Vol. CXXXVII, No. 13 January 9, 2017 thevarsity.ca —— The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
Now ? t a wh COMMENT — Page 9
From party lines to warning signs Predicting Canada’s fate in 2017
ARTS & CULTURE — Page 14
From the ashes
A tumultuous year leaves room for healing and inspiration in 2017
CFS under fire for handling of “hidden” bank account
U of T expands outsourced cleaning services
National Executive to release report based on forensic audit for June general meeting
CUPE 3261 claims contractor pays unfair wages, discriminates against women
Lesley Flores Varsity Staff
Jack Denton Associate News Editor
The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is facing scrutiny from the UTSU for its handling of a “hidden” bank account that was discovered in 2014. Delegates at the CFS’s National General Meeting (NGM) on November 17–22 voted to approve the audit of a CFS controlled bank account without having had access to the audit report that discussed that account. The bank account was hidden from auditors for years before being discovered in 2014 and remains shrouded in mystery. The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Vice-President Internal, Mathias Memmel, described the CFS’ handling of the hidden bank account at the National General Meeting as “incredibly disturbing,” in his executive report
because, he writes, the federation “refused to disclose where it came from or where it went despite the completion of a forensic audit and report.” When asked by The Varsity why the CFS did not provide members with access to the forensic audit report before having to vote on its acceptance, CFS National Chairperson Bilan Arte stated, “No reports have been withheld.” Arte said that the CFS National Executive was in the process of writing its own report “on the findings of the forensic review in time for the June general meeting.” According to Arte, the National Executive’s report would contain “additional information about the review,” and would be released to members instead of the full report that was done by Grant Thornton LLP because of “potential human resources matters.”
Memmel said that “According to the National Treasurer, the CFS was advised by its lawyers not to release the forensic audit to its members, although he later admitted that he hasn’t actually seen the legal opinion in question.” Memmel also stated that the CFS National Executive announced the existence of the bank account in 2014 but its details have “never been explained.” “The National Treasurer and a number of CFS staff refused to elaborate on [the bank account], despite persistent questioning by the Budget Committee,” Memmel said. Arte denied withholding information from members, stating that “member local students’ unions have been kept up to date on actions taken by the executive.” Arte also stated that the bank account in question was “immediately frozen” upon its discovery. CFS, page 3
Science — Page 19 Hatching into a dragon Robert Herjavec on trials, tribulations, and ultimately — success.
The university is continuing to outsource cleaning services on campus with contract workers from Compass Group. There are 25 buildings on campus that are being cleaned by workers from Compass Group, which is a multinational cleaning and property management company that is also the world’s largest food service company. These buildings have had their cleaning services outsourced gradually, with five buildings added in fall 2015, one in early 2016, and an additional eight in the fall of 2016. The outsource has been met with criticism from CUPE 3261, the union representing service workers employed by U of T. CUPE 3261 has argued that Compass Group does not pay its workers fair wages, has a wage breakdown that discrimi-
nates against women, and that the use of Compass contradicts the university’s commitment to leveraging its position as a key institution to bring about pay equity. U of T Media Relations Director Althea Blackburn-Evans told The Varsity that new buildings are given priority consideration for outsourcing to Compass, followed by buildings where retirement or resignation of staff leaves a dwindling number of workers. “I want to emphasize that no caretaking staff at the university has lost their jobs, or will lose their jobs, as a result of outsourcing,” she said. “We are absolutely duty-bound to use the money that we get very efficiently, and we are facing increasing cost pressure” — Althea Blackburn-Evans Outsource, page 4
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The Explainer
Campus Police Reportings
News to watch out for in 2017
December 21–January 5
Anniversaries: Canada is celebrating its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary since Confederation; a variety of events are set across the country for the occasion. The University of Toronto is celebrating its one hundred and ninetieth anniversary on March 15. Additionally, UTM is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a variety of events and initiatives. Student Commons: University of Toronto St. George Campus (UTSG) Student Commons is set to open in the Fall of 2017 at 230 College Street. The Student Commons has faced controversy this past year over costs; in its first year of operation deficits are projected to be around $300,000. Chris Spence hearing: The hearing of former Toronto District School Board (TDSB) director Chris Spence begins in February 16. Spence’s teaching certification was revoked for professional misconduct following a guilty ruling by the Ontario College of Teacher’s disciplinary committee. The U of T hearing cocerns allegations that Spence plagiarized his thesis decades ago at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
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Truth and Reconciliation Commission: U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Steering Committee is set to release its report on January 13. The report will include recommendations on how to best implement the TRC’s Calls to Action at the university.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Hussein Fawzy, Saad Hasnain, Mohamed Hammad, German Guberman, Christina Kefalas, Aidan Harold, Jannis Mei, Tom Cardoso, Jade Colbert The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2016 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789
Apology:
On January 11, 2016, The Varsity published an article titled “Controversial CAMH gender identity clinic winds down,” which became the subject of a lawsuit launched by Dr. Kenneth Zucker on March 2, 2016. The parties have resolved Dr. Zucker’s lawsuit on terms satisfactory to Dr. Zucker and The Varsity. The Varsity apologizes for any harm caused to Dr. Zucker.
JANUARY 9, 2017 • 3
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Architecture students express concerns over studio security, cleanliness, disrepair Daniels Faculty move to 1 Spadina Crescent delayed Katrina Wozniuk Varsity Contributor
Students at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design have been upset over the lack of space in their current studio located at 665-667 Spadina Avenue. The space has been subject to break-ins and thefts as well as reports of homeless individuals entering the building. According to Richard Sommer, Dean of the Daniels Faculty, the space at 665-667 Spadina Avenue was intended to be used temporarily while 1 Spadina Crescent — the future home of the faculty — is under construction. “Unfortunately, that project, while a great thing, has taken longer than was planned. As we will be at 665-667 for one more session, we will continue to work closely with AVSSU [Architecture and Visual Studies Students’ Union] to address building issues and student concerns,” he told The Varsity. “As the completion of our new facilities at One Spadina have been delayed, we have provided more equipment and amenities for 665 Spadina to serve our students in the interim,” Sommer explained. Marienka Bishop-Kovac, the Architecture & Visual Studies Representative on the UTSU, spoke with The Varsity to explain that security issues had arisen at 665-667 Spadina Avenue due to complications with students’ FOB keys, which give them 24-hour access to 665 Spadina and 230 College Street. Many students do not obtain their FOB keys or possess a faulty set, Bishop-Kovac explained. As a consequence of the lack of FOB key ownership, the building door at 665 Spadina has been left unlocked and vulnerable to theft, she claimed. She also mentioned that the AVSSU will be working to post signage
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The studio at 665-667 Spadina Avenue, shown here, was intended to be used on a temporary basis to address the lack of studio space. around the building with instructions and guidelines about the proper use of the FOB keys. Other issues surrounding the studio space include concerns about its cleanliness. Bishop-Kovac explained that the studio is often packed to capacity during final reviews and that “there are not enough top surfaces for everyone to do work.” She further explained that the university is putting procedures in place to keep the studio clean and safe, noting that student concerns about blade disposal, heating, and ceiling disrepairs have been brought to the faculty’s attention by the AVSSU. Since then, a blade disposal unit has been added to 665 Spadina. Furthermore, in December 2016, the Fac-
ulty stated that it would work with Facilities and Services to fix any heating issues and ceiling disrepairs by the Winter 2017 semester. “AVSSU collaborated with the Registrar’s Office to create a clean-up on January 3rd, 2017 and will be figuring out new methods to organize materials for reuse in the coming semester,” said Bishop-Kovac. “If students have a concern with the facilities they should contact the Registrar and AVSSU immediately,” she advised. The Varsity also spoke with Jasmine Wong Denike, President of the University of Toronto Students’ Union, who explained the need for students to have a safe working environment. “The UTSU wants to ensure that students are safe in their current student space - and that
means having space that they can call their own,” she said. “With the Daniels Faculty of Architecture’s 1 Spadina Cres. project being delayed, undergraduate students need a guaranteed space that is both work space and common space.” According to Bishop-Kovac, the building at 1 Spadina Crescent will cover roughly 150,000 square feet, whereas the combined total of the current architecture student spaces at 665 Spadina and 230 College Street covers approximately 73,000 square feet. The new building will also include a separate lounge area for students as well as study space and an office for the AVSSU, which the union does not currently have. Sommer said that the faculty and the AVSSU are working together to resolve the issues surrounding the space and that this semester will be the last “full session” at 665-667 Spadina Avenue. “For example, our students and faculty have scheduled a cleaning in the New Year prior to the start of term and have been actively promoting a shift in the studio culture to encourage more responsible use of shared space,” he said. “This winter will be our last full session using 665-667, but we are committed to making the remaining time there work.” Sommer also explained that the amount of space available to all students will double after the completion of 1 Spadina Crescent. Spaces available for undergraduate students will triple. “I can tell you that our peers at other schools are already looking to us with envy,” he said. “Having our graduate and undergraduate students together for the first time in this building is going to be transformative for our school, UofT and this area of the city.”
CFS, from cover When asked how the bank account could stay hidden from auditors for years, Arte said, “It remained undetected because the account was kept hidden from both the Federation’s auditors and of the members national executive. Moreover, the account was located at a different financial institution than the one where the Federation does its banking.” When asked where the funds in the hidden bank account came from, Arte responded with a quotation from the 2014 audited financial statements on the account, which states, “The primary activity in the account was the receipt of various revenues of the Federation and the payment of professional fees.” In his November report on the NGM, Memmel wrote, “When asked if the account was used to support candidates in local elections, they declined to answer — three times.” Arte’s comments to The Varsity denied CFS involvement “with local students’ union elections” or provision of “money to candidates in local elections.” In his email to The Varsity, Memmel noted that “The CFS has always aggressively denied any involvement in local elections,” but that if the hidden bank account had been used to support local candidates, CFS would be “guilty not only of lying but also violating the autonomy of students’ unions like the UTSU.” Memmel went on to compare the concealment of the CFS bank account from auditors
to audits of the UTSU. He stated that UTSU members expect the UTSU audit to be “an accurate statement of the UTSU’s financial position,” and that “if we hide money from our members, we’re lying… the audit does need to include all bank accounts to be accurate.” Arte stated that the audit conducted after the discovery of the hidden bank account received “an unqualified opinion” from the MNP LLP auditor, “which is the highest level of assurance an auditor can provide that an organization’s financial position is fairly presented.” While the CFS abruptly added voting on the hidden bank account to the NGM agenda, it refused to debate fourteen motions drafted by UTSU and other Canadian student unions, deferring their debate to the NGM in June 2017. According to Memmel, these motions were aimed at increasing “fairness and transparency” by reforming CFS and the “culture of secrecy that permeates the entire organization.” Arte explained the deferral of these motions, saying that “member local students’ unions decided to postpone voting on some motions” because “we lost a few hours due to a fire alarm.” “The CFS is extremely secretive,” Memmel said, “as this bank account debacle demonstrates.” He highlighted that National Executive meeting notes and other CFS documents were not made available online until after members put out a letter calling for their re-
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According to the CFS, the account was “immediately frozen” upon its discovery. lease, but that even these documents “only record votes, not what was said.” Memmel castigated the National Executive for operating in what he describes as “complete secrecy.” Arte said that “member local students’ unions determine which motions get adopted, what does not, and what gets postponed,” Memmel asserted that many delegates at CFS meetings are not students, since “CFS bylaws permit staff to serve as delegates.” “Some locals were represented exclusively by staff,” who according to Memmel were “disproportionately powerful” at the NGM, “using their ‘seniority’ to control the room.” While Arte described CFS’ structure as “the result of 30 years of discussion and
debate… democratically organized and driven by the will of its members,” Memmel asserted that students’ unions seeking reform “engaged in the prescribed process, and most of our motions weren’t even debated.” Memmel emphasized that instead of cooperating with “dissident members” seeking reform, CFS is “just preventing them from leaving.” “I don’t have any reason to think that the CFS is capable of reform,” Memmel said. When asked if CFS’ conduct regarding the hidden bank account might serve as fuel for You Decide UofT, an ongoing student-led campaign to hold a referendum on UTSU’s continued membership in CFS, Memmel replied, “I hope so.”
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Outsource, from cover Wages and pay equity Current hourly wages of CUPE 3261 members are higher than what Compass Group pays its employees. Casual cleaning service workers who are employed by the university, and who are therefore members of CUPE 3261, start at a pay rate of $13.16, which rises to $15.06 after 24 months on the job. Part-time and full-time employees who are employed by the university earn a probationary rate of $18.20 and job rate of $20.21. Compass employees make $12.35 an hour if they are “light duty” workers and $13.45 if they are “heavy duty” workers. Stephanie Baxter, Director of Communications for Compass Group Canada told The Varsity that “Light Duty entails dusting, light cleaning, emptying waste bins and light vacuuming. Heavy Duty has more physically demanding duties such as removal of garbage bins and requires specialized training for equipment such as power ride-on cleaning equipment, scrubbers, buffers and larger self-propelled machines.” CUPE 3261 appealed to the UTSU’s Board of Directors on December 6, 2016, to join the call to stop contracting out cleaning services and bring the jobs back in-house. In the presentation, the union
raised a number of concerns. Amongst them was that the distinction between “light duty” and “heavy duty” workers was “typically a way to pay women less money.” Baxter responded to these concerns, saying that “in 2015 [Compass Group Canada] participated in a Pay Equity Review conducted by the Pay Equity Commission (PEC) to determine if the organization was compliant with the pay equity legislation. To be pay equity compliant it must be proven that the organization is paying equal pay for work of equal value and that female jobs are paid at least the same as male jobs if they are of comparable value. At the end of the review it was deemed that we met the requirements of the PEC and were pay equity compliant.” Baxter added that women comprise a greater portion of the heavy duty workforce at U of T compared with the overall Compass payroll. “Twenty-seven per cent of our heavy duty workforce is women and at UofT this number stands at 29 per cent,” she said. Quality of work Leanne MacMillan, CUPE Servicing Representative, told The Varsity that “CUPE is concerned the use of poorly paid contract employees will lead to increased turnover of
employees, violations of health and safety standards, and decreased cleanliness for the labs and classrooms of Canada’s self described “largest and most distinguished” research university.” Blackburn-Evans says that the outsource is a matter of money. “We receive public funding and we receive student money to deliver towards our core mission, which is teaching and research. We are absolutely duty-bound to use the money that we get very efficiently, and we are facing increasing cost pressure,” she said. “There is somewhat of a distinction to be made when you’re looking at services like this where it’s a direct expense, where it’s not self-funded in any way. There’s no return on that, so it’s like a direct expense out of pocket from the university’s central budget. Any expense like that, that doesn’t also generate revenue or fund itself in any way, the university is always looking for ways to be efficient with that money,” BlackburnEvans explained. In a letter to Scott Mabury, VicePresident University Operations, and the rest of the Planning & Budget Committee of the Board of Governors, CUPE Local 3261 President Allan James said the union is asking Mabury to “‘think hard’ about how to take steps to reduce
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The university stated that no CUPE 3261 members have lost jobs as a result of outsourcing with Compass. growing income polarization, social and economic deprivation and give people a chance to succeed.” Viewing this as a moral aspect of the university’s mission, James says that “The first step should be to end the contract with Compass and return the work of cleaning and caring for the facilities on the St. George campus to employees of the University.” Blackburn-Evans responded to this criticism of paying lower wages, saying that “CUPE 3261 can argue
whatever they like; I am not going to get into that debate. What I’m saying is that the university is duty-bound to use its resources effectively.” MacMillan disagrees. “The University has lots of money … The issue is priority. At this point, the University Administration does not think it is a priority to continue to provide good paying jobs with benefits to people who keep the St. George campus clean for those who use it,” she said.
