December 3, 2018

THE VARSITY September 10, 2018

THE VARSITY

University of Toronto's Student Newspaper since 1880

University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880 Vol. 139 No. 12 | December 3, 2018 | thevarsity.ca

Deck the halls...

Vol. CXXXIX, No. 2

THE VARSITY

2 | THE VARSITY

DECEMBER 3, 2018

THE VARSITY

Crossword

Vol. CXXXIX, No. 12 21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON M5S 1J6 (416) 946-7600 thevarsity.ca

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Lead Copy Editors Isabel Armiento, Marisa Balleani, John Bao, Megan Brearley, Ori Gilboa, Jacob Harron, Daniel Ninkovic, Jovana Pajovic, Sabrina Wu Copy Editors Eloisa Cervantes, Ryan Delorme, Matthew Lee, Ashley Manou, Isabella McKay, Jadine Ngan, Gina Nicoll, Areej Rodrigo, Lindsay Selliah, Frederick Zhang Designers William Xiao, Yolanda Zhang

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The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2018 by The Varsity. All rights reserved.

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Lead Copy Editors Amena Ahmed, Isabel Armiento, Marisa Balleani, John Bao, Megan Brearley, Ori Gilboa, Jacob Harron, Daniel Ninkovic, Jovana Pajovic, Sabrina Wu Staff Hodman Abukar, Eloisa Cervantes, Ryan Delorme, Christina Ditlof, Alisha Farrow, Friederike Kitz, Adam A. Lam, Matthew Lee, Tiffany Leung, Areej Rodrigo, Lindsay Selliah, Shayelle Smith, Sophia Spiteri, Gabriella S. Zhao Volunteers Fatima Abdulla, Abhya Adlakha, Dumkelechi Aligwekwe, Laura Ashwood, Debasmita Bhattacharya, Christina Bondi, Angela Bosenius, Oana Calin, Olivia Carter, Elizabeth Chan, Fay Chen, Sarah Choi, Caroline Colantonio, Joy Fan, Zelia Fang, Susha Guan, Samantha Hamilton, Dana Hamze, Flora Hewitt-Harris, Emily Hurmizi, Rebekah Hwang, Matthew Stobie Jackman, Trisha Jain, Holly Johnstone, Qaasim Karim, Avani Krishnan, Rozee Liu, Emily MacCallum, Caroline Maloney, Ashley Manou, Krisha Mansukhani, Angelli McGuigan, Isabella McKay, Khyrsten Mieras, Chantelle Nejnec, Natalie Ng, Ash Nicol, Gina Nicoll, Louise Nunn, Huda Obaid, Kate Paik, Teresa Pinto, Casey Qian, Sai Rathakrishna, Nicole Schwab, Patricia Sharleen, Anna Maria Sordjan, Imani Stewart, Harman Wadhwa, Teresa Wang, Eva Wissting, Jacqueline Wong, Helen Jingshu Yao, Emily Yu, Frederick Zhang, Sherry Zuo

Cover photo by Shanna Hunter

DECEMBER 3, 2018 | 3

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UTMSU AGM 2018

Students at the UTMSU AGM approve formal separation from the UTSU, reject hotly-contested motion on online voting.

ANDY TAKAGITHE VARSITY

Separation from UTSU approved, online voting rejected The Duck Stop reports $3,000 deficit, The Blind Duck reports surplus Zeahaa Rehman UTM Bureau Chief

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 29, which included questions to executives, a presentation of financial statements, and a rejection of online voting.

The meeting was called to order over an hour later than expected, at 6:25 pm.

UTMSU President Felipe Nagata began by giving his presidential address. Nagata outlined the past victories of the UTMSU, including the recently passed Course Retake Policy and the September Orientation, and expressed his wish for a more united campus.

“Our goal is to make our campus feel like home to everybody, but we realize that it takes a lot more than just six execs in the UTMSU office. We need all of your help,” Nagata emphasized. “Regardless of the backgrounds, of our stories, of our experiences, of our beliefs, of our political stances, of our approaches to issues, we should be speaking as one united voice.”

Nagata’s address was followed by an executive question period. Attendees approached the microphone and asked questions.

Student Michael O’Judice questioned Nagata regarding Executive Director Munib Sajjad’s official position in the UTMSU. He asked why Sajjad, despite being an unelected staff member, spoke for the UTMSU at the recent Canadian Federation of Students AGM. “[The UTMSU team] often gather before the meeting and we plan everything out, so we come up with one united voice,” Nagata replied. “Regardless if you’re staff, exec, we allow everybody to speak together at those meetings.” “[Sajjad] has pretty much the same opinions on things that we do as well, so I don’t think it’s a problem,” Nagata added, but also said that he would be willing to discuss the matter further with the student.

UTMSU Vice-President Internal Yan Li then presented the 2017–2018 audited financial documents.

Li reported that The Blind Duck, the UTMSU’s student pub, had a surplus last year, whereas The Duck Stop, the UTMSU’s convenience store, had a loss of approximately $3,000.

She said that the union’s goal was to break even by the end of this fiscal year. Li then moved to appoint the auditor for the next fiscal term. Glenn Graydon Wright LLP was re-appointed as the UTMSU’s auditor.

The next motion was the endorsement of the separation of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) and the UTMSU, which has been a topic that has dominated both unions’ discussions in recent months. The two unions entered into the Associate Membership Agreement in 2008 for the UTSU to represent UTM students at a central advocacy level.

“We recognize the fact that [the] UTMSU… understands the needs and the wants of the students at UTM better than a student union that is situated downtown,” said UTMSU Vice-President External Atif Abdullah.

“UTM students actually pay into [the] UTSU, which is a society fee, and 15 per cent of that is kept by the UTSU’s membership fee. That fee coming back to the UTMSU means improved bursaries, more bursaries for students on this campus, [and] more clubs funding.”

Tyler Biswurm, UTSU Vice-President Operations, approached the microphone after a brief discussion regarding Abdullah’s statements, proceeding to read aloud a statement from UTSU President Anne Boucher endorsing this separation.

“It is in the best interests of UTM students to be fully represented by a students’ union that is on-site and is therefore in a better place to understand the needs of the students on the Mississauga campus,” read Biswurm. “In addition, the agreement between [the] UTSU and [the] UTMSU wrongly takes away rights from the UTMSU to fully represent UTM students.”

The motion to endorse the separation of the unions passed unanimously.

The next motion, and the only motion not moved by an executive member, was to implement online voting during UTMSU elections. Moved by Ethan Bryant, it caused lengthy and divisive debate, with students ultimately deciding to reject online voting.

Among the members to speak were Vice-President University Affairs Andres Posada, who said that the motion had given him much to reflect on, and Vice-President Equity Leena Arbaji and Nagata, who both opposed the motion.

Online voting stirs debate Motion rejected due to fears of inaccessibility, hacking Zeahaa Rehman UTM Bureau Chief

A motion to implement online voting for University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) elections was rejected after arousing lengthy debate at the UTMSU’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), with attendees questioning whether it was safe and accessible.

The motion was the only item submitted by a member outside of the executive and thus the last item on the agenda at the AGM, which was held on November 29.

Submitted by Ethan Bryant, the motion cited what Bryant saw as the “toxic nature” of past UTMSU elections, whose “competitive nature… [left] students open to being harassed by campaigners.”

The motion stated that “the openness and accessibility of elections should be a top priority for the UTMSU.” Bryant called for the UTMSU to consult with the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) — which already uses online voting — and implement the procedure in its upcoming April elections and every election thereafter.

“I put forward this motion because of accessibility,” Bryant said. “Online voting would increase voter turnout because instead of voting at polling stations on campus, students can vote anywhere on or off campus as long as they have a device and an internet connection.”

“Student elections for all positions, in the past, have been criticized for their toxic nature and have been negatively competitive despite the election officer’s best efforts,” Bryant continued. “Online voting would close the door on any harassment of voters or ballot system, which the current system does not do a good enough job of stopping.”

Bryant said that both Governing Council and UTSU elections already take place online, and that online voting is environmentally friendly since it doesn’t use a lot of paper.

UTMSU Vice-President Equity Leena Arbaji opposed the motion. “Easy and accessible are not the same thing. If we want to make voting more inclusive, then we should be working toward improving our current structure instead of starting from a new system.”

Arbaji added that online voting would bring up its own accessibility issues, as not all students have

access to a reliable internet connection or devices.

Arbaji’s speech was followed by those of more than 15 students, some in favour of online voting, others against it.

Members in favour of online voting cited anxiety when confronted with in-person campaigners, the lack of access to voting by commuter students, and poor voter turnout as reasons to support online voting.

Members against the motion cited possible online hacking, the inability to verify voter identity online, the risk of online voting turning into a popularity contest, the effectiveness of in-person communication with voters, and the issue that not all students have access to laptops or smartphones due to financial implications as reasons to oppose online voting.

A 2011 study from Elections British Colubmia found that there have been “no documented cases of hacking of Internet voting systems in a public election” based off of studies of elections across Canada, Europe, the United States, Australia and India.

UTMSU President Felipe Nagata was also against online voting, saying that with in-person voting, candidates “have to convince [students] to get out of their way, go show their T-Card, go cast a ballot, and that’s a process.”

“That process comes with conversation, it comes with student engagement, it comes with a bigger and better thing that adds value to your vote as a student, as a citizen, as a student at UTM.” “I don’t think this system is perfect. I think we have many flaws,” Nagata acknowledged.

“I’m down to fix the system that we have in place. It’s been in place for a long time and I believe it’s working because students are voting.”

UTMSU elections have consistently had low voter turnout, with only 13 per cent of eligible students voting in the last election.

Ultimately, the question was called to end discussion and move directly to a vote. The motion was defeated and the meeting was adjourned immediately after.

Online voting has been a hotly debated topic among student unions at U of T. The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union recently discussed the option before deciding to reject it, citing a risk of coercion and lack of research into the topic.

The Canadian Federation of Students also rejected online voting at its National General Meeting in the summer for similar reasons.

4 | THE VARSITY | NEWS

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Internal Commissioner pushed out by Graduate Students’ Union General Council Alexandrova voted out of office, Executive-at-Large to take up duties until by-election Andy Takagi Associate News Editor

The University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) General Council pushed out Internal Commissioner (IC) Lynne Alexandrova at a meeting on November 26 after a vote to vacate the office of the IC. The duties of the IC will be taken up by Executive-at-Large Maryssa Barras until a by-election in January.

Citing Article 9.1 of the UTGSU bylaws, the Executive Committee sent notice to Alexandrova that there were suspicions that she was not properly fulfilling her duties as Internal Commissioner in October.

Pursuant to the bylaws, Alexandrova circulated a report on her ongoing initiatives after an executive meeting on October 16 where the executive brought its concerns to her.

At that same meeting, the Executive Committee resolved to hire a mediator to “address Executive Committee team dynamics and communication issues.”

A month later, at an executive meeting on November 15, Finance Commissioner Branden Rizzuto motioned to hold an irregular meeting of the General Council to vote on the vacation of the IC position, citing a failure of Alexandrova to fulfil her duties.

All members of the Executive Committee voted to pass the motion, except for Alexandrova who was absent due to an illness.

In an interview with The Varsity, Alexandrova contended that she was not given sufficient warning that this meeting would occur and did not have sufficient strength to “stand up to ungrounded anxieties causing confrontational measures.”

She believes that, had she attended the meeting, she might have stopped the Executive Committee from invoking Article 9.

The Executive Committee, in a statement to The Varsity, claimed that the decision to hold a vote on the IC’s office did not result from the explicit intention to vacate the office.

Ultimately, the General Council and Board of Directors made the final decision on the matter.

Tensions had been growing between Alexandrova and other members of the Executive Committee for some time. Alexandrova alleged that she was ignored or avoided by other executives throughout her term and blamed a structural conflict between her own “pedagogical paradigm” and the existing culture among UTGSU executives as cause for the strained relationship — specifically, a culture that supported returning executives without room for outside or “different” perspectives.

Alexandrova claimed that the Executive Committee was out of order in using Article 9.1 of the UTGSU bylaws to hold a vote on vacating her now former office because she was not properly notified that she was not fulfilling her duties.

The bylaws require that the executive accused be allowed a platform to address the rest of the Executive Committee, and while this occured

Rizzuto, Finance Commissioner, motioned for the vote to push Alexandrova out of the UTGSU. ANDY TAKAGI/THE VARSITY

at the October 16 executive meeting, Alexandrova contended that she was not clearly informed that the Executive Committee sought to address her performance as IC at this meeting.

While accused of failure to adequately perform her duties, Alexandrova wrote to The Varsity that she sought to add “some creative, content contribution… [to] encourage content discussion about what the Union’s leadership should be about,

and the Union.”

She continued that she believes the vote to vacate her position is part of a larger deconstruction of the IC position that has been ongoing for years, and that the UTGSU “might reach a point where student-elected executives don’t matter” — this is in reference to what Alexandrova saw as encroachment of the staff members, including the Executive Director, on the duties of the IC and the “corporatization” of the UTGSU.

UTSU hires new General Manager after five months Previous GM left after two months on the job for unknown reasons

UTSU President Anne Boucher (centre) said that she and Vice-President Operations Tyler Biswurm had taken up the duties of the General Manager in the interim.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Ilya Bañares Deputy News Editor

After five months, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) has hired a new General Manager following the departure of Michelle Lee-Fullerton, who left the position after only two months on the job.

In a statement emailed to The Varsity, UTSU President Anne Boucher said that the new General Manager, whose name has not been disclosed yet, will start work on December 10.

“We’ve followed a thorough and extensive hiring process for the General Manager,” Boucher said.

“A General Manager plays an

important role in the day-to-day and success of the UTSU,” Boucher said. “So it’s important to us that the position be filled not only by the most qualified & capable candidate, but by one who respects and works in line with the UTSU’s core principles.”

The reasons for Lee-Fullerton’s departure were not revealed “due to legal constraints, and out of respect for the individual,” Boucher said at the time.

The General Manager post was created this year to replace the Executive Director position and is meant to serve as a link between the student union’s executive team and the operations staff, as well as to help oversee special projects.

Tka Pinnock, the most recent Executive Director, left the UTSU at the end of the last academic year, after three years.

