February 4, 2013 by The Varsity

THE VARSITY Vol. CXXXIII, No. 15

University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

4 February, 2013

To-may-to, to-mah-to Turn stale bread and tomatoes into lunch on pg 14

Students gather again, seeking resolution on broad agenda Reforms sought by opposition greeted with dampened public enthusiasm Simon Bredin NEWS EDITOR

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) convenes tomorrow for its replacement general meeting, where hundreds of students are expected to vote on more than 20 items on a newly expanded agenda. The high-profile meeting will end a months-long process of consultation and organization that began last November, when the original Annual General Meeting (agm) scheduled by the union ended prematurely, as those present rejected an agenda some believed to be unfairly closed to student input. Since then, utsu executives have solicited many new motions, and met with prominent opposition leaders, in an attempt to avoid another costly shut-down of a meeting. The membership’s decision to reject November’s agenda is estimated to have cost the union up to $3,000. Union leaders have also worked to improve the logistics of the Special General Meeting (sgm), hoping to avoid registration delays similar to those at the November meeting — where wait times of up to two hours were a source of frustration for many — by opening early and increasing staff presence. “We are happy that there are so many different kinds of motions on the agenda and such extensive student engagement,” said Corey Scott, utsu vice-president, internal. “Our hope is to have a respectful, engaging dialogue. Many students are commuting for more than an hour to make the meeting, while others have scheduled work and studying off. “It is important to recognize that there is a lot of interest in this meeting and that it is everyone’s responsibility to create safe and respectful spaces.”

“We deliberately designed the [submission procedure] to give us lots of time to process the amendments,” said utsu president Shaun Shepherd, who has previously spoken with The Varsity about his desire to ensure the sgm goes smoothly. Scott, who chairs the union’s Policy & Procedures Committee and who, with the union’s Board of Directors, was responsible for vetting many of the items ultimately included on the agenda, said he was personally looking forward to debate over a motion to endorse the Idle No More movement. The meeting will also debate and vote upon a bevy of other motions including opposing unpaid internships, investigating additional multi-faith space, allowing international students to seek election to the university’s Governing Council, among others. Some motions, if approved, will immediately alter the union’s governing by-laws. Others are “directive-based motions” that carry symbolic weight, and if approved, will guide the union’s stance on a number of hot-button campus issues. The list of items up for debate is so extensive that the union has said it will be necessary to allocate a time limit for each discussion. Those items that cannot be addressed in the three-hour session will either be punted to the next general meeting, or delegated to the appropriate commission. Tomorrow’s meeting also includes consideration of old business: those matters that should have been addressed at November’s meeting, had it not been for its abrupt ending.

Basketball blues Blues fall out of playoff contention pg 21

MALARIA! The cure for malaria could be GM mosquitos pg 18

Failing to see the point of education How punishing failure stymies learning pg 8

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VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

WHAT’S GOING ON

THE VARSITY

THIS WEEK

VOL. CXXXIII No. 15

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Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Murad Hemmadi

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Design Editors Suzy Nevins Dan Seljak

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UTSU SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING University of Toronto Students’ Union Tuesday, February 5, 6–9 pm Medical Sciences Building | MS 2158 1 King’s College Circle

MUNIB SAJJAD @MUNIBSAJJAD Someone actually pulled the fire alarm at Fireball? — February 2, 2013

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Senior Copy Editor Catherine Kabasele

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News Editor Simon Bredin

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Comment Editor Joshua Oliver

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Features Editor Simon Frank

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Arts & Culture Editor Brigit Katz

CRYSTAL @CJYC23 Did something happen at #fireball2013?! Is everyone okay? #UofT — February 2, 2013

ANDREW O’BRIEN @ANDREWGOBRIEN

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Science Editor Dennis Dobrovolsky

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Sports Editor Zoë Bedard

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Video Editor Wyatt Clough

#Saturday: school assignment. #SaturdayNight: school assignment. #Sunday: school assignment again. #SundayNight: please be done. #UofT #ugh

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Associate Design Editor Nathan Watson Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Online Editor Vacant Associate Copy Editor Vacant Associate News Editors Zane Schwartz Irina Vukosavic Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate Features Editor Damanjit Lamba Associate A&C Editor Danielle Klein Ishita Petkar Associate Science Editor Roxanne Leung Katrina Vogan Associate Sports Editor Elizabeth Benn William Deck

Contributors

Patrick Baud, Simon Bredin, Angela Brock, Monica Carinci, Ameya Charnalia, Nipa Chauhan, Crystal Chin, Raissa Chua, Amanda Coletta, William Deck, Jerico Espinas, Olivia Forsyth-Sells, Monica Georgieff, Vipal Jain, Geshini Karunatilake, Alanna Lipson, James Maiangowi, Phyllis Pearson, Ishita Petkar, Denys Robinson, Fatima Syed, Jakob Tanner, Irina Vukosavic, Breen Wilkinson, Alec Wilson, Theodore Yan Copy Editors Elizabeth Benn Montana Attwood Elizabeth Benn Lucy Genua Elena Gritzan Kayla Rosen Jonathan Soo Catherine Virelli Miranda Whittaker Fact Checkers Lucy Genua Catherine Kabasele Kayla Rosen Jonathan Soo Catherine Virelli Miranda Whittaker Cover Alanna Lipson

Designers Ethan Chiel Tamara Cohen Leila Kent Natalie Morcos Suzy Nevins Dan Seljak Catherine Virelli Nathan Watson Photo and Illustration Minhee Bae Michael Bedford Wyatt Clough Milo Golub Bernarda Gospic Wendy Gu Carolyn Levett Alanna Lipson Janice Liu

Business Office Business Manager John Fountas

the week in tweets

ON CAMPUS

Managing Online Editor Patrick Love online@thevarsity.ca

Illustrations Editor Minhee Bae

news@thevarsity.ca

business@thevarsity.ca

Advertising Manager Tina Yazdi advertising@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executives victoria@thevarsity.ca Victoria Botvinnik nick@thevarsity.ca Nick Brownlee sofia@thevarsity.ca Sofia Luu maokai@thevarsity.ca Maokai Shen

The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2012 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789 Please recycle this issue after you are finished with it.

— February 3, 2013

U OF T SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHOIRS MacMillan Singers, Women’s Chamber Choir and Men’s Chorus; Cawthra Park Secondary School Vocal Ensemble; Hilary Apfelstadt, David Bowser and Ana Alverez, conductors Sunday, February 3 , 2.30pm Edward Johnson Building | MacMillan Theatre 80 Queen’s Park Cresc. LSAT STRATEGY SESSION WITH THE PRINCETON REVIEW University of Toronto Student’ Union Thursday, February 7, 6.30–8pm Medical Science Building | MS 4279 1 King’s College Circle

Crime Stats January 22 – 31

18 Thefts

Trespasses

3 7

INDOOR TRIATHLON AT HART HOUSE Hart House Recreational Athletics Committee Saturday, February 9, 8 am–2 pm Hart House | Fitness Centre 7 Hart House Circle

MONIKA CIRILLO @MONIKACIRILLO And let the sundays at robarts begin. Can’t wait for reading week. @UofT_Problems #UofT — February 3, 2013

GLOBAL HEALTH: COMMUNICATING ABOUT NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE SERIES Global Health Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health Friday, February 8, 121pm Health Sciences Building | Suite 400 155 College St.

Thank you Uof T!

MATTEO PIRRI @MTEOTALK And let the sundays at robarts begin. Can’t wait for reading week. @UofT_Problems #UofT — February 3, 2013

Thanks to everyone who voted in Varsity Publications Inc.’s levy referendum last month. The results of the referendum will be voted on by the Varsity Publications Inc.’s Board of Directors at their February meeting next week. Official results will be released once they have been ratified by the Board.

1 Spadina is being renovated and is shutting its doors to the public.

Mischief

Property Damage

Medical Call

Take a tour of this historic building pre-restoration with The Varsity’s Photography Editor.

berdseye. thevarsity.ca

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VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Architecture faculty finds new studios for “homeless” students

Spurred by petition, administrators newly responsible for undergrad student services solve first public challenge: finding enough space Fatima Syed VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Upon returning from winter vacation, more than 300 students studying for their Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies found themselves “homeless,” having lost prized studio space at 1 Spadina Crescent while the building undergoes a dramatic renovation. Students in the program had grown accustomed to the studio space, since moving into the historic building nearly three years ago. Tiffany Dang, a third-year student in the program, began an online petition on change.org in late January, asking senior administrators at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design to make “major changes” in their treatment of undergraduates, starting with finding “an appropriate studio space with 24-hour access and storage space to do our work.” This year, the Daniels faculty has assumed expanded responsibilities in overseeing undergraduate students in the program, many of whom had previously fallen under the jurisdiction of the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Last Thursday, the faculty convened to announce a fix: beginning next week, undergraduates will have access to temporary studio space at 665–667 Spadina Ave. The role played by Dang’s petition in reaching this resolution remains the subject of discussion within the close-knit faculty. Dang’s strongly-worded petition sought to highlight the importance of studio culture to architecture students and called the loss of designated space “unacceptable” and “unreasonable.” The petition quickly found traction, gathering 221 signatories in a few short weeks. “When we all came back in January, we thought we’d have oise as a space, but it turned out we didn’t [have] access outside class time,” said Dang in an interview with The Varsity. Dang says she brought her concerns to the dean of the faculty, Richard Sommer, who assured her that he was aware of the situation and was working to resolve it. A few weeks went by without any news. On a late night before an impending deadline, Dang and her friends found themselves with no place to work — libraries having closed at 9 pm — and so she went home and started the petition that evening.

The Daniels faculty has vacated 1 Spadina, above, while it undergoes a dramatic renovation. WyaTT cLoUGH/THe VarsiTy

Dean Richard Sommer has taken a hands-on approach to resolving studio space woes. Bernarda Gospic/THe VarsiTy

Dang says she knew at the time that space remains at a premium on campus, and that the faculty administration was already doing its best to work around the crunch. Still, says Dang, the faculty had known about the renovation plans for 1 Spadina for over a year. Her petition was an attempt to “expedite the process.” Sommer, for his part, has taken a handson approach to resolving the situation since it came to light. He held a town hall meeting on January 17, before the petition was started, to discuss plans for the renovation. According to Sommer, at this meeting undergraduate studio space scarcely figured to be a priority for students. In a widely circulated email sent after the petition was created, Sommer wrote he was “very surprised” given the previous lack of interest in the subject. Sommer has since pointed out that “24-hour-access space outside of class time has never been promised or guaranteed” for undergraduates. The fact that such a space had existed at 1 Spadina was simply good luck; the building had been under-utilized for years. Administrators within the Daniels faculty credited Dang’s petition with clearly

demonstrating popular demand for undergraduate studio space, and suggested it may have helped make a case to the powers-that-be for replacement space. Yet they also expressed some reservations about the approach, pointing out that some of the signatories did not appear to attend the University of Toronto, and that the issue had already been on their radar before they were broad-sided by the stronglyworded statement. “We are small enough that student concerns about this particular issue could have been easily communicated without an internet-based petition,” said Sommer. Sally Kassar, president of the course union for architecture students, said she was also sceptical about the efficacy of an online petition. “Although the petition might have helped speed up the process, I do not believe the approach and wording was appropriate,” said Kassar, pointing to the accusation that the faculty was treating its students like “parasites” as an example of the hyperbolic language used in the petition’s text.

CONTINUED PG 4

CUPE, Simcoe Hall reach deal Months-long negotiation yields agreement that streamlines hiring process Irina Vukosavic ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (cupe) Local 3902 announced last Thursday that members of Unit 3 had voted to ratify a new labour agreement with the University of Toronto administration, ending six months of negotiations made all the more difficult by troubles at Queen’s Park. The contract provides improved benefits for academic staff (not including current students) with contracts of less than a year, a group that includes some lecturers, tutors, markers, lab assistants, and sessional instructors. These benefits include increased wages, as well as administrative streamlining of the hiring process, including standardized deadlines for posting positions. The agreement also increases the number of postings available across campuses, and establishes a

commission to create an electronic job posting board by January 2014. “We’re satisfied that in this climate this is a good contract,” said Dr. Ronda Ward, liaison officer at cupe 3902. “Our members haven’t lost anything from before, and have made incremental improvements in recognizing their work and recognizing their expertise.” The union emphasized their efforts to reward the experience of their members, who Ward noted are in many cases “coming from abroad or decades of teaching in other cities.” Negotiations were affected by a request last summer from the McGuinty government, that public sector employees voluntarily agree to freeze their wages as part of a bid to rein in the province’s estimated $14.8 billion deficit; the provincial government threatened legislation compelling such action if they did not comply. It was under this cloud

that negotiations between cupe and Simcoe Hall began in August 2012. Jesse Payne, a staff representative at cupe 3902 said that provincial politics “made it difficult to negotiate.” “It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that the government involved itself in our negotiations,” he said. “The government sort of bullied employers into imposing these wage freezes and benefit freezes.” Ward agreed, saying that “because of the political situation at Queens Park, [the negotiation process was] less fluid than it had been in the past.” Nonetheless, although talks took longer than usual, negotiations ran smoothly over the prolonged period and did not break down significantly at any point. “The goal was to have a more fair process for people to apply for work or to be given work,” said Payne. “We largely achieved at least gains in priority areas. Every contract brings some improvements.”

