March 22, 2021

THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

March 22, 2021

Vol. CXLI, No.22

ELECTIONS IN REVIEW Women dominate!

UTSU Alexa Ballis

President

Fiona Reuter

VP Operations

Maria Lin

Reva Aggarwal

VP Student Life

VP Equity

Ruoheng Wang

Participation suffers.

7/10 positions

uncontested UTSU VP vacancy

?

VP Professional Faculties

UTMSU Mitra Yakubi

Lai Wei

Votes for UTMSU president drop President Maëlis Barre

VP Internal

Merica Joy Carlos

Ryan Tomlinson

2020

14.7%

2021

7.5% VP External Affairs

VP University Affairs

VP Equity

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Women candidates win all five available UTSU executive positions

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Voter turnout remains steadily above 12 per cent; three races uncontested Hannah Carty News Editor

The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) has released the results of its 2021 spring elections for five of six available executive positions. Three of the races were uncontested, and all candidates elected were women.

The total voter turnout was 12.6 per cent, around the same as last year’s, which was 12.7 per cent. All of the executive candidate races notably had at least a 30 per cent abstention rate.

No candidate was elected for the sixth executive position, vice-president public & university affairs, after the sole candidate, Micah Kalisch, dropped out of the race prior to the UTSU forum that took place on March 16.

The position’s term begins May 1 and the vacancy must be filled later on, possibly with a by-election.

Some academic directors and division directors were also elected. Full results are available on the UTSU’s Simply Voting website.

Results For president, uncontested candidate Alexa Ballis won with 2,987 votes, or an approval rating of 86.8 per cent — not including abstentions. Ballis hopes to lobby the university for earlier exam schedules, implement monthly UTSU town halls for students, and increase the amount of COVID-19 and mental health resources available on the UTSU’s website.

For the other uncontested elections, Fiona

Reuter was elected vice-president operations and Reva Aggarwal was elected vice-president equity, both with similarly high approval ratings.

Of the three candidates vying for vice-president student life, Maria Lin was elected. Nathan Ching was eliminated in the first round of the ranked ballot after receiving the fewest votes, and Lin had 50 more votes than Anusha Madhusudanan in the third round.

In the vice-president professional faculties race, students elected Ruoheng (Cathy) Wang, who received 27 more votes than Tiffany Tiu in the second round of the ranked ballot.

Aside from the candidate results, the UTSU also held two referenda, both of which passed.

The first referendum that passed was a renewal of the University of Toronto Aerospace Team Innovation Fund fee of $2.

The second was an increase to the fee for the student aid program, which offers different bursaries and grants to students, and was introduced during last year’s elections. This year’s referendum increased the fee from $1 to $2.

Vacancy of sixth executive position Kalisch, officially dropped out of the race shortly before the beginning of the voting period, after having privately indicated an intention to do so to The Varsity earlier.

In a statement to The Varsity, Kalisch explained their reasons for dropping out of the race after “weeks of deliberation.”

They wrote that, “Unfortunately, as I am a

part of many grassroots initiatives and leadership roles, I have come to the realization that I, as a candidate, will be unable to attend to the position while continuously working on leadership movements in my many other roles.”

“The VPPUA position requires a candidate that can devote a significant amount of time to the role to ensure the students it represents are well represented and listened to.”

They want to focus on advocacy for sexual assault survivors at universities, writing that through their advocacy work, “the appalling state of the universities [sic] handling of sexual assault allegations and survivor rights has become extremely clear.”

Kalisch wrote that they hope to work with the next UTSU executives to further develop a new initiative they formed this year — a peer mentor initiative for survivors of sexual assault called Prevention, Empowerment, Advocacy, Response for Survivors.

The Varsity previously published a breaking news story on March 11 on Kalisch’s intended departure, of which they had informed The Varsity in explaining why they could not accept an invitation to a now-cancelled elections forum. However, in Kalisch’s perspective, this initial comment was not meant to be taken as an official one meant for publication.

In their statement, Kalisch cited this initial Varsity reporting as a hindrance to continuing their campaign because it “undermined [their] credibility to run.”

Build Back Better sweeps UTMSU executive elections with most races uncontested Presidential voter turnout at 7.5 per cent, almost half compared to last year

Hannah Carty News Editor

On March 19, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) released its unofficial results for its 2021–2022 elections.

Each of the five executive positions, four of which were uncontested, were filled by members of the Build Back Better (BBB) slate. Eleven directors were also elected out of 17 running.

The voter turnout for this year’s presidential election was around 7.5 per cent, a significant decrease from last year’s elections, which had a turnout of 14.7 per cent.

This year’s executive elections mirror the 2020 results, with one slate winning all the positions and only one race being contested.

Students have also raised concerns about the voting process and BBB’s campaigning methods.

Results Mitra Yakubi was re-elected as president with a 77 per cent approval rating. Her position was uncontested with 879 votes in favour and 257 against.

Lai Wei was elected as vice-president internal with an 82 per cent approval rating, winning 914 votes in favour and 205 against. For vice-president external, Maëlis Barre won with an 81 per cent approval rating. She received 895 votes in favour and 207 against. Both candidates ran unopposed.

The vice-president university affairs position was also uncontested, with Merica Joy Carlos taking the seat with an 81 per cent approval rating. Carlos received 892 votes in favour and 204 against.

The race for vice-president equity involved two independent candidates and one BBB slate member, Ryan Tomlinson. Tomlinson won with 648 votes and 61 per cent of total votes. His opponents, Laiba Khan and Maryam Yousefipournigjeh, received 233 and 173 votes, respectively.

Concerns about voting, campaigning While the elections are normally held in person, they had to be held online this year due to the pandemic.

The UTMSU normally does not have an online voting system since it voted against implementing one in 2018.

Students have raised concerns about the online voting process: to vote, students had to enter a Zoom call and give their student number and name to receive a unique voting pin. An email from current vice-president internal Fahad Dayala to The Varsity noted that this process only took three minutes.

Students have also raised concerns about BBB’s campaigning methods. Two students have written and publicly posted a letter to the chief returning officer (CRO) that claims that the candidates had been excessively messaging students on a variety of social media platforms. The BBB team disputes this criticism, writing in an email to The Varsity that their messages to students were approved by the CRO.

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Tri-campus student unions seek extension of UMLAP review timeline to fall 2021

Letter requests extension to allow more student participation, meaningful consultations Jessica Han Associate News Editor

Collectively representing over 90,000 U of T students, several student unions across all three campuses have collectively written a letter asking the university to extend the university-mandated leave of absence policy’s (UMLAP) review — previously scheduled to finish in May — until fall 2021. The letter cites concerns over accessibility for student consultation, including lack of in-person consultation and increasing awareness of the review as issues of the current timeline.

The policy is to be reviewed in its third year of operation — this year — with subsequent reviews as needed. Currently, the administration is looking to conclude the review by early May so that the recommendations can be presented before the Governing Council at the end of June.

The UMLAP has been the subject of student criticism and protest since its creation in 2018, and allows U of T to place a student on a leave of absence if the university decides that their mental health poses a risk to themselves or others or is negatively impacting their studies. Among other concerns, critics of the policy say it discourages students from seeking help for mental health issues.

Student groups have also criticized the original policy for a lack of student consultation. The letter expresses similar sentiments about the review process.

Joint letter from five unions Unions involved in the creation of the letter include the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU), the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU), the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS), and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union.

The joint letter is addressed to Professor Donald Ainslie, who is leading this year’s UMLAP review process. It was also sent to other administrative staff, including U of T Vice-President & Provost Cheryl Regehr; Acting Vice-Provost Students Micah Stickel; and Assistant Dean of Student Success and Career Support Varsha Patel, who is also part of the UMLAP Review Team.

The joint letter asks the university to extend the UMLAP’s review period until fall 2021 to allow for “more thorough consultations and focus groups” to be carried out.

Additionally, the letter adds that this extension will enable in-person discussion about the policy, as U of T is planning on returning to on-campus gatherings and learning in September.

Benefits of extended review process In an email to The Varsity, UTSU Vice-President Public & University Affairs Tyler Riches wrote that they “believe that extending the review process into the fall semester would allow for more students to be aware of and participate in the process, all the way to the Governing Council itself.”

Reasons for this extension stem from students’ concerns about “the punitive nature of the UMLAP,” and difficulties in engaging in the review process due to time zone differences and accessibility issues with internet and technology.

The letter also notes that the pandemic has posed many mental health difficulties, asserting that many students have been physically, emotionally, and mentally affected by the pandemic and by increases in inequities, social injustice, and hate crimes.

In separate emails to The Varsity, both SCSU President Sarah Abdillahi and UTMSU VicePresident Internal Fahad Dayala criticized the timeline of the review, writing that, since many students are not on campus or attending classes over the summer, this is not a good time for the policy to be presented to the Governing Council.

Students protesting the UMLAP. SHANNA HUNTER/THEVARSITY

Likewise, Julian Oliveira, Executive Director of APUS, shared similar concerns about this review period in an email to The Varsity, noting that “the University of Toronto will still be operating primarily online during the summer, which would prevent active student engagement.”

Abdillahi and Dayala described the university’s approach on addressing students’ mental health as “uncompassionate,” highlighting multiple incidents in which students have been taken away in handcuffs when attempting to access mental health resources from the Health and Counselling Centre.

With an extended review process that lasts through a period when students are not stressed

from exams, there will be more time for student unions “to effectively consult their members on UMLAP and voice their concerns and recommendations to the administration,” Riches wrote.

“It allows students more time to learn about the UMLAP and participate in the university’s feedback process.”

“These reviews happen only once every three years, and we want to ensure all students have the ability to participate and share their perspectives and concerns,” concluded Oliveira.

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

U of T launches downtown vaccination centre Students, volunteers prepare to aid with vaccination effort Khatchig Anteblian Associate News Editor

A U of T student from the Faculty of Dentistry receiving a vaccination at the UTSG clinic.

COURTESY OF JOHNNY GUATTO/UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Two weeks ago, U of T launched its second mass vaccination clinic, run by the University Health Network (UHN) at the UTSG exam centre with significant participation by Sinai Health. Students and volunteers will join to help with the vaccination effort as the clinic grows its operation.

With the launch of the UTSG clinic and talks underway regarding a UTSC clinic, the university is expanding its reach beyond the Peel region, where the UTM clinic is located. The UTSG clinic is operating by appointment only and, similar to the UTM clinic, adhering to the provincial priority schedule for vaccinations.

Lynn Wilson, Vice-Dean Clinical and Faculty Affairs at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, is one of the people who helped get the clinic up and running. She helped the university connect with UHN and assemble a team to run the clinic.

In an interview with The Varsity, Wilson explained that “[the UHN has] a lot of expertise in both mobile clinics and long-term care and in these mass vaccination clinics, and so they very much helped us understand the kinds of human resources [and] the kind of team you need to build.”

As the clinic ramps up its vaccination rate by the end of the month, students in medical fields will join to help with all aspects of the clinic’s operation, from clerical duties, to vaccine handling, and even vaccine administration. Wilson noted that some of the roles will be part of students’ clinical placements or paid summer positions.

She also said that in the future, they may consider opening a few non-medical roles to student volunteers outside of medical fields; however, that remains to be determined. “We’re already hearing from other people [about] how much they would

like to help out… but I think we have to see how we do over the next few weeks,” said Wilson, adding that over 1,000 students have expressed interest so far.

Wilson also expressed gratitude toward U of T and UHN for setting up the clinic and developing a strong partnership. “They went above and beyond trying to help us get this together and really create a great clinic.”

Salvatore Spadafora, the head of U of T’s COVID-19 response group, said in an interview with The Varsity that the university is taking a tricampus approach to the placement of volunteers so that students can volunteer wherever is closest to them. “Regardless of where [volunteers] want to serve the community, we’re trying to facilitate that,” Spadafora said.

The clinics are tentatively planned to run until August; however, Wilson said that in a few months, the team will have to start considering whether there will be a need to keep the clinic running longer. “We’re going to have to figure out whether or not we need to go beyond August and where [the clinic] will be located because [the clinic is] sitting there in the exam centre,” said Wilson.

Whether or not the clinic will be run past August will depend on the success of the vaccination campaign. Wilson said that the main focus at the moment is to vaccinate enough people and achieve herd immunity until the virus starts to subside, which may take longer than expected as Ontario enters the third wave of the virus with new variants.

Despite the challenges, Spadafora remains hopeful. He said that “planning for [a return to campus] is with the lens of health and safety of faculty, staff, and students, and the wish and desire to return to as many in-person activities [as] are safe.”

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TCM approves multi-faith prayer and meditation space, mandates EQC equity training

Chair acknowledges privacy breach at past meeting Joshua Chong Associate Features Editor

The Trinity College Meeting (TCM), Trinity College’s student governance body, held its eighth meeting of the 2020–2021 academic year on March 15.

Members approved a proposal for a multi-faith prayer and meditation centre at the college, and passed a constitutional amendment requiring all Equity Committee (EQC) members to attend at least one equity and diversity training session per academic year.

At the next meeting, members will be voting on a sweeping motion to abolish the six head positions and replace them with an executive council comprised of one president and 10 vice-presidents.

Privacy breach At the beginning of the meeting, TCM Chair Anjali Gandhi acknowledged a privacy breach at a previous meeting. In a post to the Trinity College Meeting 2020–2021 Facebook group, Gandhi wrote, “An unidentified individual with moderator access during meetings, either as the privilege of being an elected TCM Exec member or an Administrative WorkStudy Student, viewed and shared private information on how a student voted.”

However, she went on to write, “We have strong reason to believe that the TCM Exec did not conduct the act, but if anyone has any evidence, we ask that you bring it forward.”

The TCM currently conducts all meetings on Blackboard Collaborate, and votes are carried out using the poll function. Only TCM executives and other site moderators have access to how members vote.

