September 18, 2017

Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 3 September 18, 2017 thevarsity.ca —— University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

Annex residents speak out against fraternities

Journey to the Great White North A student travels to the Arctic to conduct research

“Numerous fires, numerous drug issues, and numerous sexual assaults” among cited issues Jillian Schuler Varsity Contributor

Fraternity and sorority housing may face significant licensing requirements changes by the end of the month. As The Varsity previously reported, the city’s Executive Committee will review whether or not to remove the multi-tenant housing licensing exemption from fraternity and sorority houses. If the change proposed by Ward 20 Councillor Joe Cressy is approved, then Greek houses around U of T may be shut down if they do not successfully secure a multi-tenant housing license.

Residents push for action Cressy’s move to have the Executive Committee address the role of fraternities and sororities came on June 5, and it was supported by letters from the heads of the Annex Residents’ Association, Bay Cloverhill Community Association, Grange Community Association, Harbord Village Residents’ Association, and the Huron Sussex Residents’ Organization.

Following repeated incidents going unpunished, Sterns wrote a letter to Mayor Tory about the issue on June 15. The letter listed several cases of inappropriate conduct on behalf of the fraternity houses residing in the Annex, including a police raid confiscating over $125,000 worth of drugs in 2008, the death of a young man who fell from a window of Beta Theta Pi fraternity house in 2013, and the stabbing of three people outside of a frat party in 2015.

Following the 2011 decision, Sterns expressed skepticism of any more collaborative promises on behalf of fraternities and sororities, and urged the Mayor to support Greek, page 3

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Former CFS-owned company linked to secret bank account Audit of hidden account discloses original purpose to pay off debt for travelcuts Josie Kao Associate News Editor

On May 31, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) released an audit of a hidden bank account discovered by members of its “at-large executive” in 2014.

The summary report of the audit revealed that the original purpose of the account was to pay off debts for travelcuts —then known as Canadian University Travel Service — a travel agency that was majority-owned by the CFS at the time. travelcuts and the CFS travelcuts was founded by CFS predecessors as a low-budget travel agency for students.

When the CFS was created, it took over running the company until it was eventually sold in 2009. travelcuts “was created to be a service, first and foremost, and a revenue stream, second,” states the CFS’ National Executive Report (NEP) from their 2009 Annual General Meeting.

Swimming to victory

Although the company was originally created for student travel, due to its lowbudget model, it soon attracted a larger market and substantially grew its revenue.

In 2001, while it was entirely under CFS ownership, travelcuts reported sales of nearly $220 million.

However, due to its inability to continue selling cheap tickets, the advent of the internet travel services, and the 2008 economic downturn, the company soon experienced financial troubles and the CFS began the process of establishing a business partnership.

In July 2009, the CFS opened an account with CIBC in order to help travelcuts manage its debt. This account would eventually go on to be used for unauthorized transactions between 2010 and 2014.

On July 14, 2009, the federation deposited $1.6 million into the account as a loan “to facilitate the receivership and sale process as Travel CUTS was experiencing cash-flow problems. The loan was repaid

in full by Travel CUTS to [CFS-Services],” wrote CFS Treasurer Peyton Veitch in an email to The Varsity.

In October 2009, the CFS sold the company to Merit Travel Group Inc., and the last authorized use of the account was on May 6, 2010, two months before the unauthorized transactions began.

Hidden bank account audit Although the summary of the audit does not go into details of its unauthorized transactions, it does give some explanations of the travelcuts-related uses.

According to a source close to the CFS, the CIBC account was used by the federation to deposit travelcuts money and withdraw it later with interest.

The summary audit supports this statement, showing that after the CFS deposited the $1.6 million into the account for travelcuts’ debt, “the sum was returned to the CFS-S, apparently with some interest,” which amounted to $368.22.

Olympian, OUA Champion Kylie Masse speaks with The Varsity, page 24

CFS, page 3

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SEPTEMBER 18,, 2017 • 3

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Fraternities Property Standards Long Grass Waste Zoning

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Lawsuit against the CFS and travelcuts In 1996, the CFS-S, the Association of Student Councils Canada (ASCC), and travelcuts were sued by a number of student unions in Canada.

The lawsuit alleged that the CFS-S had illegally given itself assets from the ASCC, which included those of travelcuts.

The student unions involved were the University Students’ Council of the University of Western Ontario, the

MIA CARNEVALE/THE VARSITY

University of Alberta Students’ Union, the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, and the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University.

After a decade-long battle, the lawsuit was settled out of court in 2006, with the CFS-S agreeing to hand over 24 per cent of the company to the plaintiffs and other nonCFS schools that were members of the nowdefunct ACSS. The minority shares would be used to create a non-profit corporation,

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Sororities Property Standards

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Response to the audit Though there is information on the organization’s ties to travelcuts in the summary report, there is little information about the unauthorized uses of the account because the CFS has elected not to release the full audit.

“The full report on the forensic review is not a public document as it contains confidential information pertaining to human resources. This is equivalent to how student unions do not typically disclose sensitive HR matters to members at annual general meetings,” stated Veitch.

“Members of the national executive have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the organization and knowingly placing the Federation in a position of legal liability would be acting contrary to this

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and the CFS would retain a 76 per cent control of the company.

According to an email from a spokesperson for Merit Travel Group, “Prior to October 2009, TravelCUTS was wholly owned by the CFS and operated by the CFS-S (Canadian Federation of Student Services). They (The CFS) held total responsibility to run TravelCUTS. Everything from staffing, finance, supplier negotiation and product sourcing and marketing was the responsibility of the CFS and the CFS-S.”

CFS, from cover

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Bylaw infractions

Concerned residents speak to The Varsity Permanent residents of the Annex — the neighbourhood home to many of the Greek life houses in Toronto — have expressed concerns about noise pollution, littering, and general disturbances coming from fraternities much more so than sororities.

David Harrison, chair of the Annex Residents’ Association, said that they “get a steady stream of complaints from neighbours of the Fraternities. There are three or four frequent offenders. The Sororities are generally much better behaved.”

Rita Bilerman, a resident of the Annex for 11 years, said she has had multiple experiences dealing with fraternities. Bilerman alleged there have been “numerous fires, numerous drug issues, and numerous sexual assaults” attributed to fraternities in the time she’s lived in the Annex. She said she is concerned that if the houses are allowed to continue on as they are, there is the potential for real tragedy. She recounted stories of fraternity members sitting atop the roofs of houses, daring each other to run naked past oncoming traffic, and passing out on her front yard.

In addition, Bilerman has kids — the oldest of which is a high school student. She said that fraternity houses in the area have invited her son to parties, and, according to Bilerman, plenty of high school students attend these parties, some of which she claimed serves alcohol to minors.

Mayor Tory’s office is refraining from commenting on the issue until the full staff report is completed.

The Inter-Fraternity Council, a representative body of 10 fraternities around U of T, declined The Varsity’s request for comment.

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Greeks dodge licensing in 2011 Former Ward 20 City Councillor Adam Vaughan advocated for the removal of fraternity and sorority houses’ licensing exemption back in 2011 for reasons similar to Cressy’s. “The idea is simply to find a way to say to the ones that are holding parties at 4 o’clock in the morning where they’re peeing on people’s cars and doing all kinds of bizarre stuff in the parks, could you just please get on with your neighbours?”

Vaughn told the National Post in 2011.

“Find a way to help us help you grow up.”

There were certain obstacles that Vaughan faced in accomplishing this task, though, laid out in the staff report requested by the Licensing and Standards Committee at the time.

Specifically, there were two hindrances that kept the committee from bringing forward a licensing proposal. The first was that, according to the staff report, the city “does not have the authority to license people or organizations purely on the basis of their affiliation,” meaning that since a fraternity or sorority does not fall specifically under one classification, it is difficult to define how it should be licensed.

The second reason was that licenses cannot limit the behaviour of tenants. While a license would require the building to be fully up to code, issues that may arise related to behaviour would not be regulated.

Vaughan met representatives of the fraternities and sororities at the time and attempted to establish a collaborative system, as recommended in the staff report, resulting in the Joint Working Group meant to address neighborhood complaints. The working group took the approach of allowing fraternity and sorority houses to rely upon their organizations for regulation and enforcement, as fraternities and sororities have rules for any affiliated chapters.

Despite this, complaints continue to be filed to the Annex Residents’ Association, and residents say they have had a hard time getting in touch with anyone of influence in the fraternity community.

Bylaw infractions

Cressy’s efforts to get rid of the licensing exemption.

The Executive Committee will address the situation on September 26; executives from the University of Toronto Students’ Union are expected to speak.

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Greek, from cover

obligation,” he continued.

UTSU President Mathias Memmel commented that the CFS should release the full report even if they are not legally obligated to do so. “The CFS has ethical and political obligations beyond what the law requires,” he stated.

Veitch acknowledged that there was an “unacceptable” misuse of the account and has condemned those involved.

“Those who were responsible for utilizing the account debased and demeaned both the name and reputation of the Federation. Their actions have damaged the organization they served, and as a result they’ve been held accountable and are no longer employed by the Federation,” he said.

In response to the UTSU’s indication that it wishes to leave the CFS, Veitch commented that there were many benefits to remaining with the organization, which “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 implement standalone sexual violence policies.”

Ultimately, said Veitch, the decision “rests with students through a democratic vote, not by decree from the UTSU’s president.”

4 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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A roundup of construction on campus Understanding what is being built where and for when Chantel Ouellet Varsity Contributor

Construction is underway all across the University of Toronto’s St. George campus. Many of the universities old buildings are being renovated, while new buildings are going up. Here is a summary of all the major construction projects taking place on campus.

1. Robarts Library 130 St. George Street Expected Completion: Spring 2019 According to U of T Magazine, Robarts Library sees as many as 18,000 visitors per day. Despite its massive size, U of T’s marquee library does not house enough study carrells to keep up with the demand.

The Robarts Common will be a fivestorey glass structure connected to the main library, adding about 1,200 additional study spaces, bringing the total number of spaces to roughly 6,000.

This is the second phase of the Robarts revitalization project; the first phase took place between 2008 and 2012. During that time, study spaces were improved and infrastructure was added to support mobile computing and connectivity. The second phase seeks to be both practical in its implications for students and also sustainable. The addition is set to be awarded a silver rating according to the standards set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

2. Ramsay Wright Laboratories 25 Harbord Street Expected Completion: Unknown

3. Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship 55 St. George Street Expected Completion: 2018

Ramsay Wright Laboratories has been undergoing a series of renovations. The date for when that can be expected is unknown, but in 2014, The Varsity reported that renovations would be completed by April 2017, although they are still underway.

A 2014 report on the renovations explained that the renovations are largely based on creating functioning laboratories that have longevity. Various sciencebased programs are being forced to move equipment between the labs in the Earth Sciences Centre and Ramsay Wright, and the renovations seek to remedy these issues.

Through transparency and collaboration, the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering has involved the campus in the construction of its new home. The process of creating the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship began in 2008. Select building elements that used to stand at the site were demolished in 2015, and the official groundbreaking took place on June 24, 2015. Construction of the CEIE is slated to be completed in 2018.

Some of the CEIE’s highlighted features include space devoted to student clubs, multidisciplinary research hubs, a dedicated alumni meeting space, eight design studios, and new prototyping and fabrication facilities. It boasts a brand new auditorium, the Lee & Margaret Lau Auditorium, which is set to be “a 500-seat interactive space meant to optimize audience engagement.”

Each of the spaces has a unique and innovative design.

4. One Spadina 1 Spadina Crescent Expected Completion: Fall 2017 The new Daniels Building has been featured in The New York Times and was one of the main attractions of this year’s Doors Open event. The project has been under close watch due not only to the location but also due to the promise surrounding it.

The Daniels Faculty’s website says that the building, when completed, will be “a worldleading venue for studying, conducting research, and advocating for architecture, landscape, and sustainable urbanization.”

During Daniels Orientation and with the start of classes, the building has already begun hosting students.

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How independent are your student publications? Part II How governance and form restrict and expand the content of campus publications ties of its own. Since VUSAC does not oversee Acta’s masthead, the journal has been subject to bouts of internal mismanagement.

Acta is an example of ways governance can affect the structure and efficiency of campus publications. While editorial autonomy allows for creative freedom, it also leaves publications entirely in the control of their executives.

The Varsity previously covered the independence of campus newspapers. GRACE KING/THE VARSITY

Sophia Savva Varsity Contributor

In The Varsity’s first issue of Volume 138, we looked into the independence of campus publications, mainly focusing on newspapers. Here, we examine the role of governance in editorial autonomy — and the ways in which form restricts content at more niche campus publications.

Acta Victoriana, the literary journal of Victoria University, operates through a levy that comes directly from the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC). There is a certain amount of money Acta receives that can only be changed through a vote among Victoria University students. VUSAC also has no influence over the makeup of Acta’s masthead or the types of

content published in the literary journal.

“The amount of funding we receive doesn’t need VUSAC’s approval in any way. So, financially, we’re fairly autonomous,” said Carl Christian Abrahamsen, one of the Editors-in-Chief of Acta. “[But] sometimes freedom can actually be a difficulty.”

The journal’s editorial autonomy does not come without difficul-

Maintaining editorial autonomy through funding Juxtaposition, a non-profit and global health magazine based at U of T, receives its funding from sponsors, including the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), grants, and occasionally colleges and departments.

In order to not be beholden to one type of sponsor and face problems with funding demands or dependency, Juxtaposition tries to diversify its funding sources.

“The sources of financial support also do not impact the content we publish, our values and mission, or how we choose to decide on topics for events,” Simran Dhunna, last year’s co-Editor-inChief, wrote in an email to The Varsity.

“Speaking for myself and during my tenure, I haven’t felt censored or restricted from publishing certain content,” Dhunna wrote.

“We have quite a bit of freedom to publish different types of content, especially that which deviates from traditional biomedical perspectives on health.”

Dhunna wrote that as long as writers and editors approach content critically, use evidence, and employ culturally considerate language, then “everything is fair game.”

The U of T chapter of online magazine Her Campus is a UTSUrecognized student group. Because of this, it depends entirely on the UTSU to pay for events and any physical materials it uses.

“We didn’t receive too much last year, but I think that has to do with our ‘club category’ or ‘club level,’ so that impacted what we had to do for events, specifically where we had to do outreach for to make ends meet in terms of catering, venue, etc.,” Veronika Potylitsina, Co-Editor-In-Chief and Campus Correspondent of U of T’s chapter of Her Campus, wrote to The Varsity.

