December 7th, 2020

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December 7, 2020 Vol. CXLI, No. 12 The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

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NEWS

THE VARSITY

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Previous users will have to cover own costs

Hannah Carty News Editor

U of T will continue to facilitate free access to quarantine spaces for students who are using the program for the first time, though students who have already quarantined through the university will have to pay slightly over $2,000 to use the service again.

Students returning to Canada after travelling abroad for winter break must quarantine for 14 days, as is mandated by the government of Canada. U of T began its quarantine program at the end of the summer, providing hotel accommodations, airport pickup, three meals a day delivered, and health checks at no costs for students.

Students who quarantined in the fall semester received an email from the university noting that they are not able to quarantine in a shared space such as a residence. If they need to quarantine for a second time, it will cost $2,065.41.

If the quarantine occurs over winter break, it will cost $2,135.41.

Comparatively, students living in residence can choose to be relocated to CampusOne for the winter break, and accommodations for the three-week period will cost $300. A meal plan for the stay will also cost $300.

“Students will also be tested for COVID-19

Khatchig Anteblian Associate News Editor

This past November, the 2021 Rhodes scholars were announced, with U of T student Ikran Jama and alum Jeffrey Fasegha among their ranks.

The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the oldest international scholarship programs, providing an opportunity for students to pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Students have to go through a rigorous process, which starts with an internal application at their university. They are then endorsed by their university, and the winners are selected from a pool of finalists in an interview with a selection committee.

Jama and Fasegha will join nine other Canadians next year to continue their studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Experiences at U of T Jama, a fourth-year student at U of T studying international relations and criminology, and the president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU), said in an interview with The Varsity that

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If students need financial assistance for the cost of the second quarantine, the university is directing them toward emergency grant programs. Students can apply for the quarantine program at starrez.utoronto.ca.

Recipients discuss overcoming obstacles, giving back to their communities

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in accordance with health guidelines,” a U of T spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity.

“There are welcome kits stocked with such items as snacks, detergent, fabric face masks and digital thermometers.”

U of T students Ikran Jama, Jeffrey Fasegha among 11 Canadians to receive Rhodes scholarship

Lead Copy Editors Marta Anielska, Khatchig Anteblian, Carmina Cornacchia, Julia Da Silva, Robert Guglielmin, Ananya Gupta, Drishti Jalan, Sarah Kronenfeld, Duaa Nasir, Nawa Tahir

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Fasegha is pursuing a master’s degree in African studies and public policy.

COURTESY OF JEFFREY FASEGHA

she was in her room when she got the phone call with the news. “Immediately, I told my family because they could tell I got good news,” she said.

“Everyone started to cry. It was incredible. It was overwhelming.”

Jama has come a long way since her first year at U of T, when she had feelings of imposter syndrome.

“I wasn’t sure of how things would go in my first year just because I look different from my peers, or I felt like I wasn’t capable enough… or I wasn’t smart enough,” she said.

That is why she got involved with the ASSU: to ensure that other students who felt like her would have a voice and that she could advocate for their issues with the community she found at the ASSU. Fasegha graduated in June 2020 after studying finance and economics at Rotman Commerce. During his time at U of T, he co-founded the awardwinning Black Rotman Commerce (BRC), an organization that provides professional, academic, and social support to students with the goal of advancing Black representation in the finance industry.

“When I came to U of T, I was shocked at how few Black students there were,” said Fasegha.

Fasegha participated in school outreach with the Black Students’ Association, which made him realize that a lot of Black students weren’t considering U of T as an option because they didn’t feel like it was a welcoming place for Black students. That is when he decided to found the BRC. “We’re pretty disparate in our program,” Fasegha said. “For example, I was the only Black person in most of my classes. So having a community where you’re able to see other people who are going through similar struggles as you was definitely helpful.”

Giving back to the community Both Jama and Fasegha are passionate about creating change and helping to better their communities, whether through Jama’s advocacy as president of the ASSU, where she has helped enact policies including extensions for credit/no credit deadlines, or Fasegha’s leadership at BRC, where he has helped organize the annual Black Career Conference, helping Black students find networking opportunities and learn more about career options from industry professionals.

Jama intends to get a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice at Oxford.

COURTESY OF ILHANN JAMAH

Jama is also involved in the Somali community, mentoring Somali high school students. Somali students and low-income students may have more difficulty succeeding in school, as they face barriers like underfunded schools, Jama explained. “We need people who look like me to actually move forward, pursue postsecondary studies, and try to do incredible things in the world.”

They don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.

Jama intends to get a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice at Oxford, with hopes of becoming an attorney and providing legal support and justice to her community and communities like hers. Fasegha is pursuing a master’s degree in African studies and public policy, with hopes of using innovation and entrepreneurship as tools for social and economic development in his community in Nigeria.

“If you see a problem, you should try to do what you can to fix it,” said Fasegha. “I encourage people not to discount [themselves]. You can do a lot more than you might imagine.”

Jama agrees with that sentiment. “You might not see things happening at the moment, but years from now, months from now, days from now, you never know. Just don’t give up on yourself.”

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DECEMBER 7, 2020

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Third Strategic Mandate Agreement between U of T, Ontario government emphasizes experiential learning, labour demands Performance-based funding not to be implemented for two years due to COVID-19

Marta Anielska Associate News Editor

The Government of Ontario released the third Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA3) for U of T, which will be active from 2020–2025.

The new model focuses on distributing funding based on a university’s performance against a series of metrics that emphasize economic outcomes.

Metrics The new performance-based funding system aims to incentivize universities to direct resources into programs that align with labour market needs, resulting in positive economic outcomes.

Each school has a predicted amount of funding for future years based on 2019–2020 operating grant totals. The performance-based grant MARTA ANIELSKA/THEVARSITY makes up most of the funding U of T receives, though the grant each year will depend on its performance against a series of metrics.

By 2025, provincial funding will be largely based on the metrics that control the performanceUnder the based grant. These SMA3, permetrics include formance-related funding The new SMA3 will be active from 2020–2025. the graduate employment rate in was originally fields related to a stusupposed to rise from 25 per cent of provincial operating grants dent’s studies, graduation rate, economic impact, in 2020 to 60 per cent in 2025. However, due and research funding and capacity.

While research funding and capacity has the to COVID-19, the activation of performancelargest weight in 2020–2021, its weight will based funding will be delayed for two years.

The Breakdown: What U of T services are available during provincial lockdown

Some study spaces remain open at all three campuses Joy Chan Varsity Contributor

As the Toronto and Peel Region enters the Grey Zone level of the new COVID-19 classifications, meaning a lockdown in the area beginning on November 23 and lasting at least until December 21, U of T students on all three campuses will see changes to the services available through the university.

In line with the provincial guidelines for residents to stay home and limit contact with the exception of essential travel, the university has altered the availability and form of student services and academic delivery to adhere to the province’s COVID-19 framework.

The university is enforcing three major changes, including halting indoor public events and social gatherings, halting indoor and outdoor sport and recreation facilities — not including online offerings — and limiting outdoor gatherings to 10 people. The university is also requiring that outdoor gatherings on campus include use of face masks and physical distancing.

Libraries and study spaces Academic support services will continue to function virtually. Libraries remain closed, instead offering pick-up services and access to information technology resources. Curbside pickup is available until December 18 at Robarts Library and earlier at other libraries; this service will pick up again in the new year.

All loans have also been extended without late fines, and students are asked not to renew books as this interferes with the loan-extension script.

Students will be able to utilize library study spaces at limited capacity. Robarts Library is

offering limited seating for access to desktop computers and internet connection. Students off campus can use RemoteLab service to access specialized software on student computers in the Computer Access Facilities at Robarts Library. Group study rooms, however, are unavailable.

At UTSC, the Bladen Wing labs and study space will be available through the ARC Quad entrance at limited capacity. The University of Mississauga Students’ Union resources are only accessible virtually. U-Pass will be distributed through mail, and all UTMSU staff and executives will be accessible through email.

Courses and research Class delivery and exam proctoring will continue virtually, save a handful of classes that require in-person teaching, which will proceed as permitted under provincial measures.

Courses for most faculties will continue online in the winter semester.

Research continues to be conducted remotely whenever possible and on campus with safety measures in place.

Residences and campus life Campus life will continue to function as per the new status quo; residences remain open and are adhering to stringent safety precautions. Food services will continue to be available through pick-up only. Blind Duck Pub will remain open at UTM until the week of December 14 for take-out only.

At the U of T bookstore, students will only be able to purchase items online until further notice. Items will be delivered or can be received via contactless pick-up at UTSG by appointment.

change in future years when additional metrics, such as skills and competencies, are evaluated.

The metrics aim to guide institutions toward creating initiatives with a focus on specialization and experiential learning.

Goals of the agreement “Students and their families make significant sacrifices to attend colleges and universities,” a government spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity. “They deserve a post-secondary education system that is responsive to demands of the labour market and helps them find meaningful employment in the field of their choice.”

They added that, since the system will use historical data, institutions will not be ranked or pit against each other for funding. Due to COVID-19, universities will receive the full notional amount of funding. The government hopes this will provide universities with a degree of stability during the pandemic.

In the 2020–2021 budget, U of T reported that the changes in the SMA3 “reflected the University’s long-term advocacy for differentiation.” It noted that while the province would determine the metrics, the university would be able to determine total funding from among them.

The budget also noted that, under the agreement, enrolment funding will remain stable as long as the university maintains domestic enrolment within a fixed amount.

UTSC will host Scarborough Health Network COVID-19 testing centre until April 2021

Facility will operate from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm daily, can see 900 patients per day Alexa DiFrancesco UTSC Bureau Chief

The Scarborough Health Network (SHN) has relocated one of its COVID-19 testing centres to Highland Hall’s event centre at UTSC. The centre opened on December 1 and will operate until April 2021. The SHN approached the university as it was looking to relocate the Centenary Assessment Centre indoors for the winter to avoid the cold weather.

In an email to The Varsity, Andrew Arifuzzaman, UTSC’s Chief Administrative Officer, expressed that it is “imperative” that UTSC partner with organizations like SHN “to utilize… resources to help get through this difficult time for [the] community and the region.”

Arifuzzaman also noted that the eastern GTA region has been “hit harder” by COVID-19 than other parts of the city.

Operation The assessment centre operates daily from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, accommodating up to 900 patients daily, by appointment only. The centre includes a dedicated entrance and exit separate from the rest of Highland Hall. Its air circulation is also separate from the rest of the building, as it has a dedicated air system just for the testing centre.

The centre runs under the same safety measures and protocols as all of the organization’s other locations. Hospital staff will be in personal protective equipment, removing garbage daily, and providing a “regular cleaning and disinfection of the space [and] equipment,” according to UTSC’s website.

“Scarborough has a large geographical footprint with much lower densities compared to the downtown core, with only three hospital sites,” Arifuzzaman noted. He pointed out that the As-

sessment Centre is adjacent to a public transit loop, which allows for easy access to transportation. The centre “will free up hospital facilities so that they can continue to provide for other healthcare needs in the community.”

“There are many front-line and essential workers living in multigenerational homes in the surrounding region” Arifuzzaman wrote. “The UTSC location will provide easy access to testing, assisting in helping protect our community and reducing the risk of spread.”

How to get tested Eligible members of the Scarborough community — including UTSC students, faculty, and staff who meet the requirements — are able to book an appointment in the facility. Those considering an appointment should use Ontario’s self-assessment tool to determine whether or not testing is needed. Further criteria are also listed on the COVID-19 Assessment Centre’s FAQ page.

Those coming to campus for tests should arrive 10 minutes earlier than their scheduled appointment. Free parking is available to those being tested at UTSC’s Parking Lot A. Patients are required to print their own parking tickets — which are provided when booking tests — wear masks at all times, sanitize their hands, and practice physical distancing. Patients are also required to bring their health card to their appointment.

Anyone being tested is instructed not to use any of UTSC’s other buildings or facilities, all of which are monitored at access points.

Those eligible for testing can use the Ontario government’s list of assessment centres in the GTA to choose the testing centre most convenient for them. Booking at the Highland Hall Assessment Centre is available through the SHN website. Once tested, members of the public can access their results through the Ontario Ministry of Health’s online platform.

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THE VARSITY

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How often you log in, quiz logs, student context card — what professors can see about your Quercus usage The Varsity breaks down the functions of U of T’s learning management system Lauren Alexander Deputy News Editor

Have you ever wondered what your professors can see about your activity on Quercus? With most classes taking place online this year, professors may be using the learning management system more than ever for basic course functions like quizzes or discussion boards.

With final exams starting up and the semester coming to a close, The Varsity breaks down what exactly your professors can see about your Quercus usage — which, as it turns out, is a lot — and how they might use it.

Course-wide data Professors have access to a host of data about course participation as a whole, including an interactive graph of weekly average number of pages viewed by all students, as well as the average online participation in the course between all students.

Average participation is calculated by taking into account any actions on the Quercus page, including posting a comment to an announcement or discussion, submitting an assignment, submitting a quiz, and starting a quiz. Quercus also shows when students participated in the course or opened a course page, as well as how many times any single page has been viewed.

Professors can view charts of assignment submission data, which show what percentage of students have submitted an assignment over time. They can also view graphs of all of the grades given for a specific assignment.

Individual data For each individual student, professors can see all page views and participation in the course, as well

as a thorough access report of when the student last viewed a certain page and how many times they participated in discussions or submitted an assignment.

Quercus also provides a list of the content items that a student viewed in the course, as well as the number of times they viewed the content; a view is recorded each time the student navigates to the URL or downloads an attachment.

Professors who have modules with requirements and prerequisites are able to track a student’s progress as they move through the module, which means when students view a page, submit the required assignment, or pass a quiz. Progress will be shown as completed, in progress, or locked.

Quercus also provides a “student context card” for each individual student, showing their current mark, the number of missing and late assignments, and their mark on the last 10 graded assignments.

It also shows their participation and page views out of three stars, as compared with other students in the class. Zero stars indicate no participation, one star indicates low participation, two stars indicates moderate participation, and three stars indicates high participation.

Quiz logs Quercus allows professors to see extremely thorough data about quizzes, providing a quiz log for each student. According to a U of T webpage, quiz logs are meant to “investigate problems that a student may have in a quiz and see the status of student quizzes.”

The quiz log shows a timestamp for when the student started the quiz, when they attempted it an additional time, when and for how long they viewed a question, and when they answered a question. The log gives timestamps for if and when the student stops viewing the quiz for more than 15 seconds — if the student is inactive or has moved to a different

ZEANA HAMDONAH/THEVARSITY

tab, window, or course page — and when the student resumes the quiz.

How do professors use these functions?

With extensive data available on student activity on Quercus, professors may use the available data in a variety of ways.

Alexandra Guerson, a lecturer currently teaching HIS101 — Histories of Violence, and IFP100 — Themes in World History at New College, tries to avoid using all of the information accessible to her as an instructor.

“Since I have not communicated to students what kind of data Quercus collects and that I would be using it, I don’t feel it ethical for me to access that data,” wrote Guerson in an email to The Varsity. Guerson expressed that she generally does not use Quercus

analytics like usage data or quiz logs. However, she noted a few exceptions when she did opt to use them.

In the past, she has viewed quiz statistics to see the average number of attempts that students made on quizzes with unlimited attempts, though she noted that this year she has limited the number of attempts and therefore does not look at that data anymore.

She also used Quercus usage statistics at the beginning of the semester to see which students had not logged in yet. As a professor for a first-year course, she wrote that she did this to ensure that all students were able to successfully log in to Quercus, contacting those who had not.

The Varsity has reached out to U of T Media Relations for comment.

The pandemic has negatively impacted quality of postsecondary education, finds OCUFA report

Faculty concerned about lack of engagement with students, effective teaching during online learning Jessica Han Varsity Staff

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), an advocacy group that represents faculty and librarians at universities across the province, found in a recent survey that COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on the quality of postsecondary education.

“The new poll of Ontario students, faculty, and academic librarians shows the move to online

learning, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a decline in education quality,” summarized Rahul Sapra, President of OCUFA, in an email to The Varsity.

The survey itself was conducted by Navigator, a public relations and communications firm.

The sample included more than 2,700 Ontario students and academic staff. André Turcotte, the associate principal of Navigator, wrote in an email to The Varsity that faculty members accounted for more than 2,000 of the responses.

ISOBEL HEINTZMANN/THEVARSITY

Educational impacts A strong majority — 62 per cent of students and 76 per cent of academic staff — indicated that COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on the quality and experience of postsecondary education in Ontario.

The top reasons for the negative impact on the students’ education experience were isolation and insufficient communication with professors.

Moreover, many students found online learning to be harder than in-person learning and reported having increased difficulty focusing when off campus.

Online learning overall has affected students, as 77 per cent of students feel that their ability to learn course materials at universities has been negatively impacted.

Three quarters of academic staff feel that the quality of teaching has greatly decreased. As the primary reason, they reported that it has been tough to teach effectively and have engaging student-teacher interactions during the pandemic.

The second highest reason that faculty felt that the quality of teaching has decreased is that they have an increased workload or that online teaching requires more time.

Student and faculty life declines The impact of the pandemic on mental health and other aspects of the university experience was also included in the survey. Managing non-academic responsibilities and struggling with social isolation and stress are issues that threaten the mental health of universities’ professors, librarians, and other academic staff as well as students. Sapra wrote that the pandemic has “significantly in-

creased student and faculty stress levels.”

The majority of faculty had concerns about adequately teaching and supporting students and maintaining professional development. Sapra notes that the survey also reported that many faculty members and academic librarians had concerns about their “financial security, care demands, and struggles to maintain work-life balance.”

