October 3, 2022 (Volume 143, Issue 5)

THE

VARSITY

UTSC honours Orange Shirt Day with week-long events Professors question U of T’s commitment to reconciliation

Alyanna Denise Chua and Zen Nguyen Varsity Staff

Content warning: This article mentions the genocide of Indigenous peoples.

UTSC held a series of events throughout the week leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on September 30.

These events, which included a reconciliation workshop, an Indigenous garden livestream, and a film screening of Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, aimed to recognize the historic and ongoing legacies of the Canadian residential school system. They also aimed to make space for com munity members to reflect on Canada’s systemic and unjust treatment of Indigenous peo ples and on how community members can respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action and the final report of U of T’s steering committee.

As part of U of T’s tri-campus recognition of Orange Shirt Day, Every Child Matters flag was raised at UTSC, and all flags across the three campuses were lowered to half-mast on Sep tember 30.

Reconciliation Workshop: Walking the Talk

On September 26, the Equity, Diversity, and In clusion Office and the Department of Student Life jointly held “Reconciliation Workshop: Walk ing the Talk” at the Meeting Place. In this work shop, participants sat in a sharing circle and reflected on scenarios around answering calls to action on campus.

Facilitated by Juanita Muise, UTSC’s Indig enous Engagement Coordinator, the workshop began with a land acknowledgement and a smudging ceremony, an Indigenous custom in which sage is burned to bring purifica tion and positivity.

Participants were then arranged into smaller groups to discuss the differ ences between tokenism — the pro motion of diversity without inclusion — and inclusive excellence — the promotion of “enriching contri butions” that emerge from the

diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experi ences represented in the community. Inclusive excellence is a key value that the UTSC ad ministration will continue cultivating on campus through its strategic plan.

Participants suggested various means of combating tokenism and promoting inclusive excellence. For example, one participant sug gested that initiatives should centre the inputs of Indigenous peoples instead of adding them as an afterthought. Others said that tokenization and discrimination can look like homogenizing all Indigenous cultures, customs, and knowl edge or using Indigenous peoples to promote something without having a clear inclusion policy.

At the end of the workshop, participants spoke about feeling more informed and inspired to continue working toward reconciliation.

Indigenous Garden livestream

On September 30, UTSC hosted a YouTube livestream of the Indigenous Garden, a medi cine garden that is located at the Campus Farm and showcases plants that are common in In digenous cultures such as corn, beans, and squash.

The livestream ran for almost five hours and showed rows of garden beds, as well as an or ange shirt hanging in the background.

The livestream was intended to create a space for quiet contemplation. “We hope this view of the garden will encourage reflec tion about the ongoing impact of residential schools,” the UTSC Office of Vice-Principal and Dean wrote in an email to the UTSC community.

According to Isaac Crosby, an Indigenous mentor at the farm, the Indigenous Garden en ables non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples to come together and “see the work that Indig enous [peoples] have done for thousands of years.”

“It’s important to me to bring this knowledge back so that in the future, when this farm is still here, and other Indigenous students come down here, they will have some sort of connec tion to the land,” said Crosby.

Other events at UTSC included the Moccasin project, in which participants made moccasins for Indigenous children in care, a film screening of Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, and an Indigenous Book Club meeting.

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Professors question U of T’s commitment to reconciliation

In a statement about commemorating Orange Shirt Day, Kelly Hannah-Moffat — U of T’s vicepresident, people strategy, equity and culture — wrote, “Reconciliation is a lifelong process. It requires a sustained commitment to learning, listening, reflecting, and respecting action.”

However, Katherine Blouin — an associate professor at UTSC’s Department of Historical and Cultural Studies — and Girish Daswani — an associate professor at UTSC’s Depart ment of Anthropology — questioned U of T’s sustained commitment to reconciliation, given that U of T commemorated the Queen just two weeks ago.

“We have been dismayed by the paradox of what has been the University administration’s recent eulogy of the Queen and display of roy alist sympathies and their quick about-turn messaging about Orange Shirt Day,” Blouin and Daswani wrote in an email to The Var sity . “There is a direct link between the Brit ish monarchy and the genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including the horrors of the residen tial school system (which the Queen never apologised for).”

The Queen was the embodiment of the Canadian Crown, which signed treaties with

many First Nations. The Crown then violated these treaties, leading to the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their lands, resourc es, and ways of life.

In May, residential school survivors and In digenous leaders also called on the Queen — as Canada’s head of state and leader of the Church of England — to apologize for the operation of residential schools and to provide financial reparations, which the Queen never did.

For Blouin and Daswani, U of T’s failure to acknowledge the complicity of the Crown and the Queen in the genocide of Indigenous peoples “poses serious questions regarding the nature of UofT’s commitment to decoloni zation.”

In an email to The Varsity , a U of T spokes person stated that the university “occasion ally issues institutional statements about major events that directly affect our community.” The spokesperson continued, “The death of Can ada’s head of state – a key role in our system of constitutional government – merited such a response, in keeping with the University’s role as a major public institution.”

The spokesperson also noted that the uni versity recognizes “that diverse experiences and viewpoints exist on our campuses,” and

Support services for those affected by anti-Indigenous racism and the residential school system:

• Indigenous student services at U of T’s First Nations House at 416-9788227, or email at fhn.info@utoronto. ca,

• Indigenous student support specialist at UTM’s Indigenous Centre at 905828-5437,

• Anishanawbe Health Toronto at 416360-0486,

• Za-geh-do-win Information Clearing house at 1-800-669-2538,

• Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 (available 24 hours a day),

• Hope for Wellness Helpline at 1-855242-3310,

• Talk4Healing Help Line at 1-855-5544325,

• KUU-US Crisis Line at 250-723-4050.

CREDIT:

Special illustration thanks to Cheryl Nong for issue 1, Averyn Ngan for issue 2, and Christine Suh for issue 3.

CORRECTIONS:

In last week’s issue of The Varsity, a science article titled, “How to cool your mouth after eating spicy food,” incorrectly stated that the activation of the TRPV1 receptor induces ‘heartburn’ instead of ‘heat burn.’

students are encouraged to “explore the range of clubs and courses at the University that as sess world events from a range of perspec tives, or to contact the relevant Equity Office.”

– With files from Alexa DiFrancesco

JADINE NGAN/THEVARSITY

U of T commemorates Orange Shirt Day 2022 Indigenous professor shares personal experience in Hart House keynote address

tance of Orange Shirt Day as an Indigenousled initiative created in 2013.

Content warning: This article mentions the genocide of Indigenous peoples.

U of T commemorated September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, by hosting events at Hart House and across U of T’s three campuses.

The Hart House event featured Brenda Wastasecoot — assistant professor at the Centre for Indigenous Studies — as the key note speaker. A total of 170 people were in at tendance in person at the Great Hall and the event was also livestreamed for virtual viewers.

Event rundown

The event began with remarks from Kelly Han nah-Moffat — vice-president, people strategy, equity & culture — who discussed the impor

The origins of Orange Shirt Day can be traced back to the experiences of residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, who was stripped of her orange shirt and forced to change into a school uniform. Phyllis’ story symbolizes the lasting damage residential schools inflicted upon Indigenous communities.

Alexandra Gillespie — UTM’s vice-president & principal — revealed the university’s goal to “build a community worthy of trust,” as well as “earn the opportunity to learn from [and] with Indigenous peoples.”

Wastasecoot shared her personal and fam ily experiences with the residential school sys tem. As the youngest of 11 siblings, Wastasec oot recalled waiting with her parents for her brothers and sisters to come home from the schools.

She shared parts of her dissertation, entitled

“The Nikis Story is the Story of Canada: Re flecting on the Impacts of the Indian Residential Schools.” She also recited poetry, told stories of her family, and revealed memory maps of her community.

Wastasecoot concluded her presentation by explaining that through her story and art, she aims to convey “the experience of a child left behind.”

History of Truth and Reconciliation

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the survivors of the residential school system and the children who died in the schools run by various institutions, including the Cath olic church and the Canadian state. In June 2021, the Canadian government announced September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

In 2017, U of T released the Final Report of U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Com mittee. Indigenous Elders Lee Maracle and An drew Wesley served as advisors for the com mittee. The report suggested that U of T create Indigenous spaces across all three campuses, commit to supporting the hiring of Indigenous faculty and staff members, expand financial support for Elder services, and focus on Indige nous learning content in all divisions and course offerings in Aboriginal languages. Further, the report asked U of T to revisit its research poli cies to ensure that they were considerate of Indigenous experiences and biases against In digenous Peoples. The report also contained recommendations for institutional leadership to receive annual reports about progress on these recommendations.

In June 2022, the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design an nounced that it would not be renewing the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean posi tion. The faculty then replaced the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean position with

U of T community criticizes fraternity’s 69th Luau

Lexey Burns Deputy News Editor

Content warning: this article contains mentions of cultural appropriation, racist imagery, and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people.

The Kappa Alpha Literary Society (KA), one of U of T’s fraternities, hosted its annual lūʻau event on September 9, 2022. Previously described as the “perennially-named” 69th luau, Facebook event pages for the Kappa Alpha Society’s “lūʻau” can be traced back to 2015. The event encourages students to “join the world’s oldest Greek Letter society for a celebration of Hawai’i and its culture.” The $10 entrance fee for the 2015 event included “Hawaiian beverages, beer, lei, DJs, and much more!”

On September 10, Uahikea Maile, professor of Indigenous Politics, criticized KA for its “69th luau” on Twitter.

Maile wrote, “Hawaiian culture is appropriated & hypersexualized globally. Calling your frat party a lūʻau is one thing. Calling it the 69th annual is another.”

Maile’s first experience with the KA lūʻau was during its “first week on campus” in 2019 after relocating to Toronto from Maunawili, Oʻahu, and seeing an advertisement for the 69th luau. “Every year is the 69th Annual Luau. This year was no different,” Maile wrote in an email to The Varsity

Canada’s connection

Maile said that the advertisement they saw for the party in 2019 was “more shocking,” as it “in

cluded a hand-drawn or painted brown-skinned woman with slanted eyes smiling in a coconut bra and grass skirt.” They believe that “it’s one thing to appropriate Hawaiian culture, and it’s another thing to perpetuate the hypersexualization of In digenous women in Hawai’i.”

“This is a fraternity on campus perpetuating a dangerous trope about Indigenous women in the midst of an ongoing genocide against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ folks across Can ada.”

“This is how sexual violence and colonialism are entwined,” they wrote.

Maggie Cummings, an associate professor at UTSC’s Department of Anthropology, wrote in a statement to The Varsity that she agrees with Maile’s comments about KA’s “69th Luau.” “Nam ing one ritual celebration (a frat party) after a ritual celebration from an entirely different cultural tradi tion (the Hawaiian lūʻau) is a form of cultural ap propriation,” she wrote. Cummings critiqued the concept, explaining that Hawaiian lūʻau-themed parties are so “commonplace” that individuals hosting these parties can easily buy all of their supplies at the dollar store.

Moreover, Cummings echoed Maile’s concerns about how KA’s “69th Luau” perpetuates “a long and detrimental history of hypersexualization of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.” Additionally, she noted that, following the National Inquiry into Miss ing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, one of the Calls to Justice is to “breakdown these types of hypersexualizing images.”

She wrote, “It is probably the case that many students don’t know what a traditional lūʻau is, or stop to wonder what happens when those of us

who aren’t Indigenous Hawaiians unthinkingly as sociate grass skirts, coconut bras and tiki torches with exoticness, sexiness, or even romance.”

Gaining insight into Hawaiian culture

Second-year political science student Gabe Foresta had a friend invite him to the lūʻau. He explained that there were at least 200 people at the party.

“The nice thing about being part of a university is that we are all here, hopefully, to learn,” Cum mings wrote to The Varsity. She added that there are resources available for students to explore, including University of Hawaii at Manoa’s open ac cess Teaching Oceania series. The series focuses on topics including gender, militarism, and Oce anic arts.

“[After reading this] I think a little differently about bikinis, or the hula as [a] sexy tourist perfor mance, or the lūʻau,” she concluded.

U of T’s response

A U of T spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity that “[U of T] has no affiliation with fraterni ties and sororities. These organizations are inde pendent and self-governing.”

“The University is strongly committed to up holding the principles of equity, diversity and inclu sion.” The spokesperson explained that any stu dents, staff, faculty, or librarians can contact the Institutional Equity Office “for consultations or to share concerns.”

U of T isn’t the only university where a frater nity hosted a luau as a welcome back event. The Kappa Luau hosted by the Kappa Alpha Psi Fra ternity at Mercer University in Georgia also held a

the First Peoples Leadership Advisory Group. This move prompted the Graduate Architecture, Landscape, and Design Student Union and the Architecture and Visual Studies Students Union to initiate the #DanielsDoBetter2022 campaign.

At a UTM town hall in 2021, Alexandra Gil lespie observed a moment of silence to ac knowledge the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at the Kamloops Residen tial School in British Columbia. U of T Presi dent Meric Gertler, also released a statement explaining that the discovery was “absolutely heartbreaking.”

“It is part of an unconscionable history of in justice against Indigenous peoples in Canada extending from first contact to the present day,” he wrote.

In February 2022, Eve Saint, land defender and daughter of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Woos, spoke at U of T about her arrest while at a protest against the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline.

In June 2022, Wet’suwet’en members sued Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and CGL pipeline company for alleged harassment and intimidation.

From July 24–29, 2022, Pope Francis trav elled across Canada, stopping in Alberta, Qué bec, and Nunavut to offer an apology to Indige nous peoples. The Angus Reid Foundation held a poll asking people if they saw the Pope’s apol ogy as a meaningful step toward reconciliation. Of the total respondents, 60 per cent said that it was a step toward reconciliation. However, of the respondents who self-identified as Indige nous, only 54 per cent thought that the apology meant something, while 36 per cent said that the apology did nothing for reconciliation.

If you or someone you know has been af fected by the residential school system, please find support resources on page 2.

UTSU postpones Annual General Meeting

Postponement follows Board of Directors’ quorum revisions

Lexey Burns Deputy News Editor

The University of Toronto Student Union (UTSU) postponed its Annual General Meeting (AGM) that was supposed to be held on September 29. The meeting will now be held from 6:00–10:00 pm on October 26.

In an email sent out on September 29, VicePresident, Operations Dermot O’Halloran ex plained that “this meeting was rescheduled on 28 September at a special meeting of the UTSU Board of Directors, for the purposes of ensuring proper notice was met.”

This announcement follows quorum difficulties, as the UTSU was forced to reschedule its August Board of Directors (BOD) meeting after losing the quorum during the meeting. The BOD has since approved bylaw revisions so that a majority of board members shall be considered a quorum. The revisions do not explicitly declare a minimum number of members to achieve a quorum.

The UTSU did not respond to The Varsity’s re quest for comment.

The Varsity’s AGM Bingo is also postponed in lieu of this delay.

