January 16, 2012

16 January, 2012

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THE Varsity

Vol. CXXXII, No. 15

Grassroots campaign takes issue with UTSU salaries UTSU president calls allegations “terribly misleading” Sunnie Huang VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Stop the Salaries, a new grassroots campaign, claims that employees at the University of Toronto Students’ Union have given themselves an increase in pay while cutting key student service.

At the campaign’s helm are students Taylor Scollon and Brett Chang. Both have affiliations with SPAC, a group that prepared to field candidates against the UTSU in the last election before dropping out.

Based on financial statements distributed at the UTSU Annual General Meeting last November 15, the group alleges a 35 per cent increase to salaries, wages, and benefits, from $543,567 in 2010 to $735,260 in 2011. On the other hand, spending on student services, which include clubs funding, subsidized ticket purchases, and the annual book exchange, have decreased.

“These services are the most important things for our campus, the most important things the student union should be doing,” Chang said.

In an email to The Varsity, UTSU president Danielle Sandhu called the website “terribly misleading.”

She stated that the increase in salaries, wages, and benefits does not represent an increase to the salaries of those serving as executives. Salaries of executive members can only be changed by a vote of the UTSU Board of Directors. “The increase seen in the Salaries and Wages line item is due to a change in how the costs of administering our services are represented in the budget,”

The Stop the Salaries campaign alleges student dollars are mismanaged by the UTSU. Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity

Sandhu wrote. “Previously, expenses related to staffing costs for administering each service were posted to the line items for each of those services, rather than the general Salaries and Wages line item. The UTSU decided to change that practice in the 2010–2011 fiscal year, and because of this change, there was a decrease in expenses incurred for services and an increase in Salaries and Wages.”

She also wrote that the decreases in funds

spent on UTSU services are due to a decrease in the actual cost of administering some of the services. “This is a good thing for members and for the union as a whole, because it costs us less to operate our services, and we can look at expanding the depth or number of our services,” wrote Sandhu, adding that this year, the union has extended office hours and reduced black-and-white printing and photocopying price to two cents per page.

Sandhu also dismissed the allegation that

clubs funding has been cut. She attributed the decrease in club fundings to “the amalgamation of two events, [The Unity Ball and a club awards ceremony], not because of a decrease in funding going to our clubs.”

The Stop the Salaries team is not satisfied with this response. “The U of T Students’ Union’s spending on salaries is up and their spending on student services is down. They are trying to explain this fact away with creative accounting and fuzzy math,” Scollon replied in an email. “The UTSU needs to come clean about how they’re spending our money.”

The Stop the Salaries team is also putting together a guide for students interested in running for UTSU positions in the upcoming spring election. Organizers will be hosting information sessions next week to introduce potential candidates to the election process.

More than 200 people have signed up for the website’s newsletter and about 50 of them have expressed interest in running.

“It’s a difficult process. It’s complicated. A lot of people have said they are interested and they just don’t know how,” Scollon said. “We are not endorsing specific candidates right now, but we’ll help them as much as we can.”

“Our student union is a multimillion–dollar organization. It’s important that people on campus feel they can run for student union positions, get involved, and get engaged,” he added.

UTSU is the largest employer on campus after the university itself. It employs six executives, nine full-time employees, and more than 110 students as casual and part-time employees throughout the year.

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In an effort to halt the “gravy train” and curtail “out-of-control spending,” the City of Toronto budget committee voted Monday to cut numerous city services and community programs amounting to $88 million, some of which directly affect students and schools. After going through the mayor’s executive committee for recommendations, council will convene for final approval on the budget next Thursday.

VARSITY NEWS

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Sidewalk snow clearing The lowdown: The executive decided to maintain sidewalk snow clearing in the suburbs by investing $928,000 to the operation. The city’s workforce will now be reduced by less than the expected 2,300 in layoffs to 53,252 through attrition, but specifics still remain undetermined.

The impact: The decision to keep sidewalk snow clearing, especially at this time of year, will come as a blessing to many who may have been fretting over the prospect of being bunkered in, having to clear their own driveways, or shovelling snow for their neighbors. Layoffs to compensate are still widely expected to come from a reduced number of TTC staff and the deferred hiring of 68 firefighters and 36 paramedics. The ongoing debate whether paramedics are considered an essential service continues and hold-offs to hiring will be a worrisome issue for students pursuing careers in both services.

Arts funding The lowdown: After another change made by the executive, arts grants for the city totaling $19 million were retained the same level as in 2011 and will be provided to the city’s major arts organizations, including the Toronto Arts Council and other local arts service organizations.

Public libraries The lowdown: Funding was initially set to be cut by 10 per cent ($7 million), but executive committee members made surprising last-minute changes Thursday to remove some of Mayor Rob Ford’s more controversial cuts. As a result, $3.1 million will be injected to the public library board from $8.8 million in unexpected tax assessment growths announced as part of the 2011 surplus, keeping branch hours untouched but leaving the board to find $3.8 million in efficiencies.

The impact: Despite a call for an initial 10 per cent ($1.9 million) reduction across the board, students, faculty, and art enthusiasts alike will be relieved no cuts will be made and the quality of the events and productions that have become hallmarks of Toronto’s vibrant arts community will remain unaffected.

The impact: Chief librarian Jane Pyper is quoted saying that $5.4 million could be saved if 59 branches combined to cut 19,444 hours or 7 per cent of all the hours at libraries.

Students who don’t frequent U of T’s library facilities as often by way of choice or convenience may find refuge in the conserved hours, but most libraries are expected to have diminished or depleted programs.

Daycare closures The lowdown: On Monday, the executive approved the closure of three daycare centres at St. Mark’s near Queen and Lansdowne, Bellevue near College and Bathurst, and GreenholdAlbion in Etobicoke. The city’s budget proposes raising fees by $500 for daycares to cover the loss of 4- and 5-yearolds to all-day kindergarten.

The impact: The cut signals a somewhat ominous time ahead for many parents, particularly those who are or will be shouldering the heavier economic burden as students with children. The parents of the 12,000 children who don’t receive daycare subsidies would begin paying hiked occupancy costs of between 5 to 8 per cent ($2 a day) starting next June.

Concerned advocates warn that provincial underfunding, rising parent fees, and all-day kindergarten will eventually force hundreds of the city’s 900 centres to close by 2014.

Breaking down the budget

by Akihiko Tse visuals by Mushfiq Ul Huq

TTC service cuts The lowdown: With transit officials estimating ridership rising to 503 million in 2012, service cuts to some of the city’s busiest routes, including those on Don Mills, Dufferin, Finch, Morningside, and the 192 Airport Rocket will be spared, but 37 routes will experience rushhour reductions and 35 will receive less service in off-peak hours, including weekends.

The impact: Those already feeling the pinch from a 10-cent increase in token prices will have to content themselves with lowered loading standards starting next month, which means 10 per cent more people on rush-hour routes and 25 per cent on non-peak buses. Commuters may have to wait an extra 30 seconds to two minutes for each bus. Many have bemoaned the city’s recurrent fare increases, including the recent increase in price for the post-secondary monthly Metropass to $104 from $99, but some activists have favoured this over other service cuts.

The budget surplus The city’s chief financial officer has found a higher-than-expected budget surplus from the previous fiscal year. The new surplus figure, $154 million, exceeds previous estimates by $15 million. The expanded surplus has prompted some councillors to call for surplus funds to alleviate some of the more unpopular cuts included in the budget.

Much of the surplus comes from the

land transfer tax, a source of revenue that Mayor Rob Ford has pledged to eliminate. City councillors fearful of backing unpopular cuts to city services have asked that the money be used to maintain services that had previously been on the chopping block, such as children’s nutrition programs, child care, and public transit.

Since the announcement of the increased surplus, however, conflicting

reports about use of the money have surfaced. The CBC and National Post reported that the executive will pour all the money back into the TTC’s capital projects fund, used to help pay for streetcars ordered by the previous administration. The order still requires $700 million in payment.

The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, on the other hand, have claimed that various funding uses are still under consideration.

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OPIRG defunding halted by GSU OPIRG rep shocked by GSU’s near termination of subsidy Irina Vukosavic VARSITY STAFF

After extensive discussions, the Graduate Student’s Union (GSU) voted against defunding the Ontario Public Interest Group (OPIRG) last November 25.

OPIRG, a volunteer-based group that facilitates research, education, and action about issues of social and environmental justice, receives an annual portion of student tuition — $5 for graduates and $1 for undergraduates — which constitute a significant portion of its operating budget.

OPIRG’s support for controversial groups such as the Communist Student Research Group and Students Against Israeli Apartheid, to name a few, has led some students to question whether they want to continue allotting tuition dollars in support of the group’s initiatives.

“I believe that students’ interests are not being served by continuing the relationship with

this problematic organization,” said fourthyear history specialist Esther Mendelsohn.

In order to give students alternative options, OPIRG placed an advertisement in The Varsity that cited information on how to opt-out of funding them.

According to the GSU executive committee, however, OPIRG did not properly advertise the opt-out option. They proposed that an online form should be available to make the process more accessible for students. As a result of the ad, the GSU contemplated defunding the group themselves.

“In case there are beliefs that an organization does not represent student interests anymore, a referendum may be initiated by a student petition or the GSU council to determine if such a relationship should be continued,” said Nikita Reznick, GSU’s academic commissioner.

In response, OPIRG published an updated advertisement and informed members of GSU’s possible termination of their funding.

“We were shocked to learn that certain

executive members were advocating termination of our shared relationship,” said OPIRG representative Johanna Lewis in an email. “During this OPIRG/GSU meeting, GSU executive members were hostile toward OPIRG board and staff, and disclosed that they would be deliberating about terminating our relationship that same day.”

The GSU acknowledged OPIRG for fixing the ad but concluded that by informing their members of the situation, the group set off a “public attack against the executive that served to unnecessarily mislead our members,” as stated in their official statement.

GSU external commissioner Daniel Vandervoort said that the union’s statement should have been “more apologetic.” “[The GSU] should have recognized the importance of OPIRG and the value of working closely with the organization to promote space on campus for different student perspectives.”

As both sides continue to move on from the incident, the GSU executive statement expressed hope that this is only a small detour from what has otherwise been a positive relationship between the organizations.

“The role of the GSU is to represent the best interests of the students,” said Reznick. “As a result, we believe that a positive relationship, one that serves in the interests of the graduate students, is important with an organization the students provide funding for.”

In its official statement, OPIRG said that it values its long-standing relationship with the GSU and that it looks forward to many more years of mutual support.

“In the future, the GSU executive should remember that their organization was central in establishing OPIRG-Toronto in 1982 through student referendum … and that our ongoing collaboration is in the best interest of all graduate students, even those who might not support all the work that OPIRG volunteers undertake,” concluded Lewis.