The Canadian Union of Public Employees was founded in 1963 as a trade union serving the public sector. With 615,000 members, it is the largest union in Canada. Local 3902 division has represented contract academic staff at the University of Toronto since 1975. Unit 2 of cupe 3902, representing non-student academic staff employed by Victoria University under contracts of less than one year, remains in negotiations with the university. “cupe 3902 Unit 3 represents highly-valued members of the University and we are very pleased that we have reached a comprehensive agreement,” said a statement released by Angela Hildyard, vice-president of human resources and equity at the University of Toronto. Payne noted that “health benefits and job security” remain issues that will be important going forward in the relationship between the cupe 3902 and the University. The new agreement expires August 31, 2014.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013 “SGM” CONTINUED FROM COVER

Also appearing on tomorrow’s agenda are several priorities of the campus opposition movement, proposed by some of the same students who led the charge in shutting down November’s meeting. These include discussion of the Non-Partisan Declaration on Electoral Reform, a document backed by college councils and the St. George Round Table, and a reduction of the number of signatures required to run for utsu executive office. In spite of these inclusions, Tuesday’s general meeting and its comprehensive agenda has not inspired the same “unprecedented” degree of interest from the student body at large as November’s meeting appeared to. utsu executives said approximately 200 proxy forms had been returned for processing. By that estimate, just over half the number of proxy forms that were in circulation in advance of the last general meeting will be in play for tomorrow. Proxy forms can help gauge the degree of student interest in the meeting’s proceedings: in November, 300 students carried nearly 2,000 proxy votes into the meeting. “My sense is that there is a lot less buzz about this meeting than about the fall agm,” said Maharaj. In the fall, Maharaj led an effort that delivered hundreds of opposition votes through proxies and in-person attendees, a decisive fac-

tor in the ultimate rejection of that meeting’s agenda. This time, said Maharaj, the engineers had made no effort to collect proxies or to organize participation. “In the fall, we were concerned as a student society that our members did not have a reasonable opportunity to engage in the agm process by submitting agenda items,” explains Maharaj. “We wanted to get people out to force utsu to either amend the agenda or call another meeting that would have an open agenda.” This goal, says Maharaj, has been achieved. “I’m happy to see that students are going to have the opportunity to debate a huge range of issues that would otherwise have been ignored by the utsu.” Not everything sought by the union’s opponents will come up for a vote tomorrow. Several items, including proposed reforms to the utsu Board of Directors, did not survive the approval process required of all motions put before the agm. Engineering Society president Rishi Maharaj called the handful of excluded motions “disappointing.” “The discussions lasted for several hours with the Board of Directors, where we were able to deconstruct the amendments and determine that the motions were not in the best interest of the students’ union and its members,” said Scott earlier this month. “I think that the general membership of the utsu should be able to consider the merit of those proposals for themselves,” coun-

VARSITY NEWS tered Maharaj. Behind the scenes, utsu president Shepherd has worked to engage with college leaders whose constituencies have been most vocal in opposing the union’s activities, including Trinity, St. Michael’s, and University College. These meetings, which were open to any student who wished to attend in addition to leaders who were expressly invited, were held in late December and early January. Join the debate on Twitter by using #UTSUSGM and follow @TheVarsity for live updates. For complete coverage, check out our next issue and visit our website at thevarsity.ca after the meeting ends.

SGM by the numbers 999: Number of votes rejecting November AGM 200: The number of proxy forms that have been returned to the UTSU office for Tuesday’s meeting. 3000: Estimated cost of re-organizing a general meeting. 20: Number of motions up for a vote on Tuesday

news@thevarsity.ca “ARCHITECTURE” CONTINUED FROM PG 3 Kassar says she believes the petition unfairly attacked the faculty, which was already working to resolve the issue. Kassar described speaking to a number of signatories who “mentioned that they signed the petition before fully reading it and realizing the tone in which it was addressing the topic.” Dang defended her approach, saying she never meant the petition to be construed as an attack. “I did not intend for the petition to be an attack on the faculty,” says Dang. “It was meant as a forum for students to show that they care about their education.” Kassar also credited the Daniels faculty administration with making significant strides in accommodating the needs of hundreds of undergraduates, who had previously fallen under the authority of the broader Faculty of Arts & Science, and just this past September been transitioned to the substantially smaller Daniels faculty. The faculty has already granted undergraduates loungelike space in their College Street offices. The student society is active in fostering social life among students as well. Led by Kassar, they are in the process of upgrading the union constitution, planning a March formal and selling branded hoodies. “Studio culture is essential to undergrads, and the faculty has been cognizant of their needs for a while,” said Sommer, in announcing a resolution to the problem. Sommer also recogniz-

es the importance of providing a 24-hour space for student life: “It acts as a community hub for our students, and a place where they can not only complete their studio and design projects, but collaborate on the creative processes some of their coursework requires. “And, of course, the opportunity to socialize is essential to building the community of Daniels‘ students.” Ultimately, Dang is happy that the situation “got sorted out so quickly,” adding that the new space was “perfect for architects” and superior to their former lodgings. She attributes this success to the petition: “At the rate that the faculty was trying to acquire space for us, it is extremely unlikely that we would have obtained any space at all this semester. The petition simply gave the faculty just enough pressure to help us acquire space — a final push, if you will.” With the studio problem now resolved, students and faculty alike look forward to the day when their new home at 1 Spadina is complete. “Whatever it takes, my colleagues and I want nothing more than for our students, especially our new undergraduate students, to be engaged in their program of study, and to provide the right circumstances for them to excel,” says Sommer. Early plans for the new building will integrate the original heritage structure with a stateof-the-art complex that will significantly expand the space and resources available.

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VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Administrators are seeking student input on a new co-curricular record through town hall meetings. FILE PHOTO: BErNArdA GOsPIc/THE VArsITy

Administrators seek student input on co-curricular record Concept embraced, costs questioned at town hall meetings Jerico Espinas VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The University of Toronto’s Office of Student Life began a series of town hall meetings late last week to discuss a new administration initiative called the co-curricular record (ccr). The record is intended to help students find and engage in relevant extracurricular activities, and validate these out-of-class experiences on an official record maintained by university staff. The record has been under development for some time, and has already been previewed by Governing Council committees. The initiative is scheduled to launch in fall 2013 for all students, and will only catalogue involvement that begins after the launch date. “It is a way for students to be able to easily access all the many opportunities at U of T,” said Lucy Fromowitz, assistant vice-president for student life. “U of T is a very large institution with an incredible number of such opportunities, and not all of them are easy to find. We would like to make them accessible to students right from the beginning.”

Kimberly Elias, program coordinator responsible for the ccr, said the record brings a new sense of “intentionality” to a student’s activities on campus. Elias says students will be able to search for clubs and workshops that highlight specific skills. The record can be tailored, and students will have the option to either hide or highlight specific clubs and involvement on their record. Administrators hope the record will supplement academic transcripts, helping students paint a fuller picture of their undergraduate careers for prospective employers, with the credibility of official university documentation. “The ccr is a way for you to tell your story about what you’ve been involved in and the learning that was involved in that experience,” says Elias. With hundreds of clubs recognized by the Office of Student Life across all three campuses, and thousands of volunteer hours already undertaken by students at U of T, many say the record represents a promising new way of recognizing and rewarding involvement outside the classroom. Students are enthused about the record’s promise — but less so about the price tag at-

tached to the initiative. Administrators say there will be a 50-cent fee increase, beginning next year, required to implement the record. “The 50-cent fee will afford us one staff person,” says Fromowitz. This staff person will oversee the launch of the ccr, and subsequently be tasked with improving the record through tri-campus consultation. “To do this properly, we need at least one person dedicated to this job,” Fromowitz insists. Munib Sajjad, vice-president external of the University of Toronto Students’ Union, said he disagrees with the surcharge. “I feel that extracurriculars are very vital to student experience,” said Sajjad. “But we already pay student fees to participate in student life and academic endeavours.” Sajjad says an extra fee to formalize this pre-existing dimension of campus life“shouldn’t come out of the student’s pocket.” At the town hall meeting for St. George campus, Kevin Sousa, president of the Physical and Health Education Undergraduate Association (pheua), raised concerns about the record’s validation process. Sousa questioned why only staff members would

be able to verify extracurricular activities, and wondered how student-led initiatives could ensure their legitimacy. Elias responded that the validation process is restricted to staff administrators because the record will have the status of an official institutional document, akin to an academic transcript. “It has more credibility if it has that staff or faculty member,” says Elias, who added that in focus groups and previous discussions with staff and students, there was little desire on the part of students to handle the validation process. The Office of Student Life will continue to hold town hall meetings about the record, with visits to the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses to come. “The reason for the town hall is — we consult, we consult, we consult. We want to give each campus an opportunity for students to ask and inquire about the ccr,” says Elias. Previous articles in The Varsity describing the co-curricular record have referred to the document as a “transcript.” The record is in fact distinct from a transcript. The Varsity regrets this phrasing and apologies for any confusion.

Reel life on campus Student producers announce plans for U of T reality television program Irina Vukosavic ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

In the midst of looming midterms, essays due dates and long study sessions at Robarts, signing up to be trapped in a house with seven strangers might not be the first thing on everyone’s agenda. One group on campus, however, thinks otherwise. Next Friday, inside their offices on the fourth floor of the clubs house at 21 Sussex Ave., the student-run University of Toronto Television (uttv) will host auditions for their latest reality TV show, set at U of T and expected to air on the group’s YouTube channel. The show, which has yet to be named, has been described a cross between Survivor and Big Brother. According to producers, the show will feature eight students locked in a Mississauga house for 12 hours. Every hour, the students will face a mix of physical and mental challenges. The winner of each challenge will receive immunity from being voted out of the house in the next round. Because they will be isolated from all technology — no phones, no computers, no inter-

net — producers say they hope competitors will be spurred to form alliances and rivalries leading up to challenges. The final winner will receive a prize of $500. One aim of the show is to get students out of their comfort zone, says director Ana Sani. The show, she adds, is aimed at debunking the myth that U of T students spend all their time at the library. “There’s this perception that U of T is all studying and no fun. We wanted to show that we’re not like that,” says Sani. Auditions are still ongoing and Sani says that turnout has been good, with about 50 students trying out so far. Sani says the show’s team wants to get as many auditions as possible and stresses that anyone affiliated to U of T can try out. The uttv crew is looking for a diverse mix of students with unique personalities who will show off the multiple talents of students at U of T. “We have such a large student body with such an eclectic mix of individuals. This is something we want to showcase,” she says The idea for the show was planted two years ago, when Nathan Martinak, the show’s producer, launched a similar program called Sudden Death Lockdown. Chal-

lenges included assembling puzzles and playing games akin to beer pong. Sani says they are sticking to the original show’s premise and general rules. With a higher budget this time around, the production quality will be amped up, prize money has increased, and competitions will be more difficult. “uttv has expanded greatly over the past two years and this will definitely be our biggest challenge of the year,” says Sani. The club, which bills itself as the university’s only dedicated television station, attracts wide student involvement. In addition to filmmakers and would-be silver screen producers, the club’s active membership includes writers, actors, cinematographers, reporters, and graphic designers. The group has emerged as an exciting new arrival in a thriving eco-system of campus media that already includes several newspapers and magazines, a radio station — and now, a television network. The idea of the reality show has spread rapidly. uttv has been featured in the Toronto Star and Metro News, provoking campus-wide interest and discussion about the upcoming show. Expectations have been heightened by the added exposure, Sani admits, but she’s

Contestants will be locked in a house together. The winner will receive $500. MINHEE BAE/THE VArsITy

not too worried. “It is a bit nerve-racking,” says Sani of the media attention. “But all we can do is try our best and see what happens. This is such a great opportunity for uttv and U of T students, we’re excited to get started.” Once the show’s eight contestants are chosen, the uttv crew will launch into the preproduction, which includes filming player bios and picking the location. After filming in mid-March (or after exams), Sani says they are hoping to launch the show early September during next year’s Frosh Week.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

VARSITY NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca Why are AGM lines so long? UTSU president Shaun Shepherd says the reason behind the hourslong delay at the last agm was the university’s refusal to release the union’s membership list, and restrictions on staff access to signin information. Although the Office of Student Life was unavailable for comment, the administration has previously cited provincial privacy laws for the restrictions. Tuesday’s meeting will begin registration early, at 4.30PM, with more staffers on hand, but students are again asked to be patient and come early.