Selia Sanchez, Lexey Burns, Nawa Tahir News Team

Kappa Alpha Society brings event back for 2022 school year

U of T hosts tri-campus Truth and Reconciliation events. NAWA TAHIR/THEVARSITY

UTSC Campus Council discusses $25 million donation and plans for upcoming academic year

Alyanna Denise Chua UTSC Bureau Chief

On September 29, the UTSC Campus Council gathered for the first time in the 2022–2023 aca demic year. The Council discussed an unprec edented donation to UTSC, COVID-19 updates, and Indigenous initiatives. The Scarborough Cam pus Students’ Union (SCSU) also gave a presenta tion about its campaigns, services, and events for the year.

Unprecedented donation to Scarborough and UTSC

On September 28, U of T announced that Orlando Corporation — Canada’s largest privately-owned industrial real estate developer and landlord — has donated $25 million to support the construction of the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Inte grated Health, UTSC’s upcoming medical acad emy.

The Orlando Corporation has also donated $50 million to Scarborough Health Network (SHN), making it the largest donation in SHN’s history. Tak en together, the 75-million dollar donation aims to strengthen the eastern GTA’s ability to train healthcare professionals and provide exceptional care for the community.

Administrators celebrated this donation at the Council meeting. “We’re going to be working with a future generation of scholars, professionals, and researchers who would help to sustain a thriving healthcare system for us as we go forward. We are very proud that Orlando Corporation was able to set us on this path,” said UTSC Vice-President and Principal Wisdom Tettey.

For UTSC Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Arifuzzaman, this donation indicates that people are starting to pay attention to the “amazing things that are happening” in the eastern GTA.

SCSU outlines plans for the year at the meeting

viously Nipissing University’s president and vice chancellor, making him one of the first Indigenous presidents of a Canadian public university.

In June, UTSC also invited 16 Indigenous stu dents from North Bay, Québec, and Nunavut to take part in the Valuing Indigenous Learning Leadership and Academic Growth in Education (VILLAGE) pathway program, according to UTSC Dean of Student Experience and Wellbeing Neel Joshi. Through VILLAGE, the Indigenous students were able to experience campus life for a week and see the academic opportunities available to them in Scarborough.

SCSU’s plans for the year

The SCSU executives presented the campaigns, events, and services that they have lined up for the 2022–2023 academic year.

COVID-19 updates

UTSC Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean William Gough reported that 97 per cent of UTSC courses are in person this fall. He said that the remaining online courses were granted on “an individual basis depending on the personal circumstances of the instructors.”

Gough reiterated that COVID-19 is still active, which is why he urged community members to remain flexible and accommodate the absences of students, faculty, and staff. He noted that some instructors have already fallen ill and switched their courses online for one to two weeks while they re covered. He urged students who are symptomatic to fill out the self-declaration absence form.

Gough also reported that some new internation al students faced challenges and delays in obtain ing study permits. In particular, 80 students did not get their visas on time, resulting in most of them having deferred starting their studies at UTSC to

either January or the next academic year.

Indigenous initiatives

In light of the National Day for Truth and Recon ciliation on September 30, the Council reflected on UTSC’s progress in achieving the Truth and Rec onciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) calls to action.

Gough noted that UTSC has hired three selfidentifying Indigenous faculty members this year, raising the total number of Indigenous faculty mem bers at UTSC to 10. Gough had said that when the TRC report was published in 2015, there were no Indigenous faculty members at UTSC.

In particular, UTSC appointed new faculty mem ber Mike DeGagné to the Department of Sociol ogy and the role of Special Advisor on Indigenous Initiatives at UTSC. DeGagné is Ojibway from the Animakee Wa Zhing 37 First Nation, and was pre

They reported that 1265 Bistro — SCSU’s res taurant, located at the Student Centre — finally opened this month. 1265 Bistro replaced Rex’s Den.

“Our goal this year is to make the Bistro the goto place for food on campus, not only for students at UTSC, but for other students as well,” said Ma thooshan Manoharan, SCSU’s vice-president op erations. He added that 1265 Bistro has an “adapt able menu system” and a QR code raffle to solicit feedback.

Some of the SCSU’s campaigns this year in clude lobbying for better academic support for students, more voting seats at decision-making bodies, cheaper transit, and reduced tuition fees. The SCSU executives also mentioned the Under graduate Research Symposium that they will be hosting later in the year, the theme of which will revolve around decolonizing education.

Lastly, the Council discussed the housing short age in residence as well as ongoing capital proj ects, which the Campus Affairs Committee also discussed earlier in the academic year.

UTMSU increases minimum wage at September board meeting

Union to host municipal elections debate, housing legal workshops

Lexey Burns Deputy News Editor

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held its monthly board meeting on September 30, where the board voted to increase staff and executive wages and heard reports from the executives about upcoming events, fall bursa ries, and MiWay services.

Increase in staff wages

The UTMSU board approved a motion to increase the union’s part-time staff wages to $16 an hour. This increase follows Ontario’s increase of mini mum wage from $15 to $15.50. According to the meeting agenda, “Minimum wage is not enough for students as being a student is very expensive.”

Robert Le, from Division Ⅱ, explained after the

vote that “with inflation on the rise… so many people are cash strapped, especially students.” Le explained that inflation only added to students’ stress levels. “We believe that the minimum wage that we’re proposing is reflective of the UTMSU’s goals and values as an organization.”

The UTMSU also approved an executive mem bers’ wage increase. The executive members ab stained from voting on this motion.

Executive reports

Alistair Kirk, vice president external, noted that on October 18, the UTMSU will be hosting a Municipal Elections debate followed by a meet-and-greet to give students a chance to have one-on-one chats with the candidates. The UTMSU also plans to host two housing-related legal workshops in collabora tion with the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights

and the UTM Pre-Law Organization. The work shops will be “based on beginning and ending your tenancy, maintenance, and eviction,” Kirk said.

Fatima Yakubi, vice-president campus life, high lighted that orientation was a success as well as detailed the UTMSU’s upcoming reading week trip to Niagara Falls, which will offer students the op portunity to meet new people and destress.

Reagan Roopnarine, vice-president equity, re ported that over 80 students have applied for the UTMSU’s fall bursaries. She said that the UTMSU expects to receive 120 student applications in total.

Wenhan (Berry) Lou, vice-president internal, re ported that the UTMSU has hired new Blind Duck staff as well as a Chief Returning Officer for its fall by-elections. The UTMSU fall by-election for first year, part time, and Mississauga Academy of Medi cine representatives will continue until October 5.

President Maëlis Barre said that she recently lobbied MiWay and UTM administration regarding student concerns about UTM’s public transport and shuttle bus. As well, Barre reported that the Free Breakfast Wednesdays are selling out every week.

Upcoming events

The UTMSU fall by-election will continue until Oc tober 5.

As part of eXpression Against Oppression, an annual event series that is happening from October 4–7 this year, the UTMSU is hosting multiple events including a Paint and Consent Talk Night, an Active Bystander Training, and Open Mic Night.

Halloweek will feature events including a Haunt ed House, Halloween Carnival and Pub Night from October 25–27.

Bivalent booster shots available for all adults in Ontario

in

William Zou Varsity Contributor

The provincial government has announced that, as of September 26, bivalent booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines are now available to all adults in Ontario or to anyone older than 12 years of age who is immunocompromised.

People without an Ontario health card may get vaccinated using alternate forms of identification.

The booster shots are de signed for those who have already received

their primary vaccine series — two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine — which is available to everyone in Ontario who is six months of age or older. The provincial government has sug gested that people wait between three and six months after their previous dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before receiving another booster dose.

Ontario’s website states that booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are a safeguard that prevents individuals from losing the protection of the primary series over time. According to the announcement, the new booster dose is a biva lent vaccine that protects against both the origi nal SARS-CoV-2 virus and its Omicron variant, which is common in Ontario.

National health data shows that COVID-19 case counts in Ontario have been falling since

around this August, but Ontarians are still seeing over 8,000 new cases of COVID-19 per week, which is higher than the rates in September of last year.

U of T has stated that vaccines are a part of the university’s plan for a full return to campus. U of T’s website lists multiple possible locations to receive COVID-19 booster vaccines in Toronto, including walk-in clinics, Toronto Public Health, and the Discovery Pharmacy at the St. George Campus. Students in Mississauga and Scar borough can get vaccines through Peel Public Health and the Scarborough Health Network, respectively.

In an email to The Varsity, a spokesperson for U of T wrote that “[the university has] seen an increase in participation in many on-campus

events during orientation and interest in activities such as intramural sports and fitness classes has jumped.”

The spokesperson stated that U of T encour ages students to get vaccinated against COV ID-19 and that the university is requiring “vacci nations, including at least one booster dose” for students living in residence, in order to support students’ health. The spokesperson pointed out that vaccination in residence is particularly im portant, and that “local public health units have indicated that having a high vaccination rate in communal-living settings benefits all those living there.”

Students now qualify in the age bracket to receive their fourth COVID-19 vaccine.

UTSC’s Campus Council to continue construction of the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health.

MEKHI QUARSHIE/THEVARSITY

UTM commuter students struggle with bus capacity

Jessie Schwalb Associate News Editor

With the return to campus this fall semester, UTM students have expressed concerns about the frequency, crowdedness, and reliability of local bus services.

In response, the University of Toronto Missis sauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) hosted emer gency meetings with UTM’s administration and MiWay, the official transit service for Mississau ga, over the week of September 19. Through videos published to the UTMSU’s Instagram account on September 23, the union’s Presi dent, Maëlis Barre, expressed disappointment at these organizations’ responses and what the union perceived as a lack of foresight. The UT MSU furthermore called on the administration to ensure that students have access to reliable transportation.

Student concerns

In 2018, over 75 per cent of U of T students identified as commuters. Recently, through on line forums, many UTM community members have shared their frustrations with overcrowd ing, long lineups, and delayed buses.

The issue is not only with MiWay but also with UTM’s Shuttle Bus service. UTM students pay for a pass for the shuttle through their in cidental fees, and non-UTM students can pur chase shuttle bus passes for upward of $650.

This September, the UTMSU released a feedback survey on its Instagram story to gain insight into students’ concerns. In an interview with The Varsity, Barre noted that the story re ceived over 250 responses in 24 hours. “Essen tially, those concerns were regarding frequency of buses — there were not enough buses and people were lining up for a long time; capacity

limits of buses, with students being left behind not able to board the buses because there was no space for them; as well as some students concerned about COVID on the buses.”

According to Barre, a lack of reliable public transportation can be a barrier to education.

“When a student cannot come to campus… or is late to their lectures because of transit, that’s holding them back from getting a proper, qual ity education that they're paying for and that they should have a right to,” she said.

Negotiations

After collecting these concerns, the UTMSU met with MiWay and the UTM administration to create short and long-term solutions. Spe cifically, the UTMSU asked MiWay and UTM to look into increasing the frequency of buses to reduce congestion.

In multiple Instagram videos, Barre explained that MiWay plans to make manual adjustments to increase bus frequency. However, MiWay’s schedule was established months in advance and so they cannot commit to major changes in the bus schedule. The company agreed to set up a pop-up booth on the UTM campus to collect student complaints and solutions.

The UTM administration acknowledged the “shuttle delays,” but is currently unable to in crease shuttle frequency due to staffing issues.

Ontario is experiencing a shortage of bus driv ers, resulting from their low pay and a reluc tance to return to work post pandemic. These factors have led to route delays and cancella tions in a number of school districts across the province.

Additionally, staffing shortages have created “no ability for ‘extra’ shuttle runs to be added to the schedule at peak travel times such as the early morning commute,” wrote a UTM

spokesperson in a statement to The Varsity “The shuttle service is a priority and extra runs will be added as soon as additional drivers be come available.”

UTM warns that “students, staff, and faculty should be prepared for possible delays and are asked to allow extra time and consider taking the next bus.”

The UTMSU expressed disappointment at UTM and MiWay’s responses. “We wish that both MiWay and the UTM shuttle bus had an ticipated the return to campus in a more proper way,” Barre expressed on behalf of the union through an Instagram video. “Students should

not have to look for alternatives to get to uni versity when they have those services that they’re paying for.”

Barre reiterated this frustration to The Var sity but said that the UTMSU will continue de manding action from UTM and MiWay. “We’re continuing to hear out students who come up with concerns, and we’re going to continue lobbying those decision makers to ensure that proper and efficient transit is implemented, be cause this is really important for students.”

MiWay has not responded to The Varsity’s re quests for comment.

Activists discuss climate issues at stake in upcoming municipal election

Net zero emissions, public health, discussed at Demanding Climate Action and Leadership event

Caroline Bellamy Design Editor

On September 27, climate and labour activists met on Zoom to talk about what’s at stake in the fight for climate action in light of the up coming municipal election. The Demanding Climate Action Leadership event was hosted by Good Jobs For All, Toronto Community Benefits Network, Toronto Environmental Alli ance (TEA), and Toronto & York Region Labour Council.

In 2021, the Toronto City Council released a statement highlighting steps to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

Emmay Mah, TEA’s executive director, facili tated the event. Keynote speaker Mike Layton, the outgoing city councillor for University— Rosedale, spoke about his outlook on climate action in the future, and what he thinks the mu nicipal government can do to fight the climate crisis in its next term. Layton confirmed that he is not running for re-election and plans to dedicate more time to climate action.

Layton focused his remarks on key steps that the city government can take to reduce emissions and fight the climate crisis.

First, he said, there needs to be a focus on accountability and the carbon budget. While it is very difficult to track carbon emissions, mon ey can be tracked. So, to reduce carbon emis sions, the city needs to be mindful of where it is investing. Second, Layton noted that the city needs to focus on reducing the use of natu

ral gas in buildings, which are the number one source of emissions in the city.

Third, he highlighted that the City needs to work to make people more comfortable out on the streets, whether they are on foot or bike, to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and thus reduce overall carbon emissions.

Lastly, he stressed the need to build an electri cal grid that is reliant on carbon-free energy sources.

Layton emphasized that “what we need is leadership from both [municipal and provincial] governments, but also cooperation with the private sector.” He also emphasized the role of the wider community, saying, “We need to bring everyone along in this exercise to decar bonize our lifestyles.” He explained that these next two terms of the council are vital to meet ing 2030 and 2050 carbon emission goals.

Andria Babbington, president of the Toron to & York Region Labour Council, and Chloe Tse, co-chair of the Toronto Climate Action Network, joined Mah and Layton to conclude the event. They discussed the relationship be tween health and climate change. Mah, mod erating the panel, said that, annually, “Toronto Public Health estimates that over 1,400 people in Toronto die prematurely due to air pollution,”

She explained that people who live near highways and other roads with heavy traffic have an increased risk of health issues due to air pollution. In response, Layton emphasized the need to reduce the number of cars in the city and focus on increasing alternative modes

of transportation.

to position ourselves not only as the genera tion [that] save[s] the world, but also as the generation that ensured that it was a more eq uitable space and economy,” Layton said.

