ANONYMOUS Varsity Contributor Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence and mentions suicide. I walk to class, and the budding autumn air pushes me deeper back into the mattress of my first apartment. A leaf crinkles under my sneakers and the sound of my joints popping rings through my ears. I sit down, and I feel like everyone is looking at me. My body aches, and for a moment, I forget that the bruises on my neck faded over a year ago. Cornell’s Jane Doe and I were raped on the same night: October 19, 2024, leading into October 20. We both filed reports to our respective universities on November 8, 2024. Knowing that someone else was living a parallel timeline just 400 kilometres away from me has made me feel less alone. For nearly two years, I’ve also fought for the criminal justice system and U of T to hold my rapist accountable. While Cornell University conducted an investigation back in 2025, U of T has yet to conclude its own investigation following its own Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy. The initial report When I first reported the rape to the Sexual Violence & Prevention Support Centre (SVPSC), I was met with nothing but kindness and care. I was afraid of
going to the Toronto Police Service (TPS). There was no rape kit; my rapist deleted the messages between us proving a lack of consent, and he was constantly monitoring my laptop and phone — even my grades on Quercus. I thought I had nothing. No evidence. In our three-hour-long meeting, the social worker at the SVPSC made one thing clear: My story is evidence. My testimony is proof of what happened to me. I didn’t believe her, but I had nothing to lose. I was put in contact with a Community Safety Officer (CSO), who assessed the likelihood that I would be raped (or worse) by the offender again, and the risk of having the offender remain on campus. My case is considered high risk — too high risk for the ironically-named Office of Safety and High Risk (OSHR) to handle it. I was told by the OSHR and SVPSC that if I didn’t report my case to the police, the university would not proceed with an investigation. The OSHR “determines whether the Report [of Sexual Violence] falls within the scope of the Policy and identifies next steps, which may involve investigating the Report or initiating another resolution process,” according to U of T’s Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy. It is my understanding that my case met the requirements to be pursued, but the
OSHR has the discretion to not investigate cases. I continue to feel incredibly blindsided by this reality. As many survivors of rape may relate to, I had — and still have — incredibly complex feelings about my rapist and moving forward with the criminal process. I thought of other teenagers: Lindsay Armstrong, a teenage girl who died by suicide after being forced to hold up her underwear in court, and Julie Crowe, who took her own life after being raped on vacation. I had never heard of a teenage survivor testifying in a trial and coming away better for it. So, what would happen to me? The university often hires ex-law enforcement to work with divisions dealing with violence. Whether I wanted to go to the police or not, I was not presented with the option to work with people without a background in police work. When I met with the OSHR, the SVPSC, and the CSO, they explained that a police report would help the internal investigation. In other words, I would have to endure another traumatizing process to make the
A CRIMINAL COURT FOUND MY RAPIST GUILTY — U OF T STILL HASN’T October 13, 2026
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work easier for them. I was told by the OSHR and SVPSC that once the criminal investigation concluded (if it even began), the university would move forward with its internal investigation. Before me, there was an ex-cop, a social worker who has sat through several sexual assault trials, and the case worker assigned to me, who had a prior career in law enforcement. In this meeting, they said that, even if the police laid charges, my case would probably never make it to court, and if I had to set foot in a courtroom, the result would be unhelpful. And I believed them.
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The Varsity acknowledges that our office is built on the traditional territory of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat, the Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Journalists Print have historically harmed Indigenous communities by overlooking their stories, contributing to stereotypes, and telling their stories without their input. Therefore, we make this acknowledgement as a starting point for our responsibility to tell those stories more accurately, critically, and in accordance with the wishes of Indigenous Peoples.
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OCTOBER 13, 2026
U of T students organize in commemoration of October 7 October 7 marked three years of violence in Palestine and Israel CELESTA MANIATOGIANNI, NGUYEN BAO HAN TRAN & YANA KUNDU News Editor, UTM Bureau Chief & UTSC Bureau Chief During the week of October 7, which marked three years since attacks on Israel by the militant group Hamas and subsequent strikes on Gaza by the Israeli military, two vigils and a rally were held across U of T’s three campuses in solidarity with Palestine. The United Nations has since classified the situation in the Gaza Strip as a genocide, with at least 74,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023. UTSG On October 7, a vigil was held outside of Sidney Smith Hall as part of Palestine Week, hosted by groups including UofT Occupy for Palestine, Tkarónto Students in Solidarity with Palestine (TSSP), and the UofT Muslim Students’ Association. The vigil, titled “Honouring our Martyrs,” marked “three years of genocide in Gaza, as well as three years of Palestinian resistance and steadfastness, and three years of struggle on our campus for freedom and justice,” wrote TSSP on Instagram. During the vigil, organizers and volunteer speakers read aloud “stories of individual martyrs,” which was followed by a prolonged moment of silence “to mourn each of them and the thousands martyred with them.”
University community due to the unsuitability of the space for large gatherings and the online promotion of counter-protests to take place at the same time.” U of T declined to share the “specific online posts that it is aware of ” that sparked this concern. A group of counter-protestors was present at the October 7 vigil. Prior to the vigil, UofT Occupy for Palestine wrote to The Varsity confirming that they had not been contacted by the university regarding the vigil not being allowed to “proceed as advertised,” writing that “We do not need UofT’s permission to host this event and we never have. The students will mourn. The vigil will happen.” TSSP representative Yasmeen Rashid also confirmed to The Varsity at the vigil that the university had not communicated to TSSP prior to the vigil. TSSP is not a recognized organization by U of T. “But this is just wrong,” said Rashid, “and also they can’t stop us from rightfully protesting on a sidewalk. It’s protected by our Charter [of Rights and Freedoms].” Hillel UofT also organized events to commemorate October 7, hosting a gallery and processing space alongside a sidewalk commemoration on the day. “This week, we come together to remember October 7 and honour the lives that were taken, the families forever changed, and the hostages whose suffering continues to be part of our collective memory,” Hillel UofT wrote on Instagram.
Mohammad Mahil, an undergraduate representative of UTM Campus Council who joined the demonstration after leaving the meeting, also said the meeting ended early. The reason for the meeting’s adjournment has not been confirmed by The Varsity. At the rally, El-Falou identified U of T’s research partnership with HUJI as a central concern of the campaign, saying the union has repeatedly called on the university to disclose its investments and divest from institutions that protesters allege are involved in Israel’s military operations in Gaza. U of T announced its Research and Innovation Alliance with HUJI in July 2020. The partnership launched with $5.9 million in endowed funding from donors and aimed to raise an additional $14 million. It supports collaborative research projects involving faculty from both universities. El-Falou emphasized that the protesters’ criticism was directed at university policies rather than individual council members. “Our attack is not on the people and the individuals in this campus council; it is on the policies that they have the power to vote for and against,” he said. Zoë Wool, an associate professor of anthropology at UTM and member of the Jewish Faculty Network, spoke at the rally regarding academic freedom and institutional boycotts. Wool criticized U of T’s partnerships with
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Newswire Rotman to host Toronto’s mayoral debate Paige Franko, Varsity Contributor Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and City Councillor Brad Bradford will face off in a mayoral debate at U of T’s Rotman School of Management on October 15, ahead of the October 26 municipal election. The sold-out event will begin at 6:45 pm in Desautels Hall and will be moderated by journalist and TVO Today Live host Steve Paikin. The debate will be broadcast live on TVO.
UTMSU to host Municipal Election Forum Aida Umar, Varsity Staff The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) will host a Municipal Election Forum at The Blind Duck on October 14, from 5:00–8:00 pm at the UTMSU Student Centre. The event will feature mayoral candidates Bonnie Crombie, Dipika Damerla, and Alvin Tedjo, with UTMSU President Adam El-Falou serving as moderator. The forum will give students an opportunity to learn where candidates stand on issues affecting their daily lives, including transit, housing, and local services.
Protests across NYC after ICE shoots man in car with his 5-year-old child Junia Alsinawi, Editor-in-Chief
Moment of silence during vigil held outside of Sidney Smith Hall. CELESTA MANIATOGIANNI/THEVARSITY
“Today marks three years since the genocide escalated, and we began counting that deadly toll that continues to climb. But October 7 was not where the violence began,” said one of the speakers. Photographs from the event show the presence of approximately 30 Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers stationed across both sides of St. George Street during the vigil, while approximately a dozen waited in and around parked TPS vehicles on Wilcocks Street. Prior to the vigil, on October 6, a spokesperson for the university wrote to The Varsity that “Campus Safety is present, and consults with municipal police services, whenever large gatherings are anticipated on our campuses to ensure the physical safety of participants and members of the university community.” In an earlier statement, on October 4, a U of T spokesperson wrote that “In assessing any gatherings, the University’s immediate concern is ensuring physical safety. It also balances its commitments to freedom of expression and protecting human rights alongside its obligations under the Ontario government’s free speech directive and Bill 166 regulations and directive.” In the same statement, U of T disclosed that it had “communicated to student societies and recognized student groups involved in planning the Oct. 7 gathering at Sidney Smith that it cannot proceed as advertised because of significant safety and operational concerns.” U of T allegedly communicated this to recognized student societies and groups via a letter. These concerns included “physical safety risks to participants and to members of the broader
UTM Pro-Palestinian protesters marched to the UTM Campus Council chambers on October 6, demanding that the university disclose its investments and sever institutional ties with Israeli universities, particularly the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI). The demonstration was part of UTMSU’s Palestine Week, held October 5–9. The week’s programming included a rally and a panel discussion on October 7 focused on the university’s institutional relationships and calls for divestment. Protesters gathered outside the UTMSU Student Centre at 5:00 pm before marching toward the William G. Davis Building, where the UTM Campus Council was holding a scheduled meeting. According to UTMSU President Adam El-Falou, 10 special constables and four security support officers were present during the demonstration, along with one Peel Regional Police vehicle. He wrote to The Varsity that nine special constables were upstairs in the Davis Building, while one special constable and four security support officers were outside. As protesters marched across campus, they chanted “Disclose, divest. We will not stop. We will not rest,” and “Not a nickel, not a dime. No more money for Israel’s crime.” Other chants included “Israel is a racist state” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Protesters gathered outside the council chambers, where El-Falou claimed the demonstration prompted administrators to end the meeting early, “because they were afraid of the students who were going to hold them accountable.”
Israeli universities, and said that “if U of T cut ties with HUJI today, I and my colleagues would still be free to co-author papers with them.” She argued that institutional boycotts target universities rather than individual scholars and challenged the idea that ending academic partnerships undermines academic freedom. El-Falou said the campaign would continue beyond the rally through petitions and student outreach as part of the ongoing Drop HUJI campaign. “We’re currently collecting petitions. We’re currently educating students around campus to make sure that we are organized,” he said. UTSC SCSU held a vigil at the Student Centre patio on October 7 as part of Palestine Action Week, inviting students on campus to “come together in remembrance, mourning, and solidarity with the Palestinian people.” The vigil offered students an opportunity to read the stories of Palestinians, leave flowers, and reflect on the lives lost. A Palestinian flag was draped across a table covered in black cloth, alongside flowers, candles, and photographs. The surrounding windows displayed photographs and written accounts of Palestinians of different ages who had been killed, highlighting their individual lives and stories. “We gather to honour the lives lost, hold space for our collective grief and stand together as a community committed to remembering those whose stories and lives must never be forgotten,” SCSU wrote on Instagram.
