January 6, 2014

VARSITY EDITORIAL PG 11

STUDENTS SUFFER FROM HOUSING SHORTAGE

VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 13

6 JANUARY, 2014

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1880

Sweeping changes to flat fees announced

NEWS

INSIDE

Minimum wage controversy Gildan Activewear, a clothing supplier to the University of Toronto, has promised to pay at least 90 per cent of its workers in Haiti the minimum wage. This commitment comes following a report produced by the Workers’ Rights Consortium.

PG 3 ARTS

H

S! ES

IE IM S IVE IT S T INE AT S ING T , H N U PL G N IN N O HE A TUO SCI NE TIO ECL LME T M UL DI NG EP D L 2 U M R CI RC ND RO G 1 TU FO FA PE A EN P

Biryani in Toronto The craft of cooking biryani, like painting, requires a light touch, sensitivity to the elements, and an eye for layering detail. Biryani chefs aggressively guard their recipes, giving every outlet serving biryani in Toronto its own unique, in-house taste.

PG 14 SCIENCE

Celebrating crystallography

University uncertain how income will be maintained, claims changes will cost millions James Flynn

VARSITY STAFF

Sweeping changes designed to save students thousands of dollars were announced by Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Brad Duguid in early December. After four years of student union lobbying, protests, and controversy, the provincial government has introduced regulations to phase out U of T’s policy of charging full tuition to students who take as few as three courses — generally known as flat fees. The new guidelines, introduced on December 5, also eliminate interest fees incurred because of the Ontario Student Assistance Pro-

gram (osap)’s distribution schedule, mandate two payment periods for tuition, and regulate the types of late and ancillary fees that can be charged.

Starting in fall 2015, students who take 3.5 full course equivalents (fces) or more will be charged full tuition. In 2016, that threshold will rise to 4.0 fces. Currently, U of T has a flat fee threshold at 3.0 fces.

In addition, students with a disability will now be charged tuition on a per-credit basis, regardless of their course load.

Individual domestic students who take three courses may save up to $2,300 per year under the new guidelines, according to Alastair Woods, chairperson of the Canadian

Federation of Students-Ontario. Individual international students who take three courses may save up to $13,000 per year. Although Woods sees the changes as a step in the right direction, he still advocates a return to per-credit billing.

Agnes So, vice-president, university affairs, of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu), echoed Woods’ sentiment. Although So is pleased with the government’s response to student concerns, she also advocates a return to per-credit billing. “We need to keep pushing until there is no longer a way that students can be forced to pay for courses they do not take,” So said.

CONTINUED ON PG 7

X-ray crystallography is the examination of patterns in diffracted Xrays to determine the crystalline atomic structure of solids. Despite the small number of people who have heard of it, its role in science and society as a whole is virtually unparalleled.

PG 18

CHECK OUT THE REIMAGINED

thevarsity.ca FOR MORE CAMPUS NEWS

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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

THE VARSITY VOL. CXXXIV No. 13

21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON, M5S 1J6 Phone: 416-946-7600 www.thevarsity.ca

VARSITY NEWS WHAT’S GOING ON

THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS

news@thevarsity.ca

the week in tweets

Masthead Editor-in-Chief Joshua Oliver

EMMA TIPSON @EMMAAOLIVIAA 

editor@thevarsity.ca

Production Manager Dan Seljak production@thevarsity.ca Managing Online Editor Murad Hemmadi

online@thevarsity.ca

Design Editor Shaquilla Singh

design@thevarsity.ca

Photo Editor Carolyn Levett

photo@thevarsity.ca

Senior Copy Editor Catherine Virelli

copy@thevarsity.ca

News Editor Zane Schwartz

news@thevarsity.ca

‘Please do not send multiple emails’ …… I’m gonna send multiple emails. #UofTProbs — Monday, December 30

ZARIN ZAHRA @ZARINZAHRA

Comment Editor Alec Wilson

comment@thevarsity.ca

on that study grind...great start to the year #UofTprobs

Features Editor Danielle Klein

features@thevarsity.ca

— Wednesday, January 1

Arts & Culture Editor Sofia Luu

ANDREA CHOW @ANCLREACHOW 

arts@thevarsity.ca

Science Editor Katrina Vogan

science@thevarsity.ca

Sports Editor Elizabeth Benn

sports@thevarsity.ca

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fiyaaaah #uoft #uoftfire

illustration@thevarsity.ca

— Thursday, January 2

Illustrations Editor Nancy Ji Video Editor Jamieson Wang

video@thevarsity.ca

Web Developer Natalie Morcos

web@thevarsity.ca

Associate Design Editor Mari Zhou Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor Lucy Genua Associate News Editors Liza Agrba Sarah Niedoba Theodore Yan Associate Features Editor Victoria Banderob Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate A&C Editors Ishita Petkar Corinne Przybyslawski Associate Science Editor Emma Hansen

WINTERFEST 2014 — BATTLE OF THE BANDS Four highly acclaimed up-and-coming bands, one prize, and $500 worth of gifts for audience members.

Thursday, January 9, 8:00 pm – 12:00 am El Mocambo, 464 Spadina Avenue Free WINTERFEST 2014 — OPEN MIC  AND COMEDY NIGHT Featuring performances from students and comedy groups like U of T Improv, uc Follies, smc Improv, the Bob from Vic, and Skule Improv Monday, January 6, 7:00 pm – 12:00 am jcr in University College Free

Associate Sports Editor JP Kaczur

UTGSU PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Associate Video Editor Alexandra Butrón

Part of Winter Welcome 2014, the Graduate Students’ Union is hosting a free pancake breakfast and information fair.

Writers Camille Angelo, Sandra Barbosu, Salvatore Basilone, Elizabeth Benn, Amey Charnalia, Emma Compeau, Claudia Dessanti, James Flynn, Sara Gajic, Susan Gordon, Erin Grant, Elena Gritzan, Emma Hansen, Aisha Hassan, Stefan Jetvic, Andrew E. Johnson, Ilona Kabanova, JP Kaczur Emma Kikulis, Trevor Koroll, Julia Lewis, Emily Ma, Cassandra Mazza, Yves Guillaume A. Messy, Sarah Niedoba, Deirdre O’Sullivan, Iris Robin, Jeffery Schulman, Amitpal Singh, Alex Verman, Steve Warner, Sean Xu, Shijie Zhou Designers Emerald Misquitta, Dan Seljak, Shaquilla Singh, Mari Zhou

Photo and Illustration Julien Balbontin, Nancy Ji, Emily Lee, Carolyn Levett, Jae Hyun Park Cover photo Bernarda Gospic

Copy Editors and Fact Checkers Lucy Genua, Elena Gritzan, Jennifer Hurd, Olga Klenova, Sarah Leeves, Linh Nguyen, Sarah Thier, Catherine Virelli

Business Office Business Manager Timothy Sharng

business@thevarsity.ca

Advertising Manager Victoria Marshall advertising@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executives Stephanie Lau stephanie@thevarsity.ca terence@thevarsity.ca Terence Leung vanessa@thevarsity.ca Vanessa Wen The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published

by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock.

Content © 2014 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 Please recycle this issue after you are finished with it.

Wednesday, January 8, 8:30 am – 11:30 am Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks Street Free

WINTERFEST 2014 — PUB CRAWL Wristbands can be purchased at all student society offices starting Monday Tuesday, January 7, 9:00 pm–2:00 am 19+ event Various pubs, Bloor Street West $10

CANADA’S TOP TEN FILM  FESTIVAL Showcases the best Canadian films (and short films) released in 2013.

Friday, January 3 – Sunday, January 12 TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street West $10

— HOW TO KEEP YOUR —

New Year’s Resolutions 1.  WORKING OUT Š :X_ ROHXGX_ NUVVOTM µ K\KX_ LK] NU[XY MKZ Š ,OTJ G M_S H[JJ_ OZ¹Y KGYOKX ZU SUZO\GZK [V GTJ MU ZU G TK] ROHXGX_ ?U[¹RR MKZ ZU _U[XYKRL OL _U[¹\K VXUSOYKJ G LXOKTJ YKK TK] VGXZY UL IGSV[Y GTJ _U[¹RR IRKGX Š :X_ YUSK UL .GXZ .U[YK¹Y JXUV OT IRGYYKY µ _U[X NKGJ ]OZN G ]GRQ GLZKX HKOTM YZ[IQ OT ZNK_¹XK LXKK GTJ SUXK L[T ZNGT G YZGTJGXJ ZNK HUUQY ]UXQ U[Z 4. SAVE MONEY 2. EATING BETTER Š 3GQK G H[JMKZ LUX ZNK ]KKQ ZGQK U[Z ZNK Š 3GQK G VGIZ ]OZN _U[X IRUYKYZ LXOKTJY ZU MU GSU[TZ UL SUTK_ _U[ VRGT ZU YVKTJ OT LUX ZNK NKGRZN_ UVZOUT GZ ZNK JOTOTM NGRR µ MU IGYN YU _U[¹XK G]GXK UL NU] S[IN _U[¹XK OT LUX IXKGZO\K YGRGJY GTJ G\UOJ ZNK KTJRKYY YVKTJOTM Y[VVR_ UL LU[TZGOT VUV Š :GQK GJ\GTZGMK UL GRR ZNK YZ[JKTZ JOYIU[TZY Š /L _U[ IUSS[ZK ZGQK YUSK ZOSK UT 9[TJG_ G\GORGHRK OT ZNK IOZ_ µ JUT¹Z HK GLXGOJ ZU GYQ ZU SGQK UTK HOM HGZIN UL NKGRZN_ LUUJ YZOX OL ZNKXK OY UTK HKIG[YK ZNKXK [Y[GRR_ OY 'RYU LX_ YGRGJ ]NGZ NG\K _U[ GTJ VGIQ OZ G]G_ QKKV GT K_K U[Z LUX LXKK LUUJ UT IGSV[Y! LUX R[TINKY LUX ZNK XKYZ UL ZNK ]KKQ ZNKXK¹Y [Y[GRR_ YUSKZNOTM MUOTM UT GTJ ]]] TU[XOYNSKLUXLXKK IUS [Y[GRR_ QTU]Y 3. TRYING HARDER IN SCHOOL YU MKZ OT UT OZ Š 3GQK G YINKJ[RK LUX _U[XYKRL! K\KT OL _U[ JUT¹Z LURRU] ZNXU[MN ]OZN OZ P[YZ ZNK GIZ UL SGQOTM G 5. DRINK LESS. YINKJ[RK ]ORR NKRV _U[ ZNOTQ GHU[Z NU] _U[¹XK Š -UUJ R[IQ ]OZN ZNGZ YVKTJOTM ZOSK

ERICA CHAU @ERICACHAUU  I have officially started freaking out.

Breaks almost over and I have two midterms when I get back to school.

Fuck #uoftproblems #killmenow — Thursday, January 2

LUKA STEVANOVIC @LUKA2STEVANOVIC Went to go check for my marks for the 50th time today, but then I forgot that ROSI is closed. ROSI is a website, but it closes. Yeah. — Friday, January 3

SHANTANU TIWARI   @SHAAANTZ 2 days before school starts and marks still aren’t up... good job UofT — Saturday, January 4

JESS PANTA @JESSPANTA I’d be fine with going back to school if I actually did the work I was supposed to over the break #struggle — Saturday, January 4

RINA KOLLARI @RINAKOLLARI Repeatedly attempting to log into my UofT weblogin with my ROSI ID. #outofit #UofTproblems — Sunday January 5

SAMI HILL @SAMIHILL4   Congrats to the brother @a_hill22 for breaking a 49 year old University of Toronto scoring record of 1269 points! — Sunday January 5

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

3

U of T ends agreement with Access Copyright Controversial, costly deal cancelled after two years Sarah Niedoba

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The University of Toronto has decided to end its license with Access Copyright. The announcement was made on Thursday, December 11, with U of T opting to handle its copyright dealings without the company’s assistance. The license cost U of T students a fee of $27.50 per year.

“This is a significant victory that will save students over $1.5 million annually and is the result of a campaign led by students and faculty,” said Agnes So, vice-president, university affairs of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu). “I am glad that the University of Toronto has listened to our concerns and ended the collection of a fee that many students saw as a cash grab.”

In a press release, the university stated that it was unable to reach an agreement with Access Copyright at a price that was fair for the services the company provided. It cited changes in copyright regulation — including the alterations to the Copyright Act made in 2012, the Supreme Court’s

expansive approach to fair dealing, changing technology, and increased availability of open access material — as reasons for why the price of the license was no longer fair. Other universities have decided to end their license with Access Copyright, including the University of British Columbia (ubc), Queen’s University, and York University. Access Copyright sued York in April 2013; the case is being closely watched across the education sector, as it is widely seen as the first real test of two competing interpretations of recent changes to the law.

Western University was in negotiations with Access Copyright at the same time as U of T. It has also chosen not to renew its license.

The utsu has long advocated the end of the license in favour of a university-run copyright department, similar to the systems currently operating in other schools in the country, such as ubc. The union repeatedly said that the $27.50 fee was unnecessary and could be better spent elsewhere.

Access Copyright released a statement expressing its discontent with the termination

of the agreement. The company believes the university will now attempt to mimic its services by relying solely on fair dealing guidelines — a process that, according to the company, is untested and unlikely to work.

Access Copyright holds that the interpretation of the fair dealing regulations used by the university is too broad, and not in accordance with what the Supreme Court’s ruling actually implies.

The company’s statement implied that under the university’s new model, creators and publishers whose work is used by the university would not receive the royalties they deserve. The university’s statement outlines that it intends to continue its compliance with copyright law, and make proper use of other licenses and fair dealing guidelines. The faculty will continue to be educated on how to comply with copyright law. Expert resources on the matter are available through U of T Libraries.

In response to accusations that it does not support Canadian publishers and creators, the university mentioned that it spends $27 million annually on library

BY THE NUMBERS

$27.50 Amount per year students are saving

21 universities

dropped out of Access Copyright in 18 months At UBC

$25 million is spent on

copyrighted materials,

$10 million on digital

acquisitions, and supports scholarly publishing through the University of Toronto Press. U of T hired Bobby Glushko, a copyright librarian, earlier this year.

Glushko will head a copyright office intended to help faculty and students navigate the new copyright terrain.

