October 25th, 2021

October 25, 2021

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

Vol. CXLII, No. 7

News

Former Trinity College provost and vice-chancellor accused of sexual harassment

U of T’s sexual violence policy is being reviewed

Business University reportedly failed to punish Andy Orchard following student complaints

MBA students create a scholarship to support Black students

Comment How to avoid cultural appropriation this Halloween

Features

Lauren Alexander News Editor

Content warning: This article discusses sexual harassment, sexual assault, and misogynistic behaviour, and mentions rape culture.

An investigation by Al Jazeera revealed that Andy Orchard, former Trinity College provost and vice-chancellor and professor of English and medieval studies, has been accused of sexual harassment and engaging in inappropriate sexual relationships with students. Orchard worked at U of T from 2000 to 2013 and is now a professor at Oxford University. The investigation into him was part of a larger look at sexual misconduct allegations at Oxford University and relationships between women graduate students and men supervisors in UK universities.

In response, U of T President Meric Gertler wrote in a statement that the reports from Al Jazeera “are deeply distressing and troubling to all of us as a community.” Gertler wrote that U of T condemns sexual violence and harassment and asserted that the university will work to “bring about the necessary change in this area.”

He pointed to the ongoing review of Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, emphasizing that the review process aims to include input from survivors.

Allegations Professors and students who worked with

Orchard described his reputation as a sexual predator, hidden behind an impressive academic reputation as a medieval scholar.

Those who worked with him at University of Cambridge, University of Toronto, and University of Oxford alleged that he often attended meetings while drunk, harassed students in pubs, and engaged in sexual relationships with students that they were afraid to end due to a fear of retribution.

Among the people who said they were sexually harassed by Orchard was UTM VicePresident and Principal Alexandra Gillespie, who detailed her experiences to Al Jazeera.

Gillespie described an incident in which Orchard, seemingly drunk, cornered her on a staircase, and made sexual advances toward her. She said that she did not feel safe speaking out before, but that now that she is in a position of power, she can speak out on her experiences with Orchard.

A report by the Toronto Star found that at least two complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against Orchard were made to U of T, but he faced no disciplinary action from the university besides being cautioned. In fact, the Star found that the victims faced retaliation from Orchard, who was aware of the complaints in his file. Professor Emeritus David Klausner alleged that the university was aware of the extent of Orchard’s behavior, and that the sexual violence support centre advised him to warn students about Orchard rather than taking action.

Orchard did not respond to the Star’s requests for comment. According to Al Jazeera, his lawyers sent them a five-page letter disputing the reports, but did not allow it to appear in print.

Since then, the university instituted a Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment,

“My relative believes in conspiracy theories — here’s why” which came into effect in 2017. The Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre was created in 2017 along with the policy.

Reactions from community Trinity Against Sexual Assault and Harassment (TASAH) wrote in a statement about the reports that the group stands with survivors of Orchard’s abuse, calling for the university to take appropriate steps in response to the allegations.

It added that students have also come forward alleging that Orchard made “misogynistic and violent comments upholding rape culture” during lectures.

TASAH demanded the removal of Orchard’s painting from Strachan Hall at Trinity College.

The portrait has since been removed. It further demanded a formal investigation by Trinity College, a zero tolerance policy on sexual assault by faculty and students, and a commitment to “ending rape culture on campus.”

In a message to community members, Trinity College Provost Mayo Moran wrote, “While the media reports do not focus on Trinity College, we cannot be complacent either about that or about the absence of formal complaints. As a result, in addition to the policy review, Trinity plans to retain an external expert to examine any Trinity-specific issues that may need to be addressed.”

Moran wrote that more details will be provided in the next few weeks.

— Resources on Page 2

Arts & Culture We went to a séance — you won’t believe what happened next

Science Understanding the phenomena of demons

Sports Looking at this season’s exceptional Varsity Blues!

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Woodsworth College sign defaced with racist, anti-Black graffiti Campus Safety investigating, graffiti removed on Monday Lauren Alexander News Editor

Content warning: This article discusses antiBlack racism, mentions the n-word, and mentions antisemitism.

The Woodsworth College Residence sign on Bloor Street was found defaced with anti-Black graffiti on October 17.

The graffiti was removed by the next day. It read, “What’s a [n-word’s] personality.”

In an email to The Varsity, a spokesperson for the university confirmed that the graffiti was reported on October 18 and later removed, adding that Campus Safety is investigating the incident.

“The University of Toronto condemns this vandalism in the strongest possible terms – there is no place for racism of any kind on any of our campuses,” wrote the spokesperson.

This is not the first time that racist graffiti has been found on or near campus. In 2016, an Ontario Institute for Studies in Education sign was defaced with a swastika; and in 2020, Black Lives Matter signs outside a U of T elementary school were defaced.

In an email to The Varsity, University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) External Commissioner Justin Patrick wrote that the “UTGSU staunchly opposes this blatant act of anti-black, racist graffiti.”

“U of T must work to promote a culture of antiracism on campus and make clear to all who work and study on campus premises, as well as to those who are travelling through campus to get to another destination, that racism will not be tolerated,” wrote Patrick. He added that reforms to Campus Safety services should work to address all forms of racism on campus.

He further asserted that efforts to address antiBlack racism on campus should involve community

The Woodsworth College sign that was vandalized.

ANGAD DEOL/THEVARSITY

consultations with students of colour and lead to “tangible reforms” to how safety is ensured on campus.

The Varsity has reached out to the University of Toronto Students’ Union for comment.

UTSU to hire vice-president, public & university affairs after a lack of nominees Previous VP PUA resigned in September Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

In a statement to The Varsity, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) President Alexa Ballis wrote that the union will initiate a hiring process for the position of vice-president, public & university affairs (VP PUA) after the position failed to attract any election candidates despite an extended nomination period.

While the UTSU is still finalizing the timeline for the hiring process, it will start accepting applications for the position sometime in the coming week.

This is the second time the VP PUA position has been left vacant during an election period this year after the sole candidate dropped out during

the spring 2021 election cycle. The appointed VP PUA Catherine Lai resigned on September 15, citing health issues.

At its most recent annual general meeting, the UTSU also announced that it would be adding a clause to its bylaws on elections to clarify a procedure which would be executed in the future if there are no candidates for a position.

Though a VP PUA election will no longer be held during the fall 2021 by-elections, other candidates are still running for director positions and the race is currently in its online campaigning period. Voting began on October 24 and will end on October 26 at 5:00 pm. The results will be announced on October 28.

The Student Commons building.

NICOLE GIEBLER/THEVARSITY

Black Research Network launched to bring together researchers from across U of T Network a recommendation of Anti-Black Racism Task Force Report Joël Ndongmi Varsity Contributor

The Black Research Network (BRN) at U of T was launched on October 8. According to its website, the goal of the BRN is “to promote Black excellence at University of Toronto and to enhance the research capacity of Black scholars within the university and on the world stage.” The BRN aims to increase the visibility of Black researchers and their accomplishments.

The network operates across all of U of T’s three campuses and encompasses subjects ranging from engineering to music and social work.

The research network has four pillars: Research Excellence, Mentorship & Pathways, Funding & Investment, and Community, Collaboration & Partnerships.

Creation of the network The creation of the BRN can also be contextualized within the Anti-Black Racism Task Force Report that came out in March 2021.

The Anti-Black Racism Task Force was created following protests for racial justice across the world, and it released its report in March 2021.

One recommendation of the report included that the university should fund and support the BRN. In an interview with U of T News, Beth Coleman, the inaugural director of the BRN and an associate professor at UTM, said, “We know that Black researchers historically have faced significant barriers to their advancement in academia. We know, for example, they receive a lower percentage of federally funded grants.”

The BRN hopes to shift “the conversation from deficit to excellence” by supporting Black researchers across the University of Toronto campuses.

Goals of the network In their first year, the BRN will focus on creating physical spaces across U of T’s three campuses where researchers can “attend workshops, present papers or get together to hammer out a paper for publication.” Their goal is to create a sense of community to combat the sense of isolation many Black researchers feel across their disciplines.

Coleman said that for the first year, the BRN will also be focusing on fundraising efforts to “support larger-scale research endeavours.”

Coleman explained, “we’re focusing on supporting research collaborations in data science and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – partly because STEM has been historically a difficult place for Black researchers.”

Other goals of the BRN include eventually creating a mentorship system across U of T’s three campuses.

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

• Visit svpscentre.utoronto.ca for information, contact details, and hours of operation for the tri-campus

•

Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266 or by email at svpscentre@utoronto.ca.

Call Campus Safety Special Constable Service to make a report at 416-9782222 (for UTSG and UTSC) or 905-5694333 (for UTM)

• • •

Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre at 416-323-6040 Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555 Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866-863-0511

thevarsity.ca/section/news

OCTOBER 25, 2021

3

U of T announces review of its sexual violence policy Students plan to hold town hall to present policy analysis and compile student feedback Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

Content warning: This article contains discussions of sexual violence.

U of T has announced a review of its sexual violence policy, which it must conduct every three years. The review will seek ways to strengthen the policy by consulting students, staff, and faculty on the policy itself and on current support that the university has in place for survivors.

In wake of the review’s announcement, student initiatives like the Prevention Empowerment Advocacy Response for Survivors (PEARS) Project, a trauma-informed initiative at U of T led by sexual violence survivors, have already been organizing to express their dissatisfaction with the current policy and speaking up about the issues they see.

Review process The policy review will be led by Linda Johnston, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Nursing, and Allison Burgess, director of the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office. The review team will reach out to student groups and other stakeholders to hold a consultation process which will occur in February 2022.

The review is seeking opinions from community members on a variety of issues, including how sexual violence cases should be handled if there is no formal report of the incident in question.

Through the review’s consultation website, stakeholders are also invited to send their feedback on the policy, the student guide on breakdown of the policy, or U of T’s support services.

After the consultations are finished, recommendations and proposed policy changes based on the review’s findings will be presented to the university’s governing bodies.

The review comes more than a month after the Ontario government has announced that it will require certain changes to be made to sexual violence policies. The government’s required changes include making sure that students who report sexual violence don’t face repercussions for violating any university’s drug or alcohol policies at the time of the incident. Moreover, survivors cannot be questioned about their sexual history or expression.

The university is already implementing changes to the policy which are in line with the government’s requirements. Additionally, it noted that the review is another way for the university to reaffirm its commitment to keeping students safe on campus and addressing sexual violence.

The Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre.

EHSAN ETASAMI/THEVARSITY

Policy issues In an interview with The Varsity, Micah Kalisch, founder of the PEARS Project, explained that while the university should protect students in vulnerable positions, the current policy doesn’t put that into practice.

Kalisch noted that there is a lack of transparency about U of T’s processes for supporting students that have faced sexual violence. They noted that several of the university’s policies may prevent survivors from getting help.

This includes section 79 of the policy, which states that an investigation will be discontinued if the student, on whose behalf it is being conducted, no longer attends the university.

Another part of the policy which Kalisch took issue with was related to privacy laws which, according to them, could restrict the rights of survivors when put into practice. They also noted that the current policy does not talk very much about substance abuse in the context of sexual violence.

Kalisch also added that there’s very little cohesion between university policies, student union policies, and internal workplace policies, which makes the system much harder to navigate. All of these factors compound, and may silence survivors who are already having a hard time speaking up.

U of T’s support centre for survivors of sexual violence is the Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre (SVPSC). It was established in 2017 as a part of the university’s initiatives to

combat sexual violence on campus.

In a press release, the SVPSC noted that its work is “heavily informed by community feedback,” as well as information from other sources, including the provincial government’s survey on sexual violence. This allows the centre to provide students with support and accommodations that will be most beneficial to them.

The centre also emphasizes education, and it offers workshops and training modules on topics like consent to student groups and departments. Moreover, while the centre doesn’t conduct investigations or take disciplinary action, it can walk students through the processes of making a report.

Student advocacy In response to current policy problems, PEARS has made it part of their mandate to advocate for sexual violence policies which are more centred on the survivors.

Kalisch said that one of the biggest problems is that students don’t understand the policy because it’s not accessible. Consequently, PEARS has been working on a preliminary policy analysis with the Dandelion Initiative, a group which works to promote survivor-centric practices for survivors of sexual assault.

Once PEARS has finalized the analysis, it will then organize a town hall in conjunction with other student unions where it will read out the policy analysis and foster a discussion about

what kinds of changes students would want to see in the policy.

After the results of the policy analysis and town hall are compiled in a report, PEARS plans to schedule a meeting with the university where it will present its findings. It plans to invite students who attended the town hall to this meeting.

Kalisch added that professors and members of the SVPSC will not be invited to the town hall to ensure that there will be no one to disrupt conversation by defending the policy, unlike the town hall held earlier this month for the review of the University-Mandated Leave of Absence Policy.

“By defending the policies, [professors and SVPSC members] invalidate students or dismiss what it is they have to say,” Kalisch explained.

“While it’s important that [the university is] hearing our voices, we also want to make sure that everyone feels like they can safely share their voice.”

According to Kalisch, the university has not yet contacted PEARS nor anyone that the initiative works with, which includes a range of advocates and survivors.

Kalisch concluded that they are “cautiously optimistic” about the outcome of the review. An ideal outcome, for them, would simply mean that the university listens and implements the changes survivors are asking for.

“The reason I am cautiously optimistic… is because of the incredible people in PEARS that I’ve been working with,” Kalisch said. “I’ve never seen so many survivors and so many allies come together in a space like this to really advocate for change.”

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

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

• Call Campus Safety Special Constable Service to make a report at 416-978-2222 (for UTSG and UTSC) or 905-569-4333 (for UTM) • Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre at 416-323-6040 • Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555 • Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866-863-0511

UTSC plans for in-person winter semester Research labs return to full capacity Syeda Maheen Zulfiqar UTSC Bureau Chief

The UTSC Campus Affairs Committee and the UTSC Academic Affairs Committee met on October 20 and October 21, respectively, outlining plans for an in-person winter semester, as well as a return to full capacity in research labs. The Academic Affairs Committee also heard updates on four new courses which will be available for winter 2022.

Updates for winter 2022 William A. Gough, vice-principal academic and dean, provided updates on the mode of course delivery for the winter semester at UTSC at both committee meetings.

Gough explained that winter 2022 has been planned to be in person for a long time, saying that the administration has been operating under this assumption since the spring term.

He elaborated, “We have not deviated from this basic plan, but we have heard concerns from the community.”

Addressing some concerns, Gough said, “As permitted by the province, we are not required to social distance in our classrooms, and so our classes will return to regular capacity in the winter.” Students and instructors will continue to be required to wear masks in the winter.

Additionally, outside the classroom, the campus will follow the regulations of step three of the Reopening Ontario Plan, which requires social distancing, crowd size limits, and masks.

Research laboratories As of October 15, research laboratories at UTSC have returned to operating at full capacity. Irena Creed, vice-principal research and innovation, explained that the university “allows research laboratories… that meet the definition of instructional space to start to operate at full

UTSC buildings.

MICHAEL PHOON/THEVARSITY

capacity, without two meter distancing as long as masks are worn in addition to any other applicable personal protective equipment.”

Creed added that research laboratories fit the criteria of an instructional space so long as they

are “a place where either research infrastructure exists or other research activities take place.”

The UTSC Campus Affairs Committee and the UTSC Academic Affairs Committee will meet again on January 13 and January 10, respectively.

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Students struggle with relaxed shuttle bus schedules, capacity limits due to COVID-19 Bus shuttle adjusts to UTM reading week schedule despite classes continuing at UTSG Lexey Burns UTM Bureau Chief

As campus bus shuttles running from UTM to UTSG have implemented new regulations due to the pandemic, students have been struggling to adjust to the updated schedules and new limitations.