A masked, plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent— who bore no mark of being a legitimate federal agent— shot and wounded 28-year-old Oscar Belgal on Thursday. Belgal’s fiveyear-old son was in the car with him when the ICE agent fired into the vehicle. According to one of his lawyers, Belgal was taken to a hospital, arrested, then taken to New Jersey. His condition is currently unclear, but his son was not physically harmed when the agent opened fire into the car. Since the shooting, anti-ICE protests have broken out across New York City, as top New York democrats, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, resume the call to “Abolish ICE.” In a press conference on October 9, Mayor Mamdani said “ICE is rotten to its core,” and that “tonight’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country.”
Hart House to host City Council candidates debate Isabella Bixler, Associate News Editor On October 15, Hart House will host a moderated debate with candidates running for Toronto City Council in Ward 11 University–Rosedale. The event will include a meet-and-greet, moderated debate, and conversation, with a reception located in the Debates Room. The event will give students and the public the opportunity to hear from candidates Mike Layton, Alice Li, Diana Yoon, and Terri Hawkes on their platforms and plans for Ward 11 ahead of election day on October 26.
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Professor on leave after using racial slur during lecture
A. Ka Tat Tsang of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work allegedly defended his use of the slur ISABELLA BIXLER Associate News Editor Professor of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work A. Ka Tat Tsang is now on leave after he used the N-word during a lecture. In a statement to The Varsity, a university spokesperson wrote, “The faculty member is now on leave. The matter is being looked into, and the university will not be commenting further.” The incident occurred earlier this semester during the second week of classes, when Tsang allegedly used the N-word while quoting a film during a Master of Social Work class. According to a Change.org petition started on
October 1, Tsang later doubled down on his use of the slur. The petition alleges that following the incident, he chose to “defend the use of the slur after concerns had already been raised by students” in a PowerPoint presentation titled “The N-Word.” During this presentation, students say that Tsang explained that he would continue to use the word for “educational purposes.” The Varsity was unable to obtain a copy of the PowerPoint. The petition, titled “Petition for the Removal and Investigation of Professor Ka Tat Tsang,” asked that U of T immediately remove Tsang from the course, as well as open a formal and independent investigation into the incident.
A petition has been created calling for Tsang’s removal and investigation.. ERIKA OZOLS/THEVARSITY
“We call on the University of Toronto to demonstrate that its commitments to equity, anti-racism, human rights, and a learning environment free from discrimination and
harassment apply meaningfully to students in the classroom,” wrote the petitioners. The Varsity reached out to Tsang for comment but did not receive a response.
MPP Tyler Watt calls for value-for-money audit into OSAP
Student leaders speak out: unions cannot take on “responsibility of the government”
Three student representatives also spoke at the press conference. RAINA PROULX-SANYAL/THEVARSITY
PREKSHAA SURANA Assistant News Editor Ontario Liberal MPP Nepean Tyler Watt has demanded an independent examination of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) expenditure at private career colleges. At an October 5 press conference, Watt challenged the Ford government’s decision to cut the ratio of grants available to students from OSAP, scrutinizing
spending increases, particularly at private career colleges. From the 2023–2024 to the 2024–2025 academic years, Ontario spent $465 million more on OSAP grants, 95 per cent of which went to private career colleges’ students, according to data obtained by The Canadian Press. These colleges are small-scale and hands-on, offering job-specific training in sectors such as healthcare, business, technology and trades such as welding.
In the 2023–2024 academic year, career college students received about $554 million in OSAP grants, and about $944 million the following year, a 70 per cent increase. “Instead of cracking down on the dozen or so private career colleges at the center of OSAP spending increases, the government took a hatchet to a problem that required a scalpel, and it ruined OSAP for everyone,” Watt said at the press conference. Watt announced at the press conference that he has written to Auditor General Shelley Spence, to request a value-for-money audit of OSAP spending at private career colleges, and how much oversight the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security had over that spending from 2020–2021 onwards. The auditor’s office independently reviews government spending and programs to assess whether public money is used efficiently and effectively. Student perspective Three student representatives spoke at Monday’s press conference, including McMaster Students Union President Mariam Saleem, who said that McMaster students were reducing course loads or taking semesters off because they could not afford to continue their education. In response to students’ struggles following OSAP’s restructuring, the union has expanded student jobs and food insecurity supports. It made
exceptions to employment requirements so students who reduced their course loads could keep working, said Saleem.
“...the government took a hatchet to a problem that required a scalpel, and it ruined OSAP for everyone” “A student union cannot take over the responsibility of the government,” Saleem added. Trent Durham Student Association President Sabina Kapoor described one student working three jobs while studying full time and skipping meals. Another faced additional loans after losing grants and questioned whether they could finish their degree. “Students are asking for an opportunity to finish what they have started,” Kapoor said. Saniyah Abbas, a Grade 11 student at Eastdale Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa, said students were weighing debt against attending university. “We should be asking, ‘What do I want to become?’ not, ‘What future can I afford?’” Abbas said.
U of T proposes changes to Code of Student Conduct
Draft expands off-campus discipline, adds offences, and centralizes complaints The proposal also introduces options to repair harm and address mental health related misconducts. OLYA FEDOSSENKO/THEVARSITY
NGUYEN BAO HAN TRAN UTM Bureau Chief U of T is proposing major changes to its Code of Student Conduct. These include broadening when off-campus and online behaviour can fall under university discipline, and creating new offences for violating others’ privacy and, in some cases, withholding your own identity when asked. The draft was presented for information and feedback on October 6 at the UTM Campus Council meeting. It’s anticipated to centralize much of U of T’s non-academic misconduct process. Draft would broaden off-campus reach The current code, approved in 2019, generally applies to offences committed on university property or during university-sponsored activities, although it contains exceptions for some conduct away from campus such as those that incite fear for safety on campus or interfere with participation in university programs or activities. Professor Sandy Welsh, U of T’s vice-provost, students, said the newly proposed code could apply to conduct on or off campus when there is a connection to U of T through digital or other
means. The draft would also create an offence for refusing to identify oneself when asked by an authorized university staff member. When the floor was opened to questions, Mohammad Mahi Mukati, an elected undergraduate representative, questioned who could request identification and what safeguards would prevent the provision from being used to identify peaceful protesters or discourage students from participating in demonstrations. “If a student is engaging in peaceful protest, whether they’re at a rally, whether it’s a silent protest, they’re not disturbing [the protest], and then they do their protest and they leave, that would not be a reason why we would [request identification],” Welsh replied. Privacy provision aimed at doxxing Another new offence in the code would address invasions of privacy, including some forms of recording or sharing another person’s personal information. Undergraduate student representative Vaibhav Kaushal asked whether the provision could apply when student groups post photos or videos in
which other students appear without explicitly agreeing to be photographed. Welsh said the provision targets harmful conduct resembling doxxing, such as “posting someone’s phone number, address, etc.” rather than ordinary photos posted on social media. Complaint process would become more centralized According to the current code, each academic division appoints officers for terms of up to three years to investigate student misconduct complaints and decide cases at hearings. Divisions can also use trained officers from a university-wide pool when necessary or preferred. The proposed changes would instead centralize complaint intake, assessment, case management, and record-keeping under the authority of the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students. The proposed system would use four pathways for cases of different levels of seriousness. Less serious cases could be addressed through behavioural requirements, while others could involve probation agreements or adjudication by the vice-provost, students. Formal hearings would remain for the most serious allegations.
The draft would increase the maximum suspension for non-academic misconduct from four years to five, which Welsh said would align the code with U of T’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. Proposal follows university-wide review Welsh said, “The code that we have right now doesn’t reflect our students’ lives.” The latest review, led by former U of T provost Cheryl Regehr, included consultations with students, faculty, staff, and librarians, and a comparison of conduct policies at 22 Canadian universities. Welsh said U of T is also developing separate guidelines with more detailed procedures for administering the code. Those guidelines would be publicly available but would not themselves go through governance approval. The proposed revisions were before the UTM Campus Council for information and feedback, not for a vote. Welsh said feedback from the university community and governance meetings will be incorporated before a final version returns for approval.
Business & Labour
October 13, 2026 thevarsity.ca/category/business biz@thevarsity.ca
Seeding life sciences innovation at Ontario universities U of T’s experimentation into the risky world of venture capital MORGAN O’BRIEN Varsity Contributor A newly launched partnership between U of T, McMaster University, and Venture Ontario is aiming to bring $40 million in venture funding to earlystage life science startups. Announced in July, the Genesys University Seed Fund, managed by Genesys Capital, will deploy up to $1 million apiece to 10–15 university- and partner-hospital-affiliated life science companies. A select few of the most promising opportunities will receive up to $5 million of funding. $30 million of the target $40 million has already been raised in commitments from limited partners, including institutions like U of T, McMaster, Venture Ontario, RBC, and Temerty Group. “Limited partner” is a legal term used to describe more passive investors who are not involved in the daily management of the fund. The fund’s thesis This pool of capital is specifically designed to address a critical bottleneck: discoveries found in university labs are being turned into commercialized innovations at a stubbornly low rate. To illustrate, from 2024–2025, although research spending had increased six per cent, financial outcomes from these discoveries decreased. Specifically, licensing revenue from intellectual property — such as when a pharmaceutical company licenses a patented drug to a manufacturer in exchange for royalties — dropped by four per cent. As U of T’s President Melanie Woodin noted in the partnership announcement, “Canada has no shortage of ideas or talent; what we lack is the capital to scale them.” Sectoral nuance In the life science sector, high regulatory standards, significant upfront research and development, and the need for sufficient clinical data have resulted in
much longer and more complex paths to exit. These include initial public offerings (IPO) on a stock exchange or mergers and acquisitions. As a result, life science companies often require intensive capital investment to support this long runway. The fund manager, Genesys Capital, has been investing in healthcare innovation for 25 years and has developed a deep network of industry partners. This leadership will theoretically provide the fund with the expertise and resources to accelerate the path towards commercialization of discoveries coming out of U of T and McMaster. McMaster President Susan Tighe said the partnership will “translate discoveries into companies that improve health care and save lives,” in the announcement. The brain drain problem and solution The Genesys University Seed Fund is one of several initiatives across Canada aimed at addressing the broader trend of “brain drain.” This is when Canadian entrepreneurs and skilled workers relocate to innovation hubs abroad like Silicon Valley, often in search of better opportunities and more capital. Further developing Canadian innovations at home is a national priority, evidenced by the hundreds of millions committed just in the past year. For example, this September, Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly announced plans to deploy $1 billion in investments through the Business Development Bank of Canada to a combination of defence-related investment funds and individual companies. On a more related note, this September, the Government of Canada also promised an additional $67 million in capital allocation through its Life Sciences Fund, which aims to support Canada’s dualuse capabilities — technology that can be used for both civilian and military contexts. Neither of these initiatives is solely geared towards commercializing the scientific discoveries coming
Should you bring an iced coffee to an interview? The unspoken norms of interview etiquette RIDA KHAN Varsity Contributor The internet spent the better part of September arguing over what some deem a trivial question: can you bring an iced coffee to a job interview? In a TikTok that has now garnered more than 500,000 views, Caitlin Wehniainen, a recruiter who says she has worked with “Fortune 500, super buttoned-up corporations,” stepped into the conversation and said that a candidate holding an iced coffee makes the interview look “like it’s just a stop in your list of errands for the day,” sparking debate. The argument is split roughly along generational lines, with the younger side of the spectrum generally more accepting of the lack of formality. Many question why bringing an iced coffee would have anything to do with the assessment of their skills. People have gone on to generalize the younger generation as “unprofessional,” or as having a “bad attitude.” Yet in interviews with The Varsity, two U of T Rotman Commerce students reached an understanding which diverges from this ongoing narrative about Gen Z. What students are saying Emily Choi, a third year finance and economics student said, “There’s so many other things that rank higher than that…it’s so unnecessary. Like you should be bringing your resume… not your coffee.” She added, “I feel like anything that could possibly distract, and something that is unnecessary, is just not the best look. And just overall, I feel like it wouldn’t lean towards being professional, in my opinion.” Erin Yoon, a third year accounting specialist said, “When you think about it, the people that are
interviewing you, hiring you, and the people you’re working with are individuals who are older, who are more used to that traditional workforce. And so, if you’re the one kind of going into that sort of workplace, I think you should…adjust yourself to meet their standards.” Canada’s challenging job market, especially for young people, has only heightened the stakes, especially as fears of AI job erosion increase. According to Statistics Canada, youth unemployment was at 12.9 per cent in August, increasing from the 10.8 per cent pre-pandemic average. With hundreds of applicants competing for a single position, students assume a recruiter is looking for reasons to eliminate candidates from the process. Why give them another potential reason? Nobody handed Choi or Yoon a rulebook, yet they implicitly understood what was appropriate and what wasn’t. This raises a broader question: what else is in the rulebook, and who gets a copy? The hidden curriculum Lighter discussions on norms, like not bringing an iced coffee, can also open up the broader discussion of what is acceptable for interviews and who is disadvantaged by not knowing. A 2025 analysis from the non-profit organization FirstGen Forward found that first-generation students often needed support with the “hidden curriculum” of the job market. These are the unspoken rules, “from expected dress codes to professional language to culturally-specific ways of… communicating with recruiters and supervisors.” For example, students whose parents already work in certain industries and roles pass down this curriculum at the dinner table. Students whose parents don’t will have to build it through trial and error.
