March 18

THE VARSITY March 18, 2019

The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Vol. CXXXIX, No. 21

And we’re off!

UTSU elections begin: Executive candidate profiles page 12–13

THE VARSITY

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THE VARSITY Vol. CXXXIX, No. 21 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 thevarsity.ca

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YOUR GUIDE TO THE

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MASTHEAD Jack O. Denton Editor-in-Chief

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Pearl Cao Creative Director

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Reut Cohen Managing Editor

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Kaitlyn Simpson Managing Online Editor Kevin Lu Senior Copy Editor

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Josie Kao News Editor

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Ibnul Chowdhury Comment Editor Kate Reeve Features Editor Kashi Syal Arts & Culture Editor Srivindhya Kolluru Science Editor

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Daniel Samuel Sports Editor

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Michael Teoh Business Editor

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Julie Shi Deputy Senior Copy Editor Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

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Keith Cheng Design Editor

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Angela Fu Design Editor

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Shanna Hunter Photo Editor Troy Lawrence Illustration Editor Jess Stewart-Lee Video Editor

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Jayra Almanzor UTSC Bureau Chief

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Joseph Naim Blog Editor

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Blythe Hunter Podcast Editor

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Mandy Wang Chinese Translations Editor

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Angela Feng, Zach Rosen Associate Comment Editors Vacant Associate Features Editor George MoshenskiDubov Associate A&C Editor Ashima Kaura, Spencer Y. Ki Associate Science Editors

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) is the student government that represents full-time undergraduates enrolled at UTSG. As part of their fees, students pay a levy to the UTSU. In return, the UTSU promises to provide advocacy work and services on behalf of the students.

Who can vote in the election?

All full-time undergraduate students enrolled at UTSG are eligible to vote.

How do I vote for representatives?

Voting is online only. Visit www.utsu.simplyvoting.com from Saturday, March 23 at 12:01 am through Monday, March 25 until 5:00 pm to vote.

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Isaac Consenstein, Ori Gilboa, Vanda Mayer Jovana Pajovic Associate Senior Copy Editors Associate Sports Editor Ann Marie Elpa, Adam A. Lam, Silas Le Blanc, Andy Takagi Associate News Editors

What is the UTSU?

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Nikhi Bhambra Front End Web Developer

Morag McGreevey Public Editor

ELECTIONS

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Matias Gutierrez Associate Business Editor

How can I become more informed about the UTSU candidates?

Gheyana Purbodiningrat, William Xiao, Yolanda Zhang Associate Design Editors

• Check out our candidate profiles on pages 12–13 or online.

Theo Arbez, Dina Dong Associate Photo Editors

• Read statements submitted by the UTSU election candidates

Iris Deng, Fiona Tung Associate Illustration Editors Nathalie Whitten Associate Video Editor Huiyi Chen Associate Translations Editor

Lead Copy Editors Amena Ahmed, Marisa Balleani, John Bao, Megan Brearley, Ryan Delorme, Jacob Harron, Emily Hurmizi, Khyrsten Mieras, Daniel Ninkovic, Sabrina Wu Copy Editors Ashley De Marco, Nicole Shi, Eva Wissting

BUSINESS OFFICE Emma Findlay-White Business Manager business@thevarsity.ca

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Daniel Dong Advertising Executive danield@thevarsity.ca

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The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2019 by The Varsity. All rights reserved.

Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789

at https://www.utsu.ca/elections/elections-candidate-list.

• Check out the UTSU Executive Debate at Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories, Room 162, on Wednesday, March 20 from 5:30– 10:00 pm, or follow @VarsityNewsUofT for our live tweets.

• Come out to The Varsity’s debate on Thursday, March 21 at 5:00 pm, or check our Facebook page for a livestream.

• Follow along with our Spilling the Tea video series for updates on the election.

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UTSU elections: hot-button topics

Discussing Student Choice Initiative, Student Commons Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) election campaign is set to begin Monday, amid upheaval surrounding university operations due to the provincial government’s Student Choice Initiative (SCI).

Only three out of seven executive positions are contested, with one uncontested and three without candidates, leaving uncertainty over what will happen to the remaining positions.

Joshua Bowman, current UTSU Academic Director for Social Sciences, is running for president against Bryan Liceralde, a third-year student.

Lucas Granger, current Innis College Director, is campaigning for Vice-President External Affairs against Spencer Robertson, the President of the U of T Tabletop Gaming Club and a candidate for Vice-President Campus Life — now called VicePresident Student Life — in the 2018 elections.

Four candidates are running for Vice-President University Affairs — New College Director Sharon Ma, Christopher Chiasson, Avani Singh, and Ramtin Taramsari.

Second-year Engineering Science student Hanya Wahdan is unopposed for Vice-President Equity.

UTSU President and Chair of the Elections and Referenda Committee Anne Boucher has confirmed that there are no candidates running for VicePresident Operations, Vice-President Student Life, and Vice-President Professional Faculties.

Aside from the SCI, several other key issues are expected to dominate the campaign, including the elimination of slates in last October’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the expected opening of the long-awaited Student Commons. Here’s a rundown of what topics students can expect to be discussed over the next week.

Student Choice Initiative

The next executive will have to deal with the

Ford government’s SCI, which will give students the option to opt out of certain non-essential incidental fees.

Services such as athletics, career services, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, transcripts and convocation processes, financial aid offices, walksafe programs, and student buildings are considered essential.

However, there is currently a degree of uncertainty around the implementation of the SCI. At Thursday’s Academic Board meeting, U of T Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr said that the university had not yet received final guidelines for the SCI from the provincial government.

The opt-out option could cause severe changes to the union’s operations, including how it administers its health and dental plan and funds student clubs.

Student Commons

The long-awaited Student Commons, a proposed student-run centre on College Street that has been in the works for 12 years, is scheduled to open this summer after several delays.

At the January board meeting, UTSU President Anne Boucher wrote in her executive report that “unforeseen architectural challenges” reported by the UTSU’s contractor, such as aging pipes in the basement, meant that the opening date had to be pushed to June rather than April. Prior to this announcement, the building was supposed to open in January, already a delay from last September.

Students voted to implement a levy to fund the Student Commons in 2007, however the UTSU has faced many significant financial challenges since then that have delayed the opening of the new building. The incoming executive will likely face tough questions on how they will keep the project on track.

UTSU-UTMSU separation

Another key issue is the separation of the UTSU and the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’

The incoming executive will face issues such as the upcoming university-mandated leave of absence policy report.

ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

Union (UTMSU). The two organizations have collaborated on many projects since they entered into an Associate Membership Agreement in 2008, but discussions started last year to formally split.

Representatives of both student unions have endorsed the separation, with a common message that the UTMSU is better equipped to properly serve its members as the on-site union.

Slates abolished last October

The UTSU’s membership voted to abolish the slate system at the AGM last October. Boucher, who ran as a part of the Compass slate last year and as an independent contender for Vice-President External the year before, supported abolishing slates.

At the time she said, “I think it offers [independent candidates] a lot more opportunity to give a fuller picture of who they are.”

Proponents of the system, however, say that slates can point to the ability of candidates “to work together effectively through the creation of campaign materials, slogans, and shared positions over major issues.”

Slates have long been a staple of student politics at U of T. In 2017, there were three full slates — Demand Better, We The Students, and Reboot U of T — and the partial slate of Whomst’d’ve. In 2016, two full slates, Hello U of T and 1UofT, faced off in the campaign.

Mandated leave of absence policy

Another major issue will be the university’s first annual report on the controversial university-mandated leave of absence policy. The policy, which was passed by Governing Council last June, allows U of T to place students on a non-punitive but mandatory leave of absence from the university if their mental health is deemed to either pose a risk to themselves or others, or if it negatively affects their studies.

Several groups, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission, voiced concerns about the policy. Many student organizations, like the UTSU, noted the university’s apparent lack of consultation with members of the community.

The upcoming report, scheduled to be released sometime over the summer, is required under section VII of the policy. The section states that the “Office of the Vice-Provost, Students, shall prepare and submit annually to the University Affairs Board a report consisting of a narrative of the functioning of the Policy over the course of the preceding academic year.”

Disclosure: Avani Singh served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Varsity Publications Inc. — the not-forprofit corporation that publishes The Varsity — from May 2018 to March 17, 2019. Singh has recused herself from the role of Chair and is taking a leave of absence from the board for the duration of the UTSU elections.

UC administration under fire for scheduling convocation on a religious holiday

Convocation scheduled for June 10

Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

According to U of T, accommodations will be made for students impacted by the scheduling conflict.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

University College is under fire after scheduling its convocation on a Jewish religious holiday.

Set for June 10, the ceremony conflicts with the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which stretches from June 8–10. Students of Jewish faith are frustrated and are calling upon university administration to make reasonable arrangements and prevent similar conflicts from happening in the future.

Hillel U of T, a chapter of the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, told The Varsity that the conflict is disappointing for the university’s Jewish community and for graduating students.

“Hillel is troubled by this scheduling conflict.

Unfortunately, this means that Jewish students will be forced to choose between attending their convocation and observing an integral Jewish holiday,” wrote Director of Advocacy for Hillel Ontario Ilan Orzy to The Varsity.

“We have raised this concern with the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students and have asked them to consider rescheduling the convocation to a different date.”

According to university spokesperson Elizabeth Church, further accommodations will be made for students impacted by the scheduling conflict.

“We do our best to avoid conflicts with all dates of religious observance when planning convocation ceremonies,” she wrote in a statement to The Varsity.

Due to tight scheduling, the university will be holding 31 ceremonies over 15 days. Students have the option to attend a separate convocation ceremony due to religious observance.

“Graduates who choose to attend another

ceremony because of religious observance are placed with others graduating with their degree, and they are presented, walk across the stage and collect their diploma in the same manner as other attending graduates,” wrote Church.

Under Governing Council’s Policy on Scheduling of Classes and Examinations and Other Accommodations for Religious Observances, the university acknowledges that a student should not be disadvantaged for observing religious holidays.

“It is the policy of the University of Toronto to arrange reasonable accommodation of the needs of students who observe religious holy days other than those already accommodated by ordinary scheduling and statutory holidays,” it reads.

Students, however, have the responsibility of informing administration in a timely fashion of any upcoming religious observances that may be in conflict.

The Vice-President & Provost is responsible for handling such policy, as well as for publishing information regarding anticipated annual religious holidays. However, there is no guarantee that there will not be important academic dates scheduled on those dates.

Orzy assures that any students who are negatively affected by the scheduling conflict can contact Hillel U of T to express any concerns to the administration there. University College has historically had a large Jewish community, since it was the only U of T college that was openly accepting of Jewish students until the late 1970s.

Victoria College’s convocation is also scheduled for June 10.

The Varsity has reached out to Victoria College for comment.

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The future of the Faculty of Arts & Science: report raises questions of budget cuts, diversity

Dean confirms reduced financial aid, “more international students” Stephanie Bai Varsity Staff

There are many changes on the horizon for the Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) this year, including a new dean, cuts to the budget and financial aid based on the Ontario government’s changes to postsecondary education, and recommendations from an external report released on January assessing the faculty’s growth.

Recommendations for the future of U of T’s largest faculty included establishing a lottery system for college admissions and increasing representation of women and racialized groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

In response to this report, The Varsity spoke to outgoing dean David Cameron on increasing support for Indigenous studies, declining resources for the humanities, and a reliance on international student enrolment to make up for the budget cuts.

Report findings and recommendations The external review report was conducted by a committee of deans from the University of California Berkeley, the University of California San Diego, and McGill University over a two-day period in October. Committee members spoke to various faculty members, including Cameron, as well as undergraduate and graduate student representatives.

Overall, the review committee noted the promising evolution of the FAS from a period of prolonged budgetary restraint, as it had accumulated a deficit of $51.2 million in 2009–2010.

However, the report also made note of issues surrounding inclusivity and interdisciplinary education that it suggested should be addressed in the future.

For example, in the STEM fields the report noted that there is the tendency for the self-segregation of women and racialized groups, leading to their underrepresentation.

To combat this, the committee sug-

gested creating a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences to help diversify STEM fields by giving them a more humanistic appeal.

The report also identified a significant difference between the desired and actual enrolment ratios of domestic students to international students in certain programs.

For example, the desired enrolment ratio is 70 per cent domestic to 30 per cent international, yet in the computer science program, the applications ratio is currently 55 per cent domestic to 45 per cent international.

Comments were also made about U of T’s commitment to supporting the Indigenous community by both creating an Indigenous College and advancing the conditions of the Centre for Indigenous Studies (CIS).

In September 2018, an FAS committee formally proposed the creation of an Indigenous college and residence. In the case of the CIS, cramped space given current and projected staffing levels have restricted its success in educating students, with one student reportedly having been unable to pursue Indigenous languages studies because the instructor of a key course had retired without an immediate replacement.

The college system was also a focus in the report. The committee proposed that the college system be used more effectively by the FAS in promoting interdisciplinary cooperation and education among students.

However, the committee saw the different admissions standards of each college as “contra-inclusive” as it allowed students to informally rank the colleges.

They proposed that an alternative process such as a lottery system be employed.

Budget reductions The 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition and changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) mandated by the provincial government will slash an estimated $20 million from the FAS budget. When asked about what impact

this will have for implementing the recommendations, Cameron said that the effects of OSAP changes are most concentrated in the amount of aid given to students by U of T. “[The cut] has this impact on our aggregate aid budget, but it doesn’t have as much of an effect directly on the budget of Arts and Science,” Cameron said. “It cramps our style, but it’s not a dramatic hit.”

This comes in contrast with the 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, which Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr had cited in a previous meeting: “The fiscal hole is deep. The road ahead is not an easy one, and it will require difficult decisions. Everyone in Ontario will be required to make sacrifices, without exception.”

Departmentally, Cameron said that no field would find its budget slashed, although Vice-President Operations Scott Mabury previously said that divisions predominantly relying on domestic tuition would see the biggest hits.

As shown in the report, quantitative science programs like computer science have a significant international population, while programs like the humanities have a declining international population.

“The international students are less likely to go into humanities, as compared to the sciences,” Cameron said.

However, since all disciplines are internalized by the FAS, Cameron said that departments that struggle with lower undergraduate enrolment are subsidized by the FAS and protected from major budget reductions.

According to Cameron, this same situation happened when the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, reducing demand for degrees in computer science, which the FAS subsidized until enrolment grew again.

“What happens is when it comes to allocating new resources like new appointments, new positions, those that are declining in numbers are less likely to get appointments than those that are increas-

YIXUAN CHEN/THE VARSITY

ing,” Cameron said.

“So we’ve been putting a lot of resources into statistics and into computer science to some extent, perhaps. And not putting as many new resources into humanities.”

To compensate for the budget reductions, however, Cameron said that the FAS can adjust the intake of undergraduate students to generate more revenue.

When asked if this entailed increasing the proportion of international students, Cameron confirmed this.

“More international students,” he repeated. “So we have this capacity to ensure we can maintain the resources we need to provide the education that we’re trying to achieve here.”

Reaction to recommendations Haseeb Hassaan, President of the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU), agreed with the suggestions the report made about constructing more studentrun spaces and adding more students in working groups. However, Hassaan was disappointed by the exclusion of certain ideas voiced by ASSU. “We are [disappointed] however, that our ask for a more accessible education that included having more lectures recorded [was] not being taken seriously enough by the external reviewers,” Hassaan wrote.

For Cameron, his objectives and the FAS’ new objectives generally matched the report’s findings, which included broadening undergraduate experience

through internship opportunities.

According to the A&S Priorities Discussion Paper 2018, which will inform the development of a new five-year academic plan for the FAS, furthering inclusivity and diversity are also major goals for both the undergraduate body and the faculty members.

On the specific points on diversity, like building an Indigenous College, Cameron voiced support for furthering Indigenous studies.

“I think, frankly, we as a faculty have — until recently — not been placing a priority that we should’ve on this issue,” he said.

However, Cameron did not definitively say if the college would be built.

“I think we’ll be looking at that proposal in the context of what we’re trying to do overall about Indigenous studies,” he said. “You don’t produce a new institution like that overnight.”

On the issue of using a lottery system for college admissions, Cameron said it was unlikely, emphasizing that St. Michael’s College, Victoria College, and Trinity College are federated with the university and have a significant degree of autonomy.

“On the lottery front, the colleges are fairly jealous of their right to actually assess who might actually become members of their community,” Cameron said. “[Federated colleges], to a substantial degree, are managing some of their affairs themselves, autonomously, so [the FAS] can try to influence [them], but we don’t have direct management control.”

U of T still hasn’t received Student Choice Initiative framework Board presented with balanced budget, new enrolment report

Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

Two months after the provincial government announced that students will soon have the option to opt out of certain non-essential incidental fees, the university says that it has still not received the final guidelines on the policy.

In her report to the Academic Board on Thursday, U of T Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr said that the government provided some loose guidelines to determine essential fees, which include athletics, career services, and walksafe programs.

She also noted that the university has 45 student societies, and that the SCI may affect all of them.

In advance of the SCI’s implementation in September, Regehr also mentioned that the university is

working on the online portal where students would opt out of services prior to paying their fees, a requirement under the government’s program. All information systems are expected to be operational by July, the provost said.

Susan Froom, a member of Governing Council and the board, asked if the university could include information about the services on the portal that students would be able to read prior to making a choice.

In response, Regehr said that the administration would take it “under advisement,” but U of T has to first make sure that its platform is in compliance with government regulations.

U of T Vice-President University Operations Scott Mabury also presented a balanced budget to the board.

Under the new provincial framework, by which the Ford government cut

domestic tuition by 10 per cent, U of T is expecting an $88-million revenue loss next year.

Mabury also presented a breakdown of the university’s revenue and expenditures. According to U of T figures, tuition comprises roughly 63 per cent of revenue while operating grants take up around 24 per cent. On the other side, faculty and staff compensation takes up 59 per cent of all expenses, with student aid comprising approximately 10 per cent.

U of T’s enrolment report was also presented to the board. According to Regehr, there are more than 91,300 students across all three campuses, with a total of 62,333 full-time undergraduate students in the 2018– 2019 academic year, 313 more than the university expected. There are 18,319 full-time graduate students, 190 more than was expected.

According to Provost Cheryl Regehr, U of T is working on an online portal for the SCI. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

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Some architecture students complained about a professor grading based on attendance.

THEO ARBEZ/THE VARSITY

Architecture student union town hall sees student complaints about grading discrepancies, heating Voting rights granted to some commissioners, new representative position added at Annual General Meeting Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

Undergraduates of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design were given a forum to voice their concerns and become involved in governance at the Architecture and Visual Studies Student Union’s (AVSSU) Winter Town Hall and Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 14.

The AGM is AVSSU’s yearly governance meeting that is open to its general membership. Members voted on amendments to the union’s bylaws and constitution, which concerned the structure and function of student governance positions.