Results showed that the pandemic has caused challenges to students’ lives, including financial strain for a majority of students, mental health concerns, and pressures to maintain responsibilities outside of school.

There were similar results in another survey conducted by the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU). The UTSU survey revealed that 75 per cent of surveyed U of T students had a more challenging time creating relationships with classmates in an online format.

Future improvements Although neither university students nor academic staff have an easy time with online learning, it may be present for the long run. Some changes that OCUFA suggested to address the concerns it has found include reducing class size, lowering tuition fees, and investing in better technological resources.

Sapra also called upon the provincial government to take more measures to support and fund Ontario’s universities, which he claims will subsequently improve educational experience for students and faculty. “Without immediate action, it is likely that education quality, students, and faculty will continue to suffer,” cautioned Sapra.

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DECEMBER 7, 2020

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UTGSU AGM 2020: Members pass motions to support graduate student COVID-19 relief initiatives

Executives give mid-year reports on food insecurity, survey on impacts of COVID-19 Isabel Armiento Graduate Bureau Chief

On December 1, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) met for its first virtual annual general meeting (AGM). The UTGSU passed executive motions regarding the 2019–2020 audited financial statement, bylaw amendments, and motions put forward by general members.

Executive reports At the AGM, executives gave oral reports on what they have worked on this year so far. Members voted to receive the executive reports along with reports from standing committees, ad-hoc committees, caucuses, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Unit 3902.

Dhanela Sivaparan, Academics and Funding Commissioner Divisions 1 and 2, reported that she designed, consulted on, and launched the UTSGU’s COVID-19 Student Impact Survey, which examined the impacts of the pandemic on graduate students. Like Sivaparan, June Li, Academics and Funding Commissioner Divisions 3 and 4, also worked on the survey, and continued to give individual advice to graduate students in her divisions.

Danielle Karakas, Civics and Environment Commissioner, worked on executive initiatives regarding food insecurity and housing affordability.

Jacqui Spencer, External Commissioner, worked on the Black Graduate Students Matter campaign, including the creation of the Black Graduate Student Excellence Bursary.

University Governance Commissioner Lwanga Musisi is leading the UTGSU’s mental health campaign and served as interim finance commissioner.

He is continuing to meet with the administration.

Ben Hjorth, Executive Member-at-Large, worked on mental health advocacy and liaised with CUPE

3902. Two executives recently began their roles on November 15 — Sarah Alam, Internal Commissioner, and An-Noûra Compaoré, Finance Commissioner — and have engaged in orientation and regular meetings thus far.

Executive motions The membership passed the motion to receive the UTGSU audited financial statement for the 2019– 2020 fiscal year.

Sophie McGibbon-Gardner, member and the 2019–2020 finance commissioner, asked for clarification on the breakdown of the unrestricted endof-year net assets, which totalled $1,581,570. Specifically, she wondered how much of the unrestricted funds is associated with the health and dental plan and how much was from UTGSU membership fees.

Nusrat Huq, Finance Administrator, answered that the surplus funds are pooled, and therefore the UTGSU does not have information about how much money is from HDI or UTGSU fees.

The Varsity reached out to McGibbon-Gardner about her question. “If our Union has 1.5 million dollars available in unrestricted surplus, transparency regarding how much of this is available to be allocated to non-HDI related expenses is essential,” McGibbon-Gardner wrote in an email to The Varsity.

“For Members to understand how and why financial decisions are being made with their money, there must be greater clarity regarding the income of the UTGSU.” Members also passed a motion to approve all four bylaw amendments that have been passed by the UTGSU General Council over the past 12 months.

Member motions Karakas moved that the UTGSU increase food security advocacy and support the U of T student-led emergency food bank. Her motion passed.

The UTGSU AGM took place on December 1.

CORINNE LANGMUIR/THEVARSITY

She noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many postsecondary students, especially international and racialized students, have become food insecure due to loss of work and access to on-campus food services. “At the start of COVID, U of T shut down their student mandated food bank,” she said, adding that a group of students “saw the need, and they started their own food bank.”

Hjorth moved a motion related to graduate student safety and support during COVID-19. This motion had already been passed at the July 28 General Council meeting but was being presented again to the general membership.

The motion outlines a series of demands for the School of Graduate Studies and U of T administration in light of financial, personal, and academic precarity brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These demands include extensions to timelines and funding packages, tuition relief, needs-based funds and grants, rent relief, and academic employment.

The motion carried unanimously.

Lynne Alexandrova, member and the former internal commissioner, put forward a motion recommending that the UTGSU increase engagement

with accessibility and inclusivity projects. Several members expressed concern that the motion was unclear. The motion failed, but several members voiced their hope that the motion could be revised and resubmitted at a later meeting.

Musisi moved that the UTGSU membership “strongly oppose any infringement on the UTGSU’s autonomy from the University and or government(s).”

The motion included that the UTGSU continue to oppose the Student Choice Initiative — an initiative from the provincial government that was struck down last year — and the Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies for infringing on the union’s autonomy.

The meeting adjourned due to a loss of quorum before the motion could be voted on. Two other motions remained to be addressed, one recommending that the UTGSU adopt an open media policy and one endorsing Divestment and Beyond’s declaration of a climate emergency.

Disclosure: The motion on an open media policy was submitted by The Varsity.

UTSU directors raise concerns about executive policy breach, lack of accountability

November meeting discusses mental health, federal advocacy week Marta Anielska Associate News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Board of Directors meeting on November 30 sparked a debate after Vanshika Dhawan, the director for the Faculty of Law, accused the executives of breaching policy. The discussion soon shifted to one of accountability and the strains of the pandemic.

Directors and executives also discussed advocacy.

Executives reassured the board that they were pushing for consultations with the administration on the university-mandated leave of absence policy (UMLAP) and that they wanted to focus on academic forgiveness in future advocacy efforts.

Directors’ criticisms and policy debate During the seventh Executive Committee meeting of the 2020–2021 academic year, the executives voted to replace the vice-president student life with the vice-president equity on the Campaigns and Outreach Committee.

However, since committee positions are part of the Committees of the Board of Directors Policy, any changes have to be approved by the board first, leading to the accusation of a policy breach. The concern stemmed from the fact that the change was not brought before the board before the discussion at the Executive Committee meeting.

The UTSU executives responded in an email to The Varsity that since the change was only being discussed at the Executive Committee meeting and was not actually in effect until it was approved by the

Board of Directors, “the use of the word ‘breached’ may be misleading.”

“Governing documents are not meant to be suggestions,” Dhawan, who brought up the breach of policy at the meeting, wrote in an email to The Varsity.

“They have multi-stepped, time consuming processes, and these exist precisely because changing governing documents is a consequential task that fundamentally requires… consideration from our members and Board of Directors.”

In an email to The Varsity, the UTSU executives wrote that the argument came down to a misunderstanding and they would prepare additional resources to ensure the organization was “on the same page.”

The conversation shifted to include a broader discussion of the responsibility of executives to members and the Board of Directors, and to accountability more generally. “The fact that our law director specifically happened to notice that this decision broke policy is fortunate, but that should not be the norm,” Social Sciences Director Alex Erickson said in support of Dhawan’s concerns.

Following accusations at the meeting that the executive considers policies or bylaws optional, both Vice-President Public and University Affairs Tyler Riches and Vice-President Operations Dermot O’Halloran spoke to disagree with that characterization.

Some directors also argued that they had already given the executive a lot of leeway with deadlines. The executive responded that the pandemic had made things more challenging for all governing bodies and that they had given leeway to the board as well.

The November UTSU Board of Directors meeting took place on November 30.

MARTA ANIELSKA/THEVARSITY

However, some directors noted that while the Board of Directors served as volunteers, the executives had a greater responsibility because they were paid.

They concluded that while discussion over the resolution had caused a “notable rift” at the meeting, “it was not representative of the work that’s been done this year.”

UTSU advocacy and accomplishments In updates from executives, the directors were informed that the Student Aid Program budget was increased by $45,000. This will provide students facing food and financial insecurity with additional support. Moreover, trip cancellation coverage offered through the Student Aid Program increased to $3,000, and trip interruption and delay coverage from the same program increased to $7,500.

Directors also questioned executives about how they pushed forward the interests of U of T students during the Undergraduates of Canadian ResearchIntensive Universities federal lobby week. The ex-

ecutive responded that they hadn’t consulted campus groups because federal advocacy tended to focus more on changes applicable across Canada.

Throughout the week, the UTSU’s advocacy included pushing for a two-year grace period on federal student loans and increasing funding for the Canada Student Grants project.

In response to a question about the UMLAP, Riches said that the university indicated that it would consult with students on the policy during this year’s review process. Riches also claimed that the UTSU would develop its own feedback process with students.

UTSU President Muntaka Ahmed added that, since the university had been ignoring the shift to academic forgiveness, the UTSU would focus future mental health efforts around that vision. “What we’re pushing on is the cultural shift in mental health, and pressing the faculty and divisions to recognize that, for students, it’s much more than just support.”

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Trinity College Meeting votes to degender year head of college positions Changes to elections policy also passed, results can now be posted immediately after voting ends

Rachel E Chen Trinity College Corrrespondant

On November 30, the Trinity College Meeting (TCM) held its fourth meeting of the year, in which the members successfully passed an electoral policy amendment to degender each year’s head of college positions.

The same amendment further outlined changes to aspects of college elections policy, removing rules that previously restricted election results from being posted online until one hour after polls close. The amendment also removes the restriction on waiting to advertise these results until three hours after polls close.

The TCM’s fourth meeting took place on November 30.

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Proposed changes to head positions Trinity College’s overall head of college positions, as well as the Head of Arts and Non-Resident Affairs positions, are gendered into “male” and “female” heads. The proposed amendment would have thereby removed the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ from the titles, explaining that the current system “prevents individuals who do not conform to the pre-existing gender binary from running in these positions.”

While the TCM discussed this amendment at length, some expressed concerns about the proposal to degender those overall positions, noting that it would be difficult to ensure appropriate representation of different genders if the positions were degendered. As a result, the motion was ultimately shelved.

However, the TCM did pass a motion to degender each year’s heads — which traditionally included two resident and two non-resident heads per year, a “male” and “female” year head for each category. It passed, in part, because the overall head positions are viewed as more important than each year’s head positions.

Degendering of year heads positions Each year’s head of college positions are elected every spring, and they represent the interests of students in their year. The change would mandate that the positions remain degendered throughout the election cycle so that people of any gender identity may run and be elected to the positions.

President of Rainbow Trin, an organiza-

tion that represents LGBTQ+ Trinity students, Keenan Krause, wrote to The Varsity that the degendering of each year’s heads “is a valuable step to increase the inclusion of all Trinity students, irrespective of their gender identity and expression.”

“I hope this policy change encourages new debates and proposals that continue removing barriers that limit any student’s involvement in our community,” he added.

The previous policy in place stated that no two people of the same gender identity could occupy the role at the same time. However, the legality of the previous policy was called into question, as well as whether these elections would be permitted to continue in future years should the previous policy not be discontinued.

“It could become a point where the college administration refuses to let us run those elections,” Chief Returning Officer Sterling Mancuso said to attendees, “and that’s not something that is worth fighting over; that is as inconsequential [to] the requirements for the heads positions.”

The motion comes at a time when members of student governance and administration are rethinking their previous approaches to inclusivity, including the recent implementation of a FirstYear Committee (FYC) to encourage increased participation in student governance from new and diverse members of college.

The motion to degender each year’s head positions was passed by the committee with 20 in favour and four against.

“Accessible and free for everyone”: UTMSU town hall discusses equity in postsecondary education

Panelists from CFS, CUPE 3902 discuss accountability, affordability at universities Hafsa Ahmed UTM Bureau Chief

On November 30, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held a virtual town hall as part of its Education For All campaign, which calls for support from the university and political representatives in order to overcome financial barriers and accessibility issues at postsecondary institutions.

The Zoom event was led by UTMSU President Mitra Yakubi, who moderated a questionand-answer session with panelists. The panel included Joanna Clark, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Nova Scotia; Amy Conwell from the Canadian Union of Public Employees Unit 3902, the labour union representing contract academic workers at U of T; and Kayla Weiler, National Executive Representative of CFS-Ontario.

What does education for all mean to you, and why is it important?

Clark began by highlighting how the narrative has shifted with respect to education advocacy, so that it is not just focused solely on tuition fees, but has expanded to mean “having accessible, equitable… postsecondary education that anyone who wants to participate in is able to access.” She discussed how a postsecondary degree has become as necessary as a high school education. “You can’t really do anything [without] that postsecondary education,” she said.

Conwell spoke to the need to take an intersectional approach to assessing barriers that may impact a person’s ability to access or complete their education. “We know that a key issue in accessing education is mental health supports that are available on campus,” she said, emphasizing what she sees as a mental health issue at U of T. “With the conversations that are going on around U of T right now, focusing on mental health makes sense.”

Weiler proposed that education for all is achievable and said that education “should not

be a commodity that you buy or sell,” but should “be accessible and free for everyone.”

She also mentioned the importance of having these conversations during the pandemic, highlighting the need for strong and properlyfunded public services so that the education system “doesn’t allow for… students to survive and struggle through it, [but] actually helps them thrive and achieve their ultimate educational goals.”

Weiler also emphasized the need for students to be actively involved in decision-making processes in education. “What this also looks like at our institutions is having students on the board of governors, and not just one or two or three students, but actual boards of students making decisions,” she said, highlighting the lacking representation of students in certain decisions.

U of T’s governing council has six undergraduate students and two graduate students on it for the 2020–2021 school year.

Can education really be accessible to all students, and if so, how can we achieve that accessible education?

Weiler claimed that a free education system would cost Canada $10 billion, referring to a 2016 calculation by the CFS which calculated the cost at over $10.2 billion. “It sounds like a lot of money,” she said. “But in the grand scheme of the government’s budget, it’s actually not that much money. We see that our government spends more than this amount of money on the military every year or on other systems that don’t fully benefit everybody.”

According to the Government of Canada, the Main Estimates of the Department of National Defence for 2019–2020 is $21.9 billion. “Canada does have the money; Ontario does have the money; it’s just about priority,” said Weiler.

Conwell answered that education currently is not accessible and that “with the current set of constraints, it can’t be.” She echoed Weiler’s point, saying that institutions do not prioritize education and argued that, instead, they priori-

The UTMSU townhall took place on November 30.

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tize risk management. “Decisions at U of T are overshadowed by the question of ‘how will the government react?’” said Conwell, noting the tendency she sees among university institutions to manage these risks.

Clark also pointed to the fact that education institutions were not created to support everyone and be accessible. “If we trace it all back, they weren’t made for even, let’s say, women,” she said.

According to University of Toronto Magazine, U of T accepted its first women students in 1884, after being founded in 1827. Clark also pointed to the example of universities with previous religious affiliations. “Universities were not created to be accessible, and that’s why we have so much work and so many different sectors to improve accessibility of education,” she said.

She further argued that postsecondary institutions should be public institutions that are funded by the public and held accountable to them. “When we are attending an institution, there should be accountability [for] those who are making decisions,” said Clark.

How can education be made more accessible virtually, and what are your thoughts on the postsecondary institution response to COVID-19?

Conwell discussed how the virtual university environment has involved students doing the same amount of work as they would in a regular university environment or, oftentimes, more work than before.

She brought up asynchronous classes, for example, which involve sessions that students can access on their own time, rather than in real time or as live sessions. “If you’re learning just [asynchronously], you’re basically just teaching yourself,” she said, and proposed that students should not be paying the same amount in tuition for this different mode of delivery.

Clark also discussed access to the internet as a barrier, proposing the question of whether students who have internet access can also afford its cost. “We know right now that students are struggling financially… if they can’t [afford internet], what is their option?”

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December 7, 2020 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

U of T graduates are among the most employable in the world

Two different surveys, one optimistic picture for alumni Suramya Singh Varsity Contributor

The University of Toronto has been judged among the top 20 universities in the world for producing employable graduates. Times Higher Education’s (THE) 2020 Global University Employment Ranking ranked U of T as the eighth most employable university globally, while the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employability Rankings 2020 put U of T in 16th place.

By THE’s metrics, U of T has ranked first among Canadian universities for the last eight years in this regard, and this year, it climbed seven spots on the worldwide ranking from the 15th position in 2019. The new standing also allows U of T to claim the title of the highest ranked public university in North America.

university, with the total vote tally amounting to over 100,000.

The survey component used a sample of 3,100 managers in 22 countries. Surveyed departments included corporate and business roles, engineering roles, and human resources roles, while surveyed industries included corporations ranging from small businesses to large companies. Respondents had experience recruiting, and most had experience working with international graduates.

Among the survey participants, the plurality belonged to the Asia-Pacific region; employers from this region comprised 37.1 per cent of all respondents. Europe and Central Asia were the next best represented, housing 33.6 per cent of the respondents. The Americas were next, with 20.8 per cent, while the Middle East and Africa rounded off the list with 8.5 per cent.

A sign of the Times Commissioned by French consultancy Emerging, the Global University Employment Ranking & Survey is conducted annually by the polling institute Trendence and published

by THE. The ranking component required 8,820 international recruiters to respond to the prompt, “As a person dealing with international graduates, which universities are in your opinion the best in the world when it comes to graduate employability?”

The recruiters selected up to 20 universities from the 2019 rankings or from a worldwide database of 6,000 institutions. Ranks were allotted based on the number of votes cast for a

On the other hand QS’ employability rankings are also widely considered to be an authority on the subject.

It ranks U of T 16th, displaced by a few institutes that it beats out on THE’s rankings, such as the University of California, Los Angeles; Princeton University; and Yale University.

Under QS’ different ranking system, institutions are assigned a score based on five indicators, each given different weight.

