team saw their historic winning streak snapped on January 9 when they lost a 4–3 decision to the Ryerson Rams in overtime. Despite the loss — their first after winning 14 games in a row — the Blues remain on top of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West Conference.

The crosstown matchup saw both teams start the game off strong. It was impossible to tell who would be the victor when watching the first period, as both teams were evenly matched in speed, puck handling, and intensity. Second-year goalie Alex Bishop was rock solid in net, showing no signs of nervousness as he handled close shots and hard pressure with ease.

The defensive line of Captain Willy Paul and veteran Evan MacEachern also played with a fearless mindset — they showed no hesitation when diving in front of shots to protect their net. Despite their sacrificial defending and crafty offense — Colin Paradis and Kevin Lavoie were particularly dangerous up front — the Rams drew first blood with a beautiful goal at just under a minute of play left in the first period.

Toronto came into the second period with even more vigour and intensity than before. Their

discipline was quickly rewarded when Jared Leslie scored off a rebound from teammate Kyle Clarke.

The Blues were eager to continue chipping away at the Rams, and pulled ahead with a 2–1 score when Lavoie notched a stunning goal off a Scott Kirton assist. Ryerson tied it up with a goal of their own shortly after, but Ross Krieger once again pulled ahead after capitalizing on a scramble in front of Ryerson’s net.

Unfortunately, the Rams once again equalized with two minutes left in the period, and the game headed into the third period knotted up at 3–3.

Despite an intense, back-and-forth third period, no more goals were scored, leading to a three-on-three sudden death overtime period.

Toronto was visibly exhausted at this point, as the match had been incredibly physical and tense, despite only three penalties being called. Bishop made a pair of impossible saves to keep the Blues heading toward a shootout, but the Rams managed to slip one past him just before overtime expired to take the match.

The Blues will next head to Guelph to play the Guelph Gryphons on January 11, before returning home to play against the University of Windsor on January 17.

Women’s hockey suffers stunning defeat by the Laurier Golden Hawks Toronto yields physical match in shoot-out Sara Fredo Varsity Staff

The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team faced a shocking defeat at the hands of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on January 10. The Blues — ranked fourth in the country — lost a 3–2 decision to the Hawks in a shoot-out at Varsity Arena. In spite of this loss, they’re still at first place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Conference.

The Blues knew they were in for a rough match when Laurier started off with a pair of early penalties for tripping and cross-checking. While the Blues were unable to capitalize off their powerplays, Laurier took advantage of a Blues penalty by sliding a tricky shot past Blues goaltender Madeline Albert close to the five-minute mark. More penalties to both teams riddled the intense first period. Despite strong offensive efforts by forwards Laura Ellis and Adrianna Noble, the first period finished with Laurier scoring the only goal.

The second period saw another flurry of penalties, but this time Toronto was successful in punishing their opponents’ mistakes. Gabrielle De Serres had plenty of time and space during

the power play and used it to send the puck into the Hawks’ goal crease. Blues’ Breanna Berndsen also shouldered off her defender to knock home Cristine Chao’s rebound.

Using their momentum and physicality to further press the Hawks — and withstand their powerplays — Toronto squeaked in a second goal with barely a second left.

After winning the faceoff of the third period, Chao received the puck and sent it toward the net, where Madelyn Walsh deflected it past the Laurier goalie.

Unfortunately, Toronto was unable to maintain their lead, despite Albert’s impressive goaltending. Overtime — where Albert once again shone, robbing Laurier of any chances to score — solved nothing and the game headed toward a shootout.

Both goalies were impressive, with each turning away five shooters before Laurier finally got one past Albert. Ultimately, Noble was unable to score, and Laurier stole the win.

Toronto will spend their next three matches on the road before they return to Varsity Arena on January 23 to play their crosstown rival, Ryerson University.

The women’s hockey team lost in an upset to Laurier.

COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES

How to stick to your fitness goals in 2020 A guide to your New Year’s resolution

MIRKA LOISELLE/THE VARSITY

Tania DAmico Varsity Contributor

With everything feeling fresh and new with the start of the new year, many people around the world will be practicing the long-time tradition of making a New Year’s resolution.

Most of the time, such promises or goals are positive, and common ones often revolve around

school — such as finishing a degree or getting better grades — saving money or spending less on superfluous causes, wanting to be more social, getting a better or a first job, or improving upon romantic prospects.

Some of the most common New Year’s resolutions are related to health and fitness, including gaining muscle definition, toning your body, eating healthier, or becoming an athlete.

Keeping a New Year’s resolutions is a great thing to strive for in theory but, the sad truth is that many people often fail to stick to them. This happens for a number of reasons, such as selfdoubt, a lack of motivation, or because they had set the proverbial bar unreasonably high.

A failed New Year’s resolution is especially likely in the case of health-related goals.

