October 2, 2017

Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 5 October 2, 2017 thevarsity.ca —— University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Calls for accountability

Student alleges assault by Campus Police

Josie Kao Associate News Editor

A Trinity College student claims to have been assaulted by a Campus Police officer in the aftermath of a residence party on September 23.

The student, Bardia Monavari, Co-Head of College at Trinity, alleges in a formal complaint filed to the Campus Police that the Assistant Dean of Students for Residence Life Adam Hogan, and the Assistant Dean of Students for Student Life Christine Cerullo wrongly pointed him out to the police as the organizer of the party and consequently did not act as he was verbally and physically assaulted by a Campus Police officer.

According to the Trinity Co-Head of Arts Lukas Weese, who was witness to the incident, Hogan called Campus Police because he thought that the party was becoming too loud.

At the same time, a fire alarm was pulled and students in the residence were evacuated.

After it was determined that it was a false alarm, Monavari says that he and Weese were asked by Hogan and Cerullo to speak to the officers.

“They made us think that it was an informal conversation,” Monavari told The Varsity. “I didn’t think I was going to be held liable for anything.”

However, according to Monavari, the situation escalated when an officer threatened to hold him accountable for the cost of calling the fire department.

“He would continue his threats through unprofessional taunts to me specifically, saying, ‘You’re fucked,’ ‘You’re done,’ and ‘Someone needs to pay for these fines and it’s going to be you,’” Monavari wrote in his complaint.

The officer then allegedly asked for Monavari’s name, which Monavari refused to give him.

“In response to this, [the officer] shoved me from behind, grabbed my shoulder, and forcefully placed my hands behind my back, claiming I was under arrest,” Monavari wrote.

Weese confirmed Monavari’s account of the event, adding that “while this was happening, [Hogan] and [Cerullo] were watching and did absolutely nothing to stop this assault from taking place. They stood there, incredibly apathetic, just did not do anything to condemn this behaviour.”

Actions against the Dean’s Office Another witness at the scene, first year Trinity student Ellie Schoefell, further corroborated Monavari’s description. “It was obvious that they were targeting [Monavari] and they didn’t target [Weese] at all. And they tried to handcuff him, I think. It looked like they were doing something with his wrists,” she told The Varsity. “[The Assistant Deans] were there, they were definitely on the scene,” she further alleged.

As a direct result of this event, former Head

Incident of anti-Black racism wracks elite Massey College Jack O. Denton News Editor

An anti-Black racial slur made by a Senior Fellow at Massey College has prompted widespread criticism from students and faculty.

The incident happened on September 26 when Head of Massey College Hugh Segal approached a table at a lunch attended by Michael Marrus and three Junior Fellows.

Marrus, a Holocaust Historian and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, allegedly turned to a Black Junior Fellow, and in reference to Segal’s arrival, said: “You know this is your master, eh? Do you feel the lash?”

Until the name change that occurred in the wake of the incident, the Head of Massey College’s title was “Master.”

“I condemn the hurtful and completely inappropriate remarks made by Senior Fellow Michael Marrus to one of our Junior Fellows,” wrote Segal in a statement released on September 29. “There is no place for overt, jocular or subtle racism here at Massey College.”

Segal has “set aside” the title of Master, “which has been associated with violence and the ‘lash’ in this week’s incident.” Formal change of Segal’s title will require a task force of Massey’s Governing Board to undergo a legal process in the Ontario legislature.

The incident prompted a group of Junior Fellows to make five demands of Segal, which were supported by close to 200 students and faculty at U of T in an open letter sent to Segal.

The demands are as follows:

1. The termination of Michael Marrus’ association with Massey College as a Senior Fellow.

2. A formal public apology issued from Massey College.

3. The immediate title replacement of Master with a suitable alternative title to describe the Head of Massey College.

4. Mandatory anti-racist training organized by Massey for all Junior and Senior members of the Fellowship — specifically for members of the House Committee.

5. A formal meeting with Hugh Segal and the administration of Massey College to present their plan of action in response to this and other ongoing issues affecting racialized members of the college.

Michael Marrus, as of this time, has not resigned his Fellowship, nor has it been terminated.

In the September 29 statement, Segal noted that Massey administration will work with the Equity Secretariat, made up of Junior Fellows, to organize a town hall on racism. Dovetailing this is Segal’s promise to involve U of T’s AntiRacism and Cultural Diversity Office to lead anti-racist education for all members of the college.

The Head of Massey College will also meet with the Junior Fellows who issued the calls to action to discuss next steps.

Michael Marrus did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment.

Trinity, page 3

Rebuilding SMCSU

Inside the Citizen Lab

Another Nuit Blanche

Editorial: University officials must leave student governance a degree of autonomy

U of T researchers are making major cybersecurity discoveries

How we spent the all-night, city wide art event

page 11

page 12

page 14

2 • THE VARSITY

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OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 3

var.st/news Trinity, from cover of Arts Thomas Robson put forward a motion for the September 25 Trinity College Meeting (TCM), Trinity’s direct democracy student government, for a vote of non-confidence in the Dean’s Office. The motion passed 209 to seven with five abstentions.

Robson stated that he also motioned for the vote in part due to the office’s mishandling of Trinity student Tamsyn Riddle’s sexual assault case, which resulted in her filing a human rights complaint against U of T and Trinity.

Based on this vote, TCM Chair Leila Martin will send a letter to several governing bodies at Trinity, including the Office of the Provost, the Board of Trustees at Trinity College, all committees of Senate, and members of Trinity College Corporation. The letter will inform them of the students’ vote.

“Effectively this vote was just students voicing their concerns with the Dean’s Office and students informing administration above the Dean’s Office that we no longer have confidence in the said office,” Robson said.

Robson stated that he would like to see Monavari and Riddle receive an official apology from the Office of the Dean of Students. “I think specifically the two of them

have been wronged egregiously,” he said.

Monavari also said that he wants there to be disciplinary actions against Hogan and Cerullo, who, he said, “enabled the police to violently assault me.” He said that “a lot of times a lack of action is worse than actually being malicious to someone.”

Weese stated that he wants to see Hogan and Cerullo “gone, to be honest. I think that would be the best scenario… We want these people to receive the appropriate disciplinary action, which I would say is removal from their position.”

The Office of the Dean of Students at Trinity released a statement to The Varsity, which said that “providing a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment is a priority at Trinity. The College is in the process of carefully reviewing the series of events concerning Saturday night and therefore we are not in a position to comment at this point.”

Althea Blackburn-Evans, Director of Media Relations at U of T, stated in an email to The Varsity that Campus Police have opened an investigation. “It’s ongoing so there’s no further information to share at this point,” she said.

Emergency phones at Vic and St. Mike’s out of order for past week Lack of service raises safety concerns Sarah Armoogam Varsity Contributor

Two emergency phones, one located outside of E.J. Pratt Library at Victoria College and one between Teefy Hall and Carr Hall at St. Michael’s College, are wrapped with caution tape, along with a piece of paper that reads “Out of Service” with the Campus Police phone number on it.

The bright red emergency phones — which connect directly to the Campus Police office — provide immediate assistance to students who are in danger on campus. Over 30 of these are spread out across the university, from Spadina Avenue to Bay Street and from Bloor Street to College Street.

Campus Police receives an average of 50 calls per year from these phones.

Emergency phones provide assistance to students in danger. DANIEL AYKLER/THE VARSITY

Victoria College and St. Michael’s College are located on the outskirts of UTSG; they back onto public corridors of downtown Toronto. Victoria currently has two functioning emergency phones, while St. Mike’s only has one. There is no other red phone within eyesight of the malfunctioning phone at St. Mike’s.

In an email to The Varsity, Zahavah Kay, President of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council, wrote, “I don’t think a student in an emergency would instinctively find the emergency phone as they are not discussed widely so students aren’t made aware of them.” The Campus Police website has a map of all red phones on campus under the ‘safety’ tab. No other information regarding their use is provided on the site.

Though she does not believe they are efficient, Kay believes the two malfunctioning phones are a safety hazard. “I think it would make a dangerous situation much, much more dangerous if a student in need ran to one of these phones to discover it was not working.” As a student who is constantly at Victoria College late in the evening, Kay said safety is a concern for her.

In an email to The Varsity, University of Toronto Director of Media Relations Althea Blackburn-Evans wrote, “Phones do malfunction from time to time. We keep an eye on that and repair them as quickly as possible.”

Blackburn-Evans confirmed that the areas with emergency phones that are out of service have increased patrols. In the meantime, Kay believes that “if the phones are there they should work, otherwise they should be removed.”

As of press time, no changes have been made to the malfunctioning phones.

UTSU board meeting considers new bylaw, collective bargaining, vacant positions Agenda for October 30 Annual General Meeting confirmed Jillian Schuler Varsity Staff

The UTSU held its monthly Board of Directors meeting on the afternoon of September 28. Topics on the agenda included the confirmation of the agenda for the Annual General Meeting (AGM), as well as the establishment of a shortlist committee to find a replacement Vice-President University Affairs.

VP University Affairs Discussions about finding a replacement VP University Affairs, following the resignation of Carina Zhang in early September, have coincided with the UTSU moving forward with conversations that could lead to the dissolution of both the VP University Affairs and VP External roles and create a new VP Advocacy position.

UTSU President Mathias Memmel stressed that, while the reform talks coincide with finding a replacement for Zhang, the idea to combine the two positions into one was part of the platform of his Demand Better slate, which all of the executives save Zhang and VP External Anne Boucher ran with. Memmel said that the decision is a response to how each executive position’s responsibilities have changed over the years.

If the VP Advocacy position is created, it will be instituted in the next academic year. In the meantime, a committee has been formed to develop a shortlist of candidates to run for the VP University Affairs position in a by-election.

Board members were selected to help with the decision, in line with a procedural structure that Memmel says has been used since the 2015–2016 academic year.

The union has also accepted the resignations of General Equity Director Ted Williamson and Faculty of Engineering Director Danja Papajani.

Bylaw XIX and the AGM Notably, the board meeting touched on the addition of Bylaw XIX to the union, which will go before a vote at the AGM in late October.

The proposed bylaw, in support of keeping the union autonomous, would prevent the UTSU from joining any group, or making any decision, where they would be unable to withdraw with a board vote. The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), which UTSU Executives have been highly critical of, are one of these groups that can not be left with a simple board vote. According to Memmel, the bylaw is simply meant to ensure that “the UTSU’s autonomy isn’t taken lightly.”

Memmel said that the UTSU is also not the first to take these precautions: he claimed the Dalhousie Student’s Union have done the same in their bylaws.

The meeting ended with a confirmation the agenda for the AGM to be held on October 30, 2017. Topics on the agenda include the presidential address as well as the review of the year’s audited financial statements.

As for Memmel’s hopes for the meeting, he would like it to be “civil.”

New committee formed Another committee formed at the meeting was the Collective Bargaining Oversight Committee, whose job it will be to assist the Management Committee. The newly created committee will have directors participating in “the collective bargaining process,” said Memmel, given that human resources are the UTSU’s largest expense.

CUPE Local 1281, which represents UTSU staff, will enter collective bargaining with the UTSU this academic year; their collective agreement expires in January.

Bylaw XIX makes reference to the union’s autonomy. ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

4 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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In conversation with Mathias Memmel

The UTSU President talks Hudson lawsuit, the decision behind service cuts, and personal ambitions Nouran Sakr Varsity Staff

Mathias Memmel is the President of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), a student society that represents 50,000 students and whose total assets tend to hover roughly around $7 million each year. Having previously served as the President of the Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association and Vice-President Internal at the UTSU, Memmel is no stranger to student politics.

The Varsity spoke to him about the job so far and the year ahead.

The Varsity: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Mathias Memmel: So, both my parents immigrated to Canada: my dad when he was a kid, my mother as an adult. I have parents who definitely supported me a lot. My time was very music focused. My high school had about 500 kids, and those are students who were bussed in from a geographical area of about half an hour in all directions, so not a large place. Rural southwestern Ontario.

Near Goderich, north of London, which is a fantastic place to grow up.

Then I applied to university. I could not actually figure out what I was going to do so I applied for commerce here, political science at a bunch of places, also music schools — and then I got into U of T with a pretty generous scholarship. So my parents were like, ‘Oh yeah you should go to music school,’ which is the opposite thing of what every parent ever says, so that was fantastic.

The Faculty of Music was very small. My program was the voice performance stream. I actually missed doing math. So I started taking computer science classes as my electives, but I could never get enough priority in my enrollment category to actually progress and take upper year computer science classes. I eventually started another degree in computer science and political science and pursued them simultaneously, so I’ve since graduated from music and I still have like seven credits left for the other degree.

TV: When did you start at the UTSU? MM: 2015. It was my third year. I was president that year at the Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association. That year was the last year where the [CFS-backed slate] won at the UTSU. That year there was an attempt to do a restructuring of the board, which would’ve essentially eliminated the principle of proportional representation at the board level.

The only reason why I picked up on it was because the UTSU at the time had said that they’d consulted the Faculty of Music undergrads about it and so that’s when I lost my temper. So, that’s why I got involved.

I came to the [Annual General Meeting]. I got up there and probably yelled, and probably looked ridiculous, and that was my first encounter with the UTSU. Then at that point I had decided I was running for the UTSU Director seat at Music. I wound up running on the Brighter slate.

TV: What did you do after that? How did you end up being President?

MM: I ran [for election]; I was actually uncontested, so I didn’t actually have to run in the election because no one at the Faculty of Music had interest in the UTSU, [at least] at the time. I was on the board for a year. Then I ran for VP Internal. I came onto the Hello slate. I was involved in the planning early on.

It was a very frustrating election in terms of the team dynamic, and that spilled over into the year, but I think we learned a lot about how to organize ourselves. It was a year where there was no agreement on core principles amongst the executives about how

Memmel became involved with the UTSU in 2015. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

we would come to decisions. I had really no intention of running again. I basically fought the whole thing until about November.

TV: What changed your mind?

MM: Daman, [the current VP Internal], spent a lot of time convincing me. I think that’s what actually did it in the end. In part, it was the Student Commons, because that project is so indicative of people not making decisions for principled reasons. The idea of starting to build a student centre without having gone to survey the members to see if it’s something they actually want. It’s offensive that someone would conceive of a project like that at the time. I felt like I potentially had the skills and the energy to fix that building and that project and that’s what got me around.

TV: What are your top three priorities for this year?

MM: I think on a very high level, we have to fix the Commons project. We’ve got an operating business plan that is nearing completion. We’re going to do some student engagement. We started out last year but the piece that we’re missing right now is, what do students actually want from a student centre?

After fixing the Commons comes a 10 year strategy. So, we have to look at what the UTSU is on a 10-year timeline. What do our levy increases look like? Where are the points where potentially new services can be introduced?