$100,000

Amount the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has committed to York University to help them in legal fight with Access Copyright

$25 million — the amount U of T spends on library acquistions

$2.5 million —

approximate amount U of T and Western collectively paid to Access Copyright

U of T clothing supplier commits to paying most workers minimum wage Gildan Activewear agrees to pay Haitian workers fairly following damning report Iris Robin & Amitpal Singh VARSITY STAff

Gildan Activewear, a clothing supplier to the University of Toronto, has promised to pay at least 90 per cent of its workers in Haiti the minimum wage. This commitment comes following a report produced by the Workers’ Rights Consortium (wrc).

The 47-page report, entitled: “Stealing From the Poor: Wage Theft in the Haitian Apparel Industry” found that the Montréal-based company paid its employees as little as six Haitian gourdes (htg), the equivalent of 13 cents, per 72 t-shirts that they produced. The report revealed that workers in another factory contracted by Gildan were also required to produce 3,600 t-shirts per day in order to receive the legal minimum wage of 300 htg for eight hours’ work, which only 3 per cent of them actually received.

Michael Kurts, a University of Toronto spokesman, indicated in October that the university would act based on the judgment of the wrc. “The university is awaiting a response from the companies involved. If we do not receive a response that’s acceptable to the wrc, the university will determine what further action is required, up to and including ceasing to do business with those compa-

nies or any company to whom they provide product,” he said.

Stephanie Gaucher, public relations representative for Gildan, explained that the majority of the company’s operations are located in Central America, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. “Only a small percentage of Gildan’s overall production is subcontracted to third-party contractors in Haiti, which the company does not own,” Gaucher said.

Attempts to contact a spokesperson from one of the Haitian factories proved unsuccessful.

Fruit of the Loom, a clothing company based in Kentucky, and another supplier to U of T, also agreed to comply with Haitian labour laws in response to the same report by the wrc. Scott Nova hopes that other American retailers — like Hames, Walmart, and Gap — will follow suit.

According to Nova, these companies cite ambiguous labour laws as their reason for refusing to commit to the same standards as Gildan. “That’s not true; the law is not ambiguous at all,” Nova maintains.

In light of Gildan’s promise, the university concluded its investigation. Althea Blackburn-Evans, acting director of news and media relations at the University of Toronto, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. “U of T’s investigation into this matter would have been focused

Clothes on display at the University of Toronto Bookstore. CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity

on pressuring Gildan to take action, had they failed to do so. Given that Gildan did take follow-up action, which was deemed acceptable by the wrc, the university has no reason to engage in any further investigation.”

The wrc represents 180 universities and colleges worldwide, including U of T. Part of the agreement

between the wrc and affiliated institutions requires the university to provide the wrc with a list of all the names and locations of all factories involved in the production of its name-branded goods.

The university also has to adopt a manufacturing Code of Conduct and work toward the incorpora-

tion of this code into applicable contracts with companies that make university-branded apparel.

For large companies, Haiti presents an attractive labour market, with minimum wage in the garments sector at $0.87 per hour. Only Bangladesh and Cambodia offer cheaper labour in the clothing industry.

4

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

news@thevarsity.ca

UTM secures $10 million investment from City of Mississauga Money will go towards new Innovation Complex, to house expanded management programs Amitpal Singh VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The City of Mississauga will invest $10 million over 10 years into the University of Toronto Mississauga’s (utm) construction of the Innovation Complex (ic). This is the largest municipal grant ever made to utm. The university will also invest $25 million to finance the project.

The four-storey building is scheduled to open in September 2014.

The new facility will house utm’s Institute for Management & Innovation (imi). The Institute is intended to be a gathering place for students, faculty, external businesses, and community stakeholders.

In addition to the imi, the building will accommodate the Office of the Registrar and the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre. It will also feature extended space for the Economics and Management departments.

Former U of T president David Naylor and current utm principal Deep Saini first approached Mississauga’s city council on May 15, and were met with overwhelming support. A formal approval was secured in council on December 11, 2013.

“This is an investment in the economic future of not only Mississauga, but the province of Ontario and Canada,” said Missisauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.

An architectural rendering of the Innovation Complex. Media pHoTo

“As a special levy, the people of Mississauga will know that they are contributing $1.34 per person to the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto,” added McCallion.

President Meric Gertler lauded the investment, saying: “This commitment is a testament to the visionary leadership shown by Mayor Hazel McCallion and her council colleagues on behalf of the citizens of Mississauga. We are fortunate to

have such a forward-thinking civic partner, one that understands the economic and social significance of universities in creating a prosperous urban environment.”

Saini also praised the investment, saying: “We are delighted that council has approved this investment that will build substantial competitive advantage for the city, help to generate new ideas and leaders, and develop a

strong base of human talent. This $10-million grant will produce major economic benefits for Mississauga and our region by creating an innovation culture, building a knowledge economy and attracting global business.”

The project is a response to “high demand” by students, according to Saini, who oversees a campus where over 2,300 of 13,000 undergraduate students are enrolled

in a management program. Such programs include Business administration (bbm) and commerce (BComm). Saini has indicated that enrollment is expected to grow to 3,000 students in the future.

According to Saini, the complex will be the first attempt to organize varihous management programs at the Mississauga campus “under a single umbrella, similar to a business school.”

SGRT and UTSU downplay political sides of Winterfest, Winter Week of Welcome Two separate weeks of festivities welcome students back to campus Trevor Korrol

VARSITY STAFF

Students returning to the St. George campus will be welcomed by two separate weeks of winter-themed activity: Winterfest, held January 6 to 10 and organized by the St. George Roundtable (sgrt), and the Winter Week of Welcome from January 13 to 18, run by the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu). Events will take place across campus, from Varsity Stadium to University College.

While the winter festivities are supposed to bring a good atmosphere to the university, the divisions between the utsu and some of the groups on campus is also apparent. In the past, a single week of events welcomed students back to campus.

“It is better to see the two weeks as complementary rather than in competition,” said sgrt chair Michael Galang, downplaying the role of school politics. “sgrt’s Winterfest and utsu’s Winter Week of Welcome have different events that appeal to different

crowds,” he said.

Alex Zappone, chair of the Winterfest planning committee and president of the St. Michael’s College Students’ Union (smcsu) feels that the two events do not necessarily conflict. “Winterfest is a vehicle to bring together communities of U of T under one event,” he said.

“We are hoping to reach out to thousands of U of T students with our events,” said Zappone. “We are expecting around 1,000 students to attend our Frost Night,” he said, adding that a similar turnout is expected for the pub crawl. utsu president Munib Sajjad explained that the Winter Week of Welcome is meant to be an inclusive event. “The focus is to bring everyone together,” he said.

“We are showing students what other students on campus are up to. I think our activities are for everyone.” sgrt’s Winterfest will feature a club night, a pub crawl, a dodgeball tournament, an open mic night, a battle of the bands, a pancake kegger, and the opportunity to watch the

NaNcy Ji/THe VarsiTy

Varsity Blues women’s hockey team play. utsu’s Winter Week of Welcome will begin on January 13 with a pan-

cake brunch. In the following days, students will be invited to participate in a clubs and summer jobs fair, a car-

nival, a concert at Hart House, a street fest, and a chance to see the men and women’s volleyball teams play.

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

5

New funding model could be coming to Ontario Government says changes would allow each university to focus on what it does best Aisha Hassan VARSITY STAFF

Funding for Ontario’s post-secondary institutions may undergo some major changes towards a more differentiated system by the spring of 2014. The system, proposed by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (heqco) with the province’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, expects institutions to focus on those elements where they have particular strength.

Currently, the distribution of funds is largely based on full-time enrolment, with larger universities receiving more through provincial grants. Differentiation requires universities and colleges to focus on a certain aspect to specialize in — whether it is specific subject areas, types of students, or research intensity — and the funding will be allocated accordingly. As a result, the prioritization of these areas will thrive, while costs will be reduced, as less necessary functions are limited.

In a report released in July, aimed to inform the discussion on differentiation, the heqco suggests Ontario’s universities be split into four categories, primarily based on research intensity. Based on the data presented, it suggests that U of T is in a category by itself.

The report compares Ontario universities based on variables such as enrolment, percentages of graduates with phds, and sponsored research income.

U of T leads in all these areas, by a very large margin. For example, U of T’s sponsored research income of $915,661 is three times more than that of McMaster, which has the second-highest research income.

While U of T is in its own category, other universities are split between those that are researchintensive — including McMaster, Western, Ottawa, Waterloo, Queen’s, and Guelph — and those that are undergraduate-focused, including the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (uoit) and the Ontario College of Art and Design (ocad), and another group of universities — consisting of York, Carleton, Windsor, and Ryerson — that fall in-between.

British Columbia works on a similar system, with universities split into four categories: researchintensive universities, teachingintensive universities, colleges, and institutes. Alberta also functions on a differentiated system, called the “Six Sector Model.” Institutions are categorized into six sectors: Comprehensive Academic and Research, Baccalaureate and Applied Studies, Polytechnical, Comprehensive Community, Independent Academic, and Specialized Arts and Culture.

The province offers different types of funding granted to institutions based on their mandate. In the uk, a similar system exists to the one proposed for Ontario. The Higher Education Funding Council

for England (hefce) distributes its funds based on the results of a Research Assessment Exercise (rae), which analyzes the quality of research and productivity of universities, and providing those with superior research with more funding, while also encouraging less research-intensive institutions to refocus in other areas and “rewarding” them appropriately.

However, neither jurisdiction categorizes a university in a cluster of its own. U of T, which already receives the largest amount of government funding in Ontario, is also ranked significantly higher in world rankings than other institutions in the province. Compared to the world however, U of T does not offer smaller classes and revenue per student is significantly lower than its competitors. While a differentiated system would allow U of T to continue to develop and maintain its position as an internationally competitive, researchintensive university, other institutions may be at a disadvantage.

There is concern that a differentiated system will reduce the level of autonomy of institutions and inhibit smaller institutions from aspiring towards a higher level.

By forcing institutions to decide what areas they will focus on, other programs that have smaller enrolment numbers may be neglected, or eventually cut. This limits the number of programs available in regions that have fewer universities, giving students less choice. The implementation of Strategic Mandate Agreements hoped to curtail this issue, however, as the government encouraged institutions to determine their own mandates and their contribution towards post-secondary education in Ontario. In response to concerns about program cuts — raised by universities, such as the University of Windsor — the minister of training, colleges and universities, Brad Duguid, asserted that: “Differentiation is not an exercise in program cuts. The differentiation framework does not put our colleges and universities into rigid categories, nor does it advantage or disadvantage any particular program area of study.”

The government argues that differentiation aims to contribute towards the sustainability of postsecondary institutions. It cited in its differentiation policy framework that the need to adjust the system is due to the government’s demanding fiscal situation. It also pointed out the cost of institutions exceeding growth in revenues from operating grants and tuition as a financial concern.

Ontario students currently have the highest tuition fees in the country, an issue that the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) has been lobbying against for years. In a statement, Alastair Woods, chairperson of the cfs in Ontario, said: “Though the government touts these proposals as innovative and forward thinking, they are simply asking institutions to provide more with less.”

SPONSORED RESEARCH INCOME OF ONTARIO UNIVERSITIES

U of T

$915 661

McMaster Ottawa Western Queen’s Guelph Waterloo York Carleton MEAN STANDARDIZED H-SCORES OF ONTARIO UNIVERSITIES H-indices capture both the number of research publications by a faculty member and also how often these publications are cited

Lakehead

U of T

Waterloo Ryerson

Windsor Laurentian

York

Brock

Queens

Nippissing ng

Western

Algoma

Guelph

UOIT

McMaster Carleton

OCAD Laurier

Ottawa

Trent 1.4

0.2

SCALE

6

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

news@thevarsity.ca

Student death commemorated by Greek community Beta Theta Pi remembers Hugo Chan with scholarship Emma Compeau VARSITY STAff

The brothers of Beta Theta Pi mourn the recent loss of member Hugo Chan, who fell to his death outside the fraternity house located at 131 Lowther Avenue around 3:00 am on Saturday December 14. Twenty-four-year-old Chan was returning to the house, where he had been living for over a year, when he realized he had misplaced his keys. He attempted to enter the house through a window located beside the fire escape; however, as a result of icy outdoor conditions, he slipped and fell from the third storey of the house. Toronto Police sergeant Rick Gibillini said that Chan was discovered with severe head injuries, and an ambulance arrived at the scene at 3:10 am. Chan was brought to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Sergeant Gibillini added that “There is no reason to believe that foul play was a factor in this case as there is nothing suspicious that appears to have occurred.” Official police reports have categorized the event as “death by misadventure.”

Chan was the former alumni relations chairman of the chapter for 2013 and had recently been voted in as vice president for 2014.

There was no event happening in the house on the night of December 13. Billy Baric, the chapter president for 2014, recalled that the house was quiet, and almost empty, due to exam season.

Baric added that what happened was nothing more than an accident, and it did not violate any insurance or liability policies. Baric remembered Chan as a caring individual: “He made a difference only someone committed, dedicated, and driven by pure love towards his closest friends could provide.”

Along with being an active member of the Greek community, Chan was a manager at Boston Pizza, where he had worked since 2007. He graduated from George Brown College with a degree in culinary management in 2009, and was more recently studying hospitality and tourism management at Ryerson; he was expected to graduate in 2014. Although the fraternity is largely composed of members from U of T it

Left to Right: Trent Bemis, Beta Theta Pi alumni; Billy Baric, president; and Hugo Chan, the deceased vice-president. Photo courtesy of billy baric

allows 15 per cent of the undergraduate roster to come from Ryerson and also allows a small amount of college students. A Baric said that there will be another commemorative event held

by the fraternity in January. A local fraternity members business recently established the Hugo Chan Memorial Scholarship which was recently set up by a local fraternity member’s business.

Other ideas for commemorative events have been circulating, and members of the fraternity are working to agree on the most relevant and applicable way to honour Chan.

NEWS IN BRIEF Gender gap in scientific world remains: study

Deputy Bank of Canada governor Recent grads named Rhodes to be new Rotman dean Scholars

David Naylor joins Barrick Gold board

Policies to reduce the gender disparity among academic researchers have not been successful, according to a report published in the journal Nature.

The study was led by Vincent Larivière, a professor at the Université de Montréal’s School of Library and Information Science. It found that women continue to produce fewer scientific articles than men. Articles written by women are also cited less often than those written by men. This disparity is true for most countries and disciplines.

Larivière and his team analyzed more than 5.4 million scientific articles published between 2008 and 2012. The articles were obtained from the Thomas Reuters Web of Science databases.

Women published more articles than men in health-related research; however, men dominated in all other fields globally. South American and Eastern European countries displayed more gender equality in terms of number of articles published.