An article that appeared in print on January 21, entitled “Agenda finalized as utsu special general meeting set for February 5” contained numerous inaccuracies in describing the process by which submitted motions did (or did not) end up on the final agenda for the University of Toronto Students’ Union February 5 Special General Meeting (sgm). The article did not make an important distinction between directive-based motions and by-

law amendments. Directive-based motions did not need to undergo an approval process by the Policy & Procedures Committee and the Board of Directors. All directivebased motions, including those concerning electoral reform submitted by University College Literary and Athletic Society (UCLit) president Benjamin Dionne, were automatically included on the sgm agenda. Only by-law amendments were considered by the Policy & Procedures Committee and the Board of Directors for approval. The original article was mistaken in claiming that

the Policy & Procedures Committee could directly approve amendments for inclusion on the sgm agenda. The committee has no such power. The original article implied that by-law amendments that were rejected by the Policy & Procedures Committee were not considered by the Board of Directors and were thus “killed in committee.” In fact, the Board had the option of discussing by-law amendments rejected by the Committee, and chose not to do so. The original article claimed utsu president Shaun Shepherd declined several opportunities to

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comment. In fact, Shepherd was unavailable for comment before the deadline. The Varsity deeply regrets these errors and apologizes to our readers for any misinformation or inconvenience. The original version of an article appearing in print on January 21, entitled “Eric Leung appointed utsu’s new Chief Returning Officer” incorrectly spelled the name of the utsu’s new Chief Returning Officer. His name is Eric Luong, not Leung. The Varsity regrets the error.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

News in brief U of T and Columbia University libraries launch Tibetan studies partnership University of Toronto and Columbia University’s research libraries have announced the launch of their Tibetan Studies partnership, which will increase the availability of Tibetan resources to a wider community of scholars. The collaboration will benefit faculties and students of both institutions by providing jointly sponsored acquisitions trips to enhance the Tibetan collections at both universities. It will also provide a shared point of service for research consultations. “The agreement with Columbia University to further develop our research and teaching in this important region of the world positions the University of Toronto Libraries as Canada’s principal resource for knowledge about the Tibetan and wider Himalayan area,” said Dr. Frances Garrett, associate professor of Tibetan and Buddhist studies and associate chair of the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. Tibetan Studies scholars have collectively been awarded over $1 million in competitive research funding since 2003. “We are delighted to be given this opportunity to strengthen our Tibetan Studies collection in order to support our rapidly growing Tibetan Studies community at the University of Toronto and also serve scholars across Canada and throughout North America,” said Hana Kim, acting director of the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library.

Judge gives lawsuit against U of T second chance

U of T alumni invent world’s most efficient light bulb

A pair of former students will be allowed to sue the University of Toronto, again, for issuing them failing grades, a judge ruled Thursday. Houman Mortazavi and Mojgan Yousef, who were economics doctoral students in 2007, received failing grades in several classes over the year as they repeatedly returned to Iran to care for Mortazavi’s father, and then to make his funeral arrangements. Though Mortazavi and Yousefi, who are married, filed three internal appeals, all were rejected. In May of last year, the couple took their case before the courts. The couple’s statement of claim, an “unusually long” document a judge found was “replete with evidence being repeated over and over again,” sought damages of approximately $80 million. Further court documents showed Mortazavi and Yousefi were neither trying to improve their grades nor even seeking re-admission to their program. While a judge initially threw out their claim, citing a legal procedure that covers “frivolous or vexatious” lawsuits, Court of Appeal Justic John Laskin took a more forgiving tone, saying some of their allegations are not “bound to fail.” Mortazavi and Yousefi have 30 days to “perfect their appeal,” the judge said.

Three U of T grads have invented the world’s most energy-efficient light bulb. The NanoLight, which they call a breakthrough in LED lighting technology, uses only 12 watts of electricity yet generates over 1,600 Lumens (the equivalent output of a 100-watt incandescent bulb). The inventors say that if you burn the bulb for an average of three hours a day, it would last for up to 20 years. Launched on January 7, the team has gained about 2,500 backers and raised $125,000 so far. The first batch of bulbs is schedules to ship out in May. The three inventors first became acquainted at the University of Toronto, where they worked together on the university’s solar racing car team. Gimmy Chu, who received his Bachelor of Science degree from the university, is co-founder of the company that invented the bulb. His two colleagues, Christian Yan and Tom Rodinger, studied science and engineering during their time at U of T. — Irina Vukosavic With files from the Toronto Star.

—James Maiangowi With files from the National Post.

—Ameya Charnalia

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Failing to succeed The dangers of stigmatizing failure in education VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

“The system teaches us that if you get ‘As’ across the board, you’ll be successful, and if you fail a course, you will be labelled as incompetent or hopeless.” These are the words of Afraj Gill, a Queen’s University student whose piece entitled “An A+ Student Regrets his Grades” appeared in The Globe and Mail a few weeks ago. In his critique, he proposed that the shortcomings of our educational system are rooted in a misunderstanding of the nature of success and failure. On this point, I couldn’t agree more. Recently, the question of how failure is conceived in our culture has been at the forefront of a range of discussions reaching far beyond the sphere of education. As we witness the increasingly fast pace of the world, fostering creativity and innovation is paramount. Though different challenges will emerge in different domains, one observation that seems common across the board is the adverse effects of stigmatizing failure. The Harvard Business Review calls the stigmatization of failure “The No. 1 Enemy of Creativity.” This fear paralyzes our thinking by encouraging an aversion to taking risks. We are often taught the merits of trial and error on a theoretical basis, but rarely is such an approach actually implemented. Popularized phrases like, “you miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take” and, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” are globally repeated, but rarely

are they internalized. Truth be told, we often consider failure shameful, embarrassing, and to be avoided at all costs. At school, where passes and fails function as currency, how we conceive of and react to failure is

you are less familiar with the language of instruction is risky, and if you aim at a competitive program, risky isn’t recommended. Being afraid to fail places a definite limit on how much we are able to succeed. It’s clearly no coincidence that companies praised

particularly significant. In our education system, the positive role that failure plays in learning is massively underemphasized. We come to find truth by discovering falsehoods, and we see what works by finding out what doesn’t. Academic success, however, is defined in terms of correctness, rather than learning. How can it be said that we’re encouraged to learn from our mistakes if, as at U of T, we often don’t even get our final exams returned? Your GPA is an indication of your test scores, not of your originality, creativity, or drive. Last year, in seeking advice on whether or not to study abroad in France, I was explicitly advised against it. I was told that if I was even considering applying to law school, this was something I should forgo. Attending university in a country where

JANiCE LiU/THE VARSiTY

Phyllis Pearson

again and again for their innovation approach failure in a very different way. At both Google and Pixar, employees are given time in which to experiment, with complete freedom to fail. In an episode of cbc’s The Current, New York Times columnist Alina Tuggend spoke of knowing an employer who would deliberately hire 'B' or 'C' students over 'A' students. Referring to 'A' students as “victims of excellence,” he explained that 'B' and 'C' students “knew what it was like to not always do well, and that that was okay and to try again next time.” Whether or not there’s any substance to his generalization is beside the point; what it serves to illustrate is that through a stigmatization of failure, we have come to misunderstand success. When we talk about success, we usually mean to refer to end results — to some sort of finished product. But by what standard is success measured? If the standard is perfection, we seem doomed before we start, but characterizing success as anything less than perfection appears to be equally problematic. If there’s still room for improvement, how can we say that we were successful? Characterizing success as a process solves the paradox. Success should be thought of as progress of perpetual amelioration. At Pixar, employees routinely group-edit each other’s work. In most corporations, peer evaluation tends to follow what is referred to as the “sandwich of praise,” where employees envelop — or hide — criticisms of their colleague’s work between expressions of praise. At Pixar, this has been replaced by a feedback tech-

nique called “plussing”. Plussing follows the model of “wouldn’t it be better if…” the general philosophy behind the technique being “who cares how good it was to begin with, if there’s a way we can make it better.” With this approach, success is collaborative and failure is bypassed. In education, trying to foster a failure-positive environment is an especially difficult challenge. Though an appraisal of success should emphasize the importance of the process, achieving correct results remains important. One possible approach is reform at the curriculum level. The University of Pennsylvania actually offers a course entitled Failure 101, where assignments require multiple phases of trial and error. This means that the final product must exemplify the process of having failed and learned from mistakes. People tend to think of failure as something inherently unpleasant. For example, studies have shown, for example, that you feel more negative if you lose $10 than positive if you find that amount. Many similar studies have concluded that failure is necessarily negative. This is misguided. Such an approach equivocates failure with loss, when the two are fundamentally different. A failure is a loss only if it goes unaddressed and if it is not learned from. An education system that does not acknowledge the merits of having learned from a failure is one that will never achieve its full potential. Malcolm Forbes once said, “Failure is success if we learn from it” and he was absolutely right.

his would-be opponent, Stephen Harper. Trudeau is young; Harper is older. Trudeau is proactive; Harper is restrained. Trudeau has sex appeal; Harper has, well, you get the picture. This field also offers unique candidates in characteristic and policy. Four women are on the ballot, who, if elected, would allow the Liberals a quick contrast to the likes of Thomas Mulcair and Daniel Paillé. You can expect that even if Trudeau does not win, the federal Liberals will offer a pageturner to both their former leader Michael Ignatieff, and Harper. The search for the right pageturner does not always help parties either. It almost tore the Democrats apart in the historic 2008 election that saw Barack Obama elected as president. The problem was the party could not decide which page-turner they liked best,

a black man, Obama, or a woman, Hillary Clinton. Both would have served equally as a compelling contrast to George W. Bush. What this notion may come down to is the nature of what political scientists term "the middle." They are the majority of the population that does not have any strong political tendencies, yet almost always decides an election. This group can swing both ways, either left or right. They decide whether to elect a male or a female, a young candidate or an older candidate. In this context, parties must look not only at which way "the middle" is leaning in regard to policy, but also in regard to the attributes of the candidate for whom they are willing to vote. Stay tuned, pages are turning.

Phyllis Pearson is a philosphy student at Victoria College.

Page-turning politics The year of leadership conventions Breen Wilkinson VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Since the last federal election, Canadian voters have enjoyed a much- needed break after the flurry of elections in the past few years. Since Stephen Harper and his federal Conservatives won a stable majority in the spring of 2011, focus has shifted to the instability at Queen's Park, where the Liberals have the first minority government in Ontario since 1987. This turn of events has opened the door to yet another interesting area of politics — that of party leadership. This is an especially fascinating process, because it requires parties to stop, reflect, and attempt to renew their image with the electorate. Perhaps nothing is as important for renewal as a change in leadership. It is a pro-

cess that can tear a party apart or bring it together with a new purpose and focus. Time and again what these all-important leadership races consistently boil down to is the politics of “page-turning.” This term describes what parties need to accomplish. More often than not, the new face of the party reflected by the new leader, offers a deliberate contrast to the old one. The Ontario Liberal Leadership convention, which took place recently in Toronto is a current example. Outgoing Liberal premier, Dalton McGuinty, meets the prevailing Ontario political stereotype — male, middle class, middle-aged, good looking, reassuring, with a wife and kids right out of a Sears catalogue. With McGuinty ending his sixteenyear leadership, page-turning politics would lead us to expect

McGuinty’s opposite as the new leader. Unsurprisingly, the two front-runners throughout the convention were two members of the opposite sex. At the end of the day, Kathleen Wynne edged out Sandra Pupatello to become the first female premier of Ontario. In her concession, Pupatello quipped that she and Wynne “had the boys on the run,” and they did. From the outset, it appeared that the Ontario Liberals were committed to turning the page. It isn’t quite that simple, however. Parties not only have to look at the idea of page-turning as the antidote to their departing leader, but must also have an eye to who they will be facing. The federal Liberals are considering this right now. The front-runner for their upcoming leadership race, Justin Trudeau, could be said to offer the exact opposite to

Breen Wilkinson studies Political Science and History.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

There's smoke, but is there fire? Electoral reform is on the SGM agenda, but do students really need to worry?