We’re starting a service called the Help Desk, and the idea is that it acts like a U of T concierge. [If] you don’t know where to go, you talk to the help desk. It’s online, it’s got a chat function, it intersects with the social media, and there’s a physical version here. It’s basically a customer management system and I think the outcome is going to be really positive.

TV: Regarding the Student Commons, what do you believe are its main problems?

MM: The biggest problem with the Student Commons agreement is that essentially we’re billed for the utility cost, and we’re also billed for additional rent. If it had been me doing the negotiations, I would’ve wanted rent and utility costs to be covered by the capital cost levy as opposed to the operating cost levy.

TV: How are you planning on funding it?

MM: There’s quite a significant shortfall.

We’re going to be pulling some money from the operating budget and the UTSU profit.

We do need funding relief from the university itself. We’ve redesigned some of the plans to have greater rental [value] to external partners. We’re also looking at the university providing tutorial spaces and class spaces or potentially even having a university office or department within the building.

TV: Regarding the Hudson lawsuit, why did you decide to propose and eventually pass a motion to rescind [a second legal opinion]?

MM: Strictly as fiduciaries, our responsibility is to seek legal opinions when we don’t have enough information to guide our course of action and so, with our current [attorney] who is very good, I certainly didn’t feel — and the board obviously didn’t feel — that there was a lack of information that would require an additional legal perspective in order for them to make a decision about the case.

TV: Why did the motion to seek a second legal opinion pass initially?

MM: I think essentially members of the board were uninformed about the case, and rightfully so, because they had just become directors that day and weren’t given the opportunity to hear from the legal councils.

TV: Were they pressured by the Black Liberation Collective?

MM: I think that’s how the members of the board felt.

TV: In your opinion, what mistakes did the 2014–15 executives do that led to the Hudson lawsuit?

MM: We talked a lot about this in the campaign, about the importance of the student union being actually run by students, and that presents itself. The decision-making power, the authority, and the ability to become informed must rely on students, and I think that the thing with the 2014–15 executives was that at the time, the UTSU was really not run by the executives. The UTSU in its current state is very much run by the executives. I’m not saying that there aren’t avoidable mistakes that come with that, but I think that fundamentally the UTSU is no longer treated as anyone’s pet project who’s not a student. If you’re not in a position to question people who are older than you and have been around the institution for longer, and [if] the culture in which you can do that isn’t there, then that’s when mistakes like this happen because you’re disempowered.

TV: What do you think of the CFS? MM: It’s terrible. It’s an organization that has no interest in partnerships or present policy alternatives, and all they want to do is stand outside of buildings and scream through megaphones without any dialogue or conversation. That’s been our experience with them. We know that they have interfered with the UTSU election; we have proof of it, and so, the sooner we can get out of there, the better.

TV: What steps have you taken toward discontinuing the UTSU’s membership?

MM: My understanding is that YouDecide is continuing this year. They’re doing well with their signature collection.

TV: Is Daman Singh’s prior affiliation to YouDecide a conflict of interest at all?

MM: No, not in my opinion. I mean Daman was heavily involved with the campaign last year when he was a member and a non-executive, but he didn’t benefit financially from YouDecide, so there’s no conflict of interest.

TV: Why did you fire [full-time UTSU staff] Vita Carlino and Maria Galvez?

MM: The Board approved a reduction in services based on a recommendation that the executives put forward related to the Student Commons and the UTSU’s financial position more broadly.

TV: How are you planning to replace the services provided by Clubs and Service Groups Coordinator and Health and Dental Plan Coordinator who were laid off?

MM: The services aren’t going to be replaced. Students had five options before to contact someone about the health and dental plan. We have an online chat service, we have a call center, there’s an email service, they can stop by the front desk here, and then they could also email health@utsu.ca.

We just eliminated the health@utsu.ca. So, there’s five ways people could previously interact with the plan and now there are four.

Instead of contacting the VP Campus Life or the Coordinator, they can just contact the VP Campus Life now.

TV: What was the most enjoyable course you’ve taken at U of T? MM: I took a course with Victor Falkenheim.

It’s POL215, Politics and Transformations of the Asia-Pacific. He’s one of those professors who are so old school, but at the same time he’s so adoring of the fact that he’s teaching.

I think that in the context of it being such a small lecture, I really enjoyed that course.

TV: What would you say to someone who wants to run for President of the UTSU? MM: The one thing that I would like people running for UTSU to know is that, while it looks like you’re doing advocacy work all the time, the idea that everything you do is student-facing is a myth. The distance between the perception of what this is and what it actually is [is] quite far. Most of this is managerial, so if you’re going to run, or when people are voting, they should vote for someone who has managerial experience.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 5

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Charles Street West may turn two-way, input being solicited by city Campus cohesiveness, dangerous traffic, accessibility among concerns at Victoria University

Alex Tough Varsity Contributor

Toronto City Council is in the process of soliciting feedback from Victoria University and the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) about the possibility of converting Charles Street West into a two-way street.

The proposal aims to alleviate additional traffic resulting from new developments in the area, according to Toronto Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. Charles Street West, which currently runs one-way right through the heart of Victoria University, is, in its present state, fundamental to the “cohesiveness” of Victoria’s piece of campus, wrote VUSAC President Zahavah Kay in an email to The Varsity.

“Vic students cross Charles Street regularly, every day, multiple times a day,” said Kay. “You have to cross Charles Street...

if you want to eat, and print something and go to class: you’re crossing Charles Street dozens of times a day.”

According to Kay, Charles Street West’s transformation into a two-way street, with increased traffic, would threaten the safety of students who hustle daily from residence to the dining halls to Vic administration offices.

She noted that the street “literally divides Vic in half.” There are two residences and a student centre on one side of the street, with two residences and a dining hall on the other side.

Kay also voiced her concerns about parking and accessibility if Charles Street West stopped being one-way, and said that the “pedestrian campus feel” — with more benches and places to study — would be at stake if the proposed change saw the light of day.

Wong-Tam told The Varsity that the city is soliciting advice from the Vic community because they “want to make sure that there’s some predictability, with respect to pedestrian

Charles important to campus “cohesiveness,” says VUSAC President. DELPHINE JI/THE VARSITY

and cycling movement. So one thing that we’re doing is trying to get a sense of what the community wants.” In addition, “Transportation Service staff are prepared to consider [the change], but we need to know whether or not there is broader community support.”

The Bursar of Victoria University, Ray deSouza, wrote in statement to The Varsity that “no decisions have been made.

Feedback is currently been solicited from all stakeholders. Wong-Tam has invited us to a

meeting to discuss this issue. We are grateful to the councillor for this opportunity.”

Kay plans to accept the councillor’s invitation as well. “It’s not a set in stone plan, it’s very much a discussion right now,” Kay wrote. “We’re going to get to talk with them about what Charles Street means to the Vic community as it is right now, hear a little bit more about their feasibility report and then just go from there.”

YouDecide provincial petition fails to meet required signatures, must reset National petition for referendum continues as UTSU executives take hard stance on defederation from CFS

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

Carey Davis Varsity Contributor

The YouDecide campaign, which is promoting a petition to hold a referendum on the UTSU’s membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), has had to reset its provincial petition due to a lack of signatures needed by the designated deadline.

Headed by Adrian Huntelar, the YouDecide campaign is a student-run endeavour to collect a sufficient number of signatures on a petition to initiate a referendum on the UTSU’s membership with both the national CFS and its Ontario chapter. The campaign has garnered over 1,000 signatories since the start of orientation week.

“So far [the campaign] has been very grassroots,” Huntelar said. “It’s been very much just a collection of individuals who are interested in the idea of having this referendum as soon as possible.”

YouDecide was formed in September 2016.

According to Huntelar, the objective of the YouDecide campaign is to garner enough signatures to initiate a referendum by the end of this year. In order to accomplish this, the campaign must collect signatures from

15 per cent of the UTSU membership on the St. George campus. Of the 43,000 students represented, YouDecide must obtain approximately 7,000 signatures.

The campaign is complicated by the existence of two petitions, one regarding the national CFS and one regarding the provincial chapter, CFS-Ontario. While the signatures collected last year for the national petition carried over, the expiratory clause in the provincial petition required restarting from the beginning. According to CFS-Ontario bylaws, a petition for a referendum on membership must include the exact dates of the proposed vote. The YouDecide petition for CFS-Ontario included dates that have passed this point, which requries them to begin a new petition entirely.

Despite this, Huntelar remains hopeful for the campaign’s efforts.

“So far I’ve seen a great amount of interest,” Huntelar said. “When we talk to students and when we make our case for why they should be able to make this decision for themselves, the vast majority of them agree and the vast majority of them who we talk to do sign the petition and are very enthusiastic about having a referendum.”

YouDecide and the UTSU While Huntelar said there is no official relationship between the YouDecide campaign and the UTSU, and that the campaign itself remains a disinterested actor with regard to the outcome of the possible referendum, UTSU executives are unequivocal in decrying the CFS. “The CFS wants every local to do the same thing at the same time, and that’s a barrier to effective advocacy,” UTSU President Mathias Memmel wrote in an email to The Varsity.

“Campaigns are developed centrally by CFS staff and then shipped across the country. It doesn’t work. There’s no single student experience, and there’s no single set of student needs.”

In an email to The Varsity, CFS Chairperson Coty Zachariah confirmed that “a decision on continued membership rests with students through a democratic vote.” He reiterated that membership in the federation “allows U of T students to benefit from being part of an organization that, in the last few years, has won a 50% increase to the Canada Student Grants program, $90 million in new funding for Indigenous students, and legislation requiring universities in Ontario to im-

plement standalone sexual violence policies.”

Current UTSU Vice-President Internal Daman Singh shared Memmel’s criticism in a separate email, saying that “the CFS shuts out the voices of members who suggest different priorities than those decreed by the National Executive. There are frequent, demonstrable instances of corruption, ranging from serious concerns such as the secret bank account... to simpler issues such as the disclosure of documents and financials to member locals.”

Singh played a major role in the YouDecide campaign last year, but neither he nor Huntelar believes Singh’s past involvement with the campaign constitutes a conflict of interest.

The CFS did not comment on the matter.

“The CFS is a hindrance, not a help,” Singh wrote to The Varsity. “The UTSU has no reason to stay. I have complete confidence in the You Decide campaign. There’s no conflict between my role in the campaign and my role as an executive. I’ve always been completely transparent about my position on this issue.”

6 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

How independent are student newspapers across Canada?

The Varsity investigates whether ties to student governments affect how campus publications operate

Sophia Savva Varsity Staff

In March 1994, after The Ubyssey, the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) student newspaper, ran a satirical full-page ad criticizing the UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS), the AMS fired the editors of The Ubyssey and replaced them with their own. When things fell apart, the AMS changed the locks to The Ubyssey’s office and shut down the paper.

At the time, this was possible because The Ubyssey was published and funded the AMS. In response, Ubyssey editors began gathering signatures from students to hold a referendum for a student levy that would support the revival of a new, independent The Ubyssey. The referendum passed January 1995, and the revived The Ubyssey published its first independent issue in July 1995.

Many other campus publications across Canada are still directly tied to their student governments, either through financing or governance. The Varsity examined the independence of student newspapers across Canada to see how autonomy — or lack thereof — can affect a paper’s content and operations.

Silhouette In 2006, the Editor-in-Chief of the Silhouette, McMaster University’s campus newspaper, was fired by two members of the McMaster Students Union (MSU), supposedly “without cause.”

Unlike The Ubyssey, the Silhouette still operates as a service of the MSU. However, the Silhouette and the General Manager of the MSU — who was one of the executives who fired the Editor-in-Chief in 2006 — are committed to the lessons learned from the situation and have been working closely together since then.

Silhouette’s main connection to the MSU is through its Board of Publication, which approves its budget and publishing schedule and acts as an arbitrator for libel law concerns. Some members of the MSU also have a say in choosing the Silhouette’s masthead, although according to the Silhouette’s Editor-in-Chief, Shane Madill, the outgoing Editor-in-Chief holds most of the power in the decision-making process.

“The short version of this is that we have as much control over our masthead and content as possible while still having some support and second opinions if needed,” said Madill. “[The MSU acknowledges] that we have far more knowledge and experience with jour-

nalism and our service than they do, especially given the lack of a j-school here, and respect our actions and decisions related to the paper as a result.”

Despite the MSU’s involvement, Madill said it does not influence the Silhouette’s content. “I have not made any decisions about content or story ideas based off of what the MSU or McMaster would approve or disapprove of,” he said.

The Western Gazette The Gazette, the student newspaper of Western University, is owned and operated by the University Students’ Council (USC), which collects its annual student fee of $18.51 on its behalf. However, according to Gazette Editor-in-Chief Amy O’Kruk, the Gazette maintains its editorial autonomy.

The main way the Gazette achieves its independence is through its Publications Committee, an official USC committee that acts as a liaison between the Gazette and the USC. All major decisions by the USC first need to be presented to the Publications Committee, which is made up of Gazette alumni, journalists working in the field, a media lawyer, students-at-large representatives, USC representatives, representatives from the Gazette’s advertising department, and in non-voting positions, the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editors.

“I would say that the Gazette is in a good position right now because of our Publications Committee,” said O’Kruk. “It’s very much been respected by the USC and has been kind of the formal body that has gone over disputes or brought things to the table that the Gazette and the USC haven’t always agreed on. It’s been there, and we’ve been able to come to compromises so far.”

In O’Kruk’s five years at the Gazette, she has never seen the USC intrude upon the Gazette’s editorial independence, though she did note that Western University “essentially forced” the Gazette to pull its 2014 frosh issue from the stands because it contained a controversial “guide” to dating teaching assistants.

Now that advertising revenue is down, the Gazette relies almost entirely on its student fee. This could theoretically give the USC power over the Gazette and put the Gazette’s editorial autonomy at risk.

“As the Editor-in-Chief, my first and foremost responsibility is to look out for the paper,” said O’Kruk. “Right now, I’m looking at other ways that we can increase our digital advertising revenue, hosting events, other

things that are a little bit more unconventional, just so that we can get to a place where we’re not totally relying on that student fee.”

The Queen’s Journal Queen’s University’s student newspaper, The Queen’s Journal, is financially supported

by Queen’s University Alma Mater Society (AMS) and is funded through student fees and advertising revenue.

The Queen’s Journal reports its budget and goal plan to the Journal Advisory Board, which consists of the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor, who share one vote on the board, Vice-President of Operations and Media Services Director of the AMS, who also share one vote, a representative from the AMS Board of Directors, two members of the Journal’s editorial board, a representative from the Society of Graduate and Professional Students, three students-at-large, the Journal’s Business Manager, who is nonvoting, and the AMS General Manager, who is also non-voting.

“Our goal plan and budget go through the Journal Advisory Board for approval first and then go to the AMS Board of Directors for approval as well,” said Editor-in-Chief Joseph Cattana.

According to Cattana, decisions about the masthead or content of the Journal are made by the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor, and the AMS holds no power over the masthead or content.

