November 27, 2017

Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 11 November 27, 2017 thevarsity.ca —— University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Figure skaters win

GOLD in O!awa An inside look into the Blues’ first-place finish page 18

Bylaw amendments take centre stage at UTMSU AGM Signature threshold to hold general meetings raised, grievance policy adopted Josie Kao & Alex Tough Varsity Staff

Bylaw amendments were the main topics of discussion at the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on November 23 in the William G. Davis Building at UTM. Major changes included an increase to the number of signatures needed for calling a general meeting, as well as a new policy for how students can bring forward grievances they have against the union.

At the start of bylaw amendment discussions, University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Vice-President External Anne Boucher motioned to externalize four of the proposed amendments, including the two mentioned above. The motion passed, which required those four to be discussed and voted on separately from other amendments. These discussions represented the bulk of the yearly meeting.

Signatures for general meetings One of the amendments put forward increased the number of signatures required to call general meetings to five per cent of the UTMSU membership, which currently consists of over

13,000 students, making the new quorum approximately 650 students. The previous requirement was 250 students, and the original raise proposed in the amendment was 10 per cent of the membership, or 1,300 students.

During the discussions, Boucher voiced concerns that 10 per cent was too high, suggesting the number be changed instead to 500 signatures, or approximately four per cent of the membership.

After extensive debate, UTMSU President Salma Fakhry was the one to propose the successful motion of the number being lowered to 5 per cent as a compromise to the 10 per cent that was originally suggested, which she called a “standard” number.

Boucher responded by saying, “I just wanted to let the room know that the UTSU’s is only one per cent, so it’s not actually standard.”

Grievance policy A new bylaw was passed detailing how members can bring to attention grievances that they may have against the UTSMU. According to the bylaw, this is to ensure that the union can “make itself an open and accessible space to all members.”

The bylaw states that “any such Grievance shall be put in writing and addressed to the

Grievance Officer, who shall be the President of the Union.” The officer will meet with the concerned parties and, depending on the grievance, may direct the complaint to a relevant committee. The resolution will be decided by a majority vote of committee members present at the meeting.

Boucher proposed an amendment to the bylaw, saying that there should be more than one Grievance Officer, and that they should “function as an impartial appellate board.”

“The reason why I am proposing this change is just in the case [of] a grievance against an executive member or the president themselves.

It’s very hard to be impartial and non-biased in this position,” said Boucher.

Fakhry spoke against Boucher’s proposal, saying, “We’d rather very much keep it to the decision making of the board to compile the Executive Review Committee if such an occurrence or such a grievance were to come against the executive.”

Finances Other notable AGM events included the approval of the financial statements of the UTMSU and of The Blind Duck pub, a division of the student union. UTMSU Vice President Internal Vikko Qu explained that the World UTMSU, page 3

Too much Drake

Band-aid solutions

UTSU appoints new VP University Affairs November Board of Directors meeting fills position, addresses Landmark Project Ilya Bañares Associate News Editor

Adrian Huntelar was appointed VicePresident University Affairs of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) at its Board of Directors meeting on November 25.

The meeting also addressed the Landmark Project and reviewed executive reports.

Vice-President University Affairs The Vice-President University Affairs position had been vacant since the resignation of Carina Zhang on September 3. The Board of Directors appointed Huntelar, previously one of seven General Equity Directors, to fill the vacancy.

Huntelar, a third-year Political Science and Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies student, said that he has “a tangible plan of action” and “a track record of stabilizing turbulent UTSU, page 3

For William

Are Toronto hip-hop artists limiting themselves?

Back-to-work legislation for college faculty resolves little

In Movember, a student reflects on mental illness and the loss of a friend

page 12

page 9

page 10

2 • THE VARSITY

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Oxfam’s 6th Annual Holiday Bazaar

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Christmas at the Allan Gardens When: 1:00–6:00 pm

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Where: Allan Gardens, 19 Horticultural Avenue

Dec

When: 7:00 pm

Ethics

Where: Hart House

When: 1:15–3:00 pm

East Common Room

Where: Centre for

@JC2Tre Do students need an ice rink or a landfill? #condo #toronto

@DillonCasey

Where: Hart House

Iris Deng & Fiona Tung Associate Illustration Editors

Doxxing and Hacker

Kaleidoscope

Ethics

When: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Ibnul Chowdhury & Jenisse Keith Cheng Minott Associate Design Editor Associate Comment Editors Shanna Hunter & Min Ho George Kell Lee Associate Features Editor Associate Photo Editors Vacant Associate A&C Editor

Weekly tweets

3

Varsity Blues Women’s Basketball vs. Ryerson

Varsity Blues Women’s Basketball vs. Lakehead

When: 8:00 pm

When: 6:00 pm

Where: Goldring Centre

Where: Goldring Centre

Kimel Field House

Kimel Field House

Nov

29

Parenting in Today’s World: Understanding Indigenous Past & Present Realities and Inclusiveness

1

Dec A Tale of SubHuman

When: 4:00–6:00 pm @mapleafs34

Where: Hart House

Where: First Nations House Lounge, 563 Spadina Avenue

5

@MitchiganState University of Toronto tagged me in a picture of their swim team and I really don’t have the heart to tell them they couldn’t be farther off

When: 12:00–1:30pm

Dec

@jordanbpeterson Dear University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson is the best thing you guys have going for you. If you fire him, you will join Laurier.

You probably should fire everyone who wrote that letter, though.

Best, D

GREAT 91% voted for a strike at the University of Toronto for next week... I NEED TO FINISH EXAMS THIS IS NO JOKE

@vgtoronto

Dec

6

Celebrating our graduates and their families at the 11th #asiapacific graduation ceremony #boundless #UofT #UTSC #UofTinAsia #hongkong

NOVEMBER 27, 2017 • 3

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UTMSU, from cover

University Service of Canada program ran a $24,000 deficit to financially support an additional refugee student whom “the administration refused to support” aside from registration.

In addition, Qu said that The Blind Duck is running a deficit, which UTMSU Executive Director Munib Sajjad clarified was due to the executive’s decision to not increase the price of food despite the increase in cost of sales.

Qu also mentioned that club expenditures went down because some clubs did not collect their funding cheques or pass audited financial statements, and that Student Centre expenditures were diminished because there were fewer events held on campus this year.

The UTMSU also voted to switch auditors of the financial statements from Charles Havill, CPA to Glenn Graydon Wright LLP, as Fakhry said the former no longer exists.

UTSU, from cover

positions” as well as making progress for students — characteristics he said were important for the position.

His blueprint for the rest of the academic year includes improving food security on campus.

“It’s way too hard to find healthy, affordable food that also accommodates dietary restrictions, and is also accessible to commuter students,” he said. “Forty per cent of students in Canada are food insecure; I think that’s unacceptable.”

With regard to dealing with the university administration as part of his portfolio, Huntelar emphasized his “strong working relationship” with the Vice-Provost Students and the Vice-Provost International Student Experience.

“On a number of issues, if the student community moves first and we do the work to improve the situation on campus, and then we challenge the administration to do the same, we’ll create a race to the top,” he said.

“We do better, they do better, we do better, they do better. The result is a better campus for everybody.”

The other candidates for the position were Yuli Liu and former UTSU Woodsworth College Director Christina Badiola. The deliberation process, which included a presentation and questioning period, was conducted in camera.

Huntelar’s appointment comes after last month’s failed motion to consolidate the posts of Vice-President University Affairs and Vice-President External into one VicePresident Advocacy position.

The consolidation was intended to cut

salary expenses in view of the union’s structural deficit from the Student Commons project. At the UTSU’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Anne Boucher, VicePresident External, argued that given the long hours she puts into her work, advocacy would be severely undercut by combining the two positions.

Huntelar himself argued in favour of keeping the position, saying that “frivolous” expenses like miscellaneous spending, transportation, and executive phone plans were the problem, not salaries.

Daman Singh, Vice-President Internal, said during the AGM discussion that students should not oppose the elimination of old positions just because “they want to run for it.” After this remark was met by audible objections, Singh apologized for the comment.

Landmark Project Donald Ainslie, Principal of University College (UC), also gave a presentation on the proposed Landmark Project. The project is a plan by administrators to pedestrianize and beautify four core areas of the St. George campus, including King’s College Circle, the Sir Daniel Wilson quadrangle at UC, the area around back campus, and Hart House Circle.

Although cars will have limited access to King’s College Circle, Ainslie emphasized that pedestrians will have priority. The project aims to raise $20 million, $2 million of which has already been gifted by the University of Toronto Alumni Association and the University of Toronto.

Executive reports The board also discussed the reports from members of the executive. Boucher did not submit her report on time, so it will be taken up at the December meeting.

The executive reports generated a significant amount of review from the members. Kassandra Neranjan, Academic Director for Humanities, brought up the issue that, while some individual board directors did not agree with the universitymandated leave of absence policy, Memmel had called it a “positive development” in his report.

Another contentious report came from Chimwemwe Alao, Vice-President Equity, whose report addressed the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and U of T professor Jordan Peterson.

“A group of graduate students associated with the Women and Gender Studies Institute reached out to me in order to discuss ways that I can support their organizing against Jordan Peterson,” said Alao in his report.

“They had expressed interest in getting the CFS and member locals to also publicly condemn Peterson and show solidarity in their organizing.”

Alao brought forward an emergency motion on behalf of the graduate students at the November 17 to November 20 CFS National General Meeting. It passed unanimously, calling on all CFS-member unions to publicly condemn Peterson.

Referendum for OPIRG-Toronto levy fails to meet quorum Less than four per cent of eligible voters turn out to vote Daniel Kim Varsity Staff

The Toronto chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), based at U of T, will continue to receive its optional $0.50 levy from full-time undergraduates after the referendum to remove its funding failed to meet quorum.

On November 23, the results of the OPIRG referendum were released, showing that of the total electors, 1.6 per cent abstained. Of those who did not abstain, 40.1 per cent voted ‘yes’ to remove the levy, and 59.9 per cent voted ‘no.’ Only 3.1 per cent of students, or 1,165, who were eligible to vote participated.

A quorum of 7.5 per cent was needed to make the results binding.

Daman Singh, Vice-President Internal of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), stated that “an inquorate referendum is effectively a survey.”

In an email, Chris Dryden, the head of the committee that campaigned for a ‘yes’ vote, mentioned that he “could foresee that there was [going to be] a very low chance of reaching quorum.” He added, “Considering this was a referendum with no adjunct election it was an average turnout.”

Dryden had previously expressed concern that a UTSU error resulted in a delayed voting period for the referendum, describing the situation as a “double-edged sword.”

Before the voting period, Dyrden said he knew “that [the UTSU] wanted to be able to bring forward the petition.” He conceded that students at UTSG are generally apathetic toward elections, which may explain the inquorate results.

“The majority of people vote only when it’s election season,” said Dryden. “So, if a petition is set during an election season, I think that there would be a much greater turnout.” The turnout at the most recent UTSU election this past spring was 11.8 per cent of the membership, which is relatively high. Dryden said that previous records indicate “the only way to reach quorum is to have a referendum in the spring.”

“Three percent of people voting isn’t very indicative of the overall student view of campus,” said Dryden. According to him, this poses a conundrum because students who “are the most apathetic to voting are less likely to know that they are paying these fees.”

Nevertheless, Dryden believes that, regardless of the referendum results, “considering that levy [groups] do not often have their funding questioned, it will put more pressure on funding groups to have more accountability with their spending.”

OPIRG did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment on the results of the referendum.

The results of the vote show an overall preference for keeping the $0.50 levy.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

4 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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University Ombudsperson reflects on role as threeyear term nears end Community feedback being sought on status, progress of Ombudsperson Carey Davis Varsity Contributor

Professor Emeritus Ellen Hodnett’s threeyear term as University Ombudsperson is coming to a close. Hodnett has served as a faculty member in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing for 39 years and as an elected member of Governing Council for nine years.

Established in 1975, the Office of the University Ombudsperson is an independent body designed to provide confidential and impartial advice to students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Based on these observations, the office publishes an annual report to inform Governing Council of the systemic issues that merit review.

Hodnett stressed that the role of the office is not for advocacy, but rather to ensure fair application of policy. She said that the office has a “great deal of informal power” with the publication of their reports. “I really like that it keeps everyone honest since our assessment of policy is open to the public.”