USMC admin, SMCSU had advance knowledge of leaked Snapchat videos Complaint of “Islamophobia” in videos lodged with Multi-Faith Centre, USMC weeks before leak Jack O. Denton Associate News Editor
The University of St. Michael’s College (USMC) administration had knowledge of the widely-circulated Snapchat videos taken by then Vice-President of the union Kevin Vando and labelled as Islamophobic at least two weeks before they were circulated on social media, The Varsity has learned. The videos were recorded by Vando at a house party hosted by former Vice-President Joseph Crimi. They show former SMCSU Councillor Sara Gonsalves singing “Would you be my Muslim boy?” to the tune of “American boy” by Estelle, and later reading from a book titled “Islam for Dummies.” These videos prompted widespread public backlash and resulted in the leave of absence and later resignation of Vando. According to a December 6 comment left by Ammara Wasim — the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) Vice President of Communications — on the group’s Facebook post about the events, SMCSU enacted mandatory equity training for its executives “because the MSA reached out to [the USMC] administration two weeks ago. They did not casually make that decision over the weekend while the videos were being circulated.” Wasim went on, saying that, “The St.Mike’s administration has already sat down and discussed this incident a week
prior to the video leaks. The MSA has been trying to get in personal contact or receive a statement from St.Michaels college and general administration at UofT.” Vando’s letter of resignation from SMCSU was presented to the SMCSU council on December 5. The Varsity has obtained a copy of the letter, in which he places much of the blame for the mishandling of the situation on SMCSU President Zachary Nixon, who has also since resigned. The letter claims that Nixon first approached Vando on November 25 about a complaint brought to U of T and referred to the SMC admin about the videos. It states that Nixon had a meeting with the USMC administration on Friday, November 25. Vando was unable to attend, and the meeting was not pushed to the following Monday despite his request to be present, Vando wrote. According to Vando’s letter, Nixon “advised me that I would have to issue an apology, disassociate with [former SMCSU Vice President Joseph] Crimi and Sara [Gonsalves] on social media, and council would have to attend sensitivity training. I was assured that the situation was ‘handled.’” Vando claims that he tried to meet with Nixon throughout the next week to draft a statement, but was put off and told by Nixon on December 2 to “relax” — the videos were leaked on the internet the same day. In the wake of the leak, Vando
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According to Vando’s resignation letter, Nixon met with USMC administration a week before the videos leaked . announced a leave of absence on December 3. “Four hours after my statement was posted, I was called by Zach and notified that a leave of absence would not suffice, and that I would have to resign,” or face an impending impeachment being arranged by members of SMCSU. Vando claims that Nixon only gave him 10 minutes to resign or face public denouncement. “I made the decision, although haste, to resign,” Vando writes in the letter. SMCSU released a public statement condemning the videos on December 4. Vando claims that, had he been present at the meeting with Nixon and the USMC administration, the situation could have been better managed. “Had I been pres-
ent at the meetings a week ago, this situation could have been remedied. Had I had a chance to present what truly happened at that party, this situation could’ve been less severe … It was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life, being handled and told that everything was fine, and was going to be fine, when I was well aware that it would not.” Althea Blackburn-Evans, Director of Media Relations at U of T, confirmed to The Varsity that the complaint to the central administration came to the Multi-Faith Centre, which then “referred the matter to the Vice-Provost, Students office, and they then reached out immediately to the leadership at St. Michael’s” on the issue. “This group is within the
jurisdiction of St. Michael’s, and how they address it will be up to them to confirm,” she said. Blackburn-Evans says that the university administration is “united with the president and principal at St. Michael’s in our concerns about this issue, and the Vice-Provost, Students office worked closely with them as they addressed it.” On December 8, SMCSU council members voted to prorogue the union’s activities until early 2017. Stefan Slovak, Director of Communications, Events and Outreach at USMC, formally declined The Varsity’s request for comment on this issue. Wasim, Vando, Nixon, and the MSA could not be reached for comment.
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American publications ranks U of T third worst university for Jewish students Hillel at U of T Director says list is “misleading” Nick Mahoney Varsity Contributor
A New York-based Jewish newspaper has ranked U of T third in a list of the top 40 worst universities in North America for Jewish students. U of T was one of four Canadian universities listed in “The 40 Worst Colleges for Jewish Students, 2016” released by The Algemeiner. McGill University placed fourth, McMaster University was 13th, and York University ranked 17th. The three other universities could not be reached for comment. The Algemeiner’s Editor-in-Chief, Dovid Efune, told The Varsity that the rankings used a point grading system. Correspondingly, the schools with the highest amount of points would be considered the worst. These factors include anti-Semitic incidents on campus and the presence of “anti-Israel” students groups and faculty. For U of T specifically, The Algemeiner cites the incidents of swastika vandalism on campus in October as well as the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union’s (UTGSU) ad-hoc committee on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
U of T is one of four Canadian universities on the list. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY However, Rob Nagus, Director of Hillel at U of T calls the list “misleading” and told The Varsity that the list “does not accurately represent the experience of most Jewish students on our campus.” “The article focuses only on isolated antiSemitic and anti-Israel incidences, which does not tell the complete story of the robust campus experience most Jewish students have. While certainly antisemitism and antiIsrael activity on our campus is troublesome, it is only one piece of a larger picture,” he
said. “It does not account for the great work done by Hillel and others building a vibrant and dynamic Jewish student community with many educational, social justice and community themed programming and opportunities.” Aidan Fishman, a second year law student, made similar remarks. “Based on my own experiences and national data on antisemitism, I do not believe that antisemitism at U of T is as severe as the rankings would indicate,” he says. “However,
antisemitism certainly exists at U of T, as exemplified by the wave of swastikas that targeted the campus in October. Student unions and the university administration must continue to work diligently in combating hatred against Jews.” When asked about recent anti-Semitic events on campus, such as the graffiti found on campus in October, University of Toronto Director of Media Relations Althea Blackburn-Evans stated that they are “very rare occurrences on campus and those were dealt with very swiftly.” On The Algemeiner’s condemnation of the BDS activism on campus, Blackburn-Evans told The Varsity, “Freedom of expression and freedom of speech are core values of any university, and we honour that to the extent that there are many groups on campus that have diverse, and sometimes controversial opinions on a variety of topics and we as a university are a place where dialogue can happen, but it has to happen in a respectful way.” “It doesn’t mean we endorse particular opinions, but universities need to be a place where people can have a variety of views,” she continued. The UTGSU’s ad-hoc BDS committee could not be reached for comment.
SMCSU to prorogue activities until 2017
CBC cancels broadcast of Bill C-16 debate
Union President Zachary Nixon resigns
Broadcaster cites harassment directed at debate participants Tom Yun News Editor
It is unclear who is currently at the helm of the union. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY Tom Yun News Editor
The St. Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU) has announced that it will be proroguing its activities “until early 2017.” SMCSU announced on December 8 on Facebook that council members met that day to “discuss a path ahead, in wake of the public attention it has been receiving this past week.” “This will allow members the opportunity to reflect on whether or not they feel they are able to continue in their current capacities on SMCSU,” the statement continues. “Please continue to monitor our social media channels for further updates in the New Year.” The statement likely refers to two Snapchat videos involving SMCSU representatives that were widely circulated on social media and have been called Islamophobic. The videos were recorded by thenSMCSU Vice-President Kevin Vando at a
birthday party hosted at the home of former SMCSU Vice-President Joseph Crimi. They show former SMCSU councillor Sara Gonsalves reading a book called Islam for Dummies and singing, “Would you be my Muslim boy?” to the tune of Estelle’s “American Boy.” Vando resigned from SMCSU on Monday. SMCSU President Zachary Nixon also appears to have resigned his post, a public update on Facebook shows. It is unclear who is currently at the helm of the union. Georgina Merhom, who is one of SMCSU’s University of Toronto Students’ Union representatives, told The Varsity that a motion to prorogue the union’s activities passed at a council meeting “with a clear majority in favour.” Merhom declined to provide further comment. The University of St. Michael’s College administration also declined to comment on the story, and Nixon could not be reached for comment.
CBC has announced that it has cancelled its planned broadcast of the forum on Bill C-16 citing “serious harassment” directed at two of the participants. The forum took place at U of T on November 19, 2016, and included psychology professor Jordan Peterson, law professor Brenda Cossman, and University of British Columbia Professor of Education and Senior Associate Dean, Administration, Faculty Affairs & Innovation, Mary Bryson, as participants. Peterson, who gained international media attention for his YouTube video on Bill C-16 — which is federal legislation that criminalizes discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression — debated Cossman and Bryson on that topic. Peterson tweeted that Ideas, a current-affairs radio show that airs on CBC Radio One, originally planned to broadcast the forum on January 8, but cancelled due to “harassment aimed at the other participants.” In another tweet, he said that the show is “looking into another forum to explore the issues raised in the debate.” U of T Media Relations Director Althea Blackburn-Evans confirmed with The Varsity that the CBC had recorded the audio of the debate and intended to broadcast it at a later date. CBC Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson also confirmed the information contained in Peterson’s tweets. “In light of the serious harassment experienced by 2 of the panelists, we made a deci-
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The CBC had planned to broadcast the forum on Ideas, a show that airs CBC Radio One.
sion to look for other opportunities to discuss Bill C16 - an important issue,” said Thompson in an email statement to The Varsity. “We’ll have more to say about our coverage in the coming weeks.” In December, The Ubyssey reported that Bryson had received homophobic and transphobic messages as well as “violent threats” over social media following their participation at the forum. Blackburn-Evans told The Varsity, “If there are concerns about threats of some kind, that would be what UBC would be looking into and addressing.” Peterson did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment.
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Anonymous Facebook page posts allegations of misconduct at Vic Dean’s Office Victoria University admin condemns “online incivility”
The Goldring Student Centre, which houses Office of the Dean of Students. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY Jenna Moon Associate News Editor
A Facebook page has been posting anonymous stories of negative student interactions with the Victoria University’s Dean’s office as well as allegations of misconduct. The page, called ‘VikiLeaks at Victoria College,’ was set up by an anonymous group of “several” former and current Victoria students on December 12 and allows students to submit stories anonymously through a Google Form. At press time, the page had posted 14 submissions. The allegations ranged in content, from suggesting that the Dean’s Office had
inappropriately shared personal information about a student, to requests that students disclose mental health issues during Orientation Week. One student alleges being referred to “publicly” as a “bad student” by Dean of Students Kelley Castle, who then reportedly poked fun at the student’s discomfort. Two submissions detail LGBTQ students struggling to find residence accommodations because of their gender identity and sexual orientation. The submissions are gaining traction with students, with 172 page likes, and 211 people following the page. When prompted to comment on how the page fact-checks submis-
sions it receives, the admins of VikiLeaks admitted in an email to The Varsity that due to the anonymity of the submissions, they “have no way of verifying the source or legitimacy of the submissions.” The page admins stated that they “strive to maintain the privacy and anonymity of posters,” but also acknowledged that this can be difficult due to the nature of the submissions. As of now, the page admins reported that they have received 30 submissions from students, and intends to continue posting them “as long as students keep sending them.” Asked about whether the Dean’s Office could verify any of the allegations, Vic-
toria University spokesperson Jennifer Little, stated in an email to The Varsity that the Dean’s Office was “not going to respond to anonymous Facebook posts.” Little also commented that the college “do[es] not condone incivility towards our students or staff members, including online incivility.” The page has already run into issues with the anonymous submissions. A post shared to the page on Wednesday was subsequently deleted after it was reported that the student implicated in the post did not consent to the story being shared. As a response, the page posted an apology and removed the post in question, writing that they “will refrain from posting anything that would implicate a student without their consent.” In an email to The Varsity, the anonymous VikiLeaks admins wrote that they are “alarmed by instances of students often being mistreated and damaged by callous decisions, and the frequent prioritization of the reputation of Vic over the well-being of its students.” According to the page admins, misconduct by the Dean’s Office has been pervasive “for years.” They remarked that while VikiLeaks is “clearly a biased and partisan effort to bring to light some of these issues,” it is necessary due to “the lack of current venues that wronged students can take.” Little disagreed that Facebook was the best option for discussing the allegations. “We always welcome suggestions on how to improve programming and practices at the Office of the Dean of Students,” she wrote in her email. “The appropriate avenue for raising concerns about the Office of the Dean of Students is to express those concerns in confidence either to the dean or to the president of Victoria University.”
Trinity College looks to donations for help with vandalism repair costs “Changing times” see the end of collective damage funds Rachel Chen Features Editor
Following a smashed window at Trinity College’s Saints Ball last November, Saints CoChair Julianne de Gara will run a GoFundMe page to raise the $300 necessary for repairs. The annual Saints Ball is a charity ball, and this year’s chosen charity was Emily’s House, the first pediatric palliative care hospice in Toronto. Money from the ball was intended for donation, but since the perpetrator of the incident has yet to come forward, the Saints organizers had to pull from their proceeds. “As per Trinity’s current policies, regardless of the fact that Saints’ priority is charity, executives must cover damage costs that are incurred during their events if the perpetrator does not come forward,” said Nish Chankar, who is Trinity’s Female Head of College. “This said, our community now has
the chance to re-coup the $300 of Saints revenue that has been lost to cover the window damage, and possibly even raise more than that to contribute to Emily’s House on behalf of Trinity College.” Trinity Dean of Students Kristen Moore explained that the incident was not accidental. Security, supervising dons, and other attending students witnessed the individual, who allegedly threw a pumpkin out the window. They were unable to find the individual, who Trinity would have charged. Prior to the winter break, Co-Chair Abby Lendvai posted on the Trinity College Facebook page asking responsible individuals to come forward. “If we don’t determine who caused the damage then the funds to fix the window will have to come out of the money we intend to donate to Emily’s House - the only children’s hospice in Toronto,” Lendvai’s post said.
