March 6, 2017 by The Varsity

Vol. CXXXVII, No. 20 March 6 , 2017 thevarsity.ca —— The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

City of Toronto, Victoria University to continue negotiations on taxes Deadline set for September 30 Tamim Mansour Varsity Contributor

Let the students decide Four slates, independents compete in historic UTSU election News Feature, pages 10–11

UTMSU elections underway The executive candidates gathered for a debate on March 1 at the Blind Duck Pub. The elections run from March 7–9

page 4

The City of Toronto’s Government Management Committee voted to continue negotiations with Victoria University about the loss of property tax revenue due to exemptions granted by the Victoria University Act. The motion set a deadline for September 30, 2017; the City Treasurer is authorized to request that the provincial government remove the exemptions from the Victoria University Act if city staff fail to reach an agreement with Victoria University by then. This comes after a vote by City Council last summer directing the treasurer to examine the tax implications of the Victoria University Act. A report on these implications was supposed to have been presented at the November 14, 2016 meeting of the Government Management Committee, but according to the City, “additional time was needed in order to allow the City to hold further meetings with Victoria University and to evaluate, clarify and respond to a proposal put forward by Victoria University.” The Victoria University Act, enacted in 1951, exempts the college from property taxes on all properties owned by Victoria University including land that is not occupied and used by the college. This stands in contrast to other universities, like York University, OCAD University, and Ryerson University, who only enjoy exemptions on properties occupied and used by the universities. U of T, through the University of Toronto Act, also enjoys the same exemptions as Victoria University. However, U of T has been making voluntary payments to Toronto on their properties that are leased to third parties at fair market rental since 1949. According to Victoria University, the province implemented the tax exemption to encourage the revitalization of the then-struggling Bloor Street West neighbourhood and “such development would also provide an income stream for post-secondary education, and a new revenue stream for the City of Toronto.” The City estimates that between the 2009 and 2015 tax years, land owned by Victoria University at 131 Bloor Street West, which is leased to Revenue Properties Company Limited, the owners of the Colonade, has been exempted from a total of $12,213,171 in taxes. The city estimates foregone 2013–2015 tax revenue on other lands owned by Victoria University and at least partly occupied by third parties to be worth $2,715,409. This includes the lands at 151 Bloor Street West leased to GE Canada Real Estate Equity Holding Company; 153 Bloor Street occupied by Club Monaco; 8 St. Thomas Street currently under construction by Kingsett Capital, and 110 Charles Street West occupied by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Victoria University, page 3

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MARCH 6, 2017 • 3

var.st/news Victoria University from cover

U of T to bestow honorary degrees to 16 individuals Inuk singer, evolutionary biologist, human rights lawyer among honorees

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The degrees will be conferred at the upcoming convocation ceremonies in June.

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Victoria University is one of the few universities that are exempt from paying property taxes on leased properties. All the lessees of Victoria University lands pay property taxes on their buildings. The tax exemption applies only to the land owned by the college. The college believes that as a result of the development encouraged by these tax exemptions, “the City of Toronto has gained millions of dollars in tax revenue that it would not have received if those properties had continued to be used for student residences.” Councillor Janet Davis, Vice Chair of the Government Management Committee, weighed in on the matter. “These are very large and valuable properties, we understand that we don’t want to tax the parts of those properties being used for educational purposes but those properties that are being leased to commercial entities, where they are making significant returns on that commercial use, those properties should be taxed and the people of Toronto should be able to benefit from that commercial enterprise and not be exempt from taxes,” Davis said. William Robins, President of Victoria University, attended the meeting in support of the motion. Robins said that the college “recognizes that over time, circumstances change and policies need to be re-evaluated” and that more time was needed to continue discussions. “As a not-for-profit public sector institution dedicated to higher education, our task is to find and implement a resolution that will not have an adverse impact on the university’s mission or

its students,” Robins told the committee, adding that all lease income went to “delivering on our postsecondary educational mission.” Ward 28 Councillor Pam McConnell believes that this gives Victoria University an unfair advantage over other university students, saying, “I suppose Ryerson would like that too and so would U of T and so would OCAD. The fact of the matter is the rents can go into supports for students but not the taxes.” “The issue is: do you pay your taxes for all of the things students need outside the academics, such as recreation, roads, fire, police, or do we skim it off and say that this university shouldn’t have to do that because they’re advantaging their students? Well, the City of Toronto is not in the business in funding universities, that’s not our job,” she said. The meeting later went in camera so that the committee could ask staff confidential questions about the progress of the negotiations. “We’re happy that the committee passed the staff recommendation to give us more time to talk with the city to resolve this issue,” Robins said after the vote. “We’ve been having very productive discussions, there’s a lot of momentum and I’m optimistic we’ll be able to reach a resolution by the date.” On March 4, The Toronto Star reported that a confidential City of Toronto staff report stated that Victoria University is offering the city $100,000 annually for up to five years, in exchange for its tax-exempt status.

Ilya Bañares Varsity Contributor

This year U of T will award honorary degrees to 16 Canadian and international leaders in recognition of their accomplishments, which include advocacy work for Indigenous communities, human rights and anti-poverty initiatives in impoverished nations, and the disproving of famed scientist Charles Darwin’s theories on evolution. Among the honorees is Susan Aglukark, an Inuk singer and songwriter born in Manitoba and raised in Nunavut. Through her work in the music and entertainment industry, she has taken stories of her youth and the difficulties faced by the Indigenous communities and used them to advocate for cultural healing. The same goes for Phil Fontaine, who, as Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, successfully negotiated the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and resolved the largest Canadian class action lawsuit. The agreement compensated the thousands of Aboriginals removed from their families and placed in the residential school system and established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Amal Basha is the founder of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights in Yemen and has actively pushed for the Yemeni government to respect basic human rights and international conventions, especially

those concerning violence against women. She has publicly confronted Yemeni officials over these issues, despite great risk to her personal safety. Reeta Roy, CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, is also being awarded. She has partnered with over 20 prominent educational institutions, including U of T, to provide scholarships for qualified, economically disadvantaged students in sub-Saharan Africa. British scientists Rosemary and Peter Grant are renowned worldwide for their four decades worth of work in evolutionary biology, especially in relation with the work of Darwin. Through their research they found that, in contrast with Darwin, evolution by natural selection can be seen within a person’s lifetime, effectively disproving one of the Darwinian theories. Another scientist, Arthur McDonald, the 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, will be recognized for his contributions to measuring the properties of basic neutrinos, as well as his help with getting the general population to better understand the universe and its development. In journalism, CBC News Chief Correspondent Peter Mansbridge will be recognized, along with André Picard, a health columnist at The Globe and Mail. In addition, historian and former Trinity College Provost Margaret MacMillan will also be among the recipients. The degrees will be conferred at the upcoming convocation ceremonies in June.

Business Board approves tuition hikes amidst student leader opposition Increases in international student tuition loom Jack O. Denton Associate News Editor

The Business Board of U of T’s Governing Council voted on February 27 to increase tuition for both domestic and international students after facing opposition from student leaders. The motion will have to pass endorsement and forwarding at the Executive Committee meeting on March 28 before facing a vote of approval by the Governing Council on April 4. UTSU President Jasmine Wong Denike and Vice-President Internal and Services Mathias Memmel were present at the meeting. “I never expected them to agree with me and change their votes, and President Gertler gave a rebuttal,” Memmel told The Varsity. “But a number of the voting members seemed to appreciate that I was there and making arguments,” he said. Memmel and Denike argued that tuition increases fundamentally challenge the university’s commitment to accessible education, which states, “No student offered admission to a program at the University of Toronto should be unable to enter or complete the program due to lack of financial means.”

The Business Board discussed a three per cent increase for the Faculty of Arts & Science undergraduates and a five per cent increase for undergraduates in professional faculties. These increases adhere to the fee increase cap under provincial regulation. The international student fee increases are not regulated. It was noted in the Business Board meeting that international student tuition will be the largest source of revenue for U of T in 2018. Tuition for international undergraduate students enroling next year will start at $45,690. “If you’re an international Arts and Science student who started in 2015,” Memmel’s speech to the Business Board reads, “your fees will have increased by $12,000 by 2019.” In addition, students in the international Rotman Commerce cohort will see their tuition rise by $10,000 next year alone. The only member of the Business Board who voted against the tuition increase was former UTSU President Ben Coleman, who sits as an appointed student member. Coleman’s letter to Business Board members, titled “Undergraduate International Tuition Fees — Where Are We Going?”, played a role in setting the context for discussion on February 27.

“It was a frustrating meeting. The administration is only committed to a token effort to educate poorer students from around the world and leaves it up to the divisions to support international students’ academic needs,” Coleman told The Varsity. “They plan on maintaining exorbitant fee increases into the forseeable future, regardless of how risky that is for the university’s budget, and how devastating that is for the students who come here,” he went on. Scott Mabury, Vice-President University Operations at U of T, told The Varsity that the university has made “modest tuition increases both domestically and internationally, in accordance on the domestic side with provincial caps.” Mabury said that this is the cost of delivering the best quality programs and services to students. He argued that a focus on tuition alone is unfair when it comes to assessing the university’s support of students. “Far more interesting and impactful to students is the student aid side of the equation, because it’s never just about tuition increases,” he said. “We are hitting $200 million [in student aid], 55 per cent of our undergrad students are getting OSAP, it is a tremendously positive story.”

“The sticker price is not the story,” Mabury said. He also stated that students need to be more aware of developments in student aid. He suggested that the narrative of rising tuition that is told by student advocacy organizations is limited. “We need The Varsity to capture the fullness of the story so that we don’t only see articles from CFS and others that tuition is rising, that Ontario has the highest tuition in the country,” Mabury said. “These things, they’re functionally not true, because it’s the net tuition price that’s important.” Memmel said that he’d like “to see universities and students’ unions work together to strengthen the public education system.” He conceded that this “would be a major departure from the current orientation of student politics and would require good will and trust on both sides.” Denike urged students to be engaged and pay attention to Governing Council, no matter how “exciting” student politics may be. “That’s where all the major decisions are being made, and those are the people who we need to be constantly engaging with to enact meaningful change,” she told The Varsity. Memmel is currently on a temporary leave of absence from the union in order to run for 2017–2018 president of the UTSU.