The Review Committee has been

established to assess the role of the Ombudsperson, whose findings Governing Council must review and approve. Following this, the Search Committee will be established to find a successor. According to the terms of reference for the Office of the Ombudsperson, this is conventional practice.

Director of Media Relations Althea Blackburn-Evans said that no speculation can be made as to whether changes will be implemented as the review is still underway.

Hodnett remains concerned about the low number of people seeking support from the Ombudsperson’s office, especially from UTM and UTSC. According to the Ombudsperson’s 2016–2017 Annual Report, the office handled 339 cases, relatively similar to the numbers in 2015–2016 and 2014–2015, which respectively handled 316 and 314.

Hodnett said the office does not have the data to explain why so few members from each campus are using the office for support.

“For all we know it could [be] because the policies in place are effective and people don’t have to reach us with their issues.” Hodnett suggested that the Review Committee

The Ombudsperson’s office provides confidential, impartial advice. JUDY HU/THE VARSITY

consider having an Ombudsperson for each campus.

Hodnett plans to address this concern with the Review Committee, but she recognizes this is just one possible model. She emphasized the need for careful consultation and other ideas to increase accessibility and stimulate a productive dialogue.

University of Toronto Students’ Union President Mathias Memmel suggested that the Office of the University Ombudsperson focus beyond systemic issues. Further, he recommended a “greater emphasis on

a timeline for implementation,” due to Governing Council’s slow responses to the Ombudsperson’s reports.

In addition, Memmel claimed the reports “tend to highlight one or two issues… excluding some simply because they don’t fit priority one or two.”

To assist in the assessment process, the Review Committee invites members of U of T to share their thoughts and feedback regarding the Office of the University Ombudsperson and submit nominations for the next Ombudsperson.

McGill’s freedom of student press called into question in recent levy referendum Levy for publisher of The McGill Daily, Le Délit ultimately renewed Sophia Savva Varsity Staff

When the Legislative Council of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) — the university’s students’ union — didn’t pass a motion endorsing a ‘yes’ vote for the Daily Publications Society’s (DPS) existence on November 2, many voiced concerns that free press on campus was in jeopardy.

The referendum, held every five years, concerned the renewal of a mandatory $6 fee per undergraduate student per semester that supports the DPS, a not-for-profit, studentrun organization that publishes The McGill Daily and Le Délit, two independent student newspapers at McGill.

This year, the referendum took place between November 13 and November 17, and it resulted in the DPS winning the vote with 65 per cent of students voting ‘yes’ to the continuation of the $6 fee, despite an active ‘no’ campaign and the Legislative Council’s lack of support.

“I feel relieved that the DPS will be around for at least another five years, and that in the meantime, we’ll have the chance to spread the word about the importance of campus journalism,” said Marc Cataford, the Chair

of the DPS. According to Cataford, the referendum had a 20.7 per cent turnout — much larger than a typical SSMU voter turnout — which “renewed” his belief “that student press is deemed important by our campus population.”

According to an editorial from The McGill Tribune, some Legislative Council members who did not support the motion were concerned that supporting a ‘yes’ vote would look like an endorsement of The McGill Daily and its editorial pieces in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Some members did not want to bias their peers, and others disagreed with the student fees used to fund the paper, especially since the students paying these fees might disagree with the political views published in the paper.

Cataford mentioned that other SSMU Legislative Council members who did not endorse a ‘yes’ vote were worried they would create a “conflict of interest” between the council and the paper, and that the papers would not “hold [the council] accountable.”

“I found it alarming to see that support in the form of a public endorsement of a wording of their choice was described as

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

something that could influence the attitude of the press toward the SSMU or that it would unfairly affect students’ votes,” said Cataford.

By declining to support the DPS, Cataford believes that the union’s Legislative Council sent “a pretty clear message that the presence of free speech outlets isn’t a priority” and that it “failed to uphold free speech and free press on campus.”

Mahaut Engérant, the Editor-in-Chief of Le Délit, McGill’s only francophone paper, said she was “disappointed” when the council decided not to endorse the DPS. “A SSMU endorsement did not mean an endorsement of all our articles or our editorial line, but rather it was meant to be a way for SSMU to recognize the value of an institution such as the free presse [sic].”

On November 15, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), an organization that “works to defend and protect the right to free expression in Canada and around the world,” published an article written by Jacqueline Houston, Opinion Editor at The McGill Tribune and former CJFE Communications

and Research Assistant, criticizing the SSMU for failing to “recognize the value of a free and varied campus press.”

“Endorsing a diverse, free press isn’t a political view. It’s a principle, one that elected representatives at any level ought to uphold, and that needs to be funded,” reads Houston’s article. “McGill undergraduate students pay mandatory fees for a range of clubs and services—because they accept that it is in the student body’s collective interest to have a range of clubs and services available on campus, even if each student doesn’t directly engage or agree with all of them.”

Houston told The Varsity that the DPS winning the vote was a “win for campus free press” but still considers the events leading up to the vote “alarming,” because the ‘no’ campaign “also politicized and qualified the principle of a diverse and free campus press.”

“Student representatives should be the first to defend the very student papers that hold them accountable,” said Houston.

The SSMU did not respond to The Varsity’s requests for comment.

NOVEMBER 27, 2017 • 5

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Back-to-school plans being prepared for students in UTM-Sheridan, UTSC-Centennial programs What to expect from satellite campuses’ administrations in wake of strike’s end Aidan Currie Deputy News Editor

Nearly 500,000 college students across Ontario found themselves back in the classroom last week, after the Ontario government voted to end the five-week college faculty strike. The 1,000 students in joint UTM-Sheridan College programs and 170 in UTSC-Centennial College programs headed back to class on Tuesday.

UTM Vice Principal Academic and Dean Amrita Daniere said that her administration has been in “hourly” contact with administrators at Sheridan to accommodate students. “We have... a plan for every single course that will allow students, we believe, to finish their education, finish their work, in a way that everyone can get done, almost without exception by [mid January].”

UTM-Sheridan students will also have their credit/no-credit option period for first

College faculty members had been on strike for five weeks. PHOTO BY CONNOR MALBEUF, COURTESY OF THE GAZETTE

semester courses extended until January 26, 2018 from the original December 4 deadline.

They will also be able to withdraw from a course without academic penalty up until January 8, 2018.

Students in UTM-Sheridan courses won’t experience a shortened winter break, though assessments will take place during the UTM exam period.

Representatives from the Dean’s office

at UTSC did not meet with Centennial administrators until November 24, when it was determined that students in UTSCCentennial programs would be allowed to drop courses without academic penalty up to a date that has yet to be set by the Centennial administration.

UTSC Media Relations Officer Don Campbell said it was agreed that a “detailed document” would be produced, “specifying those delayed drop and add dates and providing advice to students on how to deal with other issues and possible conflicts that will arise as a result of the extended fall term and delayed winter term at the college.” Students can expect that document to be sent to them and posted on the UTSC Registrar’s website later this week.

“We’re all on high notice to prioritize these students,” said Daniere. “So I’m actually feeling very calm compared to how I imagined I would be feeling over the weekend as we all waited for some kind of resolution.”

The building being demolished used to house Tasty’s Caribbean Restaurant and Catering, among other restaurants and shops.

SOFIA LUDWIG/THE VARSITY

Nearly abandoned building at College and Huron in midst of demolition Building to be replaced with 17-storey residential building Jillian Schuler Associate News Editor

A building on the corner of Huron Street and College Street is in the midst of demolition as Shiu Pong Group, a real estate developer, plans to replace the current low-slung, multi-purpose residential building with a new 17-storey residential building with retail space on the ground floor.

For this project, Shiu Pong’s plan will produce 142 dwelling units as well as retail space on the street level. The new building is replacing Tasty’s Caribbean Restaurant and Catering and the College Variety, among other restaurants and shops.

Prior to demolition, the Huron and College building housed 15 residential units. During the demolition and construction of the new building, the owners are required to assist the displaced tenants with appropriate living arrangements. Additionally, the tenants must be offered appropriate residence options in the new building at affordable rates.

Since the proposed number of units would exceed the density allowed for the area, the City of Toronto required a specific application to include the site in the “Mixed-Use” category rather than in “Neighbourhoods.”

In addition, the company’s plans put the 17-storey building at 52 metres in height, 36 metres higher than the maximum allowed in the city bylaws. The Staff Report nonetheless recommends that the demolition and construction of a new building be allowed.

Shiu Pong also had to go through a long process of assessing the building’s potential impact on the neighbourhood. A Committee Consultation meeting, held back in October 2013, brought up issues such as parking, and whether the initial building scheduled for demolition was a heritage site.

According to the heritage impact report, the building is not listed under the city’s inventory of heritage sites, nor will it have any impact on any surrounding heritage sites.

However, the staff report suggested a design plan that would incorporate the current building into the design of the podium of the new building.

Following review from Shiu Pong, their solicitors agreed to work with Urban Design Staff and City Planning to “respect the heritage ‘look’ of the street” in the revised plans for the podium. The new, incorporated design will feature the terracotta panels from the original building in the three-storey podium base of the building.

While no specific timeline was included in the staff report, Shiu Pong would be required to erect a residential building within two years of the commencement of the project or face financial sanctions until construction was completed.

Shiu Pong has built other residential buildings in the past, including Six 8 Plus in Etobicoke and Design Haus, both of which are currently sold out.

It works in theory, but will it work in the real world?

At U of T’s School of Public Policy, we’ll help you find out.

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6 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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University begins search for new Chancellor Three-year term set to begin in July 2018 as Wilson leaves post Keith Cheng Associate Design Editor

U of T’s Chair of the College of Electors posted a memo earlier this month seeking nominations for the university’s next Chancellor.

The Chancellor is one of the most senior positions at the university, representing U of T in formal situations both at home and abroad and bestowing degrees on students.

The new Chancellor will ideally begin their term on July 1, 2018, after the completion of Michael H. Wilson’s tenure on June 30. Wilson has served the maximum two-term, sixyear tenure permitted by the University of Toronto Act of 1971. The new Chancellor will be elected for an initial term of three years.

The College of Electors, a body established

by Governing Council, is responsible for officially appointing someone to the position.

The body is a group of 48 U of T alumni who represent the 27 alumni groups that are part of the University of Toronto Alumni Association.

Members of the College of Electors serve as liaisons for their respective alumni associations and are expected to update their associations throughout the year with news about the college.

Before the College of Electors can appoint

someone, a search committee will first decide on a nominee to recommend to them.

The committee consists of U of T President Meric Gertler, Chair of the Governing Council Claire Kennedy, and executive members of the College of Electors, including Chair Geeta Yadav, Vice-Chair Oliver Jerschow, UTM alumnus Kevin Golding, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education alumna Tracey King, and Faculty of Information alumna Alison Stirling.

The position profile for the Chancellor, established by the search committee, states that they are looking for a “distinguished person with a record of demonstrated excellence in their chosen field and in service to the community.” The Chancellor is expected to have a strong public presence, well-developed relationship-building skills, as well as to have demonstrated passion for U of T and a commitment to inclusivity. The Chancellor must also be a Canadian citizen.

Nominations for the position will be solicited until the committee makes a recommendation to the College of Electors.

Nominations are made via a form found on Governing Council’s website.

University releases reviews on academic units, programs Reports detail high-quality work of students, faculty, lack of career opportunities Jillian Schuler & Andy Takagi Varsity Contributors

U of T’s Committee on Academic Policy and Programs (AP&P) has released its semiannual report on reviews of the university’s academic units and programs. The reviews, on the whole, show that students continue to perform at a very high level, though there remains a shortfall of career opportunities for undergraduates.

The extensive body of scholarly work produced by the university’s faculty was also among the reviewers’ positive comments.

Areas of concern that reviewers recognized consisted of a lack of strategic planning of curriculum and an absence of support for research and experiential learning.

Also noted were graduate student timeto-completion rates, which have been improving, yet “require continued support.”

Academic programs and units are reviewed every eight years, in accordance with the university’s policy for approval and review of academic programs and units as well as the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance.

According to Sioban Nelson, Vice-Provost Faculty and Academic Life, these reviews are key in assessing the strengths of a program and addressing areas of concern. Nelson emphasized that the process is meant to be thorough and positive. She said that reviews are neither about papering over issues nor trying to hide problems. “It’s meant to bring your colleagues in and to say, ‘We’ve got problems.’”