Each bus now has a capacity limit of 12 people. Students must also show a negative UCheck result and wear a mask before they board the bus. The shuttle bus schedule also changes during reading weeks, summer, and exam seasons despite the fact that the timelines of the two campuses don’t always match up.

Students have expressed confusion over social media about whether the buses are even running this year, and some have noted that the information available online about them appears to be missing clear details. UTSG students have also had a hard time finding how much it would cost to take the shuttle to UTM, since they don’t qualify for a free fare.

In an email to The Varsity, Rayyan Kahloon, a third-year computer science student, reinforced this sentiment, writing that the shuttle bus procedure for reading week “was pretty chaotic.”

Kahloon takes the bus three times a week to attend some in-person courses at UTSG. Kahloon recounted a time when he took the subway home because 25 people were waiting for the bus. If he had decided to take the bus, he would have had to wait another 90 minutes for the next bus because of the bus capacity limits.

Moreover, the bus schedules changed for UTM’s reading week, which does not coincide with UTSG’s, meaning that Kahloon had to continue attending classes with a different bus schedule. Consequently, at one point, he spent an hour waiting for a bus that never came.

Though he waited for the next bus, he wasn’t able to get on because it could only take a certain number of students.

“I essentially missed my entire day since I wasn’t going to stay for the 30 remaining minutes of class and deal with the shuttle ride

The shuttle bus stop.

MURA J. HAMMADI/THEVARSITY

home,” Kahloon wrote. He experienced the same problem on the two other days he had to go to class that week. He would arrive at the bus stop only to find the bus already full.

Ultimately, Kahloon paid to take the TTC, which has a longer commute time.

In response to The Varsity’s inquiry about these issues, a representative for the UTM

shuttle bus system wrote that while the bus follows UTM’s academic schedule, they make every effort to accommodate as many community members as possible. They also noted that the feedback received from reading week will be taken into consideration when they are planning future schedules during reduced service periods.

“You can’t tell me my fear is irrational”: U of T community reflects on Islamophobia following London attack Students reflect on being Muslim at U of T

A memorial for the London, Ontario attack.

COURTESY OF AVIDLONDONNERK/CC WIKIMEDIA

Carmina Cornacchia Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article contains discussions of Islamophobia and Islamophobic violence.

Salman Afzaal, Madiha Salman, Yumna Afzaal, and Talat Afzaal, four members of a Muslim family from London, Ontario, are dead because a terrorist ran the family over with his car on June 6, 2021. Fayez, a nine-year-old member of the family, survived but was seriously injured.

A CBC News article compiled profiles on each of the deceased. Madiha Salman was a PhD student at Western University, and is remembered by one of her students as a dedicated teaching assistant. Her husband, Salman Afzaal, worked as a physiotherapist in seniors’ living centres and was described by CBC News’ interviewees as sunny and positive.

Their daughter Yumna Afzaal was a high school student who excelled in her academic life and impressed her teachers despite the challenges of doing high school online.

The London attack is part of a larger pattern of violence against Muslim people across the world. The Varsity interviewed Muslim students and faculty, who reflected on Islamophobia in Canada.

Student unions’ responses “Tragedies like this force us to confront the reality that Islamophobia, hate, and vitriol continue to exist within our communities,” read a statement

made by the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) on June 10.

In an email to The Varsity, Basmah Ramadan, vice-president external of the MSA, cited the Anti-Islamophobia Community Working Group as a positive step toward policy change from the administration that would help Muslim students and expressed hope that it would be followed by continued efforts against Islamophobia at U of T. The Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU) also responded with a statement, writing that it was “horrified” and likening the attack to other instances of violence against Muslims in Canada.

It called for the community to reflect on their own personal biases following the attack.

Faculty initiatives In a collection called Reflections on the London, Ont. murders, Anver Emon, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at U of T, linked the London murders to the “erasure” of Muslim people in Canada. He described them as a symptom of Islamophobia in Canadian public policy.

He cited Quebec’s legislation against religious symbols in certain occupations as another example, writing that the legislation results in the dehumanization of Muslim women and “other racialized minority women.” Emon also pointed out gaps in Canada’s archives, which lack data on Muslim Canadians and offer few acknowledgements of their contributions, leading to inadequate representation of Muslim Canadians in public policy.

Dr. Youcef Soufi, from the Institute for Islamic

Studies, wrote part of Reflections on the London, Ont. Murders alongside Emon. Soufi spoke to The Varsity about how the collection came to be.

He said, “our objective was… to use our academic skills… to contribute to a public sphere.

And it was also an act of mourning together — an act of solidarity.”

Soufi said that the collection includes both personal and academic writings. For the latter category, contributors wrote about topics including the difficulties faced in persuading public officials to implement well-researched interventions for Islamophobia.

Muslim students at U of T respond In an interview with The Varsity, Soban Atique, a current student at U of T, spoke about the various responses to the terrorist attack in London.

He said that responses from government officials were “lacklustre,” noting that pressure from the public was required to make Doug Ford refer to the incident as a terrorist attack. Atique also said that he was encouraged by the large number of people who attended the vigil for the victims that was held at U of T. Atique talked about the importance of reading Muslim authors and consulting with Muslim people when Islamophobia is being discussed in the media.

He also stressed the importance of lived experiences when talking about issues that affect Muslim people. “You can’t tell me my fear is irrational,” he said, when talking about antiMuslim violence.

Recent UTM graduate Muzhda Iqbal said in

an interview that she had a positive experience at UTM and would encourage others to attend the school as well. “I thankfully never faced any racism… because of my religion or skin color [at UTM],” she said. Iqbal added that she felt that the administration should be commended for creating a welcoming environment.

She attributed her positive experience in part to the prayer rooms U of T provides for students, which have separate areas for men and women, as well as accommodations for various sects of Islam. Iqbal also mentioned accommodations from the university for religious holidays.

In an interview with The Varsity, current U of T student Sarah Rana said she feels that the university is failing to create a tolerant academic environment surrounding issues affecting Muslim people — in particular, issues that affect Palestinian and Uighur people.

As an activist for Muslim Uighurs, she has faced skepticism from her peers about the genocide that Uighurs are experiencing. She recounted messages from students that told her to “shut up” about her activism.

Rana also discussed the depiction of Muslims in the media, describing the problematic nature of stories that assign anyone who is Muslim a role on a spectrum somewhere between “moderate” to “extreme” according to their appearance.

“People don’t realize that Canada is becoming deeply Islamophobic,” said Rana. She urged people to seek out information about Islam from friends who are Muslim and Muslim religious leaders as opposed to the internet.

thevarsity.ca/section/news

OCTOBER 25, 2021

5

UTGSU town hall discusses board restructuring, bylaw changes Graduate students hear updates on UTGSU restructuring Padraic Berting Graduate Bureau Chief

On October 21, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) hosted a town hall for graduate students to ask questions and give feedback as executives continue to work on a proposal to restructure the UTGSU executives and board.

Members of the UTGSU Board of Directors heard a presentation on the proposal at the board’s July meeting, when the executive committee proposed a massive restructuring of the organization and reformation of its bylaws.

The restructuring will help the UTGSU comply with the Canadian Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA). Additionally, the restructuring will streamline and update the UTGSU’s board structure so that it would more closely resemble other graduate student unions in Canada, with the same president and vice-president positions and a smaller board of directors.

Board members expressed concern over some of the proposed changes at the July meeting. In response, the executive agreed to host a town hall to explain the changes in further detail and get feedback from the community.

The proposal outlined during the town hall had undergone some changes since it was first proposed in July.

The changes The UTGSU executives hosted the town hall, delivering a presentation on the proposed bylaw changes and restructuring along with the UTGSU’s legal counsel Arbique & Ahde. Although the bylaw changes are available in drafted form on their website, final updates and tracked changes to the bylaws are not available yet.

The changes include whittling down the number of executives from eight to six and shaping them into a more conventional structure, with a president, vice-president internal, vicepresident external, vice-president academic

division 1, vice-president academic division 2, and vice-president academic divisions 3 and 4. Additionally, the executives are including the executive director position — which is currently an unelected staff member — in the bylaws to reflect the position’s importance in the union.

The proposal also replaces the current course union structure with a board of directors model that shrinks the board down from over 100 members to roughly 30 to 35. The board members will represent the different academic divisions, with additional seats allocated to historically underrepresented groups. The executive still plans to consult with the course union representatives.

Additionally, the union’s committees have been narrowed down to five: the Governance Committee, the Equity and Advocacy Committee, the Graduate Affairs Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Grad Minds Committee.

Changes also include adding bylaws regarding formal and informal conflict resolution, allowing

for online meetings, and formally establishing the position of equity officer.

international, while in 2020, 26 per cent of students were international.

The international student population has also changed significantly, with more students coming from Asia and the Pacific. In 2020, 82 per cent of undergraduate international students came from Asia and the Pacific, an increase of 19 per cent since 2005.

The 2005 report showed that 23 per cent of students in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering identified as women. Since then, there has been a 13 per cent increase in the number of students identifying as women, which went up to 36 per cent in 2020.

Management has also historically had low numbers of women students but has recently seen an increase. In 2005, 29 per cent of students were women, which increased to 40 per cent in 2020.

However, some faculties, such as the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, have historically had higher numbers of women. In 2005, 93 per cent of students in the faculty were women, which decreased to 84 per cent in 2020.

Questions from graduate students During the question-and-answer period, one attendee expressed concern over representation on the new board of directors. There are a number of graduate students who spend most of their time working at the Royal Ontario Museum, and the attendee asked why those students did not have representation in the proposed board of directors. An executive and the legal counsel said that they will look into the question for the upcoming board meeting.

As the updated bylaws are continuously being tweaked in anticipation of the upcoming UTGSU Annual General Meeting in December, there will likely be more developments on these changes in upcoming meetings. Students can provide feedback on the changes until November 18 by accessing a Google form on the UTGSU’s website.

International students now make up one quarter of U of T student body, data reveals Half of U of T’s revenue comes from student fees Lauren Alexander News Editor

Each year, U of T releases their Facts & Figures report, which gives data on the previous year’s spending, students, research, faculty, and more.

The Varsity looked through Facts & Figures reports going back to 2005 to see what has changed at U of T. The most recent 2020 report reveals a significant change to the university’s budget, with 50 per cent of U of T’s revenue now coming from student fees. The percentage of revenue from student fees has continued to increase alongside international tuition.

The report also provides insights into the student population. This year, it showed a significant increase in the number of international students — in particular, students from Asia and the Pacific — as well as increasing proportions of women in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and Management.

Revenue changes From 2005 to 2020, the ratio of revenue that the university received from the government decreased from making up half of the university’s total revenue in 2005 to only one third in 2020.

Over the same time period, there was a

corresponding increase in the amount of revenue coming from student fees. In 2005, the university received 29 per cent of its revenue from student fees; by 2020, the number had risen to 50 per cent.

This reflects an ongoing trend of the university increasing student tuition to make up for provincial budget cuts. Postsecondary education has consistently seen decreases in the amount of funding it receives from the government, causing the university to turn to other sources of income, such as increasing international tuition.

While the rise of domestic tuition is regulated and was frozen in 2019, international tuition is unregulated. Calculations from The Varsity found that international tuition increased by 41.2 per cent in the last decade.

The student population The 2020 Facts & Figures data also shows how many students of various demographics are at the university.

Overall, the total student population, including undergraduate and graduate students, was 95,055 students in 2020 — an increase of 24,912 from 2005, indicating a 36 per cent increase in the student population in the last 15 years.

The amount of international students at U of T has also increased dramatically in the last few years. In 2005, nine per cent of students were

Gender disparities across faculties Among the overall student population, the gender balance has stayed fairly consistent, with 55 per cent of all students identifying as women in 2020.

However, since 2005, some faculties have seen a decrease in gender disparities and an increase in women students.

LAUREN ALEXANDER/THEVARSITY

Business & Labour

October 25, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Business Board meeting reports U of T’s investments at record highs New Bicentennial Campaign more financially ambitious than previous Boundless campaign Andrew Yang Ki Business & Labour Correspondent

The Business Board of U of T’s Governing Council convened on October 5 for its first meeting of the academic year. The Business Board is responsible for overseeing cost-effective resource allocation and approving all major university expenditures.

More engagement with alums Vice-President, Advancement David Palmer reported a slew of successes at the university, despite the pandemic. “This was a record year for alumni engagement,” Palmer said. Alumni engagement refers to how many university alums participate in program offerings such as lectures, courses, and social events.

COVID-19 restrictions allowed for alums and volunteers from around the world to connect virtually. “While we wish we could meet in person, we did take full advantage of [leveraging] these tools to extend our outreach in very significant ways across the world,” Palmer explained.

The 2020–2021 fiscal year saw 57,369 alums engaging with various program offerings from the university, compared to 51,282 the previous fiscal year. Of these, 17,921 were ‘newly engaged’ alums who had just started taking advantage of university programming, an increase from 16,884 in the previous year. Overall, 82 per cent of divisions met or exceeded their projected goals for alum engagement over the year.

Fundraising Palmer also announced a record year for fundraising at the university. This achievement was a result of $445 million in gifts and grants during the 2020–2021 fiscal year, bolstered by the historic $250 million donation from the Temerty Foundation and Family.

“This is an extraordinary milestone for Canadian philanthropy in general,” Palmer said, explaining the donation will provide a “huge boost” to the university’s biomedical and clinical research and support collaborative research efforts with U of T’s hospital partners, such as the Toronto Academic Health Science Network.

U of T’s return on fundraising investment during the fiscal year was also extremely efficient.

It spent 9.1 cents per dollar of funding raised, down from 19.2 cents last year and significantly lower than the 10-year average of 15.7 cents.

Bicentennial Campaign priorities Palmer, along with Professor Trevor Young, U of T’s acting vice-president and provost, also presented the Bicentennial Campaign priorities. The Bicentennial Campaign, the successor to U of T’s Boundless campaign, aims to raise $4 billion in donations from 225,000 alums, doubling the Boundless campaign’s goal of $2 billion in 2011.

According to the proposal, the campaign’s public phase is expected to launch in late fall and — through one million instances of alumni engagement — intends on helping the university tackle challenges like rebuilding from the pan-

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

demic, taking on the climate crisis, and dealing with inequity.

Funding priorities include student programming and financial aid, faculty funding, research and program funding, and capital projects, with $1.409 billion, $1.314 billion, $1.624 billion, and $974.9 million prioritized to each respective area.

The campaign focuses on students and faculty particularly, with 25.3 per cent of the total ideal funds allotted for student support and 29.2 per cent allotted for faculty support. In comparison, the Boundless campaign allotted 14.9 per cent of its funds for student support and 10 per cent for faculty support.

The total $5.3 billion of academic funding priorities approved by the provost purposefully exceeds the fundraising goal of $4 billion, in order to allow for changing expectations.

Investments exceed expectations Chuck O’Reilly, president and chief investment officer of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM), also delivered

his semi-annual update on investment performance. UTAM manages more than $13 billion in pension, endowment, and short-term working capital assets on behalf of the university.

The report for the period ending June 30 was characterized by numerous successes, and all three pools of capital — pension, Long-Term Capital Appreciation Pool (LTCAP), and Expendable Funds Investment Pool (EFIP) — exceeded the university’s target returns over all periods of measurement. “[The] capital markets have indeed been very accommodative for investors over all the periods reported,” O’Reilly said. “The returns of the positive reference portfolio have considerably outperformed the university’s target returns.”

The 10-year dollar value add, which is the financial gains of the LTCAP and pension in dollars, was $812.8 million of excess capital between the two funds, far outperforming expectations. EFIP performed similarly well over the last 10 years, generating $56.2 million of additional capital.

