January 28, 2018

THE VARSITY January 28, 2019

The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Vol. CXXXIX, No. 15

Researchers at U of T’s Citizen Lab targeted by undercover agents about spyware studies

Questioned about studies on spyware used on friends of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

Undercover agents have been questioning U of T Citizen Lab researchers in recent months about their study of an Israeli spyware that was used on murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s friends, reported The Associated Press (AP).

Agents have approached researchers twice in the past two months claiming to be “socially conscious investors” interested in partnerships. During meetings set up after online contact, the agents questioned the researchers about their personal lives and work regarding the NSO Group, a surveillance technology firm based in Israel that has sold a clandestine software called “Pegasus” to governments seeking to spy on smartphones.

The AP reported that Bahr Abdul Razzak, a Citizen Lab researcher, was approached in December by an investigator who called himself Gary Bowman.

Bowman’s questions to Razzak included, “Do you pray?”, “Why do you write only about NSO?”, and “Do you hate Israel?”

Another Citizen Lab researcher, John Scott-Railton, was later approached on January 9 and was asked similar questions by a different agent going by the name of Michel Lambert.

The AP was unable to reach either of the agents, and there is no evidence that they are linked to the NSO, which has stated that it is not involved.

Citizen Lab’s research into the NSO Group is part of its larger initiative on tracking “nation-state spyware,” said senior research fellow Bill Marczak on CNN in October.

The lab concluded with “high confidence” that Omar Abdulaziz, a close friend of Khashoggi and fellow Saudi dissident, had been under surveillance using the Pegasus software. Abdulaziz lives in Québec.

“When a government buys Pegasus,” said Marczak, “what they do is they can send a text message to someone’s phone containing a link, and if they convince the person to click on that link in the text message, then the phone becomes infected and the government can see anything on the phone — including pictures, contacts, listening into calls, watching text messages, and even turning on the camera and microphone.”

Citizen Lab is a Munk School of Global Affairs laboratory that studies human rights issues using computer science and social sciences techniques.

Hundreds of students from across the province marched from Yonge-Dundas Square to Queen’s Park.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

Students march through Toronto protesting OSAP cuts, changes to non-tuition fees

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, protesters fight Ford government changes Stephanie Bai & Andy Takagi Varsity Staff

Thousands of students chanted “Fuck Doug Ford” as they marched through the snow from Yonge-Dundas Square to Queen’s Park on Friday, January 25, protesting the provincial government’s recently announced changes to postsecondary education.

The march, which was organized by student groups and labour unions — including the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS–O) and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) — amassed in front of the Ontario legislature building amid neon posters and chants, including, “The students united will never be defeated.”

The changes announced by the Ford government on January 17 would reduce domestic tuition rates by 10 per cent, eliminate the six-month interest-free grace

period on Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) loans, shift provincial funding for students from mainly grant-based to loan-based, and make certain student incidental fees optional in an opt-out system.

Students join from across the province to protest

Speakers emphasized the diversity of the students in attendance, who came from all over the province to protest both their personal concerns over the Ford government’s plan and their overarching concerns for student life at colleges and universities.

Among them, U of T students echoed the anger of all students at the protest. Max Xi, a computer science, psychology, and linguistics student at U of T, attended the rally because he believes that student leadership can build a more vibrant campus, also saying that the mental health resources that could be cut have helped him in university.

Xi believes that the changes to

student groups and student life will “further worsen the… atmosphere of U of T as a very isolating and overly academic… depressing place.”

For criminology and sociolegal studies student Allie McMillan, the 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition is the most damaging of the announced changes as it “completely disregards accessibility and equity.”

“I think by making the 10 per cent cut, [Ford] is fully just proving that he only cares about the upper class and those who are already able to attain an education without the help of the government,” she said.

Political science student Hamid Mohamed said that, as a recipient of OSAP grants and someone directly impacted by the changes to the grant and loan structure, he is protesting “because [Ford] hasn’t consulted with us and it affects the very livelihood of our campus institutions.”

He added that, in particular, student unions are a necessary check on the university administration

and they are now at risk of having their funding cut.

Andrew Gallant, a political science, criminology, and sociology student, believes that the announced changes are anti-democratic.

“It doesn’t make any sense. I do understand why these sorts of cuts have to be made, but I think that the way that they have been implemented has been poor,” he said.

Speakers rally students, decry Ford government changes

“They have woken up a monster,” said Felipe Nagata, President of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union and incoming Chairperson of the CFS–O. Nagata led the chants at the front of the march and also gave a speech at Queen’s Park while surrounded by a mass of students.

“We’re not going to stop until free tuition is here, we’re not going to stop until education is accessible, and we’re not going to stop Protests, page 3

Business

Comment

Feature

Arts

Science

A deeper look at the proposed University Pension Plan

Students react to Ford’s changes to education funding

Reflections on studying abroad

Let’s talk about sex: ’tis the season of Netflix and chill

Federal funding program Networks of Centres of Excellence to be defunded

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10

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Ontario NDP Leader and Leader of the Official Opposition Andrea Horwath criticized the Ford government’s announcement.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

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Letter from the Editor

To fight for the future of The Varsity as an advocate, I am recusing myself from editing articles about student fees On January 17, the provincial government announced that universities and colleges must make the majority of non-tuition fees — which are currently mandatory — optional. With further sweeping cuts to the provincial student aid framework and an across-the-board reduction in tuition, Doug Ford’s government has changed postsecondary education in Ontario in one deft blow.

While the message from the Progressive Conservatives is that these changes are “for the students,” The Varsity’s editorial board, of which I am a member, disagrees.

Varsity Publications Inc. is the non-profit corporation that publishes The Varsity, The Varsity Magazine, and our digital products. Fulltime students at the University of Toronto pay our fee and make up our membership.

It is currently unclear exactly which fees students will be able to opt-out of, though we know that “essential” services, to use the government’s word, such as those related to health and safety programs, athletics, and academic support will be protected. Universities will apparently have the final say on which fees are “essential”

and “non-essential,” with students being able to opt out of “non-essential” fees. All indications thus far point to campus media being included in the latter category.

Money from student fees comprises the majority of our revenue and we could not survive without it. The financial uncertainty of whether or not we would receive enough student fees in any given semester to keep the presses running would debilitate our operations.

To put it bluntly: an opt-out option for our fee poses an existential threat to this organization.

As the Editor-in-Chief of The Varsity, I am also the Chief Executive Officer of Varsity Publications.

In this capacity, it is my fiduciary duty to ensure the continued existence of this newspaper. And, mark my words, I will fight tooth and nail for the future of The Varsity and all of our essential peers in the Ontario student press.

What will this look like?

I must be a public advocate for the inclusion of campus media in the “essential” category of student fees, whether that be just at the University of Toronto or as part of a broader, provincial recognition

of our demonstrable value at universities and colleges. I must be an outspoken champion of the work that journalists do on campuses and an outspoken critic of the provincial government’s attack on the freedom of the student press.

I must also keep running this newspaper, which prides itself on strong, responsible coverage of issues that matter to students. And there’s no getting around it — this is an issue that matters to students, and we will continue to report on it.

The necessity of my role as a public advocate for The Varsity has the potential to clash with the code of journalistic ethics that applies to all of our work. My bias on the issue of student fees is blatant and forceful, and it cannot seep into our reporting and risk damaging our accuracy and credibility.

As such, we are taking steps to isolate our coverage of the changes to student fees from my public advocacy, and I am recusing myself from editing any stories that pertain to this issue.

We have designated two members of our News team — Adam A. Lam and Andy Takagi — as the only reporters who will write about the changes to the student fees

framework in News. Their work will be closely monitored and edited by Josie Kao, the News Editor.

Reut Cohen, the Managing Editor, is taking over the responsibility of doing final edits on all News pieces on this subject and publishing these articles.

Reut will also take over the editing and publishing responsibilities for Business and Comment articles on the topic, and oversee their production with Michael Teoh and Ibnul Chowdhury, the respective editors of these sections.

Adam, Andy, Reut, Josie, Michael, and Ibnul will not publicly express opinions about the changes to student fees, and I will not interfere in their work.

It is vital that I do everything in my power to advocate for The Varsity as an essential service to students, but our survival is dependent on our ability to continue producing unmatched and quality journalism. One cannot interfere with the other.

Hopefully this will not be necessary for long.

— Jack O. Denton, Editor-in-Chief

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 3

var.st/news Protests, from cover until every single student and every single person has access to education regardless of their gender or their race or their background or their abilities,” said Nagata.

Jacob Landau, the Director of Operations for March for Our Education and a political science student at U of T, was the first person to speak at Queen’s Park. March for Our Education is a student advocacy group that was created last year in protest of Ford’s policies.

Landau said that the issues uniting the protesters transcend party lines, as evidenced by the diverse political affiliations of the speakers at the rally.

“They all know that it is not a political issue. This is about education. This is about our kids, and this is about our future as a province,” he said.

Chair of CUPE 3902 Jess Taylor — the labour union representing contract academic workers at U of T — also spoke on stage at Queen’s Park, saying, “It’s not just our academic workers, it’s also our support workers, our service workers. Everybody working and studying on campus across Ontario.

Many of our members rely on OSAP to get their education.”

Nour Alideeb, the outgoing CFS– O Chairperson and a part-time sixth-year student at UTM studying economics, biology, and women and gender studies, heralded the need for a defence of student democracy against the changes.

“The announcements we heard last week are nothing short of an attack on students. Student democracy is under attack because this government is afraid of us,” said Alideeb. “We are the watchdogs. We are the ones that hold this government and our local administrations accountable.”

Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath, the Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario, solidified her support for the student movement at the rally as she stood on stage flanked by local NDP MPPs. Smiling as the crowd broke out into “Fuck Doug Ford” chants, she jokingly chastised the protesters for using “unparliamentary language,” but said that she understood where the students were coming from.

“I am here to say that New Democrats are standing with you and against Doug Ford. And we are here to say no to charging more interest on student loans. No to his callous cuts to OSAP. And hell no to his attacks on student unions.”

Alideeb, in an interview with The Varsity, also emphasized free postsecondary education as the ultimate goal for accessible education.

“The [CFS] has, since its existence in 1981, advocated for free and accessible postsecondary education… I think the first thing we need to prioritize is low-income students, and then make our way to ensure that everyone has free postsecondary education,” she said.

Crysta Montiel, a third-year student student studying philosophy at U of T who organized the march along with another student, channelled similar ideas in her speech.

“Under the Conservative government, post-grads will be straddled with mountains of accumulated debt,” she said. “It’s a paradox because we’re unable to find a job to pay it all. And the only way to break the cycle is to have free education for all.”

UTSU in consultation with Ontario government on designing opt-out option for fees

Union intends to leverage rare lobbying position, some directors argue at cost of showing stronger support for students

Some UTSU directors preferred to focus on student engagement rather than Anne Boucher’s top-down approach.

ADAM A. LAM/THE VARSITY

Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) presented a lobbyingbased strategy for responding to the provincial government’s changes to postsecondary education in an emergency meeting held by its Board of Directors on January 24.

This is in response to Premier Doug Ford’s government announcement last week that it would give students the option of opting out of “non-essential” fees, cut free tuition for low-income students, and cut tuition by 10 per cent.

At the emergency board meeting, UTSU President Anne Boucher said that the union was one of the few across the province to be meeting with the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (MTCU), and was thus in a rare position to lobby the provincial government.

The UTSU’s strategy emphasizes making the most out of its unique position to be consulted by the MTCU, the ministry responsible for designing and announcing specifics for these policy changes. The UTSU itself is largely funded by incidental fees and is therefore in a risky position if its currently mandatory fees are deemed opt-out.

Boucher specified that representatives from the University of Waterloo, Western University, and perhaps only a few more universities have been in consultation with the MTCU, during a Varsity interview after the meeting.

These student union consultations come after The Varsity asked TCU Minister Merrilee Fullerton at her January 17 press conference whether her office had met with student groups in developing these policy changes, to which she was unable to give a clear answer.

Who the UTSU is speaking to and what it is negotiating in favour of

In a question period, University College (UC) Director Lina Maragha asked Boucher about the direction that she is taking in lobbying and what the UTSU is trying to advocate for.

Boucher responded by saying that the UTSU was taking a “two-prong approach.”

The first priority is for the UTSU to concentrate on talks with the MTCU. The second priority is to speak with local MPPs. While they have limited influence on the legislative process, noted Boucher, the UTSU does wish to “see if there’s any way that they can help.”

Boucher said that the UTSU’s goal regarding the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) is to have students “see the same support that they had before the announcement, as much as possible.”

Addressing the opt-out option for non-tuition fees, Boucher said that the UTSU is aiming to “make recommendations to the [legislative] framework directly that would essentially safeguard our groups,” which include clubs on campus that directly affect student life.

Boucher noted that this seemed to be the UTSU’s best option to negotiate and compromise, as it would be unrealistic to ask the MTCU to reverse its position on OSAP and nontuition fees entirely.

The UTSU had met once with the MTCU before the emergency board meeting, “and it’s one of many meetings to come,” said Boucher.

Aims to reach students with social media campaign

Boucher noted that, in focusing efforts on lobbying, the UTSU’s efforts have not been as visible to students, as there are obstacles to transparency regarding negotiations.

To combat this, Boucher said that the UTSU is initiating a social media campaign named “UTSU With You,” aimed at giving its membership updates on the negotiation process and a platform to share thoughts.

Boucher mentioned that the UTSU has been using stories it received in conversations with the government, and that “case studies are something that really speaks to them.”

Boucher also noted that Vice-President University Affairs Josh Grondin will be in consultation with U of T, as the university will “have some discretion over what this will look like.”

She reiterated that the goal of Grondin’s talks will be to “make sure that the student fees and the student levies are protected through all of this.”

Opposition among directors

Boucher’s top-down approach was faced with opposition by directors favouring a greater focus on student engagement.

Directors took specific concern with the perceived weakness of the UTSU’s January 17 statement against the government’s announcements.

Maragha said that UC students visiting her during her office hours have felt a “disparity between their vocalized concerns with the OSAP’s cut and the UTSU’s response.” She specifically remembered a student calling the statement “robotic.”

In response, Boucher acknowledged that the wording of the statement had been “very diplomatic,” but said that this was a conscious choice “with reason, and not because we don’t care about the issue.”

Maragha followed up by saying that a more “aggressive approach” was important, because “the Ford administration did decide to… throw us under the bus.”

“I think it’s really important to consider their voices, and they’re not happy with the strength of our approach right now.”

Boucher responded by agreeing that the UTSU has to take students’ perceptions into consideration since, if the fees do become opt-out, the UTSU’s actions in the present may influence students’ choices to remain opted-in.

However, she said that the key question for the UTSU was, “Do we want to have the opportunity to make change, or do we want to seem supported?”

“It’s one thing to take more direct action, but if the effects of that is that we lose that seat, then sure, we’re placating people who are upset with us for not being as visible, but we lose that opportunity to make that change.”

Woodsworth College Director Octavia Andrade-Dixon also noted that “from being on the ground, the UTSU isn’t necessarily fully understood by students or even very popular,” and advocated for increased “direct engagement” to address that.

She recommended an active approach of reaching out to club executives to communicate progress on the UTSU’s advocacy, which Boucher supported.

UC Director Tyler Riches also noted from his interactions with UC students that the UTSU is “being perceived as passive,” and requested that the executives share progress on MTCU negotiations as soon as possible for wider dissemination.

Likely outcomes for the UTSU

A likely outcome of the MTCU consultations will be of the UTSU splitting its fees into several categories to become more “transparent” for students, which Boucher described as “one of the few common-ground points that we actually have with the government right now.”

Boucher told The Varsity that, in the best-case scenario resulting from consultations with the MTCU, the UTSU and campus groups may not have their fees and levies affected by the government’s opt-out options for students.

In this case, campus groups that “directly serve” students, such as those that are a part of Hart House, Student Life, and student societies, would also not be affected. However, external groups and other groups that “don’t directly serve” students would see their fees become optional for students to support.

In another scenario, Boucher said that only part of the UTSU’s fees and levies may become optional to students, while others would continue to be mandatory.

Grondin noted in the meeting that he thinks “it’s safe to assume that the part of our fee that could be most atrisk is the lobbying, advocacy type of campaigning work that we do.”

He advocated for directors to help with the UTSU’s archive project, which aims to document a “concrete list” of initiatives that the UTSU had previously lobbied for, in order to better communicate to students what advocacy work the UTSU does.

Finally, in the least-favourable scenario to the UTSU, students would be able to opt out of all fees broken down by the UTSU. Parliamentary Assistant to the TCU minster David Piccini told The Varsity that the government plans to continue consultations with students.

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From Ten Editions to none: “it’s a loss to the city”

Sussex and Spadina bookstore shuts down after 35 years to pave way for U of T residence Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

Susan Duff is still in disbelief. For more than three decades, her family had operated Ten Editions, a secondhand bookstore well known for its vast collection on urban Toronto. Located on the western edge of UTSG, it was a popular spot for students, Annex residents, and curious tourists who were looking for a rare find.

Late last year, however, she received bad news. In August, the University of Toronto reached an agreement with the City of Toronto and local neighbourhood groups to finally allow construction of a new student residence at the corner of Sussex Avenue and Spadina Avenue, on land currently occupied by the bookstore and neighbouring businesses.

The report hit Duff hard. “How can the university say that a coffee shop is more important to a student housing building than a bookstore?” she said, referencing a report in the Annex Post that said U of T Vice-President University Operations Scott Mabury was considering a restaurant or café as a possibility to replace the bookstore at retail level in the new building.

“I cannot believe that supposedly

they’re in the business of helping students and somehow they think that [a] coffee shop helps students more than a bookstore.”

Despite Duff ’s claim that U of T is replacing the bookstore with a café, Mabury told The Varsity that they “have made no plans going forward about what will be in” the new student residence.

“We have not formally even had a discussion about what we’re going to have in the retail portion of the building,” Mabury said. “We’ve barely just completed the architectural design that has required and necessitated significant incorporation of the existing building into the overall project for heritage purposes.”

History of development plans

This announcement was years in the making. The residence at 698–706 Spadina Avenue and 54 Sussex Avenue was first proposed in 2013 as a way to alleviate the growing need for student housing. Almost immediately, stakeholders raised concerns about its proposed height, the mix of students, and heritage considerations.

In February 2017, the Toronto and East York Community Council voted to designate the building in which Ten Edi-

tions operated as a heritage site. Built in 1885, 698 Spadina “has design value as an example of a late 19th century cornerstore building type designed with a high degree of craftsmanship in the late Victorian style,” according to a city report.

Later in the year, the city rejected the building proposal, with a report from municipal staff concluding that the residence was inconsistent with provincial plans and was not an appropriate location given its planned 23-storey height. In an attempt to keep the project alive, U of T entered into provincial mediation with the Ontario Municipal Board.

Last summer, the issue was finally resolved, with the university agreeing to limit the height of the building, reduce number of beds, and cap the proportion of first-year students in the residence to 60 per cent. U of T also agreed to renovate the long-closed and rundown Robert Street Playing Field, just west of the building, and open it to the public.

Effects on Ten Editions

The resolution, however, meant that Duff had to close down her family’s long-held business. When I visited Ten Editions on January 11, the bookstore had been closed for almost two weeks and was almost bare, save for a small collection left for any wandering passerby to pick up, and random signs reading “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Halloween.”

With the faint sounds of classical music playing on the radio in the background, Duff had told me that for years, the local community had asked the university to keep Ten Editions and incorporate the bookstore within the new residence. Duff claimed U of T was not listening.

The original building will be incorporated into U of T’s designs.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

“They never really said no,” she said of the university. “They said ‘Oh, we’ll write your suggestions down.’ And you’d go to the next meeting and it would be the same thing. You know, ‘What does the neighbourhood want?’ The neighbourhood would like to keep the bookstore.”

