March 8th, 2021

March 8, 2021

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

Vol. CXLI, No. 20

UTSU Elections 2021

Candidates for four of six executive positions run unopposed.

Our coverage on p. 4–5

SCSU elections 2021 in review: MOTIVATE UTSC wins five of six executive positions Sarah Abdillahi re-elected as president after opponent’s controversial disqualificatioin

Lauren Alexander, Hannah Carty, Alexa DiFrancesco, News Team

On March 5, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) released the unofficial election results of its 2021–2022 elections, following a voting period from March 2–4.

The MOTIVATE UTSC slate, led by Sarah Abdillahi vying for re-election as president, won five of six executive positions. Abdillahi won the position uncontested after her opponent, Eesha Chaudhry and current vice-president external, was controversially disqualified before the voting period started.

The voter turnout for this year’s election was 11.67 per cent of a total of 13,452 eligible voters. This is slightly lower than last year, when the voter turnout was 13.85 per cent, based on a calculation out of 14,000 members of the SCSU. Results for executive positions Sarah Abdillahi was re-elected as president with an approval rating of 76 per cent

and a total of 1,201 votes. The other winners were also announced, with four out of the remaining five winners coming from the MOTIVATE UTSC slate.

For vice-president academics & university affairs, the winner was Rimsha Rahman from MOTIVATE UTSC with 909 votes and 58 per cent of total votes. TJ Ho, with the MOTIVATE UTSC slate, won re-election as vice-president campus life with 1,075 votes and 68 per cent of total votes.

For vice-president equity, the winner was Isaiah Murray from the MOTIVATE UTSC slate with 774 votes and 49 per cent of total votes. From the MOTIVATE UTSC slate, Andy Mai won for vice-president operations with 900 votes and 57 per cent of total votes.

Farah Ahmad was the only candidate to win from the opposing slate, Connect UTSC — earning the vice-president external position with 805 votes and 51 per cent of total votes.

Cont’d, p. 2

U of T planning for return to in-person activities in fall 2021

In-person learning anticipated to return; in-person access to libraries will increase Khatchig Anteblian Associate News Editor

On March 4, U of T announced plans to return to in-person learning and activities in September 2021. The letter reads, “We are looking forward, with optimism, to fall 2021 when people can once more gather on our campuses, as permitted by public health guidelines.” However, U of T also noted that “we can return to existing practices should they be required.”

“We encourage everyone to continue planning towards this goal of in-person fall activities,” the letter reads. U of T plans to retain some of the technological innovations and work flexibility introduced during the 2020–2021 school year. The letter does not mention whether online options for courses will continue to be available for the fall semester if there is a widespread return to in-person learning.

Over this past year, most courses have been of-

fered online, though the university initially intended to to pursue in-person and hybrid courses at the beginning of September 2020. Almost all courses will continue to be offered online for summer 2021.

Besides in-person courses, the three campuses will be open for on-campus research “with measures in place to follow public health guidance.” Libraries will also increase in-person services, such as appointments to use the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Map & Data Library, and other archives for research, as guidelines permit.

The university has updated its in-class instruction and general workplace guidelines to prepare for a safe gradual return to campus. Additionally, the university is hosting a vaccine clinic at UTM and has plans for hosting clinics at the other two campuses as well.

The Varsity has reached out to U of T Media Relations for comment.

The story of insulin started at U of T 100 years ago — take a look back on page 17!

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Allegation against a presidential candidate Presidential candidate Chaudhry was disqualified after allegations that she sent an email to the election’s CRO that contained opponent Abdillahi’s personal information in order to question her election eligibility. However, Chaudhry denies the allegations.

On February 23, the CRO received an anonymous email alleging that Abdillahi was ineligible to run. The email included her personal academic transcript, which was accessed without her knowledge or consent.

Abdillahi’s legal counsel has since defended her eligibility to run for the SCSU elections to the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC).

In a statement released on Instagram, Abdillahi wrote that the releasing of her information had “filled [her] with so much anxiety and dread as [she] felt absolutely helpless these past couple of days.” She added that she had found a login to her U of T email from an IP address she was unfamiliar with, at which point she was advised by the ERC to inform UTSC that her information was accessed.

Abdillahi then contacted UTSC’s campus police, the registrar’s office, the Academic Advising & Career Centre, and the admissions office to make them aware of the situation.

Presidential candidate’s disqualification After being informed about the situation by the chief returning officer (CRO), the ERC voted to launch an investigation into the email. They hired two independent information technology (IT) professionals, who submitted reports on the situation after several days.

According to the ERC’s public statement, the two IT experts reached “virtually identical conclusions” on who had accessed Abdillahi’s information, though the statement does not explicitly say who they concluded had done it.

Chaudhry met with the appeals committee and presented evidence on February 28 before the committee confirmed the ERC’s decision to disqualify her by giving her 35 demerit points.

Disqualified candidate’s response Chaudhry wrote on her Instagram story that she was falsely accused of being the “mastermind” behind the incident. She further claimed that the IP address that was traced was not hers.

“Despite an appeals meeting with alibis and proof that this was all hearsay and false allegations, I was still disqualified,” she wrote.

In a follow-up statement posted on March 2, the ERC noted that it has not made the reports from the IT professionals public because Chaudhry had refused to provide permission.

Following Chaudhry’s disqualification, an executive candidate from the Connect UTSC slate started a petition to reinstate Chaudhry as a presidential can-

didate. On March 1, the CRO sent all SCSU candidates an email saying that, if the petition was not removed, its creator would also be disqualified from the election. The CRO also wrote that all candidates sharing or engaging with the petition would receive demerit points from their campaigns.

With regard to the petition being ordered down, Chaudhry wrote: “First I wasn’t allowed to question the reports when accused [and] now apparently I can’t abide by Section II of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms],” which includes the right to participate in peaceful demonstrations and protests.

Other demerit points The SCSU assigns demerit points during elections if candidates are deemed to have broken the election code. Thirty-five or more demerit points leads to a disqualification of the candidate.

Abdillahi also ended the election with a total of 15 demerit points for employing an “excessive repurposing of their Instagram account for campaigning.”

Two non-presidential candidates also received demerit points.

Bruce Chan, a candidate for vice-president operations with the Connect UTSC slate, received 10 points for leaving a campaign photo up on his Instagram account hours after the CRO had requested he take it down. Vice-president equity candidate Anaïs Ouedraogo, who ran as an independent, received five points for beginning her campaign before the start of the official campaign period.

CR/NCR for retroactive use, program requirements unlikely despite ASSU’s demonstration of student support Faculty of Arts & Science still considering extending deadline to last day of classes Marta Anielska Associate News Editor

In a newsletter last week, the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU) announced that its two proposals to expand the Faculty of Arts & Science’s (FAS) credit/no credit (CR/NCR) policy are not likely to be implemented due to a lack of support from the faculty, despite a student survey demonstrating considerable support.

The proposals include a permanent extension to the CR/NCR deadline to after grades are released and being able to apply CR/NCR to program requirements. Courses with CR/NCR status do not affect GPA, and while they can be used as a breadth requirement, they currently cannot be counted toward program requirements.

Due to COVID-19, the FAS extended the CR/ NCR deadline to allow students to see their final marks beforehand for the 2020–2021 academic year only. After this year, the FAS plans to return to the original deadline, which was in the middle of the semester.

The ASSU wrote in the newsletter that while its proposals are unlikely to pass, the union will continue to work with the faculty to extend the CR/ NCR option deadline until the last day of classes, in place of its original proposal of having the deadline after grades are released.

Student support The ASSU has been working on CR/NCR proposals for the past year. Recently, the union circulated a student survey to improve its understanding of how students felt about the proposed changes.

Over 6,000 students responded, and they showed overwhelming support for the proposal to allow up to one full course equivalent of courses with CR/ NCR status to be eligible as program requirements.

In an interview with The Varsity, Santiago Bohorquez, a third-year student in Rotman Commerce, explained why he filled out the union’s survey to show his support for the proposal.

“I know that for every program there [is] at least one course… known for being quite tough, for having a low average,” Bohorquez explained. Regarding the proposal, he added that it helps to “be able to take a course and have it as a [prerequisite], but if we do [badly] in it… it helps us to save our GPA.” Bohorquez mentioned that some classes are program requirements since students need to know the material for future classes. According to him, there are also other ways to help students cope with notoriously difficult classes, such as lowering the

standards or providing more student support like tutoring.

He expressed support for possibly having a permanent CR/NCR deadline extension to the last day of classes when most coursework would be submitted. However, in that case, students still wouldn’t be able to see their grades before making the decision.

The ASSU newsletter addressed that students often struggle with specific classes, stressing that it will continue to address the problem with the faculty. In an email to The Varsity, ASSU President Ikran Jama advised that if a student is having trouble with a class, they should reach out to their instructor before going to the department. The union frequently facilitates this process.

Faculty response The newsletter detailed the faculty’s reasons for denying a permanent CR/NCR deadline extension. For students applying to programs at the end of their first year, the extension would shorten the timeline for departments and colleges to approve applications and could potentially delay admissions.

Moreover, since the grades of courses with CR/ NCR status may still be used to determine eligibility for upper-year courses, the late CR/NCR deadline might delay the timeline for determining eligibility of upper-year courses and for determining students’ GPAs. Early determination of GPAs is important for a student’s academic standing, especially for those on academic suspension or probation, so the delayed timeline might result in students being removed from a class late into the term.

On the topic of making CR/NCR courses eligible for program requirements, the ASSU noted, after discussions with the faculty, that it may leave students with a less stable foundation for upper-year courses that build on material from those earlier courses.

Additionally, students may be unaware that even if a course has CR/NCR status, the grade may still be viewed by professional schools upon request.

Several professional schools have also expressed concern to the faculty that asking for the grades of each program requirement with CR/NCR status would make the admissions process inefficient.

According to the ASSU, a CR/NCR deadline extension to the last day of classes “is making its rounds through Faculty consultations and governance.” By the last day of classes, students will still have a better idea of how they are doing in a class, compared with the previous deadline of the middle of the semester. The newsletter wrote that the dean’s office supported this proposal but that there is no official timeline for the implementation of the policy.

In an email to The Varsity, the FAS confirmed that it was exploring the possibility of extending the deadline to the last day of classes permanently.

However, it reiterated that the purpose of the CR/ NCR option was to make students more comfortable with taking courses outside of their program or area of interest.

The faculty concluded that it will keep students updated on policy changes, and added that students struggling in any course should seek guidance on how to proceed.

KELLSEY ANN MENESES/THEVARSITY

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UTSU February Board of Directors meeting: elections, clubs, executive reports

Discussion of vacant nominations, concerns about clubs Jey Kumarasamy Varsity Contributor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Board of Directors meeting took place on February 27 over Zoom, with a discussion ranging from the upcoming elections to concerns regarding clubs.

The meeting began with each of the six members of the Executive Committee presenting a summary of their respective executive report, in which they highlighted the work they have completed this past month and went over information on upcoming ventures.

Executive reports UTSU Vice-President Professional Faculties Paul Kaita reported on a new UTSU scholarship program that was recently passed by the Finance Committee, creating four new scholarships for students at U of T. The scholarships will recognize student leadership, campus involvement, and equity.

Kaita also detailed the completion of a report on the experiences and representation of first-entry professional faculty students in residences.

UTSU Vice-President Public & University Affairs Tyler Riches reported that the UTSU has received most of the information it had requested from the university, which mostly consisted of budget information relating to the Same Degree, Same Fee campaign and Campus Police, under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The UTSU has been working on its Same Degree, Same Fee campaign, which aims to ensure that students in higher tuition programs at U of T, such as computer science, bioinformatics, and data science, do not con-

tinue to pay a higher tuition fee.

Other highlights of the executive reports included new reforms to the election system, such as a reduction in the number of nominations required, and updates regarding the review of the university-mandated leave of absence policy and the proposed implementation of a credit system for student health and dental benefits.

Elections To address some of issues with low election engagement, Computer Science Director Evan Kanter proposed that UTSU announce which positions are still vacant a few days prior to the end of the ongoing nominations period. Kanter suggested that this may encourage students who are less experienced in student government to come forward and may reduce vacancies.

While there was some support for the proposal from Social Sciences Director Alex Erickson, who believed that this may be an idea worth considering for future elections, Erickson and others claimed that the proposal would not be suitable for this year’s elections for various reasons.

UTSU Vice-President Operations Dermot O’Halloran, for example, conceded that the “nomination system that we have now is broken,” but argued that because nominations are supposed to be secret in the current system, it follows that the lack of nominations should also be secret.

Clubs University College Director Pranay Prem asked about apparent funding delays for the reimbursement of club expenses from the fall term and whether similar delays are antici-

The UTSU held its February board meeting on February 27.

EHSAN ETASAMI/THEVARSITY

pated for the winter term. Prem noted that he had heard concerns from some clubs that they may not receive funding until the summer or the next academic year.

UTSU Vice-President Student Life Neeharika Hemrajani responded that there will be an extension of some deadlines for clubs funding since the reimbursement process has been somewhat slowed, as clubs have seen changes in the type of expenses incurred due to the pandemic. According to Hemrajani, delays later than April for clubs funding for the current winter term are not anticipated.

UTSU President Muntaka Ahmed added, “Our priority right now is definitely to get all of the 2021 financial obligations done by the end of our financial term, which is in April.”

University College Director Basmah Ramadan expressed frustration that the Clubs Committee has only met twice since August and asked Hemrajani whether there were any

plans to get members of the committee more involved. According to the UTSU Governance Affairs calendar, which is publicly available on the UTSU’s website, the Clubs Committee did not meet for nearly six months until last week on March 3.

UTSU General Manager Suzanne Belleau attributed the lack of meetings to understaffing and the elimination of the clubs coordinator position a few years ago, which has “overwhelmed” the vice-president student life position.

Hemrajani said that they “do meet with clubs on a regular weekly basis” but later clarified that she was referring to the weekly clubs digests rather than meetings. Life Sciences Director Katherine Jung noted that, based on the clubs she is familiar with, the “overall feeling this year has been that there hasn’t really been much communication from the UTSU.”

UTMSU achieves partial $95 rebate on U-Pass fee amid lacking MiWay ridership Students continue to advocate against fees for underused, unused services under pandemic Hafsa Ahmed UTM Bureau Chief

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) released a statement on February 18 that it, alongside the UTM Association of Graduate Students (UTMAGS), has successfully negotiated with Mississauga MiWay for a $95 rebate on the U-Pass fee.

This move follows concerns from UTM and other U of T students during this academic year about paying student fees toward certain services that are not accessible in person — or at all — due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U-Pass program partial rebate In the statement, the UTMSU wrote that MiWay has agreed to provide a “partial rebate of the U-Pass fee for all undergraduate and graduate students who were charged for this service during the 2020-2021 academic year.”

In an email to The Varsity, Vice-President Internal of the UTMSU Fahad Dayala wrote that in the negotiations, “the UTMSU reiterated that the U-Pass program was created to save students money, therefore, making students pay was not a suitable option while the region was flip-flopping between lockdowns and ridership had decreased.”