According to Potylitsina, the structure, governance, and financing of each Her Campus chapter is decided by the Campus Cor-

respondents. U of T’s chapter has not been censored by the university, but other chapters have been under certain conditions that dictate their content be conservative or un-opinionated.

“We have a lot of freedom in terms of what we can publish,” wrote Potylitsina.

The freedom and constraints of form Campus publications are also beholden to their physical — or digital — forms, which can dictate what kind of content is produced and when it is published.

Juxtaposition mainly publishes online, which allows articles on current events to be quickly published and helps Juxtaposition reach a wider audience beyond just U of T. “Our content naturally diversifies, and has the space to be more creative, because we are less restricted by the typical logistical challenges of print publishing,” wrote Dhunna. “It also allows readers to engage with content more dynamically, through sharing our articles in their own networks/platforms and commenting on articles directly.”

Dhunna also notes that publishing online allows Juxtaposition to monitor its statistics and report those numbers to sponsors.

Juxtaposition publishes one print magazine per year, which, according to Dhunna, “demands a different level of creativity.”

“So while online publishing is an article-by-article process that is more fast-paced, print publishing positively challenges us to think about our content in a more structurally creative way,” Dhunna wrote. “There are trade-offs for both with regards to readership, content and design.”

As an online magazine, the U of T chapter of Her Campus also has freedom to quickly publish articles and reach U of T students across all three campuses.

“We have members from all three campuses and from a variety of studies, and I think the convenience of communicating and operating mostly online is what draws people to join our publication,” wrote Potylitsina. “That being said, it’s very easy to feel disconnected on a team that does most if not all of their communication online.”

Disclosure: Sophia Savva is an Editor for the U of T chapter of Her Campus.

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CINSSU President claims ICSS financial report incorrect The film club came under financial scrutiny from Innis College last year Nouran Sakr Varsity Staff

Following a budgetary investigation conducted in the early months of 2017, Cinema Studies Student Union (CINSSU) President Sharif Wehbe discovered discrepancies in the Innis College Student Society’s (ICSS) report of CINSSU’s budget. The report, entitled “CINSSU Financial Investigation” and proposed by former ICSS President Khrystyna Zhuk on November 21, 2016, had summarized the findings of an investigation into the union’s expenses.

The investigation aimed to review the necessity of continued ICSS funding given CINSSU already receives funding from the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), the Arts and Science Student Association (ASSU), and media companies such as Warner Bros., EOne, and Mongrel Media.

The ICSS provides CINSSU with 4.44 per cent of its total annual revenue, collected through a levy.

The 2015–2016 academic year ICSS report stated CINSSU’s expenditure amounted to $30,637.22, which was $3,017.08 greater than CINSSU reported internally. Similarly, the 2014–2015 ICSS report stated expenditure was $27,945.65, which was $2,396.90 greater than CINSSU had reported that academic year. Wehbe claimed that the ICSS report was not verified by anyone in CINSSU who had access to the financial files. “There are many things that are either incorrect numbers or simply made up,” Wehbe alleged to The Varsity. “Expenses [on the ICSS report] such as misc and new camera are fabricated.” Wehbe claimed that the report also failed to include many events that CINSSU organized for both its students and the Innis community.

The ICSS financial report from 2015–2016

CINSSU says it will not take action regarding the errors in the ICSS financial report.

ZAHRA ZAHRAVI/THE VARSITY

claims that, among other expenses, CINSSU spent $261.85 on alcohol, $163.93 on team bonding, $600.32 on socials, $2,344.49 on the aforementioned miscellaneous expenses, and $45.18 on the aforementioned new camera.

According to the ICSS report, 3.07 per cent of the college’s students are in the Cinema Studies program.

The ICSS report differs from CINSSU’s report with regard to revenue numbers in 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 as well. The 2015–2016 ICSS report states CINSSU received $19,248.91 in revenue, whereas CINSSU’s report states they received $20,678.91 in revenue. The 2014–2015 ICSS report states $26,772.23 in revenue, compared to CINSSU’s reported $27,943.58 in revenue.

The ICSS also reported $271.20 in levy fees paid to CINSSU in 2015–2016 and $5,821.20 in 2014–2015; CINSSU reported $0 and $5,821.20 respectively. In a written message to The Varsity, Troy Peschke, Vice-President Finance of the ICSS in 2016–2017, explained that “in 15-16 the VP Finance and CINSSU came to an agreement to reduce the contri-

bution in that year because CINSSU felt they didnt [sic] need the full levy.”

Despite the discrepancies, current ICSS President Yolanda Alfaro wrote to The Varsity that “all of the information presented in the [ICSS] report was sought out from CINSSU’s financial documentation, as well as the Innis College registrar and the head of the Cinema Studies department.” Alfaro added that, “The CINSSU executives at that time were also consulted and were comfortable with the information that was presented.”

Peschke denied claims that the ICSS report was inaccurate. Peschke explained that the miscellaneous category in the ICSS report contained data from items that could not be placed under any other category because they were either unrelated to particular events of initiatives or CINSSU’s record entries were not detailed enough.

Wehbe stated that CINSSU does not plan to take any action regarding the recent discovery of the alleged errors in the ICSS report. He wrote, “I have informed the current [ICSS] president of the mistake and [we]

are still going to continue our positive relationship.” Wehbe added, “To the best of my knowledge both CINSSU and ICSS are amenable to continue our relationship.” He also confirmed that CINSSU is in the process of digitizing its books and reports, as to avoid similar errors in the future.

Wehbe and Alfaro have engaged in several meetings over the summer to maximize the benefit of both Innis and Cinema Studies students. “We have begun the year with a very positive and open relationship between the two councils and we have every intention to continue along this path,” Alfaro wrote.

Brianne Katz-Griffin, President of ICSS during the 2016–2017 year, did not respond to comment requests from The Varsity.

— With files from Evan Maude.

Disclosure: The Varsity’s Video Editor, Shaq Hossein, was President of CINSSU during the 2016–2017 year. The Varsity’s Comment Editor, Teordora Pasca, was Vice President Internal of the ICSS during the 2016–2017 period.

SCSU addresses “systemic barriers” in Week of Resistance Panel discussion, community events focus on unity, solidarity Abhya Adlakha Varsity Contributor

The Scarborough Campus Student Union (SCSU) began the new academic year with a Week of Resistance aimed at showcasing “resistance, unity, and solidarity against oppressive institutional structures and systemic barriers at UTSC.” The campaign ran from September 11–15.

According to SCSU President Sitharsana Srithas, the education system at UTSC uses “very white and colonialized literature.”

She cited the lack of Indigenous courses as an example, adding that “even in those Indigenous courses, it’s not Indigenous people who are teaching them.”

Srithas also described “systemic barriers” on campus that affect students, including the presence of only one major multi-faith space at U of T, which she said discourages students due to longer commute times.

The Week of Resistance included a panel discussion on “Decentering Whiteness in

Academia.” The panel revolved around antiBlack racism, Indigenous education in Canadian universities, Islamophobia on campus, and lack of access to education. The panel consisted of Cheryl Thompson, a UTM professor, Kevin Edmonds, a U of T PhD candidate and instructor, and Coty Zachariah, the first Indigenous chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.

“What we hope to achieve from the ‘Week of Resistance’ is for people to really put aside their discomfort and start empathizing with the folks who are talking about a lot of problems that are happening, start listening to them, and start doing something about it,” said SCSU Vice-President External Kubra Zakir.

Zakir spoke further about “whiteness as a system, a structure that even exists in our racialized spaces.” Zakir added that the Week of Resistance is “not only about resisting our oppressive structures..., [but also] constantly organizing, constantly resisting, and constantly overcoming these barriers.”

The Week of Resistance also included “Solidarity Day: Social Justice Block Party,” which welcomed over 40 non-profit organizations. According to Srithas, the event was “An opportunity for not only on-campus clubs, but also off-campus clubs, like labour unions or other non-profit organizations, to come together with the purpose of social awareness and social justice.”

SCSU also collaborated with the UTSC African Students’ Association and the UTSCMuslims Students Association to host a series of events. On Friday, September 15, they hosted a community Jummah prayer in the Student Centre to showcase acceptability and solidarity for Muslims. Their aim was to create a more sacred place for the students and lower overt Islamophobia on campus.

The Q&A session at the panel discussion touched on various themes and encouraged students to engage in discussions. According to Zakir, this was also one of the main aims of the week: “to get people thinking, to get people to ask uncomfortable questions.”

CARISSA CHEN/THE VARSITY

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Understanding OPIRG A levied public interest research group may be facing a move to defund

The Graduate Students’ Union blocked an effort to defund OPIRG in 2011. MAX XI/THE VARSITY

Daniel Kim Varsity Contributor

A recent movement has been started by an unidentified group to defund the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) at U of T. The annual levy the OPIRG receives from undergraduate students at UTSG stands at $0.50 per student per year.

OPIRG is a province-wide network of campus groups that, according to the OPIRG-Toronto’s website, share a mandate “for action, education, and research on environmental and social justice issues.”

There are currently 10 other university campuses in Ontario that have an OPIRG chapter.

Like in most other campuses, OPIRG is a service group at the University of Toronto.

Daman Singh, the Vice-President Internal at the University of Toronto Students’ Union

(UTSU), describes a service group as “a campus group that receives a levy from all or most of the UTSU membership.”

Singh also detailed that “the service group levies are collected by the university and transferred to the UTSU. The UTSU then transfers the money to the service groups.”

Students can opt-out by filling an online form on the UTSU website or by directly visiting OPIRG’s office.

Singh has acknowledged that there is a group that is looking to defund the OPIRG, although he was unable to comment further.

This is not the first time that OPIRGToronto has been targeted by anti-OPIRG movements. In 2012, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) held a meeting where a failed motion to revisit the Memorandum of Agreement between the

UTGSU and OPIRG, specifically to discuss matters of defunding, was debated. Calls to defund OPIRG are not new on Ontario campuses; the group has faced criticism for radical left-wing views in the past, and for supporting the Communist Student Research Group and Students Against Israeli Apartheid.

In 2013, OPIRG was listed as a supporter of the controversial Israeli Apartheid Week, causing students at Ryerson University to voice criticism of their chapter of OPIRG. In the same year, the OPIRG chapter at Queen’s University lost their opt-out student proposal fee, which eliminated levies from students that are a part of the Alma Mater Society, which is the student government of Queen’s University. Students at Concordia University also voted for an online opt-out form, allowing students to easily choose to optout of OPIRG levies; the form caused a roughly

$30,000 drop in OPIRG-Concordia’s annual budget. Moreover, many students at Trent University and the University of Guelph started anti-OPIRG movements.

When asked about the recent anti-OPIRG movement and their allegations, Souzan Mirza, a board member of OPIRG-Toronto, and Rachele Clemente, the Programming and Volunteer Coordinator, were unaware of both the movement and the allegations.

“These are actually kind of surprising allegations for us,” said Mirza. “We’ve been writing about op-outs for this week and we haven’t heard anyone really come out with those [allegations].”

Mirza continued by saying that “in terms of us being a self-serving organization, I don’t think that’s very true.” She discussed the OPIRG-Toronto’s upcoming event “dis-orientation week,” which will begin on September 18 and end on September 22, as an example of OPIRG giving back to the community. Mirza detailed that there will be “a full day of workshops and a social event at the end,” all of which will be “open to all people… in the community.”

Clemente added the OPIRG-Toronto’s TRACX Symposium, due to occur from September 30 to October 1, as another example of OPIRG-Toronto’s commitment to serving the community. The OPIRGToronto’s website describes the TRACX Symposium as a place “to build space for student and community research on social and environmental justice issues.”

“In 2016 alone, we facilitated a research project with seven students all of whom got credit for their work,” said Clemente, “We then had them present at our 2016 TRACX Symposium which had over 150 people come out, ... most of whom [were] students.” For these reasons, Clemente mentioned how it was “very odd that these allegations [were] made” against OPIRGToronto.

In response to the unidentified group seeking to defund OPIRG-Toronto, Clemente said that “we welcome these folks to actually come in and speak with us. It feels a little bit of an extreme jump, ... These are folks that we don’t know about [and] we are not sure why they are doing this. We’ve never met them.”

8 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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Professor Jordan Peterson wants to create online university Peterson calls traditional universities ‘scams’, ‘indoctrination cults’ Seijoong Chu Varsity Contributor

In interviews and lectures over the course of this past summer, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson expressed his ambition to make an online university to counter the teachings of traditional universities.

Peterson has emphasized his desire to provide students with better and more affordable education. “There is absolutely no reason why high quality education can’t be made available to masses of people at low cost,” said Peterson in a recent interview on CTV’s Your Morning. “I think it’s a scam pretty much from top to bottom and it’s a very expensive scam.”

He has not clearly stated when he will form the online university, though he said on Your Morning that he will soon start a website that will distinguish between postmodern and classical content and “cut off the supply to the people who are running

the indoctrination cults.”

Peterson also expressed that his online university would be an alternative to traditional universities, which he believes “have abandoned the humanities.”

“About 80 percent of the humanities papers are never cited once and the humanities have been dominated by a kind of postmodern neo-Marxist, cult ideology,” said Peterson. “[The humanities have] abandoned their mission to students. Their mission should be to teach students to speak, to think, and to read, and to become familiar with the best of the world fundamentally.”

For the 2017–2018 academic year, Peterson is on sabbatical and will not teach undergraduate courses.

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

Jordan Peterson rose to public prominence after he spoke out against “political correctness” in September 2016. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Toronto universities team up for affordable student housing project U of T, York, Ryerson, OCAD U research teams to build off earlier transport project Ilya Bañares Varsity Contributor

Toronto’s four universities will work together on an upcoming joint research project named StudentDwellTO that will study affordable housing for post-secondary students in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The initiative builds off an earlier inter-institution collaboration on transportation and student transit.

StudentDwellTO will involve about 100 faculty and student researchers from the University of Toronto, York University, Ryerson University, and OCAD University, who will work together for the next 18 months and will partner with several public and private sector actors.

Those involved will be looking at existing data and trying to compile new information to address the existing housing affordability issue that many students face, and will draw from a variety of fields, such as urban studies, geography, psychology, environmental studies, and engineering. They will also be looking at other examples across the world to help in their study.