Grading discrepancy, heating issues

During the town hall, a Daniels student brought up a concern about a

grading discrepancy for students in ARC382: Structures, Building Systems, and Environments in the fall.

She said that she and other students have found grading discrepancies between marks recorded on returned paper assignments and marks recorded electronically on Quercus, which has affected final grades.

Professor Jeannie Kim acknowledged the issue, but said that “even though they potentially affect a large scale of students, they are in most cases, from what I understand, relatively minor discrepancies.” She confirmed that faculty are working on resolving the issue.

Andrea McGee, Registrar & Assistant Dean, recommended that affected students submit a regrade request for the final mark to the registrar’s office with supporting documentation, after which her office would examine the case in consultation with the pro-

fessor in question.

A second major concern from students was “very inconsistent” heating in a new part of One Spadina causing high temperatures. McGee confirmed that the faculty is also aware and affected by the issue. She noted that her office is directly affected by high heat, and that faculty have been working on a solution.

Complaint about attendance grades

A third Daniels student reported a controversial decision by Professor Petros Babasikas to begin grading students based on attendance in ARC354: History of Housing. According to the student, the professor sent an email announcement that “attendance was now mandatory” in both lectures and tutorials, partway through the semester.

She continued by saying that this would constitute a change in the syllabus’ grading scheme, which could not be done without a vote involving students.

In response, Kim acknowledged that “the wording [of the professor’s email] may have been stronger than it was intended to be.” From her understanding, the professor intended the email to act as “an incentive” to attend lecture.

McGee added that it “doesn’t sound like an actual syllabus change or grading practices violation took place,” as it is in the professor’s rights to use attendance to grade students based on the existing participation mark within

the syllabus, but added that she would be in touch with the professor.

In an email to The Varsity after the meeting, Babasikas clarified that the taking of attendance has been a new practice in the past two lectures as a way to encourage students to show up to lecture.

“As I already explained to the students, the record of this attendance does not factor into their grade… So the attendance is indeed an incentive and in no way a change in grading policies.”

AVSSU followed the town hall with its AGM, which passed amendments concerning the structure of AVSSU’s governance, as well as the role of its executives.

The bylaw amendments granted voting rights to the Vice-President Academic, Health & Wellness Commissioner, Sustainability Commissioner, and Equity Commissioner, and adjusted the roles of several executive positions. They also clearly defined the roles of AVSSU representatives.

Additionally, the constitutional amendment involved the addition of “a second Architectural Studies: Comprehensive Stream Representative” to better reflect the large number of students in that program.

The AGM concluded with the general members present unanimously voting to approve all changes.

SMCSU to create list of ‘essential costs’ as mandated by provincial government’s Student Choice Initiative Finance reviews took centre stage at the St. Michael’s College Student Union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 15. The union gave an extensive review of its 2018–2019 annual budget, projected revenue for the upcoming academic year, and presented portfolios from each office.

Vice-President Finance Jason Gardner presented a budget report regarding finances for each office from last May to this April.

The projected 2018–2019 revenue of $120,571.90 was reported as an actual revenue of $65,155.30, constituting an over $50,000 shortfall.

There was also a large gap between projected and actual spending. Community life, for example, has only spent $10,342.28 of its $41,967 budget.

Gardner explained that the reasons

for the difference lie in an overestimation when budgeting, as well as reimbursements that have not come in yet for upcoming and recent events.

The union also moved to change its reimbursement system from physical to digital in an effort to encourage sustainability. The motion passed.

The union projects an estimated $102,801.78 in spending for 2019– 2020. Less money will be allotted to clubs at just $12,733.08 and formal at $27,606, compared to last year’s allotments of $20,905.80 and $31,250 respectively.

This year, both arts and community life had the largest budgeted amounts at $33,440 and $41,967 respectively, accounting for major events such as formal and the annual musical.

The union also introduced a new Student Improvement Fund, which would go toward physical changes on

St. Michael’s campus to benefit campus life. Funds will be used to renovate common spaces, which in the past has included the new ‘coop’ in Brennan Hall and the ice rink in the college quad.

Expenses are calculated at $330,000, with the skating rink costing roughly $30,000 and the Brennan Hall renova-

ACORN Advisory Team being consulted as U of T waits for final framework from province

Unanimous vote passes amendments to constitution and bylaws

SMC student union reviews finances, new student improvement fund at Annual General Meeting Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

U of T starting work on online portal for Student Choice Initiative

tion estimated at $300,000.

On the Student Choice Initiative, the provincial government’s plan to mandate an opt-out option for certain incidental fees, the union is collectively working on a list of ‘essential costs’ according to provincial guidelines highlighted by the initiative.

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Andy Takagi Associate News Editor

In preparation for the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) — the Ontario government’s mandate for an opt-out option for certain incidental fees starting in September — the university is turning to the ACORN Advisory Team to test user experience for what will become the online portal through which students will be able to opt out of incidental fees. The team is made up of 150 students who give input on ACORN applications.

The SCI is part of larger changes to postsecondary funding in Ontario, announced in January alongside a 10 per cent cut to domestic tuition and changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

In an email to Advisory Team members, the ACORN Experience & Process Design Team asked volunteers to attend one-on-one research sessions for feedback on “initial collection of [the team’s] design work.”

In a statement to The Varsity, U of T spokesperson Elizabeth Church wrote that the university is still in “very preliminary design tests” for the SCI online portal, awaiting final guidelines from the province.

The lack of clear and final guidelines from the province has been brought to the attention of Governing Council numerous times in board meetings, as the fall semester deadline to implement the system looms.

Church went on to say that the Office of the Vice-Provost Students has been meeting with all 45 student societies directly and reviewing the fees for student societies and student services.

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Hundreds attend third annual Pow Wow at UTSG Indigenous Studies Students’ Union celebration included food, dance, vendors

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union hosts UTSC’s first Indigenous conference and traditional Pow Wow “I’m really proud,” said UTSC Indigenous Elder Wendy Phillips

Jayra Almanzor UTSC Bureau Chief

The Pow Wow was held at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Silas Le Blanc Associate News Editor

The Indigenous Studies Students’ Union (ISSU) held its third annual Pow Wow at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on March 16. It was a stunning celebration of Indigenous cultures. The event was brought back in 2017 after a 20-year hiatus and featured food, vendors, and traditional dances that attendees were encouraged to join.

The event started with a Grand Entry, in which participants carried flags representing the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, as well as the flags of Canada, the United States, and U of T. This was followed by a march for military veterans, which any attending veterans were encouraged to participate in.

In an interview with The Varsity, fourth-year Indigenous Studies and Equity Studies student Chantell Jackson emphasized the importance of these celebratory events. “Every year it needs to be done because it just brings knowledge of Indigenous culture and community to a place like U of T, where you don’t often see a lot of diversity,” Jackson said. “It definitely draws on the positive parts of Indigenous culture and community, and I think that’s what not only U of T students but the community as a whole need to learn.”

Master of Ceremonies Bob Goulais stopped on two separate occasions to acknowledge the tragedy that occured in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, when 50 people were killed in shootings at two separate mosques in an apparent act of white supremacist terrorism.

Goulais said that the Indigenous community stands in solidarity with the Muslim community during this time of mourning.

Participating in Pow Wows is not something that Indigenous people were always able to do because of Canada’s settler-colonial system. In 1876, the Indian Act restricted participation in traditional Indigenous ceremonies and prevented Indigenous people from wearing traditional regalia.

In 1921, Indian Affairs Minister Duncan Campbell Scott banned dancing on reserves, and Pow Wows only gained resurgence in North America starting in the 1960s with Indigenous rights movements.

“It’s really important that we’re doing this, and covering all this music and dance,” Head Male Dancer and U of T professor Amos Key Jr. told The Varsity. “A lot of it just went underground; we didn’t do it publicly. That’s why I think it’s really important for us.”

“It’s healthy to move. It’s healthy for your heart and for your love of the heart; it’s all good,” Key told The Varsity. “I can’t imagine our people 100 years ago when we were dancing every night. That’s why they outlawed it, because the colonizers didn’t realize how important it was for health.”

The recent Indian Day School settlement was brought up toward the end of the event to recognize Indigenous victories. In this settlement from the federal government, survivors of federally-run schools, many of which were established in northern Canada, received up to $200,000 as reparation for the abuse and neglect they experienced.

Many of the attendees stressed the importance of these types of events in bringing awareness to Indigenous issues and bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

“I think these events are important because it shows that U of T cares about Indigenous students, and it shows Indigenous peoples that they can be a student here,” Head Female Dancer Myopin Cheechoo said in an interview with The Varsity.

ISSU Membership Support Coordinator Ziigwen Mixemong spoke to The Varsity about the value that Indigenous celebrations have to her and the community as a whole.

“To me, it’s just a place that I can really unapologetically [be] Indigenous at an institution such as U of T. A hundred years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to even walk on this campus, let alone be in full regalia and be at a Pow Wow… Being able to even just dance in it, even just organize it, is a tremendous honour that I have,” Mixemong said.

“I often think that people who come from mainstream society, who are settlers, often feel this tremendous amount of guilt over what has happened, and I always say that it’s not about the guilt. It’s about the fact that we have inherited this history, and what do we do with it now?”

The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) made history this year by hosting UTSC’s first-ever traditional Pow Wow and Indigenous conference, Indig-U-Know.

Stretching from March 9–10, the event brought students, staff, and faculty together to learn more about the Indigenous community through stories, knowledge, and wisdom.

The conference also featured panels, keynote lectures, and workshops.

A Pow Wow is an Indigenous celebration of culture through activities such as dancing, singing, eating, and buying and selling crafts.

Non-Indigenous people are also welcome to attend.

UTSC’s Pow Wow took place on March 10 in the newly-built Highland Hall Event Centre, where Indigenous adults and children gathered in their regalia, ranging from colourful and patterned attire, to those decorated with fur and feathers, or adorned with beads.

Booths lined the walls of the centre, selling crafts, trinkets, and garments. Spotted around the venue were also various pieces of luggage packed with regalia, as some of the participants had come from as far as Alberta.

In the middle of the room was the drum circle, where musicians sang and played a big drum to accompany dancers.

The first dance before the Grand Entry was the Grass Dance. According to the event’s Master of Ceremonies Bob Goulais, the Grass Dance “resembles the beautiful, flowing grass that grows on the Great Plains” and blesses the grounds to make them ready for the other dancers.

At 1:00 pm, the audience rose for the Grand Entry, when celebrants, dancers, and

dignitaries paraded and officially began the Pow Wow. Some members of the SCSU helped carry flags during the parade, including President Nicole Brayiannis, Vice-President Campus Life Ankit Bahl, and Vice-President Academics & University Affairs Ayaan Abdulle.

UTSC’s Indigenous Elder, Wendy Phillips, spoke at the podium. She acknowledged the SCSU and thanked them for their work with the Pow Wow, adding that she hoped this event could be another way to reconciliation.

“I would just like to say how proud I am of [the SCSU],” said Phillips. “It was [SCSU’s] vision of supporting Indigenous communities… and this was one of the events that the SCSU wished to do for our community. I’m really proud.”

Wisdom Tettey, Vice-President and Principal of UTSC, also addressed participants.

“On behalf of our university, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you,” said Tettey. “[This event hopes] to foster true reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples in our social structures.”

Following that, the Welcome Song was played by Young Spirit, a drum group made up of both Canadian and American members.

Earlier this year, Young Spirit performed a Cree round dance song on the Grammy Awards red carpet in Los Angeles.

SCSU representatives, Dean of Student Affairs Desmond Pouyat, and Tettey also joined the Welcome Song dance performance.

According to Head Dancer Chop Waindubence, “This isn’t a ceremony, this is celebrating life.”

Bahl and Abdulle also spoke on behalf of the SCSU. “Indig-U-Know represents the student union’s commitment to continue to honour the first people’s land,” said Bahl. “We hope to be able to continue this tradition as we continue to fight for access to education.”

Indig-U-Know was carried out by the SCSU with assistance from Phillips, Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff, faculty, students, and student disability groups.

Some SCSU executives helped carry flags during the parade, including President Nicole Brayiannis.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Business Indigenous employment at U of T

Examining Indigenous recruitment, supports, challenges Michael Teoh Business Editor

Just over two years ago, U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee released the “Wecheehetowin” report, which contained 34 calls to action that the university should undertake to engage in Canada’s ongoing process of reconciliation with Indigenous people. Eleven of these calls relate to Indigenous faculty and staff — including “significant” increases to recruitment, greater support networks, and increased community-based research. The report was presented to U of T President Meric Gertler and VicePresident & Provost Cheryl Regehr, who both spoke of the opportunity to work toward change. But now, some 26 months later, how much progress has been made to change the university’s Indigenous faculty and staff policies, and what does U of T still have planned?

Increasing Indigenous employee representation

Out of the 8,897 U of T employees surveyed, 74 self-identify as Indigenous, representing 0.83 per cent of workers. This is according to the 2017–2018 employment equity report, a summary of employee responses to a survey as of July 31, 2018. These 8,897 responses represent 81 per cent

March 18, 2019 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

of total eligible respondents. Of the 74 Indigenous employees represented, 56 are staff and 18 are faculty and librarians.

By contrast, Statistics Canada’s 2016 census reported that just under five per cent of Canadians self-identify as Indigenous.

Last year’s 2016–2017 employment equity report, the first after the release of “Wecheehetowin,” showed that there were 59 self-identified Indigenous employees — 49 staff and 10 faculty and librarians. In comparison to previous years’ employment equity reports, the 74 Indigenous employees currently at U of T is the highest number the university has reported since 2005, when 88 out of 6,720 employees self-identified as “Aboriginal Persons.”

One of the Steering Committee’s calls was for the university to make targeted funds available to increase Indigenous hires. The university subsequently dedicated a base $2.5 million of its 2017–2018 budget for hiring of 20 faculty and 20 staff positions. The fund covers 50 per cent of new hires’ starting salaries and benefits. According to the budget, the funds “will be held in a central pool until positions are filled, allowing for maximum flexibility in [which divisions] the hires are made.”

This funding commitment is also represented in the recent 2019–2020 budget through a $1.5 million allocation to the third phase of the Diversity in Academic Hiring fund. This allocation will support the hiring of 20 Black and Indigenous faculty; portions of the previous phases have provided funding to support hiring 20 Indigenous faculty and 20 Indigenous staff.

Part of the increase in self-reported Indigenous employees this year comes from 11 new hires, although four ended their U of T employment. In 2016– 2017, the university had seven new hires and six exits.

The Explainer: U of T’s Inventions Policy

How ownership, commercialization of inventions at U of T are determined Vaibhav Bhandari Varsity Staff

As a leading hub of research and innovation, U of T leverages its vast network of affiliations and collaborations to provide its researchers with a plethora of invention opportunities. U of T is associated with inventions such as the electron microscope, the pacemaker, and, perhaps most famously, the development of insulin for the treatment of diabetes.

So how does the university manage its inventions?

ensure that the revenue generated by its researchers’ inventions can support further research, the university outlines net revenue distribution based on revenue bands.

The Inventions Policy is administered by the Vice-President Research & Innovation — currently Vivek Goel — on behalf of Governing Council.

The policy defines what constitutes an invention and which parties are bound by the policy. It also clarifies what an inventor can expect from the university and what the university demands in return.

The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation Application of the policy With the university’s resources and talent base, the Innovations & Partnerships Office aims to provide resources for entrepreneurs to patent their inventions or commercialize their work in partnership with the university.

U of T prides itself in being able to help bring business solutions to market, boasting over 350 startup companies in its portfolio.

In order to achieve these goals and

According to the policy, an invention is defined as something that is “more than an idea, theorem or algorithm.” Inventions include physical or intellectual property, whether they are patentable or not.

Inventors bound by the policy are any student, staff, faculty, visitor, or academic appointee who has made an invention using university resources. The point emphasized is that their use of university resources in the creation of their work

Indigenous employment at other universities

While the latest available data from Ryerson University and York University are both less comprehensive than U of T’s data, they reveal that U of T has a greater number of Indigenous employees. Ryerson’s most recent report is from 2016, which states that one per cent of “close to 6,000 employees” self-identified as Indigenous. However, according to a 2017 Eyeopener article, the number may be as high as 90 Indigenous employees, five of whom are tenure-track faculty. At York, approximately one per cent of 3,980 employees self-identified as Indigenous — likely representing between 38 and 41 employees. OCAD University is collecting representation data but has not publicly released its findings.

Looking more broadly at U of T’s main competitors in Canada, McGill University reported in 2017

subjects them to the obligations of the policy. These resources include use of facilities owned by U of T, work performed in U of T facilities, work performed using software provided by the university, and work supported by grants or funds administered by the university.

No exceptions are listed,but for practical purposes, the use of common, publicly accessible spaces or communication services such as U of T emails and Wi-Fi may not be considered significant use of resources for the invention to fall under the policy.

Ownership of the invention

Upon invention, it is the researcher’s responsibility to disclose their invention to the office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. The disclosure allows the researcher and the university to address ownership if the need arises.

Under the policy’s rules, at the time of its creation, an invention is automatically co-owned by the inventor and the university. However, prior written arrangements agreed upon with a third party may supersede this rule.

An example of this is Huawei’s partnership with U of T, which has seen the telecommunications giant funnel at least $3.5 million to over a dozen research projects. In these cases, licensing rights are shared between Huawei and U of T. In addition, the university exclusively owns all rights to an invention if researchers were instructed to make said

that 22 of 4,830 employees, or 0.5 per cent, self-identified as “Aboriginal.”

The University of British Columbia reported in 2016 that 137 out of 9,596 employees, or 1.4 per cent, selfidentified as Indigenous.

Indigenous Elder support

Two of the calls to action regarding faculty and staff relate to increasing support of university Elders and the Elders Circle, which consists of Elders and traditional teachers. “Wecheehetowin” emphasizes “the importance of Elders in achieving reconciliation.” It adds that the four Elders at the university are “unsurprisingly ‘overextended in terms of their commitments’, leaving a significant amount of unmet need in terms of those wishing to benefit from the guidance offered by Elders.”

The report calls on the university to either hire these four Elders on a fulltime basis or to provide opportunities for

more Elders to become involved with the university in order to support students and employees. It also includes calls to increase allocated space for Indigenous activities. Part of this has been addressed with UTSC hiring Indigenous Engagement Coordinator Juanita Muise in August. Muise’s role is to engage with employees and students to connect with Indigenous programming and culture.

However, in conversation with The Varsity in November, Muise said that the space available to UTSC Indigenous Elder Wendy Phillips is insufficient.

She said, “They keep saying [that] in two years we’re going to have a First Nations House here, on this campus. We can’t wait two years. It’s not fair to our students that are here now. Everybody deserves to have a space.”