The statement also noted that the UTMSU and UTMAGS, in collaboration with MiWay, have decided to cancel the Summer

2021 U-Pass Program and its associated fee.

This decision was made due to the fact that the majority of summer 2021 classes will be held virtually, wrote Dayala. For undergraduate students attending in-person or hybrid classes, the UTMSU wrote that it will be administering transit bursaries from May to August.

“By providing bursaries, the UTMSU is able to cater support based on the students’ needs and on a case-by-case basis,” wrote Dayala.

“These bursaries will be available for students at the beginning of the Summer session.” Regarding the fall and winter 2021–2022 semesters, the UTMSU will make a decision in April on whether or not to continue the program.

Concerns about other ancillary fees While some students consider the U-Pass program partial rebate a victory, many are still concerned about existing student fees for services this year to which they have not had full access.

The Varsity spoke with Raya Khold, a UTM student who started a petition in November calling on U of T to refund all unused incidental fees to U of T students for the 2020–2021 academic year. Khold, who is in her fifth year and majoring in biology and environmental science, created the petition after the initial shock of seeing her tuition fees on ACORN. As of March 7, the petition has gotten approximately 2,300 signatures, along with a

The UTMSU negotiated a rebate for the usual U-Pass fee.

SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

number of comments from people sharing their reasons for signing it, including being away from Toronto or being unable to access services due to the pandemic.

Khold wrote that she had contacted the university about her concerns surrounding student fees, and that while U of T responded with the areas where fees have been reduced this year, she does not believe these are enough. “I cannot tolerate or understand paying for facilities and services that are currently closed due to the pandemic,” Khold wrote.

At UTM, these reductions include the UTM Athletics fee by 25 per cent; the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education Sport & Rec fee by 30 per cent; the Hart House fee by 20 per cent; and the Student Services fee by 35 per cent, which includes the fee for the shuttle service’s suspension.

In response to the U-Pass program partial rebate, Khold wrote that she hopes she can rely on the UTMSU to advocate for students.

“Hopefully the UTMSU continues to stand up for student’s rights without the need for us to make petitions,” she wrote.

UTM admin response Alexandra Gillespie, Vice-President & Principal of UTM, wrote to The Varsity that “UTM recognizes the difficulty created by the COVID-19 pandemic, acknowledging concurrently that the pandemic’s burden has exerted a disproportionate effect on particular people and groups.”

“We will continue to create new forums… to invite and listen to the concerns of our students,” she added. “We will also continue responding to concerns with tangible financial action.”

Mark Overton, Dean of Student Affairs, also wrote to The Varsity that the reduced student fees for the Recreation, Athletics, and Wellness Centre (RAWC) at UTM will likely be reduced “by at least that amount for this coming summer as well.”

With regard to funding toward the new COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic at UTM’s RAWC, Gillespie wrote that it is expected to be funded by external sources, including Trillium Health Partners and the government.

“We are working to make sure students, through their incidental fees, do not shoulder these costs,” she wrote.

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UTSU Candidate Profiles President

Hannah Carty News Editor

Alexa Ballis, a fifth-year student studying English, political science, and history, is running uncontested for president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU). Ballis has been involved in the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) for the past three years, and she served as VUSAC president last year.

“I’ve noticed, especially during COVID-19, that students are struggling,” said Ballis in an interview with The Varsity. If elected, she plans to lobby the university for earlier exam schedules, support students in their transition back into in-person learning, and lobby for lower

tuition fees.

On external affairs, she wants to increase the COVID-19 and mental health resources available on the UTSU’s website, as well as create guides for paths students may want to follow after graduation.

On the environment and sustainability, Ballis wants to continue to push the university to divest from fossil fuels, and introduce a “sustainability project sponsor” so that students can propose projects for how to make the campus more sustainable.

To encourage student participation in the UTSU, Ballis wants to implement monthly town halls where all students will be invited to share their thoughts on the UTSU’s work. She also wants to increase voter turnout by shar-

ing successes that student unions have had to show that student unions can enact change.

For new students, Ballis wants to create a “University of Toronto dictionary” that would include all of the unique acronyms used at U of T. “I do think that the UTSU this year has done a lot of great internal organizational work,” she said. “But I think now, [it should take] that and [create] more initiatives [so] that students can actually… feel like the UTSU is there to support them and advocate for changes that will make their experiences better.”

The voting period for UTSU elections will run from March 17-21.

Alexa Ballis.

COURTESY OF ALEXA BALLIS

Vice-President Operations Vice-President Equity

Fiona Reuter.

COURTESY OF FIONA REUTER

Claire Luc Varsity Contributor

Fiona Reuter, a second-year student studying economics, international relations, and history, is running uncontested for the position of vice-president operations of the University of Toronto Students’

Union (UTSU).

She currently serves as a director on the UTSU’s board, sits on the student aid and services committees, and is an executive for the University of Toronto Canadian Politics Society. She has served as the chair for the Finance Committee, and was on the first-year council in its inaugural year.

If elected, Reuter hopes to incorporate student interests directly into the UTSU’s budget by conducting consultations before preliminary and operating budgets are put forward for final approval.

Emphasizing transparency as her priority, Reuter said in an interview with The Varsity, “Right now, the UTSU is not as transparent as it could be, and it’s not as accessible as it could be.”

She also intends to push for faster refunds and increase accessibility of health and dental plans by broadcasting information about them at the start of the year and implementing a credit-based system to eliminate the need for a Canadian bank account.

Regarding the Student Commons, she wants to prioritize good financial management and transparency about any delays for its opening, all while staying aligned with the Student Commons agreement.

— With files from Lauren Alexander

Joy Chan Varsity Staff

Reva Aggarwal is a second-year economics and criminology student running uncontested for vice-president equity of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU).

Aggarwal holds a number of leadership positions at U of T, such as a St. Michael’s College mentor and a house council co-president for her residence. She said that these experiences have allowed her to build relationships with students to create and increase engagement.

“Being an international student, being a student of colour, being a woman, I know what it’s like to feel like you have to push harder than everyone else.” Aggarwal believes inequities contribute to poor mental health and that there isn’t an equal platform for everyone.

Aggarwal plans to reduce COVID19-based inequities. Bringing to light that students in different household situations and time zones might have different needs, she calls for professors to increase leniency and office hours and to host asynchronous or

Reva Aggarwal.

COURTESY OF REVA AGGARWAL

even extra classes.

Looking toward the long term, Aggarwal would like to gather specific feedback on issues that students face through surveys, anonymous suggestion boxes, regular workshops, and discussion panels.

Vice-President Public & University Affairs Joshua Chong Associate Features Editor

Content warning: this article contains mentions of sexual assault.

Micah Kalisch.

COURTESY OF MICAH KALISCH

Micah Kalisch is a second-year student double majoring in women and gender studies and sociology, with a minor in equity studies. She is running uncontested for vice-president public & university affairs of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU). She is currently the president of Trinity Against Sexual Assault and Harassment and a general member of the Sexual Diversity Studies Student Union.

In an interview with The Varsity, Kalisch said that she is running because she wants to press for “academic policy reforms” and “systemic structural reforms” by liaising with different external organizations and among various levels of government.

Her priorities include pushing for a permanent increase in the number of credit/no credit options

and ensuring that there is consistency among courses in terms of academic assignment extensions and deadlines.

“There’s so many varying factors in individual students’ lives that impact their [academics],” Kalisch said. “The pandemic has highlighted that in certain ways. And so, I think it’s important we continue to have that flexibility and continue to support students [beyond the pandemic].”

Kalisch feels strongly about emphasizing the voices of racialized and LGBTQ+ individuals. She indicated that she would use UTSU funds to help students and groups to uplift those voices.

She also wants to better support sexual assault survivors by using a “survivor-centred, trauma-informed approach” and making support on campus more accessible. Kalisch would also re-examine the university’s mental health policies and the university-mandated leave of absence policy to ensure that students are not “re-traumatized through [the] process of accessing support.”

Where to find sexual violence and harassment support at U of T A list of safety resources is available at safety. utoronto.ca. The tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre’s website is www. svpscentre.utoronto.ca. Individuals can visit the centre’s website for more information, contact details, and hours of operation. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266.

Locations: U of T downtown Toronto campus: Gerstein Library, suite B139 U of T Mississauga: Davis Building, room 3094G U of T Scarborough: Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, EV141 Those who have experienced sexual violence can also call Campus Police to make a report at 416978-2222 (St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905-569-4333 (U of T Mississauga).

After-hours support is also available at: Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre (416-323-6040) Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre (416-495-2400) Trillium Hospital Sexual Assault Care Centre (905-848-7100)

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MARCH 8, 2021

5

UTSU Candidate Profiles Vice-President Student Life

Marta Anielska and Joshua Chong Varsity Staff

Nathan Ching Nathan Ching is a second-year student double majoring in criminology & sociolegal studies and public policy, and minoring in political science. He is running for vice-president student life at the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU).

Ching currently serves as a councillor on the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC). He is also the Victoria International Students Association’s director of events.

Nathan Ching.

COURTESY OF NATHAN CHING

Anusha Madhusudanan.

COURTESY OF ANUSHA MADHUSUDANAN

Maria Lin Maria Lin is a third-year Rotman Commerce student running for vice-president student life. Lin hopes to improve communication with students and clubs, and streamline the process for clubs to gain funding.

Lin has been involved with student life since her first year. She was an intern and director for the Rotman Commerce Law Association in her first and second year, respectively, and became its president in her third year at U of T. She has also been an executive assistant for student life at the UTSU. Lin emphasized a need for events that are focused on career development. She said that when she was working with student life, stu-

Anusha Madhusudanan Anusha Madhusudanan, a first-year student hoping to double major in international relations and economics, is running for vice-president student life. If elected, she would aim to improve equity and transparency in the UTSU. To uplift student voices, Madhusudanan would create an event suggestion box and revamp the Clubs Committee so that it is able to review policy reform in addition to approving funding for clubs.

She would also change how clubs are fund-

His priorities include increasing mental health awareness and diversifying the programs available to students to include more student-run resources.

In an interview with The Varsity, Ching said that he feels that previous vice-presidents have been disengaged with student mental health issues. Addressing this problem is a large part of what is motivating him to run.

If elected, Ching wants to organize a club gala and plan more joint events between the UTSU and U of T clubs. He feels that clubs are currently disconnected and disengaged from one another.

He also plans to streamline the club funding

process by making it more accessible, especially to newer clubs. This would entail simplifying the procedure and lowering the requirements needed to start a club.

With regard to how fall orientation will be conducted, Ching said that he will take an approach that is based on the latest government restrictions.

He said that he is currently in favour of a hybrid orientation that includes both in-person and online activities.

Disclosure: Nathan Ching is currently an associate photo editor for The Varsity.

dents with little business experience often approached her for help with résumés and cover letters. Her plan is to develop a series of workshops to help students develop longterm skills.

“I really want to make sure [to] create things that people actually care about and create events that people actually want to attend,” Lin explained in an interview with The Varsity.

In terms of plans for orientation, Lin said that her plans depend on whether students will be able to attend in person. Her main goal is to make the event as engaging as possible by inviting artists, planning informative events, and coordinating with all the colleges.

ed. Currently, clubs can only obtain 50 per cent of their operations budget from the UTSU. Madhusudanan believes that the proportion of available funding should increase for newly established clubs.

As a first-year student, Madhusudanan is confident she knows what students want from orientation. Chiefly, she would introduce a ‘buddy system’ wherein orientation attendees would get paired up with someone else based on their interests.

Madhusudanan has been involved in several

Maria Lin.

COURTESY OF MARIA LIN

different initiatives over the past year. She was the president of the UTSU’s First Year Council, where she started a mental health working group, and has worked with Trinity College groups as well.

“Governance is just something that I’ve enjoyed from a young age,” Madhusudanan concluded. “Being able to advocate for student voices at a university level has been a very humbling experience for me.”

Vice-President Professional Faculties

Khatchig Anteblian Associate News Editor

Tiffany Tiu.

COURTESY OF TIFFANY TIU

Tiffany Tiu Tiffany Tiu is a fourth-year student who is studying kinesiology. She is running for the position of vicepresident professional faculties in the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU).

Currently, Tiu is the director of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education on the UTSU Board of Directors and the Academic Commissioner for the Kinesiology and Physical Education Undergraduate Association. Tiu also holds the position of co-chair for the Council of Athletics and Recreation, where she has gained experience working with large budgets and works to consult with staff to ensure that the budget is student centred and not overcharging.

Tiu said that through her involvement with the UTSU over the past two years she has “learned a lot about what students need and what the UTSU can do for students, and we can actually do a lot.”

Should Tiu be elected, she wants to look into prioritizing student enrolment for elective courses, noting that most of them have a later enrolment date. Tiu will work with professional and arts faculties to improve student enrolment in these courses.

Furthermore, she would like to secure gym access for second-entry students who are paying the same fees as anyone else, yet cannot access these facilities due to the different start and end dates for their school year.

Lastly, Tiu strives to “improve [the] UTSU, to make it more accessible, equitable, and really work on our outreach” with other executive members.

Ruoheng (Cathy) Wang Ruoheng (Cathy) Wang is a first-year electrical engineering student running for vice-president professional faculties at the UTSU. If elected, she wants to facilitate discussions with students and university faculty to improve students’ experiences in the Professional Experience Year Co-op program. Additionally, Wang wants to host career fairs and provide information and resources to students so they are better informed about the co-op process.

Wang also wants to address issues of mental health and wellness for engineering students. As a first-year representative on the Engineering Society Board of Directors and a member of the mental health task force, she has unique insight into the issues that engineering students face, especially with online learning.

Wang wants to introduce 24-hour mental health support services in multiple languages to address the specific needs of students in the professional faculties. “I just want to make those mental health services reachable and accessible for everyone in the professional faculties,” said Wang in an interview with The Varsity.

To help alleviate some of the stress that students are facing with online learning, Wang also wants to introduce a credit/no credit option for students in the professional faculties.

“My purpose of running for this position is that I want to play an ongoing and active role in making the UTSG campus better.”

Ruoheng (Cathy) Wang.

COURTESY OF RUOHENG (CATHY) WANG

6

THE VARSITY

NEWS

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U of T’s ancillary services project $14.3 million loss due to pandemic Fee increases approved for Student Life, Hart House, and certain residences and meal plans

Joshua Chong Associate Features Editor

On March 4, the Governing Council’s University Affairs Board (UAB) unanimously approved the 2021–2022 operating plan and budget for UTSG service ancillaries, which includes residence ser-

vices at U of T’s non-federated colleges and select food and beverage services.

The service ancillaries budget is projecting a net loss of $14.3 million for the current academic year and $8.7 million for the 2021–2022 academic year as a result of the pandemic. Due

The Governing Council Chambers are housed at Simcoe Hall.

SAMANTHA YAO/THEVARSITY

to the losses, the university is proposing to run a $50 million deficit for the next five years to cover ancillary operations.

Residence and student life At the meeting, UAB voted to approve a variety of fee increases for residences and ancillary services. Residence fees at Innis College, New College, University College (UC), and Woodsworth College are set to increase by as much as 5.3 per cent next academic year. Meal plan rates at UC will rise by 3.1 per cent — in line with the previous year’s increase.

Aside from residences, the board first passed the 2021–2022 operating plan and budget for Student Life programs. The student fee for Health & Counselling will increase by 3.01 per cent and the fee for other student services run through the Division of Student Life will increase by 1.92 per cent.

