Student course evaluations rank statistics department lowest, small humanities centres highest 2 page
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Vol. CXLV, No. 17 MASTHEAD
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statistics
lowest, small humanities centres highest
We analysed thousands of rows of course evaluation data to find out how students really feel about U of T departments
Maeve Ellis & Mekhi Quarshie Managing Online Editor & Varsity Contributor
The Varsity has obtained over 3,000 rows of course evaluation data to determine how tens of thousands of students rate U of T’s academic units.
We obtained every available course evaluation from undergraduate Faculty of Arts & Science courses with publicly available results in the 2023–2024 fall and winter semesters. This does not include courses that professors opt out of sharing and those with fewer than five responses.
Finding an “Overall Score”
First, we averaged out the results of eight questions to find an “Overall Score” of how students feel about the 69 of the faculty’s academic units that offer courses. Academic units include departments, centres, institutes, schools, colleges, and freestanding, joint, and collaborative programs. The questions included the quality of assignments and how much enthusiasm instructors generated.
We then compared the “Overall Score” to obtain a ranking of the academic units.
Academic units vary in the number of courses offered, student enrolments per class, and course evaluation response rates. Instructors also use different methods of encouraging students to fill out the evaluations which can also affect the data and, therefore, the ranking of academic units’ “Overall Score.”
Statistics ranked worst Out of all the 69 units, the Department of Statistical Sciences was ranked the lowest followed by Mathematics, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Biochemistry, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship.
Spencer Li — a third-year statistics and mathematics double major at UTSG — said, “My courses were either really good [or] really bad,” in an interview with The Varsity. “The way the course[s] [are] organized is pretty complicated. The test difficulty is… shockingly complicated,” including one course which he said he “really, really cried over.”
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However, he maintains that he still would’ve chosen his two programs because of their employment prospects and wanted to “thank the [statistics] department for their hard work on the courses.”
Small humanities academic units ranked highest
The top-rated academic unit was the African Studies Centre followed by European and Eurasian Studies, Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, Centre for Ethics, and the Centre for South Asian Studies.
“I really put a lot of effort into making the topic exciting,” said Antonela Arhin — associate director and a sessional lecturer at the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies — referring to an Advanced Topics in Diaspora & Transnational Studies course. In an interview with The Varsity, she said her course incorporates case studies, guest lectures, legal texts, and documentaries. Arhin notes that her courses go “above and beyond… merely lecturing.”
CORRECTIONS
Ava Derro and Burak Batu Tunçel — both second-year students specializing in cinema studies at UTSG and organizers at the Cinema Studies Student Union — found that people taking courses in the Cinema Studies Institute were already interested in the subject matter. The Cinema Studies Institute ranked 19th out of the 69 academic units offered by the faculty.
“Whether it’s a major, minor, or specialist, they’re there because they love cinema,” said Tunçel in an interview with The Varsity.
Hardest and easiest academic units according to students
There was one metric we didn’t include in our overall score: “Course Workload.”
The academic unit with the highest “Course Workload” was the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, followed by the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Physics, the Division of Anatomy, and the Department of Physiology.
According to students, the units with the lowest “Course Workload” were the Centre for Ethics with the lowest, followed by Faculty of Music, Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, Centre for Medieval Studies, and Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies.
Do bigger academic units have lower scores?
To determine the size of the academic units, The Varsity used data on the number of students enrolled in courses offered by the units. The data did not differentiate between students enrolled with the unit as a program of study and students enrolled in the course for other reasons.
There was a weak association between smaller units ranking higher and larger units ranking lower.
“Being a cinema studies specialist, almost every student is… a familiar face. You see everyone around, and in that sense, it’s really easy to build a strong sense of community,” Derro said in an interview with The Varsity.
Akil Huang — a fourth-year math specialist and statistics major at UTSG — said the rapidly growing size of the statistics department might be part of the reason the department struggles to teach students well.
In the 2013-2014 academic school year there were 4,934 students recorded as completing statistics courses compared to 9,800 in 20232024.
“I can only assume… that it’s because these departments are so large that the teaching experience naturally has to be worse for… students because they get less one-on-one time with the professors,” he said to The Varsity.
Course evaluation response rates
The average response rate for courses across the academic units was 43.18 per cent. The lowest was from the Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology, followed by the Department of Biochemistry and Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. The highest was from the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, followed by Wordsworth College and the Division of Anatomy.
The university did not comment on the results of our analysis, but a U of T spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity that “The University of Toronto is committed to ensuring the quality of its academic programs, its teaching, and the learning experiences of its students. An essential component of our commitment to teaching excellence is the regular evaluation of courses by students.”
How we did this
Our video analysis online (thevarsity.ca) provides the most extensive data on student opinions on academic units offering undergraduate courses that has ever been made publically available, as far as The Varsity can identify.
Original course evaluation data is accessible to all U of T students on Quercus. On a sidebar, we selected “Course Evals,” then “For Students,” then “Faculty of Arts & Science (Undergraduate),” to find a table of course evaluation data. This data includes data from almost every single course, but instructors can opt to not include any, and courses with less than five evaluations are automatically not included.
The Varsity does not know the exact number of courses that the data set is missing.
We scraped this data to acquire a spreadsheet to use in our analysis. This version does not include the names of instructors who taught each course during the analyzed year. From there, we filtered for the fall and winter semesters of the 2023–2024 academic school year.
We averaged eight of the nine presented metrics to find an “Overall Score” for each course, including:
• Item 1 (I found the course intellectually stimulating)
• Item 2 (The course provided me with a deep understanding of the subject manner)
• Item 3 (The instructor created a course atmosphere that was conducive to my learning)
• Item 4 (Course projects, assignments, tests, and/or exams improved my understanding of the course material)
• Item 5 (Course projects, assignments, tests, and/or exams provided opportunity for me to demonstrate an understanding of the course material)
• Item 6 (Overall, the quality of my learning experience in the course was:)
• Instructor generated enthusiasm
• I would recommend this course
We also studied the averages of “Course Workload” and “Response Rate,” which is the division of students who complete course evaluations versus those who were invited to complete them.
We did not include the metric for “Course Workload” in our Overall Score metric because workload does not necessarily indicate whether either option is good or bad.
To find the strength of the correlation between department course enrolments and average Overall Score, we found their r-squared value, which was -0.284.
In Issue 16 of The Varsity, a News article titled "What are U of T’s EDI policies?" has been updated for accuracy. As the article's primary focus is on U of T’s Canada Research Chair (CRC) appointments, the title has been updated to "How does U of T appoint its Canada Research Chairs?" to reflect this. Previous mentions of “research chair holders” have been updated to the specific “Canada Research Chair holders.” The guide to CRC Nominations has been included, and that Dr. Crystal Clark and Dr. Janine Farraghers are the sole U of T CRC holders of their respective research has been clarified. In Issue 16 of The Varsity, a News article titled "U of T announces launch of sexual violence policy review" previously stated that PEARS’ founder Micah Kalisch was referring to "TFM professor Robert Reisz’s violation of U of T’s Sexual Harassment Policy" for "rampant violence" at TFM. This is incorrect, however, as Professor Reisz is a professor at UTM. This article has been updated to reflect this and to mention GradPEARS' open letter to TFM in light of student reports about "racism, queer and transphobia, ableism, and sexual harassment."
Junia Alsinawi Varsity Contributor
Effective January 21, international students and their families are required to meet more rigorous requirements to be eligible for open work permits (OWPs). This follows similar changes the federal government made to the post-graduation work permit (PGWP) requirements on November 26, to “support economic recovery” and address the “urgent needs of business” in the labour market.
The measures follow Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) promises made in September 2024 to reduce the target number of issued study permits by 10 per cent. These measures restrict OWP eligibility for the families of international students and foreign workers. These measures are an expansion of the IRCC’s initial actions in January 2024, which ended the automatic issuance of OWPs to undergraduate students’ spouses.
The policy
Under the new restrictions, only spouses of international students enrolled in a masters program longer than 16 months, a doctoral program, or select professional programs such as law, medicine, engineering, and education are eligible for OWPs.
Since November 1, 2024, PGWP applicants who are enrolled in non-university educational programs or a university program that is not a bachelor’s, masters, or doctorate degree, have only been eligible if enrolled in specific fields of study — including agriculture, health care, STEM, transportation, and trade work and construction programs — in addition to the preexisting language requirements.
According to the federal government’s 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, these fields of study must align “with immigration goals and labour market needs.”
On January 14, the IRCC released a statement noting that these measures are part of the federal government’s efforts “to strengthen the integrity and quality of our temporary resident programs while supporting the country’s economic goals and labour market needs.”
In the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, the IRCC puts this statement in more concrete terms. Tightening PGWP eligibility requirements is part of a plan to promote “robust GDP growth and enable GDP per capita growth to accelerate throughout 2025–2027, as well as improve housing affordability and lower the unemployment rate.”
International students weigh in In response to whether they believed the new regulations would be effective in accomplishing the federal government’s economic goals, international students shared diverse perspectives.
“I believe it’s important to strike a balance between economic goals and creating an inclusive environment for international students,” wrote Eshika Sehgal — a fourthyear student from India studying industrial relations, human resources, and political science — in an email to The Varsity.
“[The policy] could [lessen the] demand for housing, which might slightly alleviate the housing crisis in certain urban centers,” Sehgal acknowledged. However, she also pointed out other factors contributing to the housing crisis — including “rising construction costs and delays in urban development.”
First-year life sciences student Ozgu Gulumser wrote, “I think [the policy] makes sense,” in an email to The Varsity . “Despite being an immigrant myself… in my opinion, a country’s priority should always be its own citizens first.” Gulumser referenced similar
economic issues faced in her home country of Turkey.
Laura Vasco de Paula Ferreira — a thirdyear student from Brazil studying biological chemistry — predicted the impacts of the policy on all students, citing lost revenue from high international student tuition as an issue that universities like U of T must contend with.
In an email to The Varsity, Ferreira wrote, “Reduced enrollment might affect funding for programs and services essential for all students.”
The long-term impacts of these new regulations are still unseen, but their immediate effects on students are already taking shape.
When asked why they chose Canada to pursue their undergraduate education, Sehgal, Gulumser, and Ferreira all cited career aspirations. Now, they must make some pragmatic decisions about their futures.
Sehgal wrote that she is “now more focused on ensuring that [her] academic and career plans align with the sectors prioritized by the Canadian government.”
“These new restrictions are definitely shaping my future plans,” Ferreira wrote, “I’m now looking at other countries with more welcoming policies for international students and their careers.”
Matthew Molinaro Graduate Bureau Chief
On January 27, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) convened its first Board of Directors’ (BOD) meeting of 2025 to discuss its health and dental plan inflation increase and cap, election policies and logistics, accessibility on campus, and the union’s position on bike lanes.
Reassignments, reports, and referenda
The directors approved the appointment of Farshad Murtada as Vice-Chair of the Governance Committee after UTGSU President Amir Moghadam resigned from the position, reassigned committee members for the Governance and Finance Committee, and delivered a debrief on last semester’s Annual General Meeting.
In their reports, the executives shared work on the wellness grant, funding for Black graduate students, and efforts to inform students about the upcoming provincial election.
The executives also approved the results of the referendum on UTGSU’s Health and Dental Plan, proposed during the union’s November 13 BOD. The proposal introduced a 10 per cent cap on the union’s health care and dental care annual fee increase and a new requirement for the UTGSU to hold a referendum in case increases above this amount are needed.
According to the union’s referendum results, 4,597 students voted on this issue, of which
fee increases and conditions of UTGSU Building
86.5 per cent voted in favour of this change. All four other student unions at U of T also have maximum permitted inflationary increases of 10 per cent annually.
Changing election policies and logistics
Division Three Director Joscelyn van der Veen and Vice-President Academics 3 & 4 Julian Nickel described the ongoing work to revise the UTGSU’s policy and logistics for the union’s upcoming elections. Van der Veen put forward motions to approve a draft of a revised elections policy and a new referenda policy as well as to ensure the election had a more logical timeline.
Changes to the revised elections policy include adding clarifications for the information sessions and election training that would allow candidates to familiarize themselves with the duties of their positions before the nomination period.
Afterward, Nickel presented the union’s position on slating, an election guideline in which multiple candidates join together on a platform to advertise shared policies. Slates act similarly to political parties and students are not required to vote for candidates on the same slate down the ballot.
Previously, slates were disallowed in the elections process. For the upcoming elections, this motion would only apply to executive positions rather than director positions and ratify that slates be dissolved after the elections.
In the discussion period for the drafted policy, Division Two Director Hai Tran proposed
a motion to amend to lower the nomination threshold for directors from 15 to 10 members.
Van der Veen replied to Tran that “this wasn’t really a problem.” Nickel also reminded the union that directors represent 22,000 students. The amendment failed as a tie vote.
The union then turned to a debate on the merits and drawbacks of slating. Division Three Director Dominic Shillingford cautioned that slating might discourage potential candidates from contesting uncontested seats. Division Three Director Amir Mohammad Zadeh asked how slating might impact collaboration among the executives.
In response, Nickel informed the directors of the various safeguard measures, including issuing 35 demerit points and contravening policy should slates actively disenfranchise other candidates or the union’s functionality.
The motion for the policy draft as well as the elections logistics carried.
The 2025 UTGSU elections will run from February to March. The nomination period is scheduled to start on February 24 and end on March 9. The campaign period will take place from March 17 to March 28, and students will be able to vote from March 25–28.