October 24. Advance voting days are from Oc tober 7–14.

UTMSU president claims transportation issues are an education barrier

Meric Gertler on sexual violence reports, return to campus after COVID-19

Nawa Tahir Managing Editor, External

Since The Varsity’s last interview with President Meric Gertler, U of T has dealt with the transition back to in person after online learning, reports of sexual violence in different settings, and overca pacity in campus residences.

The Varsity met President Meric Gertler at Sim coe Hall on September 30 to talk about these is sues and more.

The Varsity: U of T has ended mask mandates in classrooms and other university settings. Some members of the community have ex pressed concerns for their well-being be cause of this update. What responsibility do you believe U of T has to ensure the health of its community at this moment in the pan demic?

Meric Gertler: We have made every decision throughout the pandemic with the health and safety of every member of our community in mind. So many responsible members of our community have shown tremendous respect for one another and their safety.

We have encouraged members of our commu nity to do what they feel is necessary and to wear a mask in high-density settings. We’ve also encour aged instructors to underscore the social impacts of individual decisions in class with their students.

We have also said, though, that we will bring back mask or vaccine mandates if, or when, con ditions change. And we know that our community will comply when they see that this is important. At the moment, we’re worried that if we were to bring a mandate in now, there will be a lot of noncom pliance. Anyway, from what I hear, the experience thus far has been pretty effective and successful.

TV: This year, we heard reports of overcapac ity in U of T’s residences, and first-years were sent to non-U of T residences like Parkside to fulfill their housing guarantees. How is the university going to improve its on-campus housing structure for next year?

MG: Thank you for asking about housing. It’s an issue that’s near and dear to my heart; I’m an urban geographer and planner.

We are trying to build more student housing. A few months ago, we broke ground on our new student residence on St. George campus at Sus sex and Spadina, the first new residence in more than 10 years. It took us 10 years of navigating the

approval process and discussions with our local neighbourhood associations to finally secure ap proval for that project. Along the way, a 600-bed project became a 500-bed project as a result of the compromises dictated by the process. There are two aspects of that story that really frustrated me: how long it took, and the opportunity that was lost.

We have a new residence under construction at Scarborough as well, which is around 600 beds and will be transformative for UTSC. And we would love to build more; we have the will. We just need some cooperation from our government partners to accelerate the process, because there’s tremen dous urgency.

TV: Last academic year, U of T was involved in a few stories regarding sexual violence; namely Andy Orchard, and some concern ing reports from the Faculty of Music. What will you do to make the academic community safer for women and women-presenting indi viduals, especially since the structure of aca demia enables powerful men to abuse their power?

MG: We are very seized with the issue of ensuring that every member of our community feels safe on our campuses and does not have to worry about being subjected to sexual violence and sexual ha rassment. I speak to students all the time, including survivors of sexual violence, and I know how dam aging and hurtful this can be. So this is a very, very high priority for me and for other members of the senior administration.

We do have a sexual violence and sexual harass ment policy, which is subject to review every three years. We have spent a good deal of time during the past year, reviewing the current policy and re viewing the role and the capacity of the Sexual Vio lence Prevention & Support Centre (SVPSC). We undertook over 50 consultations over the course of about nine months. We now have a revised policy, which is circulating for comment. We have been adding capacity in the SVPSC itself, with new resources being devoted to case management, survivor support, communications, and education. These are all areas that were emphasized in a lot of the consultations that we engaged in.

I’m really impressed by the efforts that were made to ensure that orientation was a success this year and to use that as an opportunity to assert a culture of consent, which is the bedrock; this is where it all starts.

I’ve seen a lot of progress, but our work will probably never be done. We will aspire to make all

TV: This summer, U of T announced a lawsuit against Easy EDU. The lawsuit came over a year after the university raised concerns with the company’s practices. Why did the univer sity decide to take legal action now?

MG: I can’t comment on the specifics of a legal case that is before the courts. But I will just say that our concern in cases like this is that private enter prise is profiting by accessing and making use of the intellectual property that we feel belongs appro priately to faculty members who develop and de liver courses. When we see that their right of intel lectual property ownership is being violated, this is cause for concern. It’s important for our professors to see the university stepping forward and defend ing their interests. We’re also concerned about our students who may be put in a difficult position and taken advantage of, whether English is their first language or not. The university is the first place that students should turn to, and we have very robust support services in place.

TV: In light of the No Precarious Employment campaign, what is your view of U of T’s cur rent employment policies for academic staff and non-tenure stream faculty?

MG: I’m not familiar with this issue.

TV: Last year, you issued a statement about the SCSU’s BDS policy and the university im posed sanctions on the UTGSU for its BDS policy. How do you view U of T’s relationship with its student unions?

MG: It’s a great relationship. You know, when we cut the ribbon on the Student Commons — which was championed by UTSU, one of our leading stu dent unions — it was a very happy occasion. It was a reminder of the great things that you can achieve when you work together and the fact that we share a common goal, which is to make the university ex perience as positive and rewarding as possible for all of our students. And that’s what student unions exist for. When they focus on student well-being, we can get a lot of work done. Sometimes they get a little bit distracted by other issues, which may or may not be directly relevant to issues of student well-being.

TV: Why did you decide to address the SCSU incident specifically?

MG: The initiatives that were being proposed at

the time really ran the risk of promoting antisemi tism. Let me be clear: universities must be places where we have difficult conversations about con tentious topics. If you can’t do that at a university, where can you do it? But we also have very clear policies around how those conversations must be conducted. We expect that they will be conducted in ways that adhere to the laws of the land and do not promote racist sentiment of any kind. It was our feeling that the SCSU proposals had the potential to ferment antisemitic views and to unfairly target one segment of the student population.

TV: Considering the domestic tuition freeze and increases in international tuition, how do you plan on ensuring that U of T’s education is accessible to international students?

MG: One of our biggest goals when it comes to undergraduate education is to foster our students’ ability to work across cultural and geographical di vides, and to be effective in bridging those divides. That kind of competency is really important, and enhancing the presence of international students on our campuses is a really key element of that.

International student fees are very high. Though, I will say that we’ve been very, very careful to mod erate the rate of increase. In the past year, the av erage rate of increase for international tuition was just over two per cent. That said, we are aware that this poses financial barriers for many families. So we’ve committed to increasing our own expen ditures on financial aid for international students. One of the first big moves we made in 2017 was to create the Pearson scholarship program. And we have a number of other lucrative comprehen sive scholarships for international students. All of our first entry divisions have been pumping more funds into financial aid for international students, and we have plans to continue to ramp that up aggressively.

We would really love to see more students coming to U of T from Africa. I think there is huge potential, but we also recognize that the financial barriers are going to be particularly challenging for many Africans. This is one of the things that is driv ing us to commit more resources and work with charitable foundations like the MasterCard Foun dation, which has been so generous in supporting the education of young Africans coming to U of T. We look forward to working in partnership with such organizations to address this issue.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

of our campuses free of sexual violence and sexual harassment. That’s our goal.

The Varsity sat down with U of T president, who is entering his ninth year on the job

Meric Gertler in conversation with The Varsity. VURJEET MADAN/THEVARSITY

U of T’s surplus of profits should be spent on survivors Analyzing the SVPSC’s review of their Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy

Paden Neundorf Varsity Contributor

Content warning: in the context of university policy, this article contains mentions of sexual violence and sexual harassment.

In the 2020–2021 fiscal year, the University of Toronto earned $726 million, a 64.6 per cent rise in net income from $441 million in 2019–2020.

According to U of T, this surge in income will be used to increase funding for student residences, lab and classroom spaces, faculty hiring, and more. While these planned upgrades are sure to have discernible effects on the overall quality of student education, the university fails to include student safety in their promised im provements.

However, this insane surplus of profits, while a disgustingly unethical amount of money, comes at a rather convenient time, and consequently provides U of T with an opportunity to consider — or rather, prioritize — student safety. Instead of focusing primarily on academic aspects of student education, U of T should alternatively expend their excess of funds on thoroughly re viewing its support services for students who have experienced sexual violence.

At U of T, the Sexual Violence Prevent and Support Centre (SVPSC) claims to play an in strumental role in addressing sexual violence and sexual harassment by helping survivors ob

Mandatory course textbooks are too expensive

society, the cost of textbooks is still an issue

Tiago Berbat Curio Varsity Contributor

As students at U of T begin yet another school year, an old-time nuisance has reappeared — buying textbooks. With the high costs of tuition and living expenses and the added cost of text books, going to university isn’t cheap.

The increase in textbook prices every year is simply unreasonable. In 2014, research found that the cost of new textbooks was increasing faster than the cost of clothing, cars, food, and even health care. In 2017, it was estimated that the average U of T student spent around $707.22 on books.

Now more than ever, it is time to address the huge elephant in the room — why, in the era of the internet, are textbooks still a trending complaint among college students? One answer to that question is the skyrocketing price of mandatory course textbooks.

Textbooks have had their fair share of impor tance in academic life, especially back in the days when the best way to learn course material was to just read the course book from cover to cover. Nevertheless, putting aside sweet nostalgia and considering the advent of the internet, should textbook prices still be so expensive even in to day’s digital society?

Perhaps a good Rotman student would argue that, with the advance in technology, book prices would naturally decrease, as they need to match their marketability with their new twen ty-first century rivals: online learning platforms. However, not only have textbook prices not de creased, but they have been on the rise.

Henry L. Roediger III, a psychologist and former visiting assistant professor at U of T, has a very compelling theory, with which I concur. Having

been in college during the glorious, hippie 1960s, Roediger recounts that the market for used books — that is, reselling — has always been around in the academic world. However, it was limited to a student selling books to another student on a hit-or-miss basis, which would not generally pose a threat to the textbook companies. However, alongside the rise of the internet, used textbook companies began to grow and started making large profits on book sales that were not originally theirs.

Textbook companies, therefore, decided to take protective measures, such as assigning timelimited access codes for each course textbook, putting materials behind paywalls, and graded online course-related problem sets. The combi

nation of these factors has led to the production of more complex online books, which in turn has also led to a rise in the price of course books. The different measures taken by textbook companies have led me to believe that perhaps the paradoxi cal rise of book prices and the internet is not so contradictory at all, but rather intuitive.

Although it is uncertain how this entire complex story will unfold, there is one certainty in all of this: college students are taking the hit. According to CBS News, around 65 per cent of students skip buying required textbooks at some point in their college career because they simply can’t afford them.

Acknowledging the complex business scenario that higher education has become, it is needless

to say that universities must work on a series of alternative solutions for their students.

After all, education should always come before any financial dispute between two capitalist-driv en corporations.

Whether it be by lowering tuition, improving deals with textbook companies, or simply giving students discounts at university bookstores, the rising cost of textbooks needs to be addressed. Students should not have to worry about includ ing the soaring prices of books in their budget when making the decision to go into higher edu cation.

Tiago Berbat Curio is a second-year student studying mechanical engineering.

GURLEEN

ELHAM NUMAN/THEVARSITY

Tories become less red, future begins to look blue

Sulaiman Hashim Khan Varsity Contributor

During the second week of September, Cana dian newspaper headlines reported two events that will undoubtedly have immense conse quences for the political future of our country — the death of our beloved Queen and the election of Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Traditionally, the job of the monarch is to em body stability, unity, and wisdom for a country’s people and government. While the monarch may not have any practical powers, his or her pres ence serves as a constant symbol of prosperity and guidance across generations. It is in this way that Her Majesty’s passing is perhaps a fitting metaphor for what the new opposition leader may bring to this country’s governance. As the Queen took her final few breaths on September 8, so did sensibility, wisdom, and professional ism in Canadian politics.

To understand Poilievre and his plans, one must first understand the circumstances of his election and the reason for the vacancy of the position he now holds.

Citizens all over the country are undoubtedly familiar with the barrage of protests that took place across the nation earlier this year. The demonstrations were headed by a parade of honking trucks and disgruntled individuals that touted obscene scribbles and draped their ve hicles with Canadian flags — deconsecrating the maple leaf and that which it stands for. The cross-country protest dubbed the “Freedom Convoy,” culminated in the awkward occupation of Parliament Hill earlier this year.

The ostensibly “everyday people” that led the Freedom Convoy had the following list of demands: the removal of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as head of government; an end to CO VID-19 restrictions across the country; and the resignation of Erin O’Toole, the decidedly Red Tory leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC).

One of these demands was met.

While Trudeau remains our current head of government and not all of the safety precautions put in place during the height of the pandemic have been removed, Erin O’Toole was forced to resign after facing a secret ballot.

When O’Toole led the Conservative race against the Liberals during the 2021 election on a more centrist platform, he intended to capture swing voters. However, in the fog of honking truckers, an unprecedented wave of support for the staunch right People’s Party of Canada (PPC), and increasing political tensions from be low the 49th parallel naturally leaking through our borders, it became clear that the CPC caucus expected a leader who, in their eyes, better rep resents more reactionary conservative values.

Enter Pierre Poilievre, a seven-term career politician from Alberta and cabinet member for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Poilievre, who holds no more formal legal education than an undergraduate degree in international rela tions, campaigned on an “anti-elite,” “take back your freedom” platform. However, his campaign slogans were not the issue. In fact, I believe that most people would not hesitate to agree with the sentiments they espouse, myself included. The problem, however, is the behaviour and rhetoric behind these catchphrases and quippy promises that should be seen as a sign of not only irre sponsibility but also charlatanry in the opposition leader.

Contradictions are the bedrock of Poilievre’s political being. Poilievre says he believes in up holding the individual liberties protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms but is seemingly unable to respect by-laws and emer gency measures that are also implemented with the intention of protecting citizens.

In June, Poilievre marched alongside dem onstrators protesting against vaccine mandates when, by that time, all provinces had dropped proof of vaccination requirements, the federal government had suspended the practice for do mestic travellers, and at no point during the pan demic were citizens of Canada denied their right ful entry into, or exit out of, the country, whether or not they were vaccinated.

I do not believe that Poilievre is unaware of the implications of the persona he is presenting. Over the past few months, hundreds of thou sands of people have become members of the Conservative Party to be able to vote for their

new leader. Poilievre showcases two opposing personalities. He is able to show support for immigrants and small family businesses, while simultaneously associating with members of farright groups and voters who have largely defect ed to the PPC. By igniting vitriolic feelings toward his political opponents and saying things that sound sugary sweet in the ears of electors look ing for a change, Poilievre’s tactics seem to be a deliberate attempt to rile up disillusioned voters who have faced hard times these past few years.

I am a cardholding member of the CPC, and thus see potential in its foundations and funda mental values. What I believe the party must do is not pander to Canadians that are discontent with our current government through new buzz words and bizarre promises, but go back to its roots and offer a real alternative to the Liberal Party of Canada.