Denys Robinson VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Critics of the utsu continue to call for electoral reform at the University of Toronto Students’ Union. The reforms proposed by these students claim to address four problems within the union: low voter turnout at utsu elections; a perception of bias or irregularity within the electoral process; the fact that the executive elections are consistently won by slates made up at least partly of existing executives; and the alleged unfairness of proxy voting at both the Annual General Meeting (agm) and utsu board meetings. Opposition members want the union to address these concerns through electoral reform. However, some of their complaints are not justified and not all of their solutions are likely to be effective. The opposition proposes online voting to increase voter turnout and improve the image of the electoral process; a change in the way the Chief Returning Officer (cro) is appointed to improve accountability; and the elimination of proxy voting at the agm, Board Meetings, and Committee Meetings in order to avoid one side collecting too many proxies. Low voter turnout at utsu elections is unfortunate, but unsurprising. U of T has a significant commuter population and a smaller proportion of students living in residence than many other southern Ontario universities. Commuting students face more barriers to participating in campus life generally and student politics specifically than their residence counterparts; thus they are less likely to get involved and vote. Furthermore, U of T has a reputation for both academic excellence and a poor social scene. Consequently, those who choose to attend U of T tend to be those who wish to prioritize their schoolwork. It has not been demonstrated that low voter turnout is a reflection of disgust with utsu. Rather, it seems consistent with the different priorities that the U of T student body has. The opposition claims that online voting will solve this problem. Internet voting has garnered some attention in academic literature in recent years. While the full story is complex, conclusive evidence has yet to be produced that demonstrates the efficacy of online voting as a means of improving voter turnout and engagement. Despite repeated accusations of electoral irregularities, no one has provided substantive or credible evidence that vote tampering has occurred. The electoral process allows for each candidate to appoint scrutineers to oversee the count on their behalf and accompany the ballot boxes to their storage locations. This is the same system that Elections Canada (ec) uses. There are regularly accusations of various minor rule infractions during each year’s executive campaign. However, they apply equally to both the incumbent and opposition slates. It is unfortunate that petty infractions, name-calling, and misrepresentations are the norm in student politics, but they are also the norm in politics in our society. People feel strongly about these issues and they are unlikely to always be completely honest, fair minded, and respectful. The Elections and Referenda Committee (erc) appoints the cro. Three members of the utsu board of directors and three members of the executive constitute this committee. While some argue election review needs to be done by arms-length individuals, the presently formed arms-length Election and

Low turnout for elections has prompted calls for online voting. File Photo: Bernarda GosPic/the Varsity

Reforms Appeals Committee (erac) has been criticized because it is made up of non-utsu members. The same problem exists with the ec — Parliament appoints the head of the ec. Having the university administration choose the cro would not work because the administration is not a disinterested party in student politics. Moving the choice from the erc to the full board of directors may help, but it does not remove the fundamental problem. Although slates led by sitting executive members have consistently won elections, this is insufficient to demonstrate electoral corruption. Many Canadian provinces have had electoral dynasties lasting for decades without any allegations of corruption. In a democracy, one political party may consistently perform to the satisfaction of a majority of its constituents and be repeatedly re-elected. The issue of proxy voting has also been touched on in recent discussions. Proxy voting occurs at two levels: the agm, and both Board of Directors Meetings and committee meetings where the committees are made up of board members.

Proxy voting at the agm is essential. A sizable chunk of utsu’s constituents are not located on the St. George campus, be it because they are commuters or because they attend U of T Mississauga. Removing proxies limits these people’s ability to participate and have their voices heard in the student union. Removing proxies at board and committee meetings is ridiculous. Board members are elected to represent their constituents. If they cannot attend 100 per cent of the meetings, that does not mean they should not be voting on behalf of their constituents. If some board members are failing to attend enough meetings, the solution is minimum attendance requirements for board members. In short, democracy can be a messy business — but it has not been demonstrated that the current utsu executive or the electoral process is inherently corrupt. Although online voting merits further examination, the proposed reforms are largely ill-considered and counter-productive. Denys Robinson studies philosophy.

Canada needs a balanced foreign policy PATRICK BAUD VARSITY COLUMNIST

In a speech to the Conservative caucus last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper outlined his government’s priorities for the coming months, chief among them the economy. He emphasized the importance of the free trade agreements currently being negotiated, especially those with the European Union and India. Canada is also currently in negotiations to join the TransPacific Partnership, an existing agreement that both Japan and South Korea are considering joining. These trade negotiations are undoubtedly important as they will help open up new markets for Canadian products and reduce the dependence of the Canadian economy on exports to the United States. Opposition parties, especially the New Democrats, are concerned that the agreements will offer few benefits to Canada while exposing Canadian businesses to even fiercer competition. The opposition also worries that the trade deals will be presented to Parliament without sufficient time for more than a cursory review, preventing thorough scrutiny. However, by focusing on the specifics of the trade deals alone, the opposition risks losing sight of the wider consequences of the Harper government’s shift towards an almost single-minded focus on

trade negotiations. The result of this shift is that other foreign policy issues are falling by the wayside. The Harper government’s increasingly narrow focus on trade stands in stark contrast to the platform on which they ran seven years ago, when Harper formed his first minority government. The Conservatives’ 2006 election platform proposed a comprehensive vision for foreign policy. For instance, it called not only for increased defense spending, but also foreign aid. Initially, the Harper government put much of this into action, adopting the ambitious Canada First Defence Strategy, which placed as much emphasis on Canada’s international military commitments as it did on more familiar themes of defending Arctic sovereignty. Shortly before Harper took office in 2006, Canadian troops redeployed from Afghanistan’s relatively safe capital, Kabul, to the dangerous Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. What followed was the most brutal fighting that Canadian troops have seen since the Korean War. As the mission in Afghanistan became more difficult, the Harper government was forced to shift energy and resources to ensuring that Canada’s part of the war did not spin out of control. The budgetary constraints caused by the financial crisis further weakened the Harper government’s ability to implement its ambitious foreign policy agenda. This contributed to the government’s growing focus on international trade.

The shift is understandable. Trade negotiations are relatively inexpensive to run and offer the possibility of tremendous benefits for the Canadian economy. They do not put Canadian lives at risk, nor do they engender tough questions that inevitably surround decisions about deploying Canadian troops abroad. But trade does too little to address crises that are making news, whether in Mali or Syria, and crises that are not, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Trade also does not address the sorts of global issues that are likely to define the rest of this century, especially climate change. The Harper government should resist the temptation to focus solely on trade. It should instead pursue a more balanced foreign policy, closer to the one that the Conservatives advocated in their 2006 platform, which emphasizes trade, but only as part of a broader set of international priorities. The opposition, for its part, should continue to voice its concerns about trade but also be sure to hold the Harper government equally to account for its inaction as for its actions. There are many international issues deserving of meaningful Canadian leadership. It will be up to this generation of politicians to ensure that they receive it. Patrick Baud’s column appears every two issues.

10 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

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From our cold, dead hands The NRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waning influence in American politics Alec Wilson VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In the aftermath of the tragic events at Sandyhook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, opponents of widespread gun control legislation and anti-gun violence groups faced off in the media over whether this was the time for a substantive conversation about Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural romance with firearms. Among those fighting vocally to preserve the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association is by far the loudest in the cacopho-

ny. Founded in 1871, the nra has both charity status and lobbying power in the United States, and in past decades they have been the largest lobbying group for Second Amendment rights. A serious force in Washington, they spend millions of dollars every year on political campaign sponsorship in addition to the money they spend â&#x20AC;&#x201D; furthering their cause externally, promoting gun ownership and self-defense, as well as marksmanship and safety courses. Boasting a membership in the millions, the nra grades senators and congressmen based on their amenability to guns as part of

University of Toronto Advocates for Islam presents:

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American life, as a way of keeping their members informed politically. Too often in American politics progressive policies are struck dumb by the immense force applied by lobbying groups like the nra. For years, the dark spectre of groups advocating a specific interpretation of the Second Amendment has hung over politicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campaigning against guns in America, and until now it seemed that the NRA had the upper hand. However, recent information, dating from the last presidential election, indicates that their influence is dwindling in political discourse and that Americans may be ready for change. Running sponsorship campaigns for Republican candidates across the country, the nra saw its heft discarded as it only mustered a weak 0.83 per cent success rate in campaigns for which it paid. A growing number of Americans no longer consider an outdated reading of the Second Amendment, originally written to protect the people from a tyrannical government, to be reasonable. Realistically, a well-

regulated militia can no longer defend itself and its property against the government should they feel threatened â&#x20AC;&#x201D; regardless of how many sophisticated weapons they posses. Once, the best force the US government possessed was local militia, so an opposing citizen militia stood a fighting chance. Today, the government has an air force as well as one of the largest standing armies in the world and

the ability to put a predator drone in your garage without having to put a single pilot in the sky. This specific piece of legislation is due for reconsideration and those fighting to protect it are losing clout by the day while mass shootings like those in Connecticut and Aurora speak louder to the collective conscience of America. This represents a monumental shift in American thought, because it demonstrates that politics is not always about business; no matter how much money is pumped into a campaign, the people will not necessarily vote against what they consider to be the common good. The nra can no longer inflate its chest and scare off well-meaning public servants who have had enough of gun violence in their communities and in their country. With upwards of 30,000 Americans dying at the end of a gun every year, the people have spoken. Enough is enough. Alec Wilson studies History and American Studies.

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The risks of anonymity What Hacktivism may mean for our generation

Anonymous' increased prominence has brough Hactivism into the spotlight. Bernarda Gospic/THe VarsiTy

Olivia Forsyth-Sells VARSITY STAFF

The Munk School of Global Affairs recently hosted a conference on Hacktivism, the increasingly prominent online movement of social and political action that has resulted in real world consequences. With the moral and philosophical implications being uncharted territory, one is hard pressed to argue for or against this new style of resistance, especially when the ideological tenets of the groups involved are vague even to the most active of participants. Opening a discourse on campus is important, but what should the academics of U of T consider Hacktivism to be? Furthermore, what does it

mean for the generation of students graduating, looking for a soap-box to have their voices heard? A recently-produced documentary, We Are Legion, provides one, admittedly biased, analysis. It states that the movement, known most commonly as ‘Anonymous’ or Anon, is the technological generation’s way of ensuring that the Internet is open territory. The movement originated on the website 4Chan.org, on a forum called /b/random, around 2003. The forum was a way of communicating sarcasm and building online relationships by developing Internetwide inside jokes — just think of any meme you have ever seen. However, in 2008, when Anonymous decided to troll Scientol-

ogy, and Scientology responded with threats of active legal action, Anonymous really started to take force. On February 10, 2008, with one single online call to arms, thousands of individuals, clad in Guy Fawkes masks to conceal their identity, took to the streets to protest outside of all major Scientology buildings around the world. From 2008 to the present, Anonymous has often been associated with positive acts of hacking, such as catching pedophiles, and sending ‘care packages’ to Egypt during the revolution, which detailed how to override government-sanctioned online censorship and how people could protect themselves from tear gas.

Yet, they have also been associated with horribly offensive acts, such as the posting of videos of strobe lights on epilepsy forums. We, the generation that ought to look to our online resources to enact political revolution, must find a means to ensure that these groups are centred and working towards a common goal. A lack of clear leadership is part of Anonymous’ appeal. It is inevitable however that major ideological divides erupt from this leader-less structure. Presently, Anonymous is experiencing a rift between those who wish to use Anonymous for good and those who believe the sole purpose of Anonymous is to cause massive annoyance through online harassment or trolling.

There are many conflicting opinions about the efficacy of Anonymous. Personally, I think it’s pretty great. Anonymous, at its core, is the social zeitgeist that resists all things corrupt and unfounded and seeks to open all access, something the Internet is uniquely suited to facilitate, but which governments reject. Students who wish to make a change should look at this system and use it to their advantage; a lot can be done when the powers that be can’t locate or marginalize their antagonists. Yet, it should be noted that with anonymity comes outliers who can change the course of a movement at any time, from behind the same mask they choose to put on. Olivia Forsyth-Sells is studying English and Philosophy.

LETTERS TO

Vol CXXXIII, No. 14, January 21, 2013 UTSU: Nothing unfair about our elections As someone who has been on campus for close to twenty years (as a student and now staff), I've seen various challenges with the utsu (and sac). Like other political organizations on-campus (e.g. Unions), those in power try to retain power. They do not see this manipulation as "corruption" rather they think they are working the system. I hope that utsu is able to move towards a more transparent approach! — Ned (from web) "In spite of calls from opposition members, administrative actions such as withholding fees may not be in the cards, as Scott says that “the University and the union are two separate entities” and in meetings, the administration has indicated that “they are not interested in becoming involved with utsu’s internal structures." So Corey thinks that because the University does not want to get involved it doesn't mean they won't get involved. Here's an eye opener Corey, you're procedures are fishy and reek of corruption. Even if the University has previously not wanted to get involved, you are still subject to their policies and they can withold your fees if they deem your policies not open, accessible and democratic. It happened at maps. — Students (from web) "Nearly one year after receiving a letter detailing Simcoe Hall’s concerns with its handling of elections, the University of Toronto Students’ Union has formally responded..." This has just become a ridiculous war of attrition but in this case, it's who graduates first. utsu just keeps

