April 1, 2013

THE VARSITY

Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

$35,000 ‘14 – ‘15* ‘13 – ‘14* ‘12 – ‘13 ‘11 – ‘12 ‘10 – ‘11 ‘09 – ‘10 ‘08 – ‘09 ‘07 – ‘08 *projected

1 April, 2013

$30,000

$25,000

$20,000

$15,000

$10,000

Ontario announces tuition fees compromise

$5000

The Ontario government released a revised tuition framework last week, setting new guidelines on how much universities can raise annual tuition rates.

For the next four years, colleges and universities in Ontario may increase tuition by three per cent each year (one percent more than inflation), down from five percent under the previous framework.

The provincial government also hinted it would potentially act against controversial flat or ‘program’ fee structures, such as those implemented at the University of Toronto. Flat fees were a major controversy during president-designate Meric Gertler’s term as dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“We reached what I think it a very positive outcome for students,” said mpp Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges, and

Fee diversion approved UTSU largely silent as discontented students

to bring case to UAB Zane Schwartz

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Capping a year of political turmoil, Trinity and Victoria University students voted overwhelmingly to sever financial ties with the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) last week.

Referenda for Engineering and St. Michael’s College students were still in progress as of The Varsity’s press time. The engineers’ referendum closes Wednesday at 8 pm, and St. Mikes’ referendum will run from Wednesday to Friday.

Trinity voted overwhelmingly for fee diversion, with 72 per cent of students in favour and 33 per cent voter turnout.

universities even as much as they would like to, so a compromise all around.”

“It’s very important that we got a multi-year agreement,” added Summerlee, emphasizing the stability afforded by such a framework. “This will allow universities to start saying ‘Right, we don’t have as much money as we want. How do we plan to continue to provide the kind of education we need but without necessarily as many resources,’ so, fundamentally, it will actually provide a reassurance that we can do the best possible to provide quality education.

“I think it demonstrated that this government in particular is very good at listening to all the communities involved, that it came up with a compromise that is a reasonable one. I don’t think anybody will look too kindly at the outcome, but we’re all in a position that we can say we influenced the way the government thought.”

CONTINUED PG 4 The Victoria referendum had a lower turnout, at 11.8 per cent, falling short of a 15 per cent target for the referendum to be binding set in the run-up to the vote. Still, 61 per cent of voters at Victoria cast ballots in favour of fee diversion.

The results are expected to go the University Affairs Board (uab) of the Governing Council. uab has ultimate authority in deciding whether fees will be diverted from the utsu to the college councils.

UNION’S MUTED RESPONSE The union has maintained its refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the referenda, and declined offers from the divisions to run the ‘no’ campaigns.

In its only public statement on ‘secession,’ outgoing vice-president, internal & services Corey Scott reiterated the union’s call for further discussions with dissatisfied members and questioned the referenda’s basis, suggesting that utsu membership

Applied Science &Engineering Bachelors (B.A./B.Sc.) Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) Bachelor of Physical Education & Health (B.P.E.H.) Juris Doctor (J.D.) Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) Bachelor of Health Sciences — Physician Assistant (B.Sc.P.A.) Undergraduate (Mus.Bac.) Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.Sc.N.) Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) Concurrent Teacher Education Program (CTEP) Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (B.Sc.Pharm.)

VARSITY STAFF

Universities, “Moving away from the current tuition framework and reducing it significantly will save the average undergraduate at U of T and other places approximately $1,200 over the course of the framework.”

“This is not going to be easy for our universities and colleges,” admitted the minister. “It is a significant amount less revenue they’ll be taking in in the next four years from students, and I think it will be my job and their job to work to find ways to meet these costs and challenges without affecting the quality of education provided.”

The chair of the Council of Ontario Universities, Alastair Summerlee, sees the framework as a reasonable middle ground. “On the one hand, there was really strong pressure from various groups to freeze tuition, and on the other, a genuine need for universities to have money to be able to continue to provide the kind of quality of education that we think important, and a government working with a major deficit and not being able to fund

Source: UofT Facts and Figures

Theodore Yan

Tuition increases by Degree

Tuition increases pegged at three per cent above inflation as minister eyes intervention in flat fees controversy

“does not run through the college to which you belong, or the faculty in which you’re enrolled.”

Scott’s statement also expressed concern that “if individual students seceded, those students would become ‘free riders,’” subsidized by the remaining paying members.

Incoming utsu president Munib Sajjad declined to answer a number of questions on the referenda, including what action, if any, he intended to pursue to keep Victoria and Trinity from leaving.

Sajjad declined to indicate whether he would ask the university administration to reject the referenda results, and whether the utsu would send a representative to the uab meeting to discuss the issue.

Trinity will be holding a meeting on Monday and Victoria on Friday to discuss the results of

CONTINUED PG 4

2

Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

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VARSITY NEWS

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WHAT’S GOING ON

THIS WEEK

the week in tweets

ON CAMPUS

HAUTE CUISINE TO HAUTE FOOD: MEALS AND MEANING IN TODAY’S FOOD WORLD Thursday April 4, 2013 4–6 pm Room 2098, 100 St. George St.

SHOAB ALLI @SNSALLI

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY: ORIGINS, EQUIPMENT, AND TECHNIQUES Thursday April 4, 2013 6–8:30 pm Hart House Sitting Roun 7 Hart House Circle AFTERWORD UOFT UNDERGRADUATE THESIS ART SHOW 2013 OPENING RECEPTION Friday April 19 7-10 pm North Borden Building 563 Spadina Ave. Exhibition continues through to the April 21, 11 am–5 pm

well, done my essay. It’s ridiculously easy to write about something that you actually care about and enjoy #UofT ENDLESS BUFFETS: A CREATIVE-CRITICAL REFLECTION ON THE MEANING OF FOOD IN INDIAN COUNTRY Tuesday April 2, 2013 3–5 pm Room 100, Jackman Humanities Building 170 St. George St.

sports@thevarsity.ca illustration@thevarsity.ca

Video Editor Wyatt Clough

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Associate Design Editors Natalie Morcos Shaquilla Singh Nathan Watson Associate Photo Editors Michael Chahley Carolyn Levett Associate Online Editor Sofia Luu Associate Copy Editor Catherine Virelli Associate News Editors Zane Schwartz Irina Vukosavic Rida Ali Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate Features Editor Damanjit Lamba Associate A&C Editors Danielle Klein Ishita Petkar Associate Science Editors Roxanne Leung Katrina Vogan Associate Sports Editors Elizabeth Benn William Deck

Thank you for all your work this year!

—March 29, 2013

KAT @CHIUNICORN this guy at the library right now is wearing a “YORK SCHMORK” t-shirt #uoft — March 30 , 2013

MUNK SCHOOL @MUNKSCHOOL Congratulations to MGA students Andrea Cox, Graham Smith, and Madeline Green on receiving Gordon Cressy Student Leadership awards! #uoft —March 30, 2013

SADIA A. @LA_TORONTONIAN My problem is, lack of ... 1) Motivation 2) Determination 3) Patience. Once these are fix, I can become like the smartest person at #UofT

—March 30, 2013

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STAFF: William Ahn, Assunta Alegiani, Armen Alexanian, Rida Ali, Minhee Bae, Patrick Baud, Zoë Bedard, Michael Bedford, Elizabeth Benn, Lois Boody, Simon Bredin, Michael Chahley, Sri Chaudhuri, Ethan Chiel, Wyatt Clough, William Deck, Zareen Din, Amanda DiVito, Dennis Dobrovolsky, Olivia Forsyth-Sells, Simon Frank, Karen Kyung Fuhrmann, Stephanie Gaglione, Lucy Genua, Susan Gordon, Jennifer Gosnell, Bernarda Gospic, Elena Gritzan, Wendy Gu, Aisha Kakinuma Hassan, Murad Hemmadi, Evan Hutchison, Stephan Jayaratnam, Nancy Ji, Catherine Kabasele, Brigit Katz, Ryan Kelpin, Emma Kikulis, Jenny Kim, Lia Kim, Danielle Klein, Ken Kongkatong, Damanjit Lamba, Roxanne Leung, Carolyn Levett, Alanna Lispon, Janice Liu, Patrick Love, Sofia Luu, James Maiangowi, Madeline Malczewska, Alexander Miheascu, Natalie Morcos, Suzy Nevins, Joshua Oliver, Cristina Olteanu, Ishita Petkar, Heather Pierce, Kayla Rosen, Alex Ross, Laura Sabatini, Zane Schwartz, Dan Seljak, Vipasha Shaikh, Abdullah Shihipar, Shaquilla Singh, Dan Smeenk, Tonya Sutherland, Fatima Syed, Jakob Tanner, Catherine Virelli, Katrina Vogan, Irina Vukosavic, Nathan Watson, Riley Watson, Miranda Whittaker, Alec Wilson, David Woolley, Theodore Yan CONTRIBUTORS: Sanabel Abdelrahman, Olga Abeleva, Trevor Abes, Tara Abrahams, Umair Ahmed, Maged Ahmed, Rwayda Al-Kamisi, Mayce Al-Sukhni, Zenaira Ali, Jasleen Arneja, Zainab Asadullah, Christina Atkinson, Montana Attwood, Theodore Aust, André Babyn, Dryden Bailey, Katherine Baird, Salena Barry, Victoria Beales, Dominique Bechard, Cameron Becker, Martina Bellisario, Aberdeen Berry, Daniel Berube, Khadija Bharmal, Tina Binesh, Omar Bitar, Ramon Boghozian, Natasha Britto, Angela Brock, Simon Bromberg, Alberto Bustamante, Hope Caldi, Simon Capobianco, Monica Carinci, Rémi Carreiro, Niall Casselman, Leigh Cavanaugh, Sam Cen, Chris Chami, Ameya Charnalia, Nipa Chauhan, Lilin Chen, Kelvin Chen, Crystal Chin, Matthew J Chow, Kelvin Chu, Raissa Chua, Elizabeth Cinco, Hannah Clifford, John Cockshut, Tamara Cohen, Amanda Coletta, Elisa Conti, Sophia Costomiris, Julia Cottrelle, Matthew da Mota, Benedict Darren, Noemie De Vuyst, Albert R. Delitala, Tu-Vy Dinh-Le, Nicole Doucette, Celia Drury, Wes Dutcher-Walls, Arshile Egoyan, Connor Emdin, Sherine Ensan, Dan Epstein, Jerico Espinas, Leelan Farhan, Clarrie Feinstein, Sam Feldman, Davin Leivonen Fok, Emma Fox, Catherine Friedman, Joshua Fumo, Surbhi Gandhi, David Gelles, Monica Georgieff, Nick Gergesha, Albert Gheorghita, Vanessa Ghosh, Milo Golub, Llyvell Gomes, Ivan Gospic, Amanda Greer, Adra Grieg, Samar Haouas, Elizabeth Haq, Heather Haughn, Kaleem Hawa, James Hayes, Chris Hayes, Ray Heiland, Jesse Hildebrand, Adrienne Ho, Daniel Horowitz, Sunnie Huang, Jennifer Huang, Michael Iannozzi, Tuktuk Islam, Vipal Jain, Alainna Jamal, Trevor Janes, Emma Jones, JP Kaczur, Nancy Kanwal, Ushma Kapure, Geshini Karunatilake, Leila Kent, Scott Killian-Clarke, Jeunsung Kim, Anamarija Korolj, Joel Krupa, Kimberly Kwan, Navi Lamba, Theron Lane, Justin Lee , Bianca Lemus-Lavarreda, Rob Leone, Jason Li, Kaylin Livshin, Imelda Lo, Pen Long, Svetlana Maleva, Francis Manno, Catharine Mansouri, Victoria McCorkindale, Kerrie McCreadie, Grace McDonnell, Patrick McGovern, Taryn McKenzie-Mohr, Zamir Merali, Shaun Midanik, Dan Miller, Davis Mirza, Laura Mitchell, Amina Mohammed, Maryam Mughal, Graeme Myers, Angela Nader, Timmy Yiu Nam Mo, Clara Neden, Alanna Newman, Leah Nosal, Haley O’Shaughnessy, Cristina Olteanu, Rebecca Ostroff, Jasmine Pauk, April Pawluk, Nicholas Pcholkin, Phyllis Pearson, Helen Picard, David Pike, Felicia Pileggi, Caitlin Plainos, Imelda Pribic, Milena Pribic, Seemi Qaiser, Kelly, Rahardja, Asiyah Rahim, Sneha Raju, Sara Rebelo, Sarah Reece, Saman Rejali, Sky Richards, Jordan Rivera, Denys Robinson, Anne Rucchetto, Andrew Rusk, Remy Sansanwal, Rohit Sarkar, Mohana Sarmiento, Verena Schaupp, Claire Seringhaus, Yuki Shirato, Vjosana Shkurti, George Simopoulos, Sheena Singh, Jonathan Soo, Michelle Speyer, Colt St. George, Trish Starling, Elizabeth Stratton, Victor Swift, Shradha Talwar, Kay Dyson Tam, Nancy, Tang, Shifa Tauqir, Guy Taylor, Adelle Telehus, Colin Tessier, Max Thomson, Fiona Tran, Stephanie Travassos, Maeve Devitt Tremblay, Madeline Trimmer, Daniel Tsiokos, Jasmine Vallve, Eric Vanderbeek, Irene Velentzas, Stefan Venier, Felix Walpole, Carter West, Dwayne G. White, Breen Wilkinson, Georgia Williams, Corina Wong, Mike Wong , Doran Woo, Judy Wu, Nina Ya-Haqqi, Paul York, Kevin Yu, Michelle Yuan, Taraneh Zarin, Grace Zhu

Crime Stats March 14–27

17 16 11 11 2 2

Security Alarms Trespass Mischief

Theft Property Damages Break and Enter

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

3

College and Faculty Elections Roundup

by Vipasha Shaikh

illustrations by Minhee Bae

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (UCLIT)

pher Thompson, said that the new executives should balance ongoing projects with the building of new ones — with a particular focus on expanding the student centre and reducing student fees.

VICTORIA (VUSAC)

With files from The Medium.

SCARBOROUGH (SCSU) President: Sarah Worku (90.1 per cent of vote) VP Equity: Yusra Khogali (86.86 per cent of vote) VP University Affairs: Ranziba Nehrin (85.8 per cent) VP External: Guled Arale (89.87 per cent) President: Nishi Kumar Vice-President: Ryan Philips Finance Commissioner: Lyndsay Menzies University and Academic Affairs Commissioner: Ben Le Turnout Rate: 406 students/4,300 students, or 9.44 per cent uc students voted in their new executives this past month with Vice-President Nishi Kumar becoming the new president of UCLit. Except for the presidency, all other core executive positions were acclaimed. According to Ben Dionne, current president and election cro, this year’s elections had a high rate of incumbency with almost all candidates having served on the council before. In terms of a potential fee diversion referendum, uc is not currently moving towards any action towards this in the future.

utsc held its elections from February 6 to 8, and elected all of its executive team on an acclaimed basis. Both Arale and Worku are incumbents who had served on the scsu this past year. One of the debates on campus in January had to do with online voting and whether it should be instituted — the campus still does not have online voting for its students and instead uses polling stations around campus with paper balloting.

With files from The Underground.

INNIS COLLEGE (ICSS)

ENGINEERING (ENGSOC) President: Mauricio Curbelo VP Finance: Gordon Tattle VP Communications: Thomas Santerre VP Academic: Shaishav Shah over Maged Ahmed VP Student Life: Gabriel Stavros In early March, Mauricio Curbelo, formerly vice-president, external for the Engineering Society (EngSoc) won the presidency on a platform that included improving academic relations with the administration and increased clubs funding. Both the positions for vice-president finance and vice-president communications were acclaimed after two candidates dropped out. This was the first election in recent years in which every race was decided in the first round of elections. For Engineering students, the most important issues revolved around services, such as the future of the council’s class rep system.

PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION (PHEUA) President: Anthony O’Brien VP Academics: David DiFonzo VP Communications: Craig Cuizon VP External: Kwame Sarpong VP Finance: Tiffany Lung VP Social: Sara Iaboni Voter Turnout: 26 per cent Students voted for their new pheua executive in late March, with presidential candidate Anthony O’Brien acclaimed to his position.

All other positions except for vice-president, academics were also acclaimed, and two positions were left vacant. pheua is currently in a by-election cycle to select the vice-president, equity and vicepresident, graduates (voting April 2–3). Kevin Sousa, past president of the pheua, says that concerns for the new pheua executive should include increased engagement of first- and second-year students, and increased academic advocacy.