U of T’s credit rating plummets from close ties with provincial finances University pension plan most affected by credit crunch Dalana Parris ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The provincial government’s financial struggle has put the University of Toronto’s credit rating at risk. U of T, as well as other public institutions across the province, has been affected by the government’s growing fiscal deficit due to reliance on funding.

On December 18, 2011, The Globe and Mail published that U of T’s credit outlook has gone from “stable” to “negative,” as reported by Canadian credit agency, Moody’s. This credit score highlighted the link between the public sector and government finances. As such, institutions offering education and health services will need to proceed with private methods of financing in order to counteract increasing debt.

“Moody’s links their rating of U of T to their rating of the province of Ontario, in part because the province provides a significant amount of the university’s funding,” explained Laurie Stephens, U of T director of media relations and stakeholder commuications.

“The University of Toronto is currently on a sound financial footing but the big provincial deficit will have negative implications for funding of all universities and colleges.”

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Currently, U of T’s pension plan has been most affected by the provincial credit crunch. According to the Globe, the pension plan is experiencing a deficit of approximately $1 billion.

Nonetheless, U of T has begun addressing the pension deficit with a plan that it hopes will decrease any debt.

“The university has already begun to fund the pension deficit over a multi-year period in accordance with provincial regulation, primarily via lump-sum payments and increased annual operating budget allocations,” said Stephens. “[U of T] has successfully negotiated increased employee pension contributions with its largest staff unions and is in active negotiations with other unions and the faculty association,” she continued.

However, the province of Ontario will not be providing funding to tackle the pension plan deficit.

“It would be very sensible for the province of Ontario to follow the example of some others and exempt universities from solvency tests that apply best to corporations, not public institutions. But they have declined to do so,” said Stephens. “The province is not providing funding to help resolve pension plan deficits for Ontario universities.”

Although U of T must resolve its deficit, it must also act within the constraints of limited government funding and regulated tuition increases, according to UTSU vice-president external Shaun Shepherd.

“We’re seeing across the board, especially in the public sector, a number of different cuts, and although the university and the province have to tighten the belt a bit, at the end of the day the cost of that debt cannot be downloaded onto students as we have seen time and time again,” said Shepherd.

Stephens replied that programs designed to counteract the university’s deficit will not intrude on student life and that “any tuition increases will be within the provincial government’s tuition framework.”

“Our planning to deal with the pension deficit takes into account our commitment to invest in facilities, programs and the student experience as well as our commitments to current and future pensioners,” said Stephens.

Furthermore, Stephens highlighted that U of T has launched a $2 billion fundraising campaign to support academic programs

but stated that it will not be pursuing other fundraising efforts in regards to the pension deficit.

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Re-examining Canadian religion and law Scholars gather to discuss the changing role of religion in a multicultural society Joan Sullivan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Panelists and guests gathered last week at the U of T Multi-Faith Centre for a two-day policy consultation on religion, law, and human rights in the Canadian context.

Hosted by U of T’s Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative and the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the panel aimed to negotiate the contentious roles that religion and law play in public life.

The event was wellattended by faculty, students, and community members of all disciplines and religious denominations.

The audience heard presentations by a number of experts in the fields of religious studies, human rights, and law.

The first segment, entitled Human Rights, Religion and Law, took place on January 11 and was opened by Pamela Klassen, U of T professor and director of the Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative, and Barbara Hall, former mayor and OHRC chief commissioner.

“The policy that we’re moving to update has been impacted by events that have occurred over the past few years,” Hall said. “We have changing times and changing questions. The answers

to those questions need to be examined and updated today.”

David Seljak, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo and lead speaker of Wednesday’s panel, elaborated on Hall’s point.

He argued that religious discrimination has a long history in Canada, and that the solution is not exclusively more secularism but also a more inclusive definition of rights.

“We need to develop a sensitivity to lingering Christian privilege,” he said.

On Friday, the panel concluded with a public discussion of the legal aspects of accommodating religion in a multicultural society.

Presentations were heard from Richard Moon, a University of Windsor law professor and former Canadian Law Society Association president, and Iain Benson, a re-

search associate at numerous South African organizations.

Moon opened Friday’s discussion with some observations on the legal character of religious rights and freedoms under the Canadian Charter.

He pointed out that, in many cases, legal questions of religious accommodation come down to finding a balance between competing interests, such as corporal punishment of children, and argued for

the need to recognize both the importance of religion in the lives of believers and the practical limits of state authority.

Benson ended the panel with the idea that law and politics can produce an agreement between different groups. He argued that convergence is not possible in a diverse society and that we should recognize that some beliefs are irreconcilable.

“There is a tendency to think that if we talk long enough we’ll eventually agree, or that law and politics will make us agree. That is an illiberal conception of dialogue and process,” he said. “We are not progressing towards a state of homogeneity but are instead stuck with diversity. It’s a blessing and a curse, but it’s the earmark of a democratic society.”

Ultimately, the panel allowed for a productive conversation between policy makers, academics, and students about the role of religion in public life.

Before finishing his presentation, Benson reminded participants of the need for respect when dealing with matters of creed.

“If we start our discourses with a genuine respect for ‘the other’ then we are in a place of more honesty and reRichard Moon and Iain Benson spoke in the last leg of the panel. joan sullivan/THe VArsity spect moving forward.”

Province slashes $66 million in research funds New projects and grad students’ funding endangered Morgaine Craven VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The provincial government’s decision to cut $66 million dollars in research funding for universities and hospitals has left U of T’s researchers scrambling to find other ways to fund their studies.

“We’re disappointed but understanding,” said Peter Lewis, U of T’s associate vice-president of research.

“You only have to take a look in the papers to see the financial situation of the province.”

The government has withdrawn the funding to reallocate it to the Eastern and Southwestern Economic Development Funds, which will help businesses create jobs, and subsidize training, equipment, and technology for workers, as stated on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs website. The gov-

ernment chose to move the funds to something they felt would more reliably stimulate Ontario’s economy.

“We have to put an emphasis on those things we think most directly help grow the economy and create jobs,” said premier Dalton McGuinty to the Toronto Star.

U of T and its affiliated hospitals receive roughly $1 billion annually for research. Of that amount, roughly $200 million goes towards operating costs, an area which the Ontario Research Excellence Fund — the fund that the government has now cancelled — helped supplement.

In the last round of funding, U of T received $8 million over three years.

Lewis estimates this made up roughly five per cent of operating cost.

“It’s not a huge amount, but it’s kind of the lifeblood for research, so when it’s reduced there’s an impact,” said Lewis. “If you had to, had

to make a cut, this one makes the most sense.”

The removal of financial backing will only affect newly proposed studies looking for funding, not ongoing research.

“These are grants that are applied for new projects. New projects definitely won’t happen, but it won’t be at the expense of closing down old projects,” Lewis said.

A December 13 letter from the Ontario Council of University Research to Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Innovation, expressed the concern and disappointment of researchers and highlighted the impact that the cut will have on Ontario’s economy.

According to the letter, “Cancelling [the research fund] will affect the development of new ideas and discoveries that feed the economic development pipeline in Ontario,

both now and in the future.”

It also discussed the impact the cut has on researchers, especially since this year’s funding round and application procedures have already begun.

“Applications to funds take a great deal of commitment, time, and effort on the part of many individuals, both inside and outside our universities. In many cases, because round six was already well underway, teams had already been pulled together, partners had been engaged, and applications were written.”

Janet Madill, research advisor and transplant dietician at the University Health Network, expressed more concern for graduate students than for her own study.

“Less money means less opportunities for graduate students.

We’ll have to decrease what we are

asking for in order to help obtain students,” she said. “Students may obtain less money and therefore have fewer opportunities and fewer opportunities to live in Toronto due to increased cost of living.

They may not apply to U of T.” Madill, who is now researching oxidative stress and transplantation, calcium, and vitamin D in relation to obesity, said a lot of research funding opportunities that were available to her have closed, and that many researchers might have to redirect or limit their research in order to fit requirements.

Lewis said that University of Toronto research is doing what they can to support their researchers.

“We work very hard to support our researchers and encourage them to apply to other opportunities. We’ll do everything we can to minimize the damage.”

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News in brief Military training, possible future for Canadian universities?

Random House takes over McClelland & Stewart Publishing

Forms of military service could soon be introduced in Canadian universities and colleges through the Canadian National Leadership Program (CNLP), according to “Answering The Call: The Future Role of Canada’s Primary Reserve,” the Senate’s December 2011 interim report.

The program is geared towards undergraduates and students enrolled in it would take part in a variety of leadership and military training courses.

Rob Roy and John Richmond of Breakout Educational Network, a non-profit organization that will integrate CNLP into the Canadian education system, suggested that the program would “connect Canadians with their military” and provide “handson, tangible leadership training.”

Chief of Reserves and Cadets, Rear-Admiral Bennett, advocated the CNLP proposal.

“There is no question about the value of engaging Canadians in a leadership experience expanding their leadership abilities,” he said.

The pilot project is estimated to cost $1.6 million a year and will involve 50 students.

—Gabriella Lambert

The University of Toronto relinquished its 75 per cent stake in McClelland & Stewart Publishing (M & S) to Random House of Canada Limited (RHC) Tuesday.

RHC previously controlled 25 per cent of the major Canadian publishing house, which was established in 1906 and has become a Canadian publishing staple, housing such as notable authors as Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, and Michael Ondaatje.

The new acquisition, said Brad Martin, RHC’s CEO and president, will “ensure the growth” and “long-term stability” of M & S during these hard economic times.

The 75 per cent share of M & S was donated to U of T in 2000 by Avie Bennett, the previous sole owner, who then sold RHC the remaining 25 per cent share.

“The commitments they have made to upholding the tradition of M & S and the ongoing focus on Canadian publishing assures me that M & S is in good hands,” said Bennett in a press release.

—Jennifer Gosnell With files from CTV.

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Vampire literature course offered for first-year students Fans of Dracula, True Blood, and other vampire-centered fiction can now look forward to studying these mythical creatures in class.

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The seminar allows students to examine vampiric myth and study these supernatural characters as reflections of society. The department’s associate chair of undergraduate studies, professor Erol Boran, teaches the course.

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

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The trouble with Wikipedia

Protect your skin from the sun’s harsh rays.

Learn how here: http://var.st/8ov

Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity

J

orge Luis Borges’ classic short story “The Library of Babel” is about a universal library that contains all possible permutations of every book that has, is, or will be produced in the future. This means that it contains all potentially useable information, mixing books that are pure gibberish with versions in a more coherent form. The moral of the story is that there is a distinction to be made between knowledge and information and that without any coherence, order, or pattern imposed on a universal library, all of its information becomes quite useless.