DOWON KIM/THEVARSITY
out of universities. However, additional funding opportunities for companies and research allow funds like the Genesys Fund’s capital to go further and create a deeper impact. The Genesys partnership is historic as it is one of
“Canada has no shortage of ideas or talent; what we lack is the capital to scale them” Canada’s largest university-affiliated funds to date, matched only by a fund of the same goal size of $40 million, currently being raised by the University of British Columbia and InBC Investment Corp. If these funds prove to be successful, they will not only contribute to Canada’s economy by enabling innovators to scale at home — creating jobs and advancing national health care. But the generated returns will also enable additional investments in university startups, potentially leading to future breakthroughs and creating a positive feedback cycle. Proven successes The Genesys fund aims to target startups developing medical devices and drug treatments for Deeper implications This discussion of biases in the interview process can also carry a sharper edge for racialized students. The Ontario Human Rights Commission indicates “clothing and grooming” and “accent or manner of speech” are among characteristics that are commonly racialized in employment. In a 2021 study in Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found Black women with natural hairstyles were rated less professional and less competent, and were recommended for interviews less often compared to Black women with straightened hair and white women. This penalty is most pertinent in industries with strong dress norms. For instance, financial services is notoriously known for formal and conservative dress codes across genders. Judging a candidate for bringing an iced coffee is by no means comparable in severity to something like racial discrimination. However, it raises a
cancer, heart, and brain ailments. Both U of T and McMaster have strong track records in life science research and entrepreneurship, with a number of successful ventures coming out of each university. For example, Deep Genomics is a U of T offshoot, founded in 2015, that uses machine learning to develop treatments for genetic diseases. In 2021, the company raised $226 million in an additional series raise, allowing the company to push beyond its development stage. McMaster University is also world-renowned for its research in the life sciences, and has supported close to 400 startups. This includes Fusion Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by AstraZeneca for $2.8 billion in 2024. This is one of the largest exits linked to a university in Canadian history. Kelly Holman, co-founder and managing director of Genesys Capital, said in the announcement, “Access to capital is the lifeblood of any healthy economy, especially in a high-tech area like the life sciences.” He added, “Genesys Capital has been proud to support many cuttingedge health startups, including companies coming out of U of T and McMaster. This early-stage venture fund will elevate this work to exciting new heights.” If successful, U of T hopes the Genesys University Seed Fund will serve as a model helping to create similar venture funds for other sectors. related question: how do subjective ideas about professionalism affect hiring decisions? What is the real issue? All in all, the decision to bring a drink is rarely the main obstacle in finding a job. So what actually cuts candidates? The viral recruiter, Wehniainen, told People magazine those arguing against her missed her original point. In what she called an “employer’s market,” candidates have to “play the game a little bit.” For some, this perspective seems obvious. With the current state of the job market, where supply far exceeds demand, employers will often have far more leverage over their interviewees. It is critical to not give them an additional reason to write you off as a candidate. However, this debate has also reopened discussions regarding racial, cultural, and economic nuances and biases that can affect our everyday lives, including getting a job.
Gen Z students try to reach consensus over the viral iced coffee debate. ERIKA OZOLS/THEVARSITY
Arts & Culture
October 13, 2026 thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture arts@thevarsity.ca
The Criterion Closet made cinephilia go viral Now Toronto gets a piece of it
FAYEZAH KHODAYARI Varsity Contributor There are few places on the internet where watching someone shop feels like a cultural event; the Criterion Channel’s YouTube page and their film closet videos are one of them. The setup could hardly be simpler: put an actor, filmmaker, musician, or any other creative inside a tiny room packed floor-to-ceiling with Criterion films, let them pull out whatever DVD catches their eye, and ask them to talk about it. There are no elaborate sets, games, or carefully engineered interview questions. Often, there is no bigger payoff than the joy of watching someone recognize a title on the shelf. Part of the appeal of these videos is their straightforward nature. Celebrity interviews usually revolve around whatever they are selling. The closet, however, is able to corral the featured artist into only talking about the art that shaped them. An accessible entry point into an intimidating art form Ayo Edebiri’s visit shows why that formula works so well. She was able to move between Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, Michael Mann’s Thief and Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger, and enthusiastically praised Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami as “the G.O.A.T.”, without the constrictions of an interviewer. Someone could gravitate towards the video because they recognized Edebiri from The Bear and leave curious about who Juzo Itami is. Cinephilia, with its canons, auteurs, and endlessly expanding watchlists, has a way of making the pleasure of watching movies resemble homework. There are classics you are supposed to know, directors you are expected to recognize, and masterpieces you become embarrassed to admit that you have not seen.
The closet strips some of that exclusivity away. Instead of being handed a syllabus, you are watching someone you like turn around and say, “you need to see this!” A flawed cultural authority Criterion began the video series to champion film history, but has since made the closet videos an integral part of its brand identity. Criterion describes its mission as publishing “important classic and contemporary films” from around the world. Since 1984, it has built its reputation through restorations, supplements, and carefully produced home-video editions of important titles in the cinematic canon. Over time, that reputation has given the company something more valuable than a recognizable logo: cultural authority. Criterion itself has acknowledged the weight of that authority. In a 2016 response to criticism over the underrepresentation of women filmmakers in their catalogues, President Peter Becker wrote that Criterion had “assumed a role in shaping the perceived canon of film culture.” He also acknowledged a responsibility to address that canon’s historical blind spots. Those blind spots have sometimes been difficult to ignore. For example, Criterion received more criticism in 2020 because reporting from Vanity Fair at the time found that, among more than 1,000 films by over 450 directors, only eight Black directors were represented in its physical collection. The company has expanded considerably since then. Its current catalogue includes Black filmmakers like Charles Burnett, John Singleton, Zeinabu irene Davis, Regina King, Marlon Riggs, and Ousmane Sembène, among many others. However, the controversy exposed an uncomfortable reality of the closet that lingers. A canon does not simply materialize because
certain films are objectively great or through some natural process of artistic selection — institutions restore and maintain them. Distributors keep them available. Critics continue writing about them. Companies decide which filmmakers receive elaborate box sets, essays, and pristine new editions. When one of these companies becomes synonymous with serious moviegoing, what it leaves off the shelf matters just as much as what remains on it. The business of tastemaking There is the commercial aspect to consider as well. Criterion’s website combines the videos with shopping pages, so that viewers can immediately buy recommendations. Criterion editions are also more expensive than regular DVDs and Blu-rays. There is also something commercially clever about transforming Criterion itself into part of the language of taste. A Criterion release can come from genuine affection for a film, but the recognizable spines on a shelf also act as signals of cultural taste. Building the kind of collection seen in Criterion’s videos can become an expensive hobby. Even though the closet makes film culture more accessible, it is also encouraging viewers to buy a premium version of that culture. A shifting trajectory Criterion took the closet on the road in 2024 –– building a replica inside a delivery van –– and opened an experience once reserved largely for celebrities to the public. When the Mobile Closet reached the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2025 — its first stop outside the United States — visitors could spend three minutes inside, film their own Closet Picks video and browse more than 1,700
titles. Criterion later reported that more than 1,000 people passed through during its four days in Toronto. The fantasy had shifted. It was no longer enough to watch someone famous make their selections; fans also wanted to stand between the shelves and perform the ritual themselves. Now Criterion has acquired a permanent physical presence in Toronto. On September 10, Criterion opened its first permanent Canadian retail home inside Cinema Cellar — steps away from the TIFF Lightbox. The retailer is expected to carry Criterion’s catalogue of 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD releases alongside titles from other labels. It will give Toronto moviegoers a physical space to browse the collection that many first encountered through a screen. There is something fitting about this trajectory. A storage room became a video series; the series became an online ritual; the ritual became a travelling attraction; and the attraction has now helped cultivate a community strong enough to support a permanent Toronto location. It would be easy to dismiss this as film snobbery with unusually good branding. But doing so would miss what makes the closet genuinely compelling. Seeing someone become excited about a movie can still be contagious. Criterion’s neatest trick, therefore, is that the curation feels incidental. Pierre Bourdieu famously wrote that “taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier.” In the closet, that cuts both ways. The picks reveal something about the people making them, but the shelves reveal something about Criterion too. Maybe that is what makes the closet so compelling: every recommendation is personal and incidental, but none of the choices are entirely profit neutral.