THE EDITOR hoping if they answer late enough, the utsu-opponents of past years will have graduated, or become part time students. Lucky for utsu, they're executive never leave UofT ever. I saw Sandy Hudson at the last utsu agm and all I could do was sigh. — Student V. UTSU Round 3782764 (from web) Finkelstein slams Harper, predicts resolution to IsraelPalestine conflict We all want peace, and yet, after more than a century of conflict, the struggle between these two related nations remains more intractable than ever. Why? Because each side is entrenched in its own narrative, to the exclusion of the other’s. Its faults notwithstanding, one must admit that Israel has taken some steps since the Oslo Accords toward acknowledging the Palestinian suffering. These steps are reflected in school books, in the media, and through other informational outlets. The Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza, for instance, are now referred to as “Palestinians,” and most Israelis would like to see a Palestinian state emerge. The fact that Israeli voters don’t reflect these wishes has to do with fears of surface-to-air missiles two miles from Ben-Gurion International Airport, and scarred memories of blown-up buses and pizzerias. The Palestinians, unfortunately, have done little to allay Israeli fears. While Palestinians clamor for the removal of onerous checkpoints and barriers, militant attempts to penetrate these barriers and attack Israeli civilians have not ceased at all since the second Intifada. Similarly, school books and

speeches, in Arabic, have grown radical, to the point of portraying Israel’s very existence as a crime. Little has been done to acknowledge the Jewish roots in Palestine. The fact is that the Jewish presence in Palestine goes much farther back than most Palestinians, as well as Arabs and Muslims in general, would be willing to admit... ...Thus, war and bloodshed will continue until the Palestinians start acknowledging the Jewish narrative, and the fact that Jewish roots in Palestine date back thousands of years, long before the Arab invasion. — Prof. Meqdad Taheri (from web) I don't know if going back thousands of years is really fair. Do Zoroastrians also deserve most of what was mesopotamia? I'll let an ancient historian assess the accuracy of your claims. Since when does Jewish, or other sorts of mythology entitle people to land? Anyhow, even the most ardent Palestinian supporters that night just wanted the right of return. Finkelstein never denied it to them, but giving it to every refugee overnight would essentially destroy Israel, as he admitted. Palestinians have little power in that region. What does it matter what they think they're entitled to? Why not give them what international law would give them and we'll take it from there? —Bahram Farzady (from web) I should point out that "Prof. Meqdad Taheri" is a sockpuppet whose initial post appears word-for-word on various blogs. Clearly a professor of cutting and pasting. —Tadhg Morris (from web)

Be your own boss Student entrepreneurs combine creativity and business to forge new career paths by Angela Brock photos by Bernarda Gospic The mere thought of the world beyond the comforting frame of academia is, for many students accustomed to the rhythms of university life, a fearsome one. On the cusp of graduating myself, I’m contemplating continuing on to graduate school, a decision based largely on an aversion to the nebulous possibilities of the workforce, and an idealistic, undergraduate-induced dread of becoming a company person. But there is a path somewhere between extended study and becoming an office worker; as it turns out, there are plenty of opportunities for those looking to flex their entrepreneurial muscles without straying too far from the bosom of U of T. HIGH-TOUCH HIGH-TECH The Innovations & Partnerships Office at U of T collaborates with MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Innovation through programs like University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (utest), which aims to help members of the university community develop, launch and commercialize their business ideas. The MaRS Centre, which has long been expanding on the corner of College and Queen’s Park, is home to the eight-month old program and its first cohort of start-up software companies. The modern glass architecture of the MaRS offices is integrated into the historic façade of the original Toronto General Hospital building, located between campus and the city’s commercial areas. The program’s base is emblematic of a similar marriage between academic research and the private sector. utest co-director Kurtis Scissons explains that he and co-director Lyssa Neel hoped to create a program “that was open enough to the broader university community,” so that they could “see everything that’s out there, and if [people] like what we offer then we can work together.” utest offers up to $30,000 in funding, access to additional financial resources, and guidance for those without any prior business experience; it seems hard not to like. “Mostly the people who come to us have experience in technology. Once they get to a certain point they need someone who has experience in management because there’s a lot of drudgery. It’s not as exciting as the technology part, but it’s part of building a company,” says Neel. The program includes expert and legal guidance, guest speakers, and help with the day-to-day goings on of launching a business, as well as assistance in gaining government support and making the right connections. “A lot of these things they just don’t know about, and we do, so we make introductions and it just helps them so much more than struggling on their own,” explains Scissons. These resources are part and parcel of the program, which isn’t just about financial support. “We call this high-touch investing which means we don’t just give you the money and walk away, we are there with you every step of the way. My inventors can email me at two o’clock in the morning and get a response,” laughs Neel. “And they do,” adds Scissons. The program is open to students of all levels, and already hosts participants with experience ranging from undergraduate degrees to faculty membership. Furthermore, it’s not restricted to computer science students. “There are lots of people in other fields who know how to program and may have had a great idea,” says Neel, “We like to think we pick winners.” 12

So when industrial engineering master’s student Will Walmsley’s powerful new auto-correction algorithm caught the eye of his professor, Khai Truong, they decided to take the technology to utest. Eight months into the program the two are now founders of Whirlscape, an interactive design firm with a revolutionary new range of simplified, accurate and intuitive keyboard technologies. “There’s something beautiful in the simplicity of reducing the keyboard down to just one dimension which allows us to type much faster, easily, and accurately through this really powerful auto-correction, which wasn’t possible previously,” says inventor Walmsley. The keyboard will first reach the market in the form of an app, though it potentially has other implementations. “Because this keyboard is very simple, only one-dimensional, and you don’t have to be precise using it, you can do basically anything you could possibly imagine, and still type fast and accurately,” explains Walmsley. Whirlscape’s narrative is not so uncommon. Tyler Lu, a PhD student in computer science, traversed a similar path when his work on decision-making caught the eye of his supervisor Craig Boutilier. Now the co-founders of Granata Decision Systems, the pair jumped into the entrepreneurial scene in 2010, before the UTEST program had been launched. Lu’s software, now geared toward marketing resource management, gained early support from the Innovations and Partnerships Office and MaRS Innovation in the commercialization process. FROM ACADEMY TO MARKET As for balancing the demands of running a start-up and continuing his academic research, Lu says the two fuel each other. “There’s a lot of opportunity to develop your research. You get real world problems from a start-up setting and that translates to problems you can work on in your research.” Having made the transition from academic settings to the commercial sphere, Walmsley and Lu have no illusions about the challenges they face. “Academics, unless they’ve started a business before, are not familiar with what it takes,” admits Lu. They are cognizant, however, of the advantages of entering the commercial world the way they did. “The whole academic experience seems like a perfect bubble to put yourself in to be able to pre-incubate ideas,” says Walmsley. The relationship is a symbiotic one, where U of T minds are buzzing around the clock and new research is conducted tirelessly. “We are one of the best research universities in the world, we should take advantage of that intellectual capital and turn it into wealth for our country and for the university,” says Lu. Incubator programs like utest remove a lot of the hurdles and bureaucracy that impede entrepreneurs going it alone, and they offer inventors like Walmsley and Lu possibilities for their ideas that would otherwise be much more difficult and time-consuming to realize. “When I was in my masters I had no real plans for the future,” Walmsley explains. He had casually considered travel or continuing on to a PhD, “but all of a sudden utest popped up. I probably would never have considered entrepreneurship if it wasn’t for this possibility, and now with the resources we have, the funding and the space, it’s just great.”

“When I was in my masters I had no real plans for the future... but all of a sudden UTEST popped up. I probably would never have considered entrepreneurship if it wasn’t for this possibility, and now with the resources we have, the funding and the space, it’s just great.” —Will Walmsley

It doesn’t hurt either that we live in an interactive age, driven by technology. The means of production are much more democratic. “The great thing about software is that you don’t have any overhead. You could just be a person with a computer and an idea,” says Walmsley. Scissons explains, “People see stories out there of Instagram or things of that nature, and it really gets people’s hopes up that something big could happen.” Challenges do continue to exist for the Torontonian entrepreneur though. As Lu points out, funding must be consistently acquired in order to stay afloat, and it’s often difficult to get your foot in the door with larger, older companies that are set in their ways. Lu would like to see more initiative on the part of these larger businesses to support their smaller local counterparts, and more initiatives on the part of university and the city at large to champion their own. Students too, may be counting less and less on getting hired by companies directly out of their programs. As jobs seem to grow scarcer, people are turning to their passions, interests, and previous research to see if there might be a business idea there. “The climate has changed for people and they feel they have to make their own luck,” says Neel, “and one way to do it is if you have a great idea and you can work to build something. That’s very appealing, especially when you’re younger or a student. You don’t have to work for ‘The Man.’” Lu also highlights the rewarding aspect of being an entrepreneur. “You get to have a signifi-

cant impact on the consumers that you’re serving, the businesses that you’re serving… You feel good that you came up with a solution, and then getting to see other people use it… there’s a lot of satisfaction derived from that.” A MORE INFORMAL FASHION There’s also space outside programs like utest for students to pursue their interests lucratively. These independent entrepreneurs often reach beyond the confines of their disciplines, while simultaneously engaging with the community on a more informal level. Computer science student Jihan Victoria started making bags for herself after failing to find anything on the market that suited her style and budget. When her creations increasingly got noticed, she started her own bag company, Hedj. Having learned to sew by deconstructing old clothes and reworking them, Victoria’s do-it-yourself attitude has served her well. Hedj’s carefully-constructed minimalist designs have been carried by shops such as Lavish&Squalor, the now-defunct Ruins and Kensington Market favourite Pretty Freedom. Victoria attributes some of this success to Toronto’s savvy shoppers. “I do think the environment and the mindset of the people here is especially good for arts and crafts,” says Victoria. “People here are a lot more politically conscious about what they buy. They would rather buy ethically- and locally-made products rather than sweatshop products that cost much less.”

Technology and social media play a significant role in the survival of small businesses like Hedj. Rather than forfeit 50 per cent of her revenue, as with retail consignments, or risk the hefty costs of trade shows, Victoria has switched entirely to e-commerce sites like Etsy, where she is able to reach international customers. Since moving to the web, her volume as increased as well. “Technology destroys the geographic barriers. I think it has also allowed me to have more freedom and control over my business than what people prior to Etsy’s advent had,” she says. Though Victoria insists she’s “still winging it at this point,” she’s managed to maintain a steady small business, with her days divided pretty evenly between school and filling orders for bags, all with little direct help from U of T. Hedj was built simply by reaching out to those around her. The passion and initiative at the core of what it means to be an entrepreneur may not always materialize in the form of a business plan. Two years ago, when undergrad Jacob Duarte Spiel decided to embrace his inner smartass and try his acerbic tongue at stand-up comedy, he didn’t know it would make him a devoted member of Toronto’s comedy scene and land him his own comedy show. Spiel, along with childhood friend and fellow Trinity College student Alexander Saxton, were offered the chance to produce their own monthly show in the basement of the Crown and Tiger, based on the crowds they drew to their sets at the Toronto Comedy Brawl, a summer comedy competition. The two snapped up the opportunity, and the dank basement beneath the College Street watering-hole became home to The One Hour Fun Hour show. The show has since played host to comics like Scott Thompson from ’80s sketch comedy show Kids in the Hall, K. Trevor Wilson, who opened for Louis C.K. at Just for Laughs this past September, and other up and coming comedians such as Bobby Knauff and Joel Buxton. Spiel laments the lack of independentlyrun shows in the city. “The ones where people have control over their own shows [are where] they take chances, [where] they can really innovate,” he says. Comedy for Spiel is a vehicle for social discourse. He meditates on the nature of the catharsis offered through comedy, adding, “humour, satire, parody — those are the weapons of the people who don’t have power. If you can make something laugh-

“We are one of the best research universities in the world, we should take advantage of that intellectual capital and turn it into wealth for our country and for the university.” —Tyler Lu

able you can take away its control over your life — sort of. But you can remind yourself that you have independence, you have agency.” Following the show’s inception Spiel’s started contributing to online Canadian satirical newspaper, The Beaverton, and also formed the Trinity College Comedy Collective, which holds informal talks with big names in entertainment, comedy, and writing to create a dialogue with students. Spiel admits to having trouble keeping up with his volunteer engagements now that flat fees have been instituted. He chides, “Because of the decision to institute flat fees they’ve crushed student entrepreneurship, because

no one can afford to take fewer courses now in order to pursue something on the side.” Time allowing, there’s no reason why students shouldn’t seek out their interests within the community, or carve out those spaces for themselves. Spiel encourages students to do away with self-doubt and take chances. One need only look to these examples to find entrepreneurs who have made U of T work toward their advantage, whether their projects take shape as a fully operational corporation or a rewarding side gig. According to Walmsley of Whirlscape, “An important thing when you’re going through university is not to be caught up too much in your academics for

the sake of them being academics, but to keep a mind that you are learning these things for a reason... To synthesize them into new ideas.”

PHOTOS Opposite: Will Wemsley of Whirlscape Above: Tyler Lu of Granata Decision Systems Below: Jihan Victoria of Hedj

Check out Jihan’s bags at www.etsy.com/shop/Hedj

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4 FEBrUarY 2013 arts@thevarsity.ca

The hottest Valentine's date spots in the city! var.st/arts

Man on the moon

Director Simon Ennis chats about his new film Lunarcy! Ishita Petkar ASSOCIATE A&C EDITOR

With the plummeting temperatures and buffeting winds that Toronto has experienced over the last few weeks, it’s easy to fantasize about living anywhere but here. But would you ever consider living on the moon? As far-fetched as it sounds, investigating this question is exactly what up and coming Canadian director Simon Ennis set out to do in his latest film Lunarcy!. A zany and light-hearted documentary, Lunarcy! follows several lunar enthusiasts, including Dennis Hope, the current “owner” of the moon, Alan Bean, an astronaut turned painter, and at the centre of it all, Christopher Carson, an eccentric young man who is determined to depart for the Moon and has no intention of returning. With these quixotic dreams and lunar obsessions in mind, The Varsity sat down with Ennis in a quaint café on Dufferin to chat about the viability of owning celestial bodies, the moon’s potential to save Earth, and of course, Lunarcy! THE VARSITY: Where did the idea of investigating this lunar subculture come from?

