April 4, 2016

vol. cXXXvi, no. 23

T he UniversiTy

of

ToronTo’s sTUdenT newspaper since 1880

4 a pril 2016

DIVESTMENT

U of T rejects fossil fuel divestment recommendations

Protesters called for divestment at several marches, including one from Sid Smith to Simcoe Hall on November 2014. MILAN ILNYCKYJ/CC FLICKR

President supports “firm by firm” approach instead DEVIKA DESAI

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Following over three years of student led advocacy and the striking of a Presidential Advisory Committee on Divestment from Fossil Fuels, the University of Toronto will not be adopting recommendations to divest immediately from firms complicit in anthropogenic climate change, accord-

ing to a copy of the official administrative response obtained by The Varsity.

Instead, Gertler proposed taking a “firm-byfirm” approach, which advocates a targeted and flexible approach to divestment. This approach includes incorporating environmental, social, and governance-based factors (ESG) “instead of a blanket divestment approach.”

THE DECISION “So we’ve decided to operationalize or really move the work of the committee in three ways,” said Gertler, in an interview

with The Varsity. “One [of the ways] is by accepting the idea of targeting, in which we have singled out particular firms, egregious firms. The second is that the university’s position on whether or not to invest in firms could change over time, if [a blacklisted firm] changed its behaviours, they could be considered eligible for investment.”

The third way, according to Gertler, is to reconcile the university’s need to uphold its judiciary responsibility with its desire to do something positive for the planet, by incorporating ESG factors into the analysis of climate risk.

“There is growing acknowledgment of the idea that those firms that adopt sound ESG practices reduce risk over time and may offer better long term value for investors,” reads a portion of the president’s report.

According to the report, the main advantage of such an approach is that it would tackle the effects of climate change, while fulfilling the university’s fiduciary obligations.

Gertler explained that the work done to assess the ESG factors wouldn’t necessarily be Continued on PG 3

THE VARSITY INVESTIGATION

Knox College criticized over protection of resident safety College denies mishandling mental health issues, sexual assault IRIS ROBIN NEWS EDITOR

Content warning: attempted suicide, sexual assault Hannah* quit her job as a Knox College don after she lost confidence in the college administration’s response to two situations concerning resident safety. The first of these

was when a student came to her with chronic suicidal ideation.

The student was a substance user and had attempted suicide before. Hannah said that she spoke to the administration on several occasions about her concern for the resident’s safety but that no action was taken. Only when Hannah threatened to resign did the administration get involved.

A month later, the resident was rushed to

emergency and a fatal overdose was prevented; the resident’s friend called 911.

Robert Adams, director of finance and administration at Knox College, denied that such events had happened. “That information is incorrect and it’s inaccurate,” he told The Varsity. “I can assure you that to the best of my knowledge, there is no documentation or notes that a person has attempted suicide on Knox College property.”

Adams stated that all such incidents are documented. “We have a don journal, and when the dons are made aware of things, they write all the notes in the journal, or they will send us emails.”

Hannah told The Varsity that she communicated the incident to the administration, along with electronic documentation outlining the incidents leading up to this one in the preceding months.

Continued on PG 4

INSIDE Defying perception

The pressing concern of Indigenous oppression Comment PG 10

Don’t call it a comeback

Minister of Science Kristy Duncan talks about the scientific state Feature PG 14

Richard Linklater

The oscar-nominated director discusses his career Arts PG 16

All we do is win win win (historically)

A timeline of U of T Olympians that have achieved greatness Sports PG 23

2 NEWS

M O N DAY 4 A P R I L 2 016 news@thevarsity.ca

Issue 23 Vol. CXXXVI

21 SUSSEX AVENUE, SUITE 306 TORONTO, ON. M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 thevarsity.ca thevarsitynewspaper @TheVarsity the.varsity thevarsitynewspaper

MASTHEAD Alec Wilson Editor-in-Chief

editor@thevarsity.ca

James Flynn Managing Online Editor

online@thevarsity.ca

Sarah Niedoba Managing Editor Margaux Parker Creative Director

managing@thevarsity.ca creative@thevarsity.ca

Sean Smith Senior Copy Editor

copy@thevarsity.ca

Iris Robin News Editor

news@thevarsity.ca

Victoria Wicks Comment Editor

comment@thevarsity.ca

Alex McKeen Features Editor

features@thevarsity.ca

Jacob Lorinc Arts and Culture Editor

arts@thevarsity.ca

Nadezhda Woinowsky-Krieger Science Editor science@thevarsity.ca Emma Kikulis Sports Editor

sports@thevarsity.ca

Lisa Wong Design Editor

design@thevarsity.ca

Mallika Makkar Photo Editor

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Julien Balbontin Illustrations Editor Shaq Hosein Video Editor Damian Klambauer Web Developer

illustration@thevarsity.ca video@thevarsity.ca web@thevarsity.ca

Mubashir Baweja Associate Design Editor

Teodora Pasca Associate Comment Editor

Nathan Chan Associate Photo Editor

Jaren Kerr Associate Features Editor

Elham Numan and Diana Pham Associate Illustration Editors

Corey Van Den Hoogenbend and Reut Cohen Associate A&C Editors

Salvatore Basilone and Sina Dolati Associate Video Editor Sonali Gill and Ariel Gomes Associate Senior Copy Editors

Courage A letter from Alec Wilson, 2015–2016 Editor-in-Chief The tone of a lot of recent speculation on the future of The Varsity has been tinted by the harsh realities of the world in which we operate. The slow collapse of print advertising, the rapid pivot to digital readership, and the accompanying democratization of publishing contribute, in no small part, to the maddening frustration of the fools still trying to steer this ship. Yet, journalists are necessarily romantics, as cynics are necessarily disappointed optimists.

The sea is so great, and our boat is so small, though thankfully, the past few years have benefitted from a series of dedicated stewards who have put prudence and parsimony over haphazard ambition to keep the paper’s head above the waters of financial hardship.

With their work in mind, I am humbly proud for my last report in these pages to be good news.

The Varsity has seen its reach grow exponentially this year, as we draw close to a million page views on our website for the year. We have published over 1,000 articles and brought in excess of 450 students to the fold, 104 of which are now staff, to produce this paper.

A zealous social media strategy has made bringing the stories that matter to our community easier, while vivid design, illustrations, and photography have brought those stories to life.

As we press on into the future, coming generations will no doubt suffer their own crises and celebrate their own successes. They will also have to face the uncertainty that lies on the other side of the most pressing existential question facing all traditional print media: how do we transition into a digital space without losing ourselves?

For 136 years, The Varsity has been the university’s paper of record. In recent years, we have seen that, in order to best serve our community, we need to unshackle ourselves from the medium we have known for so long and brave the uncertainty of the changing tide.

There is no measure to how appreciative and proud I am to have had the opportunity to lead this centenarian institution this year and to work with such a wonderful group of people. Volume CXXXVI would not have been possible were it not for the dauntless masthead, who showed up every week with renewed vigour and good ideas. Equally, we would not have been able to achieve a modicum of the success we have enjoyed this year were it not for our volunteers and contributors.

To former editors Danielle Klein, Murad Hemmadi, Tom Cardoso, and Jade Colbert: thank you for always being available, both to myself and to the paper in which we have invested so much. To Joshua Oliver: thank you for being such a fierce friend and mentor and for always calling back.

I have always been confident in the conviction that we, as the press, are not doing our jobs if we aren’t making someone uncomfortable. Our

essential purposes are to shine light, to ask difficult questions, to probe, and to provoke. That comes with its fair share of criticism and animosity.

The climate in which CXXXVI has operated makes carrying out that work increasingly challenging, as fair comment and rigorous investigation have been mistaken for ad-hominem attack. Telling the stories that matter has never been, nor will it ever be, comfortable; that isn’t about to change with the landscape.

As the paper proceeds into an uncertain future, the words of former CBS anchor Dan Rather ring in my ears. For a few days in 1986, Rather signed off his CBS broadcast with a single word: “Courage.”

It takes courage to risk offense in the course of responsible inquiry; it takes courage to stand up to power, to question dogma; and it takes courage to criticize oppression. Courage, Rather would remind us, is not the absence of fear, but action in spite of it.

So, to my eminently capable successor, Alex McKeen, her incoming staff, and to you the readers: Courage.

— Alec Wilson, Editor-in-Chief 2015–2016, Vol. CXXXVI

MARGAUX PARKER/THE VARSITY

The masthead would like to thank o our st nd contributors

Shaan Bhambra Associate Science Editor

VARSITY STAFF

Adit Daga Associate Sports Editor

Rachel Chen, Devika Desai, Tom Yun, and Emily Johnpulle Associate News Editors Lead Fact Checkers Ujwal Ganguly, Emilie Jones, Evan Maude, Lauren Park, and Corinne Przybyslawski Copy Editors Ujwal Ganguly, Alexandra Grieve, Nyima Gyalmo, Emilie Jones, Evan Maude, Lauren Park, Lisa Power, Corinne Przybyslawski, Kristen Sevick, Mobalaji Tunde-Oladepo, and Gabriel Wee Designers Judy Hu

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BUSINESS OFFICE Parsa Jebely Business Manager

business@thevarsity.ca

Cherlene Tay Business Associate Michelle Monteiro Advertising Executive The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock.

Content © 2015 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions.

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Dora Akcay, Christina Atkinson, Alexandra Babiak, Mubashir Baweja, Julien Balbontin, Salvatore Basilone, Lucas Bennett, Shaan Bhambra, Matthew Boissonneault, Isabela Borges, Borissenko, Kieran Buckingham, Connor Campbell, Nathan Chan, Rachel Chen, Jeffery Chen, Reut Cohen, Emily Colero, Emma Compeau, Aidan Currie, Adit Daga, Jack O. Denton, Sneha Dasgupta, Devika Desai, John Dias, Sina Dolati, Yassine El Baradie, Jack Fraser, Hannah Fung, Joannie Fu, Ujwal Ganguly, Kimia Ghannad-Zadeh, Ariel Gomes, Daniel Goodman, Alexandra Grieve, Joshua Grondin, Wendy Gu, Nyima Gyalmo, Shaq Hosein, Judy Hu, Shahin Imtiaz, Zujajah Islam, Emily Johnpulle, Emilie Jones, Jaren Kerr, Emma Kikulis, Arin Klein, Enxhi Kondi, Darya Kuznetsova, Hannah Lank, Benjamin Lappalainen, Winston Li, Jasper Lim, Kitty Liu, Hilary Lo, Mirka Loiselle, Jacob Lorinc, Sandy Ma, Ainsley MacDougall, Tosin Maiyegun, Mallika Makkar, Natalie Marshall, Matthew Manhire, Tamim Mansour, Jasjeet Matharu, Evan Maude, India McAlister, Alex McKeen, Malone Mullin, Stanislav Nachev, Noor Naqaweh, Saranja Neelananthasiva, Kassandra Neranjan, Amber Nguyen, Sarah Niedoba, Elham Numan, Lauren Park, Margaux Parker, Teodora Pasca, Diana Pham, Lisa Power, Corinne Przybyslawski, Brian Rankin, Andrew Richmond, Iris Robin, Sigrid Roman, Daniel Samuel, Sophia Savva, Kristen Sevick, Kasi Sewraj, Sean Smith, Komal Somjee, Cathlin Sullivan, Samina Sultana, Chantel Teng, Corey Van Den Hoodgenband, Alex Verman, Denise Villate, Vanessa Wang, Amy Wang, Laura Wang, Gabriel Wee, Victoria Wicks, Jonathan Wilkinson, Alec Wilson, Nadezdha Woinowsky-Krieger, Lisa Wong, Tom Yun, and Corals Zheng.

VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS Raghad A.K., Emaan Abbas Thaver, Riggs Abuloc, Nadi Abusaada, Ayesha Adamjee, Kristina Adhikari, Rueshen Aksoy, Julia Al Akalia, Rusaba Alam, Selene Ali, Sana Ali, Marukh Ali, Mohamed Ali, Blaise Alleyne, Afia Amoako, Nicole Andrade, Panagiotis Angelinos, Karoline Antonsen, Jasleen Arneja, Manuel Augusto, Mahnoor Ayub, Selina Azizi, Farah Badr, Einass Bakhiet, Miina Balasubramanium, Rachel Ball-Jones, Victoria Banderob, Catherine Barker, Elisha Bauer-Maison, Ticia Bautell, Martin Bazyl, Raluca Bejan, Saira Bhayat, Nicole Bianchi, Omar Bitar, Zaheb Boga, Christina Bondi, Sarah Boodram, Gaye Boston, Sasha Boutilier, Natalie Boychuk, Travis Boyco, Madelin Burt D’Agnillo, Anthony Burton, Samuel Calederone, Stephen Camit, Jennifer Canning, Simon Capobianco, Mia Carnevale, Eugene Carol Park, Allante Cathe, Steph Cervone, Michael Chahley, Suzanna Chandrakumar, Nish Chankar, Aditya Chawla, Michael Chen, Lily Chen, Shirley Chen, Maggie Cheung, Benson Cheung, Simon Chi, 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T H E VA R S I T Y

NEWS 3

var.st/news

Jade Wong and Amil Davis lead UofT350 supporters in a march earlier this year. MILAN ILNYCKYJ/CC FLICKR

Gertler declines “targeted divestment” recommendation CONTINUED FROM COVER

done by the UTAM itself. “What’s happened in the last few years is that we’ve seen new companies bringing up and developing new lines of businesses. They assess the ESG factors of firms that they might use in their investment portfolio and have developed the tools to do so, tools that we can use. At the same time, people in central and influential places such as Michael Bloomberg, Mark Carney, the Financial Stability Board have started a new project to develop a standard set of tools and metrics to determine climate related risks in investments in a consistent way.”

Gertler hopes to use investments to influence behaviour in the fossil fuelproducing sector and in other areas of the Canadian economy. “We are really struck by the fact that fossil fuel firms are only generally about one quarter of greenhouse gases, if we’re focusing on those, we’re ignoring three quarters of emissions that come from elsewhere.”

UOFT350 UofT350, a student-led environmental justice advocacy group, condemned Gertler’s ESG factor-based approach to climate change.

“The President’s recommendation totally ignores the urgent need to act on climate change, suggesting that tactics like ESG, shareholder activism and carbon disclosure are sufficient to encourage rapid societal shifts to carbon free economies. We cannot develop more fossil fuel reserves, we cannot pretend that fossil fuel companies like Exxon Mobil, who engaged in climate change denial and fund climate science misinformation, are interested in combatting climate change and we cannot ignore the many frontline communities that are already suffering the devastating effects of climate change and have their rights systematically violated by the fossil fuel industry,” the group wrote in a public statement posted to their Facebook page.

“The ESG-approach is a form of greenwashing rooted in the assumption that we should reward fossil fuel companies for do-

ing bad things well,” said Clement Cheng, a UofT350 member. “With respect to fossil fuel companies, ESGs simply mean that they can continue their fundamentally injurious practices albeit in a well-governed, transparent manner... Nonetheless, ESGs and divestment are not mutually exclusive principles and, when applied together, they actually amplify the message to move away from fossil fuels,” he added.

Amanda Harvey-Sanchez, UofT350 media coordinator, said that the ESG approach misses the point of divestment. “Divestment is an opportunity to take a really strong moral stance on an important issue in a time where there is a lot of urgency around climate change, this is a serious issue and the response needs to have equal intensity to the problem. [Gertler’s] response is weak and simply not enough,” she stated.

Both Cheng and Harvey-Sanchez expressed dismay at the president’s rejection of the advisory committee’s recommendations.

“The president’s own committee served our university’s leaders the opportunity for moral leadership on a silver platter. Unfortunately, President Gertler cowardly chose not to take it,” said Cheng.

Although Gertler praised the committee for its “intellectual energy and integrity that so distinguishes our academic community,” Cheng condemned the president’s decision not to trust their expert recommendation.

“Instead, he formed four new, unannounced working groups comprised of unknown members from his senior administrative team to revise the committee’s findings in the span of just three months,” Cheng said, alleging that the meetings were sealed from the committee and that the content and attendance at them remain undisclosed. “[Gertler] has made no commitment at present to any actual changes in the investment, which is incredibly different from what his own advisory committee has recommended,” said Harvey-Sanchez. “What’s almost as appalling as his decision is that the president and the administration and UofT news is actually trying to pin this as a victory which is a misrepresentation of facts and dishonest.”

Cheng countered the president’s reasons for not divesting. “Gertler’s assertion distorts the fact that this 25 per cent share from the oil and gas industry represents the biggest and fastest growing contributor to Canada’s emissions. More importantly, 25 per cent only describes the emissions released from the extraction of the fossil fuels and entirely neglects the much larger portion of emissions caused by burning them,” Cheng said.

The president’s second reason is associated with shareholder activism, which Cheng said is a common argument against divestment.

“Shareholder activism ignores the industry’s longstanding track record of environmental degradation, human rights violations, funding of climate science denial and the ongoing extraction of reserves that contain five times more fossil fuels than we could ever safely burn,” Cheng countered.

Cheng expressed concern with Gertler’s decision to delegate the task of defining ESG criteria to the UTAM. William Moriarity, UTAM CEO, received a 57 per cent raise this year, bringing his compensation to $1.48 million. UofT350 alleges that this increase demonstrates where the university’s priorities lie.

According to a leaked email posted to UofT350’s Facebook page, the president’s office mandated a shutdown to prevent any sitins similar to those that took place at McGill University following the institution’s rejection of fossil fuel divestment in late March. “This person, who I will not name, replied back saying ‘oh, you were accidentally cc’ed in this email. I hope I can count on your integrity and graces to keep it confidential,” said HarveySanchez of the email.

“The fact that email was sent shows that the administration is aware that the president’s response is inadequate and unaccountable to the university community and that there are going to be repercussions for those actions. It shows that they’re afraid and it shows that people have the power to make them scared and they have good reason to keep their doors locked. I cant say exactly how we’re going to be acting but they should be expecting repercussions as they are,” Harvey-Sanchez continued.

When asked about the email leak, Gertler said that he is not party to all of the discussions that take place around security matters at U of T. “Our hope is that we can continue to discuss these issues in a civil and peaceful manner,” Gertler said. He then praised UofT350’s engagement with fossil fuel divestment. “I’ve been so impressed by UofT350, by the way that they have engaged these discussions in a civil and calm and rational way and I hope we can continue that.”