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UTMSU executive candidates face oﬀ in debate Election to take place March 7–9 Jenna Moon Associate News Editor

The campaign period for the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) elections are in full swing, and the executive candidates faced off at UTM’s Blind Duck Pub in a two hour debate on March 1. There are two slates competing in this year’s election compared to four last year. No incumbents are running for re-election, and two of the candidates are UTMSU associates. The slates, Fresh UTM and UTM First, presented platforms that advocate for international student rights, U-Pass expansion, and healthier food options on campus. President Running for President with Fresh UTM is Salma Fakhry, who is Associate to the UTMSU Vice-President University Affairs and Academics. Her platform includes providing accessible education and reviewing UTM’s student centre expansion. Alex Gignac is UTM First’s presidential candidate. Gignac’s platform advocates for a tier rewards system for club funding, which would see more funding provided to new clubs that participate in more events. Additionally, he advocated for U-Pass expansion throughout Brampton and Oakville. All UTM students are provided with a UPass, which allows for unlimited access to MiWay for a mandatory fee charged to their student accounts. When asked about the student centre expansion, Fakhry stated that at the last UTMSU Annual General Meeting, students voted ‘yes’ on a student centre expansion. Fakhry said, “We must consult our student body. We cannot do this alone… We must lobby with the administration to find... an accessible funding model that actually takes pressure off students. We don’t want students to be paying extra money, because this is their right and this is their space.” Gignac stated that he also advocates for the expansion: “We’re going to have to sit down with the university because the most important thing is that they cover a good chunk of the expenses… There will be no increased tuition for the student centre.” Vice-President Internal and Services Vikko Qu from Fresh UTM is running unopposed for Vice-President Internal and Servic-

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Fresh UTM Presidential candidate Salma Fakhry takes the stage. es. His platform focuses on expanding limited accessibility and study space on campus. Qu proposes making the U-Pass GTA-wide. When asked how he plans to establish a GTAwide pass, Qu noted that he was involved in the GTA U-Pass conversation last year as Associate to the Vice-President Internal. “What will happen this year is that first, we’ll consult the students by running surveys, by collecting data, by collecting information. And second, we’ll be talking to our levy groups, clubs and societies, and third, we’ll be running a referendum so that our students can vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ [on whether] they want a GTA U-Pass,” Qu said. “We’ll present all the information to the government, to Metrolinx, so our students’ demands can be consented.” Vice-President External Ali Taha is UTM First’s candidate for VicePresident External. Taha, who currently serves on the UTMSU Board of Directors, stated that his goal as Vice-President External would be to unite the three campuses. He also aims for a diversity of opinions on campus. Jose Wilson is running for the same position with Fresh UTM. Wilson’s platform is centred on activism for part-time students. The Vice-President External candidates were questioned at the debate on how they planned to reinstate the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) for international students. Taha stated that, after some research, he learned OHIP was rescinded for international students in 1994, as the government did not feel it was feasible to implement the

program for international students. He noted that re-instating the program for international students would be very difficult and instead advocated for increased support for international students. “I would like to see more support and services for international students, like international ambassadors to be able to be appointed as [the point of] contact for international students when they get here,” said Taha. Wilson noted that he is an international student, that he understood how expensive the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) is, and how it lacks coverage. He said, “I remember a conversation with [Qu] where he mentioned that in order to take a ride in an ambulance, you would have to pay $500, because the ambulance does not take the UHIP coverage… We want to take a look at lobbying MPPs and premiers about re-instating OHIP for international students.” Vice-President Equity Sagal Osman is running for Vice-President Equity with UTM Fresh. She cites her experience as an executive with the Black Students’ Association as a reason for her involvement. Osman wants to expand safe spaces on campus in addition to combating Islamophobia, sexism, and racism on campus. UTM First’s Vice-President Equity candidate is Mduduzi Mhlanga, who wants to focus on finances and on-campus affordability. The Vice-President Equity candidates were asked about how they planned to implement the Sexual Violence Policy at UTM. Osman stated that she would like to see

“an annual review of this policy. We need constant change so that we can keep advocating and keep implementing policies that keep communities spoken for and included.” She noted that the policy provides support for perpetrators and wants to see the policy edited to make it “survivor-centric.” “Our human rights need to be advocated for and spoken for, and if we can’t do that then we need to change that right now,” Osman said. Mhlanga countered by saying he believed it was far more important to “find a solution that works and stick with it.” “But overall, I believe that UTM is a very safe campus… so I believe that we have made real strides in achieving equality and equity despite sexual orientation, despite ethnic identification, despite your gender,” Mhlanga stated. “I believe that for this policy, it’s far more important to hear student’s opinions and see what they think needs to be changed, and then try to advocate for that change as well, once we again make sure the solution is viable.” Vice-President University Aﬀairs and Academics UTM First candidate Christina Khokar wants students to have a better understanding of tuition fees, along with more information sessions related to tuition. Khokhar advocates for increased opt-out options from fees and levies. Fresh UTM candidate Maya Tomkiewicz stated that students are often unaware of what is included in student policies. She is advocating for increased visibility of these policies on campus. When asked what the governing council on campus does, Khokhar stated that UTM operates as a democracy. “I also want to improve this process by having a longer election period so we can get across to more people… right now, our voter turnout is only 35 per cent… I think everyone should have a voice… and I think everyone should recognize the value of these elections,” she said. Tomkiewicz clarified that the UTM Campus Council is a subsection of the Governing Council: “They make decisions about different issues like academic policies, parking fees, tuition. Unfortunately, there is very little student representation on this council.” Tomkiewicz then advocated for further representation of students on the council. Voting takes place from March 7–9 at Davis Building, Instructional Centre, CCT Building, and Deerfield Hall.

UTM First candidate suggests removing UTM levies for The Varsity, CIUT Christina Khokhar proposes diverting funds towards scholarships Jenna Moon Associate News Editor

Questions regarding levy-collecting student media organizations at UTM have been raised after one of the candidates running for an executive position on the University of Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) suggested removing the levy that The Varsity and CIUT collect from UTM students. UTM students contribute $1.97 per semester to The Varsity and $0.50 per semester to CIUT, a radio station that broadcasts on 89.5 FM and is also known as U of T Community Radio. During Wednesday’s all-candidates’ debate, Christina Khokhar, the candidate for Vice-President University Affairs and Academics with the UTM First slate, suggested removing these charges to create more scholarships at UTM. “We’re paying for two things in our tuition that I’m sure you don’t know about,” said

Khokhar. “We’re paying for U of T Varsity Publications and U of T Community Radio, both of which aren’t printed here. We don’t have the opportunity to write for them, so why are we paying for it? In total, just opting out of these two things, we would have $33,000 to go into scholarships and bursaries.” The Varsity is circulated at all three campuses weekly, and it is comprised of contributors from all three campuses. CIUT is an FM radio station that is available at both UTM and UTSG. U of T Media Relations Director Althea Blackburn-Evans noted that the university and individual campuses could not decide to remove a levy on their own. “If a student wanted to have a fee waived, they would need to start with the student society themselves, so for example, if UTM students want to stop paying the fees for The Varsity… they need to approach The Varsity, which in and of itself is an autonomous student society, and the first step would be to

raise any concerns they might have [regarding] the level of service with that student society first,” she explained. Blackburn-Evans explained that “the student societies are autonomous organizations… changes in the fees are done according to the society’s own constitution and their bylaws.” In an interview with The Varsity after the debate, Khokhar clarified her comments further. “I’ve been talking to students all around campus and they say that they don’t read The Varsity because we have The Medium, which reports things that are relevant to UTM, and also covers on the back page the stuff that’s happening at the St. George campus and in Toronto,” said Khokhar. She went on to claim that students “feel that The Medium is adequate enough, so we don’t want to have any extra charges for our students. Just as I imagine that at St. George, they don’t want to have stuff that they’re not

necessarily using… But I think that it should stay with the St. George campus, because that’s what relevant to it, because we have The Medium.” The opposing slate — Fresh UTM — defended the levy in an email to The Varsity, writing: “Fresh UTM believes that the purpose of The Varsity is to be a platform for students to discuss relevant issues. Our lives are political so it is important to be in the loop with on and off campus matters that affect our communities. It is also a wonderful platform for students to share their own opinions, writing, photography and stir up conversation.” This is not the first time The Varsity’s levy has been targeted at UTM. In 2013, a group of UTM students circulated a petition to divert The Varsity’s levy towards The Medium. The Varsity reached out to CIUT for comment but did not receive a response as of press time.

MARCH 6, 2017 • 5

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Federal NDP leadership candidate speaks on Indigenous issues panel Talk touches on personal Indigeneity Kaitlyn Simpson Associate News Editor

On February 27, the U of T New Democrats hosted a panel discussion entitled Indigenous Rights & Canadian Politics. Charlie Angus, the Member of Parliament for Timmins—James Bay with the New Democratic Party (NDP), spoke at the panel alongside President of the Indigenous Studies Student Union (ISSU) Jennifer Sylvester. The panel occurred a day after Angus announced his candidacy for the leader of the federal NDP to replace Thomas Mulcair. The event, which lasted just over an hour long, discussed a variety of Indigenous issues. Sylvester started the discussion by speaking on her personal experiences as a member of the Indigenous community. She described an impactful summer, during which she attended a variety of Indigenous ceremonies, including her own naming ceremony. Sylvester explained, “Up until that point I was ashamed of who I was as an Indigenous person because that’s just what the system taught me to be.” Sylvester continued to discuss the importance of having connection to her Indigeneity, emphasizing the many Indigenous people “who don’t have that connection to their communities due to the process of

residential schools, the sixties scoop, to foster care… due to the lateral process that has [trickled] down from residential schools for generations.” During Angus’ talk he spoke about the previous and current federal government’s relationship with Indigenous communities. “Do not blame [former Prime Minister] Stephen Harper. It’s too easy to blame Stephen Harper,” Angus said. She argued that the previous Prime Minister of Canada “was just the ugly manifestation of something that’s gone on in this country for well over 150 years.” Angus also spent some time reading from his book, Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and One Girl’s Dream, outlining the story of Shannen Koostachin who was a young Cree woman who had never seen a proper school. He acknowledged that the date of the event was the fifth anniversary of when “Members of Parliament stood up in memory of Shannen and voted to end the systemic discrimination against Indigenous children.” Angus added: “And five years later, nothing has changed.” Throughout his discussion, Angus described a pattern of systemic oppression directed towards Indigenous communities by the government of Canada: “And I sometimes start to think I sound like a crazy man from

KAITLYN SIMPSON/THE VARSITY

Charlie Angus announced his intention to run for NDP leader a day prior to the event. what I’ve seen,” Angus said, “but in the 14 years I’ve served working in the communities of Northern Ontario and James Bay where it is ground zero and we lose children every day — every day children die from systemic negligence on the part of the government.” Angus has been an MP since 2004 and was the NDP Indigenous Affairs Critic and National Caucus Chair, before stepping down in preparation for his leadership candidacy.

Voting will take place in multiple rounds between October 1–29 until over 50 per cent support from members of the NDP is received. Angus faces competition from British Columbia MP Peter Julian and Quebec MP Guy Caron. Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh and Manitoba MP Niki Ashton are both rumoured to be considering entering the leadership race as well.

Report on enrolment shows growth at UTM, UTSC, Architecture UTSG enrolment is expected to decrease SOFIA LUDWIG/THE VARSITY

Sophia Savva Varsity Staﬀ

U of T recently released its annual report on enrolment, showing projected increases to enrolment at UTM and UTSC. Enrolment makes up the largest part of the university’s day-to-day revenue. According to the report, 88 per cent of the 2017–2018 “budgeted $2.5 billion in revenue” is “tied directly to students” through provincial operating grants, which are provided to the university based on enrolment, as well as tuition. “Students are paying fees and that becomes revenue to the university,” said Jeff Lennon, Senior Manager of Academic Planning and Analysis. “If that student is a domestic student, they would be paying a tuition fee, and then we would have an operating grant from the government for the program that they’re in.” Enrolment at U of T has boomed over the past 20 years, culminating with almost 89,000 students enroled in 2016–2017. Enrolment increased across U of T’s three campuses in both undergraduate and graduate programs. UTM, UTSC, and UTSG’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design, experienced the most enrolment growth over the past year. U of T plans to increase undergraduate enrolment by two per cent or 1,152 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) over the next five years. FTE is “a measure of course load activity of the students enroled,” that refers to the equivalent of a student “taking a full course load of five courses.” While UTSC and UTM plan to grow by

nine per cent, which is almost 1,000 FTE, and six per cent, which is almost 700 FTE, over the next five years, respectively, UTSG projects a reduction in enrolment of one per cent, which is around 500 FTE. UTM and UTSC have grown significantly over the past decade, which has increased the demand for expanded classrooms and labs, student services, residences, and parking. Expansion and construction are already underway at both campuses. “While the University has been very successful at fundraising for capital projects, continued support from the Province is essential to ensure that the University of Toronto continues to fulfill its mandate of providing a world-class teaching and research environment for its faculty and students,” the report said. The university saw an “increased demand” for professional master’s programs as graduate enrolments continue to increase and has increased its number of program offerings to meet these demands over the past 10 years. Thirty per cent of all doctoral students and 23 per cent of master’s students in Ontario are enroled at U of T. The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering will reduce undergraduate enrolment by six per cent, which is around 300 FTE, over five years as part of a “graduate intensification plan.” The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) also plans to reduce enrolment as the Concurrent Teacher Education program gets phased out. U of T plans “to end the undergraduate teacher education program and focus on teacher education at the graduate level.”