The report concludes that removing this disparity requires addressing the social, cultural, economic, and political causes in each country.

The Rotman School of Management is getting a new permanent dean. Tiff Macklem will assume the role in July, leaving his post as the Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada.

“I am thrilled to be joining the University of Toronto and Rotman, both of which are renowned for excellence in Canada and around the world,” said Macklem.

Macklem has worked at Canada’s central bank for close to 30 years. He has served in its second highest position since 2010. His decision to depart from the Bank of Canada comes after he was passed over for the position of governor, the banks highest position, in June 2013.

Macklem will replace Peter Pauly, who was appointed interim Rotman dean in July of 2013 after the departure of founding dean Roger Martin. Macklem will serve for a term of five years.

Former U of T president David Naylor has been named to the Board of Directors of Barrick Gold Corporation. Outgoing Barrick chairman and founder Peter Munk, a U of T alumnus, has donated upwards of $60 million to the university.

A significant portion of the money was donated during Naylor’s presidency.

Munk has announced that, beginning this spring, he will retire from Barrick. The chairmanship will go to John Thornton, who has been serving as Munk’s co-chairman since 2012.

Two of the board’s long-term directors will also step down. In the two weeks following these announcements, two directors resigned. Over the last 30 years, under Munk’s leadership, Barrick has developed into the one of the largest gold producing companies in the world. Munk’s relationship with U of T has been controversial for years.

Some students and faculty have repeatedly raised concerns about potential restrictions of academic freedom in the donor agreement signed by Munk and U of T. The company itself has faced accusations of poor community relations, poor environmental practices, displacement of communities, erosion of agriculture, poor compensation of workers, and worker deaths.

— Claudia Dessanti

— Erin Grant

Two University of Toronto graduates, Aliyyah Ahad and Chloe Walker, have been chosen as Rhodes Scholars for 2014.

The Rhodes Scholarship is awarded annually to 83 postgraduate students who will pursue studies at Oxford University, it is considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world. The selection committees search for outstanding students who can become “leaders for the world’s future.”

Both Ahad, who is from Bermuda, and Walker, from Barbados, graduated with Bachelors of Arts in 2012. Ahad is now a board member of Bermuda’s Emerging Professionals, the youth division of the Chamber of Commerce.

Walker is currently working towards a Masters of Philosophy in Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies.

They both credited their experience at U of T as a factor in being named Rhodes Scholars.

“Its location in the freezing yet welcoming multi-cultural city of Toronto makes U of T an absolute gem of higher learning,” said Ahad.

With files from The Toronto Star

— Salvatore Basilone With files from U of T News

— Sandra Barbosu With files from University Affairs

With files from CBC News and Bloomberg News

var.st/news

VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

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Shuttle bus could be coming to U of T Scarborough Proposed plan in first stages following SCSU appeal at Governing Council Ilona Kabanova VARSITY STAFF

At the 2013 Governing Council meeting on December 13 the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (scsu) made a presentation asking the Council to look into a shuttle bus program that would run between the Scarborough and the St. George campuses.

Guled Arale, vice-president external of scsu, advocated for the shuttle bus program, saying “the program would offer easier access and a more rapid service for the students who need to get to the edge of the city for their classes.” The scsu believes that more accessible transit is one of the biggest issues for the student body of U of T Scarborough (utsc).

While it is relatively easy to get to the St. George campus using the public transit, the utsc and Mississauga campuses are a different story. The difference between utsc and utm is that students on the utm campus are able to take advantage of the shuttle bus op-

erating between St. George and utm, which generally departs every 20 minutes. While utsc students are expected to take multiple buses and subway lines to get to campus, where according to Arale public transit — availability is scant at best. utsc used to offer a shuttle bus services to its students over a decade ago, however, the service was discontinued due to low demand. Arale believes that since the Scarborough campus has grown by: “two or three times since then, it’s time to bring the shuttle bus back.”

The proposed shuttle bus program is expected to enter its first planning stage this semester under the leadership of Jill Matus, vice-provost, students. It is unclear at this point how much, if at all, students on either campus will be charged for the shuttle service. Arale believes that student accessibility is important, saying that “the program will try and not put more financial burden on students.” Representative of the Governing Council were not available for comment as of press time.

UTM already has a shuttle connection to U of T St. George, pictured above. CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity

CONTINUED FROM COVER The UTSU has opposed the flat fee structure since it was first announced in 2009.

Although student groups are happy with the changes, the university has expressed concern. In a December interview with The Varsity, U of T president Meric Gertler said that the changes to the flat fee system will eventually cost the university $16 million annually. The latest available financial information on the Faculty of Arts & Science, from 2010, shows that the faculty has an accumulated deficit of over $60 million.

As dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Gertler was a strong advocate for flat fees. “We can show quite clearly that it is cheaper to get through faster. You save on housing costs and the ancillary incidental fees that are often quite substantial,” said Gertler in a 2009 University Affairs interview on flat fees. “We know that it is less expensive in the grand scheme of things to do this in four years and move on to earn an income or go to graduate school or professional school.”

At present, the U of T administration is uncertain as to how the university will account for lost revenue from the changes. “It is too soon to know if or where U of T will reduce expenditures to make up for the lost revenue,” Gertler said in The Globe and Mail. “We are pleased that this change will not be implemented until 2015–2016, since this will give us more time to figure out how to accommodate this change.”

Shawn Tian, president of the Arts & Science Students’ Union (assu), expressed concern with the Faculty of Arts & Science’s assessment of the flat fee system. According to Tian, the Faculty’s only assessment of the system was conducted the year immediately after its implementation, and has since been discontinued. “If the Faculty wants to claim that flat fees get students to graduate sooner and accrue less debt overall, then I want to see the numbers,” Tian said. “[Students] have been left in the dark, and I don’t like the idea of the largest faculty in the university stumbling without adequate information to make critical decisions.”

According to Emily Hedges, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, the changes arose from concerns expressed by student groups leading up to the release of Ontario’s new tuition framework in March 2013. To address these concerns, the ministry established a working group with representatives from Ontario’s colleges, universities, and student groups.

A protest photo from 2009 when flat fees were first introduced. File PHoto: AnDreW loUis/tHe vArsity

According to Yolen Bollo-Kamara, vicepresident, equity of the utsu, the root of the university’s financial problems is underfunding at the government level. “Underfunding causes high tuition fees and high student debt that tends to affect marginalized groups most,” Bollo-Kamara said.

Tian agrees. “The Faculty of Arts & Science needs a sustainable, fair revenue system that is going to be self-supporting in the long-run,” he said. “If the Faculty of Arts & Science cannot balance its budgets, then the entire University is in for a turbulent ride.”

The guidelines also address tuition and payment dates. Currently, students with osap loans are required to pay tuition fees at the same time as students without the loans. Under the new system, students who complete their osap applications by the beginning of August will not have to pay tuition before receiving their financial aid. All students will also be able to pay tuition in per-term installments without deferral fees or interest charges.

The changes will begin rolling out at colleges and universities in the 2014–2015 academic year, with full implementation by 2015–2016.

BY THE NUMBERS

Fall 2015 Less than 3.0 FCE load do not have to pay full tuition

Part-time students pay on per-credit basis, less than 3.5 FCE load do not have to pay full tuition

Students can save up to $1,700 annually because of the change

Fall 2016 Less than 4.0 FCE load do not have to pay full tuition

U of T to lose 16 million per year because of the change (drop of 4 per cent from the current tuition revenue)

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VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

news@thevarsity.ca

Marcus McCann: challenging inequality in new law school U of T student working to overturn accreditation of Trinity Western University law school Alex Verman

VARSITY STAFF

He hasn’t graduated from law school yet, but Marcus McCann is already spearheading an attempt to legally overturn the accreditation of Trinity Western University’s newly proposed law school. The university intends to be a faith-based school, and will require students to agree to abstain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.” Those who do not agree will be asked to leave. Trinity Western University received final approval to establish its law school on December 18, with British Columbia’s Ministry of Advanced Education granting the university permission to operate. McCann has raised over $4,600 and counting as of press time.

He hopes to raise $30,000 to fund a legal challenge against the new school.

The Varsity: What started your interest in what’s been happening with TWU? What kind of activism have you been engaged with in the past?

Marcus McCann: When I came into law school I quickly found that there’s just so much about the legal profession that’s in desperate need of reform; the legal profession has such promise, and it holds itself out to be a force for good and for justice, and it sometimes falls short of that goal. I found myself getting involved in various projects to reform both legal education and the way we approach the profession more broadly.

So to return to your original question, why I got involved with the twu fight, I just see that there is so much promise in the legal profession and we don’t always

live up to those ideals, and when it comes to access to law school, criteria other than merit, like coming from wealthy families or not being lgbt, is just really fundamentally at odds with the promise of legal education.

TV: What’s driving this? What reforms are you hoping for regarding U of T Law and law schools in general?

MM: The legal profession is definitely one of those professions — and this is really applicable to the issue of twu too — that is sort of a gateway to upward mobility for people of different social classes. This is what is so pivotal about twu: if there are barriers that limit the availability of [legal education] on grounds other than merit, then we’re just reproducing any existing problems.

Right now we’re fighting against tuition which is approaching $30,000 a year [tuition for domestic students for the 2013-14 academic year is $29,257, not including $1,200 School of Graduate Studies fees], which is a huge barrier for people coming to law school. And we’re also fighting for diversity at U of T Law — making sure that the school is not just a diverse and welcome place, but that we get people applying from diverse backgrounds.

TV: Let’s talk about the legal case and the Kickstarter to raise money for it. How did you get involved with Clayton Ruby’s office and the lawyers pushing the campaign?

MM: Honestly, when I first heard about this I thought that it was such an obvious wrong that I maybe didn’t need to get involved. [This

was] last school year in the spring; students from law schools across the country wrote to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (flsc) expressing their concerns. And I was at the Pride Parade last year, for the first time the University of Toronto gay law students marched, which is kind of sweet, and we all made signs and one of them said “Say no to Trinity Western.”

And then I got a phone call from Angela Chaisson, who had heard that I was an agitator, I guess.

Anyway, she was in the middle of a trial and she believed that the flsc report was going to come out the following week and wanted to stage a protest, but she didn’t have time —so she approached me to help her out ... But I also saw quickly that there were members of the legal profession and law students who were afraid to say something.

TV: Is that where the shift came from organizing a protest to crowdsourcing a legal response?

MM: Well fast-forward to the beginning of December, Angela’s in another trial and we have it on fairly good authority that [the flsc report recommending accreditation] is going to come out, and it’s two days before final paper deadline, which is, as a law student, terrifying. Things are getting close. The report came out on the sixteenth of December and Angela texted me from court that we’ve got to get something up.

So we launched it.

Marcus McCann, law student. Photo courtesy of marcus mccann

the court it costs a dollar a page. It adds up really quick. There are a lot of expenses that, even if a lawyer’s working for free, still have to be covered. The $35,000 is a down payment.

TV: And what’s the logic behind the end goal of $35,000?

TV: Does a policy like this from a single law school have much of an impact? Or is there more of a concern for its larger effect on how we teach law?

MM: It’s $35,000, though … to be honest, for something to get to the Supreme Court, it costs. Any time you get something photocopied at

MM: Well there are two lines of argument that have been raised about the accreditation. One is that their graduates are going to be somehow

inferior graduates, I don’t know if that’s valid or not; there haven’t been any graduates — there’s no evidence.

So we can put that aside and say that we have a problem at the admissions stage, which is: there are 17,000 spots at law schools in Canada and a portion of them, even if it’s only five per cent, aren’t going to be available to students who are lgbt, and I don’t see how that can be justified.

Disclaimer: Marcus McCann is the chair of the Board of Directors for Varsity Publications.

Fire at Athletic Centre prompts temporary evacuation Fire caused by workmen on roof; AC back in use a little over an hour later Alex Verman

VARSITY STAFF

Students making use of the University of Toronto’s Athletic Centre (ac) were forced to evacuate the building around 2:00 pm on Thursday as fire trucks rushed to the area and smoke billowed from the roof. The Toronto Fire Department was quick to respond to the alarm, with eight trucks coming to the intersection of Spadina and Harbord.

Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of media relations for the university, said that the fire was confined to the roof, and no one was hurt. “Everybody was evacuated safely,” said Blackburn-Evans. ac staff and university administration believe that the fire was caused by maintenance work on

the roof, where sparks from a torch that was being used to cut metal ignited some insulation. The fire was confirmed to be extinguished and the building safe for people to reenter within half an hour of the first alarm.

While many students appeared shaken, the reaction from inside the ac was minimal. One ac facility employee who asked not to be named said that although employees were involved in the evacuation, everyone was compliant. “It was largely calm,” the employee said, “though we were unaware of the extent of what was going on.”

Yidan Xie, Debra Lee, and Weiguang Ni, three students who were playing badminton at the ac at the time of the fire, spoke to the ac staff’s ability to get people out of the building and keep the situation un-

BY THE NUMBERS

8 trucks responded to the fire alarm

Toronto fighters received a call at and by

2:15

3:30

the athletic centre was functioning normally.

The athletic centre has Fire truck outside the Athletic Centre. carolyn levett/the varsity

der control. They were able to go back to their game, with the facilities running as usual soon after the initial panic had died down.

Blackburn-Evans said there was

minimal fire damage, and that the Athletic Centre’s operations would not be affected by the fire in the coming days as the university reopens and class starts.

7 gymnasia, 3 swimming pools, 1 weight room

and other workout facilities.

COMMENT VAR.ST!COMMENT

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comment@thevarsity.ca

Barriers to entry

By encouraging youth involvement in politics we can create a bright political future

Student engagement in politics keeps power accountable. michael chahley/The VarsiTy

Stephen Warner

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Across the province, candidates are filing their nominations for positions on various municipal councils and school boards.

Many politicians use municipal elections as a springboard for their future careers, since candidates in municipal elections are better able to have their names remembered, as opposed to the political

party affiliation present in provincial and federal elections.

In order to gain name recognition, candidates must use main resources: money and influence. For example, the spending limit for the Toronto mayoral election is approximately $1.3 million, and the spending limit for the Mississauga equivalent is $385,000. Both are incredibly large sums, and require fundraising that the average person is simply unable to do, which limits elections to a minority of people who are wealthy and have contacts in

high places to support them, and excludes an incredibly important demographic: the youth.

