VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 21
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1880
17 MARCH, 2014
INSIDE COMMENT
GSU should still pursue defed On Sunday, the Graduate Students’ Union received word that its petition for a referendum to decide its continued membership in the Canadian Federation of Students had been rejected. Still, I believe that the gsu’s affiliation with the federation should be questioned.
PG 10 ARTS & CULTURE
Two and a half million cities
Exploring the patchwork identity of Toronto and its neighbourhoods
Feature, pg 12
UTSU election result delayed, set to be released today
HONEST ED’S SIGNS FOR SALE
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Unofficial results for the University of Toronto Students’ Union (utsu) spring elections have not yet been published. The results were to be announced this weekend, but are now set to be announced at some point on Monday, March 17. In a statement posted on the utsu website, Chief Returning Officer (cro) Alex Flor wrote: “The delay is in respect to awaiting further information from the online voting company used for these elections.” Flor did not reply to further requests for comment. The end of the election was marked by a spate of rulings from the cro, which assigned several candidates demerit points for alleged violations of the Elections Procedure Code (epc). In a ruling dated March 14, Anna Yin, vice-president, internal and services candidate for Team Unite, was assigned 58 demerit points, bringing her total points to 63. Executive candidates are disqualified if they receive more than 35 points.
Yin received these demerits for allegedly claiming “that the utsu membership fee was $345,” “that the utsu has no report indicating where funds are spent,” “that utsu’s largest expense is executive salaries,” “that the utsu allowed the University of Toronto Mississauga to leave the organization in the past and divert fees to utm,” “that the utsu is preventing autonomous organizations from ‘leaving’ the utsu by citing utsu bylaws,” and “that a Student Society [sic] Summit was created to investigate undemocratic utsu bylaws.” Flor ruled that these statements constituted “misrepresentations of facts,” “intentional misrepresentation of facts,” and “gross misrepresentation of facts,” each of which is a separate infraction under the epc. Flor also ruled that Yin’s alleged violations constituted “failure to comply with the spirit and purpose of the election” and “malicious or intentional violation of the epc,” for each of which she received additional demerits.
CONTINUED ON PG 5
It can be hard to convince your meat-eating friends that vegetarian food is more than than just bags of iceberg lettuce and bland tofu. This is a guide for those who are willing to leave their judgements about eating vegetarian at the door.
PG 17 SCIENCE
U of T to host second Women in Science conference Walking into any mathematics, physics, or computer science class at U of T and looking around converts the often-cited statistics into a visible, concrete reality: there is still a major gender gap in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Close of voting marked by spate of demerit point rulings Theodore Yan
Toronto’s best veggie eats
PG 20 SPORTS
LGBTQ athletes share their stories It is uplifting to know that a great number of U of T’s varsity teams have provided lgbtq athletes opportunities over the years to showcase their talents, while also serving as a safe and welcoming community. That being said, this sentiment is more than likely not shared by all.
Arts, pg 14
PG 21