International enrolment is also expected to increase by almost 0.5 per cent over the next five years.

In 2016–2017, 19.7 per cent of all students were international students. This number is expected to rise by almost 0.5 per cent over the next five years. According to the report, “internationalization has been an academic goal pursued across many divisions,” and most of these divisions are close to reaching their enrolment goals. “I see it as our goal to make the University of Toronto a truly global platform,” said Joseph Wong, Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, International Student Experience. Most international undergraduate students at U of T come from China at 63 per cent, India at four per cent, and South Korea at three per cent. Initiatives, like the Lester B. Pearson Scholarship program, have been created to encourage students from “more diverse source countries.” According to Wong, having “different per-

spectives and points of views and experiences really enriches the classroom,” especially in smaller classes. “The four years that you spend in undergraduate are really transformative years,” said Wong. “The more we can infuse a kind of global landscape and the more we can position the U of T as a global platform, the more your experience becomes potentially transformative, and I think that’s really exciting.” The university also made “efforts to attract more students of across Canada” and saw an increase in enrolment from students from other provinces over the course of five years. “Overall, the data presented in this report demonstrate solid progress toward our longterm enrolment goals,” the report stated. “The University of Toronto continues to attract a large number of high-quality students, both domestically and internationally.”

Comment

March 6, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

What do you want from your UTSU?

Contributors reflect on the union’s responsibilities to the student body in light of the upcoming election The nomination period for the 2017–2018 UTSU executives and Board of Directors elections opened on February 27. As candidates mobilize and prepare to campaign for a spot on the board, we asked four contributors to outline their expectations for next year’s new faces in student leadership.

Transparency All I want from the UTSU is the most basic courtesy a democratic body can afford its constituents: transparency. Last week’s story in The Varsity about the UTSU’s use of in camera meetings is perfectly demonstrative of the problem. As was reported, “When the Board of Directors votes to move in camera, anyone who is not a director, executive, or staff member must exit the room and any discussions that happen during the in camera session are not recorded in the minutes.” Put simply, it’s a way of closing and locking the door, excluding others from conversations that may very well concern their interests. This type of procedural secrecy makes sense when there are state secrets to protect and nuclear wars to deter, but this is the UTSU, not the Pentagon. Moreover, voter turnout for last year’s election was less than 10 per cent, signalling an ambivalence that may be reflective of the general impression of the UTSU on campus. Knowing it only from media and campus gossip, the union comes across as a self-important circus of bizarre backdoor dealings and absurd misdemeanor. Perhaps more people would be engaged with UTSU matters if they were privy to them in the first place. In order to reform their image, the UTSU needs to build trust, and increasing transparency is the way to do it. Zach Rosen is a first-year student at Trinity College studying History and Philosophy.

Unity I would like to see a UTSU board with more mutual respect, cooperation, and cohesion. My concerns regarding these aspects of the UTSU came into focus following a public statement by Cassandra Williams, Vice-President University Affairs regarding anti-Black racism at the union. Although these are important discussions to have publicly, my concern comes from the nature of the public statement and the apparent antagonism directed at other executive members. The tone of the statement reads more as a call-out, dividing the executive rather than focusing on being constructive and moving forward. Over the last few years, there have been ongoing tensions regarding the UTSU’s relationship with UTM and the UTMSU, its controversial affiliation with the CFS, and its ongoing lawsuit against its former Executive Director, Sandra Hudson. These issues have been subject to a constant tug-of-war between the board members and executives alike. Overall, the UTSU needs to work on establishing more cohesion between its members. Personal attacks on other board members and condemning motions to go in camera will not help the UTSU move forward. Rather, these actions will often delay the resolutions to the controversial issues outlined above. Though concerns will inevitably arise, they should be handled in a forward-thinking manner. Avneet Sharma is a second-year student at Trinity College studying English and Cinema Studies.

Equity work What I want, and what I’m sure many students want, is for the UTSU to act more equitably. Although the union tends to use all the right language when it comes to social justice and equity, it has been accused of failing to follow through with action on some occasions. I believe the new UTSU executive and board, when they are elected, should come forward with a concrete plan to work on some of the equity issues we’ve seen this year and improve on what the UTSU has already done thus far. Many trans students have reported feeling unsafe on campus — particularly in the wake of the Peterson controversy — and some have reported being doxxed online. It would not be enough to merely condemn this; ideally, the UTSU would be able to explicitly provide the courses of action it would take to make trans students feel more comfortable and safe on campus in light of these incidents. Additionally, the current tensions within the UTSU, and between the UTSU and the Black Liberation Collective (BLC), reveal that the UTSU has had serious trouble in meaningfully engaging with Black students. While I would not go so far as suggesting that the UTSU drop its lawsuit against Sandra Hudson — as the BLC is seeking to do — the other concerns raised by the BLC require a much more productive response. Ideally, the UTSU that is next elected will not only enumerate courses of action to address these issues, but also state unequivocally that it will work with marginalized students to improve on its plan. Adina Heisler is a second-year student at University College studying English and Women and Gender Studies.

International student support Totaling about 16,000, around 18 per cent of the student population, international students are a prominent group across the three U of T campuses, including the two campuses that the UTSU represents. High tuition fees and lack of services have always been consistent concerns for this constituent group. According to Ariel Ho, current head of the newly establised UTSU International Students Commission, international students often cluster in groups isolated from the wider campus community because the UTSU in previous years did little to care about them. Ho is the only member on the one-person commission, which attempts to pull off monthly meetings with international students only to be met with abysmal participation rates. This could be explained by the general lack of enthusiasm for the new organization as well as the UTSU’s failure to recognize the importance in diversifying its social media platforms outside of Facebook. Many Chinese international students felt slighted by the disqualification of the 1UofT slate last year — the use of WeChat to distribute campaign messages not in English and without a translation resulted in a significant number of demerit points in that case. Ultimately, the UTSU needs to strengthen their approach to meeting international students’ needs. Immediate improvements need to be made to the International Students Commission if the UTSU wants it to go anywhere. Above all, if it truly purports to represent our diverse student body, the next-elected UTSU needs to seriously address these concerns. Arnold Yung is a fourth-year student at St. Michael’s College studying History.

MARCH 6, 2017 • 7

var.st/comment

Shading Islam For Black Muslims, the intersection of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia represents a unique story of constant movement and erasure

ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

Ibnul Chowdhury Varsity Columnist

At the recent panel “Mapping Anti-Blackness in Muslim Communities” at Regent Park, community organizer Rania El Mugammar recalled her grandfather’s words on the universality of anti-Blackness: “Wherever you go, people will drink tea, and wherever you go, people will be racist to Black people.” The story of the Black Muslim, in particular, is a story of movement, as affirmed by co-panelist Lali Mohamed. To the Black Muslim, European and Arab colonialists continue to force their movement – slavery, displacement, deportation, migrant labour – from one continent to another. It does not permit belonging, and seeks to erase identity: be it Blackness, Muslim-ness, or both. This past February, we recognized Black History Month and renewed conversations about Islamophobia following the Québec City mosque shooting. Both Blackness and Islam endure racialization and criminalization in the West, but are seldom acknowledged for their unitary identity and oppression. The Eurocentric imagination homogenizes Islam as an Arab, Middle Eastern ‘other,’ characterized by a set of barbaric ideals. Beards, burqas, Arab names, and mosques become targets for persecution and violence. We may also observe an ‘Arab-centrism’ when it comes to Muslim identity: Muslims are by default considered light-skinned or brown, Asian, and Arabic-speaking. In this regard, white supremacy and Arab supremacy work to erase the nuances of Muslim identity and perpetuate a pernicious form of double colonialism that dissociates Blackness from Islam.

Consider last December’s Toronto Reviving Islamic Spirit Conference, where white Muslim scholar Shaykh Hamza Yusuf expressed antipathy towards the idea of Muslim solidarity with Black Lives Matter. He claimed that “the police aren’t all racist” and highlighted “black-on-black crime” in defense of the American criminal justice system. In Toronto, similar to the way that liberal multiculturalists imagine that we are all equal Canadian individuals to divert attention from structural racism, Islam, too, theorizes a concept of ‘one Ummah’ — a community that shares the same faith, irrespective of nationality, culture, and class. Selective Muslim reaction towards statesanctioned violence informs the skepticism of Black Muslims. Why would some nonBlack Muslims support Palestinian self-determination amidst Israeli occupation, for instance, but not also Black Lives Matter? Why would non-Black Muslims demand attention for Syrian refugees — who receive conspicuous affection from Canadian politicians — but not for East African Muslim refugees from South Sudan and Somalia as well, who face criminalization in Canada? Worse yet, those occupying the ‘middletier’ of Muslims — namely, South Asians who are neither Black nor Arab — are complicit in the erasure of Blackness given the culture of favouring lighter skin. In Somali and Sudanese communities, curly hair and darkness are also seen to detract from beauty, which especially marginalizes Black Muslim women. Muslims, although collectively subject to anti-Muslim racism in the West, are susceptible to a colourist hierarchy that aspires to a light-skinned Arab ideal. The dissociation of Black and Muslim identities was also clear in the aftermath of the Québec City massacre. There was much discussion about how six Muslims were murdered, yet no major recognition of the fact that two of the victims were also Black.

At U of T, Middle Eastern and Brown Muslims held a vigil in response to shooting at which no Black Muslim voice was present. Mayor John Tory and Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau were invited to speak at the vigil, who in their professional capacities are complicit in policies that criminalize Black and Brown peoples, such as carding and provisions in Bill C-51 — a bill that gives police more freedom to arrest people in the name of anti-terrorism. Even the rise of Black Muslims to power, such as the recent appointment of SomaliCanadian MP Ahmed Hussen as Minister of Immigration, is tokenized. The positive attention surrounding this specific appointment has distracted from the fact that Hussen’s ministry refuses to suspend the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, which endangers refugees — and most inconspicuously, East African Muslim refugees. In the case of Somali immigrant Abdirahman Abdi, who was killed by police last summer in Ottawa, it is clear that even those who arrive in Canada are not guaranteed a future. Ongoing state-sanctioned hostility shows that Black Muslim lives do not matter. The story of movement and erasure of Black Muslims is felt in Black as well as Muslim spaces. As put by the U of T Black Students’ Association in response to the Québec City massacre, “[Black Muslims] can sometimes feel erased in Muslim spaces due to their race, and erased in black spaces due to their faith.” However, at this year’s CanRoots conference in Toronto, organizer Gilary Massa claimed that Black spaces are relatively more welcoming to Muslims than Muslim spaces are for Blacks. Indeed, the Black community often embraces Islam as a possibility for emancipatory politics, given role models like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. This reveals that Muslim-ness can serve as a political identity by which marginalized peoples can solidarize and struggle,

which has implications for social justice work going forward. This political identity focuses less on strict, theological prescriptions of Islam, which are used by both liberal homo-nationalists and fundamentalist Muslims to essentialize Islam as patriarchal and homophobic. It highlights racism as a structural phenomenon that affects different identities unevenly. Black Muslims need non-Black Muslim solidarity to deconstruct the Eurocentric and Arab-centric imagination of a monolithic, Middle Eastern Islam, and make way for an Islam of diverse lived experiences. Muslim political identity has emancipatory potential for all oppressed peoples, especially Queer Black Muslims. In a more general sense, supporting those within the Black Muslim community who face intersecting oppressions — such as misogyny and Queerphobia — is to the benefit of all Muslims, since the most marginalized within Islam are the ones who tend to lead the struggle against Islamophobia. For instance, at the National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy in downtown Toronto, it was Black Muslim women who were leading thousands to chant “All Black Muslim Lives matter”; “All Queer lives matter”; “No Muslim ban on stolen land”; and “Justice for all.” Given the contemporary prominence of both anti-Blackness and Islamophobia, Black Muslims are resisting colonialisms that seek to dissociate and erase their identities in a story of constant movement. They are grounding their own counter-narratives and demanding justice for identities that transcend reductive imaginations. If nonBlack Muslims wish to uphold ‘one Ummah’ and be on the right side of history, they must give Black Muslims the space to make that history. Ibnul Chowdhury is a second-year student at Trinity College studying Economics and Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. His column appears tri-weekly.

