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ryersonian.ca Volume 71 Number 21
Produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism
Lachemi says he never apologized for students’ film JENNIFER FERREIRA AND SARAH JACKSON RYERSONIAN
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
A film by Justin Diezmo and a group of Image Arts students has sparked controversy in Niagara Falls.
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Ryerson University president Mohamed Lachemi apologized for the use of the university’s logo in a documentary made by students of the School of Image Arts, not the film itself, he clarified in an interview with the Ryersonian. Contrary to previous reports by mainstream news outlets, Lachemi said that his discussion with Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati did not concern the content of the video itself, but rather the use of the university’s logo at the end. “Let me be really clear about this, because a lot of people are (making) conclusions about this,” the president said in an interview with the Ryersonian. “I … never discussed with (Diodati) the
content (of the video) because that is part of what the students have to do and I encourage students to do this type of work.” The film was produced by Christian Bunea, Taylor Ness, Valentin Bacalu and Justin Diezmo, Ryerson students enrolled in the university’s School of Image Arts. The four-minute documentary titled As Niagara Falls was posted on Vimeo last week. It’s described as “a short documentary about Niagara Falls’ image to the world, and what truly lies within the city,” and now has over 54,000 views on Vimeo. The film questions whether the city’s image of a glamorous tourist destination is an accurate depiction of downtown Niagara Falls. Please see NIAGARA, page 5
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Hacking for charity page 4
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Another Rye group reacts to travel ban PALAK MANGAT RYERSONIAN
BROOKLYN NEUSTAETER | RYERSONIAN
Panellist Yvonne Felix, head of partnerships at eSight, speaks during the event’s panel segment.
Women leading tech industry shape a more feminine future BROOKLYN NEUSTAETER RYERSONIAN
We Are Wearables is aiming to create a more feminine future for Canada’s tech industry. At its monthly wearables event, co-hosted with fashion brand Electric Runway, the goal of Women and Wearables (WWTO) was to raise awareness, drive conversation and elicit action on the need for diversity in the wearable technology industry. The event was hosted on March 28. This is the second Women and Wearables event and it featured talks from leading women in the tech industry, along with a panel segment. These female tech leaders, such as InteraXon co-founder Ariel Garten and Social Body Lab director Kate Hartman, described opportunities and challenges for women in hardware, the need for diversity in tech and what it takes to be a female founder. According to Ryerson University alumna and Electric Runway founder Amanda Cosco, it
takes a woman’s intuition. “It is my thesis that women are emotional and social, but that is exactly what wearable tech needs right now,” said Cosco. Cosco continued to talk about female empowerment in relation to the Women’s March on Washington this past January. “Where do males sit in that future if the future is female? Does it mean that the future could be feminine? What would it mean to lead our businesses and institutions with a more feminine approach?” Gender equality still seems far off in the business realm. A 2013 Industry Canada study showed that more than half of medium-sized businesses are owned entirely by men, while only four per cent are owned by women. Similarly, more than half of small-sized businesses are also owned by men — just 14 per cent of these businesses are owned exclusively by women. The remaining amount in small and medium sized businesses are of equal gender ownership. A previous report by the Ryersonian notes that just over 20 per
cent of entrepreneurs in Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) are female. While this number is high in comparison to other similar Canadian tech incubators, it remains low overall. It was through speakers and product demonstrations, however, that WWTO showed Canadian tech companies are making strides to achieve gender equality in the workplace. While Cosco said it’s important to talk about all the hardships women have faced and will continue to face in the tech industry, it’s just as important to celebrate how far women have come. “We can get on this stage and we can talk about the discrimination that women face in tech, we can get on stage and talk about how women only earn (74) cents on the male dollar...” she said. “But I think it’s also important to highlight the achievements of women in tech... not despite the fact that they’re women, but because they’re women.” @BNeuastaeter
Some members of Ryerson’s social innovation community reacted to the so-called Trump travel ban by choosing to not attend a conference in Miami. Instead, they decided to take part in an alternative event held at Ryerson. It was first reported by the Ryersonian last month that the university’s School of Urban and Regional Planning announced the cancellation of its trips to the United States in response to President Donald Trump’s travel ban. The ban, which bars citizens from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the States, has been before the courts for a couple of months now. This proposed ban led to natural conversations about the core values of Ryerson and Canada, and it was a dialogue that Jean-Paul Boudreau said needs to be had with key stakeholders, including those in the Muslim community. Boudreau, the executive lead and special adviser for social innovation, said it was important to respond to the ban on behalf of its students. “We wanted to show that social innovation is a space in which equity, diversity and inclusion are
celebrated and held strong and proud.” Unlike the university’s urban planning school, though, social innovation did not flat out cancel its trips south of the border. Instead, they took a more interactive approach, consulting with key community stakeholders about whether offering an alternative for those concerned about travel would be beneficial. It turned out that the interest in attending a satellite Toronto event that would complement the global conference that was to be held on March 2 – 4 in Miami was sufficient enough to host the local event. The annual Ashoka U Exchange conference, in partnership with Ashoka Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University, St. Paul’s Greenhouse at the University of Waterloo, was still held in the States. But Ryerson hosted the “ad hoc event” to “complement” the exchange, according to a poster. “This is not a boycott of an event at all,” Boudreau said, adding that the consultation process between Ashoka, Ryerson and the partnering universities began in mid-February Read the rest at ryersonian.ca
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Social innovation’s adviser Jean-Paul Boudreau said ban is “already awkward enough.”