Read the rest of the story at var.st/ indigenousemployment

invention. The policy can also be superseded by agreements that the university has with third parties for whom the inventor also holds an appointment.

Commercialization and division of funds

Once it is disclosed, the inventor can choose one of two options related to the legal protection, commercialization, and commodification of the invention.

They can either offer the university sole ownership or take up these responsibilities themselves.

If the inventor offers the university commercialization responsibilities, they earn 60 per cent of the cumulative net revenue made from the invention. Once the invention passes a review process, the university may take up the task of patenting or attaining the copyright for the invention. The burden of commercialization is then accepted by the university — with the stipulation that the inventor can reclaim ownership if the university has not been deemed to have made reasonable efforts to commercialize the invention within two years.

Alternatively, inventors can take responsibility for legal protection and commercialization themselves.In this case,

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

they claim 75 per cent of the cumulative net revenue, with the university receiving the remaining amount.

The funds apportioned to the university are divided across four avenues based on the cumulative net revenue for the invention and commercialization process.

A portion is reserved for the inventor’s academic division and department. If commercialization is undertaken by the university, it receives 20 per cent of all net revenue as a management fee.

The remaining funds are directed to the Connaught Fund, the largest internal university funding program in Canada with an endowment of over $120 million.

By providing researchers funding to build on their work, the Connaught Fund aims to continue the cycle of research and innovation at U of T.

Editorial

March 18, 2019 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

To properly acknowledge Indigenous territory, go off script

Letters to the Editor

Re: Asking the real questions about intermittent fasting “Given the decently strong correlation between super high-stress academic environments, body-related selfesteem issues, overarching bad mental health, and dieting as a gateway to restrictive and disordered eating, maybe a student newspaper shouldn’t be posting stuff about how to best ‘shed the pounds’??”

— Tom Fraser (from web)

Speech must reflect intent, purpose, and a commitment to action

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

The Varsity Editorial Board

From U of T events to some NHL games, traditional land acknowledgements have become increasingly commonplace in Canadian public spaces. The purpose of such acknowledgements should be selfevident in the era of truth and reconciliation: for non-Indigenous settlers to recognize and honour the history of the land and the Indigenous people who have long resided on it.

U of T’s Governing Council officially adopted a Statement of Acknowledgement of Traditional Land in 2016 following consultation primarily with First Nations House, as well as with nonIndigenous members of the U of T community. The statement is intended for “specific university ceremonies,” but it is also open for use by U of T community members at all three campuses.

It reads: “I (we) wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.”

There is, however, an expanded version on the First Nations House website that is also used at some events. It adds that “this sacred land… Has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years” and “was the subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.”

This version is distinct in important ways: 15,000 years of human activity sharply contrasts with Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, and the recognition of the Dish with One Spoon treaty implicitly reminds residents of their obligation to take care of the land.

This expanded version should be used at university ceremonies and events.

Either way, the acknowledgement seeks to shift conversation and address Canada’s history prior to colonialism — for example, by using the decolonial term “Turtle Island” to describe North America — and importantly, the enduring presence of Indigenous people on this land today, not just in the past.

But the proliferation of land acknowledgements in the reconciliation era has also drawn criticism.

Ryerson University’s Advisor to the Dean Indigenous Education and Anishinaabe writer Hayden King helped produce Ryerson’s land acknowledgement in 2012, but expressed regret for doing so earlier this year in an interview with CBC News. He criticizes the acknowledgement for only superficially addressing important and real historical treaties like the Dish with One Spoon in a way that obscures their significant value.

Furthermore, the fact that Indigenous community members produce the script to be read by non-Indigenous speakers at events reveals a labour imbalance. Settlers avoid putting in the work when it comes to learning about the nations that live on and the treaties that continue to govern this land.

King also criticizes how “privileged spaces” give themselves invitation and permission to be on the territory through such acknowledgements. Indeed, at a privileged institution like U of T, to say “we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land” self-grants a legitimacy to settler presence.

This overlooks the unethical and non-consensual processes through which colonization occurs, such as in the case of the 1787 Toronto Purchase.

Perhaps acknowledgements should more explicitly describe the historical and existing power dynamics between settlers and Indigenous people on this land, as well as the obligation of settlers to redress it. However, acknowledgements are intended to be brief and are only a starting point for settlers

to engage with Canada’s history. If they are used by an audience as a placeholder for in-depth learning, then the acknowledgement is counterproductive and does not serve its purpose.

That is why the university must also invest in cultural competency and literacy in the form of curriculum changes. We need an oncampus community that is more informed of settler-Indigenous relations for the conversation sparked by land acknowledgements to be sustained and fulfilled.

Acknowledgements should also be problematized with regard to the speaker. The fact that a scripted statement is mechanically recited over and over again at various events at the university means that it risks turning into an empty, formulaic, and performative gesture. It is relegated to a checkmark in the scheduling of the event, rather than a foundational moment that grounds and shapes the conversation that is had. In order to be meaningful, it has to achieve some level of active reflection and personal intention.

Hence, King suggests that beyond acknowledging the land, the speaker should also describe what they intend to do about it. It is important that the land acknowledgement be partially self-written — personalized and catered to both the speaker and the audience.

We encourage the speaker to disclose their positionality and what the acknowledgement personally means to them. They should address how the land acknowledgement speaks to the event in question and also how the organizer of the event intends to better serve — in concrete terms — the Indigenous people and the land that they acknowledge.

This should apply to all events, including student-led ones, but especially for senior administrators at U of T, such as the president or provosts. They should describe how far the university has progressed with regard to reconciliation since the U of T Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee report was released in 2017, and what the university

is still committed to doing — for example, hiring Indigenous staff, creating physical campus spaces, and making curriculum changes.

As we argued in a previous editorial, “Reconciliation must mean action, not words.” The sharpening contradiction between reconciliation rhetoric and the federal government’s actions exposes Canada’s hypocrisy. Speech alone does not create change; concrete action does.

It is crucial to understand that land acknowledgements are not a part of reconciliation in and of itself. That is what Lee Maracle, a Sto:lo author who teaches oral traditions at U of T and helped create U of T’s official land acknowledgement, conveyed to the Toronto Star. “Reconciliation is economic equality, access to territory, all of those things that are in the 94 calls to action… No more taking our kids. Like stop right now. Take care of the missing and murdered women. Stop killing us.

None of those things have ended.”

However, land acknowledgements can serve to reshape discourse, culture, and language in a way that can commit speakers and impressionable listeners to take action toward systemic reconciliation. This is true for youth at university, and even more so for children across schools under the Toronto District School Board, where, since September 2016, land acknowledgements have been integrated into the morning announcements.

The next time you are at an event at U of T and the speaker recites the land acknowledgement, reflect on what the words mean to you and how you intend to do better for this land and the original nations of this land. And if you are a speaker, do what’s right: go off script.

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

Re: Before changing world politics, let’s change student politics “As both an alum of this program and Woodsworth college, I certainly relate to many of the issues raised in this article. I felt like an outsider during my 4 years of undergrad, and I had no interest getting involved because of that feeling. Hopefully this is a step forward in fixing the errant belief that IR is strictly a program for students at Trinity college.”

— Denna Jalili (from web) Re: “I went to a metal show and had the goddamn time of my life” “Ok but have you ever got a good night’s sleep since starting U of T? Thats what I’d consider ‘the goddamn time of my life.’”

— Nathaniel Lapp (from web) Re: U of T acknowledges criticism of late UTSG class cancellations at Governing Council meeting “‘Just stay at Roberts!’ [sic] Yes, very nice of you to offer us a space to stay in… but that’s not a solution. If the weather is bad enough campus should be closed. If people cannot leave campus, close it. If campus is not fully accessible, fix those issues - or close it.

Students should not be expected to risk their safety going back and forth from school to home to work, it’s unfair to expect us to hold the blame in these situations when many of the issues are clearly the fault of the university” — Lucas Granger (from web) Re: Hey UTSU, let’s abolish the nomination period “100 signatures seems exceedingly onerous for people without a ‘machine’ behind them” — Peter Huycke (from web) Re: Renaming Ryerson is a starting point for reconciliation “100 years from now, many of the political beliefs we now hold may be considered repugnant and bigoted. Rather than renaming buildings, why not leave them so that students can learn even those things they are 100% certain of many one day be considered the height of folly” — Stephen Trickett (from web) Re: SCSU board refuses to ratify newly-elected Vice-President Operations Rayyan Alibux “Why are these guys getting my money again” — Govind Mohan (from web) “I genuinely don’t understand how this is okay. He won fair and square, even if one disagrees with him… He was voted in democraticly [sic].”

— Rachel Landau (from web)

Comment

March 18, 2019 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Debunking Ford’s doublespeak

‘Free speech’ undermines free speech, ‘student choice’ undermines student choice Amelia Eaton Student Life Columnist

In recent years, the issue of free speech on university campuses has become increasingly contentious. U of T became part of the national conversation on free speech when Professor Jordan Peterson made headlines in 2016, and since then, numerous other conflicts have unfolded on campuses across the country.

For example, consider white nationalist Faith Goldy’s failed speaking event at Wilfrid Laurier University last year, which was supposed to be hosted by the Laurier Society for Open Inquiry. Or last week’s case of the University of British Columbia’s Free Speech Club invitation to anti-immigrant speakers Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern to speak, which was also cancelled.

The misapplication of free speech

Technically, free speech refers to the ability to speak freely without facing retribution from the state. But at universities, free speech groups misapply the concept as a test of campus tolerance for hateful views from controversial speakers they choose to invite, often under the guise of diversity of thought.

However, when students or institutions refuse to tolerate their speech, it is not an action of the government — and therefore not a free speech issue.

Students oppose the presence of such figures on campus because their words reflect hatred toward marginalized communities. For example, Southern and Goldy have espoused the white genocide conspiracy theory, which argues that phenomena like mass immigration and racial integration are meant to lead to the extinction of white people, and Molyneux subscribes to “scientific racism” in the form of attributing differences in intelligence to race.

As white nationalist violence rises, the consequences of giving platforms to such speakers have become all too evident: speech leads to action. But in each case, the organizers take the protests against their events as vindication that free speech is under attack and that they are being silenced and censored. They neither realize nor acknowledge that their rhetoric may cross into hate speech.

This dynamic has played out on campuses for years. But now, the groups that invite these figures to campus have the ear of Ontario’s premier, to the detriment of the rest of us students. A recent report by The Varsity shows just how central the issue is to the Progressive Conservative provincial government’s decisions.

Selective consultation

Last August, Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrilee Fullerton attended a free speech roundtable with the University of Ottawa Students for Free Speech (uOSFS), the University of Toronto Students in Support of Free Speech, and Students for Free Speech York University. The next day, the Ford government threatened that universities would have to implement free speech policies or face funding cuts.

The far more consequential outcome of the roundtable wasn’t announced until months later in January. The Student Choice Initiative (SCI), which will allow students to opt out of some non-tuition fees deemed ‘inessential,’ was apparently suggested by the uOSFS at the August roundtable.

Instead of consulting student unions, who are elected to represent thousands of other students, Ford chose to selectively consult a small group of fringe students on policies that determine the future and survival of all other groups on campus.

Michael Bueckert, a graduate student at Carleton University, claimed that Ford only consulted alt-right students in an article he posted on Medium. Bueckert points out that uOSFS Vice President Finance Michele Di Franco appeared on a show hosted by altright leader Gavin McInnes. McInnes is the founder of the Proud Boys, a militant, neofascist organization. While Di Franco may not hold the same views as McInnes, his appearance on the show is troubling.

It is also extremely concerning that U of T members of Students in Support of Free Speech (SSFS) have defended the Proud Boys, even though SSFS claims to be non-partisan.

When contacted by The Varsity, the SSFS did not say whether it felt the SCI would advance or retreat free speech, saying it is “irrelevant to the mission of [the] club.”

In an act of extreme irony, Di Franco is now suing Bueckert for what he claims are defamatory statements in the Medium post, as well as in a series of tweets made by Bueckert. Di Franco is asking for $150,000 in damages and a permanent injunction preventing Bueckert from disseminating defamatory material about him. If free speech groups choose to associate themselves with controversial figures, they should be open to criticism. Legal action not only curtails Bueckert’s free expression, but instils fear that forces others into silence.

Targeting the student voice

The University of Toronto Campus Conservatives President Matthew Campbell has said that an opt-out option has been a talking point for young conservatives for the last five to eight years. Louis Vart, who spoke with me on behalf of the group, says that students are best at managing their money, not the university.

Vart went further by adding that the policy will give transparency to student groups, which he feels they are lacking in at UTSG, mentioning the referendum to defund the Ontario Interest Research Group (OPIRG), a left-leaning research group, last year. A campus conservative group at Carleton has also pointed to defunding OPIRG as a reason to support the SCI. The apparent intention of the policy, to defund left-leaning campus groups and student unions, was made abundantly clear when Doug Ford referred to the “crazy marxist nonsense” students “get up to” in an email meant to solicit donations. As Bueckert writes, “it is evident that the real motivation for this policy is not to save students money, but to crush the conservatives’ political opponents.”

But whether or not the conservatives like it, students have already decided that they value these organizations, as attempts to defund OPIRGs at multiple campuses in Ontario have failed.

While the policy is ostensibly about freedom and choice, in reality, students are left with fewer options than before. The actions of a few corrupt student leaders should not be reason to tear down the structure of student democracy entirely. Student unions give students a seat at the table, both within the university administration and at various levels of government. Similar to labour unions, everyone reaps the benefits of the advocacy that student unions do, so it only makes sense that everyone should pay into them.

Students should not be fooled. This policy is not an effort to expand our choice but an

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

attempt to weaken our power. Without strong student unions, our ability to organize and voice our concerns to the Ontario government is completely undercut. When we understand free speech as having a voice without retribution from the state, then it is ironically the government’s opt-out initiative that undermines free speech.

All students lose

While the targets of the policy may be leftleaning groups and unions, the effects spill over to all student groups, eroding established campus life and community comprised of clubs, intramurals, and services such as food banks and crisis centres. Moreover, free speech is further put in jeopardy as student media in Ontario now face an existential threat. The future of campus publications like The Varsity, which give students a voice and promotes important dialogue and debate, remains uncertain under the policy.

An independent student press is necessary to ensure the accountability and transparency of other groups. While Ford has touted the Ryerson Student Union’s recent corruption scandal as evidence that students should be able to opt out of incidental fees, we shouldn’t forget that the story was broken by The Eyeopener, Ryerson University’s student paper, which also relies on a levy to exist.

Similarly, the uOSFS has pointed to allegations of fraud on the part of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) executives as a motivation for their support of the SCI, but, again, the original reporting that exposed the fraudulent practices came from student papers, The Fulcrum and La Rotonde.

Levies from all students are what give campus newspapers the freedom and ability to do this important reporting. Not only do they hold campus groups to account, they also keep the universities they are affiliated with in check. Universities which can, in the case of U of T, have billion dollar endowments and receive millions in taxpayer dollars.

The disguise of free speech

Defunding student groups in the name of free speech is clearly oxymoronic — but the premier is hardly the first person to try and change the political leanings of university campuses under the guise of free speech. For years, conservative groups have used the promotion of free speech as a guise to push their political agendas on university campuses.

Each year, the Calgary-based Justice Centre

for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) releases a Campus Freedom Index, where it issues letter grades to Canadian universities based on the policies and actions of their administrations and student unions. In 2018, it gave U of T a “B” on its policies and a “D” on its practices, citing mandatory anti-discrimination training for Human Resources & Equity staff following a list of supposed infractions.

If you look into the JCCF, you will find that the group is not purely concerned with free speech. Its chief concern is promoting socially conservative causes, including opposition to abortion. If there is an ideological war to claim university campuses, conservatives have clearly lost. Now, they pour dark money into causes to change that.

The truth is, conservative views, provided they are not hateful or inciting violence, are not silenced — they are simply unpopular on campus. For example, despite the fact that The Varsity has regular conservative contributions, conservative writers have asked for anonymity at The Varsity because they fear backlash against their views.

John Carpay, the President of the JCCF, is a member of the United Conservative Party, and in a recent legal filing, the group called high school gay-straight alliances “ideological sexual clubs.” Yet the lobby group postures as non-partisan, promoting its Campus Freedom Index in mainstream papers like National Post, all while claiming that free speech is currently under attack on university campuses.

Who is really under attack?

Facing these powerful outside forces attempting to change our campuses, what we need is a strong coalition of students advocating against the SCI across the province. If groups genuinely care about free speech, they will take a stance against this policy. The true attack on free speech is not coming from protest or backlash to controversial speakers, but rather from the provincial government attempting to silence political dissent by undermining student democracy.

We as students should be less preoccupied with inviting Rebel Media personalities to campus, and more worried about our ability to express ourselves, organize, and hold other groups accountable through the free press — all of which is actually under attack.

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

10 | THE VARSITY | COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

The news world needs another Peter Mansbridge

U of T’s new archive on the former CBC anchor reflects a time before the age of distrust

The individual must commit to reconciliation

On the importance of cultural competency and the Indigenous value of connectedness

Oscar Starschild Varsity Staff

A young Peter Mansbridge (right).

GARY SEALEY/CC WIKIMEDIA

Emily Hurmizi Varsity Staff

On the night of July 1, 2017, Canada’s 150th birthday, Peter Mansbridge appeared for the final time as Chief Correspondent for CBC News and Lead Anchor of The National. He charmingly signed off, “That’s The National for this Friday night. From CBC News, I’m Peter Mansbridge.

Thanks for watching.”

It must have been strange for him. His almost three-decade-long dedication to sharing the news nightly with his country and 50 years with the CBC ended with the blink of a fireworks show on Parliament Hill. It was certainly strange for me, having never known a world without Mansbridge, though never truly recognizing his relevance to Canadian culture.

We Canadians are not overtly prideful. There are very few people that we may point to and say, “That person represents Canada.” But I think Mansbridge falls into that category — or at the very least, he should be a contender. Now that U of T Libraries’ Media Commons has archived material from his long CBC career, his importance as a journalist is cemented in our history for all to see.

Once described by The Globe and Mail as one of “Canada’s best-known celebrities,” Mansbridge narrated numerous major moments in Canadian and world history from 1988–2017 in his cool and calm voice. Some stories were of grief, such as the September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, and others of triumph, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall. However, no matter what was being said, Mansbridge stood as a point of convergence between uncontrollable world forces and Canadians.

Canadians had faith in Mansbridge — faith because he was an upright citizen who had other Canadians in mind. Importantly, with his archives, U of T has received a memory of life before what now is dubbed the post-truth era. Newer generations will not have the kinds of experiences as those before them did with Mansbridge.