There is a precise genealogy that connects our modern conservative party to the LiberalConservative Party of our first prime minister, John A. MacDonald, who embodied the principle of political cooperation. The CPC must look back to its tradition of measured moderation in its poli cies, rhetoric, and presentations. The party must find a leader who matches the values and ideas that Canadians hold today, a leader who is able to convey their ideas with effectiveness and charm and is able to build upon them — some one who is able to conserve our traditions and liberate our people.

Sulaiman Hashim Khan is a second-year student double majoring in English, and ethics, society & law.

On the election of Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Libraries are evolving… without books

Are library books a relic of the past?

Eleanor Park Associate Comment Editor

On September 9, U of T celebrated the official opening of Robarts Common, the additional space to Robarts Library that includes increased areas for studying and socializing. When think ing of the new study space at Robarts, I cannot help but be reminded of a piece of wisdom Har old Howe II shared decades ago: “What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education.”

Howe’s words date back to when libraries were exclusive spaces full of books. In 2022, a typical library consists of technological devices and study spaces amidst the books, which always seem to be untouched. Hence, a year short of Robarts Library’s 50th anniversary, the formal opening of additional space to the largest library on campus is an opportune time for the school to reevaluate the essential value and purpose of the library.

As time passes and technology seeps deeper into our everyday life and education, the public needs libraries to continue to transform. Libraries are no longer the havens or the treasure troves that hold captive information that is unavailable anywhere else. Does this mean that libraries are dying?

Long story short, they aren’t. Most recently, Canadian public libraries saw significant surges in registration numbers throughout the pandemic, despite stringent in-person provincial capacity limits. The core reason, however, does not lie in books but in the sense of community that libraries provide. Cultural events, movie screenings, and arts and crafts groups are only fragments of what libraries provide people as community hubs.

Stop giving

Tate

Academic libraries do not differ. Rare is the uni versity library that is not full of tireless students peering at their laptops and tablets while typing or reading. U of T’s libraries, regardless of size and location, continue to bustle day and night with students visiting for every reason other than to read its books.

Despite how it sounds, I am not pointing a finger at students for being the root cause of the decline in libraries as a treasure trove for books. After all, as a student myself, I know that the academic and work schedules for the majority of students do not allow for leisurely

lingering at a university library for a good book. I also know that most academic materials are available online and coursework mainly re mains in the digital sphere.

But what is a library? The word itself is derived from the Latin word ‘liber,’ which literally means “book.” In a modern-day university library, stu dents may neither be taking part in reading for pleasure nor research, but libraries remain popu lar because they allow students to study on their devices, socialize, and hang out. However, I can’t help but ask the question — hasn’t it then be come contradictory to call this space a library?

is dangerous to these younger individuals because it might strongly influence them to adopt the mi sogynistic and racist views that he has expressed. Examples include how Tate has used racial slurs in his tweets and degraded women on his podcast for having “no innate responsibility or honor.”

I do not disapprove of how libraries have evolved. The current form of academic libraries ultimately helps students focus on their studies and public libraries provide a safe space for a community to build. We should also not disre gard digitized library systems in which books are virtually stored. But what are we to do with the physical ‘liber’? Have books not become mere decorative objects?

This decreased interest in library books does not necessarily mean that there is a waning in terest in paper books. After all, Canadians be tween the ages of 18 and 34 were shifting to wards print and gravitating away from ebooks quicker than any other age group in 2020, while print book sales in the United States con tinued to rise as of 2021. Simultaneously, there are increasing numbers of data analyses that prove that paper-based reading reaps better comprehension results than digitally-based reading. Even as digitally-based reading be came widely prevalent, the numbers that prove that the alternative is effective are static.

So, we must question U of T: will your grand collection of books remain as a decorative ap pendage amongst social spaces, study rooms, computers, and cafes? Or can we start inte grating the use of books and library services into academic courses? Could we see more flexible time frames for writing papers to incor porate time for library research, or are we to cling to the web for our research?

Eleanor Park is a second-year student at Trinity College studying English and religion. She is an associate comment editor at The Varsity

troversial figures such as Peterson have on young individuals. Andrew Tate is no different.

Kyla Cassandra Cortez Varsity Contributor

He often endorses rape culture. He has admitted to scamming guys on the internet. When he’s not creating harmful content on social media, he fre quently flaunts his yachts, Bugattis, and wealth. By now, you probably have an idea of who I am writing about.

Andrew Tate, a British-American influencer, rose to fame on apps like TikTok and Facebook. He started off as a professional kickboxer, TV pro ducer, and reality television personality. However, due to his problematic content on social media, he has been penned by numerous newspapers as the “King of Toxic Masculinity.” Others on social media

When I first heard of Andrew Tate’s antics, I thought he portrayed a character similar to come dian Sacha Baron-Cohen’s controversial Borat. At the time, Baron-Cohen’s content was mostly viewed as satirical. However, for today’s crowd, a man like Andrew Tate is being devoured by can cel culture. Despite many people writing off Tate and his views, his misogynistic and homophobic beliefs, including the use of anti-LGBT slurs, have still garnered him a massive and impressionable audience.

Tate’s viewers are both misogynistic men like him, as well as naive adolescent boys. His content

Nevertheless, the central issue here is that it’s not the first time that we’re seeing popular figures with controversial beliefs and an impressionable audience. Since 2016, U of T professor emeritus Jordan B. Peterson gained notoriety for his contro versial political beliefs. Peterson repeatedly refused to acknowledge the use of gender-neutral pro nouns for transgender and non-binary people and claimed that having to acknowledge gender-neu tral pronouns was an infringement on free speech.

Peterson serves as another example of a prob lematic man with insensitive ideals and an impres sionable audience. As a professor, Peterson was in a position of power and as such, his statements and actions may have influenced the students at U of T. In the aftermath of a U of T rally on free speech that Peterson spoke at, multiple threats were made against trans and non-binary students on campus. It’s difficult not to see the damaging effect that con

Despite the disgusting character of Tate’s mi sogynistic and homophobic social media content, there are teenagers that still buy into his beliefs and seek to emulate him. I believe that popular figures with such dangerous platforms should be perma nently prohibited from all social media in order to reduce the exposure of their content to more im pressionable audiences.

Fortunately, in August of this year, Andrew Tate’s social media accounts were banned for good. Spokespeople for major platforms such as Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook released statements on how Tate’s content violates commu nity guidelines and company policies.

However, what I can’t seem to wrap my head around is why we continue to give people like him a platform. Why are people still attracted to misogy nistic and sexist guys like Tate? Perhaps it is his transparency about his controversial beliefs, or the fact that even someone as despicable as him can be deemed “successful” in life.

In Tate’s defense, he states that he was portray ing a “comedic character,” which, for him, was blown out of proportion by the public. He thus at tempted to free himself of any fault or influence he had on his young viewers.

If he was really only playing a character, then his behaviour should have changed over time, while he was in the public eye. He could have clarified that he was mocking other misogynistic figures before his accounts were removed. He had an opportunity to put a disclaimer on his videos, posts, and web sites that his content is not suitable for minors and should not be taken seriously. Yet, he did not do any of that, making his statement hard to believe.

Andrew Tate isn’t special, and thankfully his so cial media presence is diminished. A crowd is all that Tate and influencers like him need to make money. If not giving them that opportunity means that teenagers aren’t exposed anymore to the sex ist and racist comments they make — not to men tion the ones that I find downright stupid, such as claiming to be the world’s first trillionaire — then so be it. People like Tate don’t deserve fame or money, and they are not worth the spotlight at all.

view Tate simply as the laughingstock of the inter net. However, for his teenage fans, Tate is a god for teaching them the ways to be a “man.”

Kyla Cassandra Cortez is a second year student at St. Michael’s College studying English and book & media studies.

Robarts Common offers increased areas for studying and socializing.

VURJEET MADAN/THEVARSITY

Alexa DiFrancesco Features Editor

On September 8, a pair of brilliant rainbows took shape above the grounds of London’s Buckingham Palace. Their timing was what some people might deem worthy of a story book; the rainbows came shortly before Brit ain’s Royal Family announced the death of its monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Mere hours after, rainbows were spotted above both Windsor and Balmoral castles — the former a royal resi dence in southern England and the latter the Scottish estate where the Queen passed away.

Kirsty MacLellan, a fourth-year U of T stu dent, might have caught a glimpse of the last rainbow if she had still been living in Scotland. Instead, MacLellan — who received Canadian citizenship in 2021 — sat in a UTM classroom, awaiting her professor’s arrival for the first class of the academic year. By the time her profes sor arrived, most of her peers had already filled the room; they watched half-heartedly as the professor unpacked their belongings.

“By the way, the Queen died, everybody,” said MacLellan’s professor, looking up from their rummaging. It wasn’t a grand announce ment; mere seconds afterward, the professor’s head was down again as they gathered loose papers from their work bag. The words’ effect, though, was clear: one of MacLellan’s peers gasped, their breath replaced by a pause that flooded the room.

Finally, another student broke the silence: “Can we have a party now?”

Though MacLellan’s professor didn’t ac knowledge the student’s words, the joke made an impression; half the class chuckled, while the other half stayed silent as if in disapproval.

MacLellan’s class was a seminar; she was one of no more than 15 students stationed around her classroom’s boardroom table. Though the group was tiny, the students’ mixed reaction perfectly summarized the feel ings of the world — and the U of T community — following the death of Britain’s longest-serv ing monarch.

Over the past week, we’ve witnessed inter national leaders, such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, praising the Queen for her service and leadership. We’ve seen military parades march past Parliament Hill and have heard 14 minutes of gunfire tributes. At U of T, we’ve seen all three campuses lower their flags to half mast, and we’ve watched the carillon bells at Soldiers’ Tower toll 96 times, each for a year of the Queen’s life.

Similarly, we have observed the sentiments of those who are not mourning. We’ve read pieces in TIME, The Harvard Crimson, and CNN calling out the British monarchy for rac ism, and we have watched Australian senator Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous woman of Djab Wurrung, Gunnai, and Gunditjmara descent, call Queen Elizabeth II a “colonizing” queen during a swearing-in oath.

For all of us, the Queen’s death is an histori cal event — the Queen had an unprecedented 70-year reign and was the “the last major his torical figure of the 20th century,” according to the Toronto Star. However, the Queen — a fig ure who, to some, represented a calming con stant in a chaotic world — was also innately tied to a colonial past, one whose lasting ef fects shape many U of T students’ lives today.

U of T’s reflection

Hours after the announcement of the Queen’s passing, U of T President Meric Gertler re leased a statement: “The University of Toronto community joins all Canadians in mourning the loss of our Sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” he wrote.

Gertler continued: “Before she acceded to the Throne… She promised that her whole life would be devoted to the service of her people.

She fulfilled that promise with unparalleled grace and dignity.”

In a statement to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson wrote that the university “oc casionally issues institutional statements about major events that directly affect our commu nity.” The spokesperson further explained that, because Queen Elizabeth II was Canada’s head of state — a role that the spokesperson described as “key… in our system of constitu tional government — the university felt that her death “merited such a response.”

The U of T spokesperson also described the university’s statement as being “consistent” with public statements issued by all levels of government, including by Mary Simon, Gov ernor General of Canada, and by Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the Lieutenant Governor of On tario.

However, some students were upset that Gertler’s statement, which was made on behalf of the U of T community, did not acknowledge Britain’s history of colonization. After all, out of the world’s 195 countries, Britain has invaded 171.

Scotland, the country that McLellan immi grated from, united with England in 1707 to gain economic security and access to Eng land’s colonial trade network, despite a long history of distrust and conflict between the two nations. In this union, Scotland retained its legal, religious, and educational systems but joined the main British Parliament with a dis proportionately low number of representatives.

The union was unpopular among the Scot tish and sparked rebellions in 1715 and 1745. The British government also implemented policies that evicted inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands and western islands of Scotland for sheep pastoralism, as well as eliminated sup porters of Catholicism in Scotland.

“How can [Gertler] say that on behalf of peo ple whose entire lives or entire histories have either been erased or changed by the Queen’s colonies?” McLellan asked. “How can [he] be part of one of the top universities in the world and say that?”

Sara Sullivan, a fourth year English student from Australia, added in an email correspon dence with The Varsity: “U of T has a duty to recognize the painful past and present expe riences with the crown of many people from around the globe.”

Separating the Queen from history

As the reigning British Monarch, Queen Eliza beth was Canada’s Head of State — mean ing that, in Canada’s system of government, the monarchy gave the Canadian government the power to rule on the Queen’s behalf. Great Britain began acquiring territory in what is now Canada in the 1600s, and the Queen remained our head of state when the Dominion of Cana da was formed in 1867.

Eventually, the British Empire became too large to manage efficiently. In the nineteenth century, the empire began developing a sys tem under which, for domestic matters, min isters elected by their colonies could exercise executive powers instead of limiting those powers to officials chosen by the British government. In 1931, the Statute of Westminster recognized members of the Commonwealth as in dependent countries within the British Empire that are “equal in status” to the United Kingdom. Some of these member states make up the modern Commonwealth, which any country can join.

The monarchy regu larly uses the British

Exploring the British monarchy’s lasting U of T community reflects on

Empire’s symbols and familial language. For example, the Union Jack, the flag used for the United Kingdom since 1606, has been an enduring motif in various flags flown in former British Colonies. Given connections like this, some students view the Queen — the mon archy’s head — as a symbol of racial and eco nomic power.

Zyad Osman is a political science and hu man geography major with a background in Egypt. Britain ruled Egypt from 1882 to 1914, beginning during the Anglo-Egyptian War and ending when the Ottoman Empire joined World War I. Egypt declared independence in 1922, but Britain did not withdraw its troops until after the 1956 Suez Crisis. In an email to The Var sity, Osman connected his sentiments of the Queen to a quote by James Connolley, an Irish Marxist Leader, that suggested that members of the monarchy shoulder the responsibility for their ancestors’ crimes.

“Queen Elizabeth [II] bore the responsibility for the atrocious actions committed by the Brit ish Empire in Egypt and the rest of the colo nies unless she confronted this past or relin

lasting connections to colonialism on Queen Elizabeth II’s death

quished this right,” wrote Osman.

However, other students stressed the impor tance of separating impressions of the Queen from Britain’s complicated history of colonialism.

“People have a myriad of opinions [about] the monarchy, and that’s fine,” expressed Sullivan.

Sullivan was born in Australia, which the British colonized in 1788 before the colony became a founding member of the Commonwealth in 1949. During British settlement in the country, settlers killed more than 20,000 Indigenous peo ples over access to their occupied land.

“What isn’t fine, in my opinion, is to disrespect a woman who served her country and her fam ily in an unimaginable way for the majority of her life,” Sullivan wrote.

“The Queen herself, Elizabeth Windsor, was extraordinary for her time,” added Sullivan. Sul livan highlighted that as the daughter of a sec ond-born son, Queen Elizabeth II never thought she would become a ruler at the age of 25. “She wasn’t all that much older than the majority of us, [and] she gave up her own ambitions and dreams in order to serve her people.”