U OF T AT MISSISSAUGA (UTMSU) utmsu voted for its new executives from March 26th to March 28. There is only one slate, Connect, running in the election with effectively no opposition. The presidential candidate, Raymond Noronha, is currently the vice-president internal at utmsu. The candidates include: Nausheen Adam for vice-president internal, Melissa Theodore for vice-president external, Ro’a Saafan for vice-president equity, Hamza Ansari for vice-president university affairs and academics, and Hassan Havili for vice-president part-time affairs. This is the third time in a row that utm elections have run with no opposition. Connect’s platform includes: UXjcWUh]b[ Zcf dfc[fYgg]jY fYZcfa ]b UWUXYa]W dc`]W]Yg giW\ Ug a drop credit policy UXjcWUh]b[ Zcf ghiXYbhg k]h\ Ug `ck Ug U æä dYf WYbh WcifgY load to be eligible for osap Wcbh]biYX `cVVm]b[ Zcf fYXiWh]cb cZ hi]h]cb ZYYg In an email to The Varsity, current utmsu president, Christo-

President: Mary Stefanidis Vice-President: Ryan Lamers VP Finance: Christopher Pejovic VP Internal: Carol Ye Voter Turnout: 257 students/1,900 students Innis College elected Mary Stefanidis as president in early March. Stefanidis ran on a campaign that included improving the student experience at Innis College among other things. She was contested by Lauren Birch, the first time that the icss has had two female candidates running for the presidency. Over half of the positions on the icss were contested.

NEW COLLEGE (NCSC) President: Ashkan Azimi VP Finance: Janeen Gabison VP Student Life: Adrian Leckie VP Admin: Craig Maniscalco Voter Turnout: 450/~4,500 students

President: Jelena Savic VP External: Zack Medow VP Internal: Kathleen Walsh Voter Turnout: 14 per cent Jelena Savic won the presidency for vusac on a detailed platform that involved increased financial transparency and fostering a stronger connection with Vic students. Medow won the vice-president, external position based partly on a platform of institutional reform of vusac. Walsh, the former Scarlet and Gold Commissioner, won the vice-president, internal position. utsu Referendum on Fee Diversion: Yes: 61 per cent No: 34 per cent Turnout: 12 per cent (15 per cent needed for the result to be binding) There was no “No” campaign for the election period, which Ashley Quan, the cro, attributes to the tight timeline of the elections.

Dylan Moore, a fourth-year student, was the head of the “Yes” campaign. During the voting period, he released a Facebook note questioning vusac’s ability to handle fee diversion. In an email, Moore said the disqualifications of the president, vice-president external, and a “Yes” campaigner, had shaken the “Yes” campaign’s confidence in its message. The disqualifications were later overturned, but the candidates lost four valuable days of campaigning.

There was also concern over the committee’s transparency, since it did not release meeting minutes during the race.

ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE (SMCSU) President: Alexander Zappone Vice-president: Andrew Kiel Zappone and Kiel defeated Julian Sinopli and Brian Rankin. The victors ran on a platform of accountability to smc students, promising to bring updated budgets and greater transparency to smcsu.

Both are reputed to be in favour of the utsu, presenting a potential roadblock to smc’s upcoming referenda on fee diversion. Both Zappone and Kiel and their opponents were incumbents, all having formerly served in some capacity on smcsu. The results of the election are unofficial.

WOODSWORTH COLLEGE

Ashkan Azimi, formerly an off-campus director on the ncsc, won the presidency of the ncsc with 41 per cent of the vote. Azimi ran on a platform of a more efficient council. This was the only competitive executive race within the ncsc elections. The one main grievance was that the ncsc constitution only allowed for “yes” or “spoil” votes for acclaimed positions. It was ruled that if the spoil votes exceeded the number of “yes” votes, there would be a re-vote to figure out how many of those votes were “no” or “spoil.”

TRINITY (TCM) Female Head of College: Maha Naqi Male Head of College: Ben Crase tcm Chair: Patrick Harris Voter Turnout: 25 per cent Ben Crase and Maha Naqi became Heads of College based on platforms that were about improving communications and food services at Trin (Naqi) as well some institutional reform, such as extending the term of the Head of College (Crase). Crase is concurrently to serve as Trinity’s utsu Director, seeking to finalize fee severance approved by voters overwhelmingly in a referendum. Patrick Harris was acclaimed as the Chair of the tcm.

There is one major seven-candidate slate, Legacy, running in the election cycle. Woodsworth began allowing slates in 2011. Legacy’s major platform points include financial accountability of expenses (making them traceable on the wcsa website), more collaboration with other colleges (especially in terms of playing a role in the sgrt to coordinate events), and improving transparency of wcsa affairs. Several independent candidates are also running for executive positions, such as Kevin Doodnauth, for vice-president, public relations. Nick Gourlay, outgoing president of the wcsa, said this year’s campaign has focused on transparency and fostering a stronger connection with the large university community at large.

Voting period: April 1–5, 2013

4

VARSITY NEWS

Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

“DEFEDERATION” CONTINUED FROM COVER the referenda. Sajjad did not indicate whether he intended to attend either meeting, or to send a representative.

Sajjad released a short statement, saying, “My team and I are looking to reach out to student representatives across our campuses. We want to truly open the lines of communication and promote all the great work that students are doing all across our great school.”

Behind the scenes, Sajjad and former utsu president Danielle Sandhu engaged in an effort to win over levy-receiving groups such as sec and Bikechain and have them publicly oppose fee diversion.

Instead, the levied groups released an open letter saying that while they were

concerned that none of the units seeking defederation had approached them for meetings or contingency planning, the undersigned groups “respect the right of students to voice their political dissent.”

UNCERTAINTY AT VICTORIA The Trinity referendum is automatically binding. The road forward for Victoria College is less clear, because 15 per cent turnout was required for its outcome to be considered binding.

A joint meeting of the incoming and outgoing vusac executive will meet Friday to decide whether the results will take force for next year.

Outgoing vusac president Shoaib Alli said that 7.2 per cent of eligible voters at Victoria voted to defederate.

Consequently, regardless of how the ad-

JUBILATION AT TRINITY The 33 per cent voter turnout at Trinity surprised many, including co-head of college Sam Greene, who hopes it will help convince uab to approve the results.

“As a matter of university policy the university has tended to respect the re-

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business.humber.ca/postgrad

ditional 0.6 per cent students required to meet quorum voted, a majority would still have voted to leave the utsu.

Alli stressed that this was only one of several factors vusac would consider.

The 22 executives eligible to vote will meet Friday April 5 at 5.15 pm to make a final decision.

The vusac referendum was quieter than that of Trinity’s, with “effectively no Yes or No campaigns,” Alli said.

Dylan Moore briefly registered a Yes campaign at Victoria, but withdrew before the campaign period ended.

Moore, who was a candidate for vice-president, external, with last year’s Students First slate, posted an open letter on Facebook detailing his concerns with defederation. Moore generally agreed that the problems with the utsu are endemic, but took issue with vusac’s ability to handle the fee reallocation. Moore urged Victoria students to “weigh the concerns expressed about the utsu against whatever concerns one may have about vusac as an organization, and about the unintended consequences of fee diversion.”

Minister Duguid cited discussion as a key emphasis for his administration in crafting the new framework: “We met extensively with student leaders, and all my post-secondary stakeholders at universities. I had discussions with leaders of post-secondary institutions and their representative organizations.”

The administrations of Ontario’s post-secondary institutions were indeed actively involved in the discussion leading up to the implementation of the new framework. “The government has engaged very seriously with us,” said Summerlee, “and in the end, the presidents of Ontario’s colleges and universities collected together and wrote a document which we then all signed to support moving in the direction of the three per cent.”

“It just wasn’t a decision colleges and universities were hoping for,” said Duguid. “But, as I said early on, we’re seeing the system through the eyes of the students, and I believe we’ve reached a threshold of the days when we could give students five per cent increases on an annual basis, so we had to make some changes.”

news@thevarsity.ca sults of free and fair referenda initiated by students,” said Greene.

There were robust Yes and No campaigns at Trinity.

The Yes campaign, led by co-headelect Ben Crase, had a sophisticated get-out-the-vote mechanism. Students could register with the Yes campaign to receive a text message reminding them to vote, as well a sign up for reminders via email and Facebook.

Crase said the Yes campaign had been “working tirelessly” to address concerns raised by Trinity students.

The No campaign, led by fourthyear student Mark Harris, also utilized social media to reach out to students.

Both campaigns had $500 to spend to convince students. Referendum cro Devyn Noonan received no complaints from either side throughout the process.

The only procedural issue brought to light concerned the online voting system. Some students had trouble casting their ballot, particularly when the EngSoc and Trinity referenda were simultaneously hosted on the same website.

“When the engineering referendum started there were a few crashes over the day,” said Noonan, who was confident that while delays may have frustrated some students, there were no problems with the elections themselves. Several Engineering students

also complained about delays with the online voting system.

Sarah King, chair of the Canadian Federation of Students—Ontario (cfs-o), disagreed. “We previously had many meetings with the ministry to express students’ position on the need not to increase tuition fees,” she said, “Unfortunately, as you can see, the Liberals did not listen to that call to reduce tuition fees and decided to continue to increase tuition fees, albeit at a lower rate.”

King went on to detail the recommendations for the new tuition framework submitted by the cfs-o to the provincial government in February: “Students were calling for a 30 per cent reduction in tuition fees over the next three years,” she said, with a 15 per cent reduction in the first year to be funded at “no new costs to the government” by re-allocating the Ontario Tuition Grant tax credit.

“This was not the approach that the Liberals have taken,” said King.

“They’ve decided to continue to increase tuition fees at a rate of three to eight per cent, depending on program. By the end of this, this three- to four-year tuition framework will have seen, under the Liberals, since 2006, increases of up to 108 per cent.”

Even though they were at odds on the tuition framework, the cfs-o and

Duguid both seem reasonably optimistic about their prospects for cooperation moving forward.

“What we are looking forward to is the fact that the government has expressed interest in moving forward in a lot of issues surrounding ancillary fees, tuition fee billing, and even flat fees, which is a really big issue at the University of Toronto specifically,” King noted.

“We’ve heard from students about what they regard to be unfairness with regard to the application of deferral fees and also the timing of tuition payments being aligned with osap deadlines,” said Duguid.

“At the same time, we’re going to enter into discussions this summer with our post-secondary leaders on changing the current rules with regard to flat charges.

That’s something U of T students have an interest in, and we can plan to move on that by the 2015 school year.”

Per-student funding for postsecondary education in Ontario is the lowest of any province in Canada, while tuition for undergraduate and graduate students is the highest. Citizens of Ontario owe the provincial government $2.64 billion in student debt, up from $1.15 billion in 2005.

NEXT STEPS St. Michael’s College is set to proceed with a referendum later this week, in spite of the belated release of a report examining the feasibility of defederation. The report, prepared by outgoing president Mike Cowan, was not officially endorsed by the smcsu.

There remain other lingering questions over the future of fee diversion.

Sajjad and the utsu have repeatedly declined to indicate whether they would pursue legal action to stop colleges from separating. All of the parties involved have retained legal counsel, and allocated money for the probability of a courtroom battle.

All sides maintain that their legal position is strong.

The uab has previously approved referenda with similar turnouts to those seen at Trinity and Victoria.

Given the number of students now seeking a financial exit from the central student union, however, there are several contentious issues at play, and it is unclear to what extent any precedent might apply.

Even if uab approves the fee diversion, significant work remains to be done over the summer as colleges prepare to administer health and dental insurance and offer a host of other services and responsibilities that are currently the domain of the utsu.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS.

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ÉTUDIANTS ÉTRANGERS.

IMMIGREZ EN PERMANENCE AU CANADA. Le programme de la catégorie de l’expérience canadienne offre aux diplômés étrangers ayant une expérience de travail au Canada la possibilité de faire une demande en vue d’habiter en permanence au Canada. Visitez le site immigration.gc.ca/cec pour en savoir plus et pour voir si vous êtes admissible.

VARSITY NEWS

var.st/news

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

5

Music students approve steep fee increase Funds sought by administration to help close major budget deficit Sheena Singh VARSITY STAFF

A referendum held by the Faculty of Music ended with 67 per cent of voting students in favour of a special levy that would see their student society fees increased steeply as part of a bid to close a gaping deficit in the faculty’s budget.

The fee, previously $15 a year, will gradually increase over the next three years: first to $315, then $615, and then $1,215. The changes are pending approval by the University Affairs Board of Governing Council.

Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association (fmua) co-presidents Douglas Brenton and Jenna Richards said that the faculty’s severe structural deficit would soon begin to cause cutbacks to courses, reducing the availability of practice rooms and impacting class sizes.

The referendum, which took place March 11–15, had a voter turnout of 51 per cent. Brenton and Richards say that number, and the supermajority that voted in favour of the increase,

“speaks a significant message” that “demonstrates the concern students have about the future sustainability of the Faculty of Music.”

First brought to the faculty’s executive council last November, the idea of holding a referendum to increase the levy was approved by the full council in December.

The referendum and its stakes were advertised to students over the holidays, with the administration sending emails to all students and regular updates on social media networks.

Three student forums were held in the new year to further engage students.

Faculty dean Don McLean was in attendance, and responded to student concerns alongside the fmua. He advocated the “long-term value and investment” represented by the fee increase.

“Anything that happens to this school in the future will affect the value of your degree. The better your degree, the more you are valued,” said McLean.

One major concern has been that students may not be able to afford such a steep increase in fees. McLean has

urged students in this position to meet with him. Members of the faculty have also donated money to create bursaries for this specific purpose.

The fee, however, cannot entirely be covered under osap and students will be unable to opt out of paying it.

While acknowledging the significant degree by which fees are increasing, the faculty has said that it is a necessary measure: funds gathered by the expanded levy represent barely onethird of the structural deficit.

In addition to the levy increase, the faculty is making other cutbacks, relying on donations as well as continuing their concert series to raise additional funds.

The increased fees will be used to cover non-academic costs and extracurricular activities, such as improved activity spaces for students, external performance opportunities, free concerts, and attendance to other events, class accompanists and career workshops.

The fmua is currently in the process of drafting a contract, the terms of which would ensure that a separate account is created for the money from

the levy, to be handled by Financial Services at the Faculty. Brenton and Richards see this as the best way to “secure a professional and trustworthy approach” to the increased funds.

Student society fees technically enable students to participate in fmua events and are monitored by a financial chair on the fmua council.

“We do not foresee any problems, because it is all about the trust bond that is being created between the fmua and the Faculty of Music. The contract will hopefully eliminate any potential future problems,” said the two outgoing co-presidents in a statement.

In spite of the protection and assurances to be offered by the contract, some students have expressed concerns about the use of the new funds.

Meagan Turner, a second-year student in the Faculty, remains confused about the lack of attention on private lessons this year, compared to when the issue was first raised.

“I think solving the initial problem of private lessons is important, perhaps revamping MacMillan and Walter Halls.

Since most donors see concerts, it would

make sense to make that experience as pleasurable as possible,” said Turner.

“I think overall the referendum was run very well though, and it’s a shame that so much of the undergrad population didn’t vote,” she added.

While the increase was originally presented as an ancillary fee (and categorized as a ‘private lessons’ fee), this would not have left sufficient funds to address other important changes in the Music Faculty.

The Faculty maintains that if this levy is not implemented, there is a chance they would have to become a department within the University of Toronto, rather than a faculty, with funding and enrolment to be handled by the Faculty of Arts & Science.

They would also incur further cuts in courses, leaving only basic courses being taught, and a massive increase in class sizes.

The student levy proposal will be appearing before the University Affairs Board of the Governing Council on April 30. If approved, the first increase will be charged to students in the fall 2013 session.

Trinity provost departs for prestigious Oxford post Simon Bredin NEWS EDITOR

Trinity provost Andy Orchard will end his term as the college’s topranking administrator early to accept a prestigious post at Oxford University beginning in the fall.

Orchard, who was initially appointed provost in September 2007 and was re-appointed to a second term in 2012, announced his decision to accept the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship in AngloSaxon based out of Pembroke College in Oxford.

The professorship was established in 1795 and has previously been held by scholars such as J.R.R. Tolkein. It is, Orchard says, the only job for which he would leave Trinity.

