State of the Union The Varsity takes the campus’ pulse on the eve of the summit
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 06
University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
7 October, 2013
Emma Sexton at Loretto College. jennifer Su/the varSity
Christian residence only option for some The Varsity investigates Loretto College, a private residence affiliated with St. Michael’s College Sarah Niedoba & Jerico Espinas VARSITY STAFF
The year she graduated from high school, Emma Sexton was accepted to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Toronto with the usual residence guarantee. She grew up in a small town in the Niagara region and knew little about university residence or Toronto life. Excited about the prospect of living at her school of choice, Sexton applied for residence New College and University College, and didn’t think any more about the matter for several months. Sexton received several emails saying she would hear about residency in late June, but that date came and went without a residence offer. Finally, just six days before the payment deadline,
she was offered a space at Loretto College, a private, all-female residence affiliated with St. Michael’s College. Sexton says she was “disappointed about being put in Loretto,” but took the spot because she was not offered an alternative. After moving into Loretto, Sexton quickly learned that it was not like most other residences at U of T. The philosophy statement in the Loretto residence agreement reads, in part: “Life at Loretto College focuses on participation and involvement in a supportive Christian academic community.” The agreement goes on to state that the College has the right to make policies that “implement the philosophy of the College,” but that discrimination will not be tolerated. Students are required to sign the agree-
ment, agreeing to “adhere” to the college’s philosophy. Over the past three months, The Varsity spoke with over fifteen current and former Loretto students; although their experiences differed, many of them expressed discomfort with the college’s unique policies and residence life. StudentS uncomfortable with “conServative” reSidence life Sexton described an experience when she signed out a male guest two minutes after curfew, and the porter said to her: “I signed you out at 10:00 — otherwise they talk.” Sexton recalled that this experience made her feel strange. “I assumed ‘they’ were the staff. It made me uncomfortable that I was going to be perceived differently because of two minutes,” she said.
ARTS
Many students took issue with the restrictions on when men can be in certain parts of the college. The residence agreement from 2012 states that male visitors are not permitted in residence rooms between Monday and Wednesday and are only allowed during certain visiting hours on other days. The policy that men are restricted to certain hours is publicly available on the U of T Housing website, but is not available on the Loretto webpage. Caitlin Scinocca, another student who did not apply to live at Loretto but was placed there, described her discomfort with this policy: “The fact that there were male visiting hours really bothered me,” she explained. “If I’m paying good money for a room, at least let my friends come hang out during frosh week,
or let my dad up to the room.” Julia Kemp, an exchange student, said that she felt the policy was far too restrictive. “I understand that U of T needs a space where it is all-girls due to demand and religious reasons. However, if I have a single room I see no reason whatsoever why I should not be allowed a male in my room,” she said, adding that she “felt like she was treated like a girl in a boarding school.” Another student, who lived in Loretto for two years and requested anonymity, said that these regulations are “ostensibly in accordance with Catholic doctrine to discourage any kind of fornication. Nobody really knows why, and I’ve never gotten a straight answer. That is all fine
EDITORIAL
SPORTS
CONTINUED PG 6
Exploring Nuit Blanche
The plan for post-secondary in Ontario Inside the AC
The Varsity stays up late — for the sake of art
Wynn government lacks clear policy despite eight months in office
Into the belly of the beast
PG 18
PG 13
PG 24
2
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
news@thevarsity.ca
WHAT’S GOING ON
THE VARSITY
THIS WEEK
VOL. CXXXIV No. 6
21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON, M5S 1J6 Phone: 416-946-7600 www.thevarsity.ca
the week in tweets
ON CAMPUS
Masthead Editor-in-Chief Joshua Oliver
editor@thevarsity.ca
JASMINE FOSTER @JASMINEFOSTER
Production Manager Dan Seljak production@thevarsity.ca Managing Online Editor Murad Hemmadi
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Design Editor Shaquilla Singh
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Photo Editor Carolyn Levett
photo@thevarsity.ca
Senior Copy Editor Catherine Virelli
copy@thevarsity.ca
News Editor Zane Schwartz
news@thevarsity.ca
Comment Editor Alec Wilson
comment@thevarsity.ca
Features Editor Danielle Klein
features@thevarsity.ca
Arts & Culture Editor Sofia Luu
— Tuesday, October 1
CHRISTINA DAO @_CHRISTINADAO
arts@thevarsity.ca
Science Editor Katrina Vogan
science@thevarsity.ca
Sports Editor Elizabeth Benn
sports@thevarsity.ca
Illustrations Editor Nancy Ji
Love having seminar classes at the pub. On the patio. In the sunshine. #celticstudies #UofT
illustration@thevarsity.ca
Video Editor Jamieson Wang
video@thevarsity.ca
Web Developer Natalie Morcos
web@thevarsity.ca
Associate Design Editor Vacant
CArolyn levett/tHe vArsity
— Wednesday, October 2
JOHN STREET FARMERS MARKET Local and organic produce, fair trade coffee, art, and live music. October 9, 3:30 – 7 pm Courtyard at 197 John Street Free SANDWICH RUN
Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Senior Copy Editor Lucy Genua Associate News Editor Liza Agrba Theodore Yan Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate Features Editor Victoria Banderob
Students will create sandwiches, then distribute them to the homeless around campus. October 9, 5 pm Multi-Faith Centre 569 Spadina Avenue 2nd floor kitchen Free
SAVE DEMOCRACY FROM POLITICS 2013 TOUR Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May will speak about what she sees as current threats to Canadian democracy. October 10, 7 pm Heart House Debates Room, 7 Hart House Circle | 2nd floor Free
Associate A&C Editor Ishita Petkar Associate Science Editor Emma Hansen Associate Sports Editor JP Kaczur Associate Video Editor Alexandra Butrón
Writers Afiny Akdemir, Caitlin Alexieff, Teodora Avramov, Simon Capobianco, Monica Carinci, Rochelle Coelho, Amanda Coletta, Emma Compeau, Christopher Cook, Mike Cumpstey, Jelena Djuric, Jerico Espinas, James Flynn, Susan Gordon, Atta Habibollah-Zadeh, Kaleem Hawa, Jennifer Hurd, Abbi Indrakumar, Ilona Kabanova, JP Kaczur, Danielle Klein, Trevor Koroll, Angus Langmuir, Anthony Marchese, Maria Martinez, Sarah Niedoba, Albert Park, Corinne Przybyslawski, Kelly Rahardja, Samantha Relich, Iris Robin, Hayden Rodenkirchen, Tanya Rogova, Zane Schwartz, Ampital Singh, Simon Spichak, Max Stern, Taylor Stinson, Andrea Themistokleous, Alaina Wallace, Sophie Zhu Photo and Illustration Eric Chung, Nicole Dionne, Wendy Gu, Nancy Ji, Trevor Koroll, Carolyn Levett, Denis Osipov, Jennifer Su, Aaron Tan, Lucinda Yae Rim-Ro, Tina Zhou, Shijie Zhou Copy Editors and Fact Checkers Lois Boody, Karen Chu, Heather Eason, Lucy Genua, Linh Nguyen, Sarah Niedoba, Chelsea Ricchio, Weijian Shi, Jonathan Soo, Jennifer Stipec, Rose Tornabene, Kelly Turner, Catherine Virelli, Xinyi Zhu Designers Serena Goel, Emerald Misquitta, Dan Seljak, Shaquilla Singh, Mari Zhou
Business Office Business Manager Timothy Sharng
THE ARTS BAZAAR
SUCCESS STORY OF HARRY ROSEN
There will be new and used clothing, tattoo artist, live music and a pastry station at this festival. October 11, 12 pm – 12 am Creatures Creating, 822 Dundas West Free
Men’s clothing store founder will discuss his business model and his success.
UTSU
Advertising Executives Stephanie Lau stephanie@thevarsity.ca terence@thevarsity.ca Terence Leung vanessa@thevarsity.ca Vanessa Wen The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2013 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 Please recycle this issue after you are finished with it.
October 8, 6:30 pm Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street Free
2013 FALL ELECTIONS CANDIDATES
Executive Comittee Positions:
Division I Positions:
VP External:
Transitional year program:
Onik Khan
Htay Tint — acclaimed
Division II Positions: Faculty of Engineering:
Faculty of Law:
Ryan Gomes Matthew J. Lee Sanchit Mathur Pierre Harfouche Eric Shum Mark Semelhago
Riaz Sayani-Mulji — acclaimed
business@thevarsity.ca
Advertising Manager Victoria Marshall advertising@thevarsity.ca
I’ve spent more time in #uoft libraries this week than I have in my first 3 years #degreehereicome
Faculty of Nursing: Tonia Roman — acclaimed OISE: Joseph Bodley — acclaimed
Source: utsu.ca. Disclaimer: Acclamation results are unofficial and are subject to change Voting takes place October 15-17
CHELSEA LOWTHER @CHELSLOWTHER1 Sometimes I love #uoft so much my heart could explode #librariantotherescue — Wednesday, October 2
ELINA KHAN @XELINAXKHANX This girl brings her own swivel chair to class...are you serious LOL #conhall #UofT — Thursday, October 3
LYNELLE D’SILVA @LYNELLE_DSILVA I’m in a class right now where mean girls was filmed. #october3rd #uoft — Thursday, October 3
SIMONE MORGADO @P_MORGADO A raccoon is in Gerstein Library... Never a dull moment at UofT — Saturday, October 5
MADDIE WARREN @MADDSWARREN nuit blanche aka studying in robarts for my midterm #imsofun — Saturday, October 5
LARYSA LEWYCKYJ @LARYSALEWYCKYJ #UofT mind control exhibit was sick, just wish the line hadn’t been so long :( #nuitblanche #snbTO — Sunday, October 6
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
3
University of Toronto announces new mental health committee Tri-campus initiative will address gaps in current system Kaleem Hawa
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Following a $27 million commitment to the mental health of post-secondary students by the provincial government in March 2013, the University of Toronto has revealed to The Varsity its intention to develop a campus-wide mental health strategy. The Provostial Committee on Mental Health — to be chaired by vice-provost, students Jill Matus — was set to be formally announced in November. The Varsity spoke with key university administrators over several weeks to discuss the proposed composition and purpose of the panel. The committee, created by assistant vice-president, student life, Lucy Fromowitz and Health and Wellness executive director Janine Robb, seeks to establish a framework to “connect the suite of counselling, psychiatric, and health services offered by the university at a tri-campus level.” It is expected to include “faculty deans, senior staff, utsc and utm administrators, academic success workers, the university’s psychiatrist-in-chief Andrea Levinson, and members of accessibility services,” in addition to an undergraduate and graduate representative. Similar frameworks were organized at Queen’s University and Brock University in recent years. Fromowitz, who is responsible for Hart House and 12 distinct departments under the Student Life umbrella, said that the committee seeks to better evaluate gaps in the current system. “We can establish quantitative metrics to ensure that all students are getting equal access to mental health services and so that we can [address] any needs that aren’t being met,” she said. Robb, a four-year veteran of Health and Wellness who comes from an extensive public health background at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (camh), outlined the committee’s proposed structure: “We hope to have five working groups that can develop policy proposals to send up to the
larger committee for approval. These will focus on selected issue areas like awareness & anti-stigma, education & training, curricula & pedagogy, services & programs, and policies & procedures,” she said. She added that while faculty deans responded optimistically to the proposed committee, not all staff members share this outlook. “This policy development process is also an attempt to break into a group that has been tougher to breach. What we’re talking about here are the staff that are maybe less empathetic towards those with mental illness. Those that think mental illness is best treated by pulling their socks up, or sucking it up. Clearly, [mental illness] is a bigger issue than it was 20 years ago. Our staff and faculty need to know how to work with those who face these challenges,” she said. Fromowitz pointed out improvements to mental health service delivery over the last five years. “We recognize that it is fundamentally an issue of demand. Students, who certainly deserve to be here but who normally wouldn’t have had the ability to attend university in the past, now have access to the right pharmacology and health services. We as a university have embraced this reality and have attempted to develop a comprehensive plan that puts their needs first,” she said. Counselling and Psychological Services (caps) is a key mental health service at U of T. Part of the goal of the provostial committee will be to assess challenges faced by caps and make proposals for its improvement. Student leaders have repeatedly critized caps in past years, particulary for long wait times for students who face acute mental health challenges. “Counselling and Psychological Services (caps) used to [work] on a first-come-first-serve basis. This was not a good way to operate because students with acute mental health needs wouldn’t get access to the help they needed. Our drive has been to ensure that every new student who goes through the service gets a triage process so that we can identify the most suitable level of care required,” said Fromowitz.
Vice-president, student life Lucy Fromowitz.trevor koroll/the varsity
In response to these concerns, Woodsworth student Tom Gleason worked with Robb and the Health and Wellness Staff to develop Peers are Here, a student group committed to peer mentorship and campus support systems. Dr. Fromowitz is encouraged by these student innovations. “This is why we love Peers are Here. We don’t want to medicalize or stigmatize stress and anxiety. It is normal for students to face this at school. Building a community that can normalize it and help teach students to cope with it is essential,” she said. The university has applied to the aforementioned government innovation fund’s second round of proposals. Robb describes the plan as a collaborative partnership between U of T, Ryerson, ocad, and Sheri-
dan College to develop an “early alert system.” The goal of this will be to feature “a series of self-report measures which you would score. Providing this individualized feedback package allows the university to catch people who might be sliding and help them build on their strengths for the future,” she said. The government is expected to announce the grants sometime in the coming month. Fromowitz concludes her interview with a reflection on the nature of mental health on campus. “Too often, I think, the situation is presented as a crisis. Let’s really take a look at this. We need to measure what student needs are and assess where gaps might exist before we feed any more into this rhetoric,” she said.
Rescheduled Trinity College orientation event costs $563 per person Eleven students attend rescheduled Toronto Island event intended for 475 Emma Compeau & Christopher Cook VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS
Trinity College’s Orientation Week event “Island Day!” cost $6200 for a turnout of 11 students. The event was advertised as a fun day to relax on the beach, play games, and go to Centreville, with lunch included. Originally scheduled to take place on the afternoon of Saturday, September 7, Island Day! was rained out and rescheduled for September 27. The event was to provide food, round-trip transportation, and space on the island for 475 attendees. On the rescheduled day, only 11 people showed up. Island Day! was one of the most expensive events of Trinity College’s Orientation Week. Allison Spiegel, co-chair of Trinity Orientation Week, says that the planning committee had its hands tied with the contract signed with Centre Island. Alyssa Volk, a representative of Centre Island, says that according to the island’s policy, no portion of the deposit is refunded with a cancellation request less than two weeks prior to the event. A full re-
fund is only given when an event is cancelled six weeks prior; Volk adds that the contract signed by Trinity’s Orientation coordinators clearly outlined this policy. Spiegel says that the committee had explored other options, such as saving the voucher for an end of year party, or using the voucher for next year’s Orientation Week. However, Centre Island’s rain insurance policy does not carry over to the next season. After conferring with administration, Spiegel insists that the best solution was to do a later event. The rescheduled date was decided upon due to its congruence with Trinity College’s social calendar, and an attempt was made to factor in the weather. According to Spiegel, the change of date was advertised through multiple forums, including an email to every Orientation Week registrant and postings on the Trinity College Class of ‘17 Facebook page. A trip to Centre Island is a regular on the list of Orientation Week activities for many colleges, as it provides an opportunity for students to interact with upper years in an off-campus setting. Benjamin Crase, male
head of college at Trinity, defends the choice of event — saying that by voting in favour of the Island Day! event last year, Trinity students made it clear that they were interested. When asked about the low turnout, Crase said that once students are out of “Orientation Week mode,” it is difficult to get large numbers of students to attend off-campus events. Orientation Week leaders, executives, student heads, and dons who would have been at the original event were not obligated to attend, since it was outside of the dates outlined in the original contract. When asked if she predicts that Trinity will attempt the event for next year’s Orientation Week, Spiegel says that she hopes they will. According to Spiegel, events like Island Day are always a gamble, and there is an inherent risk in planning Orientation Week events of any kind. Spiegel maintains that the originally planned event would have been successful. However, “rolling with the punches” is what Orientation Week is all about, she said. Trinity’s Orientation Week is funded exclusively through participation fees paid separately from student fees.
