October 18th, 2021

October 18, 2021

THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Vol. CXLII, No. 6

Mask exemptions fo rc Class ert es m ai u st b e phys n ically distan

As in-person classes continue, U of T has allowed its academic divisions to grant mask exemptions to individual professors for certain instructional activities, so long as they follow strict safety protocols and can prove that they have valid reasoning for requesting an exemption.

If the exemption is granted, instructors can ask students to remove their masks for a limited period of time to execute a certain activity.

Those who take advantage of the exemption must follow their respective divisions’ protocols, which can include providing students with time to voice their concerns, ensuring that students bring spare masks in case a mask is lost or gets dirty, and implementing physical distancing — which is normally ignored in classes where masks are worn.

Exemption procedure While U of T requires masks to be worn in all indoor spaces on campus, it grants exemptions for

ce d,

instructional purposes when an instructor can prove that wearing a mask impairs the effectiveness of a learning activity.

Each division may also provide its own safety requirements for classes with mask exemptions.

In an email to French Professor Sébastien Sacré where the dean’s office approved his request for an exemption, it outlined the different considerations that he had to take to comply with the university’s policy on exemptions.

These requirements included that students should remove their masks intermittently rather than for the entire duration of an activity, that professors will dictate when students remove their masks and put them back on, that participants must place their masks in a clean container while they’re not in use, and that all participants must have a spare mask in case the first gets lost or dirty.

Instructors are responsible for providing students with notice of when an activity with a mask exemption might occur, which would give students time to confidentially raise questions or concerns. An instructor must also make sure that they are physically distanced from the first row of students, and that they put their mask on when they leave the instructional space.

Classroom effects In an email to The Varsity, Sacré explained that he only requested the exemption for one language class which is being held in a classroom large enough to have proper physical distancing. He added that it’s mostly a “just in case” measure, since a student had expressed concerns at the beginning

p u c o g Ar s comee hom

fo l

low

a

tiv

c

Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

str

ict

sa fet y

iti es

pro toc ols

of the year that dictation activities would be harder to complete with masks.

“Teaching language skills requires the instructor to make their articulation not only as clear as possible but also as visible as possible to students,” Sacré wrote. He explained that masks might make it more difficult for students to follow the process of articulation, and brought up concerns about dictation activities, where students have to write down a passage the professor says aloud.

Sacré mainly wanted to have the flexibility to take off his mask in cases where it would help students learn. He added that if even one student were to express discomfort with him taking off his mask, he would not take advantage of the exemption.

A U of T spokesperson also wrote in a statement to The Varsity that although instructors could receive exemptions from their divisions, they could also supplement their classes with videos and livestreams.

pg. 19

The Blues celebrate their victory.

COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES

2

THE VARSITY THE VARSITY NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca and changing the executive removal policy.

By combining the charter for referenda with the elections procedure code, the UTSU hopes it will become more accessible to students. The union will also add a clause that explains the procedures for how it fills seats that are left vacant after executive elections and internal elections.

The executives’ justification for changing the executive removal policy was that the current one encourages “toxicity.” The UTSU hopes that the amendments will place the accountability of executives into the hands of the membership by allowing them to vote out executives.

THE VARSITY Vol. CXLII, No. 6 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 the.varsity

thevarsity.ca

the.varsity

thevarsitynewspaper

The Varsity

@TheVarsity

MASTHEAD Hannah Carty Editor-in-Chief Aditi Putcha Creative Director Tahmeed Shafiq Managing Editor Stephanie Bai Managing Online Editor

editor@thevarsity.ca creative@thevarsity.ca managing@thevarsity.ca online@thevarsity.ca

Sarah Kronenfeld Senior Copy Editor

copy@thevarsity.ca

Lauren Alexander News Editor

news@thevarsity.ca

Maya Morriswala Comment Editor

comment@thevarsity.ca

Sarah Folk Business & Labour Editor Jadine Ngan Features Editor

biz@thevarsity.ca features@thevarsity.ca

Alexa DiFrancesco Arts & Culture Editor

arts@thevarsity.ca

Khatchig Anteblian Science Editor

science@thevarsity.ca

Angad Deol Sports Editor

sports@thevarsity.ca

William Xiao Design Editor

williamx@thevarsity.ca

Makena Mwenda Design Editor

makenam@thevarsity.ca

Caroline Bellamy Photo Editor

photos@thevarsity.ca

Andrea Zhao Illustration Editor Abigail Dollries Video Editor

illustration@thevarsity.ca video@thevarsity.ca

Aaron Hong Front End Web Developer

aaronh@thevarsity.ca

Andrew Hong Back End Web Developer

andrewh@thevarsity.ca

Nawa Tahir Deputy Senior Copy Editor Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

deputysce@thevarsity.ca deputynews@thevarsity.ca

Lexey Burns UTM Bureau Chief

utm@thevarsity.ca

Maheen Zulfiqar UTSC Bureau Chief

utsc@thevarsity.ca

Padraic Berting Graduate Bureau Chief

grad@thevarsity.ca

Vacant Public Editor

publiceditor@thevarsity.ca

Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor

Mekhi Quarshie Associate Sports Editor

Cedric Jiang Associate News Editor

Janhavi Agarwal, Ana Pereira Associate B&L Editors

Shernise Mohammed-Ali Associate Comment Editor Alyanna Denise Chua Associate Features Editor Sky Kapoor Associate A&C Editor Angel Hsieh Associate Science Editor

Vacant Associate Design Editor Vacant Associate Illo Editor Ehsan Etesami, Corrine Langmuir Associate Photo Editors

Lead Copy Editors Julia Da Silva, Safiya Patel, Grace Xu, Cherry Zhang Copy Editors Yasmin Ameri, Talha Anwar Chaudhry, Caleb Chan, Michael Chan, Elise Cressatti, Emily Faubert, Robert Guglielmin, Zarmina Jabarkhil, Mona Liu, Jessie Schwalb, Sanjaya Sritharan, Kiri Stockwood

BUSINESS OFFICE

Parmis Mehdiyar Business Manager

business@thevarsity.ca

Angelina Ouyang Business Associate

angelinao@thevarsity.ca

UTSU AGM 2021: financial statements, bylaw changes Executive questioned on timing of the meeting, advocacy efforts Lauren Alexander, Marta Anielska News Editor, Deputy News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) met on October 8 for its Annual General Meeting (AGM). During the meeting, members voted to approve the audited financial statements from last year, as well as several bylaw amendments.

The executives also took questions from participants, including questions about how the UTSU would maintain its advocacy efforts after VicePresident Public & University Affairs (VP PUA) Catherine Lai’s resignation. Many also complained that the timing of the AGM was inconvenient since it was over Thanksgiving weekend.

Financials Fiona Reuter, the UTSU’s vice-president, operations, delivered the audited financial statements from the 2020–2021 academic year.

Highlights included the UTSU’s strong financial position, an increase in the union’s health and dental reserve, and higher expenditure on employee salaries and benefits.

Reuter noted that increases in assets, cash reserves, cash flow, and student fee revenue signalled positive changes in the union’s finances.

The UTSU’s health and dental reserves also increased. According to Reuter, this means

Bylaw amendments UTSU members voted to accept a number of amendments to the UTSU bylaws, which Reuter went over in a presentation. Amendments include getting rid of gendered language, making election procedures more straightforward,

UTM aims for mostly in-person winter semester International students fear difficulty returning to Canada Lexey Burns UTM Bureau Chief

In a message to students, UTM Vice-President & Principal Alexandra Gillespie announced that UTM is planning for the majority of winter semester courses to be held in person.

Gillespie indicated that, while some courses are currently scheduled to be online in the winter, UTM may soon change their course delivery method to in-person.

An announcement on the UTM website acknowledges the fact that they are using the fall semester as a buffer to allow vaccine mandates and passports to take effect, as well as a chance for international students to travel to Canada.

Ishir Wadwha ishirw@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executive

Mansi Premkumar mansip@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executive The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2021 by The Varsity.

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

Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity. ca. ISSN: 0042-2789

that the union is prepared for years when there may be more claims, such as the last academic year. Moreover, the union’s switch to the insurance provider Green Shield means they won’t need to increase fees for the next two years.

However, the revenue that the UTSU gained in several different streams decreased last year due to the pandemic. The union did not have the opportunity to earn money from advertising or sponsorships, and it did not run any TTC ticket sales.

Because of its move to the Student Commons, the union has had to increase its expenditures to pay new staff and furnish the building. While its expenditure on club subsidies decreased last year due to the pandemic, it hopes to provide clubs with more financial support in the coming academic year.

Reuter emphasized that the union also hopes to become more transparent with their finances. She encouraged students to ask questions, reach out to her, or visit the website for more information.

Questions for executives Some attendees complained about the timing of the AGM, which they said was inconvenient since it happened over Thanksgiving weekend. They also questioned the requirement that student clubs must send a representative to the AGM in order to get a recognized club status. They added that attending the AGM can be difficult along with school and other responsibilities, and that attendance should be made optional.

UTSU President Alexa Ballis responded that the UTSU will review the policy, which has been in place long before this year.

Ballis also answered questions about the vacant VP PUA position. Members asked how the executives are prioritizing advocacy efforts without a VP PUA, who is usually in charge of advocacy.

Ballis answered that the executives are currently dividing the responsibilities of the vacant position, focusing on advocacy surrounding the return to campus. She pointed to current causes the UTSU has been paying attention to, such as the multi-tenant housing framework that the City of Toronto is voting on soon, as well as advocacy around sexual violence.

Ballis also clarified that if no one runs for the position of VP PUA in the fall by-elections, the position will be filled through an appointment process, as was done in the spring after the sole candidate for the position rescinded their candidacy.

In response to a question about the Student Commons, Ballis said that the UTSU is aiming for event space to be open by January, but hopes to have it available sooner.

Fatemeh Nami asked whether there were any additional screening and background checks for members of the Equity & Accessibility Committee. Ballis answered that there are none, but that the UTSU will look into putting some in place.

University of Toronto Mississauga.

SHUTTERBUGAMAR/CC FLICKR

Jane Stirling, UTM’s executive director, marketing and communications wrote in an email to The Varsity that “Students who we’re [sic] interacted with are very excited to get back to in-person classes this winter.”

Stirling also mentioned that UTM is planning to deliver the majority of courses in person but certain undetermined courses “across the curriculum” will be offered online. She added that more updates on course delivery methods will come between now and the winter 2022 semester, and that UTM will take community wellness and student success into consideration.

Mitra Yakubi, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union president, wrote in an email to The Varsity that “a number of students have reached out with concerns about the plan for a full return in January.”

Some of the concerns that students have brought forward include an inability to find secure housing for students in time for the start of semester; feeling unsafe due to lack of capacity limits; financial constraints from loss of personal and familial income; and having to worry about housing, food, and plane tickets. International students are also worried about obtaining visas in time and worry about the insufficient COVID-19 protocols in place at U of T.

Yakubi wrote, “In my opinion students, staff, faculty and everyone else should be given the opportunity to decide whether they’d like to continue online or be in-person.”

“For students who are interested and excited for in-person learning the university must ensure that it is done in the safest way possible and that they protect the well-being of everyone here at UTM,” she continued.

Lucas Noritomi-Hartwig, a second year computer science, math and statistics student wrote to The Varsity, “I don’t think transitioning to in-person delivery during the Fall/Winter session would make any sense. I have no idea how the Winter term will be for me if I… have to go in-person.” Noritomi-Hartwig lives approximately an hour away from campus.

Noritomi-Hartwig explained that the amount of planning and reorganizing that would have to be done in such little time would cause poor results. “People plan things for the whole year, and this sort of throws a wrench into their plans,” he continued.

“If the university wants to return to an in-person delivery mode, it should only be considered after this current Fall/Winter session has completed,” he claimed.

thevarsity.ca/section/news

OCTOBER 18, 2021

3

U of T holds second town hall of the semester for UMLAP review Participants raise concerns about mental health stigma, obscurity of policy and supports Elizabeth Shechtman Varsity Contributor

U of T hosted its second town hall meeting of the term on October 5 for a review of the controversial University-Mandated Leave of Absence Policy (UMLAP). Created in 2018, the UMLAP allows the university to put students on mandatory leave without academic penalty if it deems the student to be a danger to themselves or others. Nine students have been placed on leave since the policy’s inception.

The series of four town halls aimed to engage key stakeholders such as students, staff, and faculty in the review process. Two town halls were held in winter 2021, and two were scheduled for this term. During the October 5 town hall, participants discussed their concerns about the policy, and suggested ways in which it could potentially be improved. The event was led by Donald Ainslie, a U of T philosophy professor, and Varsha Patel, the assistant dean of student success at UTSC. Stigma created by policy Participants commented that the UMLAP reinforces the stigma around mental health at the university, with some students fearing that if they reach out for help, they won’t be able to

ANDREA ZHAO/THEVARSITY

attend school after being placed on leave. “[Reaching out] could perhaps trigger this policy, and that’s something that students are afraid of,” one participant said. They continued that, as a result, students may not be getting help when they need it — this is the “unintended consequence of the policy.”

Ainslie said that the university takes some steps focused on the student before this policy is enacted. “The idea is to give students sup-

port so that they can achieve their academic goals, whether that’s by remaining in class with more accommodations or potentially taking a voluntary leave,” Ainslie explained. He added that the UMLAP is a last resort and handled on a case-by-case basis.

Obscure implementation During the meeting, Ainslie noted that students had previously raised concerns about a lack of

clarity on when the policy could be enacted.

He said that the university is working to change the language of official documentation so community members can better understand when it might affect students.

Moreover, community members argued that there was not enough mental health support for students in place prior to the policy’s implementation, and that the policy is unnecessarily harsh.

Ainslie defended the policy, saying that it was developed on a foundation of clarity, transparency, and compassion which limits its application.

He added that the university also understands that “there need to be all sorts of support for mental health before it reaches the point where this policy is relevant.”

The policy is up for review for the first time three years after its inception, and Ainslie has been appointed as lead. The review includes assessments of the policy’s intended purpose, consideration of its unintended outcomes, and of the extent to which it is understood by the university community.

The review team will create summaries of the concerns they heard at the meetings, which they will then use to recommend directions in which the policy should go in the future. They will provide more concrete recommendations to the university starting in January 2022.

UTM student starts petition against return to in-person classes Students cite international travel, safety concerns as hesitations for returning to campus Lexey Burns UTM Bureau Chief

Alex Aurica, a fourth-year student at UTM, has started a petition on Change.org to keep all UTM classes online after the campus announced that classes would be shifting to in-person delivery during the winter semester.

In an email to The Varsity, a UTM spokesperson noted that many students are excited to get back to campus. UTM has announced that they are using the fall semester as a buffer to allow vaccine mandates and passports to take effect.

Aurica wrote to The Varsity that they started the petition due to transportation concerns.

They added that they hoped to bring the petition to UTM administration once it had gained 300 signatures. As of October 17, the petition has over 350 signatures.

Attendance concerns Aurica explained that they started the petition because they believe they would have a difficult time getting to campus due to transportation issues, and they saw that many students had expressed similar problems online.

Victoria Valeeva, a first-year chemical and physical science student, expressed that as an international student, the move to in-person classes would pose a problem for their return to Canada.

“Even if I leave my current country right after my last exam, it will just be a couple days after my quarantine ends when classes start,” Valeeva explained in an email to The Varsity. Valeeva added that they aren’t able to get a Health Canada approved vaccine in Russia, nor can they get any other since they are not over 18.

UTM requires everyone returning to campus to be fully vaccinated, which can take approximately a month, so Valeeva won’t be able to attend any of their in-person classes for a month, unless they take weekly COVID-19 screening tests.