Whether we believe that young people are more or less suited for politics is irrelevant because democracy by nature is supposed to be accessible for all. However, campaigns are dependent on money to finance advertising, lawn signs, attack ads, flyers, brochures, pamphlets, and so forth — which is not accessible to youth. And while it is true that anyone can run in the election, there is no chance of someone without the finances winning it.

Young people often have a unique passion for politics, while not being jaded by the system. As a society, we need to encourage youth involvement, not force them out. As young people become more disenfranchised by the political process, they will choose not to partake in it at all.

What are the real effects of having elections won with money? In short, it lowers the campaign down to the lowest common denominator, by reducing ideas down to what can fit in an advertisement. The winner of an election is not the candidate with the best ideas, but rather the candidate who is best marketed. This causes campaigns to lose actual content in favour of one or two slogans.

By encouraging youth involvement in politics, however, we can create a bright political future. By removing the money qualification, we can create a system where youth can be involved in the political process, and can begin to make elections about ideas, instead of about catchy slogans.

Young people at U of T should become involved in the political process, and run for office. If we continue to do nothing, the culture of elections being won with money will continue. But if we make a statement — that we do not want politics to be limited to those who can afford it — then it will have to stop. If we create alternatives to the standard model, an alternative that presents ideas rather than slogans, we likely will not win, but we will draw attention to the inequality presented by the political process, which is almost as good.

Stephen Warner is a first-year student studying political science.

It takes a village New U of T president Gertler will need to engage with the local and global community Yves Guillaume A. Messy VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Last December, the University of Toronto welcomed its sixteenth president, Meric Gertler, with a distinctive mix of apprehension and congratulatory exuberance. While Gertler is no stranger to the university’s intimate workings — as the former Dean of the Arts and Science faculty — the weight of the challenges our university faces leaves room for a substantial array of concerns.

Few individuals, however qualified, can be expected to single-handedly tame sustained structural unemployment, declining government funding for liberal arts programs, and a set of increasingly competitive online educational opportunities. Transforming the educational experience on campus will require Gertler to reassess the university’s local and global partnerships.

It will require a neighbourhood approach to addressing the workplace’s needs as they balance with the broader community’s need for educated and publicly engaged citizens. Failure to engage with either set of interests, or to emphasize the need to produce world-leading graduates regardless of financial obstacles to higher education, is sure to endanger U of T’s prized position on global higher education rankings.

Outgoing president David Naylor’s term at the university’s helm heralded a decisive transition away from the stodgy, traditionalist ways. Political factors were pulled from under the university’s feet as firmer educational funding terms were required to prevent a higher-education debt bubble. The rise of emerging markets prompted the uni-

versity’s most respected rivals and admirers alike to invest substantial funds in satellite campuses and world-class educational facilities to match an ever-rising global competition for the very best students.

On the ground, Naylor’s term was punctuated by one construction site after another, as U of T responded to these global trends with a concerted push to improve infrastructure, facilities, and program offerings. Bystanders saw efforts to make our professional faculties more competitive globally, as the business school faculty was integrated into many engineering programs, with an emphasis on commercialization of radical homegrown innovations.

Gertler’s challenge, at the time of writing, will be to drive this adaptive momentum into a viable, responsive, and necessarily fundamental reorganization of undergraduate education, in order to best take advantage of the new vistas made available by his predecessors.

Gertler’s strategy to address its main challenges is to reconfigure the university’s relationship with the City of Toronto, particularly its funders and government backers, with a greater proposed role for U of T in municipal and provincial-level discussions on innovation and policy. By rethinking these relations, Gertler hopes to recalibrate university curricula and offerings, in order to strike the right balance between the traditional ambitions of wellrounded, higher education with the pointed, practical exigencies of the contemporary workplace.

These goals and stated ambitions are laudable, but they are anchored on the conditional hope that provincial governments

U of T president Gertler. Bernarda gospic/The VarsiTy

will volunteer to jump to the liberal arts and non-professional programs’ defense.

If this is not the case, as current discussions of intended strategy suggest, then we might be witnessing the receding line of accessible liberal arts education in Ontario.

Indeed, if we need to halt structural unemployment, and if the private sector and its government-backing corollaries are in favour of equipping the Ontario student with the right skills, then departments with the least apparently monetizable course content will see themselves bunched together

and plausibly starved to the professional faculties’ benefit.

However, before we run to the slippery slopes, it is essential to underline that Gertler seems to favour a balance of both worlds: a liberal arts curriculum with a backbone of employable skills. An observer of this dilemma — an old one at that, but one that is more urgent given the times — might suggest that we also look to nongovernmental sources of educational funding for the least unemployable faculties.

Making these programs viable, regardless of how many billions our Ivy League competitors are spending or how many mbas are required in the workplace, could be an opportunity for greater private-public partnerships for non-professional faculty educational funding.

Regardless of the financial constraints on traditional liberal arts’ survival in a province such as Ontario, which is rife with structural unemployment, Gertler’s perspective is one that promises to engage with all stakeholders. Joint program offerings, joint research symposiums, and greater faculty engagement in the local community’s various needs promise to make the university that much more relevant. If there is a way to gain this greater relevance and employability while educating well-rounded graduates, it will definitely be found in greater consultation with our neighbours, locally and globally. In the age of super competition in higher education, it will definitely take a global village to raise employable, liberal arts educated graduates.

Yves Guillaume A. Messy is in his final year of a specialist in political science. He is a political commentator on CTV National News.

10 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

VARSITY COMMENT

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Music is my religion Why Jimi Hendrix was on to something Cassandra Mazza

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Ask someone to picture a scene of fainting women, weeping men, and masses of devoted followers chanting the words preached by their idol on a gleaming stage.

Some may imagine a religious leader speaking before a crowd of disciples. Most would probably think of a rock concert.

Religion is characterized as an organized system of beliefs from which the faithful derive moral guidance and self-purpose by adhering to the doctrine of sacred texts and deities. By this definition, I’m going to propose something blasphemous: Music is a religion. Let me tell you why.

First, like traditional religions, music forms the basis for a shared community from which members construct their personal identity.

For example, in the Buddhist faith, monks traditionally wear coloured robes as a physical representation of devotion to the humble minimalism of their religion. Compare this with the hoards of tweens sporting One Direction T-shirts, and it is clear that this sort of teeny-bopper uniform is being used in much the same way as monk robes: as an outward manifestation of loyalty, and a means of identifying with fellow members of their pop

Music's effect on society is similar to religious movements.media photo

faith. Conversely, just as animosity exists between various religious sects, members of the musical faith accept and reject group members based on their musical preferences, the belief being that to share the same taste in artists is to share the same outlook on life. Thus, in both music and religion, members of respective faiths forge their own indi-

viduality by comparing themselves to those who are unlike them, and associating with others who share and validate their beliefs.

Secondly, whether it be in a sacred text or the lyrics of “All You Need is Love,” both music and religion possess a form of doctrine from which the devoted derive their moral codes and ways of life. These sacred texts of-

fer a shared and accessible language by which one can communicate with members of a particular faith. Intense religious devotion often arises as a result of individuals finding the ability to articulate and overcome otherwise insurmountable adversity.

To internalize the word of scripture is to learn a unique language, along with gaining membership within a compassionate community with a shared dialect of belief.

Likewise, the poetry of song lyrics often functions as a means to express and prevail over life’s challenges; the confessions of musicians and shared sentiments of a vast fan base offer a common experience for listeners, who may have felt emotionally isolated otherwise. Fortunately, the languages of both music and religion excel in their unique ability to bring people together. As such, both music and traditional religion serve to provide a language through which devotees may discover their voice and a community in which to share it.

Finally, the gods of both music and traditional religions share the same ultimate purpose: to sacrifice themselves on behalf of the greater good of humanity. Legendary musicians, from Clapton to Joplin, have the capacity to communicate emotions that would cripple most — from heartbreak to first love. Great musicians exist as survivors of the human condition as they record their experi-

ences for the benefit of the listener.

As the sole possessors of the ability to both withstand and communicate the devastating force of human nature, they sacrifice themselves to their art for our benefit. Kurt Cobain killed himself when the pressure of fame became too great, and the Beatles stopped touring when they realized that their music, no longer belonged to them, but to the world. John Lennon’s murderer supposedly rationalized killing him as the only way to protect Lennon’s legacy, taking inspiration from The Catcher in the Rye in his desire to “save” his idol before his music fell into Paul McCartney-esque commercial appeal.

This tragedy is reflected all too clearly in the life of Jesus Christ, whose death represented the exchange of a sinless man for a sinful humanity’s forgiveness. In both cases, the deity no longer exists as a unique individual, but as a transcendent entity belonging to all those who are faithful to them.

As the purest form of human potential, it seems that it is destiny for our idols to be used as tools in both music and traditional religion as the best, and perhaps the only, means for humanity to achieve both redemption, understanding, and artistic beauty.

Cassandra Mazza is a second-year student from Victoria University studying English.

In defense of flat fees The UTSU would be better served working with the administration to lessen the costs of university Jeffrey Schulman

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Recently, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) has waged a short-sighted and irresponsible campaign against the university’s flat fees policy. Flat fees, originally brought in by the Faculty of Arts & Science in 2009 and extended to the full five-course requirement in 2011, have served the university and its student body well.

The way the new policy works is quite simple: as of 2015, a student will pay on a per-course basis if they take three or fewer courses.

If said student wishes to take more courses, they must pay flat fees, which are the same between 3 and 6 courses per year.

The first benefit that this system brings is that it encourages students to take more courses. In effect, students who are slacking off subsidize those who work for a more rigorous education.

An objection that is raised to this by the utsu in “We are not cash cows,” — vice-president, university affairs, Agnes So’s op-ed in the November 25 issue of The Varsity — is that many students have work obligations that prevent them from taking a full course load. This objection is unfair to U of T. Students who have part-time work are still regularly able to cope with a full timetable. Those who by economic necessity are forced to work full-time or near

full-time hours are probably not looking to attend an institution like U of T, which schedules its classes during the middle of the day rather than late at night and is focused on intense research.

What U of T is good at as an institution is providing an expensive and intense research-based education during normal hours. This is not to discount part-time students, but rather to note that providing a flexible and cheap education is a specialty that many institutions in the gta fulfill quite well; U of T, however, will never be the best place for part-time students.

Another benefit of flat fees is that they raise more money for the university. If not for flat fees, U of T would have to either cut back on education or charge higher fees for a full course load. It is highly unlikely that increased funding from the provincial government or private donors would be available solely to fund the removal of flat fees. Thus, any additional funding would end up being removed from other priorities in this event as well.

Flat fees serve as a means by which U of T can be better funded in which slackers subsidize harder working students. The campaign against this prudent and necessary policy on behalf of the utsu is particularly disturbing. Most U of T students have seen the utsu put up snazzy posters around campus — advertising the union’s campaign against the flat-fees policy — while on the same block wit-

The UTSU should focus on gauging student concerns rather than large-scale political activism. carolyn levett/the varsity

nessing more expensive paraphernalia protesting the current cost of tuition. It is sad that the utsu never informs U of T students that these goals are currently at odds with one another.

It is also disappointing that the utsu has currently taken advantage of Ontario’s Liberal government. Given the vulnerability of Kathleen Wynne’s current minority administration, the utsu has tricked the training, colleges, and universities minister, Brad Duguid, into thinking that the it is the true voice of U of T students. It is not, and I would advise

minister Duguid and the Wynne administration not to capitulate to the over-zealous voice of a few radicals and instead work towards a sustainable funding plan for Ontario higher education.

The utsu, for its part, should focus more on gauging the concerns of U of T students, something which has been a persistent problem for the organization, before engaging in large-scale political activism. Currently the utsu is in conflict with the rest of the university, posting a petition on its website advocates for a policy that would damage all other parties

on campus. Instead, the student union should join president Gertler in calling for more government funding for core academic programs and a performance-based method for distributing resources.

Instead of hostility both to students and the administration, the utsu must work to improve U of T rather than harm it. The utsu must come to see the university administration as a partner rather than an enemy.

Jeffrey Schulman is a first-year student at Trinity College studying international relations.

EDITORIAL VAR.ST/EDITORIAL

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2014

comment@thevarsity.ca

STUDENT HOUSING

Illegal rooming houses a symptom of student housing shortage The ongoing controversy surrounding illegal rooming houses near the University of Toronto Scarborough (utsc) campus highlights the many challenges facing students looking for safe and affordable housing in Toronto. Both the university and the City of Toronto have yet to take effective steps to protect students from exploitation or unsafe living conditions in Scarborough. Meanwhile, U of T continues to plan to increase enrolment, without concrete plans to provide sufficient on-campus residences to accommodate these students, or to integrate students into the communities that surround its campuses.

The problem of student housing was brought to the forefront when city authorities shut down an illegal private rooming house near utsc, where 11 students were found living in cramped and unsafe conditions.

The University of Toronto was not involved in operating the rooming house. It is clear, however, that the complete inadequacy of on-campus residence spaces at utsc — some 11,100 students attend the campus, but there are only 765 beds in its student residence — has forced some students into a vulnerable position, and allowed predatory landlords to exploit students who may have no other option.

In 2008, the university produced a document titled, “Towards 2030: A Long-term Planning Framework for the University of Toronto,” which contained a set of guiding principles by which the university administration would seek to face the challenges of the next two decades. “Towards 2030” makes a sober assessment of the university’s strengths and weaknesses in many areas, including the fact that all three of the university’s campuses are failing to meet the space standards set by the Council of Ontario Universities.

The university’s plan is to combat the issue of inadequate housing for its student population by making modest reductions in undergraduate enrolment at the St. George campus (utsg), while allowing the Scarborough and Mississauga campuses to each admit 5,000 more students over the next two decades.

If the university continues with the plan to include more undergraduates into these campuses, this plan must be implemented in a responsible way that ensures that enough of those students have safe and affordable housing options.

The present situation at utsc represents a failure to live up to these standards. Meanwhile, the surrounding community, formerly a predominantly single-family area, is struggling to adapt to the growing student population, and has few housing options that suit students’ needs.

The lack of both on-campus residences and off-campus options on all three campuses forces many students to commute for hours each day, and puts students without family or a place to stay elsewhere in the gta in a very difficult position. Furthermore, many of these students are new to Ontario or to Canada, and may not know their rights as tenants or about Toronto’s confusing regulations.

Unfortunately, it is not difficult to imagine how 11 students ended up living in a 3,000 square-foot home on Military Trail near utsc. In exchange for their rent, students were packed into the specially renovated house, sharing two kitchens and six bathrooms. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors had been removed, while a sign posted in the house warned the tenants that if the City of Toronto inspectors got inside the house, they would have to vacate immediately. Legal action is pending against the owners of the property, but this case is only symptomatic of the larger problems U of T and the city have yet to address. While rooming houses are legal within the boundaries of pre-amalgamation Toronto and Etobicoke, they remain illegal in the former municipality of Scarborough.