New air conditioners
Nickel put forward the motion to allocate
$11,000 from the Building, Planning, and Accessibility Fund to the replacement of air conditioners and their infrastructure in the UTGSU building.
In this proposal, Nickel described the operational capacity of the building throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally closed in 2020 during the pandemic, the UTGSU building only reopened in September 2024. As such, maintenance and service concerns have compounded into a backlog, and the air conditioners in units 9A and 9B could not be maintained, requiring a full overhaul. Without discussion, the motion carried.
As the 2025 Ontario election approaches, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been working toward removing Toronto bike lanes. The government plans to reinstate vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West, Yonge Street, and University Avenue — streets that Nickel argued are critical for graduate students’ bicycle transportation. Nickel laid out how this measure created a cost of living and climate issue for graduate students in the city, many of whom rely on safe biking for their commute and would not feel comfortable on streets without bike lanes. He put forth a motion for UTGSU to adopt a position that would enact opposition to the removal of bike lanes and begin UTGSU’s advocacy with provincial, municipal, and university administrative representatives to express dissent and ensure safe bike transit to campus. As Nickel put it, it’s more “powerful” for the union and the board to support grad students’ opposition to the removal. The motion carried.
student motions from AGM Board pushes two motions to future meeting, announces election dates
On January 27, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held an emergency Board of Directors (BOD) meeting to address unapproved motions from the union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 28.
The UTMSU AGM ended abruptly due to time constraints, leaving many motions undiscussed. As a result, students were forced to refer the remaining motions to the emergency board meeting. During the meeting, the union got through most of the remaining AGM motions, pushed two to a future meeting, and approved the upcoming UTMSU election dates.
Executive reports were kept brief to accommodate the unaddressed AGM motions. More detailed reports will be shared in the next emergency BOD meeting, which will be held on February 7.
The UTMSU met with Cameron MirandaRadbord — a student member of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council — to discuss and send a letter to Brian Hoppie, the operations manager of U of T’s Parking & Transportation Hospitality & Ancillary Services, to increase shuttle services between UTSG and UTM, as well as relocating the shuttle stop back to Hart House.
Vice-President (VP) External Daniel Ripoll addressed students’ concerns about travel times from Brampton, Vaughan, and Milton. Ripoll plans to continue advocating for more frequent services on the Brampton Transit 199 express bus during exam season and proposed new transit routes, including a new GO line from Milton, to address these service gaps, and mentioned that he was trying to set up meetings with Brampton City Council and Metrolinx.
AGM continued
Among the unresolved AGM motions was one to create the Committee to Indigenous Justice and Collaboration in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, specifically Call to Action 80, which emphasizes public commemoration of residential schools through a statutory holiday. Many major educational institutions across the country — such as the University of British Columbia and Queen’s University — observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation statutory holiday on September 30, but U of T does not.
UTMSU President Joelle Salsa spoke to the motion, noting that the committee’s mandate overlaps with that of the Land Acknowledgement Committee approved at the AGM. She mentioned that she’s working with the student who originally moved the motion to suggest the two committees merge and collaborate on Indigenous advocacy at UTM. Ultimately, the motion was agreed to be referred to the Land Acknowledgement Committee.
U of T plans to take out $1.4 billion in debt over the next five years
Business Board discusses potential impact of tariffs, supports deferred maintenance program
Jessie Schwalb
Business & Labour Governance Correspondent
On January 29, the U of T Business Board had a meeting discussing how a Canada-US tariff war could impact its plans to take out $1.4 billion in debt over the next five years. It joined the Planning and Budget Committee in recommending that the university embark on a $350 billion program to maintain U of T’s infrastructure. It also changed how U of T manages investment risks.
Debt in the age of tariffs
U of T’s capacity to build the massive projects that dot its campuses hinges on its Debt Policy, which specifies that the university cannot take out debt that would leave it spending more than six per cent of its budget on interest payments.
At the January 29 meeting, Executive Director of Treasury and Investment Services Anthony Tia told the board that the university projects that it can borrow enough money to build projects worth $4.6 billion over the next five years — without adjusting its debt policy. However, a trade war between the US and Canada could put that forecast in jeopardy.
On April 30, 2024, the university’s debt limit
totalled $2.95 billion — far more than its $1.16
billion in debt as of December 31, 2024. Tia hinted that plans on the horizon include academic projects and projects as part of the 4 Corners Strategy: a real estate initiative where private companies develop and lease university-owned land. If the university’s sprawling governance infrastructure approves all projects in the works, U of T expects to take out an additional $1.4 billion in debt by 2030, bringing its total debt to $3.2 billion.
The administration’s analysis assumes that the university will face a six per cent interest rate — one percentage point higher than what its peer universities currently face. If interest rates rose to seven per cent, the university’s planned borrowing would bump up against its debt ceiling. Board member Samantha Kappagoda questioned whether the six per cent forecast matches the moment. “There's always the possibility of a tariff war, ensuing higher inflation and because of that, higher [interest] rates,” she said.
On January 29, the Bank of Canada — which is responsible for setting the interest rates faced by commercial banks — announced that it was reducing its target overnight rate, sending ripple effects through the economy. A lower overnight rate leads commercial banks to lower their interest rates, encouraging
Another motion left unaddressed was for the union to lobby the university for larger multifaith spaces for both men and women.
VP University Affairs Sidra Ahsan noted a lack of “sufficient space for people of all faiths to pray and fulfill religious obligations [for both men and women].” Currently, there are nine faith spaces at UTM.
The board approved an amendment to the motion to ensure more inclusive language, changing “both men and women” to “all users” and rewording the motion to include “more” to emphasize the need for increasing the number of multi-faith spaces. The motion carried.
The next motion addressed was the creation of another committee for Palestine, called “Strike for Palestine,” which would focus on the “open and bold political organization of students.”
Salsa clarified the redundancy of creating another committee to advocate for Palestine, given that an ad hoc committee has already been established and a ceasefire is in place.
She mentioned that the ad hoc committee follows a need-based system, taking student
concerns and bringing those issues to attention within the community. The committee used this system to remove Starbucks products from the UTMSU-run Duck Stop Convenience store.
Alternatively, Salsa suggested, “If students want to see a strike, they can bring it up to the ad hoc committee.” The motion failed to carry.
The proposal for an opposition student union to enhance the union’s accountability and representation was ruled out of order by the BOD Meeting Chair Kayla Weiler, who mentioned that the proposal was “outside the scope of UTMSU’s bylaws” and that bylaws already have “mechanisms in place for transparency” between board members and students.
Another motion was for the UTMSU to lobby the university to maintain the current level of service of Brampton Transit Route 199 throughout exam season, as service ends when classes stop. After some discussion, the motion was carried.
The following motions were pushed to upcoming meetings: investigating the feasibility and benefits of creating a ‘makerspace’ — a community hub designed for hands-on learning, sustainability, and innovation — at UTM as well as preventing the relocation of the Sexual Education Centre.
The meeting ended with Nagata mentioning the need for two more BOD meetings before the election season to “strike the hiring committee for the positions coming up” among other items of business.
“There [are also] some policy amendments, for especially [the Election Procedural Codes], before the election starts,” said Nagata.
Election dates
Members also approved the dates for the 2025 UTMSU elections, held annually between February and March. The nomination period will run from February 24–28. Campaigning will begin on March 3, and the voting period will be from March 11–13. T he MSA did not respond to The Varsity ’s request for comment in time for publication.
businesses to invest more. With inflation reaching two per cent, the bank’s decision to lower interest rates signaled that the bank has relative confidence — or at least tentative hope — that more investment wouldn’t drive up inflation.
However, the Bank of Canada acknowledged in its announcement that “if broad-based and significant [US] tariffs were imposed, the resilience of Canada’s economy would be tested.” US President Donald Trump threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports starting February 1, which would drive up inflation by increasing the costs of imported goods while also weakening investment.
This could leave the bank caught between
trying to encourage investment and keeping inflation down. Because the US and Canada trade billions of dollars worth of construction materials each year, a trade war could also drive up construction prices, reducing how much the university’s Canadian dollars can buy.
U of T Chief Financial Officer Trevor Rodgers assured Kappagoda that the school would strategically time taking out loans to find lower rates, while Tia floated that the university could raise the policy limit, bringing it closer to other universities. Tia told the board that U of T can “respond to changing circumstances” by potentially “delaying some of the projects that are nice to have.”
Continued from previous page.
“There’s no trade-off here”
At the meeting, Chief Operating Officer, Property Services & Sustainability Ron Saporta presented an item that Vice-President, Operations and Real Estate Partnerships Scott Mabury described as “typically one of the highlights of the business board”: U of T’s 2024 Deferred Maintenance Report.
Deferred maintenance (DM) refers to the building and infrastructure updates and upkeep that is put off year to year. According to the report, failing to address DM can leave systems unreliable, cause “failures,” and damage the university’s “ranking and reputation.”
The report reveals that U of T’s DM backlog came in at $1.5 billion for 2024 — a $263 million increase from 2023. Due to its size and age, most of these costs are concentrated at UTSG. The increasing DM backlog comes down to three factors: increasing construction prices in Toronto over the past five years; construction “growth spurts” in the post-war period and early 2000s whose renovation timelines align; and increasing wear and tear due to climate change.
In 2024, the university spent 0.55 per cent of all 177 buildings’ total replacement value — the value it would take to hypothetically replace all the buildings — on DM. This figure is far below the
1.5–3 per cent range recommended by experts and less than half of the provincial average. “No, it's not enough. We would like to spend more, but budgets are about making choices,” Mabury told the board.
To address this issue, the Business Board unanimously recommended that the university take out $250 million in debt to address DM over the next three years as part of a new $350 million project. Vice-President and Provost Trevor Young assured the board that the university has the capacity to take on the debt without “skimping on” hiring students or missing other opportunities.
“There's no trade-off here,” Mabury said.
On February 27, the Governing Council will decide whether to greenlight the project.
Because many maintenance updates will increase energy efficiency, the university expects the project to save one to two million dollars each year. By bundling projects across multiple buildings, the university can enter into fewer contracts and reduce its costs. The administration projects that, by spending $300 million on UTSG, the university can fix issues that would cost $600 million to address in 2050.
“This is going to save us money,” said Mabury.
Less risk, less reward
U of T squirrels away money in various investment pools: its short-term Expendable Funds Investment
February 4, 2025
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Pool (EFIP), which carries little risk but lower returns; its medium-term EFIP, which provides higher returns over longer periods; and its Longterm Capital Appreciation Pool, which provides returns over decades.
On January 29, the Business Board approved a change to how the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) — which manages the university’s portfolios — balances the medium-term EFIP’s risk and reward.
The medium-term pool makes up approximately 30 per cent of the EFIP, which itself totaled $3.9 billion in 2023. In 2022, a rapid rise in interest rates left the medium-term EFIP with a negative 10 per cent return. “There were unrealized losses of $80 million that year and [that] really exceeded our tolerance level,” Rodgers told the board.
UTAM decides where to place U of T’s vast amounts of money based on the risk and returns experienced by benchmark portfolios.
In light of the 2022 “volatility,” the administration proposed changing the medium-term EFIP’s reference portfolio from the FTSE Canada Corporate BBB Index to an even split between that index and the FTSE Canada Short-Term BBB Index — both of which track how bonds in Canada perform.
This new benchmark will “result, we expect, in a modest reduction in yield, but really a significant improvement in that annualized
volatility, and that will be much more aligned with our objectives,” said Rodgers. The board unanimously approved the change.
Looking ahead
With final numbers set to drop in June, Rodgers presented the board with U of T’s forecasted financial results for 2024–2025. Although the administration knows approximately how much money it will receive from students and pay employees, Rodgers noted the “unprecedented uncertainty” in investment markets, which could change the final tallies.
The administration currently expects that U of T’s revenue will exceed its expenses by three per cent, which is smaller than the 10.9 per cent net revenue experienced last year but still financially healthy.
“We’re not terribly worried at three per cent, but just noting the direction of travel,” Rodgers told the board. Young hinted that the university witnessed a bump in applications from the US, which could help it enroll more international students.
Mabury also told the board that the administration assessed the productivity of every job at the university. “We have been preparing for a period in which revenues are more modest and [where] we need to think about our efficiency and productivity,” he said.
Toronto just revealed its budget for the next calendar year
Here’s what you need to know as a student
Alexander Rafael Tjipta Varsity Contributor
On January 13, the City of Toronto Budget Committee greenlit an $18.8 billion operating budget and a $59.6 billion capital budget for the following year. The former will be used to operate the City’s services in 2025, and the latter for key investments in the coming decade. 89 per cent of the cost increases in the budget are focused on key public concerns: public transit, affordable housing, emergency services — including police, medical, and fire services — and collective agreement provisions, which are essentially contracts with city employees, covering wages and benefits.
Transit services
Good news for commuters: Mayor Olivia Chow has pledged $4.9 billion in TTC investment.
The funding will support the production of new subway cars, e-buses, and “State-ofGood-Repair” — essentially maintenance for existing infrastructure. Importantly, the City has confirmed that fares will remain frozen at $3.30 for the second consecutive year since the last increase in early 2023.