Serving her people

In tributes, many international leaders have drawn attention to Queen Elizabeth II’s life of dedication; however, many of the people in ques tion were unwillingly subjugated to the institution she represented. Though British colonization be gan prior to Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, Britain had an empire of more than 70 overseas territories at the time of her coronation in 1952. As a result of the brutal conditions and repression that colo nial subjects endured, many colonies eventually sought independence, sometimes in the form of violent protests.

In these countries, the Queen was the head of state and not the government; hence, she had limited decision-making power. Nonetheless, as an influential political figure, the Queen had the opportunity to be vocal against colonization. On many occasions, she was silent on the subject.

“She did serve her people — and by her people, [I mean] white people. She served them, but she didn’t really serve people of colour,” said Nandini Shrotriya, a cinema and art history stu dent.

Shrotriya is from India, which the monarchy ruled as the British Raj from 1708 until 1947.

In the British Raj, the British used a ‘divideand-rule’ policy to create religious divides between Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, and Christians. This infighting made it easier for the British to arbitrarily divide the Indian subcontinent into two independent countries, Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. This division became known as the Partition of India.

At the time of the partition, Pakistan was geographically divided into East and West Pakistan, with India in the middle. East Paki stan later gained independence from West Pakistan after a nine-month-long war in 1971 and became Bangladesh; West Pakistan be came present-day Pakistan.

As a result of the partition, people were forced to leave their homes and migrate across the newly created border to avoid religion-based persecution and violence in their hometowns. By the time this colos sal migration drew to a close, fifteen million people had moved and between one and two million people had died in the process. A long-awaited apology from Queen Elizabeth II never came during her numerous trips to the region.

As a contrasting example, Shrotriya high lighted the hands-on humanitarian work that Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, took part in while abroad in Common wealth countries, such as advocating against land mine use in Angola and visiting leprosy hospitals in Nepal, Zimbabwe, and India.

Though Queen Eliza beth II served as patron for more than 600 char ity organizations during her lifetime, she did not participate in humanitar ian work during any of her more than 100 visits abroad.

Ironically, Sutherland pointed out, the mon

arch’s death has dominated international media coverage; over half of the world’s population was expected to watch her funeral on Septem ber 19. Consequently, fatal natural disasters in Commonwealth member countries have gone comparatively unnoticed by the media, such as the flooding in Pakistan — which has killed more than 1,600 people so far and displaced more than 33 million people from their homes. Outside of the Commonwealth realm, Hurricane Fiona’s destruction of Puerto Rico left the entire US terri tory without power and killed at least 25 people.

“It’s perpetuating an inequality between these formerly colonized countries that aren’t getting that same attention,” Sutherland said about the Queen’s funeral’s large viewership.

A new conversation

Though to many, the Queen’s death may seem like the end of an era, it can also represent the beginning of a new conversation.

“The Queen’s death might be significant in that it opens up a space for former colonies to re consider their relationship to Britain, particularly those places where the Queen is still the head of state,” explained Cecilia Morgan, a professor focusing on Canadian studies at the Ontario In stitute for Studies in Education.

Closer to campus, U of T provides spaces and resources for students to think about topics such as the monarchy and colonization. In an email to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson wrote that the university “encourage[s] students to explore the range of clubs… at the University that as sess world events from a range of perspectives.”

These clubs include various student associations for specific ethnicities, and groups centred on exploring the cultures of those ethnicities.

The U of T spokesperson also highlighted the university’s seven Equity Offices as a resource. For students at all campuses, U of T has an AntiRacism & Cultural Diversity Office, which offers education, training, and complaints resolution support “on matters of race, faith and intersect ing identities as guided by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.”

Moreover, there is the Office of Indigenous Ini tiatives that directs its efforts “towards listening, coordinating, advising and collaborating” with academic and non-academic campus commu nities in addressing U of T’s Calls to Action. The Calls to Action were suggested by U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee in 2016 as a response to the challenges outlined by Can ada’s 2015 Truth and Reconciliation final report.

Additionally, UTSC and UTM have access to an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Office on their respective campuses, which “promotes an eq uitable and inclusive campus community, free from discrimination or harassment based on the grounds covered by the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

If students lack the free time to access these supports, Morgan suggested that they explore U of T classes whose curriculums focus on coloni zation, as doing so “provides [them] with faculty who work on these questions professionally.” Morgan gave the example of U of T’s Depart ment of History, where some professors study the histories of colonialism: “I would encourage students to consider taking courses that provide them with the opportunity to explore these ques tions in depth.”

Though, through colonization, the British em pire left the world fragmented into colonial piec es, the aftermath of the Queen’s death offers us an opportunity to listen to criticisms of the empire that were once overpowered.

“I would like… [for this not to] become a po larizing moment,” Sutherland said. She added that she doesn’t want the Queen’s legacy to be one of a bad, or perfect, person, but for “people to come together and have deep conversations about different histories and different realities.”

Rotman reflections: Finding the right clubs to meet your career goals How an aspiring consultant navigated Rotman’s sea of opportunity

Yuyang Jiang Varsity Contributor

Rotman students are spoiled with choices when it comes to finding student groups. Rotman clubs cover a variety of topics, from fashion to trading, and from clubs focused on career development to clubs that cater to skill-building such as Rotman Commerce Toastmasters. With these many options, it seems as though there is a club for everyone. But with the options so diverse, how should students go about finding the club that is right for them?

Today, I am a professional development man ager at the Rotman Commerce Consulting As sociation and the Rotman Commerce Fintech Association. As an aspiring consultant, I feel at home in these clubs and find that they have been extremely useful on my career journey. Here is how I went about finding my place.

Utilizing the Rotman Commerce Portal

As a Rotman Commerce student myself, there are two things that I check every day — Outlook and the Rotman Commerce Portal. I consider these tools to be an essential part of any suc cessful Rotman student’s toolkit. Every October, intern positions for over 30 Rotman student or ganizations are posted in the job postings, and you can look through these to see which one best suits your interests.

All you require to apply to be part of these clubs is a résumé, cover letter, and seed of inter est in the club’s mission. You are also not limited to a certain number of clubs that you can apply to be part of. However, since these are competi tive applications, I would suggest tailoring your application to each club to best express your candidacy.

Even if you miss out on the original postings for club internships, you can still apply to be a committee member or director for a specific club portfolio, such as events, corporate relations and marketing, in the February hiring phase.

Using Instagram to find out more

Each club is unique and caters to a different passion that you may possess. For that reason, it could be tempting to want to join many. How ever, each club also requires a commitment, and balancing multiple clubs with schoolwork would become a mammoth-like task. I find that the best way to find the few clubs that truly speak to me is by going through their Insta gram accounts.

Instagram is a great way to find out more about clubs’ missions and the types of people that they are hiring. By following a club’s page, you will also be able to find out instantly when they are hiring or hosting professional and so cial events. My trick was to follow all the 30 club pages at once. From there, I found the links to their websites which helped me under stand their culture at a deeper level.

Membership versus leadership

Even if you do not hold an executive position in these clubs, you are not restricted from at tending their events. Many clubs have already hosted their public orientations and are now planning their flagship events throughout the year. I appreciate that these events push stu dents out of the traditional classroom setting and connect them with real industry experi ence, which is especially valuable for students trying to figure out the right career paths for themselves.

That being said, I would recommend that you try to run for an executive position. Brayden Ning is the president of the University of Toron to Consulting Association. In an interview with The Varsity, he shared: “I knew nothing about consulting for a bank. And through talking to my team members and the previous presi dent last year, [...] they taught me everything I knew about consulting. And that’s something I wouldn’t have got just attending events. Be cause you’re in a club [with] like-minded indi

viduals with similar career goals, it really fast forwards your personal development. And that's a pretty unique aspect of being part of a team rather than just attending events.”

If you are afraid of not standing out, do not worry. Becoming a club executive member is not like applying to actual internships or jobs. We are all just students looking for opportu nities, and I find that recruiting for clubs is a great dry run for internship or job recruitment.

“We’re looking for someone who has an in terest in the industry but perhaps has not de cided on their career. I’m looking for someone with a passion,” said Jeff Xia, the president of Rotman Commerce Fintech Association.

Alternatives for non-Rotman students Unfortunately, Rotman clubs are open to Rot man students only, but there are also options for students who are not in Rotman Commerce but would also like to break into finance, con sulting, banking, and other such fields. These clubs are a great way to gain informal experi

ence and find out more about potential career paths.

Some of these clubs also offer very specific experiential programs, such as the University of Toronto Consulting Association’s pro-bono consulting program, Rational Capital Invest ment Fund’s analyst candidate program, and the U of T Machine Intelligence Team’s pro gramming project.

These clubs also have Instagram accounts that you could use to find out about their events and executive positions. They tend to be more inclusive in terms of their targeted au diences, and can also be great for professional networking and career development. Their re cruitment timelines may be a bit different from the Rotman timelines, so you would have to keep an eye out for the clubs that you are in terested in.

Hannah Guo Varsity Contributor

It is recruiting season, and you may be ponder ing the secret to building your own professional network and seeking job opportunities.

This is where LinkedIn comes in. As the lead ing professional networking social media plat form, LinkedIn is widely used by university stu dents who seek to build business connections and professional networks.

You may don different personalities for differ ent occasions; the ‘LinkedIn personality’ is one such façade. But how do you go about forming this personality? The secret is credibility — when trying to expand your network on LinkedIn, por traying a “real” personality on the platform is key for people to trust you. Bear in mind that building your LinkedIn personality does not mean creat ing a brand new you, but rather enhancing your professional image and credibility based on who you are in the real world.

Building a wholesome profile

Step one is to have a professional profile picture with an appropriate background photo. This visual trick grabs attention at first sight.

Below the picture is the headline. This is where people usually put in a few words to describe themselves, and LinkedIn recommends putting more information in there, since this is mostly likely the first content the potential network will read.

Step two is to try to turn a bland summary into a story, drawing the readers’ interest and invoking their attention. Note that it is important to show case the skills you can offer, and try to have cor responding credentials for them, such as official assessments and certificates. If you have publica tions, remember to share them in your profile to keep it up to date.

Step three is a trick for people who are just starting to use LinkedIn; sync your email address on the platform. This will allow LinkedIn to provide the profiles of your email contacts, which is a great way to start off building your LinkedIn network.

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Staying active and authentic LinkedIn etiquette is very important when it comes to how successful your networking requests will be. Make sure that you person alize each message, so that your connection requests seem more sincere. Furthermore, you should always try to respond to messages on time.

Staying active on the platform by posting regularly also helps, since an up-to-date profile builds up credibility. Sharing views and send ing out sincere messages are more likely to get others’ attention, as compared to being a ge

neric figure. Some personal details may reso nate with others, and this is why a lively per sonality will effectively help you expand your network.

Take full advantage of the networking plat form by connecting mutual connections with one another. Your connections may return the favour. Most importantly, remember to present yourself in a professional manner.

Why LinkedIn is becoming more important Hosting over 800 million professional profiles, LinkedIn serves as the most accessible pro fessional social media platform, and is thus essential for job seeking and expanding net works. By sharing professional achievements on LinkedIn, you open yourself to more op portunities. Over time, your profile will only get richer and more detailed. Eventually, your pro file will not only be a showcase of your LinkedIn personality, but also your own personal brand, representing who you are in the workfield and in your professional career.

Your LinkedIn profile acts as a second gate way for recruiters to get to know you. While your résumé and cover letter provide the es sential information that recruiters must know, LinkedIn holds much more information that will create a lively figure for you in front of your po tential employer. And this is what makes Linke dIn so powerful and revolutionary.

Rotman Commerce hosted its annual clubs fair for students in September.

COURTESY OF ROTMAN COMMERCE

Arts & Culture

October 3, 2022 thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

Writer and producer Mary Teegee shares thoughts on Indigenous documentary For Love

Documentary focuses on rebuilding Indigenous communities after generations of trauma

Marta Anielska Arts & Culture Editor

Content warning: This article describes abuses committed as part of the residential school sys tem.

How does a systematically severed community begin to rebuild itself? How do its scattered mem bers heal from intergenerational trauma, collect the disparate parts of their culture, and pass it on to their descendents?

For Love, a documentary produced by Mary Teegee and Matt Smiley weaves together the sto ries of Indigenous peoples across Canada to try to answer these questions. During its 88-minute run time, this poignant piece of filmmaking, available on Netflix as of September 21, aims to teach Ca nadians about the trials that Indigenous peoples have endured, while simultaneously diving into the

incredible work that Indigenous leaders are doing to provide hope and joy to the next generation.

For this year’s National Day of Truth and Recon ciliation, The Varsity spoke with Teegee about For Love, as well as Indigenous peoples’ movement of resilience and hope for rebuilding Indigenous communities.

All for the children

For Love demonstrates how the Canadian gov ernment attempted to commit cultural genocide on Indigenous communities by targeting their children. While the residential school system and Sixties Scoop — when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes by child welfare services — did so most directly, the aftershocks of these programs ensured that Indigenous children were still being taken out of their homes long after they officially ended.

As a result, Indigenous children make up 52.2 per cent of children in the Canadian child welfare

system. In an interview with The Varsity, Teegee explained that, in accordance with these statis tics, one of the primary goals of the documentary was to show Indigenous communities that it is not their fault that so many of their children are in the welfare system. Those interviewed in the docu mentary shared stories about what Canada’s me thodical campaign had done to their families, and the devastating long-term effects it had on their lives and mental health.

“It wasn’t [the parents] fault… it was some thing greater than them,” Teegee said. “I wanted to make sure [the children] felt loved. That they understood the culture. That they could see them selves in film and celebrate who they were as In digenous people.”

This message of hope and love permeates throughout the entire documentary, as the film makers do their best to showcase the diversity of Indigenous peoples while connecting them through not only a common trauma but through common resilience and values as well.

Shaping the narrative

Teegee knew that she wanted to share these messages with Indigenous youth when she start ed working on the documentary, but ultimately, the film was fleshed out by the people who came forward to tell their stories.

“It was really organic,” Teegee said. “I was very, very humbled and honoured by the interest in be ing part of this film… by the strength of the indi viduals [who] came forward to share their stories. And they did this because it was for the children.”

The documentary reframes a narrative that has been twisted for decades by the Canadian gov ernment. It featured many Indigenous peoples working incredibly hard to restore the force of their communities — to teach their children their sto

ries, their languages, and their customs.

Similarly, the filmmakers aimed to highlight so lutions that came from Indigenous peoples, espe cially when it came to child welfare. Many workers in the system emphasized preventing child wel fare risks rather than taking children away once those risks had already manifested.

Teegee also noted the willingness of Indigenous youth to connect with their culture, and how im portant it is for community leaders to meet the youth where they are in their cultural journey. For example, For Love featured TikTok as a useful tool for helping those who have been disconnected from their communities to find their way back to Indigenous teachings.