“I was very, very pleased and proud to be appointed to a second term.

It’s a slightly deflating thing to have served one year of my second term and then be lured elsewhere,” said Orchard. “Some of the plans that I had will evolve.”

Those plans include a handful of ambitious projects that Orchard hopes his successor will take up, including the expansion of Trinity’s archives and the construction of a new residential wing of St. Hilda’s, one of the college’s residency buildings.

Orchard has presided over a sea change in the ranks of the college’s senior administration, replacing eight of 11 positions “of the major

people who do all the work — as opposed to the provost, who sits around and talks to undergraduates.”

“I leave the place in safe hands,” said Orchard in a departing interview with The Varsity.

He arrived at the University of Toronto 12 years ago from Cambridge, lured by the largest graduate program in medieval studies, with its reputation for academic rigor and the compulsory study of Latin. He was also attracted by the “amazing” Dictionary of Old English, which has extensive access to rare manuscripts.

And though he came for academe, he stayed for the college he now leads. Years ago, hitching a drive home from his fellow Latinist and former dean of arts Chris McDonough, the two passed Trinity’s impressive frontal façade.

“What college is that?” asked Orchard at the time. Trinity, said McDonough. “Would you like to become a fellow?” he asked.

“Twelve years later, and here we are,” said Orchard, gesturing around a spacious office adjacent to his home in the college, where he has lived during his time as provost with his wife, Clare Orchard, and their two children.

Orchard has greatly endeared himself to students, delivering provostial addresses partially in Latin while poking fun at the college’s rivals, and speaking regularly at the college’s satirical debate society, the Lit. He also hosted popu-

Andy Orchard in his office. Bernarda Gospic/THe VarsiTy

lar “Beer and Beowulf” evenings, where students solved AngloSaxon riddles together and waded through difficult pronunciations of Old English poetry.

As provost, he has continued to teach a small number of graduate and undergraduate students, the latter primarily through his popular 199y class entitled “Raiders, Traders, and Invaders.”

“I’m trying to convince everyone that Vikings are actually shy, sensitive antique dealers tragically misunderstood,” he says, only halfjokingly, glancing towards a fearsome-looking horned helmet on a nearby bookshelf.

“That’s a class that I’ll certainly miss.

There’s not the opportunity for that kind of a class in the more traditional atmosphere at Cambridge,” he reflects.

There will be an interim provost appointed during the search for Orchard’s successor.

In the meantime, the college prepares to bid a fond farewell to its leader. It is scouting artists, and in Strachan Hall, the canvases of Orchard’s 13 forbearers have been inched closer together, leaving just enough room for the portrait to come.

6

Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

UTSU:

VARSITY NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

integrate Hart House, UTM, UTSU

Union cites lack of involvement from UTM, UTSC in decision to reject Hart House fee increase Kasia Bunda VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A bid by Hart House for increased funding from a student levy was rejected by the Council on Student Services (coss), a student-majority body that must approve all such fee increases. In a report explaining the rationale behind the rejection, the utsu indicated that it was unsatisfied with the current level of involvement and integration students at the Scarborough and Mississauga campuses with Hart House. utm and utsc students, like their counterparts on the St. George campus, must pay $2.32 to Hart House.

Munib Sajjad, utsu president-elect and a member of the coss, said he believes that Hart House is a “great facility,” but added that he also thinks it is “underused and underrated,” especially by students at the sister campuses of utm and utsc. “There has been no strong effort ... to promote its services,” said Sajjad.

“We need to work more on a tri-campus level,” said Sajjad. “I would hate to see opting-out occur,” he added, because it would encourage each campus to develop an identity independent of U of T. Hart House has already undertaken efforts to increase participation with the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses. According to the coss report, Hart House has initiated an ambassador program designed to enhance outreach at the three campuses, and has invested in developing social media tools to better engage the U of T community.

Several students studying in Mississauga and Scarborough have claimed they have nothing against paying the small fee if other students can benefit from their contribution.

utm shuttle bus parked outside Hart House . RYAN KELPIN/THE VARsITY

“There’s a lot you pay for and you can’t take advantage of it all. As long as it’s being used by others, I don’t feel ripped off,” said Trevor Mehr, a second year student at utm.

There are students, like Mehr, who take advantage of facilities on more than one U of T campus. He believes that all students should have the same option.

Daikos, a law student and frequent user of Hart House, said he thinks that the fee should remain mandatory for all students because the exact percentage of funds allocated to particular services from individual campuses is not always clear. He believes it is likely that St. George students are also paying for some facilities on other campuses.

Could your organization use some fresh new ideas and energy?

Hart House, a central student center on the St. George campus, obtains funds from mandatory incidental fees of all students enrolled at the University of Toronto. According to the coss report, the Hart House primary source of income depends primarily on purchased memberships and student fees. The university provides no funding to Hart House and students are the largest contributors, providing 54 per cent of costs.

Although there is a shuttle bus running between the Mississauga and St. George campuses, many utm students claim that they are only familiar with Hart House as

a bus stop, and are not aware of services that the student hub has to offer. utm students like Lauren and Michelle, who have been to Hart House a couple of times, agree that an opt-out option should be in place; they would much rather see the money go into scholarships or grants instead. utm student Sara Moyeen thinks that paying for Hart House is “pointless.”

“We aren’t going to spend 30–40 minutes to get there, people here use our own facilities,” said Moyeen.

Moyeen expressed her concern that parttime students do not have enough support, and would rather see funds routed to the part-time population instead. She also stated that the Mississauga campus should have its own equivalent to a hub like Hart House center, since downtown Toronto is such a great distance away for many students.

Unlike utm, the Scarborough campus does not provide a shuttle bus to take students downtown, making it more difficult for those enrolled at utsc to access Hart House facilities.

Sarah, a fourth year at utsc, was not aware that she was being charged for Hart House’s services. “We already pay so many fees,” she said. “It’s upsetting. I don’t want to pay for something I’m not going to use.”

Sarah said she would rather have utsc pay attention to its own facilities, which she believes need improvement, such as the bathrooms, hallways, and campus aesthetics.

Although several students have stated that they would prefer an opt-out option, Sajjad added that he hopes students will find the time to get involved and experience what Hart House has to offer because “[Student life is] fundamental to education; we’re not just student numbers.”

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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

7

Mental health issues garner increased attention New campaign, $27 million provincial commitment marks renewed focus on mental health on campus Irina Vukosavic ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

A new utsu-led campaign to raise awareness about students’ mental health took shape at a town hall meeting late last week.

The utsu campaign will focus on the eradication of discrimination towards students with mental health concerns by first collaborating with groups on campus to undertake an accessibility audit.

Also last week, the Ontario government announced $27 million in spending over three years to tackle mental health concerns on campuses. The first installment will launch 10 new programs, including a 24-hour helpline for students.

The twin efforts from the UTSU and Queen’s Park, which are not formally connected, represent a renewed focus on what appears to be the worsening condition of mental health on Ontario campuses.

According to the spring 2012 National College Health Assessment, which surveyed around 76,000 students across North America including 5,000 U of T students, 86.8 per cent felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, 51.3 per cent felt overwhelming anxiety, and 31.6 per cent felt so depressed that they found it difficult to function at any time within the last 12 months.

According to Health and Wellness executive director Janine Robb, a significant proportion of students deal with adjustment or psychosocial issues: 27 per cent experience anxiety disorders, 24 per cent mood disorders, 18 per cent adjustment disorders, and 18 per cent psychosocial difficulties.

Corey Scott, the outgoing UTSU vice-president, internal & services, said that there was lack of attention given to the correlation between tuition fees and mental health. Many issues of mental health, Scott said, became more prevalent as tuition fees increased.

Noor Baig, outgoing vice-president, equity, said that flat fees create the expectation that students can handle six courses — a norm, Baig says, that is unattainable.

“Taking six courses, with readings and assignments, is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle unless a student is in excellent physical, mental, and economic health. This is the case for so few students, so why is this the standard students should be living up to?” said Baig.

In addition, the UTSU campaign aims to address concerns with Counseling and Psychological Services (caps). caps is a campus service that offers students short-term individual counselling, psychotherapy, workshops, and psychiatric medication services.

In collaboration with Accessibility Services, caps anchors initiatives such as the firstyear students’ “Move U of T,” which supports active healthy living to sustain them in the transition into university life, and “Exam Jam” which offers students workshops on how to include mind-body movement and meditation to overcome their stress. In addition, caps provides individual activities such as peer mentoring, professional counselling, Monday meditations and yoga.

“There are a great variety of strategies, workshops, seminars, programs, and individual counselling, at all three campuses that address wellness and mental health on an ongoing basis. The university endeavours to build a holistic approach to education and preparation and stress prevention into the lives of students,” said vice-provost, students, Jill Matus in an email to The Varsity.

One of the main issues related to caps is that its services are capped at 20 sessions for U of T students. Yolen Bollo-Kamara, vice-president, campus life, said that when students with mental health issues reach 20 sessions, the transition to receive further counselling is difficult.

“If you have a mental health issue and need to see a counsellor regularly, after the first half

Counselling & Psychological Services at U of T. File Photo: Michael chahley/the varsity

of studies your sessions may run out. This campaign should rally for more sessions,” added Mahsima Tavoosi-Monfared, a fourth-year student specializing in sociology and psychology.

In an email to The Varsity, Robb said that in caps, 95 per cent of students have 12 or fewer visits and 0.01 per cent reach the 20 session limit.

“Our goal is not to provide long-term ongoing psychotherapy,” said Robb. She said for students who require long-term psychotherapeutic services, their needs “exceed our mandate and they are better served within the community health network.”

Another issue with caps brought forth in the campaign is how anti-depressants make up the majority of medications prescribed on campus. Robb said that although the majority of medications prescribed are anti-depressants, only 19–25 per cent of students are prescribed medication. Last

year, she says, only 19 per cent of students were on medications. utsu president Shaun Shepherd said that the university is stressful by way of design and that prescribing anti-depressants was a Band-Aid solution. “caps services are not getting down to the nitty gritty of why anti-depressants are the top drug used and why U of T is a place of stress and mental health concerns. We need to think more broadly,” Shepherd said.

Along with the utsu’s campaign, the new commitment by Queen’s Park has also been praised by university administrators. Matus calls the investment “an excellent initiative,” and added, “the University of Toronto is working with the Council of Ontario Universities to provide guidance and expertise on the pilot project.” The pilot is set to launch this summer.

News in brief Thomas Fisher obtains rare 1555 anatomical textbook An original 1555 copy of Andreas Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica with extensive annotations has been added to the collection at the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.

Vesalius (1514-1564) is considered the founding scholar of modern anatomy. Based in Brussels, his ground-breaking De humani corporis fabrica is seen as one of the most important books in the history of medicine, and one of the wonders of Renaissance publishing.

A dissector by profession, Vesalius was able to set out a new foundation for anatomical study based on first-hand observation. His book reads as a manual showing how to do a dissection as well as a detailed depiction on the human anatomy shown through woodcut illustrations.

The copy of De fabrica on deposit at the Fisher contains over a thousand interlinear and marginal annotations, in the form of additions, deletions and transpositions.

The arrival of the 1555 edition at the Fisher library is timely, as 2014 will mark the 500th anniversary of Vesalius’s birth. The Library will be celebrating the event with an exhibition in which the annotated copy of De fabrica will feature prominently.

— Fatima Syed With files from U of T News

David Cameron announced as interim dean for Faculty of Arts & Science Professor David Cameron has been appointed interim dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto, effective May 21, 2013.

He fills the position vacated by Meric Gertler, who was named the next President of the University on March 4, 2013, succeeding David Naylor.

Cameron’s cv is extensive, encompassing positions in academia that include dean of Arts & Science at Trent University, chair of Trent’s Department of Political Science, vicepresident, institutional relations at U of T, acting chair of the Department of Political Science, acting vice-dean, undergraduate education and teaching of A&S, and chair of the Department of Political Science, the position he currently holds as he waits to assume responsibility as interim dean.

Professor Cameron has also served in a variety of administrative and advisory roles for the government of Ontario.

— Theodore Yan

U of T grants exclusive contract for lecture recording technology Echo360, a Dallas-based firm that describes itself as a “global leader in campus wide active and distance learning solutions” has been selected as the University of Toronto’s standard for lecture capture.

Chosen for its ease of use by instructors and administrators, the award-winning learning technology acts as a fulsome tool for academics to create and capture instructional content both inside and outside the classroom.

“Our selection committee chose Echo360 because it met the most needs for the University of Toronto,” said Dr. Avi Hyman, director of academic and collaborative technology at the University of Toronto. According to Hyman, the technology provides a “manageable, unified system” for the university’s technical staff.

Echo360 also acts as a facilitator for a growing number of online courses. The technology allows for class sessions to be recorded, so students can watch lectures where and when it is convenient for them. Instructor office hours are also virtual and video-based.

— Catherine Virelli With files from Yahoo News

BEST OF THE SUMMER

VAR.ST/COMMENT

Grad students need to be integrated into

1 APRIL 2013 comment@thevarsity.ca

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Defending levy-funded services A response from Bikechain Dominic Wong

BIKECHAIN STAFF

Bikechain is not “a great, student-run service [which] has struggled to stay afloat,” as Maryam Mughal wrote in her article in this newspaper (March 10, 2013), but it is a great student-run service struggling to provide better services and meet its growing demand.

The end of the work-study program for student organizations was a significant blow to Bikechain. Even our successful levy increase pales in comparison to the support we had through work-study.

Asking for $0.25 may not have been enough, but some people may “feel cynical about being uninformed as to where, specifically, [their] compulsory fees are being used.” Bikechain itemizes our student levies on the front page of its website. Any student can log into rosi and see the whole list of ancillary fees they pay.

If “the question is, could a decision by a few voters during the utsu elections … force others to contribute equally for additional funding to expand Bikechain’s services,” then the answer is unequivocally no. Quorum was five per cent of all students affected. That is not a few students, it’s a couple thousand, 70 per cent of whom voted in favour of a levy increase. Prior to the referendum, Bikechain was required to gather a petition with 10 per cent of students in favour of holding the referendum. Anyone who felt strongly against the Bikechain levy should have voted no. It is never the few students who decide the outcome; it is the few thousand who turn out to vote.

Furthermore, nobody is “forced to pay” a Bikechain levy. Anyone who wants to keep their $0.25, $0.50, or now $0.75 can opt out in the first three weeks of every semester. But why would you?

The Bikechain campaign pointed out that $0.25 could only get you one seventh of one cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, that an average year’s worth of textbooks costs 3,600 times more than the levy increase, and that the Athletic

FILE PhOTO: BERNARdA GOSPIC/ThE VARSITy

Club (ac) membership is 1,200 times more expensive.

Not everyone reads The Varsity, and not every student will go to Bikechain, or Downtown Legal Services, or the Sexual Education Centre, or the ac, or Hart House, or Robarts Library for that matter. Not every Canadian will visit a library, community centre, shelter, or food bank. Why should we pay for these services if we don’t intend to use them?

Like the many services on campus, these community services improve the quality of life of people who depend on them. Whether funding comes from student levies, or taxes, “free” services need to be funded somehow.

You shouldn’t opt out of anything.

You should take advantage of as many services as possible. Seriously look at all the groups and what they have to offer. Volunteer with them. They provide great learning opportunities. You might assume that Bikechain “is of no use to those who choose to walk or drive … don’t know how to bike … can’t bike due to physical limitations … commute by ttc.” But really, everyone can use Bikechain. We are open six days a week. We primarily work on bicycles, but skateboards have come through. We would certainly be able to work with paraplegics who ride handcycles — my grandmother’s walker’s braking system uses bicycle parts that we carry in our shop.

We also have general tools which people have used for non-bike-related tasks, and will soon be introducing a short-term tool lending program.

We’ve had volunteers who don’t cycle and held a workshop where we taught people how to ride a bike. For anyone who chooses not to cycle, getting more people cycling frees up respective space on the sidewalk, road, or ttc. The fact that people are becoming healthier and happier has incidental benefits to everyone else and just maybe some of that happiness will rub off on you.

Cycling helps everyone, and there are more cyclists than you might think.

Imagine walking into a store and they were selling an amazing package

of services: free bicycles to borrow for a year, free condoms and lube for a year, free legal advice for a year, free film screenings, subsidized child care, subsidized lunches, a whole bunch of free events — all for the low price of $44. They would be sold out in the first hour.

