January 27, 2020

January 27, 2020

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

Vol. CXL, No. 15

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U of T students feel the impact of lockdown following coronavirus outbreak in China

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The Varsity speaks to students affected by coronavirus outbreak, fear of infection Haley Sheh and Mikaela Toone Associate Video Editor and Associate News Editor

As China grapples with a rise in cases of the coronavirus, which initially broke out in the city of Wuhan, two U of T students spoke to The Varsity about their experiences. One was forced to stay in Wuhan due to an expanded quarantine, and another was met with fear as she returned to U of T for the semester.

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses, which include both the common cold and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS. Over 1,300 cases of the coronavirus and 41 deaths have been confirmed within China, and there have been reports of cases in seven other countries, including two patients in the United States. Following a lockdown of Wuhan on January 23, the Chinese government expanded its quarantine on January 24 to several other cities in the Hubei province.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organization in Geneva told the Associated Press on January 24 that “it’s still too early to draw conclusions about how severe the virus is” from reported deaths and illnesses. The first reported case was from Wuhan on December 31.

U of T student in Wuhan forced to drop semester Second-year Rotman Commerce student, Ming*,

was forced to drop out from this semester at U of T as a result of the quarantine on Wuhan. Ming was given a full refund for the cancellation of his flight, which was scheduled for January 25.

However, at the moment, school is not Ming’s greatest concern. His father, who also lives in Wuhan, has come down with a fever, an early symptom of coronavirus infection. Seeking care is difficult because hospitals and clinics have been overcrowded since the outbreak. Ming himself had flu-like symptoms, but was not tested for the virus.

“Me and [my] family are very worried with the virus now,” Ming wrote to The Varsity. “I had the flu and haven’t been cleared for the virus yet. My dad is having a fever right now, but the hospital is too overcrowded it [sic] take him in.”

“My roommate is scared of me now” Xinru Xiao, a second-year student studying chemistry, is frustrated and anxious about the quarantine — and her remaining family in the city.

The Varsity first reached out to Xiao on January 20, on the eve of the Wuhan quarantine, when she was planning to drop this semester and fly back home. Xiao’s parents both work for the local health department and face extreme pressure at work due to the outbreak.

“I want to go back home and be there for them,” wrote Xiao.

However, due to the quarantine, Xiao was forced to give up her plans to return to Wuhan and is waiting anxiously in Toronto as the situation at home unfolds.

Other than the physical threat of the new coronavirus, the fear among people through the news and social media has impacted the lives of students from Wuhan.

“My roommate is scared of me now,” said Xiao, “And her friends have been avoiding her, too.”

Xiao showed The Varsity a chat history where her roommate’s friend asked her roommate to sit far away in a lecture to keep a “safe distance.”** Xiao arrived in Toronto on January 17 and has not shown any symptoms of the coronavirus. She has refrained from attending classes this semester as a mode of “self-quarantine,” seeing as she spent the entire winter break in Wuhan.

During a press conference in Toronto, David Williams, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, said there are no confirmed cases in Canada as of yet, however he believes it’s just “a matter of where and when.” He also told the public that Ontario’s public health system is ready to combat the new coronavirus if it spreads to Toronto.

There has been one presumptive case of coronavirus in Toronto at the time of publication. *Student’s name has been changed due to privacy purposes **Translated by The Varsity

SCSU Board of Directors votes to reaffirm support for BDS movement

Controversial motion passes amidst debate, fear of risk to students Hannah Carty Associate News Editor

After a chaotic Annual General Meeting that left many items on the agenda unaddressed due to a room-booking issue, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) voted to reaffirm its support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel at its January Board of Directors meeting on January 22.

The BDS movement lobbies corporations, universities, and local governments to sanction the Israeli government and boycott Israel’s private sector in protest of its occupation of Palestinian territory. Critics of BDS argue that it aims to delegitimize Israeli sovereignty, while others characterize the BDS movement and its leadership as anti-Semitic.

The scope of the motion extended beyond Israel, as it also asked the SCSU to call on the university to divest from fossil fuels, and included a general call to support Indigenous movements. The motion names other organizations that its movers hope to support, including “the Unist’ot’en Camp, Tiny House Warriors, and Protect Mauna Kea—with an emphasis on human rights, antiracism, climate justice, ending settler colonialism and challenging heteropatriarchy.”

Director of Human Geography Kandeel Imram, who moved the motion, called attention to the greater implications of supporting BDS, saying that it was a cause for concern that websites such as the Canary Mission at times pub-

The BDS motion was put aside from the SCSU’s AGM. VICTORIA LEE/THE VARSITY

lish photographs and information about people involved in BDS activities on university campuses. According to its website, this is done in an effort to “[document] people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.” The website has been criticized of intimidation tactics against pro-BDS activists while the website’s operators remain anonymous.

The website for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) similarly has a function that allows people to report BDS activities at their school, “Which I believe is a form of surveillance and can put students at risk,” said Imram. SPME writes on its website that it “[employs] academic means to address [anti-Semetic] issues.”

Imram said that she moved the motion because of an invitation the SCSU sent to Asaf Romirowsky, Executive Director for the SPME, to speak at the campus. Romirowsky called to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. The UNRWA is an agency created in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinian refugees, but has faced allegations ranging from ineffectiveness, to nepotism, to sexual misconduct among top officials.

Rayyan Alibux, SCSU Vice President Operations, brought up a concern from a member of the UTSC Student Jewish Life club. He read from

the club’s constitution, “UTSC Jewish Student Life supports Israel’s right to exist, the connection the Jewish people have to their Indigenous homeland, [and] the right for the Jewish people to dwell in their homeland,” and asked if the motion would mean that the club would “no longer be allowed to exist.”

Vice-President External Chaman Bukhari responded, “[The motion is] repression [of free speech], plain and simple… It has actual ramifications for the student body.” Bukhari also criticized Imram’s assertion that it was wrong to invite Romirowsky on principle, instead advocating for neutrality: “We should not be representing any specific political stance… we should stick to representing all students and remain as apolitical as we can be.”

Imram again defended her position on refusing to invite scholars such as Rowmirowsky, adding that “I don’t think that dialogue can happen across an apartheid wall.”

An amendment to strike the second clause, moved by Bukhari, did not pass. The second clause stated that the SCSU will “refrain from engaging with organizations or participating in events that further normalize Israeli apartheid.”

After an hour of debate, including an attempt to bring the motion to the special Annual General Meeting, the motion to support BDS passed with 11 votes in favour and two votes against.

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JANUARY 27, 2020

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“Cautiously optimistic”: student groups commend direction of mental health task force report, call for more action Criticisms of university-mandated leave of absence policy, lack of student representation Hannah Carty Associate News Editor

Since the Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health released its recommendations on how to reform mental health services earlier this month, students groups have been vocal in expressing both support and disapproval of various aspects of the report.

Generally, the aspect of the task force’s report that received the most appreciation from student groups was the acknowledgement of a harmful university culture that does not prioritize student wellbeing. Student representatives remained critical of the university-mandated leave of absence policy (UMLAP), the removal of which was one of their biggest demands.

The report argued that students’ opinions about the policy were driven by misinformation, and that the university should keep UMLAP in place while working to counter the misconceptions about it.

The Varsity interviewed several student group representatives to see if the task force met students’ demands.

University of Toronto Students’ Union Arjun Kaul, Vice-President, Operations for the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), wrote to The Varsity, addressing areas of possible improvement for the report.

Kaul criticized the vague language in the report regarding the university’s culture of academic excellence. “I would like to see more specific ways of addressing the problematic nature of ‘academic rigour’ at the university, since this is usually a problem with department-specific solutions,” wrote Kaul. He further advocated for the introduction of “more expansive and efficient ways to make professors and instructors aware of the [problems]” students may face in a difficult academic environment.

He applauded the university’s decision to remove verification of illness forms and replace them with self-declared sick notes, an idea that the task force report found to have universal

support. He also commended the task force’s recommendation to create a clearer policy on reporting student deaths by suicide, and informing the public about its methods.

Lastly, Kaul criticized the lack of student representation, one of the ongoing criticisms of the task force: “I know that they could have done this with better student representation.”

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union Scarborough Campus Students’ Union President Chemi Lhamo criticized the generalized nature of the task force, and a lack of relevant recommendations for the satellite campuses.

Lhamo noted that UTSC has a large population of racialized students, and “close to 70 per cent of students dependent on [Ontario Student Assistance Program],” in an email to The Varsity.

“The numbers of student visits to our food centre continues to rise and they disproportionately represent women and international students.”

Lhmao expressed that although she was happy with the direction of the task force, she wants to wait and see how the recommendations are actually implemented.

“This report is a generalized report of the three campuses, however to address the concerns of UTSC students, you need to listen to UTSC students.”

University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union Atif Abdullah, President of the Mississauga Students’ Union, echoed the same idea, noting that the report “failed to recognize the systems of oppression that play a vital factor in Student Mental Health and the ease of access for those coming from marginalized backgrounds.”

On what the report did well, Abdullah wrote to The Varsity that the administration acknowledged the need for a cultural change at the university to allow students to make mistakes.

However, he criticized the report for not ad-

JACQUELINE RENEE AND NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

dressing concerns about the UMLAP. “We look forward to continue pushing accessible academic policies; like the Self Assigned Illness Notes and the removal of subscription based services, structural changes like free education, challenging systems of oppression and empowering students to demand better mental health supports,” wrote Abdullah.

Students for Barrier-Free Access Joshua Grondin, Chair of Students for BarrierFree Access at U of T and former Vice-President University Affairs for the UTSU, described the new partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) as “terrifying” in a tweet.

He elaborated in an email to The Varsity that for students with mental health concerns, “CAMH also represents the forced hospitalization that we have had to experience, as well as the loss of autonomy that many disabled people have in making their own decisions.”

Grondin also criticized the treatment of UMLAP in the report, writing that, “Students have voiced their concerns at all stages of this policy’s

UTSU severs ties with Ryerson Students’ Union, strengthens ties with Black students

New vice-president position created, to be approved at Special General Meeting Kathryn Mannie Deputy News Editor

At the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) January Board of Directors meeting, committee members and directors passed a motion to effectively end relations with the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU), collaborate more closely with the Black Students’ Association (BSA) in the run up to Black History Month, and minted a new executive vice-president position that will combine the external affairs and university affairs portfolios. The new position will be brought to next month’s Special General Meeting (SGM) for final approval.

Much ado about RSU Recent events at the RSU have prompted the UTSU to adopt a new resolution outlining which external organizations it will work with moving forward. Passed unanimously, this resolution commits the UTSU to cease collaboration with organizations that fail to meet the standards and values set out in the UTSU’s Board of Directors Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy.

The Executive Committee and Board of Directors will continually evaluate their relationships with external partners on a rolling basis, so that members can address issues as they arise.

Ryerson University recently announced that

the RSU will no longer be recognized as an official form of student government following its failure to address accusations of financial mismanagement. The Eyeopener reported last January that over $250,000 in expenditures were charged to RSU credit cards, with payments being made to nightclubs and bars.

The resolution holds that “recent events at the Ryerson Students’ Union have raised serious concerns around the harmful work environment perpetuated by its Executive officers,” in reference to accusations of discriminatory behaviour among the executives.

UTSU President Joshua Bowman commented that while this derecognition of the RSU is a good step from an oversight perspective, it is still a loss for student unions across the country.

However, he rejected the assertion that Ryerson’s decision is counter to the principles of student democracy, highlighting over 1,000 student voices that called for change within the RSU in an online petition.

UTSU and Black community collaboration, funds allocation The UTSU unanimously passed a memorandum of agreement with the BSA in a move that the BSA’s President Anyika Mark called “history in the making.” Per the agreement, the UTSU will allocate $15,000 to the BSA, waiving the $9,000

maximum for clubs funding.

In addition to the funding increase, the memorandum of agreement will strengthen ties between the UTSU and BSA by ramping up their project partnership throughout the year. In order to “foster collaboration and community building,” the UTSU and BSA will cooperatively organize at least one event per year.

The UTSU will also seek the opinion of the BSA on equity-related matters. The Executive Committee of the UTSU will meet with the BSA at least once per semester, and it will reflect at the end of each term on the UTSU’s progress concerning “allyship, collaboration, resources, and equitable services.”

The BSA has been granted a seat on the UTSU’s Clubs Committee and Equity & Accessibility Committee in the capacity of “Community Member.” The Equity & Accessibility Committee includes the Indigenous Students’ Collective and Queer Students’ Collective, among others. The BSA will be one of three community members to also take part in the committee. The Clubs Committee is made up of executive committee members, directors, and community members — of which the BSA will be one of four.

Vice-President position decision The UTSU has moved to combine the Vice-

development — we are fully aware of its scope and its applications.”

Mental Health Policy Council In a response to the task force’s report from student activist Lucinda Qu on behalf of the Mental Health Policy Council (MHPC), she wrote that the MHPC is “cautiously optimistic.”

She identified several positive recommendations of the task force, such as more diverse mental health service providers, more training for university staff, and increased case management support.

Its central complaint also centred around UMLAP, and a concern that “many key concerns raised by activists, student groups, and even the Ontario Human Rights Commission remain unaddressed.” Going forward, the MHPC expressed concern that the policies for reviewing UMLAP are not thorough enough, and that students might be under-consulted during review.

The MHPC had previously called for the dissolution of the task force on the grounds that it lacked significant student representation.

President, University Affairs and Vice-President, External Affairs portfolios in order to create a new position: Vice-President, Public and University Affairs.

The impetus behind this motion is that “the roles of Vice-President, University Affairs and Vice-President, External Affairs share a significant overlap in duties and responsibilities” and “[deal] with issues that can complement [each others’] work.”

In view of the fact that the Vice-President, University Affairs and Vice-President, External Affairs are both part-time positions, the UTSU has put this proposal forward claiming its “need for a dedicated full-time Vice-President in order to better represent students in lobbying efforts and other forms of advocacy.”

The motion passed unanimously, but will be subject to approval at the SGM, set to be held on February 12 at 5:00 pm at the George Ignatieff Theatre. If passed, these amendments will take effect after May 1. This will avoid removing Lucas Granger and Avani Singh from office, the current Vice-President, External Affairs and Vice-President, University Affairs, respectively.

If this new position is approved, next year’s Executive Committee will be limited to six executives, rather than the current seven positions.