BY THE NUMBERS
11
People in attendance
475
People set to attend
$6200 Total cost
6
Number of weeks warning prior to event needed to receive full refund
10%
Percentage of total that rain-insurance costs
4
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
news@thevarsity.ca
State of the union Voter turnout at U of T (percentage of student population)
Iris Robin & Hayden Rodenkirchen VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS
20 Last March, the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (vusac), Trinity College, and the Engineering Society (EngSoc) initiated independent referenda and voted to sever financial ties with the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu). In May 2013, U of T vice-president and provost Cheryl Misak issued a letter to student leaders. In the letter, Misak made clear that the remittance of fees from the utsu to individual colleges or faculties was not possible under the existing university policy. She further encouraged student bodies to negotiate an agreement on outstanding issues related to fee diversion. Since that time, talks between Trinity, Victoria, the EngSoc, and the utsu have yielded little progress; the impasse has prompted the university administration to suspend approval of the much-anticipated Student Commons building, pending an resolution. In September, provost Cheryl Regehr announced a Student Societies Summit in an effort to facilitate discussion and resolve the fee diversion dispute. The summit will take place October 7. from 3 – 5 pm. Highlighted below are a number of topics likely to be discussed. UTSU ELECTORAL POLICY Debate over the utsu’s electoral policy has been fierce. In the past year, it has focused chiefly on online voting and its implementation. The St. George Round Table, a forum of college and faculty student leaders, backed a “non-partisan declaration” early last year, calling for a clearer utsu electoral policy. The declaration requested that accessibility of the elections be improved through the implementation of an online voting system, that the accuracy of elections be improved by the implementation of a preferential ballot, and that accountability be strengthened by changing the way that nominations occur and by bolstering oversight of the historically powerful Chief Returning Officer (cro). Early last year, amendments were proposed to the utsu electoral policy in an effort to implement online voting. The amendments failed, however, to make the agenda of the utsu’s Annual General Meeting (agm). The utsu pointed out that its bylaws made it impossible for it to add the amendments to the agenda at the time they were requested. At a subsequent Special General Meeting (SGM), a non-binding motion calling for the implementation of online voting was passed. It was not, however, presented thereafter as an electoral policy recommendation to the utsu Board of Directors. According to utsu bylaws, the motion came too late to be added by the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) as an amendment to the electoral code for consideration by the UTSU’s board of directors. The board meeting did, however, see the adoption of clarifications to the UTSU’s electoral policy. These clarifications reflected recommendations from a legal opinion of UTSU electoral procedures, which the union commissioned in the spring. The UTSU Board of Directors voted this month to offer online voting for its upcoming October byelection. Voting will be conducted through an external online service called Simply Voting, and will be available from 9 – 6 pm. While many are pleased with the development, some leaders remain concerned that the restrictions placed on online voting hours unreasonably limit accessibility. ADVOCACY The utsu is responsible for advocating on behalf of its members to the university’s administration, lobbying provincial and municipal governments, and participating in broader sociopolitical activism. Some of the utsu’s endeavours have garnered praise; in 2008, the union supported a campaign to eliminate bottled water from the university, which was completed in 2011. In 2012, the utsu organized a rally as part of the National Day of Action, in protest against rising tuition fees. In addition, the utsu continues to promote consent and equity through the No Means No and Say What You Mean campaigns. Other initiatives have been met with criticism. The utsu’s decision to ban men’s issues awareness clubs ignited a debate over the right to free speech on campus. The utsu’s stance on the Sri Lankan conflict in 2009 sparked questions over whether the utsu should concentrate on problems it can influence and that pertain specifically to students, or whether it is important for it to take a position on political affairs, engaging students and upholding its mission statement. Students wishing to propose issues on which they think the utsu should focus have access to the agm, their representa-
15
10
5
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012 (source: Maclean’s)
The UTSU’s operating budget Student levied membership fees Possible cost of fee diversion
$17.34/student/semester x 2 semesters x 19,100 students not paying fees from Trin, Vic and Engineering
Revised student levied membership fees
$1,350,000 -$331,194 $1,018,806 (source: UTSU)
Five largest expenditures of the UTSU in 2012-2013 Clubs Funding
$243,600
Member Services
$219,000
Executive Members' Stipends
$170,220
Members' Health & Dental Plan
$167,500
Salaries and Wages
$165,000 (source: UTSU)
tive on the Board of Directors, and any number of the utsu’s five commissions (Academic & Student Rights, Campus Life, Community Action, Social Justice, Equity, and Sustainability). Anyone can voice their concerns at commission meetings, which help the utsu to gauge student interest in any given topic. In spite of this, the utsu has been accused of ineffectively advertising the dates and times of commission meetings. The Board of Directors meets around once per month. It is the responsibility of individual representatives to encourage submissions from the student body they represent. MONEY The UTSU’s budgeting process has eight stages, and is audited externally. In recent years, the UTSU has taken measures to increase transparency; the 2012-2013 revised budget is available online. However, privacy and contractual restrictions prevent the UTSU from disclosing the salaries of its full-time staff. The matter of paid staff and the executive stipend, which combined totalled $335,220 in 2012-2013, has been a point of contention. UTSU executives work up to 16 hours a day, and their stipend is often their sole source of income. Most students recognize the need to compensate the executives, but believe there should be more volunteer positions. Currently, UTSU executives are only
permitted to take 1.0 Full Course Equivalent (FCE) per semester, which has caused disputes over both their statuses as students and their eligibility to represent student interests. In 2010-2011, the UTSU spent $194,486 on clubs and subsidies, while in 2011-2012, this figure was $118,774. With these statistics in mind, the EngSoc, Victoria, and Trinity prepared reports in February 2013, in which they claimed to be able to replicate services, increase funding to clubs, and reduce overhead costs in the event that student fees currently paid to the UTSU were diverted to their respective societies. Part of the premise behind fee diversion is to give colleges and faculties more control over the services they fund, which could be more specific to their individual needs. Under the current arangement, all students pay $17.34 per semester, for a total annual levy of approximately $1,350,000, to the UTSU. Had all of the societies that held referenda voted in favour of severing financial ties and left the UTSU, that levy would be reduced by approximately $331,194. Trinity, Victoria, and the EngSoc reported that they would continue to pay the amount of the current levy to all currently funded clubs. Despite the promise of continued funding, some students worry that the support and resources UTSU provides would be lost if fee diversion were to be implemented.
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
5
Dissatisfied divisions cite Scarborough leaving UTSU as precedent for fee diversion Trinity, VUSAC and EngSoc send joint letter to attendees of summit Theodore Yan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
On the evening of the Student Societies Summit, the student divisions seeking to divert fees from the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu), have written a joint letter outlining their position. Benjamin Crase and Maha Naqi, co-heads of Trinity College; Jelena Savic, president of Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (vusac); and Mauricio Curbelo, president of the Engineering Society (EngSoc) have submitted a joint letter outlining their position on the matter of defederation from the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu). The letter, along with any other written submissions, will be shared with all attendees of Monday’s summit. The three groups cite the University of Toronto Scarborough (utsc) campus’ ceasing fee payment to the Students’ Administrative Council (sac, utsu’s predecessor) in 2004 as precedent for their request. utsc’s referendum garnered 62.2 per cent support for cessation of membership with 8 per cent voter turnout. The EngSoc referendum had 95 per cent support with 30 per cent voter turnout; the Trinity College Meeting (tcm) referendum, 72 per cent support with 33 per cent turnout; and the vusac referendum, 61 per cent support with 12 per cent turnout. Sarah Worku, president of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (scsu), does not feel this is a reasonable comparison. Worku believes that the
separation of the sac and the scsu was primarily because the St. George and Scarborough campuses are inconveniently geographically distant from each other. “The separation of the scsu from sac is different and unique because this was a mutual decision between both organizations,” she says “The separation of the scsu was utilized as a tool to outreach to our members more efficiently and to better administer our services.” The letter centres around two policies the three organizations propose for the summit: first, the university ought to give “recognized constituencies” (faculties, colleges, or the Mississauga campus) the right to end fee payment to the utsu through a referendum process involving only students who are members of the constituency in question. Second, the utsu, must retroactively recognize the 2013 referenda by the tcm, vusac, and the EngSoc to divert fees from the utsuto their own administrations. “The guiding principle behind these two proposals is that natural constituencies within the utsu should have a right to self-determination regarding their governance, and fees that are collected on their behalf,” reads the letter, “It is undemocratic for the utsu to maintain a constitution and bylaws that prohibit such a right to self-determination when large numbers of students have clearly indicated dissatisfaction with the utsu’s current model.” Three reasons supporting these policy changes follow the proposals. The parties who wish to divert fees argue that
constituencies within the utsu must have a mechanism by which they can choose whether to pay fees to the union. Absent such a mechanism, they argue, the utsu could be free to ignore the interests of certain minority groups or constituencies. Furthermore, they contend that instituting this mechanism would increase solidarity in student government, as smaller organizations would be more likely to cooperate with the utsu if their democratic rights are recognized — either because they decide to cease fee payment to the union because they object to its performance, or because they take comfort in having the option to do so. The utsu’s position going into the summit remains the same. utsu president Munib Sajjad indicated his optimism about the summit, and his deisre to: “strengthen our relationships and build to serve our collective membership better.” Sajjad remains concerned about who is invited to the summit: “We are disappointed that many of the Union’s stakeholders are not able to participate. These include the utsu-recognized clubs and service groups. We feel that the accounts from the groups will provide a perspective that has been sidelined in these discussions.” Sajjad will not represent the utsu at the summit. Agnes So, vice-president, university affairs and Yollen BolloKamara, vice-president, equity - will attend on behalf of the union. With files from Jelena Djuric, Teodora Avramov & Trevor Koroll
Onik Khan sole candidate in UTSU’s vice-president external by-election Position has been vacant since mid-July Zane Schwartz NEWS EDITOR
Onik Khan is seeking to transfer from the vice-president, campus life portfolio to the vice-president external in the UTSU’s fall by-elections being held October 15 – 17. The list of candidates was announced late Sunday, October 6. Khan, who is running unopposed, was reached by phone shortly after the announcement. “I enjoyed the experiences I had with campus life — I think the work that I was able to do as campus life, working and making a community at U of T, will serve me well as vp external.” Khan has taken on a number of major projects in his six months with the union. In the summer he organized a day of action protesting sweatshop labour practices: during Orientation Week he spearheaded the Lupe Fiasco concert. In this new role, Khan intends to continue his work against sweatshops, but also on a food audit of existing options for U of T students, and against unpaid internships — two projects former vp external Andrew Ursel focused on. Ursel was appointed following the resignation of Sana Ali during last year’s general utsu election. Ali resigned with a highly publicized Facebook letter where she blasted the current executive for their alleged lack of autonomy. Ursel resigned midJuly for personal reasons, and the post has remained vacant ever since. “The idea of moving forward is that each executive would do a little bit of the portfolio” explains Khan. There are a number of traditional utsu initiatives Khan hopes to continue, such as pedestrianizing St. George street and working to eliminate flat fees. He also hopes to work with U of T to eliminate interest charges on unpaid tuition. While there are no other candidates, students will have the option to vote “no” in the upcoming election. If Khan is successful, he intends to resign from his campus life position, at which point the utsu will hire a new vp, campus life. The vp, campus life is appointed by the Board of Directors following an interview process which vice-president, internal Cameron Wathey, president Munib Sajjad, and executive director Sandy Hudson would conduct.
photo courtesy of onik khan
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VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
news@thevarsity.ca
Proposed changes to Theology program cause controversy New program would replace ThD with more research-intensive PhD James Flynn
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
A University of Toronto professor is raising objections to proposed changes to the Doctor of Theology (thd) program. The changes would see the current ThD program replaced by a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Theological Studies, effective in 2015. Current ThD students will not be affected by the change, but some worry that the university’s shift in focus and resources on the new program will negatively affect current students. In a presentation to the Academic Board of the Governing Council on October 3, Donald Wiebe, a professor in the Theological department at Trinity College, asked the board to postpone approval of the changes. The proposed changes arose out of a review commissioned in October 2012 under the U of T Quality Assurance Process. The review addressed programs jointly offered by the Toronto School of Theology (TST) — a federation of seven Christian theological schools — and U of T. One of the recommendations was “addressing the ‘below standard’ quality of the Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Theology.” According to David Neelands, dean
of Divinity at Trinity College, the new PhD will be more research-focused than the current ThD. “PhD is a better title for a research doctorate in Theological Studies than the older [ThD], which suggested a more professionally based degree. The [ThD] degree has already become a highlevel research doctorate,” he said. Wiebe disagrees: “[The ThD] is not a professional degree. That is deliberately misleading,” he said. Wiebe also raised issues with the university’s handling of the proposed changes, saying the “proposal breaches the university’s own ‘New Degree Program Approval Protocol’.” According to that protocol, a new program must have “substantially different program requirements and substantially different learning outcomes from those of any existing approved programs offered by the institution.” Wiebe contends that the new PhD program will be virtually identical to the ThD program in terms of program structure and learning outcomes. Under the current plan, current students will not be able to choose which degree title to graduate with. A current ThD student, who requested anonymity, asserted that the ThD program was not adver-
Professor Donald Wiebe presents to the Academic Board of the Governing Council. Jennifer Su/THe VArSiTy
tised as a professional degree when students enrolled. The student also said that the university administration has failed to consult with current ThD students. “We have no advocates for us, apart from a few faculty, and we do feel that we have the right to have these issues addressed and not swept under the rug. The emphasis is being placed
CONTINUED FROM COVER and dandy — unless of course you aren’t Catholic.” The same student stated that she felt uncomfortable with what she perceived as a conservative environment maintained by the college administration. “There is a type of conservative personal decorum that students are somewhat implicitly encouraged to maintain,” she said. “It’s not uncommon to receive comments about so-called provocative behaviour or inquiries about your whereabouts at social events.” Some HAVe no oTHer reSidence opTion A number of students reported that, like Sexton, they were offered residence at Loretto without having requested it, and were not given an alternate offer. Elizabeth de Roode, a second-year engineering student, chose to decline Loretto’s offer because she felt uncomfortable with the residence agreement. She found off-campus housing on her own, although finding a place in Toronto was “incredibly stressful” as she only had between June and September to find one. “I wanted to live in residence, I just didn’t want to live in a residence so different from my idea of what university should be,” she said. Julia Kemp, a 2012–2013 exchange student, was keen to live in residence but had trouble securing a spot until August. “[Housing Services] told me they could offer me one room in an all girls residence called Loretto. I was so desperate for campus I accepted without much research into it at all,” she said. She added that Loretto’s website does not provide
Move in day at Loretto College. cArolyn leVeTT/THe VArSiTy
a comprehensive description of its policies. The online descriptions of Loretto — both on its webpage and on the U of T housing site — state that it is an all-female residence, but do not mention the religious philosophy of the college. U of T guarantees a residence offer to every full-time, first-year undergraduate student. The Varsity asked Michael Kurts, U of T’s assistant vice-president, strategic communications and marketing, whether or not a girl can be placed in Loretto without having requested a spot there. Kurts stated that the university’s housing policy does not guarantee students a place in their first choice of residence. “When we cannot meet a student’s priority choices, Housing Services contacts all col-
leges who have space available to make an offer. Many students in the residences were offered a place in a residence they might not have applied to.” He insisted that these issues are “a case of supply and demand,” and that Loretto is “no different than any other residence,” in this respect. Kurts added that Loretto welcomes students of every religion, despite what he described as its “religious roots.” Kurts did not answer a number of questions about Loretto, including what ratio of girls who are placed in Loretto actually applied there. He indicated that he would respond next week. Angela Convertini, dean of women at Loretto College, was surprised to hear that students were given the choice between a place
on the new PhD program, and current ThD students are being sacrificed for it.” At a meeting of the Academic Board of the Governing Council on October 3, in which the board voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposal, provost Cheryl Regehr spoke about the proposed changes to the program.
