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VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 23
THE VARSITY VOL. CXXXV, No. 23
21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON, M5S 1J6 Phone: 416-946-7600 thevarsity.ca
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This is your newspaper A letter from Danielle Klein, 2014–2015 Editor-in-Chief
thevarsitynewspaper @TheVarsity
Masthead Editor-in-Chief Danielle Klein
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Production Manager Catherine Virelli production@thevarsity.ca Managing Online Editor online@thevarsity.ca Shaquilla Singh Design Editors Kawmadie Karunanayake Mari Zhou design@thevarsity.ca Photo Editor Jennifer Su
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Senior Copy Editors Lucy Genua Rose Tornabene
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News Editor James Flynn
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Comment Editor Alec Wilson
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Features Editor Samantha Relich
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Arts & Culture Editor Sarah Niedoba
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Science Editor Jasleen Arneja
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Sports Editor Elizabeth Benn
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Illustration Editor Julien Balbontin illustration@thevarsity.ca Video Editor Jamieson Wang
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Web Developer Eric Bannatyne
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Associate Design Editor Janice Liu Vanessa Wang Associate Photo Editor Rusaba Alam Mallika Makkar Associate Senior Copy Editors Hunter McGuire Sean Smith Associate News Editors Salvatore Basilone Tamim Mansour Alex McKeen Iris Robin
“This is your university. For the next four years, you get to claim this place as your own.” Those are the words I wrote in 2013 in my letter from the editor in our Student Handbook, our publication for first-year students. At the time, I was under the mistaken impression that I would be graduating that year. But, as it turned out, The Varsity would keep me around for an extra one. I’ve been involved at The Varsity in one capacity or another since my second year at U of T. This past year, I had the great honour of being elected Editor-in-Chief. With my wonderful masthead, we worked to make our organization more friendly and inclusive. We engaged more students than ever before, with over 450 contributors from across U of T’s three campuses participating throughout the year. We launched a new website, which won second place for best campus website in the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards (ccnas). We also increased our online publications to three uploads per week. I am confident that our new Editor-inChief, Alec Wilson, will continue expanding our
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online presence and our student engagement. As usual, we covered the stories that matter, keeping students informed throughout ongoing labour disputes at the university and bringing attention to important campus issues. We told difficult stories, for example addressing the pervasiveness of sexual misconduct on campus and the lack of adequate resources for survivors. We wrote about the way that our university is changing as it adopts an increasingly corporate approach to its operations to make ends meet — Alex McKeen’s coverage of which won best campus news story in the ccnas. If you take a look back in our archives, you will find that, from year to year, some stories seem to repeat themselves. Tuition fees rise; deferred maintenance costs rise. Class sizes get bigger; the university fails to meet students’ mental health needs. utsu elections are contentious; voter turnout is low. If I can urge you to do one thing in this letter, it’s not foremost to get involved at The Varsity (though I assure you, it’s a good idea) — it’s to invest, in some way. Take ownership of your time at U of T, and commit yourself to doing