The UTSU attempted to combine executive positions in September 2017, when the resignation of then Vice-President, University Affairs Carina Zhang prompted discussion on merging the university affairs and external affairs portfolios into a new Vice-President, Advocacy role.

However, fierce opposition from directors, executives, and general members caused the motion to fail at the 2017 Annual General Meeting.

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Protestors gather outside of US embassy to denounce military action in Iran

In the Spotlight: UTSC’s Iranian Students’ Organization

Iranian student society unites grieving community following plane crash

Demonstrators fill University Avenue, smaller counter-protestors gather

Rochelle Raveendran Varsity Contributor

Khatchig Ainteblian Varsity Contributor

A crowd of around 100 people gathered in front of the US consulate on University Avenue at 12:00 pm on Saturday, January 25 to protest American military escalation and intervention in Iran.

A small group of about 15 counter-protestors also gathered across from the demonstration.

The two groups were separated by barriers put up by the US embassy and security guards were on patrol during the event.

On January 3, US President Donald Trump ordered a strike near the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq that targeted and killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. This sparked tensions between the US and Iran, and escalated an already strained situation between the two countries.

On January 8, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down a flight leaving Tehran for Ukraine, killing 176 passengers, including eight U of T community members.

Trump gave a statement shortly after, saying that the US would not take further military action in Iran.

The protest was started by an organization called No War With Iran, and featured spokenword artist Nasim Asgari. Asgari was born in Tehran and is currently living in Toronto, studying human rights and equity studies at York University.

“I am not here as an activist. I am not even here as an artist. I am here because I see it as a duty for us to be here, regardless of what identity we hold,” Asgari told The Varsity in an interview. When asked about the role that students play in addressing issues like this, she said, “It’s important that we realize that, as students, we have a say and we are powerful. If we continue to stay silent, they will continue to perpetuate what they’re doing, which is investing in weapons companies and continuing to silence certain bodies.”

Behzad Jafari, a political activist affiliated with the Marxist organization Labour Fightback, told The Varsity, “If you look at it, Trump actually cannot continue any military action; there is not enough support in it. I would say that precisely these types of events and mass actions show the ruling class that there is no support for the war.”

One of the co-organizers of the protest was Saman Tabasinejad, Chair of the Policy Department at the Iranian Canadian Congress, and the 2018 Ontario New Democratic Party candidate in the Willowdale riding. She spoke to The Varsity about the issues being addressed in the protest. “The Iranian people are upset because their sovereignty was violated,” Tabasinejad said about the effects of the strike on Iranians.

“I wouldn’t want a foreign entity to murder a Canadian general, and that has nothing to do with how I feel about what that general does.

It’s an aggressive act of war.”

On the role of Canadians in this issue, Tabasinejad said that “our role is to put pressure on Canada and not be complicit with what’s going on in the United States.” During the interview, there was an altercation when a few of the counter-protestors tried to interrupt Tabasinejad by yelling profanities at her and the other organizers. Security was quick to step in and the situation did not escalate any further.

Protestors gathered outside the US consulate on University Avenue.

MICHAEL PHOON/THE VARSITY

After news broke on January 8 of a plane crash in Iran that killed 176 people — including six U of T students and two community members — vigils were held across all three campuses, bringing people from all walks together to memorialize the lives that were lost. At UTSC, the devastating impact was closely felt by the campus’ Iranian Students’ Organization.

“It was unbelievable what happened, and the body of Iranian students at UTSC sorrowfully responded to it,” said Caspian Forouhar, Vice-President of the Iranian Students’ Organization (ISO), in an interview with The Varsity.

The day after the crash, the ISO, in collaboration with the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union, organized a vigil in memory of the victims in the UTSC Meeting Place. Forouhar says he was shocked at the turnout, estimating that over 50 per cent of the Iranian students on campus were either present at the vigil or sent messages of condolences.

Forouhar describes the response as “a good indication of the Iranian student body’s willingness to take part in such collective movements.”

“At this time, students probably have sad feelings about it, they’re sorrowful,” Forouhar said, emphasizing that the vigil was held not only to remember the victims, but to support the community of Iranians at UTSC. “We’re trying to form a very friendly space for [them] so that they can feel free to speak up, so that they can ease their pain.”

Forouhar believes that the widespread grief in the community can be attributed to his observations that the majority of Iranian students travel annually to Iran. Consequently, he said, students could easily imagine themselves being on the plane.

He also touched on the likelihood of war between the United States and Iran: “The thing we can be sure of is that the body of Iranian students condemns another war in the Middle East, because, as you can see, every time in such circumstances, it’s civilians who lose their lives.”

At the time of the crash, the ISO had no protocols to follow in case of a tragedy with a similar magnitude. “The ISO dreams about the day that no single human being loses [their] life in such events,” said Forouhar. The organization is now working on establishing some procedures in case of similar events, though Forouhar hopes that they will never need to be used.

The ISO also reached out to the Iranian Association at the University of Toronto (IAUT), based out of UTSG, to offer its assistance for any planned memorials, and to say that it will stand alongside the IAUT in mourning for the losses to the members of both the Iranian and U of T communities. As no UTSC students died in the crash, the ISO cannot receive funding to establish a permanent memorial. However, Forouhar is certain the IAUT will act on such plans and says the ISO “will gladfully help them in the future.”

When asked about the response by the University of Toronto, Forouhar expressed his belief that U of T truly supported the student body in the wake of the tragedy, going on to say, “At this time, it’s not [about] something that the university could do to support us better in better ways. It’s just [that] they did what they could, and we really appreciate it.”

Though Forouhar does know a few students who lost close friends in the plane crash, he says that the entire Iranian community, not only those with personal relationships to the deceased, are remembering the lives lost in this tragic event.

“We hope that at this difficult period of time we can ease their pain somehow. Though nothing brings back the dearest, I believe they will be alive in our hearts forever.”

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JANUARY 27, 2020

Analysis shows number of students receiving OSAP increased under Wynne government

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Domestic undergraduate totals for students receiving OSAP

Marked increase in grants over loans from 2013–2018, decreased domestic enrollment

Andy Takagi News Editor

According to an analysis by The Varsity, undergraduate domestic students at U of T received increasing amounts of support from the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) from 2013– 2018. Over 62 per cent of domestic students in 2017–2018 received over $150 million in loans and $180 million in grants from the province. At the same time, domestic enrollment had slowly curbed by about 1,365 students since 2013.

In particular, the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses had higher percentages of undergraduate domestic students that received financial aid, with 65 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively, of students receiving financial aid in 2017–2018.

What is OSAP? Established in 1966 as the Province of Ontario Student Award Program, OSAP is administered

by Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU) to assist students in paying for tuition, school-related fees, and other costs associated with attending a postsecondary institution. Canadian

citizens, permanent residents, or protected persons residing in Ontario can apply for OSAP. Under former Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government, OSAP was reformed to provide “free tuition” — or grants equaling to around the average undergraduate tuition cost — to students with a household income of $50,000 or less. The changes began to take effect in September 2017, and radically redesigned the financial assistance program so that students would receive base funding calculated from the student’s family income and additional needs-based funding, depending on financial need.

In 2019, the Progressive Conservative government, led by Premier Doug Ford, announced another round of reformations to OSAP, including the elimination of the six-month interest-free grace period for loan repayments, a shift from student reliance on grants to loans, and the decreasing of grants and loans provided to students with a household income of over $50,000.

The announcement came with an additional 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition — which is regulated by the province — saving an average domestic first-year Arts & Science undergradu-

UTGSU to discuss anti-Semitism at Annual General Meeting follow-up

Union at risk of financial default if quorum not reached

Mikaela Toone Associate News Editor

The University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) will be re-adjourning its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on January 27 after failing to meet quorum on December 5. If the UTGSU does not reach quorum it may be at risk of not passing its audited financial statements from the previous year and thus defaulting to the university.

The union plans to continue its discussion on anti-Semitism, hear reports from various committees, and address motions from members.

Long debates on anti-Semitism at last AGM Despite not achieving quorum at its AGM on December 5, the UTGSU went ahead with item five on its agenda: a discussion on anti-Semitism at U of T. This discussion took place after a UTGSU commissioner expressed reluctance to support Hillel UofT’s Kosher Forward Campaign on the grounds that Hillel is a pro-Israel organization.

The campaign was created to lobby for kosher food options on campus.

The seriousness of the issues up for discussion was not forgotten, with three campus police officers standing by while members filed in to register.

Senior Director of Hillel UofT, Rob Nagus, read out a prepared statement to the membership which alleged that anti-Semitism at the UTGSU extends beyond its controversy over the Kosher Forward Campaign. Nagus claimed that the response of the former external commissioner, who had refused to address the Kosher Forward Campaign in an executive motion, “reflects a deepseated culture of systemic anti-Semitism.”

Nagus also noted that “the UTGSU’s inability to separate Jewish students from the actions of the Israeli government and [the] lack of understanding about Zionism’s multifaceted role in Jewish communal history… is a grave concern to Hillel.”

Alex, a member of the group Independent Jewish Voices, responded to Nagus, asserting that the “conflation of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, Judaism, and Zionism” is a wrongful one.

“If the UTGSU is interested in addressing anti-Semitism in any meaningful way, I would encourage them to do so outside of purely speaking with Hillel,” Alex said, noting that Hillel

International’s mandate bars partnership with or hosting groups that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Also in the December discussion, Chaim Grafstein, the Kosher Forward Campaign lead who submitted the motion to the UTGSU, cited the implementation of Kosher Forward as a “concrete [step]” toward addressing anti-Semitism on campus.

Grafstein pointed out that if one searches the UTSG food map, Hillel is currently the only spot that offers kosher food. “So this is an opportunity to provide kosher food also to students who choose to actively dissociate with Hillel.”

Grafstein also thanked Hillel for the opportunity to work on the Kosher Forward campaign “despite some of [his] political views.”

The UTGSU did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment on how they would structure the discussion on anti-Semitism at the readjournment of their AGM. On January 23, Hillel UofT successfully lobbied the university to provide kosher options on campus.

Motions by members Among the motions for the upcoming AGM is a proposal to revisit a motion from a September meeting that annulled the memorandum agreement between the UTGSU and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Graduate Students’ Association (OISE GSA).

The September motion itself was moved after an investigation found 20 constitutional violations in the OISE GSA’s April elections, and ultimately resulted in the OISE GSA’s disaffiliation as a course union, a loss in funding, and a loss of seats on the Board of Directors and General Council.

Also on the table is a motion that asks the membership to express opposition to “any program of sanctions, divestment or boycotts targeting any country, nationality, ethnic group or identity in particular” and instead boycott, divest, and sanction based on “objective criteria.”

This motion appears to be explicitly targeting the UTGSU’s BDS Committee, who will also be presenting its report at the AGM. The BDS movement urges corporations, universities, and local governments to boycott Israel in protest of its occupation of Palestinian territory and treatment of Palestinians.

ate student $678 per year.

Increased reliance on grants The Varsity’s analysis, conducted using U of T’s available data on OSAP loan rates and domestic undergraduate population, shows a marked increase in grants for 2017, the year the Wynne government’s changes went into effect.

The number of OSAP recipients among undergraduate students increased by 3,580 over the five-year timeframe — during which loans steadily decreased and were made up with grants until 2017–2018, when grants overtook loans as the main source of financial assistance for students. From $43 million in 2013 to $180 million in 2017, a higher proportion of student grants was given to a decreasing number of students —

from 48,753 in 2013 to 47,370 in 2017.

Besides first-hand accounts, it’s unclear how the Ford government’s emphasis on loans-based financial assistance will affect students at U of T as OSAP shifts from the Wynne system to the Ford system.

Domestic enrollment is set through targets agreed upon between the province and the university in their triennial Strategic Mandate Agreement. A previous Varsity analysis of international student tuition found that the university has been increasingly relying on tuition fees from international students. In 2019, international student tuition fees constituted 30 per cent of the university’s revenue — nearly a billion dollars — more than the 25 and 24 per cent that provincial grants and domestic tuition provided, respectively.

Police find decades-old human remains near campus

Bones were from a medical specimen used in a study Kathryn Mannie Deputy News Editor

Around 3:00 pm on January 22, human remains were found buried beneath a home on Brunswick Street, south of Dupont Street. After consulting a forensic anthropologist, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) announced Friday afternoon that the bones were part of a specimen that had been used in a medical study.

The contractors who made the discovery were involved in renovating the private residence, and were excavating the grounds. At the time the remains were found, police were unsure whether they were the result of a crime, archaeological, or due to some kind of misfortune. An investigation was launched to “determine [the] circumstances

Campus police sidestep parking regulations on Sussex Avenue

CBC investigation uncovers alleged parking scheme

Srivindhya Kolluru and Mikaela Toone Business Editor and Associate News Editor

A CBC investigation has found that U of T Campus Police personnel are parking their vehicles on both Spadina Avenue and Sussex Avenue without proper parking permits.

Sussex Avenue is the narrow road behind Robarts Library where the 21 Sussex Clubhouse, home to various U of T student clubs and Campus Police, is located. Private residences line the other side of the road.

CBC News observed vehicles parked on the road for eight hours a day for three days. They found that vehicles belonging to constables and

of [the] death.”

All that was known up until recently was that the bones were decades old and buried under a property which is reportedly 140 years old. The home was cordoned off to protect the scene and two special constables were posted to guard the area.

After determining that the bones were indeed human, a forensic identification officer from TPS and a forensic anthropologist from the Office of the Chief Coroner were called in for further analysis. TPS ultimately ruled that the remains are “not associated to [a] missing person or homicide” case.

The investigation is now closed following the conclusion that the remains were part of a medical specimen dating back to the 1940s. sergeants displayed a “folded white sheet of paper” on their dashboards in place of parking permits.

In 2016, CBC News reported that campus police officers were placing U of T police patches on their dashboards in order to avoid parking fines.

At the time, U of T told CBC News that it had “cracked down on the problem.”

When asked about the recent alleged parking scheme, a U of T media spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that “the university was not aware of any special arrangements with the City of Toronto regarding parking prior to media reports.”

“U of T actively supports the city enforcing parking regulations near our campus.”

In 2017, the City of Toronto issued a total of 28,224 tickets at UTSG, amassing a total of $1,349,475 in fines.

Currently, the cost of a monthly parking pass for students ranges from $140–320, depending on the parking lot.