“I believe the changes are so significant we will have to take it through as a new program,” Regehr stated. “It is not uncommon at the University of Toronto that we end one program and begin a new program.” The proposal will now go to the executive committee of the Governing Council for confirmation.
at Loretto and no spot in residence at all. She claimed that all students are offered a choice between St. Mike’s and Loretto, and that everyone who lives in Loretto does so by choice. All of the girls spoken to for this story who did not apply to Loretto claimed Loretto was presented to them as the only option. Convertini stated that students apply to live at Loretto, and if there are still spots left after the application process, they inform U of T housing — who then fill the spaces. “We would never think that someone was forced into living at Loretto… We send them the actual residence agreement, they have a choice — they can go to a co-ed, they can go to us, we really believe that the people who come here enjoy themselves,” said Convertini. Covertini, along with some other members of the Loretto College staff, is a member of the Loretto Sisters — an order of Roman Catholic nuns. According to the Loretto Sisters’ website, the college is owned and operated by the sisters and “affiliated” with U of T through St. Michael’s College. Students told The Varsity that some sisters live in a separate area of the residence. Kurts also did not comment on the degree to which U of T’s policies apply at Loretto, given that it is a private residence. When asked to comment on whether or not a girl who is uncomfortable with Loretto’s religious policies would be offered an alternate residence, he emphasized that the residence welcomes students of all faiths.
at Loretto College, felt that the tight-knit sorority atmosphere was an important part of her university experience. For Al Obaidi, the other residences are too large to be able to connect with other students. With a community of around 130 students, Loretto allows residents to get to know each other on a much more personal level, according to Al Obaidi. She further stated that international students feel particularly welcome in Loretto. “I came all the way from Qatar, and it was my first year in Canada. It was really nice to come all the way here and feel at home.” Al Obaidi also stated that: “Loretto welcomes all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds and religions.” For example, she recalls a time when a sister told her to attend the college’s weekly masses, despite being of a different religion, because “all are welcome.” Al Obaidi also believes that Loretto College’s male policy is not unduely restrictive. She points out that men are able to visit the main floor and the lower lounge at any time, and that the restrictions on male visitors are “more of a courtesy to others” than anything else. Convertini stressed that the residence tries to be inclusive of residents from diverse backgrounds. “We like to think that U of T provides a whole continuum of residence experiences for its students and we’re just one of the choices students have,” she explained. “While we’re a traditional Catholic dorm, we’ve had Jewish girls, Protestant girls, Muslim girls — girls from every faith, and it’s a very welcoming environment,” she said.
mAny STudenTS enJoy TigHTkniT communiTy Shams Al Obaidi, a third-year don
With files from Madeline Taylor
VARSITY NEWS
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
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Ontario considering raising minimum wage The Varsity interviews Anil Verma, chair of the Minimum Wage Advisory Panel James Flynn
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VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
On May 2, Ontario announced the appointment of a Minimum Wage Advisory Panel to advise on adjustments to Ontario’s minimum wage policy. Ontario is one of three provinces that does not have a formal mechanism for determining minimum wage increases. The panel will examine the current system for increases and recommend a process by which the minimum wage should be determined in the future. The Varsity discussed the panel’s work with Anil Verma, professor of Human Resource Management at the Rotman School of Management and director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources. The Varsity: Different jurisdictions consider different factors in determining the minimum wage. Inflation is one such factor. What are the main factors that the panel is considering? Anil Verma: In most other jurisdictions in Canada, inflation is used as a common basis for revising minimum wages. Our panel’s work will go a little bit beyond. Inflation has been, and will continue to be, a basis. In addition to that, the rate at which the economy is growing may be a consideration, or where other rates are. We are inviting people to make submissions online, and we are getting hundreds of submissions every week. Of course, we are also doing some in-house research where we are looking at the experience of other jurisdictions within Canada and overseas. We are looking at developing a system for Ontario that is transparent, predictable, and fair to workers and employers. TV: Fifty-two per cent of minimum wage earners are between the ages of 15 and 24. How can Ontario approach the issue of student (particularly, university student) employment? AV: This is a fairly robust finding in research: the most adversely affected are the young people. What happens here is that minimum wage
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Minimum wage in Ontario from 1999 - Now
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1995 - 2004
jobs provide a way for young people to enter the job market. Often, your first job is a minimum wage job. We also know that young people are the most likely to move out of minimum wage. They start there, but they don’t stay there. We have to make sure that minimum wages are not so high that they prevent young people from getting their first job, even as we increase the minimum wage for other groups. There are a lot of people who work in offices and factories, and they are older. Many of these people depend on these jobs for their livelihood and these people would be better served if we had a higher minimum wage. The job of our panel is to balance the two interests of the two groups. We have to let the group do its work, and I don’t want to preempt or second-guess where it might come out. TV: Many students in university research positions do not receive any compensation for their work. Will the panel address this issue? AV: This is a tough one, and one that is not central to our mandate. I think we need a more comprehensive look at this. Certainly, the system is being abused by many employers who, instead of paying their employees, are making them work gratis. The principle, in general, is that if you are contributing, you should be paid. This is partly tied up with the issue of education and the transition from school to work. This is a bigger question, and will touch on the work of the panel, but cannot be addressed on the whole by the work of the panel.
2004
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TV: It has been three years since a minimum wage increase in Ontario. Does the panel intend to address Ontario’s current ad hoc approach to increases? AV: One of the reasons why our panel was appointed is to draw attention to the issue of ad hocism. In one sense, the panel has the opportunity to set the bar for future revisions by recommending a basis for revising, the frequency at which it should be revised, and who should do it. What we hope to recommend for the government is an entire package that creates the basis for improvements in minimum wage in the future. Of course, there are a couple of major steps between our recommendations and what would actually be government policy. The minister has to accept our recommendations, and then the government has to create legislation and put it through the legislature. TV: Some anti-poverty groups in Ontario are calling for $14 an hour minimum wage in Ontario. What would you say to these groups? AV: As I said before, their interests are also important. But their interests should not dominate the minimum wage decisions of the government. Roughly 20 per cent of the people who work in minimum wage are supporting a household on the minimum wage. 80 per cent of the people are youth or secondary earners
2007
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BY THE NUMBERS Consumer Price Index (Toronto)
2009
Source: Stats Canada and TTC
Partly skimmed milk:
2010 - $2.18/L 2013 - $2.28/L
2013 - 123.4 2012 - 121.8
Bread (675g):
2011 - 120.1
2010 - $2.46 2013 - $2.88
2010 - 116.5 2009 - 113.7 2008 - 113.3 2002 - 100.0 within the household. So, this is not to say that the 20 per cent do not deserve consideration — they do. A very robust finding in research is that the effect of increasing minimum wage on poverty is very small. Minimum wage is just one tool to address poverty. There are other tools, like tax rates and income supplements, that address poverty more effectively than minimum wage alone.
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TTC Post-Secondary Student Metropass: TTC Metropass
2010 - $99 2013 - $106
TV: One problem with minimum wage research is that one can usually find a study that justifies almost any action. How do you propose that the panel combat this issue?
areas, there is some convergence on what we find about minimum wage. For example, in unemployment effects, it is true that there is some variance, but most studies show that when we increase the minimum wage, there is a slight disemployment effect, but it is only in the range of 1-2 per cent for the population as a whole. They do have a bigger impact on the employability of youth. There is also this general agreement that, when we increase minimum wages, they affect wages that are 10-20 per cent higher than minimum wage. This effect dissipates as we go up the wage scale.
AV: It is not true that you can show anything. In a number of
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Two Canadian professors released from Egyptian prison Ilona Kabanova
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Canadians John Greyson and Tarek Loubani were released from an Egyptian prison this past Saturday after more than seven weeks of detention. The two were arrested on August 16 following violent street protests in Egypt. The release came as a surprise to the public, as on September 29, only a week prior, the Egyptian authorities extended the Canadians’ sentence by an additional 45 days. The release was announced late Saturday evening by the Canadian authorities. In a statement released on October 5, minister
of state for foreign affairs Lynne Yelich said: “Canada welcomes the decision to release Tarek Loubani and John Greyson.” She also noted: “We are facilitating Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson’s departure from Egypt, and Canadian officials will continue to offer consular services to them and their families as needed.” Yelich indicated “appreciation to the Egyptian authorities for providing consistent consular access.” There are still few details available at this time about how and when Greyson and Loubani will return home. Friends and relatives of the two men were not available for a comment at the time of publication, but Greyson’s sister, Cecilia Greyson, expressed her joy over the news of
the two men’s release in a tweet: “Christmas comes early this year! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to #freetarekandjohn.” Friends and relatives spearheaded an impressive campaign seeking the release of the two men — using social media, rallies, and petitions to bring public and government attention to the case. Peter Greyson, John Greyson’s brother, thanked the public in a Facebook post: “A huge thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen,” he said. Greyson and Loubani are both affiliated with Ontario universities. Greyson is a filmmaker and a professor at York University, and Loubani is a professor at Western University. The Egyptian authorities detained
the two while they were on their way to a hospital in Gaza. Since then, they have been held in “overcrowded, vermin infested, and unsanitary prison cells for 46 days without charge.” Greyson and Loubani went on a hunger strike for about 16 days while imprisoned. Human Rights advocates expressed their fear that the Egyptian authorities might lay serious but unfounded charges against the two, including “terrorizing citizens” and weapon possession. Recently, The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (ocufA) urged the government to take “immediate, strong, and decisive action” to free John Greyson and Tarek Loubani from arbitrary detention in Egypt. ocufa president,
Kate Lawson said: “The time for routine diplomacy is over.” ocufa wanted the government to “immediately begin examining economic and political actions that will force the Egyptian government to release these valued colleagues, inspirational humanitarians, and Canadian citizens.” ocufa was founded in 1964, and it represents 17,000 faculty and academic librarians in 27 faculty associations across Ontario. In a press release issued on Saturday night, the Canadian government did not specify how it secured the release of the two men. At press time CBC news was reporting developments regarding Greyson and Loubani.
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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
VARSITY NEWS
news@thevarsity.ca
Toronto350 lobbies U of T to divest shares in fossil fuels Environmentalist group seeks to stop university from investing in fossil fuel corporations Kaleem Hawa, Anthony Marchese, & Tanya Rogova VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Toronto350.org, an environmental activist organization, continues to pressure the University of Toronto and its administration to divest its shares in fossil fuel corporations. The local chapter, which was founded in June 2012, hopes to go before an ad hoc committee at the request of U of T president David Naylor. Milan Ilnyckyj, an organizer with Toronto350.org, outlined the group’s four main pillars of divestment: an official statement of intention to divest, the cessation of new investments in fossil fuel corporations, the gradual divestment from any existing ventures in fossil fuel, and a complete divestment from Royal Dutch Shell within a year. “Universities are these entities … that expect to exist forever and are making investment decisions on this very long term basis,” Ilnyckyj said. “Investing according to a different philosophy would send a message to others that fossil fuels are a problematic place to invest your funds.” With $9.84 million invested, Royal Dutch Shell is the university’s largest holding both domestically and internationally. When asked about the potential financial risks to U of T of divestment from the company, Ilnyckyj responded with a cautionary warning: “as climate change becomes a more prominent issue, governments will be more willing to regulate fossil fuel corporations, ultimately leading to a real possibility of [hindered] university endowments.” Ilnyckyj also cites a potential “uptick in donations from alumni, as people begin appreciating the progressive stance [U of T] has taken.” This contrasts sharply with the reality of the movement’s global accomplishments. So far, only six American colleges and universities have pledged to pursue fossil fuel divestment. Following a failed attempt at McGill, no Canadian divestment movement has been succesful. Dr. Anthony Gray, director of strategic initiatives and research for the president, issued a statement regarding Toronto350’s goals and the plan of divestment. In it, the Office of the President stated that it has “been involved in providing procedural guidance to Toronto350.” The statement continues, saying that “if and when [the president] does receive a formal petition, then, following the terms of the Policy and Guidelines, the president may establish an ad hoc committee to consider it. The committee may seek additional information and advice from the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) and others before arriving at any list of recommendations in response to the petition.” UTAM did not respond to The Varsity’s request for a statement. Meanwhile, investment apprentices within the U of T
community have come out against Toronto350’s platform. Justin Lee, president of U of T’s Rational Capital Investment Fund, deconstructed the purpose of U of T’s asset management policy: “If we have an investment fund and its primary goal is to provide financial support for students to attend university and learn, then it’s clear that there should be no restrictions. This is clearly an attempt to politicize what should be non-political issue.” Representing the only student-run investment portfolio at U of T, Lee spoke more broadly about the moral relativism of the investment strategy. “Where do you draw the red line? Whose morals trump everybody else’s? This strikes me as an attempt to subvert the process and subordinate the original goal of the fund.” Regardless, Toronto350.org will continue its two-pronged approach towards divestment. The plan includes both a petition, which anyone can sign, as well as an endorsement attestation, which is a university-mandated procedure that requires adequate support from faculty, students, and alumni in order for Governing Council to consider a petition. The petition is currently at 700 signatures, while the attestation is at upwards of 100 endorsements. It remains unclear whether Toronto350 will gain the momentum needed to put it on the map as the first Canadian divestment platform to achieve traction with university administrators.
Milan Ilnyckyj in front of the Munk School. carolyn levett/the varsity
Toronto 350 organizers. photo courtesy of milan ilnyckyj
News in brief Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s National Academy breaks ground at UTSC
U of T is back in the world’s top 20
Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s (WBC) new National Academy at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) officially broke ground in a ceremony on Tuesday, October 1, watched by an audience of dignitaries. “We are entering into a new, exciting era of wheelchair basketball,” said Wendy Gittens, executive director of WBC, “and Canada’s objective is to be number one in the world.” Canadian senior national wheelchair basketball teams have performed outstandingly in past years, bringing home one bronze, one silver, and six gold medals in the last six combined Paralympic Games. The National Academy’s aim is to train and support the next generation of athletes to build on this rise for future international championships. The National Academy is making use of UTSC’s facilities until July 2014, when construction is set to be completed on the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC) and Field House.
The University of Toronto has made its way back into the top 20 universities worldwide, while other Canadian universities have fallen down the list — as ranked by Times Higher Education. While the University of British Columbia and McGill University dropped one spot in the rankings, McMaster University and the University of Victoria fell significantly, which “doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve gotten worse, it just means that others have improved more rapidly,” said Phil Baty, editor-at-large of Times Higher Education. After last year’s list was published, U of T and McGill’s presidents suggested that Canada’s top schools need to be funded at a certain level to keep them competitive, so as not to threaten their positions on the list. However, Baty has stated that the top Canadian schools have “defied the gloom last year that suggested there was a downward trend.” Times Higher Education has been using the same methodology for the past three years and, while there are still changing positions that seem confusing, there finally seem to be signs of stability.
— Theodore Yan With files from The Scarborough Mirror
—Rochelle Coelho With files from The Globe and Mail
Poor graduation rates plague Aboriginal students Nearly 50 per cent of First Nations students across Canada fail to attain high school diplomas, with British Columbia having a slight edge over its provincial peers in Aboriginal education. A study conducted by John Richards, professor of economics at Simon Fraser University, indicates that Canadian provinces with high completion rates still lagged behind their nonAboriginal counterparts significantly. However when contrasted with the national non-completion rate of 48 per cent, BC performed relatively well, with a noncompletion rate of 38.5 per cent among First Nations students. Richards points out that better communication within reserve schools and their partners is a key factor in the province’s performance. “Finally, BC reserve schools have achieved more coordination among themselves and with the provincial system than is the case in any other province.” Canada must look towards the ever-improving BC model as a blueprint for nationwide reforms. — Amitpal Singh With files from The Vancouver Sun
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VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
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Professors defend costs of textbooks Writers and publishers respond to student complaints of high textbook prices Teodora Avramov & Emma Compeau VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The cost of textbooks has been a matter of contention for students and faculty for years, especially amidst rising tuition costs in recent years. The Varsity spoke with a number of students and administration members to discuss their takes on textbook prices and less expensive alternatives. In an interview with The Varsity, biochemistry professor Laurence Moran stated that claims that course material is too expensive are unfounded. “Students seem to think that these publishers are making enormous profits, and that the prices of books are arbitrarily priced. Publishers are in financial difficulty. They’re actually struggling,” he said. Moran helped write Principles of Biochemistry, the book that has been used in his course for the past 20 years; in 20 years, seven revised editions have been released. Moran emphasized the importance of being cognizant of all of the people behind the process of textbook publication, as well as manufacturing and distribution costs. “You go to the bookstore. All of the students that are in there working have to get paid. All of the deliverymen who brought those books to the store have to be paid. The rent has to be paid. All of that factors in, and publishers never see any of that. It is a complicated story,” he said. John Challice, vice-president of Oxford Publishing, agreed: “I reject the notion that they’re expensive. Let’s use a $120 textbook as an example. Over the course of 30 weeks, that textbook works out to only $4 a week, which approximately amounts to the cost of one Starbucks latte.
wendy gu/THe VArsiTy
Textbooks are an important investment: they help you get a better grade, do better on your exams, and ultimately do better in life,” he said. Professor Moran recently attended an Ontario Ministry of Education conference centred around how to instill a love of learning in today’s students. “It really resonated with me, and led me to thinking: why would you ever give up your textbook? I still have all of my textbooks from university, and I still look at them from time to time. I loved them when I was taking the course then, and I still love them now.” However, for some students, the privilege of having a textbook in front of you takes a back seat to the cost. “My stats book costs
$200 alone,” said Annapurna Kocherlakota, a third-year public health student. Some students expressed their desire for greater availability of online textbooks. “I haven’t had access to any of my books in that format, but my friends at other schools have, and they say it’s really convenient and much cheaper,” said Kocherlakota. The choice between using printed textbooks and having those same books available online is not only a matter of preference, but one of availability. “I do like online textbooks because they save a lot of money, and that way I don’t have to carry a big textbook around. Unfortunately, not that many courses give this option,” said Miruna Chitoi, a third-year european studies student.