ZAHRA ZAHRAVI/THE VARSITY
In the past, Trinity College would set aside a contingency fund to cover damages. The post sparked concerns over the college taking money from charity, and students questioned why funds were not coming from a damage fund of contingency line. Moore clarified that such a damage fund, which would have come from fees charged to resident students, no longer exists. “I would say that the reason for the change in that is just changing times and the way that it’s not really best practice anymore for institutions to charge damage deposits they don’t actually plan on returning to students,” Moore said. Additionally, there was less incentive for people to prevent malicious damage when
they knew funds were set aside and it was seen as unfair to charge residents only for damages often caused by non-residents as well. In the case of accidents or more expensive incidents, the college would help cover the costs. “Personally, I feel that Abby and I should have been informed about the dissolution of the damage fund prior to becoming cochairs,” de Gara said. “Had we known, we would have taken into account eventualities and put money aside for that purpose. However, once the gofundme page is up and running, I’m sure the problem will be fixed without much issue.”
JANUARY 9, 2017 • 7
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Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale speaks at The Varsity office Dale talks the US election, Trump’s lies, media successes and failures
MUBASHIR BAWEJA/THE VARSITY
Dale took questions from The Varsity’s Managing Editor, Jaren Kerr, and members of the audience.
Kaitlyn Simpson Associate News Editor
On December 16, Daniel Dale, the Toronto Star’s Washington correspondent, gave a talk at The Varsity’s office at 21 Sussex Avenue. Dale received considerable attention for his persistent fact-checking of statements made by Donald Trump during the recent U.S. election campaign, and was named one of 2016’s breakout media stars by Politico for his coverage. Prior to covering the U.S. election, Dale covered Toronto City Hall during Rob Ford’s turbulent mayoral administration from 2010 to early 2015. Beginning in June 2015, Dale’s election coverage focused primarily on the absurdity of
Donald Trump’s campaign and his loyal followers. The event lasted just under an hour and a half with both students and non-students in attendance. Dale’s talk was also streamed live on The Varsity’s Facebook page. Dale spoke about his peculiar experiences covering the campaign starting with his first interaction with Trump supporters at a Virginia rally in a NASCAR racetrack. Following this half-hour period, questions were opened to the audience both in-person and online. Dale touched on the topic of Trump fans and their grievances: he saw them as a complex group filled with a variety of people, saying: “There’s economic anxiety, yes there are a
lot of racists out there, and yes there’s a whole bunch of other reasons why people backed him as well.” With regards to Trump’s lying, Dale said it was more than strategic fibs: “What I found most remarkable wasn’t even particular lies. It was the casualness and needlessness with which he lied.” When discussing the media’s failures in the election, which some say potentially contributed to Trump’s victory, Dale said the primary media failure was not, “that the media didn’t explain that there was this level of anger and support out there,” in fact, Dale said that there was plenty of reporting on Trump’s electorate. Instead, Dale believes that the media, including himself, was too “hyper-certain.” “I think we had a polling error and we had a media error in explaining what polling data means and where it can go awry,” Dale said. The future of media was discussed as well. This included the decline of traditional news reporting and outlets, the rise of social media and fast-paced news cycles, and the prominence of fake news. The event concluded with online questions asking Dale about his background, as well as him offering some advice to young journalists. Since the election, Dale said that he took a much-needed two week vacation, but will continue covering the Trump administration for the Star in the future. Watch the recording of the livestream of the talk on Facebook.
Governing Council approves Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy to take effect in January
Tom Yun News Editor
Following nearly two years of development and consultation, the Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment has received approval from Governing Council. The policy clarifies the process of formally reporting incidents of sexual violence and confidentiality of data, and establishes a tricampus support centre for survivors. It will apply to incidents of sexual violence and harassment on and off campus, in the event that the parties involved are members of the U of T community. Under Bill 132, all post-secondary institutions in Ontario were required to have a stand-alone policy in place by January 2017. The university first released a draft policy on September 7, called the Policy on Sexual Violence. In the final version, the name of the policy was updated to include “Sexual Harassment.” Prior to the Governing Council vote, the policy received approval from the University Affairs Board on November 24 and was also presented to the Business Board and the Academic Board. It took effect on January 1.
A conversation with Matthew Thomas The Varsity sits with the UTSU’s new Vice-President External Aidan Currie Associate Features Editor
Matthew Thomas, who was recently appointed as the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) Vice-President External, sat down with The Varsity to discuss his past experience in student government, social issues on campus, and his goals for his new position, including lowering tuition for undergraduate students. Thomas fills the position vacated by Lucinda Qu, who resigned in October. The VicePresident External’s duties include organizing advocacy campaigns through the Community Action Commission and liaising with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) as well as student unions from other universities. He applauded the CFS for its “Fight the Fees” initiative, but said that the campaign lacked short-term outlook. “We need to work on what we can work on right now not just on the long term. I respect the CFS and their advocacy work, they are the largest national students movement in Canada and it wouldn’t make sense for us to not work with them. That being said, I think we can do more,” said Thomas. Thomas has previously served on the University College Literary and Athletic Society (UC Lit) as a First Year Representative, Athletics Commissioner, and University and Academic Affairs Commissioner. He highlights his role in the publishing of the University
College Mental Wellness Handbook, running events such as exam de-stressors, and liaising between the UC Lit and the University College Council. He added that he plans to “focus on bringing folks together, bringing together our divisional councils, [and] stopping the petty squabbling between them. Instead of promoting a culture of competition, promoting a culture of cooperation between them and doing what really matters — doing what student unions are here to do which is put the voice of the students first.” On the controversy surrounding psychology professor Jordan Peterson, who became the subject of international media attention due to his comments on gender and Bill C-16, Thomas stated: “As an ally, as someone who is trying to stand in solidarity with trans and non-binary folks, I have to speak up. It is my obligation. The situation with Peterson, and I’ve tried to keep this to myself because that is not my place to speak and I don’t take up space, but as an ally I’m obligated to speak up in solidarity.” “This has never been something that is about free speech, this is about human rights. This is about respect. This is about making sure that our students who are paying tuition to be here, our trans students, our non-binary students, feel safe in their classrooms. The UTSU has a role to play in this. The UTSU needs to stand up for their students,” Thomas continued.
“The campus is, right now — I will be the first to admit — just a little bit broken,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s beyond fixing. And I’m ready for the challenge.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF MATTHEW THOMAS
Thomas has previously held several positions on the University College Literary and Athletic Society.
8 • THE VARSITY • NEWS
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T-Card Office joins other Student Services at Koffler Centre Move part of ongoing renovations and redesigns at Koffler Emaan Thaver Associate News Editor
As of January 2, 2017, the St. George campus’ T-Card Office has permanently relocated to the Koffler Student Services Centre on 214 College Street from its original location in Robarts Library. Students requiring T-Card services will now have to visit the office’s new location on the building’s first floor, which is between the Second Cup kiosk and the Student Life offices. Staff and faculty, however, may still visit the Reader Registration desk at Robarts Library to process their T-Cards. The office’s move was part of a wider set of renovations taking place at Koffler, which saw the creation of a new, multi-use ‘Student Success’ space on the main floor. “Bringing the T-Card office to this location streamlines Student Life’s services and allows students to visit one location for a variety of programs and support,” read part of
a Student Life blog post on the renovations. The Koffler Centre, located at 214 College Street, is home to various student life service departments, including the Career Centre, the Health and Wellness Centre, Housing Services and the campus bookstore. “Moving the TCard office to Student Life enabled it to be co-located with other key student services on the St. George campus, and leverage the resources of the division, to better serve students,” explained Arlene Clement, the Director of Housing & TCard Services. Clement also told The Varsity that the university has been working on a number of T-Card related development projects. These initiatives include a mobile T-Card unit for avoiding lengthy queues in the fall, an electronic check-in tool for exams, as well as online T-Card photo submissions. The developing projects are aimed at “improving the student experience,” said Clement. The electronic check-in tool, for
Students alerted of phishing scam U of T says OneClass Chrome extension has been stealing student data
The new T-Card office is located at 214 College Street. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY example, was already piloted at UTSC in December. “This project supports academic integrity, but will also reduce stress if a student forgets to bring their TCard to an exam,” she explained.
The initiative will undergo further trial tests with the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Faculty of Arts and Science in 2017.
Province renews cap on postsecondary tuition fee increases for two years
Renewal to coincide with rollout of new tuition grants
The three per cent cap was set to expire in 2017. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY TOSHIYUKI IMAI/CC FLICKR
OneClass has de-listed the extension from the Chrome Web Store. Jaren Kerr Managing Editor
U of T students logging onto Blackboard are finding a notice on their home page with information about a phishing scam connected to OneClass. According to the notice, which first appeared on December 13, an email telling students that the sender has access to course notes has been circulating. The email reads: “Hey guys, I just found some really helpful notes for the upcoming exams for courses at UofT. I highly recommend signing up for an account now that way your first download is free!” The notice says that the email also included a link to download the OneClass Easy Invite Chrome Extension, which would prompt users to allow the application to “read and change all your data” on visited websites, giving it access to usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers. Clicking a button on the extension would send the phishing email to classmates. The Blackboard notice provided
instructions on how to remove the app. OneClass is a note-sharing company that collects class notes for courses at Canadian universities. Formerly known as Notesolution, the company charges users for access to notes, and pays some students to be note takers. The venture-backed startup was founded in 2010 by U of T alumni. OneClass CEO Jack Tai commented on the phishing scam: “As soon as we were aware of the potential exposure of private information, we immediately initiated the necessary steps to ensure that the extension is de-listed from the Chrome Web Store so that the extension could not be downloaded by any other individuals.” “OneClass was created by students, for students,” said Tai. “We will do everything in our ability to ensure that this issue is resolved as expediently as possible.” The phishing scam has also affected students at the University of British Columbia. U of T spokesperson Elizabeth Church told The Varsity that the university is currently investigating the situation.
Jack O. Denton Associate News Editor
The province has extended the three per cent annual cap on university and college tuition fee increases, with the cap scheduled to last for another two years. The limit was set to expire in 2017 and takes place amidst the rolling out of the new Ontario Student Grant (OSG), which will see OSAP integrated with a number of distinct provincial and federal grants and loans to create a holistic system of financial aid. Between the rollout of the OSG and the imminent question of whether or not the Ontario Liberals will retain control of Queens Park after the 2018 election, there is significant pressure on the government to implement reforms. University of Toronto Students’ Union President Jasmine Wong Denike views the extension of the caps not as an end in itself, but rather as a process through which to enact broader reform. “Although I don’t think that renewing the tuition increase caps is sufficient, I see it as an opportunity for the government to meaningfully consult students, and student-run
organizations, on their policy suggestions to ensure that as many students as possible have access to affordable, high-quality education,” she told The Varsity. Denike continued: “The OSG and the extension of the caps heading into 2017 prove to be an interesting change, and given the upcoming Provincial Elections (2018) it gives students a real advantage in engaging with the government to ensure that student issues, especially tuition, play a major role moving forward.” Deb Matthews, Ontario’s Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, describes the extension as a stopgap measure before full financial aid reform. “Limiting tuition fee increases balances affordability for students and their families, while providing postsecondary institutions with financial stability as we work to transform OSAP – making tuition free for low-income students and more affordable for students from middle-income families,” Matthews said in a press release. “Moving forward, we’ll continue to ensure that every qualified student has access to postsecondary education through our generous student financial aid program.”
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January 9, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca
What’s next? Contributors predict what lies in store for Canada in 2017 and harassment in the hope that this will improve the safety and quality of life of trans communities in Canada. Still, it would be unwise for Canada to rest on its laurels for too long, as practical advances in the area of human rights are still sorely needed. In line with the rationale behind Bill C-16, Egale Canada Human Rights Trust has reported alarmingly high rates of harassment and assault against trans people, noting that 20 per cent of trans people in Ontario have been targets of physical or sexual harassment and 34 per cent have experienced verbal harassment or threats. Furthermore, in April, Global News reported that hate crimes against Muslim Canadians had more than doubled over the past three years. Important steps have been taken, but there is still much to do to ensure that all marginalized communities are protected against violence. Adina Heisler is a second-year student at University College studying Women and Gender Studies and English.
ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
A tumultuous year is now behind us, and many are looking forward to what 2017 may bring. The political and social happenings of the past year have culminated in a crucial moment for Canada in domestic and international arenas. Below, contributors explore what we can expect from Canada’s future in the new year. FOREIGN POLICY Although the federal government has indicated it will work to “embrace the world,” Canadian foreign policy will need to adjust to a more closed world order, considering the actions of its international allies. Populist movements like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump have set the precedent for a shift into a more protectionist and nationalist direction in the United States and Europe. As President, Trump will prioritize the protection and interests of US workers. Recent initiatives such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Paris Agreement will likely not be adopted, as they will be seen as an attack on American workers. Within Europe, this will be manifested in the decrement of the single market and the European Union. In response, Canada will have to develop new international economic policies and agreements. Although the North American Free Trade Agreement — to which Canada is a signatory —
is unlikely to be completely revoked, the US may impose limits on labour mobility and any new trade agreements. With the failure of the TPP, Canada will need to reach out to the Pacific with individual trade deals, while approaching an increasingly aggressive China, which will have the opportunity to take advantage of economic disunity to advance its own power. Similarly, the decreasing power of the European Union will create an airspace that Canada must find a way into if it wishes to further its position in international affairs. Sam Routley is a second-year student at St. Michael’s College studying Political Science, History, and Philosophy. DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND LABOUR In 2017, it is unlikely that Canada’s economy and labour situation will see progressive change. The federal government’s stimulus plan is unlikely to result in any qualitative change, as economists predict it will have little to no impact on an already weak economic forecast. The reality of modern capitalism is that housing remains inaccessible, household debt is skyrocketing, wages have flatlined, real and youth unemployment is high, and consumer demand sits in a slump. Canadian workers, students, the unemployed, and the marginalized have a tough year ahead. The
growth and success of far-right movements in the US and Europe is cause for concern lest similar sentiments threaten progressive economics locally. We can try to maintain faith in the Liberals — it is claimed that Canada is one of the few major countries left in the world with a so-called ‘progressive,’ though staunchly neoliberal, government. At the same time, we ought to keep our expectations low if we attempt to idly weather the ongoing empowerment of far-right economic conservatism without a left-wing alternative. 2017 may be our only opportunity to fight back by demanding better wages, universal basic income, free tuition, and true equality. If we don’t, the situation will only get worse. Stanley Treivus is a fourth-year student at Innis College studying Human Geography and Political Science. ENVIRONMENT 2016 was an optimal year for any environmental enthusiast to be excited about anticipated reforms of environmental policies. The Paris Agreement, for one, presented options on renewable energy and how to cut back on usage. Donald Trump has said that he doesn’t intend to focus on any of the recommendations that were made by the committee, although he has softened his stance in recent weeks. Nevertheless, environmentalists
are worried about the precedent being set for other countries, including Canada, insofar that the agreement is not considered to be as urgent as other measures. We also saw the approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL, which leads to worries about the environment come 2017. Already, more than 176,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled into a North Dakota creek. We can expect more spills, and the protests will likely intensify. Trudeau has expressed an interest on working with Donald Trump regarding the pipelines — which not only harkens to the relevance of such conflicts in the Canadian context, but also threatens the relationship between the government and Indigenous groups, which could cause a further rift in reconciliation efforts. Sila Naz Elgin is a third-year student at New College studying Political Science and Philosophy. HUMAN RIGHTS In a few ways, human rights in Canada progressed in 2016. As of December 4, Canada has taken in over 38,000 Syrian refugees. In May — much to the annoyance of a certain psychology professor — the Trudeau government passed Bill C-16, a comprehensive human rights bill guaranteeing legal and human rights protections for trans people. The bill affords significant protection against discrimination
LAW ENFORCEMENT AND JUSTICE In 2017, the usage and distribution of personal and seemingly confidential data is an important issue with respect to law enforcement agencies. In the summer of 2016, carding was in the headlines all over Toronto due to the repeated carding encounters that Dale James had with the Toronto Police Service, following a previous legal battle under the allegation of racial profiling. The Police Record Checks Reform Act was passed in Ontario in December of 2015, and regulates the information that can be disclosed in police checks. A provincial rule regarding the banning of carding also came into effect this month. Nevertheless, activists claim the police can find loopholes to conduct discriminatory carding practices. Furthermore, in the age of Big Data, the streets aren’t the only place where our data can be collected and used against us. Consider the use of psychiatric records to detain people with mental health histories at the border, as well as the looming threat of privacy infringement posed by Bill C-51. The risks of data being leaked or abused aren’t going away anytime soon. Therefore, it is imperative that we remain wary of what information the government chooses to collect, and how. Ayesha Tak is a fourth-year student at UTM studying Statistics and Sociology.