“I have never felt restricted or censored from publishing certain content because of outside influences like Queen’s University or the AMS,” said Cattana. “The AMS and the Queen’s Journal will always have their differences, but it has never infringed on our ability to produce content.”

Coordinating Editor Jack Hauen. The Ubyssey’s only ties to its student union are through an agreement to lease space in the student union building in exchange for one full-page coloured advertisement per month.

“The Ubssey is really happy with our independence at the moment,” said Hauen.

“There’s always going to be communications issues with the student government and UBC — they feel like it’s easier to ignore student papers than, you know, mainstream media — but independence wise, we’re peachy-keen.”

In order to avoid the perception of bias, Hauen banned Ubyssey members from ‘liking’ or ‘love reacting’ to social media posts

by AMS members. However, Hauen encourages Ubyssey members to ‘friend’ members of the AMS on social media or engage with their Facebook events in order to stay as upto-date as possible.

The Gauntlet According to Jason Herring, the Editor-inChief of the Gauntlet, the University of Calgary’s student newspaper, the paper is “99 per cent” financially independent and “100 per cent” independent in terms of governance. The Gauntlet is funded by a student levy of $3.50 per student every semester, as well as through advertisements.

The Gauntlet provides the University of Calgary Students’ Union (SU) with two advertisements in each issue in exchange for using space in the student centre building, but the SU holds no power over the content or operations of the Gauntlet. Sometimes Herring receives emails criticizing the Gauntlet’s coverage of the SU, but he noted the SU doesn’t “have any actual power.”

“I’ve never personally felt restricted from publishing anything,” said Herring. “There’s definitely no outside factors that have restricted what I’m doing.”

“Students who go to a school and report on politics might be friends with the student politicians,” said Herring. “I think that some papers have a bit too militant of a stance towards their students’ unions and toward their editors’ relations with the students’ unions.”

Illustrations by Mia Carnevale

The Ubyssey The Ubyssey is “super independent,” said

OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 7

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New UTM shuttle buses to hit the road Four shuttle buses with WiFi capabilities to be added Daniel Kim Varsity Contributor

During the first Quality Service to Students (QSS) meeting in the new academic year, the council announced that four new shuttle busses with WiFi capabilities will be added to service the routes at UTM. The QSS is a council of students and administrators that works on issues concerning the student experience at UTM. The council discusses the improvement of services like the career centre and the shuttle service.

There are 11 student voting members of the council who come from the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU), the University of Toronto Mississauga Association of Graduate Students (UTMAGS), the University of Toronto Athletic Council, and the University of Toronto Mississauga Residence Council.

There are also six staff voting members, which include the Student Affairs Dean, the Career Centre Dean, the Department of Physical Education, Athletics, and Recreation Director, the Health and Counselling Director, the Principal of UTM, and the Chief Administrative Officer.

According to Salma Fakhry, the President of the UTMSU and a voting member on the QSS, “The UTMSU and UTMAGS have

been lobbying for better shuttle busses with the administration for a number of years through QSS and the transportation advisory committee.”

All four shuttle busses will provide WiFi; however, the WiFi will not be fully accessible immediately. The busses are also equipped with shock-proof technology.

Fakhry stated that students who regularly use the shuttle bus service had expressed explicit desire for these capabilities over the years. “We’re excited to finally see it happen,” Fakhry continued.

UTM students can ride the shuttle busses for free, provided that they are registered and have paid their fees. Non-UTM students can also use the shuttle service. However, nonUTM students must buy tickets at specific locations. The regular, one-way fare is $6.

The shuttle service currently offers three routes that are available for students to take.

The St. George route runs between UTM and UTSG, the Sheridan route between UTM and Sheridan College, and the last route between UTM, the Mississauga Hospital, and the Credit Valley Hospital. However, only students registered in the Mississauga Academy of Medicine are permitted to take the last route.

Anti-war groups protest US military aggression against North Korea Protesters picket on St. George in the first of a series of planned rallies

Ilya Bañares Varsity Contributor

On the evening on Wednesday, September 27, members of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and the Korean Federation of Canada held a rally on the corner of Harbord Street and St. George Street to protest what they viewed as American war preparations and aggression against North Korea.

In a pamphlet distributed to passers by, the groups denounced United Nations Security Council Resolution 2375, which imposed sanctions on North Korea due to its active nuclear weapons program. The two organizations called the United States the “aggressor” in the region and the “most dangerous imperialist force in the history

of the world.” They also claimed that North Korea has “sought a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the political crisis.”

The statement also called out the “warmongers in the Trudeau Liberal government,” calling recent assertions from the Prime Minister “a provocation and an act of aggression against the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].”

The Wednesday picket is the first in a series of eight weekly rallies, slated to end November 15. Events are planned across major locations in Toronto, including Ryerson University, George Brown College, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s constituency office, and the US Consulate.

The Varsity has reached out to the Korean Federation of Canada for comment.

Former University of Toronto professor with fake degree exposed Marketplace’s undercover investigation examined “degree mills” and those who pay for degrees

Zgrablić taught at UTSC. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Abhya Adlakha Varsity Contributor

In a recent interview, CBC’s Marketplace discovered that former University of Toronto professor Dubravko Zgrablić held a fake computer science degree from Almeda University.

Zgrablić currently teaches at Seneca College and previously taught at other Canadian post-secondary institutions like UTSC, Centennial College, and Ryerson University.

Zgrablić told CBC journalists that it took only three months to complete his online

master’s degree, which only required “11 phone exams.” He later wrote in a Facebook post that it took nine months to get the degree.

In this post, Zgrablić said he started looking for online master’s degree programs in computer science in late 2002. There were only a handful of them in the US — he felt that “Almeda University looked most respectable, with a list of accreditations on their site.” After that, he did his Prior Learning Assessment with the institution in 2003, which consisted of a few phone assessments.

Zgrablić received a message from the in-

stitution in 2004 that his work had exceeded expectations and that a thesis would not be required for the completion of his degree.

He got his transcript with a “PASS” in every subject.

Marketplace obtained business records of a company called Axact, an IT firm based out of Pakistan, which hands out fake degrees to people all over the world. Almeda University was one of them: a fake online school with no accreditation and only a mailing address in Boise, Idaho that could not be located upon inspection.

“Almeda was accredited, just not by the right accreditation agencies,” Zgrablić argued, adding that he and the four institutions where he has worked had no way of knowing the truth.

Two CBC reporters went undercover posing as Seneca students and asked him questions about the program he is teaching. When asked on the show where he got his master’s degree, he had trouble recalling the name of the institution and was finally reminded by two journalists that it was Almeda.

Zgrablić shared his email correspondence with the CBC journalists with The Varsity. In these emails, he argued that his degree was handed out to all four institutions to which he applied, and none of them questioned him about it.

When the schools were asked about Zgrablić’s teaching accreditation, they were reluctant to give any sort of statement. Seneca College refused and stated it could not comment “on personnel matters for privacy reasons.” The Dean of the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies had a

similar response and declined an on-camera interview.

Centennial College claimed that Almeda did not come up as part of Zgrablić’s hiring process in 2000, and that he was hired based on his diploma from the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Ryerson University sent out a statement as well: “As a condition of employment, Ryerson requires that the candidate arrange for their degree granting institution to send their transcripts directly to the university. The University will not accept copies of transcripts or originals provided by the candidate to the supervisor, those must come from their degree granting institution.

If questions regarding the legitimacy of the degree granting institution arise, it will be referred to the University’s Registrar for further verification.”

Zgrablić took down his master’s degree from his LinkedIn profile after the CBC confrontation. However, he stated that it wasn’t because he was guilty and wrote in a Facebook post, “The reason I removed Almeda from my profile is because it became a dead currency, zero value, and being a source of controversy made it a liability.” He believed there was nothing wrong with his title, but “everything wrong with the institution that issued it.”

The Marketplace exposition revealed that more than 800 Canadians could have this fake degree, while Allen Ezell, a former FBI agent who investigated the diploma mills, said that the number might be higher. He estimated that more than half of the PhDs issued in the United States are fake.

8 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

St. George Round Table drafting new constitution New governing document aimed at creating permanency, continuity for generations of divisional student leadership Silas LeBlanc Varsity Contributor

All UTSG students are encouraged to attend SGRT meetings. SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

The St. George Round Table (SGRT), a student union comprised of divisional student society heads, is drafting a new constitution that aims to promote continuity between generations of student leaders.

“The SGRT has – I will openly and plainly admit – a very poor track record of transparency,” SGRT Deputy Chair Eric Bryce told The Varsity. “I think a lot of this opaqueness stems from the fact that we all have additional roles in our own respective divisional student societies.”

Bryce admits that the SGRT’s institutional memory is “not fantastic.” SGRT members are hoping the new constitution will help smooth the transition from one year to the next. Although this change won’t impact the average undergraduate student a great deal, it helps the SGRT operate more efficiently, and it will possibly help members learn from past successes or mistakes, said Bryce.

The goal of the SGRT is to provide a space where student council presidents and heads of colleges and faculties can share ideas and learn from their fellow leaders. The shared belief of this group is that working collectively helps strengthen the important role of student societies.

All students are allowed — and encouraged — to attend all SGRT meetings. It is one of the many ways in which student leaders look to improve the experience of U of T undergraduate students on the St. George campus.

They also plan events, including this year’s corn-themed homecoming.

Additionally, the SGRT enables student leaders to meet with university administration. This summer, they met with U of T’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre. Bryce claimed this meeting provided “some colour on how the new support and investigative processes will work.”

University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) President Mathias Memmel had no comment regarding any changes in the constitution, but he maintained that the UTSU has a great working relationship with the SGRT. The UTSU does not plan on changing the services it provides in light of the changes.

“We collaborate as often as we can, and we’re currently working on a number of joint initiatives.” Memmel told The Varsity. “There’s a shared understanding that the UTSU and the SGRT play different and independently valuable roles. In short, we complement each other.”

Bryce echoed Memmel’s comments about the working relationship between the UTSU and SGRT. “We have very different niches,” he said. “Some issues at U of T are best addressed via a school wide student union like the UTSU, whereas some issues I think are best addressed via divisional student societies.

“We don’t have any aspirations of empire building. Maybe once upon a time, past SGRT leadership was keen on creating something to supersede the UTSU, but those days are long gone.”

CUPE 3902 gears up for winter negotiations with admin Possibility exists for Unit 1 TAs to strike again Nouran Sakr Varsity Staff

Roughly 100 demonstrators gathered outside Simcoe Hall on September 25 to support members of CUPE Local 3902’s Unit 1 Bargaining Team, who met with the University of Toronto administration inside the hall to discuss the union’s 2017–2018 Bargaining Platform.

The meeting between the two parties marks the beginning of a negotiation process for a new collective agreement. The current collective agreement between the two parties expires on December 31 of this year.

Unit 1 of Local 3902’s membership includes approximately 6,000 teaching assistants (TA), student and postdoctoral course instructors, exam invigilators, and Chief Presiding Officers.

Members of Unit 1 voted unanimously to adopt the 2017–2018 platform during a membership meeting on July 6, 2017. The platform includes, among other points, a course instructor rate increase to $10,000 per half course; improvements to mental health coverage; better-paid and more accessible pregnancy and parental leaves; and more accessible overwork review processes, timelines, and expectations to prevent overwork.

Last Monday’s crowd included TAs, postdoctoral and student course instructors, and PhD students from several departments at

U of T. Some attendees expressed the hope that their presence would influence the university’s decisions regarding Local 3902’s platform.

“We need to reach as many people as possible and make sure that this union is as inclusive and equitable as it can be,” Megan Harris, Vice Chair of Unit 1, said in her speech. “Which means that we’re going to need to work to change policies and we can only do that together.”

Harris, who is a seventh-year PhD candidate and a TA in the Department of English, also stated that certain planks, like increasing the net minimum funding to $20,000 per year, will be harder to win than others because they would cost the university more money.

“Events like this one are so important,” Harris said, “because we have to exert a lot of pressure on the university in order to get them to see that this matters to us.”

Harris also believes that these benefits are crucial for the improvement of teaching and research qualities, which impact students’ learning environments.

“We all care so much about our students so, if we’re better supported, we can better support all of our students,” Harris said.

According to Harris, if the university does not offer the union a reasonable tentative agreement, then a union meeting will be convened, and a strike, or another job action, will likely be required.

Unit 1 went on a month-long TA strike in 2015. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

“Job action is one of the ways that unions have power and the more people who are in unions the better our communities and societies are,” Harris said.

The seven members on the Bargaining Team, elected by Unit 1 members, are Pamela Arancibia, Executive Committee Representative; Will Fysh, Stewards’ Council Representative; Emily Clare, Humanities Representative; Adam Zendel, Social Science Representative; Alex Ivovic, Life Science Representative; Justin Kong, Accessibility Services Representative; and Rebecca Strung.

In late February 2015, TAs on all three campuses went on a 28-day strike following the rejection of a tentative agreement presented to them during a membership meeting. The overwhelming majority of about 1,000 members at the membership meeting voted against the agreement.

Some Unit 1 members said that their incomes were below inflation and the poverty line. With many of the TAs on strike, some classes relied on undergraduate students to replace the absent instructors. All three campuses continued operating throughout the strike, and students were still responsible for course material.

One of the demonstrators said, “I hope the university realizes that we’re serious, because, as everyone said, we don’t want to strike, but we will if we have to.”

Brenton Burchanan, an East Asian Studies PhD student, hoped that their unity will strengthen their position and influence the decisions the administration makes.

“This is going to be a process that will go on for at least several months now,” he said.

“And so, it’s to bring us together and remind us of what’s important.”

Comment

October 2, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Noble goals with limited scope Proposed bylaw changes for fraternities and sororities will not effectively address concerns about noise or waste management Andrea Tambunan Varsity Contributor

Earlier this year, backed by a number of community residents’ associations, Councillor Joe Cressy called for fraternity and sorority houses in the City of Toronto to be regulated as multi-tenant properties. This would mean that fraternity and sorority houses, including those on U of T’s campus, would need a license to operate, a move that requires adherence to city codes and bylaws.

Cressy believes that this change will help fraternities and sororities become better neighbours. However, while changes to regulation may resolve concerns about health and safety, it will take more to lessen the negative impact fraternity and sorority houses may have on the neighbourhood at large.

Being designated as a multi-tenant property would force frat and sorority houses to abide by health and safety requirements, including property bylaws about waste disposal and the regulations outlined in the Ontario Fire Code. To maintain their housing license, fraternities and sororities would be required to pass an annual inspection by Toronto Fire Services and Municipal Licensing and Standards. Any violations would result in a financial penalty.

Currently, there is no way for the city to ensure the safety of those living and frequenting these buildings. Licensing would allow the city to make sure that students do not suffer the consequences of poor building maintenance. Although serious fires or building accidents have yet to be reported, we shouldn’t wait for these incidents to go viral before doing anything to prevent them.