Professor Shauna Brail, Director of the Urban Studies Program at Innis College and Presidential Advisor on Urban Engagement at U of T, told The Varsity that “students in Toronto are challenged by fixed and low incomes and high and rising rents; by tradeoffs that they are often forced to make between proximity to school and housing affordability.”

Brail says that this impacts students both

in their time spent commuting and in their campus engagement. This can cause students “to make choices for reasons of affordability that can have negative impacts on their health, well-being and safety.”

The project is led by the presidents of the four participating universities, and also involves a steering committee composed of representatives of the institutions designed to serve as a link between the leads and the research teams themselves.

Brail serves as U of T’s delegate to the steering committee. Within the research teams is a core group from each institution composed of one or two faculty professors and two university students.

The venture has raised over $70,000 in cash for the overall budget, up from the initial $40,000. It has also received $5,000 in in-kind contributions, and expects to raise even more funds as they leverage the existing commitments for outside donors.

The initiative builds off StudentMoveTO, an earlier collaboration between the four universities to study the needs, trends, and behaviour of post-secondary students in the GTA with regards to transportation and public transit. StudentDwellTO is the second research project to involve these institutions, and is part of a broader push for the universities to collaborate on urban and city-wide issues, with many more projects to come.

“This initiative is about developing a deep understanding of the impacts of a lack of affordable housing on university students, and

Project builds on StudentMoveTO, which addressed transportation issues. DELPHINE JI/THE VARSITY

importantly, it’s also about bringing people and ideas together to develop solutions,” Brail said. “Along the way, the project has already accomplished the goal of introducing lead and emerging housing researchers from across a wide spectrum of disciplines.”

Studio courses, focus groups, community events, research partnerships, and other activities are among the ways Brail hopes StudentDwellTO can provide meaningful and inspiring engagement opportunities for students, faculty, and community members.

“The potential to influence policy and public discourse in Toronto, particularly as it relates to identifying solutions, is also a hopedfor output,” she said.

“Student housing is directly connected to the lack of affordable housing for many communities,” Professor Min Sook Lee of OCAD U said in a press release. “We don’t just need research on student housing, we need to mobilize it.”

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 9

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Davis building at UTM gets makeover Renovations to double seating at the Meeting Place

The Davis building is a central aspect of the UTM campus. ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY

Alex Tough Varsity Contributor

Renovations to the W.G Davis Building, the cornerstone of the UTM campus, will begin in March 2018 and will include updates to the building’s seating, main entrance, and food court. The renovations are slated to be completed before the 2019 fall session.

The upcoming construction will be the second stage of a three-phase project that is expected to culminate with the building of a Student Services Plaza, which will include outdoor seating.

Among the changes to be made to the structure is an expansion of one of its key locations. The Meeting Place, a gathering place for students, will grow from 400 to almost 1,000 seats, alongside substantial aesthetic modifications.

“The architects have done a really good job in terms of breaking it up into different sections, different styles of seating, so it’s not one big cavernous hall of a thousand seats. It’s really going to be quite functional,” said Paul Donoghue, UTM’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Also getting revamped is the main

entrance to the building, which will have improved accessibility and maintainability.

The changes will include an enclosed vestibule and canopy. The food court will be expanded to incorporate a minimum of 10 new food outlets, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and Halal options, all of which will be under the campuswide contract with food service company Chartwells, added Donoghue.

The Davis building, built in the early 1970s, is the campus’ largest building and is home to the majority of UTM’s research laboratories, several academic departments,

lecture halls, Student Services, academic services, and the main administrative functions.

The first phase of renovations, completed in 2009, consisted of changes to the second floor that allowed it to house several academic departments. The changes also brought the completion of the main administrative offices. However, the next stage was put on hold while construction efforts were focused on the “expansion of teaching and office space to accommodate fast-paced enrolment growth,” according to the Report of the Project Planning Committee.

The updates to the building will likely be welcome on campus. “[The Meeting Place] doesn’t lend itself to minor tweaking and renovations, so essentially not much has been done down there since [its construction],” said Donoghue.

The upcoming renovations will have repercussions for the UTM campus. Once construction starts, the Meeting Place will essentially be out of service: a fraction of its seating will be transferred to Spigel Hall, and the Subway and Booster Juice kiosks will close. Bus service to Mississauga and Brampton will be disrupted; bus stops will be relocated to other locations on campus.

In addition, traffic flow will be reversed on the end portion of Inner Circle Road to provide access to the Student Centre, and short-term parking in front of the building will be lost during the construction period, although the number of accessible parking spots will be maintained.

The renovations to the Davis building will be funded by the UTM Capital Reserves derived from Operating the Food Service Ancillary.

Executives of University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union were not available for comment by the time this story was published.

UTSU to appoint new VP University Affairs Carina Zhang resigned from post September 4 Aidan Currie Deputy News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) released a statement on September 15 announcing its plans to appoint a new Vice-President University Affairs following the resignation of Carina Zhang on September 4.

“It was a pleasure working with my fellow executives in the office, but my decision is still to resign from the VP University Affairs position due to personal reasons,” wrote Zhang in a previous statement to The Varsity. “I appreciate all the support they’ve given me, and wish my colleagues best of luck in the future.”

According to a UTSU bylaw referenced in the UTSU statement, candidates for the new VP University Affairs will be chosen by the UTSU Executive Committee after an interview process has been conducted. At least two candidates must be presented to the Board of Directors for election, and the Executive Committee must “post the vacant position for no less than twenty (20) days.”

“In practice, however, the Executive Committee delegates that power to a shortlisting committee composed of directors as well as executives,” wrote UTSU President Mathias Memmel in an email to The Varsity. “The idea is to allow directors to participate.” The shortlisting committee will be struck at the next UTSU board meeting on September 28.

This process took place last year to appoint Matthew Thomas, who succeeded Lucinda Qu as UTSU Vice-President External.

Memmel believes it is “highly unlikely” that a new VP University Affairs will be elected by the time the UTSU Annual General Meeting takes place on October 30.

Zhang was the only member of the UTSU executive elected from the We the Students slate, running on a platform focused on international students and eliminating the exam deferral and exam remark fees.

Carina Zhang is the former VP University Affairs of the UTSU. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY

10 • THE VARSITY • NEWS

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September 18, 2017 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Investing in beautification The benefits of using public funds for community art installations outweigh the sometimes onerous price tags

$200,000 Cost of the Canada 150 duck

$120,000

Using taxpayer money to fund community art projects is a sound idea. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Ian T. D. Thomson Varsity Contributor

This past July, much to the world’s bewilderment, Ontarians feasted their eyes on a giant rubber duck floating on the waters of Lake Ontario. As part of the Celebrate Ontario program and festivities related to Canada 150, the inflatable bird toured the province, stopping at Toronto’s Waterfront on Canada Day and eventually reaching towns such as Owen Sound and Sault Ste. Marie.

The exhibit, a copy of a Dutch artist’s work, was brought to Ontario with a price tag of $200,000, for which the province contributed around $120,000. Prior to its presentation, this price tag became a significant focal point, opening up the continuing debate surrounding the appropriateness of using public funds for ‘public art’ — a term used here to refer to any sculpture, mural, or visual piece occupying community space.

Along with Ontario’s rubber duck, a number of high-profile, highly expensive public art projects can be found across the country. A controversial $500,000 art installation displayed along the Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta sparked a similar debate this past month, when its merits were called into question given its substantial cost. Other initiatives made possible through the use of public funds include subway art pieces approved by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and the Great Art for Great Lakes projects.

We shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the utility of these projects by looking exclusively at their initial accumulated price tag. Instead, we should take a holistic view and observe other economic and societal indicators, as well as the rejuvenation these projects bring to society.

Firstly, public art projects often have substantial economic returns. The Eiffel Tower, owned and commissioned by the City of Paris, was initially constructed to be a temporary exhibit for the 1889 World's Fair. Costs during the period of construction from 1887 to 1889 accumulated to about 7,799,401 gold Francs; additionally, many Parisians feared the structure was unstable and considered it an eyesore. Nevertheless, the tower is now the icon of the country and worth roughly $545 billion USD to the French economy.

The New York City Waterfalls, funded in 2008 by the nonprofit organization Public Art Fund, ran at a cost of $15.5 million USD but brought in an estimated $69 million USD for the city that year, exceeding projected economic expectations.

Similarly, the aforementioned monstrous waterfowl broke attendance records for Canada 150, with over 750,000 people coming to visit the exhibit over the Labour Day long week-

end. The duck incentivized Ontarians to spend their time and money at the lakeshore, and as a result, neighbouring businesses and kiosks were packed with lineups of people waiting to purchase their products. Organizers of the Redpath Waterfront Festival are expecting that the 2017 economic impact of the event will exceed $4.2 million.

Here, as with any good investment, public funds contributed to public well-being as well as increased economic activity. This is especially important for a location like the Toronto Waterfront, which has had trouble winning over the hearts of the public in previous years.

The presence of public art also has the potential to rejuvenate an urban area. For example, the new public art concepts that were approved for seven stations across the TTC network in July will help to breathe new life into transit stations across Toronto — including King Station, which has been around for over 50 years. Public art aims to make our lives less mundane, and it brings new perspective to familiar settings along the daily commute. As one of the TTC art consultants Helena Grdadolnik told the Toronto Star, transit art can “help stitch the station back into the community.”

The Great Art for Great Lakes project has similar aims.

With financial support from the provincial and federal governments, several projects in Ontario municipalities are using art to connect communities to their nearby Great Lake.

“Public art brings so much more to a community than the room it takes,” Manitoban artist Charles Johnston wrote in an email to The Varsity. “[It] anchors people, creates identity. It makes people feel safe… It creates value [and] beauty where before it was absent.”

Throughout his artistic career, Johnston has contributed murals and sculptures to Winnipeg. His pieces, including a sculpture of World War II hero Andrew Mynarski VC, have been funded through a mixture of private and government funds.

“When done right, a piece of public art becomes a landmark — an icon that may rally people together,” Johnston wrote. “At the very least it’s a dialogue between the artist and the community... a dialogue that leads a community to define its values and understand itself better.”

Understandably, taxpayers have a right to hold their government accountable for its budgetary decisions. However, using public money to fund public art projects should be seen in terms of the bigger picture: these projects can result in substantial economic benefits and revitalize the community spaces they occupy.

Ian T. D. Thomson is a 2018 Master of Public Policy Candidate at the School of Public Policy and Governance.

Amount Ontario government contributed to the Canada 150 duck

$500,000 Cost of the art installation along the TransCanada Highway in Alberta

$545 billion USD

Estimated worth of Eiffel Tower to the French economy

$4.2 million Estimated 2017 return of Redpath Waterfront Festival

12 • THE VARSITY • COMMENT

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Comment in Brief

...

From tax hikes to looming strikes, contributors reflect on The Varsity's news stories Varsity Contributors

Let's throw our support behind ongoing labour negotiations

Facts first, suspicions second

Understanding racism is as important as identifying it

August 30, "Campus unions secure strike action mandate"

August 30, "UTSU votes against seeking second legal opinion on Hudson lawsuit"

August 31, "Campus publications denounce white supremacy in wake of Charlottesville"

I

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

SILA NAZ ELGIN/THE VARSITY

KATHLEEN DOYLE/THE VARSITY

A few weeks ago, both CUPE 3261 and USW 1998 voted overwhelmingly in favour of securing a strike mandate. Although these votes don’t translate to immediate strikes, they highlight the impending challenges that unions face with bargaining every few years and further remind us that we should be paying attention to how this issue unfolds.

Historically, unionized work at U of T has allowed many workers to bargain for decent wages, healthcare, retirement benefits, sick days, and even subsidized tuition. However, challenges to protecting worker welfare constantly arise.

CUPE 3261, representing workers in fields ranging from food services to caretaking, is presently negotiating for improvements to their contract. The union is faced with the daunting task of playing catch-up after enduring years of austerity spending. Casual workers, many of whom are students, have not seen an increase in wages since 2009, and they are paid far less for doing the same work as their full-time counterparts. Meanwhile, in order to cut costs, the university continues to contract out cleaning services, replacing unionized positions with low-wage jobs.

Bargaining is an important process not only in determining the conditions certain workers face, but in setting the standards for workers everywhere. A strike would affect everyone, from undergraduates to cafeteria workers to professors.

Campus unions deserve our support in their fight for better working conditions — and not just during negotiations or strikes. As a premier public institution, U of T should be setting the standard for high-quality working conditions, not promoting low-wage, austerity-driven labour.

The University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) has decided against seeking a second legal opinion on the lawsuit involving former executive Sandy Hudson. The vote was prompted by the Black Liberation Collective (BLC), which demanded that the UTSU seek legal advice on the proceedings from a lawyer who identifies as Black.

Outcries against alleged racism toward Hudson have sparked much debate over her case. Some, like the BLC, perceive the lawsuit to be race-motivated, and by extension, anti-Black. Contrary to this perception, however, the UTSU made the right decision in light of the facts.

There have been many allegations of racism against Hudson, but there is no actual evidence to support them. No proof of discrimination against Hudson has been brought forward — neither within the lawsuit itself nor in general — on the part of the UTSU. Lacking this proof, there is no basis for seeking another legal opinion. Putting funding toward rectifying unsubstantiated allegations is not an effective use of student resources, especially given the extremely high costs associated with legal help. Additionally, involving a second lawyer only brings unneeded complication to the lawsuit. Although some might argue that hiring a lawyer who identifies as Black would counteract the UTSU’s alleged racial bias, if that bias has not been shown to exist, there is nothing to counteract.

This already complicated lawsuit will not benefit from additional layers of analysis based on unfounded suspicion. The focus should be on the facts of the case itself; only then can matters be effectively resolved.

The conflict in Charlottesville continues to occupy a prominent place in the news. Earlier this summer, the hatred and violence that transpired at the Unite the Right rally prompted condemnation from most mainstream sources.

At U of T, after The Gargoyle issued a statement condemning white supremacy and Neo-Nazism in all forms, other major student publications were prompted to do the same. In general, the way media sources have responded to hatred has sparked controversy over the nature of neutrality and bias, and whether there is a place for social activism in journalism.

Definitively, neutrality is a key factor of the journalistic process. This is because journalism, at its core, is a truthseeking process: the practice requires making honest observations and conducting analyses of the way things really are.

The Gargoyle and other publications are fully justified in condemning white supremacy and other deplorable ideologies. White supremacy is an idea that violates the core principles we, as members of society, ought to share: it cuts across partisan divides and runs counter to the very foundations of our political discourse, which are based on equality and respect.