Professor Moran, however, is skeptical about the reception that electronic textbooks would receive from students. “There doesn’t seem to be that intermediate market that would really like to have an electronic version,” he said. Challice emphasized that: “it’s hard to replicate the experience of having a textbook with online content. You can’t replicate having a textbook in front of you with a Kindle.” Professor Avi Cohen teaches economics at U of T and York University, and has helped co-write the textbook for his course, as well as publish eight editions of study guides for economics. His textbook is bundled with the online resource MyEconLab, where students complete online quizzes for 15 per cent of their final grade. While Cohen admits that a student could successfully take the course relying solely on this e-resource, he states that the cost of losing the educational support that a textbook gives is much higher than the cost of the book itself. Some professors choose to have electronic or hardcover copies of their textbooks available at select libraries on campus, a lesser-known textbook alternative for students. Perry Hall, supervisor of Information Services at Robarts Library, says that use of hard copy reserves has slowed in recent years. The library has recently started making select academic articles available to students on Blackboard, a much more popular option. As of yet, there is no standard for course reserves, and it is entirely up to the professor to decide whether or not to offer that service to his or her students. The ratio of students to course reserve textbooks can be disproportionately large, with some classes of 1,000 students having only one or two textbooks available on reserve, if at all.
Panel of visiting experts engages students in discussion on drone warfare APSS and Victoria College host the Keith Davey Forum on Public Affairs Taylor Stinson
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The Association of Political Science Students (APSS) held the annual Keith Davey Forum on Public Affairs on Wednesday, October 2, with this year’s panel focused on drone warfare. The event was held in conjunction with U of T’s Department of Political Science and Victoria College, and took place at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Janice Stein, professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science at U of T, moderated an open discussion on the topic of ethical warfare. The two key speakers, Neta C. Crawford and Avery Plaw, are political science professors at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, respectively. Both have published books on international relations, focusing on terrorism and moral responsibility within warfare. The event featured a semistructured debate in which Crawford and Plaw were asked for their opinions and expertise surrounding the United States’ employment of drones, which are unmanned aerial vehicles used to target potential terrorist threats in foreign countries. After two hours of discussion, followed by a question and answer session, students had the opportunity to further engage with each other and the speakers during a reception in the lob-
Panelists discuss ethical implications of drone warfare. denis osipoV/THe VArsiTy
by of the theatre. “Even though I’m not a political science student, I still have a deep interest in politics,” said Nicole D’Alessandro, a life sciences student. “As much as students think they watch the news or are informed, it’s important to get the opinions of professionals in the field.”
Many students who attended the forum were not enrolled as political science students. “As much as we don’t like to relate ourselves to the United States, whatever happens there affects [Canada]. Canadians feel the repercussions of their actions in
some way or another. It’s not just the economy — it’s also our national security. That’s why having these discussions is important,” said Malik Chabou, a fourth-year economics student. The event was free and open to all U of T students.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
VAR.ST/COMMENT 7 OCTOBER 2013 comment@thevarsity.ca
3D printers and the future of medicine var.st/comment
Honestly, the sale of Mirvish Village is a huge loss The sale of Honest Ed's and surrounding property could spell the end for some unique Toronto businesses
Many local residents and businesses are concerned that the loss of Honest Ed's could change the neighbourhood irreparably. Nicole DioNNe/THe VArsiTy
Andrea Themistokleous VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
“There’s no Place like this Place, Anyplace!� reads one of the many quirky signs for Toronto's famous discount store, Honest Ed's. Opened in 1948 by the late Ed Mirvish, Honest Ed's has been a Toronto landmark for over 65 years. The ostentatious exterior cannot go unnoticed at the intersection of Bloor and Bathurst streets. Inside, the massive emporium carries groceries, housewares, clothing, and many other necessities. In the 1960s, Ed Mirvish bought the Victorian homes surrounding Honest Ed's and leased them to artists and business owners. For over 40 years the eclectic hub has been home to a variety of shops, galleries, and restaurants, each with their own unique character. Today, this neighbourhood is known as
Mirvish Village and is, unfortunately, one of Toronto's planned business improvement areas. Like many Torontonians, I was shocked to hear that it was for sale. David Mirvish, Ed Mirvish's son and the current owner of the property, revealed in an interview with the Toronto Star that Honest Ed's is just part of the 1.8 hectares of land up for sale. This means that in addition to the iconic discount store, other unique, interesting businesses in the Mirvish Village are also for sale. Many of the people living and working around the area are upset about the proposed changes. Mike Anderson, an employee at Hollywood Canteen for over 15 years, claims that the store recently moved to Mirvish Village for the location and atmosphere. He was saddened at the possibility of having to move out, as it would mean losing the foot traffic that comes from being downtown.
Next to the Hollywood Canteen is a jewellery and clothing store called Chokka Jewellery. The artisan studio features clothing made with natural fibers in addition to items produced by both local and international artists. Having only just opened earlier this year, owner Katarina Loizou finds the sale upsetting. "I looked for five years to find the perfect spot; it's such a pity a beautiful cultural landmark is for sale," she explained. However, not everyone in the area believes that the sale of Honest Ed's means shoppers should worry about changes to Mirvish Village anytime soon. The owner of a shop called The Rock Store was optimistic, noting that the plan to sell property in Mirvish Village along with Honest Ed's is not a new development and that if any change does happen, it will not be for another three years at least. Next, I stop in the Coal Miner's Daughter, a boutique store which
carries contemporary as well as vintage fashion. I am greeted by co-owner Krysten Caddy, a jewellery designer, who opened the store four and a half years ago with clothing designer Janine Cockburn-Haller. She points out that although tenants have come and gone, the area has become an established place for local artists, and views the sale of Honest Ed's as: "a sad reality that everything is being developed. A lot of charm and history is being bulldozed." Finally, I head into The Beguiling Books & Art, a comic book store which has been open since the early 1990s. The current owner, Peter Birkemoe, summarizes Mirvish Village as an "artsfocused shopping district," and says he would hate to see it go. Considering the property value in the area, Birkemoe explained that the store has benefitted from the generous rent rate offered by
the Mirvish family. Immediately after he heard about the sale of Honest Ed's and parts of Mirvish Village, he was struck with a feeling of uncertainty. Birkemoe questions the intent of whoever decides to buy the property, and is concerned it might affect his business and the atmosphere of the neighbourhood. As I leave the store, a man enters and announces with surprise that there's "so much to look at." Leaving Mirvish Village, I cannot help but imagine how the street would look without some of these businesses. At the intersection I watch as a busker plays the guitar, something that is becoming harder to find in the developing parts of the city; I wonder if in a couple of years, this place will still welcome him. Andrea Themistokleous is a thirdyear student double-majoring in criminology and political science.
var.st/comment
VARSITY COMMENT
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
11
THE QUESTION
Should academics be expected to censor their personal biases? Gilmour’s comments not a signal to ban professors' opinions from classroom Samantha Relich
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The recent backlash that resulted from an interview that lecturer David Gilmour gave two weeks ago has raised some important questions about whether educators should share their opinions or keep their personal feelings to themselves. While the Gilmour scandal is a reminder that words should be chosen carefully, it should not be considered a sign that intellectuals' personal opinions should be left out of the classroom. To some extent, all course syllabi are representative of the tastes or opinions of the professors who created them. Gaining insight into the logic behind text choices and teaching perspectives is valuable; professors' opinions can contextualize course material and often make a course more interesting. That being said, setting a syllabus is a privilege, and it comes with responsibility. Perhaps Gilmour's comments provoked an inflamed response not because of what he said, but how he chose to phrase it. He stated that he only teaches works of authors he truly loves, since those are the works he teach-
es best. Instead of leaving it at that, a relatively unprovocative statement, he chose to further characterize his choice on the basis of gender, age, race, and sexual orientation — referring to authors that do not resonate with him in terms that could easily be perceived as discriminatory. The descriptive language that Gilmour chose was inflammatory, but his initial rationale makes sense — he teaches what he does because it is what he teaches best. Professors should not be forced to teach subjects they have no personal interest in. If Gilmour is not passionate about female authors, then it stands to reason that his class would not be the best setting in which to be educated on them. In many ways, Gilmour's syllabus is the product of him playing to his strengths and admitting his weaknesses. As a female student who took David Gilmour's first-year seminar, I enjoyed the course. Professor Gilmour actively gave his opinions and explained the choices of works through personal anecdotes and, in doing so, made the class intriguing, aggravating, and amusing. It did not matter whether you hated or loved his
comments, he welcomed opinions and arguments from all of his students, even if they clashed with his own. The courses that Gilmour teaches do not profess to be all-encompassing samples of literary greatness, and would probably be more appropriately titled: "The World According to Gilmour." For those who cannot reconcile the value of education with the personality of the professor, the good news is that Gilmour teaches two half-year elective courses — which makes opting-out of the Gilmour experience easy for most. For those who do choose his courses, they provide a unique, albeit sometimes exacerbating, educational experience. Exposure to conflicting opinions is part of education, and — as Margaret Atwood stated in response to the scandal — "Universities are places where many things are taught, and where free expression of opinion is encouraged." All professors, David Gilmour included, should be free to respectfully give their personal opinions, as long as we as students remain free to express ours. Samantha Relich is a third-year student studying criminology and political science.
Gilmour's comments have provoked outcry on campus. FILE PHOTO: DENIS OSIPOV/THE VArSITy
David Gilmour scandal reveals holes in the university's hiring policies Max Stern
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
As I scrolled through my Twitter timeline the other day, one thing became abundantly clear: people are really mad at David Gilmour. Quoted in a Hazlitt interview, Gilmour said: “I’m not interested in teaching books by women,” and later, that: “If you want women writers, go down the hall.” He also spoke of his dislike for Canadian and Chinese authors, which naturally narrows down his syllabus to: “...Guys. Serious heterosexual guys. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chekhov, Tolstoy. Real guy-guys. Henry Miller. Philip Roth.”
I currently study at Victoria College, where Gilmour is a lecturer, and have had many friends go through his classes. They speak highly of him, saying that he is quirky and brilliant — he did win the Governor General's Literary Award, after all. I am not angry with what Gilmour had to say, and I do not think he is racist or sexist. In his defense he just: “teach[es] the people that [he] truly, truly love[s].” I do, however, think that if there is an issue here, it is the matter of equity in the classroom. This incident has brought to light hiring practices which do not seem conducive to the university’s own human rights’ equity policy, which
supposedly “acknowledges that it conducts its teaching, research and other activities in the context of a richly diverse society.” Gilmour’s class does not acknowledge this, and the way he was hired — with a blank check for curriculum development — does not either. Ironically, U of T is hell-bent on requiring students to fulfill “breadth requirements,” categorized mandatory classes which lead students back into the perils of math in the hope of making them more wellrounded. You would think the university would aim for the same thing regarding the diversity of opinion within the classroom: a balanced perspective of a topic.
It seems Gilmour has also forgotten about the diplomacy required of public figures like himself. His apology interview in the National Post was frankly a disaster, as he said he “Normally... actually wouldn’t” and he doesn’t, “... want [his] teaching reputation besmirched.” Amusingly, he noted that he would not “...want people not buying [his] book because they think that’s the position [he] hold[s] in the world.” The negative light being shone on the U of T community as a whole, due to Gilmour's actions, is upsetting. Ours is a campus where a premium is placed on equity and fairness, two values
David Gilmour seemed to forget during his interview. However, the university should take something positive out of this situation and review its hiring practices in order to provide students with not only a good education, but a tolerant one — filled with different perspectives. Students will always be more engaged in a class taught by someone interesting, someone they can relate to. David Gilmour just did what he was hired to do, but then why was David Gilmour hired in the first place? Max Stern is a second-year student studying both peace, conflict, and justice studies and Canadian studies.
Censorship in academia: is there no room for different opinions? Sophie Zhou
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The recent controversy surrounding David Gilmour, an author and lecturer at Victoria College, has a number of people fuming over comments he made in an interview with Hazlitt magazine. In the world of academia, scholars are expected to spend years developing informed opinions, so it is strange that Gilmour is being reprimanded for explaining his choice of readings for his syllabus. What is even stranger is that he has not said anything overtly discriminatory. In the interview transcript, he is recorded saying: “...when I was given
this job, I said I would teach only the people that I truly, truly love. And, unfortunately, none of those happen to be Chinese, or women.” In response, some in the literary world — as well as students across campus — have characterized his remarks as being both racist and sexist. Consider this: perhaps none of the authors Gilmour enjoys teaching are Chinese because he was never taught about any of them. With a degree in French literature, it is not hard to imagine that Gilmour has probably never learned anything about Chinese writing. How many of us, regardless of our love for diversity and literature, have a favourite piece of
writing from every single racial and ethnic group in this world? Yet nobody would accuse someone of being a racist for not appreciating literature from any specific culture. As for the alleged sexism, Gilmour never implied that female writers were inferior or incapable of producing great writing. In fact, he stated that he loves and appreciates Virginia Woolf. Gilmour's preference for male authors is hardly suspicious; we all enjoy characters and authors we can relate to. At one of the more contentious points of the interview, Gilmour says: “What I teach is guys. Serious heterosexual guys...Real guy-guys." In response to accusations of ho-
mophobia, Gilmour has explained that he spoke in jest and that without context, print articles misrepresent his comments. After all, he teaches Truman Capote. In fact, even the “serious, heterosexual guys” Gilmour loves are not what most people would consider to represent the epitome of masculinity. For instance, he teaches Raymond Carver, whose stories focus on the realities of love and relationships. Exploring sensitive and emotional topics does not follow the overt, traditional masculinity Gilmour appears to be championing in the interview. The only real mistake that Gilmour made during the interview was not choosing his words more care-
fully. Yes, he said that he teaches only the “best,” which implies that only white, straight men can produce top-notch work. But literature is subjective. What Gilmour, you, or I believe to be the "best" could be considered a piece of overrated garbage to another. Gilmour and other academics are not obliged to suppress their personal opinions in public — short of outright bigotry — indeed, they should be encouraged to share their perspectives. After all, academia is supposed to be based on competing ideas. Sophie Zhou is a second-year student studying English, history, and literary studies.
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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
VARSITY COMMENT
comment@thevarsity.ca
A history of violence Suresh Sriskandarajah and Canada's involvement with the Sri Lankan government Simon Capobianco
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
On September 27, it was announced that prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, are seeking a 15year sentence for Suresh Sriskandarajah, who is currently being charged with providing aid to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (ltte) — a recognized terrorist organization both in the United States and in Canada. Mr. Sriskandarajah, a Sri Lankan Canadian citizen and former student at the University of Waterloo, was extradited to the United States in 2012 after being apprehended by the RCMP in 2006. The prosecutors recommended a stiff punishment because they believe: “A significant term of incarceration will reflect the seriousness of the offence” of providing aid to the ltte. Those familiar with the Sri Lankan civil war, a bloody, 26-year long event, will understand why aiding the ltte, a rebel group with an appalling human rights record, is illegal in the United States and Canada. Followers of the conflict may also be eager to know what “significant term of incarceration,” if any, will be recommended for the American and Canadian officials responsible for providing millions of dollars in funding to the Sri Lankan government over the past decade. As the prosecutors will know (at least, if they have read the Congressional Research Service’s briefing), the majority of atrocities perpetrated in the final stages of the war were committed by citizens of Colombo, Sri Lanka's largest urban centre, with help from millions in aid money from countries like the United States and Canada. The listing of the ltte as a terrorist organization here in Canada and in other Western countries is a complicated matter. The government of Sri Lanka — which is not listed as a terrorist group — has committed far more heinous crimes than anything the ltte have been accused of. During the civil war, the government exhibited a wanton disregard for human life — illustrated through summary executions, hostage-taking, and the deliberate shelling of civilians. Furthermore, the origins of the war — rarely discussed in Western commentary — lie in the decades-long process of the systematic ethnic cleansing of Sri Lanka’s Tamil population by the Sinhalese majority government. Although their methods were
unconscionable, the Tigers were politically in the right — fighting for the Tamil people’s right to national self-determination. By prosecuting people like Sriskandarajah for aiding the Tigers, while ourselves supporting Colombo, Canada and the United States have not only engaged in staggering hypocrisy but have also sided with a racist government against an oppressed minority. Our support for the Sri Lankan government became truly criminal after authorities killed roughly 40,000 civilians between 2008 and 2009 — herding them into smaller and smaller “no-fire zones,” which were then shelled. This horrific conclusion to the war, which also dashed any real hope of Tamil independence, would likely have been impossible had Colombo not been receiving generous international assistance while the Tigers had their funding disrupted by our police forces. This critical support from the West resulted in the wildly successful effort by Colombo to re-brand the civil war as another front in the "war on terror" — a prudent move, given the West's willingness to oppose global terrorism. Once this was achieved, support from the West flowed in, while police forces like the RCMP cracked down on the Tigers’ support networks. With its main opposition and target defunded and on the ropes, Colombo was clear to continue towards the path of extermination. In the hysteria surrounding our efforts to stamp out domestic terror threats, nobody noticed that we were funding greater atrocities. As Sriskandarajah’s trial moves forward, and as the rcmp track down any remaining ltte affiliates to either charge or extradite, we should remember that we have tacitly supported far greater crimes perpetrated on a mass scale by the Sri Lankan government than anything Mr. Sriskandarajah and others have been accused of allegedly contributing to. Yes, the Tamil Tigers are guilty of hideous crimes, and Canada should do all that it can to root out terrorist sympathizers at home who contribute to these groups. However, until Canada reexamines its history of foreign relations with Sri Lanka, the charges against Sriskandarajah will remain a shameful mockery of justice. Simon Capobianco is a third-year student in math and philosophy.