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS In the December 2015 report, the advisory committee advocated for an immediate divestment from firms that derive more than 10 per cent of their revenue from non-conventional or aggressive extraction: firms that knowingly disseminate information on climate change science or distort science or public policy to thwart or delay changes in behaviour or regulation, and firms that derive more than 10 per cent of their revenue from coal extraction.

The committee left it to the university to define what would count as “non-conventional or aggressive extraction.”

“Frankly it doesn’t need the sort of dictionary definition, as what I liked about the assessment was that they were advocating for some kind of flexibility,” said Gertler when asked about defining “non-conventional or aggressive extraction.”

He added that the university currently does not have any direct investments in the firms mentioned in the committee’s report. “There is reasonable evidence that such investments could indeed carry increased financial risk, and have a reasonable prospect of lower longterm investment outcomes, making them unattractive as long-term investments by the University,” he wrote in his report.

4 NEWS

M O N DAY 4 A P R I L 2 016 news@thevarsity.ca

Knox College under fire for lack of adequate sexual assault policies CONTINUED FROM COVER

SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS Hannah had a second concerning experience with the administration after another resident sexually assaulted her.

According to Hannah, when she reported the situation to the administration, an informal meeting took place.

Present at the meeting were the perpetrator, the dons, her manager, and the assistant to the manager. Knox College said it would relay the next steps in the process to everyone involved within three days. Hannah said that after eight days, she had yet to hear from the administration.

“I had to call on the administration to find out what was going on and ended up consulting with another U of T college as to how situations of this nature should been handled,” Hannah said. She added that Knox College did not send out any information regarding their decision until two days after she resigned from her position — 10 days after they had promised to communicate it.

Hannah felt that she could not be assured of her safety if she remained at Knox College and sought alternative housing without the support of the college.

When Hannah finally received a letter, it proposed mediation in accordance with Knox’s Sexual Harassment Policy. The letter also told the alleged perpetrator not to approach Hannah unless he had don-resident concerns — instructions that Hannah did not find useful because she had already left her job due to safety concerns.

“I would say, in my opinion, that you have been misinformed of that situation,” Adams said to The Varsity. He said the process that followed was in accordance with Knox’s Sexual Harassment Policy and that the process included an interview, after which the letter was sent. “At which point, [Hannah] had already left, but that person is still entitled to know the outcome and what that letter says,” he said.

“She left very quickly, so we wanted to send the letter somewhere, so we asked her where she was and she told us where she was so we sent her the letter,” Adams continued. “[The letter] tells her that there was more of a process that she could follow — whether she wanted to do that or not is up to her. But we wanted to get that information to her. Just because she’s left, she still has rights, she’s still an individual,” he added.

“So, we have not closed the door to discussion. If she thinks that something needs to be done, then she needs to contact us,” Adams stated.

In spite of Adams’ assertion of Hannah’s rights, Hannah said that the administration did not remind her of her rights, either as a don or a resident. “I advocated for the right to my safety and security throughout this process; the other dons and administration did not offer their support or cite my rights at any point,” Hannah said.

Hannah has not replied to the mediation letter. “[It] is most definitely inadequate and is never recommended in an assault case. This was told to me by U of T’s Community Safety [Office] when I sought out external help with the incident,” Hannah said. “They’ve completely tried to make it seem to the community like they are awaiting my response to an invalid way of dealing with the situation before moving forward in any possible direction.”

According to the Residence Handbook and Knox College’s Sexual Harassment Guidelines and Procedures, the grievance process is threefold. The first step involves a meeting to discuss the complaint with those involved.

If a resolution is not reached at that stage, the second step suggests mediation and does not specify a response timeline.

If the claimant does not want mediation, the third step involves an internal investigation. According to Hannah, she has not made a decision about the second step. She said that she does not have confidence in the third step, since Knox College is in charge of both the

Knox College is part of the Toronto School of Theology and is not bound by U of T’s Code of Student Conduct. MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY

investigation and the decision, which she believes is a conflict of interest.

Adams said that he was unaware that Hannah had attempted to seek help when dealing with the sexual assault case. When questioned about why Hannah would have confidence in the administration after already bringing concerns to them, Adams said that there were other options she could pursue. “If she doesn’t have confidence in us, and she still believes that she has a strong feeling as to what’s happened, there are other avenues available for her. So I don’t know why she wouldn’t take that,” he said. Adams did not elaborate on the other options that were available.

SAFETY CONCERNS When Freya*, another resident of Knox College, learned of Hannah’s sexual assault case, she found the college’s response “frustrating.”

“The college is not responsive to input or concerns from students that go against Knox’s way of doing things, traditions, or out-dated guidelines,” she said.

In light of the sexual assault allegations Freya took her concerns to the administration. “[After that], my normally friendly relationship with the Knox Residence Admin has been replaced by the silent treatment,” she said.

Freya stated that Knox deliberately did not inform residents about the sexual assault allegations, so she took it upon herself to put up signs around the college that read “WARNING SEXUAL ASSAULT AT KNOX. Knox Administration and Dons have failed to inform residents.”

The day after Freya spoke with The Varsity, she received an email in which the administration disclosed that a sexual assault complaint had been filed. “I guess Knox admin heard about it and this e-mail was sent out this morning in response,” she said.

The email addressed to the Knox College community reads: “We had a complaint filed (alleged sexual assault) in early January. The process was followed as outlined in the Residence Handbook and Knox College Sexual Harassment Guidelines and Procedures. Those involved in the complaint have been notified and we are awaiting a response to see if further action is required.”

Both Hannah and Freya reported feeling unsafe at Knox.

“Knox does not have any security cameras on the premise, and almost all of the safety and housekeeping concerns/issues are left for the dons to take care of after hours,” Hannah explained. “In regards to my situation, I felt very uncomfortable and unsafe to the point where I asked administration to move to a different floor due to the fact that the perpetrator lived down the hall from me. They complied,” she said.

Hannah also informed the administration that she had no intention of interacting with the perpetrator and that she had not done so up to that point. “Despite doing my part and advocating for my safety and security, I should not have had to do this alone, both as a don and as a resident,” Hannah said.

“I do feel unsafe living at Knox,” said Freya.

“Since I learned of the sexual assault at Knox and the related complaints of the accused resident’s behaviour, I came to the realization that if something was to happen to me at Knox, I would not have the support of the college.”

Freya found this thought frightening, a worry that was heightened by Knox’s administrative separation from U of T. The Varsity asked Adams what happens when residents express safety concerns. “I’m not sure how to answer that question and what that means,” he replied. Safety concerns in-

clude situations in which residents say that they do not feel safe in this particular environment because they feel threatened by people or have experienced harassment. The Varsity asked how these concerns were resolved in terms of safety and spaces.

“Safety and spaces? Again, I don’t know what that means,” Adams said. “I like to think we take the same action all the time,” Adams said. He explained that if someone came forward with a safety concern, the first step is to tell a don. The administration talks to the don and tries to obtain confirmation of the situation from other dons. “If it’s serious enough, we can follow that through, we can get Campus Police, Metropolitan Police, we’ll pursue that just to see what the situation is.”

Although Knox is associated with U of T, it is outside the jurisdiction of the Campus Police.

According to Hannah, this protocol was not followed, which she finds “quite concerning to say the least.”

POLICIES & SUPPORT SERVICES When asked if Knox College has a sexual assault policy, Adams stated that it does not.

Instead, it has a sexual harassment policy and a Non-Academic Discipline Code, which Adams considers adequate.

“Harassment, if you read through the policy, does include assault or other forms, but I’m not sure why that particular name is important,” he said, regarding the wording of the policy. Sexual assault involves touching or the use of force without the consent of a person; harassment may involve touching or unwanted attention and comments.

Knox College is part of the Toronto School of Theology. Instead of being bound by the University of Toronto’s Code of Student Conduct, it has a “memorandum of understanding” with the university. “Therefore we have a student resident handbook and those policies would apply before the Student Code of Conduct,” said Adams. “[This] does not necessarily mean that a student can get away with not following the U of T’s Student Code of Conduct.”

Adams said that Knox College residents have access to all of the same resources that U of T provides, in addition to the Knox College dons. “If a resident requires to go to or if they need assistance to go to a hospital or CAMH, we can arrange all of that for them,” he said.

When asked what happens if a don requires these services, Adams said that they would be given the same recourse as any resident.

There has been no policy review resulting from the sexual assault allegations. Hannah commented that she finds the absence of a consistent policy to be problematic for various reasons. “The fact that Knox College is not bound to U of T’s Code of Student Conduct should not excuse them from providing adequate spaces and policies where residents and staff can feel safe and empowered to present any concern,” she said. Both she and Freya expressed concern that future cases of sexual assault and harassment may not be addressed with appropriate urgency.

“In the end, I feel violated; not just once but a second time due to Knox College failing to make the complaint of my sense of safety a priority. My living arrangements and employment were disrupted significantly in order for me to feel safe.” Hannah continues to worry about the safety of those remaining at Knox College.

T H E VA R S I T Y

NEWS 5

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CAMPUS POLITICS

CAMPUS POLITICS

Candidate disqualified for UTGSU elections

Entire 1UofT team disqualified

atification for internal co postponed to next meeting

More appeals and decisions expected

TOM YUN

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) elections took place between March 8 and March 10; the report of the chief returning officer (CRO), Rajesh Sankat, was presented during the union’s general council meeting on March 29.

According to Sankat’s report, OISE student Caitlin Campisi, who was standing for re-election as the sole candidate for the position, was disqualified after receiving 15 demerit points for “unsanctioned use of union resources,” 30 points for two instances of “abuse of position or status,” and 35 for “failure to comply with the spirit and purpose of the election,” after the CRO received concerns over the candidate’s behavior.

After Campisi appealed the CRO’s decisions to the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC), the 35 demerit points for “failure to comply with the spirit and purpose of the election” were overturned. Nevertheless, Campisi had a total of 45 demerit points, putting her well over the 35 point limit before disqualification, as stipulated in the Elections and Referenda Code.

“I believe the amount of demerit points issued are disproportionate to the alleged infraction and should not have resulted in disqualification,” Campisi told The Varsity.

The report did not divulge the details of the alleged infractions or the investigative process, and Sankat declined to comment further.

“Unfortunately I can’t really share details regarding the demerit points/behaviour that lead to the disqualification. These details are confidential amongst the parties involved and it would therefore be inappropriate — not to mention cause undue harm on the candidate’s reputation - if they were divulged publicly.

Hope you can understand,” Sankat said in an email to The Varsity.

During the presentation of the report at the general council meeting, Campisi also raised concerns over Sankat’s involvement in the appeals process.

“You just mentioned that you were not involved in the appeals process,” Campisi told Sankat. “When I went to meet with the

issioner results appeals committee, you were there and you did speak, and it was only at my insistence that you left.”

Sankat responded that he was simply present to “open the meeting” and left upon Campisi’s request. “I was not in the room at all in the discussion for the ERC. Any sort of bearing that I head would have been previous consultation with me. I think that’s pretty transparent here,” said Sankat.

A council member moved a motion to establish a board of appeals, which would give candidates a second chance to appeal their demerit points. After much debate on policy and procedure, the council voted to refer this motion to the Policy and Operations Committee.

Campisi spoke in favour of a second appeals stage and told the council that she wants a chance to appeal the ERC’s decision. “I am asking you, I am saying clearly for the record, I would like to appeal this ruling,” she asserted. “I do not believe it has been democratic, open, or accessible to all members, and I am asking you to simply give me the chance to do that.

A board of appeals was proposed in previous council meetings. A motion for a board of appeals by-law was set and discussed at the April 2014 meeting but was ultimately removed.

The matter was also brought up at the June 2014 meeting, but the quorum was lost before it could be discussed. It was further tabled in September, as the union discussed the possibility of incorporation under the Ontario Not-for-profit Corporations Act. “No good policy that is developed should be applied retroactively — this applies a new standard to past actions and sets incredibly poor precedent. Instead, policy should be forward looking and developed with care and research (much like the original Board of Appeals Policy was),” said Brad Evoy, a former executive with the UTGSU. After the council amended the motion, all the results were ratified with the exception of the internal commissioner results, giving Campisi a chance to potentially file appeals.

At the TSG ’s ratification meeting, candidate Caitlin Campisi was disqualified with

demerit points. CAROLYN LEVETT/THE VARSITY

All candidates running with

TOM YUN

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

In an unexpected turn of events, all members of the 1UofT slate of candidates for last week’s University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) executive elections have been disqualified following a series of recent decisions by the union’s Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) and the election’s chief returning officer (CRO). As a result, the lone 1UofT candidate to have been elected last week, vice president, internal & services, Carina Zhang, will be forced to relinquish her victory.

The UTSU’s Elections and Procedures Code (EPC) outlines appropriate campaigning behaviour for candidates. Demerit points are issued to candidates in cases when they have violated the EPC to a maximum of 35 points, resulting in disqualification. At the conclusion of the elections, members of 1Uof T had between 22 and 28 demerit points.

In a series of recent decisions, the union’s Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) and the election’s chief returning officer (CRO) issued a combined total of 196 new demerit points to the slate, bringing their individual totals to well over 35.

After the ERC received appeals on an earlier CRO ruling that gave two demerit points to the 1UofT slate for non-English online campaign material without an English translation, the committee repealed the ruling and increased the number of demerit points for this incident to 15 for each slate member.

The ERC also revisited another previous CRO ruling that issued three demerit points for the 1Uof T slate concerning nonEnglish campaign materials. The ruling concerned untranslated campaign material disseminated by vice president, internal & services candidate Carina Zhang on the Chinese social networking website WeChat. The committee upgraded the demerit points to six for the slate, with the exception of Zhang, who received 10 points. Zhang was the sole victor from 1Uof T. In addition, vice president, external candidate Andre Fast, and vice president, university affairs candidate Andy Edem previously received three demerit points for allegedly distributing campaign material without the CRO’s stamp. The ERC extended the three points to the rest of the slate.

The CRO also made three new rulings. In one ruling, the CRO investigated allegations that 1UofT received “Benefits Acquired by Virtue of Office,” which would concern the use

ofT were disqualified after elections. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

of a space not normally available to any UTSU member for campaign purposes and violate the EPC. There were allegations that 1UofT used the offices of the Afghan Students’ Association, of which presidential candidate Madina Siddiqui is also the president. Five demerit points were assigned to every member of the slate, with the exception of Siddiqui, who received 11.

Another ruling concerned UTMSU president Uranranebi Agbeyegbe’s involvement with 1Uof T’s campaign. It was alledged that Agbeyegbe violate the EPC as he did not take an unpaid leave of absence from his position in order to campaign. However, the CRO ruled that he Agbeyegbe did not violate the EPC, as he simply sat on the UTSU Executive Committee as a designate and was not paid by the union.

The CRO issued four demerit points to the slate as a result of mass text messages on behalf of 1UofT sent by UTMSU vice president, university affairs & academic Nour Alideeb, who is also the UTMSU president elect. One student, Sundas Malik, who applied for the position of vice president, campus life at the UTSMU received a text from Alideeb. It is alleged that Alideeb could have only received Malik’s number through the UTMSU’s database, which would violate the EPC’s policy against “benefits acquired by virtue of office.”

Alideeb denied any wrongdoing. She explained that she acquired Malik’s phone number after she synced the contact information of all of her Facebook friends to her phone.

“I want to reassure students that the allegation made about my conduct with respect to student information is completely false,” she told The Varsity. “I have never used UTMSU resources for the purposes of campaigning in the UTSU elections.”

ERC chair Vere Marie Khan confirmed with The Varsity that the rulings would mean that Hello UofT candidate Mathias Memmel would be elected for the position of vice presdient, internal & services and that the second choice votes of those who ranked the disqualified candidates as their first choice would not be redistributed to the other candidates.

The rulings are still subject to change. Khan noted that “there’s still going to be appeals happening tomorrow as well.”

Siddiqui did not immediately return The Varsity’s requests for comment.

The results are scheduled to be ratified at a general meeting on April 20 at Room 1190 in the Bahen Centre.

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CAMPUS POLITICS

Colleges and professional faculty elections near their end The Varsity rounds up the results of student society elections Directors members will be Georgina Merhom, Leanne Gruposso, and Damian Dibiase. SMCSU will also have a fall by-election.

TRINITY COLLEGE Trinity College’s team next year will be comprised of Nish Chankar as female head of college; Anthony Marchese as male head of college; Chelsea Colwill as female head of arts; Thomas Robson as male head of arts; Joudy Sarraj as female head of non-resident affairs; and Basil Southey as male head of non-resident affairs. Next year’s Trinity College director for the UTSU Board of Directors will be Sarah Harrison.

WENDY GU/THE VARSITY

RACHEL CHEN

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

As the semester comes to an end, election results for most undergraduate and professional faculty societies have been released. This year, divisions were given the option to run internal elections for their representatives on the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Board of Directors. The winners of these elections will be proposed for ratification at the UTSU’s first Annual Ratification Meeting to be held on April 20.

INNIS COLLEGE STUDENT SOCIETY (ICSS) Innis students elected Brianne Katz-Griffin as president, Elspeth Arbow as executive vice president, Troy Peschke as vice president, finance, and Teodora Pasca as vice president, internal. Cole Mellows ran unopposed for the UTSU Innis College director position.

NEW COLLEGE STUDENT COUNCIL (NCSC) Next year’s NCSC president will be Nicholas Grant. Jordan Su won the election for vice president; administration; Aleena Au won vice president, finance; and Skye Daley won vice president, student life. The presidential and vice presidential candidates all ran unopposed.

During the UTSU elections, Sila Elgin, Nadine AbdelGhafar, and Nicholas Grant were elected as the three New College directors.

ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE STUDENT UNION (SMCSU) Next year’s SMCSU president will be Zach Nixon, with Jess Afonso as vice president. Their three UTSU Board of

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LITERARY & ATHLETIC SOCIETY (UC LIT) Ramsay Andary was elected to the position of president in a close race against Matt Thomas, with 300 votes to Thomas’ 235. Daman Singh ran unopposed for the role of vice president. In the UTSU spring elections, Chimwemwe Alao, Ryan Hume, and Mira El Hussein were elected to the UTSU board.

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL (VUSAC) Rahul Christoffersen and Stuart Norton were elected co-presidents, with Steve Warner as vice president, external; Golda Greenspoon as vice president, internal; and Hannah Brennen as vice president, student organizations. Garnet Lollar and Stephanie Spagnuolo were elected to the UTSU Board of Directors during the UTSU spring elections.