SIMON ENNIS: I first got the idea because about three years ago… I just happened to read three totally different articles about the moon… The moon is such a — pardon the pun — such a universal thing, and it’s symbolized so many different things. I mean, everybody who’s ever been alive has some kind of relationship to [the moon] … but however you see the moon captures more about you than it does the moon. So I just thought it was an interesting symbol to use as a mirror to take a look at the effects of humanity and the human perception. Originally, [Lunarcy!] was going to be more of a straightforward documentary, just moving through science, history, religion, culture etc. with a sense of humour… And then I started meeting these people who had, one way or another, devoted their lives to [the moon]! Chris Carson kinda became the star of the movie and it became less about the straightforward documentary, [and] more about these characters and their own passions, creativity, and individuality. TV: So it was by chance that the film ended up focusing on living on the moon? SE: Yeah, I went out collecting stories, and it just so happened that a lot of

the more interesting ones were about people that wanted to live on the moon… [I]f you’re coming up with a program [as] to how you could live on the moon … it talks about what your own personal obsessions are… So it was great to get to know these different people, and it was less about the moon and more just a window into their own personalities. TV: The title of your documentary implies a level of lunacy in the people you looked into. Do you think their ideas are that far-fetched? SE: Well I think that there is a sliding scale of that. Probably the most farfetched to most people would be Dennis Hope’s claim of owning the moon and being able to sell one-acre lots. I firmly believe he does own the moon, and I now am a property owner myself — I have an acre! Whereas you go to Alan Bean, who is the Apollo astronaut who walked on the moon and now paints it, and he’s talking about scientific facts … [and] the missions they've done. And then Chris and some of the other people, what they’re talking about is maybe a little bit more speculative, [but] I don't think its necessarily far-fetched

CONTINUED PG 16

Simon Ennis, director of Lunarcy! MILO GOLUB/tHE varsItY

Pappa al Pomodoro How to transform stale bread and canned tomatoes into something magical BEYOND KRAFT DINNER

ALANNA LIPSON: VARSITY COLUMNIST

Pappa al Pomodoro is a beautiful thing: a Tuscan bread and tomato soup traditionally made in the prime of summer, when the tomatoes are so ripe they're practically falling off the vines and the basil plants are the size of small trees. The “authentic” version of this recipe is redolent with garlic and fresh herbs, and the whole thing hinges on sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. Unfortunately, we live in Toronto, it's wintertime, and the tomatoes in our grocery stores at the moment could double for red cardboard. So it’s a good thing that — not being of Tuscan descent myself — I'm not really interested in preserving the authenticity of this dish. In fact, one could argue that this dish tastes even better in the wintertime, when its bright flavours and hearty sauce are most appreciated. Will the

tomatoes come from cans? Yes. Will the spices be of the dried variety? Yes. Will the final product nevertheless be layered and rich and stuffed with little pillows of bread that will melt in your mouth? Definitely. A few things to consider before you get started on this recipe: first, the result here is highly dependent on the quality of the ingredients, so it's well worth splurging on better tinned tomatoes than the Unico brand, and make sure to get yourself a real loaf of bread (i.e. generous crust, unsliced). Second, if you feel like adding some protein to this meal, you can always throw in a can of drained, rinsed cannellini beans. Otherwise, just serve it with a side salad of arugula tossed in your favourite dressing (plus a handful of toasted sunflower seeds), and you've got yourself a meal. Buon appetito!

Pappa al pomodoro (serves 4 to 6) Ingredients: 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, diced small 3 cloves of garlic, diced 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes (optional) 2 large (796 ml) cans diced/crushed tomatoes 1 cup water 12 fresh basil leaves, sliced into thin strips 1 teaspoon salt Black pepper, to taste 1 stale loaf of bread (rustic Italian/ French, or white sourdough), torn into 1-inch chunks

Directions: 1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat, then add the onion. Cook for five minutes, stirring often, or until the onions are softened and just beginning to brown. 2. Reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. If you like your dishes spicy, you should also add the chili flakes now. Stir for one or two minutes, stopping before the garlic starts to brown. 3. Add the two cans of tomatoes, and the cup of water. Add the salt and pepper. Stir. 4. Add about three-quarters of the basil leaves, and reserve the rest. 5. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer on low heat. Allow to cook for 15 minutes for the flavours to meld. Then stir in the bread chunks and cook for 10 minutes more. 6. Remove from heat and divide into bowls. Garnish with the remaining basil.

Pappa al pomodoro. aLaNNa LIPsON/tHE varsItY

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

var.st/arts

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Q Space at 382 College Street. Milo Golub/THe VArsiTy

Mind your Q Q Space on College Street is a cultural hub that defies easy categorization Monica Georgieff VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Walking into Q Space on a weekday, you can expect to see almost anything: a guy Skyping with his girlfriend, a heated discussion on how best to organize a group concert, poets setting up for their reading later in the evening, students typing away busily at their Macbooks. In the tradition of Europe’s betahaus and Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation (csi), Q Space opened its doors in the fall of 2012, transforming an old restaurant into a modern community hub. Formerly home to College Kebab, the space on the corner of College and Borden has been modified to accommodate much more

than spits and a meat locker thanks to the colleagues of Toronto’s Quattro Books. Quattro, one of the city’s independent publishing houses, was a longtime fixture at the csi on Bathurst, during which time it developed its publishing mandate and expanded its list of titles. But a recent acquisition of grants coupled with the hard work of the partners and their staff allowed Quattro to break off from csi, open their own office, and undertake some of the most exciting literary projects that Toronto has to offer. Q Space originated from Quattro’s need to establish a home base for the company’s publishing activities. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of John Callabro and Luciano Iacobelli, Quattro's president and vicepresident respectively, the space has since expanded and now functions as a coffee

Students’ Union University of Toronto ents

location for their new store, a space that strives to emphasize the social and collaborative aspects of art. According to Iacobelli, Q Space functions as a place that fosters “other people’s dreams and interests, where the community can participate [in those dreams and interests].” Everyone seems to be looking for a stimulating place to think at the moment. And more often than not they are thinking about new, creative ways to stand out and succeed. They want to network, develop and bring to light the concerns of their generation through their ideas and their particular arts. An environment conducive to communication has become vital to our time. Q Space successfully takes on the challenge of acting a home away from home for great ideas to grow.

G IN R P S 2013

e c i t o N s n o i t c e l E Local

n of Stud 98 • Canadian Federatio

shop, book store, and events venue. Since its foundation, Q Space has become host to the Toronto Art Bar and WordStage Reading Series, meetings of the Association for Art and Social Change, and some exciting book launches. When asked about the main purpose of Q Space, Iacobelli says, “There is a notion that space has to be labelled, there’s no label here.” Perhaps that’s what makes the shop so refreshing. Most Torontonians will agree that College Street near Kensington is one of the most dynamic neighborhoods in the city. It’s a place where cultures and demographics converge, and its proximity to the University of Toronto keeps the area busy and vibrant. It’s no wonder Quattro chose this particular spot as the

e undergraduates at St.such ion represents all full-tim es important services TTC vid The U of T Students’ Un pro SU UT . ted ga campuses George and Mississau ns, book bursaries, clubs funding and discouncentral U of the Pla l to nta nts De de & stu alth s He ent as connects dents’ Union also repres Metropasses. Your Stu vernment, advocates for students’ rights, and social and s go ign pa and n cam , atio T administr rk on common goals wo to ses pu cam all students across programming.

The University of Toronto Students’ Union is holding its Spring 2013 Elections to fill the following positions: Position

Seat(s)

Division I Victoria College University College Innis College St. Michael’s College New College Trinity College Woodsworth College At-Large Arts & Science

2 2 1 3 3 1 3 2

Toronto School of Theology

Faculty of Music Faculty of Dentistry Faculty of Nursing Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Pharmacy Faculty of Law Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design (pending approval at General Meeting) Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) At-Large Professional Faculty

1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 2

Division II

Executive President

Vice President Internal & Services

Vice President Equity Vice President External

1 1 1

Vice President University Affairs

Election Nominations (All Positions) Election Campaign Period Election Voting Period Unofficial Election Results

Important 2013 Dates:

Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 10:00 to Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 16:00 Monday, March 4, 2013 to Thursday, March 14, 2013 March 12, 13, 14, 2013 Times TBA Monday, March 18, 2013

Nomination Pick-up and Drop-off Locations: St. George campus: UTSU Office 12 Hart House Circle Hours: Monday - Friday, 09:00 to 18:00

Mississauga campus: UTMSU Ofﬁce UTM Student Centre, Room 100 Hours: Monday - Friday 09:00 to 12:30, 13:30 to 17:00

To run for a position, pick up a nomination package during the nomination period at the UTSU or UTMSU office. Please keep in mind the dates and deadlines. For more information, visit our Students’ Union website at www.utsu.ca or contact cro@utsu.ca Please note that, at the time of this publication, “University of Toronto Students’ Union” and/or “UTSU” refers to the Students’ Administrative Council of the University of Toronto, Inc. (“SAC”).

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

"MOON" CONTINUED FROM PG 14 at all. It’s just a matter of [whether or not] there's going to be enough will and money to get behind it. TV: Is there an actual legal basis for ownership of the moon? SE: Yeah, [Dennis Hope] explains it in the film! In 1967 the Treaty on Outer Space said that no nation could claim any extra-terrestrial planetary bodies, but [said] nothing about private individuals, so he filed a claim with the United Nations and said exactly what he was trying to do and if they had a legal problem with it, they should get back to him, and they never have. So that is his basis.

Still from Lunarcy!. PHOTO COURTESY TIFF

Excellence is a worthy calling...

TV: Some people would say that humans have already destroyed the Earth, and that it seems arrogant to lay claim to some other planet and destroy it as well. What would you say to that? SE: Well, I suppose that that is a possibility, but most of the people nowadays that are passionate about space advocacy and exploration are environmentalists… So I wouldn't be too worried about that, at least at first. And second of all, the moon specifically [is] actually dead, there’s no life there, so what exactly could you ruin? A lot of scientists believe that if they could figure out nuclear fusion of helium-3 [a property found in moon dust], they could go up there and mine and it would save the planet because it’s a completely green burning fuel. It could be as easy as going and picking up moon dust and bringing it back to Earth! Obviously humans have

Become the teacher you’ve always wanted to be.

completely screwed up this planet, but hopefully [that] will be built into space exploration and colonization. In the future, [we] would be trying to find solutions to the problems we’ve created here, rather than just going out and creating more problems. TV: Can you actually imagine yourself living on the moon now? SE: Oh wow, yeah I can certainly imagine it. After working on a film like this for a couple years, I’ve read so many different accounts and talked to so many different people about what life might be like up there. So I can definitely imagine it… While I’m really excited about space exploration and going up to the moon, I don’t think it’s gotten so far as I’d want to live there. I’d want to go up and visit Chris once he gets up there… I’m sure I could crash on his couch if I hadn’t built a place on my half-acre yet. TV: Do you have any plans for this one-acre that you currently own on the moon? SE: Well, I know I live in a good neighbourhood, because my producer, executive producer and cinematographer all live right next to me. I’d have to make quite a few more films to save up enough money to actually go and visit it, but maybe my grandchildren will get to enjoy it. Unfortunately … in a very romantic notion, I put [the acre] in the name of me and my girlfriend at the time, and we’ve since broken up, so now I only have half an acre, but we’ll see. Maybe she’ll sell it to me! Lunarcy! is opening at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on February 8, 2013

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Little exhibit, BIG impact The ROM’s latest exhibition uses fashion to bridge the gap between past and present Monica Carinci VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

While the Royal Ontario Museum might sometimes seem like the exclusive domain of grade school students and dinosaur enthusiasts, the museum’s latest exhibition, ambiguously titled BIG, is sure to strike a chord with the sartorially-inclined. This innovate new exhibit uses fashion as a means of bridging the gap between antiquity and modernity. BIG is relatively (and ironically) small in size, showcasing only a small portion of the rom’s extensive costume collection. A curatorial team handpicked the exhibitions’ 40 pieces from the rom’s vast assortment of costumes and textiles. Heading this team was University of Toronto faculty member Dr. Alexandra Palmer, who is also the Nora E. Vaughn Fashion Costume Senior Curator at the rom. I was impressed with how well Palmer and her two colleagues, associate curator Dr. Sarah Fee and assistant curator Anu Liivandi, organized an exhibition that includes artifacts from a variety of different time periods and cultures. A Peruvian feather tunic from approximately 1,000 bc is featured, along with an evening gown from Chinese-American designer Vivienne Tam’s 2011 fall/ winter collection. An African cloth embroidered by clerics is paired with

a masterpiece by the late Alexander McQueen, Britain’s iconic fashion maverick. What makes this exhibition “big” is its diversity of clothing styles, from a wide range of nations and generations. Many new acquisitions are showcased in BIG, including the exhibit’s feature item, "Passage # 5," a Christian Dior Haute Couture dress that was commissioned by the rom. John Galliano designed the dress prior to the scandal surrounding his allegedly anti-Semitic slurs. "Passage # 5" was the first item that I encountered as I entered the exhibition, and I was immediately taken aback by its theatricality. Next to the dress, a documentary set to dramatic music was playing. The movie is short in duration, but fascinating to watch; it reveals how many layers of tulle and silk were woven together to form this showstopper of a frock. As the granddaughter of a seamstress, I felt both sentimental and amazed at the artistry devoted to a single dress. "Passage # 5" and its accompanying documentary truly set the stage for the works of incredible craftsmanship that BIG has to offer. As I proceeded through the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume, my admiration for the artisans grew. Large textiles, each with a flare for the dramatic, are hung high above the gallery floor. Some of the ceilings in the

gallery reach an impressive height of 13 metres, making this the perfect setting for a grandiose display. Floral motifs run rampant through the suspended fabrics, particularly in the textiles woven during the early 1920s. This display is sure to please any fashion enthusiasts who have had their eye on the floral trends that are currently dominating runways. Another item sure to resonate with today’s fashionistas is the Margiela dress from the turn of the millennium; the oversized style of this dress has yet to fall out of vogue. During my visit to the gallery, I was most moved by the elaborately decorated “lotus buds,” which are on display behind plates of glass. Lotus buds were the small shoes worn by Chinese girls and women until the 20th century. Tightly bound by the shoes’ decorative fabric, girls’ feet remained child-sized throughout their adult life. While perusing the museum’s collection of beautiful, but probably very painful, Chinese footwear, I realized that time and time again, I too find myself squeezing into uncomfortable shoes for the sake of “fashion.” It occurred to me that ancient Chinese mentalities towards aesthetics remain persistent today, albeit in a far less extreme form. Perhaps, as BIG’s unique collection suggests, the gulf between past and present is not so entirely vast.

