February 25, 2019

THE VARSITY February 25, 2019

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Disorder in Computer Science Student Union amid resignations, dissolution of General Council

Unaffiliated system of “committees” also operating parallel to course union Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

In recent months, the Computer Science Student Union (CSSU) has been affected by multiple executive resignations, the dissolution of its General Council due to an alleged lack of involvement and communication, and the creation of an unregulated, looselyorganized system of “committees” operating parallel to the course union.

The CSSU is a course union that represents over 1,200 students who are taking a Computer Science (CS) course or are enrolled in the CS programs of study. Its executives are elected each spring for the next academic year.

Resignations

The first resignation to hit the union came on November 16, when CS student Ignas Panero Armoska left his role as the Director of Social Events.

“I worked really hard on frosh over the summer and then a bunch of social events, but it actually turned out that I was also doing a lot of infrastructurerelated tasks that were not under my purview at all,” he said in an interview with The Varsity.

Panero Armoska noted that these tasks included onboarding people to manage office-related assignments and helping run academic events.

Panero Armoska’s departure was followed by that of President David An-

sermino, who left his position effective December 21.

Explaining his resignation, Ansermino said that he had to leave since he is working full-time at a startup. “We’ve certainly got a lot on our plates right now, and I’m kind of an integral part of that… Trying to manage my responsibilities became difficult.”

Ansermino was replaced by VicePresident Calvin Luo, who in turn hired Panero Armoska as the Acting VicePresident in order “to provide a more stable leadership team,” given the departures. The Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU), which oversees course unions such as the CSSU, suggested that the CSSU hold a by-election to replace Ansermino or have Luo take over in an interim capacity.

Treasurer Taylor Stinson also departed in December, according to a statement from Luo. “[Stinson] and I agreed that at this moment, the Executive Council of the CSSU should be filled with people involved with the community and dedicated to improving it,” Luo wrote.

Stinson was replaced by Borna Salman, the former CSSU community store manager. Stinson could not be reached for comment.

Dissolution of the CSSU General Council

In the same statement announcing Ansermino’s resignation, Luo said that the

course union was dissolving its General Council and seeking applications for new members to serve. According to Panero Armoska, members of the council were generally inactive.

Members of the council are appointed by the CSSU executive in the fall and are comprised of people “who want to take an active role in helping make decisions for the CSSU and organizing CSSU initiatives,” according to Panero Armoska.

The reasoning behind the dissolution was to have a smaller team that facilitated better communication.

Following the dissolution of the old council, the current executive interviewed new applicants and hired six people, including some who were rehired from the previous council.

According to ASSU President Haseeb Hassaan, ASSU did not know about the dissolution of the council until reached by The Varsity in early February.

Since then, ASSU has spoken with the CSSU and was “informed that the Council was not active,” wrote Hassaan.

He added, “This council is appointed/ hired by the Executive as per their Constitution so it is up to them to make that decision.”

A system of “committees”

Aside from the wave of resignations and the dissolution of General Council, the CSSU has also been affected by the appearance of a system of loosely-organized “committees.” Unaffiliated with the union, they were started independently by CS student Aniket SenguptaKali early last semester and “formally launched” in January.

The committees are meant to be “a very simple way of getting involved” with the community because there hasn’t historically been a way to do that, said Sengupta-Kali.

“It's kind of a loose organization,” he said. “We’re not trying to formalize too too much because we’re still try-

Vol. CXXXIX, No. 18

ing to work things out with the CSSU, because most of the people involved do want this to be officialized as part of the union.”

He added, “It’s just that it has to be on terms that everyone finds reasonable and that will facilitate more involvement in the future.”

The committees are organized through Slack, a professional messaging platform, and cover topics such as coding events, mental health, and socials.

Despite not formally being part of the CSSU and operating in parallel to it, Panero Armoska said the committees organized by Sengupta-Kali were trying to advertise at U of T Hacks, an annual hackathon where Panero Armoska was serving as an executive. He also said that the committees “were communicating with the department” on behalf of the CSSU. “We’re not opposed to them — like 100 per cent student involvement is great and in fact we’re going to be working on making more opportunities available within the CSSU,” Panero Armoska remarked. “But… we literally are trying to get the CSSU more organized and have a better structure and stability right now and we can’t endorse events that we literally did not organize or are at or anything like that because it can really poorly reflect on us.”

According to him, the CSSU has met with representatives of the committees, including Sengupta-Kali.

However, Sengupta-Kali denied claims that the committees were passing themselves off as representatives of the CSSU. “Constantly, we’ve been trying to assert that no, we’re not trying to be a rival CSSU or usurp the CSSU,” he said, “but we do want to see CSSU change a bit in terms of how it accepts community involvement and how can get involved.”

Despite these leadership shuffles, Panero Armoska noted that the CSSU is continuing to operate and hold events.

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Feature The myth of Canada as a post-racial society — we cannot afford to forget reality

10 Arts Book Review: Becoming by former First Lady Michelle Obama

12 Science Henrietta Lacks’ cells, still researched at U of T, have shaped medical history

15 Sports The iconic, athletic, humanitarian PK Subban

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UTSU holds event on impact of anti-Black racism on mental health

Discussions centred around intersectionality, barriers in academia Abhya Adlakha Varsity Staff

The University of Toronto Students’ Union held an event titled “AntiBlack Racism and Mental Health” on February 15 as part of its annual eXpression Against Oppression series, coinciding with Black History Month.

Closing out a week of events directed at challenging oppression and highlighting the experiences of marginalized people, the event addressed the negative impacts of anti-Black racism and discrimination on mental health.

Rania El Mugammar, a SudaneseCanadian writer and anti-oppression and liberation educator, hosted and led the discussion.

When asked about why it is important to address the issue of mental health and anti-Black racism in a conversation with The Varsity before the event, Mugammar replied that the dehumanizing effects of racism and the resulting hypervigilance negatively impacts mental health.

“If [it’s] not part of our understanding of [the] mental health crisis and mental health issues then how can we

actually address it in a way that helps people find coping mechanisms that work, find treatment plans that work, and find sustainable ways to support themselves and their communities, and also have language to talk about it?”

Mugammar especially stressed the importance of having the language to talk about mental health in her culture.

“I remember when I was younger and all the Black women around me would say, ‘Depression is for white girls,’” Mugammar said.

“We don’t have the luxury of falling apart, right? So it’s not something that’s allowed for us. So we don’t have a language around it and I think it’s really important that we do.”

Addressing this absence through an anti-oppression framework during the event, she discussed the theory of intersectionality, how it concerns Black communities, and why it’s so important to incorporate intersectionality into mental health interventions and conversations.

According to Mugammar, approaches that do not have an intersec-

Supreme Court ruling preserves individual privacy rights in public spaces Former high school teacher found guilty of voyeurism for photographing students as a result

tional lens end up saying that being a “woman is a white, cis, able-bodied experience. Everyone else is a deviation.”

Due to this belief, she talked at length about how the study of psychology is “rooted in the world of wealthy white men,” and why it’s important to break that barrier and include more people from Black communities when designing mental health supports for them.

When asked by a student how her work aids and supports important academic research in psychology, Mugammar replied that her work does not support the academic community.

Instead, she framed most of her work as “pedestalling and giving [a] platform to community-based interventions and grassroot interventions and culturally relevant interventions that don’t get access to academic spaces.”

She expressed her disdain and distrust of academia by pointing out that the very “fathers” of psychology and mental health studies are from “a very particular social location,” adding that the “roots of this tree are rotten.”

Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on February 14 that individuals are entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy in public spaces. This decision comes from the case of Ryan Jarvis, a former Ontario high school teacher, whom the Supreme Court found guilty of voyeurism after he secretly videotaped students.

The court’s ruling set the precedent that one’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” can no longer be purely based on one’s location, but instead as a “totality of circumstances” that vary on a case-by-case basis.

In other words, Canada’s highest court ruled clearly that taking photos with sexual intent and without consent in public spaces — which could ostensibly include University of Toronto libraries and residence buildings — can be a criminal act, and individuals in these spaces may be entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s intervention

Court ruled that taking photos with sexual intent and without consent can be a criminal act.

MAX XI/THE VARSITY

Jarvis was charged with voyeurism for using a camera concealed in a pen to secretly videotape the cleavage of female students and a female teacher in a high school in in 2010– 2011.

He was acquitted of the charges by a lower court, and this decision was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal. However, a single dissenting judge on the appeal court created the opportunity for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) to bring the case to the Supreme Court.

The CCLA’s mission is to protect the civil liberties of individuals in Canada.

Explaining why the CCLA stepped in, Dr. Brenda McPhail, Director of the CCLA’s Privacy, Technology, and Surveillance Project,

Courtesy of the UTSU

Instead, she said that she needs to know the social location from which the researcher speaks: “who the researcher is, what their purpose is, etc.”

Mugammar also addressed the issue of intergenerational trauma in Black communities as the last topic of the night.

According to Mugammar, one cannot talk about mental health in Black communities without addressing intergenerational trauma, because intergenerational trauma can seriously impact mental health.

“Trauma fucks with you,” she said.

wrote to The Varsity that it “intervenes in cases to stand up for rights and freedoms, and in the Jarvis case, there was a clear need to stand up for privacy rights.”

The lower courts acquitted Jarvis, explained McPhail, because “part of the voyeurism offence requires it to happen in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy.” While the trial judge found that Jarvis had violated students’ privacy, he was not convinced that the videos were filmed with sexual intent. But the Court of Appeal later ruled that, since there were security cameras in the school, there was no reasonable expectation of privacy for the students and the teacher.

The CCLA “felt strongly that this was wrong,” continued McPhail.

It held the belief that it would be “deeply problematic to say that because someone might be legally using a security camera, their decision to do so wipes out the privacy rights of everyone in the vicinity.”

Interpreting the Supreme Court’s view of the case that led to its unanimous decision, Chiao said that the court viewed the privacy of a school as “public for some purposes, but private for other purposes.”

“So it’s public in the sense that they might expect to be seen by other students or teachers, but private in that they would not expect to be recorded for purposes of sexual gratification. I’m going to think that’s the nature of the disagreement between the two courts.”

Why the courts arrived at different decisions

U of T Faculty of Law Associate Professor Vincent Chiao, who specializes in criminal law and justice, explained that the lower courts arrived at a different decision than the Supreme Court because they have different functions.

“There’s a distinction between two types of questions that courts will decide.”

The first is a “question of fact,” explained Chiao, while the second is a “question of law.” As its name suggests, the first establishes the facts, such as, “Where were you at 3:00 pm on Tuesday?” The second determines the courts’ interpretations of the law.

In this case, the question of law was, “What is a reasonable expectation of privacy?” said Chiao. The lowest court is concerned with questions of fact, but the Supreme Court is concerned with the question of law.

Takeaways of the case for university students

A main takeaway for university students, said Chiao, is the idea that legal definitions of common terminology often differ from everyday usage.

Chiao noted that while Jarvis’ actions may be creepy and reprehensible, the Court of Appeal may not have found them relevant to privacy rights.

Jarvis wasn’t “sneaking into the girls’ changing room” or a private area in the school; he was “in public spaces interacting with the students in a way that he normally would have,” except for the voyeuristic recording.

While immoral, Chiao noted that it’s not really a matter of privacy in the everyday use of the term.

That said, Chiao noted, “It seems like a pretty sensible outcome on the Supreme Court’s view.” If the Supreme Court acquitted Jarvis, it would affirm that teachers may be allowed to secretly take pictures of students for sexual gratification.

The court’s definition of privacy ensured this would not be the case.

“Privacy is something we need and deserve, it is a human right,” wrote McPhail on the case. “Students need to be in schools to get an education, and [schools are] places we as a society say our young people need to be safe.”

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Faculty of Arts & Science looking to implement mandatory small class requirement

Proposed changes would take effect in the 2019–2020 academic year Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

The Faculty of Arts & Science is proposing to implement a mandatory small class requirement for incoming first-year students, which would take effect in the coming academic year. The proposal comes amid increasing enrolment and the need for diverse course offerings throughout each department.

Students would be required to enrol in a half or full-year seminar in their first year of study. “We are considering making it a requirement that a small foundational seminar be taken by all students in their first year because we believe the small class experience is an ideal environment to help students transition to university studies, make early connections with peers and professors and start to develop the technical research and communication skills to support them through their degree and beyond,” said Sean Bettam, Communications & Media Relations Specialist for the faculty, in an email to The Varsity.

The faculty currently has several small-class offerings limited to firstyear students, including the First-Year Foundation (FYF) One programs, which require external applications, and FYF Seminars capped at 30 students.

Both academically rigorous and competitive, the College One programs offer a variety of curated courses to arts and science students.

First-year seminars focus on timely topics, but do not count toward program requirements.

While these offerings are highly encouraged, students are not required to enrol in a small class.

However, other programs without existing small classes are restructuring in order to meet the demands of the requirement.

Charlie Keil, Principal at Innis College, spoke to The Varsity about the effects that the proposed changes would bring to Innis’ current offerings, commenting on the current challenges faced by these courses and the demands they would bring to the small sizes overall.