Mabury, however, believes the meetings went well. He said that the mediation process through the OMB was a “productive exercise… I suppose we should have just tried that route sooner.” He also said that the number of students living in the residence “will inform what kind of a retail presence we hope for the building.”

Duff added, “Someone just five minutes ago told me books enrich the spirit of the city. How does the university not understand that?”

Sue Dexter, the U of T Liaison for the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, decried the decreasing number of bookstores in the city in general and called the university “opportunistic.”

“I go past [Ten Editions] once a week,”

Dexter said, “and each time in the last two weeks I’ve passed, there have been people looking in the windows and they turn to me and say, ‘Is it still open?’ and I say, ‘No, it isn’t.’”

According to Dexter, the bookstore was particularly remarkable because “it had everything” to offer.

“It’s a loss to the community,” she said.

“It’s surprising that a university would participate in annihilating a secondhand bookstore because there were a lot of academics that went through there and you see them picking up a dozen books.”

The Harbord Village Residents’ Association tried to help Ten Editions survive, but the bookstore eventually had to close down on New Year’s Eve. As for Duffy, she laid out her plans for a future that still involves books.

“I'm going to do nothing for six months,” she said, chuckling. “That’s my first plan. I’m going to open all the boxes I took home and read the books I never had time to read.”

Graduate Students’ Union elects new Internal Commissioner, grants temporary unconditional media access Approval of draft financial statements proves contentious, quorum for special meeting lowered

UTGSU General Council members voted Justin Patrick as the new Internal Commissioner.

DINA DONG/THE VARSITY

Ilya Bañares & Reut Cohen Varsity Editors

Media access and the organization’s financial transparency were major topics of discussion at the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union’s (UTGSU) General Council meeting on January 22.

Political Science student appointed new Internal Commissioner

The General Council voted to elect Justin Patrick, a first-year master’s candidate in the Department of Political Science, as the UTGSU’s new Internal Commissioner (IC). The move comes after the previous IC, Lynne Alexandrova, was pushed out of office at a November 26 council meeting. The Executive Committee alleged that she had not been fulfilling her duties.

According to UTGSU executives, Alexandrova did not circulate a report on her ongoing activities before an executive meeting on October 16, in contradiction of the organization’s bylaws.

Alexandrova told The Varsity last year

that she had released her report before the November 15 meeting.

Following Alexandrova’s removal, UTGSU Executive-at-Large Maryssa Barras was appointed interim IC until the January by-election. Barras also served as the chair of the January 22 meeting, following the resignation of previous chair Evan Rosevear due to academic commitments.

Patrick ran against Nicholas Lindsay, a first-year master’s student in the Faculty of Information. Following short speeches, in which Lindsay promised to support the incumbent executives, and Patrick campaigned on making “sure the students see us as legitimate,” the initial vote resulted in a tie. After a re-vote was conducted, Patrick was announced the winner.

Earlier in the meeting, UTGSU executives read a statement on recent events involving Alexandrova. The executives alleged that Alexandrova continued to use office keys to access resources and engage in “confrontation” with student union staff members, despite having been removed from office. Furthermore, they alleged that Alexandrova had con-

tacted a law firm asking to procure its services, and that they felt it was their “fiduciary duty” to inform the General Council of this, although no charges were incurred as the law firm contacted the UTGSU for verification.

In response, Alexandrova said she had returned the keys “very, very gently” after the November 26 council meeting and had emailed people to inform them of the change in office. Alexandrova asked executives for more details on the alleged “confrontation,” but staff members declined to comment in public because it was a human resources issue. Alexandrova said that the only person she recalled encountering in the office was UTGSU Executive Director David Eaton, but she was cut off by the speaker and executives after this statement.

General Council votes to grant media temporary unconditional access to meetings

Media policy was another major point of discussion at the council meeting.

Although it was a separate agenda item, it became a topic of debate at the start of the meeting because members of The Varsity had to be seated by the meeting’s chair, then granted speaking rights by the council.

Separate motions were also passed to allow The Varsity to photograph and live tweet the events of the meeting, both of which were subject to debate.

This comes after Varsity reporters were kicked out of the UTGSU’s December General Council meeting for live tweeting the events of the meeting at the direction of their editors, contradicting a ruling from the chair against live tweeting.

The Varsity was granted permission to photograph the events of the evening, as long as members present were able to opt out of having their image published. Debate on photography touched on whether or not members of the Executive Committee are considered public officials. Although members of the Executive Committee are elected by the membership of the UTGSU, which comprises around 18,000 students, the union is a private corporation.

The General Council was presented with eight options for a media policy, each proposing varying degrees of access to UTGSU meetings.

There was also the potential of including punitive measures in the media policy, which would ban individual representatives of a media organization, or the media organization itself, for a period of one year, should they violate the terms of the media policy.

The Varsity’s Editor-in-Chief, Jack Denton, along with other General Council members, spoke in favour of the unconditional access option, noting that The Varsity has systems in place for adjudicating complaints about its coverage should they arise.

After debate, a motion was passed to recommend the unconditional access policy for further development by the union, and for this recommendation to temporarily govern media access at the next General Council meeting on February 26.

After failed AGM, council changes quorum for special meeting

Another item on the agenda was a bylaw amendment that would reduce the quorum for a special meeting of the union.

The UTGSU is required to hold a special meeting to present its draft financial statements for the 2017–2018 fiscal year to its membership, following a failure to do so at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December 3. Statements were also not made available to the membership with the proper notice of 13 days prior to the meeting.

In a “letter of accountability” published on December 6, the Executive Committee stated, “Due to the reallocation of duties among the UTGSU’s Executive and Staff in the weeks leading up to the AGM, gaps in oversight created failures in upholding our responsibilities to the General Membership, and we hold ourselves directly accountable.”

During the General Council meeting immediately following the December 3 AGM, Finance Commissioner Branden Rizzuto had said that the failure put the student union at risk of defaulting to the university. The executives have since confirmed that the Office of the ViceProvost Students has accepted the 2017– 2018 financial audit. Rizzuto said at the January 22 meeting that although there will be no financial impact if the union does not present its financial statements to the membership, it will be doing so at the special meeting in order to avoid contravening its own bylaws.

The proposed amendment would have reduced the number of members necessary to hold a special meeting from 300 members to 100, the same as the quorum for AGMs. The motion was amended to change the number from 100 members to 150, and was then passed.

Disclosure: Justin Patrick has previously written for The Varsity.

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 5

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Former BC Premier Christy Clark speaks at U of T on women in leadership Clark: “‘Nice’ is not a necessary attribute for male leaders.”

Michael Mejia Varsity Contributor

Former Premier of British Columbia Christy Clark spoke at Innis Town Hall on January 22 about issues facing women looking to rise to positions of leadership.

The event was hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and ran as a part of the Women in Leadership series of the David Peterson Public Leadership Program.

Clark held the office of premier for six and a half years — the longestserving female premier in Canadian history.

She began her talk by highlighting one of her inspirations, Queen Elizabeth I. Clark praised the queen as a powerful example of women in leadership, calling her “massively successful.” When talking about the queen’s success, Clark refers specifically to the economic success during her tenure — even after inheriting a bankrupt state from her father, King Henry VIII. Using this as a segue, Clark moved into one of the issues that plague

women who wish to rise to leadership status, which she called the “‘nice and compliant’ versus ‘tough and confident’ paradox.”

According to Clark, this describes current societal pressures and expectations of women. Women who don’t conform are seen as “out of step with society’s expectations for what females should look like and how we should behave.”

“Navigating that very thin line between being tough enough to hold your own in male-dominated environments while at the same time remaining feminine enough to stay there,” is a unique experience for women, said Clark. “‘Nice’ is not a necessary attribute for male leaders.”

Clark then began to describe her own experiences in office. She discussed the difficult transition after entering office following her predecessor, Gordon Campbell, who had resigned from office. Clark said that critics at the time were incredibly cynical of her potential.

The issue, Clark said, stemmed

from the fact that she “had not had time to accumulate a strong record.”

Prior to becoming premier, Clark had served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from 1996–2005, and throughout her tenure was appointed as the Minister of Children and Family Development and the Minister of Education.

As Minister of Education, Clark instituted various controversial changes to the education system, which were then overruled by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Speaking on the lack of confidence that people had in her, Clark said, “I am not sure if I could have survived those first two years as an unelected premier without a few influential men to give me credibility in the eyes of my critics.”

Clark acknowledged that women requiring male allies to rise to power might be less than ideal. She said that women “have to deal with the reality we live in, not the reality we wish existed.” That reality being the “maleprivileged” society we live in, according to Clark.

Reddit post sparks conversation on “microtransactions,” digital learning service fees Students speak out against use of for-profit third-party academic tools in classes

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY

Andy Takagi Associate News Editor

After multiple posts on Reddit lodged complaints against the use of mandatory third-party academic tools, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) announced efforts to work with the university to address fees associated with digital learning services such as TopHat, WileyPlus, and McGraw-Hill Connect.

University guidelines

The university does have pre-existing guidelines on digital learning services, including a threshold for charging students $65 per half-credit. Services tied to publishing companies such as MindTap and WileyPlus charge $59.95 and $60 respectively, just below the mandated threshold. MindTap is owned by Cengage, an online textbook publishing company, and WileyPlus is a digital service provided by Wiley, a textbook

publishing company.

The guidelines also stipulate that, if fees exceed the $65 threshold, alternative options must be provided for assessments made through these digital learning services.

Students must also be allowed to purchase the digital components separately, meaning that purchasing e-textbooks bundled with learning service codes must not be mandatory.

U of T spokesperson Elizabeth Church told The Varsity that the university does not receive any incentives for using digital learning services.

“Professors determine which resources are best for their course and may choose to use digital resources to meet their teaching and learning goals.”

Professors on why they use digital learning services

In various statements to The Varsity, professors justified their use of these digital learning services by saying that

it enriched students’ learning experiences — although some lamented the fact that they were necessary.

All the professors who provided comment denied ever receiving any form of incentive to use these services and affirmed that they accommodate students who cannot afford or have difficulty affording the class’ digital learning service.

Professor Kripa Freitas, whose ECO206: Microeconomic Theory course used TopHat last year, emphasized that paid learning services were not her first choice when finding a system that integrated multiple-choice and short answer responses.

TopHat is an educational software from a Toronto-based company.

Freitas however noted that TopHat is useful for larger, second-year courses and helps to actively engage “every student in class.”

“I know I re-evaluate my use of any paid extras every time I teach. I explain my reasons for using them to students clearly and solicit student feedback continuously.”

For PSY201: Statistics I and PSY202: Statistics II, Professor Molly Metz uses MindTap, an application that she has not been offered incentives to use, although she has “heard of this happening, at many institutions.”

“I also know of many colleagues who have refused to use the products offered by these companies because of their distaste with what they (and I) see as unethical behaviour,” wrote Metz.

Metz, like Freitas, believes that using applications like MindTap serves to help engage students and create a better learning environment by using a system that allows for fast and regular response times on problem sets. She also added that MindTap is included in the textbook,

However, she is optimistic about political career and parental obligathe future. Once enough women rise tions. to power, Clark believes that there At the end of her speech, Clark adwill be more equality in terms of in- dressed the women in the audience fluencers. As a result, there will be a who had an interest in holding public growth in women supporting women. office and leadership positions. She Clark believes that one highly pro- offered the following words of engressive aspect of her government — couragement: “The world is not going an aspect that Clark admitted she did to change for the better, unless we get not highlight at the time — was that into it. The world will only become a about half the caucus during her ten- better place when there are more of ure were women, she said. us.”

“We were well on our way to creating a world filled with female influencers.”

Clark then went on to outline some of the decisions she made in office that led to the exponential growth of the province’s economy during her tenure.

Clark said that one of her biggest achievements was her re-election with a plurality of votes — a monumental step for the longestserving female premier.

During the question period, Clark was asked about her experiences as a new mother in office. Clark replied that she had had certain privileges, such as being able to have her child in the legislature with her, which allowed her to succeed. However, it was a difficult situClark was the longest serving female premier in Canada. ation to handle one’s VICTORIA MCCUTCHEON/THE VARSITY and thus is not an additional cost to the course, but integrated in the core cost.

However, the cost of digital learning services cannot be transferred in the same way used textbooks can be sold to another student.

ESS205: Confronting Global Change Professor Miriam Diamond, PHY205: The Physics of Everyday Life Professor Brian Wilson, and AST251: Life on Other Worlds Professor Michael Reid all echoed their colleagues’ sentiments, underscoring that no free alternatives of equal quality to these digital learning services are available.

Reid also emphasized that TopHat has had a real, positive effect on student engagement.

On the possibility of a singular, university-wide system, Reid wrote, “At a university as big as U of T, it’s very difficult to obtain the necessary consensus across diverse departments and faculties. Still, it’s something to which I think we can aspire.”

Professor Avi Cohen uses MyEconLab for ECO105: Principles of Economics for Non-Specialists, and also denied ever receiving incentives to use the application. However, he also disclosed at the top of his email that “I am an author for Pearson Canada. My textbooks and associated MyEconLab software are assigned for ECO105Y.” MyEconLab is the economics learning software for Pearson, an education publishing company.

Justifying his use of MyEconLab, Cohen wrote, “I view these expenditures as smart financial choices. The benefits… far exceed the costs.” Benefits cited include Canvas integration and 24/7 technical support.

“The motivation for using these paid applications is that they provide a much better learning experience for students, and better administrative efficiency for instructors than ‘free alternatives.’ You get what you pay for.”

Crowd-sourced information on fees

Following Reddit posts made by u/ rhymenasourus, u/NoOutsideFeesUofT, and u/Kluey on the U of T subreddit, Christopher Dryden, a computer en-

gineering student and former UTSU director, compiled a list of classes and professors that use paid digital learning services.

According to Dryden’s crowdsourced list, TopHat gains more than $200,000 from some 7,000 students who use its digital learning services across 27 classes.

Cohen’s class is also listed in Dryden’s list, and with a maximum potential class size of 897, Pearson’s MyEconPlus generates upward of $100,000 from ECO105 students in a given year. This year, there are roughly 730 students enrolled in ECO105, according to U of T’s timetable.

The Varsity was unable to independently verify the information as it was anonymously crowdsourced.

The UTSU responds

UTSU Vice-President University Affairs Joshua Grondin wrote in a statement to The Varsity that he is working with Dryden and Spencer Robertson, President of the University of Toronto Tabletop Gaming Club and another active user on the U of T subreddit, to prepare a report for the Business Board of Governing Council.

The report will include student feedback, clarification on the incentive structures for professors, and data on classes that use digital learning services.

Grondin stated that their ultimate goal is for the university to purchase an institution-wide subscription for digital learning services, and if that fails, for the university to institute stronger regulations on these services and disallow any ties between student use and evaluation.

At the very least, Grondin hopes to ensure that prices for digital learning services are included in course descriptions.

“It is my belief that when it comes to gaining full marks in a course, students should not have to pay anything above what they have already paid in tuition fees. If a professor wants to use these materials for graded exercises/quizzes, the cost needs to be covered by the university through tuition and ancillary fees, not a separate transaction.”

Dryden did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment.

6 | THE VARSITY | NEWS

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UTMSU Board of Directors votes to increase student levies Union fee to increase by 2.3 per cent, U-Pass fees to increase by 7.5 per cent

Two slates face off in Scarborough Campus Students’ Union elections

SCU Reform President Anup Atwal running against current VP Equity Chemi Lhamo Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

A year after a controversial campaign that saw a presidential candidate disqualified twice and protests that injured a chief returning officer, the 2019 election period for the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) has begun.

Two major slates are facing each other. Shine Bright UTSC, led by Chemi Lhamo, is campaigning on a platform of making the student experience “bright,” according to its Facebook page, while SCSYou, led by Anup Atwal, is running on implementing reforms within the student union.

Shine Bright UTSC

The board voted to establish a coalition to combat the Ford government’s cuts to postsecondary education.

COCO CHEN/THE VARSITY

Zeahaa Rehman UTM Bureau Chief

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) Board of Directors voted on January 23 to increase student levies.

The meeting began with reports from the executives on what they had done in the past month. Vice-President University Affairs Andres Posada announced the approval of the UTMSU’s proposed Course Retake Policy, which passed last week at a Governing Council meeting. The Course Retake Policy would allow students to use one repeated course in their GPA. Vice-President Equity Leena Arbaji reported on the UTMSU’s newly opened Food Centre, which provides access to food for food-insecure students.

Student levy increases

The board then turned its attention toward proposals about increasing student levies for services provided by the UTMSU, such as the UTMSU’s Food Bank, Erindale College Speciality Emergency Response Team (ECSpeRT), the UTMSU’s Student Refugee Program, the Mississauga Transit U-Pass, Student Societies, and Academic Societies.

All the increases passed, meaning that in total UTMSU members will be paying at least $9.14 more per session, pending UTM Campus Council approval.

According to Munib Sajjad, Executive Director of the UTMSU, these fees are “like a membership fee that everyone pays into for obviously overall operations. Everything is covered from the membership fee.”

The UTMSU board approved a student society fee increase from $14.86 per student per semester to $15.20. It also approved an academic society fee increase from $1.08 to $1.10 — which marks an increase of 2.3 per cent each.

The board approved increases of the same rate for the UTMSU’s food bank fee, student refugee program fee, and ECSpeRT fee.

The food bank fee has therefore increased from $0.59 to $0.60, while the student refugee program increased from $1.16 to $1.19, and the ECSpeRT fee increased from $0.56 to $0.57 per student per semester.

The next item consisted of a levy increase to the UTMSU’s Mississauga Transit U-Pass, which allows all UTM students universal access to the MiWay transit. The U-Pass is based on a contract between the UTMSU and the City of Mississauga.

The board approved a 7.5 per cent increase for the fall-winter U-Pass fee, from $116.40 to $125.13 per student per semester, and a 6.5 per cent increase in the summer U-Pass fee, from $154.50 to $164.54.

“This [raise] also includes some of the administrative fees we have to take on by hiring about 16 students and helping pay for a U-Pass coordinator,” explained Sajjad.

The motion passed, marking the end of all student levy increases.

Health & Dental plan, coalition against Premier Ford’s postsecondary changes

Following the levy increases, the board voted to form a Health and Dental Ad-Hoc Committee to develop a health and dental plan for UTM students.

This comes as the UTMSU voted to separate from the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) last year. UTM students previously paid a fee to the UTSU to administer its Health & Dental Plan.

Division I Director Sheri Hijazi, Division II Director Valentino Gomes, and Division III Director Zeina Jamaleddine were elected to the committee.

The room then discussed a motion proposed by Vice-President External Atif Abdullah’s motion to establish a coalition to combat the changes to postsecondary education funding announced by the provincial government on January 17.

The coalition would involve student unions, labour unions, student organizations, faculty associations, and community groups.

Abdullah’s proposal maintained that the announcement was a “direct assault on student unions [and] their autonomy” and jeopardized many student union services “such as Clubs funding, Universal Transit Pass Programs, [and] Health and Dental Insurance.”

“With [the provincial government’s] decision, every student will be impeached,” said Abdullah. “If it’s not OSAP, then it’s a club or society. If it’s not that, then you’re an international student and your tuition could shoot up because the university has to make up its lost funding from somewhere.”

“We don’t want you folks to be scared,” said Nagata. “We want you folks to be angry and excited [for] what is to come.”

With the passing of Abdullah’s motion, the meeting adjourned.

The UTMSU will present the approved levy changes to the UTM Campus Council at its meeting next Wednesday, January 30.

Lhamo, the current SCSU Vice-President Equity, centres her platform for president on hosting a career fair, lobbying the government to prioritize free postsecondary education, and creating a central calendar for all campus events. Lhamo cruised to victory last year as a part of Rise Up UTSC in an election that resulted in a split-ticket executive.