A motion by city councillor Shelly Carroll to legalize and regulate rooming houses throughout the City of Toronto has been deferred for community consultation, and has fallen victim to the distractions and delays plaguing city hall. By regulating rooming houses, the city could make sure that they are safe and properly integrated into the surrounding community. Keeping rooming houses illegal only creates an underground market of unsafe houses, which encourage exploitative landlords and hurt students and the community.

The impetus for this change is crippled by the fact that many of the students affected by illegal rooming houses and the lack of housing options do not or cannot vote in municipal elections. U of T should use its position as an influential public institution and substantial contributor to Toronto’s economy to stand up for its students and support sensible regulation of housing near its campuses.

At the same time, U of T has an independent responsibility to provide adequate housing. So far, the university’s reaction has consisted of a frustrating combination of hand-wringing and buck-passing. The administration has failed to recognize that its student-residence ratio is irresponsible, and puts vulnerable students in a position where they can be exploited.

There are a number of institutional shifts that need to take place in order to better protect students. If U of T plans to transition some of the undergraduate population from utsg to utm and utsc, then the university needs to take more urgent action to ensure that enough physical space exists to accommodate future changes before they occur. The current plan to add 700 beds at utsc is a step in the right direction, but will not come close to compensating for the planned increases in enrolment.

U of T’s prevailing logic seems to be to increase enrolment first, and build adequate infrastructure later.

In the gap between these two developments, thousands of students will suffer from the lack of housing, both on-campus and nearby.

University campuses must be integrated into their surroundings, and students need places to live, study, and relax near campus. However, recent efforts from U of T's administration to establish new student living spaces, such as the Knightstone residence building, have faced significant opposition from community groups, who fear an influx of rowdy students. Short-term initiatives like the winter residence program organized by the utmsu with local residents show that innovative thinking and solutions to student housing are possible.

It is not enough for either the city or the university to wash their hands of the developments in Scarborough. Landlords can take advantage of vulnerable and sometimes desperate students because U of T is not doing enough to make sure that its students have a place to live.

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

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR Vol. CXXXIV, No. 12 | December 2, 2013 Re: Flat fees changes announced So, I oppose flat fees, but this isn't as big a win as people think. The Province is essentially saying to U of T: we've capped your tuition increases, we've banned flat fees, but we're not going to give you any more money. Given that the Faculty of Arts & Science is already projecting a deficit over the next half decade at the least, tying the university's hands in terms of revenue generation will very likely accelerate the growth of tutorial and first-year class sizes as cost saving measures.

Sure, get rid of flat fees. But you can't do it unless you find a way to pay for it.

— Reality check (from web) In response to Reality check: If the university cannot support itself and had to rely on stealing from students to get to where it is today, then maybe it does not deserve such a high ranking. Trying to gouge your students for money to get better researchers is not a long term strategy — this is just poor planning and a result of the disaster that our last U of T president left us with.

This all goes back to U of T having a weak student voice — that has never been able to participate in the university's planning process before shit "hits" the fan — like it has today. The province has had to step in to tell them: that they're robbing students. and now U of T has no financial plan to re-balance their budget.

— Undergrad (from web) In response to Undergrad: It's hard to sympathize for either the government or the university, and for me that's the biggest problem.

As for which one is MORE to blame, that's tough. Is it the government that won't make substantial investments in post-secondary education, but doesn't hesitate to step in and make surface-level changes to win over students? Or the university that arguably uses students, undergrads in particular, and international undergrads in particular particular, as cash cows, admits them in record-high numbers, only to make degree completion and academic success possible for a fraction?

I think the 3.0 FCE = 5.0 FCE (the 60 per cent threshold) is absolutely unacceptable. Surface-level or not, I'm thrilled that these decisions are being made at the level of government, and that changes will come as a result.

I'll take a higher flat fee threshold and larger class sizes any day over the previous alternative. With that said, it's obviously crap that finan-

cial fairness has to come at the cost of the quality of an education that we already pay so much for.

It's not so simple as to say that it's either the university or the government. Both are complicit in the overall problem: that students are fundamentally undervalued in our current post-secondary education system. Or rather that their value is primarily understood in terms of revenue and budgeting.

Also, let's not forget how small a victory this is. It's still not percourse tuition. It's still flat fees.

And it's miles away from (what is in my opinion) the ideal: "free," government-funded post-secondary education, equally accessible to all.

— Isaac (from web) Re: “Boundless” U of T campaign misrepresents the realities of university life "How do you think alumni get to the top?" By investing serious time "bounded" in their studies. Certainly there are relational dimensions to a meaningful university experience too — it's all about balance — but I don't think it's fair to represent commitment to a rigorous academic program as a restriction on freedom.

— november (from web) Re: Sports remodel changes little in intercollegiate system This model makes absolutely no sense. The first question that should have been posed is: why do we have intercollegiate sports?

To keep people healthy? No — that's what our awful intramural sport system is for.

The only reasonable answer is to create a sense of school spirit. Does anyone feel more school spirit as a result of success in 95 per cent of these sports? No. Does anyone even care that we won a national cross-country championship? Obviously not.

The various bodies proposing this solution appear to be little more than special-interest groups run amok. The university should look to put more of the power in deciding these matters to bodies that represent the majority of students and less to our field hockey teams and their allies.

— Jason (from web) Re: The world in 100 years Overall neat article but one comment: The visor will not be able to detect neutrinos effectively... Neutrinos are hard to detect because they interact through the nuclear weak force. Not the electromagnetic force that you mentioned.

— hiroe (from web)

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

Hope for the humanities

By Elizabeth Benn

Illustrations by Julien Balbontin

Humanities programs persist in universities despite declining numbers and negative perceptions

A

t the University of Toronto and other institutions, students in the humanities are mocked for the impracticality of their fields of study. They face questions about how they intend to translate their degrees into a living, with the implication that a specialist degree in philosophy or a major in classics is an unlikely path to a flourishing career.

There is some evidence that humanities departments are on the decline, with enrolment numbers down, criticism in public discourse, and some universities considering slashing programs altogether. However, criticism of the humanities often fails to recognize the diverse skills that humanities students acquire from their degrees, including reading, writing, and creative analysis — none of which are oriented towards any single job — as well as the importance of learning for the sake of curiosity.

DEPARTMENTS ON THE DECLINE The practicality of the humanities was not always in question. Beginning in ancient Greece and Rome, the humanities were long considered to be at the heart of academic institutions.

Their prominence continued into the Middle Ages, when universities first developed. In the fifteenth century, fields of study began to be judged based on their practicality — rather than merely studied for the purpose of being studied, which the humanities ostensibly are.

Today, the effect of this change in attitudes can be seen more than ever in schools across the world. Some studies indicate that fewer students are enrolling in humanities programs globally. Students and their families often evaluate programs based on the payoff of the job they can pursue after school in relation to the total cost of tuition and effort of achieving the degree. The perceived lack of practicality makes it difficult for students to justify spending money or incurring debt to pay high tuition fees.

At Yale University, for example, 165 students graduated with a bachelor of arts in English Literature in 1991. This number plummeted

“

over the next 20 years, with only 62 Yale English literature graduates in 2012.

Elsewhere, universities have had to cut some programs due to low enrolment numbers. In England, Middlesex University was forced to shut down its philosophy, history, and performing arts departments in 2010. At the same time, British universities Keele University and the University of Greenwich were both considering cutting their philosophy programs as well. After students objected to the change, both universities decided to continue the programs for the time-being.

“THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONS” The bad press for the humanities comes from a broader problem than their impractical nature; it is the result of the way people generally perceive universities today: as a means to an end. A university degree is meant to teach graduates skills that they will use later on in their careers.

Many jobs require students to hold a bachelor’s degree, and therefore universities have the instrumental value of qualifying their graduates for jobs that they otherwise would not have access to. Humanities programs are not perceived as providing students with such marketable skills. The humanities are often viewed as an academic indulgence and a waste of money. However, students in the humanities gain a diverse set of skills in their studies that differentiate them from those in other departments and qualify them for a variety of careers.

According to Christopher Warley, associate professor of English at U of T, the humanities involve studying human relations.

“If you think of the humanities as instrumental, you will be sadly disappointed because it’s not,” says Warley. “The study of human relations ... can never be instrumental because an instrumental understanding of something means that there is a definite answer, and there is no right answer when talking about the relations amongst people. There

can’t be a right answer because they happen in time and there’s no way to ground them at all, ever.”

The humanities offer some clear-cut practical applications, such as reading and writing skills that many students in science programs do not acquire through their degrees; however, students in the arts also develop unique skills in creative thinking and critical analysis.

Nick Mount, ENG140 professor and associate chair of the Department of English, notes: “There are employers out there who do say, and routinely do say, that they prefer to hire somebody with an English background because they’re trained to be curious ... [with] an English student, you put Lolita in front of them and say, ‘Tell me something smart about this,’ and that’s the kind of employee that particular kinds of companies are looking for.”

FOR THE SAKE OF CURIOSITY Rotman Commerce students can often find careers in business within months of graduation; architecture students are hired by top employers in their field; and life science students have a wide range of graduate school options, all of which can lead them to particular careers.

The humanities hold a different place in universities, allowing students to learn for the sake of learning and satisfy their wide-ranging academic curiosity while earning their degree.

“I think students by-and-large still realize that the employer doesn’t give a shit about what you did in university, so you might as well do something that you enjoy,” Mount suggests. “All the employer cares about is, do you have a degree, and they care about the person who’s sitting in front of them. Is that person interesting me right now; is this somebody I’d like to hire?”

While the idea of learning for the sake of learning is possible in every field, humanities students are able to do so differently than their peers in the sciences; can look at their

The sciences are the “how,” and the humanities are the “why” — why are we here, why do we believe in the things we believe in. I don’t think you can have the ‘how’ without the ‘why.’”

— George Lucas

studies as a mere satisfaction of their curiosity and nothing more. A student’s analysis of Bartleby’s repeated phrase — “I prefer not to” — can place it in its historical context and lead to conclusions about various social issues at the time of its publication, the character himself, and the author. However, these trains of thought will not earn them any one job at the end of the day, as — for example— an engineer’s understanding of physics forms the basis of the career they are likely to pursue.

Mount protests learning that leads students to specific, pre-mandated outcomes, which stifles students’ curiosity and creative thinking, rather than allows them to organically arrive at their own, individual conclusions.

This occurs in the Canadian public school system as a result of overly directed curricula: “Learning outcomes: [public school] teachers are being told that you need to produce this kind of outcome. They teach to that. If you tell a teacher ‘this is the learning outcome your student must have,’ then teachers are going to think, ‘how am I going to give a student that learning outcome?’ So they don’t teach to curiosity anymore. They teach to the learning outcome. And, yes, that will reduce the kinds of curiosity-driven experiences, whether in the sciences or the humanities.”

If the intention of universities was to have students learn a skill or a technique — or to attain a job with the completion of the degree — they would be the same type of institutions as polytechnics and colleges. As such, there would be no place for the humanities, many social sciences, and many other programs taken by themselves without an added graduate degree. Without the university, these disciplines would not have a place for the academic study that they merit.

Arts students have the opportunity to satisfy their academic curiosity while improving their writing and analytical skills, and can pur-

Thoughts on the humanities sue graduate school or a number of college programs afterward if they do not immediately begin careers — many of which are specialized and open only to those who hold a ba.

THE HUMANITIES AT U OF T U of T boasts some of the largest humanities departments globally, with top-rated professors and 85 diverse programs. Based on the qs university rankings, U of T has the fifteenth-best English and History departments in the world. The philosophy department is becoming more and more prominent in the philosophy world, holding the eleventh spot in the qs ranking, and stepping up in the Philosophy Gourmet rankings annually. Smaller U of T humanities departments also host high-quality professors and provide funding for research.

For students studying humanities, U of T offers a wider range of courses than its competitors, along with opportunities for students to specialize in specific topics. The Independent Study program is offered in most departments, and provides top students with an opportunity to focus their studies on a particular topic under the supervision of a faculty member. Research and work-study opportunities are available to students as well, where they can help professors with their research in the arts and get credit for their work.

U of T and other institutions in Canada are responding to increasingly negative attitudes towards the humanities in different ways. Professors incorporate diverse, ongoing research in the humanities with classic ideas and theories to illustrate to students how the texts and notions they are studying are still actively engaged. At U of T, the course “The Digital Text” is offered to English students, allowing them to engage with computer technology and math while studying literature. Many schools are accepting arts students in medical training programs, with

McMaster teaching an undergraduate course in the developing international field of medical humanities.

Courses like these point to the importance of humanities departments developing interdisciplinary programs that allow students to more clearly visualize their career options while continuing to study the arts. U of T departments often allow students to take relevant courses in other departments as part of their program requirements. At the University of Ottawa, the World Literatures and Cultures master’s program is the first such degree in Canada, and allows arts students to explore modern global cultures from a variety of perspectives — including those in film, literature, language, and cultural history. Degree programs in the humanities can combat their image problem by seeking similarly innovative approaches to the study of the humanities that incorporate interdisciplinary elements and offer students a modern, flexible framework for their studies.

Despite declining enrolment in the humanities and perceptions of their impracticality in post-secondary studies, their continued relevance in human existence allows them to persist. Warley observes: “Every time you see people going to a movie, you know the humanities are popular — because they’re going to the humanities to think about life.”

The humanities is a living field, in spite of perceptions to the contrary, with debates and innovation ongoing and texts and ideas becoming more universally accessible everyday.

The practical value in studying the humanities is largely abstract, but Mount argues that fulfilling students’ curiosity in these subjects is invaluable: “I don’t believe the humanities have a value in the way that term is usually used. In other words, it’s the one thing you do in your life that we can’t actually put a number on. We can’t say this is going to get you a job or this is going to earn you that much more money... you [study the humanities] because you’re human.”

“

Aeschylus and Plato are remembered today long after the triumphs of Imperial Athens are gone. Dante outlived the ambitions of thirteenth-century Florence. Goethe stands serenely above the politics of Germany, and I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”

– John F. Kennedy

“

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

– Albert Einstein

“

Literature can tell us what the world is like.