8 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT

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Heritage under construction What it’s like to enter into a head-to-head development battle with U of T James Chapman Varsity Contributor

Ten Editions, a second-hand bookstore at the corner of Sussex Avenue and Spadina Avenue, is constantly bustling with customers browsing for books, textiles, maps, and sheet music. The bookstore represents an important cornerstone for the Harbord Village neighbourhood and a refuge for Toronto book lovers. One cannot help but notice, however, the development application plastered to their front door. Ten Editions, which first opened as a grocer in 1885 and spent a brief period as a laundromat in the 1960s, is now being threatened by the university’s desire to acquire more land. A development application filed by the university last July seeks to build a 23-storey student residence on the site, replacing the bookstore and its neighbouring six dwellings with a building housing 549 beds, an indoor amenities room, a cafeteria, and an office space. In order to maintain a strong relationship with the community and preserve the heritage of local sites, U of T should be extending a hand to the neighbourhoods directly affected by its development projects. A brief examination of what is happening with the Ten Editions bookstore and development projects in the past reveals that this is not happening at present. The plan to replace the Ten Editions bookstore with a building that would be inconsis-

There is obvious irony in a university seeking to eradicate a bookstore. SOFIA LUDWIG/THE VARSITY tent with the architecture of the surrounding neighbourhood has been met with fierce opposition from area residents. This particular conflict has raised questions regarding the university’s commitment to building partnerships with surrounding communities and promoting livable cities. Residents shared some of these concerns at the Toronto-East York Community Council Meeting last Wednesday. Norman Tract,

a resident and former researcher in the university’s Department of Surgery, noted the bookstore’s significance in preserving the neighbourhood’s history and providing residents with a familiar landmark. Robert Barnett, who has lived in the area for 44 years, argued that the university’s consultation process was shameful and that dealing with the university was “like talking to a wall.” While the Community Council ultimately approved the designation of the site as part of the city’s heritage register — preserving physical elements like the building’s Victorian-style façade, door frames, and brick cladding — there is no guarantee that this designation will preserve the current use of the site as a bookstore. Overtaking Ten Editions is consistent with the university’s ongoing efforts to expand into neighbouring communities over the past 20 years. Since 1997, UTSG has grown by 290,000 square meters, increasing the university’s property area by 28 per cent. Holding nine ongoing development applications with the city, the university has placed increasing pressures on surrounding neighbourhoods in an attempt to meet the demand for office space and housing that is guaranteed to all first year students. The redevelopment of 698 Spadina Avenue is not the first time residents living in the communities surrounding the university have gone to battle with the U of T administration. In 2011, when the university proposed the development of a 42-storey student residence on College Street between Huron Street and Spadina Avenue, the Harbord Village Residents’ Association entered into discussions with the university and successfully reduced the number of floors to 24. However, with continuing opposition by the neighbourhood towards the project as a whole, the university slowly withdrew from the conversation, leading residents to believe that they had been excluded from negotiations. In an effort to improve the university’s reputation as a planning partner, the university established the position of the Presidential Advisor on Urban Engagement, which seeks to develop and strengthen the working

relationship between all parties involved. The University Secondary Plan, established in 2011, also seeks to ensure that all future development within the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood retains the area’s unique characteristics through the preservation of the neighbourhood’s mixed residential and commercial uses. Although these responses seem encouraging on the surface, the fact that such significant disputes over university projects continue is cause for concern. With the increasing hostility between residents and the university’s administration over the development of 698 Spadina Avenue and their apparent lack of meaningful consultation with area residents, the university’s commitment to neighbourhood partnerships and heritage conservation is debatable. Consequently, students should be concerned about what other aspects of administrative policies are simply boilerplate, and if student participation in these projects is becoming a form of tokenism, the way community consultations seem to be. There is obvious irony in a university eradicating a bookstore. Yet this irony is compounded considering that the lessons taught in social science classrooms about unity in urban development often contradict the actions of the administration. It is time the university practiced what it preaches. U of T must balance its spatial needs with those of the surrounding communities to ensure they do not become an adversary of the local residents. Furthermore, as a space for the transmission of knowledge and culture, it is the job of the university to engage surrounding residents in meaningful consultation, promote heritage conservation, and improve urban life. Yet if the university wants to assist in improving urban livability, it has to ensure its sprawl is not impeding these attempts. Reviewing ongoing development projects to ensure they are in compliance with these goals would be a first step. James Chapman is a second-year student at Innis College studying Political Science and Urban Studies.

MARCH 6, 2017 • 9

var.st/comment

The merits of campus involvement Why engagement in extracurriculars is integral to a positive university experience

Public Editor

Sophie Borwein Public Editor

Fair but infuriating Newspapers should publish diverse opinions

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

It is best to find extracurricular activities that you would like to dedicate yourself to, rather than ones you only want to pad your résumé.

Saambavi Mano Varsity Columnist

This time of year can be overwhelming for those of us who are unsure of what our next year at U of T will bring. The scramble to pick a POSt, figure out what courses are required for graduation, and find summer employment can be a hassle; the impending burst of applications for extracurricular opportunities and the inevitable re-papering of university walls with posters for various elections can add to the stress. However, there are benefits to extracurricular campus involvement that cannot be gained from simply going to classes, and it can be worth committing an hour or two each week to non-academic activities on campus in order to take advantage of them. Extracurricular activities on campus can help ease the transition between academic years, whether that be from high school to university or second to third year. Clubs, student organizations, and sports teams offer avenues for students to make friends with similar interests, an opportunity that may not necessarily arise in classroom environments. These common interests can help students decide what they’d like to do in the future without having to spend thousands of dollars exploring different courses. Furthermore, having a connection to the campus aside from classes can play a huge part in bringing students to the campus in the first place. It can be easy to get lost among more than 85,000 other students at U of T, and joining a club or sports team can help students get their bearings. In turn, student organizations can help provide connections to the university’s administration that can be useful for funding, advice, or other opportunities. This is not to mention that having a weekly or monthly commitment provides an incentive to spend more time on campus, particularly for commuter students. It’s also crucial to look at extracurriculars from a financial perspective. Depending on the college or faculty, students may pay almost $2,000 in additional fees for facilities, programming, and

buildings we will likely never be able to enjoy in our time at U of T. Aside from various college funding opportunities for student organizations, the UTSU also offers clubs funding for full-time undergraduate students at the St. George and Mississauga campuses. Joining or starting a club means taking advantage of that funding. There are also numerous awards and bursaries available to students who participate in campus activities through various faculties, colleges, and program coordinators, providing an opportunity to gain recognition and also be compensated for the often unpaid work they put into extracurriculars. Finally, extracurriculars are beneficial for career development. For instance, volunteering with a non-profit is not only rewarding from an ethical point of view, it can also be included on a résumé, and the work can consist of things that university students are rarely hired or paid to do, including research and community work. Furthermore, applying to journals, conferences, and competitions are a great way to gain experience not often obtained in classroom settings, including working on publications and gaining public speaking skills. It is these skills that will make résumés and applications stand out. It is true that students should be wary of piling on extracurriculars to pad applications for graduate and professional schools. Admission boards are generally aware of this tactic and they know how to differentiate a dedicated commitment to a student group from a halfhearted attempt to appear involved. For this reason, it is generally better to join a small number of groups, stay committed, and do something meaningful rather than scramble to fill up a résumé. This is a fantastic time to consider getting involved in campus life: elections for student organizations are happening all over campus, clubs are recruiting members, and it is the optimal time to start a new initiative if your interests are not being represented in the options already available. A small commitment to initiatives outside the classroom can ultimately make a huge difference in what you gain from your U of T degree. Saambavi Mano is a third-year student at Victoria College studying Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. Her column appears tri-weekly.

We read newspapers both to learn about our world,and to better understand it. A newspaper’s news section keeps us informed, but its comment section should go further — it should encourage us to think more deeply about current events, confront arguments that challenge our opinions, and defend our views against opposing positions. As concern grows about social media’s cultivation of ‘echo chambers’ that limit our exposure to diverse views, The Varsity and other newspapers can — and should — fight this tendency by embracing these varied viewpoints. Nothing generates debate like a well-argued, provocative opinion piece. When The Varsity’s comment section succeeds in articulating a range of perspectives, readers respond — by commenting under articles, posting on the newspaper’s Facebook page, and emailing the editors and me. Readers have responded to The Varsity’s commentary on the need for campus to be a space safe from bigotry by defending the prerogative of the individual to air controversial opinions. They have countered commentary defending Fidel Castro’s legacy by lambasting his tyranny. And they have debated commentary critical of the Bell Let’s Talk mental heath campaign by celebrating the initiative’s accessibility. This is a good thing — diverse societies thrive on open dialogue. It is also how the comment section of a newspaper is meant to operate: contributors to the section get to express their views, and readers get to think they are the wrong ones. As Public Editor, I don’t weigh in on the merits of an opinion piece’s argument — only on its adherence to journalistic ethics. This is true for op-eds, comment pieces written by opinion columnists, and for commentary by the paper itself in the form of unsigned editorials. This means it is up to readers — not me — to decide if the reader who wrote in response to The Varsity Editorial Board’s column “Responses to mismanagement tell the real story” is right in his assessment that the column’s take on the faltering financial transparency of campus student societies is “at best holier than thou.” But what about the reader’s suggestion that the piece is “borderline slanderous given the actualities of the cases [of financial mismanagement] referenced therein”? Readers often accuse journalists of defamation — slander if spoken and libel if written. Defamation can include any statement that harms a person’s reputation in the eyes of others. But Canadian law gives journalists wide protection against defamation — through the defense of “fair comment.” In 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that defamatory comments are fair comment so long as they are based in true facts and — given these facts — could be honestly expressed by an individual other than the journalist who conveyed the opinion. As Public Editor, when I get complaints about opinion pieces written by The Varsity, I think back to fair comment. Are the facts on which the opinion piece is based true? Could someone else realistically express the same opinion, given these facts? For me, The Varsity Editorial Board’s column is fair comment. It bases its argument on evidence — of poor financial management by the University College Literary and Athletic Society, the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council, and the St. Michael’s College Student Union — that has been well substantiated by campus leaders, administrators, and reporters. It uses this evidence to reasonably raise concerns about “the wavering accountability and transparency of elected student societies on campus.” You or I may not agree with this conclusion, but we reasonably could and that is what matters. None of this is to say you have to like the Editorial Board’s opinion. The reader who wrote in to me is probably right in his observation that the view expressed by the editorial “doesn’t bode well for future relations between campus media and student leaders.” Turns out, fair comment isn’t always popular comment. But that’s kind of the point. Fostering a vibrant and open Canadian society — something we should all want — means engaging with viewpoints that challenge, contradict, and even infuriate us. So, if you want to challenge one of The Varsity’s op-eds, columns, or editorials — please do. Send a letter to the editor at comment@thevarsity.ca. We hope to hear from you.