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Editorial
7 OCTOBER 2013 editorial@thevarsity.ca
PROVINCIAL PSE POLICY
Talk is cheap Last summer, the Ontario Liberal government released a widely criticized discussion paper addressing the future of post-secondary education (pse) in the province. Almost a year ago — in a rare show of campus unity — faculty, administration, and student leaders came together to critique the proposal at a town hall organized by the University of Toronto Students' Union (utsu). The Varsity was among those criticizing the lack of foresight and blatant financial motives of the discussion paper entitled “Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation, and Knowledge.” In the year that has passed since that town hall, the discussion paper has mercifully faded from the scene — while the faces involved in the discussion of provincial pse have changed. Premier Kathleen Wynne, a former minister of education, has replaced Dalton McGuinty. University of Toronto Scarborough (utsc) alumnus Brad Duguid has taken over for Glen Murray as Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities (tcu). Cheryl Misak, who spoke for the administration at the town hall, has been succeeded as U of T’s provost by former vice-provost, academic, Cheryl Regehr. U of T president David Naylor, who presented the university’s strongly worded response arguing for U of T’s special place in Ontario’s pse landscape, is set to give way to Meric Gertler, former dean of Arts & Science. New faces have not, however, brought with them a new plan. One of Duguid’s first acts as tcu minister was to meet with the St. George Round Table, a group composed of the heads of various college governments at U of T. In a candid moment, Duguid admitted that the Wynne government had not yet decided what form pse policy would take. There would be a policy, he promised — it would just take time. Duguid and the Wynne government have now had eight months to formulate their pse strategy, but students and university administrators across the province have yet to hear it. In the meantime, the Progressive Conservative (pc) opposition under Tim Hudak has released its own white paper, an ideological polemic that would remove tuition limits from elite research universities and tie financial aid to academic performance. While the pc’s plan may be even worse than the Liberal’s last attempt, the lack of a counter-proposal from the new Liberal government is worrying. The academic landscape has not waited for Duguid and his ministry to make up their minds. Access Copyright, ancillary fees, academic freedom and research funding, flat fees, online education — all are more prominent issues now than they were when Duguid took over from Murray in February of this year. Unfortunately, in the eight months since the government promised a plan, little has been accomplished. Duguid announced that tuition increases would be capped at three per cent, a compromise between universities’ demands for a five per cent limit and calls from student leaders to halt further increases. While that move came as a disappointment to many, it was more conciliatory than might have been expected. At least the minister showed that he understands the need to balance the high cost of an education with the need of universities to fund themselves. At the time, Duguid also promised to change tuition payment timelines to ensure that students who receive osap or other forms of financial aid would no longer be forced to pay interest on late tuition payments simply because their assistance did not arrive in time. The minister repeated on Thursday that he thinks the interest is unfair, after utsu director Ben Coleman’s recent research showed that U of T students continue to pay those penalties. This time, Duguid told us to expect policy change by December, which may sound familiar to those who remember last April. In an interview with The Varsity last month, the minister also promised to look into the issue of flat fees, a controversial policy under which U of T charges students for five full-course equivalent (fce) credits if they take any more than two fces in a given academic year. Duguid said he was convinced that flat fees should be reviewed after meeting with representatives of the utsu and Canadian Federation of Students. While welcome, Duguid’s announcement was decidedly short on specifics. It also failed to address the reality that students in certain professional programs actually benefit from a flatfee system, as student leaders from the Faculty of Engineering were quick to point out. Last February, student leaders revealed that U of T had charged ancillary fees that violated the province’s regulations. While U of T conceded on some points and discontinued a few fees, the bulk of the issue has not been settled. U of T and several students’ unions are still at odds over whether a long list of fees are legal. U of T has not offered to refund students, even for the fees that it admits should not have been charged. The number of ancillary fees has actually increased, most notably in the Faculty of Music. Meanwhile, the ministry in charge of regulating these fees has had almost nothing to say. On a number of other pse issues that require government action, Wynne's Liberals have stayed frustratingly quiet. U of T’s arrangement with Coursera, an educational technology company offering open online courses, has produced decidedly mixed results. Provincial research funding has been falling for years, while the federal government has started offering grants with strings attached. Issues created by previous Liberal governments, like the gutting of the work-study program and the limited eligibility for McGuinty’s 30 per cent tuition grant, have also gone unconsidered. Consultation, we are told, is the key to Wynne’s political style, and Duguid has implemented his boss’ mantra to good effect. As minister, he has met with student groups and representatives across the province and on multiple campuses. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing, and the urge to consult with everyone has turned into a shield for the Liberals to hide behind. The party’s new "Common Ground" website campaign seeks to crowdsource ideas from Ontarians in developing its policy platform, with the promise that suggestions from the public will be considered for an impending election. If the Liberals are hoping to gain support by saying the right things and doing nothing, we hope that students will prove their strategy wrong. Students may be convinced to vote for a party which does good things for pse, but not for a party that promises good things and fails to deliver. Duguid recently took to Twitter to declare his pride that U of T is number one in Canada on the qs world university rankings. If the minister and the Wynne government want this university, and Ontario’s other post-secondary institutions, to maintain their reputations, they need to address these issues. Talk is cheap, and we are tired of waiting. The Varsity's editorial board is elected by the masthead at the beginning of each semester. For more information about The Varsity's editorial policy, email comment@thevarsity.ca.
NaNcy Ji/THe VarsiTy
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR Vol CXXXIV, No. 05 | September 30, 2013 Re: Guide to opt-out fees (from Vol. CXXXIV, No. 3, September, 16, 2013) Dear Editor, As a member of a levy-funded group, your recent article about opt-outable fees struck me as more than a little flawed. In your list and breakdown of where student fees go, you ever so carefully neglected to mention one of the largest student funded clubs on campus: yourselves. You, of course, saw it fit to mention the 50 cent levy Bike Chain receives, as well as the 25 cent levy the Sexual Education Centre garners, but apparently your own whopping six-dollar levy was not on par with these. It was, however, very important to mention when you were petitioning to double your ample funding earlier this year. The selective mentioning of how student fees can be applied to The Varsity is a wonderful example of how journalism is a field we all need to analyze more closely. Interestingly enough, unlike most organizations funded even partially by students, you neglect to post either your constitution or your budget online; therefore, I will be unable to make an educated snide comment and will settle for simply mentioning the rumour that your head officers are paid — the same offence you so love to lambast utsu for. Clearly, we can't trust even student-run media enough to casually consume it without scrutiny. As journalists, a conflict of interest that large and glaring is appalling, and such
a blatant lack of disclosure is shameful. The Varsity continues to disappoint me as a reader. I, for one, will be opting out of The Varsity's levy and donating that six dollars to buying the head of the second most-read newspaper on campus, The Newspaper, a delicious and overpriced Starbucks coffee. — A. Student Editor's note: Varsity Publications' levy is $1.87 per semester or $3.74 per academic year. It is not an opt-out fee. In early 2013, Varsity Publications held a referendum to increase the per-semester levy by $0.50 (or $1 per academic year), a increase of roughly 37 per cent. This referendum was passed. Varsity Publications does not have a "constitution." The corporation's bylaws and financial statements are publicly available at thevarsity.ca. Re: "The Question"; The Charter of Quebec Values Certainly Jefferson was a strong advocate for the separation of church and state, but he never sought to ban religion from the public square. (Private religion, that is. Government religion was, for Jefferson, an oxymoron.) Doing so would itself raise serious issues of religious freedom. What you have is spurious (and the tone is not particularly Jeffersonian). He certainly agreed with the sentiment, but those aren't his words. — Ragosta (from web)
Letters to the editor should be directed to comment@thevarsity.ca. Please keep letters to 250 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
In good faith Exploring interfaith dialogue on campus and the importance of forgiveness
by Danielle Klein
A
lthough U of T is an academic institution, spirituality plays an important role in the lives of many of its students. Accordingly, attempting to accommodate the spiritual and religious needs of students is an important value at the university. U of T hosts a number of faith communities including Aboriginal spiritual groups, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, and more. With such a variety of backgrounds coming to the institution, meeting the needs of every spiritual background becomes a challenge. This concern is relatively novel; the university has a strong history of Christian presence on campus, exemplified by its historically Christian colleges. In the late 90s, a group of students, with the support of the Students’ Administrative Council — the precursor to the University of Toronto Students’ Union — approached Simcoe Hall, contending that Christian students were privileged on campus, while students of other faiths were not given similar access to freedom of religion. The university was hesitant to respond to these criticisms, due to the trend of increasing secularization in society and at the school. Following ten years of contemplation and discussion, the Multi-Faith Centre (mfc) was established as the solution to this issue. The building of the centre was contested by the Secular Alliance as compromising the secular nature of the university. Richard Chambers, director of the MFC, points out that the philosophy of the centre accounted for Canada’s emphasis on the tenet of multiculturalism: “Canadian society is a secular society, in the sense that religion is not given any privilege in society... In English-speaking Canada though, there is an understanding about the freedom of religious expression in civil society... The university realized [that] it should actually be educating students to be able to go out and navigate that religious diversity in society, and in fact, there’s a great readymade classroom in the experience of U of T.”
MULTI-FAITH SPACE The mfc was opened in 2006 on this basis, and has since served as a hub for interfaith dialogue and faith-based activities on campus, coupled with new multi-faith space in other campus buildings. Multi-faith space refers to flexible, bookable spaces designed to both accommodate various faiths and to encourage dialogue between students of different backgrounds. Sonya Krause, former co-chair of Faiths Act — a student group dedicated to preventing deaths from malaria through interfaith action — describes how her group used multifaith space: “Faiths Act used the mfc for meeting and event space and... the administration for help in planning events and dealing with the larger U of T administration. We also attended Muffin Madness at the mfc to recruit and to network with other faith-based clubs to collaborate on events.” Fareedah Abdulqadir of the Muslim Students’ Association (msa) concurs that her favourite weekly activity is the popular “Muffin Madness,” a casual weekly interfaith drop-in, but adds that her group also uses the space for prayer, meetings, and social events. While groups use multi-faith space for their own operations, interfaith dialogue, such as “Muffin Madness,” also takes place there. Along with social activities, interfaith activities are often related to social justice. “Interfaith dialogue at the University of Toronto doesn’t all look like one might imagine in terms of a formal dialogue, with three people sitting around a table talking about what prayer looks like,” Chambers describes. “A lot of our programming is around social justice and community service work, because we find that there is a cohort of students interested in ... theological questions, but more students are interested in making a difference for good in the world, and they’re motivated ... by their beliefs.” In multi-faith space, interfaith dialogue in the form of a social justice project is often paired with a discussion of faith-based motivations for participating. “Muslim students
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will reference the Qur’an; Jewish students may reference the Torah; Christian students may reference the Bible; secular students may talk about their own values ... but we find that interfaith dialogue at the university often revolves around really hands-on projects about making a difference in the world. At the end of the day, it’s about mutual respect and understanding,” says Chambers.
CAMPUS CHAPLAINS Campus chaplains are tasked with fostering interfaith dialogue on campus as well as serving the spiritual needs of students. They meet monthly to discuss spiritual issues and events on campus. Ecumenical chaplain Reverend Ralph Wushke comments, “As a chaplain, my role is in one sense religious and spiritual care and supporting spiritual lives of students, and at the same time I see it as building inter-religious harmony and respect... I believe firmly that when people of different faiths come together and share experiences that are based on their faith, each partner comes into a deeper understanding of their own faith.” In contrast to some students’ concerns that participating in interfaith dialogue is a threat to their own faith commitments, the campus chaplains contend that students often find these dialogues enriching and that participating in them serves to reinforce their own beliefs. Jewish chaplain Rabbi Aaron Katchen sees equipping students for interfaith dialogue as a critical point in the process: “By conversation, we better understand each other. We also better understand ourselves ... but it also has to come from a place of knowledge. I try and work
with the students ... to help them better understand what does their tradition and history have to say, so first of all when they show up at the table, they have something to say. That’s not just people speaking at them ... it’s helping build up a relationship of meaning.”
“A GOOD, SINCERE CONVERSATION” Many students who have participated in interfaith dialogue on campus contend that the practice builds strong bonds among people of different faiths and strengthens their own selfunderstanding. Gianni Castiglione, president of the U of T Secular Alliance (utsa), recalls: “The utsa has participated in multiple productive interfaith dialogues, yet the one that sticks out in my own mind was a debate/seminar we helped host on human nature. There were three speakers — one Catholic, a Sikh, and a clinical psychologist who was the utsa’s representative... There were several occasions in which the views shared both content and outlook... During these moments, there was a palpable realization in the audience and among the speakers that these geographically and culturally separate worldviews had arrived at similar conclusions, carrying with it very interesting and deep implications.” Jacob Liao of the Light House Christian Community worked on the Common Ground Project, a Canadian civic engagement initiative of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (ccmw) with support from Citizen and Immigration Canada: “...because we have worked together for the past year, there was just an overflow of heartfelt sharing and deep respect for one another’s beliefs and traditions. The best
dialogue is not that of a panel of distinguished guest speakers... but the genuine expression of the self through one’s life and one’s giving.” Some other examples of programming include group gardening at the Ecology and Spirituality Garden at New College, participating in the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean Up, the Tzedakah-Sadaqah Project of bringing Jewish and Muslim students together to work at a
Clockwise from top left: Student at rest inside of the Multi-Faith Centre, Inside the Multi-Faith Centre, Student at Muffin Madness at the Multi-Faith Centre, The F Word photo exhibit currently displayed at Hart House as part of the Forgiveness series, Director of the MultiFaith Centre Richard Chambers, A group gathers in the Multi-Faith Centre lobby
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Abdulqadir describes: “Interfaith dialogue to me is any attempt to engage sincerely with a person or group of another faith with the explicit understanding that the purpose of the interaction is to engage our different sacred traditions. This doesn’t have to be in a formal program or with recognized institutions. It could just be a good, sincere conversation with a fellow student.”
THE ROLE OF FORGIVENESS
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soup kitchen, and Religious Diversity Dialogue Certificate Training. Qu(e)erying Religion, a program for queer students of faith, has included presentations by interfaith queer couples, spiritual leaders of different religions discussing and reclaiming relevant scripture with queer students, and social outings such as Hart House Theatre productions.
This year, Hart House — in combination with the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office (ardco), Hillel of Toronto, Ask Big Questions, and the Multi-Faith Centre — is presenting a series entitled Wounds into Wisdom — The Practice of Forgiveness: In Pursuit of Reconciliation and Justice. Sandra Carnegie-Douglas, anti-racism and cultural diversity officer, notes that the program is not entirely focused on interfaith dialogue, but also on individual and structural forgiveness: “There is a broad diversity of faith and ethical clubs on campus and interfaith dialogue can provide a space for the clubs to participate in open dialogue and engage with their multiple identities, across differences on complex issues and themes that are, at times, conflicting. The Wounds into Wisdom program is not specifically designed as an interfaith dialogue, however, we anticipate that it will appeal to faith and ethical communities, together with the broadly diverse constituencies that make up the U of T community.” Forgiveness nonetheless plays an important role in interfaith dialogue, such as when sensitive political issues arise in conversation. In Canada, the example of residential schools is pertinent; although sending Aboriginal children to residential schools was government
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policy, the schools themselves were Christian. These schools are now associated with a legacy of abuse and trauma. Addressing these deep divides and bringing victims and perpetrators, as well as their later generations, together is a difficult challenge in interfaith dialogue. The Forgiveness series brings historical injustices such as this, as well as the Holocaust and the internment of Japanese Canadians to the forefront. Carnegie-Douglas describes: “In planning this year’s program, we interpreted forgiveness to include the related concepts of restorative justice, apology, redress, and reparation to incorporate stories that range from the interpersonal to historical injustices.” The FWord photography project is particularly engaging in addressing these tensions, as it contains anecdotal examples of interfaith dialogue and forgiveness in extreme circumstances. Carnegie-Douglas acknowledges the difficulty of engaging in these dialogues: “Conversations on race, faith, and cultural diversity (areas of focus for the arcdo) are often met with silence and resistance. Enabling spaces for open dialogue helps to break down the silence, promote understanding, and build community.” Chambers brings up the example of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a point of contention between Jewish and Muslim students. He uses the strategy of acknowledging the obvious differences in the room while trying to direct the focus onto collective activity, such as charitable projects. The Multi-Faith Centre offers conflict resolution for when such dialogue becomes hostile, but Chambers notes that he has only had to intervene a handful of times. Admitting the different perspectives of students of different faiths serves to create an atmosphere of respect in interfaith dialogue that allows for a productive conversation to ensue. Students of different backgrounds need to be
able to bring their unique viewpoints into the dialogue without fear of backlash. Rev. Wushke notes that forgiveness can be a source of common ground for students of different faiths, since it is incorporated into the doctrine of many spiritual groups. Rabbi Katchen, who is involved with the Forgiveness project through Hillel, comments: “... Forgiveness is really about a human experience... Each of us come to it in very different ways... One of the goals of the Forgiveness project is not about saying that forgiveness is always the answer, that forgiveness is always the stated goal, or that we all forgive in the same way... but rather, it’s something we all struggle through as part of interacting as humans — and that’s all interfaith dialogue is. It’s about humans coming together, and we’re including our religious self in that conversation, as opposed to leaving it at the door.”