Besides negatively impacting their GPA, this would also impact their finances. Valeeva has to maintain full-time status or else they no longer qualify for the scholarship that pays for 75 per cent of their international tuition. If they lose the scholarship, they can’t afford to attend UTM. Valeeva might have to drop some of their required courses to prolong their undergraduate degree, maintain full-time status and skip a month of courses, or spend additional money on courses they don’t require to maintain fulltime status.

Not a safe space Rose Amirpour, a first-year psychology student, wrote in an email to The Varsity that she doesn’t believe it’s “remotely safe for anyone to go back to a class full of 500 people or let alone 100.”

UTM has not yet announced any details about in-person class sizes.

She added that while she’s fully vaccinated and supports the mask-wearing policy, she still doesn’t feel comfortable being around a lot of people. Amirpour was hoping that the university wouldn’t consider returning to in-person course delivery until next year, which she believes would allow people to “get prepared in time to get back.”

Further details about UTM’s transition from online to in-person learning will soon be available to students.

New app designed to find spaces for class on campus App part of proactive attempts to fill student needs during hybrid semester Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

A new app, called UofT Synchronous Space Finder and commonly referred to as ‘Sync,’ helps students find rooms on campus where they can study or attend online classes.

Despite some initial hiccups with accessibility before the university introduced Android and web versions of the app, students have responded positively to the university’s new initiative during a mostly hybrid semester.

Creation of the app In an email to The Varsity, Steve Bailey, the director of the university’s Learning Space Management division, wrote that he realized early on that students who are enrolled in a mix of in-person and online classes might need to attend the latter while on campus. Therefore, he “wanted to be proactive and intentional” about filling the needs of students.

In collaboration with MADLab, a mobile app developer in U of T’s Academic and Collaborative Technologies, Bailey’s team created the app in four weeks. He added that it uses the

map function on students’ phones to find study spaces near them.

Bailey noted that while using spaces they find through the app, students should wear earphones to avoid bothering others. He also pointed out that consuming food and beverages is not allowed in instructional spaces.

Impact on students Bailey also wrote that the app has been quite successful among students and has been downloaded over 2,700 times. Students have spread news of the app over social media in response to other students who are specifically asking about spaces on campus.

Students embrace opportunity to find available space.

CORINNE LANGMUIR/THEVARSITY

Monica Brown, a first-year humanities student, said in an interview with The Varsity that she finds the app useful because it helps her locate a space to attend an online tutorial immediately after an in-person class. She added that if the app didn’t exist, she would have to either run to Robarts or attend her tutorial in a crowded hallway, which wouldn’t have worked very well since participation is heavily required.

However, Brown mentioned that it would be nice if students could reserve rooms since, at the moment, students have to “show up and hope that [they’re] not over capacity.”

Some students with Android phones were left out when the app was first released, since it was not originally available on Android. This problem has now been rectified, and students are now able to access it on a variety of devices.

Bailey wrote that the university is willing to take all student feedback on the app. He added that, although the amount of space made available to students will decrease as more classes shift to an in-person format, the university will consider extending the availability of this resource.

4

THE VARSITY

news@thevarsity.ca

NEWS

Graduate students navigate office closures, restricted study spaces Most indoor office spaces remain closed due to provincial guidance Padraic Berting Graduate Bureau Chief

Though U of T is well into its fall semester, graduate students are continuing to navigate unique obstacles that have remained in place during the reopening process. One of these challenges is that offices usually reserved for graduate students are not expected to re-open until provincial guidelines allow them to.

While many libraries and cafés

have opened for student use, some smaller spaces remain closed. Many students have voiced concerns about the lack of suitable alternatives to student offices in the face of an ongoing need for more student spaces on campus.

Student concerns Community members have voiced concerns at the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union’s (UTGSU) board meetings, noting that many

graduate students have been unable to access office spaces that were available to them before the pandemic. Students added that this has had a negative impact on their ability to get work done.

In an email to The Varsity, UTGSU Academics and Funding Commissioner Danielle Karakas confirmed that indoor office spaces have remained closed while lab spaces have opened due to ordinances set out by the province.

Though the union reached out to department unions in September for feedback and concerns, they did not receive a response. Karakas added that she would encourage any students with concerns to reach out to the UTGSU, their course union, or their department directly.

University response In a statement to The Varsity, a U of T spokesperson acknowledged graduate students’ frustrations and wrote

that the university is working to open those smaller spaces. “Each space is unique and we need to proceed cautiously and ensure that public health guidance is being followed,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson agreed with the union, writing that if students had specific concerns about departmental spaces and arrangements regarding their needs, they should reach out to department leadership.

UTSC community members express support for Eglinton East LRT extension New line would link 54 bus routes and three subway stations Syeda Maheen Zulfiqar UTSC Bureau Chief

UTSC community members have expressed support for an eastern extension to the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) that is currently being built. The LRT is planned to be 19 kilometres long with 25 stops, linking 54 bus routes and three subway stations.

The construction, which has been underway since 2016, would extend the current line by 15 kilometres from Kennedy Station to Malvern, passing through UTSC on its way and including 21 new stops with three new connections to GO Transit.

However, Scarborough community members have raised concerns that the project isn’t properly funded, and no updates have been given on construction since December 2020. While the City remains committed to the extension, the provincial government has focused its attention on other transit options.

Project details The project is designed to help customers cross the city more quickly, and to provide them with a better experience when moving between LRT stations and the TTC subway system. It also aims to make transit more reliable, reduce traffic congestion, and reduce travel time.

Moreover, the project is supposed to alleviate the crowded experience of riding the TTC that is familiar to Scarborough Rouge Park riders, and provide a strategic link between UTSC and “equity-deserving communities” in the surrounding area, according to the City’s webpage for LRT updates.

Though Ontario Premier Doug Ford outlined plans for a Scarborough subway, many expressed disappointment in this transit strategy.

Proponents of the new development have argued that the LRT would be a better alternative to the bus, which

is the primary way to get around by public transport.

University and student impact In a recent interview with Toronto. com, Andrew Arifuzzaman, UTSC’s chief administrative officer, expressed support for the project, explaining that the campus’ “new master plan” has been created with the extension in mind.

The plan Arifuzzaman referenced intends to eliminate barriers between the university and surrounding communities so that more people can access UTSC’s infrastructure and amenities. He added that extensions to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT were a “key driver” of these changes.

Owen Chiu, a fourth-year student at UTSC, said in an interview with The Varsity that, as a commuter, he hopes these efforts will improve his experience with the TTC. While Chiu acknowledged that, for the most

The LRT project suffers from a lack of funding.

VANESSA WANG/THEVARSITY

part, the TTC is “not bad” and that the subway “runs fast and for most of the day,” he added that the fact that UTSC is so remote has made his commute times long.

Chiu shared a recent experience where he was unable to board a bus because it had already reached capacity. He had just finished school at the time. “Every bus was just packed, and the bus drivers [wouldn’t] let anyone on, and I saw my same bus go by four times

without stopping,” he reflected.

While Chiu noted that the LRT extension would help some UTSC students, he noted that dedicated bus lanes, such as one the provincial government is trying to develop in the Ellesmere area, would be more beneficial to students. “I think those actually help UTSC students a lot more, because buses that take us right to campus are driving around those roads,” he said.

Ongoing construction projects aim to increase campus accessibility U of T helps students with disabilities navigate campus as classes move in person Kiara Senanayake, Marta Anielska Varsity Contributor, Deputy News Editor

Though the pandemic has disrupted many parts of university life, plenty of construction projects have continued on campus. Many of them aim to make the older buildings in downtown Toronto more accessible.

However, ongoing construction can also pose a problem for students with disabilities, and so U of T has provided support for navigating campus when returning to in-person classes.

A more accessible campus The historic buildings that characterize downtown Toronto have proven to be a challenge for accessibility. The university has undertaken several projects aimed at improving accessibility in response.

According to Ben Poynton, U of T’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) officer, the Landmark Project is one example of a crucial step toward making the UTSG campus more accessible by “regrading… the existing landscape.”

These changes will include increasing textured paving along the perimeter of King’s Cross Circle to help people with visual impairments and creating an

east entry ramp to the Medical Sciences Building.

Poynton wrote in an email to The Varsity that staircases are being replaced with sloped walkways, curbs are being minimized, and accessible parking will be available at ground level and in an underground garage.

The AODA office’s 2020–2021 report also detailed successful construction projects such as the renovation of the William Doo Auditorium in Wilson Hall and the “physically accessible” study spaces in Sidney Smith. Poynton added that the university aims to have “a minimum of one accessible entrance and one accessible washroom” in each building on the UTSG campus.

The university will focus its future funding on improving accessibility in five areas frequently used by students on campus. It has formed a multi-year plan to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

This year, an AODA committee, led

by UTSC AccessAbility Services Director Tina Doyle, created new accessibility standards that will address barriers to publicly funded postsecondary education. The AODA office will review current legislative standards, U of T’s standards, and new approaches to

“barrier-free design,” which are set to be finalized this year.

Immediate accommodations U of T has made efforts to accommodate students with disabilities and provide them with information before construction begins. It has also been working to reframe its understanding of disability and to become more accessible to its student body more generally.

In an email to The Varsity, a university spokesperson explained that, in light of the ongoing construction, U of T is trying to keep all means of accessing university buildings open. When that is impossible, it makes sure to provide alternate means of access.

These alternatives, along with the reason for each project and its proposed duration, are posted on U of T’s Faculties and Services website.

The spokesperson added that “the university continues to respond to the individual needs of our students and their educational requirements with flexibility and approachability to achieve full participation for everyone.”

The spokesperson also noted that the needs of students

with disabilities are diverse and that, consequently, each person’s experiences with online learning has varied.

In an email to The Varsity, Poynton came to a similar conclusion, writing that “Accessibility is about inclusively designing communities, workplaces, learning, research, and teaching environments, and even virtual spaces so that all individuals can

participate fully in society by proactively eliminating these barriers.”

U of T specifically focused on getting community members involved in events during this year’s Disability Pride Month in order to “[reframe] disability as a term and as an experience,” and to help U of T reaffirm its commitment to accessibility.

ROSALIND LAING/THEVARSITY

thevarsity.ca/section/news

OCTOBER 18, 2021

5

“You’re expected to just go on about your day”: Palestinians at U of T react to conflict in Gaza Students reflect on Palestinian identity at U of T Cedric Jiang Associate News Editor

Content warning: This article discusses graphic accounts of the violence in Palestine.

In the wake of an 11-day conflict between Israel and Palestine in May, The Varsity interviewed four students with families in the Gaza region on their experiences viewing the conflict from abroad. Students reported a sense of anxiety and despair for their families, as well as a feeling that it is difficult to talk freely about Palestine and Palestinian issues at U of T. Generational trauma This past May, the long-standing IsraeliPalestinian conflict escalated intensely. 256 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting.

UTM student Sarah Hashish recalled anxiously watching the news at around 4:00 in the morning as reports of hostilities in Gaza continued. Hashish tried to understand what was happening, shivering in anxiety for the people near her home village in Palestine.

Hashish, whose aunts and uncles live in the West Bank, told The Varsity that after two 15-year-olds were shot near her home village, she was terrified. “You never know the extent of force that military occupation forces will use against these people,” she explained.

Hashish added that one of her cousins was arrested three years ago because he was in possession of fireworks he purchased to celebrate his sister’s graduation. “That is the scariest part for me: not being able to really feel like there is a line where my family will be safe if they don’t cross it,” said Hashish.

Though the students The Varsity spoke to did not experience the war firsthand, many of them talked about experiences of trauma within their family, both past and present.

Amina*, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid harassment, is a Jordanian citizen whose grandmother is Palestinian. She told The Varsity that her grandmother experienced the ‘Nakba’ — the Arabic word for catastrophe. Nakba is the term used to refer to the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 when most Palestinians were displaced as a

result of the 1948–1949 Palestine War. Amina’s grandmother was separated from the rest of her family during the Nakba, and her sisters were dispersed into different countries, including Egypt, the United States, and Kuwait.

Given that her grandmother was forcibly evicted from her home at the age of 13, Amina said that “seeing [the forced evictions] happen now in real time feels surreal… It just makes you think: how did my family survive all this trauma?”

In the past, forced evictions of Palestinians in Jerusalem have led to widespread protest.

Nahil Al-Zuhaika, the president of UTM APS, has family in Gaza and the West Bank. She also had a personal connection to the mass arrests reported in Palestinian territories under Israel’s ‘law and order’ campaign in May. Around 2,000 of the 3,100 arrests were made in the internationally recognized Green Line demarcation boundary, which Palestinians recognize as their territory.

Al-Zuhaika told The Varsity that the husband of her father’s cousin was arbitrarily arrested by military police, who suspected that a worker in

his store was affiliated with Hamas. He was not personally involved, according to Al-Zuhaika.

“When… something happened to someone close to me, someone in my family, that’s when I kind of [felt] like the reality set in,” said AlZuhaika.

“You’re expected to just go on about your day, do your courses, study, work and pretend everything’s fine and live your life normally,” AlZuhaika added. “I’ll be sitting at my desk… And in my head, [I’ll think], right now their lives are in danger, right now they’re being bombed. And I don’t know if they’re alive? [It’s] exactly that feeling of helplessness.”

Culture of silence In an interview, Lina Lashin, the co-founder of The Palestine Forum, a U of T group working on research and discourse related to Palestine, noted that there is ongoing ignorance around Palestine at U of T. “There’s all this silence from our administration,” Lashin explained. It hurts Palestinians at U of T, Lashin added, to see

TROY LAWRENCE/THEVARSITY

the institution they are a part of to remain silent on their cause when it has both the capacity and expertise to support justice in the region.

“Admins and faculty and a lot of the professors that were silent on this… are people that [we] as students learn from and see as role models,” Lashin said “And when a very, very big and significant event takes place in their area of expertise, and they’re silent about it, you start to think and understand, in many ways, that it’s probably because it’s Palestine.”

Lashin also brought up the fact that U of T has received scrutiny for allegedly halting the hiring process of Dr. Valentina Azarova for the position of director of the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) in the Faculty of Law after a donor expressed concerns about her work on Israel’s occupation of Palestine. U of T has since re-offered the position to Azarova, and she has declined it.

Hashish, who studies political science, claimed professors avoid talking about Palestine in the classroom because they are worried about external pressure. “There [are] big lobby groups that will suppress, boycott and blacklist these professors,” said Hashish, “Even saying that Palestinians deserve human rights… is suddenly a political issue.”

The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union referred a motion to condemn the Canary Mission to its Executive Committee during its June board of directors meeting. The Canary Mission is a group which identifies and doxxes those whom it labels as antisemitic at colleges and universities across the continent, usually due to involvment with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel.

Amina said that, as a student with Palestinian heritage, it frustrates her to realize that she feels fearful about discussing Palestine because of the culture at U of T. “Palestinian children deserve dignity, and Palestinian advocates deserve the same academic freedom and unrestricted scope of principles that apply to all the other academics,” added Lashin. *Name changed due to fear of harassment and retribution — With files from Tahmeed Shafiq.

New Indigenous Research Network launched at U of T Interdisciplinary scholar group creates inclusive research community Ying Li Varsity Contributor

Led by Dr. Suzanne Stewart, director of Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, the Indigenous Research Network (IRN) is a new Indigenous research initiative launched on September 29 and supported by the Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation (VPRI). The IRN’s mission is to create a community of academically interconnected researchers in an effort to inspire Indigenous research at U of T. Goals of the network The goal of the IRN is to establish a framework of participatory Indigenous research that respects and preserves the cultures, histories, and ways of knowing of Indigenous communities, and endeavours to undo the harms of colonization.

“There is still research that is being done that is harmful; and even if not necessarily overtly harmful, it is often of no benefit to the communities involved or impacted,” the IRN wrote in an email to The Varsity. “There are still many deficiencies in the academic realm with regards to research and these

include research being done that does not meaningfully engage with [Indigenous] communities.”