University of Toronto Students’ Union President Joshua Bowman tweeted his frustration over the parking scheme, noting that “there is a gross disparity in how [campus police] interact with basic services at UofT compared to other members of the campus community.”

Bowman also criticized the university for using parking services as a tool to generate money from students.

Business

January 27, 2020 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

U of T student groups host second annual Black Career Conference

Over 200 participants glean insights from workshops, panels by industry professionals Srivindhya Kolluru Business Editor

Students and alumni trickled into the Desautels Hall in the Rotman School of Management building on the morning of January 18 to attend the Black Career Conference (BCC).

Now in its second year, the BCC is a studentled effort by the Black Students’ Association (BSA), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Black Rotman Commerce (BRC).

The inaugural BCC took place last March and saw close to 100 attendees. The conference is free and open to students and recent graduates from any postsecondary institution.

Many companies now have “diversity and inclusion initiatives,” said Jeffrey Fasegha, the founder of the BCC. “And these companies talked about not being able to find Black talent, but we’re right here.”

Black individuals are largely underrepresented in high-paying sectors, including finance and technology.

Fasegha, a finance student, brainstormed the idea for a Black career conference in 2016 as a first-year student.

“What I found is [that for] a lot of people, by the time they identify what they want to do, and they say, ‘that’s what I want to do,’ and they

The organizers of the Black Career Conference from left to right: Jeffrey Fasegha, Zainab Hamid, Judson Asiruwa, Ayesha Mohammed, and Jasmine Ali. SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU/THE VARSITY

try and find out how to get in, it’s too late,” said Fasegha.

According to Fasegha, the goal of the conference is to make networking and mentorship opportunities as accessible as possible, which is part of the reason that they do not charge participants.

“For me it’s about networking with people that I share a lot of similarities with… I’ve come to realize that networking is really important,” said Rotman MBA student Amariam Ukala, “I’m trying to make a transition from manufacturing to consulting and I’m just exploring every single

avenue I can to learn more about the industry.”

There were a total of 13 workshops for participants to attend which dealt with different sectors, including asset management, entrepreneurship, medicine, consulting, and visual media.

During the asset management workshop, Dennis Mitchell, Starlight Investments’ CEO and Chief Investment Officer, addressed a group of 20 participants. Mitchell held a workshop and noted that there was a mere three students in the room during the inaugural BCC. Sharine Taylor, a UTSC alum and writer, spoke

Olugbenga Olubanjo, Edgar Brown, and Janelle Hinds talk about their career paths as entrepreneurs.

SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU/THE VARSITY

Interns, know where to go if you’re dealing with workplace violations Career centres at U of T offer support

Anastasiya Gordiychuk Varsity Contributor

U of T’s career centres, which are available at UTSG, UTM, and UTSC, don’t just help students craft their résumés and prepare for job interviews. They can also advise students in internships or work placements on how to navigate difficult situations and help them determine the best course of action to take.

Violation of wage rights In Ontario, a student who is over the age of 18 can earn a minimum wage of $14 per hour. Unpaid internships are illegal in Ontario unless they provide academic credit.

“At UTSC we see a few students every year who haven’t been paid, or don’t think they’ve been paid the right amount,” wrote Jen Davies, Manager of Career Development Services at the Academic Advising & Career Centre at UTSC in an email with The Varsity.

The “employment standards hotline and legal aid are good places to start,” she added. “Sometimes a letter from the lawyer is enough to scare the company into paying the people in the way they should have.”

Health and safety According to Davies, if an internship is done for course credit, then “in the case of an injury, you should be covered by the University’s insurance policy.”

The Canadian Intern Rights Guide states that students in work placements are additionally covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act. In other cases, Davies suggested that students

to participants in the visual media workshop.

“The reasons why I thought it was necessary to come to this specific event was… to share resources around Black folks,” said Taylor.

“A lot of the times we’re shut out of spaces, or we don’t get access to spaces. So events like these are cool because you can have a space to share amongst like folks that share the same heritage.”

After the first conference, the organizing team sent out surveys for feedback from participants.

One student responded that it was “the first time she’s ever seen a Black judge and now… her dreams are a reality… She [saw that] she can actually do this if [she wants] to because other people have inspired her to do the same,” said Fasegha.

Fasegha said that of the 100 individuals who attended the 2019 conference, 20 per cent of attendees landed interviews with companies that were at the event, and 15 per cent of those who interviewed scored a full-time offer.

This time around, the number of participants grew from 100 to 231. In fact, according to Fasegha, one participant was offered a position directly after she attended the conference’s politics workshop.

The conference ended with a keynote speech

by Claudette McGowan, the Chief Information Officer at the Bank of Montreal, who discussed her career path and the importance of mentorship, among other things.

“I think the one thing that I like to tap into is around sponsorship and mentorship,” McGowan said. “I implore you to find yourself people who care about you.”

inquire about the company’s liability policy.

Dealing with discrimination or harassment If an individual is discriminated against or harassed in the workplace, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development advises them to “keep a written record of when and where you were harassed, what was said or done, who said or did it and the names of any witnesses.”

In the case that the internship is for academic credit, Davies advised that the student turn to the course instructor and department for help first.

If the placement is with a company, students are advised to speak with their manager and their human resources department.

At U of T, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Sexual Violence Response and Prevention Office can offer supports for students in such situations, as well. “[As the Career Centre] our goal is to coach you on how to have the manager and [human resources] conversations yourself as a learning opportunity,” Davies noted. “We’ll also coach [you] on how to ask questions on the [Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office] hotline, or what to say to a Legal Aid professional if it has to go that far.”

All U of T undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to book a one-on-one consultation at one of U of T’s career centres.

DINA DONG/THE VARSITY

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January 27, 2020 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Missed appointment fees are a barrier to student health The Health and Wellness Centre’s cancellation policy disadvantages students, reinforces stigma of health care access

Haya Sardar Varsity Contributor

It is evident that U of T’s current health and wellness services need to be revitalized in order to increase availability and accessibility for students.

One prominent example of the barriers students face when accessing health care is the existence of missed appointment fees.

Missed appointment fees presumably act as a deterrent for ‘no-show’ patients. This is something the university seemingly justifies on both an economic and humanitarian basis. Firstly, medical practitioners lose potential income if an appointment gets cancelled last minute, as they would be unlikely to serve another patient with such short notice. Secondly, an hour that remains unfilled is an hour that another student could have used to access scarce health care resources.

In an email to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson wrote, “For every missed appointment or no-show, there is another student waiting for care who is not seen. Missed appointments increase wait times and demand for services - the cost is the loss of resources for other students.”

Nevertheless, missed appointment fees often deter students from seeking health care in the first place. The risk of having to pay a fee is too high, particularly because students have dynamic schedules that change with less than 48 hours notice. Additionally, the fees disadvantage students with financial barriers who may face inflexible work hours, or lack the funds to pay off these fees.

The Health and Wellness Centre’s cancellation policy states that a student or faculty member may be subject to a fee if they fail to give adequate notice — usually 48 hours — that they will miss their appointment for any reason. 15-minute appointments are subject to a $40 fine, while 30–60 minute appointments charge a $60 fine. Astonishingly, missed psychiatric appointments come with a hefty fee of $100.

Failing to pay the fee within 30 days results in a hold on a student’s ACORN or ROSI account, preventing them from accessing their transcripts.

Ontario health care facilities have begun to switch to a capitation model — the process of paying medical practitioners a set amount for each individual in their care, regardless of treatment — calling into question the university’s first

point of justification.

Instead of receiving income based on the number of billable hours, some family doctors in Ontario’s health care system have started charging flat fees, regardless of whether they see a patient once or 10 times a year.

The question must be asked: where are missed appointment fees going? And who do they actually benefit?

The U of T spokesperson wrote, “Charges for students who do not show up for their appointment are used to partially compensate physicians who have held that spot for an individual and are not otherwise being paid for their time (nor are able to provide care to other students).”

What is especially infuriating about missed appointment fees is that they impact students who are already physically or mentally vulnerable. In the case of psychiatry, these may include students whose mental health challenges have prevented them from walking 25 minutes across campus in a blizzard to reach their 9:00 am appointment, or who are in the midst of a panic attack because they are backed up on all their other appointments and deadlines.

Additionally, putting a 30 day time-limit on paying off the fees is inequitable. Students often live paycheck to paycheck because of their debt burden — or rely on their dwindling Ontario Student Assistance Plan funds to stretch until the end of the school year. Being unable to scrounge up an extra $100 within a month may require an

FARIA JAHAN/THE VARSITY

unwell student to go without a few meals or miss an event they were saving up for. Furthermore, this will likely exacerbate the feelings of unwellness that the student originally faced.

Missed appointment fees are simply an extra punishment for students who already suffer concurrent consequences. Missing an appointment means having to rebook the appointment, which, in my experience, means having to wait another several weeks to seek health care. This is punishment in itself, and almost no student would willfully subject themselves to enduring those long wait times again. Thus, if a student misses an ap-

pointment, it is potentially for a reason outside of their control.

U of T must rethink its cancellation policy, and either subsidize or completely eliminate missed appointment fees. This would reduce the cost, as well as the stigma, of seeking proper health care as a student. In part, the accessibility of U of T’s health services acts to exacerbate the mental health crisis on campus — U of T needs to do better.

Haya Sardar is a third-year Economics student at Victoria College.

U of T’s My Student Support Program app is a positive step toward improving student wellbeing The app allows students with smartphones to access health care anywhere, anytime Angad Deol Varsity Contributor

DARREN CHENG/THE VARSITY

The My Student Support Program (SSP) app is a 24-hour instant messaging service for students, for assistance with personal or academic concerns. It allows users to call or text a student support adviser from a smartphone, and is available in a variety of languages — including English, French, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic — at no cost to the student.

Initially exclusive to international students last year, U of T recently expanded access to students at all three campuses, given its benefits.

The SSP app is, without a doubt, a massive leap toward improving the accessibility of student resources. Moreover, it is not a replacement for other on-campus resources, but rather a welcome addition to student health services at the University of Toronto.

Smartphones are a rapidly-growing part of student life, and many classrooms are currently

embracing technology across the world — be it for extra-curricular activities or for in-class participation.

By providing students with support just a few clicks away, the university has alleviated stress for students who may be too anxious to reach out for help in-person. Furthermore, the app also provides students with helpful articles that can provide necessary advice for coping with the stresses of university life, as well as directing them toward the correct resources when necessary. For those who do not require immediate support, the curated articles will provide a much-needed voice to guide students toward success.

However, students who do not own a smartphone are excluded from the convenience of the SSP app, and while U of T does have many other in-person resources for student wellbeing, some students may find themselves unable to seek inperson help due to logistical or personal reasons.

Not every student has access to a smartphone or tablet, and the app being smartphone-exclu-

sive is a concern that has not yet been addressed or resolved. The next step for the university to take in their roll out of the SSP app would be the release of a website component so that students can take advantage of the service at home or by using on-campus computer resources.

The launch of the SSP app should be celebrated. It is a major step toward improving the accessibility of student resources by a university that has faced criticism in the past for this very issue.

However, in the future, U of T should work on improving access of the resource beyond just smartphones, linking other on-campus resources to the app, and increasing its advertisement. By doing so, the university would greatly improve the quality of student life on and off campus, and foster a positive environment for coming years.

Angad Deol is a first-year Life Sciences student at St. Michael’s College.

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Participation marks encourage discussion and development

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Active student engagement offers opportunities for interpersonal growth Ruth Frogoso Varsity Contributor

Participation marks come in two dreadful forms for someone who is introverted and afraid of public speaking: one involves only attendance and possibly the use of an iClicker — the more dreadful one involves having to actually speak in class. I vividly remember a seminar class I took in my first year in which I managed to raise my hand only once in a pathetic attempt to get my participation marks.

Using marks as motivation for student engagement is a common practice. According to The Quad, the official blog of the University of Alberta, the goal of participation is to “cultivate critical thinking, logic and reasoning, respect, or professionalism in their students.”

A research article published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences journal in 2019 noted that students excel in an active classroom environment compared to more passive, traditional lecturing. Student engagement in class is essential for synthesizing material from lectures, readings, and from other students.

However, the expectation for students to participate in class comes with some woes.

This expectation marginalizes students who are shy, introverted, and afraid of public speaking — it glorifies and rewards extraversion.

Students who are natural public speakers get easy grades, and may even dominate class airtime, while others may blurt out thoughtless comments or questions just to get marks, undermining the role of class discussion in nurturing genuine learning among students.

According to Ken Shore, a school psychologist, class participation is an important part of student learning. Speaking up teaches students to express their ideas coherently, and asking questions teaches them new ways to learn information.

Actively participating in class makes students think more deeply and develop new concepts that cannot be achieved by merely reading course materials. Students also gain confidence to express and defend their ideas, while also learning about different opinions and perspectives from their peers at the same time. Participation allows students to be respectful listeners and tactful responders.

Cosette Taylor, a postsecondary educator for more than 20 years, wrote in The Quad that the reality students face after graduation is that “one does not get paid to just show up for work.”

Participation prepares students to be confident, articulate professionals. The act of speaking, listening, and responding in classes creates a collaborative culture which students can bring to the workplace after graduating. It hones communication skills and builds relationships which are essential for any profession.

There are a few on-campus opportunities that aim to help students who find speaking up in class challenging. The Sidney Smith Commons provides tips on participation marks and has compiled a list of resources for students who want to hone their public speaking skills,

Participation marks pose an equity issue

and the University of Toronto Public Speaking Club provides a “supportive environment for students from all disciplines and backgrounds to improve their oral communication skills” and overcome their fears.

Student Life also offers various weekly workshops to help students achieve academic success, which can be seen through the Career & Co-Curricular Learning Network website.

Student Life also accepts Workshop Request Forms on its website if students cannot find a particular workshop that suits their needs.

The question that should be asked is: how can we make participation more equitable?

Instructors must be thoughtful in their lectures, and create a welcoming and stimulating environment where students feel comfortable speaking their minds. But ultimately, it’s up to students to come to class prepared, willing to learn, and to give genuine contributions.

Ruth Frogoso is a fourth-year Art History, Classical Civilization, and Creative Expression and Society student at New College.

Creating safe spaces in the classroom is paramount Hadiyyah Kuma Varsity Contributor

It’s no secret that each student learns differently. For some, participating in class may be as simple as raising a hand and voicing an opinion; for others — especially those with social anxiety — participating in class can be physically and mentally challenging.