The question then becomes: how does one stick to a New Year’s resolution? Here’s a guide on how to stay motivated to accomplish your New Year’s

fitness goals.

Keep it fun No one wants to do something that isn’t fun.

Therefore, if you think of your health-related resolution along the lines of “I have to do this,” rather than “I want to do this,” odds are you will give up and throw down the towel.

However, a practical way to stick to your resolution is simple: keep it fun! This can be done in many easy ways. For example, try to focus on exercises that you enjoy doing during your workout session, and don’t be afraid to change up your routine. You can also try to cook healthy — but delicious — new recipes if your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthier.

Make sure that there is no going back The human mind can be very clever at times. It’s great at finding loopholes or ‘back doors’ in order

to get out of agreements, promises, or even New Year’s resolutions.

Familiar excuses related to fitness-oriented New Year’s resolutions include — but are in no way limited to — “I’m too tired,” “I’m too busy,” and “I don’t have the money.” Luckily, there are simple solutions that can help you successfully lock up this back door and throw away the key.

One thing you can do is invest in a gym membership, which will force you to stick to your regularly timed gym sessions so that you don’t waste your hard-earned paycheck.

Additionally, a workout buddy who shares the same goals could also be a great way to stick to a fitness goal. Having a partner allows one athlete to encourage the other one by making sure that each person in the relationship attends the regularly-planned workout schedule and doesn’t let the other one down.

var.st/sports

JANUARY 13, 2020

19

The highs and lows of the Varsity Blues’ year

How the major teams fared in 2019, and what they can work on going forward Silas Le Blanc Sports Editor

The Varsity Blues have had many successes so far in the 2019–2020 season. Various teams exceeded our expectations, and have much to build on, while others still have much work to do, but can feel confident going forward.

Women’s hockey Not to be outdone, the women’s hockey team has also continued their strong run of play from last season. They currently have a 11–5 record, and are 7–1 in front of their home fans. They sit in first place in the OUA standings. Their defense and goaltending has led the way — only having

Men’s hockey After a disappointing season in 2018–2019, the men’s hockey team has turned their fortunes around substantially. They currently have a 17–3 record in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) play, and went on a 14-game winning streak before the winter break. Leading scorer David Thompson has already surpassed his season total in points from last season, with eight games still to come.

Joey Manchurek is also scoring at over a point-per-game pace, and Nathan Hudgin has emerged as a top offensive threat on the team. Last season, Manchurek was the only player to score at a point-per-game clip for the entirety of the season.This year, they have five such players.

The Blues are in first place in the OUA West conference and tied for ISABELLA CESARI/THE VARSITY first in the whole OUA. The Varsity Blues hope that their streak was not an anomaly and that they can continue this level of play going forward.

Their ability to keep the puck out of the net should be a sign that their play is sustainable go- allowed 23 goals in 16 games — first in goals ing forward, although they may not go on another against other teams in the OUA by a wide margin. winning streak as impressive as their last.

The women may want to work on their goal scoring going forward as their rate is rather low compared to other teams in the OUA. None of their players currently sit at a point-per-game pace, but the scoring has been spread rather even-

The ABCs of mental resilience

Sports and clinical psychology research offer a perspective on mental health

Wager delivers a seminar on mental game at the Ontario Blue Jays’ Clubhouse.

COURTESY OF SETH MANDEL

Adam A. Lam Science Editor

Content warning: discussions of suicide What is the value of addressing social connectedness as a factor of mental health? To Michael Wager, it may be one of the best tools that students can use especially as the university battles a mental health crisis on campus.

Wager, a performance coach for athletes who works at the U of T-affiliated Toronto Western Hospital, spoke with The Varsity to share his experiences of mental health and discuss promising approaches to addressing the causes of mental health concerns.

The ABC model of mental health An influential model in psychiatry is the biopsychosocial approach, which posits that biological, psychological, and social factors each influence resiliency — defined as one’s ability to adapt to

stress and adversity.

To make the model more accessible to a general audience, Wager reframed it as the ABCs model of resiliency: attitude, biology, and community.

Psychological attitude refers to one’s outlook on the world, which includes whether you see the world through a positive lens and have an optimistic attitude. This represents the psychological factors of resilience. “If you can find a way to have a positive attitude, you can be more resilient,” said Wager.

A shift in psychological outlook could stem from psychotherapy, which comprises treatments for mental health conditions by talking with a mental health provider. It could also come from coaching, especially in the context of competitive sports, which could shift athletes’ mindsets.

“The ‘B,’ biology, is how can you hack your own biology to be more resilient,” said Wager. This corresponds to the biological factors of resilience, which suggests that biological abnormalities may

ly throughout the roster. However, if their defense and goaltending holds up, they are still likely to be contenders for the OUA championship.

tive that came out of this season was the play of quarterback Clay Sequeria. He lead the OUA in both touchdowns and passing yards per game.