At the same time, publications that condemn white supremacy should also make the effort to understand where it comes from. Alongside elements of hatred, what happened in Charlottesville was an expression of anger from those fearful of the unknown and isolated by rapid economic and social change. Given the truth-seeking exercise underlying the journalistic process, we should not hesitate to investigate the nuances of these conflicts.

Stanley Treivus is a fifth-year student at Innis College studying Human Geography and Political Science.

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

Sam Routley is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying Political Science, History, and Philosophy.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 13

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It will take work to cleanse SMCSU of its unsavoury reputation

Evidence of a deficient relationship

Trimming orientation falls short of expectations

September 11, "A new SMCSU?"

September 11, "Yonge Street tax revolt"

September 11, "The Breakdown: orientation week"

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

It appears as though the St. Michael’s College Students’ Union (SMCSU) is ready to come back, but I’m skeptical that the supposedly new and improved organization will be able to regain any trust.

SMCSU was dissolved in light of the several controversies that plagued it last year, including Snapchat videos of thencurrent and former members employing Islamophobic rhetoric and a failed financial audit. These revelations led many St. Michael's College (SMC) students, including me, to lose faith in the union that supposedly represents their collective interests.

In a blog post detailing his vision of a “re-imagined” SMCSU, SMC President David Mulroney stated that SMCSU “not only had a money problem, but a people problem” prior to his arrival. Rumours of SMC's party culture have been around for some time; Mulroney characterized SMCSU's operations as closer to those of a fraternity than a respected student government.

I would have to agree. During my time as a student at SMC, my only interaction with the student government has been the union fees I pay every semester. However, I haven't seen this money go toward anything I would consider useful. Unlike other colleges, which seem to make it a priority to create a close-knit community of students on campus, I haven't seen a significant attempt by SMCSU to bring their students closer together through organized events. Besides an annual toga party, I personally wouldn’t be able to tell you what those union fees have gone toward these past three years. My orientation in first year, for instance, was run by unenthusiastic leaders and was highly unorganized.

If SMCSU still hopes to be rid of the reputation it has created for itself, the road ahead will be tough. The steps toward reform put forward by Mulroney seem promising, but without proper supervision, I’m afraid SMCSU will find it far too easy to fall back into old habits. I’d rather not see my money used to fund expensive dinners and trips to Blue Mountain this year.

Amid the bright lights of the corporate fast food locations around Yonge and Dundas, one cannot help but notice the pervasiveness of empty windows and for-lease signs. Following a property value assessment last month, property tax rates on Yonge Street businesses are set to rise by 500 per cent over the next four years, forcing many to close up shop.

Among the most notable to leave are the House of Lords hair salon, Eliot’s Bookshop, and Remington’s, Toronto’s most popular male strip club.

Recent increases to the provincial minimum wage and forthcoming federal tax increases have left some attributing the outrageous increases to a government-led war on small businesses, though Mayor Tory’s office has been quick to direct blame toward the real culprit — an unpopular provincial government.

Toronto, like every Canadian city, remains a creature of the province, finding itself constitutionally unable to generate revenue from the public outside of property taxes. Cities in countries like the US are able to employ revenue tools such as sales taxes and road tolls. Aside from the occasional provincial or federal grant, Toronto remains bound to property taxes to fund its extensive infrastructure needs and community services. When Mayor Tory suggested the implementation of road tolls to start easing the city’s financial burden last year, the Wynne government stomped on the idea — presumably with the 2018 election in sight.

If it can avoid the media stunts of the Ford family, the Mayor’s office should work with all provincial parties to craft platforms that work for Toronto, so that the unfortunate yet all-too-common headache of skyrocketing tax rates does not occur. With a 44-person council, Toronto is mature enough to manage its own destiny, let alone its tax revenue.

In contrast to the usual full week of orientation, incoming first-year students found themselves partaking in just three days this year. This is an unfortunate departure from the initial picture provided to students by the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU), and it appears to have worked to some students’ detriment.

Two years ago, ASSU and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) held a joint referendum regarding the future introduction of a fall reading week, the results of which came into effect this academic year. The condition of the implementation of the new break, as stated in the question drafted by then-ASSU President Abdullah Shihipar, was “moving the start of orientation week to a few days before Labor Day.” At a UTSU meeting in September 2015, Shihipar said that orientation would not be shortened as a result of the change.

There were 6,112 students who voted in favour of a fall reading week under these terms. Yet what actually transpired was an earlier start to the academic year, which reduced the timeframe new students had to adjust to their surroundings.

In a previous interview with The Varsity, Helen Hayes, who organized Victoria College Orientation, expressed that her team would make efforts to include “almost all the events that have been staples of orientation in the past.” At the same time, Bo Wang, a student who attended the orientation, commented that “maybe five days would be better” because this would allow for “more opportunities for fun activities and more chances to meet people and get used to the university.”

With the resumption of the full orientation week next year, students settling into the campus environment will hopefully benefit from a restoration of the status quo.

James Chapman is a third-year student at Innis College studying Political Science and Urban Studies.

Mira Chow is a first-year student at Innis College studying Social Sciences.

Yasaman Mohaddes is a third-year student at St. Michael’s College studying Political Science and Sociology.

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The associate will assist the Comment Editor with pitching, editing, and print production. Columnists will write bi-weekly or tri-weekly pieces on assigned topics and have their work prioritized in our print issues. Enthusiasm for journalism is a must; prior experience with The Varsity is an asset but not required.

Apply to be an associate: var.st/associatecomment Apply to be a Columnist: var.st/columnist Applications are due September 25, and associate applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis. If you have any questions, please email Comment Editor Teodora Pasca at comment@thevarsity.ca.

tions with people outside the relationship, polyamory is more complicated and communicative. A polyamorous couple, triad, or constellation — which is an interconnected web of partners — will always communicate their needs, expectations, and limits in an open and honest way.

This helps to avoid feelings of jealousy and resentment that often destroy both monogamous and open relationships.

Truly though, one of the most beautiful parts of polyamory — the part that often goes forgotten — are the metamours.

That is, the partner of your partner.

In a monogamous relationship, the partner of your partner is a homewrecker.

In an open relationship, the partner of your partner is a jealousy-inducing stranger. But in polyamory, the partner of your partner is the most intimate of friends; the person you can trust to have your lover’s best interests at heart, and with whom you can share

Will you be my metamour?

A student reflects on the intricacy and beauty of polyamory “So, you’re polygamous?” the white boy asks me, nursing a watery beer and staring at me with inquiring eyes.

“No, that’s when one man takes many wives. I am not a man, nor am I married. I don’t practice polyandry either, which is one woman with many husbands,” I explain, tired of the same, overly simplistic explanations.

“But you said—” “What I said was: I am polyamorous.

You know? ‘Poly’ as in many? ‘Amour’ as in love? My partner and I can have other relationships in a safe and consensual way.”

It’s a conversation I’ve had countless

Five months later A third-year discusses mental health and why he hasn’t had sex in five months I haven’t had sex in five months. No, I don’t want pity, and I don’t think of it as a big deal. It’s simply a matter of fact. To be honest, it never occurred to me until I started thinking about it.

Part of the reason I haven’t had sex is that one of the side-effects of my medication involves a decrease of my sex drive, although my sex drive is already low on average. The other part is that I find myself making a decision, almost subconsciously, to only pursue sex with someone I can connect with on a deep

14

times, and every person in a monogamous relationship has had a similar response. I distinctly recall a heated argument during Nuit Blanche a few years ago, in the very beginning of my current relationship, that truly tested my patience.

“If your boyfriend has another girlfriend, then he obviously doesn’t love you. If he loved you for real, you’d be enough for him,” someone told me. Using self-restraint that I’m still proud of to this day, I simply walked away.

Polyamory is an inconceivably gorgeous thing. Love, when it is pure and unselfish, is life-giving and wonderful. Still, many monogamous people find me dirty and selfish, when all I want to do is share the love I have.

Unlike an open relationship, where there are often no-holds-barred interac-

personal level.

I’m not looking for ‘the one’ or anything like that. I’m far too cynical to believe in the concept that there is a perfect person out there for me, nor do I believe that I will find this supposed perfect person in my early 20s. I guess I’m looking for a relationship.

One of my biggest priorities lately has been my mental health. I’ve taken time this summer to focus on my health, wellbeing, and becoming a happier person in general. For the most part, I feel a lot more confident in myself. I want to reach a point where I don’t need a relationship, but want a relationship.

The most difficult part about stating this is that I’m currently tip-toeing the fine line between being hopeful and being desperate, and I’m trying my best to be the former. I have felt a certain pressure, especially within the gay community, to pursue casual or anonymous sex. It has become something of a rite of passage for young gay men to download Grindr, a hookup app for queer men, and pursue a no-stringsattached sexual encounter with an older man.

I did this a few months into my first year. One night, I was drunkenly messaging a guy on Grindr who wanted me to come over to his bizarre apartment in Harbord Village. My most vivid memory of the night was how strange and uncomfortable I felt in his windowless bedroom with a ceiling that curved too low above his bed. It didn’t help that he was wearing cheap Old Navy flip-flops.

It was then that I realized I don’t like having sex for the sake of having sex.

things you can’t share with anyone else.

Think girl talk, but on steroids. When metamours meet, and have a good relationship, the support between them is unparalleled. In my own experience, conversations between metamours are some of the funniest you’ll overhear.

“He never used to bite before. Did he learn biting from you? Look at this bruise!

I love it!”

“You’re one to talk! Was that tonguething your doing? Because, wow!”

Beyond sharing intimacy, having someone to care for your partner as much as you do is beautiful and it makes the stupid comments worth the trouble. If they’re sick or suffering, love is on all sides. To me, this is the best part of polyamory: I’m getting love in more way than one.

—Vanessa Perruzza

Redefining re students sha romance

Four writers break down t love, and b

Varsity Co Illustrations by

The fun and excitement of my sexual encounters in the past have been with people who I have known for a while and had a palpable connection with.

Does waiting for a connection before having sex make me too much of an idealist? It has been five months, but I’m not too concerned about whether it will happen again soon. Sometimes, I do have those moments of weakness where I think about speeding through the process, fixating on one guy and trying to create a connection artificially.

I also start to wonder if my expectations are too high and if I should just settle for any guy who is remotely interested in me, even if it’s just an anonymous hookup.

I say this to emphasize that I am nowhere near perfect. I have moments of weakness, self-consciousness, and

desperation. But when it comes to something as personal as sex, it’s important to really think about what you want in an honest and realistic manner. And remember that if you aren’t having sex now, it doesn’t have to mean anything.

— Avneet Sharma

Romance, of the virtual kind What four Tinder dates taught a student about modern human interaction Finding love is never easy. This little nugget of wisdom is as true today as it was 50 years ago.

Given that we live in a digital age, however, the questions surrounding love and sex have been redefined. We are increasingly relying on technology in all aspects of our lives, which is evident in the proliferation of mobile applications. Because of this I find myself asking the question: does technology improve or destroy our love lives?

My experiences with a variety of online dating apps indicate the latter. To prove my point, I am going to tell my story. To paraphrase Charles Dickens: a tale of one city and three dates.

I was unprepared for the events of Date Number One. After some heavily erotic flirt-

ing on Tinder, I met a well-built young man who was part-Iranian and part-Japanese.

The awkward conversation came in stark contrast to the significant amount of buildup we experienced virtually. I extended my hand to shake his, which was decidedly unromantic, and an internal war raged inside my head: What does he want? Do we sleep together after we get coffee or before? Do we have to sleep together at all?

To myself, I marvelled at all the people who found their soulmates online. I felt like online courting lacked the spontaneity that a real-life, at-the-bar opportunity, naturally oozed. I also found that it was difficult to set boundaries, physically speaking, with someone I had just met. The pressure was ramped up in a situation that was intended as enjoyable.

While searching for Date Number Two, I got the distinct feeling that I was catalogue shopping on an Amazon-like platform. Going

elationships: are stories of e in 2017

traditional notions of sex, break-ups

ontributors y Mia Carnevale

The breakup How heartbreak was experienced from the ending of a friendship Music albums are powerful. There comes a moment when albums deviate from their original meaning and some-

how mould to your life; they become one with an experience or a period of time.

For me, A Seat at the Table by Solange was one of those albums. When it first came out, I didn’t know what its full significance would be. While the entire album encompasses me, one of

through the profiles of various boys on Tinder greatly resembled flipping through the features of an online catalogue of electronics or clothing. Once again, I was unprepared for the deluge of information that I received from some boys, all of which reeked of desperation. Unsurprisingly, the date didn’t go well.

After the first two disasters, I was certain the worst was over. And, for the most part, it was.

Date Number Three took place at a quaint pub somewhere on campus. I had been careful to avoid any erotic exchanges on Tinder to ensure that the bar wasn’t set high. My date was polite and instigated conversation on topics of mutual interest.

We connected intellectually, but I still felt no spark. This date led me to believe that it’s probably better to go to a pub or a club if you want a raunchy night out.

The fact that even the third date didn’t go well served as testament to the hit-andmiss of online dating. When dating online, there’s massive potential to mislead people, given that people tend to portray what they think needs to be said rather than what they want to express. The chances of miscommunication are high since most online daters are busy misinterpreting emojis and punctuation marks. Therefore, it’s best to start conservatively and maintain caution in all virtual romance.

Online dating provides us with more choices than ever before which is both a strength and a weakness. The weaknesses of using technology in our romantic lives outweigh the strengths. Romances should

have a solid, real-world beginning with minimum opportunities for deception, no matter what their eventual fate may be.

its most important features was helping me navigate through a breakup.

University is a difficult period. It’s a time when so many things are changing and you are constantly learning about yourself. In Freshman year, I broke up with one of the first people I might have loved. In sophomore year, I broke up with a person I considered a very close friend.

In retrospect, it was the friendship that impacted me most. Even to this day, I have a strong reaction when I think of that time.

Everyone wants to talk about romantic breakups. There are whole genres dedicated to the topic of falling in and out of romantic love but few speak about what it means to fall out of love with a friend.

Perhaps it’s because it hurts more. To write about it would mean you would have to encounter it.

Friendship is a slow burn. A flame that only gets stronger each interaction. A burn that moves beyond the mental and reaches the spiritual. Romance can exist without friendship, but friendship cannot exist without itself.