The next Business Board meeting is scheduled for November 24.

New scholarship for Black MBA students at Rotman works to break down systemic barriers Scholarship co-founders talk about making higher education more accessible The scholarship aims to increase Black representation within Rotman.

COURTESY OF CYTONN PHOTOGRAPHY/UNSPLASH

Maggie Ng Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article discusses anti-Black racism and violence.

When third-year Master of Business Administration (MBA) Rotman Commerce students Jathiban Panchalingam and Bilal Habib saw a lack of Black students in their classrooms and cohorts, they wanted to help invoke positive change by starting the Morning and Evening MBA Black Students Advancement Scholarship.

The scholarship is currently accepting donations through the Rotman class funds program. The goal is to create an endowed scholarship, which would mean the money is invested in a fund that will be able to continue providing financial support for Black students looking to pursue an MBA at the Rotman school.

The desire to make a difference An MBA degree opens doors and offers a lot more benefits than an undergraduate degree.

Panchalingam noticed that pursuing an MBA gave him access to opportunities that he did not know about before he began his degree. “There were gaps in the opportunities that I had or had knowledge [about] and the MBA really helped open

that,” he said in an interview with The Varsity.

According to Harvard Business Review, those who graduate from top MBA programs are more likely to achieve leadership positions, and they earn a yearly salary that is approximately $20,000 more than those who only have an undergraduate business degree.

Panchalingam and Habib noticed that there was a lack of Black representation in their Morning and Evening MBA program, which offers the same degree as U of T’s regular two-year program but is extended to three years to accommodate students’ busy schedules.

The pair decided this was an issue they wanted to help solve. To start this initiative, they collaborated with Students Against Anti-Black Racism, a Rotman group formed in September 2020. The group was created in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred in response, when many issues facing Black communities were being brought to light everywhere, including at U of T. In a world where lack of representation is an ongoing issue, students like Habib and Panchalingam saw that systemic racism put up additional barriers for Black students. “The fact is, there are people who work hard who can’t get to this point because of systematic barriers. We want to help eliminate some of those [systemic] barriers

and one of the big ones is financial barriers,” said Habib in an interview with The Varsity. A 2016 Statistics Canada survey reported that Black youth were more likely than their non-Black counterparts to be living in economically disadvantaged families.

Fundraising efforts The goal of this scholarship is to aid Black students who have the skills and credentials to pursue an MBA but are facing systemic roadblocks. “It’s to help people who can’t otherwise be here, but they could if we were just going on skill level,” Habib said. “There [are] people out there who are talented enough but can’t be here because of financial reasons.” Currently, less than 2.5 per cent of students in the Morning and Evening MBA program are Black.

To successfully launch this scholarship, Habib and Panchalingam needed to raise at least $50,000. With the support of their community, politicians, teachers and well-known American R&B singer Montell Jordan, they’ve nearly accumulated enough to reach their start-up goal.

Still, fundraising this amount is only the very first step to achieving their goal. The $50,000 is to be invested in a fund and the interest payments will support the recipients of the scholarships. This scholarship will be a long-term project that will always need donations.

Fighting for representation A Statistics Canada study based on census data from 2006–2016 looked into young Black

Canadians and their integration within the labour and education market. It was discovered that Black youth were less likely than non-Black youth to obtain a university degree. Young Black women were more likely to achieve a university degree compared to young Black men, but compared to women of other races, Black young women were less likely to achieve a university degree. The study surveyed Black girls between the ages of 13–17 years in 2006 and found that 34 per cent of them had a university degree 10 years later, compared to 41 per cent of girls from other backgrounds.

When Black students are unable to pursue a higher education, the lack of representation is then translated to the workforce, especially within higher ranking positions. A study done by Ryerson University analyzed the diversity of companies across major Canadian cities and reported that Black people only made up 0.79 per cent of these companies’ board members.

Habib, Panchalingam, and their peers in the Students Against Anti-Black Racism group believe that fighting for representation is a lifelong journey to make diversity the norm in workplaces.

“Privilege doesn’t necessarily feel like anything.

Lack of privilege feels like something.” Habib told The Varsity.

Habib believes that, as future leaders, today’s youth need to be the agents of change. Sometimes, that change starts with getting marginalized communities access to the education they need and deserve. As Habib said, “We can’t wait for other people to do it — we are the other people.”

thevarsity.ca/section/business

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Thinking of doing an MBA? Here’s what you need to know

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Weighing the pros and cons of the popular graduate degree

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

Ayesha Siddiqua Varsity Contributor

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is considered to be one of the most esteemed and highly soughtafter graduate degrees across the globe. It is no coincidence that many Fortune 500 companies are managed

by CEOs with an MBA. While pursuing an MBA might promise a lucrative career, it requires significant time and financial commitment. Getting an MBA could take anywhere from one to four or more years, depending on the program and type of degree, and can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $200,000 USD at one of the world’s top business schools.

It is worth investigating if the degree lives up to its hefty price tag. To do so, here are some of the reasons for pursuing and not pursuing an MBA. Developing skills Obtaining and developing important skills is a very popular reason to pursue an MBA. MBA classes are designed to teach the skills required to be successful in a variety of industries and in the business world.

In a recent survey conducted by the Business Graduates Association, nearly 70 per cent of the surveyed MBA students named “[acquiring] more skills and knowledge about the business world” as the main reason for their decision to get an MBA. According to the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, some of the skills acquired while getting an MBA include improved communication, a better understanding of global markets, and more efficient time management skills.

The knowledge and the tools developed over the course of this challenging degree inspire its students to be prepared to work in the difficult and continuously changing business environment. It is especially recommended to pursue an MBA if you are planning to change careers,

because the skills you develop over the course of the degree can enable you to adapt quickly to the different circumstances.

Decline of the MBA’s “value added ratio” A major obstacle faced by students wanting to pursue an MBA is its cost.

Those who eventually decide to pursue the degree may end up with sizable student loans after graduating.

This burden influences many students to continue working alongside their studies, which may have adverse effects on their academic performance.

According to the Business Graduates Association survey, 72 per cent of students needed to work in order to financially support the costs of their MBA degrees.

The salary increase that comes along with obtaining an MBA can vary based on a number of factors. A candidate’s work experience, personal connections, and the reputation of the school that they attend can all play a role in what their starting salary is after graduation. Industries that tend to offer higher-paying roles include consulting and strategy, technology management, and financial services and economics.

Access to more opportunities An MBA can help its graduates access many different opportunities, including better jobs and the ability to start their own businesses. Networking, a skill emphasized by business schools, can go a long way toward acquiring a dream job or a promotion. A 2016 LinkedIn survey found that nearly 85 per cent of the positions filled in the corporate world were filled due to networking. Pursuing an MBA offers many networking opportunities through professors, classmates, and alums. Employees that are recognized to have potential for their firms are often sponsored by their employers to study in an MBA program while still working for the company.

The knowledge developed in classrooms is expected to be applied in the workplace to improve the organization. The impact that MBA candidates have on their firms, along with their acquired connections, make them valued employees with potential for managerial roles.

If starting a business is more of a priority for you than climbing the corporate ladder, an MBA is also worthwhile. Around 31 per cent of MBA students, according to a QS Applicant

Survey, chose their program to develop their entrepreneurial expertise. A growing number of business schools have been building innovation hubs and startup labs to foster and grow the entrepreneurial spirit of their students.

Relevance of an MBA in the workforce An MBA primarily concentrates on building standard skills in fields such as finance, marketing, operations, and accounting. While these skills

are valuable to attaining managerial positions, some industries look to hire managers with more specialized knowledge and experience within the industry.

Thus, it is beneficial for you to look into the hiring practices in your desired field of work and weigh the benefits that an MBA will provide to your own situation before making the financial and time commitments necessary to achieve this degree.

Comment

October 25, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Opinion: Revision of sexual violence policy indicates much needed progress Proposed measures ensure environment where students can bring up sexual misconduct

Content warning: This article contains discussions of sexual violence.

in confronting the stigmatization of sexual violence, but that these initiatives are nothing short of imperative for students who want to safely report their experiences in an evolving contemporary landscape.

Often, we fail to recognize both the nuance of sexual violence and its sheer rampancy in postsecondary institutions. For reference, roughly 11 percent of women students and four percent of men students in Canadian higher learning were sexually assaulted in a collegiate environment in 2019. Despite these staggering numbers, only five percent of sexual assaults against people 15 or older are reported to authorities, thus making it the violent crime that is the most likely to go undisclosed.

Survivors may hesitate to come forward for various reasons. Some may fear penalties for violating an institution’s policies at the time of their assault, including by using drugs or drinking alcohol. Others feel that they will be discredited and subjected to victim blaming on the basis of their sexual history or identity.

To eliminate these barriers to reporting sexual violence, the Ontario government is requiring postsecondary schools to amend their sexual violence and harassment policies. Notably, U of T is looking to implement measures that will protect complainants from facing disciplinary action for unsanctioned use of drugs or alcohol, and prevent irrelevant questions regarding sexual expression.

I stand in support of U of T’s suggested policy changes, as I find that not only are they successful

Fear of punishment for violating institutional policies Survivors may fail to report assaults for fear of facing consequences from the potential violation of institutional policy. In a survey of Canadian postsecondary students conducted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) in 2016, 92.5 per cent of respondents said that they consumed alcohol. Furthermore, a 2018 report by the CCSA reported that 35 per cent of Canadian postsecondary students who responded to the survey had consumed five drinks or more at least once within the two weeks prior to being surveyed.

Drug-facilitated assaults often involve alcohol, which is common among university students. Students are therefore more vulnerable to assault.

Furthermore, survivors who have been assaulted while drunk or high may fear that they will be in violation of university drug and alcohol policies, particularly if they’re underage.

According to a report by Statistics Canada in 2019, less than 10 per cent of the survivors of sexual violence or harassment communicated the incident to someone affiliated with their school.

Factoring in fears of prospective punishment, it’s no surprise that, prior to the inception of measures barring penalties for assault-related policy violation,

Emma Dobrovnik Varsity Contributor

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survivors were reluctant to come forward.

The Ontario government amended its guidelines for postsecondary schools, requiring them to not subject survivors to the school’s drug and alcohol rules regarding the time the incident happened. Without the security provided by that exemption, students face an added layer of concern when reporting sexual misconduct.

Reporting may lead to victim blaming The conversation surrounding campus sexual violence is dominated by talk of pocket-sized mace, Uber etiquette, and drink supervision.

This dialogue, though evolving, remains largely focused on survivor-dependent preventative measures, such as “don’t leave your drink unattended” or “never walk home alone after dark.” It’s often assumed that sexual assaults occur because of the survivor’s disregard for their own safety. This is a prime example of subtle victim blaming.

‘Victim blaming,’ the process of assigning fault to survivors, frequently manifests itself in the assertion that details such as a person’s dress, sexual history, and demeanour lead to sexual assault. In these instances, assailants avoid culpability because of the assumption that survivors are partially, if not fully, responsible for the offence.

Strikingly, a 2018 Statistics Canada report found that one in five survivors, regardless of their gender identity, felt like they were blamed for their assault, either by the perpetrator or by their own friends or family. Moreover, survivors who’d been attacked by someone known to them, like a friend or an acquaintance, were significantly more likely to have felt blamed when compared to those assaulted by a stranger.

In light of Al Jazeera’s report on Oxford professors taking advantage of women students through their positions of power, it is clear that a culture of victim blaming not only prevents students from voicing their experiences, but also maintains a power imbalance that enables tolerance of sexual violence. Norms that impose blame upon survivors have successfully survived, as they’re deeply entrenched in the fabric of our society; to confront

them would be cultural upheaval. As such, the University of Toronto’s newfound consideration of the bias embedded in investigative proceedings is a major win for survivors and advocates alike.

The proposal of guidelines that account for the problems caused by threats of disciplinary action or victim blaming signifies a gradual, but deliberate, shifting of cultural tides. The hope is that, through the introduction of policies promoting survivor welfare and accessible supports, survivors will be more likely to report instances of sexual violence on campus. Slowly but surely, students and faculty are cultivating an environment that not only emphasizes autonomy, but also ensures that sexual assault survivors can seek counsel without fear of judgment or repercussion.

Emma Dobrovnik is a first-year social sciences student at St. Michael’s College. She is a firstyear representative for the Association of Political Science Students.

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

• Visit svpscentre.utoronto.ca for information, contact details, and hours of operation for the tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416978-2266 or by email at svpscentre@ utoronto.ca.

• Call Campus Safety Special Constable Service to make a report at 416-9782222 (for U of T St. George and U of T Scarborough) or 905-569-4333 (for U of T Mississauga) • Call the Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre at 416-323-6040 • Call the Scarborough Grace Sexual Assault Care Centre at 416-495-2555 • Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 866-863-0511

Opinion: It’s not hard to avoid cultural appropriation this Halloween Discussing the difference between appropriation and appreciation

Paden Neundorf Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article contains discussions of anti-Indigenous racism.

Every year, Halloween costumes seem to spur on debates about cultural appropriation. At a time when we are encouraged to dress up as something we are not, the distinction between definitive appropriation and cultural appreciation can be difficult to navigate. However, while cultural appropriation stemming from a place of ignorance often perpetuates racist stereotypes, the respectful practice of sharing culture is necessary for unifying different peoples.

There are definitely costumes that are considered to be safe from cultural appropriation, like cats or witchs. The gray area begins when someone decides to dress up as someone of a different race or cultural background than themselves. The issue can be further compounded depending

on whether you’re dressing up as a real person or a character.

Furthermore, some people don’t adequately consider why they even feel the need to dress up in a particular costume even if they know it could potentially harm another person. Long story short, there are a lot of questions to consider, and their answers are not always simple.

What is cultural appropriation?

Cultural appropriation is defined as the unacknowledged adoption of creative or artistic themes, customs, or traditions from a minoritized demographic. Often, this appropriation is done by a person or group who experiences a life with more systemic advantages than the people whose culture they are appropriating. Usually, white people in Western societies are the ones stealing from minoritized groups, primarily with the intention of exploiting their culture for aesthetic purposes without permission.

Cultural appropriation can reflect racism and oppression. By trivializing the systemic oppression and hardships faced by minoritized groups, cultural appropriation forces them to relive their collective trauma. Cultural appropriation also devalues the history of minoritized groups for the sake of an aesthetic.

This cultural appropriation is most commonly done on Halloween through the costumes

that privileged communities choose to wear.

Therefore, your costume requires research and thoughtful consideration because a simple outfit could — even unbeknownst to you — cause others immense trauma.

Dressing up as a real person from a different ethnic background is an easy ‘no,’ as it feeds into dated stereotypes. It should be completely avoided. When choosing a real-life person to dress up as, think about whether you would be okay with carrying the weight of the centuries of oppression that the group of people behind your costume have endured.

One recurring theme on Halloween, other than terror and horror, is entitlement, like when a white person feels a raging impulse to dress up as a stereotype of an Indigenous person and proudly call it a costume. Not only does this particular costume dehumanize Indigenous peoples, but it is also a visual beacon of a historically violent past of displacement and genocide.

The problem of fictional characters Where the gray area begins is when it comes to characters from movies, TV shows, books, comics, or even video games. A prime example can be taken from the 2016 Disney film Moana.

The costume for Maui, a character of Polynesian descent, was pulled from stores following backlash from the Polynesian community — and rightfully so. The costume included a brown zipup suit covered in traditional Polynesian tribal

tattoos as well as an attached leaf skirt and a black wig. Some took to Twitter to express their disdain for the appropriation of Polynesian culture, citing the Maui costume as an act of brownface.