WOODSWORTH COLLEGE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (WCSA) Novera Khan was elected president along with six vice presidents: Radha Lamba will serve as vice president, internal affairs; Dylan Forgas as vice president, financial affairs; Miranda Li as vice president, athletic affairs; Minki Ryan Jeong as vice president, external affairs,;Sarah Bear as vice president, public relations; and Kristine Sarah Medrero as vice president, social affairs. Additionally, Sebastian Salomon, Christina Badiola, and Ahmad Ilyas were elected as UTSU directors.

ARCHITECTURE AND VISUAL STUDIES STUDENT UNION (AVSSU) AVSSU elections begin April 7 and end on April 9. Christine Song is currently the only candidate running for president, and Skye Ece Ulusoy is the only vice president, visual studies candidate. Vice president, architecture is contested by Nirvika Tugnait and Jaime Ahn. Marienka Bishop-Kovac was elected to the UTSU Board of Directors during the UTSU spring elections.

ENGINEERING SOCIETY (ENGSOC) The officer team elect of EngSoc consists of Milan Maljkovic as president; Andrew Boetto as vice president, finance; Colin Parker as vice president, communications; Samantha Stuart as vice president, academic; and Raneem Shammas as vice president, student life. Andrew Sweeny, Addy Bhatia, and Danja Papajani will serve on the UTSU Board of Directors.

FACULTY OF MUSIC UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION (FMUA) Unofficial results for the FMUA spring election have announced Sophia Wang as president; Helen Geng as vice president, internal; Danielle Sum as vice president, communications; Jacob Feldman as vice president, external; Cristina Lanz as vice president, academic; and Nila Rajagopal as vice president, student life. Feldman is also the UTSU director for the Faculty of Music.

KINESIOLOGY AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION (KPEUA) KPEUA members elected Ryan Schwenger as president and Richard Yu as vice president. The KPE director on the UTSU Board of Directors will be Naomi Maldonado-Rodriguez.

NURSING UNDERGRADUATE SOCIETY (NUS) Next year’s NUS executive members will be Angela Isoki as president, Felicia Zhang as director of communications, and Sohee Kang as senior director of finance. Katy Grundy will serve as the UTSU representative.

STUDENTS’ LAW SOCIETY (SLS) Sarah Bittman will serve with Katie Longo as vice president, student affairs and governance; Christina Liao as vice president, social affairs; and Aidan Fishman as the UTSU law director. All four ran unopposed.

UTSU DIRECTORS Six academic directors were elected, but due to the disqualification the 1UofT slate, the mathematical and physical sciences academic director position is currently vacant. Alissa Mirochnitchenko was elected for life sciences, Victoria Liao for humanities, Jacob Reinertson for computer science, Tsukasa Kikuchi for Rotman commerce, and Timothy Law for social sciences. The professional faculty at-large directors will be Faizan Akbani and Sophia Wang.

Additional director elects include Jin-Kyu ‘Justin’ Kim for medicine, Joshua Raisin for dentistry, Adriana Too for pharmacy, and Orvin Lao for theology. Theology only had three voters in total and dentistry only had two.

CAMPUS POLITICS

Hundreds of ballots incomplete in UTSU Board of Directors elections Sixty per cent of students with wiped ballots re-voted successfully DEVIKA DESAI

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

During the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) spring elections, 308 students from various professional faculties at U of T did not receive ballots for their UTSU faculty board of directors representative, an error that prompted SimplyVoting to email the students requesting re-votes.

The error affected: three votes in the Faculty of Medicine, 13 votes in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, seven votes in the Faculty of Nursing, 38 votes in the Faculty of Architecture, and 247 votes in the Faculty of Engineering.

“Our [chief returning officer] CRO discovered that the way that the system was set up did not fit the way that some of the data was formatted in the university’s list,” said Vere Marie Khan, UTSU vice president university affairs and Ben Coleman, UTSU president, in a joint statement to The Varsity. Both Khan and Coleman sit on the Elections & Referenda Committee (ERC), which is in charge of appeals.

“There are two columns for ‘segments’ which tell us which ballots to give a voter,” Khan and Coleman explained. “Sometimes the University formats students in professional faculties with the information repeated in both columns, and sometimes it doesn’t. This had the result that some students in some professional faculties did not receive ballots for the director for their faculty. This also meant that the error did not come up in routine testing before the system went live, as the problem is only experienced by a limited number of students.”

According to Khan and Coleman, the CRO immediately informed the ERC members of the situtation and contacted SimplyVoting to ensure that it was fixed. The CRO also removed “any information that would be needed to properly investigate the problem later.”

“This all happened on the first day of voting,” said Khan and Coleman. “Since SimplyVoting does not have the ability to change a vote after it has been cast, the system was corrected and any student who may have been affected was sent an email using their official UofT account to inform them that they had to vote again and to explain why the problem had occurred.”

“The CRO made every available effort to ensure that students’ right to vote for all of the positions they are entitled to was upheld,” Khan and Coleman continued.

With the help of information gathered from the CRO and SimplyVoting, Khan and Coleman were able to ascertain that “60% of the students who had their ballot corrected were able to successfully vote with the full ballots.”

When asked about any potential investigation into the reasons behind the issue, Khan and Coleman stated, “Any information about the correction of these ballots was shared with the ERC as soon as possible, and “the situation was also explained to the Board on March 31st when the election results were presented.” After clarifying that the CRY and SimplyVoting had already answered all of the ERC’s questions regarding the situation, Khan and Coleman explained, “there is no further action warranted, as the CRO has already communicated to the University and Simply Voting, explaining how to avoid the problem in the future. Additionally, there is no eligible position for which the problem would have cast the results into question.”

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STUDENT LIFE

U of T Men’s Issues Society holding panel on sexual assault and the law Students express frustration with event’s approach EMILY JOHNPULLE

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Following the acquittal of former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi on charges of sexual assault, the University of Toronto Men’s Issues Awareness Society is holding a panel discussion on campus to “balance protecting society from sexual assault with the legal rights of the criminally accused.”

The event is entitled, “Ghomeshi on Trial: Sexual Assault & the Law” and will be held on April 8 at the JJR Macleod Auditorium. It will include panelists Christie Blatchford, a columnist and criminal court reporter for the National Post, criminal lawyer David Butt, and defence lawyer Richard Litkowski; it will be moderated by litigation lawyer Lorne Honickman.

The University of Toronto does not endorse the event; it is being sponsored by the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) — a human rights group that focuses on equality for men and boys.

“The event is organized by an independent campus group and their activities do not reflect any position of the University of Toronto itself. Recognized campus groups can book space as per the Policy on the Temporary Use of Space and related guidelines,” said Althea

Blackburn-Evans, U of T’s director of news and media relations.

“Sexual violence is disproportionately prevalent on university campuses, and so to have a Ghomeshi apologist event on our campus further condones sexual violence experienced by our students, and tells survivors the violation of their bodies is inconsequential to the university,” said Arts & Science Students’ Union executive-elect Pri Sharma.

“I mean, this narrative is already present on campuses, with the lack of clear sexual assault policies and inadequate code of conduct investigations, but allowing a specific event that celebrates defendant’s rights over survivors’ on our campus, is just beyond disappointing,” continued Sharma.

“The University is committed to open dialogue within our community. The ability to question, examine and comment on issues of the day is central to our mission,” said Blackburn-Evans.

According to CAFE’s press release for the event, Edward Sullivan, CAFE research director wants to have a “serious and respectful discussion” about the many issues raised by criminal sexual assault cases in Canada. Specifically, the panel wants to question, “Should

defendants be more easily convicted in the hopes of encouraging more complainants to come forward? Should plaintiffs enjoy immunity from credibility examination?”

For second-year political science student Katherine Wells, discussions about sexual assault have brought the issue to the public’s attention. “Despite the unfortunate onslaught of victim-blaming rhetoric that the verdict of Ghomeshi’s trial stirred into the public domain, I think the publicity of the trial was ultimately important in the way that it facilitated mainstream dialogue; not only about the way sexual assault victims are treated in general, but also how our legal system disadvantages them from the start.”

She continued, “Although protecting citizens from being wrongly interred by the state is important, it should be equally important to protect complainants from a skewed system that could hardly be called fair or equal. The fact that this dialogue has become prominent is probably the one good thing to come from this trial; that people are openly questioning the biases in our laws and not simply accepting the status quo.”

Jian Ghomeshi was recently acquitted of sexual assault charges, PEG/CC FLICKR

With files from Stephanie Gibbon

PROVINCIAL POLITICS

Numbers for Ontario’s highest-earning public employees released in Sunshine List Retiring UTAM CEO William Moriarty nets nearly $1.5 million, is second-highest paid in Ontario TOM YUN

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The province of Ontario has released the annual Sunshine List, revealing significant salary increases for some.

Under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, which was passed in 1996, the province is required to disclose the annual salaries from the previous year of all public employees who earn an annual salary of over $100,000.

This list includes people who work for hospitals, municipalities, public schools, colleges, and universities.

There were a total of 115,431 names on the list, an increase from the 111,655 from last year. Of these names, 3,288 were from U of T.

Twenty were from the University of St. Michael’s College, 34 from Victoria University, and 14 from Trinity College. These colleges are listed separately under the Sunshine List as they are federated with U of T. U of T president Meric Gertler took home $438,892.04, making him the university’s ninth highest paid employee. Of the top 20 highest salaries at U of T, 12 of the names are affiliated with the Rotman School of Management and six are employed by the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM), which is responsible for handling the university’s investments, pension funds, and endowments.

UTAM chief executive officer William Moriarty’s salary was $1,473,445.98, making him Ontario’s second highest-paid public employee and the highest paid at U of T. This is just behind Ontario Power Generation CEO Thomas Mitchell’s who earns $1,528,933.36.

Moriarty has seen significant pay increased in the last two years; his salary was $772,547 in 2013, $937,500 in 2014.

According to Althea Blackburn-Evans, who is the university’s news & media relations director, this can be attributed to Moriarty’s bonuses, which were also delayed from the previous year.

“UTAM’s compensation policy provides for incentive bonuses that are calculated in

relation to the performance of various components of UTAM’s investment portfolio,” said Blackburn-Evans, in an email to The Varsity, “Also, because of a delay in payments being processed, several senior officials of UTAM, including Mr. Moriarty, received their 2014 bonuses in 2015. Those bonuses are normally paid in the same year as they are earned.”

On Mach 21, Moriarty announced his retirement from UTAM, which is effective April 15.

“Timing is never an easy decision in the investment management business but I believe that the time is now right for me to step down from my job as President and CEO of UTAM,” he told U of T News.

Name

Salary Paid

Taxable Benefits

Job Title

Moriarty, William

$1,473,445.98

$1,835.16

President And Chief Executive Officer, University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation

Richards, Cameron

$710,263.96

$283.14

Managing Director, Investment Strategy & Co-Chief Investment Officer, University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation

Smith, Daren

$693,507.00

$565.98

Managing Director, Manager Selection And Portfolio Construction, University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation

Hussey, Adrian

$547,714.04

$283.14

Managing Director, Portfolio And Risk Analysis, University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation

Hsu, John

$482,845.04

$565.98

Chief Operating Officer, University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation

Moldoveanu, Mihnea (Michael)

$460,833.46

$565.98

Vice Dean, Learning And Innovation And Professor Of Business Economics

McCurdy, Thomas

$444,670.51

$565.98

Director, Financial Research And Trading Laboratory And Professor Of Finance

Whyte, Glen

$439,780.34

$565.98

Professor Of Organizational Behavior

Gertler, Meric

$438,892.04

$55,629.12

President, University Of Toronto

Baum, Joel

$427,880.04

$2,566.02

Associate Dean Faculty, Professor Of Strategic Management

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GRADUATE AFFAIRS

Report on graduate funding compares income across disciplines Humanities students have lowest average income SAMINA SULTANA VARSITY STAFF

Travis Bost, a PhD student at t he University of Toronto, has produced a report about the composition of graduate student income at U of T entitled The Quality of Quantity.

The report was released in February and highlights graduate funding as “a quantitative and qualitative problem, as well as an equity problem.” It outlines the incomes of students across years and between the four divisions of PhD student populations: humanities, with 714 students; social sciences with 1,003 PhD students; physical sciences with 1,080 PhD students; and life sciences, with 1,403 PhD students.

The enrolled PhD students complete 24,800 hours of program study with a cumulative 4-8,000 years of paid tuition.

The sources of income for each of the four divisions come from internal and external awards, employment, and stipends. The average income over the last nine years for the humanities is $22,744.69. For those in social sciences, it is $23,433.22. For students in physical sciences, the average income is $23,902.76; for life sciences, it is $26,151.08.

In March 2015, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902 went on strike for a month after a tentative agreement about funding could not be reached. Last month — on the anniversary of the start of the strike — CUPE 3902 staged a demonstration.

The report states there are inconsistencies in the composition of income and its implications. Many PhD students take longer to complete their degrees than their funding packages cover. The report states that “a handful of Life Science departments taking

as much as 3.5 years longer than their Physical Science colleagues” to reach completion.

The report outlines the sources of the funding. While the total incomes are relatively similar, the humanities and social sciences rely disproportionately on employment income, while students in physical and life sciences rely disproportionately on research stipends.

According to the report, Divisions 1 and 2 rely roughly twice as much on employment than Divisions 3 and 4. “The severity of this trend is equally intense, with one D2 department drawing nearly 50% of their income [from] employment and two in D4 less than 2%,” the report claims.

It also states that employment for Divisions I and II increases over the course of the program, but “progressively decreases” for Divisions 3 and 4.

“This contradiction is often obscured by lumping all divisions together.” Bost writes that the “explanation for the contradiction likely is that employment for Divisions 3-4 advances their own work while that of Divisions 1-2 takes away from theirs.”

“There are many unanswered questions due to the limitation of centralized data compiled by the University,” the report alleges.

Bost was not paid to produce the report, nor does he have any affiliations with campus groups.

STUDENT LIFE

St. Michael’s College funds pro-life group U of T Students For Life faces allegations of inappropriate conduct JACK O. DENTON VARSITY STAFF

University of Toronto Students for Life (UTSFL) received $1,450 in funding this year from the St. Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU).

Criticisms have been circulating this year that the group’s conduct borders on inappropriate. Allegedly, their graphic, bold activism on campus has triggered students. Their activism includes participating in ‘Choice Chains,’ where students stand on public sidewalks with images of aborted foetuses in an attempt to engage the public.

SMC FUNDING “If these allegations are true, I would 100 per cent condemn aggressive tactics,” said Stefan Sistilli Sguazzin, president of the SMCSU. Emily Posteraro, co-founder of University of Toronto Students for Choice (SFC), said that “the college should consider the impacts of this group on the rest of the U of T community.

Anyone who walks by their demonstrations is affected, especially folks with a female-assigned reproductive system who could have, or already have had, to make a decision regarding the termination of a pregnancy. It makes campus more unwelcoming to those people. Many people approached us during our demonstration to thank us and I have heard many others express their disapproval of the UTSFL.” SFC was created in direct response to the UTSFL and its actions.

“In Canada, we’re in the midst of hugely consequential debates about the very nature of life. At a university, it is particularly important that all perspectives in this debate are allowed to be heard, including those seeking to defend the sanctity of life from conception to natural death,” said David Mulroney, president of

the University of St. Michael’s College, in a statement to The Varsity.

Joseph Crimi, vice president of the SMCSU, said that they do not endorse their action or their vision, but that they support them as a club. “If we do get formal statements and complaints, we would heavily take them into consideration when determining what they get, if they do get anything,” Crimi said.

It remains to be seen what influence, if any, a Catholic leadership at St. Michael’s has when it comes to distinguishing between which clubs should be funded and endorsed. David Mulroney, a practicing Catholic, took up his position as president this academic year.

UTSFL are unwilling to compromise for what they view as a radical injustice and do not cede the choice of individuals as taking precedence over the existence of life from fertilization even in the cases of rape and incest. “Rape is a horrific crime, and I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to be a victim of rape. But abortion doesn’t unrape somebody, and it doesn’t make it okay to kill the innocent child because of the father’s crime. In our country we wouldn’t even give the death penalty to the rapist, but we would give the death penalty to the innocent child,” said Blaise Alleyne, education coordinator at the UTSFL and a masters of theology student at Regis College.

Anti-abortion groups at Ryerson, OUIT, and UTM have all been defunded and are no longer recognized by their respective campuses. UTM’s SFL group is currently suing the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union because of this.

ENGAGEMENT TACTICS On the pamphlets UTSFL distributes, which come from pro-life organization Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, the following is printed: “Each year, 100,000 pre-born

children are decapitated, dismembered, and disemboweled by abortion in Canada. It’s hidden behind clinic and hospital doors.

Worse, this brutal reality is hidden behind rhetoric like ‘choice’.”

Mary*, a volunteer from the Sexual Education Centre (SEC), described how that community has been informally responding to the escalation from UTSFL this year. Volunteers at SEC took to standing by at SFL demonstrations and escorting students who feel threatened past the demonstrators. “People would see that and then just go check it out and make sure people were okay who were in the space... there are a couple of times where I’ve walked out [and] I’ve gone by and stood by the protesters and kept an eye on people who were walking by, and just talk to people who were visibly upset,” she said.

Mary and other SEC volunteers are concerned with the emotional wellbeing of people who interact with the demonstrators, after seeing people brought to tears by the demonstrations.

“The need to escort people, I don’t think, is a necessary factor when you’re demonstrating,” said Sguazzin.

RESPONSE “We took issue in particular with their large, disturbing, and misleading signs that may be troubling, triggering, or shaming for those who have gotten abortions. I spoke with one student who told me that she had had an abortion in the past, and she felt disrespected and vulnerable seeing this group being so active on campus and making fierce arguments against abortion towards students who may have sensitive histories with this topic,” said Teodora Pasca, co-founder of SFC. The UTSFL responded that the only signs they use in demonstrations represent first-tri-

mester abortions, but that they occasionally partner with external groups that use signs depicting third-trimester abortions. These types of images have come under criticism for incorrectly depicting the reality of most abortions, which occur in the first trimester.

Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of news & media relations at U of T, told The Varsity that under the Policy on Recognition of Campus Groups, “the University will not attempt to censor, control or interfere with any group on the basis of its philosophy, beliefs, interests or opinions expressed unless and until these lead to activities which are illegal or which infringe the rights and freedoms already mentioned. By the same token, recognition as a ‘campus group’ by the University implies neither endorsement of a particular group’s beliefs or philosophy, nor the assumption of legal liability for the group’s activities.”