Service hours are also set to increase by 5.8 per cent, approximately 500,000 hours, which is expected to reduce wait times during offpeak periods. Additionally, this year’s budget introduces a trial program to address bus and streetcar congestion on busy routes. On-street supervisors will be deployed on key routes, such as Dufferin Street and Don Mills, to help keep service evenly spaced.
Housing and tenancy
Given Toronto’s surging housing crisis, it’s no surprise that affordable housing remains a top
Good news for commuters: Mayor Olivia Chow has pledged $4.9 billion in TTC investment. The funding will support the production of new subway cars, e-buses, and “State-of-GoodRepair”...
concern for Torontonians in 2025 — as well as for many U of T students who are tenants. The upcoming capital budget includes a 1.5 per cent on the City building fund to support transit and housing initiatives. Additionally, $2.5 million in new spending will be allocated to extend rent bank assistance — financial aid for tenants at risk for eviction due to financial hardship — and increase eviction protection funding.
The City is supporting these increased costs with a 5.4 per cent residential property tax hike, marking the second consecutive year of significant increases following last year’s 10 per cent hike. Multi-residential buildings, such as condos and apartments, will face a 2.7 per cent property tax increase, although this won’t apply to owners of condos and singlefamily homes who rent out their properties. While these increases are necessary to cover new spending costs, the Toronto Star outlined concerns that landlords may pass the burden onto tenants.
The City reached a new collective bargaining agreement with service workers, including waste management staff, Toronto Water workers, and paramedics. The agreement includes higher wages, benefits, and enhanced insurance, helping workers recover some of the income lost due to inflation since the pandemic.
The City also plans to expand its workforce by hiring 109 police officers, 95 paramedics, and 52 firefighters in the coming months. This move may be controversial — public consultations and preliminary surveys in the 2025 budget launch report indicated that 40 per cent of Torontonians support disinvesting in police services.
When The Varsity attended a telephone town hall on January 23, some participants expressed concerns about community services such as food programs and Toronto Public Libraries being closed on Sundays. For those who frequent Toronto Public Libraries, there’s good news — 67 branches will now be open seven days a week: a 14 per cent increase in Sunday service. Additionally, school food programs will support 16,425 more students, a 7.2 per cent increase.
February 4, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/opinion opinion@thevarsity.ca
Forum: At the end of an era — was Justin Trudeau a good prime minister?
Four authors comment on his ups and downs, and who should take his place
Avin De, Emmanuella Nwabuoku, Sandro
Galati & Moeez Nasir Associate Opinion Editor & Varsity Contributors
On January 6, Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Canada’s prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party. This came less than a month after Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister and prominent member of Trudeau’s cabinet, resigned in December 2024.
Since the beginning of his term in October 2015, Trudeau has overseen nearly a decade’s worth of Canadian politics, including COVID-19 regulations, North American foreign policy, and confronting the country’s costs of living crisis. Looking back at his nine-year term, and considering the circumstances, was Trudeau a good prime minister? Furthermore, who should become the next Liberal leader and potentially, Canada’s next prime minister?
The Varsity asked four authors their opinion on Trudeau’s time in office and the future of this country’s leadership.
Trudeau created a home for immigrants When I heard of Trudeau’s resignation, I thought it was inevitable.
As of January 13, the Liberal Party’s approval rating on CBC’s poll tracker was 21.5 per cent compared to the Conservative Party’s 44.5 per cent. Trudeau’s unpopularity came from his policies — many of which were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased restrictions regarding travel. The freedom convoys — mass protests from the trucking industry following a mask and vaccination mandate — exemplified some Canadians’ anger with Trudeau and his COVID-19 policies.
I disliked Trudeau because I found him too ‘floppy’ on his policies. To me, it seemed like he never stuck to his beliefs. He would claim Canada is a land of immigration, then reduce the number of permanent residents admitted into the country while blaming “bad” actors for taking advantage of the system. Or think of the many promises made to Indigenous people he never kept, like the promise to provide clean water for First Nation communities in Canada which has yet to be manifested.
I am a first-generation immigrant, and I believe that Trudeau’s resignation will be overall beneficial for Canada’s progress. Yet, my father sees it as a tragedy. To my father, the Liberals’ poor policies did not outweigh the party’s benefit to immigrants.
During the height of COVID-19 in 2020, the Canadian government enforced public policies that created temporary pathways to permanent residency for migrant healthcare workers — policies that affected many immigrants like my mother. This ensured my family and others in my community could have a path to permanent residency and security. The Liberal Party, for all their faults, created an environment where immigrants felt comfortable migrating for safety, family, or employment. Under Trudeau, the number of immigrants rose, nearly doubling from the beginning of his start as prime minister in 2015.
I acknowledge the party’s unpopularity and the various reasons each Canadian has, but I also see the benefits he brought to marginalized groups. I think simplifying the nuances of his nearly decadelong run to ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a disservice to those who benefitted and struggled under his tenure.
Emmanuella Nwabuoku is a first-year student at Victoria College studying social sciences.
Much Trudeau about nothing I believe Trudeau’s tenure as prime minister was marked by a commitment to diversity and equity, both domestically and on the global stage. His leadership in these areas deserve praise, but it was also riddled with contradictions.
Domestically, Trudeau positioned himself as a progressive leader who championed inclusivity. His cabinet was the most diverse in Canadian history, featuring gender equality and significant representation from racialized and Indigenous communities. His government also introduced budgeting to advance sexual and reproductive health for countries around the world and expanded protections for LGBTQ+ Canadians.
However, I believe his commitment to Indigenous reconciliation was inconsistent. While he acknowledged the harm done to Indigenous communities in Canada, his government failed to meet key promises. This is particularly evident with access to clean drinking water in Indigenous communities and meaningful consultation on resource projects. For example, the Prince Rupert pipeline project in 2017 planned to go through unceded Indigenous territory, despite the hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs’ protests.
Internationally, Trudeau branded Canada as a human rights and multilateral leader. His administration renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement into the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement, balancing economic interests of the entire North American region by eliminating all tariff and non-tariff barriers of trade and investment. However, his stance on the environment seemed to clearly lack: Canada ranked 62 on the Climate Change Performance Index, measured out of 67 countries and the EU.
On the other hand, I think his stance on being “good friends” with Cuba — as opposed to continuing the long-standing American embargo — reflects his ability to resist US pressure to isolate Canada.
But, I would argue his foreign policy was often more symbolic than substantive. While Trudeau condemned human rights violations in countries like Venezuela and Myanmar, his actions rarely extended beyond diplomatic statements and sanctions. This reflects a broader tendency in his foreign policy: advocating for progressive values without always committing the necessary political or economic capital to enforce them.
I see Trudeau’s tenure as marked by both missteps and moments of diplomatic finesse. While his government often fell short of its ambitious promises, he managed to defuse tense political situations better than previous administrations had or would have. His legacy will likely be remembered as one of ambition tempered by political realities: an attempt to reshape Canada’s identity constrained by the very system he sought to reform.
Avin De is a third-year student at Rotman Commerce studying finance and economics. He is an associate Opinion editor at The Varsity.
Trudeau is the polite face of failure
To put it bluntly, I see Trudeau as the worst prime minister in contemporary Canadian history and argue that he ought to be remembered as such. His governance style was one that, I believe, threw caution to the wind in pursuit of highminded, grand, and ill-thought-out policy aims. Millions of Canadians are now made to deal with the fallout intimately and daily.
I want to focus singularly on an issue that Canadian voters rank as being among the most pressing: housing costs. Since Trudeau’s election as prime minister in 2015, the disparity between inflation-adjusted home prices in Canada and every other G7 nation has grown by a staggering degree. In contrast, American home price rates — the second most expensive in the G7 — are still roughly 60 per cent cheaper than those in Canada.
During Trudeau’s tenure, Canada’s housing supply has remained steady, with roughly 200,000 units constructed a year and rental vacancy rates barely fluctuating. However, from 2018 to 2022, the country added an average of 500,000 new people to its population yearly. An overwhelming majority of this growth came from the increased immigration due to the administration’s policies.
This has made Canada the fastest growing country by population in the G7. The equation is rather simple: when there are too many people and not enough houses, prices soar. Perhaps he was simply ignoring the facts because they would have limited his self-congratulatory promotion of ‘diversity’ and ‘multiculturalism.’ Or alternatively, he is a fool who ruined Canada’s housing market and immigration system without a solid rationale. All of these explanations are plausible, none are forgivable.
Hopefully, Canadians discard Trudeau into the trash heap of history and prevent anybody who aided him from holding political office ever again.
Sandro Galati is a fourth-year student at St. Michael’s College studying political science and ethics, society, and law.
Carney can do it instead of Trudeau
The most important discussion in any election for me is the economy. This is where Trudeau receives the most criticism — specifically about
the high costs of living — but I don’t believe all of it’s deserved.
For one, he gets blamed for running massive deficits, but Canada has the lowest deficit in the G7. Inflation was indeed high in Canada, reaching 8.1 per cent, but this was caused by COVID-19’s supply chain issues. Further, inflation rates have since cooled to 1.8 per cent as of December 2024, lower than the goal of 3 per cent as set by the Central Bank of Canada.
I think people forget that the situation could have been much worse, especially if we had a prime minister like Pierre Poilievre in power. Poilievre wanted to cut COVID-19 benefits when people were already out of jobs and did not have money to spend — which, in my opinion, would have been a worse alternative since the economy can’t function if people don’t engage with it.
One common criticism I agree with was Trudeau’s immigration policy, in which he brought in over 471,771 immigrants in 2023. This large influx fueled further discontent among Canadian residents when housing prices were already rising. Some one-bedroom apartments are going for over $2,000 per month in big cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.
The dramatic increase in population — in addition to the remaining stress from the COVID-19 pandemic — is also partly responsible for causing a strain on the healthcare sector, according to the former prime minister himself. To illustrate, the average hospital wait time in Ontario in 2024 was 22 hours.
Two major candidates for the Liberal Party leadership are Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney. I don’t think Freeland can win due to her being deeply connected with Trudeau through her various previous roles in his cabinet. On the other hand, Carney has an impressive resume without the Trudeau baggage.
Carney has had experience with running Canada’s economy in times of crisis, such as through his tenure as the Governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 recession up until 2013. Canada was able to avoid a major banking collapse, unlike every other G7 country. Furthermore, Carney worked in the corporate sector. This would have given him the necessary experience in dealing with Trump-like businessmen at a time when Canada is in a trade war with the US, who have proposed a blanket 25 per cent tariff on February 1.
Moeez Nasir is a first-year student at Trinity College studying
We shouldn’t impose extra burdens on students
U of T recently published final grades for 2024 fall term courses, which has left me reflecting not only on my academic performance but also on the larger grading policies at work evaluating students.
I think U of T’s grading policies — such as maintaining course averages within a set range and charging fees for exam remarks — raise important questions. Are these practices fair? Do they truly align with the goals of higher education?
I see U of T’s grading policies as unethical because they value institutional consistency over individual academic achievement and financial accessibility.
Grade distribution
At U of T, instructors follow grading guidelines that encourage keeping course averages within a specific range to prevent grade inflation and ensure consistency across programs. The U of T Faculty Handbook notes that in large first- or second-year courses, the percentage of As should “reasonably” fall between 15 per cent and 35 per cent.
In theory, these policies seek to ensure equity between the many classes being taught, but in practice, they directly contradict the fundamental purpose of grading. If students in a class are doing exceptionally well, why should their grades be artificially lowered to meet an arbitrary distribution?
For Daniel Mathew — a third-year student studying economics, public policy, and mathematics — although “it’s fine to keep course averages within a certain range to counter grade inflation… The point of a grade is to show how
much content in a course you know.” On these grounds, Mathew believes that “If you know everything that has been taught[,] then you deserve full marks[.]” He added that “exams shouldn’t be made more difficult than needed just to keep [the] average low.”
Interestingly, Eyad Ibrahim — a third-year student studying cell & molecular biology and genome biology — points out that the other facet of grade curving — upward instead of downward — masks another problem. “[W]hen all the class gets a low grade[,] [students] get curved up[,] which is good from a student perspective [But] it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem [which is] that the students aren’t understanding the material,” he said in an interview with The Varsity.
I agree with both Mathew and Ibrahim — the ultimate goal of grading should be to measure students’ understanding of course material and their ability to apply what they have learned. Grading should represent learning, not arbitrary grade-range parameters. Grades should thus not be skewed upward or downward to satisfy unfair rules.
However, U of T’s grading policies often prioritize these parameters and the consistency they provide over accurate reflections of students’ academic performance. This approach undermines the integrity of the grading system and the learning process itself.
Exam re-mark fees
One of the other highly problematic policies at U of T is the regrading fee. Students are charged $37.75 when they request a re-mark of their final
Grading should represent learning, not arbitrary grade-range parameters. BRENNAN KARUNARATNE/THE VARSITY
exam. Although this fee is returned in case of a grade change, it still constitutes a financial obstacle for students who feel that their grades may not have been accurately recorded but cannot afford to spend money on a re-mark that may not even result in a grade change.
Mathew opposes the policy strenuously, saying “If a TA made a mistake grading a final, the student should not have to pay to have it corrected. It’s a mistake on the part of the course [instructor] and [the] university, not the student.”
Ibrahim also points out that many students struggle financially. “Many students I’ve personally met, Canadian and international, face tough financial strain due to university fees and all other [fees associated] with living outside your parents[’] home.” Housing, tuition, and other general expense unaffordability have been a prominent issue faced by students — both domestic and international. While exam remark fees may seem like a drop in the bucket, small-scale expenses like these can pose large-scale problems for students in an increasingly unaffordable city like Toronto.