A street shot of the Criterion Closet mobile van at TIFF. SPRING MORRIS/COURTESY OF TIFF
thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture
OCTOBER 13, 2026 7
TIFF Review: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother This brilliant family saga is more than the violence it depicts
Art Flash Major moments in the zeitgeist this week U of T alum Anne Carson wins the Nobel Prize in Literature Bushra Azim Boblai, Arts & Culture Editor The generationally talented Canadian classicist, poet, and translator has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. Carson, who received her BA, MA, and PhD in classics from U of T, has reached varied audiences. They range from teenagers on Tumblr –– particularly enamoured by her verse novel, Autobiography of Red –– to the judges of the T.S. Eliot Prize, which The Independent described as the “most coveted prize in poetry.” In a phone call with the Nobel Prize, Carson described herself as an “inadvertent” writer and said that she plans on using the $1.7 million CAD prize money to buy a friend a house and donating the rest to Doctors Without Borders. Guerilla 13-foot NDA sculpture stole the show at Nuit Blanche Bushra Azim Boblai, Arts & Culture Editor
A still from Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. COURTESY OF TIFF
BUSHRA AZIM BOBLAI Arts & Culture Editor Film critic and podcaster Teri Hart had some choice words to say about Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. The film had its world premiere and was chosen as a special presentation at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Hart, appearing on Elamin Abdelmahmoud’s CBC cultural commentary podcast, Commotion, said that she hated the movie. She explained she didn’t like that the movie was about a man moving through the world “murdering people” and “indiscriminately exposing violence to their young children, including an infant.” I am a big believer in being able to have negative opinions about art and being able to say them without hesitation in Canadian media. My objection is not with Hart disliking the movie –– I really liked her negative review of Misty Green, another TIFF festival movie. I am mostly baffled by her strong hateful reaction to the movie when, at the end of the podcast episode, she chooses Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine as her favourite of the festival. That film is a gratuitously violent movie about CIA agents whose field office is about to overthrow Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government in Chile. Hart called it “laugh-out-loud funny at times” and “heartbreaking.” What is it about the violence in Wild Horse Nine that is endearing for Hart but is egregiously unacceptable in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother? It’s a question that has been angering me for weeks now. The mother as the centre of faith Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is about a devoutly Muslim hitman, Latif (Mahershala Ali), who has recently been widowed. He is now left to raise three children — including a breastfeeding infant –– and he is quickly running out of breast milk to feed his daughter. Latif goes after the people who target his local Muslim community and finds himself involved
in a mess with a born-again evangelical, Pastor Hwan (John Cho), who leads a fanatical group of armed ultra-conservative Christians. The pastor wants to kill Latif ’s boss’ nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali) for running a porn production studio. The title of the movie refers to a famous hadith — or saying — by the Prophet Muhammad in which a man asks him three times who deserves the best treatment from a Muslim. The Prophet replies “Your mother” all three times and only when the question is asked for a fourth time, does he say “Your father.” I’ve heard this hadith my entire life, as someone who grew up in a Muslim family. This, along with another important one that asserts that heaven lies under the feet of mothers, instills the high place of honour and respect mothers are entitled to from their offspring by the religion. These two hadiths are meant to uplift the status of mothers in Islam higher than the traditional patriarchal father, and the movie does a beautiful job demonstrating how a loss of such a central figure affects a Black Muslim family culturally, individually, and religiously. The movie tackles the role of the mother and faith in families particularly well. Latif is unable to bow down his head in prayer because of how bereft he is at losing his wife so suddenly. Fatiha (Adia), Latif ’s teenage eldest daughter, does not believe in the faith anymore and refuses to fast or pray. Her brother, Qadir (Jahleel Kamara), on the other hand, desperately clings on to the rituals of his faith as they were taught to him by his mother. There is one scene in the movie that moved me to tears. The family is on the run when Latif angers his boss, Mike (Laith Nakli), and Qadir is worried that they might miss a prayer in their haste. Both Latif and Fatiha, who are angry at their faith, lash out at him and tell him to go pray under a tree if he cares so much. Qadir sobs quietly and stubbornly goes and performs his prayer under the tree. The loss of the certainty of his faith and the stability of his
family unit overwhelm this young boy –– the torment portrayed brilliantly by Kamara –– to the point of being wracked with sobs. An infantilizing oversimplification As the target audience for this movie, I was predictably and incredibly moved by it. I wanted to write multiple poems when leaving the hallucinatory maze that is the John W. H. Bassett Theatre about faith, daughters, and grief. The movie was frankly a life-changing work of art for me. I obviously did not expect everyone to like the movie as much as I did. But to dismiss it as being simply about murdering people and exposing children to violence shocks me. Did Hart not find the mirroring in Latif and Pastor Hwan even a little interesting? What about the contrast of Hwan’s rigid belief system with the gentle care and hospitality of the group of young Mormon missionaries who are Latif ’s neighbours? Ali, an Oscar-winning actor, delivers a role of a lifetime with such nuance, feeling, and humanity. Was there nothing in that for Hart to appreciate besides the aesthetic violence of the movie? I guess I didn’t think that such an established critic needed a Pakistani Muslim director and a Black Muslim actor to reassure her by including a public service announcement-style disclaimer that being a mercenary is bad even if you are Muslim and that nobody should kill people. I think she should have been able to get there on her own. I expected her to be capable of grasping that when she is able to understand the value of depicting the on-screen killings that John Malkovich portrays as CIA agent Chris in Wild Horse Nine. Did she think that the movie was justifying the assassination of John F. Kennedy as well because the CIA also murdered Patrice Lumumba? Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is currently showing in theatres. Readers should buy a ticket and make up their own minds about the movie. But I hope that they are able to see past the violence in a movie about a fictional hit man based on a vampire hunter.
Titled “Today’s Amnesia,” the NDA sculpture was put on by underground cinema, CineCycle, for this year’s Nuit Blanche. The giant legal agreement is fashioned between major Canadian art institutions and artists and art workers. It read: “I will not talk about getting fired for criticizing Israel.” Ever since 2023, major Canadian institutions have fired, censored, and harassed Palestinian artists and artists who spoke up in support of Palestinian human rights. This has targeted Wanda Nanibush, Nan Goldin, Jenin Yaseen, Sameerah Hosam Ahmad, and many more. Standing in front of the sculpture while crowds of Torontonians made their way to witness the sculpture made me emotional. It was astounding how many in the city felt seen by this work of art bearing witness to an environment of collective racism and fascism. “Draw You Out” by Noah Kahan Juliet Pieters, Associate Arts & Culture Editor On October 2, Noah Kahan released his newest single “Draw You Out.” The release is an original song created for the upcoming Hunger Games prequel movie Sunrise on the Reaping, which is set to premiere this November. The song’s narrator grieves the time that they have to spend living without the person they loved. It’s four minutes and fifteen seconds of beautiful devastation. The opening instrumental is calm and soothing, but the vocals are haunting. The result is this bittersweet track that balances the joy of remembering someone and the sorrow produced by their absence. The Split Up is the new legal drama you’ve been looking for Bushra Azim Boblai, Arts & Culture Editor If there is one thing that South Asian TV is really great at delivering: it’s family drama! Taking advantage of this, the BBC released a new TV show last month about a family firm of British Indian divorce lawyers. Helmed by the fantastic Ritu Arya, this show has everything: adultery, family betrayal, a secret child, and more! Apart from a spectacular performance put on by Arya, I also enjoyed the show’s depiction of an entirely South Asian gay romance. Arian Nik and Mawaan Rizwan deliver a beautiful and nuanced depiction of choosing love and individuality in collectivist cultures. A must-watch!
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ARTS & CULTURE
TIFF review: We Are Born Good
A heartwarming story that calls for forging human connections
A still from Leung Chuen Yeung’s We Are Born Good. COURTESY OF TIFF
JOLIE CHAN Varsity Contributor This review contains spoilers and discusses suicide. Accomplished screenwriter Leung Chuen Yeung’s debut feature, We Are Born Good, had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). After protests against the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill were abruptly halted by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Hong Kong has never quite been the same. Political disagreements left seemingly insurmountable cracks between loved ones, while economic uncertainty pushed companies to cut costs and local restaurants to close. Beneath all of this is a deep sense of exhaustion, with people struggling under the burdens of social, familial, and personal expectations. It is in this atmosphere that Yeung sets his characters. Alienated city lives –– same struggle Although the film does not directly address the sociopolitical backdrop, the alienation of Hong Kong society is depicted through the two main characters’ stories. The film follows two strangers whose lives become entangled after a seemingly trivial mistake. Restaurant owner Wing-kat (Wai Lun Yeung) gives aspiring actress Zoey (Suet-Ying Chung) the wrong order –– a beef chow fun instead of the Singaporean-style noodles she had ordered. What ensues is a convoluted cycle of petty revenge and pranks, with neither party particularly willing to let the matter go. From the opening scene of Zoey flushing toys to flood Wing-kat’s restaurant’s toilet, to him ruining Zoey’s reputation online, the film follows the two characters’ lives as both parties continue the prank cycle. We see Zoey’s clumsy attempt at an audition that she was late to because of inconsiderate colleagues, and Wing-kat’s crude demeanour and criminal record that aren’t tolerated by his elitist family –– both struggle with circumstances
that seem beyond their control and loved ones who don’t believe in their potential. They work, try, fail, and hurt others, but their efforts do not necessarily produce the outcomes they want. A plea to look beyond the drama During the after-screening Q&A, Yeung explained that We Are Born Good is not intended to be a statement on whether human beings are inherently good. Rather, it questions how quickly we label people after a single encounter. Yeung wanted to convey that there is a gentleness in everyone, even those whom we may dismiss as rude or troublesome. This idea feels particularly relevant in Hong Kong, where strangers’ arguments and embarrassing moments can quickly become spectacles. The film itself was inspired by CCTV footage of a street dispute between a vendor and a customer that escalated from a minor physical collusion into a major physical altercation. There is an almost uncomfortable parallel with Hong Kong internet culture, where the worst moments of strangers’ lives can become entertainment. Singer and lyricist Sunny Lam, for instance, has become known for turning viral arguments and embarrassing videos into comedic songs. But We Are Born Good asks us to look beyond the spectacle. Rather than simply judging or laughing at the people caught on camera, it asks us to consider who they are when the camera is no longer watching. The everyday antihero These characters are not particularly easy to sympathize with. They make selfish decisions and hurt others, sometimes out of spite. After Zoey’s best friend unfairly procures the lead role in a play for her, she then kisses the producer of the play. Wing-kat proudly has a sexual relationship with a married woman. Neither is a completely helpless victim, nor are they the sole authors of their misfortunes. In this sense, the film takes an almost Sisyphean
view of life. Its characters repeatedly push themselves forward, only to find that random circumstances can undo their efforts. They experience the same despair when failure looms over the work and sacrifice that preceded it. I was pleasantly surprised by how openly the film engages with taboo topics like suicide, mental illness, and queerness without turning these experiences into simple moral lessons or performative inclusivity that feels like a checklist. Its characters are allowed to be complicated. After being betrayed by the respective people they love most, Wing-kat receives a Singaporean stir-fry takeout order. Mistaking it as another one of Zoey’s pranks, he barges up to her apartment — only to find her about to take her own life. We Are Born Good does not suggest that every uncomfortable interaction will produce friendship, or that we should tolerate harmful relationships simply for the sake of human connection. But it asks us to recognize that genuine connection is often messy. Misunderstandings and inconvenience are often part of the process of discovering another person. As Wing-kat and Zoey spend time together after Zoey’s suicide attempt –– half-bantering, half-sharing their grievances in life –– Wingkat promises Zoey freshly cooked Singaporeanstyle noodles, as the one he had brought had already cooled. However, after Wing-kat’s second delivery, Zoey opens the container only to find beef chow fun. Maybe Wing-kat remembers that Zoey’s favourite food is beef; maybe he wanted Zoey to continue their prank battles as a goal to continue living for. This is an experience that only the two of them can understand is more than just another misremembered order. Wing-kat serves as a reminder that, however lonely she feels after being betrayed by her friend and lover, she is not completely alone in her misery. This scene also establishes that nothing has magically been fixed. She does not suddenly get
everything she wants. People have not become kinder, life has not become fairer, and the disappointments that brought the characters to this point have not disappeared. But what was once an annoyance has become a fond memory, an inside joke, and a connection. Perhaps that is the film’s most hopeful idea. It does not offer a soft blanket on a cold day. It is more like discovering that someone else is freezing around the corner too, and that you can sit beside each other to chase away your collective loneliness. Life may not always give us what we ask for. Sometimes our efforts will fail, and circumstances will overwhelm us. Sometimes we will hurt others. We Are Born Good does not promise otherwise. Instead, it suggests that a sense of togetherness in suffering is enough reason to live to see another day. If you or someone you know is in distress, you can call: Talk Suicide Canada phone available 24/7 at 1-833-456-4566 Good 2 Talk Student Helpline at 1-866-9255454 ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 Gerstein Centre Crisis Line at 416-929-5200 U of T Health & Wellness Centre at 416-9788030 24/7 emergency counselling services 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline | Call or text 9-8-8 Support available in English and French for anyone across Canada who is thinking of suicide or who is worried about someone else. U of T Telus Health Student Support (formerly U of T My SSP) | 1-844-451-9700. Outside of North America, call 001-416-3806578. Culturally-competent mental health and counselling services in 146 languages for all U of T students. According to the US National Institue of Mental Health, these behaviours may be some signs that someone is thinking about suicide.
thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture
OCTOBER 13, 2026 9
TIFF review: Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor A confusing failure of an adaptation
A still from Johnny Tri Nguyen’s Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor. COURTESY OF TIFF
PHAM TRAN PHU AN Varsity Contributor Vietnam’s entry for the International Feature Film at next year’s Oscars, Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor, had its international premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The story takes place in tenth century Vietnam, during the intermission between the Đinh and Lê dynasties, right after the death of Emperor Đinh Bộ Lĩnh. I did not enter the screening with hopes of a satisfying experience. Calling this film a flop would be an understatement considering the huge loss it has suffered at the box office. Leaving aside the commercial aspect, this film has done so little to showcase the period of Vietnamese history it supposedly depicts. This is despite the director having previously boasted of developing the story for 10 years and consulting with experts in medieval Vietnamese history.
