January 21, 2019

THE VARSITY January 21, 2019

The University of Toronto's Student Newspaper Since 1880

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Vol. CXXXIX, No. 14

THE VARSITY

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THE VARSITY Vol. CXXXIX, No. 14 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 thevarsity.ca

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Ontario universities must slash tuition by 10 per cent, non-needs-based OSAP to be eliminated, government says Non-essential non-tuition fees no longer mandatory, potentially affecting student unions, Hart House Josie Kao & Andy Takagi Varsity News Team

In an unexpected move, the provincial government announced sweeping changes to domestic tuition, the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), and student levy fees on January 17. In her press conference, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrilee Fullerton repeatedly stated that the government was “putting students first.”

Sweeping changes to OSAP

Fullerton announced changes to the six-month grace period on loans, an expansion of grants to low-income students, and decreases to the number of grants and loans provided to students with a household income of above $50,000 — stating that all Ontario students will still be eligible to apply for OSAP, but that the government will be focusing on helping lower-income students.

Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, and MPP for Northumberland—Peterborough South David Piccini, who stood behind Fullerton as she announced these changes, spoke to The Varsity on the specifics of the announcement and echoed Fullerton’s sentiments.

According to Piccini, the six-month grace period, which allows students to begin repaying provincial student loans six months after graduation, will remain. However, interest will accrue on the loans immediately after graduation, a change from the former system, which delayed interest until after the six-month period.

Piccini justified this decision by saying that it would align with the process of repaying federal government loans.

The government will also be eliminating the non-needs-based portion of the Ontario Student Grant for recipients of OSAP, according to Fullerton’s press release, giving a larger portion of grants to low-income households.

“We’re restoring trust and accountability.

We’re restoring the integrity of the OSAP system so that it’s there for those who need it.”

Tuition cuts

Ontario universities and colleges will have to slash domestic tuition by 10 per cent for the 2019–2020 academic year and freeze it for another year, Fullerton also announced.

“Tuition was never free,” she said.

In response to a question about how universi-

ties and colleges will be expected to make up for lost revenue, Fullerton said, “There are different ways they can adapt… They will be able to determine what they need to do.”

Based on the 2017–2018 intake numbers, current tuition fees, and current university-wide operating budget, The Varsity estimates that the proposed 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition would cost the university at least $43 million in income from undergraduates alone.

According to The Varsity’s estimates, the cut would be equivalent to about $10 million less than all OSAP loans awarded to first-year Arts & Science students in 2017.

Currently, most domestic first-year Arts & Science undergraduate student at U of T pays about $6,780 and would see an annual savings of $678, with savings potentially increasing depending on year and program of study.

A student entering deregulated programs, including Rotman Commerce and computer science, paid more than $12,500 this academic year, and may see a minimum saving of $1,250. Engineering students may see a minimum $1,500 reduction from their average $15,000 annual tuition. It is currently unclear whether or not these programs will be affected by the tuition cuts.

Piccini emphasized the benefits of tuition cuts to students, saying that most student unions and groups prioritize rising tuition costs when addressing concerns on postsecondary education.

“I think everyone’s going to benefit from a tuition decrease,” said Piccini. “My phone has been blowing up overnight from constituents and students in my riding who are very excited at the prospect of cheaper tuition.”

Official Opposition Critic for Colleges and Universities MPP Chris Glover told The Varsity that he had consulted with the Canadian Federation of Students after learning of the tuition cuts.

“Students are not going to benefit from this.

Students are going to be the losers in this announcement.”

Opting out of student fees

Finally, the provincial government has also announced that most non-tuition student fees will no longer be mandatory. This would apply to “non-essential” groups and services, which appear to range from student handbooks to clubs.

The services identified as “essential” by the government include walksafe programs, counselling, athletics, and academic support.

Institutions will be required to create an on-

line opt-out system for non-essential fees. However, the distinction of what falls under “essential” and “non-essential” will apparently be made at the discretion of the institution.

When asked by The Varsity if the government had consulted with universities and students, Fullerton affirmed that it had but did not provide specifics regarding which groups.

“Students are adults and we are treating them as such by giving them the freedom to clearly see where their fees are currently being allocated,” said Fullerton. She added that institutions will adapt, and the government was trying to challenge them to innovate.

Fullerton clarified that it will be “up to the institutions” to decide the “essential categories for student fees and… fees that they will be able to opt out of.”

“There is leeway for the institutions to have a say in that.”

However, there is confusion around who has the ultimate say in determining what is “essential” and “non-essential,” as well as how the government would enforce its mandate.

Piccini said that universities will be able to develop these policies “at their discretion.”

“Universities are autonomous, and we’ve outlined a policy to give students choice, and we certainly hope students will be given choice in this.”

However, Piccini also said repeatedly during the interview with The Varsity that “there has to be an opt-out option.” He further added that, while these changes might not mean much to students in “downtown Toronto,” students he has seen struggle with paying for postsecondary education will greatly benefit.

The historic policy decision on mandatory fees could mean that certain student groups will lose a debilitating portion of their funding if students choose to opt out of fees.

The University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) 2017–2018 audited financial statements shows that about 72 per cent of its $2.2 million revenue came from student fees. UTSG students currently pay around $200 per semester to the UTSU, although $171.54 of that is refundable, including the Health and Dental Plan.

Hart House also heavily relies on mandatory fees, as its 2017–2018 budget states that 52 per cent of its $17.7 million revenue comes from students. The typical full-time UTSG undergraduate student pays $86.38 per semester, while full-time UTM and UTSC undergraduate students pay $2.65.

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David Piccini (right) said the grace period will stay but interest will start to accrue immediately after graduation.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

JANUARY 21, 2019 | 3

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The Breakdown: A timeline of OSAP

How the popular financial support program came to be Kaitlyn Simpson Managing Online Editor

The provincial government announced large-scale changes to university and college tuition frameworks and the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) on January 17.

Notably, the non-needs-based component of the Ontario Student Grant for OSAP recipients will be removed.

While students receiving OSAP previously had a six-month grace period before charging interest, under the new plan, interest will be charged immediately after students end their fulltime studies. However, the six-month period will remain.

Students will also have the option to opt-out of non-essential campus fees, which is sparking concern from universities, student groups, and student media.

The provincial government’s jus-

tification for these decisions was to combat an “unsustainable” system, to “reduce complexity for students,” and to prioritize lower-income students.

Here is a breakdown of OSAP — why it was created, how it has evolved, and what led up to the Progressive Conservative government’s changes.

What is OSAP?

OSAP was established under the Canadian Student Loans Program. The federal government partnered with Ontario and New Brunswick in 1999 to “harmonize” financial aid for students in those provinces.

Currently, the program is administered by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to assist students in paying for tuition, school supplies, required student fees, living expenses, and childcare for students with children.

Students who are Canadian citi-

zens, permanent residents, or “protected persons” residing in Ontario can apply for OSAP. Before 2016, one third of student aid was through non-repayable grants and two-thirds of aid was in repayable loans.

Changes under Premier Kathleen Wynne

Under the former Liberal government, OSAP received a significant redesign. Beginning in September 2017, students whose parents earn $50,000 or less were eligible for free tuition.

Students who were out of high school for four years or more were eligible for free tuition if they earned $30,000 or less.

‘Free tuition’ meant that students received funding that was equal to or more than the actual tuition for a university undergraduate arts and science program, a college diploma program,

or the average tuition for a high-cost university or college program such as engineering or computer science.

Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals also merged multiple OSAP grants — the 30% Off Ontario Tuition grant, the Ontario Access Grant, the Ontario Child Care Bursary, the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant, and the Ontario Distance Grants — into one single grant “to help with education costs when they are incurred.” However, some grants did remain separate, including the Indigenous Student Bursary and Bursary for Students with Disabilities.

Under this OSAP framework, students received “base” funding depending on their family income and “needs-base” funding calculated by a student’s financial need.

In the 2018 Provincial Budget, Wynne’s government once again expanded OSAP to offer more grants and loans for married and middleincome students.

Wynne’s OSAP changes were estimated to cost taxpayers $650 million more than the former system.

This is what U of T stakeholders have to say about Ford’s drastic postsecondary education changes

Takeaways: student groups concerned with lack of consultation, U of T to review budgets Ilya Bañares, Ann Marie Elpa, Josie Kao, Silas Le Blanc, Andy Takagi Varsity News Team

Stakeholder groups at U of T are reacting to a surprise announcement made last week by Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrilee Fullerton regarding cuts to postsecondary education.

Premier Doug Ford’s government announced that Ontario’s publicly funded colleges and universities will have to slash domestic tuition by 10 per cent next academic year and freeze it in the 2020–2021 year. In addition, there is now a mandate to create an online opt-out system for “non-essential” student fees, such as fees collected for student clubs, and cuts to

the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

In a statement shortly after the announcement, U of T President Meric Gertler said, “We will do all we can to limit the impact of these changes on the U of T community.”

“We need to review our budgets to assess the full impact of these changes,” said Gertler. “We feel it’s important to remain firm in our long-standing access guarantee: That financial circumstances should not stand in the way of a qualified student entering or completing their degree.”

Gertler’s statement did not mention how U of T would respond to or handle the mandatory opt-out option for “nonessential” student fees.

According to Fullerton, universities and colleges will have some “leeway” over

which groups will be deemed necessary.

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) — the largest student union at U of T — released a statement a few hours after the announcement, criticizing the provincial government’s decisions.

“The UTSU is deeply concerned with the changes relating to non-tuition fees, or ‘ancillary fees’, which fund vital programs and services enriching the lives of students across the province… The risk of significant funding reductions, direct or indirect, would be grave and irrevocably change campus life.”

The UTSU added that it will be “working with campus partners and other stakeholders across the province” on this issue.

The University of Toronto Mississauga

Students’ Union likewise released a statement against the changes, stating that it “will not stand for this and will continue to fight for you to ensure that this government’s unilateral decision-making does not go unchecked.”

“We want to make it clear, that a step to lowering tuition fees is certainly a step in the right direction, but this is not the case with this announcement,” the statement said.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA), which is affiliated with Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party, spoke out in favour of these cuts, citing the sharp spike in tuition under the previous Liberal government.

“Unfortunately, undergraduate tuition for Ontario students has risen from an average of $5,000 to almost $9,000 since

Auditor General report

Last December, Ontario’s Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released her annual report examining a number of provincial programs, including OSAP. In her report, Lysyk concluded that, while 24 per cent more university students and 27 per cent more college students were receiving OSAP, enrolment rose by merely one per cent for universities and two per cent for colleges.

“We concluded that a large portion of new OSAP recipients were already attending college or university — and paying for it by themselves or with loans — even before they qualified for the new aid,” Lysyk said when the report came out.

However, because the program was only one year old, Lysyk said people should be cautious before making “long-term” assumptions. “But it certainly bears watching,” Lysyk added.

The report stated that OSAP would cost nearly $2 billion per year by 2020–2021 — 50 per cent more expensive than originally planned.

2006. The previous Liberal government was unable to stop post-secondary education from becoming increasingly unaffordable. That is why OPCCA supports the Ontario PC Government’s action for the Affordability of Postsecondary Education in Ontario.”

The OPCCA also spoke in favour of the reforms to OSAP, claiming that the government is now better equipped to assist low-income students. It also supports changes to student fees, claiming that they are often used to “fund third-party advocacy groups known for controversial agendas and financial mismanagement” like the Canadian Federation of Students and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group. The statement claims that these groups have been promoting radical causes, such as “abolishing capitalism and boycotting Canada’s ally Israel.”

The OPCCA, did, however, say that campus media, activities, and clubs are worthwhile, and that “when students are free to choose which school initiatives to fund, these student groups will be incentivized to show their value to students who might not otherwise get involved.”

“Students will not be fooled”: emergency rally organized at Queen’s Park Protest comes after Ford announces cuts to tuition, OSAP Ilya Bañares & Ann Marie Elpa Varsity News Team

A day after the provincial Progressive Conservative (PC) government announced sweeping changes to postsecondary education, student unions and groups across Ontario gathered at Queen’s Park early Friday afternoon to express their outrage.

U of T student groups, including the Arts and Science Students’ Union and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Toronto, met at Sidney Smith Hall, marching toward the Ontario Legislature Building and occupying a stretch of College Street on the way.

Changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) were announced on Thursday in a press conference organized by PC MPP Merrilee Fullerton, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. When asked

by The Varsity if students were consulted about the proposals regarding tuition

and OSAP cuts, as well as the decision to opt out of ancillary fees, Fullerton vaguely stated that the government had done so, but did not name individual groups.

Speakers express concern about effect on students

Nour Alideeb, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS–O), spoke first and heavily criticized the PCs for attacking students across the province under the announcement.

The CFS is the largest student organization in Canada and represents five student unions at U of T. “Today we are gathered outside of Queen’s Park to send a very clear message to the Ford government… that students will not be fooled,” Alideeb said.

“Yesterday, the government chose to pick a fight with students… As the announcements unraveled, it turned out that this is a reckless attack on students and their families, on academic workers,

on faculty, on universities and colleges across the province.”

Deputy Leader of the New Democratic Party of Ontario (NDP), Sara Singh, alongside MPP Joel Harden of Ottawa Centre, Bhutila Karpoche of Parkdale—High Park, and Rima Berns-McGown of Beaches—East York, also attended the rally to express solidarity.

“These investments in public services are what are going to drive our economy forward, which are going to make sure that you all have the best opportunities you can as students,” said Singh.

“As we head into that next election, you all are those future voters. You are all those decision-makers that are going to make sure we’re shaping the province we want.”

Ontario students decry sweeping changes without student consultation

James Chapman, a fourth-year U of T student and the co-chair of the U of T

Many protesters criticized the apparent lack of consultation with students on the cuts.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

NDP, criticized the decision from the Ford government.

“I think there’s two reasons students are gathered here today,” said Chapman. “One is to tell Doug Ford that we think it’s unacceptable that the grants and loan combination that was created by the previous government after years of fighting by students on the ground is being removed. The second thing is that we’ve seen this time and again from this

government, where it’s a revenge plot against voices of dissent followed by complete chaos.”

Chapman noted that the most appalling part of the announcement would be the effect on marginalized students. “Those are the students who are accessing the services that largely the campus unions provide.”

Read the rest at http://var.st/4gj

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Conservative MPP justifies charging interest during six-month grace period for recent graduates Rudy Cuzzetto says policy is motivated by fiscal conservatism Adam A. Lam Varsity Staff

At a conference for Progressive Conservative (PC) students held at UTM on January 19, MPP Rudy Cuzzetto justified his party’s recent changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP), which were announced on January 17 as part of sweeping changes to postsecondary education.

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA) South Regional Policy Conference was a chance for OPCCA clubs around Ontario to network and brainstorm policy proposals.

During his speech, Cuzzetto — who represents Mississauga—Lakeshore — spoke specifically on the government’s change to OSAP’s six-month grace period, which was a policy that there would not be interest collected on provin-

cial student loans during the six months following graduation.

In response to a student’s question about the “motive” behind the change, Cuzzetto justified his party’s decision as fiscal conservatism in practice.

“That whole program is costing us $2 billion,” said Cuzzetto. “That’s what it comes down to. It was a $15 billion dollar deficit and $345 billion debt.”

In actuality, the Office of the Auditor General in Ontario projected that the cost of providing low-income students free postsecondary education “could grow to $2 billion annually by 202021,” rather than this year.

Cuzzetto acknowledged that requiring interest to accrue during the six-month grace period was a difficult choice. “Sometimes, we’re not going to like everything that we do. But sometimes we

ASSU announces levy increase referendum in response to rising costs

have to make tough choices,” he said.