The Faculty of Arts & Science is proposing that students be required to enrol in a half or full-year seminar in their first year of study.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

“The problem [with the 199 courses] was that because [students] didn’t have to take them, what would often happen is that students would end up dropping them not because they didn’t like them, but because they either wouldn’t fit in their schedule or the courses that they needed to take to get into a POSt would conflict,” said Keil.

New College’s One program will drop the external application in order to encourage engagement and overall make the experience much easier for students.

When asked about such a change, Keil said that “the idea… in eliminating application processes… was just to make [the Ones] that much easier when students make their choices in terms of the different kinds of smallclass learning experiences, to try to just make it as streamlined as possible for students to try to reduce as many impediments.”

Other colleges share the same sen-

timents as Keil, both drawing on the advantages of smaller class sizes for incoming students and reflecting on the challenges of fitting in as many undergraduate students while offering a small class experience.

“Victoria College has long believed that small-class experiences bring tangible benefits. Together with the FYF initiative, we are working to expand the disciplinary diversity of Vic One Hundred offerings,” reads a statement to The Varsity from Victoria College’s Office of the Principal.

First-year students at Victoria College are already required to take a small class as part of their degree component.

The application for the Vic One programs remains unchanged.

New College, on the other hand, is focusing on restructuring its courses in order to meet the larger incoming undergraduate population.

“At New One, we have updated all our courses — changing titles, updating

their descriptions to better match content — and we will offer more courses next year. We stay committed to limiting our class sizes to 25 students and to offering interdisciplinary courses,” said Alexandra Guerson, Coordinator of the New One program.

“Since New College is the largest undergraduate college at the university, it would be challenging to accommodate every first-year New College student with the existing One programs across campus. We currently have over 1,000 first-year students and we are actively researching models for expanding our offerings without compromising the quality of the program.”

If approved, updated course offerings will be uploaded to the 2019–2020 academic calendar at the end of April. The policy is still in the consultation stages, but, if the faculty chooses to move forward with it, the new framework would eventually have to be approved by the Arts & Science Council.

Ontario government’s Student Choice Initiative apparently suggested by free speech clubs

Ottawa free speech group suggested option to Premier Ford, Minister Fullerton Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

The Ontario government’s Student Choice Initiative (SCI), which gives students the option to opt out of certain incidental fees, was apparently suggested to the government by free speech clubs around Ontario, the concept having circulated for years within campus conservative communities.

In interviews with The Varsity, the University of Ottawa Students for Free Speech (uOSFS) Vice-President Michele Di Franco confirmed that the group had suggested the policy during a Free Speech Roundtable with the government on August 30, 2018.

Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities (TCU) Merrilee Fullerton attended the Free Speech Roundtable at Queen’s Park. The goal of the discussion was for the government to receive input from campus free speech groups to issue free speech guidance to universities.

Di Franco noted, however, that the “government seemed to be ambivalent

about [the opt-out option], (at least when we spoke to them).”

The discussion resulted from a joint effort by the free speech clubs to reach out to the premier’s office, said Di Franco. The day following the hour-and-a-half roundtable, the Ford government adopted a mandatory policy for Ontario universities to implement free-speech policies based on the Chicago principles, a set of guiding principles on free speech adopted by the University of Chicago in 2014.

Di Franco explained that the desire to opt out of certain incidental fees stemmed from the uOSFS’s negative perception of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.

The student union made headlines last year over allegations of fraud that resulted in the university terminating ties with it.

Ministry of TCU comments on the consultation In a written statement to The Varsity, the Ministry of TCU neither confirmed nor denied that the uOSFS’s recommendation played a role in the

formation of the SCI. “Minister Fullerton heard from many post-secondary students both during and after the election that the lack of choice and transparency in mandatory ancillary student fees was an issue of concern,” wrote TCU spokesperson Ciara Byrne.

“Many students have expressed concern either in person or via correspondence to the Minister regarding the high costs of mandatory fees for services that they do not utilize or want to support.”

The University of Toronto Students in Support of Free Speech wrote to The Varsity that the “Ontario government was very friendly and considerate and they kept an open and welcoming attitude to students’ group and concerns that have aligned with our free speech mission.” However, it declined to provide further comment on the discussion at the August roundtable.

The Varsity was unable to reach the Students for Free Speech York University group, the third student group present at the roundtable.

The Ford government held a roundtable with free speech clubs in August.

DOUG FORD/CC FLICKR

Opt-out option may also have originated internally from government, say U of T Campus Conservatives In an interview with The Varsity, Matthew Campbell, President of the University of Toronto Campus Conservatives, said that his organization had not suggested the opt-out option for student union fees to the provincial government.

However, Campbell said that the idea of an opt-out option is not a new idea, as it has been a talking point for the past five to eight years among the “youth conservative activist base.”

He added that the Campus Conservatives’ position is in support of the opt-out option, citing it as a move that lets “people say what they want their money going to,” and one that may increase transparency in student union spending.

Campbell also said that “student media probably should be in one of the mandatory fee brackets,” as it has increased the transparency of student union activities, citing The Eyeopener’s recent reporting on potential misspending by the Ryerson Students’ Union.

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | 5

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U of T receives more money from international students than from Ontario government International student enrolment has skyrocketed in the last decade, now greatest source of revenue for university Andy Takagi Associate News Editor

Ten years ago, U of T’s international student population was about 10 per cent of total enrolment, and non-citizens were not allowed to serve on Governing Council, the university’s most powerful administrative body. By 2015, the University of Toronto Act had been amended to allow non-citizens to serve on Governing Council, and by 2017 international students accounted for 22 per cent of U of T’s student body.

Today, money from international students makes up 30 per cent — $928.61 million — of the university’s revenue, above the 25 and 24 per cent that provincial grants and domestic tuition provide respectively.

Since 2007, the university’s operating budget has increased by 89 per cent, corresponding with the rapid rise in the international student population. As the university has rapidly expanded in the past decade, international students have become U of T’s only consistently growing source of revenue.

Operating grants versus tuition revenue Operating grants are the main source of funding provided by the provincial government and are conditional upon institutions following through on government mandates.

Recent examples of these mandates include the Student Choice Initiative and campus free speech policy, under which institutions would face cuts to their operating grants for non-compliance.

Since 2006, provincial operating grants have stagnated, holding steady to inflation in the range of $700 million. However, since the domestic student population has only increased, per student funding by the province is in decline.

In U of T’s Long Range Budget Report, the university points to the Ontario government’s worries about a province-wide decline in the 18–20-year-old population.

The report goes on to say that by 2019–2020, provincial operating grants will only make up 25 per cent of U of T’s revenue — less than the 30 per cent that international students contribute.

China and U of T

Chinese international students made up about 65 per cent of the international undergraduate student population last year. In the

shadow of the diplomatic tensions between Canada and China over the arrest of a senior executive from Huawei, credit rating agency Moody’s warned of the devastating financial impact on the university’s cash flow if Chinese students are pulled out of Ontario universities, highlighting their dependence on international students.

The concerns are not unfounded — in August, Saudi Arabia declared it would withdraw all of its international students from Canadian universities, of which there were about 300 at U of T at the time, because of a tweet made by Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland condemning the arrest of a Saudi women’s rights activist.

Lynette Ong, Director of the Munk Asian Institute China Initiatives and Associate Professor of Political Science, believes that the likelihood of China pulling its students out of Canada is fairly low.

Ong, in an email to The Varsity, writes that other major destinations for Chinese international students — like Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — are all experiencing tense bilateral relations with the Chinese government, leaving few options for the country even if it were to pull students out of Canadian universities.

However, the recent Scarborough Campus Students’ Union election did see the mobilization of Chinese international students in a petition to remove the Presidentelect Chemi Lhamo for her support of the Tibetan independence movement. The Chinese embassy denied allegations of involvement, but its statement iterated the embassy’s support for the “patriotic actions of Chinese students.”

International student tuition and tuition cuts Meanwhile, international tuition has continued to rise for Canadian postsecondary institutions.

When adjusted for inflation, the base domestic Arts & Science tuition at U of T has increased by about $1,000 over 11 years; international students have seen their tuition rise by more than $25,000 — a 127.5 per cent increase — during that time.

In an interview with BBC and then The Varsity shortly after, U of T President Meric Gertler justified the university’s need to raise international tuition in order to match peer institutions, fund initiatives, and offer offices specifically aimed toward international students.

As a consequence of rising tuition costs, Gertler also said that the university saw a rise in the quantity and quality of international applicants to the university, another driver of international enrolment.

The main guideline for domestic fees is the Strategic Mandate Agreement, a three-year mandate signed by both the Ontario government and the university in 2017 that outlines the objectives and enrolment guidelines for the university.

Part of these guidelines includes limiting the amount of domestic students that can be enrolled.

However, international student enrolment is mainly decided by individual programs, guided by a five-year international enrolment plan made by Governing Council.

While the university and the province have agreed to decrease domestic enrolment at UTSG by 1,700 spots and maintain current enrolment levels at both UTM and UTSC, international enrolment over the next five years is projected to steadily increase, with an average six per cent increase in international tuition per year.

In the wake of the provincial government’s directive to cut domestic tuition by 10 per cent next year, U of T said that international students will not see a tuition hike, but it may accelerate plans to increase international enrolment.

UTM Vice-President and Principal Ulrich Krull suggested this as part of a mix of solutions to accommodate for the domestic tuition cut.

The 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition followed by a tuition freeze will affect each program differently — if a program has a higher proportion of domestic students, it will lose a larger source of revenue and face steeper cuts.

The Varsity’s analysis of 2017 enrolment numbers estimates that second-entry programs will be the most heavily affected due to the high number of domestic students taken in.

The Arts & Science programs at all three campuses will see a lower percentage of their students receiving the cut; however, just by sheer size, they will face the brunt of the tuition cut — for UTSG, the Faculty of Arts & Science will lose an estimated $20 million off of its $495 million net expense budget for next year.

In an earlier interview with The Varsity, U of T Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr said that the university hopes to “find solutions that minimally impact students, staff and faculty, and programs.”

Business

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UTM market showcases Black business owners, entrepreneurs

The Buy Black market, organized by student groups, wraps up February 28 Luc Mvono Varsity Contributor

MILLY HONG/THE VARSITY

Black business owners and entrepreneurs are showcasing their work this month at the Buy Black market at UTM, a part of ongoing Black History Month celebrations run by student groups.

The Buy Black market is the only recurring event in Black History Month programming at UTM, running every Thursday except during reading week.

The final Buy Black market will be on February 28.

The month-long celebrations aim to empower Black members of the UTM community. Events are co-hosted by the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU), the UTM Black Students’ Collective, the Eastern African Student Association, the UTM African Student’s Association, and the Caribbean Connections UTM student group.

“The Buy Black market was an exceptional time to showcase black identified vendors. We wanted to create a space where business owners had the ability to share their passions and culture with the UTM community,” wrote UTMSU Vice-President Equity Leena Arbaji in an email to The Varsity.

Though the event is open to UTM student ven-

dors, Arbaji said that the organizers “didn’t find any students this time around.” Instead, they contacted vendors via Black Owned Unity, an enterprise that connects “the Black community around the goal of economic development.”

The market is located in the Communication, Culture & Technology (CCT) Building. According to Arabji, this location was a strategic choice, writing that the organizers “purposely placed the market in a building with heavy traffic knowing 100’s of students each hour would interact with the vendors.” Due to its CCT Building location, food vendors are not permitted at the events. Instead, a variety of garment and cosmetics businesses are featured.

One of these business is Kallis Oils, a skincare company that primarily sells body oils. Its founder, Alazar Kafle, told The Varsity that his brand was “really well received. We had a lot of exposure, and people were really interested in our ingredients as well.”

He later added that he is “super blessed to have had the chance to promote my initiative about responsible and organic skincare.”

Black History Month celebrations at UTM are wrapping up this week, with a Self-Care & Games Night event on February 25 and a closing ceremony on February 27.

U of T planning to establish new medical research fund

Daniel Drucker proposes $6 million endowment in anticipation of centenary of insulin discovery Ryan Delorme Varsity Staff

Plans are underway to establish a $6 million endowment fund to support medical research conducted

by U of T faculty members. The endowment, slated to be named the Drucker Family Innovation Fund, was proposed by U of T Professor of Medicine Daniel Drucker and is planned as part of the university’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin.

The Drucker Family Innovation Fund will be used to finance an annual grant competition focused on medical research. Those eligible to compete will be U of T faculty members in the Department of Medicine — stationed at either Mount Sinai Hospital or the University Health Network (UHN) — along with all faculty affiliated with the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre. Individual grants as high as $50,000 will be awarded.

As part of the proposal, Drucker has pledged to

contribute $2 million, contingent on U of T and the UHN each gifting the same amount. The money invested by all three parties will coalesce into the $6 million endowment fund.