The action is the only silver lining among all these setbacks. Directed by the renowned stunt coordinator Johnny Tri Nguyen — who has worked on Spider-Man 2 and Mortal Kombat: Conquest — the fight scenes in the movie definitely deliver the Hollywood-level brutality one would expect from an action movie. Each punch, arrow, and slash from the actors carried real strength that visibly thrilled the audience –– something I cannot find elsewhere in the current Vietnamese film industry. A confusing adaptation In an attempt to unfetter the plot from its historical context, the screenwriters either remove or sideline every character that made this historical period significant. All of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh’s confidants such as Đinh Điền, Trịnh Tú, Lưu Cơ, and even his successor, Emperor Lê Hoàn aren’t mentioned a single time. The emperor’s children are also reduced to cameo
roles with approximately three minutes of total screen time. Furthermore, this story is entirely alien to established accounts from official Vietnamese chronicles, thus exacerbating its unfamiliarity to the audience. In an interview, director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh admitted he only learned this unsourced story from a boatsman during a trip to Ninh Binh province. In historical fiction, there’s a thin line between creative choices and irrelevance. In this case, a combination of both historical inaccuracy and an underrepresented story steers the plot much more deeply into the realm of irrelevance. Even to international audiences unbothered by the incorrect historical context, the characters cannot stand out — they are not given the time to stand for anything at all. No room for character development The plot has three storylines shared between the six main characters for 134 minutes. Not to mention, there are at least six other supporting characters with lines –– totalling about 12 important faces for the audience to remember. As a result, Nguyen Phong (Hieu Minh) barely has any chance to convince the audience of his shift from the insolent vagabond in the first half of the movie to a self-doubting noble, to finally a patriotic spirit warrior. An Nhien (Trần Thiên Tú), cannot build anything meaningful with her father, General Định Viễn (Quách Ngọc Ngoan), before the screenwriter kills him off for tearful effect –– all while being entangled in a convoluted romance with Nguyen Phong. The director claims to have removed 20 minutes from his original cut, which may explain the visible problems with the pacing of the story. Each scene ends before it can say something meaningful about either the plot, the setting, or the character.
An offence to the senses Composer Quốc Trung, a leading figure of Vietnam’s orchestral music scene with a Dedication Music Award under his belt, and singer Le Quang Minh have proven their worth in this movie with epic tracks working in harmony with the grand scenery of Ninh Binh province. Yet the film’s unforgiving pace doesn’t allow for even a moment to admire or be immersed in these subtle connections. Throughout the film, audiences watch one track violently take over the other to accommodate each scene transition. Consequently, there’s double the confusion in the vision and auditory faculty as a result of merging a below-average film setting with a decent soundtrack. Last but not least, if you have a working proficiency in Vietnamese, you will find the dialogue unnecessarily cringe. Last month, director Nguyễn Phan Quang Bình proudly proclaimed to Kênh 14, that he used “AI plays a major role in helping us find common ground and refine various aspects of the script.” –– effectively making generative AI his unlisted associate screenwriter. Honestly, I would have considered at least letting his team off the hook if his action director Johnny Tri Nguyen had not proceeded to criticize the use of AI on his Facebook post, where he wrote: “If our film fails, we’re left with only AI-generated films from now on.” — as if there’s a huge difference between generative AI used for filmmaking and generative AI used for screenwriting. Overall, this film is an adaptation of a folktale but only resembles it in its disregard for historical context. The monotonous medley of AI slop is nowhere near an encapsulation of any era or community. Despite the film’s bloated budget and the director’s alleged ten years of hardship, Spirit Guardians doesn’t stand a chance against the harsh reality of its failure as a movie.
TIFF Review: Trees are Watching
Redefining horror in the twenty-first century JORDAN KABIR-BAHK Varsity Contributor New wave Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi blends Kurdish legend and psychological horror in Trees are Watching, which had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Ghobadi uses the horror genre to depict environmental degradation. The forests cleared and burned around Mardin, Türkiye, and the remaining timber was turned into furniture. The spirits of the destroyed forest eventually return to haunt the people who consumed them. Writer Darya (Eva Green) returns with her daughter Connie (Neva Kuş) to Mardin –– a city surrounded by deforestation and rampant wildfires. Darya’s work as a writer revolves around her obsession with the spiritual meaning of trees and the Kurdish myth that people are reborn as trees which are made into furniture. Fantastical visions of ecological horror On her trip, Darya stays in the childhood home of Spin and Nihal, twins she knew as a young girl. Memories of the twins begin to haunt her as she remembers the rocky relationship they had, and Nihal’s ill fate. Visions of figures, moving objects, and the looming presence of two trees outside the home push Darya off the edge as she becomes consumed by her memories of the twins and her guilt over the tragedy that happened to Nihal. In flashbacks, we see that Nihal was tormented by a haunting as well: a figure she believes to live in the washroom, which the film ties to her mother’s cruelty. Both hauntings end in the characters’ psychological collapse.
Throughout the film, the physical environment psychologically torments Darya by taking the form of a haunted chair made from local timber. Ghobadi flips the typical horror tropes of a slasher in the woods by having nature be an active and haunting presence. He uses Kurdish folklore to personify the physical environment and turns it from a passive victim of manmade climate crises into an antagonist seeking revenge on mankind. The tense atmosphere that Ghobadi begins crafting in the first few scenes, with Darya’s rental car breaking down on a dark road where we can feel she is not alone, is an example of this type of eco-terror. A wide shot of two trees border the scene swaying in the rural countryside of Mardin –– presumably to represent the twins –– is chilling as they are surrounded by nothing but degraded forest. The viewers are left with the same unnerving feeling as Green’s character. Additionally, after a few too many backtracked screams, Ghobadi makes the concept of reincarnation all too literal. The intrigue of the Kurdish legend of tree and furniture reincarnation lies in the uncertainty and wonder of anthropomorphization. Ghobadi does the film a disservice by not leaving Darya’s haunting up to the imagination. The terror of inherited trauma The film, to me, becomes most interesting when Darya and Nihal’s distress is presented as the result of built-up trauma instead of coming from a tangible presence haunting them. As a young girl, Nihal fears the washroom after being told that evil mothers live in the toilet tank. The depiction of her palpable terror through flashbacks showcase the troubled relationship she and Spin had with their parents.
A still from Bahman Ghobadi’s Trees are Watching.
COURTESY OF TIFF
While Nihal is preoccupied with the supposed figure in the washroom, the real torment she experiences is at the hands of her mother whose discipline strikes fear into the twins. The concept of intergenerational trauma is also touched on through a Kurdish poem Darya reads where the author writes about his family’s involvement in war and violence. The poet suggests that the wrongs their family members committed throughout their lives determined the form into which they were reborn. Instead of marrying the horror aspect of the film to the conversation regarding historical trauma, Darya’s psychological distress is redirected to an attempt at making a commentary on mental health. The guilt of her involvement with Nihal’s fate is what consumes her, yet this trauma is translated into a state of psychosis and is chalked up to being all in her head. Similarly, this messaging regarding mental health flattens
the twins’ mother into a one-dimensional villain. Deeming these characters as simply ‘crazy’ or ‘evil’ reduces what could have been a much more nuanced thematic exploration that the film could have benefitted from. It feels like Ghobadi is pulling in multiple directions but not hard enough to let anything really stick. Before the film screening, Ghobadi dedicated Trees are Watching to all those in pursuit of freedom. Much of his work is considered too radical for mainstream Iranian cinema. However, his goal with his work is to attempt to bridge others to his own lived experiences. He claimed that while some may call the movie horror, he considers it to be realistic. While I believe the origins of Ghobadi’s film are powerful and pay homage to relevant issues on an international stage, the execution falls somewhat flat at times, leaving the viewer with a mismatched sense of purpose by the end credits.
10
THE VARSITY
FEATURES
A criminal court found my rapist guilty —
Continued from cover: ANONYMOUS Varsity Contributor ... The waiting game In November 2024, I filed the police report. Then, there was no substantive news for 11 months. During this time, I wasn’t directly connected to resources by the university. I had to do that on my own and, in many cases, figure out how to access those resources. I had little contact with my case manager from the OSHR during this period. In fact, my original case manager changed roles, and I was appointed a new manager, who remained rather unfamiliar with my case. I would be reassigned to a third case manager just a few months after the second and face the same issue. While I was not connected to mental health resources outside of the SVPSC, the respondent — my rapist — was assigned a support person to help “navigate any restrictions that might be in place during an investigation and ensure that they are aware and connected to any necessary supports (e.g., mental health, etc.) during the process,” according to U of T policy. No one from the OSHR contacted me to ensure that I was connected to necessary mental health support. The SVPSC social worker met with me regularly; we had internal therapeutic discussions, and her guidance was critical care. However, I still had to find alternative resources, such as connecting with academic and financial advisors. When I requested financial support from my college to help pay for costs associated with the trauma, I was informed that I would not qualify for awards because I had to drop courses to process being raped and also maintain a high GPA. Because I was enrolled in 3.5 credits, I was told that other students had a “harder time” than I did, and so their merits and collegiate engagements automatically took precedence over mine. When I approached the college to establish a monetary fund dedicated to students facing “exceptional circumstances,” which can range from domestic struggles to rape, I was told that such a fund would be unrealistic, as donors may want to know where and who their money went to and how it helped the student. Because I had to drop courses after the tuition refund deadline, I was ineligible for consideration to pay tuition on a course-by-course basis, despite the extenuating circumstances. I also had to pay in full for the 2.0 credits I took that summer to catch up. I changed colleges as soon as I could. The miscommunications In October 2025 — peak midterm season — I received a call from the court letting me know that a trial had been set. As far as I could tell, I was the one to tell the OSHR about the trial dates.