Where is here? How Toronto is represented across the arts Jakob Tanner VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

One day over the holiday break, I went out for Greek food and good conversation with a couple of friends. When the subject of Canadian literature came up, one of my pals unsurprisingly made a face. A wrinkling of the nose, a stressing of the eyebrows. “Canadian literature? Pee-yoo! I think I’ve had enough hayrides, maple tree sap, and sprawling landscapes for one day thankyouverymuch." This was not the first time I’ve had that conversation; I’ve felt this Canadian inferiority complex before. Part of the issue, it seems to me, is that for a good part of Canadian literary history, the stories told have been ones concerning the wild and the pastoral, rather than the urban centre. So of course Torontonian snobs like my friends and I are going to be somewhat unsatisfied. When it comes to film, Toronto’s biggest role for the last two decades or so has been that of a type-cast chameleon pretending to be Chicago or Manhattan. A scene from the underrated Bulletproof Monk comes to mind, in which Seann William Scott, standing in front of Nathan Phillips Square and Toronto City Hall says, “This is America.” Or Good Will Hunting, when Matt Damon goes to visit his girlfriend at Whitney Hall residence, University College and says, “This is Harvard [in America.]”

In his book Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said defined imperialism as “the practice, theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory.” Included in this “domination” is a form of cultural imperialism. Now, perhaps Said did not have Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolitan centre, in mind when he was working out the quirks of his theory, but nevertheless, it is difficult to deny how awash we Canadians (Torontonians included) are in American culture. The whole world is! I, for one, think it’s ridiculous that American movie studios can dress up Toronto as if it were Boston and have our city lend itself to the American imagination, rather than a Canadian one. All of a sudden, Toronto is contributing to the immense amount of cultural capital a place like New York City already has. In short, there’s some cultural exploitation going on and Toronto is the one getting screwed. Now, I know what you’re going to say: “Hold your horses Jakob, have you ever even read a Canadian book before?” Well, I have, and yes, I know Toronto has some truly kick-ass works, and I know that it has sometimes been represented with proper chops. So what characterizes Toronto within the Canadian imagination? The major question lurking behind Canadian creativity, according to Northrop Frye, is

not a question of identity (i.e. what the heck is Canada?). He wrote, “It seems to me that Canadian sensibility has been profoundly disturbed, not so much by our famous problem of identity, important as that is, as by a series of paradoxes in what confronts that identity. It is less perplexed by the question ‘Who am I?’ than by some such riddle as ‘Where is here?’” Where is here? Where is Toronto? A quick (and by no means exhaustive) survey across the mediums of short stories, films, and graphic novels seems only to complicate the question. In David Cronenberg’s 1983 cult classic film Videodrome, Toronto is refigured as a scuzzy sci-fi city where televisions and video dominate the collective consciousness of the society. There are crackden warehouses devoted solely to television watching, for it is a world in which television makes one hallucinate. Not excluded from Cronenberg’s dystopian vision are passing ttc streetcars and glimpses of the cn Tower at the break of dawn, which seem to mesh with his vision perfectly. That this off-kilter fantasy-Toronto can work successfully is also proven by another example: the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley. In O’Malley’s Toronto, landmarks like Honest Ed’s or Pizza Pizza become zones of half-reality, halfvideogame chaos. At the back of Lee’s

"Passage # 5," featured in the BIG exhibit. PHOTO COURTESY THE ROM

MINHE

Palace is a save point; Casa Loma is the stage for a boss battle; magical doors appear at Hillcrest Park. Like Cronenberg, O’Malley uses Toronto as a space that can be mutated and filled with magic. But is this the only way Toronto can be represented? Does our city really need sci-fi and video game magic to elevate it into a setting worthy of a novel or film? The graphic novelist Seth creates a moody, minimalist Toronto in It’s A Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken. Seth creates motifs out of the Botanical Gardens and the glowing rod at the top of the Canada Life building. Sarah Polley, in her second directorial work Take This Waltz offers up a romanticized Toronto, which serves as a backdrop for the film’s complex plot. In Polley’s vision of Toronto, College Street glows and Trinity Bellwoods Park becomes a summer jungle. David Bezmozgis uses Toronto as the setting for his connected tales in Natasha and Other Stories. The title story begins as follows: “When I was 16 I was high most of the time. That year my parents

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bought a new house at the edge of Toronto’s sprawl. A few miles north were cows; south the city. I spent most of my time in basements.” Bezmozgis’ prose is up front and straightforward, and through his style, Toronto becomes a blank background to be filled with the character’s boyhood adventures. In other words, Toronto becomes a space of recreation, of re-representation. All of these works show that Toronto is a city in constant representational flux. A stereotype of itself has yet to solidify, and perhaps it never will. Common amongst all of Toronto’s disparate representations is their difference; artists re-create the city through their own eyes. It seems as if artists from multiple disciplines have rejected Frye's ultimate Canadian riddle of "Where is here?" and instated a more pragmatic question: "What is here?" I think the answer is that here, Toronto, is what you make of it.

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Scientists call for mutant mosquitoes to end malaria Genetically engineered mosquitos emerging as weapon in the fight against vector-borne diseases Raissa Chua VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The mosquito is one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. Through disease and plagues from the beginning of time, it has probably killed more people than any natural disaster or violence-ridden conflict. Although many interventions have been proposed, attempts to control vector-borne diseases have proved difficult, especially given the different existing strains of each of the diseases and a plethora of breeding sites for mosquitos. Using today’s advanced technology, one scientist believes that he has the answer: targeting the mosquito. Hadyn Parry, a biotechnology entrepreneur and ceo of Oxitec, advocates rethinking genetically modified (gm) technologies, which he believes have been overpoliticized and whose true promise and efficacies have not been honestly evaluated.

Female mosquitos are generally the spreaders of disease. Parry’s idea is to produce gm male mosquitos that will be able to locate and mate with female mosquitos in the environment. These male mosquitos have a gene that will cause the female to produce dead offspring, thereby decreasing the population of the deadly species of mosquitos spreading disease. According to the World Health Orgazination, 50–100 million people are affected each year by dengue fever, one of the deadliest mosquitoborne diseases, primarily in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Parry’s sterile male mosquitos, developed at Oxford University, have been tested in the Cayman Islands, Malaysia, and Brazil. Trials have been primarily conducted in small villages of 2,000–3,000 people where researchers observed an 85 per cent decrease in the mosquito population about four months after the release of the gm mosquitos. Currently, Parry is working on scaling up to communities of about 50,000 people. Though the

production units are located close to Oxford University, transporting the gm mosquitos around the world to developing nations is not difficult — a coffee cup can hold about 3,000 eggs. In Brazil, the government has been so pleased with results that it has initiated plans to produce its own “mosquito factory.” Many, including Parry, believe that this is the future of mosquito control, and the positive results thus far can expand this research into other vector-borne diseases, such as malaria. Although this may seem like a wonderful and novel idea, there is strong opposition and fear towards these genetic modifications to mosquitos, most of it rooted in resistance to gm crops. Much like gm crops, there is fear that gm mosquitos can evolve into a superbug or cause negative side-effects, such as unforeseen environmental and health complications. Environmentalists caution that introducing gm mosquitos can have various ecological consequences, such as wiping out entire mosquito populations.

However, Parry argues that this is precisely the point — eradication. This is also what separates gm mosquitos from gm crops. While both techniques are trying to produce a massive benefit, a gm crop aims to protect a plant, giving it advantages over all other plants. gm mosquitos, by contrast are given the greatest disadvantage possible by preventing them from reproducing effectively. A species, such as A. aegypti, which carries dengue fever and is not native to the us, can be eradicated. In his ted presentation, Parry emphasizes that, “For the mosquito, it is a dead end.” Convincing health officials is only one barrier. There’s a cultural barrier with many preconceived notions against gm crops or ‘unnatural’ organisms. It may be difficult to convince communities to release even more mosquitos into their towns and to provide assurance that living with man-made mosquitos is safe. It’s also important to consider anthropological consequences, especially in small rural areas where technology and science may conflict with traditional or religious beliefs.

Furthermore, residents of a community may not want to be treated as guinea pigs, and there is concern that the trials are being conducted without full consent from the towns. Some environmental groups, such as Friends from the Earth, criticized Oxitech for not being “open and honest with local communities about the possible risks its technology poses.” Helen Wallace of GeneWatch uk even went as far as to say that these companies are treating “an overseas territory as a private lab.” It’s great to see novel techniques fighting vector-borne diseases, especially because traditional methods like pesticides, bed nets, and larvicides are now being threatened due to resistance and unsustainably high costs. However, although many have commended this advancement, these promising preliminary results shouldn’t deter criticism and critical analysis. This is a new tool, and its long-term effects are yet to be seen.

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U of T grad student develops oxygen The promises transport for pneumonia patients MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012

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The process of egg freezing can assist women who want to have a VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR family, but initially lack the right conditions. It starts with the exUntil about five years ago, women traction of multiple eggs. Ideally, a seeking to have their eggs frozen woman should have her eggs froby fertility clinics across Canada zen when she is fairly fertile, durcould do so only for medical rea- ing her late-20s or early-30s. The sons. Things have since changed. eggs are then frozen and stay in Largely thanks to technologi- storage until the patient chooses cal advances, egg freezing can to retrieve them. When the patient be carried out with much more decides she is ready, they will be success and is now available to thawed, fertilized by her chosen women seeking it for non-medical partner, and implanted into her reasons. Just this October, the uterus. Therein lies the advantage: American Society for Reproduc- a woman can have her eggs frozen tive Medicine lifted the process’ when she is fertile and retrieve “experimental” label. With its them under desirable conditions. changed status, egg freezing is set While quite promising, egg freezto become more widely available ing has its limits. While vitrificato women, even those seeking it tion maintains the quality of eggs for non-medical reasons. in the freezing process, if a woman Social egg freezing (egg freez- is well past her birth-giving prime, ing for non-medical reasons) the technology cannot make up for seems a promising way to em- the decrease in egg quality that acpower women by giving them companies ageing. A woman would more control over when they can need to have substantial foresight to have children. Fertility declines use egg freezing before it is too late. with age and the dip is especially Additionally, egg freezing is fisteep for women after their mid- nancially and physically taxing. 30s. Women captivated by the al- LifeQuest, a fertility clinic, charglure of a traditional family, where es $8,600 for egg freezing, not ina woman and her male partner cluding egg storage, fertilization, have biological links to their and embryo transfer. The process children, find themselves in po- also requires self-injections of sitions where starting a family medication for egg development, is anything but ideal. A woman which can be physically difficult. might want to pursue a career, Social egg freezing is poised to establish financial security, or take off and empower women, but find the right partner first. As it cannot overcome the inevitable is the case with numerous wom- fertility decline. If a young woman en, she may hit her late-30s be- who wants to delay birth-giving is fore these Beverley conditions met,a at to brave process and Bradleyare installing batterywilling back-up power systemthe for oxygen concentrators at a health centre indole The Gambia. pHoTo CouRTESy yu-LINGdo CHENG which point the quality of her out the money, she should eggs is very low. so before it is too late.