The UHN is a Toronto-based health care and medical research organization affiliated with the university. In addition to housing research facilities occupied by U of T faculty members, its constituent hospitals provide training for medical students and postdoctoral fellows. These researchers would be among the potential beneficiaries of the prospective fund. Due to an existing patent license agreement, the UHN has already benefited monetarily from Drucker’s research.

According to Vivek Goel, Vice-President Research & Innovation, U of T will derive its $2 million from revenue generated by Drucker’s discoveries.

Like all U of T researchers, Drucker owes the university a certain percentage of earnings on inventions made using U of T resources; this arrangement is outlined in the university’s Inventions Policy. Thanks

Drucker’s $2 million donation is contingent on U of T and the UHN each matching his gift.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

to the importance of his work, Drucker’s research has already generated $7.4 million for the university.

U of T’s share of inventions revenue, from inventions that generate over $500,000 in cumulative net revenue, is normally funnelled into the Connaught Fund, which distributes the money to faculty members through various research awards. However, the Inventions Policy allows the Vice-President Research & Innovation to invest this money elsewhere in exceptional cases. “The combination of the generous donation from Prof. Drucker, the level of royalty revenue and the upcoming anniversary represent a very exceptional circumstance,” Goel wrote in a report submitted to the Business Board of U of T’s Governing Council.

The 100th anniversary of insulin’s discovery is significant for the university — it was primarily a team of four U of T researchers that identified the hormone in 1921. Frederick Banting, John JR Macleod, Charles H Best, and James B Collip used a novel experimental technique to discern that insulin, secreted by the pancreas, plays an essential role in diabetes prevention. Following the team’s announcement of its findings, the university helped produce and distribute insulin to diabetics worldwide.

The upcoming celebrations and U of T’s connection to the discovery present a unique opportunity for the university. By capitalizing on the medical community’s excitement, fundraising initiatives might raise more money to finance U of T researchers. This is part of Drucker’s motivation for establishing a fund in honour of the occasion. “Professor Drucker is hoping that when we publicly announce this with the [UHN], it will be the kickoff for [a] much larger fundraising campaign,” said Goel at the latest Business Board meeting.

Drucker’s research has helped to create life-saving

treatments for diabetes and other endocrine disorders. His work is closely tied to the research conducted by Banting and Macleod’s team. In addition to being a Professor of Medicine at U of T, Drucker is a Senior Investigator for the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, located at Mount Sinai Hospital. His research there centres on the physiology of specific hormones responsible for diabetes, obesity, and intestinal disorders. Some of these hormones are known to regulate insulin secretion. Studies conducted by his personal lab have helped produce new treatments for both type 2 diabetes and short bowel syndrome — diseases that affect millions of people across the world.

The university made Drucker an Assistant Professor of Medicine in 1987. By then he was already familiar with the institution, having earned his medical degree from U of T seven years prior. He spent the intervening time receiving clinical training in endocrinology and internal medicine from both The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Toronto General Hospital, which is now part of the UHN. Additionally, he completed a research fellowship in molecular endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

As the fund has yet to be finalized, the university has not formally announced it. However, in an email to The Varsity, U of T spokesperson Elizabeth Church said that it is one of many initiatives planned. “We are working on university-wide celebrations for the 100th anniversary in 2021, and we will start to share those plans once they are finalized,” Church said.

The Business Board, responsible for conducting periodic reviews of university fund allocation, received information of the proposed fund at its latest meeting. The Connaught Committee, which allocates funds for further research, approved Goel’s reallocation of inventions revenue plan in December.

Editorial

February 25, 2019 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

How’s the weather, UTSG — and what’s wrong with you?

Student safety must be paramount when severe conditions hit The Varsity Editorial Board

On three dates across the past several weeks, severe winter weather conditions have compelled universities across southwestern Ontario to cancel classes or close campuses entirely. This is naturally expected, provided that they prioritize the safety of students and employees.

What’s wrong with you, UTSG?

On January 28, UTM closed at 4:00 pm, UTSC closed at 5:00 pm, and UTSG cancelled classes at 6:00 pm. The next morning, UTM and UTSC remained closed for several hours, while UTSG reopened.

On February 6, UTM closed yet again, UTSC cancelled classes starting at noon, and UTSG closed at 3:00 pm.

On February 12, the worst of the three cases arrived, as evidenced by a winter storm warning issued by Environment Canada. Both UTM and UTSC closed early in the morning, as did universities across Toronto and southwestern Ontario, including ones located blocks away from UTSG, like Ryerson University and OCAD University. The only exception was UTSG, which decided near noon to only cancel classes that started at or after 4:00 pm due to “worsening weather conditions” in the evening.

The point is that UTSG has consistently chosen to delay the inevitable decision to cancel classes or close campus while its satellite campuses have exercised the prudence to make the call earlier. It has also frequently opted for the softer of the two choices, cancelling classes, unlike the other campuses.

UTSG’s anomalous behaviour has caused many students to rise up in anger on social media, and rightly so. It is unacceptable that this campus operates significantly differently from the other two, especially when they all belong to the same region being affected by severe weather conditions.

No respect for commuters

UTSG’s record is first and foremost disrespectful to commuters. By delaying its decisions, thousands of commuters are forced to make the unsafe and messy journey to campus, made even worse when sidewalks have not yet been shovelled or salted in the early hours of the morning.

Furthermore, many have their commute times significantly lengthened due to poor road and transit conditions, especially if they are from outer suburbs like Mississauga, Oakville, or Markham.

This forces commuters to personally account for the weather in their commute time, and may nonetheless cause late arrivals to classes without any accommodations. If a commuter student decides to not go to campus at all, fearing for their safety, then they are burdened with the responsibility to individually negotiate with and be left at the mercy of individual instructors for missed participation or tests.

The disunity of decision-making between all three campuses has the potential to negatively impact students taking courses at other U of T campuses. On February 12, while shuttle buses serving UTM students who attend UTSG classes were cancelled, they were still expected to attend.

Some commuters had also just arrived on campus when UTSG finally made the calls to cancel classes, rendering their difficult journey unnecessary. On January 28, for instance, an email to students indicating the 6:00 pm cancellation was sent just minutes before. Meanwhile, UTM and UTSC students were given notice hours before. The Varsity subsequently learned that, unlike its satellite campuses, UTSG has no official guideline for evening decisions.

Commuters, along with others who may have been on campus beforehand, then have to reckon with the fact that they still have to make the unsafe

UTSG’s delay to cancel classes or close campus has compelled students to traverse unsafe weather conditions on multiple occasions.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

commute back home, in “worsening” conditions.

U of T must create and apply policy that reflects and accommodates commuter students.

No consideration for student safety on campus

None of this speaks to the issue of walking conditions on campus itself. On February 12, the city began salting roads at around 7:45 am, and it took around 18 hours to get main roads and sidewalks salted and shovelled. Thus, dangerous sidewalks have been a reality for students forced to walk through a large campus to get to class on time, especially during midterm season. If the university knows that sidewalks are not safe by the time classes begin, then it should close campus to ensure that there are no accidents.

Although U of T’s decision already posed difficulties for able-bodied persons on campus, it was especially inconsiderate of students with accessibility needs, such as those who need wheelchairs or scooters for mobility and find it more difficult to navigate through the snow and ice. Clean-up crews tend to focus on sidewalks and major points of entry and as a result, ramps can remain icy and difficult to navigate. Snowplows also pile snow back onto sidewalks and curb cuts, limiting wheelchair and scooter access.

The extreme cold and winds can also put individuals at risk of hypothermia, a condition in which the body cannot warm itself fast enough and causes body temperature to drop.

Hypothermia is all the more likely if students are outside waiting for buses or walking to class.

Unfortunately, not all students made it through safely on campus, especially on February 12. One student who was rushing to get from one midterm to another slipped on unsalted black ice and sprained their knee. Their doctor subsequently prescribed them a knee brace. Another student slipped on ice hidden under snow and their forehead made contact with the ground. The Health & Wellness Centre diagnosed them with a concussion.

It is important to note that these are just two stories that were reported to The Varsity.

There are many more, and they are not exclusive to students; instructors and employees at the

university are equally vulnerable. UTSG’s policy has tangible consequences in the form of danger and harm to those who are forced to walk on campus, and the university must take responsibility.

Selective communication

For others, they might not have been physically hurt, but they certainly had added stress. One masthead member reported that, for two of the three dates of severe weather conditions, their accessibility and therapy appointments at the university were cancelled prior to any general decision from the university regarding the weather. Although the university is reluctant to cancel classes or close campus, it is not reluctant to shut down important services that students may desperately need to access.

Another masthead member had a midterm scheduled from 3:00–5:00 pm on February 12. The university cancelled all classes and midterms starting at or after 4:00 pm. However, it did not clearly indicate what would happen to midterms that started before but ended after the cancellation, leaving students uncertain.

U of T only clarified that midterms would go on once prompted by students, even though no justification was given — after all, if it is deemed unsafe to be on campus after 4:00 pm by the university, then to hold a midterm that ends at 5:00 pm is entirely inconsistent. This was similar to February 6, when U of T closed at 3:00 pm but indicated that it would be up to instructors to cancel classes that started before 3:00 pm.

When prompted by The Varsity on the subject of campus closures under severe weather conditions, U of T Media Relations indicated that safety is a “top priority” but that “there are thousands of classes, exams, tests, labs and tutorials on each campus throughout the day. The decision to cancel classes or close a campus is always challenging.”

This seems to imply that the magnitude of operations on campus has a bearing on the kind of decision that is made. But it shouldn’t. If safety is compromised, then the decision should be made. Safety is not simply a “top” priority; it is the paramount priority. The inconvenience that

may spillover to the university’s bureaucracy as a result of the cancellations should be secondary.

We need a safety-first policy

We call on Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr and Vice-President Human Resources & Equity Kelly Hannah-Moffat, who are involved in the decision-making process for cancellations and closures at UTSG, to do better for students, instructors, and employees. First of all, they should learn from UTM, UTSC, and other campuses in the region, and make decisions much earlier to show consideration for commuters and students with accessibility needs. Students should not be left to negotiate with their instructors for extensions or accommodations when their safety is compromised.

They should also do better to ensure that all cancellations are communicated effectively and widely, and that all student inquiries and confusions are preemptively answered. Given the stress that cancellations may put on bureaucracy, a simple solution is for instructors to reschedule cancelled classes to the makeup day at the end of the term, or to negotiate with their classes regarding covering missed material.

This is also an opportunity for student unions to demonstrate that they are not simply driven by “crazy Marxist nonsense” as the premier has accused. In fact, organizing and advocating for student interests with the university administration is at the core of the mandate of student unions. We call on the University of Toronto Students’ Union and other student unions at UTSG to demand a better cancellation and closure policy to ensure that students no longer face dangerous circumstances in this and future winter seasons.

If the university is really bent on keeping the campus open, then maybe it should divest from fossil fuels and play its role in rolling back climate change, which is linked to such extreme weather conditions in the first place.

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

Comment

February 25. 2019 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Chemi Lhamo leads and speaks for the colonized

Free speech, minority leadership, and the student-national-global political nexus

Meera Ulysses Current Affairs Columnist

Earlier this month, the dramatic 2019 Scarborough Campus Students’ Union elections finally came to an end — only to become entangled in global politics.

The story centres on the current Vice-President Equity and President-elect Chemi Lhamo, a Canadian woman of Tibetan heritage.

Lhamo openly and proudly supports the Tibetan independence movement, which asserts the region’s historical independence from China and seeks Tibet’s freedom from the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses. Because of her identity and politics, Lhamo was targeted by a hate campaign on her Instagram photos soon after winning the presidential election.

Comments ranged from banal Chinese nationalist sentiments to threats of violence, some of which were misogynistic and sexual. A change.org petition calling for her election to be blocked amassed over 11,000 signatures before recently closing. Her opponents defined her politics as either irrational or stemming from anti-Chinese prejudice. This supposedly justifies her disqualification from leadership on a campus where Chinese international students make up a significant portion of the student body.

As this story developed, a similar one unfolded at McMaster University, where a talk on the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority was disrupted and the speaker was verbally assaulted.

Both targets of harassment alleged that these campaigns were likely orchestrated by the Chinese government as measures of suppression. The Chinese consulate has formally denied these allegations.

The aggressive and vitriolic backlash in both of these cases reveals how free speech does not apply equally to anti-colonial voices and perspectives on university campuses. This is not unusual — another high-profile example of suppression, silencing, and intimidation that plays out on campus pertains to advocacy for Palestinian rights and statehood. Whether in the context of Tibet, Xinjiang, or Palestine, making space for colonized communities to voice dissent through advocacy is integral to protecting free speech — especially if powerful foreign governments like China and Israel are allegedly complicit adversaries.

The intertwining of campus and global politics, especially in the case of Tibet, should concern all Torontonians and Canadians. Since the 1959 Tibetan uprising, thousands have been forced to leave their homes.

Starting in the 1970s, Canada was one of the first

President-elect Chemi Lhamo faced online harassment targetting her Tibetan heritage shortly after the SCSU elections.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

countries to actively work to resettle Tibetan refugees.

Today, over 75 per cent of Canada’s Tibetan population lives in Toronto.