— Danielle Klein, Editor-in-Chief, 2014-2015, Vol. CXXXV
THE MASTHEAD WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF OUR STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
Associate Features Editor Malone Mullin
VARSITY STAFF
Associate Comment Editor Emma Kikulis Victoria Wicks Associate A&C Editors Daniel Konikoff Jacob Lorinc Associate Science Editor Nadezha Woinowsky-Krieger Associate Sports Editors Reshara Alviarez Sean Xu Associate Web Developer Ishan Thukral Copy Editors and Fact-Checkers Isabela Borges, Kieran Buckingham, Rachel Chen, Ariel Gomes, Alexandra Grieve, Simeon Krastnikov, Dylan Lattimer, Emma Lawrence, Saranja Neelananthasivam, Soham Parelkar, Teodora Pasca, Michelle Pedreiras, Maja Rakocevic, Alexandra Rusu, Maria SokulskyDolnycky Lead Fact-Checkers Fu Yuan (Andrew) Liu, Suhas Srinivasan Designers Janice Liu, Kawmadie Karunanayake, Margaux Parker, Vanessa Wang, Lisa Wong Un, Mari Zhou
Business Office Business Manager Karen Zhou
some good here in a way that makes sense for you. Know the headlines, write the headlines, or decide to change the headlines. Several years ago, I wrote: “This is your university.” The Varsity is your student newspaper. And if you think you can do better than we have, I encourage you to prove it. As many years as you spend at U of T, you have the opportunity to get involved — as a contributor, as a reader, or as both. You have the opportunity to participate in campus-wide student discourse. You have the opportunity to weigh in, and your voice is not only valuable — it is needed. For me, without a doubt, it will be The Varsity that I think of foremost when I think of my time at U of T. The paper has been my community. The office is my second home; the staff and volunteers are among some of the most dedicated, hardworking people I have met. I hope that we have fulfilled our mandate as the “student voice” this year, and that our coverage has contributed to positive change at the university. For volume 135 of The Varsity, there are countless people to thank. To Joshua Oliver, thank you for your support and for being a voice of reason and a dear friend. To Mari Zhou, I have learned so much from working with you, and want to thank you for keeping the paper printing from week to week with your creative vision and endless problem-solving. To our many volunteers and contributors, thank you for your time and your incredible work. To the masthead — you are my dream team and I am filled with affection and gratitude for each of you. Finally, thank you to all of our readers for your support and your engagement. It seems that, for the time being, this institution is only going to grow. Certainly, you can get in and out of U of T in a swift four years, migrating between the revolving doors of Robarts, lectures, and ttc stations. But I hope you will do more — and I might suggest, off the cuff, that you start with picking up this paper on Monday mornings. In any case, that worked out quite well for me.
business@thevarsity.ca
Business Associate Parsa Jebely
parsa@thevarsity.ca
Advertising Executives Anna Afshar Rachel Choi
anna@thevarsity.ca rachel@thevarsity.ca
The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2015 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca. ISSN: 0042-2789
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Kristina Adhikari, Rusaba Alam, Zaigham Ali, Reshara Alviarez, Jasleen Arneja, Christina Atkinson, Julien Balbontin, Salvatore Basilone, Elizabeth Benn, Lisa Bernard, Matthew Boissonneault, Isabela Borges, Kieran Buckingham, Nathan Chan, Aditya Chawla, Jeffery Chen, Rachel Chen, Karen Chu, Emily Colero, Emma Compeau, Sampson Coutts, Devika Desai, Nabi Dressler, Heather Eason, Caitlyn Fleming, James Flynn, Claire Fox, Sarah Gajic, Ujwal Ganguly, Jonathan Gass, Lucy Genua, Brittany Gerow, Alexandra Grieve, Meerah Haq, Shaq Hosein, Joseph Ianni, Elena Iourtaeva, Emily Johnpulle,Kawmadie Karunayake, Emily Katz, Emma Kikulis, Danielle Klein, Spencer Knibutat, Wan Xian Koh, Daniel Konikoff, Dylan Lattimer, Timothy Law, Hannah Lee, Janice Liu, Fu Yuan (Andrew) Liu, Jacob Lorinc, Evan Luke, Sofia Luu, Tosin Maiyegun, Mallika Makkar, Matthew Manhire, Tamim Mansour, India McAlister, Hunter McGuire, Alex McKeen, Christian Medeiros, Malone Mullin, Linh Nguyen, Sarah Niedoba, Elham Numan, Denis Osipov, Li Pan, Soham Parelkar, Lauren Park, Margaux Parker, Teodora Pasca, Michelle Pedreiras, Anita Perehinets, Anthony Piruzza, Samantha Relich,Andrew Richmond, Iris Robin, Alexandra Scandolo, Emily Scherzinger, Jeffrey Schulman, Zane Schwartz, Kasi Sewraj, Ann Sheng, Ayla Shiblaq, Caroline Shim, Aidan Slind, Sean Smith, Maria Sokulsky-Dolnycky, Catharine Soloman, Jessica Song, Jonathan Soo, Suhas Srinivasan, Jennifer Su, Emaan Thaver, Rose Tornabene, Corey Van Den Hoogenband, Thomas Vangou, Alex Verman, Catherine Virelli, Sandy Wang, Jamieson Wang, Vanessa Wang, Brittaney Warren, Victoria Wicks, Alec Wilson, Nadezhda Woinowsky-Krieger, Mike Wong, Maya Wong, Lisa Wong Un, Elliot Wright, Sean Xu, Ameena Youssef, Tina (Shije) Zhou, Mari Zhou
VARSITY CONTRIBUTORS Fareedah Abdulqadir, Temilade Adevjinka, Zeinad Aidad, Adena Ali, Selene Ali, Sana Ali, Sean Allingham, Farrah Amador-Mughal, Mayte Anchante, Panagiotis Angelinos, Camille Angelo, Afif Aqrabawi, Faith Arkoful, Manuel Augusto, Selena Azizi, Alexandra Babiak, Angela Baer, Punya Bagga, Indranil Balki, Victoria Banderob, Salena Barry, Elisha Bauer-Maison, Jay Bawar, Mubashir Baweja, Shaan Bhambra, Aliya Bhatia, Kristina Bijeikaite, Omar Bitar, Autousa Blair, Bradley Blaylock, Alex Boer, Christina Bondi, Lora Borrisenko, Alyssa Bouranova, Sasha Boutilier, Elisha Bover-Maison, Travis Boyco, Emily Boyd, Alanna Brousseau, Madelin Burt-D’Agnillo, Anthony Burton, Sam Caladrone, Steph Cervone, Saveen Chadha, Michael Chahley, Derek Chan, Trillium Chang, Amey Charnalia, Kayla Chaterji, Erica Chau, Samantha Chen, Michael Chepesiuk, Jasmine Chopra, Matthew Chow, Chun-Chi Chu, Ji Won Chun, Eric Chung, Alexander Cohen, Daniel Connolly, Sara Constant, Matt Craddock, Adit Daga, Khaiam Dar, Mark Darling, Shaida David, Victoria Dawson, Claudia Dessanti, Simran Dhunna, Anja Dimitrijevic, Ivanna Dizdar, Aleksandra Dolezal, Kathleen Donovan, Sahara Douglas, Tom Drechsler, Lee Eames, Misara Elgammal, McKenzie Embree, Avram Englert, Leelan Farhan, Alexander Fernandes, Anthony Frati, Jesse Gault, Craig Gilchrist, Sonali Gill, Sonah Gill, Ariel Gomes, Susan Gordon Kevin Grace, Roslyn Grant, Liz Gross, Wendy Gu, Michelle Gu, Devina Gupta, Maitri Gupta, Nyima Gyalmo, JiYoon Ha, Sofia Habib, John Hadzipetros, Ahmed-Zaki Hagar, Will Hall, Abdel Hameed, Julia Hanbury, Emma Hansen, Natasha Hartono, Karlis Hawkins, Sam Henry,Tigesti Hidru, Dhruvin Hirpara, Ellen Ho, Elena Hoan, Jacob Hogan, Mary Hong, Huang Huang, Shahin Imtiaz, Abbi Indrakumar, Sage Irwin, Tasmeea Islam, Manaal Ismacil, Diandra Ismiranti, Chantal Issard, Alas Jeelany, Younhee Jin, Ken Jones, Ilona Kabanova, Anjana Kamalaharan, Ushma Kapure, Harrout Kassabian, Madeleine Kelly, Leila Keshavjee, Scheherazade Khan, Mashal Khan, Yasmine Kherfi, Nehdia Kidwai, Lia Kim, David Kitai, Madeline Klimek, Pratishtha Kohli, Ken Kongkatong, Shailee Koranne, Trevor Koroll, Simeon Krastnikov, Rohan Kulkarni, Kethika Kulleperuma Nishi Kumar, Chimi Kuyee, Karen Kyung Fuhrmann, Jennifer La, Kate Latimir, Leekei Lau, Emma Lawrence, Sarah Leaper, Joanne Lee, Jane Lee, Christopher Lee, Subin Lee, Jessica Lee, Sarah Leeves, Jessica Li, Manshu Li, Andy Li, Jeremy Li, Winston Li, Catherine Li, Joanne Lieu, Jasper Lim, Madeline Lisus, Jennifer Liu, Annie Long, Adrian-Michael Lorenzana, Sarah Luttrell, Sandy Ma, Andrea Macikunas, Katie MacIntosh, Catherine Macintosh, Kaylie MacLeod, Emilie Macleod, John Macpherson , Osman Mahamud, Amna Mahder-Bashi, Keshini Mahesan, James Maiangowi, Pouya Makki, Julia Malowany, Haman Mamdouhi, Jennifer Marczuk, Jasjeet Matharu, Shreya Mathur, Cassandra Mazza, Alastair McNamara, Joshua Miller, Filzah Mohamad Hilmi, Emmeline Molnar, Pujdak Monica, Peymon Montazeri, Natalie Morcos, Sacha Morettin, Francesca Morfini, Anastasiya Muntyanu, Rehana Mushtaq, Sumaya Musse, Andreea Musulan, Sandhya Mylabathula, Stanislav Nachev, Helena Najm, Noor Naqaweh, Peter Nash, Sam Natale, Mia Naylor, Kalina Nedelchiva, Saranja Neelananthasivam, Tiffany Ng, David Nguyen, Ai Nguyen, Devyn Noonan, Haley O’Shaughnessy, Tobi Odubekun, Sara Omer, Clara Osei-Yeboah, Hans Osmen, Chantal Ouellet, Ashita Parekh, Justin Park, Carol Eugene Park, Iris Park, Sojin Park, Hirshen Patel, Daniella Pereira, Juma Perez, Meghan Peterson, Daria Petrovich, Aviva Phillip-Muller, Teresa Pinto, Caitlyn Plainos, Anastassia Pogoutse, Dmitry Polyanskyy, Will Power, Elizabeth Prekas, Madison Prezioco, Corinne Przybyslawski, Kristen Rachuk, Mursal Rahman, Dryden Rainbow, Sneha Raju, Maja Rakocevic,Aditya Rau, Rabena Ravikaran, Sara Rebelo, Arco Recto, Sara Rehman, Cristina Roca Phylactopoulou, Alice (Xia) Roe, Aviva Rogers, Melissa Rud, Alexandra Rusu, Shubhi Sahni, Deniz Samadi, Paige Sambrook, Anjalee Sandrasegaran, Simone Santerre, Lindsay Selliah, Leslie Seto, Taha Shah, Priyanka Sharma, Zheyi Sheng, Rene Sheng, Jaclin Simonetta, Amitpal Singh, Shaquilla Singh, Anamjit Singh Sivia, Thomas Slabon, Emma Smith, Simon Spichak, Vivek Srikanthan, Jessica St James, Gabriella Stafford, Delaney Stewart, Jennifer Stipec, Katen Stoehr, Divna, Stojanovic, Michael Strang, Aryn Strickland, Priscilla Suen, Anjum Sultana, Samina Sultana, Lex Sundarsingh,Tonya Sutherland, Katerina Szylo, Tina Ta, Sarah Tan, Kate Taylor, Ian Thompson, Oliver Thompson, Cathy Tie, Erin Tobin, Stanley Trievus, Michael J. Triffilus, Kenneth Truong, Kelly Turner, Marcus Tuttert, Mahra Vaid, Zahra Vaid, Natalia Valencia, Denista Vasileva, Itzel Velazquez, Arielle Vetro, Katrina Vogan, Ivana Vujeva, Michaela Vukas, Michaela Vukas, Megan Walters, Edgar Wang, Laura Wang, Amy Wang, Kristen Wantuchowicz, Stephen Warner, Dwayne White, Allegra Wiesenfeld, Hannah Wilkinson, Jonathan Wilkinson, Rebeccca Williams, Melanie Wittes, Mathilde Wolde, Nicole Regina Wong, Katrina Wozniuk, Tiffany Wu, Sean Wu, Theodore Yan, Henry Yang, Alexandra Yao, Tina Ye, Megan Yim, Yi Fan Yin, Dian Yu, Jonathan Yue, Arnold Yung, Cindy Zhou, Alice (Xia) Zhu, Katharine Zisser, Morgan Zych