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Leading the fight for a new graduate union
Students say they want to represent themselves, and not rely on the RSU SARAH JACKSON RYERSONIAN
Graduate students at Ryerson University are trying once again to separate from the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) and this time, they may get their way. Ryerson is one of the only universities in Ontario that does not have a separate union for grad students. Instead, their voices are heard through the graduate council, a body of the RSU, that only hold two votes out of the more than 30 seats in the RSU. This means that every time students are looking to get travel funding or grants, for example, they must put forward a motion to the RSU. Since the first graduate program was implemented at Ryerson in 2000, the graduate student body has grown from 50 students to 2,463, according to Ryerson’s university planning office. Separating from the RSU involves a referendum, and if it was successful a grad student levy would fund a separate graduate students’ association at Ryerson. For Peter Haastrup, a PhD candidate in the policy studies program, it’s time for graduate students to have their own voice: “I always thought it was unfair
SARAH JACKSON | RYERSONIAN
Peter Haastrup is leading the charge to create a separate student union for graduate students.
that the undergraduate students had so much representation, compared to … graduate students. Now that I’m a grad student, I thought it was about time someone speaks up,” says Haastrup. Haastrup, who completed his undergraduate degree at Ryerson in social work, is one of the grad students who is working towards separating from the RSU.
in order for a proclamation of referendum to be submitted, it must have “the signatures of, and other required information relating to, at least 10 per cent of all current members of the association.” Haastrup said the grad students behind the motion were unaware of this stipulation and that there was confusion over whether they needed signatures from 10 per cent of graduate students, or the entire student population. Back in 2013, when grad students last tried to separate from the RSU, this was also a problem. “When the school was created, it didn’t have a vision of becoming a graduate school,” said Haastrup. “All the bylaws were written to support the integration of undergraduate students...” “Now, (Ryerson) has grown tremendously and our student population has increased and with that
“When (Ryerson) was created, it didn’t have a vision of becoming a graduate school.” – Peter Haastrup At the RSU board meeting on March 2, he helped draft a motion proposing the separation. However, bylaws that were written before the creation of graduate programs in 2000 caused this motion to be called out of order. Section 7 of the RSU bylaw regarding referendums states that
comes new (graduate) programs.” Earlier last week, Haastrup learned that the RSU decided it only makes sense for the signatures to come from graduate students. He now has until the next board meeting, on April 24, to collect signatures. Part of his pitch to convince grad students of the value of a new grad union is the large levy that the RSU receives from the tuition of grad students. Last year, grad students contributed $175,768 in fees to the RSU. Despite such a large contribution, the needs of grad students are quite different from those of undergraduates. Baki Sibanda, a PhD student in aerospace engineering, who is also working towards creating the Ryerson Student Graduate Union, said these needs include travel and research grants as well as health care and child care. “Grad students are older and they have different health needs and a lot of them are parents and they have things they have to deal
with, like daycare,” said Sibanda. Carolyn Qin, chairperson for the RSU graduate council, said these needs should be met through decisions made by graduate students and that board members of the RSU agree. “A lot of board members have come up to me … fully in support of this because they felt they had no place deciding, ‘oh should grad students do this or that,’ and for us to have to go through the board to get anything done is a little bit tedious,” she said. University president Mohamed Lachemi said that he remains impartial, and that it is up to the students to decide. Sibanda and Haastrup said they also have the support of the current RSU president, Obaid Ullah, whose term ends this year. In a Facebook message to the Ryersonian, incoming RSU president Susanne Nyaga said she looks forward to having a conversation with graduate students about their own union. “At the end of the day our goal as a union is to represent our membership and their needs. If the graduate students don’t feel represented then a conversation needs to happen as to why and if the best solution is for them to separate then I don’t think it is our place to fight it,” she wrote. “I think we should be looking at ways that the RSU and the new union or association (they) create can collaborate at the best interest of both our memberships.” Haastrup said a partnership with the RSU is favourable for a new grad union. The motion itself proposes that the grad student union “would walk hand in hand with the RSU.” @sarahl_jacks
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
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Giving ‘hacking’ a good name Students gathered at the Ryerson Digital Media Zone to hack for charity EMMA KIMMERLY RYERSONIAN
The word “hacking” usually has a negative connotation, but Ryerson’s hackathon event, hosted this weekend, showed the bright side to tech savviness. The Social Good Hackathon brought together students, mentors and community members to solve business solutions for local charities. “It was far from a typical hackathon … It was casual and fun, there was tons of food,” said participant Mitul Shah, a third-year Ryerson co-op business technology management student. From early Friday to late Saturday, teams of students and mentors competed on the third floor of the Student Learning Centre (SLC) to solve real problems. Those problems were onces
faced by three Toronto charities: hEr VOLUTION, Pledges for Change and Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth. Teams were composed of young or new coders and experienced mentors. This allowed students to
network and show what they can do, all for a good cause. “Being able to receive mentorship from industry professionals while building your solution is highly beneficial, not only for the purpose of the hackathon but ... creating a relationship that will
COURTESY DAVID KWOK/SANDBOX DMZ
Students compete at the Social Good Hackathon at the Sandbox in the DMZ.