“Obviously our images can be triggers... But given the weight, given that human lives are at stake, given that people who may have had abortions before may well make that decision again — in relatively large numbers — when we go to the public sidewalks, if there were a way for us to skip over the people that have had an abortion and never will again, I would love to be able to do that. But the stakes are high and we know that people are going to walk by. We also do carry resources on us for people facing crisis pregnancies, but also for people that have had abortions,” said Alleyne.

Disclosure: Teodora Pasca is an associate comment editor for The Varsity.

T H E VA R S I T Y var.st/news

NEWS 9

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COMMENT var.st/comment

4 A pril 2016

When past becomes present Acknowledging long-term and systemic injustice against Indigenous communities ARTICLE BY TEODORA PASCA AND ILLUSTRATION BY TESS KING

F

or hundreds of years colonial settlers violently targeted Indigenous peoples through systematic processes of exploitation and forced assimilation. In addition to producing widespread conflict and disease, this resulted in the fragmentation of Indigenous communities. Many have rightly criticized secondary schools across Canada for failing to tell this story without trivializing the brutality. One would think, however, that exposure to different narratives in a university setting would eventually put things into perspective.

Yet, there remains a disturbing lack of awareness of the long-term effects of colonialism on Indigenous communities, which are too often resigned to a place in the past, detached from what continues to occur in the present.

At the university and beyond, the connection between historical injustices and pervasive problems in Indigenous communities is often downplayed or ignored altogether. The result is a disheartening ignorance to even the most pressing Indigenous issues — which are undoubtedly linked to policies and strategies in Canada that sought to destroy Indigenous peoples altogether.

One of the gravest examples of such policy was the residential school system: it forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and subjected them to assimilation at Christian institutions, which often led to maltreatment, physical, and sexual abuse.

Residential schools were endorsed and pursued by the Canadian government for over a century; the last residential school in Canada only closed in 1996.

It has been stressed repeatedly that the trauma and violence that children faced within these institutions accelerated the effect of past colonial processes. We have seen the consequences manifest themselves in the form of pervasive poverty, substance abuse, family disintegration, violence, and crime.

The violence that Indigenous peoples continue to face is exemplified by the pattern of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation found that, from 1980 to 2012, nearly 1,200 Indigenous women in Canada went missing or were victims of homicide.

Some suggest that the number of victims is probably much more but that accurate data has been lost or is obscured by the criminal justice system. Possible reasons for this include deliberate decisions made by police to ignore cases of Indigenous women going missing, as well as a long-standing fear and mistrust of police from indigenous women due to historical mistreatment, racism, and abuse.

On top of this, the living conditions on many Indigenous reservations are deplorable. A 2015 CBC News investigation revealed that two-thirds of all First Nations communities in Canada have received at least one drinking water advisory in the past decade. The longest of these advisories is still in effect at the Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario, where residents have been boiling their water for 20 years. Housing is also often run-down and in grave need of repair, often due to overcrowding.

It must also be noted that Indigenous people are grossly overrepresented within the criminal justice system, a phenomenon attributable both to socioeconomic problems within these communities, and to criminal justice practices that have targeted them disproportionately. Indigenous people make up about 3.8 per cent of the Canadian population, but represent over 23 per cent of the total inmate population. Overrepresentation has increased significantly since the turn of the century, particularly for Indigenous women, who experienced a 109 per cent increase in incarceration from 2001 to 2012.

Clearly, we are still witnessing the effects of past regimes, yet the university has not sufficiently accounted for this. Although courses on Indigenous history and development exist — and indeed, the Aboriginal Studies program at U of T is dedicated to this type of scholarship — other courses are often less than satisfactory.

I can name classes where Indigenous oppression — if mentioned at all — is framed solely as a past wrong, presumably confined

to darker times in Canadian history. It is absolutely ignorant to relegate these injustices solely to the historical record while these communities are still in crisis.

Unsurprisingly, these overly simplistic narratives are also pervasive within the media and government. Despite their urgency, problems on reservations receive little media exposure and are rarely connected to past and present government action, except from Indigenous groups themselves.

Although the current Liberal government has pledged to launch an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women over the summer, Indigenous activists first had to fight an arduous battle with past Conservative administrations.

Looking back, it is alarming to see how little the Conservatives understood the long-term nature of oppression. The Harper government repeatedly brushed off the victimization of Indigenous women, attributing it to 'risky lifestyles' such as substance abuse or sex work and refusing to see it as a systemic problem. On the other hand, the former Minister of Aboriginal Affairs,Bernard Valcourt, blamed the apparent disrespect for women in Indigenous communities on the men on the reserve, advising that the communities take ownership of the issue themselves.

Without awareness of how the past projects and perpetuates systemic injustice into the future, the prospect of resolving these problems is bleak. A push for increasing the visibility of Indigenous issues is imperative both at the university and beyond. One way this can be achieved is through educational collaborations with Indigenous community groups, which prioritizes the voices, narratives, and needs of Indigenous people instead of erasing them from the equation.

Furthermore, as individuals living in Canada, we are responsible for taking conscious steps to self-education. We must commit to doing as much listening and learning as we can, in order to challenge the watered-down conceptions of history that continue to define our surroundings.

Above all, if we are to work towards meaningful change, we must vehemently defy the perception that Indigenous oppression is all in the past.

Teodora Pasca is a second-year student at Innis College studying criminology and ethics, society and law. She is The Varsity’s associate comment editor. Her column appears every three weeks.

comment@thevarsity.ca

T H E VA R S I T Y

COMMENT 11

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To serve, protect, and empathize Ontario’s new carding rules are a step in the right direction, but more can be done by both police and the public EMMETT CHOI

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Carding, a procedure also known as a “street check,” is a police action where — outside the domain of a formal arrest, detention, or execution of a search warrant — an officer stops a pedestrian and asks them to provide personal information, which is then stored in a database. Police use this technique to gain valuable information that can aid them in their duties, particularly when they are in the process of investigating gang activity or apprehending repeat offenders.

In recent years carding has become highly controversial, with some calling it an arbitrary violation of Charter rights that overwhelmingly targets minorities. Indeed, studies have shown that — often due to subconscious racial profiling on the part of officers — black and Indigenous citizens are disproportionately represented in interactions with police.

The provincial government has acknowledged these issues, and on March 22 they announced new regulations to ensure that the police balance their investigative duties with respect for citizens.

Beginning in 2017 police officers in Ontario will have to explain to individuals on the street why they have been stopped. They are legally bound to inform them of their rights: that they are free to leave at any time, and are under no obligation to answer any questions. Furthermore, the reason for the stop itself cannot be the person’s race, their incidental presence in a high-crime neighbourhood, or the fact that they have refused to answer questions or attempted to leave.

In order to ensure accountability, officers must also provide their name and badge number, as well as contact information for the Independent Police Review Director, in case

a complaint is made. Finally, officers must submit all carding records to their police service within 30 days of their completion, in anticipation of review by the chief of police to ensure that the street checks have been conducted lawfully.

These updates are necessary for public concerns about carding to be addressed, and will reduce the likelihood of improper, racially motivated street checks in the future. It is clear, however, that police-community relations in our city remain tense. As I write this column, protests have been ongoing outside the Toronto Police Headquarters for over a week, following the announcement that no charges will be laid in the 2015 officer-involved shooting of Andrew Loku. An independent investigation determined that Loku, a 45-year-old Sudanese man with a history of mental illness (including an incident earlier that same day), had been advancing on two officers and ignored multiple demands to drop a hammer he was brandishing.

It is clear that changes to carding, which are intended to balance the value of the practice for police intelligence with respect for the rights of individual citizens, are an important part of the effort to strengthen the public’s trust in the police. They are, however, not enough. More changes can be made to ensure that the police are accountable to the public, in order to facilitate a more meaningful exchange and cooperation between police and communities, and in turn to protect citizens more effectively.

For starters, the functioning of the provincial Special Investigations Unit, which investigates all deaths, serious injury, and alleged sex crimes involving police officers, needs to become much more transparent.

When an investigation is concluded and no charges are laid — as in the case of Andrew Loku — all evidence should be made public. If the SIU expects to convince Ontario residents that nearly all police shootings are justified, they should be able to explain exactly how and why, for each individual incident.

Furthermore, to respond to concerns about excessive police force, the Toronto Police Service should continue providing officers with options that complement lethal firearms, such as tasers and sock guns. They should also move forward with the acquisition of body cameras so that shootings, street checks, and other contentious incidents can be reviewed more thoroughly.

All of these changes should be pursued by police services in the name of transparency and responsibility to the public. That said, in the name of building trust, there are also actions that we, as Toronto residents, should take to solidify relationships between police and the community.

We should respect the rule of law and the individuals who enforce it. Police officers maintain the peace and order that make our democracy and high quality of life possible.

Accordingly, it is wrong to assault, harass, or otherwise forcibly interfere with their duties, no matter how much we may disagree with the law being enforced, or the action being taken. We may express dissent in other ways, but in a system of government that provides for peaceful change, there is no cause that justifies a resort to violence — against civilians or police officers.

Additionally, we should try our best to imagine life in their shoes. Police officers regularly face dangerous, immensely challenging situations that many students on a quiet, ivy-walled university campus will likely never even encounter. The very least we can do

is acknowledge this fact. Recently, in partnership with the Toronto Police College, local media participated in a simulation of a violent scenario that officers may engage with on the job, in what was no doubt a humbling experience. When it comes to analyzing police actions, maybe the rest of us would all benefit from a little humility as well.

None of this intends to downplay the real issues and criticisms targeted at the more questionable parts of police practices, nor to doubt that there are vital improvements to be made in law enforcement, just as there are in all facets of government, especially at the local level. But the way to achieve that change is to work with the police, not against them.

The mission statement of the Toronto Police Service reads, “We are dedicated to delivering police services, in partnership with our communities, to keep Toronto the best and safest place to be.” If we want Toronto to be at its best and its safest, we should see the police as partners, not enemies — and they should see us in the same way.

Emmett Choi is a fifth-year student at Victoria College studying philosophy and American studies. His column appears every three weeks.

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY

Justice trumps order Black Lives Matter-Toronto has shone a light on anti-Black discrimination, and they deserve our support MOHAMED ALI

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

With all the noise from our neighbours to the south occupying the airwaves, it is easy for many Canadians to buy into the myth that they don't face the issues of racial inequalities and police brutality that exist in the United States. This is, simply put, ignorant. Racial injustice continues to exist in latent and blatant forms, and in a manner that is agonizingly real to Black and Indigenous peoples.

Most notably, these issues were thrust into the spotlight recently, when hundreds of activists took to the streets following the announcement by the Special Investigations Unit that yet another officer who killed a Black man in the line of duty would not be charged.

Andrew Loku, a 45-year-old mentally ill South Sudanese refugee living in an apartment leased by the Canadian Mental Health Association, was shot to death in his doorway last summer while allegedly wielding what appeared to be a wooden hammer.

Not only did the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) — the taskforce assigned to investigate such incidents — deem the excessive use of force to be “justified,” the only other witness at the scene has disputed the description of events used by the SIU to reach the decision.

The decisions not to press charges and to maintain the anonymity of the officer are angering, given the long history of racial discrimination by the police that the Black community has had to put up with. Studies have shown that there is a clear over-representation of black men in cases where police have used force against civilians, and black, brown, and Indigenous men have been victims of carding and racial profiling at rates far higher than the white population.

Introduce mental illness to the picture, and the statistics become more troubling.

Since 1988, over 50 per cent of the civilians who were affected by a mental health crisis and killed by Toronto Police have been black males. The decision to mask the identity of the officer who killed Loku also reduces accountability and highlights the tendency of the police force to protect their own rather than the communities they are employed to guard.

Black Lives Matter-Toronto — the organizers behind many protests, including the ongoing sit-in outside the Toronto Police Head-

quarters — are not only calling for justice for Andrew Loku but for the city to address the violence that the Black community has suffered at the hands of police. In addition, they would like to see the elimination of carding (a practice rife with racial profiling), as well as the restoration of Afrofest, North America’s largest African music festival and one of the most important cultural events in Toronto, to its regular length of two days.

Although not necessarily indicative of discrimination on the part of police, it also illustrates anti-Black discrimination in Toronto.

The decision to cut the length of Afrofest from two days to one, based solely off of eight noise complaints made against the performers, was met with anger from people who rightfully pointed out the double standard. Local residents say that Afrofest’s noise levels are in line with the several other festivals that occur each year at Woodbine Park. The city did not provide decibel reports to back up this decision, so it seems that Afrofest’s blackness was the motivating factor to cut the festival short.

Fortunately, the city scrambled to restore Afrofest after outcry from Torontonians, particularly the ones on the ground rallying at the Toronto Police Headquarters. Black Lives Matter-Toronto and the Black community at large also notched another win under their belts when Toronto City Council

unanimously passed a motion calling for the Ontario government to review the conduct of the SIU on Friday. The core of the movement is, therefore, quickly picking up speed, and it is certainly a cause we must support.

Black Lives Matter-Toronto has been criticized for their tactics but it is clear that these demonstrations provide results. After all, when the situation is this dire, we cannot simply trust city officials who have done little for years to address these critical issues, falling in favour of order and bureaucracy. Activism isn’t meant to be orderly; history has shown that rallies, shutdowns, and sit-ins — all manifestations of the burning rage of the people — are in many cases what ultimately forces governments to respond to the demands of the people they serve.

The passionate persistence of those participating in the #BLMTOTentCity in order to make the city safer for its black citizens mirrors the same resilience in the face of oppression displayed by civil rights activists in the 1960s. It is crucial for all Canadians to stop ignoring issues of racism and discrimination and support their plight against injustice.

Mohamed Ali is a first-year student at Victoria College studying the sciences.

12 COMMENT

M O N DAY 4 A P R I L 2 016 comment@thevarsity.ca

OP-EDS:

In living colour

Minding our makeup

e e tions on r e respe t nd responsibi ity from the outgoing president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union

Considering the pros and cons of DNA editing

ABDULLAH SHIHIPAR

OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF ASSU

Becoming president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU) was a life changing experience. I got to work with an amazing group of people and work on some great projects; the skills I gained will stay with me for life. But, more importantly than anything else, I am leaving my position with a stronger understanding of how I fit in the world as a person of colour.

Growing up as a son of Sri Lankan immigrants in a fairly mixed community, I never really thought about race. I didn’t really see myself being treated differently from my peers.

This bubble was shattered when I became president of the ASSU. I began to notice subtle things, from the way I was addressed, to criticisms of my personality, to double standards in how I was treated compared to others. At times, criticisms would be personal and tinged with words that speak to an individual’s character, not their work — 'corrupt,' 'angry,' 'bully.' Of course, I experienced this as a male person of colour — women of colour on this campus have had it even worse, and are constantly singled out.

Dealing with this can be disorienting and confusing. While you try to make sense of it all, your mental health takes a toll.

There are few mental health supports for student representatives, and few of the supports that do exist are prepared to deal with the intersectionality of race and mental health. As a result, you are left to navigate it mostly alone, or with like-minded people who have been there.

After a while of dealing with seemingly unfair criticism, some people learn to just dismiss it all, especially if it comes from a student who is white. The effort and energy to go through each criticism and analyze it is far too taxing on people, so some choose to shut down and learn to see a lot of criticism — including valid criticism — as being a product of this racial double standard.

This is undoubtedly a bad thing, and harms dialogue on our campus.

People of colour are not immune from criticism and should not be put on a pedestal. We are not asking for special treatment, just fair treatment.

But this is what happens when the status quo is not challenged — it is not just harmful for people of colour but everyone involved.

It is difficult to verbalize these experiences. People may think you are pulling the race card or just looking for sympathy. After all, you signed up for a position that few students get the chance to hold. I’m aware that I have talked about race and student politics many times before

in the past, and there are probably people who think I make everything about race. But it is important that we talk about it.

It is especially crucial to have discussions about race when the people who treat people of colour like this probably don’t see themselves as racist. Many of these individuals probably have friends who are black or brown who don’t see them as racist, either.

Yet, acknowledging racial bias in student settings is not about individuals, but about systems that make people subconsciously enact this bias. Racism in student politics is paradoxical in that it is often invisible to the general student body, but painfully visible to those who have to experience it. The more we understand these systems and processes, the more we can take steps to tackle underlying experiences.

I learned a few things from my experience as ASSU president. I learned that, while this work is rewarding, it is also difficult, and the added sphere of being a person of colour can make the load feel even heavier. It is necessary to take care of yourself and take time for yourself. I learned that you won’t be able to do everything you want, but just being able to hold this position is an accomplishment in itself, powerfully cognizant of the existence of people in colour spaces where we are typically underrepresented. Beyond everything, I learned that what I was feeling wasn’t necessarily new.

It just took context after holding the position of president to understand that things I experienced growing up were indeed related to my identity as a person of colour.

Across campus, we have just elected new teams and new leaders — I hope the people of colour elected know that their experiences matter and that they should be able to talk about it. I also hope that other leaders and the rest of the student body respond by listening and re-analyzing their priorities and any problematic behaviour. It will take more than empty platitudes on privilege to fix problems of racism on campus; what we need is genuine dialogue, and I hope our campus is prepared to have that conversation.

Abdullah Shihipar is the outgoing president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union.

We should be more conscious of racial inequities in student politics. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

ANNA FOSTER AND PARMIDA JAFARI VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS

Not too long ago, 'designer babies,' genome editing and gene therapy were futuristic and expensive ideas that were available only to the most affluent elite.

Yet, today, this baffling feat is becoming shockingly affordable. In the last few years you may have been hearing about the new technology known as CRISPR/cas9, more commonly referred to as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). It is a new, precise, and efficient method for editing DNA. Since its initial debut in 2012, CRISPR’s capabilities have leapt forward every year. Some highlights include modifications of genomes in non-viable human embryos by Chinese scientists, modifications in pig embryos by US scientists in an effort to create pig organs viable for human organ transplants, and more recently, the authorization for UK scientists to begin experimentation in modifying viable human embryos.

CRISPR/Cas9 is not without its drawbacks. Although its precision has improved since its first introduction, the risk of off-target cuts exists and can range from 0.1 per cent to more than 60 per cent, depending on the target cell and sequence used in the experiment. Its power to wipe out entire species in under a year can be disastrous and have widespread effects on entire ecosystems.

For example, scientists have shown that by mutating a single gene in a single mosquito to render it sterile, they could essentially kill off all mosquitos in roughly 12 generations (36 weeks). But what does that mean for bats who rely on mosquitos as a food source? Use in human embryos could lead to 'designer babies' with the ability to pick and choose certain traits, consequently reducing genetic variation in populations.