TCM executives have notified Dean of Students Kristen Moore of the breach, and the Dean of Students Office will be conducting a formal investigation. The Dean of Students Office has revoked mod-

erator privileges from certain individuals, according to Gandhi.

The Varsity has reached out to the Office of the Dean of Students for comment.

Multi-faith prayer and meditation space approved TCM members voted to establish the first multifaith prayer and meditation space at the college. The project was proposed by second-year student Dania Kassim and passed unanimously with three abstentions.

According to the proposal, the space will be created by refurbishing an existing room. It will have a “minimalist style to ensure inclusivity to the diverse belief systems,” but will be fitted with prayer and yoga mats. The project will cost $15,000 and is expected to be completed by the end of August.

“Having a multi-faith prayer and meditation room would help make Trin so much more inclusive and allow people — no matter their backgrounds, their beliefs, [or] their faith systems — to… ground themselves [and] maintain their mental well-being in whatever way they see fit, whether that be through meditation or through prayer,” Kassim said at the meeting.

“The heart and soul of this project is to accommodate as many people as possible and make [Trinity College] as inclusive as possible.”

Mandatory equity and diversity training for Equity Committee members TCM members also unanimously approved a constitutional amendment making it mandatory for all new EQC members to complete at least one equity and diversity training session each academic year.

The motion was brought forward by EQC Chair Dylan Alfi and was seconded by Tourang Movahedi, a member of the committee.

The policy requires the EQC co-chairs to orga-

The Trinity College Meeting held its eighth meeting on March 15.

HAYDEN MAK/THEVARSITY

nize at least two equity and diversity training sessions each year. It also increases the number of mandatory committee meetings in each academic year from four to eight.

“We wanted to make sure future Equity [Committee] chairs and equity committees are being held to a higher standard of expectations because we believe equity to be a very central and important concept to everything we do as a college, and as a community,” said Alfi.

Head of Non-Resident Affairs Cindy Lui supported the motion, but asked about the repercussions for failure to attend a training session. Alfi said that if members failed to attend at least one of the two training sessions provided, the onus would be on the committee co-chairs to hold the member accountable. But if the co-chairs do not organize at least two training sessions, they may be impeached, according to Alfi.

Since the motion is a constitutional amendment, it will need to be ratified again at the next TCM meeting.

Other constitutional amendments, student levies approved In addition to the EQC amendment, TCM members also voted for 10 other constitutional amendments. The amendments were proposed by the Constitutional Review Committee and are meant to “reflect current practices or improve clarity.”

They will need to be passed again at the next meeting to be formally ratified.

Members also approved the student levies for the 2021–2022 year, which fund various student societies, publications, services, and governance bodies at the college. The motion had previously been approved by the Finance Committee.

Fees for a majority of categories are decreasing, including the heads fee, the TCM general fund, and the Trinity College Drama Society fee. Total fees are expected to decrease next academic year from $74.99 to $45.50.

SCSU campaigns to implement extended CR/NCR option for winter 2021 semester

Proposal asks that students be able to apply policy after seeing course grades Alexa DiFrancesco UTSC Bureau Chief

The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) has started a campaign that calls for an extension of an expanded credit/no credit (CR/ NCR) policy until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SCSU has proposed that students should be allowed to use the CR/NCR option on up to one additional credit for any course or courses, including program requirements. Students would be able to use this proposed extension up to one week after receiving their final marks, and a notation would be added on the student’s transcript “explaining the circumstances which have led to the increased use of CR/NCR.” Currently, UTSC students can request a maxi-

mum of two credits to be assessed as CR/NCR. However, these notations can only be used toward breadth requirements and elective courses, not program requirements.

The proposed policy would be similar to what is in place at UTSG’s Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) this year in light of the pandemic — students are able to use the CR/NCR after they see their final grades, although they still cannot be used on courses that count toward program requirements.

The Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU) at UTSG has been campaigning for a permanent change to the CR/NCR policy. Its most recent campaign to allow at least one credit of program requirements to be designated CR/NCR was not approved by the faculty due to structural issues with the proposal.

The SCSU has proposed a CR/NCR policy update due to the pandemic.

JESSIE YANG/THEVARSITY

Email campaign The SCSU campaign is being held through an email form. When students input their names, email addresses, and postal codes, the campaign sends a pre-drafted email on their behalf. The SCSU’s campaign has gathered more than 1,600 participants, with a goal of sending 1,800 emails.

The email is sent and addressed to several of UTSC’s top administrators, including Vice-Principal Academic & Dean William Gough.

The email also lists factors such as unemployment, the transition to online learning, and food insecurity as reasons why students should not be expected to meet current academic requirements, writing that asking otherwise would be “unconscionable.” The campaign calls on Gough and his office to release an official statement outlining immediate steps to implement the requests.

making a decision.

“While universities will argue that students have opted into consecutive semesters of schooling, the impacts of the pandemic are still very real and in students’ faces,” Gemma wrote.

Gemma added that, earlier in the academic year, similar CR/NCR demands made by the SCSU “were not received well by administration,” and Gough in particular. Gemma mentioned that, as a result of that response, the SCSU lobbied numerous UTSC departments to garner support from faculty and department heads. “[The SCSU is] now coming back with this petition to reiterate the volume of student support for these changes, in hopes of establishing the precedent that students need a more equitable and accessible education system, and [this] is what that looks like,” Gemma wrote.

SCSU statement, previous demands In an email to The Varsity, SCSU Vice-President Academics and University Affairs Lubaba Gemma claimed that UTSC’s winter 2020 CR/NCR policy, made in response to the initial COVID-19 lockdown, demonstrated U of T’s recognition that the pandemic impacts students’ academic performance. However, the policy did not extend through the 2020–2021 school year.

The winter 2020 policy had allowed students to use the CR/NCR option for any course, including program requirements, and did not count toward U of T’s standard two-credit CR/NCR limit.

With the changes implemented, students could only select CR/NCR notations before accessing their courses’ final grades. This protocol differed from the FAS’ CR/NCR policy update, under which students can view their final grades before

UTSC response In an email to The Varsity, Gough acknowledged the significant impacts that the pandemic has had on student mental health, and wrote that UTSC has been working to support students “wherever possible.” He wrote that the university believes the current CR/NCR deadline of April 12 — one day before the start of exams — is effective, and that the purpose of the CR/NCR is to allow students flexibility in the types of courses they take.

“At this point, students should have received sufficient feedback for their course instructor to make an informed judgement about their potential for success in the course,” wrote Gough. “Extending the deadline, to allow the student to know the final grade before requesting CR/NCR in a course, changes the academic rationale for offering this option.”

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UTGSU town hall pushes for universal, livable graduate student funding Students voice discontent with financial circumstances during COVID-19

Savannah Ribeiro Varsity Staff

On March 11, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) hosted a town hall to discuss a potential harmonized basic funding package for graduate students, which would guarantee them a livable wage.

The event was hosted by Civics and Environment Commissioner Danielle Karakas and Academics and Funding Commissioner Divisions 3 and 4 June Li. Base funding blues The town hall provided a forum to discuss U of T graduate students’ funding packages. Domestic PhD students at U of T have an average base funding amount of $18,248 while international PhD students have an average base funding amount of $18,384. Their annual tuition fees are $8,478 and $18,828, respectively.

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS), in conjunction with the university’s faculties, determines the base amount within the faculty.

Departments within a faculty can each have different funding amounts for their students.

“The need to re-assess the basic funding packages across all faculties was always on the agenda, and work was done in the background with the administration to ensure they would be receptive to the data once collected,” Selah Katona, UTGSU Communications and Engagement Strategist, wrote in an email to The Varsity.

The issue of inadequate funding has been raised many times. Katona wrote that the UTGSU has advocated on behalf of students before, but most solutions come in the form of “temporary financial relief.” The union feels that the best way to deal with this issue is to “assess the funding structure itself.”

Student experiences, frustrations Several students from across U of T’s faculties shared their experiences and frustrations with their graduate funding during the town hall.

One student noted that some of the psychological trauma that they experience is related to “woefully inadequate” funding.

A PhD student from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education expressed that the school administration seemed to “[pass] the buck” when questioned by student collectives about the graduate student funding situation.

The student also questioned the transparency of how U of T spends its money and its funding priorities around capital projects, especially during the pandemic.

Several PhD students in music described their program’s funding as very low. They mentioned that they had to work jobs on top of their graduate studies, which has become very difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also noted that they had to take out loans in addition to their paid jobs to bridge the gaps in their funding.

A master’s student in pub-

lic policy said that, while they might get some scholarships of $1,000 or $2,000, it almost feels like nothing in comparison to the cost of the program.

Katona wrote that, in addition to these concerns, COVID-19 has exposed several pressing issues with U of T’s funding packages, including that they have a negative impact on degree completion and that they cause “increased vulnerability of racialized and international students.”

COVID-19 has impacted the rental market in Toronto, but living costs remain high.

In the GTA, a one-bedroom apartment is, on average, $1,417 a month. A single room in a home is around $1,000. Living costs such as utilities, food, and transportation can total more than $500 a month.

Surveys and data According to Li, the SGS is open-minded to hearing out student concerns. “[It’s] actually offered a forum for

REBECCA MOYA/THEVARSITY

which we can present this data and advocate for increases in funding at the faculty levels at monthly meetings with the deans of all the faculties,” Li said during the event.

Li mentioned that the UTGSU is planning on disseminating campus-wide surveys throughout the faculties, obtaining the data, and presenting it to the SGS. The UTGSU’s goal is to raise funding to at least an acceptable level in different faculties so that students do not suffer from issues caused by a lack of funds. The hope is to harmonize funding within and across faculties, but the challenge is to address the diversity of inprogram requirements.

This method apparently worked with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, which increased funding for graduate students by 10 per cent. This bump ensured students would be able to live above the poverty line.

Harmonizing Katona acknowledged that programs have diverse requirements. However, regardless of the program’s exact dimensions, the plan is to bring funding up to a livable amount. She also noted that there is a plan to adjust funding from year to year to account for things like inflation and increased costs of living.

When asked if new funding packages would take into account other things like transit and supplies, Katona wrote that the UTGSU would look into the matter.

While this initiative is in its early stages, Katona wrote that the UTGSU will continue to support students by relaying their concerns to the administration. “[It is] so vitally important that this is a collaborative effort,” she explained. “We need the input of student leaders across various departments that can speak best to the challenges that [are] faced within their program.”

“Your Journey”: reviewing U of T Sexual and Gender Diversity Office’s trans, non-binary career guide Joy Chan Varsity Staff

Transgender graduates face consistent underemployment, workplace discrimination

Comprehensive and interactive, the 30-page career guide titled “Your Journey – A Career Guide for Trans and Non-binary Students” is a response to transgender and non-binary students’ need for customized career resources in the face of underemployment and workplace discrimination.

Released in July 2020, the guide was written by cisgender authors from the university’s Sexual and Gender Diversity Office and tri-campus career exploration and education departments. It was produced with consultation from transgender and non-binary students and alumni over two years and was illustrated by Beena Mistry, a non-binary person.

A guide in three parts The guide begins with an invitation for readers to connect with themselves. It asks readers to reflect on and answer questions that are structured in a way to build confidence, form better connections with others, and help identify next steps. The guide then turns the lens from internal to external, providing specific and actionable advice on where and how to formally and informally connect with others for LGBTQ+ friendly career guidance.

Analyzing one’s sense of self, experiences, and interests can be a complex process when also attempting to connect those facets with one’s gender identity. The guide offers assistance with this issue from a job application angle, and

emphasizes the agency transgender and nonbinary individuals have over how they present themselves

at each stage of the job process, including in application documents, during interviews, and after being hired. The decisions made at each step should reflect the reader’s comfort and goals.

Once a person has been hired and is on the job, they may still encounter challenges, and the guide offers advice on legal protections for gender identity and gender expression. It also includes ways in which one can respond to workplace harassment or discrimination. It addresses questions of when — and even whether — to disclose gender identity, and offers the benefits,

drawbacks, and considerations one might think about when going through the decision.

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A need for specialized career resources Transgender and non-binary students face systemic and interpersonal barriers in their work and careers. The Trans PULSE Project to Inform Human Rights Policy found that 58 per cent of transgender people cannot get transcripts with their correct name or pronouns, highlighting that challenges exist even before entering the workforce.

Within the workforce, challenges increase: 13 per cent of transgender people surveyed by the study had been fired for their gender identity,

and that figure did not include an additional 15 per cent who were fired but unsure of whether gender identity was the cause of termination.

These factors contribute to an understanding of the economic marginalization that transgender people can face.

The report also highlights that while 44 per cent of transgender people hold postsecondary or graduate degrees, the median income for transgender people in Ontaro is only $15,000 per year, which indicates significant underemployment.

Transgender and non-binary journeys supported While this particular resource is designed to provide support directly to transgender and non-binary people, cisgender peers, colleagues, and employers can also look to other resources to educate themselves on ways to welcome people of all gender identities. One such guide for allies is the Out & Equal Best Practices for Non-binary Inclusion in the Workplace guide.

“Your Journey” contributors Allison Burgess and Sania Hameed — U of T’s sexual & gender diversity officer and a U of T career educator, respectively — recently wrote an article for the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling that indicates their aspirations for the guide’s use.

“While Your Journey won’t have all of the answers,” they explained, “we do hope that this guide serves as a useful resource for students and the staff who support them in navigating careers and the job search process.”

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BUSINESS & LABOUR

Arts & Science Internship Program to launch in fall 2021

Eligibility restricted to second years in limited programs, aim to expand in future Janhavi Agarwal Business & Labour Correspondent

In the fall 2021 semester, the Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) will be launching a new Arts & Science Internship Program (ASIP). The program will enable second-year students to take 12–20 cumulative months of paid internship opportunities, during which they will also receive professional training.

While the ASIP will only be open to students in a limited number of programs of study (POST), the FAS plans to expand the list of eligible POSTs in future years. The program will require supplemental fees and a supplemental application to enrol, but participants will remain U of T students during their work terms, allowing access to all of U of T’s student services.