You may never use Service X, but you may use Service Y. Pooling resources to provide for both services lowers the cost of providing each. These are the best bargains you will ever get. If you want to save money you are better off trying to lower tuition and textbook costs.

Dominic Wong is the Administrative Coordinator at Bikechain.

Universities should create citizens and leaders PATRICK BAUD VARSITY COLUMNIST

As another year comes to an end, some students are consumed with internecine fights about fees and referenda, while others are struggling to finish their term and find summer work in a tough market. With deep cuts expected in the provincial budget and endowment income growing slowly, the administration frets about how to make up the difference. Faculty worry about the next round of cuts to their departments, and what they see as increasingly direct challenges to academic freedom and the tenure system that have defined universities for decades.

Through all this worrying, however warranted, the mem-

bers of this university, administrators, faculty, and students alike, tend to lose sight of this place’s purpose. Nowhere is this truer than in undergraduate arts and science. It is clear that undergraduate education cannot be reduced to training a new generation of workers for the “knowledge economy” nor can it simply be a time for self-discovery and exploration. The needs of our country are too great and the cost of education too high for either of these purposes to be enough to animate and guide undergraduate education at this university.

As a university, and indeed as a country, we expect so much of university graduates. Some will go on to graduate school and make discoveries that will change the lives of millions and save the lives of millions more. Others will fol-

low the long line of extraordinary men and women who have left this university and entered public service. Still others still will build companies that form the engines of this country’s economy for decades to come. Given what we expect from our graduates, the university has a responsibility to equip them with the tools they need to achieve and exceed our high expectations.

This is something we cannot hope to do unless we develop a clear sense of purpose for undergraduate education. The way to do so is to think of undergraduate education as a kind of professional education, directed not to the usual professions of law, medicine, or education, but those ancient and essential professions of citizen and leader. At the undergraduate level, the pri-

ority should not be to produce future art historians or sociologists. Rather, the goals should be to ensure that students graduate with the skills and judgment they need to be good citizens and leaders, no matter which walk of life they pursue.

This would begin in first- and second-year. No matter their program of study, arts and science students would be expected to develop the fundamental skills needed to be a good citizen. These skills include critical reading, persuasive writing, public speaking, and quantitative reasoning.

This would ensure that students would be well placed to understand problems — whether big or small — develop ways to address to them, and communicate their ideas to others. These skills would be as valuable to a human biology

student, who might learn them by examining a public health problem, as to a linguistics student, who could develop them by learning about literacy.

In third- and fourth-year, students would be given the opportunity to consolidate these skills and develop judgment about how to use them by applying them to real-world problems. This might be done as much through course work as through cooperative education and internships. This too would be valuable to students, no matter their field of study. Restoring purpose to undergraduate education will not be easy, but the country and the university, not to mention students, will surely be richer for it.

This is Patrick Baud’s final column for The Varsity.

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VARSITY COMMENT

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

9

Three-year degrees are not worth the cost to quality of education A full university experience can't be compressed Ken Kongkatong VARSITY STAFF

With the end of the academic year upon us, questions about the threeyear degree proposals from Queen's Park last year inevitably return to mind. In 2012, the Ontario government proposed the creation of a three-year degree model, with the objective of replacing the four-year degrees currently offered by major universities throughout the province. The plan is still in its infancy, but a pilot program is currently being developed and may be implemented by the end of the year.

The plan is based on the economy’s need for a practical workforce to meet growing demand within a relatively short period of time. It is believed that this cannot not be achieved through four-year degrees.

The justification for these proposals is not limited to the issue of labour resources, but a concern for the financial welfare of university students.

In the past, U of T offered three-year degrees; these were officially discontinued between 2002-2004. Between 2003-2004 and the current academic year, tuition fees have increased sig-

nificantly. Those advocating against four-year degrees believe that threeyear degrees provide a less expensive option. But before reaching such a conclusion, we must take into account the recent global recession, the expanding student population, and and the inclusion of financial aid.

But there are also people who favor the current four-year degrees. They argue that students are better prepared after four years of study.

“The downside is experience and networking,” says Michael, a first-year Rotman student. Michael believes that while a three-year degree may be more financially pragmatic, more time invested into higher education better equips people with the necessary skills, to make them more competitive in the job market.

Michael is not the only university student to be suspicious of the proposals. In a recent survey conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 64 per cent of 850 students considered a four-year degree to bemore valueable than a three-year one.

A four-year degree provides more opportunities for students than its three-year counterpart. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive, employers look for more

minhee bae/The VarsiTy

experience and training. Generally, students can fulfill this requirement by amassing internships or relevant work experience to round out their resume. The three-year degree would make this more difficult by increasing academic demands on students.

Another aspect that makes the three-year degree less desirable is its inflexibility. Students often get lower grades in first-year than they had hoped, as they adjust from high school to university. A shorter degree would allow less room for improve-

ment. Additionally, a large number of students change their program or major during their undergraduate career. Without the flexibility of the current degrees, students would be forced to complete the first program they choose.

Granted, three-year degrees may solve the problem of time and cost. But if we were to follow this route, wouldn’t the cost in quality of education be higher?

We have seen European universities implementing three-year de-

gree models, but their degrees are structured differently than Canadian universities.

Rather than cutting the education budget, we should be increasing spending on post-secondary education in order to reduce fees. We should direct our resources into achieving an education that is both invaluable and accessible for all students.

Ken Kongkatong is a first-year student planning to double-major in English and psychology.

We should not pay more for less An op-ed from UTSU president-elect Munib Sajjad Munib Sajjad

UTSU PRESIDENT-ELECT

From Monday March 18 to Thursday March 21, I joined student representatives from across Ontario to meet with over 60 Members of Provincial Parliament for lobby week. Representing the over 300,000 students who are members of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, we presented to Members of Provincial Parliament a plan for postsecondary education that would improve access and quality to post-secondary education for all.

Among those we met with were the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Brad Duguid, Progressive Conservative post-secondary education critic Rob Leone, and New Democratic Party post-secondary education critic Teresa Armstrong.

Students delivered ideas, such as a true 30 per cent reduction of tuition fees over three years, a plan to stop the practice of universities and colleges charging students illegal ancillary fees, and a plan to stop flat tuition fee billing so students could pay tuition fees per course. Representatives from the University of Toronto Students’ Union specifically discussed the ongoing issues regarding the Arts & Science ‘Flat Fee’ tuition policy and the very high cost of post-secondary education in faculties like law

and dentistry. Almost all the ideas that we brought forward were cost-neutral — we found ways that the government could change their spending priorities to efficiently invest in postsecondary education.

On March 28, the Ontario Government released its new tuition fee framework that mandates three to five per cent tuition fee increases over the next four years.

Since the Ontario Liberal Party has taken office, Ontario students will have faced over a 100 per cent increase in tuition fees at the close of these four years. This means that by 2016-2017 students will be paying more than 100 per cent more in tuition than they did when the Liberals took office. The majority of Ontarians believe that tuition fees are far too high and the only course of action is to lower fees. The lack of opportunity for young people upon graduation exacerbates the problem. Student unemployment has skyrocketed and the provincial student debt has gone above $9 billion.

The ongoing crisis of underfunding and unaffordability in postsecondary education creates a situation where education as a public service is being eroded. Our education is slowly being privatized and as a result, students from low- and increasingly middle-income backgrounds are being shut out of certain fields of study, and collecting mortgage-sized debts.

Over the years, series of governments, run by all three major par-

ties, have eroded the funding that once existed for post-secondary education, and replaced that necessary funding with tuition fees. At the same time that we are paying more, our class sizes are getting larger, and we have less full-time professors teaching in the classroom. We should no longer accept this! We cannot simply accept that

we will pay more for less, year after year. It is time for students, faculty and workers of all post-secondary education institutions to unite and take control of this system that is failing us.

Munib Sajjad is the President-Elect of the University of Toronto Students’ Union 2013–2014

Have your say!

Direct letters to the editor to comment@ thevarsity.ca

10 Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

VARSITY COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Bernarda Gospic/THe VarsiTy

How should a student newspaper be?

“M

ay you live in interesting times,” says the Bard. I’m referring, of course, to Terry Pratchett. This year has been filled with interesting times for The Varsity, both in its pages and in my tenure as Editor-in-Chief. One hundred and thirty-two years of history is a lot to live up to, but I hope that volume CXXXIII has met that challenge.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY The Varsity has faced a tough financial and advertising climate over the last few years, and we’ve adapted to reflect that reality — we’re now one of the few entirely student-run university newspapers in the country.

The referendum to raise our student levy was a key means of ensuring The Varsity’s financial future. I am incredibly grateful for the help and support I received from the board of directors, who oversaw the referendum, and to the paper’s masthead and staff, who put so much time and energy into marketing and campaigning. In particular, Ethan Chiel and Nathan Watson put countless hours into working on the referendum video and talking to students at our tables around campus. The successful passage of the levy increase (if the University Affairs Board of Governing Council approves it later this month) will come as a consequence of the work put in by the paper’s dedicated masthead and staff, and I’m proud to have worked with them on it.

The levy increase will, we hope, allow us to continue to expand our coverage and capabilities. It will also go some way to protecting us against the fluctuations of the advertising market, which took a major hit in 2009–2010 and has continued to waver since. The loss of the agency that sold national advertising on our behalf, which is due to shut down at the end of the summer, will hit us hard — but the impact has been mitigated by a successful levy campaign and the efforts of our in-house advertising team. I have every confidence that they will be able to make up any shortfall we may face.

Ultimately, the money you pay to The Varsity every year goes into the print product, our

online presence, and yes, to the salaries of the masthead that works every week to ensure that important stories at this university are covered.

In the brouhaha surrounding ‘defederation,’ the university’s talking heads have often asked, ‘What do our fees pay for? What do students actually get from student fees?” With The Varsity, the answer is news, entertainment, diversion, information, a voice. Campus media is sustained by the students that produce it, and more importantly, by the students that consume it. I believe there will always be an audience for a student publication that speaks for and to students on this campus. That’s what your yearly $3.72 is paying for.

PRINT OR ONLINE? BOTH Editors-in-chief have often in this forum addressed the importance of the Internet and webspecific content for The Varsity. We’ve continued to grow our web presence, following a revamp of our website last year — for which I owe many thanks to last year's online team and the website developer, kmsm.

The online team this year has emphasized connecting with students over social media, and our editors have delivered a mix of breaking news, online-specific content, and stunning videos that have increased our online footprint significantly. Certain stories just make more sense on our website. Our coverage of nxne early in the year and the success of the time-lapse video for the Night magazine are just two examples of editors understanding the power and popularity of timely, online-appropriate content.

The media landscape is changing. Every year, it seems, more and more student publications reduce or abandon their print publications in favour of online exclusivity. We understand the importance of the Internet, I assure you, and as we promised in our levy campaign we intend to continue to invest in and improve our website and online content.

But print is not dead, and certainly not on university campuses. Reading a copy of The Varsity that you picked up in a building lobby on your way to class is still a popular way of connecting with our content. At the time of our levy cam-

paign, we heard from students who believed the student population would be better served by an emailed newsletter. As we outlined during the campaign, print at The Varsity pays for itself and more. But it also serves a more important function — it lets us showcase the work of our talented designers in a way that the website cannot.

So while we’re committed to growing our audience online, we’re also committed to the convenience that print provides to many students and to the opportunity it provides students to get involved with the paper. You can have great content online and print it too.

STORIES THAT MATTER This year we’ve tried to live up to our self-styled role as the student voice on campus. Beyond our coverage of campus politics, defederation, and administrative changes, we’ve endeavoured to steer the conversation at U of T, instead of just reporting it. The hundreds of students who have contributed to the paper this year span the multitude of faculties, colleges, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds that make up our three diverse campuses, and are uniquely placed to reflect and consider the challenges and issues that face students at this university.

We haven’t always gotten it right, and that’s part of the learning process for every masthead. There have been articles that caused offense, and ones that failed to live up to the high standard of accuracy and ethics that we seek to hold ourselves to.

I’ve been particularly grateful to students willing to confront difficult realities or situations in our pages, for the betterment of their fellow students. Whether they’re dealing with anxieties (“Why I can’t come to class,” January 7, 2013) or stigma because of their sexuality (“Speaking out against small acts of homophobia,” March 4, 2013), these students have raised important issues that many U of T students deal with, but too often cannot express. These students’ perspectives are just as important as those of our student politicians, and it sometimes feels as if the political discourse on campus drowns out such voices.

Simon Bredin and the news team have consistently reported stories as they've happened, covering the defederation and election campaigns from start to finish and breaking news of important campus events (like the appointment of our new university president, “Gertler appointed U of T president,” March 11, 2013). They’ve shown that campus media can cover issues of importance in the same timeframe and with the same thoroughness that readers expect from ‘traditional’ media.

FINIS My intent is not to be self-congratulatory, though I am proud of our work this year. I’m trying to point out, instead, the role that The Varsity aspires to at this university — as a participant in, and a driver of, important changes and advances, and as a close chronicler and scrutinizer of the institutions (student-run or otherwise) that govern the academic and social lives of students.

We have a duty to the students at the University of Toronto. If you hear about The Varsity during your time at this university, the choice to engage with us is up to you. But if you make it through your time here without ever knowing this paper exists (and paying our fees the whole while), we’ve failed in our responsibility to engage with you — our audience and fellow students. I have every confidence that next year, led by newly elected Editor-in-Chief Joshua Oliver, and in the years to come, The Varsity’s dedicated staff of students will work to make sure they fulfill that duty.

I owe a debt of gratitude to every writer, photographer, illustrator, designer, and copyeditor who has worked on the publication this year. And I cannot end without giving credit to the people who make this paper run — the masthead. Your dedication and creativity made me want to come in for every minute of production, and carried me through every meeting and catastrophe.

Thank you.

Murad Hemmadi Editor-in-Chief, 2012–2013

VARSITY COMMENT

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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

11

An open letter to all incoming student representatives An op-ed from UTSU president Shaun Shepherd Shaun Shepherd UTSU PRESIDENT

File photo: Bernarda Gospic/the Varsity

The end of the academic year is upon us, marking the beginning of spring, final exams, and a slew of incoming student representatives taking the reigns of their respective student organizations.

In the spirit of change for the upcoming year, I challenge all incoming student representatives to aspire for a new approach to campus politics. Common issues affecting students have been put on the back burner to the detriment of our respective membership. Issues around increasing voter turnout, expanding student services, improving campus life, and advocating for student interests are mutually shared, yet universally unresolved. There is no student society which excels at resolving these mutual concerns, nor does any one organization hold all the answers. It is the responsibility of all incoming elected representa-

tives to resolve these mutual concerns by working together.

I challenge student representatives to do away with counterproductive discourse. It is in the best interests of student organizations to express criticism but maintain mutual respect.

Student representatives need to evaluate the impact of their actions. My experience this year has taught me that communication is of the utmost importance when it comes to improving our student organizations.

I thank the individuals who have had criticisms and have succeeded in changing the University of Toronto Students’ Union through participation at our meetings, discussion and bringing forth resolutions to our governance bodies.

Criticism is a welcome feature of our respective organizations. It is crucial to mention however, that criticism coupled with malicious intent is damaging and serves to undermine an organization.

I challenge student representatives to reexamine their relation-

ship with the utsu. A combative relationship yields no rewards.

Student representatives must transcend the politics of yesterday to build on our collective success. If we truly want to address the valid issues that have been discussed this year, we have to ensure the atmosphere surrounding our organizations is amicable.

I challenge student representatives to build a better U of T through collaboration. Through our combined efforts and resources, our student organizations can achieve more than through bickering and name-calling. I firmly believe that collaboration is the solution to improving participation and knowledge of student union activities.

The key to effective collaboration is taking the initiative to reach out and having the willingness to participate respectfully and honestly.

Shaun Shepherd is the outgoing president of the University of Toronto Students' Union

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Features

01 APRIL 2013 features@thevarsity.ca

Out of sight, but helping out A look at some of the services our fees support

Article and photos by Michael Chahley One of the benefits of being connected to U of T’s massive community is the wide range of services available to help you. On the flip side, with so many resources at your disposal it is quite possible to completely overlook some of them. To many of us, these organizations can appear as just another line on our neverending invoices for tuition and student fees. But for others, these niche communities offer a lifeline in a time of need, or a chance to nurture a new passion or friendship. These photos show just a few of the many groups ready to help you out or show you something new. You may not directly benefit from these services, but the hundreds of volunteers and dedicated individuals involved with them work together to strengthen the community we are all a part of here at U of T.