At the same time, though a multi-tenant

housing license might be helpful for improving property maintenance, it won’t do much to address issues on noise and waste, which are a major source of complaints from other residents. Out of the 16 known frats and sororities on campus, there have been a total of 20 noise investigations related to their properties within the last two years. Coupled with 27 investigations about waste over the same period, it’s a total of 47 city investigations since 2015. Only 14 of all investigations have resulted in orders to comply by the city.

Unfortunately, the changes being proposed do not address issues outside of property maintenance, meaning a multi-tenant housing license won’t spur fraternities and sororities to more effectively govern their behaviour in these cases.

There is also a case to be made that bylaws are an ineffective way of governing behaviour in the first place. According to its recent review on multi-tenant housing, the city believes that existing bylaws are “sufficiently” effective. Recent data on the frequency of complaints against fraternity and sorority houses — and their lackluster resolutions — shows otherwise.

As of late, one fraternity house at 157 St. George Street has had 14 noise and waste investigations in the past two years, with two happening on consecutive days this September.

Another house at 152 St. George Streethas had nine investigations, and a third house at 180 St. George Street has had eight. This assortment of complaints and investigations have only brought forth eight notices to comply.

Statements from residents also reflect concerns about enforcing long-term regulations.

As community resident David Sterns wrote in a letter to Mayor John Tory, “Toronto fra-

ternities successfully defeated an attempt to remove their rooming house by-law exemption in 2011 by stating their desire to work with neighbours... As soon as the threat of regulation ended, any talk of working with neighbours ended and things quickly went back to the way they were.”

Certainly, this isn’t reflective of all fraternities and sororities on campus, many of which comply with regulations. However, it appears the current system for dealing with noise and waste concerns is ineffective in a number of cases, as the high frequency of complaints has persisted.

The power of orders to comply from the city is not a strong enough deterrent for noisy and messy behaviour. Any improvement in the way the city handles these complaints won’t come solely from a housing license.

The city, community, and students will have to work together to resolve the issues that the proposed regulations cannot fix on their own. For starters, the city should not rely on self-governance on the part of fraternities and sororities; consistent community inspections on the part of bylaw officers, as well as prompt and efficient city responses to noise or waste complaints, are necessary.

Moreover, a strike system could be imposed, in which houses with three or more notices by the city will have to face severe financial penalties. These changes will help ensure that students are really cleaning up their act.

Multi-tenant licensing is certainly a good start but the issues at stake are multifaceted, and it will take more than a single solution to resolve them.

Andrea Tambunan is a first-year student at University College studying Life Sciences.

ZEANA SAMI HAMDONAH/THE VARSITY

U of T needs to rethink its relationship with its workers Why the administration should take a bottom-up approach to community-building Michael Nakatsuru Shaffer Varsity Contributor

Having ratified their most recent agreement, both the University of Toronto and CUPE 3261 have some cause for celebration. The tentative agreement achieves the union’s goal of obtaining a $15 minimum wage for casual employees beginning in October 2017.

This represents the first wage increase for casual workers at the university since 2009.

Though this achievement is significant, it cannot be accompanied by complacency.

There are still many underlying, fundamental issues that continue to plague the lives of service workers at the university.

One of these issues is the university’s practice of contracting out caretaking work, which perpetuates rising inequality. In the recent agreement, the CUPE 3261 bargaining team was able to ensure that this practice would not threaten the job security of all its current members. However, this does not stop the university from slowly eradicating its caretaking jobs after current members retire, making the future of these positions uncertain.

The working conditions of those hired by third-party contractor Compass Group are also less than ideal. These caretakers, who

have been contracted to clean in multiple buildings on the St. George campus, earn a low wage of $12.45 per hour with extremely limited benefits and no guaranteed hours of work. This is in comparison to U of T’s caretaking staff members, who, due to their union’s collective agreement, are entitled to higher pay and more extensive benefits.

While U of T certainly has a duty to manage its funds responsibly, the reluctance to support its service workers is not a matter of budget, but largely of priority. Last year, U of T experienced a budget surplus and received an endowment fund of $2.13 billion, easily the largest of any Canadian university.

In addition, the administration was able to find room in the budget to purchase a $123 million property on College Street. In plain words, U of T has the resources to help our workers, but they have other priorities.

The tricky thing about priorities in general is that they depend on an institution’s view of a community. Considering a community to be a top-down system, for example, renders its success dependent on its highest-level members. In their book The Numbers Game, economists Chris Anderson and David Sully use this concept to describe “strong-link” sports such as basketball, in which the major deterService workers, page 10

Service workers such as caretaking staff are vital to U of T's three campuses.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

10 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Service workers, page 10

WRITE FOR COMMENT: FIRST STEPS If you’ve never written an opinion article before, you may not quite know where to begin — here are a few first steps suggested by the Comment Editor.

STEP ONE — IDEA Common topics within the Comment section include politics, world news, campus life, and university affairs.

However, you can really write about everything so long as you can prove the topic is timely and relevant to The Varsity’s target audience: students at U of T. If you can’t think of anything to write about, pitches are often sent out to Comment contributors through email and Facebook at the start of each week.

STEP TWO — ANGLE Developing a concise argumentative position on your topic is one of the hardest parts of the opinion writing process. Try making a list of the considerations that may be relevant to the issue at hand, and keep in mind that the dimensions you choose to focus on may affect your position on the topic. Veer away from the abstract: the more specific your argument is, the easier of a time you will have trying to persuade readers of your stance.

A sample argument may look like this: “x is good/bad/important because of y, and z.”

STEP THREE — EVIDENCE The more proof the better! Statistics, government reports, legislation, and examples from the news media are all fair game. You are also welcome to conduct interviews, so long as you check in with the Comment Editor first. It is strongly recommended you do as much research as possible before you start writing — you’re less likely to hit snags along the way. And don’t cherry-pick your facts: do some digging into all sides the issue, especially if it’s a topic you don’t know much about. If you find yourself reconsidering your angle, know that’s all part of the process.

STEP FOUR — LAYOUT You’re ready to pull it all together. The standard pitch outline for Comment articles is provided below. Organize your thoughts and email the outline to the editor for approval.

Pitch (main argument in 50 words or less): Supporting arguments (two to three main points): Sources you plan to use: Ideas for visuals: After any preliminary feedback, you’ll be provided with a word count and deadline. Get cracking!

Watch the Comment First Steps video here: http://var.st/writeforcomment

minant of a team’s success is often a superstar player, as Lebron James is to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This is the approach that many universities, including U of T, have adopted in their budgetary decisions. In 2015, while the Teaching Assistants were striking for wage increases, the sunshine list of public sector earners reported that the top four highest-paid university employees were U of T staff members. During this strike, the university issued a $165,000 raise to its fund manager, William Moriarty, who continues to top the sunshine list with his seven-figure salary every year. In an interview with the Toronto Star, a U of T spokesperson defended the raise by stating, “U of T must offer competitive salaries to attract and retain talented faculty and professional staff, who are key to ensuring the university’s research and education excellence.”

What the university was essentially saying

is that our community is a game of superstars. It is a community in which funds must be prioritized for higher executive salaries, even if this is at the expense of others.

There is an alternative view of our community that I’d like to share; the bottom-up system. This approach overturns the common market ideology that views workforce cutbacks as the primary means of balancing a budget. In Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder, an international study published by the Harvard Business Press, Jody Heymann finds that employers who invest in their lower-skilled workers experience improved worker efficiency and, ultimately, increased company productivity. Real-world examples of this include American Apparel, which tripled its factory productivity after implementing better wage incentives, and Walmart, which experienced a rise in sales after raising employee wages.

Worker morale is also highly important. In his book The Happiness Industry, political economist William Davies argues that the

employee disengagement that accompanies workplace cutbacks — often accompanied by increased sick days and high turnover rates — cost employers more than what they actually save in the long term.

U of T must realize that our community is stronger when we invest in our lowest-level members. Strike or no strike, a serious and long-term commitment to supporting our service workers would be beneficial to all members of the community. These are the people that prepare our food, clean our toilets, recycle our bottles, and operate our elevators.

It’s time for the university administration to rethink its relationship with workers, and that starts by making it a priority to improve the lives of those who improve ours every day.

Michael Nakatsuru Shaffer is a third-year student at Victoria College studying Political Science. He is a part-time member of CUPE 3261.

Op-ed: A tale of no masters Reflections on recent events at Massey College Adrian De Leon Varsity Contributor

I write this only with love. Specifically, love for a community that I devoted my early graduate career to, and a community that has helped me through the toughest times I could imagine.

But it’s also a community of deep hurt and insidious, percolating hatred. It is a community that, from the moment you walk its ivylined walls, nudges you aside in favour of its red-carpeted guests in sleek SUVs. It heralds Canadian multiculturalism by foregrounding esteemed portraits of white folk on the walls.

It celebrates the ‘progressivism’ of Canadian literature by hosting book clubs catered to the rich and elite, whose idea of literary diversity is Albert Camus writing through Algeria. And it celebrates history by denigrating those who suffered from the past and present of anti-Black racism in Canada.

This community is Massey College.

I had the privilege to serve as its Don of Hall, a fancy word for the college’s mix of student president and residence don. My election into the college leadership was a culmination of a year during which I swiftly fell in love with its people and its traditions.

Reciting the Latin prayers at the podium, perfecting each word at the advice of a Classicist and dear friend, I took pride in the ability to step away from the entangled mess of graduate student life and steep my colleagues in the meditative space of a shared meal.

I also took pride in being a Don of Hall blessed with deep pigments of melanin in his skin, whose consciousness was crafted by the revolutionary histories of the Philippines, and whose ancestors eked out a living on tobacco and sugar plantations while fighting for their futures in the face of military occupation.

History matters for an institution like Massey. When — if — a Masseyite welcomes someone in, they take the visitor on a tour of the college. A stop in front of the spoon that went up into space with the alumnus who is now our Governor-General. Flights through the snuff box in the corner, or the pictures of the royals of Sweden at a pumpkin-carving contest, or the Nobel Prize in the dining room. At Massey, we chart our welcomes with the histories that our forebears laid out for our pleasure.

But history, and history-making, require forgetting as much as they require remembering. We remember with fondness the continuity of pleasures that Massey fosters, while we gloss over the racist conversations

The Varsity recently reported on an allegedly racist incident at Massey College.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

that take place over the dining table. I am guilty of this, too.

And we honor, with reverence, the various quirks of college tradition, such as gowns, Latin prayers, and High Tables, leaving unacknowledged how these quirks can act to replicate an insider Canadian elite. Or, for that matter, how access to these ‘quirks’ of tradition, and the cultural capital that comes with it, require actual capital that most racialized and precarious graduate students do not have.

History can be weaponized. If histories are built — contrived, even — at Massey College, then histories have been armed to defend turf as the community sees fit. When an esteemed historian approaches Black junior colleagues, mocking them for their leadership in revising the “Master” title at the college — “Do you feel the lash?” — history becomes as sharp as a machete, as heavy as bullet. This historian, who has stockpiled the arsenal of scholarly merit and endowed research funding, can deploy his authority to bomb Black graduate students without so much as a slap on the wrist.

I write this with the tender love that only a historian, who has pored through thousands of pages in search of precious few moments

to exhume the marginalized voice, can express. And I write this against the weaponized hatred that only the historian, whose pen bleeds with the lives that their narrative can gloss over, can express, too.

As a former Don of Hall, I call on the college to make good with the demands of its community, not least being the immediate change of the “Master” title for the Head of College. Not stopping there, I further call on the college to address racism, especially antiBlack and anti-Indigenous racism, through a comprehensive program of anti-oppression training and a systematic review of offending Fellows.

For Massey, and for the University of Toronto in general, diversity and equity do not end at admitting a ‘diverse’ Fellowship. Like a garden, whose rapid-growing weeds are violence and white supremacy, it must constantly be cared for at its soils, roots, and stems.

Adrian De Leon is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Toronto and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He was Don of Hall at Massey College in the 2016–2017 academic year.

Editorial

October 2, 2017 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

Athens is burning at St. Michael’s College The administration’s involvement in SMCSU’s ‘re-imagining’ raises serious concerns about student democracy The Varsity Editorial Board

Students at St. Michael’s College (SMC) have been through their fair share of political turmoil in the past few years. A recently concluded financial investigation into the operations of the St. Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU) revealed evidence of kickbacks, poor record-keeping, and unidentified expenditures and cash deposits. In December 2016, Snapchat videos depicting thencurrent and former members of SMCSU joking about Islam were leaked onto social media. Disagreements over the appropriate role of Catholicism at SMC have created hostility and mistrust between students, staff, and SMC President David Mulroney.

In light of everything that has happened, the elections for this year’s SMCSU representatives are currently taking place under the watchful eye of the SMC administration. We acknowledge that changes to SMCSU’s operations are necessary in light of past events, but the administration is treading a path to ‘reform’ that is deeply undemocratic — and its constituents will ultimately suffer the consequences.

There is considerable evidence to suggest that the SMC administration is slowly but surely assuming control of student government at the college. After SMCSU prorogued its activities late last year, the administration appointed a ‘re-imagining committee’ of six students to establish guidelines for SMCSU’s new directions. According to committee member Haseeb Hassaan, many of the suggestions made by these students, including the proposition to add a Vice-President Equity to the SMCSU executive, were not taken into account by the administration.

In exchange, the new Student Society Leadership Policy drafted by the committee now requires leaders to “accept their ethical obligation to act in accordance to USMC’s mission as a Catholic university.” All SMCSU expenses that exceed $500 will have to be co-signed by the SMC Administrative Advisor, who will also attend all scheduled meetings as an ex-officio member once the student union begins its term.

The administration’s attempts to ‘reform’ the college have been underway for some time. Mulroney has made his disapproval of SMCSU and SMC student culture clear throughout his tenure, and he has repeatedly expressed a desire to reconnect the college with its Catholic roots. After Mulroney condemned the financial mismanagement of SMCSU’s frequent club nights last fall, SMCSU opted for a trip to a pumpkin patch while other student societies hosted successful Halloween parties. This year, SMC orientation was planned not by a student but by the administration’s Director of Student Life, and the orientation lip-sync contest was supervised to ensure the songs were appropriate.

One of the most important functions of democratic student government is to meet students’ needs in ways that a university administration cannot. This sentiment is codified in the “Aims and Purposes” section of the most up-to-date and publicly available version of SMCSU's constitution, which states “the Union shall effectively represent the interests of its members” at the college and within the U of T community. Hired by

the university, and often insulated from the more minute realities of student life, university administrations are not always in the best position to gauge what students want, or they may be more concerned with other priorities. In step student representatives as liaisons and lobbyists.

In order for relationships between student governments and administrations to be truly successful, both parties must maintain independence and mutual respect. Student representatives cannot be dissolved into figureheads.

