January 27, 2014

VARSITY EDITORIAL PG 11

ONTARIO FUNDING FORMULA HURTS STUDENTS

VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 16

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1880

27 JANUARY, 2014

INSIDE NEWS

th s th le A d e PG gr eir u tud at a vy- n in ee n en llo fu -d 12 s i de ts w nd ep n C rg to s ed th r an radu pur efu pro loo ad at su ge gr k a e e e am at th e

S I PR RE T N O FU UD SID G G E E RA E N T E T M H E

Leadership shuffle Important changes have occurred among top leadership positions in Canada’s universities. Franco Vaccarino will become president of the University of Guelph; Stephen Toope will become director of U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and David Cameron will become dean of Arts and Science at U of T.

PG 5 COMMENT

Addressing study drugs

The ability to pay: students question unpaid internships Overseas unpaid internships financial impossibility for some students Sarah Niedoba

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

“No other opportunity like it,” says U of T medical student Antonio Lee, describing his experience working with the World Health Organization (who) in Geneva this past summer.

Lee worked as an intern developing target studies regarding hiv infection among sex workers and men who have sex with men. For a student interested in the public health industry, Lee said, the experience was unprecedented: “Living in Geneva, walking among diplomats everyday, I don’t know how you’d replicate something like that.” While in Geneva, Lee served on the who’s Intern Board, a group of students who met weekly to discuss concerns affecting the intern

community. One of the first problems Lee’s group landed upon was the glass ceiling created by the nature of the internship itself: students below a certain income simply could not afford it.

The who’s interns received no stipends, and were required to finance their own airfare, accommodation, and living expenses. “Geneva is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in,” explained Lee. He went on to describe how food was also expensive in the city: eating out meant 20–30 francs ($25–$37 cad) for a small dinner — cooking his own meals was a financial necessity. He also said that working part-time to subsidize living costs was impossible, due to the requirement for a work visa and the amount of hours he dedicated to working for the who. “We real-

ized pretty immediately that there was a problem,” said Lee. “It was on the back of everyone’s minds from the very beginning.”

The who is not the only organization to run internships out of the city of Geneva. The city is often referred to as the humanitarian capital of the world: the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Organization for Migration, and the World Federation of Public Health Associations are only a few of the institutions whose Geneva headquarters use unpaid intern labour.

Toronto-based labour lawyer and anti-unpaid-internship activist Andew Langille says that one of the many problems raised by overseas internships is that, to a certain degree, their selection pro-

CONTINUED ON PG 6

The pressures of balancing academic success with a social life, combined with the possibility of a part-time or full-time job, have driven some U of T students to resort to the use of study drugs. While students may find the drugs helpful in the short-term, studying for an exam, or perhaps pulling an all-nighter to finish an assignment, their effects on work habits are decidedly negative.

PG 8 ARTS

The art of the handjob “Does everybody have a penis?” Ray, sec’s public relations representative, asks, surveying the crowd at the saw event to make sure all attendees are properly prepared with dildos or cucumbers.

Equipped with faux phalluses supplied

by Good for Her and generous dabs of lube, a large group of curious students like myself sat in the sec to learn the intricate art of the handjob.

PG 14 SPORTS

The issue of race in sport “Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you’ve got a wicked jump shot,” said Greg Gary, the head coach of the Varsity Blues men’s football team, quoting The Notorious B.I.G. According to Gary, the lyrics — taken from the 1994 track“Things Done Changed” — are still an accurate reflection of the experiences of racialized youth in the inner city.

PG 21

2

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 16

THE VARSITY VOL. CXXXIV No. 15

WHAT’S GOING ON

THIS WEEK

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

ON CAMPUS

Masthead Editor-in-Chief Joshua Oliver

news@thevarsity.ca

the week in tweets TIM SALINAS @TIMSENSEI

editor@thevarsity.ca

Production Manager Dan Seljak production@thevarsity.ca Managing Online Editor Murad Hemmadi online@thevarsity.ca Design Editor Shaquilla Singh

design@thevarsity.ca

I want to ditch Facebook... but all of these study groups where people freely post lecture recordings. #uoftproblems

Photo Editor Carolyn Levett

photo@thevarsity.ca

— Sunday, January 19

Senior Copy Editor Catherine Virelli

copy@thevarsity.ca

News Editor Zane Schwartz

news@thevarsity.ca

Comment Editor Alec Wilson

comment@thevarsity.ca

Features Editor Danielle Klein

features@thevarsity.ca

Arts & Culture Editor Sofia Luu

science@thevarsity.ca

Sports Editor Elizabeth Benn

sports@thevarsity.ca

video@thevarsity.ca

Web Developer Natalie Morcos

web@thevarsity.ca

Associate Design Editor Mari Zhou Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editors Lucy Genua Rose Tornabene Associate News Editors Liza Agrba James Flynn Sarah Niedoba Theodore Yan Associate Features Editor Victoria Banderob Associate Comment Editor Samantha Relich Associate A&C Editors Ishita Petkar Corinne Przybyslawski Associate Science Editor Elena Gritzan Emma Hansen Associate Sports Editors JP Kaczur Susan Gordon Associate Video Editor Alexandra Butrón

Writers Liza Agrba, Caitlin Alexieff, Reshara Alviarez, Salvatore Bassilone, Omar Bitar, Travis Boyco, Amanda Coletta, Claudia Dessanti, Andrew E. Johnson, James Flynn, Susan Gordon, Elena Gritzan, Yves Guillaume A. Messy, Emma Hansen, Alessandra Harkness, Jennifer Hurd, Sam Jerkins, JP Kaczur, Trevor Koroll, Nabeela Latif, Julia Lewis, Sofia Luu, Nordene Lyon-Stacey, Sophie Munden, Sarah Niedoba, Corinne Przybyslawski, Samantha Relich, Tanya Rogova, Jenna Rumero, Jeffrey Schulman, Aria Shakeri, Shradha Talwar, Marcus Tutert, Alaina Wallace, Victoria Wicks, Theodore Yan, Adam Zachary Photo and Illustration Nancy Ji, Timothy Law, Carolyn Levett, Julia Malowany, Helena Najm, Denis Osipov, Clare Scott, Ann Sheng, Jennifer Su, Allan Turton, Nicole Regina Wong, Shijie Zhou

Copy Editors and Fact Checkers Armen Alexanian, Faith Arkorful, Alanna Brousseau, Karen Chu, Lucy Genua, Jennifer Hurd, Olga Klenova, Sacha Morettin, Malone Mullin, Nicole Sconza, Jonathan Sou, Sara Thier, Rose Tornabene, Kelly Turner, Catherine Virelli

Business Office Business Manager Timothy Sharng

— Tuesday, January 21

KHALID KHAN @KHANUT1223

illustration@thevarsity.ca

Video Editor Jamieson Wang

Designers Kawmadie Karunanayake, Dan Seljak, Shaquilla Singh, Mari Zhou

Why is this lecture hall as cold as it is outside? #uoftproblems

arts@thevarsity.ca

Science Editor Katrina Vogan

Illustrations Editor Nancy Ji

ALYSSA SMITH @ALYSSASMITH54

business@thevarsity.ca

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

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

Content © 2014 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above.

The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions.

Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789 Please recycle this issue after you are finished with it.

WINTERLICIOUS Two hundred of Toronto’s best restaurants offer discounted fixed-price menus, as well as food-related events and give-aways.

Friday, January 31 – Thursday, February 13 Lunches: $15 – $25 Dinners: $25 – $35

— Tuesday, January 21

GREAT DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL

HART HOUSE OPEN MIC NIGHT

A curated selection of favourite fantasy, sci-fi, and anime classics on the big screen.

Where students and local musicians show off their skills. Come to watch or to participate.

Friday, January 31 – Thursday, February 6 Scotiabank Theatre 259 Richmond West $6

Thursday, January 30, 7:00 pm Arbor Room, Hart House 7 Hart House Circle Free

TORONTO TEA FESTIVAL

JAZZ AT OSCAR’S

Sample hundreds of teas from around the world. There will also be a silent auction, raffle, and various presentations on the art of tea-making.

A weekly showcase for Toronto’s jazz musicians. This week, featuring performances by the University of Toronto Jazz Orchestra and the jazz.fm91 Youth Big Band.

Saturday, February 1 – Sunday, February 2 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Toronto Reference Library 789 Yonge Street $15

Friday January 31, 9:00 pm Arbor Room, Hart House 7 Hart House Circle Free

THE EXPLAINER

HOW TO THROW THE BEST SUPER BOWL PARTY THAT EVER WAS, AND EVER SHALL BE 1. Make sure at least 40 per cent of your guests do not understand football or at least have only the faintest idea how the NFL season went. Nothing ruins watching football like having somebody tell you the full name, college, complete stat-line, shoe size, and favourite novel of every tight-end or DT who makes a play, like your friend Dennis does.

2. Alcohol is crucial, and terrible alcohol even more so. If someone shows up at your door with Steamwhistle, politely turn them away.

If a guest brings Kronenbourg, rudely turn them away. If somebody brings six assorted tall boys with European names, delete their number from your phone, remove them from Facebook, and consider reporting them to the university for plagiarism. Remember to take their beer before kicking them out.

You’ve got to be kitten me I cat pay attention any meow My prof cat be furreal So boring its our of fe-line man’s kitler #lolCats #UofT

3. Call Taco Bell and ask them if they cater. They will say no. Ask them if you can get a discount if you buy 80 burritos. They will say no. Go to Taco Bell and buy 80 burritos.

4. During halftim while Dennis is orating a novel about how wrong the analysts are start going door-to-door and ask your neighbours if they would like to join your Super Bowl party.

Explain to them that this is the best Super Bowl party there ever was or ever will be.

5. Make a five layer dip. It should be no more, and certainly no less, than five layers. The layers should be chips, beans, guac, salsa, and Miracle Whip. Don’t be stingy on the whip, no matter what Dennis says.

6. Cheer for the Broncos

GLORIA D’ALESSANDRO @GLORIALOU “I’m thinking of dropping out.. I might just get involved in sex work, I mean, it’s legal now. So, #yolo.” Overhead at #UofT @IrinaVuk — Wednesday, January 22

RANIA FAIDI @RANIAFAIDI See this is why UofT > Canada, people at this uni smile at you people on the street dont when u smile at them — Thursday, January 23

JULIA PUPULIN @JULIAAPUPULIN The engineering students have built an ice rink in the middle of #UofT’s campus.

How very Canadian. #polarvortex pic. twitter.com/9Uiofp0A2u — Friday, January 24

CORRECTIONS: ISSUE 15, JAN 20 UTMSU to re-run referendum on levy increase: TCard scanners cannot be loaded with information. Scanners are used as a more efficient method of entering TCard information into an online system.

Alexis Ohanian holds book signing at Bahen Centre: This article incorrectly stated that Aaron Swartz had spent six months in prison. A plea bargain would have had Swartz spend six months in prison, however he did not spend any time in prison.

U of T lab prints 3D sockets for prosthetic limbs: ginger coons’ name was incorrectly capitalized; cbm Canada and CoRSU were referred to using incorrect terms; and inaccurate information was included regarding the process by which the printed limbs are designed and produced.

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

3

Missing in action Nearly half of UTSU directors have missed four of seven meetings this year Liza Agrba

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

It’s not often hard to find an empty seat at University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) Board of Directors meetings. Nearly half of the union’s directors have missed at least four of the seven board meetings since the beginning of their term. Directors offered various explanations for their absences, although most did not reply to request for comment.

The Board of Directors consists of 44 college and faculty representatives who are responsible for monitoring union programs and services, evaluating student union performance from an objective perspective, and scrutinizing the executive’s recommendations. Most current directors ran unopposed, as a part of Team Renew — the only slate in the 2013 election, headed by Munib Sajjad, president of the utsu.

According to the utsu Policy Manual, “Proxies do not count towards a Director’s attendance nor are proxies an alternative to not attending Board of Directors meetings.”

The Varsity contacted individual directors about their absences. utsu president Munib Sajjad told The Varsity that it is unfair to ask directors about their attendance. He said that some directors expressed concern to him about being asked to explain their absences, and that all questions about directors’ attendance should be forwarded to union executives: “Union executives are capable of handling questions about directors’ attendance, as we are well informed about their individual reasons for not attending meetings,” said Sajjad. When asked about the possibility that some board members may have different views than the executive, Sajjad said: “Some directors may have different things to say than the executive, but those are opinions.”

Cullen Brown, a director for St. Michael’s College, explained that his four absences were a result of family and academic obligations.

Brown claimed that the root of the larger absenteeism problem is the way in which some directors arrive at their position. “Most of the

directors are there because of friendship with the execs, who in turn pressure them into nominating themselves with an inadequate understanding of what it is to be a director.

This is the norm, and therefore blaming the directors themselves does not address the root of the problem,” said Brown, adding: “The root is twofold — the cfs-inspired coercive tactics, and the failure on behalf of the college/faculty societies to nominate people that they feel represent their interests.”

Vere-Marie Khan, another director for St. Michael’s College, agreed that there is a communication problem on the board. Khan echoed Brown’s claim that many people who were asked to run for the board are closely tied to the executive. However, she added that it is unfair to put all the blame on the executive for the problem. “Although you may not be entirely informed of your duties prior to running, it is your own responsibility as a student leader, as well as a functioning adult, to understand that you will be required to sacrifice time and commitment to the job,” said Khan.

Khan explained that she has made every effort to stay involved in the board this year, despite missing six of seven meetings so far.

She explained that she lives outside Toronto in the summer, and experienced scheduling conflicts during the year. She added that the executive is willing to help those with circumstances that affect their ability to carry out their responsibilities.

Sajjad denied that directors are misled about their duties, adding that all board members are made aware of their responsibilities at the utsu’s summer retreat. “If someone wants to allege otherwise, I say they should come to speak to me if they have a problem,” he said.

“Board members are student volunteers.

Some of them may experience barriers to formal participation throughout the year,” said Sajjad, citing personal, academic, and workrelated commitments that can interfere with a director’s attendance. He said that board members who have extenuating circumstances remain active in other ways, such as volunteering for campaigns and holding office hours.

Benjamin Crase, the director for Trinity College, said that his four absences are a result of work and school commitments, as well as a number of concerns he had with Board meetings. He was uncomfortable using student money to go on a retreat for one meeting, and to Wonderland for a social.

Sajjad responded that union retreats are common educational and team-building practice, and that the tickets to Wonderland were complementary. “Regardless, I am not comfortable taking free stuff when I feel it should be given to others,” said Crase. Crase also felt that the meeting minutes for a meeting he missed skimmed over a substantive written statement he submitted regarding online voting hours. Sajjad said that Crase’s poor attendance record and lack of involvement in committees makes it is hypocritical for him to make negative comments.

Other directors who responded to requests for comment are Vanessa Bridge, utsu director for the Faculty of Engineering, and Katrina Lorn, utsu representative for the Faculty of Architecture. Bridge missed five meetings. She said that she had been out of the country, but had informed meeting organizers in advance. She also cited school commitments. Lorn said that she was always careful to proxy her votes to other directors.

Benjamin Coleman, utsu director for Arts and Science At-Large, said that attendance is an imperfect measure of a director’s performance, since many are active in other ways, such as volunteering on committees.

He added that board attendance is likely a result of many candidates running unopposed: “If you’re a student and you look at the attendance record and feel disappointed, then you should run, or help someone run. Better attendance starts with a board that isn’t mostly acclaimed.”

All voting representatives of the Board of Directors are elected during the general spring election. Any unfilled seats are filled during the fall by election.

GOVERNING COUNCIL ATTENDANCE Some current members of the Governing Council, U of T’s highest decision-making body, also have a poor meeting attendance record.

Melinda Rogers and Howard Shearer, government appointees, both missed five of seven meetings in 2012–2013, and two of seven meetings this year. Andrew Girgis, a student governor for full-time undergraduate students, missed three of seven meetings in 2012–2013, and one meeting this year. Girgis, Rogers, and Shearer could not be reached for comment. Rita Tsang, a government appointee, missed three of seven meetings in 2012–2013 and one of seven meetings this year. Tsang explained that unforeseen circumstances resulted in scheduling conflicts, but asserted that she takes her role very seriously. Zabeen Hirji missed three meetings in 2012–2013.

Two of Hirji’s absences were due to work commitments, while one was related to a day of religious observance.

Louis Charpentier, secretary of Governing Council, said that all members are volunteers, and that the role of members often extends beyond meeting attendance, including advisory roles divisionally and centrally. Judy Goldring, Chair of Governing Council, said that governors and other volunteers do “wonderful work,” stressing that U of T is fortunate to have many dedicated volunteers.

LEGEND

With files from Salvatore Bassilone

Attended meeting Skipped meeting Constituency Represented

UTSU BOARD OF DIRECTORS ATTENDANCE

Waiz Akhtar

Nabil Arif

Vanessa Bridge

Cullen Brown

Suyoung Aaron Chin

Ben Crase

UTM

UTM

Eng

SMC

A&S

Trin

Bilal Durrani

Shak Gobert

Alexandra Khalil

Vere-Marie Khan

Katrina Lorn

Maaham Malik

SMC

Vic

KPE

SMC

Arc

UTM

Helen Phan

Tannistha Pramanick

Muhammad Bilal Sandeela

Lynn Scherloski

Alexandra Wasserman

Ming Zang

Pro-Fac

WDW

UTM

Vic

Med

UTM

4

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 16

news@thevarsity.ca

Proposed student residence rejected by City U of T claims it needs at least 2,000 more beds by 2020 to keep up with growing demand Alessandra Harkness VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The Hotel Waverly and Silver Dollar Room will remain as they are for the time being. The Wynn Group had proposed plans to tear down the buildings to build a high-rise for the purpose of a privately run student residence. The Toronto and East York Community Council (teycc) — a City of Toronto community council that makes recommendations and decisions on local planning and development — criticized the proposed building for its size.

The proposed plan was to include a mixed-use student residence building with a fitness centre and a juice bar on the second floor. The Wynn Group also planned to redo the Silver Dollar Room. The building would have had a total floor area of 14,676 square metres, with 1,622 square metres allocated to the nonresidential floor area and 13,054 square metres allocated to the residential areas above. The plans also called for 202 residential units and three levels of underground parking.

The teycc cited a number of concerns with the proposal, including the proposed building height of 70 metres — four times the 16-metre height permitted under relevant zoning laws. This spring, Toronto’s Heritage Preservation Services — a section of the City Planning division that

The Waverly Hotel. nicole regina wong/THe VarsiTy

advises on the conservation of heritage resources — is expected to decide whether the existing buildings should be designated as heritage properties.

According to a report released by the teycc on January 15, “The proposal in its current form is not supportable. The proposal does not promote a harmonious fit with the existing neighbourhood context, and is not consistent with the relevant Official Plan Policies.”

The Wynn Group’s proposal is one of a number of recent student

housing projects intended to address the increased need for housing at U of T. As the university increases its international student enrolment and nearby reasonably priced living spaces are increasingly hard to find, both U of T and private organizations have tried to fill this gap. U of T estimates it will need 2,000 more beds by 2020 to meet the first-year residence guarantee.

In December, a similar proposal went to a hearing at the Ontario Municipal Board (omb). Knight-

stone Capital Management — a private development group — proposed a similar 25-storey building at the corner of College Street and Spadina Avenue. Community groups opposed this proposal, citing concerns such as densification, location, and building size.

The omb is expected to issue a decision soon.

Although the university supports the proposed Knightstone residence, the building would not be formally affiliated with U of T. The Scion Group — a company that runs privately owned

student residences — was asked by Knightstone to run the residence.

There is also a proposal to tear down the Ten Editions Bookstore, the non-operational post office, and the volleyball court at 698 Spadina and 700 Spadina to build a new student residence. The plan, which is in its preliminary stages, was proposed by U of T. George Luste, a resident of the area since 1971 and former physics professor at U of T, expressed concern over the loss of the bookstore. Luste also insists that any proposed residence building must provide some means of keeping the bookstore in operation.

“U of T students could lose a used bookstore of value to them if Ten Editions has to close due to the housing project by the University,” said Luste. “In addition, the neighbouring community would also lose, as would others, because quality used bookstores are disappearing in Toronto.”

The residents of the building and the bookstore’s owner, Susan Duff, have been told very little about the project, except for a brief meeting with the city indicating this proposal was underway. U of T has not contacted any of the affected parties in the area at this point.

Due to the necessity for more student residences, it is unlikely that these three cases will be the only instances of new residence building proposals in the coming years. The Wynn Group plans to appeal the decision to the omb.

Giving the gift of life Tri-campus campaign encourages people to register as organ donors Trevor Koroll

VARSITY STAFF

In Ontario, one person dies every three days waiting for an organ transplant. A campaign at U of T is trying to play a role in changing that.

The U of T Gift of Life campaign, which has been running across all three U of T campuses for the last two weeks, has surpassed its goal of 4,000 registrants and become the largest donor registration drive in the province of Ontario.

Organized in a partnership between the Trillium Gift of Life Network (tgln), U of T, and the U of T Medical Society, the U of T Gift of Life campaign ran from January 13 to January 24. The campaign set out to educate people about the urgent need for organ donations and encourage them to register as donors. As of press time, 4,372 have registered.

The idea for the campaign started last spring, with a letter from the tgln to former U of T president David Naylor. According to Ronnie Gavsie, President and ceo of tgln: “The goal is to educate

people on the value of registering consent to be a donor, and to motivate them to take action,” adding that there are 1,500 people in Ontario on a waitlist to be recipients of organ donations.

The gta is experiencing a particularly acute shortage of registered donors. Province-wide, the registration rate as of May 2, 2013, is 23 per cent of those eligible to donate; in the gta, it is only 14 per cent.

“Larger, more cosmopolitan cities tend to have a smaller rate than smaller communities,” said Gavsie, adding that Northern Ontario has a registration rate of around 50 per cent on average.

The change in donor registration policies adds to the importance of the drive; in 2011, the province moved from the donor card system to a provincial database. Anyone who had signed a donor card is no longer registered under the new system. Anyone can check their status on BeADonor.ca.

“We’ve tried to hit people from as many different angles as possible,” said Kim Blakely, president of the U of T Medical Society and a key organizer in the campaign. On

January 17, the office of the viceprovost, students sent an email to all students encouraging them to support the campaign and register. The campaign also reached out through social media, and put four booths up around the university’s three campuses to draw attention to the drive.

“There are so many misconceptions about organ donation,” said Blakely, explaining that, in her experience throughout the campaign, she saw that many people did not realize how critical the need is. “I wasn’t even fully aware before the campaign was presented to us,” she went on.

Nour Hassoun, a third-year biology specialist, said she also didn’t know anything about organ donation before the campaign started. “We could be saving lives if people knew about it,” she stated, noting the importance of spreading information.

In 2012 there were 1,053 lifesaving organ transplants from 253 donors, a record number for Ontario.

The program has helped save the lives of 9,809 people since 2003.

“For some people, this is the first time it has been brought to their minds,” said Gavsie.

BY THE NUMBERS

8

Number of lives a single organ donor can save.

Every 3 days a person dies while waiting for an organ transplant.

25%

9560

Percentage of adult Ontarians have registered their consent to be an organ and tissue donor.

Number of Ontarians that have received a lifesaving organ transplant since 2003.

1542

1056

Number of people waiting for organ transplants in Ontario.

Number of people waiting for kidney transplants in Ontario.

var.st/news

VARSITY NEWS

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

5

Pan Am Games provide opportunity to deal with OSAP debt Province announces “breaks” in OSAP payments for students who volunteer at 2015 Games Tanya Rogova

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Students will have an opportunity to take a break from their osap payments, thanks to the upcoming Pan Am Games in Toronto.

On January 14, the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities announced a variety of benefits for students receiving loans from osap who volunteer at the 2015 Games.

New graduates who volunteer at the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games will be able to apply for deferred payment of their osap loans until one full year after graduation — six months after the usual period before interest is charged. The province is introducing this initiative in lieu of paying wages to volunteers.

Similarly, students who will begin or continue to attend university after volunteering will be able to waive their pre-study contribution for the subsequent semester. Normally, students who receive loans from osap are required to work for up to 16 weeks before the beginning of their studies. The money they make is then accounted for when determining their financial need. If an individual is enrolled as a full-time student between August 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016, completing a volunteer assignment at the Pan Am games will allow her to waive those earnings from her financial need assessment, theoretically resulting in a bigger loan.

“We want to encourage as many students as possible to participate in the games and volunteer for the games,” said minister Brad Duguid. According to Duguid: “It’s going to be a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience for this generation,” Duguid added, stating that the last time an event of this scope and magnitude was held in Ontario was in the 1930s.

“I feel like I don’t do a lot of extra-curricular activities because I don’t have time to do them. I need to be working to pay

Concept art for Pan-Am facilities. Photo courtesy of PAN AM

back the money I owe. So this is definitely a good opportunity,” Cristina McCoy, a first-year student on osap, who is planning to benefit from this initiative. The province estimates that the Games will require 20,000 volunteers.

The requirements for receiving the “osap break” are demanding and expect students to dedicate a significant amount

of their time to volunteering. Duguid said that students should expect to be working almost full time, contributing 12 shifts out of the possible 18 during the Pan Am Games and six shifts out of eight for the Parapan Am events.

There was no mention of whether or not students who did not qualify for osap would receive any similar benefits for volunteering

their time; however, both summer employment and internship opportunities are also available for anyone who wishes to contribute in another fashion to the event.

The Pan Am and Parapan Am Games will be held in July and August of 2015 in multiple venues across the Greater Toronto Area (gta), including at a number of facilities on U of T’s campuses.

Presidents come, presidents go Vaccarino leaves UTSC for Guelph; Toope and Cameron get U of T leadership positions Salvatore Bassilone

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Important changes have occurred amongst top leadership positions in Canada’s universities.

Three positions have been filled within the last week: on January 21, Franco Vaccarino, current principal of U of T Scarborough and U of T vice-president, was appointed as the eighth president of the University of Guelph; on January 22; outgoing ubc president Stephen Toope was announced as the new director of U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs; and interim Arts & Science dean David Cameron, a political science professor, was appointed dean.

Cameron had been interim dean since May 21, 2013. He is an expert on Canadian federalism, Quebec nationalism, and constitutional issues and has served the university in various administrative positions since 1985.

Cameron has also acted as an advisor to governments in Canada and around the world — including the Government of Sri Lanka during the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

Toope, who will assume his new position January 1, 2015, has been president of ubc since 2006. He is a noted international law scholar, and represented Western Europe and North America in the un Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

David Cameron. MediA Photo

Franco Vaccarino. MediA Photo

Stephen Toope. MediA Photo

from 2002 to 2007. He also served as dean of McGill University’s Faculty of Law from 1994 to 1999.

“We are delighted to have a scholar and academic leader of Professor Toope’s stature taking over as director at the Munk School,” said U of T president Meric Gertler, who served as dean of Arts & Science before assuming his current office.

“The Munk School has built a reputation around the world for its thoughtful and insightful examination of international issues,” said Toope. “I look forward to joining its outstanding researchers and students in working to understand and tackle global problems.”

Vaccarino was chosen as the University of Guelph’s president after an international search. He takes the lead of a university of some 20,000 students, and will begin his new role on August 15, 2014.

“He has an entrepreneurial spirit, a powerful sense of community, and a profound commitment to societal engagement. He clearly has what it takes to lead the University in the years to come,” said Dick Freeborough, chair of Guelph’s’s Presidential Selection Committee.

“I’m feeling very energized,” Vaccarino said. “These things are journeys. You go through your own professional and person-

al journey, and as you evolve, opportunities present themselves.”

Vaccarino earned his Bachelor of Science at U of T, and has worked at the university since 1984. In 2007 he was named utsc principal, and the campus has grown in both size and reputation under his leadership. An extensively published researcher, he has received awards from leading Canadian scientific and research organizations, such as the Medical Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

With files from the Guelph Mercury.

6

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 16

news@thevarsity.ca

unConference tackles flaws in the culture of democracy on campus Reforming U of T’s voting systems considered a top priority Claudia Dessanti

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Voting systems, political participation, and measures of democracy were on the agenda at the first Campus Democracy unConference on Friday. The event was hosted by Hart House, in collaboration with Unlock Democracy Canada, an organization focused on democratic reform and proportional government in Canada.

Participants at the event, which brought together people from various backgrounds with an interest in improving the culture of democracy on campus, were invited to set the agenda based on relevant issues they thought were most important. Smaller groups were then formed to discuss each topic and propose solutions.

Participants voiced concerns about most students’ apathy towards the university’s elected bodies, which decide everything from event themes to how tuition is spent. These bodies include student unions, associations, and councils.

The event was organized by Dave Meslin, a Toronto-based artist and civic reformer. Meslin has helped found a number of community organizations in the past, including the Toronto Public Space Committee — a now-defunct group that worked

CONTINUED FROM COVER cesses become based on wealth instead of merit, or “the ability to pay.” “It becomes a question of parental financial wealth, or personal financial wealth,” said Langille, going on to say that such a system creates a glass ceiling that shuts out students who are unable to afford such an experience.

Lee and the Intern Board at the who recognized the situation and tried to work to address it. Beginning in early July, the board organized a number of events to raise money for a scholarship for students in the developing world.

It raised $2,000, and was granted $1,000 by the who’s general director. It also got a meal discount for existing interns. Lee was particularly concerned about the lack of student representatives from the developing world. “Almost all of the students participating in the internship were from North America, and I think that’s really sad,” he said. He also claimed that he had received the impression that some of his superiors at the who did not think that a student from the developing world would be adequately prepared to handle working at the who.

Kaleem Hawa, a third-year U of T student who worked alongside Lee to create the scholarship, agrees.

“We did a survey when I was heading up the intern association over the summer, and found that less than 3 out of the 363 interns at the organization were from the developing world — a very interesting fact for such an international orga-

Students gather to discuss campus politics. Clare sCott/tHe Varsity

to promote urban inclusivity and diversity in Toronto.

“Unless you think the campus is perfect as it is, you have no reason not to get involved,” Meslin said.

“You can only gain.”

Reforming voting systems on campus was highlighted as a main concern. Most elected bodies at U of T use a system called First-Past-thePost (fptp). Under this system, the nization. I have no doubts that the incredible cost of living in the city had something to do with that.”

When asked if the $3,000 raised was enough to subsidize living in Geneva for the duration of the internship Hawa responded: “Definitely not.”

The U of T Career Centre does not specifically advertise unpaid internships, although its website allows students to search for internships, which list both paid and unpaid options. The political science department website advertises 93 internships. Of these, 23 are listed as unpaid, and 14 of those further require the student to pay for flight and accommodation.

One student, speaking on condition of anonymity, worked as an unpaid intern for the Government of Canada last summer. “I was, for example, able to secure a paid private sector position for the upcoming summer on the basis of my unpaid experience,” he said. “In searching for this paid position and considering others, it was clear that it would be difficult for me to credibly apply for any of them without the benefit of last year’s unpaid experience.”

Langille has been championing the struggle against unpaid internships for three years now; the subject has been raised in provincial parliament.

In some cases, Langille provided successful litigation against certain illegal internships. He says he feels that the university has a role to play when it comes to unpaid internships, and states: “I think they’re doing a very bad job at it.” Langille recalls doing his undergraduate degree at York University in 2000, and not hearing about any of his friends participating

candidate with the most votes wins.

In a situation with two opposing platforms, but more than two candidates, fptp makes it possible for a candidate whose platform is supported by less than 30 per cent of the vote to be elected. This happens when the opposing platform is split among several candidates.

Meslin claims this system is unrepresentative of voters. It leads to

strategic voting and pushes certain voices out of the decision-making process. He attributes this problem to lack of awareness. If students had more information, Meslin believes, there would be a stronger movement for reform. fptp is also used at the provincial and federal levels of Canadian government. Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom currently

use a fptp electoral system. Unlock Democracy Canada is one of many organizations that seek to change this. They hope that starting a conversation on campuses will build a generation that will challenge government to be more democratic.

Zack Medow, vice-president, external for the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council and volunteer for the organization, said this level of civic engagement is missing. “Although we are living in a democratic society — at least normatively — we don’t have a culture of democracy in Canada and I think we don’t have one at U of T,” he said.

Both Meslin and Medow recognize that the university’s elected bodies may not have an incentive to reform. “There is no power structure that wants to change,” said Medow.

Part of the problem is that there is no comprehensive database that shows which voting systems are used on campuses across Canada. Meslin has started a list of university bodies that use proportional representation on Unlock Democracy’s website. He hopes to use it as both an information and accountability tool.

Meslin remains optimistic that democracy at U of T will improve.

Last year, both the Graduate Students’ Union and the Engineering Society passed motions to adopt proportional representation.

ann sHen/tHe Varsity

in unpaid internships. Now he sees it as the new entry-level job, estimating that there are 100,000–300,000 illegal unpaid internships occurring in Canada alone every year. “It’s only

happening to people in a certain age group. You’re essentially getting taxed for being young.”

Despite his misgivings about how the internship was financially inac-

cessible, Lee still describes his time with the who in a positive light. “It was a really amazing experience, absolutely worth forking over the money for.”

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

7

Sound Off: youth speak out about mental health Talk at Hart House promotes discussion among youth Marcus Tutert

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The conversation about mental health at U of T continued at Hart House last Wednesday, January 22 as the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario (sso) hosted a talk about its new initiative, “Sound Off.” Sound Off was founded three years ago by third-year U of T student Mona Abadi, in an effort to reach out to youth across Ontario and create an open dialogue about mental health issues.

The iniative aims to give youth an opportunity to share their stories with one another and have their voices heard in a public setting.

Following an introduction by former stomp performer Troy Sexton, the presentation became a panel discussion involving various speakers, each of whom had experience dealing with mental health issues. Other speakers on the panel included Trevian Britton from the Toronto Youth cabinet; Ron Mustafaa, a Canadian actor who appeared on the television show Skins; Ayesha Jabbar and Alicia Raimundo who are both members of the sso Youth Advisory council.

Speakers were asked about the accessibility of mental health services, and the existing barriers surrounding mental health in the public

sphere. Britton said that youth have to realize they are capable of overcoming these barriers by speaking out.

Another issue raised at the talk was the perception of mental health in the media and in pop culture. Mustafaa explained that the media often depicts people with mental health issues as violent in an over sensationalized manner, and that violence and mental health are not in fact correlated.

The presentation finished off with a pair of spoken word artists, Lishai Peel and Greg Frankson, and a performance by the rhsa Dance Company, concerning the struggles of mental health.

After the event, Abadi explained that this program was extremely important for kickstarting the discussion on mental health among youth. “We want to know what youth think is working and not working to support their mental health and what services they think they need. As a student who has been under a lot of pressure, I know how important it is to receive support from your university.

In finding out what it is that youth need, we want to advocate for those supports to be put in place so that every student can have the best opportunity to be healthy and achieve their goals.”

Speaker discusses mental health. denis osipov/THe vArsiTy

NEWS IN BRIEF Provincial government criticized for extending tuition grant to private colleges The Ontario government has come under fire after announcing last Monday that it is extending the 30-per cent-off tuition grant to students attending private career colleges.

In a statement echoed by a number of public post-secondary institutions, the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs-o) criticized the government for promoting and funding private institutions instead of prioritizing public post-secondary education.

Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Brad Duguid was quick to defend the action, explaining that the money “does not go to private career colleges,” but directly to students who qualify for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (osap). According to Duguid, the objective is to help low- and middle-income students afford tuition, regardless of whether they chose a public or private education path.

Around 60,000 students are registered at private colleges. Studies show that students at such colleges are more likely to default their student loans. Duguid claimed the move was part of a number of recent efforts by the ministry to help make privates colleges more accountable.

— Victoria Wicks With files from the Toronto Star

$195,000 Ryerson University paint job washed away A paint job on Gould Street — the car-free road that runs through Ryerson University’s downtown campus — has been washed away by winter weather. The paint work was completed last September at a cost of $195,000.

In a blog post released on January 6, Ryerson vice-president of administration and finance Julia Hanigsberg apologized to the Ryerson community for the quality of the paint work.

“I am extremely sorry,” Hanigsberg said. “My Campus Facilities & Sustainability team is doing everything it can to make things right.”

Ryerson students have spoken out against the paint work. “That is not worth the money that we are paying for tuition,” said Sarah Taguiam, a second-year student. “People don’t even look at it.”

Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy said the university has only paid part of the bill, and will not pay the rest until a solution is found. He also assured students that the paint work will be fixed before the upcoming fall semester.

— James Flynn With files from the Toronto Star

International students could fill university spots left empty by declining domestic demographic trends There may soon be an increase in the number of prospective international students entering into Canadian universities. According to the latest press release, the Harper government plans to spend $5 millon annually to attract international students.

This announcement comes at a time when the latest preliminary Undergraduate University Application statistics taken by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre show a significant decline in the number of high school students who have applied to university for 2014. The statistics show that there were 92, 554 university applicants in 2013, but only 89, 272 applicants this year.

The Council of Ontario Universities says that the slump in numbers may be due to a change in age demographics. The number of 18 year olds is declining in every province. In Ontario, Statistics Canada projects a decrease in the number of 18 year olds of 8.2 per cent from 2010 to 2020. In other provinces, that number is much higher, reaching 19.4 per cent in Nova Scotia, and 23.8 per cent in pei.

— Nordene Lyon-Stacey With files from Maclean’s

McMaster group suspended for songs about rape The McMaster Redsuits have been suspended for publishing “sexist, violent, and degrading material.”

The material in question was a songbook compiled by members of the McMaster student group. The book includes chants and cheers that reference violent rape, incest, bestiality, and sex with underage girls, as well as misogynistic and homophobic slurs.

According to provost and vice-president (academic) David Wilkinson, members of the group will no longer be allowed to run or participate in any events on campus, effective immediately. The Redsuits comprise student volunteers from the McMaster Engineering society (mes) who promote spirit on campus during orientation and similar events.

This incident is similar to one that sparked national controversy in early December, when an online video was posted showing students at St. Mary’s University chanting about raping underage girls.

The mes has condemned the songbook, and has stated that such attitudes will not be tolerated within the society.

— Theodore Yan With files from CBC News

COMMENT VAR.ST/COMMENT

27

JANUARY

2014

comment@thevarsity.ca

U of T should address the use of study drugs The immense pressure on students to succeed is leading them to develop unhealthy work habits Nabeela Latif

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In their recent article in The Varsity, Liza Agrba and Salvatore Basilone raised the curtain on the increasing use of study drugs among students at the University of Toronto. The pressures of balancing academic success with a social life, combined with the possibility of a part-time or fulltime job, have apparently driven some U of T students to resort to the use of study drugs.

Students are using drugs such as Adderall — which is typically prescribed to treat the symptoms of adhd — and recreational drugs such as marijuana to help focus before exams, manage their time, or to calm their nerves and combat anxiety. As more stories circulate around the use of these alleged performance enhancers, one cannot help but wonder what all the fuss is about.

While students may find the drugs helpful in the short-term — studying for an exam, or perhaps pulling an all-nighter to finish an assignment, their effects on work habits in the long-term are decidedly negative. The problem with

the drugs’ short-term effectiveness is that university is meant to prepare students for the real world and for the job market. Our paychecks and future promotions depend on how well we perform in these jobs. However, we will not be prepared to take on those tasks at that point in our lives, when the demands on our time are even greater, if we do not develop good habits now.

If we take study drugs to help us get through our time management issues on an exam today, how will we be able to manage our time for bigger projects later on in life when we can be fired for using drugs? You cannot simply expect to keep a pill bottle in your briefcase or in a drawer at work to keep you going. I think it is understood that unhealthy study habits in young adulthood present a significant risk to students looking to make the transition to professional employment.

Perhaps the use of these drugs says something about the immense pressure put on students at U of T, and in the educational system in general. It is not surprising that some have become dependent on the drugs for academic success when the culture of the institution demands high achievement.

Maybe it is the fact that unlike our parents’ generation, there is even more of a sense of competition in university today. Hopefully, U of T and other post-secondary institutions in Canada will see the results of this pressure, and ultimately take steps to decrease the pressure on students — especially given that students are willing to experiment with drugs to give themselves a leg up.

One possible solution that might help to alleviate stress on students is for the university administration to reconsider the way assignments are weighted, as well as an awareness of the competing pulls on students from all of their classes. By doing more to ensure that students' schedules are more balanced, U of T can help develop a healthier study culture overall.

Whatever is causing students to resort to the use of study drugs, it is crucial that we not only consider the potential health risks of taking unprescribed medications or drugs, but also the effects that dependency has on our future work habits.

Nabeela Latif is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying political science and ethics, society, and law.

CLAUDiA CHeN/THe VARsiTy

STUDENT VOICES

A portrait of the student as a young man Existential questions in undergrad are an opportunity for growth Omar Bitar

VARSITY STAFF

ALLAN TURTON/THe VARsiTy

In a landmark lecture delivered in post-war Paris, the prominent French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre proclaimed: “In life, man commits himself and draws his own portrait, outside of which there is nothing.” While I am not going to discuss the details of French existentialism, I could not help but select this particular line to characterize the theme of the undergraduate existential crisis.

As an undergraduate student, I find that there is a peculiar emotional state associated with being at a university like ours — a lingering yet uncanny feeling hovering in our collective consciousness. As we go about our daily lives on campus — attempting to register the overwhelming number of faces we come across, and walking in the shadows of the alumni that have come before us over the last two centuries — there is a seemingly inevitable feeling of deindividualization: “Am I just another number?" “What is the purpose of all of this?”

Let’s look at some recent statistics: Student enrollment figures provided by the University of Toronto report that during the fall of 2013, 55,345 undergraduates were enrolled in courses across all three campuses.

Upon reading such a startling figure, one has to ask: "How can I stand out?"

There is a fundamental need for recognition, a struggle for individual identity, at U of T. The very benefits of the existential crisis I speak of lie therein. More often than not, such a crisis is perceived to be a negative, bleak, or even hopeless period in one’s life. I see it as a driver of achievement, a sort of epiphany, a call to create change.

One may dismiss the claim for its overt optimism, but it is only in such unscathed optimism that one creates substantive change. Our constant search for meaning, anchorage, and purpose within the larger U of T community can empower us to compete, challenge ourselves, and meticulously carve out our paths. Having said that, I wish to transform the conventional schema surrounding an existential crisis in this particular context.

Essentially, inquiry paves the way for the quest for meaning. Finding out where one’s passion lies could be one of the most challenging feats, especially given the plethora of programs, majors, minors, and specialists spanning the academic spectrum in its entirety. Hence the often-echoed phrase: “What am I doing with my life?”

Ironically, I think this is not only a crucial question everyone should dare to ask, but also one of the first

attempts at seeking one’s true potential in our academic milieu. Decision-making begins in introspection. Though I do not categorize myself as an existentialist, I find Sartre’s philosophy of choice quite motivational in its endless struggle for meaning through action, change, and choice. Largely, we — as students of a large university — should not let desperation seep in during such a crisis, but rather embrace it as a reflective process.

If we begin perceiving the existential crisis through an optimistic lens, we suddenly find ourselves discovering new interests, confirming current ideas, or even reconsidering a course or career path. In today’s world, crises of self seem to be on the rise, and there is no doubt that it is also prevalent in our student community. Ultimately, a paradigm shift in the way such deeply personal periods are perceived and dealt with by the public will impact their outcomes on individuals. After all, we all need to reflect on our portraits every once in a while.

Omar Bitar is a fourth-year student at University College studying neuroscience, sociology, and biology.

TeLL yOUR sTORy Submit to Student Voices, email comment@thevarsity.ca

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VARSITY COMMENT

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

9

Business as usual at the Student Societies Summit Societies seeking fee diversion should adjust their tactics, as meetings seem fruitless Jeffrey Schulman

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Most people in this city are familiar with the recent stories surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. However, fewer are aware of the governance nightmare currently taking place at U of T’s St. George campus. At the Student Societies Summit, members of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) have engaged in a campaign to halt the progress of discussions with the Trinity College Meeting (tcm), Victoria University Students Administrative Council (vusac), and the Engineering Society (EngSoc), which are all pursuing fee diversion.

It would almost seen that the utsu does not understand the situation. Bodies within the university have been troubled by the utsu’s conduct for about a decade, ever since it federated with the Canadian Federation of Students (cfs) in 2002. The utsu, whose executive has been filled by candidates backed by the cfs since federation, has been resistant to working with dissenting bodies. With no way to address their grievances, the tcm, vusac, and EngSoc were left with no choice but to leave the union. These bodies duly held referenda, two of which passed.

Simply put, the utsu is holding large communities hostage against their will. The response to these bodies’ requests to be released has been subject to dialogue.

The current summit seems like a waste of time. While talks are ongoing, the status quo is preserved wherein the union still collects fees from dissenting students.

How a dialogue between opponents with no binding authority can result in change, I do not know. Why would the utsu agree to anything now that talks are formalized when they have refused to agree to anything through years of dissent?

The approach taken by the utsu’s opponents in the summit up to this point have been terribly ineffective. They hope that by making the utsu look bad in front of

The Student Societies Summit holds its meetings in the Govening Council Chamber at Simcoe Hall. JULIA MALOWAY/THe VArsITY

the faculty facilitators at the summit they will induce these professors to recommend that the administration take action. This approach will undoubtedly fail because it allows the union to drag out the process while maintaining the status quo. U of T’s administration is the only body on campus with the power to compel the utsu to act, and they have failed to take the necessary steps thus far.

Instead of putting all of their eggs in one basket, those petitioning the utsu for fee diversion must adjust their tactics and ap-

ply more pressure. The situation must develop to the point where the university’s Governing Council decides it has no choice but to act. The dissenting voices must abandon tight-fisted budgets and invest in legal action. They must offer candidates to compete with the cfs party in the upcoming utsu elections and every election thereafter. They must organize mass protests in front of the utsu building. They must boycott utsu services and petition higher levels of authority. Only then will the Governing Council be forced to act.

When the Governing Council does act, it must not merely approve the diversion of fees but endeavour to restructure the union entirely. An executive board with positions elected by individual colleges and faculties to preserve their sovereignty must be struck.

The administration will have to oversee union elections and manage their funding to protect students. Only then will U of T get the student government it deserves.

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

Keeping them honest Reevaluating historical legacies for a more inclusive national narrative Yves Guillaume A. Messy VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A few weeks ago, the Friends of John A. Macdonald, Toronto held a dinner celebrating our first prime minister’s 200-year-old legacy. Some of Canada’s best known household names were invited to Hart House, partaking in what turned out to be a loving roast of the illustrious Canadian’s record. The content of the dinner’s discussion notwithstanding, the fallout from the event and its imagery quickly attracted the Twittersphere’s anger and disapproval, as two American dressed as First Nations' people costumed for the party.

Political commentator Steve Paikin’s self-styled “teachable moment” highlights the seemingly irreconcilable gap between counter-histories of Canada and those who have sufficient legitimacy to alter the official record. The Friends of John A. Macdonald’s brave efforts to make Canada’s first prime minister’s legacy an integral part of Canadian society are to be encouraged at all times, even if braver ef-

forts to inclusively reimagine, share, and reassess his admittedly checkered record are needed.

The dinner was altogether jovial, if controversial, as the Toronto Star’s John Honderich played the role of George Brown (Macdonald’s rival contender) while debating Richard Gwyn, who played the role of the famed prime minister for the night.

Honderich was quick to point out that, unlike Macdonald, George Brown ran on a platform that encouraged the abolishment of slavery and the extension of the vote to women. The dinner guests shifted uncomfortably at the testy exchange. Gwyn countered with the fact that this was a mere myth, pointing out deeper reasons why he might have been seen to hold such controversial views by today’s standards.

The conversation transitioned into a q&a after that point, during which famed guests got a chance to ask questions to the deceased John A. Macdonald. Member of Parliament Olivia Chow quickly took the occasion to ask a question about how the prime minister felt, in retrospect, about the poor treatment of Chinese migrants,

many of whom were turned away at the border or charged expensive head taxes as a sign of racial discrimination. The issue of Macdonald’s fondness for drink was also addressed with much hilarity, though, with a full understanding that by today’s standards he would face many difficulties reaching similar political heights.

Another uncomfortable moment occured because, as part of the dinner invitation, guests were encouraged to dress in historical attire that reflected the period of Macdonald’s premiership. Many notable names in Toronto’s establishment were present, including John Honderich, Treasury Board President Tony Clement mp, Lieutenant Governor David Onley, St. Paul’s mp Carolyn Bennett, Bob Rae, hedge fund manager Scott Burk, and Mark Warner. While all tried their best to don the appropriate attire, there was a general understanding that the dinner’s goal was to breathe some life into contemporary discussions of Macdonald’s legacy. That costumes were only peripheral. The inexact costume, fashioned together by amateurish but historically minded Ameri-

can guests should not detract from the Toronto Friends of John A. Macdonald’s main effort.

The feedback from the dinner on Twitter highlights a few truths: Canadian history is still the dominion of niche groups with even smaller-knit social relations that often fail to be inclusive of minorities.

Canadian minorities are still reduced to a faint awareness of their country’s history, content only in scanning for any trace of cultural appropriation, sexism, or racism in the government-authorized curriculum.

This gap, in its obvious divide, holds the key to greater cultural integration of both immigrant groups and secluded AngloSaxon enclaves. Indeed, what we need are more efforts to make visible minorities aware that Canadian history’s legacy is not the absolute preserve of seventh generation settlers of Scottish descent. It’s every bit as much theirs to take part in.

Yves Guillaume A. Messy is in his final year, specialising in political science.

He is a political commentator on CT V National News.

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EDITORIAL

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Paying fair

27

JANUARY

2014

comment@thevarsity.ca

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR Vol. CXXXIV, No. 15 | January 20, 2014

NANCY JI/THE VARSITY

The University of Toronto estimates that it will receive approximately $665 million in direct provincial funding this financial year, which constitutes 34 per cent of its $1.9 billion operating budget. After tuition fees, this is the university’s largest source of funding. The question of provincial funding lies at the bottom of almost any debate you can have about the university.

While the total amount of money that the province spends on post-secondary education is important, the funding formula, or the method by which the government decides how much money each institution is allotted, profoundly affects the post-secondary education (pse) system. As the government struggles to balance the provincial budget, it is difficult to imagine that Ontario will have more money to spend on universities in the near future. Pushing the government to make accessible and well-funded post-secondary education a priority is certainly important, but convincing it to distribute its current funding more effectively is a more practical goal.

The government already uses financial incentives to pressure universities. The vast majority of provincial funding is currently distributed according to enrollment: the more students you have, the more money you get.

The advantages of this system are its simplicity, and that it encourages universities to educate more students.

However, closer investigation reveals a perverse incentive, a situation where the formula encourages undesirable behaviour. In order to secure more funding from the province, the university is encouraged to admit more students, but has little funding incentive to support its students, or to ensure they succeed.

Systemically, our universities have an incentive to admit students, but no incentive to give them value for their money.

The impact of the funding model on U of T is obvious from the way that the university has grown over the past few decades. U of T has increased its undergraduate enrollment far beyond the level of its global competitors in order to secure public funding to support its world-class research. A vast increase in undergraduate enrollment allows more people access to the university, but this is not necessarily a good thing. Many students who go to U of T are running up thousands of dollars of debt to earn a degree that is no longer a guaranteed path towards employment. Systemically, our universities have an incentive to admit students, but no incentive to give them value for their money.

Reassuringly, an arms-length government advisory organization, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, has produced two reports recommending that Ontario explore a differentiated funding model. This would see universities identify areas of specialty — which, for U of T, would almost certainly be research — and have part of their funding assessed based on their success in those areas.

This is encouraging, but the government should also consider a model that was recently implemented in Tennessee’s public pse system, outcome-based funding. In this system, the government or institution establishes certain criteria for success, and funding is assessed according to performance in those areas.

Criteria can include a variety of factors, such as graduation rates, graduate success in employment or further education, and student satisfaction.

Paying universities for being successful is not only a common-sense solution, but is inherently more nuanced than enrollment-based funding, allowing the government to designate more than one metric for assessing funding levels.

This also means that outcome-based funding is easily compatible with differentiation, given that different universities can be assessed using different criteria, depending on their institutional purposes.

Using multiple criteria also allows the government to avoid the most obvious perverse incentives of funding based only on graduation rates. Funding based solely on graduation rates would encourage universities to exclusively admit students who are already very likely to succeed, and to devalue the degrees they offer to make it easier to graduate. It’s essential that outcomes be measured in a more nuanced way, and that steps are taken to encourage universities to admit less privileged applicants.

It is not easy to measure many of these criteria, and the devil will be in the details of whatever new formula the province develops. However, positive changes to the immense financial incentives that the government sets for universities will go a long way towards fixing what is broken in our post-secondary education system.

The fundamental strength of a properly set up outcome-based system is that it encourages universities to admit only as many students as will truly benefit from the education they offer. This is not the case under our current enrollment-based system, where universities benefit from admitting as many students as they can possibly accommodate, even if many students are not successful or do not benefit in the long term from the time and money they spend here.

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

Re: U of T’s building plans On January 13, 2013 The Varsity published a comment piece highlighting the fact that St. George campus is undergoing significant construction and renovation.

The article focused on the back campus project and The Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, and suggested that these projects would serve little to no benefit for the students of U of T. Unfortunately, the perspective adopted ignored the importance of healthy living and its inextricable link to student success. The new, multi-purpose complex and the back campus project will increase the options available for U of T students to find positive and physical outlets for the stress of their daily lives.

As it stands, on any given day students wishing to use facilities in the Athletic Centre and at Hart House wait in long lines to gain access to the gym, never mind use specific equipment and machines. Intramural teams have limited time to practice due to overwhelming demand, and various clubs like the U of T dance team, are forced to rehearse in hallways because there is simply not enough space to meet the needs of all of our student groups. The current situation is unacceptable for an institution like the University of Toronto and its 83,000 students.

Embarking on a post-secondary education is about more than just a degree, and the university experience is not confined to the walls that make up a dorm or a classroom.

During the four years most will spend here at U of T, students will take on new challenges, foster friendships, and establish life goals and priorities. For many, athletics and recreational programming will play a significant role in their personal growth.

Once complete, The Goldring Centre will be used for a wide breadth of activities, including: beginner-friendly recreational fitness and activities, community outreach programs, Varsity Blues, and intramural sport training and competition. In an era when the health of Canadians is suffering because of inactivity, this facility will provide valuable opportunities to reverse this trend at U of T and beyond. While it’s true that dust and street closures can be annoying, the long term benefit of this additional facility to the overall student experience will certainly be more than worth it.

— Leah West Sherriff Re: Province’s $42 million online initiative draws skepticism As the executive director of the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (oncat), I felt it necessary to clarify the information that was printed in the article “Province’s $42 million online initiative draws skepticism.”

The authors of the article seem to have conflated two government initiatives, one being the $42 million Centre for Excellence for Online Learning (Ontario Online) and the other being oncat’s Course-to-Course Transfer Guide found at ontransfer.ca.

To be clear, the oncat initiative is not the same as Ontario Online. oncat’s Course-to-Course Transfer Guide, found on ontransfer.ca, was announced Thursday, January 16, by the Honourable Brad Duguid, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. In a first for Ontario, the Transfer Guide, which officially launched on Monday, January 20, allows students to enter their current transcript information, such as course codes or course

titles, and determine how their credits will be recognized at other institutions prior to applying. The Transfer Guide can be used for courses taken both in-class or online.

The Transfer Guide was developed with oncat’s members (Ontario’s 44 publicly funded post-secondary institutions) as a means to simplify and enhance the province’s current credit transfer system.

At present, 35 institutions are participating in the two-phase launch.

As the article mentioned, an effective credit transfer system does indeed save students both time and money. Students who transfer among Ontario's 44 publicly funded colleges and universities save an average of $11,000 in tuition, plus more than a year of full-time study (student majoring in business).

We are pleased with the extremely positive response to the Course-to-Course Transfer Guide and look forward to future developments that will help Ontario’s postsecondary students.

— Glenn Craney, executive director, Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer Re: International students need not apply The article states that any changes to the Governing Council structure will require provincial support, i.e. the province would have to re-open the U of T Act. Fishman rightly points out that the administration may be nervous about opening the Act since there is no control over any subsequent amendments. But legislative amendment is not the only way for the Act to change. A court challenge could be far simpler and more effective.

There have been many significant changes since the establishment of the U of T Act in 1978, most significantly the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. Section 15 of the Charter guarantees that every individual is equal before and under the law and entitled to equal benefit and protection of the law. While not specifically enumerating citizenship as a prohibited ground of discrimination, the Supreme Court of Canada did find such discrimination to be unconstitutional (Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR 143). So, on its face, the U of T Act does appear to violate the Charter's equality provisions.

There is a further consideration which the courts consider prior to declaring a statutory stipulation to be unconstitutional having to do with the violation being "reasonable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society". I would argue that this violation of non-citizens' rights to serve on Governing Council is no longer reasonably justifiable (if it ever was). As noted in the article, International students now comprise a large and growing proportion of the U of T community.

Further, the City of Toronto now permits non-citizens to serve on several of its Boards and Commissions. Like U of T, our city is a creation of provincial statute; if non-citizens can serve on municipal governance bodies, why can they not do so on educational governance bodies?

It is to be hoped that an international student will undertake such a court challenge asking to stand for election to Governing Council. It is to be hoped that future members of Governing Council will offer submissions of support should such a court challenge be undertaken.

—Susan Froom

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

INSIDE THE STUDENT REFUGEE PROGRAM students to pursue An in-depth look at the levy-funded program that allows refugee their undergraduate degrees in Canada

by Samantha Relich

Students from the countries highlighted in orange have participated in the Student Refugee Program

I

n early September, as the academic year settles in at the University of Toronto’s three campuses, a handful of students arrive at Pearson Airport, anxiously awaiting the start of their university careers.

These students are refugees, sponsored through the collaborative efforts of the University of Toronto and the World University Service of Canada (wusc). Since 1978, wusc has helped 1,300 students from 35 countries across five continents attain their goal of higher education.

Through wusc’s Student Refugee Program (spr), students are given the opportunity to immigrate to Canada and attend one of 61 participating colleges and universities.

The University of Toronto sponsors the most students each year of universities in Canada. The University of British Columbia is the only

other institution which also sponsors more than one student. wusc local committees at U of T are run from University College, Victoria College, Trinity College, Innis College, New College, U of T Mississauga, and U of T Scarborough — each of which individually hosts a student.

In spite of its broad impact, wusc is a little-known entity on campus.

Many students are unaware of the role they play in supporting student refugees through the spr. The spr is made possible through the wusc levy, a fund that each student at the university contributes to. The fee itself is nominal, but its reverberations for the refugee students are quite significant. The fees allow them to leave their countries of asylum and enter Canada as permanent residents in order to pursue an undergraduate degree, with assistance provided by the levy.

THE JOURNEY TO CANADA The wusc students’ journeys begin long before they set foot on Canadian soil. wusc only admits 70 to 75 candidates per year, and admission to the srp is based on a lengthy and complex process. Students must achieve exceptional academic standing in high school, successfully complete an English proficiency test, and interview process.

Upon acceptance, students journey from their homes to a participating refugee camp, where they begin a year-long orientation process.

“I was exempted from the orientation for security reasons,” says Chris Dominic, a second-year srp student.

Dominic explains that, while she spent her childhood in Kenya, her family originates from Sri Lanka, where she “didn’t blend in.”

She adds that this put her at risk of physical and sexual violence.

For Iris, a first-year srp student originally from Rwanda, participating in the orientation meant leaving her home and family for a 24-hour long bus ride to the nearest camp.

The orientation aims to build students’ skills and prepare them for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (toefl) exam — which, along with an extensive research paper, plays a significant role in determining their sponsorship. Teachers also help students build skill sets essential for success at a Canadian post-secondary institution, including research methods and computer skills.

Dennis, a second-year srp student, mentioned that many of the students also work in organizations at the refugee camp. Dennis and his family fled Rwanda when he was two years old to escape genocide, and eventually received asylum in Kenya. During his time at the refugee camp, he taught mathematics and biology to high school students.

Students also receive an introductory course about life in Canada. “Most of the things I was told were strange to me…terms like ‘doubledouble,’ ‘apartment,’ and ‘sublet,’” says Adam*, adding that the amount of information was often overwhelming.

The orientation year is accompanied by a sense of uncertainty. Students have no idea whether they will be accepted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada for permanent residence, or at which post-secondary institution they will be placed.

Christine Farquharson, the co-chair of the Victoria College wusc committee, expressed that those involved with the program at the university often face much uncertainty ahead of the new academic year as well.

“Sometimes, you’ll know who your student is before everything has been confirmed with immigration, so you don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but you also want to give them a sense of what they’re flying off to,” she explains.

When the decision is finalized, a welcome package is provided to successful applicants, sometimes only days before the students must leave for Canada.

The good news is always surprising, says Iris: “No one is ever ready… I had to rush home [from the camp] for last minute shopping and goodbyes.”

SUPPORT SYSTEMS The srp could not function without the dedicated students and administration who manage each local committee and secure the authorization for sponsorship.

“It’s a moral and legal responsibility,” explains Caitriona Brennan, the coordinator for International Student Life at Victoria College.

By agreeing to sponsor a student, the local committees, like any immigration sponsor, take on a legal responsibility to provide a place of residence and financial support for the student. Planning starts well before the student’s arrival. Sarah, Trinity College’s student refugee coordinator, explains that preparations entail, “….filling out various forms, shopping for all the basic necessities,” and the task of setting up the student’s room.

After several months, the students arrive at Pearson in early September.

Brenna told the story of the arrival of the first wusc student she mentored five years ago; “I had just started this job, and

had no idea what wusc was coming into it. I was told I had to pick the student up from the airport, and on the way there I was worrying myself sick about how to greet them — whether to hug, or shake hands — and then people started coming out, and suddenly this very tall man was standing in front of me and he gave me this huge hug. It’s an incredibly special moment.”

The committee directors and members are protective of their students. Their goal is to ensure the transition to Canadian life goes as smoothly as possible, which includes allowing the student to integrate into the campus without an affiliation to the wusc organization.

“They’ve been through a lot, depending on where they’re from and their background, and it’s a fine line we walk between giving them privacy and letting them lead an independent new life, and becoming involved in their backstories,” says Molly McGillis, the co-director of the uc committee.

This concern for the privacy and integration of refugee students is a central reason why wusc is a relatively unknown entity on campus. Zoe Edwards, uc’s other codirector, also attributes the anonymity to instructions from wusc to not sensationalize the students.

“The way that we see it is that our mandate is to sponsor this student, and to mentor this student. Raising awareness and advocacy is secondary to that core purpose,” adds Farquharson.

The mentors are deeply invested in the safety and comfort of their students and express overall satisfaction with wusc as an overarching organization.

“I love the program,” says Melissa Theodore, vice-president external at the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union, adding: “I feel like we could be doing so much more than bringing in one student each year.”

Farquharson explains: “It’s more than a club. You become the student’s support system, and we have to be sure that that support system will be there when the students need it.”

BUILDING FOUNDATIONS IN FIRST-YEAR The first weeks after a refugee student’s arrival are hectic, as they and their mentors scramble to secure ohip health coverage, finalize course enrolment, purchase a sin card and cell phone, and get oriented through campus tours.

At the beginning of the year, the director’s role is a full-time job. McGillis explains: “We are there constantly during the first weeks as mentors. We walk them through budgeting, and set them up with a job at the registrar’s office for first-year. Once school starts, we keep in touch regularly. If they need winter clothes, or have to go to the doctor, we’re there.”

Building foundations for the student’s upcoming years in the city is the main goal of the first year of the srp at U of T. Tuition, residence fees, and meal plan costs are all waived by the registrar’s office for this year, or are paid for through the wusc levy, depending on the local committee. This is essential to the program’s existence, as the wusc students are not eligible for osap until second-year. “The students come here with very little,” Farquharson explains.

A monthly stipend provides funds for a laptop and printer, winter clothes, and anything else the student might need in their first year, including callings cards to communicate with their families back home.

The levy also pays off the sponsorship fees and immigration loan that the students take out in order to travel to Canada.

The relationships between committee members and students developed in this critical first year often grow into lasting friendships.

Farquharson describes, “[The experience] made me think about how I perceive the idea of mentorship, and it’s made me reevaluate it. It’s also changed the way I think about friendship.”

Often, wusc students become involved with their local committee following their first year, sharing their wisdom with incoming students. “It makes me feel good to know that I can help a person who’s in the same situation as I was. I know how he’s feel-

ing and I’m just glad I can help him out,” Dominic explains.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES srp students face significant challenges in spite of their excitement to study abroad.

Their journey takes them thousands of miles from home to a new city with a harsh climate, a highly competitive academic environment, and considerable financial hurdles.

“The worst was having to leave my family.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” says Dominic. She tries to combat homesickness by Skype-calling home each week.

Weather is also a challenge. Iris shakes her head, noting that it “was fun at first to see the snow,” but it has since become far too bitterly cold for her liking.

Fabrice, a first-year srp student, explains that it took time to adjust to the taxation system and the differences in the Canadian diet: “I’m used to the food now, and I’m loving it.”

While their sentiments are predominantly positive, the students have some suggestions to improve the program. Adam stresses the need for increased academic guidance.

“When wusc students arrive here, they sometimes have no idea what courses or programs they want to study,” he says.

Fabrice shares the same sentiment, describing the course selection process as “baffling.”

Dennis suggests that the timeline from submitting the application to receiving acceptance should be shortened: “The transition from high school to university, which is too long, becomes a challenge when [students] have to recap and use what they are expected to have covered back in high school.”

In their second year, srp students qualify for osap to offset tuition and living expenses, and many continue to work on campus.

They take a full course load, and work to pay for expenses that osap doesn’t cover.

“I am nervous about next year, but I look at all the other students who come here and survive, and I’ll just do what they do, and I know everything will be fine,” says Iris.

Some schools choose to sponsor a wusc student every four years, and support them financially for the duration of their degree.

When asked whether they would prefer this option, both Iris and Chris say they wouldn’t. “It’s better when they take students every year. That way, more students can benefit,” explains Iris.

Other students have only gratitude towards the program. “The wusc experience has been the best thing for my academic career; they gave me a chance. The experience is definitely positive, I wouldn’t change a thing,” says Fabrice.

REFUGEE CAMPS A refugee is an individual who is forced to leave their home country to avoid danger.

Those living in refugee camps are dependent on aid for their survival and receive limited access to resources.

Camps are often densely populated, and diseases spread easily, but access to healthcare is limited.

Leaving refugee camps is difficult due to lack of access to employment. Individuals often stay for over five years.

There are approximately 15.2 million refugees around the world. 41% are children under 18 years old.

Over 70 students come into Canada each year through the Student Refugee Program as permanent residents and attend Canadian post-secondary institutions.

WUSC & THE SRP WUSC Slogan: “Education changes the world.”

The SRP has been running since 1978.

1,300 students have been sponsored through the SRP in that time, from 35 countries spanning five continents. $150,000 in donations have been made from Canadian individuals and charities in 2012 in support of development work.

92% of SRP students graduate; 85% find jobs in their fields.

There are 7 SRP students sponsored at U of T this year, 34 at Ontario universities, and 75 total in Canada.

WUSC ON CAMPUS UTM UTSC Trinity College University College

“ONCE IN A LIFETIME” The srp is overwhelmingly successful, with 92 per cent of sponsored students graduating and 85 per cent finding jobs in their chosen fields. The wusc levy makes the program financially possible, and the dedication of the students and mentors renders the experience and the outcome resoundingly positive.

Brennan says she often finds herself in awe of srp students’ sense of purpose and willingness to give back. “In terms of having your perspective changed for the better, they really do make you pause. It’s their outlook, their sheer gratefulness for so much, things which most of us take for granted,” she reflects.

Dominic explained that she sends a portion of her paycheques home to her younger brother in Kenya to help finance his education.

The little-known wusc program, if discussed more openly on campus, has potential for a local impact beyond changing the lives of the students who participate in it, as it brings other students in the U of T community together in support of the common pursuit of equal access to education.

Dennis reflects: “Making the decision to come to Canada was the easiest decision I’ve ever made… I miss home… but this opportunity is one that comes once in a lifetime, and I’m glad I took it.” *Name changed.

Some last names in this article have been omitted at the request of the interview subjects.

Victoria College Innis College New College

LEVY COST PER STUDENT ($)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS SPONSORED TO DATE

0

5

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15

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25

ONLINE Meet some U of T’s SRP students in WUSC profiles at var.st/SRP

30

ARTS & CULTURE

VAR.ST/ARTS

27

JANUARY

2014

arts@thevarsity.ca

Living Arts: The art of the handjob

Left: "The Juicer" Top-right:"The Never-Ending" Bottom-right:"The Suction". CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity

A guide to delivering an unforgettable dandy handy to your man candy Sam Jerkins

VARSITY STAFF

Handjobs are not my cup of tea.

In my experience, handjobs can be cumbersome for all parties involved. Oftentimes, they are a messy, unromantic last resort in the pursuit of a quick orgasm.

As a result of this perception, I was intrigued by a poster for the Sexual Education Centre’s (sec) Sexual Awareness Week (saw) event entitled “Handjobs are often underrated.” The poster offered a promise to learn how to deliver a “memorable handjob.”

Given my aversion towards the institution of the handjob, I decided to attend in order to learn how stroking the schlong could somehow be made more riveting.

A LITTLE LOVE AND A LOT OF LUBE “Does everybody have a penis?” Ray, sec's public relations representative, asks, surveying the crowd at the saw event to make sure all attendees are properly prepared with dildos or cucumbers.

Equipped with faux phalluses supplied by Good for Her on Harbord Street and generous dabs of lube, a large group of curious students like myself sat in the sec to learn the intricate art of the handjob.

“Handjobs get a bad rap,” she begins, before posing the question of what makes a good handjob. The answer is twofold: lube, and touching with intention.

The first thing to do — and generally a good rule of thumb for beginning most sexual endeavors — is to remove any jewelry you are wearing on your hands and wrists. You might also want to consider wearing a finger condom or gloves as a safe-sex practice.

When it comes to lube, you want to be liberal with the amount you use. “Not all lube is created equal… You have to find the lube for you,” Ray advises. If you opt for a water-based lube, you will want to reapply multiple times throughout the handjob. Silicone options last longer and are better for sensitive skin, but are difficult to wash off and might taste bad.

Oil-based options are also long-lasting, but they are not safe with condoms. I am a neat freak and my bed is no exception, so keeping a washcloth nearby is also key if you’re like me.

You want your environment to be safe — but you also want it to be sexy — so set the mood to make yourself feel sensual with music, lighting, and clothing (or lack thereof). Be mindful of your partner’s reactions — gasps, twitches, gripping the sheets — and go slowly. The handjob doesn’t have to be a means towards a fast orgasm — it can be a thoughtful massage that leaves both partners satisfied. Ray reflects on the well-crafted hand job: “It’s magical.”

GETTING FANCY WITH THE FRENULUM With your lube at hand and your mind set, you are ready to begin the handjob to end all handjobs (until your next handjob). Rather than squirt lube right onto the penis, Ray suggests you squeeze it into your hands and rub it onto the penis gently.

She then went over a series of serious shvantz manoevers that are sure to please a panoply of penises.

We started simple with an up and down movement, moving the thumb over the frenulum , which Ray defined as, “an elastic band of tissue that is full of nerve endings.” We then added a twist over the head of the phallus to this move.

This may sound like your basic handjob, but the slow, deliberate delivery of these movements with a healthy helping of lube can be a innovative approach for beginners.

More advanced moves we learned included “The Pluck” or “The Juicer,” wherein you move towards the head of the penis with your fingers towards the base (“like you’re juicing an orange”), and “The Never-Ending,” wherein you always cover the head by cupping it with one hand while the other glides down the shaft and then moves back up, as the other moves down.

Ray highly recommends “The Deep Twist.”

In this move, you grasp the base of the penis, move your hand up, twist, move down, and repeat. The schlong might hit against your wrists in this one.

More sophisticated moves we learned were those involving nipples and foreskin, and something called “The Suction” that involves creating suction with the penis between your palms.

sive, memorable handjob experience for both partners. In order to make the massage last, communicate with your partner to share when they are close to reaching their climax. Alternate your speed and the levels of pressure you apply to delay the orgasm.

At the moment of the orgasm, keep doing what you’re doing. If you want to switch it up slightly, rub the frenulum with your thumb.

Afterwards, the dick is likely to be quite sensitive and you might consider providing your partner with a warm towel with which to clean themselves off. You can then congratulate yourself on a handjob well done.

For many, the handjob is seen as a youthful precursor to grander horizons that is rarely executed properly — but jerking someone off is more sophisticated than it is perceived to be. Hand jobs are a great safe-sex option and they present an opportunity for creativity and intimacy. Delivering a handjob is like a dance and the dick is the dance floor.

With choreography, deep breaths, attention to detail, patience, and, of course, lube, you can treat the trouser snake in your life to a momentous treat.

THE ORCHESTRATED ORGASM All of these moves can be done in combination with one another to craft a comprehen-

Due to popular demand, SEC will be hosting a second handjob workshop on February 5 at 7 pm. Location to be announced.

The SEC is located in Sussex Clubhouse (21 Sussex Avenue) on the sixth floor. Student volunteers are there Monday through Friday, 10 am–7 pm to provide safe-sex supplies and a sex-positive environment.

var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

15

Up close: St. Lucia "Moving to New York influenced my music in a lot different ways. The biggest thing it did for me was help me to find myself by losing myself first."

JPG: Anything that I listen to a lot is going to influence me in some way. Over the last year or so, I’ll have to admit somewhat embarrassingly that the top-played artist is St. Lucia, just because I’m constantly working on new stuff and checking this and that. But other than me, I really loved the Rhye album, the new Kurt Vile album, the new Empire of the Sun album, the chvrches and Haim albums, but I think the one I’ve listened to the most has been John Wizards, a band from South Africa. If you haven’t heard of them, you should check them out. This word is thrown around a lot, but it really is life affirming in all the best ways.

Corinne Przybyslawski

ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

South African native Jean-Philip Grobler is the do-all core of his Brooklyn-based project, St. Lucia. The electro-pop quintet returned to Toronto last Thursday in all their quasi-90s, synth-infused sparkle. Inspired by old school touchstones like Phil Collins and Michael Jackson, Grobler shared with The Varsity how he went from architecture to the aural artistry we know as St. Lucia, with some airborne ambitions in between.

The Varsity: What was the first instrument that introduced you to music?

Jean-Philip Grobler: My mom says that I was singing before I could talk, so I guess it was my voice, if that counts. She would put my cot in front of a tv running the music video channel while she was making dinner, and apparently I was singing along to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and I couldn’t even walk properly yet.

TV: What most inspires you for your songwriting?

JPG: It could be any number of things on any given day. Something that often works if I’m looking to get inspired is going to a bookshop with a coffee shop in it, specifically the one called McNally Jackson in New York, and sitting at a table drinking coffee and paging through design or interior design books and looking out of the window watching the world go by. Something about that moment, and the dimensions and layouts of the rooms or objects, gets my brain thinking about aural textures and melodies and all sorts of musical things. It could be anything, though: a movie, just walking down a street.

It’s rarely music itself that inspires me directly for songwriting. I’ll very, very rarely hear a song which will then inspire me to go write something else. If it ever does, it will often just sound a lot like the song that inspired it. If a song does inspire me, it’ll often be weeks or months after hearing it, and I won’t realise it until later.

TV: When you first became involved in the composition process, what had the biggest learning curve for you (songwriting, arrangement, writing melodies, production, etc.)?

JPG: I’ve been writing music for a long, long time, probably since I was about 11. When I was doing it, I never thought, "Oh, I wish I knew how to write this or that better," but the things that held me back were the technical aspect of things, like how to play this part on guitar or how to get this sound. I’d say that it was the production part of making music that had the biggest learning curve for me, and I also think that that was the most important thing for me to have learned about because in many ways

St. Lucia's Jean-Philip Grobler. media photo

it’s set me free. I don’t have to rely on a massive studio to do what I do.

TV: Was music always your biggest aspiration, or was there another childhood ambition you had?

JPG: As a child I was obsessed with Top Gun, and so all I wanted to do was be an F-14 Tomcat pilot. When I was in high school, at times there were other things, but they were normally things that I was thinking of because my parents or someone told me that I needed to fall back on something that was a "real" career or craft. Not that my parents weren’t always 100 per cent supportive of what I wanted to do, but my mother was involved in the entertainment industry in South Africa for my whole life, and so she saw the ins and outs. She just wanted to make me aware of how difficult it is, and she knew it from experience. So, there was a time when I was thinking of going into architecture or design, and even filmmaking for a little while. I always came back to music pretty quickly, though.

TV: How did being in New York influence your music, if at all? Do you feel like different cities and places have different sounds, and have you let moving around influence you as an artist?

JPG: Moving to New York influenced my music in a lot of different ways. The biggest thing it did for me was help me to find myself by losing myself first. I was pretty intimidated by the music scene when I first arrived, and so it took me a few years to get my bearings. My first band over here was a rock/indie project that I was working and doing shows with, in between my job as a jingle writer, but after a while the whole thing just started to feel like it had run its course. In

retrospect, I think it was because I was daunted by the "coolness"and "knowingness" of the New York music community, which is something I felt like I didn’t have because I grew up in South Africa, where basically all I listened to was pop music until I discovered Radiohead at the age of 14. Even then, I thought that Radiohead was pretty much the most underground band in the world until I moved to the UK and started discovering all these other bands like My Bloody Valentine. So to move to New York and be surrounded by so many people who had a zillion "cooler" influences than me made me cower in the corner. I always wanted to be taken seriously as a musician, and in a way that made me think that I never could be because I would never be as clued up about music as all of these other people. As this was all happening, I, for some reason, started listening back to all of the music I listened to as a child, like Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and a whole bunch of African and world music, and it felt just so refreshing and inspiring to me. After a while, that just started feeding into the music I was making, and I stopped trying to make something that was difficult or that wasn’t just exactly who I am.

TV: Is there anyone in the music industry today that you’re particularly impressed with?

JPG: I have to say I’ve been ceaselessly impressed with the Haim girls. Pretty much everything they’ve done has been pulled off with so much class, and there’s nothing "trying too hard" or exhausting about them. It’s rare that I like a band that is getting as much hype as they are.

TV: Who are some of the artists top-played on your iPod and do you let them influence you at all?

TV: Are you entirely content with what you’ve achieved with St. Lucia, or is there somewhere further you’d like to take it?

Are there any instruments you haven’t integrated into your sound that you’d like to experiment with?

JPG: I’m absolutely content with what we’ve achieved so far. This project isn’t just me; it’s a whole team of people that helps to get things done, and I’m incredibly happy with the team my wife Patti [the keyboardist in St. Lucia] and I have put together. I’m really proud of the album we put out, and it was made in some fairly tough circumstances between touring and more or less by myself, but I still listen to it a lot up to this day, which I think means something. Of course, there is always more to explore; otherwise, what would be the point? I’m constantly changing as a person, the world is changing around me, and I like to move with that and see myself in relation to that. In terms of instruments I haven’t used yet, pretty much anything that I haven’t used yet in some way I’d like to find a way to integrate into our sound. There’s a brand new song I’m working on that has panflute in it, so you never know.

TV: What does your "creative process" look like?

JPG: It’s very much an intuitive process. I’ll normally come up with an idea when I’m doing something completely unrelated to music and normally record it with my phone’s voice recorder. Then, when I have some time in the van or in my studio, I’ll cycle through the ideas and find one that inspires me and start working on that. From there, it’s literally just record every idea that comes into my head until there are no more ideas or I’m tired or uninspired, and then I’ll take a break for a day or week or a few months. The process continues like that until I obviously have way too many things going on, and then the process of editing begins.

I just keep doing whatever it takes to make me feel good about a song until it reflects my original vision for the song.

Godard Forever

TIFF retrospective pays homage to Jean-Luc Godard's early years Julia Lewis

VARSITY STAFF

There is little to say about Jean-Luc Godard that he hasn’t already said himself. Fittingly, tiff’s retrospective, Godard Forever: Part One, allows his work to speak for itself, showcasing 15 features and multiple shorts from the early years of the French director, screenwriter, and film critic’s career.

Godard is most famous for his jump cuts, especially notable in Breathless (1960), but this exhibit features so much more. Godard’s gentle yet incisive use of the camera, the alarming yet invigorating sporadic violence, as well as the impressive car chases and lingering, expressive close-ups are a testament to his mastery of film.

For those new to Godard, or who are unfamiliar with his reputation as an experimental director, fear not— his films are surprisingly accessible to an open mind. Even the well-versed aficionado will catch new allusions with every viewing, since the subtlety of his films layer nuances. These films are meant to be a little elusive; it would ruin some of the cinematic magic if you could firmly grasp every moment.

While many of these early films are tied to particular historical events, the themes they explore remain timeless. Vivre Sa Vie (1962) opens with a quotation from Michel de Montaigne, a Renaissance philosopher fond of trying to answer the big questions about humanity, the self, art, beauty, and love. Godard Forever is an apt title for this retrospective, as the films presented display the endless human quest to discover and express our identities, within the confines of language, art, and film.

In Alphaville (1965), Godard’s protagonist compulsively takes photographs throughout the film, in a vain attempt to preserve a moment for the future, just as it slips into the past. The films in this retrospective are like these snapshots; we can easily date them to a single year, yet they are fluid and not anchored to their original time period. Even though the style and trappings are distinctly French New Wave cinema, the questions explored remain relevant today.

While Godard’s most celebrated works are easy enough to get a hold of, tiff’s programming delivers some special treats, such as his short films, fresh restorations, 35mm prints, and archival prints. Of course, tiff offers unparalleled viewing facilities for university students accustomed to the low definition of a laptop.

Given Godard’s status as one of the most influential filmmakers alive today, this retro-

spective clearly details the precedent set for contemporary filmmakers. It’s truly a mark of a game-changing figure to alter the parameters of their field to such an extent that their influence becomes almost unnoticed and automatic.

So is there anything left to say about Godard?

Well, we shall see what Godard Forever: Part Two has in store, showcasing his later works. Godard himself is very much alive and well in the film industry. His latest and thirty-ninth feature film, Gooodbye to Language, promises to delve into the recurring concern with the limits of language and knowledge. Shot in 3D, this film is expected to be a striking experimental counterpoint to his French New Wave work from the '60s. Since his filmography is far from complete, who knows how many more tiff retrospectives are in store?

Godard Forever, indeed.

16

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

Vol. CXXXIV, No. 16

REVIEWS ALBUM: Transgender Dysphoria Blues by Against Me! Sprint through Against Me! lead singer Laura Jane Grace's chaotic relationship with her gender identity — it reads like a coming-of-age novel that begins with adolescent longing for expression, and ends in a war cry of supremely assured indifference to any who seek to oppress it.

Some lyrical moments that lack polish only reinforce the confessional atmosphere. Choruses are repeated to death, which will fly great on stage, but headphone listeners can only hear the same screamed line so many times.

“Two Coffins” attempts a quiet interlude, but feels misplaced. The strongest point is the title track, which agonizes over society's refusal to see a girl as she wants to be seen; it carries the potential to become a queer anthem. “Drinking with the Jocks” is a grand classic screamer recalling their 2002 debut, and the album closes with “Black Me Out,” a swaggering, jovial fuck-off to those who still may not accept her for who she is.

— Adam Zachary

ALBUM: Grassed Inn by Blank Realm If you were to take The Velvet Underground and put them in moon boots, throw a bucket of synth at them, add a sprinkle of punk, and then blast them into space, you might be close to the sound of Blank Realm's most recent album. It's a mix that is, at its worst, eclectic and at its best, dizzying, frenetic, and elated.

Tracks like "Falling Down the Stairs" and "Reach You on the Phone" are poppy and worth shimmying to, and have gloriously, borderline vacuous, pop lyrics and spiralling guitar riffs, all executed with the straightfaced sincerity of a true "indie" jam.

Grassed Inn is a long way from the previous album, which has a far more abrasive, white noise sound, but even if this quartet of Australian siblings stops their stylistic evolution here, they are certainly ones to watch.

— Sophie Munden

ALBUM: Rave Tapes by Mogwai It’s been 17 years since Mogwai’s debut album, Young Team. Now, the eighth full-length album Rave Tapes has continued the legacy. Each track on the album is strikingly dynamic.

"Hexagon Bogon" is a savage song that could quite possibly be the composition behind a post-apocalyptic film. However, tracks like the album opener, "Heard About You Last Night," put the listener into an increasingly tranquil and sombre soundscape. The track "The Lord is Out of Control" could quite possibly be from the B-side of a Daft Punk album.

The remainder of Rave Tapes is a hybrid of classic Mogwai sounds and sophisticated electronic experimentation. Bands as experienced as Mogwai often lose the youthful bravado they once had.

Fortunately, this does not happen with Rave Tapes. It is a strong album from an energetic band that continues to surprise.

—Travis Boyco

arts@thevarsity.ca

Counterintelligence through Charles Stankievech

Justina M. Barnicke gallery exhibits historical and contemporary military artifacts

CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity

Caitlin Alexieff

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Counterintelligence is a unique look at military intelligence communities through the visionary mind of Charles Stankievech.

Currently showing at Hart House’s Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Stankievech’s latest art exhibit is described as a contemplation on

the “hidden gestures and strategic deceptions of a shadow world, covering a spectrum of work from historical military artifacts to contemporary artwork.” Stankievech is often classified as a conceptual artist, a description that certainly rings true after viewing his exhibit.

According to Stankievech, the concept he focuses on for the exhibit is the “secret of the double agent,” which is explored through a mixture

of artifacts, videos, and recreations.

The evening began with an hourlong introduction of the exhibit by Stankievech in the Music Room at Hart House, where he outlined the premise behind his work. Stankievech structured his preamble by going through most of the letters of the alphabet and connecting them with a key aspect of his exhibit. This ranged from “avant-garde” right down to “zone,” which referred to spaces like the Soviet Occupied Zone of the German Democratic Republic and the Korean Demilitarized Zone. For people unfamiliar with the terminology or concepts behind Counterintelligence, his introduction acted as a helpful primer for the ideas that would be crucial for understanding his exhibit.

Following Stankievech’s talk, everyone made their way over to the Barnicke Gallery, where his stunning creation was unveiled. In the description of the event, Stankievech notes that “appearances can be deceiving and surface meanings often misleading.” This was a crucial aspect of his exhibit, as many objects initially appeared banal before revealing an interesting tie-in to the theme of counterin-

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telligence. This included an inconspicuous wristwatch that, upon further inspection, is revealed to be a dangerous piece of evidence used to send many individuals to Guantanamo Bay. Another example of this technique was echoed in Strankievech’s presentation of a Sesame Street recording, reported to be played on repeat to torture detainees.

The exhibition also featured provocative videos that were splashed across the walls to depict the harsh reality of war.

While the exhibit opens up with a fictional representation of war through a clip from Call of Duty, it's juxtaposed with another wall featuring real footage of Iraqi war correspondents for Reuters who killed by United States military's AH-64 Apache helicopters in a 2007 Baghdad airstrike. Ultimately, Stankievech’s exhibit unearths a deep connection between the military and art. His examples of the avant-garde, camouflage and shadowing are just a sampling of the way he fuses art and counterintelligence tactics to create a thought provoking piece of work.

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17

SCIENCE VAR.ST!SCIENCE

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2014

science@thevarsity.ca

Calling the karma police Inside the r/U of T subreddit Jennifer Hurd VARSITY STAFF

“What sort of opportunities are available for an undergraduate student to do research?” “Where are the most comfy couches on campus?” “If U of T published the most amazing and useful magazine in the world, what would be in it?”

These are just a few of the questions that have been asked and answered on the U of T subreddit, which describes itself as the place for “all things pertaining to social, academic, and cultural goings-on at the University of Toronto.”

Reddit is an online message board and community — a website where users can post links, comments, and questions. Within the main site, there are thousands of different categories, called subreddits. U of T has an extremely active subreddit, with over 3,000 subscribers. They share upcoming events on campus, discuss U of T related news, and of course, ask and answer questions about the university.

It is not only an online community, however. U of T also has an official Reddit club, the brainchild of student Tam Phan and two of her friends. Three years ago, Reddit held an online competition that pitted university subreddits against each other. That was how Phan discovered the U of T subreddit, and after attending a few unofficial meetups, she and her friends decided that they should write a constitution and make the meetups official with the University of Toronto Students’ Union. At the time, the subreddit did not have an active moderator, so the club’s executive stepped into that role as well.

Colin White, external communciations director for the club, emphasizes the social aspects of the club. “I think the stereotypical Redditor ... sits inside and is on the internet all the time,” White admits. But in direct contrast to that stereotype, he explains that the club is meant to encourage members to “get out, do something fun, be sociable.” One of the club’s first major events, almost two years ago, was a trip to the Hart House farm, which they are hoping to replicate this spring. Recent events have also included trampoline dodgeball, a water balloon fight, and a terrible movie night — although their most popular events, according to White and Phan, are undoubtedly the bar meetups, which are scheduled roughly once a month. The next one is planned to coincide with Valentine’s Day. Both the club and the subreddit attract a wide range of members, from all departments and all levels of study. “Lately I think we have a lot of undergraduates,” said Phan, and also observing that the subreddit is a popular place for senior

Shaquilla Singh/The VarSiTy

high school students or incoming undergraduates to seek out wisdom about their new school. “They’re asking a lot of questions if they’re coming to U of T,” she says.

Though the primary demographic may be undergraduates, White notes that there are teaching assistants, professors, and university staff active on the subreddit as well. He recalls the time a new part-time professor asked for student input: “What should I do to be a great professor?” Staff members have also used the subreddit to recruit student opinions about potential designs for U of T’s official website.

The page is not only a place for news and for questions, it’s a place where current students and graduates of the university share their work: apps they’ve designed, photographs they’ve taken, or research projects they’ve worked on. As a place for social interaction, news, culture, academics, and more, it’s become both a virtual hub of activity and a distinct community.

On the other hand, if you just want to know where the best places are to take naps on campus, you can find an answer for that, too!

RESEARCH RECAPS The secret to self-control

Vowels may change the brands you buy

With January coming to an end the question arises, have you had enough self-control to maintain your New Years’ resolutions?

A study at University of Toronto Scarborough suggests that although self-control can be hard to maintain, it may just be a frame of mind.

Psychologists view self-control as more than just the ability to focus and restrain oneself from action on impulses, emotions, and distractions. It is a limited mental process — one that can be exhausted when a person excessively restrains himself or herself without taking time to recuperate, resulting in a lack of self-will.

Michael Inzlicht, professor of Psychology at utsc says, “When people are fatigued they experience a change in motivational priorities such that they are less willing to work for the things they feel obliged to do, and more willing to work for things they like to do.”

It is often easy to give up when a goal seems tedious, especially when temptation is everywhere. However, when people truly enjoy maintaining their goals, they find it much easier to keep self-control. The key to conserving will-power is simply changing your mind set from a place of obligation to aspiration — instead of having to, wanting to.

Recent research from the University of Toronto Scarborough Department of Management has demonstrated that the vowel placement in a brand name influences the perception of the product and subsequent decision making.

There are two different types of vowel sounds. “Front vowels” are made when the tongue is forward while “back vowels” are produced when the tongue is in the rear of oral cavity. It has been shown that these vowels are associated with different expectations about the product. For example, front vowels are associated with sharpness and small size while back sounds are more related to ideas of dullness, darkness, and largeness.

Sam Maglio and colleagues have demonstrated that these differences can also influence information processing and lead to behaviour modification by accentuating those product features that the brand intends to promote. They report that when faced with back vowels in a product name, customers tend to favour the product desirability and focus on more primary features rather than secondary aspects. The opposite trend was observed in the case of front vowels. Their results have been published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

—Alaina Wallace With files from U of T News

—Aria Shakeri

Autistic individuals may be experiencing a delay in audio visual processing Imagine living in a world where everyone looks like they’re lip-syncing — and doing a horrible job at it. A recent study by Ryan Stevenson at the University of Toronto seems to show that individuals with autism may be living in such a world.

The study began at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. In this study of 64 children (ages six to 18), researchers found that, “individuals with autism have difficulties processing the timing of what they hear and what they see, often reporting two events as synchronous when they are quite far out of sync,” says Stevenson. Researchers were able to test whether the child perceived what they saw and what they heard as one event, or two separate events. The time difference between perceiving what is seen and what is heard makes it less likely to accurately perceive audiovisual speech, which can make it difficult to have normal social interactions.

“One of the fundamental building blocks needed to have success in social communication is the ability to accurately perceive what is going on around you. If you have difficulties perceiving the world around you, it’s intuitive that you may also have difficulties interacting with that world, and the other people in it,” says Stevenson. Stevenson and his team are in the process of designing a computer program that aims to help with sensory abilities and in turn improve social interactions for individuals with autism.

—Shradha Talwar With files from U of T News

VARSITY SCIENCE

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MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

19

U of T researchers debunk “blood type” fad diet Balanced eating and exercise still the number one way to get healthy HOW TO SPOT A FAD DIET

Emma Hansen

ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITOR

At the beginning of each year, many people begin extreme plans to improve their physical health and appearance, often resorting to fad diets. Some of these diets are dangerous to physical health, while others simply provide misinformation to the public. Recently, another scientific study has confirmed that the reality of being healthy may be much simpler.

One popular fad diet was developed by P. J. D’Adamo in a 1996 New York Times bestseller, “Eat Right for Your Type.” The book’s premise is that the blood type of each individual indicates the dietary habits of their ancestors, and that tailoring dietary habits based on that blood type can promote physical health. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that this diet promotes health. A group of researchers from the U of T Department of Nutritional Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine decided to address the lack of research on blood type diets.

The January 15 study, “abo Genotype, ‘Blood-Type’ Diet and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors,” was published in PLOS One. The authors of the study divided over 1,400 young people by blood type, and instructed them to follow the appropriate diet for their blood type. The diet for the “ancestral” Type O, for example, contains plentiful animal protein, while the “agrarian” Type A is recommended to follow a vegetarian diet. Scores were assigned to the study participants based on their adherence to the relevant program.

If you think you have finally found the holy grail of diets — a surefire way to guarantee a slim, new you — slow down for a minute. Could it be just a fad diet? Be aware of the warning signs and red flags below: 1. It comes with a guarantee of extremely fast weight loss.

2. It advocates skipping meals.

3. It bans entire groups of food (such as carbohydrates or all fats).

HELENA NAJM/THE VArsiTy

The results were surprising: greater adherence to the diet program was positively correlated with better cardiometabolic health. Type A subjects did enjoy increased health when they followed their diet program, but the same was true if they followed any other. This was common to all of the groups: for all participants, increased adherence to any diet program was an indicator for increased health. The positive effects included healthy waist circumference, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.

The study claims that “adherence to a certain ‘blood type’ diet is associated with a fa-

vorable profile for certain cardiometabolic risk factors in young adults, but these associations were not related to an individual’s abo blood group.” The study does not support the blood type diet hypothesis, although it does explain the anecdotal evidence for it. Each of the diets in the study, regardless of blood type, promotes good dietary habits.

Despite the preponderance of allegedly “scientific” fad diets, the actual message of science is simple: healthy eating, exercise, and ample sleep will promote health — and that has never been a fad.

4. It encourages you to buy a product, such as herbal supplements or weight loss pills.

5. It claims that exercise is not required.

6. It supports its claims with testimonials, not peer-reviewed scientific studies.

With files from WebMD, TeensHealth from Nemours, and Canadian Living.

— Elena Gritzan

PIECE TOGETHER A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WHAT IS MScSM? The MScSM degree is a 20-month graduate program for individuals interested in management careers in sustainability-related divisions and organizations.

Visit our website for the details of the program and to mark the calendar dates for our visit to your campus.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA mscsm.utm@utoronto.ca | 905-569-5803 | www.utm.utoronto.ca/mscsm

VARSITY SCIENCE

20 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 16

science@thevarsity.ca

The science summer job Working to gain experience, and cash, over the break Andrew E. Johnson VARSITY STAFF

The deep freeze in Toronto last week likely had many U of T students wishing for summer. Although only months away, Canadian university students have learned that the prospect of their extended break is much less glamorous when they are unemployed.

Many U of T science students may have noticed that finding a full-time summer job in their respective field is much more complicated than it may seem. Often the job requirements for post-graduate positions outline something like “three years experience required.” How are students supposed to be accepted for a full-time position if they lack the significant experience the employer is seeking out?

One potential option supported by some U of T faculties is a scholarship provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (nserc). nserc is a federally funded agency that provides students and professors funding for university-based research.

For many U of T students these positions will also provide much needed summer income. “The nserc award allowed me to pursue my research interests and form a great working relationship with my supervisor. These types of experience are invaluable for your CV,” explains Charlotte de Keyzer, a fourth-year student studying conservation biology.

NANCY JI/THe VArsITY

The annual budget for nserc is $1.1 billion, and a sizeable portion of this amount is available to undergraduates. Some science students will chose to combine their research with time in a new city, as some grants will cover travel costs.

Students who are looking for work in their field must also consider different work environments. “I learnt it was useful to gain work experience at different companies, to get a better feel for what

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it will be like after school, and what kind of workplace you want to work at,” says Adam Robinson-Yu, a Computer Science student currently completing a Profession Experience Year. “At the large company, you had to interface with other departments through fax or email, and it takes longer than small companies where you can walk over to the other departments.

The large company was able to hold lots of grand events, and the pressure was a little lighter than it was at the small companies.

The majority of the work is roughly the same, the environment you work at makes the biggest difference. The people and the attitude and stuff. [At Microsoft], the video-game atmosphere makes things pretty fun,” he said.

Not everyone is so lucky. Theri Reich, a third-year science student said that finding a voluteer position is much easier than finding a paid position. “Volunteering is so much easier to find than a job because it’s not paid.”

Though there are relevent job opportunities available, there are more students than there are positions. Many other students who don’t find such research positions try to fill their summers with odd or part-time jobs. Many students work in the restaurant industry or often at seasonal positions such as at golf courses or public pools in lifeguarding positions — jobs without a direct connection to their field, but that will help to balance their budgets.

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SPORTS VAR.ST!SPORTS

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JANUARY

2014

sports@thevarsity.ca

Coach profile: Byron MacDonald Long-time swimming coach looks to lead Blues to another national title Susan Gordon

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Byron MacDonald, the head coach of the U of T men’s and women’s swim teams, has had an extremely successful career, both as a swimmer and as a coach. But as a young man growing up in the United States, this future was not what he had in mind.

“I had a disease… called Perthes, and it’s where the bones don’t grow properly… usually it’s your leg and hip,” said MacDonald.

After being in a cast for over a year at the beginning of elementary school, a doctor recommended that MacDonald try swimming to strengthen his muscles. MacDonald discovered not only that he enjoyed the sport, but that he was pretty good at it as well.

Soon after starting the sport, MacDonald began competing with a competitive club. By age 12, he was part of a nationally ranked team. He later attended a high school with the top swimming program in the US, which pushed him to continue to improve. MacDonald was team captain for all four years of high school, and was named an All-American in his fourth year.

“There was only one guy faster than me in the entire United States when I graduated, and he… won 7 medals at the Olympics.”

“I knew at that point that swimming was really important, and it was something I was really going to focus on.”

Following graduation, MacDonald was uncertain about his chances at making the American national team, choosing instead to join the Canadian team. At the same time, he studied at the University of Michigan, where he earned a com-

Bryon Macdonald is in his 36th season coaching the varsity blues swimming teams. photo courtesy of the varsity blues

merce degree and was named an All-American in the last two years of his program.

MacDonald was successful in international competition as well.

“At the commonwealth games…

I won two gold medals; the Pan Am games, a silver and a bronze medal; and then in the Olympics I was sixth place.”

MacDonald decided to continue swimming after graduation, and was forced to return to school in order to get funding. He attended U of T for one semester, and then returned to the University of Michigan for a Master’s degree in recreation.

He won a silver medal at the World Student Games and the Commonwealth Games, but missed attain-

ing a position with the Canadian Olympic team.

“The day after the [Canadian team tryout] was over, the coach from U of T actually came up to me, and said: ‘Here’s an application for York University swimming coach, I think you’d be great’.”

MacDonald took the job and was an immediate success, winning

a national coaching award and pushing his team to third place nationally. However, MacDonald knew that there was limited recruiting power at York, especially with nearby U of T boasting an Olympic–size pool and a strong academic reputation.

“The guy [at U of T] realized, [York] did so well that we were actually going to beat U of T the next year, and so… he stepped down and said take my job here, and so I came down here and took the job at U of T.” Since coming to U of T, MacDonald’s career has been extremely successful. His teams have won a total of 43 conference championships, and 16 national championships. He has coached over 200 students to all-Canadian awards, and has won Ontario University Athletics (oua) Coach of the Year 19 times, Canadian Intercollegiate Sports (cis) Coach of the Year 12 times. He has also coached a swimmer to an Olympic bronze medal.

U of T’s current men’s team is the defending national champion, something that MacDonald wants to repeat in a month’s time.

“This year, we told everybody our goal was to do your best time, and win the national title. And on the women’s side, it was to do your best time, and win the conference title.”

A talented team and promising new recruits, as well as more resources being diverted to the U of T swim team, mean that the program is likely to be successful for many years to come. MacDonald has no plans to leave the team anytime soon, saying he’ll coach until at least 2020.

“I love my job… I look forward to Mondays because I know I get to come back and start coaching again.”

U of T hosts discussion on racialized youth’s access to university sports First of series of panels leading up to the 2015 Pan Am Games took place at U of T Amanda Coletta VARSITY STAFF

“Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you’ve got a wicked jump shot,” said Greg Gary, the head coach of the Varsity Blues men’s football team, quoting The Notorious B.I.G. According to Gary, the lyrics — taken from the 1994 track “Things Done Changed” — are still an accurate reflection of the experiences of racialized youth in the inner city.

The relationships between sport and post–secondary education for racialized and First Nations youth was the topic of a discussion entitled “A Hurdle to Success: The Challenge for Pan-American Leg-

acy,” held at Hart House on January 22. The talk was the first in a series of panels hosted by the University of Toronto’s Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office, First Nations House, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, and Hart House in association with to2015’s Ignite program. The program is being held in the leadup to the Toronto Pan Am Games; panellists included academics, coaches, and racialized athletes.

The discussion worked to dissect three key issues: access to post–secondary education and recruitment processes for racialized athletes, retention once the athletes have been recruited, and possible pathways and challenges to careers as amateur or profes-

sional athletes once post–secondary studies have finished.

Ultimately, all panelists agreed that many young, racialized athletes lack not only the financial currency required to enter a post–secondary education program, but also information about post–secondary opportunities available to them, the necessary high school academic prerequisites this entails, and strong support networks. Many universities have begun to increasingly recruit athletes who play on club teams, but increases in registration and equipment costs means that many racialized athletes are not getting the exposure to scouts that they deserve.

“There are a lot of kids putting in their 10,000 hours, but we

never see them,” explained Jason Sealy, coach of the Ryerson Rams women’s basketball team.

But even for those racialized athletes who do manage to access post–secondary education vis-àvis sport, increases in tuition costs mean that many students have difficulties balancing academics, athletics, and employment.

Unlike in the National College Association of America (ncaa), where tuition costs are exorbitant and many athletes manage to get free rides, the maximum athletic scholarship offered by the Ontario University Athletics (oua) is $4,000. Still, Gary is not sure that the ncaa model is one that should be imitated.

“The ncaa model is designed to exploit. It’s a huge conveyor belt. A

lot of athletes go in, but not a lot of athletes come out,” he explained.

He’s right; research conducted by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found there is a 32 per cent gap between graduation rates for white athletes and those for black athletes.

Nevertheless, the panelists were in agreement that the future is hopeful. For professor Janice Forysth of Western University, the answer lies in effective public policy. For others such as Gary, universities such as U of T can expand their outreach efforts into marginalized neighbourhoods and continue to host athletic camps to build community.

“We’re in a good place, but we can do more,” said Gary.

VARSITY SPORTS

22 Vol. CXXXIV No. 16

sports@thevarsity.ca

The price of being a varsity athlete in Canada and the USA While Canadian athletes struggle to get funding for their programs, American universities make massive profits off of their unpaid athletes JP Kaczur

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

The differences between student athletes north and south of the border couldn’t be more apparent.

Student athletes do not receive athletic scholarships in Ontario surpassing $4,000. Recently, to help mitigate the increased exodus of Canadian athletes to the U.S. on scholarship, the Canada First program was created.

The Canada First scholarship helps some 1,800 athletes across Canada. However, it only provides $900–$1,500 a month, as opposed to tuition costs and bursaries that US institutions can provide for student athletes.

In the US, the experiences of student athletes vary. Although full athletic scholarships are available in the US, and equally distributed amongst men and women, they are not equally distributed amongst sports.

Take for example baseball versus football: baseball division-I programs have a limit of 11.7 scholarships for 32 rosters spots, while division-I Football Bowl Subdivision football programs are limited to 85 scholarships for a 117 roster spots.

Many baseball players are offered partial scholarships and seek alternate paths, like entering professional draft out of high school, or taking football scholarships, which are easier to come by.

Most major colleges in the US choose to invest in the money-making programs like football. A recent study conducted by Business Insider found that based on fair market value (using proportions of salaries to revenue based on the nfl Collective Bargaining Agreement) college players at the University of Texas should be paid $578,000 a year on average. Colleges treat their athletic departments like a business allocating resources to higher performing departments, yet they do not pay their athletes.

At the beginning of the 2013 National College Athletic Association football season, several players step onto the field with apa emblazoned on their jerseys.

This was a statement meant to address the growing sentiment that ncaa players should be paid as employees for playing sports. After all, the stadiums they played in were full of paying customers, and their names and likenesses are used on jerseys — that sell for $85 like Heisman winner Johnny Manziel — and in video games, such as the long–running ncaa football franchise.

The reportedly 10 per cent of college programs that are only making profit have come into question because of Western Kentucky, alledgedly using creative accounting practices to hide millions in profit. Cases like this have created skepticism amongst ncaa athletes and have spurred them to redress their exploitation.

This stands in stark contrast to Canadian student athletes. Jerseys with their names are not sold for massive profits, Canadian Interuniversity Sport football does not have a video game, and, in general, the programs aren’t as much unprofitable as underfunded. Not to mention, attendance and gate receipts for sports varies at most universities — all U of T sports games are free with your student card.

In order to keep their programs afloat, Canadian student-athletes volunteer their time with fundraisers, or, in the case of student-athletes at U of T, are buying clothes from Adidas with a portion going back to fund their own programs due to the athletic department’s limited resources.

The resources at U of T are limited for athletes, whereas some programs in the US make upwards of a $100 million of profit per year. Regardless, a similarity that one can find between student-athletes across North America is that, based on their circumstances, they are faced with unique challenges in order to play the sports that they love.

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VARSITY SPORTS

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

23

Blues squash headed for success With a range of rookies and veterans, Blues’ success looks promising going into the OUA championships Reshara Alviarez VARSITY STAFF

With the Ontario University Athletics (oua) Championships just around the corner, the Varsity Blues men’s and women’s squash teams have been putting in extra efforts in the hopes of re-mounting the oua podium.

The men’s team currently holds a record of 8–4, while the women’s team only has one loss this season.

Captain Wilfred Ip has been with the men’s team for six years. He is anticipating a difficult competition against some very strong teams. But this challenge hasn’t shaken Ip’s faith in the strength, skill, and strategy of the Blues.

“There is probably no worse scenario than when you lose the first two sets in a best of five sets match and your opponent reaches match point in the third set,” said Ip. “We try to approach every point equally, work one point at a time and never give up.”

Ip hopes that this sensible approach will allow the team to easily turn such a dubious situation into victory for the Blues.

Men’s team member Riyan Bhatia made no hesitation when asked about his expectations for the oua Championships. He believes that a podium finish is well within reach. After not playing for three years due to a knee injury, Bhatia expressed gratitude for the team, crediting them for “[bringing] my game back.”

The women’s squash team has only lost one match so far this season. CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity

The Blues underwent a great deal of change and progress over the past few seasons. Team manager Kaustav Chatterjee has been with the men’s team for the past six years and has proudly witnessed improvement.

“We are really building something great here. Recruitment has improved...We are continually improving our presence in the US, forging great relationships with many

top schools,” said Chatterjee, explaining that these connections could help to increase the team’s notoriety.

Head coach John Lennard foresees several victories for his team in the upcoming OUA matches. He predicts that Harvard will be the toughest team, but noted that, “the sooner you know the strength of the competition the greater awareness of what it takes to get to that level.”

The Blues women’s team has also enjoyed a successful season thus far, winning the Black Knight title this past October. Team captain Jessica Omand was introduced to squash at the age of six, and has been involved with the Blues for the past three years.

“The Black Knight tournament involves putting nine players on the roster, which allows us to demonstrate our strength and depth,” explained Omand on the team’s latest victory. According to Omand, the Blues’ victory at the ouas seems well within reach for the team: “with three amazing new rookie recruits and a number of strong returning players, our 2013–2014 team is incredible.”

Omand has maintained her ranking in the top six oua squash players since becoming a Blue. “I am proud to be the captain of the 2013–2014 team and look forward to showcasing our strength at ouas,” she said.

Despite the time commitment, the team members cite their involvement as one of the most valuable components of their university careers. Both captains express high hopes of defeating the 30-year reigning champion men’s team — the Western Mustangs — at the oua championships.

Both the men’s and women’s teams appear to be in great hands, and it looks as though they’re well on their way to the podium next month.

Blues women’s basketball storms Thunderbirds in 75–35 win Jenna Rumero VARSITY STAFF

On Friday, the Varsity Blues women’s basketball team pulled off a dominant win over their division opponent, the Algoma Thunderbirds, winning 75–35. Player of the game Alicia Van Kampen recorded a game and season high of 18 points and remains fourth in scoring on the team.

Following the game, head coach Michelle Belanger expressed her appreciation of Van Kampen, saying that, “The team rebounded well, Alicia and Kristy [Chute] played well.”

An honourable mention went out to Jovana

DENTAL CARE

Momic who made her first basket as a member of the Varsity Blues.

Belanger hoped that the team would rebound in this game after a close 57–56 loss to Carleton last week. “We tried to get a quicker start and I don’t think that happened tonight but I’m very happy with my bench.”

A 20–11 lead after the first quarter may not have satisfied Belanger’s standards. But leading by 41, one minute into the third quarter and finishing the game with a 40-point lead made up for any minor faults in the first quarter.

The Varsity Blues will face the Thunderbirds once more this season at Algoma. It will be the Blues’ third last game of the season, and considering their current fourthplace position in their division, it will be an important game.

“We need to take care of the little things, stick to the game plan...leave no open threes,” noted Belanger. After a performance of offensive authority, it’s no wonder that just the little things are going to be altered to lead hopefuls to the playoffs.

This weekend was the annual Think Pink event working to raise money for cancer research. Concerning the event, Belanger added: “It’s a great event; it’s a shame the student body couldn’t come out tonight.”

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ACROSS

DOWN

1. Go over?

5. Kind of song 9. Cold War grp.

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50. Court evidence, at times 56. Bull in a china shop, maybe 57. Androcles’ pal 58. Pitchfork poker 59. Have a go at 60. Like the Beatles’ Sadie 61. Rice concoction

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