Literature can give standards and pass on deep knowledge, incarnated in language, in narrative. Literature can train, and exercise, our ability to weep for those who are not us or ours. Who would we be if we could not sympathize with those who are not us or ours? Who would we be if we could not forget ourselves, at least some of the time? Who would we be if we could not learn? Forgive?

Become something other than we are?”

– Susan Sontag

ARTS & CULTURE

VAR.ST/ARTS

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JANUARY

2014

arts@thevarsity.ca

The Big Biryani Theory The history of biryani in Toronto and where to find the best biryani for your buck

Amey Charnalia

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Every morning, Mahfuzur Rahman performs a culinary ritual undertaken by many old hands across the Greater Toronto Area: with a touch no less nimble than a painter’s, Rahman sifts through pounds of long-grain basmati rice in a handi — a traditional widebrimmed, wrought-iron vessel — to ensure that the slow-cooked layers of marinated meat, caramelized onions, tomato-yoghurt purée, and spices are all infused perfectly to produce the perfect batch of biryani: one that harmonizes the flavourful juices of the succulent meat with the fiery aftertaste of the saffron-coloured rice.

Rahman is the owner of Curry Kitchen at Church Street and Dundas Street — his restaurant is one of the many South Asian restaurants specializing in biryani springing up around the city.

Yes, the craft of cooking biryani, like painting, requires a light touch, sensitivity to the elements, and an eye for layering detail. Biryani chefs aggressively guard their recipes, lending every outlet serving biryani in Toronto its own unique, in-house taste.

Originally created in the lavish kitchens of the great Mughals of India, biryani enjoyed regal origins. Today it is relished on the streets of Delhi and Lahore more frequently than it is in top-end restaurants as haute cuisine.

South Asian immigrants brought biryani to Canada in the 1970s and 1980s. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s that restaurants and takeouts began to specialize in making it.

Even then, it was to the suburbs, not the downtown core that biryani enthusiasts had to flock to get their fix of this popular subcontinental dish. Little India/Pakistan was also a popular choice, especially the iconic Lahore Tikka House on Gerrard Street East.

Beaming at an inscription detailing the history of his restaurant, Choudhry Mateen, proprietor of the Karachi Kitchen franchise, proudly recalls being one of the first people to serve traditionally cooked biryani in the gta: “When I came here in 1996, there were restaurants that served regular Indian fare, including biryani, but it wasn’t made using the real method.”

“Earlier they would erroneously cook the rice separately from the meat and spices and simply mix the two at the end,” he says. “I started the proper dum method of cooking biryani in Toronto.”

Dum is a method of slow-cooking, frequently using earthenware utensils sealed with dough to allow the meat to stew in the spices, used in the Indian subcontinent.

Mateen is a gregarious man who is fond of his biryani and takes care to ensure that it is cooked in his signature way. He turned away a career in medicine in Pakistan to pursue his passion for food and he has his restaurant’s popularity has to show for it.

During the month of Ramadan, lines of customers from across the gta extend well into the parking lot, says Bilal Masood, head of marketing, pointing to the large parking lot outside the restaurant’s Mississauga location.

Costing a mere $5.00, the chicken biryani at Karachi Kitchen is undoubtedly authentic and just as fiery as its South Asian cousin.

Yoghurt is often served as a side with biryani to temper the spice, although it is consumed just as often on its own, and Karachi Kitchen’s is best enjoyed independently.

With its popularity spiking, biryani is increasingly becoming a fast-food alternative to your pizzas and burgers, says Mateen. And as it is quite tedious to cook it at home, most people prefer to go out to eat.

Masood also alludes to biryani’s popularity with people from outside the subcontinent as a fine example of Toronto’s diversity. “People love Indian and Pakistani cuisine, especially biryani.”

Indeed, Torontonians’ exposure to cuisines from around the world often spoils one for choice, but the growing love for biryani reflects the city’s proclivity for food and an adventurous palate.

While restaurants in Little India/Pakistan do a decent job serving regular sub-continental cuisine, outlets specializing in biryani are few and far between.

In the downtown core, restaurants like Mehran and King’s Palace are popular stops

with cabbies because of their late hours, cheap prices and authentic South Asian food, including biryani.

Akram Chaudhry, owner of Mehran at Church Street and Gerrard Street, acknowledges that biryani is one of his most popular dishes. He immigrated to Canada in 1976 from Pakistan and found work as an auditor.

Eager to operate his own business, he took the plunge and opened Mehran 17 years ago.

At the time, there was no real choice for biryani downtown, apart from Chandni Chowk on Gerrard Street, he says.

Originally a coffee shop, he converted Mehran into a restaurant as his customer base slowly increased. “Here we serve the Punjabi variety of biryani,” he says. Punjabi biryani tends to be spicier because it is garnished with green chillies. Other popular varieties include Hyderabadi, Sindhi, and Awadhi.

Today, blue-collar workers, businessmen, government employees, students, and of course, cab drivers — a good demographic cross section of the Garden District — all patronize Mehran, especially for the $6.99 chicken biryani combo.

Now, with over a dozen restaurants specializing in biryani operating downtown itself, it is quickly emerging as a Toronto fast-food staple. For many students it is also a refreshing alternative to the usual burgers and shawarmas to satiate those appetites worked-up after a night out.

var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

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ADDITIONAL PLACES FOR OUTSTANDING BIRYANI

King’s Palace on Church Street and Collier Street: The $6.99 chicken biryani is good. Kebabs are also recommended.

Open late, from 11:00 am – 6:00 am.

Quick Pita on College Street and St. George Street: Chosen mainly because of its convenient location just south of the downtown campus, the $6.77 chicken biryani is served fresh in this small, family-owned restaurant.

Curry Kitchen on Church Street at Dundas Street East: A relatively unknown downtown treasure, try the chicken biryani (available spicy or mild) for $5.00, served in generous portions.

Open until midnight, including on weekends.

Biryani King on Bovaird Drive West and Main Street North: A must-stop for biryani enthusiasts that find themselves in Brampton. Served to the brim in styrofoam boxes, the chicken biryani costs $5.00. The lamb biryani is worth trying too. Take-out only.

TOP: This South Asian dish can be found in restaurants within and around Toronto MIDDLE LEFT: Dum, a slow-cooking method, is considered to be the authentic method of cooking biryani MIDDLE RIGHT: No two biryani dishes are the same, restaurants closely guard their recipe for the perfect biryani BOTTOM: Gulfishaan prepares the biryani at Curry Chicken on Dundas Street East OPPOSITE PAGE: Biryani is a South Asian dish that has gained popularity with diners across the gta. jaE hyuN ParK /ThE VarSiTy

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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

REVIEWS

arts@thevarsity.ca

Clown car of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese

Film: Her — Spike Jonze Set several years in the future, Spike Jonze’s Her is like The Terminator meets Nicholas Sparks — a futuristic play on the sci-fi romance genre. After a divorce leaves professional writer Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) lost and unfulfilled, he turns to an artificial intelligence operating system, OS1, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The OS1 calls herself — rather, itself — Samantha, and is very much like Siri 2.0; she is able to provide Theodore with not only directions and information, but has the capacity to make jokes, empathize, hold conversations, and think for herself — the only thing missing is a physical body.

The future Jonze creates is not a post-apocalyptic mess, riddled by war and crime, rather, one wherein society has finally embraced the “Green” movement and is environmentally stable and sustainable. Technology is able to progress and enable programs like Samantha — a digital companion for the lonely, reclusive, or bored.

The big question Her poses is what love can, and could look like in a few decades, and whether we can foster meaningful relationships with the inanimate or if technology is making us even more reclusive and withdrawn than ever.

— Emma Kikulis

Film: American Hustle — David O. Russell The premise of American Hustle does not stand out: two con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are forced to work with Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), a power-hungry FBI agent, in order to clear their names. However, this is a gangster movie unlike anything Frances Ford Coppola would have made. American Hustle’s director's David O. Russell's last directing effort was the offbeat comedy Silver Linings Playbook. Accordingly, this movie also features funny tangents, loveable flawed characters (Bale’s character is sensitive about his hairpiece) and a plot that seems to be no more than a backdrop for the main characters’ complex interactions.

The result is a movie that hits on a full range of emotions. It’s billed as a “comedydrama” film, and it delivers. American Hustle is both hilarious and nail-bitingly tense, introspective and escapist. Excellent performances by Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper bring the brilliant script to life.

— Sara Gajic

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

At U of T’s School of Public Policy, we’ll help you find out.

JP Kaczur

VARSITY STAFF

Martin Scorsese's latest film The Wolf of Wall Street is a three-hour clown car joke: just when you think the car couldn't possibly hold anymore clowns, you are happily mistaken. With each ridiculous gag — involving strippers and prostitutes, spinach and cocaine, and shipwrecks and plane crashes — The Wolf of Wall Street achieves a level of comedic insanity heretofore unseen in a film about white-collar criminals. But is the levity appropriate, considering that — thanks to Wall Street — the end may very well be nigh?

The film has received its fair share of criticism for its glorification of sex, drugs, and credit default swaps. An Academy member reportedly screamed at director Martin Scorsese at a screening (I picture it going something like: “How dare you! I’m offended!”). But who can blame them? For example, there is a crack motif present throughout the film. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) smokes crack, snorts cocaine off a prostitute’s butt crack and has a candle stuck inside his own. Not to mention, the aforementioned relationship with cocaine gives way to Belfort finding true love in the drug Quaalude — which produces an extended scene involving Belfort telling the audience he feels like he has cerebral palsy.

Oddly enough, the inappropriate humour goes hand-in-hand with the mentality of Bel-

fort and his co-conspirators (Jonah Hill, among others). The aforementioned debauchery is an extension of the lack of care they have for others and themselves. That lack of care makes them ideally suited for their line of work. Belfort and Co. go from rags to riches by conning commoners into buying penny stocks. When that works — hilariously well — they move up to the Bourgeoisie with a similar success.

Belfort and friends live the American dream with little regard — but they forget to keep it small. Belfort and his bros get a little arrogant by artificially inflating an initial public offering, whilst skimming off the top. Their hubris and greed attracts the attention of the fbi. But who cares? Even if you're convicted like Belfort and his merry band were, your prison sentence is a country club purgatory drive-by on the way to a lucrative post-prison consulting career — enriching the future of white-collar criminals for years to come. (My apologies for no spoiler alert, but if you’ve followed the news at all in the last decade, this ending should not come as a surprise.)

By the end of the film, it becomes clear the debauchery has a purpose beyond titillating a future Patrick Bateman from Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: it’s in lieu of a heavyhanded Michael Moore polemic. It presents the discourse accurately and leaves the audience to pass judgment on its own. Some may see it as a bunch of clown car jokes strewn together that will never end, while others may see that the cycle of white-collar crime seems like it will never end either.

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var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

17

Up close: Brodie West Musician Brodie West juggles improvisation, playing the saxophone, among other pursuits Deirdre O’Sullivan

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

For those of us who are lucky enough to really love music, it can become a large part of what connects us to our particular time and place.

I am lucky to live in Toronto during this time because this city is home to wonderful improvisers such as Brodie West.

When talking to West, it is no wonder that his presence here makes some of us feel more grounded, more defined. His positive air is apparent in his art, as well as in his every word. West has been playing the saxophone for 26 years. In that time, he has worked with musicians from Ethiopia and Amsterdam to this city of ours. Lately, he has been playing with The Ryan Driver Quintet, Terrie Ex, and many more. He showcases his own compositions with his band Eucalyptus and recently he put out a solo saxophone recording on Healing Power Records.

The Varsity: In Eucalyptus, you work with great improvisers and there always seems to be a lot of room for them within your pieces.

How do you account for that when you are composing?

Brodie West: My compositions are organized on some levels, but the framework of them allows for a lot of room, I hope. I guess the challenge is communication — for everyone to be able to make sense of the materials of a composition. The pieces are not overly intricate. People don’t have to work too hard to find all the details so they can bring their own details into it. My style of writing is really melody and rhythm. There’s a big space in between for people to do a lot of their own thing.

TV: What does a good composition feel like for you?

BW: When it’s realized by the musicians people will open up to it. The players will really find a way to revel in it. To be able to just express themselves, feel the freedom, and to be able to really listen to it.

Maybe the perfect composition is one that the players can hear themselves in. Everything with music is just the practice of listening. Listening is the most essential quality. That’s why people with limited technical skill are still able to make the right choices with what they’ve got because they can hear what’s going on and they can feel it.

All the musicians in the band are good at doing that. I’m trying to cre-

Above and above right: Musician Brodie West outside of his home in Kensington Market. carolyn levett/the varsity

ate a really minimal structure for them to play. Something they could almost learn by ear with room for exploration.

TV: What about when you compose your solo stuff? Do you allow for space in the same way?

TV: What’s the difference in the way you compose for your solo stuff versus composing for Eucalyptus?

BW: I find playing solo sax is all about time.

I need time to get into it. It’s kind of about developing a language and having it at your fingertips. The solo stuff has to do with a kind of momentum. Not working on having a pulse but feeling intuition. It’s freeing in a way that I really enjoy — this thing about the mind wandering and the freedom to just ramble in different ways.

It’s also about silence and what is left after you have made a statement. As soon as you stop in any moment there’s this sort of tension. I’m always using that, and that is creating the momentum too. I’m not circular breathing which is a standard thing to do with solo wind instrument playing. I’m allowing that breath. I think that draws people in. The quality of the recording too is quite close.

BW: In Eucalyptus, it’s not all about what’s on the paper, it’s about communicating the ideas that are there and what it is that I’m dreaming about. It’s really hard to communicate the subtleties. That skill is the hardest thing for me, probably for my whole life, to try to do.

The more you work with the same people, the more you have this catalogue of understanding to refer to.

We’re not working in a tradition that’s been well-established. I’m drawing from all different backgrounds so nothing is really a given as far as putting a piece in front of people and assuming that they’re all going to interpret it from a certain vantage point.

If you can try not to assume anything, then you can really experiment.

TV: Is there some kind of code of conduct that underpins your practice?

BW: At the risk of sounding naive, my first favourite musician was Charlie Haden, and he talked a lot about being honest. I don’t want to lie about anything. I don’t want to be clever about lying. I don’t even want to figure out a tricky way to be able to get at something. Music is a way to really be honest. A lot of people make these choices that are not very honest for themselves. It’s just survival, but it’s unfortunate that sometimes people get into this whole zone of misery. Charlie Haden’s words always stuck in my mind because when I hear his music it sounds like that and it takes courage to do that. He’s made a lot of great choices because he’s got that strength.