Thirty per cent is allocated for employer reputation, based on nearly 45,000 responses to an employer survey asking respondents to select institutions with the most skilled graduates. Twenty-five per cent is allocated for alumni outcomes, based on which insti-

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THEVARSITY

tutes produce the most successful alumni, or by looking at the alma maters of more than 40,000 individuals featured on high-achievers lists.

Another 25 per cent is judged for partnerships with employers per faculty, based on the level of collaboration between universities and companies as well as work placement-related partnerships reported. Finally, 10 per cent is allocated for employer-student connections, and another 10 per cent is for the graduate employment rate.

Pros and cons On the surface, QS’ research seems more comprehensive, with Emerging’s survey having a relatively small sample size. Geographical and industrial variations in what is considered ‘employable’ also need to be accounted for,

given Emerging’s broad line of questioning.

However, one point in favour of the latter is that it’s dependent almost exclusively on responses from employers, and it does not introduce additional bias by assigning weightings.

This makes it a potentially more effective indicator of employers’ likelihood of hiring graduates from specific universities.

According to the Harvard Business Review, graduates of “elite” American universities are better compensated. While U of T may not be an Ivy League institution, its graduate employability rate, as well as its high performance on employer perceptions indices, indicate that U of T graduates are in a better position than most when it comes to finding employment.

It seems that the ‘prestige’ that haunts the dreams of many high school seniors and graduate school applicants is at least partially justified.

The Explainer: Postgraduate visas

How a U of T degree helps you stay in Canada after graduation Andrew Yang Ki Varsity Contributor

With 23,000 international students enrolled at the University of Toronto this academic year, many will be looking to stay in Canada after graduation and turn their student visas into something more permanent. However, the process to obtain postgraduate visas to work or live permanently in Canada may seem complicated, with the current pandemic only magnifying this difficulty.

Both the Government of Canada and U of

T’s Centre for International Experience provide detailed immigration information online for international students looking to transition to working and living in Canada after completing their degree. International students can access immigration advisors via the latter if they require individual consultation.

The usual process As an international student, the easiest pathway to eventual permanent residency in Canada is the Federal Skilled Workers Program, which favours educated applicants and takes

FIONA TUNG/THEVARSITY

into account work experience gained as a student.

There are six criteria judged as part of the program’s application: age, education, work experience, job offers, language skills, and adaptability to Canadian life. Applicants are scored points out of 100 based on these criteria, where more qualified individuals receive more points per category depending on what they are proficient at.

Studies at U of T already provide a range of 15–25 points depending on one’s education level. Given that the mark to pass selection is currently 67 points, U of T graduates already have an easier path to residency.

For the language ability criterion, the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) is used to gauge one’s proficiency in English. As part of this program, one has to achieve a minimum CLB score of seven in all language skills.

All U of T international students have already been required to take an approved English comprehension test to study at the university in the first place. Although the CLB is not one of the approved tests for U of T admission, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is.

The IELTS test is also accepted by Canadian Immigration and can be easily converted into the CLB scoring system. One requires an overall IELTS ‘band’ of 6.5 to study at U of T, which converts to a CLB score of 8 — exceeding the required minimum.

Pandemic post-graduate permits Before getting on the path to permanent residency — or for graduates who only wish to

stay in Canada for a short period — one must have a work permit. The most relevant permit to a recent U of T international student is the post-graduation work permit (PGWP). Most recent international graduates are eligible to obtain a PGWP, and most U of T degree programs grant eligibility for a permit allowing up to three years of work.

In all cases, PGWP applicants are required to have remained in full-time studies for the entire duration of their degree and must apply within 180 days of receiving their final marks.

Under normal circumstances, they must also not have studied through distance learning for the majority of their studies.

As the current pandemic means that these are not ‘normal circumstances,’ exceptions have been made to allow for very little alteration to the postgraduate visa process. In particular, the U of T Office of the Vice-Provost has confirmed that students’ eligibility to apply for a PGWP would not be affected even if they studied online during fall 2020.

Students who have retained or have been approved for a study permit but are not able to travel to Canada due to pandemic restrictions will also not be penalized. Alongside this, international students may complete up to 50 per cent of their program online if they are unable to travel, and they will still be eligible for a PGWP. Finally, students who started a U of T degree outside of Canada between May and September will still be eligible to apply for a PGWP even if they graduate before in-person classes resume.

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Opinion: Why the professional experience year fails — and how we can make it better

EngSoc PEY negotiator responds to the controversial revamping of FASE co-op

Hundreds of students rely on the PEY program for modern and relevant professional experience.

COUTESY OF MARCO VERCH/CC FLICKR

Armin Ale Varsity Contributor

The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (FASE) is close to implementing a massive overhaul of the Professional Experience Year (PEY ), its main co-op program, which roughly 1,750 engineering and computer science (CS) students applied to this year. News of the overhaul sparked outrage in the engineering student body for the sharp increase in fees from $1,100–$3,600 and for not addressing student concerns regarding job availability and services.

The Engineering Society (EngSoc) president was nearly removed, and the EngSoc Board of Directors unanimously voted to elect two new representatives to handle the negotiations, barring the president and vice-president academic from participating in further negotiations.

As the newly elected Upper Year PEY Program Representative, I hope to shed some light on why co-op programs are so important to engineering and CS students, and why the current offerings need a revamp. I will then demonstrate how the new program fails students, and I will offer a realistic path to a better program.

The importance of experience In the current competitive entry-level job market, employability is the top concern for many students. Students in engineering, CS, and related fields need to have professional work experience by the time they graduate to find entry-level, full-time jobs in a reasonable amount of time. This is why engineering and CS faculties across Canada are putting more and more emphasis on their co-op programs.

For engineering and CS students at UTSG and UTM, the Professional Experience Year (PEY ) program — run by the Engineering Career Center (ECC) — is U of T’s main co-op program. During PEY, students can do a 12–16-month full-time internship at one company after their second or third year of study.

The ECC separately offers the Engineering

Summer Internship Program (ESIP), which allows students to do a four-month full-time internship in the summer after their second or third year of study.

It is no secret that both PEY and ESIP need an overhaul. In 2017, a 55-page EngSoc report captured the shortcomings of PEY and ESIP in great detail and offered concrete pathways to improve the program.

I won’t talk much about ESIP because ESIP as a standalone is a fundamentally flawed program. ESIP does not have full-time staff, relies exclusively on companies reaching out to U of T to post positions, and few people actually find jobs on it. The credible co-op opportunity at U of T is PEY. Current fundamental issues There are three main problems with the current PEY program. The first issue is the skewed distribution of jobs between fields.

While the distribution of jobs is influenced by job market trends, proactive business development and corporate relations can significantly improve it. The diversity and quality of companies and positions brought to campus by student groups routinely outstrips that of companies on the PEY job portal.

Second, the requirement that PEY positions must be at least 12 months long is a huge barrier to growth of the PEY job portal.

Many companies, particularly tech companies or Canadian offices of US firms, offer internships that are less than 12 months long. The merits of a four-month or 12-month internship can be debated, but such debate is irrelevant when the best firms in certain fields don’t offer 12-month positions.

Even an expanded ESIP cannot fill this void because students are most competitive for internships when they finish third year and typically enter the PEY program. Despite the talk of the Toronto tech boom and the many high-caliber tech companies opening offices in Ontario, an embarrassingly small number of these companies are accessible through PEY because work terms must be at least 12 months long.

Finally, the quality of professional development services — such as networking sessions,

résumé workshops, and mock interviews — is simply not adequate in comparison to the fees.

Many students feel that staff are inadequately trained, with 73 per cent of respondents in a 2017 survey held by the EngSoc Academic Advocacy Committee feeling that EEC counsellors “lacked the industry experience to offer insight beyond the superficial.”

Future fundamental issues Student groups such as You’re Next Career Network and the Sustainable Engineers Association not only host their own career fairs, but they also bring recruiters, engineers, and managers to campus to connect with students and give them feedback. The services provided by these student groups are free or of negligible cost.

The proposed revamp of the program can be summarized as more of the same at a higher cost. It combines ESIP and PEY and increases the total fee from $1,500 — $1,100 for PEY and $400 for ESIP — to $3,600.

Students will be expected to pay 50 per cent of this fee prior to going on their work term after third year.

This creates a huge accessibility barrier for students from low-income backgrounds and effectively nullifies much of FASE’s accessibility efforts. The proposed revamp does not allow for more work-term flexibility or a concrete path to improving job opportunities for low-availability fields.

Much of the fee increase is intended to finance doubling the head count of the ECC staff. This is at odds with the demands of the student body, whose primary concern has been the quality of ECC’s services and not the quantity. Overall, this revamp does not meaningfully improve the program for students.

A better program is possible To see the potential of what PEY could be, we can start by looking at McMaster University’s Co-op Program. At McMaster, students of any year can go on work terms of four, eight, 12, or 16 months. The only requirement is that they get 12 months of work experience prior to graduation. Additionally, the fee structure is such that engineering and computer science

students pay $100 per year and an additional $300 for every four months of work experience they go on.

This is a significantly more flexible system for students and employers, and would make it much easier to get more companies into the system. Additionally, the fee structure does not impose significant accessibility barriers for low-income students.

In order to prevent an exorbitant increase, it is important to contextualize the role of the ECC in providing professional development services. Given that many student groups already provide specialized and industry-relevant services, the ECC should instead focus on supporting these groups and filling in gaps by providing services that they are uniquely equipped to offer.

There’s no need to duplicate effort by having ECC full-time staff deliver résumé workshops or mock interviews when it can simply ask its partner companies to do these as recruitment events or put them in touch with student groups. ECC staff only need to be directly involved in providing one-to-one counselling, administrative and visa support, and services that are entirely absent from the professional development ecosystem.

To improve access to relevant jobs, we must first develop systematic ways to categorize jobs and identify underserved industries. Simply hiring more business development staff and setting an overall job-to-student-ratio target is not sufficient. EngSoc and affiliated discipline clubs would be happy to assist in developing the criteria and performing the analysis. It is only after we have a clear picture of each industry that we should talk about setting targets or hiring additional staff.

A better PEY program is possible, sorely needed, and good for both student careers and the reputation and prestige of the Department of Computer Science, FASE, and U of T. Such a program is not radically different, financially infeasible, or in any way incompatible with regulatory requirements. It does, however, require a greater degree of collaboration with student groups, and a more student and employer-centred perspective on the role of the ECC and PEY.

Comment

December 7, 2020 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Op-ed: How we’re tackling student food insecurity through COVID-19 UofT Emergency Foodbank members on the systemic nature of poverty

Adam El-Masri and Amaial Mullick Varsity Contributors

As I, Adam, reflect on my journey as an undergraduate student and tabulate the cost and the value of a paper certificate, I cannot help but believe it could be achieved at a dramatically lower cost.

The academic year of 2014–2015 was by far my most expensive session, not because of the price of a deregulated-fee program, but because of the sacrifices required on my part to make ends meet while maintaining a satisfactory academic standard. In the course of three years, I was working four jobs, studying part time, and registering for accessibility services due to the onset of chronic illness and languishing mental health.

The root of my problem was financial hardship and the ensuing series of barriers created by ‘financial need.’ My experience is not unique to my many peers with similar stories of ‘overcoming adversity.’ What differs, however, is how we’re forced to address the problems imposed on us and whether or not we have ‘the resilience’ to do so.

Some students accrue insurmountable debt.

Some drop out. Some experience homelessness, and some choose to skip meals because it’s relatively easier to do so. Food budgets are often treated as a flexible expense, giving priority to costs such as shelter and utilities, which contributes to food insecurity.

When thinking of food insecurity, we mistakenly carry the assumption that, in order to be food insecure, one must have limited access to food. Food insecurity manifests itself in many forms, including barriers to nutritious food. Student food insecurity exists in the shadows, failing to receive the attention it requires.

We all know or are a student who has skipped meals or has lived off ramen to cut costs. While we may make light of this reality, deeming it an essential part of student living, no person should have to compromise their health to be able to afford their basic needs.

When we have students choosing between lunch and their textbooks, we have a problem.

The characterization of the student experience as ‘chronic lack of sleep coupled with microwavable noodles’ may be accurate, but it

is far from humorous. As students having experienced this reality firsthand, we were compelled to take action.

Our initiative, the UofT Emergency Foodbank, formed when a group of University of Toronto students across organizations came together to develop innovative strategies for poverty alleviation in our community. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified an existing crisis in the student population — food insecurity. This pushed us to address an immediate need and create a contactless service that delivers free nutritious produce to students’ doorsteps.

Through our pool of resources from Engineers Without Borders, the Trek for Teens Foundation, the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students, Canadian Union of Public Employees 3902, and the School of Cities, we were able to secure and maintain a partnership with FoodShare to run our program.

Originally developed as a stopgap measure to support the social safety net, it has since

grown into a wide-reaching advocacy initiative. We received an overwhelming demand and recognized that the number of students struggling was greater than we anticipated.

That being said, food insecurity within postsecondary institutions is not novel and did not emerge as an offset of the pandemic, but rather existed long before anyone was looking.

In developing the initiative, we realized early on that our understanding of who was impacted by food insecurity at the institution was mired by a lack of demographic data.

While food insecurity is well-studied in Canada, there is little data detailing food insecurity among students at U of T. Data supports our work in a variety of ways.

First, it allows us to make informed decisions to improve our services based on things like locations, reported access barriers, and repeat usage. Second, it paints a comprehensive picture of the intersectional identities that may allow us to tie the issue to larger societal inequities. Lastly, it is a necessary evil in dem-

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onstrating to various organizations and decision-makers that the highest ranking postsecondary institution in Canada is not immune to the impact poverty has on its students.

While we encourage you to look at a sample of specific data points we’ve collected, our most striking observation is that this problem affects students in nearly every discipline and program — undergraduate and graduate — at the university.

This unfortunate reality is unsurprising when you consider that students are juggling academic stressors, financial hardships, mental health concerns, and life outside of university.

Food insecurity does not exist independently, but is rather a symptom of a lack of resources.

Providing subsidized food merely addresses an immediate need.

Tackling the systemic nature of poverty requires restructuring how we approach our student-facing services. This is a cyclical reality where lack of economic security negatively influences our health, and by consequence, our academic performance. It is time to recognize the privilege that underpins academic excellence and acknowledge the urgent need to create an equitable environment for all students.

Postsecondary institutions are, in a sense, microcosms of our society at large. We have struggles co-existing with privilege, and we have insecurities that we can institutionally mitigate — if we take a stance. The truth is, poverty has affected many of us in different ways, whether we choose to recognize its existence on campus or not.

Somewhere, there is a student who has skipped their last two meals and will be assessed regardless of their circumstances. So we must ask ourselves, what are grades and academic accomplishments really worth in a world where we compete against those who lack the basic necessities?

Adam El-Masri is a fourth-year Indigenous studies and computer science student at University College. Amaial Mullick is a recent political science and bioethics graduate from St. Michael ’s College. They are both part of a team of project organizers for the UofT Emergency Foodbank.

Fall reading week was exhausting — next semester needs to be better We need a meaningful break against the overflow of work from online learning

Shernise Mohammed-Ali Associate Comment Editor

As another reading week has come and gone and we find ourselves preparing for that final push through to exams, we must also ref lect on this semester and how online learning has altered postsecondary education.

The simple truth is that our educational institution was not designed to be delivered entirely online, and this year’s reading week was not in effect a substantial break for the stress that comes with online learning.

In the golden days before COVID-19, reading week always seemed like a breath of fresh air. It was a welcomed departure from the chaos of midterms, from early morning classes, and from late nights studying. It was a time for many to get some sleep, see old friends, catch up on work, and perhaps even leave campus. It was a chance to take a muchneeded timeout from the whirlwind that is U of T. Yet, this time it was different. Instead of being the breather that we all desperately

needed, this reading week was merely a continuation of the battle that is online learning. Learning how to learn remotely has been a challenge in and of itself. With online learning comes a seemingly endless number of recorded lectures, online quizzes, essays, assignments, and midterms. Adapting these aspects of postsecondary education to the virtual world has been an enormous feat.

If other postsecondary students are like me, they probably spend the majority of the day sitting in front of a computer screen. Being in an environment surrounded by individuals who are eager to learn often fuels a similar desire. However, now, lecture halls, once packed to the brim with other eager students, have now been replaced by the sound of a solitary voice emanating from a computer.

Due to necessary online isolation, the type of engagement we used to have is no longer possible. There have been multiple published accounts relating to how students are struggling to navigate through online learning,

with one major issue being the overloading of coursework. Students no longer have time to themselves or time to rest.

Students are burning out, and reading week was meant to provide a break from structured learning to invest some free time into digging deeper into the course material.

However, due to the overwhelming amount of assignments and coursework, students have been falling behind, resulting in the week merely being an opportunity to catch back up.

It’s been a continuous semester of all work, with no real break. Next semester, it’s vital that there is a change in online course structure to address this. Course structure can no longer continue prioritizing accountability over students’ health and learning.

This would mean centralizing the decision making process when it comes to course structure and no longer leaving it up to individual faculties. Reducing the amount of graded coursework assigned per week, relaxing strict deadlines, and integrating more

resources for consistent student feedback to ensure students are proactively engaged in how they learn are great options as well. All this can come together to ensure that when we reach our next reading week, we aren’t spending it catching up on the overf low of work.

Although the transition to online learning was necessary to control the spread of COVID-19, there are f laws to the system. The transition to online learning in conjunction with the economic crises and serious public health issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in significant limitations to postsecondary education and barriers to student well-being. The university must accordingly take action as we head into the winter semester.

Shernise Mohammed-Ali is a second-year neuroscience, psychology, and English student at Victoria College. She is an associate comment editor.