According to the Social Anxiety Association, social anxiety is the chronic fear of social situations that involve interactions with other people. It often stems from the fear of being judged or humiliated and can manifest in both social and physical symptoms, such as sweating, nausea, and shaking.

This semester, two of my professors are encouraging active learning by attributing a set per cent of our total mark to in-class comments and questions. This means that the more a student speaks up in class, the better their mark is going to be.

Participation marks are intended to foster student engagement and critical discussion,

but while some students thrive through inclass discussions, others, like me, struggle with the grade value placed on verbal communication.

According to a study by Arizona State University’s Biology Education Research Lab, active learning strategies can have both positive and negative effects, depending on a student’s level of anxiety. The researchers found that student anxiety tended to increase during active learning strategies, such as verbal or onthe-spot communication. Many students preferred to use clickers, a non-verbal method, as a form of participation.

Group work can also help curb social anxiety. I’ve found this to be particularly beneficial in terms of sharing ideas in a smaller public setting, as well as for building a network of possible study partners. It’s been found that women and LGBTQIA2+ students benefit more from selecting their own small groups to work in.

Graduate students from McMaster University started a Black, Indigenous, and people of colour working group for peer support in classes that discuss race. In the group description, the founders write that “[students] often feel pressure (from their peers, professors, and/or their past experience) to address problematic arguments or analysis and they do not necessarily feel supported in their efforts.”

Group work and collective action can also benefit students of colour, whose ideas are often oppressed by a white academic environment. The ‘think-pair-share’ strategy, which fosters partner discussion, can also reduce the stress around speaking up.

The ideal, I believe, for professors that want to foster student engagement, is to foster an inclusive space for comment, rather than attributing a numerical value to a certain kind of communication. In another one of my classes, my professor randomly picks on students to answer questions. This might sound scary, but in reality, we’re given around five to 10 minutes to prepare a few key ideas — a much fairer way of ensuring students are not placed on the spot.

Kimberly Tanner, a professor at San Francisco State University, wrote that students should have time to gather one to three points about a question before being called on to answer. Personally, this method gives me more time to think of a response and articulate thoughts that I have in class. And, because I don’t have to meet a quota, if I’m having a particularly anxious month, I know my grade won’t be penalized for not speaking up.

The key to effective and equitable student engagement is flexible pedagogy — whether that means providing alternatives to verbal participation through writing, assigning more group or one-on-one work, or preparing students to speak up so that everyone feels welcome and comfortable voicing their opinion.

Hadiyyah Kuma is a third-year Sociology student at Victoria College.

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

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JANUARY 27, 2020

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Work-study jobs: the university’s most underrated program Students have much to gain from increased experiential learning opportunities

Morgan McKay Varsity Contributor

Many people don’t know about one of the University of Toronto’s most important and exclusive programs. This valuable experience has an extremely limited number of seats — the faculty I applied to accepted 14 of the 100-plus applicants — and students undergo in-person interviews alongside their applications. Most of the work is experiential, which is highly recommended for the job market, and the program offers paid work experience.

It is the work-study program.

Today, experiential and on-site learning is more important than ever. With advancing technology, the priorities of employers are changing. “The future job market will be different—almost alien—to what we have now,” wrote Compliance Search Group’s CEO, Jack Kelly.

Kelly is right; the job market is already changing. According to the documentary Generation Jobless, a university degree is no longer the golden ticket to a white-collar job. In fact, being too educated with too little

work experience can damn a candidate to underemployment at best.

It is important that today’s graduates find additional experience to jumpstart their careers — this is where the work-study program comes in. In a Globe and Mail article, managing director of Launched Careers Peter Cavan advised undergraduate students to “seize integrated learning opportunities” such as “co-op programs, summer jobs, and internships,” listing a number of benefits, among them the opportunities to “develop and build skills,” and “gain valuable experience.” In short, students seeking employment after graduation have everything to gain from the work-study program.

Some may argue that the work-study program hardly offers any jobs in their field. Surprisingly, that might actually be a good thing; no matter what field you go into, a diverse skill set is beneficial. A recent report published by the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship found that “four major hybrid job trends emerged… where employers are looking for distinct combinations of digital and non-digital skills.”

Furthermore, the Pew Research Center reported that “87% of workers believe it will be essential for them to get training and develop new job skills throughout their work life in order to keep up with changes in the workplace.” In another study conducted by the Pew Research Center in collaboration

with Elon’s Imagining the Internet Center in 2016, most surveyed experts agree that “a diversifying education” is important for future job-seekers. While it may be unorthodox, applying to jobs outside one’s field might actually increase their chances of getting into that very field.

From a young age, most students have been told that certain positions — and thus certain degrees — are untouchable by modern technology. Medical sciences and law, for example, could not possibly be threatened by automation — except they already are. In 2016, IBM Watson, a supercomputer health care program, diagnosed a woman’s rare form of leukemia in 10 minutes, something that would’ve taken doctors days or even weeks to do.

Similarly, a program by JPMorgan Chase called COIN reportedly took seconds to

parse contractual agreements and will save lawyers 360,000 hours of work a year. Even with current shortcomings, technology is advancing at a rapid pace and has the capacity to threaten under-experienced job applications. Regardless of what field students are in, work experience is imperative which only makes it more worrisome that the University of Toronto invests so little into experiential learning.

When the majority of U of T’s students enrol for the purpose of being prepared for employment, experiential learning should not be ‘nice to have.’ It is a must. The University of Toronto has already accomplished something great — now it just needs to be more accessible.

Morgan McKay is a second-year Criminology student at Woodsworth College.

TAHASUN TARANUM/THE VARSITY

The rise of meme culture: a new religion in the digital age

I hope this meme finds you well.

Secular campus culture brings new meaning to worship Yana Sadeghi Varsity Contributor

Life in the twenty-first century has become chaotic — hellish, if you will. The planet is quite literally burning and we are reaching the point of no return. We are constantly bombarded with byte-sized chunks of information and the neverending news cycle seems like its only intensifying.

How many times a day are we supposed to check for Trump’s latest ego-maniacal tweet?

Or tune in to the next failed online social movement? It seems as though we are living through an apocalypse and watching it unfold in realtime through social media. It is no wonder that we find comfort in memes that revel in our nonsensical political landscape — they are the only outlet in which we can communicate our frustrations and fears, and more importantly, know that others feel the same.

Perhaps meme culture in itself has become a form of religion. Similar to most religious denominations, the objective of meme accounts is to gain followers and to spread their message.

These meme pages rely heavily on their loyal followers who share and like nearly every post, to ‘enlighten’ their friends and family with the truth.

In the case of the @uoftmemes page, its posts underpin many truths here at the University of Toronto, whether they be about the immense academic pressure, or the relationships between community members. Unexpectedly, meme culture has fostered hope and a sense of sanctity.

But this seems awfully strange. We have always had other forms of media at our disposal, and yet, humans have never expressed such foreboding nor subversive messages before — not for the past few decades, anyway. This leads me to believe that there must be an underlying reason for the rise of meme culture and its relationship with the way we receive information.

In just a few decades, our society has become far more digitized as information and technology have become more readily available. This has proven to be very useful in community building and information campaigns; however, such a sudden shift in knowledge acquisition inevitably creates chaos.

From religion to new ways of meaning Throughout most of history, humans have come to understand themselves and the world through ideas that extend beyond the material world.

However, modern societal values have since shifted and are now focused on more concrete ideas of identity, stemming from facts and figures, such as salaries and other measurable life goals.

Religion has traditionally provided social order, as it gave people purpose and assigned each person a role that they could fulfill. However, without religion, we begin to question what our purpose in life is, and our role in society. In turn, our social structure begins to falter.

Religion also gives explanation as to why tragedies happen and how we can recover from them, but when we no longer subscribe to these readilyavailable answers, all we can see is inexplicable suffering and hopelessness.

It may come as no surprise that the Pew Research Center came out with a study in 2018 confirming that adults under 40, especially in North America, are less likely to identify with a religion, affiliate themselves with a religious institution, or say that religion is important in their everyday lives.

While religious devotion has seemingly declined, students and young people seem to have turned to other forms of social organization for culture and comfort. Consequently, young people are responsible for the growth of meme culture.

Former Editor-in-Chief Jack O. Dention’s Varsity listserv emails became a popular subject in student-made memes.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Memes at U of T Even in our own community at U of T, we can see the traces of religious expression in our meme culture, and how it has been integrated into this new form. These memes seem to draw upon religious figures and embody religious meanings.

For instance, a post on the @uoftmemes page from March 29, 2019 reenacts a scene from The Simpsons, labelling the group of students as representatives of each college as they surround Bart, who has been labelled as former Varsity Editor-in-Chief Jack O. Denton. All the students are chanting, “Say the line Jack!” and once he complies, they rejoice as if celebrating a godlike act.

In another post, Jesus Christ himself is radiating a beam of light which is touching a woman who is bent down on her knees. There is text on Jesus that labels him as the “food truck lady,” the light as “Anything to drink for you,” and the woman as a dehydrated student.

While these images are intended to be jokes, they reinforce the notion of our community as sacred and whole, with each member embodying their role in this microcosm of organized reli-

gion. This is also evident in another post, which depicts orientation leaders as nuns.

Many find that memes have a reassuring presence in their lives, and as such, the rise of meme culture at U of T has not only brought positivity and community-building humour to our campus, but has also helped us reconcile ourselves to the hardships of university, and struggles in our own lives.

This is related to the fact that memes have provided a simplified, more digestible alternative to otherwise overwhelming information.

Memes have also become more inclusive, and expanded beyond smaller inside jokes. Rather, the student community controls this narrative.

Meme groups allow us to not only communicate ideas of community, but to share feelings and concerns that might otherwise be lost within the sometimes-alienating experience of university life. Memes have undeniably become a staple of our culture here at the University of Toronto and have proven to be immensely beneficial for those involved.

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

10

THE VARSITY

FEATURES

THIS BODY,

A reflection on life w

Writer: Olivia Smith Illustrator: Iris Deng

The sun hung heavy-lidded in the sky as I rested on an outcropping of rock overlooking one of the shallow valleys that dimpled the woods outside the ancient village where I’d been staying. I’d sprinted through the vineyards outside the house, chasing a runner’s high over the steep and twisted hills surrounding our small corner of the world. But something in the air had told me it was time to stop, time to rest for awhile.

Fifteen years old, a year from high school graduation, two hours outside of Paris, and 6,000 kilometres from home, I turned a corner and came up short. Tentatively, I explored my mind, coming up with something unfamiliar: freedom. I had finally managed to outrun it all: the father who told me I’d only ever be loved if I made myself small. The mother who seemed to be fading into black and white.

The sense that I was destined to disappoint and to be disappointed.

It fell away — all of it. All that was left was peace, clarity, the beauty of the dusk-painted valley, and the exhilaration of a reckless run through an unfamiliar forest that just as well could have ended in a broken limb.

As I sat there, two simple truths settled over me: I was grateful for my body, and I was grateful to be alive.

The pain arrived nearly four years later.

_________________ As the snow retreated and the wind blew more kindly, agony hit me like a hammer. It fell upon my joints, neck, limbs, and hands in unpredictable, asynchronous beats. There was fatigue too: a heaviness I couldn’t shake. Suddenly, this body, my body — this thing that hurt and protested and was both me and not me — became an enforced horizon, an inescapable vantage point on the world. This pain — what causes it, worsens it, calms it — has come to shape every facet of my life and my thoughts.

It ebbs and flows, but even in its absence, its echo is resounding.

I have fibromyalgia. It’s a chronic disorder characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain, fatigue, cognitive issues such as ‘brain fog,’ and, although their exact source isn’t known, depression and anxiety. Most people with fibromyalgia have a litany of symptoms; no two people experience it exactly the same way.

For me, I have a lot of the usual suspects: widespread pain that oscillates chaotically between dull, localized aches and lightningfast lashes of agony that splinter across my body; extreme fatigue, as though I’m swimming through Vaseline in a space suit; and a wooly mental fog that descends at random.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness; it persists over time and has no known cure. There are only ways to manage and minimize the symptoms. Like many other chronic conditions, fibromyalgia is an ‘invisible illness’: its impact typically isn’t visible to the naked eye.

All else being equal, sufferers tend to look perfectly healthy; there is nothing visibly amiss.

Though every person experiences chronic illness in a different way, I hope that my experience can shed some light not only on what it’s like to live with a chronic illness, but also on a deeper issue. Most of us, especially at a competitive university in precarious social and economic environments, are terribly unprepared to treat ourselves with kindness. At the end of the day, we all have to ask ourselves this question: are you ready to love yourself when everything, including everything you think you are, goes to hell?

I wasn’t. I’m still not ready.

__________________ When it comes to fibromyalgia, the idea of living ‘with’ a chronic illness can get quite literal. It’s hard to explain, but it’s rather like sharing a body with another person.

There’s me — the reasonably well-adjusted, highachieving, and with-it student — and the other one, my illness. It’s far from an even balance. I’m stuck in my body with something like an apocalyptically emotional two-year-old who’s prone to random meltdowns which rival the dynamism of unstable nuclear reactors.

A simpler metaphor: living with this pain is like being on the wrong end of a voodoo doll.

One way to think through the constraints of chronic illness is by looking at the number of ‘useable hours’ a person with a chronic illness has in a day. Before I got sick, I’d say I had between 10–12 usable hours total each day. These were hours in which I could study, attend classes, see friends, take care of myself, make food, read books, or exercise, with energy to spare. This was the time I had to live the way I needed and wanted to, effectively and healthily.

Now the number of usable hours I have in a day is unpredictable and, typically, fairly limited. On an uncommonly great day, I’ll have eight. On a normal day, I have six. And on my bad days, I have anywhere from two usable hours to none at all. Exceeding this vague limit every day has a ratcheting effect, decreasing my baseline of health and charging interest on the time I spend trying to function as a human in this world.

I often wake up with a sense of panic, wondering how on earth I am going to get through the day. Having a chronic illness involves making an unexpectedly high amount of mathematical calculations, though none of them are precise. My already-depleted energy minus class, readings, work, meetings, human interaction, getting from point A to point B and back again, equals an emphatically negative number.