The AP&P also released its follow-up review of three programs and two faculties that warranted a report after initial auditing: two programs within the Faculty of Arts & Science, the Faculty of Forestry, the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education (OISE), and the Health Studies program at UTSC. One-year follow-up reports are requested when programs with particular concerns — such as financial health, long-term sustainability, and faculty support — require a longer period of response.

The AP&P reports were reviewed by the Academic Board on Thursday, November 23 and will be finalized by the Governing Council on December 14, 2017.

Faculty of Arts & Science: East Asian Studies and Ethics, Society, and Law With concerns over the Department of East Asian Studies’ curriculum and financial health, the AP&P requested a one-year follow-up report to detail the department’s method of addressing their concerns.

Curricula for the department’s programs have been taken under review to streamline its undergraduate program with the assessment of pre-requisite standards and enrolment controls. The financial health concerns within the program were met with additional half-course equivalents, four of which were approved for immediate action, as well as funds for non-teaching discretionary resources — funds for conferences, invited speakers, and graduate travel, among other initiatives. In addition, funds were committed to the renovation of

the department’s office spaces.

The AP&P also requested a follow-up report from the Ethics, Society, and Law undergraduate program addressing the issues of long-term sustainability of the program and support for sessional instructors.

In the follow-up, Dean and Professor of Political Science David Cameron affirms the program’s viability — applicant numbers are usually around 500, while the program only admits 75–80 students per year.

Furthermore, the program has cut down on the number of sessional instructors for first-year courses, guaranteeing they will be taught by tenured professors, while thirdand fourth-year optional courses have a higher proportion of sessional instructors.

Faculty of Forestry AP&P reviewers of the Faculty of Forestry had three specific concerns: the hiring of more faculty, the undergraduate program, and the relationship between the Faculty of Forestry and the Faculty of Arts & Science.

OISE After Professor Glen Jones was appointed the new Dean of OISE in July 2016, emphasis was placed on the next five years of the institute’s future with regard to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations and OISE’s structural deficit.

Following a review of the initial OISE academic plan, a one-year follow-up report was requested by the AP&P. The follow-up report stressed the need to engage in novel

academic planning that would prioritize the right issues for the next round of the program’s development.

UTSC: Health Studies The review of the UTSC undergraduate program in Health Studies provided two areas in which the program could improve: strengthening of leadership within the program as it undergoes restructuring, and addressing how Health Studies can fall under both a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. The reviewers claimed that the unique program structure produces “false binaries” between pathways of biological science and social science.

William Gough, Vice-Principal Academic and Dean of Environmental Science, addressed the reviewers’ suggestions in his follow-up letter to Nelson.

The administration worked to address the first concern about leadership in the formation of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health and Society (ICHS) as an extra departmental unit. The ICHS would be the foundation for the Health Studies program, so that it could develop into a stronger program, providing the programs with funding and facilitating the “cross-pollination” of Health Studies with other programs at UTSC. The concern about the binary nature of the program as both BA and BSc was refuted by the administration. Gough explained that both degrees being part of the program is crucial to its nature, as its required courses tend to take a multidisciplinary approach toward the content.

Comment

November 27, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

There’s major dough in dope — how should the government use it?

To effectively combat substance abuse, marijuana tax funds should primarily be invested in prevention and education 5000

Other substance ($80M)

Social costs of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs in Canada ($ millions) $4360.2

Alcohol ($145M)

4000 $3306.2

Tobacco $2335.5

Alcohol

2000

$1134.6 $886.1

$0

Direct Healthcare Costs

Opioids ($15M)

Illegal Drugs (incl. Marijuana)

1000

0

Cocaine ($13M)

$3072.2

3000

Direct Law Enforcement Costs

$78.1

$53.0

$16.5

Direct Prevention and Research Costs

Ramsha Naveed Varsity Contributor

On November 10, the Canadian federal government announced an excise tax plan that will be implemented when marijuana is legalized next summer. The plan proposed an excise tax of $1 per gram, or 10 per cent of the producer’s sale price, with the higher amount of the two being charged.

The plan is still in its consultation stage, and there are sure to be many changes over the next few months. Hopefully the fact that education and prevention tactics provide better long-term solutions to addressing substance abuse than punitive mechanisms will guide future discussions about the tax plan. Moving forward, marijuana legalization should be approached mainly as an issue of public health — the revenue from legalization can play a major role in ensuring appropriate solutions to substance abuse are implemented.

In a November 2016 report entitled “Legalized Cannabis: Fiscal Considerations,” the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that sales tax revenue for legal marijuana could be as high as $959 million in its first year. While it is unlikely that this figure will be reached due to initial legalization costs, it doesn’t include potential revenue from an excise tax. Sales and excise taxes combined could make the almost $1 billion goal an achievable reality.

Meanwhile, substance abuse continues to be a costly problem for the government and citizens alike. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) claims that substance abuse and addiction isn’t an isolated problem — it burdens our health care, law enforcement, and criminal justice systems, as well as our overall productivity as a society. This doesn’t even begin to cover the unquantifiable human costs of substance abuse either, such as decreased life expectancy or disruption of family life.

In 2006, the CCSA released a report titled “The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002.” The results were harrowing: the total annual societal costs of substance abuses was $39.8 billion. Our flailing health care system

$87.0

Cannabis ($14M)

Substance abuse-related hospital costs $79.1

Other Direct Costs

has struggled to keep up with substance abuse issues for years. A 2014 CCSA study, “The Impact of Substance Use Disorders on Hospital Use,” showed a 22 per cent increase in hospital costs for substance abuse-related issues from $219 million in 2006 to $267 million in 2011. This included $14 million in hospital costs along with a 39 per cent increase in days spent in the hospital for marijuana users.

These reports speak to a need for a more effective and efficient system to combat substance abuse and addiction problems.

While it would be misleading to equivocate the repercussions of marijuana abuse and those associated with hard drugs, the sheer amount of revenue the government will be bringing in from marijuana legalization can be redirected to alleviating the problems associated with substance abuse in general.

The current tax plan calls for a 50-50 split of the revenue between the federal and provincial governments. Provinces spoke out against this plan immediately, stating that they deserve a bigger portion of the revenue given that they are responsible for most of the work and costs associated with implementing legalization. Municipal governments have also argued that, because they cover almost 60 per cent of Canada’s policing costs, the revenue should be directed to cities to help offset them.

Both of these claims mention the enforcement aspect of legalization, which remains a part of the government's marijuana regulation strategy. Yet if there is one thing the ‘War on Drugs’ has taught us, it is that cracking down on drug use via highly punitive enforcement measures is an inadequate solution. This approach has proven ineffective at reducing substance abuse and has burdened the criminal justice system, incarcerating people at alarming rates while failing to confront and deal with the root causes of drug use.

Punitive measures can also be extremely costly. A 2005 report by the Health Officers Council of British Columbia found that for every $5 spent on treatment, the federal government spent $95 on enforcement.

There are substantial costs, financial and

Ill. Drugs (incl. weed) ($4678.6M)

Tobacco ($12470.9M) Alcohol ($7126.4M)

Indirect productivity losses otherwise, associated with incarceration in particular.

In contrast, education and prevention programs deal with reducing harm by destigmatizing substance abuse so that people can get the help they need. This approach can be highly beneficial, particularly when it supersedes harsher measures. An example of this is Vancouver’s Four Pillars drug strategy, which has been successful in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, overdose deaths, and public drug use by focusing on the combined principles of harm reduction, prevention, treatment, and enforcement.

This strategy recognizes the need for policing while emphasizing a preference for nonpunitive measures where possible. In this model, police officers connect non-violent offenders with health services instead of incarcerating them, a method that has been commended by the city’s Drug Treatment Courts.

Accordingly, the federal government should devise a tax plan that prioritizes funding education and prevention programs over law enforcement strategies — not just for marijuana, but for all substances.

Adopting this approach to countering substance abuse and addiction and using

marijuana tax revenue to finance it has the potential to increase public awareness about marijuana and how to use it safely. It could also lower the need for extensive policing and other enforcement costs. Legal substances, which will soon include marijuana, are the most abused in Canada — almost four times as much as their illegal counterparts — and it makes sense to use the money reaped from legalization to prevent harmful misuse.

If the federal government wishes to make the best use of marijuana tax revenues, they must prioritize investing those funds in the fight against substance abuse and addiction.

Diverting more funding to law enforcement is unlikely to achieve this goal. Fortunately, the consultations for the excise tax framework are ongoing, and I would encourage students to get involved in the process. Individuals and groups who wish to present their own ideas about the framework can review the relevant documents at the Department of Finance website and send written comments by email until December 7.

Ramsha Naveed is a third-year student at Trinity College studying Political Science.

8 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Op-ed: Though divided we may be, united we should stand

A representative from Jack.org reflects on the university's mandatory leave of absence policy Sean Smith Varsity Contributor

The university has drafted a policy that would allow them to mandate a leave of absence for a student whose behaviour puts themselves or others at risk, negatively impacts other students’ ability to learn, or significantly inhibits their ability to complete their studies. While these seem like reasonable causes for removing a student from studies — in fact there are other policies, albeit punitive policies, in place that already do this — this policy is controversial in certain circles, as it deals with behaviours provoked by mental health issues or similar illnesses.

When evaluating policy, it is important to move from critical thought to a conclusion rather than letting presumptions guide our critical thought process. If we were to presume that those enforcing this policy were eternally benevolent, it would follow that no harm would come from the application of the policy, and the reverse is also true. Neither of these stances will yield us much insight into the policy itself though, and so to address the policy without presumption, let’s look to the policy’s purpose and what led to it.

In her 2014–2015 annual report, the Ombudsperson suggested that a new policy be drafted in addition or parallel to the Code of Student Conduct and the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. The Ombudsperson’s primary concern was not one of legality, as the current policies conform to current legislation. Instead, her concern was with the university’s lack of framework to address situations in which students who demonstrate the aforementioned behaviours refuse accommodations. This concern was the impetus for the mandatory element of the policy.

Everyone should understand that this policy falls within the jurisdiction of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy on preventing discrimination based on mental health disabilities and addictions. In

other words, the policy does not provide the university with the means to discriminate or break the law.

The policy therefore does not give license to the university to perform a mental health witch hunt, as some students may fear. If there are concerns that the policy may be used by the administration as a discriminatory tool, those concerns do not pertain to the policy as much as they do to beliefs in whether we have an effective justice system or an ethical administration.

The current working draft of the policy offers a non-punitive alternative for students whose behaviour is either known to or believed to be caused by mental health or other health issues. It is important to note that students’ behaviour provides the impetus to potentially invoke the policy; mental illness alone is not sufficient. Additionally, if the university feels it is necessary to invoke mandatory leave, there will be no punitive mark on the student’s academic record, unlike the current policies. The removal of punitive repercussions was not suggested in the 2014–2015 Ombudsperson’s report, and it is a major achievement of the drafted policy.

A critique of the policy, and one we support, is that the language is too vague at times — specifically as it pertains to the “Threshold of Intervention” section. However, there are two things worth noting in this respect. First, as already mentioned, there are a number of legal restrictions that limit the scope of the policy and do not need to be restated within it. Second, some vagueness is likely intentional, so as not to exempt students who may benefit from the policy. For example, the current threshold for intervention allows students with acquired brain injuries to benefit from the policy. It is possible that by more specifically defining which symptoms of mental illness are applicable, the policy would become less effective, because the legal scope within which it is designed to operate would consequently diminish.

Critics of the mandatory leave policy argue that it unduly alienates students with mental health problems. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

This policy has real potential to demonstrate how a community of students, faculty, and administrators can slowly extinguish institutional or structural stigma.

The amount of effort and time that has gone into this policy is proof of a community that is willing to fight the stigma that surrounds it. We, as a community, are responsible for the critical evaluation and betterment of this policy.

The Academic Board and University Affairs Board will vote on whether to recommend the policy to Governing Council on January

25 and 30, respectively, following a twomonth delay.

Sean Smith is a fourth-year student at Woodsworth College studying English and Philosophy. He is the Chapter Lead for the Jack.org Chapter at UTSG. Jack.org is a nationwide youth mental health charity dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues and to challenging stigma in our communities. He also sits on The Varsity’s Board of Directors.

Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor should be directed to editorial@thevarsity.ca. Please keep submissions to 250 words; letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Re: Back-to-work legislation highlights Liberals’ disrespect for unions “In other news, the ocean is kind of wet.”

— Braden Worton (from web) Re: Do students need an ice rink or a landfill?

“The city should totally cut a deal with UofT to operate the rink as a public facility.

I think it’d be great for all the kids in the area to have a place to go.”

— Alexander Chandler (from web) Re: Peterson’s ridicule of leftist viewpoints runs contrary to the spirit of academia “For me, using the honorific, or title a person wishes and is entitled to use is a matter of good manners. I know people who wish to be referred to as “they” and it would be boorish, indeed ungentlemanly, not to do so. Again, using inclusive language is a courtesy and a graceful habit easily learned. Dr. Peterson I gather has a problem with this kind of thing, poor fellow, what an ungracious chap to be sure.”

— John Harrison (from web) “I can empathize with certain sentiments expressed in this article. I’ve gotten into some arguments with Petersonites through Twitter and experienced groups of anonymous trolls harassing me.

I know this is a sentiment shared by others as well. For example, when Peterson quote tweets people he hates he knows he’s siccing his dogs on his opponents and his online cult members very often inundate timelines with hate and profanity…

For me, however, his ultimate hypocrisy is found through his proposed AI program and his inclination to wipe out entire fields of study in top down fashion because they espouse “postmodern neo-Marxist” rhetoric or something like that. This is particularly troubling because his grasp on these topics is tenuous at best. Notice how he never really engages with the specific literature and just makes broad sweeping statements or that he’s never published anything in peer reviewed journals on these topics?

At the end of the day this doesn’t excuse some of the vitriol and shout downs he’s experienced from the left, but his petty doxxing of students and systematic purging of coursework he doesn’t like does nothing to reinforce Peterson as a principled interlocutor of open debate.”

— Cameron Rogers (from web) Re: Op-ed: What’s at stake for your $0.50 each term?

“What I find so interesting is that it’s often the free speech folks that promote a “diversity of opinions” that are usually the ones that want to squash groups that provide students with resources to challenge the status quo.”

— Adriano D’Alessandro (from web) Re: Op-ed: What does OPIRG even do with $147K? “Here we go again! Let’s start by how this referendum came to be. For a referendum to run it needs 5000 signatures, for some reasons this only required 250 and was

approved by-----. This is why you should vote “NO” Opirg does good work for those in need. It’s social justice movements on campus is through outreach and collaboration. By actively trying to defund an organization that actually work with marginalized folks on campus is alarming.

It seems you have never come into contact with any they do. Chris, sitting on a computer going through their websites is different than being on the ground promoting good work, I guess you fall under the former. Who are you targeting next, SBA, WUSC? It is disheartening to see this is where we have come too. I guess some people like us have to fight some wars more than once to win or be heard. For all my people I know you are reading this, let’s not let good work be destroyed by “politics of convenience”. Reading my comment go to utsu.simplyvoting.com and vote “NO” to the referendum.”

— Emmanuela Alimlim (from web)

Editorial

November 27, 2017 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

Back to work, but for how long?

While it facilitated students’ return to classrooms, the Ontario government’s response to the college strike was an unsatisfactory approach to resolving the labour dispute The Varsity Editorial Board

The five-week-long college faculty strike, which brought over 12,000 workers to the picket lines, has come to an abrupt end after just over a month of grueling standstill. On October 16, employees from 24 colleges, collectively represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), went on strike to fight for at least 50 per cent of faculty members to work full-time and to improve job security. The College Employer Council, which bargains on behalf of the college administrations, said that OPSEU’s demands would cost $250 million, which would result in thousands of lost contract positions. As a result, both sides dug their feet into the sand, refusing to come to an agreement.

What ultimately broke the tension was the Ontario government’s decision to swoop in with back-to-work legislation — thereby sending both workers and students back to the classroom. Although this undoubtedly came as a relief to many students previously left in limbo, we cannot in good faith praise the province’s actions without critically examining their consequences. The fact is that the conflict between college administrations and faculty is far from resolved, and the invocation of back-to-work legislation was but a band-aid solution to the underlying struggles that pushed employees to the picket lines in the first place.

It is true that, in stopping the strike, the province has at least temporarily alleviated the concerns of the many students who suffered substantially as a result of missing classes. While college administrations and faculty played tug-of-war, half a million students across the province had their educations abruptly suspended or halted altogether. Over 1,000 students at UTM and UTSC have also been affected, given the joint programs the university hosts in conjunction with colleges in the Greater Toronto Area.

While it is encouraging that the province plans to provide students with compensation for the coursework they missed, there is no tangible way to turn back the clock. A recent press release by the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario outlined the dilemma students now face: either call it a wash and bear the temporal and financial burden of a lost semester, or try to cram five weeks worth of course material into the little time that remains before end of session. Some colleges have suggested that classes will extend into winter break, ridding students of time that might otherwise have been spent with family and friends over the holidays.

International students were put in a particularly vulnerable position in this regard, given that their very ability to remain in Canada is often contingent on their ability to continue their studies. The strike’s indeterminate end time resulted in a scramble to extend study permits, which likely resulted in substantial stress for many students. Now, though other students have the option of taking time off to re-evaluate, some interna-

tional students will be forced to remain enrolled in order to maintain their immigration status. This is on top of the financial costs associated with having to stay longer than necessary in a foreign country.

There is therefore a clear need to prevent the negative repercussions of strikes on students and other affected parties, as opposed to merely trying to remedy them after the fact. What this requires is long-term, sustainable support for workers, as well as meaningful negotiation mechanisms. By abruptly bringing an end to the conflict, Ontario has merely postponed its resolution.

Strikes are actions of last resort that result from logjam in the collective bargaining process. When workers have exhausted other options, taking to the picket lines may be the only reasonable way to push administrations to step up to the plate. In this case, it is reasonable to assume that the tensions that brought faculty to the point of no return will come to a head again in the future.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Local 3902 Unit 1, which represents teaching assistants among others at U of T, went on strike in 2015. The dispute’s ultimate conclusion was unsatisfactory for many people.

In a move that some workers felt was inadequate, the union voted to stop striking and enter binding arbitration — a process that ultimately favoured the administration. Meanwhile, the underlying issues that culminated in the strike were left to fester until partially addressed in 2016, when the university eventually acquiesced to some of the union’s demands. Today, negotiations are ongoing between the administration and Unit 1, along with Unit 3, which represents sessional lecturers and other academic instructors and assistants. Unit 3 recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate, citing familiar concerns about precarious job security and lack of paths to permanent employment, though a tentative agreement with the administration has now been reached.

The fact that the Ontario government ultimately sent students back to school also does not absolve it of its share of the blame for ongoing problems between administrations and workers. Despite the government’s recent labour law reforms, as reported by CBC News, about 80 per cent of college faculty members are part-time workers, and colleges and universities continue to rely on parttime staff. The province has yet to put forth any substantial remedies to the precarious conditions often associated with this type of employment — conditions in which contract workers are being paid less than their fulltime colleagues and have far fewer benefits.

It might also be argued that the province’s ability to invoke such measures comes at the expense of ensuring labour negotiations are as meaningful and genuine as possible.

While both OPSEU and the colleges are responsible for ensuring staff have adequate working conditions, college administrations are the ones that directly collect fees from

DARREN CHENG/THE VARSITY

students, meaning they bear the additional responsibility of ensuring their educations are not unduly disrupted. With the cloud of back-to-work legislation hanging over their heads, college administrations are not given enough incentive to bargain in good faith with their faculty, putting workers at a clear disadvantage in the process.

It’s a good thing that students are back in class — but considering the strategy taken to get them there, the ends don’t justify the means. Negotiations between administration and faculty must continue in the spirit of securing a long-term, sustainable solution to this conflict. The province also has a responsibility to create conditions that are conducive to meaningful negotiation instead of

waiting until the eleventh hour to take action.

Meanwhile, it would serve the U of T administration well to revisit its responsibilities to students and employees alike. Hopefully what happened with the college strike has not set precedent for how labour negotiations will be resolved in the future, particularly in the event that another strike threatens to break out at the university.

The Varsity’s editorial board is elected by the masthead at the beginning of each semester.

For more information about the editorial policy, email editorial@thevarsity.ca.

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For William

A student reflects on the suicid

Hasseeb Hassaan Varsity Contributor

Content warning: discussions of suicide Walking back into Pine Ridge Secondary School felt amazing. It was reading week at the University of Toronto, and after finishing our first semester, William and I were returning to visit some of our favourite teachers from high school. They seemed thrilled to see us again; they asked us how university was going and gave us advice for the future.

I recall one of our teachers, a former U of T student, telling us how hard the winter season was for him during university. “There’s just something about that place,” he said. Most U of T students would agree with this sentiment: campus can be a dark place in the winter, filled with exhausted students writing essays and studying for exams. He told us that school was no easy feat; he told us to always keep our mental health in check. We left that day feeling hopeful — we were encompassed by warmth and love from our old educators.

One week later, I would return to Pine Ridge to see my teachers again, but this time it was under different circumstances. William had died the night before.

I remember the night I found out.

I remember every detail. I remember the call, the disbelief that came with it, and the crying that followed. How could this happen? I had just lost one of my best friends.

Old friends I met William in grade nine in my homeroom math class. To this day, I still don’t understand how we became friends. I was a short kid with an awkward personality and he was a good-

Suicides per 100

35

30

Number of people

25

20

15

10

5

0 15-39

PEARL CAO/THE VARSITY

10

looking athlete over.

We seemed we clicked insta ball and rugby captain of our bench-warmer w He brought out me the confiden council, and vo campaign. We cheerleaders, s in everything we When I rece letter to U of T, person I called. had been accep ing to play for th team. I couldn’t I was going to u my closest frien But life has a ing. When I firs had died, I coul cess that he wa lieve it.

I didn’t know liam had been disorder. Accord Addiction and M bipolar disorder sive illness, as — is a medical people to dev swings. “These people think, b CAMH tells us.

I couldn’t tell s Sure, there we moody and frust ognized it to be William could ge At the beginn U of T, William s tal health servi these services a strapped by low staff. I fear for o campus who are

de of his best friend and the importance of mental health conversations for men

d like opposites, but antly. We played foottogether; he was the team, and I was the who cheered him on. the best in me, gave nce to run for student olunteered to run my e were each others’ supporting each other e did. eived my acceptance , William was the first . As it turned out, he pted too and was gohe Varsity Blues rugby have been happier — university with one of nds. a weird way of operatst learned that William ldn’t immediately proas gone. I couldn’t be-

it at the time, but Wilsuffering from bipolar ding to the Centre for Mental Health (CAMH), r — or manic-depress it used to be called condition that causes velop extreme mood e swings affect how behave and function,”

something was wrong. ere days William was strated, but I never rece a problem. Besides, et through anything. ning of our first year at started using the menices on campus. But appeared inadequate, w funding and scarce other students on this e going through similar

struggles. How can we help students dealing with worsening mental health issues if we don’t have the sufficient resources on campus to help them?

Calls for better mental health resources have been made by student leaders. Just this past month, the administration proposed a new mental health policy that would allow ‘high risk’ students to be taken out of the classroom. However, no mental health officials would have to be officially consulted in the process. Instead, the power would be left to the Vice-Provost Students.

This is a humiliating situation to put any student through. U of T’s administration needs to find a balance between respecting students’ dignity and doing what is best for them. More funding is needed, and mental health services must be more accessible to students from all backgrounds.

Students often suffer in silence.

And, in my experience, this is particularly apparent in men.

A silent epidemic In a report written on male suicide, Dr. Dan Bilsker and Dr. Jennifer White state that “suicide in men has been described as a ‘silent epidemic’: epidemic because of its high incidence and substantial contribution to men’s mortality, and silent because of a lack of public awareness, a paucity of explanatory research, and the reluctance of men to seek help for suiciderelated concerns.”

The report continued noting that “suicide is the second leading cause of potential years of life lost [PYLL] by men compared with women, reflecting both men’s higher rate of suicide and the relatively young age at which many suicide deaths occur. In Canada, suicide accounts for about 10% of all PYLL for men.”

Suicide often occurs during for-

0,000 Canadians (2009)

Male Female

40-59

60+

Age (years)

Percentage of deaths caused by suicide in Canada (2009)

Male

25

Female

20

Percentage

whom girls swooned

15 10 5 0

10-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

Age (years) SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

mative years, like during university.