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Still seething from the Snapchat scandal? Let’s criticize SMCSU’s actions — then find productive and compassionate ways to move forward Haseeb Hassaan Varsity Contributor
On December 2, Snapchat videos were leaked that displayed former St. Michael’s College Students’ Union (SMCSU) VicePresident Kevin Vando and former SMCSU Councillor Sara Gonsalves partaking in jokes at the expense of Muslims at U of T. The videos were taken at a birthday party for former SMCSU Vice-President Joseph Crimi, and ensuing outrage from students prompted responses from campus groups condemning the actions of the individuals in the videos. I am a Muslim student attending St. Michael’s College, and while criticizing my faith is fair game, being reduced to a party joke is insulting and should be done to no religion. That said, while Muslim communities on campus are rightfully outraged by the behaviour of those pictured in the videos, SMCSU can take concrete steps to remedy the situation. It is frustrating that those who are most guilty have not shown appropriate remorse. In his resignation post on Facebook, Vando stated that he grew up in a Muslim household — as if this excused him from blame — and that his actions were not a reflection of his views on Islam. At the following SMCSU meeting, Vando submitted a formal resignation letter addressed to the council. This letter was a huge disappointment; instead of recognizing and apologizing for his actions, he resorted to lambasting former SMCSU President Zachary Nixon, blaming him for how he handled the situation. Crimi seemed equally unapologetic; in his statement, he seemed angry that he was being blamed for what happened instead of taking responsibility. Since he hosted the party at which this incident happened, it would be expected that he own up to his role in it. Gonsalves, who was at the centre of these videos, similarly deflected blame, stating, “I did not bring the book to the party. Other people checked out the book, and for some reason the focus seems to only be on me.” The actions taken by Vando, Crimi, and Gonsalves raise suspicions of insincerity. The appropriate response would have been to first own up to their actions. Blaming someone else or making excuses is a sign of immaturity. Admittedly, in line with Vando’s criticism, Nixon should have responded more quickly by releasing a statement, issuing impeachment proceedings against Vando, and pursuing sensitivity training. Yet, Nixon also has gone out of his way to reconcile with the Muslim community at
St. Mike’s — along with a few other SMCSU council members, he personally called Muslim students to apologize. I appreciated receiving one of these calls myself. To further the actions already taken, SMCSU should aim to make St. Mike’s as inclusive as possible. Beyond ensuring that events are inclusive — including by catering to dietary restrictions and running accessible programming — SMCSU should reach out to the Muslim Students’ Association, first with an apology, and then as part of an inquiry into how SMCSU can change the negative perception that many Muslim students now have of it. It is a tough time to be Muslim in this world; the rise of right wing nationalism and the consequent scapegoating of Muslims has only marginalized us further. At the same time, the SMCSU Snapchat incident should not overshadow more serious instances of Islamophobia. It is unwise to equivocate this event with physical and verbal violence. Keep in mind that a Muslim student was spat on and harassed in front of Robarts in November of 2015. Muslims also ought to recognize that sometimes such actions are the result of ignorant perceptions of our faith. If we are to go out of our way to degrade and vilify SMCSU without emphasizing education and progress, it is only going to hurt us in the long run. We need organizations like SMCSU, an organization fundamentally run by students, for students. The more allies we have in the fight against more violent forms of Islamophobia, the better. St. Michael’s College has become my home, and I want every student that SMCSU governs to feel the same way. Had this incident taken place when I was applying to university, I am sad to say that I would not have chosen to attend this college at all. Fortunately, the Muslim community is forgiving; at Vando’s resignation meeting, a group of Muslim students came with cookies and a card with a message of forgiveness and compassion. At first I was angry, but anger can only get you so far — in light of what is happening around the world, instances of ignorance are only going to be more frequent. The only way to stop division is to show compassion and love to everyone that you can. SMCSU ought to heed this incident as a call for action towards inclusivity at the college. Meanwhile, I ask that my fellow Muslims try to forgive SMCSU and move on. Haseeb Hassaan is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying Political Science.
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The St. Michael’s College Students’ Union came under fire yet again in late 2016.
JANUARY 9, 2017 • 11
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Pluralizing ‘people of colour’ The case for critically examining the ‘person of colour’ label Ibnul Chowdhury Varsity Columnist
Last semester I enroled in, and later dropped, Intro to South Asian Studies. Although the class was mostly composed of ‘people of colour,’ and the professor himself was Nepalese, the student who participated the most was white. She constantly raised her hand to ask and answer questions, or go on unrelated tangents, frequently citing her “Indian boyfriend” as a legitimate source of information. This behaviour was bothersome, and not only from an individual perspective. Many ‘people of colour’ find it disturbing that the reeling effects of colonization extend to even the smallest spheres. The tendency for people in positions of power to feel entitled to space in dialogue otherwise reserved for others, and to compromise the visibility of others, remains something worth deconstructing. Yet, in this context, what is even more critical to consider is the term ‘people of colour’ itself. In Canada, people of colour, also called ‘visible minorities,’ face particularly difficult experiences in the so-called ‘multicultural’ project. The word ‘diaspora’ means to be in the middle of two different worlds, not belonging to either completely. The desire to resist assimilation and racism, as well as the longing to not lose their ‘original selves,’ drives many youth to assert their identities as people of colour. However, by virtue of being of immigrant background, people of colour have certain privileges relative to those back home. Canadian immigration policy is largely driven by practicality; for five decades, its points system has favoured well-educated individuals who are able to supply economically valuable labour for the purpose of economic growth. While such a selection process dehumanizes immigrants to mere commodities in the global marketplace, we are nonetheless considered ‘valuable,’ and our migration affords escape from issues of economic stagnation, insecurity, or war, which people back home continue to face. My professor in Intro to South Asian Studies emphasized an instructive idea: immigrants and descendants of immigrants cannot claim victimhood based on the experiences of people who do not migrate, people who remain in conditions that immigrants left. We can speak only to our unique struggles in having to mediate between two worlds.
MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY
Nevertheless, it is often easy for us to latch onto narratives that, although pertinent in histories of colonialism, can only be authentically told by the people who experience them. Can I, as a middle class Bangladeshi-Canadian, really speak for the anger or plight of millions of Bangladeshis back home, threatened by poverty and severe climate change? This is a common dilemma, from which few are exempt. For instance, talk show host Trevor Noah has recently spoken about the need for unity in the United States, given its racial divisions. However, his own South African background, experience of apartheid, and current celebrity status cannot be applied to the experiences of poor, racialized Americans — many of whom cannot afford
The Varsity now has a Public Editor A Public Editor is an arms-length commentator on the journalistic ethics and practices of a newspaper. The Varsity would like to welcome Sophie Borwein, Doctor of Philosophy candidate in the Department of Political Science, to this new and exciting role! You may reach Sophie with questions or concerns about The Varsity’s journalism at publiceditor@thevarsity.ca.
to unite with the structures that oppress them. Indeed, racism is not the same in South Africa and the United States. It is such attempts to retell others’ experiences that lead to an inherently inaccurate representation of their truths. As students of postcolonial studies know, this critique comes in the demand to let the ‘subaltern’ — the voices obscured by mainstream discourse — to speak on their own terms. Therefore, it is not just white people, but the ‘privileged strata’ of the oppressed, that also participate in this erasure. It is with this consideration that we should investigate the category of people of colour. People of colour in Canada do not share experiences that people of colour in peripheral countries do. Our largely immigrant popula-
tion is also not monolithic. Black Canadians and Asian Canadians share separate experiences, histories, and degrees of racism, and can be further compartmentalized within their own communities. Refugees can be differentiated from economic migrants. What complicates things further is that people of colour can also participate in racism towards each other, often as a part of a larger framework of white supremacy. For example, Indian and Chinese Canadians, problematically generalized as the ‘model minority’ — on the basis of having economic value as doctors and engineers — may exhibit anti-Blackness, and ignore their role in settler colonialism against Indigenous peoples. When I facilitated a discussion at a group for people of colour at Trinity College, some students — while being students of colour — were perplexed as to the reasons behind making Indigenous land recognition statements, uncomfortable with transgender women coming into female bathrooms, and dismissive of Trump voters as ‘crazy’ and ‘unfathomable’ without contemplating working-class grievances. It is clear that being a person of colour does not absolve us from our own implication in other forms of oppression. Whatever the experiences that possessing this identity affords us, however, it is crucial that we pluralize them. We should acknowledge diversity and offer solidarity, rather than attempt to speak for one another. Though the ‘people of colour’ label creates important spaces, it is a simplification, and one that can make us complacent and uncritical of our own shortcomings. When dialogue is itself a reflection of power relations, who speaks — and who does not speak — is crucial. In classrooms, media, and everyday discourse, it is important for us to break free from the monopoly of white voices that dominate the world we live in. Yet in order for spaces created for people of colour to be most effective, the label itself should be analyzed according to the plurality contained within it. Critically examining what it m eans to be a person of colour is crucial if marginalized people are to take command of dialogue and speak on their own terms. Ibnul Chowdhury is a second-year student at Trinity College studying Economics and Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies. His column appears tri-weekly.
QUICK TIPS: Writing for Comment Any Comment piece must be relevant to The Varsity’s primary audience: University of Toronto students. If you’re writing about student politics or university affairs, that’s an easy task, yet linking global affairs or pop culture back to the university population may require deeper analysis. Whatever the topic, make sure to consider what makes it meaningful, and why students would benefit from hearing your perspective. To contribute to the Comment section, email comment@thevarsity.ca.
It takes a lot of hear As an eventful year both on campus and abroad, 2016 was a divisive year for a lot of us. As another year begins, this series of personal essays invites you to ponder this question: where is the love?
That zsa zsa zsu
Shout it to the rooftop
Standing in the middle of aisle five and debating between the regular and “Heal-Fast” ointments at the Shoppers across from Mod Club, I realized that I had finally found love. It started with a first date — the first date I’d ever had. I donned a pair of navy blue Steve Maddens for the special occasion, feeling stylish as I paired it with my green cable knit sweater that made me feel like Lola Kirke in Mistress America. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out too well. Staring into my grande chai tea latte, now half-empty and looking frothy and unappetizing, I didn’t know how I could get through more awkward silences, tense laughter, and overall anxiety. I didn’t expect to find love on my first date, but I was hoping there would have at least been a spark, or as Carrie Bradshaw would say, that zsa zsa zsu which would at least indicate the possibility of love. It can be difficult to find that zsa zsa zsu, especially in a city like Toronto where the options are so limitless that we feel constrained. I wanted to connect with a person who gave me butterflies. In a period of my life where I felt increasingly apathetic and lonely, I was looking for someone who I would want to be with all the time. If he was cute, that would be a bonus. Instead, I ended up walking down Queen Street, going to the Eaton Centre alone after the date. He had just told me that he didn’t want to lead me on, and that he just wanted to be friends. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt the same way. I didn’t find love in Toronto that night. Later, hanging out at a friend’s place, I pulled out my phone and noticed that a stranger had texted me, offering to sell me their ticket to see Tokyo Police Club at the Mod Club. A few weeks before, I had posted on the Facebook event page looking for a ticket. I resolved to not being able to go when no one responded. Now it was 9:30 pm. Their set was starting in half an hour, and I had the opportunity to see them. A meticulous planner, I don’t consider myself impulsive. Any other night, it would have been ridiculous to go to a concert when I didn’t plan to. It was even more ridiculous to trust a complete stranger and send them an e-transfer. But that night, I felt spontaneous. Five minutes later, I found myself in an Uber to the Mod Club, arriving just in time to purchase a drink and secure myself a spot on the balcony. As the band walked on stage and played the first chords of “Not My Girl,” I felt that zsa zsa zsu. I didn’t need to find love in Toronto – I needed to fall in love with Toronto. Depression and generalized anxiety prevented me from falling in love with Toronto sooner in the one and a half years I’ve lived here. The transition to university, one that I romanticized in my high school years, had been marred by loneliness and, most of all, disappointment. I thought my narrative as a gay teenager unable to fit in at the suburbs would be rectified while living in the city. Instead, like many students, I found the transition to university difficult. In the midst of essays, tests, and assignments, I never felt like I was truly part of the city. Living in Toronto gave me the opportunity to be spontaneous. Best of all, it gave me the opportunity to turn a weird day into a wonderful evening alone. The biggest mistake I’ve made is staying in the mindset that being alone is inherently a bad thing. It’s fun not always having to worry about someone else. It’s nice not having to deal with awkward silences, tense laughter, and overall anxiety. Instead, I could spend a Friday night sipping on a rum-and-coke and belt out the lyrics to “Favourite Colour” with a group of strangers who loved Tokyo Police Club as much as I did.