Since Lee-Fullerton’s departure in July, the regular duties and responsibilities of the General Manager have been taken up by Boucher and UTSU Vice-President Operations Tyler Biswurm in their capacity as members of the management committee.

The General Manager position is particularly important to helping the UTSU develop the long-awaited Student Commons, a student-run centre that is currently slated to open in April, after it was delayed twice from its original September opening.

The Student Commons has been in the works for 11 years.

In the absence of the General Manager, former UTSU president Mathias Memmel was contracted by the organization for Student Commons planning and basic financial responsibilities.

“His financial responsibilities include payroll, record keeping, and the issuing of cheques — essentially ensuring that employees get paid, and clubs and levies receive disbursements owed,” Boucher explained.

“His Student Commons-related duties include preparatory tasks i.e. coordination of renovations, liaising with those active on the project (e.g. architects, consultants, etc), and

producing operating plans that reflect the UTSU’s vision for the building.”

Memmel’s continued role within the UTSU past his presidential term raised questions from members at the Annual General Meeting, particularly because his role was not well-defined at the time.

“I understand the UTSU’s decision to contract out work to a former executive was met with skepticism at our Annual General Meeting, which alleged that it is improper for him to report to me,” Boucher said. “I don’t believe for a second that this would be a concern if I were a man. To question my authority and ability as a female President to manage a former leader is offensive.”

DECEMBER 3, 2018 | 5

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“Now is the time to act”: Faculty of Law students sign open letter against rising tuition Petition garners 400 signatures from students, alumni Ilya Banares Deputy News Editor

India Annamanthadoo came to the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law in the hopes of pursuing a career in public interest law, and working in areas such as international human rights law and legal aid work.

Since arriving, however, Annamanthadoo has become increasingly worried about being able to go into those fields given concerns over the high cost of tuition and increasing student debt. She also noticed that many of her friends in the faculty forgo those fields, which tend to be on the lower end of the pay scale, in favour of careers in the higher paying field of corporate law.

“Many of my peers and I came to U of T Law because we were enticed by the prospect of working in these areas,” she wrote. “But what I’ve come to realize is that those options are only viable if you don’t have debt from your undergrad and your parents are paying for your law degree.”

She added, “The situation is only getting worse, with tuition set to pass $40,000 next year.

It was clear to me that now is the time to act.”

This academic year, Annamanthadoo and 14 other students and alumni helped launch Barriers to Excellence, an initiative to persuade the faculty to “implement a moratorium on tuition increases past $40,000 per year” until certain conditions outlined in an open letter addressed to Dean Edward Iacobucci are met.

These demands include a comprehensive financial review of the faculty with publicly accessible results. Based on the review, Barriers to Excellence demands that the faculty commit to specific initiatives to control costs and protect the allocation of financial aid, such as guaranteeing assistance to low-income applicants upon admission offers and a long-term plan for affordable tuition.

The name is modelled after the faculty’s

Campaign for Excellence without Barriers, a project launched this year aiming to raise $20 million for financial aid.

To date, the open letter has over 400 signatures from current students, alumni since the class of 1971, and several organizations, including the University of Toronto Students’ Union and the Law Students’ Society of Ontario.

“Obviously this is not a campaign for current students,” wrote Annamanthadoo. “We’re already here, paying six [figures] for a law degree.

This is a campaign for future students.”

In a statement to The Varsity, the faculty noted that Iacobucci has had two in-depth discussions of the budget, tuition, and financial aid at Faculty Council, the governing body of the Faculty of Law. The council is composed of the dean, fulltime faculty members, the Chief Law Librarian, the Assistant Dean of the Juris Doctor Program, elected student representatives from each year of the program, and two graduate students.

The statement continued that, subject to U of T approval, Iacobucci will aim for a four per cent increase in tuition next year, rather than five per cent, the maximum allowable amount.

In response, Alexandra H. Robertson, a third-year law student also involved with the campaign, wrote that the move was an “important first step.”

“It will be the first time since 2006 that the faculty has not increased tuition by the maximum allowable amount,” she wrote. “Students have been advocating on this issue since the early 2000s and feel like their efforts have been in vain. We believe this development means that the Faculty is hearing student and alumni concerns about tuition, financial aid, and law school accessibility.”

Robertson added, “Obviously our goal is for the demands in our letter to be met by the Faculty, which hasn’t happened yet, but we’re heartened that the Faculty is clearly listening to what we’re saying.”

The faculty dean will ask U of T to only increase tuition next year by four per cent, instead of five.

Courtesy of DHOUI CHANG

The New York Times hosts Art of the Book Review panel at U of T What makes a good book review and what goes into the process of book criticism?

“There’s news value in these books,” NYT’s nonfiction book critic Jennifer Szalai said.

THEO ARBEZ/THE VARSITY

Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

In collaboration with U of T, The New York Times (NYT) hosted a panel about the art of the book review, focusing on the overall ethics and guidelines of book reviewing, as well as what makes a ‘good review.’

The event took place on November 30 at Isabel Bader Theatre and featured Jennifer Szalai, the NYT’s nonfiction book critic, and Randy Boyagoda, a U of T English professor and principal at St. Michael’s College.

Describing her experience as a book reviewer and the differences to those of news reporters, Szalai said, “There’s news value in these books and so when I review books, news value’s part of it, but it’s about reviewing the book, it’s about criticism. It’s about thinking what it is that the writer is trying to do.”

Szalai also spoke of the inner workings of being a reviewer, touching on subjects such as an embargo book, which “is a book that the publisher has decided not to release any advance copies of to reviewers.”

She also described how major book publicists and publishers try to get critics and editors to sign non-disclosure agreements, which is against NYT staff guidelines. Critics at the NYT are also not allowed to review books from current and former work colleagues.

The panelists also discussed how readership affects the process of book reviewing and how book culture remains an integral part of the industry. Boyagoda drew on his experience as an English professor, emphasizing the importance of book reviewing in contemporary literary studies.

“It is important for contemporary students of literature, of ideas more generally, to have a sense of what they’re studying in class is meaningfully connected to what’s going on in the world at large,” he said. “There’s a continuity between what’s going on in terms of a syllabus and then the kind of culture at large. And if we don’t see that… then all that matters are those [authors] that are dead already and I think a lively book culture kind of fails, and the people who are studying it today aren’t committed to thinking about what’s

going on in terms of contemporary fiction and nonfiction.”

Szalai said that bias, particularly from readers, makes it difficult when giving a fair opinion. Social media makes it especially hard, as reviewers can face direct criticism for an honest review.

“I think that the main thing about the reviews, especially the reviews that run in the Times, is that you want the review to be fair,” she explained.

She acknowledged that people define ‘fair’ in different ways, “but ultimately, you don’t want the reader to think that there’s some sort of ulterior motive on the part of the reviewer, whether it’s to promote a friend on the one hand, or if it’s an enemy, to really take their book down,” she said.

During the Q&A session, one audience member asked a question about the genre bias of book reviews, mainly those of history and politics, and what would constitute any nonpolitical book to be reviewed.

“I think it would depend on the book,” said Szalai.

“Sometimes I will notice that I’ve just done week after week after week of books having to do with history, politics, social issues, and for myself as well as for the readers, I think it’s nice. It’s helpful also for them to understand my sensibility better if I speak to a book that’s not about that.”

Boyagoda related the question to his experience reviewing a book outside his expertise of literary fiction.

“It was a great intellectual palate cleanser from, in my case, literary fiction… and I had readers… who came up to me and said, ‘It was really interesting to see you writing about this instead.’”

“That makes it a break for the reader, but it’s also a break for the critic; it’s kind of like a reset, in a way… whether it’s politics or literary fiction,” said Boyagoda.

Sam Tanenhaus, a former editor at the NYT and a visiting professor at U of T, moderated the panel. The NYT’s Canada bureau chief Catherine Porter and University College Principal Donald Ainslie delivered opening and closing remarks.

Business

December 3, 2018 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

Examining multi-level marketing

A look into MLM companies’ business techniques, legality

SKYLAR CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

Ann Marie Elpa Associate News Editor

After a night of scrolling through my Instagram feed, I noticed several posts from friends who had started working for multi-level marketing (MLM) companies. It came as no surprise when I subsequently started receiving messages from salespeople along the lines of, ‘Hey, you have quite a following on social media. Do you want to make $500+ right from your phone?’

MLM has been criticized for its parallels with pyramid schemes. In the age of online influencers, sponsorships, and public relations campaigns, MLM companies have transformed their strategies from the days of door-to-door sales and mailed catalogues to promoting over social media. With a quick click or tap, users can easily sign up to work for an MLM company and may start

earning commission in a matter of weeks.

It is no coincidence that these companies target millennials, including new graduates, stayat-home parents, and desperate college students, who are more susceptible to exploitation. With all of this in mind, are MLM companies doing more harm than good?

What is an MLM company?

You may have had a family friend make a small profit selling cosmetics or an old high school classmate try to recruit you for a company they work for. That’s exactly what MLM tries to do.

MLM is a business structure that bases its income on direct sales commission from a network of distributors and subsequent recruits.

MLM companies range from selling beauty and skincare products to clothing and home decor.

Distributors not only earn commission for the

How useful are business self-help books?

Working retail on Black Friday

products they sell but also on the products that their recruits sell.

According to David Soberman, Canadian National Chair of Strategic Marketing and Professor at the Rotman School of Management, MLM involves recruiting others to sell something tangible while earning commission on sales.

“These people can recruit others. So you may have more than 2 levels between the company and the consumer,” Soberman wrote to The Varsity.

Some MLM companies may charge new distributors a starter fee in exchange for a distribution kit and other necessities to sell the product, while others may provide training and business tools to increase success when generating profit or hiring new recruits.

How is MLM different from a pyramid scheme?

Though they parallel features of pyramid schemes, MLM companies are not illegal in Ontario.

“Pyramid schemes entail recruiting members who pay a fee. A new member only obtains repayment and profits for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or from the selling of something tangible,” Soberman wrote. “As recruiting multiplies, recruiting may become impossible, and most members are unable to profit (and lose what they paid to join).

As [a] result, pyramid schemes are usually illegal as the main flow of money is from recruiting people not from selling things.”

According to the Direct Sellers Association of Canada, MLM companies generated $2.55 billion in sales in 2015. A majority of those sales come from women. MLM companies, including Arbonne, Stella&Dot, ItWorks!, and Market America, have a strong presence in the Canadian market. In the US, Market America, which sells several lifestyle and beauty brands, received a federal lawsuit in 2017 for operating an illegal pyramid scheme targeting Chinese immigrants.

On its website, the US Federal Trade Commission writes, “If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s probably not. It could be a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal,

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and the vast majority of participants lose money.”

MLM at U of T U of T is no stranger to MLM controversies. Students have reported companies utilizing a clipboard scheme during lectures and companies recruiting students on campus. It is also no surprise that students turn to MLM companies to try to make a quick profit.

Rosemary Norheim, a former U of T student, currently works as a distributor at ItWorks! In response to controversies regarding MLM, Norheim wrote to The Varsity, “Every MLM and how it works is different, so I think some tend more towards being illegal than others.”

“It’s completely normal to have no one you know buy from you or join your team. I didn’t have either happen for months! Almost everything I do is with people I don’t already know.

I may ask people I know for support, but it isn’t where the vast majority of sales or recruitments come in. If that’s the part that is being criticized — using friends and family — then what I do totally does not apply because that is not what my business is based on.”

After a few months with the company, Norheim claims to have earned roughly $2,700 and has recruited 18 women to her sales team.

How can you get out of one?

“The most important thing is to advise students not to pay anything or commit to pay anything when they join an MLM. Trouble occurs when a student signs a paper that says you accept 200 boxes of a product which you can sell at whatever price you want,” Soberman wrote. “If they are unable to sell, they are stuck with boxes of stuff they cannot sell and are also legally obliged to pay for it.”

Deleting the first message from a potential seller is the first step to avoiding them. Though enticing, the money advertised in a sales pitch may not always be accurate. Profit depends on how much product one sells, although users report losing more money than gaining.

While joining an MLM company may be a risky choice, for people like Norheim, the appeal can be too great to pass up.

Business Board approves smokefree policy, real estate strategy

Smoke-free policy to move to Executive Committee for endorsement, real estate strategy to increase amenities Michael Teoh Business Editor

The Business Board has voted to concur with the recommendation of the University Affairs Board (UAB) to enforce a smoking ban at U of T and to approve the university’s Four Corners Strategy in principle. These were two of the 14 items on the agenda for the board’s second meeting of the 2018–2019 academic year, held at Simcoe Hall on November 26.

As part of Governing Council, the Business Board is responsible for monitoring the cost-effectiveness of the university’s investments and for approving its business-related policies.

Smoke-free policy The Business Board was the fourth stage of governance for the university’s proposed smoke-free policy, following recommendation by the UAB on November 19 and information sessions at the UTSC and UTM Campus Councils on November 20 and 21 respectively. The policy must now be endorsed and forwarded by Governing Council’s Executive Committee on December 4 and approved by Governing Council on December 13 in order to take effect.

Vice-President Human Resources & Equity Kelly Hannah-Moffat presented the item to the board.

If approved by Governing Council, the smoke-

free policy would ban most forms of smoking at the university’s three campuses effective January 1.

Exceptions to the policy are Indigenous ceremonies and medical requirements.

The policy would not apply to the university’s three federated colleges — the University of St. Michael’s College, the University of Trinity College, and Victoria University.

“I’ve talked to all three head provosts and presidents of the federated universities. They all anticipate going the same direction, although they are working through their own governance processes with respect to it so they may not go at the same time. I expect they will also be using similar signage to that which we are using,” Hannah-Moffat said. She added that affiliated institutions “immediately proximate to [U of T] like Knox College… are going to adopt [the smoke-free policy].”

“Enforcement of this policy will be first and foremost about educating our community and also talking to our community about the risks of second-hand smoke and the risks of smoking,” Hannah-Moffat added. The university will continue to provide staff, faculty, and students smoking cessation support.

All present voting assessors at the meeting voted in favour of the item, meaning that the board concurs with the approval passed by the UAB. Real estate strategy The board also unanimously approved the Four

The Business Board held its second meeting of the 2018–2019 year on November 26.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

Corners Strategy. According to Vice-President University Operations Scott Mabury, the strategy has been in development for around four years. It will replace the existing real estate strategy implemented by the university in 2007 and act as a framework to guide the university when investing in new real estate projects.