Raymond Dang, currently the Director of Political Science on the SCSU board, is running for Vice-President Academics and University Affairs under the Shine Bright UTSC slate, along with Leon Tsai, current Director of Historical and Cultural Studies, who is contending for VicePresident Equity.

Dang and Tsai made headlines in December last year when the SCSU Board of Directors voted to allocate $7,000 in additional funds to a Women’s and Trans Centre (WTC) conference, despite students rejecting the proposal and reducing the amount to $2,500 at the November SCSU Annual General Meeting.

At a following December board meeting, Dang motioned to give the WTC an additional $4,500 to complete the $7,000 that it requested, with Tsai, also WTC External Coordinator, supporting Dang.

In December, Dang also proposed a controversial motion to control media access to SCSU meetings.

Also on the Shine Bright UTSC slate is Kali Tadesse, the current Director of the Centre for French and Linguistics, who is running for VicePresident External. Tadesse is officially listed on the SCSU’s website as Kalkidan Alemayehu.

UTSC students Kevin Turingan and Sarah Mohamed are running for Vice-President Operations and Vice-President Campus Life respectively.

SCSYou

Leading the SCSYou slate is Atwal, the President of the Scarborough Campus Union (SCU) Reform club. Atwal is campaigning on a platform of reforming the SCSU, implementing online voting for future elections, banning the slate system, and imposing a one-term limit on elected executive and director positions.

Also on SCSYou is Ray Alibux, who is running for Vice-President Operations. Alibux was a presidential candidate in last year’s elections, in which he placed second behind UTSC Voice’s Nicole Brayiannis.

Along with Rise Up UTSC’s Deena Hassan, Alibux was initially disqualified from the race, but was later reinstated. Hassan was also reinstated, but eventually disqualified for a second and last time.

Carly Sahagian, the President of the Armenian Students’ Association, is campaigning to become the next Vice-President Academics and University Affairs. UTSC students Tebat Kadhem, who ran and lost in the Toronto city council Ward 42 by-election in 2017, and Chaman Bukhari, are running for Vice-President Equity and VicePresident External respectively.

SCSYou did not put up a candidate for VicePresident Campus Life, Atwal confirmed to The Varsity.

U of T proposes joining Faculty of Forestry with John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design Forestry facing lack of resources, declining number of students Hannah Carty Varsity Staff

The Faculty of Forestry could join the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design as of July 1, according to a new proposal that will go through the governance process in early May. If passed, the change will endeavour to retain the forestry faculty as is, keeping all of the current staff and possibly expanding the faculty’s offerings in conjunction with Daniels. The proposal would not affect undergraduate course offerings.

Robert Wright, dean of the Faculty of Forestry, told U of T News that “combining the Daniels and forestry faculties will pave the way for more collaboration and interdisciplinary research.”

One of the main reasons behind the proposed change is the faculty’s lack of resources.

It does not have its own undergraduate program and is unable to offer all classes every year.

The Forestry Graduate Students’ Association (FGSA) noted that it has been involved in the consultation process with the dean, and that it is organizing a town hall for graduate students to express their opinions.

“One of the main concerns to the students… is that the programs stay intact and we have been reassured that the programs will remain the same if this particular proposal were to come to fruition,” wrote the FGSA in an email to The Varsity.

There will be another round of consultations before the proposal enters the governance process, according to Cheryl Regehr, U of T Vice-President and Provost.

“Over the years, the number of students in the Faculty of Forestry has declined and so this is a way of being able to create new synergy and create new programs,” said Regehr.

She noted that an important area of collaboration between forestry and Daniels is urban forests, as well as “the way in which forest products might be used in architectural design.”

Business

January 28, 2019 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Axel Villamil on rewiring the modern artist

TEDxUTSC speaker, CEO, dancer on doing what resonates most

Julie Shi Deputy Senior Copy Editor

Ahead of this Saturday’s TEDxUTSC Resonance event, what resonates most with UTSC alum and TEDx speaker Axel Villamil is the journey of finding who he wanted to be.

Graduating in 2017 with a double major in computer science and media studies, Villamil tells me that he “had zero clue what [he] was doing even going into these programs.” All he really knew was that he was passionate about not only math and technology, but also media and the arts.

After his first taste of performing at the Stratford Festival when he was eight, becoming a professional hip hop dancer at 14, and starting his own production company, Red Label Studios, at 16, Villamil “decided to combine [his] passions” in technology and the arts a few months before graduating. Born from the conflicts in scheduling and choreography that he encountered while competing in the international hip hop scene and attending classes, his application StageKeep was “the perfect blend… of technology and the arts.”

Mixing the arts and technology

Villamil is the co-founder of StageKeep, an app that helps dancers choreograph their routines.

Courtesy of STAGEKEEP

“I felt like StageKeep represented an idea of mixing two things that were normally not seen together be successful,” he says. StageKeep was nurtured into a full business by Villamil and fellow UTSC alum and co-founder William Mak at UTSC’s startup accelerator, The Hub. The formation management app allows choreographers and performers to coordinate routines digitally, avoiding the complications of rough pencil sketches and scheduling rehearsals that everyone can attend. Live demonstrations later helped the app gain the at-

tention of CBC’s Dragon’s Den and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Since the app’s launch at Entrepreneurship@UofT Week last March, a number of students have shown interest in StageKeep. Villamil was “honoured and touched” when he realized that he was “able to inspire others to mix their passions.”

Since Villamil is a freelance designer and developer in addition to being a CEO and founder of three companies, I asked him how he approaches each project proposal that he receives from his collaborators — not ‘clients,’ he explains, because, as set designer Es Devlin told him at a recent Hxouse conference, the history of the word is rooted in subordination and dependency.

As is fitting for his background, Villamil uses Venn diagrams to illustrate his creative process: “There’s always this Venn diagram of what you want to do as an artist and what those people want to pay you for. Your job is to find that intersection in that Venn diagram for the relationship to work.”

Villamil says that while creating something that is both beautiful and fulfils the collaborators’ intentions is important, he encourages creatives to treat their work with respect.

“Love what you do and humble yourself. Be selfish [with your art] because you only have so much time in this world, so you should be doing what fulfills you as a person. Love what you do because without passion, your art is meaningless.”

“Make something worth your time and soul… Life is not easy and the journey in entrepreneurship and being a creative can be heavy, so you might as well be doing what you’re passionate about. Don’t waste time doing something you don’t love.”

Moving forward, Villamil wants to bring out the best in all of his companies, starting with breaking more norms and

continuing to explore the confluence between the arts and technology. In particular, Villamil wants to replace the image of starving artists with that of smart and technologically advanced ones. The first step, he says, is understanding that where art has inspired so many fields, including technology, “the technology industry should inspire art back.”

“Doer of all”

At this point, you’d be correct in noting that Villamil has touched bases with a lot of different fields and areas of interest.

Discussing the original focus of his talk with TEDx organizer Piyal Sarker, he realized that despite talking about being fearless and pursuing entrepreneurship, he can still struggle with doubts.

The talk that Villamil will present at TEDx on Saturday is titled “Doer of all, Master of none.” But while Villamil admits that he hates the feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy that this title suggests, when he suggested the title, he hadn’t realized that there is more to this adage.

In full, the quotation reads: “Doer of all, Master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one.” For Villamil, that last clause is the most important part.

He describes himself now as “a generalist.” Because of the sheer quantity of their skills, he explains, “generalists are more likely to be innovative,” and this is the key idea that he wants his audience to grasp — that, “especially in this day and age, we need more innovation to change the world.”

At the end of the day, he says, “Everyone deserves to do what makes them happy. The journey is not easy, but everyone can do it.”

TEDxUTSC 2019: Resonance will take place February 2 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at UTSC.

What is the University Pension Plan?

Joint pension plan could ease U of T’s financial burden, allow for greater financial manoeuvrability Andrea Tambunan Varsity Contributor

In August 2017, U of T announced the establishment of a joint pension plan — aptly named the University Pension Plan (UPP) — with Queen’s University, the University of Guelph, and the United Steelworkers Union. Over a year and a half later, few details about the plan have been made widely available. Let’s take a deeper look inside the UPP and what it means for faculty and staff.

What is the UPP?

The proposed UPP follows a standard multi-employer, jointly sponsored pension plan ( JSPP). Simply put, it collects all pension funds from faculty and staff of each university into a single pool, allowing employers equal governance and responsibility over the shared funds. Its goal is to reduce the risk of investing for a single employer while improving transparency and returns.

At the second U of T Planning and Budget Committee meeting on January 10, U of T Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr said that all 22 Ontario universities and their major labour groups had initially been involved in the discus-

sion of a JSPP; now, only three universities remain.

On U of T’s end, the development of the UPP has been a joint effort since 2014, involving the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) and the unions representing would-be members of the UPP. While the UPP is a joint plan, it does not mean that members have joint liabilities. In an email to The Varsity, UTFA president Cynthia Messenger wrote, “The agreements that establish the plan call for each university to be fully responsible for the unfunded liabilities.”

Messenger added that “the UPP is not funded on the basis of cost sharing among universities.” This means that U of T, with the largest pension fund in the group, would not have to shoulder any financial burdens of the other members.

The UPP would allow for employees and employers to have equal governance over pensions. “Joint sponsorship and joint governance mean that no decision can be made about… the pension plan without the agreement of representatives of plan members,” Messenger wrote.

Why the UPP?

“It is clear that the traditional single-

PEARL CAO/THE VARSITY

employer defined benefit pension plan is extremely vulnerable, both economically and politically,” Messenger said.

Concerns about increasing life expectancy — meaning more frequent payouts — and a trend of low interest rates are among the reasons behind the development of this plan. “The proposal for a jointly sponsored pension plan… gives UTFA members the opportunity to insulate themselves against negative change,” Messenger wrote.

The current provincial government has also been pushing for universities to transition to JSPPs. It claims that a JSPP would force universities to focus on education, rather than pensions. On this issue, Messenger wrote, “There is a risk that the provincial government might impose negative change on the sector’s existing single-university pension plans.”

Under U of T’s current pension plan, the university contributes a significant amount to the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF). These contributions protect employees’ pensions if their employer went out of business.

However, universities in the UPP would no longer make these contributions. “In order to get relief from those special payments [like the PBGF], the government was encouraging organizations like universities to move towards jointly sponsored pension plans,” Regehr said at the Planning and Budget meeting.

If one of the members became solvent — that is, had assets exceeding debt obligations — the JSPP would continue paying out pensions to their members, with no additional payments from the member required.

By easing the financial burden of its pension plan, U of T would be able to reallocate a portion of its funds into other initiatives, including educational strategies.

What’s the next step?

Recently, there have been two sets of negotiations regarding the UPP. The first involves the university administrations and their employees. Messenger said that these negotiations “reached a milestone in October when the design

of the UPP was finalized.”

The second set of negotiations is between the individual bargaining units and employers at each of the three universities. According to Messenger, these “went into high gear in December” and have since been completed.

Now, ratification votes for United Steelworkers Union bargaining units and faculty associations will run through to February. Unrepresented employees and retirees will have their chance to vote on the UPP from April to the end of June. If the vote passes, the next step will land at the Financial Services Commission, which will consider the various possible methods of implementation and application that will result from the consent period.

“For [the] UTFA, the critical question is the security of a defined benefit pension plan for our members over the long term,” Messenger wrote. “What we have come up with is a plan that best protects the interests of plan members and… best protects their key interest — the future of their pension plan.”

Comment

January 28, 2019 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Ending the silence on sexual violence A ban on student-professor relationships is long overdue The new SiV report means time’s up for U of T’s survivor-last approach

U of T must update its policies to keep students safe from harassment Amelia Eaton Student Life Columnist

A report from the sexual assualt advocacy group Silence is Violence highlights the inadequacies of U of T’s current policies.

NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

Cameron Wheeler Varsity Contributor

U of T’s past and present policies on sexual violence have been consistently met with controversy and criticism. Trinity College student Tamsyn Riddle has previously detailed the ways in which U of T failed her. In 2015, the administration repeatedly deflected responsibility and gave Riddle the impression that her case was not important enough to be taken seriously after she was sexually assaulted by another student. At the end of the 17-monthlong ordeal, she filed a human rights complaint against the university and against Trinity College.

More recently, a survivor of sexual violence on campus saw sexual assault charges against her assailant dismissed, although a judge convicted the assailant of assault causing bodily harm that took place at the same time as the sex act. These stories are only the ones that have received media coverage.

Now, criticism has come to a head. Last Monday, campus-community organization Silence is Violence (SiV ) published a groundbreaking report on sexual violence at U of T. The group is experientially-led, meaning that survivors take on driving leadership roles in the fight against sexual violence on Canada’s university campuses.

The three-year long research effort culminated in a 60-page document that held the results of a survey of hundreds of students on their experiences surrounding sexual violence at U of T. The report found that many students have been affected by sexual abuse, that students did not feel supported by U of T’s resources on sexual violence, and that marginalized students felt particularly neglected.

The implications of this report are clear. U of T has failed to fulfil its responsibilities and respond effectively to the needs of survivors on campus. The SiV report has the potential to drive meaningful change by providing U of T with data on the testimonies and the needs of survivors, including instructions and recommendations for improvements to university services, processes, and policies.

The data paints a picture of a chaotic, bureaucratic, and self-interested system, which survivors are forced to navigate in isolation with no proper understanding of what services they are being offered. This system is not friendly, but hostile to victims, especially as they may need to repeat the story of their trauma to numerous staff members. The onus is often placed upon students to research and figure out where they can report instances of sexual violence and where they can find support.

Let’s not mince words. Survivors are in survivor mode. Some may not have the mental stamina to navigate this convoluted system, and we should not ask them to do so. If the university requires what is, for many, the impossible, in order to gain support and justice, then many will be excluded from such support and justice.

The university must not only play a role in helping students navigate the aftermath of such incidents, but should also proactively combat rape culture on campus.

Yet U of T currently has no mention of rape culture in its policy on sexual violence. This is one of the reasons why, in 2017, U of T’s sexual violence policy scored a low letter-grade C from the nationwide student organization Our Turn.

There are reasons why publicly and privately funded institutions like U of T may not address sexual violence on campus in the most effective ways. Consider, for example, that U of T does not adequately advertise the services it provides to deal with sexual violence on campus, leaving many students in the dark. Meanwhile, study groups, co-curricular opportunities, and other university services are thoroughly announced, often by professors on syllabus days.

To advertise after-the-fact services like counselling for survivors, or to campaign and educate against the existing rape culture on campus, risks publicizing the simple fact that sexual violence happens at U of T. Acknowledging the problem does not elevate the reputation of the university. It disparages it.

And recall that reputation is everything to an elite, top-ranked institution like U of T, because it justifies high tuition and boosts enrolment numbers. Applicants are on the hunt for the universities with the best rates of student success and the best academic and co-curricular opportunities, among other qualities. Hence, U of T has a vested interest in suppressing the magnitude of sexual violence on campus from the public. That kind of data and awareness has the potential to negatively affect enrolment and monetary contributions from donors.

Based on the current system’s glaring problems, which survivors at U of T have to navigate, the university obviously has not completed its due diligence in consulting those touched by sexual violence about the services it offers to them. Victims are not asked what services, processes, and outcomes they need; they instead are told what the university is willing to provide.

The research done by SiV means that U of T is in an excellent position to start tackling the problem. The report outlines the anxieties and concerns that students have about the process of reporting sexual violence and the support that U of T offers. U of T can choose to hear these voices and make changes accordingly to policies and service centres. SiV also provides a detailed statement of recommendations on how the university can improve and take meaningful action.

The university must provide an accessible, navigable, survivor-first system to report and find support in the wake of sexual violence, as well as take action against an unchecked rape culture on campus. Time is up for U of T’s survivor-last approach to dealing with sexual violence.

Cameron Wheeler is a second-year English student at Woodsworth College.

A few weeks ago, Brock University allowed Professor David Schimmelpenninck to return to teaching after he had been absent for three years as a result of a discipline in a sexual harassment case involving a student.

Brock students staged a protest in response to the decision, calling for Schimmelpenninck’s resignation. Ultimately, the course was cancelled before the first lecture ever took place, but the professor should never have been allowed to return, and this is not the first time a Canadian university has mishandled a sexual harassment claim.

In recent years, a toxic culture of grooming, harassment, and abuse in academia has been unearthed. Consider the secrecy of the case against a high profile professor at the University of British Columbia in 2016, or the allegations of sexual harassment at Concordia University’s creative writing program that surfaced last year after almost two decades of complaints.

Survivors said that the professors’ unwanted advances left them feeling violated and put their studies at risk. A new report released last week from Silence is Violence U of T contains many troubling stories of professors sexually harassing and assaulting students.

This report should serve as the catalyst for U of T to review its policies on sexual relationships between students and professors.

It may seem antithetical to target ostensibly consensual relationships in order to stop harassment, but it’s time that the university realizes that the potential for a consensual relationship is undercut by the power imbalance between students and faculty members.

Currently, most Canadian universities do not have an explicit ban on these relationships. At U of T, professors may engage in sexual and romantic relationships with students, but are required to report any relationships of this nature to the chair of their department. The department chair is then responsible for relieving the professor of any professional duties relating to the student or appointing a third party to oversee these decisions.

While these guidelines are important for academic integrity, they do not go far enough to protect students or disrupt cultures of grooming and abuse in academia.

American schools like Yale University and Harvard University have already banned romantic and sexual relationships between students and professors for this reason, and U of T should follow their lead.

Anne Boucher, President of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), told Global News that she is in-

clined to believe that a relationship between a student and professor would be acceptable as long as the professor wasn’t directly teaching them because “students are adults.”

However, a professor’s influence goes well beyond a final grade. Professors are often the gatekeepers to networking, research opportunities, and publication. They control spheres of influence that can propel a student’s career forward — or jeopardize it.

Students and professors are part of a larger social hierarchy on campus. A professor’s tenureship, age, and prestige are all powers they have over students — even ones they aren’t teaching. A blanket ban remains the best approach to ensure that any inappropriate abuse of authority is not taking place.

Ironically, some divisions of the university already recognize the ways in which power imbalances can affect consent. In the residence that I lived in during my first year, romantic and sexual relationships between students and residence dons were strictly forbidden. Although the age difference is often only a few years, residence dons are fellow students who first-years are meant to look up to as mentors and be able to turn to for conflict mediation.

Because of this dynamic, a don choosing to pursue a resident is recognized as an inappropriate breach of trust. If romantic and sexual relationships between residents and dons are viewed as inappropriate, then relationships between students and professors — who are often much older and much more powerful — should be all the more unacceptable.

A simple ban on student-professor relationships would also help to protect professors by clearly delineating inadmissible conduct. Professors would no longer be able to feign ignorance when they’ve crossed a line.

Hopefully, this will compel them to cease making advances on students entirely. At the very least, it will demonstrate that the university administration does not condone this behaviour.

Students should not be put in the position of having to make the difficult decision between accepting a professor’s advances or declining and potentially putting their studies and future in jeopardy. Student advocates like Boucher need to recognize that a ban on student-professor relationships is long overdue, and that they should use their powers to push for policy change.

University administrations can no longer ignore the part they play in shaping department cultures. It is time they introduce a new policy banning studentprofessor relationships entirely.

Amelia Eaton is a second-year Political Science and Ethics, Society and Law student at Woodsworth College.

She is The Varsity’s Student Life Columnist.

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 9

var.st/comment

UTMSU, The Medium: learn to co-exist UTM Campus Conservatives: UTMSU’s official opposition Student government and media must do better for campus democracy to function

Group’s criticisms keep accountability, student democracy alive

Mduduzi Mhlang Varsity Contributor

The UTMSU has clashed recently with The Medium, UTM’s student paper.