This is the problem that faces Wikipedia. Its dream to one day bring the sum total of all human knowledge under one accessible roof has forced articles about mathematical formulae and scientific discoveries to like alongside articles about every possible species of Pokémon and other trivia. The issues of relevance and meaning persist as some articles on Pokémon are more fleshed out and better written than those on scientific discoveries. Furthermore, Wikipedia still can’t be cited as an academic source due to its low level of reliability. Even the claim that Wikipedia’s science articles have fewer or the same number of errors as those in Encyclopedia Britannica is demonstrably false when you survey how many need substantial cleanup and editing. However, there are still those who hope that

Wikipedia can one day become a useful epistemological tool.

Last semester, I was in a class that participated in a Wikipedia pilot project designed to improve Wikipedia as a learning site and to foster a new generation of content creators. The final draft of the final essay had to be uploaded to Wikipedia to be subject to the evaluation and editing of the Wikipedia com-

injecting bias into the work since I described Fox News as a conservative network (which Fox News CEO Roger Ailes readily admits) and that Sun Media’s Sun News Network utilized a similar style. The complaints on my article’s talk page didn’t deal with the central point of the article, which is that Fox News has made being political profitable and that model is being reproduced in other

munity (though our essay grade was determined by the professor).

My topic was the “Foxification” of news, specifically, how both print and broadcast news sources were becoming more partisan in order to reap larger profits. My paper received an excellent grade, but its Wikipedia counterpart was promptly deleted.

The cause for my article’s deletion was its somewhat argumentative structure. I had imposed a pattern on the work that did not sit well with Wikipedia’s guidelines on neutral point of view. I was accused of

news sources looking to appeal to a niche audience.

One of the central problems of Wikipedia is its community. It’s not as welcoming as it should be to newcomers. There’s a certain aggressiveness that seems to come with anonymity. Reading some of the comments on my article’s talk page, it was as if I had committed some gross violation against knowledge just because my submission presented a specific line of reasoning. Not all of the comments were that angry. I received kudos for contributing such a lengthy and well-written

article. However, the conclusion was that its argumentative structure disqualified it from being a Wikipedia article. One commenter went as far to say my piece was “a well-written, well-sourced analysis that does not belong in Wikipedia.”

An encyclopedia doesn’t just have to be a static reference book.

It can also critically engage with its subject matter. A good online encyclopedia that is academically rigourous and useful is the Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Its authors are philosophers who don’t just offer you passive information about Plato, Kant, and David Hume but present specific arguments that help to elucidate the positions of the philosophers and concepts they are profiling.

Academia is about critical engagement that involves a specific thread of reasoning. Other wikis on the web dedicated to books, travel, and video games surpass Wikipedia in terms of content and coherence.

And why is that? It’s because they are organized around a specific context that informs and shapes the content of the site.

As long as Wikipedia continues trying to be all things to all people, it will continue to be a Library of Babel — a repository of information and trivia that may or may not be useful to its readers — and as long as its founders and the community that surrounds Wikipedia banish any kind of critical thought, it will remain that way.

matko, 2ND YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ALVINA, 3RD YEAR CRIMINOLOGY

jimmy, 1ST YEAR LIFE SCIENCES

AMINATA, 4TH YEAR ART HISTORY

“Clown college.”

“I’ll go to college or beg for a job.”

“I’ll work at McDonald’s.”

“Starving artist.”

Its dream to one day bring the sum total of all human knowledge under one accessible roof has forced articles about mathematical formulae and scientific discoveries to be placed alongside articles about every possible species of Pokémon.

Facts & Figures 3 ,846,319 Number of Wikipedia content pages

510,457,900 Number of edits made since Wikipedia was set up

131,514 Number of active registered users

19.65 Average number of edits per page

The Varsity asks...

If U of T doesn’t work out for you, what is your backup plan? compiled by Stephanie Travassos

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Our new northern neighbour Why forging closer ties with Greenland is a good idea Patrick Baud VARSITY STAFF

Climate change is transforming the Arctic.

Year after year, the sea ice retreats and new routes through the Arctic islands become navigable. Estimates vary, but barring radical reductions to carbon dioxide emissions, it is likely that the entire Arctic will be icefree by the mid– to late–21st century. An icefree Arctic means that potentially lucrative shipping routes, and enormous oil and gas deposits will be accessible for drilling. Arctic nations, including Canada, fear that these opportunities will lead to conflict amongst themselves and with other powerful economies — particularly China — about the rules of the game for the Arctic.

Concern over the changing north led the Harper government to declare the Arctic Canada’s top foreign policy priority. While the government has stepped up military exercises in the region and repeatedly asserted Canada’s territorial claims, particularly in the poorly surveyed high Arctic, it has done remarkably little to improve relations with other Arctic countries. This is especially problematic in the case of Greenland. Greenland is currently an autonomous country within Denmark. However, it is expected to become independent within a decade. If Canada is serious about Arctic sovereignty, then it needs to think about making and keeping friends in the region. Greenland is the closest northern neighbour to Canada and would be invaluable in this regard.

Canada and Denmark have amicable relations, through their membership in NATO, and they participate in a number of Arctic-

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related international organizations, primarily the Arctic Council. In recent years, the Canadian and Danish militaries have conducted joint military exercises in the waters between Greenland and Nunavut (one of Canada’s three vast, sparsely-populated northern territories). Canada maintains a consulate in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and Greenland maintains a presence in the Danish embassy in Ottawa and the Danish consulate in Toronto. However, a territorial dispute between Canada and Denmark over the tiny Hans Island has undermined the possibility of deeper cooperation.

It is high time that Canada and Denmark settle the row over Hans Island and fix the maritime boundary between Greenland and Nunavut. A clear boundary would help both countries, especially as they face difficult choices about the kind of development that they want to allow in the Arctic.

Canada should pursue substantive engagement with the Danish and Greenlandic governments on areas of common concern.

Chief among these are environmental protection, trade, and security. Given the high costs of operating in the Arctic, both sides would benefit from cooperation on monitoring, and if necessary, policing the use of Arctic waters for resource exploration and shipping. Luckily, since Canada and Denmark are both NATO members, their militaries are designed to be interoperable by using similar equipment and training. Similar harmonization should be pursued between other Canadian, Danish, and Greenlandic government agencies, including those responsible for border security and fisheries management.

While it would be inappropriate for Canada to take a position on Greenland’s independence, it should not neglect the need to

maintain and expand relations with Greenland. This should be pursued at many levels. First, the Canadian government should establish relations with Greenland’s Coast Guard and hold joint exercises. The goal would be eventually conducting joint maritime patrols as Canada is set to do with the United States. However, if it becomes independent, Greenland will need to build a much larger military, including an air force.

It would certainly be in Canada’s interests to assist Greenland in doing so in order to help ensure security in the eastern and high Arctic.

Second, the Canadian government should also pursue a new trade agreement with Denmark with specific provisions for Greenland. This would eventually lay the groundwork for a free trade agreement once Greenland is independent. Third, Canada ought also to continue to encourage relations between its territories, especially Nunavut, and Greenland, both directly and through international organizations like the Inuit Circumpolar Council. Greenland’s long experience with self-government compared to Canada’s territories makes it well placed to offer advice and assistance as the territorial governments prepare to take on added responsibilities.

All of these policies would help prepare Canada to work closely with an independent Greenland. Both Canada and Greenland have significant resources to offer each another to solve the challenges that they face in a changing Arctic.

If the Harper government truly wants to make the Arctic its top foreign policy priority, then it should to move swiftly to strengthen its ties with both Denmark and Greenland.

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International student engagement Why the University of Toronto needs more of it

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Murad Hemmadi VARSITY STAFF

There’s a line of thinking amongst international students at U of T that seems to run something like this: “I’m paying an awful lot of money to go here. I should be studying. Everything else is optional.” Every part of that could be conceived of as correct.

Students attending the University of Toronto pay some of the highest fees in Canada, an issue the UTSU isn’t shy about raising. International students pay between three and four times as much as their domestic fellows, according to the Tuition Fee Schedule for Domestic and International Students published by the university. When you’re paying that kind of money, it’s fair to expect a focus on academic success.

Opportunities for involvement in university life offered to U of T students in the field of leadership include the student positions on the university’s Governing Council. Eight student governors — four full-time undergraduates, two part-time undergraduates, and two graduate students — are elected by students to serve on the 50-member council. International students constitute 12 per cent of the

student population of this university, yet not one of those eight student positions is open to international students.

Why this restriction? Louis Charpentier, Secretary of the Governing Council, explains that the restriction stems from the University of Toronto Act of 1971 under which the university exists.

“The provision to be a Canadian citizen is actually applicable to all members of the Governing Council and it is a requirement that is in the provincial legislation that creates us — the University of Toronto Act,” Charpentier says. “Section 2.4 [quoting] ‘No person shall serve as a member of the Governing Council unless he is a Canadian citizen.’ So as long as this legislation remains in place, that is what we have to work with.”

The university can attempt to remove the citizenship requirement, however, by modifying the University of Toronto Act. Charpentier points out that the Governing Council has recently undergone a governance review. “The advice that the taskforce received was that at this stage in our evolution there’s no compelling combination of reasons to open the act,” he said. “In future, that may change.”

Not a good start: international students cannot partake in what the Governing Council’s call for nominations calls “one of the most effective and stimulating ways to enhance your overall student experience” at U of T. But while the highest institutional student leadership positions at the university may be inaccessible to international students, that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities for involvement.

“Governing Council is the senior body, but it has three boards and several committees” notes Charpentier.

“One can be a member of the boards or the committees, without being a governor. There is no citizenship requirement for those positions.

“And so, to actually participate in the governance conversations that really are substantive, for instance, one could serve on the Academic Board or the University Affairs board, or the committees of those boards.”

Those aren’t the only positions available either; international students can (and often do) play major roles — whether institutional or otherwise — in a number of student organizations, including the UTSU,

clubs, and student publications. Lack of opportunity isn’t necessarily what holds international students back.

Fear of distraction may play a big part. Extracurricular activities can look like time-sinks and needless wastes of focus and effort. That’s not true generally.

While an emphasis on studying to succeed is not (I think) misplaced, that shouldn’t exclude participation outside of academic life. An alternative way to look at things is “I’m paying an awful lot of money to go here. I should take advantage of every opportunity I have access to.”

There’s a role for international students in student government and advocacy. Fairly or not (a whole other debate in itself), international students contribute a larger portion of the university’s per-student income than domestic students. All the more reason to get informed and involved with issues such as flat fees, student services, and the like.

In the absence of a place on Governing Council or an undergraduate international student caucus to be a part of, I’ll settle for more involvement on campus. Where do I sign up?

The conservative conservatives Republicans putting their weight behind the most boring choice imaginable Dan Miller VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The Republican Party faces two enormous challenges in 2012. One is defeating Barack Obama in the general election in November, and the other is to pick a leader to go up against him. There are six candidates in the Republican Primary: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Jon Hunstman, and Newt Gingrich.