Oviya and Samiya volunteer at Hot Yam, a vegan kitchen that offers a delicious $4 lunch every Wednesday at Cumberland House.

The Campus Community Cooperative Day Care Centre offers a safe place for children of students and faculty to stay during the workday.

The Sexual Education Centre (SEC), founded in 1976, aims to provide information and education about all aspects of human sexuality, as well as safe-sex supplies, in a nonjudgmental environment that fosters sex-positivity and understanding.

Far Left: Founded in 2005, Bikechain operates an educational bicycle repair space as well as a free bicycle-lending program for students, promoting bicycles as a form of sustainable transportation. Volunteers such as Troy are ready to help out with your bike.

Left: Founded in 1986, The Centre for Women and Trans People advocates for equality for systemically marginalized groups, and is committed to making connections between U of T and other communities. Kim and Sabera are two of the 80 active members that contribute to the Centre throughout the year.

Arts & Culture

FROM THE ARCHIVES

var.st/arts

01 aPrIL 2013 arts@thevarsity.ca

An interview with 007 (a.ka.

Daniel Craig) ! var.st/9h-

A story of film and song An interview with director Atom Egoyan and composer Mychael Danna Emma Fox VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

On Monday March 25, I met filmmaker Atom Egoyan and composer Mychael Danna in the Trinity College jcr. A U of T alum, Egoyan is a renowned film director, whose work includes The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Ararat (2002), and Chloe (2009). Danna, also a U of T alum, provided the score for most of Egoyan’s films and many others.

Earlier in the month, he won an Oscar for his work on Life of Pi. I interviewed Egoyan and Danna for 20 minutes before they spoke to a larger groupof students. To get things started, I congratulated Danna on his recent success at the Oscars and asked him how it felt being there.

“A bore,” he replied.

“A bore?” I asked He laughed and said, “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

While Danna may have found the Oscar ceremony less than thrilling, his long-standing collaborative efforts with Egoyan have been anything but dull. Egoyan and Danna have sustained a working relationship for over 20 years. They met while working on one of Egoyan’s first feature films, Family Viewing (1988). According to Egoyan, this first collaboration was an exciting experience, not only because it served the film well, but also because it contributed to his own education as a director.

“The experience itself was … quite amazing because the film definitely needed [music],” he said. “It was an essential part of the construction of that film, and Mychael not

Atom Egoyan (left) and Mychael Danna (right) in the Trinity College jcr. MICHaeL CHaHLeY/tHe varsItY

only rose to the challenge, he just taught me so much of what music does in a film.”

Danna expressed a similar enthusiasm for Family Viewing, a project that gave him the opportunity to explore aspects of film scoring that he still employs today.

“The themes from that score are themes that we continue working with to this day — nonwestern music, minimalism, kind of subtle interweaving within the dramatic action. The

approach and the sensibility hasn’t really deviated from the path we began together.”

Danna went on to say that his initial work with Egoyan taught him how to get to the “essence” of the film’s story, and that he has transferred this experience to his work with other directors.

A pattern emerged throughout the conversation: whenever Egoyan and Danna spoke about their collaborative efforts, each one would diminish the importance of his own role.

“It would be presumptive to say that I ‘direct’ Mychael,” Egoyan claimed. He insisted that because the music helps tell the film’s story, the process is more of a “co-authorship.” Danna in turn explained that his aim is to channel Egoyan’s vision and, ultimately, to help create the film as a whole.

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LIVING ARTS SALENA BARRY flexes her pottery skills at the Gardiner’s weekly clay workshop

NaNCY JI/tHe varsItY

I am not Molly Jensen or Demi Moore, and this was certainly not Ghost. Walking into a dropin clay class on the lower level of the Gardiner Museum last Wednesday, I saw six clay-wheels and some tables with tools laid across their surfaces. I sat down at one of these tables and eagerly waited for the class to begin. I hadn’t used clay since I was in elementary school, but I was excited to take a break from studying and worrying about how I was going to placate my recently-uncooperative laptop.

Waiting for our instructor to formally begin the workshop, I greeted the other members of my table group: a young woman who expressed her determination to make a symmetrical vase by hand, a bubbly 40-something who was trying to convince her reluctant mother to join in on the class, and a quiet, well-dressed man who had brought along two recently fired pieces that looked like miniatures of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

After everyone was seated, our instructor, Mark, introduced himself and explained that he’d be making rounds after giving those on the wheel a tutorial. All of the non-wheel participants seemed to know what they were doing, which was lucky for them, as the workshop did not include any formal instruction.

I lined up behind the more experienced participants, cut myself a piece of clay, and went to work.

After taking my piece, I sat down at my table and began to massage the clay. I had no idea what I was doing. I rolled it into a ball. I unrolled it. I flattened it and pulled it apart into little pieces. It wasn’t until I looked over at the well-dressed man who was making clean, equally-sized slabs for his next architectural figurine that I began to find my path. I asked him how he made his geometric slices, and he explained that he flattened the clay to a thickness he liked, let it dry for a bit to make it more solid, and then cut it up with a knife.

I followed suit, but decided to tear some of my pieces in order to make a wall with rough shapes projecting out from it.

While in the process of finishing my work, I noticed a woman talking to our instructor, and I soon realised that she was an art teacher from my old high school. I called out her name and she greeted me excitedly. Although my table-mates were less talkative, we did take care to support one another’s efforts. I told the well-dressed man that I liked the new pieces that he was making, and that they looked “ar-

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

17

Regency Fashion 101 Everything you need to know about dressing like Jane Austen Danielle Klein

Hair: Hair styling and hair accessories were critical to a lady’s evening look. Decorations included beads, jewels, and ribbons, as well as bonnets and hats on occasion. Married women would always cover their hair, but often chose to forgo caps in favour of wrapping their hair in fabric turbans with feathers and jewels. Although long hair was ideal for braiding and twisting, cropped hair was also quite trendy, as was a short, very curly hairstyle. Makeup was generally considered promiscuous and associated with prostitutes; in the Regency period, naturalness was emphasized. Some upper class women at the height of the fashion pyramid were able to get away with wearing makeup, but those who did were usually considered “fast.”

ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

With campus life comes an endless stream of invitations to picnics, dinners, dances, public lectures, coffee houses, and club nights.

Such offers produce a certain predicament: what, oh what should one wear to all these wonderful events? You could choose to don the traditional garb of the hipster milieu: skinny jeans, ironic t-shirt, and perhaps a floppy hat. Or, in honour of the bicentennial anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, you could opt for the more refined garb of the Regency period.

The fashion of the Regency era, during which Jane Austen wrote her novels, is emblematic of radical changes in British society, changes largely prompted by the French Revolution. “You have this society being torn apart, and all of the ancient hierarchies were just ripped inside out,” explains Karen Millyard, founder, dance teacher, and organizer of Jane Austen Dancing. “It changed everybody’s notions of what was normal and what was possible… You had a new sense of freedom.”

Notions of the individual and of individual freedom began to creep into British society during the early ninteenth century. These new ideas had a profound influence on the fashion of the day. “These clothes [of the Regency period] are much less artificial than the ones of the previous period,” Millyard notes.

“You get this shift from the highly artificial and structured, to the much less structured, much more reflective of the natural body.”

Regency fashion was not only influenced by contemporary events and innovation ideas of the self.

“Western Europe was obsessed with the classical world … and

KIMBERLY KWAN/THE VARsITY

many new excavations were taking place at this time,” Millyard explains. “[T]he imagination of educated people was very much influenced by this. So the clothing and hair — particularly the women's but also, more subtly, the men's — took on the more natural lines of … the ancient world's draperies and tunics.”

Historical facts aside, you are sure to attract your own Miss Bennet or Mr. Darcy if you follow these guidelines to Regency fashion.

LADIES WEAR Gowns: Ladies could wear either day gowns or evening gowns, both

of which are floor-length. A slim silhouette that hugs the body is key, avoiding full skirts or any kind of bunching in favour of a straight skirt, with a high waistline. Sleeves are often short, but elbow- and long sleeves are also fashionable, avoiding puffiness except for possibly a slight emphasis at the shoulders. Evening gowns, however, will typically have short sleeves.

Color: Film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels typically feature white and pastel dresses, which were indeed popular for evening events. Yet the fashion of the Regency era incorporated much

more colour than we might realize.

Jackets, coats, and day dresses were often brightly coloured.

Footwear: By the end of Jane Austen’s lifetime, heels were completely out of style and flat shoes, similar to today’s ballet slippers, were all the rage. These shoes were often pointed and accessorized with shoe-roses, a piece of ribbon that was fashioned into a flower and placed at the tip of the shoe. While many shoes were quite dainty and subdued, there are examples of over-the-top styles that incorporated color, patterns, pom-poms, fringe, jewels, and lace.

MEN’S WEAR Bottoms: Men during the Regency era had a choice between trousers, which began to come into fashion at the end of the period, or breeches.

Yet Millyard notes that for the most authentic look, it would be best to “go for the breeches.” Complete your outfit with stockings, a white shirt, and a jacket.

Hats: Men wore hats outdoors, but removed them once inside. There were many different styles of hats, such as the top hat, which was curvy at the time with a flare at the top, and taller than previous styles.

Manner: There is a certain je ne sais quoi required to complete the Regency man’s appearance, a courteous manner, characterized by courtliness, gentlemanlike behaviour, and of course, excellent posture.

For more information about Jane Austen-related events, visit http:// danceweavers.ca/janeausten.html

Poking fun at Canadian politics The Beaverton strives to make its mark in the world of satirical news Theodore Yan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

“Mayor Ford Unveils Bold New Double Vision for Toronto,” proclaimed the headline.

“We’re gonna totally end this fucking gravy train, lower taxes, and take our cars and just … and just go,’” Ford was reported yelling during an “impromptu press conference,” held for a couple walking their dog.

One can only hope that the embattled mayor of our city has not actually been reduced to such a state and, at least for the moment, that hope would be vindicated. The aforementioned headline and quote are excerpted from an article by The Beaverton, a rising force in the field of Canadian satirical news.

Having been generally focused on maintaining its online presence for the past few months, The Beaverton is set to produce its third print copy this April.

“I’ve always loved The Onion,” says Laurent Noonan, founder

of The Beaverton, in reference to what is arguably the most famous satirical news publication. “But they didn’t really do Canadian humour, so long-term it’s just creating an equivalent of The Onion for Canada, so people aren’t just reading The Onion online; they’re enjoying some homemade comedy covering Canadian stories.”

While much of its content is specifically geared to Canadian audiences, poking fun at the confusing realm of politics in Canada, The Beaverton also frequently runs pieces on pressing international developments. One of The Beaverton’s latest headlines read, “Pope Francis Really Hoping New Job Will Finally Get Him Laid.”

Unfortunately, the publication has run into some challenges as it attempts to grow.

“The thing about fake news is it’s not search-engine friendly, so no one’s ever going to search for one of our articles. People land on our articles by accident,” Noonan explains. “The struggle is the brand-building.”

The Beaverton has achieved some notable successes in the last five months, with several of its articles going viral on social media sites like Reddit and Facebook.

“The problem is sometimes a lot of people really like an article, but they don’t necessarily share it on their wall. People will read it, and we get a lot of feedback like this.

They’ll like it, but don’t share it on their own social media, so it doesn’t go much further than that.”

Vanessa Purdy, a U of T alumna and writer for The Beaverton, notes that one of the main roadblocks is simply “people not being open to it, or people thinking we don’t really need a Canadian satirical publication.”

“I think it’s important to have a Canadian satirical voice,” she adds.

The Beaverton’s humour is close to unfailingly on point, with pieces ranging from ridiculous (“Turns Out Angry Neighbour Just Had a Mouthful of Bees”), to biting (the Ford story described above), to pedantic enough that you can laugh at them really insistently in order to demonstrate to your friends how educated you are

ILLUsTRATION COURTEsY THE BEAVERTON

(a cartoon depicting a bull asking a bear in an office, “So you’re my replacement?” and the bear responding drily, “Beats me… Nobody explains anything around here”).

Those involved with the publication take particular pride in how clever their “reporters” are. “Our writers are quite talented,” Noonan says. “We have two that are lawyers, one is an engineer, one is a doctor, lots of university students and graduates, so really smart people on board.

It gives us a good feeling that we’re on to something.”

Moving forward, The Beaverton plans to expand its readership through a variety of means. “We

want to try to have more distribution points across city, to have places people know they can get it,” Purdy explains.

“We want to try to get it on campus,” she adds, but acknowledges the difficulty of doing so, given the fact that the publication is not officially affiliated with U of T. But the key to success for the growing satirical paper may be the social media that has helped it achieve its current levels of circulation.

“We just meet people on the street, tell them what we’re all about, that we’re Canadian comedy writ-

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21 "BEAVERTON" CONTINUED FROM PG 17

ers,” Noonan says. “People like to support you once they’ve met you. By virtue of sharing things on our Facebook page with our friends, sometimes they share them and then it starts to spread.

If it’s really good, we’ve just got to get it out there on social media pages and then it just takes off across the Internet.

“Sometimes I’ll dress up as a beaver and I’ll go on the street with some of the other writers.”

Noonan emphasizes the unique niche he is trying to fill with his project. “Right now, there’s not really anything like us that’s trying to bring a Canadian satirical newspaper,” he states.

“Things have gone well in the last five months because we are doing more timely stuff, and doing Canadian stuff. There’s not really anything else out there that’s covering a lot of Canadian current events stories.”

“The point of what we’re trying to do is get people talking about Canadian news in a different way,” says Purdy. “Whether or not it’s coming from Beaverton is not as important to me as that the idea is out there and people are talking about it.”

The Beaverton can be found at thebeaverton.com. The publication is definitely worth a look for anybody seeking a source for smart, incisive humour.

And that is “humour” with a “u.”

arts@thevarsity.ca

"LIVING ARTS" CONTINUED FROM PG 16

"FILM AND SONG" CONTINUED FROM PG 16

chitectural.” He thanked me and told me he was an architect.

He in turn told the 40-something woman that he admired her circular, fountain-like creation, and she said that the young woman had done a good job at creating a symmetrical vase.

The girl with the vase didn’t complete the compliment circle.

At about a quarter to eight, Mark asked us to clean up our places, wash the tools, wipe down the tables, and decide whether or not we wanted our pieces fired in the kiln for pick- up the following week. I looked at my strange, lop-sided wall and decided to pay the extra $5, on top of my $12 student ticket, to fire my piece. I figured that it would give me an opportunity to come back and try the clay workshop again, and if it didn’t, I would at least have a memento of the experience. I handed my $5 to Mark, who told me that he liked my lop-sided wall. The compliment circle had become a compliment oblong.

When I was leaving the museum I stopped near the front desk by a section of the currently exhibited "Fragments of Self" by artist Susan Low-Beer. It was a collection of small, detailed ceramic heads each with a different colour theme and pattern carved into its clay skin. The heads stared back at me with eerie brilliance from the dimly lit glass case. I wonder how many drop-in clay workshops Low-Beer attended.

Egoyan also made frequent reference to Danna’s work outside his own films. He spoke about the tremendous pride that he and his crew felt while watching Danna’s Oscar acceptance speech from a film set in Sudbury, a pride that was all the more intense because their current project will eventually be scored by Danna.

I brought up a feature on the DVD for The Sweet Hereafter, which allows viewers to watch the film without any sound except for the score, and how this seemed like a perfect example of the way music acts as a language for the image. Egoyan lamented the discontinuation of this option in DVDs. “They don’t do it anymore!” he exclaimed. “It’s an amazing feature, especially for that film.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Danna had a different opinion about whether or not the score of a film should ever be removed from its context. He explained that a lot of film orchestras, especially when it comes to bigger features like Life of Pi, want to perform their scores separately from the film. In his mind, however, this method of scoring films is somewhat inauthentic. With the exception of films like Egoyan’s Ararat, which incorporated traditional Armenian folk music, Danna believes that scores should remain strictly part of the films they were created for.

The conversation turned to the topic of using Toronto as a landscape for film, and Egoyan explained his rather pragmatic reasons for deciding to use Toronto as a backdrop to his projects.

Toronto is where Egoyan makes films because it is home, and because it is not Los Angeles, a place where everyone is passionate about film. This characteristic of L.A., he explained, makes the city a distracting place for a director if he or she is not working on a specific project.