It is a rather inexpensive and simple technique that can be easily accessed, and dangerous if not regulated. There has been such an explosive reaction to this new technique that it has outpaced our ability to create legal and ethical guidelines, and mandates for its use.

CRISPR has opened up new avenues for researching genetic diseases and gene therapy. While there are a number of concerns that accompany this research, the potential advantages are notable. CRISPR is more precise, efficient, and affordable than past methods of gene editing. There is still a lot of work to be done but initial studies have shown promising results.

In Toronto, CRISPR gene editing is currently being tested as a way to prevent and eliminate hereditary diseases like cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy, which do not currently have cures. It also has the potential to regulate genes instead

DIANA PHAM/THE VARSITY

of simply editing them. This means that it could activate some genes and silence others (like those which fuel cancer growth).

CRISPR technology is propelling genetics research forward.

There are a number of ethical concerns accompanying this advancement, and regulatory bodies need to catch up. As the leading agency responsible for regulating health products, Health Canada’s responsibility for creating a comprehensive regulatory framework will ultimately determine how CRISPR’s capabilities will affect our society.

The agency has prioritized a subprogram for Biologics and Radiopharmaceuticals for 2015-2016 (which covers gene therapy products) with the goal of generating a regulatory framework to develop, maintain, and implement the program. As the CRISPR technology is moving forward rapidly in Canada and abroad, this regulatory framework is urgently needed.

Health Canada must ensure that the regulatory framework adequately addresses the concerns that are surfacing with the development of CRISPR, both domestically and internationally. Harmonization of CRISPR regulations and requirements will be necessary to ensure equal protection for citizens and reduce medical tourism. Countries are moving forward at different paces — the United Kingdom for example has already approved use of CRISPR for research on human embryos.

In December 2015, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) held an international summit on Human Gene Editing after the Chi-

nese Academy of Scientists asked for a ban on clinical use of human germ line editing. The meeting concluded that research should continue with proper oversight, and that editing germ line cells should not proceed until safety and efficacy concerns have been resolved.

These discussions should continue to form the basis of a comprehensive regulatory framework for the use of CRISPR worldwide.

So why does CRISPR matter to us as students? CRISPR is not elusive technology. It is already being used in many labs at the university because of its broad range of applications and its ability to rapidly create animal models for testing.

Students have an obligation to understand the benefits of CRISPR technology and the current debates surrounding its application.

Students have an important voice to advocate for how CRISPR technology can be used in the future because its implications will directly affect our generation. CRISPR offers substantial benefits and holds promise as an inexpensive treatment for a variety of genetic disorders.

However, its powers should be used cautiously so as to not let it become a destructive villain.

Anna Foster and Parmida Jafari are on the advocacy sub-committee of IMAGINE at U of T, a student-run community health initiative aimed at promoting and discussing healthcare in Toronto.

var.st/editorial

EDITORIAL 4 A pril 2016

More than an acquittal o in or rd rom t e omes i tri e s ou d refine t e balance between feminist scholarship and accused's rights

editorial@thevarsity.ca

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR

THE VARSITY EDITORIAL BOARD

O

n March 24, former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi was acquitted of four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking. The media coverage and public discourse surrounding this decision, and the events leading up to it, have been tumultuous to say the least. Particularly as feminists and the media draw attention to jarring instances of mishandled sexual assault cases, the nation has become embroiled in a debate how best to achieve justice for survivors while still upholding the accused's legal right to presumed innocence.

It is difficult to engage meaningfully with such a difficult topic, but silence is not an option — we are all affected by gendered violence. In light of the U of T administration contemplating new strategies for preventing and responding to sexual violence, it is especially pertinent to be mindful of what the Ghomeshi trial reveals about how justice is currently manifested in the adjudication of sexual assault cases. Are our current processes adequate recourse for those who have been harmed?

As it stands, a legal acquittal does not preclude the possibility of the accused actually having committed the crime. In order for a person to be found guilty, judges must determine that the accused committed the crime “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Given that all criminal cases carry the potential of imprisonment, this high burden of proof is necessary to protect those who have been accused. Presuming the innocence of the accused curbs the immense power and influence of the state, which has been wielded to marginalize the most vulnerable in society, such as the poor and the racialized.

The very nature of sexual assault makes it extremely difficult to fulfill this burden of proof (compared to, say, court cases where the standard of judging is based on the balance of probabilities). In sexual assault cases physical evidence is often limited or absent, and it is rare that multiple witnesses are involved. Survivors also have a variety of legitimate reasons for delaying reporting, which include coping with trauma and fearing disbelief from their community. The lack of understanding that surrounds intimate partner violence, and how victims often cope, rationalize, and downplay abuse, means we continue to doubt the intentions of those who continue relationships with the accused; in so doing, we stigmatize the victims.

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of our current legal system most likely expected the final verdict of the Ghomeshi trial. Although it is arguable that the complainants’ testimonies were contradictory as part of a response to trauma, the Crown, was not able to use those testimonies to demonstrate that Ghomeshi, beyond a reasonable doubt, committed the crime — and so he was acquitted.

This does not make the case any less a cause for critical conversations about how our courts and society respond to sexual assault. The groundswell of activism responding to the Ghomeshi trial — exemplified by the #IBelieveSurvivors hashtag — pushes back against the notion that the legal system is and must be the ultimate validation of survivors' testimonies. Such reminders are necessary to assure survivors that they will be respected when disclosing experiences of sexual assault, not only in court but also in confidence with family and friends.

These calls to believe survivors should not be taken as direct recommendations for legal reform (nor university campus policy standards, for that matter). There is a significant difference between respecting survivors while they testify, and creating a formal adjudicatory standard that immediately presumes complainants are telling the truth. The latter obviously infringes upon the long-standing principle of 'innocent until proven guilty,' and should be rejected as unconscionable.

Feminist advocates and legal academics, however, are not seriously pushing for the justice system to adopt a categorical belief in complainants’ testimonies of sexual assault. The majority would not advocate that the burden of proof is irrelevant. To view the #IBelieveSurvivors and other relevant feminist sentiments as threatening fundamental principles of our legal system, creates a false dichotomy that hinders much-needed discussions about how to achieve justice for both sexual assault survivors and those accused.

Without substantive legal reform proposals, we need to be asking what processes we could change, or create, to better promote justice in sexual assault cases.

We should not limit ourselves to the narrow conception of whether trials occurred in accordance with current legal standards. There should be no question that Ghomeshi’s lawyer was doing her job correctly, and well, when she revealed the doubt surrounding the credibility for the three complainants.

It is more fruitful to question whether this process promotes justice, in the sense of whether it appropriately determines responsibility and makes reparations for harm caused. Aspects that require particular scrutiny include the support available to survivors when reporting assaults; the extent and nature of questioning into survivor’s accounts; and the interpretation of what constitutes reasonable behaviour after trauma.

We should strive to find a balance, such that the accused holds the right to the presumption of innocence, and that legal recourse adequately accounts for the complexities of sexual assault. The excruciating and prevailing challenge here is coming up with a solution that can harmonize these positions. There is no denying the enormity of this task, but it is possible — some of U of T’s own academics, such as professor Brenda Cossman and professor Mary Lou Fassel, are already attempting to answer these questions.

This is not a zero-sum game in which feminist advocacy necessarily encroaches upon fundamental legal rights, or vice versa. It is imperative that we internalize this notion — only then can we have constructive discussion on how to promote public safety, gender equality, and justice in adjudicating cases of sexual assault.

Re: And the band did not play on “I don't know. I watched the Blues play McGill in 1955 or so and there were around 10,000 in the stands.

But, my father said that in the early 50s, the crowds were 20,000 and more. There were no bands, only cheerleaders. Today, there are more distractions for people to choose. In sports, there are the Blue Jays, the Leafs, the basketball team, excellent restaurants and so on. Back in the '50s the Argos and Varsity teams were a big deal.

I don't know if a band with majorettes will boost attendance or not. I watched all of Varsity's home football games and the away game at York, 7 or 8 hockey games and two of the final volleyball games in which the ladies won the Ontario championship.

There were a lot of good moments and memories from those games.

In addition, it was nice to see the Western and Queen's cheerleaders perform. They are excellent. But, the Varsity cheerleaders and spirit team are really good too.

The upshot is that the day of large crowds at Canadian University sporting events seems to have gone.

I hope the crowds come back, and that goes for the Argos too.”

— Robert Bruce Maule (from web)

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

Letters to the editor should be directed to comment@thevarsity.ca. Please keep letters to 250 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Re: Entire 1UofT team disqualified “I just find it worrying that a committee is going to make decisions affecting the voting results, after the vote has already taken place.

Ratified or not, there is potential for bias and this should have been done prior to the votes being counted, unless demerit points are being given for things occurring during the time it took to count the votes.”

— Sai V Varikooty (from web) Re: Can a spoonful a day protect your memory?

“I wish I can be happy as that girl pouring maple syrup onto her spoon.”

— Daniel Moon (from web) Re: Unofficial post endorsing 1UofT circulates on WeChat “Dear The Varsity, I found that the article you published titled “Unofficial post endorsing 1UofT circulates on WeChat” is seriously misleading, as it misinterpreted Chinese culture and language.

In this article, one of the nontranslated 1UofT campaign material is misinterpreted and mistranslated. For example, when Chinese people say “shuai ge,” it does not mean “hot guys.” In fact, we call all guys “shuai ge” and all girls “mei nv.” If you have a translator who does not know anything about our culture, you could easily arrive at a wrongful translation as bizarre as this one. However, Mandarins would not see this post as an exaggeration of the candidate’s profile or physical features, but merely as stating the facts.

Due to the unprofessionalism of your translation, huge negative impacts have been created for both the Chinese and the non-Chinese communities at U of T. First, it leads the non-Chinese community to misinterpret the intentions of the writer who wrote the WeChat post (as well as the intentions of 1UofT) for deliberately emphasizing the physical characteristics of the candidates to appeal for their votes, when in fact, both the writer of the post and the 1UofT members did not mean to do so. In fact, they have objectively expressed the message of 1UofT and did not attempt to idolize the Candidates. Second, it undermines Chinese culture and does not take cross-cultural perspectives into consideration. It created an enormous negative psychological impact on the Chinese community as we no long feel like we are being “treated equally” and “justly represented” by The Varsity.

As the sole official newspaper organization at U of T, it is extremely important for The Varsity to remain objective, impartial, and have an equal representation of all students from different ethnic backgrounds.

We believe that The Varsity is an effective medium between different groups at U of T, and we (Celine and Angel) are willing to take the lead on the issue to facilitate better understanding between both sides.

We really hope The Varsity will look into this issue and respond with great consideration. We hope the bridge between non-English speakers and English speakers will be built on understanding but not any other means.

— Celine Liu and Angel Zheng (from email)

Is Canadian science

The Harper government was consistently criticized in the media for ‘muzzling’ government scientists. BENJAMIN LAPPALAINEN/THE VARSITY

MONEY AND ‘MUZZLING’

Under Stephen Harper’s government, scientists across Canada reported a variety of challenges related to the government and their work. A common grievance was the reduction in federal research funding to various programs and facilities. In January 2014, CBC News reported that 2000 government scientists had been laid off within five years, and that research in climate change, water quality, and other areas had seen dramatic financial cutbacks.

In recent years, Canadian researchers have also expressed concerns over political censorship in the publication of data. The Harper government was accused of preventing scientists employed by the federal government from sharing information that did not align with the goals of the administration. Public scientists’ interactions with the media were carefully controlled by government media managers.

In particular, climate change research conducted by government scientists allegedly did not reach the general public. Some groups, including the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, called these practices ‘scientific muzzling.’

The new government seems eager to distance itself from these criticisms and to prioritize transparent scientific research. When asked about the goals of the new Ministry of Science, Duncan said, “The goal is to return science to its rightful place and to return science to its rightful place in government. We have two ministers with science in the title, and it I think it shows the importance this government places on science.”

Duncan is a scientist first and isn’t afraid to admit that.

She is a U of T geography and anthropology alumnus, holds a PhD in geography, and is known within the community for her research on historical epidemics. Her work focused on understanding the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, as the world worried about an outbreak of another global flu in the late 1990s.

Duncan taught meteorology, climatology, and climate change at the University of Windsor from 1993 to 2000.

Her research led to the publication of a book called Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist’s Search for a Killer Virus in 2003. She entered politics in 2008 and won her riding, even as the federal Liberal Party failed to win nationally.

It is Duncan’s opinion that the government should not influence scientists’ communications with the public.

“Scientists should be able to speak freely in an official capacity where they have direct responsibility or expertise, or scientific and technical matters related to their work.

That’s what science is about. Scientists share their work; they have to be able to do that. Part of my mandate is to ensure that government scientists can talk freely about their work, that government science is made available to Canadians and that we have this evidence base to inform decision making,” she said.

The Conservative Party of Canada maintains that its stance on science has been fair. Marilyn Gladu, MP for the riding of Sarnia-Lambton and Conservative Party of Canada science critic, said, “My view is that scientists are free to speak about their work, but they do not speak for the government on issues of science policy.”

Gladu also defended the Conservatives’ record on science. “Canadian Science never left the main stage while the Conservatives were in power. A lot of very positive things happened, in fact, like a Canadian research team finding a cure for Ebola, that just simply never got a lot of media attention,”she said.

The tension between government regulation and scientific expression was enough to prompt students to speak out about the right to free expression of scientific findings.

At U of T, a group known as Students for the Right to Know was started in response to the alleged muzzling of scientists by the Harper government. The group, led by Emma Pask, continues to advocate for the freedom to disseminate scientific findings.

Pask felt that awareness of the importance of transparency in research has increased. “More professors are presenting their work through alternative avenues, instead of having it written up by public relations representatives or journalists, as dictated by the mandates for government funded research

[under Stephen Harper].” To ensure the free expression of their work, Pask said, “Academics are creating more direct ways of sharing their work by starting blogs and appearing on shows, such as TED Talks, to ensure the transparency that their work requires and to secure the proper communication of the scope of their research.”

These measures may no longer be necessary if the new government begins to dismantle the policies put in place by the Harper government, but the lengths researchers go to secure free expression of their findings is representative of how important transparency is to Canadian researchers.

THE ‘GROSS RESEARCH PRODUCT’

After the passing of the 2016 federal budget, scientists would have welcomed the news that an increase in funding had been allocated to the three main research funding bodies in Canada: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Engineering Research Council (SSHRC). The budget allocates an additional $22.99 million for each of these funding bodies. In total, the final budgets will rise to $865.83 million for NSERC, $789.21 million for the CIHR, and $558.58 million for the SSHRC. Smaller increases were provided to other institutions, like Genome Canada and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

These increases, however, can be seen as modest at best. While more generous than previous budgets, an increase of $22.99 million dollars does not spread well over an entire country and is not likely to significantly improve the ability of researchers to obtain grants for their work.

Canada’s research and development expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) remains significantly lower than those of many other top research countries.

In 2013, Canada’s per capita GDP spent on research was 1.62 per cent; Israel’s was 4.21 per cent. France’s expenditure on research was 2.23 per cent of GDP in 2013.

e back?

The federal government has promised to improve transparency and funding of Canadian research; if done right, it could be a pivotal moment for scientists SHAAN BHAMBRA

ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITOR

I

n late 2015, Kirsty Duncan, Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Etobicoke North, was appointed Minister of Science in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.

Duncan has no direct predecessor to emulate. The position was introduced by Brian Mulroney in 1990 and existed until 1995, when Jean Chrétien nixed it and added the new title of Minister of Industry to his cabinet. Stephen Harper reintroduced a Science and Technology portfolio to his cabinet, but demoted the person in this position to Minister of State, which is a lower cabinet rank. It was therefore a significant change when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Duncan with a full mandate. The move seemed to reflect the Liberal Part of Canada’s campaign promise to restore the voice and funding given to Canadian researchers and scientists.

With $1.1 billion in research funding granted at U of T in 2013– 2014 — 31 per cent of which came from federal agencies — there is no doubt that the university is a major player in Canadian research.

It educates thousands of students hoping to participate in research each year. Many from the U of T community will be watching as the new federal government attempts to change the political climate surrounding research in Canada.

Kennedy Stewart, MP for the riding of Burnaby South and New Democratic Party science critic, thought more should be done to improve research in Canada. “Stephen Harper and the Conservatives undermined scientific research in Canada by reducing funding, firing and muzzling government scientists, and eliminating key tools such as the long form census. As a result, our global reputation took a severe hit and we dropped on most key comparative tables concerning scientific output and innovation,” he said.

He added that the increases in research funding under the Liberals failed to meet his ideals: “In a recent letter to the new science minister I asked Dr. Duncan to increase funding to our tri-councils by $1.5 billion over the next four years and to tie these increases to inflation to [guarantee] adequate funding over the long term. While a good start, the recent Liberal budget fell short of these goals.”

While researchers would like greater funding, governments are understandably constrained by their budgets. The scarcity of government funding begs the question: should governments prioritize research that is likely to be economically productive?

Duncan said that the 2016 budget delivers on a mandate to increase funding for “fundamental” science, rather than just research for commercial gain. “Under the framework of the previous government, [researchers] felt that funds were being tied, that there had to be a commercialization aspect to their research to get funding. The example I’ll give is with SSHRC. Between 2000 and 2006, there was 0% tied funding. In 2006, it was 9%. Today it stands at 37%. We heard repeatedly that [increases in research funding] should be unfettered, and [these increases are] unfettered money,” she explained.

Dr. Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice president of research and innovation, noted that U of T researchers enter into funding agreements that guarantee their ability to publish their results and therefore have not been subject to censorship by the government. He hopes for Duncan and the Liberals to implement improvements to the process of applying for funding, which can sometimes be burdensome.

“Right now… in order [for researchers] to maintain their research programs, their labs, and their support, their graduate students, post docs and so on have to write multiple applications for the same project to different organizations,” he explained. Goel wants this process to come under the Ministry of Science review that was also announced in the 2016 budget. He also wishes that the government can improve access to funding for new scholars and increase international collaborations.

Dr. Edward Andrew, professor emeritus of the U of T political science department is in favour of research for the sake of research. “My view is that governments should be strong supporters of research, even if it is not economically productive,” he said.

He warned of what can happen if governments fail to support research, regardless of their potential payoff. Andrew predicted, “The alternative to government funding is that all research will be funded and controlled by capitalist corporations. To avoid researchers becoming lackeys of corporations or governments, a multiplicity of patrons or funding agencies is essential.”