However, Hawaiian actress Auli’i Cravalho, who voiced the title character Moana, encouraged children of all ethnicities to dress up as Moana, saying that she thinks it is “absolutely appropriate” for “the little ones who just want to dress up as their favourite heroine.” Not everyone from the same minoritized group is going to be okay with a person of a dominant social group adopting their culture for Halloween, even when it comes to fictional characters, because people can experience and respond to the same event differently.

These divisions spark an important debate as to what constitutes cultural appropriation as opposed to cultural appreciation. While appropriation is extremely harmful and dehumanizing, cultural appreciation — listening and learning about cultures different from your own in a sincere attempt to gain new knowledge — is essential for the collective growth of humanity.

Sharing culture is essential, but stealing is a violation. So be intentional with your Halloween costume this year — and if you have any doubts about it, just reach for those cat ears in the back of your closet, and have a safe night.

Paden Neundorf is a third-year English and equity studies student at Woodsworth College.

thevarsity.ca/section/comment

0CTOBER 25, 2021

Opinion: Are climate protests really effective?

9

Examining the indirect influence of protests in light of the climate crisis

While protests are unable to directly influence the government decisions, they provide necessary social impacts.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

Alex Levesque Climate Columnist

On October 22, environmental activists around the world staged climate protests, urging their governments to take action ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, which begins on October 31.

Contrary to popular belief, protesting on the street does not always lead to immediate political changes. Rather than having an explicit effect, the impacts of protests are mostly indirect. Regardless, the social impact of protests can provide inspiration to those who feel hopeless. Additionally, protests can serve to remind the public of what they need to be fighting for.

Bureaucratic barriers Although climate protests were created to inform government officials about the environmental concerns of citizens, their effectiveness is curbed by a divided bureaucratic system. A 2020 Washington State University study on the effectiveness of climate protests concluded that current democratic systems can limit their ability to enact political change.

Specifically, the study found that protests “increase support from the public for the climate movement, with the effect isolated to Democrats and Independents who believe in anthropogenic climate change.” Protests do not affect Republicans, so protests merely attract support from groups with already similar beliefs.

With this in mind, it may seem as though protests are pointless if they cannot facilitate a unified

approach to the global issue that is climate change.

However, because of a seemingly unchanging political approach to climate change, many U of T students are attending protests for more moralistic than practical reasons. In fact, Joshua Bienstock, a student at U of T, wrote that they have no faith in “the liberal democratic capitalist system” but still attend protests because it “enables what little hope [they] have.”

Bottom of the political totem pole A 2014 Princeton study concluded that protests are rarely successful, as economic elites wield more power over political outcomes than ordinary citizens.

Hence, our ability to directly fight the climate crisis through protests is considerably weak, and many activists are aware of the futility of their actions.

Yet, in light of the seemingly unproductive nature of climate protests in the face of a divided political system, why do people continue to protest? Surely, there must be a reason as to why the practice of protesting has survived into the 21st century.

In a written interview with The Varsity, Simon Appolloni — a sessional lecturer in the Environment Studies department at U of T — claimed, “protests alone cannot achieve change, but no one action can.” To this degree, protesters are aware of their weakness at the bottom of the political totem pole.

However, they are equally aware of their access to more politically influential parts of the pole.

In another written interview with The Varsity, John Robinson — a professor at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and the presidential advisor on the environment, climate change, and sustainability — wrote that

while protests are crucial, they “[need] eventually to be supplemented by other kinds of activity.”

Specifically, Robinson stressed the fact that protests “[help] to create a growing shift in public opinion, which in turn leads to more research.”

To this degree, although protestors are unable to access the executive power needed to make significant changes to the capitalist forces that work against them, they still have enough political reach to motivate the actors closer to the top of the base — namely, scientists.

Given the existence of initiatives such as Science Meets Parliament — an event joining scientists and policymakers — the relationship between protesters and the scientific community is one better fostered than lost. After all, a weak link is still a link.

Movements of inspiration However, despite the indirect benefits of protests, a lack of immediate change during what is an urgent environmental crisis can demotivate students from continuing to protest. Bienstock noted that “[the] liberal state has done a great job at placating enough of the population for it not to feel immediately necessary.”

In this vein, the popularity of protesting must also be motivated by intersocial as well as pragmatic reasons.

According to a 2019 study, protests enhance public participation in social movements by “increasing perceived collective efficacy.” To elaborate, people protest because it essentially perpetuates an idealized notion that the public has the ability to directly influence the decisions of their

executive leaders. Put simply, this idealized notion is what motivates others to join in protesting.

However, just because the concept that protests can impact political decisions is an idealized notion does not mean that the desire to incite direct change is any less important.

As Appolloni wrote, “[protests] are important movements of inspiration.” After all, that same 2019 study noted that protests also “[diminish] negative impressions of marchers among the general public.” Protests activate an activist mentality, even among climate crisis skeptics.

To elaborate on Appolloni’s sentiment, despite the fact that protests rarely spark immediate political change, they are still influential in that they can recultivate the public’s stance on the climate crisis.

Additionally, protests are effective in that they can socialize a new generation of eco-conscious political actors. In a written interview with The Varsity, Iben Janse Van Rensburg, a student at U of T, wrote that she only went to the Fridays for Future protest because her friends were going. However, she added that “it definitely sparked an activist side of me.”

All in all, while protests are unable to directly influence the decisions of executive government leaders, they provide a necessary social impact in the fight against the climate crisis. As leaders of a new generation, U of T students have a duty to keep protesting, even if it seems hopeless. Protests may not yield immediate change, but they can provide inspiration and promote community solidarity to hopefully put an end to the climate crisis for good.

Alex Levesque is a third-year sociology major at University College.

Opinion: U of T’s colleges should all be financially independent Oxford and Cambridge’s colleges can demonstrate how our college system can improve Daniel Yihan Mao Columnist

For the over 27,000 Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) students at U of T, college membership can have significant influence on admissions, academics, financial support, scholarships, and residence. The issue of potential inequality in student experiences at different colleges — differences in student funding, scholarships, and quality of support — is also difficult to contextualize, especially since U of T’s college system is an anomaly among North American universities.

Although the collegiate university concept first came to prominence with the medieval University of Paris, the contemporary popularity that gave rise to the U of T system is almost entirely due to two of the most famous examples of the model: the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the UK, together known under the portmanteau of ‘Oxbridge.’

In the UK, the debate about college inequality has already been going on for some time. In the words of a student columnist for Cambridge’s Varsity student newspaper, the differences range “from where you sleep, eat, and attend tutor meetings to the amount of academic or financial support you can receive, the ease of your access to health resources, the proportion of

your student loan you must lose to rent, and even how much of the reading list you can find in the college library.”

Aside from the fact that all libraries at U of T are open to students regardless of college affiliation, that statement could have easily been run in The Varsity without an eye being batted.

The increasing discussion about combatting reputations of privilege and elitism at prestigious colleges such as Christ Church College, Oxford and St. John’s College, Cambridge — where formals are still held every weekday evening — also bears striking resemblance to similar reflections on U of T’s Trinity College.

Although there are many more significant factors that determine a college’s culture and character than money, wealth inevitably influences students’ college experience. Better-endowed colleges tend to provide their students with better resources, support, and opportunities. On the whole, Oxbridge colleges are famously wellfunded, and recent reports have noted that the Oxford Cambridge colleges’ combined wealth is greater than that of their respective universities.

U of T’s colleges are not doing all that bad by that measure either. The combined wealth of the

seven independent colleges of U of T — Trinity, Victoria, St. Michael’s, Regis, Wycliffe, Knox, and Massey — is well over $1 billion.

One might have noticed there has been no mention so far of the finances for U of T’s four constituent colleges. In contrast to the federated U of T colleges, which are independent financial entities managing their own portfolios of assets, the constituent colleges — University College, Innis College, Woodsworth College, and New College — are not independent financial institutions.

Even if smaller Oxbridge colleges struggled to provide their students with all of the resources of their wealthiest counterparts, their financial independence would allow them at least a fighting chance and the ability to continue improving their situation over time. Though already wealthy, Magdalen College, Oxford just confirmed an investment that will double the endowment fund available to its students.

U of T officially acknowledges the role colleges serve as a smaller community unit within the overwhelming size of the university as a whole.

The college system gives students a place in the generalized massive student body and allows for the interests of the individual to be better acknowledged at a local level. While

the university has to prioritize its resources on a variety of matters, such as research, philanthropy, and maintenance, a far greater portion of a college’s attention can be put toward its students.

The fact that the constituent colleges, which together represent more than half of FAS undergraduates, are unable to do more than trying to convince U of T to set aside a greater portion of the budget for them defeats the very purpose of having a collegiate system. If anything, the hybrid nature of U of T’s colleges has served as a lengthy comparative experiment whose the results are quite clear: financially independent colleges do better.

It may be time for U of T to recognize that merely imitating Oxbridge’s names and styles does not make for a successful college model.

Perhaps the best thing U of T can do for its constituent colleges is to set up some initial endowments and finally set them free to secure an independent and distinct place at U of T and in the wider community.

Daniel Yihan Mao is a firstyear economics student at Victoria College.

DONNA LIU/THEVARSITY

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THE VARSITY

FEATURES

My loved ones are caught in conspiracy theories — here

How fear, love, and a new hobby snowb

Alyanna Denise Chua Associate Features Editor

I have a middle-aged relative, and all her life, she’s had no hobbies.

For decades, her full-time job, family, and household responsibilities took up most of her time. That’s why I was thrilled when she started a new hobby during the pandemic. Something had finally sparked her interest: a friend had just introduced her to essential oils and to the whole world of naturopathy.

Thus began my relative’s passion for learning about health. She started watching naturopaths lecture online about the importance of eating balanced meals, exercising regularly, and sleeping for enough hours. Eagerly, my relative would share how she’d learned about the unethical practices happening in large-scale poultry farming and social media’s negative effects on mental health. For a while, I was constantly surprised because I wasn’t used to seeing her so animated.

I felt the happiest when I’d catch her watching lectures on her phone and jotting down notes in a pocket-sized notebook, or when I’d find her taking her newly minted 30-minute daily walk outside. She became more mindful of where her food came from. She seemed happier, more radiant. People told her that her skin glowed.

I think that was one of the first times in her life that she was committed to doing something for herself.

But my excitement was short-lived. One day, when I went into her kitchen to grab myself a snack, I noticed that something was missing.

Her microwave was gone.

Earlier that day, she’d read that microwaves emitted radiation and therefore caused cancer.

I tried explaining to her that microwaves were indeed a type of radiation, but their wavelength was too long to cause any harm. I suggested that the wavelength of light was even shorter than microwaves, but that we didn’t question whether visible light caused cancer.

She only told me that I should keep an open mind. That was when I began to worry.

Fear Weeks later, the various internet modems in her house had been moved out of the rooms and into the hallways. She’d read that they, too, caused cancer. After watching a doctor-turnednaturopath declare that big pharma drugs were designed to make patients dependent on them for profit, she discarded most of the biomedical drugs at her house as well.

I’m typically non-confrontational. But when I

heard from my sibling that my relative was telling others about Bill Gates’ plan to depopulate the earth through the mass production of COVID-19, I had to say something. She also allegedly warned a pregnant woman at her workplace to avoid being physically close to vaccinated individuals: doing so, she believed, could cause pregnancy complications.

I wondered how she came to believe these claims, so I ventured to read the same articles that she was consuming. I read “Head of Pfizer Research: Covid Vaccine is Female Sterilization” from Health & Money News, “Has Drug Driven Medicine Become a Form of Human Sacrifice?” from Green Med Info, and “Bill Gates — Philanthropist or Eugenicist?” from The Truth About Cancer (TTAC), among others.

A few things struck me right away. These articles are from unrecognized websites, lack nuanced analysis and contextual information, format key arguments in bold capital letters, and use highly emotive words for dramatic flair.

These elements all tell me that these articles should not be immediately trusted.

Yet I would be lying if I said I didn’t momentarily doubt official guidelines and data while reading these articles. I would be lying if I said that during the time I was reading them, I didn’t feel absolutely terrified.

I think what makes some conspiracy theories so compelling is that they contain nuggets of truth. My relative’s mistrust in big pharma, for example, is not completely unfounded — the current opioid crisis has taught us that pharmaceutical companies sometimes knowingly withhold or manipulate information to generate profit.

The problem with conspiracy theories, however, is that they take one phenomenon and connect it to other disparate events without proof. They construct a sinister plot out of a flimsy patchwork of personal anecdotes, speculation, assumptions, and — perhaps the most convincing factor of them all — fear.

Imagine being exposed to alarmist headlines like “It All Makes Sense Once You Realize They Want to Kill Us,” “What is EMF and Microwave Radiation & How to Protect Your Family,” and “The Human Heart Is Not a Technological Construct. Block 5G from Gaining Momentum” everyday. They paint a menacing world, and promise you and your family salvation as long as you take certain precautionary measures.

I get a sense from reading these articles that people who believe in conspiracies see themselves as underdogs — as champions of the truth being hunted down by the wealthy and the powerful.

features@thevarsity.ca

n a web of e’s what it’s like

balled into a set of concerning beliefs

Every article from TTAC, for example, starts with, “TTAC is experiencing heavy censorship on many social media channels since we’ve been targeted by the mainstream media sellouts, social media bullies, and political turncoats. Be sure to get the TRUTH by subscribing to our email list.”

They’ve come to inhabit an identity that is marked by oppression, but insist that they will keep fighting to save lives and set others free. “They’ve come for us… And they’ll come for you next,” they warn. They compare themselves to war victims; they call themselves the true critical thinkers.

It sounds like a movie — it’s us against the world. But this is also the reason why my relative’s husband ends up stashing boxes of ivermectin in their medical cabinet and why their 11-year-old child ended up becoming vaccine hesitant.

Fear breeds fear. Once a fire sparks in the forest and spreads, it’s hard to put it out. All it takes to spread a conspiracy theory is for someone to sow doubt into the public — to sound the alarms. And I can’t necessarily blame people who were caught in those crosshairs, and who would rather be safe than sorry.

Literacy I wondered why my relative thought that these unrecognized websites were not only legitimate, but even more legitimate than official and fact-checked sources. I think the key to this is a lack of media literacy.

One day, an uncle of mine shared a news article from a website called “COVID Call to Humanity,” detailing the Tokyo Medical Association Chairman’s support for using ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

I told my uncle that this information wasn’t reliable because it wasn’t from an established source, no authors were listed, and it didn’t contain contextual information.

He said he’d never thought about those factors before, and thanked me for teaching him about what to look for when reading articles online.

I grew up with the internet, so I’ve had to be used to distinguishing between reliable and unreliable sources since I was young.

But my older relatives did not. They were never taught media literacy. To them, publication equates to trustworthiness, and every article looks legitimate.

All voices are amplified on the internet, which I think creates the illusion that all

information online is equally reliable. A Green Med Info article titled “Fully Vaccinated Are COVID ‘Super-Spreaders,’ Says Inventor of mRNA Technology” can sit right above a Health Canada post encouraging people to get vaccinated, and both would take up equal space online. To untrained ears, “Health & Money News” may sound as official as “CBC News.” There is an appearance of equal legitimacy here.

Imagine not being familiar with the internet, and how disorienting that could be. The demarcation between official and unofficial sources dissipates and all of them coalesce into one big online information dump.

Context is also replaced by phrases that lend an appearance of reliability. In my view, phrases like “scientists said,” “a study finds,” and “based on research” are often brandished to legitimize unofficial sources, while context is strategically left out.

To someone who buys into COVID-19 conspiracy theories, it doesn’t matter that the “Head of Pfizer Research” who claimed that vaccinations are mass sterilization tools, for example, had left Pfizer nine years ago and was not a virology expert, or that his predictions about the pandemic consistently did not turn out to be true — he was a Pfizer scientist, and therefore legitimate.