He argued that the PCs were making “tough choices” that he perceived the previous Ontario Liberal Party has been unwilling to make.

He also noted that the financial burden of the program would apply to people like the attendees’ family members. “Don’t you think we’re taxed too much already in Ontario?” he asked the attending audience. Most students murmured in approval in response.

Cuzzetto qualified his statement, saying that he does think taxation is necessary. “But we have to find efficiencies and run the province more efficiently,” he said.

Yousuf Farhan, Treasurer & Director Technology of the UTM Campus Conservatives, followed by asking Cuzzetto how the PC party is planning to address possible increases in tuition for students in deregulated programs not subject-

ed to the PC’s 10 per cent cut in tuition fees, such as programs in Computer Science.

In response, Cuzzetto said that he “won’t be able to answer that,” but would be able to get him relevant information at a later point in time.

The Varsity was unable to confirm whether or not deregulated programs would be affected by the cut.

Farhan also asked if the PC party was aiming to significantly reduce the province’s fiscal deficit and eliminate Ontario’s debt by the end of its four-year term.

Cuzzetto said that the PCs were “probably not” going to eliminate the province’s deficit in four years, but he is hopeful that the party could reduce the deficit, contingent on a strong economy and its continual elimination of inefficiencies.

In photos: 2019 Women’s March

Union seeks to raise levy from $9.50 to $11 in referendum

Haseeb Hassan, ASSU President, said the union has been forced to make cuts in the face of rising costs.

JACKSON WHITEHEAD/THE VARSITY

Kathryn Mannie Varsity Contributor

The Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU) will be holding their second referendum in recent years to increase their union fees.

After a similar referendum in 2016 failed to pass, ASSU now hopes to raise the current fee from $9.50 to $11 per semester. The union also seeks to tie the dollar value of their levy to the Consumer Price Index, so that the levy will increase proportionally to inflation.

In a statement to The Varsity, ASSU President Haseeb Hassan wrote that, from 2016 onward, the union has been forced to make numerous budget cuts in the face of rising costs. In particular, “awards/scholarships, bursaries, travel and course union funding have all been slashed,” said Hassan. The goal of the upcoming referendum will be to return funding to the programs that have seen their budgets reduced.

ASSU provides 62 course unions with over $180,000 in funding, in addition to $36,000 in scholarships for students, and $21,000 in grants for undergraduate research.

Some of the services provided by ASSU include selling test packages, offering printing and faxing services, and working with the Dean’s Office to represent students' concerns with faculty policies.

In the past, ASSU has also organized talks with prominent speakers, such as the writer TaNehisi Coates, run exam de-stressing sessions for students, and hosted an undergraduate research conference.

Some of the projects that ASSU currently has in the works include a new mentorship program for Arts & Science students, and “Moving on From,” a project that seeks to highlight the difficulties that students face at U of T. Jennifer Wang, a second-year political science student, is skeptical of these proposed increases.

In an interview with The Varsity, she said, “I feel like the ASSU has never been a really big part of my life. The time I’ve been at U of T, a year and a half now, I haven’t interacted with them at all. If it was something that was more integral in our student life then I would be totally fine paying more.

But because I don’t really use their services, I feel like we shouldn’t be asked to pay more.”

In response to objections like these, Hassan said that ASSU does play an integral role in the lives of students, even if they might not realize it.

“Every course union in the faculty gets their funding through us, which is to be used to run events, academic talks and more. Moreover, academic advocacy is a big part of who we are, things like Fall reading week was a proposal that was given to the Dean of Arts and Science by us at ASSU.” “Some students may not see the day to day work we do to enrich their student lives but we do the best we can to make sure that students can have the best education they can with as little barriers as possible.”

The referendum will be taking place on February 13 and 14. Students will be able to vote online or in person at the Sidney Smith Commons.

Thousands of people marched from Nathan Phillips Square to Queen's Park on Saturday.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

JANUARY 21, 2019 | 5

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Opening of Student Commons building delayed to June

January board meeting sees UTSU criticize Canadian Federation of Students, review motion to protect journalistic rights Adam A. Lam Varsity Staff

Another delay to the opening of the Student Commons building, a report on the National General (NGM) meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS), and a motion to protect independent press coverage were highlights of the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) January Board of Directors meeting.

UTSU President Anne Boucher wrote in her executive report that “unforeseen architectural challenges” reported by the UTSU’s contractor have pushed back the most likely opening date of the Student Commons building to June, rather than April — itself a delay from January, which was a delay from September of last year.

The Student Commons is a planned studentrun hub to be located at 230 College Street.

Social Sciences Director Joshua Bowman moved to externalize Boucher’s note on the delay in her executive report, in order to discuss it in greater depth. “I'm not going to blame the current executive for that,” said Bowman. “I do believe that the majority of this is out of their hands.”

He did, however, request further information on the causes behind the delay, and whether the projected June opening is a rough estimate or guarantee.

Boucher clarified that reports that she has made on the projected opening date of the Student Commons have “always been a projection,” rather than a promise. She said that June is a “reasonable opening date,” but noted that the projection may change again closer to June.

She reported that the UTSU’s contractor said that the delay is because of unanticipated “structural changes” due to the building’s age, such as piping in the basement.

UTSU scathingly criticizes CFS

Boucher, Bowman, and Vice-President Operations Tyler Biswurm also summarized a report on the UTSU’s attendance at the NGM of the CFS, a national student union that represents postsecondary student unions across the country.

Reporting a positive outcome of the meeting, Bowman said that the UTSU’s delegation submitted a resolution for the CFS to reaffirm its stance against antisemitism, in light of the October shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The resolution, noted Bowman, called for a revamping of the campaign against antisemitism and reprinting materials. The motion passed unanimously.

However, the UTSU delegation gave a scathing overall review of the CFS. In its report, the

UTSU wrote that the CFS “has a limited tolerance of alternative viewpoints” and that it “exhibits partisanship in the rules and conduct of its meetings.”

The UTSU delegation took specific issue with the perceived support the CFS has given to the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), the embattled student union of the University of Ottawa, which has been faced with allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement.

The SFUO is facing a referendum in February by University of Ottawa students, to decide whether a new student union should replace it as a representative body.

“Despite what is happening at the University of Ottawa,” said Bowman, “members of the SFUO still felt the need to come to the CFS and essentially propose a thinly-veiled attempt to get bailed out by the Canadian Federation of Students.”

The UTSU delegation interpreted the SFUO’s request for support as a bid for the CFS to gain the ability to “step in when a member local is in danger of losing funding from is administration,” said Bowman, which is the case for the SFUO. The delegation asked “if this would allow the CFS to interfere with the upcoming student referendum at UOttawa,” despite their belief that the fate of the SFUO should be left in the hands of University of Ottawa students.

Bowman reported that there was a lack of response from “a lot of people who had authority in that room,” which the delegation perceived as a “silent affirmation of the CFS’s support of the SFUO.” In response to the UTSU’s criticism, the CFS told The Varsity that they do not “comment on particular matters relating to debate during National General Meetings.”

“However, we would like to note that delegates are encouraged throughout the meeting to maintain decorum and express their support or lack thereof for a motion through debate and their vote.”

In regards to the SFUO, the CFS wrote that “Due to its debate exceeding the time allotted for our meeting, the motion was referred for recommendation by the National Executive. The CFS therefore does not have a current stance on it.”

They will be discussing it at their April meeting.

Another criticism by the delegation addressed perceived favouritism at the CFS. “One person following the party line would receive a sort of raucous applause immediately after their statements because they fall within an allowed scope of opinions,” said Biswurm. “The the next person, ostensibly classified as voicing

critique, would receive dead silence.”

“We saw the CFS as enforcing a political agenda established by its national executives,” he said. “And certain other student leaders who seem to have a close relationship with those in power in the CFS structure, generally.”

In direct response to this criticism, the CFS wrote, “The direction of the [CFS] is determined democratically by its member locals. General meetings are chaired by a third party who is mandated to conduct the meeting in accordance with CFS Bylaws, Standing Resolutions, and Robert’s Rules of Order.”

Director proposes motion to protect journalistic rights to cover UTSU meetings

Innis College Director Lucas Granger also moved to protect the rights of student journalists to cover UTSU board meetings.

“I want to replicate what we already do,” said Granger. He specifically moved to amend the UTSU’s policy manual to guarantee privileges granted by the UTSU to members of the student press, in writing.

Granger noted that, in the UTSU’s policy on board meetings, the only reference to the press is a guarantee that the board “may be filmed, recorded, and/or livestreamed only by members of the media.”

He further noted that, in the UTSU’s policy on its Annual General Meeting, guarantees for campus journalists are limited to permission to attend regardless of UTSU membership, and a requirement for the press to register for the minutes.

Granger moved to pass a resolution that would guarantee in writing that “members of the campus press” are allowed to attend both board and annual general meetings “regardless of their membership status,” that they are “permitted to report meeting proceedings in whatever medium they deem fit,” that they receive notice of meetings and access to meeting materials in a reasonable timeframe, and that they are required to allow meeting attendees to opt out of photography.

These proposals come after moves by both the Graduate Students’ Union and the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union to limit open media access to meetings.

In response to Granger’s proposal, Boucher moved to send the resolution to the UTSU’s Governance Committee, which discusses UTSU policies and presents recommendations to the Board of Directors.

While noting that she does “appreciate the motivation behind it,” Boucher said that further inquiry was necessary to probe the consequences of the resolution in its current form. She cited concerns of “allowing any kind of recording media” by student journalists as an example.

Granger agreed, continuing that his motivation for presenting the resolution at the board level was to recommend interim guidelines for allowing journalistic coverage to the board, as the proposal is reviewed by the Governance Committee. The Board then passed a motion to send the proposal to the committee for further review.

UTSU board members voted to refer a motion on journalistic rights to the Governance Committee.

ADAM A. LAM/THE VARSITY

Alfred Bader, longtime U of T supporter, dies at age 94 Bader recognized for supporting scholarships, funding Isabel Bader Theatre Adam A. Lam Varsity Staff

Dr. Alfred Bader, a co-founder of a firm now known as Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, has been celebrated at the University of Toronto for his regular generous contributions to support student life on campus. On December 23, he passed away at the age of 94.

Bader and his wife, Dr. Isabel Bader, are perhaps most known on campus for their namesake building, the Isabel Bader Theatre — a lecture hall, concert venue, and learning space for students. The theatre was funded by the couple in 1998 after they donated $6 million for its construction.

U of T President Meric Gertler released a statement in honour of Alfred Bader, writing that “Alfred Bader will always be remembered as a generous friend of the University of Toronto and an outstanding champion of education.”

In particular, Gertler lauded the Baders’ support in providing students with more “opportunities to learn from world-leading scholars, and to undertake important research in arts and culture.”

“On behalf of the University of Toronto community, I extend heartfelt condolences to Dr. Isabel Bader and to the entire Bader family on the loss of a beloved and extraordinary husband, father and grandfather,” wrote Gertler.

Alfred Bader was born in Austria on April 28, 1924, living through the tumultuous years of World War II. In 1938, under the Kindertransport, he was evacuated to Britain, where he was then arrested two years later under the British government’s policy of arresting Germans and Austrians 16 years or older.

Bader was eventually sent to an internment camp in Québec. After his release, he attended Queen’s University after being rejected by U of T and McGill University, due to their quota on accepting Jews.

Over the years, the Baders have provided much financial support for students through the establishment of numerous scholarships.

These scholarships remain available to assist U of T students today. The Varsity has organized a list below, with the help of Victoria College’s Office of Alumni Affairs & Advancement.

The Bader International Bursary, which was established in 1998, funds an overseas international studies program in England, which counts as a degree credit at the University of Toronto. The award is valued at up to $10,000.

The Bader Scholarship in Spanish was established in 1999, and is awarded to a student with an overall A average who is enrolled in a Specialist or Major program in Spanish, and has “obtained high standing” in a Spanish course.

Established in 2016, the Susan McDonald Award helps fund Victoria College students who completed first year, but who have not yet graduated for travelling to present an academic paper related to their field of study at a conference.

The Alfred and Isabel Bader Scholarship was funded by Victoria College in 2014 to honour Alfred Bader’s ninetieth birthday. This is awarded to “Victoria College students who achieve excellence in their studies, with preference given to students studying in the arts, chemistry, history, or literature.”

Lastly, the Isabel Bader Bursary provides funding annually for students with financial need.

Business

January 21, 2019 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

How non-essential fees at U of T work — and how they could change next year

equipment, course field trips, library fines, non-credit course fees, and, for international students, the University Health Insurance Plan. A 2013 report revealed that there were nearly 1,000 unique ancillary fees as of the 2012–2013 academic year, “consistent with most Ontario universities.” Changes to existing ancillary fees are determined by the VicePresident University Operations Scott Mabury. The introduction and removal of ancillary fees must be voted on by the Business Board.

As non-credit courses do not factor into the university’s tuition fees, they will not be subject to the provincially mandated 10 per cent cut to tuition.

These non-credit course fees range from $50–15,000.

There are three forms of ancillary fees: compulsory fees, fully refundable deposits, and optional fees.

Compulsory fees refer to course and program required fees. This includes course field trips, lab equipment and manuals, course or program application fees, and access to ACORN. Most course textbooks are not considered compulsory as they can be borrowed through the

library system. There is no framework for students to opt out of compulsory ancillary fees.

Fully refundable deposits include access to fobs required to enter certain buildings or classrooms. Students receive their full deposits upon return of the items at the end of the corresponding academic term or program. Optional fees consist of any fines or penalties that students accrue, including late library and deferred exam fees.

Under the Policy on Ancillary Fees, certain ancillary fees — namely required course equipment and field trip fees — are charged on a cost-recovery basis, meaning that the university cannot profit.

U of T’s incidental fees are a subcategory of ancillary fees. These include athletics, Hart House, Health Service, Student Services Fees and various campuswide and divisional student societies.

Incidental fees are charged to all U of T students except for students enrolled in non-credit courses, students in the Additional Qualification Program of the Ontario Institute for Studies in

Education, and Arts & Science students over 65.

Incidental fees require student societies to pass a vote among their constituents. These fees are collected by the university and distributed to the respective societies. The framework for establishing incidental fees was created in 1996 by Governing Council, the University of Toronto Students’ Union, the Graduate Students’ Union, and the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students.

To illustrate the effect of an opt-out option on all non-essential incidental fees, The Varsity calculated changes to incidental fee revenues, using the latest available 2017–2018 fees.

In 2017–2018, each of the 13,073 full-time undergraduate Arts & Science UTM students would have paid a minimum of $1,373.82 across 13 incidental fees. If the SCI were mandatory, the same student would have paid a minimum $839.06, roughly 61 per cent of the actual minimum. If every student opted out of all possible fees, a mandatory SCI would have seen UTM and its student groups lose approximately $6,990,917.48.

The 12,147 full-time undergraduate Arts & Science UTSC students in 2017–2018 had to pay a minimum of $1,501.34 across 11 incidental fees.

Enforcing the SCI would have reduced the minimum to $813.24, or 54 per cent of then-minimum incidental fees.

Under the conditions that every student opted-out of all possible fees through the initiative, UTSC and its student groups would have lost approximately $8,358,350.70.