Fake news, the politicization and monopolization of broadcasting, the delegitimizing of truth, attacks on freedom of the press — these are what U of T students from my generation know. These are the realities of a social environment that is spoiling trust between news sources and the people.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 2019 is the year of “Trust at Work” because the mass population is repairing its relationship with its social institutions. However, 57 per cent of the general Canadian population continues to distrust

the media. While this number is generally lower than that in other social institutions, it’s especially worrying when paired with the rise to 71 per cent of Canadians who are worried about the use of fake news as a weapon, and the only 43 per cent of Canadians who consider journalism as a credible source for information.

We are afraid, perhaps rightly so, that lies are seeping into the news cycle. And from this comes an uncertainty in media outlets themselves. Readers cannot and will not unconditionally accept information anymore, no matter the political leanings of the news source.

“You cannot be post-truth,” explains retired Cambridge University philosophy professor Simon Blackburn. History is characterized by deception and manipulation, and society holds everyday truths no less important than before.

“What we do have, though, is a problem in other domains, like politics and religion and ethics.

There is a loss of authority in these areas, meaning there’s no certain or agreed-upon way of getting at the truth.”

We have passed the era of trust in journalism, of an unthinking acceptance of facts and an unquestioning belief in sources, of readers not needing to refine the onslaught of constant information and not having to be the journalists themselves.

Mansbridge’s exit may be the final blow for Canadians. It was a trumpet calling the ‘era of trust’ to an end. Over a year into the Trump administration, with ‘fake news’ thrown disparagingly at journalists and political meddling emerging through social media, we have lost a faith in news coverage. Today, many call to defund the CBC. Nowadays, I think we would all enjoy a little more stability and integrity in our lives. Canada needs another Mansbridge — a trusted figure who may arrive in our living rooms in one generation and stay with us for generations to come.

And Canadians would readily accept one, especially on The National, as watchers are actively disengaging from the program because, as television critic John Doyle puts it, “The hour of news is confusing and [viewers] don’t feel they’re getting a definitive, authentic roundup of the important news of the day.”

For now, I propose to any fellow U of T students going through an existential crisis over the age of distrust to follow my lead. Go to the Media Commons, pull up Mansbridge’s archives, and try to relive any year before 2017. I’m sure it was interesting.

Emily Hurmizi is a first-year Humanities student at Victoria College.

What reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples might look like on campus, and how it might be achieved, is no settled question. Last fall, for example, a Varsity editorial demanded that U of T move past words and conversation and “implement tangible changes” to make good on the university’s commitment to reconciliation.

Earlier this year, the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council proposed to change the names of a residence building and Vic One stream named after Egerton Ryerson, who helped design the residential school system. Debate ensued about whether such a proposal was a first step toward meaningful reconciliation, a merely symbolic gesture, or an erasure of a dark history that we ought not to forget.

Whatever the case, it would be naïve to think that true reconciliation is just a matter of time. It is also insincere to put the onus of reconciliation onto governments — even student governments — as others have suggested.

Amid all this debate, my view as a first-generation Canadian is that our attitude toward reconciliation should be inspired by the adage “be the change that you want to see in the world.” As individuals, we can and must be proactive and take the initiative to listen, learn, and understand the issues still confounding Canadian identity and society.

The sustained and pervasive societal ignorance toward Indigenous cultures and history remains one of the biggest challenges facing Canada’s attempt at reconciliation. It is what inspired John Croutch from U of T’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives to begin delivering day-long cultural competency training workshops to the university community.

In an interview with U of T News, Croutch noted that the purpose of the initiative is for each one of us to learn the truth about settler-Canada’s relationship to its Indigenous populations. In doing so, it hopes to reshape attitudes and institutions that continue to marginalize them. Opening ourselves to a diversity of perspectives, as any Torontonian knows, only enriches us as a society.

Croutch was alarmed by people’s limited understanding of Indigenous communities. In another interview with U of T’s Office of Indigenous Medical Education, he shared his experience with medical and health care professionals to show how this ignorance extends to even the so-called educated and skilled workers of society.

For this reason, it is important that the university support, encourage, and promote such cultural competency trainings.

They are freely available to all members of the U of T community and can accommodate student groups. Through such training, individuals can take a proactive approach

to learning about, listening to, and understanding Indigenous communities.

I can relate to this approach because of a personal experience that helped me appreciate just how delicate the issue of reconciliation is. Last summer, I had the privilege to attend a Master Naturalist course offered by Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. I learned about plants, insects, geology, ecology, and the natural history of Northern Ontario.

At the end of the course, representatives of the Fort Williams First Nation shared their perspectives and knowledge about these issues. Interested in learning from other cultures, I asked them to share something from their culture, which, if everyone were to learn, would help to make the world a better place.

They gave me an answer that I had never heard before: the importance of connections. They explained that Indigenous cultures are deeply connected and rooted to this land. For example, when you see a mining operation, it should not only be understood as a consumption of natural resources that may serve our materialistic needs, but as a severance of Indigenous peoples’ cultural connection with the land.

Upon completion of the course, our instructor, Bob Bowles, gave us a parting gift: a reusable straw to replace the single-use plastic straws that pollute the environment. I realize now that understanding the environment through the lens of connections is crucial. We all depend on each other and the land. Our survival, as people affected by environmental changes, is connected to the survival of Indigenous peoples and cultures.

For reconciliation on the individual level, whether as new or long-time Canadians, we should honour and recognize the thousands of years that this land has supported human life and cultural flourishing. Indigenous cultures are not just another piece of the greater mosaic of Canadian society and identity. Rather, they are more importantly the glue that connects all the other pieces to this land underneath our feet and from which we subsist. Canada will only truly flourish when we recognize this connection.

Oscar Starschild is a second-year Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer Science student at Woodsworth College.

TESS KING/THE VARSITY

MARCH 18, 2019 | 11

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Onward to a “Disability Justice Revolution”

Reviewing Sarah Jama’s timely Hart House Hancock Lecture Meera Ulysses Current Affairs Columnist

On March 14, U of T community members eagerly attended the annual Hancock Lecture at Hart House’s Great Hall to listen to Black disability activist Sarah Jama, whose talk was entitled “Moving Toward a Disability Justice Revolution.” The event was originally scheduled in February, during Black History Month, but was delayed due to severe weather conditions.

Jama is a Hamilton-based community organizer and a co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO), an organization that seeks to “[create] a world where people with disabilities are free to be.” The DJNO does advocacy work, runs workshops and focus groups, and reports on various relevant policies and legislation. They seek nothing less than complete personal and political self-determination for people with disabilities in Ontario.

Jama was commanding and dynamic as she spoke forcefully to the room, pulling no punches and refusing to sugarcoat her language. She condemned the various superseding structures that have made life untenable for so many people with disabilities, including the role of specific antidisability politicians, like Premier Doug Ford.

Part of what was so powerful about Jama’s speech was her ability to paint a holistic picture of the state of things that produce marginalization. “At the end of the day, all of the struggles that we care about are intertwined,” she insisted.

Jama tied capitalism with ableism by asserting that it is the former’s unnuanced focus on productivity and individualism that devalues the lives of disabled people. She linked the legacy of colonialism with ableism by explaining how the enslavement of Africans constructed them as disabled in order to excuse their subjugation and to pathologize their desire for freedom.

But just as these legacies of domination are interconnected, so too must the work of resisting them be intertwined. Jama stressed the importance of building coalitions between seemingly disparate aims. “These conversations [are] tied back to the root cause of people not being able to create spaces or have their voices heard, and that matters to people [of all stripes],” she asserted.

All activism, whether it be for anti-racism, LGBTQ+ rights, or disability justice, is grounded in the desire of these communities to be able to exist freely and unapologetically in a society that actively works to marginalize and silence them.

Jama acknowledged that, as students, we have an unprecedented level of freedom afforded to us, and with it, the ability to make connections with others, get involved in social issues, and do activist work. She advised that on the campus level, we should start by learning about and involving ourselves with spaces that we don’t normally occupy.

It is important to make ourselves uncomfortable and to ask questions.

In these ways, we can disrupt normalcy and learn to work with each other. As students, our aim is to not only learn about the world, but to engage in bettering it. This involves disrupting our perspectives and learning about disparate experiences and ways of being.

The systems that are in place have been made and maintained through human effort and are not timeless or impervious. They can therefore be dismantled through human effort.

Jama’s words are timely. We live in a time when governments worldwide are issuing austerity measures. Politics are increasingly divisive and many of us are becoming cynical and disenfranchised. In Ontario, the government’s attacks on the Ontario Student Assistance Program, public health care, Ontario Works, and the Ontario Disability Support Program, as well as the termination of the Basic Income Pilot, are all part of a larger project to undermine the lives of the province’s most marginalized people.

In this burning world, a lot of activism tends to be centred around rage and anger. This is a valid reaction, but approaching social issues from a place of cynicism only has so much potential for growth.

“Figuring out how to organize from a place of love,” insisted Jama, is the crucial first step.

Indeed, we must love those around us — especially if we don’t understand their experiences. Only from this place can we move toward a revolution. As Jama noted, the institutions and structures that oppress and silence us desire us to be divided and pitted against each other, because they know that if unified, we will become a dangerous force.

The Hancock Lecture closed with moderator Loren Delaney reciting a poem with the line, “Underneath this skin, bone, and blood is you, me, us, and them, dressed as others.” To seek justice and move toward a revolution, we need to acknowledge our commonalities and learn to depend on each other, while resisting the superseding structures that seek to divide us to navigate activism and the world from a place of love.

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

THEO ARBEZ/THE VARSITY

The oundless value of U of T memes How a Facebook group fosters community and satire for thousands of students Archie Burton Smith Varsity Contributor

U of T meme groups on social media have become incredibly popular outlets for those who want to laugh and relax in an otherwise academically challenging univerrsity environment. Students make memes about a variety of U of T topics on a daily basis, whether it be the architecture of Robarts Library or biting satire that criticizes unpopular decisions made by the administration.

Moreover, memes might just be the solution for the alienation that students often feel at such a large campus, bringing us together as a community that actively engages with university affairs. Indeed, It seems that every time something noteworthy occurs on campus, memes about it are sure to follow.

To learn more about the impact of these groups on student life, I spoke to some of the admins of one of U of T’s most popular Facebook meme groups, UofT memes for true lue teens. The group now has over 13,000 members and provides a constant stream of original content from U of T students.

This popularity is likely due to some of the different events the group has hosted, the first of which was the the true lue bracket, which pitted colleges and faculties against each other through a democratic student vote. This popularity is likely to continue with plans for a library bracket in place.

On the college ranking bracket, admin Arjun Kaul notes that “it brought the campus together in a very… low stakes environment.” More than 7,000 people from all colleges voted in some of the most heated rounds. There were more votes in some rounds of the meme bracket than in some categories of the University of Toronto Students’ Union election last year.

While it did pit colleges and faculties against each other, the group’s admins do not think there was any real animosity. Admin Padraic Berting describes the bracket as a way for “both people who really liked frosh and people who didn’t really care about frosh to all get unified in [an] event and have some type of… collegiate battling fun.”

The goal of the bracket was to get students involved and to enjoy themselves, and it was quite successful in doing so.

One topic on the minds of all the admins

was U of T President Meric Gertler’s illadvised decision not to divest the university’s investments from fossil fuel industries. This has become a popular meme in the group and highlights how members use comedy to communicate important messages. “We like that it amplifies the signal of certain things that wouldn’t be received,” says Kaul.

“I don’t think many people would know that we haven’t divested yet if not for memes.”

That amplification seems to be working.

Issues like U of T’s mental health services or apparent callousness toward student safety during extreme weather are brought to the forefront of student discourse through memes. Admin Tristan Bannerman explains that “if people use the group to make a fun meme about how we need to divest… or how U of T admin is saying wack shit constantly, if we make fun of that, that’s fun. And that’s good.” With such a large audience, true lue memes has become a place of student discourse and deliberation about important issues. To many, true lue is a source of U of T news, with weather alert and building closure memes often informing students of issues faster than U of T itself.

The admins believe that memes are not going anywhere because there is just so much content to be made. They credit that to the versatility of the medium and how almost anything can be made into a meme.

Moderator Shervin Shojaei notes, “Any template can be used, any form of humour.”

That seems to be the beauty of memes and the key to their popularity. There is no limit to potential content, and no matter what, you will be able to find a group that fits your interests.

Memes are often looked at as simple jokes that people enjoy in their day-today lives. But if this year at U of T has proven anything, the creation and sharing of memes can be much more than just a laugh that amuses viewers. It can help to form a community and spread important commentary. If I learned anything from talking to the admins of this group, it is that there is a lot of potential for good in these snippets of internet humour, and I am excited to see where things go next.

Archie Burton Smith is a second-year Cinema Studies student at Victoria College.

SCREENSHOT VIA FACEBOOK

12 | THE VARSITY | NEWS

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Sharon Ma

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Adam A. Lam Associate News Editor

Kathryn Mannie & Andy Takagi Varsity Staff

Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

Andy Takagi Associate News Edito

Joshua Bowman is a fourth-year Indigenous Studies and Political Science student running for President of the UTSU. Bowman is the current UTSU Social Sciences Director. As president, he would seek to lower barriers for students to get involved with the UTSU. Bowman believes that his experiences on the executive of the Indigenous Studies Students’ Union and the Arts & Science Students’ Union have qualified him for the position, saying that these roles have prepared him to be resilient and willing to shoulder a large workload to succeed.

He also cited his experience with Fight for $15 and Fairness, a group that advocates for a provincial $15 minimum wage. He said that being a low-income student working a minimum-wage job has helped with his work on the UTSU’s Student Aid Committee, which provides financial aid to students.

His overarching priority is “to give students something that they can believe in.”

He believes that it is the responsibility of the UTSU to ensure that students feel represented by the union. This involves the union doing the legwork to directly approach and build relationships with student societies, clubs, and equity-seeking organizations.

He also aims to encourage first-year involvement in the union by creating a firstyear council. The council would research what first years are experiencing and report its findings to the Board of Directors.

Bowman said that the UTSU has been doing “extremely poorly” when it comes to deciding when “to stay silent on issues.”

He criticized the union’s decision to stay “comparatively silent” on the universitymandated leave of absence policy, which can force students to halt their studies if their mental health is deemed to place themselves or others in physical danger.

Bowman added that he would also hold executives accountable for submitting activity reports on time, which has been a problem this year.

Bryan Liceralde is a third-year Political Science student running to be the President of the UTSU. Liceralde, a Rotary Club member, also ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governing Council this year.

When asked why he was running for the position, Liceralde said that he hopes to “improve student lives” and leave a “political legacy where [he has] changed the lives of hundreds of students.” Calling his own ideas “visionary,” the presidential candidate said that he is running in order to win the Rhodes Scholarship.

Citing his Governing Council campaign, Liceralde said that because he was able to engage 116 people to vote for him, he should be able to engage a wider audience in his run for UTSU President.

He also noted that his experiences with the Rotary Club have helped to prepare him for the role. However, he declined to comment on the specific duties he fulfilled for the club, deferring to other members to speak on his role.

As part of his vision for the UTSU, Liceralde hopes to make the university more competitive internationally and improve the lives of students. He proposed holding a referendum on the breadth requirement for Arts & Science students, saying that it is “stagnating students’ academic success.”

In addition, he wants to review the controversial university-mandated leave of absence policy, lobby for a free tri-campus shuttle service and free Metrolinx services for students, and start a full-ride scholarship using 80 per cent of his salary as president — with approval from the Board of Directors.

“I hope that [U of T] President [Meric] Gertler, or whoever else succeeds him, continues on this [scholarship] legacy,” adding that “money, it’s just a secondary thing.”

When asked what the UTSU’s top priority should be, Liceralde restated his commitments to student advocacy and academic excellence on campus.

Liceralde also criticized Premier Doug Ford for his “reprehensible” changes to all levels of education and encouraged Gertler to invite Ford to a town hall in Convocation Hall.

Christopher Chiasson is a fourth-year Political Science student at Innis College running for Vice-President University Affairs. He is a first-time candidate in the UTSU elections, with previous campus experience including serving as the Director of Operations for the University of Toronto Model United Nations.

As a candidate for VP University Affairs, Chiasson envisions the UTSU resolving universal issues including with a transparent campus closure policy during inclement weather.

He also cited access to quality toilet paper, extended breaks between classes, and a revised course cancellation policy as three major policies for which the union should lobby the university administration and faculties.

Chiasson said that the quality of toilet paper could affect a student’s perception of their student union, influencing their decision to opt out from incidental fees.

“Every single time someone goes to the washroom and sees that cashmere-like twoply, they’re going to feel that and think, ‘wow, UTSU is looking out for me.’”

When advocating for expanded breaks between classes, Chiasson noted that walking from one end of campus to another can take much longer than 10 minutes. “I’d love to see Meric Gertler attempt to make it from Bader to Sid Smith in 10 minutes. It just can’t be done.”

He further explained that other schools have better policies in place regarding course cancellation, giving the option to credit/no credit a course until the end of the semester.

Chiasson believes that autonomous student bodies can get much done while establishing a healthy relationship with the administration.

When reflecting on the UTSU’s past year, Chiasson commended the efforts made toward diversity and inclusion, specifically focusing on the accessibility of campus spaces and events.

Looking toward the uncertainty of student funding under the Student Choice Initiative — the provincial government’s plan to mandate an opt-out option for certain incidental fees — he also said that the UTSU should do more to advertise its services in order to retain student support.

Sharon Ma is a fifth-year New College student in Fundamental Genetics and its Applications, Biology, and Music History and Culture running for VicePresident University Affairs. She has served as a New College Director for two years.

If elected, Ma wants to address current university policies such as campus closures and the credit/no credit (CR/ NCR) system. She would also lobby for student groups, specifically international students, affected by provincial tuition cuts.

Ma said that the university lacks a responsible campus closure policy, commenting on its inability to cancel classes and inform students in a timely fashion.

She added that the safety of students is put at risk when campus doesn’t close, and that they are especially disadvantaged when closures are announced late in the day.

“I just want to work with admin to create a fair and responsible snow day policy so students don’t get hurt,” she said.

On the topic of revising the CR/NCR policy, Ma wants to extend the deadline to the last day of classes from the current mid-semester deadline. This system is currently in place at UTM. Speaking on the impending issue of provincial tuition cuts, Ma said that she wants to advocate for international students so that they are not at risk of a tuition hike to make up for the university’s loss of revenue. She plans to lobby university administration and faculties to lower, if not freeze, international tuition fees.

When addressing the Policy on Open, Accessible and Democratic Autonomous Student Organizations, Ma acknowledged that although she is not very well-versed in the policy, she supports students’ ability to decide and advocate for themselves, as long as the university does not support hate groups.

Reflecting on the past year at the UTSU, Ma said that the union needs to improve campus engagement, with simple improvements such as updating the website and encouraging student groups to collaborate on events.

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— With files from Blythe Hunter and Josie Kao Read the rest online at thevarsity.ca/utsu2019

Read the rest online at thevarsity.ca/utsu2019

— With files from Adam A. Lam and Silas Le Blanc

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Silas Le Blanc Associate News Editor

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Jack O. Denton Editor-in-Chief

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Ramtin Taramsari is a first-year Life Sciences student hoping to study Bioethics and Physiology. She is running for Vice-President University Affairs.

Taramsari is also a voting member on the Arts & Science Council.

When asked about what made her run, Taramsari cited her past high school leadership experience and introduction to the UTSU as a first-year student.

“Ever since I joined my high school student council, I developed a passion… for just being a part of my education outside of just solely academics. I always liked the idea of helping run the student life portion of things,” she said.

Taramsari is running on a platform of financial transparency and wants to ensure that students are aware of what their fees cover.

“My platform revolves a lot around making sure that the UTSU is shown in its best light. I know that stereotypically people don’t have the best perception of the UTSU, and I think a lot of that sprouts from the lack of financial transparency because a lot of people don’t really understand where the money they’re using actually goes to,” she said.

Taramsari also added that by creating better transparency between the UTSU and the student body, she hopes to build more trust in the student union.

Taramsari emphasized the importance of building trust between university administration, student unions, and the students. “I think that one thing definitely to focus on would be to make sure that students do feel like we’re here for them. And in light of that, like I said, things like the financial transparency really help [that] because I think that a lot of it spouts from mistrust.”

Taramsari also plans on lobbying the administration to create more genderneutral bathrooms. “I’ve noticed that [at] other universities and other campuses that I visit, there’s a lot more focus on gender-neutral washrooms. I know that we do have a few on campus, but I do find it odd that in this day and age we don’t have more of them and they’re not more readily available than they are,” she said.

Lucas Granger is a third-year History and Urban Studies student running for VicePresident External Affairs of the UTSU. He is currently the Innis College Director on the UTSU’s Board of Directors.

Granger said that he plans to work with other student groups on campus against the Ford government’s changes to postsecondary funding, including the Student Choice Initiative, which will allow students to opt out of certain, non-essential incidental fees.

“We need somebody who knows how to collaborate, rather than just pretend [the] UTSU is a central, sole existence on campus,” he said.

Granger said that he strongly advocates for the UTSU to leave the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), a contentious national organization of student unions that some unions across Canada have attempted to leave in the past few years.

“I have firmly believed [in leaving the CFS] since I’ve been here,” he said. “When I moved into Innis Residence in my first year, I was living with people who were in the You Decide campaign, and that really shaped how I viewed the UTSU.” Granger also hopes to start a “rent smart” campaign for tenants’ rights in Toronto, citing his personal experience having difficulty finding an affordable place. “It’s bad, and people should know their legal rights… what signs of neglect are in rental buildings, and we should put that in one document that we can access on our documents page.”

On transit, Granger wants to expand the TTC’s student discount to include postsecondary students. He also believes that students at UTSG should be given subsidized access to the UTM shuttle. Currently, UTM students ride the shuttle for free, but UTSG students do not.

In advance of the federal election in the fall, Granger wants to start a campaign to let students know how to vote and where to access information on platforms, ideas, and candidates.

Spencer Robertson is a third-year Urban Studies student running for Vice-President External Affairs. He is the founder and president of the University of Toronto Tabletop Gaming Club and ran unsuccessfully for Vice-President Campus Life of the UTSU last year.

While Robertson admitted that his experience is rooted in club matters and student life — he has sat on the UTSU’s Clubs Committee as a community member since June — he said that his “talent would actually be put to better use lobbying the government.”

His vision for the union centres on it serving its members, practicing financial discipline, and making a strong case for continued support in the face of the provincial government’s Student Choice Initiative (SCI). “[The union has] to show to students that they’re worth not opting out of,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

As part of an effort to increase affordability for all students, Robertson said that he will push for unique transit benefits for commuters, such as a U-Pass-style initiative, and work to increase access to affordable housing for students who live both on and off campus.

He is also committed to advocating for more regulations on deregulated and international student tuition fees, and he wants to lead the UTSU out of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) due to what he sees as issues with transparency and good governance.

Robertson called the relationship between the UTSU and the CFS a ‘Faustian contract,’ more commonly called a deal with the devil.

“Having played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons for a number of years, I’m familiar with Faustian contracts,” he said. “It’s never a good idea. Autonomy is obviously a beneficial thing we should have.”

On the SCI, Robertson will focus on protecting union services as well as students’ access to adequate financial aid through the Ontario Student Assistance Program. While he noted that the 10 per cent domestic tuition cut is helpful, he believes it does little to address broader issues with the financial accessibility of postsecondary education.

“I think we’re in a situation now on the provincial and municipal levels where we need a lot of that advocacy to happen,” Robertson said.

“And I feel that I would be the most capable candidate to do that.”

Hanya Wahdan is a second-year Engineering Science student running for Vice-President Equity. Wahdan has little experience in student politics so far and is running uncontested.

Wahdan wants to create a more open and inclusive environment at the university by opening “dialogue between different people.”

“That is something I want to try and introduce here, to open the dialogue about more controversial topics and not just hide away from them because I know there will be disagreements,” she continued.

“And finally, make it a more inclusive environment for everyone, not just the majority or the people who live here or the people who look a certain way.”

Wahdan went on to say that, though she feels like part of the minority at the university, if she and other marginalized students fight for representation, they can be included as well.

When asked what she could do to make the UTSU more equitable, Wahdan said that there is no “major part” that goes against her values or where she feels the UTSU is “acting inequitably” — but also expressed the disconnect she felt with the UTSU, hoping to work on “small areas” if elected.

— With files from Adam A. Lam and Andy Takagi

— With f iles from Adam A. Lam

PHOTOS: SHANNA HUNTER

Arts & Culture

March 18, 2019 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Do it for the finsta

On March 13, there was a worldwide server incident that caused Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp to crash.

Everything’s better in moderation — even Instagram Ted Fraser Varsity Staff

The earth stood still. I was empty, sore, and very hungover. It was the day after my 19th birthday, and my grandmother was lecturing the hell out of me. “It’s a question of moderation, dear. Moderation.”

My ol’ Nan was right. I’d gone overboard and I’d paid for it dearly.

Although I’ve always backed the whole ‘everything in moderation’ attitude, ever since that traumatic tongue-lashing I’ve really tried my best to keep to it.

I started by applying this motto to social media, but it didn’t exactly go according to plan. I relapsed and wasted tons of time.

This sort of pitiful failure is unsurprising if you ask Tristan Harris, ex-Google employee and current design ethicist.

In an interview with WIRED, Harris said that the “the [tech] industry uses design techniques to keep people hooked to the screen for as long and as frequently as possible. Not because they’re evil but because of this arms race for attention.”

Sitting on the other side of the screen, Harris said, are very smart and cheeky Silicon Valley types, whose “techniques are only going to get more and more perfect over time.”

“There’s a whole system that’s much more powerful than us, and it’s only going to get stronger,” he warned.

According to a 1,500-person survey report from the Royal Society for Public

Health, Instagram is one of the most addictive social media platforms.

The big red hearts, easy scrolling, and multi-layered editing make it irresistible to our insecure, impulsive brains.

The worst part about Instagram is what Nate Ware calls the “expectation gap.” Instagram showcases fantasy and passes it off as reality. Photos are always fun and edgy, happy and friendful.

Life is far from that — it’s rough, volatile, and strange. But that triad doesn’t exactly bring in the ‘likes.’

That’s what the ‘finsta’ is for. These friends-only accounts are for broadcasting legitimately funny, authentic, self-deprecating things — certainly not for the public to see.

However, it seems like the ‘finsta’ is still an all-too real representation of how superficial we are. But is it really that surprising?

Outside of social media, everyone’s got an image they want to convey. If you’re with strangers, even acquaintances, you’re polished: you watch your language, you dress nicer, you make an effort. But around tes amis, there’s none of that pressure; guys can be dudes. Instagram is just a modern

How to put your life together in seven easy steps Shine, thrive, and be your best self

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

example of behaviour that’s been raging since time immemorial.

Some take the polishing too far, though.

The worst offenders on this front are Instagram ‘influencers,’ the biggest, cringiest phonies on social media. Influencers gush out streams of random quotes, workout videos, stunning pictures, and passionate

Yasaman Mohaddes Varsity Staff

On several occasions I have been called out for doing “the most” when it comes to school.

I take a full course load and I am involved in extracurriculars and volunteer activities while somehow managing to have friends, get a full eight hours of sleep every night, and maintain a 4.0 GPA. Sounds impossible, right? Fear not, you too can have it all — it only takes hard work and seven simple steps.

1

Overthink everything. Break down every idea you have until you hate it and move on to the next until you have exhausted all other options and go back to your original idea.

2

Make time for a weekly existential crisis.

What is all of this for? Is U of T worth it?

Should I have gone to Ryerson? Will I need to cure cancer to get into grad school? Should I join another club to make it look like I’m a well-balanced student even though I’m already on the brink of collapse? Probably.

3

IRIS DENG/THE VARSITY

Make coffee one of your main food groups. My preferred type of coffee is iced regardless of the weather, since it wakes you up and gets you ready to go instead of making you want to curl up into a ball. Also, something about coming to class every day with an overpriced cup of iced coffee just gives off a Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada vibe.

4

Live at the library. I really have brought a blanket to Robarts before. I genuinely

monologues. They claim to motivate and inspire, but are often just walking billboards for big, faceless companies.

Take the Fyre Festival. After being offered cash to promote the event, over 400 influencers took to Instagram to talk it up. The ‘festival’ ended up going down flames with acts backing out, workers being shortchanged, and hundreds of ticket-holders getting scammed.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

In some cases, Instagram may be used to help. Last year, Bruce Hardy and Jessica Castonguay argued that “social-media use may actually decrease anxiety for young people under the age of 30.”

It was a contentious argument, and there are tons of people who believe otherwise. As Jake Pitre wrote in The Globe and Mail, “other studies have shown that social-media use in adolescence is linked with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.”

It’s real murky territory — which is why, more than anything, it depends on the individual.

The key, as my grandmother rightly told me, is moderation. Most things — Instagram, inspiration, Alexander Keith’s, tequila — are great if consumed slowly and mindfully. It’s only when you go overboard that you end up empty, sore, and regretful.

don’t understand people who study at home — I still think this is a myth. Surround yourself in the monstrosity that is Robarts Library, with its grim interior and fluorescent lights — it’s just awful enough to make you work extra hard so you can leave as fast as you can instead of watching pointless BuzzFeed videos all day.

5

Learn the art of making lists. I make lists for my lists. I have two calendars in my room — plus an agenda that is colour-coded and organized by type of activity. School gets a section, friends get a section, and even going to buy toilet paper gets a pretty glittery pen colour in my agenda. This way, when people in class look over at you, they think you’re just a busy queen who had no time to waste.

6

Be impatient in every moment. There is always something more you could be doing — and should be doing — to get to whatever goal you're trying reach. Half the time, you don’t even know what that goal is, but the long line to your aforementioned Starbucks coffee from Robarts between classes is definitely directly hindering your dreams.

7

Do one thing that makes you feel like you have your life together. Even if everything else is a mess around you, if you feel like you’re a boss, you’ll give that energy to everyone around you. I must have my life together if I have a fresh set of nails done, even if I haven’t washed my hair in a week. Life is, after all, about balance.

MARCH 18, 2019 | 15

var.st/arts

Meaningful education on Indigenous peoples and cultures must start at schools

Canadian schools are failing students and the process of reconciliation Michelle Krasovitski Varsity Staff

When I think about the way Indigenous studies are taught in Ontario schools, I think back to an instance in grade eight where my class had to give presentations on the Métis people and Louis Riel.

I distinctly remember three of my peers continuously referring to Riel as “Lewis Rye-ell” and my teacher doing nothing to correct them. I had grown up in Winnipeg, where Riel led the Red River Rebellion in 1870, and learned about the ‘Father of Manitoba’ from the very start of my schooling. I was surprised that my classmates were not familiar with a rebellion and a man I had spent my entire elementary school career studying. I thought everyone knew about the history of Métis people.

But then I began to think about it, and I realized that I knew next to nothing about the Indigenous histories of Ontario, or Québec, or Saskatchewan.

Though extensive in this specific slice, my education was severely limited to my province’s borders, which left me acutely ignorant to the rest of Canada’s history.

Many think-pieces and op-eds have recently popped up regarding how we should approach and strengthen Indigenous studies — that schools should teach languages such as Cree or Ojibwe, or that Indigenous literature should be mandatory in the curriculum — but little legislation or action has come to fruition. In fact, the exact opposite has occurred.

Last July, the Ontario Ministry of Education

Book Club: Hillary Clinton’s What Happened More like nothing happened: 500 pages of disappointment

Cheryl Skylar Varsity Contributor

Hillary Clinton’s New York Times bestseller is little more than 500 pages of disappointment.

Being her seventh book with publisher Simon & Schuster, Clinton has written extensively in her 71-year-long lifetime without showing much of a learning curve. That is, unless she hired a ghostwriter whose understanding of prose matches that of a 10th grader. In signing yourself up to read through some 500 pages of her qualms, self-congratulatory notes, accusations, and name-drops, you are signing up for a test of self-resilience.

Resist against the urge to call it quits on the 30th page. Yes, I know, this is the novel everyone pretends to read — it’s a little like George Orwell’s 1984 in your high school classroom, but you must make it through this $39.99 CAD hardcover, for you paid three hours of minimum wage for it. If you borrowed it from the library, you have less of an obligation to push through.

My copy of What Happened came from a bartering platform on Bunz. I traded away cryptocurrency worth four-fifths a bowl of soup at a subway station last week. Feeling the book in my hands, I felt a slight elation. The cover is beautiful, as is the typeface. The effects of the type face reminds me of Gotham, which is a fan favourite font, as seen on Barack Obama’s campaign materials and an endless array of movie posters.

Once I hopped onto my train and started reading, however, my elation flattened into dis-

cancelled plans for a curriculum rewrite with more Indigenous content. The update was intended to incorporate extensive studies of residential schools and would have been spread out throughout different topics, such as geography and social studies. An initiative that would have supported Indigenous languages being taught in kindergarten was cancelled at the same time.

The International Languages Elementary Program recommends and assists in incorporating languages other than English into a school curriculum, mainly through extended school days and weekend class offerings. Not every district school board in Ontario has implemented the program, but in those that did, 30,000 students learned 53 different languages — few of which were Indigenous.

This seems extremely incongruent considering that in Ontario many Indigenous languages are at risk of being lost. According to UNESCO, three of every four Indigenous languages in Canada are critically or severely endangered, yet no movements are being taken by the government, specifically on a provincial level through the Ministry of Education, to reverse this course.

“Stripping Indigenous peoples of our languages was a deliberate policy of the residential school system, and despite a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that acknowledges this, there is yet to be any concrete action to reverse this damage,” wrote Métis author Chelsea Vowel in 2017.

Those that view language as strictly utilitarian — meant only as a tool for communication and

appointment. It reads like a self-pitying statement right off the bat. You’ll have ridden on an emotional rollercoaster with the ex-Secretary of State by the time you reach the 20th page. Her sentences do not flow from one to the next. Her writing reads like a jot note report, leaving little room for insight or elaboration.

Clinton feeds you a bit of everything in her life, though not in chronological order. Where is the allure in reading an autobiography that tells readers little more than what they already know? She is sure to lose politically disengaged audiences whenever she name-drops without explanation or elaboration.

Furthermore, she constantly darts back and forth along the chronological timeline that many authors and journalists swear by. Clinton’s narrative style includes a pattern of making factual statements about events, promptly mentioning her disdain for Donald Trump’s performance that day, and reminding readers of how she truly believed she would win, only to recognize her digression and march forth with the event she was speaking about five lines ago.

To transition between topics by insisting that ‘that’s not the point here’ is analogous to writing a literary essay on Oliver Twist, wordvomiting an out-of-place memory of what you had for dinner last night, and then starting the next paragraph with, “I am sorry for having gone off-topic. Let me talk about Dickens’ argument again.”

What Happened is a physical representation of an incredibly long Rick Mercer-esque rant saturated with names we need not learn. It’s not that I don’t want to learn about her four stylists and makeup artists, but I feel no use in just learning their names. Clinton likes to name-

The Truth and Reconcilliation Commission investigated the abuses of the residential school system.

STILL PHOTOGRAPHY DIVISION NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA/CC FLICKR

nothing more — may suggest that since Indigenous languages are spoken by a small minority, they are not as essential as French or English.

However, it is important to consider that language is more than just a mere tool: it conveys culture and history, and it can connect — or divide — generations of people. Teaching Indigenous languages in schools could help Indigenous children feel that their identity is secure and respected, facilitating and encouraging a new generation of children to speak languages that were suppressed and attacked during the era of residential schools.

Learning Indigenous languages could also instil empathy and appreciation in non-Indigenous children.

The fact remains: Indigenous education within Canadian public school systems is inadequate. A study conducted by Emily Milne, an assistant sociology professor at MacEwan University, found

drop, but leaves readers with little more than the names of these people whom she’s worked with.

She speaks little about the personal experiences she has shared with these people who were important enough to earn a spot in her book.

Clinton chops her autobiography into six parts: “Perseverance,” “Competition,” “Sister-

that despite good intentions, teachers have difficulty teaching Indigenous studies, often misappropriating terms or making grand generalizations. Because of this, it is important that support for the integration of Indigenous content is offered by the Ministry of Education, so that regulations can be implemented to ensure that educators have adequate preparation and materials to teach these important lessons.

I am not Indigenous myself, but I lucked out in having a teacher at a very young age who was adamant on incorporating and teaching extensive Indigenous content in her curriculum, albeit limited in scope. Others who didn’t have enthusiastic teachers were left largely uninformed.

Implementing proper, respectful, and effective Indigenous content, through language, history, or literature, is essential for all schools and curriculums in Canada.

hood,” “Idealism and Realism,” “Frustration,” and “Resilience,” with each part containing two to five chapters. While these are all very interesting concepts, each part reads similarly. In “Perseverance,” there are already ideas about competition, sisterhood, idealism and realism, frustration, and resilience.

Instead of offering a neatly organized catalogue of ideas like most bestselling authors, Clinton’s book reads like a disorganized jumble of thoughts, ideas, regrets, self-congratulatory notes, and sneers.

Many people were asking “what happened?” after Clinton’s loss against Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. They also wanted to catch a glimpse of her life outside of the spotlight after her devastating loss. Aside from the occasional recommendations of yoga and staying at home, Clinton shares very little about her personal life in the autobiography. In fact, most of what she wrote in this novel could already be found on the internet.

Clinton has led an exciting life — one worthy of many autobiographies. I just wish her latest offered a more intimate look into her past. But she is a politician, after all. She needs to seize the opportunity to defend the Clinton Foundation — which has recently found itself in hot water over shady finances — her decision to run, and her lacklustre interviews. Clinton has a public image to maintain, and she’s spent her lifetime maintaining that persona. Maybe I’ll find a more introspective and cohesive version of What Happened in the Pictured: a test of resilience costing three hours of minimum wage. form of a “Reporter at Large” arSIMON & SCHUSTER/CC WIKIMEDIA ticle in The New Yorker.

16 | THE VARSITY | ARTS & CULTURE

Theatre Review: VCDS’ Mamma Mia! Gimme Gimme Gimme another run of this fun show Jack O. Denton Editor-in-Chief

Mamma Mia! is firmly set in the canon of musical comedies, rocket-fueled by sheer thrum and pulse of toe-tapping, sing-along-tempting ABBA. It’s fun. Whether it’s Sophie’s impossible goal to bring together three men, any of whom could be her biological father — strangers Sam, Bill, and Harry — the idyllic Greek island setting, or any of the flamboyant supporting characters, this is a fun musical.

And above all else, beyond its foibles, the Victoria College Drama Society’s (VCDS) production of Mamma Mia! was fun in turn.

VCDS’ production, which ran from March 7–9 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, was directed by Ronan Mallovy. On March 9, the theatre was packed with the usual audience composition of parents, friends, and theatre fans — likely jealous that they weren’t themselves members of the chorus. The audience’s tone was upbeat as the musical began slightly late, and there were occasional cheers and shouts as fan favourites and friends took to the stage.

The production was largely carried by a few standout performances. Lisean Henry brought a

palpable vibrancy and momentum to her performance as Donna, Sophie’s fiercely independent mother and former lover of her three potential fathers. Alexandra Palma as the seductive, vain, and reliably lively Tanya had an unmistakable energy and stage presence that proved a nice foil to the performances of Lisean Henry and Elizabeth So, who played Donna’s other friend Rosie.

Gianni Sallese, a familiar face in campus theatre, played one of Sophie’s potential fathers, Sam Carmichael. His recognizable physical presence and movement, as well as natural humour, was on full display. Kody McCann (Bill Anderson) and Leo Morgenstern (Harry Bright) were also excellent additions to the named cast. The chemistry between the three fathers was amusing and they maintained high energy throughout their time on stage.

Special mention must also go to Carter Holmes as Pepper, staff member at the small hotel Donna owns. He brought a spring and comedy to the stage that managed to stitch together the scenes we all wished would hurry up a bit until the next big number.

The music direction, led by Emma Wallace, kept the tempo of the show moving along at pace and brought a swollen sound in all the right places for the big numbers. The tight proximity of the band to the actors on stage, at a close stage left, added to the casual tone of the performance generally.

However, while the set design was on theme and the fly-set window panes and plants were a nice touch, the cast’s interaction with the set pieces was lacking overall. When they did interact heavily with the set, there was a sense of clumping and some issues with voice projection in the conversational elements of the musical. In the more dramatic scenes, there was little interaction with the set at all, and

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Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

SPANDAN SENGUPTA VCDS

the space taken up by the set could have been better used by the well-choreographed cast.

In addition, perhaps to the end of showcasing the admittedly solid vocal talents of the leading cast, the fact that some of the greatest tunes of the musical, namely “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen,” were performed by a small ensemble was a real and regrettable shame. Whenever the cast and chorus at large were on stage as one, the energy in the room was tangible and electric. When they were absent, there was a real question of how there could be so little energy on stage with so many people waiting in the wings undoubtedly wishing they could join in.

The performance largely underused the cast and chorus for the big vocal performances. While the leading cast were impressive, songs like “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” are meant to be belted

aloud and put the crowd under a spell. Instead, the energy in these teasingly low-tempo performances fell starkly flat.

The best part of Mamma Mia! was the end — and this isn’t meant in a snarky, holier-than-thou critical sense. The finale of the show is well-known: a fullensemble performance of the biggest show tunes to, usually, a standing ovation, as was the case on March 9. The end felt like the very first time the energy level in the room was absolutely cranking, and songs like “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” had me mouthing the lyrics, whereas their performances during the core show had me somewhat distracted.

All in all, it would be a good wager that most, if not all, of the audience left Mamma Mia! having had fun. And beyond careful and persnickety critiques, if that isn’t a worthwhile goal of campus theatre, then what is?

Theatre Review: Ryerson Musical Theatre Company presents Disney’s Newsies

Medda, has a lovely voice but didn’t ooze the confidence she needed to really sell her solo “That’s Rich.”

As Pulitzer, Daniel Goldman was simultaneously threatening and hilariously sassy.

The ensemble of newsies consisted of triplethreats contorting their bodies in impressive ways, though they performed strongest as a group. Issues with mic levels made it difficult to hear many of the solo lines. One standout was Boman Reid as Race, the newsie with the challenge of dancing with a cigar constantly in hand, which Reid executed with agility.

Two other newsies drew my attention with their humorous performances: Ysabelle Ferrer as Mush and Cruz Lloyd as Specs and Bill. Ethan Kim as Albert also performed an impressive number of Russian split jumps.

The spot-on costumes, designed by Carlyn Routledge, consisted of various combinations of raggedy button-downs, suspenders, and hats — the newsies couldn’t afford more than what they could throw together, but each had their own style. Davey, who was new, started off well-dressed, but when he took a crucial role in the strike during “Seize the Day,” his suit jacket disappeared and he fit right in with the other newsies.

Director Isabella Verrilli made good use of the set’s different levels and pieces, and Mathilda Kane’s lighting design on Jack’s rooftop and during Crutchie’s solo, “Letter from the Refuge,” was emotive. Though the music helped move the scenes along, the transitions were strongest when blocking or choreography distracted the audience from set changes.

Orchestra director and U of T music student Kevin Vuong did a fantastic job of leading the band, composed mainly of U of T students. Despite a few minor slip-ups, the musicians brought spirit to this non-stop, high-energy show. Vocal director Nicole Kanga’s great work showed in the performers’ terrific harmonies.

The show’s highlight was “Once and For All.” The captivating choreography involving newspapers and the cast and band’s musical talents brought the song to life. When the performers changed keys while singing, “There’s change coming once and for all,” my heart lifted along with theirs — I believed them, and by the end, so did Pulitzer.

Brought together by a primarily female-led creative team, Newsies’ cast and crew poured heart and power into the production. With a cast of authentic performers, RMTC’s Newsies was uplifting, entertaining, and left me excited about the passion for university theatre that exists beyond U of T.

There’s theatre outside U of T and it’s good Arin Klein Varsity Contributor

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Ryerson Musical Theatre Company’s (RMTC) 2019 production, Newsies, was a heartwarming delight.

With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and script by Harvey Fierstein, the musical Newsies is based on the 1992 Disney film and on the true story of the 1899 newsboys’ strike in New York City.

Newsies follows newspaper delivery teenager Jack Kelly and his fellow ‘newsies’ as they strike against their employer, Joseph Pulitzer, who has raised the distribution price of newspapers. RMTC’s Newsies was joyful and genuine, with superb performances and costume designs that created authentic and unique characters — no small feat for a cast with a large ensemble.

The show opened with Jack (Mark McKelvie) telling his friend Crutchie (Colin Darling), named for the crutch he uses to support a damaged leg, about his wish to move to Santa Fe. McKelvie and Darling nicely balanced their energy and harmonies. I was drawn to Darling’s engaging and honest performance, especially in the dance numbers choreographed by Zoe Choptain, which borrowed from the original stage version but smoothly incorporated Crutchie and his crutch into the choreography.

McKelvie brought convincing passion to this demanding role, and he nailed the notorious high A in “Santa Fe.” The vocally-gifted Ian Kowalski became a powerful figure — and lively tap dancer!

— in the strike. Olivia DeRoche successfully tackled her breathless solo “Watch What Happens,” and achieved a perfect balance between being earnest and not taking any bullshit from the men around her.

These four performers had great chemistry, making Jack’s choice to stay in New York at the end believable.

Marie-Blanche Bertrand, as the dazzling singer

Newsies ran from March 13–16 at the Al Green Theatre.

Science

March 18, 2019 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

A glance at the state of Indigenous health Professors of public health shed light on generational barriers Indigenous people face in accessing health care Javiera Gutierrez Duran Varsity Staff

Though the number of studies are scarce, there emerges a consistent and worrying pattern on the status of Indigenous health.

A Statistics Canada study spanning 2011–2014 found that whereas around 60 per cent of the non-Indigenous population perceived their health as good or excellent, only 48.5, 51.3, and 44.9 per cent of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people respectively reported their health as such.

Life expectancy is also lower for members of Canada’s Indigenous population, with an average life expectancy of 68.9 for Indigenous men and 76.6 for Indigenous women, compared to 78 among non-Indigenous men and 81 for non-Indigenous women. The cause of this can be attributed to a number of compounding issues, some of which are not immediately related to health care.

Racism and discrimination against Indigenous people in the medical system are a big factor in preventing them from accessing and returning for continual services, explains Dr. Suzanne Stewart, Director of the WaakebinessBryce Institute for Indigenous Health.

Stewart says that the issue regarding Indigenous access to health services is

“about actually being able to go into a health care environment and feel like it’s safe to be there mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”

This is made more difficult by the legacy of the residential school system, funded by the government, which forcibly removed Indigenous children from their communities to undergo aggressive assimilation. From the nineteenth century to 1996, an estimated 6,000 children died in the system out of the 150,000 forced to attend.

Children were underfed and malnourished. One residential school experimented with feeding children just a flour mixture. This systemic malnutrition caused by residential schools has been linked to health issues such as diabetes.

Even today, biases remain in the system, says Dr. Anna Banerji, Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “I’ve witnessed it first hand,” she said.

Banerji has been researching Indigenous health for 25 years, travelling to the Arctic over 30 times to study respiratory infections in Inuit people.

Banerji discovered that Inuit babies are more frequently infected by respiratory syncytial virus than the wider Canadian population. But, Banerji says, “there’s an antibody that’s cheaper than

the cost of admission [to a hospital] and no one is implementing that [in Inuit communities].”

South of the Arctic, Cat Lake First Nation recently made headlines due to a housing crisis that developed into a health crisis. Almost 100 houses in the fly-in community contained black mould, which caused rashes and bacterial infections, including lung infections.

Stewart explains that current health issues in Indigenous communities were “created by the systemic factors of all colonization,” which in turn “created a group of people who are highly traumatized and who have no resources to cope within that very system that created the trauma,” leading to crisis.

Furthermore, Stewart says that resources tend to assist in the immediate aftermath of crises, but not to sustainable preventions of them, such as research and programs so that issues like addiction do not escalate into crises.

Traditional medicine and knowledge are ways by which Indigenous people can heal.

Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle, Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Associate Director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, also stressed

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the barriers to the Cree notion of “pimatisiwin,” which is a traditional conception of “a good way of life.”

“We can’t live that way because we have too many systems pushing down on us,” says Mashford-Pringle.

Stewart says that traditional healing and medicines are rather inaccessible and it is up to individuals to seek them out, despite the fact that Indigenous health is included in treaty rights.

Mashford-Pringle works with Cancer Care Ontario, which offers courses in cultural competency to inform health care providers about Indigenous history and knowledge.

Stewart echoes the need for courses, saying, “We haven’t done anything that’s more meaningful such as [to] require our staff and our health care workers to undergo cultural safety training, to collaborate with Indigenous communities, to provide culturally-based services,

provide access to traditional medicines and traditional healing.” She says that this “would bring meaningful change to health equity and health access for Indigenous people.”

“Why is it okay for them and not for me?” asks Banerji. She notes a disparity in acceptance and that “what is accepted for Indigenous children would not be accepted for non-Indigenous children.”

Stewart says that it is essential for non-Indigenous people to understand the ways they have benefitted from the harm done to Indigenous people, including through health care accessibility.

“Spend five minutes and learn about Indigenous people,” says MashfordPringle, adding, “Don’t stand in our way, even if the only thing you ever do is stand aside so that we can push for our right, that’s better than standing in our way and making it [worse].”

A look at the Master of Public Health in Indigenous Health The program aims to educate students on Indigenous health with focuses on traditional knowledge and medicine

Javiera Gutierrez Duran Varsity Staff

This is the inaugural year for the two-year Master of Public Health: Indigenous Health program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health through the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health.

Dr. Suzanne Stewart, Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute, designed the program alongside Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle, Assistant Professor at Dalla Lana and Associate Director of the institute. The program was created with the objective of “[offering] a program based in Indigenous knowledges that’s guided by our traditional knowledge keepers, our elders, our healers, our teachers.”

The involvement of knowledge keepers, she says, reinforces the importance of traditional knowledge, which “is at the core of Indigenous health.”

Stewart explains that increasing the

number of researchers and professionals in Indigenous health was one reason for the creation of the program.

Another was to increase the number of Indigenous people who can, thanks to programs like these, access education in fields like health care while feeling culturally safe.

“I think the objective of the program, overall, is to create a training program that ensures that everyone who’s a part of that program is a part of the solution,” says Stewart.

The Indigenous population is the fastest growing demographic in Canada. An improvement in this community’s health can lead to higher levels of youth employment and education and increase the overall life expectancy of Canadians, says Stewart.

Due to the poor state of Indigenous health care, Stewart says that “we need to have people who are trained and capable of actually addressing these problems.”

The program includes courses on general public health, quantitative research, and social determinants of

health, as well as specific courses such as Indigenous Health, Indigenous Health and Social Policy, and Indigenous Food Systems, Environment & Health.

At the end of their first year, students must complete a practicum over the summer. The practicums are in collaboration with Indigenous communities and all levels of government nationwide, in areas such as policy, program development, and research.

Stewart says the practicum “gives students an opportunity to actually spend time in Indigenous communities, working with Indigenous people, and being able to learn what it’s like to be there and do this work from a cultural perspective.”

Traditional knowledge is localized, explains Stewart, as is healing and its interpretation, which can vary depending on the communities from which elders and teachers originate.

“Indigenous healing and spirituality and pedagogy are not objective,” says Stewart. By learning about traditional Indigenous knowledge, there

is a departure from linear thinking.

Through this, students learn about the interconnectedness of mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health.

Stewart notes that the spiritual aspect is important, but usually not incorporated in Western health care programs, including policy.

Stewart hopes that students learn “how to be the person that they’re supposed to be and that they continue to contribute to the solutions and stop being part of the problems.”

Speaking of the first year’s cohort, Stewart says that she is delighted. The students, she explains, are dedicated, open to learning, and committed to the work. Furthermore, she notes that specialized programs are unique because there is something that drives the students to be passionate about the issue.

The existence of this program, and others like it, can aid in the process of decolonization.

Stewart explains that “all healing

Students examine Indigenous health issues from a a variety of perspectives.

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for us as Indigenous people begins with the spiritual, and all healing is spiritual. And for us to want to heal the system, we need to do that in a basis of traditional knowledge and spirituality, and that’s really what this program is about.”

18 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

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number.”

Wikipedia’s lack of representation Addressing the systemic gender bias that pervades the free online encyclopedia Oviya Muralidharan Varsity Contributor

Wikipedia is not only one of the most popular websites on the internet, but it has also become a commonly consulted educational reference for enthusiasts and experts alike. The site is at once the starting point of scholarly research and the ending point of everyday research.

But “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” suffers from systemic gender bias.

“Everyone goes there, so making sure the encyclopedia is a fair representative of the world is a great thing,” wrote Farah Qaiser to The Varsity. Qaiser is a U of T graduate student who has organized multiple Wikipedia edit-a-thons to boost representation on the website.

A number of student groups, including Women in Chemistry Toronto, Toronto Science Policy Network, and Women Of Colour in

STEAMM Canada, have helped organize Wikipedia edit-a-thons in partnership with U of T Libraries. Each workshop session teaches participants the basics of editing Wikipedia pages and lets participants build on and create new Wikipedia pages. The most recent Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon at Gerstein Science Information Centre added 2,560 words on Wikipedia pages for Canadian female scientists.

Representation is important because it leads to recognition and acceptance. It’s especially important on Wikipedia because of its role as a central junction for obtaining information. Thus, editing Wikipedia has become the newest frontier in balanced representation.

A 2018 study by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that runs Wikipedia, found that only 5.2–13.6 per cent of Wikimedia project contributors are women.

Women also make fewer edits, which has resulted in fewer female

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administrators — gatekeeping positions with privileges like the ability to block others from editing.

There is also an overwhelming focus on English Wikipedia.

A 2011 study by the Wikimedia Foundation found that 76 per cent of all Wikipedia users make edits to English Wikipedia. Focusing on regional languages not only pushes for greater diversity in contributors, but also in relevant content.

“While it shouldn’t matter who edits Wikipedia, their biases matter,” wrote Qaiser. “It’s reflected in facts like only 17.67 per cent of English Wikipedia biographies are about women. That’s a very tiny

Digitizing memories with Hippocamera

U of T professor is building a memory retention app to help Alzheimer’s patients Aki Kim Varsity Contributor

Dr. Morgan Barense, Associate Professor in U of T’s Department of Psychology, and Dr. Christopher Honey, Assistant Professor in Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, are collaborating to build an “external hippocampus” for smartphones, based on the seahorse-shaped part of the brain responsible for long-term memory.

The Hippocamera app mimics how the brain replays memories for retention. It lets its users record moments they wish to remember and plays these memories back repeatedly at increased speed, mirroring the hippocampus’ process.

“It’s different [from] you just scrolling through your photos on your phone,” explained Barense in an interview with The Varsity. “The way we’re having people look back at these videos is mimicking how the hippocampus steps through events of one’s life. It’s organized in such a way that is externally simulating the way that the brain is representing memories. Just looking through your Instagram feed isn’t doing that systematically.”

Barense added that the app gives reminders for when memories should be replayed to follow

the best memory retention patterns.

Hippocamera was conceived in 2014, when Honey approached Barense with the idea for a wearable device to help Alzheimer’s patients. Barense compared the original idea to Google Glass — it would’ve created images of “word clouds” for its user as they went about their daily lives. These words would appear when looking at certain things to remind the user of their significance.

That idea was eventually scrapped due to concerns that it would be too distracting for its users.

The current form of Hippocamera was developed with the input of postdoctoral researcher Dr. Christopher Martin, graduate student Brian Hong, and undergraduate student Andrew Shaw.

Hippocamera is still at the development stage and has only been tested on healthy older adults showing no signs of cognitive decline. The team has started trials with individuals showing early signs of cognitive decline, with the goal of moving onto trials with individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

There is still a lot of work to be done before releasing the app to the public. With funding from the Centre of Aging and Brain Health Innovation and the Ca-

nadian Institutes for Health Research, Barense and her team are now testing how artificial intelligence can be used to support the app. Their hope is to develop the technology to make meaningful connections by grouping together similar memories, similar to how a regular human brain functions.

Other apps that aid patients with Alzheimer’s disease are on the market, but Hippocamera is the first to mimic actual brain function. While similar lifelogging apps exist, they tend to leave the organizational functions to the user. Hippocamera demands minimal management, allowing it to be used even by disoriented users.

Beyond physiological wellbeing, the app may bring about psychosocial benefits. Those who have used the app say that it is fun and very easy to use.

Forgetting parts of one’s life can be very disorienting. Barense hopes that the app can help reduce anxiety and improve wellbeing with improved memory.

“We’re looking to see if memory enhancement, ways in which our memories get better, [is] related to improvements in psychosocial well-being,” said Barense. “Just having better memory [might] make an individual a happier person with a stronger sense of identity.”

Wikipedia is an open-access community. Everyone and anyone with access to the internet can edit and create articles.

However, the editorial community is still predominantly male.

According to Alex Jung, U of T’s Wikipedian-in-residence, one of the reasons for this predominance is a culture of gatekeeping and pushback toward women.

“Female editors have anecdotally reported that they face targeted editing on Wikipedia,” wrote Qaiser. For example, Dr. Jess Wade, British physicist, challenged herself to create one Wikipedia page a day to recognize the achievements of female scientists.

Dr. Morgan Barense.

Courtesy of MOE DOIRON

This February, Wade wrote her 500th entry. Qaiser said that as Wade became vocal about her efforts, her pages have been specifically targeted for editing.

Another reason for Wikipedia’s gender bias problem is a lack of sources. Wikipedia is merely reflective of a larger trend of underrepresentation. There simply aren’t many sources on women and marginalized communities. To counter this, Jung advocates searching harder for sources that tell untold stories.

UNESCO recently organized #WIKI4WOMEN on March 8, International Women’s Day. It advocated for a public effort to help share the stories of extraordinary women.

Editing Wikipedia can also be done any time from the comfort of one’s home and is very easy to do because of the user-friendly visual editor that Wikipedia uses. “It’s like editing a Word document,” said Qaiser. Jung is currently working on a guide to editing Wikipedia, available soon on the U of T Libraries’ website.

Contributing could even be as simple as uploading images.

“There are a lot of pages on professors at U of T, but none of them have pictures,” noted Qaiser. “It’s as simple as taking a photograph of them — with their permission of course — and uploading it onto Wikipedia.”

MARCH 18, 2019 | 19

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The wormhole of memory

New evidence suggests that ‘blocked memories’ are formed but can’t be retrieved

Carissa DeMarinis Varsity Contributor

SKYLER CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

From lab to table

Grant awarded to research growth factors for artificial meat

Flora Hewitt-Harris Varsity Staff

U of T researchers have received a $250,000 USD grant to further research growth factors and hormones used in artificial meat manufacturing.

The group of four is the only Canadian cell-based winner of the two-year grant, which was bestowed by The Good Food Institute in Washington, DC. The team is led by Dr. Peter Stogios, Senior Research Associate at the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry. His team aims to develop a cheaper, more environmentally-friendly way to produce lab-grown meat.

“My research won’t involve growing the meat itself — we are working on discovering better additives (growth factors [or] hormones) that are cheaper and more effective than what is used right now,” wrote Stogios in an email to The Varsity. “The growth factors that are necessary to grow meat are genetically encoded in animals, but we synthesize them in the lab.”

The initial research phase is expected to take six months, and will be followed by an 18-month engineering phase if a cheaper hormone is found.

While most artificial food research focuses on beef, if successful, the group’s research could lead to other proteins, such as chicken, being developed in a similar fashion.

Artificial meat is currently expensive to create, with one pound costing approximately $2,400 USD to produce. Although this is an improvement from the $300,000 USD per pound cost from five years ago, the product still needs to be more affordable for it to become a viable replace-

ment for livestock meat through mass production.

Widespread use of artificial meat would have numerous potential benefits, ranging from the environmental to the ethical.

In particular, Stogios highlighted the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions that would likely result from the adoption of lab-grown meat, as such emissions are associated with animal husbandry. Land and water that would otherwise be used by animals would also be saved, and ethical concerns over farmed animals’ rights would be avoided.

However, there are some concerns among the general public over artificial meat, including the belief that it may still involve livestock.

“There are no animals involved except that the initial cells that start the meat growing process were originally taken from animals,” wrote Stogios.

“The meat is grown in a bioreactor which is a large tank, and inside there are grids or strips onto which the tissue grows.”

Furthermore, many people may be hesitant to eat lab-grown meat due to perceived differences in taste and texture from livestock meat, or fears about the process of development.

“I would like the public to know that there is nothing to fear about this technology — it is not a genetically modified organism nor is it infectious or disease causing,” wrote Stogios. “The meat that is grown in the lab is comprised of the exact [same] ‘stuff ’ that is in meat from animals — cells, tissues, vitamins, minerals, hormones, etc. — and so if the public is comfortable eating traditional meat, they should be comfortable eating lab grown meat.”

EXPERIENCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT U OF T. MARCH 21, 2019 10:00am – 5:00pm

Researchers at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research have made new insights into why some things can’t be learned — or rather, can’t be remembered.

In a study published in Scientif ic Reports, Daniel Merritt, a PhD student in Dr. Derek van der Kooy’s lab, and his colleagues found that memory blockages in Caenorhabditis elegans, or nematode worms, are likely due to issues with memory recall, as opposed to memory storage.

Merritt’s publication is the first to confirm that memory blocking occurs in worms and refutes the running theory that memory blockage is rooted only in memory storage.

Memory blocking: what is it?

The phenomenon of memory blocking was first characterized by American psychologist Dr. Leon Kamin in the 1960s.

Kamin devised a set of experiments in which he played a tone before giving a rat an electric shock. After repeated tone-shock pairings, the rat learned to freeze at the sound of the tone. Kamin then played a tone and flashed a light before shocking the rat.

Kamin was intrigued to find that when he later tested the rat’s reaction to the light alone, it didn’t freeze. It was as if the rat had never learned this newer light-shock association. It was ‘blocked’ from memory.

Kamin’s findings made an enormous impact on the way researchers viewed and studied memory.

“People [came] to believe that in order for memories to form, there needs to be something surprising about what is happening to the animal,” explained Merritt in an interview with The Varsity.

According to this theory, the rats in Kamin’s experiments had already learned that the tone predicted the

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shock and therefore didn’t form a memory of the light’s association to it.

But Merritt and his team’s research points to another explanation: while a new memory is formed, it just can’t be recalled.

The researchers trained worms to avoid ammonium chloride — a substance they normally crawl toward — by starving them in its presence. They then starved these same worms in the presence of both ammonium chloride and benzaldehyde, a compound that has an almond scent. Similar to Kamin’s rats, the worms didn’t learn to avoid benzaldehyde.

Switching the order of the chemicals yielded the same results. Worms that were trained first with benzaldehyde and later simultaneously with benzaldehyde and ammonium chloride didn’t learn to avoid ammonium chloride.

Blocking the minds of worms

The researchers used fluorescent tags to observe the molecular motions in the worms’ neurons during the memory-blocking tasks.

When a worm formed a memory of benzaldehyde, a protein kinase enzyme called EGL-4, which is important to cell signalling, moved toward the nucleus of the neuron.

When a tag was attached to EGL4, its movement could be visualized

under a microscope.

Even in the blocking condition, when the worms behaved as if they hadn’t learned about benzaldehyde, the researchers saw EGL-4 moving toward the nucleus.

“We’ve shown that [the worm] does learn, it learns perfectly well, it just can’t remember afterward,” said Merritt. “So the memory is formed, it [just] seems to be inaccessible — like a sort of amnesia.”

The researchers hope to pinpoint the exact molecular mechanisms behind these irretrievable memories.

Memory blocking is difficult to study in humans for various reasons.

However, where the human brain has an estimated 86 billion neurons, adult hermaphrodite C. elegans worms have just 302. These neurons are connected to each other in nearly identical ways across worms.

“I think worms are the perfect animal to [study] because, again, you can identify particular cells, [and the] particular molecular changes that are occurring in them,” explained Merritt.

“I think that memory is this really interesting thing. It’s ephemeral; it seems hazy, nearly intractable at times — very difficult to get a grip on,” said Meritt. “But at the same time it forms the narrative thread that unites our experiences and integrates the times in our lives to form us as people.”

20 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

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Over the counter, under the table

Science Around Town

What influence do pharmaceutical companies have on drug costs?

Emily Deibert Varsity Staff

Mental Health in the Black Community Hear from health care professionals and researchers on breaking the stigma around mental health at the Black Medical Students’ Association’s second Mental Health Speaker Series event.

Date: Monday, March 18 Time: 5:00–7:00 pm Location: Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Room 4279 Admission: Free with registration

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Elizabeth Benner Varsity Contributor

The dark side of drug pricing was thrust into the news in early February when CWC Pharmacies (Ontario) Ltd., the operator of a number of Costco pharmacies in Ontario, was fined $7.25 million CAD for accepting rebates from generic drug companies.

Rebates are discounts or kickbacks that manufacturers give to pharmacies as incentives to fill their shelves with certain brands of generic drugs over others. While they can take the form of currency, they can also be exchanged as discounts, refunds, trips, free goods, or any other benefits.

“Each company wants to get their drugs to be the one that the pharmacist chooses,” explained Dr. Joel Lexchin, Associate Professor in U of T’s Department of Family & Community Medicine. “The drug may list at a dollar a pill, but drug companies will say, ‘We will give a discount or a rebate to the pharmacist.’ So the pharmacist pays them a dollar a pill, [and] the drug company gives back 20 cents as an incentive for the pharmacy to use their particular generic version.”

This process doesn’t involve the patient directly losing money, but the savings are not passed onto the patient as they should be. In the case of publicly funded pharmaceuticals, this ultimately hurts taxpayers.

Drug laws concerning rebates are specific to each province. According to the Ontario Drug Benefit Act and the Drug Interchangeability and Dispensing Fee Act, it is illegal for pharmacies to accept rebates from drug manufacturers.

Rising prices

In its 2017 “Health at a Glance” report, the multinational Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that in 2015, Canadians paid $756 USD per capita for pharmaceuticals, far above the average of $553 USD per capita for other OECD countries. The Canadian Institute for Health Information forecasted that in 2017, pharmaceutical spending for Canadians would rise to $1,086 CAD per capita — around $840 USD at the time — or roughly $39.8 billion — around $30 billion USD — in total.

Rising costs have forced patients to make adjustments to afford their medication. A 2018 study from the University of British Columbia found that approximately 2.5 per cent of Canadians, or 731,000 people, were borrowing money to pay for prescription drugs in 2015. This group consists of young adults, people in poorer health, and individuals without prescription drug insurance. In 2016, Canadian public health researchers found that 5.5 per cent of Canadians were not able to fulfil at least one of their prescriptions due to cost.

Every year, the financial barriers preventing Canadian patients from taking their medication are responsible for up to 640 deaths due to ischemic heart disease and up to 420 premature deaths of workingage Canadians with diabetes.

Branding

So how do drug prices become so high?

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) assesses the initial pricing of name brand drugs by comparing them to average prices in other countries,

noting potential excessive pricing according to the Excessive Price Guidelines. Since 1993, the PMPRB has recovered $195 million CAD in excess revenues. The PMPRB cannot guarantee the control of the prices charged by drug wholesalers or pharmacies, but it reviews patentees’ changes to regulate reduction in pricing and excess revenues.

“The price of the [name brand] drug is set based on what the company thinks the market will pay and that varies depending on what the illness is,” explained Lexchin.

“How much are you willing to pay for a drug that will help relieve your sore throat that you will have for a week? Well maybe you’ll pay 50 cents or a dollar a pill… On the other hand, if you’re told that you have a cancer that is going to kill you in six months and we have a drug now that’s going to double your life expectancy, you’re going to be willing to pay more than 50 cents or a dollar. And companies take advantage of that and that’s primarily how they set their price.”

Name-brand drugs act as a price ceiling for generic drugs. Patents protect name-brand drugs from competition for the first 12–13 years that they are on the market.

Once the patent expires, companies can release their own generic versions for a fraction of the cost.

Thus in order to bring down the cost of generics, the price of namebrand drugs must first be lowered.

From 2015–2016, patented drug sales increased $400 million CAD from $15.1 billion to $15.5 billion.

Although patented drugs only accounted for 27.6 per cent of the drug costs in 2016, they accounted for 74.7 per cent of total expenditures. Of the $756 USD per capita

spending in 2015, approximately $330 USD was spent on patented drugs.

What can be done about this?

Widespread federal coverage is one of many drug reform ideas that Lexchin and other professionals have advocated for to reduce the grip of drug companies on consumers.

Lexchin explained that through a Canada-wide drug plan, the nation would wield more bargaining power with pharmaceutical corporations than any single individual could. With a single government buyer controlling the market, name-brand drug companies would be forced to lower their prices or risk losing out on a substantial portion of Canadian consumers.

However, in 2015, only 36 per cent of drugs were covered by the Canadian government, compared to other OECD countries such as Germany and Luxembourg where at least 80 per cent of pharmaceuticals were covered.

Lexchin also described a need for greater public scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry.

For instance, the Open Pharma campaign is a movement led by resident physician Dr. Andrew Boozary advocating transparency regarding transactions between drug makers and health care professionals. Open Pharma focuses on the endorsement of drugs and other influential behaviours by the pharmaceutical industry.

But until drug reforms are implemented, pharmaceutical companies will continue to reap benefits at the expense of patients and taxpayers.

Being an Astronaut Candidate Join Ele Willoughby, who has a PhD in physics, as she talks about her experiences at the Canadian Space Agency’s Astronaut Recruitment Program.

Date: Tuesday, March 19 Time: 2:00–3:00 pm Location: Albert Campbell Library, 496 Birchmount Road, Leading to Reading Room Admission: Free with registration Women in AI Featuring technical sessions and discussions with a panel of women who work in artificial intelligence and data science, this event will explore the ways in which we can increase female representation in this maledominated field.

Date: Wednesday, March 20 Time: 6:00–8:00 pm Location: 155 Wellington Street West, RBC Lounge Admission: Free with registration Astronomy on Tap T.O. The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics is hosting another Astronomy on Tap event with talks from worldclass astronomers, games, and lots of prizes — you may even go home with your own telescope!

Date: Friday, March 22 Time: 8:00–11:00 pm Location: The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West Admission: Free Scientista Conference: Advancement and Integration of Women in STEM Scientista is hosting their first annual conference aimed at the advancement of women in STEM. The conference will include keynote talks, networking, and workshops.

Date: Sunday, March 24 Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Location: Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Room 2170 Admission: $5

Sports

March 18, 2019 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

What makes Michèle Bélanger tick Blues women’s basketball coach reflects on 40 years

I find more rewarding than anything else is the athletes coming back and remembering the good times that they’ve had, and telling stories and liking to be around each other. They always think that their teams were better than everyone else’s.

TV: Has there been one really low point?

MB: No, no, no, no, no. No dark days.

I still love it every day. There’s not one day where I rethink: do I really want to be here?

The Blues posted a 6–17 record this past season under the guidance of coach Michèle Bélanger (middle).

Courtesy of the VARSITY BLUES

Isaac Consenstein Associate Sports Editor

The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team’s long and difficult season has concluded, leaving behind a trail of injuries and constantly changing lineups. The season went down to the wire, as a victory against the York Lions and several other alternative outcomes could have led to a playoff run.

Despite the inconsistent lineups all season, the one stalwart constant was coach Michèle Bélanger’s commitment to developing strong and teamoriented players.

During halftime of the Blues’ final game, Bélanger’s 40th season milestone was recognized. The ceremony had more to do with fans’ appreciation for and recognition of a great coach than for Bélanger herself. In fact, Bélanger has found success by making her job about everyone but herself — the mark of a truly devoted leader.

Bélanger admits that she’s not easily excited by celebrating Coach of the Year awards, coaching Team Canada, or making it to year 40 with the Blues.

Instead her main source of excitement and pride is working with the hun-

On the hunt for the ‘runner’s high’ Track star-approved trails to convert the anti-runner Laura Ashwood Varsity Staff

There are very few pasttimes more controversial than a run.

On one side are the avid dissenters, those who profess that nothing could be more unpleasant than a jog around the block. These are the folks who tend to opt for taking the elevator over the stairs and are big fans of those moving walkways in airports.

dreds of Varsity Blues players whom she has helped improve, both on and off the court.

The Varsity spoke with Bélanger before the final weekend of the regular season about her coaching career and how she builds team communication and leadership.

The Varsity: Can you tell me what you were like as a player?

Michèle Bélanger: I really picked up the game in grade nine. We had one weekend tournament and I got kind of hooked on it. I thought it was kind of an exciting game. The coach basically told me to go from one end to the other underneath the basket, and I thought, “Oh, this is a lot of fun!” I learned that team sports is really what I’m all about. I played big in high school and then when I got to Laurentian, I was mostly inside out. I was more of a 3, 4 [a forward], and on the national team I was a 3 [small forward]. Back in the day we had no three-point line, so I learned how to do a pull-up jumper in my last two years of playing, because women really didn’t do a pull-up jumper. It was a set shot: catch, shoot. The guys did The opposing camp, however, raves endlessly about the magic of a run in the park with such uninhibited fervour that you would think scuffed sneakers and blistered feet were addictive.

As such, they often mention the wondrous ‘runner’s high,’ a phenomenon much spoken of but little explained. The runner will enthusiastically describe the euphoric feeling of blood in your cheeks, wind beneath your feet, or any other consequence of running that still fails to exemplify the promised addictive excitement to a staunch opposer.

It seems like the kind of thing you have to feel to believe. So, if you’re an inquiring anti-runner looking to convert, or are just looking to shake up your running routine, we have a few suggestions. The Varsity spoke to U of T alum and former Varsity Blues track star Madeleine Kelly for her advice on some runs that will get you jonesing for your next fix.

“A route is as difficult as you make

it and I wanted to know how to do that, [so] I went to coach and he just walked away. I transfered to Victoria and asked a good friend of ours who was coaching the men’s team, and said I want to learn how to do this!

TV: When did you realize you wanted to stay with basketball as a coach?

MB: I got cut from the national team in my last year playing at Victoria, in 1978–1979. That spring, I got really sick that year, and I still thought I could do it. The competing level is always there but the body wasn’t. So anyway, I got cut. I was really hurt by it, I didn’t know how to fill that void.

[My friend] encouraged me to apply for this job — it was open — I said I don’t know much about coaching, so I did. I came in for an interview. In my mind it was going to be a one-year deal.

TV: Over the 40 years of coaching here, what has been your biggest accomplishment?

MB: Coming into work never feeling like it’s actually work. My biggest accomplishment? I don’t know, I don’t have one. It’s really hard to say. What it,” says Kelly. “So I don’t know which of these is the most difficult. I can tell you a little bit about the surfaces.”

If you’re looking for a scenic, hilly jog, she recommends Riverdale Park: “There’s a track there, and then there’s also a great hill, so you can get hill work in your bag or get some speed training.”

The closest major intersection to her favourite running spot in the park is at Broadview and Danforth Avenues.

If you’re interested in testing your endurance, Kelly says that the best place to get in a long run is along the waterfront.

“The Martin Goodman Trail goes for [roughly] 30 kilometres, along the bottom of Toronto,” she says, and the views of Lake Ontario don’t hurt either.

Finally, if you’re looking for a calm, “sheltered,” meditative run, she suggests the Beltline Trail, a nine-kilometre scenic route along an old railway line running from west of Allen Road down past Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the latter being a surprisingly peaceful running spot in its own right: “The cem-

TV: What about the U of T program has kept you around?

MB: The support has been outstanding. We’ve had great support from the institution, I think this institution in particular really fosters women moving forward and keeping women involved in the game, or in sport itself. There’s not a lot of institutions that [have] lots of women in positions of authority.

The athletic director is female, they’re not afraid of doing that — they’re really open-minded. I think that showed a lot of progress, we’ve done that right from the get-go. When I started in 1979, we had women in powerful positions, and they were great mentors.

You don’t see a lot of that. So it’s been a really welcoming environment.

TV: Your overall record before this season, including playoffs, is 838– 462, giving you about a .650 record.

MB: .650, this year that’s going down the tubes!

TV: Do you ever think about those stats?

MB: No, oh my god, no! That to me is all irrelevant.

TV: What about your eight Coach of the Year awards?

MB: No, no. I don’t even like this whole celebration thing. It’s really not about me, it’s about the players… It’s not about being singled out, it’s not about the amount of wins, it’s not about the awards. It’s really about the experiences that you are providing those 12–15 athletes that are on that given year. And to give them the best and move them forward as best [as] you possibly can.

TV: What are your main coaching strategies and morals?

MB: To be always ethical in everything that you do. To treat each and

every person as an individual within the context of the team, and to try and get everyone to mould together as a team. It has gotten harder and harder over these last 10–12 years because of social media.

TV: How? MB: The world is different today than it was 10–12 years ago. People are growing up with phones, people don’t communicate as well as they used to.

It’s made it very difficult to get players to talk to each other authentically. The sense of urgency in the now is very different than it was. It’s just a matter of putting it all together. I think they really desperately want to be great communicators. And I think it’s going to be a lost art if we don’t fix it.

TV: Are there team rules regarding phones?

MB: Oh yeah, they’re good. The girls are outstanding. They don’t bring phones to meetings, their phones are not on in the team room. We don’t need to put those rules in, they know.

TV: So you’ve always made the effort to always get to know players?

MB: I got to get to know people. You get a sense of what they’re like and then that’s what you have to build the relationship. If you don’t know, then how could you build a relationship? If you don’t have a relationship then it’s hard to trust. If they’re going to work hard for the whole, then you need to know about the whole. Like if there’s a hardship going on in someone’s life, if it’s not shared with the coach or the team, then it’s very difficult to have empathy and sympathy… to build that connection so people have your back.

It’s hard to have your back on the court if you don’t know what’s going on in their life. I’ve got to believe that.

TV: When you took the job did you see yourself staying here for 40 years?

MB: Oh my god, never! I didn’t see myself here until I was forced to buy into the pension plan [laughs]. I think you have to be 30 or something and then you have to buy into it, so I was like oh, I guess I have no choice. In my mind it was always going to be a short-term thing and then you start to love it… then you start to live it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Former Varsity Blues track star Madeleine Kelly provides advice for newbie runners.

MARTIN BAZYL/ Courtesy of the VARSITY BLUES

etery is also great if you want a workout: rolling hills, limited traffic.”

Kelly also encourages runners to hop on the ever-dreaded treadmill. “I see it as a training tool if the weather’s brutal, then in my opinion it’s a much better option than potentially wiping out.”

However, it’s never her first choice, and she concedes that she would “always go outdoors if [she] had the option.” The takeaway for discouraged newbies? Try a scenic route instead of a machine, and maybe you’ll find yourself lacing up your running shoes more often than you think.

22 | THE VARSITY | SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

The Blues women’s hockey road to the national championships

Veterans Kassie Roache and Meagan O’Brien reflect on their careers and more Vincent Ruan Varsity Staff

Though the Varsity Blues women’s hockey team settled for silver against the Guelph Gryphons in the McCaw Cup Final on March 9, that game wasn’t the end of their journey. The team had their eyes set on an even bigger prize: the 2019 U SPORTS national championship. It’s been 18 years since the Blues won the national championship. This year, the underdog Blues had looked to make some noise against the topseeded Alberta Pandas while fifth-year forwards Kassie Roache and Meagan O’Brien had hoped to end their varsity careers with a national championship.

Unfortunately, they fell short.

Roache and O’Brien credit their extensive athletic backgrounds as the key to their success. Roache started playing hockey at the age of four. “I started skating when I was about two, my parents made a rink in the backyard. And then I started officially playing hockey at age four,” Roache says. O’Brien peaked a little later in her career. “I was put in the Timbits hockey school program when I was seven years old. So that was the first time I ever geared up in my equipment,” O’Brien notes.

Coming from a big city, O’Brien’s earlier life in Brampton was substantially focused on academics and sports.

“Throughout my high school career, I played basketball, volleyball, and flag football,” O’Brien says. “I was always trying to be keen on my academics, but I was never one to stay inside and read books.” Her family was also involved with sports. “On my mom’s side I think all the boys in the family played hockey, and then my uncle also played soccer, I think that’s where I got the love of being a goalie.”

Roache comes from a much smaller town. “I’m from Corunna, Ontario, which is a small town near Sarnia,” she says. Her distinctively small hometown gave her a reason to focus on playing sports when she was younger: “There’s maybe 5,000 people when I was growing up.” Growing up, baseball, lacrosse, and hockey were her favorite sports to pass the time. Roache isn’t the only athlete in her family, as her three sisters play hockey and lacrosse as well. “My middle sister Carly, she’s still playing lacrosse

right now. They just won their provincial title last summer, so that’s pretty cool.”

O’Brien and Roache both are avid Maple Leafs fans and they grew up idolizing several Leafs players. “If you look at my closet, you can see about five different sizes of a Matt Sundin jersey because I just kept outgrowing it. So that was definitely my favourite player growing up,” O’Brien explains. “I really liked Curtis Joseph and Tie Domi,” Roache adds.

The pressure of playing for one of the top schools in Canada can add some serious weight to one’s shoulders, especially as a rookie. Roache notes that her experience in her first year was quite different from what she was used to.

“When I came in, I think I was one of two people that didn’t play junior, which is the highest level. So not playing at a pace that the other girls were used to, I felt like I was a step behind,” she says.

O’Brien agrees with the difference in the overall atmosphere as well. “Especially coming from a team where you were just a senior and you know, probably the leading goal scorer. You come in and you’re like a little fish in a big pond all over again,” she says.

Although playing for a university was certainly different, O’Brien tried to make the best of it. “As a rookie on the team there was obviously pressure to try to keep a spot on the lineup, but we just always tried to constantly remind ourselves to enjoy every moment, even if it wasn’t exactly what we wanted, or if we weren’t getting the ice time we now get,” she explains.

Now both players are in their final year, and have gotten used to the intense schedule of a student athlete.

“It varies heavily, day to day. Some days I’m up at 6:00 am and we’ll go until 9:00 at night. Other days I won’t have anything until 10:00 am or noon, and then I’ll be going till 10:00 pm,” Roache says. She notes that her daily schedule can be hectic and spontaneous. “It’s very hard to be able to wake up at different times everyday.”

This schedule can be very timeconsuming, especially for a full-time university student. “You’re always looking at a practice for sure, but some days we have up to three practices,” O’Brien adds. “Daily, we always have at least one practice, and sometimes a workout. And

then weekends are games, always.”

Although daily routines can be stressful and busy, they try to make the best of it. “I’d say friends and family help a lot,” Roache says. “To just have people in your life that are there to support your goals and just to help out in any way possible, like send meals up, or bring groceries when they come… I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own, I don’t think.”

O’Brien stresses the importance of friends and family too. “I have the privilege of living not too far away from all of my family in Brampton, so on our days off I’ll try to go have dinner with my parents or my grandparents, or my baby sister… you know, just remind yourself that hockey and school aren’t everything,” she explains.

O’Brien acknowledges that student athletes aren’t necessarily ‘celebrities’ on campus. “You can tell that there’s part of the student population who have no idea about the sports that exist here,” she says. At times, however, O’Brien does have some experiences with fans. “I was at Mount Sinai, my teammate broke her wrist. Someone saw our hockey backpack and came up to us, shook our hands and congratulated us on our success.”

Both take the time to be regular students though. “If I need a break from studying, I’ll just pick up a guitar and start playing,” O’Brien says. Roache, like a lot of students, enjoys watching Netflix in her spare time.

The two players recognize the importance of having a family-like bond with their teammates. “I feel like without the support from teammates, sometimes you wouldn’t make it through your days,” Roache says.

“We’ve always got each other’s backs.

And don’t get me wrong, you go through trials and tribulations together… But you celebrate your successes with them,” O’Brien adds.

Despite their closeness, their playing styles on the ice contrast each other.

When asked to describe herself, Roache says, “As a player, I would say annoying.

Gritty. I’m very aggressive.” O’Brien, on the other hand, plays a more cautious game. “I try to avoid getting penalties, and I’d say I’m like a grinder.”

Despite their varsity careers coming to an end, their love for the game will never change. “I think it just brings a lot of people together and you kind of have a common goal,” O’Brien says. “You

have your fans and family that come out to watch you,” she adds. Roache acknowledges what hockey has done for her. “It helps you grow, [develop] leadership skills.”

Both players will be walking away from the game to see where the future takes them. “I’m currently waiting on results of certain applications, but as for my next plans I don’t really know exactly where I’ll end up. But I know I want to end up in medical school and hopefully become a doctor one day,” O’Brien says.

Roache is in a similar situation. “My plans are pretty undecided right now, but I think that one thing that I will always have as a goal for myself will be to just bring what I’ve learned and what I’ve developed over the last five years into my workplace… whether that be a workplace or another hockey team.”

At the end of the day, being able to put on that jersey and represent U of T carries a deeper meaning for varsity players. “It’s an honour and a privilege, and I think I’m just going to miss that student-athlete life and you know, being surrounded by the best teammates ever,” O’Brien says.

The Blues made the McCaw Cup Final for the first time in a decade but were unable to win.

DANIEL SAMUEL/THE VARSITY

What the Soar Youth Indigenous program adds to KPE

Annual program gives Indigenous youth a U of T experience Isaac Consenstein Associate Sports Editor

To help increase enrolment and engagement with postsecondary education among Indigenous communities, the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education initiated the Soar Indigenous Youth Gathering program.

Soar, which was launched in 2009, is a week-long program held during March break that exposes a group of Indigenous youth to university life.

The program requires that applicants be Indigenous youth aged 14–17, residents of Ontario, and committed to participating in the full week of events. Participants stay at the Chelsea Hotel and may receive up to $400 for travel expenses. Informa-

tion regarding Soar is communicated through postcards sent out to Indigenous communities, while coordinators visit local Indigenous events and communities in addition to sending emails to the Toronto District School Board.

“Each year, we introduce high school students to Indigenous role models — faculty and students — so they can see themselves in a few years coming to higher education,” Susan Lee, who manages co-curricular diversity and equity programs within the faculty, said to U of T News in 2017.

The program is meant to increase awareness of postsecondary education opportunities among Indigenous youth, as well as engage them

in leadership opportunities. “It’s just opening up the doors for them to say, ‘here’s an opportunity for you,’” Lee added.

Soar offers an exciting opportunity for Indigenous students to gain an idea of what university life has to offer, and to bring together Indigenous youth with similar desires. By playing games, touring campus, attending workshops, and learning about the school’s many different programs, Indigenous students in the Soar program are made to feel welcome at U of T. Programs such as Soar provide Indigenous students with a fun and exciting March break while also showing them that U of T is excited to have them.

KPE released the Task Force on Race & Indigeneity Report in December.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

MARCH 18, 2019 | 23

var.st/sports

Mental health recovery programs for athletes

WEEKLY BOX SCORES

How your athletic résumé can be your gateway to psychological reformation

VOLLEYBALL

Sadie Kromm Varsity Contributor

Staring at a blank wall, your mind starts to use it as a movie screen.

You see flashbacks of the gameending goal or a play that you read wrong. The paper that is due next week, sporting only your typedout name, is the last thing on your mind. As those walls start to feel as though they are closing in on you, you search for a breath of fresh air or even a door that leads to an escape.

“Where are these opportunities for help?” you ask. “As a varsity athlete, how can I ever be seen with a concerned look on my face?”

Just like when you take a step forward to find the puck buried under the goalie or meet the soccer ball at the centre of the field, there is a whole team that can offer you support on campus as an athlete and beyond that can cater to your discipline.

A March 2018 report by the Toronto Mental Health and Addictions Access Point in collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Wellesley Institute found that over 13,000 people in Toronto were on a waitlist for mental health services and addictions supportive housing.

This shows how many people

out there are ready to talk and receive help. As students, we have access to University of Toronto benefits such as workshops and on-site physicians at the Health & Wellness Centre that can lead us in the right direction. We should consider ourselves lucky and ensure that we make use of these resources whenever we can to better our health.

Sometimes, just switching to a new environment can be beneficial for mental relief, especially as athletes who spend a lot of time at faculty gyms and with the same people.

The Canadian Centre For Mental Health And Sport (CCMHS), based in Ottawa, offers a self-referral program and is now accepting new patients. From personal experience, most clinics prefer having applications submitted by physicians, so consider this a rare opportunity. The centre provides doctors specifically qualified to treat athletes 16 years old and over who compete at the provincial level or higher and experience mental health challenges. Ambassadors for the CCMHS include professional hockey player Ben Meisner. To say you would be in good hands is an understatement.

As athletes, it’s important to

continue to prioritize your mental health beyond the tight circle of physicians you meet during recovery, even through something as simple as having a positive conversation with a close friend or someone going through the same situation as you are.

Stella’s Place is located in downtown Toronto, and is a mental health organization for young adults between the ages of 16 and 29 that offers a variety of creative mental health services and spaces.

For instance, Stella’s Studio is an “arts-based community” where peers can “create and share art.”

There is also a café where you can grab coffee, finish up work in a safe and welcoming environment, and even meet up with those you met during your classes to hang out.

The road to recovery doesn’t just stop there. You can also download BeanBagChat, an app operated by Stella’s Place, through which you can receive individual support from staff.

Your story will one day change someone else’s life. Going through a rough patch simply means you were made to be a storyteller and grow into a more powerful, influential individual than you could have ever imagined. Books have sequels, and your new chapter could start today.

WOMEN’S 3–1 (23–25, 25–18, 25–22, 25–19) (U Sports Quarter-Final)

March 15 Alberta Pandas

3–1 (25–19, 18–25, 25–21, 25–16) (U Sports Consolation Semifinal)

March 16 Varsity Blues

3–2 (25–21, 20–25, 19–25, 25–22, 15–13) (U Sports Consolation Semifinal)

March 17 Trinity Western Spartans

Every year, mid-February signals the beginning of spring training for baseball season. In Arizona or Florida, players of all ranks meet to play lazy, unimportant games and warm up for the long season ahead. And with this start, every year without fail, baseball fans forget what spring training is actually about.

From Reddit and Twitter to the Facebook comments section of Sportsnet’s posts, every type of fan can be found complaining about plays so inconsequential that they swiftly escape our memory as soon as the first pitch of the new baseball season is thrown. Whether it is criticisms over a pitcher’s speed and velocity or a hitter’s lack of hustle after a ground ball, spring training elicits unusually pessimistic and overly-serious responses from fans, prompting the question: does spring training actually matter?

The short answer is no. The long answer is absolutely not. Spring training is nothing more than a glorified warm-up for old players and an introductory showcase for minor leaguers. Take the 2010 Cleveland Indians, for example. Although Cleveland won almost 70 per cent of their spring training games that year, they went on to finish the regular season barely winning 40 per cent.

Currently in the Florida Grapefruit League, the Toronto Blue

Guerrero Jr. has generated the most buzz this spring — but unfortunately, not for the right reasons. Suffering a Grade 1 strain to his left oblique a couple weeks into training, Guerrero was taken out of the game for at least three weeks.

Let’s break down what this means.

First, Guerrero will not be starting

Varsity Blues

WOMEN’S March 15

3–2 (U Sports Quarter-Final)

Alberta Pandas

March 16 Varsity Blues

March 17 University of Manitoba Bisons

the season in the majors, as he has been reassigned to play for the minor league after recuperating. The Blue Jays’ front office is probably relieved about this. Because of the strict constraints and policies regarding service time — which dictate when a player reaches free agency — teams try to work around the rules so that

The Jays are optimistic with a new manager and fresh crop of young players.

KEITH ALLISON/CC FLICKR

Varsity Blues

2–1 (U Sports Consolation Semifinal) St. Thomas Tommies

Will Vladimir Guerrero Jr. be Toronto’s next star?

Jays are barely toeing a 50 per cent record: they’ve won nine games and lost eleven. But that’s not important.

The few takeaways from the Blue Jays’ spring training are important though, and all of them revolve around the minor league talent.

As has been the case ever since Toronto drafted him, Vladimir

Calgary Dinos

HOCKEY

Where the Blue Jays currently stand at spring training

Michelle Krasovitski Varsity Staff

Varsity Blues

2–0 (U Sports Consolation Final)

Varsity Blues

their top prospects can remain under team control for as long as possible.

This usually means keeping star prospects on minor league rosters longer than necessary, and bringing them up mid-season so that they gain an extra year of service time.

This extra year of player control can make a difference of millions of dollars, and can also prolong the exit of a star player in his prime.

Such a move was almost inevitable for Guerrero: everyone anticipated the announcement that he would be beginning his season with Toronto’s minor league affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, instead of with the Jays at Rogers Centre. But Guerrero’s injury has freed the Jays’ front office from the ire of their already-disgruntled fanbase.

Spring training can give managers a good indication of how they will organize their order — who will bat lead-off ? Who will bat clean-up?

— and how they will position their outfield. But unless any significant injuries occur, spring training does little to predict the outcome of the regular season.

The baseball season is long and expansive: players reach peaks and lows and experience plateaus several times during the six months of play.

To view spring training as anything other than a quick exhibition of upand-coming minor league talent or a chance for seasoned players to warm up before the start of the gruelling season is naïve.

Marcus Stroman is the openingday pitcher for the Jays. His first pitch on March 28 will start the baseball season for Toronto, and we’ll all just have to take it from there.

24 | THE VARSITY | ADVERTISEMENTS

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