I recently learned that I’ve been pronouncing “ai” sound is like “I”. My second generation ton I thought had been the authentic pronunciati true word, a fitting metaphor for my relations Growing up in a Chinese household taught myself, away from the judging gaze of other disapproval, pleasure, sorrow. Crying was a Happiness was reserved for the best of occasio The expression of love was no different. My foreign to the concept of love. We say “I love yo But outside, under public scrutiny, there is no we are a tight-knit family. As a result, I only knew love to be somethin and it manifested in multiple facets of my life lived. Once the school year ended, and we a onto the next friend as though our schoolyar happened. More telling was the fact that my r based on the unstated mutual agreement that t I recall one friendship I had in middle scho at recess, stuck together for group projects, an Yet, we never did anything to let the each othe Perhaps we thought it was too corny. Perhap expressed love through mild insults and teasin the idea that love in a relationship could be e form of love was more inauthentic. Without weaseled their way between us when anyone ac never felt real. It always felt like something I compliments and forced smiles. University challenged my perspective of lov three people on a semi-regular basis. Our fea perhaps the biggest reason I have little cont I allowed to fizzle out ended in part because confused me until recent reflection. I loved them all, but they never knew it. It wasn’t until third-year that I started to form I noticed was the open expression of positivity roasting). After the first time we went to a bar t departing on the subway, “Do you like hugs? through and was suddenly encased in her arm concept of love, one that was unhindered, une Allowing myself to show love, unrestricted opened the path to feeling it without pretens more than ever now at heart-wrenching film graduate school. I will clap my hands in excite geeky interests as I, and I let my dearest friend Why should we pretend we are all unfeelin feel joy and sadness and anger and love. Some realize what it is we’re feeling.
Following a mediocre first date, a second-year falls in love with the city instead
-Avneet Sharma
A clueless fourth-year finally feels love by showing it
-Vivian Xie
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love in Chinese incorrectly my entire life. The ngue has been saying it like the e in “egg.” What ion turned out to be a bastardized form of the ship to the feeling itself. t me to save my emotions for when I was by rs. This pertained to all emotions: approval, sign of weakness, rage a sign of no control. ons. y family defies the idea that Asian families are ou” regularly, hug, exchange good-night kisses. o handholding, no hugging, no indication that
ng that should be hidden, reserved for private, e. My friendships were all tentative and shortascended the educational ladder, we moved rd games of four-square and basketball never relationships, romantic or otherwise, were all there would be no exhibition of love or support. ool with two girls, both Chinese. We hung out nd were never seen without at least one other. er know how much we loved them. ps we operated under the idea that true friends ng. Or perhaps we were all unable to reconcile expressed without being fake. If anything, our t expressing love outright, jealousy and envy chieved anything. The love that I had for them I had to act out, a daily performance of false
ve and its expression. In first-year, I saw but ar of showing each other care and affection is tact with them now. A romantic relationship e he thought I was “distant,” something that
m long lasting friendships. The major difference y and support for one another (in between the together, my closest friend turned to ask before ?” I gave her a startled nod before thinking it ms. It was then that I realized I enjoyed this equivocal, and unafraid to be known. d from notions of shame or embarrassment, se. And this isn’t limited to feeling love. I cry ms, I shout with joy when my friend gets into ement when someone I meet shares the same ds and family know how much I love them. ng automatons? We experience emotions, we etimes, it’s only after we show emotion that we
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
A study in radical self-love
One woman’s take on becoming as strong as people said she was I used to watch hours of Disney Channel and think of the day when I met my perfect boy who I’d walk on the beach with, hand in hand. That was fantasy. Real life wasn’t that way for me. It seemed that as time went by, that special someone never appeared in my life. Instead, they seemed to come in the form of someone else’s boyfriend or a friend who would never see me as more than that — a friend. Not all attention is good attention, but when you’re in high school and feeling as if you have warts on your face, any attention feels warranted. I had friends hit on by guys at parties. I had friends who had a string of relationships. That was never me. I felt invisible. My role always seemed to fall as the best friend, mom, or pseudo sister — the person that was called on late at night, the shoulder to cry on. As the years went by, I asked myself, is there something wrong with me? “You’re the strong, independent girl,” they would tell me. “You don’t need anybody, but yourself,” they would say. Women’s publications always tell women to love themselves unconditionally. However, little is said about finding the strength to love yourself. Regardless of how strong, independent, and amazing people told me I was, the pain of rejection and the desire for admiration still sat deep in my stomach. For a woman to look in the mirror and tell herself, “I am ok,” is a radical action that takes time and maturity. During middle school, I fell in with the mean girl crowd, which swiftly ejected me after a couple of months. I felt lost. During that time, I buried myself in my schoolwork. It acted as my only constant. Regardless of how people treated me or the perceptions that people had of me — school would always be the same. If I put in hard work, I would get my due reward. My dependence on schoolwork extended into my high school years. However, while school and work inhibited my insecurities and provided an output for my angst — suppression was not healing or dealing with those insecurities. Suppression and denial landed me in a crooked pseudo relationship with a young man when I was seventeen. I never liked him in a Disney channel way, but over time, my desire for someone to see me in a more-than-friends type of way got the better of me. As I flirted and went on dates, I felt like my good sense was screaming for me to, “listen – GIRL, you’re making a terrible mistake.” Eventually, I realized that I was using this poor boy to massage my own ego. I knew that he was never who I needed, he was just a stop on the way. On one hand, I felt selfish. School, work, and other commitments were integral to my future. There was nothing that could stop me. I felt confident in who I was and who I was becoming. On the other, I felt as if I wasn’t good enough. I felt that the markers of Disney best friends and boyfriends were absent in my life and therefore, part of me was absent. The ending of that relationship marked the beginning of my university journey and I knew I had to choose. I was uncertain about many things, but one thing was clear — I required a paradigm shift. The insecurity I felt could not be cured by any person or multiple people. Although my parents had programmed me to love myself at a young age, my independent realization of what that meant only began recently. It is a process where I had to look inside and see the strength that others had pointed out in me. I had to look at what I wanted and who I wanted to be. I realized that I will be a lawyer, a disturber, and a writer. Regardless of who comes into my life, those pillars and goals will be constant. Instead of contorting myself to make others feel comfortable with who I am or be the person I think I’m supposed to be, I can be radically me. -Gabrielle Warren
Arts&Culture
January 9, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca
Good riddance, 2016 Our contributors reflect on what shaped the year in culture, and what’s next for 2017
TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY
A
s we ring in the new year, we cannot help but reflect on the developments in the worlds of music, movies, and the arts over the course of 2016. Most notably, 2016 saw a staggering number of deaths of iconic artists that defined and profoundly altered their respective industries. David Bowie and Prince, two prodigal musical talents, passed away in 2016. Bowie, an artist known for constant reinvention and experimentation, released his final album Blackstar only two days before his passing in January, ending a career that spanned over five decades. Before his death in May, Prince had revolutionized pop culture by defying categorization, frequently making use of dazzling costumes and a wide vocal range. Hits like “1999,” “When the Doves Cry,” and “Kiss,” allowed Prince to sell over 100 million records during his lifetime. We also learned that Gord Downie, lead singer of the definitional Canadian band, The Tragically Hip, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The Tragically Hip’s music has ingrained itself in Canadian culture and attained nearly mythic status. In August, the band’s closing tour performance was streamed across national media outlets, where fans were able to hear favourites like “Bobcaygeon” and “New Orleans is Sinking” among huge, enthusiastic crowds. Hollywood also lost iconic members of film history. Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, passed away, as well as Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies. Both series played formative roles in the childhoods of many. What may have started as seemingly “nerdy” series soon engrossed the world in wonder and enchantment. These actors represented movements bigger than themselves that engaged the power of the imagination and allowed us to escape into fantasy. Television, movies, and music are not just mindless entertainment, but culture that becomes integrated into a person’s life. When people look back on 2016, they will reminisce about the effects these deceased icons had on their lives, whether it was seeing their favourite fictional character brought to life, or listening to a song that represents a specific time in their lives. Even though we have lost many great artists, 2017 is a time for growth in the arts. It’s time to look forward to a new culture, one that can build on what these icons gave us as we move forward into a new era of creative excellence. — Nicole Sciulli
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ast year was full of events that inspired uncertainty and brought unsettling change. While I do not believe that the arts helped us understand the events that took place this year, I do believe that they helped us heal and reflect. Culture is not created in a vacuum, but reflects human needs and desires. The role of the artist is to interpret these human feelings by reflecting them back to us in a tangible way, whether through film, music, or literature. This year, I believe hip hop and nostalgia played a vital role in reflecting how we wrestled with the issues that arose in 2016. Each year, one genre of music shines brighter than others. In 2009, it was pop, and in 2013 it was rock. In 2016, it was hip hop. From Beyoncé to Kanye West to Chance the Rapper, hip hop showcased the ability to encapsulate both our feelings of uneasiness and a desire to be carefree and place them in the common language of music. Beyoncé and Solange taught us that the greatest defiance can come through your vulnerability. Chance the Rapper told us: when in doubt of the world around you, dance. Though hip hop has recently steered towards an urban goth tone, Chance showed that no matter who is President or what the state of the union is, beauty can be found everywhere. Meanwhile, Kanye showed us that sometimes the greatest constant is inconsistency, and we should always be prepared for the unexpected. From his schizophrenic release of The Life of Pablo to his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump – Kanye has shown us that nothing in 2016 was certain. 2016 was also a year when nostalgia was cherished and analyzed. Surrounded by a plethora of celebrity deaths in addition to tumultuous international affairs, people looked to the past for salvation, or answers about the present. In the recent release of Rogue One, filmmakers worked painstakingly to recreate deceased characters, to reclaim a past moment, while in music, Childish Gambino’s Awaken! My Love mimicked the sounds of George Clinton and the fathers of funk. In television, Stranger Things made use of a constant stream of nostalgic references, while Fuller House and the Gilmore Girls revival showed us that sometimes, the past doesn’t translate to the present. Only time will tell if our nostalgic meditation in 2016 will teach us how to be better in 2017. — Gabrielle Warren
T
hough many saw the past year as one gone rogue, there was much to be appreciated in the arts, including many great albums, movies, and books. Still, 2017 is shaping up to be even more impressive, especially in the worlds of cinema, political art, and Toronto’s own local art scene. After the divisive outcome of the American presidential election, one must wonder what impact will the arrival of President-elect Trump have on the art of 2017. Will art be more politically charged? Will the memes and niche Internet cultures that thrived off the election continue to do so? What will artists have to say about the new status quo, and how will the new President react to them? It truly is a time of speculation. Rebirth, and more specifically, reboots are trending in film this year, with Colin Firth returning from the dead in the upcoming sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle. We’ll see a darker spin on our childhood heroes in March’s Power Rangers, and the return of the great ape to haunt our screens once more in Kong: Skull Island. Movie magic will also continue in the realm of nerdom, with a multitude of films coming from both the Marvel and DC camps. LEGO will aim to score its second cinematic hit with The LEGO Batman Movie, female empowerment will continue to take centre stage with Wonder Woman, and everyone’s favourite creepy-crawly will gets his first solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Let us not forget, the world will also return to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: Episode VIII. Culture is a result of the landscape in which it grows, and Toronto in 2017 will be a wonderful example of that. This year, the city will receive a massive infrastructure addition in Copeland Transformer Station. Situated underground near the Rogers Centre, the transformer array will gift urban-dwellers with both an influx of power and a picturesque new plaza on the surface, adding to the existing Roundhouse Park. Additionally, The Bentway, a developing public space underneath the Gardiner Expressway, is set to open partially in June 2017, aiming to be an exciting new haunt for tourists and locals alike. Stretching 1.75 km, The Bentway will play many roles, aiming to serve as a connection point between Exhibition Place, Fort York, and Bathurst Quay. It also could act as a new cradle of art for Toronto, featuring everything from open art exhibits to theatrical and musical performances. 2017 appears to be a year that will both glue you to your seat with engrossing pop culture, and encourage you to explore, be it in your own thoughts or the surrounding city. It remains to be seen in what direction this exploration will take us. — Sarim Irfan
JANUARY 9, 2017 • 15
var.st/arts
Revivals need a story worth telling On Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development, and what it takes to create a successful revival Avneet Sharma Varsity Staff
In the “golden age of television,” revivals of older series have been a consistent trend. 2016 alone saw new instalments of The X-Files, Full House, and Gilmore Girls. Determining the capitalistic motivations for producing a revival is simple. The rise of streaming services and the phenomenon of binge watching have allowed the viewership of concluded or cancelled series to grow and accumulate over time. Including both the original audience and the newly-accumulated audience, revivals have readymade interest and viewership. Fans are guaranteed to become invested in a revival, as exemplified by the Veronica Mars film in 2014, crowdfunded from fans via Kickstarter. Additionally, revivals have the potential to make more money off an already established brand. Similar to the recent trend of final instalments in successful film series such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games being split in two parts, producers run with the idea that more content yields more revenue. Therefore, it’s easy to see how a revival can be financially successful. However, when analyzing a revival critically, it’s important to ask: what makes a revival satisfying? Determining the critical success of a revival is more nuanced. Ultimately, it isn’t enough just to gath-
ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
er the same characters together on a soundstage. Not only does there need to be a story, but there needs to be a story that is worth telling in the context of the original show. Additionally, revivals are burdened with recreating those aspects of the original series that fans enjoyed, a task that is complicated by the length of time that has passed between the original series and the revival. The 2008 film Sex and the City and the fourth season of Arrested Development that was released
on Netflix in 2013 had two things in common. Firstly, both were highly anticipated by fans of the original series. Secondly, both original series already had satisfying conclusions. Even without the revival, fans still had the opportunity to watch Carrie Bradshaw return to New York with Mr. Big, and to discover which character was behind the criminal activity of the Bluth Company. Neither revival had a story that was necessary to tell. Additionally, both revivals failed
to capture the aspects of the original series that had endeared themselves to fans. Sex and the City lost its original charm, wit, and humour as a result of poor characterization, writing, and acting. Arrested Development’s new format of focusing on a single character per episode resulted in the loss of what made the original series enjoyable: the characters’ interaction with each other. Compare these to the 2014 film Veronica Mars and the 2016 limited series Gilmore Girls: A Year in
the Life. In terms of story, both revivals were created out of necessity. Both Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls were cancelled by The CW in 2007, without satisfying conclusions. Veronica Mars ended on a cliffhanger, where multiple character dynamics and storylines went unresolved. As a result, fans seeking closure flocked to the effort to crowdfund a sequel. While the original Gilmore Girls series already had a conclusion, it was one that hadn’t been written by its creator and original showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino, who left the show one season prior to its cancellation. With her trademark use of fast-paced dialogue laced with pop culture references, Sherman-Palladino had established herself as an auteur. A finale that was not written by ShermanPalladino had not allowed fans the same closure as the revival series that was released on Netflix this past fall. Both the Veronica Mars film and the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life series were well-received by critics and fans alike. While the creation of revivals may be motivated by money, the products themselves are all about nostalgia for the original fans. Nostalgia also imposes expectations on revivals which, if unfulfilled, will cause them to be unsuccessful. Ultimately, when it comes to revivals, there needs to be a story — one worth telling.