The minimum UTSG students could have paid in incidental fees in 2017–2018 ranges between an estimated $1,088.63 and $1,800.15, depending on college and program. While UTSG colleges and programs have different incidental fees, essential incidental fees are identical across all full-time undergraduate and graduate programs. In 2017–2018, this consisted of $370.58 for KPE Co-Curricular Programs, Services and Facilities, $303.08 per year for Student Life Programs & Services, and $172.76 per year for Hart House — which provides athletics and recreation. As such, all full-time undergraduate and graduate UTSG students could pay a minimum of $846.42 under a mandatory SCI.

U of T signed the Strategic Mandate Agreement with the previous Liberal provincial government in 2018, which will see it decrease domestic undergraduate seats by 1,800 students through 2020.

The agreement means that U of T is unlikely to increase its domestic undergraduate intake, so any increases in recruitment would focus on domestic graduate and international student intake.

The 2008 economic recession is a useful comparison in determining how U of T could react to losses from the provincial government’s new policies. During the 2008–2009 academic year, the university’s endowment lost approximately 30 per cent of its value, with the university’s operating budget subsequently los-

ing approximately $46 million. During that period, there were no endowment payouts.

In response to financial troubles, the university prioritized its funding to shared service areas and used carryforward and contingency funds to partially finance these areas in order to minimize use of new revenue for non-academic divisions.

At the latest Planning and Budget Committee meeting on January 10, Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr discussed some of the steps U of T took during this period, saying that “there was a combination of cuts, borrowing from reserves, and other kinds of mechanisms.” Regehr also noted the

creation of a collective central reserves system from which divisions that did not have sufficient reserves could borrow to fund operating costs.

The university has yet to discuss what steps it will take in light of impending losses due to the government’s announcements, but similar financial management as in 2008 seems to be a likely option to limit losses to the operating budget.

Although the latest provisions will hinder the university’s operating budget, its external investments through the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation are unlikely to face losses to the same extent as those in 2008.

Provincial government’s new Student Choice Initiative may make some of U of T’s ancillary, incidental fees opt-out

U of T student societies could lose millions of dollars in incidental fees next year.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Michael Teoh Business Editor

Among the sweeping changes to postsecondary education fees that the provincial government rolled out last Thursday is the Student Choice Initiative (SCI), which may enable students to opt out of “non-essential non-tuition fees.”

According to Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrilee Fullerton, “These fees often get allocated to services students do not use or to support organizations they do not support.” Fullerton added that the new initiative will bring “predictability and transparency” to non-tuition fees.

The provincial government has defined essential non-tuition fees to include “walksafe programs, health and counselling, athletics and recreation and academic support.” Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities David Piccini told The Varsity that universities and colleges will determine which nonacademic fees are essential “at their discretion.” U of T’s statement did not mention how this determination would

be made. The government’s seemingly lax approach to regulating the initiative may mean that U of T could decide to make no changes to how ancillary or incidental fees currently work.

There are two main forms of mandatory non-tuition fees at U of T — ancillary fees and incidental fees.

Ancillary fees are governed by the 1995 Policy on Ancillary Fees, while incidental fees are governed by the 2003 Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees.

In 2018–2019, the university is estimated to have received $210.8 million in ancillary and incidental fees.

This equates to approximately 7.9 per cent of the university’s operating revenue.

At the end of the 2017–2018 academic year, it projected that it would receive $217 million in 2019–2020 and $223.3 million in 2020–2021.

Ancillary fees

At U of T, ancillary fees are fees charged to pay for services, materials and activities not supported by operating grants, capital grants or tuition fees. These include fees for capital projects, course

Incidental fees

How U of T could adjust to provincial tuition cuts Ford government’s 10 per cent domestic tuition slash could prompt university to borrow from reserves, make cuts Michael Teoh Business Editor

U of T is set to decrease its domestic tuition fees in 2019–2020 by 10 per cent, courtesy of the provincial government’s mandatory reductions, announced January 17. Tuition will then remain frozen for the 2020–2021 years. According to the Toronto Star, the plan is expected to eliminate $360 million from Ontario universities’ operating budgets.

The province’s previous tuition framework, effective since 2013, enforced an overall annual three per cent cap on undergraduate Arts & Science domestic tuition fee increases at U of T. Between the 2013–2015 and 2018–2019 aca-

demic years, U of T has increased gross domestic tuition by an average of 2.96 per cent year-on-year.

Based on this trend, U of T would likely have set tuition for domestic undergraduate Arts & Science students in 2019–2020 at around $6,980. Instead, tuition will likely be around $6,100.

U of T has increased its gross international tuition by an average of 6.1 per cent year-on-year between the 2014– 2015 and 2018–2019 academic years.

Between 2014–2015 and 2017–2018, the university has seen an average yearon-year domestic student intake decrease of 0.36 per cent while international student intake has increased by an average of 9.75 per cent.

Comment

January 21, 2019 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Merit without misogyny

A sobering amendment

For fairer representation and diversity of thought, we need more women in politics Following the record-breaking number and historic diversity of women who have recently formed the 116th Congress in the US, there has been renewed conversation about the relationship between gender and politics.

Here in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formed the first gender-balanced cabinet in the country’s history upon his election in 2015.

The Liberal government undoubtedly took major strides in proportional female representation in politics, given that women make up a little over half of Canada’s population.

However, there is still much to do on this front.

The disproportionality problem

Only 26 per cent of the candidates elected from all parties in the 2015 federal election were women. This imbalance serves as a deterrent and discouragement for women pursuing political careers.

Something certainly needs to change. After all, gender underrepresentation in positions of power is not exclusive to politics, but is mirrored across many sectors of society, including at U of T. The Varsity recently reported on the lack of women among full-time tenured and tenure-stream faculty and Governing Council members.

Ideally, improving female representation in politics will set an example for industries, institutions, and organizations to do the same. It is an excellent starting point to make a difference.

It must be said that there is no dispute that candidates for office must be chosen on merit. However, the currently male-dominated Canadian government is not functioning better than it would be with the inclusion of more women.

There are countless women who are as qualified for governmental leadership as their male counterparts, but are systemically overlooked for elections. This is rooted in a history of misogyny that we have yet to fully overcome.

In a perfectly meritocratic society

without misogyny, the gap between women in politics and the overall population would, at the very least, be much smaller.

Everyone benefits

The importance of women in politics goes beyond the ideals of representation and demographic equality.

Women have capabilities and perspectives that are fundamental to the success of government.

A recent study conducted by U of T professor Carles Muntaner and University of Waterloo assistant professor Edwin Ng, titled “The effect of women in government on population health,” highlights this importance.

Women in politics tend to be more collaborative and more willing to work in bipartisan ways relative to men. They are more likely to employ more democratic styles of leadership and take important steps to dismantle the toxic polarity that stands in the way of effective decision-making.

They have also placed emphasis on spending for medical and preventive care, social services, postsecondary education, and equal-pay initiatives — all of which play a significant role in improving the quality of life for Canadians.

Including more women in politics will bring increased diversity of thought and important perspective to decision-making. This diversity is key to innovation in government.

Harnessing the power of women is not only a social imperative, but an economic one. A 2017 report by the McKinsey Global Institute reported that efforts to reduce gender inequality could result in a $150 billion increase in Canada’s incremental gross domestic product, as women would be able to use their capabilities to their full advantage in positions of power and leadership.

This increase would be equivalent to the effect of adding an entirely new financial services sector to the country. Women are an essential resource that age-old misogyny prevents from being capitalized upon.

Holding back women equates to holding back the Canadian economy.

The input of female leaders is also important when it comes to conversations, conclusions, and policy deci-

sions about distinctly female issues, such as maternity leave and the gender pay gap. Policies about women and for women must be influenced by women.

Feminism beyond gender

Furthermore, to have women equally represented in government is to honour the very principles of democracy itself. From its Ancient Greek etymology, democracy means ‘rule by the people.’ Unlike the government, the population of Canada is not mostly male. Canadians are diverse in a multitude of facets, including gender. It is imperative that the Canadian government mirror this diversity.

To this end, expanding the concept of feminism is necessary. Feminism is only superficially the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. However, in 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights activist and scholar, built on the foundations of activists before her and coined the term ‘intersectionality.’

Gender issues are complex, layered, and nuanced by class, race, ability, age, religion, and sexuality, among others. When applied to feminism, intersectionality acknowledges those different opportunities and perspectives that come with the diverse identities of women.

Equal representation in politics does not simply mean having an even split of men and women sitting on Parliament Hill. True representation means the inclusion and equality of opportunity for women from all classes, abilities, sexualities, ages, religions, and races.

It means improved decisionmaking, bipartisan collaboration, strengthened economies, and faith in government. This applies to the gaps that exist at U of T too.

It is easy for the Trudeau government to sit complacently behind the guise of a gender-balanced cabinet, but much more progress is needed.

Hopefully, all political parties take the upcoming 2019 federal election as an opportunity to combat gender inequality and embrace the powerful capabilities of women — of all kinds.

Isabella Giancola is a first-year Rotman Commerce student at Trinity College.

VANESSA WANG/THE VARSITY

Isabella Giancola Varsity Contributor

New impaired driving laws subject students, racialized folks to excessive police powers

The police can now stop drivers and request a breath sample without reasonable suspicion.

MSVG/CC FLICKR

Meera Ulysses Current Affairs Columnist

As of December 18, amendments were made to the Criminal Code of Canada that provide police officers broader authority to stop drivers in order to test their blood alcohol level.

Previously, officers had to prove reasonable suspicion of intoxication to be able to request a breathalyzer test. Now, officers can stop drivers at any time — for any reason. Individuals who resist and refuse to take the test can also face fines.

Furthermore, the changes also introduce a new policy, which would allow officers to charge individuals during a two-hour window after driving. You could be confronted by police and ordered to submit to breath tests even while not on the road — in bars, restaurants, or your own home. If it is found that you have a blood alcohol level surpassing the legal limit for driving within the two-hour range, you could face penalties.

This heralds a dangerous shift in the interaction between individuals and the justice system. In these situations, officers are free to arbitrarily suspect illegality. Everyone becomes a potential criminal, and the onus of proving innocence rests on the individual.

A delicate balance needs to be maintained between the state’s obligation to keep citizens safe and secure and its respect for individual privacy and autonomy. These changes increase the state’s ability to excessively intrude into the private lives of citizens.

As students, we should be especially concerned about these changes. The association between postsecondary students and intoxicated driving has become something of a cultural trope.

Newfound independence and becoming a young adult brings with it a propensity to take part in unfamiliar experiences and risky activities — including an inclination to indulge in alcohol and substance abuse. Studies have consistently found heavy episodic drinking and higher instances of drinking and driving among young adults.

There are statistical reasons why police may be more suspicious of postsecondary students and inclined toward monitoring our activities. By operating under a presumption of guilt when encountering us, and now, being able to exercise their power without requiring a reason, officers can interrupt our lives

at any time.

Further still, the changes induce fears of racial profiling. An inquiry by the Ontario Human Rights Commission into racial profiling and discrimination within the Toronto Police Service (TPS) has been ongoing since the end of last year. This report flagged many instances when police stopped and detained citizens without having any legal basis for doing so.

In the last decade, the relationship between the TPS and members of racialized communities has become increasingly strained. Much evidence has begun to surface regarding the unfair suspicion with which officers treat Black and brown youth in particular, and the consequent abuse of power in their interactions.

Toronto journalist Desmond Cole has been outspoken about this issue, calling into question the controversial practice of carding exercised by police, whereby officers stop, question, and document citizens who are not suspected of any crime — a practice that is far more likely to be used on young men of colour. According to Cole, police were 17 times more likely to card young Black men in the downtown core in 2013.

The fear is that these changes to the Criminal Code will function as an extension, and justification, of carding practices. Police will now have an ostensible reason to arbitrarily stop and detain citizens, curtailing backlash against random stop-and-checks by arguing that it is to keep citizens safe against the dangers of drunk drivers.

The new impaired driving laws must therefore be understood in a broader context of an increasingly powerful police force that compromises the freedom of citizens.

The existing racial biases of the police also means that these new laws will exacerbate the profiling and detainment of racialized folks. This will only further strain the distrust that racialized communities feel toward the police.

Public trust matters. Individual autonomy, privacy, and dignity are paramount. But they are increasingly being compromised as the police intrude in the lives of those it swears to “serve and protect.”

Meera Ulysses is a second-year Equity Studies and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations student at New College.

She is The Varsity’s Current Affairs Columnist.

8 | THE VARSITY | COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Conscience in a crisis

If reconciliation matters, U of T should break its silence on the Wet’suwet’en protests Anna Osterberg Varsity Contributor

This month, resistance to the construction of the TransCanada-operated Coastal GasLink Pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory in BC was followed by government response — a Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid. The story has blazed across news and social media, presenting Canadians with a crisis of conscience.

As is so often the case, our most vulnerable communities have the responsibility foisted upon them to take on the very powerful by themselves in the fight for truth and justice. Indeed, Indigenous activists and allies across the country have boldly taken advantage of the increased media attention to organize fundraisers and protest actions in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en clans.

However, judging by the government’s insistence on the status quo, as expressed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and BC Premier John Horgan in the face of such rebukes, these actions are evidently not enough to shift policy on the scale necessary to meet the pressing challenges of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and climate change.

It falls on those leaders — whether they are institutions, individuals, or student associations — who have dedicated themselves to upholding the pursuit of societal growth and development to exercise their social responsibility at such critical moments.

As U of T students, we inhabit an academic institution that is avowedly motivated toward the knowledge and actions that are understood by our community to be right. We therefore share a responsibility to stand up in the face of what we know to be in direct conflict with those ideals.

The U of T administration, with all of its influence and resources, should assume its role as the leader of its community and come out in solidar-

ity with the Wet’suwet’en First Nation and the resounding nationwide protests, several of which have taken place in Toronto.

It has conspicuously not done so, compelling the Indigenous Studies Students’ Union (ISSU) to publish a statement earlier this month encouraging the administration to break its silence on this issue.

“I think that it is deeply disheartening to see those who are first to perform land acknowledgements being the last to acknowledge the gross abuse of power that is being perpetrated by the Canadian government,” said Joshua Bowman, an ISSU coordinator and Social Sciences Director at the University of Toronto Students’ Union.

One of the educational responsibilities of academia is to help inform public opinion on government policies that contribute inordinately to social injury.

The laws concerning Indigenous hereditary land claims in Canada are complex. It is surely one of the roles of an academic institution with a groundbreaking Centre for Indigenous Studies to enlighten the public on what is not only a moral and ethical transgression, but a legal one as well. Convening a panel that includes all relevant voices would be helpful in illuminating the issue to U of T students and faculty.

U of T’s administration has publicly stated its commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and should not remain silent on this particular issue. This is especially true seeing as how the actions of the TransCanada Corporation conflict so egregiously not only with the rights of the Wet’suwet’en clans, but also with the well-being of the planet, which the university has on numerous occasions pledged to defend.

Expressing solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en clans should not be an ethical or political quandary for the

U of T administration. It is entirely consistent with its stated purpose as an institute of advanced education and research.

“The university can break its silence quite simply; by coming out with a statement in full support of this. But I’m more interested in what they would do after they break their silence,” said Ziigwen Mixemong, another ISSU coordinator.

“They need to divest and end any ties to anti-Indigenous movements, and they need to enter into treaty with Indigenous nations here to ensure the land they are occupying is being taken care of in the way it was meant to be.”

The administration and U of T’s many and varied student organizations have not shied away in the past from releasing statements of solidarity regarding controversial issues and current global events. They should certainly not do so in the face of such blatant abuse of force by a government against innocent and peaceful human beings.