We should discourage re-mark fees because I believe they reflect a greater injustice at play: economic inequality. Higher education is already prohibitively expensive, especially for international students and those from low-income backgrounds. Charging them again for something routine like a re-mark is exploitative. Instead, U of T should allocate funds to offset these kinds of expenses, or altogether waive the fee for students experiencing financial hardship.
Accessibility should be essential to our grading systems. Placing financial barriers in front of students who seek accurate evaluations of their
The politics of women’s pain are inherently
The politicization of menstruation and abortion proliferate women’s pain
Shontia Sanders Associate Opinion Editor
Content warning: This article discusses sexism, misogyny, and death.
The ‘politics of pain’ is a term in feminist theory that describes the politicization of women’s physical pain, particularly through imposing antiwoman ideologies and frameworks in the political and economic governance of menstruation and abortion.
Women face not only natural physical pain through menstruation and abortion, but also psychological and emotional distress caused by the harmful politicizations of these experiences: primarily through the commodification of menstruation, workplace challenges related to menstruation, and dangerous abortion legislation.
I believe the politicization of menstruation and abortion in North America reflects a broader disregard for the well-being and humanity of the women who endure these painful physical acts.
Commodifying menstruation
Many advocates argue that menstrual products should at the very least be absolved from taxation, given that many basic grocery items are taxfree. Others suggest that specific products, such as menstrual cups and menstrual underwear, should be subsidized due to their reusability and environmental sustainability.
I, like many women’s activists, argue that menstrual products should be entirely free of charge. Commodifying these menstrual products is not only a slap in the face to women who can afford them, but an outright attack on financially strained, impoverished, and women experiencing poverty who also experience “period poverty.”
When menstrual products are inaccessible or unaffordable, women are forced to use toilet paper and other painfully ineffective alternatives, which illustrates the barbarism of any political society that allows such dehumanizing measures in response
to a natural physical experience.
Traditionally ‘men’s’ products like erectile dysfunction medication Viagra and men’s shaving cream are sold tax-free in the US, and condoms are provided at no cost on many university campuses and health agencies, including at U of T’s sexual education centre. If this is the case, what then justifies charging a base price and taxing menstrual products, which, unlike many of these ‘men’s’ products, are not a luxury but a necessity?
It’s true that condoms simultaneously protect women from sexually transmitted infections and diseases, but sexual abstinence is always an exercisable choice. Menstruation is not.
Workplace period politics
Another politicized issue is workplace menstrual leave. The social taboo surrounding menstruation has made its consideration in the workplace effectively non-existent. This has reinforced the idea that women should quietly endure the onslaught of debilitating menstrual symptoms — even if they can impede women’s ability to perform effectively at work.
In December 2023, Canada mandated free access to menstrual products for workers, making a step in the right direction. However, I believe there is still much work to be done to alleviate painful menstruation experiences, particularly by reworking workplace dynamics to allow for menstrual leave. Menstrual symptoms and side effects should
not be whispered as coy anecdotes from woman to woman that always end with the same disappointing concession: we just have to deal with it. Workplaces should accommodate the physical needs of their workers, not the other way around. After all, they were designed for human participation, weren’t they?
Abortion arbitration
While the right to an abortion is protected nationwide in Canada, many US states have banned abortions altogether — with the exception of some states that protect the right.
In September 2021, Texas woman Josseli Barnica was denied an abortion despite suffering a miscarriage. Due to ambiguous definitions of a “medical emergency,” the fact that Barnica’s fetus still had a heartbeat took priority over Barnica’s cramps, bleeding, and unhealthy cervical dilation. Doctors refused to treat her until the fetus’ heartbeat stopped, and her treatment came all too late. Barnica subsequently died of sepsis. Barnica’s outcome is one that could be repeated under the new anti-abortion legislation following the reversal of Roe v Wade: a Supreme Court ruling that had constitutionally protected the right to abortion in every US state until its overturning in June 2022.
I view the state-by-state regulation of when and under what ultra-specific circumstances abortions can legally be performed as dangerous. It grants
work is as fundamentally unfair as setting arbitrary grade distribution ranges.
If the university truly values equity, it should reallocate resources to eliminate remark fees or at least have an option to waive them for students with financial need.
Taking steps to change
I think U of T’s grading and re-mark policies reflect the broader challenge faced by institutions of higher learning to find a balance between simultaneously upholding their academic standards and ensuring fairness for students.
While grade inflation and grading consistency are valid concerns, these policies do more harm than good. Arbitrary grade distribution rules and unfair exam re-mark fees place undue burdens on students at the cost of their academic growth and fairness.
If U of T is truly committed to creating an equitable learning environment, it needs to reconsider the mechanisms it employs to do so. Grading should be used as a measure of academic knowledge and progress, not used to satisfy statistical quotas or to generate revenue for the university by charging students unnecessary fees. Fairness, transparency, and accessibility are the keys to the development of such a system which would truly support students and academic success.
Matt Lee is a third-year student at Innis College studying English, history, and philosophy of science and technology. They are a CIUT.FM production team leader and a CIUT.FM board of directors student representative.
state governments the authority to arbitrarily decide when a woman can receive necessary care, effectively giving them the power to determine when she lives or dies.
As Barnica’s case illustrates, natal complications do not always fit with the x-week period or the x-number of medical circumstances that these states arbitrate the legal acceptability of terminating a pregnancy.
The unique, political femininity of pain
Like many critics of dehumanizing menstruation and anti-abortion politics, I argue that if men endured menstruation, menstrual products would be free. Advocates for the constitutional protection of abortion also propose that if men were the childbearers instead of women, antiabortion debates wouldn’t even be happening.
For instance, the World Health Organization conducted a study on male birth control, which was scrapped after participants reported side effects like acne and mood swings. Yet female birth control and abortions come with a wide range of side effects, the most dangerous being death. Why, then, is male pain taken seriously, while female pain is normalized and proliferated?
There is much to consider in the unique and inherently gendered way society politicizes abortion and menstruation. The frameworks through which we politicize these experiences — namely, the normalization of physical pain during menstruation and abortion — have become socially and politically tied to womanhood, and are inherently patriarchal and misogynistic. They are governed by the same gendered caveats that subjugate women in all other areas of life. After all, when every other aspect of women’s lives is scrutinized by society, what difference does the painful, distressing, and fatal politicization of menstruation and abortion make?
Shontia Sanders is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying political science. She is an associate Opinion editor for The Varsity and an associate editor for POLIS.
Olivia Bello Varsity Contributor
Content warning: This article discusses misogyny, systemic violence, sexual abuse and violence, and child sexual abuse and violence.
Sex work is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, this work is at the forefront of conversations regarding power, agency, and oppression.
When it comes to the social stigma and legal prosecution surrounding the sex industry, it is the workers who bear the consequences — not the producers, agents, and higher-ups of the industry.
Although feminists have long argued that the sex industry is a direct manifestation of the power imbalance between men and women, recent sex-positive movements have sought to strip away shame surrounding the discourse about women’s sexuality. As writer Flo Perry phrases it, “Any kind of porn can be feminist if everyone involved is having a good time, even if they don’t look like they’re having a good time.”
However, growing numbers of young women express feeling disengaged by this form of rhetoric, arguing that sex positivity has not been successful in eradicating or even addressing the patriarchal social structure which led to the need for women’s empowerment in the first place.
Given how the internet has facilitated an infinitely more accessible and expansive world of pornography than ever before, sites like PornHub and OnlyFans are at the core of discussions about female sexuality in the digital sphere.
Is it possible to be sex-positive about business models with oftentimes harmful — if not horrifying — implications for the individuals involved?
The making of an industry
The internet is not the first technology to alter how pornography is created or consumed. The printing press, the invention of photography and film, and the proliferation of video recording have all led to significant changes in our relationship to porn.
However, none of these shifts come anywhere close to the dramatic impact that the internet has had on the porn industry. Online users are free to anonymously access an array of pornography which is seemingly endless and covers every niche and fetish imaginable. The development of webcams allowed users to create and distribute their own explicit videos and images, creating an entirely new genre of virtual sex work with a wider reach.
Watching porn induces intensely high levels of dopamine production, impacting the brain’s capacity to naturally produce the chemical. Over time, this requires an individual to seek out increasingly intense content to elicit a similar reaction from before.
The consequences of having problematic porn use (PPU) — a type of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder — include an increased risk of mental health issues like anxiety or depression. According to the Canadian Centre for Addictions, individuals who struggle with PPU are at a high risk of developing a negative relationship with intimacy, leading to damaged relationships and warped perceptions of sexuality.
Adults are certainly at risk of forming PPU — but so are children. In the US, the average age for first exposure to pornography is 12, while three-quarters of teenagers report they encountered it before turning 17.
Since the adolescent brain is highly impressionable, early exposure to porn can be incredibly detrimental to sexual development.
A report published by the National Library of Medicine in 2020 indicates that teenage viewers’ exposure to porn that overwhelmingly depicts violence becomes more likely to think that aggression is a typical aspect of sex.
Take PornHub as an example. It monetizes and predominantly features videos with titles such as “She Can’t Breathe” or “Extreme Choking.” Cases of sexual abuse are not uncommon within the industry, and survivors expressed that PornHub prolongs their suffering by keeping the footage of the assault posted online.
The media we consume plays a significant role in informing how we view ourselves and how we interact with the world around us. Since the majority of porn objectifies women, reinforces stereotypes of submission, and normalizes violent behaviour, it is concerning to think about how this may impact the collective mentality of its audience.
By choosing to participate in the sex industry, or find pleasure in pornographic content, sex positivists attempt to reclaim these aspects of pornography. However, I find it difficult to consider such a practice as empowering when the line between empowerment and oppression in sex work is blurred.
Some sex-positivists, like Swedish film director Erika Lust, have made laudable attempts to reclaim certain aspects of pornography by filming from a woman’s perspective. There are also multiple online porn
platforms which feature content with a greater focus on women’s pleasure.
While this genre of pornography is certainly a step in the right direction, it should not be mistaken for the broader porn industry, which remains far from progressive.
The sex industry normalizes the sexualization of young women. Teens exposed to porn might be illusioned into thinking that it’s an easy way to make money, and therefore, may be enticed to participate.
Anytime minors are involved in a commercial sexual activity — which includes online sexual exploitation — the Ontario government automatically classifies it as sex trafficking. Even when it comes to individuals of legal age, it is difficult to determine if pornographic content was produced consensually or nonconsensually. Moreover, the culture surrounding pornography, which normalizes subjugating women and fetishizing violence in media, has made it much more difficult for people to recognize instances of sexual abuse.
Although many people do participate in the porn industry willingly, to ignore its connections with the dark realm of sex trafficking would be grossly irresponsible. Public awareness is the first step in the fight against these incredibly harmful practices.
A new contender
OnlyFans — created in 2016 and popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic — presents a different format of online sex work. Creators upload private content onto their accounts, charging a subscription fee to anyone wanting to engage with their profiles and view their content.
This business model is certainly appealing to many: for a 20 per cent commission on creator earnings, it allows creators to have more personal control over the videos and images being posted and removes unnecessary middlemen like pimps or agents. As of 2024, OnlyFans has more than 305 million users and 4.11 million creators.
That being said, the bar for a safer alternative to PornHub is pretty low and OnlyFans is nowhere near absolved of its own human rights violations.
It’s one thing for adult women to willingly post pornographic content online — regardless of whether we deem it empowering or not — but minors are on OnlyFans as well. In 2021, BBC conducted an investigation which demonstrated that children were not only accessing the site but uploading content as
well, bypassing their age of majority restrictions and demonstrating the flaws in the website’s age verification system.
Moreover, while some of the content on OnlyFans is uploaded by teenagers, the UK’s National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has also found increasing proof of child trafficking on the platform. Because most content on OnlyFans is hidden behind a paywall, it’s easier for already trafficked individuals to be exploited without the scrutiny of a wider audience.
According to BBC News, multiple children have reported to the police about their images being posted to the site nonconsensually, including one teen who revealed that her face had been edited onto another person’s body. Many models on OnlyFans promote their content through social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. Considering that social media apps are primarily popular among teens and young adults, some concerns can be raised about the dangers of promoting sex work as an attractive and profitable profession. One anonymous girl who reached out to Childline — the British equivalent of Canada’s confidential 24-hour mental health service Kids Help Phone — added that she had been on OnlyFans since she was only 13. She stated that this was an easy way to make money and expressed admiration for the amount of Instagram followers that popular creators had amassed, even saying “I wanna be just like them.”
But who are these Instagram-famous OnlyFans influencers?
Perhaps the best example is 20-year-old Sophie Rain, who made $43 million in her first year on OnlyFans. Rain boasts over 11 million followers on TikTok, and in 2024, she established the ‘Bop House,’ a mansion in which she and other OnlyFans influencers create TikTok content together.
Their videos consist of viral dances and trends, although they also do not hesitate to flaunt their private jet or collection of sports cars. The portrayal of OnlyFans as a profitable profession is apparent: one of their videos features the caption “Dance if the Bop House made $10 million collectively in the month of December.”
Looking at the comments under these videos, it is clear that many TikTok users see these creators as aspirational figures. One person wrote, “They’re literally set for life” on a video. Another noted, “the bop house girls are actually my favourite tiktokers.”