“We’re calling this ‘Four Corners’ because we want it to cover all corners of the university, wherever they may be,” Mabury said. The strategy will be updated to include the university’s properties in the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood, as well as the land housing the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health that it bought last year. He added that the federated colleges will not be included, as “practically speaking, they

run their [own] affairs.”

According to the report presented to the board, the strategy’s goals are “providing quality amenity spaces” and “generating financial returns directed to the operating fund through income of its improved properties.”

Mabury said that amenity spaces will include “innovation spaces, residential [spaces] to improve our ability to attract and retain our faculty and senior staff, [and] retail [spaces] to enliven and engage more effectively with the surrounding city as well as provide services for the academic community.”

Read the rest of the story at var.st/bb18two

Comment

December 3, 2018 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Decolonizing by the pen and tongue

Language representation in postsecondary education must prioritize Indigenous peoples Meera Ulysses Current Affairs Columnist

Two weeks ago, public indignation followed the provincial government’s announcement that it would not be following through on plans to fund a French-language university.

Critics of this decision are understandably angered by the government’s lack of accountability towards the needs of the approximately 600,000 Franco-Ontarians, who would have been significantly empowered by an entirely Francophone educational institution.

However, if the core of the criticism is that linguistic groups should be adequately represented and empowered in postsecondary education, then the Francophone community is only one of many minorities in Ontario.

In fact, Francophones are outnumbered: over 600,000 Ontarians speak a Chinese language — such as Mandarin or Cantonese — as a mother tongue.

There are also sizable Italian- and Punjabi-speaking communities. Yet there is no clamour to open postsecondary institutions based on these languages.

In reality, the necessity of upholding French as a unique language in Canada is grounded not as much in demographic representation as it is in a colonial mentality. French is thought to hold a rightful place in the nation because of the intertwined history of the language and the country.

But if we are upholding the integrality of French for historical reasons, then this justification should be extended to certain other communities, namely, those that speak one of the many Indigenous languages that have existed on this land for thousands of years.

These languages, more than any others, can be said

Colleges and universities should support Indigenous languages.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

to hold a rightful place on this land. It is interesting that there is no equivalent uproar for their representation in postsecondary institutions.

Ontario is home to a rich network of six Indigenous language families: Anishinaabek, Onkwehonwe, Mushkegowuk, Lunaape, Inuktitut, and Michif.

These families include over 18 different languages and dialects.

The province has made efforts to revitalize and integrate these languages in the context of postsecondary education in the last decade. A key way is through the provincial funding of several Indigenous postsecondary institutes.

Ontario is home to nine Indigenous-owned and operated postsecondary institutions that offer programs in partnership with other colleges and universities. A year ago, legislation was passed that gave these institutes the ability to independently award degrees, certificates, and diplomas without negotiating with their non-Indigenous partner schools.

This legislation is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, in line with reconciliatory aims to grant the Indigenous peoples of Ontario further autonomy over their communities and affairs, as well as power and influence over the affairs of the country in general.

But these institutes have rather small circles of impact. Combined, the nine institutions offer programs to around 4,000 students. This number pales when compared to the over two million postsecondary

students in Canada. U of T alone has over 90,000 enrolled students.

Indigenous language revitalization is a critical issue. Some of the key ways the violence of colonialism inflicts itself upon Indigenous peoples are the suppression and erasure of their ways of communicating, and the replacement of their languages with those of their colonizers — whether English or French. This process was facilitated through the residential school system.

Integration of these languages in education can be an important way of acknowledging the validity and necessity of Indigenous languages, to ensure that these languages continue to be learned and passed on to future generations.

Most of us are settlers in this country and benefit from colonialism by enjoying the use of the land and its resources. As such, we have an ethical obligation to support Indigenous peoples' efforts to revitalize and sustain their cultures and ways of life. Language itself is a key site of power and control — and by making efforts to revitalize Indigenous languages, we can help empower these communities in a major way.

For education in Indigenous languages to have a wider influence and impact, larger colleges and universities ought to expand their curriculum to be more inclusive of them. Integrating Indigenous languages within an academic context would validate these languages as legitimate and important ways of communicating. Indigenous students would also have the

ability to participate in their culture within these institutions.

Moreover, integrating these languages within educational institutions could help reverse some of the erasure wrought by residential schools — Indigenous students who were not brought up with knowledge of their communities’ languages would have opportunities to reclaim them. Non-Indigenous students would also have the opportunity to learn these languages, which would widen the scope of efforts to revitalize and sustain them.

Since 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call for more programs in Indigenous languages has spurred attempts by universities to integrate these languages into their course offerings. But the selection is still sparse. The most exhaustive offerings are those from the smaller, Indigenous-run institutes, like Six Nations Polytechnic in southwest Ontario, which offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mohawk and Cayuga.

Other schools have been moving toward offering more courses in Indigenous languages. Queen’s University, McMaster University, and Lakehead University now all offer some courses in Indigenous languages. U of T’s Centre for Indigenous Studies offers courses in Inuktitut, Iroquoian, and Anishinaabemowin.

These selections have yet to compare to the exhaustive curriculums that these schools offer in languages like French. It can be argued that an expansive curriculum in Indigenous languages is of even greater importance, since there is no threat of French dying out. With Indigenous languages, that is a very real possibility.

As students, we can contribute to the revitalization of Indigenous languages on our own campuses. We have opportunities to take courses in an Indigenous language offered by U of T, and in that way we can make a concrete effort to spread and sustain the language.

Debates around French representation in postsecondary education illuminate that language is a locus of power and control. And while being mindful of the needs of Franco-Ontarians, we should be aware that the representation of Indigenous languages in our colleges and universities is of equal, or greater, importance.

Meera Ulysses is a second-year Equity Studies and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations student at New College. She is The Varsity’s Current Affairs Columnist.

The recent UTMSU salary raise is justified

While criticizing student unions is easy, we should acknowledge the work they do and get more involved Sharmeen Abedi UTM Affairs Columnist

Last month, the motion to increase the salaries of the executive members of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) from $28,500 to $31,600 was passed. This is in accordance with the UTMSU’s Operation Policy, which states that the salaries should rise with inflation.

In 2016, Western University's student newspaper The Gazette, the University of British Columbia’s The Ubyssey, and The Varsity compared student executive salaries across Canada. The University of Waterloo Federation of Students came first on the list, with an executive salary of $46,532. Despite having the largest undergraduate student population of all six Canadian universities compared, the University of Toronto Students’ Union was fourth to last on the list, with an executive salary of $30,060.92 at the time.

Some people have expressed discontent at the UTMSU salary increase, saying that it is unjustified due to the campus’ smaller size. UTM has a comparatively smaller student population than most, at 14,190 undergraduate students for the current academic year.

However, the University of Saskatchewan has a stu-

dent population of around 17,000, and their student union executives have salaries of over $40,000.

Student unions at U of T lag behind when it comes to remuneration. Regardless of student body size, there should not be significant differences between student union wages. Student union executives work full-time, with similar fundamental responsibilities as other student unions. As such, they should be paid the same for their time.

A common complaint among UTM students is that the union does not do enough for them. While this is a valid concern, it is important for students to realize that the result of student union advocacy is not always immediately seen. Policy changes can take years, and the student union will go back and forth with the university to implement such changes.

A recent example is the course retake policy that was passed at UTM. Under this policy, students can retake a course and have the second attempt included in CGPA calculations. This is clearly a big win for the student body, providing numerous advantages for current and future students. The retake policy had been in the works for years, and reflects the zealous attempts of not just the current executives, but past executive teams as well.

Additionally, benefits that students already possess, such as the U-Pass and the Credit/No Credit policy, have also been the result of what must have been gruelling efforts on the part of the student union.

UTMSU executives are receiving a deserved pay upgrade.

DOMINICK HAN/THE VARSITY

Personally, I cannot imagine university life without the aid of the U-Pass, which allows me to travel anywhere in Mississauga.

Student unions also have the responsibility of ensuring that they are actually representing the needs of the student body. The UTMSU has been criticized for not considering student opinions or not having the right priorities. It should therefore ensure that it can effectively communicate with the student body in order to fully represent it. Students should be given platforms for expressing their opinions on what issues are important to them. Similarly, students need to be more proactive if they have opinions.

Complaining about the student union does not mean anything unless students are willing to become involved themselves, and bring important issues to light. I have seen plenty of students who are not even

aware of issues happening on campus, let alone involved in them. But student involvement is essential for any kind of change. While the student union could put change into action, it is the students themselves who need to recognize their role in facilitating it.

Student unions play an important role in the university: they organize, represent, and advocate for a diverse student population. While there is plenty of debate to be had around improving their role, there is no question that their work matters — and they should be paid fairly for it.

Sharmeen Abedi is a fourth-year Criminology, Sociology, and English student at UTM. She is The Varsity’s UTM Affairs Columnist.

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Planet, not profit

The university cannot waste any more time — it must divest from fossil fuels William Cuddy Varsity Contributor

In October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report, raising serious concerns about the future habitability of our planet. The release of this report and the subsequent attention it received in the media and among world leaders has galvanized public awareness of anthropogenic climate change, and focused attention on the main culprits — fossil fuel companies.

The National Climate Assessment, a report published by 13 US federal agencies, concluded that the increasing severity of hurricanes and other weather events could cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars a year by the end of the century. On top of that, this year’s United Nations climate change conferenence, COP24, starts this Monday, December 3, with countries coming together to show how they plan to adhere to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The serious and sudden panic about climate change is warranted. It is not an exaggeration to say that climate change is an existential threat to our species and our planet.

Decisive inaction U of T students are directly linked to the problem: our tuition is invested in fossil fuel companies.

In 2016, UofT350 was established to lobby the university to divest funds from those companies. Thanks to the activism of this group, in cooperation with students and faculty, the Governing Council convened an ad hoc committee to determine whether the university should divest.

In 2015, the committee returned a pro-divestment verdict.

UofT350 had argued that the university could present itself as a leader among other Canadian universities and in the broader movement to fight climate change.

Instead, President Meric Gertler rejected the committee’s recommendation, penning a report titled “Beyond Divestment: Taking Decisive Action on Climate Change.” The actions the university proposed in that report pale in comparison to the contribution that divestment would’ve made.

When I participated in rallies for the UofT350 campaign, I was heartened by the dedication of those who showed up, but disappointed that more did not share that commitment. In an institution of over 90,000 students, a rally of a couple hundred makes climate activism on campus seem insignificant.

After all, if only a small minority of students show up for a protest, the university might feel justified in not listening. As it turns out, it didn’t matter that the university didn’t listen; the larger student body didn’t even know that UofT350 lost its campaign.

In the words of Andrea Budgey, Chaplain of Trinity College and climate activist, U of T is “obliged to a lot of corporate supporters on a lot of fronts and I think that often hampers movement.” The university is a conservative institution. It doesn’t like change.

That much is evident from the campaign to get the university to divest from apartheid South Africa decades ago. U of T held onto its investments there until it was the last university in Canada to divest. We as students have to hold the university to account for its almost obscene reluctance to change its ways.

A kind of consolation prize Nonetheless, the university did some good when it created a committee to implement the initiatives it set down in its report.

I spoke to Professor John Robinson, the Presidential Advisor on Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability. One of these initiatives is to undertake six building projects across U of T to create “test beds” of sustainability, Robinson said. “We are going to treat each of them as a living lab,” he said, in order to “figure out how students can get involved in studying, or contributing to the retrofit.”

Another goal of the committee is to implement curricular changes incentivizing involvement in sustainability groups, and enrolling in certain courses, with tiered roles such as “sustainability citizen,” “sustainability scholar,” and “sustainability leader,” based off of a student’s involvement in environmental initiatives on campus.

U of T made concessions to activists by creating initiatives that distracted from its involvement

gases in 2015. This discrepancy may be why the administration is so willing to make changes on campus, rather than in its investments. The initiatives laid out in “Beyond Divestment” cost the university very little, and help much less than divestment.

UTAM currently manages almost $10 billion, and the money explicitly allotted to sustainable practices by the president’s report totals $3.25 million. Robinson’s committee has good intentions, but the university itself has been undoubtedly more cynical in terms of how it advertised its decision.

The “Beyond Divestment” report states, “We have embraced the spirit and followed the logic of the [ad hoc] Committee’s recommendations, while taking what we believe to be a broader — and ultimately, even more impactful — approach to the question of investment and fossil fuels.”

FIONA TUNG/THE VARSITY

with companies that actively contribute to climate change. While increased funding for climate research seems like a good thing, it fosters complacency about the university’s role in climate activism, and precludes real action.

Nonetheless, the programs the university seeks to introduce will likely increase student awareness and engagement with sustainability issues.

Speaking to Robinson, it was evident that these projects were very much in their beginning stages. It may take years before the report’s initiatives are fully implemented.

That approach is to evaluate the worthiness of investments based on environmental, social, and governance factors. While this seems an appealing, if vague, concept, it gives the university a get-out-of-jail-free card. Gertler’s report states that this approach is “consistent with the Committee’s recommendation in favour of… divestment.”

The Carbon Footprint Report indicates that this isn’t quite true. “It may take many years before conclusions can be drawn” from the initial carbon emissions estimates. If that’s the case, U of T could be far from divestment.

Cash for carbon In July of this year, the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) published its first Carbon Footprint Report. It estimates that, as of September 2017, U of T’s investments are responsible for around 570,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, mostly in Asian industries.

China is responsible for more than a quarter of the world’s emissions, and a large portion of that is through coal. The report suggests that U of T is investing in the world’s worst emitters, a stark contrast to its rhetoric about promoting green technologies.

For reference, U of T’s entire downtown campus produced 92,000 tonnes of greenhouse

The climate of climate activism In the wake of Gertler’s 2016 report, UofT350 encouraged alumni not to donate to the university, as a protest of the President’s decision. UofT350 then fizzled out, with its last Facebook update in October of the same year.

Since then, climate activism on campus has been nearly nonexistent.

The only comparable movement is LeapUofT, founded in the fall of 2016. It bases itself on the principles of the Leap Manifesto, a Canada-wide movement that advocates for “a Canada based on caring for each other and the planet, moving swiftly to a post-carbon future, upholding Indigenous rights, and pursuing economic justice for all.”

