Issue 21, Volume 143 (March 13, 2023)

THE VARSITY

Women’s hockey wins the McCaw Cup p. 18

T HE VAR SI T Y

T HE VAR SI T Y

Vol. CXLIII, No. 21

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The Varsity would like to acknowledge that our office is built on the traditional territory of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat, the Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Journalists have historically harmed Indigenous communities by overlooking their stories, contributing to stereotypes, and telling their stories without their input. Therefore, we make this acknowledgement as a starting point for our responsibility to tell those stories more accurately, critically, and in accordance with the wishes of Indigenous Peoples.

Students strike against U of T to protest

fossil fuel

connections

Demands include federated college divestment, RBC boycott, oil-money-free research

Alana Boisvert, Kamilla Bekbossynova Associate News Editor, Lead Copy Editor

On March 3, over a hundred U of T students gathered to protest against U of T and the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) climate policies.

The strike was jointly organized by Climate Justice UofT — a student activist group — Stop Ecocide Toronto — the municipal branch of a global movement that aims to make environmental destruction an international crime — and the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council’s (VUSAC) Sustainability Commission. The event was part of a global day of action created by Fridays for Future, a youth-led international climate strike movement that aims to pressure policymakers to take action against the climate crisis.

The crowd called on the university to stop accepting research funding from fossil fuel companies and endorse an international law against environmental destruction. In addition, protestors demanded that the federated colleges divest from fossil fuels and that the UTSU sever its connections to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

in fossil fuel companies. As the crowd walked through Queens Park, they began to direct their divestment chants toward Victoria University. The protest closed with a final speech on the steps of Victoria College Building, also known as Old Vic.

Call for federated colleges’ divestment

Protesters presented four demands. The first calls for the federated colleges to divest from fossil fuels. The university agreed to divest its portfolio by 2030, but the federated colleges — Victoria University, University of Trinity College, and the University of St. Michael’s College — as well as the university’s pension plan have made no commitments to divest.

In 2022, Ultra Vires , the Faculty of Law’s independent student newspaper, reported that the federated colleges’ endowments amounted to approximately $665 million, with Victoria University holding a share of about $507.7 million.

In a speech at the protest, VUSAC Sustainability Commissioner Amy Mann argued that, by refusing to divest, the federated colleges were “refusing to care about our basic futures [and] refusing to allow us to live on a livable Earth.”

ment in our laws.”

In an email to The Varsity , the U of T spokesperson acknowledged that universities must help address the climate crisis “as well as the 16 other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that address environmental and human wellbeing.” The spokesperson added that the university “look[s] forward to continuing engagement with students and other members of our community keen to advance sustainability efforts.”

Call to remove RBC in Student Commons

Call to stop funding research with fossil fuel investments

To discuss the protestors’ fourth demand, Mathis Cleuziou, a second-year student pursuing a degree in economics and environmental science, gave a speech calling on U of T to stop accepting funding from the fossil fuel industry for research involving the environment or energy. He noted that in November 2022, U of T invited Imperial Oil — a company that spread climate disinformation in the 1970s — to the university’s Climate Economy Summit.

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In an email to The Varsity , a U of T spokesperson stated that the university is “grateful to members of our community who are bringing their diverse expertise and energy to helping the University of Toronto achieve its goals – including the goal of being Climate Positive by 2050.”

The protest

Around 1:00 pm, a crowd gathered in front of Sidney Smith Hall, with some protestors holding signs. The protest coordinators began delivering speeches laying out their demands around 1:15 pm. Shouts of support and chanting from the crowd punctuated the speeches.

After the speeches, the crowd marched north on St. George Street and turned right on Hoskin Avenue. As the crowd passed Trinity College, the protestors began chants calling on Trinity College to withdraw its investments

CORRECTIONS:

0042-2789

In a September 2022 statement to The Varsity , a Victoria College spokesperson wrote that the Victoria College’s Board of Regents, which manages the college’s endowment, planned to hold an annual review of its investment policy in the following months. They also expressed support for student advocacy on climate issues.

As their third aim, protestors want to get rid of the RBC branch in the UTSU Student Commons until RBC stops providing funding to fossil fuel companies. In a speech, Erin Mackey, a member of Climate Justice UofT and a fourthyear student in political science and environmental studies, noted that RBC is the fifth-largest global funder of fossil fuels and the largest in Canada.

Cleuziou argued that accepting funding from fossil fuel companies influenced the university’s research, allowed fossil fuel companies to greenwash their image, and damaged the university’s reputation as an objective research institution. “It is time for us to lead by example, and pave the way toward a more sustainable future,” he told the crowd. “Big Oil has no place on campus.”

Call

for U of T to support Stop Ecocide

The protesters’ second demand called on U of T to put its institutional weight behind a movement to create an international law criminalizing environmental destruction. Amalie Wilkinson, a third-year student studying international relations and peace, conflict and justice studies and the founder of Stop Ecocide Toronto spoke at the protest. She called for “a fundamental transformation of the way we treat the environ-

Mackey questioned why the UTSU continues to partner with RBC. “How is having a bank that funds the climate crisis welcoming to its students?” she asked.

After Climate Justice UofT staged a sit in at the UTSU Student Commons’ RBC branch on March 2, UTSU President Omar Gharbiyeh told The Varsity via email that the union plans to discuss Climate Justice UofT’s demands and hopes to work with the student activists to “explore our options and represent students.”

The U of T spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity that the university has guidelines and practices that were established to “guard against undue influence on research.” These include policies on research ethics, publication, and conflict of interest, as well as a statement on advisory bodies. The spokesperson added that the university also has policies in place to guide its research partnerships.

A news article in issue 19 titled “Group of GTA doctors launches privacy complaint against U of T-based data network” was printed with a misleading visual. The privacy complaint alleged unlawful data collection, and did not actually mention a data leak. The visual has been replaced online.

A news article in issue 19 entitled “Dalla Lana School of Public Health introduces Black Health Masters program” incorrectly suggested that six MPH Black Health program-specific courses will be made available to students outside of the program starting fall 2023. In fact, these courses will be offered to a wider audience at a later date.

A news article in issue 18 entitled “UTSC and SCSU to increase incidental fees to almost $1,000 next year, pending vote” did not originally clarify that the total SCSU fee increases included both society and restrictive fees. The article has been updated online to reflect this.

An arts article in issue 20 titled “‘Best seen after midnight’: New Toronto publisher restores rare Canadian films” misprinted the title of the film Everything Everywhere Again Alive.

CREDIT: Special illo thanks to Kyanna Velasquez.

A group of students protest outside Sidney Smith Hall. NICHOLAS TAM/THEVARSITY

The Breakdown: Recycling at U of T U of T processes thousands of tons of waste each year — how can it do better?

Jessie Schwalb Assistant News Editor

The University of Toronto recycles approximately 1,550 metric tons of recyclable material each year. The process involves more than a dozen companies and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Varsity investigated how effectively U of T recycles and where the university’s recycling ends up.

Recycling process

Recycling is the process of taking discarded products, breaking them into their component materials, and using those materials to produce new products. Governments and companies collect waste from recycling bins and deliver it to sorting facilities, where the waste is sorted based on material, including cardboard, glass, metal, and rigid and soft plastics. The facilities then package similar materials together and sell them to end markets.

An end market is a company that takes the items that are recycled and transforms them into raw feedstock in the manufacturing process. This process is also known as ‘chemical recycling,’ where collected items are broken down into monomers and other basic chemical elements. The goal of this processing is to create material for new products.

Problems of plastic

According to the Canadian government, residents produce more than three million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Nine per cent of this plastic is recycled, and the remainder is sent to landfills; converted into energy; or released into the environment through burning or other means, threatening the health of people and ecosystems.

Rafaela Gutierrez is a social scientist specializing in waste policy. In partnership with U of T’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, she co-founded the U of T Trash Team, a community education and outreach organization focused on increasing waste literacy. In an interview with The Varsity, Gutierrez highlighted the particular environmental challenges plastic waste poses.

It is common for items to consist of multiple types of plastic that cannot be processed together and are difficult or impossible to separate and recycle. Gutierrez also noted that, unlike metal and glass, which can be recycled indefinitely without reducing the materi al’s value, plastic products can only be recycled a limited number of times. Plastics tend to be downcycled — converted into a product of less value.

However, Gutierrez highlighted that recycling limits the extraction of fossil fuels used to create plastic, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, and diverts plastic from landfills where it might contaminate water and soil. “If you compare recycling with landfill, recycling alone will definitely not solve our plastic pollution problem,” she said. “But it definitely helps.”

Recycling rates at U of T

Each campus at U of T commissions an annual waste audit, where a third party reviews the amount and types of waste generated and diverted from landfills. The Ontario government requires each

educational institution to conduct a waste audit annually and prepare a plan to reduce waste.

Each of U of T’s campuses is required to conduct their own waste audits. According to each campus’ most recent waste audit, U of T generates an estimated 3,181 metric tonnes of waste each year across the three campuses, equivalent to the weight of 17 empty Boeing 747 planes. Approximately 1,047 metric tonnes of this waste consists of recyclable material correctly deposited in the recycling.

The 2022 UTSG waste audit surveyed 16 buildings across the downtown campus, including Sidney Smith Hall, Chestnut Residence, and Robarts Library. The audit found that U of T diverted 70.6 per cent of its waste from landfills.

In comparison, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks set a provincewide waste diversion target of 60 per cent.

Across the downtown campus, U of T captured 75 per cent of all recycled material, with the remainder relegated to landfills. The report noted that paper towels, mixed papers, and electronic waste disproportionately ended up in landfills; for instance, almost 30 per cent of all solid waste deposited in landfills consisted of mixed papers, which are recyclable.

The report also found that “some members of the University cleaning staff may be placing full bags of recyclables into the garbage compactors rather than the appropriate recycle bins” and advocated better training for staff to prevent such occurrences.

The most recent UTSC waste audit took place in 2022. According to the report, UTSC’s diversion rate is substantially lower than UTSG’s, amounting to 45 per cent. UTSC captured approximately half of the materials that could have been diverted from landfills. The report noted that 4.3 per cent of the waste collected consisted of mixed recycling, which could have been diverted if placed in the correct bin.

UTM’s most recent waste audit, which took place in 2021, found that the campus diverted approximately 29 per cent of its waste, despite determining that almost 44 per cent of material could have been diverted using current programs. Papers accounted for 42 per cent of waste sent to landfills, while recyclable plastics accounted for four per cent.

Gutierrez highlighted the problem of recycling contamination, which occurs when non-recyclable material or garbage ends up in the recycling system. The most common objects that cause recycling contamination include

City of Toronto, 13 per cent of the waste placed in the blue recycling bins is incorrectly placed there. “If you put in something that is too contaminated, too soiled, that can ruin the rest of the material,” Gutierrez explained. She mentioned the Waste Wizard, an online service that displays how one should dispose of items.

Where does U of T’s recycling go?

Gutierrez noted that many items can be recycled in theory. However, these items are only recycled when “you prepare them well, separate them well, and if you pay enough money to put it through the recycling process.”

In an email to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson wrote that the university spends $588,867 on recycling each year — roughly 0.0001 per cent of the university’s total operating expenses.

U of T contracts with more than 15 haulers and end markets, depending on “market conditions” according to the spokesperson. By 2030, the recycling market is projected to be worth $88.01 billion.

Gutierrez noted that sending recyclable material to local end markets offers environmental and economic benefits, such as lowering emissions from transporting material and keeping recycling jobs local. U of T contracts with many Ontariobased and nationwide organizations, such as Waste Diversion and the Region of Peel. However, some of these contractors send materials overseas. For instance, the university contracts with the City of Toronto, which on average sends 14 per cent of its recycled material to markets outside the US and Canada.

Beyond traditional recycling programs, U of T also hosts a swap shop, where community members can claim or donate items.

Currently, at UTM, the UTM Hospitality & Ancillary Services has introduced the OZZI reusable container program, which helps students on and off campus stop the use of traditional disposable take-out containers. These containers are completely recyclable, which implies that once one of the containers has become worn down, it is able to be melted down and remade into other products. Each container is able to be reused approximately 300 times. Students in residence receive a token to exchange for a container, whereas commuter students pay a five dollar deposit to get one.

The U of T trash team provides education to a variety of audiences, including both kids and adults. Gutierrez encourages individuals to make small changes

Areas for improvement

Within Canada, recyclers must compete against producers of new material when marketing the material they extract. For plastics in particular, “it’s really hard for recyclers because usually it’s cheaper to make plastic from virgin oil,” said Gutierrez. She advocated that the government increase support for the recycling industry – for instance, by requiring plastic manufacturers to include a certain quota of recycled material in their products.

Gutierrez also said that the government should end subsidies for oil and gas companies to level the playing field between virgin plastic producers and recyclers. According to an article in CBC News, estimates of the financial support given by the Canadian government to oil and gas producers in 2020 range from $4.5 to $81 billion.

U of T’s waste audits advocate a variety of solutions to reduce trash and channel waste away from landfills. All three audits recommend a focus on educating U of T community members. “I think education is key,” said Gutierrez. “It’s important to spread the word and let people know that they all have a power or have a voice, and we all can do things to change and to reduce plastic pollution.”

All waste audits also recommend that U of T improve signage so that students and staff properly separate their trash. Gutierrez also noted the importance of reducing contamination and told The Varsity that governments and institutions such as the university should make the decisions of where to put one’s waste easier.

The UTSC waste audit recommended that the campus establish a “Green Team,” with management representatives, staff members, and students, that would focus on administering education. The UTM audit suggested that the campus take advantage of programs to recycle non-conventional materials currently landfilled by the campus.

The UTSG waste audit noted the importance of reducing non-recyclable waste by purchasing more sustainable products. Gutierrez agreed and called on universities to limit single-use food ware and implement systems where students can reuse cups or cutlery. According to the U of T spokesperson, the university is in the early stages of developing a sustainable purchasing policy for the downtown campus.

Gulfy Bekbolatova

Gulfy Bekbolatova, a secondyear student specializing in financial economics, is running for president under the Thrive UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Bekbolatova highlighted her experience as the associate to the vice-president external, as well as her experience with clubs and organizations in preparation for the role. This past year, she served as a junior analyst at UTM Capital Management and was involved in the Undergraduate Economics Council and the Innovative Business Association.

She is running for this position as she spent most of her first year online, which didn’t

UTMSU CANDIDATE PROFILES

President

Kiki Ayoola

Kiki Ayoola is running for vicepresident external on the Thrive UTM slate in the UTMSU’s general elections. A second-year biology for health sciences and biomedical communications student, she wants to advocate for better transit services.

“Commuting can be, and is, a financial burden on a lot of students, including me,” Ayoola told The Varsity. If elected, she will advocate for better fare integration — meaning that she will work with transit agencies such as the MiWay, TTC, and Brampton Transit to consolidate their fares so that students do not have to pay multiple fares across transit systems during

give her many opportunities to interact with the university community.

This prompted her to get involved on campus, and she said that being president is the best way to do that.

If elected, Bekbolatova hopes to continue the UTMSU’s Education for All campaign because “education is a human right.” She hopes to lobby the university to introduce more non-academic scholarships and awards since she believes that active student members of the campus community should have access to financial aid.

She also wishes to increase bursaries to support students in need of financial assistance.

Additionally, she would like to increase the number of co-op opportunities and paid experiences for students.

Sam Aboul Hosn, a third-year student double majoring in psychology and biology for health sciences, launched his candidacy for president as part of the It’s Time UTM slate. In an interview, he told The Varsity, “I’ve made sure that I serve my community one way or another.” Aboul Hosn is involved in the Lebanese Student Association and is a member of both the Erindale College Special Response Team and the Campus Affairs Committee. Aboul Hosn highlighted the skills he’s gained through these experiences, which in his view qualify him to run a campus organization. He has learned about the politics of lobbying and strategies to effectively discuss goals and initiatives with the UTM ad-

ministration.

Aboul Hosn hopes to increase transit opportunities for students. He aims to work with Brampton and Oakville transit to create two major transit hubs, one in each town, with direct lines to campus. He plans to subsidize these hubs by increasing residence fees, thereby improving commuter accessibility.

Aboul Hosn also hopes to increase the union’s transparency by hosting biweekly town hall meetings where executive members can hear student ideas and concerns. Finally, he plans to redirect Student Centre expansion funds towards increasing bursaries and “work on initiatives that have a direct impact.”

Samm Mohibuddin

Samm Mohibuddin is a second-year student double majoring in economics and political science. Coming out of COVID-19, Mohibuddin noticed a lack of student engagement and social life on campus. In an interview with The Varsity, he said, “People come here [to university] to figure their life out… and to make lifelong connections.”

Mohibuddin aims to increase outreach efforts. “We are an extension of the students, we are working for them, so if we don’t know what their immediate problems are, how do we know… what we’re gonna exactly work on,” he said. He proposed setting up a table “with a poster saying ‘UTM is perfect, change my mind,’ because we

Vice-president external

their commute.

Ayoola will also advocate for “more accessible” bus routes and discounts on the GO transit, as well as start a UTMSU transit bursary that will help students afford their transit fares.

Ayoola is running for vicepresident external because she has “experience in working with outside connections and outside organizations.” Previously, she was an outreach coordinator with Toronto Community Housing, in which capacity she advised low-income and immigrant families and youth about resources available to them.

She also volunteered as a medical assistant at Unison Health and Community Services, and has collaborated with the African Students’ Association, UTM Black Students Association, Caribbean Connections, and the UTMSU in planning Black History Month events at UTM.

Niguel Walke r

Niguel Walker, a second-year student double majoring in biology and chemistry, is running with the It’s Time UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity , Walker noted that he has “always been passionate about student representation,” and explained that, from grades 10–13, he served as a student representative for his high school. He currently sits on the UTMSU’s board and participates in the UTMSU’s bursary committee. He also works at the sports program office as an inclusion ambassador and sits on the Council of Athletics and Recreation.

Walker compared the parking prices at UTM to those at UTSG, noting that he found the UTSG prices to be “a lot lower.” He would like to lobby the university to lower parking fees and create a subsidy or bursary for parking passes.

Walker also touched on expanding the UTMSU’s food center. It’s “a little room, but it’s a very powerful room,” he said. He hopes to implement a second weekly food pick up for students so they can spend their money on other necessities.

want students to come with their problems.”

Mohibuddin’s campaign also focuses on improving food quality across campus, ensuring clubs obtain sufficient funding, and bringing back Varsity sports. He also wants to keep the Blind Duck open on weekends. “We want to increase the social scene at UTM,” Mohibuddin said.

If elected as president of the UTMSU, Mohibuddin plans to reinvest his $30,000 salary into the student community. “Whatever I personally earn… I will resend it into an account for the students to see, and that money will go to whatever the students demand, [and] whatever their needs are,” he said.

Safwan Hossain, a second-year economics and political science specialist, is running with the United UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Hossain highlighted his experience running a podcast, for which he “brought in UFC fighters, professional athletes, [and] presidents of big MMA and African organizations.” Hossain believes his experience working with external parties will aid him as vice-president external. “I can negotiate with external stakeholders at the local, provincial and federal levels representing UTMSU,” he said.

Hossain aims to use his communication skills to represent students, attract sponsors, partner with local companies,

and create more internship opportunities for students. Hossain highlighted parts of his campaign focusing on bringing martial arts and Varsity sports back to campus. “I’ll bring a UFC fighter to conduct a self-defence seminar for women and just people who feel like they need to learn self defence,” he said.

He hopes to focus on bringing more diverse food trucks to campus to cater to the diverse student body, increasing the gym hours to consequently increase employment, and increasing transit frequency.

Unity is a main focus for Hossain’s campaign: “UTM has never been this diverse before, and it’s high time we actually unite that diversity to create some positive change.”

Caroline Bellamy, Lexey Burns, Al Aref Helal Varsity Editors

Sam Aboul Hosn

Lexey Burns, Alyanna Denise Chua, Al Aref Helal Varsity Editors

Safwan Hossain

John

John (Yongxin) Liang is a fourth-year environmental management and sociology student running for vice-president internal. He is running on the Thrive UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Liang said that he is “really familiar” with the vice-president internal portfolio, as he served as the UTMSU’s vice-president internal associate. He said that

Vice-president internal

his research experiences in budgeting and assessing services such as transportation will also help him accomplish the tasks the position requires.

Previously, he also served as Division II board of director representative on the UTMSU.

If elected, Liang aims to increase funding for clubs, establish a transit bursary for students in need, and reduce parking fees on campus. He also wants to create more spaces for students and clubs at the Student Centre.

Linda Tamim is a third-year finance specialist with an economics minor, running as part of the It’s Time UTM slate. In an interview with The Varsity , Tamim argued that her courses in accounting and budgeting taught her skills that will help her succeed as VP Internal. She currently works as a wealth analyst at an insurance company and serves as a member of UTM Capital, a student-run investment fund.

As an international student, Tamim aims to work towards reducing international tuition

fees, as well as parking fees. She highlighted the need to create achievable goals for her campaign.

Tamim also wants to ensure that UTM students feel equivalent to UTMSU’s executive members. “I want to make it seem like we’re all a team. We’re here to listen to the students. We’re here to offer them the suggestions they have,” she said.

Vice-president equity

Raiyan Rizwan is also running for vice-president equity.

In response to The Varsity ’s

request for comment, Rizwan wrote that he was “too busy with work and studies” to speak with a reporter.

Jonathan (Divine) Angubua

Jonathan (Divine) Angubua, a second-year student specializing in history and political science, is running for vice-president equity of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) with the It’s Time UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Angubua identified as an artist and a writer. He believes that students want to experience a livelier campus life and a more connected community. He hopes to create a campus that supports students outside of academia and “really shows up for the students where they need it the most.”

Angubua currently serves as the co-president of the African Students Association. He believes that serving in this position has helped him understand the support clubs and student groups need. This experience also helped him learn how to run a team and best utilize the resources that are available to students. Angubua is also an executive member of the Black Literature and Arts Club, and served on the planning committee for the UTMSU’s Black History Month.

Angubua hopes to increase the UTMSU’s transparency and hold biweekly town halls where students can address issues and promote their ideas and solutions.

Ruth Alemayehu

Ruth Alemayehu is a fourthyear neuroscience specialist who also majors in Biology and Health Sciences. She is running on the Thrive UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Alemayehu mentioned that her time this past year as a racialized student coordinator at the UTMSU has given her insight on addressing equity-related issues. While in this role, she planned UTMSU’s Black History Month programming. This past year, she also served as the co-president of the Black Students Association at UTM and mentored Black youth in the Peel-Halton area.

Mariam Matar, a second-year student double majoring in biology and chemistry, is running on the Elevate UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Matar highlighted the importance of collaborating with different student organizations across UTM to ensure that the UTMSU’s activities are inclusive.

Alemayehu told The Varsity that as a Black student in STEM, she has noticed the low number of Black students in the field, and wants to advocate for them.

She also claims her personal experience with Accessibility Services, as well as her experience growing up in a low-income community in Toronto, will help her succeed in the role of VP equity.

If elected, Alemayehu hopes to expand the Black mentorship program that she implemented this year, and increase accessibility on campus. She also emphasized that her team would like to expand cultural diversity at the UTMSU.

Matar said she is “zealous to promote the beauty of different cultures” by working with student clubs.

She mentioned her experience as a first-year representative of the Lebanese Student Association, where she helped organize the Haritna charity event in concert with the Middle Eastern Students’ Association,

Zaryab Nissar Ahmed

Chaudhry

Zaryab Nissar Ahmed

Chaudhry is a second-year financial economics student running for vice-president equity with the United UTM slate.

“It’s just the role that spoke to me the most,” Chaudhry explained. “After my experiences having lived in residence for my whole two years of university, I found that I had a very special connection with my community.”

In an interview with The Varsity , Chaudhry explained that his experience as a Residence Student Staff allowed them to serve the student body as well as work with and support others within a team setting.

This unity will be the cen-

raising $2,000 for charity. She hopes to organize more charity events for countries in crisis.

Matar wants to promote Indigenous cultures on campus, saying that she would organize regular events with Indigenous organizations.

Matar told The Varsity that her campaign prioritizes elevating women’s rights. She wants

tral focus of Chaudhry’s campaign. He explained that he and his slate “wants to establish the city connection between the student body and the UTMSU.” He continued by saying that “this is essentially a commuter campus, and I want to get rid of that vibe.”

“I want to declare outwardly that I am stealing all of my campaign ideas and where my perspective is coming from Hazel McCallion,” Chaudhry said, highlighting the late mayor of Mississauga. “I want to be that sort of a contributor in this community, where people regard me in that regard, like Hurricane Zaryab... I feel like that is my true purpose.”

to create an accessible online platform that women could use to anonymously lodge sexual harassment complaints. She also wants to address women’s needs by advocating for women-only private fitness spaces at the Recreation, Athletics, and Wellness Centre.

Lexey Burns, Caroline Bellamy, Al Aref Helal Varsity Editors

(Yongxin) Liang

Raiyan Rizwan

Linda Tamim

Caroline Bellamy, Alyanna Denise Chua, Sarah Artemia Kronenfeld Varsity Editors

Mariam Matar

Jinze (Michael) Wang

Jinze (Michael) Wang is a thirdyear forensic anthropology specialist running on the It’s Time UTM slate. In an interview with The Varsity, he explained that he played hockey, soccer, and basketball throughout his elementary and high school careers. UTM’s decision to withdraw from the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association and cancel all Varsity sports disappointed him.

“[Sports are] one of those things that helped bring the community together,” Wang said. “That’s such a shame that UTM can’t have that.” He aims to work toward reimplementing Varsity sports and better utilizing

Vice-president university affairs

UTM’s gyms.

Wang noted that he couldn’t participate in many extracurricular activities throughout his first two years of university because of COVID. In high school, he served as treasurer of his school’s executive council and volunteered with different organizations, including the Senior Citizens Lions Club, a charity organization.

Wang reflected on his experience as a UTM student who was born and raised in China, and noted that the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held no celebrations for Lunar New Year. He argued that the union should ensure it represents a variety of cultures.

Layana Alnabhan

Layana Alnabhan is a fourthyear student in biology for health sciences and sociology, running with the Thrive UTM slate.

“The reason I’m running for this position,” Alnabhan said in an interview with The Varsity , “is because in my first year, I have faced a lot of academic distress and hardships that have affected my academic journey.” Alnabhan strives to improve the social aspect of campus. “I want to… improve a lot of campus policies, so I can ensure that a lot of students don’t go through the same experiences and hard-

Eesha (Minal) Syed

Eesha (Minal) Syed is a third-year student specializing in neuroscience and majoring in biology for health sciences. She is running with the Elevate UTM slate.

Syed wants to offer opportunities that she wishes she had throughout her undergraduate experience. She said that she would like to advocate for lower

UTSC, UTM campus councils approve increases to student

ships that I went through,” she explained.

Alnabhan’s campaign will focus on lobbying the university for increased nonacademic scholarships, bursaries, and grants. She said, “My main campaign point is the expansion of the Student Center, and that will have a lot of clubs to host events.”

“Our team doesn’t just focus on the academic aspects, but [also] services, events, and a lot of issues such as reduction of parking fees, as well as addressing the issue of women’s security on campus,” she said.

Kaustav Kochhar

Kaustav Kochhar is a secondyear economics and political science specialist with a minor in ethics, law and society. He is running with the United UTM slate.

In an interview with The Varsity, Kochhar highlighted that because he is a second-year student whose first year was impacted by COVID-19, he “felt that there’s a disconnect between the student union and the students.”

Kochhar highlighted that his various degree experiences will aid him with all of the university affairs duties. He has had numerous internships relating to economics and political science that have strengthened his skills

in the field. He also has experience as the public relations and promotions associate at the Digital Enterprise Management Association.

“I have to work with so many people and to outreach with different groups and different communities. I feel like that strengthened me as well.”

Kochhar explained that he and his slate hope to focus on “just breaking down the barriers that exist between the UTMSU and the UTM.” He also hopes to work on the academic offence system and utilize the UTMSU funds to hire a lawyer for students accused of academic offences. dents accused of academic offences.

cost for students, improved commutes, and “strengthening our sense of community.” She highlighted that she is eager to listen to students’ feedback and collaborate with different groups to find solutions to problems that may occur.

Syed has had experience as a mental health advocate for the organization WAYVE, a mental

health awareness and bullying prevention group, as well as being a UTMSU Division Two Board of Director member. She is also a director of fundraising for MedLife.

As part of her campaign, Syed wants to lobby to extend the credit/no credit deadline, increase the late submission penalty to 10 per cent, and provide

lines, and discussed ancillary fee and student society fee increases.

exam answer keys in the library. She explained that her slate wants to increase private, women-only fitness spaces and create a new booking system that allows students to book workout spaces for friends, similar to the library booking system.

With files from Tony Xun.

News

UTSC Campus Council

At the UTSC Campus Council’s March 8 meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Arifuzzaman presented the operating plans and fees for the campus service ancillaries. The service ancillaries — student housing and residence life, retail and conference services, food and beverage, and parking — exist under the university umbrella but aim to operate without funding from the broader university budget.

Student Housing and Residence Life proposed increasing residence fees by between two and eight per cent depending on room type, where the least expensive rooms saw the biggest percentage increase in the fees. Arifuzzaman noted that the Residence Life team works with a group of students to establish rates. The UTSC campus council approved the operating plan, which projects that the ancillaries will earn $15.9 million in revenue during the 2023–2034 school year.

Dean of Student Experience and Wellbeing

Neel Joshi presented operating plans and student fees for the UTSC Office of Student Experience and Wellbeing. Joshi highlighted that stu-

dents were involved in crafting the plans, noting that the office included over 70 students in the process. According to Joshi, students stressed the need for greater mental health support.

The office proposed a per session increase of $12.67 for full-time students and $2.53 for parttime students in fees associated with health and wellness, athletics and recreation, career services, academic support, student buildings, and other student services. The greatest proposed per cent increase corresponded to the Health and Wellness Service Fee. Joshi noted that the plan “received unanimous support from all of [the] students” engaged in the operating plan process. The Campus Council approved the requested increases, bringing fees associated with the Office of Student Experience and Wellbeing to $432.25 and $86.46 per session for full-time and part-time students, respectively.

The council also approved increases to student fees that the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) approved, which bring per session SCSU fees to $527 for full-time students and $56.05 for part-time students.

UTM Campus Council

On March 7, the UTM Campus Council presented a four-year plan for long-range budget guide-

Mark Overton, dean of student affairs & assistant principal, presented the proposed fee increases for the 2023–2024 academic year, including a $2.01 increase in Health Services fee for full-time students and a $0.40 increase for part-time students, to increase funding for the Health and Counselling Centre’s Be Well UTM Resource & Activity Fair, and to fund a relocation to an expanded and improved clinic within UTM. The Centre is currently located in the basement of the William G. Davis Building near the bookstore.

Overton also presented a proposed $5.80 increase in the athletics ancillary fee for full-time students and a $1.16 increase for part-time students, to further support student sport, aquatics, wellness and fitness programs.

A $31.29 Student Services Fee increase is forecasted for full-time students, while a $6.26 increase will affect part-time students. This levy increase aims to fund coach-style seating and three-point seat belts on the UTM shuttle buses,

as well as to fund the Career Centre, the International Education Centre, Student Life Initiatives, Childcare, and Family Care. The fee will also enable the introduction of a new staff member in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging under the Department of Recreation, Athletics & Wellness.

While the Quality Service to Students committee — a group of students and administrative members who aim to provide advice to the council — supported none of these fee increases, the campus council approved the new operating plan and budget, which includes these fee increases.

The campus council also approved a $34.92 University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union fee increase for full-time students and $13.33 for part-time students, which brings the union’s per session fees to $441.76 for full-time students and $171.27 for part-time students.

The Governing Council’s Executive committee must confirm the UTM and UTSC operating plans and budgets at their March 21 meeting for these changes to come into effect.

union, wellness, residence fees

Councils review operating plans for food, housing, parking

Jessie Schwalb, Al Aref Helal

Assistant

Editor, UTM Bureau Chief

The UTM and UTSC Campus Councils met on March 7 and 8, respectively.

Lexey Burns, Al Aref Helal Varsity Editors

the fight”: Students, faculty protest for gender equality in Iran

International Women’s Day event included speeches, music, personal stories

Maeve Ellis, Andrea Zhao Varsity Editors

On March 8, International Women’s Day, around 80 members of the U of T and wider Toronto community gathered at the Galbraith Building to discuss gender inequality in Iran and how Iranian women activists have stood up against gender-based oppression.

University of Toronto Students for a Free Iran (UTSFI) and Iranian Scholars for Liberty jointly organized the event. The evening featured virtual and live speeches, educational videos, a musical performance, and photographic displays.

The gathering marked the first International Women’s Day since the start of worldwide protests against the Iranian regime, which were sparked by Iranian morality police killing Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa (Jina) Amini on September 16, 2022. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, an Islamic theocracy has ruled the country of 87 million, with policies including arbitrary detentions, state-sponsored terrorism, and what many call the world’s worst oppression against women.

Niloofar Ganji, a second-year PhD student at the Institute of Medical Sciences and a UTSFI general executive member, told The Varsity, “The way in which women’s rights in Iran are denied… is incomprehensible to Western societies.” She added that the UTSFI stands in solidarity with Afghan women whose rights have similarly been eroded under the Taliban.

The event

Maryam Rahimi Shahmirzadi, a UTSFI member, introduced the event as a way to “celebrate the many achievements of Iranian women,” as well as to raise awareness about gender-based discrimination in Iran. She also called on the Canadian government to take action against the Iranian regime.

The first speaker was Iranian Kurdish novelist, journalist, and activist Ava Homa, who currently resides and works in Canada. She

highlighted the importance of the work being done by young Iranian activists and discussed the struggles they face as they fight against direct violence from the state, as well as ingrained social biases against women, and other marginalized groups. She also spoke on

ported her family after her brother’s death. She encouraged the audience to support Iranian activists in their current efforts.

After the three speeches, the organizers played a video that featured the Mothers for Justice, an activism group based in Iran and

The organizers played another video that was created by the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims. The video brought attention to the Iranian regime’s oppression of women and some of the challenges and discriminatory policies, which women in Iran face. The video also highlighted the work Iranian women activists have done to advance gender equality.

To conclude the event, Ganji delivered a statement from the Iranian Scholars for Liberty on gender-based oppression in Iran. The statement highlighted how women-led movements for equality and freedom have led to significant positive change throughout history, and encouraged attendees to support Iranian activists in their current “fight for woman, life, freedom.”

Community reactions

Among the attendees was Fereshteh Nezakati, an activist from Iran currently residing in Canada. She told The Varsity that the UTSFI members’ presentation during the event illuminated statistics that were new to her. The presenters echoed statistics from the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, which reported that official reports and activists suspect that 290 school attacks targeting girls and affecting at least 7,060 students have occurred in Iran in recent months.

the importance of literature by female writers to foster dialogue on issues impacting women.

Guita Banan, a PhD candidate at York University studying feminism and critical race theory, was the second speaker. Banan discussed the “muddle of feelings” she has felt as an Iranian living abroad when witnessing current events in her home country, as she can only support the activism in Iran from a distance.

The third speaker was Elham Asadzadeh, whose brother was killed in Iran in November 2022 for painting a protest mura, spoke about the women who have driven forth the current movement for liberty in the country, and discussed how several female activists have sup-

made up of women whose family members had been killed at protests. The video depicted how members of the group continue to seek justice for their loved ones and publicly resist the regime.

After a short break, Aria and Neda — two artists from the Sarv Music Academy in North York — gave a musical performance in Farsi. Then two UTSFI members — Sara Shariati and Parastoo Azizi — gave a presentation on the history of the women’s rights movement in Iran. The presentation highlighted several influential Iranian women activists from the early 1900s to the modern day. Azizi remarked, “As long as there has been patriarchy, there has been resistance.”

She said that she was already familiar with women’s struggles in Iran as she had also experienced them. She told The Varsity, “We’re here to continue the fight.”

A second-year student studying sociology at UTSG, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions from the Iranian regime, told The Varsity, “The problem we’re dealing with, it’s not just one or two, it’s all of them, it’s [accumulated over] 40 years.” She said that the event gave her new hope, and explained, “It's heartwarming to see people from all nationalities, from all backgrounds, [and] from all ages gathered here.”

With files from Caroline Bellamy.

Academic Board approves OISE roof garden, despite concern for migrating birds

Presents budget report to be approved at Governing Council March 30

Lexey Burns

Deputy News Editor

At a March 9 meeting, the Academic Board voted to approve the project scope of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Roof Community Garden and Indigenous Education Network Social, Cultural Practice Space. The project is expected to impact over 1,500 square meters of space within the OISE building.

These renovations of the West and South terraces of the building are intended to create new outdoor facilities for faculty, students, and staff. Some of the benefits of the project include increasing informal study space for students, improving the community’s health, embracing sustainability, and creating meaningful spaces for various Indigenous practices. The presentation highlighted the demand for outdoor and non-library study spaces — which is predicted to increase due to OISE’s steady growth of students.

The outdoor space is part of the 2017 Academic Plan, and it targets three of the plan’s main goals: Indigenization, Equity and Diversity, and Inclusion.

Shone Joos, a member of the board and teaching staff, questioned the impact the project would have on migrating birds. Joos highlighted that the combination of the garden and the glass of the buildings could create a significant issue for migrating birds. Joos

asked what OISE is doing to prevent bird collisions that often plague projects similar to the OISE Roof Garden.

Helen Huang, the Chief Administrative Officer of OISE, said that they plan to put up wires to prevent birds from hitting the glass. Huang did not offer any further details.

Budget

Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr presented the 2023–2024 budget, which will be approved at the next Governing Council meeting. The new budget has increased to $3.36 billion from $3.23 billion in the 2022–2023 academic year. Regehr highlighted the negative impact that the continued freeze on domestic tuition fees for Ontario residents — extended again by the provincial government — will have on the budget.

Paul Downes, another member of the Academic Board and teaching staff, asked if U of T — as a public institution — will turn into a private institution due to increasing international tuition fees. Regehr highlighted that the two per cent tuition increase for international students this upcoming year is “considerably lower than other institutions. ”

President Meric Gertler highlighted that U of T recruits a minimum of 40 students every year from each of 14 countries, up from seven countries previously. “We recognize that not all [students can] afford to pay the sticker price, and hence we’re also putting

tremendous effort into fundraising [and] getting operating dollars for scholarship support for international students.”

Enrolment

Regehr also presented the enrolment report for 2022–2023. She highlighted that U of T’s full time equivalent enrolments — which refers to how many students would be attending U of T if all of them were enrolled full-time — increased by 0.6 per cent. However, U of T’s

overall enrolment was below its five-year enrolment plan’s target by 1.6 per cent across all undergraduate and graduate programs. This included a small dip in domestic enrolment, which was balanced by slightly higher levels of international enrolment. There are currently over 86,000 U of T students across undergraduate and graduate programs.

The next Governing Council meeting is scheduled for March 30, 2023.

“We’re here to continue

Two students stand in front of a screen saying “History of Women’s Rights Movements in Iran.”

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

The Academic Board held its meeting at Simcoe Hall. TOSIN MAIYEGUNTHE/THEVARSITY

Op-ed: A smaller student government is not the solution

UTSU’s downsizing of its Board of Directors raises questions of adequate representation

Emma Dobrovnik Comment Columnist

The UTSU is currently preparing for its transition to the 2023–2024 academic year after its spring elections wrapped up on February 21. However, the union’s 2022 Annual General Meeting late last year is still worth discussing. At the meeting, members of the student body made two significant decisions: the number of Board of Directors (BOD) seats was reduced from 43 to 12, and an additional body of student representatives — known as the Senate — was founded. Prior to its amendment, the BOD was composed of an executive committee with the president and five vice-presidents as well as 43 seats total for delegates from various undergraduate divisions. Now, the BOD has only 12 seats, two of which belong to the president and vice-president finance & operations. To compensate for this drastic downsizing, the UTSU has green-lit the founding of a representative Senate. With as many as 75 available seats, the Senate seemingly solves the issue of reduced representation under the updated Board structure.

However, the central problem is that the Senate fails to address the lost seats in terms of actual legislative power. Furthermore, this downsize in the UTSU BOD comes at a time when low engagement in student government is already a problem. With these changes in mind, I’m concerned that the decision to decrease the amount of students involved in decision making may further alienate students at U of T.

Can the senate make up for the reduction in BOD seats?

First, it’s important to note that the authority of the Senate differs substantially from that of the BOD. Unlike directors who oversee the UTSU’s financial, human resources, legal, and corporate affairs, senators primarily advise directors on behalf of their respective constituencies. That is to say, rather than being its own legislative power, the Senate is more of an advisory committee intended to inform the decisions being made by board members. This implies that the power to make decisions is essentially concentrated in the BOD. In other words, binding motions made on behalf of all students at the UTSG are ulti-

mately decided by a mere 12 people. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not entirely against the changes that have been made to the structure of the UTSU. After all, the Senate is beneficial because it provides an opportunity for students to get involved without having to take on the responsibilities and obligations associated with being a director. Despite this, I believe that a board consisting of 12 people lacks the ability to adequately represent the interests of over 45,000 undergraduate students.

For perspective, UTSG has more than twice the number of undergraduate students than UTSC and UTM combined. Nonetheless, the BOD in the individual unions representing students at each campus — the Scarborough Campus Student Union and the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union — is larger than the current BOD at the UTSU. It’s not hard to see with these numbers that there may be a problem with how student unions at U of T represent its constituents. The UTSU claims to both recognize and appeal to its diverse student body, which is why I find it hard to understand their decision to downsize.

Furthermore, the directors at the UTSU are

Comment-in-brief: It’s time for U of T to speak up about its role in the climate crisis

responsible for the approval of the union’s annual budget and are also the only ones at the UTSU allowed to adopt policies. The previous structure of the BOD allowed for these responsibilities to be distributed among a wider net of constituency-based representatives. However, with the current reduced size of the BOD, these crucial decisions are now being made by fewer representatives.

Some might argue that the creation of the Senate to compensate for the reduction in BOD members solves the problem of representation, because the Senate contains students from various unique student populations such as first years, commuters, and international students. However, the problem lies in the fact that the members of the Senate have little power to actually influence important decisions being made about students at U of T.

Overall, I believe that as an organization representing such a densely populated campus, the UTSU should consider expanding its powers so that its decisions are more representative of the needs of students. After all, a student union should be able to advocate for the needs of every student it claims to represent — otherwise,

why bother?

Student Engagement in the UTSU

The UTSU’s shift toward more concentrated control is risky when engagement in student government is on the decline. Although the UTSU announced that the downsize was partially intended to avoid organizational issues associated with an oversized board, this motion has more to do with the union’s consistent inability to reach quorum and fill its share of seats come election season.

According to the provided minutes, BOD meetings at the UTSU failed to reach quorum at least three times between May of 2022 and April of 2023. Furthermore, as of the most recent meeting on February 26, 19 director seats are vacant. The numbers don’t lie; they tell a tale of increasing disinterest in the UTSU among students at U of T. Given that a lack of student engagement lies at the crux of the current problem with representation at the UTSU, is scaling back really the solution?

On the one hand, I wonder whether things will be so different under the 12-director structure, considering that many of seats on the 44-director structure often went unfilled anyways. On the other hand, if this is ultimately a matter of student participation, does downsizing send the right signals to a disinterested demographic? Students might feel that such a limited board fails to truly represent their interests, and I would share their sentiment. Hopefully, the proposed Senate can bridge these gaps in the UTSU’s decision making, if even partially.

As it stands, the success of the new structure of the UTSU is contingent upon the directors integration of senators’ suggestions. The main concern with the cut to the BOD is that there are too few student actors involved in the union’s legislative operations, and the Senate only partially addresses this. Overall, I believe that the reduction in seats on the UTSU BOD fails to adequately represent students at U of T.

Emma Dobrovnik is a second-year student at St. Michael’s College studying political science and criminology. She is an executive-at-large for the Association of Political Science Students and a Comment Columnist at The Varsity covering the UTSU.

At this point, the news surprises nobody: students at U of T are campaigning for action to mitigate the climate crisis. Protestors are speaking up against mega fossil-fuel-obsessed conglomerate Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for their involvement with our institution. Hell, this isn’t even my first time writing about Climate Justice UofT — and with the way U of T likes to approach climate concerns at its leisurely, glacial pace, it likely will not be the last.

I am tired. Climate Justice UofT is probably tired too. The student body is worn, protestors are exhausted — we are all so, so tired. It has been years of lobbying the higher ups, months of carrying protest signs through St. George, and a lifetime of speaking out and standing up for what we believe in. Yet, U of T has continually turned a blind eye.

It’s not like we should be surprised, either; the institution seems to have an ever-so-lovely

track record of tuning out the students — despite its entire existence being made… for students? How ironic. From taking over half a decade to begin to divest from fossil fuels themselves to employing dangerous, problematic professors, the bureaucracy likes to let things fester and rot until the issues become too big to ignore.

Thus, I raise the question: how many more of these protests need to occur before someone finally listens? How many more News reports, Comment pieces, and Business articles need to be put out for us to finally matter? The astounding lack of response from U of T continues to cement the infuriating, belittling fact: we do not matter — at least, not compared to the big green dollar sign that seems to have the institution on a dog leash.

The people will undoubtedly continue to fight, and I have immense confidence that Climate Justice UofT is far from giving up. Until the very last RBC ATM is wheeled off campus, people will not stop speaking up. However, the

focus should be less about what the student body is doing, what they’re fighting for, what the issue is, and why we should care. At this point, we are more than aware. It’s time we start probing into the other side of this tug of war: what is the bureaucracy saying, if anything? And most

importantly, when will they finally respond?

At the last AGM, the UTSU reduced the number of BOD seats from 44 to 12 seats. LUCAS GARCIA/THE VARSITY

Isabella Liu is a second-year student at Victoria College studying public policy and international relations. She is an associate comment editor at The Varsity

Re: “Student sit-in forces closure of RBC branch inside UTSU student commons”

Isabella Liu

Associate Comment Editor

John Tory served as Toronto’s Mayor for eight years before resigning a few weeks ago. JUDY NAAMANI/THE VARSITY

Comment-in-brief: Mandate or integrate? How to implement Indigenous content at U of T

Re: “The Breakdown: Why only some programs require Indigenous courses”

Urooba Shaikh Comment Columnist

After Lakehead University and Trent University implemented policies in 2016 and 2017 requiring undergraduate students to complete a 0.5 credit course focused on Indigenous content, there have been calls for U of T to adopt a similar approach.

As noted in “The Breakdown: Why only some programs require Indigenous courses,” which The Varsity published at the end of January, officials at U of T have been discussing about whether mandating Indigenous courses is the most effective way of integrating Indigenous content into the curriculum.

On one hand, Jeffrey Ansloos — an associate professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada research chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health, and member of the Fisher River Cree Nation — says that mandating new Indigenous course requirements would be greatly beneficial to students, especially at this point in Canadian history where working towards truth and reconciliation should be a priority.

In contrast, Shannon Simpson — senior director of Indigenous initiatives at the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at U of T — explained that mandating additional courses may cause students to view Indigenous content as just another requirement, which may take away from the educational experience. Instead of mandating new courses, Simpson suggests that U of

T integrate Indigenous-focused content into the curriculum of existing courses.

As an undergraduate student, I have taken

China’s surveillance balloon is an attack on Canadian sovereignty

A Chinese-operated high-altitude balloon was spotted over North American airspace in January. This airspace included Alaska, parts of western Canada such as Yukon and British Columbia, and the United States. On February 4, a week after its spotting, an F-22 US military fighter jet finally shot down the balloon once it was off the coast of South Carolina.

It’s worth noting, however, that the balloon proved to be a source of confusion for Canadian and American officials, both speculating that the balloon was gathering calls made on military radios. This speculation was fueled by the fact that the balloon had a signals intelligence array, which is an antenna that can hijack communications devices.

The balloon incident proved to be consequential to the relationships between these countries. This apparent act of espionage led the US and China to immediately break down communications, with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken calling off a diplomatic meeting that was planned to take place in Beijing. It also reinforced the rocky relationship Canada has had with China during recent years and intensified some people’s belief that China has been trying to interfere in Canadian affairs. China has since denied that the balloon was being used for spying and claimed that it was simply a civilian airship that deviated off course.

In any case, I believe that this balloon has demonstrated why Canada and the United States need to work together and take greater measures to protect their privacy against China. Both the citizenry of Canada and America and their government agencies have been subjected to attack from China over the past decade. With China’s rising status as a global superpower, it

is important for Canada and the US to maintain good relationships with China, although the countries need to set strict and clear boundaries for these relationships to be productive and functional.

China’s privacy breaches and past solutions

China has been invading the privacy of Canadians and Americans for a number of years through various means. The most prominent example of this is TikTok, the popular social media app that the Chinese company ByteDance owns. The app has been collecting vast amounts of personal data from its users, including their location, browsing history, and biometric information. The app has also been accused of sharing its data with the Chinese government. Another major example of a Chinese data breach was in 2015, when Chinese hackers stole sensitive data of millions of US government employees from the Office of Personnel Management.

China’s aggressive behavior and violation of Canadian and American sovereignty should be treated more seriously. For years, lawmakers in Washington have been urging the American public to recognize these attacks as a cause for greater concern. Proposals for federal privacy legislation have been made in the US in order to safeguard its markets from Chinese companies. Such legislation would provide a defence against malicious cyber activity and modify surveillance procedures to address the concerns of US trading partners.

Next steps for Canada and the US

I think that passing new legislation that addresses these issues would be a great start in protecting American security, and it is in Canada’s best interest to follow suit. Fortunately,

courses in which Indigenous content was integrated into the existing curriculum. For instance, I took HLTA03 — Foundations in Health Stud-

ies II at UTSC, which explored the reasons why Indigenous peoples, alongside other minority groups, experience worse health outcomes compared to other ethnic groups. One section of the course also described the differences between commercial and traditional use of tobacco, and how the latter has been part of Indigenous medicinal and spiritual rituals for centuries. Although the information about Indigenous peoples explored in the course was nowhere near as in depth as it should have been, it still encouraged me to integrate Indigenous perspectives into my understanding of Canadian society.

I believe that existing courses at U of T should adopt a similar approach to HLTA03 by finding ways to incorporate aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Report — including legal, social, educational, and health care — into existing curricula. These advancements would ensure that students in various disciplines understand the issues affecting Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous histories, cultures, and teachings are integral parts of Canadian society, and as such, Canadian institutions like U of T should prioritize them. Non-Indigenous Canadians, like myself, have a responsibility to work toward truth and reconciliation, and this begins with educating oneself.

Urooba Shaikh is a second-year student studying molecular biology, public law, and psychology at UTSC. Shaikh is a Comment-in-Brief columnist for The Varsity’s Comment section.

JESSICA LAM/THE VARSITY

the federal government has already started to discuss these measures. For example, former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole claimed during his 2021 campaign that he would take a tougher stance on China and impose sanctions on Chinese officials.

However, Canada and the US must proceed with caution. The US and China are the world’s two largest economies, with both countries being major players in global trade. Maintaining close economic ties with China is crucial for American interests, as many American companies rely on Chinese manufacturers and suppliers. Imposing sanctions on China and passing federal privacy legislation could have wideranging economic consequences for the US. Similarly, Canada’s private sector is heavily dependent on China and taking a tougher stance could potentially break down negotiations between the two countries. Therefore, Canada

and America should proceed on this issue with great caution; an economic or political fallout would be devastating to both countries.

Overall, China’s balloon incident has demonstrated why the US and Canada need to take greater measures to protect their privacy. Passing legislation to counter cyber activity and foreign espionage and imposing sanctions on Chinese officials is a good way to fight against this issue. However, in my view, both North American countries must be careful in the way they undertake these efforts, as China is a major player on the world stage. It is necessary to proceed with great sensitivity in order to ensure that Canadians and Americans receive the protection they need.

Rubin Beshi is a second-year student at Woodsworth College studying political science and English. He is The Varsity’s international affairs columnist.

There have been calls for U of T to incorporate Indigenous content into the curriculum.

SUMAYYAH AJEMTHE/THE VARSITY

Greater measures need to be taken to protect our privacy from foreign espionage

Rubin Beshi Comment Columnist

Sophie Cherubin Varsity Contributor

It’s a late night in residence and a stressedout student is hunched over their laptop, staring blankly at the screen. They’re struggling with an assignment and feel completely stuck. That’s when they turn to ChatGPT for help.

As an artificial intelligence (AI) powered language model, ChatGPT is able to offer advice and guidance on the student’s writing. With ChatGPT’s assistance, the student is able to complete their assignment with confidence and a newfound sense of ease.

Or at least that’s how ChatGPT describes its role in university coursework when asked by The Varsity

To an extent, their scene’s not wrong. Given that, in the North American education sector, AI is currently being used to individually tutor students, grade exams, analyze data about school systems and manage student transportation schedules, it’s no surprise that this student felt comfortable turning to ChatGPT in a time of need.

But the U of T students, faculty, and researchers that The Varsity spoke with painted a more complicated picture — a skill this AI still struggles with. From cheating, to plagiarism, to hand holding, concerns with languagegenerating technology abound. However, so do opportunities to enhance the original goals of higher education — and rewire them in the process.

The allure of AI

During a 2017 AI Frontiers conference held in Silicon Valley, computer scientist keynote speaker Andrew Ng announced, “AI is the new electricity.”

Ng’s metaphor — meant to compare the way that electricity transformed industries to AI’s power to transform how we currently function — was

A+ for AI?

The bugs and breakthroughs of recoding education with artificial intelligence

bold, but not wrong. In the decade, we’ve witnessed AI-based artwork win competitions, heard interviews between dead people, and read about protein-folding breakthroughs. Given these successes in AI technology, it’s apparent that new AI systems won’t just be of fering us new statistics in research labs; soon, they’ll be transformed to practical tools and commercial products that the public can use. Analysts from the firm PriceWaterhouseCoo pers say that AI’s contribution to the world’s economy will be immense, at $16 trillion in added value.

The idea of inanimate objects com ing to life as intelligent beings has been present throughout history. In 700 BC, the ancient Greeks shared myths about robots and Chinese engineers built automatons in the seventh century AD.

However, what we recognize as modern AI can be traced to philosophers’ at

tempts to describe human thinking as a symbolic system. Despite these efforts, AI wasn’t founded until a 1956 Dartmouth College conference, during which presenters John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon invented the term.

leased criticizing progress in AI, interest in the field — and its government funding — declined.

So why is AI resurging?

Current breakthroughs are happening because a new class of AI models is being in

The possibility for responsibility

In the 2016 study “Artificial Intelligence as an Effective Classroom Assistant,” University of Sussex artificial intelligence professor Benedict du Boulay studied the impact that AI technology GPTUTOR had on gradeschool classroom learning. GPTUTOR made mathematical proofs and communicated with students to help them find answers to their assessments.

Boulay’s study found that using GPTUTOR offloaded the teachers’ tasks, which allocated them more time to spend one on one with students in need of help. The study also found that students were also more engaged in learning and put more effort into their assignments.

Karina Vold is an assistant professor at U of T’s department of philosophy. In 2021, Vold’s course, HPS340 — The Limits of Machine Intelligence, was recognized by Maclean’s University Rankings for aiming to address the

cognitive systems,” said Vold. “Technology is getting smarter and smarter; we’re starting to see changes in what we’re capable of, cognitively speaking.”

Apart from AI helping workers, we must also consider the ethical implications for those who build the AI itself. Maddalena also told The Varsity , “When you consider an AI technology, ask what kind of world it helps to make, what kind of work it does, what kind of work it replaces.” She elaborated on underpaid workforces, largely across the global south, who do the grunt work of training their AI.

Paolo Granata is an associate professor and program coordinator of U of T’s Book and Media Sudies program. In an interview with The Varsity , Granata explained that new technologies such as AI can enhance students’ learning. “In the same way that math classes may [or may not] allow the use of the calculator, we might allow the use of AI tools in the humanities and social sciences

cepts required to solve questions in their assignments, though they would not use AI to complete assignments for them. “Math is not [one] of my strengths. However, I have some math-based courses,” Sharma explained. “AI has been proven to be a good tutor.”

An ethical dilemma

Along with the promise of AI technologies comes threats.

In the 2023 paper, “ChatGPT has Mastered the Principles of Economics: Now What?”,American professors Wayne Geerling, G. Dirk Mateer, Jadrian Wooten, and Nikhil Damodaran used ChatGPT to answer questions on American standardized economics exams. The chatbot answered 19 of 30 microeconomics questions and 26 out of 30 macroeconomics questions correctly; in comparison, most students answered 40 to 50 per cent of questions correctly on both exams, despite a semester of studying the material.

Thorp’s findings are especially concerning when paired with a 2023 study by H. Holden Thorp, the editor-in-chief of Science journals. Thorp submitted abstracts that ChatGPT created to academic reviewers. The reviewers detected that the chatbot created only 63 per cent of the abstracts, despite several of the remaining 37 per cent showing “glaring mistakes… including referencing a scientific study that does not exist.”

Susan MaCahan, U of T’s vice-provost, academic programs and vice-provost, innovations in undergraduate education, echoes this study’s warnings of AI inaccuracy. In February, MaCahan created a video outlining the functionality, history, and future status of the AI technology ChatGPT.

As part of the video, MaCahan outlined misconceptions about ChatGPT, specifically that it plagiarizes material off the web. Instead, MaCahan explained, the software is determining the probability of the next word in its response being the appropriate word relative to the words that it has used so far in the response. “Basically, it is trying to write what it thinks we want it to write,” MaCahan said.

In an interview with The Varsity , Lesley Wilton, a researcher at OISE, echoed MaCahan’s concerns, adding that AI “might not understand if something’s true or not.”

“I’ve heard of people asking it to write an essay and provide references and the references it provides are ‘real,’ ” Wilton explained. “The language learning model knows these words go together. So I have to have a journal cited and maybe volume number… but [the ones it gives me are] not Wilton also expressed concern about online data collection in AI tools, which, as she explained, improve with access to more data.

“Data collection is an issue because now we’re collecting data from students and from people that don’t realize it’s collecting data,” Wilton said. “So, now we have some privacy

Offering something new

To get ahead on concerns about adopting AI into student settings, U of T is already in the process of establishing an institutional advisory group on AI, teaching, and learning. The group, which will include represen-

tatives from U of T Libraries, the Center for Teaching, academic divisions, and individual academics. The goal of the group, according to MaCahan, is to “advise [the university] on institutional decision making regarding these new AI systems.”

This isn’t the only group that’s focused on the AI issue at U of T — research labs are too. Granata is the director of U of T’s Media Ethics Lab, a research hub that studies how digital media practices and emerging technologies are marked by ethical issues; in his interview, Granata promised that the lab “will be at the forefront of AI literacy as well.”

However, some professors already have ideas about how to responsibly introduce AI into their classrooms.

Last week, Boris Stiepe, a U of T professor emeritus whose research focuses on computational biology, complexity, and society, argued in Maclean’s that, instead of advising students against using AI on assignments, professors should be updating their syllabi to teach students how to strategically use it.

“We need to accept that [AI] is part of our set of tools, kind of like the calculator and auto-correct, and encourage students to be open about its use,” Stiepe wrote. “It’s up to us as professors to provide an education that remains relevant as technology around us evolves at an alarming rate.”

Stiepe added that the new possibilities of AI inspired him to spend this semester working on what he’s named the “Sentient Syllabus Project.” As part of the project, Stiepe, as well as his colleagues, which include a philosopher in Tokyo and a historian at Yale, are creating publicly available resource to help educators teach students to use AI tools to expedite work such as “formatting an Excel spreadsheet or summarizing literature that exists on a topic.”

Stiepe explained that, by getting this “academic grunt work” out of the way, students will be able to better focus on “higher-level reasoning.” Stiepe also suggested that instead of grading skills such as eloquent language — “[which] an AI can manage — instructors could grade the quality of a student’s questions and opinions about an issue, and “how they improve on the algorithm’s answer.”

Access to this framework, Stiepe explained, would have changed the way he chose to design assignments. In addition to asking students to read data and write their findings on that data, Stiepe wants to add another challenge: “Tell me how you came up with that answer.” This type of prompt, he reasons, encourages students to creatively engage with the facts that they’re presented in the classroom — “whether they receive them from [AI] or not.”

This thinking helped inspire Stiepe’s main goal for his project, which is to teach instructors to “create a course that an AI cannot pass.”

“If an algorithm can pass our tests,” he questioned, “What value are we providing?” Universities, with rigid assignments and young people eager to try out ways to bypass them, might be the canary in a coal mine for the implications of AI in the world beyond. As Maddalena shared with The Varsity , “The most interesting questions about AI aren't about AI in the classroom, they are about AI technology in the larger world.”

“AI [is] being used to diagnose rare diseases, fill in for human therapists in psychotherapy settings, and pick out outfits for people,” she continued. “As it does these things, it may replace human work that used to help establish human social networks and connections. Which of these tasks are worth replacing? What will it mean for our social realities when we replace them?”

With files from Maeve Ellis and Alexa DiFrancesco.

Business & Labour

Waze Co-founder Uri Levine fell in love with the problem, not the solution

Levine talked to budding entrepreneurs as part of U of T Entrepreneurship Week

Evan Hrivnak Varsity Contributor

From March 6–9, U of T Entrepreneurship hosted its seventh annual Entrepreneurship Week. There were several events and speeches to celebrate U of T’s entrepreneurial spirit and to connect budding student entrepreneurs with business leaders.

I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Uri Levine — the co-founder of Waze and the first board member of Moovit. Waze is a subsidiary company of Google that helps drivers navigate roads and Moovit is a service provider and journey planner application.

Following the launch of his new book, Fall in Love With the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, Levine shared the insight and expertise he gained after founding Waze. Levine published this book to share his philoso-

phy on entrepreneurship, failure, and success; he hopes to teach others how to solve problems and create value.

The Waze journey

Levine is a successful technology entrepreneur who has founded more than ten startups. So far, he has created more than $2 billion in enterprise value, but this figure is growing by the year. He is most known for Waze, which Google acquired in 2013 for $1.2 billion USD. His other startups, such as Refundit or Engie, are still small and may even fail, but they are all centered around one idea — solving problems.

Funding was the first challenge Levine and his co-founder Ehud Shabtai faced as it was extremely difficult to come by for a company that was considered rather ambitious for its time; in 2006, when Waze first launched, smartphones did

not exist. Instead, Waze was running on personal device assistants, which significantly depressed interest from potential investors. However, since Levine focused on the problem of traffic jams, he was able to get a few investors on board and expand the project.

Waze is entirely crowd sourced, so the only reason it succeeded is that the team was able to convince people that using the app would benefit them in the end. The initial users of Waze were driving on blank white maps, which filled in as they drove. Since Waze was solving a real problem, they managed to convince people to use it anyway. Eventually, it expanded worldwide, and today it is a major navigation application.

Don’t be afraid to fail

“If you’re afraid to fail, you already failed,” said Levine in his speech.

While people today are told not to fail, Levine thinks that failing is an important part of the process. In fact, to all the parents out there, he says to teach your kids to fail. Levine believes that people need to fail fast, as this gives more time to try something else and eventually succeed.

According to Levine, you never know when you will fail or need to pivot, but you must always be ready. Throughout the journey of building Waze, his team would succeed, then fail, then succeed, and then fail again. However, they never lost sight of the “North Star” and remained focused on solving the problem of bad traffic.

Focusing on the problem, not the solution

Focusing on the problem did more than provide Levine with guidance; it was also part of the startup’s marketing and brand. When people asked him what Waze did, Levine told them that he was solving the problem of getting rid of traffic jams.

By focusing on the problem, people can actually relate to and understand the solution; if Levine was to focus on the solution, Waze would make less sense. The solution is a crowd-sourced, artificial intelligence-based, navigation app, and in 2009, when ChatGPT and Tesla Autopilot did not exist, this was not easy for people to understand.

Levine focuses on the problem because that is what people care about. In fact, he says that if you are solving a real problem, you are almost guaranteed to add value to society.

Today, Levine sees himself as a teacher — someone who can share lessons and make the world a more entrepreneurial place. Although he could only discuss part of the book, it contains the lessons he learned every step of the way, from ideation to scaling his company.

His insight will help budding entrepreneurs with funding, hiring and firing, customer feedback, and more aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. The book is primarily designed for entrepreneurs, but there were several other business executives at the book talk ready to gain inspiration, as innovation is a critical part of most corporations.

If you are interested in learning about entrepreneurship or innovation, Falling in Love With The Problem, Not The Solution might be good for you.

From a young age, we have been told that we need to go to university, study something useful, get a job, work for the next 40 years, and then retire.

I was always irked by the expectation to study something ‘useful’ because I never understood it — what makes a degree useful? If I am putting in the same four years as someone else studying something different, why is the time I spent on my degree somehow worth less?

What makes a degree ‘useful’

Completing a useful degree is generally considered a stepping stone to many lucrative careers. What defines ‘usefulness’ in the context of a college degree? A common definition is the earnings potential a degree may grant in a given industry, and many students choose programs of study with this in mind.

According to a 2016 Statistics Canada study, professional degrees that prepare students for careers in business or engineering net the highest average postgraduate salaries for their alumni. On the other hand, degrees that focus on fields of ‘passion’ — such as theology or many creative arts — are associated with lower earnings after graduation.

So why do people enter these latter pro grams of study, knowing that the financial out comes might not be as good?

Extracting value from a degree

A degree does not get you everything, and there are always strategies individuals can use to stand out from peers.

Richard Shuai is completing a specialization in psychology. Shuai emphasized the impor tance of getting your hands dirty through work experience to truly extract value from your degree. His experience working in the Innovation Hub — a student-led consultancy in the Division of Student Life —

enhanced his learning experience, as he learnt more about qualitative research methods.

Usman Khan is a second-year student majoring in mathematics. He believes in combining something you are passionate about with something that will land you an industry job. According to Khan, a math degree alone probably won’t be very useful for an industry job since it is a very theoretical subject. However, he says that the degree can be made a lot more useful by pairing it with another, more applicable subject.

Building a network

Moreover, networking with peers and industry professionals is another important way in which people succeed in industries that can be challenging to break into. Understanding the paths that others have taken can help one gain important insights on how to succeed in the industry and the steps one has to take to get there.

Respect and understanding of one’s chosen profession can also help form emotional bonds and achieve growth. Salome

dent in the Faculty of Music specializing in music composition. Zhang uses her social media account to promote her music, reach out to other musicians, and spread composition-related knowledge to her audience. In recent years, the proliferation of social media has helped individuals to promote themselves without worrying about geographical barriers.

Passion versus practicality

While choosing passion generally brings one a more fulfilling career, this does not mean that everyone should blindly follow their passion without considering the opportunity cost, which is the cost of foregoing the next best alternative, that comes with pursuing relevant education.

Shuai and Zhang recalled their conversations with their friends, parents, mentors, and even industry professionals regarding whether to pursue their current degrees. It is crucial for one to consult others to make an informed decision.

After all, not everyone ends up choosing their passion and practicality is always a legitimate consideration.

In the end, it’s important for people to find a compromise between passion and practicality. There is no such thing as a useless degree, but a degree could become useless if one has not done an adequate amount of self-research and

If one chooses passion over practicality, then they might have to be a bit more confident in their choice and believe in their ability to obtain the things they want. There are always plenty of opportuni-

ties to showcase tangible and intangible skills to employers, whether through clubs, internships, or simply networking with industry professionals.

Students weigh in

The Varsity spoke with several students enrolled in these types of programs to hear their thoughts on their degree being considered useless.

Jonathan Fan is a fourth-year student studying kinesiology. The Varsity asked Fan how he would respond to people calling kinesiology a ‘useless’ degree. “They could be right in some sense,” said Fan, citing that the only thing you can do with an undergraduate degree in kinesiology is become a registered kinesiologist. However, Fan also mentioned that a degree in kinesiology can provide a student with flexibility to go into several areas of health care.

Rebecca Sinner and Rohina Kumar are both studying psychology. According to Kumar, psychology is often considered a useless degree because people often think it is a pseudo science attempting to be a science. “[Psychology is] still in the middle of establishing its credibility and trust among the public,” wrote Kumar in an email to The Varsity. Kumar recognizes the unique role that psychology plays in several fields such as biology, economics, and sports when it comes to understanding how people behave.

“It really upsets me,” said Sinner in an interview with The Varsity when asked how she feels about people considering psychology a useless degree. “It’s just a very broad degree… you can go into forensics [or] criminology… I think it opens so many doors,” said Sinner.

Thus, I believe that there is no truly useless degree as long as one makes an informed decision to pursue it, gains enough experience in the field, utilizes their network, and recognizes the tradeoff between passion and practicality. A degree can open any door — you just need to knock on the right one.

Students

with so-called ‘useless’ degrees weigh in

Yuyang Jiang Varsity Contributor

Uri Levine at U of T Entrepreneurship Week. COURTESY OF ROTMAN UOFT

Opinion: There is no such thing as a ‘useless’ degree

Underappreciated libraries on UTSG campus

Robarts

and Gerstein aren’t

libraries on campus

It is hard to find a U of T student who cannot identify or has not been to the infamous Robarts Library or Gerstein Science Information Centre.

After the recent addition of the Robarts Commons, the turkey-shaped building is a feat of both brutalist and modern-style architecture. Despite being visited by up to 18,000 students a day, Robarts is generally regarded as a dismal library. Second-year student Jessie Schwalb goes as far to say, “I can hear the cries of students’ past reverberating through the halls [of the second floor].”

Why do Robarts and Gerstein receive so much attention, when there are 42 other libraries across the University of Toronto’s three campuses? Below are some libraries that often go underappreciated.

University College Library

The historic University College (UC) library balances its Romanesque Revival style architecture — complete with vaulted ceilings, stained glass, and gargoyles — with a contrasting contemporary style that is

bold and clean cut.

Third-year student Neal Bhullar comments, “The old architecture of the building itself is pretty nice.” For students like Bhullar, who is from the Scarborough campus, it is the architecture found across campus that makes them “want to romanticize studying at U of T.”

John W. Graham Library

Affiliated with Trinity College, the John W. Graham Library is a warm and inviting place to study. Well known for its wood panelling, the library also has many study nooks and windows looking over the courtyard. Found right beside Trinity College, this library reminds third-year student Evan Shao of the Harry Potter movies.

“It’s very nice to have your own little cubicle and still have windows right by you,” second-year student Cici Xie said. “You know that there are other people sharing the space and studying at the same time, but it’s also very private and the bookshelves divide the study spaces.”

Hart House Library

Look carefully! Hidden within Hart House is a quaint library with great detail. The curved ceiling with its tessellation design, the carved stone fireplace, and the sculpted wood crown moulding are all details that make Hart House a special place to study. Within the compact space there are many different seating and desk options, which may suit everyone’s needs. “I like the open-window concept in Hart House,” claims Kaitlin Wilson. “On a good sunny day, it’s nice to sit by the window.”

E.J. Pratt Library

Named after the poet, Victoria College’s E.J. Pratt Library features a simplistic and monochromatic exterior. The library’s interior is strikingly different, with its splash of colours and a circle motif repeated throughout its three floors. Some students are drawn to an open sightline, and enjoy the library’s glass windows and glass doors. Other students, like second-year student Keivan Javdani, enjoy the space because it is “compact” and “very cozy.”

Emmanuel College Library

Fans of the eighties pop rock band Tears for Fear may recognize the interior of this hidden gem as the setting for the popular 1985 music video “Head over Heels.” This quaint library is found on the third floor of Emmanuel College. Between the old wood shells, the fireplace, and the iron chandeliers, this library is a quiet study space. “You feel like you’re almost encased within the books in the library,” remarks Kaitlin Wilson. “It’s a beautiful place to study.”

Instead of sticking to the same mundane study routine this semester, try out some of the beautiful and unique libraries the University of Toronto has to offer.

Disclaimer: Jessie Schwalb is The Varsity ’s 2022–2023 Assistant News Editor.

Hannah Katherine Varsity Contributor

the only

Arts & Culture

TikTok’s ‘anticapitalist’ consumerist trend

How advertising companies are manipulating the platform

Jwan Salih Mohamedali Omer Varsity Contributor

Last fall, a Google vice president mentioned in a talk that, according to the company’s estimates, some 40 per cent of younger people no longer go to Google as their first stop for a search; instead, they use TikTok and Instagram. And I am not ashamed to say that I am part of that 40 per cent. TikTok has become my most used social media app since I downloaded it in 2020, when they rolled out the feature of organizing saved videos into folders. My friends and I rejoiced because we could finally sort through the dozens of videos we saved on places to eat in the city and the best new skin care routines. And us young folks are not alone.

Several companies have realized the potential that TikTok videos have and the real material change that can result from going viral on the platform. The algorithm pushes a feed that is uniquely suited for each person and prioritizes novelty and retention, meaning that your experience is wholly yours and there is a sense of trust, since the content is made by regular people, just like you.

Almost everyone I know uses TikTok because it feels untainted by the world of marketing — there’s the appearance that you’re getting someone’s true unfiltered opinion, an escape from YouTube ads and Instagram’s increasingly monetized feeds. When we go on TikTok, we are seeking the truth; which is of course an illusion.

Marketing and advertising companies were quick to jump on the potential of TikTok, and in industries where it has been particularly revolutionary — publishing for example, as evidenced by the continuously growing and ever present TikTok table in every Indigo — the platform has even partnered with giants such as Penguin Random House to roll out exclusive features allowing ‘BookTok’ creators to link Penguin Random House publications directly to their followers, while links are usually notoriously finicky on the platform.

Of course the power is not completely one sided; BookTok influencers have also demanded more diversity from publishers and have raised awareness and shown solidarity for Harper Collins workers striking for better wag-

es, to the extent of refusing to review any Harper Collins books while the workers are striking.

And yet, there is still an element of relatability and awareness that permeates TikTok compared to other social platforms — a sense that it is less curated even though the algorithm is famous for being very specific. This inherent paradox has led to a new trend: ‘deinfluencing.’

The trend started as a justified critique of the way social media pushes products down consumers’ throats. Overnight, there seemed to be this growing consciousness of our increased consumption, and of the dystopian nature of phrases such as “TikTok made me buy it!” But then it all came crashing down.

Almost as quickly as the trend started, it morphed into people sharing their negative reviews of popular products and even recommending alternatives that they thought were better. The focus diverged from the need to reduce our consumption, becoming a better shopper, to not falling for the marketing gimmicks of certain trendy products and instead, buying other lesser known and better ones. The issue is no longer that you’re buying something you don’t need — it’s that you’re not buying the

Confronting the passing of time

Reflections on our impermanence and regret

Sarah Stern Varsity Staff

This past November, I read a book that echoed my deepest anxieties, an experience which was both gratifying and uncomfortable. I was studying W.G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn for the course ENG329 — Contemporary British Fiction, and, while on one hand the author reassured me that existential questions are universal ones, he also confirmed there is nothing I can do to resolve them. Like myself, Sebald was absorbed by the inescapable passage of time and the expanse of the past.

When I imagine the future, Sebald’s claim that there is “no antidote against the opium of time” looms over me. Opium alleviates pain, but it is also lethal. The likening of opium and time expresses the theme of the novel that we use the prospect of the future — or the passage of time — as a sedative against the fear of the very future we look forward to. It seems paradoxical, doesn’t it?

I’ve learned that existential questions are common among us 20 year olds who have our whole lives ahead of us and who, for the first time in our lives, experience uncertainty about the shape our futures will take. For students like myself who have benefitted from a stable

upbringing, the future has always felt linear, structured by sequential grades and summer jobs. Now, nearing my final year of undergraduate studies, I’ve realized how many options are open to me, and yet, these options are overshadowed by the question of whether any choice is inherently better or worse than others.

These existential reminders are not only manifesting in the books I read, but they seem to be increasingly obvious in my everyday life. I obsess over whether the elderly man sitting alone at a restaurant has had a good life, whether he is happy with his 80 or 90 years of existence, or whether he would undo some of his life choices if he could. It is a specific sadness and curiosity fueled by the fear of the future that makes me so upset at the possibility of an elderly person fated to an unfulfilling life.

Last summer, I watched the movie The Remains of the Day , which despite not literally being a movie about an old man, was one to me. The movie includes powerful themes of class, the British aristocracy, and facism — and yet, the one scene in which the aging father trips and realizes his physical decline appeared to me as insurmountable emotional trauma. Here, this man was faced with the “opium of time.” He had been among the most esteemed but-

JENNIFER AYOW/THEVARSITY

best, cheapest, most worth-it things you don’t need.

But why? Why is it that a trend conceived to go against overconsumption gets twisted so effortlessly and so quickly into one for more efficient consumption?

Part of it is the nature of content on TikTok itself. The short-form videos combined with the algorithm leads to an experience that is immersive with the sole goal of keeping you on the app. The continued and increased exposure to reviews acts as a sort of confirmation bias, reaffirming your desire for the product.

But there is also a more subconscious and sinister reason behind this. In an essay that has become infamous on the internet, New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino writes about how the “ideal woman” has become a mirage that is increasingly harder to capture, at least in the traditional sense. According to her, the internet and consumerism have driven women to always be chasing the idea of their “ideal self” to optimize themselves. At the center of this optimization process is buying — buying the best makeup, the most advanced skin care products to reverse the tides of time, or tickets to the most

lers in English society during a period when the upper class could not function without servants, and yet, old age made him burdensome. The cruel irony is that while on his deathbed he seemed remorseful for having favoured service over his son, the succeeding years ushered in the declining importance of butlers in a new social order where a servant could prioritize a family. Would a second chance have allowed for the father’s happiness, or was he, like all of us, fated to resent time?

Coincidentally, the same professor who assigned The Rings of Saturn included the novel The Remains of the Day on the syllabus. I was annoyed at having to read the text and especially irritated that I had to confront the existential questions I deliberately avoided. The aged man — the protagonist’s father — represented an ancient set of beliefs and the obsolescence of traditions. He reminded me that despite the value we attribute to our decisions, mistakes, and experiences, time negates the importance of it all.

It can be comforting to know that the choices you labour over will be insignificant in retrospect, but this truth is a double edged sword. After all, T.S. Eliot did not intend to assuage existential dread when he wrote, “In a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” Rather, he was confirming the same concerns that plague me. I have never studied philosophy, and so, I lack the formal knowledge that might help me interpret my feelings toward the human condition,

expensive workout classes.

Tolentino hypothesizes that instead of breaking down the need to be someone other than ourselves, we have simply morphed that desire into something more socially acceptable under our “post feminist” zeitgeist. We don’t want adverts with models and photoshopped celebrities; we want real people, telling us how a $40 water cup with a straw will lead to a more hydrated, healthier, more beautiful us. How pilates will transform our bodies, how this skin care product will make us look years younger, and how we need, need, need all of this in order to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.

And her essay does specify women, which is not a misguided specification. The cycle of increased consumerism on TikTok is evidently gendered, as are the products that it pushes: make up, skincare, romance books, and shapewear. These items in a vacuum are not strictly for one gender, but one cannot help but notice that women make up the majority of people doing these reviews and the majority to whom these reviews are being pushed.

After all, researchers have shown that women drive 70–80 per cent of consumer decisions in the US. There is a benefit in marketing toward women and tapping into the market of over half the population.

All these factors make stopping impossible; we live in a society that pushes products and feeds on the idea that these products are what can make you a better version of yourself. When people are buying, they are not simply purchasing a product — they are taking the first step toward the person they want to be. That image and that strong spell needs to be broken. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, inflation has been steadily rising, and people are unable to afford necessities worldwide, all while corporations see record-breaking profits.

But we are not completely powerless in this equation. The cycle of over consumption can be halted, if not completely stopped. It requires us to take a step back, to evaluate whether we are consuming something we truly need — and if we can even afford it. It requires us to look inward, for what will truly fit into our lives, instead of outward to a mystic truth, a magical product that would make everything better. After all, the first word in the age-old adage is ‘reduce.’

but I take comfort in the fact that my anxieties are shared across generations of often-forgotten people. They have found ways to cope with the question I’ve hinted at, which is, “What is the meaning of it all?”

Consumerism is fed by our relentless obsession with social media.

Hate the game designer, not the player

How poor game design is leading to an increase in toxicity in the gaming community

or less equally — barring the rocket launcher and energy sword. This means that I can use a dinky little pistol to easily take down a character with a machine gun.

Due to this balancing, a game series that I once found relaxing became a sweatfest interspersed with curse words that would make a sailor blush. More importantly, such balancing issues create a sense of mean spiritedness that fosters toxic environments based on skill. Sometimes at the end of the day, I want to come home to a game that I don’t have to sink hundreds of frustrating hours into to get good. While I’m not insulting people who like games where mastery takes a long period of time, sometimes that mastery creates an air of superiority that neglects the fact that some people play to just relax.

Toxicity is ruining an otherwise relaxing hobby.

James Lautens Varsity Contributor

It takes a lot to genuinely piss me off. I might get jokingly angry, but it’s usually to amuse my friends. But there is one thing that sometimes sets me off like a short-fuse dynamite stick: video games.

I play video games in my spare time to relax and to escape the problems of everyday life — like the assignment I should be writing right now instead of writing this article. But occasionally, I’ll play a match of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and lose my mind. Either I get killed more times than I can count, or I have a teammate with the mental acuity of a halfstarved, feral ocelot that has been hit over the head one too many times. No matter the reason, sometimes I just lose it when I play video games.

Now, I understand what you might be thinking if you have gotten to this point: “Why the

hell doesn’t this guy do [an] anger management [program] or just stop playing?” My answer to that question is that I think it runs deeper than any personal emotional states. The problem is video game design itself.

Poor game design, especially among competitive games, is causing a severe wave of toxicity within the gaming community. On a platform based on competition, toxicity has always existed; however, now more than ever, that toxicity is ruining an otherwise relaxing hobby.

No angels in Halo Infinite

The game design of Halo Infinite is one of the most recent iterations of poor game design leading to toxicity. Now, Halo is easily one of my favourite military sci-fi franchises of all time, but its latest iteration has caused me immense frustration. The game developers decided that in order to foster a sense of competitiveness, they would modify the weapons used in the game so that all weapons would function more

Fiction as hyperreality

Associate Senior Copy Editor

Content warning: this article contains discussions of cannibalism.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez is a collection of short stories about strange women, from witches and gravediggers to lunatics and heartbeat fetishists. When I finished the collection in the summer and reentered the dewy, sun-soaked July, I felt like I had woken up from a fever dream.

Characterized by mythical references and magical realism, Enríquez’s short stories feel a shift away from reality, yet they demonstrate how the ‘hyperreality’ of fictional worlds allows readers to explore simulated experiences that expand our creative and introspective abilities.

French postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard first conceptualized “hyperreality” as an entirely abstract space people move through, disconnected from reality, consisting of simulations — images and signs that don’t necessarily have a direct parallel in real things. Baudrillard applies this concept to capital and political economy, but the general framework can be extrapolated to apply to literature.

Enríquez uses storytelling to encompass these ideas. In one of her stories, “Meat,” readers follow two teenage girls who excavate the body of Santiago Espina, a deceased rock star they’ve developed an obsession with, and cannibalize his body. When the story breaks, the public is shocked.

However, Enríquez presents this as a symbol of human passion taken to the extreme. It’s haunting and unsettling to read about teen-

age girls sent to psychiatric facilities for such ungodly activities, but stories like this expand our understanding of complex concepts and human experiences like obsession and limerence. “Meat” forces us to grapple with extreme devotion and consider the ends we would go to in order to reach goals that are meaningful to us, if not to others.

The cannibals in “Meat” demonstrate the paths they are willing to pursue to prove their dedication to Espina and his music. These paths — cannibalism and cultism — are taboo, and they are met with horror from the general public and institutionalization by authorities. This scenario, when absorbed within the ‘hyperreal’ space inhabited by the reader, creates an exaggerated simulation for the reader that mimics real-life occurrences.

When immersed in the simulation, readers have the opportunity to broaden the scope of their understanding of the complex themes presented in the story. This created hyperreality allows readers to explore their reactions to such ideas through the safety of fictionalization as opposed to being confronted with something so socially unacceptable in real life. In this regard, elements like cannibalism and cultism represent ideas in “the real,” but only exist as hyperreal.

The obsession Enríquez depicts in “Meat” evidently symbolizes the questionable, unnatural things people do for the things they are passionate about. Many artists and writers have gone to extreme lengths to demonstrate devotion to their practice. French artist Orlan, for instance, uses her own body as a medium for art. Orlan’s obsession with art history and creation extends to altering her own body

Counter Strike: Global Offensive is offensive game design Hell, the toxicity of another game, Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), a competitive online shooter, spawned an ill-fated venture known as Bully Hunters. This group was created by FCB Chicago, an advertising agency based in the United States. Bully Hunters was self-described as an elite squad of female gamers who you could get in touch with to handle a harasser specifically in CS:GO.

However, the group received severe backlash with some accusing them of making problems worse by antagonizing trolls when players should ignore them. This, compounded with the troubling history of one of the hosts — who used a homophobic slur — helped contribute to the first and only stream of Bully Hunters getting shut down after its brief life.

Bully Hunters is just one example of the toxicity that results from poor game design. CS:GO itself, from what I hear from my peers and from the cursing-filled videos I’ve seen, is a game mired in toxicity due to its design elements that heighten stakes and thus promote winning at any cost, like having only one life per round to

through plastic surgery, something many might consider fanatical.

Outside of the artistic realm, people demonstrate their passion at the expense of what is deemed socially acceptable, too. Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol because she feared he conspired to censor her artistic perspective. Few people would go to such lengths for their calling, and the protagonists in “Meat” allow readers to better understand those who do.

“Meat” and its accompanying themes effectively fulfill two purposes. First, the story serves as a simulacrum of the questionable, unnatural things people do for what they are passionate about. Second, it serves as an example of fictional literature as a hyperreality within which readers can explore otherwise inaccessible ideas. In doing so, readers can better understand real-life people like Orlan and Solanas,

kill your teammates, it’s no wonder that such a toxic atmosphere surrounds the game. The environment that the game fosters from its design in turn infects the player.

Battery half-full: Positive game design

Game design can also positively affect a game community, like in Deep Rock Galactic (DRG). Now, CS:GO and DRG are two different beasts, but both show how design can affect the player community.

In DRG, players are encouraged to support each other fully. Each of the four classes serves a specific purpose that helps to foster a sense of comradery that gets each of the players through a mission. As in CS:GO, there is friendly fire, but you can take a perk that decreases damage dealt by teammates which helps to cut down on trolling. Moreover, you can emote and let out a cry of “Rock and Stone!” which is the main catchphrase of the game. Doing so often elicits a similar response from players, which helps in creating a sense of community.

Both games attempt to create an atmosphere of fun but, in my opinion, DRG does so more successfully. While it is fundamentally a different beast in being a cooperative game instead of a competitive one, DRG’s design makes it inherently a less toxic game than CS:GO. Games like the original Overwatch — that was a blend of competitive and cooperative — were still riddled with game design issues that made it supremely frustrating. The system of role queue, for example, made it so that even if you were a really good damage dealer, you would have to play multiple matches as either a support or tank before you could put your skills to use, which led to people screaming that you were crap at the game, largely because you weren’t able to play the role you were good at.

Creating these positive spaces in games, like in DRG, should be the new normal, as it can cut back on the toxicity that modern video games have started to create. By doing that, we can make sure that an otherwise relaxing hobby isn’t turned into a rage fest.

or perhaps their own potentially repressed dedications.

Fictional literature forces readers to acknowledge the unacknowledged in us because it takes the darkest parts of ourselves and exaggerates — fictionalizes — them. We are drawn to it because we see ourselves and others in characters like the teenage cannibals. Ultimately, fiction attracts us because it is thinly disguised reality. Baudrillard’s idea is that hyperrealities provide “experiences more intense and involving than the scenes of banal everyday life,” but that is, nonetheless, derivative of the real. Through detailing obsessive behaviour in teenage girlhood, Enríquez presents readers with a simulation of what we and others are capable of in different circumstances. By likening radical thinking and action to cannibalism, she shows us that we, too, might cross boundaries to demonstrate devotion to our art.

KHUSHI SHARMA/THVARSITY

How fictional literature can serve as a simulation of taboo behaviours

Lina Tupak-Karim

Bonding with fiction

Exploring the neuropsychological drive to relate to the imaginary

Ajeetha Vithiyananthan Associate Senior Copy Editor

In my second year of university, when the pandemic was ongoing, classes were online, and I had become exhausted from the isolation, I came across a compilation of bizarre, out-of-context scenes from the show Community

Over the next few months — aside from bingewatching the third season in a day — I took my time to watch the community college characters’ antics and grew alongside them. As embarrassing as it was when my family walked into my crying at the show’s finale, I know I’m not the first to feel this way.

Why do we get so attached to fictional characters? Why do we feel butterflies when Simran turns around to meet Raj’s eyes in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or cry over Kaori and Kousei in the anime Your Lie in April? Our empathy even extends beyond the realm of moving pictures and into the world of text. A simple sequence of words, like “For you, a thousand times over” in The Kite Runner or “I would’ve loved you if we had more time” in They Both Die at The End, can double us over in pain.

Our love for fiction is a fundamental part of the

the possible evolutionary advantages of storytelling don’t explain why we enjoy fiction. The average adult generally spends at least six per cent of their days exploring fictional stories on their various screens. Why do we spend that much time with the imaginary?

Psychologists believe that fiction — the imaginary worlds and the characters we fill them with — serves as a playbox to develop various skills. In other words, fiction is low-tech simulation.

For starters, our basic cognitive skills can benefit from fiction. Researchers from Leiden University found that reading can also improve spelling and language skills. A 2015 study also found that television can have a positive impact on children’s expressive language and vocabulary development when paired with high-quality content and participatory cues. Adults, meanwhile, often use television to learn foreign languages.

Cognitive scientists find that engaging in stories can also enhance our counterfactual thinking and memory. Counterfactual thinking is the human tendency to create possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred or are occurring, which improves our judgment by broadening our focus and strengthening our knowledge of how the world

the Sorcerer’s Stone, researchers found that reading about the physical movements of characters was related to activity in an area of the brain called the angular gyrus — which is also active when we see or imagine physical movement in real life. This suggests that when reading, we’re also living vicariously through the characters.

Empathy is a major component of perspective taking and is crucial to social cognition. Those who report reading more fiction tend to have better developed social cognition. Reading stories about people’s relationships exercises the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, an area involved in social decision making and improves participants’ theory of mind — the capacity to understand and ascribe mental states to others.

In fact, in a classic 1944 study, after watching a pair of triangles and a circle moving around a square, participants described the animation as if the shapes had their own motivations; for example, “The triangles are trying to escape the circle.” The study shows the human tendencies to attribute mental states and relationships to and make stories of what we see — even if the objects we see are inanimate.

Additionally, in a 2012 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, subjects were asked to read narratives with protagonists who were members of various minority groups, some of whom were revealed to be members of minority groups before the story was read and some of whom were revealed after. Those reading the stories with the delayed revelation of minority characters turned out to have more positive views about

Fiction also offers a means of coping with stress and social rejection. A 2021 study found that a storytelling session with hospitalized children led to an increase in oxytocin, a reduction in cortisol and pain, and positive emotional shifts in the children. Other researchers also found that stories are an “attractive way of feeling an intimate closeness to others” — especially for those with avoidant and anxious attachment styles — with far less risk of social rejection, and thus providing a way to satisfy unmet needs. Thinking about a favourite television character has been shown to reduce the effects of Fiction can also aid in developing one’s sense of identity. A 2009 study by Maya Djikic, an associate

How

While most games have a solution — a definite way to win or draw — chess has so far evaded such a solution.

The shortest registered game in professional chess history between two chess grandmasters

was played between Amedee Gibaud and Frederic Lazard in 1924 Paris and was completed in four moves, whereas the longest game in chess history was between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic in 1989 Belgrade, which was a draw after 269 moves played over 20 hours.

So what does “solving chess” mean? It is the devising of an optimal strategy by either player

to play the game in such a way that it forces a win in their favour or at least a draw. For chess, it involves finding a pragmatic solution to a game with near infinite possibilities, given that there are no illegal moves, and no mistakes made by either player. Trying to find one definite answer for something as vast as chess — a game of pure strategy and possibility — is an incredibly ambitious goal, and one that we may not have the technology for just yet.

Mathematically speaking, if there are a finite number of possibilities to something, using technical knowledge of permutations and summations, we should be able to find a solution. But even math fails us when it comes to chess, and here’s why.

Based on some rigorous calculations of an average game length of 40 moves, it was found that each game shows one of 10123 possibilities of how the game could have been played, but this number drops to 1040 if we only consider reasonable moves. 10123, known as the Shannon number, is a lower-bound estimate of the game-tree complexity of chess that explores every possible variation of a game. In this way, based only on the first move, we can find all the possible solutions of a chess game that had ended in a draw — that is, if you’re patient enough to go through 10123 possible solutions.

In 1995, Steven Edwards, a computer chess

haviour and human resource management at the Rotman School of Management, along with psychologists Keith Oatley, Sara Zoeterman, and Jordan Peterson found that after reading fiction, people reported different perceptions about their own personalities compared to their initial self reports.

Djikic suggests that it may be because reading about other characters loosened the constraints of their self narrative and allowed more fluctuation in who they thought they could be.

More recently, a 2020 study using data from CharacTour, an online platform that matches users with characters who are a good fit for their personality, found that people have a preference for villains similar to themselves, even though we tend to shun comparisons to those viewed negatively in real life. The researchers reason that when a character is fictional, we can enjoy their “badness” without risking our own self-image.

A 2021 study in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that people who reported that they often identified with fictional characters in Game of Thrones had higher levels of activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex — an area of the brain in which activity increases when thinking of ourselves — than other participants when they were considering the characters. This trend was especially pronounced when they thought about characters they liked or related to. The study provides solid neurological evidence that when we identify with characters, we may be engaging in pleasurable roleplay.

The future of fiction

Undoubtedly, fiction is important for our lives and development. As human societies progress, our forms of storytelling also become increasingly complex. Whereas paintings, dances, dramas, books, and movies invite us to observe from the outside looking in, the advent of technology has brought us interactive fiction, video games, and virtual reality to immerse ourselves in. Recent research shows that the immersive interaction these mediums provide is likely to further the evolutionary and cognitive advantages that engaging with fiction brings.

As always, there’s a catch 22 with our increasing use of — and dependency on — technology. As artificial intelligence (AI) comes to spectacular heights, there’s also concern for storytellers of all mediums about the potential loss of originality and creativity. Since AI rehashes elements from human work — such as popular characters and plot-line tropes — future stories may simply become slight variations of each other. Research on the neuropsychological effects of engaging with AI fiction is yet to be pursued.

How we will grow alongside these new modulations of fiction is something only time will tell.

programmer, introduced a concept to try and find the end to a seemingly endless game; this was called “endgame tablebase(s),” where a computerized database of all possible endgames for chess were created and stored. A particular tablebase, the Lomonosov endgame tablebase, has technically “solved” chess with a few pieces by finding all the possible endgames for their game with seven or less pieces.

What is the answer?

The answer to the solution of chess depends heavily on the question we’re asking. If chess is a game of competition between two sides, every grandmaster win in history is actually a solution. If chess is a program with the aim to devise all possible combinations and their definite answer, then the possibilities are too many to count and analyze, and there is no way to solve chess yet.

Basically, the ‘solution’ to chess is that there is no one solution, and there will never be only one solution. Like humans and their fingerprints, every game of chess, at every move, becomes unique in itself. In fact, after only a few moves, a game of chess could become a unique variation that has never been played before. It creates a world of mathematical possibilities and exam questions, but leaves no room for math to solve it.

Shivangi Roy Varsity

An abundance of space and a lack of life Research on habitable zones, water, atmospheric levels for life elsewhere

Habitable zones

Alan Tran Varsity Contributor

Extraterrestrial life is often brought up in conversations about space. Our universe holds more stars and planets than humans can imagine, so concepts like aliens or other life will always come into question. When searching for life on other planets, scientists look for planets that are at a critical distance from their parent star, such that water remains liquid; planets with oceans or large bodies of water to stabilize temperatures and avoid overheating; and planets with ideal atmospheric density.

Think about the distance between Earth and Mars: 189 million kilometres. The number is already incomprehensible, yet Neptune is billions of kilometres away. Given such a scale, wouldn’t it feel lonely if we were the only living species in the universe?

Research on extraterrestrial life assumes that life on other planets must have identical observable traits as life on Earth, like water. Water is essential for life because it facilitates key chemical reactions in animal, plant, and microbial cells and because it prevents overheating since it can absorb a lot of heat before its temperature rises.

In order for planets to contain liquid water, they must be within a range of distances from their parent star, the star around which the planets of a solar system orbit. The distance from the parent star at which liquid water could exist on the orbiting planet is known as the habitable zone.

David Waltham, a professor of geophysics at Royal Holloway, proposed a hypothesis for intelligent life on other planets. He claims that the longer a planet stays within this habitable zone, the greater the chance for intelligent life to form.

His findings show that a distance of about 180

million kilometres from a yellow dwarf star has the most significant possibility for intelligent life formation. At that distance, Waltham says that intelligent life may form within an 8.5-billion-year period.

The search for life focuses on planets with similar planetary and positional features to Earth. For example, scientists look at planets a similar distance from their Sun-like star. Our sun is a yellow dwarf star, which generates energy through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium in its core. This solar energy powers life on Earth, but these stars are less abundant than red dwarf stars.

How water is impacted by habitable zones

José Cernicharo — a professor at the Fundamental Physics Institute in Spain — and his team use the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) satellite to research and observe water in space. The satellite launched into space in 1995, and recorded, captured, and shared infrared images until 1998. The ISO mission served as an opportunity to observe water distribution in astronomical environments.

During Cernicharo and his team’s search for water in space, the ISO observed ice within comets in our solar system and different galaxies. They found that the water vapours generated around stars would form ice on planets and objects in space without a heat source. This suggests that planets too far from a heat source — like the sun — might have water, but their distance from their parent star exceeds the habitable zone such that water does not remain liquid.

These studies showed that water becomes redistributed across galaxies through impacts between objects in space and planets or asteroids. When collisions from large bodies like asteroids or comets shuffle molecules, oxygen may mingle with other elements and bear water or carbon dioxide, eventually making its way to planets. The tricky part is that these planets need to be a critical distance away from their parent star such that the water that makes its way onto the planets remains liquid.

AI could

develop

cancer

Atmosphere

There have been recent endeavours to find life on Mars because it is the planet closest to Earth after Venus. Although Venus is in the habitable zone, it is too hot for habitation. There are some significant differences between the atmospheres of Earth and Mars. Thomas Navarro, a planetary scientist at McGill University, and his team compared the atmospheres of Earth and Mars.

First, even though water has been found to flow on Mars, the lack of oceans on Mars presents a problem. Oceans are vital for a planet and atmospheric health. The ocean currents transport warm water to cold areas and keep a levelled temperature distribution. Unlike Earth, Mars does not have oceans to stabilize temperatures. Planets without large bodies of water, like Mars, will face dust storms because of the uneven heating.

Second, Navarro’s team noted that Mars’ atmospheric density was too low to support life. A low atmosphere density makes Mars difficult to live on because temperatures peak too intensely for life to spawn.

For life to exist, a planet’s atmosphere must also have an abundance of nitrogen because that element acts as another essential element for life, aside from carbon. Microorganisms need small amounts of fixed nitrogen in the atmosphere to live. Humans need much more. The atmosphere must reach a certain ratio and level of elements, along with being dense enough to trap heat for life to exist.

Earth got lucky to be in the habitable zone, to have water and oceans, and to have ideal atmospheric density. Even for planets with billions of years within a habitable zone, life — much less intelligent life — might not come into existence. Yet, as we gather more data on water and as our technology improves, astronomers will continue to find Earthlike planets and Sun-like stars in neighbouring galaxies and universes. NASA has confirmed up to 5,300 exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — and 9,245 candidate exoplanets. With a universe this vast, life may exist outside our solar system, and humans might not be alone after all.

treatments in less than a month

U of T researchers manage to design cancer drug in 30 days using new AI toolsable board game

Alyssa Ukani Varsity

In the digital age, there is a world of possibility available to us with artificial intelligence (AI). Every day, whether we ask Siri to play a song, huddle around a laptop to use ChatGPT with friends, or scroll through Instagram for hours, we relearn the prevalence of AI.

For U of T researchers, the reminder comes in the form of a potential cancer treatment.

Insilico Medicine — a multinational biotechnology company endeavouring to improve

health care by using AI — partnered with University of Toronto’s Acceleration Consortium, led by Alán Aspuru-Guzik. The Consortium works to create AI labs to accelerate the design and development of research.

In less than a month, researchers in this partnership have designed a potential treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), an aggressive and common form of liver cancer that claims approximately 700,000 lives each year.

The study, published in January 2023 in the Chemical Science, is the first to use AlphaFold — an AI-powered protein structure database — in an end-to-end AI drug discovery platform called Pharma.AI. This platform is equipped with powerful biocomputational and generative chemistry engines that allow the tool to try thousands of combinations for potential drugs and pathways.

These tools scanned for possible targets for HCC treatments by identifying the weak areas on proteins. One of these weak spots was a previously undiscovered treatment pathway, targeting an enzymatic protein named cyclindependent kinase 20 (CDK-20).

CDKs are fundamental proteins in the cell cycle, facilitating the growth and division of cells. As part of their function, these proteins mitigate the production of diseased or otherwise faulty cells, halting the cell cycle if there are any errors in the new or source cells.

But in carcinomas, cellular production still continues even though the cell is not fit to multiply. This is how tumours begin.

When CDK enzymes are targeted, the cell cycle cannot continue in the unhealthy cell. This slows the production of cancerous cells, with the hope of

stopping it altogether.

After the identification of CDK as a key actor, research to create a molecule to inhibit the enzymes as part of cancer treatment began. The resulting drug has so far been tested on live cells and effectively slowed cancer growth. However, it will still need to go through clinical trials before it can be used.

Prior to the implementation of such tools, such research would have taken years and copious amounts of trial and error. But with AI, it was successful within a few weeks.

We have fantasized about the revolution AI would bring to healthcare: personalized care, more efficient solutions, increasingly accurate diagnoses, and more. With every step we take, every study we conduct, and every technological development, that fantasy becomes closer to reality.

The realm of possibilities is endless, and this study is only the beginning. A potential treatment today could be a cure tomorrow.

Cautious optimism

As we inch closer to potential treatments, however, we must remember the double-edged sword that is the pharmaceutical industry. High demand can cause exorbitant prices for medication and treatments necessary to live.

To claim that the pharmaceutical industry has even begun to overcome these issues would be foolish. Whether or not these issues can be overcome in the case of AI-driven cancer research remains to be seen. Perhaps we might see treatments become more widely accessible to all patients regardless of their socioeconomic status — or perhaps these developing treatments will only serve to help those who can afford them.

Contributor

“It’s pure joy”: Women’s hockey hoists the McCaw Cup

Céline Frappier’s late goal brings Blues to second championship in three years

Cole Hayes Varsity Contributor

On Saturday evening, The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team defeated the Nipissing Lakers 2–1 and won the 2023 McCaw Cup. Star forward Céline Frappier scored the winning goal with 28.4 seconds left in the third period to help the Blues capture their 19th McCaw Cup in school history.

“We’ve been putting in so much work, we’re so happy! We fought till the end. You can’t help but smile [and] cry. Our team’s exhausted but we gave it everything, that’s why. It’s pure joy,” said Blues forward Natasha Athanasakos.

What happened

The seats were packed with energetic fans at Varsity Arena and the atmosphere seemed to encourage the Blues’ offensive pressure. They had a few scoring chances but Lakers goaltender Chantelle Sandquist was a brick wall, stopping all 20 shots she faced in the opening frame. The Lakers had their best chance when they got a two-on-one on a breakaway, but goaltender Erica Fryer robbed the Lakers and kept the game tied at zero.

In the second period, the Blues continued to get shots on net but, despite the hostile crowd, Sandquist was stopping everything the Blues threw at her. Though dominated by the shots, it was the Lakers who struck first with a power-play goal. Three Blues players were in a

puck battle along the boards and the front of the net was uncovered — giving Lakers for ward Lana Duriez a chance to bury her own rebound and finally beat one of the two goal ies. The Blues went into the third period trailing 1–0 despite outshooting the Lakers 39–21. It felt like nothing was going to beat Sandquist. The Blues battled in the third period, but Sandquist con tinued standing on her

head. Blues forward Nikki McDonald was called for roughing late in the game, and on

fenceman Allison Hayhurst behind the net, burying a wraparound to finally beat Sandquist

The Blues kept pushing, and with 28.4 seconds left in the game, Frappier cemented herself as a Varsity Blues legend with the McCaw

“I have no words to explain how I’m feeling right now, but this was definitely the cherry on top,” said Frappier, who had a magical season between the McCaw Cup Championship and the gold medal with Team Canada at the FISU

“Everyone had their heart in it, and everyone just wanted to win as bad as they could,” The Varsity.

The Blues battled down to the last buzzer and will now play for a national championship as McCaw Cup cham-

“Throughout this playoff series, we just keep getting better and better. This group of girls is something special… we have a lot of momentum carrying us with this big win tonight,”

The Blues will play at the USPORTS championships starting March 16 in Montreal with a chance to be Canada’s best.

Varsity Blues snatch bronze with competitive win against York Lions

Kunal Dadlani Associate Sports Editor

On March 10, The Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team defeated the York Lions 3–1 at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. As a result, the Blues won the bronze medal for this season in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), while also securing qualification for the USPORTS Championship in Hamilton this weekend.

“The nationals is a goal for our whole team this whole year, so we just knew we had to come out here and get it done,” Blues hitter Mitchell Neuert said in a post-game interview with The Varsity

The Blues beat the Lions twice earlier this season, but regardless, the implications of the bronze medal game weighed heavily on them. “The message in the team room between the guys was to play for each other… [and] show a lot of heart,” Neuert said. With so much on the line, the Blues certainly needed to perform with heart to win today.

What happened

The first set was tight with each side trading points. Neither side was able to claim anything other than a small, one-point lead. An attack error from Lions outside hitter Josh Fadare gave the Blues their biggest lead, at 11–7. Later in the set, a kill from York outside hitter Andrew Tauhid started a Lions run that saw them take a 19–18 lead and force a Blues timeout. Nevertheless, the Blues persevered, as a service ace from hitter Evan Falardeau followed by a York attack error delivered the first set 25–22 to the Blues.

The second set was similar to the first, with both sides trading points. A brilliant block from middle hitter Hayden Cavender gave the Blues their biggest lead of the set at 9–7, yet York responded with five unanswered points, including three more kills from Tauhid, to take a 12–9 lead.

Midway into the second set, back-to-back attack errors from outside hitter Dan Lafleur handed the momentum back to the Blues, giv-

ing them a one-point lead. Combined kills from Falardeau and Neuert gave the Blues a 21–18 lead, forcing a York timeout. Another dramatic kill from Falardeau placed the Blues at set point, and ultimately a service error from Tauhid gave the Blues the set 25–23.

York started the third set on top, with three more kills from Tauhid, giving them a 4–2 lead. Yet, a pair of kills from hitter Jayden Talsma helped the Blues recover and tie the game 5–5. The set remained tight, and a kill from Tauhid — his 22nd of the game — gave the Lions a 19–17 lead. Nevertheless, despite their best efforts, a powerful kill from Lions Josh Fadare ended the set 25–23, forcing a fourth set.

With the fourth set, the Blues took the first points for the first time in the game, yet neither side could maintain or extend their lead once again. Two kills from Falardeau helped the Blues take a 14–12 lead, though the Lions continued to cut into that lead. Eventually, a kill from Tauhid and Fadare, their respective 25th and

19th of the game, gave the Lions a small 17–16 lead and a timeout from the Blues. Soon, an attack error from Fadare gave the Blues their own one-point lead, at 22–21 and forced a Lions timeout. The set was destined for another close finish — the Blues were determined to end the game, and the Lions were determined to force a fifth set. Ultimately, a powerful kill from Neuert ended the set 25–23 and secured victory for the Blues.

For the Blues, Neuert finished with a team high of 13 kills and 12 digs. On the other side, Tahuid and Fadare finished with 27 and 23 kills respectively.

What’s next

The Blues’ OUA season has finished, but they will head to Hamilton on March 17 to participate in the men’s volleyball USPORTS Championship.

“We’re going to have a tough opponent,” Neuert said. “But, we’re going to be ready.”

The girls win the McCaw cup for the second time in the last three years.

MEKHI QUARSHIE/THEVARSITY

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Tolu Ahmed: A man of many talents

Ahmed is one of 12 athletes invited to CFL National Combine

Victoria Paulus Varsity Contributor

Tolu Ahmed, a six-feet-three-inches powerful defensive back, has been a valuable asset to the University of Toronto Blues men’s football team since 2018, putting in hard and consistent work as a student athlete both on and off the field.

Throughout the past five years, Ahmed has been a dedicated and goal-driven athlete who has worked incredibly hard to achieve his goals and get to where he is today — an official invitee to the 2023 Canadian Football League (CFL) National Combine.

Amid his busy training schedule, Ahmed sat down with The Varsity to discuss his life on and off the pitch, as well as his plans to prepare for the 2023 CFL National Combine.to discuss how his football career took off, the mental and physical aspects to the game, and how he plans to prepare for the 2023 CFL National Combine.

High school experience

Ahmed grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, and attended École secondaire catholique Pierre-Savard. Before becoming a football star, he played basketball, but when he transferred schools halfway through high school, there was a transfer rule in place that prevented him from playing basketball in his transfer year.

At the time, Ahmed’s best friend was playing football at the school and he decided to give it a try, since he couldn’t play basketball. “It just stuck, I kind of just never left the field, and I’ve been playing ever since.”

University experience

Attending U of T gave Ahmed the opportunity to flourish as a student athlete and explore not one, but two of his passions in life: football and art.

Ahmed is a fifth-year visual arts student and is an avid artist. When the COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in Ontario University Athletics canceling sports from October 2020 to March 2021, Ahmed

delved deeper into the craft: “I got better and when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, I didn’t have much to do, so I started honing in on my art.”

“Not to sound corny, but it’s my escape from reality,” said Ahmed.

The Blues’ brotherhood

Ahmed said that his favourite part about playing football is the brotherhood that comes with it and how this pushes him to achieve excellence daily.

“We are all working for a common goal: to win,” he said. “Achieving this is what I play for.”

Ahmed excelled in the 2021 season, which ultimately set him up for success and his place at the combine. He finished third on the Blues in the regular season with 29 tackles, four pass break ups, and a forced fumble.

Over the past five years, Ahmed has created memories that he will carry with him forever. However, making the playoffs for the first time in 2021 is his favourite.

“It was a testament to how hard our team worked day in and day out, and how far we came since my first year at U of T,” said Ahmed.

He described his university experience at U of T as a good one, and that he was surprised that the time had gone by so fast. He reminisced on good times, while at the same time expressed excitement for what lay ahead.

Invite to the CFL Regional Combine

The Varsity Blues’ Twitter announced that Ahmed, along with four of his teammates, were invited to the 2023 CFL Combine on February 7.

“When I got the invite for the combine, I felt good,” Ahmed said. “It was reassuring to finally get some good feedback for all the hard work I’ve been putting in.”

The CFL Regional Combine, also referred to as the invitational, is a smaller combine that tests players’ physical and mental abilities to analyze whether or not they are able to play at the national level.

When asked how he trains for a combine at this level, Ahmed said he believes it is more mental than

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff push

The NHL trade deadline is a time for teams and their general managers (GMs) to prove themselves with moves that can potentially make or break a season. Teams are either sellers looking to bolster their draft picks and young talent, or buyers looking to spend what they can to improve their team for a run at the Stanley Cup a couple of months down the road.

GM Kyle Dubas of the Toronto Maple Leafs is constantly under pressure from fans and media to improve his roster. However, considering it's the final year of his contract combined with the lacklustre playoff performances of recent years, Dubas may have come into the deadline with a need to prove something to his higher ups and the fans that have been deprived of a secondround playoff series for nearly 20 years.

The 2023 NHL trade deadline has shown that the Leafs are willing to do whatever it takes to win the playoffs. But is the risk worth the reward?

Time after time, teams have gunned for a championship but found themselves hung out to dry the following season. The 2022 Tampa Bay Lightning gave up five draft picks — including two firsts — to bolster an unsuccessful playoff run. The 2019 Toronto Raptors traded star players DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl for superstar Kawhi Leonard and proceeded to win a championship, but they have underperformed since.

Taking the risk to win has historically produced both successful and unsuccessful results. Even when a team wins the same season, they pay the price of future years of failure. But for the Leafs, going all in seems like the only option. Fans are tired of experiencing “decent” trade deadlines only to watch their team lose in the first round every year. The Leafs have their backs against the wall. They have exhausted every option to succeed — taking a big risk for the potential of a big reward might as well be their only option.

On paper, the Leafs are all in. But what does that mean? It seems like the Leafs have mortgaged their future by trading away two first-round picks and five other future draft picks in exchange for a rental centre Ryan O’Reilly and other key pieces that may help them win this season.

But, taking a deeper look into what wasn’t traded and adding some context to the trades may ease fans’ worries about the future.

The most valuable assets the Leafs traded are easily the pair of first-round picks and Rasmus Sandin. Sandin, 23, is a promising but inexperienced defenseman. In trading him away, Dubas replenished one of the firsts he gave up in previous trades and opened up more playing time for the experienced Jake McCabe and Luke Schenn.

McCabe may sneakily be the best pickup by Toronto; he’s a defense-oriented NHL veteran who will fill the slot nicely beside TJ Brodie on the second line. However, all eyes are on for-

anything else. “I feel like if you’ve been invited to this, you’re supposed to be there, you’ve shown enough physically to even warrant the invite.”

“I try to surround myself with good vibes and people that I know have my best interest at hand,” Ahmed said.

He is also into meditating, which he says is a good way to keep his mental health together. “I try to do it as much as I can, to just lock in and ignore all that extra noise.”

One thing he was hoping to showcase the most going into the combine was his competi tiveness. “I’m still quite young in my football ca reer, so I know that I can improve in every aspect of my game, and I just feel like my competitive ness is what separates me from other players.”

National combine

On March 3, Ahmed was one of the 12 players to advance from the CFL invitational combine to the national combine. The defensive back put up a 4.60 second 40 yard and a 10 feet, 3 and 3/8 inches broad jump; he placed second and third in those respective tests.

Ahmed is one step closer to his goals, and his positive attitude and passion for football will get him where he deserves to be.

“It feels good to be recognized for the work I put in with my teammates, but it makes me want to go that much harder and prove to myself what I’m capable of,” said Ahmed.

In preparation for the National Combine, he has been training with Elite Combine Prep, which is a team of trainers that have helped Ahmed dur ing his offseason.

Looking ahead

After university, Ahmed has many goals for him self pertaining to his passions in life — football and art.

“I definitely got some goals in mind for football and art, but I’ve learnt that things rarely go exact ly the way I plan,” he said. “I’m just gonna keep putting in the work and see where I end up.”

The CFL National Combine is set to take place in Edmonton from March 22 to 26.

Keep up with Ahmed on his socials to watch his journey to the combine and support his passions for both football and art.

mer Selke Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly from the Blues. The 31-year-old centre solidifies the Leafs as one of the best offensive teams in the league on paper, while adding Stanley Cup experience and veteran leadership to the lineup. Unfortunately, he’s been placed on the injury roster for four weeks after surgery on his broken finger.

Despite this, the Leafs still have a first-round pick in this year’s draft, and they kept prized prospect Matthew Knies, who may be able to make an impact in the NHL when he’s done play-

ing with the University of Minnesota.

Dubas armed this Leafs team with everything they needed to not only make it past the first round, but also to win the Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins are having an unbelievable season, and they, like many other teams in the East, strengthened their team at the deadline. It may be a tough road through the East this year, but like every other recent season, a first-round exit will be a disappointment for the franchise — as will anything short of a Stanley Cup.

Justyn Aleluia Varsity Contributor

Tolu Ahmed keeps his eyes on the ball. COURTESY OF VBM

COURTESY OF THE AHL/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

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