Of course, student societies should be subject to checks and balances to avoid abuses of power. Provisions within student society constitutions exist for this very purpose. Additionally, external mechanisms such as the Policy on Open, Accessible and Democratic Autonomous Student Organizations, approved by Governing Council in June 2016, demonstrate that accountability mechanisms can be implemented while making efforts to respect the autonomy of student organizations. SMCSU and all other student societies should undoubtedly remain accountable to their constituents, but maneuvering on the part of the administration is not the way to achieve this goal.

In an editorial last year, we expressed concern that Mulroney’s attitude toward students at the college was infantilizing, and we continue to stand by that position. The actions of a few grossly reckless individuals are not representative of the vast majority of students and student leaders at SMC, who are capable of making responsible decisions — suggesting that the administration needs to babysit all SMC students is insulting.

In July, an open letter from SMC faculty and staff condemned Mulroney for criticizing SMC at the SIGNIS World Conference. Signatories expressed that Mulroney’s remarks about SMC students — which included concerns about objectification of women, excessive drinking, and a dearth of Catholic values — were disappointing and did not reflect the behaviour of all students at the college.

As conflicts persist and changes unfold, it is crucial that SMC students retain their right to freely select their own leaders. It is a mistake to assume that a heavier hand on the part of the administration will necessarily improve life at the college. Though issues of financial responsibility may be more effectively policed, if students are not respected, other problems may arise in their place. Not the least of these is the lingering resentment that undoubtedly comes from being treated like toddlers.

Also concerning is the quest to expand Catholic influence at SMC, which could have a marginalizing impact on students of other faiths. Keep in mind that many, if not most, SMC students are not Catholic, yet Hassaan was the only Muslim and non-Catholic member of the re-imagining committee. In a prior interview with The Varsity, Hassaan expressed concern that the administration was using him as a “showpiece,” and that he was selected for the committee due to the Snapchat incident that targeted his religion.

The issues that plagued the ‘old’ SMCSU were in serious need of redress, and it is understandable that the administration seeks to avoid future disasters. That does not, however, make it appropriate for university

SMC's involvment in the recreation of SMCSU jeoprodizes the union's independence.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

officials to set up shop in student government offices. And to non-SMC students who question the relevancy of these events to their own colleges and faculties, think of the precedent being set. Many student societies have had long and thorny relationships with administrations, which at times have led to

struggles for independence. If it can happen to SMCSU, it can happen to you.

We’ll be following the SMCSU elections closely to see how the union will navigate its role within these newfound constraints.

In the name of democracy and student autonomy, we suggest you do the same.

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A year at the Citizen Lab The lab’s major research in 2017 looks at spyware and cybersecurity around the world George Kell Illustrations by Elham Numan The Citizen Lab, a University of Toronto institute based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs, has been making headlines this past year due to the rise of increasingly complex cybersecurity issues in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and Mexico. The lab, which investigates both domestic and foreign affairs, aims to ensure that cybersecurity issues overseas do not taint the comparatively secure hold Canadians have on their own rights.

Canada, however, is not immune from the tempting prospect of spying on its own citizens. A Citizen Lab report by Christopher Parsons and Tamir Israel explains how various legislative initiatives were proposed by the government to allow warrantless disclosure of digital identifiers, such as IP addresses, for national security reasons.

The authors reject the principle upon which the proposals were founded — primarily, the idea that you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. Their research indicates that online privacy from the government actively allows users to honestly explore and

express ideas without fear of consequence.

Another concern within this realm is the use of spyware. Cyber warfare companies that sell government-exclusive spyware have become infamous for selling their products to human rights abusers. This spyware is often used to quell government dissent and freedom of expression.

Ron Deibert, the director of the Citizen Lab, says that concerns like these require serious accountability. On his blog, he describes the mission of the Citizen Lab as using “mixed methods research to highlight digital security issues that arise out of human rights concerns, and then […] try to mitigate the problem.”

The following review details some of the Citizen Lab’s major findings over the course of the past year and explains how these findings relate to, and shed light on, issues concerning cyberspace.

Abuse of spyware by the UAE One regime that regularly targets its citizens with spyware is the UAE. The Citizen Lab broke the story of Ahmed Mansoor, an internationally recognized human rights advocate who was targeted by multiple government hacking attempts. One suspicious SMS link that Mansoor received on his iPhone 6 was sent to Citizen Lab researchers to test its source. It was discovered that it belonged to a company called NSO Group, an Israel-based cyber warfare company that specializes in a government-exclusive spyware product called Pegasus.

Had Mansoor clicked on the link, it would have activated a ‘zero-day’ exploit and jailbroken his phone, installing spyware without his knowledge. Once installed, it would have logged all his calls and messages, relaying them back to the spyware’s customer.

The value of zero-days is that they give software developers zero days to patch the malware before it becomes active. In other words, they are an unknown vulnerability with high value when used successfully against dissident voices, which Mansoor clearly represented in the UAE. The Citizen Lab’s response was to report the iOS vulnerability directly to Apple, which patched it immediately with a software update.

Liu Xiaobo and Chinese censorship Online censorship is another strategy the Citizen Lab frequently finds to be effectively used in suppressing populations. In July, The New York Times published an article on the death of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident who won a Nobel prize while in jail for his activist work. Immediately following his death, Citizen Lab research discovered “a ‘significant shift’ in censorship techniques” in China; this included blocking keywords relating to his name in direct messaging applications.

Notably, WeChat, one of the main platforms on which the Chinese government exercises censorship, did not indicate to users when certain messages were blocked. The Citizen Lab also uncovered that the degree of censorship varied depending on whether a WeChat account was linked to mainland China or outside of the country. China holds a tight rein on its internet companies, penalizing all who fail to censor ‘sensitive’ content.

Censorship is a broad weapon to use against civilians; however, as seen with Mansoor, targeting through spyware like Pegasus is far more effective when attempting to portray the illusion of freedom. NSO Group is an interesting company: alongside Pegasus, it was virtually unknown to the public sphere until Hacking Team, NSO’s competitor, had sensitive information leaked about the companies.

Citizen Lab research identified various themes that NSO operators used to bait its targets into clicking on its exploit links; these included fake news, taunts, and threats.

However, the Citizen Lab’s largest case study of civilian targeting in the last year came not from the UAE or China, but from Mexico.

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NSO and the targeting of Mexican civil society Mexico, an admitted customer of NSO, has allegedly used its spyware to target vast swaths of civil society. These have included scientists, journalists, politicians, foreign investigators, and non-governmental organizations (NGO). This blatant assault on freedom of expression allows a corrupt government to act with impunity and must be condemned on democratic grounds.

In theory, Pegasus, as with all governmentexclusive spyware, is meant to aid law enforcement in fighting criminal enterprise and terrorism. However, when Citizen Lab was contacted by Access Now, an organization committed to defending digital rights, it stumbled onto the first of many instances in which civilians were improperly targeted with NSO spyware.

Scientists — In Mexico, an obesity epidemic prompted the government to introduce a ‘soda tax’ to pursue healthier alternatives. The implementation of the tax led to a decrease in obesity. The fast food industry, displeased with the negative effects on its profit margins, soon began placing political pressure on the Mexican government, with companies like Coca-Cola begging the President to oppose the tax.

Soon after, supporters of the soda tax began a campaign to promote it. Some of the scientists involved in the campaign started receiving suspicious SMS links aiming to disrupt their campaign. Citizen Lab research determined that they were analogous to the messages Ahmed Mansoor received in the UAE, concluding they were NSO infiltration attempts.

Journalists — Even before the wide availability of spyware, Mexico was considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work.

Some estimates place half of the acts of intimidation and violence against journalists from government agencies.

One way freedom of the press has been suppressed is through digital surveillance that hinders the ability of journalists to investigate instances of corruption against their own government. Eleven Mexican journalists were targeted with NSO exploit links.

One of the most heavily targeted investigative journalists that the Citizen Lab found in the NSO targeting campaign was Carmen Aristegui, who,

alongside her son Emilio, was sent SMS exploit links.

The intensive targeting campaign happened to coincide with the investigation of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s ‘Casa Blanca’ scandal.

The Casa Blanca scandal was a defining moment of Peña Nieto’s tenure, centred upon the purchase of a mansion by his wife that was interpreted as being paid for with taxpayers’ money. The breaking of Aristegui’s story battered the President’s credibility, which led to Aristegui’s employer, Noticias MVS, firing her and her team for publishing the story.

Other journalists were then targeted after they found evidence of government involvement in suspicious events, including massacres, disappearances, and mysterious murders. Though the Citizen Lab discovered many of the same NSO targeting techniques in Mexico as in the UAE, the tactics used in Mexico were far more extreme.

Mexican governmental deceptions also included fake AMBER alerts, and they set an alarming precedent by impersonating the United States Embassy, claiming that clicking on a link would help recipients’ visa statuses.

The latter tactic was used against Emilio Aristegui, a minor, while he was on US soil to gain information about his mother.

Politicians — In an effort to control the Mexican population, the operators of Pegasus likely broke US law and certainly broke diplomatic norms. Interestingly, Citizen Lab researchers never came across NSO operators targeting Peña Nieto’s party, but they did target high-ranking opposition politicians. The leaders of the National Action Party (PAN), which includes the President of the Mexican Senate, received exploit links while anti-corruption legislation was being discussed by the government.

Foreign Investigators — In 2014, 43 students disappeared while en route to Mexico City in what has since been dubbed the Iguala Mass Disappearance. Due to the relatively nonchalant reaction of the Mexican authorities, a group of foreign, independent experts came in to investigate the details of the case to ensure that the government was not involved.

The investigators were soon targeted with NSO

infection attempts after casting doubt about the degree of government involvement in the disappearance.

Citizen Lab research suggests, through circumstantial evidence, that the Office of the Prosecutor (PGR) was one of the government branches responsible for the infiltration attempts in an effort to control the official narrative.

Non-governmental organizations — The final case that the Citizen Lab investigated regarding the targeting of Mexican civil society involved Claudio González, the director of anti-corruption organization Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI). González was targeted with NSO infection attempts while he was investigating government corruption and advocating for anti-corruption legislation. According to the Citizen Lab, this is the 22nd known target of spyware abuse in Mexico.

The Citizen Lab found that a pattern has emerged in Mexico demonstrating that a new weapon is being used against anti-corruption advocates: targeting via government-exclusive spyware. It appears that those who question official government narratives are liable to be targeted by NSO spyware. As Deibert put it, “Should it come as any surprise that these powerful surveillance technologies would end up being deployed against those who aim to expose corrupt Mexican officials?”

Though no direct links of NSO abuse have been attributed to the Mexican government, it is known that government agencies possess the spyware and have the ability to use it. The circumstantial evidence gathered through the help of the Citizen Lab strongly indicates that unless a massive breach in security has occurred, a nation at peace should not allow its own citizens to be harassed in such a manner.

NSO Group has not ensured that its spyware will not target civilians. Selling to states that have reputations for human rights abuses clearly demonstrates a lack of consideration for freedom and security.

Although the group was recently courted by the US company Blackstone Group for a 40 per cent stake, the failure of the deal is thought to have resulted from an awareness campaign by groups such as the Citizen Lab.

Implications

The lessons of the UAE, China, and Mexico clearly demonstrate the potential for abuse when countries without strong accountability measures are given incredibly powerful weapons.

Such weapons bring into question a citizen’s freedom — whether it be of speech, expression, or thought — even in a country that claims to be a liberal democracy. “Freedom of speech is the antithesis to one-party rule,” Deibert writes, “[Authoritarian censorship] underscores why careful evidence-based research is so essential to the progress of human rights.”

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Arts&Culture

October 2, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Vignettes of Nuit Blanche Varsity writers cover the cold, the lines, and everything in between Varsity Contributors

Down. Because of the extremely long line, we opt out and head for Queen’s Park.

12:00 am — After getting off the subway, we follow the loud sound of music to an exhibit called "Automobile," curated by Joseph Namy, which consists of cars blasting their speakers and engines simultaneously.

With our ears still ringing, we continue walking around Queen’s Park and see horses roaming the streets in an exhibit called "Horses." After exploring some more politically-inclined pieces around Queen’s Park, my friends and I decide to call it a night.

1:00 am — Next stop, home. See you next year, Nuit.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

10:00 pm — My friends and I get off the subway and enter Nathan Phillips Square. The first exhibit we see, curated by Nato Thompson, is Monument to the Century of Revolutions, which consists of shipping containers that represent different moments in revolutionary history and global justice. On our way out, we enter “Porta-Party,” a dance party created through public washrooms. We dance for a bit, then we leave the square to explore further.

11:00 pm — We make our way to “Hendrick’s Gin's L.E.V.I.TA.T.R.E.,” a hot air balloon covered in images of roses and cucumbers to highlight the key ingredients in Hendrick’s signature gin, which can supposedly elevate your senses. After taking a few pictures, we decide to head over to Netflix's depiction of the Upside

9:40 pm — We walk to the Medical Sciences building where “Holding Still//Holding Together,” a live performance about putting bodies on the line for the sake of political resistance is being held.

9:52 pm — We run into a group displaying video footage of slaughterhouses, which seems to be garnering mixed reactions from the crowd.

10:15 pm — We line up at the AGO to see “The Forest,” a performative piece where one person reads and two other groups repeat their words. It’s a little difficult to understand the meaning behind it, but we enjoy the walk through the AGO. 11:00 pm — We arrive at OCAD University, but we can’t find the art.

11:20 pm — As we walk over to Nathan Phillips Square, we see an exhibit with people dressed like pigs serving human heads, presumably another commentary on eating meat.

11:30 pm — We’re in line for Monument to the Century of Revolutions, the exhibit we were most excited for.

Some of the shipping containers were interesting, but it’s difficult to follow because of the number of people.

1:00 am — We head home, exhausted after the long night.

MICHAEL TEOH/THE VARSITY

8:05 pm — My friends and I leave my place early in an attempt to avoid the huge crowds that tend to gather later at night. We walk to University of Toronto Schools first and see the "Speculating in Futures" installation, which displays a random passerby’s fortune after pulling a lever.

8:20 pm — We walk past the Bata Shoe Museum, but the line is too long, so we proceed to the Royal Ontario Museum. There, we walk around "The Family Camera" exhibit. It’s quite powerful and resonates with me, especially because I come from a family that really values pictures.

8:55 pm — We arrive at the Faculty of Music. Upon finding a huge and slow-moving line, we decide to skip those exhibits and head over to Queen’s Park. We look at “Where Once Stood a Bandstand for Cruising & Shelter” and experience the unveiling of three different banners.

It’s a strange experience because everyone’s running around, trying to catch what the banners say.

9:20 pm — We hear there are horses. Assuming everyone’s joking, we find actual horses at Queen’s Crescent and our minds are blown.

9:25 pm — We walk toward King’s College Circle. We first encounter the installation “Automobile,” which consists of a bunch of cars with open trunks and doors, and really loud music. We’re not sure we understand the point of this, but we enjoy the music anyway.

nut Street for “Embassy,” where the line isn’t too long.