Embracing embarrassment If Beyoncé can do it, so can we all Zeahaa Rehman Varsity Contributor
It was night. I was sitting inside The Blind Duck, the student pub at UTM, and sipping Earl Grey tea. I had signed up for the English & Drama Student Society’s poetry slam impulsively, and was now feeling like a deer in headlights. The event had already started an hour late, and I wasn’t even sure of when I would be called up to perform. I had decided which poem to perform only four hours before, and I recited it to myself what felt like a million times, until I thought I would be okay. Though I tried to psych myself up, telling myself I would blow the audience away, I convinced myself I would be booed off the stage. The more time passed, the more my anxiety grew. “And our next performer is… Zahaa!” the host finally shouted, both mispronouncing my name and doing nothing to calm my nerves. I made my way to the stage, took the microphone, and opened my mouth. I searched for words, but none came out. I laughed nervously, and wracked my mind. After a moment, I was able to recite some of the lines. Then my mind went blank again and all I could think was, “fuck.” In that moment, if an asteroid had broken
through the Earth’s atmosphere and crashed into The Blind Duck, killing me instantly, I would not have minded. The sad thing is, this is not the first time that I have embarrassed myself like this, nor will it be the last. While I can’t ensure I never embarrass myself again, I can share what helped me get over this poetic failure. 1. Sleep on it. But first, relive every single detail. Imagine that you’re on a 14-hour flight, and that mortifying moment is the only in-flight movie available in the movie theatre that is your mind. That moment should be the last thing you think of when you fall asleep and the first thing you think of when you wake up. Its image should be seared onto the backs of your eyelids. In time, you’ll realize that the pain of embarrassment has dulled considerably, because you’ve become adjusted to thinking about it constantly. 2. It’s okay to worry about it. So, worry. About anything and everything. Worry that you may never be able to step foot outside of the house again. Worry about the cost of plastic surgery. Worry about someone posting a video of your epic fail online, and never being able to find a job, because after all, why wouldn’t employers care about your ability to recite slam poetry? Worry about the fact that this has never happened
to anyone, ever, in the history of the world. Ever. Once your worry goes from reasonable to ridiculous, you’ll know it’s time to move on. 3. Turn it into a funny story. Tell that story to everyone you know, and I mean everyone. Friends, family, neighbours, and your professors. Your second cousin twice-removed. Your great-grandmother to whom you only talk about the weather. If they know you and they weren’t there, then you need to tell them about your embarrassment. Don’t hold any details back either. With every retelling, it becomes easier to laugh at yourself rather than beat yourself up. 4. Share the love. When you learn to look at the glass half full, you’ll want to share the joy with others. Write an article based on the funny story. Hell, write a book about it, then adapt it for television. Produce a spinoff movie of that television show that spawns five blockbuster sequels. Go on Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel to promote it. Make Oprah come back for another season of The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote it. 5. Don’t let it hold you back. Despite what I said earlier, you are not the only person in the history of the world to have embarrassed yourself. Even Beyoncé once fell down on stage while performing, but got back up, finished her show, and went on to become
MIRKA LOISELLE/THE VARSITY
one of the most iconic performers of all time. I’m not saying you’re Beyoncé. Don’t be ridiculous. But the truth is: nothing is holding you back from becoming an icon in your own right – not even a little twinge of embarrassment.
16 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE
arts@thevarsity.ca
Film review: 20th Century Women How to experience the present in 1970s California
Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, and Elle Fanning in 20th Century Women. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELEVATION PICTURES Hannah Lank Varsity Contributor
What does happiness feel like? And what does a life fully lived look like? 20th Century Women dares to ask these critical questions, and is as funny as it is philosophical and emotional in its response. It’s 1979, and divorced California mom Dorothea (Annette Bening) is struggling to find happiness and, more pressingly, raising her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). “Don’t you need a man to raise a man?” she wonders early in the film. Nonetheless, it’s the women in her life whose help she enlists, asking them to share their lives with Jamie, hoping that they can help keep him on the right path. Figuring prominently are Abbie (a fantastic Greta Gerwig), an artist and fellow boarder in the somewhat crumbling, unpretentious
mansion in which Dorothea and Jamie live, and Julie (Elle Fanning), Jamie’s best friend – a sexually promiscuous, deeply contemplative 17-year-old. Both agree, in their own ways, to help Dorothea raise Jamie, exposing him to the great struggles and triumphs of their lives. Abbie, a young photographer recovering from cervical cancer, is completely open with Jamie; she brings him to her oncology appointments, to ‘artsy’ parties, and makes him a cassette of songs she wished she’d had when she was his age. She even turns Jamie into a fledgling feminist, loaning him some of her favourite texts, including Our Bodies, Ourselves, leading Jamie to contemplate female sexuality and how it relates to his ability to be a good man. Like Jamie, Julie struggles with questions of identity and experience. She also shares
her life with him, describing her various sexual encounters to him as they lie together under the covers on his mattress — platonically, much to Jamie’s disappointment. As time passes, and Jamie garners experiences shown to him by Abbie and Julie, he begins a process of rebirth, ultimately emerging as a young adult with a budding identity, ready to experience the world. Simultaneously, Dorothea allows herself to be drawn to new experiences as fellow boarder William (Billy Crudup) shows her platonic love and understanding. 20th Century Women is a wonderful film that focuses on the importance of the present above all else. It uses life in the present as a way to look to the future, by presenting women at various stages of their lives, facing various personal struggles, and learning to overcome them with hope.
When Abbie finds out from her oncologist that it’s unlikely she’ll ever be able to have children, she comforts herself by saying “I’m going to be okay,” and immerses herself in the artistic world she loves. At various points throughout the film, each character expresses the impossibility of imagining the future, and the importance of experiencing the present: William meditates, Abbie takes photographs, and Julie has sex, which, for her, is not about pleasure or indulgence, but about the minutiae of the experience. The characters stumble through their lives, and allow Jamie and Dorothea in on this struggle. While acknowledging that life gets tough, the film maintains its positive, forward-looking nature to the very end. 20th Century Women’s message is that, no matter what the future holds, the key is to keep looking forward, not backward.
Fearing blissful ignorance How Facebook’s algorithms may be shielding us from different points of view Ana Karina Butrón Varsity Contributor
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said, “A squirrel dying in your front yard may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.” As a company that operates on relevance, Facebook has a vested interest in showing its users what they want to see, and its News Feed algorithms help ensure it. Time Magazine has reported that each week, a group of approximately 20 engineers and data scientists gathers in Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters to analyze the millions of likes, comments, and clicks made daily by Facebook users. On the other side of the country in Knoxville, Tennessee, a group of 30 contract workers are paid to surf Facebook. These hires scroll through their personal News Feeds to evaluate how well stories relative to their interests are placed. Although Facebook does not explicitly disclose how its algorithm works, some effects are fairly obvious. Facebook takes into consideration how close you are with a person by evaluating how often you like their posts, write on their Timeline, look through their photos, or chat with them on Messenger. The algorithm will then begin to show the posts of your “closest” Facebook friends more frequently in your timeline. Additionally, the algorithm assesses what kind of posts users tend to engage with more, showing more videos to people who frequently like videos and links to people who like links. According to Caleb Gardner, a former adviser to President Obama on social me-
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dia, 44 per cent of adults and 61 per cent of millennials in the US get their news through Facebook. Considering its ubiquity, this is no surprise, but much of the details of how the system itself is operated remain under wraps. In fact, in October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on major Internet corporations like Facebook to reveal the secrets to their algorithms. Addressing a media conference in Munich, Merkel said, “I’m of the opinion
that algorithms must be made more transparent, so that one can inform oneself as an interested citizen about questions like ‘what influences my behaviour on the Internet and that of others?’” Over the past few months, my News Feed has been dominated by articles — and memes — pertaining to the recent American presidential election. This shouldn’t be surprising, since I constantly find myself clicking and liking these types of posts. The day
after the election, my timeline was flooded with articles about Donald Trump’s “shocking” win. Apparently, for the majority of my Facebook friends liking and reading the same articles that I was, “shocking” best described the result. In the days following, I began to wonder what other people’s News Feeds looked like. Was my feed shielding me from articles that could have foreshadowed the election’s outcome? Was I subconsciously deciding who and what I was influenced by on social media? According to Professor Steve Hoselton, a Senior Lecturer at the Book and Media Studies Department at the University of Toronto, people are constantly subconsciously deciding what they are influenced by on social media. “I think the fear of selective awareness is a real one. Both consciously and unconsciously – and through algorithms imposed from outside, we engage the overwhelming volume of data by editing it,” Hoselton says. Referencing the work of Marshall McLuhan, a prominent media theorist and former University of Toronto professor, Hoselton added, “Those of us who use media to reinforce our fears and desires will end up suffering from our ignorance. Those of us who use media to challenge our assumptions and expand our understanding will be wiser for it.” Because Facebook’s algorithms seem to be contributing to the company’s success from a business perspective, its modus operandi is unlikely to change. It’s up to the informed consumer to make the conscious decision to look for more diverse sources of information. While technology exerts a historically unprecedented influence over us, we still have the power to decide its extent.
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Are New Year’s resolutions overrated? How to make a change without waiting until next January 1 Eric Tolic Varsity Contributor
Whether it’s something about yourself that you’d like to change, or something new you’d like to try, a resolution is often a plan to enrich your lifestyle in some way, shape, or form. Many people try to implement resolutions each January, as the new year is ushered in. However, our societal emphasis on self-betterment and goal setting throughout the year has led to the question of whether individuals still continue to make New Year’s resolutions, and whether or not this is an effective vehicle for change. A recent study from the University of Scranton found that 42 per cent of Americans never make New Year’s resolutions, while only eight per cent of those who do are successful in committing to them fully. Data reported from the same study showed that 73 per cent of individuals maintain their New Year’s resolutions throughout the first week after they’re made, while only 45 per cent are maintaining them six months later. These numbers should not be taken to mean that people are not
seeing room for improvement in their current lifestyle. Rather, many people are simply no longer waiting for the calendar to hit January 1 before deciding to make a change. While society constantly reinforces the importance of healthy active living and personal growth, people are making plans to achieve their goals on a regular basis. Whether it’s scribbling down a few words on a page, typing a couple of sentences into a smartphone, or reflecting on the past year, a resolution is simply another way of setting a goal. As easy as this may seem, people who want to change certain habits in the new year often fall prey to a common misconception. Many habits are formed and followed unconsciously, resulting in the difficulty of breaking or even changing them. Since many people simply do not understand the science behind these psychological patterns, this makes it much more unlikely that the resolutions made by these individuals will be fulfilled. Three critical steps involved in the creation of a successful new habit are choosing a small action, attaching the action to an existing habit, and picking something easy enough to complete for at least a
15%
You don’t need to cat away your resolutions for New Year’s. FOUND ANIMALS FOUNDATION/CC FLICKR week. Resolutions may fail for several reasons, but one of the most prominent is setting goals that are too lofty, leading people to become overwhelmed in making plans to
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achieve them. Awareness of these essential factors will help people avoid disappointment in failing to keep their New Year’s resolutions. After all, if a person is serious
about implementing change in their life, they don’t usually wait for the new year to begin. If you want to make a change, there’s no time like the present.
Science
January 9, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca
Their Story: The Dragon’s Dance U of T alumnus Robert Herjavec’s story is one of resilience Ramana Trivedi Varsity Contributor
Nearly fifty years ago, a political prisoner in the Socialist Republic of Croatia escaped from jail and settled in Halifax, Canada with his wife and 8-year old son. With nothing but a single suitcase and minimal English proficiency, the poor family found it difficult to integrate into society. To help pay the bills, the young boy soon began delivering newspapers and working as a waiter. By the age of 10, he was reading the property lease for his parents and by 13, he was helping them get a mortgage. That boy was Robert Herjavec, a man who is now worth over $100 million dollars. He is an internationally recognized television personality, best-selling author, and successful businessman. He founded BRAK Systems, a technology company, and sold it for $30.2 million in 2000. He has appeared on Dragon’s Den, Shark Tank, and Dancing with the Stars. Herjavec is the founder of The Herjavec Group and a U of T alumnus. As the poorest boy in his class from a foreign country, Herjavec was teased for his differences after his family settled in Canada. He credits the challenges and injustices he faced with instilling in him a strong desire to improve his condition. “My mother was once taken advantage of by a salesperson into buying an expensive and unneces-
Pictured here is Robert Herjavec at the University of Southern California. NEON TOMMY/CC FLICKR sary vacuum cleaner... I was angry and never wanted to see my family hurt again because we didn’t understand or were too poor. I wanted to change that situation.” In some ways, Herjavec explains, that experience opened his eyes to the world of sales and marketing. “I was amazed at the power of persuasion and wanted to know more about sales [and] the level of influence this man had exerted to convince my mom she needed this vacuum. I was more mad than anything, but it was the first time I really realized that an individual has that kind of power to persuade.” Herjavec’s path to technology companies was unconventional. He
pursued a degree in English Literature and Political Science at U of T and went on to work for a TV station. After briefly working in the film industry, Herjavec landed his first technology job at Logiquest. With no prior experience working in technology, Herjavec was under-qualified for the position. He ultimately secured the job by offering to work for free for the first 6 months of his employment. Speaking about his unconventional career route, Herjavec noted the value of education while emphasizing its limitations. “In my liberal arts program, we had to do a lot of reading. We had to read books each week and discuss
them. This gave me the opportunity to take in lots of information and boil it down into something that can be easily explained. Education is great but at the end of the day after your first job no one will ask where you went to school or what you took. A degree will serve you well but experience is far more valuable.” Ultimately, Mr. Herjavec was fired from Logiquest. While many would have been dissuaded by this turn of events, Herjavec credits his “ability to be resilient” as key to his subsequent success. “You have to bounce back. I was fired from [Logiquest] and it motivated me to start my own business which led to BRAK systems.”