Lhamo has nonetheless made it clear that Tibet will not be a focus of her presidency. Rather, her experiences will positively affect her ability to fulfil her position and represent the campus. Through her activism, she has worked with various communities, done outreach projects, and remained socially and politically engaged.

Even if she were to make the issue a focus of her presidency, it should not be easily dismissed. University campuses are venues for the free exchange of ideas, and for a student politician to use their position to raise awareness and do advocacy work is perfectly acceptable. Exposure to novel perspectives, especially those that are suppressed, is key to student life. In turn, students have a right to disagree if they so choose.

Some may argue that allowing student politicians to continue advocating for their causes while in office would alienate certain groups of students on campus.

The reality is that Lhamo’s position was never a secret, and she was still elected. Furthermore, silence and neutrality do not always represent all students. Not taking a side on this issue is equivalent to siding with Chinese nationalists and undermining the Tibetan right to self-determination, which Canadians should care about given our Tibetan refugee community.

The attack on Lhamo also speaks to a broader force that has existed ever since minority communities began pushing for increased representation. Political leaders of minority or disempowered backgrounds are frequently scrutinized for their identities and how they might influence their politics. They are thought to be unable to represent the ‘majority’ unless they prove that they can assimilate.

But no one — even a white Canadian who might define themselves as being part of the majority — navigates the world from a place of neutrality to begin with. We are all informed by our identities and experiences. It is only when the person in question is a minority that this is seen as an issue.

The fact of the matter is that Lhamo was not elected to mediate relations between China and Tibet or to facilitate discussions on the question of Tibetan autonomy. She was elected to preside over student issues at UTSC. Her pride in her heritage and community work on the issue of Tibetan autonomy bear scant relation to her position, and no UTSC students should feel threatened or alienated by it.

At the same time, criticism of the treatment of Lhamo should not slip into simplistic and prejudicial narratives. Namely, observers should not fall back on xenophobically generalizing Chinese people as foreign, anti-free speech threats, especially when SinoCanadian relations are already strained by the current Huawei tensions.

Specifically, the media must do better than present a simplistic binary where Chinese nationalists clash with those who voice dissent against the Communist Party. There have always been Chinese people who stand in solidarity with the suppressed in Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as scholars and activists who critique the government. However, instead of recognizing the complexity of the conflict, National Post irrelevantly remarks upon the “less-than-perfect English” used in the petition against Lhamo.

Lhamo’s case stimulates important discussions about free speech, minority leadership, and the complicated connections between student, national, and global politics. Although universities are supposed to host a free exchange of ideas, the power dynamics at play means that colonized communities are too often left voiceless. Lhamo’s election should inspire us to work harder to ensure that these perspectives have the space to exist and resist on our campuses.

Meera Ulysses is a second-year Equity Studies and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations student at New College. She is The Varsity’s Current Affairs Columnist.

Renaming Ryerson is a starting point for reconciliation

Why students and administration should support VUSAC’s proposal Amelia Eaton Student Life Columnist

On February 4, the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) released a proposal to rename the Ryerson Vic One course stream and Ryerson House residence building.

The VUSAC proposal echoes Ryerson University’s Indigenous Students’ Association and the Ryerson Students’ Union’s petition to rename Ryerson University in 2017.

These facilities are all named after Egerton Ryerson, who is known for being a proponent of the education system in Canada. However, he also believed in separate, religious education for Indigenous children and became a key figure in the design and implementation of residential schools.

Residential schools subjected generations of Indigenous peoples to cultural genocide, abuse, and trauma at the hands of the Canadian government and churches. Given Ryerson’s complicity, students and the Victoria University administration should therefore support the renaming proposal in the context of Canada’s commitment to truth and reconciliation.

This question of whether historical figures who have contributed to violence against Indigenous peoples should still be honoured by the streets, buildings, and institutions that bear their names is a hotly contested one. The debate has gained more traction since the celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.

For instance, a motion to discuss changing the names of public schools and buildings named after John A. Macdonald passed at a meeting of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

The motion cites the name as a contributing factor to an unsafe learning environment for children, as Macdonald contributed to the forced starvation and assimilation of Indigenous peoples, with the goal of “tak[ing] the Indian out of the child.”

Some argue that the push to rename buildings shows a lack of understanding for historical context, maintaining that important figures in Canadian history should not be held to today’s moral standards. But as Indigenous writer Chelsea Vowel points out, to view the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples through a historical lens is really to view it through “a whites-only 19th century perspective.” Indigenous peoples in both the past and the present morally opposed the actions of figures like Macdonald.

In a similar debate concerning renaming schools and parks named for Frank Oliver — a nineteenth century politician known for anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism — Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons argues that, if only perfect people are memorialized, “we soon won’t have anyone to

remember at all.”

This concern is misplaced. The movement to remove Oliver, Macdonald, and Ryerson’s names isn’t related to whether they were perfect people in their lives, but rather how their words and actions continue to shape Canada today. The decision to remove a racist historical figure’s name from a building isn’t a process of completing a comprehensive evaluation of that person’s character, argues Regina Rini, an assistant professor of ethics at New York University. Rather, it is a process of asking whether the values that person represents are worth passing on to future generations.

Simons further voices the concern that renaming monuments and buildings is an attempt to erase a colonial past, rather than acknowledge it.

However, while we should remember Ryerson’s part in laying the foundation for residential schools, there are still ways to acknowledge his role without having a building or course named after him. For example, organizations on campus like the U of T Indigenous Studies Students’ Union host events for Orange Shirt Day every year as a commitment to remembering the violence of residential schools.

It is paramount that we recognize that Canada was built on, and continues to perpetrate, anti-Indigenous violence. However, buildings are named for those we respect, admire, and hope to be inspired by — not simply people we wish to remember for good or for bad. Keeping Ryerson’s name on U of T buildings and courses not only ensures that he is remembered, but also that he is respected.

It is important that we stop honouring antiIndigenous figures in this way. But it is only a first step — the easy work, as some historians have described. In response to the ETFO motion concerning schools named after Macdonald, Indigenous entrepreneur Robert Jago wrote in The Globe and Mail that “reconciliation is not about earnest and well-meaning non-natives beating the drum for the one and only Indigenous issue that’s made it through to their political consciousness.”

Students should support VUSAC’s proposal, but we should be wary of focusing solely on this issue. Reconciliation requires, and deserves, hard work as well. Non-Indigenous students, like me, should also support funding for more Indigenous spaces on campus, hiring more Indigenous professors, pushing for Indigenous teaching to be offered in more disciplines, and most importantly, listening to Indigenous students, staff, and faculty.

Renaming buildings does not absolve Canada’s collective guilt, nor should it be supported as a way to make us more comfortable with our history. Instead, we should reflect carefully on the historical figures who we choose to revere and on the impact of their legacies. We can’t erase history, and we shouldn’t attempt to, but we can hope for positive change in the present.

Amelia Eaton is a second-year Political Science and Ethics, Society and Law student at Woodsworth College. She is The Varsity’s Student Life Columnist.

Ryerson House to be renamed as a part of VUSAC's proposal.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | 9

var.st/comment

Finding Blackness — in each other, in ourselves

Letters to the Editor

Being on campus reminds us of our existence and resistance

Re: Who speaks for Palestine?

“A well written and necessary perspective.

Discrimination is unacceptable no matter appointed in this world-class institution, which should be circumspect about the precedent it sets for ethical standards” — Nadine Eltayeb (from web) “‘Freedom comes with responsibility.’

Translation: I believe in freedom of speech so long as I agree with the opinion” — Stewart Trickett (from web) Re: UTM principal suggests over-enrolling international students to make up for tuition revenue losses “Yes, over enroll more of us so we pay you $50000 a year as fees and then not give 2 shits about where we work or whether we work after graduation” — Rahul Pillai (from web)

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

Nadine Waiganjo Varsity Contributor

The journey through university is supposedly defined by self-discovery — the process of becoming the person you were always meant to be. For some, this might seem comforting. But for me, a Black Canadian, I find it daunting.

Forming a Black Canadian identity

The conversation of what it means to be a Black Canadian is a confusing road. For one, it is very different from that of African-Americans, whose experiences are separate from our own. AfricanAmericans have a unified racial identity — one that is deeply rooted in an ancestral experience of slavery and post-emancipation oppression.

African-Americans are attached to the US — nothing more and nothing less. The constant need to remind their fellow Americans that their country is theirs is the fire that fuels their revolution. In Canada, the Black population is not defined by a common ancestral link, but rather by its diverse immigrant background.

I have yet to meet a Black Canadian who refers to themselves as “Canadian” before they refer to themselves as either Nigerian, Jamaican, Brazilian, and so on. The commitment to multiculturalism and diversity, especially in Toronto, inhibits the identification of a singular, unified Black Canadian racial identity. If we are Somali or West Indian first, it is difficult to arrive at a conversation about common Black Canadian struggles, namely antiBlack racism, that affect all of us regardless of our ethnic or national background.

The University of Toronto, however, operates as a site of resistance to the multicultural narrative.

Here, we are more aware of our Blackness because of the smaller presence of Black bodies on campus, where we should be able to organize as Black students. For example, I interviewed a first-year engineering student who expressed her difficulties in finding peers of the same race as her. A firstyear social sciences student noted that there exists a feeling of alienation coupled with “the rare occurrence of running into another Black person.”

The lack of Black representation on campus is problematic. It reduces Black students’ comfort of inclusion and their capacity to organize on campus, which, in turn, allows anti-Blackness to fester and become institutionalized. We saw this when a Massey College professor and a Dalla Lana School of Public Health lecturer both made racist remarks last academic year in two separate cases of anti-Black racism.

This is the kind of behaviour from figures of au-

thority that makes Black students feel unwelcome.

It’s also the kind of environment that pushed the Black Liberation Collective (BLC) to demand the collection of race-based data for students that would allow students to identify as Black.

In turn, U of T, along with various other Canadian universities, pledged in October 2017 to provide a demographic report on its students. Such a report has yet to be provided. This prolonged silence shows that the university does not intend to take the drive for Black liberation seriously. U of T likely believes that the situation is not as bad in multicultural Canada as it is south of the border.

We saw this dismissive attitude in an antiBlack incident last year, when engineering students used racial slurs and distributed pictures depicting blackface in a group chat. In response, the Black Students’ Association (BSA), BLC, and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) hosted a town hall and made demands to the administration, such as funding for an anti-Black racism campaign on campus, which have yet to be realized. In fact, at the time of the incident, they were told that it would take over a year for the demands to be put into action.

This echoes the current wait for the demographic report. The important steps that need to be taken in order to further heal the wounds of anti-Blackness are put on the proverbial back burner. This leaves many like me frustrated, lost, and waiting for change.

We are already talking

But Black students continue to organize. Groups like the BSA, the NSBE, the Black Public Health Students’ Collective provide a microphone for weary Black voices across campuses and create spaces for Black individuals to express ourselves.

The BSA town hall, for example, was an instance of organized activism that received widespread campus attention.

Other groups explore the intersection of Blackness and womanhood. A Dialogue for Black Women was started by fifth-year student Chiderah Sunny last October. The group is described as “a space for Black women primarily… where we aim to debunk or re-imagine notions and ideologies that surround our identity and our existence.”

The idea came about when Sunny was having a conversation with a Black female friend and they realized how many of their experiences were connected yet they were disheartened by the lack of organized spaces to continuously express these experiences. So A Dialogue for Black Women was born, and now, the group has meetings moderated

by and between Black women.

The space has just recently grown into a nonprofit organization of a similar name, With Black Women, which is meant to provide a more inclusive environment that bridges the lack of communication between Black and non-Black individuals, while still centring around Black women.

“We’ll be inviting other women of colour, white women, into the conversation but that are participants, they are allies,” Sunny explained.

Such student-led forums are not the only ones of their kind on campus. The BSA is planning for its 20th annual high school conference this year.

This is an event where they invite high school students to UTSG to be mentored “by black professionals and current university and college students to help them realize that post-secondary education… is an attainable goal,” according to its website.

The high school conference works to promote a larger Black population on the university campus.

This is something U of T only recently started to focus on with programs such as the Black Student Application Program for Black medical school applicants.

The NSBE also had its own high school conference just last October, which is part of an initiative known as either the NSBE Junior program or NSBE Pre-College Initiative program. The program was designed to stimulate interest in STEM programs with objectives like taking “NSBE into classrooms around the GTA.” Student-led organizations have existed and continue to exist to lead conversations within the Black community and beyond. They actively work to create the change I have waited for.

Given the multicultural narrative, being a Black Canadian does not come naturally or with a clearcut definition. But being on campus reinforces how small we are and compels us to demand change from our institution. We cannot wait for existing power structures to give us change; it has to start with us forming communities and engaging in conversations ourselves. Black Canadians are already talking.

What is crucial is that we support these groups and the voices and platforms they have to enact change. It can be done with basic forms of participation like attending a few meetings or promoting their events. We are making an active effort to unify ourselves. In doing so, we can succeed in finding each other and ourselves.