It also doesn’t matter that the sparse ivermectin studies that showed positive results had serious flaws in data collection, that the majority of the scientific community does not recommend using ivermectin, or that the Tokyo Medical Association chairman himself was not a government official — the chairman was a scientist, and therefore legitimate.

Personal anecdotes have proven to be particularly salient as well, and have held their grounds against official information. As an international student who received two non-mRNA vaccine doses, I had to take a third mRNA dose as per Health Canada’s guidelines. When I told relatives about this, they were very worried for me.

They said that an uncle who’d recently gotten an mRNA vaccine dose claimed that he felt his heart get physically heavy for days because of the vaccine. They said he wasn’t planning on getting the second one anymore. Some of them wondered if I could find a loophole in order to avoid complying with the third dose requirement. They told me to be careful, and to build up my immune system in order to fight the vaccine — as if the vaccine was the enemy here.

Loneliness As much as conspiracies and alternative facts can provide a person with a sense of community, I imagine that believing in them can also be an isolating experience.

Soon after I started challenging my relative’s beliefs, she stopped telling me about the new things she’d learned. I only came to know more about her beliefs through secondhand accounts. Perhaps I am at fault here too; I should’ve been more patient and understanding when I was explaining things to her.

But, in reality, it’s difficult for her to hear me out, and it’s difficult for me to hear her out. Both of us think that the other has been brainwashed — I think that she has been brainwashed by conspiracy theorists, and she believes that I have been brainwashed by media sellouts. As you can imagine, it’s an impossible conversation to have.

We still talk a lot — just not about COVID-19, vaccines, or medicine. Those topics are now off-limits.

Still, I wonder how she’s doing. I wonder if she catastrophizes by herself and if so, how often? I want to pull her out of the rabbit hole of doom she has found herself in, but I don’t think it’s my place to do so anymore.

I’ve often heard that people tend to seek out information that aligns with their beliefs and opinions, and that they reject information that may challenge their perspectives. This is why people latch onto conspiracy theories, even if the information in them may be unverified or inaccurate.

But there is a critical first step to all this.

From what I see, conspiracy theorists first sow distrust toward official statements and authority figures by constructing their own bulletproof logic. And when people adopt this logic, they render themselves bulletproof against the ‘brainwashing’ of experts, big companies, and the state.

For example, social media companies’ crackdowns on vaccine misinformation are meant to stop the spread of inaccurate information that may prolong the pandemic.

However, conspiracy theorists brand these measures as censorship of the truth, and point to them as textbook evidence that big companies are conspiring with the government to hide secrets from the public for profit.

What I see as unverified and inaccurate information, they see as truth. What I see as responsible reporting, they see as bribery from the government and big companies.

What I see as necessary measures to maintain a healthy information ecosystem, they see as censorship for spreading the truth. And if there is a lack of evidence for their theories, it’s because the government and big companies are very good at covering their tracks.

There is an ironclad counter-argument to every argument. As psychologist Jovan Byford wrote, “Conspiracy theories are, by definition, irrefutable.”

If two people from both parties had a conversation about these topics, I wouldn't be surprised if they were hitting their heads against the wall by the end of it.

Love Here’s the impasse I face. My relative only wants what’s best for her loved ones, and I only want what’s best for her. We both want the same thing, which is to keep each other safe. But we each think that the other is putting themselves at risk.

Disinformation is defined as “intentionally fabricated or manipulated information.”

But I’m not sure if she — or any of the people whose content she watches and reads — intentionally seeks to manipulate information for any personal gain. I wonder if conspiracy theorists, too, are just afraid and anxious people, caught up in a world painted in shades of doom and despair.

I wonder if they, too, are just not equipped with scientific and media literacy. In an article titled “Conspiracy of Censorship by the Medical Mafia & Totalitarian Tyrants,” TTAC founders wrote, “From the origin of COVID-19 to the best prevention methods, it seems like the truth continues to change as time marches on. But the truth — by definition — is constant; like true north or gravity, it is absolute and unchanging.”

To me, it seems like they simply lack an understanding of the scientific method.

Rather than staying consistent, scientific thinking and guidelines always naturally evolve in light of new data.

Certainly, there are those who have ideological and political agendas. But I wonder if they truly constitute the majority of those who believe in conspiracies. The majority of my loved ones who believe in these theories do not have political or financial agendas — they’re usually just parents, fearful for their own safety and that of their families.

SHERENE ALMAJAWER/THE VARSITY

Arts & Culture Marta Anielska Deputy News Editor

There’s a part of me that wants to believe that every kid remembers the one house in their neighbourhood that went all out for Halloween.

This was the house that handed out massive candy bars, had themed decorations, and — most importantly — added an interactive component to their Halloween display.

My first encounter with one of these houses happened at the tender age of five. As I unsuspectingly walked up to a house, dressed in my pony princess costume, a man wearing ravaged clothing and revolting makeup jumped out at me from a hiding spot near the bushes.

It wasn’t even a simple jump scare. The plastic collar around the man’s neck meant that he couldn’t catch me once I was out of reach, but the homeowner did continue to snarl and pretend to tear at his bonds while I bawled my eyes out into my dad’s thick coat.

October 25, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

Ghost stories from the Eatonville Farmhouse Using an interactive performance to indulge in the experience of fear recent interest in tarot cards and Ouija boards — was the reason I jumped at the chance to attend a séance. Once you’re that deep, you may as well take the plunge and try contacting the dead.

When I stepped into Etobicoke’s Eatonville Farmhouse, I received a black obsidian crystal for protection and was led into the large room where the séance would eventually be held. The whole experience left me mesmerized. I desperately wanted to have some kind of supernatural experience — anything to convince my deeprooted skepticism that fear of the paranormal could be real.

regard to concrete plot development, it did catalyze several other events that led us back to the séance room, sitting in a circle with a rope strung between us in order to mimic a traditional séance not held during a pandemic, where members would hold hands.

As the resident pot stirrer, just as the host was calling out to whatever supernatural entities would listen, I had to mention to the group that my wrist was starting to ache.

Was my wrist actually aching? I’m not sure.

Even if it was, it would’ve surely been something I would dismiss in any other setting. As it was,

physical reaction I was looking for: racing heart, jerky movements, clammy hands. I kept looking over to my right, where the entrance to another room was bathed in the red light of the exit sign.

On the other hand, it took my brain a moment to catch up, to realise, “Oh, I’m actually afraid.”

It didn’t feel exactly the same as before; fear, like any emotion, is bound to change as we get older. But I still loved it. I was aware of every part of myself, and I was as tense as a windup toy. I was getting ready to act — to protect myself at all costs.

I’ve since spent time mapping out how the organizers could have staged all this. I’ve thought about recordings, mechanical triggers, and bluetooth light systems. Ultimately, none of that matters, though, because the emotional distance afforded to me hours after the fact was unattainable in the moment. My suspension of disbelief was so thorough that it was impossible to be rational about the situation.

For me, fear consists of two elements: a sense

COURTESY OF JAYMES WHITE/ENTERTAINMENT INC

Though I’m sure I hated it at the time, this memory has become one of my fondest. Just thinking of the imagination that the owners of the house must have put into scaring all those children gives me goosebumps. And although I can’t remember the feeling of that fear anymore, I still remember its echoes: my little heart beating faster, my eyes widening, my palms growing clammy. I’ve been seeking the high of the pure horror I felt that day ever since.

I would never again wear a pony princess costume; from that moment on, the rule was that I always had to be something scary on Halloween.

On top of that, I started watching horror movies, reading horror books, and even watching horror ‘Let’s Plays,’ entranced by games like Outlast.

But none of these experiences really provided the same thrill. It’s easier to be nitpicky when you’re far removed from a situation, and so something always ruined the horror for me, whether it was a story’s bad writing, acting, or plot. Although my favourite books still contained elements of horror and I managed to find a select few horror movies with concepts that sparked my imagination like nothing else, none of them pulled me back into the mind and body of that scared-yet-exhilarated five-year-old.

My desire to pursue that feeling — along with my

To my dismay, not much happened in the first hour of the séance. Our group toured the house and learned that we were attempting to channel the ghost of a boy who had been murdered using one of his favourite toys. I pretended to see shadowy figures in the corners of my eyes — anything to set the scene.

Things finally picked up when the host pulled out a Ouija board. I was absolutely thrilled. This was the same item I’d spent weeks looking at on the internet. Immediately, I volunteered to be one of the people who got to use it.

Me and two other group members were instructed to place two fingers each on the planchette and to wait and see whether it would move. Right off the bat, my hand jerked and the planchette was sent flying. The crowd gasped, and when they asked if any of us were responsible, I stayed quiet, wanting everyone to buy into the performance.

What happened when we started using the board again is hard to describe. There were no more dramatic movements, but the planchette was consistently in motion. My theory is that all three of us were moving just a little — enough so that if one of us stopped, the other two would compensate.

Humans like to put on a bit of a show, even if they don’t think that’s what they’re doing.

Though the Ouija board didn’t do much in

I was at a séance. My logic went like this: if I pretended to be in on the joke of ghost summonings for long enough, I would reach the point where I would slide out of humour and fall straight into terror.

Sure enough, I finally got what I wanted. My declaration ramped up the tension in the room and other participants began to make their own observations about which signs of paranormal activity were present in the room. Finally, we started to hear noises: the faint ringing of a bell, the haunting melody of a toy carousel, and the heavy breathing of a grown man. At one point there was even a jump scare: a loud bang came from a bowl of rocks on the table closest to me.

Since it was too dark to see, no one knew what had happened.

There, in that dim light with a group full of people around me, I finally found fear. For a brief moment — no more than a few minutes at the very end of the performance — the discomfort I felt when my loss of vision coalesced with the creeping feeling from the heavy breathing that I heard coming from right behind me. I was genuinely afraid, in a way that I hadn’t been since I was five years old.

I remember it as both a smooth transition and a sudden realization. On the one hand, I had the

of danger and a loss of control. That’s why it’s always been particularly difficult to simulate.

Fictional works, no matter how immersive, are unlikely to make me feel like I’m in danger. Plus, by this point, control is basically a fixture of my personality. When these elements of fear are absent, there are no stakes to the situation and, consequently, no reason to buy into my fear.

But the Eatonville Farmhouse séance reassured me that my penchant for control can be used against me in the best of ways. The performance took my willingness to cooperate along with my love of narrative and drama, and returned them back to me in full force. It felt rewarding — cathartic even — to finally feel scared. My attempts to make the séance exciting had paid off.

I’m already thinking about attending more immersive horror experiences. I want to enter into that space again, where my reality can be refracted as if I were in a broken mirror and my interpretations are twisted to create an environment that feels dangerous even if I know that it’s not. And when I participate in the performance, it creates enough tension to turn that space into a real-life version of the narrative arcs I have always loved so much — making the release all the more memorable.

thevarsity.ca/section/arts-and-culture Gladys Lou Varsity Contributor

Eva Jurczyk, the coordinator of humanities collections at U of T Libraries, has written a mystery novel set at the St. George campus. Her book, The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, features familiar landmarks such as Robarts Library and nearby shops.

The protagonist of Jurczyk’s story, Liesl Weiss, works in the rare books department of a large university. After the library’s prized manuscript goes missing, a series of mysterious events — including the disappearance of a librarian — starts to unfold on campus.

The Varsity sat down with Jurczyk to discuss how working at U of T inspired her story, how she developed its plot and characters, and advice she’d give to students who are interested in creative writing.

U of T inspiration During the interview, Jurczyk mentioned that her novel is loosely based on her experience working in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library when she was a graduate student at U of T. “I worked with a really interesting cast of characters, and some of the people who I worked with had been there for decades,” Jurczyk said.

“They had these really… complicated relationships with one another… there were really deep friendships, but also resentments over petty things that had happened 20 years ago.”

With its cathedral-like bookshelves and two layers of basement filled with books, the location was a great inspiration to Jurczyk. “I would go to work every day, and it would be just this magical maze of rare books, and you know, Shakespeare’s First Folio, and a collection of Darwin, and Frederick Banting, his Nobel Prize, and some things [that] are a lot more obscure too,” she said, beaming.

Jurczyk did research for her book by looking at old newspaper clippings and magazine stories.

Based on her research, she believes that the theft of rare books is always a crime of passion because it’s impossible to resell the stolen materials.

“I was really interested in, like, if you’re the type of person who does this, what happens afterward,” Jurczyk explained. “The answer usually is that [you would] just keep it in [your] house, because these people just love these materials so much that they want to be around them.”

Jurczyk referenced a few famous cases in which people who worked in libraries for decades stole

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Meet Eva Jurcyk, a U of T librarian whose debut novel is a love letter to rare books The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections features landmarks like Robarts Library

COURTESY OF LAUREN PERRUZZA

millions of dollars’ worth of materials and stored them under their beds at home. She shared the story of a case in which valuable materials were stolen for about 15 years, but the staff did not report it to the public.

Half a century later, the Zodiac Killer’s identity is still a mystery Revisiting one of the most famous unsolved true crime cases

The Zodiac Killer’s identity remains unknown.

COURTESY OF MARKUS WINKLER

Jurczyk also did research to create the books that appeared in the story. She described these printed materials as “characters” because they’re based on real books. Jurczyk searched through auction catalogues to investigate the history and

Hannah Wang Varsity Contributor

Content warning: This article contains a mention of sexual abuse and discussions of murder.

Earlier this month, the Case Breakers, a team of former law enforcement investigators, thought they uncovered the identity of the infamous serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s.

In a press release, the group explained that new forensic and physical evidence led them to the identity of the Zodiac Killer. One photo of the Case Breakers’ purported killer featured similar forehead scars to a 1969 sketch of the Zodiac Killer. The team also believed that encrypted letters they’d been investigating had revealed the individual’s name: Gary Francis Poste.

For a moment, we all exhaled. We allowed ourselves to believe that the seemingly unremorseful menace was a man who’d died in 2018 at 80 years old. Some of us even found supposed screenshots of infamous online music reviews that have been attributed to Poste and shared a small chuckle.

The celebration and laughter came crashing to a halt when the FBI refuted the supposed discovery of the Zodiac Killer’s identity. In a statement to CNN, The San Francisco Police Department confirmed the case remained an open investigation.

The Zodiac Killer gained notoriety by writing cryptic letters to law enforcement and local media. They taunted newspaper publications with ciphers and encrypted messages. To this day, police believe that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for at least five murders in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1968 to 1969. The killer

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provenance of the books that inspired them.

According to the author, the stolen manuscript in her story was based on a book up for auction in 2013 or 2014, but there was not a public record of who bought it. “Some of these things are mysterious… if you are a private collector, you wouldn’t necessarily want someone to know that you have millions of dollars of books in your home,” she explained.

Developing plot and characters Jurczyk created the characters in her novel by combining characteristics from the people she encountered or worked with in and out of the library. She observed their personality quirks and the way they spoke or dressed, using those to inspire her characters. “It’s more of taking bits and pieces of interesting ways that people behaved, and knitting them into a character,” she added.

I asked Jurczyk about the process she used when developing plot and characters. She explained that she started her first draft with a rough outline, keeping her writing broad and straightforward. She then added hints about ideas that would be explored later in her text to build up tension.

“I thought about the stuff that I love when I read mystery novels, which is sort of like a confusion and red herring, the misdirections about who might have been the culprit,” Jurczyk said. She shined light on the suspects, giving the readers an opportunity to spend time with each individual so they could develop some affection for them.

Advice for student writers What advice would Jurczyk give to students that want to write their own novels but are struggling with the idea?