11:15 pm — We get inside “Embassy,” which looks like the skeleton of a newly developing building. Staff members explain that the exhibit represents how temporary all of our structures are and that the skyscrapers that surround us will be torn down one day.

11:46 pm — Still on Dundas. There’s a video installation above street level that instructs me to “take a picture of this.” I comply.

11:48 pm — We’re on University Avenue now in front of the exhibit “Warm Up To Me,” which features portraits of different men and women staged in a simulated living room in the alley between two office buildings.

12:10 am — Another line, this one to get into Campbell House.

12:45 am — Still in line.

12:53 am — We finally make it inside and see the impressive Lacy Hill, singing with guitar.

1:23 am — I’m officially too cold to stand in any more lines, and we decide to call it a night.

ALEXANDRA HU/THE VARSITY

8:47 pm — We make our way down to Nathan Phillips Square. I quickly realize that we have underestimated the size of the crowd, and we prepare ourselves for standing in what seems to be a never-ending line to even enter.

9:34 pm — We finally make it inside the enclosure to see Monument to the Century of Revolutions. There are posters plastered everywhere reading, “Your profit, our trauma!” and “End the war on poor.” There are also flags hanging with the names of their respective nation’s revolutions written across them, which I find the most intriguing, especially the Iranian flag that reads “Green Revolution.”

10:18 pm — We try and make our way to Netflix’s Stranger Things-themed simulation of the Upside Down. We find it, but also a line. Actually, we can’t seem to find the end of the line. We keep walking until we get to Queen Street and still don’t see an end to this line in sight. A woman comes up to us and tells us that it’s apparently a four-hour wait to get in. We abandon it.

10:48 pm — After a quick break at Starbucks to refuel, we make our way to Dundas Street West and Chest-

— Simona Tersigni

— Farida Abdelmeguid

— Yasaman Mohaddes

OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 15

var.st/arts

The Lucas Brothers appreciate the little things “People want to grow up so soon… just live and embrace the world”

The Lucas Brothers were in town for the Just For Laughs comedy festival. PHOTO COURTESY OF JUST FOR LAUGHS

Sammi Chan Varsity Contributor

While in town for Just For Laughs, The Lucas Brothers, a duo of identical twin brothers, spoke to The Varsity about why they dropped out of law school and lived underneath a Brooklyn bridge. The twins also discussed adulthood, appeasing the haters, and avoiding stage fright.

The Varsity (TV): When did the both of you decide to be stand-up comedians? As well as decide to do it together, but not separately?

Kenny Lucas: I think I realized I wanted to be a stand-up comedian when I was in law school class. We were talking about some absurd legal concept, and I said, “Fuck this shit, I don’t want to do this anymore, I want to be a comedian.” So I called Keith up.

Keith Lucas: I was already on the edge of quitting when he called me up, thinking about the prospect of being a lawyer. He called me up at the right time and persuaded me.

Kenny: I used my power of persuasion, and I think it took me 15 minutes to decide that I wanted to drop out. We knew that comedy was going to be a struggle, that there was no guarantees in comedy, but if we have a degree or passed the bar, we would have that safety net.

Keith: I think we both agree that we don’t want to have a safety net, we just want to take the risk.

TV: What’s the best memory you have had so far as actors and comedians?

Keith: We were filming our special last year, few of our family were there, it was pretty dope — first time we did [The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon]. Honestly, the whole experience has been remarkable for me, it’s not one thing that I can point to that is the best.

The journey has been spiritual and philosophical and I have learned a lot and grown a lot from it.

Kenny: It’s been fun, even when we slept under a bridge in Brooklyn and had no money.

I remember those moments fondly because we decided on something and we stuck with it. The whole journey has been remarkable.

TV: I know there must have been a lot of good things that have happened to both of you, but there must have been some horrible experiences too. How do you guys deal with haters?

Kenny: I think in life, when we put ourselves out there in a public form, the diversity of opinion, there are always haters. Some of the greatest people on earth have haters and critics. We are not great, so of course there are haters too. I just take it as part of the game; it used to affect me because it’s just weird to see people be upset or angry at jokes.

Keith: I don’t think about it. As a person, you can either focus on the people who hate you, or appreciate those that love you — I just think about them more; I want to make them happy.

TV: Do you guys have any advice for the young people out there who are still trying to figure out what’s going on in their lives?

Keith: I would say keep your options open, don’t commit too soon. Try different expe-

riences, travel around the world, take new jobs, talk to different people.

Kenny: Experiment, try new things, don’t commit to something just because you think you would make a lot of money because there’s prestige involved. Do something you truly love doing, what makes you happy when you do it.

Keith: Because that’s what’s going to keep you through the tough days. It’s okay to be happy with what you do. I think a lot of people say that they want to be doctors or lawyers, but they don’t think about whether it will make them happy, they only think it will make them a lot of money. I think the basic thing is whether what you are doing will make you happy for 30 years.

Kenny: Just live. I think in this day and age, people want to grow up so soon. They want to be adults by 23 or 24. Just live and embrace the world.

TV: Super easy question, maybe, but what makes you guys happy? What do you guys do during your free time?

Keith: You think that’s an easy question?

That’s the hard question. As I get older, it’s the simple things that make me happy. Waking up in the morning, talking to my brother, walking around, hiking — real simple things.

Kenny: It’s like walking in the forest, things that nature sort of gives you, those are the things I find the most enjoyable. I’ve gone to parties with famous people, purchased expensive things.

Keith: I got money, achieved some level of celebrity, none of that brings the amount of happiness compared to the little things, like hiking in the morning, discovering a new

song.

Kenny: Even a good apple, just like simple things. Go with the flow, be happy, and be you.

Keith: As you get older and get closer and closer to death, you start to move away from the superficials and start to appreciate what’s around [you].

TV: Do you get nervous every time you go on stage? How do you deal with it?

Any suggestions on how to stand in front of a huge crowd and be confident?

Kenny: I would get nervous early on, but now I still get a little doubt in the stomach when I step on stage, but as soon as I’m there and they laugh at my first joke, I am already connected.

Keith: Now we go in there with a lot of ammunition, we have our jokes and our acts, which gives us a little comfort when we go on stage. Meditation helps, we smoke a little bit of weed — which diffuses the tension — and actually talk to people. I guess the more you talk to people, you feel more and more comfortable.

TV: Any good qualities you think a good comedian should have?

Keith: An open mind, committed to the process, and a love for jokes. Also, the willingness to be vulnerable. Put yourself out there, [don't worry] about what people think, what Hollywood thinks. Be truthful to process and be authentic.www This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

16 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

Seriously, what's so good about the TTC? Our contributors share some public transit horror stories Varsity Contributors

Over the summer, the TTC was awarded Outstanding Public Transportation System of 2017 by the American Public Transportation Association, the first time it had won since 1986. Given the train delays, missing buses, and grimy seats, many of us who use the TTC regularly disagree with this judgment. Here, our contributors share some of their standout TTC horror stories.

I sat in my seat on the subway, ready to begin my late Tuesday commute. Being a first-year at the time, I was still getting used to using the TTC and still learning its nuances.

That night, I experienced the classic random stop in the middle of a tunnel for the first time. Stuck in the same car was a man in a large, inflatable dinosaur costume, who was clearly not a fan of the random stop.

He leaped out of his seat, loudly complaining about the current state of affairs. As his tirade reached its crescendo, the train started moving again, causing the man in the large, inflatable dinosaur costume to fall over.

— Sarim Irfan It was a hot August day, and I was heading down to Kipling to my friend’s pool. After I grabbed a seat in the subway car, a man in construction gear sat down beside me. He seemed totally dazed and unaware of his surroundings. As the car got moving, he started

leaning closer and closer toward me until eventually he was asleep, practically on top of me.

Commuters around me began to notice and yell words of encouragement — “you don’t have to put up with that, girl!” One offered me their seat. When I stood up, the man fell forward, completely unresponsive.

Chaos ensued.

One woman pushed the emergency button, and another produced a fan from her purse.

People were yelling, asking me if I smelled alcohol on his breath. When the train came to a stop at the next station, it took 15 minutes for paramedics to arrive.

Meanwhile, several people, including a young nurse with shaky hands and a doctor who spoke little English apart from “I’m a doctor,” tried to help. On the platform, one man yelled, “I have places to be!” followed by profanities. A woman shouted how selfish he was, and then a brawl broke out. The man was still unconscious. Someone began videotaping, but the woman then turned on him, too. More profanities.

Others joined in, momentarily forgetting the unconscious man. Paramedics arrived and the man seemed to briefly regain consciousness while they carried him out.

— Leah Kuperman This summer, right at St. George station, I was harassed by a middle-aged woman for the sole reason that I was wearing a dress and

CORALS ZHENG/THE VARSITY

heels. It was a friend’s birthday party, so I was appropriately dressed for the occasion, or so I thought.

As my friends and I entered the subway station we noticed the woman looking at us, but we paid it no mind because she was exiting the subway. As we waited for the subway, the same lady we had seen before came back down to where we were and started to yell at me about my clothing choices. She called me a slut, a whore, and a whole slew of other

things that were completely disrespectful.

There was no one in sight at the station who could have come over to make sure I was safe or comfortable. I’m thankful my friends were there, but what if they hadn’t been?

Harassment like I experienced continues to occur on the subway, and until everyone can feel safe on their commute, the TTC will still be a frightening place.

— Aryana Munsamy

Toronto’s Birds of Bellwoods gear up for debut album Victoria The band’s unique sound holds universal appeal

The band is comprised of Kintaro Akiyama, Adrian Morningstar, Stephen Joffe, and Chris Blades.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BIG HASSLE MEDIA

Molly Henderson Varsity Contributor

Although local group Birds of Bellwoods started out as a folk project, frontman Stephen Joffe would not describe the band’s upcoming LP, Victoria, as a folk album. He’d sooner label it alt-rock, or, in his exact words: “indie folk alt-rock pop.” Joffe attributes the

change in the band’s genre to their 2015 performance at the KOI Music Festival in Kitchener, when an audience member approached guitarist Adrian Morningstar after the show and said, “Man, I love it when punk bands play acoustic.”

For the band, this was a huge indicator that Birds of Bellwoods was, above all, a

rock band. The new record exemplifies this, while still preserving the group’s harmonious vocals and the poetic lyricism of their selfreleased 2015 EP, The Fifth. Victoria’s sound is less folky, veering away from the mandolin and banjo in favour of electric guitar riffs and power chords.

Morningstar and Joffe began writing music for fun while at theatre school. Their dramatic ambitions have persisted; Joffe can be seen in the upcoming CBC and Netflix original series Alias Grace, based on the Margaret Atwood novel. Yet it wasn’t until Joffe went through a rough breakup that the two began to take their musical pastimes seriously.

Of the breakup’s aftermath, Joffe says, “[I] ended up sleeping on Adrian’s couch for about a month and after that long, he was like, ‘Alright buddy, you have two options: you can either get your shit together, or we can start a band.’ And I said: ‘I’ll take option two, cause I’m never gonna get my shit together.’”

Joffe and Morningstar reached out to the best musician they knew — bassist-vocalist Kintaro Akiyama, who had just graduated from jazz school at McGill University. But Birds of Bellwoods didn’t fully come together until Joffe saw Chris Blades in a play in Toronto, in which he played banjo and sang. “I was like: that’s the guy. That’s what’s missing. So we started shortly after that,” says Joffe.

Victoria is a project many years in the making. Some of the tracks on the LP are based on songs that Joffe and Morningstar were working on before the band was even formed. Although Joffe generally heads up

the lyrics and would sooner label himself a writer than a musician, he describes the writing process as “very collaborative… I would say that none of the songs are songs until we all put our hands on them and work on them collectively.”

Collaboration and community are very important to the band — this is reflected in Joffe’s outlook on the Toronto music scene, which he describes as “one of the most supportive, fraternal musical environments you could hope to work in.” His number one tip for breaking into the city’s industry? Go out, see shows, make friends, and “know that the people around you aren’t your competition.”

This community extends beyond musicianship and into the audience itself. Joffe, having personally struggled with anxiety, describes the process of creation as “really helpful,” and also recognizes the importance of having a support system to “make you feel less alone.”

The band hopes to translate this to their audience: “When we play these songs live, we’re creating an experience that [the audience] can relate to — someone out there in the audience has been through this too," says Joffe. "And we’re not only sharing this experience, we’re celebrating it.”

Following Victoria’s upcoming release, Birds of Bellwoods will be touring Québec and Canada’s east coast in October, although no Toronto show is lined up. If the celebration of shared experience through the medium of indie folk alt-rock pop music is your thing — and how could it not be? — I’d recommend giving them a listen.

var.st/arts

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OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 17

Agenda of the 2017 Annual General Meeting Monday October 30 2017 | 18:00 St. George Campus 1. Call to Order 2. Approval of Agenda (10 MINUTES) 3. Approval of Minutes (20 MINUTES) 4. Presidential Address and Executive Question Period (45 MINUTES) 5. Receipt of Audited Financial Statements (45 MINUTES) 6. Appointment of Auditors

(20 MINUTES)

7. Bylaw Amendments (60 MINUTES) 8. Motions Submitted by Members: 8.1.

Motion on Autonomy (30 MINUTES) MOTION MOVED: M. MEMMEL

SECONDED: D. SINGH

Be it resolved that the following be adopted as Bylaw XIX: Bylaw XIX – Autonomy 1. The UTSU shall not become a member of any organization from which the UTSU would not be able to withdraw via a vote of the Board of Directors.

2. The UTSU shall not enter into any perpetual agreement that cannot be terminated by a vote of the Board of Directors.

3. Bylaw XIX shall not apply to actions taken prior to 30 October 2017.

4. No part of Bylaw XIX may be amended other than by a three-quarters majority (3/4) of members voting at a general meeting at which at least 10% of members are present, either in person or by proxy.

9.

Other Business

10. Adjournment

(15 MINUTES)

Science

October 2, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Siri, tell us about artificial intelligence Two Varsity writers dip their toes in the tech sector at National Learn to Code Day

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

Elspeth Arbow and Teodora Pasca Varsity Staff

The fifth annual National Learn to Code Day took place on September 23, with an estimated 1,500 people from 25 communities across Canada taking part, both in person and remotely. This year, participants learned about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning through hands-on lessons from individuals working in the field.

The event was hosted by Ladies Learning Code (LLC), a Canadian nonprofit that focuses on promoting tech education for women and youth. LLC workshops are open to all persons, regardless of gender, and are facilitated by volunteer mentors passionate about digital literacy.

Elspeth Arbow and Teodora Pasca, neither of whom had any coding experience, attended the Toronto workshop on behalf on The Varsity. Here’s what they learned about the technology that’s predicted to replace 16 per cent of current jobs within the next decade. def learn_ai(elspeth: babe_type, teodora: babe_type) -> all: Elspeth Arbow: Computer science is a field that simultaneously interests and baffles me.