Meanwhile, funding agencies have been struggling in recent years. In 2013, both the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science and the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy were shut down due to a lack of funding.

While research funding rarely improves the national bottom-line immediately, research should not be undervalued. Rock-solid research is needed to maintain Canada’s position on the global stage. National research and development strengthens our medical care and often leads to new ways to make complicated procedures more effective and cost-efficient.

The National Research Council (NRC) funds a number of medical technologies that improve the way our federally-funded physicians conduct lifesaving procedures. Government funding of globallyrenowned Canadian health non-profits, like Grand Challenges Canada, also saves thousands of lives abroad. The Defence Research and Development

Canada agency conducts important research on how to improve military technology.

While these investments may not pay off immediately, it’s important that a global leader like Canada takes the necessary risk of investing in research, regardless of the outcome.

Goel echoed these sentiments: “Government[s]… can fund fundamental research without having to make the case that it’s going to be economically productive.” Furthermore, he made it clear that governments have a role in funding research for the “social good.” “[Governments fund] research for which no single entity on its own, particularly a private sector organization, would necessarily invest in because it’s so fundamental [that] it doesn’t lead directly to products and commercialization,” continued Goel. “So, [the] particularly important role for government[s] is to fund the research that nobody else or nowhere else in society would be funded.”

Goel also said that the importance of research in the humanities should not be forgotten or ignored. “I think another part of this [that is] really important for the university is research in humanities and in the social sciences, [which] quite often [are] not directly related to economic activity in the way that people think about it.” noted Goel.

In particular, he drew attention to the role the social sciences have in national security. “It is fundamental to our society and understanding social forces within society.

Understanding why, for example, people might get radicalized… If we took an economic lens, [that research] might not get funded, [which] can often end up being the most important for us as a society.”

While it is clear that the Liberal government is attempting to improve the Canadian research climate, it remains to be seen whether the measures they have proposed will be enough to realize substantial change. Duncan seems to be hopeful. She concluded, “I just hope that science is back, and that there is respect for science and scientists and the important work they do.”

var.st/arts

ARTS&CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

4 A pril 2016

“Kind of apocalyptic” — Richard Linklater and t e erican indie fil The Varsity inter ie ed t e scar

inning director a out is upco ing fil

Everybody Wants Some!!

Everybody Wants Some!! opened in theatres on March 30. PHOTOS COURTESY OF VAN REDIN

Richard Linklater (left) on the set of his latest movie.

Everybody Wants Some!! is the "spiritual sequel" to Dazed and Confused.

CORINNE PRZYBYSLAWSKI VARSITY STAFF

“College is more fun than high school. Something’s wrong with you if it’s not.” These are the words of Richard Linklater, the Oscarwinning filmmaker responsible for Dazed and Confused (1993), Boyhood (2014), and the Before series. Linklater is best known for his Americana coming-of-age indie movies and his reflections on high-school and college clearly explain why.

Prior to Linklater’s talk at Innis College on March 24, I interviewed the acclaimed director in a swanky Paramount Productions suite at the Shangri-La Hotel. For a filmmaker whose career is prefaced on lowbudget independent films — a genre practically born out of desire to be anti-Hollywood — it’s a rather ill-fitting place to meet.

Linklater’s films are known for their collages of people and personalities. The American director possesses a unique storytelling ability that makes for a perceptive interpretation of suburban American culture; it offers realistic renditions of the emotional and psychological musings that plague the characters. He’s currently on tour to promote his latest film — about a group of college baseball players navigating the freedom of adulthood — entitled Everybody Wants Some!!

“COLLEGE WAS ALL ABOUT THE FREEDOM” “It was kind of monolithic,” says Linklater, describing the story-world of his latest film.

“The world that Jake [Blake Jenner] finds himself in is a bunch of athletes living in these houses, and college can be kind of segregated that way, whether it’s your major or your roommates, or you know, girls dorms [or] boys dorms.”

He describes the college comedy in contrast to his earlier high school comedy, Dazed and Confused. “High school felt like you were all on top of each other. Not necessarily in a good way, but college was all about freedom.

In a way, it’s just a different story-telling mechanism, I guess.”

As a storyteller, Linklater produces narratives with an autobiographical tone, which creates an element of intertextuality throughout his body of work. Everybody Wants Some!! continues this tradition. As the "spiritual sequel" to Dazed and Confused, the film captures the zeitgeist of the 70s and 80s.

Much like its predecessor, it boasts an allAmerican, blue-jeans-and-biceps-sensibility.

“It’s personal. I was in high school in the 70s; I was in college [in the 80s]. But you know, the amateur anthropologist in me was thinking ‘Okay, so what was different and how do people change? How do they stay the same? How does the culture shift?’ It’s all fun to do; it's sort of the magic of cinema.

Cinema is really powerful that way. You can recreate a moment in time and try to get it exactly right,” Linklater explains.

His personal attachment extends to the political state of the time period. “It was kind of apocalyptic. The Reagan Era was negative in a

lot of ways; we didn’t know it at the time. You never think things are going to go backwards, but they really did. It really felt that way as a young person,” says Linklater.

FROM FILM TO DIGITAL For a long time, Linklater was a self-proclaimed “film purist” — a filmmaker that avoided using modern cinematic technology at all costs. His latest film, however, embraces digital technology.

“We shot it on an [Arri] Alexa [camera], which is digital,” says Linklater. “I was a film purist for as long as I could be, and then I just liked this one Arri camera [that] I’ve used for three movies. I like it. It’s not a big deal.”

The switch to digital technology, however, took some time. “I did it kind of slowly. I went back and forth a little bit. I shot some digital and I finished a film and I think Boyhood was [shot] in film.”

Ultimately, the technology aspect of the cinema is of little importance to Linklater.

“All the technological elements to me are just — they’re just tools to help with your storytelling. I don’t think you can be too adamant about one thing or another. Film has always been a practical medium, you know? Often you have people on low budgets just trying to make it work. Whatever’s practical for the time period you’re shooting your movie [in].

That’s what it’s always been.”

He notes that “a lot of people obsess over [technology], thinking that’s the key [to the movie industry], where it’s really not.”

Linklater has seen crucial developments in film technology over the course of his career, including the maturation of CGI, while moving from the grassroots stages of Boyhood to its release 12 years later.

“I think all technology is there to help us communicate, in all facets,” he notes. “As a storyteller it’s quite a helpful tool, but I think that you can’t use it as a crutch. You can’t use it as a short cut, you still have to do the hard work, and if it’ll help you, all the better. But it still comes down to what you’re trying to express. The technology is a really small part of it.”

CINEMA AS A REFLECTION OF OUR LIVES In films like Boyhood or Dazed and Confused — which take place over the course of 12 years and two days respectively — Linklater “hinges on the timeframe and ongoing moment-to-moment reality” that allows him to eliminate the traditional narrative sense of plot.

“The traditional ‘set something up, create a conflict, and pay it off’ [narrative]… feels kind of false to me. That’s not how most of us go through our lives. It’s just kind of this moment-to-moment reality that we’re all living through. So I’ve always tried to mirror that somehow,” he explains.

Ultimately, Linklater sees his moviemaking style in a simplistic way. “Storytelling is storytelling,” he says. “It comes from anywhere.”

T H E VA R S I T Y

ARTS & CULTURE 17

var.st/arts

Living arts: The U of T escape room Escape Sid Smith or prepare to meet your peril — a lowered GPA MARIYA POSTELNAK VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Students gather in front of the escape room at Sid Smith. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYNELLE D'SILVA

ip on t is

e o ee

Escape rooms have become increasingly popular in Toronto, and now U of T is getting in on the action. Campaign for Community hosted its very first U of T escape room at Sidney Smith hall last Wednesday.

The game originated in Silicon Valley in 2006 and requires participants to solve various puzzles in order to escape the confines of a locked room.

I arrive on the second floor of Sid Smith — which is still crowded although it’s 8:15 pm — to find pairs of friends and groups of strangers waiting in anticipation.

A novice to the escape room phenomenon, I am quickly assigned to a team that I anxiously interrogate about the rules of the game. While many confess to being as inexperienced as myself, my team also boasts some devoted escape room aficionados.

The concept seems simple enough: a group of six to eight people is locked in a room with hidden clues, scattered but connected in guiding the escape. There’s a time constraint, and impending, if we don’t complete the task on time. For the sake of maintaining the U of T theme, the ‘impending doom’ is a severely decreased GPA. As we get ready to enter the room, my teammates try to sneak a peek into the mysterious game-space. I, on the other hand, have to remind myself that this is an escape room and not a history tutorial, considering the all-too-familiar setting.

The similarities vanish when I step inside the cryptically re-vamped classroom, however.

A mix of maps, posters, toolboxes, and printouts of Michelangelo’s most acclaimed works make for an especially confusing scene. In the foreground, a blackboard is crowded with what can only be described as a medley

of math equations. Most striking are the Starbucks cups, half-full with an unnamed liquid that a few teammates suggested we drink in the hopes that it will lead to a clue. Thankfully, the idea is quickly abandoned.

In advance, we are told the record for quickest escapetime: an impressive 16 minutes that we’re determined to beat. Despite adrenaline, my teammates remain surprisingly calm as they scour every corner, carefully inspecting each item. Nothing is random, they tell me — anything can conceal a valuable clue.

Among the 2,800 escape rooms worldwide, the successful-escape rate stands under 50 per cent. The statistics seem to confirm the general consensus among my teammates, who felt that the difficulty level of our own challenge was fairly mild.

Nonetheless, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Fourth-year student and escape room rookie Dhyey Sejpal said the game “was a nice break from assignments in this stressful exam time.” Another teammate called the U of T adaptation of the game “very creative” in its ability to get people motivated and working together. Clearly, the efforts of organizers and designers at Campaign for Community paid off.

In the end, my team did not break the record. We escaped at just under 20 minutes. In this short time, the room itself became an escape, locking out the stress of finals and transporting us from student worries without leaving the comfort of campus.

b

n t e ne er ending searc for decent co ee around ca pus e Co ee a is our ost recent disco er INDIA MCALISTER VARSITY STAFF

The Coffee Lab is in an odd location. Tucked inside a used book store next to the Bata Shoe Museum, the Coffee Lab has a somewhat stuffy atmosphere — not what you would expect in a city full of coffee shops that attract customers with free Wi-Fi rather than good coffee.

The Coffee Lab is located a few steps away from UTSG and caters to stressed-out students and professors. In half the time it takes to get to the front of the line at the Robarts Library Starbucks, owner and full-time barista Joshua Campos can expertly craft an exquisite pick-me-up.

Campos is a graduate of The American Barista and Coffee School in Portland, Oregon, which he describes as the best institution of its kind in North America.

The Coffee Lab currently offers pour-over coffee and espresso that Campos pulls from a gorgeous La Marzocco FB70 machine.

When you first enter, Campos greets you with a smile. He is a diligent and friendly barista with a broad knowledge of coffee beans; when you order a coffee, you’re offered a sniff of the day's selection.

Campos orders different kinds of beans every week, and although he usually stocks up on the locally-roasted, he offers varieties from around the world.

As of now, The Coffee Lab is one of Toronto’s hidden gems.

Few people seem to know about it — and it’s no surprise, considering the obscure location — but Campos hopes that the lineups will eventually get longer.

The shop is lacking space for seating and food. Though Campos plans patio seating out front when the weather warms up, The Coffee

Lab’s 52 square-foot space is far too tiny for indoor seating.

The Lab currently stocks a selection of brownies and magic bars, which Campos’ fiancée bakes.

While both options are delicious, neither are particularly nutritious or satisfying for those in need of a proper meal.

Compared to College Street and Queen Street West, it seems that Bloor Street suffers from a deficit of independent coffee shops. The Bloor area surrounding UTSG is mostly piled with Starbucks, Second Cups, and Tim Hortons.

So the next time you are considering standing in line at the Bedford Timmies, you may want to consider The Coffee Lab instead.

At 52 square feet, The Coffee Lab is the smallest cafe in Toronto. TOSIN MAIYEGUN/THE VARSITY

18 ARTS & CULTURE

M O N DAY 4 A P R I L 2 016 arts@thevarsity.ca

The most obscure courses at U of T ig lig ting essential non essentials t at t e uni ersit

as to o er solid combination of anxiety and curiosity, only to find that the midterm was a single-page wine advertisement that featured a map of where the drinker's night would take them, and we were to analyze this map. To my surprise, I realized much of what was covered in class could be applied to the wine ad's map. The midterm went well but I can honestly say that it was the strangest and most memorable test I have ever taken."

— Christian Crawford

DENISE VILLATE/THE VARSITY

THE VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS

Unfortunately, the four years of lectures that make up an undergraduate experience can be a joyless journey. Buried deep in U of T's course catalogue, however, are a number of unconventional academic gems. The following are real students' tales of real classes that you can really take during your time at U of T.

there was a lot to talk about. At times we studied the CGI element of recreating a figure onscreen, and at times we discussed 20th century Horror-flick philosophy surrounding the ‘return of the repressed’. While surprisingly informative, I can say with absolute certainty that there’s virtually nothing I can do with the information I’ve absorbed from this course."

— Jacob Lorinc

CIN360: DOPPELGANGERS AND DOUBLES "I realized just how ridiculous ‘Doppelgangers and Doubles’ was as our professor stood in front of a projector displaying a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio standing next to his Russian doppelganger. The course covered exactly what it said it would: doppelgangers in cinema. Surprisingly,

HIS440: MAPS AND HISTORY "This class focuses on the theory behind the creation of maps, rather than any historic dates or other standard midterm fare. When pressed on what would possibly be on the midterm, Professor Retallack simply teased, 'if you are present in class, you shouldn’t have a problem.' So the day of the midterm arrived and I showed up with a

MUS321: THE BEATLES "Never did I think watching a YouTube clip of Ringo Starr sitting on his yacht recounting how many drugs he and the rest of the Fab Four consumed during the '60s would get me closer to graduation. But sure enough, there I was in lecture furiously transcribing Ringo's ramblings like a court reporter, hoping to catch some miscellaneous one-liner that might end up as a test's bonus question. The Beatles class was a thrill for any pop/rock enthusiast, as we spent each week doing, well, exactly what you'd expect: working our way through the Beatles' discography one week at a time, watching clips from their all-too-short touring stint, and debating over which Beatle was the best (read 'dreamiest'). It was the most in-touch I've ever felt with those girls you hear screaming in the background of every Beatles live video, and I loved it."

— Corey van den Hoogenband ENG235: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL "I have been thinking about that 'what even is this class' moment, and for me it was really while writing the essay for the Graphic Novel course.

I tend to send my essays to my brother to proof read, but in this case it was also specifically because I thought he would enjoy the subject matter. He sent it back to me after reading the first line and refused to read the rest, claiming that it was unfair that he was working on advanced

mathematics for his engineering problem sheets while I was writing a paper about Batman's existential crisis in The Dark Knight Returns. Even after I finished the course, he refused to read any of my essays out of bitterness."

— Scheherazade Khan ENG239: FANTASY AND HORROR "There's a Fantasy and Horror class at UTM and we had to read I Am Legend. But Professor Koening-Woodyard is obviously the biggest nerd ever (he also taught the Science Fiction class), and there was a point where he just explained for twenty minutes how he calculated how many zombies the main character killed throughout the course of the plot, even though like 99% of it is implied and it had nothing to do with anything besides him wanting to nerd out for a while. Weird side note: all three horror novels we read for the class were about vampires. Even Twilight was originally going to be included, but the Professor decided to cut it before the class actually started."

— Nicholas Schaus CIN211: SCIENCE FICTION FILM "There I was having a mental breakdown. ‘This is it mom, I am going to flunk out,’ I, age 23, told my mother. All of this anguish and it was over what, my mother asked me. ‘...Are you serious?

Barbarella?’ It was my final year of undergrad and it was looking like nude, zero gravity Jane Fonda, was defeating me. I did manage to finish the paper, though. A paper my Professor, who unbeknownst to me was a huge Barbarella fan, commented on as 'taking the film too seriously.'

Upon reading his less than favorable comment I felt dismayed, declaring rudely to my wonderful T.A., 'But this is Cinema Studies! Don’t you guys take all movies too seriously?'"

— India McAlister

Hamilton's legacy: other moments in history that deserve a musical e pi ed fi e potenti

musi

DENISE VILLATE/THE VARSITY

REUT COHEN

ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

As anyone who has sat through a middle school social studies class knows, it can be difficult to connect to the history of your country, especially when it boils down to a bunch of proper nouns and dates. So why has Hamilton, a Broadway musical that tells the story of one of America’s founding fathers, become such a success?

s nd t e enres t

t s ou d

omp ny t em

Maybe it’s because Alexander Hamilton’s story is told through rap battles disguised as cabinet meetings and slow jams that reveal political sex scandals. For the first time ever, the winner of the Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album is a soundtrack that includes a rap debate over the national debt plan.

The real question we should be asking ourselves: is there something to this idea of taking a historical period and mixing it with a seemingly incongruous musical genre? We decided to give it a go — here are our suggestions for some mashups to rival Hamilton’s success.

BIBLICAL TIMES + DUBSTEP Hamilton has a song called “Ten Duel Commandments” that outlines the rules of duelling, which is a thing that people used to do in the American colonies when they had a disagreement. This begs the question: why isn’t there a musical number about the Ten Commandments? The drama of this moment in Exodus cannot be overstated: Moses’ descent from Mount Sinai is initiated by a massive bass drop. Amidst the thumping bass, he delivers the tablets only to discover that — plot twist!

— the ancient Israelites have started worshipping a golden idol while he’s been away.

AN OPERATIC STONE AGE Prehistory was a simpler time. Homo sapiens were not preoccupied with issues like nonexistent job prospects after obtaining a social sciences degree; they could instead divert their attention hunting and gathering. In order to connect with these stories though, we require a more modern style of music, such as opera. Many operas have plot lines that include sweeping romances and treacherous plots. Transposing a band of merry Neanderthals into this setting would be interesting, especially considering the beautiful arias would be comprised of grunts and groans.

HARDCORE ANCIENT ROMANS The drama and political intrigue of ancient Rome would be perfectly conducive to the raw nature of hardcore punk music. From Julius Caesar to Brutus, the men of Roman civilization carried around a lot of rage with them.

This makes sense — you need reserves of anger to draw upon for wars or assassinations.