There are many risks involved in porn production that young women may not be aware of when they initially enter the industry.
Just because someone has reached the age of majority does not necessarily mean they are fully ‘grown up.’ Individuals who have not achieved a certain level of maturity may be more vulnerable to certain tactics used by abusers, including coercion or blackmail.
Additionally, luxurious lifestyles are far from the norm for the average OnlyFans creator. In reality, most creators reportedly earn between $150 and $180 a month. The top one per cent of creators make around a third of all the money on the platform, while those in the top 10 per cent take home nearly three-quarters of OnlyFans’ total profits, earning at least $100,000 monthly.
Social Rise — a toolkit for aspiring OnlyFans creators who want to promote their content, including guidance on leveraging platforms like Reddit — provides a wide range of insights into OnlyFans’ user breakdown.
According to their data, women constitute up to 84 per cent of all creators on OnlyFans, while men comprise 71 per cent of subscribers. The largest age demographic is young adults between 18–34, although it’s important to note that these figures reflect the platform’s overall trends and may not fully capture the diversity of content and creators.
While reviewing information on Social Rise’s website, I came across something unsettling. Under a subheader titled “Need a break? Check out the accounts our readers subscribed to the most today,” there was a table presenting the profile pictures, usernames, subscriber counts, and subscription costs of various creators.
One creator, labelled “Kayla #1 teen,” stood out to me.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the bio on her account read, “I just turned 18, so I’m finally old enough for this site! I’m excited to explore myself with you… anything goes now!”
Social Rise was the very first link to appear in my Google search for more information about OnlyFans, and I was taken aback by how its content appeared to tap into exploitative language and imagery often associated with underage or newly adult themes.
Danielle Bregoli, also known as Bhad Bhabie — the internet rapper behind “Gucci Flip Flops" — had countless fans eagerly awaiting her 18th birthday when she would be legally able to join OnlyFans and post content.
The oversexualization of young women is not without consequences, as it can perpetuate the harmful belief that a woman should cultivate her sexual appeal over her selfhood.
A “24-hour challenge”
In the context of our society’s complex relationship with sexuality and media, 23-yearold OnlyFans creator Lily Phillips recently made headlines after attempting to sleep with 100 men in one day.
In a YouTube documentary with 9.1 million views, YouTuber Josh Pieters followed Phillips in the weeks leading up to her attempt.
In one scene, Pieters asks Phillips if she considers herself a feminist. She replied affirmatively explaining, “Guys are always going to sexualize me, so I may as well try to profit off it.” She acknowledges that, while she enjoys her work, it also brings up complex feelings about how it may perpetuate negative gender stereotypes: “It’s hard because you’re being selfish but you’re also not helping the situation.”
Later in the video, Pieters asked Phillips if she had considered the possibility that some of the men she would be having intercourse
with might have HIV. Phillips admitted that she wasn’t fully informed on how HIV is transmitted.
The situation became more complicated when some of the men who had signed up to participate cancelled at the last minute, which increased the risk of untested participants joining the shoot.
Beforehand, Phillips shared that attempting this challenge had been her “fantasy” for a long time. However, afterward, she revealed that the experience was more intense than she had anticipated, explaining that she had disassociated throughout the day. She became visibly upset and cried before eating dinner alone. This raised concerns about her emotional well-being, particularly considering the lack of apparent support from her payrolled staff during such a taxing experience.
Phillips is set to attempt another extreme challenge, aiming to break the world record by having sex with 1,000 men in 24 hours this month. Cases like that of Lily Phillips — who has earned two million UK pounds in the industry as of December, 2024 — demonstrate how a constant demand for excessive content frequently outweighs concerns for the physical and mental well-being of those involved.
Terms and conditions apply
In different forms, porn has been part of human culture for centuries — but what does its present landscape look like?
It is no stretch of the imagination to say that pornography has never been more pervasive. The phrase “sex sells” remains relevant, with the porn industry valued at $97 billion USD globally.
While platforms like OnlyFans may give creators more control over their content, safeguarding it remains a significant challenge. Once uploaded, content may be copied, distributed, and replaced without consent,
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Considering that social media apps are primarily popular among teens and young adults, some concerns can be raised about the dangers of promoting sex work as an attractive and profitable profession.
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violating creators’ control over their own image and intellectual property.
The concepts of privacy and ownership are certainly not the only aspects of sex work being redefined in the digital age. Cases like that of Phillips illustrate how market pressures for increasingly extreme content can sometimes overshadow concerns for the physical and mental well-being of creators.
If we intend to bring about meaningful societal change surrounding women’s sexuality, the first step is to acknowledge the conversation with nuance. Some individuals choose a profession in sex work freely, while others are compelled by external circumstances. Regardless of their backgrounds, sex workers should not bear the blame for the exploitative structures within the pornography industry.
American feminist Carol Hanisch once stated, “the personal is political.” Often misunderstood, this phrase highlights how women’s personal activities, particularly those involving oppression, are rooted in broader societal and political structures. Hanisch argues that women’s problems are political problems, and addressing them requires systemic change.
Moreover, sex education is a crucial component in maintaining a balanced relationship between society and sensuality. By ensuring that school curricula discuss safe sex, consent, and the dangers of excessive pornography consumption, teenagers are given the necessary tools to navigate their own sexuality in a healthy manner.
In this context, the porn industry’s damaging and misogynistic elements can be seen as a symptom of a broader cultural problem. Despite advancements in the feminist cause, we have yet to fully challenge the standards of violence and objectification that continue to be upheld by patriarchal systems.
February 4, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture arts@thevarsity.ca
Up close and personal: The ticketing crisis
“It’s just kind of a slap in the face,” said Jenn Lawrence, a 19-year-old Swiftie from New Brunswick, in an interview with The Varsity. “So many people weren’t given the chance [to attend the Era’s Tour] because of the way Ticketmaster goes about things… It was just honestly a nightmare.”
For many of us, attending a concert is more than just a night out — it’s a milestone of connection and fandom. But for fans of pop artists like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, that opportunity is slipping out of reach. Soaring ticket prices, bots, scalpers, and the dominance of Ticketmaster and Live Nation have turned a dream into an uphill battle, prompting fans to ask if live music has become a luxury only the privileged can afford?
The ticketing monopoly fans can’t escape Ticketmaster and Live Nation have become untouchable giants in the live music world, holding a near-monopoly on major concerts. Fans are left to navigate a system that feels stacked against them, where getting tickets seems impossible unless they’ve got deep pockets, the luck of the Irish, or an insider connection.
Take Azaan Sabherwal — a third-year student studying finance and economics, and an avid concert-goer — who tried to get tickets for Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour in Toronto last September. He was in the ticket queue right as people were allowed to line up and yet, he recalls that “There were 30,000 people [in front of me.] Scotiabank’s capacity is 20,000, can you believe it?” Despite his early preparation, he had no choice but to pay inflated resale prices — a common frustration.
The Eras Tour’s presence in Toronto was impossible to miss — every corner of the city seemed to celebrate Swift. However, the overwhelming advertisements and promotions also revealed how commercial interests now dominate what was once a fan-first experience.
“Every other street sign — it’s not needed,” said an employee at a major US entertainment and record label conglomerate, who asked to remain anonymous. “All the ads started going up and like all the billboards started happening, It was never gonna impact their ticket sales… the only thing impacted was resellers upping their price astronomically to like about 10,000 dollars”
These monopolistic behemoths hold so much power that it feels like the entire live event industry operates on their terms. Fans aren’t just upset about high prices, they’re angry that the system is rigged to benefit everyone but them.
In 2023, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) held an antitrust hearing to investigate whether Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s merger
was unfairly stifling competition, creating an environment where they control pricing and access to tickets. The hearing occurred after the DOJ sued the companies for illegally monopolizing various markets within the live entertainment industry, and the case continues to progress through the legal system. For many, instances like the antitrust lawsuit make it clear that these giants have become too big and are exploiting their dominance at the expense of the fans who built this industry. In the meantime, fans are left feeling helpless in a system that prioritizes profit over accessibility.
Scalpers, bots, and the exploitative resale market
While Ticketmaster’s practices are troubling, it is only one part of the bigger issue. Scalpers — resellers who buy tickets in bulk to flip for profit — and automated bots designed to purchase tickets instantly have further exacerbated the situation. These bots swoop in to buy tickets the moment they’re released, then resell them at outrageous prices. According to Statista, the average concert ticket price in 2024 soared to 135.92 USD, up from about 78 USD in 2015.
Lina Nguyen — a 23-year-old concert-goer I met on X — told The Varsity in a phone call, “I [used to] quite literally [buy] tickets for big artists for honestly, like, barely $100… fast forward, like five plus years and I think to even try to see a concert at a decent view you have to splurge.”
The issue deepened in Ontario after Premier Doug Ford’s government removed the cap on resale prices in 2019. Before that, tickets could only be resold for up to 50 per cent above the original price. Now, scalpers can go as high as they please, and bots can secure the best seats before fans even have a chance.
To combat this issue, Ticketmaster introduced its Verified Fan System, promising to prioritize real fans over bots. Unfortunately, the promise hasn’t been delivered, with many fans expressing frustration over their inability to get verified and system delay following bot attacks. Lawrence said, “It was letting the same people into the queue every time it would open… So it’s just hard for anybody who hadn’t gotten a chance.” Verified or not, many fans are left staring at empty carts, only to see tickets appear on resale sites at inflated prices.
Ticketmaster’s controversial dynamic pricing model adjusts prices based on demand. While artists can opt-out, Carpenter chose not to for her tour. The result was price surges and sticker shock for fans, who The Independent reports were left disgruntled, “absolutely appalled,” and under the impression that their favourite pop star was little more than “incredibly greedy.”
The issue, however, isn’t just limited to international pop stars — independent artists
and smaller artists like Gracie Abrams face similar struggles in keeping ticket prices fair and accessible. Abrams built a dedicated fan base through intimate performances and online connections during the pandemic. However, after opening for Swift, her shows have been plagued by resellers, bots, and inflated prices. Whether for big or small artists, the core issue remains the same: the system is broken, and it’s the fans who are paying the price.
The VIP divide in concert culture
While fans struggle with high prices and endless queues, influencers and corporations seem to glide through the system effortlessly. Many influencers gain access to free tickets or VIP experiences, often thanks to the artist’s team or corporate sponsors. At Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour, the stark contrast between fans’ frustrations and influencers’ seamless experiences was hard to ignore.
To dig deeper, I reached out to influencers and brands involved in both the Short n’ Sweet and Eras tours. Despite contacting people like Sammy Talukder, Jess Bosnjak, Nick Pillai, Brianna Renee, and Sahar Dahi, as well as brands like Tarte, Levi’s, Elf and Rogers, most didn’t respond. Those who did eventually skipped the interview.
At the Eras Tour, Aveeno’s photo booths and free samples epitomized the shift in concert culture. As someone who stood outside Rogers Centre for two days and eventually overpaid for Eras Tour tickets, I saw firsthand how these corporate sponsorships have infiltrated the fan experience. Eve McKenzie — an intern at an indie public relations agency — explained, “At the end of the day, it’s just business.” Meanwhile, for fans watching influencers enjoy VIP perks, it served as a harsh reminder of how deeply brands and influencers now shape the concert-going experience.
Corporate involvement was especially evident with Tarte Cosmetics, which flew US-based influencers to Toronto shows, despite there having been 52 previous Eras concerts across the US. This didn’t sit well with local Swifties, who struggled to secure tickets for one of the only nine Canadian stops.
This corporate-backed access created an even greater divide between artists and their fans. While influencers enjoyed special treatment, regular fans were left scrambling for tickets. From a business perspective, however, influencer partnerships make sense. As the anonymous employee from an entertainment conglomerate explained, “When you’re being flashy to a client or someone that you’re potentially interested in working with, you wanna show them [you’re pulling out all the stops] so like, getting them merch, giving them access to stuff”
But even they see the downside. “I’m a little bit
salty because, like, I wish that the company just maybe did a little bit more research as to who’s a fan,” they admitted, highlighting the tension between fan frustrations and the brand-driven concert culture.
Reclaiming concerts: where do we go now?
The Eras Tour highlights a rapidly growing trend. Brands are becoming more embedded in concerts, festivals, and major events, by targeting key consumer demographics: Gen Z and millennial music fans, high-income concertgoers, and influencers.
To address this, the ticketing system needs to be reformed to ensure fair access for all fans. Stronger tools to detect automated purchases and stricter penalties for scalpers are necessary to ensure tickets reach real fans. Countries like Ireland and Belgium have implemented laws to cap resale prices, which could serve as a model for Canada. It’s about protecting both wallets and the essence of live music, an experience that should be accessible to everyone.
But it’s not only up to fans and governments — artists must take action, too. By opting out of dynamic pricing and supporting fan-first policies, they can challenge these exploitative systems. Some artists are already leading the way. Shawn Mendes, for example, sold tickets directly through the venue for his Friends & Family tour — yes, I went, and yes, it was surreal — bypassing traditional ticketing systems to give fans more access.
Others, like Pearl Jam, have gone even further by boycotting Ticketmaster entirely. After unsuccessful negotiations to lower fees in the ’90s, the band took a stand by boycotting Ticketmaster for their 1994 tour. While not a perfect solution, it’s a step toward a better model that prioritizes fans.