LeapUofT lobbies for divestment from fossil fuel companies at the university’s three federated colleges: the University of St. Michael’s College, the University of Trinity College, and Victoria University. Clement Cheng, a member of the organization, spoke about what the group hopes to achieve through its advocacy.

“Hopefully, one or all three of these colleges… can demonstrate true leadership on climate change and that they actually are looking out for the students.”

So far, LeapUofT hasn’t attracted as much student participation as UofT350 did, partly because it isn’t a branch of the multinational climate advocacy group that is 350.org.

LeapUofT faces challenges in its lack of exposure and the fact that its lobbying efforts are still in their infancy.

LeapUofT leader Julia DaSilva reflected, “We’re still growing as a campaign, so there are a lot of students who aren’t aware of our existence, but considering where we were a year ago… I think we’ve done pretty well.”

Student activists have limited their ambitions considerably since “Beyond Divestment,” focusing on sustainable practices within their own colleges.

Some activists on campus think only in terms of stopping things from getting worse. This is an unhelpful approach to climate activism. It is imperative for activists to push institutions towards tangible change, rather than letting them get the better of us.

People power On divestment, Robinson noted, “I think it’s inevitable, ultimately, the whole issue is… time is passing. The consequences are getting closer.” The university’s efforts pursuant to its 2016 initiatives are still largely unknown to the student community, and sustainability groups consequently have low participation.

The IPCC report is a golden opportunity for the 66 student groups identified by Robinson’s committee to reach out to students — to become agents of change, effectively represent students, and challenge the university’s reticence on climate change. After all, as Robinson said, “Students often don’t realize how much influence they have on the university.” The opportunity has passed for U of T and its administration to be leaders in the fight against climate change. Now leadership must come from the students.

There are inherent problems with advocating for widespread public engagement with climate change. I have the privilege of writing this article and dedicating some of my time to climate activism. Many students do not have that luxury, whether it is because of the nature of their program, personal life, involvement in other groups, or employment.

But if you have a moment to spare, stand with climate activists and let them know they’re not alone. As DaSilva stated clearly, “We have a moral obligation… to challenge injustice, and the climate crisis is fundamentally a justice issue.”

Our university has a responsibility to ensure the welfare of its students. Investing in fossil fuels and polluting our environment is an abdication of that responsibility.

William Cuddy is a fifth-year Political Science and History student at Victoria College.

Editorial

December 3, 2018 var.st/comment editorial@thevarsity.ca

Damn the exam cram

Letters to the Editor

Screw ‘term tests’ and final assignments due during the last week of class

Re: U of T Student calls for Disability Studies program “Yes! I [100%] support this student. Everyone at some point of their lives will have to interact with disability and there is a severe lack of general understanding and acceptance of what disability is, means, looks like, and can be” — Rachel Lissner (from web)

The Varsity Editorial Board

Re: Progressive Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff speaks at UTSC round table on youth, politics “What did the students think? What did Sam have to say that is for the people? I honestly can’t imagine someone who isn’t white and Christian having the same level of comfort and support in constantly banging on about their religious beliefs as the basis of their politics” — Rachel Lissner (from web) Re: Proposed smoking ban one step closer to full approval after passing at University Affairs Board “A university, trying to turn people into educated adults, that won’t allow them to make their own educated decisions” — Matt Gibbs (from web) Re: Data reveals extreme gender imbalances among faculty “It gets worse if you look at the stats for faculty of colour.”

— Patrick Keilty (from web)

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

As we arrive in December and the semester draws to a close, U of T students are forced to grapple with the ramping up of classes, the approach of exams, and the intensification of winter.

The brutality of this time is particularly felt by students with final assignments and exams that are due during the regular class period. They have to juggle their regular class schedules, readings, and smaller assignments with huge final assignments and ‘term tests’ in the very same week. This puts an unfair amount of pressure on students to constantly perform, without being given any downtime.

The unfairness of it all This pre-exam period practice only further renders students overworked, overwhelmed, or even hopeless, and adds to the stress and anxiety that they already feel as the exam period arrives. As mental health awareness rises, it seems contradictory to allow the practice of in-course finals or assignments while supposedly supporting students’ well-being.

There’s a reason why the exam period was established as a separate entity from the regular schedule of classes: to help mitigate the intensity of studying for final exams while trying to keep up with regular classes. While professors have a right to enjoy their Decembers, students should not have to pay for it.

Professors also have to adhere to having the final due date of all papers and term tests by the last day of class. This means that if a paper is due this late in the term, students with accommodations may not be able to implement their extra time, because the university gives professors very little freedom to grade papers once school has finished for the semester. This often results in students struggling to finish papers, while also having to start studying for their finals.

Furthermore, this practice puts students with final assignments and term tests at a significant disadvantage to their counterparts who are tested solely in the exam period. These students are given much more time to prepare, organize, and even take a break.

Are we human, or are we robots?

University is supposed to teach students how to think critically and engage with new material. Students are told that this is their chance to expand their horizons, learn more about themselves, and explore different ways of thinking.

But cramming assignments and exams in the last two weeks of November and early December teaches students to be robotic and mechanically pump out content that they know their professors want. Ultimately, they are driven by the need to produce. and the mission to get a high grade.

The sheer volume of responsibilities heaped upon students inhibits the genuine learning, growth, and development that they want to derive from the classroom in the first place. While time management is a vital life skill that is developed at university, there is a difference between being responsible and being overwhelmed. Students aren’t given Time-Turners with their admission letters, and shouldn’t be expected to perform as if they had.

Grades over happiness There is also the added pressure of taking part in extracurricular activities, maintaining a social life, and, for many, the added burden of having to focus on finances. The unspoken rhetoric that ‘if you aren’t doing everything, then you aren’t doing enough’ is heightened during the exam period and, typically, something ends up falling through the cracks. Unfortunately, it’s usually mental health.

At any university, particularly one as academically rigorous as U of T, it is difficult for students to feel as though they are excelling simply by having high grades. Therefore, they often balance feelings of inadequacy with other creative outlets. However, grades will almost always be the main focus of their university careers.

When there are term tests and papers due before the exam period begins, it is difficult for students to escape from the monotony and pressure that comes with being examined, and they therefore stop prioritizing other aspects of their lives that make them happy. After all, there is nothing more important than that A-grade.

Being kinder to students Going forward, professors should be held to a higher standard of course organization. If professors prefer to assign a final paper instead of an exam, but they weight the paper as if it were an exam, then that paper should be due in the exam period — not during regular classes. Furthermore, if a ‘term test’ is used as a metonym for a full-year course midterm or a half-year course final, it should likewise take place in the exam period.

In other words, the expectation should be that any assignment, test, or paper that is being marked as if it were a final exam should be due when an exam would be. If one is being swapped for the other, the swap shouldn’t carry repercussions for students.

Students should also be given time to breathe between the end of classes and the beginning of the exam period. They should not be burnt out before they have sat their first final.

Grades and exams can themselves be relatively arbitrary, but they can also have a significant impact on the rest of a student’s academic career, especially in upper years. In a world where employment is increasingly precarious and undergraduate degrees seem to matter less, students are constantly worried about their futures. They should feel supported by their university, not hindered by it.

U of T prides itself on being the leading university in Canada. However, if the institution wants to maintain this high standard, it needs to start being kinder to its students. U of T students are doing their best, but they also need to be provided with a secure safety net. Unfortunately, the brand name just isn’t going to cut it.

The Varsity’s editorial board is elected by the masthead at the beginning of each semester. For more information about the editorial policy, email editorial@ thevarsity.ca.

Re: Steve Mann on Inventrepeneurship and the ‘tree-shaped person’ “Studying under Steve brought a fresh new perspective to my life, both professionally and personally. I highly encourage everyone (students and professionals alike) to riff on some “jazz” with Steve if the opportunity presents itself. Through his life experiences, Steve has many valuable lessons to teach, and I believe each of them are essential for any aspiring entrepreneur. Thank you Steve, for passing these on and inspiring the next generation of creative thinkers.”

— Tobias Chen (from web) Re: Condos are the future — not single-detached homes “Condos are just tools for foreign tax evaders. The city should favor the development of apartments, which don’t have pesky condo maintenance fees.”

— Mahin Jo (from web) Re: Why I root for the Pittsburgh Penguins “Lol this article is written as if the penguins have a Stanley Cup drought or something lol.

They’re last in the division right now but it was the same thing last year. The same day last year the Pens were 2nd last in their division. Watch them bounce back into Playoff position from January and make it deep in the playoffs. I’m saying this when I’m not even a Penguins fan.”

— Seijoong Chu (from web) Re: In defence of the humanities “I believe you missed the point of the Sokal Squared project. It was not aimed at exposing the humanities as a whole but rather at highlighting the pressing issues that are present in these fields. Specifically, they were getting at the lack of rigorous consideration associated with the journals the papers got published in.

They never wanted to show that humanities aren’t important. It’s quite frankly the opposite of that — because the topics that humanities tackle are so crucial, there needs to be a more rigid system in place that controls the quality of research.”

— Lisa Klekovkina (from web)

10 | THE VARSITY | FEATURES

Who tolls the bells?

The challenges and rewards of playing the bells of the Soldiers’ Tower Writer: Adam A. Lam Photographer: Adam A. Lam

To commemorate the sacrifices of the University of Toronto community during World War I, the university's president, Sir Robert Falconer, called for the construction of a memorial in December 1918.

“It must be a beautiful structure,” he wrote in an article in the University of Toronto Monthly, “as fine as the architecture can make it, not too large, but a true memorial, worthy of the greatest event in the University’s history.”

Of the 5308 staff, undergraduate, and graduate students who served in World War I, 12 per cent died while in service. The names of the 628 fallen have been engraved on the memorial tower, constructed from 1919 to 1924, with funds raised with the help of the Alumni Association in response to Falconer’s call.

The clock and carillon — the bells of the tower — were installed in 1927, and the music of the bells has become a centrepiece of the annual Service of Remembrance at U of T since 1924.

But the 51 bells of the tower are not played automatically — at the top of the tower, unseen each year by the people attending the service, a musician presses the keys of a piano-like instrument connected to the bells to create the music for the ceremony.

Learning to play the carillon Mateusz Olechnowicz, a graduate student of mathematics at U of T, first became drawn to the music from the bells in November 2015, while singing at a Service of Remembrance in a choir.

“I heard the bells playing,” Olechnowicz said, “I say this as a joke, but this is actually what I thought: ‘Wow, I’d rather be up there, playing the bells, than down here freezing in the winter.’”

As it turns out, said Olechnowitcz with a smile, “it’s actually cold up here too.”

Soon after the service ended, Olechnowitcz contacted the administrator of the Soldiers’ Tower, Kathy Parks, to ask about taking lessons.

He began lessons in February 2016 under carillon teacher and lawyer Roy Lee, and has continued practicing to this day. Explaining what drives his interest in the instrument,

he said that “it’s challenging and exciting to play.”

“But it’s also very much about the sound — it’s unlike other instruments.”

“On the piano,” Olechnowitcz continued, “if you’re playing and you make a mistake, you just go again.

Especially when you practice in your

home. In private, no one is listening.”

But the music from practicing with the bells of the Soldiers’ Tower can be heard for “quite a long radius.”

As the carillon is a percussion instrument, explained Olechnowitcz, the key part to a pleasing performance to listeners is “having a constant rhythm.”

"Constant rhythm" is the key to a pleasing performance of the carillon, said Mateusz Olechnowicz.

features@thevarsity.ca

“Halting and altering a rhythm is one of the worst things you can do,” he said, as people fall into step to a constant rhythm.

According to Olechnowitcz, to “slow down or speed up” is the most noticeable mistake to an audience member — “so the sounds and notes you produce are not as important as [maintaining] the rhythm.”

The anatomy of a carillon While the sounds from a carillon are distinctive, the layout of a carillon’s keyboard is comparable to a piano’s, explained Lee during a rare public tour of the Soldiers’ Tower.

“If you play piano or organ, you’ll recognize this keyboard set-up,” said Lee. He explained how two layers of batons act like keys – with “white keys on the bottom, black keys on top,” and a similar “pedal board” for operation by foot.

Each baton is wired to one of the 51 bronze bells at the top of the tower, which, as a whole, enables the carillonneur — the carillon player — to hit notes in a range of over four octaves.

When a carillonneur presses down on a baton, explained Lee, a 500-pound free-swinging metal ball called a clapper strikes the inside of the bell, sounding a note.

“The pedals down here,” added Lee, motioning toward the pedal board, “replicate the bottom half of the keyboard.” A musician can thus strike the same bell either by pressing on a baton on the keyboard’s bottom layer, or by pressing a foot pedal near the floor.

The carillonneur can also control how loudly each note is played. Due to the carillon’s me-

chanical design, explained Lee, how much force the carillonneur applies to each baton translates directly into how loudly each clapper strikes its bell.

“If you just lightly tap it,” he continued, “it’s going to be a soft sound. If you really whack it, then it’s going to be a thunderous sound.”

The challenges that carillonneurs face Even if a musician tries to play the carillon softly, the massive size of the bells causes reverberations across campus. This is a drawback for carillon students, explained Lee. Out of respect for students attending classes, carillon students spend most of their time playing on a practice carillon. In this layout, each baton connects to a rubber mallet that hits a pipe, rather than a clapper that hits a bell.

This causes a carillonneur to feel “very little resistance” when pressing the batons of a practice carillon, compared to “quite a bit of resistance” when pressing those of a performance carillon, explained Lee. “Imagine if you’re learning how to play the violin, and you can only practice 15 minutes a day on it, or 15 minutes a week,” said Lee. “And if I give you this plastic replica that sort of looks like a violin and then I tell you to just pretend you’re playing it for the rest of the time.”

“The lack of playing time is probably the biggest challenge for students,” continued Lee. A limitation of practice time on the carillon is set by the university out of respect for the people living and taking classes around the

Soldiers’ Tower.

Usually only two to four students can learn from Lee at a particular time, to account for the limited practice time available to the carillonneurs. To overcome this challenge, they also arrange to practice on the performance carillon at the Metropolitan United Church, explained Olechnowicz, and think of ways to improve performance while away from their instrument.

“You can think about how to play without actually playing,” said Olechnowicz. “You can read the music and think about what you’re going to do. Plan. Maybe you can schedule your practice time so that you make the most use of it.”

Coordination between hand and foot movement poses another challenge to successful performance, explained Naoko Tsujita, a percussionist who’s been a yearlong student of Lee. “It’s really hard to coordinate my full body,” said Tsujita, explaining the difficulty of simultaneously playing with the keyboard and the pedalboard.

“I’m still in the process of being able to use my feet naturally and smoothly.”

Olechnowicz also identified coordination as a challenge. “I would say it’s one of the most difficult instruments I’ve learned to play,” he said, “because there’s lots of practice and coordination involved.”

To increase the fluidity of her performance, Tsujita has “tried to play as many times as possible” over the past year, while also recognizing that improvement with the instrument is a “really, really slow process” that takes a great deal of practice time.

But to Tsujita, the process of improvement is time well spent.

“I thought this is a really good exercise for me to train my body in awareness, in musical expression,” she said.

She has also found joy in the freedom of expression from using her hands to press the batons to create music from unseen bells above her. “They actually feel like they are very close and connected,” she said. “I can express what I feel through my hands, and tell the bells how to say it.”

Music and the freedom of expression Scott Allan Orr, a U of T alum who composed a piece for the carillon named “Everything That Rises Must Converge” for the 2018 Service of Remembrance, also found music from the instrument to be a means to convey a message.

The inspiration for the composition arose from a conversation between Orr and Lee about the “various ways in which bells are interconnected with wars and memorials,” wrote Orr in an email to The Varsity.

As a consequence of the war effort in Europe, explained Orr, “many bells were plundered during WWI for their metal,” and also to reduce “their use for signalling and maintaining the [wartime] spirit of people who were in the vicinity of these bells.”

“In this way,” he continued, “the ringing of bells have an incredibly powerful memorial [effect] as ringing out freely [represents] peace and optimism for the future.”

“Having attended U of T as an undergrad,” wrote Orr, “it was also a way that I could give back

to a community that meant a lot to me personally.”

Lee played the premiere of Orr’s piece from the Soldiers’ Tower during November’s Service of Remembrance during the post-lude of the ceremony, and was followed by his students playing solo pieces from several other composers.

The carillon and the community The most important events that the carillonneurs play for, said Lee, are the Service of Remembrance and the bi-annual convocation ceremonies, to celebrate the graduation of students at U of T. “It’s something that really ties together the graduating classes,” added Lee. “If you think about it, the bells were installed in 1927, and every graduating class has heard those bells on their Graduation Day.” “Shared musical experiences are rare now. You can only hear this sound by being in the neighbourhood, so it’s something that will stay with you for a long time,” he said, “and remind you of your time at U of T.” As for the remainder of the carillonneurs’ performances in between, the songs that play from the bells create a “nice soundscape for the university.” “Sometimes I’ll walk off the tower,” he continued, “and hear somebody humming [a tune] that I’ve just played.”

“That’s a neat feeling because you know you’ve made a difference in somebody’s day,” Lee said, “and they may not even be conscious of it.”

Arts & Culture

December 3, 2018 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

A weekend of theatre at U of T

Reviewing TCDS’ Art and SMC Troubadours’ Pacamambo

Art shows that friendships are akin to art: they help fill the voids within us.

Pacamambo is not for the faint of heart, but it appeals to the human desire to process trauma.

MELODY CHAN/THE VARSITY

Photo by NOGA CADAN, Courtesy of WILLIAM DAO

TCDS presents Art Oscar Starschild Varsity Contributor

Rating: 3/5 stars

Last weekend, the Trinity College Dramatic Society (TCDS) performed Yasmina Reza’s awardwinning play, Art. The play, set in Paris and written in French, premiered in 1994 and was quickly adapted and translated, before making its way across the Atlantic and onto Broadway in 1998.

Performed at Trinity College’s George Ignatieff Theatre, curator Liana Ernszt made a conscious effort to integrate the performance with a gallery of boundary-pushing student artwork, providing an altogether more interactive experience.

By presenting opportunities for more direct engagement, Ernszt encouraged audiences to step outside of their comfort zones and provided a more visceral account of the play’s major themes: drifting friendships, weak bonds, senses of taste, and identity. This challenged audiences to consider the value and purpose of art and greatly enhanced the communication of Reza’s message in art.

Art follows three friends, Serge (Ezera Beyene), Marc (Kody McCann), and Yvan (Brendan Rush), who’ve unwittingly grown apart and suddenly find their friendship under considerable tension. Catalyzing the end of their friendship is Serge’s wildly exorbitant purchase of a painting that, rather humorously, is just a completely white canvas with white lines.

Marc disparages the painting, and it is this disagreement in taste between Marc and Serge that forces Yvan in the middle. Naturally, this devolves into a no-holds-barred contest of mockery, cynicism, and disillusionment, ultimately spiralling out of control and into referendums on taste, character assassinations, and a pervasive mood of indifference. Just when it’s most important for them to pull together, they instead push them-

Overlooked: Sleeping at Last

Composer Ryan O’Neal’s household recognition begins and ends in the credits Liam Bryant Varsity Contributor

Ryan O’Neal has found great success in his relatively short career by creating music for the concepts of other artists. However, his own musical side projects are undervalued by comparison.

selves even further apart.

The play, directed by Ryan Falconer, brought out a unified and true-to-form communication of Reza’s Art. The production was well-orchestrated with timely, effective lighting and use of the stage to entwine the audience in an intimate affair of theatre and drama. The band, with Shreya Jha on keyboard and Mira Riselli on bass, helped execute seamless transitions of scenes, building and releasing tension to complement the mood of the cast.

The cast succeeded in captivating the audience by effectively conveying the emotional rifts between their characters. Beyene’s performance of Serge as an eccentric art connoisseur left the impression of a focused approach to his role, by projecting his emotions not impulsively but sincerely.

This was nicely juxtaposed by McCann’s performance of Marc, whose condescending demeanour and language really broadcast a sort of austerity that reached beyond the confines of the stage and into the minds of the audience. This contrast worked especially well in heightening the tension between the two characters. Rush’s performance of Yvan was ambitious and intense, though certainly not lost because his character was the most difficult to portray. Rush successfully supported the unfolding interactions between Serge and Marc, which would unravel even more to crash down like a game of Jenga.

The more salient point in Art and the blank canvas is not the trivial senses of taste, but the understanding that friendships are to be nurtured and not taken for granted. As with anything that is abandoned or neglected, if we lose sight, we also stand to lose clarity and, ultimately, the confidence of our friendships.

Friends are a sort of artwork in themselves; like art, friends help us overcome times of adversity and suffering by making light of dark situations.

They fill the voids within us to cure our emptiness.

Ultimately, I wish to congratulate Falconer and the TCDS on a great show and laud their commitment and passionate dedication to storytelling, art, and the audience.

His scores can be found in motion pictures, car commercials, and music videos alike. Each one is unique, yet unified stylistically with a fondness of narrative and an emo tinge.

He wields his musical tools masterfully, carefully curating his music and lyrics for each project. These tools never appear predictably within his albums; they are as diverse as the topics he chooses to muse upon.

Every note, chord, and rest is specifically written to elicit a particular emotion or experience from the listener.

Precise and careful, yet eloquent and efficient, the Sleeping at Last project exemplifies everything music should do for its audience.

Through beauty, and the expert use of the mechanics of song, Sleeping at Last seeks only to provide fundamentally universal experiences that everybody can learn from. Though his

SMC Troubadours present Pacamambo Elaine YJ Zheng Varsity Contributor

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

On the penultimate Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of November in the basement of Alumni Hall, led by director William Dao, the St. Michael College Troubadours staged a praiseworthy performance of Wajdi Mouawad’s Pacamambo.

Dao’s Pacamambo left the audience with much to contemplate on the nature of death, as well as the role of narratives in shaping subjective reality.

The constraints imposed by last-minute stage changes did not stop the crew — being confined to a small classroom — from creating an immersive universe for the audience to inhabit for the next hour and a half.

Under these impositions, their creative considerations only seemed to grow, resulting in a hypnotic setting that departed from the distance created by the traditional stage. By positioning the audience around the performance, the former were invited to act as jury for the interrogation to come.

The story focuses on a young girl named Julie (Eiléanór O’Halloran) as she attempts to make sense of the death of her grandmother (Rachel Bannerman).

At the request of her therapist (Ahlam Hassan), the child guides us through her trauma and we come to understand why she was found three weeks later looking over the dead body of her grandmother.

“Tell me your story,” her therapist urges — and more importantly, what in the world is Pacamambo?

Julie intently informs the audience that Pacamambo is the question and it is the answer; it is the land where everyone is everyone, the land of universal empathy.

As the faint lights fade into silence, chilling vocalists vested in white gowns flood the quiet room.

The irfinal notes echo through the room to set the tone for the sombre realities that follow. From her very first lines, O’Halloran’s delivery captivates the goal seems lofty, O’Neal achieves it splendidly.

You find yourself so comfortable in the worlds he creates that sometimes you forget the one you’re actually in.

He is captivating in the simplest sense.

His albums, aptly dubbed ‘atlases,’ begin describing our entire universe at its most basic level — light and dark — and move through increasing levels of complexity. His current project seeks to tackle the human psyche through the Enneagram of Personality.

Even though he has spent the better part of the last three years serenading objects from throughout the solar system and beyond, beauty is the string that ties his separate works together into a cohesive whole. His music allows the audience to discover, and constantly rediscover, the beauty in all things.

O’Neal asks you to feel the joy that sim-

viewer and she aptly manipulates the stage through her portrayal of a young child processing trauma. She flawlessly captures the convictions of childhood and draws the audience into a nostalgic attentiveness.

They wait on her every breath out of sheer curiosity — what could the young, vulnerable, and sad possibly have to say about grief?

Grief, trauma, and a child’s unwillingness to let go of the past: Pacamambo is not for the faint of heart. To alleviate the audience from the deeply emotive plot, Julie’s dog ( Joanne Perez) appears from time to time to break the fourth wall, eliciting a few chuckles from audience members, and providing the rest with a chance to catch their breath and remember that with death, there is still life.

These brief moments are quickly set aside as the audience come to face Julie’s encounter with Death (Olivia Regimbal, Amanda Gosio, and River Pereira), whose authority can be sensed in its every sentence and through its every glance. As Death speaks, no one dares make a sound. At last, Death arrives, and perhaps will inform us too, of our own mortality, leaving us more confused than Julie, who at least holds an answer.

Dao’s portrayal of the incoming of Death, as well as an individual’s attempt to derive meaning from the incomprehensible is most remarkable as it brutally projects the latter upon the audience.

Pacamambo beautifully overwhelms. Our senses meet a cacophony of movement upon a layer of hollow lamentation; everyone speaks, yet not a thought can be heard. Chaos and panic find harmony within the small space.

Despite the team’s perceived necessity to intervene on the original text around the topics of anti-Black racism and mythologized trauma, Dao and his cast navigate the limitations of exploration and provide a platform for the discourse surrounding colonization in the land acknowledgement before the performance.

Dao and the Troubadours offered a memorable representation of Pacamambo to remind the audience that the land of universal empathy can be here and now, and that kindness and compassion can be found even amid these incessant winter days. ple sunlight shining through curtains brings; to exonerate the regret that comes from the “reckless and honest words” leaving our mouths. And at his request, on clear nights, you should take the time to look at the moon as if you had never seen it before.

O’Neal writes only for others. His music exists simply to gift others the beauty of the unknown.

For what greater gift can there be than to allow us to feel wonder for wonder’s sake?

No longer just in the background or periphery, O’Neal deserves every last ounce of recognition for his tireless, incredible work. And you, dear reader, deserve to see the beauty in everything, and possibly even yourself.

At last.

DECEMBER 3, 2018 | 13

var.st/arts

This one’s for you, Mr. Grinch Bah! Humbug! An alternative movie list for those not overly fond of the holiday season

Eddy Wang Varsity Contributor

Look, I get it, you don’t want to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s a Wonderful Life again.

You’re too alternative for Christmas now that you’re in university and learning big words like ‘hegemony’ and ‘postmodernism.’

Join the club. Be a ‘not-Christmas’ Christmas movie watcher. Sip that eggnog and feel smug.

Make a comment on your Instagram and Twitter that you, too, are resisting the commodification of Christmas.

So what is a ‘not-Christmas’ Christmas movie?

It’s a movie set during Christmas which goes against normative assumptions of Christmas. While a movie like It’s a Wonderful Life might not have anything to do explicitly with Christmas lore, it still captures the spirit of Christmas.

The following movies are the antitheses to our preconceived notions of what a Christmas movie should be. Here are the candidates for ‘not-Christmas’ Christmas movies for this holiday season: 1. Instead of thinking about world peace, get your dose of unnecessary violence and action with Die Hard, 1988.

This one is the original ‘not-Christmas’ Christmas movie. There’s something so cheeky about watching Bruce Willis blow things up when your neighbours are singing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” around the Christmas tree.

2. Instead of holding hands around the Christmas tree and singing songs, explore the deepest trenches of alienation and loneliness in Dekalog: Three, 1989.

Poland has never been so lonely in the third episode of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s masterpiece Dekalog. Driving around the streets at night in a taxi, Dekalog: Three places us in the world outside of the brightly lit homes of the suburbs. Here, the inability to connect with other human beings runs rampant.

Holiday depression is real, and Dekalog: Three sleigh rides deep in its depths.

3. Instead of enforcing heteronormativity, delve into the psychological tensions of a boy learning about his sexuality in The Long Day Closes, 1992.

Showcasing the pure poetry of subdued queer cinema, 11-year-old Bud (Leigh McCormack) sits alone on the stairs as his entire family eats a meal around the Christmas tree. His two brothers have recently gotten married, but Bud knows he does not fit in. He is becoming increasingly intertwined in a

SKYLAR CHEUNG/THE VARSITY

world of ambivalence and ambiguity as he discovers his sexuality in 1950s Liverpool.

4. Instead of romanticizing idyllic Christmas childhoods, dive deep into childhood trauma with Fanny and Alexander, 1982.

In lieu of the Toronto International Film Festival’s celebration of the Ingmar Bergman Centennial, I present to you Fanny and Alexander. This five-hour film — the theatrical cut is only three — is about the life of two siblings as they grow up in 1900s Sweden. Its colourful proclivity to red might appear in line with the Christmas spirit, but the way the film ruthlessly explores the inner traumas so often tucked away when representing childhood is what makes it so ‘not-Christmas.’ Seeing mommy kiss Santa Claus is the least of these kids’ troubles.

5. Instead of wholesome family fun, enjoy sex cults and spooky conspiracies with Eyes Wide Shut, 1999.

Stanley Kubrick’s last feature is so drenched in paranoia and weird sex things that it will make any family have a case of the fantods. But the film isn’t just purely decadent: deep down, it’s an authentic meditation on marriage that dares to go into the obsessional and unsettling elements of love.

6. Instead of going to your church’s yearly rendition of the nativity story, explore the most contro-

versial telling of that story in Jean-Luc Godard’s Hail Mary, 1985.

This film is set in 1980s France and was criticized after its release for telling such an untraditional narrative of Mary’s life. In fact, it was condemned by Pope John Paul II and banned in Argentina and Brazil. Hail Mary dares to offend. It features several nude shots of the virgin Mary — albeit stripped of sexual content — and forces us to rethink discourses of the holy by integrating the divine into everyday life. Hail Mary presents such radical claims of the body, virtue, miracles, and God that it transcends any simple understanding of the ‘Christ’ category of Christmas.

7. Instead of engaging in sprees of consumerism, embrace an ironic attitude to the dystopia of modern culture in Brazil, 1985.

You didn’t know Terry Gilliam’s Brazil was set during Christmas? Surprise! It even features a scene of a drunk Santa in a wheelchair. This masterwork in satirizing office life, authoritarianism, and late-stage consumerism is a hilarious political dystopia that becomes more relevant every day.

8. Instead of resting at home, venture into the cold, outside world of rural Québec in Mon Oncle Antoine, 1971.

Claude Jutra sets this revered film in the Canadian canon on December 24. While you’re snug at home

with hot chocolate and all, watch as 15-year-old Benoît ( Jacques Gagnon) and his uncle Antoine ( Jean Duceppe) wander around in the snow on a dead-body delivery. The movie is chilly and methodical. It’s a slow — or perhaps ‘snow’ — burner that gives you a picture of the delights and challenges of a world outside the comfy, heated city life that Torontonians associate with Christmas.

9. Instead of going on a holiday and taking time off work, climb the corporate ladder and achieve a state of late-capitalist loneliness in The Apartment, 1960.

Closing our ‘not-Christmas’ Christmas list is Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy The Apartment. Taking place during the holiday season, Jack Lemmon plays CC Baxter, a lonely office worker who loans out his apartment to his superiors so they can have adulterous affairs. Baxter is determined to get to the top of the corporate ladder, but that all changes when he meets Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine).

Wilder understands that love shatters our expected course in life. He crafts a film where every line of witty dialogue is perfect in its place. The way Wilder plays with the corporate wishlist of success and the world-shattering gift of love perhaps, more than anything, captures the contradictory nature of Christmas. The Apartment is both one of the greatest ‘not-Christmas’ movies and also one the greatest Christmas movies.

This is CampusOne. Directly across the street from UofT.

Now leasing for Winter 2018-2019! *CampusOne is an independently owned and operated residence affiliated with the University and the University assumes no responsibility in regard to any agreements entered into by students/residents with the Owner and the Operator. The University makes no representations or warranties and assumes no responsibility for the conditions of services provided at the Academic Residence.

14 | THE VARSITY | ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

This time of year is tough on mental health — don’t be afraid to ask for help From U of T’s Health & Wellness to phone and text services, you have options Jeffrey To Varsity Contributor

In an institution as large as the University of Toronto, with over 90,000 students across our three different campuses, it is normal to feel as though you are just another number.

Mental illness is one of Canada’s major health concerns. Approximately one in five Canadians will experience a mental illness or addiction problem in their lifetime. This statistic only grows more concerning among young adults, with suicide being the second leading cause of death for those aged 15–24, coming only after accidents. In response to a 2016 survey of Ontario students conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 40 per cent of participants said that they experience feelings of anxiety or depression but did not seek medical assistance.

Studying in such a high-pressure environment means that it is likely that thoughts of inadequacy will flit in and out of your head. Yet U of T students are the masters of presenting the illusion that everything is fine as we rush along St. George Street. Often, we end up trivializing our stresses by telling our friends that we just have a lot of work on our plates or that we haven’t slept in a week. In actuality, sometimes a bad day is caused by more than our academics or extracurriculars. Why is it that even if we are not alone in our struggles, it sometimes seems futile to reach out for help? And if we do end up asking for help, why is it so difficult to get it?

One barrier to asking for help is the stigma surrounding mental illness, particularly in a competitive academic climate. We often don’t want to admit that something is wrong, because then we will feel judged and misunderstood or be treated differently by our peers. We pass off our worries as trivial or merely a symptom of an increasing workload, when in reality, the causes can be complex and perhaps worth exploring with a friend or professional.

Societal attitudes may also contribute to this fear of being vulnerable. While depression is reported to be less frequent among men than women, men com-

Book Club: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden A little girl’s life stolen and contrived for the illusion of a perfect Eastern beauty Jenny Liu Varsity Contributor

The only novel I’ve ever wanted to read twice in my life, Memoirs of a Geisha is considered by many to be a historical fairy tale that paints a breathtakingly exotic and beautiful world. Written by an evocative author, it tells the story of a character whom we learn to both love and hate.

Taking place in Japan, the novel spans from the early 1900s, when nine-year-old Sayuri is taken away from her family at the age of nine, to the 1950s, when World War II has left the country in shambles. Sayuri is forced to become a geisha: a female Japanese entertainer specialized in the performance arts. Not to be confused with prostitution, the geisha business is dignified and requires years of rigorous and expensive training.

For background, in the 1920s, there were over 80,000 geishas in Japan. Many of them started train-

There are always places where you can seek help both on and off campus.

STEVEN LEE/THE VARSITY

prise four of every five suicide deaths.

“We have inculcated a culture in our society that men have to be tough,” says Dr. Don McCreary, cochair of Toronto Men’s Health Network. “Weakness is not considered to be masculine.” Too often, men don’t talk about their emotional difficulties, because it runs contrary to modern ideals of masculinity: silent resolve and detachment.

Institutional barriers may be at play as well, with a certain university-mandated leave of absence policy being recently imposed. This may result in students with serious mental illnesses being even more intimidated to disclose their mental health issues and reach out for support.

Another issue of access is the long wait time, and this often means that students will have to cope with their mental health alone until there is a vacancy with a counsellor or psychiatrist. It can take many weeks of waiting for just an initial intake assessment; once

the assessment is completed, students will be placed on yet another waitlist until they finally receive an appointment with a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or other specialist.

If you think that you may be suffering from poor mental health — even if you are unsure whether your mental condition warrants serious treatment — it may be helpful to book an appointment with the Health & Wellness Centre. Although it is nearimpossible to get an immediate appointment, you do have free access to the walk-in clinics as a U of T student. If it is your first time seeking help, Health & Wellness will appoint you a family physician who will discuss your symptoms and then refer you to a specialist appropriate to your needs.

In-person one-on-one counselling on campus isn’t just limited to options at Health & Wellness — there are services that are college-specific, but you’ll need to be part of the affiliated college. University Col-

ing at a very young age in a kaburenjo, a school that teaches girls how to sing, dance, play instruments, and perform tea ceremonies. In addition to becoming a skillful artist, the girls must learn how to carry themselves with grace and allure.

A geisha will spend hours getting ready for work.

From lavish kimonos to extensive hairdressing routines, a geisha’s main purpose is to please and entertain men, to gain their liking. This is also so that they can earn a danna: a wealthy man who will pay for and take care of them in exchange for a more intimate relationship. The world of geishas is where the gender dichotomy manifests to its fullest, where women are presented as nothing more than an object of desire.

Through her struggles, young Sayuri takes us into a geisha’s world — one where she’s trained to enchant the most powerful men, yet bear no power in choosing whom she can love. Sayuri lives a life like water flowing down a hill, until she splashes into something that forces her to find a new course. Although she leads a glamorous life in the public eye, Sayuri is helpless to her own fate.

Arthur Golden wrote the entire story in the gentle and innocent voice of Sayuri. To create a narrative as historical and as niche as Memoirs of a Geisha, Golden conducted a lot of firsthand research. Golden interviewed Mineko Iwasaki, who became the biggest inspiration for the creation of Sayuri. Iwasaki was a geisha herself — one of the most well-known in Kyoto in her time.

Iwasaki provided Golden with many rich details and insights about her life as a geisha. However, following the book’s publication and success, Iwasaki was enraged. She felt betrayed at the book’s open publicity of her most private matter — namely, her mizuage, which is a ceremony that auctions a girl’s virginity. In addition, there were details in the book that Iwasaki felt were not properly represented. They

acted as nothing more than sprinkled glamour that Golden used to write a bestseller.

Whether the alleged mistakes were intended or accidental, it is undeniable that Golden cannot be a perfect writer of Japanese culture. Golden is a man born in America. He never grew up in an okiya or faced the desolation of losing his entire family to poverty. However, what he lacks in experience, he makes up for with imagination and craftsmanship.

lege, for example, has recently implemented a service called Counselling & Psychotherapy, a short-term counselling service available to students for concerns ranging anywhere from self-esteem issues to anxiety or depression to substance or alcohol abuse. This option may be beneficial if you are currently on a waitlist and you need immediate professional attention.

There are some other more immediate options such as Good2Talk (1-866-925-5454), a helpline through which you are anonymously connected with a professional counsellor who will help you navigate your feelings and offer suggestions for services that are most appropriate for your situation. Similar helplines include the Gerstein Centre Crisis Line (416-929-5200) and the Toronto Distress Centre (416-408-4357), both of which operate 24 hours a day.

If you do not wish to speak on the phone, there are also online chat services, such as The Online Chat & Text service, which operates in the same vein as a helpline. You can also contact Kids Help Phone, which has text, phone, and web support and offers help regardless of age, and the Canada Suicide Prevention Service, which is accessible via phone and text.

These provide you with an avenue to voice your concerns anonymously and receive professional advice from a highly trained volunteer responder.

However, there are limitations to the helplines, which is why it is even more important that U of T prioritizes mental health care for its students.

For example, there may be some occasions when you are put on hold for helplines such as Good2Talk, if all available responders are occupied. As such, it’s important to have a range of options readily available in case your go-to isn’t feasible.

In some cases, calling a close friend or family member may be the best option.

Remember: seeking help is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of acknowledging that something is amiss.

It takes a lot of courage to take the steps to seek therapy or disclose personal issues to your peers.

Reducing mental health stigma starts with being open to being vulnerable. No problem is too big or too small. Every concern matters.

If you’re looking for a precise historical account of geisha culture, this book will not be it. But if you’re looking to escape into a world both lyrical and sensual, a world that captivates and evocates, then this is your book.

JENNY LIU/THE VARSITY

Science

December 3, 2018 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

U of T team wins silver at international synthetic biology competition Students developed alternative wastewater cleaning system using genetically engineered bacteria

The iGEM Toronto team developed a method to use E. coli to clean wastewater effluent.

Courtesy of JACK CASTELLI

Josie Kao News Editor

A U of T team took home a silver medal at this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Giant Jamboree competition for their project on an “environmentally friendly and economically feasible” way to clean wastewater using genetically engineered bacteria.

The competition, held on October 24–28 in Boston, Massachusetts, brought together more than 6,000 students and professionals of all levels and countries to showcase achievements in synthetic biology.

In trying to find an alternative wastewater cleaning solution, the U of T team used biomass flotation for bioremediation processes.

“We hypothesized that one could genetically engineer E. coli to bind to waste particles, and then float to the surface of the reactor, allowing for easy E. coli removal,” wrote the team in their drylab model.

“We have engineered bacteria to float by producing gas vesicles, and now we are trying to get these bacteria to bind pollutants so that they can float up with them and separate them from wastewater,” wrote VicePresident Internal Jack Castelli to The Varsity. The team has also mathematically modelled a bioreactor platform that makes use of their system.

According to President Amy Yeung, the group came up with the idea by talking to graduate students at their lab and reading scientific lit-

erature, and then searching for novel tools to find solutions to the problems they encountered.

“Coming across the use of gas vesicle in ultrasound imaging we also thought that it could be expressed in bacteria and used as a novel wastewater cleaning solution.

So naturally, we decided to combine the two,” wrote Yeung.

When asked about any challenges they faced during their project, Lab Manager Tashi Rastogi said that the group had problems troubleshooting their genetically engineered constructs in the lab. “ With time we realised the importance of exercising reflexivity in our scientific process,” wrote Rastogi.

She also credited advice from

graduate mentors in helping the group understand “both the biological systems [they] worked to engineer and the needs of the industrial systems [they] were designing [their] solution for.”

“The overarching goal of our project is to construct an efficient and inexpensive bio-remediation system, capable of separating pollutants from wastewater using bacteria,” wrote Castelli, who added that current processes are very costly and not environmentally friendly.

“If you have a substrate of interest that cells can bind or uptake, say heavy metals, and that’s present in a liquid medium, say mining effluent, then you could adapt the system to bind to or uptake the substrate and remove it from the medium,” he

continued.

“This same logic can then be applied to microplastics, hormones, pharmaceuticals and other molecules of interest in other industries.”

The team included over 30 U of T students from across the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

This is the third medal that U of T has won since the club was founded in 2007.

The competition is run by the iGEM Foundation, which has its roots in an independent study course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since its founding in 2003, it has grown into the non-profit organization that runs this international competition.

Department of Engineering introduces artificial intelligence minor and certificate The new program will be available to students in January Javiera Gutierrez Duran Varsity Contributor

The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s new Artificial Intelligence (AI) minor and certificate programs will be available for enrolment by students in the Core-8 and Engineering Science programs in January.

Students are required to fulfil three full course equivalents (FCE) to complete the minor, while students enrolled in the certificate program must complete 1.5 FCEs. Since a few of the courses required for the program fall out of the scope of students’ main discipline, some students may need to take extra courses to complete the requirements.

Students who complete the minor or certificate will receive a

notation on their transcript.

Professor Jason Anderson from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, a key figure behind the program, explains that all students will be required to take one foundational course, as well as courses in data structures and algorithms relevant to AI and machine learning.

Students enrolled in the certificate program can choose between traditional AI or machine learning for specialization. Students in the minor will learn about both and choose an additional area of interest to specialize in, such as computer vision or natural language processing.

Anderson explains that machine learning is one aspect of AI. In traditional AI, computers can make decisions on their own.

In machine learning, computers

use and learn from data to make decisions.

“The computer is actually trained to recognize images in different categories. In traditional AI, that’s more encoded in rules.”

“Students who take the certificate or minor will have hands on experience applying AI and machine learning techniques to real engineering problems,” says Anderson. In addition, students will be exposed to the ethical questions surrounding AI technology.

While there is currently no specific Professional Experience Year Co-op (PEY ) opportunity for the AI minor and certificate, Anderson says that many students are already working with AI to some extent during their PEY. Anderson also notes that AI ties in with other engineering disciplines in several ways. For

instance, AI technologies can be used by civil engineers to understand traffic patterns or by chemical engineers in drug discovery.

In his own field, Anderson notes that AI technology is being used in computer-aided design tools that “create complicated digital circuits” in order “to produce higher quality designs, for example, that use less silicon area, that use less power, operate faster, to make predictions.”

“We want students who can research in this area but also have applied AI techniques,” says Anderson. Through this program, he hopes to foster engineering talent that will lead students to create startups, develop new AI technology, or further their education through graduate studies.

U of T engineers developed Pepper using AI. ANISHA ROHRA/THE VARSITY

16 | THE VARSITY | SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

UTSC researchers awarded NSERC instrumentation grants

Professors Ruby Sullan and Maithe Arruda-Carvalho will use the grants to accelerate their research Arushi Jaiswal Varsity Contributor

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

Each year, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awards Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) Grants to researchers who require specific tools to conduct their research.

Earlier in November, Professors Ruby Sullan and Maithe ArrudaCarvalho were awarded NSERCRTI grants.

RTI grants are awarded based on the need for particular instruments, the merit of the research programs and applicants, and the contribution that the equipment will have on the training of research personnel, like students.

Ruby Sullan and biofilms Sullan is a professor in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at UTSC. Her research lies in understanding the stages of bacterial biofilm development.

Biofilms are a major reason for hospital-acquired infections because they easily form on the surfaces of biomedical and implanted devices, like catheters and intrauterine devices.

Sullan and her team hope to better understand major contributors of biofilm formation and ultimately encapsulate antimicrobial agents in nanoparticles that can target and eradicate the initial adhesions that cause the initiation and maturation of biofilms.

Her team will use the NSERCRTI grant to install a Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) system for biological chemistry studies.

According to Sullan, the DLS system is a particle analyzer and will be used to characterize nanoparticles for effective and targeted treatment of electrochemical sensor development against biofilms.

The DLS system can also be used to monitor the mechanisms and kinetics of protein aggregations. This can enable scientists to learn more about disease progression caused by protein aggregation, like neurodegenerative diseases.

Sullan also mentioned that the DLS system will be used by a number of other research groups, and it will be used to address a wide range of research questions and themes in biophysical research.

Maithe Arruda-Carvalho and brain development Another recipient of an NSERCRTI grant, Arruda-Carvalho works in the Department of Psychology at UTSC and is cross-appointed to the Department of Cell & Systems Biology at UTSG. Arruda-Carvalho’s research is directed toward extending current

knowledge about the maturation of neural networks, like emotional processing, that shape our complex behaviour and sensitivity to stress through to adulthood.

Carvalho and her research team are particularly interested in investigating how changes in brain development caused by early life experiences influence neural circuits and ultimately affect behaviour.

The onset of most mental illnesses first manifest during childhood and adolescence. This suggests the importance of proper brain development during these critical periods of life.

With the funding from the NSERC-RTI grant, Arruda-Carvalho and her lab will explore developmental windows during which critical neural connections of brain regions involved in decision making emerge and how they are fine-tuned with age.

UTM expands Forensic Science program

Program to offer two new courses next semester Harsimran Garcha Varsity Contributor

The forensic science program at UTM will be offering two new special topics courses this upcoming semester: FSC350H5, LEC0103: Missing Persons DVI and Unidentified Human Remains, and FSC350H5, LEC0104: DNA Typing using Massively Parallel Sequencing. Both will be taught by Assistant Professor Nicole Novroski, who is a new faculty member in the program.

Novroski is a forensic geneticist and biologist from the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Her role at UTM is to further develop the forensic biology stream.

“I wanted to ensure that the two new courses… will shed light on the current state of forensic biology.

Where is the discipline now? What can we do better? Where is the future taking us?” wrote Novroski in an email to The Varsity.

FSC350H5, LEC0104 will focus mainly on the use of Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS), also known as next-generation sequencing. This technique looks at both the length and the sequence of the DNA fragment, which allows researchers to simultaneously characterize multiple DNA sequences. This technique is useful in forensic science, cancer genomics, microbial genomics, drug development, and more.

FSC350H5, LEC0103 will teach various components of a forensic investigation. Novroski thinks this will appeal to most forensic scientists because “Missing Persons cases are usually multidisciplinary.”

Topics in the course will involve interactions between numerous fields of science and anthropology. The collective knowledge from these fields will help in identifying and databasing missing persons and unidentified human remains. The course will have guest speakers, like Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Ontario Provincial Police of-

The Forensic Science program at UTM provides students with practical learning experiences.

Courtesy of MURRAY CLAYTON

ficers, who will share their experiences and how they carry out investigations.

Novroski hopes “to get a broad audience of students in this course who will bring unique perspectives and contributions to the class discussions.”

As the first of its kind to be offered in Canada, the forensic science program at UTM has developed important ties with forensic science institutions around the world. This allows students to gain research and work experience in their undergraduate careers.

The program is intended to offer students an understanding of scientific analyses, theories, laboratory skills, applications, and field techniques, all the while emphasizing one of these areas in greater detail.

UTM’s program offers a variety of other courses, such as ethics and professionalism, forensics identification, forensic chemistry, and forensic biology.

Agata Gapinska is a laboratory technician for multiple forensics identification courses, as well as forensic chemistry and advanced toxicology.

“In the first semester the students learn the basic fingerprinting techniques, where we focus on non porous surfaces (glass, vinyl, plastic, metal) and the students use different powders (granular and magnetic) to develop, label and lift the fingerprint impressions,” wrote Gapinska in an email to The Varsity.

Students then move onto more challenging cases that involve absorbed fingerprints, using chemicals

to visualize them.

Students enrolled in forensic chemistry courses participate in unique lab sessions, such as gunshot residue analysis, in which evidence is analyzed to determine if gunshot residue is present. There is also a fire debris analysis, in which a room is deliberately set on fire and students gather evidence to analyze and determine the source of the fire. Another interesting experiment is ethanol concentration determination, which mimics the procedures for determining if a driver is impaired.

To create a more real-life scenario, FSC407: Forensic Identification Field School uses the last two weeks of summer to create crime scenes in UTM’s crime house for students to earn practical exposure. Students in many courses also come together to

participate in a mock court at the end of the semester.

“These are the exact techniques and skills used in the field,” wrote Gapinska.

DECEMBER 3, 2018 | 17

var.st/science

Canada’s chronic drug shortage

Science Around Town

U of T alum addresses long-term problem in desperate need of a solution Jodie Lunger Varsity Contributor

Need a vaccination for an upcoming trip? Is a refill on your prescription required soon? While these might seem like easy problems to fix, getting that vaccine or refill could be harder than you think.

Though Health Canada created a Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee on Drug Shortages in 2012 to tackle the drug shortage issue and also implemented mandatory reporting of anticipated and actual drug shortages by drug manufacturers in 2017, the problem continues to persist.

Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, Professor Emerita at Queen’s University and graduate of U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, has been a staunch communicator on the issue.

Duffin founded canadadrugshortage.com, a platform that tracks drug shortage issues in Canada. According to Duffin, individuals who rely on generic products are most likely to be affected by drug shortages.

She also pointed out that “people can be affected by it without knowing,” expressing her concern that media attention on the shortages of bupropion and EpiPens takes away from the fact that “there are literally [hundreds] of other drugs in short supply at any given time.”

Since 2010, physicians and pharmacists in Canada have been struggling to get vaccinations and prescription medications to their patients due to a drug shortage problem. As a result, those who require these medications end up relying on alternatives that could be less safe and less effective.

One of the drugs undergoing a national shortage is the antidepressant bupropion. This shortage is especially problematic since there are no available alternatives to the medication.

Also of concern is the shortage of EpiPens, which are manufactured by only one supplier in Canada. This shortage is so extensive that Health Canada has gone so far as to recommend patients keep and use expired EpiPens in cases of an allergic reaction. Considering that about four per cent of Canadians have food allergies, it’s not farfetched to assume that many U of T students would be affected by this shortage.

It might be confusing that drug companies, whose priorities are to research, develop, and supply drugs to people in need, are failing at one of these vital tasks. However, getting a pill or vaccine to the public is a process that involves much more work than one might think.

A single drug must go through review, authorization, manufacturing, procurement, and distribution

before it can be delivered to patients by their primary health care providers. A holdup during any one of these processes can cause a drug shortage.

Among the most prevalent of these setbacks are a lack of raw materials, difficulties in manufacturing, regulatory disturbances, business decisions, and unexpected surges in public demand.

Many of these issues are difficult for both pharmaceutical companies and the Canadian government to combat as they arise. For example, raw materials required for certain drugs often need to be imported from other countries. Issues like contaminated supply from one of these imports can cause an immediate holdup in the drug manufacturing pipeline.

The expiration of medications and vaccines is another way in which the science of drugs and vaccines can also play into shortages. Vaccines especially should not be administered after their expiration date, as they lose their potency and efficacy over time. Companies seek to clear their shelves before vaccines expire, as it can be an expensive ordeal to make them just to throw them away, but this makes maintaining a backup supply difficult if a surge in public demand occurs.

“We can’t talk about solutions [until] we understand the causes,” wrote Duffin.

She also added that we can’t understand these causes until shortages are measured and an essential medicines list is made to better monitor drug supplies and sources.

Such a list would include 200– 500 medicines that the government would commit to keeping in stock at all times. In a 2015 report, Duffin laid out the costs and benefits of such a commitment and provided examples of where such a list has improved the quality of care in at least seven other countries.

With shortages averaging 1,000 per year in Canada between 2014–2017 and affecting more than 1,200 products, the drug shortage problem is only on the rise. In a more recent report on the current situation, Duffin and her colleagues urged Health Canada to provide an annual report on the drug shortage problem to “define it, explain it and, above all, solve it.”

Until then, U of T students and other residents of Canada will have to hope that a drug shortage won't affect them next.

Audio pleasures for science enthusiasts 10 science podcasts to feed your brain

Annie Lu Varsity Contributor

on how you can use this knowledge to change your own behaviour.

Podcasts are one of the best alternative information sources to reach for when you’re too exhausted to read. Whether you are new to podcasts or are a long-time listener, or if you want an episode for your commute or before you fall asleep, there is something there for you.

From the latest finds to improving your life, here are 10 science podcasts that could work for you.

Undiscovered Co-hosted by U of T alum Elah Feder, Undiscovered is a weekly podcast from Science Friday.

In these documentary-style episodes, the undiscovered stories behind science — how and why the research is conducted, what the results mean, and what new questions they bring — is presented to the audience through a mix of narration and interviews.

60-Second Science As the semester comes to an end, it may become harder to find the time to feed your curiosity about science outside of textbooks. While 60-Second Science is slightly longer than its name suggests, it usually takes less than three minutes for leading scientists and journalists to comment on noteworthy scientific findings, from genome-related health care to polar lightning on Jupiter.

Hidden Brain Hosted by longtime National Public Radio social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam, Hidden Brain is about “why people behave the way they behave.” This podcast connects our everyday experience with research in the social sciences, including psychology, anthropology, and economics, to provide insights

Houston We Have a Podcast The official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston We Have a Podcast is for listeners interested in human spaceflight.

Perhaps the most relatable episodes are those featuring people in supporting roles, such as photographers and historians.

While these individuals are usually not engineers or astronauts, they perform equally interesting and important roles at NASA. The Guardian’s Science Weekly The Guardian’s Science Weekly covers discoveries and discussions in all branches of science. Some episodes are accompanied by audio tours of labs and gardens in the UK. More or Less: Behind the Stats Numbers can be presented in

different ways, some convincing while others deceiving. Living in the modern world means that our lives are largely driven by data, so it is particularly important for us to understand the statistics used in everyday life. This expertly produced podcast by BBC Radio 4 interprets numbers in survey results, research papers, and political campaigns for an accessible and engaging listen.

Nature Podcast For a more serious take on science and research, Nature Podcast is the one for you. Through interviews conducted by Nature journalists and editors, listeners are privy to exclusive conversations with the scientists behind some of the most exciting research being conducted right now.

different disciplines are invited to talk about their work and research on campus. The current season, “Women in Academia,” focuses on female professors and their research, from anthropology to psychology to geography.

Hello PhD For all aspiring young scientists, this podcast provides handy advice on making it through a PhD program. You can find information about almost every stage of graduate school, including applications, research, dissertations, and career options after graduation.

If your mind has been bombarded with hardcore knowledge, listening to someone share their stories of success and failure could be a good idea.

Raw Talk Podcast Currently in its third season, Raw Talk is hosted by graduate students U of T’s Institute of Medical Science. In a recent episode, the production team presents an indepth discussion about medical devices with patients, research students, and Dr. David Urbach, Surgeon-in-Chief at Women’s College Hospital.

View to the U Another product of U of T, View to the U features research at UTM. In each episode, UTM faculty from

Graduate students from the Institute of Medical Science launched Raw Talk Podcast in 2016.

SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU/THE VARSITY

Emily Deibert Varsity Staff

Dr. Peggy Hill Memorial Lecture in Indigenous Health Award-winning Inuk researcher Julie Bull will deliver a lecture on shared and unique experiences of applying Indigenous data governance principles of healthcare.

Date: Monday, December 3 Time: 5:00–7:00 pm Location: Campbell Conference Facility, 1 Devonshire Place Admission: Free Paint to Programming: Exploring the Role of Algorithms in SciArt Creation Join ArtSci Salon and ArttheScience for a discussion on the role of computer programming in art, with talks from artists who use algorithms in their work.

Date: Tuesday, December 4 Time: 6:00–8:00 pm Location: The Fields Institute, 222 College Street, Room 230 Admission: Free with registration Exploring Beyond Earth What can we learn from investigating planetary surfaces?

Dr. Bhairavi Shankar will discuss the fascinating science being done on planetary surfaces and highlight some of the orbital space missions that have made it possible.

Date: Thursday, December 6 Time: 7:00–8:00 pm Location: Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West Admission: Free with registration Stories from Apollo 8 Science journalist and author Andrew Chaikin will share stories from his interviews with the Apollo 8 astronauts in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon mission.

Date: Friday, December 7 Time: 8:00–10:00 pm Location: Instructional Centre, 1599 Outer Circle, Room 120 Admission: Free with registration Just the Facts: Ontario’s Sex Ed Curriculum Hosted by the Toronto Science Policy Network and the Royal Canadian Institute for Science, this event will feature a panel discussion on topics included in the new Ontario sex ed curriculum.

Date: Saturday, December 8 Time: 12:00–2:00 pm Location: Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle, Debates Room Admission: Free with registration

Sports

December 3, 2018 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Watching my team from the stands The life of an injured athlete

Julia Costanzo Varsity Contributor

Injuries suck. As an athlete, the worst thing I’ve ever experienced is being told that I can’t play. Throughout my years of competing in high-performance field hockey, my most difficult moments are when I’m forced to watch my team play from the stands.

No injury of mine has been more difficult to cope with than the concussion I sustained in an August pre-season match against the Calgary Dinos while preparing for the 2018 Varsity Blues field hockey season. With 30 seconds left on the clock, I reached out my stick to trap a loose ball when someone knocked into me. I didn’t know if she had come from beside me or behind me, but I knew that my neck and my head hurt. As I fell to the ground, the half ended and, with some assistance, I waddled uncomfortably to a seat on the far side of the bench, away from the team.

As I sat frozen still with the floodlights stinging my eyes, only one thought entered my mind: this is not happening.

I knew what a concussion felt like.

My season ended one game too early in 2017 when a ball smacked me in the eye, leaving me with a nasty black eye and a moderate concussion. Sitting on the bench while our therapist asked about my symptoms and tested my memory, I tried my best to downplay how I was feeling and score perfectly on the tests — but I soon knew it was over. Based on my sensitivity to the bright backcampus lights, my difficulty focusing on the words that the therapist kept repeating, and the general sensation that I was spinning, I could tell I was concussed. After the game, my teammates repeatedly asked, “You’re okay right?” to which I responded, “Yeah, don’t worry,

my neck just hurts a little,” attempting to convince them I was fine as a way of trying to convince myself too.

A doctor’s appointment the next day confirmed what I already knew but refused to believe: I had a concussion. In the weeks following my injury, I spent time away from the team — missing meetings, practices, and weightlifting sessions. Focusing on my rest and recovery, I still had two weeks before the regular season started to get myself back into the lineup. Those two weeks passed, and despite my dedication to my rehabilitation program, I achieved minimal progress. The team traveled to Waterloo to open the regular season and I stayed at home. Part of me was sad to be missing the start of the season, while part of me was relieved. I knew my concussed brain couldn’t handle the bus trip, the game, or the emotional experience of sitting out of our season opener — a moment I had looked forward to and trained for over the past nine months.

As the season went on, I stayed home while the team traveled. After a month of sitting out, it became clear that I would not step on the field for the 2018 field hockey season. I mourned this news for weeks. I sobbed as I sat at home every night knowing that my team was on the field without me; because of the severity of my symptoms, I wasn’t even allowed to go watch. Maybe I was so upset because it was my fourth season and I felt like I was reaching the peak of my career, or that I devoted most of my summer to training for the season more than I ever had before, or because I’m a captain and I felt that I was letting my team down more and more with every game I missed. Likely, all three reasons, combined with my concussion symptoms, trapped me in a gloomy haze of mourning over field

hockey. I was unable to look at pictures, read game recaps, or look at my stick without choking up.

It was not until the final weeks of the season when I embraced my role as an injured player. Due to several other injuries throughout the season, a group of injured players began to emerge — some of whom were also concussed — and we helped each other navigate the difficult experience of sitting out. We formed a community of support, always there for each other because we had a shared understanding of how brutal injuries can be. My fellow injured teammates and I helped the team prepare for games and kept them focused.

We cheered them on as loudly as we could from the stands, and we were the first ones to comfort them during tough losses. I felt more a part of the team during these weeks than I had earlier in the season, when I still pictured myself on the field.

Despite never attending a practice or stepping on the field in a game, this season taught me the importance of every member on the team, no matter how seemingly small their role. I learned that I am a valued member of our team, even if I’m at home in bed during practice or in the bleachers at the game.

Watching this season from the stands also made me realize how much I love field hockey. Watching my teammates thrive on the field was inspiring and I wanted nothing more than to be out there with them. I still look forward to the day when I pick my stick back up.

Varsity Blues dominate competition at OUA Fairweather Division Championships Blues women swim to victory in 19 out of 19 events Vanda Mayer Associate Sports Editor

Sounds of water and hands slapping bodies echoed throughout the Varsity Pool as swimmers warmed up for their events in the Ontario Universty Athletics Fairweather Division Championships. While the 25-metre competition pool was empty, the warm-up pool was brimming with swimmers from the Western Mustangs, the McMaster Marauders, the Waterloo Warriors, and host Toronto Varsity Blues. Over the next two days, both the Blues men’s and women’s teams would place first, with the women winning 19 races out of 19 and the men claiming victory in 11 out of 19 events.

The team element elevated the atmosphere for the first event on Day 1, the women’s 200-metre freestyle relay. Rachel Rode, Kylie Masse, Ainsley McMurray, and Rebecca Smith took the U of T B team to

first place with a time of 1:40.39.

The men’s A team followed similarly, taking first place in a much closer 200-metre freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.89.

The intimidating 400-metre individual medley followed, but rookie swimmer Kate Rendall was unfazed as she touched the wall first at 4:52.07. This, according to Varsity Blues swimming head coach Byron MacDonald, was a standout swim for Rendall, who swam in Calgary prior to joining the Varsity Blues.

After the race, MacDonald explained, “She was able to get down to the fastest time she’s done in, I think... four years, and winning the individual medley when it’s a tough event… It takes a lot of hard work to do that and a lot of perseverance.”

Another rookie, Everett Smith, won the 400-metre individual medley for the Blues men’s team with a time of 4:30.55, with MacDonald commenting after the race that this

was “a breakthrough swim for him, and we’re looking for good things from Everett as he progresses through his career for us here.”

On Day 2, Smith also won the 200-metre individual medley with a time of 2:05.04.

Masse placed first in both the 50-metre backstroke with a time of 26.81 and the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 25.11. Christopher Ruus, another standout swimmer, won his 50-metre backstroke with a time of 25.76, which qualifies him for the national championships in February.

MacDonald highlighted this achievement, saying, “Last year was a learning curve in his first year and he wasn’t able to qualify for the National championships, but now he’s trained, I would argue, twice as hard this year compared to last year, and he’s seen the results now — he’s qualified for nationals.”

The first day closed with the gruelling women’s 800-metre

Julia Costanzo missed the 2018 OUA field hockey season after suffering a concussion.

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

Perhaps most importantly, I realized how much I take my health for granted.

With my days full of uninterrupted dizziness, difficulty focusing, and struggling to do any basic exercise without provoking symptoms, I long for the healthy field hockey player I used to

be. I picture the athlete who enjoyed her afternoons in the gym weightlifting with her team, her evenings and weekends at the field, and sharing in the collective struggle of the climbing machine with her friends. I know she’ll be back soon and I can’t wait.

freestyle and men’s 1,500-metre freestyle. The swimmers stood on the blocks, pulling faces as they adjusted their goggles one last time before diving into the water.

While the noise lagged at the beginning of these events, the last 100 metres brought with it some of the loudest cheering of the day from both the audience and the swimmers around the pool, with large hand gestures accompanying the cheers as though the swimmers were attempting to physically push their teammates further and faster.

Sophia Saroukian won with a time of 8:58.05, adding the 400-metre freestyle to her wins on day two.

The second day opened with the Blues winning in both the women’s and men’s 200-metre medley relay.

The audience was vocal in its support, but it was the swimmers poolside who truly created and sustained the rowdy atmosphere as they supported their teammates in each event, with the Marauders and the Warriors especially contributing to the excitement. In between events, teammates helped each other with the infamous tech suits.

First-year U of T swimmer and standout swimmer of the meet, Ainsley McMurray won

the 100-metre freestyle with an impressive time of 54.52; she also won the 200-metre freestyle after 1:59.90 and the 50-metre butterfly in 27.14. The women’s 200-metre butterfly was dominated by Hannah Genich, while Osvald Nitskki came in first for the men’s team.

The butterfly and breaststroke swimmers were encouraged by their teammates with unintelligible shouts that were timed in sync with the swimmers’ heads as they systematically emerged from and reentered the water.

“It’s important that you like your teammates and that you’re pulling for them… the swimmers are helping each other get excited for competitions,” MacDonald explained.

It looked effortless, but in truth, months of training went into cutting times by seconds and milliseconds.

The Blues dominated the meet, with the women accumulating a victorious 1,214 points and the men emerging first with 1,179 points. On what’s next, MacDonald said, “This was a good step, but now we’ve got to step it up with even more hard work if we’re going to be able to take on the teams from the west that are a little bit stronger.”

DECEMBER 3, 2018 | 19

var.st/sports

The McGill Redmen name may be no more

WEEKLY BOX SCORES

McGill student vote part of a continental movement

The Redmen name was previously attributed to McGill’s men’s sports teams.

RICLAF/CC FLICKR

Sandakie Ekanayake Varsity Contributor

McGill University students recently voted in favour of changing the name of their men’s varsity sports teams from the Redmen. Over 6,000 students voted 78.8 per cent in favour of a name change. Although the student-organized petition and referendum is nonbinding, they are hoping it will get the attention of the school’s president.

The move by McGill is indicative of an awakening regarding sporting mascots and team names that are offensive and racist toward Indigenous people across Turtle Island. Over a month ago, I heard a sports broadcast bleep

the name of the Washington Redskins.

Several news outlets and websites have also chosen not to repeat the name, written or spoken, including Washington’s own mayor. Chief Wahoo, the mascot of Cleveland’s MLB team, has officially been retired and will not appear on any insignia starting in 2019.

The bottom line is that mascots and insignia create caricatures of Indigenous people. They breed an insensitive culture that condones offensive practices, such as wearing feather headdresses and red face paint at games.

Making a costume out of sacred tradition is appropriative. It co-opts and exploits Indigenous culture for our pleasure and entertainment.

Yes, there is heated debate. But not every case is the same; homage can be paid without being offensive. Take the Seattle Seahawks. Their logo is respectfully derived from totem poles indigenous to the Pacific Northwest and directly inspired by an Indigenous artifact. The artifact was presented in a Seattle museum alongside the Lombardi trophy. The presentation was attended by former Seahawks and members from the local Indigenous community.

You may not know it, but the name and insignia of the Golden State Warriors was originally based on Indigenous people. Early logos depicted a caricature dribbling a basketball, and later, a feathered headdress. The team evolved their logo to what it is today, and the term warrior adapted a different connotation.

Intention matters. So does history, as well as the combination of name and imagery. The Chicago Blackhawks are named after a WWI-era US Army division called the “Black Hawks,” which did take its name from a chief.

Unfortunately, their logo looks strikingly similar to that of the Redskins.

The Atlanta Braves retired mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa a long time ago, but they have yet to change their name or logo, and the “Tomahawk chop” done by fans doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

If you’re a fan of a sports team with a racist name or logo, educate yourself and think critically about your support.

BASKETBALL MEN’S December 1

78–75 Lakehead Thunderwolves

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WOMEN’S December 1

84–71 Lakehead Thunderwolves

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December 1

Ryerson Rams

1–0 Waterloo Warriors

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Why the Raptors deserve to play on Christmas

The NBA annually snubs Toronto on Christmas Day

Kyle Lowry admits he’d love to play on Christmas Day. KEITH LOWRY/CC FLICKR

Sandakie Ekanayake Varsity Contributor

For your common NBA basketball fan, enjoying a lineup of spectacular basketball is a beloved Christmas Day tradition.

Christmas basketball games regularly showcase the best teams in the

league, highlighting the association’s biggest superstars and some key rivalries. Although the Toronto Raptors have made the playoffs for five straight seasons, made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016, and further raised their profile by acquiring a bona fide superstar in Kawhi Leonard, they will still be getting coal for

Christmas this year.

The NBA’s decision to overlook the Raptors yet again is particularly frustrating given the stellar performance of Toronto’s team — currently on top of the Eastern Conference — and the actual lineup of contenders for December 25. The New York Knicks, currently sitting near the bottom of

the East, will be playing for the umpteenth time on Christmas, almost exclusively due to tradition.

Another convention is to schedule a rematch of the finals from the same year. As with the last three years, that would mean a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. But of course, LeB-

ron James doesn’t play in Cleveland anymore, which is why this year’s Christmas Day lineup will feature a game between Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The only franchises remaining without a Chritmas Day game are the Charlotte Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Raptors were gifted with one game, way back in 2001.

Not to be forgotten, Christmas is a very personal and special day for a lot of players, coaches, and their families.

Players acknowledge that December 25 games are a sacrifice, but also an honour and a privilege. Consider LeBron; after this year, he will have played in 13 Christmas Day games in his 16-year career. Kyle Lowry, on the other hand, never has.

On the topic, Lowry told the media, “I’ve always in my life wanted to play a Christmas game… It’s never happened, but I’ve always had the opportunity to always be with my family on Christmas. It’s a blessing to be able to not play, but at the same you always want that one time you play on Christmas… You get the special shoes. The Christmas jerseys.

That’s one I want to frame one day.

Hopefully, I get the opportunity to do it.”

There are five games on Christmas; that means that 10 teams play. If the NBA reasons that out of 30 teams in the league, the Raptors don’t qualify as being in the top 10, then they’re the ones on the naughty list this year.

Hopefully, a new generation of Raptors fans will get to see their team play on Christmas one day.

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DECEMBER 3, 2018

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