After the initial case manager, it appeared that I also had to inform the following two as to what the actual charges were. In fact, because of this miscommunication, I was also the one to discover and inform the OSHR that my rapist — a person banned from U of T property to protect community safety — changed addresses. I have never felt more abandoned. I filed the police report with the understanding that I probably wouldn’t go to trial — no criminal justice would come from this. And yet, here I was, keeping my OSHR case manager in the loop, preparing myself for court, and managing a full U of T course load. At the end of last winter semester, I was taking six courses, working part-time, and trying to stay involved in clubs, all while bracing myself for the
Survivors are everywhere.
GABRIELLA GUNA/THEVARSITY
hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I felt so alone and misunderstood by everyone around me. Most people didn’t know what I was experiencing, and I felt like an inconvenience when disclosing why I had to miss lectures and extend deadlines to go to court. Everyone diminished the fact that I was ‘just’ a witness because I felt I was too much of a burden by telling them that a witness can also mean a victim. The verdict The trial was four days long. The university sent along my social worker who made sure I had all the snacks I wanted, and who ran around downtown during the breaks to get me anything I needed. Her support was invaluable. This past summer, I sat in court to hear the judgment. While I know that I was raped, the Crown prosecutor was incredibly candid in admitting that they promise advocacy, not results. Tears slipped down my cheeks for the hour-long hearing, and then the judge looked at my rapist
and said, “he knew she had not consented to those acts… I find [him] guilty of all counts.” I believed the OSHR when they predicted the results would be unfavourable, and that I would likely never see any criminal justice. But now I was sprinting up University Avenue with “Free Bird” blasting on my headphones. We’re taught and conditioned to believe that rapists are not held accountable. That people who are raped need to stay silent. For all of you who have been raped or experienced sexual violence, I encourage you to advocate for yourselves as hard as you can. It is a long and incredibly painful experience, but time will pass anyway. While I know that there will forever be a part of me stuck and unable to escape, I feel free. For over a year, I felt only as alive as I was believed. Now that I know I am believed, I am alive. I am whole. I am here. I am your classmate, your friend, someone you’re trying to pass walking on St. George; maybe I sent you notes after class, or you cut me in line at the Owlery. Survivors are everywhere. And I want you all to know that there is hope, but unfortunately, in my experience, you will find more justice in the criminal justice system than at U of T. The “disappointing realisation” I reminded the university when the trial process would begin. The university investigation process was temporarily paused until the criminal process concluded, but after the conviction, I had to remind them to order the transcripts from the hearings so they could use them in their investigation. I also had to tell them the verdict. In fact, the Crown attorney did not appear to know that I was pursuing an investigation with the university, and the police detective — who the OSHR was supposed to maintain contact with — also seemed unaware that the university still planned to pursue action. Such apparent lack of knowledge on the part of the OSHR is inexcusable. After the judge rendered their decision, I was first informed by my second case manager that the transcripts were ordered. Then, my (now third) case manager was “unaware” whether the university had received a copy of them. I then received the following message from my case manager, who wrote: “I know that the University’s process is currently paused for the Court case to wrap up. As the Respondent is not currently registered, the University would not be in a position to immediately implement the SVSH Policy after the conclusion of the criminal case, as the Respondent is required to be registered. I appreciate that this is a disappointing realisation but if he was to attempt to return to UofT in an employment or education capacity, we would recommence the policy process.” In nearly two years of working with the OSHR, this information had not been shared with me. Even more strange is that my rapist was not registered
An October day on St. George campus. MATTEA URSINO/THEVARSITY
precisely because of the interim measures the university imposed on him. U of T’s policy itself even states: “Wherever practicable, the University will continue to conclude an investigation even if the Respondent and/ or Complainant is no longer a Member of the University Community. A leave of absence or any other temporary break from the University does not constitute the end of a relationship with the University for the purposes of this Policy.” So, from my understanding, this email contradicted both what the previous case managers have told me as well as U of T policy. I had been incredibly vulnerable and honest with the OSHR for two full academic years. All I wanted was an internal investigation. There was no “disappointing realisation” on my end. I believe I have been deliberately misled and misinformed by the university. Of course, this is unacceptable. I contacted the Office of the Ombudsperson, and my social worker spent over a week in meetings fighting for an appropriate answer. I would like to acknowledge that both of my social workers from the SVPSC have been champions in advocating for a proper internal investigation. After these meetings, U of T’s internal process could continue, but I was asked to first consider taking expulsion off the table. To me, this means the university would prefer that my rapist retained the option to enroll at another university rather than ensure that a convicted rapist was kept away from other students. My case manager emailed me this: “Initially, we would be looking to connect with the Respondent, and their counsel to propose a resolution without a hearing, with terms that would prevent the Respondent from returning to the University as a student in the future and that would include a permanent transcript notation indicating that the Respondent has been sanctioned by the
features@thevarsity.ca Believing a survivor, supporting a survivor, and living openly as a survivor saves lives. GABRIELLA GUNA/THEVARSITY
U of T still hasn’t University for non-academic misconduct. This type of resolution requires agreement between the Respondent and the University; it is not something the University can impose on its own. However, it can be much faster than following a policy process and it would not require you to participate in any further interviews or hearings about your experience. Expulsion from the University cannot be achieved except by following the steps under the Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy, and then the Code of Student Conduct. This involves an investigation followed by a hearing. If this is the route taken, the University hopes to be able to rely on the trial transcripts, convictions, and reasons for judgment in these steps, to reduce the need for you to participate in interviews and testify, although decisions about this are ultimately made by the investigator and the hearing officer. If, at a hearing, a hearing officer recommends that the respondent be expelled from the University, that recommendation must be approved by the University’s Governing Council. If the respondent is expelled, a notation that they have been expelled will appear on their transcript permanently. Please let me know if you are open to the University seeking to resolve the matter without a hearing before proceeding with the investigation under the Policy.” The university is currently pursuing an investigation under the Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy.
The future The U of T community needs to do better at supporting survivors. I encourage alumni to donate or create scholarships for students navigating the aftermath of sexual assault. Students: file reports using Respect, Educate. Empower Survivors (REES) or by emailing the SVPSC. Go to your local police branch. Contact and get involved with your local Prevention, Empowerment, Advocacy,
Response, for Survivors (PEARS) Project branch. Advocate for yourself as best as you can. There is no statute of limitations regarding sexual assault, and both the SVPSC and PEARS can support you without requiring a formal report. I hope that my experience is proof enough that justice can be found in many places and that the failure of one system does not guarantee the failure of all. When I was raped, I felt lost and confused. I didn’t know where to go or where to turn. In desperation, I reached out to my professors for support, and one sent me all of the information I needed. Another walked with me to the centre. My TAs and professors were incredibly understanding of my situation, and I would not have been able to remain an enrolled student throughout this process if it weren’t for the instructors who guided me through that semester. They saved my life. Believing a survivor, supporting a survivor, and living openly as a survivor saves lives. Engaging in this discourse now helps others down the line. We are the changemakers. We pay to study at this prestigious institution, and we need to change how our university mishandles sexual violence. Disclosure: My criminal case is protected under a Publication Ban, which, as published by Justice Canada, is “an order the Court makes that prevents anyone from publishing, broadcasting, or sending any information that could identify a victim, witness, or other person who participates in the criminal justice system.” I am not choosing to remain anonymous by default, but to ensure that the ongoing internal investigation and final stages of the criminal process are unaffected, and to protect not only my identity, but also the identity of my rapist and the workers involved in the process. However, “publication bans ordered to protect the identity of a victim of a sexual offence do not apply to: the person who is the subject of a publication ban who discloses information about themselves, in any forum and for any purpose.” Under the exceptions imposed by Justice Canada, only the person who is the subject of a publication ban (myself) would be allowed to speak about and share certain information. Others may not publish, broadcast, or
transmit any information that could identify the person who is protected by the publication ban in any way. Where to find sexual violence and harassment support at U of T A list of safety resources is available at safety.utoronto.ca. The tri-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre’s website is www.svpscentre. utoronto.ca. Individuals can visit the centre’s website for more information, contact details, and hours of operation. Centre staff can be reached by phone at 416-978-2266. Locations: UTSG: Gerstein Library, suite B139 UTM: Davis Building, room 3094G and 3093F UTSC: Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, EV141 Those who have experienced sexual violence can also call Campus Police to make a report at 416978-2222 (UTSG and UTSC) or 905-569-4333 (UTM). After-hours support is also available at: Women’s College Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre (416-323-6040) Scarborough Health Network: Birchmount (416495-2400) Scarborough Health Network: Centenary (416284-8131) Scarborough Health Network: General (416-4382911) Assaulted Women’s Helpline (1-866-863-0511) Where to find additional support at U of T MEDICAL SUPPORT Registered students can contact the U of T Health and Wellness Centre, including the Mental Health and Wellness Centre, for additional non-emergency medical and mental health care, including Verification of Illness or Injury Forms (VOIs) and University of Toronto Certificate of Disability Forms to connect with Accessibility Services.
I am your classmate, your friend, someone you’re trying to pass walking on St. George. GABRIELLA GUNA/THEVARSITY
The U of T Health and Wellness Centre, including the Mental Health and Wellness Centre, is located at 700 Bay St., 12th and 14th floors. They can be reached at (416) 978-8030 and at (416) 9788030 ext. 5 for mental health services. Same-day appointments can be made. Please do not contact HWC to obtain a Sexual Assault Evidence Kit (SAEK). Where to find the closest place to obtain a Sexual Assault Evidence Kit (“Rape Kit”) Under Bill 108, Access to Sexual Assault Evidence Kits (SAEK) and Provision of Sexual Assault Education Act, SAEKs, commonly called “Rape Kits,” are free to any patient who needs them at any hospital in Ontario, regardless of immigration status and health coverage, meaning International and Non-Ontario Domestic students may access them. Not all emergency rooms provide SAEKs. In Ontario, there is a comprehensive map to find the closest location to you: https://www. sadvtreatmentcentres.ca/find-a-centre. You do not need to obtain an SAEK to file a police report. Closest to UTSG: Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Care Centre (Women’s College Hospital) 76 Grenville St 416-323-6040 womenscollegehospital.ca Closest to UTM: Chantel’s Place (Mississauga Hospital) 100 The Queensway W 905-848-7580, ext. 2548 thp.ca Closest to UTSC: Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Care Centre (Scarborough and Rouge Hospital) 3030 Birchmount Rd. Scarborough, ON. 416-495-2555 www.shn.ca Where to find the closest place to obtain an abortion Closest to UTSG: Bay Centre (Women’s College Hospital) 76 Grenville St, third floor 416-351-3700 womenscollegehospital.ca Manual Procedural: up to eight weeks gestational age (GA) Medication: up to 10 weeks GA Procedural in hospital: up to 24 weeks and six days GA No admin fees Closest to UTM: Mississauga Women’s Clinic 101 Queensway W Unit 401 905-629-4516 mwclinic.com Medication: up to nine weeks GA Procedural: up to 18 weeks GA Admin fees: $70 Closest to UTSC: East End Women’s Clinic 520 Ellesmere Rd. Suite B14 416-901-3278 eastendwomensclinic.com Medication: up to 10 weeks GA Admin fee: $60
Science
October 13, 2026 thevarsity.ca/category/science science@thevarsity.ca
The central dogma of molecular biology describes the flow of genetic information. ERIKA OZOLS/THEVARSITY
Is biology’s ‘central dogma’ wrong?