The fight for fair access to live music
The concert industry stands at a turning point. As 19-year-old Sheridan College student Olivia Davidson put it, “[Sabrina Carpenter’s] one of my top three [artists] me and my friend really wanted to attend it but since I’m in college, I’m not gonna be spending so much money.”
Davidson highlights the emotional and financial toll fans face. Live music, once defined by its accessibility and communal spirit, is now overshadowed by exclusivity and profit-driven barriers: high ticket prices, scalpers, and inflated resale markets.
If concerts are to remain a place for connection, artists, companies, and fans need to push for change. The energy and passion of fans are what make live shows unforgettable, and it’s time the industry prioritized those who have always been at its core. Reclaiming live music starts with fairness — creating a system where the joy of a concert doesn’t come at an impossible cost.
Sofia Moniz Associate Arts & Culture Editor
Michelle Wang — a U of T alumna and elementary school teacher — is the author of Oma’s Bag, a heartfelt picture book designed to help children navigate the unique challenges of having a family member diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Inspired by her own family’s experience with her mother-in-law’s diagnosis, Wang tells a story that serves as a tribute to her husband, Steve. Oma’s Bag draws on stories of his mother’s past, which she, Oma — a Chinese word for grandma — shares through items she collects and stores in her bag. Through these stories, the family can connect to Oma as she is, creating new memories together rather than grieving the person they feel they are losing. The Varsity recently spoke with Wang to discuss the importance and impact of her work.
The Varsity (TV): What was the inspiration for Oma’s Bag? Why is it important to have these conversations with young children?
Michelle Wang: The idea for Oma’s Bag started out as simply a gift for my family. My mother-in-law had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when she and Opa came to stay with us. The children were always excited when they came to visit, but this time, things were different. Oma’s cooking had become almost inedible, she was forgetful, and things started disappearing around the house. When we discovered that Oma had been taking our belongings and hiding them in her bag, the confrontation and accusations could have turned ugly. Instead, the nightly “unboxings” became our favourite time of day — a moment to spend together, laughing over what had been collected and hearing the stories behind them, as
much or as many times as she could tell them. I wrote this book because I was inspired by the way our family took proverbial lemons and turned them into the beautiful memories we made and continue to make.
I do think it’s important to have these conversations with kids because, while the overall message of Oma’s Bag is positive, my son reminded me the other day that it was still a difficult time. He particularly remembers an incident with his younger brother, Jacob. Having just returned from a whole day at school, Oma immediately started in on Jacob: ‘When are you going to school?’ ‘Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go to school?’ ‘You need to wear a warmer jacket because it’s cold and you need to go to school.’
Jacob tried to be patient and answer politely, but at some point, he became overwhelmed and retreated to his bedroom, visibly upset. We, of course, went up to talk with him to let him know it was okay to be confused and scared or even just frustrated by what was happening. More importantly, we wanted him to know it wasn’t his fault. Looking back now, I think that if I had had a book like Oma’s Bag to share with him, it might have helped him see other families in similar situations and continue the conversation from there.
TV: How does your role as an elementary school teacher inform your writing process?
MW: With Oma’s Bag… the teacher in me saw the collected items in the bag Oma carried around with her as a page from the ever-popular I Spy or Where’s Waldo books. The plot was a tried-andtrue ‘whodunnit’ with its accompanying, often zany, ‘red herrings.’ The characters were fun, relatable, and real. But at the core of it all was just
a really good story, and when told from the heart, a book that hopefully hit at all the right levels. As a teacher, that’s really all that I look for in a book.
TV: What impact do you hope the book will have, and how has it affected your readers so far?
MW: More often than not, when the topic of Oma’s Bag comes up, the person I am speaking with invariably says, ‘You know, my mom/grandfather/ cousin/aunt/neighbour has Alzheimer’s’ and then they go on to enthusiastically share some personal anecdote with me. I love the empathetic sighing, knowing glances, and always, the smiles that come with these exchanges. It helps to talk with someone who has lived a shared experience.
When I was at the Word on the Street literary festival last fall, introducing Oma’s Bag to new readers, I would start with the usual spiel: my mother-in-law came to visit, things disappeared, and they were found in her bag. The response was always laughter. But when I followed up with: ‘She has Alzheimer’s,’ the immediate reaction was one of embarrassment or a self-conscious apology. I would always have to reassure them that it was okay because it really was a happy story — it didn’t have to be doom and gloom all the time. It was okay to laugh and have fun with it.
This is the impact I hope the book is having: that it opens up communication and encourages
people to feel comfortable having these conversations about Alzheimer’s. The more we talk about it, the more normalized it is and the less stigma there is around how we deal with Alzheimer’s as a society.
TV: What advice would you give to families navigating an Alzheimer’s diagnosis?
MW: One of the most interesting happenstances to come out of writing Oma’s Bag has been the people who have asked me for advice on this topic. At first, I felt wildly unqualified to answer — after all, this was just our little family’s story of how we navigated an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Who was I to be doling out pearls of wisdom? But after consulting medical professionals about the information on the book’s back pages and hearing their praise for the story itself, I feel slightly more reassured. My advice? Try not to take things too seriously. Keep things lighthearted and stay as positive as possible. Hold onto what is still there, instead of focusing on what has been lost. Meet your loved one where they are, and laugh a lot together. I could go on, but honestly, every family has its own story, no less valid than ours. What worked for us might not work for others. This just happens to be our story, and I can only hope you take from it what you will, and, in doing so, be just a bit better for it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I think it’s time we all understand how it feels to be misunderstood
Yasha Haider
Varsity Contributor
The outsider: not everyone can relate to the experience of being either ostracized or emotionally foreign to one’s surroundings, but it is a scenario that most can sympathize with. Film has historically tapped into the people, paranoia, and politics associated with those deemed societally unpalatable, whether it be through the lens of the common criminal, the individual misfit, or most metaphorically, the unsightly monster.
Despite being a centuries-old trope, authors and screenwriters have continued to iterate on the outcast archetype through various mediums and premises; but not many storytellers appear to be as intimate with this concept as James Gunn. Gunn’s signature offbeat humour, crude character banter, and darkly heightened sensibilities have come to inform the flavour of narrative and aesthetic through which a generation of viewers perceives the outcast and feels sympathy for them. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his recent comics-based output. With the recent conclusion of Creature Commandos’ first season and the inaugural chapter of Gunn’s new vision for the DC Universe on-screen, I think it’s time we all understand how it feels to be misunderstood.
Monsters, misfits, and meaning
Creature Commandos represents both a new beginning for Gunn and DC under his creative direction. The series also evokes the most metaphorical exploration of the “other” Gunn has attempted. By putting monsters and metahumans at the story’s centre, it simultaneously taps into themes that are synonymous with his prior comicsbased works but subverted to acknowledge an
unfortunate reality for its protagonists in they don’t get the chance to go home and be ‘normal,’ like any of the humans cast in the show alongside them.
Gunn carries over a non-linear narrative structure from his time directing The Suicide Squad (2021), dedicating each of Creature Commandos’ seven episodes to a different team member, highlighting their unique upbringings and relating them to present predicaments. Viewers soon realize that — except for the flaming crime lord Doctor Phosphorus — each protagonist is a victim of circumstance, incarcerated purely on their appearance being correlated to a potential threat.
The Bride — a zombified woman and the scorned lover of mad scientist Victor Frankenstein — spent her life groomed by her creator and running from the monster obsessed with her. G.I. Robot carried out his sole directive, killing any and all Nazis he came across. Weasel — a returning character from The Suicide Squad — is revealed in “Chasing Squirrels” to have been falsely apprehended under the accusation of murdering children in a school fire. With no possibility of self-defence due to his lack of sentience, he cannot defend that he was, in fact, trying to rescue those children.
Most tragically, the amphibian Nina Mazursky — spotlighted in the series finale “A Very Funny Monster” — is shown to be completely absolved of wrongdoing but nonetheless detained for her perceived monstrosity after being caught living in the fictional Star City’s sewage system. Gunn further subverts his approach to unlikely misfits by splitting apart his ensemble, thereby feeding into the dysfunctional dynamic between individuals already at odds with social expectations.
From “Chasing Squirrels,” the series separates field leader Rick Flag Jr. from the team, who return to
the nation of Pokolistan on orders to eliminate its princess — Illana Rostovic — believing she is poised to wage global war.
In either of Gunn’s previous DC Comics capers, the story’s midpoint would highlight how the main cast grow to confide in each other, whether it be Ratcatcher 2 bonding with the ironically musophobic Bloodsport, or Peacemaker and his A.R.G.U.S. teammates jamming to Hanoi Rocks.
The impromptu return to eliminate the princess of a nation they were tasked with protecting leaves sparse room for the Creature Commandos to align as a group — especially since their backstories are never divulged to each other — as with the Suicide Squad. For this reason, their tragedies are unable to form any interpersonal sympathies.
Moreover, the sole friendship formed between the Bride and Mazursky is befallen by the latter’s unceremonious murder at the hands of Princess Rostovic in the finale. Gunn reinforces Mazursky’s
tragedy as an unwitting government pawn and turns the Bride into a vengeful assassin. It is a decidedly cold and unheroic victory that punctures the loneliness she struggles with as both a creation of a man with stagnated maturity and a monster unable to integrate within society.
The new DC Universe’s story begins properly with the Gunn-helmed Superman on July 11. One wonders why someone entrenched in the crevices of comic book history would approach a character so weaved into the fabric of American pop culture.
However, Gunn is demonstrably partial to the condescended foundling, who strives to chart a path where the world refuses to carve them one. Narrativizing an off-world immigrant raised on a humble farm and trying to embody humanity’s best reveals that cape or not, Clark Kent is no different in being different. In that way, we are all outsiders — a James Gunn character.
February 4, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/science science@thevarsity.ca
“Apocalyptic.” The devastation of the wildfires that blazed through Los Angeles in January has cast a new light on the catastrophic consequences and losses that wildfire activity can cause.
Unfortunately, it is not a one-off event. We only need to look to 2017 to find another deadly wildfire year in California, where almost 11,000 structures burned and 47 lives were lost. Katherine Siegel, a professor and interdisciplinary environmental scientist at the University of Colorado, witnessed it firsthand.
She wrote to The Varsity in an email: “I was living in California in 2017, when the Tubbs Fire, the Atlas Fire, and the Thomas Fire ripped through rangeland ecosystems, destroying entire communities and causing multiple deaths.” This sparked her interest in understanding how land management practices affect wildfire activity because, after all, the land fueled the wildfires.
Past US federal management policies, such as the “10 a.m. policy” act — which aimed to
suppress all fires by 10:00 am the following day — have contributed to the proliferation of invasive plants that grow faster and taller than native species. This, combined with rising temperatures and residential development in wildlands — areas prone to fire activity — has paved the way for more intense and severe wildfire seasons.
Cattle grazing — a method of feeding cattle by letting them roam and consume wild vegetation — has emerged as a low-cost, convenient tool in the wildfire-fighting kit. How do they mitigate fire? The answer is simple: they eat the fuel. This process of cattle grazing creates patches in the vegetation, breaking its continuity. They also trample the ground, mixing the fuel with soil, which decreases flammability. And as a bonus, there are already plenty of grazers on the west coast. In California, cattle grazing occurs over one-third of the land.
Following the 2017 wildfires, Siegel had the opportunity to work with rangeland and livestock specialists to estimate the changes in burn probability associated with cattle grazing. “Ranchers [had observed] that the rangelands
The rise of mental health apps: Are they helping or harming? Managing mental health from your pocket
Santhija Jegatheeswaran Health Correspondent
Between balancing classes, part-time jobs, internships, social commitments, and the looming concern of student debt, university students face various stresses. It’s no wonder that mental health apps have surged in popularity as students seek quick, affordable, and accessible ways to manage their mental well-being. From guided meditation banks to mood trackers, these digital tools promise to ease anxiety and stress — all within one app. But how effective are they?
The rise of mental health apps
Globally, university students experience high levels of stress, with over 40 per cent of students experiencing symptoms of depression. While U of T provides mental health resources — including inperson counselling and virtual tools like U of T Telus Health Student Support — there is a growing shift to digital mental health interventions.
Mental health apps may be the first step in help-seeking because their anonymous nature helps avoid stigma and can reach underserved individuals. Nearly 20,000 mental health apps are available, with over 20 million downloads worldwide for apps like Calm and Headspace. These apps offer features like breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques, mood trackers, and, with a subscription, online access to licensed therapists.
“Mental health apps are accessible, easy-touse, and flexible,” wrote Vanessa Ip — a masters student at U of T’s Institute of Medical Science — in an email to The Varsity. “Students have busy schedules, in addition to a limited budget, so digital applications focused on mindfulness, journaling, and therapeutic techniques are an easy and lowstakes way for them to practice and try self-care techniques.”
Do these apps actually work?
While the convenience is undeniable, the question remains.
In a 2020 Journal of American College Health study on the demand for mental health resources, 53 per cent of college students had downloaded an app, but only 19 per cent were actively using it. A 2019 analysis in the Journal of Medical Internet Research also noted that user retention was a major challenge, with many people stopping use of the apps after 10 days. It reported on students’ need for mental health apps to involve a reliable, safe, personalized, and credible design.
Individuals with mental health concerns may rely on self-help or informal support before seeking professional treatment to avoid stigma, receive timely assistance, or save money. However, many of these apps are of low quality, lack healthcare professionals in their development, have confidentiality breaches or safety issues in case of an emergency, and overall, lack evidence-based practices.