“Everything gets so easy once you just finish your first draft,” she explained. “I think you just have to finish… you have to really divorce yourself from the idea that that first draft has to be any good, because you can do all that later… you just have to get to the last page.”

Jurczyk explained that she’s wanted to be a writer since childhood, and she’d written a lot of manuscripts that she never completed. “One day, you just have to get past that psychological barrier.

And then once you do it for the first time, then you know how to do it, and you know what works in the process for you, and you can do it again.”

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Jurczyk’s debut novel, will be released on January 25, 2022 by Poisoned Pen Press. self-reported up to 37 victims in their letters.

The most recently solved code from the Zodiac Killer was decrypted in 2020. A team of experts cracked the code to a 1969 Zodiac cipher. The message, written in the form of symbols, read, “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me. I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradice [sic] all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me.” It took experts 51 years to crack this message.

Then there’s a long list of suspects who have been investigated since the murders.

The only suspect named by authorities was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester.

Allen died of a heart attack in 1992, before prosecutors could gather enough evidence against him, and thus the state was never able to formally charge him. The evidence against Allen was entirely circumstantial.

Mike Mageau — one of the Zodiac’s only two surviving victims — did positively identify Allen. Allen was also confirmed to be close to the location of some of the Zodiac Killer’s murders. A partial fingerprint from the Zodiac’s letter, however, was later tested and compared to Allen’s, and investigators did not find a match. Additionally, DNA evidence has suggested that Allen could not be the Zodiac Killer, and retired police handwriting expert Lloyd Cunningham, who worked extensively on the case, said that the Zodiac’s handwriting clearly did not match with Allen’s.

Though the Zodiac Killer’s notorious murders happened half a century ago, people still continue to send their tips to the police. To this day, the killer’s identity remains one of the biggest unsolved cases in North America.

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THE VARSITY

Sky Kapoor Associate Arts & Culture Editor

arts@thevarsity.ca

ARTS & CULTURE

This Halloween, you can visit hell itself by eating these Dollarama treats

This week, my editor forced me to buy a bunch of weird Halloween candy and destroy my digestive system, for the sake of “the Halloween spirit.” To fulfill my duty — something that felt more like a trick than a treat — I dragged my roommate into trying them with me. We both came out the other end only slightly traumatized.

If that wasn’t enough, my editor also made me write reviews for them all.

As I neared the end of my taste test, I felt like I was on cocaine

Creepy Peepers Mix Appearance: The packaging looks like eyeballs, which is spooky enough, I suppose. However, when you unwrap them, they’re just chocolate balls. Do better, Dollarama.

Spookiness: I mean, they’re eyeballs. That’s definitely a little strange, unless you’re an optometrist or something.

Vibes: Pretty fire. What on earth is that name though?

Taste: 7/10. They were pretty good, but nothing to call home about. The ‘peanut butter’ flavour, however, was NOT made of peanut butter. It solidified in a really weird way that didn’t feel like authentic peanut butter. The ‘fudge’ flavour redeemed their overall rating, but wasn’t super memorable.

Would I buy it again? If someone else gave me the money for it, maybe.

Double Crisp SKULLS Appearance: Absolutely adorable. Look at the faces of these little guys. I want to keep them as pets and name them.

Spookiness: I am not scared in the slightest, unfortunately.

Vibes: Immaculate. How could you be mad at a face like that?

Taste: 7/10. I thought these were pretty good because I’m a fan of crispy rice in chocolate. The chocolate is absolutely horrible — it’s that waxy Dollarama chocolate that you can probably taste in your mouth — but on the whole, it’s bearable.

Would I buy it again? Yes, because I’m a slave to capitalism and easily swayed by cute packaging.

POPPING CANDY Appearance: If there were a black market for candy, these look exactly like the candy you’d buy there. There are no flavours written on the packaging, just really weird drawings of fruits with facial expressions.

Spookiness: Definitely creepy. Maybe not in a Halloween way — more so in a ‘will this end my life?’ way. Creepy nonetheless.

Vibes: Like the headaches you get in the middle of the night that make it sound like there are fireworks going off nearby.

Taste: 5/10. They’re strangely addictive, but I can’t really taste any of the individual flavours over the incessant popping and crackling noises in my head and ears.

Would I buy it again? If I wanted to torture myself.

Halloween Shapes Appearance: These are just REESE’S cups that Dollarama probably couldn’t explicitly market as such because of weird corporate rules. Taking them out of the packaging was very underwhelming, and most of them were crushed, but what can I really expect from a dollar store?

Spookiness: Literally not scary at all.

Vibes: Mmm, peanut butter.

Taste: 9/10. It’s like a REESE’S Peanut Butter Cup,

but if you bought it from Dollarama. It’s got that strange, cheap taste to it.

Would I buy it again? Hell yeah. Getting REESE’S PIECES for that cheap is always a steal, even if they are a little crushed.

BLOOD SYRUP Appearance: Gruesome. Brutal. This is definitely the coolest candy packaging I saw at the dollar store.

Spookiness: Definitely scary. I was half-considering using it as a Halloween decoration instead of eating it. I feel like the outcome might’ve been better if I’d done that.

Vibes: Off. Taste: 4/10. Unexpectedly sour. I had really low expectations for the actual treat — it’s literally just liquid corn syrup — but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.

Would I buy it again? Under no circumstances would I be inclined to go out of my way to buy this. No thanks.

SPOOKY TREATS Gummy brain Appearance: Right off the bat, this thing is eyecatching. It’s absolutely disgusting looking, which is probably what prompted me to buy it in the first place. I am a glutton for punishment.

Spookiness: I mean, it’s definitely the scariest looking thing I bought, but I think the real spooky factor comes from how gross it was.

Vibes: Roadkill.

Taste: -800/10. It tastes like the love child of those sickly-sweet sucrose-drenched Valentine’s Day lollipops and a bottle of nail polish remover. The soft gummy texture, mixed with the syrupy texture of the “blood,” is absolutely wretched and cursed.

Would I buy it again? Absolutely the fuck not.

Halloween sweets can be a trick or a treat.

COURTESY OF ABI PORTER CC/WIKIMEDIA

Spooky Treats Candy Powder Appearance: These are pretty cool. I’m going to keep the little containers and use them as shot glasses — or uh, something more wholesome.

Yeah. Definitely the second option.

Spookiness: They’re really not scary at all, but the containers are cute!

Vibes: They’re made of a fine white powder that’s enclosed in a funny little plastic container. Slightly reminiscent of something very different.

Taste: 8/10. I mean, they’re sugar and citric acid.

What’s not to love? They’re like off-brand Fun Dip or Pixy Stix.

Would I buy it again? If I were in the right mood.

As I neared the end of my taste test, I felt like I was on cocaine. I was half-sure that I was going to vomit, but I held my ground because I haven’t vomited since, like, 2012 and I refuse to lose my streak now.

Anyway, stay safe this Halloween. Definitely pick up some of the Halloween Shapes, because where else can you get Halloween-themed REESE’S cups for $2? On the other hand, do not — and I repeat, do not — buy the gummy brain, unless you want to take a trip to hell itself.

Are UTSG’s oldest buildings inherently spooky?

Maintaining the right perspective is important to properly experience the UTSG Ghost Tour Helen Guo Varsity Contributor

My heart beat against my chest as I rushed up the stairs, my sweaty palms grabbing for the doorknob. I rushed frantically through the bright walls of the narrow hall until I reached my intended destination. But my fear wasn’t resolved yet.

With the desperation of a person being chased, I rapped my knuckles against the wooden door. My first small, shy tap descended into a series of loud bangs that not even a dead person could ignore.

“We’re going to be late!” I called. I was picking up my friend so we could attend “Campus Secrets and Spectres,” a ghost tour of UTSG offered by the organization The Haunted Walk. In the spirit of Halloween, the tour promised to tell us about U of T’s “spooky history” and “ghostly tales.”

Once we got to the event’s meeting place outside the Royal Ontario Museum, we easily spotted our tour guide. She wore a gothic black cloak and was in the midst of a heated debate with two tour guests about an electric lantern.

As we waited for our event to start, more guests arrived in trickles of couples and trios. To my dismay, my extremely outgoing friend nudged my arm and whispered, “You should interview people for your article.”

Normally, I’d vehemently avoid doing something so social, but I decided that, in the name of journalism, it was a necessary, even if characterbreaking, action to take.

“Only if you come with me,” I whispered back.

Almost instantaneously, my friend dragged me to introduce myself to every person in the vicinity.

One of the groups we talked to — or, rather, that my friend talked to as I attempted to take notes on my phone using half-frozen fingers that I

could no longer feel — appeared to be a family of three. They were experienced ghost tourists who recommended the Pioneer Village’s ghost tour to us. Although they’ve never seen any spirits, they told us that these tours are a fun way to learn about different cities’ histories.

We also talked to a pair of participants who had chosen UTSG’s ghost tour because they enjoyed the “campus-y” vibe of U of T. Although they revealed themselves to be supernatural skeptics, they shared many entertaining ghost stories with my friend and I. Shortly before our tour began, our guide gave us a rundown of what to expect. She told us that

all the stories we’d be told were verified by The Haunted Walk’s archives and included personal accounts taken from interviews with various people who claimed to have seen ghosts. The guide also went over the tour’s rules, such as following the group and not getting hit by a streetcar.

The most impressive aspect of this tour was its natural ambience. As we walked along the road, a subway train passed underneath us, causing the ground to rumble. My friend and I both felt that it matched the frightening atmosphere of the ghost story that we were listening to.

“That tree looks creepy,” my friend commented, pointing at a tree that we were passing. At first

ANDREA ZHAO/THEVARSITY

glimpse, the tree looked normal to me; however, in an attempt to get into the spirit of the ghost tour, I looked closer to see if I could find what my friend had noticed. I realized that the tree’s branches looked like skeleton hands extending towards the bright pink light shining outside The Royal Conservatory of Music.

It quickly became clear that perspective was important to experience this ghost tour in its entirety. Once I began to actively search for eeriness in my surroundings, even everyday objects such as brightly lit paths could be interpreted as spooky. Even the streetlights created long shadows that lurked at every corner.

An interesting aspect I noted as we walked around was the contrast between the gothic architecture of some of UTSG’s structures and their modern-looking surroundings. The brightly lit field in front of us contrasted with the ivory columns behind us. Towering skyscrapers lit up the darkened shadows cast by decaying buildings. I wondered, are UTSG’s oldest buildings inherently spooky?

The most enjoyable part of the experience was undeniably the interactive section of the tour. I won’t spoil it, but it involved inspecting a gash on the door of University College that was allegedly created by an axe.

Though The Haunted Walk’s ghost tour wasn’t as “haunting” as it promised to be, it helped me appreciate the frightening aspects of my surroundings. It was only when I was promised the possibility of seeing ghosts that I began to let my guard down and let myself become scared.

So if you’re seeking some terror this Halloween, throw on a costume, head outside, and watch the shadows — all it takes to fuel fear is the right perspective.

Science Mehrshad Babaei Varsity Contributor

You open your eyes and you’re sweating. It’s dark in your room. What time is it? You feel the strangest sensation in your chest — like something’s on top of you, holding you down.

You’re wide awake and you can look around.

Your heart’s beating fast. You want to make a run for it, but your legs aren’t moving. You feel everything — and yet you’re paralyzed.

Wait, did you hear that? You want to say something, but you can’t do that either. You hear the door creak open, and you sense that something’s approaching.

BOO! Admittedly, spooking people doesn’t quite work as well with words alone. I’m sure Stephen King would be disappointed in my attempt.

“Uh, what was that all about?” I hear you ask. Well, around 300 years ago, this late night story of terror was classic folklore. Some believed that experiences like this were caused by a demonic creature haunting people in their sleep. These days, the experience is known as sleep paralysis, and it may still involve making acquaintances with a “sleep paralysis demon.”

Is it worth losing sleep over demons?

The notion that demons exist and are a part of our world — tormenting us, wreaking havoc, and stealing a sock from time to time — has been a commonly held belief in many religions and cultures for centuries. In fact, for many, such traditional beliefs are perfectly sufficient to explain instances of abnormal human behaviours like sleep paralysis.

Interestingly, there is a scientific explanation for the feeling of that demonic presence. In the spirit of Halloween, we’re going to take a look at how sleep paralysis demons ‘manifest’ in real life.

Angel Hsieh Associate Science Editor

Sleep deprivation is one of the hallmarks of any stressful midterm season. To stay awake, university students may start consuming cups and cups of coffee, but the long-term effects of overconsuming caffeine can negatively impact both physical and mental health. Sleep can also take away precious hours that might otherwise be used to cram for that big test.

Why do humans waste so much time sleeping in order to function? The Varsity set out to investigate.

The origin of sleep In the Journal of Circadian Rhythms, Penn State University researcher Andrew Freiberg proposed an explanation for how sleeping enhances the fitness of organisms. All species face challenges when adapting to the changing seasons or the cycle of day and night. Freiberg thinks that sleep might be an evolutionary way of adapting to the differences between an organism’s environment in both daytime and nighttime — being awake and alert during the day and asleep during the night is one way of taking advantage of each environment.

Sleeping at night allows organisms to prepare for the exertion of foraging in their time awake. However, there is an interesting evolutionary tug of war between sleep and insomnia. According to a 2020 paper on insomnia, when faced with immediate dangers or threats, organisms are able to override their need to sleep. This means that occasional insomnia may be another normal part of human survival.

If you fast forward to the present day, many of the acute stressors that humans experience are predominantly anticipated and less deadly compared to imminent physical threats of being chased down by predators.

As a result of dramatic changes in lifestyle from our ancient ancestors, traits such as acute insomnia are no longer advantageous

October 25, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/science science@thevarsity.ca

The science behind demons A glimpse into one of the spookiest phenomena in the brain

Sleep paralysis can affect up to 40 per cent of the population.

COURTESY OF JOHANN HEINRICH FUSSLI

So, what is going on with those sleep paralysis demons? Are they real?

If you’re lucky enough to find some time away from studying for your midterms — which are terrifying in their own right — and get some sleep, you will most likely have a few dreams.

We experience dreams during the deepest stage of our sleep cycle, called the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. Because our dreams can get intense, the brain protects the body during REM by temporarily paralyzing it, in order to prevent extraneous and possibly dangerous movements.

Sleep paralysis happens when we become conscious during REM — aware of our surroundings and yet immobile. There’s no demon holding us down, unless we define “demon” to mean “self-imposed suppression of skeletal

muscle tone and neurons in the spinal cord.”

“But what about the demon I can still see having a tea party in my room?” you might ask.

This is where dreaming comes in. The demon and the tea party are both dream-like hallucinations we experience during REM. These hallucinations are known as ‘hypnagogic’ if they occur when the individual is falling asleep or ‘hypnopompic’ if they occur when the individual is waking up. They can be auditory, visual, or both, and can seem very real and scary.

Sleep paralysis affects anywhere from approximately 1.7 to 40 per cent of the general population, and it can be caused by sleep deprivation and stress. That adds up to a lot of demons coming out every night — or, as I like to put it, a lot of fatigued university students desperately trying to get some sleep.

Why do we sleep?

An evolutionary perspective on the origin of sleep to us and may even be harmful to us.

This constitutes what researchers, including UTM anthropology professor David Samson, called a “gene-environment mismatch” because the adaptive trait of acute insomnia no longer suits the environment we find ourselves in.

One example of the harms of insomnia that’s relevant to university students is pulling an allnighter before going into an exam. While those few extra hours of study might seem crucial, the sleep deprivation caused by an all-nighter may in

fact lead to heightened and counterproductive stress levels.

With more than 20 per cent of the general population in Western countries experiencing symptoms of insomnia to varying degrees, the adaptive physiological response to stress could easily become disruptive to a healthy sleeping routine.