Nadine Waiganjo is a first-year Social Sciences student at University College.

Re: U of T President Meric Gertler on international student fees “I’d like to know how the university is engaging these students for become Canadian residents and future citizens. As an international student I found UofT was very quick to accept my money but provided absolutely no help with my journey to settling in Canada. One person told me I should pack my bags and leave Canada! $55,000 is a breathtaking price and I would love to see what exactly is included in there” — Rachel Lissner (from web) Re: The curious case of Anup Atwal “My reputation remains as intact as ever (I haven’t lost any friends or made any noticeable new enemies); in fact, I have recently noticed that more people have begun to say hi and give supportive statements. Importantly, I have gained much more from this ‘Deep Play’ we call the SCSU Drama than the typical mind is willing to currently engage (more on this in the near future). Lastly, the reformist sensibilities (cf. Kant: was ist aufklärung) have only become more powerful (literally) with these elections, with more students now their democratic critique! Perhaps Barthes really was onto something with the wrestling match, eh?”

— Anup Atwal (from web) Re: UTSG to cancel classes after 4:00 pm “What’s the point of this late closure?

Most of us are all gonna be downtown by this time, you might as well just let us go to class. I just walked through 1ft of snow piled up in the sidewalk to get to the TTC station to get to UTSG and within four hours, that’s just gonna be more than doubled.”

— Michael Cross (from web) Re: Victoria students’ council attempting to rename Ryerson residence building, Vic One Stream “Victoria is named after a Queen that colonized my people and ravaged our lands.

It’s time VUSAC started thinking even bigger if they really want to be inclusive and proactive in combatting Canada’s colonial legacy” — Tanzim Draco Rashid (from web) Re: U of T proposes joining Faculty of Forestry with John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design ing another one” — Bethea Ramos (from web)

10 | THE VARSITY | FEATURES

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

Courtesy of GAGE SKIDMORE/CC FLICKR

Courtesy of BBC

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

The myth of the post-racial society Why Canada cannot afford to forget reality

Writer: Emily Chu

features@thevarsity.ca

The myth In a recent interview that set the internet ablaze, actor Liam Neeson recounted how, upon hearing that his friend had been sexually assaulted by a Black person, he proceeded to stalk the town with a weapon, hoping some “Black bastard” would provoke him so that he could kill them. Neil Price, Associate Dean at Humber College, wrote in The Globe and Mail that Neeson’s remarks destroyed the “poisonous and persistent idea that we live in a postracial society.” But what does Price mean by postracial, and why is it so poisonous?

The esteemed civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw wrote in a 2017 article, “Race to the Bottom,” that post-racialism could be defined as a “veritable orgy of self-congratulation” that uses markers of racial progress to place racism “decisively in the past.” An American herself, Crenshaw used the rhetoric around Barack Obama’s presidency to demonstrate her point.

With the election of Obama, she says, liberals and conservatives alike touted the repeal of the “painful, violent legacy of white supremacy… in one miraculous fell swoop.” However, this claim was quickly and forcefully rebuked by the election of Donald Trump, whose policies targeting both racialized immigrants and American citizens have exposed Obamaera claims of racial harmony as a façade. In Canada’s case, we have never elected a prime minister who identifies as a person of colour and acts as the “photographic negative” of leaders like Trump. Yet Price is a Canadian writer writing for a Canadian outlet, suggesting that he believes that the fallacies of the post-racial society are applicable to this country too.

University of Toronto professor and postcolonial scholar Sherene H. Razack undoubtedly agrees. Dialing in on the Canadian identity, Razack argued in “Stealing the Pain of Others” that, through the consumption of media about Canada’s peacekeeping role in the Rwandan genocide, Canada reaffirmed itself as a humanitarian nation, a “compassionate middle power who is largely uninvolved in the brutalities of the world.” In this way, “the pain and suffering of Black people can become sources of moral authority and pleasure, obscuring in the process our own participation in the violence that is done to them.” For example, why does Canada’s support for the Catholic Church, which participated in and abetted the Rwandan genocide, go unquestioned by many Canadians?

While Razack used international examples to explain how Canada forms its mild-mannered identity, I believe her argument fits nicely within Canada’s domestic affairs as well, particularly with regard to the country’s relationship with Black history. Fitting, considering February is coming to a swift conclusion.

What we don’t talk about when we talk about Black history Consider the narrative of the Underground Railroad. A remarkable feat to be sure — over 30,000 slaves from the American South fled to Upper Canada under the guidance of several leaders including Harriet Tubman in the mid1800s. But what does it mean to understand this story as foundational to this country’s national history? Portrayed as the destination for fleeing slaves, Canada imagines itself as a safe haven for the persecuted and the enslaved. Not only are racism and slavery relegated to the past, they are conceptualized as geographically separate from Canadian borders.

More recently, consider the new Canadian $10 bill, featuring civil rights activist Viola Desmond. There’s nothing inherently problematic about celebrating Desmond; her act of protest in a Nova Scotian segregated

movie theatre deserves to be recognized.

However, the ways in which Desmond and her immortalization on the $10 bill are talked about are very characteristic of the “orgy of selfcongratulation” that Crenshaw described.

At the new bill’s reveal, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau commented on the importance of Desmond’s pursuit of beauty school. Despite the apparently “hard to believe” fact that beauty schools did not admit Black students, considering this was already the ’30s and ’40s, Desmond shone in a time when “the deck was doubly stacked against Viola, because of both gender and the colour of her skin” — as if women of colour today do not face similar intersectional barriers. To his credit, Morneau acknowledged that “though we’ve come a long way… we do still have a ways to go in our country.”

In a speech marking the beginning of this year’s Black History Month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared similar sentiments, saying that “Canada is a country built on diversity… a place where everyone is equal,” even though “the struggle for equality continues.” In the same speech, Trudeau said that “Black Canadians face discrimination and systemic racism, and that’s not right,” asserting that his government is making sure that “every Canadian has an equal opportunity and equal chance at success.”

The Trudeau government’s treatment of Indigenous communities across the country makes it difficult to take this commitment to racial justice seriously. The most recent example that has reached media attention is the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s standoff against TransCanada, in which Indigenous people and supporters gathered in the Unist’ot’en camp to prevent employees of the pipeline company from accessing the road and bridge that runs through their territory. In December, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police entered the Nation’s Gidimt’en camp, arresting 14 people while enforcing a court injunction to stop the Wet’suwet’en from preventing workers from gaining access necessary for the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The treatment of former cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould further demonstrates the lack of consideration that the Trudeau government is putting into reconciliation efforts heading into the federal election this fall. An Indigenous member of the First Nations Summit task force in British Columbia criticized the federal government for this and much more. “The prime minister has said on numerous occasions that there was no relationship more important to him than that between himself and Indigenous peoples of his country,” she said. “There are so many things… that are giving rise to questions… as to whether those words ring hollow, whether his promises ring hollow, because that’s what it’s starting to look like.”

This notion can perhaps be best summed up in the following: Trudeau’s appeal to the dreams of Indigenous people and other racialized Canadians, embodied in his Indigenous raven tattoo, blissfully ignores the criticisms of Robert Davidson, the Haida artist who inspired this very tattoo. Following the Trudeau government’s approval of the Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas terminal near Lelu Island, Davidson said that Trudeau “presents himself as an ally… with our ink on his body. We feel he’s stabbed us in the back.” The project threatened one of British Columbia’s largest salmon runs, and one of Haida’s most critical resources.

The project has since been cancelled, citing untoward market conditions.

This dismissal of Indigenous rights and priorities is the exact same thing that the Liberal government should have been criticized for during its consultations for a new national anti-racism strategy last year. Rodriguez said that ‘systemic racism’ is “not a part” of his vocabulary, citing the fact that Canada “is not a racist society, wherever one lives.”

Pressured by New Democratic Party MPs, Rodriguez eventually walked the statement back. Interestingly, multiculturalism critic Jenny Kwan said that the minister’s remarks were a “slap in the face of Indigenous peoples,” which is undoubtedly true.

His remarks were also a slap in the face to Black Canadians.

Black Canadians make up less than three per cent of the population but are overrepresented in the prison population at about nine per cent. Black students are also by and large being streamed into applied programs instead of academic ones in high school, and 42 per cent are suspended at least once by the time they finish high school, according to data from the Toronto District School Board. Despite the fact that the Black population of Toronto is just 8.3 per cent of the city’s, Black people accounted for 36.5 per cent of fatalities in encounters with Toronto police from 2000–2017.

On a broader level, the idea that Canada is immune to systemic racism is, of course, not true. A 2018 study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found, unsurprisingly, that racialized workers are “significantly more likely to be concentrated in low-wage jobs and face persistent unemployment and earnings gaps compared to white employees” in Ontario.

Additionally, racialized women were “25 per cent more likely to be working in occupations in the bottom half of the income distribution than white men.”

How are we doing?

So how is an institution like the University of Toronto dealing with such a reality?

To understand a bit about Black student experiences at U of T, I got in touch with Irene Duah-Kessie, a second-year graduate student in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program and Communications Officer for the Black Graduate Students Association (BGSA). “I believe every program at UofT can do more to acknowledge and integrate Black history, issues, and scholars into its curriculum,” Duah-Kessie wrote when asked about whether U of T adequately integrates Black history into its academics. “In my first-year as a UofT graduate student, it was quite challenging for me to find a space or people to discuss Black history and some of the issues I was facing specific to the Black student experience.”

Explaining how the BGSA fills those gaps, she said that it plays an “integral role in fostering a stronger support system” for Black graduate students at U of T. “As one of the few Black graduate students in my program, finding out about BGSA was super exciting for me because there was finally a space where I [could] meet people that look like me and understand my struggles with academia and life in general.”

However, Duah-Kessie cautioned that the prevalent academic and social gaps for Black students cannot be filled by groups like the BGSA alone as students can only do so much, but that the group is “a step in the right direction.” She elaborated that “there is still a need for more Black staff, faculty, and support services that address the unique needs of Black students. For instance, I remember wanting to speak with a counsellor of colour after my first year, but unfortunately there was only one available and he was restricted to only servicing students that belonged to a specific program.”

The university, she continued, “should be working closely with its Black students and the community at large to create more services and capacity building opportunities that reflect our needs and experiences. I see UofT taking strides to fill some of these gaps with the Black Faculty Working Groups, Black Student Application Program and the Community of Support Program in the Medicine Department; however, we still have a long way to go to make other

Black students, faculty, and staff feel at home at UofT.” Her previous work with First Nations House opened her eyes to potential models for bettering resources and opportunities for Black students on campus. “It was a great experience as I got to meet with many Indigenous students and staff on campus, where I learned about the various resources, workshops and events they have available to us. I think what stood out to me was their library filled with knowledge from Indigenous scholars, and I thought to myself how cool would it be to access a space at UofT with a library of Black and African-Canadian scholars.”

On Black History Month, Duah-Kessie said that “in a society where people of colour, particularly Black people, still face the challenges of living in a White supremacist world, I personally think that it is important to celebrate Black History Month… I see it as a month where we are able to remind one another of the accomplishments Black people have made to society in the face of systemic barriers.”

While designating February as the special month could limit conversations celebrating Black history, Duah-Kessie wants to have year-round conversations. However, she believes February is an important springboard for broader discussions. “Although some people may argue that Black History Month in February poses barriers on talking about Black history for the rest of the year, I like to think otherwise. I see it is as a month where we can come together in celebration of what our society can begin to look like if we are open and willing to embrace the past, just as much as we embrace the future.”

The myth revisited Experiences like Duah-Kessie’s demonstrate the need for increasingly inclusive curricula at all levels of education going forward.

Initiatives like the Toronto District School Board’s Africentric Alternative School is a great example. The school, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, has a curriculum that focuses on “the perspectives, experiences and histories of people of African descent.” Children who attend the school say that their instructors “encourage us to love ourselves,” emphasizing the confidence they gain from attending the school.

U of T can learn a lot from these positive and diverse learning environments. While restructuring the entire institution’s approach to curriculum would be an incredible undertaking, declaring a renewed focus on diversifying the academic voices we learn from, both in person and on paper, would be a huge step in the right direction.

Diversifying the curricula can also help rid us of the persistent post-racial mindset. As Crenshaw said, “The brutal fashion in which Trump’s rise repealed virtually every plank of post-racialist self-congratulation underlines how flimsy and premature the celebrations of Obama’s top-of-the-ticket symbolic breakthrough were.” Post-racial thinking isn’t just delusional, it’s dangerous. We cannot say to ourselves that the mission is accomplished, when it is clearly far from so, especially in Canada where white nationalist Faith Goldy placed third in last fall’s Toronto municipal election.

We, as students and as Canadians, must make a committed effort to creating diverse curricula that exposes us to the multitude of ways in which Canadians experience this country. That, I think, is one of the lasting messages of Black History Month, and one that will help the country grow in constructive ways, hopefully leading to more inclusive environments in institutions and communities that can truly claim to embrace difference.

Arts & Culture

February 25, 2019 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Jenisse Minott is a fourth-year double major in Professional Writing and Communication, Culture, Information & Technology.