I think from the Toronto community the strongest thing that I can associate myself with, and feel that I am a part of, is this freedom to experiment across all different genres. It’s such a struggle living here and there aren’t many real institutions or anchors so everything is really fluid.

Musicians are able to do things in a different way as far as decisions they make. There’s no professional scene here for improvisers.

In Amsterdam, for example, there’s this million dollar club for improvisers and when people play there they get paid really well and they live as professionals. Here no one is a professional so no one has anything to protect in that sense. Everyone is willing to take a chance and do different stuff. Every moment feels really open and full of potential for things to happen.

Eucalyptus will be releasing a new record in February during their month long Sunday residency at Hirut Cafe and Restaurant (2050 Danforth Street).

Mind, body & Cronenberg

Mind/Body/Change allows visitors to immerselve themselves in the full Cronenberg experience Julia Lewis

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The current major exhibition at the tiff Bell Lightbox, David Cronenberg: Evolution is an exercise in how intense and interactive movie watching can be. The exhibition and its tie-in panels and events with Cronenberg and his collaboraters demonstrate how demanding filmmaking is. However, the films themselves also make demands on their audience — forcing us to face the less pleasant aspects of humanity that we all harbour.

The Body/Mind/Change digital tie-in to Evolution is particularly good at blurring this line between merely watching a film and actually engaging with it. The Internet has seen many attempts at interactive, creepy websites, but they are rarely this effective. With the deliciously sinister tagline “pod Wants To Know You,” the website promises to create a "Personal On-Demand"

media photo

(pod) that will learn from you before being implanted in your body.

When I began the pod process, I expected it to be mildly entertaining, and perhaps more of an amusing gimmick than a deep experience.

Instead, it plunged me into all sorts of intro-

spective questions, ranging from what it means to be human, to why I am so willing to share information with faceless digital programs.

The online simulations get right to an intensely personal interrogation — Do you hate anyone? How many people have you slept with?

I did not know why I felt compelled to be honest with a fake experiment. This virtual tie-in certainly plays with our current fears about privacy and how much information we share online, and it asks what we will sacrifice for the sake of convenience; it also taps into our strong desire to be understood.

When I began the pod experience, I didn’t realize that there actually is a laboratory set-up representing bmc Labs in the fourth floor of tiff Bell Lightbox. A fictional laboratory in the realm of the Internet is one thing, but it is an intriguing blend of reality and fiction when that fiction extends to a real, physical space. There are three pod simulations in total, and when you finish the third, you are given a unique

access code and told to pick up your pod the week of January 21 from the lab at Lightbox, which is again a surprisingly real, physical element to a digital experiment. I’m not sure how far this blurring of fiction and reality is going to go, but I look forward to picking up my pod, as long as bmc Labs does not actually intend to implant it in my body.

Throughout the many different elements of David Cronenberg: Evolution, I have been impressed by the depth of programming, and continually surprised by the level of detail and care that has been put into this exhibition. A tucked-away photobooth in the lobby of Lightbox, for instance, claims to read dna from your hand, and then combines an image of your face with Cronenberg’s own. You even get a glossy printout of this strange mash up.

Cronenberg: Evolution closes January 19 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Experience POD at www. bodymindchange.ca.

SCIENCE VAR.ST!SCIENCE

6

JANUARY

2014

science@thevarsity.ca

International Year of Crystallography begins

WOMEN IN CRYSTALLOGRAPHY As the International Year of Crystallography begins, The Varsity celebrates female crystallographers who have risen to prominence within the field, despite facing challenges to fit into the matrix of the scientific community.

By Emma Hansen

Kathleen Lonsdale 1903 – 1971

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale was a British scientist who made significant contributions to X-ray crystallography. Using X-ray diffraction methods, she discovered the structure of the benzene ring, settling a decades-long dispute.

Lonsdale attended a high school for boys in order to take courses in mathematics and science that were not offered at the girls’ high school. In 1927, Kathleen married Thomas Jackson Lonsdale. They were both scientists, Quakers, and pacifists. Evenings were spent doing science: Kathleen did her work on paper, and Thomas, working towards his doctorate, did experimental work in the kitchen.

Kathleen’s habit of working in the evenings continued even when she was jailed for a month for refusing to take part in civil defense activities, which would have been in conflict with her pacifist convictions.

She turned her cell into a laboratory with papers and instruments sent from colleagues. She was one of the first two female Fellows of the Royal Society, and she was the first woman to receive tenure at University College, London, where she was head of the Department of Crystallography. She was also the first female president of the International Union of Crystallography. Lonsdaleite, a form of carbon present in meteorites, bears her name.

Dorothy Hodgkin

ery of the structure of DNA. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the race to discover the structure of DNA was on.

Franklin, a physical chemist by training, worked with Maurice Wilkins in Xray crystallography at King’s College.

Meanwhile, Francis Crick and James D. Watson were working at Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge.

The crystallographic images that Franklin produced were crucial to Crick and Watson’s discovery of the structure of DNA, although the Cambridge team did not have her permission to use the images, and she was not credited in their paper. Nonetheless, Franklin and Wilkin’s experimental work complemented Watson and Crick’s theoretical approach, and Crick, Watson, and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Franklin had lost her life to cancer four years prior, but Wilkins recognized her “great ability and experience of X-ray diffraction” in his Nobel Lecture.

The academic environment during Franklin’s career was intensely hostile towards female scientists.

Despite her significant contributions and her considerable skill, she did not receive fair recognition for her work at the time, and she was represented as incompetent and disagreeable in Watson’s memoir, The Double Helix.

A biography of Franklin, as well as numerous protests against Watson’s portrait of Franklin by her colleagues and reviewers, helped to set her public image straight. Her tragically short life is now recognized as one of brilliant scientific achievement.

1910 – 1994

NANcY Ji/THE VARsiTY

Stefan Jetvic

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR While many celebrate the coming of a new year, with resolutions of fitness and growth, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (unesco) strives towards a different goal: promoting science to the general public world-wide. 2014 has been marked as the International Year of Crystallography (iycr). This project is a joint effort by the International Union of Crystallography and unesco, with the goal of promoting education on the importance of crystallography in science and in society.

X-ray crystallography is the examination of patterns in diffracted X-rays to determine the crystalline atomic structure of solids. Despite the small number of people who have heard of X-ray crystallography, its role in science and society as a whole is virtually unparalleled. Since the preliminary work of Johannes Kepler in ice crystal symmetry in 1611, the role of symmetry in nature has enthralled scientists. X-ray crystal-

lography has led to the discovery of many properties of crystals.

Max von Laue was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for the discovery that X-rays travelling through a crystal were diffracted in specific directions, and hence their behaviour depended on the nature of the crystal. These are the foundational experiments upon which the field of X-ray crystallography is built, and since von Laue’s discovery, over 45 scientists have received Nobel Prizes for work either directly or indirectly related to crystallography.

Among these accomplishments are many important discoveries: the discovery of the structure of penicillin, leading to the betterment of millions of lives; the control and processing of anti-viral drugs, since crystallography helps researchers study the effectiveness in binding to viruses; and perhaps most importantly, the crystallization process that makes that perfect piece of chocolate melt in your mouth, as naturally occurring forms are inedible.

At U of T, crystallographic research has led to the discovery of a molecule labelled penicillopepsin, which has been critical in improving the lives of those who suffer

with aids. From medicine to confections, X-ray crystallography is the foundation of many life-saving and important medical and industrial applications.

The future of the field is very promising, with advancements predicted in efficient eco-friendly materials, and a possible solution to antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Current studies in crystallography seek to win the war against drug-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs.” Ada Yonath and colleagues are close to creating antibiotics to eliminate bacterial ribosomes while leaving those of humans unharmed.

She won the Nobel Prize in 2009 for determining the structure of ribosomes in bacteria, without which bacteria could not survive.

The field of X-ray crystallography continues to contribute to advances in various disciplines, as the community of crystallography labs around the world expands. With the start of the iycr, unesco hopes to achieve more global awareness of this crucial field, and hopes that in this new year, science will play a larger part in our lives than ever before.

Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneer of protein crystallography, was described by her biographer as a brilliant scientist “whose humanity recognized no national boundaries.” Hodgkin was the first scientist to successfully use Xray crystallography to study complex biomolecules. She confirmed the structure of penicillin, and later discovered the structure of vitamin B12 and insulin.

Hodgkin was the first female recipient of the Copley Medal, and the third female Nobel Laureate in Chemistry after Marie Curie and her daughter. Hodgkin also tutored Margaret Thatcher in chemistry and established a laboratory at Oxford.

Throughout her constant struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, Hodgkin continued to excel at crystallographic research despite its delicate and precise nature. Hodgkin campaigned against nuclear weapons and supported scientists in developing countries in the later part of her career.

Ada Yonath

1939 – present

1920 – 1958

In her early career, Ada Yonath was labelled “the village idiot” for her unpopular ideas in biochemistry and structural chemistry. In 2009, she won a Nobel Prize for those same ideas, becoming the first Israeli woman to do so.

Yonath created Israel’s first biological crystallography laboratory at the Weizmann Institute, her alma mater. She sought to understand the structure of ribosomes, and was harshly criticized for pursuing her pioneering line of work. Yet she found success: she worked out the structure of the small ribosomal subunit using X-ray crystallography.

This work would prove to be essential to the study of antibiotic resistance. She shared the 2009 Chemistry prize with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz, whose research had also led them to structural models of ribosomal subunits. Yonath was also the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since Dorothy Hodgkin received the Prize in 1964.

Franklin is best known for her X-ray diffraction work that led to the discov-

With files from The Rosalind Franklin Papers and Pugwash Review.

Rosalind Franklin

VARSITY SCIENCE

var.st/science

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

RESEARCH RECAP U of T prof predicts the end of “eh”

New greenhouse gas discovered

For generations, “eh” has played a pivotal role in stereotypical Canadian language. However, the status quo seems to be changing quickly, at least in Toronto.

This, at least, is the result U of T professor Sali Tagliamonte’s recent linguistics study. Tagliamonte interviewed 214 native Torontonians aged eight to 92. After analyzed the recordings based on age groups and gender, Tagliamonte identified a significant linguistic generation gap.

“There’s a veritable revolution going on,” says the professor. One of the changes is the phaseout of “eh” among the young people. Instead, the good old Canadian stereotype is being replaced by “right.” Unbelievable, eh?

The use of “like” has also become more popular. When telling a story, the grandmas still say, “she said, then he said,” but the grandkids are more like, “she’s like, and he’s like.” The younger generation has also developed a habit of using intensifiers. One will not be surprised hear comments such as “omg that movie was so good, like so, so amazing” while walking out of a theatre full of teenagers.

This study is just so funny, right? You can find more about it at http://individual.utoronto.ca/tagliamonte/new_TE.html.

Early last month, U of T’s Department of Chemistry discovered a chemical in the atmosphere that outranks all other known greenhouse gases. Perfluorotributylamine (pftba) joins the list of long-lived greenhouse gases (llghg), which are chemicals that tend to linger in the Earth’s atmosphere for extended periods of time — enough to cause warming.

The news follows the conclusion of the nineteenth annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has not yet come up with an agreement to adress climate change issues. With the discovery of this llghg, the urgency to reduce emissions from other greenhouse gases is even more critical. pftba is used for various electrical applications.

Currently, it is used in thermally and chemically stable liquids, which are used in electronics testing as well as heat transfer agents.

When compared with carbon dioxide (co₂), the most concentrated human-induced greenhouse gas, pftba has a very long life span and very high radiative efficiency, and therefore a high potential for warming.

Radiative efficiency is used to describe how well a molecule can impact the climate. A single molecule of pftba has the same impact as 7,100 molecules of co₂. What makes the chemical even more frightening is that it does not occur naturally and is human produced. Because of this, there are no known processes to destroy the chemical.

— Shijie Zhou With files from the Toronto Star and the National Post

THE WEDDING SINGER

— Andrew E. Johnson

Good2Talk helpline offers support, anonymity to struggling students Students can learn about the service and their mental health at January 21 UTSC talk Elena Gritzan

VARSITY STAFF Good2Talk is a new 24/7 helpline designed specifically for university students in Ontario. The professionally trained counsellors on the other end of the line can talk students through problems that range from severe mental health crises to exam stress, and they can recommend resources close to the caller — including resources that are right on campus.

University students face a unique combination of challenges and stressors, especially at a large school like the University of Toronto. Finding resources and support to help with juggling a heavy workload, family responsibilities, money worries, relationship problems, and planning for the future can seem like an impossible task to the average young adult.

On Tuesday, January 21, utsc will be hosting an event to promote Good2Talk and to educate students on how they can best make use of the service. Fiona O’Connor, Good2Talk partnership coordinator, will speak about the initiative and encourage students to support mental health on campus. The utsc event will take place from 1-2 pm on January 21 in Arts & Administration Building, room 160. The service was created to address specific challenges encountered by today’s post-secondary students. Good2Talk is a partnership between Kids Help Phone and provincial health agencies ConnexOntario, Ontario 211, and the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health.

“Students at this stage in life can face many pressures including living on their own for the first time, stress over grades, drug and alcohol use or abuse, and concerns over collecting student debt,” said Alisa Simon, vice president of Counselling Services and Programs at Kids Help Phone in an interview with The Varsity. “We also know that depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges often emerge in adolescence and into young adulthood — exactly the time when many students are graduating from high school and transitioning to college or university.

These challenges can feel overwhelming.”

A free call to Good2Talk can be made on any day of the year and is a great first step for seeking help due to its short wait times. “A student can call Good2Talk and generally speak with a professional in one to two minutes,” said Simon.

“This accessibility gives students an additional resource to assist with any situation they are facing. For students who are on waiting lists for services on- or off- campus, or who are still undecided on whether they want to seek in-person support, Good2Talk can be an added resource.”

Service is offered in English and French, and an additional 170 languages are supported through an outside translation service.

Most importantly, a call is 100 per cent anonymous — the phone number will not be tracked and the caller will not be required to give any identifying information. “This means that students can be assured that when they call Good2Talk about any challenge they are facing, their identity and confidentiality are protected,” said Simon.

To access Good2Talk, call 1-866-925-5454.

THE WEDDING SINGER Music by Matthew Sklar Lyrics by Chad Beguelin Book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy Directed by Luke Brown

Jan. 10–25, 2014

MUSICAL

www.harthousetheatre.ca BOX OFFICE: www.uofttix.ca / 416.978.8849 Adults $28 / Seniors $17 / Students $15 $10 Student tickets every Wednesday!