“Social media is so important for telling our story, but on a more local level… you have Indig enous TikTok and all these [platforms] where we can laugh at each other, we can celebrate each other,” Teegee elaborated.

Teegee added that the screen cannot convey many elements of Indigenous cultures, which must be passed down through elders, stories, and interactions. Regardless, media platforms, including documentaries like For Love, are an in valuable way to start rebuilding that connection.

Teegee concluded that she hopes non-Indig enous people will also learn something from the film and that they will then go on to continue edu cating themselves about Indigenous issues. After that, it’s a matter of confronting our institutions: “We expect change, we demand change, there is no reason that every child in Canada does not have the ability to live up to their full potential, re gardless of race, creed, or colour.”

Margaret Atwood discusses history and future of democracy at U of T event

Caroline Bellamy Design Editor

I read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale for the first time many years ago. By that point, I had read every young adult dystopian future novel I could find, but The Handmaid’s Tale stuck out to me for two reasons. Firstly, un like the other novels I had read, Atwood’s work was just a step away from the world I was liv ing in. Yes, it was fiction, but at least I was able to draw more parallels to my own world than I could when reading George Orwell’s 1984

The second reason the book stood out to me is a collection of smallest, most minute de tails that I would never have thought of when imagining a world different from my own. For example, at one point the main character, Of fred, describes saving some of the butter from her meal and hiding it in a sock. She then uses the butter as moisturizer because, of course, she wasn't being provided with lotion.

Moments like this from the book made me realize the sheer amount of choice I am af forded. Every morning, I wake up and get to choose what clothes I want to wear, what brand and scent of shampoo I use, what I will eat for breakfast. Reading this made me real ize the value in all of the little things we get to choose each day. So when I saw that Margaret Atwood was coming to U of T on September 28 to discuss the history and future of democ

racy with Professor Randy Boyagoda, I knew I had to go.

The highs and lows of democracy

Though the event was originally supposed to take place in person, students tuned in via livestream after Atwood caught COVID-19. Atwood and Boyagoda began by discussing the non-linear history of democracy as a political system.

Take, for example, the setting of The Hand maid’s Tale: Cambridge, Massachusetts. At wood pointed out that nothing that happened in her novel hadn’t already happened in the world, yet she purposefully selected a seemingly un likely place for these events to occur.

Massachusetts was a liberal democracy in the 1980s, when Atwood was writing the novel. But just a little over 200 years earlier, the region was governed by a strict puritan theocracy. Atwood noted that in just a short period of time, a de mocracy can be built or can crumble.

Being American myself, my steadfast trust in our democracy has broken down in the last de cade. And it seems that I’m not alone in thinking so — many at the event drew comparisons be tween the fictional nation of Gilead and Trump’s America. It seems impossible to me that a coun try so divided can continue to rely on a form of government that is built on compromise.

But Atwood took a more holistic approach to these types of fears. She pointed out that fac tionalism, like we are seeing today, is not new,

and that focusing on the words we use to sepa rate one group from another will help us navigate uncertain times. It is much easier to use harsh, aggressive language with others in the anony mized world of the internet. It is also easier for our words to be misinterpreted or misconstrued. We must, especially today, understand the weight of our words.

University student ennui

Like others my age, I’m often faced with a sense of dread and impending doom about our future. How am I supposed to feel hopeful and excited about the future when it seems so steeped in the negatives? But like Atwood pointed out, nothing is certain or going to last forever: “There is no yellow brick road that leads inevitably to the Emerald City of Oz.”

My fears might not be new, but they do con nect me to a broader student community with a history of challenging these fears and uncer tainties. In accordance with that sentiment, Arts

Nami drew attention to the historical impor tance of universities in making room for discus sions just like these. She referenced her work at the ASSU on university policy and Palestin ian advocacy on campus as examples. She expressed that she hoped these initiatives play a part in upholding the ideals discussed at the event.

In the end, I think the main takeaway from the event is that nothing is guaranteed, espe cially democracy. Universities and young people need to make space for open dialogues about the state of our government here in Canada and the governments surrounding us. We must learn to value our words, and the words of oth ers, and we must not take the liberties afforded to us every day for granted. We should work to uphold the ideals that we value, and encourage those around us to do the same.

If you or someone you know has been affect ed by the residential school system, please find support resources on page 2.

& Science Students’ Union (ASSU) President Fatemeh Nami ended the event with some brief remarks.

How do young people move forward in turbulent and uncertain times?

The event was livestreamed at Hart House after Atwood caught COVID-19. COURTESY OF JAMIE NAPIER

Finding a voice through storytelling at the 15th annual Toronto Palestinian Film Festival

The festival showcases diverse Palestinian talent and offers an empowering space

Milena Pappalardo Varsity Contributor

The first words that come to mind when I think of the Toronto Palestinian Film Festival (TPFF) are joyful resistance.

The TPFF began as an artistic project by a group of local activists in 2008 to commemo rate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. The Nakba — Arabic for “the catastrophe” — is a sombre day in Palestinian history that com memorates when Israeli militias terrorized and forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people from their homes during the establishment of Israel in 1948.

After the huge success of the original com memorative film festival, the TPFF has expand ed its breadth and has been screening a variety of Palestinian films every year for the past 15 years. This year it ran from September 21 to 25.

Whether it be via an atmospheric documen tary or a piece of satire, the festival has allowed Palestinians living in Toronto to see their pres ent struggles and family histories reflected on screen. It was also a rare and empowering space for an oft-silenced community to feel heard.

Fresh takes on film

I attended the TPFF and saw two very differ ent films, which is a testament to the diversity of voices in Palestinian filmmaking. The first was Photobooth, directed by John Greyson, which is an outrageous and quirky documen tary about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanc tion (BDS) movement in the form of a satirical musical opera.

The film traces the history, nuances, and challenges of pro-Palestine movements such as BDS and the pinkwashing of Israel in an out landish narrative fashion. Photobooth weaves cameos from big-name scholars such as Judith Butler and Angela Davis into an absurdist sto

ryline about a Palestinian-Torontonian student activist’s quest to sabotage Israel’s perfor mance in the Eurovision song contest, resulting in an oddly educational and refreshing discus sion about activism and LGBTQ+ culture.

The film was shot largely in Toronto and also weaved in many Toronto-specific references: York University’s central hall served as the set of an Israeli prison, and the two main villains of the film — a drag queen and her henchman — were named after one of Canada’s most fa mous billionaire Zionist couples, Heather Reis mann and Gerry Schwartz. The student activist protagonist was aided by gay French novelist Jean Genet and conspired with the Toronto Zoo’s gay penguins to raise awareness about the BDS movement and save the day.

The movie felt perfectly crafted for a niche I fit into — queer, Palestinian, and Torontonian. But it was certainly a movie that appeals to very specific, and privileged, Western sensibili ties; Photobooth deals with the experiences of the diaspora instead of the grim reality faced by those living in occupied Palestine itself. However, its refreshing humour and absurdism makes it a delightful antidote to the disillusion ment and shared frustration of Palestinian Ca nadians and their allies.

The second movie I saw was Recovery by Rashid Masharawi, a documentary that used old photographs and videos from before the Israeli occupation to bring the historical port city of Jaffa back to life. The voice of a former resident of Jaffa narrates black and white pho tos of markets, beaches, movie theaters, and bustling harbours which have been animated to look like they are moving.

Recovery was particularly meaningful to me because of my own family’s story; Israeli forces expelled my grandfather and his family from Jaffa during the Nakba. To see the city’s beauty revived on the screen allowed me and my relatives, whom I took to the screening, to fondly remember a home we had lost, a home we were never fully allowed to know.

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Impact on the Palestinian community

In an interview with The Varsity , Dania Majid, who has been a TPFF organizer since the fes tival’s inception, said that the TPFF is trying to create a space where people can “be proudly Palestinian without fear of backlash.”

Fear and erasure are common feelings among most Palestinians in the diaspora, including myself. I grew up feeling the need to lie about my ethnicity and say I was from somewhere else in the Middle East to avoid confrontation. To say one is Palestinian is of ten taken not as a fact, but as a political state ment — a statement that welcomes debate and unwanted commentary.

Majid explained that, although Palestin ian TPFF attendees are at “different stages” in their self-acceptance and some are still hesitant to voice their identities, coming to the TPFF leaves them feeling very empowered. “They’re like, ‘Wow… a Palestinian movie in a

public space on the big screen’… It’s helping people ease into [the fact that] no, you have every right to be here.”

The idea that there was no “developed” or legitimate Palestinian presence before Israel’s creation is also a misconception Majid hopes to dispel through the festival’s films. “We were a very cultured and educated and developed society, whether it be from the agriculture point of view or from the academic point of view… our population is exceptionally talented and these talents are [shown] in these mov ies.”

“We’ve had films about female race car driv ers and soccer players… just a whole range of different storytelling,” Majid added. “And yes, the politics may come in in different ways. But there are so many different stories and peo ple… We’re not just victims of the occupation or of the Nakba, we have a vision and hope for the future.”

Avi Kleinman Varsity Contributor

The best place to get a book recommendation these days seems to be TikTok. The social media platform has cultivated a community of book lov ers whose fervent enthusiasm for their favourite stories can massively boost a book’s sales. The industry is taking note of this. Even mainstream outlets like Indigo and Barnes & Noble have started to curate display tables featuring TikTok’s trending titles.

In addition to traditional marketing venues, authors are also taking advantage of TikTok by creating accounts to promote their writing in the hope of gaining the approval of the all-knowing algorithm. Some savvy authors, such as Olivie Blake, find huge success through TikTok. Origi nally, Blake thought there was no market in tradi tional publishing for her novel The Atlas Six — in her own words, “a relatively quiet, think-y fantasy that puts characters before genre.” As a result, she chose to self-publish through Kindle Digital in January 2020.

Then she went viral on TikTok and was proven completely wrong — traditional publishing did want The Atlas Six, and wanted it enough to engage in a major bidding war for the rights to her book. Tor Books republished The Atlas Six in March 2022, to much acclaim. Now, Amazon has bought the rights to produce it as a series. With out those first TikTok views, The Atlas Six would

never have found its niche in traditional publishing.

But success is a double-edged sword. Twentyseven-year old Alex Aster seemed poised to fol low in Olivie Blake’s footsteps; after publishing one novel and subsequently parting ways with her agent, Aster informally pitched her young-adult fantasy novel, Lightlark, via TikTok. The video went viral and Aster soon secured a six-figure book deal and film rights.

However, once review copies began rolling out, the backlash began. Readers felt that Light lark had been falsely advertised and they began to turn on her. Some of the false advertisements may be due to unclear wording: on TikTok, books are often boiled down to bare-boned buzzwords. Since these buzzwords can encompass a vast range of stories, readers may buy a book with false expectations in mind. As an example, Aster said her book had “spicy” — sexually charged — scenes, but what makes something truly spicy will vary from reader to reader.

Other examples are less up for interpretation, though. Some reviewers noted that she posted excerpts of Lightlark on TikTok, but that those lines never appeared in the actual book.

The tide of popular opinion turned against Aster and readers began ‘review bombing’ Lightlark — that is, purposefully giving poor reviews in order to drop the book’s rating on Goodreads. Aster’s au dience turned on her with the eager glee of witch hunters; schadenfreude at its finest.

There’s a certain resentment in creative writing

circles toward TikTok-trendy authors. The pro cess of finding a literary agent, called querying, can be an arduous one of up to several years. To see people skip the queue seemingly effortlessly breeds bitterness. That’s not Aster’s or Blake’s fault, though; the issue lies with the idea that as piring authors should already be famous instead of publishers taking risks on unknown writers.

Authorship is supposed to be egalitarian; re gardless of race, age, attractiveness, or economic status, anyone can write. But not everyone can sell — especially when appearance becomes a marketing tool. It’s a not-so-secret secret that Tik Tok’s algorithm is trained to push white and whitepassing, conventionally attractive and wealthy people into the limelight. Racialized authors al ready struggle against systemic racism just to get published. Now, the TikTok algorithm continues to push them further into the background.

In addition, TikTok is not an intuitive platform for talking about books. Literary analysis naturally lends itself to slow-paced, long-form text decon struction — none of which TikTok’s short, video-

based platform is designed for. TikTok’s format of ten rebukes complex discussion in favour of flashy visuals and lists of tropes. The content of a book doesn’t matter, only the way it’s packaged.

A novel’s merit should not lie in marketability alone. Lightlark and The Atlas Six were sold in part because the authors appealed to an algorithm. Many quality books, especially by racialized writ ers, won’t get the same chance.

In the end, TikTok is just a tool — a power ful one for those who know how to use it, but a dangerous one for those who get caught on the wrong side of a vengeful virtual mob. It is not the sole arbiter of sales, but it will likely continue to affect trends in the near future.

TikTok emphasizes and exaggerates issues that already plague the industry, such as racism and other biases. Until publishing starts to truly prioritize the unknown, marginalized authors and provide a big marketing budget for their books, and until readers change the way they talk about books, all the problems present on TikTok will per sist there and elsewhere.

How a social media platform shapes the way books are discussed and sold

Two different films show how empowering resistance can be. COURTESY OF TORONTO PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL

ISLA

Why humanities students should experiment with science!

Madeline Szabo Associate Arts & Culture Editor

For a few decades now, it seems the aca demic world has been divided into two distinct groups: sciences and humanities. The two have raged against each other, assuming that they’re too different to establish peace. Yet, science should be a subject that everyone can enjoy. It helps us understand how our planet functions, how to keep our bodies healthier, and it doesn’t have to be the cold and calcu lated world that we humanities students fear.

And it’s not necessarily your fault that you fear it! TV shows, movies, and even my be loved books depict characters as either bookish English majors, à la Rory Gilmore, or science whizzes creating new beings out of chemicals; think the dad in The Powerpuff Girls. Few characters ever strike a balance between the two, and there is the resounding sense that if high school chemistry didn’t come naturally to you, then you should give up on science completely.

Until recently, I too felt that the sciences were someone else’s problem.

However, this summer, I took a job teaching science at a local day camp and very quickly I realized that by pretending I liked science — a biblical sacrifice for the sake of my campers — I actually ended up falling in love with it. It got to the point where I spent an entire weekend building a fluidized sand bed, which uses air to make sand frictionless. However, the most valuable scientific lesson that I learned was

that science is essential for caring about all the amazing parts of our universe.

Space travel for philosophy students

One great way to begin your journey into sci ence is to start thinking about space travel. This is perfect for philosophy students who are sick of trying to pry meaning out of old philos ophers. Instead, they can try to find meaning among the stars!

Many of our first philosophers were also sci entists. In fact, Aristotle’s philosophies often served to improve and advance his scientific models. His drive to ask questions and discov er new ways of approaching our world led to the theory that the Earth is smaller than many stars, which has turned out to be true of most stars!

