Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 15 January 22, 2018 thevarsity.ca —— University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
“Un-Canadian”: Justice for Soli event addresses mental illness, correctional system Death of mentally ill man in custody prompts brother to lead campus speaking tour Kathryn Mannie Varsity Contributor
Call and response
PHOTO BY HENRY CHAN, COURTESY OF BLACKWOOD GALLERY
Blackwood Gallery exhibition features public programs alongside Indigenous artists
page 15
International PhDs to pay tuition equivalent to domestic students Graduate students respond to changes in academic rates Ilya Bañares Associate News Editor
Come September, domestic and international PhD students at U of T will pay equivalent tuition. This breaks from the status quo of international students paying much higher rates than domestic students. At present, most international fees are $21,560 per year, in comparison to the domestic rate of $6,960 for a majority of programs. Rose Liu, an international student and Masters of Pharmacology student, said she believes that the move was reasonable. “It doesn’t make sense for them to pay a whole lot extra.” Minyi Xie, a graduate student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, highlighted that the announcement was good for research initiatives. “If schools can reduce their tuition fees they can pay more money for their research.” The announcement came on January 16. In a statement posted on U of T News,
Joshua Barker, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Vice-Provost of Graduate Research and Education, said that the university “[strives] to remove any barriers, financial or otherwise, that graduate students might face as they look to attend our university.” Barker later told The Varsity that the move was to make higher education more accessible to a larger pool of students. “We know that international students will always be looking carefully at the fees that they will be paying,” he said. “Reducing it to domestic level will improve our capacity to recruit the best of the best.” The plan technically won’t kick in until after a student’s fourth year of study in their doctoral program. Currently, both international and domestic students are provided a funding package, comprised of grants and work opportunities, that does not require them to pay fees out of pocket for the first four years. Starting in their fifth year and any other time after that, students will have to pay fees.
“[Students will be affected] when they finish the funded portion of their degree, and we’re going to absorb the costs of that through our normal budget process,” said Barker with regard to the specific details of how the university will offset this financial change. The announcement comes two weeks after the deadline for doctoral programs passed, and some international students are saying that the expensive fees factored into their decisions to not apply. “We’re only able to make the announcement when the decision has been reached within the university, and we have agreement from the various faculties within the university,” said Barker. Liu also noted how this might promote meritocracy. “If supervisors know that they don’t have to pay for international PhD students, they could probably decide to take a certain international student instead of compromising for domestic students.” Tuition, page 4
Soleiman Faqiri was a mentally ill man who died under suspicious circumstances while under detention at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario. A campus speaking tour led by his brother, Yusuf Faqiri, is putting the spotlight on mental illness in the Canadian correctional system and calling for justice. The Justice for Soli organization hosted an event in the Multi-Faith Centre at UTSG on January 18, the second stop on its U of T tour. Yusuf spoke at the event, sharing details of Soleiman’s case and his family’s search for closure. A year after Soleiman’s death, the family still does not know the full details of the investigation or why charges were never brought against any of the correctional staff involved. Soleiman was arrested on December 4, 2016 on charges of assault and uttering threats. On December 15, 2016, he was found dead in his cell after an altercation with prison guards. A coroner’s report detailed more than 50 signs of “blunt impact trauma” found across Soleiman’s body. The report stated that Soleiman was pepper-sprayed twice. Following the pepper spray, a “code blue” — indicating that an inmate is being aggressive or a staff member is in danger — was initiated. Soleiman was bound with cuffs and leg irons, his head covered with a spit hood. After the initial guards’ shifts ended and new guards arrived, Soleiman was observed to have stopped breathing. His death occurred 11 days after he had arrived at the correctional centre and days before he was meant to be moved to a mental health facility. Despite these findings, the official cause of death was “unascertained.” After 11 months of investigation, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service (KLPS) concluded that “no grounds exist to process criminal charges against anyone who was involved with Mr. Faqiri prior to his death.” A week after the KLPS released its statement, the coroner’s office announced Soli, page 4
COMMENT
SCIENCE
SPORTS
Securitization is dangerous
Pace yourself
Making space for women
Academic institutions should not be complicit in anti-Black racism bias
Professor pilots self-paced mastery learning in computer science course
The sports media complex should take concrete steps toward gender inclusion
page 11
page 17
page 20