How much sleep do I need?

In 2015, the National Sleep Foundation (NFS)

Possessing the mind Besides influencing people’s behaviours and mental states, demons are believed to be able to possess individuals as well. The popularity of the notion of demonic possessions has even encouraged people to ignore symptoms of psychiatric disorders — hallucinations, delusions, and interactions with things that are not there — by influencing individuals to try religious solutions such as exorcism.

Today, many classic symptoms of ‘demonic possession’ are actually associated with schizophrenia, which, according to the World Health Organization, is “a type of mental illness characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self and behaviour.”

Additionally, for hundreds of years, lefthanded people were believed to have been involved in witchcraft and demonic practices, and deemed to be evil — yet Leonardo Da Vinci, perhaps the greatest painter of all time, was left-handed.

We may not be certain of many things — for instance, how exactly handedness is established — but we know that left-handed people aren’t secretly spending their time wearing black robes and witching away. We know that there is always some science behind supposed ‘demons’ — science which we will eventually be able to discover and explore, just as we have with sleep paralysis and mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

Evidently, life is complex and full of mysteries still unsolved, but it’s probably not full of creepy demons. You can rest easy knowing that dressing up as a demon for Halloween is about as real as it gets — as far as our natural world is considered, anyway. Or, at least, I hope so.

I hope my sleep paralysis demon doesn’t read this. published the first ever peer-reviewed paper on recommended sleep time across different stages of life. The NFS appointed an international panel of 18 experts, including Professor John Peever from U of T’s Department of Physiology, to conduct an evaluation of scientific literature about sleep. In the end, the panel reviewed more than 300 scholarly articles focused on medical and scientific research.

The panelists split people into nine categories for their evaluation, ranging from newborns to older adults. The results indicated that the recommended amount of sleep for adults aged 18–64 is seven to nine hours per day.

Despite the recommendation, the panel did emphasize in their article that it is possible to have a healthy amount of sleep outside the proposed range without any negative impact to cognitive function. There are many other factors that can impact the restorative properties of sleep, such as the quality or timing of sleep. It’s only when an individual’s sleep time significantly varies from the normal range that medical attention might be necessary.

Tips for better sleep The ongoing pandemic has instilled a strong sense of uncertainty in people’s day-to-day lives. Samson shared some of his practical tips for a good night of rest in a U of T News article.

According to Samson, eating sends a signal to the body that conflicts with its circadian rhythm — the body’s internal biological clock.

Simply scheduling your dinner around three hours before bedtime, reducing your intake of stimulants, and snacking less frequently can help your body wind down at the end of the day.

Another helpful tip is to turn off screens and electronic devices at least an hour prior to your desired bedtime. Constant exposure to news updates and blue light emitted from screens can be stimulating distractions that prevent one from falling asleep. So lights out and sweet dreams!

LIYA HUANG/THEVARSITY

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THE VARSITY

science@thevarsity.ca

SCIENCE

Adaptation and resilience: What Syrian refugees experienced when they arrived in Canada New U of T study says occupational roles shaped refugee experiences Khatchig Anteblian Science Editor

The Syrian Civil War has been one of the major world events of the past decade, resulting in millions of deaths and mass destruction, in addition to creating one of the biggest refugee crises in recent history. Canada in particular has received tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. The website for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) states that “Canada resettled more than 25,000 Syrian refugees between November 4, 2015 and February 29, 2016.” As of October 31, 2020, that number currently sits at 44,620 resettled refugees in total.

As big as that number seems, it is only a tiny fraction of the total number of refugees. About 13 million people have been displaced to places within and outside of Syria — more than half of Syria’s population.

In a recent U of T study, occupational therapists

Generating data through storytelling In order to gather data for their study, Khan and Kanji conducted two interviews each with four Syrian refugees, aged 19 and 20, who had arrived in Canada between 2017–2019. For privacy, the participants were referred to only by their first names: Raafat, Nour, Mohammad, and Miriam.

The interviews were structured so that the participants could share their experiences and the evolution of their social roles and occupations throughout their migration journey.

The researchers used an approach introduced to them by one of their research supervisors, Professor Jane Davis of the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. The strategy consists of creating what’s called an “occupational life course timeline” — a graphical representation of the events and occupations going on at different points in one’s life.

“It’s not been used as much in research; that’s

from their analysis: family, autonomy, community participation, and integration into society.

An important aspect of the researchers’ findings was that these themes were fluid and the roles of the participants within each of them changed based on external context. For instance, a major shift in context for many participants happened when the civil war started in 2011. After 2011, the siblings Raafat and Nour couldn’t participate in their community the way they used to before the war, and were forced to flee to Lebanon with their family and establish their lives in a new society as refugees.

Mohammad, who was 10 years old when the war began, said he lost his childhood as he was forced to drop out of school and stop playing with friends on the streets at a very young age.

A common point among all of the participants’ narratives was taking on responsibilities and roles while they were still young — like taking odd jobs at a young age to support their families, or

suggests that Syrians are more affected by issues of marginalization because they have limited resources to navigate their new society.

Although government services like the ones detailed above have had a positive reception among those who are able to receive them, systemic barriers such as a lack of available childcare or a shortage of accessible English Sign Language classes prevents mothers of young children or people who are hearing-impared — a common ailment among refugees, according to research — from accessing these government services.

Lack of access to language services can have largely negative effects on refugee families since, according to a 2018 study, language barriers are one of the key factors that affect people’s ability to find employment.

why we wanted to include this,” Khan said. They conducted online interviews in which one of the researchers drew the timeline as the participants told their stories. After that, they sent the timelines to the participants to reflect on before conducting a second round of interviews, where the timelines served as visual aids.

“That process did elicit a lot of great conversations because the participants were able to actually see their journey evolve,” Khan noted.

becoming cultural navigators as they moved to a new country.

Another aspect that the researchers discovered in the participants’ narratives was a disruption of traditional gender roles as they settled into their new lives in Canada. While Nour would have previously been expected to solely be a caretaker and get married at a relatively young age, she found opportunities to challenge those roles when she arrived in Canada. She found it easier to pursue higher education and acquire more autonomy.

These cultural shifts also manifested within her family as the men in the family started contributing to household work — a role traditionally reserved for women.

participants showed throughout their stories.

They noted that the young refugees had to grow up quickly and adapt to their new environments, needing to quickly acquire new skills essential to their survival. “[They were] only in their midteens when they moved to Canada with a wealth of experience like cultural knowledge, cultural capital, and life experiences,” Khan emphasized.

Khan and Kanji noted that it’s important to look at the experiences of refugees through the lens of occupational therapy in order to delve deeper into their day-to-day experiences and gain more understanding. “Something we did see in our interviews was that when the participants did arrive with their families, obviously immediate needs were met, but there was a gap with regards to how to navigate their surroundings,” Khan said.

Despite the difficulties that they faced in Canada, the participants demonstrated a drive to succeed and give back to their communities. For Mohammad, this has meant volunteering as a translator at the same resettlement agency that supported his family. For Raafat and Nour, it has meant an aspiration to pursue medicine.

In her interviews, Nour said her desire to return to Syria as a doctor came from seeing the war firsthand. “I saw a lot of people dying [with] my eyes. And I just wanna go back and help them,” she said. “I wanna do everything [for] free… I’m not interested in money. I care about helping people.”

Adapting and moving forward One of the key takeaways that both researchers highlighted was the resilience that all the

BIANCA REATENGUI/THEVARSITY

Sumaira Khan and Zahra Kanji, alongside their co-writers, explored the experiences of Syrian refugee youth throughout their migration journey to Canada and assess their occupational transitions — that is, changes in their daily activities and social roles — as a result of their resettlement to Canada.

What is occupational therapy?

According to the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, occupational therapy is “a type of health care that helps to solve the problems that interfere with a person’s ability to do the things that are important to them.” Khan and Kanji set out to explore the ways in which the occupations — routine daily activities — of Syrian refugee youth were impacted as a result of the environmental, cultural, and social changes created by their forced displacement.

“We really view [sic] that the everyday occupations or activities that a person does is essential to their well being and to who they are as a person,” Kanji said during an interview with The Varsity.

This idea, they said, is central to what they are taught and what they practice as occupational therapists.

Kanji added that, within their field, the term “occupation” can include a variety of things, ranging from day-to-day activities like work and school to recreation and self-care habits.

Creating meaning out of subjective narratives Both Khan and Kanji emphasized the role that their own experiences and biases played in generating and analyzing their data. Khan talked about the “interpretivist paradigm,” saying that both her and Kanji feel that the data itself and its interpretation are closely linked.

To ensure the quality of their research data, Khan and Kanji made sure to use as many sources as they could to generate their data, including the occupational life course timelines, information from multiple interviews, and careful analysis of the interviews to extract meaning and themes.

Kanji said that they used a narrative inquiry approach to use the participants’ stories to understand the meanings they drew from their own experiences. The researchers transcribed the interviews and broke them down to identify key aspects of the participants’ narratives and put them all into thematic groups. Four key themes emerged

Social, economic, and environmental barriers “When it comes to occupational possibilities, Canada — as great as the opportunities are — isn’t perfect,” Khan noted. Some of the participants described experiencing marginalization as refugees in Canada due to factors like limited English proficiency, a lack of education as a result of their circumstances, and financial difficulties.

While this might be a general issue affecting all immigrants and refugees, the IRCC reported that Syrian refugees accessed settlement services — such as language assessment and training, employment services, and crisis counselling — at a higher rate than non-Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada during the same period. This

thevarsity.ca/section/science

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Christina Lam Varsity Staff

Many existing tests to develop drugs within the field of regenerative medicine are timeconsuming, cumbersome, and fail to mimic the physiological environment in human bodies. Recently though, a joint project between U of T’s Biomedical Engineering Faculty members Dr. Alison McGuigan and Dr. Penney Gilbert created an innovative way to manipulate and evaluate the regenerative capacity of muscle stem cells.

Two researchers from Gilbert’s lab, postdoctoral fellow Dr. Sadegh Davoudi and PhD student Bella Xu, discovered a new method to do so that circumvents common shortcomings.

This novel approach not only has the potential to expedite the drug discovery processes but can also accelerate the development of regenerative medicines for muscles.

Background on the regenerative process in muscles Muscles are critical for maintaining normal body functions. They keep us upright, carry us around, and support our breathing. They also have remarkable regenerative abilities. Minor injuries can heal by themselves without therapeutic intervention. Most of us have experienced this self-repair phenomenon firsthand with minor sprains and strains.

The regenerative process in muscles, also known as muscle endogenous repair (MEndR), occurs thanks to a reservoir of stem cells that are activated following an injury. The stem cells then proliferate and remodel the damaged muscles during the healing phase.

In the case of more severe injuries, such as injuries from traumatic accidents and muscle atrophy, stem cells alone are not enough to regenerate muscles. This limitation results in the formation of scars and non-functional tissues.

In the field of regenerative medicine, MEndR is considered a promising focus of study for researchers that want to identify compounds that can amplify stem cells’ capacity to repair and to improve self-healing. Although the process may sound simple theoretically, it is much more complicated in practice.

Davoudi, the U of T paper’s lead author, wrote in

U of T researchers make stem cells repair muscle tissue New technique could transform the drug discovery pipeline an email to The Varsity that the existing methods “often do not have the necessary regenerative cues and the readouts are simplistic.”

“Furthermore, the animal models are complicated, expensive, time consuming, ethically questionable, and most importantly not human,” Davoudi added. However, the newly discovered technique found by Davoudi and Xu, which uses MEndR, might solve all these issues.

Streamlining regenerative therapies development Davoudi’s and Xu’s technique combines both the screening and validation stages of drug development into a single step on a petri dish, which could significantly accelerate the drug discovery pipeline. Davoudi and Xu came up with the idea while working on their own individual projects. Originally, Davoudi was working on identifying new drugs for muscle regeneration while Xu was looking at developing mini-muscle tissues.

Davoudi recalled how this project was inspired, “One day as we were talking as a group, we decided to see what would happen if we added muscle stem cells [to the mini-muscle].”

The researchers were excited when the stem cells not only repaired the injured mini-muscle tissues, but also responded to drug treatments the same way that they responded to drugs in animal models. “That was the experiment that led us down the path of creating [the MEndR project],” Davoudi wrote.

The researchers ran a test that involves growing muscle tissues, into which they incorporate muscle stem cells, on a sheet of cellulose paper.

Davoudi calls the result a “three-dimensional mini-muscle in a dish.” After that, they treat the muscle tissue with a damaging toxin, mimicking the destruction of muscles from a snake bite.

The job prospects of life science graduate students Participating in job simulation programs may mean more employment opportunities Lindsey Thurston Varsity Contributor

“If you don’t want to be a university professor, why are you doing your PhD?” one of my peers asks innocently, already years into a cushy career. It’s common to ask the graduate students in your life what they plan to do when they graduate — and the options available to them are becoming more diverse. In recent years, a significant proportion of life science- and health-focused PhD graduates have decided to pursue a career outside of academia.

A graduate degree in life science provides students with a variety of skills, including project management, analytics, and oral and written communication — not to mention niche

scientific expertise. However, it’s not easy to convince an employer that skills from five or more years of graduate school are transferable to their industry.

The Industry Team Case Study job simulation program The Industry Team Case Study (ITCS) job simulation program, established by the Science Career Impact Project and the Life Sciences Career Development Society (LSCDS) at U of T, hopes to bridge the gap between life science graduate students and industry careers.

The program has been running for five years and offers students the opportunity to build industry-relevant skills.

‘Industry’ refers to non-academic careers

About 55 per cent of participants in the job simulation program were hired in industry positions.

COURTESY OF LIFE SCIENCES CAREER DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY

What Davoudi and Xu found is that the mini-muscle system reproduces the natural environment needed by stem cells to kickstart MEndR. At this point, researchers can add various compounds to the system and study their effects on stem cells’ regenerative capability.

There are many advantages to using a 3D mini-model compared to traditional model organisms. Davoudi went on to elaborate that, by using the 3D mini-model, the researchers were able to “reproduce the results of drug treatments in animal studies faster, cheaper, and with a higher throughput.” He also added that the simplicity and accessibility of this technique opens up the possibility of studying muscle regeneration in new ways that they couldn’t attempt before because of the limitations of using traditional animal models.

MEndR meets industry Another promising aspect of this new technique

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is its potential to be scaled up. One lab can run up to 60 tissues at the same time, allowing for side-by-side comparison of multiple drugs. The amount of time saved because of the efficiency of Davoudi and Xu’s method could make a world’s difference for patients suffering from severe muscle destruction from either trauma or diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Because of this, there has been great interest among researchers over this new method and many groups have contacted Gilbert’s lab. “[We] had several industrial and academic research groups reach out to test their designed compounds in our MEndR assay, and we’re collaborating with them as well,” wrote Davoudi.

To fully implement the use of MEndR in the drug development pipeline, Davoudi wrote that he and Xu are developing a more portable version of their experiment, which will require less time, fewer materials, and less work to use. He added that they’re also working on developing it to be used on human tissue, which Davoudi thinks will enable MEndR’s future potential use as a personalized medicine tool.

Davoudi is very optimistic about the future of his project. “This publication is a first step in creating a fully human system that will allow a personalized medicine approach towards identifying new drugs and treatments for muscle repair in individual patients,” he wrote.

JESSICA LAM/THEVARSITY

beyond tenure-track university positions. U of T’s 10,000 PhDs project found that in 2016, approximately 38 per cent of life science students who graduated between 2000–2015 had a position in industry careers, including the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Despite this high proportion, graduates face challenges entering the industry workforce due to skill gaps, poor self-marketing about their transferable skills, and ignorance about their career options.