COCO CHEN/THE VARSITY

Sharmeen Abedi UTM Affairs Columnist

Recently, there has been a wave of controversies surrounding student union and media relations across U of T campuses. In December, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union removed Varsity reporters from a meeting for live-tweeting after attempting to block them from doing so, while the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) moved to control media access to meetings. The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) condemned the SCSU’s actions as abrogations of the free press.

Unfortunately, UTM has not been unaffected by this trend. After the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTMSU) Annual General Meeting (AGM) last November, UTM’s student paper, The Medium, was accused by UTMSU Vice-President External Atif Abdullah of “corner[ing] and harass[ing] a part-time staff member” for information.

The paper responded by publishing a series of opinion pieces that denied these allegations and criticized the UTMSU’s anti-press behaviour. The paper’s Managing Editor, Alicia Boatto, claimed that Abdullah attempted to block its access to public student events following the AGM incident.

Freedom of the press is a necessary condition for democracy to function, and any kind of restrictions can put that freedom at jeopardy.

Governing bodies such as student unions are kept in check and the general public is kept informed through independent media outlets that are free of external interests or pressures.

When student unions restrict the media’s access to meetings, they are weakening their own accountability. Student unions should realize that student journalists are simply fulfilling their responsibilities to the student body.

The Medium, which pointed out the UTMSU’s policy of restricting communication with the press to email only, is justified in its criticism. Student unions should be open to answering inquiries from the media in every conventional capacity, including in person, and at all times.

I should disclose that I have written several times for The Medium’s News section and have faced barriers when student union members do not respond to emails on time. Whether they choose to offer comments or not, the UTMSU has to present some response to inquiries on a regular basis so that articles can be both informative and accurate.

Interestingly, amid this debacle, The Medium also offered Abdullah a chance to explain his

accusations. Abdullah responded by accusing the paper of “poor journalistic integrity” and inaccurate news coverage.

While his perspective does not excuse his behaviour, it is also true that The Medium needs to be held to higher standards. Personally, I have noticed that the quality of the newspaper has dwindled in the past two years, and as both a reader and contributor, I agree that the number of inaccuracies have increased. While speed is essential for news coverage, it should never compromise accuracy.

Furthermore, The Medium’s handling of its dispute with the UTMSU is questionable, especially as it pertains to journalistic ethics. The CAJ clearly states that, “We lose our credibility as fair observers if we write opinion pieces about subjects we also cover as reporters.” The News Editor at The Medium, Ali Taha, was one of the masthead members whose opinion on the dispute was published, even though he covers the UTMSU as a reporter. Furthermore, the dispute, where it concerns the UTMSU AGM, specifically focuses on him and Abdullah.

Clearly, The Medium has a conflict of interest in this issue. In order to remain fair and credible, news reporters should strictly refrain from publicly extending any personal opinions on topics that they cover. Such behaviour casts doubt on the integrity of the newspaper as a whole and risks compromising students’ trust in media.

The Medium would do well to better organize its opinion pages. First off, it must keep a clear-cut separation between news and opinion. Furthermore, standard opinion pieces about student politics should come only from the students, while masthead opinions should be strictly published as editorials. Strangely, Taha’s opinion piece was published as a letter to the editor, which is traditionally reserved for the thoughts of readers.

Both the UTMSU and The Medium are organizations that exist to provide services for their students. As such, they are accountable to the student body. Rather than behave defensively and hostilely toward each other, both should embrace criticism and value self-improvement.

That is what it means to be a government and media in the face of routine disapproval.

To the UTMSU and The Medium: learn to co-exist. Student democracy at UTM depends on it.

Sharmeen Abedi is a fourth-year Criminology, Sociology, and English student at UTM. She is The Varsity’s UTM Affairs Columnist.

Disclosure: Abedi was a staff writer for The Medium in the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 academic years.

When I was recently asked what the UTM Campus Conservatives (UTMCC) do on campus, I answered that it is the official opposition to the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU).

I mean this figuratively: over the past academic year, the UTMCC, above all other clubs and societies on campus, has been the loudest source of valid criticism of the UTMSU. I must disclose that I am not affiliated with any political party or ideology. I’ve come to the above conclusion as an observer of the interactions between three campus actors: the UTMCC, the UTMSU, and UTM’s student newspaper, The Medium.

Let’s start with last October. Philip Power, founder and former president of the UTMCC, shared a Daily Wire article on Facebook, commending it for exposing “the blatant Political bias of the UTMSU.” The same story was covered by The Medium. Allegedly, the UTMSU offered free burgers in exchange for signatures on a petition denouncing the Ontario Progressive Conservative’s minimum wage freeze.

However, the fact that the UTMSU would attempt to manipulate students against any political party is reprehensible and contrary to its mandate. It ought to be a non-partisan representative of all students, regardless of political affiliation.

In November, Carol Dinno, Vice-President of the UTMCC, scolded the UTMSU for raising executive salaries. Dinno wrote on Facebook, “I can guarantee that these raises are in no way earned nor are they democratic.” While the question of the raises being “earned” is up for debate, I agree that the way in which the UTMSU procured them was unwarranted: students were not consulted on how much of their money was going to be put toward these raises.

Meanwhile, The Medium recently published a series of critical articles against the UTMSU. Alicia Boatto, the paper’s Managing Editor, wrote an opinion piece explaining that student unions across all three U of T campuses have been actively hostile to the freedom of the student press. This includes the UTMSU’s recent antagonism toward The Medium’s journalists.

Former UTMCC president Michael Lo Giudice shared and reiterated the sentiment of Boatto’s piece. He pointed out a lack of student awareness regarding funding for the executives’ significant salaries and claimed that the executives were behaving like “campus dictators.”

UTMSU Vice-President External Atif Abdullah, who has been highly responsive to The Medium’s critical coverage of the UTMSU, dismissed Boatto’s article as a “bunch of lies” in a Facebook comment. He wrote a letter to the editor responding to Boatto’s article, accusing The Medium of “subjective journalism.” He made the case that the paper should be held to the “same standards of accountability as the UTMSU.” After The Medium’s News Editor Ali Taha wrote an opinion piece in response to Abdullah’s letter, UTMCC Treasurer Yousuf Farhan shared Taha’s piece and tagged UTMSU President Felipe Nagata and Abdullah in his post. Abdullah deflected by alleging that The Medium “manipulated” its staff ’s work and wrote that he was “not going to continue this bickering.”

Abdullah has failed to understand that the UTMSU is not the same sort of actor as The Medium when it comes to student democracy.

The former is held accountable by the latter, and not the other way around. There is no question that The Medium should have complete freedom and independence when it comes to coverage of student politics, so long as it is unbiased and does its due diligence. However, if the paper was to abide by the UTMSU’s rules, journalistic integrity would be compromised.

When it comes to criticism of the UTMSU, a distinction must be drawn between the role of The Medium and the UTMCC. It is inherently the responsibility of the paper to hold its student union accountable and keep the student body informed about how its money is being spent. However, it is obligated to do so ‘neutrally.’

The UTMCC has no such obligation, mandate, or limitation. In fact, the UTMCC focuses on community engagement and service provision that has little to do with student union politics. The fact that it chooses to take on the responsibility of holding the UTMSU accountable as a campus group, unlike most other individual students or student groups, means that it is the only existing student opposition on campus.

Furthermore, in continually defending The Medium, the UTMCC proves itself to be a leading proponent of free speech and student democracy at UTM. This is why the voice of the UTMCC is so crucial. The executives are bombastic and unapologetic when it comes to criticizing the wrongdoings of the UTMSU, and they do so without fear of repercussion.

I don’t advocate for the UTMCC as a replacement for the UTMSU. In fact, it is unfortunate that we have arrived at a point where our student union is being criticized for pushing an ideological agenda. After all, they should not have one to begin with.

Students of all political affiliations should have a strong, active group with which they can identify, whether it be the UTMCC or the Young Liberals. But our students’ union should be non-partisan and representative of all students. Hopefully, the UTMCC’s role as a force of opposition and accountability pushes the UTMSU toward this end.

Mduduzi Mhlanga is a third-year Political Science student at UTM. Disclosure: Mhlanga ran in the 2017 UTMSU elections.

The UTM Campus Conservatives don’t hold back against the UTMSU. Courtesy of UTM CAMPUS CONSERVATIVES

10 | THE VARSITY | COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Is Ford “for the students”?

Contributors debate the announced changes to tuition, funding, student fees frameworks Varsity Staff

On January 17, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Ontario government announced changes to postsecondary education, which include lower domestic tuition, Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) reforms, and an optout option for ancillary fees. This has sparked conversation about the nature of affordable education and student democracy on university and college campuses. Below, five students answer whether or not these changes are, as the PCs claim, “for the students.”

Ford’s announcements have been met with significant student protest.

ANDY TAKAGI, SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

N

o: tuition and OSAP cuts altogether reflect a cynical move

Ford is trying to cheat the system and pull the wool over students’ eyes. Good education costs money and U of T students — domestic ones, at least — have it pretty good as is. Although tuition is still expensive, we’re paying pennies compared to our southern neighbours.

Ford’s move has jeopardized the financial stability of universities as well. According to HuffPost, mammoth credit rating agency Moody’s released a report on Monday cautioning the Ontario government about the negative implications of such a random and drastic tuition slash. Although no university’s credit rating has been downgraded yet, a senior credit officer with Moody’s said he’ll be watching Ontario universities closely.

The more upsetting part of the tuition slash is that it’s simply a cheap cover for Ford’s OSAP cuts. It’s a cynical and shifty move by Ford, and it makes students feel as if they’re being scammed and tricked. The recent protests prove this sentiment.

Another potential implication of this move is that it could divide students along lines of income. Students who no longer are eligible for OSAP — or who are seeing their benefits reduced — may see themselves at odds with those who are still eligible for the assistance and may become resentful because of it.

A more modest tuition cut, by itself, would have benefitted students and the province at large. But when you step back and see the cynicism of the move in its entire context, you realize something: cheaper is not always better.

Ted Fraser is a third-year International Relations student at Victoria College.

Y

es: the tuition cut saves students money and is the responsible choice

When I was a high school freshman, the prospect of postsecondary education seemed like a bright one. U of T, our esteemed, multi-billiondollar institution especially promised to be a place for learning and innovation. However, there was one clear obstacle: its cost. Many students coming from lower or middle-income families, like myself, believe that the cost of university tuition is excessive.

It is for this reason that savings in terms of tuition cuts should be welcomed. When I consider the fees at U of T, I see tuition prices were previously set to rise three per cent for the 2018–2019 academic year. This means that many students, including myself, would have potentially paid hundreds more dollars in high-cost tuition for every year that we pursued our degrees. Thousands more dollars go into residency and textbooks. Ford’s reduction

of tuition by 10 per cent province-wide counters these costs and alleviates financial pressure on families like mine.

The money we save can be invested instead into books, school materials, and living expenses for the upscale price tags of mediocre Toronto condos. Saving students’ money is the right, responsible choice, and one that invests in the financial stability of our future workforce.

The Ford government has received considerable criticism for introducing more loans over grants in the OSAP structure, a practice previously executed under provincial governments prior to Kathleen Wynne. The truth is that this model is structured on financial responsibility.

Although student debt is a reality for most of us, the deficit that our province battles is enormous, to say the least. The shares of a multibillion-dollar deficit are on the heads of every Ontarian.

Tackling the provincial debt and managing the financial accessibility of postsecondary education are not mutually exclusive. The Ford government has made the funds available to students like myself to continue to pursue our postsecondary education.

Andrea Chiappetta is a second-year Political Science, American Studies, and History student at Woodsworth College.

N

o: Ford’s opt-out model for student fees is an attack on student life

Social events, safe spaces, quality reporting, and community development: these are only some of the services provided by student-led and student-funded campus groups. But Ford’s plan to make “non-essential” fees optional means that many of these groups may lose their funding.

His government argues that this change will let students choose what is “essential” to our university experience. But it is actually an attack on student life that refuses to acknowledge that campus groups are a necessity, not a luxury.

Since my first year at U of T, I have been involved with both my residence and college council, two student-run publications, and a couple of clubs. I know so many dedicated people who pour their hearts into these campus groups and make a difference in their communities. I believe the existence of campus groups gives students the power to shape our own experiences at U of T. Student-run media outlets create platforms where we can voice our opinions and criticisms of events both in and out of the university. Student groups provide us with the space to organize ourselves and engage with our surroundings according to our own interests.

Furthermore, they allow student leaders and student bodies to forge strong community networks and a sense of solidarity in what can feel

like an ocean of people here at U of T. In other words, the services that are paid for by student fees are far from just ‘optional,’ and making them so will be devastating to the health and vibrancy of life on campus.

It is in the university’s power to decide if any student fees besides those related to health and athletics are “essential.” As students, we owe it to ourselves to push the administration and protect the spaces of agency that campus groups carve out for us.

Michelle Zhang is a second-year Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies, Urban Studies, and Political Science student at Innis College.

Y

es: the opt-out model for student fees strengthens democracy

I first clarify that I believe that student loans should be forgiven and postsecondary education should be freely available without financial barriers to access, as education is arguably the greatest long-term investment.

Having said that, in lieu of such far-sighted societal investment, I understand what it means to be in a weak financial position, where paying an extra $500–2,000 per year for non-essential and non-tuition fees can be a struggle. Coupled with some of the highest postsecondary tuition fees in all of Canada, and further confounded by the burden of the highest national cost of living, students in Toronto are at even greater financial risk.

Critics like Nour Alideeb, the Canadian Federation of Students—Ontario chairperson, suggested, among other things, that reforms to student fees are an attack against democratically elected student unions. Such criticism should be disregarded as fear-mongering.

Contrary to their fears, the reforms are part of a broader democratization of tuition fees to re-enable and empower people to take control of decisions with respect to their financial resources.

The current forced fee system shares an uncanny resemblance to the sort of negativeoption billing ruled illegal by both federal and provincial governments. It is not acceptable for anyone to feel entitled to dictate and override another person’s individual rights with respect to access and management of their own financial resources.

Elected or not, it’s morally wrong to trojanhorse individual student accounts and usurp another’s financial resources for services that should, in reality, be paid for by actual end users and not by speculated potential users.

The greatest indicator of the worth of some service or product is its position in a free market predicated on choice. For instance, take a look at the success of organic and fair trade products. Students who bike to campus can choose

to pay for Bikechain and others can, instead, focus their own money on transit passes. We vote with our dollars and that’s how it should be.

Oscar Starschild is a second-year Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer Science student at Woodsworth College.

N

o: The student fees opt-out model could further divide the Ontario student movement There is much concern that allowing students to opt out of student fees will result in significant funding decreases for services that student unions provide. Such decreases can be expected, given the low levels of engagement in student unions, and particularly in the University of Toronto Students’ Union, where voter turnouts of less than 20 per cent are common. If over 80 per cent of students represented by a student union do not vote in the annual elections, take part in its activities, or rely on its services, there is little to keep them from remaining members if they have the opportunity to keep their student fees.

However, funding decreases would limit student unions’ ability to advocate for a better quality of education against much wealthier university administrations and governments. If enough students opt out, student unions would no longer be able to provide services or would have to drastically increase their levies, which would, in turn, prompt more students to leave.

Student union staff may have to be laid off and some student unions may even collapse.

While the students who opt out would have a little more money, they would no longer be protected by student unions. It would be much easier for university administrations to raise their tuition fees as opposed to those of unionized students.

Perhaps, if non-unionized students would be able to make their own separate student unions, there could be hope. This is especially because students enduring abuse and corruption under unions that have questionable or broken democratic systems, like the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, may be able to separate and form better representative organizations.

However, not only would it be difficult to convince universities to acknowledge multiple unions of the same student demographics, but such fragmentation would likely make it harder for students to organize collectively.

Justin Patrick is a first-year master’s student in Political Science. He was recently elected as the Internal Commissioner of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union.

Editorial

January 28, 2019 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

Okay, U of T, let’s talk

But put your money where your mouth is — invest in mental health services

Letters to the Editor Re: Conscience in a crisis “Niá:wen to Anna Osterberg and The Varsity for writing this meaningful article on the university’s lack of a response to the governmental wrongdoings towards Wet’suwet’en First Nation. It is important that student groups use their platforms to shed light on this issue, and we are thankful to the student press for doing so.”

— Indigenous Studies Students’ Union University of Toronto (from web) Re: White nationalist posters found around UTSG “Canada is a national concept, not an ethnic one. Therefore if the nation-state or conventions of that nation-state recognizes you as Canadian, you are one.”

— Ross Slaughter (from web)

Conversation and awareness about mental illness must be matched with more services and resources.

NATHANIEL CHEN/THE VARSITY

The Varsity Editorial Board

Content warning: discussion of suicide.

Paralleling the annual “Bell Let’s Talk” campaign, a “Let’s Talk UTM” event will take place on January 30. There are wall posters across UTM encouraging students, staff, and faculty to open up about their struggles with mental health. This kind of event aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

U of T’s promotion of “Bell Let’s Talk” is nothing new, and the focus on awareness and conversation-based initiatives, as with the recent Mindfest event, appears to be favoured.

There is no question that enabling students to speak without shame and educating people on the seriousness of mental illness are important.

However, these alone are not sufficient.

When it comes to mental health, U of T can’t just talk the talk. It must walk the walk, by providing adequate services, resources, and allyship to students who are struggling. Otherwise, these events amount to token gestures designed to market the university as an institution that values mental health, without actually making the necessary material investment.

Mental illness is a growing problem on campuses, and services intended to deal with it are operating over capacity. Consider the dramatic increase in student registration at Accessibility Services in recent years for mental health reasons. Perhaps this is an indication that mental health initiatives, designed to reduce the stigma, are working. Students, rightly, are told that they aren’t alone and that it is okay to seek help.

But when they do seek help, students aren’t met with the kind of support they are promised. Instead, they face long wait times for appointments, and caps on the number of counselling sessions they are allowed to receive from university health care providers.

Time and resources allocated to operating mental health campaigns should be matched with hiring more counsellors and mental health nurses. Although the limit on appointments at Health & Wellness per year has not been verifiable, the personal experiences of Varsity masthead and contributors suggest that UTM has a cap of five, UTSC has a cap of eight, and UTSG has a cap of 10.

One of the most common forms of therapy is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

According to the Centre for Addiction and

Mental Health (CAMH), CBT is a common form of psychotherapy that takes a thoughtbased approach. This means that individuals are taught to develop skills and strategies to improve their mental health.

CAMH indicates that CBT can be beneficial if done in six to 20 sessions. But given U of T’s caps, students who build the strength and courage to attend counselling will likely not benefit from CBT. The same applies to other forms of counselling. The sessions won’t be effective if students are restricted to a certain number of visits. Students who reach their cap are advised to seek counselling outside the university.

Although students are automatically enrolled in a health insurance plan, which would pay for a portion of these appointments, the amount provided through insurance is not always enough to cover the entire cost. This means that counselling services remain out of reach for some students, especially those who are financially insecure. Additionally, there is a cap on the amount of money students may receive through insurance in a single policy year — leaving students alone, once again, when their policy runs out.

The very willingness of students to access mental health services has likely also been compromised since the approval of the university-mandated leave of absence policy (UMLAP) last summer.

According to the university, the UMLAP is a positive step toward better mental health on campus. Under the UMLAP, students experiencing mental health issues that the university believes interfere with their studies, or pose a threat to themselves or others, can be asked to leave the university until they are able to demonstrate that they are mentally well enough to continue their schooling.

The Varsity’s editorial board has expressed concern about the UMLAP in the past. It takes away students’ autonomy, and its existence likely deters students from seeking help in fear of the policy’s consequences. Revealing too much could result in students being asked to leave the school.