Oversimplifying mental health care?
Mental health apps have undoubtedly made mental health care more accessible, but Ip warns of the risk of oversimplifying mental health support.
“I think the way mental health care apps advertise their services and benefits [is] one of the causes for these thoughts of oversimplification — as opposed to a complementary service to go with other modes of support,” she wrote. “People may approach these apps as a one-fix-all solution, without considering other apps, therapy delivery methods, or types of therapy.”
“Similar to when you choose a family doctor or in-person therapist, there needs to be a
they had grazed did not burn, while their ungrazed rangelands burned in recent fires.”
Estimating the impact on burn probability from cattle grazing
Siegel’s team set out to collect the necessary data to see if there was a link between grazing levels in a specific region and burn probability. They contacted private landowners across various counties in California to assess grazing activity on their property and combined that information with land-cover data — e.g. shrubs and grass or larger conifer trees — and fire history.
The team explored the correlation between burn probability and cattle grazing. Other factors, such as population density and the weather, could also influence fire likelihood. They found that in regions like North Bay — a sub-region of the San Francisco Bay — and the Central Coast area — which spans from the north of Los Angeles to the south of San Francisco — the grasslands’ burn probability decreased by about 55 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
In a follow-up research paper in Ecology and Society, they found that intensifying
activities reduced
probability by 82 per cent in Napa and Sonoma counties.
Part of a bigger fire management puzzle
The Varsity asked Siegel if this meant we could charge ahead with cattle for fire management.
“I see it as just one piece of a complicated puzzle when it comes to wildfire mitigation and adaptation,” she wrote. “[The rest of the] pieces include climate change actions, urban planning… and broader fuel management through tools like prescribed fire.” Prescribed fires involve planning and controlling fires to achieve specific management goals, such as reducing the amount or structure of certain fuels, like fine fuels that catch and spread fire quickly.
Like any mitigation strategy, the answer is not straightforward. However, to inform policy on other solutions, research is essential. Ultimately, we are not completely helpless in extreme wildfires; we can always call on the cattle — and they might just answer the call.
good fit and understanding of your mental and physical health needs,” Ip emphasizes. Apps can be helpful tools, but they are not a complete replacement for comprehensive care.
Mental health apps can be valuable resources for university students when used wisely. They offer a low-cost, accessible way to begin addressing mental health challenges, but they are not a panacea.
“I do think increasing awareness and usage of mental health care — not only digital apps — is causing mental health to be more frequently discussed and less stigmatized,” Ip advises. “Creating more opportunities for accessible health care and encouraging others to openly talk about their mental health journeys allows for the topic and reaching out for help to become more ‘normalized’.”
Ultimately, the key is balance. While these apps can offer temporary relief and help, they work best when integrated into a broader mental health plan. If you’re looking for immediate, confidential support from a trained crisis responder or counsellor, Good2Talk is a versatile option. They provide phone and text support for post-secondary students in Ontario, 24/7. It’s suitable for students seeking a safe, anonymous space to talk to or text someone without judgment.
What’s next for digital mental health?
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and personalized care are leading the way. Today, apps like Bearable and Life Notes help users manually track symptoms, moods, and habits — such as water intake and hours of sleep — offering valuable insights into their mental and physical health.
While these apps currently rely on user input, future apps could expand on this idea. They might integrate smartphone sensors to passively collect data such as movement patterns, social interactions, and vocal tone, potentially enabling real-time insights into a person’s state of mind.
“I think that AI is beneficial in providing empathetic and personalized responses in this digital age,” wrote Ip. “A number of healthcare workers are concerned about being ‘replaced’ by AI but we should definitely approach AI and related technologies as a way to supplement therapeutic interventions and healthcare access. In the context of mental health apps, AI has the potential to improve the efficacy and relationships with therapeutic applications.” Mental health apps are here to stay, and their role in student wellness will likely continue to evolve. As the field of digital mental health grows, will these apps become indispensable tools for mental well-being, or will they remain nothing more than a digital Band-Aid?
Zainab Al-Zadjali Varsity Contributor
Students are often too bee-sy to notice the architectural detail in buildings and the natural world around them. One of the most architecturally interesting structures can be found in UTM’s Maanjiwe Nendamowinan (MN), a six-story facility that decorates the Northern portion of the campus and is home to humanities and social science departments.
Interestingly enough, the MN houses the campus’ apiary or beehives. In 2017, UTM had three beehives and over 15,000 bees. In 2024, the campus now houses ten hives and provides various campus services.
The mathematics behind the honeycombs in the beehives creates a strong, aesthetically pleasing structure that is functional, economical, and bee-utiful.
Bee-ing an engineer:
The marvel of bee architecture
The honeycomb’s strength relies on its hollow congruent hexagonal cells and the thickness of each hexagon panel. The hexagonal cells distribute the shear stress equally amongst all partitions, as opposed to squares which cannot spread the tension to adjacent partitions and lead to weaker architecture. The thickness of the centre contributes to the honeycomb’s structural integrity: the thicker the core, the stronger the comb.
Additionally, the hexagonal cells — closelypacked clusters that help conserve heat and energy — also allow maximum storage with minimal wax use; especially since the bees eat
eight ounces of honey to make one ounce of wax.
This is why bees do not use circles despite having the largest surface area of any shape. Circles are not stackable, meaning wax is wasted by filling in the gaps between the circles. Squares and triangles are not used either, despite being stackable. The more sides a shape has, the larger its surface area. In other words, if a triangle, a square, and a hexagon all had a perimeter of five centimetres, the triangle would contain the least amount of honey and the hexagon would contain the largest amount. Additionally, bees build cells of different sizes for the three types of bees: the queen, worker bees, and drones. Each bee has a role to play in the beehive. Worker bees maintain the beehive, collect honey, and care for the young. They are considered the smallest bees. Drones are solely responsible for mating with the queen and are typically larger than working bees. Therefore, small cells house worker bees and large cells house the breeding drone bees. To create a seamless transition, intermediatesized cells for drones are built between small and large cells to ensure cohesion within the hive.
Bee-ing challenged:
to certain flowers. Extremely hot temperatures force bees to migrate to unfamiliar colder climates, shrinking the bee’s habitat.
Can beehives withstand climate change?
Research on the climate crisis’s impact on the beehive’s structure is limited, but some papers explore the climate crisis and beehive health. Climate change is making it challenging for bees to find familiar flowers to pollinate. Increases in global temperatures cause some flowers to secrete defensive odour-like plumes
Nectar is the beehive’s main source of food. When collecting nectar, pollen from the male part of the flower — the anther — often attaches to the bee. When the bee moves to another flower, the pollen sticks to the female part of that flower — the stigma — causing the flower to produce seeds and fruit, which fall and grow into flowers. Without bees, flowers cannot reproduce or produce honey.
Due to the bees and flowers’ mutualistic relationship — where both species rely on each other for survival — anything that affects flowers compromises bees, creating a negative feedback loop for both creatures.
The honeycomb is a marvel of mathematics
energetic engineers of their own homes. Undeniably, the climate crisis contributes to habitat loss, difficulty in finding flowers, and ultimately, a decrease in honey production.
With the climate crisis, the beehive’s mathematical marvel and architectural integrity are threatened. This is extremely problematic to the human race: a decrease in pollinators and pollinations means a decrease in vital sources of nutrients such as apples, coffee, and nuts.
It remains unclear if bees know the geometric marvel of the honeycomb. Knowing that the shape of the hollow cells is not the most mathematically efficient might help some readers draw a conclusion. But, maybe bees are content with whatever gets the job done!
Is it time to stop calling depression a “chemical imbalance?”
Two theories behind the biological basis of depression have battled it out for decades — which one will emerge victorious?
Charlie Bendell Neuroscience Correspondent
Depression manifests in countless ways, yet one sentiment echoes across nearly every account that I’ve heard: “I feel stuck.” Each day — no matter how eventful — feels as exhausting and monotonous as the one before. Hours melt into weeks, and sometimes weeks into years, forming a murky haze against which effort seems futile and fruitless.
Is this really the result of a ‘chemical imbalance’ or could something deeper and more intricate be at work? What if the biology behind depression mirrors this sense of stagnation?
The monoamine hypothesis
The idea that depression is a chemical imbalance comes from a model of depression called the monoamine hypothesis. Monoamines refer to a type of neurotransmitter — the chemical messengers that cells in the brain communicate with — and can be thought of as a language through which the brain and body communicate.
For example, dopamine and serotonin fall under this category. They’re responsible for processes ranging from movement to creating memory and even regulating emotion. Without proper production of these important chemicals, we lose major functions in our cognition.
In the mid-twentieth century, it was discovered that both a drug that treated tuberculosis and an antihistamine — an anti-allergy drug — alleviated symptoms of depression separately. Though structurally quite different these two drugs shared something in common: both increased the availability of monoamine neurotransmitters — such as noradrenaline and serotonin — in the brain. It was then hypothesized that people with depression must naturally lack the proper monoamines to regulate their mood and energy and that restoring these was the cure. Thus, the monoamine hypothesis of depression was born, and its legacy has never left the public conversation
JENNIFER AHN/THE VARSITY
about depression.
Yet over half a century later, very little evidence has come to support the theory. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — the most common type of antidepressant — increase levels of monoamines nearly immediately. However, the change in depressive symptoms only appears weeks later, suggesting that monoamine deficiency might simply be one aspect of depression rather than the main cause.
The neuroplasticity model
We currently view depression as the sole cause of its associated symptoms: anhedonia — the inability to feel pleasure — hopelessness, and low self-esteem, to name a few. What if we looked at depression instead as a maladaptive response to environmental factors?
The neuroplasticity model proposes this. This theory emphasizes the brain’s ability to adapt and rewire in response to the surrounding environment
in both healthy and maladaptive ways. In this framework, depression is seen as a state where the brain’s capacity to form and strengthen neural connections — communication between different parts of the brain — is diminished due to biological and environmental factors.
Take Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as an example. SAD typically manifests during winter months when daylight is scarce. This persistent darkness and isolation can prevent people from socializing and exercising, which are important for maintaining a healthy mental state. Despite SAD’s severity, once the days get longer, symptoms alleviate as if they were never there.
How does this happen? In depressed individuals, key regions such as the hippocampus — which plays a critical role in memory and emotion regulation — often exhibit reduced volume. This is attributed to a phenomenon called neural ‘pruning,’ the decay of neural connections which aren’t often used.
A growing body of evidence is accumulating as a foundation for this model. Meditation, physical exercise, and social interaction are known to alleviate symptoms of depression. Meditation has been shown to increase neural connectivity in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, a large part of the brain which aids in social behaviour, decision-making, and cognition. Physical exercise releases a protein that aids neuron growth, which ultimately helps neurons in the prefrontal cortex to keep communicating and avoid being pruned. New methods of fighting depression, such as ketamine therapy — an anesthetic administered under medical supervision as a nasal spray — work to promote neural plasticity and growth. Ketamine therapy has near-immediate positive effects within as little as one treatment, effects which persist long after the drug has left the patient’s system.
I’m not depressed, why should I care?
Importantly, the neuroplasticity model isn’t just a helpful lens for depression — it offers a fresh way to view mental illness that can transcend diagnosis. Certain traumas, chronic stress, and a slew of other factors can lead to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety, disorders which are often comorbid and which exhibit similar diminished connectivity in important areas such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Though the monoamine hypothesis was critical in suggesting a scientific basis for depression it may be time to give up the mantle of ‘main theory’ to the neuroplasticity model. Not only does the neuroplasticity model have a larger body of evidence to support it, but the model also suggests tangible methods aside from medication to help relieve and prevent depressive symptoms. As we struggle through the remaining winter months, it can be helpful to keep the neuroplasticity model in mind, even for those of us who don’t experience clinical depression or SAD. Even a simple break from schoolwork or a short walk can help increase our mental resilience.
February 4, 2025
thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca
Jake Takeuchi Sports Editor
This article mentions an anti-Indigenous slur.
Donning their iconic baby blue and white uniforms, the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 41–24 to claim the 111th Grey Cup at BC Place in Vancouver on November 17, 2024. The victory secured the Argos’ second championship in three years, despite having to start backup quarterback Nick Arbuckle after starter Chad Kelly was injured in the East Division final.
Historically, the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) Grey Cup has been one of Canada’s mostwatched annual television events, comparable to America’s Super Bowl. Once a shared cultural experience and a sporting staple for Canadians, the event regularly broke Canadian viewership records in the 1980s and was even featured on the Canadian passport alongside the Stanley Cup.
Unfortunately, in recent years, viewership has stagnated due to the growing presence of the NFL and its Stanley Cup Finals’ enduring popularity in Canada.
When the Argos played the BC Lions in 1983, more than eight million viewers tuned in to the Grey Cup. In contrast, the 2024 edition averaged 3.6 million viewers across TSN, CTV, and RDS — strong numbers, but a fraction of the 19 million unique Canadian viewers who watched the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII.
It’s clear that the CFL’s presence in Canada is no longer what it once was.
“4 Nations Face-Off” preview NHL’s best on best hits the ice for the first time since 2018
Anthony Carbone Varsity Contributor
Starting February 12, the NHL’s best will hit the ice to represent their countries in the highly anticipated “4 Nations Face-Off.” As the name suggests, the four nations Canada, US, Sweden, and Finland will compete in the inaugural tournament.