Barring any major unforeseen developments, Mitt Romney is going to win. The mostly inoffensive handsome billionaire with both business and political credentials has been leading the race from the start. He won the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, which are the two earliest voting states. He seems poised to secure the nomination despite receiving about 30 per cent of Republican voters’ support. What Romney represents is the conservative pick. He is unexciting and humdrum, and his eventual nomination is indicative of why the Republican Party might lose the election in November despite

facing off against a deeply wounded incumbent. The GOP (as they prefer to be known) keeps making the same old mistakes.

If the Tea Party and their rallying cry of lower taxes and less government interference drastically altered the direction of the GOP, then the logical choice would have been Ron Paul. He was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. “Dr. No,” as he was also known throughout his long tenure in the House of Representatives, has voted against any legislative measure not strictly allowed in the Constitution. Oftentimes, he was the lone dissenting voice. Paul has long been an advocate for libertarianism, and vows to end the Federal Reserve, bring America back onto the Gold Standard, and radically shrink the size of the government as well as its tax base. Pundits cite Paul’s noninterventionist, scaled back foreign policy as the reason why he’s not breaking through, but I think this is only half true. In reality Paul’s economic plans are just too “out there,” even for the Republicans. For a short time, calling social security

a Ponzi scheme or likening health insurance to fascism were pretty standard Republican talking points.

But now that the prospect of putting people who think like this into power seems very doable, GOP voters are backing off. Maybe they are less ideological than they seem.

On second glance, these same voters turned on and then tuned out Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich. All but Perry represented less conventional choices — Bachmann had religious fanaticism, Cain had three sequential 9s, Gingrich had intellectual snobbery — and they were eventually dropped. Perry and the late-blooming Santorum represent a throwback to the “compassionate conservatism” of George W. Bush which most of us thought was discredited by two unwinnable wars and a failing economy. But in any respect, neither is a serious force to be reckoned with.

Finally there is Jon Hunstman.

Seen by those on the left as the only sane Republican in the field, he has been repeatedly called out for working for Obama as ambassador

to China and is considered too moderate. I doubt he will gain any more ground after a third-place showing in New Hampshire.

So we’ve come full-circle to Mitt Romney. His success has been more about the willingness to wait until his opponent’s support failed.

With his future as the Republican Party’s nominee for president all but assured, Romney is now tasked with galvanizing support, which he will find extremely difficult. Unlike Paul or Obama, he has never had serious grassroots backing. It’s tempting to go for the least offensive, most neutral option, but in doing so, Republican voters are making a genuinely boring choice. Sometimes boredom works, but with political tensions at seemingly new heights, 2012 does not appear to be a year for vanilla. If Romney thinks that he can ride into the White House on the apathetic shoulders of a third of the republican electorate, then he should really consider consulting John McCain, John Kerry, and Bob Dole.

They too understand the demands and rigours that come with being a political footnote.

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EXPLOITATION

“INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARE PART OF WHAT MAKES THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO A WORLD-CLASS INSTITUTION. WHY IS IT, THEN, THAT WE ARE TREATED DIFFERENTLY ONCE WE ARRIVE?”

MEMBER: JAMES NUGENT

Let’s all make our campus safer.

DECEPTION

“THE PROMISE OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR UPPER-YEAR STUDENTS PLAYED A HUGE ROLE IN MY DECISION TO ACCEPT AN OFFER OF ADMISSION TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. LAST YEAR, THE PROVOST UNILATERALLY ELIMINATED THE UNIVERSAL COMPLETION GRANT I WAS LED TO BELIEVE I COULD RELY ON.”

“WHEN I BEGAN MY PHD, GRADUATE STUDENTS RECEIVED SMALL GRANTS SUPPORTING OUR DISSERTATION RESEARCH. I’VE SEEN THESE GRANTS CONVERTED INTO HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF MAKE-WORK PROJECTS UNRELATED TO OUR RESEARCH. HOW CAN I FINISH MY DEGREE WHEN I NOW MUST DO THE WORK OF OTHERS?”

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TUTORIALS AND LABS

MEMBER: ALEX DE SERRANO

January 16 to 20, 2012

MEMBER: LANNA JIN

INEQUITY

Green Dot Week

FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY

“RESEARCH AND INNOVATION REQUIRE TIME AND RESOURCES. BECAUSE UPPERYEAR MASTERS AND PHD STUDENTS ARE NOT OFFERED ACADEMIC WORK OPPORTUNITIES, MANY DEDICATED INNOVATORS ARE UNABLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET AND FORCED TO ABANDON THEIR STUDIES.”

INFLATION “TORONTO IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN CANADA IN WHICH TO LIVE. STUDENTS SHOULDN’T HAVE TO DECIDE BETWEEN TEXTBOOKS AND RENT: WE NEED OUR FUNDING AND WAGES TO KEEP PACE WITH INFLATION.”

MEMBER: SARA SULIMAN

“WITH LABS AND TUTORIALS OF 50 OR MORE PEOPLE, STUDENTS HAVE LITTLE OPPORTUNITY TO ASK QUESTIONS OR ENGAGE IN A MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE WITH THEIR INSTRUCTORS. WHEN MY JOB DOESN’T AFFORD ME THE TIME NEEDED TO ASSIST STUDENTS IN UNDERSTANDING COURSE MATERIAL, HOW CAN I HELP THEM SUCCEED?”

MEMBER: ELLEN DYER

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DISCRIMINATION

P D E N T N E W S PA

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“INCOMING GRADUATE STUDENTS RECEIVE LESS IN RESEARCH FUNDING THAN THOSE WHO ENTERED THE YEAR BEFORE. FUNDING THAT ONCE ALLOWED US TO COMPLETE OUR DISSERTATIONS ON TIME IS BEING TAKEN AWAY.”

HE

MEMBER: MICHELLE MAJEED

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Expert faculty, industry connections, and the insight you’ll need for your future career.

humber.ca/degrees TEACHING ASSISTANTS (TAS) REPRESENTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO EDUCATION WORKERS (CUPE LOCAL 3902) ARE CURRENTLY NEGOTIATING A NEW COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT. HELP TAS ADDRESS LOCAL CHALLENGES AND IMPROVE QUALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF EDUCATION FOR MEMBERS OF OUR UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY. WE SHOULD ALL BE ABLE TO LIVE UP TO OUR POTENTIAL. VISIT:

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Features

var.st/FEATURES

16 JANUARY 2012

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

We paid the Steam Whistle Brewery a visit.

features@thevarsity.ca

What is Hart House Farm?

Who knew you could learn how to be a farmer in university?

After 63 years, students have finally brought the farm back to Hart House’s historic country getaway. The results are awesome.

And tasty.

by Jimmy Truong images courtesy of Hart House Farm Committee

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he sun blazes overhead on a hot June afternoon as one young student coats his skin with sunscreen to prepare for the hours ahead.

A mass of weeds have invaded the farm plots with a vengeance — and they must go.

It’s Midsummer’s Eve, an overnight event celebrating the summer solstice. It’s also the Hart House Farm Committee’s first attempt at student-led farming.

Under the guidance of committee volunteers, students get their first experience in the field as they till the soil, weed, and pile potatoes, and plant the farm’s first crop of corn. A feast is held to honour the start of summer and the people who made this day happen. Soon after, a group gathers by a bonfire in the field. It’s a full moon and anything feels possible. This is the experience the farm committee hopes to give students in the future.

For those who use the farm as it was intended (as a rustic retreat and meeting place), it may come as a surprise to learn what a group of students have been trying to do here for the last three years. The student members of the farm committee are transforming the farm into a student centre of food, farming, co-curricular education, and a hub for the environmentally conscious and plain old outdoorsy. After 63 years, they’re finally bringing the “farm” back to the Hart House Farm.

The 150-acre Hart House Farm was purchased in 1949 under the leadership of late warden Nicholas Ignatieff (yes, he’s related to the former Liberal Party leader). It was envisioned as a country recreation centre where urban U of T students could escape the drudgery of the city and experience nature. U of T’s original Outing Club was formed to manage the farm, which later merged with the Hart House Exploration Society to become the Hart House Farm Committee. Since its purchase, the farm has been a hub for student engagement and activity. It was also one of the first places at Hart House that allowed equal access for women and men.

It’s a property steeped in mystery and tradition. Farm legend has it that William Lyon Mackenzie, the first mayor of Toronto, hid in the crevices of the escarpment after the failed Upper Canada rebellion against colonial British rule before hightailing it to Buffalo in 1837.

Quarries were located at the current sites of the three ponds, and the ruins of old quarry buildings can still be seen hidden in the woods and submerged in water. Pink dolomite was quarried from 1882 to 1916 and it’s speculated that this stone may have been used in the construction of Victoria College and Hart House. The farm work clause in the booking contract has stipulated for decades that in exchange for reasonable fares, guests are expected to work for

See the clip here: http://var.st/8p6

two hours under the farm resident. This was once frequently enforced, and students in fact helped to reforest the farm, rebuild the burneddown sauna, and complete Bryce Hall.

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n an historic room exuding an air of formality and tradition in Hart House, two long varnished tables are worn down from years of heated discussions. Here sits a democratic committee of students, faculty, and staff who administer the farm facilities and plan for its future. This is where determined students have been fighting to make farming a reality at Hart House. To the committee, it’s an easy choice.

The farm is a response to the accelerated loss of farmland and green space around the GTA due to sprawl and the lack of awareness of food and environmental issues on campus.

Despite time constraints and a lack of funding, expertise, volunteers, and support, the farm sustainably produced 205 lbs of apples, 5 kg of greens, and enough corn, onions, and potatoes to feed 40 people. These were harvested and eaten at the committee’s first harvest festival, sold at their farmer’s market, or purchased by the Hot Yam!, a student-run kitchen.

This success has energized the committee,

features@thevarsity.ca

VARSITY FEATURES

Clockwise from bottom left Farm sleigh.

A Finnish exchange student takes a break during the construction of the sauna in 1955.

An Outing Club member with his collie.

Pressing apples.

Arnold Wilkinson (former Hart House warden) at the opening of the farm gates in the ’60s.

Hart House Farm’s first tractor.

Farm committee members attending the opening of the gates. and they’re currently working on expanding the amount and diversity of food grown on the farm, adding more exciting programming to their line-up and hoping to involve more students in the process — all this while maintaining student direction. After all, other universities like UBC and Guelph have active farms, so why can’t we?

The thing about running a farm is that people want to talk to you. Students are always enthusiastic and eager to contribute. They want to get outside and learn more about food after being disconnected from its production for so long (no, Farmville doesn’t count), but that enthusiasm usually seems to disappear after a paper or a looming midterm.

Like any other student organization, it’s a constant struggle to keep students engaged.