Sometimes it is possible to take a step back and rest. Within the intense, demanding, and often de-personalized environment of this institution, I have often had to make a conscious decision to push myself to a place I know will cause me days of pain.

Bad days can happen at random, but they tend to cluster in periods of high stress. Indeed, almost all my symptoms are tied to stress, both physical and emotional. This is, of course, highly inconvenient; ‘stress’ is the university’s unofficial slogan. The periods with the highest stress of the academic year coincide almost perfectly with the periods in which I am least equipped to handle them.

Now, every semester, I play chicken with my body. The goal is to reach the finish line, in an ever worsening state of health and morale, without falling apart entirely. It’s not a very fun game, and it can’t go on forever; one day, I know I’ll lose.

Y, MY BODY

features@thevarsity.ca

with a chronic illness

__________________ Before I developed fibromyalgia, I had internalized all the worst ideas about personal value and success that advocates of mental health reform at U of T, myself included, critique as emblematic of our toxic campus culture and academic environment, not to mention our society and economic system at large.

I worked for the sake of working and I wore my exhaustion proudly, habitually pulling 12-hour work days. I stuffed my résumé with commitments and achievements in the hope that, one day, I’d look in the mirror and see someone I thought mattered. I sacrificed relationships, activities, and experiences for my GPA, waiting for a payoff that, it turned out, would never come — not like that.

I thought that if I pushed myself hard enough, I’d finally be happy. And not only that: I’d finally deserve to be happy.

And then I got sick.

If I’d gotten 50 steps down the path, it isn’t that I’ve gone back 51. It’s just that I’ve been suddenly transplanted — quite violently, and with no small amount of protestation — to a different path entirely.

The achievements I’ve earned at university still matter; I just can’t cash them in. I can’t continue to push myself like I used to.

But that’s the thing: I was pushing myself. I was harming myself, in a way, because I was convinced that it was what I had to do to earn the approval of others, this university, our society, and ultimately myself.

Now, I have to slow down. Indefinitely.

Slowing down, however, is far from easy — not in this society, this economy, or this mind.

We live in a world that prizes and rewards productivity and individual achievement, regardless of the cost. There are no institutionalized accolades to be won for treating oneself with kindness. A body that cannot meet the demands of the current system is, we are told, a body without much value.

The story of my illness is in many ways a struggle against a system that hasn’t made room for bodies that need rest. This also applies to essentially every other kind of body that isn’t white, able, neuro-typical, cisgender, thin, straight — need I go on? It is also a story of my own struggle to resist the ways in which I’ve internalized these ideas. I’ve long decried the way in which neoliberal capitalism and a world centred around work demand inhumane things of our bodies and minds. I’ve long held that a person’s value is intrinsic: it has nothing to do with what they can produce.

I was, however, saying these things from the privileged perspective of an able-bodied person. I still hold these convictions — more strongly, now, for having directly experienced a very visceral physical manifestation of the negative effects of the way the present system values productivity. Yet, actually applying my convictions to my personal circumstances has proven difficult to say the least. I have been routinely enraged at my body for its refusal to do what society demands of it; I have called myself worthless more times than I could count.

Overcoming this paradigm, however, is an immensely powerful act, both personally and politically. Or so I hope. In all fairness, my body hasn’t really given me much a choice.

__________________ I often hate my body. This hate is more than the passive and socially mandated displeasure I’d so far learned to feel as a woman.

It is not me saying: “I hate my thighs,” or “I hate the shape of my eyes,” or “I just hate my right earlobe.” No, this hate consumes me, directing itself toward everything I am. It is also hopeless: the force of my anger only causes more hurt. And in any event, how wrong and pathetic — how small-minded and mean — is it to rage against something whose only crime is sickness?

I often hate my body, but I am learning to love it, too, like a child learning to walk: often falling and failing, descending into tears, perhaps feeling too scared to try again. And, yet, instinct drives it to do just that. Though I typically fail, I am likewise driven to treat my body and self with kindness by an instinct — a memory of a time before.

Before bodies — whatever they happened to do or not do — were something to be ashamed of. Before I expected anything more of myself than what I could give. Before I learned to see my body as my enemy, as something to be managed and overcome.

What I wouldn’t give to be six years old again, tracing the lines of my palms with wonder. Or 10, cross-legged beside the soccer pitch at half-time, tearing into orange slices and letting the juice slide down my fingers in small rivulets of invitation for waiting honeybees. Or a baby, flexing my fingers and toes with a curious joy.

I remember what it was to be friends with this body.

__________________ In recent months, this illness has become less of a novelty in my life. The scars are turning to birthmarks; it has begun to grow with me, like two trees pressed together from the roots. Over this time my thoughts have often strayed to that day in the forest, nearly five years ago. In my worst moments, I have wished for nothing more than to return to that time, that place, that feeling of comfort and camaraderie with my body. But I cannot go back.

And there is good in this, I think, even though it came at an unfair price that I shouldn’t have had to pay.

I am learning a new language of success. It no longer means only a perfect GPA or being ‘busy.’ Each time that I rub my aching muscles without frustration, without anger at them for their pain, is a victory. I am learning to tell my body that I know we are both hurting, and that it’s all right. “What can I do to ease your way?”

I ask. “I don’t blame you,” I say. “I’m going to do everything I can to not hurt you.”

This new language I am learning? I think it might be called kindness, or what Sonya Renee Taylor calls radical self-love: a return to our original state, before we were taught otherwise, of open and loving companionship with our bodies and selves. And although I am by no means an expert, I’d recommend you try to learn it too, or at least pick up a few phrases.

Now, as I write these words, my mind returns to that day in the forest once more. I cannot go back to that time. The place itself still exists, though, and there are many others that are equally able to touch my soul. Next time, I may take a bit longer to get there.

I may have to rest on my way up, and maybe this body will hurt.

Perhaps I’ll have to ask the people with me to slow down, to walk with me at my pace.

But I’ll get there. I know I will.

Arts & Culture

January 27, 2020 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Can’t find a snack this Valentine’s Day? Don’t worry, The Varsity’s got you One of the best things about going to the University of Toronto is the food scene. Food is often tightly coupled with our emotions, so when midterms and essays have you feeling blue, refer to this list for a little pick-me-up.

Carole’s Cheesecake Café: Yorkville, 114 Cumberland Avenue One time after an awful midterm — CHM136 Introductory Organic Chemistry I, I’m looking at you — Carole’s Cheesecake literally saved my life. Carole’s sells small slices of heaven in to-die-for flavours like classic New York, Skor, triple chocolate, and Reese’s Peanut Butter, to name a few. All cheesecake slices range between $5.99 and $13.99, and all are guaranteed to make unbearable classes a little more bearable.

UT Sushi: essentially on campus, 185 College Street Please, for the love of God — and truly, I’m begging you — do not be lazy and get the Bento Sushi at the Medical Sciences Building. Please. I cannot stress this enough, walk the extra minute for the good stuff at UT Sushi. UT Sushi is reasonably priced and will satisfy you much more than Bento Sushi ever will. My personal favourites are the sushi lunch combo, which comes with both salad and miso soup; or salmon sashimi with rice.

32 Chicken St.: Little Italy, 409 College Street Are you looking for food near campus that will change your life? We both know that you are, so wander up College Street to find 32 Chicken St. My best friend describes its Crispy St. Chicken Burger as orgasmic. I suppose you could more tastefully call it ‘heaven in a bun!’ It has melt-in-your-mouth, Koreanstyle fried chicken, the perfect sauce, and the best coleslaw, all in a delicious bun for $8.80. I promise it is worth your money. Of course, the restaurant offers some other variations, like Soy Lover St. Burger, Sweet St. Burger and D-Cheese St. Chicken.

Almond Butterfly: Locations in the Annex and Trinity Bellwoods, 100 Harbord Street and 792 Dundas Street West I discovered this beauty alongside a friend during exam season. Like I said, sometimes school requires little pick-me-ups, and Almond Butterfly excels in this area. It is a gluten-free café, but as an avid gluten eater, I can assure you it is a fantastic choice no matter your dietary restrictions. My personal favourite is its vanilla latte for $4.50, which is made with vanilla syrup that they make in house, paired with its vegan chocolate chip cookie, at $3.95.

Easy eats that are closer to campus than your next Tinder hook up

Michelle Fornasier Varsity Contributor

In addition to making fantastic coffee and baked goods, its homemade bagels are to die for. The Harbord Melt, for $9.50, has apples, turkey, aged white cheddar, butter, and homemade honey mustard — oh my heart.

Its Harbord location is also close to the Robarts Library, which gives you the perfect excuse to go before you study. Life hack: the Dundas location has a happy hour from 3:00 — 6:00 pm with reduced prices on many sandwiches and cocktails, and two-for-theprice-of-one cupcakes!

Insomnia: The Annex, 563 Bloor Street West Have you ever had too much to drink? Cue Insomnia, the perfect place to go for brunch after a night out. Insomnia is filled with hearty meal options, including a variety of egg benedicts, sandwiches, and sweet breakfast options as well. Personally, I’d make sure you order something with their home fries because who doesn’t love carbs?

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

Golden Patty: Kensington Market, 187 Baldwin Street The Golden Patty is golden for anyone on a student budget. It serves delicious Jamaican patties for $1.50 and for any vegetarians out there they also have the Trinidadian classic, doubles for $1.70 each, making it the perfect place for a cheap and filling lunch.

Egg Bae: Kensington Market, 189 Augusta Avenue Pick me. Choose me. Love me. This is your bae calling. All of these sandwiches are equally deserving of your love. My two favourites are the Bae-Sic, which is made with a fried egg, pork belly sausage, tomato jam, onions, muenster cheese, and bae sauce; and Seaside Bae, which is made with soft scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, potato chips, shallots, arugula, and mayo. The best part? All the sandwiches are under $11 and are truly filling and delicious. Thank me later!

var.st/arts

JANUARY 27, 2020

A chat with the cast of Hart House’s Legally Blonde Yeah we got an interview — what, like it’s hard?

Liam Bryant Associate Arts & Culture Editor

You have definitely watched the 2001 Hollywood cult-classic Legally Blonde. And we’re completely and totally sure that you saw Kim Kardashian’s Halloween spoof of Elle’s admission video. And, even if you deny it, you’ve guiltily enjoyed Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)…more than once. But, have you seen the musical? Join The Varsity as we ask Paige Foskett, playing Margot, and Moulan Bourke, playing Paulette, all about Hart House Theatre’s newest musical, Legally Blonde.

The Varsity: As actors, how was it bringing the world of Elle Woods to life? Is stepping into the shoes of such iconic characters a struggle?

Paige Foskett: It can sometimes be hard stepping into roles that have been done — and loved — so many times before, but ultimately you just have to find the heart of who these people are, and really bite into the text as actors. The more you do it, the more you find new and exciting ways of being this person that have maybe never been done before.

Moulan Bourke: As an actor I love bringing what people know as a movie to life. Many individuals who are not normally patrons of the theatre will come to this show. I believe it is important to respect our predecessors in these iconic roles, but to also infuse your own portrayal of the character. Every creative team and actor will have a different interpretation of this show and I’m proud to share this version of Legally Blonde with audiences!

TV: The movie has become a seriously iconic part of contemporary North American culture. Entire dissertations have been written about its place as a piece of feminist media. Has this cultural legacy and feminist lens affected your characterization or acting?

PF: I think if anything it just makes you really lean into the honesty of the story.

It’s been really important for us to not make it a joke because the writing already lends to the comedy. We have found the power in who Elle is, and what she is fighting for. I think it’s so powerful to get to embody all the people in her life who rallied behind her or pushed against her and made her stronger. She is a total badass.

MB: Even though 20 years have passed, this story is still so incredibly relevant today.

Elle Woods inspires everyone in this show by the power or her love. Absolutely, my characterization of Paulette was influenced

by the heart of this story. This show is iconic and its lessons are prominent. Elle reminds Paulette to never give up and the importance of self-love.

These women display strength, power, love, and sisterhood which I strive to have as a performer and as a person.

TV: Even though it’s only been a little more than a decade since the debut of Ms. Woods’ foray into litigation, a lot has changed in contemporary culture. Did you feel the need to, or have you had to contemporize any aspect or the play?

PF: Saccha Dennis made the really smart choice of setting our production in the ’90s where a lot of these references and the writing makes more sense. I think it’s more truthful to the text to set it in a time where all of these references and the circumstances we see play out are actually really accurate. I think to set it in modern day there has to be a lot of changes made, and you have to go about it from a different lens.

TV: Many theatrical productions feature localizations, especially for comedic and dramatic productions. Is Hart House doing anything to localize Elle to a ‘foreign’ Canadian context, well aware of its setting in Harvard and are the actors doing anything to assert their Canadian identity through these iconic Americans?

PF: For Saccha it was actually quite the opposite. We put a lot of importance on figuring out who these American people are, and really leaning into that. There’s nothing Canadian about this version of the show. And Saccha made sure to catch us every time we said “Sowww-ry!”

TV: If you could distill your production to a few remarks about its significance, plot, or really whatever you’d like, what would you say?

What is your production, in essence?

PF: I would say that this show really is spectacular because it is so fast paced, funny, and honest.

Every character we meet in this story totally reels you in, from the lead roles like Elle or Paulette, to the store manager, to Elle’s dad. Everything is so cohesive and honest. And in our production especially the costumes, set design, lighting design, and choreography are so out of this world.

MB: I think this production’s essence is the power of love. Elle literally gets into Harvard to follow who she believes to be the love of her life. She finds the love and power of law through helping her sisters. She reminds us of the importance of self-love. This show is women empowerment.

Catch Legally Blonde at Hart House Theatre until February 1, with discounted student tickets on select nights.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

No need to head to Boston — Hart House Theatre brings Harvard to your doorstep.

COURTESY OF SCOTT GORMAN/ HART HOUSE THEATRE

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THE VARSITY

ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

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How to cope with feelin’ SAD Can a pair of red cowboy boots override the effects of daylight saving time?

Rachel DeGasperis Varsity Contributor

This time of year I always try — and fail — to swallow my annual monologue about the ridiculousness of daylight saving time. The sun setting later and the general dreariness of winter has always disturbed me, and as I’ve grown older, the winter blues has only grown harder to ignore.

Despite this hatred for ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back,’ I know in my heart that, even if it was abolished, this would only mean that the sun would start setting at 5:00 pm instead of 4:00 pm.