How did this happen?

Students have long been asking the FAS for more co-op, internship, or professional development opportunities that would cater to a wide variety of POSTs. While FAS students previously had access to the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s Professional Experience Year, recent changes to that program mean that FAS students will be in-

eligible to apply starting fall 2021. The ASIP aims to meet these demands with the career-building experiences that work terms provide.

During the ASIP’s developmental period from December 2019 to February 2020, the Arts & Science First Year Foundation Council, the Arts & Science Student Union (ASSU), Recognized Study Group leaders, and individual students were consulted through focus groups, one-on-one consultations, and surveys. The resulting program has been designed to meet the quality and accreditation requirements put forth by Cooperative Education & Work Integrated Learning Canada.

“Development of the Arts & Science Internship Program (ASIP) is just one step towards our efforts to expand experiential learning opportunities available to [arts and science] students,” wrote a FAS spokesperson in an email to The Varsity.

“ASIP will provide customized support, professional development training, business development, and paid work term opportunities, and will help sciences, social sciences and humanities students prepare for today’s workforce.”

How does it work?

ASIP enrollees will have two options for their work experience. One choice is a short, four-month work

term with one employer before another eight-, 12-, or 16-month term with a potentially different employer. Alternatively, students may elect to complete one long, uninterrupted work term with a single employer for up to 16 months.

Work placements may be in the private, public, and non-profit sectors inside and outside of Canada. If a student is unable to secure a placement on their first attempt, they will have the opportunity to try again in the future.

Students will have to complete a minimum of 12 months of work in order to graduate from the ASIP stream of their POST. Accordingly, ASIP students are expected to complete their studies in five years or longer. Over the duration of their combined work terms, students will also be required to complete four professional development courses.

In order to participate in the ASIP, students will be required to pay a supplemental fee. The total cost of the ASIP will be up to $3,600, with each professional development course costing $450 and each work term costing $900.

Students will continue to pay part-time incidental fees while on their work terms. Accordingly, students on work terms will still be able to access all student services. The FAS plans for financial aid to be available to ASIP students.

Who’s eligible?

For its inaugural academic year of 2021–2022, only full-time students beginning their second year of study in eligible POSTs may apply for the ASIP. These POSTs include certain specialists and majors in St. Michael’s College’s book and media studies program, the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and the Department of Statistical Sciences.

Students will be admitted to the ASIP stream of their POST upon enrolment in ASIP. However, space is limited, and students will be required to submit a supplementary application. An applicant’s cumulative GPA will not be judged, but they must be in good academic standing to be considered.

The FAS plans to allow late entry into the program to a limited number of third-year students, with more information to be provided by January 2022.

It also hopes to expand the scope of the program to include other POSTs. In its first year, the FAS expects ASIP to accept roughly 450 applicants but will expand intake as employers become familiar with the program.

International students are also permitted to apply but will need to obtain a co-op or intern work permit prior to their first work term. The FAS will offer support for international students through this process.

The Varsity has reached out to the ASSU for comment.

RadioHer: UTSC Women in Business Association’s pandemicinspired podcast

President Parsa Mahmud on giving you a “dose of girl power” in your life Successful season The podcast’s trailer aired on October 17 and its final episode was released on February 8. In each 15–20-minute episode, listeners can expect to hear the advice and personal experiences of a new guest, each with their own unique perspective.

The members of the WIBA have been working hard through the school year to produce inspiring content by women for anyone interested in pursuing business. In an email to The Varsity, Mahmud wrote that the goal of the podcast is “to represent women studying different specializations in management including Marketing, HR, Strategy, International Business, Finance, Economics and Accounting.”

Each guest on RadioHer is either a current student or a recent alum currently working in one of these fields. “They were all inspiring on their own terms, with diverse backgrounds, stories and insights to share,” Mahmud continued.

Elizabeth Snugovsky Varsity Contributor

Featuring businesswomen from across U of T’s business world, RadioHer is a podcast created by the Women In Business Association (WIBA) at UTSC. It tackles a variety of topics, such as career development, wellness, student entrepreneurship, and job hunting tips. The project stems from the WIBA’s desire to create a podcast featuring extraordinary women in business.

The Varsity checked in with WIBA President Parsa Mahmud on the origins and intentions of RadioHer.

Creating COVID-19 connections The idea for a podcast first came to Mahmud at the beginning of the school year. “I began to brainstorm digital initiatives that could continue to engage and interest the student population amidst the pandemic,” she wrote. “Since in person events were no longer possible, I wanted to generate other ideas that would be equally meaningful and unique.”

The WIBA’s events director, Freni Jivani, took care of the logistics and brainstormed ideas for how to market RadioHer. Through the course of the pandemic, Mahmud wrote that the WIBA discovered “the importance of growing [its] online presence and including more unique initiatives to empower and engage other women at UTSC.” According to Mahmud, the podcast was “a perfect creative medium” for them to do so.

Mentorship through your earbuds One of the main goals of RadioHer is to share the experiences of upper-year students and alumni with younger students. “With everything being virtual, many first-years have lost the opportunity to network and learn about the challenges and successes of other students in their program,” Mahmud explained.

Through the podcast, students have the opportunity to listen to guests such as Anika Lee — a fourth-year management and marketing student — and Faiza Naeem — a recent UTSC bachelor’s of

business administration graduate who specialized in management and economics.

“This podcast allows students to gain insight in different fields, whether it be how to excel in specific courses or seeking co-op placements, helps students plan for their career and find their niche,” Mahmud continued.

The topic of co-op placements is a recurring theme throughout RadioHer. “The co-op process is challenging; from securing a position to stepping into the workplace to eventually wrapping up on a good note,” she wrote. “Listening to others’ experiences can be both insightful and encouraging.” Mahmud hopes that this advice will help students become more confident and proactive, therefore allowing them to make the best of their co-op experience.

Destigmatizing conversations about mental health Another recurring theme in RadioHer is mental health. The podcast deals with subjects that include anxiety brought on by coursework and the importance of taking time off work for your mental health.

“Dialogue gives us opportunities to correct stigma first and foremost,” Mahmud wrote. “These conversations that include tips or information on how to boost or care for our mental health and well-being can benefit everyone, whether we struggle with occasional mental health issues or more severe ones.”

COVID-19 has added to the mental health challenges of many students who are working from home and living with disconnection and uncertainty. “I felt it was important to include this theme in the podcast episodes to remind everyone that elevated feelings of grief, anxiety and stress are normal responses,” she continued. “We are in it together and there are ways to make our days a little better.”

“If she can’t see it, she can’t be it” The WIBA’s objective is “enabling women beginning their business career.” According to the podcast’s trailer, RadioHer lives up to this goal by giving listeners “a solid dose of girl power” by “featuring bold, driven, and compassionate women.”

When asked about the importance of seeing yourself represented in your field, Mahmud responded, “Women become more independent and confident when they see so many successful women thrive in their careers. When there is greater visibility… in the industry, it is truly empowering and inspiring for girls

Left, top-down: guest speakers Faiza Naeem, Elya Djaffar, Rahaf El-Anzy, Manasi Sarin, Tarraiz M, Anika Lee. COURTESY OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

and women, particularly those succeeding in fields long dominated by men.”

“In short, role models are key to diversity,” Mahmud continued. “There’s a saying, ‘If she can’t see it, she can’t be it,’ that pretty much summarizes the importance.”

You can listen to RadioHer on Spotify, Anchor, or Google Podcasts.

Comment

March 22, 2021 vrsty.ca/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

You cannot force meaningful learning — a critique of mandatory participation

bell hooks and the perversion of engaged pedagogies

Online learning is corroding true engagement.

TOISIN MAIYEGUN/THEVARSITY

Justin Rhoden Varsity Contributor

The transition to online learning was a significant shift in how formal education has been organized and experienced. The pandemic triggered an abrupt ending to education as we knew it and created a need to reorganize education in a new context. A year has passed since this reorganization, and the ways I experience learning are still disconcerting and dangerous for meaningful education.

Undoubtedly, educators are tasked with teaching students in new and challenging ways; real faces in a classroom are replaced with black squares on a computer providing little room for them to connect with their students candidly. Not to mention, instructors now have to navigate the stress, fatigue, anxiety, and despair the pandemic has fostered.

Fortunately, many educators have recognized that one of the most pressing pedagogical challenges is ensuring that online learning is engaging and interactive. Critical Black feminist educator bell hooks explained that engaged pedagogies start with the assumption that students learn best when teachers and students have an interactive relationship.

Most, if not all, professors believe this to be true. However, the ways in which these philosophies materialize in online classrooms are significant for the learning experience.

Syllabi breakdowns A close reading of my syllabi for this winter alone finds keywords such as ‘actively engaged’ or ‘active learning’ mentioned at least once per syllabus. My instructors explicitly express a grounding in an engaged practice as their teaching philosophy or allude to it through the language of active classroom engagement and so forth. Most noteworthy is the emergence of the language of participation concerning engaged practices for online learning.

For my course load this semester, at least 80 per cent of my courses have required participation as a significant grading component of the final mark.

Two of those courses have participation at 20 per cent or more. I have realized that this syllabusrequired and grade-intensive participation claims a central role in ensuring online classrooms are engaging.

My concern is not with participation itself but rather its conceptualization and measurement online, the dangerous implications for students’ learning, and education’s trajectory. What con-

stitutes participation? How is it measured? And, more importantly, what is the effect of participation in the reorganizing of education in new contexts?

From my syllabi, I can discern participation into three main components. The online participation rubric emphasizes: showing up to class, verbally contributing to class discussions, and being involved in events shared by the instructor.

In most cases, satisfying each of these components is necessary to gain full participation marks.

This kind of participation rubric is counterintuitive to authentic dialogue and is the death of interactive learning. It makes students replace purposeful contributions to class discussions with forced interactions for the sake of securing a good grade. All too frequently, I hear my classmates unmute their mics only to say, “Someone already said this, but…”

Valuable engagement hooks tells us that engaged pedagogies assume that students have something valuable to contribute to the learning process. More importantly, she also recognizes that not all voices need to be heard all the time or take up the same amount of space.

In hooks’ vision of an engaged classroom, students learn the value of discussion and active listening while also learning to recognize when they have something meaningful to contribute.

However, in virtual classrooms, when those awkward silences emerge, instructors and teaching assistants regularly resort to reminding students that they are being graded on participation. These prompts attempt to provoke discussion regardless of any inspiration to engage, and more often than not, these threats disguised as encouragement just produce noise — waves of arbitrary and repetitive comments as students follow the instructors’ lead to drown out the silence and earn marks.

These participation rubrics also feed into students’ unhealthy obsession with receiving good grades at any expense. I find that even my motivations to engage are underpinned by a need to do well. The education that inspired 20-minute walks in snow storms because of an interest in learning is clinging to its last breath when my only reason for logging in for a lecture from the comfort of my home is the 30 per cent participation grade.

Who does this benefit?

Forced participation for marks and the inauthentic and uninspired chatter it produces are vain attempts to reclaim and reproduce the benefits of interactive learning and, ironically, does so at the

expense of fostering genuine interest in learning students. With this trade-off, higher education moves further away from being a practice of freedom, democracy, or self-actualization.

Alarmingly, this shift only entrenches education in neoliberal practices that mold students in ways that serve the economy rather than collective political transformation. The expectation that we retain the things we learn for learning’s sake is incomparably small to the expectation that we learn these skills to enter a career.

In this process, the diverse ways students can and do engage are delegitimized to uphold a uniform way of learning that can be surveilled and monitored. Opposingly, hooks notes that interaction in the classroom differs and, in some instances, may look like active listening.

It is not easy to see a student actively listening, making notes, searching up articles mentioned in the discussion, or just processing information in the online environment. While educators may notice this in person, it is not always noticeable in an online classroom. Teachers cannot readily respond to such an engagement because of the dynamics the medium arranges. Nevertheless, the instructor’s inability to see a student actively listening does not mean it is not taking place.

The one-dimensional student The participation rubric ignores the actualities of truly engaged pedagogies by reducing active learning to a one-dimensional experience. For example, in one of my courses, students are not required to attend the lecture. Still, there are three points for attending and contributing to the discussion. The classes are rotated between Tuesdays and Thursdays to “accommodate as many students as possible.”

A student who can log in on either day has a greater opportunity to gain marks in class than a student who can only show up to one or neither.

However, simply showing up to the lecture only awards one point; there also needs to be some verbal contribution to the class. The student who speaks during the session has a more significant advantage over the student who actively listens.

Notably, a student’s ability to attend both rotating days and be vocal during the lecture is not merely about their willingness to do so. The material conditions of the student’s learning, such as their living arrangements, access to a suitable microphone, and a good wi-fi connection, dictate their capacity to participate and consequently earn participation marks. Consider, for example, scheduling issues for students who must share

their devices with siblings.

Moreover, students may be uncomfortable speaking in virtual classrooms because of personal struggles with anxiety, speech or hearing impairments, language barriers, or noisy households.

To make up for this inaccessibility, these participation rubrics sometimes include writing assignments for students who do not immediately contribute in the defined ways. Suppose a student missed the lecture or showed up but didn’t verbally contribute. In that case, in some classes, they could gain those marks by completing an additional assignment.

So, when I show up to class and actively engage in a way not recognized by the participation rubric, I am prompted to do more work to achieve the same outcomes as a student who verbally contributed to the discussion. Consequently, participation marks create the illusion that those who actively engage will be more successful. However, because the engagement is inequitably defined, this type of participation assigns privilege to students based on neoliberal logic and biases.

We must do better Mandatory participation is not new and, in some ways, fostered similar dynamics in my experience of in-person learning. However, during a pandemic that has triggered significant economic, social, and health shocks to various institutions, the opportunity to rethink the way students learn is pressing and evident. The pedagogical challenge is massive.