Science forces us onto new plains that come with new questions, some of which could be about the humanities. The last words of the Mars Rover Opportunity were: “My bat tery is low and it’s getting dark.” It’s a stirring set of final words that brings up many ques tions about how human our technology can become, questions that may be best answered through the lens of the humanities.

Rocks rock when you’re in history

History is all about understanding what peo ple’s lives were like long ago, and in geology, you get to see what life on Earth was like even before! One of the world’s oldest rocks, called the Acasta Gneiss, is 4.03 billion years old. Rocks like this can show us former land forma

tions, soil conditions, and much more.

Imagine that, in a world thousands of years in the future, our highways have been de stroyed and there’s no trace of large infrastruc ture. Future historians will find that we carved out layers of rocks for large projects. If Lake Ontario dries up, our futuristic alien overlords will know where it was because the water will have stained the rock, making it darker for far longer than we could ever need that data.

Oftentimes, when we drill history into our brains, it becomes so theoretical, so far away, that it simply feels like a story. Yet, when we remind ourselves of the physical presence of history around us, it can become real and more powerful.

It’s unfortunate that so many of us humani ties students lose out on this power because the humanities have an undeserved reputa

Making space for books in this month’s bills

What a book-only subscription service means for students

Jevan Konyar Varsity Contributor

In the age of BookTok and BookTube, liter ary communities find themselves increasingly situated online, and a new book subscrip tion service, Aardvark — developed by U of T alumni Ozan Coskun and Bronwyn Sutherland — understands that. Described by one of its founders as a “twenty-first century book club,” Aardvark sits at the midway point between a social media platform and a streaming service, providing members with both monthly book hauls and a place to discuss those books.

The reading service

The idea for the service came about during Toronto’s lockdowns toward the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think [that], like a lot of people, both of us found ourselves read ing [during the pandemic] probably more than we had for years, more than we probably had since high school,” Sutherland said in an inter view with The Varsity . “And at the same time, there are subscription services everywhere, like Netflix… So then the idea kind of naturally formed of ‘why not combine the two?’”

The way it works is that Aardvark announces four or five new releases for readers to select from at the start of each month. After choosing a book — or even two or three if you’re feeling it and have an extra $13.99 to spare for each — physical copies are then sent to the cus tomer, at which point they can read their se lection. Membership is just over $25 a month; however, the website assures you that ‘being in their hearts’ is complimentary.

Coskun and Sutherland chose to ship physi cal books rather than ebooks because they wanted to give readers an experience that can’t be replicated with electronic media. “The vast majority of people still love the feeling of touching the book, flipping through its pages,

[and] the smell of it. It’s just an unmatched ex perience,” said Coskun. “The positive energy it gives you is something you cannot have with ebooks, or audiobooks, or anything [else].”

“There is something special about a physi cal book,” added Sutherland. “We’ve noticed there’s also a strong inclination… to collect books, display them in a certain way. It’s not just decor, and it’s not just functional, it be comes like a personal collection of sorts.”

Beyond the reader’s experience, Aardvark offers a new approach to distribution for both publishing houses and writers alike. “We want to showcase new authors, give them a chance to get their work out there to an audience, and then also just bring more community in gen eral,” explained Bronwyn.

The social media platform

Once subscribers have read their selection for the month, they can join dedicated, bookspecific clubs available on the Aardvark app. The social aspect was a major driving force for Coskun and Sutherland: “We wanted to provide a designated place… where you can discuss [books],” remarked Bronwyn. “So it’s really just carving out a space and making that a priority. That’s why even with the v.1 baby version of our app, that is something we are adamant about.”

On top of aiming to foster community in publishing, Aardvark’s model helps readers stay readers while at university by helping them maintain a routine. As somebody constantly hit with a barrage of course readings and, worse yet, rambling emails every week — an experi ence that is by no means unique at U of T — I often have trouble making time for personal reading. By shipping books on a monthly ba sis, and providing platforms to discuss them, Aardvark hopes to anchor subscribers to a routine.

“I think the university demographic is defi

nitely one of our target demographics… it can be very challenging to carve out time for reading,” said Bronwyn. “We could be a good solution where you sign up, you get a book a month, and you can commit. You can almost make it a habit to keep up with your reading.”

tion of being easier than the sciences. As a result, self-described ‘humanities people’ tend to resent the exclusive cult of STEM. But the sciences are useful for everyone, regardless of our unique strengths, because science en compasses so many different fields, from our own anatomy to whether mixing urine and bleach could make mustard gas.

It’s important for everyone to have a general understanding of science so that we can be better policymakers, lawyers, teachers, writers, and much more. So whatever your interests are, try steering them toward science! Look for science courses, spend too much time on Wikipedia, or simply stop thinking science is out of reach for your “humanities brain.” Ap preciating our world through science does not take a genius or a billion hours of biology class, it just takes a little experimentation.

Going forward, Aardvark also hopes to showcase new authors in Q&A sessions, giv ing readers the chance to interact with up-andcoming writers in a more personal setting than traditional social media. “I like to think we’re adding another place to gather to the [literary] landscape,” said Bronwyn. “These communi ties were here before us, and they’ll continue to thrive… I think we just want to add to it and really just make another space for people to gather.”

Combining knowledge can add to your understanding of every subject

CAROLINE BIEL/THEVARSITY

Aardvark was developed by U of T alumni Ozan Coskun and Bronwyn Sutherland. COURTESY OF AARDVARK BOOK CLUB

Is your back to school season filled with impending doom? Tips and tricks for tackling your end of summer blues

Caroline Bellamy Design Editor

Do you hate going back to school? If you an swered yes, you’re not alone. The truth is, many students dread the arrival of September and the return to school that comes with it. For as long as I can remember, I counted down the days until the start of summer with anticipation and excitement, and when September started to creep up, I would count down the days with impending dread. Soon, I would be imprisoned by waking up early and school assignments.

At university, back-to-school season is more than just altering your sleep schedule, like it was back in high school. For many, September means moving, perhaps across continents and time zones.

There are actually some scientific explana tions for why people may hate going back to school. Let’s break them down.

Sleep

Everyone always talks about how important sleep is, and people will constantly advise you to get enough of it. Despite all this talk about sleep, the truth is that many college students are sleepdeprived. Morning classes mean you can’t sleep past noon, and you can’t say no to plans with friends because “life is short and college is short er.” You might not have a chance to go out with your university friends when you’re 30, so you can’t miss out on it now. Not to mention, you’re actually supposed to study and do well in your classes. All of this leaves very little time for sleep.

The truth is, this overly packed schedule is part of the reason why you dread going back to school. Even though many of us work during the summer, there is more free time and not as much pressure to pack in as many activities as possible.

Boredom

Classroom boredom is a real thing. As stu dents progress in school, they become more and more likely to be bored out of their minds.

In first grade, school might feel brand new or exciting; by the third year of university, you’ve been going back to school every September for 15 years straight, and it isn’t new or ex

citing anymore. Instead of creating a poster with fun facts about your favourite exotic cat, you are writing ten-page essays, or complet ing four-hour labs. It feels like you have already done everything, and there isn’t any novelty in a new project or assignment.

Another reason you might dread going back to school is because, for many of us, it is much

less engaging than other parts of our lives. Re search conducted by the Pew Research Cen tre revealed that even people with meaningful and purposeful jobs found far more meaning out of family time than out of their jobs. Sum mer vacations mean more time spent with fam ily and friends, and more time doing things that you find engaging and get joy from. School takes time away from that; instead of engaging with others, you are glued to your computer screen for hours every day, doing readings or lab assignments, which can feel like the op posite of engaging work.

Food

You might also dread going back to school be cause of the change in food you are eating.

For many college students, consuming healthy nutritious food is not at the top of their priority list during the academic year. You eat greasy meals served at the dining hall and order late night pizza with your suitemates. You may do that because you are only young once, but it is also a good idea to throw in a random apple or carrot stick when you can. Eating healthy can improve focus, increase your energy, and even make you have a happier outlook on life.

All this talk about the dreaded back to school season isn’t complete without some tips to make it slightly less dreadful. What are the things that you love about vacation? In corporating some of your favourite things into your school year routine can help take away those end of summer blues. Obviously, not ev erything is possible — as much as you want to, you can’t steal your cat from your fam ily home — but if sleeping in until 2:00 pm is something you love about summer, find a day during the school year when you can sleep in for that long.

NANCY

Vincent

Quach

Virtual reality and the future of society

September Soiree in Technophilosophy asks questions about VR and life

Jevan Konyar Varsity Contributor

It takes great vision and knowledge to tackle questions as vast as those associated with the future of virtual reality (VR), but on September 19, scholars from a range of U of T’s depart ments and disciplines gathered to do just that at the September Soiree in Technophilosophy.

Professor Karina Vold from Department of Philosophy — who specializes in the philoso phy of artificial intelligence and applied ethics — organized the event, which was sponsored by the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Tech nology and Society and the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Tech nology. The event brought a diverse party of speakers together at the Isabel Bader Theatre to discuss what VR will change in our lives go ing forward.

Predigital origins of VR

A major theme that appeared throughout the discussion is how the roots of what we now

know as VR harken back to a predigital age.

Avery Slater, an assistant professor in the De partment of English specializing in twentieth and twenty-first-century literature, noted how the conceptual roots of VR lie in literature, with books like Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Snow Crash furnishing both the vocabulary and ideas behind it.

In an interview with The Varsity , Adrien Za kar, who works in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on car tography and geography, noted that “there’s something very interesting in new technolo gies being both cast as groundbreaking, but at the same time raising issues that we already know, and that we’re very familiar with.” Dur ing the event, Zakar pointed to cartography as another predigital precursor to VR, as the field offers a 2D representation of a 3D space that we treat much like the world around us when we apply our imagination.

Zakar told The Varsity that maps are also an example of technology subtly entering our lives, creeping in under our very noses, much like how VR has and may continue to in the coming years. “I think what’s valuable in bring ing maps into the picture is to observe the fact that we use them every day without really real izing that we do and without necessarily being even curious about how it became so,” Zakar said.

Creating immersion in VR

Another major theme that dominated the dis cussion was the role of human imagination in creating immersive encounters with VR. During the discussion, Professor Karan Singh, whose research involves the development and study of virtual and augmented reality, argued that VR is currently not immersive enough to be too different from television. With his research, however, Singh has come across robotic arm implementations in conjunction with VR that were “highly engaging,” allowing people to easily believe that virtual objects are real.

Professor Brain Cantwell Smith, who is the Department of Philosophy’s Reid Hoffman chair in artificial intelligence, responded that even if VR is limited to sight and sound, we are still interacting with the people and ideas

behind the virtual representation and can be immersed in them, much like how we interact with a writer and not the ink when reading a letter.

When it comes to sensory perception, Da vid Rokeby, an assistant professor with the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies and associate director at BMO Lab, illustrated that we might have to dampen parts of our senses to be fully immersed, turning off certain thoughts.

Professor Jessica Hall, whose work focuses on the philosophy of computing, pointed out another issue with the immersion of VR: there seem to be certain things whose constitutive features escape virtual representation. This is apparent when exploring meaningful experi ences and relationships in VR, as well as con templating questions about whether achieve ments and experiences in a virtual world have the same meaning as they do in the real world.

Toward the end of the event, the panel took questions from the audience. One person asked whether VR would eventually reach a point where we could see the world in ways we were previously unable to, such as under standing experiences of non-human animals.

This brings philosophical theories like those of Thomas Nagel — and his work on what consciousness consists of — into the spotlight. Nagel puts forth that we can know everything about a creature, such as, for ex ample, a bat, and know specific things about how they experience the world, such as that they use sonar for vision. However, we won’t be able to understand the phenomenological experience of actually being the bat. VR has the potential to change that by giving us ex periences that humans previously would not have had access to.

With VR as it stands, it appears as though the technology isn’t as immersive or impact ful as people may expect it to be. As many of the panelists pointed out though, VR does hold a lot of potential, but this comes with potential issues that we will have to look out for. However, if certain things are simply not possible to represent in a virtual world, it may be impossible to ever fully immerse ourselves in VR.

Biology creates the vibrant colours of the fall season

Harsimran Kaur Garcha Varsity Contributor

Cozy weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and colourful trees have arrived, signaling the start of the fall season. Cold air and reduced daylight mean sweater weather, but they also play a role in producing the mixture of vibrant colours that you see when the leaves change each fall.

What happens when it gets cold?

The winter season lacks ample sunlight and is very cold and dry. To conserve en ergy for the season, trees and other plants shed their leaves. It takes a lot of energy to make chlorophyll, so before the leaves fall, trees break the chlorophyll down into smaller molecules and move them out to save energy. As the chlorophyll gets broken down, other pigments such as carotenoids and anthocyanins, which are usually over shadowed by chlorophyll, can reflect their

Science Around Town

Week of October 3

Responsibility Without a Self

The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group is hosting a talk on moral responsibility and free will as it relates to mental states and the challenges involved in reconciling neuroscience with morality.

Friday, October 7 3:00–5:00 pm

Jackman Humanities Building, Rm. 418 170 St. George Street Admission: Free

Racial Trauma: How Racism can cause PTSD

As part of the inaugural Janis Rotman Distinguished Lecture Series on Mental Wellness, Dr. Monnica Williams explores how the risk of PTSD increases with exposure to racism.

Thursday, October 6

7:00–8:30 pm Innis Town Hall 2 Sussex Avenue Admission: Free

Ethics and the Future of Automated Mobility

The Faculty of Engineering is hosting a talk exploring the ethics of automated move ment with Dr. Jason Millar, looking at the issues with advanced driver assistance and automated navigation systems.

Monday, October 3 6:30–8:30 pm Faculty Club or Online 41 Willcocks Street Admission: Free

Drift: Art and Dark Matter

An art exhibition directly inspired by current research on dark matter. In June, The Varsity described it as a “romantic and philosophical” exploration of a great scientific mystery that doesn’t constrain artistic imagination.

Date: Tuesday, October 4

Time: 12:00–5:00 pm

Location: Art Museum, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House 7 Hart House Circle Admission: Free

Professor Karina Vold led the discussion on

with

COURTESY OF NARISSA FENG/ VARSITY BLUES MEDIA

Kunal Dadlani Associate Sports Editor

So far this season, the Varsity Blues men’s soccer team has failed to taste victory at Varsity Stadium — until now. On Saturday, October 1, the Varsity Blues beat the Queen’s Golden Gaels 3–0 to get their first win at home and their third win of the season.

“We have a very young team,” Coach Ilya Orlov explained in a post-game interview with The Var sity. “It’s about development and about improve ment [in] every game [and] the results will come if there is improvement.”

The Gaels dominated in the first half, forcing two saves from Varsity Blues goalkeeper Ben Grondin within the first 10 minutes. The closest

opportunity of the half came when Gaels’ de fender Ian Ferguson struck the right post after re ceiving a dangerous cross from midfielder Andrea Gortana.

While neither side broke the deadlock, the Gaels forced seven saves from Grondin in the first half. Comparatively, the Blues only had three shots on goal.