He also notes that “everything I’ve learned in business is because I made a mistake, learned, and didn’t do it again. You have to try, but if you fail you need to be resilient and bounce back.” Resilience is a hallmark of Herjavec’s success, but he also advises caution before committing fully to an endeavour. “I would tell entrepreneurs today to ensure they have a problem to solve, and customers who believe they have a solution, before they go all in. There’s nothing wrong with testing before you jump in. I sold my first order with BRAK before I even had a registered company name or tax ID. But I knew I had a customer, so I was on the right track. Even then I didn’t give up my other job until it became so overwhelmingly tiresome that I couldn’t physically do both.” In the last decade, Herjavec has founded The Herjavec Group, starred in numerous television shows and written three books. He has learned how to dance and races cars in his spare time. Herjavec has managed to stay motivated despite the competitive nature of his field. In his words, “You have to treat every day like a new opportunity to succeed. I often refer to a Mark Cuban quote that says, ‘Everyday, someone wakes up with the sole intention of kicking your ass.’ I would add – don’t let that happen today... You have to be able to push through the pain – mental, physical, emotional, and keep the end state in mind in order to be persistent and seize the opportunity.”
Women in science: part II How ‘death by a thousand cuts’ is responsible for the leaky STEM pipeline Hannah Fung Associate Science Editor
In the sciences, objectivity is prized because it allows us to uncover truths without the stain of personal biases. However, the rigour of scientific objectivity has yet to dominate the working environment of STEM fields. Over four years ago, researchers from Yale University asked science faculty from major research universities to rate fictitious applications for a laboratory manager position. Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed a persistent and pervasive bias against female applicants. Male applicants were considered more competent and hirable than their identical female counterparts and benefited from higher starting salaries. This was true regardless of the faculty’s gender; female and
male faculty were “equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student.” Such cases of implicit bias aren’t unique to the United States. In Canada, countless small, sexist encounters are responsible for the steady flow of women out of STEM fields. This ‘death by a thousand cuts’ phenomenon is most evident in research awards and prizes. For example, the $1 million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering is awarded annually to a top Canadian scientist for “sustained excellence and overall influence of research work.” Since its inception in 1991, only one woman has won the Herzberg Medal. Of 22 Canada Excellence Research Chairs, only one is held by a woman. In 2015, the University of British Columbia’s Dr. Judy Illes and Dr. Catherine Anderson resigned from
the selection committee for the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame because there were no female finalists for the second year in a row. “For… big roles… women need to be identified and they need to be at the table identifying people,” said Michelle French, an Associate Professor in Physiology at the University of Toronto. “[N]etworking is really important for female scientists… so that when someone is thinking, ‘Oh I want, I need someone to talk about X at a conference,’ [women] get invited.” At the micro-level, scientists need to recognize and take action against implicit bias. “As women in STEM fields, we need to really look out for each other, and not spread the implicit bias ourselves,” said Cat Schrankel, a graduate student in Immunology at the University of Toronto. In the lab environment, women criticize one another for being ‘too
done up’ and for wearing ‘too much makeup,’ as if a woman’s appearance can somehow undermine her ability to thrive in STEM fields. For Schrankel, one of the most disappointing moments of her graduate career was when she was referred to as the ‘girl with the tight pants’ by a female Principal Investigator whom she had respected and admired. “In terms of the overall environment for women in STEM fields… I think we all know there’s a bit of a double standard that’s often at play, and it’s not just from the men,” said Schrankel. The bias against women is also apparent in the adjectives used to describe candidates in reference letters. Women are described as ‘warm,’ ‘kind,’ and ‘a pleasure to be around,’ while men are ‘brilliant’ and ‘outstanding’. A study by Wayne State University showed that reference letters
for female applicants are often shorter or incomplete, include gendered terms such as woman, lady and wife, and focus on interpersonal characteristics as opposed to skills or achievements. “Someone could write a really glowing reference letter, but it could still be damaging if it’s using those [stereotypical adjectives],” said Brechann McGoey, a graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. In 2014, the Canada Research Chairs program amended its guidelines to address the issue of implicit bias. The guidelines recommend that referees restrict their comments to the requirements of the Chairs position, and that they avoid stereotypical adjectives such as ‘nurturing’ or ‘maternal.’
Women in science, page 20
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U of T Hosts Successful Climate Data Archiving Event The race to protect climate data is speeding up in light of political shifts Geith Maal-Bared Varsity Contributor
Last year, ExxonMobil received a subpoena — issued by New York’s Democratic Attorney General — in which its business practices were called into question. Reports indicated that the company had suppressed its internal climate change research in an effort to influence policy and maintain profitability, leaving shareholders and the public misled. Among the fervent decriers of the subpoena was Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt, who argued that the company was merely exercising its first amendment rights. Pruitt has repeatedly united with the fossil fuel industry in suing federal agencies for “overreach[ing]” regulatory procedures. He has attempted to quash the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, a policy aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and encouraging the use of sustainable energy sources. Recent revelations demonstrate that Devon Energy lawyers penned litigation documents for Pruitt’s case against the government. Coupled with his denial of climate change, Pruitt’s history raises concerns amidst his appointment to head the EPA by US President-elect Donald Trump.
Many have cited a gradual defunding and enforced futility of the EPA as looming possibilities. This would not be unprecedented: the last Bush administration cut federal EPA funding and worked to shut its libraries, effectively stripping the agency of its statutory independence. Much of the EPA content had not been digitized and was therefore lost. The Internet Archive, a non-profit and open-access digital library, has spearheaded an End of Term project since 2008, a pre-emptive initiative to preserve online records in the face of shifting governments. The project has recently resumed in preparation for the incoming Trump administration. Given the enormous amount of valuable data on the EPA website, some have taken matters into their own hands to prevent the potential loss of this wealth of knowledge. Last month, U of T hosted a collaboration with the End of Term project, a so-called “Guerilla Archiving Event” in which volunteers gathered to chip away at the massive undertaking. Dr. Michelle Murphy, a Professor of History and Women and Gender Studies at U of T, who coorganized the event, was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. “I was very impressed that we were able
to have 150 people show up on a snowy weekend day,” she said. “I thought the event was very successful, both in terms of getting the word out about the need to care about what’s going to be happening to environmental and climate data in governance in the United States, but also in terms of getting the ball rolling on data archiving and data archiving events that are in the pipes.” Murphy argued that Canadians are well-suited for the task because many have had to ponder issues surrounding public access to data in recent years. For example, non-profit organization Evidence for Democracy was spawned in response to the Harper administration’s unfavourable attitudes toward science and its suppression of research communications. Referring to these groups, Murphy said, “I think they both have something to offer in terms of an analysis but also in terms of helping our colleagues in the United States anticipate some of the things they might be seeing a few weeks from now.” The event brought together people from various academic backgrounds and training such as coders, environmental scientists, social scientists, archivists, and librarians. A how-to toolkit was devised by con-
tributors to assist similar endeavours at other institutions. However, the project is unlikely to preserve the entire EPA library. Given the collaborative and openaccess nature of the initiative, there are no enforced guidelines as to what should be saved; potential vulnerability of the data is likely to come into play in the selection process. Murphy posited that the data most susceptible to loss include “the programs that have already been explicitly and gleefully justified for cutting like climate mitigation programs… Data that are harder to technically get and save than others [and] research and data… that you had to apply to get access to, that you have to do a freedom of information request to get.” Although important, Murphy says preservation is not the only goal. “The next step is formalizing these best practices, working with archivists on [identifying] the conditions for credible copied data sets... What are the conditions [to ensure] security and public accessibility?” Murphy recommends a chain of custody for data downloaded onto servers located or curated by a university. Data verification can rely on matching and mirroring scripts that detect tampering by comparing documents to a verified
version. Metadata could be used to provide information regarding the original files, recent modifications, and so on. Murphy adds that it is important to be “drawing together people to care about the future of environmental monitoring, environmental science, environmental governance, [and] climate change mitigation.” Following Trump’s inauguration, she proposes creating a “100 days into the presidency” report to monitor environmental governance and mobilize organizations and the public accordingly. The climate and its pollutants are not bound by national borders. Although it is not guaranteed that access to data will be hindered, Pruitt’s defense of ExxonMobil is but one example of his ambivalence – if not outright hostility – toward environmental information. Murphy highlights the relevance of these issues to Canadians. Although the Liberal Party has signed pledges for open-access data and evidence-based governance, measures have yet to be implemented. She adds that “in Canada [we] don’t have strong laws on the right of access to information, research and data by our government.” There is arguably no better time than the present to defend these rights on our home turf.
Forensic engineering isn’t all CSI U of T’s Faculty of Engineering opens new Forensic Engineering certificate program Nicole Sciulli Varsity Contributor
Crime scenes have become popular in today’s television shows. Shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation highlight a job that uses parts of the crime scene to determine the events that occurred there. The scientists test DNA samples, and conduct multiple experiments to test materials for deficiency and to reconstruct the cause of the disaster or accident. Crime scene investigation is intriguing and has been made attractive by media. But who are the real scientists who perform forensic analysis, and what procedures do they use on the job? Doug Perovic, U of T professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has worked in forensic engineering for 25 years. The job entails investigating the failings of materials or products with scientific methods to improve their longevity and performance. U of T’s Faculty of Engineering has introduced a new certificate program in the field. This January, Perovic will teach a course where students will analyze
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some of his high profile cases such as the stage collapse at a Radiohead concert in 2014 and the Sunrise Propane explosion in 2008. The Sunrise Propane plant exploded in August of 2008 due to illegal truck-to-truck propane transfer. The explosion killed Parminder Singh Saini, a Sunrise employee.
Perovic’s role was to investigate if the tanks had caused the explosion; he found that they did not. Perovic’s goal for his class is to, “[teach] students how to apply their engineering knowledge to ask the right questions when investigating a complex, often messy, real-world problem from beginning to end.”
Students will investigate physical evidence at the Ontario Centre for the Characterisation of Advanced Materials (OCCAM) laboratory, jointly operated by the Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering departments. OCCAM has strong scanning electron microscopes that produce clear
images of a fracture surface which help forensic engineers find the origin of the fractures. For example, Perovic studied a case of an Ottawa woman’s fractured prosthetic hip. The electron microscope helped find the fracture that was caused by a manufacturing defect. One of Perovic’s previous students studied how hip implants fail. She will study how the materials could affect its failure and whether the product failing is a design or a manufacturing issue. Forensic engineers focus on three areas: product liability, fire explosions and collision reconstruction. Perovic’s specialty is product liability, an area of law that holds manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors of a product accountable for injuries caused by products. Forensic engineers conduct their investigation to test for product failures. Their results can be presented in court for a legal review. The presentations can be used during a trial or in a pre-trial negotiation, or the forensic engineer can testify as an expert witness. Forensic engineering, page 20
20 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE
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Rare childhood brain cancer demystified by U of T research Daniel De Carvalho classifies three subgroups of AT/RT with drug specific targets Pascale Tsai Varsity Contributor
University of Toronto scientist Dr. Daniel De Carvalho and a team of Canadian researchers have classified the incurable brain cancer, atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumour (AT/RT), into three distinct subgroups, treatable with drug targeting and precision medicine. This discovery opens up a new field of cancer treatment for those affected by AT/RTs — primarily children — and gives hope to cancer researchers in pursuit of further knowledge about the disease and potential cures for it. AT/RTs are a rare cancer affecting children primarily under the age of three, and has no isolated cause. It occurs mostly in the brain, affecting the cerebellum and brainstem, but may also be found throughout the central nervous system, including the spinal cord. Signs and symptoms vary from patient to patient, but generally include brain swelling and headaches. As AT/RTs may be localized to the cerebellum, they can also alter balance control and movement, and can affect breathing rate, heart rate, and muscle use in a variety of everyday tasks. AT/RTs tend to affect very young children, and are often fatal. Treatment usually involves a range of standard cancer treatment
procedures, including radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, as well as stem cell transplant, to eradicate the tumour from the body or to relieve the majority of the painful symptoms. The most recent clinical trials related to AT/RTs have shown that a mutation in a gene that causes the tumour’s uncontrollable growth is also found in 20 per cent of all cancers, including adult cancers in major organs. Currently, researchers in several countries are testing the effectiveness of different drugs on AT/RTs as well as on other related cancers, with the hopes of identifying more drug targets for AT/RTs in the body. The research done by De Carvalho and his team involved analysis of the epigenomics of various samples of AT/RTs. They found that AT/RT subgroups could be classified according to the external genetic factors influencing them, rather than by their internal characteristics. The researchers also found that one subgroup interacted specifically with two drugs which hinder cellular coordination. AT/RTs grow rapidly within the body, and due to their occurrence in very young children, efficient treatment methods are necessary. With the goal of increasing survival and cure rates of patients with AT/ RT cancer, De Carvalho’s discovery of the distinct AT/RT subgroups
Women in science, from 18 On a day-to-day basis, gender bias forces women to walk the line between appearing too feminine and incompetent, and too masculine and aggressive. In a report published by the University of California (UC) Hastings, 34 per cent of the female scientists surveyed reported feeling obliged to perform social and administrative tasks traditionally associated with women. 38 and 53 per cent reported adverse reactions against self-promotion and assertiveness respectively. In an interview with Maclean’s, Joan Williams, the founding director of UC’s Center for WorkLife Law, said, “Women walk a tightrope. Either they’re seen as the office mother or dutiful daughter who’s there to put men first, or they’re seen as a bitch with a personality problem with whom nobody wants to work.” Women in science also have to provide more evidence of their skill than men to be perceived as equally competent, a pattern known as the ‘Prove-It-Again’ bias. Researchers from the University
and of potential drugs that may target them could be significant for the development of new and better treatments. De Carvalho’s future research plan involves developing new drugs, finding new targets within each AT/RT subgroup, and determining approaches to treating AT/ RTs that will help patients individually and improve patient outcomes in the most efficient way. Precise drug treatments along with standard cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be used to treat patients and to ensure the best outcome. Because ATRT is a rare disease with, on average, 100 new cases in children each year, ample funding is not usually dedicated towards research for its treatment. De Carvalho’s research is groundbreaking not only for ATRT treatment, but also for global cancer research. The classification of ATRT subgroups and knowledge of potential drugs for each subgroup target may lead to precise medical treatment for patients affected by each of the subgroups of ATRT. Precision treatment of this nature may open new doors for cancer research in other areas. De Carvalho’s research is undoubtedly innovative, and makes the future of ATRT treatment less murky.
3D Printer Certification 3D Printing has become the basis of much modern-day medical technology and research. The Pop-Up Learning Lab is hosting a 3D printer certification session for the public. Date: Wednesday, January 11 Time: 4:00-5:00 pm Location: Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West Admission: Free with registration
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DE CARVALHO LAB
He’s smiling because he’s made headway on ATRT treatment.