Foundational biology knowledge gets a new update EMMA LARATTA Varsity Contributor
For decades, the central dogma of molecular biology has served as one of the foundational principles of genetics. This concept describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to proteins. New discoveries, however, including one made just a few months ago by Stanford researchers, are challenging scientists’ previous models. Scientists have long understood that when cells make new DNA, they typically copy it from existing DNA or RNA templates. In this simplified view, DNA is the full instruction manual. RNA is the abridged version that can be easily transported. Using RNA as a template, proteins are made, which carry out cellular functions. Was the central dogma ever true? Despite what many students learn in introductory biology classes, the central dogma does not state that information can only move in one direction. In an email to The Varsity, Patrick McGowan, a professor of cell and systems biology at UTSC, wrote that “the central dogma is often presented too simply as DNA to RNA to protein, when in reality biology contains many more layers of complexity.” The central dogma states that while cells can move information between nucleic acids
— a term encompassing DNA and RNA — in different directions, information does not normally flow from proteins back to DNA. Beyond this common misunderstanding, the theory may in fact be flawed at a more fundamental level. Prions, for example, violate the central dogma. Prions are proteins that can change shape and pass that new shape on to other proteins, sometimes giving cells useful traits and in other cases, causing diseases such as mad cow disease. These proteins can even lead to lasting genetic changes that are passed down through the genome, directly violating the central dogma. A new exception Researchers at Stanford University have now found yet another exception. In their 2026 Science article, Pujuan Deng and colleagues discovered that E. coli bacteria fight off viral attacks by using a defence enzyme — a type of protein that bacteria produce to protect themselves from threats — named Drt3b to build new DNA. These bacterial proteins appear to defy the central dogma, transferring information from Drt3b to DNA, without using RNA as a template. However, the finding isn’t a complete overthrow of the central dogma. For one, Drt3b can’t create just any new DNA strand — it’s limited to a repetitive sequence governed by the specific enzyme. It also isn’t clear whether
the newly made DNA is short-lived, or if it is incorporated into the bacteria’s permanent store of genetic information. McGowan views this finding as “an unusual example of molecular information transfer, rather than a revision of how genes work.”
Information does not normally flow from proteins back to DNA. Beyond this common misunderstanding, the theory may in fact be flawed at a more fundamental level.
More than ‘just’ a rule-breaking discovery Historically, bacterial defense enzymes, like Drt3b, have proven to be useful to researchers outside of molecular biology. CRISPR, for
instance, has been widely adopted as a geneediting tool in medicine and biotechnology. In medicine, it is used as a gene therapy to correct genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia. When CRISPR was first developed in 2002 by researchers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, it was just one of many bacterial defence systems. However, it soon became clear that CRISPR had implications for the much wider field of biology when Charpentier and Doudna found that bacteria could store small pieces of viral DNA in their genome. By creating a genetic “memory” of past infections, the bacteria could recognize a virus using these fragments, if it attacked again. If proteins can help generate DNA, this opens new doors for research. Eventually, Drt3b could provide biologists with new ways to create or modify genetic material, opening up new possibilities for gene editing. What’s next for Drt3b? Stanford researchers have also acknowledged that many uncertainties remain. One of the main questions the researchers need to address is how the viruses infecting E. coli trigger this defence system in the first place. Understanding this could reveal how bacteria detect viral threats and activate their defences, which could help scientists better understand how organisms recognize and respond to biological threats more broadly. This remarkable finding shows that some of biology’s smallest organisms may still hold some of its biggest surprises.
thevarsity.ca/category/science
OCTOBER 13, 2026 13
Is my period pain normal?
Toronto researchers explore better screening for endometriosis care HARBANEE KAUR Lead Copy Editor Knowing when period pain is normal — and when it may be a medical condition — is not always easy. Endometriosis is a chronic condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in a person’s body. It can cause pelvic pain, painful periods, and fertility issues, although individual symptoms may vary. In Canada, getting an endometriosis diagnosis can take years. A 2020 online survey published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada found an average delay of 5.4 years between the onset of endometriosis symptoms and subsequent diagnosis. In Toronto, by the time a patient arrives at the Chronic Pain Centre at Women’s College Hospital, they have likely already spent years trying to get treatment. In an interview with The Varsity, Rachael Bosma, associate scientist at Women’s College Hospital and director of U of T’s Centre for the Study of Pain, explains that “People don’t tend to get better waiting for care.” Bosma is one of several Toronto researchers exploring novel methods to recognize early symptoms of endometriosis and help patients get more efficient care. Can AI models diagnose endometriosis? One of these projects, Diagnostic AI for Navigating Abdominopelvic Pain (DANA), is an app co-created by Dr. Nucelio Lemos and Dafna Sussman that aims to close the gap
between symptom onset and diagnosis. Lemos is a gynecological surgeon and a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at U of T. Sussman is director of the graduate program in biomedical engineering at TMU
DANA users describe their symptoms to an AI chatbot, which then asks follow-up questions based on their specific answers, to create a personalized experience and an adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at U of T. Current screening tools for endometriosis use fixed questionnaires or checklists of symptoms. In comparison, DANA users describe their symptoms to an AI chatbot, which then asks follow-up
questions based on their specific answers, to create a personalized experience. The researchers plan to train DANA using patient records from pelvic pain clinics at Mount Sinai and Women’s College Hospital. Due to privacy considerations, hospital records used to inform DANA’s AI model would have to be stripped of any identifying information. These endometriosis patients are either at an advanced disease stage or have less characteristic symptoms of the disease. A 2026 review from the University of Malta found that many AI models for endometriosis are trained using advanced-disease patients, raising questions about their efficacy for patients with atypical or less severe symptoms of the disease. DANA estimates the likelihood of endometriosis and encourages the patient to connect with a specialist, if needed. Subsequently, the physician would review DANA’s results before moving forward, which raises questions about whether the technology itself adds additional redundancies to a years-long diagnostic process. But what if the result isn’t endometriosis? After all, it is only one possible diagnosis; Lemos points out that there are more than 150 possible causes of chronic pelvic pain. By the time patients reach his practice, they have, on average, seen 14 specialists before getting the care they need. He sees DANA as a way to get patients to the right specialist on the first or second consult. DANA is still a developing project, as researchers must continue to gather the data required to train its AI model. Can it efficiently connect patients to
the correct specialist in less time than the traditional route? That remains to be tested. Is my period pain normal? Young people in particular may not know whether their menstrual pain is unusual. Bosma explains that severe period pain can be normalized within families; if a parent experienced painful periods, they may understand the same symptoms in their child as ordinary. In response to this concern, Bosma and her colleagues at Women’s College Hospital are adapting an existing questionnaire-based endometriosis screener, specifically for use by young Canadians. Her team is working with 230 young adults living with varied experiences of endometriosis to inform this endeavour. Not only has their project helped identify symptoms clinicians might otherwise miss, but it has also shaped the follow-up questions that they ask. Rather than using patient data to refine an already existing screening tool, Bosma’s project is consulting young people during its development, thus avoiding DANA’s limitation of using specialized clinical data as the foundation for its screening. The work underway by Bosma, Lemos, and Sussman offers reason to hope that women’s pain can be recognized and treated sooner rather than later. For people wondering whether their own symptoms warrant further investigation, the Endometriosis Network Canada provides information and support resources for people living with or suspected of having the condition.
PARWIN RAFIE/THEVARSITY
Sports Three Stars
of the week TAIMOORE YOUSAF, SPORTS EDITOR OCTOBER 2 - OCTOBER 9
ABBY WHITWORTH DAZZLES WITH HAT TRICK VS. YORK In preparation for a critical season ahead, the Varsity Blues women’s hockey team has been absolutely flying in the preseason tune-up phase. The squad is scoring goals for fun, and in their 5–1 win over the York Lions on October 3, fourth-year Abby Whitworth led the way with a four-point night — three goals and an assist. The Lions had no answer for the forward, as she carved up the York defence with deadly finishing. Her first goal came from the high slot off a pass from forward Jasmine Comeau; the second came from a nice assist by rookie defender Ashley Minor; and to complete the hat trick, Whitworth worked her way into dangerous territory and beat the opposing goaltender through the five-hole. After scoring another goal against Laurier’s Golden Hawks on October 9, Whitworth now has five goals in her past three games. A rematch on October 15 against the Hawks looms, and Whitworth will look to stay hot and lead the Blues to Ontario University Athletics (OUA) supremacy.
MEN’S HOCKEY WITH A STATEMENT WIN IN SEASON OPENER The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team opened their season on October 9 against the Western Mustangs and left London with a statement 5–2 win. In a quest to win their first Queen’s Cup since 1993, this victory showed several promising signs. The Blues were humming offensively and got contributions from all over the lineup. Three rookies scored their first OUA goals, while defenceman David Brandes and forward Ryan Evenhuis each recorded three-point nights. Ryan Gillespe kicked off the scoring with a power play marker in the first period, and from there, Toronto didn’t look back. The Blues will now prepare for what should be an exhilarating home opener against the Brock Badgers on October 16 at Varsity Arena.
October 13, 2026 thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca
Taking UTSC off the bench
How UNBENCHED is building connections between sports and UTSC community NIDA RAHMANI Varsity Contributor
Members of UNBENCHED’s 2025–2026 executive team during the organization’s inaugural year. COURTESY OF UNBENCHED.
What started as a tentative idea for a student organization has since grown into a space where UTSC athletes and students can connect through sports and media. Launched in 2025, UNBENCHED uses journalism, photography, videography, social media, podcasting, and events to spotlight UTSC athletics and the people behind it. At its core, the club’s goal is to provide athletes with another platform to share accomplishments and experiences. Leading the organization into its second year are President Maria Kaczmarek and Vice-President Sameer Hassanzay. In an interview with The Varsity, the pair reflected on the organization’s beginnings, its first year on campus, and what they hope to build next. From “let’s not” to “let’s try” UNBENCHED’s beginnings were initially rooted in uncertainty. The idea was pitched as a student organization, but there was hesitation about whether to move forward. When the organization’s founder, Riya Hundal, was unable to continue with the project, the remaining group was left with a choice: let the idea go or see where it could lead. Then came a change of heart. “Okay, you know what? Let’s just try,” Kaczmarek recalls. From there, Kaczmarek, with the support of a few friends, brought more students on board, and the organization gradually took shape. Support from UTSC Athletics & Recreation (A&R) also became important to its development. Kaczmarek and Hassanzay specifically highlighted DK Ketheesparan, Coordinator of Sport Programs at UTSC A&R, as a consistent advocate who provided guidance and ideas as UNBENCHED found its footing. More than game coverage By the end of 2025, UNBENCHED had grown far beyond its initial group members. Its structure now includes teams working in media, marketing, podcasting, events, public relations, finance, and app development. Journalists interview athletes while photographers and videographers capture games, and social media teams turn those moments into content for students across campus. For Hassanzay, the variety of roles is part of what makes the organization accessible for everyone, regardless of their athletic abilities. Whether through a poster, video, or highlight reel, he hopes students can see themselves reflected in UTSC
athletics and become more connected to that side of campus life. Building UTSC’s sports community With UTSC athletics spread across several levels of play — including Tri-Campus, Division 1, Division 2, and interhouse sports — UNBENCHED sees room to offer a new angle of sports programming and contribute to the work already being done by A&R. “I think Athletics was doing a really good job, but because the community is so, so big, we thought that we might jump in and help,” said Kaczmare. During its first year, limited capacity meant UNBENCHED focused much of its attention on Tri-Campus athletics. As more students joined, however, the group was able to reach more teams. This year, its leaders hope to broaden that coverage across different levels of competition and potentially feature more sports, athletes, and coaches. The effort extends beyond media coverage. One of UNBENCHED’s biggest initiatives last year was the Maroon Olympics, which was organized in collaboration with Scarborough College Athletics Association (SCAA). Instead of competing in their usual sports like basketball and hockey, participants from different teams faced one another in a series of athletic games, like dodgeball and tug of war, organized as a bracketstyle tournament. Teams advance through rounds until the final challenge determines the winner. The event was intentionally more casual than regular competition. Kaczmarek described it as a chance for athletes to compete while meeting new
people and having fun. After establishing the format for its first year, UNBENCHED plans to bring the Maroon Olympics back this year with hopes of attracting more teams and athletes. What comes next For the 2026–2027 academic year, UNBENCHED is looking to expand its reach while developing projects that were still taking shape during its first year. Among them are its website and app, which the team hopes can eventually bring roster, schedules, and game information together in one place. The organization also plans to use feedback from athletes and students to guide its content and events. For Kaczmarek and Hassanzay, though, success is measured not only through views or audience growth. Kaczmarek hopes members genuinely enjoy participating in the organization’s events while Hassanzay sees UNBENCHED as a place where students can gain experience and contribute to athletics in ways that go beyond just playing a sport. “Athletics at UTSC isn’t just about being on a single team,” said Hassanzay. For some students, involvement can mean playing a sport, watching a game, creating content, supporting friends, or simply discovering a part of campus life they had not explored before. The broader sense of participation is ultimately what UNBENCHED hopes to continue developing: a sports community where there is room for everyone to be part of the story.