Nonetheless, it is a gross perversion to create harmful learning environments while claiming to forward an engaged pedagogical practice. The drastic changes in learning media and the reorganization of classrooms signalled the moment to pivot away from education’s previous practices.

However, the existence of these participation rubrics reveals that critical pedagogical philosophies are materializing into dangerous classroom practices.

Without acknowledging the various ways students do and can engage, this disconnect between theory and practice is too significant to require mandatory participation for the sake of interactive learning. Now more than ever, students need an education that inspires meaningful engagement with each other and the world around them; mandatory participation plays no role in achieving this.

Justin Rhoden is a third-year international development studies student at UTSC.

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U of T needs to do more to support student parents like me

On being left behind to care ourselves, academics, children Rana Haidar Varsity Contributor

When I made the decision to pursue my lifelong dream of applying for a PhD back in 2019, I was aware that this next phase of my life would be fraught with responsibilities and sacrifices, especially as a working mother.

I had read a lot about the hardships that come with ‘parenting while PhD-ing,’ and I felt prepared because my daughter, who was nine years old at the time, no longer needed me every hour of the day — or so I thought until COVID-19 hit and upended life as we knew it.

This was the beginning of the chapter of my life as a student parent that I call ‘the trampoline’: you’re treading an unstable terrain, experiencing ups that are instantly followed by downs, and the threat of breaking something is always looming.

Being a student parent during a pandemic and a lockdown that has extended over a year has been its own circle of hell, especially with the difficulties of raising children while being disconnected from your support network. The saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ has never been more relevant or pertinent than in the times of COVID-19. In this scenario, the university needs to embrace its role as the sage of the village, ready to offer assistance to the people who desperately need it.

Personally, the toughest period for my family was during the eight-week stretch between December 2020 and February 2021 when schools in Toronto were shut down. Online learning had my daughter depressed and deprived her of the joys of friendship and the outdoors. She was often sullen, sad, and unmotivated, which caused me a lot of emotional distress seeing her like that.

My husband and I were struggling with parental guilt over not always being available for her even while physically present in the same house. I’d frequently find myself abandoning schoolwork to spend more time with my child, which led to accumulated assignments and due dates that had to be met in stolen moments late at night or in the early morning.

So, has U of T risen up to the challenge of supporting student parents in their unique struggles?

The answer is: the university can certainly do better. Many overworked students are not aware of any initiatives by U of T to support students with family responsibilities.

U of T boasts a Family Care Office that assists student parents with matters like housing and medical insurance and offers students with family responsibilities some strategies for success at school. A U of T spokesperson highlighted various grant resources offered by the university in a previous Varsity article.

But just as Jessica Elkiam, a fifth-year PhD student, highlighted in the article, “Child care subsidies and parental grants are available but finding those resources in the first place is difficult.”

We cannot be supported by these resources if they aren’t properly advertised and easy to navigate.

Meanwhile, an Inside Higher Ed article from September reported on a study done by US-based nonprofit Generation Hope, which suggests that family support centres in universities need to ‘overcommunicate’ with student parents to improve cognizance of services like counselling and advising.

The study also recommends community building as an essential component of effective student support.

These are accommodations that the university needs to urgently provide to a vulnerable population.

The tough reality of being a student parent during a pandemic is compounded for students who are supporting themselves financially or living off of general assistant or teaching assistant stipends.

A layer of complexity is added when you are an immigrant, racialized, or Indigenous.

The playing field is not level for student parents living in financial uncertainty or having to share cramped living spaces with the other members of their families where they all live and work. The pandemic experience has certainly been brutal for students living in low-income neighbourhoods that have been hit the hardest by COVID-19.

Struggles are only exacerbated when students find themselves stuffed together in tiny condo apartments with their families or living in underserved neighbourhoods. Many of them are struggling with COVID-19 infections, COVID19-induced furloughs and layoffs, abusive relation-

CORALS ZHENG/THEVARSITY

ships, and are navigating different time zones to stay in touch with their families — all while taking care of their children and working toward a degree.

Another major fallout from families living in confinement for so long is the deterioration of children’s mental health: parents from all walks of life have found themselves struggling to cope with the incidence of volatile temper in children, in addition to depression, anxiety, and a slew of other mental health problems triggered by the mandatory physical isolation. Students with families have had to become therapists and counsellors to soothe traumatized children when their own mental health was also hanging on by a thread.

Our university has to show awareness of and

U of T moves forward on gender equity — but more needs to be done Weighing recent appointments against inequitable history, culture Shernise Mohammed-Ali Associate Comment Editor

As part of a larger, ongoing effort to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion across U of T, numerous women have been appointed to the position of dean in a number of faculties. These recent appointments include Ellie Hisama, who will be joining the Faculty of Music this summer; Jutta Brunee at the Faculty of Law; and Rhonda McEwen at UTM. However, despite the efforts that are being made to confront underrepresentation of women in leadership positions at U of T, women in academia still continue to be affected by gender biases.

Before we begin to confront gender inequities, we must first understand that these inequities go far beyond obvious discrimination — they are a systemic problem deeply embedded into the structure of academic institutions.

In a 2019 article for the Canadian Journal of Higher Education, researchers analyzed public sector salary disclosure data from Ontario universities from 1996–2016 and found that gender gaps increased as the rank increased. According to a CBC article reviewing the gender pay gap, this issue is referred to as the “leaky pipeline” problem, stemming from women leaving academia before men because they either lack role models in higher positions or they have inadequate support as parents.

A report by the U of T Provostial Advisory

Group on gender pay equity found that women challenges that add up,” Woodin said, noting that only accounted for 36 per cent of tenured and “women conduct a disproportionate amount of tenure-stream faculty in the 2015–2016 aca- service, including service that is not formally recdemic year. The report further found that women ognized such as informal mentorship.” She conearn 1.3 per cent less than men after experience, tinued, “That work is often really time consuming field of study, and other relevant factors were but doesn’t factor into promotion decisions.” controlled for. Following this Alexandra Gillespie, who report, U of T increased started her term as the the base salary for more first woman principal of than 800 women by UTM in July 2020, 1.3 per cent in 2019 said in an interview to address the pay with U of T News, gap between men “You can’t stop and women in saying that this tenure-stream is an issue.” She faculty. further noted, Howe ver, “At U of T, we’re there are still always talking numerous other about excellence. gender inequiBut if you look at ties at U of T. the upper echelons Melanie Woodin, of any organization Dean of the Faculty and see that its leadof Arts & Science, said ership is of one [parin an interview with U of T ticular] race, gender, sexualMILLY HONG/THEVARSITY News that she has “significantly ity etc. – that’s not excellence, increased the hiring of women into that’s just privilege.” assistant professor positions, but they are still The reality is that barriers against women in acaunderrepresented as full professors.” This inevi- demia stem from a long historical pattern of patritably prompts the question: why aren’t women archal oppression of women. This oppression has adequately represented in professor positions? resulted in a prejudice against women that ques“Often, there are a series of relatively small tions their ability to succeed in higher education.

empathy toward this student demographic that usually grins and bears it. Financial aid has to be made easily accessible; more effort has to be invested in helping student parents find each other and building a community of support, and the accommodations already in place need to be better advertised.

For student parents, the stakes are very high and academic failure is not an option. We need to be seen and heard. We can use all the support we can get.

Rana Haidar is a first-year curriculum, teaching, and learning graduate student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

U of T only started allowing the enrolment of a limited number of women in 1884. Even then, women’s right to higher education remained a considerably controversial issue. Despite this major step forward, gender inequality still pervaded the university as women were not allowed to stand at bulletin boards, use the libraries, or browse the catalogues. Furthermore, they were required to get the president’s permission to join clubs.

It wasn’t until almost a century later, in 1972, that women were allowed to become members of Hart House. The 1970s also saw some senior positions beginning to be filled by women. In 1973, historian Jill Ker Conway was named as the first woman vicepresident at U of T. Conway also established U of T’s first history course on women’s history.

Although gender equity efforts have increased significantly at U of T since the 1970s, it is quite clear that there is still more to be done. Resources, time, and funding need to be allocated to understand and confront the historical and continuous gender biases at U of T. One particular issue concerns women in STEM who identify as racialized and LBGTQ+.

They confront issues of racism and discrimination that hinder their ability to succeed at academic institutions such as U of T. Intersectional barriers such as these need to be addressed if we are to solve the gender gap. Solutions that are not intersectional aren’t really solutions at all.

By addressing these issues and ensuring gender equity amongst higher ranks at U of T, we can create an environment where girls and women feel comfortable to not only contribute to academia, but also succeed in doing so.

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

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MARCH 22, 2021

The Student Choice Initiative is a Trojan Horse If the government’s appeal succeeds, students will lose more than they gain

Boutique renting, reimagined.

One Month Free + $2,700 in Welcome Bonuses

FIONA TUNG/THEVARSITY

Yixuan Li Varsity Staff

The provincial government’s appeal of the Divisional Court’s decision to strike down the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) will be held on March 23 and 24, more than one year after the 2019 ruling.

The SCI policy, initially announced in January 2019, was in effect for the fall 2019 semester, allowing students to opt out of any incidental fees that the government deemed “non-essential,” including clubs, services, and campus media.

On the surface, the SCI appears to be a policy that saves students money. However, under this disguise, the SCI strips students of essential aspects of campus life, such as the ability to express their voices and experience a sense of community.

Student groups are essential to student wellbeing at U of T. Although the identity of U of T students is affiliated to the university, the student community as a whole can still be seen independently as a commonwealth. Student organizations undertake the responsibility to serve the student community based on their own characteristics.

For example, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) is the governing body that handles UTSG undergraduate students’ welfare and club activities, and The Varsity is the students’ newspaper that represents their voices.

These organizations ensure that student voices are heard; thus, they charge a small amount to maintain their operations. However, under the pressure of the SCI, these organizations could no longer rely on student levies, which would significantly impact their ability to provide important services if the policy is reinstated.

As some of the biggest student organizations on campus, the UTSU and The Varsity rely heavily on student financial support. The percentage of student levy in the total revenue for the UTSU and The Varsity are 60.9 per cent and 87.5 per cent respectively for the 2020 fiscal year. These numbers show the extent to which these organizations depend on students to provide their services, a dependence that would be jeopardized if this student support became optional.

The impact of the cut extends to each of us as members of U of T. Back in 2019, when the SCI was in effect throughout the province for one semester, the UTSU found that an average of 23 per cent of students opted out of inci-

dental fees for clubs that the UTSU collected fees for.

Other groups similarly reported damaging reductions in their funding. Leah West, Executive Director of the Sexual Education Centre wrote in an email to The Varsity that an opt-out rate of 25 per cent meant “no new books for our library, fewer fun events for UofT students, fewer special products of the month, and more.”

Groups that advocated for an accessible and equitable campus, such as Students For Barrier Free Access and Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Trans People of the University of Toronto, feared cutting back on their services. New clubs were also less likely to survive due to the lack of funding that the UTSU would usually provide.

Similarly, The Varsity and other student publications play a critical role in communicating campus news, receiving student opinions, and communicating critical reflections on student life and culture. If student journalism is compromised, students will have poorer access to essential news and storytelling on university life.

Additionally, by opting out of the incidental fees, U of T students could only get a maximum of $60 back per semester. In other words, although the SCI may create the appearance of savings by dropping the cost of incidental fees, the potential losses clearly outweigh the benefits.

The result of the appeal is unforeseeable. The motivation of Doug Ford’s government to push the SCI after it was struck down is questionable as well, especially given the widespread student opposition since the policy’s announcement.

The reality is that student funding helps student organizations provide services and coverage that ensure a healthy and well-informed campus environment. Thus, the SCI discreetly exploits the rights of students by presenting itself as a money-saving strategy, when in fact, the policy destroys fundamental aspects of the student experience — and the supports that students require.

If the government is truly concerned about student well-being, it should encourage students to pay incidental fees, fund student groups, and increase government grants instead. Even after the pandemic, these clubs will continue being spaces that provide care, community, and knowledge. These immense benefits must not be sacrificed for a comparably small reduction in incidental fees.

OUR FIRST RESIDENTS WILL RECEIVE:

$1,200 Value in 1GB Internet by Rogers $1,000 Structube Gift Card $500 Boxcar Social Gift Card

NOW RENTING

First residents defined as the first 50 residents to sign a lease. One month of free rent is valued at the monthly rent amount of the specific suite that is leased. All residents will receive internet included in their rent, which has an approximate value of $1,200/year. Suite availability, suite pricing, and promotional give-aways are subject to discontinue without notice. Future residents must meet Fitzrovia’s application requirements, be notified by Fitzrovia of approval as a resident, and sign their lease by March 31, 2021. Gift cards are redeemable upon move-in. The one month free is redeemable during the first full month of tenancy. Errors & omissions excepted.

Yixuan Li is a third-year economics and public policy student at New College.

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THE VARSITY

FEATURES

Not all voices are equal at Daughters of the Vote A U of T perspective on exclusion of Indigenous, trans people at the federal summit Writer: Kate Haberl Illustrator: Joseph Donato Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struggles with technical issues when using Zoom. That’s just one of the things I learned on March 5–8 as a Daughters of the Vote 2021 delegate. The other is that although this year was distinct given its virtual format, we faced many issues from previous years surrounding adequate representation of marginalized communities and political controversies.

Daughters of the Vote is an initiative that was created by Equal Voice, which equips participants to get involved in politics and other community activism by creating connections between them and current members of Canada’s political institutions. The program had its first iteration in 2017 and was created to celebrate the anniversary of — some — women gaining the right to vote.

Each year, one delegate is selected to represent each of Canada’s 338 ridings, and in normal years, they all come together in Ottawa for a leadership summit. For obvious reasons, this year’s program was held online. Though watching Trudeau and Erin O’Toole struggle to unmute themselves and perfect their camera angles was funny, many of the other experiences and issues raised by delegates were less than lighthearted.

As a white cisgender woman, I recognize that these political spaces are much more accessible to me than to some of my fellow delegates. I spoke to them at length about the crucial issues that they felt this program neglected, and how we can make politics more inclusive for all.