Students weigh in on why interfaith dialogue matters
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Arts & Culture
COMING UP
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Learning to cook with rapper 2Chainz var.st/arts
On the rise: Ryan Hemsworth Hailing from Halifax, Ryan Hemsworth talks about his moment of breaking through as a producer weeks before his debut album drops Corrine Przybyslawski VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
While his last name may immediately catch attention, Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth, armed with his ethereal fusion of R&B and electronica, should do so for reasons other than a shared last name with a pair of well-known Austrialian actors. In the past few years, his Last Words EP has fueled generous spotlights from music industry connoisseurs like Pitchfork and the FADER, as well as a remix from la producer Shlohmo. The 22-year-old's trademark use of slow-motion warp will continue to sculpt the distinctly warm yet groggy New Age atmosphere of his much-anticipated new album, Guilt Trips. The Varsity: Being in school, did you find it difficult to make time for production? Ryan Hemsworth: I probably should have but I always made time, whether by not doing schoolwork or skipping class. I’ve always been into music. I started playing guitar in the 7th grade. I treated it like a reward. It was like, “I’m finished class? Great, now I can do music.” TV: Were there ever any doubts when you started out? What pushed you past them? RH: There were endless doubts. I would doubt myself every day. I still do, but that’s what keeps me going. I distinctly remember thinking I would never be featured on Pitchfork or anything like that, then one day in class I was on my laptop and I had Fader as my homepage; I opened up my browser, and one of my songs had been posted. I couldn’t believe it. It was like: “Holy shit, this is a thing. I can actually do this.”
TV: What’s the best advice you could give to someone who’s tackling the industry today? RH: You’ve got to be versatile, and you’ve got to be accessible. There are people today who can produce and play live shows and make a million albums, then go on to mix and master stuff for other people, too. It’s a real struggle to attract listeners, but you need that moment of breaking through. That’s all about what people want. If you’re making something a little different, pray it picks up. Once it does, it doesn’t stop, as long as you’re pushing yourself. TV: What are your insights on this experience you’ve had in the industry so far? RH: You’ve got to treat people's expectations, but challenge them and do weirder stuff through your selection. That’s not easy when the creative process is strained by travel. You try to pace yourself, but it’s hard. The tour I’m on right now is 6 weeks in total, and I’ve been in a different city pretty much every day. You want to make every night special and do the whole after-party, but finding a balance for everything is kind of impossible. TV: I read your interview with Pitchfork from January and noticed that you’d said you weren’t using any live instruments. Has that changed since? RH: I haven’t quite broken into playing live instruments. I used to play guitar and sing live, but it always made me nervous. I’m in my happy place with Ableton because I can use it in a way where I trigger each of the individual layers of my own songs. It’s not straight up DJ-ing, and I have the freedom to mess around, throwing in a hype sample, then switching it back to lower
phOtO COurtEsy Of JakE ChurChill
tempos. It’s just more interesting than a guy on a guitar. You see that everyday. TV: To close, you’re releasing a new album with an anticipated release of October 22. What can you share to warm up new listeners? RH: It’s grounded in electronic music, but I wanted the album to be separate from electronic
music culture. It’s not something you would play in a club. I made it to be heard through headphones. It’s got a roller coaster of emotions that puts you in a solemn headspace, but still has rigid beats to keep you entertained. I listen to a lot of Postal Service and Thom Yorke, but I also enjoy Future’s production, so those influences translate into Guilt Trips. It’s a good soundtrack to just live your life to.
REVIEWS Album: White Noise — Tijon Tijon’s White Noise is his third free mixtape. Despite his relatively underground status as a rapper, his talent deserves to be recognized. He starts out strong with "Pulse," during which you can hear multi-syllabic rhyming combined with socially conscious lyrics. The tape doesn’t let up from there; every song gets better. For a free mixtape, the production is outstanding. From a lyrical perspective, the music is filled with metaphors and hard-hitting lines. It’s difficult to isolate a couple of bars because of the way the verses flow together. These bars from "Boy Learn" put Tijon's lyrical prowess and multi syllabic rhyming on display. "Any terrain and it's maneuverable / I'm tryna live and leave a legacy that's suitable / Me I call it beautiful, you might deem unusual / To see a man moving mountains, let me tutor you / From my vantage point, I'm settin' from a newer view." The passion builds and explodes on the last two tracks. "MADlove" is very aggressive — the song is about various social issues and it takes a few plays to fully appreciate and dissect. The production on the last song, "House of Blues," is excellent; there are a variety of different sounds and instruments in the background. White Noise is easily one of the best mixtapes to come out in the past few years, and it’s definitely worth listening to. — Simon Spichak
Album: Mechanical Bull — Kings of Leon Three years following Kings of Leon's Come Around Sundown, the Grammy-winning rockers are back with a solid album: Mechanical Bull. As heard in the song “Temple,” the band combines both the familiar feel of mainstream successes such as “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” while going back to its roots as heard in their second album Aha Shake Heartbreak. Whether you’re looking for a song that reminds you of summer road trips — like the smash single “Supersoaker” — or a laid-back track like “Wait for Me,” Kings of Leon continues to give the perfect blend of ear candy to its fans. — Abbi Indrakumar
Album: Esperanza: Songs from Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa — Various In the words of Jack Kerouac, “Tristessa is high, beautiful as ever…” This haunting album tells the tale of that opiate-addicted harlot. Esperanza: Songs from Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa will pry at the core of your emotions. Artists including Wintersleep, Hey Rosetta!, and Matt Costa inject their impressions with melodic doses of folk, Americana, and indie rock. Sometimes it takes tragedy to unveil splendour; the horror of the lyrical narrative is interlaced with the ever-present idea of Esperanza (the Spanish word for hope) and will keep you engaged for the entire album. The curtains open with a reading of the first page of Kerouac’s novel and closes with a reading of the last — creating a woven relationship between the literature and the music. So, spend the night with Tristessa and allow the music to become your morphine as you fall in love with that little spoon bubbling with tangible hope. — Mike Cumpstey
Film: Prisoners — Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is a complex thriller that successfully subverts the conventions of the clichéd mystery genre. Bolstered by Aaron Guzikowski’s sharp script, Prisoners takes the generic plot of missing children in a small town and crafts it into a twisted tale that exposes the darker elements of the human psyche. The film begins with a typical Thanksgiving dinner between two families that goes terribly wrong when the youngest daughters are abducted. After the brooding Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) releases the main suspect from custody, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) — the father of one of the missing girls — takes drastic measures that ultimately call his own morals into question. While the film occasionally threatens to collapse under its own bleakness, the red herrings planted throughout keep the audience captivated despite the dark content. The final twist makes for a satisfying conclusion to a film buoyed by its award worthy screenplay and haunting performances. — Caitlin Alexieff
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Merging old with new
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Last Thursday, Hart House held an event in the Music Room celebrating the latest additions to the Hart House Art Collection. This year's collection includes a greater variety of art than those of previous years; the integration of more Aboriginal art was something the curatorial team had been striving towards. The night was also dedicated to celebrating the launch of artist and architect Céline Condorelli’s commissioned installation, The Company We Keep. I arrived to see a room of people enjoying drinks and conversation, awaiting an introduction to the night. With a backdrop of glowing red light, Hart House warden Bruce Kidd made opening comments about the history of the building. Curator-in-Residence Wanda Nanibush spoke about the collective effort to incorporate a wider spectrum of art to accurately realize Canadian identities within
Hart House. She explained that each space is uniquely curated with thoughts and themes, marrying artists with activists. As everyone split to explore the works, the rich juxtaposition of old and new was hard to ignore. Seeing contemporary art hanging within Hart House’s historic architecture offered a visual narrative of Canada's cultural history. The pieces in the collection demonstrate how that history can be expressed in various forms, then understood collectively. The Company We Keep is composed of 20 light bulbs scattered throughout the building, all holding fragments of a phrase exploring the support structure of friendships — specifically female friendships. Condorelli says that the installation “has to do with practicalities, things as simple as having a friend to lean on, all the things we normally don’t think about that help your everyday life.” The project refers to the historical absence of women from Hart House. When thinking of the shadows that the words create, we’re
also thinking about women “in the shadows” of Hart House. Condorelli continued to explain her interest in creating something that could be integrated into the daily life of Hart House, taking elements of the architecture and intervening without imposing. I walked back into the Music Room, and noticed the lights had been dimmed to near extinction. Toronto-based music collective lal’s live performance caressed the room. Rosina Kazi sang barefoot and beautifully, Nicholas Murray was huddled over his turntable. Goosebumps covered more of my skin than all my layers of clothes, and I was brought back to the theme of new merging old. As Kazi sang about topics of social justice and politics — mentioning “Idle No More” — I considered how the contemporary is motivated by the historical. As the Art Committee has expanded its focus to include various types of art and various Canadian identities, lal closed the night addressing our own history, exemplifying how art can help influence and improve today.
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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
Carte Blanche at Nuit Blanche Whether you are a Nuit Blanche newcomer or veteran, it's hard to predict exactly what the night will have in store for you. For some, the all-nighter art festival will include inspiring art installations; however, there will be a few who walk away with wet socks and disappointment. This year, writers braved the spitting rain as they wandered through the streets of a Nuit Blanche-transformed Toronto; here's what they found...
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Walking in crowds is tough. Walking through crowds at Nuit Blanche is nearly impossible. The flow of people at the beginning of the night was not bad, but by the time I hit Queen and University it was more akin to a scene in World War Z — and that is when I got clotheslined. To be fair, I was pretty aggressively charging through people so I could get to Ai Weiwei’s bike installation (which I thought was fantastic). I was manoeuvering the street corner, while a band played the Pokémon theme song, and suddenly I found myself entangled in a human pretzel with a couple. Their hands were firmly clasped, and so the only option seemed to try and limbo under them. Result: me clotheslined, followed by me sprawled on the ground. That’s contemporary art for you. Tags: #rough #socialawks #ForeverBikes — Dryden Bailey Crowds gather around the Hybrid Globe installation (opposite); a participant delights in the (X)Static Clown Factory (top right); spectators view the Doors of Hope installation, a group effort of Toronto Catholic school board students (bottom right). Tina Zhou/ThEVaRSiTY
A rebel art project materialized at the corner of Bloor and St. George. In a moving performance art piece, brave volunteers stood outside wearing nothing but skin-tight, skin-coloured clothing; onlookers were encouraged to participate by painting negative words or phrases regarding body image onto the volunteers. Kristina Djokic, a Hart House fitness instructor and the creative force behind the piece, envisioned the release of “names they have called themselves in their heads; names they have called others; words they have used to judge and punish the vessels that carry their souls.” To add to the emotionally charged experience, the painters were encouraged to look the human canvasses in the eye as they painted insults onto their bodies. Physically transposing the abuses we use against our friends’, enemies’, and our own bodies onto a stranger threw into sharp relief how cruelly we often treat such a vital part of ourselves. Tags: #rebelart #bodyimage #artischange — Heather Eason
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“Apparently, Kanye is filming a video on Bay Street tonight,” flashes across my phone as I blink at the gaunt screen. Before responding, thinking about the validity of my new-found tip, or waiting for a break in conversation between the people around me, I declare: “You guys... Kanye is at Nuit Blanche.” The sequence of events that ensued after my announcement melted into a slew of “WHERE EXACTLY???” texts, sandwiching down Queen West, and “If I were Kanye I would...” predictions. To me, the art at Nuit Blanche always gets muffled under the sounds of drunken teenagers puking on Bay Street and “I don’t really cares” rolling out of the mouths of the night’s solicitors. Between my frantic Kanye Easter egg hunt I noticed a towering spider installation with inflated yellow balloons for legs. The legs looked like giant cobs of corn. I was hungry. Kanye never showed up. Tags: #FindKanye #IDontCare #NoDisrespectToAffleck — Claudia McNeilly Since it was my first time attending Nuit Blanche, I was worried, excited, and I was unsure ofwhat to expect. I browsed through the Nuit Blanche booklet to select which exhibitions I wanted to see, and looks can be terribly deceiving. Most of the artwork didn’t look anything like it did in the pictures, which was fairly disappointing. My favourite installation was one I hadn’t planned on seeing, titled Shrine. I loved the symbolism of the piece and how the art spoke for itself. It is a sculpture built of garbage bins in the form of a gothic cathedral. Most of the exhibitions were aesthetically pleasing, but failed to deliver any sort of message; however, this sculpture was able to do both. In the future, I advise you not to plan ahead and to just enjoy the opportunity of walking around Toronto during the night. Tags: #looksaredeceiving #whimsical #memorable — Susie Park
Nuit Blanche has always been known for eccentric displays fit for a Tim Burton film. But one exhibit caught my ears, rather than my eyes. The Composition Engine, curated by Peter Drobac and Maggie Helwig, was a hypnotic soundscape display that featured several talented musicians, singers, and readers seated around the various parts of the Trinity College Chapel. The catch of this exhibit is that the artists will only play if their switch is turned on. At each artist's station, there was a lamp and a light switch. When observers chose to flick the switch, turning on the lamp, the artist would perform. Musicians played pieces, singers performed, and readers recited pieces of literature. This exhibit gave the audience the power to create its own art piece at Nuit Blanche. The end result was a unique and mesmerizing sound every time a switch was engaged. Tags: #supersonic #hypnotic #funkyfresh — Jonathan Ignacio Having never been to Nuit Blanche, I had high hopes for the art festival and was prepared for the unexpected — would the streets be lined with interactive pieces of art or would they be jam packed with people trying to understand and manoeuvre around the mess of art, food, and pedestrians? I had hoped for the former, but the latter is what I found on arriving at University Avenue. The amount of art, although well-crafted, was too sparse in comparison to thenumber of people the festival draws annually. Having to push my way past crowds and get tousled by mobs of drunken conga-liners, all while inhaling a stream of a certain “party drug,” are not, in my opinion, the ingredients for a good time. My favourite feature of the festival? The Tiny Tom doughnut truck, where I spent the remainder of my evening. Tags: #notimpressed #crayy #goodfoodtho — Emma Kikulis If you wear one, they will want one. One of my earliest stops of the night was Marcin Kedzior and Christine Kim’s Paper Orbs. Their small parade float was filled with folded orbs hanging from wooden branches; you plucked one down as you walked through, which meant the installation’s structure was constantly changing. The orbs unfold into a circle, which you can wear as a hat, a frilly collar, or a visor around your eyes (though I can’t recommend this last method considering the number of drunk teens you need to dodge at Nuit Blanche). While I had to wait about 25 minutes to get one, without much more than some nearby food trucks to look at, the experience shaped the rest of my night, with fellow Blanchers continuously asking where they could get one. Watchable art is great, but wearable art is even better. Tags: #memento #interactiveart #wheredidyougetyourhat — Julia Lewis
INSTALLATION HIGHLIGHT: ARTS AND SCIENCE PIECED TOGETHER IN YOUR DREAMS I am seated in front of a screen that tells me to relax. That may be easier said than done considering a stranger just secured a headband around my head and attached two clips to my ears like earrings. For a moment, I feel like I am in a science fiction movie — about to have my mind read, analyzed, and/or stolen by a mad scientist. The other participants and I play a short game in the style of Mario Party for Nintendo 64, in which our minds are controllers. Afterwards, to the side of the screen, trained musicians and a talented singer begin to play their instruments; suddenly I no longer feel like I am in an evil lab or an arcade, but rather in a cultural haven. Part experiment, part art installation, the My Virtual Dream exhibit combined both arts and science in a way I’ve never experienced before. The correct name for the contraption placed on my head is a Brain Computer Interface, bci for short, and it was used on Saturday night to transmit participants’ brain signals so
that they could alter what was happening on the domed screen above. The movement on the screen reflected thinking processes and physical movements that are controlled by the brain. Before beginning the faux-dream, one of the facilitators instructed me to blink, and watch how the line on the screen jumps. I was immediately fascinated at how my mind could be projected to a screen through a simple headset. The simplicity of the headsets is an achievement in hardware. The Virtual Brain team is lead by Dr. Randy McIntosh — a professor at U of T's Institute of Medical Science and vice-president of research at Baycrest Health Sciences. The function of this experiment, he says, is to “find a more accurate way to read brain waves,” which can then be used for clinical purposes. “The hope for this technology is to be able to use it anywhere — in your home, your car, bathroom, restaurant, wherever,” says McIntosh. It is mindboggling to think that in the near future, with the help of a comfortable headset, brainwaves will be transmittable on the subway.