last beyond it,” said Shah. Sandbox, the community arm of the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), helped organize and host the event. “It really was a community event, not just for students,” said David Kwok, programs and community co-ordinator for Sandbox. About 60 students turned out from 18 different schools, including University of Waterloo, University of Toronto and Ryerson. Some of the challenges included finding a solution to glitchy or troublesome websites, as well as pitching digital marketing campaigns to increase donations. Shah was part of Team Evolve, which worked on a platform for hEr VOLUTION that would further engage young girls to follow a career path in the fields of science, technology, engineering
and mathematics (STEM). “We accomplished this by gamify-ing an online survey that introduced girls to career paths based off their interests, as well as connecting them with a female mentor that is already in the relative field,” said Shah. The winner of the hackathon, ‘Chill Squad,’ was made up of a University of Toronto medical student, a General Motors worker, a digital marketing strategist and a web developer. They created a solution for Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth. “They made it more transparent for donors and now they’ll know what their donation will be used for,” said Kwok. @EKimmerly
PAY EQUITY
Minister of the Status of Women talks at Ryerson about wage gap Newly appointed minister also wants more women named to provincial agencies BROOKLYN NEUSTAETER RYERSONIAN
Women still earn 74 cents on the male dollar in Canada, and according to Ontario’s Minister of the Status of Women, Indira Naidoo-Harris, that’s “not acceptable.”
“It’s troubling in this day and age that we still need to bring attention to the gender wage gap,” said Naidoo-Harris. “Bottom line, women’s work is still greatly undervalued; the gap persists (and) it must be closed.” Naidoo-Harris was at Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Management on March 31 to speak at Ontario’s Next Steps Towards Women’s Economic Empowerment conference. The goal of the conference was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ontario’s Pay Equity Act, as well as call for activism to further women’s economic empowerment. “It’s a time to celebrate how far we’ve come, but it’s also a time to
think about how far we still have to go.” Naidoo-Harris is Ontario’s first Minister of the Status of Women. Premier Kathleen Wynne appointed her in January, at the same time that the government created a stand-alone ministry for women to build gender equality across Ontario. Naidoo-Harris said the ministry’s goal is to have women make up at least 40 per cent of all appointments to every provincial board and agency in Ontario by 2019. “The challenge of economic empowerment is real, it’s a serious problem,” said Naidoo-Harris. “Gender equality is something our government believes in
very strongly and we are taking important steps to strengthen the representation of women in leadership roles.” Women represent 51 per cent
COURTESY INDIRA NAIDOO-HARRIS
Ontario’s first Minister of Women.
of Ryerson’s staff and faculty and 54 per cent of its student population, yet this ratio isn’t always seen at other universities. Naidoo-Harris said it especially isn’t seen in Ontario’s business sector and that she hopes the new ministry will change that. But she also acknowledges that there is still have a ways to go before further change is reached. “We are in 2017 and, let’s face it, we’re not where we should be,” said Naidoo-Harris. “There’s more work to be done… We can’t just be a boys club; it’s a human beings club – one that we all belong to.” @BNeuastaeter
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Ryerson student-made documentary sparks controversy in Niagara Falls and on campus NIAGARA cont’d ... Following the release of the film, Lachemi spoke with Diodati over the phone and later sent a private email apologizing “for the use of (the) logo, but not apologizing for the work of students.” Diodati reacted to the students’ film in a lengthy Facebook post shortly after it was posted, writing that he was “saddened to see (this) beautiful city depicted in this poor light.” In an interview with the Ryersonian, Diodati said that the video is “an extreme view of the city and I just think if ... you’re going to do any kind of journalism ... just make it balanced.” The film students said the point of the documentary was to start a discussion, but that the mayor misunderstood this. “I think that (the mayor) kind of perceived the film in a different way (than) ... was intended. He almost looked at it as a commercial and like it was an attack advertisement,” said Diezmo, who
is from Niagara Falls. “But realistically it’s not.” Diezmo said that the film was meant to give a voice to the people of Niagara Falls, and that the mayor should embrace this instead of trying to disregard it. The Ryersonian also obtained a private email between Diodati and Lachemi, in which Lachemi wrote: “The opinions expressed in this film by some of our junior students do not represent the opinions of Ryerson University or the School of Image Arts. We will be asking them to remove the Ryerson University logo from their documentary. “We do apologize for any negative feelings generated by their work,” he wrote. In the interview, Lachemi reinforced the fact that his apology to the mayor was to do with the technicality of the Ryerson logo at the end of the documentary. “The use of the logo is managed through the administration.