Despite my wonder towards it, up until now, its sheer vastness has kept me away — read: scared me off — from learning more. LLC’s National Learn to Code Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to get my feet wet by approaching a single, specific topic at a very basic level. Up until now, my knowledge of tech has been limited to what I’ve seen in movies or on Reddit.

Armed with a computer and an endless supply of coding jokes, I was ready to learn.

Teodora Pasca: Though I came into this workshop with no prior knowledge of AI, I was conscious of its increasing importance within the workforce. I am interested in pursuing a career in law, a field that has sometimes proven resistant to technological change. Legal experts have drawn attention to the pressing need to bring the court system into the digital age, particularly as the 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v.

Jordan, which revamped the framework used to determine whether an accused has been tried within a reasonable time, has placed immense pressure on the system to put an end to unnecessary court delays.

At the same time, legal databases like LexisNexis and Westlaw, as well as organizations like Blue J Legal, have demonstrated a potential for immense progress that can come from intersecting law and technology. The ROSS platform, built on IBM’s Watson computer, was coined “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney” in 2016. With the help of AI, the law and tech movement has skyrocketed, creating new opportunities and generating a host of ethical concerns. It seems responsible for me to go into law school with at least cursory knowledge of the technology driving these changes. return knowledge + skill + girl_ power EA: When we walked in, there was what I can only describe as copyright-free hacker music playing. I felt like I was at summer camp with my backpack and my homemade lunch — except none of the summer camps I went to were nearly as cool as this.

We started with some history to

contextualize AI and machine learning. As this was an LLC event, they were sure to include key women in the field. The shoutout to Hidden Figures was much appreciated by me and probably me only. We then got a chance to play around with some data and make machines learn. Despite the fact that what we were doing was incredibly basic, I felt like I could totally take on Mark Zuckerberg in a fight.

TP: The session we attended focused mainly on visualization and manipulation of data, one of the building blocks of AI. We were taught how to use Dataiku, a platform for organizing, graphing, and analyzing data.

Coming from a social science background, it was easy for me to see the applicability of the technology to projects within my own field of study, as well as the colossal convenience of having a computer perform most of the grunt work. I learned statistics the old-fashioned way — think Bart Simpson writing lines on a chalkboard — and while the linear regression formulae are now burned into my brain, I can only imagine the time I would have saved had I been able to use software in parallel to analog study.

I also appreciated that the organizers repeatedly emphasized the need to engage women within the tech industry. Take the example of voice recognition in AI. Apparently, because Siri was developed by a squad of older men, the platform completely lacked the ability to recognize women’s voices, which are typically of higher pitch. A similar problem was recently uncovered with Google’s speech recognition software. I don’t want to live in a world where my ability to access an app depends on the accuracy of my Morgan Freeman impression.

[evaluate llc_2017.py] EA: This workshop was a great way to get to know LLC and develop my interest in tech. I learned some pretty neat stuff about AI and machine learning and got a taste of how the organization is making real change in our community. At one point in the middle, I got really confused and overwhelmed because my program wasn’t doing what I wanted it to, but I had this realization that I am not being tested on this. I am doing this for the sake of learning. It’s chill. There’s probably a kernel of wisdom in there somewhere.

I’ve already looked into the next workshop I want to take, and I’m pretty jazzed about it. My goal of the day was to explore a new interest, and while my musings on the event and its contents are not nearly as analytical as Teodora’s, I had a lot of fun.

TP: We always hear talk of technology killing jobs for future generations. Yet I walked away from National Learn to Code Day with new insight into the possibilities that are available to me. The complex and multifaceted world of AI demonstrates there is a place for people of all educational backgrounds within the tech industry: the ethical and legal implications of rapidly developing technologies alone have opened so many doors. Perhaps the working world will look different in 20 or 30 years, but as things change, so will we.

That’s why digital literacy is so important — especially for women, who have historically gotten the short end of the stick in the STEM world. Organizations like LLC can empower us to build up a tech résumé and help ensure we are just as prepared for future challenges as our male co-workers.

OCTOBER 2, 2017 • 19

var.st/science

U of T team places third in World Human Powered Speed Challenge Speedbike reaches 127.6 kilometers per hour

HPVDT stands behind their speedbikes, Eta and Eta Prime. PHOTO BY BAS DE MEIJER, COURTESY OF HPVDT TEAM

Devanshi Adhvaryu Varsity Contributor

Teams across the globe compete annually in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) for the title of fastest humanpowered vehicle. This year, U of T’s HumanPowered Vehicle Design Team (HPVDT) has once again claimed first place, marking their third consecutive win since 2015.

Their most recent project, Eta Prime, came in at an impressive 127.6 kilometers per hour.

This is shy of their 2016 record set by the speedbike’s predecessor, Eta, which finished with a speed of 142.04 kilometers per hour.

Eta is named after the Greek letter that represents efficiency in engineering equations.

The HPVDT was founded in 2006 by graduate students from various fields of En-

gineering at U of T. One of their first projects was a human-powered ornithopter. According to Calvin Moes, the team captain of HPVDT, the ornithopter was a flapping wing aircraft. It was the first of its kind to ever fly under its own power.

In late 2010, HPVDT decided to start building high-speed bicycles. Moes explained the intricacies of building record-breaking human-powered vehicles.

“The bicycles haven’t really been about anyone’s research or academics; it’s just something that we do because we think it’s cool. So we’ve been building one bike every year since 2010,” said Moes.

Common to both Eta and Eta Prime is the aerodynamic shell. Both bikes were made from the same mould, so their outer systems are nearly identical in shape.

The largest difference between the two bikes is the redesign of the internal frame. “[It] is a big carbon fibre structure that surrounds the rider and supports all the parts of the bike that need to function,” explained Moes.

Eta Prime’s internal frame is stiffer and much lighter in weight when compared to Eta. Both of these qualities are important when it comes to designing a high-speed bike.

“One of the biggest challenges is improving the aerodynamics — the whole project is all about good aerodynamic performance,” said Moes. This is necessary to achieve high speeds, which is the most important factor.

According to Moes, there are not any rules or requirements when it comes to competing in the WHPSC but to have a high-speed

vehicle that is solely human-powered.

In addition to having excellent technical qualities of the bike, physical prowess — especially strength in the leg muscles — is necessary to achieve high speeds. This is because competitors are the sole ‘engines’ of the vehicles. Moes himself is the 13th fastest cyclist in history and is HPVDT’s leading male rider.

“I trained throughout the year, anywhere from 10 to 20+ hours a week... These vehicles are not as easy to ride as your typical bicycle, and they take quite a bit of practice to make [them] work,” explained Moes.

As the team gets ready for their next WHPSC, they are also exploring the possibility of building a high-speed commuter bike for practical use that is intended to reach 70 to 80 kilometres per hour.

Beware of ancient amphibians Ancestors of frogs were armed with a mouthful of hooked teeth Clara Thaysen Varsity Contributor

If you were asked to imagine a vicious predator from 289 million years ago, you likely would not imagine a frog. However, UTM paleontologist Robert Reisz and his graduate students, Bryan Gee and Yara Haridy, recently discovered a fossil that suggests that the ancestor to frogs may have been a force to be reckoned with.

The team discovered fossils of palatal plates belonging to a group of organisms called ‘dissorophoids,’ an ancestral group of modern amphibians. On these plates were hundreds to thousands of miniscule fang-like structures.

The researchers detected evidence of tooth components on the fossils, including a pulp cavity, dentine, and enamel, which confirmed that the structures were indeed teeth.

These toothed plates would have been attached to a flexible palate on the roof of the amphibian’s mouth, allowing these

ancient predators to capture and consume large prey. This is in stark contrast to the diet of amphibians today, which, although still carnivorous, consists of invertebrate prey such as insects.

This flexible palate is still present in modern amphibians — in fact, it is a defining characteristic of the group. The teeth, however, are nowhere to be found. Many modern amphibians do not possess any type of true teeth, let alone hooked palatal ones.

Species that do possess true teeth are severely reduced in size. This then begs the question: why did amphibians lose their teeth?

The question is difficult to answer. “We don’t even know when they lost that trait,” Haridy told The Varsity.

“These platelets are found in all extinct amphibians... that suggests some sort of phylogenetic signal [for these teeth],” said Gee. Haridy explained that it would have likely taken some sort of genetic mechanism

PEARL CAO/THE VARSITY

for these organisms to lose all their teeth.

Gee said that most research in paleontology often leads to more questions. Even if the researchers can pinpoint how, when, or why amphibians lost their teeth, another question would arise: how did amphibians remain so successful despite losing such a major component of their feeding apparatus?

“Amphibians are the longest-lived group of tetrapods. They beat reptiles, birds, mammals, [and] dinosaurs. [They] survived [multiple] mass extinctions that wiped out quite a lot of other animals,” said Gee. While some questions remain unanswered, the implications of the discovery are crystal clear.

“This story is interesting from… the dental diversity side. So, how many different ways

can we make a tooth with just one genetic module,” said Haridy, whose research focuses on dental histology. “A lot of amphibians are [model] organisms now. [When] you’re fiddling around with their genomics... it’s really important to understand the background features that they have… [and] probably still carry in their genes.”

The discovery also has conservation implications. “Amphibians are the most at-risk group of vertebrates on the planet,” said Gee. “If we can get a better idea of the diversity of physiology and morphology that we see in the fossil record… that [gives us] ideas of evolutionary rates and how quickly amphibians can adapt.”

20 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Experiments explained: Baby Tooth Survey Science Ursula Franklin’s contributions to reforming the regulation of nuclear weapons

Around Town Charmaine Nyakonda Varsity Contributor

The Microbiome Drives AgeAssociated Inflammation and Susceptibility to Pneumonia We are all susceptible to catching a cold, especially during the fall and winter months, and for some, an innocent cold may end up as pneumonia. At this week’s Molecular Medicine Seminar Series, you can learn about the link between pneumonia and bacteria in the human gut from Dr. John Parkinson.

Date: Monday, October 2 Time: 1:00–2:00 pm Location: Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, 686 Bay Street, Events Room 3A/3B Admission: Free

ZAHRA DANAEI/THE VARSITY

Farah Badr Varsity Contributor

Experiments Explained is The Varsity’s Science subsection featuring notable findings in history. Our goal is to showcase the scientific method and promote an appreciation for the experiments that shaped our understanding of science today.

Humanity has been fundamentally transformed by the discovery of nuclear radiation and radioactive chemical elements. Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium in the late 1890s, following Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity. Since then, World War I has led to the advent of the first X-ray machine, which treated injured soldiers, and World War II has brought upon the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Not long after, scientists began collecting radioactive baby teeth on American land: the unexpected aftermath of harnessing the unprecedented power of nuclear radiation.

One of those scientists was Ursula Franklin, the first female to receive the University Professor distinction at U of T in 1984. Franklin was an academic, an educator, a prolific writer, a highly

vocal and active pacifist and feminist, but also held the lesser known titles of metallurgist, archaeometrist, practicing Quaker, and Holocaust survivor.

It is perhaps the result of her impactful social activism and visionary writings on war, globalism, social justice, and technology that some attention has been drawn away from Franklin’s scientific achievements.

One such accomplishment was a high-profile study that started in 1958. In collaboration with a number of scientists, Franklin investigated the impact of ground nuclear weapon testing, which had begun in the early 1940s in prelude to the attack on Japan at the end of World War II. Radioactive elements, one of which was strontium-90, had been released for the first time into the environment due to this nuclear weapon testing. Strontium-90 chemically resembles the important nutritional element calcium, leading to its incorporation along with calcium into the bones and teeth of developing unborn babies, which continues even after their birth.

Over the course of the 12-year study, the team collected more than 300,000 shed baby teeth, mostly from children in St. Louis, Missouri. The researchers incinerated and pulverized the teeth before extracting and analyzing its composite minerals.

The analysis revealed a spike in strontium-90 levels in children born between 1954 and 1955.

This coincided with a period of extensive nuclear testing that started in 1953. Among these children, strontium-90 levels were also found to be higher in those who were bottle-fed compared to those who were breastfed.

This observation further emphasized that the children were absorbing the radioactive element from the environment — picture acres of dairy farms showered with rain that has just passed through kilometers of atmosphere containing radioactive dust.

In June 1963, shortly after publishing the first phase of the study, Dr. Eric Reiss, one of the main participating scientists, presented the findings in testimony before the American Senate committee. Two months later, the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain was signed.

This agreement prevented countries from performing test detonations of nuclear weapons, except for those conducted underground.

During a second phase of the study, a 50 per cent decline in strontium-90 was seen in children born in 1968, thanks in part to the PTBT that Franklin and her team helped bring about.

Mindfest 2017 As part of National Mental Illness Awareness Week, Mindfest brings you a full day of mental health and wellness awareness events, featuring a diverse panel of speakers. Topics include addiction, suicide prevention and awareness, mental health representations in the media, and more.

Date: Wednesday, October 4 Time: 9:00 am–4:30 pm Location: Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle Admission: Free The Nature of Consciousness Advances in scientific research have given rise to new developments in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Federico Faggin, known for designing the first commercial microprocessor, will speaking about the nature of consciousness, computers, and living systems.

Date: Thursday, October 5 Time: 6:30–8:00 pm Location: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue Admission: Free with registration

Sports

October 2, 2017 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Three-time OUA Championship twins talk field hockey Emily and Hilary Ziraldo want to win a national championship Daniel Samuel Sports Editor

The plastic cast on Hilary Ziraldo’s left arm begins midway on her forearm and extends around her injured thumb. The versatile Varsity Blues defender and midfielder hasn’t played since the preseason, when she suffered a non-sports related injury — accidentally cutting the tendon in her thumb with a knife.

Unable to fully participate in practice, Hilary’s reduced to running wind sprints up and down the sidelines at Back Campus Field while her identical twin sister, Emily, competes in a drill — standing at the top of the circle — and is ready to defend.

“There’s... an unknown, undetermined healing time. The doctor said three months but that doesn’t align well with the team schedule, so we’re trying to figure something out to get back earlier than that,” Hilary says. “I haven’t really experienced injury too much before and this one’s a little bit frustrating because there’s nothing really wrong with me.”

For Hilary, the toughest part about being injured has been having to sit back and watch, unable to have an impact on the game or provide any significant help to her teammates. Having missed her entire first season due to injury — the same year Hilary earned OUA Rookie of the Year honours — Emily can empathize with her sister’s current perspective.

“It’s hard because I want her to be out there with me and I want to play with her,” Emily said. “I know how badly she wants to be playing and she can’t and I spend so much time with her that it hurts me too.”

As lifelong athletes, the Ziraldo twins were introduced to field hockey by their older sister before entering Bishop Allen Academy, where their sister played. At Bishop they often played the same sports together. “We both did a bunch of sports in high school, we played competitive volleyball when we were in Grade 8 as well, so then we both ran track and field for a few years,” Hillary says.