UTSU election campaign period begins

Read profiles of each person running for UTSU executive positions at var.st/elections

Staﬀ contracts, lawsuit to be campaign issues Tom Yun News Editor The campaign period for the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) elections is underway, with at least four slates and 2 independent candidates vying for votes. The UTSU has scheduled an executive forum for March 8. Voting will run from March 14–16 and will be available online at utsu.simplyvoting.com. The votes will be conducted using a ranked balloting system. The election was originally to be held from March 28–30, but after the University of Mississauga Students’ Union scheduled its election earlier than anticipated, the UTSU Board of Directors voted to move up the dates. Members will vote for seven executives and nine directors representing the university’s colleges, 10 directors representing

professional faculties, and six directors representing academic programs in the Faculty of Arts & Science. The respective student societies for the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, New College, Innis College, and Woodsworth College will be holding internal elections for their respective UTSU directors. The UTSU is also holding two levy referendums. The University of Toronto Aerospace Team is seeking a levy of $2.77 per semester from Fall 2017 to Winter 2019 in order to fund a microbiology research satellite. In addition, the UTSU is seeking a $0.50 levy from Fall 2017 to Spring 2022 for accessibility resources, such as American Sign Language interpreters, personal support workers for events, and captioning services for events.

Notable Issues Currently, the UTSU employs eight full-time staﬀ who are unionized members of CUPE 1281. The union’s contract with CUPE 1281 expires in January 2018 and the incoming executive will engage in collective bargaining negotiations. This year, the union is spending $982,300 on staﬀ salaries, over 40 per cent of the union’s total expenses. In October, the Black Liberation Collective (BLC) staged a protest at the UTSU offices, claiming that the union was complicit in antiBlack racism. The BLC’s demands included increasing clubs funding towards Black student groups, hosting a town-hall on anti-Black racism, and dropping the lawsuit against former Executive Director Sandy Hudson. The union launched a legal dispute against Hudson, alleging that she was improperly issued $247,726.40 in severance payments. Hudson

subsequently countersued for $300,000, alleging hostilities from the incoming UTSU executive at that time. Members of this year’s executive have publicly endorsed defederating from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) this year. In addition, the You Decide campaign, which was launched last September, is seeking signatures for a petition to launch a referendum on defederation. The Varsity asked 25 candidates for the seven contested executive positions on the UTSU for their positions on these issues and their other platform points. At least one independent candidate is running for the position of president, according to the Elections and Referenda Cowmmittee (ERC) of the UTSU. Although The Varsity attempted to reach out to all of the candidates, individuals not listed here may also be running. A full list of candidates will be made available by the ERC on the morning of March 6.

Presidential candidates

Mathias Memmel Demand Better

Mathias Memmel is currently the VP Internal and Services and is in his fifth year. He has a degree in Music from U of T and is currently pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Political Science. In his current role, Memmel cites the changes in the health and dental plan and the resource bank, which allows for clubs to borrow equipment from the UTSU, as some of his achievements. He was also involved in the overhaul of the clubs funding system, which includes a minimum funding guarantee for Level

Micah Ryu is a fourth-year student from Innis College who is currently pursuing a double major in Economics and Linguistics with a minor in Political Science. He has served as an Academic Coordinator for the Korean Students’ Association and has been on the Ontario NDP Provincial Council. Ryu believes that there are systemic injustices in student governance and that the remedy is to decentralize the UTSU by reducing the power of the executives and staﬀ. He also wants to localize costs by having clubs run events in place of the UTSU and compensating them for it.

John Sweeney Whomst’d’ve

He’s proud that his slate has come together without any existing networks or “institutional memory.” Ryu wants to create a method through which students can directly influence the UTSU’s advocacy and political stances. Another goal is to provide professional faculty student governments the option to have a fee diversion agreement, like the existing one between the Engineering Society and the UTSU that is intended to prevent students from paying twice for the same or similar services.

John Sweeney is a fifth-year Chemical Engineering student. He ran the Engineering Society’s pub Suds from 2015–2016 and was Editor-in-Chief of the Toike Oike newspaper from 2013–2014. Sweeney was also a representative on the Engineering Society’s Board of Directors. Sweeney describes his Whomst’d’ve slate name as “more just making fun of the ridiculousness of adding more and more contractions on.” Sweeney is generally positive about the progress the UTSU has been making and wants to continue down that path. He is supportive of the fee diversion agreement between the Engineering Society and the UTSU, which calls

Andre Fast is a fourth-year student at Innis College double majoring in Ethics, Society, and Law and Environmental Studies. He has joined and started several campaigns on campus including Students Against Unpaid Internship Scams, the Free Tuition Coalition, and the U of T chapter of Fight for Fifteen and Fairness. Fast believes the UTSU should take an active role in aﬀordability, equity, and justice and representing marginalized members of the community. He also wants to build a community by supporting clubs and commuter

Three clubs and the review of campus police involvement. Memmel believes that while the UTSU is “fundamentally broken,” it can be saved through a “complete restructuring.” He intends to give more agency to UTSU board members and to rein in spending on staﬀ costs. He says that the UTSU has been operating under the assumption of a single campus community. He thinks that this perspective ignores the diverse communities that make up the university, hinders the UTSU’s advocacy eﬀorts, encour-

“Building this campaign, we’ve been having to talk to a lot of people, trying to recruit them as candidates, and the sentiment that I had as an informed observer of student politics here at U of T… was echoed by a lot of students that don’t pay a lot of attention to student politics. It seems that everyone knows that the system is broken and we want to provide... an alternative option to try to fix it,” he said. — With files from Alex McKeen and Kaitlyn Simpson

for 50 per cent of fees collected by the UTSU from Engineering students to be remitted back to the Engineering Society. Sweeney wants to go forward with the defederation of Engineering students from the UTSU. Given the range of services provided by the Engineering Society, Sweeney believes that the current fee diversion still allows for some redundancies in student services. He is confident that he can convince nonEngineering students to support his push for defederation with the promise of their own colleges’ or faculties’ future defederation “on a case by case basis.”

students and making U of T more inclusive for everyone. He applauded last summer’s work with Unite Here, saying the UTSU should have more solidarity with other unions on campus. He also wants to take a frugal approach towards the lawsuit agaisnt former executive director Sandra Hudson and prioritize supporting clubs instead. Regarding the CFS, he said he would support whatever the majority of students want. His slate has yet to announce a decision regarding the UTSU contract with CUPE 1281, which will be up for renewal next January.

ages bloated costs, and fosters a culture of self-servitude. “The UTSU is a place so dysfunctional that we really can’t do anything that is actually meaningful for students because it is so chronically plagued with dysfunction. It’s the type of thing where I think if the oﬃce were to burst into flames it would burn for days because I don’t think anyone would bother putting it out. That being said, I do think the UTSU is worth saving,” he said. — With files from Rachel Chen and Tom Yun

Micah Ryu Reboot

“There is quite a bit of support [for defederation] already from the Engineering students, so there we have it, and then it just has to get sold to the Arts & Science and the faculties... For example, some of them, we can show them, ‘Hey, look, we have our own student union that is much more specialized in its purposes, so if you want to, at some point in the future, have that happen with yours, this is a bit of a stepping stone towards making that a reality’,” he said. – With files from Reut Cohen and Jack O. Denton

“I’m disappointed to see that [the UTSU] become depoliticized this year,” said Fast. “I think UTSU does have a really big role to play on issues of social and environmental justice, on aﬀordability issues, and I think… what our team is about is we want to represent students that are most marginalized on campus… We feel that if we’re working for them, if we’re working to reduce the barriers that they face day-to-day, then we’re lifting everyone else up as well.” — With files from Tom Yun

Andre Fast

We the Students

Vice-presidential candidates VP Internal and Services Experience

Union finances

Student Commons

VP University Aﬀairs

Daman Singh Demand Better

Jessica Leung Reboot

Jackie Zhao We the Students

Third -year University College student Vice-President of UC Lit and former UTSU board member

Fourth-year Engineering Science student Former Vice-President Finance for the Chinese Engineering Students’ Association

Fourth-year Commerce student at UTM Vice-President Internal and Services of the UTMSU

Reduce the number of staﬀ positions from eight to five

Cut staﬀ salaries and phase out positions, and cut spending on political events

Consult members, especially minority and racialized members, increase clubs funding, and expand bursaries

Rent out space in the Student Commons to keep the building running

Find a solution to the deficit; notes that her slate members are outsiders who lack information

Concerned about the financial case and wants autonomy over the project

Josie Wu Demand Better

Micaël Thompson Reboot

Carina Zhang We the Students

Saarthak Saxena Whomst’d’ve

Experience

Third-year Innis College student Mathematical and Physical Sciences Director on the UTSU

Fourth-year Woodsworth College student Founder of the House Jam Collective

Fourth-year New College student Former NCSC council member

Third-year Mechanical Engineering student External Relations Oﬃcer at EngSoc

Lobbying eﬀorts

A wider array of financial resources for international students and seminars for tax advice

More mental health services oﬀered on campus

Focus on eliminating exam deferral fee and fight for OHIP for international students

Look into policies regarding U of T administration oversight into student societies

VP External Experience

CFS

Advocacy campaigns

Fasiha Khadĳa Mukhtar Demand Better

Nadine Aboud Reboot

Emmanuela Alimlim We the Students

Fourth-year UC student Former President of the Pakistan Students Federation

Third-year New College student Former Vice-President of the Egyptian Students Association

Third-year Woodsworth College student

Fourth-year St. Michael’s College student Worked for an MPP over the summer

Feels strongly about defederation and believes it is a redundant institution

Does not believe the CFS represents the student body

Believes the decision to defederate should be up to the student body

Believes the UTSU should defederate but supports some of the organization’s activist work

Lobby for a cap on rising tuition fees

Work with other student unions

Elimination of tuition fees

More discounts on TTC fares for postsecondary students

Abdul-Fatah Dau Reboot

Julian Oliveira We the Students

Third-year Victoria College student Co-President of VUSAC

Fourth-year Woodsworth College student Involved with the African Students Association

Fifth-year student at St. Michael’s College Events Director for LGBTOUT and previously worked with the U of T Sexual & Gender Diversity Oﬃce

Clubs funding

Proposes reforming clubs recognition and funding process and expanding minimum funding guarantee to all Level Two clubs

Wants to eliminate delays in clubs funding and have funding confirmed earlier in the year

Wants to meet with the clubs committee more frequently and change the application deadline policy to speed up funding

Frosh week

Plans to meet with college and faculty orientation teams to set up a schedule

Wants to make sure incoming students can learn how the university works

Supports getting a major artist to perform, similar to York and Ryerson

VP Campus Life Experience

VP Equity Experience

Advocacy campaigns

BLC’s demands

VP Professional Faculties Experience

Professional faculties engagement

Anne Boucher Independent

Stuart Norton Demand Better

Chimwemwe Alao Demand Better

Keelie-Shay Eaid Reboot

Michelle Mabira We the Students

Fourth-year University College student Equity and Outreach Commissioner at UC Lit and member of the UTSU board

Third-year New College student Was involved in charity clubs and mental health awareness campaigns in high school

Third-year New College student President of the African Students Association

Focus on educating students regarding issues aﬀecting marginalized students

Lead mental health initiatives

Campaign for a policy on metal health

Continue the lawsuit, but wants to work on anti-Blackness issues stemming from it

Admits to not knowing enough details about the lawsuit but believes that “money was stolen”

Systemic racism is a big issue on campus but admits to not having a lot of knowledge about the lawsuit

Shivani Nathoo Demand Better

Jenny Yue Reboot

Natalie Biancolin We the Students

Veronika Potylitsina Whomst’d’ve

Third-year Engineering Science student Currently the Mental Wellness Director for the Engineering Society

Fourth-year Engineering Science student on a PEY Former Blue Crew volunteer and holder of multiple executive positions on several engineering clubs

Fourth-year student in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education Social Commissioner at KPEUA

Third-year Architecture and Visual Studies and History student Treasurer of the AVSSU and Co-Editor-inChief of Her Campus

Consult with student societies representing professional faculties

More power for local student governments

Wants to see the UTSU have two-way communication with professional faculties

Believes the UTSU should improve representation of smaller professional faculties

Arts&Culture

March 6, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

The particular is the personal Three contributors reflect on the pop culture moments that make feel best represented

I D E S

B-Sides is a weekly feature where we pose a question about the arts to generate discussion about the role of culture in our everyday lives. This week’s question, in honour of American national treasure Melissa McCarthy, is: “Which Saturday Night Live character or celebrity impression is your favourite, and why?”