Past issues and protests To understand the issues this year’s program faced, we must look at the event’s recent history. All of the delegates I spoke to over the course of the program were aware of the controversies surrounding Daughters of the Vote. In 2019, following Trudeau’s removal of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from the Liberal Caucus during the SNC-Lavalin investigation, around 50 delegates turned their backs during Trudeau’s speech in the House of Commons.

Others walked out of Andrew Scheer’s speech. Several delegates who protested Trudeau, Scheer, and other politicians said that they faced backlash both from other delegates and online.

Chloe Dallon, a Conservative delegate representing Fundy Royal, felt that the 2019 controversies might have contributed to how tense some of the other delegates were. Kyrstin Dumont, an Algonquin woman and delegate for the Ottawa– Vanier riding, confirmed that her prior knowledge of 2019’s events made her go into this year’s program with a determination to make her voice heard.

Julia Hutlet, a Métis representative of Winnipeg North, also wrote in a written interview with The Varsity that knowing what Indigenous delegates had experienced in 2019 made her want to “show up” for Indigenous women across Canada.

Another delegate, Alexandra McLean, a U of T student and the current vice-president equity at the University of Toronto Students’ Union, representing the riding of Nepean, said that they would not have applied for the Daughters of the Vote

program had they known about the 2019 events before applying.

This year’s program, though all online, was not without controversies of its own.

Online delivery undermined Indigenous delegates’ experience Frankly, despite Equal Voice’s best efforts, I felt that the program was nowhere near as impactful as it would have been if it had happened in Ottawa, like past programs. The other delegates I interviewed echoed these sentiments. We would normally have been sitting in the House of Commons and walking Parliament grounds, but instead we were instead sitting behind our laptops, the same way we have been for a year now.

Though Equal Voice is at no fault for the fact that the Daughters of the Vote program was online, delegates were disappointed with the methods in which the program was delivered. For the majority of the four-day program, delegates could interact with speakers only through a question-andanswer (Q&A) function, which the speakers could not even see directly.

Effectively, we watched a live stream of a Zoom call. Hutlet wrote that the delivery of the events made her feel like she was “selected from [her] riding to watch Youtube videos,” and I can’t disagree.

The online delivery method included a chat, which delegates characterized as both distracting and problematic. Hutlet pointed out that the chat function was being used during the prayer of an Indigenous elder, which she considered disrespectful to her and to other Indigenous delegates.

Furthermore, issues surrounded the Q&A function, through which delegates could write questions to speakers.

Other delegates could then upvote the questions that they found insightful or important. However, over the course of the program, delegates began to notice that highly upvoted questions centred around Indigenous topics were not being asked.

Dumont expressed discontent that her specific questions, which centred around issues affecting Indigenous peoples, were not answered, even when other delegates upvoted them and asked them again.

According to Dumont, when one of her questions was finally asked to Lisa Raitt, former member of Parliament and deputy leader of the Conservative Party, Raitt “blew over the question,” showing Dumont that her voice wasn’t valued. To my memory, Raitt gave an answer that circled the question without actually answering it, choosing instead to redirect to something she was more comfortable talking about.

In a statement, Equal Voice wrote that the selection of the questions that were asked were left to moderators, who chose to “select questions in a variety of different ways, and for different reasons,” prioritizing questions that brought up issues that had not already been touched on by speakers. They also noted that upvoting did not guarantee that a question would be asked.

Indigenous delegates’ response Indigenous delegates like Dumont and Hutlet, whose questions frequently went unanswered, did not accept Equal Voice’s explanation and felt that their voices were not valued.

At the virtual parliament simulation, Hutlet spoke of the underrepresentation of Indigenous women in politics, while Dumont spoke of the oppression Indigenous peoples have endured. Dumont said that Indigenous issues were not the issues of her people, but of Canada as a whole. Both women used their voices as best they could given the circumstances of this year’s program, but still left disappointed.

Several delegates from marginalized communities expressed that, in general, Daughters of the Vote did not feel like it was made for them. Hutlet and Dumont both expressed that, as Indigenous women, they were aware that Daughters of the Vote was not created for them.

While both felt this was palpable over the course of the program, Dumont expressed that it was important for them to be present so as to “continuously take up space in colonial… institutions,” and Hutlet wrote that “[she] wanted to be there to show the Indigenous women across ‘Canada’ that they can be too.”

Equal Voice wrote that it recognized the unique barriers faced by Black and Indigenous peoples in politics, and that it “organized two forums, one for Black delegates, and one for Indigenous delegates.”

However, for many delegates, this was not enough. Hutlet expressed feelings of tokenization, and “[she wanted] Equal Voice to know that they need to give better supports to [Black, Indigenous, people of colour] delegates” — specifically, social and cultural supports. On the other end of the spectrum, Dallon wrote that she felt that some of the training given to delegates was “very leftist,” and she felt uncomfortable with some of the statements made.

Somewhere in the middle, Aiman Akmal, U of T student and delegate for Burlington, was encouraged by the inclusive politics panel, particularly as a Muslim, because of the presence of Aasiyah Khan from the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

Partisan tensions and a lack of accountability Issues of partisanship reached a head on Friday night, and Eleanor Fast, Executive Director and National Spokesperson of Equal Voice, spoke to some Conservative delegates, which was reassuring according to Dallon. However, clashes between delegates with different political viewpoints continued over various platforms throughout the weekend.

Every delegate I spoke to expressed a very similar sentiment to one expressed by Akmal, who felt that tension was bound to happen when mixing political views. Despite this, Akmal, like most of the other delegates I interviewed, agreed that, on the whole, delegates were open-minded and willing to engage in discussion.

While disagreements between delegates died down over

features@thevarsity.ca

the course of the four-day program, there were more vexing moments on Monday when delegates participated in a House of Commons simulation. The leaders of each of Canada’s five largest political parties gave remarks to delegates, but there was no question period this year for any of the leaders, including the prime minister.

When asked why there was no Q&A session with federal leaders, Equal Voice cited time constraints.

Dumont expressed disappointment in the lack of opportunity to ask leaders questions, particularly because that lack of opportunity made it seem as if Equal Voice had not considered how Indigenous delegates would receive O’Toole, given some of his past comments on residential schools. Hutlet shared Dumont’s view, because a question period “gives delegates the opportunity to hold the prime minister accountable.”

I was also disappointed in the lack of opportunity to question leaders, or even to speak to them directly. I can watch Trudeau give statements any time I want, and this event felt remarkably similar to that. The only difference was that, this time, we were all treated to Trudeau’s distinctly dad-like usage of Zoom rather than a polished press conference.

Transgender and gender diverse youth need space in politics The party leader whose remarks sparked the most outrage on Monday was Yves-Francois Blanchet, the leader of the Bloc Québécois. In his opening remarks, Blanchet said hello to “ladies… and some gentlemen as well.”

Immediately, many delegates called out what they saw as transphobia. In the days since, delegates have questioned exactly why Blanchet chose to open his statement that way — did he say “gentlemen” in recognition of the other men party leaders?

Can it all be chalked up to an error in translation?

For Anna Murphy, the delegate from Calgary Centre, who is transgender, Blanchet’s remarks, whether “intentional or not… [were] a slight. It was… blatant transphobia.”

McLean was disappointed that there were no gender-diverse speakers and expressed that they did not really feel more empowered to enter politics because they didn’t see anyone like them. Equal Voice claimed that “equity and inclusion are embedded in all of [its] programs,” and it did provide a range of supports, but that didn’t compensate for the lack of representation and the hostility that were felt by many delegates. Equal Voice also noted that it hopes to be more inclusive of gender-diverse delegates in the future.

Murphy, like McLean, also said that she has rarely seen transgender people represented in politics, but that she feels empowered to

be part of that movement. Murphy is changing the narrative for transgender and gender-diverse youth so that they can see themselves at the table. “I’m here, I’m proud,” she said. “This is who I am.”

Celebrating the role of delegates Murphy’s passion to blaze a trail for transgender and genderdiverse youth is just one example of the incredible initiative taken by delegates at Daughters of the Vote this year. While Equal Voice is an organization with admirable goals, operating under difficult circumstances, there is still plenty of room for growth, which delegates and Equal Voice both recognize.

In any area over the weekend where I felt Equal Voice was lacking, delegates stepped up to fill in the cracks.

After Blanchet’s remarks, Murphy started a group dedicated to writing a letter to express the hurt that Blanchet caused to transgender and gender-diverse delegates. The aim of this letter is to make Canadian politics more inclusive and

“

to encourage everyone, regardless of party lines, to do better in the future.

Muslim delegates started a LinkedIn group to discuss and combat Islamaphobia, which was a well-known issue at Daughters of the Vote 2019. Indigenous delegates have also banded together to write an email addressing their experiences.

Delegates created Facebook groups, held Zoom calls, and forged friendships. On Sunday morning, Dumont pushed back when her voice was not heard or valued, and shared information with a portion of delegates about the cultural practice and significance of smudging. Delegates changed Zoom backgrounds to highlight missing and murdered Indigenous women.

What many delegates expressed, which I certainly agree with, was that it was the delegates who made Daughters of the Vote incredible. By far the most rewarding part of my experience was making new friends and connections across party lines. Delegates certainly clashed, but everyone found support from at least some segment of the delegation.

Would I participate in Daughters of the Vote again? Absolutely. I loved meeting other delegates, hearing from inspiring women, and watching it all happen while wearing pyjama pants.

But again, as a white cisgender woman, spaces like the House of Commons are not entirely foreign to me, and Daughters of the Vote as a program was made for people like me.

Equal Voice and the Canadian government need to do more to make space for women and gender-diverse people of all identities and intersections so that programs like Daughters of the Vote can be wholly positive experiences for all of their participants.

Several delegates from marginalized communities expressed that, in general, Daughters of the Vote did not feel like it was made for them.

”

Photo

March 22, 2021 vrsty.ca/photo photo@thevarsity.ca

Ayesha Rashidi, Event and Creative Director of StrengthIN. COURTESY OF STRENGTHIN

Alisina Fatemi, Marketing Director of StrengthIN, writes about his club and why he is passionate about it!

COURTESY OF STRENGTHIN

Rhidita Saha, Outreach Director of StrengthIN.

COURTESY OF STRENGTHIN

u are stronger than y o Y : N I ou f gth n e eel r St a t z i o i n n a ’ s g r m o ! e e n h ta nt

ro recto i d ing t e rk Ma No matter how overwhelmed you are or what you are going through, there are opportunities for support and approaches you can take to find community and work toward your mental and emotional well-being.

As a student organization that advocates for mental health, StrengthIN strives to help you with exactly that. I’m a second-year student at U of T majoring in neuroscience and psychology, and I have always wholeheartedly been passionate about helping others and making a positive impact in their lives.

Knowing many people who have struggled with mental health issues, in addition to having experience in counselling and studying about mental illness myself, I am proud to be part of the StrengthIN team as marketing director, working to help create a community full of self-love and care.

The team also aims to raise awareness about mental health, make sure no one is alone, and ensure that people are taking good care of themselves. In my free time, I enjoy watching and playing soccer and hockey, as well as studying topics re-

Alisina Fatemi Varsity Contributor

lated to philosophy and the mind.

StrengthIN is a mental health club at the University of Toronto run by a diverse and welcoming group of students.

With increasing difficulties and tasks during high school and university, we are all subject to different stressors and to feeling overwhelmed, and all of this pressure can lead to struggles with mental health and anxiety. In fact, statistics show that there has been a rise in anxiety and mental health difficulties among university students in Ontario in recent years.

Our club believes that educating students about mental health all the way from elementary school to university is crucial to aid them in dealing with the complexities of academics and life stressors.

At StrengthIN, we aim to help prepare students for these difficulties and also help them cope with their strife. Our organization uses many methods of education and interactive opportunities for students to learn more about mental health education, not only as a way to better understand it for themselves or friends who are experiencing reduced mental health, but also to learn and apply knowledge and coping strategies to enhance and improve the quality of experience as a student. Our goal is to help students thrive in the most positive way possible, and to help them stay healthy and optimistic.

We host free interactive workshops in the GTA and online, with coping and prevention strategies for all students within the University of Toronto and beyond. Many of our workshop topics include self-care, coping skills, cognitive distortions,

l hea lth adv oc ac y

positive self-talk, and academic stresses.

We also have a new and upcoming podcast where we explore different mental health topics and give a voice to speakers with past experiences. Even if you are just looking to learn more about mental health or go through training to educate yourself on how to better deal with and help your loved ones experiencing mental health difficulties, we can provide you with training and resources.

You can also get involved with StrengthIN and obtain cocurricular credit if you are a University of Toronto student by becoming a workshop facilitator, joining our peer support buddy program, writing for our blog, attending weekly dropin sessions, contributing to our podcast, or even by simply becoming an ambassador for our organization.

StrengthIN is open to everyone without exception and we welcome you with open arms to voice your journey and become a significant facilitator in the journeys of others in their struggles with conquering mental health.

Kyla Trkulja and Shreeyaa Ramana, co-presidents of StrengthIN. COURTESY OF STRENGTHIN

COURTESY OF STRENGTHIN

Arts & Culture

March 22, 2021 vrsty.ca/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

Hart House’s Well Being Collective centres Indigenous, Black, and other racialized students Insights from the creators on motivation for project, community building, future plans

Joy Chan Varsity Staff

Pow Wow hip-hop dance workshops, mental health and kiki ballroom classes, and meditation and yoga are just some of the offerings at Hart House’s new wellness initiative. Unlike typical well-being classes, those offered by the Well Being Collective stand out as an exploration of wellness through the lens of predominantly Indigenous and Black experiences and practices. In addition to these classes, the collective also produces podcasts and hosts events.