These influential years can become incredibly difficult, and not all of us have the resources to seek help.

Additionally, it is important that mental and physical health conversations acknowledge intersections of gender, class, race, disability, and sexual orientation in people’s lives. Not all of us are given the privileges in life to seek help. Not all of us have the same support system. Not all us have a family that supports who we are.

Suicide rates fluctuate based on these intersections; because of this, it is difficult to accurately and deeply understand the issue. A comprehensive mental health plan needs to consider multiple intersections and experiences in life. Only once this happens can we mitigate the problem.

But how do we help? How can we help reverse the silent epidemic?

The significance of Movember Campaigns like Movember seek to fundraise and raise awareness around issues of men’s health. Movember began in Australia in 2003. The idea was simple: find 30 men who are willing to grow out their moustaches for the entirety of November. From humble beginnings, the movement has since spread across the world.

The Movember Foundation of Canada focuses on three main issues affecting men’s health: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and suicide prevention. They do this through funding organizations and programs that are invested in these issues. Last year, the foundation raised $15.5 million for men’s health programs. They funded projects like the Canadian Men’s Health & Wellbeing Innovation Challenge, which looks to “support the implementation of outside the box proof of concept ideas that disrupt long held assumptions/myths about men and their health.” Currently, the Movember movement has raised over $800 million and has over five million participants.

People have debated viral campaigns like Movember, questioning if

the campaign overtakes the actual issue. For example, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge — which raised money for people suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — was described as ‘slacktivism’ and was thought to have had little impact on the people it was supposed to help. However, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $100 million USD for ALS patients.

This funded a number of research projects, one of which identified a gene associated with the disease, opening a door for treatment possibilities.

Arguably, this sentiment may have truth to it, but the proof is in the pudding: Movember has raised an incredible amount of money by simply growing out moustaches.

Societal norms play into a hypermasculine ideal where men are often quiet about what’s affecting their mental health. There is a stigma behind this; many men don’t seek help for fear of getting ridiculed by their peers. Movember seeks to move past the stigma. Everyone deserves love, support, and to feel like they belong.

I grow my moustache for William.

I want to do everything in my power to make sure other men don’t have to suffer in silence.

What I’ve learned I think about William every day. I don’t know where I would be without him. I owe him so much, and I don’t think I have made it up to him. I still ask myself everyday if I could have done something. Could I have said something? Would it have helped? I had nightmares after he died; I would wake up sweating profusely. I hated myself. I blamed myself. I still do.

Losing a friend, a mentor, and someone I considered family was hard. It was the loneliest I had ever felt. It was the worst year of my life.

I couldn’t turn to anyone. Sometimes I would spend the whole day scrolling through his social media feeds reminiscing about the times we had.

A part of me went missing when William passed away, and I didn’t know

how to find it again.

I slipped into a depressive state of my own. University felt impossible to go through, and every time I stepped on campus I instinctively thought of the day I learned of his death.

But in times of darkness, I found light. Instead of focusing on the bad, I focused on the good that William did.

I needed to exemplify the traits that I admired in him.

So I decided to get involved in my community again. I stepped up to the plate like he would have wanted me to. Now, I want to do him proud.

Remember to take care of yourself this exam season. If you’re struggling, talk to the ones you love about your mental health. You are never alone, and going through everything by yourself only makes it harder. Seek help and fight for more accessible mental health services for students on campus. This epidemic is tragic, and we need to stick together to fight back.

Conversations need to happen about men’s mental health. We need to challenge our concept of masculinity because it is literally a life-or-death situation. Men shouldn’t feel timid about speaking on issues that affect them. Grow a moustache, wear it with pride, and know that people all around the world are behind you and are benefitting from it.

It’s been more than two years since William’s passing. He meant so much to me and the people around him that I didn’t realize how much of an impact he had until the day of his funeral. That day, I witnessed people from every part of his life show up.

Everyone was just as broken as I was. When the ceremony ended, we performed our high-school rugby chant, “The Babaloo,” outside of the church for the first time without our fallen friend. We sung so loud that those in heaven could hear us — I hope he did too.

I never got the chance to tell him I loved him. So just know: I love you brother. I miss you friend. I’ll see you one day.

SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

11

Arts&Culture

November 27, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Why is Toronto's hip-hop scene stagnating?

A push to move away from melodic and slightly more aggressive melodic singing Kevin Yin Varsity Columnist

With Drake and The Weeknd dominating the charts, Tory Lanez carving out significant space for himself in the industry, and B-listers like Jazz Cartier, Roy Woods, and Killy rising on YouTube and SoundCloud, it’s easy to get carried away with pride for the music coming out of Toronto. But if our city is ever to be side by side with the likes of New York, Atlanta, LA, and Chicago as a cultural centre of hip hop, it’s going to need to diversify.

At least in the beginning of a city’s musical evolution, it’s crucial to have a sound. For New York, this was boom bap in the ’70s, buoyed by artists like KRS-One, who coined the term, and driven further into the ’90s by prolific figures like Nas. For Los Angeles, it was G-funk in the ’90s, guided by Dr. Dre’s greasy bass lines and funk-inspired synths, combined with Snoop Dogg’s effortless and relaxed delivery.

Toronto is in an evolutionary period itself, but it’s starting to get boring.

Drake’s sing-rap style, along with Noah “40” Shebib’s atmospheric production on songs like “Hold On, We’re Going Home” and “One Dance,” redirected hip-hop to ballad romances, dancehall, and more introspective themes. This was a needed change.

With the rise of The Weeknd following in Drake’s footsteps of emotional introspection, Toronto has added drug-addled sex and depression to the list of topics that artists are exploring in hip-hop and R&B. The hardships of romance, the human ego, and the widespread abuse of drugs and alcohol that artists seem to be aware of but rarely make efforts to change are almost the entirety of Toronto artists’ subject matter. This is hardly unique in hip-hop. Toronto,

CARISSA CHEN/THE VARSITY

however, delivers these themes in a melancholy drone, usually framed around suspicion of peers and an ever-creeping sadness.

If we were to characterize Toronto’s production, it would be by a diehard love of minor keys, ambient synths, and heavy reverb on vocals.

The emphasis is on the words; the instrumentals take a backseat. Shebib personally likes to muffle drums for segments at the beginning of verses, a great indicator in any track that Drake is about to talk about his ‘tings.’

Piano is common in Toronto production, but it’s often so far in the background or so layered with effects that it hardly resembles the original instrument. We borrow our sharp trappy snares and rattling hi-hats from Atlanta; sometimes R&B artists will trade these for dancehall-style beats.

This is a style unique to us, one with a lot of artistic merit and definitely worth pursuing. But like all great bearers of music culture, Toronto must evolve to maintain its relevance.

Roy Woods is essentially a lyrically deficient version of The Weeknd, and the even lesser-known anders a rehash of Woods. Tory Lanez has a particularly interesting soft-to-aggressive vocal range that he uses to great effect on “Fallback” and “B.L.O.W.,” but listen to the instrumentals on either of these and you’ll hear the same drowned piano and trap influence.

Cartier and Killy deserve some credit for their willingness to experiment, but they fall in a similar trap.

Cartier’s producer, Lantz, has developed an orchestral trap beat style that almost won Cartier a XXL spot, and an unreleased Killy song, tentatively titled "No Sad Days in LA," has soar-

ing, razor sharp guitar riffs and furiously satisfying bars. The two boast a similar energy to Lanez and a tasteful use of autotune, but they nonetheless fail to escape the gravitational pull of our attachment to minor keys and similar drum beats.

This isn’t to say these artists are identical or not worth listening to.

Nor is this a call for New York boom bap revival — which Joey Bada$$ did, and is done. The problem is that every new Toronto artist who releases music along the same lines of sing-rap and emotional crooning limits our chances of raising the next Chance the Rapper, Anderson .Paak, or Kanye West. There is more musical space to explore, and the market exists for it, yet Toronto artists seem afraid to do so.

Rare is it to hear jazzy dissonant chords in Toronto instrumentals,

and yet Mac Miller’s “Dang!” was well received for it. Any vocal styles other than melodic singing — and slightly more aggressive melodic singing — are for the most part shunned by Toronto artists. Yet Chance the Rapper is one of the biggest stars of our generation. Goldlink also employs one of the more interesting vocal techniques in the industry today, and his single “Crew” was recently certified platinum. Anderson .Paak borrows from soul, disco, and jazz, and was nominated for two Grammys. Run the Jewels produced a whole album with only cat noises and vocals. What exactly is our excuse?

The demand for new and revolutionary material never ceases. Toronto consumers are not lovers of just Toronto hip-hop, but hip-hop in all its flavours. There’s no reason we should limit our palate to one or two.

Shows we always come back to Our contributors share their favourite TV series MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

Varsity Contributors

You're probably familiar with the ritual of contemplating how much work you have to do and briefly engaging in an anxiety spiral before turning to your laptop and opening Netflix. Here are some of the shows that our contributors return to time and time again for a bit of nostalgia, or just to shut off for a little while.

I’ve watched the American version of The Office at least four times. Michael’s awkward and inappropriate behaviour combined with Pam and

Jim’s continuing love story made the show irresistible to me. There was always something charming about the modest Dunder Mifflin office and the people working within it that reminded me to laugh at the smallest of situations.

It’s a show I’ll keep returning to — there’s nothing like laying on your bed, eating soggy Hawaiian pizza and salt and vinegar chips while watching Dwight throw the perfect Garden Party.

— Kaitlyn Simpson The show I always go back to is Friends. It’s feel-good, funny, and

the characters and storylines are still relatable today. It’s a great show to watch after a stressful day of classes.

— Khyrsten Mieras I always like to go back to Avatar: The Last Airbender because I like to reconnect with fantasy and magic, and keep myself curious about the world.

— Vivian Li How I Met Your Mother is just a great feel-good, romance-comedy show for when you don’t want to think too hard. Plus, I binged the

whole thing when I was 10, so I feel a bit of nostalgia too.

— Kevin Yin My show of choice is Lizzie McGuire, my go-to for whenever I’m feeling lost or contemplating my life. Definitely a must for those Fridays when I’m missing more stressfree days.

— Carol Eugene Park My personal mission in life is to get as many people as I can to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. All it takes is one hilarious cold open followed by its intro music, and I am home,

if home were a NYPD precinct in Brooklyn, New York. As a woman of colour, I am tired of seeing shows about five or six white people taking on New York — I’ve watched Friends and How I Met Your Mother, been there done that — where people of colour and queer people make up sidelined, undeveloped characters.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine features both without reducing their characters to their sexuality or ethnicity. If you want a show that is both funny and self-aware, I recommend Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It is, in one word, noice.

— Zeahaa Rehman

NOVMBER 27, 2017 • 13

var.st/arts

Inside the resurgence of alternative history Why television, movies, and video games are exploring alternative timelines and dystopian futures Aljosa Kljujic Varsity Contributor

After Donald Trump won the American presidential election last year, books that depict dystopian worlds flew to the top of the Amazon bestsellers list, including literary classics such as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here, and George Orwell’s 1984.

All of these books aim to depict a world that is simultaneously different yet similar to our own. Exploring the question of ‘what if?’ has obvious appeal in fiction, and depicting different worlds can be both genuinely unsettling and intriguing to consumers. This question has been explored not only in literature, but also in television and even video games.

People have always turned to fiction as a means of coping and for guidance in their lives, and we can see this happening with Trump's administration. Trump made false claims about the turnout on the day of his inauguration. His press secretary at the time, Sean Spicer, described the crowd as “the largest audience to ever witness the inauguration,” an obvious lie. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager in the general election, was besieged with criticism for defending Spicer, using her now infamous phrase ‘alternative facts.’ The administration’s habit of playing loose with facts echoes the manipulations of truth by the totalitarian party depicted in 1984.

Similarly, It Can’t Happen Here is a satire of America in the 1930s if President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had lost to a candidate similar to Trump, named Buzz Windrip.

Windrip is believed to have been based on Huey Long, a governor of Louisiana who was assassinated in 1935 and was often criticized for his perceived dictatorial tendencies.