One of the IRN’s core missions is therefore “[to] help support Indigenous research sovereignty and self-determination which are important aspects of reconciliation.”

The IRN joins together Indigenous researchers and scholars across all three U of T campuses.

“It is designed to evolve as needs of the community change as the network is there to help contribute to help provide support, build networks and connections,” the IRN wrote.

In an interview with The Varsity, Dr. Christine Allen, associate vice-president & vice-provost, strategic initiatives at U of T, stressed that the IRN prioritizes creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive community of interdisciplinary researchers and raising awareness of Indigenous research excellence.

“There’s nothing more powerful than community,” Allen said. “This network is really about ensuring that our Indigenous scholars and researchers have the resources and support that they need to thrive.”

Allen observed that, while there has certainly

The new network aims to preserve Indigenous knowledge.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

been progress in promoting Indigenous research at U of T and the university has seen a significantly increased number of Indigenous researchers compared to five or 10 years ago, undoing the harms of the past requires ongoing effort.

The IRN further added that, while we can celebrate the university’s initiative to take steps

and make changes, we must keep in mind the flaws inherent in U of T’s structure. “Universities are colonial institutions with many policies and processes that are steeped in colonialism and the notion that western knowledges are more legitimate than Indigenous knowledges and worldviews.”

Business & Labour

October 18, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Mama’s Best: A tale of immigration and hot dogs Sitting down with the inspirational entrepreneur outside of Sidney Smith

Many U of T students have enjoyed hot dogs from Stefan Penev’s cart over the years.

JESSE MCDOUGALL/THEVARSITY

Jesse McDougall Varsity Contributor

Every morning, Stefan Penev begins to set up his hot dog stand, Mama’s Best. He wheels the trailer onto the sidewalk, clips menus onto its canvas walls, and starts to prepare the food for the day: the hot dogs, the buns, and the toppings.

It’s a modest space that Penev has built himself on the corner of St. George and Willcocks Street, but his hot dog stand is the culmination of decades of hard work and unflinching determination. Mama’s Best is a testament to an immigrant’s arduous journey, a story that’s not immediately visible to passers-by.

From a distance, Mama’s Best looks like any other hot dog stand. Up close, however, you’ll notice a small decal of the Bulgarian flag that shows just how far Penev has come.

Early life in Bulgaria Penev was born in 1967, in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, a city named after the country’s first communist leader. As a child, Penev remembers his mother waiting in a long line to buy him a banana as a Christmas gift, and although he saw Coca-Cola commercials everywhere as a child, Penev didn’t try his first bottle until high school.

“Explaining [communism] is a very long story,” Penev said. “For example, you have to wait 15 years to buy the car. [You had to] have a deposit — for example, $1,500 — in the bank, and after 15 years exactly, your number comes up and you [could] go to buy the car… It was a crazy time.”

After high school, Penev went to 16 months of mandatory training in the military. After being released early because of a stomach ulcer, he took a job as a mechanic in Dimitrovgrad’s coal-fired power station, where he worked for nine years. In 1990, Penev got his first taste of the food industry when he started his own restaurant for barbecued meats. He started working double shifts as both a mechanic and a restaurant owner. “[I’d] work a double shift… until 5:00 [as] a mechanic, after in my restaurant until 12:30 in the morning,” he said. “I’d sleep, like [for] maybe four or five years, only two, three hours [a night].”

Crossing to Canada When the new millennium came, Penev had his sights set on Canada. He immigrated in February 2000 and took a job with a crew of Bulgarian painters. At this time, their jobs were precarious; any mistake the men made could quickly end their chances of having a life abroad.

Finding sustainable work was a problem for many other Bulgarian immigrants in Penev’s circle. The Russian that Penev had learned in high school was of no use to him, so he began taking nighttime English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. Penev could sleep only a couple hours a night because of the timing of his ESL classes, and he soon started working at a bakery. He said he felt stupid because he couldn’t understand the English being spoken around him. “I felt like second-class people,” he said.

In 2001, Penev’s wife joined him in Toronto, and their first child was born in 2002.

Still struggling with English, Penev got a job at Union Station selling hot dogs at night. Two years later, he started selling hot dogs in front of City Hall, practising English and perfecting his culinary craft.

Immigration nightmare Over the next few years, Penev sold tens of thousands of hot dogs at Harbourfront, completed a welding course, and spent six months at a job welding car parts before being laid off.

Inspired by his years of experience selling hot dogs, in 2008, Penev bought a hot dog stand on U of T’s campus and purchased his house in Scarborough. During the same year, his wife gave birth to twins.

“It was very hard. I had to work [at my cart] until [10:00 pm], and even if my kids were crying, because… there was no help from [their] grandparents, just me and my wife,” said Penev. “The first few years was a nightmare.”

As a result of the global financial crisis, Penev was heavily in debt. “I was up to here [with bills],” says Penev, holding his hand to his forehead. “I just prayed to stay healthy, because if something happened to me, we’d be dead.”

Penev’s glimmer of hope was that his kids were born in Canada, which made them permanent residents. All he had to do was support his family and pay the bills — all from his small hot dog cart, Mama’s Best.

Canada’s international students I recently read an article in The Walrus about what international students endure in Canada. It followed a Punjabi student in 2018 who worked low-paying jobs under the table to comply with his student visa, all the while trying to maintain his studies in British Columbia. Today, that scenario — a scenario that the article called ‘student-trafficking’ — is all too familiar.

With 28.5 per cent of U of T’s undergraduate enrollment being made up of international students, I asked Penev if he empathises with the

students that he serves and speaks to every day. “I understand everything,” he said. “I was in the same place just a few years ago. With a different culture and language, [arriving in Toronto] felt like travelling to the moon.”

Penev was lucky, and even after everything that happened in 2008, he and his family managed to stay in Canada. Now firmly committed to Mama’s Best, Penev worked to pay off his debts and watched as generations of students passed through U of T.

Penev decide to start watering it.

At first, the tree provided him no shade at all, but Penev continued to water it every day.

Eventually it grew large enough to give him shade, and now, after years of watering the tree, it towers over his hot dog stand.

This Bulgarian soldier, mechanic, and chef has touched the lives of so many students who, like him, arrived on an unfamiliar campus trying to find their place. We all appreciate Penev’s presence here at U of T — here’s to the heroes hiding in plain sight.

A U of T icon Penev has formed a deep connection with his place of work outside U of T’s Sidney Smith building. “I came here in April of 2007, and everybody knows me. Even the pigeons know me!” he said, laughing. “If I forget to throw them bread, they all start screaming.”

“Sometimes I didn’t have a lot of time to speak with my kids,” said Penev. “But they know my story. I taught my kids that if you keep [working] hard, you’re going to be okay.”

Although Penev’s story is remarkable, it’s far from unique. Toronto’s 2016 census reported that 47 per cent of the city’s total population are immigrants, and U of T forecasts international enrollment to grow to 28.5 per cent of its total enrollment by the 2025–2026 academic year.

I’m beginning to see the strife that people face just to get a chance at living in Canada.

The reality is that a lot of us never think about the lives of the people like Penev, who facilitate our dayto-day lives across the city.

After my interview with Penev, he took a plastic jug and started to water the tree beside me.

The tree behind his hot dog stand was planted years Stefan Penev has been running Mama’s Best in front of Sidney Smith since 2008. ago, and the blistering heat JESSE MCDOUGALL/THEVARSITY of the summer sun made

Comment

October 18, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Canadian politics aren’t shifting rightward, but we should still remain vigilant Vote splitting has long been a concern of the left, and now it’s also affecting the right Nina Uzunović Comment Columnist

Given the unprecedented success of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) — Canada’s most right-wing party — in the recent federal election, it’s understandable why many Canadians are speculating whether our politics are shifting rightward.

Although the PPC has yet to win a seat, the party — whose platform focused on opposing masks and proof of vaccination mandates — saw its numbers increase by 1.6 per cent since the 2019 election. In fact, this year, the PPC received 4.9 per cent of the popular vote — 2.6 per cent more than the Green Party. The growing success of the PPC is fueling fears of rising right-wing extremism in Canada. However, this growing fear may not be substantiated, and can instead be attributed to COVID-19.

Vote splitting at its finest Canada’s political landscape consists of six main federal parties: the Liberal party, the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Bloc Québécois, the PPC, and the Green Party of Canada. All of these parties, except for the CPC and PPC, can be categorized as left-leaning, representing various levels of liberalism.

Interestingly, under the leadership of Erin O’Toole, the CPC has made a shift back to its centrist roots instead of leaning into Harper-era conservatism. This decision was made with the idea of attracting more voters from the left, providing the CPC with a better chance of winning future elections — a strategy that has been ineffective, given its latest loss to the Liberals.

In recent pre-PPC elections, right-wing voters only had one option: the CPC. Therefore, we see that it’s not that PPC voters didnʼt exist before; it’s just that there wasn’t a party catering toward

their specific level of conservatism, so they settled on the next best option.

Since the CPC has decreased its level of political polarization, and there is another option available to voters, it’s only logical that we see a rise in the PPC’s numbers. This means the assumption that Canada is becoming more rightwing isn’t likely to be true.

The dangers of populism Robert Bothwell, a professor of international relations at U of T, wrote a warning about dismissing groups like the PPC too quickly in an email to The Varsity. “We tend to think that [PPC] supporters — actual or potential — are rubes based in the backwoods. Some are, just by the law of averages but I have to bear in mind our local experience with Mayor Rob Ford in Toronto. He was, in my opinion, publicly and obviously unfit for office and made Toronto an international laughingstock.”

Bothwell expressed shock at how educated and wealthy people, including those with U of T degrees, could support Ford. He attributed this wide reach of support to Ford’s populist platform.

“Under some circumstances, as yet unknown, populists can expand beyond what we think of as their usual base,” Bothwell wrote.

Therefore, although we can attribute the PPC rise to the centrist push by the Conservatives, there is a great deal to be said about the implications of the PPC’s platform. In light of its fight against a government backing COVID-19 health and safety measures, the PPC emerges as a rather populist party that provides the illusion of “the people fighting back against a broken system.”

As a result, many have chosen to not take the PPC seriously. However, as we’ve seen with Ford, this kind of emotional call to action has proven dangerously effective, which we must be mindful of.

Federal government must decriminalize personal drug use Decriminalization is a logical first step to reducing the stigma surrounding drug use

Substance use touches the lives of students, faculty, and community members alike.

SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

Content warning: This article contains discussions of substance use disorder.

Toronto’s call to decriminalize personal possession of illicit drugs is tactful and has many positive long-term benefits, such as dispelling the stigma surrounding substance use disorder and taking away the punishment for people who struggle with it.

The City of Toronto is preparing to ask the federal government to decriminalize the possession of illicit drugs for personal use within the city. This decision is wise, considering that in the first three months of this year alone, Toronto paramedics responded to 1,173 suspected opioid overdose calls. The number of overdose deaths recorded by the City increased significantly compared to previous years.

Decriminalizing the possession of drugs for personal use is not a new practice; countries such as Portugal have implemented similar policies for years.

Stigma surrounding substance use disorder Society has begun to acknowledge the reasons behind substance use and the struggles people have with overcoming it. However, outdated laws that criminalize people with substance use disorder make it difficult for them to get treatment.

Whether or not a person admits willingly to having substance use disorder, they may be stereotyped as someone who has chosen their lifestyle and refuses to change. Furthermore, being open about substance use can affect a

Jasmin Akbari Varsity Contributor

Erin O’Toole is the current leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

COURTESY OF ERIC O'TOOLE/FLICKR

The future of the CPC Consequently, the Conservatives are now faced with a dilemma: either they can continue trying to modernize the partyʼs views in hopes of winning over more voters from the left, or they can revert to their past ideology and risk losing younger generation voters — including U of T students.

Bothwell highlighted this dichotomy, writing, “The trick is that in our divided party structure and first past the post elections it only takes 35 per cent of the votes to win a majority, if you’re lucky… So if your base is, say, 30 per cent you only need to add a few points. Look at the recent election. An appeal to the base only is thus not totally irrational. [O’Toole] was trying to take the federal party back some distance in time, but it was a time in the memory of many— pre-1993 — when the Tory party was less ideological and frankly more successful.”

Therefore, for the CPC, which already holds a large base percentage, a platform that focuses on centrism could be the secret to winning an election.

By being less ideological, it can appeal to a greater number of people — voters who would otherwise be voting for the left. Although this centrist strategy failed to succeed in this year’s election, the extenuating circumstances of COVID-19 make it difficult to accurately assess the strength of the strategy based on these results alone.

Bothwell suggested taking a look at the past to see how this would look. Former Progressive Conservative (PC) Prime Minister Brian Mulroney perfectly embodied this centrist approach — a

strategy that won him back-to-back elections, making Canadian history with the most seats ever won.

person’s credibility and perceived trustworthiness.

Substance use exists everywhere, and it is everprevalent in the university community. It touches the lives of students, faculty, and community members alike, whether through first-hand experience or second-hand experience.

It is hard enough to overcome the shame and stigma that comes with substance use disorder, but the possibility of getting legally reprimanded for it is another hurdle. Criminalizing people who have substance use disorder and carry drugs for personal use puts many of those people in a position where they do not want to seek help. Substance use disorder is a disease, so why is it being treated as a crime?

months if not years in the making. This means that the chances of police officers mistaking trafficking for personal use is very slim.

Furthermore, decriminalization does not mean forgiving an individual for crimes done under the influence of drugs, such as driving under the influence.

What decriminalization could mean It is absolutely fair to assume that some people in possession of drugs are carrying them for distribution, but that in itself is a completely different issue. After all, it is one thing to carry a pill or two; it is another to have kilograms of illicit drugs in one’s possession to distribute.

Decriminalizing the possession of illicit drugs for personal use does not make it easier for drug traffickers to traffic drugs. Possessing drugs for personal use is very different from possessing them for trafficking purposes. The Canadian legal system determines whether or not someone was trafficking drugs by considering multiple factors, including whether the substances in question were packaged using methods that are consistent with trafficking.

With that being said, major drug busts for possession with the intent to distribute rarely ever occur overnight and are often operations that are

Ramifications for students A more right-wing conservative government would have a vast number of ramifications that would be felt by U of T students. Even at its current level of polarization, the PPC ran a platform eliminating all government subsidies to businesses. This anti-government-involvement, cost-cutting rhetoric could be intensified if the party shifts further to the right.

In the recent election, the Liberals ran a platform that would increase the minimum income required to start paying back loans, create new jobs for students, and plan for eliminating federal interest on Canada Student Loans. On the other hand, the CPC proposed some tax breaks for graduate students but failed to include any of them in their running platform.

With a move to the right, one can imagine how much worse these student benefits would get.

Overall, it’s safe to say that Canada isn’t experiencing a rightward shift; rather, we’re observing a group of individuals that finally have a party to vote for that embodies their ideologies.

Nevertheless, seeing how the CPC and other voters will react to this increase in support will define Canadian politics to come.

Nina Uzunović is a first-year social sciences student at Trinity College.

Decriminalization is just the beginning By decriminalizing drugs, governments can work toward developing clean injection sites where there is a far lesser chance of spreading and contracting diseases through drug use equipment.

Decriminalization also goes hand in hand with substance use disorder treatments, a safer supply of drugs, and an increase in harm reduction services.

In Portugal, personal possession of drugs has been decriminalized since 2001. After decriminalization, Portugal was able to expand its treatment services and harm reduction services.

Since this change in drug policy, Portugal has not seen any major rises in drug use or overdose, has experienced a decrease in HIV/AIDS cases, and has had an increased number of people seeking drug treatment.