I believe that it is the spiritual nature of friendship that makes that breakup hurt more. The exchange of life experiences means that there is a human who holds a piece of who you are. Even when you are torn apart by circumstance — they’ll always hold you.

A month before the official breaking point, I began to feel a disconnect. When we talked, the subjects hadn’t changed but the spirit had. My mind wandered toward other things and people. The glee of our get-togethers had faded. Now silence and apathy filled the space that joy once occupied. The feeling was mutual.

It was late at night. My nose was running. I was stressed for a test I had the next week. A notification popped on my

screen. As I began to read, frustration turned into anger. The content of the text included things that needed to be said, things I knew to be true, and things that could not be taken back.

I began to play “Mad.” Solange crooned in my ear, “You got the light, count it all joy.

You got the right to be mad. But when you carry it alone you find it only getting in the way. They say you gotta let it go.”

After the song finished, I stared at the long message. I didn’t know what to do.

Could we still be friends after this? Some things are better left unsaid. Where could we go from this point?

“Where Do We Go” began to play; it was as if Solange herself was with me, asking the same questions I was thinking: “And I don’t know where to go. No, I don’t know where to stay. Don’t know where to go. And I don’t know where to stay. Where do we go from here? Do you know? Where do we go from here?”

When the song ended, I found some strength. I responded to her text. It was difficult and long. I apologized if I had been a bad friend and claimed I needed time. In reality, I knew that those things that had been said would always be a wall between us. A wall that would cause insecurity and mistrust. I didn’t want that for them or for myself.

Finally, “Don’t Wish Me Well” began to play. Like a song at the end of an emotional movie, it reassured me: “And I’m going all the way. But I’ll leave on the lights for you...I’m going all the way. And now you’re almost out of view.” That moment felt like the end of a sitcom. A sense of sadness that something so beloved would not return, but also a sense of relief that we can move on to new stories.

—Sonali Gill

—Gabrielle Warren

15

Arts&Culture

September 18, 2017 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

A student's guide to sustainable fashion How to make ethical and eco-friendly clothing choices

Lauren Dubay Varsity Contributor

In recent decades, the fashion sector has managed to become one of the most damaging industries in the world on both a social and environmental level. Clothing companies turn over stock at rapid speeds and low prices in what is known as 'fast fashion' in order to attract large volumes of business and make the high profits they desire. This tactic results in vast quantities of clothing ending up in landfills.

In order for companies to maintain the low prices that western consumers demand, they outsource manufacturing to the global south to employ workers who earn meager wages and work in dangerous conditions. While many are aware of these injustices, it often feels overwhelming for those of us embedded in fast fashion and consumer culture to address this issue.

Here is a compilation of tips to help you promote a more ethical and sustainable clothing industry through your daily habits, thereby making the process of instigating change a less daunting task.

Care for your closet The more you put your clothing in the washer and drier, the faster it becomes worn out. Instead of wearing a sweater once and then tossing it in the wash, try hanging it up to air out, then folding it and putting it back in your dresser.

Unless you wore them to a hot yoga class, your clothes can handle being worn more than once before washing. This will help to extend the life of your pieces, and who has time to be doing all that laundry, anyway? Not only is air-drying better for your clothes, it’s much easier on the environment.

By purchasing a simple sewing kit, you can repair small tears and fallen buttons, and by bringing broken shoes, bags, and clothing to a tailor or repair shop, you will get more use out of your items. Overall, if your clothes last longer, you will be less inclined to purchase more — as a result, you’ll waste less, avoid fast fashion outlets, and even save money, which is always a plus, especially for students!

Buy second-hand If my mother had taken better care of her clothes from the nineties, I wouldn’t need to scour thrift shops to find the perfect vintage overalls and espadrilles. I definitely wouldn’t be

browsing Urban Outfitters for high-waisted Levi’s.

Fashion is cyclical, and any trend in fast fashion stores like H&M and Forever 21 today can be found, if not in our parents’ closets, in thrift stores and consignment shops. Secondhand shopping is like a recycling treasure hunt.

Luckily for U of T students, Toronto has some amazing thrift and vintage shops just steps from campus in areas like Kensington Market and Queen West. Purchasing clothing second-hand is cheaper in most cases and also reduces clothing waste. So the next time you need an outfit for a night out, pop some tags. You’ll be able to find more unique pieces and will have a ton of fun searching through racks of one-of-akind clothing.

Buy sustainable Money talks. If consumers begin to make ethically produced and eco-friendly products a priority, clothing companies will follow. With a quick Google search, you can find any number of clothing retailers that advocate for sustainability, including ARC Apparel and Everlane. These companies value the importance of transparency in supply chains and the importance of utilizing sustainable materials for their clothing.

Unfortunately, the clothing these companies produce can be substantially more expensive than the clothing from places like Zara, but purchasing from these outlets means supporting their initiative and sending the message that these issues matter to consumers.

Shop smarter The perfectly ethical closet is a challenge to maintain, and with our strict budgets and busy lives, it can feel next to impossible. If all else fails, and you find yourself in a situation where you need to visit the mall for some clothes, think ‘quality over quantity.’ You’re shopping for items that will last, will keep you from buying the same thing again, and won’t end up in a landfill within a year.

Although the $7 t-shirt from Forever 21 is the easiest on your wallet, you’ll be lucky to get anywhere near 21 wears out of it. It’s better to spend a few extra dollars on quality material that will last in your closet for years to come. More importantly, it is crucial that the items you buy are not only good quality but also sustainable for you.

Avoid impulse buys like the pleather mini skirt that you know you’re not comfortable in but want to get anyway because it makes you feel like Bad Sandy from Grease. Before

SHANNON YU/THE VARSITY

purchasing an item, ask yourself if you can imagine three to five different occasions on which you could wear it, or three to five different outfits you could create with it. This way you avoid making purchases that you’ll regret, and you waste less.

Make sure to visit the website Project JUST, a non-profit organization that researches clothing companies' transparency and environmental practices then puts all the information in one spot. You can examine the efforts stores at your local mall are making with regard to sustainability, and you can see which ones fall short. Being an informed consumer is important and allows us to understand the kinds of products we buy and their effects on both the workers who produce them and the environment.

Campus theatre preview: Love’s Labour’s Lost Trinity’s Shakespeare in the Quad production focuses on the right to love Alexa Ballis Varsity Contributor

Hosting Shakespearian productions is a long-standing tradition at Trinity College. PHOTO COURTESY OF MAXIMILLIAN ROBSON

Trinity College’s iconic quadrangle was once home to one of the largest outdoor Shakespeare festivals in Canada. The Trinity College Dramatic Society (TCDS) has continued this tradition with an annual Shakespeare in the Quad production each fall to begin their season. This year, the TCDS is shaking things up by staging a modern musical retelling of the Bard’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, written by Alex Timbers and with music

by Michael Friedman.

The musical is set in front of a hotel in a university town, where alumni students from said university are visiting for a school reunion. The King and his buddies swear an oath to stay away from women, which becomes increasingly difficult when girls from their past arrive. In classic Shakespearean comedy style, the story is filled with hijinks, miscommunication, and the chase for love.

Director Nicole Bell, a third-year theatre student, revealed that she was drawn to this show after listening to “Love’s a Gun” off the soundtrack. While the lyrics provide a commentary on heteronormative relationships, she realized that the songs in this show “are so easily steeped in queer narratives” as well. “I picked this show because it’s fun and it's goofy, but I found meaning in it,” Bell said.

“This show is about love, [but] what I wanted to do with

the show is ask the question ‘who has the right to love?’” Bell continued. By casting the show completely gender-blind, the production attempted to show that everyone has that right.

Moreover, each of the five couples in the show are queer and interracial, aspects that were particularly important for Bell to have represented on stage. “I really wanted to try to accent one or both, and I’m very lucky that I got to accent both,” she shared.

Bell mentioned that there are moments when actors break the fourth wall and interact with the audience, and these won’t be the only instances where reality and fiction intermingle. After Bell got a hold of the libretto, she discovered that the original production was also set outside, in New York City’s Central Park, and that the band had doubled as the one for the university reunion as well. This will be replicated in the TCDS production. “I’m glad that I have the opportunity to take some of the original aspects of the show and bring it into this space,” she added.

The Trinity College Dramatic Society’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost opens Wednesday, September 27 and closes Saturday, September 30.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 17

var.st/arts

TIFF film review: Victoria & Abdul Though Stephen Frears’ film sheds light on a little-known piece of history, at times it favours humour over insight Teodora Pasca Comment Editor

Based on the book by Shrabani Basu, Victoria & Abdul tells the true story of the unexpected friendship that developed between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim, an Indian man recruited to partake in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, leaving his home and sailing to England alongside his friend Mohammed to do so.

Though initially only tasked with presenting the Queen with a ceremonial coin, Abdul finds himself given the title of “the Munshi,” or advisor, after Victoria takes a liking to his candidness, which is a stark contrast to her odious staff. Much to the increasing outrage of the xenophobic court staff, Abdul stays in

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFF

England far longer than expected, teaching the Queen Urdu and recounting things about his home country that she will never see with her own eyes.

Victoria & Abdul is enjoyable in the way it lightheartedly pokes fun at stuffy colonial institutions. The film’s fast-paced opening scenes, which openly mock the extreme lengths the British court staff take in order to abide by court etiquette, make for a brilliant introduction to its plot. Mohammed’s unbridled hostility toward the British Crown is delightfully sardonic and, crucially, complements Abdul’s apparent enchantment with the Queen. The film provides basic critical commentary regarding the many dimensions of the beast of imperialism, and how two people can find themselves totally isolated when

they refuse to obey the expectations of those around them.

At the same time, there is only so much history that can be encapsulated in a roughly two-hour film. Audiences get only glimpses of character development: a bitter but brief monologue reveals the Queen’s deep loneliness in relation to the people who serve her, and disappointingly little attention is paid to Abdul’s allegiance to his people and his feelings toward his family, who are brought to England from India at a later date. The true story upon which Victoria & Abdul is based is remarkable on its own — and one cannot help but wish the ramifications of this important relationship had been dealt with in more depth, even within the time constraints of the film.

It is important to remember that Victoria & Abdul is a tragic story in spite of the comic moments that dominate its plot. With the Queen’s eventual passing, Abdul is quickly evicted from his home, and his belongings are set ablaze in an attempt to destroy the mementos of his relationship with Victoria.

It is encouraging that, due to its reach and its exceptional cast, Victoria & Abdul will bring an important true story to the attention of the general population. The closing scenes of the film are heart-wrenching and appear to have been tacked on as afterthoughts to the otherwise cheerful plot. Though its lighthearted tone makes the film enjoyable to watch, perhaps more attention should have been paid to the parts of the history that were not quite as comical.

Three times at the Kappa Alpha Luau A third-year student explains how he’s changed — and how he hasn’t — through the lens of an annual frat party

KORNELIA DRIANOVSKI/THE VARSITY

Avneet Sharma Varsity Contributor

I arrived at U of T a mere four days prior to the perennially-named 69th Annual Luau.

One of my orientation leaders told me about the annual luau, held at the Kappa Alpha Literary Society (KA), which everyone who was anyone would apparently be attending.

Immediately, a few questions came to mind. One: what is the difference between a literary society and a frat? Two: is this a genuine celebration of Hawaiian culture?

And three: will there be alcohol?

I was in the same boat as the other firstyear students surrounding me, yet I felt as though I was having a more difficult time making friends and connecting with people.

It took me a while to feel like I was part of the U of T community — mostly, I just felt weird and uncomfortable. So, needless to say, I had a strange time at the luau.

I spent most of the night standing against a wall, switching off between beer and a vile concoction of beer mixed with Red Bull. I tried to engage in small talk with others but couldn’t shake off my feeling of discomfort.

Apparently my discomfort was palpable,

since the same orientation leader who had told me about the luau approached me and started talking to me.

“Are you having a good time?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

My second time at the luau was a different type of uncomfortable, given that I can’t remember the event itself very clearly. Going into second year, I felt that I had shown a significant amount of growth. New year, new me. I wanted to build my confidence and prove that I had changed from the awkward and overly emotional mess I was in first year.

But the night ended with me crying over a failed relationship on the front lawn of KA with one of my friends. At least I had friends this time, right?

Despite two years of bad luaus, my tradition of attending prevailed. I knew that, given my past experiences, there was a good chance I would have a bad time again, but what I also realized was that I had never had a bad time because of the event itself, but rather because of my personal circumstances during the event. I had endowed the luau with the symbolic importance of signifying my growth over the year as a human being.

I wanted to become a happier person, to feel more comfortable around others, and to mature into the person I knew I would eventually become. Mostly, I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to feel like I was becoming the best version of myself. Maybe that’s too much significance

to place on a frat party, but there I was doing it anyway.

My third time at the luau was a more positive endeavour, though not by much.

Was anything about my life perfect this time?

Absolutely not. I’d had a moment of weakness earlier that day and ended up sitting at home crying, journaling, and drinking copious amounts of wine. Somehow, though, I managed to resolve my bad mood in time to enjoy a night out with my friends.

Like many, I fall into the trap of setting expectations for my personal development rather than letting it happen organically. I wanted to reach a goal but ignored the steps it would take to get there. It’s impossible to reach a place of total self-confidence overnight. Hell, it’s impossible to reach it after two years.

Letting go of my anxieties about my lack of confidence was something I thought I would have figured out by my third year, although I’m not completely there yet. But I’m doing better than I was before, and that’s something worth celebrating.

We’re often striving for a state of equilibrium where everything is fine and we have everything worked out, but that’s not how the world works.

We’ll always have conflicts, both external and internal, that we need to struggle through.

I maintain that, for those of us struggling with mental illness, being happy is the most difficult thing to do. I suppose the point is to keep trying, keep learning from your experiences, and, despite the universe telling you not to, keep heading to the KA luau.

18 • THE VARSITY • ARTS & CULTURE

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HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH Book by John Cameron Mitchell Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask Directed by Rebecca Ballarin Featuring James King and Lauren Mayer

SEPT. 22-OCT. 7, 2017 WARNING: Coarse language, mature themes and sexually explicit scenes

U OF T’S PERFORMING ARTS LEADER SINCE 1919

2017/2018 HART HOUSE THEATRE SEASON

harthousetheatre.ca

Season Sponsors:

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 19

var.st/arts

Hart House Theatre opens the season with Hedwig and the Angry Inch Leading cast members James King and Lauren Mayer dish on the upcoming performance

Lauren Mayer and James King. PHOTOS COURTESY OF HART HOUSE THEATRE

Ben Tremblay Varsity Contributor

This Friday, Hart House Theatre will open its 2017–2018 season with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a rock musical that tells the story of Hedwig, a front woman in a band from East Germany, who, after undergoing an unsuccessful sex change operation, must live with a scar from the surgery — the titular ‘angry inch.’