Recently in television and film, darker narratives like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards have resonated with consumers. Several of the highest grossing films of the past few years have been gritty and violent; compared to past adaptations, the latest Superman films coming out of the DC Extended Universe have been exceedingly cynical. Last year, Deadpool, a raunchy and violent superhero film, also became the highest grossing R-rated film of all time.

Dystopian narratives also fit into this category. Perhaps that is why alternative history is having a renaissance in fiction, as the oppressive worlds depicted have increasing similarities to our own.

This phenomenon began in 2015 with Amazon’s post-World War II series The Man In The High Castle, adapted from the Philip K. Dick novel, which depicts how America might have been affected had the Allied powers lost and imperial Japan and Nazi Germany occupied the US. Dick’s bibliography has been mined by Hollywood before: films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, and A Scanner Darkly are adaptations of his work.

The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a dystopian future in which women are valued only for their reproductive abilities, has not only gained popularity as a novel, but as a 10-episode television adaptation premiered by Hulu this past year.

The critical hit won five Emmy

Awards and was the first series on a streaming service to win best series. With the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards still to come, The Handmaid’s Tale looks set to sweep even more awards, continuing the paradigm shift of streaming services challenging established networks for the attention of viewers.

In July, HBO announced it had ordered a television program by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss titled Confederate, a drama that takes place in an alternate timeline where the southern states successfully seceded and slavery remained legal.

The announcement was highly controversial.

Another relevant example of alternate history’s resurging popularity in mainstream culture is Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, an alternative history sci-fi video game developed by Machine Games and published by Bethesda Softworks. Some took the game's marketing campaign as a response to the events at Charlottesville this past summer, especially its use of hashtags like #NoMoreNazis.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Pete Hines, the vice president of marketing at Bethesda Softworks, addressed the matter in clear terms. “We did use references to recent events in our social media to highlight parallels between what’s taking place in the game and what’s happening in our country,” said Hines. “Ultimately the marketing and the game are about the same, simple message: Nazis are bad, and in Wolf II you get to kick their asses and it’s fun.”

A playlist for the impending doom of finals

Yasaman Mohaddes Varsity Contributor

Exam season is upon us. Here’s a list of some mellow tunes to make those all-nighters at Robarts a little more bearable.

“Mykonos” by Fleet Foxes Anything from Fleet Foxes is good study music, but this song will help you turn out that final paper while swaying along to this melancholic tune.

“I Need My Girl” by The National A slow tempo song, great for some reading on a rainy day.

“Rivers and Roads” by The Head and the Heart This song is full of nostalgia, which will make you look forward to going home for the holidays.

“The Night We Met” by Lord Huron Any 13 Reasons Why fans will recognize this one. Sorry if it makes you cry to think about Hannah and Clay again.

“Michigan” by The Milk Carton Kids I’ll admit it, this song’s really depressing. But so is emailing your professor 10 times in one day asking for help on an assignment and getting no response, so it’s fitting.

“Sense of Home” by Harrison Storm A classic melancholic acoustic track that will make you wish you were sipping some hot chocolate by the fireplace at home right now.

“We Never Met” by Donovan Woods Don’t you wish you had never

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

met your professors and you could be at home sipping that hot chocolate instead of writing a 15-page essay in one night? Or is that just me?

“Walk Unafraid” by First Aid Kit This Swedish sister duo is one of my favourite bands of all time. Their harmonies and Americana tunes are out of this world. This track was originally released for the movie Wild and will make you feel just as empowered as Reese Witherspoon so that you can crush your finals.

“Blessed” by Daniel Caesar I am eternally jealous of those who have tickets to his December shows in Toronto.

If you’re one of the lucky ones, use this song as a small reminder that you’ll be having fun again soon.

“Monday Loop” by Tomppabeats A groovy instrumental that will make reading an entire semester’s worth of readings in one night seem easy.

“A Little Death” by The Neighbourhood Another groovy tune that might make you want to start dancing in the library. Don’t worry, I won’t judge.

“Let’s Go Surfing” by The Drums Everyone needs a study break.

Blast this song and dance around your room for some much needed stress relief, and maybe start dreaming up your next vacation.

14 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

CORPUS dance company presents: House Guests The intimate performance explores the home as a site for art Sabrina Ramroop Varsity Columnist

CORPUS, a Toronto-based dance company, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with its newest show, House Guests, in which David Danzon, the company’s artistic director, invites you into his home for a site-specific dance and performative installation.

The show’s setting in Danzon’s house limits the audience to 20 people, making it a small but intimate production. The cast is comprised of five performers: Michael Caldwell, Rob Feetham, Indrit Kasapi, Jolyane Langlois, and Takako Segawa. They move throughout the house, allowing guests to roam freely and view the multiple performances occurring at the same time.

House Guests contests the boundaries of performance by relocating from a traditional theatre setting to a home. “I thought it would be an interesting challenge to bring the sitespecificity of my approach to things indoors, with walls surrounding the space,” said Danzon.

Danzon bought his house 17 years ago, but because of all the travelling that he does, he chooses to sublet it. “Over the years, many people have lived in this house, and I don’t know whether to call it my house anymore because I like to think that they’ve left their fingerprints on the walls and in the air."

The show’s performers drew inspiration from the house’s past inhabitants, spending two weeks of the creation period exploring its spaces. From there, characters began to develop, as did certain themes.

The performers are co-creators of the show, incorporating the feelings they derived from the house into inspiration for one

The production takes place in the home of artistic director David Danzon. PHOTO BY JAE YUNG, COURTESY OF CORPUS

another. “The idea was not to transform the existing spaces, but to use what was there...

There was no script to begin with,” said Danzon.

Each performer found inspiration from the house’s different rooms and translated that into mediums such as dance, song, gesture, and even Japanese folk tale.

The performers use improvisation to in-

corporate the audience members as they move freely through the residence, causing performances to feel more intimate, as the audience feels included. Through these interactive performances, the viewer becomes a house guest.

“Ultimately I’m more interested with experiences than the dance form or the theatre form,” said Danzon. “In terms of the relation-

ship with the audience, I always take the audience’s perspective into consideration when I create a show, and it’s the relationship to the audience that I want to investigate and I like to try to find things to twist expectations around.”

House Guests runs from November 21 to December 17.

Grease gets an update in its tech-savvy Toronto production Matthew Haber of design studio BeSide Digital explains the challenges of updating the show

Janel Parrish as Sandy and Dylan S. Wallach as Danny in Grease.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GREASE TORONTO

Reut Cohen Arts & Culture Editor

The run of Toronto’s Grease the Musical was recently extended to January 7 at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, which the show attributes to the “amazing support” it’s received from the city. The production, which stars Janel Parrish as Sandy, Dylan S. Wallach as Danny, and Katie Findlay as

Rizzo, makes heavy use of onstage technology, including animations and projections.

This is the work of Matthew Haber, the cofounder and managing director of BeSide Digital, a New York City-based experimental design studio. Haber is one of few Americans working on the production, and he travelled frequently back and forth from New York City to Toronto to create the large scale virtual designs that appear in the show. The Varsity spoke to Haber to

discuss maintaining a balance between Grease’s 1950s setting, and the modern sensibility provided by the incorporation of technology.

The Varsity: How did you become involved in the production design for Grease?

Matthew Haber: The set designer Paul DePoo, and I had designed a show together a couple years back. When Josh Prince, the director of Grease, brought up a desire for world-building scenic projections, Paul suggested that BeSide and my approach to multimedia storytelling might be a good match for Josh’s vision.

TV: What were some of the challenges involved in the show’s production design?

MH: The story of Grease is really a personal story about young love between the characters.

Any time I’m creating physically large-scale projections for a show that has a human-scale story, it’s a challenge to develop a design approach that supports the actors on stage instead of dwarfing them and their storytelling. For Grease, we had to develop compositional and stylistic techniques for the integration of the projection design to ensure that we were most effectively melding our work with the action on stage.

TV: Were you ever concerned about anachronism in using projection or other technology in the show and its setting in the 1950s, or whether this would distract the audience?

MH: Absolutely. We worked really hard to develop an aesthetic sensibility for the show that would help build the world of working class 1950s Chicago in a way that felt analogue and

authentic instead of cold and digital. Typically we might rely heavily on techniques such as 3D animation, but for Grease, my team collected thousands of period images and videos over several weeks of research, and those formed much of the visual foundation of the design and really guided the way we constructed the computergenerated visuals that we do have. For example, in “Grease Lightning,” the characters are catapulted through 1950s Chicago surrounded by a complex CGI cityscape, but rather than looking harsh and animated, we developed a look for the sequence that feels more like a vintage postcard come to life.

TV: What sets Grease apart from other shows you’ve worked on, and what should potential playgoers know about the show?

MH: The vast majority of the shows I’ve designed in the past are new plays and musicals, so we’re really working from a clean slate in terms of the visual and narrative vocabularies of the production. Grease carries with it the baggage of an untold number of stage productions as well as the iconic film. Josh, the director, and my fellow designers and I have worked to respect that heritage while also trying to create a production that feels simultaneously true to the show’s roots and fresh for a contemporary audience.

TV: Finally, what is your favourite song from Grease?

MH: Definitely “Grease Lightning,” but that may be because of all the times I listened to it while we created animation for it.

Science

November 27, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Goodbye diarrhea, hello nutritious instant noodles U of T researchers receive $200,000 to tackle global health issues Utkarshna Sinha Varsity Contributor

Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) has awarded two global health projects based at U of T with $200,000 to tackle problems such as food contamination and nutritional deficiency in developing countries.

GCC, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, announced $2 million of funding for the first 20 recipients of the Stars in Global Health funding program. They awarded seed grants of $100,000 for researchers to develop innovative ideas to improve living conditions of vulnerable women and children across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Testing for foodborne bacteria in Egypt Dr. Benjamin Hatton, a researcher in U of T’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is developing a fast, low cost, and easy-to-use test to identify bacteria in food.

Bacterial food contamination can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, and even death, especially in pregnant women and infants who are more susceptible to bacterial infections due their weaker immune systems.

“Even though diarrhea is a nuisance in this part of the world, it can be a significant health hazard,” explained Hatton. According to him, it is associated with child mortality rates as high as 10–15 per cent in poorer parts of the world.

Hatton is working with researchers Dr. Tarek Awad and Dr. Dalal Asker at Alexandria University in Egypt, where they will test their innovation. He describes his innovation as a “litmus test” that will allow mothers to check whether food is contaminated before

they feed their child.

The team hopes to take advantage of the high cell phone usage in the area to visualize bacteria with its camera and track cases of diarrhea. They also plan to test local disinfection products in Egyptian communities and engage in community outreach to teach locals about food testing and cleaning methods.

“If we are successful with this [project] in Egypt, we would be looking to try it in other countries in North Africa and other parts of the world,” Hatton added.

Supplementing instant noodles with spirulina in the Philippines The second awardee is a project led by Dr. David McMillen, a researcher in Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences at UTM, who developed his idea at U of T’s Impact Centre.

According to GCC, around 50 per cent of Filipinos do not have adequate protein in their diet, and about 35 per cent of children under the age of five are anemic, which is caused by iron deficiency. McMillen’s project proposes using Spirulina, a nutritious algae and rich source of essential amino acids, iron, and vitamins A, B12 and K, to combat nutrient deficiencies in the Philippines.

McMillen plans to supplement instant ramen noodles, a local staple commonly consumed by children, with a Spirulina “flavour pack.” “[Instant ramen noodles] are cheap because there’s almost nothing in them — they’re plain noodles and salt with some fat but very low on any form of protein or iron,” explained McMillen.

The funding provided by GCC will help McMillen’s team develop methods to pro-

Dr. Benjamin Hatton and his team are developing a test for bacterial food contamination.

COURTESY OF GRAND CHALLENGES CANADA

Dr. David McMillen is working to supplement instant noodles with nutritious algae.

COURTESY OF GRAND CHALLENGES CANADA

duce Spirulina locally in Napsan, a village in Palawan, Philippines. They will work to determine the optimal conditions for growth, harvesting, and distribution. With enough production, Spirulina can be exported to larger markets and create jobs for local mothers. In the long term, McMillen hopes to establish locally grown Spirulina in other villages with nutritional deficiencies.

Grand Challenges Canada Awards Liam Brown, a spokesperson for GCC, describes the awarded projects as early stage ideas that are critical in driving innovation and addressing challenges faced by women and children around the world. The funding is awarded to researchers in Canada and low-

to-middle income countries where the work is done.