IRIS DENG/THE VARSITY

The first time I heard “T5” by the rap group Swet Shop Boys, comprised of rappers Heems and Riz MC and producer Redinho, I listened to it three times. The song opens with Heems rapping, ‘Ins hallah, Mashallah / Hopefully no martial law’ and describes racial profiling at an airport — an experience my family and I are familiar with but one I’ve certainly never heard depicted in a rap song. The rest of their debut album, Cashmere, is just as surprising, focusing on the perhaps unlikely intersection of pop culture and Eastern religion. It’s a celebration of the South Asian diaspora and a challenge directed at the political status quo. Right now, an album like this feels essential for people like me — a child of Muslim, Pakistani immigrant parents — to support our identity in a world that seems ready to typecast us as terrorist threats. Cashmere tackles big questions and explores controversial topics — racism, immigration, refugees, drone strikes, and ISIS, among others — in often clever and witty ways. Yet, the album feels personal too. Both rappers explore their relationships to their cultural identities and address the difficulties of being an immigrant in the Western world. The experiences that Riz and Heems rap about are experiences that are so recognizable to me. There’s a verse in “Half Mogul, Half Mowgli” where Riz raps in conflicting voices — of people that think his work is important and inspirational and others who criticize him for being either too Muslim or not Muslim enough. I find myself grinning whenever that verse plays, as I’m well accustomed to the feeling of being too Eastern for the West and too Western for the East. The outro of “Phone Tap” is of Riz’s parents talking to him. His mum scolds him for swearing and his dad tells him to be a good man and not to forget to pray. These comments are ones I’ve heard hundreds of times from my own parents, and the fact that they’re in Urdu creates an immediate kinship. More than anything else, Cashmere is comforting. It’s a celebration of the immigrant South Asian identity that is often overlooked or stereotyped in the media and, further, a recognition of the complexity of that identity. The album grants me a sense of relief and the realization that I’m not alone. It gives voice to the experience — my experience — of being an amalgamation of different cultures, of East and West.

When I first started watching Santa Clarita Diet, a recent release on Netflix, I didn’t expect to see my own issues and insecurities reflected in Drew Barrymore’s character Sheila. Yes, I currently find myself best represented in a horror-comedy television series about an average heterosexual nuclear family whose lives change drastically when the parents become murderers in order to feed the wife, who has, for reasons unknown, become a zombie. Santa Clarita Diet begins with the main characters, husband Joel and wife Sheila, discussing their mundane lives as real estate agents in a Los Angeles suburb. My friend and I burst out in laughter when Sheila took note of the boldness of Jennifer Lawrence’s haircut. “I wish I was bold. Am I bold? No, I’m not. I’d like to be 20 per cent bolder. No, more, 80 per cent. No, that’s too much,” Sheila says in the episode. My friend immediately turned towards me at the time and said, “That’s you.” At first I thought about arguing, but I then realized that it actually was me. Though my circumstances aren’t the same as Sheila’s, I constantly wrestle with the idea of being mediocre. Due to my sheltered upbringing, I felt anxious about my life and my lack of confidence. I wanted to be a writer, and how could I be a writer if I didn’t do bizarre things all the time? I wanted to be bolder and more reckless, though my inner monologue consisted of an argument around whether I should be just a little more bold and reckless or a lot more bold and reckless. As a result, I’ve made a number of regrettable decisions that were perhaps too bold, such as spending $150 on a lap dance or drinking a full flask of straight gin at a formal event. These decisions I made were all caused by my own anxieties about mediocrity and lack of confidence, without considering the consequences. There’s an especially memorable scene in Santa Clarita Diet where Sheila talks about how good she feels being a zombie, to which her husband reminds her that she eats human beings. Sheila then replies, “I know, it’s just that I’m so much more confident.” Though my life is extremely different from Sheila’s, I identity with her anxiety and her willingness to sacrifice anything in order to boost her confidence. Though Santa Clarita Diet might not be the first show you think of when it comes to portrayals of mental health in pop culture, I can certainly identify my own experiences within it.

— Nermeen Islam

— Avneet Sharma

It’s rare that I watch a movie or TV show that I can personally relate to. But when I watched the “Parents” episode of Aziz Ansari’s show Master of None, I was left stunned by how much I related to the characters and their stories. The episode perfectly captures what it means to be both a millennial and the child of immigrants, focusing on the complexities and nuances of the intergenerational relationship between parents and their children. Ansari himself plays Dev, and one moment that really resonated with me was when Dev’s dad, Ramesh, who is played by Ansari’s real life father Shoukath Ansari, complains to Dev about a problem with his iPad. Dev promptly shuts down his dad’s request to help him fix it, saying, “I’m not your personal computer guy.” The scene juxtaposes this with flashbacks of Ramesh’s life: growing up struggling in India, moving to the US to work as a doctor, and facing casual racism in his workplace. It hit me, just as it did Dev, that as children of immigrant parents, many of us take for granted the sacrifices our parents made in order to start new lives in places where they had no roots. Growing up, I never took the time to ask my parents about their own cultural experiences — I was instead too focused on trying to fit in with my surroundings. In another scene that resonated with me, Dev and his friend Brian compare stories of how their fathers have never used the word “proud.” They always expect and want more out of them. This seems to be a recurring theme between immigrant parents and their children: the constant feeling that our parents aren’t proud of our achievements because they don’t always explicitly voice their feelings. I’ve faced the same frustration with my own parents as I struggled to reach the expectations I felt they had placed upon me. As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that for most children of immigrants, the need to prove that our parents made the right decision in making sacrifices to provide us with better opportunities comes from within. When I finished the episode, I was left with a bittersweet feeling. I felt a desire to learn more about my parents’ backgrounds and connect with them on a deeper level. It also demonstrated to me how important it is for media to portray diverse stories of immigrants and the complexities of their lives, rather than pushing them into easily identifiable stereotypes. — Rishika Wadehra

Gilda Radner, one of the founding cast members of Lorne Michaels’ original squad, is the national treasure of my heart, who entered my life when I began watching the earlier seasons of Saturday Night Live. My personal favourite of her characters would have to be Roseanne Roseannadanna, an eclectic reporter on consumer affairs who appeared often on Weekend Update. Roseanne would start off on one topic and end up somewhere completely different — an accurate portrayal of how my own brain operates. — Sila Elgin

No one does bewilderment quite like Steve Harvey. Harvey was messing up announcing winners before it was cool — take that, Warren Beatty. If you’ve ever seen a particularly bewildering family featured on Family Feud, you know Harvey’s look of complete astonishment well, and whenever I watch Kenan Thompson ramble around the stage in an enormous suit, a bald cap, and a moustache, I just can’t help myself from laughing. — Reut Cohen

Weekend Update’s guest Stefon (Bill Hader) became my favourite SNL character the first time I saw the playful, and often flirtatious, banter between him and anchor Seth Meyers. In his final appearance, Stefon almost gets married to Anderson Cooper before Meyers proclaims his love for him, an unforgettable bit channeling the cheesiest kind of romantic comedy. Weekend Update has never been the same. — Rishika Wadehra

MARCH 6, 2017 • 13

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The case for and against Riverdale Two writers face oﬀ on whether the CW’s latest teen drama is bingeable or unwatchable Riverdale, a new teen drama on The CW network, launched on Netflix Canada in January. The show is a loose adaptation of the Archie Comics and in a short time has managed to incite divisive reactions in its audience. Here, two writers debate whether the show is worthy of your time or if it should be relegated to the bottom of your queue. HATE: A small town. A dark secret. Lovable childhood favourites turned dramatic teen heroes. These time tested tropes must make for great TV, right? One would think so. One would be wrong. Riverdale burst onto our screens with much aplomb, boasting of its predecessors in the beloved Archie Comics and proudly flaunting the badge of ‘Netflix Original.’ The show’s main promotional image displayed at the top of our Netflix feeds featured the age-old love triangle of Archie, Betty, and Veronica in the foreground, staring the viewer down, while fan favourite Jughead stood defiantly in the background. It’s an image as dramatic as it is sexy, and it is all wrong. Many fans took to the Internet to voice their complaints, saying that the series’ attempt to strike a more mature tone directly contradicted the playful and innocent feel of the original comics. This is an understandable complaint, considering the immense backlash that’s been faced by other recent cinematic ventures that overemphasized a dark, serious, and mature vibe not present in their original properties — I’m looking at you, Batman v. Superman.

A common response to this from supporters of the show was that Riverdale simply took inspiration from the comics, utilizing the universe while not directly adapting its characters and storylines. This might have been a fair defence, if not for the fact that Riverdale simply went too far by turning a number of characters on their heads. Ms. Grundy, the elderly, discreetly feminist teacher of the comics, is now not only significantly younger but young enough to have had a summer fling with Archie — her student. Chuck, a truly decent guy in the comics, has become a misogynistic, bullying jock. While Betty and Veronica are symbols of female empowerment and unity that I am absolutely living for, they’ve all but forgotten their iconic rivalry. Any animosity between the two is over and forgotten by the opening of the third episode. While it’s nice to see the two teaming up as besties, the tension between them made for great reading in the comics, which were dramatic in their own way. And also, when did Mrs. Cooper become Betty’s own personal totalitarian dictator? I must have missed that arc. Mildly cringeworthy dialogue, over-thetop storylines, and everybody being ridiculously attractive detract from this already shambolic show. There is only some good in Riverdale: while the murder mystery plot is a far cry from the comics’ wholesome humour, it does keep it interesting, at times. Yet, with a near total disregard of its source material, Riverdale stands as a Netflix Original unworthy of the classic midterm season binge. — Sarim Irfan

LOVE: Riverdale has quickly managed to ensnare many of us in its bingewatching net. A splendid combination of dark thriller and soapy teen drama, the show centres on the small picturesque town of Riverdale. Once idyllic, the town is now haunted by the ongoing investigation of the murder of high school football star, Jason Blossom. Everyone is guilty until proven innocent — the police investigate each family, and the students investigate each other. The mounting tension in this small town is tied up not only in the homicide investigation but also in important, divisive issues, such as racism, feminism, homophobia, and homelessness. So far, the young and mostly unknown cast — besides Cole Sprouse from the beloved show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody — has proven to be well prepared to explore these issues. Riverdale’s cast contains many strongly written female characters that know how to stand up for themselves and their values. Though the series may be based on Archie Comics, here it’s Betty and Veronica leading the show. Accompanied by supportive friends like Archie, Jughead, and Kevin, Betty and Veronica do their best to topple the patriarchy. This does not occur without hurdles — in the third episode, Veronica goes on a date with Chuck, a football player and womanizer. The next day, she finds herself the victim of a slut shaming cyberbullying campaign. Veronica confronts Chuck in the football team’s locker room but doesn’t get the apologetic response she wants. She also discovers that the football players keep a list of their conquests, leading her to attempt to exact revenge on them with the help of her accomplice, Betty. This episode showcases female empowerment, as the girls of the high school confront the issue of slut shaming together.