Sadly, this small jump in time would do little to cure the weird dark cloud over my life.

During a blizzard last year I came dangerously close to screaming at the wind because I was fed up with frigid air being rapidly blown in my face. After being helplessly knocked over several times, I wanted so desperately to assert my dominance and yell into the universe, “I am not your chew toy!” It had been dark for days and my moody, pathetic nature was palpable.

Essentially, I was angry and sad, and then angry at myself for being sad.

At the end of the day I was left wondering: who do I curse for this? The world? The winds? Myself ?

My body has always been resistant to change, both seasonal or situational. I typically begin to feel strange in November when I can feel the sun tauntingly wave goodbye mid-afternoon.

This peculiar feeling eventually subsides to

sadness, which normally takes the form of hyper-fixating on myself and my shortcomings. I tend to channel my negative energy into tangible — but mostly invented — problems. Increasingly exhausted, I feel lazier, less excited, and more hopeless.

So how do I cope with the winter blues, aside from regularly calling my mom and crying to her over the phone? The simplest answer is that I do not and cannot feel 100 per cent better during this time of the year. I have accepted that a bit of sorrow nudges at me during the winter. However, there are methods I can adopt that keep this prodding light, rather than have the full force of sadness punch me in the face.

Most of these suggestions deserve an eye-roll.

I still want to smash my head against a wall every time a pretty woman tells me that working out changed her life. Although, I must admit that my mood is more stable when I do work out. It helps me relieve the built-up tension and negative energy that has been sitting in my body throughout the day.

Another cliché suggestion is to laugh as much as possible, whether with friends or by bingewatching John Mulaney’s comedy specials on Netflix. Getting good sleep and waking up earlier also allows you to be generally less exhausted and have more time with the very little sunlight available.

I also want to stress that filling your sadness with consumer goods does not work. I’m still trying to climb out of the self-destructive rabbit hole of finding temporary happiness in materialism.

The “Pawnee Rangers” episode of Parks and Recreation has influenced me more than I expected when I first watched the show. For those who have missed out on this iconic moment in pop culture, characters Tom and Donna dedicate one day a year to spending money on whatever ridiculous, gluttonous items they desire — called ‘Treat yo’ self.’ I believe in the ‘treat yo’ self ’ mentality — but only when you’re not using it to fill a void in your life. After all, life would be a lot less fun if we refused to allow ourselves moments of unearned, spontaneous hedonism.

With that being said, if you feel constantly sad

the worst thing you can do is continuously make unhealthy and self-indulgent choices to make yourself feel temporarily better. I have tried eating chocolate for days and I guarantee that I always feel like a pile of garbage in the aftermath.

The times that I have gone shopping for hours, looking for that perfect pair of boots to define myself and give my life some meaning, only make me feel hollow and empty when I come back home. Instead of feeling fulfilled, I’m left staring at a pair of ill-fitting red cowboy boots that soaked up my money and will probably sit in my closet until I eventually give them away because — let’s be real — I’m never going to wear red cowboy boots. I ultimately feel guilty for spending recklessly, and shallow for seeking happiness in superficial products.

The only way I can actually feel better is by being productive and making up a sense of purpose even when I feel stagnant. However, this is easier said than done considering seasonal affective disorder often makes people less energetic, less interested in activities, and worsens sleep habits.

My main point is to be kind to yourself if you’re sensitive to the winter glum. A lot of people experience intense mood changes in the colder months and it’s not related to your personal strength or character.

Permanent fixtures: what a tattoo can do for you Now more than ever, the medium is the message Morgan McKay Varsity Contributor

Content warning: mentions of self-harm.

The moon setting over a sailboat on a lake is a mark of perserverance for McKay. COURTESY OF @TEEKATATTS/INSTAGRAM

“Getting a tattoo is stupid,” my mother always told me. “If you killed someone and the police were trying to find you, it would be so easy!”

At the time, I was too young and wide-eyed to wonder why my mother linked body art to murder. Thankfully, it would later lead to many humorous conversations. However, her words never left me as I ventured into the working world.

Truthfully, there are many downsides to getting inked. While the actual magnitude of tattoobased employment discrimination has never been confirmed, there is a risk that having tattoos will affect your job prospects. Indeed, when you are struggling to graduate with thousands of dollars in student debt, even a slim chance at unemployment is too great.

My last two jobs would have fired any employee that got new tattoos after they were hired, and considering that I want to pursue a career in law — a conservative, paper-copy profession — tattoos could potentially hurt my future career.

Nonetheless, running down my forearm and tickling my wrist sits a freshly-inked sailboat. If tattoos come with so much stigma and criticism,

why would I put so much effort into getting one?

The reason why tattoos are so popular in the first place is because of the stories that they tell.

At a young age, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and like many other university students, I have struggled with my mental health.

Within my first undergraduate year, I lost 20 pounds and quickly transitioned from healthy to underweight. My weight loss should have been an obvious indicator that I was overexerting myself, but I didn’t see it that way — strangely, I almost felt proud of it. It indicated to me that I was diligent, so I continued to work full-time while enrolled in full-time studies.

After working until 11:00 pm, I often stumbled home and neglected the dinner my mother prepared for me. Too exhausted to eat, I would tear off my winter coat, fall asleep on the couch, and then wake up at 6:00 am for another day of school and work. Rinse. Repeat.

Meanwhile my mother and I engaged in explosive arguments. She told me to quit and work fewer hours, but I refused. In part, I blamed her for my constant stress. I wanted to live up to my parents’ expectations, and my ambition blinded me from their concern.

While the weight loss was obvious, other symptoms of my self-neglect went unrecognized.

The relationships I had with the people around

me were deteriorating; I had no sense of community on campus; I often showed up to work sick or unkempt; I regressed into self-harm. Looking back, I was undeniably lonely.

Eventually, I began to volunteer again, and I began to write. I found another job that worked better with my school schedule, and decided to spare myself a few classes. Therapy helped along the way.

Bit by bit, I focused more on myself, although it was not easy. Making healthy choices took tremendous self-control, and with each passing day I feared I would fall back on old habits.

I needed something concrete and something real to keep myself grounded, so I scraped together enough money to finally get a tattoo — something that I had wanted for the past four years. While it was largely symbolic, it finally felt like an act of independence and a step in the right direction.

For many, a sailboat is a symbol of adventure and expedition. For me, it is a lifeline that keeps me from drowning. Some may doubt my decision and worry that I will regret it in the future, but I welcome that when the time comes.

When I am old enough to look at my tattoo and think of the problems it symbolizes as being small, it will mean that I have become stronger — and that is exactly what I hope for.

Science

January 27, 2020 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

YOON-JI KWEON/ THE VARSITY

How media coverage of the opioid crisis has changed over time U of T researchers examine the construction of the opioid crisis narrative Indhu Rammohan Varsity Contributor

The last decade has seen a steady increase in Canadian media coverage on opioid use. The mounting number of opioid-related deaths — over 9,000 since 2016 alone — has led to the characterization of the issue as a crisis or epidemic.

A 2019 University of Toronto-affiliated study analyzed trends in news reporting related to opioids in Canada from 2000–2017 to understand how the portrayal of the issue has changed in the media over time.

Co-authors Dr. Fiona Webster, a medical sociologist and an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University; and Dr. Abhimanyu Sud, a physician and an assistant Professor in U of T’s Faculty of Family and Community Medicine, discussed the findings of their research with The Varsity.

“The point is not to demonize or vilify the media, or any particular journal per se, but to look at how the media both creates and reflects back to us what our own social values are, [and] what our own beliefs are,” Webster said.

An evolving narrative In their analysis of 826 Canadian news articles, the emergence of prominent themes around opioids varied greatly from 2000–2017.

The authors noted a clear departure from discussions dominated by clinical pain care and the promise of opioid treatments in the early 2000s to growing concerns over the highly-addictive nature of the substance and critiques of the pharmaceutical industry at the turn of the decade. Concern over physician prescribing practices and deceit by the pharmaceutical industry were then replaced by an emphasis on the illicit drug market and its adulteration with fentanyl in the latter half of the 2010s.

“We found in our study that pharma’s role in all of this for the most part disappeared from view as the crisis continued,” said Webster. “And we thought that was very interesting, and it is important to tell that story.”

Critical content analysis To identify the underlying societal values and beliefs that have influenced the definition of the opioid crisis in public discourse, the authors used an approach called ‘critical content analysis.’

This method involves “looking at [opioid coverage] with a view not just to describe what we found, but to think about who benefits from these types of stories, [and] who’s being excluded or marginalized,” explained Webster.

The analysis was in part informed by critical theory and what has been termed the ‘new capitalism,’ especially due to its implications across social life. In the case of opioids, individuals with chronic pain or experience with opioids are often among the most vulnerable members of society, and the consequences of advanced capitalist practices materialize through what Webster describes as “ongoing attacks on social welfare systems.”

“We could see that people were being positioned as criminals… [which feeds] into people’s ideas that we should be reducing social benefits for people, that these types of people are somehow unworthy of our attention and our support as a society.”

This belief is closely tied to that of personal responsibility in health, which has led to the moralization of health issues, such as substance use and dependence. Indeed, a 2017 research study showed that patients with substance use disorder face higher stigma for their condition in society than those with other psychiatric disorders.

“That… neoliberal positioning is related to this idea that people are individually responsible for things like their own health, and that view completely ignores the structural and social inequities that produce health disparities,” said Webster.

Beliefs such as these are especially harmful because they not only reinforce stigma against alreadymarginalized groups, but also preclude conversations about systemic change.

Defining the scope of the problem The authors noted frequent use of sensational language to characterize opioid use by Canadian news outlets when tackling the opioid problem.

And yet, defining the scope of the issue itself, along with its origin in particular, was often nebu-

lous. “Is the crisis the drugs? Is the crisis how the drugs are used? [We] need to be specific about the locus of the crisis if we want to actually address it,” said Sud. The authors also identified repeated efforts to assign blame to particular groups or individuals, such as the government or physicians, as a prominent theme.

References to criminality — illegal drug use, drug trafficking, and drug-seeking behaviour — were also found to be a recurrent topic in articles attempting to define the nature of the problem.

Furthermore, their findings showed a tendency for high-risk opioid use to be described as a self-contained phenomenon. This is opposed to academic research, which shows it existing in conjunction with other substance use problems and mental health conditions, as well as socio-structural determinants of health.

When asked about her thoughts on the relative lack of coverage on these underlying factors, Webster cautioned against taking too simplistic of a view, but theorized that “It reflects the values of our society and the fact that we would rather think that these problems are caused by drug cartels and street users.”

Indeed, the opioid crisis does not exist in a vacuum; there are many institutional and systemic forces at play. Webster noted that deep-rooted issues such as racism, classism, and gender bias are all implicated in the rise in overdose-related deaths. However, this nuance is rarely captured in news articles.

A telling example is the relative absence of reporting on the impact of opioids on Indigenous communities in Canada, despite there being extensive evidence of Indigenous people being disproportionately affected. This effect is attributable to a historical social context of intergenerational trauma, colonialism, and racism that has been inflicted onto Indigenous people.

The social construction of the “legitimate” versus “illegitimate” opioid user narrative The authors sought to draw attention to the ways in which the opioid crisis was being socially constructed, and in particular, the ways in which media reporting distorted reality.

A pervasive narrative theme identified in their analysis was the idea of the legitimate versus illegiti-

mate user. Legitimate users were those who became dependent after being prescribed opioids by a physician.

“They don’t misuse [opioids] or divert them or crush them or sell them, but they use it to treat their pain,” Sud noted of the typical media portrayal. “Most explicitly, they’re no junkie.” They were described as ‘the common person’ — otherwise upstanding citizens who had fallen victim to misfortune. Importantly, legitimate users were those perceived as being worthy of care.

“We call this a critical analysis… because we look at what’s there, but you also look for what’s not there, or… what’s not explicitly constructed versus what’s explicitly constructed,” Sud explained.

“So in constructing this legitimate patient, you construct also the illegitimate patient, the person who’s a junkie, who uses street drugs, who’s not working, who’s not employed, and [who’s] not contributing to larger society,” he continued. “This was one of the most… telling sort of construction, because we see this is in the discourse around solutions and interventions around the opioid crisis, and it creates a lot of problems because it pits people against each other.”

The ‘junkie’ stereotype is neither new nor accurate, and as Webster noted, these individuals are often characterized in “very one-dimensional ways,” which is not only stigmatizing but damaging for families who have lost a loved one to overdose.

And while these categorizations themselves are problematic, Sud explained that they can create even more problems when used as the basis for policy.

This work comes at a critical time, as an unprecedented overdose crisis unfolds in Canada and across North America, and media reporting plays an increasingly influential role in shaping the public’s perception of the issue.

Both Sud and Webster reflected on the need for people to “be careful consumers of media of all forms,” and to think critically about the types of stories being told rather than just accepting them at face value.

Disclosure: Indhu Rammohan is the President of the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy U of T Chapter.

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SCIENCE

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science@thevarsity.ca

Are cannabis-based products an effective treatment option for children’s epilepsy?

Research suggests encouraging signs, but not yet a comprehensive, long-term solution Padideh Hassanpour Varsity Contributor

In 1922, Canadian author and women’s rights activist Emily Murphy published The Black Candle, a nakedly racist and sour declaration on drugs that would shape the country’s discourse and legizlation on marijuana. She contributed to the historical racialization of the substance as a foreign, Mexican threat that threatened the white race.

The following year, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King made cannabis illegal, a move that would eventually galvanize protests by pot enthusiasts across the country. A mere 77 years later, the Canadian courts would rule in favour of cannabis use for medicinal purposes, fundamentally shifting medical discourse and the country’s approach to health care.

A prime example of cannabis’ medical use is the alleviation of seizures in individuals with epilepsy, with studies focusing on cannabis-based products for pediatric epilepsy — or epilepsy among infants and adolescents — demonstrating promising, albeit preliminary results.

In a meta-analysis on the efficacy of such treatments, researchers, including scientists at the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto, have demonstrated a positive correlation between cannabis-based products and the reduction of seizures in children. Such products are non-intoxicating and do not include tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chief ingredient responsible for the psychoactive effect users may experience.

Evidence has shown that cannabidiol, a compound in cannabis, has a number of therapeutic effects, given its anti-inflammatory, antipsychotic, and anxiety-relieving properties. It has also shown promise for treating medical disorders such as schizophrenia, dementia, and diabetes.