The Varsity sat down with founding and contributing members of the project Olivia Allen, Ezi Odozor, Rebekah Price, and Jenny Blackbird to gain insight into the driving mechanisms of the project and the stories they had to share.

times feel a lack of access to support and community within the university, caused her to combine cultural practices with typical wellness practices.

Price hopes to “[legitimize] the importance for racialized students and communities and other marginalized communities to see and value the importance of well-being.” Her approach allows for these students to experience wellness that incorporates mental, physical, and spiritual health. It also takes on a decolonial lens, considering the importance of who controls narratives of wellness and who is seen as the teacher and expert in wellness

Motivation for project Price, a wellness advocate and yoga teacher, has noticed that students who are racialized or from marginalized communities have different experiences at university, which may not be seen or heard.

Her desire to create a space for these students, who at

experiences.

Diving into the complexities of addressing wellbeing in the context of racialized people, Blackbird, an Indigenous person who is featured on episode three of the Well Being Collective’s podcast, shared the impact of intergenerational trauma on Indigenous wellness in particular.

Blackbird has family members younger than herself who went to residential school. These schools were built with the colonial intent of removing Indigenous children from their communities and erasing their identity — a practice considered cultural genocide. She shared how such circumstances caused many of her relatives to live with direct trauma, which then also exists with their children.

“When you talk about wellness and Indigenous wellness, there’s so much that’s still triggering and really hard,” she said. Wellness practices then need to be tailored to Indigenous experiences and practices.

This new initiative uses non-Western conceptions of wellness in its programming.

REBECCA CHAN/THEVARSITY

As a Black person in Toronto, Price shared that she understands the embodiment of trauma that Blackbird described. She feels the ongoing impact of collective history and trauma tied to this one part of her identity. Having to police her tone in conversations and feeling the reality of police brutality are just some of the constant tensions that Price says contribute to the process of connecting trauma to wellness when creating a space of healing.

Creating community Students engage their experiences with wellness through the practice of invitation, according to Odozor, a Black writer and student support specialist. This is a distinctly anti-colonial sentiment: “Rather than deciding what all things have to be all the time forever, putting the firm last and definition on something, it’s a practice of exploration.”

This collective aims at building a community, and in this way the creators of the project invite not only current and previous students but also staff and faculty in the community to engage in the initiative. Building on the importance of community in wellness, Price shared that as a teacher, she doesn’t roll straight into practice. Rather, she takes the time to have important conversations with students who come in: “We want to create that community because we want you to feel seen,” she said.

Price noted that many wellness spaces can seem like sterile environments — such as a greeting with the front desk person, followed by quiet individual practice before rolling up your mat to leave. Ultimately, the emphasis is on tackling issues students may be facing not just through movement, but through conversation, creating a community that fosters a sense of belonging.

Looking to the future of building community after the pandemic, or in the fall when the campus reopens, Allen shared that the team is looking forward to building an in-person community while still expanding the online community that they’ve built.

While Allen recognized that there have been some surprises and challenges with fostering an online community, she has also observed the amount of engagement, conversation, and space holding regardless. Being online has allowed the Well Being Collective to act as an accessible space with options for members when they have the time and when they need it.

Someone stop me from saying “liminality” in casual conversation Sometimes impressive, always ostentatious — breaking down the humanities lexicon

Jaclyn Pahl Varsity Contributor

If you’re like me, you often find yourself slipping pretentious academic words into everyday conservations. Somehow, I manage to use terms like ‘self-mythologizing’ and ‘democratization’ in a conversation about fruit — the humanities are to blame.

If you’ve been an arts student at UTSG for a considerable amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that our world — framed by St. George Street, Bloor Street, College Street, and Spadina Avenue — sounds different from the world beyond.

The humanities seem to have their own lexicon — a specific set of expressions rooted in esoteric

knowledge. Whether you’re entering university or heading off to graduate school, one must not languish learning the vocabulary of the humanities.

Oh, the ‘ologies.’ You’ve probably noticed academia’s love affair with Greek and Latin words: ‘ontology,’ ‘epistemology,’ ‘tautology,’ ‘phenomenology.’ Academia just can’t get enough of that satisfying Greek suffix.

You’re bound to encounter these terms during your undergraduate career, so it is important to understand — at least vaguely — what they mean.

Perhaps the most vexing of these is ‘ontological,’ sheerly because of how often it is deployed.

Encountering the term ‘ontology’ is pretty much unavoidable. Many university courses will toss around this vowel-heavy monolith whenever they can, but the actual definition eludes many.

Outside of a directly philosophical context, professors say ‘ontology’ to consider the position of an object of study in the larger universe. They want you to ask yourself: how does this exist, at a fundamental level?

If that sounds frustratingly unspecific, that’s because it is. For this reason, ‘ontology’ must be one of the most overused words in academia. You can easily find a way to deploy the adjective ‘ontological’ whenever the stakes of your argument are broad and metaphysical. I’m afraid you’re not going to stop

hearing it any time soon.

To say a lot with very little, academic writers sometimes make adjectives out of names — for example, by adding the suffix ‘ian’ to them: ‘Hegelian,’ ‘Brechtian,’ ‘Proustian.’ Not only is the author bragging about how well-read they are, they are also filtering out readers who aren’t familiar with the individual referenced.

This kind of grammatical manipulation is the tailor-made suit of academia. Calling out the reader’s sensibilities and past cultural exposure is a simple way for scholars to establish an audience.

But be warned: if you are an undergraduate, do not attempt this in your own writing unless you plan on explicitly explaining the referenced author. Teaching assistants often jump at the opportunity to remove marks if an undergraduate tries to be too showy in their writing.

There is a group of words so shielded in ivory that, outside of academia, people will scarcely understand you if you use them: ‘delineate,’ ‘discursive,’ ‘dialectic,’ ‘diachronic.’

Strangely, ‘synchronic’ seems to have made its way into mainstream usage, but ‘diachronic’ is

reserved for dusty bookshelves.

University has certainly stained the walls of our minds. Years from now, in casual conversations with strangers and acquaintances, we’ll let one of these ostentatious words slip. The person we’re talking to may be impressed, but they will likely think to themselves: “Oh God, they studied liberal arts.”

MAKENA MWENDA/ THEVARSITY

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THE VARSITY

ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca they can be found anywhere on the internet and in Toronto. Thrift and vintage shops also extend the life of clothing that would otherwise be thrown out.

Now in vogue: sustainable shopping

For change to occur, we need to become more aware of the impact of our decisions as consumers..

GABRIEL CARTER/THEVARSITY

Ethical consumption in Toronto is easier than you think Jasmin Akbari Varsity Contributor

When we think of the fashion industry, Paris Fashion Week and glossy magazines come to mind. We use fashion to express our individual identities and creativity, or stay up to date with what’s in vogue.

But we often overlook the piles of once-trendy clothes in landfills, the tired hands of children in sweatshops, and the factories that are harming the environment

From harmful practices to sustainable shopping In the 1970s, retailers began to produce clothing themselves, allowing fast fashion brands to produce garments quickly and cheaply for affordable mass consumption in an effort to follow the ever-changing trends of luxury brands. The rise of globalization and technological advancement have enabled big brands like Zara, H&M, and Fashion Nova to produce clothes efficiently at low costs and high volumes.

Reduced costs are owed to the outsourcing of labour and the use of increasingly cheap synthetic materials.

These practices are overtly harmful. Labour in fast fashion is often exploitative and dangerous, sometimes involving child labour. In addition, since cheap clothes are not made to last, they are quickly discarded in landfills. Furthermore, fast fashion contributes significantly to global carbon emissions.

Today, younger consumers care about where their jeans come from, who made them and how much they were paid, and the amount of water waste resulting from their production. This has resulted in a thriving community that promotes forthright information to help people make the switch to a more ethical and sustainable way of shopping.

While there has been stigma surrounding the affordability and accessibility of sustainable brands,

Local insights Final Touch Vintage, an affordable and sustainable Toronto-based shop, offers a variety of curated vintage clothing pieces. They have a store located at Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue, as well as an online store to reach customers from afar.

I reached out to co-founder David Cho, who spoke with me about environmental shopping trends and customers.

While he noted that a majority of customers shop vintage for the trend, he has noticed that “there are people actually very, very into… making the earth cleaner.”

“They’re an advocate, and I do believe that they’re genuinely coming from their hearts, and that’s why they’re more shopping at local businesses and especially vintage clothing stores,” said Cho. “I think a lot of people, even adults, don’t really think that [the climate crisis] is real: global warming, and climate changes, and things like that.”

Cho reflected, “People don’t care sometimes because they don’t see any immediate effect. If I hit someone, they’re gonna feel the pain right away… They’re going to react to my actions, right? So if global warming was like that, of course I think people would be more conscious of recycling clothing, buying recycled clothes, but unfortunately there’s no immediate effect on climate changes.”

Similarly, as consumers, we do not see the inputs and labour that are put into producing our garments. For change to occur, we need to become more aware of the impact of our decisions as consumers. To highlight a few Toronto-based shops, Kotn, Horses Atelier, and OkayOk guarantee that the garments purchased are sustainable and ethically sourced.

Sustainable shopping is not another passing trend. It is integral to the fight for a greener future.

It is important to have conversations regarding fast fashion and the role we play as consumers. By supporting thrift stores and sustainable brands, we are advocating for ethical measures in the industry.

Testing your ‘purity score’ — the unofficial college entrance exam Let’s talk about sex and growth, according to the Rice Purity Test

Eva Chang Varsity Contributor

The goals of the Rice Purity Test are written plainly on its site: “The Purity Test has historically served as a segue from O-week to true college life at Rice.

It’s a voluntary opportunity for O-week groups to bond, and for students to track the maturation of their experiences throughout college. Caution: This is not a bucket list. Completion of all items on this test will likely result in death.”

The test is a set of 100 checkboxes intended to give you a ‘purity score,’ listing off the tame — “Held hands romantically?”— to the questionable — “Been convicted of a felony?” Most of the boxes are romance and sex related, and the others have to do with drugs, alcohol, and breaking the law. The lower the score, the more someone’s done.

The test has reached beyond Rice University and managed to find its way into the hallways of my high school and, I suspect, high schools across North America. As much as I thought the test was a small phenomenon, it seems like many are familiar with it, despite their backgrounds; I’ve met someone who went to an international school in Singapore who recognized it.

Every time I go back to take the Rice Purity Test — approximately twice a year — I check off a few more boxes than before. But I always wonder why I even retake it at all.

Back in high school, there was a certain ritual in finding the courage to share my score with my friends. When everything on the list was taboo and I was underage and attending a nerdy school, there was an exhilaration that came with indulging

in topics like sex and drugs.

In some messed-up sense, I liked the feeling of telling my friends I had a score of 70 by the age of 16 and seeing the concern on their faces. I liked the drama of sitting in the band practice rooms with the rhythm section, knowing everyone’s score but not knowing what they’d checked off.

And I always liked the sex-related questions the best — those were the ones I didn’t feel bad checking off. Most of the others were too illegal for my sheltered teenage self to handle, and I didn’t think of sex as being bad, as long as nobody was over-age.

My friends and I slowly transitioned into talking more comfortably about sex through hints dropped during midnight Zoom calls that were encouraged by the boredom of lockdown and the transition into the legal age to send nudes, watch porn, and sign up for Tinder. Suddenly, I found myself drabbling off on sexual topics I never would have talked about before.

I took the test a few more times. I watched my score drop. I heard from someone older that the score becomes drab when you’ve done so many of the things listed on these tiny inconsequential checkboxes, because that’s what simply happens when you age.

My score is around 58 now, but that number has lost the impact it would’ve had not very long ago.

I still come back every now and then to take it as a contrived way to track how I’ve matured. The idea of metaphorical ‘purity’ aside, I still feel like I have more to experience, and I’m looking forward to it.

I’m sure, to some people, a score of 58 is nothing.

And I suppose it is to me too.

FIONA TUNG/THEVARSITY

Science

March 22, 2021 vrsty.ca/science science@thevarsity.ca

orld of w g n i l z animal colour The daz Life comes in a huge variety of shades — all of them with fascinating scientific origins

Brightly coloured poison dart tree frogs wear their colours as a warning sign to wouldbe predators.

COURTESY OF DAVID DODGE

Tahmeed Shafiq Science Editor

In the ancient Mediterranean, snail farming was a lucrative business.

In the seaside town of Tyre, in what is now southern Lebanon, predatory sea snails from the genus Murex were harvested by the thousands for a purple chemical that they produced. Used for dyeing cloth, the expensive ‘Tyrian purple’ was so famous for its vibrancy and longevity that Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, chose it for his burial shroud.

Jump ahead 1,200 years and we are still using animals to produce colours for industrial and artistic use — except now we are not limited to extracting the colours from animals themselves. By understanding the science behind how animals produce their colours, we can use them as inspiration to create hues of our own. For example, fashion designers have developed a cloth called Morphotex that adopts the colouration mechanism of the blue morpho butterfly to create shimmering colours without the use of fabric dyes.

The human use of animal pigments is just one facet of what makes animal colouration fascinating. Colours play a host of important roles in the animal world, from attracting mates and warding off predators to camouflage and even communication. They have deep ecological influences, and the chemistry, biology, and physics that underlie their development is still inspiring researchers and engineers today — 4,000 years after the first sea snail gave its life for a drop of purple.

What makes colouration complex In the late 1800s, Victorian-era poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a religious poem about nature that opened with the line, “As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame.” It’s an evocative description of colour in the natural world, but it’s also an example of the hidden complexities of animal colouration.

Take the kingfisher. Different kingfishers have different colours, but the common kingfisher is known for its orange breast and the vibrant blue-green plumage spread across its wings and tail. Each colour is produced by a distinct type of feather, and each of those produces its colour by a distinct mechanism.

The orange breast feathers contain tiny pigment granules that give them their colour, while the blue-green feathers do not have any pigment at all. Instead, they produce their colour by a physical process known as ‘iridescence’ — spongy cells inside the back and tail feathers selectively reflect only blue-green light from incoming white light, creating a specific colour.