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The show also offers up other complex female characters through the portrayal of the local band Josie and the Pussycats. When Archie seeks their help with songwriting, the three black feminist band members make his privileged position clear to him. While the girls struggle to be listened to and taken seriously, Archie, as a white male, does not face the same struggles. While these two plotlines may be seen as oversimplifying the complexity of these issues, the show should be credited with making these societal issues approachable. Riverdale makes use of dark and creative visuals that meld smoothly with the plot. Its gloomy blue tones and the large amount of action taking place at night contribute to the small town’s overall spookiness. Pop’s Diner, a meeting place for the teens, contrasts this with a bright neon landscape. These stimulating aesthetics lend the show an artistic character that I adore and that figures heavily into my bingewatching addiction. I caught up on Riverdale during reading week and fell in love with it in the first two minutes. The show’s opening moments are enthralling, easily capturing the duality of Riverdale: cutesy high school plotlines combined with a dark thriller. Ultimately, I love the show for its modern approach to high school and teenage problems, its addictive storylines, and Jughead. — Charlene Hanania

For many South Koreans, beauty standards represent a cultural struggle A student shares her diﬃculties with fitting in to communities that are exacting in aesthetics Carol Eugene Park Varsity Contributor Though standards of beauty may vary from location to location, they play an influential role in practically every society and culture. Celebrities, too, help to normalize certain societal beauty trends through advertisements and media. In South Korea, these influencers are Korean pop idols, who are responsible for promoting the majority, if not the entirety, of South Korea’s beauty trends, standards, and expectations. While many of these trends have been influenced by South Korea’s own history of idealistic aesthetic standards, the influence of Western beauty ideals cannot be ignored, and they serve as a glaring reminder of the immense power the West has in other parts of the world. The pull to Western beauty Many South Koreans envy and idolize ‘Western’ facial features, whether they are conscious of it or not. Perhaps it is because of a Westerndominated media or the pedestal South Korean society places the United States upon. Whatever the reason, contemporary South Korean society has deeply internalized its bias towards Western beauty, so that Koreans who do not possess ‘Western’ features often face prejudice in the workplace and in daily life. While tanning is a common practice amongst people in the West, using ‘whitening’ products are a common practice in South Korea, as it is for African-Americans and other people of co-

lour. The importance of having a youthful, pale, and dewy complexion is reflected in South Korea’s cosmetic industry, which is ranked the tenth largest internationally. Skincare products trump makeup products in South Korea, which emphasizes the societal value of healthy, glowing skin. Many Koreans, men and women alike, follow a long and tedious but rewarding skincare routine that may consist of up to 10 steps. Facial features that South Koreans may not inherit naturally are composed artificially with plastic surgery. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, South Korea has the highest rates of plastic surgery procedures per capita. The most common procedure is ‘blepharoplasty’, also known as double eyelid surgery, with ‘rhinoplasty’, or nose job, following close behind. The aim of a double eyelid surgery is for the patient to obtain a defined crease on their eyelids, since many South Koreans have monolids. The double eyelid surgery phenomenon is alarming to many people in Western cultures. It is a practice that non-Koreans find difficult to understand, and many are too eager to jump to conclusions. The popular narrative of the double eyelid surgery centres on Dr. D. Ralph Millard, an American plastic surgeon who worked in South Korea in the 1950s. Allegedly, Millard was the one to create the surgical procedure, although past reporting from the Los Angeles Times sug-

gests that the double eyelid surgery was not invented but merely popularized by Millard. Whether the origins of the double eyelid surgery stem from an American doctor or Japanese and Korean cultures, the history of the procedure is so intrinsically connected to South Korean culture that it would be an oversimplification to assume that the double eyelid surgery was created solely for the achievement of ‘Western’ facial features. Making this assumption only promotes a Eurocentric worldview and prejudice against the ‘other’ — in this case, non-Westerners. South Korean beauty standards on campus The University of Toronto has a large South Korean community, and while some are second-generation Koreans, many are first generation or international students. As a result, many extracurricular clubs are created for these students, who end up forming tight-knit communities. Many second-generation Koreans identify as KoreanCanadian or Korean-American because of a degree of cultural disconnect from South Korea, but they still feel the effects of South Korean beauty standards. Fourth-year U of T student Michelle Yang spoke about the harm done by South Korean beauty ideals. “Everyone tries to look beautiful and be the best version of themselves — which isn’t bad, but they seem to have an ideal beauty standard that they all try to live up to and hence all the plastic surgery,” Yang said.

During a desperate attempt to find a supportive Korean community at U of T, I quickly realized that I was too ‘edgy’ or too ‘curvy’ for many of my first-generation peers. Within just a few club meetings, I had been confronted with comments like ‘You look smart, not pretty’ or ‘You should lose some weight if you want to look pretty.’ I was deemed conventionally unattractive by the Korean community because my makeup was on the heavy side, I embraced my curves, and I enjoyed my tan skin. I ended up being too ‘Western’ in my fashion and beauty style, and for those reasons, I was made to feel like an outcast in the clubs that were composed predominantly of first-generation students. Un-pretty Korean My father has been influenced by these cultural beauty standards and might be considered a vain man. Growing up, my weight was always an acceptable topic of conversation. I was not overweight, but to my father, I might as well have been obese. To this day, though I’m at a healthy size 6, he continues to remark on my weight, advising me to cut out bread or go on a diet. His idea of beauty norms has been heavily influenced by South Korean ideals of what a ‘healthy woman’ looks like. I still question how I am supposed to connect with the Korean community if I’m constantly judged for my physical appearance and my failure to subscribe to a set of standards I never asked to be held to.

Science

March 6, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Worlds beyond our own

Seven Earth-sized planets that may be suitable for life have been found Tiﬀany Lieu Varsity Contributor

The saying goes that you should shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars. This aphorism conceptualizes a dreamy metaphor, but a new discovery suggests that the idea of something attainable beyond our galaxy isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. In late February, NASA announced the astounding discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star in the constellation of Aquarius, named TRAPPIST-1. The star is comparable in size to Jupiter and is about 2,000 times less bright than our Sun. With only a small amount of emitted rays, TRAPPIST-1 is frigid, and creates a temperate climate among all seven planets. These exoplanets may be ideal entities in the search for life beyond Earth due to their proximities and the few — but striking — conditions that make them similar to our planet. At about 40 light years away, the exoplanets most notably resemble Earth in terms of size. Likewise, the temperatures of these seven planets are warm enough to sustain life and liquid water sources, as a result of the consistently temperate climate from TRAPPIST-1’s light emissions. Differences, however, are also easy to identify. For instance, the

ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

TRAPPIST-1 solar system is far more compact than our solar system. This forces its planets to complete a full orbit in just 36 hours to 20 days, relative to the 365 days it takes for Earth to complete a full orbit around the sun. Dan Tamayo, researcher at U of T’s Centre for Planetary Sci-

ences and post-doctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, suggests that even though the TRAPPIST-1 system is extraordinarily compact, there is a possibility that these exoplanets are tidally locked, like the moon is around Earth, which can result in unsus-

tainable temperatures on certain faces of the planets. “[TRAPPIST-1] is puny, barely hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion,” says Tamayo. “The planets are packed extremely close to the star. The innermost one is only about four times farther from the star than our moon is from us, and

the outermost one orbits about 10 times closer than Mercury does around our sun.” Tamayo continues, “It’s true that these planets could be tidally locked... always keeping the same face pointed toward the star. That would mean hot temperatures on the star-facing side, and frigid ones on the other side, unless you had a thick atmosphere to move warm air around. That certainly poses challenges for life, but everything’s possible.” Still, the revelation of these seven planets has shocked astronomers and brings excitement to those who marvel at the cold depths of space. Not only is this the first time that such a large group of Earth-sized, potentially habitable planets have been found to orbit the same star system, but this is also a modern instance of humans expanding their conception of the planets that exist in the universe. “This is a huge deal, way bigger than previous headlines for the most Earth-like planet found in the habitable zone to date,” says Tamayo. “We expect [that] there are billions of [exoplanets] in our galaxy, but planets this small are exceedingly hard to detect... Of the small planets we do discover, the vast majority are very close to their host star... which means they are typically at scalding hot temperatures where it is difficult to imagine life evolving.” Exoplanets, page 15

Hyperloop-ing across Canada TransPod could mean a 30 minute commute from Toronto to Montréal Govind Mohan Varsity Contributor

TransPod shifts the focus to the pod itself in attempt to create a self-propelling vehicle with an electrical engine that can glide through a relatively low cost track. They recently partnered with IKOS, a leading technology consultant that specializes in railway engineering and energy infrastructure, to strengthen commitments toward safety and to ensure an overall robust electrical system. The pods envisioned by TransPod would cost up to $300 million to develop, which means that they face the significant hurdle of acquiring funding. Part of this hurdle lies in convincing Canadians that this is something they need. Given that Transpod is planning to link Toronto and Montréal, between which there is already a high demand for travel, they could potentially capture a significant market of investors who may be well-served by this project. Furthermore, they recently se-

PRI SHARMA/THE VARSITY

In the last decade, Elon Musk has become a household name associated with technological progress and innovation. Having established Tesla — an automobile company that seeks to prioritize sustainability without compromising performance and aesthetics — he moved on to revolutionize the space industry, by pioneering the first rocket engine that could return to Earth’s surface on both land or on a drone in the ocean. Another of Musk’s ventures is his Hyperloop proposal, which consists of pod-like vehicles propelled through vacuum tubes using magnetic levitation. Though Musk himself has not actively pursued the actual implementation of this idea, it has sparked the interest of engineers across the world. Engineers at TransPod, a Toronto-based company, have taken

it upon themselves to realize this vision. They are aiming to build a functional Hyperloop between Montréal and Toronto after 2025. Founder and CEO Sebastian Gendron initially began development with a team from the University of Toronto, but soon formed TransPod to formalize the venture. Historically, any transport system that had been developed had to face impedance due to air resistance, friction, or a combination of the two. The Hyperloop aims to eradicate this problem. Firstly, by designing a closed system of vacuum sealed pipes, there will be no air resistance. Secondly, by using magnetic propulsion akin to the propulsion systems employed by Japan’s magnetically levitated bullet trains, frictional forces would almost be completely eliminated. As a result, the pods would theoretically only be constrained by the engine’s ability to produce thrust.

cured seed funding of $15 million from an Italian investment company, showing that they have already begun to attract attention. Transpod has greater ambitions of expanding into developing economies such as Asia, the Middle East, and beyond; Canada is just the beginning as far as they are concerned.

On paper, the Hyperloop is cutting-edge technology promising increased convenience at a lesser cost, ecological sustainability, and increased safety as a result of requiring no human intervention. Whether this can be realized remains to be seen, and Canada and the world will be watching keenly.