The ITCS focuses on the biopharmaceutical sector. Trainees work with a team of like-minded peers at different stages of their graduate or post-doctoral career. Over four months, the teams identify a business or policy challenge, conduct research and analyses, develop a strategy, and finally present a solution to their industry mentors. These mentors are available to each team throughout the term to offer guidance.

Breaking into industry Often, students keen to work in industry will seek out extracurricular experiential learning opportunities such as internships, job shadowing programs, and job simulations.

Job simulation has trainees complete individual or group projects that mimic what professionals in their sector may experience.

Unlike an internship, job simulation projects are completed in a non-employment context, but still provide opportunities for skill development and professional networking.

Of the 106 life science students that participated in ITCS between 2016–2020, 55 per cent were employed in an industry position after graduation. Historically, only 20 per cent of life science graduates were employed in private sector jobs. Importantly, just under half of ITCS trainees hired into industry jobs completed at least one internship in addition to the ITCS job simulation program. The program

developers conclude that job simulation is an effective “alternative or companion” to other experiential learning opportunities and allows students to be competitive in the nonacademic job market.

A preprint of an article written by a group of U of T professors indicates that ITCS alums report many benefits of participation in the job simulation program. Trainees obtain specialized knowledge and industry insights, build networking skills through engagement with mentors and peers, and diversify their job applications with a project portfolio. Being able to include ITCS projects in a portfolio, résumé, or cover letter also impresses hiring managers and helps alums stand out in their interviews.

Future sessions Katelyn Kozma, one of the organizers of the ITCS program, and a group of her colleagues have recently published their process for initiating the ITCS job simulation program. The publication intends to guide other institutions, organizations, or even other graduate students to develop their own job simulation programs. The success of the ITCS job simulation program may mean expanded opportunities for life science research trainees.

Right now, current life science graduate students can apply for the 2022 ITCS. An information session will be held in December, with updates about the event released through the LSCDS mailing list. The LSCDS also offers other career events and mentorship with community professionals.

Graduate students in all areas can also access the Hart House Mentorship Program.

This program pairs students with U of T alums or community members to facilitate career and personal growth.

Sports

October 25, 2021 thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Opinion: As excitement for live sports goes through the roof, so do ticket prices Outrage over the prices of Toronto Raptors tickets opens a can of worms in the sports world

Fans are discontent with the ticket prices for their favorite teams.

DINA DONG/THEVARSITY

Mekhi Quarshie Associate Sports Editor

Single-game ticket sales to watch the Toronto Raptors’ games went for sale on Friday, October 15, and it didn’t take long for social media outrage to follow. Raptors fans quickly took to Twitter to express their views on the crazy prices that they were witnessing — and, boy, did they have a lot to say. Reactions to the Toronto Raptors’ astronomical ticket prices ranged from “Release cheaper tickets!” to “Raptors learning from OVO with these prices. Tickets better come with a halftime show from Drake himself.”

After doing some research, it’s evident that tickets for the Raptors are priced high for a variety of their games, but they are also normally priced for others. Want to see the Raptors go against Steph Curry and the Warriors?

Tickets start at $193. Have time on a Friday night and decide to watch the Raptors play the Clippers? Better have $143 on you. However, if you want to see them play the Indiana

Lexey Burns UTM Bureau Chief

I was 20 years old when I went to my first football game.

I had just transferred to the University of Toronto from Laurentian University, where we did not have a team at all. Our homecomings consisted of hockey or basketball games, but we never had any interest in having a football team. Even my high school did not have the proper insurance to cover a bunch of teenage boys tackling each other in the middle of a field. So I’ve never had the opportunity to go to a school football game.

But over the summer, I met a guy who practiced with the Varsity Blues and I became dead set on attending a football game. So on October 2, I went to watch the Varsity Blues play the Queen’s Golden Gaels.

The Blues had started off their season strong, with a 11–10 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees, so I was excited to see how good the team actually was — not that I would be a good judge of that.

Did I Google “football for dummies” before I went to the game? Yes, I did. Despite my previous research, I was still kind of confused when each touchdown was only six points, because I thought they were seven — that is, until the Gaels scored their first touchdown and then got an extra point from a try, which was the seventh point I was thinking about. I was satisfied with the correction to my original knowledge.

It wasn’t until the end of the first quarter that

Pacers, you can do so for as low as $18. To say that Raptors tickets are overpriced is a broad generalization — ticket prices for the Raptors range from high to low.

Ticket prices differ depending on the players, teams, and sports under discussion. However, studies show that ticket prices in general have been inflating in the last century. Research on Major League Baseball (MLB) shows that average ticket prices in the league have risen by $10 in the last 15 years. What’s causing this increase? After endlessly scrolling through ticket prices for the major sports in North America, I’ve come up with a few main factors that dictate how expensive ticket prices are.

Rivalries and historically great teams An article from Investopedia states that most professional sports teams use “dynamic ticket pricing,” which can explain the broad increase in ticket prices that have been seen. Often used in the airline and hotel industry, dynamic ticket pricing makes sure that ticket prices

are contingent on the situational factors that surround a specific sports season.

This is why ticket prices to see the Toronto Maple Leafs go against the Montreal Canadiens start at $200. Because of the Leafs’ shameful loss to the Canadiens after their 3–1 lead in the 2020–2021 NHL playoffs, tickets are priced higher for this game, because it’s a “rematch” of sorts — the first time the teams will face each other since the playoffs.

Another reason why ticket prices may be higher is because some teams have a historic track record of being dominant in their respective leagues.

This is why the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and Las Vegas Raiders lead the NFL in average ticket prices in 2020. These four teams are all also in the top seven NFL teams with the most Super Bowl wins.

Resale tickets Last but not the least, reselling can lead to a huge increase in ticket sales. This happens when the tickets have already been bought by fans,

A reflection on my first time watching university football

excitement anymore. So when the fourth quarter came around and we were losing 29– 11, people began leaving, assuming that the Blues wouldn’t make a comeback.

But then, when Queen’s scored their last touchdown to make the score 35–11, it ended in a dogpile. One defensive back for the Blues score their first touchdown, and they ended the turned up injured at the bottom of the pile and first half at 26–11. was not able to get up again with all of the other I secretly hoped that the Blues would make players. Both teams automatically went back to a comeback. How great would it their respective benches and kneeled in respect be if I went to my first football while the player recieved medical attention. game and my college With just over 10 minutes left in the fourth team won? quarter, Beth Ali, the executive director of co-curricular athletics and physical activity, decided to call it. I got to talk to her after the game about the incident and she explained her process for handling a situation like this.

She had to talk with the coaches from the Queen’s team as well as the officials and get their approval before officially calling the game.

It just seemed like a better decision for everyone, especially so late in the game. I hope the player is recovering well and that I’ll see him on the field at my next game!

So the Blues lost 35–11, and all the fans were encouraged to leave as quickly and calmly as possible. It’s definitely not how I pictured my first football game The Varsity Blues go up against the Queen’s Gaels. ending, especially after how well COURTESY OF SEYRAN MAMMODOV/VARSITY BLUES it started. But despite that, I really enjoyed the experience, and I can Neither team scored in the third quarter. finally understand why homecoming games Despite the mascot, cheerleaders, and and high-profile competitions like the Panda minigames for fans, no one really had any Game in Ottawa are so loved.

I learned a lot in those four quarters the Blues scored their first point with 41 seconds left. The score didn’t move any unmotivated fans.

Queen’s seemed like the stronger team so far, pressing the offense and doing a good

job of keeping the play in our end, which gave us very few opportunities to score. It took until the end of the second quarter for the Blues to

and are being resold at prices chosen at their discretion. According to the Ticketmaster website, as long as a fan has already bought tickets and has an account with Ticketmaster, that fan is allowed to resell the tickets at any price they want. This happens because often when there is a higher demand for certain tickets, there is a lower supply of them because most of them have already been bought. Metropolitan areas like Los Angeles are familiar with reselling, considering that for games between the Lakers and the Clippers, I could find tickets being resold this season for anywhere between $100 and $600.

However, if you’re a Toronto-based sports fan that doesn’t have a hedge fund, all hope is not lost. Look for games that aren’t being played against famously great teams, buy your tickets early, and try to avoid games against rival teams.

If you follow those steps, you might be able to watch your favorite teams live without putting a large dent in your wallet. And, of course, you can always break open the piggy bank once in a while for the really important games.

thevarsity.ca/section/sports

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Examining this season’s standout Varsity Blues Adele Chun and Beth Deconinck discuss their performances this season In Chun’s first-ever university tournament, she finished with a score of one under par in a round of 71, capturing first place for herself and the Blues. She picked up another individual win at the Ontario Tech Ridgeback Invitational in a round of 82. Chun also helped the Blues to a second-place finish at the 2021 Waterloo Invitational, where her two-day total score of 158 topped a field of 45 women.

The Varsity Blues’ golf team placed eighth at this year’s Ontario University Athletics championships and Chun shot 86 to individually tie for ninth place.

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Elizabeth Chelmecki Varsity Contributor

After the cancellation of varsity sports at the University of Toronto last year due to the ongoing pandemic, the Varsity Blues are back this year. With lofty expectations, and a lot of time spent training, the Varsity Blues are clearly ready to make waves across all sports.

The Varsity interviewed two exceptional athletes who have stood out among their peers this season with their incredible performances thus far — Adele Chun of women’s golf and Beth Deconinck of women’s softball. Chun and Deconinck discussed challenges they faced due to the pandemic, their success this season, and their goals for the upcoming year.

A recap of their success The Varsity Blues softball team currently

Emmy Curtis Varsity Contributor

Health and fitness is always evolving, and since the beginning of the pandemic, the fitness industry has substantially risen in popularity. With little access to personal trainers, equipment, and gym facilities, it became evident that the world of fitness would have to adjust to an at-home style of physical activity for the time being. Like in many industries, technology is at the core of that transformation. Although not new to the scene, wearable fitness technology has risen in popularity within the last few years, providing consumers with the opportunity to have a better understanding of their daily activity, workout statistics, and overall health.

Since Fitbit launched its first piece in 2009, wearable fitness technology has grown from a simple idea to an industry that sold over 444.7 million units worldwide in 2020. From watches to smart jewellery and artificial intelligence headphones, fitness technology is getting more and more advanced each year. These devices can track many things including blood flow, heart rate, sleep patterns, step count, and breathing rhythms. As technology revolutionizes our world and we find ourselves sitting in front of screens for long periods of time, this technology is assisting us in correcting those habits and adjusting to

stands with a record of 10–1–1, sitting in first place of the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Association (OIWFA) East division.

In their opening weekend, the team went 4–0 in all matches, with wins against Carleton and Queens, two of their strongest competitors. One of the superstars on the team is shortstop Beth Deconinck, a fourth-year student specializing in biology and majoring in immunology.

Deconinck shines not just because of her game statistics, but her focus and mentality. “Beth stands out in all aspects of the game,” said her coach Craig Sarson. “Mentally, Beth is always on top of the situation. She’s always prepared. That allows her physical talents to shine even brighter.”

Another athlete who has been having a standout season is Adele Chun, a first-year Rotman commerce student who plays for the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues golf team.

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Challenges due to COVID-19 Chun and Deconinck are both seasoned athletes with years of experience in their respective sports, but the ongoing pandemic has posed new challenges for both of these Varsity Blues athletes.

“Because… [of] COVID… I didn’t put in as much practice because facilities weren’t open.” said Chun. But the recent relaxation of COVID-19 policies and joining the Varsity Blues team has put the pressure back on her. “I’m representing something other than myself.”

While Chun is beginning her university career, Deconinck’s is coming to a close. She has been a part of the Varsity Blues softball team throughout her four years at U of T, but because of the pandemic, the season opener this September was the first competitive game her softball team had played since the 2019–2020 season.

“When we got on the field for our first game this

Wearable fitness technology: The evolution of wellness Tracking your progress is only a wrist raise away

DARREN CHENG/THEVARSITY

healthy and more active lifestyles.

One of the top wearable fitness devices currently on the market is the Apple Watch. Not only does the Apple Watch have some of the most advanced fitness tracking capabilities, it also connects to notifications, allowing for quicker communication and information. The Apple Watch is more than just an iPhone on your wrist — when used to its

maximum capabilities, it can be an easy assistant to living a consistent healthy lifestyle. The Apple Watch can track blood oxygen levels, sleep patterns, and heart rhythm, and it can provide directions and routes for your best run or cycle.

A unique feature of the Apple Watch is the activity-sharing option. This feature allows you to connect with friends who also have an Apple

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year, I was… nervous because I hadn’t played a real softball game in almost 2 years,” wrote Deconinck.

“It is tempting to compare my performance now to how it was before the pandemic, but I have to remember that we are all a bit rustier than normal, and it takes a bit of time to get back in the groove.”

Once she started playing, the nerves went away. “It was awesome being back on the field playing the sport I love,” she wrote.

Highlights of the season Despite the obstacles the pandemic has put in the path of these Varsity Blues athletes, Chun and Deconinck have had outstanding performances this season.

To stay in shape and prepare for the season, Deconinck trained this summer and did softball drills with her dad and sister. The softball team also had a few weeks to practice together in September prior to their first game.

The team has been dominant thus far, and Deconinck has had some spectacular moments this season. For example, during a recent game against York, she got three hits, including a triple. When asked about this standout moment, Deconinck wrote, “That [game] was really fun, and it always feels great to help your team score runs.”

Chun focused on her short game over the summer and participated in several tournaments to prepare for her season with the Varsity Blues.

Apart from her sparkling scores this season, Chun’s highlight has been her team.

After playing individually for so long, she appreciates the tight-knit group. “Golf, generally… is a very individualistic sport,” she said. “This is the team environment I’ve been lacking in this sport.

Everyone is cheering everyone on.”

Chun said her coaches have also had a big impact on her game this season. “They’re all supportive individuals, especially in a sport where I put so much pressure on myself,” she said. “It’s hard to ignore some faults that you have in the game, but for the first time, I’ve been able to… overcome them.”

Goals for the upcoming year The Varsity Blues softball team was preparing to play the 2021 OIWFA Championship on October 24. The softball teams’ goal is to win the provincial championships and qualify for Nationals.

Deconinck thinks her team has a greater chance of winning compared to previous years.

“We have really strong players, and dominant pitching,” she wrote.

Chun achieved her goal of playing well this season, and mentioned how she “felt very successful,” and that the experience was “very rewarding.”

What was most memorable for her was the culture of her team. “Simple bus rides to and from tournaments [have] always been enjoyable. I’m… making new friends. Even on the golf course, I’ve been able to meet people from other schools and share experiences,” said Chun.

Watch to follow their fitness progress throughout the day, or challenge each other in seven-day competitions. This feature is meant to further challenge and motivate you daily.

Another leading wearable is the Fitbit. With many models and varieties to choose from, you can be sure to find a piece perfect for your lifestyle and health goals. The first Fitbit was an attachable tag which stuck to your clothes, that only counted steps. Now you can find features on their newest model such as ‘daily readiness’ — which alerts you when your body is at its highest functionality for a workout or when your body needs a recovery day — stress management, GPS, oxygen monitoring, and skin temperature tracking. With its wide variety of pieces and features, the Fitbit is a great option if you are looking for basic activity tracking or if you are looking for the most advanced health applications.

Wearable technology provides us with immediate health and activity status information, and they’re becoming the ultimate devices for living a healthy lifestyle. Whether you decide to purchase a Fitbit, an Apple Watch, or a device from any other brand on the market, you can be sure that your investment will be worthwhile.

Technology is revolutionizing today’s world, and this is the modern way to make sure we understand our bodies and the treatment and activity they need.

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OCTOBER 25, 2021