The Gaels’ dominance continued as the sec ond half kicked off, but the momentum shifted.

“I think we were… letting them come to us a bit in the first half,” Grondin explained in a postgame interview. “I think, [in the] second half, when we trusted our ability and we were able to get for ward… we showed that we were the better side.”

Early in the second half, two substitutes came on for the Blues — midfielder Alex Boue and

striker Kingsley Bele le — who both had an immediate impact on the game.

After a great pass from midfielder Shon Siegelwachs, Boue crossed the ball to Eugene Chiapetta, who volleyed in the Blues’ first goal from close range.

The Gaels applied pressure, but the Blues’ strong defense ensured that Toronto maintained their one-goal lead. After receiving a chipped pass from his fellow striker, Artem Tesker, Belele broke through the Gaels’ defensive line and ex tended the lead for the Varsity Blues.

“Substitutes are impact players who have to make a difference,” Orlov said about the vital sub stitutions. “Today, they made a difference.”

In the final minutes of the game, Siegelwachs dispossessed Gaels substitute Lucas Booth and skipped past two defenders before send ing a shot into the bottom left corner to finish the game.

Will the Leafs advance from the first round?

Hargun Kaur Rekhi Varsity Contributor

The start of this hockey season is bringing renewed hope for the fans, especially after the Toronto Ma ple Leafs perennial playoff demise last year, when they lost to Tampa Bay Lighting in a divisive Game

7. After an accusatory summer, when the blame for inadequate performance was passed from players to coaches, and even COVID-19, viewers are gear ing up for another make-or-break year.

The players

On September 24, the Leafs played a doubleheader against the Ottawa Sen ators. They won the first game 4–1, but lost the second to the Senators 4–2. The line up for this year looks promis ing, however, with an effective offense and an impactful defense. The team has struggled with finding good goalies, but it looks like that struggle might finally be over.

Ilya Samsonov earned some cheers from fans in Scotiabank Arena against the

Senators, blocking all 16 shots he faced. Matt Murray, former Stanley Cup winner, also blocked that same amount of shots against the Montreal Canadiens on September 28. On the offensive end, Calle Järnkrok made a big impression dur ing the doubleheader against the Senators, put ting two in the back of the net for the Leafs.

The NHL operates under a salary cap system to help decrease the pay disparities between the different hockey franchises. However, since the Leafs feature an expensive ‘big five,’ Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly, and William Nylander, the cap places the Leafs under more restrictions than other teams. The discussion is usually about who can be re placed on the roster as opposed to who can be added, to operate in accordance with the regula tions. Some fans want the five to be traded away, but for the most part — other than the goalies — the team remains mostly unchanged.

The games Interesting games to watch will be the four home games against Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals, and the New York Rangers. While traveling, the Leafs will have to compete against intimidating teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hur ricanes, and the Chicago Blackhawks before returning to Toronto to go against the Detroit Red Wings.

At the other end of the pitch, four late saves from Grondin ensured that the Blues maintained the clean sheet. Grondin finished the game with 12 saves, taking his total saves tally for the sea son up to 44. As a result, Grondin is now the joint leader in total saves in Ontario University Athletics.

“Ben is [the] top goalkeeper in Ontario [and] possibly [the] top goalkeeper in the country,” Or lov commented. “We still always have a chance of saving the ball because he is in the goal.”

Meanwhile, Grondin praised his team’s defen sive effort. “We really kept [the Gaels’ offense] lim ited,” Grondin explained. “When they were cross ing it in, we were able to either get [the ball] away or… into my hands.”

With five games left before the playoffs, victory against the Gaels means that the Blues are now tied for third with 12 points.

“[When you’re] halfway through the season, you got to be able to put the ball in the net,” Gron din said when discussing the impact of their win. “I think our guys proved today that we can do that.”

An interesting line up combined with early home game advantage and amusing oppo nents are all good signs for viewers predicting an eventful NHL season. If the Leafs have a strong start and can use their fans in Scotiabank as mo tivation, they will have a quality position heading into December. For us, it also means more action close to home.

Will we win?

Of course, it is very difficult to win in the NHL and impossible to accurately predict the outcome of all games. 32 teams, with exceptional skills, all compete for the Stanley Cup, and after gruel ing matches, only one team can win. Up till now, 20 NHL teams have managed to get the trophy. As for the Leafs, the cup has eluded their grasp for 55 years, one of the longest Stanley Cup droughts in the league’s history.

Nonetheless, if you are cautiously optimistic or simply don’t care anymore — that’s code for you don’t want to get hurt again — hockey al ways has something fun to offer to all those who decide to watch it. Regardless of how you’ll be watching the games — live, at a watch party, or merely looking at the highlights because of the stresses of the semester — the NHL season can provide a way to step away from daily university struggles. After all, we are looking at grown men, wearing metal-bladed shoes, chasing each other on ice. Bonus points if you think they look cute.

Should the Premier League have an All-Star game?

Romina Emtyazi Varsity Contributor

For the past five months, the Chelsea soccer club logo has been plastered on the front page of sports publications for one reason or another. Todd Boehly, the owner of Chelsea FC, has pro posed the establishment of an All-Star Game in the English Premier League (EPL), causing the old debate to resurface. Many long-term soc cer fans, who are familiar with the culture of the English game, have found it absurd to pair the name “All-Star” — a ubiquitously American con cept in sports — with “Premier League.” Before we get into why this format is harmful to the integrity of the game and how it will also fail lo gistically, let’s look at how Boehly envisions the system.

Simply put, Boehly wants the competition to be structured similarly to American leagues such as the NBA, MLS, and MLB. In the English context, this would translate into there being a North team and a South team. Evidently, the match will generate immense revenue due to high viewership; the money will then be spent among the English soccer ‘pyramid.’ While I must admit that conjuring possible lineups for each side and discussing their strengths would be entertaining for all of us, the concept has many flaws that are impossible to ignore.

What’s the purpose?

The All-Star game concept originated in MLB as a way of increasing the sport’s popularity. Major League Soccer (MLS) has used the same strat egy in recent years to popularize and raise the reputation of North American soccer. Despite this, the Premier League teams do not require such advertisements because fans perceive their club as part of their identity, relish in their team’s success, and take rivalries more seriously than blood feuds. Supporting a club is similar to tak ing an oath of allegiance during childhood, and subsequently letting its performance dictate your mood for the rest of your life. Take it from a long-suffering Manchester United fan: a North versus South match is not necessary to urge me to keep a separate open tab on my laptop to watch soccer while pretending to take notes on a lecture.

You might counter this by saying that the AllStar’s objective would be different in England. The goal would be to have more high-calibre players and competitive games to watch. Just imagine: Erling Haaland playing alongside Cris tiano Ronaldo — the current maestro meeting the original Premier League GOAT. Or Thiago Al cântara, Rodri, and Kevin De Bruyne lighting the midfield on fire while Reece James and Gabriel Magalhães team up to protect Aaron Ramsdale.

I agree that the idea of watching such a game

seems momentarily thrilling, but after the initial hype subsides, it’s hard to imagine players of en emy clubs uniting to put on a show for us. Players in the same club fight under the same emblem, and national teams under the same flag; there’s nothing bonding the All-Star teams together. No matter how talented they are, I could never imag ine myself rooting for Mo Salah to score or cheer while Kyle Walker flies down the field while ag gressively slide tackling a player.

Logistical issues

This is where the logistical problems of the plan come into play. When are these games going to be played? Players need time and training to adapt to new techniques and teammates. As much as it pains me to agree with Jürgen Klopp, he was right in mentioning how Boehly failed to acknowledge that, unlike the English league, the American sports calendars provide athletes with four-month break periods.

Some proponents of the change argue that the All-Star game can replace the fight for the Community Shield, which occurs prior to the sea son kickoff. But consider how many top players from the preceding season would have switched teams. The transfer window would still be open during that time period, which means there would be no consistency in terms of line ups for the big fanfare.

A glorified reincarnation of the Super League? Let us not forget that Boehly’s priority is not to please the fanbase. This idea came from the same guy who inquired why Tuchel does not use a 4-4-3 formation for Chelsea. He is a business man, an investor, and is in it for the money. De spite his claim that any income generated from this concept would benefit the league’s weakest team, there is no guarantee that this will in fact occur. When asked about the notorious European Super League, which was fiercely rejected by fans in 2019, he said, “I never say hard nos [to] keep options alive.”

Bottom line

I don’t blame you if the preceding arguments have failed to persuade you of my case, as I believe that an All–Star game would be a fantastic idea in an ideal world. But even Chelsea President Todd Boehly himself acknowledged that such a change would be challenging to implement, saying that, “There is a real cultural aspect, [and] the evolution will come.”

Perhaps while Boehly is waiting for fans’ club dedication to disappear, he should focus on bring ing his team another premier league trophy, as Chelsea hasn’t won it since 2015. Until that time comes, all the All-Star proponents can draw up their North or South team on the Fantasy EPL app or as their FIFA Ultimate team.

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ALL-PRO REELS & SANTERI VIINAMAKI/CC WIKIMEDIA; JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Jayda Ayriss Varsity Contributor

At the start of a new school semester, you may be itching to find new clubs to join. If you’ve ever looked at the club catalogue on the Stu dent Organization Portal, you’d know the list goes on forever — clubs galore!

But which one should you join?

If you’re asking me, I’d suggest the UofT Ten nis Club (UTTC). And if you’re wondering why, The Varsity interviewed Victor Zheng, the vice president of the club, to break it down.

Zheng explained that UTTC is a sports club aimed at promoting “tennis as a sport for ev eryone, regardless of their skill level.” Every week, new and familiar faces are welcomed and encouraged to socialize while also enjoying a friendly match of tennis. The club meets ev ery Friday from 3:00–6:00 pm at Ramsden Park and every Saturday from 7:00–-9:00 pm at Sir Winston Churchill Park.

Sessions on Fridays are structured so that the first hour is specifically catered toward be ginners. After 4:00 pm, everyone, regardless of their skill level, is welcome. Sessions on Satur days are of a slightly more competitive design for intermediate and advanced players. The ex ecutives at UTTC work hard during their meets to ensure that everyone is given equal playing times on the available courts.

Tennis, like many sports, takes at least two to play, and with curated leagues, the UTTC has got you covered! The leagues are group ings of approximate skill level, where each league is composed of a list of players. The list is given to you at your discretion to find other members of similar expertise to play with during or outside the club’s regular prac tice sessions.

Alaysha Merali Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article discusses weight loss strategies.

The quickest way to lose weight is subjective to how you view different fitness techniques and regimens. Intermittent fasting is the se lective timing of various meals that cycle your body to accommodate voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a period of time. Periodic fasting, alternate-day fasting, and daily timerestricted feeding are some of the multiple types of ways you can induce weight loss techniques in your daily life. However, is in termittent fasting really that effective?

Skipping meals may not be the best way to manage your weight; however, it does come with benefits. A typical day in the life of this technique would have you eat for roughly eight hours and fast for the remaining six teen. Essentially, this would limit your intake of foods, as well as calorie-containing bever ages, because you would only be consuming no-calorie beverages such as coffee or tea.

Once you’ve gained some confidence in your tennis abilities, you can put them to the test in a UTTC tournament! UTTC’s tournament this month will include men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles games, with champions crowned at the end. Some other big upcoming events include tournaments against our very own U of T Skule Tennis Team this semester. In January, the team will also play in tournaments against the University of Waterloo and Western University.

The fun at UTTC doesn’t stop even as snow blankets the outdoor courts. The club’s executives negotiated a $10 per three hours

cost to play at Eglinton Flats Winter Tennis Club. Booking tennis courts in Toronto can be quite expensive, with prices ranging from $80 to over $1000, depending on age group and number of people. This cost can certainly be a deterrent for students eager to continue play ing in the winter. Zheng explained that, “[due to the high cost,] students may never get to play indoor tennis, which is kind of sad. Our goal is to have indoor courts for people at an afford able price.” The discounted cost provides an accessible way for students at U of T to con

Does intermittent fasting work?

An inside look at the popular weight loss fad

Over time, your metabolism will start to in crease and help you burn calories even faster.

Many scholarly experiments have con cluded that intermittent fasting does work, al though it may not be the best for your overall short-term health. Taking a deeper look into what happens on a cellular level, it’s fascinat ing to see how much food influences your body.

When we don’t consume food for a while, many different things happen in our body simultaneously. Insulin levels drop, human growth hormone (HGH) levels increase, the body moves into a cellular repair process, and the genes in our DNA beneficially in crease their longevity and protection against diseases. Backtracking for a quick second, our insulin levels are the main source behind helping our fat burn the way it does. That is why, during the fasting stage of this weight loss technique, there is no food in our body to facilitate the burning of any excess fat.

Our blood levels also increase dramati cally, as we’re now running on the food we ate during the eight-hour period. That’s why, when we complete activities like walking up the stairs, some of us may start to feel our heartbeat quickening and maybe even start to fall short of breath.

These changes in hormone and gene func tion ultimately train our bodies to facilitate weight loss. Lower insulin levels and higher HGH levels increase the breakdown of body fat and channel it into energy. When intermit tent fasting, our bodies increase their meta bolic rate, therefore increasing the calories that are expended. In addition to this, we consume less food, which decreases our calorie intake.

tinue playing the sport all year round.

Beyond regular drop-ins that the club hosts, the Events Director Arya Rahmani helps orga nizse social events to further cultivate an envi ronment for members to meet and build con nections with one another. In the past, the club has had watch parties for very well known, bigtime tennis competitions, such as the Austra lian Open and Wimbledon.

While spending time with the UTTC, I ob served an environment so uplifting that even I wanted to join! I got the chance to speak with members, some of whom were seasoned reg ulars at UTTC and others who were only thirty minutes into their first practice. Takeshi Yama guchi, a second-year undergraduate and one of the club’s familiar faces, had many positive things to say about the club: “One of the things I like about UTTC is that you get to know a lot of people and improve your tennis skills as well… [it’s a] win-win situation.”

I also spoke with Christophe Büschges, an exchange student from Germany, who was brand new to the sport and the UTTC. He said, “they straight away added me to a group for beginners so I could find new people to play with, so that was nice.” It should be an encour aging thing to know that whether you’re join ing as a beginner or a seasoned tennis player, you’ll be sure to fit right in with this group of welcoming individuals!

The UTTC’s overall mission is to provide a space for tennis enthusiasts to flourish, and it seems that Zheng and the executive team have accomplished just that. With as many as thirty students coming to each practice, the club is rapidly popularizing tennis at U of T, and you can join too. So tie up your laces, grab your racquet, and head over to the U of T Tennis Club — it’ll be delighted to see you!

proach to weight loss and you can most

The U of T Tennis Club: A sports club for all to join A conversation with one of the most enthusiastic sports clubs at U of T

A rally gets intense between two UTTC members. COURTESY OF UOFT TENNIS CLUB