The fight against substance use disorder does not end with the decriminalization of drugs; it requires consistent effort in adjusting drug policy. By developing drug policies that better suit the needs of individuals with substance use disorder, Toronto — and Canada at large — can enact positive change and reduce the stigma surrounding substance use.

Jasmin Akbari is a second-year industrial relations and human resources, digital humanities, and writing & rhetoric student at Woodsworth College.

8

THE VARSITY

comment@thevarsity.ca

COMMENT

Hinduism is not the same as Hindutva A response to protestors of the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference held at UTM Shiv Bailur Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of Islamophobic violence and sexual assault.

Hindutva and Hinduism are completely separate concepts. As a Hindu myself, I thought that this distinction was as clear as separating Islam from Islamist extremism, or Judaism from Zionism.

However, protestors of UTM’s recent Dismantling Hindutva Conference claimed that the conference was “anti-Hindu.” It is ironic that the protestors, who were likely devout Hindus themselves, could not tell the difference. Their hostility was misplaced.

Hinduism — the oldest existing religion in the world — is practised by 900 million people, the vast majority of which live in India, which is also known as ‘Hindustan’ or the land of the Hindus.

Hindutva, on the other hand, is an extreme right-wing Hindu ideology founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 book, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?

Depending on who you ask, Hindutva is either the purest form of Hinduism or its estranged, fascist great-grandchild. Frankly, I see Hindutva as the latter. By far the most dangerous implication of Hindutva is that it brands India as an exclusively Hindu nation when, in actuality — even constitutionally — it is not.

Article 25 of the Constitution of India guarantees “the freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion to all citizens.” While the word ‘secular’ — which would indicate a clear separation of religion from state — was not specifically included in India’s original constitution, a 1976 amendment to it identified India as a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic.”

When India became independent, it was finally freed from a Christian British empire

and, before that, an empire run by the Muslim Mughals. This meant for the first time in nearly 800 years, Hinduism could flourish and be celebrated freely in all of India.

The period of Mughal rule is a standard talking point for proponents of Hindutva in their constant antagonization against Muslims. In fact, in his book, Savarkar cited atrocities committed during the Mughal rule in India, writing that he would have liked the Hindu Maratha army to have exacted revenge by killing Muslim civilians,

Moreover, believers in Hindutva believe that India’s increased Muslim population throughout its history was solely due to forced conversions

by Muslim Mughal rulers. According to their reasoning, because the ancestors of Indian Muslims were converted against their will, they should convert back to Hinduism.

However, historical evidence suggests that most Indians converted to Islam gradually and voluntarily. It had more to do with how rivers flowed, as Muslims migrated eastward to claim the benefits of irrigation. In short, the conversion of Indians to Islam was anything but the massive tsunami of forced conversion that Hindu nationalists claim it was.

The main reason why Hindutva is being so widely covered in recent times is that it has infiltrated the seats of the Indian Parliament through the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led

Hindutva brands India as exclusively Hindu when, in actuality, it is not.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

destroying mosques, and raping Muslim women.

Sadly, these ideas bear striking parallels to the actions of Hindu extremists today. Perplexingly, they utilize the historical behaviour of Mughal nobility — events from before India was even formed as a country — to justify their actions against present-day lower-class Muslim civilians.

by the current prime minister of India, Narendra Modi. The BJP was initially a branch of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — a right-wing Hindu nationalist group that took Hindutva as its gospel.

While some members of the BJP have distanced themselves from the latter organization, the RSS still generally endorses the

BJP. Before attaining the most powerful position in the country, Modi allowed anti-Muslim riots to continue in his home state of Gujarat, leading to the deaths of 1,000 Indians. The riots were led by none other than his fellow Hindu extremists.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is attempting to shake the secular roots of India to their core through a host of new legislation.

The most pertinent example of this would be the Citizenship Amendment Act, the first-ever proposed Indian legislation that exclusively discriminates based on religion. The act sets forth a scheme in which Hindu, Buddhist, Parsi, Christian, Sikh, and Jain immigrants to India would be granted a fast track to citizenship where they would be naturalized after six years.

However, all other immigrants would take 11 years to be naturalized.

The clear exclusion of Muslim immigrants from the proposed amendment is what triggered protests in December 2019. I vividly remember the news playing and replaying images of disgusted Indians of all faiths, chanting, singing, and displaying poems in all Indian languages.

The mesmerizing images of unity displayed in front of me made me realize that many Indians are willing to protect what makes us beautiful: our immense cultural diversity.

However, this valuable national trait is perceived as a threat by supporters of Hindutva.

The disdain that believers of Hindutva show for the religious diversity within India is perplexing — especially, given that many scholars and experts of Hinduism acknowledge that it would be impossible to invent a single true form of religion. Rather, the discovery of god occurs in a multitude of ways, and many religions may be connected to the same otherworldly power.

Therefore, advocating for Hindu supremacy may go against the ideals of the religion itself.

Confusing Hindutva — a concept that is contradictory to the constitutional values of India — with Hinduism undermines the social and political fabrics of its birthplace. Therefore, proud Indians, especially Hindu Indians, must remind themselves and each other as often as possible: Hinduism is not Hindutva.

Shiv Bailur is a first-year social sciences student attending University College.

Online concerts are the future of accessible events Where the UTMSU’s SaugaFest went wrong Sherene Almjawer Varsity Staff

Many musicians took advantage of the shift from in-person to online events during the pandemic. For instance, when BTS had to cancel their Map of The Soul world tour, they instead held their first successful online concert, Bang Bang Con: The Live, in April 2020.

Online events are a long overdue innovation.

Concerts are expensive to attend and the venues are far from where people live — the Rogers Centre is 45 minutes away from me on a good day. Furthermore, especially now during the pandemic, it can be risky to attend large concerts.

Virtual concerts remove every one of those issues. They’re significantly cheaper, for one thing. Plus, concertgoers don’t have to leave their homes and, as a result, can stay safe.

However, virtual concerts are only successful when artists know people will buy tickets regardless of whether the event is in person or online.

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union’s (UTMSU) SaugaFest — a virtual concert held on September 16 — was not one of those events.

Online concerts don’t provide nearly the same experience as in-person events do, and events that rely more on social interaction between the audience and the performer suffer even more.

A trailer detailing SaugaFest 2017’s itinerary depicted large crowds of people interacting

with each other. Some people played carnival and team-based games while others attended live demonstrations and talks, but the common factor in all of the events was the togetherness.

Unsurprisingly, these experiences cannot be easily replicated online. That’s probably why the UTMSU decided to limit SaugaFest 2021 to a musical performance by artist Lucky Daye. However, there was another factor that the union failed to consider. Online musical events seem to only work when they already have a dedicated fanbase, which SaugaFest unfortunately does not seem to have.

Instead, SaugaFest’s success banks on the audience networking and participating in activities. People who attend SaugaFest may expect to make friends, and network with club managers and upper-year students. An online concert forgoes SaugaFest’s most important aspect: socialization.

Concerts usually involve some level of audience interaction — singing along or shouting when the musician asks if you’re having fun. Unlike events such as the pre-pandemic SaugaFest, most of the concert experience is listening to music and watching the performance, which can easily be done through a livestream. For example, BTS’ online concert on June 13 and 14, BTS 2021 Muster Sowoozoo, garnered 1.33 million paid viewers in total. They even arranged for a select number of fans to connect via Zoom and cheer on dozens of screens placed near the physical stage.

Similarly, the Institute of Communication,

REBECA MOYA/THEVARSITY

Culture, Information and Technology (ICCIT), a department of UTM, took advantage of Gather.

Town, an interactive virtual space, for their 2021 graduation party. I logged on to the site, created my virtual character, and walked around to different students and professors to converse with them. The virtual party had different rooms that held games and a main auditorium for speeches. If SaugaFest used a similar format, say, for a social bit at the end of the concert, it could have been more successful in replicating the in-person experience of going to orientation.

Ideally, all future in-person events will also be held online so that people who can’t attend due to price, distance, or COVID-19 fears, among other things, can still enjoy the experience.

BTS is already ahead of the game, planning to do an online concert on October 24 as well

as in-person US concerts in November and December.

If the UTMSU took into account that SaugaFest’s most important trait was socialization and implemented a feature — like ICCIT did with Gather.Town — that allowed the audience to interact, play a few games, and give performer Lucky Daye loud applause, the online concert might have been more successful.

I believe that hybrid concerts are the future — but while we’re still hesitant about large crowds, online concerts can be successful if we take the right steps to make them engaging and fun.

Sherene Almjawer is a recent graduate who majored in communication, culture, information & technology, and professional writing and communication.

thevarsity.ca/section/comment

OCTOBER 18, 2021

Caitlyn Jenner has perpetuated harmful ideologies for the Republican vote In running for governor of California, the former Olympian hurt fellow transgender women athletes

ANUSHKA SAINI/THE VARSITY

Paden Neundorf Varsity Contributor

Caitlyn Jenner, known primarily for being a reality TV star and perhaps less famously recognized as a former Olympic athlete, has recently retracted her support for transgender women athletes competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Instead, she pandered to Republican voters during her political campaign for governor of California that began in April 2021. Jenner claims that, in order to protect girls’ sports, transgender girls who were assigned male at birth should not be able to compete alongside cisgender girls.

Before turning to politics, Jenner was an Olympian, having earned a gold medal in the decathlon event in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

As a former athlete as well as a transgender woman, Jenner originally fought for the rights of transgender women athletes. However,

during her campaign for governor, she retracted her stance, seemingly to gain the Republican vote. She claimed that having transgender girls compete on sports teams that align with their gender identity presents “an issue of fairness” and that girls’ sports must be “protected” in schools.

Jenner’s prioritization of acquiring fame over the protection of trans women has sparked an important debate about the wide array of ideas and opinions within the LGBTQ+ community. The LGBTQ+ community is diverse, as demonstrated by the five letters and the plus sign that comprise the acronym. Like any community, the LGBTQ+ community is not a monolith, but rather a group of unique individuals with their own unique sets of ideas.

Diverse backgrounds and opinions are of course necessary to promote growth within the community. However, while some ideas are progressive and lead to constructive development, others — like Jenner’s stance on transgender

women athletes — lead to division.

Despite claiming to reject the notion of labels, Jenner is a self-proclaimed conservative when it comes to economic philosophy, which aligns with the Republican party, and progressive when it comes to social issues, in accordance with the Democratic party. In other words, like many Republicans, she wants to be perceived as non-aggressive: socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

In April 2021, Jenner announced her bid to run for governor of California. Following a history of supporting Republican presidential candidates, including both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in 2016 — although she later denounced the latter’s campaign in 2018 due to his attacks on transgender people — Jenner declared that she would also be running as a Republican candidate.

Despite the fact that there has not been a Republican governor in the state of California since January 2011 — and the fact that Jenner

U of T should help international students navigate vaccine passports What Ontario’s vaccine passports mean for people who were vaccinated elsewhere

Ontario now requires proof of vaccination to enter certain places.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

Shreya Vanwari Comment Columnist

In our fight against COVID-19, experts have portrayed vaccines as the next step forward; hence, Ontario has implemented a vaccine passport to safeguard its citizens. While this is a great and reassuring step toward normalcy and safety, it has not been easy for people who were vaccinated outside of Ontario, and I believe that U of T should take some responsibility in helping its students navigate this process.

Ontario now requires that citizens have proof of vaccination to enter select settings. Recently, the format of the provincial vaccine passport has changed — up until October 15, citizens could show a digital or printed proof of vaccination receipt to enter select settings. Now, the province is rolling out a QR-code based passport system.

These new vaccine passports are automatically generated and available on the government’s website for people who have an Ontario health card and have received both their doses in Ontario.

However, those vaccinated elsewhere who are

seeking the new passports are directed to one of two agencies. Those with an Ontario health card are instructed to call their public health unit, while those without must call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre.

International students made up approximately 26 per cent of U of T’s student body across the university’s three campuses in the 2020–2021 academic year. When you add all the students coming from out of province or who were vaccinated elsewhere, it is evident that a large number of U of T students may be experiencing confusion and panic regarding the vaccine passport. I certainly am.

Even though the system has changed over this past week, the past process — which was convoluted and difficult to navigate — left many confused on where they stand in the vaccine passport process.

Ontario’s announcement about its vaccine passport had rather unclear instructions about how to get one. There was a transition time where you were allowed to use vaccine certificates or receipts from elsewhere in place of a passport, but I couldn’t find this anywhere on the Government

of Ontario website.

One of my friends who got vaccinated in British Columbia spent hours waiting on a call with Health Services Toronto. They had been directed to call them by the Government of Ontario website, but they later discovered that there was a way to apply for the vaccine passport on the City of Toronto’s website. My friend was just one of a number of students in this position. A handful of those other students, including me, had to learn information about the vaccine passport through word of mouth and Instagram stories. There seems to have been no communication about it from the university’s side.

Let’s also not confuse applying for passports with acquiring them, because many of us are still waiting for Toronto’s health department to get in touch with us. To be more specific, on their website, we were asked to fill out our contact details and proof of vaccination. Following this, we were told that someone from the health department would contact us.

However, this process is taking longer than any of us expected. The vaccine passport app has already rolled out, and the uncertainty in the

9

had no prior political campaigning experience — Jenner saw through her campaign until the end.

She ultimately, but not surprisingly, lost, in part due to a multitude of errors and in part because of her obvious disinterest in getting the job — she left for Australia during the middle of her campaign to participate in the reality TV show Big Brother. It appears that Jenner’s candidacy was nothing more than a ploy to remain relevant among her fame-hungry children in a world where the number of times your name frequents headlines correlates with your social importance.

Jenner took her loss with grace and has since announced that she intends to run for governor in the next election. While she may have grossly exaggerated while labelling herself the “poster child for change,” she did add a condition before she would run again: more inclusivity within the Republican party to produce better candidates and attract young voters.

Should Jenner run again, now that she has, hopefully, realized the actual work that goes into a campaign and that she cannot simply announce her candidacy and expect to have the job handed to her, she would need to re-evaluate her political stances so that they become more inclusive of transgender women. Not only is Jenner not supporting transgender women as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she is also denying them support as a trans woman herself. Although a diverse set of opinions is necessary within a community, Jenner needs to protect other transgender women rather than exploiting them for her political gain.

The LGBTQ+ community is a collective of unique individuals with their own distinct identities and life experiences that have shaped their beliefs. Discussion is healthy and often leads to progress; however, powerful and influential LGBTQ+ individuals like Jenner must be mindful of the way they express their opinions.

While a lack of diversity within a community can hinder progress, ideas that perpetuate harmful ideologies can just as easily move us backward.

Paden Neundorf is a third-year English and equity studies student at Woodsworth College. application process has been a huge source of stress for many students, especially those who applied on the website weeks ago.

On a personal level, another source of stress has been showing my Indian vaccine certificate, having people spend a good amount of time looking at it with a puzzled expression, and then having to explain that ‘COVISHIELD’ is actually another term for ‘AstraZeneca.’ For international students who have received Health Canadaapproved vaccines under different names, or have vaccine certificates in entirely different formats, showing our vaccine passport has been even more nerve-wracking than usual.

Overall, this situation has put a number of students in an inconvenient position, and it’s something that we still need to pay attention to.

As many international and out-of-province students wait to hear back about their vaccine passport applications — and as the QR code rollout begins — there are many ways that U of T could be supporting its students who may be confused about Ontarioʼs vaccine passport system.

The first step would be simply sending out a document explaining the application process for students who are still in the dark. U of T could also work with Toronto’s health department to see if there can be an office designated on campus where students can book an appointment and come in with their documents to be able to get their vaccine passport.

Alternatively, U of T could accelerate the application process by verifying the information that the health department needs, such as the validity and details of the vaccines students have taken and their COVID-19 history, so the health department can give out the vaccine passport without having to verify it themselves.