While no mind reading happened at the My Virtual Dream exhibit, the activity of my brain and the software’s ability to read it were being analyzed. McIntosh said that while the hardware of The Virtual Brain is pretty advanced, the software still needs some work. He believes the involvement of those who participated in the “challenging environment” of Nuit Blanche will help perfect the technology. Many Nuit Blanche visitors, myself included, understood the My Virtual Dream exhibit as merely an awe-inspiring artistic experience; however, to the neuroscientists involved in the international The Virtual Brain project, the experiment-installation is more than just art — it is a stepping stone to convenient and accurate brain analysis. — Monica Carinci To learn more about the research behind The Virtual Brain and its objectives, visit http://www.thevirtualbrain.org.
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Ingenuity and endurance at UofTHacks’ marathon Canada’s largest student hackathon brings creative coding, insomnia #UOFTHACKS TWEETS SENISA SOENARDJO @FRUITSICLES I am excited to sleep at Bahen #uofthacks — Friday, September 27 UOFTHACKS @UOFTHACKS ATTENTION: There have been incidences of fake UofTHacks accounts and information being spread. This is the only official account. — Friday, September 27 [“REAL”] UOFTHACKS @REALUOFTHACKS Two hackers work on their projects through the night. trEvOr kOrOll/tHE varsIty
Jennifer Hurd
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Over 300 programmers camped out in the University of Toronto’s Bahen Centre for Information Technology on the September 28–29 weekend to participate in the Computer Science Student Union’s first-ever coding marathon, or “hackathon.” Participants, working either individually or as members of a team, were given 36 hours to design and code a unique project, and competed for prestigious prizes donated by the event’s sponsors. On 11:30 pm on Friday evening, about 150 programmers have already arrived at Bahen; the rest will arrive early Saturday morning. The hackathon officially started at 9:30 pm, which means that these participants have already had a couple of hours to work on their projects. In some cases, this means learning a new language or software framework from scratch — no one here is afraid of tackling something unfamiliar and difficult. Audun Bjørnurd Mo and Kamyar Ghasemipour, for instance, are both second-year computer science students at U of T. Neither has ever participated in a hackathon before and, like many participants, they’re relatively new to programming. In fact, Audun acknowledges that “the biggest hurdle for both of us is probably that we’re both lower-level students.” They met on arrival and decided to team up; after spending the last couple of hours brainstorming ideas, they think they have a project. Kamyar happened to bring along a Kinect — a motion sensor for Microsoft’s Xbox — and they came up with the idea of designing a website using voice and motion commands. Ideally, they will be able to stand in front of the motion sensor, tell the computer what they want on a webpage, point to where they want it, and then simply gesture with a hand to “stick” it to the webpage. It’s ambitious and they know it, especially since Kamyar is going to have to learn a new programming language in order to do it. Meanwhile, Ben Cohen, a veteran of four hackathons, says the biggest challenge is always stay-
Survival tip: If you are cold at night, you can use ceiling tiles to create a lean-to. #UofTHacks — Saturday, September 28 OMAR GONZALEZ @OMARGLEZ233 omg omg omg free ice cream!!!! #uofthacks — Saturday, September 28 TERENCE YAN @TERENCEYAN_ Fellow #uofthacks hackers. The diet of hot dogs, pizza, and ice cream is delicious. And also the diet of pirates who developed scurvy. — Saturday, September 28 STEPHANIE @STEPHCATPAT Okay, now I am going to sleep...for real this time :P Just submitted our project! @hackathons #uofthacks — Sunday, September 29
Ben Cohen works on his ASL to English translator. trEvOr kOrOll/tHE varsIty
ing focused for such a long time. His solution: “Work on something interesting that you like... If it’s interesting, you’ll want to come back.” His own project certainly qualifies. Ben attends the Rochester Institute of Technology, where one of the constituent colleges is the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. This means that about 10 per cent of the students on his campus are either deaf or hearing impaired. After three years at rit, Ben has picked up the basics of American Sign Language (asl), but many of his classmates haven’t. Although he has never worked with images before, he plans to create an app that will recognize and interpret finger spelling. The app will aid communication between the deaf community and the hearing community. After a full night of work, Saturday offers coders the chance to take a short break from their projects and drop by the tech expo, where they can meet with recruiters and mentors from leading companies, and attend a series of lectures. One of these lectures is a fascinating talk
by lawyer Rosy Rumpal, a specialist in working with new start-ups, on the legal aspects of creating a new business. The tech expo is a great way for students to meet potential employers, as recruitment is one of the main reasons companies choose to sponsor an event like UofTHacks. As Jeff Shim, a design mentor for the competition and a representative of sponsor OneClass, says: “An event like this makes people stand out... There are a lot of students who really focus on school but don’t partake in extracurriculars... It really sets [the participants] apart.” Matt Helm, a Javascript developer from Shopify, the event’s biggest sponsor, confirms: “We want to find the top developers, even if they’re still in school.” There is certainly no shortage of outstanding coding on display in the final Hack Expo on Sunday morning, or in the final presentations Sunday afternoon. There is Automatic rosi, an app that will automatically check rosi for you after waitlists
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JOSHUA GANS @JOSHGANS Just finished judging @UofTHacks Very impressive work. Loved the attempt at a toilet map. — Sunday, September 29 NICHOLAS GOH @NICKGOH_ Remember, always use protection #cryptr #uofthacks — Sunday, September 29 UOFTHACKS @UOFTHACKS Still can’t believe its all over!! What are we gonna do until next year?? #UofTHacks #waitingForNextYear — Sunday, September 29
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
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Mental Health Awareness Month begins at U of T Education event to include Hart House brunch, movie screening Albert Park
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
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Another midterm season is underway at U of T, as is evident from campus libraries on every corner filling with students. It might not immediately be natural to think or talk about this stressful time from a mental health perspective, but that perspective does bring questions: how all of us will stay well during the cycle of evaluation after evaluation? How do we deal with the academic, social, spiritual, and emotional problems that follow us throughout the year and during the remainder of our lives? U of T’s Health and Wellness Services recognises this difficult time of the year by setting October as Mental Health Education Month to promote the steps we can take to improve our emotional and mental well-being. Geared towards the goal of creating a more mental-health aware and oriented student body, this campaign focuses on various interactive events that aim to help students ease stress and learn to cope with challenges that the average student faces. This year, Mental Health Awareness Month at U of T is themed on the message “Build On Your Strengths.” “This is a ‘positive psychology’ way to talk about mental health, and is well-researched. It focuses on strengths, skills, and assets that students (and all people) already have, such as resiliency, support from friends and family, and strategies to manage stress,” says Dan Johnson, a community health coordinator with Health & Wellness. A major event this year will be an Unplugged Hour, which will occur on October 10 from 12 pm to 1 pm. During this event, which is similar to Earth Hour, participants will change up their routine by “unplugging” from cellphones, laptops, and social media. This event will encourage students to seek alternative modes
of stress relief such as yoga, person-to-person interaction, reading, and socialization. Some additional events and campaigns that may be worth checking out this month include the New College Mental Health Awareness Fair, as well as a $5 healthy brunch at Hart House on October 27, which will focus on the role food plays in mental health and services that are accessible to students. As well, an October 22 showing of The Happy Movie will provide students with a look at this widely sought-after emotion; the showing will occur at Victoria College’s Goldring Centre from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. But how exactly do we define mental health? When gauging our personal mental health, the Canadian Mental Health Association (cmha) has recommended that we look at ourselves in the light of positive psychology and ask: can I bounce back from a difficult life situation and move forward without losing optimism in the process? Can I still enjoy life in the moment and still juggle my priorities without worrying about the things I can’t change? Can I feel and express a range of emotions and adapt to solve any problems associated with them? The definition of mental health is beginning to take a more holistic approach, according to cmha, that views excellent mental health less as the absence of a disorder and more as a psychological and behavioural evaluation of the whole person. To place issues of mental health into perspective: a 2013 Canadian Community Health Survey on mental health conducted by Statistics Canada reported that youth between the ages of 15 to 24 had the highest prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders, and substanceabuse-related problems. The same survey revealed that approximately 2.8 million people, or 10.1 per cent of the population aged 15 or older, have experienced at least one symptom of a mental or substance-abuse disorder.
Research Recap Electric fish species discovered in Guyana River
Research brings hope for brain injury survivors
A new species of electrogenic fish has been discovered in the upper Mazaruni River, Guyana. The findings, which were reported in the journal Zoological Scripta, identify the fish as a new species and as belonging to a new genus. Classified as the Akawaio penak, the fish has small eyes and a long, compressed body with a tail that tapers to a point. Like other electrogenic fish, it has an organ, called the electric organ, which generates a weak electric field. Unlike its strongly electric counterparts, A. penak uses its electricity generation capabilities not to stun its prey, but to navigate in its environment and communicate with other fish. The fish detects disturbances in its bioelectric field, which carry information, making electrolocation and electrocommunication possible. Though many electroreceptive fish can detect electric fields, the ability to generate electricity is unique to electrogenic fish. The upper Mazaruni River is an area of rich biodiversity — this discovery increases the number of known native species to 12, and four unique genera call the upper region of the river their home. Unfortunately, gold-mining activity in the area contributes to freshwater habitat degradation, posing a risk to species in the area. Among the team of scientists who made the discovery was Nathan Lovejoy, a professor at University of Toronto Scarborough.
University of Toronto professor and Canada Research Chair in Traumatic Brain Injury (tbi) Dr. Robin Green and her research team suggest that brain injury is a chronic disease that causes continued deterioration to brain structure and function. Moderate to severe brain injuries were previously thought to cause damage in a finite period of time following the injury. Brain injuries can range in severity from a mild concussion to serious trauma. As Dr. Green indicates, those who have experienced a tbi face consequences that last beyond the initial time of injury. But it’s not all bad news — Dr. Green and her colleagues believe that there may be a way to lessen the risk of continued progressive tissue deterioration in the brain. In its recent investigation, the team of researchers demonstrated that providing moderately-to-severely affected individuals with different types of stimulation— physical, social, or cognitive— resulted in reduced shrinking of the brain. This stimulation, termed “environmental enrichment,” included physical activity and engaging with others. Environmental enrichment appeared to be especially effective for memory. More research is needed to better understand the impact environmental enrichment can have, and to integrate it into recovery programs, Still, Dr. Green’s work brings hope for people suffering from debilitating and far-too-common brain injuries.
—Sophie Pei-Yi Lau
— Sandhya Mylabathula and Swapna Mylabathula
What does the fox say? Write about zoology! science@thevarsity.ca
22 Vol. CXXXIV, No. 6
VARSITY SCIENCE
science@thevarsity.ca
FAQ: U of T Health Services The hours for the UTM Health Services can be found at www.utm.utoronto.ca/health/ health-counselling-centre/hours-operation. The hours for the UTSC health services can be found at www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~wellness/ about.html.
Alaina Wallace
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
It starts with a sniffle, then two, and pretty soon the Kleenex box is your best friend. As the cold weather draws nearer, so does cold and flu season. In part one of our Frequently Asked Questions series, we answer questions on getting help through the University’s Health Services and on when to go elsewhere.
What does my student health insurance plan cover? Can I opt out?
What is Health Services at the University of Toronto and where can I find it? What services are provided? Health Services at U of T works the same way your standard family doctor’s office works. However, it is focused specifically on student needs and care. The service is confidential and convenient. Health Services can provide everything from support to immunizations — including allergy care, nutrition counselling, birth control and emergency contraception, smoking cessation, and wound care. The service also covers disordered eating education and care, periodic health exams, disability documentation and more. You can find Health Services at: St. George Campus: Second floor of the Koffler Student Services Centre: 214 College Street (in the same building as The Book Store) Mississauga Campus: Room 1123 in the South Building: 3359 Mississauga Road Scarborough Campus: Room sl270 in the Student Centre: 1265 Military Trail When should I go to Health Services? What other health resources are there on campus? Whether it is for a check-up or to simply ask a question and acquire some information, it is always a good time to take interest in your health. U of T is all about creating a healthy and safe campus environment, and there are many resources available to help everyone achieve a healthy and happy university experience. Whether you are searching for second opinions or just a place to get started, there is ample information available through U of T resources regard-
. nancy Ji/The VarsiTy
ing counselling, alcohol and drugs, hiv, aids, stis, mental health, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and even body and mind skills. There is a list of other resources available on the Health Services website. When is Health Services open? Where else can I go? Clinic hours at the St. George Health Center are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday and 9:00 am to 7:00 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday during the academic year, excluding statutory holidays when the clinic is closed. We all have busy schedules and classes to attend, and illness doesn’t strike at conve-
nient times. If you need medical assistance during after-hours or on weekends, there are always a number of walk-in clinics and medical centres nearby: College-Care Walk-In Clinic: 351 College St. & Spadina (416-915-9285) Bay-College Medical and Lockwood Diagnostic Walk-in Clinic Centre: 790 Bay St. Suite 108 (416-929-1900) Bay-Wellesley Medical Centre: 100 -984 Bay St. (416-929-1900) The Doctor’s Office: 595 Bay Street (416598-1703) Very late at night or on Sundays, these clinics may be closed. If you are worried and wish to receive care, head to a hospital emergency room. The staff will be able to provide help or advice.
Being proactive about your health means knowing exactly what your insurance covers. Through Green Shield, all full-time U of T students receive access to a health care plan, which is included in tuition. The plan covers the basics such as check-ups, eye exams, diagnostic tests, prescription drugs and hospital accommodations if needed. Some other perks of the plan include orthotics, braces, casts, and diabetic equipment. Professional services covered include visits to the acupuncturist, chiropractor, speech therapists, chiropodist, and registered massage therapists. Although having a medical plan insures your health throughout your education, opting out is also an alternative. Opting out is possible only if you are covered under a similar plan with a different provider. You must opt out yearly. Applications must be submitted at the beginning of the academic year — in the August to October period if you start school in the fall, and the January period if you begin in the winter. The deadline for opting out for students beginning in the fall has passed, but students who begin in the winter can opt out between January 6 – 31, 2014. Opt-out forms can be found online; fill one out and a reimbursement cheque should be received by March. To opt-out, go to www.studentplans.ca. To learn more about Green Shield insurance, visit www.greenshield.ca.
Read more FAQ online this Thursday at:
var.st/science CONTINUED FROM PG 20
A hacker has laid out their program on a blackboard in Bahen. emma hansen/The VarsiTy
have been removed. There is Dynamit, which will merge your entire online social life into one feed. NeatChore, created by five U of T exchange students from Brazil, keeps track of roommates’ or housemates’ chores and awards points to the most helpful contributors. There is Audun and Kamyar’s project, Kinect, which wins the prize for “Most Innovative Hack.” The two are overjoyed and astonished; 36 hours before, they could never have predicted this. A panel of four judges determines the top three overall; individual sponsors have also offered specific category prizes. One of the most lauded projects is bananasundae.com, a website designed to help students find recipes quickly and easily based on the available ingredients. Type in the ingredients you have in your fridge, and Banana Sundae will promptly return a list of recipes that you can make with those ingredients — which can be sorted by popularity, price, and preparation time. The creators of the website, Will Lau and Vahe Khachikyan, walk away with no less than three separate prizes, including second place overall. Ben Cohen’s English to asl translator places third, and the top prize goes to Cryptr, an app that will allow you to encrypt information or files and send them securely via email. Each team shares one thing in common: they all have identified a specific need or a specific problem, and put all of their creativity, ingenuity, and perseverance towards creating a solution. It is not programming for the sake of programming. The projects of UofTHacks showcase the potential of code: the future of technology is in the hands of the hackers.