I’m envisioning a garage rehearsal of numerous toga-clad men screaming their lungs out about power and the man — it’s beautiful.

THE REGENCY ERA TO COUNTRY MUSIC Country music isn’t just about pickup trucks, blue jeans, and whiskey. Sometimes it gets

confessional, as singers divulge things they ordinarily would never say. This is why it would pair perfectly with some of the most repressed people in history: the British. Imagine if, at the peak of the romantic tension of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy whipped out a banjo, tore off his trousers to reveal some broken-in Levi’s, and started serenading Lizzie Bennet with a good ol’ Dolly Parton song. Perhaps the original version of “I Will Always Love You.” THE ROARING TWENTIES WITH TRAP MUSIC During the Roaring Twenties, youth all over America were in revolt against societal constraints. Girls were bobbing their hair, leaving their corsets behind, and staying out all night in dance halls, even after the advent of Prohibition. This must have been a tense time in many households, so it’s too bad that trap developed 70 years later.

Trap’s confrontational style might have bridged the gap between many kids and their conservative parents. Nothing brings us together quite like dance montages set to heavy bass and synth — just ask the people of that town from Footloose. Well, the remake.

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SCIENCE

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THE ROBOT WILL SEE YOU NOW: THE REVOLUTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDICINE Ethicists, computer scientists, artificial intelligence experts, and health care professionals come together to weigh in on the ethical issues concerning the use of artificial intelligence in medicine. How will we deal with issues of confidentiality, accuracy, and accountability Tuesday, April 5 4:00–5:30 pm Bahen Centre for Information Technology 40 St. George Street Rm1170 Admission: Free with registration The choice of where to go for your undergrad is one of the most difficult decisions for aspiring doctors to make. BENJAMIN LAPPALAINEN/THE VARSITY

GP eh? A guide on how to get into medical school Thousands of students hope to gain entry into medical school each year, but few know how to do so HANNAH LANK VARSITY STAFF

Medical school. For many undergrads at universities across Canada, these two words effectively summarize their greatest aspiration, while also striking fear into many of their hearts.

For a student looking to pursue a career in medicine, choosing a university for an undergraduate degree is often one of the hardest decisions to make. It is difficult enough to figure out finances, moving away from home, new friends, and university rankings, but students who want to get into medical school are faced with many other daunting choices as well. They are torn between choosing a school that is ‘prestigious’ according to rankings, and choosing a school where it is possible to achieve a high GPA. Unfortunately, it seems that few universities offer both options for students.

A 2014 Maclean’s article entitled “Gambling on an M.D.” outlined the issue and came to a startling conclusion: more than half of the 1,598 surveyed M.D. students came from one of six universities. It stated that “78 per cent... had last studied at one of 15 universities with a medical school on campus.”

This is surprising because many undergraduate students avoid universities with reputations for making hard to earn high GPAs; many believe a high GPA is the key to medical school admission. According to Maclean’s, “some [students] swear that the University of Toronto’s life sciences is so hard, it should be avoided at all costs - but little data to back up the rumours.” The survey found that U of T sent the second highest number of students to medical school with a total of 149, behind only McMaster, which sent 168.

Universities with GPA-friendly reputations,

such as Mount Allison and Acadia — which are smaller — only saw a combined total of 24 undergraduates continue on to medical school.

When discussing science, it is important to note that correlation does not imply causation: it is possible that students from schools like Mount Allison and Acadia do not apply to medical school as often as students from U of T or McMaster. The schools’ populations too, are considerably smaller; it is only logical that fewer students from these schools will be represented at medical schools. Considering how dramatic some students make choosing your undergrad, it seems that this spread suggests something further.

There are a few conclusions one could draw here: though schools like U of T and McMaster may have tougher reputations than schools like Brock or Acadia, medical schools are aware of this fact and consider applications accordingly. Alternatively, schools like U of T prioritize their own undergraduates for admission into U of T medical school over other students, or medical schools in general do not consider GPA as heavily as suggested.

There is, of course, no correct answer — or at least not one with which any medical school will explicitly agree. The medical admissions process remains as elusive as ever. U of T’s Faculty of Medicine was unable to comment on the subject.

If you ask a current U of T life sciences student aspiring to obtain a career in medicine — like myself — the answer would be to ignore all the rumours.

Yes, U of T may be difficult and perhaps it is tougher than other schools. But if it offers the program in which a student is interested, is in a city in which he or she wants to study, and offers extracurricular opportunities that

excites them, I see no good reason not to choose to come here or McMaster, McGill, etc.

This view is shared by Alissa Mirochnitchenko, one of the co-presidents of the U of T Pre-Med Society. “I have no regrets about coming here because I know that at U of T, we are at the epicentre of research and innovation in Canada, and we have the opportunity to participate in it; something that can be more useful to medical school admissions than your GPA.” Your GPA is a only a component of your med school application. According to Dr. Marc Morneau of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta, the weighted importance of your grades in your application is about 30 per cent. That leaves the majority of your application, a whole 70 per cent, weighted for your extracurriculars, essays, and interview.

Current U of T Faculty of Medicine student Lindsay Schnarr, who has an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph, says that she chose Guelph “because it was my favourite school and had a program that offered much more focused medical science type courses compared to doing general life science at McMaster, which would’ve been my second choice.” While she admits thinking about her GPA may have played some factor in her undergrad applications, it was not the ultimate deciding factor.

The aspiring medical student can spend a lot of time worrying. What to study, where to study it, and all the extracurricular activities to get involved with all influence student life.

It may, however, ultimately be more productive to take a step back and think about what subjects and what universities interest and excite you.

DESIGNMEETS: DESIGN THINKING IN HEALTHCARE Hosted by PI T Design Group, this talk is about transformation in the healthcare experience and delivery. It features speakers Collen Youg, online community director for Mayo Clinic connect, Craig Thompson, diector of digital communications at omen’s College Hospital, and other innovative thinkers.

Tuesday, April 5 6:00 pm MaRS Discovery District 101 College Street Main Auditorium Admission: Free with registration

ASTROTOUR PLANETARIUM SHOWS Join the free Astronomy Public tour taking place on the first Thursday of every month for a free public talk followed by telescope observing and planetarium shows.

Thursday, April 7 8:00–10:30 pm Astronomy Building 50 St. George Street Admission: Free with registration (meeting places differ)

ASTRONAUT JEREMY HANSEN TALK AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO The of T Aerospace Team and TSonISS hosts space talk, featuring Lt. Col. Jeremy R. Hansen, one of the two Canadian astronauts expected to y to the ISS by . This is an opportunity for students to find out more about the Canadian Space Programme and what it’s like to be an astronaut.

Friday, April 8 11:30 am–12:30 pm Bahen Centre for Information Technology 40 St. George Street Rm1160 Admission: Free with registration

T H E VA R S I T Y

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Counting the dead to save the living The Varsity speaks to U of T’s Dr. Prabhat Jha, whose Million Death Study has led to life-saving policies around the world SHAAN BHAMBRA ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITOR

Housed at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital is the Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR), headed by Dr. Prabhat Jha. Jha is famous for his work on the Million Death Study (MDS), a study that has improved global understanding of how people die in the developing world. His work has also studied the growing gender gap in India due to selective abortion of female fetuses.

Dr. Jha is a full professor with U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award in 2004, and the Order of Canada in 2012.

The Varsity was able to speak with him on his work and its impact with the CGHR. The Varsity: What is the Million Death Study and what are its aims?

PJ: “The MDS is an attempt to understand a very simple question which is, ‘How do Indians die?’ In most of the world, deaths occur at home and without medical attention.

There are 60 million deaths a year worldwide [and] 50 million a year in poor countries. And the vast majority of those we don’t have any information on their causes of death.[...] [...]If you don’t have this information, it’s like trying to have a roadmap to improve health without a GPS, and you’re making guesses as to what the disease burden is, and what are the avoidable conditions. So what the Million Death Study has done over the last thirteen years is work with the Indian government to work within an existing study, which is called the Sample Registration System.

[The Sample Registration System] basically says [that] if you can’t get information on everybody, take a random sample of the population [...] and follow those houses over ten years and ascertain the death rates and the birth rates and then figure out the causes of death[...] [...]I like to think of the MDS as the GPS for global health. It gives simple measurements, tells you what the burdens are, what the conditions of concern [are], and it’s led to a number of surprises.

I’ll give you two examples of big relevant surprises. One is that it showed that India has a lot more malaria deaths in adults than had been previously estimated. We showed that when you get the information from the house, you find many adults who are fine, then have acute fever and [die].

The second is in smoking. We showed that smoking already causes a million deaths a year [in India] – 10 per cent of all deaths – and that was a much bigger number that had been estimated previously. And it was a surprising number, because [of] how it applies to how Indian men smoke. They don’t start smoking early in life, before age 20, they start by age 25, or 30, and they don’t smoke much per day.

But even with the late-starting, [and] not smoking many cigarettes or beedis a day, the risks in Indians are as extreme as we see in long-term smokers in Canada. They both lose about a decade of life from prolonged cigarette smoking. That was a big surprise.

Importantly, it spurred action by the [Indian] Ministry of Finance to raise taxes on cigarettes.”

TV: Do you expect the major causes of death in developing countries to change in the next 50 years? If so, which causes of death will become more prominent?

PJ: “We’re already seeing that transition. For adult mortality, broadly defined as age 15-69, there’s also some good news. Malaria [rates are] going down, TB [rates are] going down.

But vascular disease is going up, and that we attribute to increased urbanization that is occurring in India.

But also to a particularly Indian propensity for getting diabetes quite early in life. That diabetes substantially increases the risk.

It’s also attributal to smoking. All of those suggest that governments should take those seriously. So you have to then say, the stuff that we’ve done well for kids, figure out a technology, try to deliver it widely [and] have global alliances that make it widely accessible.

The same model needs to apply to adults. At the top of the list is tobacco. There are practical strategies for every disease. What we do is point out what the diseases are, connecting them to possible interventions, and then

others have to take up the call and say ‘let’s take on these diseases by creating global programs that curb them.’We’re also focused on getting the world to take tobacco seriously, and arguing that worldwide there should be a tripling of the tobacco excise tax in many countries. [This has] a substantial impact that reduce[s] chronic deaths in many populations.

It’s doable. It needs the finance minister, the health minister, and the prime minister to sign off and say ‘we’ll raise the tax.’”

TV: What research findings about health in developing countries tend to surprise people in the developed world the most?

PJ: “If you did a survey, including at U of T, and asked ‘What’s the biggest cause of death in Africa?’ I think most would students say, ‘it’s got to be AIDS.’ Because that’s what they’ve heard. But if you point out that actually, it’s not AIDS, it’s child mortality, then adult mortality – strokes, cancers, cardiovascular disease. Having numeric and quantified evidence is just the basis for any rational scientific enterprise or public health

enterprise. And like everything, you don’t know until you look. We didn’t expect to find so many malaria deaths in India in poor rural adults, but we did, and that’s a consequence.

We didn’t expect to see so many smoking deaths, but we did.”

TV: Does studying (and counting) deaths ever feel morbid?

PJ: “It is[...]But when you particularly get these narratives [...] you’re reading real stories of real people. I always find them informative, because you’re looking at a death and realize that this death was avertable. If they had the right strategies in place, these deaths could have been avertable. Death is depressing, but the alternative is even more depressing.

By studying the dead, we are able to understand what is going on, and that certainly helps more programs, and prevent premature death. In that sense, no it’s not morbid. It’s not depressing. Although we’re studying the dead, we’re really helping the living.”

U of T’s Dr. Prabhat Jha has set out to answer one question: “How do Indians die?” PHOTO COURTESY OF PRABHAT JHA

22 SCIENCE

M O N DAY 4 A P R I L 2 016 science@thevarsity.ca

Streeters: are evolution and religion compatible?

Students weigh in on the roles religion and science play in their lives HANNAH FUNG VARSITY STAFF

At a meeting of the British Association in 1860, Samuel Wilberforce, the bishop of Oxford, and T.H. Huxley, a proponent of Darwinian evolution, engaged in a heated exchange about the validity of evolution.

The incompatibility of evolution and religion has had a long history.

As science explains it, evolution is the process by which populations undergo genetic change over time.

One of the agents of evolution is natural selection, which acts on the variation within a population.

This variation must be heritable (transmitted from parent to offspring) and must affect an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a given environment.

Individuals with beneficial variants produce more offspring than those with deleterious ones because they are better able to survive and reproduce.

Over time, the number of individuals with beneficial variants increase relative to those with deleterious ones.

As a result, the population becomes better suited to its environment.

This week, The Varsity asked members of U of T to comment on whether evolution and religion are compatible. Here is what they said: “From my perspective and knowledge regarding the subject matter, I am... confident to say that religion and evolution are intimately related to each other. They are simply different manifestations of the exact same phenomena that happened on earth a few million years ago.

Looking back at every civilization, religion has always been around to serve as guidance for people as lost, and to offer an explanation for the magic of creation. On the other hand, evolution is the human way to regard this exact topic by crowning Homo sapiens at the top of the food chain. People could view this subject in whichever way that they are comfortable with, because the ‘truth’ shall never be altered [regardless of who] believes it... ” — Jessie Gao, third-year physics and math student

“Religion and evolution are completely compatible. Scientific evidence need not conflict with religion. Science and religion answer completely different questions. Science answers the ‘how and when’. and religion answers the ‘who and why’. A creator can therefore govern over evolution and have a hand in these processes. Nothing should surprise God, so when we discover a distant lineage of life that has implications for humans, that should not overturn religious doctrines but rather enable us to interpret them in new ways.”

— Adam Varro, fourth-year ethics, society, and law student “For many Christians, it would never occur to them that a model for explaining nature’s development would be incompatible with a commitment to the truth or religious faith. The support for science and university, longstanding in the church, rises from conviction that there is one God and truth is united in him. That implies, however, that

the Christian does not believe the universe is without a source or that life can be reduced to the physical realm and stripped of meaning and purpose. For the believer, it is a fuller and truer description of life as we know and experience it.”

— The Rev. Canon Dr. Dean Mercer, instructor, Wycliffe College

no scientists claim their theories to be absolutely correct. That being said, sciences are not dogmas. Although the Bible may conflict with Darwin’s theory, this does not prevent religion from coexisting with sciences.”

— Dominic Li, third-year math and statistics student

“If, as many faiths teach, there is an all-powerful, omniscient Creator, the unfolding of scientific understanding can be seen as part of the divine plan and of the process of divine revelation, even if new scientific information — as in the developing study of evolution — challenges and transforms some previously-held beliefs.”

— The Rev. Andrea Budgey, Humphrys Chaplain, Trinity College and the University of Toronto

“What does it mean to be compatible? In my personal opinion, if people are able to accept both religion and the theory of evolution then, by definition, the two are compatible. Nowadays, religion and science play two different roles in people’s lives. The primary role of a religion is more to give people comfort and relief. Before, people may have turned to religion to find the ‘truth’, but now that’s the role that science takes. If science and religion play two different roles in our lives, why shouldn’t they be compatible?”

— Mike Park, third-year math and physics student

“Evolution as a theory was devised as a tool for us to … understand the world. It is supported by ... evidence, but we are far from being able to claim that evolution is an accurate representation of the reality. In fact,

Not as safe as you think A U of T nursing student explains why e-cigarette smoking should not be your preferred stress-relieving habit JENNIFER CANNING VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

For most students, spring means too many hours in the library.

As a graduate nursing student, the Gerstein Science Information Centre is my second home. Last week, just outside of Gerstein, I polled fellow students about their health concerns during this stressful time of year. We discussed many exam-related stresses: lack of sleep, increased consumption of coffee, and other vices.

During one of these discussions, a young man explained — with an ecigarette in hand — “I smoke more during times when I’m stressed.” His roommate added, “thank goodness it’s just vapour because we spend a lot of time together these days.” I held my tongue as we continued our light-hearted chat and wished them best of luck with their exams.

Contrary to what has become a popular belief among many U of T students, “just vapour” is not without harm. Although there is a lack of concrete evidence at this time about the exact dangers associated with e-cigarette use and secondhand exposure, there is evidence suggesting potential harm.

Here’s how it works: e-cigarette vapour is visible and emitted only when the user exhales. What is exhaled in this vapour are the contents of e-liquid.

The e-liquid is often a combina-

tion of water, natural or artificial flavouring, nicotine and most often propylene glycol (PG). Known to irritate the upper airway, which includes the nose, mouth, and throat, fine particles of PG and nicotine can end up deep in the lungs, acting as an irritant.

It is obvious that an e-cigarette user is exposed to these chemical irritants, but just as with second-hand smoke from regular cigarettes, even a nonuser may be exposed when the vapour is exhaled into the surrounding air.

It is important to note that there are many factors that may affect a non-user’s exposure to the vapour; for example, temperature and room size can influence the amount of aerosol (vapour) inhaled by a nonuser.

There is also the often over-looked risk of thirdhand exposure from what is left unseen after the visible vapour dissipates. Since nicotine can live on inanimate objects such as curtains, couches, and clothing, it can enter the body through the skin. This may result in prolonged exposure to the carcinogens associated with vaping for anyone living with an e-cigarette user.

Though the research about the risks relating to e-cigarette use and exposure is in its early stages, I still believe it is also important to com-

municate that harm is harm. Even though the precise level of risk is not quantifiable, it is clear that vaping is not entirely without risk.

Despite the knowledge that there is some risk involved, there is currently no ban on “vaping” in public. There was a previous policy to ban vaping in certain public spaces, which was to take effect January 1, 2016, but it has been stalled while the Liberals determine new rules that will include medical marijuana.

If some harms have been identified, why wait for this ban?

The ministry of health admits this is an oversight and has committed to addressing this as soon as possible, yet it took us decades to acknowledge and act upon the harms of smoking cigarettes; do we really want history to repeat itself? For more information and updates on the regulations around smoking and vaping please visit Smoke-Free Ontario.

Free exam tip: for a stress reduction tactic this exam season, instead of reaching for that cigarette (electric or not), I would encourage my fellow students to take a few laps around King’s Circle, since physical activity is well known to help reduce the negative effects of stress.

Good Luck!