U of T’s presence in Toronto — and its population — is so large that it ought to be able to work with the local health department to find a viable, helpful solution.

Shreya Vanwari is a second-year psychology student at Woodsworth College.

10

THE VARSITY

FEATURES

Grinding to a halt

CHERYL NONG/THEVARSITY

Why you’ll never be as productive as your favourite productivity influencer

Rhea Jerath Varsity Contributor

It’s the fall of 2020. I’m listening to the steady rhythm of chill lo-fi beats. I can taste the rich flavor of black cold brew and see the sunlight filtering through my blinds.

I’ve got my flashcards ready to go, and my notes are scattered before me. As I flip through pages of Plato’s Republic, I can’t help but think, “This is the perfect setting to revise for my midterms.” I’ve only got a week before I fail my courses and give up on this altogether.

Despite all of my impending deadlines and the constant pressure from my workload, university doesn’t seem to feel real. I leave my desk, despite the fact that my Pomodoro timer is signalling that I shouldn’t be on a break for another 17 minutes. The incessant ticking of my phone timer only demotivates me further — even being able to check off three items on my to-do list doesn’t give me a momentary sense of satisfaction.

I wonder, where am I going wrong?

Picking up my phone, I switch my timer off and tune into a study-with-me livestream by YouTuber James Scholz. Just like me, hundreds of thousands of viewers have tuned in to find companionship through the stress of online school and work.

Scholz’s work ethic remained a comfort for me amid the unpredictability of online learning.

His audiences have subscribed to his channel because of the dedication he puts into studying for 12 hours every day. Words like ‘growth mindset,’ ‘motivation,’ and ‘drive’ can be found peppered across his videos’ comments sections. Absorbing their energy, I pick up my book and join Scholz as he lounges in his chair pondering over some text on his laptop.

“This is what productivity should look like,” I think to myself as I get back to my readings.

Stuck in a dilemma Since the pandemic hit, both work and socialization have become remote, and so have our relationships with our loved ones.

Canadian students have struggled to balance work, financial concerns, and academics due to continuous disruptions to their course delivery formats and work schedules. According to a study conducted by Statistics Canada, 57 per cent of students reported that they had experienced a disruption in their courses or work placements due to delays and cancellations related to the pandemic.

Additionally, the study highlighted that, when compared to pre-pandemic graduates, twice as many current prospective graduates reported that they were unable to complete their degrees due to the impacts of the pandemic.

Considering all that, should you prioritize productivity or simply step back and care for yourself? In a perfect world, students could find a balance between academic responsibilities and their well-being that would allow them to thrive holistically.

In my case, this dilemma simply brought my hustle to a halt. I was unable to prioritize my health or my work. The perpetual guilt of not being productive enough quickly began to have a detrimental impact on my mental health.

A double-edged sword Social media quickly became a double-edged sword for me, acting as both a tool to improve productivity and a distraction from my everyday life. Social media can inspire people to obtain new skills and to improve their work ethic, but

for U of T student Labiba Rahman, the same platforms quickly became detrimental.

Rahman started her first year of university within the four walls of her bedroom. As she repeated the motions of online schooling, never stepping outside her house, she found herself spending her days in a blur.

Social media started off as a source of comfort, offering stories of students in the same boat as her and providing a positive perspective on a generally negative situation.

But despite these positive interactions, Rahman felt a gap between herself and the individuals she engaged with.

“I knew that we were on the same boat that way, but at the same time I knew that they were able to get a grip of [remote learning] much faster than I was,” Rahman said in an interview with The Varsity.

The nature of online learning has impacted the mental health of students across Canada.

According to a study by the Canadian Psychological Association, many students without any pre-existing mental health conditions reported that they experienced reduced mental wellness and an increase in psychological distress during the pandemic.

The detrimental impact that the pandemic has had on student life, including isolation and a lack of in-person human interaction, has left many students mentally exhausted and unable to engage with any of the goals they had set for themselves.

Rahman isn’t alone in turning to social media to find support. The millions of viewers that tune into the YouTube channels of ‘productivity influencers’ are also probably looking for companionship during this period of isolation.

The rise of productivity influencers For students, social media and productivity

can be deeply interlinked, and platforms like YouTube provide endless role models who can inspire you to boost your productivity. Much like Scholz, ‘study-with-me’ creators across YouTube cater to various study preferences for study backdrops — from videos with calm rainy moods and lo-fi music, to creators that work in libraries with no music at all.

The rise in popularity of productivity influencers, especially during the pandemic, may be linked to the lack of human connection and isolation most students have experienced within the last year. But, in my view, this boost in popularity signals more than just a need for human connection.

Why is it that when the whole world was shutting down, students felt the pressure to keep going full steam ahead with their careers?

The rise of productivity influencers and the increase in their audience sizes are symptoms of a greater problem that shows how guilty our society feels about slowing down — about being ‘unproductive.’

Perhaps the sharp increase in the support for productivity influencers during the pandemic isn’t surprising. Student employment has fallen from 52.5 per cent to 29.8 per cent, so students are struggling with finding work to support themselves and finance their education. Now more than ever, it makes sense that they’d seek ways to be productive.

While there are influencers who promote toxic ‘hustle culture’ and ‘grinding’ 24/7, this isn’t usually the case for study-with-me channels. Hustle culture involves promoting a lifestyle focused on being successful, and often pushes sentiments like “work hard in silence and let success make the noise.” On the other hand, study-with-me channels focus on creating an atmosphere of companionship

features@thevarsity.ca while encouraging extended sessions of focused studying. Unfortunately, study-with-me channels implicitly promote that toxic work ethic in a more casual, less obvious manner, and both can quickly lead to mental and emotional burnout.

To me, the consistent hustling of these influencers fosters a lifestyle that — perhaps unknowingly — caters to the same rhetoric that plagues hustle culture. After all, if these creators are able to work, study, and focus for 12 hours a day, why can’t I do the same?

Setting yourself up for failure Recently, as online classes wrapped up for the day, I found myself scrolling through endless Instagram posts as a means to unwind and avoid thinking of the next item on my to-do list. These days, work seems suffocating; even the slightest bit of procrastination sends waves of guilt and anxiety through my bones. Every moment that I fail to be productive, I have an incessant creeping sensation that I’m falling behind.

I paused my scrolling for a moment. Would you look at that; Britney Spears is finally free of her conservatorship. And Janet from middle school learned to bake banana bread.

At least someone did something useful today.

It’s human nature to compare your lifestyle with the people you interact with in your everyday life. Because of social media, our social spheres now include seemingly more intimate interactions with influencers and celebrities: we think we know them even when we don’t. We may find ourselves making self-comparisons with those who are no longer a relevant part of our social sphere — like Janet — or who are in a completely different socio-economic sphere altogether — like Britney Spears.

These seemingly harmless interactions often have negative consequences due to the formation of ‘parasocial relationships’ — a

phenomenon originally defined as “an illusion of face to face relationships with a performer.”

The social comparisons that result from these parasocial relationships often lead to ordinary individuals often setting unattainable and harmful goals for themselves, which can take the form of fitness goals, relationship goals, or even — in the case of hustle culture — productivity goals.

I commend the dedication that study-withme creators put into consistently hosting livestreams that can be anywhere from three to 12 hours long. However, viewers tuning into these streams often form a work routine that depends on these streams. They may begin to look forward to interacting with these creators and often feel deep connections with any messages they might share.

Now, due to the presence of social media, these illusory parasocial relationships have only become more personally impactful. A research study found that adolescents who had received a Twitter reply, mention, or retweet from a celebrity they followed displayed signs of stronger parasocial relationships than if they hadn’t interacted with the celebrity online. This suggests that the interactions that we have with people’s online personalities can have very real consequences on our perceived relationships with them.

These parasocial relationships can easily fuel viewers to adopt goals and lifestyle changes that are not particularly sustainable. In my case, adopting the 12-hour studying habits of influencers like Scholz while doing university full-time and working two jobs was simply not possible. Nowadays, I often have to take a step back from using social media in order to prevent these comparisons from sending my mental health into a spiral.

It’s okay to take a break As online learning continued into the winter

term, Rahman found herself struggling to put her phone away and to separate her productivity from her social media use. Her phone provided a distraction that quickly consumed hours of her day.

“Everyone was just on their phone, especially after quarantine, because no one had anything to do… So I feel like it was a shift trying to go back into the mindset and routine of being able to study properly,” shared Rahman.

The transition to online university and work was difficult for most individuals, and while social media is meant to provide connection, in practice, it often increases this isolation.

A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that limiting social media use significantly reduced participants’ loneliness and depression over the span of three weeks. Simply monitoring how much time you spend on social media can reduce your anxiety and fear of missing out on events.

The stress resulting from not meeting the standards of others within our social circles continues to cause our mental health to deteriorate. When that stress is combined with the unattainable goals we set for ourselves based on toxic hustle culture, any semblance of work-life balance which we try to establish inevitably crumbles.

Still, Rahman has managed to find a silver lining to the whole situation. Armed with an increased awareness of her social media consumption, Rahman has changed her perspective on productivity and success.

“Before I would say, you know what, being a doctor would mean I’m successful. But then I realized if you’re setting these limitations on yourself or these extreme conditions of success, then you’re never really going to be happy. So right now, for me, success would be more about who I want to be as a person and if I’m able to do that every day,” said Rahman.

When it comes to building a healthy relationship with social media and work, I believe that a balance is possible. However, such a balance requires us to distance ourselves from social media and to reflect on the kind of expectations we set for ourselves every day.

What it all comes down to While social media can provide a valuable source of support and inspiration in our daily lives, it has the ability to warp our understanding of our own reality. Trying to keep up with hustle culture and constantly working yourself to the bone will have long-term consequences on your physical and mental health. On the other hand, setting realistic goals will help us all reach our aspirations in a healthy manner, while rewarding us for the time we’ve spent growing.

I deeply appreciate all the content made by study-with-me creators and by other influencers who share their healthy studying habits.

However, as students, we must be critical of the messages this kind of content sends and the implications they have on our sense of self-worth. We need to be more aware about our social media consumption to keep it from impacting our ability to perform at work and unwind outside of it.

Students deserve to be able to prioritize both their work and their well-being. While academic pressure will remain a part of our lives, we can mitigate some of its stress by factoring in time for relaxation. Creating space to build good relationships with ourselves and with the people we love will only help us perform better and value the time we spend working.

So, in the end, constant productivity isn’t everything. If you’ve had a long week, consider this your chance to take a well-deserved break — both from your work and from your phone.

Arts & Culture

October 18, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

lululemon athletica: Team Canada quality or a middle school fad?

Reviewing our Olympic team’s new outfitter via UTrain exercises Robyn Loves, Alexa DiFrancesco, Lilly Turmel, Andrea Zhao Varsity Contributors

You circa 2010 and Canada's Olympic team just gained a common trait: repping lululemon athletica.

The Vancouver-based company lululemon has been announced as Team Canada’s official outfitter until 2028, replacing Hudson’s Bay Canada. This deal means that athletes, coaches, and staff will be wearing lululemon at the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies, media appearances, and around the athletes’ village.

Are you reminiscing about middle school yet? So were we. So we decided to feed into our nostalgia and put this brand to the test. You’re welcome, Team Canada.

Four of our bravest writers dug deep into their closets, strapped on their lululemon gear, and searched for the hardest UTrain exercises to test the quality of this gear.

Stylish and comfortable — Robyn Loves In the last 18 months of COVID-19 lockdowns, my wardrobe has slowly become composed of stretchy waistbands and soft sweaters. lululemon has managed to find the balance between the athleisure we all need while looking puttogether enough to be seen virtually or in person.

With this in mind, I joined the Mindful Moments yoga class at 6:00 pm on Thursday through the U of T Virtual Fitness Studio. I was wearing the lululemon Align High-Rise leggings with pockets and the Swiftly Tech Long Sleeve Shirt 2.0. For bonus points, I used the Lululemon Reversible Yoga mat.

I love the look of the leggings. The material is soft, but thinner than some of lululemon’s other leggings.

Over the years, in my accumulated struggles with putting these pants on, I had damaged the seams, but they held together well otherwise. Equally as important, these pants have real pockets. The pockets can fit a phone or keys with minimal slipping of the waistband. Overall, the pants are comfy, fit very well, and would fare equally well in a yoga class as they would in a cardio or weights session.

The same is true for the shirt; it’s comfortable and worked well in this yoga class. However, it would also be comfortable when tackling cardio or other workouts, especially in the cooler months.

Its fabric is light and breathable, and the sleeves are long enough and don’t slide up when I lift my hands. In other words, it’s great for tall people.

The sleeves are tight and the torso is looser than

most lululemon shirts; for other workouts, this is fine, but a fitted shirt would have been better with the type of movement in a yoga class.

Overall, lululemon’s pieces were comfortable for the Mindful Moments yoga class. The materials and fit were great, and the outfit looked put-together enough that I could answer a Zoom call or run out to get coffee without having to change.

In my opinion, Team Canada’s choice of lululemon gear will have the athletes looking stylish — unless they were really a fan of the Canadian tuxedo in 2021. More importantly, they’ll also be ready for practice or competition heading into the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.

Trendy, not weight-friendly — Alexa DiFrancesco Two words: Dominican Republic.

In five short days, I’ll be boarding a flight to this destination. As a former swimmer that’s into fitness, this fact leaves me with one mission: to develop abs as tight as I possibly can.

This is where lululemon comes in. My closet consists of two pieces from the outfitter: the Unlimit High Rise Tights, and the Scuba Oversized Zip Hoodie. Both items are hand-me-downs that are at least 10 years old. I threw them on and pressed play on UTrain’s NO BOUNDARIES: BARRE video that I found on YouTube.

The first exercises were leg stretches, followed by squats. My leggings had a semi-loose fit, which made the movements easy to execute without tightness.

Next up were planks with shoulder taps. When I exercise my abs, I opt to tuck a handheld weight under my waistband to increase my core strength.

However, I couldn’t do this while wearing lululemon — because of the stretchiness of my leggings, the weight rolled out of my pants and onto the ground, much to the dismay of my sleeping family. The same incident happened during a downward-dog stretch,and push-ups.

Where my leggings were lacking, my sweater pulled through. I wore it unzipped; because of its slim fit, its sides didn’t fall in front of my face and distract me from holding the plank. Its sleeves also covered the bottom of my hands, providing a soft mediator against the carpet.

Halfway through my workout, I started to feel warm. I was swinging my arms while squatting; the warm material of my sleeves made me hyperaware of how sweaty my arms had gotten. My house’s air conditioning, still turned on from summer, did little to ease my suffering.

On the bright side, I looked as hot as I felt. My sweater’s snug fit hugged my figure, accentuating my core muscles and my waist. Its colours — a blue and white ombré — made me look so effortlessly put-together that I was tempted to do a grocery store run to show off my outfit.

Obviously, Team Canada won’t be repping winter sweaters while competing in their events. Nor will they be tucking weights under their waistbands. And don’t Olympians deserve to look hot, too? For these reasons, I have no choice but to support our team’s switch in partnerships — after all, who voluntarily buys clothing from Hudson’s Bay anyways?

“Stick to yoga” — Lilly Turmel I’m sure that most of the Canadian population has heard of lululemon — it is a staple brand for athletic wear, especially because it was founded in Vancouver. Despite its fame, I had doubts if it was good enough for the Olympics.

I took some of my lululemon favourites and decided to test them out at the Athletic Centre, where I participated in a dance cardio class with UTrain.