This is the university’s answer, even though a student may simply prefer a middle ground of better accommodation while still progressing in their degree, pursuing extracurricular activities, and remaining in a social space and support network on campus — all of which can boost their mental health.

Ironically, then, the UMLAP does not address the problem. Rather, it re-stigmatizes

mental illness and forces students to face their challenges alone. The application of this policy completely contradicts the messages of encouragement and support peddled through university-run mental health campaigns.

When somebody died by suicide last June at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology, it was a grave reminder of the reality of students’ struggles with mental health. And when the university still chose to approve the UMLAP just days after this incident — and on top of significant student opposition — it revealed a severe lack of judgement and sensitivity toward campus affairs.

U of T would much rather pretend that there is no mental health crisis on campus, because it likely fears that such a revelation would compromise its reputation and deter student enrolment, ultimately affecting the university’s bottom line. It would much rather pathologize, isolate, and remove vulnerable students who challenge U of T’s sterling reputation.

But mental illness is not exogenous to the university. Surely, cultures of stigma toward mental illness and an emphasis on competitive academics, for which U of T needs to take responsibility, produce students with mental illness.

If the university were to adequately invest in services and policies that encourage openness and properly accommodate students, it could help students reach their potential and strengthen the academic reputation it prioritizes so much. It could even bolster U of T’s image as a benevolent institution that cares about its students, and thereby stimulate enrolment.

To this end, doing better for the mental health of students is also a matter of self-interest — even though it shouldn’t be — and is financially within reach if the university makes it a priority in their multibillion dollar budget.

If U of T is going to encourage students to open up about their struggles, the university should adequately respond and support them when they do. Students need access to mental health resources, and not in the form of toques or self-care bags. So, okay U of T, let’s talk — but put your money where your mouth is.

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.

“Imagine having so little to offer this world that you bank on your ethnicity as an indicator of some value…”

— Christopher D Grossi (from web) Re: For the people, except the students (and almost everyone else) “The Ford Tories seem to be taking particular airm at places where opposition to them takes shape, gets a footing and gains experience.

A classic case was the reduction of the size of the Toronto City Council, long a stepping stone for Liberal and NDP activists to gain higher office. Student Councils and clubs have historically not only vociferously protested governments of the day, but started the public lives of many politicians of all parties. Ford would rather not have the opposition or competition, no doubt thinking he can recruit his own cronies from the police and business…”

— Stefan Mochnacki (from web) Re: Conservative MPP justifies charging interest during sixmonth grace period for recent graduates “I appreciate his honesty and civility, but charging interest for the first 6 months after graduation, where it makes students much longer to find a steady job, is not an “inefficiency” but a necessary source of relief. There are many other facets of government that can be reduced without having debt-strained students take a hit” — Tanzim Rashid (from web) Re: Ontario universities must slash tuition by 10 per cent, non-needs-based OSAP to be eliminated, government says “‘Students are adults and we are treating them as such by giving them the freedom to clearly see where their fees are being allocated’… and yet they are eliminating the loan payment grace period because they think it makes things to complicated for our young minds???”

— Elizabreath Suen (from web)

12 | THE VARSITY | FEATURES

Never as bad as it seems Studying abroad taught me new ways to fight my anxiety Jillian Schuler

M

y first month abroad did wonders for my anxiety, but not in the ways that you would expect.

I decided to spend my third year at Sciences Po in Reims, France. I used to live in Lyon as a child, I spoke (decent) French, and I was familiar with the French culture. However, there are some key differences between moving to another country under the protection of your parents, and having to do absolutely everything by yourself.

French bureaucracy is notoriously slow and my experience was no different. Everything took longer than expected and the extent of the paperwork, online applications, and inefficiency was mind-boggling. In addition, the French bureaucrats present every step of an administrative process with the seriousness and severity of a dictatorship.

“I need to do this, or I will be deported,” ran through my mind on a regular basis. Every time I received an email from a French government agency, my heart would skip a beat, and I would read and reread the vague French wording like it was an encrypted message. “If I could find the answer,” the thought ran, “I might be able to escape the horrific, anxiety-inducing cycle of bureaucracy.”

But eventually, I started to realize that nothing was as serious or as final as it seemed. Despite the harsh and strict wording on the administrative websites, the people were — for the most part — understanding, patient, and flexible. And eventually, I found myself saying, “I’m sure it will be fine either way.”

As it turned out, optimism was the best cure

for my anxiety. Instead of thinking of all the ways that my life could go wrong, I thought about all the benefits and the possibilities of it already going right. Studying abroad is a naturally stressinducing experience, even for someone like me, who was going back somewhere I actually knew.

In all honesty, having to face the anxiety that came with completely uprooting my life and taking it somewhere else was really daunting. But the experience and confidence that my time abroad has given me is amazing. Even if it has not always been a complete success, at least I now know better for next time.

I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and my family still lives there, so coming to Toronto was in itself an experience studying abroad. However, it was a similar situation, where I was born in Canada, and I returned to Canada each summer — I knew the language, the customs, and the culture. Yet I had the same kinds of anxiety, the same now-or-never behaviour, that I have only managed to fight by continuing to push myself to keep doing these kinds of challenges. It’s not easy, and it very well might not be permanent, but each step provides me with the audacity to take the next. As someone who suffers from anxiety, pushing yourself to go abroad and furthering your world perspective is a great weapon for continuing to fight the good fight.

S

econds after congratul myself for ‘understanding’ inburgh, I wandered into headlights of an oncoming taxi. “B where did you come from?” I thou as I scrambled onto the sidewalk tried to block out the ensuing choru beeps, sneers, and obscenities.

I had glanced to the left before i tiating my jaywalk: a simple yet dea mistake in a country where cars com at you from the other side. Clearly still had a lot to learn — which is why went abroad to begin with.

After nearly three years in the ci I fled Toronto for one simple reaso I was getting too comfortable. I had great group of friends, decent grade and a grasp of the landscape. But tha was the problem — I was siding with the status quo too much, sleepwalking around campus, and defaulting into the same old routine. I needed something new.

I figured that the best way to reset and gain perspective was to travel. I knew it might be tough, stressful, or lonely, but I knew I’d get something from it. Or, at least, I hoped I would. Furthermore, I didn’t prance off to some exotic location; my trip saw me fly from Halifax to Edinburgh, Scotland. In other words, I travelled from one coastal university town to another — hopefully drunker — coastal university town.

But that was the idea. I wanted to experience new things, sure, but I didn’t want to plunge myself into an unrec-

features@thevarsity.ca

Sea change or ‘wee’ change?

Navigating life, traffic, and self in Edinburgh Ted Fraser

ognizable, far-flung universe. For me, shuffling off to, say, Warsaw or Moscow or Cape Town would have been very bold, but not very smart.

Edinburgh seemed like the perfect pick: the history runs deep, the scotch flows fast, and the school is second to none. Scotland and Canada have myriad links — my home province, Nova Scotia, translates to New Scotland in iniLatin. And I’d also be close to some adly great travel destinations. me So, after mulling it all over, I decided y, I to buy the ticket and take the ride. yI It’s been fantastic so far. The culture shock has been minimal. Of course, the ity, slang is odd, the people are new, and the on: food is different, but that’s part of the a fun. Grappling late at night with the es, notion of haggis and debating at what at point you’re qualified to say ‘mate’ inh stead of ‘man’ is what makes exchange g so entertaining. All the new stuff keeps e you on your toes, analyzing and quesg tioning and learning as much as possible. d It’s a great reminder of that sacred rule: never get too comfortable. When I did in Toronto, my ability to scrutinize, explore, and be creative atrophied. I became a ‘wee’ bit arrogant, and my drive to change — to grow — was muted.

The signs can be subtle, sneaky, and gradual, but they can also come right out of the blue — horn honking, headlights on, middle-finger up. Either way, it pays to be wary and to do what you can to maintain perspective and humility through it all.

lating Edthe Bud, ught, and us of

Freedom in France Learn a new language for phone plans and food Josie Kao

“D

id you know I went to Europe?” I shout to my last remaining friends as they get in the car and drive away from the ditch on the side of the road they have abandoned me in. “Did I mention that I studied abroad in France?” I say, as my family signs the papers removing me from their will.

Though I may have no love left in my life and no home to go back to, I have zero regrets about the month I spent in Tours, France, a little city a few hours south of Paris — which I also went to, in case you were wondering.

As a disclaimer, I fully wore rose-coloured glasses during the entire time I was abroad, wherein I studied French and ignored all my problems. I’m also very aware of the luck that is inherent in getting to fly across the world and muck about for a month. With that being said, perhaps this mediocre chronicle of my adventures can be my way of ‘paying it forward’ — the

least I can do is to allow less fortunate folks to live vicariously through my glamorous Parisian escapades.

I arrived in France thinking that I could coast on my high school language skills, and I ended my first day sobbing in bed, clutching my French for Beginners dictionary. Who would have guessed that French people exclusively spoke French?

What brought me to the point of uncontrollable tears was my attempt to buy a phone plan.

More than food, shelter, and clothing, this is the most important thing you can do in a new country, and also something that will completely destroy you if you can’t speak the language. Never have I been a larger advocate for a universal language than when I was trying to figure out how to say ‘data’ in French. Luckily for me, I had arrived with some other U of T students who were actually fluent and I placed my life in their hands.

I was pressured into buying a slightly more expensive plan, but that’s just a part of the Experience™.

From that disastrous beginning, I realized that I probably needed to learn the language, which wasn’t too difficult seeing that I was in France and enrolled in French-language courses. What further motivated my desire to learn French was my need to be able to understand menus, so that I would not accidentally order raw meat.

And that was how I passed my month. I spent the days learning French, the nights tasting wines, and the weekends getting lost in Paris. I celebrated la Fête nationale by the Eiffel Tower and I biked the countryside visiting châteaux. I met people who have remained my friends to this day.

As I’m writing this in my room surrounded by dirty plates and textbooks, I realize that I probably peaked that summer. But it will all be worth it when, one day, I’m old and gray, sitting by the fireplace, and showing my 10 cats pictures of the most delicious pasta I’ve ever had.

Arts & Culture

January 28, 2019 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Two “cis, straight Indian dudes” talk 2062 Hari Kondabolu and Max FineDay joke, dread, hope for the future of work Ibnul Chowdhury Comment Editor

Victoria College’s Isabel Bader Theatre hosted “2062: Beyond a Cartoon Future for Millennial Workers” on January 23. Ausma Malik, U of T alum and the Director of Social Engagement at the Atkinson Foundation, moderated a “seriously funny” conversation between USbased comedian Hari Kondabolu and Canadian Roots Exchange Executive Director and nêhiyaw activist Max FineDay. The two discussed the future of work in the context of millennial anxiety about access to decent and fair employment.

The event attempted to be innovative, being recorded in a live podcast format with audience participation.

The Jetsons — a cartoon series that aired in 1962 and is set 100 years after — framed the conversation for the kind of dystopian future that we might want to avoid: technology and robots as a stand-in for disposable labour that used to be performed by poorly paid racialized workers; departure from an Earth beyond saving from environmental disaster; and isolated, non-communal living in space.

On success

Kondabolu and FineDay demonstrated remarkable comedic chemistry as they brought their individual racial identities and professions — one a South AsianAmerican in the entertainment industry and former human rights organizer, the other an Indigenous youth leader at the helm of a national non-profit charity — to the discussion.

No matter how successful they have become in their careers, though, Kondabolu and FineDay are kept grounded by their families. It can be difficult to convey to them how big they’ve made it. “I’m a

stand-up comedian, which is hard to explain to relatives in India, first of all, and then I’m a podcaster, which you don’t really mention to relatives in India at all,” explained Kondabolu. “I’m like a shitty Renaissance man.”

On complexity

Kondabolu described improvements in the stand-up comedy industry over the last decade, namely the acknowledgement that his community — which he specifies as “straight, cis, Indian dudes” — are multi-layered, complex human beings. Poking fun at how Indigenous peoples and South Asians are ‘identified’ in the same way, FineDay went on to joke about how he and Kondabolu had “really bonded over being cis, straight Indians” backstage.

At the same time, other subcommunities, whether women or trans folks, continue to struggle with barriers. The “complexity of identity” for Kondabolu is to recognize that people of colour are “not all victims.”

“Some of us are assholes,” he said. “The oppressed can also oppress others…You can be a victim of racism and then still be homophobic and transphobic.”

On commodification

For FineDay, the increasing recognition of his community can be problematic. It is often non-Indigenous people who have access to funding, resources, and networks, and who ultimately decide what reconciliation should look like.

For Kondabolu, the trendiness of being Indian or Asian American is a product, not just because people of colour have been pushing for more diversity, but because those at the top — producers and directors — are realizing that there is money to be made through these hereto-

Hari Kondabolu, Ausma Malik, and Max FineDay (from left).

Courtesy of the ATKINSON FOUNDATION

fore neglected communities. Hence, both negotiate between the opportunities that come with diversity and the commodification of their identity that often comes as a price.

But diversity is, nonetheless, an inevitability. In anticipation of the fact that white people will become a minority in Canada and the US in 2036 and 2042 respectively, Malik and FineDay acknowledged that Indigenous communities are the fastest growing ones in Canada. Kondabolu gleamed at the prospect to “fuck colonialists out of the country.”

On disposability

Kondabolu described the impact of the recent US government shutdown on labour as “embarrassing,” while acknowledging that “it’s a part of a proud, American tradition of not paying its workers — which I believe began with slavery. So it’s a little retro.”

Malik focused on problematizing a capitalist version of automation, in which technology is used to dispose of labour rather than make our lives easier. As FineDay points out, unlike in our parents’ generations, finding decent, well-paying employment or owning property may be out of reach. On the future of the sharing economy, Kondabolu is more supportive

of socialism than the current version concerning “Uber and shit.”

While many skills may become obsolete, FineDay expects that telling stories is something “no machine will ever be able to do.” Kondabolu is less optimistic, fearing that the human ability to create art might become something that is easily duplicated by artificial intelligence and therefore no longer be as valued. He stressed the need for re-training workers and investing in new industries. “It’s not about investing in coal,” he noted, criticizing the current political reluctance to divest from fossil fuels for climate change.

On empowerment

To change the power dynamics of the future, Kondabolu hopes to see people of colour become leaders who call the shots — in the case of stand-up comedy, producers and directors. People who belong to a certain community should tell the stories of that community — not just anyone who claims to be ‘woke.’

He cautioned, “People do lots of shitty things when they’re awake. Just because you know what’s going on doesn’t mean you’re going to do the right thing.”

For FineDay, the “Mr. Spacely” of Indigenous peoples has always been Canada. The country continues to break

treaties, while portraying itself as an international defender of human rights.

Yet, while many systemic challenges remain, FineDay is focused on changing hearts and minds on a one-on-one level.

Informing and encouraging Canadians to learn about youth suicide rates, residential schools, or lower health outcomes in Indigenous communities is part of what he calls “little wins.”

On organizing

Reconciliation, for FineDay, means that space is made for Indigenous peoples in higher education and workplaces that don’t require them to sacrifice culture and pride. He takes inspiration from the generosity of youth and communities who, despite Canada’s ongoing wrongdoings, are still willing to reconcile.

If we are to take anything away from the discussion, it’s that an alternative, just, and diverse future, one that overcomes colonialism, racism, and capitalism, is possible — if we take organized action.

And that starts with any number more than one. At some point, Kondabolu told FineDay, “We should be friends, man.” I don’t really listen to podcasts, but if the two of them were to organize one called “cis, straight Indian dudes,” I would definitely jump on that bandwagon.

This winter, the time is nigh to catch your feelings Let’s talk about sex, ‘Netflix and chill,’ and cuffing season Liam Bryant Varsity Staff

The cultures of the world have changed much in the 700 years since feudalism was Europe’s ‘hot new gift’ to society. If you ripped a fourteenth century peasant out of their strawthatched home and somehow got them on Twitter, you would probably be solely answering frantic, Godfearing questions for the foreseeable future.

But after careful translation and explanation, one thing would still be abundantly clear: humans are and always will be walking contradictions.

Human languages are efficient at describing everything except the

ironically unplanned ‘love child’ between our grey matter and the fact of the matter: love, and its adjacent cousin, intimacy.

Based on the millions of artifacts, documents, and tweets produced by us since time immemorial, you’d think that our willingness to admit how caught up we are in love would somehow ignite a sense of cultural candour. But no — the peasant would certainly agree — that would be too simple for us.

Even in our most intimate moments, when we’re allowing someone new purchase into the most vulnerable parts of us — in every sense of the word — humans get afraid.

Humans reacting negatively out of fear? What a hot take! But really, our collective unwillingness to vulnerability is a bit of a cultural phenomenon.

Take ‘Netflix and chill,’ by which the bashful — I mean uncreative — mask the embarrassing advent of planned or possible sexual intercourse with dinner and

a movie.

Take the idea of ‘cuffing season,’ when for a whole five or more months, we collectively use cold weather and seasonal affective disorder merely as a complex gateway event for prospective coitus.

It’s one thing to commit to watching Disney’s Mulan, but if you’re using it as an excuse, like so many of us, to sugarcoat your vulnerabilities instead of ‘getting down to business’ to defeat some ‘buns,’ that speaks to a common impulse.

It’s in our nature to be skeptical — our mere existences are extant proof of that. It’s kept us as a species alive for a couple hundred thousand years.

Though we’ve learned to put aside our inward urges to create the civilizations and institutions that make us distinct from our feral ancestors, these are failsafes of a much different time. We feel the need to give ourselves excuses to be intimate, instead of just being intimate, simply for fear of being hurt.

And if you think these symptoms

of our fear — our ‘Netflix and chill,’ our ‘cuffing season,’ or whatever other excuses we may conjure up — seem inconsequential, they are only the tip of our anxious, dubious iceberg.

I’m aware that I’m preaching to the choir; this isn’t news to anybody.

What should be, though, is the realization that we have the capacity to resist this side effect of fear that’s been homebrewed inside of us for millennia. It’s an audacious, courageous claim to choose trust over skepticism, to be vulnerable even when you aren’t ready for it.

And I don’t blame anybody for their doubt. Many cultures, including our own, gladly trade and reward empathy for cold exactness. The world is such a hurtful place that it’s practically revolutionary to be sincere.

It’s high time for us to break down the walls we’ve become so accustomed to building. Watch your movies because snuggling is the best, or because the plot is airtight, or because it gives you an excuse to

procrastinate, or just about anything other than denying yourself your right to candour.

I’ll level with you — odds are not in your favour. You will get hurt by being wholehearted. And you probably already know that.

But I say that it’s worth it.

Suffice it to say, our world is not that of our forebears. Singlehandedly, humans forged societies with opportunity for class growth, the existence of equity, and the chance to diversify our narrow, single-world views. Being frank and heartfelt could be the next insurgency that brings us to be better than we ever were.

Even if it’s one small opportunity — one TV show, an obligatory date, a conversation you’re beating around the bush for — there exists a space for frankness that we can fill with probity.

And maybe if we’re broken when we come out on the other side, the cracks in our façades may give way to a better foundation that will last us for generations to come.

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 15

var.st/arts

What to watch this winter: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Two writers offer opposing opinions on Black Mirror’s interactive episode Adina Heisler & April Yan Jin Varsity Contributors

I

have a love-hate relationship with Black Mirror. When it’s good, it uses technology as an accessory to tell stories about every aspect of humanity, positive and negative. Episodes like “Be Right Back,” “Crocodile,” and “San Junipero” seamlessly integrate the technology they explore into the story, so the viewer can focus on the actual ideas presented. When it’s bad, it’s a Ludditeesque fable about the dangers of scary, spooky technology. Episodes like “Men Against Fire” and “Arkangel” are less about humanity and more about how it would be really bad if we had certain kinds of technology. Or, as it has been put online, “what if phones, but too much.”