WOMEN’S SOCCER WIPES THE FLOOR WITH LAURENTIAN This team is no fluke — a year off from the first provincial title in program history, the Varsity Blues women’s soccer team is proving its stance as a team to be feared in the OUA. In front of an energetic crowd at Varsity Stadium, Toronto earned an emphatic 6–0 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs. Five of the six goals were scored in the first half as the Blues completely outclassed the Voyageurs in all facets of play. Midfielder Emilija Lucic led the attack with two goals, while forward Beatrice Audain also enjoyed a productive afternoon with a goal and an assist. In their final home game of the season on October 10, Toronto held a pre-game ceremony to honour their graduating students before beating Ontario Tech, 2–1. The Blues will close the regular season against Ottawa on October 18.
Athletes celebrate after winning UNBENCHED’s inaugural Maroon Olympics. COURTESY OF UNBENCHED.
thevarsity.ca/section/sports
OCTOBER 13, 2026 15
AFC Toronto shuts out Ottawa Rapids 3–0 AFC earns 10th win of season, secures spot in NSL playoffs WILLIAM KUK Sports Photographer On September 26, AFC Toronto of the Northern Super League (NSL) hosted the Ottawa Rapids at York Lions Stadium. In the tail end of the regular season, Toronto triumphed with a dominant 3–0 shutout against Ottawa, securing a spot in the league playoff bracket. What happened? The starting half saw both teams play tentatively in the midfield, but neither side was able to find the net for over 40 minutes. In what was looking to be a scoreless first half, Toronto forward Lena Silano broke through during the 44th minute to put her team on the scoresheet. By charging at Rapids goalie Mollie Eriksson in the penalty area, Silano intercepted a careless pass from the keeper with her left foot and found herself in a dangerous position. With positive momentum, Silano slid past Eriksson with the ball and scored an easy tap-in goal to close the half with a 1–0 advantage. After half-time, Silano earned a brace by scoring again in the 49th minute with a low driven ball to the right corner of the Rapids’ goal. In the 82nd minute, substitute midfielder Sarah Stratigakis scored to make it 3–0. With the Rapids unable to generate many attacking chances, AFC closed out the match with a decisive shutout. AFC’s attack was operating in full gear throughout the match. Toronto outshot Ottawa, 21–12, and also led 8–4 in shots on target. Their defence also held firm — spearheaded by Toronto goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo’s four key saves, the team earned their ninth clean sheet of the season. In addition to D’Angelo’s performance in net, defender Sarah Rollins was also a consistent contributor in locking down the Rapids’ offensive play, repeatedly shutting down attacks
Lena Silano prepares to take a shot. WILLIAM KUK/THE VARSITY
with timely tackling. She has also played every minute of every game this season, establishing herself as the heartbeat of a sturdy defensive unit. Toronto boasts the second-best defence in the league, having only conceded 22 goals
across 23 matches. What’s next? AFC Toronto’s remaining three matches will be held on home turf. The final stretch began with a 2–1 win over the Vancouver Rise on October 4. The last
The gift of home ice
two matches of the regular season will be hosted at BMO Field on October 18 and 26, where they will match up against the Calgary Wild and Halifax Tides, respectively. The NSL playoffs begin on the weekend of November 7, when Toronto will look to cap off an impressive season with a piece of silverware. A coffee in hand.
LUCA LOCANTO-MAZZOLI/THE VARSITY
Looking back at a piece of Toronto history LUCA LOCANTO-MAZZOLI Varsity Contributor On a northbound commute through the greatest city in the world, with a Tim Hortons black coffee keeping my hand company, one simple thought arises: we would not have this coffeehouse without one wonderful hockey team — the Toronto Maple Leafs. How better to watch a Leafs game and support our home team than with a coffee from one of Canada’s most ubiquitous shops? I would be remiss not to confess that Tim Hortons owns a great deal of my happiness. No matter the season, or how hard snow falls in winter, my heart is warmed by a coffee that simply tastes like home. Many of us do not know what it’s like to not have a local Tim’s around the block. It only feels right to accompany ourselves with a coffee that has inevitably become a key part of everyday life in the city. So, if a loonie and toonie burn a hole in your pocket, why not trade it for a cup of joe from the iconic franchise created by a former Maple Leaf? Humble beginnings Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played much of his career for the Toronto Maple Leafs and is widely considered one of the team’s greatest players in its 109-year history. Horton played junior hockey for the St. Michael’s College Majors — right in the heart of U of T campus. He signed his first professional contract in 1949 with the Leafs’ American Hockey League affiliate Pittsburgh Hornets. His NHL debut came a year later in 1950. He remained a fulltime Leaf from 1952–1970. Horton helped Toronto win four Stanley Cups, including their last championship in 1967.
Horton was born in Cochrane, Ontario, and lived a modest childhood with his father, Aaron Horton, and his mother, Ethel May. He was named after his grandfathers, but May preferred the name “Tim,” which became his unofficial name. Horton was a fierce competitor during his time as a player — he was almost immune to an opposing forecheck, and his strength and skating skills allowed him to effortlessly retrieve pucks and kickstart attacks. The defenceman became known for his bear hug, putting his arm around his opponent and squeezing until they lost the will to fight for a loose puck. His devotion to the league and hockey itself is everlasting, having played his last NHL game the day before his passing on February 21, 1974. In the midst of his successful hockey career, Horton decided to open up a donut shop for reasons unconfirmed — perhaps for a steady second income, as NHL players didn’t make much money in the 1960s. He partnered with investor Ron Joyce to cofound the business. Established in 1964, Tim Hortons quickly became a household name. It first opened in Hamilton, Ontario, when a cup of coffee and a donut only cost $0.10 each. For me, the coffeehouse has always been a place to stay, hang out with friends I have not seen in a while, or make a pit stop in the middle of a long walk. Entering feels like something I am supposed to do when I see the sign light up the street. Even on the road to one of my sister’s soccer games, no matter how late the kickoff is, I am accompanied by a coffee from Tim’s. This is a rite of passage shared between parents, players, and opposing teams, serving as a reminder that no matter what team we play for, we play for Canada — and wear the maple leaf with pride.
Rooted in hockey history The universal experience of starting the day with Tim Hortons is something that we can all relate to. Everything that happens before your first morning cup and afternoon slump determines your day. The concept of a second coffee is poetic. In the midst of a performance, competition, or exam, exhaling the line “I need a coffee” can feel inevitable. I envy those with a stomach strong enough to bring an iced coffee to a freezing lecture hall, but wherever you are able to enjoy your fuel, it’s a routine ritual that connects us.
I sign off hoping this article sheds some light on how special it is to know that the foundation of many Canadians’ daily caffeine fix traces its roots right back to the Maple Leafs. Although the humble Hamilton donut shop has now become a massive and sprawling corporation, it’s special knowing that it was established by a legendary athlete who stands alongside other iconic Maple Leafs in Toronto’s illustrious hockey history. Good luck surviving a midterm season without a Tim’s run — an essential part of the “Canadian” experience.
Photo
October 13, 2026 thevarsity.ca/section/photo photo@thevarsity.ca
Found inside Passage Verdeau: wall to wall of vintage books. JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
“FLEUR-ishing Minds” A collection of photos from my model test shoot in Paris
JANNA MARANO Varsity Contributor Digital Photography and Creative Direction: Janna Marano Models: Alex Genova and Freedom K. Styled by: Janna Marano and Imaan Kassam During my trip to Paris this year with U of T’s Summer Abroad program, I was struck with inspiration by the course’s content. As students of GER354Y0: Paris Dreamworld of Modernity, taught by Professor Hang-Sun Kim, we “explored Paris as a city of art, architecture, culture, and modernity” through “the work of German philosopher and cultural critic, Walter Benjamin.”
Ennui, but make it chic!
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
thevarsity.ca/section/photo
OCTOBER 13, 2026 Brilliance in bloom.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
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The project was a collaboration between emerging talents in fashion: models Alex Genova and Freedom K., and myself, a Toronto-based fashion and beauty photographer. Shot in the “passages/arcades” of Paris (made famous by Benjamin’s Arcades Project), as well as in the streets and alleys nearby, fashion models Alex and Freedom embody the essence of “schoolboy chic.”
Tucking into a good book.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
The perfect pop of colour!
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
The team also included fellow GER354Y0 classmate, Imaan Kassam, as my amazing photography assistant and second stylist! The images have been professionally retouched by the wonderful Barcelona-based team, White Retouch. The models sported affordable pieces from H&M, both wearing a white button-down shirt. Alex wears the shirt completely unbuttoned for a more relaxed look, and styled it with a ribbed, grey tank top underneath.
Posh in pastel.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
Dapper in distressed denim. JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
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photo@thevarsity.ca
PHOTO
The outfit is complete with a Jimmy Fairly tote bag, distressed denim jeans, and a pair of black leather dress shoes (from the model’s own wardrobe). I also accessorized Alex with a pair of H&M sunglasses in one shot, and an H&M baseball cap in other shots for that classic AllAmerican vibe. As for Freedom — he is preppy in pastel — opting for a more polished aesthetic that remains effortlessly cool and casual. I couldn’t help but stop for a photo-op when I spotted a beautiful shrub of blooming flowers tucked in an alleyway!
Sharp mind meets sharp style. JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
Strutting in style.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
Laid-back confidence is always in fashion. JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
Keepin’ it cool but casual.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
Curiosity is sexy.
JANNA MARANO/THE VARSITY
The vibrant pink hues matched perfectly with Freedom’s pullover sweater that I hand-picked at the H&M on Haussmann Boulevard. The model’s own dark grey denim jeans and sleek, patentleather Oxfords complete the look! I’d also like to give a special shout-out to the store manager at Librairie du Passage inside Passage Jouffroy, and the owner of the Roland Buret bookstore inside Passage Verdeau, for allowing us to shoot at their shops and for lending us their merch as props!
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OCTOBER 13, 2026
DOWN
Story Time
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OCTOBER 13, 2026