The Varsity sat down with James King, who plays Hedwig, and Lauren Mayer, who plays her husband Yitzhak, to discuss the show’s hair, rock and roll, and the love story that unfolds between them.

The Varsity: The first question I have to ask is: have you gotten to try on your wig yet?

James King: Oh yes!

TV: How do you feel in it?

JK: I feel... amazing. It’s very transformative. The voice helps a lot too: the voice that I found for the character — there’s an accent of course, the East German accent — but she has her sort of own little

voice too. It’s those things that really helped me to find the character.

There are full songs about wigs that are very important to her as a person, and they are part of her make up, literally and figuratively — her kind of ‘mental make up.' I think it’s something that she — at least when the show begins — needs to feel like herself. Or the idea that she thinks she needs to be of herself.

TV: What’s it like for you, Lauren, transforming into Yitzhak? Both costume-wise and character-wise.

Lauren Mayer: It’s weird! I got weirdly emotional when I put everything on — or elements on, I guess — for the first time. The costume is a really big part of it. I’m generally one of those people who tends to sink a little bit more into the character that they’re playing when the wardrobe is put on, especially for something as transformative as this. I’ve always been told that I have masculine tendencies, so I feel like with that, you’re able to actually visualize a part of yourself that you’ve never physically seen before.

The wig and the costume are, for me at least, very integral for the role and for the performance. They complete it.

TV: Hedwig is a really intense show — I understand that you don’t have any breaks at all.

You’re just on stage the whole time.

JK: More or less. I might step off for three seconds to do a little quick thing. But basically we’re on stage the entire show.

TV: How do you maintain energy and intensity through that?

LM: It’s a combination of eating, sleeping, warming up, and then also just allowing yourself to be in the story every time. I find that with us, with this show at least, I feel like every time we’re doing it, we’re hearing it for the first time. And so it’s not difficult to stay engaged with it. I guess that’s because we love it a lot as well.

JK: And the music, the rock music, instills you with energy. I feel like I hear it and it’s like ‘time to go.’ It calls you, once you hear it, if you go

along with it, it takes you there if you are honest and just listen.

LM: You just have to listen. You just have to listen the whole time. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to sing with a live band.

JK: They give you an energy, you can feel it, and you can feel them playing and it instills it with a drive.

It’s like you started a motor when you hear that full band. It’s a thing, rock and roll is all about feeling an emotion. And going back, it started as almost a juvenile sort of thing. Because it was like, this is the music of young kids breaking out of repression in the 1950s. This is rock and roll down the road, punk rock and glam rock and what it evolved into, it was all based in that root.

LM: It’s a guttural thing.

TV: I’m curious how you think the show will resonate with people today and with audiences that will come see your show.

JK: I think this show will always resonate with anyone, no matter what time it’s being played, or where, or when, because while

there are many elements in it, about rebellion and about so many different things… I think at its core it’s really a love story. It doesn’t matter [your] race, religion, creed, orientation. I think everyone has felt love, or been in love, or been rejected by love.

TV: Do you have a number from the show that you’re most excited to share with your audiences?

JK: They all play such an important role. There’s no filler songs at all. I love — I know it’s probably such a cliché — “The Origin of Love.” Just because it’s… it’s magic. It’s just a gorgeous, gorgeous song. There’s the opening number and then boom, you’re in. Let’s go! It’s very special to perform it, and it’s an honour that we get an opportunity to sing it.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch opens September 22 at Hart House Theatre and is directed by Rebecca Ballarin.

TIFF film review: Lean on Pete

The supposed horse drama contains a wonderful lead performance — but not much else Elspeth Arbow Varsity Contributor

Lean on Pete premiered at TIFF on September 11. PHOTOCRED/THE PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFF

About fifteen minutes in, I decided I didn’t like Lean on Pete, so I spent the rest of the film’s runtime finding things wrong with it. In a conscious attempt to be open-minded, though, I looked for things that I liked, too. I had chosen to see the movie because it was an A24 film, and I had yet to see an A24 film I didn’t like. I wanted so badly to enjoy this movie, but the indie studio responsible for recent critical hits like Moonlight and The Witch let me down.

Narratively, Lean on Pete is billed as a boy-and-his-horse coming-of-age tale, but the film is re-

ally more of a winding character study. The horse's involvement in the plot is over by the first third of the movie. Once Lean on Pete — Pete being the horse — is out of the picture, the audience is left to follow Charley, played by Charlie Plummer, who has left home and is traversing a barren landscape to find his aunt.

The movie has been widely praised, so perhaps the problem was my inability to get past its smaller details. There were a few continuity errors that really pulled me out of the film, and the lack of causality and connection between certain sequences stunted its flow.

Although that sort of disjunction is sometimes intentional and used to

create unease, I doubt that was the case here.

Nonetheless, there is a lot that was done well in this film. Plummer's performance is fantastic, and it only gets better as the film progresses. Once I realized he looked like a young Chad Michael Murray, things really took off. The film’s cinematography, courtesy of Magnus Joenck, is also superb.

Beyond that, highlights included a couple of really great-looking horses and a few good-looking burgers. Plus, Steve Buscemi was on screen for a while, and he swore a little, so that was nice.

Science

September 18, 2017 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

Microplastic sampling in the Great White North A student visits the Canadian Arctic for undergraduate research

Scientists work on deck aboard the Amundsen. CLARA THAYSEN/THE VARSITY

Clara Thaysen Varsity Contributor

Waking up on August 11, I peered outside my port-side window and found myself staring at a cliff face. This struck me as odd, considering I was on a ship travelling remote Arctic waters and had not seen land in a week. The cliff face was Somerset Island, and the ship was the CCGS Amundsen, a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker ship that doubles as a scientific research vessel during the summer months.

We were steaming through Bellot Strait, a narrow channel of water that separates the northernmost point in mainland North America, in Nunavut, from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is one of the most difficult Northwest Passage routes due to fast-flowing currents, rapidly changing tides, and sea ice.

Our passage through Bellot Strait had marked the halfway point of our schedule, Leg 2b, on the Amundsen. I had boarded a week earlier in Resolute, Nunavut, a community of approximately 200 people. The ship was headed to Puvirnituq, Québec via the Northwest Passage. It was carrying 40 coast guard personnel, in addition to 40 scientists, who were conducting scientific research ranging from multibeam mapping to sediment coring — and in my case, microplastic sampling.

Microplastics are pieces of plastic ranging from a few millimetres in size down to the nanometric level. ‘Microplastics’ is a broad term that encompasses two subtypes: primary and secondary. Primary microplastics are particles that are manufactured on the scale of millimetres, like those used in facial scrubs; secondary microplastics are those that break down from larger pieces of litter, like water bottles or grocery bags. Microplastics are a harmful and persistent pollutant in marine ecosystems.

I was taking surface water, sediment, and zooplankton samples for a project led by my supervisor, Assistant Professor Chelsea Rochman of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, along with Dr. Liisa Jantunen of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Professor Miriam Diamond of the Department of Earth Sciences, and Professor

Nathalie Tufenkji of McGill University. The purpose of the project was to quantify and identify the amount and types of microplastics in these samples from the Canadian Arctic.

The Northern Contaminants Program, which monitors contaminant exposure to wildlife species that make up the diets of northern Indigenous peoples, funded the project.

The program had previously investigated plastic debris as a potential vector for these contaminants, but it had not yet monitored microplastics as contaminants in their own right.

Microplastics are easily consumed by aquatic-feeding organisms due to their small size and ubiquity. If ingested, microplastics can be both a physical and chemical hazard to wildlife due to organ damage and the transfer of toxic chemicals. There is also evidence of microplastics migrating into seafood. This contamination of meat is of particular concern for communities that rely heavily on seafood for sustenance, such as northern coastal communities.

While I had worked as a summer research student before, these positions had been limited to labs on campus. Working on a moving ship was different — the mandatory personal safety equipment went well beyond lab coats and closed-toe shoes.

When working on deck, we were required to wear steel-toe boots and hardhats. ‘Survival suits’ — bright orange jumpsuits that would keep us warm both on deck and in the water in case we fell in — were not mandatory but were usually needed due to the frigid Arctic wind. Even in the ship lab, safety rules differed from those on campus. All equipment, even plastic graduated cylinders, had to be strapped down with bungee cords, in case the ship rolled from large ocean swells or exceptionally thick sea ice.

My hours as a summer research student on campus often stretched beyond 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, but working hours on the ship were even more peculiar. The ship ran a tight schedule, and sampling stations had been predetermined months before. Despite this, the ship could arrive at a station hours late due to thick sea ice. Worse, it could arrive hours early — this meant that we had to be prepared to conduct sampling regardless of the time of day.

During busier days, I found myself sleeping in four-hour shifts. Despite the peculiar sleep schedule, waking up at 3:00 am to collect water samples was not difficult — the Arctic Sun did not dip below the horizon during that time of year.

My favourite activity to pass the time was watching the Amundsen break sea ice. The Amundsen is an Arctic Class 3 icebreaker, which means that it can operate in polar regions all year and plow through thick, multi-year sea ice. It would ram over the tops of large, metre-thick ice floes until they finally cracked under its weight, flipping over to reveal their turquoiseblue undersides, the colour a characteristic indicative of old age.

The additional benefit of watching sea ice break was the chance of spotting wildlife. We were lucky to spot several polar bears roaming the ice floes, including one that stood on its hind legs, looking directly at us.

Previous to this voyage, an investigation of microplastic pollution had not been conducted in the Canadian Arctic, and the presence of microplastics in this region will remain a mystery for a few more months. Due to transportation and weight constraints, we could not bring our samples home with us right away. They are packed safely away in the bow thruster room of the ship’s hull, and we will receive them when the ship returns to its home port of Québec City on October 12.

While the trip was visually breathtaking, and potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an undergraduate researcher, the possibility of finding microplastics in our samples is disheartening. It would support the fact that these particles are capable of long range transport — and into a region that is typically considered pristine.

Witnessing the kilometres of sea ice reminded me why Canada is nicknamed the Great White North. Sadly, this nickname may be outdated soon: current predictions suggest that summer Arctic sea ice may be non-existent by the middle of the 21st century. Given Canada’s history here, to permanently alter this region, whether through the melting of sea ice or the inundation of contaminants, would be devastating from both a scientific and cultural perspective.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 21

var.st/science

2017 Discovery Grants program awards half a billion to Canadian scientists and engineers U of T researchers receive $52 million in funding

The Minister of Science recently announced the results of the 2017 Discovery Grants Program.

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY/CC FLICKR

Josiah Butt Varsity Contributor

On September 8, the Liberal government announced $515 million in federal funding for Canada’s science and engineering programs.

More than $52 million went to University of Toronto researchers through the 2017 Discovery Grants program, run by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

“It is not directed research, and researchers do not need the permission of NSERC to pursue big ideas,” said Dr. B. Mario Pinto, the President of NSERC, in an interview with The Varsity. “So, it’s a highly valued program; it’s our flagship program.”

The grant’s freedom to explore is extremely important to researchers. Dr. Spencer Barrett, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at U of T, asserted that one of the things that makes the Discovery Grants so useful is that “they’re not funding a specific project; they’re funding a research program,” a trait he believes will allow researchers to conduct a broad range of projects.

The flexibility of Discovery Grants is compounded by application success rates for both established and early-career researcher applications. This year’s rates were 66 and 69 per cent, respectively — more than double the success rates for researchers applying for National Institute of Health grants in the US. High funding success does not benefit primary investigators alone. Pinto said that “60 per cent of Discovery Grant money is used for the support of students,” and he stressed that undergraduate researchers are an important part of the NSERC’s funding structure.

Dr. Sarah Finkelstein, an Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at U of T, told The Varsity that her grant allowed her to hire new graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, which boosted her team’s capacity for scientific inquiry. She called her 2017 funding “transformative” for her paleoecology research on Canada’s wetlands.

While the Discovery Grants have been well received, the government’s science budget still leaves something to be desired. In April, Canada’s Fundamental Science Review, chaired by former U of T President David Naylor, called for major increases in federal funding if Canada is to remain competitive on the global research stage.

Pinto pointed to an extra $30 million in basic science funding that the NSERC received last year, but he noted that budgets are not increasing at the rate necessary to keep pace with the best of the international community.

Federal funding levels are critical for Canadian contributions to international research efforts. U of T physics professor Dr. Hirohisa Tanaka, who works on the T2K neutrino project in Japan, said that “Canada’s particle physics funding has been completely flat since 2007, and we are trying to do more with the same.”

Despite budget constraints, the NSERC is working to ensure science in Canada is accessible to all groups. While acknowledging that the council has more work ahead to improve the representation of minorities, including Indigenous peoples, Pinto said the Discovery Grants program is flexible for researchers on non-linear education paths. He specifically cited their policy of automatic extensions for female scientists who become pregnant during their grant.

“The Discovery Grant is an investment in the best ideas of people,” said Pinto. “We leave it up to the imagination and talent of individual researchers to come forward with their best ideas. They can be blue sky ideas.”

The professors interviewed for this article are all awardees of the 2017 Discovery Grants program.

Barrett uses plants as model systems in a staggering set of fields in evolutionary biology. He’s currently interested in evolutionary transitions, including the evolution of self-fertilization, the evolution of separate sexes out of hermaphroditism, and the evolutionary transition from animal pollination to wind pollination. His grant money funds an extensive network of projects here at U of T and out in the field.

Finkelstein works in the fields of paleoecology and paleoclimatology. Her interests concern examining the long-term historical changes in ecology and climate, with a focus on the carbon dynamics of wetlands. This research has taken her from Canada’s Arctic to the heart of South Africa. Her grant currently allows her and her team to study the Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario, one of the largest peat wetlands in the world.

Tanaka works on the T2K neutrino project in Central Japan. The project investigates the oscillation of subatomic particles known as neutrinos using an accelerator that creates a neutrino beam from the west coast of Japan to the east coast, where a specialized detector is located. Tanaka’s grant supports a contribution to the T2K project that includes institutions across the country from U of T to the University of British Columbia.