Elizabeth Cinco

and limits of egg freezing

Beverly Bradley tackles the challenges of global engineering in Gambia Vipal Jain

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

North American lives would barely function without electricity. Besides powering smartphones and lighting up the urban landscape, electrical energy also plays a crucial role in hospitals to deliver life-saving resources like medical oxygen. In resource-constrained areas that suffer from frequent power outages, however, access to this oxygen is restricted. Medical oxygen is not widely available in low-and middle-income countries despite its essential role in managing illnesses like pneumonia. Graduate student Beverly Bradley’s goal is to tackle this issue from a global engineering perspective. “Global engineering is about picking problems that are important, interesting, and global in nature, and then thinking about the engineering part after,” says Bradley, one of two students pursuing a PhD through U of T’s Centre for Global Engineering program. Bradley aims to tackle childhood pneumonia in Gambia by using better technology to improve oxygen access and supply in health centers. In developed countries like Canada, medical oxygen is generated on a large

scale using industrial-sized generating systems. Oxygen is piped throughout the hospital and made available at every bedside through an oxygen outlet. Although this is an energy-intensive process, it is part of hospital design. In much of the developing world, oxygen is delivered using gas cylinders or oxygen concentrators. Concentrators have been used for decades in the homes of senior citizens with lung disorders and are preferred over cylinders due to their cost effectiveness. One main drawback is their reliance on electricity. Gas cylinders present their own drawbacks, as they are inconveniently heavy to handle and last only a few days with continuous use, requiring frequent refills. Bradley knew she had to overcome these issues in coming up with an approach to deliver medical oxygen in Gambia. Her solution is an oxygen concentrator machine powered by a backup battery. For Bradley’s pilot study, the machine is being tested in a pediatric home in Gambia. So far, her device has been shown to compensate for fluctuating power supply; the backup battery charges when grid power is available. During power outages, it can take several minutes for nurses to get to the patient’s oxygen device. With the bat-

tery-powered device, Bradley says the hospital has seen a huge improvement in response time. It’s a seamless transition during power outages because the machine is plugged straight into the battery. The oxygen device can operate for 20 hours without being charged. “So now, oxygen is not something health workers have to worry about in Gambia. It makes their lives easier,” Bradley adds. Part of Bradley’s work is monitoring the device’s performance and making sure that it’s supplying oxygen when needed, as well as gathering feedback from nurses and practitioners. “For me, the most important thing at the end of the day is that I’ve made a difference. This is allowing me to do that by having one foot on the ground in a real setting where these problems actually exist,” Bradley says. When asked what being a global engineer feels like, Bradley says she’s not really sure, but she thinks it’s a great place for collaboration. “I feel privileged that I can work on something I think is important — one foot on the ground and [one in] the reality here at U of T, which is a powerhouse when it comes to global health leaders and engineering leaders. That combination is good.”

Social egg freezing gives women more options, but not many more

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Meeting the people behind the disease How students in a Human Biology course are learning outside of the classroom Crystal Chin VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

You don’t often see stormtroopers trailing behind Darth Vader as they mill among hundreds of people on a Toronto street. Nor do you usually see Joker and Batman chatting and posing in pictures. Yet that is what you would expect, along with musicians, performers, and special appearances by Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball, at “Walk For Memories,” an annual fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Disease. Organized by the Toronto Alzheimer Society, the 2013 Manulife Walk For Memories took place in the downtown core. Participants formed teams with family and friends, many in memory of loved ones affected by the disease. This year, over $570,000 was raised to support the programming, counseling, and educational resources offered to people living with forms of dementia and their caregivers. Most of these services are offered free of charge by the society.

Among the hundreds of participants was HMB Mindwalkers, a team formed by U of T’s Dr. Franco Taverna and his Human Biology Dementia class. As part of their coursework, students were asked to participate in the Walk to help fundraise for the Society. Since the Society had been an integral part of the course from the beginning, taking part in their major fundraiser seemed like a natural progression. Taverna’s class has participated in the walk for several years now, collectively raising over $17,000 to date. It’s not just about the fundraising, though. “Giving them the knowledge on how easy it is to make a big impact is a valuable learning experience for students,” says Taverna. Moreover, Alzheimer’s Disease and various forms of dementia are diseases that will inevitably affect us. “With the aging population, we all have, or will have, parents, grandparents and spouses that have the disease. We’re living longer and healthier lives, but with that, is what looks like the inevitability of the neurodenegeration of the brain.”

Participating in the Walk is only one part of the service-learning component of HMB440. Students are also given volunteer placements in a long-term care facility as friendly visitors. Through this opportunity, Taverna hopes that students get to see different sides of Alzheimer’s and dementia. “When you study human disorders, especially psychiatric and cognitive disorders, it can become easy to forget that these are human beings we’re talking about. I wanted to give students a first hand look at some of those symptoms to complete and round out the multidisciplinary nature of the course. ” Students then complete a life history project of the resident they are visiting, which brings another dimension of learning to the course. By visiting elderly residents and compiling stories, students not only learn about the clinical pathology behind the disease, but other multidisciplinary angles that are just as important to studying and treating the disease. Community service learning is organized by course instructors, community partners, and U of T’s Centre for Community Partnership. Together, they create placements that allow students to apply what they learned in class in

U of T Human Biology Professor Franco Taverna. carolyn levett/tHe varsity

a workplace setting. There are few science-based service learning courses at U of T, and it can seem difficult to connect basic science with community service. Even so, science in the lab has very real effects on the community. What happens in the lab will eventually make its way into how we approach life, from our health to how we fly. For students looking to pursue careers in healthcare, community service experiences are important for career advancement. Many life sciences and health studies students apply early on to become volunteers at healthcare facilities, such as the nearby Toronto Gener-

al Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital. However, volunteer positions are very competitive, and it is difficult for students to find placements on their own. Successful service learning courses give students an opportunity to apply what they learn in class while giving back to the community. Though service placements are an important and practical start to one’s career trajectory, it is important to remember that community service can be a life-changing experience. Students in Taverna’s class come to realize that they are bringing some humanity back to their perception of dementia.

Researchers discover DNA quadruple helix structure Nipa Chauhan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

It has been known that our DNA is arranged in a double helix structure since Watson and Crick first published their findings in 1953. A Department of Chemistry research team at the University of Cambridge recently discovered a quadruple helix structure with clear links to cancer treatment, making this discovery a valuable one, indeed. The research, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in Nature Chemistry this past January, proved the existence of four-stranded helices, also known as g-quadruplexes, in living human cells. Scientists were already aware that g-quadruplexes could exist in vitro, or within test tubes, but it is now known that they exist in vivo, within living cells, along with double helices. It took researchers 10 years to find proof, since they could only hypothesize its pres-

ence with computational modeling and lab experiments. Researchers found that these four-stranded helices were formed in genomic areas of high guanine concentration — hence the name ‘gquadruplex.’ Guanine is one of four nucleotides or building blocks that make up the genome’s coding. The significance of this discovery is due to the g-quadruplexes’ direct link with cell division and production. The Cambridge research team, led by Giulia Biffi, created antibody proteins capable of detecting and tagging areas in the human genome where there was a high concentration of quadruple helix DNA structures. Its presence was then visualized with fluorescent markers that highlighted the antibodies, and therefore showed researchers where and when these special helices made an appearance during DNA replication. According to Professor Shankar Balasubramanian, of the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge

Research Institute, the DNA quadruple helices are more likely to be found in areas of rapid cell division, such as cancerous cells. As the cell divided and DNA was replicated, the g-quadruplexes were at their highest concentration. The fluorescent markers were most intense when the mitosis was in its synthesis phase, which is when DNA is being replicated before cell division. It was also proved that inhibiting DNA replication inhibited the intensity of the fluorescence from antibodies tagging the g-quadruplexes. This is extremely relevant for cancer research, since restriction of g-quadruplexes with synthetic molecules could potentially restrict cell division and stop the growth of tumors. With these synthetic molecules, replication of specific gene sequences can be halted, and these molecules can become treatments for cancer patients in the future.

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Coverage of the OUA swimming championships

4 FEBrUarY 2013 sports@thevarsity.ca

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Third-year forward Michael Markovic in action against the Redmen. BErnarda Gospic/tHE varsitY

Redmen edge Blues in overtime Despite brilliant 30-save performance, U of T falls 2-1 in overtime Geshini Karunatilake VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Hoping to put an end to their four-game losing streak, the Varsity Blues men’s hockey team played host to the McGill University Redmen on Friday at Varsity Arena, ultimately losing 2–1 in overtime. With a boisterous crowd on hand to cheer them on, the Blues played a physical game in the opening 20 minutes with big hits delivered by Cassidy Preston, Robert Kay, Tim Halloran, and Kevin Deagle. U of T had a number of good scoring chances in the first period, outshooting McGill 11–7, but the shots were ultimately unable to

find the back of the net. Both goalies made some spectacular saves and it was clear from the very beginning that this would be a battle of the netminders. The first goal of the game didn’t come until the end of the second period when McGill’s Benoit Levesque unleashed a quick snap shot from the slot and fired it past Blues goalie Brett Willows. With two periods in the books, the Blues headed into the final period trailing by a goal. Halfway through the third frame, McGill was called for roughing, sending Toronto on a power play that the Blues were able to capitalize on. The goal came from Tyler Liukkonen, who got hold of a point shot from team captain Matt Walters to deflect past

Redmen goaltender Andrew Flemming, and tied the game up at 1–1. The Blues carried the momentum through most of the third and had several chances to take the lead, but all of them were denied by Flemming. In the last minute of regulation Toronto was called for a costly hooking penalty, which sent the Blues into sudden-death overtime down a man. The Redmen would go on to take advantage of this and score the gamewinning goal just 10 seconds into overtime. Willows was able to make the initial pad save, but could not stop David Rose, who buried the rebound and gave McGill the 2–1 victory.

“I thought it was a really good hockey game,” said Blues assistant coach Steve Devine. “Both teams worked extremely hard and both goalies played great games. Brett [Willows] really kept us in the game and made some of the big saves. But unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win tonight. “We got a couple of chances early, but we just couldn’t finish our chances. And against a team like that, you can’t let those opportunities pass you by. That really hurt us in the end.” With the ot loss the Blues pick up a crucial point, but extend their losing streak to five games. They currently sit in sixth place in the competitive oua East with a season record of 12–9–5.

Men’s basketball playoff hopes dashed Blues unable to hold late-game lead in thirteenth consecutive loss William Deck

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

The Varsity Blues men’s basketball team closed the weekend with a heartbreaking 84–77 loss to the York University Lions at the Athletic Centre on Saturday. The loss followed a brutal 84–65 defeat against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Friday night. The Blues weekend results leave the team with a measly 2-14 record, and no chance of making the oua playoffs. It was a tale of catching up for the Blues against York, who tied the game or drew to within a few points of the Lions several times only to see their opponents pull away. Toronto ended the first quarter trailing York 24–19. At the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, the York Lions went on a 15–5 run that left the Blues staring at a 13-point deficit with less than nine minutes to go in the game. Such a lead seemed impossible to surmount, especially considering the

Blues earlier inability to overcome the small leads the Lions held throughout the game. The Blues, led by fifth-year guard Arun Kumar, went on an 18–4 run to tie the game and eventually take a 74–71 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the game. With all the momentum in their favour, it looked as though the Blues would finish the game with a win. However, Toronto was unable to hold onto their slim lead, and the Lions closed out the game with a 14–3 run to improve their own poor record to 6–11. When asked about what went wrong at the end of the fourth quarter, both Blues’ head coach Rick Dilena and Kumar pointed to turnovers, failed rebounds, and missed shots. “We turned it over a couple of times. We just made a couple of bad choices. Unfortunately, a few times we didn’t rebound in key situations or we didn’t make shots in key situations,” said coach Dilena. “We had a couple of costly turnovers at the end, and we had some wide open shots at the

end, and we just missed them,” added Kumar. “They were shots we should have made, but just missed. They went on a run at the end of the game and we just couldn’t get back into it.” “When a game gets tight like that you’ve got to execute, because one turnover can change the game.” Against York, it was the failure to hold onto a late lead that doomed the Blues, but Dilena explained that the inability to seal games is not the Blues’ biggest problem. “Right now we’re struggling. It’s not too often that we get a lead, so maybe that’s our problem, that we don’t know what to do with a lead. But we just want to win a game. We’re not too concerned with leads; we just want to win,” he said. Despite all the negativity surrounding the Blues’ season — culminating Saturday in official elimination from the post-season — Dilena tries to see the positives, starting with the team’s improved play over the weekend. “I thought we competed; we didn’t compete last night but we competed tonight,” said

Dilena. “We were up three or four and we let them come back by turning it over a couple of times, but we did compete.” The game had some bright spots, though, as Kumar recorded a career high 30 points on 10 of 23 shooting, including six three-pointers. “He made some big shots — he is a guy that can make shots. He’s a guy that has that explosiveness. He was very good tonight,” commented Dilena. Kumar, however, wasn’t as happy with his performance. “Being the leader on the team, I always feel I should have done more to lead our team to victory,” said Kumar. The weekend’s losses eliminate the Blues from oua post-season play. Even if Toronto wins their remaining four games, they would finish in the standings tied with York who would advance based on the head-to-head record. All the Blues can do now is close out the remainder of the season with improved play and look towards preparing themselves for next season.

22 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013