I wanted to like Netflix’s newest addition to Black Mirror, the film-length choose-your-ownadventure Bandersnatch. It was advertised as a brand-new experience of watching television, allowing the viewer to make the decisions for the characters and push the story toward their own desires. Of course, as someone who has played video games before, this is not 100 per cent novel, but nonetheless I decided to watch. Spoilers ahead.

What I wanted, and expected, was a story about choices, about creation, and about ’80s video games. What I got instead was a regurgitation of one of the most damaging tropes about mental illness in pop culture: that mental illness causes creativity, and that treating mental illness causes one to lose creativity. When Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) chooses to take his medication, his video game is rated poorly, with the suggestion

that he was on “autopilot.”

Medication doesn’t stunt your creativity. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. For most people with a mental illness, creativity is stunted when they experience symptoms without access to treatment.

You can’t work on a piece of art or a game if you are consumed by anxiety, paranoia, or depression.

In fact, sometimes you can barely function enough to eat and sleep.

This idea also goes hand in hand with the belief that sacrificing health, especially mental health, is not only necessary for artistic creation, but also that it is a reasonable sacrifice. Nobody with a mental illness should have to sacrifice their own health for the sake of a project, but that isn’t the case in Bandersnatch. Colin (Will Poulter), Stefan’s mentor and idol, even says that he needs “a bit of madness” to create his project. And the only way that Stefan’s video game can be given five stars is if Stefan — by the hand of the viewer — plunges deeper into his own psychosis and paranoia.

Another damaging trope Bandersnatch uses is the tired idea that people with mental illnesses are inherently violent. In the path that leads Stefan to getting five stars, he ends up brutally murdering his father. The vast majority of individuals with mental illnesses are no more violent than anyone else. In fact, sadly, they are far more likely to be the victims of violence.

There were things I genuinely enjoyed about Bandersnatch, from the phenomenal acting to the tongue-in-cheek fourth wall breaks. But if the lesson Black Mirror wants to give me is the same tired, damaging portrayal of mental illness, I’d rather settle for the Luddite stories.

— Adina Heisler

The Black Mirror episode is Netflix’s first attempt at an interactive film.

Courtesy of NETFLIX

Bandersnatch stars Asim Chaudhry, Will Poulter, and Fionn Whitehead (from left).

Courtesy of NETFLIX

M

y scriptwriting professor used to say that characters are the soul of every play. A successful character — who could be as distant a serial killer, or as close as the neighbour’s daughter — needs to be authentic, keeping a safe distance from a humdrum life, but still sharing traits of humanity that resonate and tug at our heartstrings.

It is the characters we root for or resent who decide their own fate, which is also the direction of the plot, and only when we are drawn to the characters do we keep watching. But such an existentialist view on the role of the character is about to change as Netflix released its first interactive movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Unlike previous Black Mirror episodes, Bandersnatch is a standalone, non-linear film that involves viewers in characters’ decisionmaking. With each choice made by a simple click on A or B, the film resembles an ideal game for uncoordinated players.

The idea that we are watching ourselves, rather than the character, might sound new under the guise of interaction, but it really isn’t. We empathize with fictional characters in order to understand them, and we seek our reflection in fictions all the time. We project our memories on fictional characters and take it as their truth, and our acceptance of their truth hinges on how well it agrees with our experiences.

Meanwhile, Stefan is losing his mind knowing that he is not in control of his actions. He is convinced that the invisible hand pulling him like a puppet is also watching him. But why is the thought that he has no autonomy so unbearable? According to Lauren Bialystok, a professor in U of T’s

Department of Social Justice Education, Western tradition does not define the purpose of life by a shared “human-ness” as a species. “Rather, to lead a human life—at least a fulfilling one—is usually thought to require honoring what it means to be human for me, as a once-occurring person,” Bialystok wrote in a 2014 paper.

This explains our need for characters to be different, to lead a hell of a life, or hold a secret that demarcates them from the pedestrian life they keep. Being different verifies their authenticity as a character.

Personal authenticity hinges on the truthfulness of the relationship to self.

Autonomy, in other words, conditions authenticity. Yet with or without surveillance, do we have as much autonomy as we’d like to hope? Stefan believes that he is controlled by those who are watching him, but aren’t we always aware of our audience and controlled by their perception of us? How many of our so-called authentic acts are conducted by being true to ourselves, rather than to be perceived as such?

Bandersnatch is revolutionary for having engaged viewers in the development of the plot from the perspective of scriptwriting.

But from the perspective of the movie industry, there hasn’t been a single film that succeeds by disregarding viewers’ experiences. While interactive films engage viewers in a creative process, they also deprive them of the chance to apply their empathy. It is worth considering whether Bandersnatch suggests a more narcissistic or creative society.

— April Yan Jin

Overlooked: Children of Men

This dystopian tale is still relevant 13 years on Aljosa Kljujic Varsity Contributor

Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men was released almost 13 years ago, just before the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Its dystopian world without children and hope is filled with stark imagery, grey skies, and a society that has descended into chaos.

It is a film that was overlooked by the Academy the year of its release. Cuarón paints a picture of our world after society has continued on its course of far-right populism, authoritarianism, and an inward-looking humanity, afraid of one another and new ideas. The rhetoric espoused by modernday populists in Europe and the US are on full display in this film. Despite being released a full decade before the 2016 US presidential election, the film is more relevant now than ever before.

The events in the film occur in the year 2027, at which point no children have been born for nearly two decades. Governments around the world, including in the UK, where the film takes place,

have taken on anti-immigration policies to counteract their extreme conditions. Immigrants are forced into cages and sent to ghettos controlled by the army, or are otherwise executed on the spot.

The treatment of immigrants in the film reminds me of the current US government’s increased detention of immigrants at its southern border.

In the real world, liberal democracies still haven’t recovered from the global financial crisis.

From swaths of voters flocking to far-right political parties in Europe, to the Brexit movement in Britain, to the rise of Donald Trump, these are all reactions to feelings of being ‘left behind’ in the age of globalization and neoliberalism.

If there exists a flashpoint for the current political strife poisoning liberal democracies around the world, it would be the financial crisis. Indeed, the film hints at an event that triggered the political strife, which resulted in the Western world falling into chaos. Yet Cuarón never tells viewers what the event was and allows them to fill in the blanks for themselves. The reason for humanity’s infertil-

SKYLAR CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

ity is also left as a question mark.

The great science fiction classics of literature and film depict fantastic and seemingly impossible worlds, which in turn allow us to gain a better understanding of our current political and social climate. Children of Men is one such classic because the world in it doesn’t seem so impossible now. The events and ideology in the film feel starkly real. And the ending is as bleak as the rest,

as Theo (Clive Owen), Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), and humanity’s fate are all left unanswered.

The final shot of the film is of a ship sailing in from the fog to presumably provide Theo and Kee with their salvation.

Will their world recover from its strife? Will our world be able to avoid going down the same path? We are only left to wonder as the credits roll.

16 | THE VARSITY | ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

Film Review: Monrovia, Indiana The perfect film to watch this gloomy January

Monrovia, Indiana is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman.

Courtesy of TIFF

Jacob Harron Varsity Staff

Monrovia is a town in Morgan County, Indiana, with a population of less than 2,000 people.

Morgan County is 97.4 per cent white and has voted Republican every year since 2004. In 2016, 75.3 per cent voted for Donald Trump. This town of Monrovia is the subject of the latest documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman.

Having directed films for the past half century, 89-year-old Wiseman continues formally in his usual style. As with last year’s Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, there are no instances of narration, no interviews, and no title cards to guide the viewer. Only footage. This narrative sparseness disdains the air of educational or instructive material that many documentaries assume and encourages viewers to pass their own judgments.

More significantly, it masks any element of design.

Scenes flow into one another like eddies of thought, and one can easily forget that Wiseman and his crew are present on the scene at all; the action appears so unselfconscious and unmediated.

Yet they are present, not only in Monrovia but in the editing room, taking care about what the audience sees and when. What they choose to present us with is crucial to the documentary as a political work.

Early on, we peek into a board room where someone is making a speech to the city council — no one’s name or job title is given. The man stresses the town’s need to develop, and recalls that the last community where he worked saw its population rise from fewer than 10,000 to over 40,000 people.

He promises that this won’t happen to Monrovia.

“Let’s hope not,” a woman at the table interrupts, gravely. Later, at a separate meeting, a new resident

pleads that the fire hydrant outside his house doesn’t work, and thus he has no fire protection.

The same woman returns, with barely withheld condescension, saying that many people moving in from “the city” might be surprised to find that they don’t enjoy the same level of infrastructure in “the country” as they did back home. Whether or not burning to death is the sort of everyday woodland hardship that city folks are too spoiled to appreciate is only part of the issue. The complainant, who sports a baseball cap emblazoned with a bald eagle under stars and stripes, seems indistinguishable from the locals, but, as he himself confesses, he is not a native Monrovian. He grew up in Indianapolis. And he has purchased a house in a neighbourhood recently added to the town, which many of the locals openly resent. For some, a population of 1,000 is already too much.

Near the end of the film, we see the same councillor at Monrovia’s yearly street festival, manning the booth of the Morgan County Republican Party. Her being there comes as no shock. But this is the first and only explicit reference to a political party in the film, reminding us of how precisely these details are arranged.

Had she been introduced by her party alignment, or given a cutaway scene to discuss politics, we would have regarded her differently and listened with different ears to what she said. She would have been a Republican — someone about whom each of us already has an opinion — rather than a Monrovian — someone few of us even knew existed.

Of course, the film pays a visit to the local firearms vendor, on whose walls hang slogans unsurprising to anyone who has driven through rural North America: “I’m all for gun control… I always use both hands!” or “Today, millions of gun

Monrovia, Indiana premiered in September at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.

Courtesy of TIFF

owners killed no one.” “Work hard! Fifty people on welfare are counting on you!” is a cheery one that pops up on a t-shirt. Enthusiasts browse quietly; one customer chats with the proprietor about military-grade weaponry. Soon, their conversation turns to a mutual friend, who’s in hospital having his gallbladder removed. One reassures the other that the procedure will be beneficial and safe, as his wife has recently undergone it; nonetheless, both men quiet.

Behind them are the sounds of another customer, hoisting up various assault rifles one by one, and raising them to eye level to test their weight in her hands. For me, the scene is a moment of universality. I was raised in an Ontario village half the size of Monrovia, and this scene, like many others, could have taken place there exactly as it does here. The guns back home looked rather more like tools for hunting deer, and less like something that could be wielded to take down Optimus Prime, but that’s really the only difference.

When all this is recognizable to a Canadian, there’s an argument to be made that, in fact, it is context only that makes this a political film. The film itself says nothing of its reasoning or aim.

That’s left to the promotional material. According to the website of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Monrovia, Indiana is a “study of small-town Midwesterners who tilted the 2016 US election,” after which “coastal journalists had to reckon with being out of touch with redstate America.” Though TIFF acknowledges that Wiseman “isn’t tackling politics overtly,” the marketing implies for the film an entirely political purpose.

Why else would it be made in 2018, and why else would we be watching it? ‘We’ being most likely the left-leaning, the urban, and the middleclass. Not a single “Make America Great Again” hat is shown. Instead, we see a young couple’s wedding vows, a pig farmer showing livestock to his daughter, a country band playing to almost no one, and a veterinarian painstakingly amputating the tail of a dog. Yet it remains unavoidable that these are people who we are interested in precisely for their Republicanism. Context prevents this film from being about Monrovia at all, and renders its people metonymic for the countless small communities that wield enormous power over American politics, and who may want, above all else, to be left alone.

Over the past years, much has been made of journalistic efforts to correct that lapse in cultural awareness — to be no longer “out of touch” — and the merits of such a pursuit are seen from interviews with average Trump supporters to a New York Times profile of the day-to-day life of a neo-Nazi. This is the context in which Monrovia,

Indiana arrives, after many have criticized the amount of coverage given to the voices of political enemies.

Some fear the results of “normalizing” and “humanizing” people who hold, or tolerate, evil ideas, as though they weren’t normal and human before liberal journalists discovered them. What happens if one begins not with the ideas and allegiances, but with that unevenly bestowed humanity? What if one presents a view of people both like and unlike ourselves, and refuses to tell us how they vote? Or only tells us after we’ve been forced to confront them as political unknowns?

A film like Wiseman’s offers an invaluable counter to one of the most troublingly persistent delusions in popular discourse, which is that one’s ideology is inevitable. Many of us on the left take comfort in telling ourselves that our politics are the correct ones because they naturally arise from marginalized people — that only our opponents can be privileged enough to choose their ideas and choose not to care about others because politics don’t affect them. And those marginalized people, being the handy monolith that they are, could never possibly disagree, or be split on an issue themselves — how rude of them that would be, when we’re trying to help.

This idea becomes less simple as soon as one takes a step into society’s actual margins, among the working class, those without a university education, and those who live at the borders of the map. In America, a lower percentage of rural highschool graduates attend university than among urban and suburban graduates of all ethnicities, at every income level.

For most people watching Monrovia, Indiana at TIFF, towns like Monrovia are marginal. Why else call it a “study” of rural conservatives, as though they were the subjects of an anthropological expedition? If they didn’t constitute a political ‘other,’ and weren’t partially responsible for the United States’ current regime, they would not have been deemed worthy of a documentary.

Leaving the theatre, one has no idea just how much footage Wiseman shot or what he excluded from the final cut, but his film’s singular contribution is in how the selection of details refuses to approach these subjects as the ‘other.’

It offers them neither defence nor judgment nor admiration nor pity, though each audience member may experience any of these reactions.

Monrovia, Indiana is not a film that makes its intentions clear. It is an exploratory work by an already learned man taking curious steps, not into the uncharted, but into the oft-forgotten reaches of his own country. For that alone, it is worth seeing, if you’d rather not make the trip there yourself.

Science

January 28. 2019 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

The disappearing permafrost Navigating a thawing landscape

The thawing permafrost has detrimental effects on the environment and local inhabitants.

UBC MICROMETEOROLOGY/CC FLICKR

Elizabeth Benner Varsity Contributor

Stepping out onto the sidewalk from Robarts Library, it’s obvious that winter is in full swing.

The air has gone cold, turning that pleasant fall nip into a winter bite. And although it would seem that the freeze is inescapable, not all temperatures are dropping.

Despite the frigid weather, global warming is still in effect. Since 1975, average global temperatures have been increasing at a rate of roughly 0.15–0.20 degrees Celsius per decade, prompting consequences such as rising sea levels, extreme weather, disappearing Arctic ice, and severe droughts and floods.

Another major unseen consequence of this climb lies deep beneath the tundra soil.

The frozen expanse known as permafrost is beginning to thaw.

According to Dr. William Gough, a climate change researcher at UTSC, the thawing process occurs annually. “The surface area actually thaws and then refreezes and thaws… and that’s called the active layer.” The active layer supports vegetation and wildlife and acts as a buffer for the area underneath, allowing it to stay frozen even during the summer.

This subsurface expanse is called permafrost, soil that remains continuously frozen for two or more years, though it can be thousands of years old.

Although associated with the frosty expanse of the Arctic Circle, variations of permafrost can be found in in almost all provinces and territories with the exceptions of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

Approximately 40–50 per cent of Canada is underlain with permafrost.

Gough studies the effects of permafrost shrinkage along the James Bay coastline in Northern Ontario, searching to see if permafrost is still present in the region.

Due to the loss of snow and ice caused by the warming, the darker ground absorbs more solar energy, resulting in a heated active layer that no longer protects the permafrost. The amount of permafrost decreases as the soil thaws, and eventually the layers collapse.

From 2007–2016, permafrost temperatures were found to have risen approximately 0.29

degrees. This has already started to have lasting consequences.

In the Sakha Republic in Russia, the ground has begun to collapse under itself, resulting in a half-mile-long opening in the ground known as the Batagaika Crater. Measurements of the crater have indicated that it has doubled in size within the past five years.

The Batagaika Crater “was a disturbed system.

So they had taken down a bunch of trees that reduced the amount of shade and so the surface warmed and then there was a positive feedback and the crater formed,” said Gough.

“It illustrated how fragile the system is… that’s an analogue to much of what the climate system may be experiencing where it’s fragile in the sense that if you push it, it will sort of gallop off into a positive feedback.”

As the ground begins to warm, large volumes of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon would be released as organic material stored within the permafrost begins to decay, accumulating in the atmosphere and accelerating the pace of climate change.

Neurotoxins such as anthrax and methylmercury are emerging from the mushy soils as predicted in a 2011 study, five years before the 2016 anthrax outbreak in Siberia.

These toxins have the potential to spread and cause outbreaks for wildlife and eventually humans.

Across the land, tilting forests, thaw pools, collapsing craters, and landslides pockmark the regions where permafrost has begun to disappear, turning an invisible phenomenon into a very visible problem. Structural integrity and storage of organic material are benefits of permafrost, which have started to unravel as temperatures increase.

In addition to the devastating environmental effects, these consequences have also found their way into the lives of people living in the affected regions. The daily bustle of life also results in the gradual heating of the once permanently frozen soil beneath, causing buildings to lean, roads to buckle, and slopes to fail.

“Historically, you can build on permafrost.

What you do is you put a pylon down and the pylon… sits on that piece of permafrost below, which is always frozen,” said Gough. “Now, the problem with global warming is that the active

layer is getting deeper so… the foundation of the pylon is lost because then it’s just dangling in air and so the building will sink or shift…

It’s been engineered for a certain active layer depth.”

In some cases, such as for the inhabitants of Shishmaref, Alaska, the loss of permafrost will result in complete collapse of the soil, leading to an annual seven-metre recession of the shoreline and the evacuation of a town that can no longer be occupied.

Currently, there are plans to slow the consequences of climate change. Governments entered into the Paris Agreement in 2016, pledging to limit the global average temperature rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

However, the following year, a 2017 United Nations report indicated that if newer, more rigorous carbon goals aren’t set by governments by 2020, we will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.

At the local level, there are attempts to curb the thaw of permafrost in human inhabited regions. During the construction of the Qinghai–Xizang Railway, a transport corridor running across the Tibetan Plateau, crushed rock served as an aid to lower the ground temperature and prevent the permafrost from thawing and, in some cases, increase the height at which permafrost occurs. Similar designs for the stilts that prop up buildings use convection currents to bring cooler air down into the ground to maintain the freezing temperatures.

However, these projects require frequent monitoring, which may make them costlier in more ways than one. Research done at McMaster University has also found that peat and additional forest cover can aid in keeping temperatures lowered; however, this can increase the likelihood of fires, which will in turn cause warming of the ground.

Despite these gloomy trends, people may start moving into these vulnerable permafrost regions, not for prevention, but for gain. At the direction of the Trump administration, the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska is being auctioned off in the largest lease sale of public land in the history of the United States.

Fossil fuel companies are being given access to land, some of which is environmentally

sensitive, to extract the potentially recoverable 89.9 billion barrels of oil and 1,668.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas present in the Arctic regions.

Canada’s northern territorial governments and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation are also looking to make use of the resources as the Trudeau government’s 2016 ban on Arctic drilling is up for review in 2021. While there are obvious social benefits for the communities involved, there may be some long-term consequences to be mindful of.

“There’s a range of potential disasters and impacts… It’s really what kind of infrastructure you’re bringing into an area that’s been sort of pristine [that’s] been used for many generations by a native population. We know what an urban structure does… it totally and radically changes the nature of the environment,” said Gough. “So I worry, and I worry about the infrastructure that’s needed to be there to do the drilling.”

He stressed the environmental consequences.

“You only have to only see one oil spill to see how devastating it is on a local level. The Arctic ecosystem is a fragile one, it doesn’t have a lot of redundancies… [the ecosystem] is much more sensitive to change and so you do something devastating, it takes a long time to recover.”