Does older mean wiser?

UTSC study finds that older kids in American classrooms undergo greater academic development Pascale Tsai Varsity Contributor

A study led by Dr. Elizabeth Dhuey, Associate Professor of Economics at UTSC, shows that older children perform better throughout elementary school and toward post-secondary school than their younger classmates.

The goal of this study, conducted among American students, was to learn how age influences the accumulation of human capital — the skills, knowledge, and experience that an individual has — of students throughout their lives. The findings demonstrate that older students undergo greater cognitive development overall and perform better in school, allowing them better opportunities later on in their lives.

The results of the study show that “early differences in maturity can propagate through the human capital accumulation process into later life and may have important implications for adult outcomes and productivity.”

Due to better academic performance, older students have a greater chance of entering into postsecondary education. The effect is consistent across American schools with varying levels of education quality. Older students are also less likely to be incarcerated for juvenile crimes than younger students in the same grade.

In the US, a child’s entry into primary school is often dictated by a specific cutoff birth date.

As a result, the children born in September will be almost a year older than their peers born in August. The existence of this age gap has increasingly encouraged parents to adopt the practice of ‘redshirting,’ whereby a child’s entry into school is delayed by a grade level in the hopes of giving them an advantage over their peers.

This study was the first to

compare siblings born in August versus September, which allowed the researchers to control for the unobserved differences in student success found in separate families. Dhuey hypothesized that the variation in maturity between younger and older students may impact their human capital accumulation, with the younger, less mature children having greater difficulties during their years of cognitive development.

To test for this, a regression discontinuity framework was used.

“The assumption of this kind of framework is that these children are similar except for the month they were born. We were able to even refine this more by looking at siblings [where] one was born in August and one...was born in September to make sure there were no unobserved family effects that might have contaminated our estimates,” said Dhuey.

“We also are able to control for conditions and treatments surrounding pregnancy and birth.

We ultimately find that these extra controls do not alter our results, indicating that omitted-variables bias in the extant literature is likely not as large as some might fear,” the authors explained in the paper.

One of the implications of this study — which has yet to be peerreviewed — is that schools should decrease the age gap between students in the same grades or classes. By doing so, younger and older children may receive adequate attention to supplement their learning, and the gaps in cognitive development and academic performance between them may decrease.

“I would like to try to empirically figure out what is making these age [effects] last into adulthood when the small differences in age should matter a lot less,” said Dhuey.

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22 • THE VARSITY • SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Canada’s largest radio telescope begins map of the universe

CHIME telescope will be used to study the role of dark energy in the universe’s evolution

The novel CHIME telescope is a product of a collaboration between 50 Canadian scientists. Photo Courtesty of ANDRE RENARD. DUNLAP INSTITUTE FOR ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

Emily Deibert Varsity Contributor

September 7, 2017 marked an important day for an allCanadian collaboration of astronomers and astrophysicists from the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, and the National Research Council of Canada. After many years of development, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) began collecting data in an effort to create the largest map of the universe to date.

Located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory just outside of Penticton, British Columbia, CHIME is the largest radio telescope in Canada. The instrument is made up of four 200-by-100-metre halfcylinders and has the computing power to process seven quadrillion computer operations every second.

According to U of T’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, one of the collaborators on the project, the result of CHIME will be a three-dimensional map of radio waves covering half the night sky and extending billions of light years deep.

Science Around Town Charmaine Nyakonda Varsity Contributor

In attendance at a ceremony marking CHIME’s official launch was Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan, who installed the final piece of the telescope before it began operations. Also present was Dr. Keith Vanderlinde, a professor at the Dunlap Institute and a member of the CHIME collaboration.

With the data collected from CHIME, astronomers hope to answer a number of questions about the nature and evolution of the universe. CHIME will allow astronomers to learn more about the universe’s expansion history by shedding light on a period of time when a mysterious force known as dark energy — one of the main drivers behind the expansion of the universe — first began to play a role in the universe’s evolution.

While astronomers do know that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, many questions remain about the rate at which this is occurring and the ultimate fate that will befall the universe.

In addition to CHIME’s main scientific goal of mapping the universe and studying the universe’s expansion, the telescope will study other enigmatic radio phenomena

Alternative (Science) Facts Workshop In the age of the internet and technological advancement, we must constantly decide what information to trust and what to regard as ‘fake news.’ The Gerstein Science information Centre is hosting a workshop that will teach strategies for the critical analysis of information when discerning scientific facts from misinformation.

Date: Tuesday, September 19 Time: 6:00–8:00 pm, doors open at 5:30 pm Location: Gerstein Science Information Centre, 9 King’s College Circle, Alice Moulton Room Admission: Free with registration

in the sky. Back-end instrumentation installed on the telescope will allow astronomers to monitor pulsars, which are rapidly rotating remnants of long-dead giant stars that emit energy at radio wavelengths. They could provide future observational evidence of gravitational waves.

CHIME will also aid in the detection of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), which are short-lived but extremely powerful pulses of radio waves whose origins remain a mystery.

These additional scientific goals are in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and scientists at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario.

After nearly six years of construction and $16 million invested into the project, collaborating astronomers are excited about the prospects for future scientific breakthroughs that CHIME holds. “[CHIME] lets us do things that were previously impossible,” said Vanderlinde in a joint press release issued by the telescope’s primary collaborators. “We can look in many directions at once, run several experiments in parallel, and leverage the power of this new instrument in unprecedented ways.”

Fishing in other people’s data As part of the Donnelly Seminar Series, guest speaker Casey S. Greene from the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting on the value of large collections of public data. He will discuss how the accuracy and efficiency of science can improve when scientists go ‘fishing’ in the pool of public data.

Date: Thursday, September 21 Time: 11:00 am Location: Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, 160 College Street, Red Seminar Room Admission: Free

The Human Library: Real people. Real experts. Real talk.

When reading academic research, people may wonder about the scientists behind the papers. This event provides an opportunity to pose questions and have open-minded and reflective discussions with science experts. Topics will range from social inequality to food sensitivities to climate change.

Date: Friday, September 22 Time: 2:00–4:00 pm Location: Gerstein Science Information Centre, 9 King’s College Circle, Lobby Admission: Free with registration

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 23

var.st/science

It’s time to get moving Two U of T profs set to launch study on regulated movement breaks in undergraduate classes Andrea Tambunan Varsity Contributor

Professors Ananya Banerjee and Jackie Bender decided in January 2015 that they were going to add something new to their three-hour lectures: for three minutes, they integrated everything from dance routines to stretching just to get their graduate students to move.

These regulated movement breaks received very positive responses from students. Now, the professors are hoping to take this feedback to the next level and study its effects on students and instructors in the undergraduate setting.

The idea of regulated movement breaks all started with a paper released in 2015 by U of T researchers from the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation. “[This study] showed that individuals who are sedentary throughout their day, even though they are exercising regularly, have higher risk for various chronic diseases,” said Banerjee, a Registered Kinesiologist and professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Upon reading this paper, Banerjee and Bender decided to integrate regulated movement breaks into their classes.

“I’m trained to create exercise programs in different settings, and given that Dr. Bender and I… were teaching our graduate course that year… we decided that we really [needed] to implement movement breaks into the classroom to reduce sedentary behaviour among students,” Banerjee explained.

There’s a lot of science fueling support for fitness breaks in the classroom. “A number of studies have shown that move-

ment breaks increase the levels of interactivity with other students and with the course instructor, and that this positively influences acts of collaborative learning, which also helps to improve student learning retention,” said Bender, also a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

While introducing these fitness breaks in the graduate setting, the professors conducted a quality improvement survey.

“Movement breaks were met with high rates of acceptability from students, with about 86 per cent of students reporting that they enjoyed these short bouts of movement,” said Bender.

Participants also noted that the breaks helped improve their engagement with other students and instructors. Other impacts extended beyond the classroom and increased students’ intention to be more active and less sedentary outside of class.

With a successful application to the Learning and Education Advancement Fund granted by the Provost’s Office at U of T, Banerjee and Bender are now launching a more extensive study in the undergraduate setting.

For the 2017–2018 academic year, they are planning to integrate and assess movement breaks across all three campuses and involve over 1,000 students from various faculties.

“We are conducting a quasi experimental pre-post design [with] certain classes being exposed to intermission and other classes not… and then we’re going to be looking at the impact of participating in these structured, three minute movement breaks, that are led by… videos of certified instructors,” explained Bender.

Conference attendees participate in movement breaks at the Medical Sciences Building.

Photo by PRAGYA KAUL. Courtesy of ANANYA TINA BANERJEE

These videos, which will be streamed by lecturers in their 2–3 hour sessions, will range from mindfulness to Zumba and everything in between. While the focus of this study is on students, the professors will also be tracking feedback from instructors, who will also participate in these exercises throughout the year.

They hope to get more insight on the impact of fitness breaks on student and instructor engagement, student wellbeing, as well as physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

For both professors, it all comes down to helping students.

“We [really just] expect that through these movement breaks, they’ll lead to more engaged students who will feel better, learn better, and develop positive relationships with instructors and other students,” said Bender.

CAMH opens $15-million Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics Computational scientists to collaborate with clinicians to make sense of mental health records Devanshi Adhvaryu Varsity Contributor

The landscape of mental health research is becoming increasingly digital. Clinicians are trying to bridge mental health research with artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of the sea of data curated from medical records of an untold number of patients.

With a $15 million donation by the Krembil family, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) opened the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics to “identify and treat mental illness, while shaping policy at national and global levels.” They will work toward one day delivering accurate and precise treatment to people with various mental illnesses.

Dr. Catherine Zahn, President of CAMH, hopes that this venture will move the flourishing field of mental health research into clinics.

With data containing “literally zillions of points of information… it [helps] to call on opportunities for high performance computing and machine learning for AI to help

Dr. Catherine Zahn announces the creation of the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics. Photo by JENNA WAKANI, Courtesy of CAMH-IMG

advance our understanding [of mental health],” said Zahn.

Zahn said that the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics is an opportunity to recruit and retain computational scientists to query the aforementioned extensive data and to develop and test models to advance the understanding of the various points of data.

Applying AI intervention in real clinical context has already proven to be a helpful aid for physicians in understanding various medical reports and histories of patients suffering from mental illnesses. According to Zahn, there are currently very poor techniques available to predict whether or not individuals with depression are at risk for self-harm and suicide.

Using technology to analyze physicians’ and psychiatrists’ notes of patients’ conditions helps identify “clues that the physicians themselves missed, as it is actually a better predictor than the humans in predicting the risk for suicide.

So, opportunities to digitize information like that and examining it and predicting it is a very practical and clinical opportunity for us,” said Zahn.

“We know that a lot of what we do in healthcare and psychiatry is to prescribe treatments based on trial and error and based on our own experience,” she said, emphasizing that the accuracy of an AI method would be particularly helpful.

One aspect of AI and machine learning is to discover patterns amid copious amounts of information and data that otherwise go unseen by humans. “[We can] capitalize on that ability to synthesize [a] large amount of data to recognize patterns that are beyond the capability of the human brain and to point them out to humans, [which] helps with decision making based on the recognition patterns,” said Zahn.

Neuroinformatics can be viewed as the future for clinicalbased treatments, one that will transform the way physicians and psychiatrists interact with their data in order to provide accurate treatments for their patients.

“We are at a very special, unique moment in space and time... in the world of mental health because there is so much interest and there is so much opportunity to [understand] the brain and [its] environmental interactions,” said Zahn.

Sports

September 18, 2017 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Kylie Masse: the Blues athlete of our generation Masse discusses setting a world record, juggling school, and a hometown parade

Masse placed first four times at the OUA Championships last February. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VARSITY BLUES

Daniel Samuel Sports Editor

Kylie Masse begins the first day of class differently than most Kinesiology students. At a mid-morning media avail, she’s flanked by University of Toronto Varsity Blues Sports Information Coordinator Jill Clark and Events & Marketing manager Mary Beth Challoner. The trio make small talk until the clock strikes 10.

Masse sits in the stands above the Varsity Pool, overlooking the sight where she dominated at the OUA Championships earlier this year, and recounts her eventful summer, headlined by her world record performance at the World Championships in Budapest and concluded by a parade in

her honour in her hometown of LaSalle, Ontario in midAugust.

The event reminded the Olympic bronze medalist of her own childhood and how impactful it was for her at a young age to meet an Olympian or an older athlete. “It was pretty neat honestly, it was really eye-opening and meant a lot... I hope to continue to be that role model for kids out there, for girls and females in swimming and every other sport as well.”

The 21-year-old Masse understands the impact and importance of being the first Canadian female swimming world record holder. Almost two months have passed since her feat, but she’s still processing her record time of 58.10 and can’t recount the specific aspects of the race explaining that “it’s all kind of a bit of a blur.”

“It happened so fast, I turned around and looked at the scoreboard a few times to double-check that I was seeing what I saw,” Masse says. “I did several interviews right after in a row and I didn’t really know how to process the information because I didn’t really know how I felt, but it was super exciting.”

After the race, Masse didn’t have much time to celebrate the accomplishment. She enjoyed her time on the podium but with a race the following morning, Masse needed to focus on her next challenge.

“Social media was crazy and my phone was blowing up which was awesome and [it] means so much to have that much support and recognition,” Masse says. “I had to put my phone down because I needed to go to sleep, I need to reset, and I still had to race like another five times. It definitely took more days to sink in then it probably should’ve, but I mean I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.”

The four first place finishes she earned at the OUA Championships in February are almost incomparable to her more recent accolades, but her growth and development are a clear byproduct of U of T’s historic swim program. Masse believes she left LaSalle with a “good technical foundation,” but emphasizes that her coaches Byron McDonald and Linda Kiefer have played a key role in her evolution in the pool and her ability to balance swimming and school.

“When I got here [my technical ability] just grew immensely and I think I gained a lot of strength and learned a lot about myself in the pool and out of the pool,” Masse says. “Byron and Linda have always been there for everything that I need in the pool and out of the pool as well.”

Masse displays flashes of her small-town roots, remarking on the vast availability of drop-in dance classes in Toronto in comparison to LaSalle. “I like dancehall, which is a Caribbean music, and beginner hip-hop,” Masse explains to the Kinesiology Department’s Communications Specialist Jelena Damjanovic when asked about what she does in her free time. Masse also admits that the day before the interview was her first return to the pool after a month-long layoff.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia are her next major objective for Canada. She laughs, “The official team hasn’t been named yet but I think I have a pretty good shot of being on the team.” Masse also looks forward to the U Sports Championships that will be hosted at the Varsity Pool on February 22–24, 2018. She hopes her fellow students will come out and support the team.