MARCH 6, 2017 • 15

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Beyond the flood U of T researcher uncovers new ways of measuring biodiversity loss Brechann McGoey Varsity Contributor

What happens when a forest turns into a lake? What are the impacts on species when a previously contiguous ecosystem is submerged and only islands remain? New research from U of T explores new ways to measure biodiversity loss by studying the function of organisms in ecosystems. This new definition goes beyond just counting the number of species remaining. From climate change to invasive species, exploitation to pollution, humans are putting massive pressure on ecosystems. Deforestation, urban sprawl, and the conversion of more and more land for agriculture have caused habitat losses for many species. At the same time, the remaining habitat is fractured as large ecosystems are reduced to discrete patches. Sometimes, a single construction project can dramatically and rapidly fragment an ecosystem. The Xin’an dam in China’s Zhejiang province was part of a hydroelectric project built in 1959. At the time that the dam was built, population growth was rampant and concerns for environmental impacts were low. A forested valley was flooded, forming a 573 square kilometre lake known as the Thousand Island Lake. Most of the valley was submerged, and more than 1,000 islands were created. It was not until 50 years later that researchers began to examine the ecological impacts of this huge anthropogenic change.

Dr. Marc Cadotte, an Associate Professor at UTSC, first became interested in studying the Thousand Island Lake while on sabbatical in China. Cadotte, post-doctoral fellow Dr. Xingfeng Si, and collaborator Dr. Ping Ding sought to examine how the shift from contiguous forest to fragmented islands affected biodiversity. Led by Si, the researchers compared bird species found on islands with those found in adjacent mainland sites to determine the dam’s impact on community composition. When we think of biodiversity, we often just think about the number of species. Cadotte pointed out that while this definition is common among the public and scientists alike, it is too simplistic. He stressed that “biodiversity encompasses variation at lots of different levels including genetic and functional diversity.” In addition to looking for decreases in the number of bird species on islands, Dr. Si and his colleagues also examined functional diversity. Can we predict how many species we will find on an island? In their 1967 book The Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB), Robert MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson argued that the number of species on an island will be a function of its size and its isolation. The larger the island, the more species will be present. Additionally, islands farther from the mainland are expected to have fewer species. The theory makes no predictions about what species will immigrate to islands,

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The work of Drs. Cadotte, Si, and Ping Ding explores functional diversity. or if island communities will have similar compositions. Si and his colleagues used TIB as a starting point to compare bird communities. As expected, larger islands had a higher number of bird species. However, isolated islands had just as many species as those close to the mainland. TIB assumes that species are all equally likely to establish, but traits such as dispersal ability could be really important in determining

which species migrate to islands. It is also possible that competition would prevent similar species from coexisting on a small island. Si’s analysis revealed that, especially on smaller islands, species were more alike than would be expected by chance. When the functional similarity of species was taken into account, more isolated lakes did have lower diversity. Biodiversity had declined, not just in terms of species number,

but also in how many functional niches were being occupied. Habitat fragmentation is an increasing and serious problem as the human population grows dramatically. As highlighted by Si and Cadotte’s research, the impact of fragmentation can be complex and unexpected. Dr. Cadotte’s future research will focus on the impact that decreases in biodiversity will have on ecosystem health.

Exoplanets, from page 14

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However, it is the potential for hosting water that sets the TRAPPIST-1 system apart from previously discovered solar systems, and designates them as exceptional entities for study. TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets “are also very close to their host star, but their star is so tiny and lukewarm (as far as stars go!), that their surface temperatures are likely in the right range to host liquid water,” says Tamayo. “We’ve only really started detecting planets this small in the last few years. And that’s exciting, because it means they might have a solid surface capable of hosting life similar to us.” As for the future study of these planets, astronomers from NASA and other space research centres, such as U of T’s Centre for Planetary Sciences, will continue to investigate the attributes of these exoplanets and the implications these attributes pose for life forms. Tamayo adds, “Because the system is so close to Earth, this means we can get great information on their atmospheres. For example, it should be possible to detect

whether or not these planets have ozone in their atmospheres. That wouldn’t be a slam dunk for life, but would easily make them the prime exoplanets to study.” One of the important aspects of research will be the investigation of the gases present on these planets. “The idea is that oxygen and its products (like ozone) are extremely reactive,” says Tamayo. “If left alone in an atmosphere, they will react with rocks and other material and disappear as rust. The reason we have oxygen in our atmosphere is because it’s being constantly replenished by life.” But the search for potential life doesn’t stop here. This recordbreaking discovery is putting forth an array of new research topics. “The big question is whether there are non-biological ways to make oxygen,” Tamayo explains. “The answer is yes, but you can bet finding ozone on TRAPPIST-1 planets would reinvigorate that line of research and spur creative ideas for ways of differentiating between biological and non-biological origins.”

16 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Perilous snowfalls A heavier snowfall is associated with an increased risk of severe heart attack Sareen Kardjian Varsity Contributor

A recent study by Québec researchers found that heavy snowfalls are correlated with an increase in hospital admissions for myocardial infarction (MI), or heart attack. MI occurs due to prolonged cardiac ischemia, the blockage of a coronary artery, which inhibits the flow of oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. To investigate MI occurrences, the researchers incorporated information from two databases, concerning 128,073 hospital admissions and 68,155 deaths from heart attack between 1981 and 2014 in Québec. They refined their search based on some factors, such as the prominence of snowfall between the months of November and April. Environment Canada provided the team with weather information about the different regions being evaluated in the study. Dr. Natalie Auger of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre then combined this information to provide a detailed and complementary model of the association between time of snowfall and heart attackassociated deaths. The researchers came to the conclusion that the combination of physical stress exerted on the body and the aerobic demand of shoveling snow was most likely to explain the link between snow-

HELEN CHEN/THE VARSITY

fall and higher hospital admission rates due to MI. The correlation found was directly proportional, meaning that an increase in amount of snow lead to an increased amount of hospital admissions or death caused by MI. Men were more likely to be subject to heart attack following snowfall, accounting for 60 per cent of hospital admissions and MI-related deaths, as they are “more likely to shovel” snow compared to wom-

en, the study found. One of the results of the study indicated that a snowfall of 20 cm was associated to a 34 per cent increased risk of heart attack death in men. The researchers noted certain factors that could potentially confound aspects of their interpreted results. These factors included the size of areas shoveled, the manner in which snow was shoveled (manually or with a snow blower), and other relevant and underlying symptoms of the patient.

The study recommended that individuals be conscious of the risks involved in the strenuous act of shoveling snow, especially during heavier and longer snowfall. They advise Canadians to shovel as soon as possible, as snow would be lighter. Moreover, shoveling lighter amounts of snow periodically during prolonged snowfall instead of a heavier amount after several hours is a wiser approach and can prevent profound cardiovascular consequences. “The research is interesting and not at all surprising,” said Dr. Paul Dorian, the Division of Cardiology Department Director at U of T and Staff Cardiac Electrophysiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, “What is missing is the absolute risk of MI, not the relative risk of MI.” Dorian that the results merely reveal an association between snowfall and heart attack risk or MI — not causation. An absolute risk of MI is ultimately fixed and nonrelative, that is to say, not related to other factors. On the other hand, a relative risk is viewed as related or associated with other existing factors. Thus, if this independent risk of MI is of small value, Dorian says there is “no need to worry and no need to buy a snowblower.” He added, “Yes, some people are at risk of MI if they shovel, but they are also at risk if they climb stairs. It is about absolute risk, not relative risk.”

A not-so-hairy situation U of T study finds correlation between baldness and prostate cancer risk Edie Guo Varsity Contributor

Researchers at U of T’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre may have discovered a correlation between male pattern baldness and prostate cancer risk. Using baldness to assess prostate cancer risk can facilitate early detection and would be considerably cheaper than the genetic tests currently available on the market. The prostate produces seminal fluid which promotes survival of the sperm during transportation. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related-deaths in men. There are four stages of prostate cancer, and the earlier the treatment, the more successful the outcome. For the most part, the early stages of prostate cancer are asymptomatic. As the cancer progresses, symptoms include difficulty urinating, bone pain, erectile dysfunction, pelvic

discomfort, and the presence of blood in the semen. Since ultrasound tests are ineffective when the tumor is smaller than four milimetres, and current detection methods include taking blood samples to test for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Results from these genetic tests predict the relative risk of developing prostate cancer when compared to the average person. These tests, which are used more commonly in the United States, can cost up to $4,000. A team led by Dr. Neil Fleshner, Head of Urology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, was the first group to systematically study the correlation between baldness and prostate cancer risk. The study looked at 394 men of various ethnicities who have not had prostate cancer in the past, but are going into the hospital for prostate biopsy. They ranked each patient on the Norwood baldness scale of 0-4, with 0 being “no balding” and 4

being “severe balding.” When later tested, 49.2 per cent of the men had cancer. Men who showed degree 3 to 4 baldness had an increased risk for cancer, and the predictive power was strongest when subjects exhibited degree 4 baldness. Fleshner’s goal is to raise awareness regarding the link between prostate cancer and baldness. “This adds... a new risk factor” he explains, in addition to a high rate of prostate incidence in family history and people from certain ethnic groups. The assessment is especially useful in borderline cases when doctors are trying to decide whether to send a patient in for biopsy. Although the mechanism underlying the correlation between baldness and prostate cancer is unclear, Fleshner believes that genetics and elevated levels of androgens could play a significant role. He suggests that there is a relationship between the roles of androgen in male baldness and prostate cancer. Prostate cancer, like breast cancer, is a cancer that affects the re-

productive system, and seems to be shaped by hormonal factors. While anti-estrogen is used to treat breast cancer, anti-testosterone is used against prostate cancer. Fleshner’s expertise lies in prostate cancer, so he has always been curious about what causes prostate cancer and how to prevent it. When he saw all the different drugs on the market to combat baldness, including anti-testosterone, he was interested in how it would affect prostate cancer. Anti-testosterone comes with side effects, which include decreased sexual desire and loss of muscle mass. While it is always exciting to develop a new assessment tool for cancer diagnosis, Fleshner emphasized that finding treatments for cancer is much more complex. “Some simple answers [are still] out there,” but the deciphering process has become “highly complex and requir[es] a lot of insight and technology to understand it well.”

Science Around Town A Diﬀerent Shade of Green: The New Face of the Climate Movement The topic of climate change is becoming an increasingly contentious subject for our neighbours down south, leaving many to wonder what will become of the climate movement. Science for Peace will be holding a talk hosted by Emmay Mah, coordinator of the People’s Climate Movement, who will present the new discussions surrounding climate change. Date: Wednesday, March 8 Time: 7:00–9:00 pm Location: UC152, University College, 15 King’s College Circle Admission: Free Tatooine’s Future: Fates of Planets Circling Two Suns Circumbinary planets are planets that orbit around two stars. Once thought to only exist in the world of Star Wars, their existence has now been verified, owing to NASA’s Kepler mission discovery. Besides their existence, however, little else is known about these binary systems. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be hosting Keavin Moore of York University, who studies these circumbinary planets and their evolution. Date: Wednesday, March 8 Time: 7:30–10:00 pm Location: Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Road Admission: Free Astronomy on Tap T.O. U of T’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics will be holding a conference about all things astronomy. The conference will be hosting speakers from the field of astronomy who will be discussing a range of topics, from the evolution of space since the Big Bang to the discovery of a galaxy known as Dragonfly 44, a galaxy made up of 99.9 per cent dark matter. Date: Friday, March 10 Time: 8:00–11:00 pm Location: The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West Admission: Free, 19 and over

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