That makes long-term planning difficult because of the dependence on a few dedicated individuals and attrition after graduation. Three years ago, the farm committee was struggling to define what it stood for, and it lacked direction. They are following their new vision, but it’s clear that the farm needs increased awareness, student participation, and collaboration with faculty and other student groups to achieve its goals.

Many projects have started to transform the farm and the committee into a dynamic place of student learning, outdoor activities, and environmentalism. Starting next year, the Green Idea Fund — inspired by Hart House’s Good Idea Fund — will be set up to provide funding for students interested in running student activities or addressing contemporary environmental and social issues.

This year, the committee is collaborating with the Hot Yam!, Campus Agriculture, and the KEG, a farming co-op, to provide food-related programming; Bikechain has gotten involved by giving introductory bike tours. The committee is restoring a greenhouse with Greenhouse Renewal Group in the anthropology building to prepare seedlings for the spring and to educate students about indoor gardening. There are even talks about developing the research potential of the farm with faculty. And of course, there’s a focus on student-directed farming. Perhaps there will be new egg-laying residents by the fall (that’s chickens, for you city kids), but there is still a long way to go.

It’s rare for students to have the ability to partake in large projects like this and be rewarded for their effort and determination. That’s the beauty of Hart House Farm.

To learn more about what the farm committee has got planned this year, check out their website at www.harthouse.ca/farmcommittee to get involved.

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Arts & Culture

var.st/ARTS

16 JANUARY 2012

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Stylechild on bloggers and beauty

arts@thevarsity.ca

Life is a cabaret

Read it online: http://var.st/8p7

Hart House’s production is full of spectacle Assunta Alegiani ASSOCIATE A&C EDITOR

MAYBELLE LEUNG

“Sex sells” is as true as it has always been, as last night’s sold-out premiere of Cabaret at the Hart House Theatre clearly demonstrates.

Director Adam Brazier sticks close to the 1966 original (as opposed to the later movie) of the racy musical about a seedy cabaret in the politically-charged climate of late Weimar Berlin.

American writer Clifford Bradshaw (Keenan Viau) goes to Berlin to finish (and first, to start) his novel, but he is sucked in by the allure of the energetic cabaret, where he meets and falls in love with British dancer Sally Bowles (Courtney Lamanna). Though Clifford is supposed to be a prudish American whose wild side has to

Behaviour by Mad Ones

Contraband

EVENT GUIDE

Jan 16–22

Dir. Baltasar Kormákur Retired smuggler leads happy home life with wife and kids. Retired smuggler’s relative bungles drug deal. Drug dealer threatens retired smuggler’s family. Smuggler leaves retirement, assembles a crew, and attempts to set matters right. Sound familiar? It is. It’s been done to death, but this week, the film happens to be titled Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg.

I’ll admit, I have not seen Reykjavík-Rotterdam, the Icelandic film on which Contraband is based, but

Lamanna, Berns and Stein have great chemistry on stage, with his unfailing optimism set against her nervous cautiousness.

What starts out as a giant lingerie party where gender and intention don’t matter ends with a stage in ruins and the escapist illusion in tatters. The supporting cast captures the mad spirit of the seedy cabaret during “the end of the world” (Clifford’s description of his Berlin experience). With amusingly explicit choreography, all performed in outfits that surely made Northbound Leather a few bucks richer, the musical numbers were all delivered with great nuance and extravagance.

Cabaret runs until January 28 at the Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle.

Perceiving Penelope

Reviews Unlike many other two-piece acts Mad Ones manage to achieve a full sound without relying too heavily on overdubs to flesh out their recordings.

Instead they drive the music forward through the raw power of their playing, from the gun drum attack of “Darling of the River” to the fuzzed out guitar muscling its way into the beginning of “Out of Love.” Heavier tracks are balanced with subtler, more melodic tunes like “Behaviour” and “Don’t Wanna Beg,” but the album is simple, no-frills rock-and-roll throughout. Though the vocals sometimes fail to match the ferocity of the music, getting lost amid the overdriven guitars, Behaviour is an

be teased out, Viau and Lamanna were missing chemistry. As the seductress, Lamanna had a wonderfully expressive singing voice and played her part convincingly. However, as the designated irresistible man-eater, she is missing the subtle eroticism that distinguishes Scarlett Johansson from Katy Perry.

But Michael-David Blostein as the emcee makes up for this. He led the night with flamboyant masculinity and, along the way, fleshed out the play’s political dimension, as his performance transitioned from carefree to harsh in parallel to the rise of the Nazi Party. The subplot of the romance between Jewish fruit-seller Herr Schultz (Don Berns) and Fraulein Schneider (Renee Stein) serves as a reality check on the bohemian bliss of the cabaret. Unlike Viau and

Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad opens with success Leanne Simpson VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

otherwise incredibly strong debut. Give it a listen and be sure to check them out around Toronto. Any band that captures this much energy on record deserves to be heard live.

—Mike Erwood

I suspect that something was lost in translation when the film was adapted for American audiences, namely its respect for originality.

I presume the original had some artistic merit or else it would not have been Iceland’s submission for Best Foreign Film to the Academy in 2009. The only art you’ll find in this film is a stolen Jackson Pollock painting.

For all its predictability, Contraband’s pace and humour — courtesy of its formula-slavery — keep the film watchable, but unmemorable.

—Daniel Horowitz

MONDAY

TUESDAY

Geek Love: Freaks and Geeks at The Ossington 7:30 pm Free!

Standing on the Danforth featuring Debora DiGiovanni at Eton House 9 pm Free!

The stage production of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is a stunning display of female talent. Adapted from Atwood’s 2005 novella of the same name, the play is an irreverent commentary on gender and class. Running at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre until January 29, this Nightwood Theatre offering does justice to a truly great Canadian work.

The play is structured like a Greek tragedy — the protagonist weaves her story through a series of monologues, while the chorus provides commentary. In ancient Greece, these parts would have certainly been played by men. However, The Penelopiad gives a voice to the marginalized characters of Greek mythology — the women.

Told from the perspective of Penelope, wife of the Trojan War hero Odysseus, and her 12 murdered maids, The Penelopiad shines a spotlight on the suffering of women during the turmoil of the war.

The first act of the play is based on The Illiad, explaining the events prior to and during the Trojan War from Penelope’s point of view. The audience comes to sympathize with Penelope, who has little control over her own life and who is constantly overshadowed by her beautiful cousin, Helen.

The second act of the play, following The Odyssey, is considerably darker than the first. In Odysseus’ absence, Penelope’s home is overrun with unwanted suitors, and her attempts to raise her own son, Telemachus, results in sheer defiance. Penelope’s only comfort is the company of her 12 faithful maids who sacrifice everything in order to save their mistress. The return of Odysseus is a gruesome scene, one that underlines the injustice of the voicelessness of women.

Overall, the all-female cast delivers a solid performance, doing double duty as both male and female characters. Megan Follows is astounding as Queen Penelope, deftly delivering monologues that are simultaneously witty and moving, while Kelli Fox’s Odysseus is convincingly scheming and captivating. Pat Hamilton’s Eurycleia is delightfully gruff, and Pamela Sinha plays the vacuous Helen to perfection.

Director Kelly Thornton’s staging is nothing short of

WEDNESDAY A World of Shorts at the NFB Mediatheque 6 pm and 8 pm $4

THURSDAY VCDS presents The Taming of the Shrew at Isabel Bader Theatre 8 pm $10 for students

FRIDAY Pissed Jeans, Anagram, TV Freaks at Sneaky Dee’s 8 pm $19.75

MAYBELLE LEUNG

amazing. Although the set itself is basically bare, the stage comes alive through the use of the actresses’ own bodies as props. The choreography is strong and does not seem out of place between the monologues.

Penelope claims at the opening of the play, “Now that I’m dead, I know everything.” However, if there is one thing that the audience learns through Penelope’s story, it is that even the dead are accountable for their mistakes.

SATURDAY Brodinski at Wrongbar 10 pm $15

SUNDAY Tia Brazda & the Madmen at the Caddilac Lounge 8 pm Free!

arts@thevarsity.ca

arts’ arts The boy with the triangle eyebrows poem and illustrations by Alissa Mohammed There once was a boy with triangle eyebrows, That looked like hairy protractors, He could solve any math equation, Any fractions, divisions or factors.

But when he was sad and gloomy, You could never tell from his frown, His sorrow would show on his face, As a triangle turned upside down.

A check-mark.

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONday, January 16, 2012

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MONday, January 16, 2012

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

cabaret jan 13 – 28, 2012 Book by Joe Masteroff Based on the play by John Van Druten and Stories

by Christopher Isherwood Music by John Kander Lyrics by Fred Ebb Directed by Adam Brazier

box office: w w w. u o f t t i x . c a / 416.978.8849 adults $25 / students & seniors $15 $10 student tickets every wednesday! warning: SHow ConTAInS MATurE ConTEnT AnD pArTIAL nuDITy. Hart House Theatre’s 2011/2012 Season is proudly sponsored by:

www.harthousetheatre.ca

Ironing out the facts

The Iron Lady portrays Margaret Thatcher as shining rather than shrill Brandon Bastaldo VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Considering how soft, cuddly, cute, and lonely the Margaret Thatcher introduced in The Iron Lady is, it’s hard to understand the public outrage that the film has received.

Some feel that The Iron Lady’s depiction of Thatcher (Meryl Streep) is demeaning to the real life Thatcher whose frail health and reclusiveness of late have made her something of a legend.

The Iron Lady knows that the United Kingdom’s first and only female prime minister is regarded less kindly by some, as many feel Thatcher ruled the nation with an iron fist. In The Iron Lady, director Phyllida Lloyd and writer Abi Morgan shed light on the intricacies of the controversial decisions that Thatcher faced as the only female member of parliament, as a married woman, and as a mother.

Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Thatcher is executed with impeccable and dedicated precision. The Iron Lady covers a vast portion of Thatcher’s life but does so with a comfortable momentum that makes

the navigation of events quite smooth.

Thatcher travels amidst vivid memories of the days of her past in flashbacks and is hounded by the image of her deceased husband Sir Denis Thatcher (Jim Broadbent), whose death she still has not come to grips with. Impressively, The Iron Lady sidesteps the dangers of having a barrage of montages and hurried sequences by being selective and straight to the point. Streep works hard to synchronize her portrayal of Thatcher with the strong-willed legacy that survives the former PM. Streep’s commitment to her physical transformation into Thatcher makes it clear that she remains an actress to be reckoned with. The film’s strength resides in Lloyd and Morgan’s emotionally persuasive depiction and Streep’s gruelling performance.

Presenting Thatcher as a woman afflicted by dementia rather than a woman of controversy serves the film well. The incredibly emotional portrayal of Thatcher is admirable because it makes her exacting, calculated, and cold nature a necessity for her character and a byproduct of her terrific desire to better humanity.