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COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

Op-ed: International student government is necessary for meaningful advocacy History, relevance, and how you can take action

Justin Patrick Varsity Contributor

For much of U of T’s history, students could access information about student politics at campus, provincial, and national levels. There also exists an international level of student politics that offers unique opportunities and can have lasting impacts on student life.

Student government at the international level provides incredible potential for student activism. It could make it so student unions can do more than make statements of solidarity for international crises, such as the University of Toronto Students’ Union statement on Sudan in 2019. They would be able to take action and actually create change.

From an advocacy standpoint, an international level of student politics can provide a network of knowledge and experience that could result in more informed policy proposals put forward by student governments at all

levels.

Moreover, international systems of student service provision could greatly improve student life by supporting or supplementing services offered by campus and national student governments, which could be particularly beneficial for students in low-income countries.

In addition, a student government representing a significant proportion of the more than 216 million students enrolled in postsecondary education worldwide — as reported in 2016 — could have better opportunities to influence policy proposals in different branches in the United Nations, since a number of existing international student governments have consultative status with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The benefits of such advocacy cannot be understated. However, as of now, it may seem as if international student groups are unprecedented, but there is a strong history of international representation as well as current efforts to form a strong international student union.

A unified national voice benefits all students.

SAMANTHA YAO/THEVARSITY

A brief history International student governments can be traced back to the early twentieth century, with organizations like the Confédération Internationale des Étudiants that promoted cross-border dialogue and some small services like aid for student groups. After World War II, the International Union of Students (IUS) was formed to ensure more global student representation as opposed to its more Eurocentric predecessors and to prevent resurgences of fascism.

The IUS soon became embroiled in Cold War politics. After communist countries gained a majority on the IUS executive, the national student government in the United States withdrew.

By the 1950s, a US-backed organization, the International Student Conference (ISC), had formed and seemed to counter the now Soviet-supported IUS. These two giant student governments

clashed until the ISC collapsed in 1969, with Cold War tensions largely preventing either organization from developing significant improvements to student movements.

The IUS persisted through the late twentieth century as a mainly Soviet apparatus until the end of the Cold War. In the 1990s, a number of non-communist countries’ national student governments, including the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), rejoined or maintained involvement in the IUS, but systemic issues like an unreliable funding model plagued it.

The CFS supported the IUS by contributing to its communication operations, including providing the IUS with an email account.

However, these efforts proved to be unsuccessful, and the IUS has gone largely silent, with its website last updated on November 18, 2002.

Division, isolation, and new hopes Other student governments rose to fill the representation gap in the midst of the IUS’ decline and collapse. In Africa, Europe, and Latin America, continental student unions had been able to form in the late twentieth century and maintain intracontinental communication.

Similarly, the Commonwealth Students’ Association now offers opportunities for some intercontinental student collaboration.

On top of these, a parallel system of international subject-based student governments has formed that combines student advocacy with academic and professional development services, interacting through the Informal Forum for International Student Organisations.

Despite these efforts to foster multilateralism, student governments in other countries and continents have suffered. For instance, in Canada, the national student movement is divided between multiple national and provincial student unions.

In Australia, voluntary student unionism like the recently repealed Student Choice Initiative in Ontario has taken effect, which has limited, or, in some cases, completely eviscerated student government operations.

Furthermore, there are no continental student governments for Asia, North America, or Oceania involving all students of all subjects.

As of 2016, 51 per cent of countries in the British Commonwealth do not have national student governments.

There are two current initiatives to create

organizations like the IUS. There is the recently created Global Student Forum (GSF), which the CFS is involved with. There is also the Global Student Government (GSG) initiative, which largely involves international subject-based student governments whose constituencies overlap with U of T students in certain fields.

While the GSF and GSG are still in their early stages, U of T students could hypothetically be represented by the GSG if they join an international subject-based student government as an individual or through their departmental student association.

What you can do to influence international student politics U of T students can advocate for a more international focus within their campus student unions by contacting their local student representatives to ask for updates on international initiatives or by sharing ideas and concerns about what they want to see at the international level that can be voiced at higher levels of student government.

Student journalists can report on news and issues pertaining to international student governments to keep students informed.

Students running in campus student union elections can include visions for international student politics in their platforms to bring the international front into election debates and dialogues. Student representatives can reach out to their counterparts in other countries to explore possibilities for collaboration.

International and exchange students, who may have connections with student unions in multiple countries, may be able to connect student representatives to help facilitate such collaborations.

In the midst of COVID-19, international cooperation is needed more than ever, and students need to be part of the way forward.

Students have the power to influence major international decisions. An international student government is a way to make that happen.

Justin Patrick is a PhD student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and is the president of the International Association for Political Science Students. He served as the internal commissioner of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union from January to April 2019. He was also a governance and policy analyst for the University of Toronto Students’ Union from June to September 2019.

U of T must support international students suffering from sleep deprivation

On the need for fair academic treatment of those learning in other time zones Meghna Chaudhury Varsity Contributor

There are various challenges that come with being an international student at U of T, whether that be the culture shock or adjusting to residential life. However, in the new world of online learning, international students are now also operating under the difficulties of time differences.

While there has been substantial research examining the negative effects of online learning, there is not nearly enough about the effects of sleep deprivation that international students are facing due to the nature of learning remotely from a different country. For myself, I attempt to keep up with my studies with a 13-hour time difference. It has drained my motivation, thrown my circadian rhythm into disarray, and made it difficult for me to have a healthy work-life balance.

The effects of sleep deprivation are well known. However, it’s in instances such as this that I believe my health is neither being consid-

ered or respected when it comes to the structure of online classes. As I am taking my classes at night and find it hard to sleep during the day, my health has been suffering. I have been skipping my classes to rest and finding it very hard to do well because of the lack of sleep.

A 2017 study published on Dovepress found that sleep disruption in the short term culminates in higher stress, depression, anxiety, and more. Disruption also results in changes in circadian rhythms, making it harder to sleep, and pro-inflammatory responses. Ultimately, it culminates in reduced quality of life, emotional stress or mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits.

I have a pre-existing injury that is being exacerbated by these effects. In this way, online class is affecting not only my motivation, but also my health. Additionally, many studies have found direct correlations between decreased academic performance and lack of sleep. This can be reflected in the academic effects of sleep deprivation from effects on cognitive function.

Nature published an article in 2019 finding that sleep quality, consistency, and duration is directly correlated with better academic performance in postsecondary students. Considering the lack of sleep an international student like myself is getting, I would not be surprised to find that many other international students are similarly suffering academically.

Considering Canada’s current struggles with the pandemic, travelling to study isn’t an option we can risk. I do not believe that this environment is conducive for international students dealing with large time differences, such as myself, and the time difference is already having students risk their health just to attend class online.

The university is in need of a nuanced revamp on how it is currently handling international

REBECA MOYA/THEVARSITY

education.

There needs to be a stronger consideration of the effects of sleep deprivation and how the current course structure is contributing to it, and concessions must be made for the health and safety of the students to ensure fair treatment in light of their struggles.

Meghna Chaudhury is a first-year life sciences student at St. Michael’s College.

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DECEMBER 7, 2020

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We need more safe, affordable housing options Assessing what’s available for students amidst the pandemic

Anira Mohsen Varsity Contributor

Student housing has been a point of confusion and uncertainty during the pandemic. When classes moved online, housing and home environments became a dilemma for many students. Scenarios included moving back into their family homes, moving out to off-campus housing, or staying on residence.

Having lived in residence and off campus, I can provide some general insight on the experiences of securing housing. Safety, affordability, and convenience must be prioritized.

Assessing residence During regular years, living in residence has its unique conveniences, with more opportunities to socialize, easy access to facilities, and more time to spare with classes being fairly closeby. On the other hand, living in independent housing can be cheaper, and freedom away from campus coupled with self-management and discovery makes for an ‘adult’ ex-

perience.

However, with COVID-19 toppling the perceived ‘normal,’ the whole student housing experience — whether in or out of residence — has changed completely.

Looking into U of T’s housing facilities and resources available for the pandemic, it seems that it has been moving in a good direction.

The university is still upholding its guarantee of residence for first-year students and abiding by public health regulations to keep one student per room, with some exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

U of T is also covering the fees and resources for international students completing mandatory quarantine off campus — in fact, eligibility for an all-expenses paid, safe, 14day quarantine can be requested by any U of T student living on or off campus. However, students can only take advantage of this program for the necessary 14 days; the university does not guarantee full coverage of the costs of student’s stays after these two weeks. Equipped with the U of T Emergency Response Grant

Fund, qualifying students are paid some financial relief for academic and housing purposes.

So far, living in U of T housing looks like the most convenient option for a full-time student who can afford it. However, the cost of U of T housing has not been reduced despite the financial crisis brought about by the pandemic. Although some fees were waived and deadlines were pushed, many students contemplated the expense of residence this year.

Conversing with students who are parttime essential workers, they all seem to share the same disdain of not feeling safe enough to stay on campus and work, with some expressing the financial stress of U of T housing.

Consequently, many are choosing to not live on campus and instead move in with family or find a rental lease. Not being able to afford housing and moving back in with family or working in the pandemic to manage a lease can be mentally and financially draining.

I can personally sympathize — the minimal amount of social interaction, the anxiety in getting groceries, and my avoidance of crowded places have made living off campus this year isolating and stressful.

U of T must work to make all of its housing options more affordable.

JESSIE YANG/THEVARSITY

Possible housing solution from a personal perspective From assessing both sides of student housing during the pandemic, I would prefer living off campus during these challenging times. Although it is not the most economical alternative, I find it to be safer and more accessible.

Living off campus has allowed me to keep a space for quarantine if need be and possess all my essentials, which could possibly lower my chances of infection, benefiting all essential workers I may have to come in contact with.

I’ve also experienced flexibility with lower rent prices, which makes for an overall sustainable and

fortunate housing experience during COVID-19. Amidst the pandemic, having to move off campus has been very daunting, yet interestingly accommodating, being very dissimilar to the ‘normal’ past.

However, this isn’t the same for everyone.

Unfortunately, considering the eviction crisis Toronto is currently facing, there’s not always enough support for those who are currently struggling with rent in the city. In the end, it seems as if every housing option has its positives and negatives; the only clear answer is that we need more housing options that are affordable and safe.

More widely accessible housing for all As a U of T student, there seems to be many possible options for housing. However, with many businesses suffering losses, many students are facing unemployment and the stress of the pandemic. Needless to say, with the government capping unemployment funds and benefits, those who are not receiving enough financial assistance are in a hopeless place.

As a response, the City of Toronto has passed a housing plan and formed the Housing Action Team (HAT) to address the housing issues of the pandemic. The team suggested investment in low-interest rent banks and rental assistance, which may be other viable options for students.

The HAT is a potential breakthrough for any and all affected by the loss of shelter. Its contention of providing housing as a right is commendable. However, even with all these options presented, there are not nearly enough affordable and accessible housing options.

Furthermore, these supports don’t currently prioritize student renters and their unique struggles.

For all those navigating housing in the pandemic, the City of Toronto should look to speed up the suggestions provided by the HAT before a housing crisis occurs in order to provide shelter to any and everyone. It would also be a great opportunity for the university to ensure that students have a seat at the table when it comes to providing safe, affordable housing in the city. In the end, to combat this problem, U of T must take action to make residence more affordable for more students.

Anira Mohsen is a third-year economics and political science student at UTM.

Letters to the Editor Re: U of T’s five worst buildings “ ‘However, not all is lost. The Robarts Common, in construction since 2017, should add space for much-needed “daylight and views [from] a five-storey, glass-enclosed addition along the west side.” ’ This is terrible! That glass anus adds absolutely zero aesthetic appeal to the building.”

— Luc Foster (from web)

Re: U of T’s five worst buildings “I actually loved the Exam Centre precisely because it was an ex-factory... I thought it was really neat that they managed to reuse the space while keeping some of the industrial kitsch! Unfortunately, the walls are paper thin... Someone fell violently ill during an exam and you could hear their vomiting and flushing in vivid detail from 50 m away” — Luke Zhō (from web)

Re: Controversial UMLAP invoked once in 2019–2020, down from eight cases last year “The university offered tuition refunds ‘in some cases’. So tens of thousands of students, a handful of cases, a bloated bureaucracy with hefty paycheques, - and they still pinch students for funding even if they force them out. Pecuniam Sequite, Velut Pecunia Aevo!

U of T is cruel cold.”

— Paul Newland (from web)

Re: Opinion: Online classes focus too little on meaningful learning, too much on accountability “Agree agree agree!!! As a working U of T grad, I can confirm that the ridiculous focus on deadlines is nothing but detrimental and a very poor reflection of the real world. It doesn’t make students more prepared, it simply distracts from real learning.”

— Cove MacDonald (from web)

Re: U of T’s five worst buildings “They’re okay.”

— Robert Bruce Maule (from web) Re: Opinion: Don’t dismiss the religious scientist in your lap just yet “Many faiths don’t practice literal interpretations. It’s completely possible to practice religion while still trusting in science.”

— Garnet Shredder (from web) Re: U of T’s five worst buildings “I think Robarts has a certain gravitas. Like The National Gallery, it would make a great film set to shoot a dystopic movie. Claude Bissell’s baby was to lure more graduate students to U of T. I think it serves its function quite well.”

— Moses Ezekiel Wuggenig (from web)

Re: Opinion: Don’t dismiss the religious scientist in your lap just yet “I hear people use the example of early scientists being religious as an example for compatibility, yet those scientists lived in an era when being not religious was a crime.

The article even cites Francis Bacon, who again, lived in a time when revealing not being religious would ruin his whole life if he weren’t. It would be better to use modern examples.”

— Sky Day (from web) Re: U of T’s five worst buildings “ ‘Ugly Brutalist Style’ has to be the one of the top five worst Varsity hot takes.”

— Ross Slaughter (from web)

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FEATURES

Ringing in a lo

How COVID-19 border restrictions im

Sacrifices to prevent the spread — holi Joshua Chong Associate Features Editor

New Year’s Eve is always extra special for Raphaella So, but not for the usual reasons.

The fourth-year PhD biochemistry student doesn’t usually spend it partying with friends as the clock inches toward midnight, nor does she spend it on a date night with her boyfriend.

Instead, New Year’s Eve is always a quiet, family affair spent with her parents at their home in Hong Kong. The evening usually starts with a hot pot dinner, and then she and her parents turn on the television to watch the New Year’s countdown and the fireworks show.

But the day isn’t just spent celebrating the end of another year. For So, December 31 is more than New Year’s Eve — it’s also her mother’s birthday.

Despite living in Toronto for the past four years — with a busy schedule filled with lab research, schoolwork, and international conferences — So has always found her way back to Hong Kong for the holidays. She’s tried her best to never miss a New Year’s Eve celebration by her mother’s side.

This year will be the first time she does.

“I do miss my parents a lot,” So said, while reflecting on the prospect of not seeing her parents until next November.

For plenty of U of T international students living in Toronto for the fall semester, the COVID-19 pandemic and Canada’s border restrictions have upended their travel plans for the holidays. Currently, the government of Canada is only permitting Canadian citizens, permanent residents, individuals registered under the Indian Act, and protected persons to enter the country.

Some foreign nationals are allowed to enter the country under certain circumstances, such as if they have a study permit, work permit, or an immediate family member who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

So does have a study permit and would be able to return to Canada if she did decide to go back to Hong Kong for the winter break.

However, she said that such a trip is simply not feasible.

For international students, there could be scheduling issues, as final exam schedules mean that winter break can be around four weeks for some students this year. If So went home, she would have to quarantine for 14 days upon her arrival in Hong Kong and quarantine for another two weeks once she returns to Canada.

Although many international students living in Toronto are unable to return home for the winter break, some Canadian citizens are also affected by the travel restrictions and will not be able to see their family over the holidays.

Some live in regions of the country — such as the territories and Atlantic provinces — that require all arriving travellers to self-quarantine for 14 days. Others, such as

Kennedy Providence — a third-year student studying biology and health and disease who holds both Canadian and Trinidadian and Tobagonian citizenship — will be unable to go home to families living overseas due to travel restrictions in their family’s country of residence.

For the first time ever, these students will be spending winter break alone in Toronto — without any family or friends.

The challenge of crossing borders during a pandemic Although Providence was born in Canada, she was raised — and has spent most of her life — in Trinidad and Tobago, where her family currently resides.

Due to the government’s closure of the border, Trinidadian and Tobagonians are unable to enter the country unless they apply in advance for a special exemption. Even if a waiver is granted, however, travellers still have to quarantine for 14 days upon entry.

But, according to Providence, that travel exemption is difficult to obtain. “It’s really, really tough to get an exemption to either leave or come into the country,” admitted Providence, who had to apply for an exemption over the summer in order to travel to Canada for the fall semester.

Since March, all commercial flights in and out of Trinidad and Tobago have been cancelled. However, over the summer when Providence was able to secure a repatriation flight in July with help from the Canadian embassy.

She decided to come back to Toronto this fall because she had a job secured and believed she would be more productive if she was on campus. But now, in December, all of Providence’s classes are online and her job has been paused due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Unable to return to Trinidad and Tobago for the three-week break, Providence has resigned herself to the fact that she will be spending these holidays away from her family.

It will be a holiday season far different from what she is used to. Providence, the oldest of three siblings, is the only member of her immediate family not in Trinidad and Tobago for the holidays. This will be her first holiday season spent away from her family — and her first Christmas in a Canadian winter.

For the Providence family,

the Christmas season is usually a big deal, involving partying, beach days, and large family gatherings. “That’s what the Christmas season is [for us],” she said. “We spend probably about seven days just visiting family — like… three households a day.”

Once Christmas is over, the celebrations for Kwanzaa begin. “On Boxing Day, we would head to my uncle’s house, and we would have a huge Kwanzaa celebration,” she reminisced.

For Providence, the most important part of the holiday season is spending quality time with her family — something she will be unable to do this year. “My family and I are really close,” she said. “We do everything together.”

Her mother has been trying to mail Christmas decorations and lights for her room to share the holiday spirit, but Providence said it just doesn’t feel right. In a regular year, she would be baking cookies at home with her

family and dressing up in matching pajamas with her seven-year-old sister.

“Honestly, I feel kind of like I don’t deserve to celebrate Christmas this year because I’m not with them,” she said. “I’ve been kind of telling [my mother] not to send me those things because… it’ll just make me feel even worse.”

“They’re really devastated as well.”

But despite being over 4,000 kilometres from home, Providence is going to try and emulate some of her family’s traditions this winter.

“I think I’m going to probably do a Zoom call with my entire family [on] Christmas Eve [and] Christmas day,” she said. “I’m going to also try to cook a Trinidadian Christmas meal to make it feel a bit more like home.”

Still, this holiday season is going to be much more quiet than usual. Although she lives in a house in Toronto with a few friends, all of them will be leaving to go home for the

features@thevarsity.ca

onely new year:

mpact students with families abroad

iday plans upended for the first time break.

A few of her friends living in Toronto extended an invitation for her to visit them, but Providence declined. “I don’t want to feel like I’m imposing, especially with all the COVID restrictions,” she said.

She plans to either stay at her house by herself or spend it with her one uncle who lives in Canada.

“It’s really saddening,” she said, reflecting on what the next few weeks will look like. The past few years during the last weeks of the semester, the thought of going home to Trinidad and Tobago helped her get through the final round of coursework and exams.

“Usually, I would have something at the end of the semester to look forward to,” Providence said.

“I would be pushing [and] working to get all my finals done… looking forward to that one plane ride.”

The loneliness of a pandemic holiday season Likewise, in a normal year, So would also be looking forward to her trip back home during the

final weeks of the fall semester. In the first week of December, So would usually be busy reaching out to her friends in Hong Kong to schedule meet-ups when she arrived, filling in appointments on her computer’s calendar.

“Before I even arrive, half of my schedule is set,” So said. When she would land in Hong Kong, she would hit the ground running — splitting her time equally between family and friends. Her first day would be jam-packed with plans, usually beginning with breakfast with her parents, then lunch with friends, and dinner with different friends in a different neighbourhood.

Other than missing her family, So acknowledged that it will be difficult not seeing her friends in person this year. “I really only get to see them that one time, as a group,” she said.

Some of her meet-ups will be virtual this year — such as a karaoke event with friends.

Still, it won’t be the same.

KRISTAL

SITY /THEVAR MENGUC

The holidays, especially, will be much lonelier than usual for So, who has been living alone since February. “This pandemic… makes you feel low, especially if you live alone,” she admitted.

The loneliness of living alone during the pandemic has been compounded by the fact that So hasn’t been able to see her boyfriend since the beginning of March. Thomas Fung, her boyfriend of three years, is also from Hong Kong, but currently lives and works in Texas.

Since Fung is neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident, he is unable to enter the country. And because So does not hold Canadian citizenship or permanent residency either, Fung does not qualify for the exemption that allows extended family members, such as partners, to unite with their loved ones in Canada.

Since So does have a study permit, she could visit her boyfriend in Texas and return to Toronto, but she said that it would be too risky since she works in a hospital lab with other researchers. “I’m not going to… put everyone’s lives at risk,” she said.

Although Fung and So are used to maintaining a long-distance relationship, having lived in different countries for most of their three-year relationship, So acknowledged that this is the longest stretch of time that they have not seen each other in person.

Amid the pandemic, So and Fung have been keeping in contact through video calls and daily text messages. Some days, the text messages are just an exchange of cat memes.

Other days, it could be an intense conversation about events happening around the world. So acknowledges that it is nice knowing that there is someone there to listen to her.

According to So, because her relationship with Fung has mainly been long distance, she’s used to text messages and video calls in lieu of in-person meet-ups.

“In that sense, it has not changed that much,” she said. “But of course… not being able to see [him] in person [still] really sucks.”

They usually saw each other once every three months during long weekends when So could fly down to the US or Fung

could come up to Canada. Now, the two are unsure when they’ll get to see each other in person again.

And that uncertainty, according to Fung, has made this ordeal most difficult.

“Before [the pandemic] we would kind of know — approximately, at least — when we would see each other again. It’s something to look forward to,” Fung said. “Now, there’s none of that. Not knowing when we’re going to see each other again — [that’s] the tough part.”

The toll on mental health Over the course of the pandemic, So has noticed a decline in her mental health. “I’m somewhere between yellow and orange,” she said, noting where she lies on the mental health continuum. This spectrum spans five colours: green, yellow-green, yellow, orange, and red, with red signifying those in crisis.

Her productivity has also declined. After working the morning shift in her lab, she often feels unmotivated to work in the afternoons. “It’s the things that don’t have specific deadlines… and the self-improving things that have been difficult to do,” she said. Most days, she finds herself watching Netflix after work.

But So has come to accept that her productivity and drive will decline. Right now, she’s just trying to get through the pandemic.

“I am no longer pressuring myself to put out a complete manuscript draft, write my thesis, or pick up a new coding language,” she wrote in a blog post. “I am trying to eat well without frequent grocery trips, exercise without leaving my home, maintain basic human contact without seeing anyone in person, and hopefully get some work done in the process.”

Her decline in mental health has been exacerbated by the isolation, being away from friends and family for months on end. But it has also been compounded by the fear of contracting COVID-19 with no one near her to turn to.

“With my local friends moving back with their families, the fear that I will suffer alone in a foreign country became very real,” she wrote. “When Trudeau closed down inbound international travel, my parents in Hong Kong called me and said, ‘Be careful, because we cannot be there for you if you get sick.’ ” Despite the position she is in, So understands the need for travel restrictions. “Because I’m a biologist — and from a public health perspective — I can see why,” she said. “Because the more international travel there is, there’s more risk.”

Providence echoes the same sentiment.

“I am very, very [much] in support of the restrictions,” she said. “I think we need to crack down on this virus, once and for all.

Yes, it’s putting people in very, very dire, unfortunate situations. But I mean anything to stay alive, at this point — and keep the population healthy.”

Arts & Culture

December 7, 2020 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

country in which you are not yet comfortable or able to use its official languages can be daunting, especially when seeking employment.

An advantage of ethnic enclaves is that, through the elimination of such language barriers, local businesses can efficiently integrate new immigrants into the workplace, setting them up for long-term success.

Furthermore, possessing a shared language and identity has been proven to allow for profitable social interactions, thus strengthening bonds between coworkers in any given labour market and providing them with financial stability and economic mobility.

The world at your fingertips: Toronto’s cultural epicentres

A deeper look into the ethnic enclaves of our city

Toronto’s ethnic enclaves are a unique feature of the city, but are threatened by gentrification.

SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

Evelia Raphael Varsity Contributor

Toronto has been named one of the most multicultural cities in the world, consisting of more than 230 diverse nationalities and with over half of its population born outside of Canada.

As multiculturalism is at the forefront of Toronto’s global reputation, it comes as no surprise that Ontario’s capital is rich with cultural neighbourhoods, including Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy, and Little India, to name a few.

Commonly known as ethnic enclaves, these neighbourhoods tend to have a population density that’s composed of specific ethnocultural groups and serve as landscapes through which habitants can find common identity, while also contributing to economic growth through tourism. One can feel as though they are travelling the world while experiencing the diverse music, art, dishes, and traditions of various peoples by simply exploring the depths of the city.

These demographically distinct environments play a vital role in the understanding of Canada’s history with multiculturalism and immigration.

How are such culturally enriched communities formed?

The emergence of ethnic enclaves can be accredited to the various socioeconomic factors that have shaped the living conditions of people from similar geographic regions.

Such conditions can be categorized into both push and pull factors. The push factors, or the factors that force people to relocate, can be traced back to the overlying superstructures of race and class division.

These superstructures manifest in discrimination, communication barriers, unemployment, and selective housing.

The pull factors, or the factors that attract populations to migrate to new regions, include the immersion into a common culture, the accessibility of ethnocultural resources, and the proximity to family and friends.

Case study: Chinatowns Toronto saw a surge in immigration during the 1970s and 1980s, when large Chinese populations settled in Canada due to the end of World War II and the implementation of new railroad systems.

These settlements can be traced back to the discrimination imposed on Chinese people in 1855, when railroad construction was terminated. Settling

primarily on the west coast of Canada, refugee enclaves began to take root as workers suffered a great deal of Sinophobia and physical abuse from the predominantly white society.

Over time, Chinese people found themselves migrating east as many settled in Toronto’s Financial District, leading to the formation of what is known as “Toronto’s First Chinatown,” located between Bay Street and Spadina Avenue.

The function of ethnic enclaves in overcoming the barriers of immigration Today, Chinatowns and similar enclaves continue to thrive and expand, preserving the cultural integrity of historically oppressed communities. They serve as a shelter from an environment plagued by racial and ethnic animosity.

Well established residents may find a sense of cultural belonging in these neighbourhoods that they would not have found otherwise, as they grant them a chance to connect with their roots and engage with people of similar ethnic descent.

However, these enclaves are also important in helping immigrants find communal ways to immerse themselves into Canadian society at large, such as by participating in the economy.

Managing finances is often a central focus for new immigrants. The difficulty of navigating a foreign

No, I’m not white-washed — I’m Punjabi

How I became comfortable in my own skin, despite the barriers within my own community Angad Deol Associate Sports Editor

“What? You’re Punjabi too?” is a statement I have heard far too often in my life. I grew up in a household that was definitely in tune with Punjabi culture. Although we didn’t visit the Gurdwara — the Sikh place of worship — quite often, my father made sure that both my brother and I understood the foundation of our religion, the important figures of our culture, and what it meant to be Punjabi.

My proficiency in Punjabi, however, was never the best. I often stumbled in conversations with peers and family members from abroad, leading to a lot of embarrassment. Some of my friends in school would relentlessly tease me — “How can you call yourself Desi?” “You’re so white-washed!”

That last sentiment especially stung. I hated being called white-washed. No matter what I did, I could never shake that label.

I grew up in Brampton, a city with a large population of Punjabis, especially a lot of Sikhs.

Most of my friends shared the same cultural background as me and faced a lot of the same issues — never getting our names pronounced correctly being the first to come to mind.

This is why it hurt to be called white-washed by others. Why are you excluding me? I know exactly what you’re going through!

I often felt as if other first-generation Punjabi-Canadians I grew up with would exclude me because I wasn’t as ‘brown’ as

them. I never really listened to Punjabi music for example; mostly because I could hardly understand it.

I was chastised for listening to ‘white’ music, and when my friends would play Punjabi music, I would often get laughed at simply because I didn’t vibe enough. Sometimes, I would be told that I “dressed too white.” Over time, small comments like this led me to begin to resent my own culture.

When I was 17 and in high school, my closest friend did a spoken word on his experiences as a Black man who was told “he was too white” and how he learned to love himself and feel confident that he was a great representation of his culture — despite what his peers may say. It wasn’t until then that I realized that I too could feel comfortable as a Punjabi without needing external validation.

From then on, I began to disregard the comments my peers made about me being too white — if they kept putting up barriers between us, as Punjabis, I would tear them down. I began to be much more active within my community, and I was sure to correct people when they said my name wrong.

By the time I came to U of T, I was comfortable in my own skin, and proudly wore my culture on my sleeve. During orientation week, one of my group members noticed the Kara — a steel bracelet worn by Sikhs — on my wrist, and told me that this was his first time meeting a Sikh, and how he heard these wonderful things about my culture from

abroad.

It was the first time I had been recognized as a Punjabi, and I had a long conversation with him about my culture. I felt proud, and for the first time, I got to extend a bridge instead of building a wall.

In the wake of the recent farmers protest in

Gentrification of ethnic enclaves While ethnic enclaves provide a wide variety of benefits to immigrant populations, gentrification is threatening the foundation these benefits rest on.

Valid concerns are often brought up regarding the potential for gentrification to negatively impact these already vulnerable sectors of the city that are often occupied by racialized communities.

The process of gentrification occurs when wealthier individuals with higher degrees of formal education relocate into working-class or underfunded communities. These individuals typically arrive with the intent to establish affluent businesses or corporations to generate a profit and, in doing so, contribute to increased costs of housing, property taxes, and overall living expenses. This creates a dangerous pathway to the inevitable displacement of established residents and businesses run by racialized groups as their lives become more difficult to afford.

Gentrification’s impact on ethnic enclaves can be stark: in Gentrification in a Global Context, Jerome Krase noted that in gentrified ethnic enclaves, “not only are local residents and businesses displaced but the symbolic representations of people and their activities are as well.” In that way, the cultural forces that help integrate new community members can be eradicated.

Such concerns must be considered in order to better understand the nuances of the superstructures influencing ethnocultural relationships in Toronto.

Ethnic enclaves have always been one of the cornerstones of the multiculturalism on which the city prides itself. It is therefore crucial to acknowledge the benefits they provide and simultaneously find new methods to alleviate concerns over their gentrification.

India, in which the state of Punjab has been especially impacted, I have seen a unique unity within my community, which is quite rare.

It seems that, for a brief moment, everyone I know has understood that we all share the same roots and must support the foundation that helped raise us despite our personal differences. Our culture, our ancestors, and our families’ livelihoods are under attack, and now more than ever, it’s important that we stand together, rather than place barriers between us.

Navigating my Punjabi identity is difficult when others deny you are a part of the community.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

var.st/arts

DECEMBER 7, 2020

The alluring fantasy of ‘cottagecore’ Baking pies in seclusion sounds pretty good to daydreamers in city basement apartments Kate Haberl Varsity Contributor

Growing up, I spent most of my time reading books. Two of my absolute favourites are by Enid Blyton: Five Run Away Together and The Secret Island. Both books are about groups of literal children — and, in the case of one group, a dog — who flee mean relatives by escaping to deserted islands.

Once there, they grow food, build homes in caves and groves of trees, and spend their days tanning in the sun and exploring the islands. Who wouldn’t want that? The idea of leaving society behind to live off the land with my closest friends appealed to me at age seven, and it definitely still appeals now.

At seven, I was kind of obsessed with the idea of living off the land. For months, I worked on building a tree fort at school during lunch hour; it was actually really cool, but the school called it a safety hazard and got rid of it. I think that most of my fascination was just a result of a desire for freedom and independence, rather than a need to escape.

Now that I’m an adult with freedom and independence, saving pictures of girls in meadows wearing pretty dresses and cute little homes in the forest to my Pinterest boards is definitely a form of escapism.

To be honest, life just feels so fast. I’m constantly scrambling to meet assignment

flowers and trees wind around a path, perhaps a bench or two off to the side.

Flowers sprout from window boxes, and the windows, which are large, numerous, and segmented, are always open. The air smells like summer, and I hang our clothes to dry in the backyard. I wear a uniform of sundresses and pass my days gardening, reading, and baking pies from scratch. We go on picnics and talk about philosophy and take photos on film.

Some of this fantasy is based on happy memories: time spent with friends in the summer, when we

deadlines, spending hours a day in Zoom meetings, and trying to figure out how I can maintain some semblance of a social life. That’s all aside from the constant, emotionally-crushing nightly news, which seems to play a constant loop of racist cops, increasing COVID-19 cases, and Donald Trump.

Now, in addition to all of the stress that I feel has been plaguing me for years, I’m stuck in my basement apartment with tiny windows and in small parks with grey skies.

Toronto feels pretty darn drab this time of year.

The stress of a pandemic, the fact that I feel like I’m stuck on a highway with a broken-down car, and my lack of life outside mean that, now more than ever, I’m sinking into MIA CAR a fantasy.

NEVA LE /THEV ARSITY My personal vision of cottagecore is this: didn’t have I live — perhaps with someone I love, a dog, and some close friends — in a small house at the school to worry about and could go on adventures. edge of a forest. I have a big garden where I grow Most of it, however, is kind of a manifestation of vegetables and another where slightly overgrown a feeling of fulfillment that I don’t feel that I’ve

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ever achieved.

I suppose some of this vision is attainable — maybe I could have a house like this someday, somewhere warmer than Canada, with lots of days of sun. I could plant vegetables and flowers, and I know how to bake pies from scratch. But the rest of it, the idea of a life in which I don’t need to constantly work so that I don’t starve to death, is only realistic if I marry into money — if you’re rich, call me.

Cottagecore seems to stem, for me at least, from a desire to return to simpler times when we were more self-sufficient and not constantly focused on trading our labour for needs and wants, when one’s mind was unbothered by geopolitics and the climate crisis.

There’s also a sense of expectation for this kind of life: if I could only live in my cottagecore fantasy, I would feel complete and fulfilled. The alarm bell that seems to be constantly ringing in my head would cease, leaving my mind quiet and at peace. I would finally be able to stop searching for whatever gives my life meaning. Especially as a U of T student, there is so much pressure to achieve and beat your peers.

Cottagecore seems to free us of these expectations and glorifies a world in which simply existing is good enough.

Maybe I’ll never realize my cottagecore fantasy, but maybe just having a fantasy is good enough. And who knows? Try checking in with me in five years. If I’m lucky, I’ll be living in my forest cottage and you won’t be able to find me.

Finding security in being Chinese-Iranian Canadian Heritage is a part of identity — but not all of it

Jasmin Akbari Varsity Contributor

“This is for your own good,” my mom said. “You’ll understand your culture better if you surround yourself in the community.” This all too familiar talk that made me want to pull out my hair was my weekly Saturday lecture as I sat brooding in the car while my mom drove me to Chinese school.

I remember hearing lowered voices on my first day. No one knew why I was there or if I was even Chinese. All I could do was sit in my seat, stay quiet, and pretend that I couldn’t hear the discussions around me. Who was I? Why was I there? Did I even speak Mandarin?

Over time, no one cared to discuss the mixedculture girl sitting in the back of the class anymore. But it was clear that I wasn’t the same as my classmates, and I would never be.

Going to Iranian school was no different. I was an outsider who could only say a few words in Farsi: ‘Salom,’ ‘Houbi,’ and ‘ghormeh sabzi.’ In sequence, “hello,” “how are you,” and my favourite Iranian dish. You could only imagine the deep conversations I had in those classes.

The weekend battles attending these schools were all rooted in my heritage.

My heritage My parents met in Toronto and got married soon after. There were no church bells or a big white wedding dress. There weren’t 200 guests or a big cake with fondant flowers. It was just a small town hall wedding, and a year later, I was born.

My parents worked hard, not only at their jobs but also in understanding each other’s cultures.

My dad is Iranian and my mother is Chinese, yet they have been able to make it work.

They took time to appreciate and embrace each other’s culture, and to this day, I still think my mom makes better loobia polo. So when I was growing up, it never occurred to me that growing up between cultures was different. I felt secure in who I was.

I was exposed to both my Chinese and Iranian culture during childhood, and my parents made sure that my sister and I were equally proud of both sides. As I grew up, I learned why it was so important to be secure in myself.

My third identity To me, my diverse background is simple enough to understand.

I can get by without discussing it. But once it gets mentioned, I have people in shock with jaws dropped and a dozen of questions not too far behind. I go on airplane mode for most of these questions, which typically involve me

‘proving’ that I am Chinese and Iranian and not just pranking them.

Being Chinese-Iranian in Canada has come with its own set of challenges. I have three sets of rules, three cultures, and three communities to navigate.

While it is not abnormal to tweak ourselves a little bit as we change environments, being mixed means that my whole identity changes depending on who I am with and where I am.

There is the constant struggle of having to ‘play up’ one of my cultures based on my environment. And yet, none of my efforts have ever been enough.

I am being treated in a way where I have to ‘choose’ a side, yet no side will accept me. I can communicate in Mandarin, but I don’t look Chinese enough.

I look mostly Iranian, but I don’t speak Farsi. I was born in Canada, but I am not white.

I have learned to accept this; it is my reality, and I know I will always be secure in who I am.

REBECA MOYA/ THEVARSITY

Finding security in myself I think a large reason why I am secure in who I am is because of my family’s open-minded way of thinking.

I remember

visiting my family in China and walking down the streets of Beijing with my Chinese grandparents.

Everywhere we went, my sister and I would get questions about where we were from and if we were related to our family. As a child, I didn’t realize I looked dissimilar from my grandparents, but my nai-nai and yei-yei never made me feel any different. They overcame the cultural tensions that exist and accepted my father, my sister, and me.

I consider myself lucky to have had such an open-minded family because I know this is not the case for everyone. I have friends who have a side of the family who won’t speak to them because of unjustifiable prejudice.

While my family has done much for my security, I have come to accept that my background does not totally define me. A large part of it is developing my identity in other ways. I have had to overcome the Western influences in my life, and I accept that I can’t change my heritage. It is and never will be something I can control, but I can look beyond what people have to say about it.

It all boils down to two things: you can either reject your culture or you can not let it define you entirely.

Being part of multiple cultures, especially in Canadian society, I have faced many instances in which I could reject one or both of my cultures.

But instead, I choose not to; I see my heritage as a piece of my identity, but not all of it. It has defined my childhood, my values, and my beliefs, but there is more to me than that.

Growing up between cultures has taught me a major lesson: to embrace my heritage whilst ignoring the conversation surrounding it.

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THE VARSITY

ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

How the Hart House Debate Club argues its way through a pandemic Two participants on how they adjusted online

The move online meant leaving the debates room at Hart House, instead opting for Zoom and Discord.

GABRIEL CARTER/THEVARSITY

Kiara Sankhe Varsity Contributor

Conceived in 1919, some may think of the Hart House Debate Club (HHDC) as an exhausted centenarian. They couldn’t be more wrong. The spirit of the club resembles a flexible, curious individual who loves to debate about anything that comes to mind.

Whilst the pandemic is a worldwide bummer for all things fun, the HHDC has kept up its lively discussions with even more rigour online.

Maria Bon, a second-year student and the HHDC’s social director, and Mia Feldman, a first-year novice, shared their perspectives with The Varsity on the shift to a virtual debate life.

The Varsity: What was the initial impact of the pandemic on the HHDC? Maria Bon: I was a part of the debate club before the pandemic. We had practices twice a week, and we also went to a bunch of tournaments. Obviously, that had to stop.

We moved online pretty quickly and had practices on Discord and Zoom all throughout summer. Tournaments also moved online — they actually run through Discord and Zoom as well. It’s been a pretty seamless transition, but the social aspects have definitely suffered.

Something that we keep a close eye on every year is our novice retention; this year we got a lot less novices. Yet, overall, I’m really glad that we can still continue doing what we love here.

TV: What online mediums does the HHDC use?

Mia Feldman: At our weekly practices, we have a Discord server that we all use, and that’s how we exchange information. We each get sent a Zoom link, which is really nice because we’re able to see each other’s faces, so it feels more normal.

Tournaments usually operate in a similar way. They’ll often use both Discord and Zoom. Discord is really accessible and pretty easy to use. We also use Facebook a lot to communicate. We have lots of messenger group chats where we chat with each other.

TV: Has the art of debating changed as a result of being online? Has it lost its essence in any way?

MB: A lot of debate is about being in the same room together, but having these visual components supplements for that. I think the biggest thing is the social aspect of debate.

Especially traveling to tournaments together.

Why does it take so long for members of the LGBTQ+ community to get it on?

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

Let’s talk about LGBTQ+ sex, education, and asking questions

Joshua Bienstock Varsity Contributor

Everyone has a cringey health class story; LGBTQ+ folks usually have more than one.

I was just Bar Mitzvah-ed, which for you non-Jewish readers happens right around your 13th birthday. The boys in my gym class met in a classroom for a regularly scheduled health class with our teacher, Mr. Kaufman. We got to the part where he was explaining how one goes about putting on a condom, although he did not do a full demonstration.

I would usually keep quiet in these situations to avoid too many stares or snickers; I was already getting my fair share of those. But this time, I felt it necessary to speak up. I asked something along the lines of, “Should we be using condoms for things other than penetrative vaginal sex?”

I could feel eyeballs slowly turning toward me as Mr. Kaufman confidently responded that wearing a condom is always a good move, for penetrative sex or otherwise.

I didn’t consciously realize that such a question might have outed me to the class. I genuinely just wanted to know when and how to use a condom better than how my teacher was describing it. Mr. Kaufman’s omission of any discussion about non-straight sexual experiences didn’t make this any easier.

It didn’t even cross my mind that it would be normal and healthy to engage in sexual experiences with a same-sex partner, let alone penetrative experiences. How could it?

No teacher had ever made an active effort to discuss it; in fact, some would have probably preferred it to be something that was actively discouraged.

All sex is stigmatized to begin with. Any talk

of sex must revolve around ‘healthy choices’ and ‘genuine relationships.’ Diagrams focus on male and female genitalia and the usually singular way they ought to fit with one another. In my experience, health class curricula are not built around actual experiences — they’re built around prevention and, at best, mitigation.

Teachers may not be actively discouraging sex, but by not acknowledging that it is a normal, healthy, and even positive thing to explore, they end up furthering the stigma that sex is somehow something to be looked down upon, something to be ashamed of.

This is something that hurts all teenagers.

They’re impressionable to these messages being fed to them, whether they are explicit or not.

Teenagers have no reason to look down on sex until an authority figure gestures them to do so.

These health class antics especially hurt members of the LGBTQ+ community; not only

Obviously that’s a really big bonding experience and how you make friends.

Debate is also very mentorship-based. When a new class of first-year debaters comes in, it’s up to the more experienced second-, third-, and fourth-year debaters to teach them how to debate and give them basics, especially for those who haven’t had high school experience.

TV: Do you find any unexpected benefits by going online?

MF: I think that it’s easier to participate in international tournaments now. Typically, it would be hard for us to go because they’re super far away, especially during midterm season. But now, a lot of Canadians are waking up at 4:00 am because of the time difference, but can still compete in the tournaments over Zoom.

MB: We used to have students from UTM and UTSC commuting to practices. Now, they can call in, so that’s a lot easier. But we also have a lot of people from our team who are dispersed across the world in different time zones. So that’s definitely harder for practices as well.

TV: Did the debate team have to drop any rituals from the virtual meetings?

MB: One cool thing is when we go to a tournament, and if we do really well, we have a little chant that we do together where the winner yells, “Whose house?” And the whole team yells back, “Hart House.” All the other Canadian teams make fun of us for it, but it’s a great endorphin rush. We haven’t figured out a way to do it over Zoom without breaking our ears.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. do we develop a stigma toward sex like everyone else, but we also have no way of knowing that there are different ways to have sex that do not involve penetration between cisgender men and cisgender women.

This lack of validation at a young age wreaks havoc on LGBTQ+ kids. We have no role models or educators to whom we feel comfortable asking our questions. Many of us don’t even know what to ask until we are thrust into the first sexual situations that we have no preparation for.

This is dangerous — not just because it makes us feel even more othered than we already do, but because older folks can more easily take advantage of us, which can lead to some uncomfortable experiences, if not something worse.

In my experience, I found that many members of the LGBTQ+ community end up beginning their university careers without significant sexual experiences. Most of our straight, cisgender peers have already been through those uncomfortable first, and even second or third, times. Slowly but surely, those of us who want to catch up do, but at what cost?

Instead of being taught how to safely have anal sex, for example, some members of the community spend years trying to figure it out on our own. First, we have to figure out if it is something that we like, and if so, how to go about it in a safe and pleasurable manner.

Instead of being taught that sex toys are healthy and beneficial for solo activities or to use with a partner, we spend years thinking there’s something wrong with making oneself feel good or have no concept of what it could look like to have a sexual experience without a penis.

LGBTQ+ sex should be celebrated. It should be welcomed with open arms and affirmed at a young age instead of ignored and stigmatized.

Educators must do their part to make health class a proactive place of learning, for folks of all gender and sexual identities; members of the LGBTQ+ community shouldn’t feel the need to speak up to see themselves represented in these curricula.

And for all my LGBTQ+ siblings out there: you are valid; your sexual experiences, no matter what they make look like, are valid; and the journey you are on to learn what you like and how you like it, cringey and positive experiences alike, is so damn valid.

Photo

December 7, 2020 var.st/photo photo@thevarsity.ca

Borders in design: “SUPPORT BLACK DESIGNERS”

The Daniels building has been transformed into a mural to challenge the racial gap Samantha Yao Photo Editor

Located right in the centre of Spadina Crescent, the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is hard to miss. Even harder to miss is its recent addition to the north facade: a large mural made of ‘pixels,’ — individual poster-sized sheets of artwork and writing — spelling out the words “SUPPORT BLACK DESIGNERS.”

projects and events where members can showcase their work, strengthen their portfolios, and network with fellow artists,” valuing growth, creativity, and diversity to support others.

“DAD’s original proposal was for a poster campaign aimed at giving cool tips and facts about the faculty building,” Mokhalalati wrote. A series of designed posters were proposed in January. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed this project, and according to Mokhalalati, the project advisors suggested publishing the posters on social media and planning “a more ambitious, community-based project to be executed physically.”

At that time, the new DAD executive team joined to pursue that objective. “Our original motivation for the revamped project was the pandemic and the massive changes in all aspects of life that it created, but then it shifted when there were voices emerging from the faculty in June from students and alumni calling for changes in the faculty and how it addressed anti-black racism both practically and pedagogically as an institution,” Mokhalalati wrote.

The mural in the making: pixels of artwork and written pieces.

I conducted a written interview about the mural with Tolu Alabi and Ashita Parekh, the designers of the project, and Tarek Mokhalalati, a curating executive of the Daniels Art Directive (DAD) 2020– 2021 team. Parekh and Alabi are both alumnae of the Daniels Faculty, currently working in Toronto, and Mokhalalati is a fifth-year undergraduate student at Daniels.

Race is a border that anyone who is part of a racialized group has to overcome, no matter what field they choose to pursue. This has become increasingly evident in recent years, especially with the recent establishment of the term ‘BIPOC’ — which stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour — and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Design and architecture are no exception.

“The team understands that a mural does not do justice to address the various lived experiences and discrimination that Black creatives face, especially in the education system,” Alabi wrote. “However, we hope this mural will call to action all members of the public and institutions to create lasting reformation in the academic and corporate fields.”

This massive project was spearheaded by the DAD, which Mokhalalati described as “an art collective for all thinkers, dreamers, and doers from any discipline and skill level.” He added that the DAD “[hosts] art

Mokhalalati putting up pixels.

“We realized that the mural we wanted to make would bring a lot of attention towards the faculty itself, so… we had a responsibility to make sure that the mural would echo the sentiments of marginalized students at the faculty.”

The project was opened up to the Daniels community in a special voting process for the winning proposal. According to Mokhalalati, the DAD “felt this approach would achieve [its] goal of echoing what the faculty itself wanted to see, and it was a mural that addressed the nature of the space that the faculty provided black designers.”

He continued, writing that the mural’s location on the north facade of the Daniels Faculty building “gave [the DAD] a unique opportunity to showcase [an important message on] one of Toronto’s most unique urban landscapes.”

The mural in progress!

Originally, Parekh and Alabi brainstormed the phrase “RECOGNIZE BLACK DESIGNERS,” but they realized that “Black designers do not need to be recognised by a higher authority, because they are already recognised by the public; they need to be recognised and celebrated by institutions.”

Parekh and Alabi then submitted the design “CELEBRATE BLACK DESIGNERS” and won by a community vote. This phrase was chosen because Parekh and Alabi thought “it would only be appropriate to use that space and platform to amplify marginalised voices and experiences.” After winning, the team consulted with Black students at the faculty and U of T, who suggested the phrase change to “SUPPORT BLACK DESIGNERS.” “It is only if you support Black designers with the right opportunities and tools, that you actually celebrate them,” Parekh wrote.

The DAD reached out to various groups for

help and sponsorship, including Vistaprint, which provided all the paper pixels and printed works, as well as masks for the volunteers who built the mural.

The directive also reached out to students, alumni of the faculty, family, and friends to submit illustrated or written work to be featured in the mural.

To further illustrate the borders that Black designers face, Alabi noted that, of the submissions, “only 20% were from Black people.” This disparity was shocking to me. Ultimately, the designers chose to use only the work submitted by Black people.

“We appreciate all the support from allies of the Black community, but this project was about amplifying the voices of Black people in design and if we had used all the submissions it would have taken away from the message,” Alabi wrote.

This project is still ongoing, planning to finish in February 2021. This timeline is unusually long; however, Mokhalalati wrote that the DAD “wanted to make sure that what [it was] creating and the manner in which [it] created it was appropriate, and [the DAD] prioritized community outreach and discussions with various student groups.”

From this project, Alabi hopes to see the implementation of courses that “highlight the benefits that Black creatives and designers have brought to the design industry” in order to provide “both Black Students and Non-Black students the opportunity to explore areas of design education that are beyond the current heavily eurocentric focused system.”

Alabi added that she would like to see “a design education that is also reflective of the entire story, and acknowledges the reality of marginalised groups that are displaced as a result of ‘ground-breaking’ architectural projects or movements.” She also wants “a faculty that is diverse and a system that is set in place to check and ensure that the faculty is diverse while also providing equitable opportunities for staff (from marginalised groups) to advance within the faculty.”

Mokhalalati wrote that “[Amplifying designers and contributors’] voices is part of [the] goal at the Daniels Art Directive, which is to support and help artists to grow and provide them the spaces and opportunities to do so.”

Looking to the future, Mokhalalati hopes for the DAD to achieve an equally — if not more — ambitious annual project next year, as well as “a smaller scale, community-based project.”

“The DAD team is very grateful for the amazing communities at the Daniels faculty and at UofT and we hope to continue making exciting projects in collaboration with these wonderful communities in the future.”

Photos courtesy of Guershom Kitsa and Daniels Art Directive

A render of the planned design.

Science

December 7, 2020 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

How COVID-19 is affecting science across borders

EVELYN HAYES/THEVARSITY

Two U of T scientists discuss slowdowns in their research Tahmeed Shafiq Science Editor

As scientists around the world race to develop vaccines for COVID-19, it has become clear that the pandemic has changed the pace of collaboration between researchers in various countries. An article from The New York Times earlier this year detailed the huge proliferation of international research as researchers from all parts of the world came together to share data and build on each other’s results.

But the story looks very different for researchers who aren’t studying COVID-19. For them, pandemic restrictions have slowed — and in some cases halted — research projects that had been months in the making. Disrupted supply lines for experimental equipment, border restrictions, and limited access to laboratories have all slowed the pace of science in 2020.

The Varsity spoke to two scientists at U of T whose collaborative projects have been impacted by COVID-19: Nicole Gervais, a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher studying aging and memory; and Shelley Lumba, a professor in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology studying parasitic plant species.

How COVID-19 has expanded international research International collaboration has long been one of the hallmarks of scientific research.

Large projects often require huge teams.

For example, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory collaboration, which was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2017 for the first detection of gravitational waves, had over 1,300 members last year, representing every inhabited continent beside Africa.

And the number of collaborations is growing. A 2017 study looking at over 10 million peer-reviewed papers found that the number of international collaborations tripled between 2000 and 2015.

This year, the global emphasis on COVID-19 research has led to a huge proliferation in biomedical re-

search. One of the main ways this trend can be observed is the rise in pre-prints — non-peer-reviewed, publicly accessible research papers — about COVID-19.

The biomedical pre-print repositories bioRxiv and medRxiv currently host over 11,000 papers on various aspects of COVID-19. For context, there have only been 7,113 papers related to HIV and AIDS published to the server in the past decade.

Much of this research has been international as researchers operate with an urgency that comes with a crisis. Paul Duprex, a virologist at the University of Pittsburgh, reported to The New York Times that he was able to share his lab’s preliminary vaccine testing data with scientists around the world within two hours of discovery — a time frame weeks shorter than the traditional peer review process allows.

Cancelled plans But what about researchers who aren’t studying COVID-19? For them, pandemic restrictions have made day-to-day operations difficult or even impossible.

Lumba had planned two research trips for this summer: one to France, as part of a $8,000–$15,000 research grant from the French embassy in Canada, and another to the United Kingdom to work with a regular collaborator.

Both trips were cancelled this year due to international travel restrictions. Even when restrictions were lifted and travel was made possible, it wasn’t a decision Lumba was willing to make.

“I don’t think we were restricted per se, but obviously, there’s always the quarantine [imposed by international travel] — and really, who wants to be travelling right now?” she said. “I don’t want to have to risk my life, or [the lives of ] my high-

risk family.”

At the same time, her collaborators were under their own restrictions that limited the time they could spend in their labs. According to Lumba, her collaborators may have prioritized their individual experiments over the collaborative research because of these limitations.

“I’m hoping that they’ll get some time to do [some of the experiments] themselves,” Lumba added. “But it will move incredibly slowly now.”

Moving online Gervais was able to pivot a little more easily. Ordinarily, her team would have women come into their lab in Sidney Smith Hall to provide data for ongoing research into the impacts of the estrogen hormone on cognition.

When provincial restrictions made inperson data collection impossible, her team shifted to an online questionnaire.

Meanwhile, the team’s collaborators in Montréal and Sweden were able to continue in-person testing at some point.

“So they’ve been going as per usual, but we’ve stopped, and we haven’t resumed,” Gervais said.

Both research teams have also had difficulty shipping equipment and data samples abroad. Lumba was expecting a shipment of a chemical compound made by a collaborator in Australia but ran into difficulties because local restrictions limited the volume that could be manufactured quickly.

Lumba also added that shipping items from the US is taking longer than usual.

“There’s definitely been issues with ordering items across the border,” she said.

Gervais said that her lab usually sends biological samples such as urine — which

can be used to analyze hormone levels — and saliva to Pennsylvania State University in the US. Gervais’ lab was unable to ship its samples this year, so it used St. Michael’s Hospital as a storage facility for Toronto samples.

Even then, Gervais said she was not allowed to go and process the stored samples. Fortunately, the lab’s Swedish collaborators were to pick up the slack since they had fewer restrictions.

Gervais said that this slowdown has been particularly felt by graduate students in the lab whose thesis projects have been halted. “This can delay their graduation, which can also have major impacts on their career later.”

The website of the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) mentioned that graduate students whose progress was impacted

by COVID-19 can be eligible for additional funding, including tuition exemptions and short-term schemes listed in the Funding Opportunity Directory. These may include an SGS Emergency Loan, usually valued between $1,000–$1,500, or an SGS Emergency Grant for those who have exhausted all other options.

As the year draws to a close, it seems likely that a vaccine will soon be approved by the Canadian government. It is not clear what the distribution timeline will be, but if it is relatively speedy, 2021 could be a more lively year for international science.

Lumba has already managed to extend her grant from the French embassy for another year in hopes that she can safely travel to France next year.

Hopefully she is one of the many researchers who can resume their work.

Otherwise, labs may have to stay shut for some time longer, leaving projects and graduations in limbo.

— With f iles from Aanya Bahl

var.st/science

DECEMBER 7, 2020

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How the city-country border impacts the genetics of plant species UTM researcher awarded fellowship for research urban evolution es toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to fend off herbivores. If the clover is ingested, cellular respiration is inhibited and the herbivore can die. But, if a white clover is cyanogenic and lives in sufficiently cold temperatures, then the HCN will lyse — break apart — the clover’s own cells, and the clover will die from self-toxicity.

Johnson and his team knew that urban environments tend to be warmer than their surrounding areas due to the greater number of dark, heat-absorbing surfaces such as roofs and roads. Accordingly, Johnson hypothesized that white clovers closer to the urban centre in warmer areas would likely be cyanogenic.

The result was almost the reverse. White clovers closer to the city were less likely to be cyanogenic. Why? The researchers theorized that colder ground temperatures closer to the city centre would cause cyanogenic plants to die from self-toxicity, making cyanogenesis an unfavourable trait.

Due to how quickly snow is cleared, and the minimal amounts of green space, urban spaces tend to have less snowpack and more snow melt than rural areas. While slightly counterintuitive, the absence of snowpack can lead to colder ground temperatures.

Snow cover can act as an insulator, preventing the ground from freezing.

Their result was fascinating, and unsurprisingly, many questions remained unanswered. How would a changing number of herbivores affect selection for cyanogenesis?

Would similar trends be observed in cities without snowfall? PhD student James Santangelo began measuring white clovers further south in warmer temperatures, gathering samples from 16 cities along a similar According to the research of Marc Johnson, the common white clover has adapted to its urban environment.

LEFT: BENTE NORDHAGEN CC FLICKR. RIGHT: COURTESY OF KIT HOLLAND CC FLICKR

Alison Feise Varsity Contributor

Travelling by train into the city, there are a number of signs that suggest your approach to an urban centre. Perhaps, there are taller buildings and tightly packed subway cars, or a greater frequency of public art and murals.

While not necessarily as palpable, there is another change happening just beyond the tracks. Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered that plants near urban centres — particularly common clover plants — have different genetic traits than those same species in rural environments.

These changes are understood in the context of urban evolution, an emerging field that investigates how dramatic environmental changes in urban areas affect the evolution of life.

Studying plant evolution Marc Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at UTM who researches urban evolutionary ecology. He is one of the lead scientists for the Global Urban Evolutionary (GLUE) Project, which is believed to be the largest collaborative project in evolutionary biology. Combining data from field sites all over the world, the project studies changes to plant genetics and population adaptation across urban-rural gradients in 168 different cities.

On November 10, Johnson was one of six scientists from across Canada who were awarded the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). De-

signed to support early-career scientists, the fellowship allows Johnson to spend two years focusing solely on research.

While the GLUE Project originated from work that began over five years ago, Johnson has been consumed by an interest in natural history and ecology since he was young.

Johnson’s grandmother lived near Presqu’ile Provincial Park, and he recalls going to a natural history museum when he would visit her. He remembers spending hours questioning museum naturalists at just nine years old.

“I just wanted to be them,” Johnson explained in an interview with The Varsity.

“From a young age, I’ve always been passionate about nature. I loved going outside and flipping over rocks and logs and looking at worms, insects, and ants.” Going full circle, Johnson now hosts a ‘backyard biology’ YouTube channel with his two children.

A few years ago, Johnson became interested in how organisms evolve over small spatial scales. Would there be a genetic difference between plants in a city centre and those a few kilometres away? Johnson reached out to his then-graduate student Ken Thompson, and they began investigating the common white clover — Trifolium repens L. — to explore this question.

Snowfall and self-toxicity Thompson collected white clovers at various distances from the urban centre in four cities: Toronto, Montréal, Boston, and New York. Once the plants were collected, they were analyzed for a specific trait: cyanogenesis.

A white clover that is ‘cyanogenic’ produc-

longitude, from Toronto to Tampa Bay. Only eight of the cities had clovers with a cyanogenic trait. They would need more data.

A few months later, the idea for GLUE was born. What first started as a call to 25 colleagues quickly grew to over 260 collaborators. Johnson and his team mailed sample kits to groups all across the world, and the plant samples were returned to Toronto for analysis. Now, Johnson and his lab are working to sequence the plant genomes of their samples, nearly 2,000 in all.

The bigger picture of urban plant life For the next two years of Johnson’s fellowship, there will be more than enough to keep him busy. “Our goal is to revolutionize our understanding of how cities influence urban life,” Johnson explained. “Our first question was, ‘Is this happening?’ And now we ask, ‘Why does it matter?’ ” To the latter question, the answers are nearly unlimited. For example, Johnson’s work raises concerns about endangered species: if organisms cannot adapt to rapid urbanization, we will need to rethink how species will be protected.

If urban ills, such as lack of green space and air pollution, are causing changes to gene flow and genetic mutations in plants and animals, what will the effects be on humans? For now, we do know that the white clover plants at Union Station could be genetically different than those at Yonge and Finch. Beyond making our train rides a bit more exciting, this alone illustrates how immediate the study of urban evolution is to our everyday lives.

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THE VARSITY

SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Once a COVID-19 vaccine arrives, what happens next?

On the need for freezers, distribution, and public trust Christina Lam Varsity Contributor

According to Dr. Howard Njoo, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, the majority of Canadians could be immunized against COVID-19 by the end of the new year.

Over the last few weeks, companies Pfizer and Moderna announced that their vaccines are 95 per cent 28 days after the first dose and 94.5 per cent effective against COVID-19, respectively. On December 2, the United Kingdom approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine, with rollouts potentially happening on December 7.

As case numbers continue to rise, Canadians may be wondering when they can expect a vaccine.

Pfizer and Moderna are two of the seven companies with which Canada has vaccine contracts.

Between all of them, Canada has secured a total of 414 million doses of vaccine.

A senior medical advisor for Health Canada, Dr. Supriya Sharma, said that Canadians could expect a decision regarding Pfizer around the same time as the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. She expects that Canada could have its first approval before Christmas.

But what happens after a vaccine is announced?

How will it be distributed, and who will be first in line?

All hands on decks for vaccines distribution The mass distribution of the Pfizer vaccine is complicated by its storage sensitivity. It must be

stored at -70 degrees Celsius, and once moved to a refrigerator, the vaccine must be used within five days. On the other hand, the Moderna vaccine can be stored in freezers at -20 degrees Celsius freezers, but must be used within 30 days of thawing.

Cecely Roy, a press secretary at Public Services and Procurement Canada, said that Canada has ordered 26 ultracold freezers for the Pfizer vaccines and 100 standard freezers for the Moderna vaccines. So far, nine ultracold freezers and 33 standard freezers have arrived. It is not known whether they are being stored centrally or have been distributed across the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed the Canadian Armed Forces to oversee the logistics of transporting and distributing the vaccines.

The initiative is led by Major General Dany Fortin, who is working with the Public Health Agency of Canada as its vice-president logistics and operations.

Pfizer itself is also supporting the distribution process by working directly with the Canadian government. A company spokesperson wrote to the business news website FreightWaves that Pfizer’s delivery model “is built on a flexible just in time system which will ship the frozen vials to the point of vaccination.” Dry ice will be used to maintain the temperature throughout the delivery.

Another issue posed by the Pfizer vaccine other than the storage temperature is that it requires two doses — administered three weeks apart — for full protection. Since Canada does

Despite promising results from vaccine trials, there are concerns about the logistics of administering vaccines across the country.

COUTESY OF MARCO VERCH/CC FLICKR

not have a national vaccine registry, there may be a logistical challenge in tracking down patients who have taken only the first dose to ensure they take the second one.

Transparency is needed for public trust Although Canada has secured 76 million doses from Pfizer, only four million will arrive by March 2021.

Due to the limited quantity, the first batch of vaccines will be given to key groups based on guidelines from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI). NACI guidelines may prioritize vaccines for some groups of people earlier than others.

Its current guidance is that these key populations include the elderly, those with underlying health conditions, health care workers,

and long-term care home workers.

On its website, NACI noted that these priority groups “may change as the evidence base for COVID-19… and vaccine characteristics… as well as information on vaccine supply, evolves.”

NACI also advises that public health officials actively involve marginalized and racialized groups during the planning stage, monitor the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness for priority groups and remote areas, and counter vaccine hesitancy with transparency.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam echoed the need to counter vaccine hesitancy during the Canadian Immunization Conference. She also mentioned that the government will be using “behavioural insights” and social media to maintain public trust.

The sound of astromusic: Matt Russo on science outreach

U of T lecturer on crossing cosmic and disciplinary borders Aanya Bahl Assoiciate Science Editor

Space and music have a long, shared history.

Celestial bodies have fueled the inspiration for some of the greatest composers and musicians of the twentieth century, from Gustav Holst to Henryk Górecki, and even David Bowie and Pink Floyd.

In fact, the famed moon landing crew of Apollo 12 listened to Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony on their mission. But the connection between music and space runs far deeper. In fact, while we have been composing songs inspired by the universe, the universe itself has been producing music too. We just can’t hear it.

Astrophysicist Matt Russo, a physics lecturer at the University of Toronto, aims to understand the deep connection between music and astronomy.

Russo rose to fame when he scaled the orbital frequencies of the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system into the human hearing range.

In collaboration with Daniel Tamayo, a postdoctoral researcher at UTSC, Russo turned the orbits of the planet in TRAPPIST-1 into notes, producing music from the orbits of the planets he was observing.

Since then, Russo has co-founded SYSTEM Sounds, which he described as a “sci-art outreach project that converts the rhythm and harmony of the cosmos into music and sound.” He also developed a sound-based planetarium show titled “Our Musical Universe” at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics’ planetarium, which enabled audience members to view and listen to sights and sounds from celestial bodies.

Bringing music to work In an email to The Varsity, Russo mentioned that during his PhD and postdoctoral work he studied turbulence in protoplanetary discs. “Some

processes that lead to the formation of planetary systems are shrouded in mystery because they occur within a thick disk of dust and gas,” he explained.

Protoplanetary discs are vast rings of gas and dust orbiting a newly formed star. While the structure and evolution of these discs is still relatively unknown, magnetic fields are thought to control the “turbulence” of these disks — the chaotic movement of the gas particles that make up the disc.

“During my PhD and postdoc I worked on a model for how the magnetic field might vary within a disk and studied what that would mean for how long the disk would last and what type of planetary system it could produce,” Russo wrote.

However, Russo had always been interested in both music and physics. “As I was finishing high school, I felt pressure to choose between my two passions of music and astronomy,” he wrote.

“Rather than make a decision I found a way to do both in parallel. While studying music I took astronomy courses on the side and then I played in a band during my astrophysics degree.

Throughout this time, I was still struggling to decide because I thought I had to. It wasn’t until the serendipitous discovery of TRAPPIST-1 that the possibility of combining my two passions occurred to me.”

Resonance in music and space To any musician, the concept of resonance is one taught early on — it is the frequency at which an object vibrates and is used to intensify the volume of a sound. For example, vibrations at the end of a flute pipe cause the air in the flute to vibrate at the same frequency, intensifying the loudness of the sound.

Space, too, follows a similar concept. Orbital resonance occurs when two bodies exert a periodic gravitational pull upon one another. To Russo,

Dr. Matt Russo is a physics lecturer whose TED talk on the musicality of space has been viewed over 1.7 million times.

COURTESY OF TEDXUOFT

the relationship between orbital resonances and musical resonances seemed like little more than idle curiosity until TRAPPIST-1 was discovered.

“The rhythm and harmony of this system was more rich, and even more human, than anything else I’d seen in nature and I had to find a way to make it audible. I first showed it to a class of 5th graders and their response convinced me this was something special that I needed to explore,” Russo wrote.

Latest work on an orchestra of telescopes and science outreach “Lately I’ve been focused on image sonifications for NASA and the Chandra X-Ray Center,” Russo wrote in his email. His sonification project at Harvard University’s Chandra X-ray Observatory translates data from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy into sound.

The data from this project is from a region of the Milky Way spanning 400 light years across, captured by the Chandra Observatory itself, or the Hubble and Spitzer Space telescopes. Listeners can either listen to ‘solos’ from each tele-

scope, or the sounds from all three can be listened to in an ensemble orchestra of telescopes, in which each telescope plays a different instrument.

“Communicating an image’s multidimensional information as an audio stream is not easy, but it gives people a new perspective and helps those with vision loss experience more of the wonders of astronomy,” Russo wrote.

As part of his new outreach work, Russo launched My Starry Night, a program that lets users see and hear the stars above them at any location, earlier this year. “My Starry Night began as part of a soundbased planetarium show I developed at UofT,” Russo wrote. “At first, creating music videos of the night sky was very time consuming and required several different codes and programs. We spent most of 2019 automating every step so that now it’s as simple as pressing a button.”

The vast expanse of the universe is still largely undiscovered and untraversed. But with work like Russo’s, we are one step closer to uncovering some of the marvels of the galaxy we call home.

— With files from Tahmeed Shafiq

Sports

December 7, 2020 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

The Euro revolution in basketball How ‘playing smart’ travelled across the world

There’s more to athletics than just brawn.

DARRY2385/CC WIKIMEDIA

Avishai Sol Varsity Staff

Basketball is one of the most popular sports across the globe. Quickly growing on the street and at the professional level, the international reach of basketball has been one of the sport’s and the NBA’s greatest achievements.

Basketball fully burst into life around the world during the 1992 Olympics, due in full to the American ‘dream team,’ featuring legends such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.

Basketball, like soccer, hockey, and rugby, can-

not be fully quantified by stats because there is no way to calculate every step taken on the floor.

This, combined with the physical skill demanded by the game and the accessibility of courts everywhere has allowed basketball to develop culturally in both style and practice.

American athletes emphasize more physical, strength-based plays, and because sports are such a massive part of American culture, those skills are often developed at a very young age. In European playing styles, however, there is a lot more emphasis on movement and passing and shooting.

European style has been creeping into the pro-

fessional American game as well.

This team-oriented, pass first, tricksy shifty identity of the European game is definitely more cerebral than our typical understanding of American ball. If you can’t overpower, outrun, or jump your opponent, you have to fake them out. The European style of play tends to focus on plays that lend themselves to an airy, dynamic, and strategic game, not a brutish and physical one.

In the NBA, where everyone is vying for the renowned championship, the physical playing field is evened out, making the tricks of Europe quite relevant.

Teaching these gifted players the tricks of the European game has sparked incredible production from some truly special players, but none more than Giannis Antetokounmpo, power forward for the Milwaukee Bucks. Appropriately nicknamed “The Greek Freak,” Antetokounmpo is six foot 11 inches with a wingspan of seven foot three inches.

He runs like the wind, jumps like a gazelle, and is chiselled like he was carved out of marble.

And yet he couldn’t be the two-time most valuable player he is today on his physical talent alone. In a training video from the Bucks, Antetokounmpo talks about one of his signature moves, the ‘Euro step’: “Wherever you commit, I go the other way… If you don’t commit, I just go the same way.”

The ‘Euro step’ is a signature European invention that was brought into the NBA by the Argentinean superstar Manu Ginobili. It emphasizes a change of direction during the two steps before a layup, taking one step to one side and then taking the second step to the other side, faking out your defender.

Ginobili was six foot six inches and a solid athlete for his position, but his smart moves were what made him great. Now, brain and brawn combine as Antetokounmpo barrels down the floor like a fury and then out-thinks you at the rim. This combination has some NBA general managers sending their talent scouts out to foreign countries, trying to find the next diamond in the rough.

Once we get to grace the bleachers of our beloved Blues’ basketball games again, remember to keep a keen eye out for the playing styles you see on the court. Which of our players are more strategic, and which are more physical? Does the team have an overall style? In the globalized sport of basketball, the sky is the limit for styles of play.

Opinion: Has the beautiful game become North America’s ugly duckling?

Why the world’s biggest sport isn’t so big here

Angad Deol Associate Sports Editor

Some call it soccer, and others call it football. Regardless, around the globe, it’s considered to be “the beautiful game.” A game so popular, there’s even a course at U of T, HIS199 — Soccer: The History of The World’s Game, from which you learn all about the history and cultural implications of the sport.

Soccer has captivated a huge audience — for example, the 2018 FIFA World Cup final gathered 3.572 billion viewers. However, soccer often seems to be much easier to access outside of North America, as it takes a backseat to cultural pastimes such as American football and baseball in the US, and hockey in Canada.

According to Nielsen, a global data and analytics company, of the 20 nations whose populations are most interested in soccer, only Mexico ranks from North America, coming in at number six. Canada and the United States don’t even make the chart, which is instead filled with European, Asian, and South American countries.

This might come as a shock, considering the women’s teams for both countries are highly regarded as some of the highest ranked globally. For instance, the US Women’s National Team handily won the Women’s World Cup for the second consecutive time in 2019.

Furthermore, Canada’s Alphonso Davies tore up the German Bundesliga — taking home rookie of the season honours, and being named in the 20man shortlist for the FIFA Golden Boy award, which is given to the best young player in Europe that year.

So, why is soccer not capturing the eyes of North Americans? Some put the blame on the lack of fast-

paced action. Canadians, especially, are used to the hard-hitting, pedal-to-the-metal pace of hockey, which soccer — a much less violent and speedy sport — fails to match.

Americans, too, seem to prefer the quick back and forth of basketball or the overt violence of American football. The stereotypically overdramatic soccer players, then, are hard to watch, with their feigned injuries and huge field that slows down the action.

Another reason why soccer is so hard to access in North America may come down to the shocking costs. According to NPR, registering for an organized club team in the US can reach a staggering $1,500–$4,000 per year.

For low-income families, this price can be too high for a sport that is widely accessible in other countries. Indeed, the sport is cheap to play — there is no expensive special equipment necessary — but team fees become outlandish in the American clubs. The same issues arise in the north for Canada’s sweetheart sport, hockey, but it seems that the cultural impact attracts more Canadian families nevertheless.

The University of Toronto usually offers drop-in soccer for students, which I believe is a great way to spread the word without having to drop a pretty penny on club fees. Pre-pandemic, any student could hop on the field and play until the drop-in time was over.

Growing up in Brampton, Ontario, soccer was neck-and-neck with basketball when it came to what we would play at recess as children. However, my peers often stuck to the playground instead of opting for club teams due to high prices. Soccer, although quite a fun sport, has a long way to go regarding equity before we can tear down the barriers and share the beautiful game with all.

Soccer is an international sport that North Americans haven’t caught onto as much yet.

COURTESY OF MATTHEW MANHIRE

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SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

My time with taekwondo

A reflection of the borderlessness of my beloved sport Teodoro Amaro Varsity Contributor

Taekwondo is one of the most ancient forms of martial arts in the world. Its continued success throughout time has been due to the practicality of its movements and fighting style. In 1955, General Choi Hong Hi of South Korea formed the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), which now has thousands of competitors and participants all over the globe.

I myself have been practicing taekwondo for eight years and am a third-degree black belt in the ITF. Throughout my career, I have attended multiple tournaments locally, nationally, and internationally, representing Canada alongside hundreds of other Canadians.

The pinnacle of sports is the Olympics — the biggest stage. For ITF, the largest stage is the ITF World Championships held every two years.

In 2018, I had the honour of representing

Canada there in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina boasts a proud sports history with the likes of Lionel Messi and the late Diego Maradona in soccer, and many NBA stars.

However, ITF taekwondo has a special place among the Argentinian people.

With the crowd full of competitors, family, and many fans, the atmosphere was unparalleled.

For Argentinians, this tournament showed how much passion they have for the sport: they filled a massive stadium with people and had multiple successes throughout the competition. For fans around the country, there were livestreams of the fights

that also included interviews of many competitors and organizers. The media coverage and constant commentating on the action gave the tournament a very professional and exciting feel.

Taekwondo’s fanbase transcends borders.

COURTESY OF HAYK AMIRBEKYAN

Boasting my knockoff white-and-sky-blue jerseys — and I owe it to Maradona Tracing Global South affection for the late soccer legend

Ibnul Chowdhury Editor-in-Chief

Bangladesh, where I’m from, is a cricketing country when it comes to competing in world sport competitions. But Bangladesh still has a special, even unreal kind of passion for soccer.

When it comes to the FIFA World Cup every four years, I am told that a typical Bangladeshi household picks one of two teams to support: Argentina or Brazil. This vicarious experience of the South American rivalry manifests in Bangladeshi streets, which are covered in flags and banners of the two countries.

I grew up as an Argentina fan. My first serious exposure was the 2006 World Cup. Lionel Messi was only a 19-year-old star, emerging on the international scene at that time; instead, my admiration revolved around key players like

MIA CARNEVALE/THEVARSITY

Juan Román Riquelme, Esteban Cambiasso, Maxi Rodríguez, and Hernán Crespo. Argentina had a solid team, and they should have won the whole tournament — but that rant is for another day.

In the years afollowing that tournament, my support for Argentina continued to grow. I even bought knockoff jerseys that came out of the ready-made garments industry back home.

I remember a player’s name being misspelled on the back of one.

But I didn’t care. As a kid here in Canada, I boasted those striped Albiceleste colours — white and sky blue — as if Argentina was my own country, just as people on the streets of

Bangladesh do when the World Cup comes around.

How is it that these colours could have so much life and meaning in a country like Bangladesh, on the other side of the world from Argentina? What brings about this strange Global South connection? Well, it probably comes down to Diego Maradona.

Maradona was regarded as the sport’s best player in history, and his recent passing caused an unparalleled outpouring of grief and love around the world, which affected me more than I would have expected.

After all, I did not have any direct memory of Maradona from his playing days. I only knew him from watching awkwardly-edited, circa 2007 soccer videos on YouTube as a kid, from his disastrous, yet entertaining tenure as Argentina’s coach during the 2010 World Cup, or from his own prophecy that Messi was to be the next Maradona and lead Argentina to glory once again.

Perhaps what stung about his death was the reality of the prophecy — a reminder that Maradona’s sensational 1986 World Cup run has yet to be repeated, that Argentina fans are still left yearning after over three decades.

Sports introduced to the rest of the world by an imperialist country like England — like cricket and soccer — play a special role in formerly colonized countries. They become an opportunity to beat the colonizer at their own game.

That is why, commentators will tell you, Argentina’s 1986 victory was so significant.

Argentina exacted revenge on England — a colonial influence that had recently defeated Argentina in war — in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals with Maradona’s infamous ‘hand of God’ goal and, four minutes later, his scoring

For me, the experience was like no other and it made me realize the passion for sports in not only Argentina, but Canada as well. Although the sport of taekwondo is not as famous as others in this country, going to the airport in full tracksuit, flight attendants wishing the team luck on the plane, and arriving to see Argentinians ask for photos and autographs truly show the culture, passion, and image that Canadians possess in the world of sports and on the world stage.

The fact that I found passion for taekwondo in Argentina and Canada, two countries so far away both geographically and culturally from South Korea, is a testament to how universally loved the sport is; it transcends borders and unites all who love it.

of the ‘Goal of the Century.’

For the people of Argentina, winning the World Cup lifted spirits at a time of national turbulence, crisis, and suffering. It also elevated Maradona — a small man of impoverished, working-class beginnings — to a divine figure in his country and, at the same time, earned him affection around the world.

This affection came from those in my parents’ generation, who would come to embrace white and sky blue. And it was more than just his victory on the pitch that earned him devotion.

Maradona was outspoken about his affection for the Global South and its struggle to determine its own path on the world stage, just as Argentina had symbolically done in that quarterfinal against England. He was active and vocal in his support for the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, and Palestine, among others. Calling himself the “voice of the voiceless,” he railed against economic injustice and imperialism.

Of course, there are other, less glorious angles to consider about Maradona. Some will condemn him as a cheater and never forgive him for the controversial ‘hand of God’ goal.

Others will point to the scandalous years of substance use disorder that ultimately ended his career. There are also accusations of domestic violence levelled against him, which should be taken seriously.

Recognizing these aspects of Maradona’s life serves to remind us that heroes — even ones who are revered — are human beings, and their legacies can be complex, multidimensional, and even contradictory. The story of any life should be told in full, not white-washed.

While Maradona’s superstardom had toxic and destructive implications, it also leaves a legacy beyond his sport — beyond Argentina.

He nurtured a passion for the sport, thousands of miles away, that I ultimately inherited despite never really experiencing the magic myself.

Today, Argentina continues to suffer from economic crises, and the Argentine Football Association has been riddled with criticism of corruption and mismanagement in recent years. Argentina fans are still left waiting after so many years — still looking to the game as an escape into glory, as they did in the 1980s.

The highly anticipated generation of Messi, Sergio Agüero, and Ángel Di María has failed to win a single Copa América, let alone a World Cup, despite coming heartbreakingly close so many times. They may have one last shot to come out of the shadow of 1986 in the next couple of years.

But for me, that doesn’t really affect what the stripes of sky blue and white mean to me. Even if they keep losing for another 14 years, long after Messi is gone, I’ll probably still be boasting a knockoff Argentina jersey made back home. And it all goes back to Maradona.

var.st/sports

DECEMBER 7, 2020

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Reviewing Toronto FC’s 2020 The highs and lows of an unusual season

Audrey Miatello Varsity Contributor

Toronto FC (TFC) has always been a team surrounded by expectations. In the club’s early years, it took five games for TFC to score their first goal, and it wasn’t until their ninth season that they finally made the playoff s. When the team was at their lowest, the expectations to do better were high.

Many, however, may not remember these early years when TFC struggled so much. Their recent success dominates the public’s memory, with TFC making three finals appearances in four years. The 2017 campaign saw TFC break the record for regular season points and win every trophy they competed for.

They went from one of the worst teams to one of the best, yet the expectations have not diminished. If anything, they have grown.

A promising start to the season Heading into 2020, TFC was plagued by these expectations. The 2019 season wrapped up with a brutal loss to a familiar foe — the Seattle

Sounders — in the MLS Cup finals. This year was one of redemption — a push to make the finals yet again.

But this season was unlike any other. TFC had just won their home opener when the COVID-19 pandemic halted the league for four months. After the hiatus, TFC moved from stadium to stadium: first playing at Walt Disney World, then competing across Canada before finally relocating to Rentschler Field in Connecticut, their home away from home for over two months.

Despite the difficult situation, TFC continued to exceed expectations once again. While in Connecticut, they won or tied in eight games and were the first team to secure a spot in the playoff s.

But, TFC fell short. The Philadelphia Union ended up claiming the Supporters’ Shield, and TFC lost in their first playoff game. What happened?

The games came fast and furious for TFC: they played 12 matches in just over seven weeks. When it mattered most, TFC found themselves without two designated players and five other starters due to injury. The effects of being separated from their families for months may have also taken a toll on the players by the end of the season.

What the future holds Where do TFC go from here?

Changes have already been made, with head coach Greg Vanney stepping down on December 1 after almost seven years with the club.

The news came as a shock, as Vanney led TFC to the greatest victories in franchise history. Under his leadership, TFC became one of the best teams, and his legacy won’t be forgotten. But should much else change? Perhaps this team doesn’t need a complete reset.

Echoes of Sebastian Giovinco’s magic are seen in Alejandro Pozuelo, with his knack for impressive footwork, scoring, and assisting goals. He is

Testing UTrain: Squad Training

undoubtedly a star, making the MLS Best XI this year and being nominated for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award.

This team is still led by their fearless captain Michael Bradley, whose reliability and dedication is priceless. Jozy Altidore, who will go down in TFC history, still leads the offence as one of the team’s greatest assets.

The similarities between the 2017 group and this 2020 team run even deeper. Although they lack the silverware to prove it in 2020, TFC is still a winning team — they are determined, focused, and have proven that they know what it takes to win. The passion that has set TFC apart in the past is still there.

Even though they failed to meet expectations this year, I wouldn’t give up on this TFC team just yet. One disappointing season does not define a team of winners. These disappointments instead fuel the expectations for next season and will only make this group come back stronger.

I would not be surprised to find TFC back in the finals next year, lifting another trophy.

Winning teams always find a way to win again.

Casey Neistat’s guide to running The YouTuber’s tips for a five kilometre distance Nimit Vediya Varsity Contributor

TFC’s recent success contrasts with their early struggles.

TORONTO FC/CC WIKIMEDIA

live structure made the quality less than ideal, and I found myself getting distracted often.

Do the workouts really work?

Alexandra Waddell Varsity Staff

This week, my roommate and I decided to try out “Squad Training” from the #UTrain on-demand YouTube video workouts. The class sounded pretty similar to what my roommate was used to when training in the gym with her Varsity team when the facilities were open — indeed, the description wrote, “Detailed programming + a personalized coaching experience + the camaraderie of a team = you training like a pro in no time.”

I was really intrigued by how they were going to achieve the personalized training and team camaraderie virtually, and I was excited to give it a try.

In order to achieve more of a trainer-trainee dynamic, this class was offered very differently from past classes I have done. There were two instructors: Trella, who would perform the movements, and Beth, who would talk us through each exercise that Trella was performing.

The two instructors really did make you feel like there was personalized training happening. Beth would instruct and correct Trella, creating a ‘squad’ dynamic.

One good thing to note is that if you run out of classes on YouTube, there are lots more like this one available on the @uoftfandp Instagram page. This class was originally filmed on Instagram Live on September 28. It was clear that it was the end of a quarantine routine series during the summer, but it felt strange watching it as we now enter lockdown again.

The class required two sets of weights, but the instructors were flexible about substitutes as Trella herself was using laundry solution containers for some of her own exercises. We began with a warmup, which led into three circuits, all of which involved squats.

The general structure of the circuits were two or three movements with rest between, all repeated three times. One of the circuits started with 15 seconds on, 15 seconds rest, with each round increasing the “on” time. The movements in this circuit involved some brutal jump squats, so be warned. Most of the circuits were full body, but the last circuit focused more on the core.

I really liked the music, but overall, the experience was not one of the best that UTrain has to offer. I really liked the structure of the class and the movements they chose, but unfortunately, the Instagram

The music was nice, but the overall experience wasn’t the best.

MAHIKA JAIN/THEVARSITY

Running is a difficult sport. It takes both mental and physical strength to even start running, so what’s the best possible way of training for a five kilometre run? Before it gets too cold to enjoy the great outdoors, here are some tips to get the most out of the Toronto running trails.

One of the most famous ‘runners’ I know is Casey Neistat, and while he may not be Usain Bolt, running is featured in almost all of his YouTube videos, encouraging millions of his viewers to become runners. His tips are free to watch, which is certainly student-budget friendly!

Based on his video with Olympic runner Roberto Mandje, the most important aspect of running is stamina. Just keep running until you absolutely have to stop. Since everybody’s different, some people might be able to run 20 minutes without stopping right off the bat while some people may have to build up to that. Remember, the only person you’re competing with is yourself !

As you keep building up that stamina, no distance will be too far for you, whether it be five kilometres or 50. Another major question featured in the video was the choice of shoes while running. Especially if you’re running over uneven ground for distances as long as five kilometres, it is extremely important to be wearing comfortable shoes in order to prevent injuries or strains.

Now comes the most important part: motivation. The hardest part about training for running is maintaining the necessary consistency and discipline. You should really ask yourself why you want to run these five kilometres — that’s what will get you out of bed.

Maybe, you want to prove to yourself you can exercise, or you want some alone time, or you just want to be more fit. Anything works! Running is more of a ‘zig-zag’ trial and error process than a linear one. What works for someone may not work for you, so just go out there and start running today!

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Happy holidays from The Varsity!