I wore my all-time favourite lululemon product, the Wunder Under leggings, and a recent addition to my closet, the Swiftly Tech Short Sleeve Shirt 2.0. I chose these two not only because they are lululemon’s staples but because both the Wunder Under and Swiftly Tech fabric technologies appear in lululemon’s Team Canada collection. lululemon advertises its clothing mostly for running, dance, and yoga. Naturally, I felt this class would be the perfect test for whether or not it can withstand a good workout. During the class, my apparel held up very well. It’s super comfortable and easy to move in, and the biggest success was that the leggings don’t slide down while I’m moving!

I’m not sure if anyone else has this problem, but if I’m running or jumping a lot, I find that my leggings slip down. lululemon’s leggings didn’t do this at all.

My biggest complaint was that the leggings weren’t very good at being sweat-wicking — when I became too sweaty, I started to get itchy. My suggestion: stick to doing yoga in them.

An empowering nostalgia — Andrea Zhao It started innocently enough: a couple weeks ago, I agreed to write a fun piece about doing UTrain workouts in lululemon clothing. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to further procrastinate on all the work I was already behind on. I’ll go for a class, I thought to myself, and have a delightful time in one of the shiny, fancy gymnasiums that I would

LEEYA SHAO/THEVARSITY

finally have an excuse to visit.

However, I soon discovered that my fleeting fantasies were not to be. My incredible time management skills won out once again, and I didn’t get around to the registration until only a few days before the article was due. By that time, there was only one class I could attend which — unsurprisingly — still had spots open: the ever-dreaded Run Club. I hesitated as I hovered my mouse over the big blue button which would seal my one-way ticket to the Land of All Pain and No Gain.

When I reached the class, it took several embarrassing minutes to scan my TCard to even enter the premises. After making it in and out of the changing room unscathed, I emerged in my trusty old lululemon leggings — now practically on life support, but beloved nevertheless — and motored down to meet the rest of the group in front of the entrance.

The only time in my life that I could have called myself a runner — if I have ever had the right to do so — was in the 10th grade, when I joined my school’s cross-country team. This meant dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 am so I could make the 7:00 am practice downtown. I had convinced myself to sacrifice sleep and comfort in the name of health and wellness. This had worked: it was always chilly, even with my lululemons on, and my bones would start to creak after 10 laps, but there was also a freeing feeling after the last home stretch sprint of each practice. It was a certain kind of irreplicable euphoria I’d been chasing ever since.

This is the point in the story at which I must make use of tropes and clichés galore, as the UTrain class ended up being an absolute highlight of my week. I was — unfortunately? happily? — deprived of angst-inducing material, which would no doubt have made for a much better read. The class jogged over to Queen’s Park as a group and did laps around the gravel track, alternating between a more leisurely pace for most of the run and a quicker tempo at the end of each lap. I was not the fastest person there, nor did I have much stamina or technique, but I had a good time as I bounced around on the rocky road.

It was around 9:00 pm when I began walking home. Heading down that familiar path next to the Varsity stadium in my old lululemons, I felt nearly as free as I did years ago. I fully support Team Canada’s choice to partner with lululemon; when the athletes wear their uniforms years after they compete, I hope that they’ll also be hit with the realization that some things never change.

thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture Khatchig Anteblian Science Editor

Most people have undoubtedly heard of the twentieth century pop artist Andy Warhol. It’s almost impossible to have not heard about him, because of his sheer influence on pop culture and the art world. However, like most people, my knowledge of his work used to go only as far as the Campbell’s soup cans and Marilyn Monroe portraits, until I walked into the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

The character I envisioned as ‘the soup guy’ — the man who mass-produced art intended for commercial consumption — came to life as a complex, fascinating figure: an outsider who tried to fit in, but also a cultural critic who highlighted the commodification of art while participating in the creation of commodities himself.

Perhaps the most important piece of the exhibition, in my opinion, is the self portrait of Warhol displayed at the entrance, setting the stage for the rest of the exhibition and positioning himself as his biggest subject. Warhol’s propensity to include himself as the centrepiece of a lot of his work — and also lend his image to product endorsements for things like hairspray and fast food — made him into a brand of his own. One might call him the first social media influencer.

The exhibition is laid out almost like a biography of Warhol, starting with pictures from his early years — quaint family photos depicting a young Andrew Warhola, the child of Slovakian immigrants, in Pittsburgh — and moving on through time, from his early drawings and paintings to his famous silkscreen prints and portraits.

When moving through the works that Warhol created throughout his life, I could see his transition from a young painter to commercial artist. Warhol created works using images of

OCTOBER 18, 2021

How Andy Warhol became the first influencer AGO exhibit spotlights Warhol's critique of commodification and his participation in it

The AGO exhibit taught the writer about Andy Warhol’s personal side.

KHATCHIG ANTEBLIAN/THEVARSITY

celebrities; in the process, he became a celebrity himself. I always knew Warhol the pop artist and Warhol the cultural critic, but at this exhibition, I learned about Warhol the human. I started to see him dropping the ‘a’ from his surname as a vulnerable act of trying to fit into the world he found himself in. A lot of his works took on a new air of sincerity; before, I only used to see the cynicism in them.

In his depictions of Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles, I started noticing his love for

was the collection of portraits that Warhol created of Latina drag queens and trans women, entitled Ladies and Gentlemen. The striking portraits, full of expressive colours, brushwork, and even finger painting, frame the subjects in a playful and glamorous light. It also dramatizes gender as an aspect of human identity.

However, at the same time, the names of most of the models are unknown; only a few names are known because Warhol asked them to sign their photographs. As I looked at the portraits of these people, I couldn’t help but see them disappearing into the images, as if Warhol was more interested in their performance as trans women than their lived experiences — he didn’t even care to ask for all of their names.

Another piece that made me stop in my tracks was one called I am blind. It’s made of nine identical photographs sewn together in a grid and it depicts a man facing away from the camera with a sign hanging from his back. The sign reads, “I am blind please buy a pencil thank you.” Using the suffering of someone as an object of appreciation did not sit well with me, especially considering the highly commercial nature of Warhol’s art and how removed the man in the painting is from the piece. He isn’t even facing the camera.

I went to the Andy Warhol exhibition expecting to be greeted with the clichés that the public have typically always seen at art exhibitions.

However, I ended up learning about the man that the public doesn’t see.

I saw the admiration that Warhol had for the cultural icons that he parodied and critiqued in his work. I learned about him as a man who was always trying to fit into a mold that he had participated in creating. Most importantly, I learned about how his work was an incomplete representation of himself and the world he attempted to portray.

Toronto is silent, but its people are hurting

Michael Cheaito Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article discusses sexual harassment.

The sun was still up in Toronto and a large, dishevelled man at a TTC subway station asked a stranger for change. It was for coffee.

He had only a couple of coins when he asked two young women if they could help out. They couldn’t. The man started to walk away to ask someone else, but as he walked away, he used his outstretched palm to violate the body of one of the women. She froze, then yelled, “You can’t be grabbing bitches’ asses on the subway!”

People turned to stare at the woman, but the large man did not. He said “sorry.” He stared at a spot on the floor.

At the core of this story are three characters: the man, the woman, and the city. The man existed in a system that did not make space for him, and he did not receive the help he needed.

The woman existed in a system that made space for her but that was not designed for her safety.

When the man reached out his palm and no one said a thing, the man and the bystanders all contributed to the system that denied that woman her autonomy. The city upheld these systems through inaction.

The city was the character that said nothing.

Not to the woman, nor to the man that hurt her.

The city was silent.

For the man, who wasn’t offered avenues for upward social mobility, the city fell quiet. To the woman, who was robbed of her autonomy by this man, the city was also mute. The city was silent.

Perhaps the city was silent because it is isolating. Chances are, if you live anywhere with a mildly high population density, you will never know the vast majority of people you run into. That doesn’t mean you’re unlikely to develop personal connections — it simply means that there is still an ineffable distance between you and the next person on the bus, just like the man and the woman in this story.

The city might also have been scared. It isn’t hard to come across stories of rude strangers or violent offenders — and it isn’t hard to run into them, either. People in need of help can oftentimes seem dangerous because of our biases against them — we know that sometimes, they are dangerous. For some people, there can be

all of the objects that permeate his pieces. I had somehow failed to see this at first. What was most striking to me was how Warhol presents the celebrities in his portraits in the same light as his favourite objects — as consumer goods.

They almost seem like a value judgement on the celebrities themselves, implying that the humans behind the images are interchangeable as well.

This motif became a bit problematic for me when it was applied to other subjects. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy works in the exhibition

13

A story about a man, a woman, and the city that doesn’t say a word

The writer reflects on an assault that happened on the TTC. SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

a bit of a preemptive response at play when they encounter strangers in need of help.

When the bystanders didn’t speak up for the woman, it could have been out of self-preservation. There was also an aspect of reticence at play: people might not have said anything to the woman simply because they thought she could handle the situation without their support.

There was an element of distraction to account for, as well. Southbound on Bloor, the people who wore backpacks, business suits, construction vests, or held grocery bags were concerned with the many obligations that lay ahead of them.

Dozens of discrete, disparate noises played through tiny speakers in people’s ears, and half of those people looked at the floor.

The city was silent for a myriad of reasons, but it wouldn’t have been silent if not for the system it existed within. On any night in Toronto, at least 10,000 people are homeless. Not all of them have shelter. To the man, the system is an oppressor.

It insists he provides assets that he is unable to provide, and when he can’t, it seems to tell him that he does not have a right to shelter, to food, or to security. The assault, too, is a measure of

the system: the man was responsible, but so was the patriarchal culture that suggests to men that they have a right to a woman’s body.

Canadian culture is defined by its proximity to concepts like cliff diving, tree tapping, and being a good neighbour. At their core, these concepts are all about community and connection. Once you reach Toronto, however, those values begin to lose relevance. It’s difficult to be good toward a city of strangers. It can be a lot easier to plug out.

Sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada whose rates are not declining each year. However, only 3.3 per cent of sexual assaults are reported to the police. Of the reported cases, only 36 per cent result in charges being laid, and nine per cent lead to a conviction. Especially considering those statistics, the bystanders owed it to the woman to speak up for her and make her feel more protected.

The story teaches us that our world doesn’t operate the way it should. It also tells us about the things within our control: the compassion we can choose to extend to those around us, and the small change we can choose to effect simply by speaking up or by listening. Consider treating the world like it’s a small town you grew

up in. You’re a lot closer to the next person on the subway than you think.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence or harassment at U of T: • Visit safety.utoronto.ca for a list of safety resources.

• Visit svpscentre.utoronto.ca for information, contact details, and hours of operation for the tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266 or by email at svpscentre@utoronto.ca.

• Call Campus Safety Special Constable Service to make a report at 416-978-2222 (for U of T St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905-569-4333 (for U of T Mississauga) • Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre at 416-323-6040 • Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555 • Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866-863-0511

14

THE VARSITY

arts@thevarsity.ca

ARTS & CULTURE

Can someone help me become interested in K-pop and anime?

My indifference to East Asian entertainment feels like a betrayal of a part of me Cherry Zhang Lead Copy Editor

After Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020, I decided to watch it. I felt annoyed at myself when I turned off off the movie halfway through. A similar shame has come back to haunt me more than a year later — whenever I scroll past a parody of Squid Game on TikTok, all I can think about is how I couldn’t make it past the show’s first episode.

Although I come from a Chinese family and have lived in China for most of my life, I’ve found myself growing increasingly distanced from East Asian popular media. With genres like K-pop and anime recently gaining popularity internationally, I can’t help but feel guilty for not identifying with their fanbases. It’s as if I’m somehow betraying a part of my identity.

It would be a lie to say that I’m not interested in any East Asian media. There are one or two K-pop songs in my playlist and I enjoy the occasional Studio Ghibli film — but I wouldn’t dare call myself a fan. Even though I’ve tried — repeatedly — to get into these genres that suddenly seem so popular among my peers, I’ve never been able to stay engaged. And although China is a completely different country from Korea or Japan, I still feel like I should appreciate their media more than I do — they’re closer to my home than Hollywood is.

One of the biggest barriers to my enjoyment is

language. Maybe it’s the literature student in me, but if I can’t appreciate how something is written, I can’t appreciate it at all. When I’m listening to a new song, I have to understand the lyrics before I can really enjoy the music. With most K-pop, that’s not exactly easy to do. Even though I usually find it sonically appealing, it’s more in the sense of background or elevator music — objectively pleasant, but without a meaning understandable to me. I tend to view everything as a text first; I read the lyrics when listening to a song for the first time, and — although it sounds ridiculous — I’ll read the screenplay before watching a movie if it’s available.

My habits probably come from my mild yet deeply rooted insecurities about language proficiency. Although I am technically fluent in Mandarin, I have the approximate conversational capabilities of Google Translate, so I tend to miss a lot of the subtler meanings. When I wanted to watch a local play — performed in Mandarin — I would be discouraged by my parents, who would make comments like, “You won’t be able to understand everything,” and “Don’t waste your money on something you won’t be able to fully appreciate.” Their comments made me feel like I needed to fully understand the text itself to be confident in my enjoyment of it.

The rational part of me says that I’m allowed to dislike some media that’s presented to me. I don’t consume a lot of popular media to begin with, and I’m very particular about what I actually

The writer reflects on their guilt for not being easily interested in Asian media.

COURTESY OF QUT MEDIA/CC FLICKR

pay attention to. Still, when representation is as rare as it is in the North American market, the fact that I don’t consume the mainstream East Asian media here feels like rejecting something handed to me on a silver platter.

I faced similar problems when I lived in China.

When I lived there, I spent most of my time studying an American curriculum at an international high school, effectively distanced from the culture around me. So maybe some of the guilt comes from feeling like an impostor in the place I lived in for over 10 years; for not being ‘Chinese’ or ‘Asian’ enough to have those stories appeal to me. It’s hard to not feel like an outlier when seeing the popularity of K-pop café events and the BT21 pop-up store here in Toronto. It seems like the entire world is

Meet Sunset Arcade, a Toronto band capturing the soundtrack to growing up Nostalgia meets spontaneity in this self-proclaimed “-ish” band’s music

From left to right: Robbie Macatangay, Ethan Whittier, and Rowan Naidoo of Sunset Arcade.

COURTESY OF SUNSET ARCADE

Sky Kapoor Associate Arts & Culture Editor

Sentimentality is everything to this three-piece “-ish” band —a term they use to fondly describe how they are a mix of everything. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant, and alt-J, Sunset Arcade — formed at UTSC by Ethan Whittier, Robbie Macatangay, and Rowan Naidoo — should be the soundtrack to every feel-good summer movie.

Since they released their latest single, “Flour Days,” back in August, Sunset Arcade has been combining their unique musical perspectives to craft pure magic that is the perfect background for a late night drive.

Each member of the band is incredibly multitalented in their own way, which Sunset Arcade proudly embraces to express

themselves personally. Their unique yet familiar sound is a product of their different interests and backgrounds, which vary significantly between members.

“My uncle gave me a guitar when I was smaller, and I never played it until I was 16,” said Whittier. “I played it once, or like, tried to, and I was like, ‘This is cool.’ Then, I called Robbie, who had been playing guitar for a long time at that point, and I’m like, ‘Yo, let’s start a band.’ ” “I actually met Rowan through our small ensemble class,” Macatangay added.

“At the time, I never wanted to be in a band,” Naidoo, the band’s drummer, explained. “But we kind of just got along really well, and I was like, ‘Oh word, I click with these guys.’ I liked this idea of being able to create music instead of just covering [it].”

Sunset Arcade spent a year and a half recording their first EP, “A Never Ending Summer,” released in 2020.

Naidoo elaborated that the band started creating music partially because of a music producer he’d met through church. Naidoo had approached him about booking studio time at Dream House Studios, the company he worked for. “[Dream House] is an expensive sort of studio, but out of the kindness of his soul, he gave us a discount, and that kind of started this whole thing with us recording music to put on Spotify,” Naidoo said.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do if we didn’t get that,” Whittier added. “So, we’re really lucky.”