Science

var.st/SCIENCE

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

16 JANUARY 2012

See the first in our Science Illustrated series!

science@thevarsity.ca

Sea slugs never forget… sort of

Read it online: var.st/8oj

ROCHELLE ARANHA/THe VArsity

FRANZISKA T TEUSEL investigates how slugs have been getting their tails zapped, all in the name of research on learning and memory

he formation of memories is a mystery. In order to better understand the conditions under which we remember things best, John H. Byrne and his team from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston have narrowed the whole thing down to a simple marine slug called Aplysia californica. The model animal possesses a typical gill withdrawal reflex upon siphon stimulation through touch (the siphon is located near the tail-end of the slug). Here, its neurons and nerve connections are large and easily accessible to researchers.

In the past, very simple observed effects served as models for neurologists looking to understand learning processes inside the brain. One of these effects is sensitization, a sudden strong reaction to slight stimuli. When the mollusk’s tail is exposed to a modest electric shock (along with stimulation of the siphon), it becomes sensitized and reacts more strongly in comparison to when only the siphon is touched. If the combination of siphon stimulation and shock is presented more frequently, the sea slug is taught to remember the shock and will react with an increased sensitivity over a certain period of time.

John H. Byrne and his team successfully developed a computer model that demonstrates the duration needed for the slug to memorize the shock and react more sensitively.

The first step towards developing this model was understanding the biochemical processes that happen in the brain before, during, and after a sensitizing stimulus has been introduced. Simplified, the reaction of an organism, like the withdrawal reflex of Aplysia californica, consists of two main stages. First, a sensory neuron detects a stimulus. The neu-

ron then “fires” — it gives a positive signal to an effector cell or motor neuron. In the second stage, the neuron fire then activates a muscle, resulting in the observed withdrawal.

The connection between both cells is called the synapse and can be visualized as a small cable. Many thick cables between two cells make a strong connection, which results in an increased probability that even a weak stimulus leads to a successful activation of the nearby motor neuron. Synapses between cells are variable, and once sensitization is triggered, the synapse between the sensory neuron and the motor neuron grows. So what we call the slug’s memory of being shocked is, biochemically speaking, just a strengthened synaptic connection between two cells that leads to an overreactive response when the sensory neuron is stimulated.

When a sensory neuron is treated with stimuli in specific patterns, the concentration of two molecules raises: extracellularsignal-regulated kinases (ERKs) and protein kinase A (PKA). They both lead to the observed growth of the synaptic connection.

The main difference between ERK and PKA is their occurrence over time. While PKA increases quickly and almost disappears within five minutes, ERK peaks 45 minutes after a stimulus. The common theory is that stimuli have to be timed in a way that allows for both protein levels to increase at the same time for maximum memorization ability.

Byrne’s team tried different training protocols in which the length of four variable time gaps between sensitizing stimuli (tail shock and siphon) were compared to four 20-minute long gaps. The computer predicted a se-

quence of gap lengths (10, 10, 5, and then 30 minutes) to be the protocol which would lead to the most overlap of high ERK and PKA concentrations. Consequently, stimulation following this sequence would result in the maximum possible memory effect that can be achieved given the circumstances. In this case, an increased memory effect means the mollusk continues to react after five days of being sensitized to a stimulus, whereas its memory after the standard procedure lasts only a single day.

To show that the computer model was indeed a representative model, the team tested the found sequence both with neuronal cells and also using Aplysia californica. They were able to show that in the real organism, the predicted sequence led to better memory.

The finding of this simple but successful computer model to predict neuronal reactions show promise. Not only does the use of computer models avoid implementing animal trials, it also shows how detailed knowledge about the chemical processes inside the brain can lead to important progress in biology research.

If the sensitization of a marine mollusk is a primitive way of memorization and directed neuronal modification, the very same mechanisms are also found elsewhere. Of course, the more complex the system, the more factors are involved and need to be included in the model.

By taking that into account, the use of such methods may lead to a cure or at least treatment of mental diseases, traumatic brain injuries, or aging. Thanks to these slimy creatures, it may one day be possible to tell students how often they need to go through lecture notes in order to kick butt during finals.

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monday, January 16, 2012

VARSITY SCIENCE

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Have you seen our new website? Visit www.thevarsity.ca!

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Bonon Bono thinks poverty and hunger are key global issues.What do you think?

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Personalities at a crossroads Turns out male and female personalities really are apples and oranges Fiona Tran VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Are men and women from the same planet?

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, the third-best-selling book of the 1990s, popularized the phrase while claiming to distinguish the differences between male and female thought processes and communication tactics in relationships. The book advocates that the key to a healthy relationship is accepting the unique nature of each gender’s home “planet.”

Academics criticized the book for playing into gender stereotypes, with a Purdue University study arguing against the notion of significant differences between the sexes.

A new study published in the online journal PLoS ONE appears to reinforce the Mars versus Venus theory by suggesting that there are great differences in personality between men and women. The paper details a metric for measuring emotional and behavioural patterns in personality that the authors believe to be more accurate than previous methods. Data was collected from the 1993 US standardization sample of more than 10,000 people.

According to this study, conducted by Marco Del Giudice of the University of Turin and Tom Booth and Paul Irwing of the University of Manchester, men were stronger in emotional stability, dominance, rule-consciousness, and vigilance compared to women. Meanwhile, women showed greater sensitivity, warmth, and apprehension than their male counterparts.

The study conflicts with the consensus view in academia that men and women are very similar in personality, even in stereotyped areas of gender difference such as self-esteem, leadership, and math skills. This idea was notably set out in 2005 by Janet Shibley Hyde, a professor of psychology and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She conducted a meta-analysis of 46 other studies to conclude that “males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables.”

Del Giudice and colleagues believe that previous study results in this subject were

WYATT CLOUGH/THe VArsity

skewed by faulty experimentation methods.

For example, other researchers would simply add up all the survey responses, or set the scope of measured personality traits to be too broad (thus hiding some differences between the sexes) or too narrow (yielding unreliability and a greater signalto-noise ratio). Instead, the researchers developed what they call “structure equation modelling,” a method which reportedly eliminates random errors caused by careless responses and misreadings.

They took data from a 1993 psychological survey of American men and women and using their method they numerically determined that previous studies greatly underestimated

sex differences in personality. The authors claim that from an evolutionary perspective, such differences affect mating and parenting behaviours such as sexual promiscuity, relationship stability, and divorce. These differences ought to be expected in areas where males and females have historically faced contrasting adaptive problems. Personality may also affect sex differences in aggression and vocational interests.

Hyde commented on the new study in the Huffington Post: “This huge difference is not only scientifically false; it has unfortunate consequences for places like the workplace and education and heterosexual romantic relationships.”

Mari Ruti, professor of critical theory at the University of Toronto, as well as author of the mainstream book The Case for Falling in Love, echoes this sentiment.

“Of course, gender differences exist, but they are due to socialization, and the more we insist on them, the more solidified (seemingly fixed) they become, with the result that it’s even harder to build a more gender-egalitarian world.”

Del Giudice and colleagues hope their work opens doors to research on the biological and cultural roots of the concept of masculinity and femininity, as well as how individual differences influence vocational interests, cognitive abilities, and creativity.

SC ENCe n br ef Potential breakthrough in the restoration of hearing loss

Scientists create invisibility device; muggles stir trouble for the Ministry

Pass that wine, for the girls

Boy or girl? A new fetal blood test may get you picking out names sooner

Scientists at Washington University have uncovered a crucial gene in mice that leads to the proper development of sensory cells in the ear. When the FGF20 gene is inactivate, mice are found to be lacking vital outer sensory hair cells.

Without these cell signals, the ear is unable to intensify sounds so its signal can be transmitted to the brain. Some congenital forms of deafness in humans have been linked to this genetic mutation. Interestingly, although the function of the FGF20 gene is conserved across many different animal species, mammals are the only animals unable to regenerate sensory hair cells in the ear. Current research is ongoing in an effort to see why mammals, in contrast to other vertebrates, are unable to restore these sensory cells. Potentially uncovering the genetic basis for sensory hair cell regeneration offers reason for optimism to those who wish to regain hearing.

—Sean Kennedy and Maggie Keenan Source: Science Daily

Have you ever wished that you could just disappear from a bad situation? Scientists at Cornell University are one step closer to making this possible. Alexander Gaeta, Cornell professor of applied and engineering physics, and colleagues have demonstrated a “temporal cloak” that hides an event from view by creating a gap in a beam of light. Temporal cloaking works when a beam of light is refracted around an object so that a gap is created; object subsequently remains unseen. The gap in light was created by passing a laser beam through a series of specially designed “splittime lenses” and filters. However, don’t start saving up for an Invisibility Cloak just yet. The gap created in the experiment lasted only 15 picoseconds or 15 trillionths of a second. On the bright side, researchers believe that the technique could have applications in fiber-optic data transmission and data processing, increasing the efficiency of computers and electronic devices.

—Matthew J. Chow Source: Science Daily

Do you love having a glass of red wine in the evening while you unwind with a favourite novel or while having a classy conversation with friends? Well, especially if you’re a premenopausal woman with regular ovulatory cycles, you may be in luck. The benefits of red wine for cardiovascular health have been well-known for a while, but a recent study has shown that drinking it in moderate quantities can decrease the risk of breast cancer. The study was published online in the Journal of Women’s Health and involved 36 women randomly assigned to drink a glass of either Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay daily for almost a month.

Researchers found that chemicals in the wine lowered women’s estrogen levels, leading to a lower risk of breast cancer. Compounds dissolved in red wine have similar effects to aromatase inhibitors, a class of drugs used to treat breast cancer, which are involved in preventing testosterone from being converted to estrogen in the body.

—Dennis Dobrovolsky Source: Science Daily

A new study by South Korean researchers shows that it is possible to determine the gender of an unborn child by looking at enzymes in the blood of the pregnant mother. The procedure is non-invasive to the baby and can be done in the first trimester. Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cheil General Hospital and Women’s Healthcare Center at the KwanDong University School of Medicine collected maternal plasma from 203 women within 5 and 12 weeks of gestation and detected the presence of fetal DNA. Using the DNA, they were able to predict the gender of the baby and confirmed their results upon birth. The researchers from the study hope that the test will one day serve as a useful clinical application to clear up any uncertainties in gender detection. The test is still in its preliminary stages and more research must be completed before entering the market.

—Tanya Debi Source: Science Daily

Sports var.st/SPORTS

16 JANUARY 2012 sports@thevarsity.ca

Silvio sansano analyzes the Blue Jays’ off-season moves in the new the extra inning.