U of T should instead fully assume its responsibility to its Indigenous students by acting in a meaningful way toward its claims of reconciliation. As an institution of knowledge and purportedly high ethical standards, it should use its position to contribute a credible voice to the public debate.

Students and faculty can support the Wet’suwet’en First Nation by attending solidarity action events such as those posted on the Soaring Eagle Camp’s Facebook account. They can also make a monetary donation on the GoFundMe page created by Jennifer Wickham, a member of the Gidimt’en clan, which will go toward fundraising for legal fees and additional supplies for the checkpoint.

Anna Osterberg is a first-year Master of Teaching student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Nathan Phillips Square protest in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.

THEO ARBEZ/THE VARSITY

Too much time on transit

Examining U of T research on transport poverty and impacts on commuter students

Commuter students lack quality access to reliable public transit.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Grace Meany Varsity Contributor

Urban transport systems, like the TTC, serve as channels that connect millions to their workplaces, social lives, and everyday necessities. Without adequate access to quality public transit, however, these connections are severed, and standards of living are compromised.

Those who live in poorly connected areas and suffer from a low socioeconomic status are susceptible to a phenomenon known as “transport poverty,” which currently affects five per cent of urban residents in Canada. As a result of a low socioeconomic status, residents are unable to afford a car or services such as Uber or Lyft.

This means that they are often forced to endure lengthy wait times, multiple transfers, and advanced scheduling with public transit.

U of T researchers Jeff Allen and Steven Farber recently published a piece entitled “Sizing up transport poverty,” in which they discussed the restrictions placed on students because of limited access to public transit in two low-income urban areas: the low-density suburban form, modelled by neighbourhoods within Markham, Etobicoke, Oshawa, and Scarborough, and the very dense, tower-neighbourhoods as seen in Flemingdon and Thorncliffe Park.

If a commuter student lives in one of these two urban forms, public transit could take up to double or triple the driving time, with the possibility of two or more transfers. For instance, a student residing in Malvern, Scarborough might have to take a bus, an LRT, a subway, and a streetcar to get to their classes downtown.

Transport poverty-related issues, like wait times associated with public transit, deter students from participating in campus activities, whether a club or a job. This leaves students like me to question whether there’s an alternative option — aside from sacrificing my presence on campus or necessities like sleeping and studying.

Ultimately, commuter students should be able to access campus opportunities just as much as resident

students, especially since they pay the same amount for it. Commuters certainly do not deserve the additional stress and anxiety that come with an overwhelming daily schedule and time management that must factor in transit complications.

The only way to ensure that students can fully enjoy campus life is for the government to invest more in public transportation. Allen and Farber propose urban planning strategies to resolve the issue. While the federal government has pledged $3.4 billion in funding toward transit investments, our policymakers are unfamiliar with applying urban planning strategies to infrastructure to resolve transport poverty.

Toronto is currently funnelling money into the TTC in the form of additional streetcars, station improvements, and the new line, Eglinton Crosstown. While this is ideal for students residing in Mount Dennis or Kennedy, it is not particularly effective for addressing transport poverty.

To achieve transport justice, more money needs to be allocated specifically to low-income neighbourhoods, whether in Toronto’s inner suburbs or more broadly in the GTA. Alongside the allocation of funds, Allen and Farber also importantly suggest that planners “enforce land use policies which restrict urban sprawl and zone for urban intensification and mixed-use development.”

This can help build an effective transport system that integrates low-income neighbourhoods, benefits commuters with shorter waiting times for public transit, and diminishes the need for cars in urban spaces.

By making the right investments, governments can invest not only in those who specifically suffer from transport poverty, but also in the millions who commute on a daily basis.

In this way, public transportation can become something we can all depend on to reach our final destinations.

Grace Meany is a third-year English, Political Science, and Professional Writing & Communications student at UTM.

Editorial

January 21, 2019 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

For the people, except the students (and almost everyone else) We must resist Ford’s onslaught against affordable education and campus democracy

The announced changes to postsecondary education are the latest in a series of actions by a government that has little respect for education as an institution and students as an electorate.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

The Varsity Editorial Board

Last week, the Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) government announced devastating changes to the domestic tuition and student fee frameworks for postsecondary students. While disturbing, this move was not surprising.

Since taking office, Premier Doug Ford has reintroduced an outdated sex ed curriculum to children, mandated universities to develop ‘free speech’ policies in a perverse attempt to silence campus opposition to the far right, prevented minimum wage from increasing to a fairer standard as needed by student and youth workers, and cancelled funding for three new GTA university campuses.

In other words, what happened this week is the latest in a series of actions by a government that has little respect for education as an institution and students as an electorate. And it’s only been seven months. There’s 41 still to go, and we must settle in for the long haul.

Lose-lose: less affordable, lower quality

Last Tuesday, when the PCs announced a 10 per cent tuition cut for domestic students, the story was met with skepticism. While lower, or even free, tuition is a cornerstone of the student movement, critics were concerned that the PC version of this would be coupled with other cuts detrimental to students.

This turned out to be true when the complete PC framework was revealed on Thursday. Under the sly slogan of “for the students,” Ford plans to implement major cuts to affordable education and debilitate the student voice and capacity to organize, starting in September.

Fewer students will qualify for financial aid.

Fewer still will receive substantial grants. No longer will students from low-income families receive nonrepayable grants amounting to free tuition, which was the model introduced by the previous Liberal government. Furthermore, the PCs have eliminated the six-month interest-free grace period on OSAP loans, meaning that interest will start to accrue immediately after graduation.

The PCs have tried to sell their plan as “refocusing” on lower-income students. But exchanging free tuition grants for lower-income students with a 10 per cent tuition cut for all students is giving an unnecessary cut to those who can already afford the cost of education, while reducing assistance for those who actually need it.

These changes mean an increase in the amount of debt that students will accrue, deterring many low-income students from enrolling in postsecondary education at all. It will also force many graduating students to seek employment immediately after graduating to pay off their debt and avoid accumu-

lating more, rather than continuing to graduate or professional programs to which they may have aspired.

Not only is this model ineffective, given that students lose financial stability and are at a higher risk of defaulting on their loans, but it is also unethical to profit off student debt in the pursuit of “financial sustainability” and to “reduce complexity.” The PCs fail to understand that education is a public good and a long-term investment. Investing in more affordable and accessible education lays the groundwork for a larger and more skilled labour force that will ultimately produce wealth and give back to society.

These changes undermine the ideal to which meritocracies should aspire: that students, no matter their financial circumstance, should be supported to go as far as their abilities can take them. Now, universities and colleges might become a place primarily populated by privileged students.

Such exclusion also affects marginalized communities who relied on free tuition the most. For example, Indigenous students and single mothers benefitted greatly from the previous plan. These groups will certainly lose out.

Alongside affordability, the quality of higher education is also at a serious risk. The PCs announced that there will be no corresponding support from the government to offset the loss of revenue caused by the tuition cut for universities and colleges. The Varsity projects that U of T will lose at least $43 million in revenue from undergraduate students, although such a big institution will likely bear this loss better than smaller universities and colleges.

This inevitably means that institutions will intensify their corporate model, transferring their losses back to students in the form of cost-cutting measures. This could mean reduced services, fewer staff, increased class sizes, fewer course options, and an increasing reliance on contract instructors.

Ultimately, a reduction in the price of education is meaningless if quality is compromised. Tuition reduction and elimination work only if the government increases funding for students and institutions — yet per-student funding at Ontario colleges and universities is already among the lowest in the country.

The end of student democracy?

An equally dangerous aspect of the Ford model is that students will be able to opt-out of “nonessential” incidental fees, which go toward student unions, media, clubs, and services on campus. The PCs argue that this will provide students with more choice regarding how their money is spent, and like the tuition cut, will put more money back into their pockets.

This opt-out model is problematic because it

treats students as individual, private consumers, as opposed to members of a broader community to which we belong.

Student fees are the product of past democratic endeavours to collectively pool resources and produce services from which all can benefit. Consider the analogy of our single-payer health care system: we all pay into and benefit from essential health care services.

However, the dilemma, as with health care, is that students do not always know that they need a particular service until they actually need it. Some services covered by student fees, like the Health and Dental Plan, are already refundable for students.

Moreover, student fees are only a marginal part of the overall costs that students pay.

It is clear that the PCs failed to adequately consult the student community in making these decisions. When The Varsity questioned them on this matter, the PCs defended their consultation process but failed to be transparent about which specific groups were heard.

Perhaps some students will feel relieved that they no longer have to pay into organizations that they feel abuse their fees. When it comes to student unions specifically, the frustration and distrust that many students feel is justified, and The Varsity is the first to sympathize. We’ve reported frequently on issues of accountability and transparency within our student unions. We all expect functioning democracy from them.

However, the solution is not to destroy institutions that aren’t working. Rather, it is to increase political participation and affect reform. Student unions are ultimately what students make of them.

Through elections and referenda, students can democratically change how their fees are allocated.

When we are dissatisfied with the government, we don’t opt out of paying our taxes. We participate in campaigns and elect better leaders to change how our taxes are spent.

Aside from the services they provide, student unions also play an important role in advocacy.

Through the opt-out option, Ford is opening the door to the destruction of the student voice as a political movement that negotiates with powerful forces like the university administration and the government.

Since student fees fund clubs, community life on campus would be compromised, especially at U of T, where students often feel alienated from one another. Student groups are also vital for marginalized communities, as they offer a space for solidarity, inclusion, and voice. Groups like LGBTOUT and the Muslims Students’ Association would likely lose funding. By casting student groups and activities as “non-essential,” Ford implies that the marginalized students of Ontario too, are non-essential.

We will not go down without a fight

The PCs indicated that it will be up to the university to determine which fees are “essential” and “non-essential.” Student media like The Varsity are funded primarily through student fees and are essential to student democracy: they are often the only watchdogs to hold both student unions and the university administration accountable. They also give a platform to the stories and struggles of students who might not otherwise be heard.

The broader media landscape also relies on campus media to elevate underreported stories from campuses to a national platform. The Varsity has a track record of doing this, with our reporting on Muslims Students’ Association executives receiving surprise visits from law enforcement, and our dogged reporting on the progress of the universitymandated leave of absence policy as recent examples of U of T stories that have received national attention.

If the province institutes an option for students to choose which student fees they pay, we’re concerned that students will opt out of fees for campus media without knowing the value lost from such a choice.

Moreover, the unpredictability of the student fee opt-out would prove to be a grave challenge to our operational and financial stability.

It is therefore vital that U of T categorize and protect student media as an “essential” service. We do recognize that this dynamic is problematic: student unions and the student media suddenly find themselves at the mercy of administrators, even though they are meant to operate independent of the university. Nonetheless, we will advocate to ensure that the university makes the correct decision.

If we have to launch a wider petition campaign, we will call on the students who benefit from our reporting, and our alumni working in Canadian media from coast to coast to coast to help make our case to the university. We are in close contact with our colleagues in other campus media outlets, primarily organized through the Ontario chapter of the Canadian University Press (CUP). We have also not ruled out a formal lobbying approach to this issue, whether through CUP or individually.

Last Friday, student unions and other groups gathered at Queen’s Park to articulate their rage against Ford’s decisions. It is clear that all of us — low-income students, student unions, clubs and associations, and the student media — must continue to organize and fight against the assault of this government. Whichever people Ford is for, it’s certainly not the students, and we will not go down without a fight.

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

10 | THE VARSITY | FEATURES

Glasses Gurl @pceluvlyfe January 2010

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Growing up social: the ultimate buy-in

#tbt

peace-love-life123: new hair, dont curr October 2008

Emotional maturity in the digital age Writer: Caroline Colantonio Illustrator: Ester Dubali

T 15 notes

45

New place!!!

June 2015

he holidays have ended. Welcome to 2019. Another year. Another semester of late nights at Robarts and endless scrolls through Instagram. Anything to escape whatever pressing research awaits you under the light of those old oil lamps on St. George Street, aflame long past midnight. Maybe you’re streaming a live news broadcast from the other side of the world.

I hope you are. Or maybe you’re stuck on a photo in your feed, reminiscing about the holiday party at your part-time job, where you finally confessed to your crush that you’d like to see her outside of work. Only to hear that she’s not that interested. Or she has a partner she’s never mentioned. Maybe you were too nervous at the holiday party to remember the polite rejection, but it prompted you to guzzle cheap champagne and say something ridiculous to your boss.

Do you wish you could live in blissful naiveté and escape your own Ghosts of Christmas Past?

Social media is absolutely not for you. Oh wait.

Too late. You already have it — and that girl from the holiday party has unfriended you six times since Sunday on all of her well-curated socials. Or maybe, even worse yet, she’s sympathetically liked that stream of selfies that you thought was a good idea. The internet never forgets, and whatever you post sticks to you — but offline interactions can resonate online as well.

In the greater scheme of human history, social media is a new phenomenon, a “mixed bag,” as U of T English Professor Michael Cobb calls it. He suggests, although we haven’t changed too much in the last decade, “What we do know is that people are constantly consuming images and feeling something. That something could be sadness, it could be envy, it could be appreciation, it could be delight… If it were all terrible, we wouldn’t all be so obsessed and addicted to it, but some things seem foreboding.”

The reality is, the large majority of us grew up snapping photos and posting them within minutes. Did your graduation feel special because of the 256 likes attached to it? Or did your grandmother’s proud hug mean more? Social media phenomena cropped up to ‘help us’ navigate the disconnection woven into connection, especially with catch phrases like ‘be present,’ ‘live in the moment!,’ the umbrella of ‘authenticity’ at large, and later on, the self-care craze.

Did you trust Snapchat a little too much when the description of the application said that every four-second snap disappears? Did the high-profile 2014 Federal Trade Commission’s investigation outing the app’s obscured image-collecting practices affect your behaviours at all? Have you read Facebook’s Terms and Conditions? And have you re-read them after every new update? The stark reality is that we’ve all subscribed to these technologies that we don’t and can’t fully understand in the most formative years of our lives. And let’s be honest — we’re not about to let it all go.

Cobb says that the all-consuming nature of our social networks is one of the reasons he has an “anti-technology component” to his classes despite being an early adopter initially: “Students are very different people very quickly. And that’s a learning curve for professors too, to kind of embrace the difference that students seem to be occupying, which is they feel very anxious and very frustrated more readily. They feel worried about performance more acutely than ever before.”

Cobb tells me it isn’t that students are adamant about using their phones, it’s just become something we’re all so accustomed to, so it feels weird to be less accessible. We’re all looking for palmsized distractions, even if they come at a high price. Every company, every new app, every new follower is competing for our time and attention.

I am only an hour into writing this article and I

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ave received five notifications from social platorms that I’ve checked in on twice.

Five notifications is a relatively low count when I onsider the number of times I saw business people ulling up their LinkedIn QR codes in the hour beore Deloitte’s 2019 Predictions presentation a few uesdays ago. I was balancing a breakfast sandwich, coffee, and the event’s printed press release when I urrendered my old-model iPhone to a new friend, ho installed the LinkedIn app in under a minute.

Now I too could scan my identity like a grocery item nd grow my connections as rapidly as the rest of he crowd. The leader of the pack, Deloitte’s resident uturist Duncan Stewart, had spoken to me over he phone a few days prior to his talk. He explained Deloitte’s intricate process for predicting the future f technology, media, and telecommunications, with striking 90 per cent accuracy in 2018. This year, Deloitte’s evidence-based predictions, as gathered om surveys as large as 5,000 people from across 32 ountries, took on the future of radio, artificial intelgence, television sports and gambling, and quanum computing, among other topics. Stewart tells me that “across all of tech, media, and telecom, social either the most important or one of the most imortant things that I look at every year.”