Can cannabis alleviate pediatric epilepsy?

First and foremost, what is epilepsy? And how can cannabis be used to treat infants and children?

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that produces “abnormal bursts of electrical activity in the brain,” according to the National Institutes of Health.

Seizure episodes can occur spontaneously, lasting anywhere from seconds to minutes, or even longer.

The World Health Organization characterizes the disorder as a “major” public health concern, with around 50 million people living with the condition around the globe. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, an average of 42 people per day are diagnosed with epilepsy in Canada, while under half — 44 per cent — are below the age of five. The vast majority of those diagnosed — roughly 60 per cent — are either young children or seniors.

If left untreated, seizures can affect individuals for a lifetime, and can occur as infrequently as one episode per year or fewer, to multiple per day. Those of us at U of T who have sat through PSY100 — Introductory Psychology — would be familiar with patient

The CBD oil purchased by consumers may differ than the product used in clinical trials.

DINA DONG/THE VARSITY

Henry Molaison, who was a notable patient with uncontrollable and frequent epileptic seizures.

Students will remember in horror how surgeons removed part of Molaison’s hippocampus and most of his amygdala as a last-resort treatment option, though the data continues to have lasting influence on cognitive science.

While removing a quintessential part of our temporal lobe is now out of fashion, health care professionals have utilized an array of solutions, from anti-seizure or anti-convulsant medication, deep brain stimulation, ketogenic diets, to cannabis oil, to treat seizures.

The causes of epilepsy are not entirely known, and are difficult to identify. Genetic predisposition, developmental deformities while in the womb, along with brain injuries, strokes, and tumors, may all be motivating causes.

What results can be gleaned?

What cannabis-based products are currently in use for epilepsy? And what distinctions ought to be made for a clear understanding of treatment options?

For children, particularly infants, with epilepsy, cannabis-related products have proven promising and have produced statistically significant results, though several researchers note that long-term effects remain unclear. In my correspondence with Jesse Elliott, a PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa’s School of Epidemiology and Public Health who published the meta-analysis, I was made aware of one critical distinction between medical versus recreational marijuana.

The CBD oil you may buy at your local Honey Pot is different to the product used in randomized controlled trials — studies in which participants are divided at random to receive one of several clinical interventions. To date, Elliott mentioned that, “There have been four [randomized controlled trials] examining the effects of cannabisbased products on severe forms of pediatric epilepsy.”

This has included children with Dravet syndrome and Lennox–Gastaut syndrome —

two rare types of epilepsy that are diagnosed in infants and difficult to treat. These studies have used a purified cannabidiol called Epidiolex, a prescription drug that is not available in Canada.

As a small aside, however, though such a drug is not available to Canadians, one can purchase purified cannabidiol oil, which includes THC, for recreational and off-label uses.

Elliott and his co-authors’ meta-analysis demonstrated that the drug successfully reduced seizures in patients, despite the “certainty of the evidence from such studies [being] very low.”

Side effects that were statistically significant included gastrointestinal adverse effects, such as vomiting and diarrhea. In statistical terms, gastrointestinal adverse effects were reported in two to 60 per cent of participants who received CBD products, making such an effect potentially unsafe for infants if used for long periods of time.

Such studies have several limitations: small sample sizes and a failure to include comparison groups, which “[hamper] the interpretation of the findings,” Elliott wrote. Without comparing treatment options, the most effective solution may still be unknown.

With only one drug used in such studies, it’s difficult to make sweeping generalizations about other cannabis-based products and their efficacy in treating pediatric epilepsy.

Finally, what of other epileptic syndromes, aside from Dravet or Lennox–Gastaut Syndrome?

Such considerations ought to be tackled in future studies given that the current status on cannabidiol products for epilepsy yield inconclusive results. In other words, certainty for these products’ efficacy is still low.

Research on this topic has offered the medical community and infants with epilepsy encouraging signs, though it is by no means a comprehensive, long-term solution. Evidence and research on this topic has grown considerably in the past few years, vwith efforts to engage with this line of research being critical to helping health care professionals and families determine whether cannabis-based products are effective and safe for vulnerable populations such as children.

A guide to picking the right life science program for you

Global Society for Genetics and Genome Biology holds event to help first-year students decide on field Pamela Alamilla Varsity Contributor

As second semester rolls in and spring approaches, many first-year life sciences students are starting to consider which program of study they will pursue next year. This is often a time of stress and confusion for students who may not know exactly what they want to study, or even how to start their search.

Fortunately, some University of Toronto student groups are offering their time and wisdom to help first years navigate the multiple programs offered in the life sciences.

The Global Society for Genetics and Genome Biology (GSGGB) hosted a “How to choose a life science [program of study]” event at New College on January 13. Members of the GSGGB offered their guidance and support to keen first-year students — representing the programs of molecular genetics and microbiology, fundamental genetics, bioinformatics and computational biology, ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB), and more.

Students had the opportunity to discuss programs, enrollment requirements, and even research opportunities with the upper-year students, who were eager to share their experiences in their respective programs.

What’s the difference between type 1, 2, and 3 programs?

The Faculty of Arts & Science offers 21 specialist programs, 20 majors, and six minors in the life sciences. Most specialist programs, alongside some majors, such as molecular genetics and microbiology, are known for their competitiveness.

These are type 3 programs, which have limited spots available, require minimum grades in certain prerequisite first-year courses, and supplemental information — such as a personal statement or audition.

Type 2 programs also require minimum grades in prerequisite courses, but typically have more available spots and lower grade requirements. The neuroscience major is an example one popular type 2 program.

However, many students don’t realize that a lot of life science majors and minors are type 1 programs, which do not require any specific courses or grades for enrollment. Common type 1 majors include as global health, EEB, and fundamental genetics, in addition to some lesser-known majors such as animal physiology, or environment and health. As long as a student is on course to obtaining four full-course equivalents by the end of this school year, they will be admitted to any type 1 program.

Students in fields from fundamental genetics to bioinformatics and computational biology discussed their fields of study with attendees.

COURTESY OF GLOBAL SOCIETY FOR GENETICS AND GENOME BIOLOGY

Where can students learn more about programs of study?

To learn more about programs of study, first-year students are encouraged to visit the program toolkit section of Sidney Smith Commons’ website. There, they will find a comprehensive list of all programs offered by the Faculty of Arts & Science, how to apply to each, and important dates.

This year, enrollment begins on March 1.

Students should also consider meeting with their college’s academic advisors, who can provide guidance regarding program enrollment and degree planning.

Student groups like the GSGGB are also a useful resource for first-year students, who may at times be daunted by the prospect of approaching professors or older students for advice.

Events like “How to choose a life science [program of study]” provide students with the opportunity to chat in a casual, stress-free environment,

while receiving advice from people who were once in their same position.

GSGGB Affairs Leader Aisha Faruqui wrote to The Varsity that “there are plenty of life sci clubs like GSGGB that would love to help out” puzzled first-year students, and that students should feel free to reach out.

“We’ve all had moments in undergrad where we have felt lost or uncertain about our future,” she noted, so students should never feel alone in their experiences.

U of T offers its students plenty of resources when it comes to academic planning and discovery. Students will have many opportunities to explore interesting fields in the life sciences and to shape their career paths.

Faruqui reflected, “Don’t stress out about choosing your program, and don’t worry about not getting into your desired program after first year!”

You can make it work out in the end.

var.st/science

JANUARY 27, 2020

Fighting climate crisis denial in class

Dr. Dan Weaver on spending the Global Climate Strike answering questions in the classroom Christina Maria Ditlof Varsity Contributor

Thousands of climate activists, including University of Toronto students, skipped their lectures to rally at Queen’s Park during the Global Climate Strike on September 27, demanding government action against the climate crisis.

But what happened to the U of T students who went to their lectures and classes?

Dr. Dan Weaver, an assistant professor at the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences at UTSC, recalled teaching a first-year class that day in a Twitter thread in December.

For the students who attended, he turned his lecture into a question-and-answer period to address climate crisis denial.

Climate crisis denial refers to being doubtful of the overwhelming scientific consensus and implications of the climate crisis. A recent survey

by The Angus Reid Institute found that 10 per cent of Canadians believe that the climate crisis is simply a theory, and 20 per cent think that the crisis is a natural occurrence, devoid of human contributions.

Events preceding Weaver’s lecture Weaver and colleagues signed an open letter to U of T to have class officially cancelled on September 27 in order to allow for students to attend the climate strike. Despite this request being denied, professors were instructed to not penalize students of their absence.

Weaver took this opportunity to initiate a class discussion on climate crisis denial, since he inferred that in this sample of students, there would be climate crisis deniers present.

Speaking with The Varsity, Weaver recalled: “It was a very quiet class to begin with, very unsure whether they can ask, what they can ask, [and] what would my reaction be.” Weaver did not criticize any students for their views, but rather

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FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

welcomed their questions and answered their inquiries with research-based evidence.

He continued by explaining that, as an instructor in an educational role, “What I can contribute from the classroom is an opportunity to engage with the science of the issue, and in particular with an audience that hasn’t had the opportunity most likely to talk to someone in the field directly.”

Engaging students and encouraging them to ask questions Weaver evaluated the impact of his efforts by the frequency and type of questions he received over the course of the semester. “Because when someone continues to come back and ask follow-up questions, they are now intellectually engaged.”

From his viewpoint, “I already won: they are thinking critically.”

“Some people who are very passionate about this or other issues are much too quick to put down people of the ‘wrong opinion,’” noted Weaver, “and tell them to believe [and] get on board. That is the wrong approach.”

“There is a lot to be gained by giving people the opportunity to just ask questions in an honest and sincere way, and I think that is critical and often missing.”

Breaking down three common questions asked by climate crisis deniers One of the main reasons for climate crisis denial is that some deniers don’t trust the consensus “that [the] climate is changing, and we are the cause, because of [information from] computer models,” Weaver explained.

Climate modelling utilizes mathematical computer programming to predict, to its best ability, natural and human impacts on the progression of climate change based on atmospheric, land, ocean, and sea level measurements.

Weaver continued, “We have teams… across at least a dozen countries doing it independently and coming to the same results… reproducing past climates and making predictions about where things are going.”

Another common reason promoting climate crisis denial is that “the narrative that climate change is entirely controlled by the output of the sun.” This view is promoted by the Canadian non-governmental organization Friends of Science Society — which Weaver said is one of “the world leaders in climate skepticism.”

Weaver countered their belief that, as he described it “The sun is a primary driver of [the changing] climate.” Weaver explained, “[The sun]

is not the only one that controls it; it is a lot more complicated than that — that narrative sells a very simple answer to a very complicated question.”

Weaver continued, “If we had no atmosphere, the sun would still warm the planet, but the overall average temperature of the planet would be below freezing… The atmosphere is very important for moderating climate.”

In an email to The Varsity, the Friends of Science Society falsely disputed Weaver’s characterization of the organization. “Friends of Science Society sees the sun as the main direct and indirect driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide from human industry,” it wrote. “Friends of Science does acknowledge that humans contribute nominally to climate change, and CO2 emissions have a nominal role in that.”

The society’s position that humans have a small impact on the climate crisis contradicts the conclusions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to the panel’s Fifth Assessment Report, it is “categorical in its conclusion: climate change is real and human activities are the main cause.”

A related common question from climate crisis deniers is, “Are we really having an impact, or is it all natural variability?” Addressing this, Weaver noted that “the climate naturally has variability and trends associated with it,” and these trends have been tracked, such as the measurements of the output of the sun during its 11-year solar cycle.

Weaver explained, “If you have an 11-year cycle and you think that climate is being driven entirely by the sun… logically then you expect to see this 11-year cycle in the climate going up and down, tracking with the sun.”

“And [then] we look at the data — is that actually what is happening in the climate? No, it’s not — there has to be more going on.”

Resources for understanding research on the changing climate Weaver suggested the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Global Climate Change website as a resource to learn about the physical implications of the climate crisis. It provides information about the current state of the planet, including current measurements of carbon dioxide, global temperature, ice sheet melting, and sea levels.

Additionally, Weaver recommend looking at the Climate Lab Book, a blog maintained by climate scientists featuring data visualizations of weather and climate patterns.

For discussions regarding climate crisis denial led by credible climate scientists, consider the blog RealClimate. If you prefer alternatives to blog platforms, Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist, engages with the public on Twitter and YouTube to discuss climate crisis denial.

“The best resource if you are a U of T student is probably to go talk to a faculty member involved,” noted Weaver. “You have that privilege that most people don’t have.”

“The time we have left is very short”: systems and people need to combat climate crisis, says professor Professor Danny Harvey on individual action at Science for Peace event

Hannah Nie Varsity Contributor

Though the bulk of the damaging effects of the climate crisis are decades away, it is already “an emergency,” said Dr. Danny Harvey, a professor of geography at the University of Toronto, in a

keynote speech.

“The time we have left is very short,” he continued, “compared to the time required to take the actions needed to avert otherwise inevitable catastrophic consequences.”

Harvey was speaking at a forum held by Science for Peace on January 14. The event was

The Science for Peace forum attracted almost 200 attendees at Innis Hall.

NATHAN CHING/THE VARSITY

free and open to the public, attracting almost 200 attendees to Innis Town Hall.

What society needs to stabilize carbon dioxide concentrations Discussing solutions to the crisis, Harvey said, “We have to change the entire energy system.

And not just that, we have to change social norms and values and the way people think, and that’s perhaps even harder… In fact, in many respects, it’s already too late.”

Displaying graphs of industrial carbon dioxide emissions in the past decades, Harvey pointed out that despite discussions of regulations and solutions, emission levels have maintained a steep and steady increase.

Harvey spoke about the need to stabilize carbon dioxide concentrations and, ultimately, the climate. He discussed the need to decrease net emissions to zero in order to keep warming to below two degrees. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, this must occur by 2050. While a zero fossil fuel emission target will likely not be reached for a long time, negative emissions, such as reforestation, building up soil carbon, or directing capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide can be used to compensate for emissions.

Reduced costs and advancements in wind and

solar energy will also help the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. According to Harvey, major reforms of the electricity system are required to completely adopt clean energy. From an engineering standpoint, the required technology is well on its way, and the changes may be attainable within 30 or 40 years.