Check it out online: http://var.st/8ok

Brenley Jorgensen (10), Karolina Urban (16), and April Looije (12) combine for the Blues’ two goals against Waterloo. WYATT CLOUGH/THe VArsity

Déjà vu Blues

Women’s hockey team records second overtime win over Waterloo in two weeks Connor Taylor VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Amanda Fawns’ goal in the first minute of overtime gave U of T a deserved 2–1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors at the Varsity Arena last Saturday. Fawns tipped April Looije’s slap shot from the point into the net after the latter had worked the puck into the Waterloo offensive zone.

“It was a hard forecheck and we were able to get the puck to the point,” Fawns said. “Looije took a nice shot and I tipped it in.”

The Varsity Blues are now above .500 with a 9–7–1 record following the win. The overtime victory was their second in as many weeks against the Warriors; Toronto beat Waterloo 4–3 in overtime on January 6.

Despite going down a goal in the second period, the Blues kept fighting, spurred by the stellar goaltending of Nicole Kesteris. The

hard work eventually paid off when, with three minutes left in the third period, captain Karolina Urban scored a late equalizer for the Blues. Fawns’ overtime goal less than five minutes later would seal the deal for U of T. “We worked hard tonight,” said women’s hockey head coach Vicky Sunohara. “We were telling the girls between the second and third [periods] not to give up. The [tying] goal came a little bit late, but a win is a win.”

Kesteris was fantastic in between the pipes, making 16 saves from 17 shots, including two crucial ones in the last two minutes of the third period. “[Kesteris] was great,” Sunohara said, “she hasn’t played in a long time, but she came in and showed she hasn’t missed a beat.”

The Blues were clearly the stronger team in the opening stages of the game. Urban had the first real chance of the game when her shot went just wide of the Waterloo net following a nice pass from line-mate Brenley Jorgensen.

The Blues ran into penalty trouble however, with three in the opening ten minutes of the period. The Blues successfully killed the penalties and escaped unscathed, thanks to Kesteris’ stellar goaltending. The first frame ended scoreless with Kesteris’ counterpart in the Waterloo goal impressive as well.

Waterloo looked much more dangerous in the second period and it was now the Blues who were on their heels. The Warriors finally opened the scoring with 13 minutes left in the second, when two Blues players got tangled in front of the net, allowing the Waterloo captain to slot in unchallenged from short range.

The goal did not faze the Blues, who kept up the hard work and peppered the Waterloo goalie with shots. The Warriors’ backstop, however, remained on her game, and when the buzzer sounded at the end of the second Waterloo retained their one goal advantage.

The Blues held nothing back in the crucial third period, getting pucks on net and forcing the Waterloo goaltender to work even harder.

Despite some power play chances, the Blues were still looking at a 1–0 deficit heading into the final five minutes of the frame.

The breakthrough came with Urban’s game-tying goal with three minutes left, sending the game into overtime. It took only a minute for Fawns to tip in Looije’s point shot, giving the Varsity Blues a hard-fought overtime victory.

The Blues lost 6–0 to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks Sunday. Laurier sit at the top of the standings with a 17–1 record.

“Laurier is a good team,” Sunohara said.

The Varsity Blues take on York University on Thursday January 20 at the Varsity Arena at 2 pm before facing Ryerson University away on Saturday January 22 .

Home games

Blues by the numbers

Women’s and men’s basketball vs.

Ryerson Rams

4.51m

22

3–0

The height cleared

by Blues pole vaulter Townsend Benard at the Can-Am Classic.

Benard placed second in Windsor.

The number of meet records set during the Blues’ victorious dual swim meet against McMaster University Saturday at the Varsity Pool.

The score as the women’s volleyball team beat the Ryerson Rams on Sunday.

Malena Rapaport had 40 assists in the 25–19, 25–12, 25–19 victory.

6 pm (W) and 8 pm (M), Wed. 18 at Athletic Centre, Sports Gym

Ontario Cup (swimming) 5 pm, Fri. 20 and Sat. 21 at Varsity Pool

Fred Foot Track Classic Fri. 20 and Sat. 21 at Field House

VARSITY SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

monday, January 16, 2012

21

Ravens soar past Blues Men’s basketball team falls to Carleton at home Daniel Tsiokos VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The Blues in action against the Windsor Lancers in November. Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity

U of T’s Athletic Centre played host to the top-ranked basketball team in the country as the Varsity Blues fell 98–64 to the Carleton Ravens, Saturday. Although Toronto was down as little as seven points in the second half, the Blues were unable to maintain pace with the undefeated Ravens.

The Blues trailed 43–28 at half time but opened the third quarter loaded with energy. Fourthyear point guard Arun Kumar knocked down a pair of threepointers as U of T went on an 8–0 run to bring the game to within seven points. Fifth-year forward Drazen Glisic also came up with a huge block in defense to re-energize the home crowd.

Unfortunately for the Blues, fifthyear center Andrew Wasik, who only played eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, picked up his fourth foul immediately afterwards and sat out the rest of the quarter. Carleton took full advantage, and stretched their lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter to lead 67–47.

The onslaught continued in the final frame, as Carleton opened up a lead of as many as 36 points. The Ravens shot 50 per cent from the field and were a sizzling 57 per cent

from three-point range. “They’re just a machine,” said Toronto forward Alex Hill. “They don’t make mistakes. If they get an open shot, it’s going in.”

It seemed like even the referees were showing no mercy towards the Blues, as they allowed Carleton to inbound the ball and subsequently knock down a threepointer while U of T only had four players on the court.

“You play every game to win,” said Blues assistant coach Mike De Giorgio. “We tried to give our guys the best chance to do that with a defensive scheme that would take [the Ravens] out of their offense and force them to make plays, which they did.”

But there were a few bright spots for the Blues. Hill scored a seasonhigh 30 points on 10–21 shooting, while Kumar hit four three-pointers in the second half and tallied 16 points in total.

The most important thing for De Giorgio, however, was the effort the Blues put in on the floor.

“We competed, although we could have done better offensively at times and we made a couple of mistakes defensively,” he noted.

“The biggest thing moving forward is to be able to compete, and it was good to see that we could do that against a team like Carleton.”

Wasik fouled out of the game

with just under seven minutes to play and received a technical foul as he exhibited his frustration.

The Blues centre ended his night having played only 15 minutes and picking up two points and three rebounds.

“When Wasik is on the floor most of the offense is run through the post, so we’ll throw it inside and that’s how we get our open shots — because they will collapse on Wasik and he’ll pitch it back out,” said Hill. “So when Wasik was out, we had to play more of a motion game and get our open shots that way.”

De Giorgio also recognized that having Wasik benched changed their game plan offensively. “We have to do a better job of mixing things up when he’s out of the game, but hopefully we will be able to stay in the game next time.”

The loss drops the Blues’ record to 5–7 and into a three-way tie for third place with Ryerson and Laurentian. The Blues host Ryerson on January 18 and play Laurentian and York on the road on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

De Giorgio is cautiously optimistic. “If we can win our next three games, we put ourselves in a good position going up against Queen’s and RMC at home, so these next three games are going to be very important to us.”

Blues leave McGill red in the face

Toronto defeats Redmen 4–3 in close encounter Brian O’Neill VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A quarter of an inch closer and it would have been a shootout. The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team (10–7–3) claimed a tight 4-3 win over McGill University at the Varsity Arena Saturday with the crossbar and posts taking a pummelling. It was an emotionally charged game with four almost-brawls and four ten-minute misconducts.

“At the end of the first and again at the end of the second, I made sure to tell them to reset and keep [their] discipline,” Blues head coach Darren Lowe said. “It was an emotional game for sure, and I thought our guys did well to keep [their] emotion [in check].”

The Blues opened the scoring shorthanded on an outstanding individual effort. Byron Elliott intercepted a McGill pass at the Toronto blue line and fought off the trailing defender to net the first of his two goals on the night. The goal came from U of T’s first shot to hit the McGill net.

The Blues kept the scoring coming, doubling their lead with a goal by Blake Boddy that went in off the post. Kyle Ventura made it 3–0 after he cut across the slot and snuck the puck by the falling McGill keeper.

The Blues played with intensity, effectively attacking McGill and finishing with heavy hits. Toronto’s physical game did lead to numerous trips to the penalty box.

“One of the things we’ve had trouble with this year is undisciplined penalties,” Lowe explained. “We took a few tonight.”

The Blues were able to kill off those penalties and walk away with the win because of the play of goalie Garrett Sheehan. Sheehan had a fantastic game, stopping 36 of 39 McGill shots, one of which was on a penalty shot taken low off the left pad. McGill scored two of their three goals while on the power play.

“Garrett played an unbelievable game,” noted Lowe. “Maybe because of him we stole two points tonight. Garrett’s play over the last four games has been excellent.”

McGill got on the board with just a minute left in the second. After Sheehan made the initial save he came out of his crease a bit too far to smother the puck, and the Redmen’s Andrew Wright was able to get it to Marc-Olivier Vachon to slide into the Blues’ empty net.

McGill made it 3–2 44 seconds into the third on a one timer from the point where Sheehan appeared to lose his footing at the side of his crease.

The Blues responded quickly with Elliott’s second goal of the night. The Blues scoring leader (with 15 goals so far this season) raced out of the Toronto end as Paul Van de Velde made a long pass off the sideboards. One-on-one with the McGill defender, Elliott entered the zone and roofed a slap shot.

McGill upped the pressure, making it 4–3 with a pretty passing play that picked apart the Toronto defense. With McGill pulling their goalie for the final minute, Toronto was able to hold off the final charge.

Blues goalie Garrett Sheehan stopped 36 out of 39 shots against McGill. WYATT CLOUGH/THe VArsity

Though Sheehan made several outstanding saves, arguably the most important save of the game came from forward Cassidy Preston. In the final 20 seconds of the game, with Sheehan sprawled out of his crease, Preston blocked a point shot off his shin pad that seemed destined for the open net.

Then, while on his back, Preston chipped

the puck out to centre, draining the little time McGill had left. While the Redmen did get the puck back in the Toronto zone for one last shot, there wasn’t enough time to get off a quality chance, and the Blues ran out 4–3 winners.

The Blues return home on January 27th against the Royal Military College of Canada.

VARSITY SPORTS

22 Monday, January 16, 2012

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Captain Sherri Pierce seen here in action against the Windsor Lancers in November. Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity

Susan Gordon VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team fell 69–56 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees at home on Friday. The CIS number ten Blues came into the game on a four-game home win streak, but the Gee-Gees, ranked seventh, proved too much for them.

Ottawa started strong, controlling the tip-off and scoring the first points of the contest. The Gee-Gees’

Discover. Invent.

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Change. Learn.

physical gameplay and powerful defense allowed them to contain the Blues and control the pace of the game. Toronto did their best to keep up throughout the first quarter, which ended 19–13 to Ottawa.