For example, as described in Maclean’s, one of Perovic’s cases was to investigate a defective glass ceramic cookware that a cut a man’s wrist when it exploded. Perovic tested four pots identical to the exploding one. Perovic carried out chemical and structural analysis on the pot for defects. He also did a thermal shock test to simulate the plaintiff’s situation by moving the hot pot to a bin of soapy water. One of the pots failed. Perovic testified that the margin of safety for heating the pot was too low, therefore the product was defective. The plaintiff won $1.2 million in compensation. Perovic’s first class will open with looking at police photos, including decapitation victims. Though these are gruesome images, forensic engineers must thoroughly analyze all evidence if they want to glean an accurate interpretation of the disaster. Perovic states that, “if you want to do this stuff, you’ll be looking at things like police photos.” Since forensic engineers like
Bioethics Seminar: Developing a Research and Ethics Education Module for Youth Leaders at a Paediatric Rehabilitation Hospital The Joint Centre for Bioethics at U of T is holding a lecture discussing how to provide young leaders in childcare with proper ethics education. Dolly Menna-Dack of Holland Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital will speak. Date: Wednesday, January 11 Time: 4:10–5:30 pm Location: HS108, Health Science Building, 155 College Street Admission: Free
Forensic engineering, from 19 of Washington found that male undergraduates were more likely to be seen as competent and knowledgeable, and that male students tended to nominate other male students over female students. Female students on the other hand nominated male and female peers at equal frequency. “It’s important for [female students] to get involved, to answer questions in class, to demonstrate that they have the knowledge, and as instructors, it’s important for us to give our female students as much voice as our male students,” said French. Echoing, as in saying, “As Elizabeth just said,” is a way in which men and women in authority can affirm female students in maledominated disciplines. The negative experiences that women in STEM face each and every day are often far more powerful than any single discriminatory hiring practice. Altogether, they send the message that women aren’t qualified to work in the sciences.
Science Around Town
Perovic are called when lawsuits are made for product or material defects, the insurance companies that hire forensic engineers want the evidence to be in favour. However, forensic engineers have a moral obligation to public safety rather than the company that hires them. Perovic told the Toronto Star that he wants his students to “learn that their duty as forensic engineers is not to whichever company hires [them] to investigate, but to the public to ensure we figure out what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Students will be asked to analyze these cases, apply procedural and scientific analysis, and use this evidence to come to an unbiased result. Forensic engineering combines criminal investigation, the understanding of designs and structures, and the logical skills required to improve the structures for optimal use and safety. The forensic engineering program will be open to U of T’s undergraduate students in the 2017-2018 academic year.
Career Seminar: Research Resumes and Career Thinking The U of T Graduate and Life Sciences Education team is hosting a seminar this week for students on creating the perfect resume for graduate school and research positions. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. Date: Thursday, January 12 Time: 9:30-10:30 am Location: JDR MacLeod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle Admission: Free with registration Leptin and the Biological Basis of Obesity The Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science is presenting a lecture hosted by Dr. Jeffrey Friedman who will be talking about his research on gut hormones and how they contribute to common disorders in our society, such as obesity and diabetes. Date: Sunday, January 15 Time: 2:00-3:00 pm Location: JDR MacLeod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle Admission: Free
Sports
January 9, 2017 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca
World Junior Hockey final goes into shootout Canada loses gold medal game to the Americans, takes home silver Kieran McMurchy Varsity Contributor
In the end, it didn’t matter that there were no superstar players on the Team Canada World Junior team. Canada was in the final, playing the Americans for gold and national glory. Round Robin Gold was the only result that could be considered a success for the Canadians, with the tournament being at home in Toronto and Montreal. Team Canada lacked a definitive superstar, promising to win with a team that would score by committee. On December 26, they opened the tournament against the Russians and beat them 5-3, with team captain Dylan Strome scoring two goals. The next day, Canada played the Slovaks, beating them decisively 5-0, with Slovakia only managing six shots on Canadian goalie Connor Ingram. On the 29th, Canada played Latvia and made quick work of them. Canada failed to score in the first 10 minutes — and this writer may have been getting anxious — but then scored 10 goals in the final 50 minutes, beating them 10-2, with Taylor Raddysh scoring four goals, tying a Canadian single game record. The final game of the Round Robin was the New Year’s Eve classic against the Americans. The US came out quickly, scoring two goals in the first seven minutes of the game. In the second period, Canada brought it to within one goal after defenceman Thomas Chabot, an Ottawa Senators prospect, scored on the power-play. However, five minutes later, Kitchener Rangers star and Maple Leafs prospect Jeremy Bracco scored for Team USA to give the Americans a 3-1 lead. Knock-Out Round In the quarter-finals, Canada played the Czech Republic in what was, at times, a feisty game. Both teams playing hard, the Czechs did all they could to get Canada off of its game. In the end, Canada won 5-3, with Julien Gauthier scoring two goals.
The Americans came from behind to win the gold. XGEORG/CC WIKIMEDIA The semi-finals were going to be a tough test for the Canadians, as they faced what was considered to be the best team in the tournament: Sweden. In the days leading up to the game, Canadian coach Dominique Ducharme turned heads by offering some analysis of the Swedish program in recent tournaments saying, “they showed in the last 10 years that they’re really good in the first round, but they have ways to lose when things get tougher.” The Swedes have dominated the Round Robin in recent years, but only have one gold medal to show for it. This game was easily Canada’s coming out party. They played hard, they
played fast, and they absolutely took the game to the Swedes in ways which they hadn’t to other teams in previous games. This was Canadian hockey. The teams traded goal for goal in the first period, with Connor Ingram being pulled from the net after allowing two goals on three shots. A tough break, but in a do-or-die game Canada needed a goalie in net who would stop the puck. Carter Hart came in and did just that, stopping all 28 shots he faced. Canada would add three more goals throughout the remainder of the game to win 5-2, and set up a date with the Americans for gold. World Juniors, page 22
Russia sort of admits to state sponsored doping Russian officials confirm Olympic doping program existed Daniel Samuel Varsity Columnist
When it comes to the Russia’s Olympic doping scandal, any new revelation shouldn’t come as a surprise in what has grown from a quiet suspicion to clear-cut case of systematic cheating, reminiscent of East Germany in the 1970s. The latest plausible plot twist of the scandal occurred last week, when Anna Antseliovich, the head of the Russian anti-doping agency, Rusada, admitted the state-sponsored doping program to The New York Times saying, “It was an institutional conspiracy.” Those simple words could’ve been the end to the story, an admission of guilt for an obvious crime. Those words could’ve contained enough clout to put Russia’s immense cheating in the rear view. The only issue remaining for Russia is the severity of the punishment the World Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deem fit for the crime. However, like the entire cheating episode itself, Antseliovich’s admittance of guilt couldn’t even remain genuine. Following the New York Times article and subsequent fall-
out, Antseliovich walked back her comments to the Times, stating that her words had been misrepresented, a fitting development for an already inept cover up. Regardless of Antesliovich’s change in perspective, what’s been made clear in revelation after revelation is that Russia had the intention to cheat, and carried out its plans in the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2014 Sochi Olympics. And while the nation may never officially admit to doing so, their participation in systematic doping is more than understood by the international sports community. The time between now and Russia’s potential punishment haunts those who support the Olympics and are forced to consistently question the legitimacy surrounding the Games, an injustice reinforced by the state-sponsored doping program. What is even more ridiculous than the scope of their cheating is the nature of Russia’s laissez-faire attitude towards the severity of the issue. This is despite them having hands as dirty as US figure skater Tonya Harding’s following the 1994 attack on fellow American Nancy Kerrigan, the last
Putin the rules on the back burner. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KREMLIN time the Olympics supremely transcended sport in the national media because of an act which reached down into the vile depths of Machiavellianism. Looking forward, the punishment Russia should receive from the IOC needs to be significant enough to deter any other nation from carrying out a similar doping program.
Supporters and Olympic athletes alike deserve a just conclusion to the embarrassing affair that has lead to the detriment of international sport. In the end, journalists, athletes, and all who advocate for fair play fall under the same roof. We are all victims who share the likeness of Nancy Kerrigan, waiting for a punishment for the matter that has irrevocably affected us.
22 • THE VARSITY • SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
Frivolity on “frozen lochs” turned treasured Canadian pastime Curling, ostensibly invented in Scotland, has become a fixture of Canadian life Alex McKeen Editor-in-Chief
Located just a stone’s throw away from the College de Montreal, in an old but well maintained building on the Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, lies North America’s oldest sports club: The Royal Montreal Curling Club. Before the club’s building was erected in 1889 (and well before it received the “Royal” designation in 1924), the Montreal Curling Club comprised of a few dozen Scottish merchants who would gather on the frozen St. Lawrence River to launch stones across the icy surface, as early as 1807. The formation of the Montreal club predated the sport’s governing body in Scotland in 1838, which may help to explain why many Canadians seem to claim the sport as part of their national history, despite the fact that it was likely invented in northern Europe. Curling is a sport played on ice, in which teams of four compete to throw the greatest possible number of stones closer to the centre of a large, round target (the “rings”) than the other team. The World Curling Federation claims that the sport is one of the oldest team sports in the world; the earliest written record of the game was made in Paisley, Scotland, in 1540. At that time, the federation says the sport was a pastime played on “frozen lochs and ponds” — presumably more of a social endeavour than a competitive one (no word as to whether or not Nessie was a fan). Curling spread across the world with Scottish migration, but over time its popularity has
grown disproportionately in Canada relative to other countries. Canada has won the men’s world championship 35 out of the 58 competitions that have taken place, and the 15 of 41 for the women. Dozens of distinct teams of four from all across the country are represented in those victories, demonstrating sustained and widespread commitment to the sport. What accounts for curling’s popularity in Canada? Part of it is climate. It is easy to imagine how a sport like curling could spread quickly in Canada given its relatively long winters and ample watery surfaces across which to throw stones. The sport moved west throughout the nineteenth century; the first British Columbia curling club finally opened in Kaslo in 1895. Warmer climate countries like China and Korea are relatively recent competitive contenders in international curling; the former’s women landed a bronze medal at the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 for the first time. Another factor in Canada’s curling achievement is saturation of facilities. Sweden, another top competitor, has one curling club for every 160,000 people. Canada has one for every 23,000 people — approximately 1,500 clubs total. Norway is better known for its eccentric curling pants. The last year Scotland beat Canada for a gold medal in the men’s curling world championships was 2009. Ironically, that competition was hosted in Moncton, New Brunswick. Whatever the reason for the proliferation of curling throughout Canada, it is undeniable that the sport’s social culture jives with Canadian stereotypes of politeness and
World Juniors, from page 21
Gold Medal Game The Canada vs. United States matchup has a history of producing incredible hockey at this tournament: the Jonathan Toews semifinal shootout thriller in 2007, for example, or the gold medal game in Saskatoon in 2010 where the teams played into overtime and the Americans ultimately won. The 2017 gold medal game will have certainly earned its place in Canada – USA World Junior Hockey lore. Canada came out firing, skating with such speed and hitting with such ferocity, you’d hardly believe that some of these combatants played on the same club team. Canada went up 2-0 in the first period, with goals from Thomas Chabot and Jeremy Lauzon. In the second period, the Americans scored twice; a defensive lapse coupled with a poor change saw Charlie McAvoy score, and then Kieffer Bellows tied the game heading into the final frame. Canada went up two goals again quickly in the third courtesy of a laser-quick snap shot from Nicolas Roy, and a breakaway goal from Matthieu Joseph. America responded promptly, with Kieffer Bellows getting his second of the game, and Colin White tying it at four. The game needed overtime: 20 minutes of breathtaking hockey with chances at both
ends. Canada failed to score on a power-play that had previously been the lifeblood of their team. In the end, the game needed a shootout. With five shooters each, Canada failed to score on each of their chances. The Americans scored one. Team USA beat Team Canada 5-4(SO) and won the gold medal. Final Thoughts The World Juniors are a holiday tradition for the Canadian hockey fan; this tournament produces sporting memories that will last a lifetime. Jordan Eberle scoring to tie the Russians with 5.4 seconds left in the semi-finals in the 2009 tournament in Ottawa, the aforementioned Toews shootout thriller, and Matt Halischuk scoring the golden goal against the Swedes in OT of the 2008 tournament all qualify. In a tournament played by teenagers with such emotion, the country unites behind them. They may not have won gold this year, and indeed they have only won gold once since winning five straight between ’05 and ’09 (2015 in Toronto). In 2018, Canada will go down to Buffalo once again expected, and expecting themselves to win gold, because hockey is what we do.
ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
sportsmanship. The de facto rules of curling clubs dictate that opposing teams should sit and socialize with one another following each game, and that the winning team should buy the first round of drinks for the losing team. Perhaps the quintessential example of the Canadian curling spirit is embodied by Rob Swan, a New Brunswick resident who aimed to play in every curling club in the province to raise funds for improved curling facilities in his home town. On the advice of a friend, and driven by the vibrant
sense of community he experienced at the outset of his project, he broadened his goal. He now aims to play in all of Canada’s 1,500 clubs, including 100 this season alone. Swan told CBC News that he hopes the attention his tour has gained will reinvigorate the sport’s popularity among youth, which he says has fallen off. “Everywhere I go, it doesn’t matter what province, the sport has — I do believe — hit rock bottom,” he told CBC News. Pun probably intended.
JANUARY 9, 2017 • 23
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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Governing Council Nominations Open: 12:00 noon on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 Nominations Close: 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 13, 2017 Positions Available:
8 STUDENT SEATS (4 full-time undergraduate; 2 part-time undergraduate; and 2 graduate students.) Elected student members serve as volunteers for a term of one year. (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018) As the University of Toronto’s senior governing body, the Governing Council is responsible for overseeing the University's strategic direction, finances, human resources, capital expenditures and infrastructure, academic quality, and the student experience. Decisions approved by the Governing Council affect all members of the University Community.
Nomination forms will be available at: www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Governing_Council/elections between 12:00 noon on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 and 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 13, 2017.
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Paper copies will be available in the Office of the Governing Council, Room 106, Simcoe Hall, 27 King's College Circle.
Information on elections for student seats on the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) and University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Campus Councils and their Standing Committees are available at: www.utm.utoronto.ca/governance/elections-2017 www.utsc.utoronto.ca/governance/2017-elections
Questions? Please contact the Chief Returning Officer, Anwar Kazimi at 416-978-8427 or anwar.kazimi@utoronto.ca or the Deputy Returning Officer, Patrick McNeill at 416-978-8428 or patrick.mcneill@utoronto.ca
Further information: Please consult the elections website for more information and review the Election Guidelines 2017 at: www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Governing_Council/elections.htm