Dragonflies also use different processes to produce their colouration. Their bodies are pigmented, but they rely on iridescence for

their shimmery wings. Layers of tiny wing scales scatter white light into rainbow-coloured beams.

But dragonflies also change colour throughout the course of their lives.

Males and females of different dragonfly species have particular colour schemes, known as ‘morphs.’ Male and female dragonflies can mimic a morph from the opposite sex to their advantage. A malemimicking female avoids being harassed by genuine males looking to mate, while a female-mimicking male avoids fights over territory with other males to find mates more easily.

Moreover, colour polymorphism — the variation of colours within a species or population — also allows dragonflies to recognize members of their own species. This is thought to discourage interspecies aggression and help maintain a healthy population size. The ability to change colours also has evolutionary advantages, as one morph might camouflage better into an environment than another.

So, in just two simple examples — those of the kingfisher and the dragonfly — we can see the intricacies of how animals produce their colours, as well as some of the ecological advantages that their colours give them.

How animals produce colour In general, animal colouration processes fall into one of two categories: chemical or struc-

tural. Chemical processes use pigments within cells to create colour. On the other hand, structural processes have no pigments; instead, they create hues by exploiting the properties of light through tiny physical structures.

Iridescence is one example of a structural colouration process. Perhaps its most famous user is the blue morpho butterfly, known for its vibrant wings that shimmer between blue and black depending on the angle from which it is seen. Layers of wing scales are shingled over each other to produce a pattern that scatters all coloured light except blue light, which is why the wings appear blue.

However, the reflecting light waves can also overlap, cancelling out in some cases and adding up in others. Glancing at the butterfly from a different angle causes the colour to appear more blue if there is more constructive interference and more black if there is more destructive interference.

The more you look at colouration, the more fascinating the patterns that reveal themselves become. For example, blue and green are common colours in the animal world but are nearly always produced by structural processes. Blue-tinted pigments are simply quite rare, and in many multi-coloured animals — like insects, reptiles, and birds — both processes of colouration are present, each producing a different colour.

This is the case with the common kingfisher.

But perhaps the most surprising thing about animal colouration is the way in which a huge variety of colours can be grouped into two simple categories. Scales, fur, skin, and carapace are all coloured by either structural or chemical processes, even if the details differ.

Flamingos dye their feathers a bright pink, but only after they extract the pigment from the shrimp and algae they eat. A sea turtle’s spots are also the result of pigments, but they have to combine different colours to produce them. And the green plumage of an Amazonian parrot comes from a yellow pigmented layer that covers a bluelight producing structure within feathers, a combination that yields green-coloured reflected light.

Is being colourful useful?

If an inherited trait has been around long enough in the population of a species, it’s reasonable to assume that there’s an evolutionary advantage in keeping it around. Colour is no exception. There are a number of benefits conferred by different colours and colour schemes, including those we see in

Some animals use chemical pigments to create their colours. Clockwise from top-right: a leopard, a parrot, a fox, a cuttlefish.

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SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca Some animals use physical processes to create their colours. Clockwise from top-right: a blue morpho butterfly, a sunbeam snake, a dragonfly, a male peacock.

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dragonflies.

First of all, colours are useful for attracting and repelling other animals. Many male birds perform elaborate, colourful courtship rituals to attract mates. The most famous example is probably the peacock, which fans out its tail feathers in a bold display.

Sexual signalling is not limited to birds either — fireflies, fruit flies, and even some species of fish have all been observed using their colours to find a mate.

Some predators also generate coloured light to attract prey. This is the case with glow worms, which attract insects by emitting a soft blue light while clinging to the roofs of caves, or female anglerfish, which are equipped with a worm-shaped appendage that can glow to attract smaller fish looking for a meal.

However, colours can also be used for the opposite purpose: warding off other animals.

For example, in the Amazon, brightly coloured poison dart tree frogs wear their colours as a warning sign to would-be predators.

Moths and fish also use similarly bright colours for self-preservation.

When an animal begins to adopt a set of colours as a repellent, other species have been known to catch on too. Venomous coral snakes have bands of red, black, and yellow along their tails, and numerous nonvenomous copycats have evolved similar patterns that enable them to trick predators into staying away. However, sometimes these mimics can be just as dangerous as the originals. Bees and wasps may share the same colours, and both have

stingers.

And then, there’s camouflage — the use of specific colours to blend into an environment and hide from predators. Camouflage adaptations are observed across the animal world, from mammals like leopards and foxes to caterpillars that blend into the leaves they eat.

Chameleons are often described as master camouflagers for their ability to change the colours of their whole body, but they are also theorized to use colour-shifting for territorial displays and aggression, and even to regulate body temperature.

But the true master of camouflage — and one of the most inspiring animals for modern scientists — is the cuttlefish.

How cuttlefish show us a better way to innovate Cuttlefish are part of a family called cephalopods, which includes undersea creatures like squids and octopuses.

A sea turtle’s spots are the result of pigments, but they have to combine different colours to produce them.

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They have an incredible ability to blend into almost any environment they encounter. Not only are they able to change the colour on any part of their body within milliseconds, they can also change the texture of their skin. This enables a cuttlefish to blend in just as easily among rocky outcroppings as on a sandy stretch of seabed.

A cuttlefish’s remarkable camouflage doesn’t come easily — it is the result of four different components. First are ‘chromatophores,’ pigment-carrying cells that can vary in size to change the colour of the cuttlefish.

These are supplemented by ‘iridophores,’ cells that structurally produce colours that chromatophores cannot. Then there are ‘papillae’, bumpy parts of the skin that can vary in texture. And, finally, there are cells called ‘leucophores’ that reflect light.

Because of this complexity, the cuttlefish has served as inspiration for a number of new technologies. In 2012, researchers at the University of Bristol developed artificial chromatophores that could be used for adaptable camouflage fabrics. In 2015, an American team developed a soft material that could change texture, made with a 3D printer, with a design based off of cuttlefish papillae.

And just last year, a paper in the journal Nature Communications outlined a process for creating human cells that can vary in transparency, modelled off of the leucophores cuttlefish use for the same purpose.

This practice of loosely adapting biological mechanisms for human use is

Some animals use specific colours to blend into an environment and hide from predators.

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called ‘bio-inspiration’, and it’s been a huge revolution in the way we approach innovation for over 20 years. Many architectural and design improvements have come from studying nature; Japan’s famously speedy bullet train is a good example — its shape and signature silence are the result of copying bird physiology.

Colour innovations have come to form a substantial subset of bio-inspired technologies. Structural colouration processes have been particularly useful in making new types of materials since they produce vivid, longlasting colours using a relatively short list of base ingredients.

These materials have found their way into fabrics, textiles, cosmetics, and even credit cards. Biologists have even given input for military developments in camouflage and deception.

Bio-inspired materials could even be useful for solving environmental problems. One 2017 study suggested that animals could be studied to improve reflective surfaces for energy-reducing cooling materials. While current cooling surfaces reflect light in a limited range of wavelengths, there are animals who — over millions of years of evolution — have adapted body surfaces that reflect a wide range of wavelengths.

The earliest human uses of animal colouration involved extracting colours directly from the animals themselves for dyes and paints.

However, the more we delve into the fascinating, complex science of colour, the more we understand ways to replicate colours without harming animals. With every discovery, it becomes clearer that, even though we’re always surrounded by colours, there’s always more to them than meets the eye.

vrsty.ca/science

MARCH 22, 2021

What experts are saying about systemic neglect in Ontario’s long-term care homes

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Two public health students review the Science Table’s policy prescriptions

According to data from Ryerson University researchers, LTC residents have accounted for 67 per cent of all deaths from COVID-19 in Canada.

PHOTOCRED/THE VARSITY

According to data from Ryerson University researchers, LTC residents have accounted for 67 per cent of all deaths from COVID-19 in Canada.

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Safa Ahmad, Gagandeep Johal Varsity Contributors

A wealth of data shows that long-term care (LTC) home residents have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.

Researchers at Ryerson University have been collecting data on the outbreaks in LTC homes. According to them, over the past year, LTC residents have borne the majority of the death count in seven provinces. In Ontario alone, 63 per cent of the 7,056 COVID19-related deaths were LTC residents. At a national level, that figure rises to 67 per cent.

This terrible loss of life is occurring amidst a growing awareness of the systemic neglect happening in LTC homes. Last spring, a military report found that five of the worst-hit Ontario LTC homes left their residents uncared for in conditions that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “deeply disturbing.”

Experts have variously described the state of COVID-19 in LTC homes as a “crisis” and as an emergency requiring serious policy changes.

In January, the Science Table of Ontario, a group of experts who evaluate and report on evidence related to the pandemic, released a brief summarizing the LTC situation and made recommendations for new government policies.

We are master’s of public health (MPH) students at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and members of the Infectious Disease Working Group, a coalition of MPH graduates and students working to explain the research into COVID-19. We want to use our expertise to explain both the timeline of the LTC crisis and the Science Table recommendations, as we believe scientific expertise is essential to the reform of LTC homes.

A timeline of the LTC home outbreaks Epidemiological studies published by scientists in Wuhan, China as early as March last year identified that older COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units are at a higher risk of dying. In Ontario, in the same month,

physicians who had served during the 2003 SARS outbreak sounded the alarm, warning the government that LTC homes would need special attention during the pandemic.

Soon after, epidemiologists based at the University of Toronto began to study COVID-19 outbreaks at LTC homes to identify the disease’s risk factors — factors that predispose groups of people to a greater likelihood of unfavourable outcomes, which include the risk of outbreak and, for some individuals, death.

Using data from March and April 2020, U of T epidemiologist David Fisman and colleagues verified that death after a positive test for COVID-19 occurred more frequently among LTC home residents than among community-dwelling older adults over the age of 69 during a similar period.

They found that lagged infections among staff were associated with death among residents — a finding that supported the hypothesis that residents were being infected through staff members. On this basis, they recommended more widespread testing and the provision of personal protective equipment for staff members. They also recommended that staff members be restricted to working at a single facility.

On April 22, the provincial government issued a public order to restrict some LTC home employees to one facility within any two-week period.

How outbreaks differ between private and for-profit LTC homes A team led by geriatrician and U of T PhD student Dr. Nathan Stall considered whether the for-profit, nonprofit, or municipal — government-run — home status of an LTC home affected the likelihood of an outbreak occurring. Furthermore, the team aimed to find out whether the LTC home status of where an outbreak had already occurred impacted the number of residents who were infected or who passed away from the virus.

After examining 623 Ontario homes, over half of which were for-profit, Stall and his team found that the status of a home was not associated with the likelihood that it would

experience a COVID-19 outbreak. However, outbreaks that occurred in for-profit homes were more likely to infect more residents and see more deaths than outbreaks in non-profit and municipal homes.

By controlling for other variables in additional models, they found that the difference was explained by many for-profit homes’ older design standards, which allow for smaller rooms and more crowded common spaces.

Stall and his team also found that outbreak occurrence was associated with the incidence of COVID-19 in the home’s public health unit region. Each additional case per 1,000 individuals in the region nearly doubled the odds of outbreak in the home. This finding and others highlight the need for targeted approaches and funding to help at-risk communities battle high incidence rates.

U of T epidemiologist Kevin Brown led a second study on the correlation between care home crowding and infection, which also found that the incidence of both infection and mortality were significantly higher in more crowded LTC homes as of May 20 last year. The study’s simulation showed that 271 deaths might have been avoided before that date if quadruple-bedded rooms had been replaced with double-bedded rooms.

In the following month, the province prevented new admissions into rooms already occupied by three or more residents. By October 2020, the maximum was reduced to two residents per room.

Recommendations from the Science Table Given the clear connection between crowding and infection, the Science Table researchers recommended that temporary spaces continue to be built to make homes less crowded, and that Infection Prevention and Control guidelines be further enhanced.

They also recommended that the LTC home sector offer more full-time jobs with fair pay and benefits, including paid sick leave, to counter infectious spread because some employees were unable to afford taking time off when sick.

The researchers highlighted the importance

of government commitment to making data available so that research can continue to inform policy.

They also noted that policies should consider a more nuanced approach that accommodates outdoor walks and visitation to support residents’ mental health.

A similar consensus arose last June from a report issued by the Royal Society of Canada, which explained that the current situation was not uniquely caused by COVID-19. According to its report, the pandemic should instead be seen as simply another event that reveals the state of LTC in Canada.

It explains that neglect on a systemic scale — neglect of the consequences of population trends in aging, of staffing and management standards, and of financing and data needs — meant our elders in care have been in crisis, albeit less visibly, for years.

In the last 10 years, researchers have published over 150 reports detailing older Canadians’ negative experiences in LTC homes.

Differences in the standards of care maintained by for-profit and nonprofit homes have also been studied for years by health policy researchers. Evidence from epidemiological and other studies in non-crisis times seems not to have averted the current situation.

Solving the workforce crisis is identified as the solution in this report, which also reiterates calls for full-time employment, adequate pay, and sick leave for unregulated workers.

Unregulated workers provide over 90 per cent of direct care and are paid the lowest wages in the health care sector.

The federal government is urged to “act on a… data-based assessment of national standards for necessary staffing,” and the provincial and territorial governments are tasked with “[establishing] minimum education standards” and continuing training for the unregulated direct care workforce.

These recommendations all indicate that long-term change will require transparent data collection, the development of further standards, and workforce reform to address some of the root causes of the crisis in LTC homes.

Sports

March 22, 2021 vrsty.ca/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

The screen-time epidemic

How to manage your time to minimize screens Nimit Vediya Varsity Contributor

COVID-19 has led us directly into a screen time spiral. University has become like one long and boring YouTube playlist. These long hours on laptops, tablets, and phones add up and have real medical consequences.

Headaches are very common along with eye strains and poor posture. So, it is important to minimize your total screen time, and this article will tell you precisely how to do so.

Enjoy the warm weather and burn some calories at the same time.