“I mean, that’s the hardest part of what I do,” he says. “There are a lot of people in L.A. saying they’re making films, but they’re not really making films — they’re trying to get them made. You can get sucked up in that, and you can spend and waste a lot of time there.”

Danna was somewhat more romantic about his attachment to Toronto, which he attributes to his preference for the Canadian sensibility. He claims that in the United States, everyone in the film business is consistently convinced that their approach is the right one, and he praised Canadians’ comparative lack of certainty.

“I find it stimulating,” he explained. “I find people who have a sense of doubt, of unsureness about themselves and about everything around them. I find that very comfortable.”

The Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park, offers two-hour drop– in class workshops throughout the year on Wednesday, Fridays, and Sundays.

Want to write over the summer?

Visit thevarsity.ca to get involved.

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var.st/arts

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

19

At the dawn of re-birth Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art at the AGO Monica Carinci VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

I visited the ago’s latest exhibition, Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art, on the sunny morning of Good Friday. It was an appropriate time to stop by the exhibit, considering that many of the works on display contain Christian iconography of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These images are usually kept within the solemn silence of a church, but at the ago, the works are housed in a gallery space filled with the bustling sounds of families and enthusiastic art-lovers.

Curator Christine Sciacca, who works at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the ago’s assistant European curator Sasha Suda, have organized a collection of 90 works rendered in a variety of media. A stainedglass window is illuminated against one wall of the gallery, while another room contains the extant 28 pages of a more than 650 year-old manuscript entitled Laudario of Sant’Agnese. Painted wood trip-

tychs, works consisting of three wooden panels attached by hinges, are featured throughout. All of these pieces are connected by the stories they represent.

Though the exhibition is heavily Christian in theme, it is also a celebration of literature. There is a room dedicated to Dante Alighieri, which features the earliest illuminated copy of his Divine Comedy published in 1337. There is also a Bible manuscript from around the same time period that boasts an illustration of Eve being created from the ribs of Adam.

Given that the majority of the works date to the fourteenth century, their decoration is in impressively good condition — or so it seems. The Chiarito Tabernacle was created by Pacino di Bonaguida in the 1340s. The centre panel features the 12 apostles being fed from Jesus’ navel, rendered in gilded gesso. The side panels of the triptych feature scenes of Jesus’ life, including what appears to be a black background and figures wearing red and white outfits. Yet an explanation next to the work reveals that the black

paint was initially blue, the reds were initially pink, and the whites were at one time a yellow hue. Still, the work is remarkable in its detail and the gesso is unique among the exhibit’s other triptychs.

In the final room of the exhibition, there is a video that depicts the tempera process.

Tempera is an egg-yolk form of paint that was used to illustrate manuscripts and triptychs. There are also models of the tools that Renaissance artists would have used to create and use tempera paint. The ago’s video reveals the secrets of Renaissance pigment-making, which involved an impressively innovative method of oxidizing copper to create a magnificent deep green.

A massive photographic mural of present day Florence concludes Revealing the Early Renaissance, transporting visitors to the city that was once the vibrant home of the works on display in the exhibition.

Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art runs until June 16 at the AGO.

"The Virgin and Child with with Allegorical Figures" by Giotto di Bondone. PHOTO COURTESY AGO

Science

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

var.st/sCIENCE

Making a ruckus to end stigma surrounding mental health

01 aPrIL 2013

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science@thevarsity.ca

A “neuroscience arms race” The increasingly lucrative field of brain research and the politics behind it Jordan Rivera

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

This past March, the Ontario government announced it would spend $100 million over the next five years on brain research. This research investment will follow recent initiatives such as the Obama administration’s $3 billion pledge to advance a major project termed the Brain Activity Map (bam), as well as a $1.3 billion European initiative to create a supercomputer simulation of the human brain’s grey matter, called the Human Brain Project (hbp). In what appears to be a kind of ‘neuroscience arms race,’ research centres across the globe are seeking to unlock the secrets of our most complex organ in what is currently considered the “second decade of the brain.”

Commentators and experts are drawing comparisons between such efforts and the Human Genome Project, which has provided a comprehensive mapping of all 25,000 genes of the human genome and has led to significant medical advances. A federal government study on the estimated economic impact of the Human Genome Project reported that it returned $800 billion by 2010. The economic impact of brain diseases and disorders is estimated at $39 billion annually. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research ranks Canada second in the world in terms of scientific impact in the fields of psychology and cognitive science, and first in the area of pain research.

Through these massive initiatives researchers in Canada, Europe, and the United States will work to understand the complex network between the 86 billion neurons that make up the human brain, and how this network — or

DoraN Woo/tHE varsIty

connectome — is translated into thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.

John Donaghue, professor of neuroscience at Brown University stated in Time Magazine that the project will involve creating new tools that can better examine the brain with

greater functional accuracy than fmris and cell microscopy can provide. Using existing cutting edge technology such as computational algorithms and nanotechnology, bam will bring together nanotech engineers and neuroscientists in the hope of revolutionizing

how researchers can study the brain in the future. One proposed method is to build a complete model of brain activity by creating networks of molecule-size machines acting as sensors to noninvasively measure and record brain activity at the cellular level.

Some neuroscientists, however, are less enthusiastic and more skeptical of this direction in brain research. They argue that scientific advancement is fostered by diversity and freedom of discovery, not by funnelling funds and efforts into a single avenue. Others contend that these projects may divert resources away from studying specific mental illnesses and diseases in favour of a basic science approach that may take decades to yield treatments.

The nature of these international projects is still in question, as much of it will be based on theoretical and possibly incomplete information. The Human Genome Project began with a very clear question that needed to be answered. Mapping of the human brain and its connection to behaviour involves a much more intricate and challenging question that will make pursuing the project more difficult.

Dr. Jim Woodgett of Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute says that policymakers should take a longer view of science, instead of rushing to unlock the brain as they did with the less complex human genome, and aim for a balanced approach to research and funding.

“My worry is that we in the scientific community are becoming all too willing to mortgage the future of balanced science by selling big projects and promises to politicians in the language that they are naturally selected to be drawn to,” he adds. “Brash promises are in. Incremental, considered research is out.”

Electrodes against anorexia Treating anorexia nervosa with Deep Brain Stimulation Ushma Kapure

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Researchers from the University of Toronto’s University Health Network have recently published a study in the prominent scientific journal The Lancet, in which they test the safety of a new treatment for anorexia nervosa. They conducted a small Phase I trial, which involved six patients, using a procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation (dbs).

While anorexia is often dismissed as simply a refusal to eat in order to be thin, the disease is actually much more complex than that. It is associated with psychological factors, including the need for control, perfectionism, and anxiety.

Anorexia is deadly; six to 11 per cent of those who suffer from annorexia die. In addition, almost 15 per cent of those who have anorexia are chronically affected by it. Long-term physiological effects include irregular heartbeats, neurological problems including seizures, as well as decreased bone and muscle mass. Anorexia is also one of the hardest psychological disorders to treat.

Patients start treatment, either voluntarily or involuntarily, through intervention by friends and family, but they often do not complete it successfully.

dbs has been previously used in treating other neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and depression.

It involves implanting electrodes into the subcallosal cingulate of the brain and attaching these electrodes to a battery-operated pacemaker to provide constant electrical stimulation at a very low voltage. The pacemaker is then embedded under the skin of the patient’s right collarbone, much like the pacemaker device used for heart problems. If necessary, it can be turned off, or the voltage can be changed using a remote outside the body.

There was only one significant adverse effect observed in the nine months that the patients were monitored: one of the patients had a seizure. According to Dr. Blake Woodside, a member of the research team and a professor of psychiatry at U of T, the seizure could have been unrelated to the surgery as seizures are a symptom of anorexia. As such, the procedure was deemed safe. Woodside says it has been performed on another six patients since the study was submitted last August, bringing the total to 12 patients.

The results of the trial are very exciting for the future of anorexia treatment. While the researchers only intended to provethat the surgery is safe, there was an additional promising outcome. The patients who were

In the end, five out of the six patients completed the treatment despite the severity of their disease.

These five showed significant improvement, gaining weight over the nine months that the study was conducted and showing improvements in symptoms related to anorexia.

chosen had very severe anorexia, failed to complete multiple treatments, and would likely have died without intervention. In the end, five out of the six patients completed the treatment despite the severity of their disease. These five showed significant improvement, gaining weight over the nine months that the study was conducted, and showing improvements in symptoms related to anorexia. Given the frequent failure of other anorexia treatments, the high success rate of the dbs procedure is indicative of its potential as a last resort treatment for chronic sufferers.

However, Woodside does not believe that the treatment directly targets the root cause of anorexia. Rather, it negatively targets factors in the brain that allow anorexia to thrive.

Nevertheless, the result is the same — dbs reduces the effects of anorexia.

Woodside says that coming up with new treatments for anorexia is necessary because there has not been much development in the discipline in the past 15 years and because the disease mainly targets young women, a group whose issues are often swept under the proverbial carpet.

While the study is a major development, it is only in its first phase, which means that much more research and monitoring is needed to ensure that the procedure is as safe as it is efficacious as a treatment for anorexia nervosa.

VARSITY SCIENCE

var.st/science

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

21

Seals, sleep, and serotonin The mysteries of sleep onset and maintenance in unilateral sleeping seals Cristina Olteanu

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

ucla and U of T researchers have teamed up to discover the chemical processes that occur when seals sleep, and their discoveries have been published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Fur seals have a fascinating sleep pattern: on land, electroencephalogram (eeg) activity is observed bilaterally. However, in water, they exhibit asymmetric slow-wave sleep (asws) brain activity, which is similar to that of toothed whales. The eeg activity of one hemisphere is low-frequency and high-voltage while the other is high-frequency and low-voltage. Interestingly, the foreflipper on the opposite side of the active part of the brain moves to maintain body orientation; the eye on this side is also open.

Knowledge of the neurotransmitters involved in sleep biology mostly comes from species with bilaterally symmetrical eeg patterns. Researchers have already discovered that when fur seals sleep on land, levels of acetylcholine are at thier highest during wakefulness and lowest while sleeping. When fur seals sleep in water, there is greater acetylcholine-dependent activity in the hemisphere that demonstrates the lower voltage, higher frequency eeg patterns.

The Journal of Neuroscience paper studied the neurotransmitter studied was serotonin. Serotonin has been known to play a major role in inducing and maintaining sleep. For instance, when there is a depletion of serotonin one suffers from insomnia. The study of rat brain slices has shown that serotonin may target sleep-active neurons in the pre-optic area of the brain.

In order to study the role of this chemical during sleep in fur seals, scientists implanted electrodes symmetrically in both hemispheres of four juvenile fur seals from the Commander Islands in Russia. These seals were given one year to adapt to their surroundings and new environment in captivity so that the research findings

would be as accurate as possible. The scientists used a procedure called microdialysis to sample the serotonin from the brains of these fur seals and to take a serotonin assay in order to detect the amount of serotonin at various stages of sleep.

When fur seals slept on land, serotonin was expressed maximally in both hemispheres during non-rem sleep and minimally during rem sleep.

During non-rem sleep on land, serotonin release was not significantly different between each hemisphere. This is in contrast to acetylcholine release, which is elevated in the waking state, while serotonin is elevated in the sleeping state.

Serotonin has previously been studied in relation to its effect on mood in humans. For instance, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (ssris) have been used to modulate mood. It has also been shown that the effect of serotonin on mood may be indirect rather than direct, as it takes weeks until there are observable changes in mood. Hence, the indirect link may be due to slow neurological changes rather than an immediate change in serotonin level.

Some scientists have postulated that one factor driving the switch between bilateral or unilateral hemispheric slow-wave sleep is the corpus callosum, the network of nerve fibres in the brain that connects the left and right hemispheres. Interestingly, toothed cetaceans, such as dolphins, exhibit only unilateral hemispheric slow-wave brain activity never the bilateral eeg brain activity of land mammals. The size of the corpus callosum of these cetaceans is much smaller than in mammals. However, scientists have not yet found a direct correlation between size of the corpus callosum and type of slowwave sleep.

This research study concludes that there are many factors involving the onset of sleep and various types neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and acetylcholine, that are involved. Future studies will include the analysis of the effects of histamine, hypocretin cells, and norepinephrine on sleep.

NaNcy Ji/THe VarsiTy

Science in brief Visualizing the activity of individual neurons across the entire brain

Next-gen circuits able to survive laser attacks

Robotic limbs becoming a reality

What looks like a time-lapse video of city lights at night turns out to be active neurons within the brain of a zebrafish embryo. This is the result of groundbreaking brain imaging research published in Nature Methods by Misha Ahrens and Philip Keller at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia this past March. The video shows distinct hubs of light and flashes bursting from one region to another throughout the brain.

The two researchers, microscopists and neurobiologists by trade, developed a modified light-sheet microscopy technique that allowed the activation of almost all neurons in the brain to be recorded as flashes of light. Prior to this, brain-imaging technology could measure activity in regions of the brain or a handful of individual neurons, but never at the same time. “We see the big picture without losing resolution,” said Keller, in an interview with Nature News & Comment.

Using genetically engineered neurons that fluoresce upon activation, images of the whole brain were taken once every second for an hour. The activity of 80,000 neurons, 80 per cent of the total, were recorded simultaneously.

Not only do the images show the overall complexity of a brain, but they also elucidate functional neural connections that span the entire brain. These circuits were discovered by correlating patterns of activity in separate brain regions.

This is the first time that whole brain activity has been imaged at the level of individual neurons. However, it will take some time before this new technique can be applied to the human brain, which has 85,000 times more neurons than a zebrafish brain.

A team of engineers at Caltech has created a self-healing, integrated chip that could one day lead to our beloved electronic gadgets fixing themselves without the need for human tinkering. Similar to the immune system in living organisms, the chip is designed to detect and react to problems without disrupting the device’s overall performance.

The research team, consisting of Professor Ali Hajimiri, several of his graduate students, and alumni, tested the selfhealing capacity of the chips in miniature high-frequency power amplifiers, important players in the next wave of communication, sensing, and imaging applications.

The power amplifier uses a custom-made central processor to evaluate the amplifier’s performance by analyzing important information from a number of on-chip monitoring sensors, such as temperature, current, voltage, and power. The chip’s brain does not rely on algorithms that account for every possible scenario, but rather uses real-time sensors to respond and solve problems. Lead author Steve Bowers described it as, “you tell the chip the results you want and let it figure out how to produce those results.”

The team employed different tactics to “injure” the chip, including bombarding it with high-powered lasers that completely destroyed components like the transistor. Incredibly, its capacity to self-heal fixed the problem in less than a second. Hajimiri said it felt like “witnessing the next step in the evolution of integrated circuits”.

By testing different types of chips, they found these amplifiers actually consumed less power than conventional chips while also improving performance. In Hajimiri’s words, the results have moved us “one step closer to indestructible circuits.”

The first-ever operation to permanently attach electrodes to nerves and muscles has allowed an amputee to control an arm prosthesis more easily, in a similar fashion to a natural limb.

Traditional technology for artificial limbs offers very limited functionality for patients, as electrodes are normally placed over the skin to sense electrical activity from muscles. The new method of permanently implanting the electrodes allows more signals to be transferred and received from the patient’s muscles, giving improved control over the limb.

The technology for this prosthetic implantation was developed by Max Ortiz Catalan and supervised by Rickard Brånemark at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and by Bo Håkansson at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Brånemark also led the surgical team that performed the operation.

The prosthesis itself is anchored by a titanium screw on the stump and is known as an osseointegrated implant. It offers higher degrees of motion, fewer skin-related disorders, and a more natural feeling for the patient compared to the sockets that conventional prostheses use.

Rickard Brånemark explains, “We believe that implanted electrodes, together with a long-term stable human-machine interface provided by the osseointegrated implant, is a breakthrough that will pave the way for a new era in limb replacement.”

Brånemark notes that the next step will be to test the electrical stimulation of nerves, such that the patient may get an artificial sensation of touch.

—Roxanne Leung With files from Nature News & Comment

—Sri Chaudhuri With files from ScienceDaily

—Fiona Tran With files from ScienceDaily

22 Vol. CXXXIII, No. 21

VARSITY SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Considering the limits of science Science lectures hosted by Power to Change foster thought-provoking discussion on Darwinism VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Last semester, you may have noticed black posters carrying Charles Darwin’s bearded face plastered across St. George campus with the the provocative title “The Limits of Darwinism.” They ad-

vertised an event hosted by Power to Change (formerly Campus for Christ), a campus club. A Christian group questioning the cogency of Darwinism — what’s new, right?