When I asked about personal data as a digital ommodity, I realized that social media is as much part of the corporate dialogue as it is a wrench n the personal one. Stewart referred to the phone ook and postal code-based marketing of past enerations: “It’s not a new thing. There’s a trail, ut the power of the trail is much stronger than ’s ever been before.” As many of us know — and maybe choose to forget — using third-party cooks lurking behind the scenes of various websites, ompanies are recording sensitive information like ur locations, browsing histories, and interests, and hey’re selling that data to advertisers. Instagram’s ew terms of use grants it “non-exclusive, royalty-

features@thevarsity.ca

peacelovelife54 Follow

8

78 likes

September 2018

class of 2013!!

free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).” In layman’s terms, anything with a status set to public is fair game. Forever.

Stewart says that across years of surveys, there’s a resounding chorus among consumers of social media: “We ask people every year things like ‘do you worry about privacy?,’ ‘do you worry about your data being being used?’ Over and over and over, people say yes, this is something they’re worried about. And over and over, they engage in behaviours that suggest… they will do virtually nothing to actually protect their data or privacy.” The biggest question now more than ever isn’t whether the masses buy in, but about how they’ll react to being majority shareholders in this way of life. As Stewart says, “This is our new reality. Welcome to it.”

But digital sociality is the same thing as human-tohuman interaction, no?

For some people, there’s virtually no difference.

Kate Differ, a third-year U of T undergraduate student in History and Women and Gender Studies, points me to a recent Atlantic article, titled “The Coddling of the American Mind,” in which two writers hash out what she sees as one of the biggest problems with social media: it’s too easy to find your clan, retreat into it online, and avoid the tough debates of postsecondary education. Differ says that blossoming online communities are helpful for some who may feel alone, “but at the same time, [they] may alienate you from people who have different opinions from you, and I feel like it’s really important to engage in conversations with people who disagree with you. That’s how you build knowledge. That’s how you build experience.” For Differ, the humanto-screen interaction and our relationship to the hardware between isn’t so clear cut: “It’s so easy to idolize someone when you have no context.” Social

media platforms are notorious for providing users with endless chances to engage in personal branding and puff up their everyday experiences with a positive spin run through a fancy filter.

Many people work hard for follows and likes, and some masters of the platforms even profit from their influencer vibes, giving rise to the Insta celebrities and queens of our feeds. Our phones and minds are saturated with images, tweets, disappearing snaps, Facebook rants, and popular challenges that can leave us in a constant state of anxiety, depression, competition, or as Differ describes it, feeling like “your soul is being sucked out of you.” The question remains: is anyone true to their representations online? Can they be? Or are we all too deep in the slush to ever know the difference?

Good can come from our online social pursuits too; graduate student Brittney Hubley tells me that she met one of her best friends on Tumblr when she was 14 or 15 years old. This also applies in the academic sphere, as Assistant Professor Mary Elizabeth Luka explains. She fills me in on the Drifts app that she helped create as part of a Narratives in Space+Time Society project to commemorate the centennial of the Halifax Explosion in 2017. Luka says that although the project is complete and the app is launched, its social goals “to build understanding and relationship” are still blooming in the ongoing relations between participants. Some of those participants were civilians who her team had approached while walking the streets of Halifax at the time of the app’s conception.

One of the most famous scholars to have come out of U of T, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, “The medium is the message.” Perhaps our work is not to figure out how to accept a world where Twitter wars are fought through power, fear, and discrimination, but rather to be critical of how that defines our culture at large. We’ve seen movements like #MeToo shake down hugely powerful

men and we’ve fought for equality by typing two simple words glued together in a hell of a hashtag: #LoveWins. We’ve also bought in to the whims of YouTube sensations and we still share really good 2012 memes once in a while. We show up every day on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook to scroll down and feel “something.”

Jesse Hirsh, futurist, researcher, and public speaker, attended the McLuhan Centre for Technology and has appeared on CBC regularly. He says that our behaviours online will likely leave us polarized.

“On the one hand, I think there’ll be people [going to] more and more extreme lengths and [taking] more and more extreme actions in order to get attention. But I think there’s also the opposite. I think there’s a backlash where more and more people are becoming private, and even secret, because they’re repulsed by the narcissism.” It’s clear that we’ve grown up differently from our parents and some may argue that we’ve done so faster.

While it may never be a reality, it’s important to remember that without users, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter would all fall apart pretty quickly. Hirsh says that our socials are not an opportunity to be wasted, but he adds some famous words — “with great power comes great responsibility.” When I ask what we should do as young people, as entrepreneurs, as some of the most wellequipped and well-positioned thinkers in history, Hirsh replies, “Sometimes I talk about this as signal versus noise… What is your signal to the world?

What is the thing you want the world to know about? And it’s not you; it’s what you’re interested in.”The real challenge for us today, he says, is to look past everyone promoting themselves online and to promote knowledge instead. In an age when potential employers often consider our socials alongside our cover letters and resumes, Hirsh says, “Rather than talk about yourself, talk about your world.”

Arts & Culture

January 21, 2019 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

“thank u, next” — contributors talk about relationships they’re leaving behind this year

Introducing The Varsity’s newest column: Let’s talk about sex

I’ve been back in Toronto for a little over a week and I’m already so deep into my university routine I can barely remember lying in a queen-sized bed and not having to do laundry or eat cereal for dinner. In first year, going home for winter break brings up a wide range of emotions, some which make you question your sanity, one of them being nostalgia. Maybe it’s something about going back to places with so many memories, but somehow there is always some sort of communication with your ex, and I know I’m not the only one who got the “Hey how’s uni?” text.

I was in a long, confusing relationship for most of high school and I was just about done with it, and university was the perfect exit point, a point where we both decided that we had a good run in each other’s lives. But it was time to move on and go separate ways. So my question is why was it necessary for me to get a reply to my Snapchat story of my airplane window, asking me when I was reaching home.

Unfortunately, I am not completely innocent, having replied and indulged polite conversation until the point the conversation escalated from “How are your classes?” to ”Do you want to hang out?” too quickly.

Thinking back, I realized that it’s always the one ex who hasn’t really met anyone or who has had a bad experience in university who texts first. If you’re the one who hits your ex up, shame on you.

If my friend can meet a guy, and 20 minutes into the conversation be asked if she’s going to have an arranged marriage just because she’s brown, and still not hit up her ex, I’m pretty sure you can do the same.

— Krisha Mansukhani TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

Varsity Contributors

The lady on the screen above the dated stainless steel washer said it was going to start snowing at 2:00 pm — and start snowing it did.

Everywhere I look, I see you.

As the snow falls, I am transported to the Brooklyn bar under the highway where I held your hand and asked you to follow me. Reaching for your beer, you say, “You’re going to move here.”

You look down at your beer rolling it between your palms. “But I can’t come with you, I just can’t.”

I look past you at the snow lit red by the neon light.

My throat tightens.

I wake up in a cold sweat in a tiny Bushwick apartment. In my dream, a tiny blonde slipped out of your bedroom, while I, a stranger, slipped on my shoes down the hall.

I don’t think of you anymore. Except when it snows. Or a certain song comes on. Or when someone says, “It’s a toss-up.”

I wanted you to feel pain when it ended, but that would have required you to first feel passion.

You felt nothing and I felt everything. I told you nothing and you told me everything. I became the kind of woman I thought you might love. You became the kind of man people would call a ‘good boyfriend.’

You never knew me. I never fell in love with you.

So allow me to send my love letter from New York. I’ll keep it simple. I am happy you left me.

I am happy I left town. I am happy that you are finding yourself.

I hope you find the passion too. I know you’ll find love. I hope she knows how precious you are.

As for me? I did it babe, and I am so happy.

— Chantel Ouellet If you’re reading this, I don’t care.

What is typically gleaned from years of therapy can be told with three simple words: thank you,

next. Pop sensation Ariana Grande tells her listeners to dump the douche and love yourself.

2019 is a year of possibility, devoid of that I’mtrying-to-figure-myself-out love, followed by a don’t-worry-I’ll-only-spend-weeks-neglectingyou-because-of-it love.

Yet 10 missed calls and a “I wish I could kiss you at midnight” voicemail does not scream ‘thank you’ nor ‘next.’ Not everybody can be grateful for a cheating, manipulative “I’ve just been really busy” type of ex. But you can start a new page. The next chapter doesn’t have to be ripped from the spine of a Nicholas Sparks novel, nor does it have to come from the ambitious pages of The Alchemist.

You don’t need to be bursting with love or dripping with inspiration to be important.

Real treasure doesn’t need to be sought out, and a man is not what’s glowing in your gold-encrusted chest. If I could do it all over, I’d stop guessing why he hadn’t texted back and instead simply say, “Thank you, next.” His vacant words will not draw you any closer to your goals.

They won’t tie you to a storyline or secure the future you doodled into the pages of your childhood diary. Choosing a person who always puts themselves first will only force you to put yourself last each time. It’s important to know how to accept love, but also to know when to admit Ariana is right. If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re drafting an escape route for your toxic relationship.

My advice: this year, skip the bull. Tell the flighty dude, “Thank you, next,” even though 2019 is the year when we’re so grateful for ourselves.

Don’t waste your time with greentext paragraphs or old Instagram photos. Simply put down the phone and make 2019 noteworthy.

— Grace Meany I guess it’s kinda sad that we broke up. The time and money that neither of us had in the first place

but used on each other essentially went down the drain as the long distance coupled with our growing irritability toward one another resulted in the inevitable demise of our relationship.

But I’m glad that we did when we did, because if one thing was made painfully clear to me as frosh week turned into reading week and then exams, it’s that the difficulty of the academic transition between high school and university, along with the availability needed to build new social relationships and my own attempts at keeping a part-time job, would have only erupted into a disastrous mess, had I also set aside the time and energy needed to keep our relationship going.

I can’t lie though, there are times when I — and my entire body writhes as I say this — miss you.

For one, I’m no longer part of the elite Spotify premium class and am instead an ad-listening pleb. I see posts from people I didn’t like in high school and have no one to readily trash talk to, and no one else will willingly listen to me rant about how the MLB is committing corporate suicide in the face of younger generations.

However, I know you’re still present in my life in many really crucial and meaningful ways, including your HBO account that I still use to watch The Sopranos, the comfy rag & bone sweater I stole from you and doubt that you’ve missed, and finally your contribution to my oral health with that electric toothbrush you gifted me last Christmas.

And with that, it’s time for me to pursue my 2019 dream boyfriend — that sexy sexy 4.0. I can’t wait for him to stop playing hard to get.

— Angie Luo One of the most basic new year’s resolutions, other than getting fit, is finally cutting out that ex you know is no good and I, unfortunately, am one of the countless girls who brought in the new year to “thank u, next,” promising to cut out the toxic ex.

Here’s hoping I stick to it this semester.

One day, my then-girlfriend suggested those four dreadful, short-circuiting English words: “We need to talk.” Naturally, this came as a surprise, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

She explained that she loves me, that her family and friends like me a lot, and she assured me that, she hopes, the issue is something I’m totally unaware of. She claimed, when we’re out and about, for example, on campus, that I walk through other people’s photos. She hoped that I was just scatterbrained and unaware of my actions and demanded from me an acknowledgement and explanation.

I replied that I like her for all the same reasons.

However, I’m totally aware of my actions and insisted that I had a great argument to support them. Firstly, most are using digital cameras; if it were film, I’d genuinely feel guilty, since the price and patience required mean something more.

Secondly, the world doesn’t revolve around them. When I take photos, I wait for gaps, aim high, and don’t expect the world to stop for my self-indulgence — I’m just not that self-important.

I thought hard about my argument and developed a provisional conclusion, since, honest to goodness, I’m open to change in light of more compelling evidence, really.

She retorted, and I’m paraphrasing here, “What if this lady taking a photo is from, say Chile, and when she returns home and shows off her travels on a slideshow to her family, and in every Toronto photo there’s this tall bearded guy? Her family would rightly ask if that’s how Torontonians look and act, eh?”

She said, “I love you, but you need to be a better ambassador for where you live.”

“At the very least, when you’re photobombing the poor people’s photos, you can smile!”

These days, I smile every time I do it!

— Oscar Starschild If you are interested in contributing to “Let’s talk about sex,” email arts@thevarsity.ca.

JANUARY 21, 2019 | 13

var.st/arts

Hair is taking over Hart House this January

From the Vietnam War to body hair in the media, hair has always been political Hannah Lank Varsity Contributor

Hart House Theatre is once again straying from the traditional formula of staging one musical, one Shakespearean play, one Canadian drama, and one classical drama, which has been seen at Hart House for many past seasons.

Indeed, this season Shakespeare is absent, but not missed, replaced by Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.

Another exciting change: two musicals instead of one. The first, Heathers: The Musical, opened the 2018–2019 Hart House season. The second, Hair, premiered January 18 and

Hair features Katie Miller.

Courtesy of HART HOUSE THEATRE

is running until February 2. Hair is a relevant piece, set in 1968 but reaching through time to speak to modern audiences.

Performer Katie Miller and assistant choreographer Nathan Sartore are excited not just about the performance, but also about working with the team at Hart House Theatre, which they both describe as a “very safe” space. The fact that Hart House fosters this kind of atmosphere for its performers is evident to the audience through the quality of its shows, which are often inventive, immersive, and exciting adaptations of new and classic productions. Hair appears to be shaping up to be no different.

Originally from Calgary, Miller’s Hart House debut will be as Jeanie in Hair. Miller notes that she was “drawn to the energy of the show,” especially after she saw the 2009 Broadway revival.

She describes the musical as being about “a group of hippies in Central Park just before the Vietnam War, their protests, and decision to burn their draft cards. It follows the story of Claude, who goes through the decision as to whether or not to stay with his tribe or go off to the war.” She goes on to explain that at its heart, the show focuses on the “pressure of social norms, parents,” and themes of “race, peace, [and] anti-war sentiment.”

Miller notes that these themes continue to be “really important in this day and age,” making the musical a very “cool piece of theatre to bring to the public.”

Sartore also hails from the west coast — Vancouver — and is part of the Hart House production team for the first time with Hair. It is likely that many students on campus have never seen Hair before, and Sartore shares that he was in the same boat, having never seen the show before becoming involved.

However, he was excited to discover “how relevant the show continues to be on its 50th anniversary. It’s a really special show.” As a young performer early in his career, Sartore praises Hart House for bringing in people like director and choreographer Julie Tomaino, also appearing in her Hart House debut. Sartore explains that it is “amazing for young professionals to work with this calibre of people.”

Indeed, the quality of the performers and production team often shines through in Hart House productions, but so does the subject matter. Hair was no doubt selected because of its continuing ability to resonate with contemporary audiences. Sartore notes that, for example, there is an emphasis on the individual in the choreography: “There are moments when 20 people are on stage and no one person is

doing the same thing as someone else, which is really special to watch.” This is a stylistic choice meant to reflect the central theme of the musical: the continuing question of individuality that we all must face, especially when confronted with difficult topics such as racism and war.

Of course, hair itself can be political, and that is a concept that Miller and Sartore say was discussed early in the production of the show, during table work. Miller notes that the team discussed hair as being related to “freedom and rebellion,” especially as young men were required to shave their heads when conscripted during the Vietnam War. According to Miller and Sartore, the team particularly identified with the politicization of body hair in 2019. As Sartore explains, “Body hair is an issue we struggle with still. Maybe we’ve become more comfortable with hair on our heads, but there’s still a long way to go in these societal views on how body hair should be.” Miller echoes this response, saying that “there’s so much societal pressure on women to have shaved body hair. We were encouraged at the beginning [of the production] that body hair was great, which was awesome.”