Anger becomes her

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

The only thing we have to fear is injustice Jenisse Minott Varsity Contributor

When I was a child, I learned how to turn anger into sadness. Rather than being angry that I had to follow my mother’s rules, angry that my sisters wouldn’t share their toys, or angry that every teacher set impossible standards for me, I swallowed my outrage and got sad instead. Anger felt inappropriate.

For one, I was a child. I didn’t have the right to feel something so strongly, least of all to direct it at those with power: at parents, and older sisters, and teachers. And for another, I was a girl. Boys yelled and threw things when they were upset, but I was a girl, and I was good. If I was good, I could not be angry. And so, with that logic, I snuffed out anger and let it cool, until it became sadness. And I have carried that sadness with me all these years.

Over time, I continued to turn grievance into sadness. With each passing year, my anger became so foreign to me that I relinquished it to whomever opposed me because I had no idea how to wield it. I let an

academic advisor convince me to drop out of a program, her words sharp and dismissive as she declared that my situation was hopeless no matter how hard I worked. I let old friends discredit and humiliate me until I became a fraction of my former self and heard the unmistakable din of clipped anger in their voices, because even my sadness offended them. Once, I even let a manager at a retail job convince me that my outfit was unacceptable and that I should know better, despite the fact that other girls with more acceptable bodies were wearing the same pair of leggings I had that day.

And each time, I let someone else be angry, so I could be sad. I was good, and if I was good, I could not be angry.

I didn’t want to be angry.

I didn’t want to be an angry woman.

And as I got older, I didn’t want to be an ‘Angry Black Woman.’

Serena Williams, fined and ridiculed for her anger at an umpire at the US Open, is the most recent example of

the ‘Angry Black Woman’ trope in full effect. The ‘Angry Black Woman’ stereotype aims to define all Black women with anger as overly aggressive and unbearably ignorant.

A product of slavery, this term normalizes a Black woman’s rage by suggesting that all Black women are angry, and therefore that our anger doesn’t mean anything. Though society scorns all women who lack the docile complacency that it prefers, historical perceptions of Black women as mammies and, in more recent years, other ‘sassy’ characters trivializes our emotions in a way that differs from those of non-Black women. Our rage is either too aggressive to bear or too comical to be taken seriously. In either case, it becomes something to mock, and so do we.

I’ve experienced this mockery in spades. I’ve been considered angry simply for sharing precise and critical opinions in a loud voice with a neutral expression. And, in contrast, I’ve added

a smile and watched my opinions lose credibility because I was ‘sassy’ now.

But all of this does not make me sad anymore. Now, it makes me angry.

Anger, like sadness, is our heart’s way of telling us that something is wrong. I believe they come from the same place, but simply brew at different temperatures. Sadness should come from things that need to be felt, things that are true and cannot be changed — loss, illness, and the like.

But anger should come when there is injustice or unkindness.

When someone has been treated unfairly, they shouldn't have to hold that in for any reason. Anger is a part of the human experience, an emotion that we all feel, that we all should feel. Anger is something that no gender or colour or age group gets to monopolize.

There are wonderful articles, and books, and speeches that discuss how women’s anger has been driving so much change in the past few years.

There are movements, and protests, and challenges to ideologies that have maintained their legitimacy for centuries.

But it still isn’t enough.

There is still so much to be angry about.

Social movements are only possible because of the people who feel strongly enough to continue pursuing what is right. Even if you’re not a woman, you should be able to see the injustices that women face. And if you’re not a Black woman, you should learn to be aware of the extra challenges we face and so on and so forth until we are all angry for everyone, and the injustices that oppress us and those we care about, and even those we don’t know. Anger is just an emotion, and we shouldn’t be afraid to witness it or to hold it inside of us. Instead, we should welcome it with open arms and listen to what it has to say.

You can be good and be angry at the same time.

Book Review: Michelle Obama’s Becoming “Becoming Me,” “Becoming Us,” “Becoming More” — what it means to be a Black first lady in America Abhya Adlakha Varsity Contributor

“I’ve been held up as the most powerful woman in the world and taken down as an ‘angry black woman.’ I’ve wanted to ask my detractors which part of that phrase matters to them the most — is it ‘angry’ or ‘black’ or ‘woman’?”

— Becoming, Michelle Obama

Becoming is the first autobiographical memoir of former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Courtesy of AMAZON

We sometimes forget that the people we see through our television screens have a history too. A story. A life remembered, and in some cases, lost. Some personas are so much larger than life that we even take their existence for granted.

When I first read Michelle Obama’s Becoming, I was left speechless — in tears even, at certain moments.

In this powerful and intimate memoir of her life, Michelle Obama shows us what it takes to be a first lady, as well as a full-time mother, wife, and working woman chasing her dreams. But mostly, it’s a story of a young Black girl in America, who broke all the barriers, despite the punches she took, and came out winning.

From being told by her guidance counsellor that she wasn’t “Princeton material,” to being one of the few “poppyseeds in a bowl of rice” in the Princeton University student body, Michelle Obama shares insights into the

harsh realities of being Black in America.

She also considers several instances where her Blackness impacted, and, in some cases, worsened her role as First Lady — “swampy parts of the internet” questioned and derided her early life, depicting her as a typical “welfare queen” — as well as her womanhood, when a congressman ridiculed her posterior in an effort to demean her.

The best part about all of this, however, is that her reflections on these black dots in her past are humble, as if she’s almost thankful for all her struggles because they eventually put her on a path that led to the White House.

In the first section, “Becoming Me,” we see a young, competitive Michelle Robinson in the small apartment on South Euclid Avenue in the South Side of Chicago that is her world. It is there that her mother and father teach her to be fierce and outspoken, where conversations on sex are welcome, and where she struggles with the reality of being not only a woman, who isn’t always encouraged to pursue her dreams, but also a Black woman in America.

We see her journey through Princeton, where she majors in sociology and minors in African-American studies, followed by a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1988.

The second section, and my favorite section, gives us an intimate glimpse into her relationship with Barack Obama.

From their first ice-cream date, to her struggles with pregnancy, to her husband becoming the first Black president of the United States of America, “Becoming Us” is a story of the highs and lows that are a part of any marriage.

The third section, “Becoming More,” finally reveals her life as the First Lady in intricate detail. It takes us through kitchens in Iowa, dinners at the White House, and ballrooms at Buckingham Palace, showing us that everything is not as glamorous as it looks.

In one particular scene, she reflects on the dehumanization of Black people in America while looking at the walls of the White House. “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” she comments. It’s honest, if ugly, but it’s also pure and bold — and it’s her story full of courage.

From marriage counselling to the loss of her father, Michelle Obama lets us into the deepest moments of her life.

It’s brave and it helps us realize that all of our stories weave into each other’s somehow; we’re all struggling, all passing mountains, and humanity can be cruel, but also kind.

The title reminds us that we’re always becoming something more and more each and every day. Just as Michelle Obama says, growing up isn’t finite. You don’t become something when you grow up and that’s the end. Just like her, we’re all becoming.

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | 13

var.st/arts

The reality of being an African woman at U of T Navigating being a woman of colour during an undergraduate degree at Canada’s top university Tamilore Oshodi Varsity Contributor

It’s about that time, everybody — cue Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” for dramatic effect.

Closing up my final year, I can safely describe this ending as rather bittersweet. With big wide eyes and being rather used to the West as a privileged Nigerian, I had great expectations coming into my first year and didn’t want to take the opportunity of studying at U of T — an opportunity that many do not have access to — for granted. But inevitably, my realities regularly fell short of that.

It was my African parents who were particularly fond of Canada and the chances it could give me for upward mobility. The choice to attend the University of Toronto was also heavily guided by them. While I wasn’t expecting the great social extravaganza shown to me in movies and books, a girl could dream.

I wasted no time in my first year not living up to these expectations. Yes, I identify as a Black African woman, but it’s been interesting acknowledging that I have been rather privileged to have limited experiences with overt racism. Shuffling between Nigeria and England until I was 16, and having travelled to various places around the world, I rarely registered my race as a salient factor in my bad experiences with people. I might just not remember as a result of young naïveties, but it’s still something I’m in the process of dissecting. Having matured though — rather aggressively in the recent political climate — I’ve had to reconcile such favoured experiences with the subsumed guilt of knowing the experiences of Black communities across the world. Either way, I took it upon myself to get an education and better understand their situations.

But only through living in Canada did I get a practical understanding of the nuances of covert racism and racial microaggressions.

Coming in, my parents had already advised me to shorten my native name, Oluwatamilore, to the more Western abbreviation, Tami, to ease communication with people and have a simpler tool for blending in. It’s not my parents’ fault; they just understood how the system worked and they were right. You could see it in people’s breaths of relief when they didn’t have to put in that extra effort with pronunciations. It was the first step to being seen.

By the end of my first year, I had already been ‘randomly’ picked out and trailed by attendants in stores several times, accosted with unwanted touching of my hair, praised for speaking ‘good’ English, and more. I was regularly struck by the sheer ignorance of many Canadians about realities outside of their immediate world and how comfortable they were in that lack of knowledge and their refusal to educate themselves. I’d been fed, or rather, shoved with so much knowledge about Western cultures and ways of life that it felt unfair to not be afforded the same act in return. So I grew bitter toward this country, its people, and its shell-like appreciation of foreign cultures.

Though I tried to overcome this bitterness over the years, these feelings affected my relations with Canadians at work and school. I became overly cynical of others and our interactions. I took their questions about my culture at face value, assuming they already had their stereotypical preconceived notions — so why bother trying to correct them? I allowed my disdain for Canada to wholly consume me.

To be honest, it wasn’t until my third year that I finally allowed myself to be more open to embracing Canadian culture. Before, I felt forced to choose between becoming the ‘digestible’ foreigner — changing my speech,

clothing, and all that — or keeping true to my identity. Eventually, I realized that I shouldn’t have to compromise. By fourth year, my experiences at university and outside of it made me see the value in my identity as a proud Black African woman. I gravitated toward school associations that coincided with my national and racial identity and worked to involve myself in these communities. Thankfully, I decided not to diminish myself in order to make others comfortable.

Quite happily, I took in the poutine, maple syrup, theme parks, and monuments. But most importantly, I took in what I believe to be the most beautiful thing about this country: its social progressiveness. Especially since I come from an environment filled with rather regressive mindsets about the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people, children, and other minorities, Canada has served as a stark example of a high-functioning society, something for which Canadians should be truly proud and appreciative. Through my years here, it has enabled me to be a more forward thinker, and encouraged me to do my bit in supporting equality for all.

With my degree soon to be completed, I have chosen to be pleased with this chapter of my life. It’s safe to say that the university experience was just okay for me.

It wasn’t the wondrous journey of a lifetime I’d envisioned, but the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve been able to meet have made for great memories.

I’m proud of myself for overcoming the struggles, for those moments were sometimes all too overwhelming.

These years have taught me to stand strong in my truth and convictions. Convictions of what I feel, and a holistic recognition and acknowledgement of all parts of my identity should be warranted by society. I guess it explains why, through my writing, I’m venturing into a field that seeks to educate people on topics and issues that many can’t begin to fathom beyond the borders of Canada.

Yes, I’m anxious, but more so, I’m so ready for the future ahead, in whatever part of the world I choose to fulfil it.

Only time will tell if I will be able to achieve all the things that I have naturally assumed I will, and overcome the

stacked odds of systemic gender and racial discrimination working against me.

But then, with all this, I remember that I’m also an African. Failure just hasn’t been presented to me, or rather, internalized by me as a feasible option.

Even if I do happen to falter or fall below my own expectations, I will write about it.

Tamilore Oshodi is a fourth-year International Relations major with minors in Sociology and African Studies.

Courtesy of TAMILORE OSHODI

14 | THE VARSITY | ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

Dating as a high school queer

Let’s talk about sex, first relationships, and coming out Adina Heisler Varsity Staff

Listen, dating as a high schooler is one of the most awkward, confusing, embarrassing, and emotional things a person can go through.

And if you’re queer — and this is a conservative estimate — it’s 10 trillion times harder. Take me, for example. As a semi-closeted girl in grade 10 in a high school with less than 40 students, my dating options were fairly limited. To make matters worse, I lived in the suburbs and didn’t have a car or a driver’s license — I still have neither — meaning I couldn’t really get anywhere unless I could get a ride. One of the few places I could actually walk to was a local discussion and hangout group for LGBTQ+ youth. I am forever grateful to that space for offering much-needed support, friendship,

and community. It was also where I met a person I’m going to call “Amy.” I don’t believe in love at first sight.

I do, however, believe in the sweatypalms joy of crushes at first sight.

Amy appeared to be effortlessly cool, funny, and charming compared to my nervous, fidgety, and weird self. Not to mention, she was really cute.

I managed to pluck up some courage and ask for her number.

From that moment on, we started texting constantly, talking about all the movies and books and shows we liked — for me, it was Doctor Who and Jane Austen, and for her it was Les Misérables and Neil Gaiman. When we both expressed mutual admiration for the Stephen Chbosky novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I decided to seize the moment by asking if she wanted to see the film adaptation, which had just come out.