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Student filmmakers Justin Diezmo and Christian Bunea.
Anyone who would like to use the logo has to get approval from the administration. Once you put the logo, people think that this is Ryerson’s position.” This was the issue for the president. “In this case, and I’m not blaming students — in terms of quality of work, I would commend them, but using the logo without permission that was not necessarily a good thing,” he said.
RTA film pulls on the heartstrings JUSTIN BELLMORE RYERSONIAN
An RTA practicum group spent seven months researching and filming For Clara with the assistance of heart recipient John Dickhout, and they held their première at the Royal Theatre on College St, Saturday. For Clara is about both the struggle for patient access to healthy organs in Canadian hospitals, and how to deal with the emotions that come from being saved through someone else’s death. Dickhout, from Welland, read out his emotional online correspondence together with donor father Rick Prashaw to the
audience before the show. He spoke of how he originally made contact with him through a fake Facebook account called “Heart Recipient” in February of last year. “I think I am the incredibly fortunate and eternally grateful recipient of – the only person I ever considered my true hero – your son’s heart,” he said in the message. Adam Prashaw, from Ottawa, was the donor. He died Jan. 22, 2016 at the age of 22, after suffering a seizure in a hot tub. He had been diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age and had undergone two brain surgeries over the course of his life. Afterwards, Dickhout said
the most important thing to take away from the film was that people need to start the conversation about organ donation and register. “Every day, somebody’s life is being changed, and the real tragedy is all the people who don’t get that chance,” he said. According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, there are currently over 1,500 patients waiting for new organs in Ontario alone, and that one donation can save as many as eight lives. People who are interested in registering themselves as organ donors are encouraged to go online at beadonor.ca and avoid the long lines and forms at Service Ontario or the Ministry of Transportation.
Lachemi said Ryerson has been working closely with the city of Niagara Falls over the past two years to develop an innovation hub. He said the university would never say anything to harm this. The president also said he is open
to discussion about this. “I’m happy to meet with students and faculty to explain this because if we ask our students to do this job, and tell them not to talk about things that may offend people, that’s not my style. I want them to question things.” The students behind the creation of As Niagara Falls said that the film is doing what they intended. “As long as the message is out there and our original intent is public, we can’t … be too disappointed,” said Bunea Lachemi has yet to release an official statement. He said he will be meeting with the students who made the film later this week. With files from Luke Galati.
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The Trump travel ban’s i As some Ryerson programs cancel U.S. trips, a Muslim urban planning Maryam Waseem takes the bus home from school nearly every day. On the way to North York, she sits down on the bus and watches Netflix on her phone, as usual. One day last month, a man approached her. She looked back at him. “Donald Trump is going to fix you,” he said. “He called me an ‘effing’ refugee and an immigrant,” Waseem recalls. At first, she didn’t understand the incident. “I didn’t know that people were Islamophobic here until Donald Trump got elected. And then it just bubbled over,” she says, trying to make sense of the man’s behaviour. Waseem says that incidents like this are becoming more and more common in her day-to-day life. Just last week, her friend, who also wears a hijab, got off of the subway at Bayview station where she says someone threatened to push her into the subway tracks. “So many
times while I’m on the subway, people try to strike a conversation with me and ask me why I’m wearing a hijab, they ask me why I’m oppressed,” she says. Constantly being surrounded by people questioning her religious beliefs has caused her to have doubts about why she wears a hijab, Waseem says. The decision to wear it has been at the core of her identity, being “the biggest decision that I made in my life,” she says. Her faith has now impacted her life as a student. Ryerson’s school of urban planning has cancelled all trips to the U.S. This was in response to Donald Trump’s executive order, referred to as a ‘Travel Ban, which critics say intentionally discriminates against Muslims. Waseem is one of just three women in her program who wears a hijab. When she heard the news that Ryerson’s school of urban planning made the decision to can-