Hair appears to be shaping up to be another intriguing Hart House Theatre

Sartore helped to choreograph Hair.

Courtesy of HART HOUSE THEATRE

production. Miller notes that the show is “very immersive,” with the fourth wall being broken all the time. The intended effect is to make the audience feel like it’s a part of the show, says Miller. How will audiences respond?

If the energy reflected by Miller and Sartore is any indication, likely very well. Half a century may sound like a long time, but it will be interesting to connect our current era to that of many of our parents’. And, if for nothing else, students should enjoy the opportunity to see a classic musical performed on stage with a large cast, all at student prices. The fact that it’ll likely be a unique and thought-provoking show is a special bonus not to be missed.

Hair opened at Hart House Theatre on January 18 and runs every Wednesday to Saturday until February 2.

Free pancakes changed my life We need student organizations to create community on campus Amelia Eaton Student Life Columnist

From the outside, UTSG is an odd collection of dissimilar buildings. It’s a mosaic of clashing architectural styles, filled with students and academics of wildly different disciplines.

Yet, on any given day, in any given building, you can probably find a fold-out table with buttons, stickers, and a cardstock sign that says “free food.”

At Woodsworth College, you’ll find this table every Wednesday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, staffed with dedicated student volunteers flipping pancakes to hand out to their peers.

Student organizations are what bring university to life. With thriving clubs, course unions, and student societies, a collection of buildings becomes a vibrant campus.

It was a Wednesday at Woodsworth that I found out about the Woodsworth College Students’ Association (WCSA), and later decided to run for mental health director. I found more than free breakfast every week; I found a group of students who work to make our college a home for everyone.

The WCSA uses student fees to create social events, professional opportunities, wellness workshops, and so much more. When our $7.50 student levy each semester becomes a pizza party with a make-your-own sundae bar, a coffee social with free donuts and boardgames, or an open-mic night, it becomes conversation, friendships, and community.

The importance of free food to university students should not be understated, but the role of student organizations goes beyond providing snacks — they also advocate for and empower students. The WCSA provides professional development grants, funds clubs at Woodsworth College such as the American Sign Language club and the Woodsworth College Racialized Students Collective, and meets with administrators to lobby for student interests.

My position, mental health director, was added last year to further mental health advocacy on cam-

pus. Our equity director is spearheading the push for gender-neutral washrooms at Woodsworth College.

The WCSA dedicates funds to mental health and equity, not only to make our college a safer space, but also to signal to the administration that equity and mental health are priorities to us as students and to push the administration to dedicate further resources to these areas.

Being involved with the WCSA and The Varsity, I often receive questions about whether extracurriculars take away from academics or the ‘real’ reason for my being at university. But I can’t imagine school without these outlets. I’m developing skills I know will help me after I graduate, including email correspondence, teamwork, and project management.

Beyond professional skills, I’ve found my voice as an advocate. If it weren’t for joining the WCSA as mental health director, I would never have applied to be part of Plan International Canada’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC), where I work with young people from across the country to advocate for gender equality.

As trivial as it sounds, I’m simply a happier person because I’m involved on campus. Writing for The Varsity, serving on the WCSA, competing in moot tournaments, and being part of the YAC have all had a positive impact on my mental health. These activities provide me with a support network, structure, and a greater sense of purpose. It’s difficult to imagine succeeding in school without these communities.

But I’m worried for the future of student organizations in the wake of the recent announcement of the tuition cut and “non-essential” non-tuition fees becoming no longer mandatory. Involvement in student organizations and the student press is something I want to be available to every student. When tuition is cut, funds for student associations may be the first to go as they become optional.

By cutting these opportunities, the provincial government is doing more than putting free pancakes at risk — it is taking away our outlet, our community, and our voice.

TTC Post-Secondary Monthly Passes on PRESTO Post-Secondary Monthly Passes are only available on PRESTO. Purchase a PRESTO card at Shoppers Drug Mart locations, Fare Vending Machines at TTC subway stations, online at prestocard.ca or at the Customer Service Centre above Davisville Station. Monthly passes are available for sale online from January 20 to February 8.

You must carry your current TTC post-secondary photo ID card and set your post-secondary fare type on your PRESTO card to receive the discounted fare.

Visit ttc.ca for details.

14 | THE VARSITY | ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

New year, same archaic traditions @ trin college

Why is there still so much stigma attached to U of T’s most elitist college?

Gavin Foster Varsity Contributor

In “The problem with high tables,” I mentioned the stigma associated with Trinity College: it’s “pretentious,” “snobby,” “elitist,” and so much more. And these are words that are often associated with the college. There are multiple issues worth exploring in connection to this stigma. Why does it exist? How much truth is there to it? Is it bad? If so, what can the college administration and student body do to combat it?

Why does the stigma exist?

Trinity College has a long, rich, and vastly interesting history. Founded by Bishop Strachan as an Anglican rival to the newly secularized University of Toronto, Trinity College has its roots in religious tradition: Wednesday Choral Evensongs, special services for holidays, and a mascot that is a literal pope. Trinity College’s religious influence, however, cannot be seen as a source of stigma, as the traditions are never mandatory. Instead, they are introduced to members of the college in an open-minded, respectful manner, and the college has taken special care to not allow religious intolerance on campus. The same cannot be said for traditions that find their roots in an aristocratic, blueblooded, and haughty class.

For instance, I was surprised to find out just how few students at the college knew the actual origin of pouring-outs. In fact, I received many complaints about my previous article, claiming that I mischaracterized the tradition. ‘Pouringouts’ involve — with consent — removing a student from Strachan Hall for doing something infamous. However, if you do a bit of research, you will find that pouring-outs used to be known as ‘pooring-outs.’ These pooring-outs involved physically — and without consent — removing a student from Strachan Hall for not wearing the required gown, which made them look ‘poor.’ Thus, what is now known as ‘pouring-out’ is actually a reformed tradition of an extremely classist, offensive tradition.

It is also worth giving special mention to Episkopon, the secret society founded in homophobia and racism that was banned from the college campus in 1992. It still lives on offcampus and members still participate in it.

Disconcertingly, there is an intimate connection between these ‘pouring-outs’ and Episkopon: academic standing and wealth. It is no secret that Trinity College stands out to those applying to U of T. Trin apparently requires the highest marks, and it mandates a special application to narrow down the number of applicants.

So immediately, most students entering U of T will have the perception that Trinity College is, in some way, ‘special.’ And, in many ways, it is.

Trinity College has a remarkable academic record.

Not only do half of its students graduate with distinction or high distinction, but it has consistently produced a Rhodes Scholar once every three years. But is this academic success

intrinsic to the college? Do the students succeed because they are in Trinity College? Almost certainly not.

Most are aware that many of the students who are accepted into Trinity College come from wealthy, privileged backgrounds. And it is not unusual that those from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds also tend to have higher grades. So it is not just that the stigma comes from being academically successful and wealthy. It is also that the latter is perceived as driving the former. Many believe that Trinity College students essentially lucked out by being born into privileged families, gaining opportunities not available to many other students.

The fourth and final cause is the most potent: that members of the college recognize the stigma and embrace it. They recognize that Trinity is a wealthy college and often choose to apply to Trin because of this fact. Alternatively, some were forced to come by their parents, who are alumni of Trinity College. After talking to many students, I’ve also regularly heard that it is because of Trinity’s historical traditions. Some acknowledge where these traditions come from and wish to participate in them because the Trinity students see their culture in such traditions. This embrace simply perpetuates the effects by reinforcing and exemplifying the stigma.

How much truth is there to the stigma?

That these are some of the causes of the stigma, I have no doubt; however, it begs the question about how truthful it is. I want to suggest that, in essence, it’s true.

Firstly, it’s important to remark that such a stigma cannot be fairly applied to all members of the college. There are many who take efforts to avoid being associated with the stigma, and, therefore, should not be labelled as such. Rather, the stigma is applied to the vocal, popular, entrenched group at Trinity College who see the stigma and choose to do nothing about it.

These are the individuals who often come from privileged backgrounds, fail to recognize the harm of participating in and reinforcing the

negative traditions described, and who readily embrace the stigma associated with the college.

That these members of the college are ‘wealthy’ is true: we know that many members of the college come from highly privileged backgrounds. That these members of the college are ‘pompous’ is also likely true. I believe this because of the fact that they readily participate in a variety of traditions with offensive roots. It might be objected that the traditions now present at Trinity College are not classist and are not offensive, for they have been reformed and changed. To this I disagree; however, I shall address this point at the end of the article. But, that these members of the college are ‘academically elitist’ is likely not true, at least not in comparison to other students of the university.

I see no evidence that members of the college are more snobby about their grades than other undergraduates at U of T. Rather, the elitism arises from the socioeconomic backgrounds and societies that these members grew up in.

Is the stigma bad?

I feel it is crucial to mention the reception to my previous article. I was a bit taken aback by the amount of openly negative comments I received.

While I expected some, I didn’t anticipate so many to openly fail to recognize the prime issue I was attacking in the article: the professor-student hierarchy. Rather than address this point, many resorted to mocking me for not being ‘social enough’ in the college to have a fair opinion on these matters. Perhaps it never struck them that the reason I am not as social as I could be is because of the types of stigma associated with such members, and what their involvement reinforces.

Perhaps these points are too anecdotal — maybe I am making up or exaggerating my claims. If you believe this for whatever reason, then you need only look at the recent student experience survey at Trinity College. In an article published in The Varsity, it was revealed that the survey “included comments that alleged classism, racism, and election influencing by ‘Social Trin and Episkopon.’” If this is not evidence enough that there is a systemic problem at Trinity

regarding the embraced stigma by those who are privileged, I don’t know what else could satisfy you.

Surely, the administration does not want to have this reputation. As time goes on and individuals become less and less tolerant of institutional classism and elitism, Trinity College could become the butt of a joke: all it shall be associated with is its stigma. People won’t see Trinity College for its long list of positive attributes: its rich religious history, advocacy of student democracy, energetic and enthusiastic student body, excellent clubs and groups to meet a diverse range of interests, and many more.

Surely the administration at Trinity College wants to be seen as an active player in combatting the negative attitudes described in this article.

Surely it wants to be ahead of the game. But how can we help?

What can be done?

I leave the bulk of the question unanswered — it is to be thoroughly investigated in a future article.

I do wish to offer one solution to the problem: abandon the traditions with roots in classism and privilege. It has been suggested to me that we should keep certain privileged traditions because it reminds students that they have privilege. That we should keep pouring-outs, high tables, and the like, because it allows us to recognize how privileged we are to have them in the first place.

I find this rather silly. Surely the fact that you come from a high-income bracket and are white is enough to recognize your privilege? I think such excuses are given to mask the fact that these traditions have assisted in forming the community of Trinity College and that their removal might begin to make these students feel less like they belong to a close-knit community on campus.

I agree that this would certainly be the result if no traditions were designed to replace the old.

But what is the issue in creating a new wave of traditions? Why can we not leave the traditions of the privileged, archaic elite behind and create a new set that represents the diverse, inclusive, and caring community that Trinity now has?

During frosh week, the other five colleges on the downtown campus often chant, “Trin, Trin, your daddy got you in!”

SAMANTHA YAO/THE VARSITY

Science

January 21, 2019 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Getting to know the Gerlai Lab’s grant recipients

Five undergraduate UTM students awarded funds to research biological mechanisms in zebrafish Zeahaa Rehman UTM Bureau Chief

Founded by Professor Robert T. Gerlai, a professor in the Department of Psychology and adjunct professor of Cell & Systems Biology, the Gerlai Lab at UTM aims to better understand the biological mechanisms of brain-related diseases in humans.

The Gerlai Lab studies zebrafish behaviour to find genes that affect their learning and memory, social behaviour, and any behavioural changes due to alcohol. The research goal is ultimately to better understand the biological mechanisms of zebrafish and by extension — given the “high sequence homology” between zebrafish and human genes — brain-related functions and diseases in humans.

The lab currently has 21 staff, 15 of whom are students. The lab recently awarded five UTM undergraduate students — Celine Bailluel, Zelaikha Najmi, Samuel Nguyen, Ishti Paul, and Lidia Trzuskot, all of whom are either majoring or specializing in Biology — undergraduate research grants to fund their thesis projects.

“Ever since I was younger, I was always fascinated by the human body and how it worked,” recalls Bailluel in an email to The Varsity. “I found purpose in what I was learning and applying that knowledge to my daily life gave me gratification.”

“I continue to be intrigued by how genes can affect different phenotypes and how different biological mechanism are [affected] by certain genes,” says Bailluel.

Bailluel wants to pursue a graduate degree in molecular biology, genetics, or biotechnology, fields which she believes are the key to understanding and finding possible solutions for diseases.

Like Bailluel, Najmi’s interest in biology also began at an early age.

“My [interest] for Biology… stems from my need to understand everyday human life through a biological perspective,” writes Najmi in an email to The Varsity. “How an animal behaves the way it does or how one genetic strain of animal organisms compare to another identity of genetic strain are questions I find interesting.”

Najmi hopes to further pursue this interest by studying chronobiology, the study of circadian rhythms and genes involved in regulating hormones, as well as learning and memory. “[Chronobiology and learning and memory] matter because a number of mood disorders result from disruption of circadian rhythms.

Research focused on these topics help further understanding and comprehension of treatment of these disorders.”

Paul is also interested in studying memory and learning through neuroscience and physiology.

“There is still a lot that we do not understand about cognitive processes like memory formation and enhancing our understanding of information retention will help us make the process more efficient,” writes Paul in an email to The Varsity. “I want to study learning and memory in vertebrate models in my post-graduate degree.”

“For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with the complexity of vertebrate physiology,” explains Paul. “The idea of being able to provide an additional insight into the mechanics of our body inspired me to pursue research in biology, and it continues to be a source of motivation.”

However, all three admitted that at times their drive for research can fall short.

“My first independent research project was

Undergrads in the Gerlai Lab are pursuing thesis projects in behavioural genetics.

ZEAHAA REHMAN/THE VARSITY

definitely challenging,” recalls Paul. “That is when I realized that research involves a lot of trial-anderror. It requires effort towards trying different approaches to solve issues, being creative, and being open to modifications in your project. It becomes time consuming and discouraging, at times.”

“In research it is very easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged,” agrees Bailluel. “When experiments don’t turn out how you expected or when obstacles prevent you from reaching your experimental goal, you often feel like giving up.”

“I have felt discouraged and have decided to give up multiple times during my undergraduate career,” says Najmi. “I made sure to remember, discouragement is easy to come across, but resilience and motivation are traits that can help me overcome adversity and discouragement.”

Bailleul recommends taking some time to regroup and come up with a plan to deter discouraging thoughts, as well as asking peers for help.

“Getting a new perspective on an idea and problem solving with others can help encourage you to persevere,” advises Bailluel.

What can your genes tell you about your diet?

U of T startup Nutrigenomix personalizes nutrition plans Jodie Lunger Varsity Contributor

Historically, dieticians have been restricted to offering ‘one-size fits all’ approaches to diet planning. But with recent advancements in genome sequencing technology, the field of nutrigenomics could revolutionize how diet plans are created.

Nutrigenomics studies the interactions between genes, nutrients, and other bioactive food compounds at the molecular level, and how these interactions can affect individual health.

Inherited genetic variation between individuals can alter the absorption and metabolism of bioactive food compounds, as well as the different biochemical reactions that those compounds are involved with. These genetic differences contribute to a variation of individual responses to certain foods.