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
INSTALLATION OF THE PRESIDENT
23
IN TH
Members of the University of Toronto community are invited attend the installation of Members of thetoUniversity of Toronto community
are
Professor Meric S. Gertler
PROFESSOR MERIC S. GERTLER
as the 16th President of the University of Toronto
November 7, 2013 as the Thursday, 16th President of the University of Toro 3:00 p.m. Convocation Hall
Thursday, November 7, 2013 A limited number of tickets will be available on a first p.m.basis at the following locations beginning come3:00 first served Monday, October 7, 2013: Convocation Hall St. George Campus The Nona Macdonald Visitors Centre 25 King’s College Circle Monday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
University of Toronto Mississauga Office of the Vice-President & Principal Rm. 3216, William G. Davis Building Monday – Friday (9 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
A limited number of tickets will be available on a first at the following locations beginning Monday, October University of Toronto Scarborough Arts and Administration Building (4th Floor Reception Desk) 1265 Military Trail Monday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
St. George Campus The Nona Macdonald Visitors Centre 25 King’s College Circle Monday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.) University of Toronto Mississauga Office of the Vice-President & Principal Rm. 3216, William G. Davis Building Monday – Friday (9 a.m. - 5 p.m.) University of Toronto Scarborough Arts and Administration Building (4th Floor Reception Desk) 1265 Military Trail Monday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Sports
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Shooting hoops and teaching in Kashmir
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7 oCtoBEr 2013
sports@thevarsity.ca
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Athletic Centre: behind the scenes Kelly Rahardja
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Offering all sorts of activities from aquafit and martial arts to strength training, U of T Athletics provides a wide variety of fitness options for its student body. Yet, while many students are aware of what the Athletic Centre offers, few recognize the people that make it all possible. With a large student population constantly at the centre’s doors, both the faculty and programming departments require a large amount of effort. Take Alex Vickers, for example. Every day, Vickers makes sure that all the pumps of the aquatic facility are functioning and that the leaks are plugged. Vickers, as one of two assistant facility managers of the pool, works to maintain the aquatic facilities, including all the lifeguards and pool operations, on an everyday basis. Considering the importance of aquatic facilities to U of T athletics, it is no small wonder that the pool is almost always booked for student athletes. “We have swim meets happening starting in October quite frequently, and that’s an exciting draw to the aquatic area. Water polo and diving are always happening,” Vickers explains. “It’s quite fun to see people doing flips and turns off the 5-metre tower.” Aside from student athletes, the Athletic Centre also rents out its 25-yard pool to smaller programs and clubs. Vickers himself has had some interesting experiences on that matter. “We use that area for our women only programming that allows us to close the blinds to the area so that it is away from public view. Because of that, a number of years ago we hosted the U of T Naturists [a nudist group], who would rent the pool and come swimming,” recalls Vickers. “That was definitely an interesting use of the facility,” he adds with a chuckle. That being said, managing the pool can be quite a daunting task. Part of the reason being the age of the pool itself, which was built over 30 years ago. Despite the extra work necessary to maintain
it, the pool’s managers are up for the task. As Vickers notes: “We’re proud to have a final product that the user sees that looks immaculate in our opinion. We’re happy about the safety we provide and the programs that we’re able to offer, and I think it’s certainly one of the premier pools in Ontario.” Likewise, Will Kopplin, the assistant manager of physical activity for both the Athletic Centre and Varsity Centre has his own part to play. Broadly speaking, Kopplin’s work involves providing opportunity and promoting physical activity on campus for students. As such, Kopplin strives to connect with students as much as possible through campus events, including the Zombie Skate at Varsity Centre last week. “We usually expect 150 students out to those kind of events, and it’s a good opportunity for me to interact with them,” he points out. Having worked with the university for over six years, Kopplin realizes that there is a significant amount of work that goes into preparing for each academic year. “There’s a very large team that is involved in all kinds of things that students will not see,” he explains. One of the main things that students will never see behind the scenes is the scheduling process, where the bulk of the work lies. “We meet every other week in order to accomplish that, starting a year prior,” he says. “The resources here at the university for athletics are at this point somewhat limited, [and] we’re expanding all the time. So we are scheduling facilitates a year in advance to make sure that we are maximizing the resources that we have and providing the most opportunities for students.” When asked whether he enjoys his job despite its difficulties, Kopplin replied: “Absolutely, it’s a great place to work. Keeps me fresh and active, and hopefully I’m able to pass that on to the students as well.” For students wishing to explore new interests while reaping the many benefits of staying fit and healthy, the Athletic Centre is open seven days a week and available to all U of T students.
The Athletic Centre field house is the hub of the facility. Carolyn lEvEtt/tHE varsity
The US swimming championships will be hosted this year at the Varsity pool. Carolyn lEvEtt/tHE varsity
The Athletic Centre at the corner of Spadina Ave. and Harbord St. Carolyn lEvEtt/tHE varsity
Intramurals take place in various ares of the Athletic Centre. Carolyn lEvEtt/tHE varsity
var.st/sports
VARSITY SPORTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
25
Varsity Blues’ rugby overcoming struggles Both men’s and women’s teams have the chance to bounce back despite setbacks Angus Langmuir
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
U of T rugby has experienced its fair share of problems over the past year. Last year’s overhaul of the university’s varsity sports model had a significant impact on both the men’s and women’s teams. The women’s team was extremely close to losing its status as a Varsity sport, and the men’s team dropped out of the Ontario University Athletics (oua) division. Nevertheless, both teams began this season with increased determination, keen to improve on last year’s record (1-13). The appointment of Jim Delaney as the new head coach of the men’s rugby program is exciting for the Blues, as he brings with him a wealth of experience. Jim has played to a very high level, and he represented Englind at the under-19s. He is also currently the coach of Rugby Canada’s under 17 development team. Delaney was specifically brought in to help restructure men’s Varsity rugby so that the team can compete in the oua division in the coming years. The team is currently treating this season as an opportunity to work on basic skills and physical conditioning. Credit must be given to team alumni and current squad members for assembling a program, which will hopefully see a revival of men’s rugby. The men’s team has already started the season well, with a resounding 24-0 win over Queens’s Gaels.
Photo Courtesy of the Varsity Blues
The women’s team has struggled to find its form so far, succumbing to five losses. However, the lack of appropriate facilities makes it difficult to compete against far betterequipped opponents. Coach Gareth
Williams was keen to emphasize that, despite the recent difficulties, the team is striving to push on and improve: “This season has been about rebirth. Having come close to losing the program, it’s important
to instill a sense of ownership in the varsity athletes which we have worked very hard at,” he said. The positive attitudes of both players and coaching staff indicate that Blues rugby has a bright future.
Improvement in recruitment and training methods should see men’s and women’s rugby progress to a level where they can be competative and even challenge for honours in their respective divisions.
26 Vol. CXXXIV No. 6
VARSITY SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
Wall ball: a Trinity tradition The thrill of the sport, the mystery, and, of course, the wall JP Kaczur
ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
I was tasked with the tall order of covering a sport by the name of “wall ball.” Like any good reporter, I pretended to know what wall ball was, and figured I could just Google it later. After Googling, I was even more confused. Apparently there are several different sports by that name. All I could gather about this sport is that it involved a wall, a ball, and Trinity College. In order to figure this wall ball stuff out, I met with wall ball expert Guy Taylor in the early evening at Trinity College. I was told this would be a true “Trin’ experience” because it would be after the High Table dinner. When I arrived, eight people were dressed up: men in skinny ties, bowties — everything but a regular tie. They formed a semi-circle inside the Henderson Tower archway before getting started. The archway features two walls, one of which — the one that they choose to play on — has a door in the middle of it. It was an unseasonably warm night for an October evening; a perfect night for some wall balling. With the season change, the warmth didn’t coincide with extended sunlight. As a result, some of the participants were having trouble seeing the green tennis ball inside the archway. Regardless, the game went on, obscured by darkness. Some complained about the darkness (“It’s dark in here,” after missing a shot), while others weren’t entertaining
Trin students preparing for a round of wallball. Mashal Khan/The VarsiTy
any excuses (“I can see when it’s my turn”). I was starting to understand what wall ball was. I remembered playing a version of this in elementary school, except we called it handball. However, we used many of the same terms (I overheard them using “inners,” an interesting take on the word interference). The name of the sport changes, as do the majority of the rules, but the wall and
the ball remain. However, the Trinity College version is unlike any of the others this writer has ever encountered. Typically, the sport is played against a main wall. The Trinity version employs the use of two walls. The players use a door as a dividing point, encouraging a condensed playing area. After Taylor finished a spirited game, he decided to come to talk to me about the sport. He was a rather
loquacious fellow, ready to tell me everything I needed to know. “The court is very specific. This is the outer boundary,” he said, pointing to the end of the archway. “Essentially, the game is ‘hit the ball against the wall, and go down the line until you win… last person standing.’” After mentioning that I played a game like this in grade school, he came back with a quick response.
“When people say you’re just playing an elementary school game, or that it has got grade school origins, our rebuttal is that our rules are long and varied, and very stringently followed. See, right now they are arguing,” he said, pointing to another game that just started, “whether or not it hit the door or the masonry. It’s a big difference: you hit the masonry, it’s a good shot, hit the door, it’s not.” He went on: “We’ve got some rules designed to keep up the level of play. For example, we won’t allow too many first-years in on a game, in order to maintain a level of play,” Taylor said, as if he were the general manager of a sports franchise attempting to achieve the perfect balance of veterans and rookies on his roster. Like in pro sports, the goal seems to be to produce a productive present and bright future. Taylor is a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge on wall ball, but I managed to stump him — well, sort of. “When did wall ball begin?” “Actually that is one of the greatest questions,” he replied. “No one actually knows.” “It has existed for at least the past decade. We know that because of people who graduated when I was in first year. And those people said they met people who had been playing it for four years when they came into first year.” Apparently, everyone knows a guy, who knows a guy, but no one can quite place its origin. Regardless, the game has become a fixture of Trinity College over the last however many years, with no signs of letting up.
Graduating athlete: Alicia Van Kampen Varsity Blue’s forward hopes to keep basketball in her life after graduation Susan Gordon
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
For Alicia Van Kampen, a 6’2” Physical Edudcation student and forward for the Varsity Blues’ women’s basketball team, playing basketball at U of T has had a huge impact on her life as a student athlete. “Without basketball, I don’t think I would have made it this far in my degree. Basketball has helped me to stay motivated and stay on top of my academics. Playing varsity sports may be time-demanding, but in the end, it is all worth it.” Van Kampen starting playing when she was young, and her family was a big factor in her development as a player. “Around grade five, my dad put a basketball net in on the driveway,” she said. “My parents were a big part of me loving the game; without their support, I would not have been able to play at a higher level and become the player I am today.” The skills that she learned in the driveway and on the court got her noticed by head coach Michèle Bélanger, who scouted Van Kampen in her grade 12 year. Bélanger’s coaching was ultimately the main factor in Van Kampen’s choice to come to U of T. “She was an experienced coach and athlete, and I knew if I played for her she would help me to develop the most possible.”
Van Kampen quickly proved herself to be an exceptional athlete, starting for the team in the post position in only her second year, and continuing to grow as a player in her third year. “My third-year on the team started off great; I was starting again and my playing time had increased… But then in my eighth game of the season, I dove for a loose ball, got nudged the wrong way, and got a season ending injury,” she explained. “I had a ruptured acl, strained mcl, and partially torn pcl. I would later get reconstructive acl surgery in March… It wouldn’t be until October of my fourth year that I would be cleared from my surgeon to play with contact.” Van Kampen was chosen as one of the team’s captains in her fourth year, but her confidence was shaky after her injury. “It was always in the back of my head that I could reinjure my knee. It took me a while to gain [my confidence] back and I found my performance had finally gotten better as playoffs approached. I did end up achieving more as the previous years based on the stats sheet, but overall my fourth year was a disappointing season.” Van Kampen is optimistic about her fifth and final season, despite the loss of a couple key players. “My feelings going into our first game are good. We have all been
working hard this past month and throughout the summer to improve our skills and learn how to work as a team and figure out what each of us like on the court. We have good overall team chemistry, so I know good things are going to happen this year. For the upcoming year as a team we hope to finish first in the east and… as a fifth-year athlete, my main goal is to lead the team to nationals.” Looking back on her time at U of T, Van Kampen certainly isn’t disappointed in her choice of team, or coach. “Michèle Bélanger has been an amazing help and support throughout my time here… My teammates year after year have been a great help. My team is like my family in Toronto. I know whenever I need something or need someone to talk to they will be there for me.” Van Kampen hopes to keep basketball part of her life after finishing her time with the team. “I plan to look for a small coaching job and work at basketball development camps… I hope to stay involved in basketball once I have graduated. I hope one day to be able to coach my children’s basketball teams as they grow up.” The women’s basketball team will play its first game of the regular season on November 1 at McMaster University.
Alicia Van Kampen PhoTo CourTesy of The VarsiTy Blues
var.st/sports
VARSITY SPORTS
27
Review follows appointment of new dean Amanda Coletta
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
The University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education is expected to announce a new intercollegiate sport model this fall. The model will consist of intramurals (including tri-campus teams), clubs, and intercollegiate and high performance sports. A review of the model was commissioned by Ira Jacobs, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, in December 2011. Jacobs was appointed dean in July 2010. According to Beth Ali, director of Intercollegiate and High Performance Sport, the model was reviewed as part of a larger academic planning process. “When a new dean is appointed, the provost’s office requires that the dean creates an academic and strategic plan for the faculty,” she said. The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education is an integrated faculty responsible not only for undergraduate and graduate programs, but also for the co-curricular programs; so as part of this process, the sport model was reviewed. The purpose of the review was to understand how the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education could better manage all levels of sport and physical activity
“One thing I’ve learned during my first year here is that capital expenditures and operating expenditures are only part of the EY equation. On my project team, I work with people from around the world. Thursday is our international cooking night, when we share our favorite dishes and a bit about our ancestries. We’re a team in the office, a team in the kitchen.” See every amazing angle at exceptionalEY.com.
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Computed CAPEX and OPEX. Then learned how to cook Tex-Mex.
programs, while taking into consideration the amount of resources that need to be allocated for each program. “Each institution is unique,” explained Ali. “The size, diversity, complexity, and heritage that the University of Toronto has as an institution, but also as an intercollegiate program, made it necessary to review and implement the new model in an institution-specific way,” she continued. Following two phases of extensive consultations, a final report was sent to Jacobs in April 2012. Student athletes, coaches, alumni, staff, and faculty members attended more than 30 in-person consultation sessions, and then submitted feedback and comments via a faculty website. Numerous criteria were taken into account when deciding upon a final model; these included whether the sport in question had a high risk of injury, the level of experience of the athletes, the average home attendance for the sport, whether the university has hosted an Ontario University Athletics (oua) or Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (cis) championship in the past five years, the academic performance of the athletes, and the revenue generated by the sport. The intramural program will be the next program area to undergo further review and change before the reworking of the sport model is finalized.
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1. Recipe instruction 4. Flounders’ cousins 8. Squandered 12. Let it all out, perhaps 13. Better copy? 14. Camp sight 15. Measure of fun? 16. Apple’s apple, e.g. 17. Parodied 18. Orthodontic gadget 20. Part of some cages 22. Captain’s underling 23. Six-footer? 27. Church topper 29. Confident solver’s tool 30. Bar topic 31. Spread 32. Clear the tables 33. Audition tape 34. Is after you? 35. Generational divide 36. Guilty pleasures 37. Consumer Reports employee 39. Bottled (up) 40. Spider’s parlor 41. Neighbor of Namibia 44. Feng ___ 47. Point to the right? 49. A dancer may cut one 50. Be unresolved 51. Baptism or bar mitzvah 52. It’s often about nothing 53. Inflatable things 54. “Citizen Kane” prop 55. Hiker’s seat
1. Doesn’t sit by 2. Deliver by chute 3. Levels with sticks? 4. Get rid of, electronically 5. Only have eyes for 6. Hanks film 7. Skyscraper sections 8. Spills the beans 9. Luxury spot? 10. Barely make, with “out” 11. Hitched, so to speak 19. Give a darn 21. Du Maurier’s “Jamaica ___” 24. Pertaining to a primary 25. Showed up 26. Ark complements 27. Baby oyster 28. Whittle 29. Lightweight boxer 32. Workers with poles, once 33. Body shop concern 35. Beaver Cleaver’s exclamation 36. Let off steam 38. Kindling, often 39. Collagist’s need 42. Pachisi kin 43. Like kids at a circus, maybe 44. A ship, to crew members 45. Crone 46. One abroad 48. Weigh heavily upon
Varsity Publications
Board of Directors By-election Varsity Publications is the not-for-profit corporation that publishes The Varsity newspaper. There is one (1) vacant seat on the corporation's Board of Directors. A by-election to fill this seat will be held on October 21 – 23. Who can vote? Any full-time undergraduate student who pays the Varsity Publications levy is elligible to vote. Vote online at voting.utoronto.ca October 21 – 23, 2013 Last call for nominations: To run, eligible students must submit their nomination before 5 pm today: October 7, 2013. Who can run? Any full-time undergraduate student who pays the Varsity Publications levy and is enrolled at the University of Toronto Mississauga or University of Toronto Scarborough is eligible to run. If no nominations are received for the UTM or UTSC categories, a general category director will be elected. For more information and to download the nomination form, visit: var.st/byelection If you have any questions regarding the by-election, please contact the CRO, elections@thevarsity.ca
Feeling stumped? Crossword answers are now online at var.st/crossword
Enjoy your long weekend U of T! We will not be producing a print issue next week. Look for content online while you enjoy your time catching up on readings relaxing!
Our next print issue is October 21!