vol. cXXXvi, no. 22
T he UniversiTy
of
ToronTo’s sTUdenT newspaper since 1880
28 M arch 2016
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Instructor accused of plagiarism Students take petition to undergraduate student advisor DEVIKA DESAI
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Protestors against anti-black racism and police violence gathered outside of Toronto Police Services headquarters. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY PG 4
CAMPUS POLITICS
UTSU members say ‘Hello’ to new executive Hello UofT wins all executive positions except for vice president, internal & services RACHEL CHEN & TOM YUN ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS
Hello UofT took all but one of the executive positions in the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) spring elections. Competing against them were the 1UofT slate and one independent candidate for vice president, campus life.
Both slates campaigned for improvements to services such as the UTSU’s health and dental plan and U of T’s health and wellness services. All candidates agreed that they would work towards creating a safer and more inclusive campus should they be elected. According to president-elect Jasmine Wong Denike from Hello UofT, her immediate goal is to spear-
head tuition fee caps, as the deadline for their expiration in 2017 nears. ELECTION RESULTS AND STATISTICS Of the 50,113 eligible voters, a total of 4,871 votes were cast. Voter turnout was 9.7 per cent, which was a 3.3 per cent drop from last year’s 13 per cent turnout. Continued on PG 3
A course instructor in the Department of Earth Sciences has been accused of plagiarism. While the accusations have been brought forward to the department, some students maintain that the issue has not been properly addressed. The accused, Tugce Sahin, is a PhD candidate in geology and Earth sciences. She is currently teaching the ENV233 course, “Earth System Chemistry.” According to Justin*, a student in the class, Sahin’s lecture slides are taken from material produced at other universities; in some cases, this includes fourth-year course material, which he considers to be inappropriate for a second-year class. “Not only is there detail [in the slides] that [students] should not have to understand, but also detail that the lecturer herself does not understand,” stated Justin. “I and the class strongly believe that she doesn’t have enough of a chemistry and mathematical background to teach the course,” he added. Justin grew suspicious after he noticed that the syntax in the lecture slides was not consistent with Sahin’s own style. He copied and pasted the text into a search enContinued on PG 4
TEDxUofT STUDENT-RUN INITIATIVE TAKES ‘IDEAS WORTH SPREADING’ SLOGAN TO HEART pg 24 On stage at largest TEDxUofT to date. JOY LI/THE VARSITY
INSIDE Reading, writing, and arithmetic?
Universities and industry can’t agree on how to best prepare students Comment PG 12
READY? FIGHT!
U of T’s boxing club struggles for space on campus Feature PG 16
Filling in the blanks
Toronto artists create a colouring book for newly-arrived Syrian refugees Arts PG 18
Opening the locker room
She Talks explores inclusivity and equity for women in sport Sports PG 30