Hilary’s injury has challenged Emily, who believes playing alongside her sister helps her succeed and that they collectively play at their highest level when they’re on the field together. With recently promoted head coach Cassius Mendonça in charge, and the last season’s leading goalscorer Alison Lee gone, the team is different from last season, when Emily scored a late game-winning goal against Guelph University to extend the Blues field hockey program’s streak to three straight OUA championships, and Hilary scored two goals to earn bronze at the national championships.

“I’m not a prolific goalscorer so its a lot different for me. Coach [DeSouza] put me in forward and it was kind of a risky move,” Emily says. “I swung and it just kind of went in; I was just jumping up and down that was about it... [the goal] wasn’t that great to be honest.”

The disappointment of being just one goal away from playing for a national championship has fuelled the Blues, a team looking to build off past success and to adapt to the voice and style dictated by their new head coach. Emily points to Anna Costanzo as a potential candidate to lead the Blues attack, but she admits the team’s offense is more spread out in comparison to Lee’s 14goal tally in 2016.

Twin sisters Emily and Hilary Ziraldo take a break from practice to speak to The Varsity.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

“[Anna’s] a great goal scorer, she and our older forwards like the returning girls are looking to pick that more up and obviously me I play defense and midfield but I’m looking to score more,” Emily says. “We have the talent to do it.”

Both Ziraldo sisters are locked in on the singular goal of winning a national championship.

“For us winning the OUA championships that’s like great, but that’s never the end

Varsity Blues field hockey weekend recap The Blues defeat Queen’s, lose to York and McGill over weekend Daniel Samuel Sports Editor

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team defeated the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday, but they lost their final two games of the weekend to the York Lions and McGill Martlets at Back Campus Field on Sunday.

The Blues earned their second victory of the season with a 1–0 win over Queen’s University. Despite key opportunities in front of goal, both teams largely failed to find the back of the net. The Queen’s team was unable

The Blues in battle against the Queen’s Gaels. MARTIN BAZYL/Courtesy of THE VARSITY BLUES

to finish, as Blues defenders Emily Ziraldo and Julia Costanzo applied strong pressure and were able to clear and distribute the ball well.

Blues first-year forward Anna Costanzo scored the only goal of the game: she received a pass in the circle, beat her defender, and lobbed a shot over Gaels goaltender Amanda Thoo in the 48th minute for her team leading fourth goal of the season.

Shannon Snediker had a late chance to double Toronto’s lead: Thoo dove to her right, but Snediker’s shot went just

wide of the target. Ziraldo also had a good opportunity to add to Toronto’s lead, but her shot sailed high.

The Blues began action on Sunday with a tough 3–1 loss against their rival York Lions.

Two minutes into the match, the Lions got on the board with a goal from Madison Mitchell. The Blues provided plenty of attack throughout the first half but failed to equalize.

York midfielders Frankie St. Louis and Amira Bear added two quick goals to open up the game in the 45th and 51st minutes

goal... our team culture is that we expect to win and anything less is disappointing,” Hilary explains.

“I don’t know if I’ve thought about it, neither of us has played in a final... so it’s difficult until then to start thinking about that… before we get there,” Emily adds.

“Those games are pretty tough, each one is kind of the next step, so you have to get over that hill before you can get to the next one,” Hilary added.

respectively, stretching the Lions’ lead to 3–0. Toronto managed to get one back in the 64th minute as Taylor Fleck scored her third goal of the season on a corner, but the Blues were unable to make up the difference. With the loss, Toronto’s regular season record against York falls to 0–2.

The Blues closed out the weekend with a 4–3 loss to McGill University in a tightly contested match on Sunday afternoon.

Costanzo concluded her strong weekend with an early goal against the Martlets in the seventh minute for a 2–0 lead, two minutes after Megan Johansen opened the scoring on a corner.

McGill mounted a strong comeback, recording three straight unanswered goals — two in the first half — and Breeshey Roskams-Hieter netted the third one in the 53rd minute to overtake Toronto. Johansen tied the score in the 66th minute, adding her second goal of the match on another corner.

The Blues were unable to net a go-ahead goal, and Constanza Martinez provided the game-winner for McGill in the 68th minute to close out the victory.

Following this weekend’s action, Toronto falls to fifth place in the OUA with a 2-3-2 record. The Blues will return to action on October 14 against the University of Waterloo at Back Campus Field.

22 • THE VARSITY • SPORTS

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The good, the bad, and the hopeful: the Blue Jays season in review Despite the lackluster season, there’s still hope Michelle Krasovitski Varsity Contributor

Disappointed. That’s how most Blue Jays fans feel as the 2017 regular baseball season comes to a wrap. A plethora of injuries inspired frustration and bitterness — and skilled players that did not reach their potential only soured the situation. The Toronto Blue Jays weren’t supposed to play bad baseball; they weren’t supposed to lose half their roster to injuries or have star players experience uncharacteristic slumps. They weren’t supposed to finish joint last in the American League East, more than eight games out of a Wild Card spot. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did, making the season — and reflections upon it — even more brutal.

The good The triumph of the season hails from South Carolina and goes by the name of Justin Smoak.

Toronto’s first baseman not only put up career numbers in homeruns, batting average, and runs batted in (RBI), but had the second best defensive fielding percentage in the MLB, clocking in at second with .998 per cent. All of this while being paid less than $5 million for the season. Smoak was economical and valuable — two words you’d be hard-pressed to find fitting for many players on the 2017 Blue Jays.

In a year where a previously league-leading pitching roster faltered and spiraled due to injuries and slumps, Marcus Stroman shone as the undisputed ace. Putting up the fourth lowest Earned Run Average (ERA) in the American League at 3.09, Stroman will finish the season with the highest wins above replacement eraon the Blue Jays at 6.0.

A bonus fond memory to remember: May 19, when Stroman became the second pitcher in franchise history, after Mark Hendrickson in 2003, to hit a homerun, doing so against the Atlanta Braves.

The bad Where to begin? It seems as though Canada’s team took inspiration from its climate, snowballing injuries into disappointments.

The Jays went 1–9 to open the season, foreshadowing the painful and baffling inconsistencies that would plague seemingly every series of 2017.

The bats went cold and the pitching worsened.

Last year’s ALCS performance against the Cleveland Indians proved the importance of having varied approaches to pitching — the Jays were shut out twice in that series — yet it seemed as though no improvement occurred in the offseason. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong: case in point, outfielder Darrell Ceciliani dislocated his shoulder hitting a homerun in Atlanta. Luck was not on the Jays’ side.

It felt as though every win was accompanied with an injury: for every player returning from the Disabled List (DL), two would be sent back.

Infielders Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki, pitcher Aaron Sanchez, and catcher Russell Martin, spent significant time on the DL. Sanchez’s blister proved debilitating, restricting the young pitcher — and expected ace — to only 36 innings for the entire season.

Pitcher JP Howell, signed in the offseason, finished 2017 with a 7.36 ERA in only 11 innings pitched. When added to the absence-dueto-injury of Aaron Sanchez and the sudden, incomprehensible regression of Marco Estrada, the pitching situation for the Jays was dire. And new acquisition Kendrys Morales, who was supposed to fill slugger Edwin Encarnacion’s shoes, finished the year with 85 RBIs and 28 home runs — second in the team for both. Not bad, but unfortunately, nothing like Edwin.

And finally: Jose Bautista, an exciting and nostalgic offseason signing, was noteworthy only in his disappointing performance. Batting less than .210, Bautista’s few spectacular catches in right field could not mask his regression, and the Jays’ offensive output suffered because of

Jose Bautista making a sliding catch in right field at the Rogers Centre. KEITH ALLISON/CC FLICKR

it. However, on a positive note: in his probable final game at the Rogers Centre on September 24, the homerun king and bat flipper received a thunderous ovation of gratitude, a bright reminder that one sour season will not ruin the legacy of “Joey Bats.”

The hopeful Hope comes in many different shapes and forms in baseball. Sometimes it’s a change of front office, other times a contract extension signing.

For Toronto, however, hope is the name of the young’uns: rookies Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr., and, most importantly, Teoscar Hernandez.

Nineteen-year-old shortstop Bichette was named Midwest League MVP and Prospect of the Year in 2017. Hernandez, acquired in the Liriano trade in July with Houston, was only called up in September, but he has already left an impression, accumulating over 20 hits and RBIs respectively.

Justin Smoak’s breakout year and Marcus Stroman’s positive progression should instill confidence in the older players of the team too — centrefielder Kevin Pillar also had a career high year in homeruns, and Steve Pearce’s solid slashes should ensure his being a confident player to turn to should an outfielder be needed.

The year 2015 had the “Bat Flip.” The year 2016 had Edwin Encarnacion’s Wild Card walk off homerun. Yet a lack of a postseason presence does not rid the Jays of having a defining, iconic moment. Toronto is the fourth

AL East destination in outfielder Steve Pearce’s seemingly diligent quest to bat for every team in the division. However, donning Toronto blue, Pearce accomplished a feat no other player in franchise history ever had. Pearce hit a walk off grand slam on a sunny July afternoon against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Capping off a five-run bottom ninth, he repeated the feat four days later against the Oakland Athletics, becoming one of only three players in MLB history to hit two walk off grand slams in a season. If anything is a testimony to the whirlwind of unexpected occurrences — both good and bad — that came to represent the 2017 Toronto Blue Jays, Steve Pearce from July 27–31 is it.

To end on a positive note, the Blue Jays are not done yet. There is still an admittedly small window for success, wherein a World Series victory can be brought back to Toronto once again. There will be no rebuild next year, the front office has confirmed. With young pitchers like Joe Biagini, Aaron Sanchez, Roberto Osuna, and, of course, Marcus Stroman in a relatively good form and under club control for a considerable number of years, the Blue Jays can be as competitive as they ever were, especially when considering the young core that is soon to be introduced to the majors. And with veterans like Donaldson, Smoak, Martin, and Estrada leading the pack? As long as the Jays can learn from their mistakes, the future can be bright.

A look ahead at the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017–2018 Line changes and new acquisitions in store for the Leafs’ upcoming season Aidan Currie Deputy News Editor

Soon after the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row, the General Managers (GM) of the National Hockey League (NHL) got on their phones and looked for ways to improve their teams.

The 2017 NHL Entry Draft saw Swiss-born Nico Hischier go first overall to the New Jersey Devils, while Canadian teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, who selected Swedish defenseman Timothy Liljegren, and the Edmonton Oilers, who took undersized forward Kailer Yamamoto, found themselves with later draft positions thanks to their regular season success.

The Leafs got to work in free agency, signing veterans like Dominic Moore, recent Cup champion Ron Hainsey, and a 37-yearold Patrick Marleau. Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock kept his players busy over the summer, regularly checking in on them wherever they were training. Babcock even called his top defenseman, Morgan Rielly, telling him to start preparing to play with Hainsey.

With a year that saw them make the playoffs and push the Washington Capitals to six games

last spring, as well as a summer of prepping behind them, the Leafs are looking to improve upon their last season. The boys in blue are hungrier, more confident, and better prepared to skate with the best of the best in the NHL. Calder Trophy recipent Auston Matthews is centring Toronto’s top line in between Zach Hyman and William Nylander. That line will play against the NHL’s top shutdown pairings and defensive lines, but with the firepower of Matthews, Nylander, and Hyman’s brute strength and shot, the top line is expected to produce well.

Leafs fans can also look forward to seeing Marleau on a line with Nazem Kadri and possibly Connor Brown, whose 20 goals as a rookie were only overshadowed by virtue of being on a team with rookie phenoms Matthews, Nylander, and Mitch Marner.

For what seems like the first time in a long time, the Leafs have a solid top four on the back end. Jake Gardiner seems to be playing with Nikita Zaitsev in Reilly’s old spot, while Reilly plays with Hainsey. Hainsey, a serviceable defenceman, is over 35 years of age, which begs the question of whether he can keep up with this young Leafs team.

Zach Hyman celebrates his first career goal. TOM SZCZERBOWSKI/CC WIKIMEDIA

Around the league there are plenty of storylines to follow. Did the Columbus Blue Jackets just have a fluke season, or are they the real deal? Can Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers go all the way, seeing as they’re the Vegas favoured team to win it all? Speaking of Vegas, how will the Golden Knights do in their

inaugural season? Is it possible we will see a Penguins three-peat?

But the most important question on the minds of Toronto sports fans will always remain whether or not the Leafs are good enough. For that, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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President Trump calls out NFL players for kneeling during anthem Players hope to draw awareness to systemic oppression, police brutality

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MEN’S Silas LeBlanc Varsity Contributor

The attention surrounding Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the US national anthem in protest of systemic oppression and police brutality reached its peak last weekend, when President Donald Trump condemned anyone who took part in this form of protest. At a rally in Alabama, Trump suggested that National Football League (NFL) owners fire any player they see sitting down or kneeling during the performance of the anthem. This resulted in league-wide backlash, with many NFL owners, players, and coaches defending the players’ right to free speech.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who donated $1 million USD to Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign, released a statement reading, “I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the President on Friday… I support [the players’] right to peacefully affect social change.”

Other NFL superstars such as Green Bay Packers tight end Martellus Bennett and Buffalo Bills running back Lesean McCoy spoke out in protest of Trump’s comments.

Super Bowl Champion Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks took it a step further, releasing a video on The Players Tribune.

“I think it’s very interesting that he condemned the protest – the silent protest of our players, who are protesting the injustice and bigotry and racism that has plagued our great country for so long.” Sherman went on to criticize Trump for seeing these players as “radicals” while also taking time to condemn white supremacists, in reference to the recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

While Trump’s comments may have caused many more NFL players to join in on these protests, they all had different ways of

going about them. Some teams, such as the Houston Texans, decided to lock arms during the national anthem as opposed to sitting down. Both the Seahawks and Tennessee Titans rosters agreed to stay inside their locker rooms for the anthem before facing off. Even Detroit Lions anthem singer Rico Lavelle kneeled and raised his fist during the last line of his performance.

Trump also caused controversy in the NBA by tweeting that he would withdraw an invitation to the recent NBA champion Golden State Warriors to visit the White House, a common tradition for the title holder of any major North American league. This was despite Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry already saying he would vote “no” in a team decision on whether or not to attend.

Trump’s tweet at Curry caused NBA superstar LeBron James to tweet back “U bum [Curry] already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!” In light of this, several active and retired NBA players voiced their discontent on Twitter, including superstars Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. Additionally, James’ tweet reached 1.1 million likes and 550,000 retweets — the most ever for a tweet by an athlete.

The one thing that has perhaps been lost among the controversy, however, is Colin Kaepernick’s original reason for protesting, which was not about Trump. It was instead to bring attention to the institutional racism and oppression that is so prevalent in the United States, especially toward African-Americans.

In September, Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett attested to being unfairly apprehended by law enforcement in Las Vegas over the summer. “The Officers’ use of force was unbearable,” said Bennett. “I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed.”

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