“The most important thing for me is enjoying to swim, and that’s when you swim fast,” Masse says. “I kind of like to say a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer.”

Men’s football team loses to Gryphons

Varsity Blues no match for Guelph offense Silas LeBlanc Varsity Contributor

On Saturday, September 16, the Varsity Blues played host to a dynamic Guelph Gryphons offence, which had put up 81 points the previous week against Windsor. Led by quarterback James Roberts, the offensive juggernaut picked up right where they left off, putting up a total of 333 passing yards and 179 rushing yards. The Blues offense only managed to score six points in a 43–6 blowout loss.

With Toronto’s top two running backs injured, the Blues were unable to maintain a consistent running game and finished the game with a total of 21 rushing yards. Blues Head Coach Greg Gary, however, did not want to use injuries as an excuse. “I think you just always have to be careful whenever you finish a game, and [you have] something go wrong,” Gary stated. “I’m not real big on using injuries as anything other than ‘that’s part of the game.’ The lack of success in rushing is something that we have to fix, but I’m not going to go with the injury card at all.”

Toronto’s only offensive team score came in the form of a field goal at the beginning of the second quarter. Their defence also managed to force Guelph to take an intentional safety, and their special teams managed to score a single off a punt. Toronto’s best offensive performance came from wide

The Varsity Blues in action against the Guelph Gryphons. WENDY WEI/THE VARSITY

receiver Nick Stadnyk, who had four catches for 74 yards, and made their biggest play of the game, catching a 28-yard pass late in the first quarter, leading to a field goal.

Blues quarterback Connor Ennis had 137 passing yards, completed 11 out 23 pass attempts, and had two interceptions. Despite the loss, the Blues roster and coaching staff will maintain a positive attitude heading into the remainder of the season. “I’m confident where our team is going, as far as the evolution… to where we’re moving to with the team’s

culture,” Gary added. “Once upon a time, in a game like this, by the third quarter, we’d have been laying down. Is there another level we need to get to on the sideline? Absolutely. And that’s going to come with the way we practice, getting confidence, and the more confidence we have that we can actually be successful, then it’ll be positive throughout the field.”

The Blues’ next game is on Saturday, September 23 at Alumni Field against York University.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 25

var.st/sports

Troy Tulowitzki and the Coors Field effect In the midst of his regression, what impact did Coors Field have on Tulowitzki’s prime?

The Colorado Rockies play at Coors Field under the lights. credit/THE VARSITY

Michelle Krasovitski Varsity Contributor

On the early morning of July 28, 2015, a blockbuster trade shook the MLB. Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and veteran pitcher LaTroy Hawkins were sent to Toronto in exchange for Jose Reyes and three pitching prospects: Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, and Jesus Tinoco. It was the type of trade usually reserved for the offseason, when clubs are concerned with either building up or tearing down their rosters.

Prior to the trade, the Toronto Blue Jays had hopes for a deep playoff run, but after the addition of Tulowitzki and Detroit Tigers pitcher David Price, the team both won the AL East pennant and achieved a postseason berth for the first time since 1993. Toronto eventually fell to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series.

There’s no question that 2015 marked the rejuvenation of Canada’s baseball fandom.

Josh Donaldson’s first year in Toronto was embellished by his AL MVP crown and the fact that he gained two All-Star teammates. Just two Septembers later, it’s impressive to note how much has changed.

As of September, both players have caught the injury bug: David Price as a member of

the AL East leading Boston Red Sox, and Tulowitzki being ruled out for the season with ligament damage in his right ankle in August after awkwardly stepping on first base a month before.

Despite the excitement that followed Tulowitzki’s trade, his performance in the two seasons he has donned blue and white has been, at best, average. And so the question remains: was he really that great of an offensive acquisition for Toronto?

Before that question can be answered, a different one must be asked: when traded to Toronto, was Tulowitzki all that exceptional of a player to begin with?

The answer may not lie with the Tulo himself but rather with his former home, Coors Field. Entering 2015, Tulowitzki’s career looked to be on track for an incredible playing history. He played six seasons with a batting average (BA) over .290, was a fourtime All Star, and his Gold Glove defense placed him in the company of many iconic shortstops. But this is not necessarily all Tulowitzki’s doing — his home field, where half of his season’s games were held, has long been home to rumours that it inflates home players’ batting averages.

First, some things to consider about Coors Field: opened in 1995 in Denver, its

dimensions in feet run 390-415-375, and it stands 5,280 feet above sea level. The latter number alone may knock shortstop phenomenon Tulowitzki off his pedestal.

Coors Field stands significantly higher above sea level than any other MLB stadium; the Arizona Diamondbacks’ home, Chase Field, clocks in at second highest, standing 1,082 feet above sea level — over 4,000 feet less than Coors. And when considering the effects altitude has on both pitched and batted balls, it becomes apparent that not all stadiums offer equal hitting opportunities.

Let’s make the physics lesson quick: Magnus Force — or, the lift that applies to spinning balls — and drag are both reduced in Coors due to the high altitude of the field.

Because of this, the ball travels about nine per cent further, so a home run that is hit 415 feet in Yankee Stadium, which is sea-level, is estimated to travel 450 feet in Coors. The trajectory of the ball’s flight also makes for sharper-hit balls, which can evade outfielders and turn into base hits.

Taking this into consideration, I looked at the BAs at home and on the road of all thirty MLB teams from 2010 to 2016, and I found that the Colorado Rockies are the most inconsistent. The discrepancy between home and away batting averages is astronomical.

In 2010, the Rockies topped the league with their .298 BA at home, yet on the road, their BA was the worst of all thirty teams at a measly .226. In 2014, Colorado was again the best of the league, hitting .322 at home, and second worst on the road, hitting .228. Tulowitzki followed a similar trend: in 2014, despite playing four more games on the road, Tulo hit 14 home runs at home and seven away, hitting .417 at Coors and only .257 elsewhere.

Tulowitzki’s home/away splits are as follows: at home he hits .310, and away he hits .269.

Where he was consistently hitting either of the numbers, the first would make him a future Hall-of-Famer and the second would make him slightly better than mediocre. And after leaving Coors, Tulowitzki’s first full year as a Blue Jay was underwhelming: his BA of .254 was below league average.

Hidden behind all these numbers and statistics is one corroborated detail: Coors Field is kinder to its home players than any other field in the MLB. Whether it’s

the altitude or the different dimensions, Rockies players both current, like Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez, and former, like Troy Tulowitzki and Matt Holliday, have significantly higher and better statistics at home than they do on the road.

The argument that players are just more familiar and comfortable in their home fields is valid, yet no team’s performance discrepancy is as significant as Colorado’s.

In 2014, both the Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres proved that consistency was not an impossible feat; the former had the second-highest batting average both on the road and at home, and the latter placed in last or second-last in both splits. In fact, the Tigers hit more home runs on the road — an impressive achievement given that teams don’t visit fields for more than four days in a row. Tulowitzki, once considered the face of the Colorado Rockies franchise, is beloved in Toronto — fans wear his jersey proudly, and chants of “Tulo” fill the stadium every time he comes up to bat. But his celebrity going into Toronto is, in part, due to the way in which his former home field was built.

Altitude doesn’t teach all the things Tulo has done, like hitting a home run, fielding a ball, or turning an unassisted triple play, but altitude does help the ball travel, and according to Tulowitzki’s disproportionate splits, Coors played a role in his rise to fame and success. When a player is the most paid person on their team — Tulowitzki, along with catcher Russell Martin, topped the Blue Jays payroll with $20 million salary per year — excellence is expected of them. It’s the kind of excellence that Tulowitzki has not yet shown.

Coors can’t instill talent in an athlete.

When Matt Holliday left Colorado in 2009, his play did not severely worsen. Players have both flourished and diminished following departure from the Rockies. Though Tulowitzki’s stats have been in decline ever since he left his previous team, fans have only been getting louder and more vocal in their support for the once-prodigious shortstop.

It’s a good thing the kids are happy, but at the end of the day, fanfare doesn’t win you ballgames.

Team Away Statistics 2014 Team

Homeruns

Batting Average

1 Los Angeles Dodgers

63

.276

2 Detroit Tigers

79

.272

3 Kansas City Royals ...

52

.270

28 Boston Red Sox

74

.232

29 Colorado Rockies

67

.228

30 San Diego Padres

55

.222

Team Home Statistics 2014 Team

Homeruns

Batting Average

Home Stadium

HS Above Sea Level (in Ft)

1 Colorado Rockies

119

.322

Coors Field

5,280

2 Detroit Tigers

79

.282

Comerica Park

596

3 Pittsburgh Pirates ...

62

.274

PNC Park

743

28 Seattle Mariners

73

.238

Safeco Field

10

29 San Diego Padres

54

.231

Petco Park

13

30 New York Mets

59

.224

Citi Field

54

26 • THE VARSITY • SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

WEEKLY BOX SCORES BASEBALL 11–4 September 17 Varsity Blues

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3–5

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12–4

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8–1

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FOOTBALL

Hart House hosts a variety of drop-in events. STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

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St. George campus is home to a variety of drop-in fitness programs

FIELD HOCKEY 1–1

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York Lions

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MEN’S

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WOMEN’S

Drop in to a healthy start

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Daniela Ruscica Varsity Contributor

Many of us want to return to summer ‘vacation mode’ — our annual opportunity to slack off on fitness, relax at the beach, or bounce around from barbecues to back porch parties. But now the reality of school, deadlines, and routines is sinking in — it’s time to get back into the swing of things.

The start of the school year is a great time to pick up some healthy habits and luckily for us, UTSG is well-equipped with athletics facilities for us to improve our health, like the Goldring Centre, Hart House, and the Athletic Centre. Hart House and the Athletic Centre both have a group fitness drop-in program. These classes are designed to offer a challenge to students, and with bi-weekly attendance you can achieve your athletic goals.

Recommended Classes My experience with taking group drop-in fitness classes has motivated me and allowed me to get ahead on my fitness abilities.

“Nia” is a dance-based drop-in with a blend of yoga and martial arts. It’s a soulful workout and art form that leaves you feeling strong and motivated. You can attend Nia classes at Hart House or the Athletic Centre.

“Core Fusion-Balance” — my favourite fitness class — is hosted at Hart House and taught by Trainer Amanda Wolfson. The movements stem from balance training and pilates for an effective next-day feel. The class is targeted to build stability and strength in your core muscles with the use of weights and equipment.

“Movin’ Muscle” is a great way to get active.

This class consists of light cardio with a main focus on toning muscle. The training involves the use of light to medium weights, according to your preference, which are incorporated in choreographed movements. Group Excersise Supervisor and Trainer Martin Phills at Hart House makes it a fun space and enjoyable workout.

The benefits of exercise Committing to a healthy way of living will improve the quality of your life. Working out has tremendous benefits not only for the body but also the mind, and if strapped for time, working out between classes has its benefits.

The Canadian government recommends that adults get two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous activity per week and that children get 60 minutes per day.

Not only does working out boost energy, but it has benefits for your mental health and can improve mood as well. Different workouts affect the body and mind in seperate ways.

Aerobic exercise and strength training work to improve your mood, and physical exercise in general reduces stress levels and anxiety.

Taking part in physical exercise increases the production of serotonin, which is a critical neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with good health and mental wellbeing.

Working out can also improve memory and learning ability. Physical activity affects the brain by increasing the amount of blood flow, therefore enriching the mind with oxygen and glucose. Cardio activities and exercises like running or cycling will increase the heart rate, which helps pump oxygen and glucose to the brain.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia also found that taking part in vigorous exercise boosts the size of the hippocampus, which is part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.

Although many of us dread cardio, it does have its benefits. However, resistance training, balance, and muscle toning exercises did not appear to have the same results on the brain.

The body, inside and out, is shaped by working out. Not only does getting active and toning muscle lead to looking good on the outside, it also contributes to overall health and wellbeing on the inside. Obesity, anxiety, and depression are a few conditions that can be managed by exercise.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 27

var.st/sports

ATTENTION: FULL-TIME UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS & FULL-TIME TORONTO SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY STUDENTS Part-time students and most graduate students are covered by a separate Plan! Visit utsu.ca/health for more details.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO STUDENTS’ UNION HEALTH & DENTAL PLAN MAKE THE MOST OUT OF IT WHAT’S COVERED? MORE THAN

UP TO

$10,000 HEALTH-CARE COVERAGE

$800

•Prescription drugs •Vaccinations •Psychologists •Massage therapists

•Checkups •Polishing •Fillings •Extractions

•Physiotherapists •Chiropractors •Ambulance and more...

UP TO

DENTAL COVERAGE

•Gum treatments •Oral surgery and more...

UP TO

$75 VISION COVERAGE

$5,000,000 TRAVEL COVERAGE

•Eye exam

• Travel health coverage (120 days per trip, up to $5,000,000 per incident) • Trip cancellation/interruption in the event of a medical emergency

Full-year coverage is from Sept. 1, 2017 – Aug. 31, 2018. For more details and a complete list of benefits, visit utsu.ca/health.

WHO’S COVERED? •Full-time undergraduate (including professional faculty) students at the Mississauga and St. George campuses •Full-time Toronto School of Theology students Certain exceptions exist. Please check your student account to confirm if you have been charged the Plan fees.

CAN I ENROL MY FAMILY? CAN I OPT OUT? If you’re covered by the Plan, you can enrol your family (spouse and/or dependent children) for an additional fee during the Change-of-Coverage Period. Common law and same-sex couples are eligible.

If you have equivalent health and/or dental coverage, you can also opt out of the UTSU Plan.

You’ll need to provide proof of your other health benefits, but you don’t need to provide proof of other dental coverage to opt out of the UTSU Dental Plan. Visit utsu.ca/health for more information.

CHANGE-OF-COVERAGE PERIOD Fall Session (family enrolments and opt outs): Winter Session (family enrolments and opt outs for new January academic starts only):

UTSU Office 12 Hart House Circle Toronto, ON M5S 3J9 (416) 978-4911 health@utsu.ca

SEPT. 1 – OCT. 2, 2017 JAN. 1 – 31, 2018

Questions?

Member Services Centre 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays Toll-free: 1 866 416-8706 utsu.ca/health

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SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 28

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