Harvey also pointed out the need to change our current economy and industrial production process, but noted that this will be a complicated process that will also require behavioural shifts away from current mindsets of consumption and unlimited growth.

The importance of individual action Whereas issues of energy and the economy largely involve systemic changes, individual action is also crucial, according to Harvey.

Diets, in particular, account for a significant fraction of global emissions, he explained. A 2018 research study has shown that meat consumption is disproportionately responsible for these emissions, compared to other sources of food.

Sustainable solutions such as clean energy still require resources — thus, our individual decisions to reduce consumption, purchase products to last in the long term, and use resources efficiently, should work in conjunction with systemic changes, and further reduce our environmental impact.

Sports

January 27, 2020 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Women’s hockey defeat Ryerson, men lose overtime affair against Western

Both teams gave up two-goal leads, but women held off Ryerson’s momentum Silas Le Blanc Sports Editor

EA ES M

eB lu t wo heir es f op ou m CO g e UR n e pon ht h T WO ES mer ents ard ME Y O gin , w ag g a it F N’ S H VAR vic h th inst OC SIT tori e KE Y B ou Y T LU s.

Men’s game The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team lost in a 3–2 decision in overtime on Wednesday to the University of Western Ontario Western Mustangs.

The Blues opened up the scoring when a turnover from the Western defense found the stick of Kevin Lavoie behind the net, who then passed to Ross Krieger for the 1–0 goal at the 9:55-minute mark of the first period.

Early in the second period, the Blues’ leading point-getter David Thomson had control of the puck at the half-wall of the Mustangs’ zone.

He made an excellent stretch pass across the ice to find Oliver Benwell in the slot, who made a quick move and sniped the puck bottom corner to give the Blues a 2–0 lead.

Th

Women’s game The Varsity Blues women’s team won in a high-scoring affair against the Ryerson University Rams this Thursday with an early 11:00 am start time.

Toronto opened the scoring with a little over six minutes left in the first period, after captain Stephanie Ayres was tied up in the faceoff circle. They managed to regain possession, deke past the Ryerson defender, and backhand it into the back of the net. Shortly after, Taylor Trussler picked the pocket of the Ryerson defender attempting to break out of the zone, skated to the high slot, and let go a shot that would deflect off the pants of Cristine Chao for the 2–0 goal.

However, Ryerson would respond with two quick goals of their own. The first was a powerplay goal from Lauren Nicholson, and soon after, Nicholson found herself alone on a breakaway, and made a nice forehand-to-backhand move to put it past Blues goalie Erica Fryer.

Toronto stayed composed, and after a great forecheck to keep the puck in the Ryerson zone, they were able to create a chance in front of the net, which was put home after Laura Ellis shot a puck that trickled past the Rams’ goalie. The Blues’ excellent forechecking would pay off again, as Gabrielle De Serres created a turnover right in front of the Rams’ net and found her sister Mathilde De Serres, who sniped it into the back of the net to give Toronto another two-goal lead.

Keeping their momentum going in the third

period, Toronto scored just eight seconds in, with Ayres scoring her second goal of the game. Ryerson wasn’t ready to give up, and only a few minutes later they were able to score off a rather innocent-looking shot that was tipped in front of the net.

Afterward, Nicholson again found herself with tons of space in front of the net and put it past Fryer to cut Toronto’s lead to just one and give herself the hat trick.

However, Ryerson was not able to channel this momentum into another goal, and the De Serres sisters scored Toronto’s final goal, with Gabrielle making some nice moves to get the puck on net, and Mathilde picking up the rebound, giving her sister a no-look pass to ice the game for the Blues.

Toronto’s next home game will be against Western on Friday, January 31 at 7:00 pm.

What’s the deal with squash?

An inquiry into the apparent recreational boom of a varsity sport

Laura Ashwood Associate Sports Editor

JAYLIN KIM/THE VARSITY

What is it about the clinically-white, box-like squash court that has made so many students pick the sport up recreationally? The Varsity sat down with some of the most squash-crazed students on campus to finally understand this obsession of nearly pandemic proportion.

Mickey AinslieHolmes and Michael Davidson, third-year students at UTSG, are both critically affected by this craze. Coming into the interview, the two set aside backpacks that had squash handles sticking unceremoniously from them; incidentally, they were on their way to the courts right after.

The Blues would go into the third period with the lead, with goaltender Alex Bishop making some key saves to keep the Blues up a pair. However, the Blues were much less fortunate in the third period.

Midway through the frame, the Mustangs were able to create a great chance with three men entering the zone. The initial cross-ice one-timer was saved by Bishop, but Toronto’s back checkers were not able to get back in time to prevent Western’s Kenny Huether from tapping in the rebound.

Then, in the dying seconds of the period, and with their goalie pulled, Western created a scramble in front of the net. The Blues were unable to cover it or clear the puck out of the crease, as Stephen Desrocher tied the game with just eight seconds remaining.

Western carried this momentum into overtime, with Franco Sproviero ripping a shot from the high slot into the back of the net to give Western the come-from-behind victory. Alex Bishop made 37 saves, but it was ultimately not enough to prevent the Mustangs’ onslaught in the third period and overtime.

The Blues’ next home game will be against the University of Windsor Lancers on Saturday, February 1 at 7:00 pm.

COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES

“We started playing within the first few weeks of second year, mostly on a whim,” explained Ainslie-Holmes. “Neither of us had been very athletic in our first year, and I wanted to learn a new sport,” he continued. “We took a basic squash course together at Hart House, and it was quite good and cheap.”

Both had very different reasons of affinity for the sport. Whereas Ainslie-Holmes had stuck around for how cerebral squash is, Davidson has been using it as a welcome alternative to the monotony of the gym. “I don’t like working out at gyms, I don’t like running, I don’t like physical activity for the most part, but I do like games,” he admitted. And while other games like soccer or volleyball would require him to coordinate with dozens of other people, “If you can find your one squash partner, you’re down at the courts, and in and out in an hour.”

It’s worth mentioning that squash doesn’t exist exclusively as a niche interest for undergraduate men; it’s also a varsity sport at U of T. Rhea Dhar is a squash player in her third year on the team, and is ranked fifth nationally for her age category.

Naturally, she has a much more regimented and competitive history with the sport than recreational players.

“I started the way most [players] start when they’re young; my parents played and they put me in lessons… I played in a few tournaments and started getting really into it when I saw myself improving.”

Since starting her U of T squash career in her first year, she has risen to the top position on the team. Needless to say, Dhar has been involved in the squash scene for a while, and has come far within it.

Dhar also confirmed the notion that squash has had a recent recreational boom. “I’ve seen a great increase in the usage of the courts, especially this year, and I think that it’s mostly from recreational players who just love the sport.” She thinks that the reason university students like Ainslie-Holmes and Davidson are especially attracted to squash is because it’s a cheap, fun, and social way to work out. “You can play for an hour, and the time flies by because of how much fun you’re having, and at the same time you’re having a great workout.”

There is also hope, according to Dhar, for students’ fringe interest to become a viable athletic pursuit. “The squash club was created by one of the players on our team, because she wanted a place for beginners to come and learn to play and have fun. I think it brought in a lot of good players who can probably try out for the varsity team in the future!”

The consensus seems to be that for university students looking for a cheap and fun way to get active with friends, squash is the way to go. With the university subsidizing the cost of court fees, and with the sport growing at exponential speed, it may be time to grab a racket and see what all the hype is about.

var.st/sports

JANUARY 27, 2020

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Blues women’s basketball team loses against Carleton

Toronto was unable to stop a fourth quarter flurry of offense Silas Le Blanc Sports Editor

The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team played the Carleton University Ravens on Friday — the number five ranked team in U SPORTS. They battled throughout the whole game, but were unable to prevent the strong Ravens offense in the final quarter.

The Blues jumped out to an early 13–6 lead in the first quarter, thanks in part to a pair of free throws and back-to-back three-pointers from Ellen Ougrinov. Toronto’s offensive rebounding served them well in the period, but they were unable to hit shots to close out the half, as Carleton went on an 8–1 run to close it out. The Blues were also unable to stop Alyssa Cerino, who had eight points in the quarter.

The Blues offense remained persistent into the second quarter, with first-year player Nakeisha Ekwandja driving into the paint and taking a foul, which was almost converted for an and-one, and hitting a free throw to open scoring in the second quarter. Ougrinov drove to the rim on a following possession and made a nice bounce pass to Nada Radonjic to convert the easy layup.

However, the Carleton offense quickly came alive, going on an 8–0 run and hitting two threepointers in the process, forcing Toronto to call a timeout to stop the onslaught. Coming out of the timeout, there was no scoring and a few turnovers, but Carleton soon found their rhythm again, hitting another wide open three-pointer off of a kick-out pass. The Blues stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws. Ougrinov hit a layup, and Mikhaela

Ekwandja converted an and-one layup, to cut the Ravens’ lead to only two points.

Carleton’s offense came alive once again, this time on an 11–1 run. The Blues were able to get the final two buckets of the quarter, with a three-pointer from Ougrinov, and a layup from Sarah Bennett. Despite the runs that Carleton went on, the Blues were able to stay hang in there, and didn’t allow the score to stay out of reach.

It was a similar story in the third quarter as the Blues started hitting some of their mid-range jumpers, and brought the deficit to three points.

Toronto kept the score relatively close, despite signs that Carleton might pull away with it. Ougrinov kept them in it with another three-pointer, and the Blues remained hitting their mid-range shots. The score was 47–42 to end the third quarter — well within striking distance for the Blues.

Despite their tenacity, the Carleton offense was too much for Toronto to overcome in the fourth quarter. Cerino once again started the run with two made layups, and later on made two free throws.

The Blues were unable to continue hitting their shots, and mainly got their fourth quarter points off of free throws.

The final score was 72–54 for Carleton, as the Blues let the game get away from them in the fourth quarter.

Ougrinov was the Blues’ leading scorer with 21

Mikhaela Ekwandja was the Blues’ leading rebounder with seven rebounds and five points.

COURTESY OF HENRY ZHAO/VARSITY BLUES

points. She made four three-pointers and some key buckets, keeping the score close throughout three quarters. Mikhaela was the Blues’ leading rebounder with seven rebounds and five points — five of the re-

bounds coming off the offensive glass.

This loss brings the Blues record to 3-13, and 1-7 at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

U of T professor on the analytics of fantasy sports

Sam Maglio finds winning probability might have psychological impact on fans Yehia Mahdi Varsity Contributor

The rise of fantasy sports has become a true phenomenon, stemming from the larger, everexpanding intersection of technology and sports.

The applications of fantasy analytics and forecasting continue to become increasingly complex, adding a new dynamic to the way that fans watch their sports.

ISOBEL HEINTZMAN/THE VARSITY

Fantasy sports mostly occur online and are competitions between friends, colleagues, or strangers. Fans draft an imaginary team of real athletes and compete based off of their statistical performance, usually for money.

Projected points and win odds — two key statistical figures — are now updated live online,

keeping fans anxiously engaged, as they experience the highs and lows of rapidly fluctuating win probabilities.

U of T’s Sam Maglio, an associate professor of marketing and psychology, recently wrote an article for The Conversation. In it, he discussed the psychological impact of such intensive and dynamic forecasting of fantasy players, and how this can translate to a similar effect on fans in real sports. “When fans see their team’s win likelihood increase — say, from 40% to 50% (it seems more likely that they’ll win because they think the trend is going to continue. They take the evidence from the past) like a player scoring a quick burst of fantasy points — and expect that the trend is going to continue,” he explained in an email to The Varsity.

Maglio specifically wanted to better understand how fans interpret and react to their team’s changing odds of winning. To do this, he conducted an experiment during the Stanley Cup playoffs, informing some fans of their team’s increasing odds of advancing, and others of their decreasing odds — both of which were made up for the sake of the experiment.

“If the probability of victory was said to have risen, people braced themselves for success and bigger bar tabs — even though everyone had the same 20 per cent as the best estimate to go on,” Maglio wrote in the article.

Maglio noted that these results are consistent with the concept of ‘psychological momentum’ — “a perceptual phenomenon that changes human behaviour and performance” — and that people are likely to take evidence from the past and perceive it to continue in the future. “[It] formed the basis of our predictions for the experiment… if my team’s odds of winning are in motion — headed upward or downward — I tend to expect that those odds will stay that same course for the rest of the matchup,” he explained.

From a business perspective, this means big bucks for sports teams. With the tools available in advanced predictive analytics, teams can precisely adjust ticket prices to match fluctuations in their win projections. A change in a team’s winning odds results in a change in the psychological response of fans, which in turn results in a realtime change in demand. Meeting this demand with adjusted ticket prices — a process known as ‘dynamic pricing’ — is a common strategic response.

Psychological momentum even extends to the actual teams on the field. Maglio noted that although players and coaches aren’t monitoring and using external predictive analytics during games in the same fashion as fans, their in-game decision making and overall game management still stem from their intuitive sense of fluctuations in their chances of winning.

“Just because people — including players and coaches — don’t have concrete figures in front of them doesn’t mean [that] they’re not doing some sort of win-odds calculation in their heads at halftime. They can tell when they’re on a hot streak or when the other team is starting to turn the tides on them, ” Maglio wrote.

“So even without a perfect picture and the latest stats, everyone has some intuitive sense of how the win probabilities have been changing during the game, and based on the results of our research, I’d have every reason to believe that players and coaches would respond similarly.”

If you’ll be one of the almost 100 million people watching Superbowl LIV on February 2, try to look for ways that the teams may adjust their strategy based on the wavering projections and their own perceptions of their win probabilities. Maglio warns to keep a close eye: “If the Chiefs are on the upswing headed into the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl, they’ll probably start changing their tactics, like trying to run out the clock on the 49ers rather than calling riskier plays.”

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THE VARSITY

DIVERSIONS

JANUARY 27, 2020

Issue 14 answers

Comic of the week

S R H O L A

P I L A T E S

S T U S M A

A A L I S T Y

D I P L O I R E

T H E I J U M P A M P M A T

MIKAELA TOONE/THE VARSITY

I D E E U S E H E C P A

N E L L Y

A S S U O

T E E S Q U I D

S P R O U T E D

J S O N S A N E

S H E A T H E D

T A D H G D E M

T E A S T

I N S T A

P S P S T A A M A M O I E O R G U L U N M O N U S E U T M A B B S P A R P I R E A N O N G E N

A B E E R E M A R K R T