That is a common reaction, but university is a place to encounter and consider new ideas regardless of their source, so long as they hold up under scrutiny. The first question

that any objective inquirer should ask is this: did Power to Change bring anything to the discussion?

When I asked the event’s organizer about Power to Change’s intentions in hosting the event, he said, “We want to show that science and God don’t have to conflict. In fact, the latest scientific research is challenging por-

thevarsity.ca

George Simopoulos

tions of Darwin’s theory that lead people to conclude that there is no God.” Building on previous scientific research and being willing to abandon what doesn’t work is what science is all about. So addressing the topic from that standpoint should only encourage one’s critical and analytical skills.

Power to Change hit the ground running with their science discussion series. To start, they brought Michael Behe, a worldclass professor of biochemistry from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Behe gave two talks, both of which can be seen on P2CStudents’ YouTube channel.

The first talk, titled “The Limits of Darwinism?” packed a lecture hall with over 400 people. The talk was devoted to explaining one central claim: “Some things in biology cannot be explained

by Darwinian processes.” Behe qualified his hypothesis by first referring to twentieth century evolutionist Ernst Mayr, who categorized Darwin’s theory not as one theory, but nine theories under the banner of Darwinism.

There is one theory, Behe stated, that accounts for 95 per cent of the scientific and philosophic clout in Darwinism, and that is the sufficiency of random mutation in evolution.

Behe avoided the claim that random mutation is not a process of evolution. In fact, he mentioned a number of times throughout his talk that random mutation does effect some positive change. Rather, Behe agreed with Richard A. Watson, a contemporary evolutionary biologist, that the algorithmic principles of random mutation are only suitable at optimizing an organism for a limited class of problems.

Behe said this was not an indictment against Darwin. Scientists in the mid-ninteenth century believed that cells were some type of moldable protoplasm that could randomly reshape itself to suitably match its environment.

There was no way that Darwin could have anticipated the molec-

ular machinery of the cell, or the complexity of dna and its impact on adaptation.

Behe cited the popular example used in biology courses of malaria and evolved sickle cell disease in humans to demonstrate the limits of random mutation. As malaria increased in certain geographic locations, the human red blood cell adapted through random evolutionary processes into sickle cells, resulting in sickle cell disease as a defense against malaria. While people benefited from the protection from malaria for the shortterm, the change led to a significantly reduced ability to survive within populations containing the evolved trait. Behe compared this phenomenon to blowing up a city bridge to prevent car chasers from capturing you. In the shortterm, you avoid the danger of an individual seeking to harm you, but the city that you live in is later severely crippled by the loss of a vital public asset.

Following the lecture, there was some very interesting discussion during the Q and A session.

Questioners were critical yet open minded to the content of the lecture. After collecting and evaluating comment cards, the event organizers reported that an overwhelming majority of students found the talk to be informative and scientifically grounded, and expressed interest in being contacted for future Power to Change science events.

As a result, Power to Change hosted a follow-up talk this past semester led by two PhDs in science. The talks drew students of various disciplines, including a number of graduate and PhD candidates. In the discussion, opinions were presented and defended purely on the grounds of reason and science. Needless to say, Power to Change has actively made an effort to dispel stereotypes surrounding science and Christianity, and succeeded, in my opinion, in fostering an environment that encourages open scientific discourse.

WENDY GU/THE VArsiTY

var.st/science

VARSITY SCIENCE

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

23

Staying connected, even in space Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield beams the cosmos to Earth via social media Noemie De Vuyst

space tweets

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

How many astronauts can you name? Other than the two who landed on the moon in 1969, there are probably not many. That is unless you are one of Chris Hadfield’s 586,000 Twitter followers or one of the 100,000 Facebook users who have liked his page.

The Canadian astronaut has been orbiting the Earth 16 times a day in the International Space Station (iss) since his launch last December. In March, he became the first Canadian commander of the iss — just one of many firsts. He was also the first Canadian to walk in space, floating through two spacewalks in 2001.

Last month, Hadfield described spacewalking on his Reddit “askme-anything” (ama) as “the most magnificent experience of my life…

Just holding on with my one hand, with the bottomless black universe on my left and the world pouring by in technicolour on my right.”

This vivid and poetic prose is typical of Hadfield; he is far from a typical astronaut.

Hadfield’s most surprising first may be that he has become something of a social media celebrity.

Global News called him “the most accessible astronaut in history,” and since his launch into space, he has enjoyed a growing online following.

In over four months Hadfield has sent more than 3,000 tweets from space. Many include stunning pictures of the Earth, from glowing cities by night to vast, brightly coloured desert dunes. His pictures come with playful captions: a shot of Brazilian cropland was entitled “cubist farming” and photographing the Australian Outback from space was described as like “unearthing ancient cave paintings.”

Other tweets give snapshots of Hadfield’s favourite experiments, like testing the spacecraft for fungi, bacteria, and other microscopic stowaways.

Sometimes Hadfield also tweets the banalities of life in space, like when “the waist elastic in my PJ bottoms broke! Fortunately, in weightlessness they don’t fall down.

A spaceflight advantage.”

Even when he tweets about ripped socks and cleaning space toilets, Hadfield’s awe at being in space is apparent, and his excitement is infectious. He is re-tweeted prolifically, often hundreds of times per tweet. One redditor commented, “You are single handedly resurrecting people’s interest and curiosity about space.”

The Canadian Space Agency has picked up on Hadfield’s great public relations potential, posting videos of Hadfield adapting to life aboard the iss on their YouTube channel. Ever wondered how to make a sandwich in space? Use a tortilla — which leaves no crumbs — since crumbs would be a problem in a zero gravity space station, and make sure it doesn’t float away before you eat it.

His official mission is to conduct scientific research, but Hadfield has another mission of his own. He explained on Reddit that his aim is to increase public awareness and an understanding of space exploration. Social media has allowed Hadfield to offer the world a win-

JOLENE COOPER @JOLENEJAYE @Cmdr_Hadfield thanks for encouraging my daughter’s science aspirations. She’s 8 and a huge fan of yours. Fly safe!

— December 26, 2013

CHRIS HADFIELD @Cmdr_Hadfield

Progress spaceship on final approach to dock. You could see the thrusters firing, like small spitting fountains. @Cmdr_Hadfield

@jolenejaye Thanks! Please tell your daughter that I decided to be an astronaut when I was 9, and then started turning myself into one.

— December 26 , 2013

WILLIAM SHATNER @WILLIAMSHATNER @Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB — January 3, 2013

CHRIS HADFIELD @Cmdr_Hadfield @WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.

— January 3, 2013

CHRIS HADFIELD @Cmdr_Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield A blue river in Brazilian farmland provides a striking contrast of colour and landscape. @Cmdr_Hadfield

“My heart glows like the Northern Lights when I think of you, my Valentine.”

— February 14, 2013

CHRIS HADFIELD @Cmdr_Hadfield As I transition the Space Station computers, I notice our Houston CAPCOM’s name is ... Hal ! The irony, as life imitates art.

— February 19, 2013

CHRIS HADFIELD @Cmdr_Hadfield Good Morning, Earth! An alarm rang in the night, ventilation failure in Service Module, an unexplained transient. Glad to sleep in a bit.

— March 30, 2013

Tonight’s finale: As the @NHL season begins, I see the lights of Toronto, home of my favourite team - Go @MapleLeafs@Cmdr_Hadfield

dow into life in space. It’s a window he has widened, with help from a few famous friends.

Just two weeks ago, Stephen Harper moderated a live video chat between Hadfield and elementary school students, where Hadfield answered students’ questions in real time.

Early last month, the cbc released a song written by Hadfield that was performed with Ed Robertson of The Barenaked Ladies via satellite, while Hadfield was in orbit. Robertson was not immune to Hadfield’s love of space, telling the cbc that he “wanted to impart some of the wonder that Chris has imparted to me. I

wanted it to be a celebration … about the connectedness of a human being on iss who looks down and sees the whole planet”.

The excitement of space research is not lost on Hadfield’s grown son Evan, who manages his father’s social media presence from Earth.

“It’s such an amazing thing. It

should be the most amazing thing to people right now. Of all of the squabbles we have, of all of our little fights on Earth, when you look at it from the fact that we, in a hundred years, have gone from flying for the first time to continuously, permanently living in space; that is a huge thing.”

Sports

ELSEWHERE IN SPORTS

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1 aprIL 2013 sports@thevarsity.ca

Check out some of U of T’s best in Hot Jocks pg. 14

The Blues wrap-up A summary of a year in U of T sports — from CIS championships to disappointing seasons MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD The Varsity Blues men’s track and field team started their season with disappointing finishes at a Cornell tournament, with only James Turner medaling with a gold in pentathalon. At the Can Am Classic, the Blues were more successful, as Michael Trnkus and Sasha Smart placed second and third, respectively, in the men’s 600-metre.

At the Fred Foot Classic, the Blues team continued to improve, as Turner came back with gold once again, Brett Georgevski won the high jump, and Pierce Lepage topped the field in the men’s triple jump. Georgevski then brought home the Blues’ only medal at the McGill team challenge — a bronze in the high jump.

Next came the York Open, which resulted in three silver medal finishes for the Blues including Trnkus in the 600-metre, Zain Ahmed in the 3000-metre, and Nathan Tesfu in the high jump. At the Ohio SPIRE Division Indoor invitational, the squad brought home three medals. Smart broke a U of T record while also winning a bronze medal in the 1000-metre. Smart also finished third in the 800-metre, as Trnkus finished fifth in the men’s 600-metre.

At the Hal Brown meet, Toronto swept the men’s 60-metre with Tim Arbido in first, Raphael Ihunaegbo in second, and Jermaine Davis-Wilson in third. In the men’s 3,000-metre Alex Denault took home silver, as Jam He finished third in the 60-metre hurdles. The Blues’ 4×400-metre relay team finished first, and Jason Wurster won gold in men’s pole vault. Brett Georgievski finished first and Tesfu third in the high jump.

At the oua championship, Turner won the men’s pentathlon, while Trnkus finished third in the 600-metre.

Georgevski finished second in high jump, as the men’s team finished sixth overall.

At the cis championships, Trnkus had a disappointing finish and was not able to make the podium in the men’s pentathlon. Georgevski finished fourth in the high jump, while the 4×800 relay team of Smart, Trnkus, Ethan Davenport and Connor Outhit claimed bronze for Toronto. Townsend Benard won the bronze in the pole vault, and Trnkus finished third in the 600-metre.

WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY The Blues women’s field hockey team had a very successful regular season, with a perfect 12–0 in conference play.

The Blues entered the oua championship in first place, and faced the University of Waterloo Warriors in the oua semi-finals. The Blues defeated the Warriors 4–0 to move on to the finals against Guelph, a team that they have met six times in the oua finals since 2005, with the teams splitting the series. This time, after a tie to end the first half, the Blues pulled away in the second, and came away victorious, with a 5–2 win. It was the second year in a row that the Blues took home the title. Defender Kaelan Watson and midfielders Tegan Stairs and Amanda Woodcroft were named oua all-stars.

The Blues moved on to the cis playoffs, which were hosted by U of T. The Blues headed into the tournament in second place, with the ubc Thunderbirds in first. The top two teams faced off in the first cis round-robin game, with the Blues leading as the game wound down. However, the Thun-

by Susan Gordon & Felicia Pileggi Photos by Sam Cen & Bernarda Gospic derbirds were able to score in the final minutes, ending the game in a tie.

U of T was more successful in their second round-robin match against the Western Mustangs, winning 6–0, with five different Blues players marking goals. The team had already beat the Mustangs twice during the regular season, winning both of those games.

The third Blues game of the cis tournament was against the Guelph Gryphons, who the Blues had beaten in the oua finals the preceding weekend. Despite this win, and two other wins against the Gryphons during the regular season, Guelph was able to defeat the Blues, in a 3–2 upset.

In their final cis round-robin game, the Blues defeated the Victoria Vikes 1–0, ensuring their place in the cis championship game against the top ranked ubc Thunderbirds.

Unfortunately, although the Blues fought hard in the match, they couldn’t defeat the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds took the game 3–0, ending their season undefeated.

Although the Blues ended their season with a loss, they brought home the cis silver medal. Midfielder Stairs was named a cis second team all-star, as fellow midfielder Woodcroft and defender Watson were named cis first team all-stars.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING The Varsity Blues women’s swim team had success this year, placing first in five swim meets, and second in two.

U of T hosted the oua championships, and the home pool advantage seemed to give the Blues an edge. The 2012 oua Female Swimmer of the Year, Vanessa Treasure, broke the oua record, which she set herself in 2011, in the 200-metre im preliminaries, and went on to place second in the race, while teammate Margot Cunningham took bronze. Andrea Jurneovskis captured first place in the 100-metre back stroke, as former oua Female Rookie of the Year Bridget Coley won gold in the 400-metre freestyle. Cunningham took third in the 200-metre backstroke, while Treasure took second in the 100-metre breaststroke. Bridget Coley won gold in the 800-metre freestyle, while Esther Haines took bronze in the event. The women’s 400-metre medley relay ended with U of T in second place, and the 200-metre medley relay gave the women another medal, this time, gold. Coley and Jennifer Tapley won silver and bronze respectively in the 200-metre freestyle, Alexandra Kalman finished third in the 50-metre breaststroke, and Jurneovskis won silver in the 50-metre breaststroke. Treasure took home another medal, this one gold, in the 400-metre im. Treasure was also awarded the women’s 2013 Dr. Jeno Tihanya Awards for Individual Medley Excellence. Blues swimmer Jurneovskis was also honored, winning a Graduating Athlete Award of Distinction. The women finished second overall.

At the cis tournament, Jurenovskis won a bronze in the 50-metre backstroke, as Treasure claimed silver in the 400m im.

Treasure also placed second in the 200-metre butterfly. U of T’s 4×200 freestyle relay team, took home the bronze, as Coley won the U of T women’s final medal of the tournament, a bronze in the 800-metre freestyle. The women won the team bronze for the second year in a row.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team ended their season with a 15–11–0 record, seated in fifth place in the oua

var.st/sports despite losing their final game of the regular season 3–2 in overtime against Brock University. In their 26 regularseason games, the team had a total of 65 goals. Leading the scoreboard for the team was fourth–year Kelly O’Hanlon with 12 goals and 15 assists, for a total of 27 points.

The Blues advanced to the quarter-finals of the oua on the basis of that record, but fell to the Western Mustangs in two games. Despite this early defeat, the team competed in the cis championships as hosts.

The team opened the cis Women’s Hockey Championships with a 1–0 loss to Montreal in game one before rebounding with a 5–4 shootout victory over ubc. The women ultimately fell short of bronze in game three against St.FX in a 3–2 overtime defeat.

Both teams were scoreless in the first period, until the second period, when U of T forward Amanda Ricker opened up the scoring. By the end of the period, St.FX came back to score, tying the game. Early in the third period, St.FX took the lead by scoring on a power play, when Rebecca Danford was given a penalty for body checking. Late in the third period, forward Sonja Weidenfelder evened the score to take the game into overtime. The X-Women won the game on an overtime power play goal in the first seven minutes. Blues goaltender Nicole Kestersis had an impressive 27–save performance. Toronto native Sonja Weidenfelder was the top scorer of the match, and was named Player of the Game.

MEN’S SWIMMING The Blues men’s swimming team had an amazing season, triumphing at both the oua and cis championships.

U of T’s men led the three-day oua Championships from start to finish, with a combined team score of 891 points. On day one of the meet, Blues swimmers broke a number of records. Zack Chetrat broke the record previ-

VARSITY SPORTS ously held by teammate Frank Despond in 2012 (3:48.63), in the Men’s 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:47.87.

Chetrat then broke his own record in the 200-metre butterfly, shaving off almost three seconds for a new time of 1:56.34. The men’s 4×800-metre freestyle relay team consisting of Chetrat, Despond, David Riley and Kent Kikot, broke the record in a time of 7:23.84.

Day two saw the Blues keep their lead. Record times continued to be broken, bringing in six more records including Mike Smerek breaking a 2004 record (24.83) in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 23.86. Olympian Luke Hall helped his team of Matthew Myers, David Riley and Edward Liu in the 4x400-medley relay to win gold with a time of 3:43.28. The Varsity Blues won their tenth consecutive oua championship in men’s swimming.