We made our plans and I casually informed my mother that I was going to go to the movies

with a girl I had met at my youth group.

My mother, both supportive and aware of my bisexuality, asked, “Is this a date?” and I, in that classic, patented voice that only kids in grade 10 with lots of teenage angst can truly master, said something like, “Ew! Mom, no! Gross! She’s just a friend.” And to be honest, I really did think this was just going to be two friends seeing a movie.

Because, while I definitely had a massive crush on her, I also assumed that I had no chance with her either.

I also didn’t know how to flirt.

The thing is, society gives straight people a framework for how relationships should function early on, in all kinds of media. From an early age, straight people get to see how their romantic relationships play out — or at least how society tells them they should play out — thanks to endless books, movies, and other media catering to their romantic fantasies.

There’s the prince and princess in fairy tales, the cutesy love stories of tween and teen dramas, romantic comedies, romance novels, side plots

in most genre films, and so on.

We are socialized from an early age to understand romance between men and women. But what happens if you don’t fit into these heterocisnormative ideals? What happens if you grow up without seeing anyone whose romantic life might resemble yours? Because, at least until high school, and even then, I never saw any romances between women, not in real life or in the world of fiction.

I had no clue how to flirt with another girl, how to ask her out, how to tell if she liked me. And I had also been taught that straight girls might compliment each other’s appearance, might be somewhat physically intimate, and might even say “I love you,” and still be 100 per cent platonic. So really, in my defence, I had no way of knowing that Amy might have liked me too.

So we met up at the movie theatre and hugged in that awkward way that friends-who-might-be-morethan-friends sometimes do. Half my attention went to the movie and the other half went to an extremely selfconscious examination of my every

move. Did it mean something when our hands touched over the popcorn? Did it mean something when we made eye contact and laughed together?

After the movie, we went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant and spent most of the meal dissecting the movie. So it wasn’t until we were leaving that I finally, somehow, to my own amazement, managed to ask the question that had been on my mind the whole time: “Was this a date?”

And she responded, “I was wondering the same thing.”

We realized that it was up to the two of us to make the call whether it was or was not a date. And to my great delight, we decided that yes, it was a date. And since it was a date, Amy decided it could also be a time and place to share what would be my first kiss.

My relationship with Amy didn’t end up lasting forever, but we parted on good terms, with the knowledge that, on occasion, things can turn out in favour of the awkward queer teen dating in high school.

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Where do you stand in your current career? Are you fine with status quo, or do you want an opportunity to make an impact? At Chandos, it’s about alliances and ideas not egos or agendas. We are a leading Canadian builder that seeks a new graduate for regional sales opportunities.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO START YOUR CAREER WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE WHO’S WHO OF THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY? IT’S NOT ENOUGH IF YOU’RE AMBITIOUS, TENACIOUS, DRIVEN, SMART AND A GREAT COMMUNICATOR. IF YOU ALSO HAVE A MIND FOR BUSINESS, TALENT FOR DEALS AND A HEART FOR PEOPLE, WE HAVE AN AMAZING CAREER FOR YOU. Our unique culture attracts a high caliber employee, whether it’s in the field or in the office. Those who thrive at Chandos do so because they understand that their success is dependent on the collective effort. That’s because every Chandos employee has an opportunity to own a stake in the company and it shows.

Are you inspired by mutual respect and solid relationships? Do you have a desire to learn and to share what you’ve learned? Want to be part of something bigger than yourself? If you’re looking for the opportunity to make your mark, we should talk. Because opportunity is one thing we’re very big on at Chandos.

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Science

February 25, 2019 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Henrietta Lacks’ cancer cells live on in biomedical research The story of a patient who changed the course of medical history Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

Henrietta Lacks was a cervical cancer patient who grew up in a poor family of tobacco farmers in Virginia. She died at the age of 31.

As described in her biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, despite the radiation treatment that left her burned from chest to pelvis, Lacks’ cancer followed her to her deathbed in Baltimore, Maryland.

In the “coloured” ward of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she received medical care from white doctors for her cancer, a part of her was unknowingly removed by her practitioners. Her doctors took a sample of her tumour to cell biologist George Gey, who sought to find human cells that could persist in cell culture.

Lacks’ cells, now called HeLa cells, enabled Gey to culture the first line of human cells that could persist indefinitely outside of the donor’s body under controlled conditions. This profoundly affected medical research, explained U of T biochemistry professor Igor Stagljar.

“The most significant application of HeLa, in my opinion, was in the development of the first polio vaccine,” said Stagljar. “In 1952, Jonas Salk tested his first polio vaccine on HeLa cells and then used them to mass produce it.”

In addition to playing a key role in developing the polio vaccine, HeLa cells have “been instrumental in gene mapping and studying human diseases, especially cancer,” said Stagljar. They have also been used to study “radiation, cosmetics, the effect of toxins or other chemicals, and even small molecule drugs on human cells.”

But in the years since, Hopkins researchers failed to inform the surviving Lacks family members of exactly how Lacks’ cells, taken without permission, have been used to solve profound problems in medical research around the world. Researchers also took samples from them for testing, explained Stagljar, without inform-

ing them that they intended to use the samples to research HeLa cells.

Instead, Lacks’ children heard “garbled accounts of UK scientists using HeLa for cloning research.” In their minds, they could imagine that their mother was being cloned for experimentation.

The family remained in poverty in the decades prior to the biography’s publication, unable to afford health insurance, while pharmaceutical firms made great profits from patents involving HeLa cells.

Skloot’s work helped Lacks’ children find answers about how their mother’s living cells have been used in medical research. Skloot also helped relieve the financial struggles of the Lacks family, using the royalties from her book to establish the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which provides medical and dental care for her descendants.

HeLa cells in U of T research

Stagljar’s research team in particular has conducted research with HeLa cells to study membrane-protein interactions or protein-protein interactions to develop new treatment options for cancer. Using HeLa cells enables his team to study changes in human-like cells without a human subject.

Stagljar credits his research team’s use of HeLa cells for a discovery that became the cover story of Molecular Cell in January 2017. The research mapped interactions between receptor tyrosine kinases and protein tyrosine phosphatases. This fundamental work could lead to new cancer drug targets.

“A little problem with HeLa cells is that they don’t have a normal human karyotype, or [a normal] number of chromosomes,” explained Stagljar. A chromosome is essentially a bundle of DNA, and HeLa cells have 76–80 chromosomes, whereas a normal human cell has 46.

“The extra chromosomes came from the in-

U of T researchers to follow on Twitter

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

fection by human papilloma virus that led to a cancer in Henrietta Lacks’s body,” said Stagljar.

“So while HeLa cells resemble normal human cells in many ways, they are… not entirely human.”

To address the effects of the abnormal chromosomes of HeLa cells, Stagljar said that his research team sometimes must confirm “results that we obtained in HeLa cells in other human cell lines.”

Despite this, HeLa cells continue to be used due to their ease of culturing.

Ethical concerns remain

Stagljar reflected that the use of HeLa cells in research continues to raise ethical questions. He recalled that in 2013, a German research team mapped the entire HeLa genome and made it public without consulting the Lacks family.

“Doing so broke no laws or rules,” wrote Laura Beskow in the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, but “because these data provid-

Dr. David Evans, @DavidEvans_ROM Dr. David Evans is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as well as a senior curator in vertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum. His research focuses on historical biogeography and paleobiology, specifically vertebrate evolution and paleontology. Evans’ feed features museum events, dinosaurs, fossils, and new research findings.

Broaden your scientific horizons, one tweet at a time Kasi Sewraj Varsity Contributor

Dr. Gillian Hawker, @UofTDoMChair Dr. Gillian Hawker is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at U of T and does work in clinical epidemiology and health care research. Not only does her Twitter account promote U of T events and opportunities in the medical program, her feed is also rife with current articles that range in topics from global health to gender in medicine.

Hawker is a must-follow for anyone interested in medical school or research.

Wilson Poon, @wilsonpoon Wilson Poon is a teaching assistant and PhD candidate at U of T’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. He also works in the Chan Lab, also known as the Integrated Nanotechnology & Biomedical Sciences Laboratory. Poon posts about genetics, chemistry, and relatable things about living in Toronto.

Twitter has a large scientific community.

SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU/THE VARSITY

ed some probabilistic information about Henrietta Lacks and her descendants, now known to millions by name, criticisms concerning privacy and informed consent intensified.”

The researchers responded by removing the sequence from the public domain and the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spoke with Lacks’ family.

In the final agreement, wrote Beskow, researchers funded by the NIH who sequence HeLa cell lines “are expected to deposit the data in a controlled-access database.” Researchers who wish to study the genetic sequences must submit an application for review by a committee, which “includes members of the Lacks family.”

Since the publication of Skloot’s book, Lacks has also received formal recognitions for her contributions to research. The NIH acknowledged the significance of Lacks’ life in 2013, and Johns Hopkins University announced in October 2018 that it would name a new research building in honour of Lacks.

Dr. Shreejoy Tripathy, @neuronJoy Dr. Shreejoy Tripathy is a new Assistant Professor at U of T and an Independent Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. His neuroinformatics lab uses computational methods in neuroscience research, which you can learn more about from his Twitter feed. Tripathy shares and replies to other researchers about new and interesting neuroscience work, giving a taste of some academic discourse.

Dr. Chirag Variawa, @ChiragVariawa Dr. Chirag Variawa is the Director of the Firstyear Curriculum and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, with a focus on industrial engineering and artificial intelligence for studying languages in higher education. His twitter feed is diverse, highlighting U of T achievements, accessible notes on artificial intelligence, engineering, and education.

Dr. Kishor M. Wasan, @DeanWasan Dr.Kishor Wasan is the current Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan and is the incoming Dean of U of T’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Whether it be new research or student achievements, his feed is all pharmacy all the time.

16 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Building a better battery

Science Around Town

U of T researchers patent battery energy storage system with a view to reducing waste

Emily Deibert Varsity Staff

SKYLAR CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

Tahmeed Shafiq Varsity Contributor

Dr. Peter W. Lehn, a professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Master of Applied Science graduate Kyle Muehlegg have applied for a patent on an electrical storage system that aims to reduce wasted electrical power.

Canada consumes a lot of energy

Canada consumed just under 500 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2015, which is enough to operate a washing machine for billions of years.

Our voracious energy consumption varies with the season and time of day — air conditioning typically isn’t on in the winter, and ovens typically aren’t baking overnight.

This variation creates electrical grid inefficiencies, as power plants continually operate at steady power outputs, often in excess of demand. For example, according to Natural Resources Canada, nearly 11 per cent of the electricity produced nationally is surplus that ends up being exported to the United States.

A solution to this problem is to convert the excess electricity into another form of energy and store it for future use. Depending on how long the energy can be stored, this could yield great returns with regard to sustainability and cost effectiveness.

At present, only a marginal amount of the world’s energy is stored in this way. In 2016, only 12 megawatts of energy storage was in use

in Canada. Yet the power plants at Niagara Falls could output around 4,900 megawatts, which is enough power for 3.8 million homes.

How to manage energy through battery monitoring

Energy can be siphoned off the grid and stored in different ways. Among the most efficient methods is a battery energy storage system (BESS). Electrochemical energy storage can be tapped quickly to respond to sudden changes in consumer demand.

Lehn and Muehlegg’s patent is for a structural modification to BESS devices that would reduce some frequently encountered problems.

One such problem is overcharging, a process that for some varieties of lithium-ion batteries, including common AA and AAA batteries, can lead to the emission of toxic carbon monoxide gas, permanent structural deformation, or even combustion.

Lehn and Muehlegg’s invention acts as a selfcorrecting “autonomous energy management method” by taking in information about the battery’s level of charge and using it to adjust the voltage across the BESS. As the batteries charge, the power they receive slowly decreases, shutting off completely at full charge. Electricity storage restarts once the batteries are in use.

The patent’s functionality also kicks in when batteries are put to use. When it is incorporated into electrical grids connecting multiple batteries, it helps to distribute the energy demand proportionally according to each battery’s level of charge.

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The power generated is far more consistent in voltage than any grid without such a distribution method, and that makes for a more steady supply of power for customers.

This process also acts locally on the BESS itself and does not require a large-scale digital system to evaluate data before making voltage adjustments.

“The philosophy we take is that the core functionality that must be there to operate should not be dependent on telecommunications infrastructure,” wrote Lehn in an email to The Varsity.

Further applications

Lehn and Muehlegg’s patent is also versatile.

It can be applied to any small grid that uses direct current electricity, regardless of how the electricity is generated, how many batteries are in use, or the actual operating power of the grid itself. As a result, sustainable energy grids for solar or wind energy are compatible with the patent.

Sustainable energy management is especially important since such grids often have several different energy storage mechanisms running at once.

Lehn also raised the possibility of having a storage unit at home. With a private storage system, tools like a charging station for an electrical vehicle could be added to one’s garage and powered locally. Any remaining energy could be stored or sold to the main grid and shared with others.