Though studio production was an excellent start for Sunset Arcade, the pandemic required

enraptured by these forms of entertainment.

Why can’t I be as well?

As someone interested in the arts, and as someone who used to want to work in the entertainment industry, I really want to be more appreciative of the well-deserved attention that media from outside the Hollywood machine is finally getting. It’s incredible that there is East Asian representation in mainstream Western culture; I simply wish I could be less picky about it and actually find a way to enjoy it.

I feel pretentious for not understanding what media is popular right now, but I think I would be happier if I did. On occasion, I wonder if being caught up with East Asian popular culture would help fill in the missing piece of my identity.

them to start producing music themselves, an endeavour that was bolstered by a music class.

“Rowan and I actually took the same class, and we all learned how to use our own individual softwares and audio interfaces. It was sick,” Macatangay said. He elaborated that the class’ projects had “accelerated” the band’s music knowledge, helping them to create their second EP during COVID-19.

“We recorded [‘Not in my Mind’ and ‘Put This on Pause’] separately… We were sending files back and forth and doing Zoom calls, and Rowan would share his screen and mix,” Whittier said.

Despite these struggles, Sunset Arcade released the two songs in 2021 on Spotify, a platform where they’ve amassed almost 100 monthly listeners.

Storytelling is a huge part of Sunset Arcade’s work, and it’s evident when you first listen to their music that they put a lot of creativity and emotion into it. Their use of sound effects to illustrate that feel-good nostalgia sets their music apart from others.

“For [the song] ‘Lazy River Interstate,’ Rowan and I were literally sitting in my car with the microphone and a laptop, recording me with my keys,” Whittier said.

It’s details like this that show how much the band cares about the music they share with the world, and how each member’s perspective contributes to the sound.

“We bring a lot of different things to the table.

We all like very different genres,” Macatangay mentioned.

“Rowan is really into rap and hip-hop, and I’m really into punk, and we all love jazz,” Whittier added.

“I guess it’s difficult to incorporate all of our tastes. But we realized that when we put the work in and try to incorporate everything, [it] ends up being a pretty unique product,” Naidoo explained.

Ultimately, Sunset Arcade’s philosophy is simple: work is play. The joy of creation is what keeps the band motivated, and that bleeds through in their work.

As Macatangay puts it, “As a trope, [my favourite song is] the next one. We’re [always] anticipating the next song that [we would release, because] it’s going to be representing us.”

Science

October 18, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/science science@thevarsity.ca

Indigenous scientists reflect on their experiences Panelists point out we should celebrate Indigenous science, not sideline it Sarah Kronenfeld Senior Copy Editor

There’s a noted lack of Indigenous presence in much of academia. This is a particularly pervasive problem in STEM fields. According to Statistics Canada, less than two per cent of people in Canada who work in STEM are Indigenous.

On September 30, Canada’s inaugural Truth and Reconciliation day, The Story Collider — a podcasting organization that showcases stories from people currently working in science — held a virtual Toronto liveshow named ‘Indigenous in STEM’ designed to spotlight the voices of Indigenous scientists in Canada. The two speakers featured at the show spoke about their experiences as Indigenous scientists in Canada, Indigenous science, and the futures they’d like to see for their fields.

Filling in the gaps Hilding Neilson, one of the speakers, is an assistant professor in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at U of T, and it’s obvious that he enjoys his field of study immensely. “There’s nothing more privileged in this world, I think, than having the ability to do astrophysics,” he told The Story Collider’s audience. He’s spent most of his life studying space, and when he talks about his teaching work, his eyes light up.

But he’s also been in the field long enough to know how much it’s limited by white and Western settler perspectives. The astronomy curricula in his department are heavily centered on the history of Western astronomy research. In the few places where other perspectives are mentioned, they’re always presented within a white Western context.

“I get to teach courses about… great moments [in] the history of astronomy, from Aristotle, to Copurnicus, to Galileo, to Brahe, to Kepler, to Newton, to Einstein. There’s a wonderful history of great white men and their achievements. But there’s so much missing,” said Neilson.

For a long time, he wasn’t sure how to find any of the missing pieces. Neilson, who is Mi’kmaw, grew up without many personal ties to his heritage or Miq’maw communities.

He was introduced to physics by a curriculum informed by settler colonial perspectives, and for many years, he didn’t have the chance to meet many other Indigenous people in astrophysics.

“There are so few Indigenous people in STEM and in physics. If you go into physics, it's even fewer,” he said in an interview with The Varsity.

That changed when, at one of his regular astrophysics conferences, he had the opportunity to attend a talk about Indigenous astronomy teachings. The speaker, a Cree Elder, talked about travelling across Manitoba and visiting Cree communities with his portable observatory to teach about traditional astronomy. Nielsen was inspired by the Elder’s teachings.

“Hearing about astronomy of this land [and] these peoples — astronomy that predates colonization — is wonderful,” said Neilson. “We’re on Indigenous land. We should have those knowledges available to be seen.”

This semester, he’s teaching a course about Indigenous astronomy, and he’s excited about the avenues it could open up. “Having courses that are not just about one set of voices is a way to create some space for students to see these issues,” he told The Varsity.

Some day, he says, he’d like to be able to do a project that brings Indigenous communities to the forefront. Giving them the tools and authority to conduct their own research would result in more benefits for the entire field — including research that could be directed specifically to address questions those communities have.

An academic culture steeped in privilege Taylor Morriseau, a biomedical researcher and a PhD candidate who spoke at the event, is used to research now. She’s on the board of the Native BioData Consortium, and she’s received many accolades for her work. When she started her first undergraduate research project, it was a new and exciting experience for her.

She’d been a student for so long, and now she finally had the opportunity to apply what she’d learned in a way that would really make a difference.

What she really wanted to study — and what she’s still studying now — is diabetes. It’s a disease that disproportionately affects Indigenous peoples in Canada, and its effects are inextricably linked to the legacy of colonization. It was a project that Morriseau Neilson (left) and Morriseau (right) try to bring Indigenous voices into their research.

COURTESY OF HILDING NIELSON AND TAYLOR MORRISEAU was incredibly passionate about, and she was determined to succeed at it. working on her PhD research at the University of “I was really excited that my undergradu- Manitoba, and she’s found it more encouraging ate term would make a difference in diabetes — and more helpful — than doing her research health,” she said. “And in hindsight, that was re- anywhere else. ally, really naive — but it was also the start of my “Surrounding yourself with community — it journey in Indigenous health research.” makes you unstoppable. And not only is that the Her first lab experience, though, was emo- way I wanted to feel, it was the way I wanted to tionally draining. The culture of her lab felt conduct my research.” inhospitable, and she found herself playing down aspects of her own identity in order Making spaces to tell Indigenous stories to blend in. When her research started to be This event is a new one, but Sara Mazrouei, recognized, she was worried that her com- one of the two co-hosts of the event, hopes patriots would discredit her success as the that more Indigenous-centric story hours can result of tokenism. be organized in the future. “[The Indigenous But she was still passionate about her re- in STEM show is] just a starting point and we search, and when she started to find success want to make sure Indigenous voices are inin it, she was buoyed by the idea that she was cluded in all of our work,” she wrote in an email accomplishing exactly what she had set out to The Varsity. to do. She found community in an Indigenous Misha Gajewski, who also co-hosted the centre on her campus at the University of event, said that an attendee had reached out Manitoba, and worked hard to create research to them to mention how much they appreciand presentation skills that would be unassail- ated being able to hear other Indigenous peoable. She set her sights high, and applied for ple talk about their own stories in science — acceptance at some of the most prestigious and about how rarely that opportunity came programs she could find. about.

But as she went through with her applicaBoth Morriseau and Neilson expressed satistions, she started to lose momentum. She’d faction with how the event went. “As an academworked very hard to get into a position where ic, I’ve become accustomed to public speaking she could be a really effective advocate for her and learning to disassociate myself from the sciresearch — but she found herself in an environ- ence on the screen. Being a storyteller is somement that felt steeped in privilege and thing else entirely,” wrote Morriseau, in an email condescension, where her compa- to The Varsity. triots and interviewers still didn’t “There is still so much to learn, which reseem to care about Indigenous quires continual listening beyond the scope of health. It was demoralizing, and it a cultural-awareness workshop. It is our collecmade her idea of those research tive responsibility, as both Indigenous and nonprograms start to crumble.

Indigenous researchers, to listen to the truth, to Today, Morriseau has found hold space for worldviews that are not our own, that the best way to conduct her and to incorporate these teachings into action,” research is closer to home. She’s she added.

16

THE VARSITY

science@thevarsity.ca

SCIENCE

Opinion: Combating the climate crisis is our ethical responsibility to all life on earth Our actions have ripple effects across all ecosystems Meera Mohindra Varsity Contributor

All life on Earth is interconnected. Since the beginning of time, evolution has caused our ecosystems to create complex and diverse environments held in a crucial balance. Due to this high degree of connectivity, any disruptions in the natural order can have far-reaching consequences. Because of this, the effects of climate change are never restricted to one issue in any given area.

We aren’t immune to the consequences of our actions either — we rely on and are supported by nature just as much as any other animal. For instance, bees pollinate nearly 90 per cent of the crops that feed us globally and nearly 80 per cent of plants worldwide. However, due to habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, and climate change — among other factors — bee populations are declining globally.

Therefore, it can be said that by ignoring the climate crisis, we are passively putting both our lives and the lives of future generations — not to mention all other life on earth — in danger. In order to avoid harming ourselves and others, we have an ethical obligation to take action against climate change, and be wise about our actions wherever and whenever possible.

Environmental ethics is a complex and emerging field that deals in part with the ethics of sustainability and climate change, and debates what our environmental responsibilities should look like. The field has come up with several ethical questions, including how much human-induced climate change should be tolerated, whether the lack of scientific certainty about the consequences of this change is reason enough to not take remedial action, and whether developed nations have a heightened responsibility to act before less developed nations.

Effects of the climate crisis on humans Human health has always been impacted by weather and climate, but the extremes brought on by the climate crisis are particularly threatening. As air temperatures rise, our atmosphere will be able to hold more and more water, increasing the number and severity of extreme rain events. A 2018 article published in the journal Nature concluded that hurricanes are becoming more severe as rainfall increases by as much as 10 per cent and wind speeds by 25 miles per hour.

Sea levels are also continuing to rise as glaciers melt and add freshwater to the oceans.

If all of Greenland’s ice sheets melted, global sea levels would increase by 20 feet. At that point, a significant portion of Florida and New York City would be flooded. At present, 145 million people live at three feet or less above sea level, and 10 per cent live less than 30 feet above current sea levels.

Not only is flooding in itself destructive, it can also damage wastewater treatment and storm

water disposals, heightening the risk of spreading waterborne diseases caused by bacteria and other pathogens.

On the opposite end of the weather spectrum, heat and drought events are also on the rise and intensifying. In 2018, California experienced a series of deadly wildfires worse than any that preceded it. Not only are such fires exacerbated by climate change, but they release a huge amount of carbon into the atmosphere which adds to the greenhouse effect while contributing to ground level pollution.

Our actions have ripple effects Systems ecology is a branch of ecology that recognizes and investigates the interconnectedness of all organisms in an environment by relying on mathematical modelling and computer programming to analyze these relationships. An easily conceptualized example of the ripple effects of climate change can be seen when examining food webs, and looking at both the direct and indirect consequences of climate change on a species.

On the other hand, indirect consequences can still show significant effects when they cascade down the food chain. With the decrease of sea ice, ice algae populations which live in nutrientrich pockets of ice also decline. This leads to the decline of zooplankton, who rely on ice algae for food; Arctic cod, who feed off zooplankton; and seal populations, who rely heavily on Arctic cod.

This finally comes back to again impact polar bears, who rely on seals as one of their main sources of food.

Risks of ignoring the climate crisis Rising temperatures and changing ecological conditions can also exacerbate and hasten the impacts of spreading pathogens, parasites, and diseases. This can potentially be very harmful for human health, as well as for the productivity of agriculture and fishery practices.

The most recent example of such an impact is the ongoing pandemic; scientists have been able to directly link COVID-19 to the effects of climate change. The alteration of environmental

conditions such as temperature, carbon dioxide levels, and cloud cover created conditions favourable for a variety of bat species to thrive, providing opportunity for novel coronaviruses — SARS-CoV-2 among them — to emerge.

Interestingly, COVID-19 is not the first infectious disease known to have been caused by climate change. The World Health Organization has been aware of the link between climate change and epidemics for years, and it is using this knowledge to advocate for the creation of policies aimed at slowing down climate change and repairing climate damage where possible.

Experts believe that a unified government response to both the current pandemic and climate change would benefit public health, the economy, and help preserve biodiversity. Since both crises lead to environmental degradation and are impacted by human actions, aligning our responses to both is an effective way of bringing about lasting change.

There are numerous ways in which climate change is having, or will imminently have, potentially disastrous effects for both humans and biodiversity, only a few examples of which have been mentioned here. Nevertheless, it is clear that in order to act in our own best interests, we have to approach the climate crisis not only as a threat to ourselves, but as a threat to all life on earth.

As an example of a direct consequence, rising temperatures contribute to the decline of polar bear populations as sea ice melts, reducing the size of their habitats and restricting their access to hunting grounds.

ELENA MOZHVILO/THEVARSITY

thevarsity.ca/section/science

OCTOBER 18, 2021

Opinion: Does STEM culture contribute to a lack of diversity?

A diverse set of perspectives is fundamental to scientific innovation Sky Kapoor Associate Arts & Culture Editor

Visualize a stereotypical scientist in your head. Maybe they’re socially awkward, or maybe they’re some eccentric, cold workaholic with a propensity for convoluted descriptions and a terrible fashion sense.

Maybe they understand binary better than human emotions.

Take whatever wild stereotype you visualized, and ask yourself this: are they a white male?

It’s okay, you can admit it. They probably are.

By now, we’ve all heard about the seemingly constant lack of diversity in the sciences. There are initiatives

majors — around 380 out of 1186 identified as female, which clocks in at a measly 32 per cent.

It’s clear that these numbers only decrease as we examine enrolment statistics for masters and doctoral programs in these fields — suggesting that the number of academics who fall into the demographics we’ve mentioned is quite

why it’s so difficult for women and minorities to break into these fields.

The issue doesn’t lie in their ability to do scientific research — it lies in the world that they have to try and break into. With so few minority groups in scientific fields, the onus is always

to try and combat this, such as specific opportunities for minority groups or scholarships for women in STEM. We’ve also all heard about current issues that are in need of scientific solutions: the proliferation of artificial intelligence and, subsequently, the importance of cybersecurity; the innate human need for medical services as we age; the ongoing climate crisis; and rising sea levels worldwide.

It’s undeniable that our need for qualified scientists is increasing as drastically as the earth’s temperature. In the coming years, we will need every mind we can get to make meaningful contributions to these fields.

And yet the world of science still fails to draw on all the talented minds across the world. Minority groups are nowhere near being properly represented in these fields, and the endeavours of those who manage to make it through are often pushed under the rug.

low, which is absolutely the case at U of T. The demographic statistics on the provost’s website of the professors in engineering and mathematical and physical sciences in 2021 is frankly ridiculous. I’ve counted zero female professors who are currently described in the physics and mathematics category, and only two female professors under engineering.

While these numbers may not be holistic, it’s still concerning that there is such little representation at U of T.

on the people who make it through to represent their entire community. When a racialized or disabled or non-male scientist makes a mistake, it’s easier for it to reflect on that entire demographic as a whole.

The fiercely competitive nature of academia may contribute to this culture as well. In the sciences especially, expectations are sky-high — and that fails to consider a more diverse collection of academics. Only 10 per cent of scientists and engineers self-identify as disabled. While this

Is this another article about the need for diversity in STEM? Yes, it absolutely is.