Executive Director of Student Experience David Newman gave a presentation highlighting the Division of Student Life’s work over the past year. Newman indicated that more than 2,100 students signed up for the university’s quarantine program.

Newman also highlighted the university’s new student mental health web portal, which has received more than 21,000 visits from over 9,000 unique users since its launch in the fall.

Ancillary fees increases The UAB also voted to approve the 2021–2022 operating plan and budget for U of T Sport & Recreation Programs, Services, and Facilities. The budget includes a 0.79 per cent decrease in student fees.

Beth Ali, Executive Director of Athletics and Co-curricular Physical Activity, also gave a presentation before the vote. She indicated that prior to U of T Sport & Rec closing its doors on March 13, 2020 due to the pandemic, the program had seen record numbers of participants, with 503,159 visits from 40,007 individual users during the 2019–2020 academic year.

Lastly, the UAB approved the Hart House operating plan and budget. Student fees for Hart House services will increase by 1.95 per cent, which is less than the previous year’s fee hike of 7.6 per cent.

John Monahan, Warden of Hart House, reported on Hart House’s current programming, noting that over 90 per cent of it has been delivered online since the beginning of the pandemic. He also highlighted the new Virtual Hart House initiative, which was introduced during the pandemic and includes over 140 hours of virtual programming each month.

The operating plans and budgets for Hart House, Student Life, and U of T Sport & Rec had previously been approved by the Council on Student Services, which is primarily comprised of students.

“Traumatizing experience”: MSW, nursing students reflect on long-term care, retirement homes placements Workers recount lack of PPE, understaffing in homes through COVID-19

Isabel Armiento Graduate Bureau Chief

Long-term care (LTC) homes have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in devastating losses of residents as well as unprecedented levels of worker burnout. Yet, U of T students in various clinical programs have continued to pursue placements at LTC homes throughout the pandemic.

LTC placement offerings at U of T In past years, first-year undergraduate nursing students had to complete a placement in an older person care setting. According to Linda Johnston, Dean of U of T’s Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, this was a requirement that only half this year’s cohort was able to fulfill due to “public health restrictions on movement between clinical settings.”

Johnston added that only 28 people, or 16 per cent of first-year nursing students, completed this placement in LTC specifically this year.

According to Michelle Boyd, an advanced standing master’s of social work (MSW ) student, the MSW gerontology specialization only has around 25 students, many of whom are doing researchbased or remote placements this year.

“I have only met a handful of people who have career goals related to working in long-term care,” Boyd wrote in an email to The Varsity. “I think there are a lot of problems in the system, and have been for years, and it can be daunting to imagine going into a system that you know isn’t perfect.”

“Long-term care has been chronically underfunded provincially which has led to a lot of issues, and [we have] the disparities between for-profit and non-profit homes to navigate as well,” she added.

“I think in general staff of long-term care homes are overworked and COVID-19 has only made things worse.”

Desperate conditions Kyle Forman, a second-year MSW student who was in the gerontology stream in his first year, was doing his placement at a LTC home when the pandemic hit. Forman wrote in an email to The Varsity that it “was a traumatizing experience. The home had dozens of deaths, including residents on my caseload. The director of care, one of my supervisors, suddenly and tragically passed away.”

Forman has finished his placement but continues to feel angry about the conditions he witnessed. “It is painful to think about the lives that were cut short. It angers me to think about how preventable these deaths were,” he wrote.

He believes that the LTC home was not given adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) or thorough enough instructions from the ministry of health. “There was not enough physical space to properly quarantine residents,” he added. “And the home was of course understaffed.”

After his experience in LTC, Forman switched out of his gerontology specialization and decided to study mental health and health

instead. This year, his placement is remote and research-based.

Kristen Myskiw, a first-year master’s of nursing student, was redeployed from her hospital nursing job to help out at a LTC home that had suffered a COVID-19 outbreak and staffing shortage. “They were basically desperate for people to volunteer,” Myskiw said in an interview with The Varsity. “I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I needed to help in some way.”

“We had heard a little bit about what was going on at the home, and the conditions sounded so bad,” Myskiw continued. “I just couldn’t imagine the poor residents [who] were suffering.” She said if one LTC home has an outbreak, “it spreads like wildfire.”

Myskiw echoed Forman’s complaints about the effects of limited PPE availability and limited staffing on the outbreak. She added, “A lot of these people that are working in [LTC] are working at multiple homes, or they’re doing multiple jobs to make ends meet.”

ISOBEL HEINTZMAN/THEVARSITY

Impact on workers For Myskiw, the experience was stressful but rewarding. “I was scared because up until then, I had not cared for a [COVID-19] patient… so this would be me voluntarily exposing myself to COVID-19,” she said. “It was really nervewracking going in there.”

Like many LTC workers during the pandemic, Myskiw found herself suffering from burnout. “I have so much more respect for people that work in [LTC] now,” she said, calling the workload “incredibly heavy.”

“In my normal position, I might be assigned four or five patients on a day shift and up to eight patients on a night shift. [But] you go there, and you’re the one nurse for 30 patients… It was exhausting working there,” she said. “I don’t think it’s sustainable to work there for a long time.”

Myskiw worked at the home for three and a half weeks before returning to her regular job.

Boyd is doing her social work placement at Christie Gardens, a retirement home in Toronto.

Because of her previous experience working in retirement homes during the pandemic, Boyd wasn’t anxious about the in-person aspect.

“I was actually really thankful to be matched with an in-person practicum through the University of Toronto because some other institutions weren’t offering those to social work students, which would have really affected how I viewed my program,” she said in an interview with The Varsity.

“With older people… you just kind of can’t get the same learning experience unless you’re face to face… The majority of what I do is very social,” she added. “You can’t really physically distance from a lot of folks, especially if they’re hearing impaired or cognitively impaired.”

Myskiw and Boyd have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. At the retirement home where Boyd is working, all consenting residents have also been fully vaccinated. “Now that the majority of staff and residents are vaccinated, there is a feeling of relief and hope that we are on the right path forward,” she wrote.

Business & Labour

March 8, 2021 vrsty.ca/business biz@thevarsity.ca

The Explainer: U of T’s 2021–2022 Budget Robust enrolment allows short-term optimism, pandemic uncertainty forces long-term conservatism U of T historical and projected revenues by fund, 2005–2026

restrict U of T’s ability to increase employee compensation for the next three years.

Operating fund Restricted fund

3500

Ancillary fund Capital fund

3000

Revenue ($MM)

2500

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1000

500

0

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14

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15

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5

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8

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20

02

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21

02

1

Academic/financial year

Janhavi Agarwal, Spencer Y. Ki Business & Labour Team

On February 22, the University of Toronto officially released its 2021–2022 Budget Report, which includes long-range financial guidelines that will last until the 2025–2026 academic year. Despite lower-than-expected domestic enrolment in 2020–2021, the university’s financial outlook remains optimistic in light of higher-than-expected international enrolment.

However, robust enrolment must also compensate for the significant losses of ancillary income caused by COVID-19 related campus closures over the past year. Uncertainty over Ontario’s plans for university funding also means that future budget projections are forced to remain conservative.

Reading the report Recent U of T budget reports have been divided into five core sections. “The Changing Financial Landscape” details elements of the budget’s financial context that are outside of the university’s control, such as the Ontario government’s plans or the economic impact of COVID-19. This is followed by a section titled “Budget Overview,” which includes the quantitative facts and figures related to income and expenditure.

“Students: Affordability, Access & Outcomes” is dedicated to explaining tuition fees, student support, and scholarships. “Priority Investments” details the capital projects and other investments planned for the coming year. The report closes with a section on “Risk,” which expounds how the budget could be affected by changing circumstances over the financial year.

U of T’s finances are split into four fund groups. The ‘operating fund’ — which encompasses administrative costs and the main teaching activities of the university — is regularly the largest of the four by a significant margin and is predominantly funded by tuition, other “student fees,” and provincial grants.

‘Restricted funds’ generally comprise the next largest portion and refers to money that has been entrusted to the university for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are further subdivided into “research grants and contracts,” endowed student awards, and trusts

20

–2

— that is, miscellaneous, specially earmarked funds.

The ‘ancillary’ and ‘capital’ funds have uniformly been the smallest of the four funds.

The former includes the revenues and expenditures of U of T services and businesses, such as residences, food services, parking, and the University of Toronto Press. The latter is money set aside by the Planning and Budget Office for capital projects such as new buildings or equipment.

Surprisingly stable revenue The budgeted operating revenue for 2021– 2022 is $3.12 billion — a 4.4 per cent increase from the $2.99 billion of the previous year. Tuition and other student fees account for 67 per cent of the operating revenue, while provincial operating grants account for 21 per cent. Both variables are tied to student enrolment.

Domestic enrolment witnessed a slump this year, but its effect was offset by the surge in international student enrolment allowed by remote study during the 2020–2021 academic year and the summer of 2020.

International students accounted for 28 per cent of the 2020–2021 full-time, undergrad-

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EDIT CHART uate enrolment — up from 27 per cent the previous year — and that number is only expected to increase in the future. While Ontario sustained its domestic tuition freeze from 2019 this year, international tuition underwent a 2.3 per cent increase and is projected to increase in the future.

The budget noted that “tuition fees for international students are set at a level that takes into consideration the full cost of providing a program and with reference to fees at peer Canadian and US universities.”

Although it still comprises 21 per cent of the operating budget, provincial operating grant funding decreased since last year. Accordingly, U of T now receives the lowest amount of government funding per student of any institution in the U15 — the group of the 15 universities that are among the most productive research universities in Canada. The proportion of U of T’s budget that is supported by the government is now lower than any other university in Canada.

In light of the pandemic, the Ontario government has noted that its performance based funding system will not be implemented until at least 2022–2023. However, the government’s implementation of Bill 124 will also

U of T operating fund composition, 2021–2022 ($MM)

Special sources of funding The remaining 12 per cent of the operating budget comes from federal Canada Research Chair grants, federal funding for indirect research costs, investment income, and sources such as application fee revenue or service charges on unpaid fees.

As of April 2020, U of T’s total endowment assets were $2.51 billion, with the majority “directed to student aid.” Income on these assets represents two per cent of the operating budget.

The restricted fund, the ancillary fund and the capital fund sit at $518 million, $184 million and $171 million respectively. This brings U of T’s total revenue to roughly $3.93 billion dollars.

The restricted fund has been supported in the last few years by external donations that are intended to enhance academic initiatives through matching programs and other endowments. The $250 million Temerty donation from September 2020 — predominantly meant for medical research — included a portion that contributed to the restricted fund.

Despite the stable operating budget, the ancillary fund was diminished severely this year in the face of campus closures and an overall decrease in business activity on campus. Future financial projections indicate that the university will have to resort to deficit spending for the ancillary fund over the next several years.

In the short term, at least, the university plans to orient the budget toward student assistance. The student aid budget is set to increase to $291 million, meaning that the university will provide 58 per cent more financial aid per student than the average Ontario university.

Other planned investments in the sphere of “student experience” include “expanded mental health services, increased opportunities for experiential, work-integrated learning, and research experiences, improvements to both physical and IT infrastructure, and improving service delivery in the areas of academic advising and student success.”

Student fees Provincial government grants for general operations

Operating revenue composition

Sales, services, and sundry income

Operating expense composition

Endowment investment income Other investment income Recovery of institutional costs of research Recovery from Canada Research Chair grants Academic expense budget Shared service and campus costs Student aid expenditure

658.5 21.1%

University-wide costs offset by shared services income

693.7 22.2%

Pension deficit funding Flow-through to other institutions University fund (unallocated portion)

140.1 4.49% 291 9.32%

70.2 2.25% 60.3 1.93% 58.8 1.88% 45 1.44%

1,811.5 58%

2090 66.9% 147.1 4.71% 127.2 4.07% 32.2 1.03% 20.1 0.644%

The budget projections are conservative due to uncertainty over Ontario’s plans for university funding.

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

EDIT CHART

Comment

March 8, 2021 vrsty.ca/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Op-ed: The UTSU’s equity apparatus is broken

Union executives must ensure that it’s a distinct, meaningful pillar of their work

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

Sarit Radak Varsity Contributor

The Black Lives Matter protests that took place in Toronto and across North America last summer were a sobering reminder of the inequities that racialized people continue to face today.

These same inequities are also very much present at U of T. On its website, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) notes its intention to advocate for over 38,000 undergraduate students at U of T — and, in this spirit, the union attempted its “Advancing Equity in Education” initiative. Despite this, the UTSU’s equity apparatus is outdated, costly, and woefully ineffective.

The UTSU’s “Advancing Equity in Education” campaign is an excellent metaphor for its equity apparatus as a whole. Both sound good in principle, but fail to bring about meaningful change.

In October, the UTSU executives announced that they had started the “Advancing Equity in Education” campaign. Its goal was to “raise awareness of equity and social justice courses and programs,” a largely unobjectionable endeavour.

However, four months later, the campaign has largely fallen flat. The only tangible result that it has produced is a report titled “Advancing Equity in Education,” which is almost entirely a reformatted version of parts of the Faculty of Arts & Science’s academic calendar.

This document will almost certainly have a

negligible impact on equity at U of T. For one, it doesn’t actually provide anything new to the student body: course titles and descriptions are readily available through a number of resources that are available to students. It can also be incredibly difficult to actually find the report because it is buried deep in the UTSU’s website.

Most notably, the UTSU report released in January said that the long-term goal of the “Advancing Equity in Education” campaign “is entirely up to next year’s executive team.” By the time the course selection period starts this summer, the new UTSU executive team will have taken office and the entire project will probably have been forgotten. It is likely that the students who would have found the report useful will never know it existed because it wasn’t adequately promoted.

Worst of all, this endeavour was paid for by U of T students. The executives and staff of the UTSU are paid through a levy collected from undergraduate students. Unfortunately, these costly, ineffective projects appear to have become the norm for the UTSU. In addition to this project, the UTSU planned a virtual clubs crawl for September. However, the event was abruptly postponed, and it still has not happened.

Equity in education is so much more than just the creation of lists of classes that have to do with equity. Instead of writing this report, the UTSU could have collaborated more with equity student unions on campus to amplify the impact that they have.

It is also crucial to acknowledge where the

UTSU falls short in promoting equity. Last summer, when Trinity College faced an internal reckoning over its history of institutional racism, the UTSU barely did anything. Apparently, the reckoning came up in a July meeting with the Office of the Vice-Provost Students. Nevertheless, in all the monthly reports to the Board of Directors by the vice-president equity this year, which detail what the union has accomplished and what it is working on, Trinity College is only mentioned once as a passing reference.

Instead of wasting time with pointless projects and initiatives, the UTSU should focus its equity apparatus where it’s actually applicable.

There are a number of ways that the UTSU could create real change on campus. For one, it should formally publish its report on Campus Police. However, the university has not released the police budget, which the UTSU wants to put in the report. The UTSU has filed a freedom of information request to try to obtain the budget, but instead of continuing to wait for that data to be released, the UTSU should release the report and amend it later if the union manages to obtain the police budget.