“We’ve always seen that some individuals respond differently from others to the same foods, beverages, nutrients and bioactives consumed,” wrote Ahmed El-Sohemy, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, in an email. “Nutrigenomics helps us understand this variability in response so that we can predict

Nutrigenomix offers dietary recommendations through genetic testing.

SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU/THE VARSITY

who’s likely to benefit from a particular dietary intervention, and who might need a different approach.”

El-Sohemy is also the founder of a U of T startup called Nutrigenomix Inc., which aims to use individual genetic information through a saliva sample to offer personalized dietary recommendations to achieve positive health outcomes.

Genetic testing through Nutrigenomix is administered exclusively through health care professionals. “Healthcare professionals can help individuals identify evidence-based tests and, equally important, they can guide consumers in interpreting their results, provide sound recommendations, and offer tips to incorporate these recommendations into their lifestyle,” wrote El-

Sohemy.

One of the genes that Nutrigenomix tests for is called CYP1A2, which codes for a protein involved in breaking down caffeine. Genetic variations between individuals can differ the rates at which caffeine is digested after consumption.

Individuals with a version of the gene that is less efficient at breaking down caffeine “are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, all the way from elevated blood pressure to heart attacks, when consuming more than 200 mg of caffeine per day,” wrote El-Sohemy.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the average Canadian consumes 210–238 milligrams of caffeine per day, or about two small cups of coffee. As such, results of this

“[I] actively [asked] for advice and constructive criticism from my supervisor and the PhD student in our lab,” adds Paul. “It always helps to discuss your ideas with more experienced individuals; they inspire you to continue working towards your goal despite the hurdles.”

Paul recommends that students interested in research should converse with researchers to see if research will be a good fit, as well as reach out to their professors and teaching assistants to find volunteer positions or Research Opportunity Programs in labs, a recommendation echoed by Bailluel.

Bailluel also recommends taking courses pertaining to statistical analysis or experimental design, both of which factor greatly in research.

“Live in the moment while you are conducting the research,” advises Najmi. “There are the difficult aspects of being in an undergraduate degree balancing courses and being full time in a University lab but you are capable of doing great things!”

“Overall, know you are a scientist in progress and practice makes perfect,” says Najmi.

test could caution regular coffee drinkers to think twice before pouring their next cup.

Other examples of genes that are sequenced as a part of the Nutrigenomix panel include those related to vitamin C uptake relative to consumption, gluten intolerance, and high blood pressure associated with high-sodium diets.

Since its launch in 2012, Nutrigenomix has grown from a panel of seven genes to 45, with the launch of a larger panel in the near future.

“We now have genetic tests focusing on general health and fitness, athletic performance, and fertility,” wrote El-Sohemy.

As with any new technology, nutrigenomic testing is not without limitations.

Nutrigenomics is far more complex than sequencing a person’s genome, and must incorporate many different ‘omics’ that exist outside of the linear sequence of a gene.

This includes epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, all of which researchers have limited understandings of in terms of individual responses to certain bioactive food compounds and their resulting health outcomes.

There is also growing interest in the role that the microbiome, or the genetic component of a collection of primarily bacteria in the human gut, has in individual responses to certain foods.

As researchers continue to gather information on the many dynamic interactions between genes and nutrients, and genetic sequencing continues to become faster and cheaper, we could see a shift in how diet plans are customized for individuals.

“Nutrigenomics is definitely not some fad that will pass,” wrote El-Sohemy. “It’s the new way of looking at nutrition by considering the genetic makeup of the individual, which the scientific evidence shows is important to understand before making a recommendation.”

16 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Canadian telescope spots fast radio bursts

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment was developed in part by U of T Professor Keith Vanderlinde Javiera Gutierrez Duran Varsity Contributor

On January 7, University of British Columbia astronomer Deborah Good announced at an American Astronomical Society meeting that the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) spotted new fast radio bursts (FRBs).

CHIME, located near Penticton, British Columbia, is a telescope comprised of four half-cylinders that are 100 metres long and 20 metres wide.

Its structure resembles lined-up skateboard halfpipes. Keith Vanderlinde, Associate Professor at the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Dunlap Institute, helped develop the telescope.

CHIME is a stationary telescope array, meaning that it does not scan and track objects in the sky.

“It just sits there on the ground and records radio waves as they come in and then in a computer, digitally, we form images out of them,” said Vanderlinde. This method of data collection means that another copy can be made and processed in an entirely different way.

In the initial stages of the CHIME project, it was unclear whether FRBs were true astrophysical signals. An extension to CHIME, CHIME-FRB, was created to reprocess the data collected by the telescope and search for FRBs. FRBs are observed as short pulses of broadband radio light, about one millisecond long, that were first detected at frequencies above a gigahertz with unknown origins. FRBs can occur as isolated events, which Vanderlinde explained makes them difficult to research.

FRBs can be distinguished from one another in their appearance, location in the sky, and position along the radio band. They can register at the

Université d’Ottawa

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top end of the frequency band, the bottom, the middle, or span the entire band. Chromatic dispersion, which pertains to the dispersion of light and the distance between FRBs and Earth, is especially helpful for distinguishing FRBs. “It depends how much stuff there is between us and them, how many of these loose electrons and protons there are in that line of sight between us and this galaxy billions of light years away,” said Vanderlinde. FRBs that are closer to Earth are believed to exhibit less dispersion.

Two significant discoveries by CHIME involve the detection of the second-ever repeating FRB and a wider frequency of light in which FRBs are emitted. The repeating FRB was identified when a researcher looked through the telescope’s archived events and noticed a repetition that seemed to be coming from the same place with the same properties. The range of radiation emitted was also found to go down to 400–800 megahertz, with a visible signal at the bottom of the band.

The discovery of the repeating FRB is crucial as it signifies that the first repeater was not a coincidence or an anomaly.

“I think it’s completely reasonable to expect there are more and it’s a class that we’ll be able to study really well because they repeat so we can go back and follow them up after with other telescopes, with other instruments,” said Vanderlinde.

The establishment of smaller telescopes, known as outrigger stations, is one potential future extension. These instruments would observe the same area of the sky as CHIME and collect the same data when an FRB is detected, which would then be compiled and analyzed to determine where the pulse originated.

University of Ottawa

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Study of the micro and macrosocial dimensions of social work practice

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Faculté des sciences sociales Faculty of Social Sciences socialwork.uOttawa.ca

CHIME detects short pulses of broadband radio light.

ANDRE RECNIK/CC WIKIMEDIA

Fighting diabetes with the South Asian Adolescent Diabetes Program

U of T researchers take a hands-on approach to improving prospects of South Asian teens at high-risk of developing diabetes Arushi Jaiswal Varsity Contributor

According to Diabetes Canada, more than one million people in Ontario were living with diabetes in 2018, and this is estimated to increase by 30 per cent in the next 10 years.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for 90–95 per cent of diabetes cases, with an estimated out-of-pocket medication cost for an individual ranging from $200–1,900 annually.

Diabetes can also lead to other long-term health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, renal diseases, lower limb amputations, and vision loss.

In an email to The Varsity, Ananya Banerjee, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, explained that South Asian diaspora communities “face the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) compared to the general population.” Banerjee and her research team therefore implemented a South Asian Adolescent Diabetes Awareness Program (SAADAP) with the aim of targeting high-risk South Asian adolescents from ages 13–18.

Banerjee spearheaded SAADAP based on the positive findings of other related diabetes projects, including the Diabetes Prevention Program (DDP). Sponsored by the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, DDP showed that people at high risk of developing T2DM can prevent or delay the disease by losing weight through dietary changes and increasing physical activity.

Although T2DM is determined by genetic predisposition in part, it can be prevented by maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

“While genetics and individual lifestyle choices certainly play a role, there are many social factors related to migration that contribute to elevated rates of T2DM. Food insecurity, precarious employment, access to healthcare and even the neighbourhood South Asian teens live in can all influence their risk of being diagnosed with T2DM,” said Banerjee.

“The high prevalence of diabetes in South Asians is also associated with certain metabolic risk factors. Compared to Caucasian children, South Asian children have been shown to have increased plasma insulin in the setting of normal plasma glucose levels, an early sign of insulin insensitivity,” she added, explaining the significance of launching SAADAP. Banerjee and her research team recruited 80 South Asian teens from Peel who have a family history of T2DM. The primary goals of this program were to increase knowledge about diabetes, related risks, and prevention strategies; to develop a more healthy and active lifestyle; and to help maintain healthy body

YIYUE JIANG/THE VARSITY

weight among South Asian adolescents.

To accomplish these goals, program participants had consultations with a registered dietitian and a registered kinesiologist at the beginning and end of an eight-week program.

From the beginning, these consultations encouraged each participant to establish personalized nutrition and physical activity goals that they wanted to attain by the end of the program. These sessions also allowed researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, by examining changes made by study participants on dietary and behavioural choices.

Banerjee was committed to undertaking a culturally sensitive approach when implementing this program to ensure that participants were not only able to initiate positive lifestyle changes while in the program, but also maintain those changes permanently.

The majority of activities within SAADAP were designed to be interactive and involve hands-on learning. Supermarket tours and cooking classes allowed participants to discover strategies to apply theoretical concepts to realworld situations. This kind of approach was also attractive to parents who wanted their children to learn the rationale behind making healthier choices.

Other developmental techniques, such as the Photovoice and Health Belief Model, were included in the program with the expectation that participants would be educated to recognize social problems within their community, think critically for solutions, and take action to bring a positive change.

As a result, the participants were inspired to look beyond their own behaviours and take steps to promote diabetes prevention strategies within their community.

Banerjee and her team are now planning to take this further by developing and pilot testing a peer-led SAADAP for at-risk adolescents in the Peel region on the recommendation of study participants.

“This will be a novel, cost-effective and sustainable approach to community-based diabetes prevention in South Asian adolescents,” said Banerjee.

JANUARY 21, 2019 | 17

var.st/science

Does your phone harbour toxic chemicals?

Science Around Town

U of T researchers find that handheld electronic devices carry flame retardant compounds Javiera Gutierrez Duran Varsity Contributor

Emily Deibert Varsity Staff

A recent study determined that organophosphate esters (OPEs) — chemicals commonly used as flame retardants and plasticizers — could be on electronic devices.

According to Professor Miriam Diamond from U of T’s Department of Earth Sciences and her co-authors, there is a correlation between the levels of OPEs on cell phones and OPEs detected in women’s urine samples. Previous studies indicated that indoor air and dust contained a high level of OPEs. The researchers also observed a correlation between the OPEs on women’s hands and in their urine samples, as well as in the dust found in their homes.

“Flame retardants are added to many products like electronic products, anything that heats up, anything with a plug,” said Diamond. OPEs are also used as plasticizers, which, along with flame retardants, can migrate out of an item over time.

This means that OPEs can be found virtually anywhere.

The research suggests that touching different handheld devices — which are generally unclean — could transfer OPEs between them.

“If you lower [the concentration of OPEs] on your cell phone, presumably you lower what’s on your hands. You wash your hands; people seldom wash their cell phones. It’s a practical way to reduce your exposure.”

The Amazing Bees of Toronto Join U of T PhD candidate Charlotte de Keyzer for a discussion on the life of wild bees in Toronto’s urban environment.

Date: Tuesday, January 22 Time: 6:30–7:30 pm Location: Highland Creek Library, 3550 Ellesmere Road Admission: Free

Chemicals found on handheld devices could negatively impact human health.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Diamond said that the next step is to investigate the toxicity of different OPEs that would affect human health. OPEs are already believed to act as endocrine disruptors.

Diamond explained that slight alterations in the thyroid of pregnant women, especially in the third trimester, could alter the brain of the fetus, which could lead to subtle neurobehavioral effects.

“A study was found showing the relationship between kids’ levels of some of these organophosphate esters and externalizing behaviour — as in kids that acted out, kids with more ADHD and a lot of activity, who don’t pick up the social cues quite as well.”

Not all OPEs behave the same. For example, one OPE that is often used in items like floor waxes is less toxic compared to other OPEs. But Diamond explained that replacing high toxicity OPEs with low toxicity OPEs is difficult because “different chemicals which have different properties and compatibilities” are needed.

One way to reduce OPE exposure, other than

cleaning your phone, is to reduce electronics use.

Products in which OPEs are found are not labelled as such, but they are known to be in electronic products. And while this could be a difficult practice to adopt, Diamond explained that reducing electronic use has “good co-benefits.”

For instance, modern kitchens feature many electronic devices.

But having a kitchen filled with electronic devices is an “immediate way of how you can choose to live life with so-called convenience — but we pay a price for the convenience,” said Diamond.

While materials that contain flame retardants can be recycled and made into new products, there are consequences to that as well.

Diamond’s team is currently testing black plastic kitchen spoons that were found to contain bromine, a sign of flame retardants. This signal indicates that the material the spoons are made out of may have been previously used in computer casing or casing for other electronic devices.

Getting to Know Bennu This event will feature a panel of Canadian experts who were on the OSIRIS-REx mission to return a sample from the surface of asteroid Bennu.

Date: Friday, January 25 Time: 6:00–7:00 pm Location: Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), 100 Queen’s Park, Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre, Level 1B Admission: Free with RSVP and ROM admission

Treating brain inflammation starts from the gut

Immune cells from the gut found to suppress brain inflammation Pascale Tsai Varsity Contributor

Researchers at U of T have found that immune cells from the intestine can be used to reduce brain inflammation in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). When outside of the gut, these IgA-producing plasma cells attenuate disease symptoms within the central nervous system (CNS). IgA is an antibody commonly found in mucous membranes.

MS results in inflammatory lesions throughout the CNS, including the brain and spinal cord, disturb the transmission of electrical signals through nerves. The consequent symptoms vary from person to person, but often include impaired sensation, cognition, and coordination.

Studies have focused on preventing the formation of new inflammatory lesions. This involves depleting or suppressing the activity of immunoreactive plasma cells. These plasma cells originate as B cells but differentiate in response to the presence of an antigen, releasing antibodies that trigger the immune response and simultaneous inflammation.

Previous trials have examined the effects of suppressing B cells, as opposed to plasma cells. The depletion of B cells has been shown to prevent the formation of inflammatory CNS lesions. Contrarily, the neutralization of plasma cells has been shown to exacerbate the MS symptoms.

Due to these opposing results, U of T re-

CHRISTINE LE/THE VARSITY

searchers, led by immunology professor Jennifer Gommerman, sought to understand the source and function of plasma cells in the CNS during the inflammatory response. Specifically, they examined IgA-producing plasma cells, due to the unexpected discovery that these cells reside in the brain and spinal cord during an MS-like attack.

The researchers found that, in the absence of plasma cells, inflammatory symptoms of an MSlike disease state in a mouse model were more severe. Additionally, IgA-producing plasma cells were directly responsible for suppressing neuroinflammation.

To see if these results extended to human MS patients, they also tested the IgA content within the gut — the region of the body containing the largest reservoir of IgA-producing cells. They saw that relapsing MS patients had significantly less IgA gut bacteria than patients who were in remission. This indicated a potential migration of IgA cells out of the gut, precipitating the inflammatory relapse in MS.

Addressing Root Causes: Power, Privilege and Injustice in Engineering Education and Practice The field of engineering is struggling to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion. This event will focus on ways to address these issues within engineering education.

Date: Wednesday, January 23 Time: 11:10 am to 12:00 pm Location: Galbraith Building, 35 St. George Street Admission: Free with registration

The results of the study suggest not only that gut-derived IgA plasma cells can access the inflamed CNS in MS, but also that they play an important role in regulating the tissue inflammatory response. This demonstrates the necessity of considering the gut-brain axis when treating the pathology of inflammatory disease, as well as the therapeutic potential of mobilizing immunosuppressive IgA-producing cells from the gut to the CNS. In the future, Gommerman plans to further examine which microbes in the gut promote the accumulation of resident reactive IgA plasma cells in the CNS. With her team, she hopes to design therapies that will promote the accumulation of these cells in nervous tissue.

“The problem with treating MS is that it is hard to get therapies into the CNS,” said Gommerman.

“However, IgA plasma cells migrate to the CNS on their own. Thus, mobilizing these cells to enter the CNS may represent a novel strategy for quieting inflammation in the CNS.”

Stem Cells: Beyond the Scope This day-long conference will include lectures, keynote addresses, and breakout sessions, all relating to the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine.

Date: Saturday, January 26 Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Location: Bahen Centre for Information Technology, 40 St. George Street Admission: $7.00 Arts & Science Undergraduate Research Conference The Arts and Science Students’ Union’s annual conference will feature U of T undergraduate research. Research projects range from natural sciences to quantitative sciences, and from humanities to social sciences.

Date: Friday, January 25 Time: 10:00 am to 4:15 pm Location: Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street Admission: Free

Sports

January 21, 2019 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education Task Force recommends further inclusion of racialized, Indigenous students Recommendations include changes to curriculum, communications, data collection, recruitment Vincent Ruan Varsity Staff

The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education (KPE) Task Force on Race and Indigeneity released its final report in response to the 2015 Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

In its December 4 report, the task force adopted three key terms — equity, diversity, and inclusion — from U of T’s Equity and Diversity in Research & Innovation Working Group Report.

‘Equity’ refers to the fair treatment of all people, regardless of their race or culture. While ‘diversity’ is described as a demographic mix in the community, it also focuses on groups that are underrepresented at U of T. Combining these two terms is ‘inclusion,’ or an environment where everyone feels respected and valued.

The 12 operating members and four working groups sought to make recommendations to the faculty on how to address barriers that prevent racial

diversity and equity.

The Task Force was, in part, formed in response to a panel held at U of T during the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games, which focused on the challenges of being an Indigenous athlete in Toronto.

It also responds to a report from the 2016 Accelerating Action Roundtable Discussion event that recommended five themes for the faculty to address.

This includes hiring racialized and Indigenous peoples, improving visibility and recognition of diversity in KPE spaces, improving outreach to underrepresented groups, increasing accountability around issues of race and Indigeneity, and expanding support and resources for Indigenization, racial diversity, and anti-racism.

The TRC report stated that the University of Toronto was responsible for acting with “destructive impacts” against Indigenous people.

Although the university did not operate residential schools, it educated Canadians who later contributed to the creation of these schools.

Blues basketball earn sweep over Nipissing Lakers

Both men’s and women’s teams earned a victory on Friday night Matthew Barrett Varsity Contributor

Women’s

The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team came up big on Friday night, securing their fourth win at home in a 70–48 victory over the Nipissing Lakers. As a team who have had more than their fair share of injuries, the Blues squad was on full display as they ended their four-game losing streak with a well-earned victory.

Coach Michèle Bélanger said that the injuries the Blues have sustained “changed our team from being a contending team in the fall to scrambling for the playoffs.”

The Blues started the game on the right foot, going up 7–0 and setting the tempo for the rest of the game. A key factor was Mahal De La Durantaye, who fearlessly hustled for rebounds on both ends of the court. She grabbed three steals in the first quarter alone, most of them translating to points on the offensive end.

Ariana Sider opened up the second quarter with a beautiful spin-move, pulling up on a lost defender and beating the shot clock. Later on, Sider

stole the ball and fed it to teammate Nada Radonjic for the layup. Radonjic responded by stealing the ball on the following possession and giving it back to Sider for a three-pointer. Toronto’s defense gave up just two points in the first six minutes of the quarter and by halftime they were up 11.

In the third quarter, the Blues’ seamless ball movement resulted in lots of open looks as the whole team got involved. Radonjic caught fire as she proved she could do everything from low post moves to threes. Her many heavily contested jumpers would help make up her 25 points on the night.

Radonjic finished with a double-double and shot 11 of 22 from the field.

The Blues only added to their lead in the fourth and won by a comfortable 22 points. Jessica Muha, who came off the bench in her first game back from injury, dropped 15 points in 15 minutes. De La Durantaye led the team in rebounds with 12 and finished with four steals. Sider also picked up four steals, and despite running most of the plays, she finished with zero turnovers.

When asked what this win meant going forward, Bélanger said, “It’s important for us because we need to get

Researchers from the university have also recently been accused of damaging Indigenous communities through research studies. The report concluded that because of past ignorance and mistreatment toward Indigenous people, the University of Toronto has been an unwelcome place for Indigenous students.

The task force’s report organizes the working groups’ recommendations into seven categories, “intended to be considered simultaneously and in total.”

Academics, curriculum and programming

This section’s main recommendation looks to create content on race and Indigeneity across the KPE curriculum. The task force also recommends that KPE develop and integrate a course solely based on Indigenous history, issues, racism, and racialization within sports and physical activity.

Communications

This section recommends that KPE maintain “an attractive and informative website that conveys the importance of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” The task force emphasizes further promotion of Indigenous opportunities, activities, conferences, and events, both on and off campus.

Data collection

The task force recommends that KPE collect demographic data on new staff members to keep track of recruitment success, thus identifying needed additional time spent on recruiting Indigenous students. A survey is also advised to identify any areas of improvement in regards to recruitment and retention of Indigenous staff.

Recruitment

The report further recommends offering financial benefits to prospective Indigenous students through scholarships, bursaries, and grants.

Great emphasis was also placed on financial support for achieving equity and diversity on campus.

Relationships

This section specifically focuses on improving relationships between the KPE and Indigenous people through mentorships, coaching, and community resources in order to build a healthy and comfortable atmosphere.

Space

This focuses on developing designated spaces to accommodate any cultural practices for Indigenous students. The report goes on to say that faculty should also create barrier-free and accessible spaces that value Indigenous perspectives.

Training

This focuses heavily on decolonization and anti-racism training for staff and faculty. Recommendations also include opportunities to connect racialized and Indigenous students with the wider community.

The KPE Task Force was created in 2017.

THEO ARBEZ/THE VARSITY

some girls back in that were injured and get them back in the flow.”

From how they looked on Friday, the whole team has done an excellent job at that in the absence of their three fourth-year veterans Keyira Parkes, Sarah Bennett, and Charlotte Collyer.

Men’s

The Varsity Blues men’s basketball team fought throughout all four quarters to pull off U of T’s second win of the night in Friday’s double header. Nipissing showed little sign of giving up however, as they kept the game within one point until the final minutes of the game. It was Toronto’s ability to stay composed under pressure that made the difference, as they knocked down multiple big shots to defeat the Lakers 81–75.

Nipissing began the first quarter by hitting a three, to which the Blues responded with one of their own. In the first two minutes, Toronto lost veteran Nicholas Morris, who picked up two early fouls and had to be subbed out.

However, first-year guard Iñaki Alvarez sliced through to the basket in addition to knocking down a couple three’s off well-placed screens to put the Blues up two into the second quarter.

Daniel Johansson got hot in the middle of the second quarter after the Blues’ motion offense gave him an open three, which he knocked down. He followed with a layup on the next play and then a heavily contested jump shot, giving Johansson seven points in three possessions.

“We like to play off the hot guy,”

Blues guard Chris Barrett later explained.

Toronto would extend their lead to nine and force Nipissing to call a timeout as a result of Arash Dusek’s driving layup.

The Blues’ lead peaked at 11 points in the third quarter, with offense led by Alvarez and Johansson. The persistent Lakers still brought the game within one before Nikola Paradina drained one from beyond the arc for 3 of his 16 points on the night.

In the fourth quarter, Alvarez continued to make several difficult layups before suffering an injury to his abdomen. He was forced to sub out and did not return. With just under five minutes left in a one-point game, Barrett stepped up and put the Blues up by three with a spin-move layup. He later hit a ridiculous fading turnaround jumper to increase Toronto’s lead to five. He proceeded to make four out of four free throws in the clutch, as the Blues held the Lakers off by a margin of six.

Despite having to leave the game early, Alvarez led the team in points with 19. Four out of the five starters finished with 15 points or more, and Barrett had a game-high seven assists to complement his 17 points.

When asked whether or not he felt pressure toward the end of the game, Barrett responded, “When I’m shooting

free throws, I’m never stressed.” It certainly showed in his eight for eight shooting from the line.

Going forward, Barrett and the rest of the team aim to “keep the momentum going towards playoffs.”

Blues guard Christopher Barrett scored 17 points and was a perfect 8 of 8 at the free throw line to lead the Blues to a 81–75 victory over Nipissing.

Courtesy of SEYRAN MAMMADOV

JANUARY 21, 2019 | 19

var.st/sports

The year of you Five steps to making a positive outlook permanent

3

Go to bed on time Research has shown that not getting enough sleep has a negative impact on mood. Caffeine is just a temporary fix for not dozing off in class, and I’m sure a lot of us can relate. Maintaining a pattern of sleep and a technology-free hour before bed can make a huge difference.

Daniela Ruscica Varsity Contributor

What if I told you that you had the power to make 2019 the year of you?

Ultimately, your outlook on 2019 can only shift when your mindset does. A properly fuelled body and positive mindset will work wonders for an overall state of healthy well being and mental health.

To improve your mood, mindset, and achieve peak productivity, here are five things you should turn into habits this semester.

A positive outlook starts with you.

1

Be positive Research shows that the way in which we think about ourselves can have a powerful effect on the way we feel. According to Psychology Today, “when we perceive our self and our life negatively, we can end up viewing experiences in a way that confirms that notion.” Be patient with yourself and write down realistic steps to achieving personal goals.

4

Take a break While the life of a student is an extremely hectic one, it’s important to take a few moments to breathe and relax. Utilize study breaks and listen to the needs of your body and mind.

When you feel stressed or overwhelmed, take the necessary time to breathe.

Taking a step away from whatever is stressing you out will result in you coming back to the issue more clearheaded.

MIRKA LOISELLE/THE VARSITY

2

Exercise Go out and be active! Dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes a day to physical activity and your mind and body will feel refreshed. While working out, our bodies release stress-relieving and mood-boosting endorphins, making exercise a pow-

5

Be social. Laugh!

People function better when they have strong social ties with friends and family. Positivity is contagious when you surround yourself with the right people. Create lifelong memories and be sure to laugh as often as possible, as laughter can reduce stress and increase your ability to learn.

MEN’S January 18

81–75 Nipissing Lakers

Varsity Blues

January 19

95–94 Laurentian Voyageurs

Varsity Blues

January 25

Varsity Blues

@

Carlton Ravens

January 26

Varsity Blues

@

Ottawa Gee-Gees

WOMEN’S January 18

70–48 Nipissing Lakers

Varsity Blues

January 19

61–44 Laurentian Voyageurs

Varsity Blues

January 25

Varsity Blues

@

Carleton Ravens

January 26

Varsity Blues

@

Ottawa Gee-Gees

VOLLEYBALL MEN’S 1–3 (25–20, 20–25, 20–25, 21–25) Ryerson Rams

Varsity Blues

January 26

Varsity Blues

@

Queens Gaels

January 27

Varsity Blues

@

RMC Paladins

WOMEN’S

Why different sports have contradicting views on good sportsmanship You’re sprinting down the pitch, chasing a pesky striker, and you’re nearly out of breath. The offensive player, shirt darkened by sweat, has his back to you as he makes his move toward the goal.

There are only a few minutes left. You inhale, reach for the ball, miss, and the striker dashes the other way. He winds up, kicks, and boots it home: another goal.

You know your team is down, but you’ve lost count at this point. Then, the whistle’s blown. The game’s over. Very reluctantly, as if it’s the sun itself, you peer at the scoreboard, 30–0. No, now it’s 31–0. Great.

This was the disturbing reality for the 20 members of Team American Samoa in 2001. After losing 19 of their 20 players due to visa complications, the national team was forced to field a lessthan-optimal squad against Australia.

Comprised of second-string juniorhigh students and call-ups who had never played a full 90-minute match, the team was annihilated, and left the sporting world asking, should the Aussies have run up the score so much?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that it depends on the stakes of the game and the sport being played.

BASKETBALL

January 13

Should teams run up the score in games?

Ted Fraser Varsity Contributor

WEEKLY BOX SCORES

erful way to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.

January 20 Ryerson Rams

The Australian men’s soccer team’s decision to score 31 goals against American Samoa in 2002 wasn’t considered an act of bad sportsmanship.

3–2 (25–15, 15–25, 25–22, 21–25, 6–15)

Varsity Blues

January 26

Varsity Blues

@

Queen’s Gaels

January 27

Varsity Blues

@

RMC Paladins

GRANADA/CC WIKIMEDIA

‘Goals-for,’ the stat that shows how many goals a team notches over the course of a season, is one of the battle cries for those who believe running up the score is the logical thing to do.

After Team Canada’s World Junior hockey team destroyed Denmark 14–0 last month, some commentators questioned the politeness of the massacre; shouldn’t Canada show some mercy to the poor Danes?

But the key tiebreaking statistic in that tournament was goals-for, and it was the World Juniors, after all.

In the NHL, where Hockey Night in Canada icon Don Cherry’s word is as good as God’s, coaches do not run up the score. Cherry is a proponent of ‘the code,’ an oral tradition passed through the ages that acts as hockey’s rules of engagement.

These commandments dictate that players don’t celebrate too hard, don’t question the coach, and don’t tint their visors, and that teams definitely do not run up the score.

The league even has rules reflecting this code. A team’s goals-for is the third, rarely-considered step in the season-end tiebreak process. The first two tiebreak disputers, overtime and regulation wins,

as well as the outcomes of the season series between the two teams, usually solve the problem of equal points.

But soccer is a different demon. This sort of code doesn’t exist in soccer.

Basketball has a different culture too. There are some who believe that the gentlemanly thing to do is to play defensive, to lay off on the fast break, to stop heaving up three-pointers. But this was clearly not the attitude of one infamous basketball coach, who led his high school squad to a 100–0 victory over a traumatized opponent. The odd thing is, it wasn’t even a playoff game.

It was the middle of the season. The coach was subsequently fired by the administration.

But back to the Aussies. They were justified in running up the score. They wanted to win, they needed to get goals, and they used American Samoa’s misfortune to their advantage. This fits soccer’s rules of engagement and its culture. But it would never fly in an NHL game.

No approach is better or worse.

Sometimes, running up the score is excusable. But sometimes, easing off the throttle is advisable. Sport is all about context, and the score is no exception.

HOCKEY MEN’S January 18

4–0 Varsity Blues

January 19

Windsor Lancers

2–1 Varsity Blues

(OT)

Brock Badgers

January 25

Varsity Blues

@

Windsor Lancers

January 28

York Lions

vs

Varsity Blues

WOMEN’S January 19

2–1 Laurentian Voyageurs

Varsity Blues

January 20

2–1 Varsity Blues

Nipissing Lakers

January 25

Brock Badgers

vs

Varsity Blues

January 26

Varsity Blues

@

Laurier Golden Hawks

20 | THE VARSITY | ADVERTISEMENTS

JANUARY 21, 2019

18/19

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Tamara Tatiossian Music Business Graduate

creativearts.humber.ca/gradstudies