A common appliance that would be wellsuited to local batteries is the air-conditioning unit. Air conditioners run on direct current, forcing them to convert the alternating current received from the main grid with a built-in converter.

When summer rolls around air-conditioning units could be operated directly from the battery itself. As air-conditioning usage and solar generation peak together in the summer, it would be possible to stay cool and stay green at the same time.

Lehn offered a vision for a sustainable future, including reduced dependence on the main electrical grid in favour of power from homegrown rooftop solar panels. “[You would be] able to locally, at least to a certain extent, balance your load with your own local generation,” Lehn wrote.

As of press time, the patent application status is pending in the United States.

Draw Your Data The devices we use each day are constantly collecting data. Learn more about what they gather by creating infographics at this event.

Date: Monday, February 25 Time: 6:00–8:00 pm Location: Lillian H. Smith Library, 239 College Street Admission: Free with registration

CSBSU Academic Seminar with Dr. Kenneth Yip Presented by the Cell & Systems Biology Student Union, the focus of this academic seminar will be cancer: what it is and what we’re doing about it. Free food will be available.

Date: Tuesday, February 26 Time: 12:10–1:00 pm Location: Ramsay Wright Laboratories, 25 Harbord Street, Room 010 Admission: Free with registration

Science Making Impact Hosted by the Impact Centre, this event will feature a talk by Professor Cynthia Goh on how she’s developing technology to benefit the Global South.

Date: Wednesday, February 27 Time: 5:00–6:30 pm Location: Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories, 80 St. George Street, Room 162 Admission: Free with registration

Toward a Handbook of Ethics of AI This workshop will feature talks from contributors to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI. Come and join the discussion on artificial intelligence.

Date: Friday, March 1 Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Location: Munk School of Global Affairs, 1 Devonshire Place, Vivian & David Campbell Conference Facility Admission: Free with registration

Life and Death of Stars Spend the night learning about stars, stellar nurseries, and more at U of T’s planetarium. Arrive 10 minutes prior to the start time.

Date: Friday, March 1 Time: 7:00 pm, 8:00 pm Location: Astronomy & Astrophysics Building, 50 St. George Street, Planetarium Admission: $10

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | 17

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Sports

February 25, 2019 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

The importance of the iconic PK Subban Celebrating the athleticism, humility, and philanthropy of Toronto’s own Jaime McLaughlin Varsity Staff

Pernell-Karl Subban — PK to most — has never been one to not speak his mind.

Coming up on the completion of his 10th NHL season, the 29-year-old Toronto product is as well known for his big heart and candid, larger-than-life social media presence as much as for his incredible displays of explosive talent and skill on the ice.

Subban has spent three seasons with the Nashville Predators after establishing himself as an elite defenseman and household name with the Montreal Canadiens.

A one-time Norris Trophy winner and three-time league All-Star, understanding Subban’s athletic brilliance takes little more than bearing witness to a handful of shifts at any Preds game. However, a true appreciation of Subban’s life and legacy involves a step away from the ice and a pause to reflect on his roots and his journey.

Growing up in Rexdale as the eldest boy in a family of seven, sports ran in Subban’s family; his father, Karl, who moved from Jamaica to Sudbury in the 1970s, played basketball at Lakehead University, while his mother, Maria, originally from Montserrat, was a provincial champion sprinter.

Subban took an affinity to hockey early, encouraged by his father, whose own passion for the game formed during his teenage years in a predominantly Francophone neighbourhood of Sudbury.

The obsession permeated his childhood; he had his first pair of skates by the time he could walk at age two, and his father eventually turned the family’s backyard into a rink each winter.

Subban’s love for the game was seen in the hours he plugged during latenight skates at Nathan Phillips Square with his father. As young as six, Subban would frequently wake up at midnight, sometimes skating until 2:00 am with proper training, and he would often be rewarded with a slice of Queen Street pizza post-session. “It was not child abuse, by the way,” his father laughs, reflecting on the fact that Subban simply “loved skating” and that he “knew the importance of… skating regularly” for him.

By 16, all those late nights spent at the rink paid off as Subban was drafted to the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls.

Four years later, he was drafted in the second round to the Montreal Canadiens in 2007, and his childhood dream came true. Subban became a household name in the 514, quickly establishing himself as one of the NHL’s elite blueliners. By 2013, he had earned the Norris Trophy

A mural dedicated to Subban displays the affection that the city of Montréal still has for the defenseman.

COASTAL ELITE/CC FLICKR

— an honour awarded annually to the League’s top defenseman — and led the NHL in scoring among defenders for the season.

In 2016, to the shock of many, Subban was dealt to the Nashville Predators in a blockbuster trade for Shea Weber. Such a move had little effect, however, on his performance, as he helped lead the Predators to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final — the franchise’s first since entering the NHL in 1998.

But while Subban’s athletic success — and the thousands of hours of labour that he put into achieving it — arguably gives weight to his inclusion as one of the NHL’s all-time greats, it is his efforts off the ice that cement him as one of the most beloved athletes active in any professional men’s sports league today.

In Subban’s own words, “If there’s one thing I’ve tried to do in all the cities I’ve played in, it’s immerse myself in the local culture… When I moved to Montréal, I learned how to speak French — right,

ladies? And in Hamilton, I learned how to breathe through my mouth. So now that I’m living in Nashville, it’s time I learned more about — that’s right, getting pulled over by the cops.”

Subban was a finalist for the 2018 King Clancy Trophy for his humanitarian endeavours, notably his whopping $10 million donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. And — all jokes aside about his local immersion efforts — Subban started the Blueline Buddies program in Nashville, where hockey is used to “bring down barriers between police and local youth.”

Despite being the target of racist treatment from opponents and fans alike — in 2014, for instance, he was the subject of racist social media posts after scoring a game-winner in the playoffs — Subban’s identity as one of about thirty Black NHLers in a league that is almost 93 per cent white makes his achievements even more prolific.

And he doesn’t just reach out through

hockey. After hearing about 13-year-old Michigan boy Ty Cornett, a young Black hockey player who had been receiving “a lot of racial taunts,” Subban reached out in a video text message, encouraging him to “believe in [him]self, and let nobody tell you what you can and can’t do, especially because of the colour of your skin.”

Subban later met with Cornett, declaring the youngster his “hero” and gifting him with all-star game tickets and a sweater.

Subban’s hockey journey is an inspiring tale that demonstrates what can happen when you hone your craft, put in the work, and believe in yourself enough to turn your passion into your lifeline.

Past the athletic accolades, ‘the Subbanator’represents so much more than just an athlete. He’s the ultimate example of humility and character, evidenced by his philanthropic endeavours, and, moreover, he’s an incredible young Black Canadian, whose success in spite of hatred motivates people from all walks of life.

Colin Kaepernick really did beat the NFL Despite alleged collusion against him, Kaepernick’s activism has set a new precedent for sports

Isaac Consenstein Associate Sports Editor

In August 2016, Colin Kaepernick sat down during the national anthem.

Shortly after, US veteran and ex-NFL player Nate Boyer explained that kneeling was more honourable than sitting — so Kaepernick listened, and kneeling during the anthem as an act of protest became a pattern throughout the league.

When asked whether he was proud that other players in the NFL followed his protest, Kaepernick said, “This movement wasn’t for me.” In fact, on multiple occasions, Kaepernick has made it clear that the protest has nothing to do with him. On August 27, 2016, an NFL media reporter described Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the anthem as a move to “willingly immerse himself into controversy.” By describing Kaepernick’s actions as “controversy,” the writer implies that the league doesn’t care to hear players speak up and that their opinions amount to unneeded drama and distraction from the sport.

Kaepernick stood by his decision and his reasoning was quite clear. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of colour,” he said in 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in

the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

That summer had seen the deaths of numerous African-Americans at the hands of police. Delrawn Small in Brooklyn, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and Philando Castile in Saint Paul are just three of the AfricanAmericans who were unjustly killed by law enforcement. And these killings made it impossible for Kaepernick to honour the United States, even if he was a professional football player.

Two and a half years later, on February 15, the NFL settled its collusion case with Kaepernick. Kaepernick had not been on an NFL roster since kneeling during the anthem, and he had filed a lawsuit against the NFL on the basis that the league had colluded to keep him unemployed. Ideally, he would make it onto the field as a quarterback once again, having proven that the league had colluded.

The settlement suggests that the league feared a guilty ruling, and while Kaepernick will undoubtedly get paid a large sum, the ultimate victory would have shown that one can be Black, openly raise awareness about police brutality, and continue playing for the NFL. A settlement does not promise a roster spot.

It is unclear whether Kaepernick’s desires remain with the NFL or are now with activism. Throughout all his activist work, he continues to train

daily. His protest has remained mostly silent; news of his activism is seen in the form of other people’s tweets, shots of him in public, words of support from and similar kneeling protests by other notable athletes and political leaders, countless online articles, and a Nike ad, in which he said, “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.”

He has chosen to let others point out why he should still be on the football field. He has not bothered to respond to President Donald Trump’s disrespectful comments.

He allowed GQ to publish a feature making him the GQ Citizen of the Year in 2017, but refused to be interviewed for the article.

He is now the face of Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign.

Kaepernick’s ability to keep his voice and face in the backdrop but have his name circulate all over media shows the magnitude of athlete protest.

One place where he will allow himself to be seen and heard is in front of American youth. In a 45-minute speech to children at the DREAM school in East Harlem, New York, he told students that they should not shy away from being “just in unjust places,” and that they should “confront ignorance not with ignorance, but with education.” He explained that no matter what you have to sacrifice, “if you see wrong in the world you must say that it is wrong.”

Colin Kaepernick’s lawsuit against the NFL was settled on February 15.

AUSTIN KIRK/CC FLICKR

Athlete protests in the past were usually shut down quickly. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were suspended from the US track and field team after raising their fists during the anthem at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

When Muhammad Ali refused the Vietnam draft, he was sentenced to prison, stripped of his championship title, and suspended from boxing in the state of New York. The rationale was that because Ali had made millions off American viewers, there was no reason for him not to show his appreciation by joining the armed forces.

Kaepernick knows the risk he

is taking as he delves further into controversy and advocacy. He intentionally keeps his voice out of the media because it is not about him.

It is about others. Had Kaepernick covered the protest with his words, the conversation would eventually have revolved around him and not the issues that he hopes to help solve.

He has since donated $1 million to charity and shows no signs of stopping. Although his future on the football field remains precarious, his continued activism presents an ongoing commitment to underserved AfricanAmericans.

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 | 19

var.st/sports

Varsity Blues women’s hockey in home playoff action

WEEKLY BOX SCORES

Blues earn crucial Game 1 playoff victory over Nipissing Lakers

BASKETBALL MEN’S 71–63

February 15 Queen’s Gaels

February 16

Varsity Blues

81–79 Varsity Blues

Nipissing Lakers

WOMEN’S 59–51

February 15 Queen’s Gaels

Blues fifth-year captain Becki Bowering leads the Blues back onto the ice for the start of second period.

February 16

Varsity Blues

65–53 York Lions

Varsity Blues

VOLLEYBALL MEN’S 3–1 (25–18, 23–25, 23–25, 23–25)

February 22

Varsity Blues

York Lions

3–0 Blues second-year forward Louie Bieman attempts to corral the rebound away from Lakers second-year goaltender Danika Ranger.

(25–20, 25–21, 25–21)

February 23

Nipissing Lakers

Varsity Blues

March 2

@

Varsity Blues

WOMEN’S

Western University

3–0 (25–18, 25–22, 25–20)

February 16

Lakehead Thunderwolves

Varsity Blues

3–0 (25–19, 25–20, 25–16)

February 22 Varsity Blues Blues fifth-year forward Lauren Straatman and Lakers second-year forward Sam Strassburger stay focused in anticipation for the face-off.

York Lions

3–0 (25–15, 25–20, 25–15)

February 23 Varsity Blues

March 2

Brock Badgers

Nipissing Lakers

@ (OUA Quarterfinal)

Varsity Blues

HOCKEY MEN’S 2–3 (OT) (OUA Playoff)

February 14 Ryerson Rams

Blues fifth-year forward Meagan O’Brien attempts to get back into the play.

Varsity Blues

4–3 (OUA Playoff)

February 16 Ryerson Rams

Varsity Blues

WOMEN’S 3-1 (OUA Quarterfinal)

February 20 Varsity Blues

Nipissing Lakers

4-1 (OUA Quarterfinal)

February 22

Varsity Blues

Nipissing Lakers The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team opened the OUA playoffs with a convincing 3–1 victory over the Nipissing Lakers on February 20.

DANIEL SAMUEL/THE VARSITY

February 24

Varsity Blues

3–2 (OUA Quarterfinal)

Nipissing Lakers

20 | THE VARSITY | ADVERTISEMENTS

18/19

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Hart House Theatre Season

RETREAT

By Kat Sandler Directed by Claire Burns

March 1–9, 2019 $12 Student tickets every Wednesday evening!

Season Sponsors:

harthousetheatre.ca Partners: