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Vol. CXLVI, No. 1
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Munk School will host Harvard Kennedy School international students
barred from US in the fall
Arrangement makes U of T the first Canadian university to support Harvard amidst White House attacks
Junia Alsinawi Deputy News Editor
The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy will host returning international graduate students from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government who are unable to remain in or re-enter the United States this fall. This follows the Trump administration’s June 4 visa restrictions on Harvard University’s international students.
Announced on June 24, this arrangement makes U of T the first and so far only Canadian university to support Harvard amidst the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks against the acclaimed US institution.
The arrangement
The Munk School wrote in the announcement published on its website that “a small group” of returning international graduate students from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), “will be enrolled as full-time, non-degree students at the Munk School.”
Munk classes begin on September 8, and HKS students will take classes taught by faculty of both universities.
The announcement notes that their “participation will not reduce the number of spaces available for U of T students in any academic programs or in university housing.”
Only returning second-year HKS students are eligible for the Munk program, and these students “will have the option of continuing their degrees as visiting students,” the announcement adds.
“These are exceptional times,” said Janice Stein, founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, in a statement sent to The Varsity when the arrangement was first proposed in June, “the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy looks forward to
providing shared academic and co-curricular experiences for students from both our schools.”
In a statement sent to The Varsity , Jeremy Weinstein, Dean of HKS, stated, “We are deeply grateful for the support of the Munk School and other partners, who are helping to ensure that we can continue to provide all HKS students with the excellent education they deserve.”
Rising tensions
Harvard University’s President Alan Garber released a statement on June 5 explaining that the White House’s latest attack on Harvard’s international students targeted those holding F and J visas, the most recent escalation in the Trump administration’s ongoing battle with the university.
“Singling out our institution for its enrollment of international students and its collaboration with other educational institutions around the world is yet another illegal step taken by the Administration to retaliate against Harvard.”
Tensions between Harvard and the White House have been fraught for months, since the university refused to comply with demands to replace diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with “merit-based reforms” for hiring and admissions.
These demands also sought to address “antisemitic harassment” at the school, recommending audits of “centers of concern.”
The Trump administration included the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the FrançoisXavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health & Human Rights on the list of “centers of concern” sent to Harvard. These demands have been widely condemned as an attempt to silence pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus.
In his June 5 statement, Garber stated generally that “contingency plans are being developed.” Only HKS, with its substantial 59
per cent international student body, has publicly announced a plan so far.
When asked if U of T would consider further collaboration with American universities facing increased scrutiny from the Trump administration, a university spokesperson wrote, “if asked, other divisions at U of T would offer assistance to help a partner institution maintain its academic programs.”
“A global responsibility”
The question of how to adapt to accommodate international students coming from American institutions has been a topic of conversation among U of T administration. At the Governing Council’s May 22 meeting, Alumni Governor Grace Ann Westcott referenced the White House’s announcement that day, which revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students. She stated that if successful, there would be “a lot of interrupted educational futures… I wonder if we have any flexibility to accept any students who have been uprooted,” also noting, “You kind of wonder why the administration wants to destroy the crown jewel of their educational system.”
Replying to Wescott, U of T Vice-President & Provost Trevor Young revealed that U of T has seen, “an increase in applications for international students from the US. We also have other international students, which we believe may have chosen the US before, and have decided to come to Canada,” noting that the university has “a global responsibility… that may extend closer to home than it did in the past.”
Elected Governing Council full-time undergraduate student Luke Calabretta added, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime strategic opportunity for our institution, and I think that perhaps we should seriously consider… creating some sort of a new program or an initiative for these [international] students to come over here.”
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The Munk School will host returning international Harvard Kennedy School students facing Trump visa restrictions. CHLOE WESTON/THE VARSITY
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SCSU to hire new VP Equity
VP Equity Christine Villa resigns, citing course load ineligibility
Junia Alsinawi Deputy News Editor
The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) will hire a new Vice President (VP) Equity, following the resignation of Christine Villa on August 13. Villa wrote to The Varsity that they resigned because they were accepted into graduate school and, as a full-time graduate student, would no longer be eligible to work for the SCSU. According to section 2.2 of SCSU bylaw 10, executive members are prohibited from enrolling in more than 1.5 credits per session.
In an email to The Varsity, SCSU President Lalise Shifara explained that, as per section 3.2.b of SCSU bylaw 10, “Since the resignation occurred after August 1st, the Vice-President Equity position will be filled through a hiring process rather than the Fall By-Elections. The current Executive team will conduct interviews and select the new VP Equity for the remainder of the 2025–2026 term.”
Job postings for the position can be found on the SCSU Instagram account as well as the union’s website, and applications are being accepted until 11:59 PM on September 5. The interview period will be from September 8–12, “with the successful candidate expected to begin their term on Monday, September 15th, 2025,” Shifara told The Varsity. The position is full-time, the contract is set to expire on April 30, 2026, and only students registered in a full-time undergraduate degree program at UTSC are eligible to apply.
The VP Equity promotes board initiatives that raise awareness about discrimination,
coordinates with university organizations involved in eliminating discrimination, and represents the union when issues of equity are raised by the UTSC community, among other responsibilities.
Villa campaigned on a platform of lowering barriers to accessing mental health services at were also central to Villa’s campaign, and they advocated for increased funding for groups like LGBTOUT and the UTSC Women’s & Trans Centre.
Commenting on their resignation, Villa wrote to The Varsity , “I love [the] SCSU and I’m sad I can’t continue, but I’m happy for my new goals!”
Why three Yale professors of fascism left US to teach at U of T
Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder, and Jason Stanley will begin teaching at U of T this winter
Celesta Maniatogianni Varsity Contributor
Last spring, three professors from Yale University made headlines when they announced that they would be leaving the United States and relocating to Canada to avoid the Trump administration’s threats to higher education.
The professors — Marci Shore, her husband Timothy Snyder, and Jason Stanley — will be continuing their work as professors at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
In a June interview with The New York Times , the professors explained that their reasoning for leaving the US is based on their knowledge of fascist regimes: “The lesson of 1933 is that you get out sooner rather than later,” said history professor Shore.
Philosophy professor Stanley said in the interview that he decided to leave the US “because I want to do my work without the fear that I will be punished for my words.”
To some, this sounded excessive — Shore recalled her own colleagues stressing that the existence of “checks and balances” meant that they would be safe. “And I thought ‘my God we’re like the people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink,’ ” Shore told the Times, “and what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”
Leaving the States
In an email to The Varsity , Professor Shore wrote about her decision to leave the US and what brought her to U of T.
Shore revealed that her family’s interest in Toronto began around three years ago, when the Munk School started recruiting her and her husband, Professor Snyder. In August 2024, Shore and her family moved to Toronto during a sabbatical year from Yale. “We were already living here during the November elections,” Shore wrote, saying that they “most likely would have stayed in Toronto and accepted the Munk offers even if Kamala Harris had won.”
Still, the election results did have an impact on Shore’s decision: “When I learned the results of the elections I was in a dazed state of despair—and I was certain I did not want to bring my children back into what was to come in the United States.”
The prevalence of gun violence in the US factored heavily into Shore’s decision: “I’ve long wanted to raise my children in a place where there was not so much gun violence— even in politically much better times, the amount of gun violence in the United States is horrific.”
Coming to Munk
The prospect of continuing her work at the U of T — and the Munk School in particular — also made the move an attractive option for Shore, who “loved both the city and the university” when she studied at U of T in the 1990s. “There’s
a fantastic group of scholars at Munk; and the director, Janice Stein — with her balance of sharp acumen, emotional intelligence and moral grounding — has been an inspiration to me.”
“Munk is designed to promote and support interdisciplinary scholarship that is both academic- and public-facing,” Shore wrote, adding that, “engaging in a way that can reach a broader public has always been important to me… It’s not a moment when I feel I can or should retreat into an ivory tower.”
Since the start of Trump’s second term, his administration has increasingly targeted higher education, threatening universities with billions in budget cuts to gain control of decisionmaking at the institutions.
When asked if Canadian universities are safe from similar attacks on higher education, Shore wrote, “No one—and no country—possesses some kind of magical immunity. Universities are places that are designed to teach people to think. And the aim of totalitarian regimes is to prevent thinking as such.”
Shore, Snyder, and Stanley will each begin teaching in winter 2025, including EUR301H1 — Modernity and Its Discontents, MUN180H1 — Hitler and Stalin Today, and MUN200H1 — Understanding Global Controversies, respectively.
Professor Marci Schore, who will teach at the Munk School this winter, discusses her decision to relocate from the US to Toronto.
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Deemed admission of guilt among major additions to academic offence process
Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters amendments approved by Governing Council, effective July 1
Ella MacCormack New Editor
On June 24, the Governing Council (GC) approved three procedural and two sanction amendments to the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters (CBAM), the first major substantive change since 1995. The policy review was prompted by the 2022–2023 Annual Report of the University Ombudsperson’s recommendation to better reflect “the everincreasing size of the institution, and the prevalence of resources to assist students in academic dishonesty.”
Professor Heather Boon, Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life, led the consultation. She connected with administrators, faculty, staff, and students through targeted surveys, meetings, and memos to collect feedback on proposed changes. The main problems identified in the existing CBAM were “burdensome procedures, delays in resolving cases, inconsistent sanctions, and the impact of generative AI.”
Key revisions
Academic offence notices provided to students must now include the date and summary of the allegation, the recommended sanctions, a meeting invitation, procedural details, and a deadline to respond to the notice.
If a student fails to respond by the deadline, it is deemed as an admission of guilt and sanctions are imposed. Students can withdraw from deemed admission by discussing with the dean up to three months after the imposed sanctions. If a student did not receive the notice through no fault of their own, this three-month deadline does not apply, but they must still meet with the dean “within a reasonable period of time.” The notice will include an explanation of this process.
Department chairs may now resolve academic offences committed on assignments worth up to 15 per cent of the course’s final grade, up
from 10 per cent. If the student admits guilt, and the assignment or exam is worth 15 per cent or less, the department chair can choose to settle the case internally instead of escalating to an academic tribunal.
U of T prosecutes academic misconduct cases in a tribunal if the student has not admitted guilt and if the instructor, the dean, and the Provost believe that an offence was committed. Cases are escalated to a tribunal if the offences are particularly egregious. Only 10 students have ever been acquitted at a tribunal. The last case was dismissed just this June, the first dismissal since 2021.
Academic units and divisions can now suspend a student for up to two years without escalating to a tribunal, subject to provost approval. In comparison, tribunal sanctions normally begin with a two-year suspension.
The recommended sanctions for unauthorized aid now include forfeiture of said aid(s). Unauthorized aid is possessing or obtaining prohibited forms of assistance, such as notes, phones, calculators, paid third parties, or collaborating with other students. Professors must communicate what is authorized or not,
and invigilators warn against these unauthorized aids before every proctored exam.
Per the new CBAM, unauthorized items will be confiscated upon first notice, although this is not recommended for a student’s personal phone.
Spread of spyware
During Boon’s presentation to GC on the CBAM revisions, she stated, “We’ve seen quite a substantial rise in the use of unauthorized aids technology, and primarily in coordinating cheating cases on exams.” Both the volume and complexity of unauthorized aid offences at U of T have grown significantly in the past few years.
Between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 academic years, unauthorized aid offences increased by 150 per cent, and have since made up two-thirds of all academic offences. While the total number of offences has decreased since the pandemic high, the number of unauthorized aid offences has still remained significant. In the 2023–2024 year, there were 1,423 unauthorized aid offences out of a total of 2,415 offences.
A new kind of unauthorized aid technology has arrived on campus: spyware. Spyware is disguised technology that allows students to receive real-
Trinity College becomes the first federated college to divest from fossil fuels
Students continue to pressure Trinity student government to cut ties with RBC
Mashiyat Ahmed
Varsity Contributor
On February 28, 2025, Trinity College successfully divested from fossil fuel funding, a milestone that reflects years of coordinated efforts between student-led organizations, staff, faculty, and the Trinity administration. In September 2023, after an internal review of Trinity College’s endowments and investment policies — which are overseen by the Board of Trustees — the college announced that they were committed to fully divesting from any financial associations with fossil fuel companies by 2030.
At the time, according to the internal review, the college did not hold any direct financial ties to these companies, but it did have a small percentage of indirect ties through externally managed funds.
Last to declare, first to divest Trinity College’s successful divestment follows similar waves of divestment all across U of T. In November 2024, the School of the Environment announced that it was financially disassociating from partnerships and sponsorships with fossil fuel companies, as well as increasing transparency and promoting greater academic freedom. Despite being the first to successfully divest from fossil fuels, Trinity’s divestment commitment declaration in September 2023 came noticeably later than the other two federated colleges. In April
2023, the Victoria University Board of Regents approved a motion to divest following an 18day Climate Justice UofT (CJUofT)-led student occupation of the “Old Vic” building. Soon after, in June 2023, St. Michael’s College followed suit with an announcement to divest by 2030.
In an interview with the The Varsity, Mac Xing, a third-year health sciences student and divestment coordinator on behalf of Sustainable Trin — previously known as the Trinity College Environmental Society — said that “[our divestment] is a big win for Trinity College because we were the last to commit to divesting, which was extremely embarrassing for us, [but that] this is a big step forward [in showing] other colleges… it is possible with student action.”
In a message from Trinity College’s newly appointed Provost & Vice-Chancellor Nicholas Terpstra, divesting from the remainder of fossil fuel investments in Trinity’s endowments five years early comes as a result of deliberations between an Investment Committee and its Divestment Working Group, as well as continued pressure from Sustainable Trin and other advocacy groups.
However, achieving divestment was not an easy feat.
The current Provost Terpstra has been “cooperative and open to communication,” Xing told The Varsity. However, Xing noted that a lack of transparency and consistent communication
time responses to exam questions, with cameras hidden as innocuous objects like buttons or pens. At the time of reporting, there have been 17 public tribunal cases of cheating on exams using spyware, 11 from the 2024–2025 academic year alone. The final tally may increase as more cases from this year are published. Out of the 18 exams in the 17 different cases, nine were economics exams, four were economics or finance management exams, two were statistics exams, and one exam each in linguistics, math, and psychology.
In the first appearance of spyware –– case 1505 in 2023 –– the University’s counsel stated this was “the first case brought to the Tribunal that involved a student using a real-time camera and earpieces during a test or exam, but it will not be the last.”
The tribunal wrote that spyware takes unauthorized assistance to “a new level.”
Students have been frequently caught with cameras disguised as a black button and a small Bluetooth earpiece. The button camera can be added to their sleeve or the front of their shirt, and livestreams the exam to a paid third party, who then provides answers through the earpiece.
For the third party to read and answer the exam questions, the student must hold their exam paper parallel to the camera. In case 1560, the invigilator noticed the student repeatedly lifting her exam “parallel to her torso (and parallel to the large button on her shirt) for approximately 30 seconds. The exam paper was not angled towards the Student’s face.”
Disguising the button and wires has been a difficult task for some of the students. In case 1559, the student added the button to the front of her hoodie, claiming she was “wearing a fashion project with wires and buttons.”
For spyware cases, the most common punishment is a grade of zero in the course, a five-year suspension, and a seven-year academic record and transcript notation. Five students have been recommended for expulsion due to a combination of prior offences, not cooperating with the academic offence process, and a lack of mitigating circumstances, such as mental health crises or family emergencies.
Companies have been advertising spyware and exam answers as a bundled service to U of T students, with some charging up to $1,000 per exam. If you have any information about commercial spyware or cheating companies, contact the news team at news@thevarsity.ca or anonymously through our tip form.
between the administration and student groups presented significant challenges for him and his colleagues at Sustainable Trin.
“A lot of the time, it’s really hard to reach the admin and talk about these issues. You might get a meeting, but [divestment] is a long-term process,” said Xing. “If Trinity can appoint leaders that are open to dialogue and are focused on sustainability, then I think [it makes it] a lot easier for students to make change.”
What’s next for divestment at Trinity?
Sustainable Trin’s next major goal is to push Trinity College Meeting (TCM) — the highest body of student governance at Trinity — to sever ties with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). According to a 2022 report by environmental groups, RBC was the leading fossil fuel financier in the world, with other Canadian banks like Toronto Dominion and Scotiabank not far behind.
Divesting from RBC is also not a new goal.
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) Board of Directors passed a motion in 2023 to cut ties with RBC after a sit-in held by CJUofT in the union’s Student Commons. UTSU’s motion was just a small piece of a larger mosaic of studentled campaigns and protests to pressure other institutional bodies to strongly reconsider their association with the bank.
According to Xing, TCM successfully passed a motion calling for TCM to move away from RBC and begin banking with more ethical financial institutions. “[This motion] just shows the support that we have from the students,” said Xing. Despite this support, Sustainable Trin is still pushing for support from Trinity’s administration, which remains an obstacle. Moving forward, Xing and his colleagues hope to collaborate with TCM and Trinity as a whole to investigate how the college can responsibly transition to more sustainable banking.
On February 28, 2025, Trinity College became the first federated college to divest from fossil fuels. MUKTI PATELTHE/THE VARSITY
SIMONA AGOSTINO/THE VARSITY
Education cannot happen on an empty stomach
U of T must do more to address food insecurity
Avery Murrell Varsity Contributor
U of T continuously fails to address food insecurity across its campuses, and this neglect cannot continue.
In January 2025, Toronto declared a food insecurity emergency, following a 2024 Daily Bread Food Bank report that stated over one in 10 Torontonians relied on food banks between April 2023 and April 2024. Approximately 3.49 million people visited Toronto food banks between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, with 31 per cent being students.
Of course, this number is not attributed to students from one particular university or college in Toronto, but it is no less shocking or frustrating to learn.
U of T’s hidden food crisis
Food insecurity can be defined as the “inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints,” but can also mean fear of running out of food and skipping meals as a result of financial anxiety, or a lack of education about how to maintain a balanced diet. The high cost of living in Toronto and the financial burden of tuition place students at a higher risk of experiencing food insecurity.
Further inequities exist for international students who are likely to experience more severe food insecurity than students with Canadian citizenship or permanent status. According to a 2021 study on students at the University of Alberta, this can be attributed to factors such as higher tuition fees, greater difficulty finding employment, and lack of culturally appropriate foods.
I never associated student life at U of T with food insecurity until I began volunteering with MealCare Toronto in the fall of 2024. They are a non-profit, student-led organization that
addresses food insecurity and food waste on campus by redirecting surplus food from local businesses.
It was through my volunteer experience that I learned more about the food crisis on campus and recognized the spectrum of experiences with food insecurity amongst U of T students.
How can universities help?
As students, we invest our time and money into academic institutions to help us achieve our personal and professional goals. But too often we forget the university’s responsibility for our personal well-being, including access to food, housing, and mental health.
It’s hard to do anything on an empty stomach, never mind learning to navigate the challenges of being a university student.
Immense feelings of social isolation also accompany the mental and physical health challenges of hunger. In my time volunteering at MealCare, I had the opportunity to connect with students and learn about their experiences with food insecurity. It was shocking to hear how similar their stories were. From commuters facing the challenges of carrying enough food to campus, to students relying on the UTSU Food Bank each week, I learned that student experiences with food insecurity exist on a spectrum.
However, both acknowledgment of and action on this issue remain largely absent from the university’s agenda, leading me to the opinion that the university isn’t doing nearly enough to address the food crisis its students are facing.
We know that the issue of food insecurity isn’t new. The university has provided funding for food before, when they set up an emergency food bank during the pandemic, but it seems that its efforts have been inadequate in recent years. Meanwhile, the demand to address food insecurity among students continues to grow
on campus with a call to action from the U of T Food Coalition made earlier this year. In 2024, the UTSU food bank accommodated the needs of nearly 60 students a week, demonstrating the urgency of increased institutional support.
Why is U of T silent?
Based on a 2021 Governing Council report, Vice-President & Provost Trevor Young reported that food insecurity was a wider societal issue, not one specific to the university. This is as much of an acknowledgement of food insecurity from the university’s administration that I’ve been able to find, indicating to me that they have still not defined their role in this issue.
Students have turned to each other for care and support in the form of the countless grassroots programs and clubs that serve students with free food and services to help them survive. But as I learned when volunteering, these programs still have limitations regardless of student enthusiasm.
Although I can only speak to the limitations faced by MealCare, I suspect they are similar across food programs. For instance, most of MealCare’s resources — whether it be donated food, food banks, or free meals — tend to be first-come, first-served, leaving many students still wanting security. It is when students are left relying on the limited institutional support
that inequities arise, as these students are at a disadvantage compared to those who don’t have to worry about their next meal.
As the emergency foodbank during the pandemic demonstrated, the university is capable of acknowledging this ongoing crisis, and must take steps to address it again. However, although funding is incredibly important to solving this issue, the university must first be responsible for assessing the food crisis and involving student voices in its plans for improvement.
I believe that a key method for U of T to evaluate how to better support students is with an annual survey to identify how food insecurity is impacting them, and how to best address the issue on campus. Otherwise, students will continue to experience inequities partially created by the university’s current neglect of food insecurity. Students’ unprecedented and increasing hunger is not entirely a personal burden, but an absence and failure of current institutional policy.
If our university is truly dedicated to supporting students, then it must recognize and take responsibility for threats to their well-being. With the existence of countless student-run organizations combating food insecurity, I can say with confidence that there is no shortage of students who want to take action on this issue — so please, let’s do it together, as U of T.
Left-wing strength is the price paid for a Liberal victory
Why the Liberal Party’s win may set progressive politics back
Lukasz Jagodzinski
Varsity Contributor
In the recent Canadian federal election, the aim of many left-wing voters of the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) was to block the accession of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) to government. This accession was achieved in part due to the substitution of former party leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the current Prime Minister Mark Carney, and the emergence of Trump’s politics as a Canadian issue. However, I believe that the LPC’s ability to remain in power has come at the cost of progressive politics.
In an attempt to practice strategic voting by voting for the LPC, Canadians have elected a party that will struggle to create policies to differentiate itself from the CPC, and will fail to deliver on key issues domestically and abroad.
The LPC’s continued failure throughout its 10 years of governance since Trudeau’s election in 2015, foreshadows a resounding victory for the CPC in the next federal election. Therefore, I believe consolidating around and strategically voting for the LPC was a grave error on the part of Canadian progressives who wish to build a long-term alternative to right-wing politics in Canada.
The problem with strategic voting Strategic voting played a prominent role in Canada’s recent federal election. Many New Democratic Party (NDP) and Green Party voters seemingly switched to the LPC candidate in their riding, evidenced by the huge decline in the proportion of votes for the NDP and Green Party compared to the huge swing for the LPC Party.
Cooperate for Canada, an organization that promotes strategic voting as a means of blocking a CPC victory, compiled a list of unity candidates — namely, MP-hopefuls from the LPC, NDP, Green
Party, and Bloc Québécois — in select ridings where supporting a single progressive candidate was deemed necessary to defeat the CPC candidate. Cooperate for Canada encouraged Canadians to consolidate with these unity candidates in an attempt to defeat CPC candidates in swing ridings — ridings where the race is close and multiple parties ‘have a chance.’
However, after my own analysis of the unity candidates in Ontario and the election results, I noticed that the LPC candidates saw a surge in support, whether or not they were their riding’s unity candidate.
In the cases where an LPC candidate was indicated as the unity candidate, I found that NDP and Green candidates performed far worse than in previous elections, while the LPC candidate saw a surge in votes.
Where NDP and Green candidates were unity candidates, on the other hand, the results were discouraging. In Hamilton Centre, the incumbent NDP candidate Matthew Green was defeated by LPC candidate Aslam Rana. In Kitchener Centre, unity and incumbent candidate Mike Morrice of the Green Party lost due to the progres sive vote split between Morrice and Brian Ade ba of the LPC. I found similar circumstances in London-Fanshawe and Windsor West, where NDP incum bents lost to CPC candidates due to vote splitting among progressive parties.
In fact, every unity candidate in Ontario listed by Cooperate for
Canada who was not representing the LPC ended up losing their seat. This shows an unwillingness of LPC voters to take strategic voting seriously, even when this results in victories for the CPC.
The results of the 2025 Canadian election lead me to believe that this election stands as a resounding defeat for Canadian progressives, with the NDP and Green Party sustaining heavy losses in favour of the LPC.
What will the Liberal Party deliver?
Even now that the LPC has formed government under a new leader, progressives should not expect any radical breaks from the previous decade of LPC policymaking.
In many ways, the LPC is gradually caving into many of the CPC’s policies. This has been demonstrated with Trudeau curtailing immigration to Canada as well as Carney axing the consumer carbon tax, both long-time talking points of CPC leader Pierre Poilievre. The Carney government is also separating the federal budget into the two categories of operating and capital, which may potentially carry the risk of reducing transparency, despite the LPC attesting that it will do the opposite.
Regarding Canada’s response to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip — an issue that resulted in a 63-day occupation of King’s College Circle by pro-Palestinian U of T students last summer — there is no indication that Carney will significantly change
the LPC’s Trudeau-era position. Trudeau suggested Canada would enforce International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but further commitments from the LPC in defence of Palestinian human rights are not clear, as the party attempts to appease all sides of this debate.
In their 2025 election guide, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East — a Canadian non-profit that advocates for Palestinian human rights — ranked the NDP and Green Party far above the LPC, which was ranked second last, above only the CPC, in their 2025 election guide outlining where each party ranked based on their commitment to Palestinian human rights.
However, the LPC’s ranking is still too high, as the LPC oversaw a record-breaking 43 per cent increase in arms exports to Israel in 2023.
Despite the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights’ lawsuit against the Canadian government to block arms exports to Israel, it remains unclear whether the LPC will put this into effect, as a Canadian company received a contract in September 2024 to supply arms to the Israeli military. This was months after the government said they would no longer approve contracts. Moreover, Carney off-handedly confirmed that Canada continues to supply arms for the Iron Dome, making it clear that he has not taken a strong stance.
Although I believe that the LPC winning the election may have averted the crisis of a CPC victory, it should not be treated as a victory by progressives, who I believe have lost much in the election, notably the NDP’s party status.
With the CPC still making gains, specifically with their ability to flip some Liberal and NDP ridings, the LPC are unlikely to deliver on the issues that continue to animate Canadians, and I believe this will only further demoralize progressive voters, and increase the chances of a CPC victory in the next election.
SIMONA AGOSTINO/ THE VARSITY
The demand to address food insecurity among students continues to grow on campus. CHLOE WESTON/THE VARSITY
Opinion
September 2, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/opinion opinion@thevarsity.ca
Letter from the Editor: We owe it to each other to read and write with care
In moments of despair, empathy and love are how we hold the world together
Ahmed Hawamdeh Opinion Editor
This week, I went on behalf of The Varsity to a club fair happening on campus. While I was encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response from incoming U of T students, there was one interaction that left me uneasy. A student picked up one of last year’s issues we had displayed on our table and made misogynistic and racist comments about an article only seconds after opening the paper. Although I attempted to turn the moment into a constructive conversation — to try and convince them to read what their peers had been so vulnerable in sharing — they were simply uninterested in listening to what I had to say, let alone what was written on the page.
I left this particular club fair feeling unsettled. As the Opinion Editor, how could I expect writers to pour their hearts into words, knowing that some of their peers would rather remain ignorant than take the time to truly read what they’ve written?
Although I wish this letter could be a stepby-step guide for addressing apathy, I do not have the answer quite yet. Instead, I hope that somewhere in this letter — as I turn to the wisdom of authors that have inspired me — contributors and readers of the Opinion section can find some solace, guidance, and hope.
Amidst the everyday weight of ignorant comments, it may feel as though it is best to ‘sit out’ on issues and conversations of rigorous debate. This is a natural feeling, but as Audre Lorde advises, “your silence will not protect you” — silence may feel like the ‘right’ decision for the time being, but one day, when it is too late, we may regret it. Therefore, I urge both contributors and readers, whether in the columns of the newspaper or the comment section on our website, to share your perspective, even if you think it’ll be unpopular. As Suheir Hammad reminds us in her anti-war poem “What I Will,” your breath, song, dance, and words can be louder than war drums, and louder than those that attempt to silence you.
When we decide to write, and when we as readers choose to listen, let us remember what we owe to each other: to write and read with respect, care, and love.
Poet Mahmoud Darwish reaffirms in his poem “Think of Others” that as we engage in the mundanity of our daily lives, we must remember the plight of others — actions such as paying the water bill or preparing breakfast carry immense privilege. He also reminds us that “As you think of others far away, think of yourself (say: If only I were a candle in the dark).” Darwish reminds audiences that with privilege comes a responsibility we have to one another. Therefore, as you begin to write for or read the Opinion section, I hope we can carry this responsibility with us; to be willing to read and write with an open mind and an open heart, with empathy, and with love.
It may be evident from my encounters at this week’s club fair and what seems to be a fractured world at large that room for hope is scarce. But it is important to realize that this feeling is nothing new. In the 1970 documentary Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris , author and civil rights activist James Baldwin proclaimed that “love has never been a popular movement” and that “the world is held together… by the love and passion of very few people.”
my request to the readers and contributors of the Opinion section is to be among the few that keep the world held together. Let your love be front and centre in how you tell stories, argue, debate, read, and engage with the Opinion section. It may feel minor, but in a world desperate for care, to truly read with openness and love for your peers — rather than dismissing each other’s words with ignorance — is one way we can help stitch our fragmented world together.
Therefore, as we continue to confront the polarizing and controversial issues of today,
Op-ed: U of T’s sexual violence policy is just one way it fails survivors
U of T must go beyond policy to ensure the true safety of survivors
Micah Kalisch Varsity Contributor
Content Warning: This article mentions sexual violence, rape culture, institutional violence, and gender-based violence
U of T has a long and well-documented history of reproducing violence and upholding rape culture. Survivors and groups like The PEARS Project and Silence is Violence have worked to create a growing archive which documents instances where U of T has been complicit in allowing violence against its community members. The archive shows a noticeable pattern: professors and staff found guilty of violence are allowed to remain at U of T, while survivors are often ignored, silenced, left to voicemail on helplines, and with nowhere to turn for support.
I believe the lack of prevention and responsebased resources that address sexual violence available at U of T for survivors makes it clear: the continued failure of U of T to address sexualized violence has resulted in a sexualized violence epidemic at the University. As U of T enters another review of its Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment — as required under Ontario’s Bill 132 every three years — it’s critical that we reaffirm what survivors already know: this policy is just one of the many ways the university fails us. U of T must do more, beyond policy, to ensure safety for survivors as no policy alone will ever dismantle rape culture.
I do not intend to disregard the significance of policies and organizations working to combat sexual violence on campus. I myself have worked in anti-Gender Based Violence (GBV) policy for several years and have been contracted by a range of Non-Government Organizations and non-profits to write and review their sexual violence policies. Policies are important as they can contribute in mitigating harm, but they are ultimately response-based resources that are only used after harm has occurred, and perpetuate bureaucratic models of governance designed
mark, it also marks another broken promise to the survivors who stood in a 2022 Governing Council meeting sharing their stories, and were told we wouldn’t need to wait another three years to fix this policy.
to protect the institution. In other words, this policy is made by and for U of T; not by and for students or survivors.
U of T’s sexual violence policy is no exception. Despite containing several elements that appear promising on paper, the lived experiences of survivors tell a different story: that the University of Toronto Sexual Violence Policy and supposed supports have harmed many. The safety and security that is promised on paper is not always fulfilled in practice.
I’ve navigated U of T’s reporting process firsthand and have supported countless survivors as they’ve done the same. I’ve watched as the same cycle repeatedly unfolds: survivors painstakingly write their statements for the Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre only to have them reworded by the university. Then they meet with investigators to be interrogated, hear
their experiences disputed by their perpetrators, and wait as long as a year for decisions to be made by an institution that controls the narrative of the violence and the reporting process at every turn.
The university is a massive corporation with a budget of over 3 billion dollars, access to unlimited legal counsel, and disproportionate power over student survivors, that can essentially warp a policy however they please. Even with the strongest policy, institutions that create and enforce these very policies can bend them to their will. I believe that to have an effective strategy to address sexual violence, U of T needs to act in good faith and put students and survivors first. Even now, as U of T embarks on another legally mandated review, how can we trust that it won't continue with the same minimal effort it always has? While this year marks the three-year review
If U of T was truly committed to supporting survivors, they would go far beyond the bare minimum. They would fund and collaborate with community-based organizations like the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre and survivor-led groups like The PEARS Project. They would implement trauma-informed, community-developed reporting systems like REES. They would explore restorative justice practices led by those with lived experience. They would implement clear bans on facultystudent relationships, stop referring to survivors as “complainants,” offer safety planning alternatives beyond campus police, and fully fund therapy and ongoing external support services. They would stop protecting powerful perpetrators whether faculty, staff, or wealthy students, and begin addressing the overlapping forms of violence that sustain rape culture, such as colonialism, antiBlackness, transphobia, ableism, misogyny, and classism.
We must have a strong policy that is rooted in providing survivor-centric care, and avenues for safety and support. This also helps to provide clear processes and a paper trail to hold U of T to account. However, I also believe that we cannot rely on policies to relieve us of the work of dismantling rape culture. We cannot outsource the work of dismantling rape culture to institutional documents. Our safety and liberation will never be won through a U of T policy.
A sexual violence policy is still an important form of harm reduction. Having clearly outlined processes, and having written documents to hold the university accountable provide, for some, the strength and tools needed to report the violence they experienced. However, the policy of an institution must align with its practices, and survivors must be engaged and consulted in meaningful ways. U of T must stop prioritizing and protecting predatory professors and students with power, wealth, and privilege, and it must stop sweeping violence under the rug.
Policies can help, but only if they are paired with deep, sustained commitments to culture change, community care, and survivor-led transformation.
Micah Kalisch is a first year MA student in Women and Gender Studies researching the harms of western pathologization in the aftermath of sexualized violence. She is the founder of The PEARS Project and works in the anti-GBV sector.
ARTHUR DENNYSON HAMDANI/THE VARSITY
ZAINAB ABDUL/THE VARSITY
Business & Labour
Decreasing international student enrolment
is affecting U of T’s revenue
U of
T is pursuing
cost-saving initiatives to make up for revenue deficits
Edith Wong, Varsity Contributor
Medha Barath, Business and Labour Editor
U of T’s revenue is predicted to be $50 million less than projections due to underperforming international student enrolment. While it was revealed at the Business Board meeting on June 17 that other sources of income are exceeding expectations, international student tuition significantly helps fund university activities.
The university is still in good financial health, however, with revenue growing by 5.1 per cent, partially due to strong investments. Yet, Scott Mabury, vice-president of operations and real-estate partnerships, believes that U of T cannot rely on this and must focus on improving efficiency for financial stability.
Decreased international student enrolment
Mabury revealed that international enrolment fell $73 million short of projections.
At the meeting, he described the university’s approach as “a terrible experiment,” referencing the mandated $3,000 deposit for international admits introduced this year. The initiative was designed to reduce the ‘melt rate’ — the number of students who accept offers in the spring but never enrol in the fall. While enrolment still lagged expectations, Mabury noted that the policy did succeed in securing stronger commitments from those who did pay.
To offset the shortfall, all academic divisions kept late admissions open. Expectations remain modest, but Mabury suggested that
Trump-era changes — such as restrictions on foreign student visas — could encourage more international students to choose a Canadian university over an American university.
U of T had budgeted 2.8 per cent year-overyear revenue growth, but without a rebound in international student enrolment, growth could slow to just 1.1 per cent annually.
Summer courses, domestic demand, and grants
Summer enrolment exceeded predictions, generating $19 million more than projected.
September 2, 2025
varsity.ca/category/business biz@thevarsity.ca
For the 2025–2026 academic year, U of T forecasted total revenue of $2.4 billion.
While administrators assumed summer business would taper off this year, students have continued to be interested in summer classes, which is “more of a real trend and a change as opposed to something temporary,” Mabury said. Although overall revenue remains below projections, the additional summer enrolment income has helped offset losses from lower international students.
Domestic demand is also surging, especially for engineering and health programs. Overall, student enrolment increased by 2.9 per cent to reach 91,245 full-time enrolments. At UTSC, new health programs and targeted recruitment efforts have been especially successful in attracting students.
However, Mabury cautioned that the university faces a “challenging situation” financially. He believes that U of T cannot rely on strong returns from future investments to help its finances. He noted that “The solutions for any new initiatives… [will] come from cost-savings rather than [finding] new revenue.”
Why did Air Canada’s flight attendants go on strike?
A look into the employees’ demands for higher wages and ground pay
Jazmeet Saxena Varsity Contributor
Over 10,000 flight attendants went on strike against Air Canada from August 16 to 19. Workers formed large picket lines outside Toronto Pearson International Airport, protesting what they described as ‘unfair wages’ and ‘unpaid labour.’
The strike forced Air Canada to cancel about 700 flights daily, disrupting travel for roughly 130,000 people each day. The airline suspended operations of both its main airline and low-cost carrier, Air Canada Rouge. The strike ended on August 19, after a tentative agreement was reached, but flight attendants will still need to vote on whether they accept the new terms.
The build-up to the strike
In 2015, Air Canada flight attendants signed a 10-year collective agreement, or a legally binding contract between the airline and its employees that sets out their wages, benefits, and hours.
When the contract expired this past March, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents workers among many others, entered negotiations with Air Canada.
The talks quickly stalled over pay — flight attendants demanded compensation for duties performed before takeoff, such as boarding, deplaning, and safety checks, which are typically unpaid.
Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant and president of CUPE’s air cabin crew division in Montréal, argues that unpaid pre-flight work reflects systemic gender disparities. About 70 per cent of flight attendants are women, and they perform duties such as boarding, deplaning, and safety checks without pay. By contrast, pilots — who are predominantly men — receive full compensation for their work, highlighting a historical pattern in which roles dominated by women are undervalued compared with male-dominated positions.
Responses from Air Canada and the government Air Canada’s final offer before the strike proposed a 38 per cent increase in total compensation over four years. CUPE rejected the offer, arguing that the raises remain well below inflation and are insufficient for the current cost of living.
In response, the Canadian government invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, allowing Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu, to enforce binding arbitration, in which a neutral third party determines the terms of a new agreement.
The federal labour board issued a backto-work order under Section 107. However, CUPE chose to defy the order and continue the strike.
U of T is spending more on operations than its peers
The university embarked on an initiative to improve its operational efficiency, drawing on data from Uniforum — a service that benchmarks U of T against 36 other universities worldwide. The data presented at the meeting covered the 2022–2023 fiscal year.
This project revealed that U of T’s spending on operations grew by four per cent compared to the previous year and is 15 per cent higher than the average among Uniforum participants.
Transactional work — bureaucratic and administrative activities — accounts for 45 per cent of the university’s operational costs. “Highly transactional activities are not well thought of as error rates tend to be higher,” states Mabury. Referencing this inefficiency, he later said, “We spend about $200 million more than we need to [on transactional work].”
Mabury also points to many U of T’s employees being generalists — those who do a wide variety of activities instead of being focused on a few — rather than specialists. With 39 per cent of U of T’s operational employees being in generalist roles, the university could be operating less efficiently when specific jobs require more expertise.
U of T hopes to use the data from the Uniforum survey to improve the quality and efficiency of its service delivery. Mabury pointed to the University of Melbourne digitizing much of its transactional work to increase efficiency. The university is also hoping to use similar technology to decrease costs.
They are hoping to use many of the university’s existing resources to do so — for example, Mabury said they will consult academic divisions, but will also recruit students to help with these projects, such as the Faculty of Engineering’s student design teams.
When asked how the university will measure success in the initiative, Mabury says that they will observe whether they can “generate opportunity out of [the] saving of expenses, as opposed to… [raising] more money.”
The resolution
After three days of striking and nine hours of talks facilitated by a government-appointed mediator, CUPE and Air Canada reached a tentative deal on August 19. Flight attendants will receive compensation for at least 60 minutes of their pre-flight duties at 50 per cent of their hourly rate. Additionally, cabin crew with under five years of experience will receive a cumulative wage increase of over 20 per cent, while those with more experience will receive a 17 per cent increase.
Flight attendants will begin voting on whether to accept the wage increases on August 27. This voting only concerns these increases, while the agreement to raise ground pay is binding regardless of the outcome. However, many flight attendants are unhappy with the deal. The new wage increases are substantially lower than those received by the airline’s pilots in 2024, who received a 26 per cent increase in hourly pay in the first year and a 42 per cent cumulative increase over four years. With total inflation in Canada at roughly 30 per cent over the past decade, flight attendants were seeking a salary increase to better offset rising costs.
Voting on the deal ends on September 6; if it is not approved, a third party will determine the final terms of the agreement.
Exploring the terrain of two South Korean universities
How student life in South Korea stacks up against student life at U of T
Matt Lee Varsity Contributor
I recently travelled to South Korea, where I spent three weeks reconnecting with relatives and exploring the country. Being a Korean-Canadian, the trip was also a way for me to connect with my heritage. Between eating at popular restaurants and watching musicals, I also visited two wellknown universities in the country’s capital of Seoul: Yonsei University and Sogang University. I visited these universities mostly out of curiosity, but also because I wanted to understand what student life might feel like in South Korea in comparison to my experience at U of T.
Upon first glance, each school had its own unique vibe: Yonsei seemed more structured and fast-paced, while Sogang felt quieter, more relaxed, and comfortable. After reflecting on my observations of each school, I realized that the physical size and layouts of the campuses and their surrounding areas were the biggest factors in how the atmosphere and overarching student life are shaped at these schools.
Comparing campus rhythms and social spaces
Both campuses are built on hilly terrains, with buildings layered at different levels connected with steep paths. I still remember feeling exhausted walking up and down those hills and slopes while visiting the campuses, my legs getting sore, and stopping to catch my breath during the climbs.
As exhausting as trekking the terrain was, it strangely seemed to bring the students of Yonsei and Sogang together. I found that seeing other students venturing the same slopes and enjoying meals at the same quiet campus cafés created an unspoken rhythm that was formed by everyone on campus going through the same motions each day.
Sogang students are “more into ‘blending’ rather than ‘settling’.” Yoo Ho Jeong, a second-year student studying European languages and cultures, wrote, “The size of our campus, physically and mentally, is quite small compared to other universities such as Yonsei University or Geonguk University. So, we are used to blending with surrounding conditions since we are relatively advantageous in transport.” In other words, Sogang students tend to see their university life as deeply entwined with the cityscape around them.
Similar to UTSG’s location in downtown Toronto, Sogang is located near downtown Seoul, making things like public transportation and food options easily accessible. Rather than limiting themselves to stay within the official parameters of campus, students can experience the city as an extension of their campus.
Yoo's experience reminded me of the first thing I noticed when I came to U of T: how the downtown campus blended in with the city. At UTSG, the campus isn’t isolated from the city like at a school like York or UBC; you’ll find busy streets outside of lecture halls, and shops and cafes across from residences and libraries. When I started at UTSG, this city-campus integration made me think it would be hard to find one specific spot that feels like the ‘centre’ of the campus or a true home base.
Eventually, I realized that UTSG has not one but many meeting places — for studying, meeting friends, or taking quiet breaks — but it took time for me to find them. In order to turn what seems like an array of large buildings into welcoming community spaces, you really have to get to know the campus and meet the people.
While visiting Yonsei and Sogang, I also noticed how their social spaces influence how students connect with one another. At Sogang, the smaller campus size and student body seemed to elicit more intimate
socialization and a calmer pace. Cafés like Arete at Sogang, with its seclusion from bustling academic areas, as though it were a feel warm restaurant.
Contrastingly, UTSG’s larger, more dispersed campus and population forces students to constantly move to and from different buildings across different areas. If you constantly have classes at opposite ends of campus, say a political science lecture at OISE and a computer science lab at Bahen right after, you don’t really get time to stop and chat with friends, explore food and drink
places, or discover new libraries and other study spots. There’s a perpetual sense of rush and urgency.
Campus size therefore inevitably affects students’ day-to-day university experience . Large campuses — such as those at Yonsei and UTSG — seem to make campus rhythms more fragmented and rushed, whereas smaller campuses like Sogang invite more inviting social scenes. It was interesting to learn how campus size was a major factor in determining these rhythms.
Traditions and school spirit
At Yonsei, one of the biggest community events is the Yonsei-Korea Games, or YonKo, a major sports showdown between Yonsei and Korea University. “The energy and unity felt during this time are truly unforgettable and exciting,” Moon Jio, a second-year business student, recounted. During games and events, students at both
to get to know campus and one another by taking part in activities organized for them by upper-year students. Unlike the big, crossyear events at Yonsei and Sogang, U of T’s school spirit seems to grow from many smaller experiences that happen throughout the year.
One of these big events at Yonsei and Sogang is a dorm tradition called Membership Training (MT), which happens at many
with their professors at MT, I was surprised. It felt unfamiliar compared to U of T, where most interactions with professors happen rushedly after lectures or during office hours. Here, there are stronger boundaries between personal and professional lives.
Part of me wonders about the missed opportunities that might come from having more chances to build these teacher-student
Sure, some of that is accurate — the campuses are beautiful, and there’s something special about the way students come together during festivals and events like MT. But after talking to students at Sogang and Yonsei, I realized those snapshots only told part of the story.
“The portrayal of university friendships and romantic relationships might seem romantic, but in reality, university life [in South Korea] is also filled with stress similar to other universities and challenged by academic pressure, and the struggles of balancing personal and professional growth,” Moon told me.
schools are encouraged to wear matching outfits, shout school chants, and fully lean into their team spirit.
At Sogang, school spirit looks a little different. Yoo told me about Daedongje, a campus festival that always ends with “one specific moment that everyone chimes in, and that is when we play [the song] ‘To You’ by Shin Hae Chul… that is when we can feel the school spirit by putting [our] arms around each other’s shoulders, even when [we] barely know each other.”
At U of T, school spirit is sparked at Varsity Blues games, especially hockey and basketball. Additionally, there’s frosh week, which happens during the first few weeks of fall semester, where first-year students are encouraged
universities in South Korea. MT usually entails a weekend trip where students go away — often to more rural places — with their classmates or club members for a few days.
They eat, drink, play games, and stay up late talking together, allowing younger and older students to get to know each other before the semester starts.
Professors also often take part in MT ––friends in South Korea have recounted stories of seeing professors laughing over silly board games or talking casually with students over dinner like any other student, removing strict everyday barriers of teacher-student distance.
When I first heard that students in South Korea eat, play games, and even get drunk
connections beyond the classroom. Not necessarily breaking professionalism, but instead building community and connection.
Indulging in an irresponsible night of drinking or gaming with our professors might ease the otherwise cold or distanced atmosphere of U of T’s infamously large lecture halls.
Expectations versus reality
Before travelling to South Korea, I had a certain picture of what student life there looked like. I grew up watching K-dramas and YouTube vlogs of South Korean students studying in aesthetic cafes, walking through campuses surrounded by cherry blossoms, and laughing with friends late into the night. It all seemed warm and cinematic.
At Sogang, Yoo helped me understand how that overly roman ticized image of university life in South Korea came to exist in the first place. In an email to The Varsity , Yoo mentioned the western fascination with knowing K-culture through media. “Some parts are true, and some parts are just a glimpse of reality.” Her thoughts reminded me that much of what we see of different places are merely curated moments meant to look good.
Yoo also said, “I believe having a debate or an open discussion is one of the crucial forms of expanding your view of the world and I’m still craving those opportunities.” This reflects the current political climate in South Korea, which is embroiled in contentious political debates about free speech. While a small school like Sogang offers many opportunities and spaces for community building and socialization, that openness isn’t reflected in bigger issues of dialogue and debate because of the political landscape. In the same way the campuses of Sogang and UTSG are enmeshed in downtown hubs, politics evidently shape their academic and social spheres.
Finding spaces and senses of belonging
Visiting South Korea as a KoreanCanadian also helped me reconnect with the country on a personal level — spending time with relatives and exploring the country helped me feel closer to my culture. It also shed light on the differences and similarities between student experiences reflected by both halves of my cultural identity.
Looking back, my biggest takeaway isn’t just the differences in campus space and design between the two countries, but the ways in which these differences determined how students connected with each other and their campuses.
Although U of T has spaces for socialization, they’re often integrated within bustling academic hotspots, which might make it harder for students to build connections beyond the typical lecture-hall smalltalk and “Did you do the homework?” In comparison, the interactions that may arise from a school like Sogang, due to its smaller size and centralized social spots, create natural places where students can gather informally and stay together longer. Comparatively, I think UTSG students have to be intentional about finding people they relate to and spaces where they feel comfortable.
I’ve learned that the way a campus is designed not only influences how and where people meet, but also how easily they open up to one another, especially when it comes to deeper connections built on mutual trust and understanding. The spaces we move through as students every day quietly shape our connections, whether in the ever-moving heart of downtown Toronto or the beautifully vibrant grassy hills of Seoul.
SIMONA AGOSTINO/THE VARSITY
Arts & Culture
September 2, 2025
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Inaugural Toronto Horror Film Festival a huge success
Fox Theatre sold out screenings of 14 international indie films
Marija Buzanin Varsity Contributor
On May 22, the historic Fox Theatre — the city’s oldest continuously operating cinema — hosted the first ever Toronto Horror Film Festival (THFF). Featuring 14 short films from various countries and genres, hot popcorn from the theatre’s retro-style machine, and an excited crowd, the inaugural event delivered on its promise: bold, unique, and unconventional horror.
The nitty gritty: festival details, logistics, and awards
Sponsored by Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books and entirely volunteer-run, the event was free for all attendees. The festival saw a full house for its debut, a success that emboldened THFF founder and director Kyle Lacroix’s goal to keep the event free forever.
THFF aims to create an inclusive space where everyone — seasoned filmmakers, eager film students, die-hard fans, or total newcomers — can connect over a love or interest for the genre.
“By keeping overhead revenue low and prioritizing community over revenue, we’re able to maintain a high-quality experience without charging,” Lacroix explained in an email to The Varsity. “It’s a model built on passion, not profit, and that’s how we intend to keep it.”
Entering the historic independent theatre, it’s instantly clear why the venue was chosen. The small space allowed each film’s eerie and unique soundscape to echo off the walls, encapsulating the viewer in a fine-tuned experience that could easily shock and terrify.
In addition to traditional titles like “best actor/ actress” — Scream Queen Claudia Trujillo (The Stranded) and Scream King David Shields (Backmask) — awards were distributed for unique categories within the horror genre, such as “Twisted Smile” for the funniest film — won by director Dave Thorpe’s Scam — or “Blood and Guts” for best gore and makeup — won by director Raúl Muñoz’s The Itch
The future of horror is indie
Something Lacroix emphasised as his team’s inspiration for choosing to screen independent films is their storytelling techniques. “We’re seeing more experimental approaches, blending genres, using unconventional narratives, and pushing boundaries in ways big studios might not take risks on.”
Lacroix cited the recent mainstream success of indie horror films like Terrifier (2016) and The Twisted Childhood Universe (2023) franchise as showing that audiences crave to be shocked by the “extreme, the bizarre, and the unique,” crossing boundaries larger studios can’t always risk breaking. But the success of THFF’s experimental and genre-bending entries has proven that, not only are independent filmmakers more than willing to take the leap, but that their creative risks resonate with the audience.
Scam is a perfect example of this. As the main and only character engages in a creepy soliloquy,
Every decision at the festival — what to screen, when to screen it, and how to celebrate it — was made by people who love the genre. According to Lacroix, a small panel of horror filmmakers and fans judged and awarded the films. This resulted in a lineup spanning the full spectrum of what the genre has to offer, from less classically scary entries like Jester and Backmask, to campy, vampy, and Lovecraftian classics like Carter. The festival was replete with everything old-school horror, including Victorian frills, an ominous portal to the underworld, purple haze, and the classic stone angel.
the audience becomes party to his downward spiral as he gets scam call after scam call — until he starts to treat it like a confessional. The simple cinematography and one-person cast stand out as bold choices in an often over-the-top genre, taking the audience on a rollercoaster from laughing to shuddering in under 10 minutes.
Another unique film that had me on the edge of my seat is The Itch. Will, the main character, awakes to find himself trapped in a strange house, and pleads with the audience through surveillance cameras to save him. With a run time of just under 18 minutes, the film follows his descent into madness as he succumbs to a mysterious illness designed by himself and his team, decomposing more and more each day. A chilling tale, the film explores the importance of ethics in medical testing and the implications for human life when the rules are broken.
The Itch deservedly took the festival’s audience pick award, called Reaper’s Choice — named in memory of Lacroix’s beloved dog Reaper. Its haunting pace and oozing, blood-curdling special effects contributed to an atmosphere so tense it was palpable. The film’s win truly speaks to what the festival stands for — horror fans are the heart of the genre.
How to enjoy your summer without top surgery
Trans joy, what it is to me, and how I spark it
subway window. For me, the condition of ‘passing’ is passing. Too much of my life would have to pass before that feeling stays.
The summer heat makes my hair stick to the back of my neck with sweat. I need to cut it, but God, I hate the hair salon.
I cut my hair about once every four months, or when I can’t possibly bend the image of the person in the mirror to be me anymore. I show the hairstylist a reference picture of a guy on Pinterest, and she tries her best. But I’m never happy; not because the hair looks wrong, but because the face isn’t right. My jaw is too soft. Pinterest Guy has broad shoulders. A chest you could splay your fingers flat against.
Once, at a psychiatry appointment, the doctor asked me if I had any former diagnoses, and for the first time, my pathology exited my own mouth: “Gender dysphoria.” But I have never felt sick. For a long time, I thought I was born in the wrong body. The simple grammar made sense to me: a boy born in a girl’s body; my being in disorder.
But when I look at my brother, my father, the cis men in my life — the đàn ông con trai that are grouped together like a species, their defining trait being that they don’t know to separate their dark and light laundry — I can’t imagine myself in the ‘right’ body either.
Then I scrubbed the haze from my eyes, I realized that my understanding of trans denied its own queerness.
I started feeling trans joy when I surrendered to the war between my self and my body. I stopped chasing the fleeting, rainbow-after-rain euphoria of seeing a guy when I glanced at my reflection in the
I started feeling trans joy when trans ceased to be right or wrong, before or after, passing or not. I have always been trans. Trans is my life, and I refuse to believe that I, at any point, lived wrongly.
When I came out, it was the first time I ever saw my mother cry. It took me some years to understand her pain: from her perspective, her daughter had committed self-annihilation. I wish I could tell her that no subtraction had ever been made; I did not take away her daughter. Rather, I added more of me atop her; me who is him who grew from her. I am more whole, I want to tell my mother. I am ‘more.’
I was and am and always will be in a state of becoming. The grammar of trans is evergreen.
In Vietnamese the word for “transgender” is “chuyển giới,” which can be translated back to “crossing worlds.” I had a tumultuous childhood due to my incapacity to conform to social and cultural norms. All the hostility I encountered, I deflected. But I stepped into a new world when I began transitioning, not because the world around me had changed, but because I had.
Transitioning, and untethering myself from the norms that attempted to choke me, has allowed me to embrace the wonderful parts of masculinity and femininity both. Trans joy is that sure feeling I have, of knowing with absolute certainty I never again want to return to that colourless perspective I had of the world.
And I’ll describe to you the beautiful colours
I see:
THFF take two: what’s next Lacroix and his team hope to continue showcasing bold and diverse horror films. The festival strives to make a meaningful impact on the Toronto community by, in Lacroix’s words, “building a creative community that supports and celebrates the genre’s unique ability to explore fears, push boundaries, and bring people together.”
Looking forward, THFF hopes to expand their reach by including pre-festival panel discussions or workshops to create a space where horror enthusiasts can connect and inspire each other. The festival’s next showing will be from November 5–6, with the crew accepting film submissions on their website already. In the meantime, their Instagram is the best place to stay up-to-date on THFF’s future screenings, filmmaker submission details, and volunteer opportunities.
THFF is not only a celebration of horror, but a new cornerstone in the city’s art scene. As a confluence for indie film fans, horror connoisseurs, and movie enthusiasts alike, it’s sure to become a classic haunt in Toronto.
The coolest green hair on my best friend. Every time I show up to one of their dinner parties I learn something new about transformative justice.
The orange hat of a marmot plushie my other greatest friend gave to me. Her art-making process inspired me to set my art free.
The blue after sunset, my partner’s favourite colour. Before I met him I did not believe I could find home in a person.
The Easter family gathering and the poetry books on my shelf and the baby goslings outside my house. Every breath I take because I chose to keep breathing, even though the world is treacherous, even though my face doesn’t look like Pinterest guy’s, even though I haven’t yet gotten top surgery. Next week I’ll go into the hair salon. And I will see all those colours, all the life joys that are trans joys because I am trans, the second I step back out into the blistering heat.
Nghi Nguyen Varsity Contributor
The first Toronto Horror Film Festival saw a full house for its debut. OPEN GOVERNMENT LICENCE ONTARIO
Radio, Someone Still Loves You!
The importance of community radio on U of T campus
Although I have volunteered at a community radio station for the past year, it wasn’t until I discovered the works of community radio founders from the 1970s that I learned of the enduring issues within the radio industry. Radio broadcasting has long been overcrowded with moronic drivel, uninspired forms of ‘top 40’ songs, and hosts with botoxed jaws.
Growing up in California, my local radio announcer was none other than Ryan Seacrest. Evidently, a symptom of mainstream radio is that you are always confronted with the voice of some B-list celebrity like Seacrest, whose management gets them an increasingly bizarre succession of temp gigs. It was flat, dull, and uninspiring.
The radio of today is overrun by a corporate, for-profit model that only gives airtime to commercially successful, mainstream artists. For listeners, it seems like there is no alternative, since the corporation’s goal is to trap you in the superficial entertainment of charting music and celebrity updates. Meanwhile, the real power of
CIUT 89.5 FM, U of T’s campus radio, was founded in 1965 under the name Radio Varsity, and its broadcast was originally limited to the U of T campus. However, in 1986, the radio received its broadcast license and by 1987 became CIUT-FM with an increasingly wide reach across Southern Ontario.
Today, you can listen to CIUT locally in both Toronto and Southern Ontario, as well as live online. Throughout its history, CIUT has broadcast hundreds of student and community radio shows. Radio Recall, which airs live on Saturdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, chronicles the station’s history, speaking with people who were part of its heyday and are continuing its legacy. CIUT’s studio was originally located on St. George Street, right across from Robarts Library, but in 2009, it moved to the top floor of Hart House.
The show that I worked on, Tracks from Abroad taught me the importance of engaging with the oncampus community. Each week, I sat down with a U of T student or faculty member and discussed their unique perspectives on music from around the world.
One of my favourite interview moments was with Professor Ivan Kalmar of the Department of Anthropology. We were discussing the role of music in communist-occupied Czechoslovakia when he said, in an offhand, understated way, “It’s easier to go to a rock concert than a demonstration.”
This encapsulated my motivations with the show, ones that I had held only subconsciously until then. I wanted to showcase the ways in which music is political and used for resistance across the globe. Music is deeply intertwined with lived experiences. Tracks from Abroad highlights each week throughout the school year, working outside of the mainstream, culturally homogeneous Canadian radio system.
A 2021 survey by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission found that the demographic of 18–23 year olds is the least likely to listen to the radio on a regular basis or consider access to radio to be important.
This spurred a sense of urgency in me to communicate the importance of community radio, especially to those my age. While the convenience of corporate streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music may have appeal, the radio offers a chance for a real human connection. To me, there is something magical about tuning into someone’s words as they are being spoken, rather than listening to something pre-recorded or AI-operated, such as Spotify DJ. Hearing their “ums” and “ahs” crackling over the air — something that is frowned upon in more polished, edited media — is endlessly charming to me, and reminds me that I am hearing their real stream of consciousness.
The algorithms that streaming services rely on are incomparable with community radio’s unique selection of underground music, handpicked by someone with a passion for the art form –– I have even played many songs that are not on streaming services at all. It lends to a more dynamic listening experience, where you don’t know if the next song that plays is going to be your new favourite or make you want to change the station.
The importance of community radio cannot be understated. CIUT is a notfor-profit organization that does not advertise over the airwaves at all. It is funded completely through com munity donations, rather than being backed by some large corporation. As a result, the hosts have expo nentially more freedom to express their opinions.
Political talk shows like lor Report cover topics that you won’t hear on mainstream shows, and local musicians are given platforms they wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere. One of my favourite interviews I con ducted was with Toronto-based band Fond of Jane. Not only did I have a blast talk ing to Mya Donofrio and Michelle Qadir about
the team at Tracks from Abroad as our board tech. We are now embarking on another radiorelated project together. Being involved with community radio has exposed me to so many amazing people in the Toronto music scene and has connected me to so many opportunities for collaboration.
There is also an incredible array of music played every day, from the drum and bass beats of North America’s longest-running electronic radio show, The Prophecy , to jazz and blues. At CIUT, there is truly something for everyone.
Not only are youth the voice of the future, but universities such as U of T have long prided themselves on being at the cutting edge of innovation and academic thought. The radio is the perfect medium for those at the university who want their voices heard, who feel that they have something to share. If I’ve learned anything at the radio, it’s that everyone has a story — one that deserves to be shared.
Amelia Spong Varsity Contributor
SIMONA
AGOSTINO/THE VARSITY
Science
What if everything you’ve ever experienced ––from that first cup of coffee in the morning to your greatest achievement –– was stuck in your head forever? Although not all of our memories are retained indefinitely, learning and memory allow us to hold on to the experiences that shape who we are.
Learning and remembering may feel like second nature to us, but below the surface, our brains are working overtime to keep information available. They generate, store, and retrieve information through a network of neurons — nerve cells that allow electrical signals to be relayed to different parts of your body and specialized regions in the brain. From quick facts to deeply ingrained habits, learning is a complex process.
Forming and storing memories
Memory formation and retention involve multiple processes that help us encode, store, and retrieve information. The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure near the base of your brain, plays a key role in forming new memories by reinforcing short-term experiences into longterm memories.
Long-term memories are formed through the constant reactivation and strengthening of the neural connections associated with original experiences. When you learn, your brain forms connections between neurons, which grow stronger with repetition and practice. This ability, called neuroplasticity, allows the brain to reorganize itself in response to new information, demonstrating why repeated engagement helps us remember certain facts and processes over time.
Some of these memories stay with us in longterm memory, which, as the name suggests, is where information is stored for a long time, perhaps a lifetime. These memories include moments like how to ride a bike or the joy associated with a favourite song.
However, not all memories are built to last. Short-term memory, often called working memory, assists us in holding and managing a small amount of information, like a series of numbers in a math problem or a stranger’s name, for short periods of time.
Information stored in the working memory fades rapidly unless it is actively maintained by the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the brain responsible for thinking, planning, making decisions, and controlling behaviour. The way the hippocampus decides what to retain in long-term memory is influenced by attention, emotional significance, and repetition.
The concept of memory consolidation, first proposed by the German psychologist Georg Elias Müller and his student Alfons Pilzecker in 1900, is the process by which temporary, labile information transfers from short-term to a more permanent long-term memory.
This is where sleep plays a crucial role. As studies have shown, during deep sleep, the brain consolidates memories by strengthening connections between brain cells, where messages are passed using chemical signals. It also replays recent events, helping to solidify memories so they become more deeply embedded in memory and easier to recall. In essence, short-term and long-term memory work handin-hand, allowing us to retain vital information and recall it when we need it most.
Interestingly, emotions are an important aspect of the learning and memory process.
In a 2007 Mind, Brain, and Education paper, researchers Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio asserted that emotions aren’t separate from thinking; rather, they’re highly correlated with the way we learn and remember.
When something triggers strong emotions, be it happiness or fear, the emotional centre of the brain, called the amygdala, enhances hippocampus activity. This partnership causes emotional experiences to last longer in our memory compared to other everyday, emotionally insignificant moments.
From theory to practice
Understanding the processes of memory and learning has far-reaching applications in many different fields. For instance, in medicine, there is strong evidence that drugs like nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) ––used to treat HIV by blocking viral replication –– can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
One side effect of NRTIs is that they inhibit receptors that are involved in pathological brain inflammation. This type of inflammation is linked with memory loss and learning disabilities, so by suppressing these inflammatory effects, NRTIs could potentially avert harm to the brain’s ability to retain and develop longterm memories.
In essence, short-term and long-term memory work hand-in-hand, allowing us to retain vital information and recall it when we need it most.
Dr. Reina Bendayan of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at U of T has conducted extensive research on the potential of antiretroviral drugs –– medications used to treat infections caused by retroviruses, particularly HIV –– like NRTIs to cross the blood-brain barrier and influence the central nervous system. The bloodbrain barrier is a selectively permeable membrane of tightly attached cells that regulate the
exchange of substances to maintain the stable environment of the central nervous system. The barrier permits essential nutrients into the brain and keeps out toxins and pathogens.
Dr. Bendayan’s work provides critical details on how antiretroviral drugs could potentially influence neuroinflammation as well as cognitive impairments, and thus become potential medicines to treat memory-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s.
The human memory system is also shaping the design of artificial intelligence (AI). Among the researchers contributing to this field is Dr. Blake Richards, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science and AI from U of T. He is working on developing AI systems inspired by human learning mechanisms, such as memory consolidation while sleeping.
These researchers seek to address problems like “catastrophic forgetting,” where AI systems eventually forget previously acquired knowledge when learning new information. Simulation of human memory in AI systems helps address the issue of catastrophic forgetting by imitating how the brain preserves and recalls information over time without overriding previous knowledge. By modelling AI systems on the working memory of the human brain, scientists aim to develop machines with selflearning and reasoning capabilities, linking human and machine intelligence.
As researchers uncover the mechanisms behind learning and memory, new possibilities open for treating cognitive disorders and enhancing educational practices. Through neuroplasticity, our brains continuously modify neural connections based on new knowledge and experiences, forming the neurological basis of our identity. This neuroplastic capability facilitates cognitive development, learning acquisition, and adaptive responses to environmental demands.
Siriah Subit
Varsity Contributor
SIMONA AGOSTINO/THEVARSITY
Student spotlight: Researchers caught in the web of cannibalism
A group of UTSC students dive into the cannibalistic behaviour of an invasive species
Inside Professor Maydianne Andrade’s lab at the Department of Biological Sciences at UTSC, four undergraduate research students uncovered the mysteries behind one of nature’s most unsettling phenomena: sibling cannibalism.
These BIOC99H3: Biology Team Research students probed the behaviour of redback spiders under the guidance of PhD candidate Isaiah Box. They studied how cannibalism in the spiders’ early life stages may be helping them thrive as an invasive species.
The Varsity sat down with Samia Saif, studying life science biology; Jenny Nguyen, studying human biology and molecular biology, immunology and disease; Sakura Fujii, studying molecular biology and biotechnology; and Lauren Pearo, studying integrative biology, to discuss their research project and the challenges they faced in their four-month lab course.
The spider of focus
The redback spider, otherwise known as the Australian black widow, has been rapidly expanding its range from Australia as an invasive species, appearing in New Zealand, Japan, and Belgium. It is a fairly venomous species that can be somewhat dangerous to humans, with the main symptom of its venom being severe, persistent pain that can last hours to days.
Female redback spiders are known to cannibalize the considerably smaller males during mating. The males actively encourage this, as their unique reproductive biology allows them to transfer sperm while being eaten, which increases the likelihood of fertilizing the female.
While the Andrade Lab has done considerable research on sexual cannibalism, these four students investigated another trait observed in redback spiders: early-life sibling cannibalism, where hatchlings cannibalize each other shortly after birth.
Early-life sibling cannibalism is not as researched as sexual cannibalism. Possible factors for cannibalism include competition for prey and
The students did not generate a specific hypothesis to avoid confirmation bias — the tendency to interpret results to fit pre-existing expectations — but they had some tentative expectations that urban spiders would fare better at survival than rural ones. Since redback spiders are expanding into urban environments, it is possible that urban spiders possess traits that helped them thrive.
To set up the trials, the students collected egg sacs from adult females. As soon as the spiders hatched, they were given flies and water for a week before they were moved into the varying treatment conditions.
Spiders were placed into cages individually or in groups of five. Spiders that had their own cage were treated as a control group, with their survivorship being compared to the spiders caged together. Each day, they tracked whether cannibalism had occurred and categorized the cause of death as natural, potential cannibalism, or confirmed cannibalism.
Spiders in individual cages were fed two fruit flies for the week, which is typically enough for a single spider. Grouped spiders were deliberately kept underfed with 1–2 fruit flies for the entire cage to see if it would lead to cannibalistic tendencies.
They were watched for an hour after feeding to record any instances of cannibalism. After this first hour, the students would check on their spiders each day for a week, recording any deaths, instances of cannibalism, and moulting — the shedding of the exoskeleton as the spider grows.
After that first week, spiders that were initially grouped together in cages were also moved to individual cages and given a regular feeding schedule. This was done to mimic the natural behaviour of redback spiders, where spiderlings disperse and spread apart from one another as they grow older.
The students then tracked natural deaths and moults for another two weeks to see if any spiders were developing faster than others; however, because of time constraints, they only observed a handful of moults, which did not indicate any significant findings.
According to Saif, the spiders were also
Since redback spiders are sit-and-wait predators, meaning that they build a trap and wait for their prey, web building is crucial for their survival. Even in the lab environment, with adequate food, spiders have to be provided with live flies, which requires them to be trapped.
Due to their poor eyesight, a dead fly in front of a redback will be dismissed as something random that might have fallen into the cage and disregarded as a meal. If a spider cannot build a proper web, they cannot catch food or detect that food is present at all, leading them to starve to death. Thus, the dead spiders found at the bottom of the cage most likely died of starvation.
Interestingly, the overall rate of survivorship for grouped spiders was much higher than individual spiders one week post the start of the trial. Survivorship was defined simply as whether at least one spider in a cage was still alive, regardless of the total number of survivors.
Cages with groups of spiders had a survival rate of about 86 per cent of cages compared to 41 per cent of the individual spiders; this was true even though there were twice the amount of solo spider cages as group ones. The students hypothesized that this might have something to do with group living, allowing for spiders to depend on those around them for help with web building, but more research is needed to definitively determine the reason for this.
“There were some cases where the spiders were clearly cannibalizing each other — one spider was literally sitting on top of another and eating it,” Saif continued. “Sometimes one spider would literally die while trying to consume a sibling — our hypothesis here is that the victim bit its sibling as a final defensive measure. These cases were also easy to mark as cannibalism.”
“Some other cases [...] were more confusing. Sometimes we would find natural-death spiders in webbing and assume they were cannibalized, and sometimes we would find spiders which looked cannibalized but actually hadn’t been. [These] cases were marked as ‘potentially cannibalized’ to indicate uncertainty, such that we could verify their status under the microscope
results themselves was Box’s responsibility. Ultimately, though, the students’ research suggests that cannibalism may not be the defining beneficial trait responsible for the urban spiders’ higher survivorship. The deeper investigation into the urban redback spider’s higher degree of survivorship will be conducted by Box throughout the course of his PhD.
Challenges in research
While the research itself is thrilling, the process is not without hurdles.
“I find balancing [the project] with my other courses that I’m taking in the semester pretty challenging,” said Nguyen.
Resource limitations and equipment funding also come into play, as the lab only has one microscope and one scale for weighing spiders. “[There’s] four of us, so if we had more supplies […] we might be able to move things faster,” said Fujii. Additionally, as Saif later added, the lab is decades old, and there are a lot of cages that are old and liable to crack, which is risky when working with hatchlings, as any crack is a potential escape.
Another big constraint brought up was simply time. “BIOC99 is a one-semester long course, which meant we were only able to handle our spiders for a few months at best. Adult females can only lay so many eggs, and baby spiders can only grow so fast,” wrote Saif.
“There were plenty of other tests we’d have liked to have run,” she wrote, as if there were any marked differences in behaviour between males and females. “But you can’t determine the sex of a spider until they mature past a certain point, so we weren’t able to track this.”
Additionally, spiders have an innate sensitivity to vibrations, which became a challenge in the shared lab: “It’s important to have no vibrations [in the room] because [they] can trigger cannibalism in the spiders when we’re not expecting it. So, ideally, we would have our own space where we can control every variable, but that’s not realistic,” said Pearo, addressing how their lab space is shared with many different people
lenges that come with it, the students’ passion
“We’re working with Isaiah,” who’s justing “what we’re doing is eventually going to be a part of something bigger […] it’s
Izhaan Junaid Varsity Contributor
Sports
September 2, 2025
thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca
Opinion: It’s tough because it matters
Is playing for a Canadian NHL team a disadvantage?
exceedingly harsh attitude makes Canadian markets less desirable landing spots for players across the league.
“If their team was not in Toronto, dealing with all the crazy circus stuff outside of it, they’d be an unbelievable team.”
Those were words spoken by Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Game 7 loss to the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Tkachuk implies that the constant media and fan pressure has created a toxic environment in Toronto that deters wins. His honest commentary was also echoed by Panthers Head Coach, Paul Maurice, as well as some other Panthers players, reopening the constant conversation on whether or not Canadian markets put too much pressure on their players.
The challenge of pressure
At first, it is easy to find a lot of truth in Tkachuk’s statement. Tkachuk himself can likely attest to moments during his tenure with the Calgary Flames where he may have felt the pressure and commentary were unjustified and made it difficult to play.
There are definitely moments where fan and media pressure can become entirely unproductive, and a reminder that players deserve critique, not scapegoating, is required. Canadians can be intense about hockey, as the sport has become part of Canadian culture and identity. Admittedly, the overzealous or
Being constantly visible and publicly critiqued is something that most players prefer to avoid. However, does this pressure really make the Canadian hockey experience challenging, or is it actually a misconstrued advantage? At its core, the public pressure is present because Canadians care deeply about hockey in a way that is unlike anywhere else. The ways this philosophy is reflected are indicative of the effect this pressure has on players in Canada.
At its core, the public pressure is present because Canadians care deeply about hockey in a way that is unlike anywhere else
Hockey in Canada
The culturally embedded nature of hockey in Canada is evident from the smallest details — like how ‘the game’ always refers to hockey
— to the major transformations cities undergo when their teams are in the playoffs. Each of the seven Canadian teams has a passionate fan base that is typically incredibly knowledgeable about hockey, enjoys commenting on it, and follows it very closely. Team success feels personal to Canadian hockey fans because it is, and it is just as personal to the players themselves.
This sentiment is certainly a heavy weight to carry, and will inevitably turn into pressure, but it’s also what makes fans celebrate every win like it’s their own. It’s how the rebuilding 2014 Edmonton Oilers and the almost Cup-winning 2024 Edmonton Oilers both saw full or more capacity for home games. The Bell Centre in Montreal is consistently voted as having the best ice in the league, which the entire hockey world saw during the Four Nations Tournament just this past February. It’s why pond hockey was on the five-dollar bill.
On the other end, pressure is also why Canadian markets will repeatedly sit through painful rebuilds, brutal management decisions, and a lack of tangible success for years on end without even considering moving away from the sport. Three out of seven Canadian teams have never even won a Stanley Cup, and none of them have won a cup in this century, yet fans continue to invest, in every meaning of the word, to watch their teams strive for something that is hardly guaranteed.
Even when there is frustration, the underlying support and care fans have for their
team never disappears, and the experience of playing in Canada will be rewarded as long as that loyalty isn’t taken for granted. Countless players such as the Sedin twins, Jarome Iginla, and Carey Price are celebrated and honoured within their franchises not because they won a cup, but because they were skilled players who played hard, and more importantly, embraced the pressure of playing Canada’s game for Canadians.
It’s more than just a sport
In my opinion, all of this frustration is a result of pressure, because pressure is passion. As a complete buy-in to the sport, pressure has accumulated across generations and persists through both the good and the bad. It’s the manifestation of the immeasurable dedication, deep love, and respect that Canadians have for this game, and for the identity behind it.
Yes, it can be uniquely difficult to play in a Canadian market, and it probably is easier for players to focus on the game without external pressure, but ultimately, it’s hard because hockey matters here. The pressure from passion is what defines Canadian hockey and makes every victory more meaningful.
When the league witnesses the end of an over-30-year Stanley Cup drought in this country, it will be reminded of how advantageous the pressure is, as the lucky winning city will explode into weeks of unprecedented highs, and the players become permanent winners in the eyes of the people.
Naomi Altwasser Varsity Contributor
SIMONA AGOSTINO/THE VARSITY
A tournament taken too far: the Club World Cup and Player Fatigue
Why the Club World Cup is an unnecessary burden on player health
Earlier this year, Real Madrid and England national football team star Jude Bellingham turned 22. At an age when he can still barely drink in the US, he will have played 277 career club games and made 44 international appearances for England.
Since the age of 16, Bellingham has been playing week in and week out at the highest level of football. His case is one of many that demonstrates the increasing level of physical exertion that players have undergone. For context, at the same age, Cristiano Ronaldo had played 242 games for club and country and Lionel Messi 200 games, while David Beckham, a player known for his work ethic, had played just 100 games, or five times less minutes of playtime than Bellingham.
Repercussions of heavier minutes
All this is to say that soccer players are playing more minutes and more games than ever before, and they are doing so from a much younger age. While even the greats of the game, like Messi or Ronaldo, didn’t experience heavy minutes before their mid-20s, it’s now commonplace for wonderkids to be shoved straight into starting lineups and told to deal with it.
Barcelona midfielder Pedri made his debut for the club at just 18 years old before playing 52 games that season. With appearances for Spain during and after the season, he played 73 total games in just one season, all while missing any chance of recuperating for the new season over
A
the summer break. It was therefore unsurprising when Pedri missed much of the next season due to injury.
For all the money footballers are paid, they are human and they need rest. A recent study by FIFPRO, the FIFA players’ union, stated that players need a minimum of a four-week break during the offseason to recharge, before then easing back into preseason so that they are physically and mentally ready for a new season. Otherwise, they risk fatigue, burnout and injuries that not only wreck careers, but weaken the quality of the football played.
Players find themselves unable to keep up with the frantic pace demanded of them, particularly in an age where almost every manager demands offensive, possession-based soccer that requires constant sprinting.
Club World Cup and player fatigue
Typically, this kind of summer, where no major international tournaments fill up the schedule, would be the perfect time for the likes of Bellingham to recharge, with one eye on next summer’s World Cup with some games in Toronto. And yet, he and his Real Madrid teammates find themselves competing in the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup.
The Club World Cup, despite the best efforts of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, is a tournament largely muted in terms of fanfare. Fan attendance has been low to the point of tickets being given away in buy-one-get-four free deals in the opening days of the tournament. The hype around the tournament has been cringe-inducing at best; one of the tournament’s opening games descended
Star is Born in Montréal
19-year-old Victoria Mboko cements herself as one of tennis’s standout, rising, unprecedented, and hard-fought stars
into farce as Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich demolished semi-pro New Zealand team Auckland City FC 10–0.
When a tournament that bills itself as containing the best teams in the world has a result like this, it’s a sign that the tournament is not fit for purpose. But ultimately, the competition is unnecessary, or even dangerous, for the added burden it will place on footballers going forward.
The Club World Cup ended in mid-July, and the La Liga season started on August 17, while preseason started on August 3. This gives players little rest before being thrown back into the fire of constant games, and with a World Cup next summer, many won’t get a proper rest until the summer of 2027.
Bellingham makes an especially strong case study for the importance of rest, given that following the conclusion of the tournament, he will be undergoing shoulder surgery that will see him miss the first six weeks of next season. Had it not been for this tournament, he could’ve had this surgery at the start of June, giving him more time to recover before the regular season. Instead, he’ll miss a sizable chunk of the season, while risking even more serious injury by playing through the recovery process.
Athlete burnout
The Club World Cup is ultimately indicative of a footballing calendar that has pushed player workload to the limits. The Champions League and Europa League added two more games to their group stage format last season, bringing little sporting benefit with it.
However, top players continue to play 50-plus games a season, and such a volume of games has come at a cost. In the 2023–2024 Premier League season, there was a 15 per cent increase in injuries from the previous season, while there was a 187 per cent injury increase amongst players under the age of 21 in 2023–2024 compared with the 2020–2021 season.
On top of these injuries, anyone watching the games can see burnout start to affect top players. Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden admitted to feeling “burnout” and suffering from injury throughout the 2024–2025 season.
This was after two gruelling campaigns in which he was at the forefront of a Manchester City team, being pushed to the line in the Premier League title race, while also making deep cup runs in the Champions League and FA Cup, which takes an inevitable physical and mental toll that is not easy to recover from, even if you do win. On top of this, the summer of 2024 saw him experience the heartbreak of losing the Euros final with England, a run that once more robbed him of a proper offseason break. When the 2024–2025 season saw him score his lowest number of goals in 5 seasons, it was plain to see why.
With the Club World Cup adding unnecessary wear and tear to footballers, the 2025–2026 season is a step into the unknown for teams competing in this tournament. Already, many have suggested that the Premier League teams in the tournament, Chelsea and Manchester City, will be at a disadvantage to their better-rested rivals. For players like Bellingham, further injuries await.
It is uncommon for an unseeded player to make a deep run in a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament — let alone win the whole thing — making this year’s National Bank Open winner one for the history books.
In her Canadian Open debut as the 85th ranked player in the WTA, Victoria Mboko perfectly capped off her Cinderella run in the final as the underdog at the National BankOpen. She bagged her first WTA 1000 title on her home soil after downing four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka, 2–1 — with sets at 2–6, 6–4, and 6–1. This feat sent her to a league in which only two others belong, as she is the third Canadian WTA player to win the National Bank Open since the Open Era began.
Mboko opened the tennis season as an unknown tennis prospect. Despite having just turned 19 years old, she managed to surpass expectations and fellow players as she steadily climbed her way up the leaderboard. She started the year with a 22-match winning streak after two injury-riddled seasons. Her historic triumph catapulted her to the 24th spot in the WTA, ousting Leylah Fernandez to become Canada’s number one female tennis player.
En route to her win in the finals, she took down four former Grand Slam champions. Her biggest upset came from stunning the world number two and top-seeded player at the Montreal Open, Coco Gauff, dispatching her in straight sets in the round of 16. Another highlight from her this tournament was fighting through an injured wrist, rallying back while one set down to edge out Elena Ryabinka and advancing to the final round.
Her achievement was not only unprecedented but also hard-fought, considering the opponents she surmounted and the injuries she sustained, which is only fitting of a great player.
Born in Charlotte, raised in Toronto
Mboko was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to an immigrant family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her parents, Cyprien Mboko and Godee Kitadi, immigrated to the US due to political turmoil.
The 19-year-old is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom played tennis growing up. When she was a young child, her family moved to Toronto, where two of her older siblings, Kevin and Gracia, both played collegiate-level tennis.
The making of a star
They say that stars are born, not made. In this case, it could be considered both.
As mentioned, Mboko was born to a tennis-crazed family, which had a major influence on shaping a would-be champion.
“I just remember watching them from the sidelines and not wanting to be left out,” Mboko said in a conversation with the WTA. “I’ve never
liant tacticians in tennis, who once graced the courts and at some point were also world-class athletes. Mboko currently competes in the WTA tour with former Wimbledon finalist, Olympian, and world number three ranked Nathalie Tauziat as her coach.
In 2024, Mboko also gained invaluable experience at Justine Henin’s academy in Belgium. Henin is an Olympic gold medalist whose teachings benefited Mboko on her way to winning her Billie Jean King Cup debut.
Inspiring young Canadians
Mboko’s win promises to be influential to the future of Canadian tennis, inspiring young and aspiring players that they, too, can become like
in
nandez spoke on Mboko’s influence on young Canadians “The fact that [Mboko’s] only 18, our juniors can relate because she’s not that much older than they are.”
Valérie Tétreault, the director of the National Bank Open, added remarks regarding Mboko, “Everybody is inspired by [Mboko], who keeps surprising us by her composure, her maturity, her level of play as well, and the self-belief that she has. She’s showing us that anything is possible.”
What’s next?
The 19-year-old is now ranked 23rd in the WTA and intends to represent Canada at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Felix Hughes Varsity Contributor
ewan team
the Canada Games, cites Mboko’s victory as beneficial to young Canadian tennis
Jean Patrick Vidad
Varsity Contributor
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