And although living in southern Ontario may protect us from the physical consequences of permafrost, we are not exempt from the financial consequences. The release of carbon dioxide and methane from the thawing permafrost will result in economic impacts that total $43 trillion USD, increasing the total cost of climate change to $398 trillion USD, a 13 per cent increase.

But perhaps it is best not to think of these consequences in terms of money. Our economy can be revived, but our environment can’t.

Permafrost has many roles, not only for wildlife, but also for the people who live in surrounding areas. For some, such as Indigenous peoples, leaving their traditional land as it breaks down is not an option.

We can’t abandon a sinking ship when there are no lifeboats to separate us from the frigid water below. Combatting climate change is a decision made by governments and the people who vote for them.

It’s a choice that we must make.

18 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

Simulating climate change in the lab New chemistry experiments teach students the effects of greenhouse gases Meghan Zulian Varsity Contributor

The role of greenhouse gases in climate change is often misunderstood by the public. Most people know that climate change is caused by increased emissions of greenhouse gases. However, many don’t understand how — for example — carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere.

U of T chemistry professors Jessica D’eon, Jennifer Faust, Kristine Quinlan, and Scott Browning are acutely aware of this knowledge gap and have developed a lab to address it.

Their findings were published in the Journal of Chemical Education.

The researchers designed a first-year chemistry laboratory on the greenhouse effect that provides a topical and engaging introduction to the undergraduate student laboratory.

The relatively simple experimental design allows students to focus on grasping complex, big picture concepts without feeling anxious about measurements or dangerous chemicals.

Despite climate science being taught in primary and secondary schools, researchers from Purdue University found that most students enter postsecondary education with a fragmented understanding of the climate system.

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D’eon agrees with the findings of this study, writing that many of her students have “put [the mental model] together in a way that is not scientifically sound” and that generally “the greenhouse gas effect has been identified as a poorly understood concept in climate science.”

Now, these tangible experiments are giving students the ‘aha’ moment that they rarely experience when untangling complex and abstract concepts. As students move on from this course to pursue careers in science and non-science disciplines, they will do so with a fundamental understanding of greenhouse gases.

In the first experiment, students are asked to recognize phase changes using dry ice — solid carbon dioxide. Here, they develop a sense of scale while improving their qualitative observation skills.

In the second experiment, students compare types of radiation and energy, discussing their relative importance for the greenhouse effect.

They then apply this knowledge by comparing the heating rates of two ‘beaker Earths’ — one containing a normal atmosphere and another enriched with carbon dioxide. The students observe firsthand the faster rate of warming in the latter beaker, which they can relate back to their studies.

Reflections before and after the experiments indicate that, upon completing this lab, 87 per cent of students significantly improved their mechanistic understanding of the greenhouse effect.

Prior to the experiments, most students gave an unscientific description of greenhouse gases or were too vague in their explanations. After the experiments, students gave more detailed, scientific responses.

Improving students’ fundamental understanding of greenhouse gases contributes to a better-informed future generation of voters who will make critical decisions about how our society tackles climate change.

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Federal government to defund Networks of Centres of Excellence

Longstanding program has provided U of T with over $115 million since 1989

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Ashima Kaura Associate Science Editor

A 30-year-old federal funding program that has invested around $2 billion in scientific research, commercialization, and knowledge translation across Canada will be discontinued and phased out over the next three years, according to an announcement from Science Minister Kirsty Duncan last month.

Lauded for increasing collaboration among scientists, researchers, and manufacturers, the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) is widely considered to be the catalyst for innovative worldrenowned research that has established Canada as a global leader in science.

Since its conception in 1989, the NCE has helped train more than 48,000 personnel, created 147 spin-off companies, and sponsored 1,332 startup companies with the goal of addressing challenges in Canada’s social and economic spheres.

According to Vivek Goel, U of T Vice-President Research and Innovation, “The NCE program has helped support many cross-disciplinary research projects [at U of T] that brought together researchers from across the country to address pressing challenges.”

From student scholarships to startup seeds, U of T has benefitted from the variety of resources offered by 44 participating NCE organizations. The Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) in particular has supported the launch of three successful companies with U of T connections: BlueRock Therapeutics, ExCellThera, and Avrobio.

“Our host is [the] University of Toronto, so we have a special and deep relationship with U of T,” said Michael May, CEO of CCRM and U of T alum. “We also attract companies from around the world to work in Toronto — to help advance their own initiatives and expertise. And facilities at the University of Toronto and other institutions in Ontario are important for attracting those anchor partners.”

Although the cancellation of NCE funding for CCRM — and by proxy U of T — makes it more difficult to translate research into commercial goods, both institutions have multiple sources of funding and can continue to function according to May. “A lot of government funding is on projects, and the NCE funding for us was building a platform, on building an ecosystem and a very specialized team with facilities to actually drive technology forward,” said May.

“Our connection and partnership with the University of Toronto and other institutions goes beyond one source of funding and it involves lots of people, researchers and companies. It will not affect our relationship with U of T. It just makes it harder for us to achieve our common mission of getting product from the good research that happens.”

Less than one per cent of U of T’s total research funding in 2016–2017 came from the NCE. However, for U of T’s partner organizations that fund students at U of T and are solely funded by NCE, the funding decision could be disastrous and potentially slow progress in important scientific fields.

“If we’re successful in our renewal this summer… and we get the final three years [of research funding], at the end of those three years, our program will be shut down,” explained Alex Mihailidis, principal investigator and joint Scientific Director of AGE-WELL at the Toronto Rehab Institute.

AGE-WELL is an NCE-funded organization that seeks to help older Canadians maintain their quality of life through the creation of innovative technologies and services.

In light of the cuts, Mihailidis said, “Our researchers will now have to start applying to the usual programs that already exist, that historically have very poor acceptance rates or success rates.”

“We fund a number of researchers and students at U of T. So obviously that money will be lost, we will not be able to support great research that is happening there.”

Although the federal government has announced a replacement program, the New Frontiers in Research Fund, there is growing criticism of the decision to abandon the network model.

“What we’ve done is that we have brought the community together,” said Mihailidis. “I know what the landscape was like before AGE-WELL. We were all trying to do our own things, we weren’t working well together, we were not getting industry involved, we were not getting older adults themselves involved in research, which is so critical and AGE-WELL was able to do that.”

“We were able to bring all these pieces together into one cohesive network working together towards the common goal,” said Mihailidis.

“It worries me if [the program is] not replaced with a strategy of coordinating good academic research in institutions with vehicles like CCRM that translate them and commercialize them,” said May. “By stopping the funding and having a number of new disconnected funds be proposed… I just don’t see the productivity. I don’t see the coordination. I worry about that strategy.”

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 19

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Cells don’t always split lengthwise

Other factors are at play when cells decide how to split

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

Harsimran Garcha Varsity Contributor

For over a century, theories of the orientation of cell division have been dominated by Hertwig’s rule, or the ‘long-axis rule.’ Named after German zoologist Oscar Hertwig, Hertwig’s rule states that cells divide along their longest side. However, two recent studies are challenging this rule, revealing that factors other than cell shape determine how cells divide.

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into daughter cells with the same genetic material. Mitosis is a form of cell division that results in identical daughter cells.

It consists of five phases: prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.

The physical splitting of the cell along its longer axis is known as cytokinesis, which typically begins in anaphase and ends shortly after telophase.

New research published in Developmental Cell and The EMBO Journal has demonstrated that this traditional view of cell division might be oversimplified.

“The articles [from Developmental Cell and The EMBO Journal] indicate that physical forces control the organization of some of those molecular machines inside cells to determine the axis of division,” said Dr. Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez, Associate Professor at U of T’s Department of Cell & Systems Biology. Fernandez-Gonzalez is an author of a recent scientific literature review published in Developmental Cell that addresses these developments in theories of cell division orientation and asks further questions about science’s understanding of cell division.

According to the review, the cell division of the embryos of Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, is what called Hertwig’s rule into question. Each embryo is divided into segments from head-to-tail by grooves called parasegmental boundaries (PSBs). The cells surrounding the boundaries are referred to as boundary cells while the cells further away from them are referred to as non-boundary

cells. The research shows that the boundary cells dividing at the PSB do not follow Hertwig’s rule.

The non-boundary cells follow Hertwig’s rule by dividing parallel to their longest axis, the dorsal-ventral (DV ) axis of the growing embryo. However, boundary cells divide parallel to the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the growing embryo, violating Hertwig’s rule.

This occurs because of the orientation of the boundary cells by the PSB. The areas of the PSB are rich in actomyosin, a protein complex that forms what Fernandez-Gonzalez refers to as ‘cables.’

These cables prevent cells from different segments of the embryo from mixing. If cells project onto the cable, the cable will push the cells back into its segment. Each cell has spindles at its poles to help orient the genetic material and guide its division during mitosis. These spindles are brought into alignment along the AP axis by mechanical signals that the PSB cables generate, causing the rule violation.

The original researchers used laser ablation, the removal of material with lasers, to determine whether the contractile forces are the mechanical signals that help orient the boundary cells.

Reducing the tension in the PSB cables using laser ablation, the team observed that more boundary cells divided along the DV axis of the embryo, in accordance with Hertwig’s rule.

However, by increasing tension on the nonboundary cells, more non-boundary cells divided along the anteroposterior axis, thus disobeying Hertwig’s rule. These observations enabled Fernandez-Gonzalez and co-author Gordana Scepanovic to conclude that “local anisotropic [directionally dependent] tension is both necessary and sufficient to orient cell divisions in the Drosophila embryonic epidermis.”

Fernandez-Gonzalez acknowledged that there are still many questions to be asked about this phenomenon. “The functional significance of cell division orientation in [boundary cells] (and [non-boundary cells]) remains unclear,” wrote Fernandez-Gonzalez.

U of T researchers discover domesticated quinoa from ancient Ontario Discovery calls into question understanding of ancient Indigenous cultures Shruti Misra Varsity Contributor

Ancient quinoa has been discovered by archaeologists at Tutela Heights near Brantford.

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During a routine analysis of soil samples from an excavation in Brantford, Ontario, U of T archaeologists found something unexpected: quinoa seeds dating to 900 BCE. The discovery is particularly noteworthy due to the high concentration of seeds found in a small pit at the Tutela Heights site.

Previously, such large concentrations of seeds from this period in North America had only been found in the southern United States.

While quinoa is now a popular option for people seeking an alternative to grains, it played an important role in ancient Indigenous societies in South America from around 2000 BCE onward. It was one of the most important Indigenous crops that supported complex agricultural cultures.

According to Dr. Gary Crawford, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at UTM and a lead researcher in the discovery, though foods like

quinoa were known to be a part of agricultural complexes that were hundreds of kilometres south of Ontario during this time, there was no previous archaeological or ethnohistoric evidence of domesticated quinoa in ancient Ontarian economies. In an email to The Varsity, Crawford explained that there is some evidence of small samples of wild seeds, but nothing that would imply a major role in Indigenous cultures.

Jessica Lytle, researcher and archaeologist on the excavation, told The Varsity in an email about how the quinoa seeds were discovered. First, small black particles were identified in the soil from the dig and taken for water screening. The flowing water separated organic material, which floated to the surface, from inorganic material.

“I knew we had something very unique,” wrote Lytle. “I was recovering handfuls of very small carbonised seeds!”

Lytle classified the particles by size using geological sieves and then examined them under a microscope. Lytle realized that the seeds were variants of a chenopod species, a subfamily that includes quinoa.

Crawford confirmed that the seeds were domesticated, as their seed coats were much thinner than those of wild chenopods. He then checked seed collections in his lab and identified a few domestic chenopod seeds that were previously classified as weedy chenopods.

According to Crawford, the presence of the domesticated seeds implies that, contrary to previous thought, ancient Indigenous cultures in Ontario were aware of domesticated crops during this period.

However, the low concentrations in the region and lack of records imply that the crop was not a staple of day-to-day life and did not play an important supporting role in Indigenous cultures in the area.

In any case, this variant of domesticated quinoa was later supplanted by more prevalent crops like maize, beans, squash, and sunflower.

Eventually, the domesticated form became extinct due to a lack of human intervention, but a possible descendant of the ancient crop survived in eastern North America in a wild, weedy form.

Future research will include a more in-depth analysis of the role of quinoa in Indigenous cultures of Ontario and an exploration of its distribution and ecology, with a possible interest in re-domestication, or whether weedy chenopods have economic benefit.

“I hope other archaeologists working on sites between Ontario and southern Ohio will start paying closer attention to this problem,” wrote Crawford. “The discovery in Ontario shouldn’t be so isolated.”

20 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

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The genetics of risky behaviour

Science Around Town

124 genetic variants associated with risk tolerance Jodie Lunger Varsity Contributor

According to a recent study published in Nature, risky behaviour may be linked to genetics. The international collaborative project involved 96 coauthors and identified 124 independent genetic mutations associated with general risk tolerance in humans.

Risk tolerance refers to a person’s willingness to take a risk, with the goal of attaining a reward.

“People who have higher risk tolerance are more likely to start up their own business, to invest in risky stocks, to do risky sports, take social risks and so on,” said Dr. Jonathan Beauchamp, one of the senior principal investigators and Assistant Professor of Economics at U of T, at the 2018 Paul G. Allen Frontier Group Conference.

Risk tolerance “is such a fundamental parameter in the behavioural sciences,” continued Beauchamp. “It’s really at the core of all the economic models, macroeconomics, and also labour market decisions.”

The findings of this study provide examples of the many insights that can be gained from genome-wide association studies, which scan the genomes of many people in an attempt to associate genetic variants with particular outcomes.

Genetic information and self-reported answers to questions regarding risk tolerance were collected from 12 different genetic databases, including UK Biobank and 23andMe. The study involved over one million people of European ancestry.

Once the researchers completed the data collection, genetic variants were matched with their respective risk tolerance profiles, and associations were made between various behaviours.

The 124 identified genetic variants play a small role in influencing risk tolerance when

assessed individually. But together, the associations can help explain the genetic basis of risky behaviour.

When the effects from all 124 variants were combined, a polygenic score, or numerical value that accounts for all variants in a single distinct genome, was created.

The polygenic score can explain up to about 1.6 per cent of variation in risk tolerance across a population. While this score does not have predictive value to determine the risk tolerance of a certain individual, it can be put to use in social science studies, which focus on the behaviour of a population.

The study also points to the high genetic association between risk preferences and risky behaviours.

“There’s a debate in economics as to whether there is domain-general or domain-specific risk preferences, meaning whether your risk preference for health is correlated to your risk tolerance for driving fast or investing and so on,” said Beauchamp. “Some people have concluded that it seems they’re not correlated… but we find that, at the genetic level, there really seems to be a genetic component that affects risk preferences across domains.”

The researchers found no support for the involvement of the main biochemical pathways previously thought to be related to risk tolerance, which included dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone.

Instead, they found a role for the main excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in genetically determined risk tolerance, glutamate and GABA respectively.

Beauchamp explained that this lack of corroboration is likely due to the relatively small sample sizes of previous studies.

“To date… nearly all published studies

Emily Deibert Varsity Staff

EUNICE CHEN/THE VARSITY

attempting to discover the genetic variants associated with risk tolerance have been ‘candidate-gene studies’ conducted in relatively small samples ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand individuals.”

As a result, the sample sizes from the candidate-gene studies were too small to identify genetic variants involved in risk-tolerance.

In part, this issue fostered Beauchamp’s support and involvement in the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, which pools samples of genetic information so that researchers can look into genetic links using large sample sizes.

However, with all the media hype around genetics, Beauchamp warned not to neglect ‘nurture’ when it comes to human behaviour.

“I think it’s important to emphasize that environment also matters, so we’re not saying that genes are the only thing important for risk,” said Beauchamp.

The genetic basis of oxygendeprived tumours

A recent study published in Nature Genetics sought to determine the effects of hypoxia — low levels of molecular oxygen — on the development of cancer, including how it may speed up cancer growth. Lead author Vinayak Bhandari, a PhD candidate in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, examined hypoxia in over 8,000 tumors across 19 tumour types.

Hypoxia can have detrimental health effects, one of which is that it can cause cancer cells to proliferate.

According to Bhandari, normally, blood vessels in our bodies are well-organized and able to transport nutrients, including oxygen, to all cells. This changes in tumours.

“In tumours, the blood vessels are often very disorganized and have sluggish blood flow,” wrote Bhandari in an email to The Varsity. This leads to low-oxygen tumours. “Around half of all solid tumours end up with low levels of oxygen.”

Hypoxic conditions can accelerate the spread of aggressive cancer cells. In tumours,

TEDxUofT Salon: Synthesis The talks at this TEDx event held at UTM will focus on innovation and explore the journey products take from the lab bench to the store shelf.

Date: Tuesday, January 29 Time: 5:30–9:00 pm Location: Davis Building, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Council Chambers, Room 3130CC Admission: $10 for students January 2019 Nerd Nite Learn about the intersection of art and science in everything from art conservation to the physics of icicles at the first Nerd Nite event of the year.

Date: Wednesday, January 30 Time: 7:00–10:00 pm Location: The Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue Admission: $10

PhD candidate Vinayak Bhandari studies genetic drivers of cancer Flora Hewitt-Harris Varsity Contributor

Does Recycling Help the Climate?

Professor Edgar Herwich, one of the world’s leading industrial ecologists, will speak about recycling and climate change at UTSC as part of the Distinguished Lecturer Series of the Centre for Global Change Science.

Date: Tuesday, January 29 Time: 4:00–5:20 pm Location: Arts & Admin Building, 1265 Military Trail, Room 160 Admission: Free

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

cancer cells exist with different sets of mutations. Some cancer cells will be susceptible to hypoxic environments due to their specific mutation, and these cells often do not survive.

“But other cells that have a specific mutation may not be affected by low oxygen,” wrote Bhandari. “So you end up enriching the tumour for cells with that aggressive mutation that can survive an extreme environment and you get a more aggressive cancer.”

Despite the threat that hypoxia poses, it has previously been a challenge to study its effects due to the invasive and difficult process of measuring oxygen levels in tumours.

To remedy this, Bhandari and his team created an innovative method for examining tumour hypoxia in more detail.

“We used several mRNA signatures to computationally quantify tumour oxygen levels with existing patient data. We then used this hypoxia information and looked broadly at lots of different genomic features of tumours and found some really interesting links in several cancers,” wrote Bhandari. “We then dug deeper into prostate cancer where we have really good long term data for how patients respond to treatments and we looked further into interactions between hypoxia, changes in the DNA and also how tumours change over time.”

Dr. Paul Boutros — former Associate Professor at U of T’s Department of Medical Biophysics, now at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the supervisor for this study — added that hypoxia and its relevance to cancer growth is still not well understood, but that this research is a significant step.

“I think other researchers are going to be able to take advantage of these data to explore a lot of new angles,” wrote Boutros.

Boutros believes that other researchers will begin to look at genomics associated with hypoxic cancer cells, and begin to look more into genomic data in a new light. Boutros also adds that this research highlights how hypoxic environments arise due to different factors aside from genetic mutations, including cell morphology and evolutionary properties.

Bhandari emphasized the multidisciplinary nature of the team involved in the research, and how it was an asset.

“We were only able to do this because we had biologists, chemists, data scientists, statisticians, engineers, pathologists and radiation oncologists come together to work on this problem in asymmetric fashion. Everyone contributed in important ways over many years and I think this is the best way forward for answering difficult questions.”

Affective AI and its Applications Join Professor Kang Lee for a Fields-CQAM Public Lecture on both intelligence quotient and emotional quotient in artificial intelligence systems.

Date: Thursday, January 31 Time: 6:00–7:00 pm Location: Bahen Centre for Information Technology, 40 St. George Street Admission: Free with registration Bats of the GTA — The Real Stars of the Night At this Toronto Field Naturalists lecture, Toronto Zoo bat researcher Toby Thorne will talk about all the different types of bats that call the GTA home.

Date: Sunday, February 3 Time: 2:30–3:30 pm Location: Emmanuel College, 75 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Room 001 Admission: Free

Sports

January 28, 2019 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Blues volleyball lose hardfought contests against Ryerson

Rams earn back-to-back victories at Goldring Vanda Mayer Associate Sports Editor

Despite strong teamwork, both the men’s and women’s Varsity Blues volleyball teams suffered defeats against the Ryerson Rams on January 20. The Rams won 3–1 against the men and 3–2 against the women.

For the Blues women, however, fourth-year hitter Alina Dormann became the University of Toronto’s all-time point leader after scoring 18.5 points this game: her total of 1,085 points places her above 2016 Olympian Heather Bansley and two-time all-Canadian Charlotte Sider.

Anna Feore, another standout player, achieved a career best of 20 points through 15 kills, two aces, and three blocks, in addition to her 15 digs in the Sunday game.

Men’s

The first Blues team in action that afternoon, the men played a close first set that saw the two teams trade points. After the technical timeout, when the Blues had a narrow 16–13 lead, fourth-year outside hitter Austin Valjas enjoyed a seven-

point run that led the Blues to victory in the set with a final score of 25–20.

The streak motivated both the players and the fans, who became increasingly rowdy with noisemakers. The Varsity Blues event staff underpinned this atmosphere with a drum and a tambourine: silence only descended when a player tossed the ball for a serve.

Blues setter Jordan Figueira, who led the game with 42 assists, emphasized the importance of teamwork. “It’s a lot of intuition… Communication on the court, off the court. I know all my hitters, they know my sets.”

The second set mirrored the first, but it was the Rams who held a slight lead at 16–13 when the technical timeout was called. Ryerson ended the set with a 25–20 win.

The tension truly picked up in the third set at 12–15 when both teams gained momentum and their rallies increased in length. While the Blues demonstrated strong teamwork and skills, Ryerson’s scrappy play and strong block defense led to a Rams win with a final score of 25–20.

In the fourth set, Ryerson enjoyed a 16–15 lead when the technical timeout

Anna Feore (centre) had a career best 20 points in the loss to Ryerson.

HENRY ZHAO/Courtesy of the VARSITY BLUES

was called, after which they had a winning 8–3 run due to strong offensive play and a few serving errors from the Blues.

The set ended with a 25–21 Ryerson victory, which concluded a 3–1 win for the Rams. The stats reflected Ryerson’s consistent game; the Blues clocked up 17 errors, while the Rams ended the game with only 11.

On how the Blues could improve moving forward, Figueira said, “We definitely need to improve on our defense and our blocking… the main thing is sticking to the game plan and executing, which we weren’t able to do a lot.”

Women’s

The Blues women’s team, eighth in the national rankings, also enjoyed a strong start, winning the first set 25–15 against the number four-ranked Ryerson Rams.

The first set win motivated the team during the start of the second set, but Ryerson picked up points to end with a 25–15 victory. Led by Theanna Vernon with nine blocks, Ryerson was especially impressive in their blocking, which frequently won them points throughout the game.

While Ryerson opened the third set, due to solid teamwork and strong hitting by right side Dormann, the Blues managed to take the set 25–22.

Head coach Kristine Drakich explained that serving and defense was key to the team’s performance. “We came out very strong in the first set. We had strong serving and strong block defense.

We sort of got away from that a little bit in the second and beginning of the third but we got it back… we have to sustain it a little bit longer.”

The tension throughout the fourth set was palpable and this was especially evident during the long rally at 23–21.

Ryerson came away with the point, but both teams’ plays were impressive with organized defense and attacks. Drakich said later, “These were really good moments, but for whatever reason we just had difficulty with our discipline on block defense.”

The deciding fifth set ended with a 15–6 victory for Ryerson, which solidified their 3–2 win of the match.

On what’s next, Coach Drakich identified discipline as an important objective: “Most of what we focus on is on our side of the net; just do what we do a little bit longer a little bit more often. If we continue to do that, good things are going to happen.”

Opinion from the Sports Ethicist: pay for play in the NCAA How to incentivize college play for college athletes

SKYLER CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

Kasi Sewraj Sports Ethics Columnist

Should college athletes be paid? Just last week, star high school basketball player Maori Davenport was suspended from playing on her team because she cashed an $857.20 USD cheque given to her

by USA Basketball. A similar case occurred in 2016 when University of Texas swimmer and Singapore native Joseph Schooling received $740,000 USD from the Singapore National Olympic Council for winning its first gold medal in the 2016 Olympic Games.

This controversy around the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the non-profit body that regulates athletes and athletic programs

in over 1,000 American schools and Simon Fraser University, was triggered last year. Evidence surfaced that various high-profile Adidas executives and coaches had paid men’s basketball and football recruits five-figure sums to influence their recruitment. American schools such as the University of Kansas and the University of Louisville were giving out scholarships to ineligible players, while they were also engaged in bidding wars to attract players to their schools.

These findings were followed up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In October, two Adidas employees and one agent were found guilty of wire fraud, sending shockwaves through the NCAA, with NCAA president Mark Emmert promising swift change in the

world of collegiate sports.

While there are more federal trials left, as well as NCAA internal investigations, in early December, Emmert seemed to soften his initial stance when he announced that the NCAA panel overseeing the investigations will be put together in August, almost two years after the initial arrests.

So what has really changed as we enter 2019? In addition to the three arrests made, two Louisville Cardinals coaches were fired, while former Cardinals player Brian Bowen II has left to play in Australia after NCAA regulations restricted his eligibility. Nothing substantial, however, has really changed.

It seems that time and time again, athletes are being penalized for receiving any sort of pay for their athletic endeavours.

A Drexel University study has shown that if college Division I basketball and football players were paid in equal proportions to their professional counterparts, the average player would be making $260,000 USD. There are concerns regarding compensation, such as determining what the rates of compensation should be.

Questions remain about whether players should receive equal pay, how to deal with discrepancies between school budgets, and how this could affect some of these athletes actually working on finishing a degree at these institutions.

While these questions have been debated for decades now, a utilitarian approach would be the most beneficial in this context.

Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy principle that dictates that the right thing to do in any situation is one that leads to the most happiness and least pain for the greatest number of people. If pay-for-play continues to be illegal, student athletes will continue to be put in an uncomfortable position — they are the ones bringing in nearly $10 billion for their schools, but they only see compensation in terms of athletic scholarships.

The current approach doesn’t maximize the gains for players, and coaching staff see none of the benefits. This gave rise to the current situation: underhanded deals between schools, athletic companies, and players that damage the reputation of college athletics. This approach has seemingly failed to provide equal opportunity in recruiting between institutions. It also promotes the current culture of athletes leaving after a year or two of post-graduate studies in order to support their financial interests.

“There’re student athletes participating in sport but they’re [receiving] scholarships to develop their academics and earn a degree, but they are clearly athletes first and students second, and many of them don’t see the benefit of that academic experience anyways,” says Simon Darnell, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education.

On the other hand, paying athletes seems like a fair distribution of the funds that the players bring in: it allows them to start to build their futures with a brand if they reach the professional leagues, while it also enables them to support

themselves and their families. This approach, therefore, seems to bring in more benefits than the current restrictions do.

One thing that we commonly see are NBA players only spending one or two years in college due to financial issues: legalizing payment would allow players to stay in school longer, thus developing their games while also finishing their degrees. Caps on the amount of money each school is allowed to offer could potentially equalize recruiting opportunities across institutions, and strict regulations could ensure regular class attendance.

Through stricter regulation, this initiative limits the corruption that we have seen within the NCAA case, while it also seems to maximize benefits and minimize risks for all involved.

“It’s hard to imagine how [the NCAA] still justify that to themselves.

There’s just so much money being made, and those who are labouring to see that money made don’t really see a cut in any significant way. There are lots of arguments to be made that their labour is being exploited,” says Darnell. “We have to give up on the idea that this is an academic enterprise and that this is a professional sport. It is a professional sport in every sense of the word except for paying the players.”

Paying student athletes isn’t a foreign concept — we’ve seen athletes like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James sign professional contracts right after high school.

Why should it be so different for aspiring professional athletes in college?

22 | THE VARSITY | SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

Sexism in sports media coverage The way female athletes are covered needs to change

Michelle Krasovitski Varsity Staff

In December, a clip of an awards show went viral — as Norwegian soccer player Ada Hegerberg accepted the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or, host Martin Solveig posed a demeaning question in French: “Do you know how to twerk?” He received a brisk and pursed “no” in response.

It’s almost perfectly ironic that a night that was supposed to mark progress — this was, after all, the very first awarding of the women’s Ballon d’Or — will be remembered for a sexist and inappropriate gaff.

The disrespect that female professional athletes endure doesn’t just happen overseas at select award shows; it is rampant and pervasive in all media, especially here in North America.

A 2017 study conducted by researchers from Purdue University and the University of Southern California found that, over the past three decades, sexism among sportscasters didn’t decrease in occurrence, but rather became more obscure.

In the ’90s, commentators freely used sexual innuendos in coverage of women’s sports. In the 2000s, the language used in commentating lost its inappropriate jokes, but became diluted and indifferent — commentators expressed much less vigour and excitement than they did when covering male athletes.

Another important note that the study pointed out is that when covering female athletes, commentators will more often than not first mention the athletes’ roles as women and mothers before speaking about athletics. Add-

ing this sort of familial information when contextualizing men occurs significantly less.

This kind of language — language that suggests that a woman is a mother or a wife first and an athlete second — characterizes the very nature of female sports coverage in our current time: a sort of microcosmic bubble where female sports are a specific niche, considered unappealing to the general public.

This misconception is reflected in the fact that on ESPN’s SportsCenter, coverage of women’s sports makes up only two per cent of airtime. This is despite the fact that the 2017 study found an increase in viewer interest in events such as the Women’s World Cup. The current landscape of sports coverage is undeniably androcentric: instead of allotting more time to the triumphs of female athletes, sports stations opt to run male-centred athlete profiles and other “human interest” pieces — time that could be put toward serious coverage of women’s matches instead.

For instance, you are probably more familiar with Sister Jean and the Marlins Man than you are with Tamika Catchings and Natalie Spooner. The former two are viral superfans: a nun who is the Loyala Ramblers’ chaplain, and a man who goes to many sports games wearing the Miami Marlins’ vivid orange jersey. Yes, that’s his entire claim to fame. The latter two, meanwhile, are accomplished athletes: Catchings is a WNBA champion, MVP, and 10-time All-Star, and Spooner is an Olympic gold medalist

YIYUE JIANG/THE VARSITY

and captain of the Toronto Furies.

Male athletes get TV slots and viral online attention when they date celebrities or wear different designers — MVPs in women’s sports leagues are struggling to secure the same attention.

This is the reality of women’s sports coverage. It is a media landscape where the shenanigans and antics of men are seen as more interesting and marketable than the genuine achievements of women.

And this is not to say that sports coverage should be totally serious all

the time, following exactly half women and half men. Because of its significantly greater popularity, male-centred sports are bound to receive more coverage: but only allotting women 1.6 per cent of airtime is a discrepancy that is far too severe. Fans who want to watch the WNBA or CWHL usually struggle to find streams or adequate reporting.

Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, asserted that covering women’s sports will make them more popular and mainstream.

For large sports networks, such as TSN and Sportsnet, taking the time to spotlight and cover women’s teams can go a long way in achieving some form of parity.

It’s a disservice to female athletes as well as the general public, who are more than capable of engaging and participating in discussions regarding women’s sports, to report so inadequately on the sector. For now, online publications such as the Victory Press for hockey, High Post Hoops for basketball, and The Equalizer for soccer, are getting the job done.

Drop-in classes at Hart House are a great way for students to stay active.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Tri-campus Gym Breakdown: Hart House How to stay active at Hart House

Tushar Sharma Varsity Contributor

Working out is hard. U of T is hard.

Between countless hours of class, readings, and assignments, who has time to work out? You do.

Whether you live downtown or commute, there is one place where you are always welcome to work out — Hart House.

The gym and rec centre is located in the heart of UTSG, steps away from University College and a short walk from Convocation Hall. Included in sessional fees, the Hart House Fitness Centre is free for all students attending the university in a given session.

Hart House Fitness Centre is open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm on weekdays and 7:00 am to 9:00 pm on weekends, allowing students plenty of time to work out, even with their hectic schedules. The Hart House pool schedule, however, is staggered on weekdays: 7:00–9:00 am, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, and 4:00–10:30 pm. Due to weekly water maintenance, it is only open from 10:30 am to 8:00 pm on weekends.

Hart House also has a variety of fitness options available. This includes a weight room with all the free weights and machines needed for bulking season, several rooms dedicated to cardio for burning calories, as well as a bas-

ketball court, a squash court, and various studio rooms that are free to use in between classes.

If you don’t like working out on your own, are not sure what to do in the gym, or simply want to learn a new skill in 2019, Hart House offers a variety of classes that everyone can join, regardless of skill level. Classes include but are not limited to swimming and scuba, yoga, Mitzvah, Pilates, cycling, martial arts, archery, and running.

If you are interested in learning a skill but want individual attention, members are able to pay for private workouts with professional trainers.

The impressive staff of Olympians, world-class runners, bodybuilders,

yogis, and kinesiologists will make sure you never feel lost in the gym, as someone is always there to guide you through your fitness journey.

Going to the gym isn’t all about lifting heavy weights, drinking protein shakes, and running till you can’t feel your legs, though. It’s about staying active, feeling good, relieving stress, and living your best life. The Hart House Fitness Centre understands and embodies these values. Hart House is a gym for everyone; a welcoming place that will encourage you to push yourself. Take advantage of all the things you pay for — don’t only use that money for your mind, invest in your body as well!

JANUARY 28, 2019 | 23

var.st/sports

WEEKLY BOX SCORES

The NBA needs to take a stand

Why Charlotte shouldn’t host the 2019 NBA All-Star Game

BASKETBALL MEN’S January 25

116–61 Carlton Ravens

January 26

Varsity Blues

94–69 Ottawa Gee-Gees

Varsity Blues

February 1

Ryerson Rams

vs

Varsity Blues

February 8

Varsity Blues

@

Laurentian Voyageurs

WOMEN’S January 25

67–48 Varsity Blues

Carlton Ravens

January 26

78–54 Varsity Blues

Ottawa Gee-Gees

February 1

Ryerson Rams

vs

Varsity Blues

February 8

Varsity Blues

@

Laurentian Voyageurs

VOLLEYBALL MEN’S 3–1 (17–25, 25–22, 18–25, 22–25)

January 26

Queen’s Gaels

Varsity Blues

3–0 (25–20, 25–16, 25–19)

January 27

Varsity Blues

February 1

Varsity Blues

RMC Paladins

@

Ryerson Rams

WOMEN’S January 26 Queen’s Gaels

3–2 (21–25, 25–20, 25–21, 23–25, 9–15)

Varsity Blues

3–1 (15–25, 25–13, 25–16, 25–16)

January 27

Varsity Blues

February 1

Varsity Blues

RMC Paladins

The All-Star Game is the biggest night on the NBA’s calendar.

RONDO ESTRELLO/CC FLICKR

Henry McGowan Varsity Contributor

In February, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina will host the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend, where the best basketball players in the world will team up and compete against each other. On the surface, this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary — just another city hosting the final night’s All-Star Game. However, avid NBA fans know that this is Charlotte’s second go at hosting the event.

The city had been previously announced as host for the event’s 2017 edition, before having its role stripped in response to North Carolina’s passing of the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, or HB2, which discriminated against the LGBTQ+ community by excluding sexual orientation and gender identity from the definition of nondiscrimination.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver responded to the situation early, warning that if significant changes were not made, Charlotte would not host an All-Star game.

In an effort to regain the game, which typically generates tens of millions of dollars in revenue, the state government repealed HB2 in March 2017.

Keeping his word, Silver agreed to give Charlotte another crack at hosting the 2019 All-Star Weekend. While the NBA undoubtedly helped to catalyze change within the North Carolina legislature, it failed to uphold its own standards by not holding out for more change.

For many years, and especially since Silver was named commissioner in 2014, the NBA has prided itself on being the most progressive North American major sports league. While the NFL has not supported players protesting the national anthem, the biggest stars in the NBA have spoken out in support of social justice causes, with the support of the league’s front office.

The NBA as a league has recently launched new social justice platforms centred around diversity and equality. Individual teams have also taken on significant roles in their communities, ranging from the Boston Celtics leading anti-bully-

ing campaigns to the Golden State Warriors hosting an open discussion between law enforcement officers and the community.

For a league that prides itself on standing up for what it believes is right, it should have been a no brainer to demand that North Carolina do better. So, while the NBA helped to get HB2 repealed, it stopped short of truly protecting LGBTQ+ rights. Upon repealing HB2, Governor Roy Cooper banned local governments from making any changes to discrimination laws for three years.

This is not an invalidation of all the hard work that the NBA has done over the years regarding social issues. However, there is a time and place to stand one’s ground. For Silver and the NBA, that should have been with Charlotte hosting the All-Star Game. As Silver himself put it, “In this day and age, you really do have to stand for something.”

He’s right, you do have to stand for something. In this case, the NBA should have stood a little longer.

@

Ryerson Rams

HOCKEY MEN’S January 25

3–1 Windsor Lancers

Varsity Blues

January 28

York Lions

vs

Varsity Blues

February 2

Varsity Blues

@

Ryerson Rams

WOMEN’S January 25

3–1 Varsity Blues

January 26

Brock Badgers

2–1 Varsity Blues

Laurier Golden Hawks

February 1

Varsity Blues

@

Brock Badgers

February 2

Varsity Blues

@

Ryerson Rams

24 | THE VARSITY | DIVERSIONS

JANUARY 28, 2019

ACROSS 1. What Spitz has done well 5. Poker player’s response 9. Best-case scenario 14. Macadamize, e.g.

15. Ham’s sign-off 16. “West Side Story” song 17. Produce a faint image of 19. Biblical gift 20. Insert more ammo 21. Bank fixture 23. Precipitated 25. Extended a subscription 30. Washer button 32. Place for fox hunting 33. Bottomless void 36. Professional associate 38. Do some pruning 39. ___ lazuli 40. Simon’s couple 41. Kind of rush 44. Chromatic nuances 46. Not so bold 47. Beany’s TV pal 49. Bone-like 51. Least encountered 54. “How peachy keen!”

56. Award 58. Nepal neighbor 62. Bile-duct blocker 64. Heckle 65. African lily 66. Give stars to, perhaps 67. Wheel rod 68. Does tailoring 69. In peak position?

DOWN 1. Train for a fight 2. Kid in a kiddie pool 3. Throat pendant 4. Personal histories 5. Oversized groups 6. Eggs, in the lab 7. Court calls 8. Dismal, to a poet 9. Really big 10. It breaks early 11. Be at fault 12. Hang out to dry 13. “Well, ___-di-dah!”

18. Sources of woe 22. Has emotions 24. Decorative sticker 26. Traveler’s concern, for short 27. Dennis the Menace’s toy 28. Chopin forte 29. Scout’s good works 31. Matter 33. Battle to remember 34. Is an omen of 35. Belgian city famed in W.W.I 37. Queen Elizabeth, for one 39. Lash of bygone westerns 42. Manage, with “out” 43. Delivery room delivery 44. Treaded things 45. Chipmaker’s substitute 48. Coaxial and booster 50. Exploit accounts 52. Ermine, in summer 53. Lone Ranger’s rescuer 55. Fishing souvenir?

57. Show grief 58. Neither his nor hers 59. Shut-eye 60. Dynamic team?

61. It comes out of a pen 63. Sound heard from the herd

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