The Gee-Gees continued their physical style at the beginning of the second quarter, but three quick fouls slowed Ottawa’s momentum and allowed Toronto back into the game.

The Blues held OUA scoring leader Hannah Sunley-Paisley of the GeeGees to just four first-half points, a testament to U of T’s strong defense.

The Gee-Gees got into foul trouble early in the quarter and went into bonus with over six minutes left in the period. The Blues capitalized on the resulting foul and bonus shot opportunities to pull ahead. However, excellent shooting by the Gee-Gees prevented the team from falling too far. Al-

though Toronto had momentum, they ended the half up by only one, with the score 37–36.

“In the first half, we were pretty aggressive on defense and we managed to convert on offense,” said Jill Stratton, the Blues’ leading scorer on the night with 18 points.

“We were just making shots and defending [well]. We changed our defense [in the second quarter]; we threw a different zone press at [the Gee-Gees] so that might have thrown them off… We were just working well together.”

Ottawa scored first to open the second half, continuing their impressive shooting and smothering defense. The Blues allowed themselves to fall behind as their defence faded and their shots stopped falling.

Toronto’s women went cold in the second half, missing outside shots, short-range jumpers, and even la-

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yups. The inability to finish allowed the Gee-Gees to take the lead 55–43 at the end of the third quarter. “[In the second half], we got deep in the shot clock on offense, so our offense was pretty stagnant early,” explained Toronto captain Sherri Pierce. “We weren’t getting quality shots and [the Gee-Gees] were.”

The momentum was strongly with Ottawa in the fourth quarter, as the Blues continued to miss shots while the Gee-Gees continued to make them. Ottawa ended the game with a 50 per cent field goal success rate; the Blues shot just 21 per cent in the second half, to bring their overall shooting percentage down to 31 per cent.

“Our defense needs to be better,” said Stratton. “And hopefully next time [we play Ottawa], it will be.”

Blues head coach Michele Belanger said the team intended to use a similar defense-centered strategy against CIS number-four Carleton on Saturday night. “We have to find a way to defend their three-point shooters and their attackers, so that’s what it comes down to. We have to try to find a little more energy in ourselves and in the team game and follow the game plan as best we can, and communicate defensively with each other.

And we’re certainly capable.”

The Blues are choosing to focus on winning games rather than their CIS ranking, which will likely fall as a result of their loss to Ottawa.

“We never really talk about [our ranking], and we’re certainly not going to move up today,” admitted Belanger. “We just want to put ourselves in a good playoff spot.

Our goal is to get to nationals so that’s what we’re keeping ourselves cued onto.

Everything else is just a bonus really. We’ve got a long road ahead.”

Write for Sports! sports@thevarsity.ca

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sports@thevarsity.ca

VARSITY SPORTS

monday, January 16, 2012

23

Less powder, more puff Women’s flag football club working hard to establish itself Murad Hemmadi SPORTS EDITOR

The “powderpuff” in their name notwithstanding, the University of Toronto’s Powderpuff Football Team are no softies. “At the end of the day, we all want to win; we want to do our best and want to be champions,” says Kathie Le, a rookie on the team.

Le and her teammates have limited opportunities to achieve those aims, though; the team only plays a couple of tournaments a year and is technically a club, even though they play against teams from other universities.

U of T will play host to a powderpuff tournament of its own on January 21. “This year’s the first time we’re hosting our own tournament,” explains Patrick Yan, president of the team.

York University and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology are the other two universities sending teams to the tournament.

“We have an understanding that the other schools have an experienced team and a rookie team [at the tournament],” notes Jessica Ventura, a captain, key player, and vice-president, external for U of T’s team.

Having two separate teams is quite an achievement for a club that’s only in its second year. “We started last year,” confirms Yan. “The program was kind of fathered by the Varsity [Blues] football program — the men’s team. We pick coaches from the team and we come and coach up girls in ten-on-ten flag football.

“We’ve grown from about 25 girls [last year] to about 55 now, so it’s a big jump.”

Tiffany Russell, one of the team’s captains, can see the improvement. “Last year, we came from flag football backgrounds — no real contact, no blocking, no O-line, no D-line,” she explains. “So last year … being exposed to it for the first time, it was a little bit different. A lot of the girls didn’t know what to expect. It was a great time, we competed the best we could, but still it was a lot of unknowns.”

The team now has the necessary experience to continue to grow. “I think both [our] teams are going to compete at a high level,” predicts Russell.

The support of the Varsity Blues players who coach the team is key. “When they coach us, we’re just googly-

eyed staring at them because they know what they’re talking about — they can definitely see the skills that the girls have and the athletic ability that they have,” says Russell. “Their eyes light up when they see a good cut or a good pass or a good route. So having them along with us and having that support, I think that will go a long way.”

The players agree that the absence of intercollegiate status reduces the pressure in training and practices. “The balance between work and play — it’s a good one because we’re also friends with our coaches, so that fosters a really good learning environment,” says Le. That’s not to say that practices aren’t taken seriously, though.

“They’re great coaches, but by no means do they take it easy on us because we’re a club,” notes Russell. “They want to compete at the highest level. How they’re used to being coached, that’s how they coach us.

“So they adapt that Varsity mentality… Everything is very structured with them.”

Training is geared towards ensuring that the girls are competent players. “As [coaches], we will never get a girl who wants to play and just put her on the field,” notes Rolli Adenmosun, vice-president, internal. “There has to be a process of being developed as a player: her understanding of the game, her understanding of the risk, so she can be comfortable playing that position.”

Injury is part and parcel of the game. “[Injury] is why we have a larger team. There’s 10 girls on the field at once, we’ll usually have 10 for offense, 10 for defense and then we have

substitutes because people do get hurt,” explains Ventura. “We try to train our girls so that everyone can play more than one position, so that if you need to substitute for someone else who got hurt, you can. That just [gives you] a bunch of players who have a lot of good skills.”

The team starts practising around the time intramurals end, in October. Many of the players come from intramural flag football teams, particularly the St. Michael’s college women’s team, which Yan says works “as a farm team.”

Adenmosun points out that the powderpuff team is a way for the girls to continue playing football once intramural season has passed. “During the winter, there is no flag football, so [it’s a way to] pull all the girls who play for different colleges to come and combine as a U of T collective against other schools,” he says.

“Collective” is a big part of what the team is about, and the team spirit is clear when talking to the players and executive alike.

“It’s not just an athletic club — it’s more of a social club as well,” says Yan. “It allows you to develop socially if you don’t have good friendships or leadership.”

The players concur. “I can say for myself at least it’s been kind of like my niche in university,” says Ventura. “People come and they join different clubs, and this is my club… It’s just fantastic; that’s the only way to put it.”

Last year, the team played all its tournaments away from home, most notably the one hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University.

Some 32 teams from at least 12 different schools attend the Laurier tournament; some schools, including

“It’s not just an athletic club — it’s more of a social club as well. It allows you to develop socially if you don’t have good friendships or leadership.”

the host and McMaster University, send four teams each. Travelling to and playing at away tournaments is a great way to build team spirit.

“When you’re travelling with a team and you’re spending time in rooms with them and the down time in between games and [when you’re] buddied up and sleeping with them in the rooms, you end up getting to know people a lot,” explains Russell.

So what does the future hold for the team?

Yan believes that powderpuff football at U of T can grow well beyond its present reach. “We’re trying to attract both [players and fans] right now and just advertise the program as much as we can,” the team president says. “Eventually, the school could maybe hold four teams, it would be a great thing for U of T to be the spearhead and help organize a league.”

A formal league, and also intercollegiate status, is a possibility. “In a lot of high school programs, they have flag football teams, but there’s no platform for [women] to engage in that sort of activity at the university level,” notes Adenmosun. “So that’s something we see in the future, not necessarily in the near future.”

Russell believes a Varsity Blues women’s flag football team could be a reality. “If it stays on this pace, it definitely has the potential to be a Varsity sport,” she says. “I wish I was a firstyear, because in the next couple of years or so it definitely could take off.”

Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity For now, though, the objective is just to be successful. “I think this tournament is a good way of showing [who we are], introducing ourselves to the U of T community, and gaining support,” says Le. “Hopefully [we can] win some games so we get more support!”

And as Le points, it makes no difference to anyone that it’s a girls’ team. “I don’t think it’s a gender-based thing; we’re all athletes, we love football, and we want to play it.”

The U of T Powderpuff Football Team hosts its first home tournament Saturday, January 21 from 9 am to 5 pm on Back Campus.

Christine Nerces, Jessica Ventura, Lauren Weidmark, and Emily Stenberg play for the U of T Powderpuff Football Team.

Bernarda Gospic/ THe VArsity

DIVERSIONS Weekly horoscopes

24

by Destiny Starr Aries

Libra

(March 21–April 19) Neptune continues to grace your celestial palace this week with good luck and adequate sex. Make sure to shower on Wednesday.

(September 23–October 22) You’ve been feeling tired this week and your ruling planet Venus won’t blame you for taking some extra naps. Avoid coming into contact with cats and other felines until Thursday.

Taurus

Scorpio

(April 20–May 20) While you may have hit a low point at the end of last week, rest assured that things are looking up. Plan a sexy party for two and don’t forget the whipped cream.

Gemini

(May 21–June 20) The stars are reminding you not to leave important commitments to the last minute.

UPS doesn’t ship on weekends.

Cancer

(June 21–July 22) Your complex nature might be getting in the way of your happiness, Cancer. This week, remember to take joy in the little things and watch a season of Beavis and Butt-head.

Leo

(July 23–August 22) You’ve learned a lot about your body in the last month, and now is the time to use that knowledge to create meaningful change in your life. Start a blog about your favourite dinosaur.

Virgo

(August 23–September 22) Despite a good deal of evidence, you’re unsure whether your current crush is a good candidate for a romantic relationship.

Consult friends and your high school French teacher for advice.

(October 23–November 21) Maybe the baseboards in your house aren’t working, but that’s no reason not to layer in style. Try for a chiffon turtleneck and glam it up while you reheat those pizza leftovers.

8 launch ways to

YOUR CAREER

Sagittarius

(November 22–December 21) Don’t take any bullshit this week, Sagittarius.

Next time someone makes a snide remark about that Toy Story lunchbox, the stars will turn a blind eye if you retaliate with a “yo mama” joke.

Capricorn

(December 22–January 19) Capricorn, it’s time to get real. Call your parents this week and revisit that get-richquick scheme your Uncle Wallace proposed over the holidays.

Aquarius

(January 20–February 18) Before planning your birthday bash, keep in mind how disastrous last year’s shindig was. This time, steer clear of the homemade absinthe. Grain alcohol is your friend.

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Pisces

(February 19–March 20) When you’re not feeling your best, remember that stargazing is the cosmos’ best cure for hangovers and gastrointestinal upsets. That, or Pepto.

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