cel all trips to the U.S., she was surprised. “I didn’t think (the travel ban) was going to affect Canada, nonetheless Toronto.” The email, which was sent Feb. 17, said that this decision was made to “ensure that no one in our community would face the barriers to participation that could result from shifting American travel policies.” Canada’s largest school board, the Toronto District School Board, also announced in March that it is now cancelling all school-related trips to the U.S. because of the current political climate. Ryerson’s president, Mohamed Lachemi, called the ban “personally very troubling.” He added that the “(travel ban) is counter to Ryerson’s aim to promote equity, diversity and inclusion as an essential feature of all that we do.” Waseem is of Pakistani heritage and lived in Saudi Arabia until the age of 13. She immigrated to Toronto six years ago, where now she has nearly finished the first year of her undergrad at Ryerson. She says that what made her want to enter the profession is her interest in making cities sustainable. Her classmate and first-year urban planning student, Alexandra Kristajic, says that the news of the trips being cancelled was devastating. “It’s not fair,” she says. But nonetheless, she says that avoiding America is the best option. “You don’t want some people to be able to take part in this opportunity and some to be left out.” Scott Plante is a fourth-year urban planning student getting ready to finish his undergraduate degree in less than one month. He’s also Ryerson’s representative for the Ontario Provincial Planners Institute, the voice of Ontario’s planning profession. He says that he is proud of Ryerson’s decision to cancel the field trips. “In the face of uncertainty it’s better to be safe than sorry,” he says. “I think it’s really important for the Ryerson students to be able to get the full experience that anyone is able to get.” Jacob Circo, 18, just accepted his offer to begin studying at Ryerson’s school of urban planning this coming Fall. He says that he’s excited to begin his studies, “but if I had heard about (the U.S. trips) being cancelled earlier, I might have had second thoughts about applying. It makes me second guess coming to Ryerson,” he says. Circo adds that he thinks the decision to fully ban the field trips was too political.
“I didn’t know Islamophobic h Trump got elect just bubbled over.” –M
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Maryam Waseem is an urban planning student at Ryerson.
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impact at Ryerson student tells her story. By Luke Galati The deadline to apply to Ontario universities was on Jan. 19. The school internally sent the email telling students that the decision was made to cancel trips in February. Circo said that he didn’t find out about the news until he read the initial story written by the Ryersonian. “If they let kids know before the holidays ... that they want to cancel or change the programs, that would be a much better decision so kids can plan their future instead of ‘surprise, surprise, we’ve decided to change our program,’” he says. “I think they should let people know earlier, before OUAC’s deadline.” Andrew Johnson graduated from Ryerson’s urban planning school in 2009. During his time at Ryerson, he went to Pittsburgh in 2007 with his class. When he heard the news, he thought immediately of two students who were in his class. They would not have been let into America since they have roots in two of the countries listed on Trump’s ban. Johnson says that these students “would have been left out right away. It’s not fair to them to miss out on something like that.” Johnson thought that one solution is to potentially offer a choice between one U.S. city and one Canadian city. For Waseem, she says that the school’s decision to back out of travelling to the U.S. gives her a sense of support. “It makes me feel like my identity as a Muslim person is something that’s valued to the school of urban planning,” she says. “Just the thought of them thinking of that makes me feel like the hard work that I’m putting into this school has some value.” Trump’s attempt at a temporary travel ban targets majority-Muslim countries. The revised travel ban is currently being fought in court and is in the hands of U.S. federal judges. The order also suspends America’s refugee system for a period of 120 days. Trump has rationalized this decision publicly in the name of national security.
w that people were here until Donald ted. And then it
Maryam Waseem
Waseem’s downtown mosque has felt the impact of a shifting political and social climate. “It does make you feel a little scared,” she says. The mosque downtown that she regularly attends has had protesters on its front steps, advocating against Islam. “I’m not going to churches, temples or synagogues doing this. It’s sad that people believe I’m going to harm them in some way because I’m not,” she says.
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Maryam Waseem working on her end-of-year project at South Bond Building.
When the urban planning school announced the cancellation, its chair Chris De Sousa said, “as a community, our students come together during these trips. “It’s not only about the experience of learning, but us, as a group, coming together.” However, political climate in the U.S. right now is not one for achieving unity. In his perspective, “I think staying here is better for us.” Waseem hopes that the travel ban will not make its way out of the American judicial system and into longterm public policy. She wants to travel to New York in two years with her class, like she thought that she was
going to do as a part of her studies. Waseem wants people to respect her faith. She is going to keep taking the same bus home from school every day, she says, but she hopes things change. The route home will stay the same, but she hopes that people will be mindful that their words, similar to the hijab that she wears every day, have meaning and an impact. “A book is just a book. But a person who believes in it has a completely different understanding,” Waseem says. “And like any book, it needs analysis.”
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Grad connects with her roots through film YASMIN ARNAOUT RYERSONIAN
Rebeca Ortiz has always felt a connection to her Chilean grandmother. But typical family stories and emotive conversations one might have with a grandparent were not to thank for that. In fact, verbal communication between the two was impossible until just recently. Her grandmother’s native tongue is Spanish – a language she was not at all familiar with until a few university classes helped her learn it. This total
disconnection of language and connection through other means is exactly what Ortiz had in mind when she began working on her upcoming short film, Abuela, named after the Spanish word for “grandmother.” So, this is how the story goes – an eight-year-old girl named Kathy gets a visit from her Spanish-speaking abuela for the very first time. Since Kathy only understands English, they’re forced to find a connection somehow and build a relationship without reliance on speaking. There are obviously some miscommunications
Rebeca Ortiz
throughout the day, but they work through it. The movie has a happy ending with the two finally connecting by making empanadas, a traditional Chilean food.
Abuela came to life after director Ortiz and Alicia Harris, who will be producing the film, saw a deadline for a pitch competition coming up in two weeks. Though it was hectic, Ortiz and Harris were confident in their idea and pulled it together. Managed by Women in Film & Television Toronto (WIFT-T), the competition asked women to pitch their short narrative films for a chance to win $50,000 to fund their project. Ortiz and Harris made it to the finals as the youngest people pitching their stories. It was only recently that the
Ryerson film studies grad began broadening her identity as Latina in addition to being white. This is the first time she’s integrating her own culture into a film. “I never really considered myself Latina because I look white,” said Ortiz . “No one looks at me and sees that. I’m not a (visible) minority at all.” @ArnaoutYasmin
Soup and Substance Soup and Substance on the go: Are you ready to take the EDI pledge? Tuesday, April 18, 2017 Noon - 1 p.m. | POD 250 Faculty, staff and students are invited to come and enjoy soup and engage in an open conversation on a range of diversity related topics. We are committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities. Please contact 416-979-5000, ext. 3243 or equity@ryerson.ca if you require accommodation.
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Fastpitch growing pains Ryerson’s women’s fastpitch team saw it all in inaugural season BRIANNE SPIKER RYERSONIAN
From what Hayley Graham remembers, she has the distinction of recording the first error in Ryerson women’s fastpitch history. In the team’s first-ever game, against Queen’s, a ball hit to her ricocheted off her wrist resulting in the error. While the team lost its first two games, it would rally to win the next two. That first weekend stands out in Graham’s mind as the highlight in a season of ups and downs. Last September, Ryerson’s women’s fastpitch team began its inaugural season, competing in the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Association. It went 7-15, as injuries and a lack of depth contributed to the team ending the season on an eight-game losing streak. All season was spent navigating the obstacles of being a brand new team. Head coach Wayne Nishihama estimates that only about half the team had experience playing high-level fastpitch. He considers high-level fastpitch players as the ones who played on rep club teams previously. The inexperienced ones are the players who played house league, high school level, slow-pitch or baseball. Nishihama said not knowing the skill level of all of the players was probably the hardest part. He tried to divide up playing time for 18 players, which
COURTESY HUNG LE
Ryerson fastpitch pitcher Kaylyn Shaughnessy in action during a game.
was a struggle. For the upcoming season, he said he is going to be stricter and have the team members understand they have to earn their positions by playing the best players at each position. He admits that because it was their first year, trying to be fair to everybody maybe hurt them a little. Since it is difficult to develop during the season, he wants to have experienced players and increase the skill level of the team overall. Throughout the season, Nishihama said getting the commitment from the players to play all 24 games was difficult, reiterating that it’s not a recreation program where you can show up just for the games. With players having different schedules, it makes it harder to develop chemistry when not
every player shows up, and with fastpitch being a team sport, players need to practise together to be in sync. Betty Duong, who played her first and final year with the team as a graduating student, said they just threw themselves into the game as they didn’t know where they were going to play. As a returning player and co-captain for next year’s team, Graham is expected to be a leader and act as the middle person between the players and the coaching staff. One of biggest challenges of being a club team is getting the necessary funding. Unlike varsity teams, players have to pay fees every season to play and fundraise to make ends meet. The team received a couple of grants from the school, including
some money from the student initiative fund. They held bake sales, sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts and had 50/50 and raffle draws at games. The players paid about $325 in player fees. Down the stretch, injuries became an issue for the team. Duong said several of her teammates had injuries to shoulders and knees saying, “our starting lineup was being overused.” The season is only six weeks long but they play 24 games, including doubleheaders on the weekends. Graham said that the first year in particular was a struggle in not knowing how their bodies would hold up. They tried to make sure they were healthy towards the end of the season. However, she had a late-season injury that shut her down for the rest of the year. “My doctor, physio, everyone
said ‘don’t pick up a ball until January please if you want an arm when you’re 30’,” said Graham. If fastpitch needs a template of how to grow as a team, they just have to look at Ryerson’s baseball team. A club team as well, baseball has faced similar challenges to what fastpitch is currently going through. Players have to pay $420-$460 per year depending on fundraising and the amount of travel necessary in a season. The coaching staff had to build a program from scratch by taking a team with no existing chemistry and have them learn to work together by playing in the OUA. For baseball head coach Ben Rich, one of his key challenges was establishing what the expectations are for players in terms of performance, behaviour and dedication and getting them all to buy into that. For Nishihama and Graham, they said the immediate goal for next season is to make the playoffs. As for down the road, the team aims to reach varsity status, but they have a ways to go. “We know we have to (go) through the growing pains of being a club team, trying to build a team. Even financially we have to start from zero. Building a program is part of the process of getting to varsity level,” said Nishihama.
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Editorial
ryersonian.ca Wednesday, April 5, 2017
EDITORIAL
CHRIS BLANCHETTE | RYERSONIAN
Film’s mission accomplished Last week, the Ryersonian reported on a group of Ryerson students whose short film on the city of Niagara Falls was making the rounds on social media. The film, titled As Niagara Falls, was made in connection with the university’s School of Image Arts. It questions if the mainstream portrayal of the city as a tourist hub is a truly accurate depiction of the everyday lives of its residents. The film shows families with little children — the lights from the nearby fair stalls reflecting off their cheeks — answering questions about what they like most about the city. Subjects are then asked about the residential and local areas around the tourist attractions, but many seem to be speechless. The film continues with images of abandoned warehouses, run-down infrastructure, billboards of rental properties, debris and graffiti-ridden gyms and buildings. The film now has more than 50,000 views on Vimeo. As reported by the Ryersonian, Ryerson’s president Mohamed Lachemi apologized to Jim Diodati, mayor of Niagara Falls, for the use of the university’s logo at the end of the video. But to criticize the film for tackling a sensitive issue is dangerous and harmful. It shuts down the possibility of discussion on what could be done to improve the current sitaution. As a student-run publication, we at the Ryersonian feel it
is necessary to note that the students behind the documentary are just that: documentarians. They should not be attacked for what they produce. That is because the ultimate goal – in our perspective as both journalists and content creators – with works of art based in reality is to promote conversation around what is being addressed. Instead, we should appreciate students who are able to bring what some consider a contentious issue to the forefront. Lachemi said part of what students are encouraged to do is pursue such content. And as stated in one of our earlier editorials, we must respect the institutions that allow such discourse to exist in the public domain. There is no doubt that our own newsroom has had its fair share of being on the receiving end of criticism. It has come from students, faculty and the university administration. And this isn’t just for this session’s masthead. We’re sure it’s something that every masthead has faced at one point or another, to a certain extent. Time and time again, we continue to see that the power of dialogue is too easily overlooked. But doing so is dangerous and harmful in that it shuts down the possibility of discussion on what could be done better.
From everyone here at the Ryersonian, good luck on your exams.
OPINION
Rack up that debt ALEXANDRIA PANKRATZ RYERSONIAN
Moving to Toronto four years ago was one of the best decisions I could have made, but definitely not one of the best decisions for my bank account. It’s a tale as old as time: university students are supposed to be broke, but Ryerson broke is a completely different story. I grew up in a small town where the highlight of your weekend was toilet papering the house of your arch nemesis. In my first year of university, I lived
in residence and that’s when my bank account began to plummet. I had to pay tuition, residence fees, buy weekly groceries — and that goes without mentioning the temptation of the Eaton Centre . By the end of first year, I was so broke I had to go home for the summer to save on rent and work two jobs to save money for second-year tuition. During the fall of second year, I got a job that I carried all the way through my degree. I am very proud to say that I am graduating with no debt. However, looking back, I wish I had taken out a loan and enjoyed being a university student more. I missed out on a lot of fun events and hangouts with my friends. In a way, I feel like I pushed myself through university because of the fear of debt, but never actually got to experience the university life. Working five days a week while going to school full time eventually takes a toll on your overall well-being. When I
actually did have a night off, I was often too tired to go out and hang out with my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have made some lasting memories. I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime. But standing at the finish line of my degree, I now look back and see everything in a completely different light. I wish I had gone to that party or taken the spontaneous weekend trip to Montreal. University is a time in your life you are never going to get back and I feel like I pushed through it in an exhausted trance without getting to actually enjoy it. For incoming Ryerson students, I urge you to enjoy this phase of your life. And to my fellow graduating students, I am extremely jealous of your reckless four years — but I am not jealous of your student debt. @thealexpankratz
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Voices
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Read more Voices online ryersonian.ca Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Roses are green, violets are purple? ‘Looking at a legend for geography maps in school was like trying to decode hieroglyphics.’ JUSTIN BELLMORE RYERSONIAN
I remember a time with my dad when I was much younger – probably only five or six years old – and I was out in a park behind my late grandmother’s apartment building. The park was mammoth; it had a fully rigged jungle gym, a swing set with six swings, teeter-totters and those spring-loaded horse rides every kid loves to bounce on. It was a staple of great joy in my childhood. On this particular day, my dad and I were playing a game of “I spy,” and he asked me to find something that was red. I pointed to a stop sign. That wasn’t it. I told him it had to be the coat of the passer-by walking on a nearby street. That wasn’t right either. Then I had an epiphany. “How could I have missed it,” I thought to myself. “It’s been under me the entire time.” “The grass,” I squealed
excitedly. He laughed awkwardly at first, and then when he saw that I was still staring up at him with triumphant eyes, he explained what he thought appeared to be the obvious. “What do you mean?” he said. “No, the grass isn’t red, it’s green.” It was at that moment my dad realized that I inherited the same genetic deficit that was present in my grandfather and uncles. He realized that I was colour-blind. I can’t say I’m having a hard life. It actually strikes me as odd when I read articles describing how people “suffer” from colourblindness. We’re not talking about diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s or Crohn’s disease – I just can’t see as many colours as most other people can. In fact, there are a lot of misconceptions about what colour-blindness actually is. Dogs are colour-blind in the sense that they see black and white – no colour at all. Humans don’t have it quite as bad. People
who are colour-blind lack something called chromatic colour vision, which means they can’t see every colour that exists in the light spectrum. It’s also not a one-size-fits-all condition. There are different types. I am red-green colour-blind, or in medical terms, I suffer from deuteranomaly. My green spectrum is under-sensitive and my red spectrum is ultra-sensitive. So depending on the shade of green, I could instead see red, orange or yellow in its place. I also mistake greys for pinks, and blues for purples. Looking at a legend for geography maps in school was like trying to decode hieroglyphics and it often left me with headaches. I didn’t understand the biology behind being colour-blind until after I graduated high school – I guess because I’d never considered it a serious condition, I’d never paid attention to it. Until then, I was ill-equipped to explain my condition to any friends,
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Justin Bellmore recalls a game of I spy at a playground with his father as one of the first times he realized he is colour-blind.
family or colleagues who would always become intrigued with my inability to identify the colour of whatever it was they pointed at. “What colour is this?” “What about that one?” Sometimes I would even get the colour right if it was a strong primary colour, or if I was able to substitute the colour I was supposed to be seeing (for instance, bananas are yellow, the sky is blue, the grass is green). But imagine the colour spectrum as a first-year language class that you’re struggling in. There’s a specific word you’re trying to find but you simply don’t have the vocabulary. You pick the best word you can think of and, even though it isn’t quite right, it’s close enough. On a subconscious level, that is how the brain processes the colours that pass through a colourblind eye – there are shades missing in the individual’s spectrum, so it defaults to the closest one. There are certain career opportunities that I miss out on because of this tiny malfunction; I can’t serve in the military, I cannot be a pilot and I certainly cannot be trusted to defuse bombs. I can’t work as a police officer, a firefighter, an electrician or a baggage handler; believe it or not, each of these jobs either require 20/20 vision or full colour vision. To be paralyzed or to lack I.Q. are legitimate and acceptable reasons not to be able to achieve something. And sometimes, with a strong sense of determination and spirit, people can defy odds. What’s frustrating for me is that on a health level, I’m perfectly fine. I’m in the best physical condition of my life and that’s not
LUKE GALATI | RYERSONIAN
Justin Bellmore says being colour-blind is not a handicap.
something that everyone can say. But because of this nearly invisible handicap, I lose the element of choice in many opportunities. And sure, I never wanted to be a bomb-defuser, but choice means a lot to me. I’m sure people who know they don’t want kids still get a sense of comfort knowing that it’s their choice not to have them, rather than because they are infertile. But there is a silver lining; and it’s an American company called Enchroma. Enchroma has developed sunglasses that restore chromatic colour vision to anyone who puts them on. They start at $269, so they aren’t cheap. But hey, it’ll make my games of “I spy” a hell of a lot easier.
@justinHbellmore
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Campus Connection
Tidbits & Teasers
Events April 5
Get the full story at ryersonian.ca
Ryerson International Exchange #NewForYou Info Booth 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. POD 60
“There’s a lot of interesting university stories that we want to tell and promote.”
Fermentation Workshop: Probiotic Dressings and Dips
Michael Forbes Found in: News
5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. Kerr Hall West 375 A
Science Slam 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Fox and the Fiddle, Yonge and Wellesley
“What’s the Punjab?”
Lamees Wajahat
April 6
Found in: Videos CHRIS BLANCHETTE | RYERSONIAN
Drop-In Mumps Clinics 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. KHW 181
“How can another community that is NOT Jewish tell me how I am oppressed.”
Rebecca Katzman
Urban Hip Hop Union
The Urban Hip Hop Union continues to grow every year and invites more people. Check out the article in our Arts & Life section to find out more.
April 7 Women In Art 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. Alumni Lounge, MAC
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