Once these projects have been developed over the next year and have a scalable solution, they will be invited to submit their project to GCC’s Transition to Scale program to implement their ideas at a larger scale.

In addition to the Stars in Global Health and the Transition to Scale programs, GCC also funds innovations through other programs, with focuses ranging from mental health to early childhood development, that target the poorest and most vulnerable women and children.

In total, GCC has funded 800 innovations in over 80 countries that they estimate will save up to one million lives by 2030.

Alumni startup iMerciv wins TELUS Pitch BuzzClip wearable technology for visually impaired chosen as grand prize winner

Bin Liu and Arjun Mali, co-founders of iMerciv, were awarded the $100,000 for their product, the BuzzClip. COURTESY OF GRAY ALETTER

Leslie E. Oldfield Varsity Contributor

The final prototype for the BuzzClip, a mobility tool for the blind, culminated after 18 months of research and design, and it is now being used by more than 800 individuals.

This project, developed by Bin Liu, a U of T civil engineering graduate and co-founder of iMerciv, was awarded $100,000 through the TELUS Pitch small business competition. Recognized for their promising startup, the team won the grand prize of $100,000 among nearly 3,000 entries. The panel of

judges included Arlene Dickinson, the CEO of District Ventures Capital. The other two finalists, Flashfood and JamStack, received a $10,000 prize. iMerciv specializes in developing technologies to assist those dealing with vision loss, and aims to be a leader in the market by providing a one-stop shop for vision loss and mobility related products. The company’s featured product, the BuzzClip, is a wearable device that uses ultrasound technology to detect obstacles in the user’s path, particularly those at head level. Vibrations notify the user

of an obstacle allowing them to recognize and navigate around the obstacle.

The name iMerciv stems from Liu’s desire to give visually impaired users a living experience that is more immersive. Combined with Liu’s interest in civil engineering, the name iMerciv was chosen.

Upon graduation, Liu was accepted into Techno 2014 program at the Impact Centre, and said that as soon as he was accepted into the program, he contacted Arjun Mali, who became iMerciv’s co-founder with Liu. The two previously researched technology for those living with vision loss, but only began conceptualizing their technology during the program. Both were 23 years old when they founded iMerciv. iMerciv will use the $100,000 grand prize to increase BuzzClip sales and help with production costs of a new product. According to Liu, the money from the competition will help the company expand their presence in Europe and Asia.

It was a personal connection that drove the co-founders to empower and help individuals who are partially sighted or blind. Liu’s father suffers from inoperable glaucoma, and Mali’s family has been supporting a blind orphanage and school in India for decades.

“People with vision loss are hugely underserved,” said Liu in an email to The Varsity.

The ‘ah-ha’ moment for the two came after consulting with users and mobility trainers for the blind, and discovering obstacles at head level are a major challenge for individuals with vision loss.

Despite the company’s current success, iMerciv faced challenges in advertising and manufacturing. “We were not able to market to our target audience through traditional media so we had to come up with new ways to reach end users,” said Liu. The two were able to navigate this challenge by attending conferences and utilizing online communities.

Manufacturing the BuzzClip was a timeconsuming and costly process. Liu and Mali advise entrepreneurs to “look into marketing strategies earlier on, even before the product is ready” and to “plan ahead for manufacturing cost and time and then multiply both by 3x when you do your first batch of production.”

Despite the challenges, Liu fondly remembers shipping out the first batch of the BuzzClip. “It was one of the most fulfilling moments to see our hard work finally coming to fruition,” he said.

A second product is currently underway at iMerciv with pilot tests set to begin in 2018.

“All I can say is that it will be a navigation system for the blind and it will be a game changer,” said Liu.

16 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

A million deaths and counting U of T global death study receives funding from the Connaught Global Challenge Award Keith Cheng Associate Design Editor

“If you want to help the living, count the dead,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha, a recent winner of the Connaught Global Challenge Award for his Million Death Study.

Jha, a Professor of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, has been counting deaths in India since 2002. After almost two decades of research he is finally nearing his million-death goal.

More than 80 per cent of deaths in low- and middle-income countries occur at home and without proper medical diagnoses. As a result, many of the world’s deaths are not properly documented.

The Million Death Study attempts to alleviate these discrepancies between global death data and the actual number of deaths that occur annually. The project is led by Jha who is also the founding director of the Centre for Global Health Research, a non-profit organization cosponsored St. Michael’s Hospital and U of T. The project has recently received $250,000 of funding from the Connaught Global Challenge Award to expand their study. The award, supported by the Connaught Fund, strives to support interdisciplinary research that helps heighten U of T’s global impact.

Data on deaths are collected through what Jha calls “verbal autopsies” — personal accounts of death gathered through interviews with those close to the deceased. Those death records are then reviewed by local doctors who assign a

likely cause of death based on the given information.

The study brings together researchers in demography, epidemiology, computer science, geography, geospatial science, economics, and business to tackle a common problem. “The Connaught helps us... bring together people who don’t normally think about [these] problems... in medicine and public health,” explained Jha. The interdisciplinary nature of the project helps the team make their methods cheaper, faster, and more accessible to a larger demographic. “We want to make it simpler so more countries can adopt this approach,” said Jha. While the project is expected to reach its million-death goal in the near future, India is just the beginning. There are initiatives in place to expand the project to Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone.

Jha intends to build and expand this method of recording death throughout the next few decades. “Hopefully it will become routine [and] every country will have these kinds of systems,” he said.

However, the study is not limited to just low- and middle-income countries where death records are inadequate. Although deaths in Canada are documented with medical certificates that include important information like cause of death and contributory risk factors, that data is not used systematically, according to Jha. “The second part of [this study] is not creating new data, but using existing data in high-income countries to better understand the causes of death, the patterns, the risk factors, [and]

Dr. Prabbat Jha was one of five winners of the Connaught Global Challenge Award.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CGHR

the importance of key drivers of the epidemic.”

Jha hopes that the project will help change our global understanding of death and how we can use it to help the living.

Jha and his team are also working towards making the data from the study accessible to all U of T students. He believes that allowing students to play with this type of data in an unrestricted manner will result in more innovations and insights.

Moving beyond the Million Death Study, Jha hopes to eventually build a what he calls a “death institute” in Canada. The multidisciplinary institute will focus on using mortality statistics to create new systems to help the living.

“A lot more countries are sending people to train [in Canada and] learn about how to set up these systems” said Jha. “So that’s the idea — do a death institute.”

A prime minister for progress Reflections on Trudeau’s promises to science Spencer Y. Ki Varsity Contributor

It was already dark out on October 19, 2015 when Justin Trudeau took to the stage amid thunderous adulation in the Liberal Party headquarters. With the eyes of millions of Canadians on the newly-minted Prime Minister, he promised that, in Canada, “better is always possible.”

Since that night, numerous groups have debated whether a better Canada has indeed become our reality. For the scientific community, the election of Trudeau, following nearly a decade of silencing and suppression under the Harper administration, was the dawn of a brighter era. It is undoubtable now at the halfway point of his mandate that Trudeau has been a far better friend to scientists than Stephen Harper ever was.

Trudeau’s support for the scientific method and those who practice it is no recent development either. In the announcement of his intention to run for Liberal leadership in 2012, he stated that “the only ideology that must guide us is evidence. Hard, scientific facts and data. It may seem revolutionary in today’s Ottawa, but instead of inventing the facts to justify the policies, we will create policy based on facts.”

As an aspiring scientist, it is easy for me to praise Trudeau as a progressive champion for science in light of Harper’s clampdown, but what has Trudeau accomplished in cold, hard fact?

Acknowledging Trudeau as a breath of fresh air for scientists is not simply a hyperbolic partisan claim. Of utmost importance to scientists was Trudeau’s immediate reversal of the Harper government’s policy forbidding federally-funded scientists and other government officials from speaking to the press and public without legal hoops to jump through and permissions

to obtain. There was also the restoration of the mandatory long-form census, to the hearty approval of social scientists everywhere.

However, the lack of suppression is not quite the same thing as progression. What precisely has Trudeau done beyond simply not hampering the efforts of scientists?

Most obvious and appreciable are the appointments made under Trudeau’s administration. As promised, the federal government created the non-partisan position of Chief Science Advisor and filled it with University of Ottawa’s Dr. Mona Nemer this past September.

This was followed by the installation of Julie Payette this October — astronaut, engineer, and businesswoman — as Canada’s 29th Governor General.

The inclusion of scientists and other highachieving people in government, however powerful their roles may actually be, demonstrates that the government is not simply paying lipservice to those who want experts contributing to the decision-making process.

Similar appreciation should be shown for the series of investments made by the federal government into research and green technology.

With the $800-million-promise to a new Innovation Agenda fulfilled, the Liberal government has made it clear that they value the expansion of Canadian industries supported by science.

Likewise, a number of environmentally-friendly decisions like the cancellation of the Northern Gateway Pipeline and the restoration of federal funding into ocean and freshwater research demonstrate a commitment to evidence-based policies.

From the above, it is clear that the realms of science and innovation were not mistaken to place their trust in Trudeau. But, in the spirit of empirical science, it is important to judge the administration not only on its successes, but on

Two years into his term — how has Trudeau measured up in his promises to scientists?

JUSTIN TRUDEAU/CC FLICKR

its failures as well.

There are several decisions and policies that I would call technical failures, where Trudeau made promises for science innovations but did not fully carry through with these promises. An example is the $50 million dollars given to the Industrial Research Assistance Program when $100 million was promised. Others, like the incomplete repeal of the ban on blood donation for LGBTQ men, appear only to be negotiated variants of original promises.

With all of this in mind, I find it is easy to conclude only one thing about the Prime Minister with certainty. Although Trudeau is a vast improvement on Harper with regard to science, he is not the torch-bearing messiah of science that some had hoped him to be, and that perhaps was implied during his campaign.

Yet total pessimism is undue. In the past two years Trudeau has clearly delineated his position as a supporter of scientific progress in Canada, with only the degree to which he is dedicated in question. In a world where anti-intellectualism is becoming increasingly prevalent in democratic governments, scientists — and the public alike — should be thankful for the leadership we have, despite its flaws.

Science Around Town Charmaine Nyakonda Varsity Staff

Towards identifying innate genetic immunity mechanisms in eukaryotes: how do cells distinguish chromosomal from non-chromosomal DNA? Innate and adaptive immunity play a large role in ensuring the survival of species. This seminar addresses the question of how eukaryotes are able to distinguish between chromosomal and non-chromosomal DNA in order to prevent propagation of the latter.

Date: Monday, November 27 Time: 4:00 pm Location: Fitzgerald Building, 150 College Street, Room 103 Admission: Free Introduction to research workshop Prospective student researchers are invited to a Q&A panel discussion featuring upper-year undergraduate and graduate students who will discuss the different types of STEM research at U of T. Executives from the STEM fellowship will also be present to speak on how to seek out research opportunities and funding.

Date: Monday, November 27 Time: 5:00–7:30 pm Location: Gerstein Science Information Centre, 9 King’s College Circle, Alice Moulton Room Admission: Free with registration (full as of press time) World AIDS Day 2017 Global Health Engage is hosting a diverse range of speakers who will discuss what HIV/AIDS progress means in different communities and contexts. This year’s theme is “Repression to Progression.” The day also provides a platform for local and global communities to celebrate the efforts of those who have dedicated their lives to eradicate the disease.

Date: Wednesday, November 29 Time: 6:00–8:00 pm Location: Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle, Great Hall Admission: Free with registration The ArtSci Salon presents: what does A stand for in STEAM? All are welcome to join this unique discussion about the role of ‘A’ in STEAM. There will be a diverse panel of science communicators, educators, and arts practitioners representing different experiences, backgrounds, and areas of research.

Date: Friday, December 1 Time: 5:30–7:30 pm Location: The Fields Institute, 222 College Street Admission: Free with registration

Sports

November 27, 2017 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Blues men’s basketball prevail 86–74 over Laurier Game of guards sees Toronto overcome Golden Hawks

Reilly Reid defends Golden Hawks guard Tevaun Kokko. ALEXANDRA HU/THE VARSITY

Michael Teoh Deputy Senior Copy Editor

Following a tight defeat for the women’s team, the Varsity Blues men’s basketball team took to the court on Friday evening aiming to fell the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and claim their fourth win of the season.