Additionally, the UTSU should consider eliminating the vice-president equity position. By designating equity as its own distinct portfolio, the UTSU has tacitly given its other executives permission to ignore equity in their work. By deleting the vice-president equity role, the UTSU could distribute the equity portfolio among its other executives. Doing so would allow equity to become a part of everything that the UTSU does, instead of being a limited sub-

section of its duties.

For example, the vice-president operations at the UTSU is responsible for more than six million dollars of net assets. If they were given a stronger mandate to incorporate equity in their role, the power of that money could be used as a force to promote equity. Deleting an equity position to improve equity sounds counterintuitive, but the UTSU itself even endorsed it. Last August, a committee of UTSU board members recommended dissolving the vice-president equity role.

In many ways, the state of equity on campus is poor. U of T’s own statistics offer concrete evidence that the university is not as diverse as it should be. For example, just 35 per cent of undergraduate students in the mathematical and physical sciences identified as women in 2019.

Recent op-eds in The Varsity make it clear that Black students face barriers to education that other students do not.

Now, more than ever, students need the UTSU to advocate on their behalf and mobilize its operations toward advancing equity. Unfortunately, the UTSU’s current equity apparatus has demonstrated that it is incapable of doing so. If the UTSU wants to create real change for the students that it represents, its equity apparatus must be overhauled.

Sarit Radak is a second-year molecular genetics student at University College. He served as the 2019– 2020 life sciences director for the University of Toronto Students’ Union and currently serves on the Arts and Science Council as a full-time sciences student.

Letters to the Editor RE: U of T planning for return to in-person activities in fall 2021 “I’m kinda used to online now. It has its conveniences. Don’t know how they can make this plan not knowing if we can get enough vaccines by start of term.”

— Xiao Joseph Zhao (from web) “@Xiao Joseph Zhao although it’s comfortable to open one’s laptop and do class from bed or in pyjamas, in the end, it’s not an encouraging, stimulating or healthy learning environment... it has many more downsides I believe than ups.

So we should get back to campus and stop pretending that as young people we can’t function in society without the vaccine because that is bs.

Our age demographic has barely been affected.

If anything, professors should be the ones get-

ting the vaccine before returning to campus…”

— Natalia Zambrowicz (from web) “Lolz! This isn’t good news guys! Unless everyone get vaccinated first (and considering how slow the roll out has been) this will be an unlikely/dangerous scenario.”

— Lydia Colihue (from web) “@Lydia Colihue This is great news! We cannot keep learning from home. It is not sustainable!

Young people are falling into depression, drug use, anxiety etc. Young healthy people have something called an immune system which is our greatest defence against the virus. We need to return to classes safely, with measures in place and begin getting back to normal.”

— Natalie Zambrowicz (from web)

Re: Students lament loss of in-person ceremony as spring 2021 convocation moves online for second consecutive year “It’s fine, conn hall seats are uncomfy anyways” — Joshua Cardoso (from web) Re: Editorial: This isn’t just about one problematic recipient — U of T must fix its scholarship vetting process “arent the varsity the people that participate in this type of systemic oppression that uoft and singh get away with by literally publishing his letter that peddles the idea that police brutality isn’t real” — Thomas Elias Siddall (from web)

“A very good and comprehensive editorial on the issue. Very important that the idea of freedom of speech was raised in the beginning of the piece which made the commitment of the authors to that known to the readers. Indeed the criticism of the editorial authors and I’m sure (hopefully) the majority of the people who opposed the award being awarded to this recipient was based on the fact that he was not deserving of this specific award simply because his public statements were not reflective of what the award stood for.”

— Amirahmad Azhieh (from web)

vrsty.ca/comment

MARCH 8, 2021

The credit/no credit option should be extended to program requirements One small step for faculty, one giant leap for the student body

Radmila Yarovaya Varsity Contributor

I first heard of U of T’s credit/no credit (CR/ NCR) option during my first year while standing on the platform of St. George station and complaining to my friend about the 300-level French course I was taking to fulfill what I thought would be a French language minor.

Having been a straight 90s student in high school, I was shocked and appalled by the 60s that I was receiving in a language I thought I had mastered. More than that, I was paralyzed by the thought that that single bad grade could prevent me from meeting my program requirements, getting into the graduate program of my dreams, and changing the world.

You can imagine my relief when I found out that I could effectively lock my subpar French grade into a black box and continue my streak of overachievement. I was in awe at the generosity of my administrative overlords.

I ended up credit/no crediting my grade, and I minored in creative expression and society instead. However, it wasn’t until my third year that I found out that I wouldn’t have been able to minor in French even if I wanted to as a result of my decision to purge the grade from my leger.

Currently, U of T only allows its students to CR/NCR courses that are not used to fulfill their program requirements. This is largely useless because those are usually the lowstakes ‘bird’ courses that students take in order to fulfill their breadth requirements and have no influence on their acceptance into their program of study. So much for the generosity.

While the Faculty of Arts & Science’s (FAS) decision to extend the CR/NCR and late withdrawal deadlines until after students receive their final grades because of the pandemic is commendable and heartening, it does not go far enough.

The exclusion of program requirements from the CR/NCR option was always dubious at best, and at worst, it makes CR/NCR useless. With the added challenges that students are facing in the current climate, granting such generous accommodations while excluding the very thing that would alleviate the most pressure off of students’ backs just adds to the gesture’s ineffectiveness to the needs of the student body.

In order to complete a bachelor’s degree in the FAS, students are required to have 20 full course equivalents (FCE). On average, each major requires seven FCE for its fulfillment and each minor four FCE. One common degree layout is a major and double minor, so

Boutique renting, reimagined.

if you total the credits for a major and two minors, you get 15 FCE, with five courses left over for experimentation during your wayward youth, out of which two can be CR/ NCR. This is manageable.

However, things become a little more nuanced when you consider alternate combinations such as mine, a double major and minor.

That’s 18 FCE, with exactly two courses left to CR/NCR. It is not difficult to imagine that in U of T’s success-driven culture, students would want to maximize the utility of their degree, taking as few filler courses as possible.

The CR/NCR option is, at its core, a last resort. The more likely scenario is that students would want to use this option for courses that are needed to fulfill program requirements.

The Arts and Science Student Union voiced these points in a letter to FAS Dean Melanie Woodin, advocating for the inclusion of program requirements as a part of the CR/NCR option, noting, “Most (if not all) the courses taken within an academic year are courses which count towards program requirements.”

Hence, the far more likely option is that students who are struggling with a program requirement course will have to retake it in an attempt to improve their grade. This will probably be done during the summer, forcing an added stress onto those who are already in precarious financial situations.

Not only do the requirements for CR/ NCR delay the process of completing a degree, forcing students to spend more money on their education, but they also force students to drop courses, since — at UTSG and UTSC, unlike UTM — you cannot retake a course in which you’ve already obtained a credit, no matter how bad your grade in the course is.

The lack of this option or the option to CR/NCR program required courses at UTSG and UTSC puts students in an impossible situation: stick with a course you are struggling with and risk a dip in your GPA, or drop the course, negating all the work you have put in.

If you know enough to objectively pass a course and gain a credit for it, you should have that knowledge count toward the fulfillment of your program, even if you decide to CR/NCR that course. A grade does not depreciate in value if you cannot see what it is. The administration should stop enacting half-measures and finally take the step that would make a tangible difference for the students it supposedly values.

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Radmila Yarovayais a third-year ethics, society, and law student at Trinity College.

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Where are the trees for Blac

On exclusion from greenspac

Writer: Ha Photographer

Despite Toronto’s reputation as an urban metropolis, nature can be found here, intertwined with city life in curious ways.

Cherry blossom trees bloom each spring at UTSG, flourishing against the brutalist backdrop of Robarts Library. Over 300 trees of approximately 50 species stand guard in Queen’s Park, seemingly stranded in a moat of traffic, overlooking frantic jaywalkers. Branching out into the surrounding suburbs and boroughs, the UTSC Campus Farm spans 10 acres of land, and UTM is known for its luscious greenspaces, wildlife, and proximity to the Credit Valley River.

According to a Greenbelt Foundation report by U of T PhD student Jacqueline Scott and Professor Tenley Conway, ‘urban forests’ such as Toronto’s have many benefits. Research shows that trees can help cities mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis by sequestering carbon, regulating temperature, soaking up rainwater to prevent flooding, and promoting biodiversity.

Trees lend shade in the summer and shield from cold winds in the winter, saving the York Region an estimated $8 million in temperature regulation in 2008. The cooling effects of trees are particularly crucial to urban spaces, where they help combat the heat island effect created by dense clusters of buildings and roads absorbing and emitting large amounts of heat. Urban trees are not only easy on the eyes — they can also improve air quality, health, and property values.

However, the environmental, health-related, and social benefits of urban green spaces are not felt equitably. Numerous studies have shown that low-income and racialized neighbourhoods have reduced access to urban green spaces.

Toronto is no exception to this trend. Research has revealed inequities in the distribution of green spaces in the city. Low socioeconomic areas — based on indicators of education, employment, and income — are more polluted, less walkable, and less green.

The distribution of green spaces in Toronto A 2018 study from Ryerson University researchers found a positive correlation between the percentage of forest canopy cover and the median household income of Toronto neighbourhoods.

The largest cluster of high-income, high-canopy-cover neighbourhoods is in central Toronto, including affluent areas such as Rosedale-Moore Park, Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills, and more, boasting an average forest canopy cover of 55.6 per cent.

The City of Toronto’s 2016 profile of Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills reveals that a majority of its residents are affluent and do not belong to a visibly minoritized group. The median household income in the neighbourhood is $215,798 compared to Toronto’s average of $65,829, and 30.2 per cent of residents identify as a visible minority, lower than the city’s average of 51.5 per cent.

Low-income, low-canopy-cover neighbourhoods are clustered in the city’s southern-central region. For instance, Little Portugal had an average canopy cover of just 10 per cent with a standard error of 5.5 in 2009.

As Scott and Conway write in their report, “The absence of trees is another layer of inequality in lives shaped by oppression.”

As a PhD student in social justice education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Scott focuses her research on Black Canadian involvement in environmentalism and outdoor recreation. The discrepancies in tree distribution can be seen in a walk through Scott’s own neighbourhood, Regent Park, and some upscale areas, such as Cabbagetown, Rosedale, and the Brickworks.

“Just the huge difference in the distribution of trees… I didn’t need to look far to support my argument,” Scott said.

A walk through Lawrence Park — one of the affluent neighbourhoods identified by Ryerson University researchers in the high-income, high-canopy-cover cluster — reveals an even greater contrast. Some houses in this area line the Lawrence Park Ravine, which Scott frequents for its beautiful trees, some approaching 200 years old.

“The people in those houses, they don’t suffer from nature deficit disorder,” Scott said. “You want to see a 200-year-old tree? Step into your backyard. You want to see the 256 [varieties] of birds in Toronto? There’s a pretty good chance that maybe 100 of them are in your backyard. You want to see deer? In your backyard.”

“An easy thing would be to say, ‘Well, those people are lucky…’ Luck’s got nothing to do with it, but race and money [have] everything to do with it.”

The root cause How did these discrepancies in trees and green space arise in the first place?

Conway and Scott identify three main groups involved in tree planting: municipal governments, non-profit organizations, and individuals.

Tree planting by municipalities and non-profits are less likely to occur in lowincome, racialized neighbourhoods. Also, individual homeowners are more likely to plant trees than renters, and these homeowners are more likely to be white.

Historical influences are also at play. The Ryerson University researchers noted

the historical affluence of areas such as Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills. In these historically wealthy neighbourhoods, the canopy cover has accumulated over decades. The favourable socioeconomic conditions in these communities have also given them protection from redevelopment.

Other areas of Toronto, such as the downtown area, have faced development and gentrification in the form of new condos and high-rise buildings. The redevelopment process often involves cutting down or damaging existing trees.

Researchers suggest that low-income individuals displaced by these waves of development are then forced to migrate into even lower-income neighbourhoods with lower canopy cover, furthering the gap in access to green space.

In contrast, the trees and houses in the Bridle Path remain standing, largely unscathed because of their historic status and charm, and by virtue of the neighbourhood’s historic whiteness and affluence.

The lack of diverse representation in environmentalism Scott loves the outdoors and is an avid birdwatcher. She shares her experiences as a Black woman environmentalist on her Twitter account and blog.

Scott remembers discovering her own love for the outdoors on a camping trip.

“Growing up, I had absolutely no interest in environmentalism [and] green spaces,” Scott recalled with a laugh. “The only thing I was interested in was books.

You want to find me? Find a quiet spot with the books. I was the little kid who sat there and read the encyclopedia and the dictionary for fun.”

She saw a sign for a camping and canoe trip one day while walking through Harbourfront and decided to go out of “sheer boredom.” The exact details of the trip are foggy now, but Scott described the way she had felt that day with riveting clarity: “The moment I was in the forest, I felt something shifting in my soul…

This spiritually felt like I’m home.”

“Since then, most weekends, I’m always outdoors because outdoors is where I feel alive.”

The day before our interview, Scott had spotted a red-tailed hawk, floating among the trees as she walked through the ravine. As I listened to her recount the moment of watching, waiting for the swoop of the hawk’s partner, I was

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ck communities in Toronto?

ce and environmentalism

annah Nie r: Jennifer Su

reminded of an incident last summer in New York City’s Central Park when a white woman called the police, claiming repeatedly to be threatened by Christian Cooper, a Black man and birdwatcher, who’d requested that she keep her dog on a eash per the park’s rules.

One Black birder in an urban city saw the majestic flight of red-tailed hawks. Another Black birder in a different urban city saw a racist system that targeted him because of the colour of his skin.

Underlying Cooper’s experience is the assumption that Black people do not belong n environmentalism and the outdoors — an issue that surfaced repeatedly in my conversation with Scott. A Black birdwatcher is viewed as unusual at best and a threat at worst.

“When you look at the environmental field, it’s the absence of people of colour there that’s really glaring,” Scott said.

To Scott, the lack of Black representation in environmentalism was clear “from day one.” On that first fateful camping trip and on subsequent excursions, Scott often found that she was the only Black person in the group.

Scroll through social media, Scott implored, and take a look at the account of an environmental organization or outdoor recreation company. How many Black faces can you spot? What kind of message does this send?

Even when people from racialized communities are involved in environmentalsm, their presence may be erased, as was the case with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, who was cropped from a news conference photo while her four white peers were left in the frame. The photographer claimed this was done for compositional reasons, yet the apparent erasure of Blackness in environmentalism clearly struck a chord, with many tweeting their support for Nakate and outrage over the incident.

The stereotypical image of an environmentalist is perpetuated by the faces we see n programs and media: they may be kayakers, mountain climbers, or conservationsts, but they are almost always white.

Absence of green space is physically restrictive, but absence of representation is the nvisible barrier that quietly lays down the rules of who belongs in environmentalsm — discouraging greater interest and involvement from racialized communities.

The myth of the “Great White North” Despite their lack of visibility in the media, diverse voices in environmentalism are present and striving to be heard. In Toronto, their full force was felt in the streets during the 2019 climate strike, as thousands marched through the city demanding action on the climate crisis. “[At] the protest, it looked like the Toronto subway. The people who you’d expect on the subway — every shade, every accent… We’re all there at the climate crisis protests,” Scott said. “Yet still, when it comes to the media representation, we’re not there. And it just really struck me how the leadership of those organizations are disconnected from what is happening on the ground.”

Diverse faces in environmentalism and outdoor recreation are folded away, quietly and unassumingly, behind familiar white narratives — one being Canada’s own title as the ‘Great White North.”’“The north, the winter fits into the old mythology in Canada, that this is a land of snow and ice,” Scott explained, “and white people are the ones who are best able to live in these climates.”

Indeed, the ‘Great White North’ conjures images of the wintry mountain man and the white fur trader. It’s manifested in winter sports like skiing and hockey, which are largely dominated by white athletes. In the idea of the ‘Great White North,’ Canada’s natural environment and national identity are merged and conflated with an underlying whiteness.

These narratives shape our perceptions of race and environmentalism as Scott illustrates: “Black people in the city, it’s no big deal. [But] Black people hiking in Algonquin Park… whoa.”

The concept of the ‘Great White North’ is a myth — a cropped history with racialized groups left out of frame. Scott noted the centuries of Black history in Canada, marked by enslavement and extending back to the 1600s. And long before the arrival of European settlers, the land was home to Indigenous peoples, whose displacement is the foundation of the cities and parks we now occupy.

The green spaces we see today are amalgamations of the natural and the humanmade, of development, reconstruction, and replanting, directed by and reflective of social factors over time. The histories they hold can and have been overwritten and rearranged, for time to come.

Where to go from here?

In their report, Conway and Scott call upon individuals and homeowners to help protect urban trees, plant new trees, and get involved with environmental stewardship.

However, it’s important to acknowledge that the trees we plant are on Indigenous land. Understanding Black and Indigenous history is crucial to rectifying the environmental inequities that have been perpetuated in our cities and cultural narratives.

To encourage participation from racialized communities, environmental organizations can hire more diverse staff to target their outreach and build relationships. Increased Black representation in environmentalism and the outdoors would show that Black communities belong in that space too.

Perhaps one benefit of the distribution of Toronto’s green spaces is that many parks and ravines can be reached by public transit. Scott named a few hidden gems found right along Toronto’s subway lines: High Park, beside the station of the same name; the Don Valley Ravine, found around Castle Frank Station; and the Humber River Valley, which is a short walk from Old Mill Station. Further out, an hour and a half transit ride from downtown Toronto can take you to Scarborough’s Rouge National Park.

“I think people don’t often know that you don’t have to drive four or five hours to go experience nature,” said Scott. “It’s right here in Toronto.”

During the pandemic, Scott has noticed more people, especially those from racialized groups, venturing to the outdoors.

“It’s nice to see it. In some ways that’s one gift of COVID — that because we’re so sick and tired of being indoors, we’re exploring more,” Scott said. “It’s just been really, really interesting. Whether I’m on my bike, or hiking, or whatever — it’s like, wow, I’m not the only one. It just gives it a different vibe.”

Scott hopes that the environmental sector will build on this increased interest in outdoor recreation to create more inclusive outdoor spaces beyond the pandemic.

After all, outdoor spaces made open, accessible, and inviting to all have the potential to invigorate our spirits and uplift our most vulnerable communities.

“People of colour, our lives are so stressful. But nature is calming… the blues disappear for an hour or so. All the problems just disappear,” Scott reflected. “You get the sun on your face [and] you can watch the birds… Even in winter, [you can] watch the kids tobogganing down the hill… or [you can] walk on the snow and have it crunch [under] your feet.”

“Even if you only go [out] in the winter for 15 minutes, the fresh air is good for the soul.”

Arts & Culture

March 8, 2021 vrsty.ca/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

“Odd one out”: Hart House panel discusses racism, colourism in ballet On the structural inequities that have historically accompanied the dance Margaret Ng Varsity Contributor

The Oxford English Dictionary defines art as “the skilful production of the beautiful in visible forms.” Indeed, art is full of skilled creativity, marked by gratifying beauty, and rich with visible colours. At times, though, the colours of art are concealed beneath the colours of the artists themselves.

To explore this historically enduring and contemporarily prominent issue, on February 13, the University of Toronto’s Hart House Theatre hosted a panel discussion that invited ballet dancers and industry professionals from a range of backgrounds, including Jordana Daumec, Terry Gardiner, Shannon Litzenberger, and Kimia Karachi.

All four panelists have varying degrees of experience as dancers in the ballet circuit.

Having lived in the world of ballet, the panelists shared their personal experiences — both on and off the stage — around race and ethnicity, diversity and inclusion, and awareness and change.

The conversation Classical ballet’s historic origins are deeply rooted in European royalty and aristocracy. Because of this, many of its competency standards that are still followed today are rigidly formalized, bodyexclusive, and racially insensitive. Ballet’s colour bias complicates the participation of racialized dancers, who tend to self-censor to avoid conse-

quences such as risking their contracts.

Gardiner, a Black man with Caribbean-Canadian roots, shared his unpleasant encounter with a white choreographer who called direct attention to his Blackness.

Apart from direct instances of aggression, several panelists indicated some ongoing microaggressions. Daumec, for instance, noted how she felt like the “odd one out” because she has a light skin colour and non-white features. In another case, Gardiner noticed that he was simply not expected to be a ballet dancer since ballet wasn’t originally inclusive of racialized people.

While fellow dancers or company managers might not be intentionally malicious, these casual comments were enough to contribute to increased self-doubt, which makes it difficult for racialized dancers to be proud and confident performers.

Beyond interpersonal experiences of racism, the panelists also noted a broader issue of institutional colourism that inherently bars racialized dancers from free expression and upward mobility. Litzenberger, a dancer and arts advocate, pointed out that the unbalanced dynamics of power within the workplace — for example, between white directors and Black dancers — replicate an implicit but systemic exclusion of certain kinds of artists.

Changing ballet’s dynamics Explicit colourism, insensitive microaggressions, and institutional racism are undeniably prevalent

The European and aristocratic nature of ballet means that racialized dancers face significant barriers.

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in the ballet industry. In one particularly public instance, Misty Copeland — the first AfricanAmerican woman to become a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre — put racism in ballet in the spotlight when she shared an image on her Instagram of two dancers in blackface at the Bolshoi Ballet Company in Moscow.

These are, however, dynamics that are not exclusive to the sphere of ballet. They are arguably present in other art forms, in various cultural settings, and in broader society.

Classical ballet offers a magnified vision of ongoing race-based prejudices in everyday life. Like ballet, modern society is appearance-oriented and structurally racist, both characterized by Eurocentric white domination.

We should promote diversification of the rigid

aesthetic standards and ideals of ballet — and society — so that they become inclusive to people of all ethnicities. The promotion of this appreciative professionalism could be done through community advocacy, amplifying voices to bring about concrete industry changes.

We should also engage in educational work to cultivate racial inclusivity in the next generation, fostering fundamentally inclusive mentalities. It is only with a paradigm shift in the cultural understanding of race that the arts and society could flourish inclusively.

The definition of ‘art’ as “the skilful production of the beautiful in visible forms” could very well remain our standard. But let’s expand who we count as being able to produce ‘the beautiful’ to include dancers and artists of all ethnicities.

Speaking the language of niche Spotify playlists

Sky Kapoor Arts & Culture Columnist

Hyper-specific selections for just the right mood provide a constant rhythm to our lives

When I was growing up, if we wanted to listen to music, we’d turn on the radio and listen to 99.9 Virgin Radio for the top 40 pop charts. From 102.1 the Edge for sweltering summer days, to Jazz FM 91.1 for cold winter drives to band practice, to 96.3 Classical FM for long autumn road trips, each radio station had its purpose.

As years went by, we were soon able to search up any music video we wanted on YouTube during our

allotted computer time or buy our favourite songs on iTunes for $0.99 each.

And in more recent years, you could try out a curated Spotify playlist like Discover Weekly, which suggests songs inspired by your listening habits.

The format in which we listened to music became clearer and more convenient as time passed, with the language developing parallel to technology.

Although Spotify took six years to launch in Canada after its initial release in Sweden, it very quickly captured the hearts and homescreens of music lovers across the nation. As someone who’s

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transitioned into an avid Spotify user myself, I’ve noticed that the game has completely changed when it comes to listening to music.

Now, there’s an art to curating the perfect Spotify playlist.

Initially, playlists were of a broad variety, usually classified by genre or artist. However, as the digital age deepens, we are now seeing playlists such as “walking out of a movie theatre and feeling like you’re on top of the world” and “driving on the highway at 7am on a wednesday.” We can now curate playlists filled with songs that scratch a certain itch we just can’t elaborate on. No matter how specific your emotion or scenario, playlists for every occasion can provide a constant soundtrack to our lives.

As a music aficionado, I’m no stranger to this phenomenon. Though they may not be as carefully curated as some of my other playlists such as “Art Heist at the Louvre,” it’s become a habit of mine to create monthly playlists filled with whatever it is that caught my ear that month.

The language of music speaks louder to me when I listen back on these playlists. Delving into “October 2018” immediately transports me back in time.

Suddenly, I’m 17 again, and I’m jamming out to a miscellany of Shostakovich, Glass Animals, and After The Burial.

These niche playlists almost turn Spotify into another social media platform. By choosing the perfect cover art to accompany a gripping description, playlists on the app almost act as posts on your profile. Soundtracks offer accompaniment to the good times, the bad times, and everything in between.

They’re a language that our generation is becoming increasingly fluent in.

While social media platforms like Instagram or Pinterest focus on visual media, Spotify highlights the beautiful language of audio.

These playlists don’t even need to be unified stylistically, nor do they need to be explained. The music we choose tells a story in and of itself, eliciting emotions within listeners that can only be described as the feeling you get when “Stopping at the 7/11 for Gas and Snacks at Midnight.”

Unlike past generations that curated playlists through downloading MP3 files of their favourite songs or recording songs from the radio onto cassette tapes, we have a massive musical universe at our fingertips. The most fundamentally universal experiences can be aptly described through playlists — as seen by “coronacation” and “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,” both extremely appropriate given the times we live in today.

We use the language of music to relate to the world around us, make sense of digital media, and create alternate realities for ourselves. Our generation has shaped the internet, creating a digital time capsule that will be immortalized for years to come. Not only can we express ourselves and create timelines for our lives through media we’ll remember and look back on fondly, but we can capture a glimpse into the lives and histories of others as well.

It’s an adventure, a grand trek that might only be accompanied by “hiking through the mountains with a patagonia pullover.” Soundtracks that once played in the periphery of our lives now describe our universe, collecting and organizing our experiences in the digital world.

When it comes to speaking the language, Generation Z is quick to catch on. By the playlist “Magic In The Mundane” alone, it’s safe to say we’re fluent.

vrsty.ca/arts

MARCH 8, 2021

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Welcome home, you weeb On rediscovering the joys of representation through animation Benjamin Ding Varsity Contributor

If you got into anime well before this mid-2010s surge like I did, you’ll know that being an anime fan has a stigma surrounding it. Even with Marvel shoving nerdy comic book culture into the cultural limelight, people still give you weird looks when you admit to watching the Japanese equivalent.

I was certainly ostracized and scorned in high school for liking those weird Japanese cartoons.

Outside of my circle of geeky, largely Asian friends, I didn’t have that many people to discuss anime with.

Growing up Chinese-Canadian in a predominantly white area immediately reinforced the sense of otherness that came with being an anime fan. The only programs on TV I could stand watching were cartoons like Justice League and Avatar: The Last Airbender, even as a brooding teenager. I couldn’t relate to any of the white faces I saw in popular media.

I recall clinging to anime so tightly while growing up because of the characters who closely resembled me. Sure, Chinese-Japanese ethnic tensions have existed for decades, but seeing Japanese characters on screen was better than nothing. It was a relief that someone in the world was telling stories that catered to me.

Furthermore, anime provided a form of escapism from my dreary everyday teenage life that I desperately craved. That’s perhaps why so many of the gateway anime titles — see the “Big Three” — fall into the fantasy and adventure genres. I myself grew up on shows like Yu-Gi-Oh, Naruto, and Bleach.

I used to be a rarity. Now, it’s never been easier to become an anime fan — especially outside of Japan.

The fandom has never been larger or more vibrant: anime-related memes get shared regularly, and the term ‘weeb’ gets thrown at those who have merely seen anime. The 2016 surprise hit Your Name paved the way for anime films to be screened in theaters worldwide. Attack on Titan has been regularly

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trending on Twitter as its final season airs.

This anime boom hasn’t gone unnoticed by corporations either, and anime has never been closer to being mainstream.

Sony acquired anime streaming giant Funimation back in 2017 and even bought out its main competitor, Crunchyroll, late last year for a whopping $1.49 billion. Netflix reported a 50 per cent viewership increase in anime titles on its platform in the last year, and has even funded and produced some of the most acclaimed titles of recent times, like Violet Evergarden and Devilman Crybaby.

Major anime YouTubers like Gigguk and akidearest now boast several million subscribers. The entire anime industry was estimated to be worth over 24 billion USD as of 2019.

Perhaps one reason for anime’s recent rise to prominence is its greatest asset: storytelling versatility. In my recent viewings, I’ve taken it upon myself to consume titles from all genres.

Some highlights include Monster, a psychological thriller about a kind doctor seeking redemption by trying to destroy the serial killer he unknowingly saved as a child, and A Silent Voice, a teenage drama about a boy who learns sign language to atone for his past bullying of a deaf girl while also learning to overcome social anxiety. Mushi-shi explores the acts of a wandering medium, Ginko, as he mediates between humans and mysterious spirits called ‘mushi’ in pre-Industrial Japan; compare this to the fastpaced tale of one high schooler’s quest to become a volleyball star in Haikyuu!!.

There are also timeless classics like the 1990s space western Cowboy Bebop or anything produced by the animation powerhouse that is Studio Ghibli. All these are but a small glimpse into some of the best that this vast, wonderfully diverse medium has to offer. There really is something for everyone.

All this has contributed to my second phase as an anime fan being a much more enjoyable experience than the first one. I took a near five-year hiatus from the anime world and am relieved to be back. I have a countless supply of friends to eagerly discuss the latest episodes with. I’m constantly recommending more obscure and classic titles to fans sick of mainstream shows.

Yet, there are still old traits I revel in — in what other medium can you see colourless manga panels adapted into colourful animated features, or have entire genres dedicated to giant fighting robots and flashy magical girls?

The landscape of anime has drastically changed. With more shows airing than ever to cater to an ever-expanding, ever-demanding consumer base, it has changed for the better.

But don’t ask me about it — I’ll be busy watching anime.

I travelled during COVID-19 — but I’m no Rod Phillips

Casual conversation with strangers at the airport won’t return anytime soon Maggie MacInnis Varsity Contributor

When Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips stepped down on account of his St. Barts vacation — an escape from the Toronto COVID-19 restrictions imposed by his administration — I applauded.

I applauded again when I heard that Rod Baker — who’d chartered a plane to Yukon with his wife to pose as motel workers and get vaccinated — resigned as chief executive officer of Great Canadian Gaming Corp.

All this applause, however, was followed by the inevitable silence and reflection that follows any great production. I couldn’t help but wonder: once every public figure named Rod is disgraced, will I be next?

I have travelled on a few occasions over the last year. Nowhere exotic, I am sad to report. Perhaps I should have befriended the Ontario finance minister when I had the chance. Instead, I have gone back and forth between my apartment in Toronto and my parents’ house in Vancouver, for reasons I have judged to be necessary.

Plane travel has changed drastically over the last 12 months. In March of 2020, I took my first pandemic flight home to Vancouver. That flight, upon reflection, was a public health nightmare.

Nobody wore masks because nobody thought

they had to wear them. I had seen people wear masks on medical soap operas and thought they were only worn for dramatic effect. I wouldn’t have wanted to bring drama to the airplane in a time of crisis. Walking into an airport today, maskless, would be the eighth deadly sin.

My second pandemic flight occurred at the beginning of August when I moved into my apartment in Toronto. At the time, case numbers were quite low. It seemed that U of T might have some in-person courses. Here, I will pause to convey dramatic irony.

Before this flight, I was given some sage advice.

My friend had watched a TikTok — our generation’s equivalent of the New York Times combined with the Oxford English Dictionary — that advised travellers not to use the plane bathroom. It seemed that several people were getting sick on flights because they removed their masks while in their cubicle of privacy.

Luckily for me, this was not an issue. I am generally far too fearful of strangers to ask my seatmates to move so I can use the plane bathroom. Hopefully, you are braver than me in nonCOVID-19 times.

My third pandemic flight happened at the beginning of December when I flew home for the holidays. At the check-in of a mysteriously unnamed airline, I stood wearing my winter gloves and two masks.

Take this as your sign to cancel any lingering vacation plans.

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Once the self-check-in machine procured my luggage tag, I stuck it around the handle of my suitcase and proceeded to the drop-off. A man who worked for the mysteriously unnamed airline stopped me and said, “That was amazing. I have never seen a woman do that as effortlessly as you. If you want some entertainment, you should come by this check-in booth and watch women try to figure out those stickers.”

Now that stickers are being applied by untrained fools, it seems people of my gender have shown their true deficiencies. I was proud to know my sticker sticking abilities were much superior to that of the average woman.

The truth is, while airports used to be a place

for social interactions of all kinds, people are now closed off while completing their travels. Travellers have no desire to strike up a conversation with their fellow passengers or airplane employees. Nobody says, “Here’s looking at you, kid” to you before you travel to the US with your fugitive husband, as they did in the good old days. Now, even your run-of-the-mill, sticker-related backhanded compliments come off as awkward.

Maybe one day travelling will be normal again.

Maybe one day we will sit on planes maskless, chatting about the weather. That day is not today, nor is it tomorrow. So if you are looking for a sign to tell you to cancel your St. Barts getaway, this is it.

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Pigeonholes: The art of dismantling oppression

Learning to reignite my love of paintings through an equity-oriented lens Valeria Khudiakova Associate Science Editor

Pigeonholes is a collaborative inter-sectional column from the Arts & Culture and Science sections, exploring issues across academic boundaries. This week in the Pigeonholes column, the columnists investigate topics outside of their areas of interest.

When my editors suggested that this Pigeonholes column involve me exploring visual art, I had to confess to them that I wasn’t a big fan of the medium. I certainly used to be, but over the past few years, I’ve found a lot of visual art to be deeply boring.

I get the colours and the style, but it doesn't do anything for me emotionally. I used to be transfixed by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, and I prided myself on ‘getting’ pointillism, but now, those paintings are just décor to me.

But I gave it a shot. I approached the subject with an open mind, and I found that there was a school of visual art that appealed to me: political art. It’s art that brings political struggle to life, elevating history from an academic exercise to a deeply felt human concern with real people at its centre.

Art that forces people with privilege to look at themselves, and art that gives marginalized people a platform — that was the kind of art that appealed to me. I paused, though, and questioned: which group of artists were making the most powerful art? Whose political art actually does the most work for dismantling oppression — the art of those with power or those without?

My history with art I own a giant collection of postcards, enough to cover an entire wall or two. Some of my postcards contain photographs of cities across North America and Europe, and a couple have corny messages in German. However, most feature paintings from art museums or independent artists. My postcards contain much culture, history, art, and architecture — yet they’re all either from European or settler North American sources.

I picked up a few of the postcards in my collection during my two-year stint as an expat in Prague. During that time, I went to art museums and galleries at least once a month. I owe at least 70 per cent of my proficiency in the Czech language to different forms of art, gaining bits of vocabulary and syntax from museum handouts, culinary art, and movies like Milada.

Although Prague is no London or Paris when it comes to housing world-renowned European art, and my beloved French impressionists hardly ever made it to the National Gallery on Old Town Square or the Kampa Museum by the Vltava, I discovered a whole new world of art defined by the fight of two nations, the Czechs and the Slovaks, for freedom from an oppressive regime. I especially admired Kamil Lhoták and his witty yet tranquil and political paintings.

But then something happened. After returning from Prague, my parents and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the winter of 2018. To my terror, I couldn’t stop yawning, and it had nothing to do with running up the Rocky Steps.

I remember the museum had French and British impressionists — a whole lot of them — but I was bored out of my mind. The same thing happened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. a week later. I had just enough energy to snap a few pictures for my Instagram story, which I used religiously to document my museum adventures.

Even two years later, I had not regained my ability to look at a painting and actually feel it.

Relearning to love art Cognitively, I can certainly appreciate the strategic choice of colours and placement of brush strokes, the composition of a painting, or the historical context behind it. But, somehow, the affective component was missing. I started to wonder if I can teach myself to feel art again.

A quick Google search revealed that the first step to learning or relearning to appreciate art is just looking at art.

My first instinct was to look at Italian Renaissance paintings. After all, for me, they are the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of art. Then, I realized that the art I learned about in school and saw in museums, which has largely affected my perception of art and its purpose, was mostly white and Western. Asian, African, Black, and Indigenous art — and, by extension, ways of being — were pushed to the sidelines. So this is where I started looking.

Through this exploration, I came to an important realization: visual art is more than just colours, shapes, and lines. Art is also political.

Art can raise important political questions and redraw the battle lines of whose histories we remember. But just as any oppressive struggle contains an oppressor and someone being oppressed, political art takes different forms as well depend-

ing on who makes it. I wondered which side could be more effective in building a more just world: the powerful reconciling with their history, or marginalized groups reclaiming their own stories? Or, perhaps, could they work together?

I was intrigued: maybe by thinking through these political questions, I would find that art is not so boring after all.

Dismantling systems of oppression with art I first want to consider the side of artists who have historically held privilege because that is the side I’m from.

As someone whose ancestors massacred Czech and Slovak people in 1968 and oppressed them for decades, I would like to think that I’m past that abhorrent part of my heritage and that I can empathize with the sentiment that went into twentieth-century Czechoslovak art and even somewhat relate to it. But can I really?

Although we have no control over our ancestors’ actions, we have to be cognizant of systems of power and privilege, and work together to dismantle them. Being a white, cisgender settler who is not disabled, I’m aware of how both my identity and worldview are shaped by my privilege.

But can we dismantle those systems through art? One of my all-time favourite artists, Gerhard Richter, who is German, channels his feelings of shame and sorrow through powerful abstract art.

Anti-oppressive art created by a member of an oppressor group that aims to reckon with their past or present may be powerful in some capacity. Such creations could potentially raise awareness among the oppressor group and amplify the voices of people who are unheard as long as they do not appropriate or exploit other people’s trauma.

However, one person’s guilt won’t dismantle racism or colonialism unless systemic change happens. I can create the most thoughtful, respectful, and sensitive piece referencing the Holodomor, but many Russians will respond by denying their colonial and genocidal past and present.

Further, white tears and public hand-wringing do more harm than good, as they centre the perpetrators instead of the victims. This is something to be aware of if one chooses to create anti-oppressive art from a place of privilege.

Indeed, if someone creates art about oppression and comes from a place of privilege, in the sense of not belonging to the oppressed group or not having that kind of first-hand experience with the oppression in question, their art may not resonate with the group affected by that oppression.

It might not do justice to the full complexity of the systems of oppression that are in place, and it might centre the wrong people.

Highlighting marginalized artists In contrast, art created by marginalized groups often speaks directly to those systems. The disability scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson coined the term ‘normate’: people for whom our society is built. Normates today are white, heterosexual, cisgender, upper-middle-class, Christian men. We know the type: a normate is young, athletic, educated, and married man who works a nine-to-five job but doesn’t have kids. Most of us aren’t normates.

Those whose bodies and minds strongly deviate from those of the normate might be used to being stared at by predominantly white, able-bodied people. Some anti-colonial, anti-racist, and antiableist art stares back at those gazers, GarlandThomson contends in another paper.

For example, in “Artifact Piece,” James Luna reclaims the colonial gaze by deliberately putting his body on display. “The Scoop” by Kent Monkman highlights the horrors of the ’60s Scoop by mimicking the Western tradition of paintings of historical events that were usually commissioned by people in power.

Introducing art by Black or Indigenous artists and other racialized artists into the mainstream seems like a good idea on the surface. We can create art history and art theory courses that focus specifically on non-Eurocentric art, hold art festivals and exhibitions highlighting racialized artists, and include them in art curricula in primary and secondary schools. However, this line of inclusion may not be powerful enough if such art is taught in a context determined by colonial ideas of what art should look like and what purpose art should serve.

To effect meaningful change in the context of visual arts, we have to reconsider what art means to us. Art is not always a source of aesthetic pleasure.

Art is political.

After spending some time reflecting on the underlying meaning of art, I am proud to say that I have relearned to love and appreciate it. But, this time, the affective component of art appreciation comes from contemplating its political and equityseeking undertones.

As people with differing amounts of privilege, we are responsible for amplifying the voices of those who are less privileged. Rethinking our understanding of art and including more art by racialized creators is one way to do it.

Science

March 8, 2021 vrsty.ca/science science@thevarsity.ca

Pigeonholes: Re-examining home in the stars that shine for me

Finding meaning in astronomy

“I wanted to understand the correlation between myself and the stars, to grasp my own mortality,” writes Alexa DiFrancesco.

COURTESY OF ZEANA HAMDONAH

Alexa DiFrancesco UTSC Bureau Chief

Pigeonholes is a collaborative inter-sectional column from the Arts & Culture and Science sections, exploring issues across academic boundaries. This week in the Pigeonholes column, the columnists investigate topics outside of their area of interest.

I am not a scientist.

I self-identify as a creative writing junkie with vast experience — so much so that I’ve edited ample amounts of STEM-focused students’ research papers to recognize the essential elements of drafting such literature.

After participating in this experiment for The Varsity, in which I attempted to hone my scientific understanding by watching the entirety of astronomer Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, I decided to present my findings in an analytical manner as a testament to my knowledge. Behold: the existential discoveries of an artistic student.

Introduction As a child, I was introduced to the stars at 4:00 pm on a weekday afternoon. I was cocooned into the fold of carpet between my grandmother’s flowered sofa and the harsh corner of her brick fireplace. I had just been dismissed from school for the day; she would babysit me until my mother came to retrieve me later in the evening. Chewing on my nails, I was anxiously monitoring the passing of the following 30 minutes — a countdown until I would be prodded to begin dreaded science worksheets.

My distraction of choice, Boy Meets World, remains my favourite television show to present day. In the episode I rewatched, “Starry Night,” two of the primary characters witness an uncertain end to their relationship. In the midst of their fight, one of the characters brings the other to a Vincent van Gogh exhibit, during which she describes van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” as follows: “God is protecting the people in this little town. They live their lives, and they come out of their houses, and they see the sky. And they know God’s protection and love — that everything will be alright.”

I’m not a religious person by any standard, yet I found myself in awe of this quote’s certainty.

I’ve never been one to fully grasp visual art or astronomy; as I aged, I sought to love the sky above me so deeply that it would inspire me to recreate it, as van Gogh did. Although I understood our universe as protection, I craved a connection with it that would allow me to identify its protection in everyday settings, just as I’d witnessed the character do.

Methods “Why are stars bright? Where is the energy coming from that keeps them going? How many millions of

years has it been going for? What exactly is it? Those are questions that previous generations of us just never had an answer to. We always related it to gods.

Our best guess, scientifically, for thousands of years was that the stars were just big chunks of metal.”

Such was the rant I was greeted with when approaching a close friend about this piece. More certain than myself, he is a self-proclaimed atheist, awestruck only by the natural wonders of our universe.

Just as I once yearned to understand my favourite television show, I was now determined to understand the person who had once explained to me how the sun was fueled. That is why I volunteered to watch his favourite documentary. I wanted to understand the correlation between myself and the stars, to grasp my own mortality.

In thinking I could, I deemed myself another ignorant human.

Results I watched one episode of Cosmos in its entirety, dividing my time between the series and my desktop computer, which was streaming my boyfriend’s Rocket League tournament. Although I am no Rocket League fanatic by any means, I found that observing cars chasing a ball made me feel immensely more intelligent than trying to understand the complexities of matter beyond my reach. Pained by my innate ignorance, I left my writing until its due date. I write this not having attempted to watch another episode.

A day after this initial predicament, NASA streamed its Perseverance Mars rover landing on their YouTube channel. My boyfriend, eager to see the photos and videos in real time, had alerted me of it. We watched the entirety of the livestream — two hours, triple the length of the average Cosmos episode — without any confusion.

It’s not that this broadcast was unscientific in nature; it was arguably more, as it examined diagrams, blueprints, and terminology to coax viewers into understanding the importance of landing on Mars.

Discovering Mars is a new opportunity, a chance for us to place our feet on new land, to explore what is not guaranteed. The stars are guaranteed: they shine partly for us to study, to observe, and to navigate our surroundings in the universe.

What have we done to deserve their loyalty?

Analysis In part of NASA’s livestream, astronomer Matthew Wallace explained that the inspiration behind NASA’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) camera system was his 11-year-old gymnast daughter.

“I got her [a] sports camera… She did a backflip. And I don’t know about you, but I cannot do a backflip. But when she showed me the video, and I watched that camera pan up to the ceiling, and then the room go upside down, and then somehow right

itself as she landed on her feet, I felt for a moment that I had a glimpse into what it would be like if I could do a backflip.”

I emailed U of T professors with a desperate plea to understand our universe, to understand the rush of said ‘backflip.’ By my deadline, I’d expected to receive two responses, maybe three.

In a span of a few hours, I received six responses.

This made me feel incredibly guilty — undoubtedly, astronomers could spend their days more productively than by defending their research of choice to a student newspaper. Their eager answers to an unpassionate teenage girl taught me more about myself than Cosmos ever could.

Discussion “I do a lot of work with amateur astronomers or hobbyists, and they too are very diverse in the reasons they are interested in astronomy,” John Percy, a professor emeritus at UTM and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, responded to my pleas.

“Some just like to observe the night sky, with unaided eye, binoculars, or telescope. Some are astrophotographers; they take superb images of the sky. Some are more interested in space exploration.

Others are ‘armchair astronomers’ who just like to attend lectures, or read books, about any aspect of astronomy. A small subset (that I work with closely) actually do astronomy research voluntarily; they are ‘citizen scientists’.”

Renée Hložek, another professor at U of T’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, wrote me the following: “I love that the Universe continues expanding whether or not I exist, and so it gives me somewhere else to set my mind/eyes to other than my own problems and reality. That doesn’t mean they don’t matter, but it helps me remember that my problems aren’t all there is in the Universe.”

Referring back to Sagan, Raymond Carlberg, yet another professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, did not answer any of my questions. Instead, he attached a photo to his email with a short explanation of it. In his response, I identified Boy Meets World’s interpretation of “The Starry Night.”

Carlberg explained that Sagan was a scientist for the Voyager satellite missions that were launched to photograph planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the 1970s. In 1990, Sagan convinced the project director to turn a satellite around to take a photo of Earth. Carlberg referred to this event as a “space selfie,” a term that I, a self-absorbed young adult, am very empathetic toward. Carlberg described how the resulting image, titled “Pale Blue Dot,” was meant to show how our study of space could help all humans understand our place in the universe.

Even I, a mildly frustrated writer who’d just abandoned nine episodes of Cosmos, understood that “our place in the universe” is virtually nothing.

We are simply specks, unidentifiable in the grand image of all existing matter. We are entitled without reason; we are so minute that we are almost undeserving of the space, time, and resources we so passionately consume.

Yet Carlberg’s description is un-echoing of my brutality; rather, his words cocoon the nurturing warmth of being gifted responsibility. “As Carl noted in his book Pale Blue Dot, ‘that’s home… everyone you know… every human being who ever was,’ ” Carlberg wrote. “The image has often been used to remind us all that we share a single planet and should take good care of it.”

Carlberg is right in the sense that we all share a single planet — for now. Nonetheless, with reports of scientists and billionaires alike exploring the possibility of transporting humans to Mars, it’s undeniable that we are unsatisfied with the care the planet demands of us. Have we damaged our home to a level in which it’s easier to abandon it than restore our relationship with it? Carlberg authenticates my thoughts as he presents the following paradox: “The image is not scientifically very useful, but it is one of the most important space images ever taken.”

Conclusion My favourite episode of television concludes with its primary couple reunited, discussing “The Starry Night.” The character to whom it was described proclaims, “I spent half an hour looking at it, trying to understand it… But I couldn’t get it, not by myself… I’m not like you… that I can understand those kinds of things so fast. I need you to help me.”

As an adult, I was reintroduced to our universe at about 4:00 pm on a weekday afternoon. I wasn’t learning about my surroundings through media catered to teenagers, rather through a “Pale Blue Dot.” Like Boy Meets World and Rocket League cars, the image of the “Pale Blue Dot” was not a scientific advancement, but rather a reminder that we, as small as we are, are capable of grasping the unfamiliar.

After undergoing this experiment, my sentiments toward astronomy are similar to reactions toward the “Pale Blue Dot”: whilst I don’t regard scientific data to be useful in giving me an enlightened understanding of my existence, I am in awe of it because it humbles me. I am a powerless being, ignorant of much of the small planet that I am allowed to call home. I am unfamiliar with its technicalities and how it operates to fulfill my needs of survival. While this is information I will never seek actively or be able to fully appreciate, I will be thankful for each future encounter I have with the stars.

For I do not need to leave my ‘pale blue dot’ to know the stars perform backflips for me.

16

THE VARSITY

SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Why is this UTSC professor cataloguing Toronto’s plants?

Marc Cadotte’s new research could have important ecological impacts

Saige Severin Varsity Contributor

One of the more menial tasks researchers undertake is data collection. While the process of cataloguing information for later analysis may be slow, major databases are invaluable for research, although the hard work of creating them rarely garners acclaim.

UTSC professor and ecologist Marc Cadotte recently undertook such a project. He studies the diversity and distribution of organisms,

particularly plants. In a recently published study, he outlined a major project listing species of vascular plants — plants with vascular tissue that conducts material through the plant — in Toronto. The project was born out of a need that Cadotte noticed through his work with the Global Urban Biological Invasions Consortium.

“I realized when we were compiling data that we actually didn’t have a comprehensive species list for Toronto,” he said in an interview with The Varsity. He set out to create that list.

EVELYN HAYES/THEVARSITY

Incomplete but useful Cadotte drew data from various sources around the city that had already catalogued some species in Toronto. The issue was that none of them were comprehensive. Not only had no one set out to make a complete list before, but the lists that did exist tended to ignore a big part of biodiversity in the city — private yards.

Scientists studying plant species in cities tend to gravitate toward more natural areas, like parks or woodlands. “We tend to discount heavily impacted areas where human activity is really prominent,” explained Cadotte. For this reason, Cadotte’s list could be incomplete. More research and data are needed to determine just how many, and which species are present in Toronto’s private yards. “We don’t spend as much time identifying a thing growing in a crack in a sidewalk,” said Cadotte.

Even with these caveats, Cadotte managed to log over 1,900 different species, 822 of which are not native to Canada. Identifying these nonnative species could be vital for identifying — and, hopefully, preventing — biological threats.

Most of these threats come in the form of invasive species, which are foreign species that can overwhelm and destroy native life. Many such species exist in private yards, and were imported because people wanted certain plants in their garden. Cadotte explained that identifying these foreign species is vital. “If people are planting a myriad of different kinds of species and we don’t know about them, it could be the next major invasive species sitting in someone’s garden, ready to escape.”

He pointed to the example of kudzu, a vine

that has had a disastrous impact on ecosystems in the United States. Kudzu can grow up to a foot a day and is sometimes called “the vine that ate the South.” Awareness of species like kudzu allows conservationists to prevent harmful invasions and protect native plant life. Cadotte noted that, due to the efforts of Ontario conservation organizations, “There was a population that was found [in Canada], and that was quickly eradicated.”

Already in use Cadotte’s research has already found some applications. “[The] Toronto and Region Conservation Authority [has] already been using it for species prioritization and to control species.”

Cadotte made the list publicly available so that it might aid anyone who needs it, and so that it could potentially affect policy-making. “My hope is that it becomes of value to other people in their research or management,” he said.

Unlike most of Cadotte’s work, this project did not follow the typical ‘hypothesis and experiment’ structure that many people associate with scientific progress. This list is a very different sort of contribution, but it is no less valuable. Scientific progress requires collaboration, and open sharing of information.

“Providing information and resources to other people can be just as great a contribution to the progression of science and applied science,” said Cadotte. “It’s a broader move toward what we call open science, which is making sure that things are openly available and accessible. I think what I did with this one is try to live up to those principles of openness and transparency.”

How vaccine misinformation spreads on social media A lot of it has to do with the way that algorithms promote content

Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Staff

Misinformation about vaccines is widely recognized as a motivator for vaccine hesitancy and anti-vax conspiracy theories. Both attitudes could hamper COVID-19 vaccine rollouts across the country, and the government is very aware of the risk: Ottawa plans to invest $64 million in education campaigns to fight vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.

Misinformation can range from unwarranted suspicions about what vaccines are made of to claims that taking vaccines can cause infertility. Social media platforms are a major source of this misinformation — and companies are very aware of it.

On March 1, Twitter introduced a new labelling policy to alert users about misinformation and a strike system that would lock users out of the app if they repeatedly violate the company’s COVID-19 policy. Facebook and Instagram already announced a blanket ban on vaccine misinformation last month.

Vaccine misinformation on social media predates the pandemic. In 2016, information about an illegal vaccine distribution network that administered unrefrigerated or expired vaccines in China’s Shandong province spread on social media, which led to a 43.7 per cent decrease in the willingness of parents to vaccinate their children. Most of the people surveyed had learned about the story exclusively through social media.

How social media platforms shape beliefs and attitudes To understand the roots of the vaccine misinformation problem, one has to understand how social media algorithms recommend content to users in the first place.

Social media allows anyone to share information. This is its primary strength, but it can also be a weakness when that information is unchecked, unverified, or unedited.

Social media feeds can become catalysts for misinformation and a lack of trust in public officials. They have the power to change the minds of individuals on many different subjects, primarily through repeated suggestions of the same ideas.

Algorithms on Facebook and Twitter push accounts that users interact with the most to the top of their feeds. As posts or tweets become more popular, they are amplified and spread to more users. When these posts confirm existing biases those users may have, misinformation may spread. For example, those who are borderline questioning vaccine safety and efficacy might interact with a few posts that question the efficiency of vaccines, and then encounter even more similar posts due to the algorithm.

Misinformation researchers Claire Wardle and Eric Singerman wrote in the British Medical Journal that while Facebook, Twitter, and Google have “stated that they will take more action against false and misleading information,” it’s the personal stories and anecdotes on their platforms — which they are not controlling — that are potentially detrimental to users’ collective understanding of vaccine safety, necessity, and efficiency.

The duo also highlights the complexity of the situation: people accuse censorship of being a violation of freedom of speech, but at the same time, there is still an argument for platforms removing posts that spread misinformation entirely.

Closer to home, Deena Abul-Fottouh, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Information, researches the impacts social media networks have on their users. A recent paper she co-wrote with researchers from U of T and Ryerson University analyzes how YouTube handles vaccine misinformation.

The YouTube algorithm is built on homophily — the belief that “like-minded individuals… tend to act in a similar way” — in

After widespread detection on their platforms, Facebook and Instagram announced a blanket ban on vaccine misinformation.

NATHAN CHAN/THEVARSITY

that it pushes content that users already find interesting or of priority onto other users who are judged to have similar tastes. According to the study, this creates a filter bubble, “which occurs when a recommender system makes assumptions of user preferences based on prior collected information about that user, making it less likely that the user would be exposed to diverse perspectives.”

How are social media companies responding to misinformation?

Facebook and Twitter began to take steps to prevent the spread of health misinformation in 2018. These were small measures, such as the addition of educational pop-ups and the suppression of false claims that were deemed threatening. Meanwhile, Pinterest changed its settings so that the search term “vaccines'” would only yield information from reliable sources such as the World Health Organization.

However, social media companies are still

under increased pressure from governments, the public, and health authorities to alter their policies regarding public health. Following new guidelines, Facebook has been removing posts that include any false information regarding the vaccines, as well as adding labels to posts that need clarification.

Wardle and Singerman describe these measures as positive but still insufficient, relying on tackling individual instances of misinformation rather than the larger psychological effects of suspicion and fear they generate.

The research sums up, “What’s required is more innovative, agile responses that go beyond the simple questions of whether to simply remove, demote, or label.”

YouTube has also made changes to its policies and is now more likely to recommend pro-vaccine videos. But Abul-Fottouh and her colleagues wrote that the “filter bubble” effect is still prevalent and that those who engage with anti-vaccine content will be on the receiving end of more anti-vaccine content.

vrsty.ca/science

MARCH 8, 2021

17

“Belongs to the world”: 100 years of insulin — U of T’s greatest medical discovery

Banting, Best’s achievement changed millions of lives, but access remains incomplete Christina Lam Lead Copy Editor

On May 17, 1921, Frederick Banting and Charles Best began their summer project at the University of Toronto in the Connaught Antitoxin Laboratory, which was run by John James Rickard Macleod. Less than a year later, Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy suffering from Type 1 diabetes, became the first patient to be successfully treated with insulin injection.

The discovery of insulin by Banting and Best was a watershed moment in the history of diabetes since the condition was essentially a death sentence for children before 1922. Today, people with diabetes can manage their blood sugar and lead fulfilling lives because of insulin.

It is undeniable that Banting and Best have altered the lives of many people with diabetes since 1921. As U of T celebrates the 100 year anniversary of their achievement, reviewing the timeline of events shows how Banting and Best owed their discovery of insulin to many researchers who came before them.

How it all began The history of the discovery of insulin began in 1869 when Paul Langerhans, a medical student in Germany, identified the so-called ‘islets of Langerhans’ in the pancreas — groups of cells responsible for insulin production.

At the end of the 1800s, French scientist Eugène Gley demonstrated that a pancreatic extract was able to reduce blood glucose levels in dogs without a pancreas. This was followed by the work of Eugene Lindsay Opie in 1901, which showed that destruction of the islets of Langerhans caused diabetes.

Armed with this new knowledge, scientists spent the next two decades trying to isolate the mysterious compound from the pancreas with little success. While they knew that the islets of Langerhans were the sources of the anti-diabetic extract, scientists at the time faced the challenge of separating these islets from the rest of the pancreas.

This was when Banting entered the picture.

Inspired by an article he read on pancreatic

duct binding, Banting came up with his own experiments and approached Macleod in 1920 with his plan. Macleod agreed to lend him his lab space at U of T and a student assistant, 22-yearold Charles Best.

Banting designed a new technique to occlude the pancreatic duct, which enabled further procedures to be carried out without destroying the islets. Banting and Best found that in dogs without a pancreas, the preservation of the islets was sufficient to prevent the development of diabetes.

By July of 1921, the two had successfully isolated the elusive anti-diabetic extract that had evaded others for so long — insulin. With the help of the biochemist James Bertram Collip, they were able to produce a safe and stable version of insulin for use in humans. On January 11, 1922, 14-year-old Thompson received an injection that would allow him to live for another 13 years.

Distribution in Canada and beyond Nothing illustrates the importance and urgency of insulin than the speed of its distribution.

Although the Connaught lab was producing insulin for all Canadians in 1922, it did not have the capacity for global demand. To manufacture the newly discovered insulin on a large scale, the governors of U of T came to an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co of Indianapolis in the spring of 1922. Macleod also started to share his recipe for insulin with other physicians in the US, who used it for clinical and experimental purposes.

In October 1922, Danish Professor August Krogh and his wife, Mary Krogh, a physician who took care of patients with diabetes, brought insulin to Denmark. In November of the same year, Canada gifted the patent of insulin to Great Britain and Ireland. By May 16, 1923, Britain became the first country to make insulin commercially available.

Then, the agreement between U of T and Eli Lilly came to an end in June 1923, allowing for other manufacturers to acquire the right for insulin production. Insulin was finally made commercially available in the US and Canada on October 15, 1923. By 1924, insulin was distributed in countries all over the world.

People with diabetes can be expected to pay anywhere from $1,100–$4,900 per year.

COURTESY OF BRIAN J. MATIS/CC FLICKR

Diabetes in the modern day A century after its discovery, insulin continues to be an integral part of the lives of people with diabetes. For them, management of their blood glucose is critical since uncontrolled diabetes can lead to serious complications such as kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage.

Since insulin’s discovery a century ago, scientists have been improving its pharmacological profile to mimic its natural secretion. We now have short- and long-acting insulin and even insulin pumps that can be programmed to release insulin according to the wearer’s mealtimes.

However, despite these advancements, complete insulin replacement remains elusive.

To control their blood glucose level, people with diabetes approximate natural insulin secretion with stringent glucose monitoring and insulin injection as appropriate. They must also adjust other behaviours such as dietary choices and physical activities.

This regimented lifestyle can be exhausting.

Marley Greenberg, a fourth-year student and the president of the College Diabetes Network at U of T, has been living with Type 1 diabetes since she was eight years old. For her, diabetes is a fulltime job.

“I’m constantly checking my blood sugars, giving insulin on my pump, and counting every carbohydrate I eat,” she wrote in an email to The Varsity. “Stress and hormones can make my blood sugars go high, and there’s really no way of knowing how much insulin I’ll need to balance out things like exam-season stress.”

“Something as simple as walking from one class to another can make my blood sugars go

A bust of Frederick Banting sits in the lobby of the Medical Sciences Building, commemorating his discovery of insulin alongside Charles Best in 1921.

JESSICA SONG/THEVARSITY

low. There’s so many factors to consider, and there’s never a break from management. The psychological weight of diabetes can be heavy and many people experience burn-out.”

Greenberg also emphasized the importance of peer support, especially for young people with diabetes.

“Type 1 diabetes often feels like an invisible illness, and it can be misunderstood and isolating. I’ve found that connecting with other young adults with diabetes is one of the best sources of support,” she wrote. “That’s why we run the College Diabetes Network chapter at U of T, to help students feel less alone. Sharing the mental weight of diabetes with people who get it can make this condition feel a lot lighter.”

The cost of insulin Banting, Best, and Collip sold the patent for insulin to U of T for $1 following the success story of Thompson.

“Insulin does not belong to me; it belongs to the world,” said Banting at the time.

Yet, contrary to Banting’s vision, insulin does not belong to everyone today. In fact, many of the 11.5 million Canadians living with diabetes cannot afford insulin despite it being a life-saving treatment.

Since Canada does not have a nationwide pharma care plan to cover insulin costs, many Canadians pay out of pocket to obtain insulin. In Ontario, adults aged 25 or older who lack private insurance must pay out of pocket for insulin, and many people still struggle to afford this life-saving drug.

According to Diabetes Canada, people with diabetes can be expected to pay anywhere from $1,100–$4,900 per year depending on the types of insulin that they use. This does not include the cost of other diabetes supplies such as blood glucose strips and glucose monitoring devices.

Those who cannot afford the costs have to choose between insulin and paying for their food or rent. Last year, professor and physician IIana Halperin tweeted about a 26-year-old graduate student at U of T who was having difficulty paying for her insulin. The student was no longer qualified for Ontario’s drug coverage plan and had depleted her university insurance.

Halperin wrote that the student was rationing insulin by taking just enough of the drug to prevent her from going to the hospital, but not enough to sufficiently manage her blood glucose levels.

Greenberg and her family also experience the financial strain of insulin treatment. Greenberg’s mother, Dana Greenberg, who also lives with Type 1 diabetes, described the immense costs of paying for both of their diabetes supplies over the years in an email to The Varsity. “Having no private health insurance, the financial burden of keeping Marley and me not just alive but healthy is enormous. In 2021, people with diabetes shouldn’t still be struggling to afford insulin.”

Policies around diabetes need to catch up with scientific innovations. Unless we solve the issue of accessibility, there will be no real progress for people living with diabetes.

The story of insulin began over 100 years ago, but it is nowhere near finished. Today, millions of people around the world are writing the next chapter.

Sports

March 8, 2021 vrsty.ca/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Crystal balls and baseballs: predictions for the Toronto Blue Jays A few numbers to keep in mind for the upcoming season Guiller Lorenzo Cenizal Varsity Contributor

With the first at-bats of spring training passed, baseball is once again just around the corner. After a third-place finish in the American League East and a disappointing playoff exit against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Toronto Blue Jays are returning to the field following a very eventful offseason.

While the Jays are barely a week into spring training — and goodness knows how unpredictable baseball often is — here are a couple of numbers to keep in mind as Opening Day fast approaches.

Nate Pearson: the 25-year-old wonder Nate Pearson, 10th in MLB prospect rankings as of March 4, will turn 25 years old this coming August. While the young flamethrower did get shut down after a grade one right groin strain against the Pittsburgh Pirates and will be understandably treated with a conservative approach ahead of Opening Day, he remains a man to watch.

Pearson had shaky but limited exposure in the majors last season with 18.0 innings pitched through five games, four starts, hurling a 6.00 earned run average and 1.50 walks and hits per inning pitched.

These statistics are nothing too concerning or out of the ordinary for a pitcher fresh out of the minors. From the eye test and further examination of his pitch tendencies — courtesy of the Baseball Savant website — it’s evident that Pearson relies heavily on his four-seam fastballs and sliders but shows some problems with pitch command. Naturally, when he gets in trouble, he compensates with fastballs up and in the middle of the plate to

get strikes.

These issues are understandable and can be resolved with proper development and experience. Look for him to showcase his elite velocity if he stays healthy this season — perhaps he could make for an excellent reliever by coming out of the bullpen from time to time to showcase his velocity and command profiles.

Phenom Valdimir Guerrero Jr.’s top seven per cent hard hit Over his short tenure in the majors, phenom Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s weight and conditioning have been subjects of much debate. Now that he’s shed 42 pounds this off-season and improved his conditioning, some may voice concerns about how much power he can put into his swing after such dramatic weight loss.

As he’s coming off a season with an exit velocity and hard-hit percentage in the top seven per cent of eligible players, somehow, I don’t see getting power behind that swing as a big concern. Based on Statcast batting statistics, he’s seeing the ball just fine and is making hard contact as he should, but what is concerning is his 4.6-degree launch angle.

If Guerrero Jr. can tweak his swing in that regard — something that should be a top priority for him and the organization — we could be in for quite the show.

The six-year, $150 million contract As far as off-seasons go, I’d rank the Jays’ offseason among the best in the league — up there with the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Jays added a well-budgeted, quality starting lineup and bullpen depth with the likes of Steven Matz, Tyler Chatwood, David Phelps, and Kirby Yates. They also re-signed Robbie Ray to a club-friendly contract.

The Jays added a solid second baseman in Marcus Semien to bolster the infield. Then, of course, they signed the crown jewel of their off-season, star outfielder George Springer, to a six-year, $150-million-dollar contract. The biggest investment in franchise history brings with him a 0.265 batting average, 14 home runs, and 32 runs batted in during his 222 plate appearances from the 2020 campaign.

To make the signing even better, the teamfriendly front-loading of Springer’s contract gives the Jays financial flexibility down the road. While the figures are certainly large, the Blue Jays have managed to push themselves further into playoff contention by surrounding their young, talented, and most importantly, team-controlled core with players who can help them win now.

While predicting a World Series appearance is wishful thinking — though not impossible, mind you — the Blue Jays are poised for their best season since 2015, and there are plenty of reasons to be excited for Jays baseball this year.

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for the Blue Jays season this year.

KEITH ALLISON/CC FLICKR

Testing UTrain: Vogue

Do the workouts really work?

Alex Waddell Varsity Staff

After a very stressful week, I had a bit of relief before my next round of midterms and was in the mood for something fun! My roommates were interested in joining me for this week’s workout, so we decided to do one of the vogue classes posted on the Sports & Recreation YouTube account.

We chose the class from September 30, since it might be a more introductory class, and we were all new to vogue.

It was a beginner class that claimed we would “learn and practice the 5 elements of vogue - catwalk, duck walk, hand performance, floor performance, and spins and dips!”

Vogue dancing was named after the famous magazine of the same name, and used poses from high fashion and ancient Egyptian art to tell a story and demonstrate how gender is a performance. I was first introduced to vogue from the documentary Paris is Burning, which captures a picture of the New York ballroom scene in the 1980s — a scene associated with the contemporary LGBTQ+ community — and was excited to try it out.

The class was taught by Matthew, also known as the Legendary House Mother Snoopy of the Kiki House of Disney. Snoopy has been voguing for over seven years and was even featured on So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

I was honoured to be learning from someone so experienced.

The class started with Snoopy introducing himself and giving us a breakdown of the structure of the class. We would begin with a warm up, work our way through each element of vogueing, and, if there was enough time, end with an exercise that combined all of them.

We started the class with hand performance, where we practiced classic moves along with Snoopy, slowly increasing our speed. One of the highlights was spelling the alphabet with our arms and tracing the shapes of items in the room. Both of these activities required us to add our own creativity and flair to each movement, and trying to bring this aspect into the dance really got us out of our heads.

We moved into the catwalk, which Snoopy did a good job breaking down into parts that were easier to pick up — shoulders back, butt out, and heels up to resemble being in high heels. Once we got into the catwalk and sped up a bit, one of my roommates mentioned that she had never felt more powerful, and it rang true. We were feeling it. In total, we did three variations of ‘catwalk arms’ that brought in some of the skills we had learned in the hand performance section from earlier.

Next up was the duck walk, which was crazy! My thighs were on the fire after just a couple of rounds. Snoopy mentioned that those who are new to vogue will find this the hardest. With practice, he said that we will build up the thigh strength necessary to be able to do it bigger and add in arm movements. However, since it was early in the semester, we stayed simple and just did ‘shoulder taps’ with our duck walk.

Finally, we ended with ‘floor work,’ dips, and an independent dance party and jam session to conclude the session.

Overall, I loved the class! It was a totally new highenergy experience that got my heart pumping. I was glad I did the YouTube class. Now, I want to work my way through the semester of classes to improve my skills!

We learned five important elements of vogueing.

MAHIKA JAIN/THEVARSITY

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‘Maskne’: what it is, and how to prevent it How to solve a uniquely COVID-19-era problem Angad Deol Associate Sports Editor

‘Maskne’ is probably not a word you’ve heard a lot, but it describes an issue I’m sure you’re familiar with. Maskne is described as the formation of acne in areas of your face where your mask covers — unless you don’t wear your mask properly, in which case you are the embodiment of everything wrong with society.

Masks essentially trap in heat and moisture from your mouth, which can lead to pores becoming congested — causing acne. Masks can also create a lot of friction on your face, irritating your skin and causing acne in the process.

Of course, maskne is preventable as long as you follow a few steps.

ANDREA ZHAO/THEVARSITY

The best skating in ‘The Six’ Catch these rinks before the ice melts

Mask maintenance is key Think about it like this: you’re going to wear a mask for a long time — seemingly forever at this point — so investing in a mask made with good material goes a long way. Dermatologists believe masks made of 100 per cent cotton allow for better ventilation of your skin. More-

over, washing your mask after each use is important to clear out all the unwanted particles that linger in the fabric and can clog your pores during prolonged wear.

Keep a skincare routine This next tip is one you should also be following in general — but don’t fret; it’s never too late to start taking care of your skin. Washing your face with a skin cleanser and an exfoliant product is a great way of clearing out the oil and dirt that builds up on your face after a long day — even if you aren’t wearing a mask! I recommend using a gentle cleanser, even if you don’t have sensitive skin.

Secondly, consider using a moisturizer to offset the irritation masks can do to your face.

Moisturizers keep your skin hydrated, preventing itching and irritation.

In summary, your health is important now more than ever. Wearing a mask is important — indoors and outdoors — but make sure to keep yourself comfortable while keeping others safe. A good skincare routine goes a long way, but wearing a mask can take us even further.

The best tobogganing spots in Toronto

Check out some slick spaces the city has to offer

Kartik Rudra Varsity Contributor

REBECA MOYA/THEVARSITY

Laura Ashwood Sports Editor

Although winter is dwindling, there are still some solid weeks of frigidity left in the city. If you’re still scratching your head for things to do in a lockdown winter, don’t forget to dust off your skates! Outdoor rinks are a great venue for safe and fun COVID-19 activities that allow you to move your body.

Here is a list of all the very best rinks to visit before the ice melts so that you don’t land yourself at a dud for your last skate of the season.

Kew Gardens Down at the Beaches, shouldered by the boardwalk and the lake, is a picturesque little patch of ice. Surrounded by greenery and gardens, this is the ideal setting for a physically-distanced date or an afternoon with your roommates.

The scenic views of Lake Ontario are enough to sell the rink, but the long walk from campus may be a drawback. Look at it as a kind of escapism and a reason to stay out of the house for longer: the walk takes a while, which means more fresh air for you!

Danforth Danforth offers more than just a dinky little rink: no, it is a winter wonderland! Riverdale Park East offers a playground of rinks upon which to frolick. Boasting a hockey pad, a regular rink, and a skating trail, you won’t get bored even if you keep coming back to this park forever.

Nathan Phillips’ Square This one is just iconic: if you haven’t been here yet, what are you waiting for? A familiar site to anyone who’s been on a first date in wintery Toronto, Nathan Phillips Square is practically a rite of passage nowadays. Although it’s often crowded, there’s nothing like cutting up some ice right in the heart of downtown Toronto, surrounded by skyscrapers.

Don’t forget to take a photo with the iconic 3D TORONTO sign before you go!

After all, someone has got to let your high school friends know that you’re in the city now.

Trinity Bellwoods This classic park is relatively close to UTSG, making it a sure-fire choice for your skating impulses. A prime location for picnics in the spring, impromptu spikeball games in the summer, and dog-walking year round, you’ll probably find people you know there to skate with — don’t even worry about bringing a friend!

The skating rink looks like a typical hockey one, but the park is so beautiful that it doesn’t really matter. Also, because you’re so close to Queen Street, stop for a Matty’s Patty’s or a hot chocolate at White Squirrel après-skate! Both have cool, COVID19-friendly ordering windows so that you don’t even have to worry about going inside to get your grub.

ISABELLA TAN/THEVARSITY

Kartik Rudra Varsity Contributor

Outdoor activities have been hard to come by for many thanks to COVID-19 lockdown measures.

But with the flurry of snow the city experienced in recent weeks, the temptation has never been stronger to experience the joys of activities such as tobogganing.

Here are some of the best tobogganing hills in Toronto for you and your family and friends to shred some snow — while following appropriate public health protocols!

Riverdale Park East Address: 550 Broadview Avenue, Toronto Starting off with a recognizable spot, Riverdale Park East — not to be confused with Riverdale Park West on the other side of the Don Valley Parkway — is home to one of the most popular tobogganing spots in the city.

The park has a wide but rather steep descent, allowing for a speedy ride with the wind blowing into your face. And, of course, we cannot forget the gorgeous view of the Toronto skyline the park has to offer.

Centennial Park Address: 256 Centennial Park Road, Etobicoke While Centennial Park in Etobicoke is better known for its skiing, snowboarding, and summer sports facilities, it is also home to an exhilarating tobogganing hill. The lone hill offers a steep descent that reaches breakneck speeds and can only be tamed by the most experienced tobogganers.

There is also an ‘unofficial’ tobogganing hill

in the park that offers an even steeper and faster ride, but it comes with a couple of caveats. Because people have been injured trying to toboggan there, precautions have been put in place to keep tobogganers away.

Christie Pits Address: 750 Bloor Street West, Toronto A stone’s throw away from Koreatown, Christie Pits offers a wide variety of hills for the thrillseekers. There are slopes that provide a speedy ride down and slopes that are child friendly, which provide a gradual but fun ride. Bickford Park on the other side of Bloor Street also has three hills to toboggan on if Christie Pits is too busy.

L’Amoreaux North Park Address: 1900 McNicoll Avenue, Scarborough For the east-enders of the city, L’Amoreaux North Park, near the intersection of Kennedy Road and McNicoll Avenue, offers a low-key yet fun tobogganing adventure. On the site of a former First Nations village, the hills here offer a steep ride with long run-outs. The park itself also offers many scenic trails for all-season trekking.

Linus Park Address: 125 Seneca Hill Drive, North York Located in North York, Linus Park is a popular spot for families. While it is neither the steepest nor fastest tobogganing hill in the city, it is long and wide with plenty of space for even the busiest of days. This is also a great spot for some nighttime tobogganing as the hills are brightly lit and offer some great viewpoints of the Toronto skyline.

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MARCH 8, 2021