Due to the pandemic and insurance issues between the NHL, NHLPA, and the International Ice Hockey Federation, NHL players have not had the opportunity to play internationally for their countries since the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships.
The tournament will replace the 2025 All-Star Game, as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced last season in June. The NHL is calling this unique and highly anticipated event the “best on best,” as the top NHL players will represent their teams.
The tournament will be played in both Montréal and Boston. The first four games will be played at the Bell Centre in Montréal, while the final three knockout rounds, including the final, will be held at TD Garden in Boston.
The “4 Nations Face-Off” games will be played under NHL rules, with each team playing three group-stage games against each other in a round-robin tournament before the top two teams face each other in a do-or-die final.
The point system includes: three points for a regulation win; two points for a win in overtime or shootout; one point for a loss in overtime or shootout; and zero points for a regulation loss. The two teams with the best tournament records will advance to a one-game final.
Overtime rules for the round-robin will be three-on-three sudden death for 10 minutes, followed by a three-round shootout if needed. For the final, overtime will consist of a five-onfive sudden death in 20-minute periods until a goal is scored.
The “4 Nations Face-Off” will be a historymaking event, as it marks the first time since the 2018 IIHF World Championships that NHL players will represent their national teams. The 2014 Sochi Olympic was the last event in which all NHL eligible players participated in best-onbest hockey.
With many up-and-coming players from around the world, this tournament is a step in the right direction for increasing international participation in such events.
Bettman’s announcement of the “4 Nations Face-Off” was followed by the confirmation that NHL players will also be allowed to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. The last time NHL players competed in the Olympics
Toronto Varsity Blues and the inaugural Grey Cup
But viewership isn’t the only time the Grey Cup has been blue. The historic trophy was first won by the Toronto Varsity Blues in its inaugural game in 1909.
The trophy is named after Canada’s then-Governor General Earl Grey, who offered the trophy as the award for amateur rugby football in Canada — a variation of American football that has evolved into the version of Canadian football we play today.
The biggest differences between the two sports are the size of the field, the number of players, and the fact that the NFL uses four downs compared to Canada’s three.
Unlike the modern, professional iteration of the CFL, the trophy was originally contested by amateur teams like the Blues, who were the intercollegiate champions at the time of the first final.
The Blues and Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club played the first-ever Grey Cup final on December 4, 1909. The Blues defeated Parkdale 26–6 at Rosedale Park. The 1909 football team is celebrated as part of U of T’s Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 for their historical significance.
The Blues went on to win three more Grey Cups in 1910, 1911, and 1920, and made appearances in the finals in 1914 and 1926. U of T’s ‘three-peat’ from the first to third editions of the Grey Cup gives the Blues the second-longest championship streak in the history of the Cup. Only the Edmonton Elks — then known as the ‘Edmonton Eskimos’ — have a longer streak, with five consecutive championships (1978-1982). The Blues are tied with the Argos (1945–1947), Queen’s University (1922–1924), and the Elks (1954–1956), all of whom have three consecutive championships.
was at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
This is massive development for the future of NHL players, as it gives them the opportunity to represent their countries. For Olympics hockey, it means that the best players will be able to compete against each other, making for a thrilling Winter Olympics. NHL players will face some of the world’s top talent from other leagues, including the Russian Kontinental Hockey League, Swedish League, Finnish Elite League, and many more.
Tournament predictions
The “4 Nations Face-Off” will showcase the NHL’s best players going head-to-head. As the final rosters were revealed on December 4, 2024, fans now know which players from each country will compete for the title of best nation.
Finland and Sweden boast impressive rosters, featuring the likes of forwards Mikko Rantanen, Patrik Laine, William Nylander, and Mika Zibanejed. However, they may struggle to match the strength of Canada and the US.
The tournament will likely come down to a
The competition gradually became dominated by professional teams in the 1950s, and in 1966, the Grey Cup’s trusteeship was given to the CFL. The Blues’ last appearance in a Grey Cup was in 1926. The Blues’ home ground, Varsity Stadium, is also a storied part of the Grey Cup. The stadium has hosted the Grey Cup 30 times — the most by any venue — although the last time was in 1957.
History of the Argonauts
Founded in 1873, the Argos are the oldest professional sports team in North America still using its original name and the oldest franchise in the CFL. The team was founded as part of the Argonaut Rowing Club, whose rowers could play on the football team during the off-season to maintain fitness.
The Blues and Argos share a close history. The Argos’ first Grey Cup came with a victory over the Blues in 1914. The Blues won their third and fourth cups in 1911 and 1920 respectively by defeating their city rivals. The teams shared Varsity Stadium as their home ground from 1911 to 1958, when the CFL was formed with the Argos as a founding member. Today, the Argos play at BMO Field.
With four Grey Cups, the Blues are the most successful university in Grey Cup history. Despite being ineligible to play in the competition for over 50 years, the Blues have the same number of championships as an active CFL team — Saskatchewan Roughrider fans, look away.
With their 19 Grey Cup titles in 2024, the Toronto Argonauts now hold the record for the most Grey Cups in Canadian Football history.
The iconic Canadian sporting trophy is truly Toronto’s, and the Grey Cup is blue once again, as it has been for so much of its history.
showdown between two of the biggest rivals in international hockey history: Canada and the US. The US holds the edge when it comes to goaltending, with last year’s Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, along with Jeremy Swayman and Jake Oettinger playing for Team USA — a formidable trio.
The defensive matchup is closer than expected, with Canada’s Cale Makar going up against last year’s Norris Trophy winner, Quinn Hughes of the US, promising an elite battle on the blue line.
As for the forward groups, the potential of having Connor McDavid, Nathan Mackinnon, and captain Sidney Crosby on the same line presents a daunting challenge for any opponent. In what could be his final international tournament, expect a standout performance from ‘Sid the Kid’ as he looks to lead Team Canada as captain to victory in the “4 Nations Face-Off.”
The Varsity predicts Team Canada to be crowned champion and Crosby as the most valuable player.
Janelle Gunaratnam Varsity Contributor
Friday night’s game against the Nipissing Lakers was a dominant performance for the Varsity Blues women’s ice hockey team, who cruised to a 6–2 victory at home at Varsity Arena. The Blues set the tone early, capitalizing on the Lakers’ lack of discipline to secure an important win and boost their playoff position in the OUA East standings.
What happened?
The game began with the Blues establishing an early lead just 10 minutes in, as forward Kaitlyn McKnight capitalized on a power play opportunity. She opened the scoring with a onetimer off a feed from forward Emma Elders. The Blues doubled their lead in the final seconds of the period when Elders found the back of the net on another power play, with an assist from
defense Emma Potter and McKnight. Meanwhile, the Lakers struggled with discipline, taking multiple penalties in the opening frame — a pattern that persisted throughout the game
In the second period, the Blues maintained their offensive pressure. Almost six minutes in, McKnight struck again, assisted by Sophie Grawbarger and forward Katy McKenna, extending their lead to 3–0. Blues’ power play continued to click, with forward Aili McKeown scoring after a setup from Ashley Delahey and Potter. This goal ended the night for the Lakers’ starting goaltender, Chantelle Sandquist, who allowed four goals on 18 shots before being replaced by Sladics Jordan.
Nipissing finally broke through in the midsecond period when forward Jill Hennessy sent a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net. However, McKnight quickly responded, completing her hat trick with an awkward
backhand shot that slipped through Jordan’s five-hole. The Lakers managed to cut the deficit to 5–2 with almost two minutes remaining in the period when forward Maggie McKee capitalized on a rebound, off a forward Abby Lunney helper. But the Blues quickly wrestled back control as forward Emma Irwin scored off a pass from Elders and forward Abby Whitworth, restoring the four-goal lead heading into the final period.
The third period saw a more balanced contest, with both teams trading chances but failing to find the back of the net. The Lakers had several power play opportunities but the Blues’ penalty kill remained solid, keeping the Lakers at bay. The Lakers’ offensive struggles were evident as they failed to convert on six power plays throughout the game.
Despite allowing two goals in the second period, the Blues’ goaltender, Lyla McKinnon, was stellar, making key saves, including two back-to-back stops on high-danger chances
from the slot. On the other end, Jordan settled into her role after replacing Sandquist, stopping all shots she faced in the third period.
What’s next?
The Blues’ victory secured their hold on first place in the OUA East standings at the time, improving their record to 15–7. Despite the loss, the Lakers remain atop the division at 15-2-2 as of writing.
The Blues’ ability to dominate offensively, especially on special teams, proved to be the difference in the matchup, and the Blues’ performance sends a strong message to their competition, showing they can capitalize on opportunities and shut down opponents with disciplined defensive play.
Following other results over the weekend, the Blues are second in the OUA East. The Blues will play at York University on February 7, as they look to consolidate their strong position in the league.
six-game losing streak in June and early July and the team failing to win their final five matches.
As the minutes ticked away in the final match of Toronto FC’s season, few people in the stands seemed concerned with the team’s performance. Instead, they eagerly awaited Inter Miami CF’s legendary forward Lionel Messi, for whom they’d pay a premium price to watch.
When he stepped onto the field to rapturous applause, ‘The Reds’ suddenly became strangers in their own home, as their fans momentarily switched allegiance to cheer on arguably the greatest soccer player of all time.
This moment seemed to underscore just how far Toronto FC’s form has declined in recent years, leading many casual fans to lose interest. They haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2020, and they won just four games in 2023, losing 15 of their final 16 matches.
The 2024 season held much promise for the team, with John Herdman stepping in as Head Coach after his success with Canada men’s and women’s national soccer teams. His 3-4-2-1 formation made an instant impact, allowing wingback Federico Bernardeschi to thrive as a twoway player and nearly doubling the team’s goal tally from 26 in 2023 to 40 in 2024.
However, it seemed that every step forward was two steps back.
Lorenzo Insigne, one of the league’s highestpaid players, managed just four goals while logging only 1,350 minutes all season. Any playoff hopes were dashed by inconsistency, including a
Still, the team showed progress, finishing in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and gaining confidence in building around reliable players like Bernardeschi, Matty Longstaff, and Raoul Petretta. It wasn't franchise-altering yet, but the foundation was set.
Then John Herdman resigned in November 2024, amid the drone scandal that emerged during the Paris 2024 Olympics, involving the Canadian women’s team and later extending to the men’s team’s staff using drones to illegally spy on opponents’ training sessions — both of which he had coached. Although Toronto FC did not provide any official reasons for Herdman’s resignation, an independent review stated that it had “initiated a proceeding” with him.
Just like that, one of the best football coaches in North America was gone and Robin Fraser was appointed as his replacement. Unlike the highprofile hires of Herdman or 2021–2023 coach Bob Bradley, Fraser is a more low-key choice with less name value outside of the MLS, but his résumé offers promise.
He knows the club from his stint as an assistant coach during their MLS Cup victory and has valuable experience rebuilding teams from his time with the Colorado Rapids. Furthermore, Fraser’s preference for a 5-3-2 formation, similar to Herdman’s system, should ease any growing pains between him and the team while focusing on getting the best out of Bernardeschi as a wingback.
However, his tenure with the Rapids grew stale. He was sacked in September 2023 with the team at the bottom of their conference: a fall from grace after leading them to the top of the division two years earlier.
Although this firing is concerning, Fraser will be given time to implement his vision in Toronto. However, with ‘The Red’s’ steady improvement last season, expectations for a playoff push will be high.
Fraser isn’t the only one with something to prove in Toronto. Insigne, who has underperformed since arriving in the GTA, faces a crucial period with the club. Rumours of a transfer have followed him since he signed, but his performance has done little to silence them. He missed 26 MLS games due to injury and failed to score in the final 13 matches last season.
Although reports suggested that Insigne and the club were working toward a contract termination, he travelled with the squad for pre-season training in Marbella, Spain. While this doesn’t guarantee his stay, it does indicate that both sides are willing to work together for now. Given his recent injury troubles and form struggles, he may not be a guaranteed starter.
To support the new manager, a few new signings should spark interest, with some promising additions.
Theo Corbeanu has joined on loan from
Granada in Spain’s second tier. While his return of just eight goals in 98 professional games may not impress, he is a former Canadian Soccer Youth Player of the Year, and has represented the national team, hinting at immense untapped potential. Given Toronto’s improvement in front of goal last season, the service Corbeanu will receive could help reignite his career. Ultimately, any hope of contention for the MLS Cup remains a pipe dream for Toronto FC. To me, their ceiling seems to be as a gatecrasher, pushing into the lower playoff positions, with their floor being closer to the bottom of the conference — something that won’t be helped by a new manager. That being said, even continuity from last season’s team that showed significant signs of improvement means this team should be competitive, with or without Insigne.
A snapshot into The Varsity’s upcoming Winter Magazine.
Check out our upcoming Love & Sex issue on February 11. You can also submit anonymous confessions for our Love & Sex video, and you might see yours featured!
Our annual Black History Month issue will be out on February 25! You can check out our previous BHM issues on issuu.com/thevarsity. If you have any questions or feedback about our BHM issues, please email Ajeetha, our Managing Editor, Internal and Chair of the Equity Board at managinginternal@thevarsity.ca!
Do you like picking apart facts from opinions from outright falsehoods? Do you like nitpicking for grammar and punctuation? Join the copy-editing team by emailing Ozair, our Senior Copy Editor, at copy@thevarsity.ca.