The Varsity Blues are looking to take advantage of his final year of eligibility next year and make a run for it at the OUA playoffs.

Men’s basketball The men’s basketball team has had a rather rocky start to the season. They currently sit at 4–8 and are fifth in the OUA central conference. They haven’t been able to hit shots consistently, attaining only a 0.365 field goal percentage so far this season. They have allowed their opponents to hit 44.4 per cent of their shots in front of their defense.

Although they’ve had some thrilling wins against York University and Brock University in front of their home fans, they haven’t been able to consistently beat some of the top teams in the OUA to assert themselves as real contenders for the Wilson Cup.

Football After the 2018–2019 season which saw the football team go 0–8, this year’s group had a rather promising start to this season. They won games against Windsor University and Wilfrid Laurier University to give them a 2–1 record.

However, this was followed by five losses, putting them at a record of 2–6. The one main posibe a cause of mental health conditions.

Prescription medication, such as antidepressants, could be a treatment option, along with medical procedures, including deep brain stimulation for severe cases. However, Wager noted that neurological changes can also take place due to physical exercise, as well as improving one’s nutrition by eating healthier food.

But the ‘C,’ community, could be the most important piece of the puzzle of resilience, noted Wager. Which corresponds to the social factors of the biopsychosocial model.

“There’s research out there that shows the more connected one is to their community, the better off they’re going to be in their own mental health journeys,” noted Wager. Joining a club, a sports team, or volunteering could be ways for students to find a community.

One major criticism of the biopsychosocial approach is that the boundaries of biological, psychological, and social factors are ill-defined: for example, it’s unclear whether a psychological factor can be a biological factor as well. However, this may be less important in the context of treatment.

“If you’re not sure where to start, just pick something, anything, that will help you make gains in one of those three areas,” said Wager.

Applying the model in his own life Wager himself has grappled with mental health challenges and used the ABCs to address them.

“In university, I had a really tough time; I was depressed,” he said. “I failed my first year, got myself back together, worked in the restaurant industry for a couple of years, became a little more stable, and then finished a bachelor’s degree.”

He has further experienced depression following the loss of a friend due to suicide. “It made me more depressed, but it also made me more motivated to really try and make a contribution to this world and [raise awareness about mental health].”

Wager uses journalling to change his own psychology. “I have a great little journal that my friend made me, it's tiny so I can carry it wherever I go,” he said. “So I will start my day by writing out 10 things I’m grateful for.”

Women’s basketball Much like the men, the women’s team is getting rather disappointing results so far.

They are at a 2–10 standing this season and haven’t been able to get any sort of momentum going. Their offense has been rather stagnant, scoring only 57.3 points per game, while allowing almost 71 points per game.

They have lost a great deal of opportunities at the charity stripe, shooting only 67.9 per cent from the free throw line. They’ve also only been able to win one game in front of their home fans, resulting in a record of 1–4 at the Goldring Centre.

To address his biology, Wager practices yoga, which has been linked to neurobiological changes that could help patients with depression. He has also spoken with a psychiatrist, who has prescribed him with medication to improve his mental health.

Finally, to broaden his community, he joined a volleyball team. “When I first moved here [to Toronto], I barely knew anyone,” he said. The team sport enabled him to have fun and get to know people he enjoyed spending time with.

“It’s so important if you’re going to perform in sports or in school or in life, you’ve got to have people in your corner,” he said, reflecting on the importance of social factors. “Whether you’re an athlete or not, you’ve got to have people in your corner, and that’s what I want to share.”

If you or someone you know is in distress, you can call: Canada Suicide Prevention Service phone available 24/7 at 1-833-456-4566 Good 2 Talk Student Helpline at 1-866-925-5454 Ontario Mental Health Helpline at 1-866-5312600 Gerstein Centre Crisis Line at 416-929-5200 U of T Health & Wellness Centre at 416-9788030.

Warning signs of suicide include: Talking about wanting to die Looking for a way to kill oneself Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain Talking about being a burden to others Increasing use of alcohol or drugs Acting anxious, agitated, or recklessly Sleeping too little or too much Withdrawing or feeling isolated Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge Displaying extreme mood swings The more of these signs a person shows, the greater the risk. If you suspect someone you know may be contemplating suicide, you should talk to them, according to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.

20

THE VARSITY

ADVERTISEMENTS

19/20

JANUARY 13, 2020

HART HOUSE THEATRE100TH ANNIVERSARY

L E G A L LY B L O N D E : THE MUSICAL Jan. 17 – Feb. 1, 2020

Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin Book by Heather Hach Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture Directed by Saccha Dennis WARNING: Mature themes

harthousetheatre.ca

$12 Student tickets every Wednesday evening!

#hhtlegallyblonde Season Sponsors: