UofT’sMuslimLaw flagsStudents’Association contentIslamophobicinEDIcourse
membersreflecton thirdanniversaryof Russia’swaronUkraine
T HE VA RSI T Y
21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600
thevarsity.ca thevarsitynewspaper @TheVarsity thevarsitypublications the.varsity The Varsity
Vol. CXLV, No. 21 MASTHEAD
Eleanor Yuneun Park editor@thevarsity.ca
Editor-in-Chief
Kaisa Kasekamp creative@thevarsity.ca
Creative Director
Kyla Cassandra Cortez managingexternal@thevarsity.ca
Managing Editor, External
Ajeetha Vithiyananthan managinginternal@thevarsity.ca
Managing Editor, Internal
Maeve Ellis online@thevarsity.ca
Managing Online Editor
Ozair Anwar Chaudhry copy@thevarsity.ca
Senior Copy Editor
Isabella Reny deputysce@thevarsity.ca
Deputy Senior Copy Editor
Selia Sanchez news@thevarsity.ca
News Editor
James Bullanoff deputynews@thevarsity.ca
Deputy News Editor
Olga Fedossenko assistantnews@thevarsity.ca
Assistant News Editor
Charmaine Yu opinion@thevarsity.ca
Opinion Editor
Rubin Beshi biz@thevarsity.ca
Business & Labour Editor
Sophie Esther Ramsey features@thevarsity.ca
Features Editor
Divine Angubua arts@thevarsity.ca
Arts & Culture Editor
Medha Surajpal science@thevarsity.ca
Science Editor
Jake Takeuchi sports@thevarsity.ca
Sports Editor
Nicolas Albornoz design@thevarsity.ca
Design Editor
Aksaamai Ormonbekova design@thevarsity.ca
Design Editor
Zeynep Poyanli photos@thevarsity.ca
Photo Editor
Vicky Huang illustration@thevarsity.ca
Illustration Editor
Genevieve Sugrue, Milena Pappalardo video@thevarsity.ca
Video Editors
Emily Shen emilyshen@thevarsity.ca
Front End Web Developer
Andrew Hong andrewh@thevarsity.ca
Back End Web Developer
Razia Saleh utm@thevarsity.ca
UTM Bureau Chief
Urooba Shaikh utsc@thevarsity.ca
UTSC Bureau Chief
Matthew Molinaro grad@thevarsity.ca
Graduate Bureau Chief
Vacant publiceditor@thevarsity.ca
Public Editor
Associate Senior Copy Editors
Associate Sports Editors
Asmi Khanna, Damola Omole, Sharon Chan
Associate News Editors
Avin De, Shontia Sanders
Associate Opinion Editors
Caitlin Adams, Ameer N. Vidal
Associate Features Editors
Sofia Moniz, Chris Zdravko
Associate A&C Editors
Mashiyat Ahmed, Ridhi Balani
Associate Science Editors
Mariana Dominguez Rodriguez
Social Media Manager
Cover Zeynep Poyanli :
Medha Barath, Aunkita Roy Associate B&L Editors
Loise Yaneza, Brennan Karunaratne Associate Design Editors
Jaylin Kim, Chloe Weston, Simona Agostino
Associate Illo Editors
Jason Wang, Kate Wang
Associate Photo Editors
Nidhil Vohra, Jennifer Song Associate Video Editors
Yan Luk, Sataphon Obra
Associate Web Developers
BUSINESS OFFICE
Ishir Wadhwa business@thevarsity.ca
Business Manager
Rania Sadik raniasadik@thevarsity.ca
Business Associate
Eva Tsai, Muzna Arif advertising@thevarsity.ca
Advertising Executives
The Varsity acknowledges 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.
U of T’s Muslim Law Student Association flags Islamophobic content in EDI course
NCCM campaign calls on U of T Faculty of Law for public apology
Urooba Shaikh UTSC Bureau Chief
Content warning: This article discusses Islamophobia and mentions antisemitism.
On January 30, U of T’s Muslim Law Students’ Association (MLSA) released a statement expressing concerns over an online Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training course assigned to first-year law students that contained Islamophobic content.
The issue has since been raised to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which started a campaign to demand a public apology from U of T’s Faculty of Law.
The course’s content Titled “Antisemitism: From Its Origins to the Present,” the course is available through the open online course provider Coursera. The course contains six modules, with the first module titled “What is Antisemitism? Definitions and Origins” assigned to first-year students to complete by January 31. The module was part of the Faculty of Law’s mandatory “EDI and Professionalism” program for first years.
The online course was created and is taught by two instructors who are part of Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to Holocaust victims, established by the Israeli Parliament in 1953.
Students would also later receive emails from Coursera with content summaries of other modules in the course.
Module five’s summary, titled “The Islamic and Arab World” stated, “The historical context of Allah’s anger towards the Jews significantly shaped the Muslim community’s attitudes and interactions with Jewish populations,” and that “The emergence of Islamism has profoundly influenced modern extremist movements, with roots in ideological foundations established by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“Allah” refers to the Arabic word for “god,” and “Islamism” refers to a set of political ideologies that draw from Islamic tradition and are often wrongly conflated with terrorism.
In the MLSA’s statement on Instagram, it wrote that “Amongst other claims, the modules propagandize Islamic history, using the Holy Quran and Hadith to make empirically false and dangerous claims that Muslims are antisemitic […] [They] make blatantly Islamophobic and prejudicial assertions that Muslim societies are unaware of notions of equality and paint Muslims as terrorists.”
The Varsity was able to access the course’s materials. In a module five video titled “A Distorted Interpretation of the Past,” Esther Webman, a former research fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, claims that “Anti-semitism is rooted in the Islamic text because
the Islamic texts are used in order to create modern times anti-semitism.”
MLSA members Humza Khan, Sakina Hasnain, and Samar Moghal wrote for U of T Faculty of Law’s independent student newspaper Ultra Vires that the timing of the course’s assignment was “especially disturbing” given that January 29 is recognized as the National Day of Remembrance and Action against Islamophobia in commemoration of the Québec City Mosque Shooting.
The 2017 mass shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Québec City killed six men and seriously injured five others.
“This heinous act of terrorism, fueled by Islamophobic vitriol, serves as a solemn reminder that prejudice exists within our communities and country. This year, […] Muslim students at U of T Law were given a rude awakening and stark reminder that our school is no different,” they wrote.
Faculty of Law’s response and updated statement
On February 4, the MLSA posted an updated statement on its Instagram. The post said that the administration privately responded to the association’s previous statement, emphasizing that they had only assigned the first module to students and expressing their regret for the “unintended” harm.
The post stated, “The fact that the module containing the most Islamophobic content was not assigned does not absolve the administration.” It added that the administration assigning the module without checking other modules in the course, “only underscores their failure to properly review this material before distributing it to students. The inclusion of these modules at all reflects a lack of due diligence and a disregard for the harm it could cause.”
The statement called for a public apology from the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Jutta Brunnée, a retraction of the course, and a commitment to consulting with equity-seeking groups on EDI materials applicable to them. The statement was co-signed by various law school student groups, including the U of T Law Union and the co-presidents of the Jewish Law Students’ Association (JLSA).
On February 27, JLSA members Pe’er Krut and Maytal Lazarovic also wrote a piece in Ultra Vires on behalf of the JLSA. They shared that the Faculty of Law had been in conversation with the JLSA in regards to antisemitism training and had confirmed that they would be bringing in a speaker — until the training was moved to the online course “with no warning or explanation.”
“The very students these trainings are meant to support were, once again, left correcting mistakes that Administration could have avoided if they had just meaningfully consulted the people affected,” they stated.
Khan, Hasnain, and Mughal shared in their Ultra Vires piece that, following the updated statement, the MLSA was called to a private meeting with the Deans of the Faculty of Law. After first-year law students were sent an email from Assistant Dean Maxwell-Alleyne, which informed them that the module had been unassigned and that the EDI and Professionalism series had been paused.
“This feedback is troubling, and we will be contacting Coursera to relay your concerns. We are taking this feedback very seriously,” the email read. It also added instructions for students on how to disable Coursera’s auto-generated emails.
In an email to The Varsity, Associate Dean of the JD program, Christopher Essert, wrote that, “The concerns that have been raised did not relate to the assigned material, but to other modules that were not assigned and to auto-generated prompts and summaries students received from the online course provider.”
He added, “The Faculty regrets the unintentional harm that has resulted from this situation, particularly for Muslim students, and has paused the EDI and Professionalism series to review its approach and content.”
“Faculty leaders will continue discussions with student groups and community organizations to consult on the design and delivery of learning opportunities that better advance inclusion and belonging,” Essert wrote.
Escalation to NCCM campaign
On February 14, the NCCM Instagram account posted screenshots of the course summaries and the administration’s response that was sent to students’ emails.
The post called for community members to send letters to the administration demanding acknowledgement that the material was Islamophobic and an investigation into how the course materials were selected.
As of writing, the administration has not issued a public apology for including the course material.
NCCM’s Senior Advocacy Officer Fatema Abdalla told The Varsity in an interview that the law school’s course material “is an example of systemic Islamophobia that we have seen within universities and in the education space… There’s so much more that needs to happen, and in this scenario, the University of Toronto [Faculty of Law] should be held accountable. It’s very important that we see a public apology come out from them.”
Abdalla added that diverse perspectives need to be considered when assigning such materials.
“It’s very important that there’s a… diverse representation wherever folks are passing such course material… There need to be measures taken into account, ensuring that diverse perspectives are heard so that such material is never circulated, ever again,” she said.
CORRECTIONS In issue 20 of The Varsity, a News article titled “UTSC votes: 2025 SCSU candidate profiles” has been corrected for factual errors. Heba Reeyaz is studying applied statistics and aiming to increase UTSC’s current second-attempt for credit limit — not “applied science” and “CR/NCR limit” as previously mentioned. Also, the Academic Support Centre is the SCSU’s, not the UTSC’s. In issue 20 of The Varsity, an Opinion article titled “Op-ed: AI-fuelled misinformation threatens the Sustainable Development Goals” has been updated to reflect that the writer, Noah Khan, is the Chair of the SDG@UofT Student Advisory Committee.
In issue 20 of The Varsity, a Sports article titled “A summer of racing, revisited” has been updated to mention that drivers’ speed of 200, not 3000, kilometres per hour around the track.
Copy Editors: Ameer Najarali, Aveesa Bhayani, Ben Chapman, Dhritya Nair, Neha Dhillon, Raina Proulx-Sanyal Simra Javaid, Zaneb Asad
Designers: Kala Kamani, Loise Yaneza, Brennan Karunaratne
Callie Zhang, Madison Truong, Nora Zolfaghari, Maram Qarmout Caroline Ho, Taimoore Yousaf, Lauren Nicole Robinson
Lead Copy Editors: Bruno Macia, Valerie Yao Yasmeen Banat
Outside the Jackman Law Building, where students raised concerns over EDI course. JUSTIN CHANDEGROOT/THE VARSITY
U of T community members reflect on third anniversary of Russia’s war on Ukraine
Torontonians gather at Nathan Phillips Square to rally in solidarity with Ukraine
Content warning: This article discusses genocide.
On February 23, thousands of attendees gathered in Nathan Phillips Square to commemorate the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The event included notable speakers, including former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Consul General of Ukraine in Toronto Oleh Nikolenko, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, and Ukrainian World Congress President Paul Grod.
At the rally, speakers condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged war crimes against the Ukrainian people. Those in attendance also criticized US President Donald Trump’s recent false claims that Ukraine started the war and his labelling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator.”
In interviews with The Varsity, Ukrainian U of T community members reflected on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its ongoing impact.
U of T professors reflect Taras Koznarsky is a professor in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at U of T. Koznarsky’s family currently resides in Ukraine.
He described his experience teaching a course on Kyiv’s cultural history during the early stages of the war as “surreal.”
Koznarsky noted that hundreds of “exceptionally bright” and “promising” students from Ukraine came to U of T on academic exchange during the first two years of the war.
A month after Russia’s invasion, U of T launched its Scholars-at-Risk fund to support displaced students from Ukraine. Eligible students were also able to access the university’s Emergency Grants program if their financial circumstances were affected by the war.
Koznarsky also discussed the importance of labelling Putin’s actions as genocidal, noting the number of civilian deaths and illegal killings of prisoners of war.
The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
It outlines five measures that would amount to a genocide, including: killing members of a group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to group members; deliberately inflicting conditions on the group to bring about its physical destruction in
whole or partially; imposing measures intended to prevent births in the group; and the forcible transfer of children from the group to another.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin over his actions of unlawfully deporting children and unlawfully transferring children from Ukraine to Russia. A year later, the ICC issued arrest warrants for two Russian officials believed to have committed war crimes of directing attacks on civilian objects, causing excessive harm to civilians or damaging civilian objects, and the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts.”
Putin’s reasoning for invading Ukraine was for the world to recognize Ukrainian territory
as Russian due to their shared history. Political pundits also argue that Russia aimed to prevent Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Lubomyr Luciuk — professor emeritus from the Royal Military College of Canada and Senior Research Fellow of U of T’s Chair of Ukrainian Studies — said, “The world has actually realized that [Putin] has a genocidal agenda. Ukrainians never were, are not now, and never will be Russians.”
Koznarsky also noted that labelling Putin’s actions as “genocidal” is particularly important with Trump’s accusation that Ukraine is the aggressor in this war. He worries that if Russia
is successful in the invasion, the rest of Europe will be targeted.
“How much blood has to be spilled?” he remarked.
Regarding Trump claiming Putin will be more “generous” in peace talks than “difficult” Ukraine, Luciuk believes Ukrainians will not accept any deals if Russia is not held accountable.
“The war criminals need to be brought to justice, the children need to be returned, and Ukraine must have the kind of security guarantees it needs so that it will not be invaded again,” he said.
"Imperialism in the twenty-first century"
Alexander Zamer — a fourth-year student studying European and Ukrainian Studies — is the president of U of T’s Ukrainian Students’ Club, which has organized several events amid the ongoing war.
Zamer has noticed a growing interest in Ukrainian culture, history, and politics on campus since the war began. He believes that “support begins with knowledge” and encourages students to educate themselves about Ukrainian history, donate to the Ukrainian military, and actively support the country.
Yuliia Vatsyk is a first-year architecture student originally from Kyiv. She left her home at the beginning of the war.
Vatsyk describes her adjustment to life in Canada as overwhelming, noting that “the hardest part was knowing that while I was safe, my family and friends were still in danger.” She added that “it felt wrong to move forward while my country was suffering.”
She wants people to understand that “this is not a ‘conflict’ or a ‘territorial dispute,’ it’s genocide and imperialism in the [twenty-first] century.”
For Koznarsky, “there is no way that [Ukrainians’] sense of identity, nationhood, and sovereignty could be erased, even if territories are occupied.”
Upon reflecting on the three-year mark of the war, Vatsyk shared, “Ukrainians haven’t given up, and we won’t. This anniversary isn’t just about what we’ve lost, it’s about how strong we’ve become.”
Kristina Stadnyk
Varsity Contributor
Outside Nathan Phillips Square, where hundreds rally in support of Ukraine.
COURTESY OF SERGIY KULISH
U of T Ukrainian Students’ Club joins the rally at Nathan Phillips Square. KRISTINA STADNYK/THE VARSITY
“This is community creation:” U of T holds 23rd annual BHM
Luncheon
Hart House community event celebrates Black history
Sharon Chan Associate News Editor
On February 28, U of T held its 23rd annual Black History Month (BHM) Luncheon at Hart House to celebrate Black history and excellence, create community, and enjoy Black diasporic cuisine.
The event was available to participants online and in-person, with approximately 250 people gathering at Hart House. Students, alumni, and staff members of all cultural backgrounds were welcome to participate.
BHM Luncheon history
As the event began, the luncheon’s co-founder Glen Boothe, who works in U of T’s division of advancement, recounted the origins of the annual tradition that now has hundreds of attendees every year.
Boothe began working at U of T in the late 1990s — just a few years after Canada formally recognized Black History Month. At the time, he said the university had no visibly centralized events or celebrations of the month.
He came up with the event over 20 years ago in the lunch room of the Division of University Advancement, which coordinates the university’s fundraising. He was inspired by the idea of people sharing food and stories over lunch and the spirit of community that this created.
The Luncheon Guests at the event included keynote speaker, Canadian Screen Award Changemaker, and
former Cityline host Tracy Moore; Juno awardwinning artist TÖME; spoken word poet and human rights activist Shahaddah Jack as well as U of T administration officials like U of T President Meric Gertler; U of T Chancellor Wesley J. Hall; Dean of the School of Continuing Studies Catherine Chandler-Crichlow; and Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Division University of Advancement Nikki Samuel.
During the event, Gertler made remarks to the audience highlighting U of T’s commitment to inclusivity.
“We recognize that great ideas are the product of diverse perspectives and that talent can and does come from any and every community,” said Gertler. “We also recognize that the playing field is not entirely level yet. Systemic barriers persist for many members of the Black community and for other groups on our campuses. U of T is committed to dismantling those barriers.”
Gertler also announced the donation of $1.88 million from TD Bank to U of T’s School of Continuing Studies, aiming to help Black Canadians navigate the barriers to employment and secure jobs in industries critical to Canada’s economic future.
Moore also gave a speech at the event, saying, “This is community creation right here.” She expressed her gratitude to the diverse communities she has worked with as she navigated her way into her career.
Moore was presented with an achievement award by David Palmer, U of T’s vice-president, advancement, for her work in broadcasting, commitment to diversity and inclusion, and encouraging action to address equity disparities
for marginalized communities.
“I feel that the community launched me into this position… I aimed to represent us well and to honour us and to bring us in whenever I could,” said Moore. “And it is now the community that are the hands on my back.”
Matthesa Gregg, a U of T alum who currently works for U of T’s School of Continuing Studies, comes to the BHM luncheon every year.
In an interview with The Varsity, she noted that when she did her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at U of T, it was a much smaller event. Gregg was surprised to see how it expanded and grew over the years.
Gregg also complimented the Caribbean food options, which resonated with her as her family is from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Barbados; and Trinidad and Tobago.
Astra Yu — a first-year international student
attendee — also shared her impressions of the event in an interview with The Varsity. She said that since this is her first year in Canada, she was excited to learn about the different cultures that make up Toronto.
“It is the first time I know about [Black History Month],” said Yu, adding that she was curious to learn what led to the creation of BHM in Canada.
BHM aims to honour and amplify Black Canadian voices by reflecting on racial divides and honouring Black Canadians’ achievements and contributions. In December 1995, the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada following a motion introduced by Jean Augustine, the first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament. The House of Commons carried the motion unanimously.
U of T launches review of statement on Prohibited Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment
Student union calls for concrete mechanisms and definitions for addressing complaints
Urooba Shaikh
UTSC Bureau Chief
On January 20, U of T announced to community members in an email that it’s launching a review of its Statement on Prohibited Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment.
The Varsity spoke with students about their reactions to the review and their hopes for the outcome.
The current statement
Established in 1994, the university’s statement applies to all students, faculty, librarians, and staff. Its purpose is to outline the university’s responsibilities in addressing discrimination and harassment under the Ontario Human Rights Code, while upholding academic freedom and freedom of expression.
It also defines the responsibilities of individuals, administrators, supervisors, and student leaders to “foster a learning and working environment free of prohibited discrimination and harassment.”
Section 16 of the statement states, “While student leaders and organizations are not given specific institutional powers with respect to the implementation of University policies, they are encouraged to adopt policies and practices which will enhance the capacity of the University to provide [such an environment].”
The review
The memo sent out to the U of T community announcing the launch of the review stated that it aims “[t]o ensure that experiences of discrimination and harassment are addressed efficiently, consistently, and compassionately for members of
our community across the tri-campus.”
The co-chairs of the consultation phase of the review are Brenda Cossman, professor of law and associate dean research for the Faculty of Law, and Caroline Rabbat, former director of High Risk, Faculty Support & Mental Health for the Faculty of Arts & Science.
“The Co-Chairs will consult with faculty members, librarians, staff members, and students from across the three campuses to make recommendations on updating and clarifying the Statement’s language and content,” the memo read. “The Co-Chairs will consider the pathways for complaints and ensure the Statement meets the University’s legislated responsibilities.”
The 1994 statement mentioned that complaints should be “directed to the administrative officer or supervisor responsible for the department or division in which the incident is alleged to have occurred” and seek assistance from offices such as the Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre and Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office. The university’s Vice-Provost, Students’ page also has a flowchart explaining the complaints process for students.
The university did not respond to The Varsity’s questions about which specific groups would be consulted for the review’s launch.
However, starting in January 2026, U of T will be required to provide an annual public report on complaints of discrimination, harassment, and hate-related incidents reported to law enforcement. This is mandated by an amendment to the Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities Act made through Bill 166, the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act.
After the consultation period, the co-chairs will
make recommendations to the administration, which will inform revisions to the statement.
Student groups respond
The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) discussed the review of the statement during its January executive meeting.
SCSU President Hunain Sindhu told The Varsity in an email that the discussion focused on concerns that the current statement could be used “as an excuse to avoid implementing a clear definition of anti-Palestinian harassment and discrimination.”
Currently, the university does not have a definition of anti-Palestinian discrimination. In November 2024, U of T launched a Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Discrimination Working Group to review the university’s programs and practices, and make recommendations to support the university’s response to anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination.
He hopes the review process will result in an “explicit recognition of anti-Palestinian harassment and discrimination within university policies.”
Sindhu also noted that, “the [statement] does
not offer clear guidelines on how student unions and student-led organizations should navigate such situations.”
He added that the statement should include “more concrete mechanisms for addressing complaints” as it currently “reiterates commitments to freedom of speech and academic freedom without acknowledging how these principles can be used to shield discriminatory behavior.”
Promoting anti-discrimination, harassment policies
Under section 16 of the statement, subsection B states that “college and residence student organizations are encouraged to promote an awareness of anti-discrimination and harassment policies and to review their activities in light of University policy.”
New College Residence Council’s Director of Communications Chloe Legel told The Varsity in an email that the Council receives training from the Office of Residence and Student Life (ORSL), and any complaints of discrimination and harassment should be reported directly to, and would be handled by, the ORSL.
DOWON KIM/THE VARSITY
U of T community enjoy food and celebrate Black History Month. COURTESY OF JOHNNY GUATTO CC UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
U of T community reacts to Ford winning third consecutive majority government
Students talk PC dominance, policy, and opposing US hostility
tends to make parties and leaders unpopular, so it’s an important opportunity for the other parties.”
“Canada is Not for Sale” hat used for campaign pays off. NICOLAS ALBORNOZ/THE VARSITY
“The people have spoken,” Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario leader Doug Ford declared in his victory speech on February 27, less than one month after calling a snap election.
Ford’s landslide victory secured his third consecutive majority government, making him the first Ontario premier to do so since 1959.
Students and professors expressed no surprise at the outcome, sharing in interviews with The Varsity that both social and institutional factors played into the PC’s sustained success in Ontario elections.
Election reactions
John DiMatteo — a first-year student studying computer science — attributed Ford’s success to the fact that the opposition parties “have struggled to make in-roads in ridings outside of urban centers.”
Another first-year student, Joshua Calderon, suggested a related explanation for the PC Party’s dominance was the “failures of a first-past-the-post electoral system.”
First-past-the-post is the winner-take-all voting system used for federal and provincial elections in Canada. In every electoral district, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins a seat in the House of Commons and represents that electoral district as its member of Parliament.
During the campaign, the Liberals and NDP offered differing platforms to the same pool of voters, trying to offer an alternative to the PCs. Calderon expressed his desire for new leadership in both parties and a hope for future coalitionbuilding.
“The next election will see the [PC Party] having been in power for a very long time,” added UTM political science professor Randy Besco. “... which
Elizabeth McCallion, a political science professor at UTSG, wrote to The Varsity that the opposition parties must now “play the role of scrutiny,” explaining that since “they don’t hold the balance of power in the legislature, their role will be to pay careful attention to the government’s actions and hold them accountable in the legislature and in the public sphere.”
Economic impacts for Ontario
In his Plan to Protect Ontario, Ford outlines five areas in which his government will work to bolster the Canadian economy against the adverse effects of Trump’s tariffs. One section discusses steps to build Ontario’s economy, which includes “Investing an additional $22 billion in our plan to build.”
Such infrastructure development continues to be a major focus of Ford’s policy-making. DiMatteo commended Ford on these policies that are popular in suburban constituencies, calling Ford’s GO Transit expansion plan a “total game-changer.”
However, he also expressed doubt as to whether the government would succeed in getting it done, noting delays with existing projects such as in the opening of TTC Lines 5 and 6, as well as the Line 1 expansion to Richmond Hill.
Discontent with mismanagement was a common theme among students. Second-year economics student Christian Pasquali condemned Ford for “destroying” the Ontario Science Centre.
In June 2024, the Ford government announced that it would permanently shut down the science centre due to “serious structural issues” identified in an engineering report. Community members largely protested Ford’s decision, attending rallies in Toronto calling on Ford's government to reverse its decision.
Pasquali also criticized Ford’s $200 “affordability cheques,” which he thinks would have been money
better spent on healthcare. Nevertheless, he also noted that “most importantly right now, [Ford is] doing a very good job on standing up to President Donald Trump’s tariff and annexation threats.”
US—Canada relations
The most significant departure of this election from previous Ford victories was the backdrop of US aggression towards Canada, which pervaded campaign rhetoric. Trump’s push for Canada to become the 51st state of the US is increasingly being taken seriously by Canadian leaders.
Ford spoke to the anger some Ontarians feel over Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty, as well as their fear of the looming economic threat posed by tariffs.
“Make no mistake,” he declared in his victory speech, “Canada won’t start a fight with the US, but you better believe we’re ready to win one.”
“Realistically,” McCallion pointed out, “it’s not the job of the premiers to negotiate with Trump. Foreign policy is handled by the federal government.”
Nevertheless, this tension was “perhaps the catalyst Ford needed,” Calderon ventured, saying that, “[Ford] knew how to pander to the masses, read the political environment, and take advantage of it.”
Professor Besco also noted that the focus on the issue of sovereignty “stopped the opposition parties from making some other issue a major part of the election, which could have been better for them.”
Since Ford’s victory, Trump has been
Governing Council discusses antisemitism policy review, building maintenance budget
Council discusses research funding concerns, international students cap
Asmi Khanna Associate News Editor
On February 27, U of T’s Governing Council met to appoint a new ombudsperson, provide updates on the review of the Guide to Law and Policy on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Discrimination, and address building maintenance issues.
New ombudsperson appointed, an honorary degree revoked
The council approved the appointment of Professor Faye Mishna as the university’s ombudsperson for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2025. The ombudsperson is responsible for “ensuring that the rights of [the university’s] individual members are protected” through confidential discussions of concerns.
Mishna is a professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry. She is also leading U of T’s 2025 review of its Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment.
The chair reported on the council’s decision to de-recognize the honorary degree awarded to Duncan Campbell Scott in 1921 for his contributions to Canadian literature. The council’s resolution followed a formal petition submitted by student advocates in 2022, demanding that the university publicly rescind Scott’s honorary doctorate degree.
Scott, a historical figure known for his role in expanding Canada’s residential school system, was deemed to be in conflict with the university’s values of equity and human rights.
“Taking this step acknowledges the horrific impact of residential schools, the individual role of Duncan Campbell Scott, and the collective
failures of the university, the federal government and Canadian society,” said the chair.
A formal statement has been added to the records of the Governing Council Secretariat and the public record of honorary degree recipients, acknowledging Scott’s role in the residential school system and the university’s historical complicity in this harm.
U of T President’s and UTM Principal’s reports
President Meric Gertler delivered a report discussing the recent tariff issue, funding concerns for U of T researchers, and policies affecting international students.
“Of special concern for us are the Trump administration’s executive orders pertaining to higher education and research, particularly funding agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation,” said Gertler.
He explained that Trump’s recent federal research funding cuts could have potential consequences for Canadian and U of T researchers, who are “at risk of their funding being frozen or revoked.”
He added that, in this situation, the university could benefit from supporting an initiative by Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives Party, which plans to allocate $450 million to expand the number of funded seats in STEM fields by over 20,000 positions annually.
Finally, Gertler expressed concerns about international student policies, referring to the Canadian government’s recent 10 per cent decrease in international study permits since the initial cap in 2024. This cap now applies to master’s and doctoral students, as of January.
“We feel this is a very unfortunate decision by the federal government to limit the number of very talented international students who want to come to Canada,” said Gertler.
UTM principal and U of T Vice-President (VP) Alexandra Gillespiealso gave brief remarks discussing U of T’s research initiatives. She highlighted UTM’s co-op internship program, introduced in 2024, and the Research Opportunity Program, which “now welcomes almost twice as many students into those work-integrated experiences as it did in 2020.”
She then introduced student entrepreneur Diana Virgovicova, founder of Xatoms, a deeptech company that uses artificial intelligence and quantum chemistry to develop solar-activated materials for water purification. Virgovicova has been featured on Forbes 30 Under 30 North America 2025 List in manufacturing and industry.
At the meeting, Virgovicova credited Spin Up — the university’s lab space and program aimed at supporting early-stage life science companies and entrepreneurs — with providing essential funding and mentorship for her startup.
Updates
on antisemitism and anti-Israeli discrimination policies
The council also reviewed ongoing discussions regarding anti-discrimination policies, including efforts to define antisemitism on campus.
U of T recently released a draft of its Guide to Law and Policy regarding Antisemitism and AntiIsraeli Discrimination at the University of Toronto. The university later conducted consultations to collect feedback from the university community on the guide, which ended on January 31.
Professor Kelly Hannah-Moffat, U of T’s VP, people strategy, equity & culture, provided
inconsistent in his tariff promises. While he initially imposed 25 per cent blanket tariffs on Canadian goods, he has now suspended most of them.
On the other hand, Ford’s response has been decisive: ending a $100 million deal with Elon Musk’s internet provider Starlink, ordering US-made alcohol to be removed from LCBOs, threatening to implement a surcharge or ban of exports of critical minerals to the US, and maintaining his pledge to impose a 25 per cent tariff on electricity sent to the US — despite Trump backing down on his tariff imposition.
Ford has managed to strike a tone of unity with the Ontario public, and he spoke directly to their anger, resilience, and the “Canadian spirit” when he rounded off his victory speech by acknowledging, “We’re in a battle for the future of our province, for the future of our country.”
Campus ridings
Both University–Rosedale, which covers the UTSG campus, and Scarborough–Rouge Park, covering the UTSC campus, saw clear incumbent victories by large margins.
NDP MPP Jessica Bell won the University–Rosedale riding with 46.7 per cent of the vote, while PC MPP Vijay Thanigasalam won the Scarborough-Rouge Park riding with 49.2 per cent of the vote.
Meanwhile, the UTM riding of Mississauga–Erin Mills had an extremely close election, with incumbent PC MPP Sheref Sabawy winning his seat by a mere 20 votes over Liberal Party candidate Qasir Dar.
updates on the consultation results. She said that the university received 281 responses, 133 of which came from faculty and librarians, and about 111 came from students.
Hannah-Moffat outlined several themes that emerged in the responses. Firstly, she said that “there’s a resounding concern about antisemitism, and there was a sense that [U of T] needed to take it seriously.” She also mentioned “consensus… around the need for stronger accountability mechanisms and the need for us to be able to assess, address, and monitor violations in university policy with respect to antisemitism.”
Finally, many respondents mentioned the issue of academic freedom. “There was a sense that no matter what we did in terms of defining any form of discrimination, harassment or racism, including antisemitism, [we] had to also be cognizant of the ability to have dialogue… and the ability to teach, and sometimes teach difficult subjects and to honour academic freedom,” said Hannah-Moffat. She added that the administration “noted there was a need for further consultation” and that they will continue to meet with Jewish groups on campus. She said that the university hopes to produce material for its website with a report on the progress regarding the recommendations based on the consultations.
U of T’s $1.2 billion building maintenance backlog
Financial concerns, particularly related to deferred maintenance, were also brought up during the meeting. Deferred maintenance describes the infrastructure renewals and repairs delayed due to budget or resource constraints. This issue was originally brought up at the January Business Board and Academic Board meetings.
The Debt Financing for Deferred Maintenance Program, presented for the council’s approval, included the program’s budget and allocation of funds. According to the document, the university plans to spend $300 million on deferred maintenance at UTSG.
Continued on the next page.
Junia Alsinawi Varsity Contributor
Overall, U of T’s deferred maintenance backlog has been growing over time due to “years of underfunding” and “many building systems simultaneously reach[ing] obsolescence.”
The UTSG deferred maintenance backlog is increasing by over $200 million this year, states the document. Currently, the downtown campus backlog equals $1.2 billion. For UTM, it is $73.2 million, and $141.6 million for UTSC. Meanwhile, the university’s annual maintenance budget is $41 million for UTSG, which equals to around three per cent of the backlog. The program explains that U of T’s
“capacity to address the backlog now and into the future is diminishing” because of growing inflation, fiscal pressures, and the absence of government support.
And yet, VP, Operations and Real Estate Partnerships Professor Scott Mabury, who is also a senior assessor on U of T’s Business Board, claimed that “every single high priority deferred maintenance project is covered” in the program.
After the program’s presentation, Eric Yang, the President of the Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association, who requested
to speak on the matter, delivered his speech. Yang cited his faculty’s buildings as examples of a facility requiring urgent repairs. He specifically mentioned the Edward Johnson Building at 80 Queen's Park and the Jazz Building at 90 Wellesley Street West.
“There’s minimal soundproofing, there’s issues [with] carpeting, there’s issues with clean water and lead in water,” Yang said about 90 Wellesley. As for the Edward Johnson Building, he mentioned the maintenance closure of the MacMillan Theatre, which “puts on three shows a year and also provides opportunities for
SCSU February BOD presents income statement, discusses election procedures
On February 28, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) held its second Board of Directors (BOD) meeting of the year. The board approved the union’s income statement for January 2025 and discussed concerns regarding elections and voting accessibility.
January income statement
Vice-President Operations Jena Bah presented the SCSU’s income statement for January 2025. The union received a total revenue of approximately $57,000, with about $32,000 coming from tenant fees paid by food vendors in the Student Centre.
Another major source of revenue, about $7,000, came from event sales for the SCSU’s Montréal trip alongside the UTMSU during reading week, and about $2,000 came from discounted Raptors game ticket sales. The remaining $14,000 came from returns on investments, grants, and scholarships that the union provides.
In terms of expenses, the union spent about $100,000 in January. Of this, approximately $72,000 went toward full-time and part-time staff salaries, benefits, and honorariums. Around $13,000 was spent on event costs for Black History Month and other events,
while about $4,600 went toward campaigns, the SCSU Food Centre, and the Racialized Students Collective. The final major expense, about $2,700, was spent on donations, bursaries, and club funding. The SCSU had a net loss of about $43,600 in January.
BOD member Bianca Camacho, director for the Centre for Critical and Development Studies, asked how the phones and telecommunications section of the income statement amounted to a $600 expense.
Bah explained that all full-time SCSU staff have their phone plans paid for because their numbers are publicly available. This charge also covers the cost of the SCSU’s front desk phone. SCSU Executive Director Sarah Abdillahi added that the charge includes internet costs for the 1265 Bistro restaurant staff.
Election concerns
The Board then voted to approve the Elections and Referenda Committee’s (ERC) recommended voting days of March 4, 5, and 6 for the union’s 2025 General Elections, with members running in the election abstaining from the vote.
BOD members raised concerns about the voting timeline and accessibility. Gayathri Siva, director of human geography, asked why voting is only scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday,
musicians in the orchestral stream to play in the pit orchestra.”
U of T’s VP & Provost Trevor Young responded to Yang’s concerns by acknowledging the deferred maintenance issues in both faculty buildings. He said, “I know that some of the things that you mentioned have been addressed already to 90 Wellesley in terms of painting [and] water. The MacMillan Theatre — we are working through that project.”
After this brief discussion, the motion to approve the Debt Financing for Deferred Maintenance Program carried.
and Thursday, rather than throughout the week. Bah explained that past elections have typically followed this three-day timeline, as the campus is less busy on Mondays and Fridays. Siva also raised concerns about voting accessibility for co-op students, who may finish work placements in the evening and not have enough time to make it to campus before voting closes at 6:00 pm.
Harry Xu, director of physical and environmental sciences, suggested exploring an online voting system, similar to the one used by the University of Toronto Students’ Union. Bah proposed having co-op students book appointments to vote based on their availability.
“We’re going to have to discuss [this] with the ERC to see if that's something that we can implement next year,” said Bah.
During the BOD updates portion of the meeting agenda, Camacho shared additional points of discussion from the ERC’s last meeting. She said they discussed extending the campaign period next year to be three weeks, including reading week, and ensuring the chief returning officer (CRO) and deputy returning officer are fixed by the end of January. She also mentioned that the ERC had received reports from the CRO about aggressive language and is considering implementing an elections code of conduct.
Melani Vevecka elected 2025–2026 UTSU president
James Bullanoff Deputy News Editor
On March 4, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) announced the results of the union’s spring elections. This will determine the union’s leadership for the 2025–2026 academic year, once the Board of Directors (BOD) ratifies the result this month.
Voters elected Melani Vevecka as president, beating out Paul Gweon with 57.8 per cent of the vote. 37.3 per cent of voters abstained in the presidential vote.
For the Vice-President (VP) positions, students re-elected Elizabeth Shechtman as VP finance and operations, Damola Dina as VP Public and University Affairs (VP PUA), Sammy Onikoyi as VP Equity, Aliyah Kashkari as VP Student Life, and reelected Erica Nguyen as VP Professional Faculties.
The voting period ran from February 25 at 9:00 am until February 28 at 5:00 pm. Within the voting period, 5,153 students casted their ballots online — a voter turnout of 12.5 per cent among those eligible to vote. This was a 0.5 per cent decrease from the approximate 13 per cent of eligible students who cast their ballots in last year’s election.
Referenda and the board of directors
In this election, four referendums were put forward to students: three external levies from Bikechain, Regenesis U of T, and the U of T Aerospace Team, and the union’s internal orientation levy. In January,
The Varsity reported that the union approved three levies for the elections: two external levies from Bikechain and Regenesis U of T as well as the union’s internal orientation levy.
The Varsity was unable to confirm when the fourth levy was added.
After a campaign filled with “Pikchu” — a mascot parody of Pikachu from Pokemon — roaming around the UTSG campus on a bike and staging an arrest from Campus Safety. Bikechain’s levy was approved with 62.2 per cent of the vote. Students also approved Regenesis U of T’s levy with 64.1 per cent of the vote.
The UTSU orientation levy failed with 36.2 per cent of the vote, and the U of T Aerospace Team levy failed with 39.6 per cent of the vote.
10 students ran for Directory at Large of the UTSU Board of Directors (BOD): Pranav Chaturvedi; Daisy Zhao; Wolfgang van Gulik; Eli Miller-Buza; Alice Ferguson-O’Brien; Helia Maleki; Eva Karulina; Ashlyn Lu; Ron Ulitsky; and Jessica Vertlib. All candidates secured one of the 10 spots available.
The current BOD will determine whether to ratify the election results at its next meeting, which will take place sometime in March.
Email concerns and demerit points
During the campaign period, students from Woodworth College began to notice emails from a familiar face — current Woodsworth College Student Association (WCSA) president and UTSU presidential candidate Paul Gweon. However, the
email was not shared with students outside of Woodsworth College.
In an interview with The Varsity, Haadiya Usman — a fourth-year life sciences student — took notice of these emails on both her U of T email and her personal email. This was an email she never uses for U of T-related purposes, and raised them to the UTSU’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO).
In the email obtained by The Varsity, Gweon wrote to Woodsworth students that “I’m the only candidate with the experience and leadership skills to turn around the UTSU” and that “I’m running for to be your President so I can hold the UTSU accountable, boost student engagement, and implement my plan for actionable change that you can measure.” The email also reminded students twice to vote.
“I was a little concerned about my personal address being used and I talked to a couple friends, and they also received emails to their personal email addresses,” said Usman. Usman previously worked at the WCSA and claims that Gweon used his position as WCSA president to access students’ records in order to email them about his campaign.
In an email obtained by The Varsity, the UTSU elections team wrote to Usman that “following our investigation, we have issued 10 demerits to [Gweon] as a result of this violation.” The UTSU website lists that Gweon’s 10 demerit points resulted from a violation of an elections code that bars candidates from using “private or confidential information of an eligible voter” without the voter’s
expressed consent.
The elections team initially advised Usman they did not find “sufficient evidence that [Gweon] would have access to [her] email through a breach of privacy,” but rather determined that her email was obtained by Gweon “...as a result of the two of you working together in other settings or associations.”
“I was a little upset at first, because they took my report and were like ‘oh, well, you know he's worked with you in the past, so that’s how he got your email address,’ But I know that I have not communicated with [Gweon] using my personal email address — and I told the CRO this, —and I didn’t receive a response for a couple days,” she said. “I’m glad that they investigated further.”
UTSU President-elect Vevecka was issued two demerit points in February for failing to register all campaign materials with the CRO before being used during the election.
Other candidates also received demerit points. VP PUA candidate Leli Gardapkhadze was issued 22 demerit points for campaigning on social media using “‘Shares’, ‘Reposts’, ‘Retweets’, and other equivalent forms of engagement, made with additional commentary,”
Three candidates were disqualified in February for violating an elections code that prohibits them from forming “slates, parties, [Cross-Campaigning]” or any other form of “mutual organization” between the candidates.
UTSU Presidential candidate Paul Gweon did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment.
Urooba Shaikh UTSC Bureau Chief
Lalise Shifara elected 2025–2026 SCSU president in RISE sweep
Small decrease in voter turnout, student flags false poster promises
James Bullanoff & Olga Fedossenko Deputy News Editor & Assistant News Editor
On the evening of March 7, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) posted on its website the unofficial results of this year’s SCSU general elections. Members of the slate RISE UTSC won all of the executive positions for the 2025–2026 academic year. The winning slate ran against INSPIRE UTSC, led by current SCSU President Hunain Sindhu.
The union must ratify the results at its March board of directors (BOD) meeting before they become official.
Election results
Students elected the SCSU’s current VicePresident (VP) Equity Lalise Shifara as president. Shifara won with nearly 49 per cent of the votes, beating out Sindhu by about five per cent. There were 114 spoiled ballots for the presidential election.
Voters elected Maya Khan as the SCSU’s next VP Academics and University Affairs, defeating Heba Reeyaz by around 15 per cent. Fawzia Elhag was elected VP External, beating out Ayesha Ashraf by two per cent. Christine Villa was elected VP Equity over Renate Mathu by 12 per cent. Emeka Okolo was chosen for VP Campus Life over Rafay Malik by four per cent. Finally, Athisayaa Prabagar was elected VP Operations, winning Sait Simsek by four per cent.
Overall, approximately 1,577 students cast their ballots in the election, amounting to approximately 10.8 per cent of the 2023–2024 UTSC student population. This is a two per cent decrease from last year’s SCSU election turnout.
26 students ran for the 19 available BOD positions. For the nine contested BOD positions, voters elected five directors from INSPIRE UTSC: Alina Khan, Ousman Jikineh, Samuella Ojo, Tinu Boboe, and Aasthaa Sawarkar. Voters also elected four directors from RISE UTSC: Faiza Rutba, Ilyana Jiwa, Lucan Ching, and Heidi McArdle. Every
candidate who was elected was part of either the INSPIRE or RISE slates. Only three students ran outside of a slate.
Maimuna Akhter of INSPIRE UTSC and Arjun Singh Yanglem, Elodie Fouejieu, Anisa Persaud, Alexandros Grekos, Natasha Osal, Ethan Gibson, and Mohammed Tajudeen Onigbanjo of RISE UTSC were elected to the BOD by acclamation, meaning that they automatically got the positions because they ran unopposed for their respective positions.
No candidate ran for director of anthropology and the newly created Indigenous director position. Both seats will be pushed to the 2025 fall byelections.
Poster promises and paper cuts
During the campaign period, students took to the UTSC subreddit to post complaints about the number of campaign posters on campus and how students have rearranged them. All posters have now been removed from the campus in accordance with the SCSU’s Elections Procedure Code that mandates posters to be removed 72 hours after the voting period ends.
At the SCSU candidates’ debate on March 3, the topic of postering came up and both slates promised to recycle their posters through a UTSC Print Hub initiative where one-sided paper is used to make notebooks.
However, following the debate, Dembe Rostova, a second-year UTSC student studying psychology, wrote in an email to The Varsity that the candidates’ promises to recycle the posters weren’t accurate.
“The UTSC Print Hub cannot repurpose glossy posters into notebooks, as glossy paper is not writable,” wrote Rostova. “This raises questions about the validity of RISE UTSC’s claim that they collaborated with the Print Hub for this initiative.”
“I strongly believe that the students have been misled and continue to be misinformed, which is impacting the election results in their favour,” he wrote.
After the SCSU debate, Shifara stated in an
interview with The Varsity that their slate only put up half of the number of posters allowed during the campaign period after hearing criticisms from the student body.
“Because we read the student feedback on Reddit, we understand. As we said, we’re here to listen to students,” Shifara said post-debate.
However, Rostova became aware through a friend who works at the SCSU that RISE UTSC printed the maximum number of posters allowed — which is 100 per executive and 50 per board director — but chose not to put them up.
“This inconsistency raises concerns about transparency and the accuracy of statements made by [Shifara],” wrote Rostova.
In an email to The Varsity, Shifara wrote that the Print Hub confirmed that they could not accept RISE UTSC’s campaign posters due to the paper being glossy.
Shifara also wrote that “[Rostova’s] claim is correct” and they were incorrectly told by the SCSU’s Chief Returning Officer during the All Candidates meeting that they could only have 50 posters per executive candidate and 25 per board of director candidate. They later realized they could print more after reading the SCSU’s Elections Procedure Code.
“The reason we ultimately decided against putting these posters up was because we understood that the students were upset with the posters being all around campus, and that there was a lot of online discourse surrounding the posters,” wrote Shifara. “Ignoring the students’ concerns and upsetting them more was not something that RISE wanted to
participate in, so we did not poster the remaining.”
Shifara added that their team plans to donate all the posters they printed back to the company that printed them “to be shredded and used as paper shred for their other products.”
In an email to The Varsity, Sindhu wrote that INSPIRE UTSC “promised our students through our Instagram that we would inquire with Print Hub about the possibility of repurposing the posters or ensuring they are properly recycled at a paper recycling facility.”
“We visited the Print Hub the day after the debate, and they informed us that since all the election posters were printed with a glossy stock finish, they could not be repurposed into notebooks,” wrote Sindhu. “Unfortunately, for this reason, we are unable to donate our posters to Print Hub.”
Sindu added that the Print Hub recommended printing on regular paper next year and plans to make an amendment to the SCSU’s Election Procedure Code to make regular paper a requirement for all posters to be repurposed following this year. Currently, the code does not stipulate the type of paper election posters should be made of.
“We have also been exploring local paper recycling facilities to ensure they are properly recycled rather than simply being processed through the campus recycling facilities,” he wrote.
The UTSC Print Hub did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment in time for publication.
Voting will be held March 11-13
UTM students can cast their votes in person from March 11–13 from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm each day at the William G. Davis Building, Communication, Culture, and Technology Building, Instructional Centre, Maanjiwe nendamowinan, and the Kaneff Centre.
This year, student candidates are running under two slates: EvolveUTM and InnovateUTM. Two candidates are running outside of a slate as independents.
President
The President acts as a spokesperson for the union, fills in for absent VPs, chairs multiple union committees, and leads the executive team.
Vice-President (VP) Equity
The VP Equity works with university equity offices and groups, chairs the union’s bursary committee, and supervises the campaigns and advocacy commission, with the end goal of helping marginalized groups at U of T.
Vice-President (VP) Internal
The VP Internal fills in for the president if absent and chairs multiple committees within the union, including the budget committee.
Vice-President (VP) External
The VP External liaises with organizations outside of U of T, including municipal, provincial, and federal governments; national student organizations such as the Canadian Federation of Students; and representatives from other student unions.
Vice-President (VP) University Affairs
The VP University Affairs liaises with academic departments and societies, supervises the union’s campaigns and advocacy commission, and chairs multiple committees within the UTMSU.
UTMSU 2025-26 candidate profiles
President President
“I’d like to be the ‘big brother’ for students at UTM,” noted Nehal Nakib, a fourth-year student studying philosophy, ethics, law and society, in his interview.
Nakib has worked as an orientation leader at the UTMSU’s Frosh Week for three years. In 2022, he founded the South Asian Student Association at UTM — a student group that he said gained nearly 500 members in a week. He also mentioned his work as the VP Internal and External Affairs for UTM’s Bangladeshi Students Association.
Andrew Park, a fourth-year student studying criminology, law & society, is running to “help students advocate for what they need.”
In his interview, he stated that his involvement in leadership positions at the UTM Mock Trial Club as vice-president and the UTMSU’s Board of Directors motivated him to run.
Park’s campaign focuses on providing more “student employment opportunities” for UTM students both on- and off-campus.
Nakib’s slate, Evolve UTM, has 10 major goals. In his interview, Nakib highlighted a few of them, such as “increas[ing] the transparency of union affairs,” improving communication between the union and students to “increase trust [among] students, and make UTMSU a union that students can continue to rely on and be proud of.” Finally, he aims to “strengthen the relationship between [the] U of T administration [and] UTMSU.”
Aryaman Chopra is a second-year neuroscience and economics student who offers what he calls a “wild-card” alternative to the traditional slate system. Chopra has various experiences serving students on campus, including his positions as the financial officer for the UTM Women Student Association, president of UTM Karting, and secretary for the Board of Directors at The Varsity. Chopra’s main campaign promise is to donate his entire presidential salary to charity, emphasizing that his candidacy is driven by student interests rather than financial incentives. He also plans to allow students to opt out of the UTMSU’s health and dental plan enrolment from the outset, arguing that the current opt-out system is poorly advertised and burdens students with unnecessary costs.
Other major policies include reducing incidental fees, keeping the UTM Sexual Education Centre (SEC) in its current space and moving the UTMSU elections online to increase voter turnout. The SEC is currently expected to relocate from Room 150 to a smaller space upstairs in the Student Centre by April.
Nakib believes it’s his “immense experience” being part of various student groups that sets him apart from the other presidential candidates. Based on his experience, he wants to continue supporting student clubs by increasing club funding and promoting collaborations between clubs and the UTMSU.
Chopra is critical of previous UTMSU administrations, questioning their ability to follow through on promises. He also wants to streamline student club incorporation by transferring responsibility to the Campus Student Council rather than the UTMSU.
“I’m not in this for the money. I want to take real action,” Chopra said. If elected, he mentions that he will ensure that every promise he makes will be kept.
Aryaman Chopra is a secretary for The Varsity’s Board of Directors.
He hopes to “lobby the university to expand their current co-op and internship opportunities” for both STEM and humanities programs at UTM to mirror what UTSC already offers. He also plans to meet with the Mississauga City Council and Toronto Youth Cabinet to work out partnerships with the UTMSU.
One of Park’s plans is to strengthen student engagement by opening office hours, increasing
social media communication between the union and students, and updating the student body on the UTMSU’s progress in its initiatives. He also plans to make athletics more accessible to students by lobbying for the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre and other clubs to increase awareness of their programs and frequencies for drop-ins and sports programs.
Aymaan Chowdhury, a third-year student studying communication, culture, information and technology and political science, is one of the two independent candidates running in this year’s UTMSU election. “I wanted to show that I could run on my own and win even though I’m not on a team,” he said in his interview.
Chowdhury wants to be the next VP Equity to make campus accessible so all students get “the equality they deserve” and “a fair share of everything.” At UTM, Chowdhury’s been part of several clubs, including the Bangladeshi Student Association.
His campaign focuses on “advocating for better health and mental health” and “push[ing] for stronger representation for marginalized communities” at UTM “by implementing policies that remove barriers for everyone.”
For the latter, he hopes to do this by promoting “more cultural awareness.” He wants to make sure there are more halal food options for students on campus and increase
transit options from cities like Milton and Oakville.
Chowdhury’s main campaign focus is to talk to people from different cultural backgrounds. “I’m a friendly and open person. So if they want to talk to me, I can talk to them,” he said. “I want to get [students] involved in all… types of clubs and events,” such as the UTMSU’s Culture Fest that the union organized in January. He hopes to organize “more of those types of events that bring everyone together.”
Amaechi is a fourth-year student studying political science, criminology, and philosophy.
Being half-Indian and half-Nigerian, he wants to run for VP Equity, believing his diverse heritage and global experiences help him understand both the struggles and strengths of different communities.
As president of UTM’s Athletic Council, he believes his experience in sports and leadership has prepared him well for the role. “Sport and equity go… hand in hand,” he said, noting that on the field, race, gender, and identity are secondary to playing your part in a team. “At the end of the day, you are a student [with] a part to play in the greater ecosystem.”
Amaechi’s campaign aims to strengthen the sense of community at UTM; improve relations between the student union, administration, and clubs; and promote and increase accessibility to existing support systems for students. Recognizing the commuter nature of UTM, he proposes a World Day to celebrate ethnicities and nationalities to bring students together — similar to the UTMSU’s Culture-Fest.
Amaechi plans to work on developing a relationship with the administration — noting a current disconnect — so that students’ voices can be amplified and put into effect. Since “students rely on [the] student union, and clubs rely on the student union,” he also plans to improve communication between clubs and the union.
For students affected by international events, he envisions creating “a safe haven” and connecting students to available resources and systems.
Having previously served as an associate to the VP Equity, McCallum brings extensive experience in running wide-scale community events, such as Black History Month initiatives, and in the administrative work of approving bursaries and coordinating accessibility supports.
McCallum’s campaign seeks to raise awareness and funds for international relief efforts in Congo, Sudan, and Palestine. If elected, she will collaborate with other student unions in this endeavour.
Addressing her ongoing ‘consciousness-raising conversations’ with students, McCallum discussed how lack of awareness, specifically around Congo, manifests in the student body. “It’s called the silent genocide for a reason,” she said.
McCallum emphasized accessibility by highlighting how she would lobby to replace volunteers with paid note-takers and fundraise for students experiencing grief and loss due to international crises.
Throughout her campaign, she has focused on centering intersectional identities and including 2SLGBTQ+ students in programming.
McCallum also mentioned introducing an equity audit in collaboration with the UTM administration to investigate campus inclusivity and accessibility “to identify gaps in accommodation and address them.” She cited the “detachment” for queer and trans students in finding community and confidence in their identities at UTM and mentioned reintroducing the Queer Student Coordinator position back into VP Equity’s team.
Olga Fedossenko Assistant News Editor
Kyla Cassandra Cortez Managing Editor, External
Nehal Nakib Andrew Park
Razia Saleh UTM Bureau Chief
Olga Fedossenko Assistant News Editor
Vice-President Equity
President Aryaman Chopra Aymaan Chowdhury
Tozie
Currently the UTM Racialized Students Coordinator, Miatah McCallum is a third-year student studying philosophy, sociology, and ethics, law and society.
Ajeetha Vithiyananthan Managing Editor, Internal
Matthew Molinaro Graduate Bureau Chief Vice-President
Vice-President Internal
Molinaro Graduate Bureau Chief
Abdullah Yousuf is a fourth-year student in communication, culture, information and technology and political science. He is also currently a tri-campus volleyball and flag football athlete. He’s focused on bridging a strong relationship with the UTM administration, stressing that he would help serve as a voice for the students.
His platform centres around financial transparency, housing affordability, student employability, and club support. With past work experience as a financial advisor at insurance company Transamerica, Yousuf plans to ensure clear and consistent transparency with the union’s budgets, statements, and financial history.
As VP Internal, Yousuf plans to develop programming to strengthen career pathways for UTM students before and after graduation, as well as streamline access to resources
Vice-President External
Vice-President Internal
Abdullah Yousuf Rui (Owen) Zhang
Razia Saleh UTM Bureau Chief
Rui (Owen) Zhang is a second-year student in the digital enterprise management program. Having previously served as a member of the Board of Directors in his first year and later as a VP internal associate for the UTMSU, Zhang said that these exposures gave him “good experiences organizing events and asking for sponsorship.”
Karan Chandi is a fourth-year student studying political science, religion, and geography. His campaign focuses on increasing networking opportunities for students, increasing transparency between the UTMSU and the student body, and introducing a new costeffective bus pass for commuters.
Chandi is the current VP of the Erindale Punjabi Association and has worked with UTM Relay for Life, securing sponsorships for food vendors and photo booths for social events.
He has two major campaign focuses: having external businesses come in to expand networking opportunities for students and improving transit options for commuter students.
For the former, Chandi would like to bring more co-op and internships to UTM through
for international students navigating the GTA housing market
To grow school spirit and community, he also discussed collaborating with clubs to raise their funding for events and outreach efforts.
Yousuf explained the necessity of these measures as a way to make the students’ social life “vibrant and engaging,” drawing from his experience as an international student.
workshops on campus. To address the latter, he plans to leverage UTM’s existing connection with MiWay to reduce the fares for the large population of commuting students.
He said his policies would “be very beneficial for not just the UTM students, but also all the U of T students.”
Vice-President University Affairs
His campaign focuses on three key areas: food security, student engagement, and financial transparency. Zhang plans to meet with the university administration to lobby for reducing the price of meals around closing time. He also wants to introduce “Free Dinner Fridays” at the Student Centre.
Zhang also said he walked around campus asking students what UTM needs, and that many said the campus lacked “university spirit.” He aims to revitalize student life by reinstating the “Tri-Campus Orientation Concert” and expanding social programming at The Blind Duck
Vice-President External
pub, including creating trivia night and open mic performances.
On the administrative side, Zhang plans to enhance transparency within the UTMSU by making financial information clearer and more accessible on the student union website.
“I actually went through the UTMSU website, and I found that it’s kind of vague. It’s kind of hard for students to navigate,” he said. If elected, Zhang intends to create communication channels for students to share their concerns.
Rajas Dhamija — a second-year student in finance and economics — plans to focus on transit advocacy and campus improvements.
“I’m really, really passionate about transit because everyone uses it,” Dhamija said in his interview with The Varsity
His priorities include lobbying for a GTAwide U-Pass; adding GO bus routes to UTM from Milton, Brampton, and Vaughan; and increasing MiWay bus frequency on weekends for the 110 and 101 bus routes.
Beyond transit, Rajas envisions a more accessible campus with expanded study spaces and recreational areas. “There are ideas that need to be turned into reality,” he said.
Dhamija also emphasized his approach and capacity for leadership. “I’ve been involved in a lot of on-campus clubs… I
was a president associate for UTM’s Digital Enterprise Management Association. In Enactus, I was a project manager. In UNICEF, I was the VP of Finance… I was also a parttime staff member at the [UTMSU] last year… in the external department, so I know how things work and how amazing these efforts [are].”
Vice-President University Affairs
Manisha Biring Manaal Fatima
A third-year student in criminology, sociology, and education, Manisha Biring’s campaign builds on her firsthand experience with student challenges and a desire to create meaningful change for her peers at UTM.
Through her work teaching firstyear students in the Centre for Student Engagement’s LAUNCH mentorship program, she saw how students often struggle with academic policies like credit/no credit (CR/ NCR) deadlines and singular opportunities for assignment deferrals. This inspired her to run for the position.
As a student athlete involved with the women’s tri-campus soccer and football teams, as well as the Recreation and Wellness Centre and Intramurals, Biring understands the pressure of balancing academics, work, and extracurriculars. “Everyone has a life,” she said. “We have a lot of workload. We need extensions. We need time.”
Beyond academics, Biring wants to bridge
the information divide between the UTMSU and UTM students. She envisions a more collaborative student union, working closely with administration and tri-campus partners.
“We’re all under U of T,” Biring said. “So working with other unions [at UTSG and UTSC]… would be very beneficial because we’re not divided — we’re all together.”
As a third-year student in political science and criminology, Manaal Fatima is driven by a commitment to advocacy, academic policy reform, and student empowerment.
“I believe every student has the right to an informed choice,” she said in her interview. Her campaign emphasizes the extension of the CR/NCR deadline beyond final grade postings.
“Even though this extension has been advocated for in the past, the way I envision it happening… is by bringing students into the fold, ensuring they’re actively involved in the lobbying,” said Fatima.
She’s also keen on reforming the secondattempt credit policy. The current policy allows students to retake up to 1.0 credits of courses that they passed, with the first attempt of the course being designated as “extra” and the second attempt counting for a degree credit and in GPA calculations. If elected, Fatima plans to allow students to use the policy to retake failed courses too.
“One grade should not define a student’s entire experience,” she asserts.
Beyond policy, Fatima wants to expand networking and mentorship programs, particularly for underrepresented fields.
If elected, she’ll draw on her experience from being president of the UTM Health, Law, and Business Association, where she spearheaded initiatives tailored to student needs, and as a mentor for the Women in Law Association, where she provided guidance to undergraduates navigating university.
Fatima also advocates for greater transparency and engagement between students and the UTMSU. “Students should know every step of the way what we’re doing,” she said, promising regular updates on the progress of initiatives and advocacy that turns into action.
Matthew
Medha Surajpal Science Editor
Divine Angubua Arts & Culture Editor
Karan Chandi Rajas Dhamija
Divine Angubua Arts & Culture Editor
Divine Angubua Arts & Culture Editor
The power of patterns
Exploring the elegance and intent behind nature’s fractals
March 11, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/science science@thevarsity.ca
Throughout history, scientists have pondered the relationship between nature and humans, leading to discoveries, innovations, and questions about humans and nature’s mysterious workings.
In that case, you’ve probably heard the phrase “no two snowflakes are alike,” or perhaps you’ve wondered why the branches of the world’s oldest trees look just like the stems and florets of the broccoli on your plate.
Whether it’s within towering Redwood trees, mountain ranges, the blood vessels in our bodies, snowflakes, lightning, or how brain cells look under a high-powered microscope, fractals are simply everywhere — and once you start noticing them, it’s hard to stop. Fractals are self-repeating geometric patterns that are not only visually stunning but are the building blocks of nature’s smart and elegant design. They are essential to understanding nature and how we relate to it.
The elusive science of fractals unites subjects such as mathematics, biology, and ecology as we try to understand the planet we call home.
What are fractals, really?
Hailed as the man who reshaped geometry, French-American mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot first coined the word “fractals” to describe how nature’s designs mimic irregular geometric shapes and patterns that are selfsimilar and self-repeating.
In mathematics, fractals are infinite. With their irregular edges, ‘mathematically perfect’ fractals are infinitely self-repeating designs with no conceivable end or beginning. While Mandelbrot was more concerned with the mathematical enigma of fractals and how they defy our normal understanding of dimensions, fractals are easier to understand in living
organisms.
Whether it’s within towering Redwood trees, mountain ranges, the blood vessels in our bodies, snowflakes, lightning, or how brain cells look under a high-powered microscope, fractals are simply everywhere — and once you start noticing them, it’s hard to stop.
We’re quite familiar with trees, for example. By maintaining air purification through photosynthesis, trees are essential to Earth’s ecological balance and human health. Our lungs also have ‘trees’ in them, such as bronchioles. They are the smallest airways in our lungs that help us breathe and facilitate the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Though not infinitely self-repeating, bronchioles, tree branches, and other ‘trees’ all have fractals for one function: maximizing surface area. But what surface area are the trees in our backyard and the bronchioles inside our lungs trying to maximize, and why?
Does the outside mimic the inside, or is it the other way around?
According to the theory of evolution, a species’ environment shapes biological features that maximize its survival. Future generations inherit features that help a species survive natural selection, or survival of the fittest.
Through evolution, plants could have simply grown taller and sprouted larger leaves to take up more space and capture more nutrients
from the sun. But this requires energy to grow and maintain, and the return on investment — absorbing more sunlight — isn’t large enough to compensate. Instead, evolution led to the formation of fractal-like branches.
By growing out each branch level as a smaller version of the previous, plants can maximize the surface area needed to capture the most sunlight while conserving space and energy.
The same goes for our lungs: bronchioles are spread in a branch-like pattern to ensure no space or nutrients go to waste. These fractals are why our lungs have roughly the same surface area as a tennis court, despite being neatly packed in our chests.
Other fractals include the 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels that transport blood and other nutrients throughout our bodies. The fractal branching of our blood’s interconnected highway — collectively known as the cardiovascular system — delivers nutrients efficiently from our heart to the tips of our pinkies, ensuring the energy used to transport blood stays at a minimum.
But the power of these fractal patterns
doesn’t stop there. If you look at a topographic map of the US’s comprehensive river systems, you’ll notice that rivers also arrange themselves through branches similar to our bronchioles, the fractal-patterned air sacs in our lungs.
The wisdom of nature
From amethyst crystals to the shape of brain cells, fractal designs dominate nature. But despite how common fractals are, there isn’t a unifying rule that determines whether predictable ‘branches’ will emerge or not.
Snowflakes and ice crystals, for instance, don’t develop self-repeating fractals to maximize space and energy. Unlike inside our bodies, chemistry, temperature, and humidity determine if and how their ice branches will form.
There isn’t a single gene, system, or overarching physical law that upholds fractals as the best shapes in the universe. Instead, various conscious and nonconscious systems have different ways of surviving and cooperating within a larger system. It just so happens that fractal branching helps nature survive with efficiency and elegance.
Mashiyat Ahmed Associate Science Editor
AVA AUBRY/THE VARSITY
Explainer: Norovirus
Everything
you need
to know about the norovirus
Indra Surajpal Varsity Contributor
It seems like U of T students can’t catch a break! As if worrying about COVID-19 and the flu wasn’t enough, a new concern has emerged this season — the norovirus. This highly contagious stomach bug has been circulating worldwide, bringing along some unpleasant symptoms.
Symptoms and transmission
Norovirus symptoms typically appear 12 to 48 hours after exposure and include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain. The infection can lead to gastroenteritis — inflammation and swelling of the stomach and intestines. While symptoms usually last between 24 to 72 hours, they can be like exam season at U of T: intense.
As the norovirus spreads easily, students should take precautions to avoid it. The virus can be rapidly spread through direct contact, such as shaking hands with an infected person, touching contaminated surfaces, or consuming contaminated food. There is also evidence suggesting that airborne transmission may be a possible route.
Speaking of contaminated foods, norovirus
has been linked to the consumption of raw oysters, which can be avoided by ensuring that oysters are cooked to an internal temperature of 90 degrees Celsius. Beyond avoiding raw oysters, good hygiene offers plenty of other ways to protect yourself.
How can you protect yourself?
Hand sanitizer alone is not effective at killing the norovirus. Instead, students are advised to wash their hands frequently with soap and water.
Another interesting fact about the norovirus is that it can survive high temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius, meaning it won’t simply disappear when the weather warms up.
While the norovirus has no cure, it can be managed at home. If you’re experiencing symptoms, the City of Toronto recommends staying home for at least 48 hours after they cease. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, and seek professional care if symptoms worsen or persist beyond 72 hours.
Stay safe, U of T!
The future of long COVID research in Canada
The hidden aftermath of the pandemic
Santhija Jegatheeswaran Health Correspondent
You’re back in class, trying to keep up with lectures and assignments. There are no more mask regulations, and the six-feet-apart stickers have been removed from grocery store floors and subways. But something feels off.
Have we really beaten the pandemic?
You’re constantly exhausted, your brain feels foggy, and the walk between Robarts Library and the Medical Science Building leaves you winded. What if COVID-19 has left a lasting impact?
Long COVID — or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) — is a chronic condition where symptoms persist for days, weeks, or even months after illness, and thousands are experiencing its effects. This isn’t just the tiredness from staying up until 3:00 am working on a project or the dizziness after skipping breakfast. Long COVID is still an emerging medical condition.
What is Long COVID, and who’s at risk?
According to research, 10 to 30 per cent of nonhospitalized and 50 to 70 per cent of hospitalized COVID-19 cases lead to prolonged symptoms. Over 200 symptoms have been identified, affecting various organ systems, and at least 65 million people are estimated to have Long COVID.
Long COVID’s adverse outcomes include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) — a condition that leads to a high elevation of heart rate when you go from sitting or lying down to standing up.
Some of the most common symptoms include fatigue even after rest, brain fog, dizziness, shortness of breath, sore throat, heart issues (eg. chest pain, POTS, or an irregular heartbeat), and muscle and joint pain. This collection of symptoms suggests the condition involves immune dysfunction and microvascular (the small blood vessels in the body) damage.
Scientists are investigating multiple potential causes, including immune system dysfunction, persistent viral fragments, blood clotting abnormalities, and imbalance in the gut microbiome.
Long COVID has no single cure yet, but emerging therapies — such as antiviral medications like Paxlovid, anti-inflammatory drugs, and even experimental gut microbiome treatments with probiotics — show promising results.
The Canadian context
A narrative analysis of Canadian patients found that individuals seeking treatment for Long COVID often experience medical skepticism, lack of effective treatments, and difficulty accessing specialists.
This analysis — alongside another study that analyzed the general public’s sentiments about long COVID — highlighted key challenges patients face, including the struggle to convince doctors, family, and friends that their symptoms were real, often being dismissed or told that their condition was psychological. The emotional toll of a new, less-studied illness was significant, with many turning to online support for validation and advice.
Many patients also had to navigate an exhausting healthcare system, dealing with multiple specialists and a general lack of knowledge about the condition. The growing need for research and better treatments is increasingly apparent, but addressing it remains a novel challenge that requires time and funding.
Dr. Angela Cheung:
leading Canada’s fight against Long COVID
One of Canada’s most prominent researchers in Long COVID is Dr. Angela Cheung, a senior scientist at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and a professor at U of T. As a leading expert in the field, Dr. Cheung has been at the forefront of Long COVID research, dedicating her career to uncovering the causes, risk factors, and potential treatments for this complex and persistent condition.
In 2023, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research awarded Dr. Cheung a $20 million grant to lead a nationwide study on Long COVID. This grant will fund critical research on diagnostics, rehabilitation, and innovative treatment options. Her work focuses on understanding how Long COVID affects different individuals, with particular attention to those at higher risk, such as immunocompromised patients and marginalized communities.
According to research, 10 to 30 per cent of non-hospitalized and 50 to 70 per cent of hospitalized COVID-19 cases lead to prolonged symptoms.
Dr. Cheung has also been a vocal advocate for improving patient care. In a recent episode of the podcast Behind the Breakthrough by University Health Network, she noted that Long COVID affects women more than men, although men tend to experience more acute symptoms. This may be due to a variety of reasons, from differences in hormone levels, socioeconomic factors, or even that women may be more attentive to their bodies and related distress.
Dr. Cheung’s work is not just shaping Canada’s response to Long COVID; it contributes to the global scientific effort to understand and treat this condition more effectively. In the podcast, she said, “I enjoy doing what I do. I like to be able to ask questions and try to find answers. I like looking after patients. I like to try to fill a gap in knowledge as well as, you know, science. I like to move things forward if I can.” Long COVID may not make the news as often anymore, but its effects are life-changing for many. As research progresses, the goal is clear: to improve diagnosis, develop effective treatments, and ultimately, give those affected the opportunity to fully recover.
AI and cancer diagnosis at URSA’s Synergy conference Dr. Lincoln Stein on implementing AI in cancer diagnosis
Moeez Nasir Varsity Contributor
On February 1, the U of T Undergraduate Research Student’s Association held its first conference, Synergy. The day featured talks on current cancer research, presented by both professionals in the field and undergraduate researchers.
The first keynote was given by Dr. Lincoln Stein, acting scientific director and head of adaptive oncology at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. During his talk, he shared three anecdotes, all of which centred around how artificial intelligence (AI) is improving the study and diagnosis of cancer.
Cancers of unknown primary: solving the origin story
The first story discussed cancers of unknown primary origin, which are tumours that spread from another part of the body whose original locations are unknown. Without this information, doctors cannot effectively treat the cancer.
To address this issue, Stein and his team developed Deep Tumour, a system that could predict the original type of cancer with inputted data. They fed cancerous DNA data into neural networks, which were able to generate predictions based on prior connections in the inputted data.
Neural networks are a form of AI inspired by the brain’s structure, used to process complex information and problems like how we would. The accuracy of Stein’s network ranged from 100 per cent in identifying kidney cancer to 60 per cent in diagnosing stomach cancer.
Synthesizing cancerous DNA with neural networks
Stein continued to explain how AI is being used to create synthetic cancerous DNA, which
Medha Surajpal Science Editor
contains mutations, or variations from what the ‘healthy’ DNA pattern should be. These synthetic DNA sequences allow researchers to avoid relying on actual human genomes to learn more about various cancers. Human genomes contain confidential health information, which must be collected solely for the purpose of benchmarking — that is, comparing analysis techniques.
Two different programs were required for this: one model that generates fake genomes, and another that evaluates them. The goal was to fool the evaluating model as many times as possible. By testing their results on Deep Tumour,
they were able to conclude that the simulated genomes were accurate.
Reactome, the ‘smarter’ chatbot
The final story was about Stein’s chatbot, Reactome — another language model that aims to replicate conversation that functions like ChatGPT.
However, Reactome relies on accurate scientific sources rather than vague or sometimes unreliable sites. This chatbot is capable of stating when it doesn’t know the answer, ensuring that it provides accurate
data. This stands in stark contrast to some traditional chatbots, like Google’s “AI overview” tool, which once recommended that people eat rocks for their “mineral content.”
This is just the beginning of AI applications in the biomedical field. Stein is working on new projects, including one focused on detecting tumours before they even form. In his closing remarks, he encouraged the audience to experiment and have fun, emphasizing that advanced computer science knowledge wasn’t necessary to create any of these projects.
Neanderthal Humour
Dr. Lincoln Stein delivered a keynote speech at URSA’s Synergy conference. JASON WANG/THE VARSITY
Opinion
It’s time
March 11, 2025
thevarsity.ca/cateogory/opinion
opinion@thevarsity.ca
for Canada to look across the Atlantic
With the US forsaking its international friendships, we may yet find security in the EU
Rudy Yuan Varsity Contributor
As a German studies student, I had the opportunity to undertake a three-month summer internship in Freiburg, Germany, in 2024. While there, I encountered a bemusing recurring question when locals found out I was Canadian: “Ach, when is Canada joining the European Union?”
The first time this question came up, I laughed it off as a misappraisal of Canada’s place in the world. We’re not quite the US, but we are still Western and democratic, which might lead one to assume us to be closer to the European family. Back then, I thought the question to be silly, but now I am not so sure that I can afford to be so flippant.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the American presidency, his administration has profoundly undermined the Western liberal democratic international order. He has lambasted his allies, capitulated to dictators, and surrounded himself with sycophants, while persistently threatening punitive tariffs on Canada — America’s friendliest neighbour — which has stood by the American people through thick and thin.
Though we have had foreign policy disagreements in the past, they have usually been limited to polite ‘nos’ and never escalated to threats of trade war or annexation.
Surely, this marks a suspension in the course of cordial US-Canada relations. If we wish to avoid a choice between the humiliation of economic deprivation or political subjugation, I believe there is a clear answer: closer ties with the European Union (EU), while exploring the possibility of an EU membership.
Why not the EU?
To me, Canada is and has always been a middle power that relies on multilateralism — the cooperation of multiple countries through alliances and international organizations to address global issues collectively.
As of writing, the US relationship no longer appears as an unshakeable foundation for Canadian policy, and looking across the Pacific Ocean towards totalitarian regimes like China seems to be out of the question if we wish to maintain our own democracy and promote the liberal international order, especially due to China’s leadership style conflicting with ours.
That leaves the EU as the only viable option. Canada and the EU already share strong ties. Since implementing the trade agreement in 2017, the EU has become Canada’s secondlargest trading partner. Canadians speak two of the three most spoken languages of the EU, and our values align in promoting democracy, the rule of law, and the primacy of the liberal international order at a time of increasing uncertainty. Alongside the majority of EU states, we uphold the right arm of the Western world — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a beacon of Euro-Atlantic cooperation.
Yes, we are not physically on the European continent, but neither is EU member Cyprus, which is geographically part of Asia. Additionally, as of 2022, we share a land border in the Arctic with EU member state Denmark.
In my view, handing over some executive and legislative powers to the EU parliament is preferable to the threat of irrevocably losing even more of our policy independence to intense American pressure, whether that’s the tariff threat or even the 51st state threat.
Within the EU, there is room for debate, legislative input, and protest, along with varying degrees of a country’s integration before full membership. I cannot trust that the same can be said for a Trumpian world order.
Canada as the 28th EU member
As a member state, we would triple the EU’s landmass, giving the Union its longest external border. With freedom of movement within the EU’s Schengen Area, we may be required to reinforce our border in line with EU policy on preventing irregular entries. We would have the fourth-largest economy in the Union, which could lead to debates about replacing the loonie for the euro or negotiating an opt-out from the eurozone to preserve monetary policy independence.
With a population of over 40 million, we would rank a respectable fifth in population, ahead of Poland and behind Spain. This might entitle us to about 57 seats in the current 777-member European Parliament — a sizable presence in the Union’s legislature. Every Canadian would gain the right to move permanently to 27 different countries at a moment’s notice, opening up vast opportunities for employment, education, and cultural exchange.
Of course, all this is assuming we ever get that far.
Associate Professor Tobias Hof of the Departments of History and Germanic Languages & Literatures at U of T affirmed that “the first Trump presidency [brought] the EU and Canada… closer together, because they
realized they [were] still upholding this kind of transatlantic partnership that [has] existed for decades now.”
Hof added that he “wouldn’t be surprised if the second Trump presidency would… expand this closer cooperation in all different spheres.”
In Hof’s view, “the EU as well as Canada seem to try to speak with one voice” when supporting Ukraine and opposing Trump’s tariffs. He also argues that, although “the typical idea we have of Europe is, of course, the European continent,” the European — and particularly German — perception of Canada remains that “Canadians share a lot of values with what we consider to be European values.”
The EU is a collection of middle powers like Canada, capable of exerting more influence collectively than the countries ever could alone. In a world where the most basic tenets of Western democracy are under attack from within and without, it can surely do us no harm to look to those who would take up arms if necessary to defend it with us — even if the lofty goal of EU accession is ultimately more fantasy than fact. Even so, we should dare to dream.
Rudy Yuan is a third-year student at Trinity College studying international relations and German studies.
crossword:
1. Sesame Street network
Bachelorette in “Stardew Valley”
______ Blinders 6. Least fan-favoured bachelorette in “Stardew Valley” 7. “Are you ______?” in texting
1. Fruit that one may poach 2. Capital of Azerbaijan 3. Lacking ( _ of) 4. Titular Shakespearean king 5. Trudeau and Harper, for short
Canadians share a lot of values with what we consider to be European values.
BRENNAN KARUNARATNE/THE VARSITY
Ashley Wong Varsity Contributor
Program cuts are not the answer to Ontario’s
post-secondary funding crisis
York’s program cuts expose the consequences of the current post-secondary funding model
Ahmed Hawamdeh Domestic Affairs Columnist
Content warning: This article mentions antiIndigenous hate, residential schools, and misogyny.
Last month, York University announced that it will pause enrolment in 18 undergraduate programs, most of which are cultural studies programs, citing low enrolment and the need to “achieve financial sustainability in light of unexpected policy directions at the provincial and federal levels affecting higher education.”
Notably, these “policy directions” include the federal government tightening international student study permit regulations and the provincial government’s underfunding postsecondary institutions.
I see York University’s decision to suspend these programs, notably Indigenous studies and gender and women’s studies, as a dangerous step backward in an era of rising ‘anti-wokeness,’ antiIndigenous hate, online misogynistic rhetoric, and a second Trump presidency that has continued its war on civil rights. This suspension also reveals the fragility of Canada’s post-secondary funding model, which has become overly dependent on international student tuition.
Despite public perception pertaining to these programs’ “worthlessness,” their ability to promote social justice, a sense of belonging, and reconciliation is important to students, the wider community, and our country — and Canadian universities must continue to offer them, independent of government immigration policy. What is at stake
York removing certain cultural studies programs suggests that it views these programs as expendable or lacking ‘real’ market value,
reaffirming the popular “college-educated barista” trope. I believe this is part of a larger trend to “corporatize” higher education, emphasizing economic demands over student learning and skill-building.
Studies demonstrate similar outcomes between humanities and STEM majors in career satisfaction, job interest, and financial contentment — but the stereotypes of the unemployed humanities graduate persists.
Beyond economic reasoning, these programs also have a larger societal impact. Women and gender studies departments — despite many elite universities relegating them to “second-class status” — serve as defenders of social justice in academic institutions. They also help students foster a sense of belonging and act as “sites of transformation and liberation.”
A program like this is increasingly important in a time of growing disdain and hate pertaining to conversations about gender and sexuality, exemplified by the 2023 stabbing attack in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo.
Indigenous studies is another program, alongside gender and women’s studies, York University slated for suspension. This is particularly concerning to me given the rise of anti-Indigenous hate, residential school denialism, the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and what has been described as Canada’s “painfully slow path to reconciliation.”
I believe universities and the education system at large have a unique responsibility in reconciliation due to their complicity in the assimilation and systemic oppression of Indigenous people throughout Canadian history.
York University’s Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI) Strategy states that “York is committed to the work of truth and reconciliation, to recognize and redress how academic
institutions perpetuate colonialism, and to explore ways of transforming the University.”
Given this, it remains unclear to me how the York administration can justify suspending the Indigenous studies program.
A statement released by York’s Indigenous studies faculty described the program as providing “an essential academic and cultural home” for Indigenous students, warning that its suspension threatens the university’s ability to meet its obligations under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its DEDI strategy.
This decision feels emblematic of the performative allyship that often characterizes institutions' commitments to Indigenous communities.
A broken funding model
York established suspending 18 programs as a necessary step toward “financial sustainability.” However, cutting programs — a move that risks pitting disciplines against one another — is not the solution. The university should instead join student organizations and other advocates in demanding public funding for post-secondary education.
York University is the first Ontario university to suspend programs on Indigenous and gender studies, but the issue is not unique to York. Budget cuts are affecting post-secondary institutions across Ontario — a direct consequence of the federal government’s decision to reduce international student permits by 35 per cent in 2024 and 10 per cent in 2025.
Seneca College will temporarily close one of its campuses, while Centennial College is shutting down its East York campus and suspending 49 programs.
The provincial government must prioritize funding for public colleges and universities. Many advocates, including the Ontario Public Service
U of T should install bidets on its campuses
Bidets are just a small step toward increasing multicultural diversity
Hygiene practices differ across the world. Different cultures have different standards for what is considered cleanliness and proper bodily grooming. Yet, many non-Westerners are unified in their shock and disgust at the typical Western bathroom — they seldom have bidets.
From Asia to Europe, many people across the world are accustomed to seeing bidets in bathrooms — experiencing a culture-shock to discover that bidets are not a standard bathroom practice in North America.
Something as basic as the ability to comfortably use the washroom is not equally exercised by students, because many of us require alternative methods of washroom hygiene. At U of T, students come from various countries around the world — many of which, unlike Canada, commonly use bidets — and I believe the lack of bidets on our campuses has begun to represent a broader lack of the university’s cultural recognition and inclusivity toward its diverse student body.
The cultural importance of bidets
Bidets are sanitary devices that allow users to clean themselves with water after using the washroom. For many people, simply wiping is not enough to be or feel properly clean, and a lingering sense of uncleanliness arises when bidets are not available.
As a South Asian Muslim student, I feel doubly strong about U of T’s lack of bidets. For Muslims, cleaning ourselves with water is essential to our faith. If we have not cleaned ourselves with water, we are in a state of impurity, during which we cannot pray.
Muslims pray five times over the course of the
day. For university students, this means praying on campus and between classes to avoid missing a prayer. For Muslim students at U of T, the lack of bidets presents both a challenge in practicing religious cleanliness. I see it as a broader exclusionary impediment to our ability to practice our religion on campus.
From my experience at UTSC, it’s not always practical to go from building to building in search of a bathroom with a bidet. Even then, not every stall in each bathroom has a bidet. From my own experience and talking to others in the campus community who choose to use bidets, I know of only four bidets across two men’s and two women’s bathrooms. However, students on other U of T campuses are deprived of even this impractical option, often resorting to carrying alternatives — like water bottles or portable bidets — or avoiding the bathroom entirely.
U of T students spend much of their time on campus going from building to building, so these alternative efforts are simply impossible to constantly exercise. Many students now feel that bidets are a need that is being overlooked and that a change needs to be implemented for the university to be a truly inclusive space.
Employees Union, have urged the government to allocate $1.4 billion to help Ontario colleges offset the loss of tuition revenue due to reduced international student enrolment.
In 2021, international student fees accounted for 68 per cent of all tuition fee revenue at 24 public Ontario colleges, highlighting the schools’ dependence on these fees. Similarly, in 2024, international student tuition contributed to 42 per cent of U of T’s total revenue, despite comprising 31.1 per cent of the student body.
Given the Ford government’s history of underfunding post-secondary institutions, I highly doubt its new sweeping majority will alleviate the impact of budget cuts on these institutions. Under Ford’s leadership, Ontario universities have received the lowest per-student funding in Canada, falling nearly $4,000 below the national average of $12,215.
Coupled with the government’s freeze on postsecondary tuition, Ford has forced universities to rely more on international students to fund their operations. I worry that this dependence on international students could undermine Canadian universities’ ability to offer a diverse range of programs, making them increasingly vulnerable to shifts in government immigration policy, as seen in the case of York.
It is evident that York’s suspension of cultural studies programs is not an isolated incident but rather a reflection of broader structural funding issues — issues I fear could also affect U of T.
However, rather than succumbing to these pressures and sidelining marginalized students and cultural studies programs, post-secondary institutions have a responsibility to mobilize against further cuts, stand in solidarity with unions, student groups, and advocates, and ensure they do not become complicit in the erosion of academia in Ontario.
Universities must protect their ability to foster a dynamic, diverse educational experience while advancing reconciliation efforts and remaining independent of volatile government policies regarding the international student market.
Ahmed Hawamdeh is a third-year student at Trinity College studying public policy, political science, and French. He is the Domestic Affairs Columnist for The Varsity
the cultural divide between U of T as an institution and the U of T student body and exercising more cultural awareness and inclusion.
Emphasizing the cultural divide
This issue is exactly what I see the student group, Bidets at UofT, seeking to address. Through its Instagram account, @bidets_at_uoft, this initiative — launched in December 2024 — advocates for bidets to be installed across all three U of T campuses. In a post on Instagram, it said the reason for their activism was that “As a globally renowned and diverse institution, it is unfortunate that something as essential as a bidet is lacking.”
Bidets at UofT has given a platform to many
U of T can do better
Having grown up in Canada, I never thought of the predominant lack of bidets as a matter of inclusivity; I merely saw it as a cultural difference. Now, as a university student, I spend over 10 hours on campus some days in which my access to bathrooms is significantly limited. After listening to similar experiences from other students, my perspective has shifted on the necessity of bidets.
students from a wider range of cultural backgrounds feel more acknowledged and included. Being able to comfortably use the bathroom should be a basic component of inclusion.
While I won’t advertise bidets as the peak measure of cultural inclusivity, incorporating more of them onto U of T campuses would, at the very least, make more students feel comfortable and reduce our stress over something as fundamental as using the washroom.
Zainab Abdul is a first-year humanities student at UTSC.
Zainab Abdul Varsity Contributor
Business & Labour
Your ultimate guide
March 11, 2025
varsity.ca/category/business biz@thevarsity.ca
for the 2025 tax season.
Filing process, deadlines, and tips for success
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — the federal agency responsible for administering tax, benefit, and related programs — offers tools to streamline the tax filing process. One such tool is My Account, an online portal that allows you to access tax information, track returns, and monitor refunds or benefits.
NETFILE is an electronic filing service that
and identify additional savings, such as the tuition tax credit for students.
The Canada.ca website also provides step-bystep guides to help you prepare for tax season. It’s also essential to be aware of tax filing deadlines. For most people, the deadline to submit your tax return is April 30. Missing this deadline can result in penalties or interest charges, even if you don’t owe any taxable income. Filing on time also ensures that you don’t miss out on any benefits or credits you might be eligible for.
When filing taxes, common mistakes such as
Cohere versus the media
The tension between AI companies’ data needs and news organizations’ rights
Zainab Haider
Varsity Contributor
Sitting among the upper echelon of Canadian startups, artificial intelligence (AI) company Cohere is at the centre of a legal battle.
Co-founded by U of T alumni Aidan Gomez, and last valued at 5.5 billion USD, Cohere is facing a lawsuit by a coalition of major news organizations for systematic copyright and trademark infringement. The plaintiffs in the case include the Toronto Star, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vox Media, and Politico Their lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on February 13, alleges that Cohere unlawfully used the organizations’ content and trademark without compensation.
Understanding the AI landscape
The legal AI landscape is filled with lawsuits over intellectual property (IP) infringements: when creative or protected work is used without permission. This is not the only recent IP lawsuit against an AI company; in November 2024, a coalition of major news organizations sued OpenAI for scraping. The charges in both cases highlight a broader issue: whether AI model training qualifies as ‘fair use’ under copyright law. Fair use refers to the legally accepted use of copyrighted works without the owner’s permission, typically when the use benefits the public and does not harm the copyright holder economically. In essence, if the use is fair, it is legal. However, applying these principles to generative AI is complicated. Large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAIs must be fed with content across the web through a process
called scraping — the process of using software to extract and export data from websites — to build their knowledge base. It remains unclear whether this practice violates copyright law or constitutes fair use.
In an interview with The Varsity, Nisarg Shah, an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science and the research lead for ethics of AI at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, explained that current copyright frameworks were not designed to handle the nature of AI systems.
“A lot of the current laws are written with deterministic processes in mind,” he said. He added that such processes in the law fail when systems like an LLM have randomly determined systems that do not differentiate between copyrighted and non-copyrighted information.
“[How] do you deal with that in a legal framework?”
The lawsuit against Cohere
The lawsuit accuses Cohere of two breaches: systematic copyright and trademark infringement. According to the plaintiffs, Cohere’s AI models were trained using scraped versions of their articles “Without permission or compensation.”
Their legal documents specifically emphasize the model’s use of the C4 dataset — created by a group of Google engineers — for training: a free resource that contains the plaintiffs’ copyrighted material. Many of the plaintiffs’ articles are behind paywalls, which makes unauthorized usage particularly problematic.
The lawsuit highlights concerns within the publishing industry over AI companies’ business models that rely on large-scale data scraping
forgetting to report all sources of income — like tips and freelance work — or failing to update personal information, can cause delays. Keeping accurate records ensures the CRA can send your refunds or any applicable benefits to the correct home or email address in a timely manner.
To avoid mistakes when filing, students can simplify the process by using U of T’s tax clinics — including UTSU’s, SCSU’s, and UTMSU’s — which offer free and personalized assistance for
In an email to The Varsity, CRA spokesperson Zachariah Fernandes noted that students with modest incomes and simple tax situations — such as a student with only T4 income and tuition credits — can also access free clinics through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, where volunteers can complete taxes in person, virtually, by phone, or through drop-off clinics.
It’s important to stay alert to potential tax scams when using online platforms. Always verify communication with the CRA through My Account or by calling 1-800-959-8281. The CRA will never request payment through calls or texts, nor ask for personal information through unsolicited messages.
Key tax documents and credits every student needs Before filing your taxes, gather the necessary documents to claim all eligible credits.
The Tuition Enrolment Certificate (T2202) is key, as it outlines the tuition fees paid and your enrollment period, helping you claim tuition tax credits — a credit that reduces the amount of tax you owe based on your tuition fees.
If you don’t use it immediately, the credit can be carried forward or transferred to a parent, spouse, or common-law partner, provided they’re Canadian residents. U of T students can access the T2202 through ACORN under ‘Finances.’
If you were employed at some point during the year, your employer will issue a T4 slip showing your earnings and tax deductions. Be sure to collect all T4 slips if you had multiple jobs.
Students receiving scholarships, bursaries, or grants may also receive a T4A slip, which reports these as income. Note that T4A slips don’t include amounts from the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
Filing a return not only allows you to claim tuition tax credits but also unlocks benefits like the Goods and Services tax credit and Harmonized Sales tax credit, which provide tax-free quarterly payments to low-income individuals including students to offset sales tax. The CRA automatically determines eligibility upon filing.
Fernandes noted that filing is essential for accessing benefits like the Canada Child Benefit, Ontario Trillium Benefit, and other provincial or territorial benefits, even for students with no income or temporary residents.
For the 2023 tax-filing season, Canadians eligible for a tax refund received an average of $2,262.
What’s new for 2025?
As we approach the 2025 tax season, students working in the gig economy should be aware of the new Platform Work Reporting rule. Platforms like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash were mandated to provide workers with an earnings summary by January 31, for it to be used when filing taxes this April.
If you’re filing taxes for the first time, the CRA has streamlined the registration process with the new Document Verification Service. This service eliminates the need to wait for a CRA security code by mail to access your My Account, which could take up to 10 business days. Instead, you can verify your identity online in real time, allowing first-time filers to immediately access the website.
Another new feature is the online chat service available through My Account. This service allows you to directly chat with a CRA agent if you have any questions about your taxes, CRA benefits, or other related topics. To access the chat, simply sign in to your CRA account and look for the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the page.
of proprietary content. In their complaint, the plaintiffs argued that Cohere exploits publishers’ creative efforts and investments to boost its own profits.
A key allegation distinguishing this case from the OpenAI lawsuit is the claim that Cohere’s LLM commits trademark infringement by manufacturing articles and falsely attributing them to these news organizations. The plaintiffs argued that this misleads the public and damages the organizations’ credibility.
The plaintiffs are seeking up to $150,000 USD per infringed work and a court order preventing Cohere from using their copyrighted works.
Cohere’s defense response
In a statement to the Financial Post, Cohere spokesperson Josh Gartner called the lawsuit “misguided and frivolous.” He defended the company’s AI training practices, emphasizing their commitment to respecting IP: “Cohere strongly stands by its practices for responsibly training its enterprise AI. We have long prioritized controls that mitigate the risk of IP infringement and respect the rights of holders,”
Gartner said, adding that Cohere “expects the matter to be resolved in our favor.”
Cohere’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Aidan Gomez, also weighed in on the matter. On February 8, just days before the lawsuit was filed, he posted on X:
“AI is only as useful as the data it can access, and the systems it can control. If it can’t see the data that answers your question, or can’t control the systems needed to automate, then value is left on the table.”
Next steps
The case is still in its early stages, with court dates yet to be set. Given the high stakes and the number of similar lawsuits, the outcome will set an important precedent for both AI companies and media organizations.
Will Cohere have to strike a deal with news organizations to use their work, as OpenAI did with The Atlantic and Vox Media? Or will the courts side with AI developers, ensuring that Western AI companies remain dominant, especially amid the ongoing ‘AI arms race’ with China?
Arts & Culture
March 11, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture arts@thevarsity.ca
Becoming a water buffalo: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
In Uncle Boonmee, the audience faces the idea of transforming into an ‘other’
Patrick Ignasiak Film Columnist
When I watched Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives for the second time, I’ve been manifesting a sudden and irreversible metamorphosis into a domestic water buffalo. If I tap the correct vertebrae in my spinal column, I suspect I could reverse the Antarctic trauma of my proto-human ancestors and begin to graze on grass and roughage instead of rice and fried eggs.
Though Uncle Boonmee is anti-narrative for the most part — lacking a solid, central line of reasoning or action to follow — there is one central plot point: Uncle Boonmee is dying, and his extended family has come to visit his tamarind plantation, but that’s secondary to the narrative.
The movie is more so an accumulation of memories that traces itself into that blue vegetation of one of the film’s important incarnations, the water buffalo — or my own spinal surrogate. It’s beautifully shot, with meditative dynamics of light contrasted against sharp colours, making every frame a murmur of memory and transition.
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul generates intense cinematic presence from even a cheap Sasquatch costume by carefully positioning it
at softened and incorporated angles, until the redness of the costume’s eyes are completely arresting.
In Uncle Boonmee, the audience faces the idea of transforming into an ‘other.’ More specifically, this is the infinite regress of thresholds in the anonymous transition from son into monkey spirit or deceased wife into a semi-translucent superimposition.
All of this Weerasethakul conveys through the tricks of anti-narrative, by which I mean nonvisual suggestions made through offsets in the sequence of shots. The film creates a coexistence of many fuzzy memories from which images of the past are being recollected. These clumps of the past are then collapsed into the present moment, the film’s starting point. It’s a seriously non-linear movement.
Our adult spinal cords have 24 vertebrae, while a water buffalo has 49–51. These vertebrae carry an evolutionary memory — a reptilian mind in the back of our brain that is pushed deeper into the smallest parts of us. We can still see this base part of our mind when we sleep.
This baseness is a very useful vehicle for engaging with Uncle Boonmee, a movie I’ve never finished without half-dozing off into the
bendiness of its presentation. It might sound like a particularly difficult movie to understand, but it’s actually a pretty viewer-centric experience, with lots of leeway in the construction of the film’s true meaning — the metamorphosis of all that raw material into the ambiguous image of the water buffalo.
Besides the liberal interpretations of the narrative, Uncle Boonmee is about connectivity in the way our brains make connections and form memories. These are presented through seemingly disconnected shots; our neural pathways generate into dream trees, which widen with the discontinuity between shots. Your spinal cord is not only for standing you upright, but it also aids in the body’s sensation. Though the spinal cord’s dorsal horns are located in the posterior regions, they are as equally involved in sensation as the body’s higher cerebral centres. In becoming a water buffalo, there’s a larger intuitive logic invisibly coordinating each of these segments in a spinal cord. Movies can work in an analogous manner.
Like your spinal cord, cinema is the ossification of many disjointed memories. Think about it this way: your upright posture is a direct recollection of the Cambrian explosion, the moment a sea
anemone decided to have back pain rather than perfect symmetry. I’m suggesting that you watch Uncle Boonmee along similar terms.
Near the end of Uncle Boonmee, the titular character’s nephew experiences himself stationary, watching television while simultaneously leaving his hotel room with his mother. This doubling of the present moment is the spinal cord.
When we take up the baggage of our skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, we have lots of leeway in constructing meaning and our enjoyment of freedom. Our understanding of memory is immediate and flexible. You could always just be a water buffalo instead and transcend the porous border between your human, animal, and ghostly existence.
That is to say, you already understand Uncle Boonmee perfectly well. Your singular experience — the perspective of this moment as it is right now, and its integration into your knowledge during that moment is the self-expression of a complete appreciation for all film and its intricacies. I guess you could substitute ‘cinema’ in that last sentence for something less meaningful, like ‘life’, ‘love’, ‘intrinsic buddha-nature’, or whatever. The point is, this movie is really quite good and approachable. You should watch it while you fall asleep.
SMC Troubadour’s The Shawshank Redemption gives us hope during dreary days
While Shawshank is a very masculine story, it’s really about hardship, relationships, and hope
Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault.
St. Michael’s (SMC) Troubadours’s production of The Shawshank Redemption, which was held in Hart House between February 13–15, came at the perfect moment.
Based on Stephen King’s novella, the play follows Andy Dufresne (Nezar El-Rayes), a New England banker who is convicted of murder and sentenced to life at the Shawshank State Penitentiary. There, he meets Red (Laurie Campbell), a prison veteran who gives Andy a rundown about how things work at the ‘Shank’ and provides the audience with intermittent narration.
Over the 19 years that the story takes place, a Promethean Andy tussles and conspires with inmates, deals with a gang of rapists, and finds himself involved in a financial fraud scheme at the behest of the villainous Warden Stammas. Neve Chamberlain, a fourth-year U of T student studying neuroscience and molecular biology, directed The Shawshank Redemption.
The set in Hart House imposed upon the audience: a two-story façade of bricks and doors allowed the actors a great degree of movement and versatility on the stage. The brick texturing
and concrete feel of the structure did a great deal in helping the audience place themselves in the prison. The consistency of the unchanging background of seemingly impenetrable walls did justice to the penitentiary’s premise.
El-Rayes played a calm and calculated Andy who quickly adapted to the grime of prison life with the help of Campbell’s Red, his mentor.
El-Rayes’ and Campbell’s scenes felt natural, so you could believably watch their friendship and camaraderie grow as the play progressed. This is especially difficult to accomplish when performing back-to-back shows — going from fresh acquaintances to old friends and reverting to fresh acquaintances again.
For actors, it’s easy to grow comfortable with costars and forget that the characters are meant to be strangers to each other. That’s why it’s crucial to recognize the skill and effort applied by the cast to ground the play’s central relationship. From here on, Andy and Red do what they can to pass the time and make their internment bearable.
Lance Oribello — who plays Brooksie: an octogenarian, model prisoner, and prison librarian — was easily the play’s standout performance. His hunched back, limp, fragility, and the aching timbre of his voice came to actualize the story’s most tragic character. Brooksie is the vehicle for perhaps the play’s most important commentary on the brutal US prison-industrial complex. After
being imprisoned for 50 years, Brooksie — like many other ex-cons — finds no support outside of prison and is unable to return to a normal life after his release.
Bardia Nasri plays Bogs Diamond, the leader of the aforementioned gang of rapists who is a frequent nuisance to the prisoners and takes on the role of the antagonist for the first portion of the play. Nasri’s sleazy portrayal lent itself to creating a character defined by his insecurities.
However, I thought Nasri felt somewhat removed from the rest of the cast at his emotional climax. Near the end of the first act, the prison guards discipline Bogs. Nasri clearly has a great deal of performative range — his shrieks and cries were disturbingly real.
Yet, the dramatism might have been too much. No one else matched his intensity, which left the character looking out of place. He has what it takes to be a Shakespearian tragic hero, but he sometimes feels out of place in the atmosphere of this production.
Another standout performance was from Serena Barr, who played Rooster and provided great comedic relief. Her performance as a twangy, short-tempered Southern hillbilly was perfectly expressed with her well-handled tone and timing.
This is Barr’s fourth play at U of T, and the show’s program says she wanted to step out of her usual role to “show people that she’s not just
a pretty blonde, but a pretty blonde with range.” I’d have to concur.
However, of no other fault but the scripts, I found that Barr’s performance as Rooster did at times feel misplaced as a source of lighthearted comedy when Rooster also enrolled as a primary member of Bogs Diamond’s gang of rapists, making Rooster’s character seem incongruent. I also wish better effort was made in terms of costuming to show the passage of time. I was surprised to see Andy and the gang looking just as spry and youthful after 19 years of incarceration. Time takes a toll on people; time in prison takes an even greater one. They should not look the same at both ends.
Interestingly, Warden Stammas was genderswapped, with Taite Cullen taking on the role of the brutal dictator. Campbell spoke to The Varsity about the decision: “I think [it’s] added a really awesome perspective.” She said, “There’s a lot of Biblical references in [the story] […] giving a woman that kind of power to be like, ‘Okay, anybody can be evil, regardless of gender’… [So] you take this very maternal, biblical kind of figure and then just turn her into a monster.”
I think it worked. Cullen’s imposing portrayal of the warden was intimidating and dislikeable. While Shawshank is a very masculine story, it’s really a story about hardship, relationships, and hope.
Sulaiman Hashim Khan Theatre Columnist
Lance Oribello was easily the play’s standout performance. COURTESY OF QILIN YU
Love after assault
A glimpse into the emotional landscape of dating after sexual assault
Sydnee Pullman Varsity Contributor
Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault and rape, and mentions suicide.
Sexual assault is one of those things that you rarely think about, until it happens. One in three women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime, and are more likely to have this experience again through revictimization. But in all the rape crisis counseling, therapists, and call centres I’ve attended, I’ve never seen ‘how to date after sexual assault’ on the agenda.
How do you move on from this? How do you wake up one day and decide to date again when there’s a base level of distrust and a knowledge of violation baked into all of your bodily tissues? When is the right time to start dating after an event like a sexual assault? When’s the right time to talk about your past to the person you’re seeing? When’s the right time to think that you’re ‘normal’ again?
Revictimization is a concern that lives in my head both consciously and unconsciously. It has broken the once steadfast trust I had in myself, which I now yearn for unfulfilled. It is the reason
for the uncertainty and confusion that can come from even the smallest touch, the slightest smell, or the slight glance at a familiar tattoo on a man’s neck that stopped me in my tracks outside my neighborhood Thai restaurant.
On some days, you think you’re fine. Perfect even. The event that happened in my mid-teens feels years away. How could it still affect me?
Until one day, something small devastates you; an unexpected touch sends you into a tailspin. You feel guilt, shame, and disgust for your body that makes you want to curl up into a ball, retreat into your dreams, and shrivel away.
Some survivors choose to hide these feelings or lock them in a box within their subconscious — never to be thought of again. Some refuse physical touch and romantic attention entirely. Some end their own lives.
When do you tell your loved ones? You secretly hope they won’t pity you. When you’re sexually assaulted, you’re forced into an obligation to explain the past while also feeling like you have to coddle everyone else’s emotions, going as far as to make this life-changing event seem like it wasn’t as bad as it really is.
People look at you with new eyes. It’s a look that exhibits simultaneous perplexion and pity.
Are they really loving me if they don’t see me as a whole? Can they really love me if I’m not whole?
These questions follow you, making you feel grief and shame for something that is not your fault. This is a past that the survivor shouldn’t have to explain and that they did not have control over.
The actions should make the perpetrator feel guilt, shame, and fear instead. The perpetrator should be forced to disclose and feel the same embarrassment that survivors do every time they speak about it. Instead, the survivor sits there, crossing their fingers and toes, hoping their partner won’t see them as damaged goods or too much work for what they’re worth.
Divulging a history of sexual assault — particularly rape — is a combination of emotionless words despite every single nerve fibre of your being feeling like it’s expecting a lightning strike. Even if you look calm on the outside, the fate of your emotional stability rests in the hands of someone who doesn’t even know that they hold it. You have to confide in your romantic partners — at least if you want to feel safe and want a relationship that feels real.
So what’s the right answer?
I don’t think there is one. Some weeks, you’ll think of it every day, every hour, and other times, you won’t remember it for months. The only thing I know is that a sexual assault is a fundamental change. A change that takes your being and throws it into the crash of a monstrous wave. It changes how you receive and give love.
Surviving a sexual assault will teach you more
Thoughts for sale: The rise of the ‘thought daughter’ in the digital age
How the commodification of intellectualism both reclaims and restricts women’s voiceswomen’s voices
In today’s digital world — where identity is currency and authenticity is refracted through the lens of performance — a new archetype has emerged: the ‘thought daughter.’
You’ve seen her before, consciously or not. She’s carefully styled a photo of herself journaling, the caption quoting Fredrich Nietzsche or Sylvia Plath, and has a vintage bookshelf perfectly curated in the background. She is intellectual yet approachable, reflective yet marketable.
The thought daughter straddles the line between thinker and influencer, embodying both a reclamation for women in intellectual spaces and its commodification in the digital marketplace.
How digital culture packages women’s ideas At first glance, the thought daughter reclaims intellectualism: a woman asserting her intelligence in a digital arena where women’s voices are often trivialized or dismissed.
Looking closer, the thought daughter reveals herself as a paradox. Her rebellion against stereotypes for women becomes tangled in the same systems that commodify her thoughts, her identity, and even her intellect.
The ‘thought daughter’ is not a spontaneous phenomenon. She is a product of two intersecting cultural forces: the rise of aestheticized digital platforms and the historical suspicion of women’s intelligence. This skepticism follows the thought daughter across digital spaces. If you post about philosophy, then you’re a pseudo-intellectual. Critique a novel, and you’re performing for male validation. Reference critical theory, and someone, somewhere, is rolling their eyes and assuming you skimmed a summary and liked the ‘vibe’ rather than the meaning.
X, TikTok, Instagram — it doesn’t matter where. The response is the same: a woman’s intellectual engagement is always scrutinized and on the verge of being dismissed.
These platforms compress thought into palatable, bite-sized chunks, rewarding performance over complexity, and so the thought daughter must make her ideas easily digestible or risk being ignored. Instagram flattens everything into an aesthetic, so even the serious is forced into a curated, picturesque form: the perfectly highlighted book, the soft-lit desk, the casual shot
of A Lover’s Discourse next to an oat milk latte. If a woman engages with culture online, she is forced to prove, over and over, that she is serious. And even then, people will find reasons not to believe her.
On one hand, the thought daughter challenges the dismissal of women’s intellect by insisting on her visibility in intellectual spaces. On the other hand, the systems she navigates constrain her. Social media platforms are designed not to foster complexity, but to flatten nuance into easily consumable fragments. Her carefully curated feed — soft lighting, stacks of Simone de Beauvoir’s works, existential musings paired with vibey soundtracks — is not simply a performance of intellect.
It is a compromise, shaped by the pressures of a digital economy that commodifies even the most personal acts of intellectual engagement.
On the thot daughter
To understand the thought daughter, we must first consider her counterpart: the ‘thot daughter.’ Popularized as an internet meme, the thot daughter infantilizes and sexualizes women’s online personas, framing them as frivolous, consumptiondriven, and lacking depth. The meme epitomizes a broader cultural discomfort with women occupying public space, intellectual or otherwise.
In contrast, the thought daughter offers a counterpoint. She asserts herself as complex, serious, and culturally aware — a rejection of the reductive caricature of women as mere consumers and consumables.
Legacy Russell’s book Glitch Feminism doesn’t speak directly to the rise of the thought daughter, but it gives us the language to interrogate her. Russell writes that “embracing the glitch” is an act of resistance — a refusal to conform to the rigid conceptions of identity imposed by society and reinforced through digital spaces.
The thought daughter flirts with this kind of disruption. She presents herself as a counter to the infantilized, hypersexualized stereotype of the ‘thot daughter’ staking a claim in intellectual spaces that have long been hostile to women.
Yet, social media algorithms don’t reward resistance; they reward refinement. Instead of breaking the system, she becomes fluent in its language, learning to package intellect into something aesthetically pleasing, easily consumable, and relentlessly shareable. Here,
than anything in any class or therapy appointment. It will lead you to the strength you have within, even if it is a strength you don’t want at the cost of your innocence.
Love after assault means questions without answers. It’s feeling alone in the arms of someone you’ve divulged to, even when they think they’re giving you all the love in the world. It’s having your emotions attack your body at the worst possible time and place imaginable.
Love after assault is involuntarily changed.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence or harassment at U of T:
• Visit safety.utoronto.ca for a list of safety resources.
• Visit svpscentre.utoronto.ca for information, contact details, and hours of operation for the tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266 or by email at svpscentre@utoronto.ca.
• Call Campus Safety Special Constable Service to make a report at 416-978-2222 (for U of T St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905-569-4333 (for U of T Mississauga)
• Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre at 416-323-6040
• Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555
• Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866863-0511
Russell’s glitch destabilizes; the algorithm’s moot, and the question remains: is the thought daughter hacking the system or simply playing its most elegant game?
The intellectualism of the thought daughter is not immune to the pressures of commodification. Her curated presence, while pushing back against stereotypes, remains confined by the rules of the influencer-industrial complex. To exist on platforms like Instagram or TikTok, her intellect must be visually appealing and easily digestible. It is not enough to think deeply; she must perform the act of thinking beautifully.
Why digital platforms flatten intellectualism
The algorithmic structures of digital platforms are not designed to nurture complexity. Instead, they reward engagement through likes, shares, and comments. This favours content that is visually striking, relatable, and easily consumable. The result is an aestheticization of intellectualism, where philosophical quotes, literary critiques, and political musings are transformed into curated performances.
Consider the rise of literary-themed reels: 15-second videos summarizing works of literature or philosophical concepts and Albert Camus’s existentialism, set to soft jazz and overlaid with aesthetic text. These gestures may be sincere, but they are filtered for consumption. The algorithm encourages intellectual labour to be packaged as content, prioritizing shareability over substance.
This has profound implications for intellectualism itself. When ideas are reduced to aesthetic fragments, they lose their ability to challenge, provoke, or resist the status quo. True intellectual engagement thrives on conceptual and philosophical ambiguity, contradiction, and unresolved questions — qualities fundamentally at odds with the demands of the digital marketplace.
The essence of intellectualism is lost in translation, the ability to foster critical self-reflection and unsettle our entrenched beliefs.
The commodification of intellectualism undermines its transformative potential. Reframed as content, intellectual labour becomes subject to the same market forces as any other commodity.
In this context, the thought daughter becomes a brand, and her ideas — no matter how genuine — are reframed as offerings for consumption. When intellectualism becomes a trend, it risks becoming ornamental—a signal of depth rather than an
invitation to truly think.
This retooling privileges the palatable over the provocative, flattening ideas that were meant to challenge into performances that merely reassure. The stakes are high. Intellectualism challenges dominant ideologies, disrupts complacency, and opens new ways of seeing the world. If these functions are sacrificed to the demands of social media algorithms, we lose not only the depth of individual thought but also the potential for collective transformation.
How to reclaim intellectualism in the digital age
To dismiss the thought daughter outright would be a mistake. She represents a genuine attempt to carve out intellectual space in a world that often denies women this privilege. Though mediated by the demands of digital culture, her curated presence is not merely a performance — it is an act of defiance against a society that trivializes women’s voices.
However, her existence also reveals the insidious ways digital systems commodify even the most personal expressions of thought. The thought daughter mirrors our own consumption habits and forces us to confront how we participate in commodifying ideas.
Reclaiming intellectualism requires resisting these forces. Platforms that prize visibility over substance are not neutral; they are designed to commodify human experience. If we want intellectualism to thrive, we must push back against the algorithm’s demands for polish and simplicity. This means creating spaces where thought can exist for its own sake — unapologetically complex, unbranded, and free.
The thought daughter is not the problem; she is the mirror. Her curated existence reflects the constraints of a culture that prioritizes marketability over meaning. But she also points to the possibility of something more: a world where intellectual engagement is valued not for its aesthetic appeal but for its ability to challenge, disrupt, and inspire. To think deeply in the digital age is to resist commodification — to imagine new ways of being that allow thought to thrive on its own terms.
Kamilla Bekbossynova
Varsity Contributor
CHLOE WESTON/THE VARSITY
Men’s fencing team wins OUA banner for ninth year in a row
Varsity Blues sweep gold in individual events at provincial championship
TianTian Dong Varsity Contributor
For the ninth consecutive season, the Varsity Blues secured the OUA provincial championship banner. The team finished with 358 points — over 80 ahead of the second-place Waterloo Warriors. This year’s OUAs took place at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, from March 1–2.
Fencing is divided into three weapon styles: épée, foil, and sabre. Épée is the slowest-paced, with the entire body as the target. Foil follows priority rules — a system that determines which fencer is awarded a point if both competitors land a hit simultaneously — but unlike épée, only the torso is a valid target. Sabre is the fastest style, allowing fencers to score with the edge or tip of the blade while targeting everything above the waist.
The beginning of the weekend started with individual events. The Varsity Blues were allrounded in the day, claiming gold in all three weapons.
In sabre, despite a few close matches throughout the elimination rounds, Varsity Blues rookie Matthew Teng defeated Charles Wang from the Waterloo Warriors 15–4 in less than
five minutes. The Varsity Blues also had strong individual finishes, with Weiqi Zhu taking sixth place and Kevin Shao finishing seventh.
In the foil competitions, Mike Howard defended his OUA champion title, defeating Sasha Vasiliev from the Ottawa GeeGees in a close 15–11 final match. Edward Li finished seventh, securing his position after a 15–4 win against the Warriors’ Anthony Pozharskiy.
The épée fencers also achieved incredible results. Varsity Blues Leon Xiao dominated his elimination matches, winning each with more than five-point leads. He secured gold in a 15–8 win against Oscar Hand from the MacMaster Marauders. On the other side of the bracket, Seraphim Jarov advanced smoothly throughout the elimination rounds, finishing third after defeating Western Mustang Jonathan Chai 15–8. Nicholas Gutierrez–Sarabia finished in sixth after moving into the top eight following a 15–12 win.
On the second day, all three Varsity Blues teams claimed a spot on the podium, with the foil and épée teams placing second after hard-fought matches.
Although the Blues foil team were leading in the first few bouts, the gap between them and their
opponents began to narrow as the final match unfolded. Unfortunately, by the start of the final bout, the GeeGees had gained a four-point lead, eventually leading to their 45–40 win and a silverplace finish for the Blues.
Similarly, for épée, the Blues and the Mustangs were evenly matched throughout most of the match. Unfortunately, the Mustangs increased their lead in the second-last bout, leading to their 45–39 win.
Shortly after a tough semi-final loss to the Queen’s Gaels, the sabre team bounced back to defeat the Marauders, securing bronze with a 45–35 win.
The Varsity men’s team was proud of their remarkable efforts, as for many, this marked an
Hannah Chown: In conversation with long-time Varsity Blues Women’s Soccer captain
Chown talks leadership, playoffs, and her
Janelle Gunaratnam
Varsity Contributor
Hannah Chown has never been one to stay in her lane — at least, not in the traditional sense.
As a defender, she’s built her reputation on reading the game, setting the tone from the backline, and unexpectedly, scoring goals. As the captain of the Varsity Blues women’s soccer team, Chown has been the team’s leading scorer over multiple seasons — despite her primary role being to stop attackers.
Yet, goals barely scratch the surface of what makes Chown such a powerhouse for her team. Her journey — shaped by deep family support, an unwavering commitment to leadership, and a passion for education — has made her more than just a captain: she is an all-rounded all-star.
Captain U of T
Chown’s soccer career started early. Hailing from Mississauga, she grew up in a household where athletics were an integral part of her family’s life. As the youngest of seven sisters, her family woven competition and camaraderie when they raised Hannah. Her father — an avid soccer fan — was her first coach, instilling both technical skills and a love for the game. “I started playing soccer when I was three years old,” Chown recalled in an interview with The Varsity.
Her commitment to the game led her through the Ontario Player Development League, where she captained her Vaughan team. Chown contemplated taking her talents to the US at one point, but the pandemic rerouted her plans. Instead, she chose U of T — her mother’s alma mater — where she pursued an undergraduate double major in English and drama and is now completing her masters in teaching at U of T.
Looking back, she has no regrets. “I know people that went down to the States [and] got injured, were written off a team… they [had] terrible experiences,” she said. “[My] support system here… I also feel [that the] Canadian and Toronto culture are much more akin to the people I want to
future in the sport
surround myself with… I don’t know if I would have had the same academic experience somewhere else.”
Chown has served as captain for the past three seasons, shaping the team’s culture with a collaborative, inclusive approach to leadership. She credited her background in education and drama for her leadership style. “My courses are all about co-creation,” she explained. “There’s nothing that you can really do by yourself in a drama performance so you rely a lot on other people to carry their weight to get the whole group to the finish line.”
That emphasis on collective success over individual accolades defines her leadership. “I try not to elevate myself above the team. There’s 22 people on the field, so I’m not more important than the person beside me,” she said. “But I do know that the girls will respond to my energy.”
Over time, her ability to balance a disciplined mindset with a lighthearted presence has cemented her as a respected leader. “I have been a mess… especially when I started my undergrad…head in the clouds, a little aloof, not really sure what’s going on,” Chown admitted. “I think it takes time to calm down and reflect a little bit… so being able to reflect and [find] perspective, this is not the end all… this is the space that I’m in.”
All-round all-star
Despite playing as a defender, Chown has demonstrated a knack for finding the back of the net, particularly in high-stakes moments. Her setpiece expertise — whether delivering a free kick or getting her head on a corner — has made her an unexpected but invaluable offensive asset.
One of her most memorable moments came in the 2024 playoffs against TMU Bold. “I scored a free kick from about 35–40 yards out,” she recalled. “I just smashed it, and it went top corner and everyone was very hype! And beating TMU, it’s another type of joy.”
Her impact isn’t just felt in highlight reel moments. Over her Varsity Blues career, she has consistently earned OUA All-Star recognition, being named on
an All-Star team in all four years of her collegiate career.
But she doesn’t let accolades define her. “It’s nice to be recognized, but… all the girls deserve to be on this list… it’s nice to be recognized, for sure, [but] as I’ve gotten older, I’m like, how [can] people define me? Awards… it doesn’t define me as an athlete.”
Even with her university career coming to a close, Chown isn’t ready to hang up her cleats just yet. She’s planning to pursue professional opportunities overseas, with trials lined up in England. “I feel like I can’t be done yet,” she admitted. “I just want to see what happens. If it works out, great. If not, I’ve had an amazing run.”
Talking future
Regardless of where her playing career takes her, Chown sees coaching as a natural step. Already coaching U11 girl’s soccer at SC Toronto, she finds joy in passing on her knowledge to younger players. “You can’t play soccer forever, so
unforgettable final OUAs. “I didn’t think that I’d be able to fence at all [in university],” Howard said in an interview with [teammates cheering me on and giving advice],” and especially since fencing is mostly an individual sport, “being able to fence [as part of a team] felt really nice.” Howard was also named OUA Athlete of the Week.
This OUA tournament marked the end of the 2024–2025 season for fencing. With the women’s team also securing gold at provincials, the program showed their continued dominance as a household name in fencing. However, the Blues will continue training as the team will officially reconvene for their next season later this year in September.
finding a new way to be involved in the game is really important.”
As for her long-term future? Teaching remains at the forefront. With a deep passion for education and a strong sense of mentorship, she hopes to make an impact in the classroom.
For Chown, soccer has been about more than just wins and losses — it’s been about the people. “The institution is one thing, but it’s the people that make the experience,” she said. “I hope in 20 or 30 years, I can still call these girls my sisters. I hope that in 20 years that they would feel comfortable enough if they needed something to call me.”
Beyond the Varsity Blues, Chown has made a mark in the broader athletic community. As copresident of the Varsity Board and a member of
The Blues secured gold with impressive results in the individual and team events. COURTESY MIKE GAGNON CC VARSITY BLUES MEDIA
Chown drives down the wing for a cross. COURTESY
Blues OUA hockey playoff roundup
Both men’s and women’s teams advance to OUA semifinals, women’s team advances to OUA finals
The Varsity Blues’ men’s and women’s hockey teams had an eventful week, securing consecutive wins in their best-of-three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinal round to advance to the semifinals. Most recently, the women’s team swept the Guelph Gryphons in the semifinal round to reach the OUA finals and clinch a spot in the
Both Blues’ teams entered the playoffs following strong regular seasons. The men finished 17–11–0, placing second in the OUA West Conference and 13th nationally. The women posted a 17–8–1 record, also securing second place in the OUA West Conference at
Both teams have consistently ranked among the conference’s top five over the past two seasons. The men’s team has shown steady improvements, finishing fifth in 2022–2023, climbing to third last season, and reaching second this year. Meanwhile, the women’s team has maintained an exceptional record, winning the OUA Championship in 2023 and earning silver at both the provincial and national championships last year, their best
Game one on February 27 of the Blues’ quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded Ottawa Gee-Gees remained scoreless until just over a minute remained in the second period, when the Gee-Gees drew
However, the Blues quickly responded, with forward Ashley Delahey scoring off the ensuing faceoff. The Blues went on to score three unanswered goals in the third period, securing
In game two on March 1, last-minute action defined the match again, forwards Taylor Delahey and Scout Watkins-Southward scoring 11 seconds apart in the first period. Although the Gee-Gees managed to score in the third period, the Blues held onto their lead, and forward Sophie Grawbarger sealed the win with an empty-net goal, making it 3–1.
The team swept the OUA-leading Guelph Gryphons in the semifinal round, continuing their momentum with a 3–2 win in game one on March 6. Despite giving up the first goal to the Gryphons, the Blues tied the game in the second period, with forward Emma Irwin capitalizing on a power-play. Although the Gryphons scored about two minutes later, the Blues scored two more power-play goals, taking the lead in the third period and holding on for the remainder of the game to secure the win.
Game two on March 8 remained scoreless throughout the first two periods. The Blues took control in the third period, with goals from Grawbarger, Watkins-Southward, forward Abby Whitworth, and forward Abby Howland, recording a 4–0 shutout. First-year goalie Lyla McKinnon stopped all 27 shots faced.
Men’s playoff progress
The men’s team secured a 5–2 victory in their first quarterfinal game against the Windsor Lancers on February 27. The Blues opened scoring with forward Mason Reeves netting his second goal of the season, but the Lancers gained momentum in the second period, scoring two goals to take the lead. However, the Blues regained the upper hand in the third period, with forward Zack Smith scoring off a pass from defense Mark Cooper, the OUA’s leader in assists. They added three more unanswered goals to win the game.
The team continued their success in game two on March 1. Although the Lancers scored first, the Blues quickly retaliated with goals from forwards Billy Moskal, Nicholas Wong,
and Owen Robinson. The Lancers capitalized on a power-play, but the Blues sealed the win with an empty-netter, bringing the score to 4–2. With their second win, the Blues advanced to the semifinals, a strong performance following their elimination by the Laurier Golden Hawks in the quarterfinals last year.
In their first semifinal game against the TMU Bold on March 5, the Blues had a 2–0 lead going into the second intermission. However, the Bold scored twice in the third period to tie the game. In an exciting finish, Robinson netted his second goal of the game with 40 seconds remaining, giving the Blues a 3–2 win. The men’s team fell short in their second game, losing 5–4 on March 7. The game remained even throughout; the Bold scored two goals in the first period, but the Blues responded, tying the game at two. The Bold took the lead again one minute into the second period, but Blues forward Ben Woodhouse scored to tie the game once more. A powerplay goal by Robinson gave the Blues a 4–3 lead heading into the third period, but they could not hold on. The Bold scored two more goals in the third period to win 5–4.
What’s next?
With their win, the women’s team clinched their spot in the U SPORTS Championships in Waterloo and advanced to the OUA finals on March 15 against the Waterloo Warriors in pursuit of the McCaw Cup. The Blues last played the Warriors on November 30, 2024, defeating them 2–1 in overtime. However, they will be looking to redeem themselves in a McCaw Cup rematch after their 2–1 loss to the Warriors in last year’s final.
On the men’s side, with each team holding a win in the series, the winner of game three on March 9 will determine who advances to the OUA Queen’s Cup Championship on March 15. The Blues have not advanced to the OUA finals since 1993, where they won 5–4 against the Gryphons.
Beer, banter, and bold moves with PubChess Toronto
How weekly tournaments at the Madison are cultivating a chess community in Toronto
Tania Guiti
Varsity Contributor
In a game like chess, where every move matters, sometimes the best one is simply showing up. That holds true for PubChess, a weekly meet-up of casual play at the Madison Avenue Pub, just steps from U of T.
But how casual can chess really be?
PubChess welcomes all skill levels. A typical meet-up includes a five-round tournament, lasting about an hour, followed by casual play between new friends.
“The idea is by the end of the tournament, you’re playing people around your skill level, no matter what your skill level is… every time you win, your games get harder and every time you lose, your games get easier,” said Neil Goel, the current organizer of PubChess, in an interview with The Varsity.
This structure, combined with what some call a ‘beer-goggle factor,’ leads to unpredictable games and different tournament winners each week, despite a core group of regulars. PubChess hosts 60 to 80 players weekly, making it the perfect place to outdrink, outthink and outplay your opponents.
The opening moves of PubChess Yelizaveta “Liza” Orlova, a retired player for the Canadian women’s chess team, holds the title of Women National Master and Woman Candidate Master. Now an author, content creator, and teacher, she founded PubChess in Toronto with chess coach Geordie Derraugh in 2015.
Competing in Europe, Orlova enjoyed grabbing a drink after tournaments to discuss strategies and analyze games — but she noticed no such space
existed back home. PubChess began at Central Pub before moving a month later to Madison Avenue Pub, where it has remained for the past 10 years, meeting at the same time every week for the past 10 years, barring a 2-year hiatus during the pandemic.
Over the years, PubChess has welcomed some of the biggest names in chess, including world number one Magnus Carlson, number two Hikaru Nakamura, and top chess content creator Levy Rozman.
“[Hikaru] played a game with everyone — he stayed much longer than he said he was going to because lots of people wanted games with him”, said Goel.
Fostering a community
But these memorable visits are not the only remarkable things PubChess has accomplished. Across the room, a language exchange program helps newcomers learn English. With its beginnerfriendly and social atmosphere, PubChess has become a welcoming hub where language exchange participants connect, form new friendships, and sharpen their chess and language skills.
“It’s lovely that people often who are relatively new to this country will come through, [attend] the language exchange, and then to the chess club — leaving with genuine, real friends who they can play with and hang out with on other days as well,” said Goel. “It’s one of those things where you don’t necessarily need to be able to communicate very well… Chess is kind of a universal language”.
In the end, it’s less about perfect play and more about making the right moves — on and off the board.
The royal game
Chess has gained popularity since COVID-19, driven by the release of shows like The Queen’s Gambit and a surge in chess app downloads.
This resurgence has also reignited debates over whether chess should be classified as a sport.
“It is controversial — some people believe [it is], and some don’t. I am kind of in the middle,” said Orlova.
“Chess is very competitive, so it could be a sport… however people [dismiss it] because it is not physical… However, you do lose a ton of calories when playing.” She added, “The amount of water chess players drink during a six-hour
game is insane… I don’t know what the logistics [are]… but the skinniest I have [ever] been is when I was playing competitive chess.”
PubChess is part of a larger chess community in Toronto, with various clubs catering to different skill levels and interests. It encourages beginners to explore lessons at Annex Chess Club, Scarborough Chess Club, Etobicoke Chess Club, and Knightcap Chess Club. PubChess has also expanded to a second location — PubChess North — hosted at the Duke of York.
Whether you’re looking to make a brilliant or questionable chess move, with a drink in hand, PubChess is ready for your next move.
VICKY HUANG/THE VARSITY
The Varsity Blues women’s ice hockey team celebrate as they secure a spot at the national championship.
COURTESY SEYRAN MAMMADOV CC VARSITY BLUES MEDIA