At the cis championships, the Blues sat third with 163 points after day one of the meet. Jeremie Holdom came from behind in the 400-metre individual medley event to place second overall. The men’s team consisting of Smerek, Lee, Hall and Myers finished the day with a bronze-medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay.

After day two, the Blues sat in first place with 395 points, ahead of ubc, the defending champions. Smerek opened the day swith U of T’s first gold medal of the meet in the 50-metre butterfly. Despond continued winning gold medals for the team, with a two second margin of victory in the 400-metre freestyle.

Heading into the final relay of the night, Chetrat, the oua male swimmer of the year, helped the Blues move 27 points ahead of ubc by placing fourth in the 1500-metre freestyle. Although ubc won the final 4×100-metre relay event, the Blues team of Chetrat, Riley, Myers and Lee placing fifth, earning them enough points to win the title and bring the trophy home to Toronto.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD The Varsity Blues women’s track and field team finished their season as oua and cis silver medalists.

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

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At the end of day one of the oua championships, the Blues sat in third place with 68 points. Rachel Jewett won her second consecutive pentathlon title to kick off the meet, with the Blues coming first in the 800-metre, third in the 60-metre hurdles, third in shot put, and tied for fourth in high jump. Toronto’s Alicia Brown and 2012 Olympian Sarah Wells finished first and second in the women’s 300-metres respectively. Individual podium finishes included Hayley Warren with a silver medal in the 60-metre hurdles and Rosa Serafini,who placed third in the 1000-metre race.

The Blues finished the oua championship in second place with 147 points, placing them just one point behind the tournament champions, the Guelph Gryphons. For the second consecutive year, Natalie Geiger, Wells, Jewett, and Brown won gold in the 4×400-metre relay, crossing the finish line at 3:42.21. The team added seven more medals by the end of the tournament, including 300-metre silver and 600-metre gold for Wells, 600-metre silver for Gieger, and gold for rookie Khamica Bingham in the 60-metre sprint.

The silver medal win meant that the team regained their number one cis ranking going into the cis championships, with 104.5 points. On day one of the championships, Toronto sat in second place with 21 points, just five points behind Calgary. Bingham earned the gold medal in the 60-metre sprint, while Jewett won the bronze medal in the pentathlon. After day two, the team had 68 points, placing them second, just eight points Calgary in behind first-place. Individual medal winners included Brown, placing first in the 300-metre race and Wells placing second, as well as the 4×800-metre relay team of Serafini, Jewett, and the Hennessys earning silver. The Blues finished second overall, just 3.5 points shy of the champions, the Calgary Dinos.

THE FARCITY Vol. DCLXVI, No. 69

Taking Ourselves too Seriously Since 4004 BC

April 1, 6017

Computer error renders all grades forfeit “Sorry, suckers!” admin cackles Davin Natlord SENIOR VARSITY ADMINISTRATOR

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You’ll never make it here. Who KnoWs/The InTerneT

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CONTINUED PG 2

First-year engineering student creates rift in time and space Reportedly using it to procrastinate longer Johnson Blake Fuller VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

According to numerous reports Michael Shapiro, a first-year engineering student, has successfully created a rift in time and space. The rift has been described as “simply baffling” and “one of the greatest events in modern history,” but there are indications that the student in question is simply using it for procrastination.

The rift was reportedly created around 12:03 am. There was a loud whooshing sound as the Sanford Fleming Building folded in on itself and seemed to disappear.

Those nearby said they saw a brief, bright flash of light. The fate of those within Sanford Fleming is unknown. Toronto Police Services and the Army have cordoned off the area deeming it unsafe for people to travel there.

“We have no idea how this firstyear student created this hole in space and time and we don’t exactly know what to make of it yet.

It looks as if “tear” or “rip” has opened up. if you step through it you could hypothetically be transported to another dimension or even an unknown region space” explained Warren Fielding, a U of T physics professor.

Although quite an impressive achievement, especially for a first-year undergraduate, many of Shapiro’s colleagues claim that he created it for less than noble purposes.

“He kept on bragging about how wasn’t going to bother getting his work done because he could just create a hole in time and space and not worry about it until later,” said fellow first year Feron Chen.

“Shapiro? That guy was annoying.

Kept on going on about how he would successfully rip apart time and space so that he would have time to do whatever he wants,” said second-year John Rizza.

“He’s really selfish. He should have made it available to all engineers.”

This interpretation has been confirmed by several eyewitnesses who reported seeing a “strange fold” or “rip” where the Sanford Fleming building used to be. There are even stranger reports that have emerged about the space-time rip that The Farcity cannot confirm at this time.

“Well, I was walking back from New Ho King on Spadina when I heard a loud bang and a bright flash of light.

I ran over to where it occurred and there was strange portal that that was there that looked like a cross between a rock and seashell,” said first-year philosophy student Justin Miller. “The portal glowed when it spoke. It called itself “The Guardian”

and said it could take me to any period in history. It was like something out of Star Trek.”

“When I walked by the rip, it looked black and white inside. It looked like it led to an alternate version of Sanford Fleming,” said fourth-year computer science student Ashley De Marco. “Or maybe I’ve just been playing too much Bioshock Infinite.”

Physicists from around the world have started gathering at U of T and will soon be allowed to study the space-time rip.

“This is very exciting for us,” said Fielding. “The study of this rip could represent a paradigm shift in our understanding of the physical laws of the universe.”

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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 6017

THE FARCITY VOL. DCLXVI No. 69

Suite 666, 666 Truë Satan Avenue Hell, ON, X6X 666 Phone: 666-666-6660 www.thefarcity.ca

Editorial Board Pokémon Master

Trinity College collapses under the weight of its own smugness Students to hold referendum to defederate from TCM

Murad Hemmadi

Price Goodson

Diversions Editor Daniel Antoine-Philipe de Sallaberry Seljak

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Crooner-in-Chief Suzy Nevins

In a tragic turn of events, Trinity College’s massive ego has finally caused it to collapse in on itself. A large crater full of debris between Hoskins Avenue and Devonshire Place is all that’s left of the college that since 1851 had been teaching undergrads that they were simply better than everyone else. While some are mourning the loss of U of T’s most hated college, many others are saying that the college’s self-destruction was inevitable.

“I’m not going to miss it,” said Carol Ann Ferguson, a third-year physics major, who is a member of University College. “I remember back at frosh week that a bunch of people from Trinity walked around campus in their robes apologizing to everyone for being superior in every single way.”

“It’s really tragic,” said John Alvaro, a second-year English major who was part of Trinity College. “I tried to warn some of my fellow members of the college to stop being so pleased with themselves. You could feel this pressure building up everywhere.”

Known for its inflated sense of self-importance and numerous whiskey-drinking and cigar-smoking clubs, the college had seen a dangerous growth of its already inflated levels of pretentiousness when its leaders spearheaded a campaign to defederate from the utsu. As the college and its members continually basked in the glow of their own self-love, strange cracks began to appear in Strachan Hall at the main college building, inside the John W. Graham Library, and within some student residences. Some Trinity students expressed concerns about the mysterious cracks, and a few even tried to dissuade the tcm from

We’re too afraid to make a joke here Bernarda Gospic Quite old Alex Ross Managing The Avenue Editor Patrick Love Charleston Aficiando Catherine Kabasele Venerable Father’s Minion Simon Bredin We’ve made a terrible mistake Joshua Oliver Editor? I barely know ‘er!

Simon Frank Livin’ Arts Brigit Katz Chief Frisbee Correspondent Dennis Dobrovolsky If only...

Roxanne Leung Waiting for football season Zoë Bedard “Napping” Editor Minhee Bae Tokyo Bureau Chief Wyatt Clough Undisputed Booty Queen Nathan Watson Office Mouse Sofia Luu The Farcity is the University of Toronto's most satirical erotic student newspaper, publishing since the creation of this planet, 4004 BC. The Farcity has a readership of 8, and is published by Farcity Publications Ink. It is printed in blood on the finest papyrus. All responsibility disclaimed.

Please keep any comments or complaints to yourself.

Please rub this issue all over your body, then be finished with it.

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FARTS@thefarcity.ca

A fundraising campaign to “help salt the land Trinity once stood on” is underway. bronwyn Charlemagne/The farCiTy

pursuing the referendum. However, the tcm only strengthened its resolve, deciding that it wasn’t going to let utsu or anyone diminish its inability to recognize its own insignificance. In the days leading up to Trinity College’s collapse it was widely reported that the college had never before been so damned pleased with itself.

“I never thought I’d have to admit this, but it seems that mind can really triumph over matter,” a City of Toronto inspector told The Farcity in a recent email. “Trinity College was clearly devastated by stunningly dangerous levels of egoism that are usually only found at CanLit book launches and among Young Liberals meeting with Justin Trudeau.”

In a move that can only be described as hilariously ironic, a number of Trinity students who were not present when the college collapsed have decided to start a referendum to defederate from tcm for not adequately addressing student concerns and contributing to Trinity College’s general lack of humility.

One of the leaders of the referendum, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Farcity in a phone interview that the referendum would be “wake up call” to Trinity students and “would focus on having everyone take their sense of entitlement down a notch.

“This whole incident proves that pride really does come before the fall,” said the referendum leader. “Who would have thought that was possible?”

President Obama re-evaluates drone policy based on Strand editorial Head of State heard exclaiming, “I never thought of it that way” Bill ‘Heavy’ Pettingzoo VIC BUBBLE BUREAU CHIEF

In a surprise move last week, the White House press office announced that President Obama had ordered a “comprehensive review” of America’s policies regarding the use of unmanned drones, with the intention of ending surveillance missions and strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. Obama also expressed his intention to overturn legislation permitting drone use within the United States’ own territory. Obama’s change of face was inspired by a rousing editorial in Victoria College newspaper The Strand. In a pre-recorded message, Obama explained, “You know, they raised some really good points that just made me stop and think about what I was doing. As a legal-scholar, I took the opinion of these plucky Canadian students very seriously.”

Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R–OH) is also reportedly giving the editorial serious thought.

Activists have praised Obama’s unexpected decision as a human rights breakthrough.

However, some commentators are suspicious of the policy reversal, citing president Obama’s long history of ignoring Strand editorials.

Obama was also fascinated by the coverage of the Goldring Centre. Simon bredin/The farCiTy

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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 6017

FARTS@thefarcity.ca

Third-year philosophy student realizes existential crisis just gas Neither classmates nor faculty surprised Petite Birdman VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A third-year Philosophy specialist with a minor in Literary Studies has reported that a long-term existential crisis he had been experiencing since early on in his undergraduate career is no longer a concern, after he realized late last week that he was in fact only experiencing severe gas.

Charles Anderson-Parker concluded that the involuntary swelling of his abdomen and extreme flatulence he had long taken to be the result of uncertainty as to whether or not he was living his life authentically, and whether

his existence or the universe had a purpose, were in fact due to his diet.

“Last week, while preparing an important paper on the modal metaphysics of language, I was overcome by an excruciating pain.” AndersonParker announced at a sparselyattended press conference on the steps of Victoria College’s North House dormitory, continuing “Unable to focus on such pressing concerns due to the pain, a friend suggested I visit the infirmary.”

“Normally I would not bother,” Anderson-Parker explained to a confused passerby, “since I have been plagued regularly by such pain since my first year of university, when I

was first alerted to the possible futility of both my existence and the existence of being in general. However, stricken by such an extreme case of pain and passing gas, I consulted a physician, who informed me such pain was the result of what she described as my ‘troubling’ diet.”

Anderson-Parker’s roommate Evan Richards, reached by phone for comment on his roommate’s eating habits, said “Yeah, I’ve never really understood how Charlie didn’t get that he has gas because he eats disgusting shit. I mean, how can you expect to eat that many liverwurst sandwiches and so few veggies and not expect some sort of problem?” Meanwhile

Anderson-Parker was heard in the background reminding Richards to call him Charles.

Neither Anderson-Parker’s classmates were not surprised at the announcement. One fellow student, who has been in several classes with Anderson-Parker since first year, commented “That guy? He never shuts up and also doesn’t know anything. He also carries around copies of Being and Time and Being and Nothingness in German and French. He doesn’t speak either of those languages!”

Philosophy faculty were equally unsurprised. One senior professor, commenting on condition of ano-

nymity for fear that Anderson-Parker would spend more time visiting him in office hours, commented “Charles doesn’t really seem to understand much of anything he’s been taught in any philosophy course. In my experience with him, he seems more concerned with sounding deep or angst-ridden, or shouting down his classmates, than he is with learning about philosophy.”

At press time, Anderson-Parker could not be reached for comment on whether or not he planned to change his diet, or his approach to philosophy. Reporters for The Farcity were told he was busily grooming a beard he has decided to start growing.

British PM attempts to accept deanship In an unusual case of miscommunication, a confused British Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Toronto to accept the post of interim dean, Faculty of Arts & Science.

The head of Britain’s Conservative party was seemingly mislead by an article in The Farcity announcing the appointment of U of T political science professor David Cameron as interim dean, replacing Meric Gertler, the university’s president-designate.

“Given the similarity in their professions and names, this could seem like a simple mistake,” said a senior student union administrator who asked to remain anonymous.

“But it is clear to us that the university administration is simply trying to import the Tories’ brand of austerity politics to U of T. We simply won’t stand for it — we see right through this ‘mixup.’”

The beleaguered PM, who has faced criticism for his handling of tuition raises in the UK, was probably relieved at the thought of taking a position in a jurisdiction where student opposition to rising fees has been singularly futile. The news that the interim dean’s post was already occupied must have come as a disappointment.

Instead, the British Cameron rounded out his time between flights by meeting with prominent provincial Progressive Conservatives.

Farcity sources privy to the meeting confirmed that the parties discussed plans to convert Ontario’s education system to pay-per-mark and index financial aid to the price of pizza.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s office declined to comment on the grounds that phone calls from reporters were the first they had heard of the events.

Cameron meeting his fellow zombie and David, outgoing U of T president David Naylor. richard Pound/The farciTy

Poos in briefs U of T students upset that new U of T president Gertler’s first name isn’t “Dean”

First-Year Student Angering Peers By Refusing To Be Jaded And Cynical

A wave of disappointment has hit U of T as students have come to realize that newly appointed president Meric Gertler’s first name is not actually “Dean.”

Much of the confusion seems to stem from Gertler’s previous post as Dean of Arts & Science, which created the impression that his title was actually one of his names. Although U of T faculty were quite aware that Gertler’s first name is Meric and that a number of student leaders were confused between his title and his name, they decided not to clarify it for anyone.

“We didn’t really think it was that important. It’s obvious his first name isn’t Dean,” explained outgoing U of T president David Naylor.

“You mean it was just a title?” asked one perplexed student approached by The Farcity. “That changes everything.” Another student broke down crying when The Farcity explained that his name was actually Meric.

“I think Gertler should have better informed students about what his actual name is. Even I was confused by it, and usually know these things. I think this is an example of the kind of oppressive discourse that we can expect from U of T’s new president in the future,” said an incoming student representative who declined to be named.

Gertler says that his first priority as president will be ensuring that everyone gets his name right.

Darren Sudhalter, a first-year biology student, is currently upsetting his peers by not giving into the bitterness, sadness, and general depression common among many first-year university students around this time of year. While many of his peers simply feel like giving up on everything, Sudhalter remains sunny and optimistic, clearly oblivious to his friends’ feelings of dread and despair.

“I thought Darren was a cool guy at first,” said first-year and former friend Michael Chan, “but his lack of cynicism is really starting to get to me. He just has this positive outlook on life that’s really obnoxious, especially around this time of year.”

While many realize that their lives are bleak and futile, Sudhalter continues to exude confidence and believes that his life has a purpose.

“I don’t even recognize him. He’s this go-getter type now and it makes me so angry,” said Jenna Murphy, a fellow first-year who is studying physics.

Other students who spoke to The Farcity characterized Sudhalter’s demeanour as “grating,” “completely and utterly annoying,” and “the equivalent of someone running their fingers along a chalkboard.”

When The Farcity approached Sudhalter, he smiled, waved, and gave us a cheerful “hello.” Reporters on the scene decided not to engage with Sudhalter, finding him “just too much to deal with right now.” Many of those close to Sudhalter are hoping something horrible happens to him soon so that he no longer inflicts his bright personality on others.

—Chip Dipson

—Dip Dobson