These aren’t just some half-baked claims that I’m making as a queer person of colour in STEM. I fully understand the inherent bias I may have on this topic. Therefore, for all the die-hard scientists out there, we’re going to take a look at some of our beloved data.

The numbers don’t lie: enrolment numbers show that about 435 of the 1,115 undergraduate students enrolled in mathematical and physical sciences in 2016 at U of T identified as female. That means that only about 39 per cent of those who had enrolled in the field were women — and this low percentage doesn’t even account for people who don’t identify as men or women, nor does it account for other marginalized groups. The numbers are slightly lower for undergraduate engineering

Lack of documentation leads to lack of accountability Despite what I’ve gathered from this data, I’ve also found that there is actually very little information accessible about the demographics of science students and faculty at U of T, aside from their genders.

In fact, this is the only real demographic data I could find about U of T’s enrollment, which begs for a change in the university’s transparency policies.

And yet, as we continue to lament the lack of diversity and representation in these fields, there is very little being done to amend this discrepancy. While initiatives to improve representation for underrepresented communities have emerged over the past few years, enrolment numbers seem to hover around the same percentages. Is there something in the water — other than fluoride and shit — that leads us to believe that the sciences are only for a certain type of person?

It’s been said before, but I’ll echo the sentiment: there’s a toxic aspect to STEM culture — both from an outsider’s perspective, and the perspective of someone in the thick of it — that isn’t addressed nearly as often as it should be.

Cultural perceptions about who constitutes a scientist, especially in ‘hard sciences’ such as math, physics, or engineering, are undoubtedly part of the reason

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

number may be underestimated, the culture of stigmatization in academic environments is surely a factor in it.

Accommodating disabilities in STEM is not a difficult or unreasonable request, yet, more often than not, students with disabilities fail to

receive the accommodations they need in order to be successful.

Why should we care?

Perhaps all of this begs another question: who cares whether the science is done by a scientist of a certain race, colour, or gender?

Surely, science should stay the same no matter who does it, right?

While it’s true that the same conclusions can be reached by multiple

scientists, it’s also true that diverse perspectives are the very things that lead us to scientific innovation.

It is entirely fundamental to have diverse viewpoints contributing to the forefront of science, because these things are relevant to everyone, everywhere. In other words, we need one-dimensional perspectives in the scientific community like we need open head wounds. Plus, we’ll need scientists of all demographics to mend those metaphorical wounds.

Now, this is not to say that we should just hire more people simply on the basis of their race, gender, or sexual orientation as an easy fix for this discrepancy. It is, however, a call for action. The root of this issue is multifaceted, but my belief is that it lies in the culture. If we want change, it needs to be induced culturally, not just by throwing money at the problem.

Calling out toxic subcultures when we see them is a great start; so is empowerment. Rather than making minority groups change — which is a difficult feat in such a restrictive culture — it’s better if all of us as scientists work on our perceptions, lest we forget that science is for everyone.

17

Sports

October 18, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Back to ‘lax’ — Michael Lammachia talks returning to competition The U of T defender balances life as a student athlete while looking to elevate his game reading done. Even on commutes, I’ll try and get some reading done on the bus; I’ll download my textbook on my phone and just flip through it there. So at least there are ways to get it done.

It’s all about allocating time: recognizing when you have space and just fitting it in.

Cole Hayes Varsity Contributor

The pandemic brought numerous daily activities to a halt, and sports were no exception. Now that over 80 per cent of eligible Ontarians are vaccinated, U of T student athletes are going back to competing and getting into the routine of balancing their academics with their athletic careers.

One of these students is Michael Lamacchia, a second-year kinesiology student and defender for the Varsity Blues men’s lacrosse team, who missed out on competing for the Varsity Blues last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Varsity talked to Lamacchia about returning to sports after the pandemic as a student athlete.

TV: What is an aspect of your game that has improved during the pandemic?

ML: I used to be more out of shape before the pandemic, back in high school. And given the time of the pandemic, between high school and university, I was able to use that to actually better myself and get in better shape. I was grateful for that because I had the time and energy from stepping back from school during the pandemic to just take care of myself and get healthier. With schools closed, for example, it was easier to go play wall ball because there wouldn’t be an issue of disrupting a class because you’re throwing a ball against the wall when they were close by.

The Varsity: How are you feeling about getting to play lacrosse at the university level after the long break?

Michael Lamacchia: It’s really nice, honestly.

The difference between high school and university seasons is that high school lacrosse runs in the spring, and the university level runs in the fall.

So, coming from high school, it’s actually almost been two years because we didn’t get that spring season in grade 12. For [people in my year], we missed out on grade 12 and then the first year of university. So that’s two whole seasons gone. It’s just great to have a game again. The atmosphere was amazing. We had a lot of people come out, luckily. It was great to see.

TV: What do you find is the key to balancing your athletics and academics at U of T? ML: What I do is I have a schedule on my phone using a calendar app and I always try to book times for studying because I know, for me, it takes roughly an hour to do a chapter of

Dhruv Jain Varsity Contributor

In the age of the algorithm, the way I fell into tennis was — like with so many other things — through YouTube compilations. The greatest of these compilations came from the Laver Cup — the competition between Europe and the World, in which the best tennis players coach, root for, and team up with each other, featuring even the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal playing doubles.

I was pumped for the 2021 edition of the Laver Cup, which took place in Boston, Massachusetts. Team World included two Canadian stars, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. But the glossy shine of the tournament started to wear off as I learned more about it.

The Laver Cup is modelled on the Europe vs US format of golf’s Ryder Cup. However, it’s not as if ‘the world’ doesn’t include Europe, and chants for Team World players are not exactly the most rousing compared to the excitement of cheering for your national heroes. There’s also more than a slight talent imbalance, since Team Europe is the home of some of the biggest names in tennis, like Federer, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Even with none of them playing this year, Team Europe still featured the second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-highest ranked players worldwide.

As a business, the Laver Cup aims to distinguish itself on every front from other tournaments, down to its signature “Laver Cup Black” courts, which are exclusive to and named after the tournament. It is a chance to see the world’s best players get a reprieve from battling each other week in and week out, and instead meet on friendlier terms.

But I can’t stop seeing the things I loved most — the celebrity match-ups, the unprecedented access to players who you can hear talking

In conversation with a Varsity Blues lacrosse player.

COURTESY OF VARSITY BLUES ATHLETICS

a reading. So if I see I have an hour between classes, usually I’ll block that off for study time, because I know I can do a chapter in that hour.

So I’ll use that to get ahead on my readings, or I’ll just find time in between classes, after classes, or in between classes and practice to get a

Opinion: The 2021 Laver Cup was more glitz than glory The business side of the competition seemed to overshadow the sports

ROSALIND LIANG/THEVARSITY

during changeovers — as business decisions, particularly when I learned that Federer was not just a player but also the brains and partial owner of Laver Cup. There were even points where I felt like the glitziness got in the way of the tennis. Of course I know that sports is a business, but what happens when that fact

keeps impinging on the experience of watching it?

There was a lot of skepticism from fans in the earlier years of the Laver Cup; since the tournament doesn’t count toward a player’s Association of Tennis Professionals ranking, it's more akin to exhibition tennis or matches

TV: What goals do you have for yourself as a student and as an athlete at U of T? ML: Well, I know U of T does a thing — I forgot the exact name, but they give [an award] to people who have an average of 80 per cent or higher. So I’ve always made that my goal to try and stay at that average, 80 per cent or above, so I can strive for that [award]. And then as an athlete — just getting better, improving all the time with my stick skills, my defensive awareness and overall play IQ, my conditioning and speed as well. Overall, I am trying to become a better athlete while also making sure my academics are always exemplary.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. that are played for charity than to ranked matches. Federer himself endeavored to distinguish the Laver Cup as ‘real tennis’: “If it’s for charity it’s different, because then it’s about the show, but the Laver Cup is about winning, so it’s different.” But the line between real tennis and fake tennis isn’t as clear as Federer would like.

Even in its fourth iteration, it feels like the players are like contestants at The Bachelor.

And the comparison to reality TV isn’t too far off — after all, the players do know we can hear their interactions on the bench, such as the time at the end of the first day when Alexander Zverev was “accidentally” caught saying that Team World wouldn’t win any more matches.

As for the players, while I do believe they are really in the tournament to win it, it’s jarring to see the change in pace of exhibition matches especially when compared to their stoic demeanours at the US Open just two weeks ago.

The Laver Cup aims to bring tennis into the twenty-first century, but it’s difficult to see whether that means they want to address the many structural issues in the sport or simply conform to the economic logic of celebrity-driven culture. While I do appreciate the sense of being a team on the court, a Team World that is essentially composed of the US, Canada, and Australia is particularly unfortunate in a sport that is already dominated by white men from the Western hemisphere. And, I’m ashamed to say, it took a while for it to occur to me that this event could so easily have incorporated women players and coaches — a huge step for a sport in which there is still a significant gender disparity.

This is nowhere near as bad as the attempted Super League, the much maligned attempted consolidation of the top European soccer clubs.

But one can’t help but imagine how great the Laver Cup could have been.

thevarsity.ca/section/sports

OCTOBER 18, 2021

19

Varsity Blues defense dominates in first Argo Cup victory since 2016 A fumble-filled first half set the tone for the rest of the 51st Red & Blue Bowl The Blues defense dragged a sluggish offence to a win in this heated rivalry.

SEYRAN MAMMADOV/THEVARSITY

Angad Deol Sports Editor

The Varsity Blues won a stunning victory in the 51st Red & Blue Bowl on Saturday October 16, following consecutive losses the past two weeks. The Red & Blue Bowl is also known as the Argo Cup, after the cup which the victors get to hoist.

The Blues came to the Varsity Stadium on Saturday hard on the heels of a heartbreaking loss against the Carleton Ravens on October 8, in a game that ended 27–24. That was the Blues’ second loss in a row, following another defeat at the hands of the Queen’s Gaels on October 2.

Despite all this, U of T had some individual glory coming into this matchup, with wide receiver Will Corby leading the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with a dominating 101.7 yards per game.

The Blues were looking to turn their luck

around with this match against the York Lions, who are still winless this season, heading into the game with three straight losses. As such, this year’s installment of the Argo Cup served as an inflection point in both team’s records and shots at making the playoffs this season. This game also marked U of T’s last home game of the season, so there was a lot at stake for the Blues.

The game did not start as well as the Blues’ offense may have wanted. The Lions played solid defense, leading to a punt on the first drive. The Blues quickly recovered, with defensive lineman Malcolm Campbell forcing a fumble on the Lions and linebacker James Greig recovering on the Lions’ first drive to give U of T possession. Kicker Chris Maclean put three points on the board for Toronto to capitalize on the defensive stop.

The Blues’ defense continued to tear apart the Lions’ offense in the first quarter with a 49 yard

pick-six by defensive back Cody Hale.

The second quarter was more of the same for the Blues defense — nothing short of dominance. They forced two fumbles, firstly

by Tolu Ahmed with a recovery by Jacob Hill, and another a second later by Owen Cassie, recovered by Cody Hale. The Blues’ Jackson Mayer also blocked a punt to add on to U of T’s dazzling defensive performance in the first half.

The Lions defense added an interception in the second, solidifying the defensive stand-off on this rainy Saturday afternoon. The Blues’ offensive woes continued when they allowed a safety, giving the Lions two points. The first half ended 13–2 in favour of U of T after another field goal by Maclean.

The third quarter saw the Blues add an additional fumble to the pile, following a sack by Greig and a recovery by Mayer. The Lions also

gave up a strategic safety in the third, adding on to the Blues’ defensive scoring tally. The fourth quarter saw Cody Hale continue his defensive aristeia with a tackle on the York punter to give U of T great field position. The Blues’ offense finally added an offensive touchdown as well in the fourth, with Clay Sequeira tossing a beauty into the hands of Nolan Lovegrove. The Blues took the game with a monstrous final score of 25–2.

This game marks U of T’s first win in the Red & Blue Bowl since 2016. When asked how the Blues plan on keeping up the momentum moving forward, Cody Hale said, “We’re just gonna keep… working hard as a team, and individually.”

Coach Marshall added, “Well, obviously our kids feel pretty good… it’s always nice to come out on the winning side of the score. And you know, our defense was tremendous today.”

Opinion: Should athletes feel obligated to take the vaccine?

Vaccine mandates have become a pressing issue in sports Avishai Sol Varsity Contributor

Leading headlines as only he can, Brooklyn Nets all-star Kyrie Irving continues to be the modern NBA’s king of controversy. He leads the league in the following categories: dribbling highlights, jelly layups, fans confused, games missed for personal reasons, and, some would argue, selfrighteousness. Currently, he’s making headlines for refusing to get the COVID-19 jab.

The NBA finalized the league’s health and

safety protocols for the upcoming season late last month. On the website NBA.com, protocols are detailed as following: “Among the rules for unvaccinated players: they will not be able to eat in the same room with vaccinated teammates or staff, must have lockers as far away from vaccinated players as possible, and must stay masked and at least six feet away from all other attendees in any team meeting.”

Further, unvaccinated players will be “required to remain at their residence when in their home market,” as teams were told in the draft of the rules. They will also be required to remain on team hotel properties during road trips. In both cases, there are exceptions for minor things like shopping for groceries or dropping their kids off at school.

Unvaccinated players will also be restricted from entering “higher-risk settings,” the NBA said, such as large indoor gatherings like restaurants and clubs. These restrictions go along with whatever in-house protocols the individual teams wish to impose, and are in line with state laws.

And yet, despite these restrictions, a small handful of NBA players remain hesitant to get themselves vaccinated. Admittedly, none hold the candle to the star power or influence of Kyrie Irving. One of the three All-NBA talents on the championship-contending Brooklyn Nets — along with Kevin Durant and James Harden — Irving has been banned by the Nets from participating in Nets games or practices until he agrees to comply with the new league regulations, and they are currently withholding his salary. Despite this dent in both Kyrie’s wallet

and the Nets’ hope of a title, Irving continues to argue that this is an issue of freedom of choice.

“This is about my life and what I am choosing to do,” said Irving on an Instagram livestream. “It is [the] reality that in order to be in New York City, in order to be on a team, I have to be vaccinated.

I chose to be unvaccinated, and that was my choice, and I would ask you all to just respect that choice.”

Freedom of choice is one of the most fundamental pieces of a just society, but what Irving and anyone else who rejects the COVID-19 vaccine fails to understand is that this is not simply a personal choice. If a person refuses to protect themselves against the effects of a potentially deadly virus, that is their right, but they’re not thinking about how leaving themselves defenceless harms the people around them.

Masks are a perfect analogy. We’ve grown so accustomed to them over these past two years that we may have almost forgotten the science behind them in the first place.

Masks shield others around you from inhaling your breath; that way if you are infected with COVID-19, there’s a decreased chance of people contracting the virus from you.

The same reasoning exists on a larger scale with the vaccine. Professional athletes are at the peak of physical fitness. They are young, and in the prime of their lives. They most likely don’t have to worry about dying of COVID-19 even if they do contract it.

But their mothers may not be at their physical prime, and their children may not be either.

The old man passing them on the sidewalk may be at risk — and that’s why vaccination is more than a personal choice, because it doesn’t just affect you personally. I hope that Irving — along with anybody else, athlete or otherwise, who is unsure if they should get vaccinated — comes to the just conclusion and gets the shot. If not for themselves, then for everyone else in their lives.

We humans must compete against this virus as a team. And to win this big game, we must stay united, or we’ll never achieve a definite victory.

Stay strong, U of T.

CAROLINE BIEL/ THEVARSITY

20

THE VARSITY

ADVERTISEMENTS

OCTOBER 18, 2021