As the opening festivities wrapped up and the cheerleaders vacated the playing space, Toronto geared up for battle against a purple and goldclad Laurier team that had lost a tight 77–76 decision to the Queen’s Gaels the week before.

The Blues ended the first quarter with a resounding 27–14 score. Guard trio Jawara

Pedican, Reilly Reid, and Nikola Paradina dominated proceedings, claiming seven, nine, and five points respectively. Each would also claim a three, as would fellow guards Christopher Barrett and Chase Ruttenberg. During the quarter, the Blues earned a 17-point uncontested run and outclassed the Golden Hawks.

The tides slowly turned in the second quarter, and despite the Blues being ahead by 10 points at around the halfway mark, Laurier went on to earn their own 14-point uncontested run.

Second-year Laurier guard Tevaun Kokko posted impressive stats in the quarter with 14 points. Toronto succumbed to a 29–15 quarter, which meant Laurier entered the second half

with a slim 43–42 lead.

The third quarter began slowly as both teams returned to the court, before Reid and Paradina combined to propel the Blues into a dominating lead. A lethargic Laurier had no response to the rampant duo, who claimed 21 points and eight rebounds in the quarter between them.

As the quarter progressed, Toronto found rhythm, moving the ball around more deftly as Laurier were plagued with sloppy defending and poor forward movement. The Blues posted a 50 per cent shooting record from the field while restricting Laurier to just 30 per cent.

Pulling a 70–56 lead into the fourth quarter, the Blues were content with seeing out the vic-

tory. Both teams had similar control of the ball and, for the first time in the game, neither went on strong runs. Reid’s influence never waned however, as the Blues stayed true to their course and restricted Laurier to an 18–16 final quarter.

Reid led the Blues with a career-high 24 points, adding seven rebounds, with Paradina trailing closely behind with his own career-high 23 points and 12 rebounds. Laurier’s Kokko led the night with 25 points but was likely disappointed that his team were overmatched by Toronto’s physical play on the night.

The victory pushed the Blues to a 4-3 regular season record, occupying sixth place in the OUA eastern conference standings.

How good is Auston Matthews?

Answer: really good Daniel Aykler Varsity Contributor

“At what point do [the] Toronto Maple Leafs have to start playing Matthews one versus five to make it fair for other teams?” asked Brad Marchand, after Auston Matthews, the Leafs’ centre-man and the NHL’s 2016 first-round draft pick, finished on an incredible end-to-end effort against the Montreal Canadiens.

This question is warranted. Matthews has been off to a rapid start this season, netting 12 goals and 21 points in 19 games while leading the Leafs to second place in the Atlantic Division.

If you aren’t already a member of the Matthews fandom, I suggest you join now.

Following his 40-goal rookie season, Matthews has quickly proven himself as a prolific, exciting, and timely goal scorer. That lofty total was enough to tie him for second in the league, a feat comparable only to that of Alex Ovechkin in his rookie season, arguably the greatest pure goal scorer in the league, with 52.

Yet the NHL has taken a dramatic shift since then, with scoring generally on the decline. To put things into perspective, 11 players in Ovechkin’s rookie year had 40 or more goals, while that number drops to just three

in Matthews’ year.

In addition, this admirable output is produced in less than ideal circumstances.

Matthews does not skate on the first power play unit, which can often be a dramatic goal boost for many players. Instead, he led the league last year with 32 even-strength goals, which is not only incredibly difficult, but valuable in the playoffs where less power plays take place.

Further, one player alone cannot win a game, despite what Brad Marchand suggests.

In the case of Matthews, he plays a majority of his shifts with two very talented and hardworking players, William Nylander and Zach Hyman.

Despite their success, these players are still learning and developing their game, finding their place in a relentless league. In comparison, other leading centers such as Steven Stamkos have the privilege of centering a line with Nikita Kucherov, who has been utterly unstoppable this season. Similarly in Edmonton, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are proving to be a perfect pair.

Respectfully, Matthews plays with very capable players, but they unfortunately aren’t comparable to Draisaitl or Kucherov. Yet this does not stop him from producing goals like he plays with those stars. One can only imagine what his assist total would be if he

were passing to players who converted like those two.

Understandably, there are always cases against star players — seeing as they garner so much attention, their inconsistencies are highlighted just as much as their accomplishments. A case can be made that Matthews fails to provide the same opportunities for his teammates as he does for himself, leaving a sub-par assist total and players working for him rather than with him.

Yet, as per Sportsnet, the Leafs’ top line is among the best in the NHL in high danger chances, scoring chances on net, and passes to the slot. Essentially, the chances are there, and they aren’t all for Matthews.

Regardless, it seems that a respective shooting percentage thus far of 10.9 per cent and 6.2 per cent for Hyman and Nylander are not up to par. In comparison to Matthews’ 16.7 per cent chance shooting, he seems to be able to convert on his chances. Still, there is little concern that these players won’t begin converting soon, as their play advances.

Granted, his output is impressive, but there’s another side to the ice, and the defensive play will frequently distinguish the elite from the complete. As for Matthews, he has been superb in the defensive end as Chris Johnston from Sportsnet notes, “Matthews has only been on the ice for one goal against

in 128 minutes at 5-on-5 this season”.

That is wildly impressive considering Leafs head coach Mike Babcock refuses to coddle his young superstar, putting him on for defensive zone face-offs more than half the time, where they must battle to shift the direction of play.

The added level of difficulty is not showing, as Matthews currently has the fifth highest plus/minus in the league (+14), and again as Sportsnet notes, “He has been stripping opponents of the puck at the same rate as Patrice Bergeron.” To say he routinely makes defensive plays comparable to former Selke Trophy winners is impressive at the least.

It’s easy to see how Matthews can be ranked among the best two-way forwards in the league and it’s also intangible which can solidify him among the ranks of the best. McDavid and Stamkos may very likely finish the season with more points and gather a surreal amount of attention. However, Babcock refuses to let his star players run amok and rely solely on talent.

He wants a balanced style of play and is molding Matthews in this image of balance.

This image is one of consistency, hustle, and intelligent hockey that few will find anywhere else.

In other words, Matthews is elite and on his way to being complete.

18 • THE VARSITY • SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

Behind the scenes with the Varsity Blues figure skating team Blues take gold at first competition of the season Lila Asher Varsity Contributor

1

When stepping on the ice at a competition as a member of the Varsity Blues figure skating team, it’s cold, quiet, and all eyes are on you. Each athlete’s placement in their respective event earns points for the team overall. As we compete, we know the pressure is on and our team is counting on us. After countless hours of training, all we have is a tightly choreographed three minutes in which to perform with grace and polish.

Rather than adding extra pressure, the team environment of Varsity figure 1.

skating is incredibly supportive. Most of us grew up training as individual competitors, so representing a team and practicing in groups is a new experience. Through the weeks of practice, long bus rides, and early morning preparations, we find strength in our teammates and value our friendships as much as our gold medals.

Here’s an inside look at our journey, as the Varsity Blues figure skating team earned gold at the OUA Fall Invitational in Ottawa last week on November 23.

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Not only do we support our own team, but it is a tradition to give good luck cards to the other schools at each competition.

2. Figure skating requires exceptional athleticism, as well as perfect

matching hair.

3. First-year skater Felicia Bonitatibus gets some last-minute encour-

agement from assistant coaches Mackenzie Bent and Katia Fedyushchenko before her event. Bonitatibus was enthusiastic after a great performance, saying, “This was my first Varsity competition and the atmosphere was amazing, I couldn’t help but smile while skating.”

4. Veteran ice dancers Melissa Eratostene and Stéphanie Carroll 2

are in their third season together. They impressed the judges with their unison in the Open Short Dance, including difficult elements like the pairs spin.

5

5. Meredith Busch and Gloria Gao have already hit their stride in

their first year, skating together for the Intermediate Similar Pairs event.

6. Melanie Zavitski, another first-year athlete, represented

the team in two events in the competition. “This has been an amazing experience so far, and I am super excited to be a part of the team this season!” she said.

3

Thanks to consistent top-five placements, we collected enough points by the end of the day to finish in first place overall. Co-captain Keiko Marshall reflected, “It was a great experience to see where we stand with other schools and where we can make improvements, but as a whole everyone did so well! I think I speak for anyone in saying that I

couldn’t be more proud.”

Head coach Ashley Hui was also proud of the team: “It’s not just their preparation for competition – it’s the team unity and obvious love for the sport that makes this team such a joy to coach. They have come such a long way in just a month and a half and I’m incredibly excited to see their development this season.”

6 ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF VARSITY BLUES FIGURE SKATING TEAM

NOVEMBER 27, 2017 • 19

var.st/sports

Blues women’s basketball drop close contest against Laurier 69–67 loss marks Blues’ third consecutive defeat Michael Teoh Deputy Senior Copy Editor

As Keyira Parkes’ shot sailed past the net, the final buzzer blared across the Goldring Centre, consigning the Blues to their fifth loss of the season. Friday evening’s defeat marked the Blues’ fifth consecutive regular season loss to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks; their last victory came away in 2012.

Third-year guard Parkes would lead the Blues with 19 points, including three threes, and third-year forward Sarah Bennett would manage a career high of 18 points, including two threes, but the Blues’ poor 10-point third quarter proved to be their undoing.

The Blues opened the game strongly as Parkes found fifth-year guard Rahshida Atkinson to take the lead after 20 seconds.

Atkinson would later find Bennett, who produced a strong drive to earn her first basket of the evening. It was smooth sailing for the Blues for the rest of the quarter as they finished 20–10.

Despite a slow start to the second quarter, seven points from second-year Nada Radonjic helped the Blues to a 39–31 lead to end the half. Bennett had a poor quarter, missing six shots, but she redeemed herself with the closing play of the half, sinking a smooth three-pointer from the left corner.

Despite a turbulent team start, Bennett

would open the third quarter as she nonchalantly sank another three-pointer, this time from the right corner. Laurier, however, slowly clawed their way back into the game, courtesy of a strong showing from fifth-year guard Nicole Morrison. The third quarter ended 17–10 to Laurier, bringing the game’s score to a nail-biting 49–48 to Toronto.

Laurier maintained a firm hold on the game’s momentum heading into the final quarter, as both teams maintained a closelyfought back-and-forth contest.

As the clock wound down and the spectators crept to the edge of their seats, a Laurier three-pointer put them ahead of Toronto 68–65. Laurier’s Woodburn then brashly rushed at Parkes as she attempted a three, giving Toronto the opportunity to level the score with 18 seconds left. Parkes calmly converted two of her three free throws before Laurier scrambled for a timeout.

As Parkes rushed forward after the final turnover, Laurier’s defense remained compact, keeping her out of the paint. With a second left, an off-balance Parkes aimed for the shot that would win her team the game, but the fairy tale ending was not to be.

Following the close defeat, the Blues dropped to a 2-5 regular season record, occupying seventh place in the eastern conference of the OUA.

WEEKLY BOX SCORES BASKETBALL MEN’S 86–74

November 24 Varsity Blues

Laurier Golden Hawks

81–70

November 25

Waterloo Warriors

Varsity Blues

WOMEN’S 67–69

November 24 Varsity Blues

Laurier Golden Hawks

66–39

November 25

Waterloo Warriors

Varsity Blues

HOCKEY MEN’S 1–8

November 24 Varsity Blues

UQTR Patriotes

2–5

November 25 Varsity Blues

UQTR Patriotes

WOMEN’S 2–1

November 24 Varsity Blues

UOIT Ridgebacks

1–4

November 25

Queen’s Gaels

Varsity Blues

VOLLEYBALL MEN’S 0–3

November 24 Varsity Blues

(13–25, 16–25, 10–25)

McMaster Marauders

3–0

November 26 Varsity Blues

(25–18, 27–25, 25–17)

Brock Badgers

WOMEN’S 1–3

November 24 Varsity Blues

(16–25, 19–25, 25–10, McMaster Marauders 20–25)

Varsity Blues

(25–20, 25–27, 25–17, 25–22)

3–1

November 26

Rahshida Atkinson attempts a layup against the Golden Hawks.

PHOTO BY HENRY ZHAO, COURTESY OF THE VARSITY BLUES

Brock Badgers

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NOVEMBER 27, 2017 • 20

SUDOKU

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Visit the Open Textbook Library at eCampusOntario.ca