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19

VARSITY SCIENCE

20 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 13

Ice, ice, baby Toronto’s ice storm the product of unique meteorology

Emily Ma

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR “This is the universe putting us in our proper place,” joked Toronto’s deputy mayor, Norm Kelly, in the Toronto Star about the massive 2013 ice storm that froze the city in a thick layer of crystal clear ice. With approximately 300,000 Torontonians losing power at the height of the storm, much of the city’s tree canopy lost, and an estimated cleanup cost of $75 million, nature was indeed sending a furious message.

Ice storms can only happen under very specific conditions: a mass of warm air must be vertically sandwiched between two masses of cold air at below-freezing temperatures.

The phenomenon begins at the cold layer on top. Snow is formed and begins to fall towards the ground. As it passes through the layer of warm air, it is heated and transformed into rain droplets. The rain droplets traverse the cold air mass near the ground and are consequently cooled to belowfreezing temperatures while remain-

ing in liquid state — a process called supercooling. The supercooled rain droplets — together known as freezing rain — then solidify into ice upon contact with any surface.

The accumulation of the ice weighs down, stresses, and can subsequently break tree branches and power lines leading to power outages. The recovery process can last for weeks as engineers are faced with the difficult task of repairing the power lines, which are sometimes located in remote areas such as ravines. Moreover, persistent wind and cold temperature can cause new outages and continue to aggravate the damage.

During the 2013 ice storm, both Sunnybrook Hospital and East General Hospital, as well as the city’s water pumping station, lost power. Fortunately, all the buildings had back-up generators to keep equipment and main functions in operation. Sunnybrook relied on five diesel-powered generators which were able to provide four megawatts of electricity.

East York General also ran its back-up generator for up to 30 hours during the storm.

The 2013 icestorm was not the first one to have devastated Ontario.

In 1998, five consecutive ice storms caused havoc in eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, leaving at one point three million people without power and causing 35 deaths. Since then, improvements have been made in the power distribution infrastructure. After the 2013 ice storm, many have pushed for more frequent trimming of trees and improvement of communication processes to better inform and update citizens about an ice storm’s recovery progress.

As the city moves forward into a new year, Torontonians may remember the last weeks of 2013 as the time they were forced to brave the Canadian winter without heat or electricity. Nevertheless, many had heartening stories of spending time with family without the distractions of internet or cellphones, having Christmas dinner with neighbours, or playing board games under candlelight. For others, the cold dark nights were a humbling reminder of our dependence on electricity.

With files from the Toronto Star

Left column, top to bottom: KatietheBeau/FLiCKR, BeRnaRda GospiC/the VaRsitY Right column top to bottom: Ron BuLoVs/FLiCKR, daVid WheLan/FLiCKR, BeRnaRda GospiC/the VaRsitY

science@thevarsity.ca

SPORTS VAR.ST/SPORTS

6

JANUARY

2014

sports@thevarsity.ca

The cost of concussions Blues’ baseball catcher forced to sit half of the season due to a concussion JP Kaczur

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

After suffering a concussion while playing catcher for the Varsity Blues’ baseball team, Kyle Bowers enrolled with the University of Toronto’s Accessibility Services.

He was required to fill out several forms to get accommodation for his classes.

Bowers did not like seeing the word “disability” on his forms; his identity was steeped in the image of a male student-athlete, with all its trappings: the personal fitness level, the hyper-competitiveness, and the social status.

“I wanted to scratch out ‘disability’ on all the forms, and write ‘temporary impairment’,” he said.

The concussion was an unfortunate result of a foul-tip. “Usually, it’s a glancing blow,” Bowers said. The ball strikes at an angle, rather than directly with full force, and deflects off the catcher’s facemask.

However, on September 22, during the second game of a doubleheader, the ball hit Bowers square in the forehead and dropped right in front of him: “In the moment, I was a little disoriented, a little shaky. When you’re a catcher, you get shook real good.”

“It happens a lot,” he added.

“But most of the time it’ll knock my helmet off my head, or it will spin my helmet around.”

The team trainer saw what happened and gave Bowers a concussion test on the sideline. He did several word associations and number memorizations with him.

“I passed,” Bowers said, using air

quotes, “but athletes tend to under report things. I felt terrible the rest of the game.” Bowers’ adrenaline kept him playing — he ended up hitting a double that contributed to an important win.

When the adrenaline wore off, Bowers tried to take a nap on the team bus, but could not fall asleep.

After assuming that a night’s sleep would do the trick, Bowers went to class the next morning, but the headache was not going away. He was concerned that if he confided in a doctor, he wouldn’t be able to play baseball, but the headache kept getting worse. By the afternoon, he broke down and scheduled a doctor’s appointment for the next morning.

Medically, Bowers felt taken care of. But recovering from a concussion goes beyond the quality of the care that he received at U of T’s MacIntosh Clinic.

Bowers was told to sleep in a dark room. He chose his basement where he was hidden from light and his family, friends, and teammates. He couldn’t watch TV, send text messages, or go out on the weekends.

Bowers couldn’t wait to get medically cleared. He wanted to get back onto the diamond with his teammates as soon as possible. In his first two seasons, the Blues had won back-to-back championships and were hoping to add onto the streak.

The first step was to be symptom-free for 24 hours. After that, Bowers could try some light exercise. With doctor’s orders, he started using a stationary bike, but the headaches and the dizziness weren’t ready to go away. He was back to step one: the dark room.

NaNCy Ji/THe varsiTy

Between the dark room and the doctor’s visits, Bowers was trying to get floating extensions on his schoolwork. His doctor felt the resulting stress contributed to his setback.

His kinesiology professors understood — they were familiar with concussions. As Bowers found, however, other professors were not as accommodating. His notes would say to follow up with

his professors in seven days, so his professors would offer a oneweek extension. The problem was that Bowers didn’t have a timeline from his doctor for when his symptoms would go away.

After more rest, Bowers managed to get through light exercise without any symptoms, and was cleared for baseball-related activities like light catch and batting practice. Bowers travelled to Wil-

frid Laurier University and hoped to play at Western University the following week. To do that, he had to remain symptom–free after a team practice.

His teammates were excited to have their catcher back. “My teammates see me, you get the whistles, the cheers... look who’s back!” said Bowers.

The practice went well, his teammates thought he was back to normal, and everyone was excited. But soon after, his symptoms returned, and it was back to the dark room.

Bowers’ season was over — he had reached his nadir. “I think I felt worse than I did before... because I realized I’m not ok.” The doctor told him that he would have to take even more time off from exercise after his latest setback, but Bowers was also given some good news.

Barring being a statistical anomaly, Bowers could be cleared to return next fall. “Concussion symptoms do go away,” he said.

He’s excited to return next year, but disappointed that he lost half of his season to injury. However, Bowers did manage to learn from his experience.

“I see the stigmas now more,” he said. “Now that I understand more, and I understand disabilities of all types, what people go through...

It’s almost a carry over of that stigma, the lack of social support, the lack of understanding.”

Bowers now prides himself on his newfound sensitivity on matters of disability. He also feels personal responsibility to help other student-athletes who find themselves needing advice on brain injuries.

Skating to synchronized success Blues figure skating looks to repeat success from last year’s OUA championship Sean Xu

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

By virtue of its strong aesthetic appeal, figure skating was the fifth– most–watched sport in the 2010 Winter Olympics and third–most– talked about online, according to a Nielsen article. At the University of Toronto, the Varsity Blues men’s and women’s figure skating team are a talented team whose members bring the beauty of the sport to Varsity Arena.

The team commits to four days of on-ice training a week, off-ice training on Sundays, and encourages its members to adhere to an off-ice fitness program. This rigorous training schedule necessitates a level of commitment which counts as just one of the qualities that head coach Craig Ruttan and his five assistant coaches look for in their prospective team members. The coaching staff expects skaters to be

able to work positively with one another; this ability to work on a team is a point of consideration concomitant with the technical skill of team member hopefuls.

The emphasis on cooperative ability has had notable effects on the experience of new members of the team. Amanda Stojcevski, one of the newest members to the team, has had no issue fitting in with the rest of the team. “My experience as a rookie has been great! Everyone is very encouraging and offers helpful advice and constructive criticism,” she said.

This seamless integration is, in part, facilitated through team socials and competitions. Most recently, the Blues travelled to Ottawa to attend the Carleton Invitational. “Cheering your team on really brings you together,” observed Stojcevski, despite the team failing to place in the competition.

Last year at the McMaster Invitational, the skating team placed third, foreshadowing its third-

place finish at the Ontario University Athletics (oua) championships later in the season. The team is looking to recreate similar success, and looks ahead to this year’s oua championships at Ryerson University.

“Our goal is to make the best synchro performance we possibly can,” notes Stojcevski. As the only program that simultaneously involves nearly everyone on the team, one of the team’s main goals involves the synchronized program. Preparing for the event, the team has to focus on a number of details if they hope to place: “pointing toes, high arms, straight legs, and, of course, smiles,” added Stojcevski.

Stojcevski herself has yet to skate in any competitions, and looks forward to the “synchro” performance and the possibility of dancing in the next two competitions.

The team will be competing February 13–14 in the oua championships, where they hope to repeat their strong performance from last year.

The team finished in third place at last year’s OUAs. PHOTO COurTesy varsiTy blues

22 Vol. CXXXIV No. 13

VARSITY SPORTS

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Coach profile: Michele Bélanger Bélanger has held on to her dream job for 35 years Susan Gordon

VARSITY conTRIbuToR

Women’s basketball head coach Michele Bélanger is in her thirty-fifth season coaching the team this year at the University of Toronto. The milestone is another great achievement for her to add to a long list of accomplishments, both as a coach and as a player.

Bélanger’s career in basketball began by chance at an eighth grade tournament, but she was soon competing at a high level, playing with her high school team at the first all-Ontario basketball playoffs for women.

She continued her career at Laurentian University, where she was a starter for all of her four years on the team, winning four consecutive national championships. For her fifth year of university, Bélanger transferred to the University of Victoria.

There, she lost the Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (cis) championship to Laurentian in double overtime, bringing her cis medal tally to four golds and one silver.

“As for personal awards,” said Bélanger, “I don’t like to think about those. It’s all about team awards.”

In 1979, after graduating with a Physical Education degree and be-

ing cut from the Canadian National team, Bélanger was unsure of her next step.

“With no plans I was asked to apply for [women’s head coach position at U of T]… got an interview and voila, never left.”

Despite starting at U of T with no prior coaching experience, Belanger has proven herself to be a great leader of the Blues’ women’s basketball team. Over her 35 years as head coach, Bélanger has been named Ontario University Athletics (oua) Coach of the Year eight times, earning the honour for the first time in just her second season.

She has also coached the team to eight oua championship wins, 15 cis championship berths, and one cis gold medal.

“It’s really about players and experience they gain while playing university basketball,” she says.

Bélanger not only coaches for the Blues, but also for the women’s Canadian National Student team. In the past, she has also coached at the junior and senior national levels.

On top of these achievements, Bélanger, a fluent French speaker, has acted as an interpreter at the 1976 Montréal Olympics, has spoken at and given coaching clinics

belanger is in her thirty-fifth year of coaching at u of T. Martin Bazyl/tHe Varsity

both nationally and internationally, and has had a tournament named after her.

“I fell into coaching, but what keeps me going is the daily encounters with the players, seeing their personal development within the game, and, more importantly, seeing them grow into outstanding women who will make great con-

tributions to our society,” she said.

“My team is great; they work extremely hard, they believe in each other, they want to succeed, they are supportive, encouraging, and gutsy.”

According to Bélanger, the future is bright for athletics at U of T. “We are well positioned as an Athletic Unit, with the new building open-

ing up in the fall of 2014. The future is an extremely bright one. We will have a state of the art athletic facility where athletes can train on and off the courts to excel. We will regain our place as leaders in sports.”

As for Bélanger’s future: “This is my dream job! Every day I wake up and look forward to coming to work.”

Player profile: Brett Willows Willows hopes to post strong second half of the hockey season after stint with the Leafs camille Angelo

VARSITY conTRIbuToR

Varsity Blues’ goalie Brett Willows may not have actually played for the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 17, but he came very close to being substituted into the National Hockey League game for goalie Jonathan Bernier.

The Leafs’ star goaltender James Reimer had been injured during an earlier game against the Carolina Hurricanes, leaving the team in a pinch for an emergency backup goalie for Bernier. That’s when Willows got a call from Blues coach Darren Lowe. Lowe told him that the Leafs needed him at the Air Canada Centre (acc) immediately.

Despite being a Montréal Canadiens fan, Willows was happy to suit up for the Leafs. He proudly sported the jersey the Leafs had made him.

The whirlwind experience was all part of a very busy day for Willows.

He had already written his human physiology and biomechanics midterms and had a two-hour practice with the Blues which ended at 7 pm.

He recalls being “tired and relieved that the day was over” and decided to grab dinner at the Noodle Bowl with a couple of his teammates. He recalls: “I had just received my food when Coach Lowe called and told me the big news.”

He raced to get his equipment and get down to the acc.

Willows, a kinesiology major who grew up playing mini sticks with his dad, professed over a tweet that night: “What I dreamed about playing mini sticks in the basement just came true.”

The Leafs keep a list of potential fillins for situations like this that arise, but as Willows told the Toronto Star, “I knew in the back of my head it was possible, but you never really think your number is going to be called.”

Willows explained that he only started playing hockey in second grade to be with his friends, but he grew into the game, and eventually assisted the Dauphin Kings to their Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship in 2010.

He names his parents as the people who enabled him to compete and be successful enough at the sport to attract the Leafs’ attention: “the commitment they showed throughout my childhood driving me to games or purchasing expensive goalie pads is a debt I’ll probably never be able to repay.”

Despite not receiving advice or coaching from the Leafs organization, Willows did get to sit in the dressing room with suspended Leaf forward David Clarkson and watch the third period with him.

When asked what fans expect from the Blues men’s hockey team this season, Willows has high hopes for his fellow roster: “I think we have a real chance to make some noise this year.”

He mentioned the team’s past playoff troubles, but sincerely believes that “the core group of guys has learned from those prior experiences and is poised to take the next step and silence our critics, who unfortunately come from primarily within the University of Toronto.”

What’s next for Willows? He hopes to achieve enough academic success to be accepted into a Physiotherapy Graduate school and ultimately become a physiotherapist.

The men’s hockey team is currently sitting at a 9-9 record. PHOtO COurtesy Varsity Blues

brett Willows is currently in his third year. PHOtO COurtesy Varsity Blues

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