YERIN LEE/THE VARSITY

Spring forward into fitness!

Three ways to get active in the great outdoors Angad Deol Associate Sports Editor

After a winter full of snow and freezing temperatures, everyone is feeling a bit of spring fever. Although COVID-19 lockdowns may put a damper on your plans, The Varsity is here to provide you with some healthy ways to soak in the sun. Tie up your favorite sneakers — make sure they’re comfy — put on a light hoodie, and get active!

Running up hills can run up your cardio No cheesy fitness montage is complete without hill sprints — a powerful exercise that is quite literally running up and down a hill. This workout can help you burn some extra calories as compared to running on even ground, and can even help build muscle in your legs. While this workout might be a bit harder to do in the city, why not explore further away and find a nice hill to climb?

Power walk into the new season Although you may associate power walking with old folks at the mall, they might just have the right idea. Power walking has been shown in studies to reduce the risk of some cardiovascular problems, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure! Moreover, a mountain of research suggests power walking can improve your mental health, with some benefits seen in anxiety and depression.

Best of all, there’s no real financial investment required — tie your shoes and hop out the door!

Jumping rope to jump out of winter The favourite workout of middle school gym classes, jumping rope is another costeffective way to get some cardio in the sun.

It not only boosts your heart health — like many other high-intensity workouts — it has also been shown to improve balance. So, why not relive your youth and grab a jump rope?

You’re not getting those years back, so you might as well replicate them as best as you can.

Take breaks Even before reducing screen time, remember to take frequent breaks while studying. Continued strain on the eyes from focused studying can lead to the need for eyeglasses and, in severe cases, can cause headaches. I would recommend a spaced study technique called Pomodoro, in which you study for 15–25 minutes, take a break for five or 10 minutes, and then repeat the process. It is usually advised to alter the study and break durations according to personal preference.

I prefer to study for 50 minutes and then take a 10-minute break as it feels more continuous.

Waste no screen time Secondly, in my opinion, there are times when a screen is used even if it is not needed. For example, if someone is reviewing their paper notes, they do not need to have their laptop open. Moreover, procrastination is a major contributor to screen time, whether through watching that one YouTube video or taking a break to play Valorant.

It is important to be conscious of how much time you are wasting on your laptop or phone and try to actively reduce it.

Revisit off-screen activities Lastly, I guarantee if you added up your screen time on all your devices, it would add up to over 16 hours a day. That’s basically every waking minute of your life. Before we become zombies, there is one last method we can use. Some screen time is absolutely necessary, like lectures, practicals, and meetings. However, the four hours you may spend on Instagram or Tiktok are not essential and should be cut down. Try to go on your phone only during your breaks and spend more time doing things you love, like reading or working out.

So while you’re staying home, make sure to take care of yourself by reducing your screen time, using spaced studying, avoiding procrastination, and only using your devices when necessary.

ROSALIND LIANG/THE VARSITY

Have number-crunchers broken fantasy sports?

The mysticism of pretend leagues is getting thwarted by algorithms Avishai Sol Varsity Staff

Are fantasy sports nerdy, or are they a great way to stay in touch with your favourite sports? Can they be both, or have they become neither?

As the online world has expanded, so has its influence on the way that fans consume sports. Sporting events have grown in size, speed, and outreach with once-national TV broadcasts becoming international ones due to mass streaming. Because sports have become so much more accessible, staying acutely informed has become easy for anyone who has a few spare minutes.

Instantly tweeting a highlight hot off your TV screen, live betting, and same-game parlays: it’s all instant, and it’s all in front of our noses. Because of the internet, everything in sports is live in real time. And depending on the sport, performance is completely quantifiable — cue the reel of slow-motion playbacks and real-time graphs of football plays and positions.

The same can be said for fantasy sports.

Remember when you had to check the newspaper for the previous night’s box scores, tally up the totals from every man on your roster, and then find the average? Remember when you would crunch your own stats, and then jot them down in a notebook every week? Maybe, you’d call up your friends from the league to see how their teams stacked up compared to yours?

Of course you’ve never done that! This isn’t 1996; this is 2021! Fantasy sports aren’t about connecting with your friends anymore. They’re about finding the most advanced algorithms out there, picking players based on who would earn you the most points, and competing against 50 people, most of whom you’ve never even met.

Fantasy sports have become more about winning than anything. Now, you could argue that these changes have opened up the world to many people who don’t have the time to just be obsessive sports fans, but it’s also allowed number-crunching, money-hungry mathematicians to take over a medium that was meant for people who loved sports.

Consider Larry Schechter. He is a twotime champion of the CDM Sports national

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challenge, a six-time champion of the renowned Tout Wars experts league, and author of the book Winning Fantasy Baseball: Secrets and Strategies of a Nine-Time National Champion.

Schechter uses rules, numbers, and probabilities to build the fantasy team most likely to win — essentially ‘solving’ fantasy sports.

Maybe using the top-of-the-line information has always been what it takes to win in sports. Schoolhouse Rock! taught us all that knowledge is power, but when the champions of the sports world can win our leagues without watching a single game, what’s the point?

Fantasy sports can still be fun: smaller, more intimate leagues, free flowing sports with less quantifiable aspects and irregularities — all of it. I still play. I still love it. But the whole point of fantasy sports is that it should be fantasy: it should include the fantastical, the ‘what if,’ the byproduct of loving the game. Fantasy sports are only enjoyable if one truly loves the sport they’re competing with.

As for those who use math to break the system and place winning above enjoying the game and the community? They don’t love the sport, they love winning.

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Testing UTrain: NO BOUNDARIES! Barre Do the workouts really work?

Barre is challenging yet fun.

MAHIKA JAIN/THE VARSITY

Alex Waddell Varsity Contributor

I recently came across the #UTrain NO BOUNDARIES! video series because of my roommate, who was doing one of the workout classes and loved it. I decided to do the same workout and try out the series.

U of T Fitness and Performance introduced the series at the beginning of lockdown to help students work out whenever and wherever they want. It has been a year since lockdown began, which means now is a good time to reflect on the progress we have made.

This year has been challenging in ways we could have never imagined, but staying active has helped create a sense of progress when so much of our lives is on pause.

NO BOUNDARIES! Barre I was excited to try out the barre class, which I loved last time, and see if the NO BOUNDARIES! version was different. The class was hosted by Rachel again and had a similar structure to the last class. This class required a set of dumbbells and a resistance band.

I didn’t have a band, so I ended up doing the workouts with a pair of five-pound weights — I wish I had lighter ones — and no band.

Rachel introduced herself and led us through a stretch to get ready for class. This is one of the aspects of barre that I really like: it is a blend of cardio, strength training, and stretching, so while you’re burning during the class, you will feel strong but not tight the next day. After the last UTrain barre class, I have tried out more barre classes and have always been impressed at how much each class challenges my entire body.

Getting my sweat on The first section of the class was a sequence of weighted lunges. I appreciated the dynamic nature of these movements as they kept me distracted from the fire burning in my thighs. We switched between reverse lunge pulses, curtsy lunge pulses, and Romanian deadlifts.

For our cardio push, we used the weights to do overhead presses while jumping and weighted jumping jacks. It was this part of the class that prompted me to add the note above to use lighter weights. My arms could not keep up with the fast movements and weights.

Next up was a plié squat sequence that included jump squats, overhead reaches, and the dreaded barre style heel-raised squats. Thankfully, we were done with the legs and moved to the mat to focus on the bum and abs. We finished the class with a side plank challenge, which was harder than it should have been given that my arms, abs, and legs were already shaking.

Finally, we ended with a stretch — the way we began.

Similar to the last class, Rachel had great choice in music, including Leon Bridges and Chloe x Halle. She also provided great instructions on the proper form and style of each movement so I could be confident that I was getting stronger with each move.

Overall, the UTrain barre classes are the hardest on the schedule but are still fun energy boosts.

Previewing the upcoming Toronto FC season Highlighting key storylines as we look forward Kartik Rudra Varsity Contributor

Displaced across the border for another season — this time in Orlando, Florida — the Toronto FC are set to kick off their Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) Champions League campaign against Mexican Club León on April 7 before starting their 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) campaign on April 17 against CF Montréal.

While Toronto FC have been struck down with a number of COVID-19 cases in the meantime, here are some key headlines to watch for this upcoming season.

New season, new coach Following the departure of the club’s most successful head coach, Greg Vanney, to the Los Angeles Galaxy, Toronto FC brought former New York Red Bulls boss Chris Armas in to take the helm. Armas ended his previous tenure with the Red Bulls in 2020, finishing with 33 wins in a total of 71 matches coached.

Armas was well known during his tenure with the Red Bulls for showing a willingness to give playing time to younger players. In terms of a potential play style, Armas has claimed that his team will play in a system requiring a highpress, a departure from Vanney’s possession-

based system. Look for Armas to implement a system that pressurizes opponents when they have possession, forces opposing mistakes, and allows for quick ball movement when attacking.

Whether this Toronto FC team is suited for a pressing system remains to be seen.

Release the youngsters Since Armas developed a willingness to play youngsters with the Red Bulls, he should have no problem integrating some of Toronto FC’s up-and-coming talents. With last season’s emergence of youngsters such as forwards Ayo Akinola and Ifunanyachi Achara — the latter of whom suffered from an anterior cruciate ligament tear last season — more youngsters are seeking to break through the ranks and become staples of the first team.

This includes the likes of debutants from last season in forwards Jayden Nelson and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. Marshall-Rutty has drawn attention from some of Europe’s elite clubs such as Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Expect Nelson and Marshall-Rutty, among other youngsters, to be given a greater role heading into this season.

Who will be the third designated player?

With the departure of winger Pablo Piatti to La Liga side Elche, a third designated player spot has opened up for Toronto FC. One name

that has consistently been linked with Toronto FC throughout the winter is Rafael Santos Borré of Argentine Primera Division powerhouse, River Plate.

The 25-year-old Colombian international joined River Plate in 2017, scoring 22 goals and adding six assists over his three seasons with the club, winning the Copa Libertadores in 2018. So what can Toronto FC fans expect from a player like Borré?

Borré has been highlighted as a player who is clinical in the box but also a good creator and playmaker.

If Borré were to move to Toronto FC, expect him to play up front, leading the line, and potentially starting ahead of Jozy Altidore. Certainly, the prospect of watching a link-up play between Borré and last season’s MLS MVP Alejandro Pozuelo is mouthwatering. However, any deal for Borré is nowhere near close at the moment, especially with Brazilian club Palmeiras also being interested in his service.

Nevertheless, it’s shaping up to be an exciting season ahead for Toronto FC. Will Toronto FC contend for an MLS Cup or Concacaf Champions League title this season? It’s hard to make any judgment this early, but we are all hoping that the team find themselves playing in front of fans at the BMO Field again.

Sports gambling is a thrilling disappointment The tricky business of betting

Don McCarthy Varsity Contributor

The pandemic has transformed how we work, study, and entertain ourselves, and has pushed many people to seek out new forms of pleasure and distraction. With the general inaccessibility of social venues like bars, restaurants, and public sporting events, some have dipped their toes into the nebulous world of sports gambling.

Gambling is an exhilarating, yet ephemeral way to spend an evening — and an unequivocally terrible way to spend your money if you are hoping to turn a profit. In my experience, sports betting is one part pitched intoxicating excitement and three parts utter disappointment.

My game of choice in 2020 was wagering on American College Football. Despite never having gambled before, the monthslong boredom and disconnect of that year made the prospect enticing. I bought my

first PRO•LINE ticket in October 2020 and put $5 down on the minimum three predictions for that Saturday’s games.

I lost my $5 as the Iowa State Cyclones upset the Oklahoma Sooners 37–30, an annual matchup that the Sooners have won 77 times to the Cyclones’ seven. Despite the loss, simply wagering money on the outcome added a certain excitement that had previously been difficult to come by. For one Saturday, I was completely engrossed in the outcome of a game that I otherwise never would have watched. The adrenaline rush alone was worth the $5.

That first bet quickly became a habit, as I marched down to the corner store every Friday until mid-December placing my $5 wager on Saturday’s games. The addictive attraction of sports gambling is not just the emotional investment in a particular game, but the tantalizing plausibility of winning.

In theory, correctly picking the outcomes of three matchups hardly seems impossible

but proves maddeningly difficult in practice.

Each wager was as disappointing as the last. Yet, the eager anticipation for the next week’s matches remained steady, as did the conviction that I would eventually win money — a mindset that ultimately proved to be misguided.

However, the losses themselves never deterred me, underscoring how starved for excitement people are. While the precautions and restrictions implemented to combat the virus have been necessary, they may also be provoking people to indulge in new habits.

One might compare the world of sports gambling to the astonishing interest others have taken in stock trading, with many amateur traders sinking money into GameStop or Bitcoin. There, as with sports gambling, the objective may be as much adrenaline as it is profit, and the results are perhaps equally uncertain.

JESSICA LAM/THE VARSITY

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THE VARSITY

DIVERSIONS

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MARCH 22, 2021

ACROSS 1. Navy chief 5. Grain storehouse 9. Singer…Cole (3,4) 10. Crack 11. Exhaust (3,2) 12. Raise 13. Included 15. Hairdressing shop 17. UK & Eire, The British…

20. … de toilette 21. Football follower 23. Tea container 27. Bear-like marsupial 30. Uninteresting 32. Confectionery packet 33. Leotard fabric 34. Function host 35. Midwestern US state 36. Treachery 37. Tempted

DOWN 1. Atrocious 2. Moved aimlessly…about 3. Leased out 4. Froths up 5. Pull a face 6. Quarrels 7. Also (2,4) 8. Howling shrilly 14. On a par with 16. Appalling 17. Olympic Games body (1,1,1) 18. Jar’s screw-top 19. Timid 22. Frypan 24. Magic lamp genie’s master 25. Corrupt 26. Stuck (to) 28. Pinball parlour 29. Expects 30. Chicken cut 31. Northernmost ocean