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SPORTS

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A history of success A timeline of Varsity Blues at the Olympic Games

U of T Olympians

Gold medal in 2500m steeplechase and bronze medal in 400m hurdles

1900

1908

George Orton

Allan Keith & Orville Elliott

Ed Archibald

First Canadian to win a medal at the Olympic Games

Gymnasts competing in the summer games

Receives bronze medal in pole vault

1912

Cal Bricker

Lou Sebert

Cal Bricker

Receives silver medal in long jump

Track and field athlete competing in the summer games

Receives bronze medal in long jump

1924

1980

2002

Rowing team

Tom Watt

Vicky Sunohara

Archibald Black, George MacKay, Colin Finlayson & William Wood receives silver medal

Coaches men’s ice hockey team

Receives gold medal in ice hockey

2012 Rosie MacLennan

Sarah Wells

Receives gold medal in trampoline

Track and field athlete competing in the summer games

SAM CALDARONE VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Ahead of the Rio Olympics, The Varsity takes a look at the history of U of T olympians.

Varsity Blues have been representing Canada in the Olympics since 1900. The Blues have been representated in sports like swimming, track and field, and women’s hockey. The very first Blue to compete in the games was George Orton. Orton was the first Canadian to medal at the Olympics, earning a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles and a gold in the 2,500m steeplechase.

Orton’s successes came before Canada even had an Olympic team. In the early years of the modern Olympics, Canadian athletes competed as individuals in primarily track and field events.

Although Orton was a Blue in his undergrad, his invitation to the Olympics came when he was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. Since Canada did not send a team, Orton competed with the American team. It took decades for Orton’s accomplishments to be recognized as a Canadian triumph; however, he has since been regarded as Canada’s first Olympic medalist.

Allan Keith and Orville Elliot were two members of the Varsity Blues gymnastics team who represented Canada at the 1908 Olympic Games. That same year, Ed Archibald and Cal Bricker, members of the track and field team, each earned bronze medals.

Greater successes for the Blues came later. As the Olympics increased in popularity, the Varsity Blues represented Canada in greater numbers. In the 1924 Paris Olympics the entirety of U of T’s eight-man rowing team was selected to compete.

The team more than held their own against the international competition, cruising to a second place finish.

U of T has since had a consistent presence at the Olympics.

Members of the Varsity Blues hockey team were chosen to play for Canada in the 1928 Winter Olympic Games, earning a gold medal, Canada’s third straight gold in hockey.

This came during a very dominant period for Canadian Olympic hockey; the team was in the midst of a run that would see them winning six of seven gold medals from 1920 (the year hockey was introduced to the Games) to 1952.

As dominant as the men’s team has been, Blues women have been just as successful. The women’s hockey team earned silver in 1998 and has won gold in every Olympics since.

Besides medals, another fixture of this team has been Jayna Hefford, who has represented the Canadian team in every competition since women’s hockey was introduced in 1998. Hefford, who played for the Blues as an undergraduate, recently retired to become an assistant coach at her alma mater. Her goal in the 2002 championship game won Canada a gold medal.

In addition to our nation’s penchant for winter Olympic glory, the Varsity Blues have maintained a presence in the summer Olympics as well. The Blues swimming program has had a long history of success at the games. In 1972, five Blues represented Canada’s swim team. Erik Fish earned a bronze.

Current Blues swim coach Bryan MacDonald also competed in 1972. Since he began his head coaching tenure in 1978-1979, the Blues have sent 27 swimmers to the Games, representing Canada, Switzerland, Barbados, and Swaziland.

MacDonald’s presence at the games has extended beyond his players — since 1984, he has been a commentator for the swimming events at nearly every Olympics. He has won two Gemini awards for his coverage, in 2004 and in 2008.

The most recent competitors to represent Canada and U of T came in 2012 by athletes Sarah Wells and Rosie MacLennan. Wells, a former CIS gold medalist, competed in her first Olympic games in London in the 400m hurdles competition where she placed twenty-fourth. Current kinesiology graduate student, and trampoline gymnast Rosie MacLennan competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and won Canada its only gold medal of the entire London 2012 games. Both Wells and MacLennan hope to represent Canada and U of T in Rio.

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The emerging big market north of the border Toronto’s major sports teams are ready to consolidate the city’s big market identity DANIEL CENTENO VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

With the 2015–2016 regular season for the Raptors and Leafs coming to a close, we can look back at how important 2015 and 2016 have been for Toronto in the NHL, NBA, and MLB. While the Leafs will never relinquish the mantle as the city’s biggest market, the season was an indicator of the potential for the Raptors and Blue Jays to become bigger attractions as well. For years, the city has seen the likes of Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Carlos Delgado, and Roy Halladay leave for bigger markets to chase titles.

The year 2015–2016 initiated a shift in this mindset. The Raptors and Blue Jays have demonstrated strong regular seasons, playoff runs, and the ability to attract big name players.

This begs the question — does Toronto have the potential to become a serious contender in the NBA, NHL, and MLB? And if so, can the city become a desired destination for sought after free agents?

Both the Raptors and the Blue Jays were recently rebranded to consolidate the teams’ respective successes by bolstering regional pride.

The Raptors utilized the “We The North” campaign to gain fans while remaining relevant by assembling a competitive team able to surpass the Carter and Bosh eras.

Two straight division championships and

an inevitable third have put Toronto in the same conversation as Eastern Conference elite teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan, the Raptors showed their willingness to spend with free agent DeMarre Carroll joining the team in the 2015 offseason. Ticket purchases have been a key indicator of this expansion.

The Raptors sold out season and postseason tickets in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 and are expected to do the same during this year’s post-season. All Star Weekend was also a media boost to Toronto. Although the city embraces its ‘outside looking in’ approach to the NBA, the team has made an effort — especially this season — to be at the center of it all.

The Blue Jays also experienced a rebranding in 2012, but the team took a retrospective approach, returning to their 1992–1993 championships colours following an era of lackluster years as a fringe team. Their rebrand was met with blockbuster trades for stars like R.A. Dickey and Jose Reyes. Success after the rebrand was not immediate like the Raptors’, but last year’s trades for stars Troy Tulowitzki, David Price, and reigning MVP Josh Donaldson made significant contributions to the Jays’ first postseason appearance since 1993. The Blue Jays are title contenders and the city has taken notice through ticket and merchandise sales. The Jays’ 2015 season illustrated the dedicated fan base baseball can have in a non-American city.

The market value for the Leafs will likely never be a problem. Despite their struggles in recent seasons and a rebuild underway, the future is bright for the franchise.

The Leafs live in a hard salary cap era, but this has not stopped them from stockpiling talent. They accumulated draft picks, including potential star William Nylander, all under the watchful eye of arguably the best management in the league.

GM Lou Lamoriello has won three Stanley Cups and coach Mike Babcock has won the Stanley Cup and two Olympic gold medals. The team has a robust analytics department led by rising management star Kyle Dubas, which has modernized how we view hockey and player evaluations. The road to contention will be long and arduous for the Leafs, but they have the pieces in place to compete again, and the regional market to sustain them.

The regional market has the ability to sustain the three major teams, similar to other big markets like New York and Los Angeles.

While the more profitable and more popular team is rebuilding itself, their future is bright.

CHANTEL TENG/THE VARSITY

The Raptors and Blue Jays are the contenders, and now they have the rosters and fan bases to show for it.

Mo macros no problems Making the most of your workout, or obsessive? the right foods, however, you’ll eventually give in and fulfill that late-night craving for McDonald’s.

PUTTING THE PRO IN PROTEIN To start living a healthier lifestyle, it’s best to focus on macronutrients, not just calories.

In the world of fitness and athletics protein is arguably the ruler of the macronutrient kingdom. Protein is primarily associated with building muscle, which is why it’s extremely common to see bodybuilders, fitness trainers, and athletes often obsessing over protein supplements. But protein does more than just build muscle. Protein is essential for the growth of new muscle tissue and also for repairing broken tissue.

Meal prepreation is an essential component of counting macros. MARGAUX PARKER/THE VARSITY

JENNIFER FAKAS

VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

I’m sure you’ve heard or seen the word macros at one point or another, with the current fitness craze flooding everyone’s newsfeeds with gym selfies and fancy lingo.

The term ‘macros’ is short for macronutrients and refers to the three basic components of every diet: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

In order to have a well-balanced and effective diet, it’s important to get these proportions right because calorie counting alone may not give you the desired results. Focusing on the composition of calories you’re consuming, and

not just the number of calories is the fundamental principle behind counting macros.

Although it’s important to be aware of how many calories you’re consuming in a day, the number of calories doesn’t take the nutritional content of what you’re consuming into account, which is one of the major problems with traditional calorie counting. Eating 100 calories of candy is very different from eating 100 calories of vegetables; and based on their nutritional content, your body will use or store these foods differently as well. The classic saying ‘everything in moderation’ encourages using portion control instead of making drastic restrictions to your diet. Unless you’re eating

CAR ‘BRO’ HYDRATES The diet and fitness industry has a rocky relationship with good ol’ carbs. As the body’s most easily accessible source of energy, carbs are broken up into glycogen, which is necessary for our muscles and liver, and glucose, which is essential for brain function. Carbs are generally divided into two classifications — simple and complex.

The difference between the two classifications is the length of the carbohydrate molecules. Simple carbohydrates have a shorter molecule chain, which makes it easier for the body to break down. Complex carbohydrates, such as starch, have a larger molecule chain and the body takes longer to break them down into usable components. When it comes to macros, choosing sources of complex carbohydrates is best for keeping your hunger satisfied: making it easier to resist those wicked cravings.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH FAT The third major macronutrient, fat, has a reputation for being unhealthy, but it should not be demonized or avoided because our normal body functions rely on them. There are different kinds of fats, including saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. The three that we should be concerned about are trans fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and omega-6 fatty acids.

To put it simply, trans fats are the enemy.

They have been shown to increase the risk of coronary heart disease and should be avoided. Trans fats are generally found in most packaged and processed foods and in various brands of margarine. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, on the other hand, are known as essential fatty acids and for good reason. Similar to the essential amino acids found in protein, your body cannot produce them on its own, so they must be obtained through your diet.

Learning how to properly measure, prepare, and record food is key to accurately measuring your macros. It may sound difficult and annoying, but luckily, there are numerous apps that make recording our calories and macros a lot easier. MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular calorie counter and diet tracker app, because it has the world’s largest nutritional database and it’s available across all platforms.

Not only does it track your entire food intake, but it also has an exercise tracker with more than 350 exercises stored in its database. It’s convenient, easy to use, and it allows you to customize a personal diet profile to fit your specific needs and goals.

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ALL LOCATIONS AT ALL TIMES NEWS DOES NOT SLEEP 1 (800) HOTLINE-BLING thefarcityisrealokay.ca FarsityBook @SocialMedia this.is.a.farce connectivity.and.shit

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No post on Sundayz. ANDY WARHOLZ/THE FARCITY

Farcity articles. I’ve discovered that it’s a necessary measure in assessing a piece of writing.”

Some students, however, claim that the act of reading through an entire article before drawing a conclusion is radically contradictory to traditional practices. A few are even citing concern for the praise that the article has been receiving. “Are we sure we aren’t missing something?” asked one student in the article’s comment string. “There must be something to complain about here. How will I prove my superior intellect if I don’t have something to disagree with?

How am I supposed to prove my moral righteousness when I have nothing to condemn?”

Other students refused to ‘share’ the article even though they generally agreed with the argument, claiming that ‘sharing’ the article would only draw attention to The Farcity’s “feckless click-bait trash content [sic].”

Despite their differences, most students can agree that this one article speaks for The Farcity as a whole. “Based on this one 600-word thoughtpiece written by some rando, I can finally develop an opinion on the entirety of The Farcity,” one student wrote on Twitter. “I totally understand how the media works.”

With files from The Farcity’s Comment Section.

Shitheads of U of T You’re so vain you probably think this article’s about you HARDY WEINBERG FARCITY TROLL

Michael Bae Video Editor

Sammy champs Salvatore Basilone

In a moment of complete and utter confusion, a Farcity article posted last week has received positive attention from students at the university of Toronto. The article — which received 74 Facebook ‘likes’ and 10 ‘shares’ — is being praised for its “decent argument” and “tolerable logic.”

“I guess I just thought long and hard about the subject — sat on it for awhile instead of rushing to judgment — and then posted a long and thoughtful status articulating my praise for the story,” said one student regarding a Facebook status he made in response to the article.

According to local student journalists, the article was projected to receive backlash from most of the student body. “We’re certainly surprised to see it do so well,” said Benny T. Bear, a columnist at The Farcity. “Especially considering it was written by a sixth-year philosophy specialist, contained delicate subject matter, name-dropped at least five student politicians, and included a paragraph-long trigger warning written in a heteronormative typeface [Times New Roman].”

Other students claimed that reading through the entire story really helped them evaluate the caliber of the article. “Normally I assess Farcity articles based strictly on their headlines,” said one student, a self-proclaimed expert at finding the nuance in any given argument. “But I found that reading this one from start to finish has really shed new light on how I evaluate

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The Farcity is words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words; words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words

There are two kinds of people: the Humans of U of T and the Shitheads of U of T. The Farcity’s staff spends an ungodly amount of time interacting with the latter. You’ve probably met one. If you haven’t, you are probably one.

THE STUDENT COUNCIL MEMBER. This person likely holds a number of positions at various campus organisations. They manage a portfolio of $10,000 and maybe chair a committee or two. They have an over-inflated sense of importance and will dismiss any criticism of them or their student society as ignorance or pure malice. They are the type of person who will connect with you on LinkedIn but not accept your Facebook friend request. The amount of work they actually do is questionable and their society’s cyclical dysfunction is well-documented in the pages of The Farcity.

THE SERIAL SHITPOSTER. This person owns multiple anonymous reddit accounts. Sometimes they log into one account, make a post, and then reply to it with another one of their accounts under the pretence of a conversation. They are very proud of themselves for their cunning. They partake in passive aggressive “liking” on Facebook and they share The Farcity’s articles with a 1,500-word treatise that nobody reads. Such posts achieve five likes on average.

THE GHOST. This person has been around for years. We’re

A UofT fuckboi in their natural habitat. DAT ASS/THE FARCITY

not sure whether they are a student or not. They remember things that nobody else does, because they have been here for at least three rounds of institutional memory loss. They are a seemingly permanent fixture of U of T. They hate The Farcity.

THE FAR-RIGHT CRITIC. They constantly lambaste The Farcity for being too left-wing.

THE FAR-LEFT CRITIC. They constantly lambaste The Farcity for being too right-wing.

THE STUDENT JOURNALIST. They know there are no jobs in journalism, but they think they can get a job in the industry, even though they can’t even code. They are probably going to do a Masters of Journalism after they graduate, because they haven’t got their life together and they’re not ready to face the real world yet. They can’t take criticism.

They work for The Farcity.

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“It’s not easy being green”

“Eco-friendly choices harder than they look,” says U of T president Pretty fly for a white guy. A MONKEY/THE FARCITY

SUN COR

FARCITY CONTRIBUTOR

Last week, U of T president Geric Mertler announced that the university would not be divesting from fossil fuels. Mertler has since opened up about his own efforts to alleviate the disastrous effects of climate change.

“You know, it’s tougher than most folks think,” said Mertler. “It’s a lot to handle, managing a world-class university and trying to save the planet at the same time.”

The president told The Farcity that he is doing what he can to conserve energy and reduce

waste. Mertler has pledged to print all official memos double-sided and to participate in Meatless Mondays. “It’s true that I like my steaks, but I’d say the stakes of global warming are more important to me,” said Mertler, barely suppressing a chuckle.

Mertler told The Farcity that he had been experiencing printer issues that prevented him from being able to commit to double-sided printing before now. Back in November 2015, the president attempted to print a single document, which has only just been printed in its entirety.

When pressed for details on the nature of the document, Mertler simply responded: “The

UTAM executive salaries had more zeros than I expected.”

The president has also promised to downgrade his wardrobe, replacing his collection of real fur coats with faux fur. “My poaching days are over,” he shared. “From now on, it’s only fitting that I wear fake fur to match my fake commitment to students’ wellbeing.”

When pressed on the question of why he chose not to divest from fossil fuels, Mertler blamed capitalism. “It’s a huge challenge to reconcile being complicit in a system that hurts so many people with that system being the very thing that sustains us,” he commented. “As it

stands, it is imperative that we make money.

I’m sure you’re aware that Ontario has the lowest per-student funding in the whole country, and we’ve gotta make up for that somewhere.”

Earlier this year, The Farcity reported that the university’s endowment passed the $2 billion mark. When presented with evidence that divesting from fossil fuels would not negatively impact returns, Mertler merely laughed.

At press time, the president was admiring his new collection of exotic plants. “I got these for my office,” Mertler declared proudly. “It’s greener in here now.”

FARCITY RANTING

Op-ed: New desks for left-handed people is discriminatory Student unions should lobby for services that benefit ALL RIGHT 4 LYFE PISSED CLUB

You know, I’m not a handist. I have a lot of left-handed friends — I’m actually dating a left-handed girl right now. But the recent addition of 20 desks — built SOLELY for left-handed people, can you believe it? — is simply a slap in the face for right-handed people. It’s actually reverse-handism.

Desks that cater only to left-handed people are unfair because right-handed people can’t use them. Never mind that it was only 20 desks out of thousands, and that the rest of our infrastructure is constructed to serve right-handed people.

Like, I get that systematic inequality is

bad, and I even post about it on Facebook sometimes — but if I have to give up some deskspace to change it, then I’m outta here.

Right-handed people are the majority and therefore our comfort is the number one priority.

And it’s not like the current right-handed students were the ones who built this system anyways. Yeah, sure, we benefit from it right now, and at the expense of left-handed students. But that’s certainly no reason for us to fork out hard-earned money to fix the problem! It’s not my fault that I was born privileged.

They say they only want a few desks now, but what’s next? Binders with coils on the other side? World domination? Once we

open this door, who knows the possibilities that will come next.

It is better to play it safe and continue along the same path we have always treaded.

Tradition for the sake of tradition has always served us well. Kinda like feudalism or something.

The real solution is simple: left-handed people should just become more like us, and start writing with their right hands. It’s easy if you just try — I know this one person who didn’t mind learning to write with both hands. Even he thinks the new desks are unfair (probably, I never actually asked).

It is extremely shameful that our student unions have advocated for such exclusive policies. Instead, they should remain com-

pletely apolitical and dedicate themselves to serving the average student only. I will not address the fact that this is an inherently political stance to take.

Perhaps there is a conversation to be had about handism, but it shouldn’t be happening at university, an institution that has historically been the site of social progress and activism. Talk about it in private, where I don’t need to hear about it and be uncomfortable about the way society continues to be prejudiced towards certain groups.

Right 4 Lyfe is composed of concerned righthanded students. They are based out of Trine-Tea Collage.